As night fell, the army took advantage of the snow to set out on their journey. Because of the knowledge of the combat effectiveness of the European armies of this era in previous operations, they acted more boldly. Especially when the salted meat moon cakes and other high-grade military rations prepared before the expedition had not expired, Xiao Xuan was also ready to concentrate these family funds for the fastest possible assault into the hinterland of Europe. Only when the opponent is not yet ready for effective combat can we avoid previous losses to the greatest extent.

Of course, Xiao Xuan knew that in modern times and later generations, Germany was once a powerful country, and during the Seven Years' War and even World War I and World War II, it had become a stronger country in Europe to catch up with and surpass France. However, the current states in the Holy Roman Empire are obviously not the German of later generations, and the Holy Roman Empire has also suffered a lot of blows in the civil war of the Thirty Years' War in Europe and even the decisive battle near Warsaw, so the direction of the army's attack is not to clean up the remnants of Poland and Central Europe step by step, but to seize all the time to attack deeper in the most rapid and covert way, which Genghis Khan never came. Without a single blow to those "advanced military productive forces" in the heart of Europe, the fundamental threat to the entire army will not be lifted for a single day.

After the conquest from Hezhong to many places in Russia, the officers and men also knew very well that the alien areas were different from the hinterland of the Central Plains after all, and the local people were afraid of power but not virtue, so they did not make some of the mistakes they made at the beginning in their working methods. However, in order to show the more or less revolutionary and even disintegrating of the opponents, when the army was about to leave, specially prepared leaflets printed in the local language and the necessary compensation for the wool out of the sheep were left.

What the officers and soldiers did not expect in the process of advancing the army was that such behavior was still very different from the bandit-like behavior of the European armies of this era. The strict odds even claimed to be fighting for the liberation of all of Europe and the realization of the ideals of exploitation and oppression, and even formed some local people who were ready to take the initiative to join the army when the army was marching.

Of course, Xiao Xuan thought that Europe in this era had not yet entered the era of nationalism, but he still underestimated the level of internal social contradictions within the European continent that could produce "utopias". It is difficult for such alien soldiers to be truly trusted, so more often than not, "red cards" are issued to those who actively approach them, so that they can prepare for the team that is really responsible for changing the world in a month, or even a few months. Of course, the red card does not mean that it can be absolutely trusted, but even if it is not fully trustworthy, it at least provides some convenience for screening in action.

As the team moved forward, it was even more surprising that the "richness" of Europe in some aspects of this era seemed to be significantly greater than that of Eastern Europe, not only did the people in many places become literate because of the appearance of Gutenberg's printing press, but also the food hoarding was not comparable to that of the Transoxiana region. Often, an army of 15,000 people can collect at least a day's worth of food and grass by relying on the hoarding of no more than a few hundred people or dozens of local households. Especially when it's just winter.

There was little deterrence and flight brought about by barbaric massacres, and the troops could only collect a small range of food and supplies when they were marching and hiding at night, and the whole team was divided into five routes, each with no more than 10,000 or 20,000 men, all of which maximized the mobility and concealment of the army's operations. Although for a time there was a lot of rumors in the entire Holy Roman Empire because of the invasion of the Easterners, it did understand that there was a strong enemy invading the territory. Some heavily guarded and active reconnaissance officers and generals also judged the very likely direction and general direction of the invading army at the first time, but they gave people the impression that the number of these invading troops was obviously not as many as the hundreds of thousands or 100,000 people in the legend. For the most part, it was more like a small army of several thousand men and a large number of horses.

After making this judgment, from the beginning of the rumors and caution began to move-for-tat from various places, gathering infantry and cavalry to prepare to encircle and suppress these formidable enemies, who seemed to be besieging the hinterland with a small number of men.

After more than ten days of all-out advance, the Fifth Route Army was finally completely separated due to different offensive objectives when the horsepower was exhausted. Among the five route armies, the final and most dangerous combat mission was of course the team of about 20,000 people led by Xiao Xuan, represented by the Volunteer Left Army and the personal guard troops, which advanced at least more than 2,000 miles. Although the Volunteer Left Army had become accustomed to cavalry marching and combat to a large extent through their previous training and even the conquests along the way, they still felt great pressure, and the whole team had to recuperate immediately after crossing the cold Rhine River from the southwestern part of the Holy Roman Empire.

Although there was no radio in this era, the regime of Louis XIII, which was easily accessible and kept an eye on the situation in Central Europe, reacted quickly. Almost as soon as the army crossed the Rhine, it was tempted by hundreds of surprise attacks. With the violence and accuracy of firearm fire, and even the use of loaded ammunition by artillery, these reconnaissance enemy forces were routed from a great distance. But on the third day of crossing the Rhine from the south, the children in the hot air balloons who had taken off to reconnoiter began to detect the cavalry that had gathered in the distance, and even the vanguard before the cavalry.

Under such circumstances, Xiao Xuan had to rely on the reconnaissance advantage to transfer as much as possible during the day, and always look for a suitable battle record to prepare for a decisive blow to the enemy. Soon, the French army group gathered in the area of Chalons gradually increased to as many as 100,000 men, and gathered from many directions. A choice was suddenly placed in front of Xiao Xuan at this time: should he first concentrate on a decisive battle with the attacking enemy army of about 100,000 people, or would it be better to break them all? Through a series of previous encounters, Xiao Xuan finally chose to take the initiative to launch a decisive battle against those French troops, so as to avoid too many forces from escaping as a formation. Especially when facing an opponent with strong forces, the effective combat time will not be too long, and it is necessary to take risks to destroy the opponent as soon as possible.

(End of chapter)