It's the crisp autumn season in the Eastern European steppes. The sky was cloudless, blue like a blue silk that covered the entire sky. Beneath the sky, there is an endless grassland, showing the color of gold, this is a rich grassland, and the golden pasture grows on the most fertile black soil. If managed well, it can give birth to a rich, prosperous and powerful agricultural civilization.

But now, there are only endless barren grasslands. Not to mention the farmland, you can't even see a few cattle and sheep. If it weren't for the fact that a fairly large army was crossing this grassland, this place would probably be no different from the wild world before the birth of mankind.

This huge army came from the east and headed west, consisting of cavalry, infantry, artillery, baggage men, and countless cattle and sheep that accompanied the army.

The main force of them were warriors with an eastern face on horseback, all of them were two- or three-horseed, black leather armor or silver fish-scale armor and chain mail forged with iron wire carefully bandaged and carried by the auxiliary horses. The warriors wore Mongolian-style leather robes, which were not the same colors, white, yellow, blue, and red, and some had strips of cloth of different colors sewn on the cuffs, neckline, and hem. They carried scimitars, bows and arrows, shields and spears, while some carried huge shields or a rather heavy arquebus. These people are the so-called Mongolian Eight Bannermen, which are a new military group formed by Kublai Khan following Liu Xiaoyuan's suggestion to break up the tribes and tribes of his followers before marching into Europe. I don't know if it's the providence in the dark, this military group that refers to the Eight Banners of Chen Ji seems to be almost the same as the Manchurian soldiers who are said to be invincible in the later generations.

Of course. They are also the first generation of Eight Banners! It's not the Eight Flags Master who carried a cage in a café in Paris hundreds of years later and blew his ancestors. Their combat effectiveness is still quite strong, and they have withdrawn from the Central Plains since they fought. All the way to the west, I walked tens of thousands of miles without encountering an opponent. Now it is Kublai Khan's biggest reliance on his invasion of Europa!

But. With these Eight Banners alone, Kublai Khan, the future Great Khan of Europa and the suzerainty of Christianity, did not have the confidence that he would be able to set foot on Europa. After all, the number of these Eight Banners is limited. There are only 200,000 in total, and after deducting the 40,000 old men who protect their families and banner slaves, there are only 160,000 who can really go into battle, and even if you add the 30,000 Golden Horde cavalry sent by the Golden Horde Nahai to help in the battle, it will be 190,000 -- such a small number of people can not help but consume.

Now Kublai Khan is facing the same problems as when he was in the Central Plains! The army is too small to fight a war of attrition. Not to mention the exchange ratio of less than one to one. Even if one to ten goes to exchange lives with the Europa, and the other party dies one or two million, it will also drain the blood of the Mongolian Eight Banners.

Fortunately, the Mongols on the expedition to Europa also have cannon fodder servant armies available!

Walking ahead of the Mongol Eight Banners and the Golden Horde cavalry were the soldiers of the Europa Great Green Banner, composed of Lithuanians and Rus' - in fact, there was no such thing, because the Eight Banners were a military group that integrated military and government, military and civilian, not a simple army. And these Europa servants with cyan flags are only soldiers and no people. It's just mercenaries who collect money to fight. And there were soldiers - eighteen Grand Dukes of Rus' and eleven Lithuanian princes each recruited a group of infantry, numbering about three or four thousand, armed with spears, swords, shields, and bows and arrows. There are a total of twenty-nine alliance Europa vassals, with a total strength of nearly 100,000!

The salaries of these soldiers were paid in advance by their respective princes. However, Kublai Khan allowed the armies of these princes to participate in looting after breaking through the cities of Europa, which of course had to be robbed, and Kublai Khan would not and did not need to make his army into a righteous army without committing any crimes, but the robbery had to be carried out in moderation. You can't slaughter the city after you have robbed it.

In addition to Rus', Lithuanian mercenaries, the cavalry of the Golden Horde and Kublai Khan's own Eight Banners. There are also 30,000 or 40,000 herders who are moving with the army. They were all herders from the nomadic tribes of the Kipchak steppe, although they were all armed with bows and arrows. But it was not the warriors, but the herdsmen who were responsible for driving more than two million head of cattle and sheep, most of which had been requisitioned from the Golden Horde and the Rus' states, and half of which had been brought by Kublai Khan's men and horses all the way from the land of the Three Rivers, which were the food and forage for the vast army of this march.

In the middle of the huge marching procession was a convoy of dozens of huge carriages. The horses pulling the cart are fat and strong, and the oil and water are smooth. The cavalry guarding the convoy on horseback were all cavalrymen dressed in fish-scale iron armor, and the polished iron armor was shiny by the sun, and the reflection was dazzling and eye-catching. Needless to say, these people were Kublai Khan's personal guards, and the original cowardly Xue army is now known as the elite of the Zhengbai Banner. They were firmly guarded by Kublai Khan and his closest courtiers and concubines.

……

Several fast horses galloped in, all of them were cavalry from the Golden Horde, and they didn't know where they came from, all of them were sweating profusely and panting. Coming straight in the direction of Kublai Khan's Daxu, a few cowardly white flag soldiers met him and gave the right order, and then asked a few words, and one of the white flag waistcoats rode towards Kublai Khan's oversized carriage - this carriage was dragged by dozens of horses, with ten wheels on each side, and there was no way to turn at all. Above the wheels is a huge square platform with a yurt on top of it. The yurt is very comfortable, with a thick blanket and a fire, and it is as warm as summer.

Kublai Khan sat cross-legged on top of the Hu bed, surrounded by a few Eastern and Western stunning, rubbing shoulders and knocking legs, and some people kept stuffing food into the mouth of the Great Khan. Liu Bingzhong, Yao Shu, Shang Ting, Lian Xixian, Zhang Wenqian, Yeluzhu and other Confucian ministers, as well as Baturu, Moge, Boyan, Wuliang Hetai, Aibuhua and other important generals, as well as several adult sons of Kublai Khan, the crown prince Namuhan, Anxi Wang Busy Gela, Anbei Wang Hu Gechi and a few other brothers. All accompanied Kublai Khan to drink and feast here, and was drinking to the head, when suddenly the curtain of the big tent was opened, and a cool breeze came in, and then the white flag Dutong Antong strode in.

"Great Khan," An Tong saluted Kublai Khan, who was drinking, "Nahai Khan sent someone to report that the Europa coalition army had set out from Krako City and marched along the Vistula River, and it was estimated that they would set up a fortress west of the Vistula River to block the Great Khan's heavenly soldiers." ”

"How many of them are there?" Kublai Khan waved his hand, asked the beauties around him to hide aside, and then began to inquire about the military situation.

"It is said that there are a million people!" An Tong replied. "The Great French King of Europa, Silicus, summoned the Crusaders, Louis the King of Flynn, and Alphons, the Great Khan of the Holy Romans, all raised troops in response, and it is said that there were also Tyrant troops from the Atlantic Ocean to help in the battle, and the momentum was very huge!"

"Claiming to be a million, then Hai Khan estimates that the real number of people will not be less than 500,000?"

"Are there really that many?"

"That's great!"

"When Europa's elite is exhausted, we can gather them together in Briel!"

"After destroying these 500,000 people, who else in Europa would dare to fight against our Great Mongolia?"

When the civil and military forces in the big tent heard the number "500,000", instead of being worried, their eyebrows fluttered one by one. Although the army they led was only 320,000 herdsmen.

Kublai Khan's face also showed joy, and he was not worried about the Europa gathering their army in one place - how the Europa fought the war, of course he had already inquired from the Nahai Khan and the Roman Khan. It's basically a swarm of knight charges! Although the arrival of the Ming will bring some advanced tactics and weapons. But it takes time to digest these advanced tactics and weapons. Didn't it take the Mongols many years to really master the H medicine weapon after they acquired it?

"Good!" Kublai Khan slapped his face and laughed, "This is half the story." If the Europa had camped their armies in the mountains and cleared the plains, and had not fought a decisive battle with me, delayed for time, and trained new troops, I might not have been able to defeat Europa. But they don't know whether they live or die, and they want to fight with me with 500,000 rabble, which is really the way to die. The commanders of the three armies will not know the soldiers! This battle is bound to be a big victory! ”

……

"The decisive battle is in the winter, when the Vistula River freezes, and it is time for our Christian crusaders to defeat the Mongol barbarians!"

At this moment, in the middle reaches of the Vistula River, in a town called Varsava. The two giants of the Eighth Crusade, King Louis IX of France and Holy Roman Emperor Alphonse I, finally had a historic meeting.

Of course, the two had met in the past, but Alphonse I was not yet Holy Roman Emperor at that time.

After a brief pleasantries, Louis IX and Alphonse I, known to the Europa people at the time as the Christian kings, and other important generals of the Crusaders began to discuss the battle in front of an unfolded map.

"That's right, when the Vistula River freezes, the Mongols will definitely cross it." Alphonse I's judgment of the timing of the decisive battle was the same as that of Louis IX. It was already autumn, and by the time the Mongols arrived, it must have been late autumn. They only have to wait a while for the Vistula River to freeze.

"The decisive battle is in winter!" Chief of the Teutonic Order, Hannon. Feng. Sangerhausen, who had experience fighting the Mongols, said, "It was not expected that the Mongols would take the initiative to attack our large battalion, that they would cross the river somewhere else, and then quickly pounce on Krakow, draw us in pursuit, and then suddenly turn around and engage us." Their cavalry could act as both light and heavy horsemen, and one cavalryman was often accompanied by several horses. Our knights move slowly, and it is difficult to catch up with them. Unless we can restrain their movements, it will be difficult for the knights to defeat the Mongol cavalry......"

"Then we will take the initiative and start a decisive battle with the Mongols east of the river before the Vistula River freezes!" Chen Chongguan, who served as the emperor's adviser, put forward his long-brewing proposal at this time, "Use infantry, artillerymen, musketeers, longbowmen, and dismounted knights to line up!" (To be continued......)