After seeing the envoy, Boyan returned to the dormitory and said to Princess Maria, "I am going to send reinforcements to Serbia. ”

"Wouldn't that be sending a lot of troops?" The husband brought it up before Mary dared to discuss it.

"Your brother isn't as bad as you think. The people of the Song Kingdom are much more treacherous than you think. Boyan sighed.

Princess Mary was surprised. She rarely heard Boyan talk about the Song Kingdom and the Song people, even if the Great Song Dynasty was already an existence that Boyan couldn't avoid at all, Boyan would not talk about the Song people themselves. 'Cunning' is certainly not a good intention, but it is a kind of talk. This was a rare occurrence that surprised Mary.

Then she felt that something wasn't quite right. The cunning Song people were not so badly connected with the Eastern Roman Emperor, could it be that the situation had changed dramatically? Thinking of this, Princess Maria fell silent for a while, her relationship with that half-brother was very ordinary, better than ordinary strangers, nothing more.

When she was a princess in the Ilkhanate, Maria received letters from her father who were 'asking for help, asking for help, asking for help'. When she was widowed and returned to the Eastern Roman Empire, she was completely waiting for Boyan to send someone to pick her up, and she never went out. With such an impression, she really couldn't imagine what kind of great feats that emperor brother could do. It's even so bad that Boyan can break his habit of talking about the Song people.

Boyan didn't think about what his wife thought, he was thinking about national politics. His wife never asked in his ear to help his mother's family, which made Boyan very relaxed. At this time, Boyan was in a very good mood to be able to help his wife's maiden family and achieve things for his beloved wife that she didn't dare to mention. Hearing that his wife was concerned about the interests of the Western Roman Empire, he continued: "Your brother wants to send 20,000 expeditionary troops, and our side only needs to send 10,000 people to fight across the border. ”

"Attack Serbia with 20,000 mercenaries?" Mary has been running around with Boyan over the years, and has learned some knowledge about the use of soldiers. Moreover, most of the mercenaries of the Eastern Roman Empire were Turkic and true gods, and it was okay to deal with people of the Cross religion at home, but it was unreliable to deal with true gods, barbarians, and fierce enemies. Let them run thousands of miles away to conquer the Serbian barbarians......

"Your Majesty, can you win?" Princess Mary asked tentatively, her tone full of reminders.

"Twenty thousand people are regulars. Not the Nordic Guards, but the regular army of the Eastern Romans! Boyan recounted the situation.

"Haha......" Mary laughed dumbly. The Eastern Romans were willing to serve as soldiers...... After she married Boyan, the quality of the joke could be firmly ranked in the top five.

If the head of the Serbian family Dušan had heard Maria's words at this time, he would have agreed. At this time, His Excellency Dušan, who had already proclaimed himself king of Serbia, was preparing to send troops with a simple and easy-to-understand mobilization slogan, "Defeat the Greeks and go to Athens." ”

Hearing this slogan, the generals below cheered. From this slogan, it is easy to understand why the Eastern Romans regarded Serbia as a barbarian, and the scholars and priests of Constantinople were able to tell the history of Rome for almost 2,000 years. Eastern Rome may have been Hellenistic, but Eastern Rome was never Greek.

This knowledge was of no meaning to the Serbs, and Lord Dušan and his generals felt that the east was the territory of Greece, and that the Greeks came from the east. The Greeks, the Romans, and the Eastern Romans seemed to them to be no different, and their judgment of the world was simple and clear, friend or foe. The use of the phrase Greeks already shows that the Serbs made a distinction between their enemies, and that Greeks is a word they use to distinguish their enemies, meaning 'weak enemy'.

Blow the horn and beat the drums of war. His Excellency Duchamp led his men on a journey, and as soon as he reached the door, he saw one of the captives in a cage outside the door shouting, "Okay, give me something to eat." ”

The exotic accent caught the attention of His Excellency Duchamp, and the captives' clothes looked quite shiny, and he asked, "Where did these people come from?" ”

The general next to him went to inquire about the guards and came back to report, "They are Venetians." ”

Now His Excellency Duchamp remembered that a few days ago a Venetian had come to seek cooperation, and he sent him down. Unexpectedly, his subordinates would treat them as ordinary prisoners and put them in a prisoner cage at the gate of the castle for people to watch and amuse. His Excellency Duchamp smiled and said, "Give them something to eat, don't starve them to death." After saying that, he urged the horse forward.

After three days of marching, the horses came back to report that the Eastern Roman army was two days away from the east, and Dušan ordered his troops to set up camp and prepare to meet the enemy. As soon as the generals gathered after the tent was raised, someone immediately asked for battle, "Your Majesty, let me lead my headquarters to the Greeks to meet the head-on attack." ”

With the current level of education in Serbia, there is no habit of using a lowly name to keep peace. The name of His Excellency Duchamp's general, translated into Chinese, is 'Iron Bull'. In Serbia, iron is very expensive, cattle are very valuable, and the name 'iron bull' really smacks of 21st century local tycoons.

Different from the local arrogance of the name, the 'Iron Bull' general is resolute and decisive, closer to the essence of the Iron Bull. In the war with the Bulgarians, General Tie Niu often took on the errand of surprise attacks and made great achievements. His Excellency Duchamp ordered: "Don't fall in love with the battle, come back quickly after the surprise attack is successful." ”

"Yes!" General Tie Niu responded happily, and then the soldiers and horses roared away.

His Excellency Duchamp continued to convene the meeting. From the point of view of the terrain, the place where they are now stationed is the most suitable for the Serbian army to fight, it is a pass, and there is a small river on the mountain, which is suitable for stationing. In front of the pass is a relatively flat area, providing an area for frontal engagement. Further on, there is a mountain road that leads to the area where the Greeks were. The terrain on the side of the Greeks was similar to that of the Serbian army, only in the opposite direction. Suitable for the Greeks to be stationed.

As a result of the discussion, the troops rested for a day, and when the Iron Bull General returned from victory, the troops went to challenge the Greeks.

Take a day off, without waiting for General Iron Bull to return. The guards around the camp spotted the tracks of the Greeks scouting horses. When the Serbian horses returned, they said that the Greeks had set up camp and continued to set out for the Serbian army. After deliberation, His Excellency Duchamp and others felt that General Tie Niu should have discovered this situation and postponed the raid. This is very much in line with General Iron Bull's improvisational style. If General Iron Bull can capture the pass that the Greeks now occupy, he can form an encirclement of the Greeks. Once you've defeated your enemies head-on, you can drive them out and annihilate them in one fell swoop.

The next day, the Greeks did come to the pass and challenge, and there were 10,000 or 20,000 men. His Excellency Duchamp immediately sent troops to meet the enemy, and the two sides set up a position, that is, they cursed the formation. The sound coming from the front of the Greeks sounded like a bird's cry to the Serbian army, who did not know Greek or Latin. Instead, the vulgar witticism of Serbian scolding caused bursts of laughter in the Serbian army.

The wife of the Greek captive knelt in front of the Serbian army in order to be allowed to visit the captured Greeks, and the joke of serving Lord Dušan made him laugh.

After the atmosphere was relaxed, His Excellency Duchamp gave the order for war. The scolding men immediately retreated into the formation, and with high fighting spirits, the Serbian front army commanded by General Stone was dispatched. The Greeks were still the same, and sent pikemen to meet them, and the two sides soon began to poke at each other.

The pair poked for about ten minutes, and the Greeks were not overwhelmed. His Excellency Duchamp was not surprised. He didn't like to underestimate the enemy, and the Greeks who could run here to engage the Serbian army could not be weak chickens who were about to be crushed at the touch of a button. A stronger army that wants to crush them.

Sure enough, the striker saw that the poke was ineffective, and immediately lined up with axe men. Tomahawks were used by the strongest soldiers in the Serbian army, who joined the battle line and cut down many of the Greeks' spears, and the Greeks had to start retreating.

"Tsk! There was no chaos! His Excellency Duchamp was genuinely surprised.

The Greeks had taken a very clever formation, and when the front row could not hold up, they retreated backwards, passing through the rear row of troops like gravel falling through the cracks between the stones. The rear row was not in any disorder, although some of the Greeks who were unable to retreat quickly were killed by the axe men in front of the second row of Greek pikemen, and the second row of Greek pikemen still fought with the axe men. No matter how brave the axemen were, they could not break through such a line at once, and after a stalemate of battles, they were able to suppress the second column of Greeks.

When fighting against the third column of Greeks, the axe soldiers were a little overwhelmed by the physical exertion. Under the dense barrage of spears, they were forced to retreat after a while.

"Werewolf, it's your turn!" Duchamp said.

The general's name next to him literally translates to 'werewolf' in Chinese. Upon hearing the order, he was immediately ordered to go. The werewolves' subordinates were all axemen, and the Serbian pikemen could not overwhelm the Greek pikemen in the battle.

As soon as General Stone's subordinates were replaced, General Stone rode back to His Excellency Duchamp, "King, those Greeks are wearing chain mail, and it's not easy to deal with!" ”

Lord Duchamp understood why his pikemen could not win. Having armor naturally has a great advantage over non-armor, and when poking, the side with armor can have a lot less dodge, and directly poke the Serbian army without armor. The Serbian army had to find ways to protect itself while assassinating the enemy, and could not fully exert its combat effectiveness.

"Pass the order!" His Excellency Duchamp shouted to his guards: "Whoever moves forward bravely, the battle will be divided into the chain mail of the Greeks!" ”

The guards took the order, and His Excellency Duchamp, who was located on a high place, looked at the two armies fighting on the battlefield, the number of Greeks on the opposite side must be close to 20,000, and it was common sense to send armored troops at the beginning of the engagement, if the front army was defeated once, it would crush its own ranks on this terrain. There were 20,000 men on the opposite side, and the Greeks could not equip all their armies with armor.

The axe soldier relied on heavy weapons, and the axe could not cut through the chain mail, but it could break the bones and tendons of the armor-piercing Greeks. So the axemen were able to suppress the pikemen.

"Report!" At this time, another probe came and knelt on the ground to report, "King, General Duran, who was sent out to outflank, has been blocked. ”

His Excellency Duchamp was unhappy, and he had previously sent three armies of men and horses around the mountains to attack from elsewhere. If you can disrupt the front of the Greeks, you can deal with them like chopping melons and vegetables. Now the way is blocked, which shows that the Greeks are well prepared.

Not long after, two other groups of men and horses also sent people to report that the Greeks had made preparations at the junction, and they could not break through the Greeks' blockade. This time, Lord Duran didn't say anything, just looked at the battlefield. The pikemen of the Greeks put up desperate resistance, using the retreat to drain the strength of the axe men. When the axe men could not maintain the offensive, they used the length of the spears to counter-pressure back, and they effectively maintained the battle line.

The elite led by the werewolf general was tired and could no longer attack. As far as the experience of His Excellency Duchamp is concerned, it is necessary to deal with the Greeks in one go, and thinking of this, he ordered, "General Turtledove is on the left, General Fox is on the right, Duslan is in command of the middle army, and the whole army is pressing!" ”

At the sound of the trumpet, the werewolf general led the axe men to retreat. The Greeks did not take the opportunity to retreat, and the pikemen moved forward in whole formations, occupied part of the battlefield, and maintained the battle line. It can be seen that they still have the will to fight. This caused a faint uneasiness in His Excellency Duran's heart. He had never seen such a Greek, and didn't these people drink double spirits before the war, but drank them openly and casually?

Thinking of this, His Excellency Duchamp ordered again, "Tell the generals to give double spirits after this battle!" ”

When the news reached the army, the morale of the Serbian army was greatly boosted, and everyone cheered. The drums of war sounded, and the Serbian army rushed forward like a torrent. Condescendingly, Lord Duchamp saw the Greek spearmen gradually retreat under the onslaught, still barely resisting with the help of chain mail and spears.

After another battle, the Greek pikemen suddenly retreated when they heard the drums of the Greeks in their array. Lord Duchamp did not think that the Greeks had collapsed, and there was no sign of this. Then he saw patches of silver flash in the array, like the bright sunlight reflected by the wind on a summer lake.

In a few moments, a large group of Greeks dressed in bright armor and wielding bright battle axes rushed towards them.

At the sound of the trumpet, the werewolf general led the axe men to retreat. The Greeks did not take the opportunity to retreat, and the pikemen moved forward in whole formations, occupied part of the battlefield, and maintained the battle line. It can be seen that they still have the will to fight. This caused a faint uneasiness in His Excellency Duran's heart. He had never seen such a Greek, and didn't these people drink double spirits before the war, but drank them openly and casually?

Thinking of this, His Excellency Duchamp ordered again, "Tell the generals to give double spirits after this battle!" ”

When the news reached the army, the morale of the Serbian army was greatly boosted, and everyone cheered. The drums of war sounded, and the Serbian army rushed forward like a torrent. Condescendingly, Lord Duchamp saw the Greek spearmen gradually retreat under the onslaught, still barely resisting with the help of chain mail and spears.

After another battle, the Greek pikemen suddenly retreated when they heard the drums of the Greeks in their array. Lord Duchamp did not think that the Greeks had collapsed, and there was no sign of this. Then he saw patches of silver flash in the array, like the bright sunlight reflected by the wind on a summer lake.

In a few moments, a large group of Greeks dressed in bright armor and wielding bright battle axes rushed towards them.