The reason why the Livonian sentinels who came at a gallop called the attackers Taiping dogs rather than the Taiping army was not a kind of naked contempt, but because most of the attacking troops were white faces, private soldiers from the Lithuanian nobles who surrendered, and some mercenaries who were willing to accept the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's 'recruitment'.

After being briefly trained by the Taiping Army, these people spread like locusts to areas not controlled by the Taiping Army, led by a small number of Taiping Army squads.

The general staffing is about 100 white servant soldiers and elite musketeers of the Taiping Army in makeshift squads.

This squad of elite musketeers of the Taiping Army often consisted of two or three troops, about a dozen people, and during the battle, this group of elite musketeers of the Taiping Army would act as a supervising team to drive the white servant soldiers to charge, as long as they did not encounter a strong enemy, this group of elite musketeers of the Taiping Army would rarely go out of battle in person.

The white servant soldiers who can be sent abroad to carry out combat missions are all soldiers who have family and friends to stay in the rear and are guarded by the Taiping Army, and those helpless single soldiers will not be sent out by the Taiping Army, and they will stay in the occupied areas to serve as security guard servant soldiers, because only white servant soldiers who are concerned in the rear will not desert as deserters during the combat mission abroad.

Outside the battle, there were enemy-occupied areas everywhere, and if the white servant soldiers did succeed in escaping, the Taiping army would have no way to hunt down and punish the deserters.

This set of screening and selection was carried out in the order issued by Zhang Juzheng, and the selection of white soldiers with family and friends seemed simple, but the operation was very complicated, and once it was not done well, it was likely that some old white fritter soldiers would hire a few 'nurses' from the street to apply for expatriate assignments, trying to escape from the Taiping Army-occupied areas.

In order to prevent the loss of the young and strong population of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Zhang Juzheng has gradually established a household registration system with the cooperation of Jinyiwei, and carried out the laws and regulations of joint protection and joint sitting in the countryside.

In troubled times, the Taiping Army, as a foreign invader, had no public support, so it naturally had to use a strict system to ensure its own authority.

Some of the inhumane methods of governance that have been used in history seem cruel, but since they can be accepted by the ruling class and widely promoted, it itself shows that they have good administrative efficiency, and politicians are the most practical people, and they will not spend a lot of effort to do some useless work, unless they are used to pretend to be ......

Oh no, the style of comparison and luxury in officialdom is called, and people in ancient times couldn't get rid of the strange circle of showing off their wealth.

Hearing the shouts of the sentry, Ketler did not show the panic he should have, and turned back to the former Queen of Sweden Christina and said sonorously: "The knights of Livonia will defend the safety of His Highness with their lives!" ”

After speaking, the old man Ketler lifted his robe, and a old but well-maintained knightly armor of the Knights of the Holy Sword Order was displayed in front of everyone, he quickly turned over on his horse, pulled out his saber and shouted to the Livonian cavalry gathered around: "Brave warriors, do you remember the glory of your ancestors?!" ”

"What the holy sword points to, never retreat!"

In the frenzied cry, one by one the linen robes were lifted, and the ancient armor of the Holy Sword Knights jumped into Christina's eyes, and it was only then that she knew the true identity of the old man Ketler, the descendant of the former high-ranking of the Holy Sword Knights!

Obviously, it is not the so-called Livonian militia that has been guarding Christina and her party, but the descendants of the real Holy Sword Knights, although the Holy Sword Knights, that is, the Livonian Knights, have declined and dissipated, but their bloodlines and traditions have obviously not been smoothed out by time.

This may be the remnant of the last Knights of the Holy Sword lurking in Livonia, who have long since merged with the Livonians, becoming local nobles, merchants and celebrities, but the only thing that remains unchanged is the glorious past of the Knights of the Holy Sword that they keep in mind.

The descendants of the Knights of the Holy Sword, who followed the old man of Cutler to protect Christina, really did not give up their traditions, and there were only more than a hundred descendants, and they were all soldiers on horses, and the other soldiers on foot were ordinary Livonian militiamen, which could be regarded as the private soldiers of the old man Cutler's territory.

Of course, the private soldiers of a declining Livonian nobleman are far from being comparable to the real great nobles.

"Your Excellency Ketler, I am willing to hand over my guardian knight to your command to defend against the enemy." Christina took a few steps forward and looked firmly at the old man on his horse.

"No need, Your Highness Christina, the attacking Taiping Dog is just a group of depraved people who are willing to work for that god stick king, the real Taiping Army soldiers are only a dozen people, and Your Highness's guardian knights also have to protect your safety, once there is a battle, it is difficult for us to take care of His Highness's side, so Your Highness, your guardian knights, must stay by your side."

Christina frowned slightly, sighed and replied, "Well, the glory of God will continue to accompany the Holy Sword." ”

Ketler smiled and said nothing, and with a roar, hundreds of middle-aged men wearing the armor of the Knights of the Holy Sword with resolute faces stepped away, and at the same time, dozens of Livonian militiamen armed with spears and arquebuses hurriedly followed.

These people are the last faith of the Holy Sword Knights who have been in decline for decades, although there are many descendants of the Holy Sword Knights, but there are not many knights who really remember the glory of their ancestors and always insist on honing their skills, there are not many of them, this is not only a test of willpower, but also the persecution of economic strength, after Livonia was conquered by the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania, the once glorious Holy Sword Knights were also the Livonian Knights, most of the fiefs were deprived of everything, and the defeated Livonian Knights lost their economic base, Naturally, it will lose its cohesion and never turn over.

Until the 17th century, only an old man was left to rely on his own Weibo fiefdom, painstakingly gathering hundreds of like-minded knights to preserve the memories of the past.

If it were not for the rise of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, this die-hard element of the Holy Sword Knights would sooner or later completely dissipate in the long river of history for various reasons and become a part of the dust of history, however, the atrocities of the Taiping Army and the decline of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania made Ketler see an opportunity to regain the prestige of Livonia!