In mid-December, after more than 20 years of hard work, the Norman Empire achieved its strategic goal of opening up a complete and passable passage for the transportation of strategic goods from North Germany and the Norman Empire itself to the front line in the occupied area of South Germany. /Very literary/No pop-ups in the strange book house

A road flanked by the corpses of mutineers. Those who had taken part in the revolt were forcefully and mercilessly suppressed by Egur - this was the effort of the Norman army in these twenty years. Two hussar corps, plus nearly 3,000 Eastern European cavalry from Eastern Europe, plus two corps in Northern Saxony and western Poland, for a total of 1,000 hussars, and a small number of light cavalry in Brandenburg and Hesse. In all, Egur mustered nearly fifteen thousand lightly armed cavalry.

These lightly armed cavalry may be a little worse in the frontal battle, but against the mob of light infantry, the rabble, it is very suitable. Egur scattered his gathered light cavalry in hundreds, attacking the rebels entrenched in various villages and towns. Fight skirmisher tactics with skirmishers. Almost flattened the whole of South Germany.

In addition to this, Egur also gave Luciver and Frederick a mission. Let them secure the supply routes of the coalition forces, which are two roads from North Saxony to Swabia and Bavaria in South Germany. Of course, the two dukes had to maintain only the part of the road in South Germany.

The two routes were as follows: the first ran from Hamburg, the largest fortress city in the northern part of the empire, south to Brandenburg, and then to Nuremberg. Here's one. The other was to transport supplies from Hamburg and Bremen at the same time, passing through the Hessian city of Cologne and then to Frankfurt. These larger cities have a well-developed road network between them. The military attrition of the Norman alliance could be barely maintained.

The two dukes had heard that they did not need to participate in the final, most costly frontal battle. Immediately breathed a sigh of relief. With the cooperation of the Norman hussars, the South Germans along these two routes were slaughtered and bloodied. The end is shocked a lot into.

However, while there was good news from the frontal rebellion in the northern Danube and even in Eastern Europe, Livonia, and Ukraine, the rebellion continued to grow in Austria and Bohemia. Austria, where the lord is suspicious, and Bohemia, where the mountain roads are difficult to travel and the separatist tendencies are serious. These two territories, neither of which are Frederick, a minor child can settle evenly, feichangwenxue, in fact, the titular Duke of Austria, and Duke of Bohemia, is still in the process of learning. Presiding over the government was his mother, Princess Teresa of Bohemia, Queen Mother of Austria.

This queen mother, the regent of the principality, is quite good politically and diplomatically. It also has its own set of rules economically. But militarily it is completely inadequate? And the aristocracy of Austria, which was really capable of military ability, all participated in the rebellion, and the Empress Dowager Theresa could not trust her new ally, the military generals from Norman, and even more so the famous general who had fought many wars with Bohemia, the Hungarian king Attila. For political reasons, the Empress Dowager was reluctant to involve them in counterinsurgency activities against Austria and Bohemia. So much so that the rebellion intensified and gradually lost control.

"That's really bad,......" said Egur after hearing about the situation in Austria, and Egur was a little embarrassed. Originally, it was intended that this army would attack from the flanks and attack eastern Bavaria. The Eastern Front, with a total of more than 60,000 troops, had a good chance of winning even when fighting the defenders of Munich alone. Plus the main forces of Egur. Then the Norman army has the advantage. ...,

"Stupid woman. After listening to his subordinates, Hans, the commander of the Polish Southwestern Army, and the commander of the Second Hussar Army, Ziten, who repeatedly complained about Teresa, Egur couldn't help but complain like this. The woman seemed to be terrified that the Normans would use this opportunity to usurp her rule in the two principalities. So it is better to send its own army, to send those incompetent generals, than to involve the elite generals of Norman and Hungarian.

No, or rather, not quite so. When the two generals contacted King Attila of Hungary and the three of them went together to see the Empress Teresa, expressing their concern and their willingness to participate in the war, the Empress Teresa thought for a moment and nodded in agreement—when Egur read the letter from the Norman spy and saw it, he was still nodding. But when I saw the next sentence, I was so angry that I almost ran out.

Empress Theresa agreed to the Norman and Hungarian armies joining the counterinsurgency in Austria and Bohemia - but the two Norman generals, and even a Hungarian king, were to obey the orders of her generals.

"Who does she think she is?!Trying to command my army?!And Hungary, Attila is a king anyway-she's not even a duke?!" Egur scolded angrily. I almost wanted to let the Eastern Route Army ignore those bastards and continue to the west, into the Bavarian plateau, to attack Bavaria.

But no.

Back road, supply line. This was a very important condition for the march, and even more so for the professional troops of the Norman Empire. If the supply lines could not be maintained, the hussars would barely be able to raid and fight. However, the combat effectiveness of infantry, heavy cavalry, which needs more supplies to maintain, as well as long-range units such as bows and crossbows, guns and cannons, cannot be guaranteed.

"Let's do it for now. In desperation, Egur wrote a mildly worded letter to Regent Teresa - the reason for this was that Egur didn't want to push the guy into a hurry at such a critical juncture. Then push Austria into the camp of the Holy See opposite. If that happens, it's a big joke. And the outcome of the 40,000 Eastern Route troops trapped in Austria is not guaranteed.

"Damn it. I knew that I shouldn't have given that woman any chance. A direct attack would be fine. Otherwise, where did you get so much trouble. Egur sighed with emotion, and at the same time gave up his plan to use the Eastern Route Army—and now the two major powers of Northern Italy, Milan and Venice, had all been rebelled against him. Therefore, even if only his direct forces were used, plus the Norman troops of the Middle Route Army, they could have a numerical advantage over the Holy See army. So -- there's only one thing he's going to do now.

"Take the initiative! Cross the Danube and attack Bavaria in an all-out way!" On December 25, after receiving information from various sources and making a comprehensive judgment, Egur made this decision. With an upright army of 140,000 troops, he marched south and destroyed the state of Bavaria. In this way, whether it is the Holy See crossing the Alps in the harsh winter, or waiting for the next year, when the spring flowers bloom, he will wave his army south. can take the initiative. The outcome of this war was thus decided.

However, there was a small problem here - when Egur led the army to the north bank of the Danube, neither the rushing water nor the large chunks of ice awaited him. Rather, on both banks, in the middle of the river, there is a large amount of ice floes, and the river has only a thin film of ice on the surface of the river.

In this case, it is impossible to cross it by boat or on foot, and it is not even possible to build a pontoon bridge.

"Damn it. Egur, dressed in a white fox fur, couldn't help but frown when he got to the surface of the river and took a closer look. At the same time, he turned his face to Sonia and Nemulis, and asked, "Is there any place where I can cross the Danube on foot?" asked Egur. ...,

"Yes, the lord & the lord enters. Almost at the same time, the two spy chiefs said something similar at the same time.

"Nemulis. So Egur quickly chose the less heartfelt one. To appease him a little in such a small matter can be regarded as a small skill mastered by the emperor.

"Yes, my lord. Saying the same thing again, the corners of Nemulis's mouth turned up slightly: "Twenty kilometers to the east of the army, there is a place where the water is narrow. There is a stone bridge for passage there. It's just that the Bavarian army placed quite a few garrisons there. And there were simple fortifications.

"That's it. Egur nodded, and then looked at Sonya: "That's right, about fifty kilometers west of the army, there is a shoal. You can spend it. However, according to the spies, the enemy has set up an ambush there. The number is about two thousand. ”

"One light and one dark, one loose and one tight. Oh, that's pretty smart. Egur said this, I don't know whether it was a compliment or a mockery. Immediately after that, I had an idea. Turning around and jumping back on horseback, he ordered in such a loud voice: "All the army, advance twenty kilometers to the east!"

Across the river, the Bavarian scouts, having detected the Norman army's eastward advance, immediately returned to report to Duke Henry.

"So o...... It seems that the enemy is preparing to take advantage of the superiority of forces to force the river......" After receiving the report, Henry, Duke of Bavaria, judged. Then he turned around and asked Wallenstein, his thinker, "Then you see, are we going to withdraw the three thousand people from the west here to strengthen our defenses?" ”

"I'm afraid not. Wallenstein thought for a moment, then shook his head: "The other party is the cunning emperor." You can't relax in the slightest when playing against him. If the other side chooses to attack openly, but secretly organizes troops to sneak across the river from that shoal, and then attack from the flank, we are in danger!"

(To be continued)