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Next, the coalition forces of the Holy Roman Empire gathered some remnants of the defeated army, and the number of troops barely reached 70,000 or 80,000. (Please remember our website to read and see) please visit. In addition, His Majesty the Emperor miraculously found it back. So the morale was a little boosted, and after asking the locals, I knew that this place is still more than 300 miles away from Budapest, and it is a small and unknown place that is not usually visited.

The Holy Roman Emperor fought for a day and a night. At this point, I was finally able to take a break. It's just that when they broke through, everyone only cared about themselves, and basically didn't grab any reloads, and they were highly nervous before, so they didn't care too much. But after a moment's pause, everyone found that their stomachs were rumbling with hunger.

However, there was no food.

As I said before, this is just a small place, and even if it is all looted, even human flesh will not be enough for the Holy Roman Emperor to have a full meal. This can be a lot of emperors and dukes, in a society with such a high feudal royal power in the East, there is a saying that the emperor is not a hungry soldier. Then the West, where the imperial power is not very high, is even more conceivable. If there is not enough food, then this group of soldiers, whose morale is not very high, may soon disperse. Only a few loyal professional units remained, as well as feudal knights.

And even if you don't talk about it. The soldiers didn't eat, they didn't have enough to eat, and they didn't have the strength to fight. What can we do if the Eastern Roman army catches up at this moment?

Of course, this worry is a bit unnecessary. Basil II feared that the persecution would be too much, and he drove the Holy Roman Empire into a desperate counterattack. If that were the case, the Eastern Roman army would have suffered heavy losses. So only a small number of lightly armed cavalry were sent to inquire about the news. The main forces celebrated the victory on the outskirts of Budapest.

But the Holy Roman Empire did not have the intelligence network of the Norman kingdom, and neither the emperor nor the dukes knew about it. So very anxious. Emperor Frederick gritted his teeth. Send out a few knights, cavalry and servants who can barely move, leave their armor and heavy equipment here, and make a cameo appearance as a horse bandit to collect food around here.

In the end, after tossing for a long time, more than a dozen small villages around were robbed. Only then did he scrape together enough food to barely feed more than 70,000 mouths for a meal. And the quality is not very good either. Even the rancid water for the animals is counted. The soldiers of the Holy Roman Empire complained one after another. There are even some people who would rather go hungry than eat this pig food.

At this moment, the emperor and the dukes listened to the complaints of the soldiers outside the camp tent, and saw some chicken and duck meat in front of them, and they had no appetite. Frederick sighed, then gestured to the other three dukes with his eyes, and said, "It is an insult that the warriors who fought valiantly for Jesus Christ should not be treated like this. ”

"Send away what we eat, Father, at least we're the last ones to use on the battlefield. Crown Prince Henry pleaded.

"Yes, yes. Albrecht from Brandenburg and Lucived also responded.

"Hmph......" Only Albrecht II of Austria was not very cooperative, and snorted coldly: "We have been treated like this, and we don't know whose fault it is in the end." ”

Hearing Albrecht say this, Frederick's face was slightly uncontrollable. He coughed twice, hoping that the other two dukes would play a round. The other two dukes, however, looked at the top of the tent as if an angel was dancing a striptease. Completely ignore the hints of His Majesty the Emperor.

"Yes, I will cut you all in the future. Frederick scolded in his heart and wanted to say something, but Albrecht II of Austria snorted coldly, stood up and walked out. Choked Frederick enough.

"Your Majesty...... This is the Duke of Austria who is still young, so it is better not to be like him. The other two dukes, however, also had good intentions to speak of Albrecht II.

The morale of the army is unstable. Frederick lived for sixty or seventy years, and it was natural to see that if he didn't do anything about it, then his history would basically end here. He still has a lot of work to do, to subdue the Pope, to become the most powerful emperor in all of Europe, to defeat all his opponents, and to truly turn the Holy Roman Empire into a powerful, unified state. ,

However, if you want to accomplish this, you must first deal with Albrecht II of Austria, the only duke who has achieved success in the civil strife of the four electors at the beginning. is his biggest opponent and obstacle. However, in order to maintain the stability of the country and the throne, Frederick had to work hard to satisfy the greed of this guy.

So, that night, Frederick called Albrecht II over, and the two sides discussed in secret and bargained for a long time. Frederick eventually had to accept Albrecht II's conditions of blackmail.

"First of all, you have to make sure I get Bohemia. Secondly, in the future, I feel that I should have a greater say in the question of the Kingdom of Hungary than the other princes. After all, it's closer to Austria. Third, there is the question of the status of the State. Bohemia had been kings, so I thought I could—"

"Don't you think you're asking too much? Is one Austria not enough to satisfy your ambitions?" asked Frederick, a little impatiently. When Albrecht said the first two demands, Frederick could listen patiently. But when Albrecht vaguely said that he would become king of Bohemia after gaining Bohemia, Frederick couldn't sit still.

The Holy Roman Empire is indeed a patchwork country. Bohemia did maintain the title of king for a long time before fully joining the empire and becoming the Electors, and it is even said that this title sometimes coexisted with the title of Holy Roman Emperor - when the Electors of Bohemia became emperors, they did not mind adding another crown to their heads.

Thus, in fact, the entire Holy Roman Empire should have had three crowns, the most important of which was the crown of the Kingdom of Germany, and the second most important was the crown of the Kingdom of Italy (excluding Southern Italy and the Papal States), which were permanent. All Holy Roman Emperors would claim to be kings of Germany and Italy at the same time. Only Bohemia is different.

So Frederick couldn't accept it.

For this old man who was nearly seventy years old and attached great importance to tradition, it would be the greatest shame for him to have a Bohemian king during his tenure. It's like being slapped in front of people all over the world.

So it has to be opposed.

"Of course not, Your Majesty. Albrecht snorted, and then said, "Just as a territory as vast as the Holy Roman Empire could not satisfy your ambitions—in fact, I have never seen a king in this world who is content with the vast territory he governs." ”

“...... The Holy Roman Empire must not have a second king. Frederick hesitated for a moment, and then said, "For Bohemia, I will give you the right to rule there, and for Hungary, if we can defeat the Greeks, I can promise you the greatest share of the spoils." But the king - that is absolutely not going to happen. I strongly disagree. ”

"Hmph...... In fact, I don't need to, as long as you're an old bastard, there's a bigger name waiting for me to fight for. Albrecht pretended to hesitate for a moment, and then showed reluctance: "Well, my majesty, I can give up my last request." ”

It is heard that Albrecht II finally made a compromise. Frederick finally breathed a sigh of relief: "Then that's it, Duke. I hope you will keep your promise and continue to pledge your allegiance to me. ”

"Of course, Your Majesty. Albrecht II said: "I have always been faithful to you. ”

In this way, the danger that was enough to collapse the entire empire at one time disappeared into nothingness. Both sides got what they wanted. And Frederick could continue to be Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire until his death.

However, the Holy Roman Empire was in the midst of a war against the Eastern Roman Empire. But it was a complete failure. Next, they were discovered by the hussars of the Eastern Romans. Then another round of attacks ensued—another defeat of the Holy Roman Empire, which had not yet fully recovered and was not at all an opponent in terms of numbers. This time it failed even worse. The army, which eventually retreated to Italy, remained less than 40,000 men.

In the face of the facts, Frederick finally gave in. He issued a statement recognizing the independence of the states of northern Italy. At the same time, all the nobles he had originally canonized were canceled, and he no longer dared to let the northern Italian city-states be responsible for all the food and salaries of the remaining remnants of the defeated army. Instead, it was transported by the Holy Roman Empire.

Of course, Frederick's concessions only ended there. As for the commander-in-chief of the coalition forces, he still thinks that Egil is not up to the task. I think it should still be held by someone who is older, has a bigger title, is more respectful and stable, such as him.

"Tsk, you still want to see my jokes. ”

Egir, who had been laughing at the jokes of the Holy Roman Empire for some time, said this to himself after receiving Frederick's statement.