If anyone was most surprised by Wilhelm's march into Novgorod, it was the Novgorodians themselves, for they were completely unaware of the Crusader bubble...... Well, to say that you are completely unaware and completely innocent is a little too much. www.biquge.info In fact, Novgorod did profit a lot in the middle and late stages of the crusader bubble - these Novgorod Slavic businessmen did play a role in this incident.

Some of the letters collected by the Cheka were slightly trimmed on the basis of authenticity, or even taken out and used as they were.

But even so, the Novgorodians felt wronged - they were not the main messengers, and they did not have the brains to come up with such a good plan. In addition, they are not the only ones who have relied on this economic crisis to seek benefits. Even if the Polotsks want to take revenge, they should not be looking for them.

In this way, after some discussion, the Novgorod city council sent an official letter to the Polotsk city council, expressing its innocence and wrongdoing, and hoping that Polotsk would deal with the matter calmly and rationally. They are even willing to provide Polotsk with some gratuitous assistance out of humanitarian reasons.

It's obvious. Novgorod, which had just experienced the second Great Frontier War and had been badly wounded in it, did not want to experience a new one.

The city council of Polotsk, after receiving the letter from Novgorod, smiled bitterly.

"They're looking for the wrong person. One MP made such a pun.

"They don't care, though. Another MP responded - yes, now the whole thing is out of their control. It was not the city council of Polotsk that decided whether the war would continue, but the heir of the Duchy of Mystia, Wilhelm von Hereford.

In this way, after the unsuccessful summons, Novgorod sent another messenger to the White Legion, the Crusader troops, who were heading to the Novgorod-Polotsk border area. express their innocence and wrongedness. Naturally, William cut off the emissary's head. The army continued to move on - but, of course, Novgorod did not expect that a single messenger would change Wilhelm's mind. At the same time as sending emissaries, they also launched a solicitation order.

The city guard of Novgorod, several mercenary units with close ties to the merchants of Novgorod, were all recruited in the shortest possible time. In addition to this, Novgorod sent emissaries to several Khazar, Tarta and Kipchak tribes in the dependent republics. After that, it was to send emissaries to the kingdom of Kholmgard, a traditional ally of Novgorod, further east, asking for reinforcements.

The entire Novgorod war machine was set into action in the shortest possible time. Huge numbers of troops were mobilized and then marched towards the western border areas. Ready to give that "megalomaniacal" a head-on blow.

"The other side's strength is about 30,000. However, the 10,000 or so tribal soldiers, as well as Holmgard's reinforcements, probably did not make it to the first battle. What we have to deal with at the moment is a Novgorod army of about 20,000. Including more than 12,000 Novgorod mercenaries. More than five thousand city guards. There were also more than four thousand nomadic hussars. ”

At the same time as Novgorod was fully mobilized, the Cheka members, who had already infiltrated its territory, were constantly passing on information about the opponent's troop deployment, troop composition, and degree of armament. This allowed William to completely understand the enemy's situation in the shortest possible time.

In this way, in the makeshift barracks, the staff officer next to William briefed the other officers on the situation:

"The City Guard of about five thousand people. Most of them were the sons of wealthy Novgorod merchants and nobles. In addition to this, there are their retinue and their servants. These people are gorgeously dressed, noble, and have low combat effectiveness. Basically not a threat.

A mercenary force of about 12,000 is slightly combat-ready. It's not very high, though. Because they are poorly equipped. It is still stuck in the arquebus, plus the extra-long gun. The number of artillery pieces is also not enough.

Then there were the tribal cavalry—the nomadic cavalry who were good at riding, and perhaps some of them were good at riding and archery. But that's about it. Their weapons and equipment were very old and backward, and Novgorod never considered them its own. There were no salaries and no distribution of weapons and equipment. Their loyalty to Novgorod was also not very high. The will to fight is debatable. ”

"In this case, the other party is a complete rabble. After listening, one of the officers couldn't help but say this.

"A rabble?" is an apt assessment. William smiled: "They can't beat the Polotsks, they can't beat the centaur army of the Khan of Tartaria." The Crusaders could not be defeated, not even Ruthenia, which had been weakened before. The Novgorodians were not warlike. ”

Hearing William say this, the camp tent was filled with laughter, and the officers' mood immediately relaxed. Some optimists have begun to fantasize that after this battle they will be able to take Novgorod directly - the city is not too far from the Polotsk border. It's only a few days away. With just one charge, the cavalry could rush under Novgorod.

"In addition, the western side of Novgorod is flat. It is conducive to the deployment of large corps. There's no need to worry about what the other party will do...... This should be the simplest mode of warfare. Gentlemen. William concluded—"They're just a day's walk away. We have a day off today. Tomorrow march for half a day, and then set up camp. The day after tomorrow, you will be able to catch up with them. On the fourth day of the war, I could ask the Novgorodians to open their city and surrender to me. This was the end of the war. We can celebrate our victory. ”

As William's voice fell, the people finally burst into laughter - yes, simple, too simple. Compared to the hellish Second Great Border War they had experienced before, the battles and armed demonstrations in Novgorod were probably not much different.

Of course, Wilhelm looked down on the Novgorodians, but the Novgorodians did not see themselves that way. The Slavic commanders counted and found that their army numbered more than 20,000. There were also 4,000 nomadic cavalry. In addition to this, the Novgorod City Guard had a cavalry regiment with armored cavalry, two hussals with cuirass armor. Together, there were seven thousand horsemen.

At the same time, Novgorod was a wealthy commercial country, and the Slavid army had eighty artillery pieces of various types and plenty of shells. The parliament also attached great importance to the war and allocated a large amount of military money and food and grass from the budget. Enough to feed all the soldiers-

That's it. This army was armed to the teeth with high salaries, heavy cavalry and artillery. Their morale was high - at least relatively high - at least, before the confrontation with William. Just because the vast majority of officers and soldiers regard William as a soft persimmon, their morale is relatively high when it is easy to deal with.

And the reason why they regard William as an easy person to deal with is still because William's identity - the identity of the son of Duke Otto is too dazzling, and people will unconsciously overlap William with the identity of the rich second generation and the official second generation. After that, you will come to the subjective impression that "he relied on his father's reputation to support him, but in fact has no real skills".

In the case of Novgorod's weak generals and weak soldiers, and its own strength is insufficient, it has naturally become a matter of course to slander the enemy, elevate oneself, and strengthen one's own confidence...... In fact, it is not only the Novgorodians who think so. Almost the vast majority of people in the world, who have not seen William's abilities, think so. Ninety-nine percent of the people in the world can't see William's true strength.

"However, this kind of thing will soon pass. Wilhelm thought to himself: "Novgorod is just the beginning. Soon, the world will understand what I am capable of. ”

Thinking of this, William was already a little impatient.

"What are you thinking, William?" that is, while William was thinking about this, a familiar, unpleasant voice came from his side. William turned his head and saw the unpleasant face of his aunt Freya.

- Yes, she, along with a small group of Gothic knights under her command, will also take part in the war against Novgorod - and it was not only the Holy See that suffered heavy losses in the previous crusades, but also the Gothic Order and a large number of nobles, merchants, and clergy associated with the Order......

Although in the early days of the Crusades, most of the Gothic knights who fought were ambitious and desperate to rebuild the Order. But in the middle of the Crusades, when the Crusaders had annexed a large number of territories in Ruthenia and Pirm, the conservatives of the Gothic Order began to take the leap. As the crusader craze continued to rise, they finally couldn't bear it anymore and rushed to invest their troops and money and food in the crusaders...... and even in person.

Then, all these troops, wealth, and supplies were all lost. Most of the knights and nobles who went to war also died in the wilderness of Ruthenia.

The Gothic Knights are devastated.

The unwitting Gothic knights did nothing but lament the impermanence of the world and fear the centaurs of Tartaria. But as a member of the Hereford family, Freya knew much more - even though neither William nor Duke Otto told her the most important things. But Freya is not an idiot. Looking at what William did, and extrapolating a little, you can understand what exactly William did.

Freya barely held back and killed her nephew - yes, she was a member of the Hereford family. But at the same time she was also a knight of the Gothic Order. She served the Order for more than a decade. There were her colleagues, friends and comrades-in-arms, many of whom had died in Ruthenia because of William's scheme. So much so that Freya's perception of William plummeted......