85_85536 William had no choice but to collect all kinds of old rags everywhere. Broken pieces of iron, iron sand, iron nails, and some unneeded scrap utensils of broken copper and iron, rusty weapons and equipment, all of them. Camouflage shotguns with these things.

And after testing, the lethality of this scrap copper and iron forged shotgun is unexpectedly good. For targets without armor protection, it can basically be killed with one hit. Moreover, the flare-shaped barrel that William criticized also indirectly expanded the killing range and killing area. As long as it is loaded with enough scrap copper and black powder propellant, this small copper cannon can kill all targets within a sector of 30 meters away and an arc length of 15 meters.

Of course, for units with heavy armor, William didn't think it could be of much use.

"But if you think about it, you can also know, how can a homeless person have heavy armor, hahahahaha...... That's ridiculous, isn't it?" thought to William.

In this way, William and Charlumi made all the effort they could. The entire Chersk county completed the initial mobilization. It has 200 private soldiers who are equipped and trained, and more than 300 peasant soldiers who can be distanced at any time. There were also 2,000 to 3,000 poorly armed peasant soldiers and town guards throughout the territory.

The defense of the Chersk Castle has already been arranged. At the same time, William also inspected the fortification of the castle. Chelsk Castle, surrounded by water on three sides, the only thing that needs to be noticed is its front. On the other hand, the castle has a wall of 80 centimeters in front, which is enough to withstand the attack of most enemies.

Even more than ten years ago, during the period of the Great Border War, those centaurs, the regular army of the Tartarya Khanate, did not take advantage of the attack on the front of the Chersk Castle. In the end, with the help of warships, the elite human heavy infantry troops were transported to the sandy beaches on three sides around the water, and then besieged on all sides, and exhausted the castle's food reserves, so that the castle was barely defeated.

The autumn harvest had just been the other day, and the castle was stocked with enough grain. Surrounded by water on three sides, the Vistula River has enough water to provide a source of water. William couldn't think of any reason why the castle couldn't hold on.

"That way, you don't have to be afraid of people or anything like that. William, who had been busy for several days, felt that he could finally relax...... It's just that when he saw the new news sent by the rangers, that little bit of light-hearted mood disappeared again.

In the surrounding territories, there were also incidents of nobles being assassinated. Some of them succeeded, and some failed. However, both success and failure increased tensions in the Grand Duchy of Mazovia.

The nobles watched each other vigilantly, observing their neighbors and their courtiers. And the territories of the nobles who were hung up were naturally chaotic.

What is surprising is that these hanging nobles all lack suitable heirs and have some problems in inheritance. After these people died, their territories were naturally fighting for succession. At the same time, this kind of brawl has also attracted the covetousness of the surrounding neighbors. Some of them are entangled with the deceased, and there are some ambiguities in the territory. Or the nobles who thought they were also qualified to inherit those territories, after getting the news, they were ready to let go and do a big job.

Natural disasters were mixed together, making the chaos in the Grand Duchy of Mazovia even more severe.

"I'm afraid that someone is really behind this, trying to disrupt the principality...... Well, the purpose of his doing this is ......" William, after getting the news, began to think like this - there are now a large number of Slavians under his command, and there are three forces.

One of them is the Kingdom of Ruthenia, located in northeastern Mazovia. One is the Kingdom of Holmgard in the north of the Kingdom of Ruthenia. The third, from the east and southeast, surrounded the Tartarian Khanate of Mazovia. The Khanate had two vassal states, Pirm, and Volga Bulgaria, whose kings were all Slavians.

Kingdom of Holmgard, which has no territorial border with Mazovia. At the same time, William knew that the commercial and cultural atmosphere in this kingdom was relatively strong. On the other hand, they are less interested in military affairs and expansion. They have no reason to shoot at Mazovia.

...... Both the Ruthenians and the centaurs of Tartaria have a reason to do something to us. The Mazovians fought more than once with both countries.

However, William felt that it was the Tartariya Khanate that was more likely to do this. In terms of national strength alone, the Centaur Khanate was much stronger than Mazovia and Ruthenia combined. And the centaurs are always looking to expand their territory. What's more, half a year ago, William experienced the kidnapping of Princess Elise by the centaurs. So there is a more intuitive feeling about the ambition of the centaur.

Compared with the decline of the country, the territory is half smaller than in its heyday. Sandwiched between Holmgard and Tartaria on the north and south sides, Ruthenia is like a steamed bun filling. The domineering and ambitious Centaur Khanate is naturally more likely to plot a grand conspiracy against Mazovia.

"In other words, it is possible that the other party will enter Komazovia this winter?!" William was taken aback by his idea. Then he immediately found Xia Lumi, and told her all his speculations.

Although his status is much higher than William. But Xia Lumi naturally still doesn't know what to do about this matter. Hearing what William said was so scary, Xia Lumi panicked at that time.

"What should I do then?" asked Charlumie.

"During the Great Border War that year, the Wende Kingdom, when its national power was in its heyday, only barely fought a draw with Tartaria. If it weren't for the follow-up Gothic Empire reinforcements, a steady stream of incoming. Then it is very likely that the Tartarya Khanate will be overturned in the later stages of the war.

Now, the situation is completely different. The system of electing the emperor that made William quite slanderous made it impossible for the Ostrogothic Empire to always exist as a whole political entity. The excessively separatist tendencies in the empire, and the overpower of the feudal princes, made the current emperor, King Karl IV of Franconia, currently able to control only the two kingdoms of Franconia and Lombardy. The other empire territories were either semi-independent or controlled by foreign monarchs......

The whole empire is in such a fragmentation. There is no longer the ability to gather all the forces, organize the whole army, and fight to the death against the Tartariya Khanate.

The power of the Gothic Empire, it seems, is impossible to leverage. Correspondingly, the power of the Wende Kingdom was also unable to be fully exerted.

As mentioned before, the many kingdoms within the empire, in addition to those who obey the emperor's orders, those who are in an independent state, and those who are controlled by foreign monarchs, there is also a third state, and the Wende Kingdom belongs to this "third state", that is, "fragmented".

Worse than other kingdoms. The kingdom of Wende does not even have a king who can unify the power of the entire kingdom. The kingdom is currently divided into four grand duchies: Mazovia, Shilonsk, Turov and Livonia. Hostile to each other. It is also extremely difficult to get them to unite and unite against Tartaria.

"In other words, there's a good chance we're going to be alone. And there is a good chance that they will be defeated by the centaurs of Tartaria. After all, they have a large, unified empire, while we have only a fragmented kingdom. Even in the Duchy of Mazovia, we may not be able to fully mobilize the forces. ”

That's what William said to Charlumie. He is pessimistic about the future, most likely, a war with the centaurs. He believed that there was a good chance of losing the war. Or rather, there is a high probability of failure.

"So, what should we do?" Hearing William's words so terrifying, Charlumi was naturally scared.

"Do what you can and then be mentally prepared. William replied, "I looked it up." Under Tartaria, the lives of the human nobility practically did not change much. It even said......"

At this point, William wisely kept his mouth shut.

"Even said...... What?"

"It didn't even happen as if it could have happened. As long as we're smart enough, and slick enough. William thought for a moment, then changed the next half of the sentence a little, and then said.

He didn't say like some idiot, after saying that he had slipped his mouth, he said without three hundred taels of silver: "Nothing." "Because it's counterproductive.

And adding a plausible sentence like this can have an excellent disguise effect. Sure enough, after Xia Lumi said "oh" as if she didn't understand, she didn't ask about it anymore.

William breathed a sigh of relief. Then he said, "Then I'll write a letter to my father." In addition to this, in your own voice, write directly to His Excellency, informing His Excellency of all that we know and what we have analyzed. After that, it will depend on the determination and means of His Excellency the Grand Duke. ”。