Otto didn't expect that Bishop Jason to be so breathless.

Didn't you just take some of the regional churches, kill some priests, confiscate some property, and send out all the church knights so early?

Yes, I know you're in a hurry, but don't be in such a hurry.

The point is, when you send out the knights of the church, can you not get involved with the army of the Saxon nobles, all your actions are so open, for fear that others will not know that you have colluded, right?

At this level, it is estimated that he will not survive more than three episodes as a villain in a TV series.

"Count Werner, is the rumored Duke Bach here?"

Glancing at the messy flags of the opposing army, Otto didn't recognize him, so he had to ask for help from Werner on the side.

Werner looked at it and shook his head.

"I didn't see his banner, so I guess he was still fighting the Duke's army near Kassel."

"That Duke Bach is not here, and with this little army he wants to stop us?" Otto nodded and snorted coldly. "Then let's take the person in front of you first."

With that, Otto gave the order to Bard to prepare a wave of recklessness with the cavalry.

This time, the counterinsurgency army sent by the Duke of Franconia was divided into two routes, and the main force, led by the Duke of Franconia, set out from Marburg to attack Kassel, Fulda and other areas in southern Saxony.

Otto and Werner, as a partial division, had the specific task of putting pressure on the other side, forcing the other side to divide their forces, and at the same time harassing the rear of the Saxons.

Because of the task of going deep behind enemy lines, even if it is a partial division, the equipment rate of war horses in the team is still quite high, and nearly half of them are cavalry.

In front of him, the other side was just a few dozen cavalry with a force of less than a thousand people, and it was impossible to stop Otto's army.

However, the Saxon army also realized that it was not outnumbered, and did not entangle with Otto's army, and soon retreated to a nearby castle, relying on the castle to defend, which caused Otto a headache.

Otto didn't carry any siege equipment, and since the other party had entered the castle, it would be troublesome.

If you forcibly attack the castle, the price will not be proportional to the gain.

"First raid the nearby monasteries and churches, and then gather the peasants and priests on the spot to attack the city."

Otto was quick to make a decision.

It's not impossible to bypass these castles, but the problem is that many of them are in very dangerous locations, and although they don't have many troops inside, they don't pose a threat to Otto's army at the moment.

But once Otto chooses to ignore these castles and continue to penetrate deep into the Saxon region, once the attack is blocked, these scattered castles are enough to become nodes for the Saxons to cut off Otto's retreat.

Since Otto's task was to harass and deplete the Saxons' war potential, what could be simpler and more straightforward than for the Saxons to fight the Saxons?

A few days later, Otto's army plundered thousands of people, issued them with rudimentary weapons, and the soldiers drove the people to attack castles and fortresses.

In the process of fighting, there is nothing to say, use the peasants to consume the arrows and morale of the soldiers defending the city, and wait until the time is almost right, and then let the soldiers launch the final blow.

The Saxon side, which was originally insufficient in numbers, was even fewer after being dispersed to various castles and strongholds, and in the face of an offensive like Otto's, many castles were actually captured quite quickly.

After all, there are still a few castles that are truly extremely strong, and the walls of most castles, said to be city walls, were just a higher courtyard wall in the previous life.

With this kind of high wall, some simple siege facilities can achieve good results.

What's more, many times, the soldiers defending the city, when faced with the familiar faces of the siege, are often unable to make a move. There, but there are their relatives and friends.

Otto's march was not very fast, but the Saxons were clearly not ready for the whole battle, and even the people were not arranged.

Perhaps because the previous wars were "aristocratic" wars, these Saxons forgot that wars were supposed to be brutal and bloody to the death.

In less than a week, the castles and defensive strongholds in the southern part of Osnabrück were almost completely uprooted.

There were only a handful of fortified castles, and Otto did not choose to attack.

Similarly, the casualties paid by Otto's side were not small.

At least the lives of more than two hundred soldiers were given to those captured castles. As for the common people who were plundered to serve as the main force, even more than half of them had already gone to see the gods.

"It's still a little too slow." Otto couldn't help frowning as he listened to the knights' reports.

At this rate, it would take almost a month to completely wipe out the Osnabrück region.

For such a long time, the main force or reinforcements of the Saxons had already arrived.

"Is this still slow?" The Count of Werner was a little laughable, if it weren't for the fact that the Saxons had not prepared in advance, it would have been impossible to have the current progress.

But he also knew what Otto was worried about.

"Otherwise, let's just go south and flank the main force of the Saxons with the Duke's troops. As long as the enemy's main force is defeated, everything is easy to do. ”

"It's not difficult to defeat the enemy, the problem is that it's too difficult to defeat." Otto looked at the map, his brow furrowed.

"The Saxons have built a lot of defenses in the south, and when we flank the other side, we just let the enemy shrink into our tortoise shells, so when will this war end is a far cry from what we have wanted to achieve.

Besides, since we are all attacking and fighting, we might as well stay here, at least we can contain the other party, and have a chance to fight a decisive battle with the enemy's main force. ”

"Brother, I have an idea." El, who had not spoken much all this time, and had even been ignored by Otto and Werner, suddenly spoke.

Otto and Werner looked at each other and at El.

"What do you think, just say it!"

"I think the reason why we are in a dilemma now is largely due to the lack of troops, and if we have enough troops, then it is completely possible to advance step by step, regardless of whether the enemy sends reinforcements or not.

So for now, we just need to solve the problem of troops. ”

"Baron El, you mean that we went to the Duke and asked for reinforcements?" Timo Werner took the lead in the topic and shook his head to express his opinion.

"Not to mention that the Duke has no reinforcements in his hands, and when the reinforcements come by the detour, the reinforcements from the Saxons will also arrive, so there is no point."

"No, don't we have the right soldiers right now?" El smiled slightly, not angry.

"You mean, those peasants?" Otto came back to his senses, his brow still not loosening. "These people don't have much combat effectiveness, it's enough to attack the city and consume the defenders' arrows, is it possible that you want to rely on these people to fight in the field?"

"Nothing is impossible." El looked confident.

"The biggest problem why these people are not fighting well is the lack of spiritual support. If we can give them enough benefits and demand them with strict military laws, I believe that the combination of the two may make these farmers more effective than my brother imagined. ”

At this moment, Otto and Werner's gaze at El changed, as if they had seen a killing star.