For the opinion of Dehuan, Peng Sai Khan also expressed his support.

"I agree. Those people said it nicely, who could she marry? In front of his wife and children, he no longer pretended to be stupid, and complained directly: "I suspect that the Alemanni are also pretending, maybe they are just using this as an excuse to negotiate some conditions." If nothing else, even if we are willing, they dare or? ”

"That's right." Tuohuan remembered the way Theodora was fighting with others just now, and couldn't help but say: "It's just that Guo Kanganda is loyal, has no special hobbies, and doesn't conflict with others." Otherwise, whoever marries her will fight every day at home......"

"Either her husband is very compatible with her, or he has to be very strong, and his intelligence and physical strength can hang her and beat her." He shook his head again and again: "Otherwise, who can control her spoiled character, bad temper, and greedy people." ”

"Don't say that about your sister." The queen hurriedly said.

"She was fighting with someone at the palace gate just now. There is no one in the palace who can control her. Tuohuan complained: "It's so lawless now, I don't dare to think about what it will be like in the future." ”

"Then I'll get back to it...... But the women in our family are all like this, and I don't know if it's useful. Peng Saihan scratched his head, he didn't have much confidence: "It's strange, hasn't she read a lot of books since she was a child, why is she still so dishonest......"

"That's another topic. We'll talk about the family later. The queen interrupted them: "Let's get down to business." ”

"I'm just getting down to business." "Although the daughters of our family have always been domineering, as long as the political interests are sufficient, there is nothing that these people can't help it. What they are afraid of is the marriage itself. ”

"Your grandfather said before that you should marry your cousin to France. At that time, everyone felt that there was no problem, and specially arranged for her to follow the people from the Ministry of Rites to visit the French court over there to understand the environment and meet the people by the way. ”

As a result, when she got there, the French royal family guarded her like a thief. The Ministry of Rites said for a long time, but people were not happy at all, and there was no room for consideration at all. There's no way, on their side, it's also a common thing to eat their son-in-law's property by marrying their daughters, and the Fawang family themselves have done it all. So, everyone is on guard. Your cousin didn't get married in the end, but she went around and traveled......"

"The French can't do it, and the others are even more choking. In the future, I should not think about this, so as not to feel uncomfortable on both sides. The queen said.

"Oh, how can people rest assured." "I've heard people say that the successive generations of Heqin were all Rongdi who were affiliated with foreign powers or relatives, because they didn't expect to be able to destroy them, and they had to use their daughters to exert influence on their tribes. But around our Great Qin Kingdom, how many people are attached to us? ”

"Most of the other barbarians are unreasonable: those who are stronger are like crazy, and they don't talk to us at all. How many ways did we try back then, and we whispered and begged the Hungarians to negotiate, even if they were friendly to us, do you think people will pay attention to it? It wasn't until we were finally crippled that the previous 'good allies' also turned their faces and wanted to reconcile with us. But at this time, you can go down in one go, this is still a fart? ”

"Hey, you're all here, and we're going to marry them or anything." He shook his head and complained: "We work and fight every day, just to let everyone live a good life as much as possible. If I have to force her to marry a barbarian, then my two battles will not be in vain. ”

"After all, it's still that we're strong now." The queen sighed with emotion: "We ourselves have become a reality that they have to accept." Otherwise, let alone marriage, we will have to send crusaders to this side now. ”

Tuhuan also nodded.

In fact, it was not only the Hungarians, but almost all the surrounding countries had this attitude towards them back then. Including France, which has a good relationship now, was also added halfway.

The Purple Horde was not well-known in its early years, but as it grew stronger, it attracted more enemies. It's not just the local forces that are in direct competition with them who are fighting each other; There were also many expelled local nobles who ran to the Hungarian court, which was quite prosperous at that time, and then asked for help from other European countries and the Roman Church, trying to bring in the power of outsiders, and quickly crush them to death while they were still small.

Some church people believe that this is exactly the enemy sent to the door. Practically speaking, it is not a bad thing to have such a proximity of foreign enemies, because it is also an opportunity to survive these difficult times.

On the one hand, many believers and grassroots clergy are now quite dissatisfied with the corruption of the church, but there is always a priority in the matter, and the more dangerous foreign enemies can make these people temporarily give up complaining, deal with the enemy first, and give the church a chance to breathe a sigh of relief. On the other hand, after the events of Avignon, there was also a serious division within the Church, and the organization of crusaders against foreign enemies may have been an opportunity to bridge the division. To this end, the Church contacted the princes of France and the HRE and called for the formation of a "Mongol Crusader", which received a positive response.

And this matter was learned by the Venetians at that time, and then immediately sold the information to the Purple Horde, so that they could prepare long in advance.

On the contrary, at the same time, many European aristocrats were still blind to the situation of the Purple Horde, and even thought that their khanate, like the Mongols nearly 200 years earlier, was an army of nomadic herders.

In fact, according to subsequent investigations, most people did not know the current state of the Purple Horde army, nor did they know how the Mongols fought in the past—they actually looked down on the refugees-like Eastern European nobles, and they did not want to look through the records left by the priests and merchants in the past.

The main force of the crusaders was a group of French nobles who had nowhere to vent their energy. At this time, the most intense phase of the Anglo-French war had just passed, but with the success of the counterattack and the reconquest of territory, a large number of nobles and knights were also left idle, and they were about to start plundering and plotting against the king again. Therefore, the king also wished that they should hurry to the expedition.

At the behest of the court, several high lords took the lead in joining the crusaders. Some German princes also got involved, trying to get a piece of the pie.

It's been too long since the shock was there, let alone the French, who had barely seen the Mongols. In the impression of these nobles now, the so-called Mongol army is a group of barbarians riding ponies and wearing tattered leather robes, relying on their inexplicable reproductive ability, accumulating countless numbers; And because the mind is too simple, only the instinct of a beast, so it seems to be brave.

Thanks to these two advantages, they were able to prevail over the Eastern Europeans, who were already equally barbaric and stupid. And this Mongol crusader, as the name suggests, must have gone to fight such an enemy.

Those Eastern European exiled aristocrats are not without hard work. On the contrary, they have been doing everything they can to actively organize their armed forces, hoping to fight back quickly. Whenever there is an opportunity, he is willing to take the initiative to lead the way for the crusaders and provide valuable news and advice. The problem is that the arrogant Western European aristocracy does not bother to listen to the opinions of these defeated generals.

The French have always been very confident in this regard, and they are indeed in their prime at this time. Even a few people who like to use their brains don't find anything wrong.

According to their understanding, the most troublesome of the steppe troops were the fly-like horse archers. However, based on the experience of fighting the English, the current war has long since ceased to be what it used to be.

It is said that at the Battle of Crecy, the English were able to shoot through the knights' chain mail with their ridiculously hard bows. But 10 years later, in the face of the French knights equipped with iron armor, the longbow basically lost its usefulness. And now, another few decades have passed, and the knights with conditions have begun to wear plate armor. The bows and arrows of the steppe people have long been eliminated.

Therefore, many people are convinced that the era of "invincible cavalry and archery" has long passed, and now is the era of "invincible plate armor". The only thing that needs to be paid attention to is to add some protection to the war horses, so that they don't attack the horses.

The main force of the crusaders, of more than 10,000 men, set out from France and attracted many people along the way, and finally swelled to nearly 40,000 men, but the army also became bloated and disorganized. In the long procession, there were not only the regular armies of the various great lords and the armies of the Eastern European aristocracy, but also many bandits and petty lords who wanted to get rich together, fanatical believers who wanted to revive their faith, and a large number of merchants and service personnel who had heard the news.

The supply expenses advanced to the contractors were quickly exhausted, and although some sober nobles still wanted to put order in order, they had no money, and several large chambers of commerce refused to send logistics supplies over, even if they were on credit in the name of the Heavenly Father. The crusaders soon dispersed, plundering around the marching route, and the commander could only try to restrain them from running too far, so that the route of the march changed from a "line" to a wide "surface".

When they advanced to Hungary, they also had a conflict with the Hungarians - in the face of the crusaders, the Hungarian court and the local nobility were unprecedentedly united, and they did not want them to go through their own territory. It took great effort for the Crusaders to convince them with military threats.

But the vanguard of the Purple Horde also began to appear, and instead of fighting the Crusaders, they ran to the villages, telling them to take all the food and goods and evacuate quickly. In the beginning, not many people listened to them. But as more and more villages were slaughtered and burned, almost all the people along the route began to flee at their call.

Because of the need to grab things everywhere, the Crusaders marched slowly, giving them plenty of time to escape. As a result of the flight, the crusaders' supply problems were even greater, and they began to run out of food in the territory of their allies.

In addition, the Purple Horde also bought off several large merchants who accompanied it. Taking advantage of the wavering of their morale, they organized thousands of people to take turns to attack at night. The Crusaders were exhausted, so when they reached a nearby city, the nobles and knights hurriedly hid in it to have fun and relieve their stress. As for the rest of the people, the Hungarians were afraid that they would enter the city and destroy it, so they resolutely refused to let them enter the city, so they could only stay outside and deal with it separately.

That night, the Purple Horde again organized an army attack. Merchants outside the city took the opportunity to chant "The crusaders are defeated!" ", and then ran first with the guys and bodyguards. The accompanying personnel immediately bombed the camp and fled in all directions.

Others did not expect that the army of the Purple Horde would be able to advance so far silently. A large group of armed men who followed the crusaders, who did not even speak each other, were unable to conduct effective command and communication, and when they saw someone fleeing, they quickly followed. The armed forces of the Eastern European aristocracy have long been frightened birds, and they are the first to run away when they find something wrong. The German mercenaries followed, fleeing into the nearby woods and disappearing.

The Purple Horde itself did not expect that the results would be so remarkable. It was not until dawn that the follow-up troops arrived. However, there were not many people in the city to defend it, because the citizen guards on duty had never seen such a large battle, and they were also scared away. The French nobles who took over the defense of the city competed with each other for command, and they did not understand the situation, and there was actually a city gate that was not guarded at all.

Therefore, without waiting for the main force to arrive, everyone blew open the door and rushed into the city. They dispersed the French at the head of the city, searched the city, and finally caught a large group of officers and knights in the brothel. It's a pity that a few leading nobles are relatively vigilant, and when they saw that the situation was wrong, they immediately rushed out of the city gate with attendants and guards. These groups of people are very capable of fighting, and the Purple Tent Striker can't stop them, and a lot of them have escaped.

And just like that, the first Mongol crusade ended so inexplicably. Strictly speaking, the two sides did not fight, but Guo Di, who commanded the operation, was very happy, because he always insisted that intelligence and mobility were the key to war. Behind this bizarre result was the long-term training of the army, the strict organization of logistics, the credibility of the locals and repeated negotiations with merchants. Neither the Mongol army nor the European army could do this.

Later, this crusade was organized several times, and the greatest effect was that the locals hated the Roman Church and the Crusaders, and even some minor nobles were ruined by them, and they had to go to the Purple Horde. When Hungary collapsed, the Aristocrats of the HRE and France organized the "Mongol Crusaders" for the fourth time in an attempt to take advantage of the chaos.

This time, Basil III decided to destroy the enemy's main force as soon as possible, and also organized five legions and an army of more than 30,000 people to meet it. The two sides fought a decisive battle on the banks of the Danube, and the vanguard soldiers of the Purple Horde marched on foot wearing shining iron armor and carrying long knives and spears; Horsemen and armoured cavalrymen with great axes and clubs followed, moving forward in a neat row. The lineup of the army, which made a great impression on the Europeans.

Afterwards, it was recalled that their formations were advancing one after another, layer by layer, their armor shining and reflecting the sun, and it looked like a great river had overflowed the embankment and was rushing towards itself. The Crusaders' offensive was like a stone thrown into the water, making a large splash, but it was of little use.

After this hard-fought battle, many people realized that times had really changed.

Within a few years, the Purple Horde went from being a despicable heretic to an important Catholic in the East. The secular rulers also abandoned the exiled aristocracy of Eastern Europe overnight, and even a large number of people who did not know each other suddenly came to make friends with them.

From this point of view, perhaps, the best way of diplomacy is indeed not marriage and negotiation, but directly beating the other party.

(End of chapter)