That's it, the third major border war has become a dream bubble. The battle between Sarida Khan and the Dark Elves www.biquge.info Pen "Fun" can only be regarded as a continuation of the Second Great Frontier War. After the two sides ceased fighting, the large border areas were basically stabilized.

The reason why I say "basic" is because after this, William started a backup strategy.

Since both the White Army and the Circassian New Army have been mobilized, it is naturally not good to do nothing and end like this.

Half of it is for military training, and the other half is for expanding territory. William, again, in the name of the Crusaders, launched an attack to the east, the last independent kingdom of the Slavites, Holmgard.

If there are no problems, then there will be no suspense in this war. Although Holmgard also had an army of more than five thousand men, in the event of full mobilization, it could have an army of more than twenty thousand people. But in the face of successive defeats, the Slavites of Holmgard had long since lost their courage.

There are no good people, and there is not enough modern army. Because it is located on the border, it has almost no industrialization capacity. Previously, all gunpowder weapons were imported from Novgorod. After Novgorod was annexed by William, Holmgard lost its access to arms imports. At the same time, the country does not have such a high consciousness of "strategic reserve resources". In today's situation where gunpowder weapons are used a little less, officers at all levels of the army naturally will not let go of the soldiers to train. Therefore, the quality of the Holmgard soldiers can also be imagined.

All in all, this is a small country that relies solely on agriculture and animal husbandry economically, and is basically in the Middle Ages militarily, sparsely populated, and demoralized. If it weren't for the intent of further expanding his influence, William wouldn't even want to attack him.

In fact, if Holmgard could get acquainted and surrender on his own initiative, then William would not be unable to consider accepting it.

The Slavic king of Holmgard, however, does not seem to be aware of this. Or rather, he felt that he had a duty and enough arrogance to sustain him not to surrender to William -

Because, first of all, the title of the Hereford family is only the Grand Duke. And he is the "king". How can a king bow down to an archduke, even if that archduke is ten times more powerful and powerful, if not more. Moreover, with the other three independent Slavic states all annexed, Holmgard has become the only Slavic state on the Old World that has remained independent. In this context, His Majesty the King feels that it is his duty and obligation to take up the task of reviving the Slavic nation.

Therefore, despite the unfavorable conditions in all respects, he insisted on continuing to be hostile to William and the Hereford family.

"So, such an incompetent waste who can't see the situation clearly, even if he dies, it doesn't matter. William thought to himself.

Now, the only problem that bothers him is the weather.

In September, the latitude is very high, and the northernmost part of the country, Holmgard, which has entered the Arctic Circle, receives its first snow. And in the south, when the war between the Dark Elves and the Centaurs ended, the whole of Holmgard was covered in a thick layer of snow. The average temperature drops to minus 30 degrees Celsius or even lower.

Under these circumstances, it was almost impossible to move troops against Holmgard. So, William had to wait for at least three more months. Around April 1749, another attack was launched.

In this case, William was naturally unwilling to sit in his own home. At the same time, the territories of the Hereford family have now been largely stabilized. Whether it is government affairs or military affairs, he does not need to pay too much attention.

After thinking about it like this for a while, William decided to take advantage of this rare time to go out for a walk. A long time ago, he wanted to go to the interior of the empire, or even to Britun.

Because, despite the experience of previous lives, I know what industrialization is all about. But this world is still subtly different from the previous life. Therefore, in order for the Hereford family to develop better, William felt that it was necessary for him to go to relatively developed countries to investigate.

Because at the beginning of spring, there was to be an offensive against Holmgard. Lack of time. So it was impossible for William to go to Briton.

In fact, even if it was too late to go to Franconia to meet the Emperor. So, William set himself two goals.

One is Polotsk - he is going to inspect the development of the Hereford complex in Polotsk.

And then there's the one to Shilonsk. It is the one with the largest degree of modernization, national power and population among the four Grand Duchyes of Wende. William was going to "reconnoiter the enemy", and in addition, William also wanted to exchange views with Henry, the Grand Duke of Hilonsk, on behalf of Archduke Otto.

Although one of William's goals was to give the family the title of King of Wende. But at least so far, the relationship between the Hereford family and the Trieste family is not bad...... Despite the fact that with more than a third of the territory, the act of independence from the Grand Duchy of Mazovia deprived the Trieste family of much of its power. But before that, for the most part, the Hereford family appeared as supporters of the Trieste family.

Not to mention the marriage contract between William and Elise. Let's just talk about the tacit understanding between the two families in the second major border war. and Archduke Otto's performance in various public occasions, which can give the impression that "the Hereford family is an ally of the Trieste family".

Even, in a sense, the alliance of the two families is the greatest guarantee for dealing with the internal problems of the Wende Kingdom.

The combined strength of the two families has far surpassed that of Dietrich, the Grand Duke of Livonia, on the northern coast, and Vyal, the Grand Duke of Turov, in the south. What's more, the two Grand Duchyes of Shilonsk and Mazovia were connected together, separating Turov in the south from Livonia in the north. This guarantees an alliance between the two families, which can break the two opponents separately.

With such an advantage, if the Hereford family and the Trieste family really work together, then it is only natural to defeat the other two archdukes and obtain the throne of the king of the Wende Kingdom.

However, the question is to whom exactly this king's throne should be given.

Archduke Leszek, Grand Duke of Mazovia, after the crushing defeat of the Crusader expedition to the Slavic lands, had completely lost his ambition to dominate the world. No cause for concern at all. But Henry, another Grand Duke of the Trieste family, was different.

Despite the defeat of the Crusaders, Archduke Henry suffered heavy losses. But Shilonsk's family is rich. If you have money, you can be willful. Grand Duke Henry could still raise an army of 30,000 mercenaries in the shortest possible time and do whatever he wanted.

Moreover, compared to the Grand Duke Leszek, who did not have any ambitions. Archduke Henry's ambitions never subsided. From the beginning to the end, he wanted to be King of Bunde.

He even wanted to be king more now—I mean, after gaining the support of Archduke Lescheck and the Hereford family.

Not too smart though. I can't think of a comprehensive analysis of the current situation from a strategic and tactical perspective. But the most basic thing was that with the support of Archduke Lescheck and the Hereford family, his power had increased - he still understood this.

In fact, last year, Archduke Henry sent several letters to Archduke Otto. Ask Archduke Otto "when will he fulfill his promise." "But in the beginning, because of the instability of the Great Frontier and the defeat of the Crusaders. So Archduke Henry was more conservative and had a milder tone. Then, William's crusade against Novgorod took place, and Archduke Otto had a reason to excuse himself.

However, after the coronation of Grand Duke Otto as Grand Duke of Novgorod, Grand Duke Henry became a little impatient. The tone also became more aggressive and eager. Although it has not yet reached the point of pointing at the nose of Archduke Otto and scolding the street, it is almost there.

It can be said that the alliance between the Trieste family and the Hereford family has reached a very dangerous point.

In this case, William did not want to break the covenant with the Trieste family casually. This was not only because the conditions did not allow it, but also because the Hereford family had made a promise before that—the Hereford family supported Archduke Henry as King of Wende—and before that, the crusaders had gathered in Krakow, and when the two men often met, Archduke Otto and Archduke Henry often met, and Archduke Otto expressed this inclination several times, both openly and covertly. Many well-intentioned people must have taken him to heart, waiting for the day when he will take it out and destroy the reputation of Archduke Otto.

William was very dissatisfied with this—if he had done it, he would have been able to fool Archduke Henry out of the way, and he would not have missed a handle at all. When he turned his face and didn't recognize people in the future, Archduke Henry couldn't find evidence even if he scolded people.

However, Archduke Otto clearly did not have this ability.

"What should I do in this situation...... Do you really want to hand over the position of King Wende to that philistine?"

"But if you break the contract, it's ...... It's terrible that the expediency at the time caused me so much trouble...... But of course, then again, if I hadn't done that at the time, then I probably wouldn't have had the opportunity to worry about these things here......" William thought of this, sighed, and then shook his head: "Forget it...... Let's take one step at a time. ”