It's not the first time that Zhu Zhanyan has experienced the slow speed of message delivery in this era, but it's the first time that he feels embarrassed because of this.

When he received the news from Qian Yong and Mu Xin, it was already twelve days later, and this is the drawbacks caused by this era.

Venice.

This ruined city was no longer worthy of Zhu Zhan's nostalgia, but he had no possibility of advancing, because the vanguard he had sent, that is, Jian Xiao, was crossing the Velebit Mountains.

According to Zhu Zhan's plan, Jian Xiao led the people over Mount Velebit to reach the vicinity of Zagreb, and then used the prisoners brought all the way from the Papal State to coerce the Crusaders who occupied there to surrender.

Or ...... Kill all the captives in front of the crusaders!

In this way, the Holy See, which had already fallen to the bottom, would be completely abolished, and the Holy Roman Empire would lose its theocracy, which was a very useful tool.

Don't think that this is nothing, if this move can really be successful, the people who have been recruited through the so-called holy war will be greatly reduced in their desire to fight, and in addition, the side of theocracy will make it extremely difficult for the Holy Roman Empire to recruit soldiers.

Although the speed at which the Holy Roman Empire mobilized troops was much slower than that of the Ming Dynasty, if Zhu Zhanyan's plan was really successful, the Holy Roman Empire, which would have been able to raise 100,000 troops in a month, might have to spend two to three times as long to raise and mobilize the same number of troops.

To solve the convenience brought by theocracy to Europe to the greatest extent, this is the best way that Zhu Zhanyan can think of.

But I didn't expect that for a long time, from the Wa Kingdom to the Indochina Peninsula to the Timurid Empire, he could always be said to be a last resort, and this time he finally made a mistake.

He...... One step slower.

"Zhu Ling!"

Zhu Zhanyan's tone was already a little angry, this feeling of being out of control...... It's not comfortable.

"The villain is here!"

"Fly the eagle! Put the remaining two away! Let Kun Tashi start attacking immediately! ”

"Give Mu Sheng an order and let him lead people into the Sea of Azov as quickly as possible! Draw the most people over without affecting the defense of the Adriatic Sea and Junbao! ”

"And! Send someone to inform the supply troops behind! Let them go back to the Nanzhou Mansion to transfer people! How much can be adjusted, how much can be adjusted! ”

"Yes!"

Three orders in a row made Zhu Ling's heart tighten suddenly.

He didn't know what the news Zhu Zhanyan had just received was, but the experience of following Zhu Zhanyan for many years told him that Zhu Zhanyan was really angry.

When was the last time you saw Zhu Zhanyan angry? Zhu Ling couldn't remember it clearly, it seemed to be ...... During the Xuande period, that time to return to Shuntianfu? When Changling faced the first emperor Xuande?

"Zhu Ping......"

With Zhu Ling's departure, Zhu Zhanyan's tone slowly sank, but it was full of suppressed feelings.

"The villain is here!"

"Mu Sheng's side...... Found traces of the Ten and Francesco of the Duchy of Venice? ”

"Back to His Royal Highness, it's ...... No. ”

"That's it......" Zhu Zhanyan let out a long sigh, slowly leaned back in his chair, and closed his eyes.

……

Zhu stood quietly beside Zhu Zhanyan, Zhu Zhanyan didn't speak, and he didn't dare to make any moves.

I don't know how long it took, Zhu Zhanyan suddenly spoke, and his voice was low, which made Zhu Ping, the personal guard who had followed Zhu Zhanyan for more than 20 years since he was a child, a little creepy.

"Send a letter to Rome and have Joan of Arc ......"

"Also, let Louis XI be transferred away......"

"Yes!"

……

With Zhu Ping's departure, the tent returned to calm, and this was the first time that Zhu Zhanyan had the shadow of defeat.

In his opinion, defeat is a trivial matter, and he has not lost a battle, and he lost more than 50,000 Ah San last year.

Therefore, defeat is not terrible, what is terrible is that things are out of your control.

What he has been doing is to stir up the wrath of Europe, which seems very inappropriate, but in fact he has planned it.

Successive defeats caused the European nobility and common people to gradually lose faith in the Holy Roman Empire, and eventually led them to fall apart and fight for the throne of the Holy Roman Empire.

At the same time, combined with radical means, the crusaders' desire to fight was completely broken, and the Holy See, which had always stood at the top of Europe, completely fell into the quagmire.

At that time, the whole of Central Europe will fall into a situation where both the divine and the royal power will lose their authority, so that they want to take Europe...... No, it should be said that it will be much easier to take Central Europe.

But now, the Holy Roman Empire united the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and even the Golden Horde and the Eastern Chagatai Khanate, which made him very unhappy and felt that things were out of control.

This, in fact, is a failure caused by arrogance.

Because he has never taken the Eastern Chagatai Khanate in his eyes, he has repeatedly let them go, and even positioned them as a tool for future generations to spur and sharpen.

But in fact, the lion fights the rabbit, and it also requires all the strength.

Consequences of keeping your hands......

——

Astrakhan.

Mu Xin had already left here, and he left immediately the next day.

According to Qian Yong's estimate, this will become a direct battlefield in Eastern Europe, and even if it is not, it will be very close to the main battlefield, and it is not very appropriate for Mu Xin to stay here.

Zhu Zhanyan is very short of people now, and the Mu family who abandoned everything to belong to King Wu's lineage is very important to Zhu Zhanyan, at least Qian Yong thinks that Mu Xin is more important than himself.

In addition, letting Mu Xin leave is also to lay the foundation for victory.

poured out of the nest, this kind of thing Zhu Zhanyan would not do, firstly, because if he did this, there would be no one to guard the house, and even if he knocked down the outside at that time, it would not be worth it if the home was lost.

Therefore, Mu Xin left in order to go to the Suez region to ask his brother Mu Ang to come over to support.

This second, naturally, is because Mu Xin and the war are not very compatible.

For a long time, although Mu Xin has not participated in the war, most of the time he has appeared in the war as the person in charge of logistics, as for the war......

It's not that he's not good at it, the Qianning Wangfu is the descendant of Mu Ying, and he followed Emperor Taizu Gao to fight the world, even if he hasn't fought on the battlefield, but he has read the book of war.

It's just that compared with Mu Sheng and Mu Ang's two elder brothers, Mu Xin is still a little worse.

But there is one thing......

Passive stubbornness, waiting for rescue, this is not Qian Yong's style.

You know, stationed in Astrakhan for so long, he didn't do nothing.

"Order: Go down ......"

……

The next day, early in the morning.

Before dawn, Qian Yong had already gotten up, not only him, but all the Ming soldiers stationed in Astrakhan got up.

Cooking, eating, and nailing......

Everything was so orderly, even those brought by Alipu did not have any doubts and obeyed the command of the Ming army soldiers.

As time passed, the closed gates of Astrakhan slowly opened when the day was slightly bright......

……

The distance from Astrakhan to Sarai is only 300 miles in a straight line, and even if you count the twists and turns of the road, the total distance is only 400 miles.

It is known that the fastest record for a rapid march was set by a rabbit, which, with all that could be said to be behind the enemy, overtook the eagle-chan with modern equipment at a speed of 14 hours and 72.5 kilometers, and finally laid the victory.

This time, Qian Yong adopted the strategy of rapid marching.

In the feudal era, the regular march was only about 30 to 40 miles a day, and if it was a rapid march, it was necessary to abandon all the materials and travel lightly, so as to reach the speed of 100 miles a day.

And this time, Qian Yong is more extreme.

He handed over most of the supplies to Alipu's men, and he took a small number of princely guards and the army of Uszangdu, and used the war horses looted from the vicinity of Astrakhan and left by Mu Xin from this time to make a rapid march.

In addition to his personal weapon, a small amount of drinking water and rations, Qian Yong only brought a weapon such as a white phosphor.

And unlike the previous method that required artillery or catapults to fire, this time, Qian Yong planned to be more extreme.

With almost any equipment abandoned, Qian Yong was not able to break the speed of Genghis Khan's rapid march of 500 miles a day.

But fortunately, Qian Yong doesn't need such a fast speed, and there is ......

When Genghis Khan set this record, it was also on the land under Qian Yong's feet.

The terrain here is flat, there is no need to find a place to feed the horses, and you can give up all unwanted behaviors to achieve the fastest marching speed.

Finally, at noon the next day, Qian Yong met Sarai.

However, because of the rapid march, all the soldiers were overdrawing their physical strength, and even if they had physical strength, Qian Yong, who had given up a large number of infantry, did not have the capital to attack Sarai.

But fortunately, he did not need to take Sarai, for him, a warning about the Golden Horde would be enough.

"The prince guards, out of the ......"

It was obviously an order, but Qian Yong's tone was very low, with an emotion that was difficult to give up and sad.

Because, what he wants to do is ......

"Are you all ready?" Looking at the guards of the prince in front of him, the reluctance in Qian Yong's tone was not concealed at all.

These people are not only Zhu Zhanyan's son-in-arms, but also his comrades-in-arms, who have been with him day and night for more than a year.

"Ready!"

Unlike Qian Yong, all the prince's guards were full of determination, and some even had smiles.

"For His Royal Highness!" Qian Yong took a deep breath, suppressed his trembling voice, and roared.

"For His Royal Highness!"

……

The chaotic sound of horses' hooves sounded, Qian Yong turned over and dismounted, watching the prince's guards disappear.

Without artillery and catapults, if you want to ignite and fire white phosphores, you have to manually send them to where you want them to fall.

The risks of doing so ...... Undoubtedly.

The flame of white phosphorus is enough to burn through the bones, and once it is stained with a little bit of rotten skin and flesh, if it is stained too much, it is certain death.

Moreover, not being directly exposed to the flame of white phosphorus does not mean that it is safe, and the toxic gas produced by the combustion of white phosphorus can make their future unpredictable.

Is it a painful death? Or can it return to the life of ordinary people after a period of pain?

All this depends on how hard their lives are......

(End of chapter)