On the west bank of the Vistula, the Tarta army, which could not escape, chose to surrender after a short period of confusion, and more than 10,000 Slavites, tens of thousands of steppe nomads and a small number of Tarta centaurs became prisoners of the Hereford family. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

In fact, at this time, Tartaria's army was still several times larger than that of Mystia. The Tarta army stationed on the east bank, together with the cavalry under Kublai lai, had at least 70,000 men. The combined army of William and Duke Otto was less than 20,000 men.

However, this is completely useless. An army with zero morale, whether it is 20,000 or 70,000, even if it is 1 million, can only become a set of numbers in the enemy's merit book. The Tartaria army is finished. For a long time to come, it would be impossible for Tartaria to raise the courage to cross the Vistula and fight against the Mystian army -

No, or, not even on the east bank of the Vistula.

After joining forces with Duke Otto's army and then forcing the troops on the west bank of the Vistula River to surrender, William did not stop to celebrate the victory or catch up with Duke Otto, but immediately turned his guns and ordered the river fleet to transport thousands of the most elite Circassian troops to the east bank of the Vistula River as quickly as possible, and then the new army, supported by battleship fire, launched an attack on the Tartarian army.

If you just look at the comparison of the forces of the two sides, most people will think that William is dying.

He only used a few thousand men, and the opponent's strength was conservatively estimated to be more than 30,000. But as it was said before, an army without morale is meaningless, no matter how many they are. Under the bayonet charge of only 3,000 soldiers of the New Army, the already disorganized Tarta army quickly collapsed. The soldiers and nobles screamed and fled in all directions.

This made William very nervous. Because in the next ten days of pursuit, he spent a lot of energy, and barely captured half of the deserters as prisoners, although after this great victory, almost all the soldiers had no intention of fighting. But William still used his prestige to forcibly detain a group of light cavalry, and ran with him nearly half of Ruthenia.

In fact, William originally wanted to continue to penetrate deeper into Tronika and to continue to pursue Kublai's forces. But his army was too tired after a long battle. At the same time, the first snowfall of winter began.

In this situation, William had to retreat like Alexander the Great, who was trapped on the Iranian plateau, because of the complaints of his soldiers and the unsuitable climate.

The inability to continue to fight against the Tarta army and weaken the living force of Tarta made William feel a little unwilling. I am afraid that there will be no more wars like this, in which there are almost no casualties and huge compensation, in a short period of time.

"However, it is not without merit that Tartaria can maintain some strength. Otherwise, the dark elves of Ottoman may have to take advantage of the fire again. If Tartaria is over-weakened, then they will definitely take the opportunity to capture Tronica. Take the entire Black Sea region under control. These dark elves are much more civilized than centaurs. If they do take Tronica and give them a springboard to attack Ruthenia, I may have to defend the mouth of the Vistula again.

And this time, the opponent of the war will be replaced by the Dark Elves with heavy siege artillery and modern armed forces. ”

Thinking of this, William's heart balanced. Let Tarta remain. However, it is not a powerful behemoth that could unify the entire Great Frontier region and even sweep the human world at any time. Rather, it was a weak, weak nomadic khanate that had lost its essence.

They will remain as a shield until William is ready to face the dark elves of the Ottomans.

"It's really sad. This war can be regarded as a war of annihilation......" William thought to himself. At the same time, I was thinking about the next strategy.

"Next, there can be a large-scale economic invasion of the Polotsk United Province. And in the territory, Mazovia may not be able to go any further. Those grass-like nobles will surely turn to us after this battle...... For the sake of influence, I don't want to force them too much...... Or can we take this opportunity to annex Ruthenia?"

William thought of this and hesitated.

It stands to reason that Ruthenia has a profound civilization, a vast territory, and a wealth of products. If these conditions are discussed alone, Ruthenia is even better than the Grand Duchy of Mazovia.

It was only after years of war, especially before that, the devastation of the Second Great Border War, that the population of the Ruthenian region had been reduced to a heinous level. Under these circumstances, it is simply an impossible task to restore Ruthenia to its former prosperity.

"It's like a baggage...... Although he had made a lot of profits from the previous economic war against Polotsk, even if he took out all these things, he would not be able to afford a kingdom......" William thought to himself, and then decided on his next goal.

- The Slavic kingdoms, the Kingdom of Holmgard, and the Republic of Novgorod, which survived but still had some strength and were not too traumatized by the war, were weak and rich. What's more, it's quite close to the Duchy of Mystia.

This is nothing short of a gift from the Lord of Radiance to the Hereford family.

"Heaven does not take it, but suffers from it. William muttered to himself at the end, then turned up the corners of his mouth and smiled—yes, that's the next tactic. After thinking about it, William sped up his horse, and now there was one more thing to do. That's enjoyment.

Enjoy victories, ride war horses through the streets, receive cheers from the people, rain of petals fluttering in the sky, feasts, and countless gifts. The adoring eyes of the beautiful aristocratic ladies and ladies, and the fawning and stammering of countless nobles.

"Speaking of which, I have made a good contribution to the human world, will the Pope of Rome canonize me as a saint for this? ”

William thought to himself.

He was in a very good mood. Until he heard the sergeant beside him whisper:

"Speaking of which, we've done a lot of things this time. ”

"yes, yes. The Count is so powerful, he really deserves to be the son of Duke Otto. ”

"This time we have made such a great contribution to the human world, do you think the Pope of Rome will make the duke a saint?"

"I don't know, but it's not impossible. ”

After that, the other sergeants around him joined the discussion. Everyone was elated, imagining what kind of glory Duke Otto would get next, what kind of person he would become, and what kind of behemoth the Hereford family could grow into under the control of Duke Otto. And what kind of benefit can those of them who are loyal to the Hereford family get from it?

The discussion was very lively and everyone was happy – except William.

Although William is quiet on the surface, in his heart, William does have an extra thorn.

"It's just the nonsense of some ordinary sergeant. No big deal. Thinking so in his heart, William immediately adjusted his mentality and smiled again.

But then the "bad news" came one after another......

After leading the army, returning to the Duchy of Mystia, Circassia, William was told that Duke Otto had left here and went to Krakow.

The Duke believes that now that the war is over, it is necessary to stabilize the hearts and minds of the people, and to make the martial arts of the Hereford family public. So I couldn't wait to go to Krakow. ”

After hearing the news, William felt a little strange and a little uncomfortable. But I can't say why. It wasn't until a few days later, when he also arrived in Krakow, that he understood why.

Everybody is talking about this victory, everybody is talking about this war. Everyone, including the nobles who were ten, one hundred percent reluctant to the rise of the Hereford family, the four archdukes, were also praising the victory.

The cheers of the people, the rain of petals falling in the sky, the favor of the noble lady and the ladies. Yes, all of these. It was no different from what William had thought before. However, this result is still slightly biased......

Or, it can't be considered "slightly".

- Yes, all these things that William had in mind existed, and they did. But these cheers, these praises, all of this, are not his.

It was his father, Duke Otto.

When he entered Krakow a few days earlier with Sarida Khan's Nine White Silks in his hand, that man was him.

All the merits belong to Duke Otto. It was the Duke of Otto who defeated the Sarida Khan, and it was the Duke of Otto who captured the Nine White Silks. It was still Duke Otto who saved the human world.

At the same time, all this news spread to the surroundings of Krakow at an explosive speed. Soon spread throughout the kingdom of Wende, and it was believed that in the near future, the news that "Otto von Hereford defeated Tartaria's army of 500,000 and took away the nine white silk of Sarida Khan and saved the human world" would spread throughout the world.

“......”

William was in a trance for a while. It doesn't even feel real...... Obviously, obviously everything is done by him. The strategy was what he thought. Tactics are what he thinks. He was the one who provoked the Dark Elves to attack Tronica. Issuing crusader securities, building estuary forts, training new armies, holding forts, confronting the army of Tartaria, and using stratagem to bring down the Khan's army......

All of this, all of this was done by him. Why did all the credit go to his father's?