Yes, yes, both for the Goths and for the centaurs of Tartaria, the Slavians had only one role, which was to serve as their stepping cloth. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Whether it was when the Gothic Empire was strong or when the Centaur Khanate was rising, there was only one result against the Upper Slavites, and that was to crush.

In what can be two to three thousand years of history. The Slavites, with the exception of a brief period of rise at the end of the classical era, were divided, weakened, conquered Luthor most of the time.

This makes the Slavians especially nostalgic for that little time, when they rose to prominence and were able to compete with the Goths.

Ironically, it was the Goths who led the rise of the Slavians in that era. It was still the Goths who united the entire Slavic society, uniting hundreds, if not thousands, of Slavic tribes that did not belong to each other to form an independent Slavic Empire.

It was the Rurik family from the Ritjord region who brought to the Slavians laws, institutions, the same state, civilization and the modern military system (from the perspective of classical times). At the same time, it was the Rurik family that held the crown of the Slavians, as well as the crowns of the various Slavic kingdoms after the split.

The "Rurik the Great", whom the Slavians miss immensely, is actually a Goth. This has to be said, is a great irony.

Of course, this does not have a lot to do with William. Of course, it can't be said that it doesn't matter at all.

Slavites, very numerous in large border areas. Moreover, although the Goths looked down on the Slavites, seeing them as a second-class people. But the number of Slavites, the labor force of the Slavites, the degree of civilization of the Slavites, have to be said to be very high.

William's Duchy, and the future Grand Duchy, kingdom and empire, needed a large enough population. And this population, absorbing immigrants from the interior of the Gothic Empire was certainly not enough. Therefore, it is only natural that William is eyeing the population of Slavi.

"It's just...... Ruthenia was plowed first by the Tartar army, then by the Crusaders, and finally by the centaurs. It is said that the few survivors were also tied up by the centaurs and used as coolies. Pirm is in slightly better shape. But it's not much better. That is to say......"

Soon, William determined a direction for the development of the Duchy of Mystia, as well as a focus for its development.

But of course, it will take time, and it will take time, and it will take time until after this war is over.

In this way, the first confrontation between the Estile army and the army of Tartaria ended.

That night, the Maisti runner slept soundly. Everyone, including William, felt that if the Tartarian army was only at this level, then they would have won the war.

It's just that this thing has a new, bad change in the future.

That night, the Tartarian army overran two more Slavic armies, expanding the forward army on the west bank of the Vistula to nearly 50,000.

In pursuit of speed, the night crossing of the Tartarian army became very dangerous. Especially in this age of night blindness—centaurs and nomads are better, for their recipes are not lacking in meat, nor are they lacking in offal—and in the barren steppes, nomads never abandon a piece of meat that can be eaten.

But the Slavites were a little worse. Because most of them are farming people. At the same time, the degree of civilization is relatively high. Influenced by the Goths, they are more reluctant to eat offal.

In fact, the vast majority of Slavians were similar to the Gothic serfs, and they rarely ate vegetables except cereal porridge and black bread all their lives. As for meat, it's even less pitiful.

It was for this reason that the night crossing caused the death of hundreds of Slavian soldiers - all of whom had stepped into the air and drowned in the river - despite the fact that the shallows of the Vistula were only waist-deep. But in such a tense situation, they still panicked and killed themselves......

Of course, this is also not something worth mentioning. As I said before, neither the Goths nor the Tartarians cared about the life or death of the Slavites. They only cared about whether they could break through the fortress of the estuary.

Now, the Bayou Fortress is still not cut off from the outside world. At the same time, with control of the Vistula in the hands of the Mystia army, William was also able to know the situation on the east bank of the Vistula River.

According to the news from the spies, Sarida Khan is raiding his territory like a force, and Ruthenia and Pirm are the hardest hit areas. At the same time, he was threatening Kholmgard and Novgorod in the north, asking them to send soldiers and tribute resources to help their cause.

In the Ulus and Tronica regions, Tartaria's tax and logistics officials did not stop campaigning. Large numbers of Slavians, the Slavic nobles were forced to send more soldiers, hard labor, and contribute more food to feed the army. At the same time, news also came from the southern Black Sea coast. Trade was also started just after the armistice was signed.

A large amount of supplies from the Ottoman Empire, which had a favorable climate and produced a lot of grain in the south, were transported through the Bosphorus to the coastline of Tronica, and then to the front.

Tartaria exchanged slaves and the vast amount of precious metals accumulated during this time, as well as expensive jewels and works of art from plunder, to the dark elves of the Ottoman in exchange for resources.

That's it. With the support of various materials, Tartaria's logistics can be basic, or at least barely guaranteed, for the daily use of 200,000 troops. It also ensures that Tartaria is supplied with a sufficient amount of Slavic cannon fodder.

Yes. Cannon fodder. On the second day of the engagement. William understood Tartaria and what Sarida Khan meant.

He wanted to bulldoze the fortress with 100,000, 200,000, 500,000 or even a million Slavic cannon fodder.

"Really...... Lose your marbles. "William clearly saw that before going to the battlefield, as the vanguards, the Slavian soldiers who were drawn by lot drank some kind of liquid. After that, they become extremely restless and aggressive.

At the command of the centaurs of Tartaria, the Slavites, in a state of madness, grabbed their rudimentary weapons and rushed towards the fortress. William took a cursory look. The number of Slavites in this group is probably between 5,000 and 6,000. It's exactly the same as the number of kills from fortress fire in yesterday's war. They were followed by two more Slavic soldiers, artillery and centaur archers, and nomadic hussars.

Soon, William understood the tactics of Tartaria's army.

Use these nervous berserkers as cannon fodder to weaken the fortress's firepower, and then the normal troops will take advantage of the opportunity to attack.

"That's a good idea. Cruel and effective, it is indeed a 'good tactic' that a barbarian can come up with. William thought to himself, "But will it really work?"

However, no matter what William thought in his heart. At least the Tartarian army opposite him thought it was a good idea.

The initial situation of the battle was no different than yesterday. The artillery of both sides shelled each other. At this stage, the Tartarian army was naturally at a loss. However, most of these losses came from the thousands of berserkers at the front - although William knew that shelling their relatively thin array would not have much effect, but there was nothing he could do.

Berserkers have no concept of morale at all, which means that they are absolutely capable of storming the front of the fortress. And in the berserk state, entering the melee phase, these berserkers will definitely cause greater damage to the Mystian army. In this case, William had to bite the bullet and make this choice, even though he knew that it was not very efficient to shell them.

That's it, today's battle is slightly different compared to yesterday. William, as long as the artillery range allowed, left the vast majority of the attack to the more than 5,000 berserkers at the front. And the hit rate of gunpowder weapons of this era was so low that the efficiency of this was not very high.

Next, the berserkers get closer, and the Stronghold's musketeers and shotguns weaken them by a layer. within thirty meters. Throwing a wooden-handled grenade weakened another layer. The mutilated corpses of the berserkers once again paved the way of their attack.

However, in this case, hundreds of berserkers still insisted on rushing to the bottom of the city, and set up the few remaining ladders in their hands under the fortress.

Watching this scene. There was a burst of cheers from the Tartarian army, as if this was some remarkable achievement.

But there's no point. The Mystian soldiers, who had already prepared them, immediately concentrated their fire—light guns loaded with shotguns, quick-loading smoothbore flintlock muskets, new wooden-handled grenades, and old round grenades, all kinds of gunpowder weapons were aimed at the hundreds of berserkers who had gathered densely under the ladder almost immediately.

And then, of course, after a round of shelling, shooting and throwing. Dense freak of buckshot, gunpowder, and cast-iron fragments scattered in all directions, and the concussion of the explosion shattered their internal organs, pierced their bodies, and then severed their limbs and heads. Countless blood, internal organs, stones, and bone fragments were blasted into the air by the blast wave. It crackled and fell, forming a rainstorm of the world's most flavorful human organ......

In this way, the Slavian berserker forces were completely wiped out. Although their results are a little better than before, they are only a little bit.