85_85536 The next day, it was still a pursuit, lackluster, and there was nothing to say. And for the captive who had just been captured, Count Vitra Perchberg. Neither William nor Baron Otto were interested. In this way the pursuit lasted for two days. The new Circassian army left the territory of Baudelaire and entered Sandomit. After that, the fort of Sandomits was surrounded.

Jelic, who had a better brain than Perchberg and had run a step earlier, was surrounded by them in this fortress.

The castle is a good castle, and it is also the foundation of the family's business for hundreds of years. The masonry façade of the castle is thick enough, with lookouts, shooting platforms, towers, arrow towers, caves, secret doors...... And so on. At the same time, the castle is built on a hilltop that is easy to defend and difficult to attack, with cliffs on three sides and a rugged and steep mountain road on the other.

"Can you carry the artillery up?" said William, frowning in front of Sandomitsburg, and turned his head to ask the gunner. The gunners, who had spent a lot of money and hired from the Blue Hat Merchant Regiment, shook their heads like rattles. One of the artillery captains said to William: "It's useless to transport it. Ours are field guns of small caliber, and we can't help such castles. You have to have a large-caliber siege artillery. ”

"That's the problem. William couldn't help but frown—speaking of which, this kind of castle fortress built in a dangerous area is the most troublesome of the most headaches. Before the invention of modern artillery and high-explosive shells with a range of beyond eye range, it had few natural enemies.

Although it is said that the advent of gunpowder put an end to medieval castles. But it also depends on what kind of castle it is.

If it's a medieval castle built on a plain, or not too dangerous, then there is no problem at all. Just two booms.

But if it's a castle built in an easy-to-defend area like this, then if you want to break it, you have to ......

"Prepare gunpowder. William thought for a moment, then said. It was also before that he flipped through the war books in the Mind Reading Room and found a solution that seemed to be a good idea.

That was gunpowder blasting – a tactic that was not common in Europe. The more rigid thinking of European generals blindly pursued muskets and artillery in the use of gunpowder weapons. Beyond the use of artillery as siege engines, they did not conduct a more in-depth study of the use of gunpowder weapons alone. It was not until modern times that modern fortresses appeared in place of castles, and the power of modern artillery was not enough to capture these fortresses, that the generals came up with this tactic - digging the walls of the fortress with pickaxes and crowbars, and filling them with gunpowder blasting.

In contrast, Chinese generals studied the art of siege and warfare more deeply. They used gunpowder to siege the city, and they also had another option.

From the use of iron artillery to bombard the city gates during the Yuan Dynasty to the "coffin" used by the Hunan army against the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom during the Manchu Dynasty, the coffin filled with black powder was buried under the city wall to blast and collapse the opponent's city wall. and then to the "earthen tank" during the Civil War of the Republic of China, that is, the Eight Immortals Table covered with multiple wet quilts to prevent bullets, the soldiers hid under the Eight Immortals Table and moved under the opponent's city wall, and then laid mines to collapse the city wall...... Examples of gunpowder blasting being used in siege warfare are not uncommon. And they usually have good results.

"Prepare a coffin...... Powder keg. Transport, dig up the ground under the castle parapet, bury it, then ignite it and detonate it. William was pondering this in his heart, and imagining that after this tactic had come to fruition, everyone's eyes were full of awe and admiration......

He was thinking so, but suddenly he heard the cheers of the soldiers next to him.

The cheers pulled William back from his fantasies. Then he got the news that Jerichy had surrendered.

"It's really ......," made William not know what to say for a while. It seems that the siege stunt he originally thought of will have to wait a while before it can be unveiled.

In this way, the war, which affected a quarter of the Grand Duchy of Mazovia, finally came to an end. Despite their reluctance, Jelich and Pelchberg were eventually forced to sign an agreement to relinquish the count's title. The agreement stipulated that they would transfer all of their property and land to the Hereford family.

In this way, the combat goals that William originally expected to achieve have been fully realized. The northeastern part of Mazovia fell under the control of the Hereford family.

Although before, in order to hire mercenaries, the coffers of Sandomiz and Vitra were almost emptied. But the Circassian New Army, the Hereford family, or William, or rather, William made a good fortune.

In this era, there are no three disciplines and eight points of attention. Conquer the territory, after which looting is the norm. William didn't think about being a maverick or anything.

And unlike the previous army of exiles. William had a special "robbery talent", that is, the merchant John.

What is worth the money and what can be sold for a good price. This guy is very good at it. It is precisely because of the guidance of professionals that William's army has gained a lot.

The families of the two counts have been in business in these two counties for hundreds of years, and the floating wealth of gold and silver coins is not counted. Antiques, luxury goods, and decorative furniture are also very valuable.

William didn't need so many luxuries. And those castles, he didn't want to live in either. So all this wealth was taken out and sold.

Originally, merchant John wanted to keep it to himself. But he couldn't help it - the whole world knew about the war, and the warmongers, the merchants waiting to buy the spoils, almost flocked to it. John the merchant went to William, but William pretended to be helpless and said that he couldn't help it. After all, he couldn't offend so many people for the sake of businessman John alone.

In fact, William himself did not want to let the merchant John monopolize his loot trafficking.

So in the end, the merchant John only got a "right of first refusal" that was better than nothing.

The auction for the loot went on very hotly. A large amount of loot was sold for a good price. There were even some things that William didn't recognize, which caused the merchants to scramble. Eventually, William reaped a large sum of money. However, looking at the elated virtues of these merchants, William felt that they must have made a lot of money.

"Do you want to organize a merchant group and dispose of the loot yourself? Although the money is a little slower, it will definitely get more than just such a hand. So, William couldn't help but have such a thought in his heart.

Then there was the extortion of the squires, the small landlords and the small merchants of Sandomizi and Vitra - William did not kill like a normal army leader, and then loot and kill indiscriminately. This is very inefficient, destroys the local economy, and is easy to make enemies. He had already regarded these two counties as his own territory, so naturally he would not go too far.

So, William's policy for them was to make them spend money on their lives. According to their respective family property and the amount of land property, a sum of money will be paid to labor the army. If there is no cash, it will be mortgaged with land or in kind.

Although these squires will also suffer heavy losses due to their hard work, it is better than losing their lives. So in the end, the robbery operation was carried out smoothly.

The only thing that made William feel unhappy was that he didn't kill people so much, and his act of robbery seemed to be misunderstood by some people as "cowardice", so these people pleaded and threatened half-softly and half-hard. Wanted William to charge a little less, or even no money.

As a result, of course, all these people died.

Killing nobles or something, William is more scrupulous. But for these squires who had no identity, he did not hesitate to move.

In two days, a large number of squires in Sandomitz and Vitra were exterminated by William. Family property and land were confiscated. In this way, the rebellion between the two places disappeared in an instant.

This made William very emotional. Although this is not too good, but, really, some people are so cheap, how do they feel good to him, he has to use a knife and a gun to know that he is afraid......

All in all, after a series of robberies, murders, murders, and robberies, the situation in the two counties of Sandomits and Vitra finally settled down, and the squires, the stewards of the various villages, and the mayors of several towns, the leading men of the realm, finally accepted the rule of the Hereford family.

Although the substructure has not been shaken, there is still a huge degree of autonomy. However, William also did not have enough administrative talents under his command, so as a last resort, he could only recognize the existence of these forces in order to maintain the stability of the territory.

In this way, after a period of war, tumult, looting, auctions and rewards, and feasts, the northeastern part of Mazovia was once again calm. Charlumie got her wish and became the Countess of Baudelaire. At the same time, the titles of Earl of Sandomitz and Vitra were respectively obtained by Hereford and his son. William finally got rid of his previous embarrassing status as a vassal and became a nominal nobleman.

But that's not the end of it.

That is, on the third day after the end of the war, in the name of Count Otto, the emissaries of the House of Hereford left Sandomitz with a large amount of goods, and their object was Krakow. More precisely, the Archbishop of Krakow.

William hoped to obtain the approval of the Archbishop of Krakow, and the ecclesiastical power he represented, to seek a duke for his father, Count Otto, and for the Hereford family. to take their family a step further