"This is your plan: the enemy we are going to deal with is in the Hungarian province, in Budapest, and I only ask you to control the situation, but you have to use the navy of the whole empire, and half of the army of the empire to cooperate with you. ”

"Do you have any comments?"

"I don't want things out of my control!"

"But now the situation is out of your control! Don't think that I don't know what to do, our Theofano family's control in the west is all relying on high-pressure jurisdiction to stabilize my rule, and now that the French have hit Budapest, if Budapest falls, the chain reaction will be a disaster that is very likely to turn into an imperial civil war!"

“....”

After a brief silence, Daddy Cheap, Caesar of the Empire, approved my plan.

With Caesar's support, the various departments of the empire quickly became operational, first of all, the naval forces of the empire, as the key to the whole war, although the imperial warships were not more than a hundred, but there were many transport ships, from large rowing boats carrying 500 people to small sailing ships with 120 people, as long as necessary, we could requisition thousands more from the ports of the Danube at any time.

Although these slender ships driven by manpower are not reliable in the ocean, they are very advantageous in the inland basin lake of the Mediterranean, otherwise they would not have been used by the ancient Greeks to the modern Eastern Romans to this day, if it were not for the sail warship to give full play to the power of the cannon, and the man-driven rowing boat occupied all the space for the cannon, the Mediterranean is still the world of this ancient Greek ship.

But even the big sail ships are able to use their firepower to the fullest. But in terms of transporting troops, it is better to paddle ships, and the most powerful point for the empire is. Oars are not very demanding on the port, as long as there are shoals, the oars can dock on the shallows, and then the army can disembark from the sides of the hull, and the low oars allow the army to move to the beach faster and faster than the big sail ships. And on the Mediterranean coast, there are many such convenient locations for the landing of the Empire. Before me though. The Empire never seemed to have systematically developed this Marine style of play, which relied on the sea to move troops quickly to combat sites.

Now that I have the example of Alexander's successes several times in a row, it is all the more important for me to carry forward the advantages of the empire.

In less than three days, a total of 155 paddle boats were built. More than twenty-five thousand oarsmen were recruited and gathered in the harbor, waiting for the army they were going to transport. Soon, a total of 16,000 infantry from two legions was concentrated. In the planning. They left the port of Constantinople by ship and advanced towards the Adriatic.

At the same time, the empire gathered in Constantinople and set off together.

At this time, news of the fall of Bratislava came from the front, and the rest of the period was full of news of the fall of the empire.

On February 26, 1725, Senez was lost.

On February 27, 1725, Győr fell.

On March 10, 1725, Nitra was captured by the French.

On March 16, 1725, the French army besieged Dorog and Bagno, two of Budapest's barriers, and held out the fall. It was only a matter of time before Budapest was besieged under the city.

The French army drove straight into 200 kilometers and won three battles and three victories. Three important cities were seized one after another, with more than tens of thousands of dead and wounded, and such a huge defeat is a shame that has not been seen in more than 20 years, and it can be said that after the news spread, the whole country was shaken.

This newly recruited legion was called the Imperial Grand Roman Legion, nominally, led by the Ventrian overseer, and a mighty Roman legion of eleven newly formed legions, which was moved by transport ships to the mouth of the lower Danube plain, and I intended to use the ready-made canals to move the army to Belgrade, and along the way prepared various arrangements for the defeat of the army.

With the Southern Carpathians and the Stara Mountains on one side as the main points of defense, I mobilized three of the six imperial legions in the Danube Plain to handle this strategic point, and then at the confluence of the various tributaries of the Danube, a corps was placed in the Belgrade area, if we were unfortunately defeated, the army in the Belgrade region would become an outpost of the offensive and defensive battle of the Southern Carpathians and the Stara Mountains, and the French could only threaten Constantinople behind the Stara Mountains by breaking this line of defense, and there were only two main roads in front of Constantinople, and the army behind the cheap daddy only had to hold this place, and they could support Belgrade and retreat, which could fortify Constantinople.

As an interior defense, the defensive line from Belgrade to Constantinople is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and it is difficult to be broken by the existing forces of the French, but in the middle Danube plain, it is much more difficult here, because the outer defense of Bratislava is occupied by the French, and Budapest is surrounded by the French army, and the strongest defense line built around Budapest to consolidate the middle Danube has been broken by the French army, and the French only need to break through a few cities around Budapest to control the entrance and exit of the river, and they can be like no one on the vast plain between the Drava River and the Tisza River。

But this is not to say that the Empire was completely bare in the plains of the middle Danube, and the Empire arranged a series of strongholds and fortresses along the river, which could not be done to make the area behind it impregnable, but it could also slow down the French offensive.

Seeing that Budapest and the surrounding areas were about to fall, I gave the order to abandon the left bank of the Danube, and part of the remnants of the Empire's army except in Budapest withdrew to the right bank of the river and joined the Tisza River defense line to consolidate the eastern defense line of the plain basin, and partly joined the Drava River defense line to consolidate the Empire's forces in the southwest of the plain valley. This would then have left out as much as one-fifth of the Middle Danube Plain, but by gathering a small number of them, the Imperial forces on the left and right sides would be strengthened, and even if the French changed their minds and quickly captured Budapest, or split their divisions to try to destroy the local people, the defensive lines of the valley on the left and right would be able to resist them, so that the great Rome in my hands could arrive, force the main French forces to merge, and then confront us.

It's just that, on the whole, the empire has invested as many as 160,000 troops in this battle, but there are less than 100,000 troops that can actually enter stealth combat. That's a lot less than the French.

But even so, we set off.

Then the gathering point of the Confluence of the Imperial Legions, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I had an extra elite on hand.

The Thirty-third Spartan Legion was once again incorporated into my Grand Roman Army, the original Legion Commander was transferred to Constantinople, and the old Komnenos had been promoted to the newest Legion Commander.

"What's going on?"

"We have been stationed here for the past few years, and after the French surrounded Budapest, we became the only corps to guard the confluence of the rivers in front of Belgrade to control the main road, and then not long ago we received an order to become the Prince's Guard. In the future, we will be responsible for the safety of the Prince. ”

"Very good, I've been worried that I don't have an army under my command that can calm the scene, with you here, we will be much more relieved!Commander of the Komnens!" I realized the existence of Leon, so in order to distinguish this old Komnenos watch, I didn't call his name directly, "Return to your station, reorganize the army, prepare to hand over the defense, the 33rd Spartan Legion will follow me into the battlefield!"

"Long live the Empire!"

The 33rd Spartan Legion was replenished and reorganized to 11,000 men, and the regiments under the name of the legion were composed of soldiers who had survived the bloody battles of the German Prussian Throne War and veterans drawn from the original second-line legions. Therefore, the combat effectiveness of the 33rd Spartan Legion is not insignificant, and it seems that because of more than a year of spending time in the Holy Land of Horsebearing, the cavalry unit of the 33rd Spartan Legion has been strengthened, and a 2,000-strong cuirassier has appeared out of thin air! A tall horse, coupled with a shining cuirass, and a dazzling helmet with red tassels, when this cavalry dragged up a cloud of smoke and dust from the road, I saw in the eyes of many infantry on the side of the road that there was nothing but envy and jealousy.

It's just that as the commander of the whole army, I know very well that this cavalry will not get the moment when it charges on the battlefield, at least not in this battle.

"I said, didn't you repeatedly mention that you were afraid that the French would burst the embankment and flood your army, so why did you have to come in?" (to be continued......)