On the second Sunday of September, at noon on the third day when Provence launched a sudden attack on the northwest border of Lombardy, the palace of Besancon, the Marquis of Burgundy, suddenly issued a declaration of war, saying that the Principality of Lombardy had repeatedly invaded the southern border in recent years, and that the Marquis of Burgundy would use all its strength to fight back against the invaders.
Almost simultaneously with the declaration of war issued by the court of Besançon, there was also the French King's claim to the Principality of Lombardy.
The unexplainable declaration was a thousand words in length, and was only intended to prove that the previous French king had the suzerainty of the Principality of Lombardy, and now the French king decided to exercise his suzerainty.
When Art learned of this information, he had already led the rested and expanded Wells Army to the north of Lavati City, and built a stronger camp on the site of the Great Patriot Army's baggage camp that had not yet been demolished.
"I have to admire this strong family blood tie. Even though we are so far apart and hundreds of years apart, the great French King was able to turn the Principality of Lombardy into his own vassal state. It can be seen that as long as you want to do many things, you can always find a reason." In the central command camp of the legion, several high-ranking officers and officials in the army, including Odo, Angus, Kazak, Ron, Robert, Bob, Nadaud and David, were discussing the inexplicable declaration.
"That's fine. Although there are more and more wild wolves coming to share our food, at least the Lombards can no longer deal with us with all their strength. In this way, we can besiege Lavati with peace of mind and strengthen our rule over the occupied area at will. Anyway, Lombardy is definitely not something we can swallow in one bite." The current situation is most favorable to the Wells Army, so Odo is very relaxed.
“The southern part of Lombardy has always been supported by the Papal State, so why haven’t the Papal States come out to cover them?” Kazak asked.
Angus made the point, "Which Papal State? His Majesty the Pope is still practicing penance in Avignon, that puppet..."
Ahem~ Robert coughing softly on the side, Angus immediately stopped talking.
"No matter what, the situation around us is very good now." Art summarized the current situation.
From Nanguan Army Fort to the market town camp, Santia City, and now to Lavati, the Welsh Army's attack can be described as devastating. Three days after the fall of Santia City, Odo, Angus and Kazak sent troops in all directions, successively conquered more than a dozen castles and fortresses that had basically given up resistance, and occupied almost all the land in the northern part of the Po River Plain.
Until now, the number of soldiers killed in the Welsh Legion has not exceeded 100. The injured soldiers have been properly treated. Those who can return to the army have returned to the army, and the seriously injured ones have been carried back to the lake for centralized treatment.
The reduction of staff is not much, but the increase of staff is quite a lot.
Obot's reserve regiment increased its troop strength, successively took over the defense of three companies of the Southern Xinjiang Garrison Corps, and expanded the garrison to five important fortresses and castles.
While the Obote Reserve Regiment took over eight key fortresses, Ian, the political officer who was specially assigned by the Welsh Provincial Government to be responsible for civil affairs in the occupied Lombardy area, formed a new Lombardy Garrison Regiment. More than 500 Lombard soldiers turned into "security soldiers in the occupied area" and took over all the secondary strongholds as well as market towns, villages and manors in the occupied area. They also began to pacify the local civilians and collect money, food and taxes.
As a reward for surrender, Art ordered that all surrendered soldiers who joined the Welsh Army should have a right of amnesty. They could use this power to protect part of their hometown land and relatives and friends from the "strong rule" of the Welsh Army.
Attracted by generous military pay and treatment, and special amnesty orders to relieve them from worries, the surrendered Lombard soldiers gradually changed their stance in their hearts.
In any case, the core interests are protected, and there is no difference between serving the Principality of Lombardy or the Marquis of Burgundy.
Absorbing some of the elite surrendered troops, the Wells Army expanded a Lombard division based on the original soldiers. With the addition of the Southern Border Guard Corps drawn from various castles, the number of troops participating in the siege of Lavati now exceeds 3,000.
Most of the northern plains were lost, and the Duke of Lombardy faced a formidable enemy.
The Duke of Lombardy was furious and personally led an army of 6,000 people from Milan to rush to Santia's aid.
The team marched for a day, but suddenly heard that Provence had sent its troops southward overnight. In less than two days, the tens of thousands of frontier troops deployed by the Principality of Lombardy on the border were pushed back for dozens of miles, and dozens of large and small castles on the border were occupied.
The Duke of Lombardy immediately divided the 6,000-strong army into two parts, and the 4,000-strong army headed northwest to reinforce the breached border. He knew that Provence was the most serious problem.
The remaining two thousand people also changed their strategic plan, from going north to drive the Burgundians frontally to going north to defend the castle fortress south of Lavati City, building a strong defense line.
Just after adjusting their deployment, the Mountain Confederation, the Principality of Burgundy, and the Kingdom of France declared war one after another. A series of declarations of war left the talented Duke of Lombardy unable to cope.
Besieged by a pack of wolves, the Welsh Army was no longer the biggest threat to Lombardy, not to mention that the city of Lavati was a free city. Whether the city fell or not did not seem to have much to do with the palace dignitaries. Based on the above, when Art led 3,000 troops to surround Lavati City, no Lombard army came to relieve the siege.
A breathtaking scene of war.
But now Lavati City is in a difficult situation.
Lavati City is a commercial city. The city hall established by wealthy merchants insists on being tolerant and open and accepting the ideas of all parties, so the city has no walls that can withstand enemies.
On the day they learned that the city of Santia had fallen, many ordinary citizens chose to flee, but the wealthy businessmen had all their wealth in the city, so where could they go? Therefore, the city hall issued a city-wide martial law, and the wealthy businessmen spent a large amount of money to urgently recruit city garrison soldiers, expanding the city garrison to 1,500 people. At the same time, the city hall sent several teams carrying heavy funds to ask for help...
The Welsh Army's march was too fast. On the third day of the capture of Santia, three thousand troops had already stationed in the north camp of Lavati City. The siege of the city was completed that day, but the army only established a sparse encirclement line.
The fearful citizens of Rawati huddled in their houses, held up crosses and hid in their homes to pray, waiting for the arrival of bad luck.
However, the enemy troops outside the city surrounded and refused to attack, and the defenders of Lavati City naturally did not dare to make the slightest move.
Not long after, a messenger was sent from outside the city, bringing a personal letter from Atwood Wells, Earl of Wells in Burgundy and Baron of Wells in Lombardy.
The core of the autographed letter is that Lavati City, which surrenders to the Earl of Wales, will receive the friendliest treatment.
After sending the personal letter, the Welsh Army compressed the encirclement by one mile and sent troops to cut off all food roads leading to the city.
Due to high expectations for the Lombard army, the food reserves in the city of Lavati were less than two months.
While the army encirclement line was tightening, some people who spread rumors appeared in the city of Lavati. They kept preaching about the ferocity of the Burgundian soldiers, and rumored that the Principality of Lombardy would use all the wealth of the city of Lavati in exchange for the Burgundians to stop their iron heel.
The atmosphere of surrender permeated the city...
........................
Taking advantage of the Duke of Lombardy's attention turning to the northwest border, Art quickly stabilized the occupied area, and the cavalry kept running on the Po River plain to suppress any small-scale resistance.
With the efforts of Obote's reserve regiment and the administrative officers of the Lombardy Occupied Territory, a steady stream of food supplies was transported every day from the castles, towns and manor farms in the occupied territories to the Province of Wales and the Welsh Legion Lavati siege army. .....
"The army has been fighting hard, and all the soldiers and officers are exhausted. We need to take advantage of this period to intensify repairs. When Provence has completely attracted the main force of Lombardy, we should go south to Sauronburg." Art explained the recent deployment.
Subsequently, Art took out a secret letter from his arms that he had just received early this morning. The secret letter came from the city of Besançon, the capital of the Marquis of Burgundy.
"Everyone, the king will personally lead a thousand palace guards south to fight in Lombardy soon." Art raised the letter in his hand.
Everyone in the military tent was surprised when they heard this.
· The Province of Wales and the entire Burgundian Kingdom have always been in a state of extremely delicate balance. As Flanders' confidant in ascending to the Iron Throne, Art has always been trusted and appointed by Flanders. However, the Province of Wales is actually an autonomous dominion of the Burgundian Kingdom, and the Earl of Wales is also at the edge of Flanders' control.
· With an independent and powerful army, an increasingly prosperous large territory far away from the capital, and a European trading house that has turned into a giant beast, Art and Flanders seem to have some inexplicable balance of power.
Fortunately, Flanders and Art have the blood relationship of Galvin and Lottie, and the two have always maintained an inseparable "intimate relationship".
Suppose that just when the Welsh Army had gained a clear strategic advantage in Lombardy, the Burgundian Kingdom suddenly declared war on Lombardy, and Flanders had to lead the most powerful palace guard army southward, which made Art feel resentful.
"The monarch and the earl are brothers by marriage. Now that the earl is in urgent need of reinforcements, it is really a great thing to lead his elite troops south to help in the battle." Seeing that Angus and others looked unhappy, Robert was about to say disrespectful words, so he immediately blocked everyone's mouths with one sentence, and also reminded everyone not to make random remarks.
Sitting at the end of the camp, David, the commander of the Southern Expedition of the Palace Guards of the Burgundian Kingdom, was a little restless. This situation did not seem to be suitable for him.
He hesitated for a moment, stood up and saluted Art, "Your Majesty, um, it's our turn to guard the outer patrol tonight, I'll make arrangements instead." After that, David got up and left the camp.
Art raised his hand to stop him, "David, although you are the commander of the palace guards, you and I have a closer personal relationship. I asked you to come over, and I never planned to put up a defense against you."
After hearing this, David felt sad for a while, and turned around and sat back in his seat.
"It is great for our Welsh Army that the Marquis can personally conquer the south." Art did not intend to break up with Flanders. He went south to conquer Lombardy. On the surface, he wanted to recapture Wellsburg and restore his family's honor. In fact, he wanted to open up the southward sea trade route and open up territory for European trading companies.
The purpose of opening up the Southern Continent is to connect with the Hanseatic League in the Northern Continent in the future, and eventually buy the southern goods from the Southern Continent coast to the Hanseatic League to form a complete chain.
The only way for European merchants to go north is through the Burgundy Kingdom, so they will not open up the southern continent and block the northern route.
On the other hand, Flanders has no reason to break up with Art, who is his best ally and vassal.
"Our war in Lombardy will ease for now, and I will return north immediately in the next few days to welcome the monarch as he goes south."
"This time the monarch brings Bishop Orloff and Count Galvin with him when he goes south, so Bishop Robert has to return north with me."
“The Southern Expedition of the Welsh Army has been handed over to Odo Angus and Kazak. Your main task at present is to control the occupied area, and then surround Lavati. If anyone is sent to negotiate in the city, they will be blown away. Tell them that there is no other way but to surrender. Then I will compress the encirclement by half a mile every day until I reach the city and start attacking.”