In mid-September, the gradually cold weather is in sharp contrast with the gradually heating up war. This autumn and winter are destined to be unrest.
On the seventh day when Provence declared war on Lombardy, more than 12,000 Provencal troops were divided into three routes: east, middle and west. They advanced fifty miles south of the Lombardy border and successively occupied seven counties in the Principality of Lombardy.
In the cycle of cause and effect, seven years ago, the Duke of Lombardy also marched into Provence in three directions, occupying half of Provence in less than a year; and seven years later, Provence, which had been beaten in all directions, actually occupied seven border counties in less than a week.
The people of Provence should be grateful to the Earl of Wales and his army.
Sure enough, on the third day when the Welsh Army besieged the city of Lavotte, a generous gift of thanks from the Principality of Provence arrived outside the city of Lavotte - a thousand Provençal soldiers.
The leader of this Provence army was actually Count Balian.
As an experienced and prestigious military noble of the Principality of Provence, Count Balian was naturally one of the main battle commanders in this "counterattack" Lombardy War.
The armies on the eastern border led by him were also the first to attack Lombardy.
After two tough battles on the border, the army led by Bellian defeated three thousand Lombard frontier troops and pushed the front directly to the hinterland of Lombardy, which can be regarded as the protrusion of the entire Provence army's front.
The reason why Balian dared to advance alone and become a salient was because the Welsh Army that had already occupied the Po River plain would act as a flank cover. He did not have to worry about going deep into the enemy's heart and being attacked on three sides.
Just after breaking through the enemy territory, Balian led his army to loot and collect countless money, food and supplies.
Hence, while leading the army to continue the offensive, Balian sent people to Provence to recruit soldiers. Under the temptation of the good situation, a large number of Provence civilians joined the attack on Lombardy.
By the time he occupied an important county and fortress on the border of Lombardy, the people he sent to recruit troops in the interior brought back a full two thousand peasant soldiers.
Balian was also a military aristocrat who believed in elite troops. He knew that the peasant soldiers he had just recruited could barely fight against the wind or suppress and plunder the countryside, but if they encountered the southern army from Lombardy coming north, they would only be used as moving targets.
Hence, as soon as Odo occupied the defense area, he immediately selected a thousand peasant soldiers and hurried to the outside of Lavati City with enough food supplies, weapons and armor for a thousand peasant soldiers to last for more than a month.
In the heavily guarded Welsh Army camp outside Lavati City, the Chinese army commanded the camp. When Balian expressed his intention to come, the senior officers of the Welsh Army, who had been comfortable drinking and eating meat, instantly changed their faces.
As they marched south to siege cities and plunder territory, the officers of the Welsh Legion learned about the combat effectiveness of this 800-strong private army. It was somewhat different from the main battle infantry of the First Division of Wales, but it was obviously stronger than ordinary soldiers. Even the Sap Company, which Felix had spent a lot of money to build, could only barely hold on.
Now Balian plans to exchange 1,000 peasant soldiers for 800 elites. How can they agree?
However, the temporary second division was originally borrowed by Balian. Now they are in urgent need of combat troops, and it is indeed inconvenient to force them to stay.
What's more, they brought a thousand strong peasants and soldiers, a large amount of weapons, armor, and food supplies as an apology, and it was not easy for Art to refuse.
After some fighting, Balian retained a hundred men from the eight hundred private soldiers, allowing these elite private soldiers of the earl to command a thousand peasant soldiers, continue to obey the instructions of the earl of Wales, and fight with the Welsh army.
For Art, the more Lombard troops that Provence held back, the less war pressure he faced. At the same time, such a huge occupied area in the Po River Plain does require more reliable troops to help guard it.
Having just sent off Earl Balian, Art was preparing to pack his bags and return north. Lavati City sent an envoy carrying five carts of gold and silver goods out of the city for peace talks.
Peace talks? Now that Yat's army is pressing down on the border and can attack Lavati, which has almost no wall defenses, at any time, why should he negotiate for peace.
However, the other party brought a large number of gifts, which showed his sincerity, so Art also showed great tolerance. He sent Bob, the secretary of the Chinese Army, and a clerk who had just joined the job and was fluent in Lombardy to negotiate with the Lavati envoy.
Bob is often with Art, so he naturally knows Art's plan, so he first accepted all the property with confidence, and then used two simple conditions as the conditions for peace talks.
Let the access to the city be given up, disband the citizen army and the whole city will swear allegiance to the Baron of Wales, the Principality of Lombardy.
As a sign of sincerity, Bob told the envoy that the Welsh Army would protect the lives and property of all merchants and gentlemen in the city and all those who surrendered.
The messengers returned to the city full of sorrow, and they were willing to believe in an army that would neither kill anyone nor plunder property.
Whether Lavati City believed it or not, at the end of the "peace talks", the armies of the Welsh Army received orders from the Central Army, and the encirclement was immediately reduced by half a mile...
The city of Lavati is about to be unable to sustain itself. Not to mention the huge food consumption of tens of thousands of people every day, countless businessmen will go bankrupt if only the business channel is blocked for half a month.
Yat is not in a hurry. Anyway, he still needs time to stabilize the rule of the occupied area before continuing to march southward and finally attack Solonborg.
What's more, Art, who started the war as a Lombard Baron, would never be in a hurry to capture Sauronburg.
· War always needs a suitable reason, and there is nothing easier to accept than returning to your own country to regain your honor and territory.
...We are spreading the word that Baron Wells is originally from a noble family of Lombardy, so he will not treat Lombard compatriots as cruelly as foreigners."
"With your Lombard ancestry, the occupied areas quickly stopped resisting. In addition, we announced that half of the land tax will be reduced within two years after the war. More and more Lombard civilians are willing to accept your rule." It doesn’t matter whether the Si family or the Burley family rules. Whoever can give them less tax and more food will be recognized as the lord."
Ian and Obote returned to the military camp outside Lavati City and reported to Art on the governance situation in the occupied area of the Po River Plain.
Perhaps due to the consecutive defeats of Wadbury and von Biron, or perhaps due to Art's tolerant policy, the rule of the occupied area in the northern part of the Po River Plain was particularly smooth. In addition to suppressing a group of small lords at the beginning, the remaining Lombards actually began to respect Art.
Unknown to Art, the story of "The Baron's Revenge" had spread throughout the northern territory of Lombardy.
The power of public opinion is really powerful.
September 20th, it rained heavily.
Att had to return north. Flanders Otto, the king of Burgundy, had left the city of Besancon with a thousand palace guards two days ago.
After settling the political affairs in the occupied area and deploying the frontline military affairs, Art took Bishop Robert and set off back north.
Before leaving, in addition to taking thirty of the Earl's guards with him, the bodyguard Ron also secretly ordered Stanley to select eight special soldiers from the task force who were very good at assassination.
These eight task force soldiers will accompany Art back north in the form of "shadows", guarding Art's safety in the dark...