ALL NOVEL
Chapter 76: Very Confident
“Caesar, I’ll miss you.”
Sophia grabbed Shu Yichao’s hands with tearful eyes. She couldn’t accompany him on his journey to crush the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Her mother had been feeling torn ever since she went on a frenzy together with Shu Yichao in the Balkans and Anatolia. To have a child go onto the battlefield felt awfully inappropriate to her. She could hardly eat or sleep well, and she found herself worried all day long.
Despite quick reports indicating that Sophia was safe, she still couldn’t help but worry if her daughter was sufficiently dressed for winter, if the food was to her liking, if she had been stung by bugs…
The truth was that Sophia wasn’t a normal child anymore, as she had been swiftly accruing experience from Shu Yichao. She was only sharing 10% of his experience, but given his farming speed, it was still an insane amount.
Finally, Sophia’s mother couldn’t take it anymore. Using the pretext of being ill, she subtly relayed that she wanted Sophia to return and visit her.
Under such circumstances, Sophia had no choice but to return to Constantinope.
“Yup yup, all right.”
Shu Yichao didn’t think much about it, since it was not uncommon for NPCs to leave the party in games. He figured that it was just a scheduled event.
After parting ways, the seething Shu Yichao unhesitatingly made his way toward the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
You bastards. Insulting me everyday? You must be tired of living!
Argh, my money! Do you know how much money I’m going to lose because of you?!
…
In the Holy Romain Empire…
“Your Majesty, the envoy still isn’t back yet,” an aide looked at Frederina with worried eyes as he respectfully reported.
“The Khitan Caesar must have seen through our ploy.” Frederina raised her gold wine cup and swirled the rich wine inside. “It was too much of a rush. It would have been great if we could lure the Khitan Caesar here, but now… Tsk tsk.”
Frederina gulped down her wine before licking her cherry lips.
“Prepare for mobilization. Gather every military commander, noble, and knight.
“A Holy War is upon us, and our enemy is the Lord’s enemy! Those who die in battle will ascend to heaven with the highest glory!”
“Send my messengers to inform every city. All furnaces are to continue burning through the night to forge weapons and armor for our soldiers. All steeds and livestock are to be gathered in preparation for the Holy War. Every grain is to be collected…”
“Your Majesty,” another aide hesitantly spoke up after hearing Frederina’s orders, “shouldn’t we tread carefully?”
The empire would temporarily go into a standstill if they started mobilizing all of their resources in such a manner. If the Khitan Caesar suddenly launched an assault at this juncture, that could spell a calamity to them.
Based on his battle history, the Khitan Caesar appeared to favor such a strategy.
“I know what you’re worried about,” Frederina replied with a smile, “but you can put your heart at ease. We won’t be the Khitan Caesar’s first target.”
“Why?” the aide asked with a frown.
“Because the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is annoying.” Frederina rolled her eyes. “I am confident in their ability to provoke others. I reckon the Khitan Caesar won’t have much interest in us until he’s done with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
“Besides, their knights are a force to be reckoned with. They might be able to deal a heavy blow to the Khitan Caesar.”
…
In the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth…
“Captain, it might be hard for us to justify what we’re doing to His Majesty…” one of the knights hunting alongside Cassivia said.
He thought that Cassivia was overstepping her boundaries.
“The Khitan Caesar is a formidable foe, having subjugated the Ottomain Empire and Venice. Isn’t it inappropriate for us to send letters to provoke him?”
It was only years ago that their previous king died in a battle against the Ottomains. Provoking someone who had defeated such a powerful adversary was unwise, and to make things worse, Cassivia was thinking of forming an army of Crusaders against the Eastern Romain Empire.
Unfortunately, Cassivia herself didn’t agree.
“You dimwit. What’s inappropriate about that?” She stared at her knight as if he was an idiot. “Yes, we have formed an army of Crusaders, but have we dispatched any troops?”
“…” The knight was confused. “That’s what confuses us too. Why aren’t we…”
“You idiot.”
“…” The knight spent a moment in thought before realization struck him.
Ah. Even if we have formed an army of Crusaders, we need not necessarily go after the heretics in the Eastern Romain Empire.
“I understand now.” The knight looked at Cassivia with admiring eyes.
There was a deeper meaning behind why Cassivia had sent letters to berate the Khitans.
We, the knights, are going to fight the heretics. Shouldn’t the rest of you contribute something? Shouldn’t the king finance our troops? Shouldn’t the local nobles present their appreciation to us for fighting the Holy War on their behalf? Shouldn’t the farmers express their gratitude?
What? You aren’t giving us anything? Well well, you are starting to resemble a heretic now that I’m taking a closer look!
Once the Crusaders secured financing and rations, under the justification of the Holy War and their sheer military prowess, they would have the power to dictate who was a heretic and who wasn’t.
And if we decide that the king of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is a heretic…
The knight fawned on Cassivia, saying, “Our captain must be the embodiment of intelligence and valiance! As expected of our Lord’s sharpest spear! Given how far away we are, the Khitan Caesar can’t possibly turn a blind eye to other enemies and go at us instead.
“No one is so foolish as to bring their army onto the plains and clash with the most outstanding knights in the world over a couple of insults!
“Hahahahaha!”
“Captain! Bad news—the Khitans are attacking Castellgali!”
“?”
…
Not long ago…
“The blood twin-headed eagle is here!”
“IT’S THE KHITANNNNNNNS!”
“The Scourge of God!”
The soldiers stationed on the city walls were horrified to see the flag hoisted in the distance.
“What are they doing here? Shouldn’t they be fighting with the countries in the south?”
Such discussions broke out among the soldiers.
“Why the hell are you chatting among yourselves?!” Their platoon leader angrily kicked them. “Hurry up and lower the gate!”
“Ah?”
“Snap out of it, you buffoons!” The platoon leader smacked their heads. “The Khitans are going to stomp our city if you don’t lower the gate now!”
The Polish Hussars’ Holy Knight Order had been rallying people to join the Crusade to purge heretics. A handful of knights were so excited that they took the initiative to charge into enemy territory to begin the purge, but for some reason, all of them went silent after a while.
The platoon leader finally understood why.
They must have been massacred by the Khitans.
“Lower the gate and inform the count!” the platoon leader shouted. “We’ll request reinforcement from the king! If we can just hold for several months till the knights arrive, we will…”
“Chief!” a soldier beside him screamed in horror.
The platoon leader turned over, and what he saw scared him out of his wits.
The falling gate had stopped right before it could fall to the ground. An inexplicable force was lifting the gate up. Then, a silver flash suddenly whizzed through the crack of the gate into the city!
Bam!
The heavy gate fell deafeningly to the ground, raising a huge cloud of dust.
Shoosh!
A pear metal spear surged across the air and rampaged like an unstoppable dragon, spilling blood all on the city walls. After slaughtering all of the nearby soldiers, Shu Yichao proceeded to pull the chains to raise the city gates.
“Attack!” he roared.
Thousands of cavalrymen charged through the raised gates and decimated the city within moments.
However, Shu Yichao didn’t have time to dawdle in this city. He merely eliminated the soldiers and nobles and carried out a quick plunder before rushing off to the next city.
He was on the verge of exploding with anger.
How much money am I going to spend in vain if I wait six months for the penalty to be over? Right now, I can only hope that destroying Popo will remove that debuff. It won’t make sense for their envoy’s insult to shake my army’s morale when their country is already gone, right?
This was the thought he had as he razed down cities in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
—
Starve’s Translation Note:
The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth are known for their Polish hussars (aka winged hussars). They are considered elite cavalrymen, wearing plated armor. They are known for their red and white dressing scheme and their wings that make them resemble angels.
The Holy Knight Order (which doesn’t exist in history), in the context of this story, are under the Polish hussars, but they are an elite group within them.