Chapter 284: Not Being a Human Being

As a country that resisted Roman Hungary on the front line, Austria suffered too much. Its own territory was slaughtered, the population plummeted, property was lost, and industry and commerce were sluggish. Vienna even had to be careful of the threat of cavalry from Hungary, but the peasants were not so lucky.

They were captured and turned into slaves, and then appeared in the market. Rome had ordered that the slave trade was not allowed in the country, and all of them were bought by the state to enrich the population in the eastern part of the empire.

The Ljubljana garrison had a total of 3,000 people. They were not sure that they could hold on for a month. After all, the siege capability like Rome had not appeared in Europe for more than a hundred years. Now they are still a little scared.

After Peter arrived here, he did not rush to attack the city. He shot a letter into the city, asking them to open the city and surrender, and then they were willing to serve Rome or leave, and they would be given a travel fee before leaving.

Such a letter was naturally torn to pieces by the garrison. They shouted at the Roman army under the city, and the priests in the city led the believers to pray to God to bless Ljubljana.

350 artillery pieces finally arrived at the battlefield after being transported by slaves and farmers. The simultaneous firing of artillery pieces caused great damage to the walls of the small town. Some defenders were taken away by the artillery pieces before they could dodge, and the only two artillery pieces in the city did not hit the target because of their low power.

After two rounds of artillery fire, Peter ordered an attack on Ljubljana. A large number of soldiers began to advance towards the city. The defenders hurriedly used bows and arrows and stones to stop the Roman army, but stimulated by honor and land, the Roman soldiers were braver than each other, and the city gates were also powered by the power of Rome's new weapon, the chariot. The city gates were directly blown open, and blood and limbs were scattered all over the ground.

The soldiers rushed in with one go. The Venetian mercenaries were strong in combat, but they could not withstand the large number of the other side, and they were exhausted and annihilated in the end. Ljubljana took only eighteen hours from the official attack to the end.

With the fall of Ljubljana, there was no obstacle on the road to Italy. Peter issued what he thought was the cruelest order: not a single person, a dollar, or a grain of food should be left for the enemy.

Soldiers went door to door to collect supplies and population. Those who needed to replenish military supplies were sent in, and those who did not need them were kept by the soldiers themselves. As for the population, all were transferred to Rome to replenish the border and labor.

So, you will see the most destructive army wreaking havoc in the West, leaving no grass wherever it went, cleaner than locusts. The Roman army also earned the title of the locust army.

After the occupation of this small town, northern Italy was shaken. Venice was the first to bear the brunt. The ruling group made an urgent decision to move all the population of the neighboring Venetian territory to Venice to defend the homeland. Only Koper, an important Istria peninsula, retained part of the army to defend Venice.

Peter continued to expand his territory, and the entire Duchy of Carniola was almost occupied by Rome. The Austrian army could only defend in the north, and as for Tyrol, it was up to them.

The monastery was also the focus of the Roman army's looting. Nuns, monks, and civilians were all taken away, and the crops they planted were packed and burned before leaving. The local parish was miserable.

"Where to go next? Going directly to Venice is a bit too fast. How about going to the Alps?"

Peter was thinking, and the attendant reported to him that the Austrian envoy had arrived. Peter wanted to see what this person could say in front of him.

"The Archduke of Austria entrusted me to express condolences to your army. Austria came with friendship and peace."

The envoy spoke of peace as soon as he opened his mouth. In his words, Austria was a child who was coerced and forced to go to war with Rome. Now the people were suffering, which was not what they wanted to see. Therefore, the Archduke asked Rome to withdraw from here, and he could provide the Roman army with 150,000 gold coins of condolences.

"The Empire has never done anything unfriendly to the West. Everything we do is for revenge."

"That group of merchants openly insulted Constantinople. This is a national shame. It was originally just against him, but you took the initiative to join. Don't blame the Empire for fighting together."

"The Empire will withdraw, but not now. Please go back to Vienna."

"This..." The envoy didn't know what to say. Peter was a little impatient and said, "Does your country want me to go to Vienna in person to explain to the Archduke?"

"No, no." The Austrian envoy left directly, and Peter laughed out loud. Such a locust army passed through the border, and the whole West should hate him to death.

While they were still conducting interest diplomacy, Rome had risen to wolf warrior diplomacy. So stubborn, aren't you afraid of being surrounded and beaten?

This is also the reason why the art of vertical and horizontal alliances flourished in the Warring States Period. If a country is too strong, other countries will form an alliance to confront it; the powerful country will find a way to break the alliance and defeat them one by one, and Rome is that powerful country.

Peter's special spoils agency was understaffed because they had plundered too much. First the Cossacks plundered, then the locusts attacked. They wanted to scrape the land three feet, and even the rich merchants became beggars.

After deducting the army's salary, material loss, and spoils, Peter's pocket money increased by 200,000 ducats. More than the Black Prince's achievements in France.

Then the plundering continued to expand, and the small lords who supported Austria suffered. They did not expect that their property would be plundered one day, and the other party did not rob once and leave, but only gave you blue sky and white clouds and poor land, and the rest, including people, were robbed. This will have a great impact on the entire northern Italy and southern Germany.

Seeing that Rome had sent troops, various countries also forced George to lead the army to fight. But the current preparations have not been done yet. He carefully referred to the previous war with Rome. The use rate of the other party's artillery and muskets was particularly high, so he decided to introduce a large number of firearms troops. He has ordered 2,000 muskets and 30 artillery. At present, some artillery has not been transported, and the command systems of various armies also need to be coordinated. After all, this is a mercenary union, not a national standing army.

Austria has been scared to withdraw, and so is the Bishop of Trento, because it should be his turn next. But because of the atrocities of Rome, the small lords in the southern region united, they formed the Southern Alliance, and then joined the Venetian Alliance.

Because Rome invaded the Holy Roman Empire, the German King Jobst symbolically expressed that he would teach Rome a lesson, and the Elector of the Palatinate expressed that he would join the war against Rome. The same was true for the Duchy of Bavaria from the same family. It seemed that the war was about to come to the heart of the Holy Roman Empire.