Chapter 523: Attack From Both Ends

Polish troops prepared to move north through Minsk to Vytautas and then take over their own possessions. Although it is not as wealthy as the Roman royal family, it still has 120,000 gold coins. Vytautas used half of it, and now there are still 60,000 gold coins.

He quickly transferred all his property. He was still looking for a lover for himself. Now that he didn't have a son, he was afraid there would be an inheritance crisis.

However, Vytautas did not know this situation. He was ready to wait for the Polish army to come and form a coalition to attack Moscow, so he gave up the idea of ​​leaving and planned to stay in the city and wait for the Polish army to be brought. But he didn't know that his dear cousin had changed his marching route. Even so, Vytautas still had nearly 40,000 troops. The only thing that worried him was food. There was only one month's food left in the city.

"Your Majesty, are we just waiting?" Yuri asked.

"What do you know? As long as the Polish army comes, we will be invincible. Just wait until you enter Moscow and become your Grand Duke."

The Lithuanian emperor has said that he has no reason to worry. He drinks and hunts every day, and holds banquets when necessary. He invites the Moscow nobles who escaped and promised that as long as he returns to Moscow, he will return to his original state and they will all get a lot of money. reward.

This makes the nobles feel itchy, don't they just want more benefits, so just let Yuri come up, and they can also get the merit of following the dragon. Everyone was ready to serve the new Grand Duke.

Michael gathered a group of troops in Moscow. Some people hoped that he could crown him a grand duke, but Michael refused. His reason was that he wanted to come back after the war was over. But the Patriarch knew that he thought the title of Grand Duke was too small.

Look at the family members, the eldest brother is the emperor and he doesn’t say anything. The two younger brothers are one of the electors and the other is the king. Now that he is called the grand duke, it seems that his status is very low. So the Patriarch proposed to him that he could be crowned Tsar.

The earliest title of Tsar came from the First Bulgarian Empire. Roman Emperor Justinian II canonized the then Bulgarian Khan as Caesar, and Caesar became Tsar after being translated into Slavic. Mikhail accepted this proposal, but now was not the time for a coronation, and without Smolensk Moscow would always be exposed to Lithuanian attacks.

The army set off slowly. It would take several days to get from Moscow to Smolensk. According to the current situation, they might meet at Vyazem in the middle of the two places, so he was fully prepared.

"Sir, we are ready. According to our news, Rome has arrived in Kiev. If I am not mistaken, the Polish army has set off for Smolensk."

Mihai also thought of this. He must not let the two armies meet, so he first sent the cavalry troops to the front while he led the infantry forward.

Peter also set off with his army. According to reports from scouts, the Polish army suddenly turned around and headed north, not knowing what to do.

"Could they want to attack in a roundabout way?" a general said.

"Unlikely, Jagiełło is not that smart. He must have had to change his plans because of other things."

In any case, it was still necessary to prevent Ukraine from suddenly taking action. Peter asked people to monitor closely and report any situation as soon as possible. He led his soldiers to Smolensk.

The Eastern European plain is indeed the largest plain in Europe. It is a natural pasture and is very suitable for training cavalry. Here, Poland and Moscow have staged countless fights of love and hate, and now there is also a share of Rome.

----Dividing line----

The Iberian coalition forces have been formed and are heading south, while the Roman army is also heading north with tens of thousands of soldiers, and its goal is Cordoba, another important city in Andalusia.

Cordoba was once the largest city in Western Europe and the cultural, technological and political center of Iberia. It served as the capital and residence of the caliphate of the later Umayyad Dynasty, which ruled the entire Iberian Peninsula for more than a hundred years. In 1236, Cordoba was occupied by Castile.

There are about 4,000 defenders in Cordoba. They don't panic at all when facing ten times the enemy force, because the coalition forces are already moving south, and they only need to hold on for a month.

"Send the order, attack the city!"

The Duke of Aargau gave the order and the war officially began. When the first wave of soldiers rushed towards the city wall, the defenders on the city were ready. As the city rushed closer and closer, with a wave of orders, overwhelming arrows were shot down from the top of the city.

The soldiers quickly used their shields to block most of the damage. Some unlucky ones were shot to death on the spot. Some were injured and fell to the ground screaming. However, more people still covered their heads and accelerated their pace. They rushed to the city gate and took off the earth bags from their backs and threw them away. down, and then ran back desperately.

After the wave ended, more than 70% of the more than a thousand people who went into battle finally came back. This result made the Duke feel relieved. The casualties were still within an acceptable range. It seemed that Cordoba's defensive strength was not strong, and the situation was much better than he had expected.

"Continue!" the Duke ordered loudly. At this time, the second wave of people who was ready began to attack the previous wave. When the second wave of people came back, not only were there many more survivors than the first wave, but it was even more joyful. Encouragingly, the moat is clearly starting to fill.

Then came the third wave. At the beginning of the third wave, not only the casualties of the siege soldiers were reduced to only 10%, but the casualties of artillery and archers on the city of Cordoba also gradually increased. In just one morning, the garrison suffered hundreds of casualties. The mayor led his troops to roam around the city gates, filling in wherever there was a crisis. Soldiers who died in battle or were injured were carried off the city wall one by one. Blood stains, cannonballs, arrows and stones flying in the air took away lives anytime and anywhere.

In the afternoon, a city was finally boarded by Roman soldiers, and both sides started fighting fiercely at the city. If the troops had not arrived in time and finally drove the Roman soldiers off the city, perhaps the situation would have been broken.

By the evening, both the defenders and the siege army were showing signs of fatigue. Stanissa ordered the troops to retreat. The defenders were exhausted and breathed a sigh of relief. The siege battle for the day was finally over.

In the city hall, the mayor turned pale as he listened to the casualty figures reported from various ministries. On this day, there were 1,022 casualties in the city, accounting for more than a quarter of the defenders. If the situation was the same the next day, Cordoba would not be able to survive the army's rescue.

On the second day, the defenders suffered greater casualties than the first day. It took a lot of effort to barely hold on to the city wall. After Rome retreated, there were corpses everywhere on the city and below, and the air was filled with a strong smell of blood.