I Am Louis XIV

   Chapter 324 Before the Great War (6)

Seeing that the ferret was grabbed by someone, the musketeer at the head was relieved. He only glanced around a little, guessing that these people might just be some herdsmen, foresters or lumberjacks, he put his hand into his pocket, When he was about to grab a small silver coin, he heard a scream that was sharper than that of the ferret, and a short axe flew past his cheek, directly hitting the man who stood up. face.

It happened so suddenly that the musketeer couldn't react for a while, but he also drew his musket immediately - and saw the Tatars rushing out from behind them, like hunting beasts, they didn't hesitate. They attacked those who were beside the fire, and the musketeers, while protecting the crown prince, retreated, and divided some of them to fight those who rushed out of the forest.

These savages were even more shabby than the Tartars they had seen, many of whom had no leather robes at all, but rather cumbersome strips of cloth—their heads and limbs protruded from the filthy strips like one Fierce mops, spears, crude swords, sticks and stones, swarmed out like startled owls—the fight was inexplicable and brutal abnormal.

Although Prince Louis has never been to the battlefield, he has a half-brother, Luciano, the Duke of Colonna. Although they have been secretly vying for their father's love, there is some sincere love between the brothers. Cologne The Duke of Nas was also the firstborn son of Louis, and had the demeanor of an eldest brother. Whether in Versailles, Paris, Calais, or Nantes, he always took great care of his younger siblings.

As the first child to be brought to the battlefield by Louis XIV, the Duke of Colonna certainly painted scenes on the battlefield with little Louis, little Eugen and even the eldest princess and the lord of the county more than once. Of course, alone with the boys When they are together, his words are much more direct - in the era of muskets and artillery, the casualties caused by war are already very terrifying. Wounds; when the artillery is still using stone bullets, it can already break the bones. After changing the iron bullets and cannonballs, it will directly plow a **** road in the team like a plow of death. Come; and those powder cans that were thrown into the fort by the grenadiers, and if it were so unfortunate, the enemy in the fort might not have a whole body left.

Such a scene, even through the dry retelling of the Duke of Colonna, is enough to make the crown prince tremble with fear. He even had several nightmares, just considering the fear of his grandmother and mother for the Duke of Colonna, he did not let anyone Know the source of the nightmare.

  Little Louis felt that he should have been prepared, and he would bravely face any pain and death, even if it was against himself.

But he never imagined that the real battle would be like this - as the Duke of Colonna said, in the smoke of the gunpowder, under the towering fortress, in the sound of drums, in front of an orderly queue, the soldiers dressed in Well-groomed, marching to the enemy with a solemn countenance—so are their enemies, dignified and orderly, even if someone is wounded, someone is killed—it might be as Mr. LeBlanc displayed at Versailles A masterpiece in the gallery, or a grand and grand tragedy created by Mr. Corneille.

   But what he saw were human beings like beasts.

The king's musketeers instinctively wanted to distance themselves, and this was the right thing to do, the encounter was unexpected for both, but to deal with these thugs who were inferior to the Tartars, their weapons and horses took up a great deal of power. Advantages, but as on a real battlefield, fighting a group of savages in such a jungle is never the right answer - but as soon as they retreat, the Tartars behind them charge up.

Once the Tatars got entangled with these people, the situation became more chaotic, they were like a pack of well-trained hounds meeting a pack of hungry wolves - yes, in the beginning, the Tartars The sudden attack of people cut down all the thugs who were beside the fire, but as more and more enemies poured out of the forest, spears and long axes were erected like forest trees, and the horses under them collapsed. burden.

A musketeer held the reins of the Dauphin, who was the cousin of the Count of D'Artagnan, Pierre, a taciturn and good gentleman, who had served the king even longer than the Count of D'Artagnan, and was also a man of more than a year. He was fifty years old, but when the king asked him if he should be granted a small estate and spend the rest of his life peacefully and happily in his homeland, he, like the Count of D'Artagnan, refused without hesitation—he even refused. Said he would rather be hit in the chest by a cannonball on the battlefield than lie in bed and return to God's feet in a woman's cry.

Also because of such loyalty, courage and experience - in this battle, the king sent him to the crown prince. This is an important and honorable task. Of course, Mr. Pierre must maintain 120,000 caution, but The crown prince immediately put his hand on his forearm: "Who are those people?"

   "I don't know," said M. Pierre.

   "But they are attacking my father's subordinates." The crown prince said: "I order you to help them."

"I want to ensure your safety first," Pierre surveyed the situation at this time. "Let's go to the hill just now, Your Highness, from there you can watch the battle from a commanding height." He waved. A musketeer came to convey the prince's order, and then, together with some other attendants, escorted the prince and ran up to the hill. When the prince was standing, he saw another musketeer riding his horse to the garrison. direction to go.

This is also just in case. Of course, the safest thing is to send the crown prince back to the castle, but Mr. Pierre roughly estimated the number of enemies. If there are only Tatars here, then the situation may change, but There are also the prince's attendants and musketeers here - rather than rushing back to Kamnic when the situation is unclear, it is better to wait here for reinforcements to arrive, and the garrison is closer to the castle than the castle.

As soon as Prince Louis climbed the hills, he could see the entire battlefield more clearly. The musketeers and French attendants were withdrawing from the jungle in an orderly manner, and the Tartars were entangled with those thugs, but they were slowly moving. Retreat, he couldn't see Anwo's face here, and he didn't quite understand why Anwo suddenly attacked, but the crown prince felt that he was only afraid of regret now.

  Is Anwo regretting it? Not really, the Dauphin of France couldn't understand the idea of ​​the Tartars, they were not good at herding, they were not good at planting wheat, and they were not good at doing business, and they didn't have land or houses. Tatars from tribe to tribe were like Wind-swept tumbleweeds that sell their strength for a living - they're used to fighting at all times.

While the Dauphin's Musketeer was still considering whether to give the man who caught the ferret a small silver coin or a large one, Anvor recognized at a glance that these people were also Tatars - Crimea Tartars, and they are the lowest level of slave soldiers, which can be said to be consumables. How they sneaked in here is not known, but these people are simple-minded but have a keen sense of smell, just like you are encountering a beast You must not turn around like that, Anwo threw the battle axe in his hand without thinking.

There are actually more people hidden in the jungle than Anwo thought. Although they have poor weapons, they have an advantage in numbers. Looking down from the horse, they are all outstretched arms. Wo's pressure also increased with the number. At this time, a torch clenched by a dry hand slammed on the back of Anwo's mount. A spear was erected. Seeing that the situation was not good, Anwo immediately slipped his boots from the stirrup and jumped from the horse to the ground. As soon as he landed, at least three weapons stabbed at him. Anwo saw one. The short spear of the sheep's jaw, let it hit itself--as all the Tartars have complained, the sheep's short, narrow mandible only ripped open Anwar's leather robe, leaving it on his shoulders. There was a wound that rolled over, looking terrible, but not serious.

Anwo stretched out his hand and grabbed the tip of the short spear. He was between a teenager and a young man, but as the son of the leader, sufficient meat ensures that he has the strength to rival adults, especially the enemy he chose. Fierce but very weak, Anwar pulled him into his arms, killed him with a dagger, then lifted him by his shoulders, like a shield, and went straight to the other two enemies - His enemies howled, one of them wielded a stone hammer that let his "shield" slide off his shoulders, and the other swung a wooden club and hit him in the head.

But Anvo had already grabbed a tomahawk at this time. He didn't know if it belonged to him or if the enemy had left it, but he was as good at using tomahawks as the Italians were good at using knives and forks. He opened the menacing stick and slashed "Stone Hammer"'s leg with a backhand. He skipped the fallen stone hammer and narrowed the distance between himself and the "stick" to only one point. Arm, and then he waved his arm as a matter of course, the "stick" expression finally solidified in panic.

But at this moment, a Crimean Tatar who climbed a tree shot him an arrow, and he fell to the ground surrounded by messy hooves and boots. In this case, he could be found and rescued by his companions. The odds were pitifully low, Anwo gritted his teeth and was about to jump up when a hammer hit him on the back, he didn't know if it was another "stone hammer", but this one seemed to take away all his strength.

As a horse's hoof trod across his body, the young Tartar bleeds from his ears, nose and eyes. Of course he was not reconciled. His father told him that he was going to serve the eldest son of the Sultan of France. It is very likely that he will become a nobleman, a lord, just like their former lord - if it hadn't been for him to be the same age as the crown prince, this good thing would not have happened to him, his brother was stronger and braver.

  ——

Although the crown prince asked them to rescue the Tatars, Pierre still looked coldly at the Tatars, which were almost half damaged, and the thugs and refugees in strange costumes had almost all left the jungle before letting the attendants and musketeers line up. Array shooting - these strange Tatars, seemingly unfamiliar with the new muskets, rushed forward, thinking they could counteract the threat of hot weapons with their speed and numbers.

   This, of course, can only be described as a ridiculous delusion.

Just when these thugs began to hesitate and hesitate, the French army also arrived, and General Vauban personally led the army to come. He was finally relieved when he saw the Dauphin, and the next thing was much simpler. , those thugs didn't even have a chance to escape, Vauban had already let the army surrounded the entire jungle.

  The crown prince was immediately escorted back to the castle, and it was not until the next day that he learned that although Anvor had survived by luck, his sister Medo and the other young Tartars had all died.

Information about the matter was also sent to Louis XIV, and of course, a group of Crimean Tatars, Ottoman Turk pioneers and spies suddenly crossed the Sava and infiltrated as far as the distance from Kamnic. The near place is really surprising and worrying.

   "May I know how they got here?" Louis asked.

"They were helped by the herders of the Highlands of Velikaplani," replied the Marquis of Loise. "These herdsmen often use sheepskin airbags to cross the Sava, and this time they probably got hundreds of them at once. , brought a group of Crimean Tatars into the Kamnik area."

   "Wait..." Little Louis asked in surprise: "Who are you talking about? Are those herdsmen not Slovenians?"

   "Yes," said the Marquis of Lois, "they are Slovenians, so to speak."

   "Then how can they..." The crown prince thought for a while, not knowing how to express: "How can they help our enemies?"

"That's right," said Louis. "Our enemy is not their enemy." Slovenia is only controlled by the Habsburgs of the Holy Roman Empire, but it doesn't belong to the Habsburgs..." For those herdsmen For example, we are no different from the Ottoman Turks, they have to pay taxes and serve, no, it should be said, they hate us more because we take their property and their homes."

  Prince Louis Jr. suddenly opened his mouth wide - he thought they were righteous, those herdsmen, those Slovenians should support them from the heart like the Jerusalem, Tripoli and Damascus people during the Crusades!

   (end of this chapter)