Soon, William's order was sent to the Polotsk fleet by the messenger. otbnkotgt After hearing William's order, the Polotsk river fleet went up and down, and they were naturally angry.
"Who does he think he is, the king of Polotsk?
Why is he dictating to us in such a commanding tone?"
On the flagship of the river fleet, the deputy commander of the fleet, the son of a big businessman from Polotsk, shouted angrily: "Send the order, we refuse to fight unless he comes to beg us in person.
Otherwise," "Send the order, attack."
After this, his words were interrupted by the commander of the fleet, Georg von Nolandburg.
Of course, although the deputy commander shouted louder than the commander.
But the people in the fleet will still listen to the commander.
"Why does this make Polotsk lose face?
We are not their efforts.
Polotsk is a free country.
We never allow any noble to dictate our affairs."
The deputy commander was a little anxious.
Of course, he George can also understand this eagerness.
He was not just like ordinary nobles, he was excited because he had lost face.
What he said does make sense.
Polotsk is a traditional commercial republic.
It is a country where businessmen have the final say.
And such a country is naturally an anomaly in the human world where aristocrats are generally in power.
Businessmen naturally have a huge sense of fear and vigilance towards the outside world, especially the nobles who live near them.
If it were before, the merchants would never listen to William and take out their fleet for William to command.
Even if the Tartariya Khanate's army presses the border, it won't work.
"However, this is not the normal situation you mentioned."
Beside him, the commander sighed: "We are begging him now.
Looking at it, in the large border area, the only one who can save us is He The Richford family, both economically and militarily."
"But" the deputy commander was still a little reluctant, but he couldn't say what should be said after "but".
"It's nothing."
Commander George shook his head: "The other party, I mean the Centaurs of Tartaria.
If they really broke through our defense line and reached the west bank of the Vistula River, they wouldn't They will tell whether you are a Mazovian or a Polotsk.
They all kill, rob, and enslave.
We are actually helping the Mazovians and the Hereford family.
Help us think about it this way, will we feel better?”
"Yeah" the deputy commander nodded reluctantly.
"Then don't idle here.
Go back to your post quickly.
Our leader is giving orders.
If the speed is slower, the little guy will get angry."
Despite what he said, Commander George stabbed William in the end.
Yes, he understood all the reasons.
But if you are unhappy, you are still unhappy.
It was enough not to let this "unpleasant" emotion interfere with his normal judgment.
In this way, amid the roar of laughter from the sailors and sailors in Polotsk, a total of more than twenty armed galleys moved down the river, from north to south, towards the shallow water of the Vistula River.
Inland river warships, especially warships used in dry seasons, naturally should not be too big and their draft should not be too much.
In fact, these fifty-odd Polotsk river warships all have only a single deck, not much ballast, and a flat-bottom structure.
There are only a few dozen crew members, excluding the oarsmen.
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Of course, such a warship is not equipped with many artillery pieces.
Only six twelve-pound light cannons were equipped on both sides of the ship.
And equipped with an eighteen-pound bow gun on the bow.
However, both William and the commanders of Polotsk believed that such a fleet was enough because, in comparison, its opponents, the Tartarians, were even more shabby.
In fact, before this, without taking into account the variables of the dark elves, William even thought that the centaurs of Tartaria would not be equipped with artillery.
In this way, they would naturally be blown away when facing Polotsk's river gunboats.
Unfortunately, William's previous judgment was wrong.
While the river fleet received his order and then headed towards the river mouth fortress, on the east bank of the river, the Tartarian army made a new arrangement.
Under the control of the dark elf technical sergeants, the Slavi workers were quickly building temporary gun emplacements using sandbags and wood.
Then those six-pound and nine-pound light infantry guns were deployed in various gun positions.
"Has the opponent already expected that the river fleet would attack?"
William frowned, watching the engineers on the opposite side busy, thinking this in his heart, and then quickly made a decision: "Order, the river fleet retreats temporarily.
Start preparing to set fire to the raft."
"Yes, but" beside William, the officer on duty hesitated.
However, this hesitation only lasted for a short while.
Under William's close gaze, he was quickly defeated, and then went to convey William's order as quickly as possible in embarrassment.
"Because the opponent is protected by artillery groups, they do not use the inland river fleet.
Instead, are they planning to attack the opponent's pontoon by setting fire to it?"
Next to William, Charumi said: "But speaking of which, that fleet is also It’s not ours.
What does it matter if the Polotsk people fight against the Tartariya army?”
"Polotsk is very wary of the intervention of noble forces."
William replied: "In this case, they cannot be overly stimulated."
"But then, what is the significance of the existence of the Polotsk fleet?
Are they only used to block the river?"
Shalumi then asked: "But, by seizing the ships, can't we also achieve the purpose of blockade?
Isn’t this unnecessary?”
"No."
William shook his head: "If it is really useful for them, I will naturally use it.
I am not that stupid just to let this fleet lose meaninglessly."
"A loss is a loss.
It's not ours anyway.
Do you know that those Polotsk people are really annoying?"
Charumi complained beside William: "Especially their deputy commander, he is obviously just a businessman.
What's so great about me is that I am an earl.
Why is he so arrogant to me?"
Hearing what Shalumi said, William couldn't help but smile: "Be tolerant to them, Shalumi.
Because they are losers.
It's natural for losers to be emotionally fragile, to have random thoughts, and to be arrogant.
We should be "Be considerate of them, especially when we have gained so much from Polotsk."
"Yes, they may not know until they die who tricked them."
Shalumi said with a smile.
"No, I don't think they don't know."
William replied: "Although I do it very secretly, there are still some clues left for them.
If they really search hard, they will always find some loopholes."
"The flaw then" Shalumi asked: "Then what will they do?"
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"They won't do anything.
They have no evidence.
They are just conjectures.
And there are several suspects besides us.
They can't protect themselves, so they won't do anything.
Of course, even if they do something, we don't have to Scared.
After this round of blows, it will be difficult for Polotsk to recover in a short time.”
"Yeah."
Shalumi nodded.
Then the two people looked at the opposite side.
The soil work of the Tartariya army on the east bank of the Vistula River.
This kind of soil work could not be completed overnight.
Slow as an ant.
Thinking about their "enemy" status, this slow engineering operation brought with it a huge sense of oppression.
It's always upsetting to watch something like this in this situation.
William watched for a while and then decided to leave.
At this time, the messenger brought the latest news.
"It's the Polotsk people who refused to carry out the order" "Do you think your self-esteem has been challenged?
Or do you think I'm playing tricks on them by changing my orders every day?"
William also felt a little unhappy after hearing the news.
Then he waved his hand and said: "Whatever.
If they want to die, let them die.
We don't need to stop them."
After that, William watched the river fleet approach the shallow water area where the pontoon bridge was located, and then engaged in a fierce exchange of fire with the infantry artillery group on the shore.
The roar of artillery, the crisp snapping sound of cannonballs shattering wooden planks and armor, the sound of sticky flesh and bones tearing apart human bodies, and the screams of the soldiers suddenly rang out.
William could see clearly that the river fleet was suffering.
Compared with the scattered small gun emplacements, their gunboats were too large, and the Vistula River was too narrow, so that their fleets were arranged too densely.
In addition, their gunboats are too fragile "After all, an armed merchant ship is not a professional battleship.
In order to pursue cargo volume, the thickness of the deck was reduced, and at the same time, it did not wrap the waterline with iron armor like the best battleships."
As William muttered, getting too close to the shore, several gunboats of the Tartariya gun group were hit one after another on their masts, their sides, and their decks.
The artillery was beaten to a pulp.
In contrast, the gunboats' bombardment of the shore artillery groups did not have much effect.
Perhaps, they also caused some damage to Tartariya's artillery position, but in comparison, the inconspicuous armed gunboat more than ten meters long was beaten to pieces, and several gunners from one or two gun positions were killed.
In comparison, the former is obviously more eye-catching160420oshow7: