On the way to Serbia, in order to speed up the march, the coalition forces discarded a considerable part of their baggage and equipment that would hinder the march.
The soldiers almost broke their legs.
They marched 120 miles day and night, and finally had no danger.
Crossed the border river and entered Serbia.
The Nisava River, which runs northwest and southeast, is the boundary river between Thrace and Serbia.
In the middle of winter, this river has frozen, and a thin layer of ice has formed on the surface of the river.
A bridge across the river had been destroyed after the coalition forces crossed the river.
The coalition forces destroyed the bridge to block the Western Qin pursuers on the east bank.
If there is no ice on the river, or if the ice is very solid, it will be much easier for the Western Qin pursuers to build a bridge.
However, especially if the ice is very thin, it will be difficult to build a bridge. , let alone crossing the river by boat.
The ice was too thin and people dared not step on it.
It took too long to break the ice by boat, and there were coalition forces stationed on the opposite side.
They could launch an attack at any time while the Western Qin pursuers were building a bridge or crossing the river by boat.
Li Su had already led the Western Qin cavalry in pursuit to the river bank.
Looking across the river, the coalition flags were fluttering in the wind.
From time to time, groups of cavalry patrolled the river and paid close attention to this side.
He waved his hand and ordered: "Stop the pursuit, and the entire army will camp on the spot.
Arrange patrols on the river bank and send people to report to His Majesty."
After receiving the battle report from Li Su sent from the Nishawa River, Zhao Ziliang in Sedika ordered the entire army to enter a state of rest.
Although the war in 803 AD ended, the affairs of the entire Western Qin army were not over.
The territory needs to be managed by officials, some remaining Eastern Roman forces and the scattered Eastern Roman troops need to be eliminated, food, grass and military supplies need to be hoarded, etc.
The Western Qin Army is busy here, and the coalition forces are not resting.
In order to cope with the large-scale offensive that the Western Qin Army may launch next year, the Frankish Kingdom has established defense lines in the Pyrenees Mountains, northern Italy, and the west bank of the Elbe River. late winter The city defense offensive is being strengthened every day, and soldiers, mercenaries, and Serbians are being recruited from all over the country.
The coalition forces have set up a large number of sentry towers and increased patrols on the west banks of the Nishawa River and Vlasina River, and have also increased patrols in the Iron Gate Canyon.
Troops were sent to strengthen the defense.
AD 803 passed in the busyness of both sides, and in the blink of an eye it was 804.
The cold winter in central Europe had not yet passed, and the Western Qin army launched a fierce offensive along the Mediterranean coast.
First, the Fan Xi Dynasty who was stationed in the Iberian Peninsula compared A fierce offensive was launched on the Leyneux Mountains defense line.
Due to the lack of troops who were good at mountain warfare, Fanci's offensive made little progress.
It was blocked in several passes with strong fortresses and was temporarily unable to break into the Toulouse area.
However, the attack of the Tunisian Army of the Western Qin in Italy was overwhelming, and the Frankish garrison in Italy was defeated step by step.
Pepin and Eric, Marquis of Friuli, fled to Milan with the remaining defeated troops, but the Western Qin The army did not stop there.
On January 22, the Tunisian Army of the Western Qin captured Florence and continued to advance northwest.
The atmosphere in northern Italy became unprecedentedly tense.
The breakthrough of Florence meant that the Western Qin army was about to enter the center of Frankish rule in Italy. , continue to advance northwestward, and are about to enter the Po River plain.
In the plain area, there are very few dangerous passes that the Frank army can rely on.
However, the Franks do not seem to remain worried.
They believe that as long as they defend the city, they can ensure that Italy's territory is not lost.
The Western Qin army is coming from afar, and the logistics pressure is huge.
As long as no progress is made in a short period of time, over time, they will inevitably be unable to withstand the logistics pressure.
And choose to withdraw.
This time, Pepin and Eric, Marquis of Friuli, miscalculated.
The Western Qin army did not seem to particularly care about capturing the city.
Instead, they were interested in the countryside around the city.
Frank and the Italian nobles who were trapped in the city did not know that after the siege of the city, the Western Qin Army sent a large number of troops and manpower to carry out "attack local tyrants and divide their fields" in the countryside outside the city.
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When they got the news, Frank All the land outside the city with the Italian nobles was distributed by the Western Qin Army to the local serfs, and even the free people were also allocated some land.
The serfs and free people who had just been allocated the land were still a little trembling.
They couldn't believe that the land really came to them.
They were also worried about whether the Western Qin Army could win.
If the Western Qin Army could win, these fields would be real.
It is becoming their property, but if the Western Qin Army cannot win and retreats after defeat, then those nobles will definitely settle accounts with them afterwards.
The Western Qin Army attempted to divide the nobility, serfs and free people and weaken the local resistance by attacking the local tyrants in advance to allocate their fields, but it had little effect.
However, some shrewd officials in the Western Qin Army soon saw the crux of the problem.
Several suggestions were reported to the top management, and the top management of the Tunisian Army of the Western Qin Army immediately decided to select several representative cities for attack.
On the one hand, it would weaken the determination of the Franks and Italian nobles to resist, and on the other hand, it would increase the confidence of the local serfs and free people. .
The Frankish army is different from other armies in Europe.
The Frankish Kingdom's army only has heavy armored infantry and heavy armored cavalry.
They are all soldiers wearing heavy defensive armor.
They cost a lot, but their combat effectiveness is good.
The disadvantage is that they have a small number of troops. , while other European countries have more troops and poorer equipment.
In order to block the main force of the Western Qin army in Thrace, Charlemagne had taken away most of the army.
The garrison in Italy was only one-third of its original size, and the garrison scattered in each city was even smaller.
Some cities There were less than fifty soldiers, and even the Frankish garrison in Pavia, the capital of northern Italy, only had a thousand soldiers at this time.
The chief general of the Tunisian Army has now been replaced by Su Guanglie.
Su Guanglie originally served in the Standing Army as the Army Commander.
After being transferred to the Tunisian Army Commander, he found that in terms of equipment, the local army could not be compared with the Standing Army.
The quality of the soldiers was not as good as that of the Standing Army.
There is a gap, but the number of troops is much higher, and the Tunisian Legion has 50,000 people.
His strength is not as good as before, but Su Guanglie's power is much greater than before.
He is not only the commander of the Tunisian Army, but also the governor, with military and political power in his hands.
However, this situation cannot last long.
The court has strict regulations on this.
Whether it is a standing army or a local army, the commander's term cannot exceed four years, and he will be transferred after four years.
Moreover, the superiors will not allow frontier officials to always have military and political power.
Sooner or later, military and political separation will be implemented like other occupied areas. system.
Su Guanglie was very good at commanding.
Although his reputation was far inferior to that of his ancestor Su Dingfang, he was the best among this generation of Western Qin generals in terms of military ability.
Su Guanglie took advantage of his military superiority and numerous surrendered prisoners to launch a fierce attack on the cities in northern Italy.
He quickly advanced into the hinterland of the Po River plain and reached the city of Pavia.
Pavia was the Frankish garrison and administrative capital in Italy.
Pepin had been working here before, but after the Western Qin army began to attack northern Italy, Pepin moved the capital to Milan.
Pavia is sixty miles due south of Milan, not far away.
When the Western Qin army approached Pavia, Pepin and Eric had already received the news.
There was almost no danger between the two places.
Once the Western Qin army breaks through Pavia, Milan will be directly exposed to the Western Qin army.
Under the threat of the army, Pepin had to order Eric, Marquis of Friuli, to lead an army of 1,000 heavy armored cavalry, 2,000 heavy armored infantry and 3,000 mercenaries to come for reinforcements.
These troops were almost as many as those of Frank.
More than half of all the Italian troops were left in Milan, with only 3,000 troops left in Milan.
With the rapid advance of the Western Qin Army, Piping had also realized before that dividing his troops to garrison various cities would only allow the Western Qin Army to defeat them one by one.
Although it could delay the Western Qin Army's attack speed to a certain extent, this delay was extremely limited.
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The serious shortage of troops became the biggest shortcoming of the Frankish army at this time.
Therefore, Pepin ordered all the troops in northern Italy to be concentrated in Pavia and Milan.
Although Su Guanglie was commanding the army to besiege Pavia, he did not neglect to monitor Milan.
A large number of reconnaissance cavalry had been watching every move in the direction of Milan.
Eric's 6,000-strong army had just left the city of Milan and was attacked by the West not long after.
Qin's detective sentry found out.
There is a river Nan Lambro between Milan and Pavia.
After receiving the news, Su Guanglie immediately made an immediate decision and sent 5,000 light cavalry to the Nan Lambro River as quickly as possible and successfully crossed the river.
In front of the Frankish 6,000 horse infantry Before arriving, they set up a military formation by the river to prepare for the attack.
The scouts from both sides engaged in a thrilling fight between the two armies.
After receiving the news that Western Qin had sent five thousand cavalry to fight, General Falak immediately ordered the army to stop advancing.
The cavalry of the Western Qin local army was not as effective as the standing army, and some techniques and tactics could not be used at all.
The commander-in-chief knew this very well.
When he learned that Eric had a thousand heavy cavalry in his hands, he did not dare to confront the Franks head-on.
Sophisticated tactics such as horse arrows can only take advantage of the mobility of light cavalry, which is much higher than that of heavy infantry, to constantly harass the opponent.
The Western Qin light cavalry gave full play to their advantages.
They broke into pieces and harassed Eric's army day and night.
However, after only a few days, the three thousand newly recruited mercenaries could no longer bear it and panicked.
They fled one after another.
Within two days, all three thousand mercenaries had escaped, leaving only less than one thousand heavy cavalry and two thousand infantry.
In this situation, Eric did not know whether to continue marching or choose to retreat to Milan.
Both options were likely to face continued harassment by the Western Qin light cavalry.
I am afraid that he would not have any troops left before he arrived in Pavia or returned to Milan.
A few people are here.
In desperation, Eric could only choose to defend on the spot and build the camp solidly.
When the commander of the light cavalry saw Eric making such an arrangement, he immediately sent people back to Pavia to report to Su Guanglie and asked for infantry reinforcements to come and attack. , pity Eric With one thousand heavy armored cavalry and two thousand heavy armored infantry in hand, they were trapped in place until a large number of Western Qin infantry arrived to launch a fierce attack.
The camp was defeated by the Western Qin infantry in one fell swoop.
Eric and his three thousand heavy armored cavalry and the annihilation of the hoplites.
After receiving the news, Pepin in Milan was deeply saddened by the death of Eric and his three thousand troops.
In the end, he had to endure the pain and led his army all the way north across the Alps to withdraw into Frankish territory, and stationed heavy troops to garrison in the Alps.
Su Guanglie's army was defeated in early April.
It completely occupied the Italian region south of the Alps
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