"Why, those Venetians are not going to budge yet!"
William sat in his chair with an ugly face, and standing in front of him was the messenger sent by Prince Henry.
"Your Majesty, according to the contact between His Royal Highness the Prince and those Venetians, it is obvious that the Venetians have decided to go all the way to the dark, not only do they have no intention of making the slightest concession, but even according to our intelligence, the city of Venice has begun large-scale war preparations, and the Venetians are not only repairing the city defenses, but also recruiting troops on a large scale!"
William could faintly see the green tendons beating on his forehead, and he saw him sitting in a chair with his eyes slightly narrowed "Well, it seems that the Venetian is preparing a way to go to the dark, in that case, you immediately go back and tell Prince Henry, and let him give the Venetian a great look at it immediately!
At the same time, I will lead the army to Venice, and since the Venetians do not know each other, I do not mind that he will be the first of the entire states of the Holy Roman Empire to be brought out to make an example!
” William was ruthless in his heart, since the Venetians did not give him face so much, then he was bound to give the Venetians a lesson that he would never forget, otherwise, wouldn't it make him lose face in front of the entire Holy Roman Empire!
Immediately after William's decision, the Prussian royal guard, which was defending William, began to advance in the direction of Venice.
Feeling the commotion on all sides, Karl, who had just laid down for a while, immediately walked out of the tent.
"What's the matter, didn't you say that there was no action at noon?
Why is it all the noise again?
” As soon as he stepped out of the tent, Karl asked an Austrian officer who was guarding the tent.
Hearing Karl's questioning, the Austrian officer quickly saluted Karl and said respectfully: "Your Majesty, the Prussian herald has just come and said that His Majesty has decided to change his itinerary.
We must now march to Venice!
” Hearing the officer's reply, Karl was shocked.
Previously, the conflict between Britain and France between the Prussians and the Venetians because of the purchase of grain was not a secret to a person in a high position like Karl, who also thought that the Prussians would give the Venetians a little color, otherwise.
Is it to bring to the knees of His Majesty, the new Emperor who has just been crowned in Frankfurt?
After that, Henry led the 4th Division directly to Venice, which made Karl feel some sympathy for Venice in his heart, in Karl's opinion, in the case of Prussian soldiers, the Venetians should not have the courage to do the right thing.
But who would have thought.
It was this Venetian who was not valued by Karl who was now leading the army with William himself, and the implicit meaning behind this Prussian action could not help but make people feel shocked.
If William simply asked Prince Henry to lead a division of the Prussian army to Venice, then it is clear that the Prussians were only demonstrating and hoping that Venice would submit, after all, everyone knew that in terms of combat effectiveness, the Fourth Division could be compared to the Prussian Royal Guard.
And judging by the way Karl left, the 4th Division did not carry a large number of siege artillery.
Previously, if it was just a Henry, then there was still room for maneuver between Prussia and Venice, but now that William has decided to personally lead the army to Venice, it is obvious that the Venetians are going to suffer a catastrophe this time, otherwise William will definitely not change his itinerary to Rome.
Carl suddenly felt a hint of admiration for the Venetian in his heart, which of course only existed for less than two minutes.
After that, Karl's influence on Venice was only a fool.
William's march into Rome this time, plus the guards of the various princes, is more than 30,000 people, and Venice, the whole country is not more than 10,000 troops, and the most people stationed in the Venice area and the city of Venice are currently **1,000 people, in this case, the Venetians want to stand in the city and defend against the Prussians, in Karl's words, what words can be used to describe it except stupidity!
Wasn't there a large-caliber siege artillery in the Prussian army?
The answer to this is clearly no.
When William planned to march into Rome, he took into account the risks that might exist along the way.
It's just that William at that time never thought that the first person to jump out of the ring to fight with him was actually a Venetian, and the imaginary enemy in William's mind at that time was Austria!
Because of this.
Therefore, William did not reduce the number of artillery because of the speed of the march, on the contrary, because William expected the possible risks along the way, and William needed to give himself a good momentum, so the army that followed William to Rome carried a large number of artillery pieces this time.
It would have been after the safe passage of the Austrian territory.
William thought that these cannons were useless, and even regretted it for a while, but now it is clear that the clown-like Venice has given William a channel to exert his power.
"Let's go, let's also immediately withdraw the camp, this dispute between the Prussians and the Venetians is actually the best opportunity for us to understand the current combat effectiveness of the Prussian army, and this time the Prussian king who came out are the elite of Prussia, this is a great opportunity for us Austria!"
After saying that, Karl began to instruct the guards around him to pull out the camp.
Fortunately, because it was only a temporary rest at noon, there were not many tents in the army except for the various princes, so the speed of the camp was very fast, but in half an hour, the princes who had received the notice from the Prussians had completed their camp and began to march together towards Venice according to the route set by the Prussians.
Although it was already four o'clock in the afternoon when Henry received William's order, Henry immediately called Leohard, the commander of the Fourth Division, to him.
"Leohard, you are one of the best division commanders in the kingdom, as can be seen from the fact that His Majesty the King only led the fourth division to Rome this time, except for the royal guard, so I won't say anything more to you!
I want to say that this is an opportunity for you, not only for you to show your face for His Majesty, but also for your 4th Division to represent the Kingdom of Prussia, and you have fought this battle well.
Then I can guarantee you that your future is bright, and of course if you disappoint His Majesty, then no one will be able to protect you, you know?
” Henry's words made Leohard's heart full of excitement, only to see Leohard decisively salute Henry and then said: "Your Royal Highness, please rest assured.
In the next season, the 4th Division will never fail to live up to the trust of His Majesty the King and the expectations of the Kingdom of Prussia!
” Seeing Leohard's actions, Henry nodded and then said: "Very well, this is the model of our Prussian soldiers!
This time, His Majesty has ordered that before the arrival of the royal guard, we must give the Venetians a good look, and this task will be handed over to you.
I hope you don't disappoint me and Your Majesty!
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” "No!"
Leohard answered loudly, and walked out of the tent.
Immediately after Leohard left the tent, he ordered the artillery regiments of the 4th Division to transport all the artillery to the first line, while the Prussian cavalry of the last two regiments fanned out to the north and south of Venice.
The city of Venice covers an area of less than 7.8 square kilometers, but it is made up of 118 small islands and 177 canals.
It is a veritable water city.
Beyond the walls of Venice, there is a moat, which has saved Venice many times in history, but I don't know if this moat can still play the role of a savior now.
For Venice, although Henry and the Fourth Division had never been there, from the moment William sent Henry here, Henry spent two days to have a general understanding of Venice.
The moat outside Venice is about five meters wide, and the only way to get through it is through the three stone bridges and five drawbridges.
Of course, the suspension bridge is not advisable at the moment.
After all, from the moment the Prussians finished Venice, the Venetians hastily pulled up the drawbridge, so that the only way for the Prussians to get to Venice was only three stone bridges.
These stone bridges, of course, the Venetians could not be destroyed for a while, of course, maybe the Venetians were not ready to destroy these stone bridges, in other words, if these stone bridges were destroyed, although Venice could withstand the attack of the Prussians for a while, but in the future, if Venice wanted to communicate with the outside world, wouldn't it be very troublesome.
Soon, before seven o'clock in the evening, the Prussian cavalry of the two cavalry regiments that had been sent out returned to the city.
Of course, when they returned, they were far more than the two cavalry regiments they had been sent out.
I saw that these cavalry used three hours to drive all the inhabitants of several towns around Venice to a place not far outside Venice.
Originally, neither Henry nor Leohard was going to use these civilians to do things, but thinking about it, since these Venetians dared to stand on the opposite side of Prussia, it was bound to make those Venetians understand that Prussia was not easy to mess with.
And the three stone bridges in Venice are not so easy to capture, don't look at the mobilization that has gone through several hours at present.
The strength of the city of Venice was not as large as that of the Fourth Division, but with these three stone bridges alone, no matter how many troops the Prussian army had, it was useless.
Only by seizing the stone bridge in their hands, even if only one of them, it would be much easier for the Prussians to take the victory.
After escorting thousands of civilians, the cavalry handed over the custody of these civilians to the infantry, and then turned to leave again, not forgetting the task given to them by Leohard, which was to bring in as many people as possible!
In Leohard's vision, if the Republic of Venice still refused to bow down under the lives of these Venetians, then these Venetian civilians would be the key to Prussia's victory, after all, it was better to fill the moat with the lives of these Venetian civilians than with the lives of Prussian soldiers.
Perhaps in later generations some people will call Leohard a beast, of course, it is more likely that he is not as good as a beast, but this is usually the case in wars.
If there is one who is most injured in war, it is undoubtedly civilians.
As for what wins the hearts of the people and wins the world, what benevolence is invincible, etc., in fact, it can be regarded as!
Your fists are not strong enough, you have the will of the people and a fart, your army is not strong enough, can benevolence and righteousness keep you from dying?
If nothing else, it is Zhu Yunwen, the Ming Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, doesn't he have the will of the people, isn't he benevolent?
But in front of Zhu Di's military talent and the elite Yan army that has been refined into steel, he was not pulled off the throne by his uncle.
Don't you know life and death!
During the period when the Yuan Dynasty ruled the Central Plains, the first night power, the fourth class of Han citizens, shared kitchen knives, etc., etc., did the Yuan Dynasty win the hearts of the people of the Central Plains, or was it said that the Yuan Dynasty was benevolent and righteous?
As a result, the Yuan Dynasty has not dominated the Central Plains for 97 years, what did he rely on.
It's not the fucking army and the butcher's knife!
There are so many examples of this that I won't go out one by one.
Therefore, history is written by the victors, not to mention the will of the people, what is within the benevolence and righteousness, those are all used by the rulers themselves to put gold on their faces!
And when they saw the sudden appearance of countless ordinary Venetians dressed in Venetian service on the other side of the moat, the Venetian soldiers defending the city were all excited.
After all, the home of these soldiers was in Venice, and most of the soldiers came from other towns in the Venetian area, so they naturally feared that the civilians outside the city had their own families.
The situation was quickly sent to the Grand Council of the Republic of Venice.
"What, you said that those Prussian troops outside the city actually escorted a large number of Venetian civilians to come!"
Domingo, who had heard the news, blushed and shouted at the officer who had come to tell the news.
"Yes.
My lord, the civilians outside the city saw that there were no less than thousands, and the officers defending the city didn't know what to do, so they sent them down to ask for instructions!
” After hearing this, Domingo stood up and said with an anxious face: "Has the morale of the army fluctuated?
Did the Prussians force the civilians to rush over the stone bridge?
” "Not really, but the Prussians have just sent a letter through a commoner, and the Prussians have asked us to produce a hundred thousand pounds of grain at once.
Otherwise, those Venetian civilians outside the city will be the vanguard of tomorrow's attack!
” Hearing this, all the members of the Assembly of the Republic of Venice, including Domingo, fell silent, and even whispered sobs rang out in the hall of the Assembly.
"My lord, the Prussians only want food, so why don't we give them to them!
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If we don't, we will have to pay for the lives of countless Venetians!
” After a moment of silence, suddenly a member of the Venetian parliament shouted at Domingo.
Domingo was also in a dilemma at the moment, on the one hand, he did not want to give food to the Prussians, and this time the Prussians did not mention anything to buy.
Instead, it is directly asked for Venice to provide it free of charge!
Domingo, on the other hand, did not want to reneg on the agreement he had made with Florence and several other city-states.
And at this moment, the Florentine envoy Bornz, who was standing next to Domingo, said: "My lord, this is just a conspiracy of the Prussians, who want the submission of Venice.
But from the point of view of Venice, I think that the more this time comes, the more we cannot give in to the Prussians, and if we give in now, it is difficult to guarantee that the Prussians will not make more and more demanding demands, and besides, if the Prussians' conditions are agreed, then where will we Florence and others who are bent on supporting Venice!
” After Pornz's words were finished, he immediately aroused the rebuttal of many members of the Venetian parliament, but they also looked at Domingo while refuting Pornz, after all, as the head of the Sevo family, who currently controls most of the power in Venice, Domingo is the one who can really make decisions on behalf of Venice!
"Pass my order, the whole city is under martial law, and the Prussians don't want to get a grain from Venice!"
After a long moment, Domingo gritted his teeth and spat out a sentence between his teeth.
Upon learning of Domingo's decision, many of the councillors were gloomy, even though many of them pleaded or roared at Domingo in the hope that Domingo would change his decision, but Domingo did not let go.
However, this situation also made Boynz breathe a sigh of relief instantly, for Boynz, what he was most worried about was that Domingo would succumb under the pressure of the Prussians, and once that happened, where would Florence be placed!
That night, the Prussian cavalry drove the civilians of Venice to the open space outside Venice, and many of these Venetians wanted to resist, but their resistance was simply weak against the heavily armed Prussian army.
However, the Prussians did not abuse these Venetians, at least the food that should be given was still given, after all, Prussia wanted the Venetian rat trap, not really to slaughter all these Venetians.
Early the next morning, the Venetian civilians were woken up, and even though they wanted to play dead, they had to see if the Prussian soldiers with weapons in their hands would agree.
After waking up the Venetians, the Prussian soldiers lined up in a neat line, with steel guns in hand, and forced the Venetians to the three stone bridges.
Of course, there are some hard-nosed people among these Venetians, but in the face of these Venetians, the Prussian soldiers will not be soft, and the Prussian soldiers will not step back even if the bayonet is already on the waist of those Venetians who refuse to go.
In this way, those Venetians who called themselves tough were naturally stabbed to death by the Prussian soldiers without hesitation, while the other Venetians could only walk towards the stone bridge under the threat of death.