Chapter 63: Poland's Road Party

  On the third day of arrival in Odessa, October 17, 1718, the imperial army had a total of 23,000 people, including 12 infantry regiments, 10 artillery companies, 3 heavy cavalry battalions, and 7 light cavalry battalions, advancing northward in a mighty manner.

  Out of Odessa, it was leaving the territory of the Empire. Less than half a day's journey north, we entered the domain of the remnants of the Kingdom of Poland. The Ivanovka province, as the first to surrender to the Empire, gathered at the city gate to cheer for the arrival of the Empire.

  On the way, the hunters who served as guides and scouts were running back and forth in the forest with great joy. Among these three legions, it was probably only these hunters who were truly elite. The imperial hunting battalion had always adopted a rotating garrison system, with several battalions being sent to Aleppo every year to fight against the nomadic tribes of the Green Church, accumulating experience. But it was different for infantry and artillery, these people could arrive in Odessa in a short time because they were originally close to the north, and the empire's elite who could fight and die hard had always been in Anatolia, in Aleppo. It was probably that old man Svyatoslav was waiting for those elites.

  Beyond Ivanovka, far away, many serfs in the fields looked up curiously at the noise of the troops.

  Poland's border, many plains, many farmlands, and many serfs. There are also many corpses. In the villages we passed through, we saw people hanged from trees everywhere. The corpses were dressed in tattered clothes, and those who died must have been serfs trying to escape.

  The most numerous on the southern border of the empire are these people. The binding force of landlords and nobles has weakened, and serfs also have the opportunity to escape. However, even so, very few Polish serfs can escape to the south of the empire every year, and those who are caught will be hanged from trees as a warning to warn those serfs who try to escape.

  Most people were shocked by what they saw along the way, after all, they would hardly see such a terrifying scene in the empire.

  The country was ruined and the family was destroyed. The countless Polish serfs who were hanged to death are a reflection of the predicament of the Kingdom of Poland.

  As we approached the city, there were no more peasants hanging from trees, but we saw many Poles who had fallen to the streets.

  They begged for alms with disheveled hair and dirty faces on the street corners, alleys, and a large number of prostitutes from Poland thronged here.

  "That's what they get for asking for it." Assassin, wearing a deep brown triangular hat and a high-collared face-concealing windbreaker, rode on one side, with a horse tail hanging down from the back of his hat, swinging back and forth with the rhythm of the horse's gait, looking very cool. It seems that Assassin is really going to continue her cold and beautiful buttocks and breasts for Rome.

  I heard schadenfreude and disgust in Assassin's tone: "You hate Poland?"

  "I have a quarter of Polish blood flowing through my veins, but I had never set foot on this land before today and can't say that I particularly dislike the country, however as a Roman, I think this kingdom is now just a joke."

  "According to territorial divisions, the land under our feet is not Poland but Ukraine."

  "Whether it's Poland or Ukraine, all the nobles here are idiots and trash."

  The views of the Assassins are quite extreme, but it is true that the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was once a very powerful country. Its territory stretched from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Black Sea coast in the south, from the Oder River in the west to the area east of the Dnieper River, with an area of over 1.21 million square kilometers, larger than Russia, and can be called a strong power in Eastern Europe. It was the main force against the Mongols' western expedition. In the fifteenth century, they invaded Moscow and put a man of unknown origin on the throne of the Grand Duke of Moscow. It is said that at that time, even the lowest Polish serfs were above the highest-ranking Russian nobles, and the winged hussars once made the empire panic. However, the current decline of this country cannot be caused solely by the nobility and large landowners, but it is still inseparable from the nobility, and all this began with the rise of the Jagiellonian dynasty in the fourteenth century.

  Poland was unified in the fourteenth century, but the king who completed the unification had no children. The Polish nobility had to find a nephew of that king to become the new king. Whether intentionally or unintentionally, this king's nephew also had no male heir, only a daughter. In order for his daughter to become queen, the royal family agreed to exempt the nobles from taxes in exchange for their support.

  This was a major step back for the royal power, but it was only the first step. In the 14th century, Poland had a serious internal problem - the constantly expanding Teutonic Knights. To defend against the Teutonic Knights, the Polish nobles immediately sold their newly widowed and less than 14-year-old queen to the King of Lithuania in exchange for the establishment of the Polish-Lithuanian Union. To consolidate power, this new kingdom continued to grant privileges to the nobility in exchange for support. By the early 15th century, Poland's internal problem was finally defeated, and as a result, the nobles who had contributed to the victory were naturally rewarded. The territory of Poland was vast, but the nobility became extremely large due to the combination of the two royal families, and with this reward, the power of the royal family, which was already weaker than the national nobility, became even weaker, thus embarking on a path of strong branches and weak trunks. The strong became stronger, and the weak became weaker. Later, the nobles simply established a very unique two-chamber system, with the responsibility of this parliament being to compete with the king for power. Without the approval of the parliament and the consent of both chambers, the king could not issue decrees, conquer, or declare war or peace.

  This is similar to the current British royal family, Poland's royal family is simply a decoration.

  When the last king of the Jagiellonian dynasty died, the powerful Polish nobility simply allowed the throne to be elected by all, and free election was born.

  To buy votes, of course, checks were issued, and the nobles rode roughshod over the king. Later on, the absurd power of veto was also born.

  The Roman Emperor at that time was delighted and directly made a sarcastic comment on the spot: "Poland, from now on, is not worth worrying about."

  After that, the kings elected by Poland were not interested in Polish affairs and Poland fell into a vicious circle: electing a king, selling out Polish interests, electing another king, selling out again. However, due to the belligerent Polish nobility and the large cavalry, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth did not die immediately, but because they continued to expand food production, more and more pastures and grasslands gave way to arable land. The number of Polish winged hussars during the Swedish-Polish War in the 16th century was less than one-third of that in the first half of the 15th century, far from being a quarter of that in the second half, and their performance was even more disastrous. The Swedish lion Gustav bit to pieces.

  However, the Swedish-Polish War, the Russo-Swedish War and the Polish-Russian War in the 17th century ravaged the entire country, but especially the south which was relatively rich.

  The Red Guards brought the imperial army of 23,000 men to a city called Kronshtadt. Locals had already prepared enough food before the troops arrived and also requisitioned over 70 heavy four-wheeled carts from nearby areas.

  But the further north, the more local Poles' movements increased. On the fifth day, we left the coastal urban areas and arrived in the region where the Polish nobles and large landowners were located. Looking around, there were all farmland, many rural farms, but few cities.

  It wasn't long after entering the territory that the scouting cavalrymen reported several groups of horsemen attempting to reconnoiter around the advancing army, appearing to be locals, with each group numbering between ten and twenty people.

  "Uncle Zhīmǐsīzhī has made up his mind, and in front of the messenger cavalry, he turned back to ask us for advice: 'What do we do with those cavalry?'"

  "These cavalrymen should be the forces composed of local landlords maintaining their territories." I made my judgment, and the officers next to me nodded in deep agreement. Then there were suggestions that since they were our own people, we should let them go, but others suggested continuing to disperse them.

  I have a very simple view of those arrogant Polish nobles, as expressed by Uncle Zhmih Sidorovich: "Give them a good drubbing. Send out the Cossack cavalry to surround them, take them prisoner, and then, whatever they say, beat them up first and then drag them into the village to identify them as bandits and robbers."

  "Hmm. The Poles are talking about the Russians' color change because the Russians are barbarians. If we want to make those nobles behave for a while, we have to let them know that when we get fierce, we're not much worse than the Russians!" Uncle Zimiszcza nodded and gave orders.

  By nightfall, a group of humanoid creatures with bruised faces were dragged to the local noble who was negotiating with us. We casually mentioned what had happened on the way. Anyway, we just passed by Rome and saw justice being upheld for the local civilians, captured a group of bandits and mountain thieves, and out of respect for the local authorities, we handed them over.

  A group of humanoid creatures who had just seen their loved ones opened their mouths and let out a loud, tearful wail. They then ran to their parents, tattling like children. These bear kids were always complaining about their grievances. They said that the imperial cavalry came without warning, grabbed them and beat them up without mercy, not only beating them but also taking away their horses.

  Zhimis Zhiya uncle called over the commander of the patrol cavalry regiment and the squadron leaders who were involved in the case, several cavalrymen opened their mouths and scared those ground snakes, saying that the guys on the ground suspected of spying on military intelligence, then several imperial nobles jumped out and glared at several ground snakes, telling Zhimis Zhiya uncle that these people are bad guys, they want to spy on our intelligence and send it to the Russians!

  ——————————————————————————

  Is anyone using Windows Phone?... It seems like our school is a strategic partner with Microsoft.

  Tomorrow, people from Microsoft are coming to our school for a visit and will also be holding a workshop to teach us how to use the software development tools for Windows Phone.