Chapter 64: The Polish Road Party

  In the castle, where the atmosphere was originally quite friendly, the sound of swords being drawn continued for a while, but it still wasn't enough to draw attention away from Assassin. Two arms stretched out from his sleeves, completely mimicking the Creed of Assassins!

  We've had enough of being the bad guys, now it's time for Zimicia to flash a deep, inscrutable smile in front of the two quivering earth snakes, indicating that these people understand what's at stake and can be trusted.

  The snakes also indicated that it was a misunderstanding. To show their loyalty to the empire, they only asked for half the price of the borrowed grain and carts.

  In fact, we all know that those small cavalry troops wouldn't be able to run around everywhere without their instructions.

  These local snakes are just the tip of the iceberg, but some people are more sensible, and on the second day, several descendants of landowners followed their fathers' orders. The cavalry who guarded the house joined the bandit party as guides.

  For these road activists, the empire is greatly appreciated, and Uncle Zimisia rewarded them with several large bags of Oregold coins in the spirit of buying horse bones for a thousand gold. After that, I got the power to solve this series, of course, I am still the deputy, and Uncle Zimisia sent someone over to take the blame.

  On the seventh day, several Polish guides who had been working ahead of us came galloping back from the front, their faces looking grim, and rode up to me.

  "A few elders, the Zygmont family is coming with a large retinue to welcome you ahead."

  "Welcome? Come on, take us to see."

  Not far from the exit, more than 300 cavalrymen, a vast and dense group, blocked the main road. Several of them, dressed in slightly brighter attire, held a family banner, while the rest were dressed in a disheveled manner, but at least everyone rode a horse and wore a weapon at their waist.

  The leader's eyes were high above the top, and from a distance, he could smell that unyielding aura. Looking at his appearance, it didn't seem like he was there to welcome, but rather to show off his might.

  "They are Ukrainians, but the Zygmont family is Catholic!" said the guide.

  Poland is located in Central and Eastern Europe, between Russia to the east and Germany to the west. Due to its geographical location, Poland has become a multi-ethnic country, with Poles mainly inhabiting the Greater Poland region and the central Warsaw area, while large numbers of Germans and Jews lived in the north, particularly in the Polish Corridor, and Ukrainians and Belarusians concentrated in the east and south.

  The ethnic composition of the United Kingdom is relatively complex, and the religious chaos brought by the complex nation is another reason for Poland's decline, but the most important reason is still the Polish nobility.

  In this Eastern European country, on the Eastern European plain where Orthodox Christianity is widely believed, Poland is a Catholic country, and this is only because Polish nobles are Catholics. Like Ukrainians, Russians and Belarusians are Orthodox Christians. In order to maintain their privileged position and ensure stable rule, the Polish nobility established Catholicism as the state religion of Poland in the 15th century and stipulated that only Catholics had the right to hold public office, and those who did not would have no right to hold any public office in the Polish state, thereby forcing many Belarusians, Ukrainians and Germans to abandon their original religious beliefs and convert to Catholicism.

  The Habsburgs' forced conversion of the Germans triggered the Thirty Years War, the Spanish royal family's forced conversion of the Netherlands triggered the Eighty Years War, and the Polish nobility's estrangement from the masses naturally triggered strong dissatisfaction among many Belarusians and Ukrainians, for which they had repeatedly risen up in revolt. The riot has not ended since its outbreak, and the fact that the Zygmont family is a Catholic in the Ukrainian people's old home is very thought-provoking.

  The guide party had a brief discussion, and a rough-hewn noble wrapped in animal hides rode out, the guide returned to say that the other side wanted to come out and talk with me. The two of us left our troops, each bringing an attendant, I chose Assassin and instructed him.

  "Wait, no matter what happens, don't make a sound or react."

  They meet halfway by walking half of the distance each.

  "Your Excellency, this is the son of Baron Zsigmond, young Master Zsigmond."

  "His Excellency Count Zygmont, this is the deputy military attaché from the Roman Empire."

  A Polish band played an introduction for the two of us.

  "You look so weak, like a woman. Any of our women here can beat you to death."

  This Polish noble was very unpleasant from the moment they met.

  "Hey!" The Polish guide's face fell.

  "Shut up, you riffraff! You don't have the right to speak here." Little Zigmond pointed his hand towards the cavalry behind him, "See that?"

  Zigmond's eyes were contemptuous: "That is our army. That is an army, not like you guys who are dressed up but probably haven't even rolled in the mud, they are real fighters! Want to join?"

  A group of lone wolves who are good at fighting individually is also called an army?

  I stared at this Polonized Ukrainian nobleman with wide eyes, we were all living in the 18th century, but these horse-riding troops looked like they came from the Middle Ages.

  "What you see before your eyes is only a part!" Little Zigmond said with a complacent smile, as if I had already intimidated his army. "If you agree to our demands, this army will join your side."

  "This is different from what's in the agreement! The agreement reached with the Roman Empire was not like this!" the Polish Road Party cried out in panic.

  He was slapped and fell directly under the horse.

  "To hell with the parliament, it doesn't care about our Zygmont's family affairs. Listen up, Romans! Our Zygmont's family is the master of this land within a radius of thirty miles. If you want us to be loyal, fine! We will support you! But on this land, the Zygmont's family is the boss! The Roman Empire cannot represent the Zygmont's family! We won't pay taxes! Our serfs are private property of the Zygmont's family! The Zygmont's family has the right to form an army! Your appointed officials have no qualifications to enter our land, manage anyone or anything! Merchants and caravans entering and leaving the territory of the Zygmont's family must pay taxes to the Zygmont's family! And, the Zygmont's family has already taken control of Riga town, Visva town, and Oder town, you must recognize our ownership of these three places! In grain transactions, we demand price concessions as a privilege for the Zygmont's family."

  No taxes, with money to form an army, this was the original rule of the old Polish kingdom. Imperial officials could not enter their territory, which should have been a trick by the Zygmont family to strengthen territorial control. As for merchant teams entering and exiting, paying tribute, and recognizing the control rights of several small towns, they were directly extorted. Listening to this series of conditions that are simply outrageous, I am puzzled as to what gave this noble such great audacity to be so arrogant.

  "Listen up, you bunch of cowards by the sea, you're nothing! Without our noble patronage, you can't even stand firm on this land. With our backing, you truly own this land! In return, we'll maintain local order for you and send troops to help you in times of war."

  I looked at the lone row of cavalry behind me and neither intended to respond nor wanted to attack immediately: "Can I go take a look at your home?"

  "Of course." The arrogant Polish nobleman, with his nose pointing towards the sky, became even more pleased and put his hand directly on my military uniform: "Your clothes are not bad, once you arrive at my house, take off this set of clothes and give them to me."

  Poland is a wonderful country. The road guides are so thorough that I was truly impressed: "Follow the guide in front."

  Taking advantage of the Polish nobles' distraction, I secretly made a gesture to Assassin, asking her to call over the two camps of hunters and my cuirassiers that were scattered nearby. Unexpectedly, this goods was actually sneaking a smile, I rolled my eyes, next time I must severely punish her!

  Let all the guards come up behind me, I'll send three people back to tell Uncle Zimiszczya, and then follow little Zygmunt with the guide to his lair.

  The Zygmont family is a powerful force in this area, young Zygmund and his so-called cavalry are leading the way ahead, while I slowed down my horse's pace, slowly waiting for the gathering of my own cavalry.

  Leaving the highway, they walked onto a small yellow earth road. Zygmont said that from here on was their family's land. A small river ran through Zygmont's farm fields and stretched far away. At the end of it, a castle with a black outline was apparently the nest of this family.

  The sound of horseshoes broke the peaceful rural scenery, and soon after, many black figures appeared in the distance, with some larger shadows moving towards us.

  The cavalry of Zsigmond's house and a few other cavalry with different flags, but their scale was relatively small, with only about 20-30 people.

  After showing off their military strength, they are now displaying their prestige in the surrounding regions.

  "Hey, you lame Romans, how come you're walking so slowly? Haha, can't even ride a horse properly, right? Once you start running, you're done!" Little Zigmond was frolicking around us on both sides. "No wonder it took you guys so long to fight the infidels in the south, with this clumsy horsemanship, I bet you can't even ride a woman well, haha...! We Ukrainians, on the other hand, can gallop freely even without using our hands, take a look! It only took us less than a few decades to chase away the Mongols."

  "I've heard that Roman women are very beautiful, so your army must have some with you. Hand over a few tonight and we'll return them tomorrow. By the way, you look pretty good yourself, I'm sure your sisters and cousins can't be far behind. Let's arrange a time for me to visit your home, bring them all out and let me choose one. How about it? I don't have a wife, so it would be perfect to get a noble Roman lady with a good name. My friends and brothers at home also don't have wives, we can just marry them off together."

  Then just get it done while you're at it! Hahaha!