The Last Frontier of Fire and Sword

When King Kazimierz set the time for the total attack, his cousin, King Karl X of Sweden, led the army, and was actually still in the city of Königsberg with the perfidious Elector Frederick William. Confrontation.

And he ordered Brahe Wichensburg to send reinforcements. On the one hand, Karl X was to increase the confidence of the defenders and believe that their king would come back; on the other hand, he also wanted to confuse King Kazimierz. , So that they were uncertain and even made the wrong decision to retire.

Although due to the betrayal of Elector Frederik Wilhelm, Karl X’s Prussian strategy fell short, and due to the long-term attack on Königsberg, the two lines of Riga and Warsaw were taken advantage of by Tsarist Russia and the Republic of Poland. Enter, but Karl X did not think about the destruction of Königsberg. All he has done now is to make the elector realize the strength of the Swedish army and turn around as soon as possible and become his ally again.

The reason why Karl X did this was not because of his own kindness or his detached friendship with the elector of Frederick William, but because of practical considerations.

Unlike Tsarist Russia and the Republic of Poland, which have a large area and a large population, the Kingdom of Sweden has a small land area and a small population. In the era of the "Swedish Lion" Gustav, Sweden, with a population of less than two million people at that time, drew out an army of 50,000 people in order to provide Gustav with troops to conquer the Republic of Poland. And this army, in the ensuing war, because the Polish Republic was still in its heyday and its national power was strong, 35,000 people died on the land of Eastern Europe; males appeared in the Swedish mainland and even in certain villages. The scene of death.

This led to the fact that before Gustav participated in the Thirty Years’ War and landed in Germany, he had only 30,000 mobile troops in his hand after half of his troops were left behind in his homeland of 70,000. Six thousand people, and most of them are foreigners.

After landing in Germany, he had to leave part of his troops to guard the occupied cities and supply lines, and fewer than 30,000 people followed him in the fight.

Fighting will inevitably lead to attrition, but in the later period Gustav's army expanded to more than 140,000.

Gustav is a military genius, but not a magician. It is impossible for all Swedish women to give birth to children overnight and grow up overnight. In fact, when Gustav was the strongest, only 15,000 of the 140,000 army were pure Swedes. The others were all mercenaries hired by Gustav to conquer German towns, blackmail the Germans for ransom money, and plunder German properties. Among them are Finns, Scots and Germans, and Germans account for the vast majority of all mercenaries.

Karl X knows the history well, and he certainly knows the secret of the success of his ancestors-cannon fodder, a lot of cannon fodder.

So before he sent troops to Poland, he would try his best to win over Frederick William the elector. Even if the electors at both ends of the snake and mouse did not work hard, Karl X did not blame it at all. Because at least Frederick William had betrayed King Kazimierz, whom he was supposed to be loyal to, and stood on his side. This is tantamount to weakening the power of the Poles. What's more, a German elector standing on his side is also a demonstration effect for other German princes.

King Carl X just didn't expect that after he initially put down the Republic of Poland, the Elector Frederick Wilhelm suddenly betrayed him and led his army back to Königsberg.

At the beginning of the electoral rebellion, Karl X, who was conquering Prussia, was unprepared. In Karl X's view, perhaps everyone has a reason to betray themselves, but Königsberg and the elector should definitely not.

Because Königsberg and the Republic of Poland are feuds.

The predecessor of Königsberg was the Teutonic Knights. On October 19, 1466, representatives of the Republic of Poland, the Prussian League, and the Teutonic Knights held contract talks in Torun. This is not an equal peace talks. The representatives of the Knights entered the city as a loser.

Only a few hours after the representatives of the three parties took their seats, the contract ended with the humiliating signing of the representatives of the Teutonic Knights.

The Teutonic Knights, which had gone downhill since their defeat in 1410, kept only a territory dominated by Königsberg to continue their lives. And the Republic of Poland restored the city of Gdansk, Pomerania, Chelmno, Mikhalovo, Warmia and Bowesler regions, including Marienburg and Elblag castles. The most fertile territory.

Each newly elected commander of the Teutonic Order must kneel and swear allegiance to the King of Poland in the honor of a prince, and provide unconditional military support to him within six months. At the same time, the head of the Teutonic Knights was obliged to provide military support to the Polish royal family, and was restricted by the Polish king in terms of foreign policy.

Particularly excessive is that the treaty prohibits the Teutonic Knights from unilaterally lifting the oath of loyalty to the King of Poland, and prohibits the use of immunity granted by any person or organization (not capped, including the Pope). As a knighthood that started with religion, there is nothing more humiliating than this.

Of course, perhaps the treaty that the Republic also thinks is too much. The Republic gave the head of the Teutonic Knights to concurrently serve as a senator of the Polish royal family, participate in the Polish royal committee, and the head of the new ruler retained to participate in the election of the new ruler and ensured the royal family of Prussia. Zhucheng’s commercial freedom and other flashy powers.

Therefore, the rulers of Königsberg in all dynasties were full of hatred for the Republic of Poland, only because they were too weak to attract them.

This is also the reason why Karl X first thought of seeking an alliance with Königsberg when he was preparing to invade Poland.

But the most unlikely thing happened.

As the first apostate in the Swedish camp, if Karl X cannot be put down, the counterattack in the Republic of Poland will now be like the first domino toppled, and there will be more and more apostates.

But the already extremely precious Swedish soldiers were consumed in Königsberg, which is definitely not what Karl X wanted to see.

So Karl X has been attacking Königsberg, but he did not choose to attack. Instead, he kept thinking about the reason why the kings of Königsberg betrayed him. Only when you understand the "why" can you know the "what to do".

As one of the most powerful and rough monarchs in the world, Karl X quickly figured it out. There is only one reason: the power of the Kingdom of Sweden has made the elector feel threatened, and he is worried that the Kingdom of Sweden will become the second Polish republic.

Karl X knew the elector’s theory of dancing on two eggs. Now, there is only one egg left on the table, and no matter how superb dancing the Elector is, he can't use it to benefit himself and achieve the ultimate goal. So he chose to betray himself.

Benefit, everything is for benefit.

After understanding the reason for Königsberg’s betrayal, in the face of the current situation, Karl X knew that the best way to deal with the elector of Frederick William was not to destroy him, but to make him surrender and give He continued to use it for his own benefit.

Three deafening cannons sounded simultaneously. Compared to the heavy cannon used in the Daguangmingshan Monastery, the artillery of a larger caliber fired. The shell hit the city wall of Königsberg, cracks appeared in the strong city wall like fragile porcelain, and a tower was buried in the smoke and dust. When the smoke dissipated, the tall tower was gone.

"Your Majesty, at this speed, in three more days, your artillery will open the way to the Königsberg City Hall for the infantry." Raphael, a French artillery expert who served in Karl X’s artillery, proudly said Said his employer.

"Sure." Karl X said.

"What? Your Majesty, what did you say?" Raphael asked in astonishment.

"I said yes. Stop firing."

After that, Karl X held his horse in his belly and ran off the artillery position, driving the white horse, towards the Königsberg.

Karl X stopped outside the range of the muskets of the Königsberg city wall.

"I am Carl Gustaf, King of Sweden, and I want to see Elector Frederick William." Karl X cried out.

There was no response from the walls, but Karl X was convinced that someone had passed his words to the elector Frederick William.

After a while, Königsberg's bombarded door opened. A knight in half armor came out slowly on the horse. When the knight saw Karl X riding on a horse in normal clothes without armor, the knight was taken aback, his body stiffened on the horse, and then he took off the pointed helmet.

"Your Majesty." Elector Frederick William saluted slightly at the moment.

"William, is it enough? I already know your determination. Come back to me now. I will give you what you want." As soon as Karl X opened his mouth, he asked the elector Frederick William to submit. Own.

"Your Majesty, do you know what I want?" Elector Frederick William was surprised at first, and then asked uncertainly.

Carl X immediately laughed without scruple about manners. Yes, he, Karl X was a gentleman at the banquet, but he was a bold soldier on the battlefield.

"Everyone thinks that you, the Elector Frederick William, have forgotten righteousness, but who knows that everything you do is for a dream." Karl X said.

"dream?"

"A dream of the Kingdom of Prussia." Karl X said.

Elector Frederick William's heart trembled.

Yes, Karl X was right, everything he did was for a kingdom dream. Therefore, he suddenly betrayed Sweden, because Karl X wanted to occupy Prussia, that was his own inverse scale and his lifelong pursuit. Therefore, only with his own counterattack, Prussia will not be annexed, and he will have the opportunity to unify Prussia by himself and upgrade the Principality of Prussia to the Kingdom of Prussia.

"You want Prussia and I will give it to you. As long as you continue to be my ally, what about when I settle Poland and give you everything Prussia." Karl X said.

This is indeed a great temptation.

"Carl, why did you suddenly make such a decision?" Elector Frederick William asked incredulously.

"Because there is a wider world waiting for me. I have spent enough time here. I should go back to Warsaw. I was too greedy before and wanted to own everything. Now I want to understand. , That's wrong. I can't eat meat alone without giving soup to others. Then I have already expressed my attitude, and now I want you to answer." Karl X said.

Elector Frederick William glanced at the destroyed tower. He understood that the reason why Karl X saw himself after the shelling was to understand for himself that he and his army were capable of destroying Königsberg. The olive branch now is his last chance.

"Your Majesty, I heard that King Kazimierz has led an unprecedented army to regain Warsaw." Frederick William did not make a clear statement, he asked carefully about the war in Warsaw.

"Warsaw is foolproof. Arvid Widenberg led the army defending the city to repel the Polish offensive again and again. The Poles suffered heavy losses under Warsaw. Moreover, the army of Wichensburg is already helping Warsaw's troops. On the way." Karl X said.

Frederick William was silent.

Karl X knew that Frederick William did not believe his words very much, he was hesitating, hesitating whether the Swedish army could win the final victory.

At this time, Karl X must draw a pie for the elector.

"William, do you know why I have been in Prussia for so long?" Karl X said suddenly.

For this question, Frederick William was stunned.

"Isn't it because I suddenly returned to Königsberg?"

Karl X laughed.

"William, this is only part of the reason. If you just want to destroy you or want you to surrender, I can threaten you with your nephew, Duke Boguslav, ~www.wuxiaspot.com~ isn't he in Riga? Your uncle is deeply affectionate. If I did this, you wouldn’t be indifferent.”

Frederick William acquiesced to Karl X's statement.

Karl X continued: "But I did not do this. Because I also need a reason to stay in Prussia. I am waiting for Kazimierz's counterattack against Warsaw."

"You did it on purpose!" Frederick William gave a shocked expression for the first time.

"Yes. I want to wipe out all the viable power of the Republic of Poland under Warsaw. Think about it, when they stopped under Warsaw and were exhausted, my army suddenly appeared behind them. That would be What a scene. Now under Warsaw, my cousin and almost all his generals, generals, and colonels are here. I want to kill them all. In this way, no one in Poland can oppose me anymore."

Frederick William was shocked by Karl X's grand strategy. He swallowed hard.

Yes Yes. What a big strategy at this time! Karl X used the entire Warsaw as bait to lure almost all the Polish troops. And he was like a fisherman, watching the changes in Prussia, waiting until the Poles under Warsaw were exhausted, and then swept them all out. And he ridiculously pretended to stabbed Karl X in the back, but in the end all this was in his calculations.

Frederick William felt weak and insignificant like never before.

Seeing his own words finally stunned Frederick William, King Carl X loudly encouraged while the iron was hot: "Descendants of the Teutonic Knights, a battle far beyond the Battle of Grunwald is about to unfold under Warsaw, you guys Have you forgotten the blood feuds of your ancestors!"

That voice was not only for Frederick William, but also for the entire Königsberg.