Sobieski's call did not arouse the attention and vigilance of the surrounding countries. Everyone almost felt that after the Tatars captured Polly, they had to digest it for a while before they had other plans.
It would be a huge mistake to think so. In the summer of 1697, less than half a year before the fall of Poland, millions of Qing troops launched a powerful offensive against the Principality of Prussia and the Electorate of Brandenburg.
Although the two principalities exist as an alliance, their total population is less than 10 million, and the number of combatable troops that can be mobilized does not exceed 2 million. This is still an optimistic estimate.
Duke Frederick William von Hohenzollern of Prussia had already launched a general mobilization of his country when Polly was invaded by the Qing army, squeezing out half a million troops.
Leopold gathered the heavy troops of the Holy Roman Empire in the southern German region and remained indifferent to the situation on the Polly side.
This was inevitable because the Electorate of Brandenburg belonged to the Holy Roman Empire, while the Principality of Prussia was canonized by King Polly.
Leopold wanted to bring the Principality of Prussia into the arms of the empire after the war, so he first expressed his helplessness about Sobieski's experience, and then waited for an opportunity to make a counter-offer.
To take a step back, Leopold himself still had to rely on Louis XIV. The command of the main force of the Holy Roman Empire was actually in the hands of Marshal Turenne.
This marshal was different from the Allied troops who went north to defend the enemy, so Leopold could not insist on his own way. After all, the name of the European God of War was not just a boast.
The Tatars had already won this great battle, and the proud record of "five battles and five victories" was born in the South German region.
Another point that is also more important is that Frederick once asked Leopold to merge the Principality of Prussia and the Electorate of Brandenburg into the Kingdom of Prussia, and at the same time canonize him as King of Prussia.
Leopold rejected the proposal on the grounds that the Principality of Prussia belonged to Politburi, and privately regarded Frederick as a German careerist trying to challenge his imperial power...
In the future, even if Leopold allowed Prussia to merge with Brandenburg, it would only continue to exist in the form of a principality, and Frederick was particularly concerned about becoming king.
Frederick was the son of the Elector Friedrich Wilhelm. After his father's death, Frederick was of course the legal heir to the title.
In Leopold's mind, whether the other party's title is marquis or duke, the sum total is not enough to be converted into a king!
Therefore, after Brandenburg-Prussia was invaded by the Qing army, Leopold did not really want to help this potential competitor.
Frederick had previously planned to send troops to help Sobieski, but after seeing Leopold's indifferent attitude and the similar reactions of other electorate states, he could only wait and see temporarily.
Unexpectedly, the same thing would happen to him less than a year later. This time Leopold still stood still, which made Frederick extremely angry.
Fortunately, the Duke of Saxony, Frederick Augusta, agreed to send 100,000 troops, and the Duke of Hanover, Duke Braunschweig-Lunenberg, agreed to send 50,000 troops.
King Frederick IV of Denmark also sent 50,000 reinforcements, and Dutch Deacon William III agreed to send 10,000 troops. At the same time, he sent a fleet to help Brandenburg-Prussia retreat by land and sea.
The Principality of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, which neighbors Brandenburg, failed to send troops because Friedrich Wilhelm was in a military confrontation with his uncle, Adolf Friedrich II.
The Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin was reconsolidated by Friedrich Wilhelm, however his uncle Adolf Friedrich II held the title of duke.
One has military power, the other has a title.
The former has the ability and strength, and the latter has the support from Emperor Leopold.
Leopold adopted a compromise method, which was to divide the Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin into two, with one person occupying half, so that everything would be peaceful.
This was expected. In fact, when Frederick's Prussia was invaded by the Qing army, the uncle and nephew were worried that the other party would take advantage of them, so they did not send troops to help Frederick.
Bavaria, the strongest country, had always been used as the base camp of the Allied forces, so it was even less able to send troops to help Frederick repel the invading enemies.
The reinforcements from Denmark, Hanover, and Saxony, plus Frederick's own troops, totaled 700,000. However, facing the mobile combat of the Tatar cavalry group, the infantry was completely useless.
The Qing army did not attack bastions or cities with strong defenses. Instead, they attacked villages and towns. They also adopted scorched-earth tactics, plundering all people, animals and property, and then burning the local areas to ashes.
This was tantamount to inserting a sharp blade directly into Frederick's weakness. Because no measures were taken to strengthen the wall and clear the country in advance, Prussia and Brandenburg suffered extremely heavy losses in personnel and property.
The number of fighter planes sent by Leopold was very small, less than thirty. Due to frequent malfunctions, the attendance rate was very low, and it could not play a big role.
Without strong air cover, the Brandenburg-Prussian campaign returned to its original state of the hot weapon era.
Both sides try their best to exploit their own advantages and attack each other's weaknesses.
The Qing army's front stretched from Königsberg in the east, Hamburg in the west, and Dresden in the south, turning most of central and northern Germany into a burning battlefield.
The armies of other countries would not be able to conduct a full-area assault at all, but the Qing army is characterized by cavalry field combat, especially its strong long-distance assault capabilities.
This is an advantage that the army cavalry units of all Western European countries do not have. It has almost completely inherited the characteristics of Menggu's Western Expedition Army.
The only difference is that in order to avoid heavy casualties, they do not attack large cities or fortresses, nor engage in positional battles with the opponent. They just grab something and run away, and set fire before running.
According to the order of Emperor Baocheng, one million Qing troops were divided into thirty-three groups, each with about 30,000 people, like a rain of arrows, shooting at the target.
Depending on the actual situation encountered when marching, each Qing army could be divided into three to ten groups.
This tactic was called the "arrow rain tactic" by Emperor Baocheng. It was numerous, fast, and ruthless.
It can make the enemy defenseless, and eventually be defeated by the Qing army, and even lead to destruction...
Duke Frederick encountered this kind of trouble in the early days of the war with the Qing army.
News of attacks came from various places, making it impossible for him to guess the focus of the Qing army's attack.
This is another characteristic of the "Rain of Arrows Tactics", that is, an all-out attack, with no focus!
The Imperial Army of the Qing Dynasty could attack thirty-three places in the enemy's country at the same time. How could the opponent figure out the focus of its own attack?
Especially after the annexation of Poli, the Qing army had an excellent bridgehead to attack the northern region of the Holy Roman Empire.
This increases the surprise of cavalry troops in launching attacks, and the distance of assaults into the depths of the empire can also be greatly improved.
The other party can also use the same method to attack the Boli area that has been annexed by the Qing Dynasty. However, Emperor Baocheng has no intention of actively managing this place in the near future.
If I burn your territory, you can burn mine.
In the case of exchange, the first person who cannot bear the loss must be the other party!
Thanks to the efforts of millions of Qing troops, the scorched earth area continued to expand from Boli to the west, and the momentum was unstoppable.
Why attack in the summer?
Emperor Baocheng planned to let Brandenburg-Prussia lose its crops in the autumn, leading to its demise!
The troops were sent out in the summer of the first year and then withdrawn in the spring of the second year.
This means that the other party's harvest will not be enough in the first year, and they will not be able to plow in the second year.
If there is no harvest for two consecutive years, most of the people will become Liumin.
The national food stocks were exhausted, famine was inevitable, and Emperor Baocheng had achieved his ultimate goal.
In Duke Frederick's view, although the Tatars were allowed to wreak havoc in the countryside, the large cities in Prussia were basically not lost.
As long as the next battle can defeat the Tatars' plan, then it is possible for our side to turn defeat into victory.
As for how to turn defeat into victory, Duke Frederick envisioned several methods.
First, Louis XIV and Leopold agreed to send troops to help them defend themselves against the enemy.
Second, Karl XI and the Ming Emperor agreed to send troops to help them defend themselves against the enemy.
Third, the Tatars were infected with the disease, resulting in a large number of non-combat attrition.
Fourth, a flood spread across the battlefield, forcing the Tatar cavalry to lose mobility.
Fifth, the Tatar emperor died suddenly...
Embarrassingly, until Christmas 1697, none of these five ideas came to pass!
Brandenburg-Prussia suffered a devastating blow from millions of Tatar cavalry, and Frederick's son Mindu was forced to flee westward.
In order to ensure that these refugees would not be threatened by the Tatars again, William III was kind enough to resettle them in Dutch Britain.
According to everyone's age and health, a corresponding amount of food and land will be allocated free of charge, and seeds will be distributed free of charge. They can enjoy full tax exemption for the first three years.
William III didn't care at all where the people were transported there, as long as they could farm, he wouldn't ask Frederick for resettlement fees...
Only now did Frederick know that William III had bad intentions, but due to the hundreds of artillery pieces and tens of thousands of flintlock muskets given to him by the Netherlands, he could only choose to remain silent for the time being.
In order to appease Frederick, William III sent a large amount of munitions, including 100,000 grenades and 200 tanks, to increase the combat effectiveness of the Brandenburg-Prussian army.
At Frederick's strong request, William III provided another fifty aircraft and twenty-five crews, each with two aircraft for replacement flights.
However, William III used the excuse that the number of aircraft and pilots was insufficient, so they would only be used to defend large cities and would not be used in field battles.
The feeling of being plotted by allies is very uncomfortable. Who allows himself to be weak and now he is dealing with the invasion of millions of Tatar cavalry?
France, the Holy Roman Empire, Sweden, and the Ming Empire, all four parties that could change the current situation, were unwilling to send troops.
Frederick could only resist through friends like William III, otherwise he would be alone in resisting the Tatar army.
Louis XIV asked Turenne in his letter whether he would support Frederick or open a battlefield on the southern front.
Turenne's answer is clear, just stand still and do nothing!
Perhaps the Tatars would gain some benefit from an attack on Polly and Brandenburg-Prussia that would enhance their own strength.
However, the decisive battle between the two sides will have to wait until the outcome of another confrontation with the French army to determine the final outcome of this war.
As long as the French army does not engage in a decisive battle with the Qing army for a day, then His Majesty the Emperor will not need to worry about the battle situation for a day.
The French army is the number one main force of the Allied forces. If the French army does not suffer large-scale losses of troops and equipment, then the Allies still have hope of turning defeat into victory.
The number of fighter jets in the French Air Force is increasing at a rate of one thousand per year, followed by a rapid increase in air cover capabilities.
Of course, Turenne was unwilling to start the war as soon as possible. It would be best to wait for another two years, especially until 1700, to know the final attitude of the Ming Emperor.
First determine whether the French Air Force can obtain the "Hercules" bomber. If so, then it is necessary to determine the specific date of delivery.
Then the pilots receive bomber training so that the bomber force can quickly form combat effectiveness, and ultimately make the bomber force the decisive factor on the battlefield.
From another perspective, whether Brandenburg-Prussia was defeated or not had little to do with France, and there was no need to cause the French army to suffer too much loss in order to save the principality.
Leopold cares about Bavaria and Austria, so the French army will focus on protecting these two territories. The results are acceptable to both sides.
It is not impossible to expand the defense scope. At least a small military expenditure, such as several million silver coins, must be paid to France every year.
If Leopold cannot meet this small request, then in terms of military matters, it is better to obey the arrangements of his allies.
If France hadn't sent half a million troops to help the emperor, the current situation would have been even worse...
Don't think how bad it is now. This is the situation we got after killing millions of Tatar cavalry.
If the coalition forces commanded by Leopold were to resist the Tatar army, if they wanted to wipe out millions of people on the other side, they would first have to lose at least 500,000 people.
Now that the battle-loss ratio was more than ten to one, and the French Air Force also provided good enough air cover, Leopold, who had benefited, had no reason to command blindly.
If this ally really makes unreasonable demands, let him lead his own troops to do it.
The 500,000 French troops commanded by Turenne will remain in Bavaria temporarily and will not be dispatched by him.
If he did not listen to the European God of War and suffered a defeat, it would be Leopold who would be embarrassed.
Louis XIV recognized Turenne's analysis and interpretation of the war, and then he became an audience.
Leopold was also worried that without the support of Turenne, if he marched north on his own, he would be violently attacked by the Tatars.
After expressing sympathy for Frederick's experience, the emperor had nothing to say...
In the spring of 1698, there was no spring plowing in the countryside of Brandenburg-Prussia, and it almost became a no-man's land.
Frederick didn't know how many Zimin had starved to death, so he could only comfort himself by thinking that maybe it was a good choice for them to be sent to Britain by William III.
After more than half a year of fighting, it can be confirmed that the main force of the Tatar army has been repulsed, with more than 200,000 casualties on our side.
Next, it may be time to take a breather.
But Frederick took it for granted...
Emperor Baocheng replaced another million people and began his second Western Expedition after ascending the throne!
