Three days later, under the city of Toulouse; among the blue-robed troops all over the mountains and plains, Jiang Tian, clad in oriental armor, also silently looked at this large gray-white city built of granite and marble; it was also named directly after the region. Lead the capital.
It is said that Abigail's Crusade against the Puritans in the south resulted in a tragic civil war between the north and the south of the kingdom. Led by the de facto independent Grand Duke of Languedoc, hundreds of noble families, big and small, were either defeated and exterminated for two or three generations, or were abolished and stripped after surrender.
Therefore, the royal family directly cut off one of the two richest areas in the south - the richest and most fertile Garonne River Basin land on the Toulouse Plain, and established a large crown territory centered around the city of Toulouse; as well as a large number of meritorious royal families The fiefs of foreign nobles.
Therefore, later royal families continued to build and expand the city of Toulouse, which was the central city of the region; they gradually turned the original rammed earth and brick city walls into stone; thus they also insisted on the Lily Dynasty, Acacia Periods of great turmoil during dynasty changes.
Therefore, remaining intact for a relatively long time also allowed the city to develop significantly. Even outside the city, you can see from a distance the tall buildings and sentry towers that are common in Toulouse, as well as the many towers that are obviously higher than the city walls, and the bright rose-red tile roofs.
Of course, in addition to being the industrial and commercial trade center and transportation hub of the Toulouse region for a long time, it also plays another important role; it is one of the long-term headquarters of the Inquisition in the Kingdom; it is responsible for cleaning out the remnants of the Cathar Sect that may exist in the local area. .
Therefore, compared with other similar existences that briefly appeared in history, the ordinary and unique heresy court existed until the establishment of the White Iris Dynasty, which announced the Edict of Aachen to narrowly amnesty various heretical sects and religious groups within the territory; Only then could it be revoked.
But the resulting hatred and solidarity effects continued for a long time. So much so that the city was once spontaneously divided into two small camps, the White Brotherhood and the White Orthodox Sect. At night, against the backdrop of the local nobility and gentry, fighting and fighting broke out.
Therefore, that also gave the new royal family some opportunity. They sent troops to intervene in the area on the grounds of maintaining order, and took a step back to take over and expand the small crown collar left by the later royal family. It was also divided into two small general areas of Lower/Upper Toulouse according to the two banks of the Garonne River.
Before that, there was another state affairs rectification movement during the lifetime of the "Terrorist Minister". A council composed of nobles was successively established in the local area, a military governor and a financial auditor directly under the royal family were established, a few new schools and a royal workshop were established; the functions of the postal and transportation departments were improved...
Therefore, the city of Toulouse today is not controlled by the royalists/royalists, or other forces/factions with no obvious political background; rather, it is controlled by local nobles/small businessmen/guild leaders. A seventy-seven-member committee was formed for actual management and control.
Although the committee claims to be a neutral party, things have changed recently. He called an army of the Holy Kingdom that came to the Aquitaine region and was the largest in size. On the pretext of executing the supplementary treaty signed by the new dynasty, they quietly settled in the pearl in the hinterland of the small crown.
However, that incident caused slight disagreements and confrontations among the Committee of Seventy-seven. Because the Holy Kingdom's army was introduced privately by many people, including the city nobles in the committee, without even public discussion and voting by the committee.
Therefore, after other members of the factions in the committee reacted calmly and took measures; those urban aristocratic factions, with the seemingly neutral acquiescence of the Holy Kingdom Army, firmly contacted the royal party in the local territory, and If our faction strikes first, it will be the weakest.
Therefore, more than half of the city committee members were captured and imprisoned by their entire families, rather than accidentally dying in the fight; only a few individuals were able to escape from Toulouse or went into hiding. He could only watch helplessly as the city guard was also purged.
Along with several royalist armed forces from various places, they also retreated in front of the city of Toulouse. We reorganized the city council, which was dominated by nobles, and restored the Inquisition, which abolished juveniles. We liquidated dissidents and enemies in the city in the name of heresy trials to correct beliefs.
However, without restraint or restrictions, it quickly spread into various royalist armed forces, extorting and extorting special citizens, poor classes, and even refugee groups; because there were no rules and order, the result was I know a lot of human tragedy.
Then, as our desires became more and more unsatisfied, we had to step back and extend our targets to the wealthy families and wealthy classes in the city, and even the local church. At that point, even the supporters of the neutral faction and the urban aristocratic faction who had been watching could no longer endure it.
However, when things got to that point, it was irreversible. Although the members of the committee stepped back from negotiations and restraints, trying to raise money to allow the royalist armed forces to enter and leave the city and retreat to the suburbs for repairs; however, as the saying goes, it is difficult to ask God to send God away.
How could those royalist armed forces from the rural territories easily let go and make concessions after seeing and enjoying the prosperity and prosperity of the city and the convenience of dominating all strata under the banner of purging heretics? As a result, several conflicts broke out with the city guard.
In the end, after the two sides spontaneously evolved into internal strife that spread throughout the city, the troops of the Holy Kingdom suddenly intervened to mediate; a simple temporary agreement was finally reached; instead of the royal parties having to retreat to the southwest bank of the Garonne River, the rich and the There was trouble in the big city where the nobles gathered.
As a result, there have been no irreconcilable estrangements and rifts between the local management committee members and the armed forces of the Royal Party. However, the Holy Kingdom Army, which later claimed to provide shelter and maintain order, has always been ambiguous and willing to take fewer measures; it seems that it has no other intention.
That was also Jiang Dao who led his army southward, passing through the highways along the Aveyron, Tarn, and Haute-Garonne provinces; he encountered people who had escaped from Toulouse, who were seriously ill and sought medical treatment, especially running around; no matter who they caught, A few city representatives who all wanted help learned the general situation.
However, what shocked and surprised us even more was that the Cathar believers in places along the way took the initiative to step forward as the leading party; consisting of seventeen cavalry companies, seventy-seven mounted infantry companies, and seven auxiliary/baggage companies, The slow corps formed was able to retreat at an astonishing speed.
Thanks to some miraculous morale boost, we retreated for eight days and two nights with almost no pause, and easily captured four small cities and eight fortresses along the south valley road. Like a rushing storm, it swept away the plains of Toulouse. But that's just the beginning.
The defenders in red and white striped robes at the top of the city were also running around in a panic; then they stared dumbfoundedly at the mighty small army that pressed forward directly to the rear. Even the siege camp was not even started to be established, and they were eager to launch the offensive first. It didn't look ridiculous.
Amidst the bursts of heart-wrenching drums and trumpets, many siege equipment appeared one after another among the white cavalry array. There is neither a small-wheeled artillery cart with a thick barrel, a short and wide-mouthed stone mortar, nor a long ladder that gradually stretches out under the carriage.
Even after the leading cavalry is about to arrive and is within the range of the city wall's crossbows, even the siege rams covered with iron sheets and equipped with cast iron weights, equipped with wheel baffles and small shields, do not know when they will appear. Among the neat formations of the vanguard cavalry;
Just as the small number of alarmed city defenders were unloading their crossbows and military crossbows, the leading cavalrymen were already racing to rush to the city; and there was a peaceful scene under the wall with screams and screams. Amidst the sound, they all threw up the bags of firewood and earth carried on their saddles.
In the blink of an eye, the moat, which was only covered with shallow mud due to the dry season, was filled in by the brave and fearless cavalry in several short sections. Immediately afterwards came the infantry who slowly pushed back in front of the barrier; we slowly leveled the ground and opened several narrow passages.
Along the cleared rugged ground, amidst the increasingly sparse arrows and rain, siege vehicles and vehicle-mounted ladders followed one after another; they were about to approach the city gates and walls, but were hit by objects falling from the city head. At the moment of the blow, bursts of thunder came from the front.
With the small-wheeled artillery carts that have not retreated into the firing range and have planned their aiming units, and the short-barreled mortars that continue to push back; the first wave of smoke and clouds is spitting and shooting down the city head; The iron balls, which were burning and whitening, rushed to hit the bottom of the city wall.
Suddenly, inside the city wall, there was a series of dull collision sounds and rocks flying everywhere; although only a large part of the ball bullets hit the inside of the city wall, or penetrated/collapsed the gap in the city wall; it also caused The defenders were welcoming them, and the chaos lasted for a short time.
In particular, some wooden sentry towers and archery towers that were hit by artillery shells almost followed the openings made by the bombardment. Small pieces of blood flowed out from the screams all day long, or some stumps and broken bodies collapsed; There was no arrow tower, and they simply collapsed among the defenders.
And such a delay and a moment of rush are enough for the long ladders under these carriages to successfully set up the stone wall with a tooth-gripping sound; and above, like a siege vehicle with a special curved roof, Pushed by the soldiers inside, he pushed back the inside of the city gate.
Although, very slowly, the defenders who were not armed with small knives quickly attacked the long ladder hooks that were used to set up the ultimatum on the wall; only to find that they could only make a clanging sound and the blades curled. Because those special long ladders have not used fine steel castings, which have weakened some important structures and parts.
And the falling stones and quicklime that we hurriedly dumped up from the hole under the city gate were almost unable to cause any decent damage or threat to the siege vehicles in the doorway; they slowly spread over the entire iron-clad arc. The top bounced back with a clang and slid away.
There was also a frightening dull crashing sound from above; then, no defenders hurriedly leaned out and tried to shoot with longbows and weak crossbows. These armored engineers stood beside the siege vehicles to provide cover and assist in the operation; Just as the muskets in the front array were shooting, they fell.
At the last moment, we were only concerned about the siege vehicles in the lower doorway; because, at the other end of the long vehicle-mounted ladder, there were groups of special low-level enemy soldiers wearing heavy armor that covered their faces, like iron men; like a group of The sharp-edged arrows deflected the spears and spears facing them and crashed into the defenders.
A short while ago, the siege vehicles on the inside of the city gate suddenly stopped bombarding, and then turned into scattered figures hiding on the vehicles; the last moment, a loud bang was heard; small pieces of smoke and dust billowed out from inside the city gate. came out, and even the siege vehicles were pushed back and hurriedly rushed in...
Amidst the roaring cheers and roars, the Free Army soldiers who gathered on the wall and fired at the city gate rushed into the city gate that had a small gap opened; and continued to expand it. ; And due to the haste of the incident, there were not even many obstacles or defenders placed inside the gate to attack.
We vaguely saw the scene in front of us. The representatives of the city who came out to ask for help had cold hands and feet and trembling legs. If we had seen it with our own eyes, we would have no doubt that the city had sufficient guard strength and the city was low and the walls were thick and well-prepared. The small and prosperous city was conquered in one fell swoop.
In various rumors after Lenovo Road, the Free Army is also known as an army full of miracles; the most terrifying enemy of the royal party/royalists/old aristocracy; and the protector of small farmers and industrial and commercial people. Suddenly I seemed to understand something...
