In the Hamburg area, since the Earl of Hamburg did not lead his army to southern Saxony, and at the same time received relevant information about Otto's advance in advance, the policy of fortifying the walls and clearing the country was relatively successful in the entire region.
A large number of people and materials were gathered into large cities or strong castles before the enemy arrived. Some small castles and defense facilities were also reinforced to resist enemies who lacked siege equipment.
This made El's trip with his soldiers to rob Hamburg not smooth at all. Not only did he gain a lot, but even many small groups of troops sent out were killed by the Earl of Hamburg and his elite.
Looking at the corpses of several Franconian knights hanging on the Hamburg Gate Tower, El's eyes almost burst out with fire.
At this time, the city of Hamburg was far from being the important trade and industrial town in northern Germany that it would become in later generations. It was just a solid military castle with a population of less than 2,000 residents, even smaller than the city of Basel that Otto had previously captured.
Even though due to the war, a large number of nearby villagers have flooded into Hamburg, the population is only around five to six thousand. Compared with Bremen, which has a permanent population of close to ten thousand people not far away, it is like a small town.
With this kind of population, in the East, it might be a large village or town, but in the West at this time, it is definitely not an exaggeration to say it is a city.
In the whole of Europe, except for Constantinople and Cordoba, which have a population of more than 100,000, other famous cities such as Rome and Paris have a population of only 10,000 to 20,000 people. In the east, they are county towns.
level.
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, many large cities once built by the Roman Empire were now in ruins, and they would have to wait until the late Middle Ages to be rebuilt again.
Therefore, facing Hamburg with only over 5,000 people, El did not dare to be careless.
No matter how angry he was, he knew very well that it would be almost impossible to attack the heavily guarded Hamburg with the troops in his hands when the opponent was on guard.
Based on the comparison of strength between the two sides, it would be extremely rare for the Count of Hamburg not to come out with his army to beat El.
This time, Elko entered the Hamburg area with only 500 Franconian cavalry and 2,000 servants. Although it was said to be an army of 5,000, its actual combat effectiveness was not necessarily stronger than the Earl of Hamburg's army.
If the Earl of Hamburg hadn't been worried about Otto's army that might appear at any time, I'm afraid that El wouldn't be able to observe outside Hamburg so leisurely. Maybe there would have been cavalry rushing out of Hamburg long ago.
"Master El, since there is nothing to gain here, and the remaining castles have been prepared, it is not worthwhile to attack them.
Why don't we return to Bremen first and meet up with Master Otto."
Knight Gore is responsible for protecting El this time, and is now following El to persuade him.
"Not only did I fail to plunder enough resources, but I also lost a lot of soldiers. Now that I'm going back, how can I explain to my brother!"
El looked at Knight Gor with dissatisfaction and asked angrily.
"But the Saxons here are obviously prepared. We can't attack those castles, otherwise the losses will be even greater.
Besides, Master El, after all, this is your first time on the battlefield and you have not suffered any defeat, Master Otto will not blame you."
Knight Gore continued to persuade.
"No!" El didn't listen at all. "My brother Otto was able to defeat the Bernese army several times his size the first time he went to the battlefield. If I just go back like this, wouldn't I be an embarrassment to my brother?
No, we can't go back like this!"
Knight Gore had a wry smile on his face. He was also present at the "Battle of Upper Beep" when he fought against the Bernese leaders. How could he not know how he won at that time?
When Otto took out the crossbow, and when the opponent miscalculated the power of the crossbow and did not prepare a strong shield, the outcome of the battle was already doomed.
However, he also knew that it would be difficult to persuade El to give up the idea of making achievements with this.
At El's age, he is the age where he is ignorant and full of passion. He himself has also come from this age, so he doesn't know what El is thinking.
But the problem is, he can't look at El because the boss is attacking the city with the few troops he has and killing people.
Although it is not the army of the Habsburg family, it is not too distressing, but the swords are not sharp on the battlefield. If El does something wrong, he will really have no way to explain to Master Otto when he returns.
Just when Knight Gor was racking his brains to think of how to persuade El to give up the foolish idea of attacking the fortified castle, he heard El's new words.
"Send the order, the entire army must assemble, bypass Hamburg, and continue northward!"
Knight Gore was a little dumbfounded, but he was not a military idiot. How could he not understand what El wanted to do, so he immediately persuaded him.
"Master El, the order Master Otto gave us is to rob Hamburg and then gather with him. We are only allowed to rob in the Hamburg area."
But obviously, El had already thought of his words and looked at the other party enthusiastically.
"Knight Gore! Why does brother want us to plunder everywhere? One is to obtain more soldiers and attack the city of Bremen. The other is to eliminate the Saxon people's ability to resist.
Now that the Hamburg area is on guard, we can just change to another area. There are many Saxon-inhabited areas north of Hamburg.
As long as we destroy these settlements, brother's goal will be achieved.
Knight Gore, you don’t want our battle to end in vain.”
I have to admit that El's idea is right. At this moment, Knight Gore almost agreed directly.
However, it would be quite dangerous to continue heading north without controlling the Hamburg area and go deep alone.
The reason why Otto can seem to "go deep alone" is because Werner is behind him to wipe his ass, and Otto's own military strength is strong enough and continues to get stronger.
But if it were him and El who attacked north, who would wipe their butts? They couldn't count on Otto.
Otto's military strength must be retained to attack Bremen.
Not to mention the strategic significance of a city like Bremen, the wealth the church has accumulated over the years is enough to tempt many people.
If it was because of him and El that Otto sent out troops to cover them and failed to capture the city of Bremen, Knight Gore felt that his future would be over.
Therefore, after weighing the pros and cons, Knight Gore shook his head decisively.
"No, Master El, Master Otto's order is not like this..."
"Now, the commander of this force is me, not my brother Otto!" El also became a little dissatisfied.
"Since my brother has handed over the command to me, I have the authority to command this army. Don't use my brother's order as an excuse.
Now, Knight Gore, please obey the command and order the entire army to assemble and continue heading north.
Do you understand? Knight Gore? Do you want to disobey military orders?"
Knight Gore looked at El and felt helpless when he saw that the other man's hands were on his sword.
If he didn't agree to this, the young master in front of him might actually chop him down.
What else can I do? I can only agree.
If I had known it earlier, I wouldn't have come. No wonder when I came to protect Master El, those people all hid far away. When it was my turn in the end, I felt I had gotten an advantage.
Building a good relationship with Master El may not be a wrong choice.
Now it seems that I was still too naive, and this was really not a good thing.
"Yes, Master El, I will obey your order!" Gore replied weakly.
Hearing Knight Gore's agreement, El also became lighter in tone.
"Don't worry, those Saxons would never have imagined that we would dare to go north. They will definitely be caught off guard. Maybe you and I can really make a big difference this time!"