The Last Frontier of Fire and Sword

　　 When the king flag of the wing cavalry company and the flags of more than a dozen dragoons and infantry were thrown under the city of Smolensk as rags, the entire city of Smolensk fell into panic. Everyone knows that without this one-third of the power, the fall of Smolensk is inevitable.

　　 And Prince Alexei’s messenger sent a letter of persuasion from Tsar Mikhailovich Romanov. This letter of persuasion to surrender was written by the Tsar before the war, and it has only now been sent to Smolensk.

　　 In the letter, Tsar Mikhailovich asked Smolensk to surrender immediately. The letter read: "Grace of God, the tsars and dictators of Russia, Moscow, Kiev, Vladimir, and Novgorod; Kazan, Astrakhan, and Siberian tsars; Smolensk, Liang Monarchs of Zan, Rostov, Yaroslavl, Belozor, Udoriya, Obedoria, Kondia, Vitebsk, Mstislav and the whole northern region; Pskov, Lord Mikhailovich Romanov of Nizhny Novgorod declared: My soldiers and horses are like leaves in the forest and stars in the sky. When you look up at the sky, you can see countless stars. You should be shocked. Fear of the heart and creep on the ground—this is my might. But as the benevolent master of a country, I hate only those who are stubborn and go against the will of God. If you surrender the city, I will give the greatest kindness to You wait; if you still dare to violate my heavenly power, I will slaughter the famous city with fire and sword, and slay the classless."

　　 The content of this surrender letter quickly spread to all corners of Smolensk. Citizens from various neighborhoods sent representatives of citizens to petition Feodor, hoping that he could negotiate with Tsarist Russia to protect the people in the city.

　　 The Speaker of Szchenko sent someone out of the city to meet with Prince Alexei, and begged the Prince to give him a day of grace.

　　 At the strong request of everyone, the Lord Feodor called all members of the military council to discuss the surrender. But in the end, Feodor refused to attend the meeting.

Perhaps because he did not want to face the outcome of the meeting, he delegated the full powers of the meeting to Count Anzumov and Speaker Szchenko, and told them that no matter what decisions the meeting made, he, as the lord of the city, would sign on it. . And Count Anzumov and Speaker Szchenko did not know whether it was intentional or unintentional. They did not ask Franco to attend the meeting. As a result, the original military meeting became a noble meeting, and the venue was changed to the chamber of the parliament.

At the beginning of the meeting, the conditions for surrender were discussed. Among the nobles of the Smolensk region, the Ruthenian nobles only wanted to keep their land and privileges after the occupation of Smolensk by Tsarist Russia, while the Polish nobles He hopes to leave safely with his property and family after surrendering.

　　 For this, they are willing to give all the things in the city to the Russians, as long as it is not their own.

"Dear sirs, what is the point of our troubled Smolensk! Now we are sorrowing about the mountains in the sky, wanting to think about the unscrupulous way to serve the country. We have to succumb to the Almighty Tsar. But we don’t. There is no traitorous country, we are saving our country! Think about it, who is our greatest enemy? Those Zaporozhye Cossacks. Now the almighty czar is bewitched by the evil Zaporozhye, and the Republic Enemy. Our resistance angered the great Tsar and allowed the humble Zaporonian Cossack’s conspiracy to succeed. It’s not right to do this. It’s a pity that I just discovered it. It’s because I learned about Zapor. The conspiracy of the Roge people, so I ask my compatriots, we should abandon the struggle with Tsarist Russia, submit to the Almighty Tsar, and use our love to let His Majesty the Tsar understand who is the true friend. This is the best way to save the country. "Speaking of the traitor, Speaker Shichenko was so impassioned and well-founded that some people below even wiped out their tears of excitement.

　　 "This old immortal actually finished what I said." Count Anzumov watched Speaker Szchenko's performance in the audience, cursing in his heart.

　　 But immediately, the earl's mood improved again. Because of his foresight, he sent people to get some contact with Tsarist Russia as early as the beginning of the siege. Even the information sent by Doronin about spies pretending to be merchants was revealed to the Russian side of the Tsar. With such achievements, in the future, his status will be higher than this Shichenko.

　　 Count Anzumov was secretly smug, when the door of the parliament hall was kicked open.

　　 A man with an open chest walked into the conference hall with a bottle of wine, and there were a lot of figures behind him.

　　 "Oleg, why are you here? Get out! Get out with your people. Is this where you can come too?" Speaker Szchenko shouted angrily.

　　The visitor is Oleg, the current acting company captain of the Cossack Company. The original company captain's position was the old Tatarchuk captain, but on the day Doronin left the city, the old man suddenly suffered a stroke. And Oleg was elected by the Cossacks as the new company captain. In order to appease the restless Cossacks, Feodor had to ratify it.

　　 Without the suppression of the old leader Tatarchuk, Oleg became unscrupulous. He frequently sent people out of the city to contact the Cossacks and proposed to take over the occupation of Smolensk by the Zaporizhia Cossacks. Had it not been for a major change in the relationship between Tsarist Russia and the Zaporozhye Cossacks, I am afraid that Smolensk would have fallen yesterday.

　　 Such Oleg, Speaker Szchenko’s anger, of course, has no deterrent effect on him. After the demise of Doronin, Oleg's Cossack was already a truly decisive force in Smolensk. And Tatarchuk is critically ill, and no one can restrain him anymore.

　　 The acting company captain of the registered Cossack stumbled up to the old speaker while drinking.

　　 "How did I come? Of course I came here." Oleg said jokingly. Then, he poured the remaining half of the bottle of wine on the head of Speaker Shchenko.

　　 The wine ran down the head of Speaker Szchenko across his neck, and then dripped into the sleeves of his clothes and dripped to the ground.

　　 Such an unreasonable behavior made Szchenko mad. Where did the speaker of the Smolensk parliament suffer such insults, and he was treated by a Cossack. Szchenko raised his silver-inlaid cane and wanted to hit Oleg.

　　 Kashchenko's cane was held by Oleg's hand as soon as it was raised. Oleg grabbed a cane with his left hand and a fan with his right hand, and slapped Szchenko to the ground.

When 　　 fell to the ground, Szchenko's head hit the corner of the table, and blood flowed instantly.

　　 No one would have thought that a Cossack would break into the meeting, let alone that the Cossack who was called like a slave yesterday would dare to beat his master. So for a while, there was no sound in the conference hall except Speaker Shichenko's painful shouts.

　　 "You, you." Oleg held the empty bottle upside down and pointed at Anzumov and the others one by one.

　　 "You lofty noble lords who want to surrender have forgotten one thing."

　　 Everyone looked at each other, wondering what Oleg was referring to.

　　 "Your Excellency, company captain, I don't know what you are talking about." Count Anzumov asked cautiously. Even the title for Oleg was changed to honorific.

　　 "You old man pretending to be stupid." Oleg roared, "Money, of course it is money. Don't you want the Cossacks to give up resistance without paying you? Our registered Cossacks are very patriotic."

　　Since they are patriotic, if they are not patriotic, they must be given a favourable fee.

　　 turned out to be here to ask for money. After listening to Oleg's request, not only Anzumov, but the others also breathed a sigh of relief. For them, big nobles and big landlords, things that can be solved with money are not big things. And some savvy people immediately thought that if they could control such an armed force before offering the city, their status in front of the Russians would definitely be different from others in the future.

　　 Count Anzumov is undoubtedly such a smart man. He smiled and said to Oleg: "Your Excellency Captain, you and your Cossack brothers defended the city bravely. Of course, my family and I will not forget. Our Anzumov family is willing to give six thousand taylors to reward everyone. "

　　 "Six thousand Taylors?" Oleg smiled as if he had heard the funniest joke in the world.

　　 "Old guy, do you think that six thousand Taylors can buy us? Or I will pack all of you to Vasily, and see if he will offer a higher price."

　　 The Vasily spoken by Oleg is obviously Vasily Zolotarenko. Zaporozhye Cossack's supreme commander in Smolensk Province.

　　 The nobles were taken prisoner by the Cossacks, it was harder than death. Even if they were not tortured to death, they would be sold to the Tatars in Crimea. That would be a life of nine deaths.

　　 "You, you can't do this! We are under the protection of Tsarist Russia." Hearing that Oleg was going to kidnap himself, someone immediately introduced the Tsarist Russia in horror.

　　 "You are in Lao Tzu's hands now, no one can save you without giving money." Oleg roared.

　　 As if to increase the deterrence of his speech, the Cossacks that Oleg had brought with him flung bullets out of the gate indiscriminately. Obviously, Oleg came prepared.

　　The truth is often the most persuasive. Facing a group of unscrupulous Cossacks with guns, Count Anzumov succumbed first, and then the speaker also succumbed...everyone succumbed. They were forced to agree to a huge sum of 60,000 Taylor as severance pay for the registered Cossacks.

　　 "When the Almighty Tsar's army enters the city, let's see how we can clean you up."

　　 However, more than one person came up with this idea.

　　 The assembly hall was full of noise, and in the tower of the north gate, the mercenaries also had a small meeting. The atmosphere of the meeting was very dull. Participants were the original caravan companions who joined the Polish army with Piedro, Chechen and others. These people got together because of this fiasco.

　　 "I said to join the army of Tsarist Russia, so at least we will enter the city as a victor today." A mercenary said. He only dared to speak with his head down because he was afraid of Pedro. Did not dare to look at Pidro.

　　 But his words do represent the aspirations of some people. At the beginning, everyone chose to join the Polish army after listening to Pedro's "spoken words", but now Smolensk's surrender is imminent, and everyone is about to become prisoners.

　　 "Tsarist Russia is not a winner." Cheer Chen said in his heart. He didn't think Doronin and them were losers.

　　 The fighting scene of Duronin and others was brought back by some survivors. Although they were defeated, they would rather die than surrender. Chechen was deeply impressed.

　　 To this argument, Tetsuchen immediately wanted to stand up and refute. But Pidro was pulled by Pidro, who knew Cheerchen was impulsive when he was young, and was afraid that he would say something innocent again.

　　Pidro glanced at the people in the meeting, especially for a few seconds on the faces of those who showed approval. Those individuals looked down at Pidro.

　　 "Yes, if you join the army of Tsarist Russia, you should eat ice outside now." Piedro said.

Without waiting for the person to speak, Pidro continued: "Is it good to come to Smolensk? Just two or three months of salary plus rewards and corruption, everyone has a hundred taylors! You! Can you get this treatment outside?"

　　 The man stopped talking. The fact is indeed the case. Since the war, everyone has indeed made a lot of money.

　　 "But we lost after all." Another voice came from the corner.

What does it matter if 　　" is defeated? "Even though the man was hiding well, Pedro followed the voice and found him.

"When Lord Feodor surrendered, we followed him to surrender. This will not harm our reputation, because we are obeying orders. What's more, our performance is obvious to both sides. Maybe which lord on the Russian side of Tsarist Russia Fancy us, we will hire us as soon as we terminate the contract." Piedro said confidently.

　　 In the era, the mercenaries of the defeated side were required to sign an agreement to ensure that they would not accept employment from the other side of the war within a certain period of time (usually three to six months). As long as com signs the agreement, the mercenary will be released. And when one side is short of troops, he will even hire mercenaries from the defeated side to fight for himself on the spot.

　　Pidro said that surrender is not an unacceptable thing.

　　 "Uncle, what will happen to Smolensk after City Lord Feodor surrenders?" Suddenly Chechen asked.

　　 "Should it be no good?" Piedro said uncertainly, as if recalling some bad memories.

　　 "I hope that Prince Alexei is not as crazy as Earl Tilly." Ruth said.

　　 "Earl Tilly?" Cheerchen was a little confused. Obviously a youth of his age does not know such a distant history.

　　 So Ruth explained.

　　 On May 9, 1631, the army of Count Tilly of Austria captured Magdeburg. The earl, who had fought with Protestants in the Netherlands and other places, let all his mercenaries plunder for three days, and eventually more than 30,000 Magdeburg citizens were killed.

　　 This atrocities also made the German princes who had been vacillating to believe in Protestantism fall to the "Swedish Lion" King Gustav.

　　 "Ruth, don't scare the children." Pidro gave Ruth a stare.

"The city should be preserved, because the people of Tsarist Russia have to collect taxes to support themselves." Piedro speculated based on his experience as a mercenary in Germany: "But then the land of the nobles will be confiscated, and the Jewish merchants will also be confiscated. If property is confiscated, some people will be evicted. Probably that's it."

　　 "That's not the worst result yet." Hearing Pidro said that, Cheerchen let out a sigh of relief.

　　 "At least no more people will die." Cheerchen thought.

　　 Can things really look like Cheor Jin thought?