The Rise of the European Emperor

1,500 mixed cavalry were quickly dispatched and headed for the vicinity of Oldenburg. Subsequently, nearly 3,000 light cavalrymen were also released to inform the various estates of Oldenburg Province to set fire to the fields.

The nearly 3,000 light cavalry were not regular cavalry, but consisted of spies, mounted police and even postmen from the East Frisian region. But in order to carry out the arson mission, Marin temporarily organized them all to carry out the mission.

Moreover, before leaving, Marin gave each of them a large skin bag, and the skin bag was filled with black liquid...

What are these black liquids? It's the residue of crude oil left over from Marin's refining of gasoline. Marin refines gasoline, mainly gasoline components and some kerosene components. As for the components such as diesel oil, heavy oil and asphalt with higher boiling points, the separation is not good.

Originally, Marin intended to further refine diesel and lubricants. Especially the mineral lubricating oil has a great effect on the steam engine. In this way, Marin does not have to import castor oil from Egypt as a steam engine lubricating oil.

However, with so much going on during this time, Marin didn't have time to further fractionate the processed crude. It just so happened that these light cavalrymen were going to carry out the arson mission. Marin simply took out the hundreds of barrels of residual crude oil, put them in the skins, and took them away for the light cavalry as fuel. Although there is no gasoline component that burns the most violently, oil is oil, and it is as prosperous as it is when it is ignited.

...

On the Oldenburg side, it happened to be busy accepting the private army of the rebellious old nobles in Bremen Province. The princes of the Eight Kingdoms are obviously very optimistic about the private armies of the nobles. After all, there are hundreds of knights who can mount and fight. With more than 2,000 servants capable of fighting, it is definitely a decent armed force. At least, it is much stronger than the levies of the princes of the Eight Kingdoms.

Therefore, these days, the princes of the Eight Kingdoms were busy negotiating with the representatives of the rebel nobles in Bremen, and did not pay attention to sending people to the countryside to grab food.

Of course, the Allied Forces of the Eight Kingdoms and Princes are not short of food at all, and naturally they have no motivation to go to the countryside to collect food. Because the granaries of Oldenburg were so full of grain that tens of thousands of people couldn't finish them.

Besides, Zhang Zai's grain in the field can't fly anymore, so he's not in a hurry to harvest it. Also, according to the knowledge of these princes, the autumn harvest usually starts in October. In addition, he was busy taking in the private armies of nobles, so he did not send anyone to the countryside to supervise the harvest of grain.

In this way, when the light cavalrymen sent by Marin arrived at the manors in the Oldenburg area at night, the Allied Forces of the Eight Kingdoms did not send troops to the countryside to urge food at all, but it also facilitated their actions.

...

"What? Set fire to the fields? Messenger, did I hear it wrong?" Some manor stewards looked at the light cavalry who came to inform them in astonishment.

"You heard that right, it was an order from Mr. Marin himself!"

"Lord Marin? Didn't your lord die?" In rural areas, the information was blocked, and the news was naturally a little delayed.

"What nonsense? You were killed! Lord Marin is blessed by God and has returned safely. I saw it with my own eyes. He didn't want these enemies to cheapen food, so he ordered the fields to be set on fire!" The light cavalry who sent the order said angrily.

"But this order is too...too abnormal..." As the manor manager, he was obviously unwilling to burn the crops that were about to be harvested in the fields.

The light cavalry sneered and said:

"Mr. Charlie, I'm not here to ask for your opinion, I'm here to convey an order. I almost forgot, the last sentence of this order is - whoever disobeys the order will be executed immediately!"

The steward named Charlie was shocked, his eyes full of incredible:

"This... If the crops are burned, what will we eat? Is the Grand Duke giving up on us farmers?"

The light cavalry waved impatiently:

"Don't tell me you didn't dig a secret room to hide food..."

"I hid it a bit, but I can't hold on to the autumn harvest next year!" Butler Charlie said with a gloomy face.

"It's alright, just follow the orders. Once the war is over, the Grand Duke will mobilize food from the grain depot and won't starve you to death. What you have to do now,

Just setting fire to the fields. Also, if the enemy came to ask questions, they said that the grain yield per acre was about 1,200 pounds. If you tell the truth, you will be executed afterwards, understand? "

"Okay, I'm fine." Butler Charlie said frustratedly. He himself is one of the informants of Kohler's intelligence organization, belonging to the outer members, the most obedient to orders. Moreover, as a person in an intelligence organization, they are most aware of the consequences of disobedience. So, he still executed the order.

...

However, his willingness to execute orders does not mean that farmers are also willing. When Charlie and the hussar messengers arranged to burn the fields, a farmer came out to stop...

"Fall back, or you will die!" The light cavalry messenger drew out his waist knife.

"You can't burn it! After burning the grain, what do we eat?" An old farmer knelt down and obstructed.

"There will be no shortage of food for you. The Grand Duke's granary is full of grain. I don't have time to explain to you, either get out of the way or die!"

The old peasant still refused to let go, and the light cavalry messenger had already raised his sword:

"I count three, one...two...three..."

After counting, the head of the old farmer flew up...

"Dare to kill my father, I will fight with you!" The old peasant's son was angry. However, he rushed up and was stabbed in the back. Looking back, I found that it was Manager Charlie who shot the knife...

Butler Charlie had a gloomy face and said angrily:

"If your family wants to die, don't pull me! You don't lack food, why are you courting death?"

In this way, this manor no longer has any opposition. Then, the light cavalry messenger took out the leather bag, stood on the upper wind, and poured the black oil in the leather bag on the yellow rye straw in the upper wind...

"ignition!"

Soon, the fire started. With the wind, it burned more and more fiercely. In addition, the straw in the field is yellow and withered in the mature state, and it is easy to catch fire. For a while, the field was full of fire, and thick smoke filled the air...

...

Of course, not all estates strictly follow orders. Some manors directly resisted the order, and even a few light cavalry messengers were killed by angry farmers.

However, Marin had already anticipated and prepared for this...

"What? Jess Manor killed the messenger for disobedience? Did the manor steward participate?" the light cavalry centurion asked angrily.

"Participated, it was the manor's steward who took the lead in attacking the messenger!" The light cavalry messenger who reported it said earnestly.

"Very well, the people from Jess Manor can't stay! Brothers, send the signal, call up the people, and let's go to the Jess Manor!"

"Sir, they are the common people!" Some of the men discouraged.

"No, from the moment they disobeyed and killed the officials, they were already rebels!" the centurion said seriously.

Then, more than 200 people from this manor named Jace were slaughtered. Then, the rye fields of Jess Manor also ignited a raging fire...

...

This mission was not easy. Of the thousands of manors in Oldenburg, dozens of manors actually disobeyed. Fortunately, Marin was ready. After killing more than 40 manor managers and slaughtering 8 collectively disobedient manors, the rye fields of thousands of manors in Oldenburg were set on fire in two nights...

...

"What's the situation? Why is the air full of smoke?" In Oldenburg City, the tears of several princes were smoked out by the thick smoke of burning ryegrass.

The manor near Oldenburg City did not start to burn until the next day, so it was not until the morning of the third day that the princes, who were smoky in tears after going out, realized that something was wrong.

"Go out of the city to find out the situation!" Charles, Earl of Geldon felt wrong and immediately sent someone out of the city.

In fact, the allied army of the princes of the Eight Kingdoms sent cavalry out of the city yesterday. However, it was seduced by 1000 Lancers and 500 Musket Scouts. After going out, half of the 2,000 cavalry of the coalition chasing the opponent were killed. Then, he fled back in despair. After that, the allied forces of the eight kingdoms and princes did not send troops out of the city for fear of traps. Exactly, it gave Marin's men a chance to send someone to set fire to it.

"Report! The wheat field outside the city was set on fire, and now the fire is soaring into the sky, and it can no longer be extinguished!"

"What? Someone burns wheat fields? Crazy?" said Henry, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, in surprise.

Charles, Earl of Geldon frowned and thought:

"Marin is really a lunatic. In order not to make the food cheaper for us, he actually set fire to the farmland!"

'"crazy!"

"It's crazy!"

Several princes gave similar evaluations...