About three centuries ago, on the way to Saladin's march into Jerusalem, there was a castle guarded by the crusaders, a strong fortress that was small but extremely strong, with abundant food and inexhaustible water.

This small castle guards the important road to Jerusalem. When King Guy of Jerusalem was captured at the Battle of Harding, this castle, which was guarded by only a few hundred people, became an isolated island facing more than a dozen times the besieged army of pagans.

But unexpectedly, the fortress actually stood firm, and even after Jerusalem fell, it persisted for several months before finally having to surrender.

Similarly, there is a famous fortress called Mantua in the heart of Europe. After hundreds of years of construction by different masters in different eras, this huge fortress gradually won the title of an invincible castle.

But ironically, this building has been changing hands in the hands of one enemy and us for hundreds of years. Whenever someone captures and occupys this invincible fortress, he thinks he will be the last master of the castle, his new owner is actually already secretly peeking at this piece of fat meat.

There is no fortress in the world that cannot be broken, and the final result of any isolated defense is only fall. Alexander believes this sentence.

"Especially after the cannon."

The latter sentence is Gompatti's remarks.

Zagreb may be strong, but Alexander's advice to Herva was to not fight head-on with the Ottomans, and he also did not think Belgrade and Bucharest would be an exception.

In history, both cities have indeed withstood sieges from the Ottoman Empire without falling, but the actual situation is not just because of the indestructibleness of these two cities.

In 1462, Mohamed II came to Bucharest with the mighty troops of conquering Constantinople. At that time, the Ottoman Sultan was in awe of mighty spirits, but he was repeatedly frustrated in the face of this solid city. However, Mohamed II was not discouraged. While organizing a siege, he ordered the mobilization of the famous Urban cannon to help the war. The Bucharests who heard this news at that time were not only praying for God's salvation all day long, but also waiting for the arrival of those terrible weapons as if they were facing the end of the world, and then the city was destroyed and slaughtered.

It was not God who finally saved Bucharest but a group of Balkan farmers.

"If Earl Sand thought that the Ottoman army could be blocked by the high walls of Belgrade, he would be a fool," Alexander said to Gompatti, "so I asked Herva to write a letter to the Earl, suggesting that he get out of the city. Speaking of which, Earl Sand is better than Herva and the leader of the land to resist the Ottomans, but it all depends on whether the Earl is smart."

Before leaving Zagreb, Alexander had another secret talk with Herva.

Alexander could understand the concerns about Herva. More than half a century of fear has caused the shadow of the Ottomans to be indelible in the hearts of many people.

They did not believe that they could defeat the giant, even if their ancestors had done this, even if the world conquerors of Mohammed II almost broke into the Balkans, they would still be afraid as soon as they saw the crescent flag.

"Then don't face them directly," Alexander said to Herva at that time. "Give them the city, the countryside, and everything they want to occupy, but take away your food, gold and silver, take away even if they are not yet mature wheat, and leave them even if they are not yet useful. Without cities and mountains, without villages and forests, as long as you are the Duke of Zagreb, you have an irreplaceable influence, which is enough to make you one of the most terrible enemies of the Ottomans."

Alexander felt it was necessary to teach Herva the essence of the classic great guerrilla tactics, especially when he thought about it, the descendants of these Balkans who had defeated more powerful enemies on this peninsula centuries later, and Alexander felt that Herva had the potential to become the pioneer of professional guerrilla warfare.

The Ottomans were destined to become rulers of the Balkans, and this rule would last for nearly three centuries, but this does not mean that nothing could be changed.

The move by Bayesette II to march into Bucharest not only shocked the entire Balkans, but even the West was frightened.

No one knew that the Sultan was really just trying to suppress the Roman remnants gathered in Bucharest this time, and still wanted to take the opportunity to annex the Christ countries that were still unwilling to surrender to the Crescent Ban, especially the rather weird march route of the Ottoman army was really confusing.

The taming of the Bosnians surprised many people, which was even somewhat beyond the expectations of the Sultan himself. He originally thought that the fierce resistance he might encounter after crossing the Nausava River was gone. What awaited the Ottoman army was not a cruel battle, but a letter of surrender that asked for surrender.

This made Bayesette excited and a little regretful. Although he was different from his father, as a descendant of the Sultan family, he was more willing to see the feat of completely conquering every inch of land here in blood and fire.

However, Bayesette II was not a young and reckless man after all, especially in some respects, and was more rational and calm than his father. So Sultan was very happy to accept the surrender requests of the Northern Bosnian nobles, and at the same time he quickly made his requests to the Christian nobles.

The Sudan's army expanded rapidly. While the territory was not allowed to have more than the prescribed armed forces in accordance with the Sudan's orders, nobles, including the Principal of Kagnola, provided a total of less than 4,000 troops to the Sudan. Now the total number of the Sudan army is nearly 82,000!

Such an army marched between the mountains and ridges of the Balkans, and from a distance it looked like a big snake with no end to see its head and tail.

The snake's tail was still stammering on the banks of the Nauzava River, and its head had already appeared near the Red Fort in the Marquis of Royes.

No one had the courage to stand up to compete with such an army. The Ottoman vanguard turned around along the way and pointed directly at Bucharest after crossing the Nauzava River.

It was at this time that Alexander's army entered Transylvania.

The Muresh River is the largest river in Trasylvania. It converges with two other rivers upstream and downstream, forming a river surrounding the northeastern Delta of Transylvania, bringing abundant water to the mysterious land of Transylvania.

The terrifying castle, the ever-glossy weather and the mysterious noble and bloodthirsty and cruel vampire, this is everything Alexander remembers about Transylvania.

Although I knew that this was certainly not the case, when I entered this land, Alexander was still shocked by the fact that things were seen.

A piece of things on the roadside in the distance looked like several enlarged lollipops from a distance, but after getting closer, you will find that they were strings of heads poked on the sharpened wooden stakes.

The cut-off heads were directly inserted from the broken neck and followed the sharp wooden stake, and then penetrated the skull. The originally white and white tip of the wooden stake was covered with dirty black blood stains and various traces of unknown origin.

A group of crows stood on the heads and kept pecking at the things in the skull from the rift. Many people's heads had empty eyes. I don't know if their eyes had been dug out before or were eaten by wild beasts and birds.

To Alexander and his army, this horror situation is not seen in one place, but outside many villages.

Sometimes, people who are hanging can even be seen on the trees on the roadside outside some villages. When the wind blows, the stiff corpses will sway around, which makes Montina's army, who have seen many lives and deaths, feel creepy.

"This is simply a pagan paradise. Sir, are you sure that the duke here really believes in God?" Gompatti asked in surprise as he looked at the string of human heads that had just passed by.

"Tepes, the Duke of Wallachia, indeed, believes in God," Alexander nodded affirmatively. His appearance made people wonder if he was trying to convince himself. "That Duke is very famous, yes, quite famous."

Can it be without a name? The original form of a vampire.

Alexander cursed in his heart that whether it is official or unofficial history, the description of Grand Duke Valachia Cepace has never been positive, cruel, cold, greedy and capricious. Few people can be described by people with so many derogatory words, but these seem to be enough to describe them completely. In the end, among the various descriptions of rumors, Grand Duke Valachia became synonymous with vampires.

"It is said that Cepais is now in Bucharest," Alexander looked at the army moving along the gradually lowering terrain in the distance. From the rumors from some Bucharest, he received a rather surprising news. The Cepais from Wallachia seemed to be very enthusiastic about Sophia.

Does this mean that I have an extra rival in love, or a rival in love with a huge territory and armed force, who may gracefully stretch out his sharp teeth and bite someone else’s neck?

Grand Duke of Wallachia, this is indeed a very strong opponent.

Of course he wouldn't really think that Cepes was a vampire, but as the Grand Duke of Wallachia, Cepes of Transylvania is undoubtedly a strong competitor.

What Hungarian King Ladislas II thought about Sophia was something Alexander had been worried about.

Whether it is a Greek princess or a Greek Joan of Arc, these titles cannot be used as amulets for Sophia, especially the latter is not a good description.

After being exploited for the final use, Joan of Arc was ruthlessly betrayed. Even the French themselves could only face it with silence and avoidance when it came to the matter of Jeon of Arc being betrayed by the great nobles, rather than just refuting.

Will Sophia become the next Joan of Arc?

Alexander told himself that he would never allow such a thing to happen.

The River Band Fort is a small place, it is a town in the bay on the east bank of the Muresh River.

In the early years, because it was the place where Vlad, the Grand Duke of Wallachia, was trained, a small fortress was built in this village.

But later Vlad was killed in a battle with the Ottomans, and the place was abandoned.

Alexander didn't know whether Vlad of Wallachia was the founder of vampires, but he had seen his habit of cutting off human heads as candied haws.

Thinking of the man with the title of piercing, Alexander had no good feelings for his son.

The locals obviously had the Balkan habit of xenophobia. Looking at the cold eyes on the streets, Alexander ordered his men to be more careful.

"If they dare to do something, I don't mind teaching them how to treat guests with muskets." Gompatti looked at the villagers on the roadside. "But sir, what do you think those nobles will treat us?"

"Are those people in Bucharest?" Alexander laughed. "They would think we were reinforcements from Rome, and of course they might think we were here to cause trouble for them."

Alexander said as he glanced at Gompatti, who looked puzzled, and smiled slightly.

Ladislas II must have heard of him, but I think the king must be in a complicated mood about his arrival.

Regarding the activities between Maximian and the Fuger family, Alexander believed that Ladislas II could not have heard of it. The large copper mine in Hungary was too important. It would be too strange if the Hungarian king had no idea about it.

So should I make an idea on it? Alexander rode his horse and touched his chin and fell into deep thought.

The barracks of the River Fort are located on a hillside outside the town, from which you can overlook the entire town and the Muresh Valley.

The fields of lilacs spread on the hillside make the valley look vibrant, but perhaps because the impressive "landscape" of this place is really unique, even the hillside covered with lilacs looks somewhat strange.

The houses in the barracks were covered with winds due to disrepair. At night, the wind seemed even faster and more fierce. Alexander stood in front of an empty broken wall and looked at the town vaguely visible in the dark valley below.

Bucharest should have known about his arrival at this time, and as for what happened in Zagreb, he should have heard of the news.

So what will Ladislas II and the nobles do next?

Alexander thought to himself that he did not mind fighting with the Hungarian king and the old and old people of Rome, but his purpose from afar was not to get entangled with these people.

He had to take Sophia away from this Balkan land of right and wrong. As long as he thought about Bayesette II and his nearly invincible army, Alexander felt that the best choice at this time was to find Sophia and escape immediately.

A faint sound of horse hooves came with the wind. Alexander leaned slightly towards the path on the hillside outside the wall. Under the reflection of the waves on the river in the distance, he saw that someone seemed to be riding a horse and running towards the mountain.

The man had obviously alarmed the post outside the camp, and it didn't take long for Busako to come with a soldier.

"Sir, our sentinel has caught the individual." Busako whispered to Alexander.

"Who is it?"

"Sir, the man said he was from Red Fort and was going to Bucharest." The soldier handed Alexander a wrinkled letter. "This was found from him."

"Red Fort?" Alexander thought about it for a moment and remembered the place "Roy? Marquis's Red Fort?"

Alexander opened the letter while asking, and then he was stunned.

"What happened?" Busako asked carefully.
Chapter completed!