Chapter 346： Unlucky England

When Marin was hiding in Rome and writing his thesis, the northern part of England had become a mess. Following the method suggested by Marin, the Scottish army withdrew north in two parts. But before the North withdrawal, the Scottish army robbed all the food along the way, destroyed all the crops, and killed all the livestock, even the guard dogs, and made jerky.

In this way, the Scottish army went north with enough food, and the people in several counties in northern England fell into bad luck. Their belongings and food were robbed by the Scottish army, all the crops were destroyed, and even the animals were killed.

When the Scottish army first withdrew, it was okay. After all, you can still find grass root bark, dead leaves and other things to eat. In addition, the internal organs and leather left by the Scots when they killed the animals can also be cooked and eaten.

However, after these things were eaten up, the local people felt that they were going to die ...

So, while still having strength and experience, people began to drag their homes and flee, heading south to flee the wilderness, begging all the way to find a way out.

In ancient times, due to low food production, once a natural disaster occurred in a certain year, some poor farmers would have to flee the famine and go to those areas where there was no famine to beg to survive the disaster year. Whether it is China or Europe, it is a normal phenomenon.

Of course, there is a premise-that is, these farmers must be freemen ...

If it is a serf, it is impossible to flee wildly. Because, when they leave their homes, they must obtain the consent of the serf owners. But in the 15th century, the serfdom of Britain and France had basically collapsed, and most farmers became self-cultivating farmers. At the same time, the German region still retained the serfdom system. It was not until the 19th century that Prussia began the reform of the serfdom.

Because they are self-cultivating farmers, the escape of British farmers is free. When the British team completed the sweep of the area controlled by Earl Edward in the east of Ireland and managed to land on the west coast of England, they saw the extremely depressed counties of northern England.

Upon inquiry, British commander Richard Ball was taken aback. It turned out that the Scottish army had adopted a strategy similar to that of the British army against parts of eastern Ireland in the counties of northern England. As a result, Richard Ball numb directly.

Because they will pass through the famined northern counties ...

Sure enough, while marching along the way, in the middle of the night, local youths often risked their lives and came to steal food from the British army ...

You know, it's military food! Moreover, the military food piled up in the barracks, not the military food transported halfway!

Therefore, those hungry young people are basically gambling with their lives to steal food. Richard Ball was very angry at the beginning and executed some local youths who came to steal military food and hanged their bodies outside the barracks.

But what is this threat compared to the fear of starvation? Anyway, without food, they would starve to death ...

In addition, there are a lot of old and weak, surrounded by the barracks, begging the British soldiers to give them some food ...

Many of the soldiers who were originally from the local area immediately moved. Especially, some of the English Longbowmen who were born in the northern counties were completely stunned by this tragedy. They began to use the food they saved in exchange for news. Mainly, to inquire about the news of his family.

In the refugee group outside the camp, many English Longbowmen found some familiar faces. Even a few longbowmen met their families in the desert.

Richard Ball originally intended to drive away these refugees, but was strongly resisted by more than 800 long archers in the northern counties, which almost caused a mutiny. These soldiers from several northern counties were reluctant to see their fathers and villagers starving to death.

The soldiers in other areas, although they did not boycott it openly, but they are very supportive and support the help of the soldiers from the northern counties to the refugees.

In fact, there are not only more than 800 long archers from the northern counties, but dozens of knights. However, the knights are nobles and are not the same as the civilians. Therefore, for those people who flee, the knights do not care much, they only care about their families.

But those longbowmen are different. Longbowmen are a special class in England. They are not aristocrats, but because of their combat effectiveness, the state has granted certain privileges to make it a class between nobles and civilians. But after all, they still came from the civilian class. Therefore, they are still very concerned about their fellow villagers.

The Longbowmen in other regions also supported relief for those refugees. After all, no one can guarantee that the fathers and fathers of their hometown will never be affected.

Under pressure from the longbowmen, Richard Ball had to compromise. Anyway, in the area controlled by Count Edward on the Irish island, they robbed all the food and killed all the livestock. Therefore, they have a lot of food and dried meat.

So, Richard Ball took part of the food and dried meat, and rescued some refugees outside the camp ...

However, unexpectedly, because of this move, the refugees began to spread the news that "there is food in the barracks, and the officers are also happy to rescue the refugees."

Then, a scene that made Richard Ball fear—a few days, around 50,000 or 60,000 refugees surrounded Richard Ball ’s camp, making it impossible for the British army to go north to pursue the Scottish army.

If they do not continue to rescue the refugees, they may cause the anger of those refugees and cause them to attack the barracks ...

Thinking of such terrible consequences, Richard Ball began to regret the act of relief to the refugees ~ www.novelhall.com ~ But now he is also in trouble. Moreover, he had no idea of ​​going north. Because, on the way north, he will meet more refugees ...

In desperation, Richard Ball had to leave the soldiers quietly with the remaining food in the middle of the day, suddenly left the barracks, and hurriedly withdrew south, intending to go to the area that was not destroyed by the Scottish army and avoid the army Surrounded by refugees.

The refugees learned that the army had suddenly ran and ran south. In this way, a spectacle appeared in the north of England-Richard Ball with the 1.8 play British army hurriedly fled south. However, not because of being chased by the enemy, but by tens of thousands of refugees ...

The news spread to London and was immediately shocked. Henry VII and his ministers also felt scalp numbness for the more than 300,000 refugees in the northern counties.

For these 300,000 refugees, the English court was unable to provide relief. However, leaving it alone is also prone to major problems. Therefore, the court in England went up and down, and it was a dilemma.

In fact, if there are only tens of thousands of refugees, the English court may directly send troops to arrest and suppress it. Even slaughtering is not impossible, as long as it is a hidden point. However, that is more than 300,000 people, more than one-tenth of the total population of England. Therefore, violent means will not work. If you dare to suppress the massacre casually, it may cause dissatisfaction and even riots throughout the country.

Henry VII negotiated with Manchu Dynasty for a few days, but failed to come up with a suitable solution. The kings and ministers are all frowning all day long, I do n’t know what to do ... 8)