The monarchs of Saxony and Brandenburg are generally not called grand dukes, but "electors", that is, princes who have the qualifications to elect the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.
The two countries just finished fighting Spain and lost miserably.
In order to resist the Spanish Habsburg expansion, European countries formed the Schmalkaldic League, initially including France as a member of this alliance.
However, due to religious conflicts, France and other Catholic forces chose to withdraw one after another, and the Schmalkaldic Alliance essentially became a Protestant alliance.
Just last year, war broke out between the Alliance and Spain, and the leader of the alliance was the Principality of Saxony.
At that time, the Grand Duke of Saxony, Friedrich I, was originally hesitant and afraid of war with Spain. However, his support for the Protestant religion was too active. The Spanish King Charles V decided to strike first, and the Grand Duke of Saxony had no choice but to accept the fight.
Unexpectedly, Moritz, the cousin of the Grand Duke of Saxony, intended to seize the position of Elector, and actually colluded with Spain to stab him in the back. After the Grand Duke of Saxony was defeated, he was placed under house arrest.
Now that Moritz has become the Grand Duke and Elector of Saxony, he is facing financial difficulties and insufficient troops.
Why did he dare to jump out and declare war on Wang Ji?
There are only three reasons.
First, Saxony was very dependent on Nordic trade, and Wang Ji wanted to cancel the privileges of German merchants;
Secondly, this guy underestimated Wang Ji's strength. When he saw the Jutland nobles revolting and becoming independent, and when he saw the Hanseatic League united with the Teutonic Knights to send troops, he thought Wang Ji would definitely fail.
Thirdly, Moritz had just taken control of the Principality of Saxony and was in an unfair position. He betrayed his superiors through conspiracy and became a lackey of Spain. He had to rely on war to establish authority and fight against Wang Ji to please the German Protestant princes.
Moritz went on this expedition with only 120 knights and twice as many retinues. In addition, there were 2,000 infantrymen, and the rest were all civilians transporting baggage.
Saxony had just finished fighting Spain, and with the loss of troops and generals, Moritz almost left the army.
As for Brandenburg's military strength, it was inferior to that of Saxony. If the civilian laborers who transported food were not included, the combined armies of the two countries were less than 5,000.
They brought such a small number of people over and had no intention of challenging Wang Ji alone. Instead, they wanted to join forces with their allies first.
When he found out that the city of Lübeck had been captured, he just slapped him and turned around and left.
Wang Ji refused to let them leave!
Although the shooting skills of the more than 300 cavalrymen equipped with flintlock rifles were poor enough and they had not learned to load ammunition on horseback, it was still very easy to prevent the enemy from retreating smoothly.
They took the lead in running out of the north gate and quickly pursued the enemy. Wang Ji led the infantry at a gallop.
When the two Grand Dukes discovered the situation, they immediately ordered the entire army to stop, and more than 200 knights formed a formation to meet the enemy. Until now, the two Grand Dukes have not figured out the situation. They don't know how many troops Wang Ji has. It is true that the city of Lübeck has been conquered too much.
Bizarrely, they wanted to evacuate to a safe location before making plans.
The more than 200 knights in the coalition army are all heavy cavalry. When a knight fights, he needs two retinues to help him transport equipment, put on armor, and help him mount his horse.
On Wang Ji's side, they were all light cavalry.
After the servants neatly put on armor for the knights and helped the knights mount their horses, the more than 200 heavy cavalry slowly accelerated and faced Wang Ji's more than 300 light cavalry with lances in hand.
The distance between the two sides is getting closer and closer.
The light cavalry suddenly slowed down, finally stopped, and then raised its flintlock musket.
The heavy cavalry was gradually accelerating, rushing faster and faster.
For these newly transferred musketeers, even if they were stationary and shooting from horseback, their accuracy would be poor because the horses' hooves would move around. If they were facing infantry, they would definitely dismount and shoot, but they would not dare to dismount when faced with a cavalry charge.
"Bang bang bang!"
Four of the more than 200 cavalrymen who were charging suddenly fell. The light cavalry ran away after firing a shot and turned collectively to the right, as if they wanted to harass the enemy's infantry.
The heavy cavalry could only slow down and turn, and then charge towards the light cavalry after re-arranging.
After more than 300 light cavalry distanced themselves, they dismounted and reloaded their ammunition. They were unskilled and could not change bullets while riding on their horses. After loading their ammunition, they stood still and fired at the charging heavy cavalry.
After firing the gun, he immediately mounted his horse and ran away.
"Bang bang bang!"
Seven more heavy cavalry fell.
Finally, the heavily armored knights did not dare to pursue them and all returned to their infantry formations.
However, the light cavalry refused to give up. They dismounted again to reload their ammunition, and then chased the heavy cavalry.
These two principalities were unable to recruit German mercenaries, because German mercenaries were subordinate to the King of Spain, while Saxony and Brandenburg were enemies of Spain.
In fact, they don't even have matchlocks, and all their long-range troops are crossbowmen.
More than 300 light cavalry rushed through, and more than 200 cavalry had returned to the team, protected by their infantry formation.
The light cavalry dismounted again and shot at the melee infantry outside the range of the enemy crossbowmen.
After killing more than a dozen close combat infantry, the light cavalry reloaded their ammunition on the spot and prepared for the second round of salvo fire.
"We cannot continue fighting like this!" Brandenburg's Grand Prince Joachim II said.
Moritz, the Archduke of Saxony, was surprised: "Why can their muskets shoot so far? And they reload so fast!"
Joachim II said: "Don't worry about so much, first think about how to deal with the enemy."
Moritz said: "It's impossible to deal with it. Their range is too far."
Joachim II thought for a while and said: "Let all the knights take off their heavy armor, spread out and charge. The purpose is not to kill these cavalry, but to cover the retreat of our infantry."
"Okay." Moritz nodded, and that was all he could do.
However, the knights refused.
The heavily armored knights are all nobles, so why risk their lives to cover the retreat of those mud-legged infantry?
The two archdukes were helpless and tried to organize an attack. They arranged the infantry to advance in a slightly dispersed formation, and asked the knights to take off their armor and go around the flanks to wait for an opportunity to charge.
When the infantry advanced, the light cavalry had already fired the second round of volley. They were not in a hurry. After loading their ammunition, they slowly mounted their horses and opened the distance. Moreover, they circled to the other side where there was no enemy cavalry, leaving no room for the enemy at all.
Opportunities for square cavalry to get close.
At this time, Wang Ji also arrived with his infantry, and the main forces of both sides were one kilometer away.
As the leader of the King's Guards Cavalry, Christian once fought with Wang Ji in India and had long seen the tactics of the musketeers. At this time, he was commanding the cavalry troops and imitated them, making thousands of enemy troops look like they were fighting.
Idiot. After more than 300 light cavalry circled the flanks, they fired another salvo without waiting for the enemy to change their formation, and then happily reloaded their ammunition.
The shooting skills of these young brothers are so bad. After firing more than 300 bullets, the number of enemies killed each time ranges from a few to a dozen, and will never exceed 20. Such a good rifled musket is in vain!
Even so, the two coalition forces were about to suffer a psychological breakdown.
Although the casualties were not large, the pressure caused was extremely strong. They could not even find any countermeasures, not to mention that Wang Ji's main force had already arrived on the battlefield.
But they saw that Wang Ji's main force was getting closer and closer, and there were thousands of them, all equipped with muskets with ultra-long range.
The two grand dukes were so frightened that they were thinking about how to evacuate safely. More than 200 knights who had taken off their heavy armor had already retreated automatically. When Christine led the musketeers around, the noble knights immediately rode on their horses without saying a word.
Fleeing from the battlefield, leaving behind the two grand dukes, the retinue, the infantry, civilian husbands, and baggage, they even left behind their ancestral heavy armor!
If the Grand Duke dies, you can replace it, if your armor is gone, you can rebuild it, if you lose your subordinates, you can recruit them again. The premise of everything is to save your own life.
The two princes were so angry that they looked at each other and ran away with the noble knights.
The infantry, retinues and civilians totaling tens of thousands of people were thrown on the battlefield and collapsed in an instant and fled in all directions.
Wang Ji led the infantry to capture prisoners and seized supplies everywhere.
Christian led more than 300 musketeers and chased more than 200 knights who had taken off their heavy armor. However, those knights ran too fast and could only turn around to stop the two archdukes. They didn't bother to stop them and just raised their guns to fight them.
More than 300 bullets were fired at the two Grand Dukes.
Moritz, the Archduke of Saxony, was killed with both men and horses.
When Brandenburg met with Achim II, his horse was knocked down, and he miraculously missed his shot. He fell to the ground and was too frightened to move.
It was so scary. More than 300 rounds of bullets were fired, making everyone break out in cold sweat.
Calabash baby saves grandpa and secures the second wave of enemy reinforcements.