The Rise of the European Emperor

Chapter 346: Unfortunate England

When Marin hid in Rome to write his thesis, the northern part of England was a mess. According to Marin's suggestion, the Scottish army was divided into two parts and retreated north. But before retreating north, the Scottish army robbed all the grain 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 sufficient food, while the people of several northern counties in England were in bad luck. Their possessions and food were robbed by the Scottish army, their crops were destroyed, and even their animals were slaughtered.

It was fine when the Scottish army had just withdrawn. After all, everyone could still find grass roots, bark, dead leaves and other things to eat. In addition, the animal guts and hides left by the Scots when they killed their livestock can also be boiled and eaten.

However, after eating all these things, the local people felt that they were going to be finished...

So, taking advantage of the strength and experience, people with experience began to drag their families and families to the south to escape the famine, begging all the way, in order to find a way to survive.

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

Of course, this has a premise - that is, these farmers must be free people...

If they were serfs, they could not escape from the famine at will. Because, when they leave their homes, they must obtain the consent of the serf owners. But by the 15th century, serfdom in England and France had largely disintegrated, and most farmers had become homesteaders. At the same time, the German region still retained the serf system as a whole. It was not until the 19th century that Prussia began to reform the serf system.

Because they were homesteaders, the British peasants were free to flee. When the British team completed the sweep of the area controlled by Earl Edward in eastern Ireland and managed to land on the west coast of England, what they saw was the extremely depressed northern England counties.

Upon inquiring, the British commander Richard Pohl 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 against the northern counties of England. As a result, Richard Bohr's scalp went numb.

For they will pass through the famine-filled northern counties...

Sure enough, when marching along the way, in the middle of the night, local youths often risk their lives to steal food from the British army...

You know, it's military rations! Moreover, it is still the rations stacked in the barracks, not the rations transported on the way!

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

But what is this threat compared to the fear of starvation? Anyway, if there is no food, they will starve to death...

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

Many soldiers who were originally from the local area were immediately moved. In particular, some English longbowmen from the northern counties were completely stunned by this tragic situation. They began to trade the food they had saved for news. Mainly, to inquire about the news of their relatives.

Among the refugees outside the camp, many English longbowmen found some familiar faces. There were even a few longbowmen who met family members who were fleeing the famine.

Richard Pol originally intended to drive away these refugees,

However, it was strongly resisted by more than 800 longbowmen from the northern counties, which almost caused a mutiny. These soldiers and soldiers from several northern counties did not want to see their elders and villagers starve to death in front of them.

Soldiers from other areas, although they did not openly resist it, have sympathy and support for the help of the soldiers from the northern counties to the refugees.

In fact, there were more than eight hundred longbowmen from the northern counties, as well as dozens of knights. However, knights are nobles, and they are not the same as commoners. Therefore, the knights did not care too much about the fleeing people, they only cared about their families.

But the longbowmen are different. The longbowmen are a special class in England. They do not belong to the nobility, but because of their fighting power, the country has given them certain privileges, making them a class between the nobility and the commoners. But in the end, they are still from the commoner class. Therefore, they are still very concerned about their elders and villagers.

Longbowmen in other areas also supported relief for those refugees. After all, no one can guarantee that the elders in their hometown will never suffer disasters.

Under the pressure of the longbowmen class, Richard Pohl had to compromise. Anyway, in the area under the control of Earl Edward on the island of Ireland, they robbed all the food and killed all the livestock. Therefore, they have a lot of grain and jerky.

So, Richard Bohr took out some food and dried meat to help some refugees outside the camp...

However, unexpectedly, because of this move, the news began to spread among the refugees that "there is food in the military camp, and the officers are also willing to help the refugees".

Then, a scene that terrified Richard Boll appeared-in a few days, 50,000 to 60,000 refugees surrounded Richard Bohr's camp, making it completely impossible for the British army to go north to pursue the Scottish army.

And if they don't continue to help the refugees, it may cause the anger of those refugees, causing them to storm the barracks...

Thinking of such dire consequences, Richard Pohl began to regret the act of helping the refugees. However, now he is also riding a tiger. Moreover, he has no idea of ​​going north. Because, on the way north, he will meet more refugees...

In desperation, Richard Pohl had to let the soldiers quietly bring the rest of the food in the middle of the night, suddenly left the barracks, and hurriedly retreated south, planning to go to the area that was not destroyed by the Scottish army, so as to avoid the large army. surrounded by refugees.

When the refugees learned that the army had suddenly run away, they also ran south. In this way, a spectacle appeared in the north of England-Richard Pohl hurriedly fled south with the British army. However, not because of being chased by enemy troops, but because of being chased by tens of thousands of refugees...

When the news reached London, the government and the opposition were shocked. And Henry VII and his ministers also felt their scalps go numb to the 300,000 refugees in the northern counties, and they didn't know what to do.

For these 300,000 refugees, the English court was unable to provide relief. However, leaving it alone can also lead to major problems. Therefore, the English court was in a dilemma.

In fact, if there were only tens of thousands of refugees, the English court might have directly sent troops to arrest and suppress them. Even slaughtering is not impossible, as long as it is hidden. However, that is more than 300,000 people, more than one-tenth of the current total population of England. Therefore, violent means will not work. If they dare to suppress the massacre casually, it may cause dissatisfaction and even riots in the whole country.

Henry VII negotiated with the Manchu civil and military for several days, but failed to come up with a suitable solution. Kings and ministers, all day long frowning, do not know what to do... 8)

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