78 Bittersweet

I fell to the ground, I felt blood running down my face ... when I was trying to get up, I felt a kick in the stomach, and then another one ... moments later the number of strikes increased but their strength weakened. I turned on my back with difficulty, I looked up and I started laughing immediately... When you lie on the ground and you are beaten by one or two attackers, you are fucked, but when you are beaten by six, they are disturbing each other.

My laugh must have provoked them, one of the attackers took out a pistol and pointed it at my head, I was less than 20 centimeters from death ... if he missed from such a distance, he would be the laughingstock of the entire army. I could see his face grow stricter, muscles tighter, but there was fear in his eyes ... maybe he never killed anyone, but just killing a person is easy, looking a dying person in the eye ... that's something else.

I grabbed his hand, felt his wrist crack, expression of pain appears on his face ... then a shot is fired. I managed to move the gun a few centimeters away, the bullet missed me, I felt the pain and the smell of burning hair and meat. I pushed the man away, rose quickly to my feet, adrenaline filled my body. I didn't think what I was doing, grabbed what I had at hand and started hitting blindly... and the last thing I remembered were the sounds of horses approaching.

"Lord !!! Lord !!!" (Saddat)

"What?" (MC)

"Lord, you have been sitting here for several hours, we must take care of your wounds." (Saddat)

"I was thinking about the battle. We won?" (MC)

"Don't you remember, Lord? Maybe you have a fever?" (Saddat)

Saddat really looked concerned, but I was too tired and sore and irritable. I didn't need a nanny.

"I am not asking you about my health, and I am not looking for health advice, I am asking if we won?" (MC)

"Yes, but we have many losses. If Ivan had not captured the King, battle might have ended in our defeat." (Saddat)

"How big the losses?" (MC)

"Almost 1,100 people. There are still many injured, not all of them will survive." (Saddat)

To be expected, you can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs and these were losses that I could accept, it was not my private army, but only a temporary reinforcement... the number of potential rebels cossacks also decreased, though not by much... There were more than 80,000 of them scattered around various provinces.

"Give me bread, cobwebs, and a bowl of cold water." (MC)

Several minutes later, Saddat brought everything. I tore off a piece of bread and began to chew it. In the meantime, I washed my face of blood ... when the bread looked like a sticky paste, I took it out of my mouth and started kneading it with cobwebs. Then I applied the prepared paste on my wounds, on the head and shoulder. It was one of the first forms of penicillin, mycelium was found on cobwebs, and bread served as an excellent breeding ground for mold growth... According to Weles promises, I should be immune to diseases ... but the use of folk medicine is only a small safeguard.

I looked at my reflection in the water, the left side of my head had many burn marks, most was fine, but a few scars will remain. I soaked a piece of rag in water and wrapped it around my head... It wasn't that bad, maybe I gained a few scars, but it could be much worse ... I could have been born a ginger.

"The king is alive?" (MC)

"Yes, we also captured another officer, he claims to be a mercenary commander." (Saddat)

The mercenary commander in the service of Christian IV, it could only be the famous Heinrich Holk. I wonder if the situation repeats itself. In history, when the Danes lost to the Empire, Holk joined the Emperor and abandoned his old employer. His name was also very famous, he went down in history as an extremely cruel commander. He spared no one, not even the children.

"And the rest of the commanders?" (MC)

"They fought to the end and we didn't try to take them alive, winning was more important." (Saddat)

It's a pity, I was hoping that I would be able to earn some money on it, It's a pity, take a ransom for officers or nobles or something similar... I did not lose money in this war, what we robbed in Brandenburg, Mecklenburg and Denmark was worth at least 200,000 ducats, but a few thousand more would not hurt either.

According to the agreement I had made with the Emperor, I could not negotiate peace or capitulation. A living and healthy Christian IV, I could only deliver to Vienna or hand over to Wallenstein... and the latter option was the most favorable for me. The road to Vienna is long and it can be dangerous, in the event of an attack my army may not be able to cope with the enemy.

I had one of the captured soldiers brought to me, then I sent him to Copenhagen with the news that their King had been captured and I demanded a ship to transport us to Jutland.

Now I had time to think about my actions in the Kingdom of Denmark ... although the battle was won by a miracle, I had no other choice. Each attack on villages, settlements or towns brought me more or less losses, I had no opportunity to recruit new soldiers, the gunpowder supplies would end sooner or later, and the cavalry would not conquer the walls of such city like Copenhagen ... the battle was the only, though risky, solution... And the fact that I could have died ... people died in accidents, wars or disease every day and in every century, I could just as well fall off my horse and break my neck.