So eventually they went, leaving in the mid-morning. They traveled north from Pest, hitting the mountains in Nitra very quickly. Here, they slowed down due to the horses and supply vehicles. But they were still on friendly ground so the troops were relaxed. Then they passed the border region known as Nowy Sacz and it was a steep downhill. Already, the temperature dropped as snow still covered the ground. The sky was less shiny and swirls of snow danced across the flatter landscape. Camping here for the night, they latter left for Krakow at the crack of dawn.
They had stayed to possibly lure Siemowit himself to Krakow as they weren’t secretive about the invasion at all. But Krakow is a bustling trade city between Saxons, Poles, Jews (albeit stuck to their ghetto), and many more across East Europe. So instead of bothering the whole city, they rode the Vistula River directly to Wawel Castle, which is in the middle of the city. The Anjou army stayed on the outskirts of the city, preparing to encircle it. The Luxembourgs quickly made boats and rowed down the river. They waved Hungarian and Anjou flags to not excite the civilians that immediately spotted them as they passed the first neighborhood. The Mazovian troops came to sight this entrance in shock but they did not immediately attack. They followed them up the river coalescing the whole time. Then the boys disembarked at the foot of the castle while allowing their boats to continue floating down the river.
The Wawel Castle was not a major imposing figure but a neat feature on the river. A wall surrounded the egg shaped campus which held a few different buildings. Closest to the river was a long residential building. Then on the northwest side was a snaky building used for Sejm buildings and other administrative needs. This was connected to the Cathedral in the north which had many different chapels. The main gates opened between the Cathedral and the rest of the city. East of the Cathedral was the main castle which rose high in the air. It had a tall tower on the south of it. In the middle of the castle was a small courtyard while in between the castle and the residence was a larger courtyard with grass and trees. The building was made of stone bricks and the roof was red shingles. It looked so casual one would forget the nation that surrounds it sometimes goes to war.
But as they left their boats, Sigismund gave the command to attack and so they did. A few hundred of the Mazovians met them on the incline toward the castle. They clashed their pikes together lacking any formation on either side. Archers moved in between Luxem troops to shoot whoever the infantry came against. The core team stayed in the back row watching. As more troops left the boat and other Mazovians came in, the fighting would extend to wrap around the entire south side of Wawel. Then the Luxem calvary came in from the south, as they simply walked alongside the river, and crashed heavily with their opponents causing a domino impact down the Mazovian line. Ironically, the Mazovian calvary attacked the same on the north side of the Luxem line. After a couple more minutes of fighting, Sigismund jumped to the top of the wall and used his wand to command everyone to “stop fighting!” They did stop and looked over at him. Troops on the wall held their weapons against him.
“Why is he going ahead like that?” Szecsi asked.
“He might cook,” Prokop suggested.
“That was a little silly of me, you guys don’t know we outnumber you. But I don’t want to necessarily obliterate you, I’m just here to completely defeat Duke Siemowit.”
A troop behind him said, “well we don’t want that!”
“Yeah but kind of just bring him over here and you won’t have to lose your lives. Do you at least know where he is?”
“No and we won’t tell you!”
“Does this man speak for the lot of you?”
Another said, “we don’t want you for king, Sigismund!”
“Yeah but his little claim is going over the wants of Lajos. Listen, just gather some people of the Sejm so that we can explain how Siemowit will very much remain a duke of Mazovia.”
“Resume defense!” the commander said and they started attacking again. Szecsi and Wenzel immediately knocked down the soldiers about to attack Sigismund while the boy threw his arms in the air.
“Well I guess they’ll die. Tell the troops to not be too lethal.”
Wenzel then said, “hey its not like we have the resources to have them flip sides. But Brother, be more careful, they could’ve totally killed you.”
“No way, you were watching over me. Hey Szecsi, can you get your spies to convince the Schlachta that Elizabeta is here for a Sejm meeting? That’ll lure Siemowit as well, I hope.”
“Yes sir, I’ll go meet with them now.”
And so after the fighting was over, 1000 Mazovian troops were captured. They were forced out of Krakow, allowed to return home, while all the others had died. The civilians of Krakow seemed uneasy but Sigismund instructed no one to commit to any looting. A guild master did ask Sigismund who informed him that their presence shouldn’t worry the Poles in the slightest. So the traders were happy. Only some of the Luxem troops would stay in the castle as there wasn’t much space. Others found hotels or random houses to sleep in.
In the morning, there were reports of many nobles coming in including Simeowit who came from Sieradz. The Voivode also came in while he left his Anjou behind in the outskirts. His troops would check the nobles coming in, promising to them that they would not be harmed.
Sigismund and his brothers sat in the Sejm room waiting for their attendees. “Breakfast was okay, right?” Wenzel asked.
Prokop giggled, “yeah but the servants (of the castle) ran out of food too quickly. We can’t stay too long.”
“I like the food here but we already know Sigi is picky as hell,” Jan said.
“Pick my balls.”
“Alright bro,” Jan said, sounding obviously displeased.
In the next couple of minutes, the nobles of Malopolska started to angrily gather in the room, led in by the troops. Each family had a resentful yet blonde face. When about 20 finally sat down, Sigismund rose to say, “welcome, the lot of you, to a grand meeting deciding the fates of everyone…..but this was a fate already decided by King Lajos.”
“True,” one stated, “if you mean there was going to be disagreements about succession.”
“I guess if you want to be a pessimist. And also wrong, dummy. I’m talking about making his daughters king. You guys should stop supporting Siemowit so that Hedwig can come over and be your king already.”
Several Poles got up angrily but only one shouted, “we don’t want you to rule over us!”
Then another said, “wait a second, he said Hedwig would be king.”
“But she’s a girl.”
“Who was Hedwig getting married to?”
“Wilhelm Habsburg.”
The Poles all sat down. Some crossed their arms and closed their eyes, seeming content. Then they shouted, “WE DON’T WANT TO BE RULED BY THE HABSBURGS!” Sigismund was blasted out of his seat by the shouts.
One said, “its some infantile dynasty from a far away country. How do we trust them to worry about Polish matters over the matters of Austria?”
“Well see, we could discuss this if you guys stop supporting Siemowit. The Queen Dowager needs him gone if we are to move forward with Polish Succession.”
A woman raised her hand saying, “so you mean Hedwig isn’t fully married yet or even that the proposal is loose? What if we had another candidate for her?”
“I’m not so sure I could betray her completely like that.”
Her husband said, “I mean we have a growing support across our Kingdom that we should unite with Lithuania. They are a neighboring country who would be concerned with us, you see. We have a long history with those Balts.”
“I mean, I understand-”
“Who is your Lithuanian support?” Wenzel asked.
An older man said, “Emperor, I wondered if you would let your stupid little brother talk the whole time.” Sigismund raised an eyebrow. “His name is Jogalia.”
“And I’ve heard Jogalia is at war right now,” Wenzel continued.
“Actually, that was over. He’s been deposed of his brother since last year and he consolidates his power in Lithuania as we speak.”
“And you want Lithuania with you so you have all of the evangelical glory versus the Teutons.”
“Well no, we just both hate the Teutons.”
“Well then we must consult the Queen Dowager about this plan. For me, I don’t have a reason to be against this.”
Another older man spoke, “Because you are the Emperor of Christians. If your daughter could be married to Lithuania, you’d make them a vassal at the same time. We will raise Lithuania to the same level as us, civilize them nicely.”
“I understand. You also understand that Hedwig’s mother is one of the most protective women I’ve seen. Since Lajos has died, not a single person has been able to talk to her daughters without her presence. So letting go of Hedwig will be a great tragedy.”
“Even horses have to see new pastures,” said another noble.
And another said, “we want our King Hedwig as soon as tomorrow.”
“So they don’t understand,” Prokop whispered.
So now Malopolska could be considered a supporter of Hedwig while the other regions would have to be convinced as well. Wenzel would send a messenger pigeon back to the Queen detailing this meeting. Using his wand, he telepathically sealed a message into the bird. The bird flew off before finding Elizabeta waiting in a window sill. She was watching the sun set. Her daughters were chatting with each other across the room. The bird landed on her arm and said real loud, “the Malopolski would accept Hedwig as King as long as she marries anyone other than that Habsburg, most preferably Jogalia of Lithuania. We are holding Krakow easily so you may be here to meet the Sejm by tomorrow. Hopefully you do, they want to see Hedwig tomorrow.” Of course, with the planned timing of the campaign, Elizabeta and her daughters were supposed to be there either tomorrow or the next day. Even the Voivode had sent her a bird telling her how safe it was. But instead, there sat the Anjou family in the castle at Buda without their bags even being packed.
“Did you hear that, my baby?”
“Um, well, that sucks to hear mother.”
“Truthally, I don’t like Wilhelm.”
A cold shiver entered the room and then Hedwig nodded, “well he was nice but if Maria can give up her betrothed then I can too. I’ll marry the Lithuanian,” she said in a mousey tone. Maria consoled her immediately.
“I’ll miss you dearly, sister.”
“Don’t say goodbye yet,” Elizabeta started…
The Queen’s reply was that of a simple ”I will do whatever the Sejm needs of me to make this an easy process”. For the next few days, the boys would send a pigeon over telling her the Poles wanted very badly to see Hedwig and Elizabeta would respond that Poland was still not safe enough with Siemowit alive. The Malopolski started getting riotous in Krakow, sending their own angrily worded messages. Then they started recruiting their armies from their home castles. Not to excite them immediately, the Voivode let them pass through the occupation. They made their own camps around Krakow and the atmosphere became more and more intense as they waited.
“Queen Dowager please, as the Emperor I want you to heed my words. The Poles have said they will give us ten days or ban us from the city. The city is at capacity and cannot house this many soldiers. The merchants will brandish themselves on their own to rid one of us. Please bring Hedwig and yourself as soon as possible!” No response when the bird came back.
All of the while, Siemowit seemed to be growing a larger and larger army, as discovered by Szeci’s spies. For Jobst, he traveled through Silesia, which was a series of Piast duchies vassal to Wenzel, to reach Neumark. There, he waited for a message that Siemowit had been lured away from Poznan. Once that had happened, he could occupy the fort there giving the Poles a two-front invasion. But Siemowit was in fact increasing his strength there so no attack should be committed.
The French reply, “The Orleanese would like to marry you Maria. Pope Clement even annulled the betrothal with Sigismund. I asked them to send for him so you can start your true reign soon.”
“Ah, thank you mother.”
“When am I going to Poland, then?” Hedwig asked.
“Whenever Sigismund and Losonci win. I don’t want you to be murdered in Poland sweetie.”
“Okay. Wow, war takes really long sometimes. I guess Siemowit is giving them a good fight!”
A servant for Elizabeta was also a spy for Ivan Palinza. Palinza informed Carlo Durazzo about the French plan. “Really? So then perhaps those Luxembourgs won’t protect Hungary anymore. I’ll have to rise at this point. Our allies are ready?”
“Of course, sir. And the Queen hasn’t even gone to Poland yet.”
“Is the Mazovian that troubling? Well, I’ll need all of my forces, some are still tied to fighting my cousin.” And then some time later, he learned that Acuto had murdered Louis of Provence and his ally Amadeus of Savoy. ”HUZZA!”
Voivode Losonci and Emperor Wenzel met with each before Sigismund. “At this point, its better for us to just occupy Poznan with the whole army. The Malopolski will jump us soon.”
Wenzel said, “I agree. The original plan of staying here so the Queen would be safe is biting us in the ass. At least I guess this was her rude way of getting us to rid Siemowit.”
“I don’t appreciate it myself and so we must ask her about her rationality later.”
“Voivode! You’re the strongest dude in Hungary, right?”
“Sigismund, why’d you question me on this?”
“Cause you should just go back to Buda yourself and bring Hedwig. If Krakow looks dangerous when you return, you’re still strong enough to return back to the border. We’ll take Poznan as fast as possible and then return while my cousin holds it.”
“Perhaps this would work. I’ll leave with all of my calvary. Although I don’t appreciate that I have to kidnap her daughter.”
“Just go, let me cook Losonci. I believe in you!”
tdwriter 