Victory is assured

Early the next morning, Laszlo led the Imperial Guard Legion to Ohaba Village, while the Austro-Hungarian Army and other supply and auxiliary units advanced slowly behind them.

By noon, the Emperor arrived at his destination and merged with the vanguard units waiting there.

After a period of rest, the armies successively entered the final section of the valley, advancing towards the Tyu Pass, which was guarded by the rebels.

On the other side, the Saxon Army stationed in Fintog also marched along a small path towards the river valley, determined to break through the enemy's defenses.

Hunyadi commanded the rebels to resist stubbornly, using the advantageous terrain to repel several attacks from the Emperor's grand army.

From the watchtower at Tyu, Hunyadi watched the enemy forces retreat like a tide, a rare hint of relief on his face.

With the perilous terrain of this valley entrance, he could hold out until he died of old age; it was impossible for the enemy to advance even a single step.

As for the small path on the other side, the defenses there were even simpler, requiring only a small number of troops to block the road.

No matter how fierce the Emperor's grand army was, without the ability to launch a siege or use large siege engines, they would ultimately have to return empty-handed.

Unless they could grow wings, fly over the mountains, bypass the pass, and attack the pass from both inside and out.

But this was clearly impossible; how could there be another path in such a godforsaken place?

In the valley, Laszlo looked back at the tall city walls of the pass and the corpses scattered beneath them, his expression gradually becoming serious.

Just suppressing Transylvania was already so troublesome; how much worse would it be when dealing with the Swiss in the future?

His mood was also affected, inevitably becoming low.

It wasn't because he was pessimistic about the prospects of this war, but mainly because the grand army had been suffering heavy casualties continuously during this recent period.

Although these casualties were not unacceptable, the blow to morale was still very obvious.

In fact, he knew very well that if they continued to stalemate like this, he would definitely win.

Even though Hunyadi was proudly blocking him here now, his defeat was already destined.

The Croatia-Bosnia Army commanded by Hervoye was currently advancing upstream along the river valley and could reach the rebel rear at any time.

When that happened, with attacks from both inside and out, the rebels would certainly be unable to resist.

Moreover, good news also came from the battlefield in another direction.

Severin Fortress had fallen, and all the defenders had been executed by Vlad.

Vlad, Stefan, and Grand Master Martin led tens of thousands of troops through the mountain paths into Transylvania and arrived at Sibiu.

Originally, Vlad planned to lead the grand army to storm Sibiu, and he even wanted to impale everyone in the city.

However, Sibiu promptly surrendered, and with the strong dissuasion of Grand Master Martin and Stefan, his insane idea did not become a reality.

And Hunyadi and Giraks both underestimated Sibiu's loyalty to the Emperor.

Sibiu's city council, persuaded by representatives from other cities, clearly realized that only the Emperor could save them from the cruel revenge of Prince Vlad.

Therefore, they had distanced themselves from the Hunyadi Family from the moment Hunyadi launched the rebellion.

Even the envoy sent by Giraks to persuade them to cooperate was imprisoned and handed over to Prince Vlad to vent his anger.

Thus, Hunyadi's plan to use Sibiu to block the Balkan allied army completely failed.

Vlad, Stefan, and Martin divided their forces into two routes from Sibiu; one headed west along the Southern Carpathian Mountains, directly into the heartland of the Hunyadi Family.

The other, after receiving aid from some Saxon city armies, advanced on Alba Iulia, intending to capture this important religious center.

This battle report was sent to Laszlo by Vlad when his army left Sibiu.

By now, Vlad and Stefan had probably almost reached Hunyadi's homeland.

Thinking about this, Laszlo actually had no need to rush at all.

Hunyadi himself had limited troops, and now he personally led almost all of his mobile units to surround and block the main army commanded by Laszlo.

This would inevitably lead to empty defenses in other places.

For example, the first half of the Mures Valley, which Hunyadi would certainly be unable to defend; it just depended on how capable Hervoye was and how long it would take him to capture those undefended valley towns.

The defensive line Hunyadi built on the eastern side of his territory might still have some effect, but against Vlad and Stefan, this line was not much different from paper.

Fortunately, this time Frederick was very self-aware and chose not to personally lead the army—he had never been on a battlefield before this.

Otherwise, if calculated by rank, he should have commanded the entire Balkan allied army, and not been able to dispatch forces flexibly and appropriately as he was now.

Sigismund's foolishness did serve as a reminder to Laszlo: in the future, it would be better to keep these two uncles firmly in administrative positions.

Once they were allowed to personally command troops, the consequences would be simply unimaginable.

Besides these two detached forces, Laszlo's earlier arrangements in Lugos might come into play at any time.

If the brothers Efikende and Essikender truly followed his instructions and set Hunyadi's backyard on fire, then he might consider giving the two brothers some rewards—perhaps higher positions of power, or perhaps more land.

But if they did nothing, then they would only go to hell with Hunyadi.

Thinking of these things, Laszlo's expression relaxed a lot.

"Your Majesty, today's casualty report is in; a total of over two hundred men were lost, the situation of the Saxon Army is unclear, and neither route managed to break through the enemy's blockade."

Matthias came to Laszlo's side and handed him the compiled casualty report.

Laszlo quickly scanned it; the casualties were mainly among the Hungarian troops, who were leading the main attack, and the Serbian Army, which was assisting the attack.

His Imperial Guard also launched one assault, but after suffering some losses, they were forced to withdraw.

The terrain at the pass occupied by Hunyadi was extremely narrow, making it impossible to deploy troops for a siege.

"A frontal assault is not feasible; it's a waste of troops. Let the grand army rest for a few days." Laszlo put away the report, his expression calm as he said, "As long as we wait for Hervoye to lead his army to the enemy's rear and launch an attack, everything will be fine.

It's just this intermittent rain that is truly annoying."

Today was still overcast and rainy, which was very unfriendly to the soldiers fighting desperately to storm the city.

"Your Majesty, this valley is ultimately not a place to stay long; it's full of dangers and detrimental to the morale of the grand army. We cannot place all our hopes on General Hervoye."

"Hmm, you have a point."

Laszlo did not yet know where that Croatian general had reached, and he couldn't let the grand army remain cooped up in this narrow valley waiting.

"Tomorrow, at the latest the day after tomorrow, Karl will lead his army to catch up.

I see that the main structure of the Tyu Pass's walls is still wooden, only temporarily reinforced and strengthened.

As long as we have the cannons Karl brings, we can definitely destroy that wall.

Once the Austro-Hungarian Army arrives, we will try to launch another attack; we are sure to make progress.

Let's go, come with me to tour the camp and understand the situation of the troops."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Before dark, Laszlo toured the various army camps, showing his face to the soldiers of various nations.

According to the reports from the army commanders, he found some brave soldiers and officers in combat and publicly praised and encouraged them.

Afterward, he delivered a speech with the theme "The Advantage is Ours," hoping to boost the morale of the grand army.

Finally, Laszlo arrived at the end point of this inspection tour—Sigismund's tent.