70 Brandenburg
A week later, my men returned and suffered almost no losses, which was no wonder, their opponents were peasants, not the army. The loot was also not outstanding, the most was food, not a lot of valuables, some tools that I did not think about, but may turn out to be useful. When I checked the contents of the wagons, I ordered one day of rest, after which we set off towards Berlin.
A few hours later and thirty kilometers further we reached a medium-sized settlement, which was already completely destroyed, one of my commanders had already come here earlier.
There were many bodies of men and women on the ground, the latter very often undressed or in torn clothes, but I did not see the bodies of the children. I got off my horse, went to the well to drink water ...
"Lord, you better not ..." (Saddat)
I looked at the tatar, then at the well ... I looked down. Now I know where the children are, it was a pity to waste a sabre or gunpowder, so the Tatars just threw them into the well. One thing was certain, when an army arrived in these regions and drank from this well ... their lives would be short and painful, primitive but good use of biological weapons.
I waved my hand, and Saddat tossed me a water bag.
"Nothing here for us, let's move on." (MC)
The further north the damage was even greater, after a few days we reached Berlin, but before that happened I split my army and sent half of my men to Potsdam.
Before we drove up to the city walls, the gate opened, although calling it a gate was a strong exaggeration. The city had been raided and looted so many times, and the gate was destroyed ... that the current one looked more like a barn gate.
A few men left the gate and approached us ... From the clothes it was possible to deduce that they were ordinary townspeople, maybe some merchants or officials, but they did not look rich. One of them spoke up ... and I decided to have a little fun.
"Lord ..." (Burgher)
"Hush ... can you hear?" (MC)
"Lord, I don't know what you're talking about and I can't hear anything." (Burgher)
"Before the day is over you will hear ... but more about it later. I come here on the orders of His Imperial Majesty. I have the right to requisition food, horses, carts, and anything else that I deem necessary." (MC)
"We have no food, not many fields have been sown, and last year's fields have been destroyed in the war ... We don't know how we'll survive the next months." (Burgher)
"It is not my concern, you will either obey or be punished." (MC)
The man wanted to say something, but before he did, I made a sign to Saddat. The Tatars threw ropes around the necks of two men, pulled them off their horses and began dragging them along the ground. The man who spoke to me was shocked by this turn of events, he turned his head towards me, but all he saw was the muzzle of a gun pointed at him.
"You don't have to worry about feeding these men anymore, so you have extra food ... We'll definitely come up with something." (MC)
The man didn't know what to do, he was either scared or shocked or all at once, which made him commit the biggest mistake of his life ... let us into the city... As soon as we secured all exits from the city, the massacre began.
Women and children were taken out of their homes and murdered in the streets, sometimes to save time they were simply thrown out of the windows on the upper floors ... Those who tried to resist died even worse. Before my eyes, a pretty, no more than seventeen-year-old girl was trampled by horses ... I saw her delicate features turn into a bloody mush.
I put my hand on the shoulder of the man I was talking to earlier.
"Do you remember when I asked you before, can you hear? You said you didn't ..." (MC)
The man stared at me with empty eyes, in silence.
"I was talking about the voice of God. God is the teacher, the inhabitants of this city are students, and I am an instrument in God's hands. In his name I am to teach you ..." (MC)
The man continued to say nothing, and he stared blankly ... maybe he was catatonic ... I patted his cheek. I think I broke my toy.
"God's lessons are so beautiful." (MC)
I took out my gun and shot him in the head, there was no point in talking to him anymore. His body fell to the ground, and I resumed watching the city plunge into chaos.
The robberies and murders lasted all night, the Cossacks and Tatars locked people in the plundered houses and set them on fire. We didn't even spare the churches, it didn't matter if they were Catholic or Protestant ... I wasn't proud of what happened, but I was proud of a job well done. Mercy is a luxury item that I cannot afford.
All the buildings were on fire when we left town ... if anyone ever comes back, it will take years to rebuild. A few kilometers from the city, I met my army that was returning from Potsdam ... after a short report I knew that the city had suffered the same fate as Berlin.
Over the next few weeks, all of Brandenburg was on fire, we burnt a few dozen villages and settlements, a dozen smaller and larger cities. When people heard that our army was approaching, they abandoned their homes and tried to escape ... but there was no escape from the Tatars. We hung the captured people on the surrounding trees. The only downside was that we were running out of carts, and the loot was getting more and more. I will have to think about sending it all to Gdańsk or Jazłowiec.
Unfortunately, everything that is good ends one day, there was no point in staying in Brandenburg anymore, it's time to move further north, to West Pomerania.