Chapitre 39: Chapter 39: Besieging Kayseri (Part 3)
Instead of returning to the fortified camp, I decided to take this opportunity to head over and help my men fighting on the other walls. If I can take those walls and free up more soldiers I can secure the city before the enemies even retreat, and by doing so trap them between the two parts of my army.
Moving on the walls, we moved towards another corridor we found on these walls that allow us to slip behind the enemy's lines practically unseen. Moving unseen through all the small battlefields in this area was hard to do. So, I decided to move quietly when possible, engage in battle when necessary, and then regroup after defeating our enemies.
Moving forward unblocked after we fought our way through the rough front lines. Sieges are a strange happen stance as loyalties are tested as soldiers on both sides weigh their loyalties with their lives... I noticed many enemy soldiers deserting the battlefield and looting what is technically their people. Upon seeing such men, I quickly put them down as these will be my people soon and this city's loot is the right of my soldiers.
Sneaking through the city's central region quietly without fighting with the elite guards here was due to my assassins and spies allowing us to move smoothly through the city. We quietly reached the walls where our soldiers are fighting fiercely. But this time unlike before we were met with resistance immediately upon arriving at the area of the wall.
We met an enemy contingent of four hundred soldiers guarding the entrance to the walls. Though I must mention these were not elite soldiers by any stretch of standards, but four hundred men is still a barrier that must be dealt with conservatively.
I gave orders upon seeing this group, I said "All ulufeci step forwards I want this rabble out of our way at once... Use the special arrows and destroy their formation then we charge men and clean up the rabble!"
Moving into position behind the ulufeci, and once they loosed the arrows we waited and counted down "3... 2... 1... Charge!" As we began to run the enemy also got ready, I think they believed that the arrows were successfully blocked. Just when we were Halfway to the enemy's position the arrows began to show their special gift to the enemies. *Boom Boom*
Their formation began to fall apart due to deaths and injuries... Leaving us to only clean up the rabble left behind... *Gush Spink* Cutting down the remaining enemies and stabbing the injured, whilst the majority sprinted away, no way of catching a runner without much effort so it was best to let them retreat.
First checking our surroundings including what we could see on the wall and inside the corridor to the wall, we then concluded that we have a good chance of making it up on the wall. There were not many enemies that could be seen atop the corridor entrance, and there were not many enemies that could be seen directly outside the corridor.
So, we lined up a single file once more. But once heading up this corridor we switched to a wider double-line formation allowing a more secure defense and the ability to counterattack. Moving up the corridor we faced little to no resistance at all, and when we began to pour out of the corridor the enemy's commanders began to notice our existence leading to a realization... They had no extra soldiers to defend their rear or flanks.
Forming up as we moved out of the corridor. Once we were formed into a shield wall, we moved forwards slowly making us even scarier as our straight, organized ranks that move in the enemy's direction in a clean and precise manner is rather scary as this shows our elite status on a battlefield.
I know it is strange to imagine men moving forward silently and slowly scary but as most armies are rowdy rabbles of men with no real discipline so seeing groups move like this is rather scary. Once we were within swords reach of the enemies some men panicked and made a wild attack that ultimately led to their first deaths.
These more animalistic attacks by the enemy kicked off our offensive... A very brutal offensive, we began butchering the enemies on mass, by spreading our formation a bit to allow for slashing, a specialty of our long-curved blades we were able to achieve a massive upper hand whilst being outnumbered on both fronts.
My soldiers from outside of the city were constantly springing over the battlements and filling up our numbers further tightening the space and reinforcing our offensive. We continued the push crushing the enemies between our two lines leaving them no quarter. But the enemies did not give up they continued to battle valiantly on this wall.
The enemies also at this crucial point in the battle gained crucial support, that being their comrades in and on the towers began to switch their targets from outside the city to the walls. This was a terrible thing for us as they for one have a strong vantage point for their sharpshooters to target our melee and skirmisher specialized soldiers. Our skirmishers began to apply suppressive fire but to no avail, they continued to pelt our lines with arrows and large bolts from their large siege crossbow.
The real issue is the Ballista (Large siege grade crossbow) This is a serious issue for us as no matter how much armor or skill we have they can pelt us to death with the speed and ferocity of their projectiles. For now, we only lost one man, but soon the casualties will begin to grow, and the enemy's confidence with it.
I ordered the use of the last special arrows my ulufeci possess and for them to target the crossbow itself, once it is hit, they can use the remainder of the special arrows to target the rest of the men on the tower as they are an annoyance as well. I also began to ramp up the pressure on the enemies battling to the death with us on the wall by saying "ALL MEN WHO ABANDON THIS FOOLISH ATTEMPT AT A DEFENSE SHALL BE SPARED AND THEIR FAMILIES WITH THEM SHALL BE GIVEN A FULL PARDEN!"
Some of the men hearing this began to waver in their attacks and a small number of men outright dropped their weapons and raised their hands. Seeing this the men who planned to fight to the death realized they had no chance at holding this force together and attempted to push us back to allow them a chance at retreating down the walls.
But once the special arrows blew apart the Ballista the enemies who were wavering full on switched sides to surrender and either forcibly disarmed their more extreme allies or outright killed them in a betrayal. Seeing that our enemies were finally subdued I ordered the soldiers to open the gates and allow the remainder of the troops into the city.
I must say to open the gates would have usually been a very taxing task as the defenses there are the strongest, but the enemies along the walls began to either retreat or surrender. Because their rears and flanks are now exposed to our troops and not retreating is asking for death.
Opening the gates on this side of the city and forming up all the new foot units in the city took another ten to twenty minutes to finish. Once everyone was lined up and ready to go, I began the second phase of my new strategy.
I first sent the remainder of the skirmishers to hold the walls, this was done whilst the troops were brought into the city, this gave my swivel guns a superior position allowing them to target the flanks of the enemies defending the city on mass in our first assault points. Then my next move was to move two contingents of infantry to attack the enemy's flanks.
One contingent was sent to attack the right flank and rear of the enemy and the other the left flank and rear. The bulk of the forces in my direct control in the city were formed to attack and secure the city's central region. Wasting no time we moved out quickly, during our march into the center of the city we began to face small contingents of enemies who were either captured or slaughtered depending on their actions.
Once this large force began to enter the central urbanized region of the city, we had to split into our smallest units of command 10-man groups, and 100-man groups at the largest during this attack. My small unit has the same number as when I left command, I used my unit in conjunction with 7 other 100-man units to attack the main palace of the city.
So, with about 1000 men, I moved into the city's most center where the palace is located. This is where we finally began to face the most resistance, the bey's guard is leading the defense in this area. So, battles began to take place here that was extremely brutal all battles were to the death.
We fought on and off with small contingents of guards. They seemed to have spread their selves thin seeming to focus on keeping any looters or small forces from attacking their liege or his family. Well, this is a big mistake, as a dictator your main focus should be your safety first then your people... But this may not be the case for this man as he is usually referred to as a good ruler despite being a Mongol himself.
After a few minutes, we arrived at the barely guarded palace, and we launched an all-out assault quickly as we cannot allow any more defenders time to arrive. Though the palace is not a castle it does have a small wall and a fortified gate. But this is not a big deal a few grenades can solve this issue. Following through with our lightning-speed attack, a few men with shields got close enough to roll their lit grenades to the gate.
Then *BOOOM* the gate flew apart into splinters of wood, only leaving the hinges. Then we launched our assault, some men using their original ladders used to assault the city's walls, now to climb the palace's small walls... Though the ladders were cut down to somewhat fit the smaller walls on site.
With my elite kapikulu squad, I rushed through the entrance onto the palace grounds. The small number of guards was quickly dispatched to the afterlife by the other soldiers under my command leaving me and my contingent to rush into the palace itself. Once inside the palace, I noticed the place was trashed, looking as if someone was trying to move out and quickly... No! They must've used a secret tunnel of some sort.
Ordering my men inside and outside to search the ground for any weird or secret locations. Saying anything found can be kept as long as it is not gold coins or religiously important artifacts but anything they find they cannot keep they will be rewarded for. It did not take too long for hundreds of men to loot the place dry, while also finding the secret location as well.
Once the location was found I ordered soldiers to deliver this information to the main camp so the cavalry can search for these escapees. I also ordered four, one-hundred-man groups to pursue the people who escaped down this path, all gold found among them is the property of the state, and jewelry and other keepsakes are the soldier's loot.
After this, I had our flag hung from the palace's roof, letting all defenders left in the city that this is now our property. I even hope they believe their liege was captured or killed by us, this will make capitulation more likely.
Within the next 45 minutes, we began to receive many reports from the various assault squads and janissary corps from inside the city about how their enemies are either dead or captured... They also sent messengers about what part of the city is now secure, what commander they captured what bey is now in custody etc...
After another hour the entire city was within our grasp, and no major looting had taken place despite such a large battle taking place in such a small city. More than twelve thousand defenders were captured from the enemy forces the rest either died or deserted the army early. Though my casualties are estimated to be as high as one thousand men.
Chapitre 40: Chapter 40: Pursuit
Finishing this major siege was a hard task and I achieved great results while also taking great risks. Once the main defensive points were seized, I gave extended orders to begin fortifying the city, use our new prisoners to rebuild the parts of the wall we can, or use wood and rubble to seal the gaps.
Also, the men I sent to find the exit of the secret tunnel and find tracks of the fleeing ruler and his family returned. In their return, they brought not only news, but they returned with many coins, jewels, artifacts, and hostages.
The number of coins is not known but they had to steal the caravan they marched out of the secret tunnel to bring this astonishing amount of wealth back to the city. Amazingly the way they found this caravan and were able to seize it and its wealth was because of a battle that was already taking place between the fleeing caravan and a few units of our scouts and spies in the area.
After they arrived, they immediately helped the scouts, and they together subdued the entire caravan and the people in it. Supposedly many of the guards and other beys there fled on horseback into the countryside once more beginning another chase led by my scouts... Though I have no further information on this issue.
But other than coins they also brought great news, we have a few of the ruler's children and his only two wives, I have no ill will towards them so they will be treated well for a time until the proper ransom is paid. We also have information given by the new captives, that the ruler Eretna is heading to Sivas to gather the remainder of his supporters and regain his honor and his capital.
I do not plan to allow this man to gather another army this to me is just too inconceivable. I refuse to fight such a gorilla-styled defender, it will just lead to many issues making my ruling this region unimportant and the entire Cappadocia region dragging down all my plans. Moving quickly I arranged my commanders in the palace for a meeting.
I started the meeting by saying "Now we all did our parts in this great victory in which you all will be rewarded again once we return to the capital. I know you all have struck it rich on this campaign, probably seeing more wealth in this one campaign than all your ancestors combined haha. But you must remember to keep your heads on straight you are all soldiers first.
-Now the reason I called you all here is very important, we must set off once more, but this time I will only be taking with me the Kapikulu cavalry. All the Janissaries and infantrymen will remain here in the city, continuing to guard it against any outside forces. But all Kapikulu and sipahi commanders will have to move with me, we are chasing down the ruler of Cappadocia called Eretna as he wishes to raise another army.
-This is why we must make sure he cannot secure any more support here in this region at least not enough to gain an army. I decided to do that we only have one direction, which is to secure Sivas. Securing the last city where he has mass support and enough population to build another force of the same size we faced here in Kayseri."
The details of the plan are rather simple and depend on many factors but I hope it can work. I will send many of the spies and a few of my assassins to reinforce the spies already in the city, I wish to hold some support in the city using any support we can get to spread the word that Eretna's army was already crushed.
They will say the capital has been seized, and his men and family captured as he flees in a panic looking to drag more good men to their deaths with him. I want to spread the fact that he has already failed in his attempt to fight my armies, and he will fail again. I want the word spread about his cowardice in abandoning his men to fight whilst he escaped in secret.
I will get this all done rather quickly, I am already arranging my cavalry to move out as I think this through. This took less than an hour and soon we were already on the route toward Sivas, I am rushing which in most cases will cause the commander of an army to fail, but I know in some cases it will work out.
We marched long into the night until all the men were tired so I decided we can camp as this may give time to my spies to get the word to spread. Waking in the morning we were back on the march after watering our horses and checking our supplies.
Another long march and a long exhausting day lead into the night once more and still, we haven't made it to the city. I was told it was normal to travel for three to four days to reach the city, but I assumed this was moving at a leisurely pace, I was wrong this is long trip maps are much different from actually traveling the routes yourself.
After a long march this time, the march was only about ten hours we reached the city's outskirts, but the sun will set in three hours so in this situation we must indeed rush ourselves. Hearing the city's horns blaring in the distance it is obvious that the defenders have taken notice of my horseman horde approaching their city.
I gathered a delegation of a few commanders and my close guards that are usually at my side and rode towards the city gate. Once we arrived at the gates the defenders on the walls aimed their bows toward our direction. Shaking my head one of my commanders stepped forwards and hailed the guards.
He said "I am sure you know why we have brought our hordes to this gate that you guard. So I will not introduce myself or my liege's army, as we need no introduction nowadays. So, I will ask what has your city decided will you fight? Or will peace suffice?"
Before any guard on the wall could speak an old man stepped into our view up on the wall. The old man look my commander and said "We have heard the stories of the siege in Kayseri and how our leader performed there, I am surprised as to how fast information spreads these days but maybe I am getting old.
-But I must say, we do not plan to hand over our city or our liege as he is the rightfuhhjnj" Before the elderly man could finish his sentence one of the guards on the wall had stuck his dagger through the man's throat.
This surprised me as I believed I would have to scrap my initial plan but let me see how this will play out. The young guard barely in our view then gave a head nod in the city's direction I am assuming he nodded towards someone we cannot see just yet. Proving my theory correctly another man looked over the battlements staring right at me, and this man was much younger than the dead man who spoke with us before.
The new young man thus yelled down to us "Sorry for the rude interruptions earlier but that old man is a Mongol sympathizer and he had to die. I heard our liege was beaten back and forth by your army and that he fled in secret even leaving behind his wives and children. I want to ask are you planning to conquer the Mongol lands in the near future?"
Thinking for a second I said to the young man "First you must state your name before you speak, this is the same mistake the dead man made and that is why he died it is called arrogance when you do not have the power to act in such a way. Second, all in Anatolia must refer to me as sultan as all of the lands in this region belong to my Sultanate by right. "
The young man clearly not liking my arrogant statement almost replied negatively but even from down here I could see him stop and think for a second. The young man then replied "My sultan, I apologize for my arrogance my name is Reza Kamran my family fled from Persia long in the past, to where I grew up around Tabriz... My lord I wish to know will you conquer this area?"
Seeing the fire burning brightly in the young man's eyes even from this distance I answered honestly "I wish to strengthen the Muslim world as no one has done before, I will conquer until I can no longer ride a horse fight until I can no longer walk! Does this answer satisfy your question?"
He responded, "Open the gate!"
We sent the signal to the cavalry waiting further away from the gate to move up with us. Soon we all were entering the city, I am kinda surprised by how easy it was to gain access to supposedly the place where Eretna will build his army of revenge. Or maybe I am just overthinking things.
Once inside the city, I spread my cavalry out through the city, using their arms to gain access to the defenses and central areas of this trading city, I want to have full control of the city by day's end. During this Reza who let me in the city came down, and explained why we were allowed in the city.
This Reza has helped his uncle control the garrison and army in Sivas since he was of age. So now at the age of twenty-two, he has been in control of the army for six years, then he heard yesterday that their "Liege" was defeated and fleeing from the enemies in cowardice. His uncle has been a loyal supporter of the Mongols in Anatolia for years, and Reza who's family was killed by Mongols disliked this, so when this opportunity arrived he killed his uncle and seized control of the city.
I asked Reza "You have just gained control of the city why would you give up control of the city so quickly?"
Reza replied "I see no point in supporting that Eretna, and I see that the Ottoman Turks are on the rise, while the other beylics will fall sooner or later. So, I wish to support you as my liege but in return, I wish to help or lead an attack on Tabriz in the future. My small revenge is all I ask, I shall lend all my strength including the army I have taken from my uncle and this city itself and the location of the supporters of Eretna in this city."
I replied "I shall in return for this city support your revenge when the opportunity arises. If I do not support your revenge may my empire crumble and my gold to dust."
Finishing this I gained a new subordinate and a city without any fighting, and maybe some good troops it seems to be no less than ten thousand soldiers here. Though these troops I do not know where to place them just yet. Though it wouldn't be terrible to make them into a Cappadocian garrison for my new prison idea.
I did plan to make Cappadocia my capital for prison because this area is filled with many underground cities. These cities are extensive and with some tinkering, we can close off the many exits and create a cheap but effective prison system here. With these ten thousand soldiers I could begin its use immediately. As the small dungeons in my cities have not been enough to hold the many prisoners that have already been convicted by my new court system.
The underground cities have many advantages not just as prisons but I will use them for many things in the future. This is the third main reason for conquering Kayseri, the second being the trade routes pass through Cappadocia, and the first being Kayseri is a system city. And with the new city of Sivas I now own pretty much all of Cappadocia.
Though I couldn't catch Eretna I did gain a city in turn, so this is worth enough to have sprinted all the way over here. With the addition of Sivas, I now have the majority of the silk road trade routes under my control in Anatolia, I also have removed a lot of the competition out of the region.
-Sorry that this chapter is kind of like filler, but I had to include this to add a certain character who may or may not be important in the future.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
200+ Classement
Power Stone 
0 Power
stone Vous aimerez peut-être aussi
Commentaire de paragraphe