章 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.
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