Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 659: Entering the City to Fight an Economic War First

During Guo Kang's rest period, the negotiations also achieved results. In Cairo, a group of Mamluks from the time of the former Sultan Faraj launched a mutiny.

Toghan told him that the senior officer he had intercepted was the Mamluk emir in Minuf, named Ahmed. He was one of the three Egyptian lords who sent the most troops this time, and was responsible for the most critical breakthrough position during the detour. However, the battle was not going well, causing him to suffer heavy losses and he was also captured. This caused Ahmed to be very angry and felt that it was the Sheikh who was pitting him, so he decided to accept the Roman amnesty - as long as he could keep his few fiefs.

Ahmed confessed that at the meeting before the war, the Mamluk generals believed that it would be very difficult to defeat the Romans directly with the current military strength, and they needed to think carefully and adopt reliable tactics as much as possible to gain an advantage. However, the Mamluks had huge problems in tactical planning, which led to the extremely unsatisfactory conduct of the battle.

Tuohuan and the Roman officers were very curious about this and asked him why he believed it was a command problem. Because the Roman side also conducted a routine summary immediately after the battle. The preliminary conclusion was that the quality of the Mamluk soldiers in this battle did not meet everyone's expectations.

This time, the performance of the Roman left wing was not good. Of course, this was expected, after all, those who were placed there were not "serious people". From the beginning, no one expected those allied troops to do anything, and they were placed there simply to boost momentum.

On the left wing of the 33rd Legion, the Night's Watch Battalion was punished, and their morale and willingness to fight may not be reliable; Guo Kang's Second Battalion is a hodgepodge; the Moria Battalions are also ordinary teams with mediocre previous records. Even if they are overwhelmed and divided by the enemy, it is understandable, and there are enough countermeasures in the battle plan. Because there are also many servants and veterans in the Second Battalion, it is a very solid support point. With them as the core, they can hold on for a while, which is enough to realize the entire battle plan.

However, in hindsight, the left wing was not actually breached. During the most dangerous period of the entire battle, a break occurred between the Second Battalion and the Morea Battalion, but the Mamluks were unable to take advantage of the situation to encircle the enemy.

To say the least, the Mamluks did succeed in cutting off the line between the Second Battalion and the rest of the legion, but even if they were considered to have successfully bypassed the enemy, the situation at that time did not seem that urgent now. In this encirclement, there were the Second Guokang Battalion, the Fourth Night Watch Battalion, and the remnants of the Knights who were still resisting, and the Mamluks were no longer able to further separate them.

The biggest achievement of the Mamluks in the entire battle was to defeat three Russian centurions. They could not defeat a whole battalion even if they tried their best to besiege it. Afterwards, it was found that Guo Kang's battalion also had more minor injuries and fewer deaths.

Especially on the Bohemian side, many people were wounded by arrows, and most of them were shot by Mamluk archers during the shooting phase. Even so, the dismounted heavy-armored Mamluks were unable to break through their defense, so even if they were unlucky and seriously injured, they could be rescued and did not cause too much damage. In this comparison, the Mamluks' situation became even more suspicious.

The Roman officers were very curious about this. They said that before the war, Rome valued the Mamluks very much. After all, the Mamluks' victory rate in foreign wars had always been very high. And unlike some other countries that relied on defensive battles to increase their victory rate, the Mamluks would always try to drag the war to the outside to resolve it.

Although the Mamluk state seems to be in decline and has serious internal strife, they have never been without internal strife, and they still win. Therefore, even in this situation, it is hard to say how strong their combat power can be, and they must not underestimate the enemy.

Therefore, this result was quite unexpected. Ahmed had always said that it was a problem of command, but in the eyes of the Romans, Mamluk's command ideas were quite standard and his grasp of timing was also okay. Although there was no particularly brilliant plan, to be honest, there was not much room for maneuver in this situation, so this performance was already considered okay. On the contrary, the level of the soldiers was really surprising, making people wonder if it was overestimated.

Therefore, everyone is very curious and wonders why their own thoughts are the opposite.

Ahmed explained that they were not talking nonsense. Although the political situation was very chaotic, all the Mamluk leaders had sufficient combat experience and received systematic military education. They were also confident in their professionalism.

According to the experience of the Mamluks, although they themselves are more famous as elite warriors, several of the most famous battles were won by relying on high morale, superb martial arts and the ability to endure hardship. But if you really want to win, the most important thing is a keen strategic vision and excellent command ability.

For example, if you can persist in fighting for a long time in a battle, you can delay the enemy for a longer time, giving the main attacking side more time to complete the task and improve the error tolerance rate; if you are more skilled in horsemanship, you can maneuver faster and better perform the tasks of disrupting and concentrating the assault, reducing the probability of error and increasing the impact. In short, the ultimate goal of these qualities of the soldiers is to provide sufficient execution to complete various tasks on the battlefield and make the balance of victory more inclined to their side. Simply fighting the enemy head-on is a waste.

The same was true when the Mamluks fought against their enemies. Several of the most famous battles were fought in a very skillful way, not by relying on the high quality of their soldiers.

During the meeting, someone from the Mamluk leadership pointed out that this situation had some similarities to the previous victory over the Mongols at Ain Jalut. However, the differences between the two times were much greater, and almost all of them were in a direction that was unfavorable to the Mamluks.

Just like that time, the foreign enemies were all detachments sent by a powerful Mongol Khanate, and they all brought in some Taiping Heavenly Kingdom believers and local Islamic forces from Syria. However, this time, the Purple Tent Khanate was much more powerful.

The Mamluks did not know much about the history of the East, but there was very clear news at the time that the Mongol Khan had died in the East - the entire Mediterranean world knew this shocking news. Therefore, Hulagu Khan led the main force back in a hurry, leaving only a severely understaffed 10,000-man army, and the Mamluks successfully seized this strategic opportunity. Ain Jalut was not an active attack by the Mongols like other battles, but after learning the news, the Mamluks immediately mobilized and took the initiative to attack. This is to seize opportunities and seek strategic initiative.

In contrast, this time, it was the Purple Tent that took the initiative. The Mamluk generals realized that, unlike other khanates, the Purple Tent had maintained long-term political stability, and successfully seized the opportunity when the Mamluks themselves had the most problems to mobilize troops - this was obviously intentional, and was a deployment made after long-term observation.

The Mamluks then realized that this must be part of the country's long-term strategy. The strategic thinking of this Khanate was completely different from that of the Ilkhanate they had fought before.

This restraint and steadiness paid off. Ahmed himself had to admit that he had grasped the timing well. Although, whether it was the Syrians making trouble or the Caliph rebelling, it was not the first time that it happened, and it was just a coincidence. But seizing these opportunities and letting them explode at the same time can only be said to be a reward from Hu Da to those who are interested.

At this point, they had already gained a huge strategic advantage, and it was the Mamluks' turn to deal with it hastily.

Various natural disasters have severely weakened the Mamluks of Egypt, and their internal strife has become even worse than before. The chaos has lasted for about twenty years and has recently reached its peak.

Before the Battle of Ain Jalut, Sultan Qutuz and the biggest military leader Baibars were able to work together. Baibars personally led a small number of vanguards to carry out the dangerous task of luring the enemy; when Qutuz's left wing was almost penetrated by the Mongols, he threw away his helmet and shouted religious slogans so that everyone could see that he was still fighting in person, encouraging the soldiers to persevere.

After the war, the two started fighting, and in the end, Baibars killed Kutuz and seized the position of Sultan. But during the war, the two really fought hard. However, it is hard to say about the Mamluks now...

The direct consequence of this is that the advantage in numbers is gone.

Ahmed said that the Mamluk military experience does not allow everyone to "fight a fair duel" with the enemy, but requires everyone to try to find opportunities to beat the enemy with more troops. Various diplomatic games and strategic planning are all aimed at creating an advantage in the number of troops during the battle; the hard training in normal times is not simply to allow soldiers to defeat the enemy in a single duel, but to ensure their execution and try to create a situation of beating the enemy with more troops in some areas on the battlefield.

At the battle of Ain Jalut, the Mongol army numbered only a few thousand, with the remaining half being Georgians and Armenians, as well as the local emirs of Syria.

Originally, the Mongols tried to win over the Crusaders, but the Mamluks believed that the Franks were stupid and arrogant and could easily alienate them. As expected, the Roman bishops forbade the Crusaders to continue cooperating with the Mongols, and the local Frankish lords also looked down on the Mongols, believing them to be barbarians, and even took the initiative to attack and provoke them.

While the Mamluks were still gathering, the Frankish Count of Sidon attacked the Mongols first, robbed the Mongol caravan, and killed the nephew of the Mongol commander, Qaiduqa. Qaiduqa led his men to retaliate and burned down the city of Sidon. The lobbyists sent by the Mamluks took the opportunity to persuade the Franks to support them, open up territories and roads for the army to use, and even provide water sources and guides. The Egyptian army was able to quickly pass through the area and enter the battlefield. When the Mongols were driven away, they also took care of the Franks.

The success on the battlefield also benefited from the performance of these allied forces. The Armenian and Georgian knights brought by the Mongols were reckless and undisciplined; the Syrian troops brought were cowardly. After the battle began, Baibars's luring of the enemy was not so easy to be effective. After all, the Mongols themselves were also experienced in using vanguard light cavalry to lure the enemy. However, the Crusader knights in the coalition line soon couldn't help but chase after them.

Under normal circumstances, the Mongols could have ignored them and just surrendered. But this time, the Crusader allies accounted for a considerable proportion of the total army, and if they did not go to support them, the battle would be impossible to fight. Qiebuhua had no choice but to follow them, but as expected, he was surrounded and fell into a bitter battle. During the battle, Emir Musa of Homs fled first, causing the entire formation to collapse.

The Mongols had no way of leading these two groups of allies, one was reckless and the other was timid, and as a result, they were almost wiped out.

Because the Syrians performed so badly, no one knew which group they were in. Although most later scholars believed that there was no evidence that Musa was a traitor and that he was just too incompetent, at the time, Qutuz and Baibars still thought that he did a good job and even retained his fiefdom and position.

This time, the Purple Tent Khanate also brought a large number of people from various backgrounds, but their proportion was not high, and they were assigned other tasks along the way, so many people did not enter the battlefield.

Ahmed said that after the Roman legions left, there was news that only the emir of Homs and some mercenaries were left to defend the city. So, they did think of attacking Damietta first to try to cut off their retreat. But in the tentative attack, the Homs army defending the city performed exceptionally bravely and repelled the Bedouin mercenaries several times in a row.

This performance was beyond everyone's expectations. The generals thought there might be a trick, so they gave up. Now that I think about it, it was probably because he bought the city. He could be lazy when working with the Mongols, but he would fight hard to defend his own territory. It was not because there were really Romans hiding in the city...

On the battlefield, the allied forces had much fewer troops. The only relatively large force was Hafiz's own troops. They were fighting for the position of Sultan, so they fought very hard. Therefore, even this weakness was not obvious.

Therefore, at the beginning, the generals realized that unlike the previous times, this time it would be difficult to fight. But now, they have no way out. Before, everyone started to depose and enthronize the caliph. Although it was not a big deal, it would be troublesome if the political enemies caught it. Therefore, there was no way out at this time. They could only find a way to win the rebellion and turn it into a purge of the emperor, and then think about the rest.

The Purple Tent Army has no obvious weaknesses, so they can only pile up as many infantry as possible to hold them back and give the main force time to find weaknesses. Once an opportunity is found, don't hold back your strength and hurry to defeat the enemy. According to experience, the more elite enemies are not so easy to be dispersed by the defeated soldiers, but even if they fail to sweep away the remaining people, you can stop while you are ahead.

As long as they could defeat a part of the Purple Tent Army, they could fight again the next day or negotiate, and they would gain some advantages. Even if they failed to fight well, at most they could just throw away all the Egyptian infantry, and it wouldn't be a big loss.

The Sheikh, who was in charge of the battle, did not grasp the timing well. Ahmed thought that the location he had chosen was obviously wrong and the time he had invested was also wrong. After finding that the first round of probing was not effective, the Sheikh did not choose to retreat, but directly filled in all the reserve troops. He also issued an order to Ahmed, ordering him to lead his troops to break through here with all his strength, saying that he would be responsible for the vigilance and defense in other directions to delay the enemy reinforcements.

However, this judgment ruined the army on the front line. The Purple Tent Infantry was not weakened by the previous consumption as he expected. The army with a disorderly formation he saw was also a bait. The enemy army at the breakthrough point seemed to have poor discipline and slow movements, but in fact, there were elite troops ambushed behind them, probably waiting for him to run into them and kill them.

When they started to attack, the cavalry was stuck by the infantry. The purple tent reinforcements came back in the opposite direction, and Sheikh and others felt that it was not good, so they hurriedly ordered a retreat. When attacking, the emirs obeyed orders and acted in an orderly manner; but once they heard the news of retreat, they immediately rushed to the front and ignored the task of covering.

Ahmed was at the front line, with not only the Purple Tent chasing him but also a large number of fleeing friendly troops blocking his way. He had no choice but to push forward and try to get out from the infantry, but unfortunately he failed to escape.

Tuohuan told him that Sheikh's judgment was not wrong, there were indeed some new soldiers in that place, and it was not a trap set deliberately. But Ahmed refused to admit that it was his own inability to break through the defense line of the Purple Tent veterans within the planned time, and still insisted that Sheikh was too incompetent and was incompetent in commanding, which led to his failure...

Tuohuan told Guo Kang that this man still knew a lot of military skills, but the internal grievances of the Mamluks were probably already big enough. Sure enough, after getting the guarantee, Ahmed began to act and sent someone with his letter to Cairo to collude with others.

The Mamluks were very familiar with this process. The spies and lobbyists sent by the Purple Tent had already contacted some people who had lost power in the civil war. Now that he was an example, everyone was more determined. Soon, the former Mamluks who were marginalized in the city took action and got the support of some of the garrison troops. They set fire everywhere under the cover of night and took control of the military camps and the city walls.

By the time the Roman army arrived, the battle had already been decided. The Sheikh fled with some of his personal soldiers, and the city governor sent an envoy to formally announce his surrender to Rome.

However, the riots in the city are still very serious. According to the Mamluks, Cairo has been short of labor and food recently because of the forced conscription of soldiers and grain. Coupled with the war and internal strife, people are panicking. Now people gather in broad daylight to rob each other of food and property. They have to focus on the war and do not have enough troops to stop it. Therefore, the Romans have to clean up this mess themselves.

Tuo Huan thought that this was exactly what Guo Kang was good at - when it came to stabilizing the city, rebuilding the organization, and eliminating gangs, he and Zhu Wenkui had more experience than many veteran officers. Now was the time for them to show their skills.

So, he made a special trip to explain the situation to Guo Kang, asking him what he was going to do, where he should start, and whether he needed to make some preparations first.

Guo Kang thought about it and told him that he really needed to plan it carefully because in order to stabilize the order, a war was also needed. Moreover, according to his understanding, it might be an economic war.

(End of this chapter)