Volume 3: Confrontation! The Run of Civilization Chapter 527: Alexander
Alexandria is named after the founder of this city, the great conqueror, the king of Macedonia, the King of Clubs on playing cards, Alexander the Great.
The city is located on the southern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The coastline is flat and the corresponding tidal range is not very large, making it an excellent port. In addition, when Alexander the Great built the city here in the fourth century BC, the largest outlet of the Nile River was also here: entering the Nile River from here, you can go deep into Nubia. More than 90% of the materials in the entire Nile River basin go out to sea here... Such a superior geographical location made this city the political center of Egypt for a long time, and it was glorious for nearly a thousand years.
In the seventh century AD, with the occupation of the region by the Crescent Moon Cult and the construction of Cairo, especially after the change of the Nile River estuary, Alexandria's political and economic status in Egypt declined. But at least at this time, it was still Egypt's largest seaport and material distribution center.
Before the construction of the Aswan Dam in the mid-20th century, the Nile River would wash the silt containing a large amount of humus from the middle and upper reaches to the Nile Delta downstream every year. As a result, the land in the lower reaches of the Nile River was extremely fertile. Whether it was the Byzantine Empire or the Ottoman Empire, Egypt was the most important granary of these great empires for thousands of years. And the starting point of these grains was also in Alexandria.
Not only that, now, the Ming Dynasty is continuing to aid the Ottomans. Since the Suez Canal is still completely out of sight. Therefore, the Ming Dynasty's fleet unloads goods in the Sinai Peninsula, and then the Ottomans organize local people to transport them to the port of Alexandria for shipment to Asia Minor. Therefore, if Alexandria is taken, the Ottomans will not only lose the empire's largest granary, but also the Ming Dynasty's aid to it will be almost cut off - if Egypt is lost, if the Ming Dynasty wants to aid the Ottomans again, it must go through the Persian Gulf and unload goods in Iraq. The journey is countless times longer, and it has to pass through the territorial waters of the Persians. Moreover, the goods are much slower when they are transported by land than by sea, and the loss during transportation will also become extremely large.
Therefore, after the Ottomans were forced to abandon Tripoli due to their naval disadvantage, Philip's staff quickly adjusted Alexandria as the first attack target of the army on the southern front.
However, since this place is so important, the Ottomans will naturally do their best to strengthen the defense here. Ibrahim not only deployed 45,000 new troops and 10,000 old troops here, but also gritted his teeth and allocated as many guns, cannons and related ammunition as possible from the limited arsenal.
In view of the birth of breech-loading guns and the powerful power of gunpowder in this era, the city walls had lost their military function. Therefore, since October 1624, when the commander of the Alexandria Legion, Boris, arrived here, he began to mobilize the local Egyptians to dig trenches desperately. For a time traveler with a background in materials, he might not be good at other things, but it was no problem to make the best steel-mouthed engineer shovel of this era. In addition, the land near Alexandria was very soft, so Boris's work progress was completed very quickly.
By March of that year, after more than four months of rush work, Boris had dug at least two trenches on the east, west and south sides of Alexandria. In particular, there were three trenches on the west side, which was likely to be the focus of the enemy's attack.
According to Ibrahim's suggestion, each trench here is three meters deep and two meters wide. Some key nodes are reinforced with cement and steel bars. Outside the trenches are barbed wire, wooden stakes, and sandbags. Inside the trenches, there are heavy machine gun points and artillery positions protected by permanent fortifications. Under the management of professional soldiers like Boris, public canteens, toilets, etc. were added to the trench construction diagram issued by Ibrahim...
As for the north of Alexandria, please break my minefield first, and then slowly crawl over on the mudflats.
Therefore, when Duke Albrecht led the vanguard of three divisions to land 15 kilometers west of Alexander on March 10, and approached the enemy's fortifications under the escort of a team of soldiers, everyone from the commander down felt it was difficult!
"Sir, the situation is now very clear. The Ottomans have set up a meat grinder here. If we rush here rashly, it will inevitably lead to heavy casualties among our soldiers."
"Well, then, what suggestions does Governor Giovanni have?"
"Sir, our navy has a great advantage. With this advantage, the enemy has been forced to defend isolated strongholds, while we can move freely and attack wherever we want. Although Alexandria is the most critical city for Egypt to capture, the defense system here is too strong... Why should we give up our greatest advantage and sacrifice the lives of a large number of soldiers to fight a tough battle with the Ottomans who are forced to defend their strongholds?"
"so?"
Seeing Albrecht's eyes begin to light up, Giovanni was overjoyed and worked even harder to encourage him: "Sir, I suggest that we use Crete as the new front-line logistics base and place these three divisions near Alexandria for surveillance. Then our navy will take us to land in Cyprus."
"Cyprus?"
"Yes, sir. No matter how important Egypt is to the Ottomans in terms of food security, the people here are mainly Arabs, and they cannot be considered the Ottoman homeland. If we take Cyprus, we can directly threaten the Ottoman homeland. At that time, we can land anywhere in the southern part of the Anatolian Peninsula, making it difficult for the enemy to defend. In this way, the enemy will have to leave the solid trenches and come out to seek a field battle with us. Moreover, if we take Cyprus, we can obtain the large copper mine there, and..." Giovanni lowered his voice: "It will be closer to Jerusalem."
"Hmm..." After carefully thinking about Giovanni's words, Albrecht looked at the reactions of the people below: "Mr. Chief of Staff, what is your opinion?"
"Your Excellency, Duke, I still think that we should strictly follow His Majesty Philip's orders and attack Alexandria as soon as possible. Our officers have repeatedly reviewed the attack and defense of Manila before the start of this war. Facing such a complicated defense system of the other side, we are not powerless."
"..." Duke Albrecht bowed his head and pondered for a long time. He was always obsessed with the honorary title of "Restorer of Jerusalem". He was finally impressed by the prestige Philip had established over the years. So he finally raised his head and said, "Okay, Your Excellency Marquis Spinola, I now give you full authority to launch an attack on Alexandria within March."
"As you wish, sir. But I need to mobilize more troops to Alexandria."
“How many do you need?”
"At least ten divisions."
"...I agree."
"Thank you for your support. Our three divisions that arrived first will be deployed as soon as possible and establish a forward base. After the follow-up troops move in, we will launch an attack here as soon as possible."
"Then I'll leave it all to you. Please start working right away."
"Yes, Your Excellency. And you?"
"Now that I have arrived in Alexandria, as a believer in the Lord, I will go to Abu Menai to pray."
Abu Mina is a holy place of Christianity, only about 40 kilometers away from Alexandria. Logically, a devout Christian who came to the vicinity should go there to take a look. But you want to abandon your troops now?
Shaking his head helplessly , Spinola had no choice but to take his men to deal with the deployment of the troops.
…
An hour later, in Alexandria.
"General, our scouts lurking outside the trenches have already found out. After the enemy landed, a small number of troops went forward to provide alert, while the main force is digging new trenches fifteen kilometers away from our outermost trenches."
"Boris, should we send out cavalry to attack the enemy while they are still unstable?"
"Cavalry?" Boris, who was nearly two meters tall and had blond hair, shook his head. "Dear Pasha, let me be frank. Facing your cavalry, the enemy does not need too many soldiers. Three or five heavy machine guns will be enough ."
"So we're just going to wait like this? Wait for the other party to bump into us?"
"Every citizen of the Ottoman Empire, no matter what ethnicity he is, has a precious life as long as he wants to defend the country. We must not waste any life. So, wait, wait for them to hit us."
"General?"
"Well, what else do you want?"
"According to the scouts' report, in addition to the guard troops and the troops building barracks and digging trenches, the enemy also has a cavalry unit of about 500 people heading southeast."
"Southwest... Um, Mustafa Pasha, is there any Christian holy place in the southwest?"
"Ah, yes! Yes! Abu Mena Monastery. 1,300 years ago, the Roman Emperor Diocletian conquered Egypt again and was ready to kill all the Christians among the captives. The Roman legion officer Menas refused the emperor's will and publicly expressed his Christian faith... Later, when his body was transported back to his hometown, when passing by Abu Mena, all the camels stopped. After his followers had no choice but to bury his body there, a large number of springs suddenly gushed out, and then an oasis was formed..."
"Haha~" Boris pulled the corner of his mouth in boredom after listening to Mustafa's story: "These Romans just like to brag about miracles everywhere. Even an Orthodox Christian like me can't stand it."
After saying this, he stood up and said, "There is no doubt that the small cavalry team must be the devout believers among the enemy's senior officers who are going on a pilgrimage. And it is very likely that they are the enemy's commander. If we send out the cavalry while the enemy has not yet completely surrounded us..."
"Hahaha, I know what to do. Leave this matter to me, Mustafa!"
