Volume 3: Confrontation! The Run of Civilization Chapter 541: Ginger is still spicy with age
"Morris, give me back my legion!"
"God damn it, Maurice, give me back my legion!"
On September 11, 1625, in Rome, deep in a palace in the Vatican, such heart-wrenching roars continued to be heard. The roars were so angry that the servants in the Spanish court, who were proud to be selected as the king's attendants, all shut their mouths, lowered their footsteps, and tried to stay away from the room where the roars came from.
On the evening of September 4 and the early morning of September 5, the Ottomans gathered 70,000 soldiers and launched a counterattack against Maurice's defense line outside Jerusalem. On the one hand, their soldiers were brave, and on the other hand, they were very lucky: they happened to encounter the enemy's new soldiers preparing to enter the battle position from the rear, while the original soldiers on duty were preparing to retreat.
Of course, a commander like Maurice was no pushover. Although he was a little flustered by the fierce bombardment of the enemy, he quickly began to reorganize the defense line with the help of excellent Spanish middle and lower-level officers.
However, no one expected that in this era when machine guns were prevalent, the enemy would actually have such a large cavalry corps! What was even more unexpected was that the enemy dared not to send infantry to test the firepower first, but directly sent cavalry to charge!
Such a bold move brought rich rewards: although the cavalrymen were knocked down by the remaining machine guns of the first Spanish line of defense during the charge, and nearly half of them were killed when they crossed the first trench of the enemy, when the remaining 5,000 to 6,000 cavalrymen rushed into the Spanish line of defense, raised their six-round pistols and fired randomly, and then swung their sabers and hacked around, the entire Spanish army was completely in chaos.
The cavalry's relentless charge in the front made it impossible for the Spanish infantry along the way to effectively organize the second and third lines of defense. Behind the Persian cavalry, more than 50,000 infantry followed closely behind, forcing the Spanish to resist in small strongholds led by their respective officers, with a few or dozens of people forming a small base, and they were unable to restore a complete overall defense line.
So, the defense line was broken, and the whole army fought on its own ... On the morning of the 5th, the Spaniards finally collapsed under the crazy attack of the Ottoman-Persian coalition. One person turned and fled westward, and then countless people turned and fled. From the morning of the 5th to the evening of the 7th, the Ottoman and Persian coalition forces chased the Spanish army for three days! The 50-kilometer road from Jerusalem to Gaza was littered with Spanish corpses.
During these three days, Morris did not want to organize his troops to fight back. However, his idea was ruthlessly suppressed by the Persian cavalry: As the Persians relied on heavy cavalry to fight the heavy infantry of the Roman Empire in the early years, their advantage in cavalry can be proudly said to have been since ancient times! Morris tried his best to gather a few hundred people, and before he could set up the heavy machine gun, the cavalry surrounded him like the wind...
In short, at dusk on the 7th, the Spanish who had been retreating all the way ran to the vicinity of Gaza, and with the help of the sailors who came ashore from the fleet, they repelled the Ottomans who had been chasing them for three consecutive days and were actually at the end of their strength. After a thorough inventory, it was found that only more than 17,000 Spanish troops who had fled to the city of Gaza were left.
You know, the Spanish gathered eight divisions in Jerusalem, a full force of 120,000. Although as time goes on, there will definitely be more scattered Spanish officers and soldiers who continue to come to Gaza to reunite. But in any case, this defeat, almost 100,000 people were lost!
Furthermore, due to the ultimate collapse of the side rather than an orderly retreat, all heavy equipment was lost.
It wasn't just these eight divisions that lost a total of 100,000 men. There were two divisions in Jerusalem with more than 20,000 men! If you really count them this way, ten Spanish divisions were crippled: there were only 20 new army divisions in the whole of Spain, and half of them were lost in one fell swoop!
Maurice, who was nearly 60 years old, could not face such a great defeat calmly. After handing over the command to the Count of Barudes, the commander-in-chief of the navy who came in a hurry, he ignored the rule that Christians cannot commit suicide and shot himself: In his suicide note, this was the greatest punishment he had for himself. If he didn't do this, he couldn't give an explanation to His Majesty Philip who trusted him!
Speaking of which, on the night of the 4th, after the Ottomans fired at the Spanish positions, the two divisions in Jerusalem also quickly moved out: Coutinho and Fernando, two of Rudolph's confidants, were dissatisfied with Philip and wanted to gain a higher position to find out the truth about Rudolph's sudden death, but they did not want to destroy Spain.
So, that night, in the early morning of the 5th, the two divisions began to leave the city and attack the Ottoman positions.
Unfortunately, they ran into the Ming Sixth Division, which was known as the "Iron Wall". Although this division had only more than 9,000 combatants at the time, relying on the dense defense line and the Sixth Division's inherent defensive skills, the Ottoman-Persian coalition in the west defeated the Morris Corps, while in the east, Coutinho and Fernando tried their best and paid the price of more than 3,000 casualties, but they failed to break through the defense line guarded by Zhao Lujiao and Luo Xiong!
For Zhao Rujiao and his men, they had actually made up their minds: after the messenger sent by their side reconnected with their navy and determined the pick-up location, the entire army would withdraw to Ming Dynasty. But on the one hand, the two divisions in Jerusalem had beaten them badly with the help of the navy a few days ago. On the other hand, Richelieu promised: as long as the Sixth Division helped them fight this battle, after the battle, he would send people to do their best to find and collect the remains of the Sixth Division's fallen soldiers who retreated from Sinai. And sent envoys to negotiate with the Spaniards to get back the captured officers and soldiers of the Sixth Division - if it weren't for this condition, Zhao Rujiao would not even bother to look at Richelieu.
In any case, for the Ottoman Empire, the Jerusalem counterattack was a victory. While causing no less than 100,000 losses to Spain, such a great victory also completely stabilized Ibrahim's position on the throne of Grand Vizier.
Of course, the Ottomans were happy, and the Spaniards were in tears. On the 11th, the news reached Rome, and Philip lost his composure on the spot. After that, he hid in a room and roared heartbreakingly for most of the day.
A steady sound of footsteps was heard, and the previously uneasy servants looked up and saw that it was the almost invisible chief of staff of the 500,000-man army, the old marshal of the empire, Count Tilly, who had arrived.
The heavy door creaked open, and when Tilly entered the room, he saw Philip, who had disheveled hair, a pale face, and a dazed look.
"Your Majesty, what's wrong with you? Please cheer up!"
"I can't cheer up, Your Excellency. Ten divisions! Half of the new army is gone! Maurice has betrayed my trust!"
"Your Majesty, yes, we suffered an unprecedented defeat. But, isn't it just the failure of a battle? In my nearly sixty years of military career, I have had many glorious victories, but if you really compare them, they are far less than the number of times I have failed. Your Majesty, failure is not terrible. What is terrible is that a failure destroys a person's will! I have failed countless times, and I have also been decadent and desperate. But as long as I can stand up, I will still be full of energy to win the next battle!"
"Your Excellency, do we still have hope of victory?"
"Of course, Your Majesty! And in my opinion, this defeat will make our goal more clear. Your Majesty, please stand up and I will explain it to you."
As one of the most outstanding mercenaries of this era, Count Tilly's professional ethics is beyond doubt: I have accepted your appointment and received your money, so I will definitely serve you wholeheartedly. As for His Majesty Philip, he is very good at governing the country, but he is much worse than His Majesty Rudolph in fighting. And his willpower is also much weaker than Rudolph. But it doesn't matter, as long as His Majesty can get through this time, he will grow up soon.
"Your Majesty." Pulling Philip to a map, he said, "After this great defeat, our strategy of advancing from north to south has failed. Next, we need to adjust our troops and focus on one key offensive."
"Which route do you think we should focus on, Your Excellency?"
"Southern Front!" Tilly pointed his baton heavily at Egypt. "Your Majesty, when fighting a small country, of course we should go straight to an important stronghold like its capital. If we take down that stronghold, we will naturally win. But when fighting a big country like the Ottoman Empire, even if we take down Constantinople, we may not necessarily win. In my opinion, after this defeat, our battle with the Ottomans will inevitably become protracted. Therefore, in the next battle, we must aim to destroy the enemy's manpower and seize their resources to support us to continue fighting!"
"Your Majesty, I suggest temporarily abandoning the offensive on the northern front for three reasons. First, the defense system in Constantinople is extremely complete, and because our navy cannot break through the Bosphorus Strait, the Ottoman industrial base in the Caucasus can continuously transport various guns and artillery to their Constantinople garrison through the Black Sea. Therefore, it makes no sense for us to stockpile heavy troops near Constantinople.
Second, since our army was defeated in Jerusalem, the enemy's heavy troops there can be transferred to the Anatolian Peninsula. Relying on the enemy's control of the Black Sea, they can land at will on the east side of the Balkan Peninsula. If we continue to accumulate heavy troops near Constantinople and are cut off by the enemy's landing troops, then our northern line is also in danger of collapse!
Third, even if we take Constantinople, we will have to march on the Anatolian Plateau on the Anatolian Peninsula. Along the way, there are mainly Ottoman settlements. There is no doubt that our march will be very slow.
In short, even if we take Constantinople, apart from the political gains, the other benefits are very small. Not only that, if we cannot take this place in the near future, our northern army will also face great danger. "
"Hmm... " After Tilly's explanation, Philip's attention returned, and his previous decadent and flustered expression slowly disappeared: "So, Your Excellency, what about the southern line?"
"On the southern front, we have now formed a complete encirclement in Alexandria, and we have control of the Mediterranean Sea. Therefore, the Ottomans have no way to carry out large-scale rescue. In other words, it is safe for us to attack Alexandria, and Alexandria will be taken by us sooner or later. And if we take this place, we will naturally take Egypt, the big granary. It is extremely beneficial to support our army's subsequent operations. Moreover, after taking Egypt, we can re-adjust our troops and enter Jerusalem again. By then, the holy city will be truly restored, and your reputation, Your Majesty, will only be higher!"
"..." After thinking carefully, Philip nodded heavily: "I completely agree with your analysis. Then, Your Excellency, please take the trouble to go to Sofia in person to explain our new plan to Gustav and Wallenstein. I have decided to transfer five divisions from the northern line to the southern line, and the remaining five divisions will lift the siege of Constantinople."
"As you command, my Lord!"
