1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 1003 The Battle of Vienna

Vienna, July 1683, 9.

"The commander-in-chief of the Ottoman army is a stupid pig!... The defenders in the city are no more than 1 people, and they have not launched a general offensive for a long time. Do we really expect them to offer the city and surrender?"

Lieutenant Lieutenant (Second Lieutenant) Lieutenant Lieutenant (Second Lieutenant) of the Qi State Army Staff Corps in the Ottoman Empire held up his binoculars, looked at the towering city walls of Vienna in front of him, and cursed in a low voice.

"Xiao Liao, be careful!" Fu Xiuwen, the deputy head of the staff and Lieutenant Zhaoxin (Colonel), scolded: "You bastard is talking nonsense without taboos! Are all the taboos in the Ottoman Empire Damn forgot?"

"Sir, anyone with a discerning eye can see that the defensive forces in Vienna are empty. As long as the Ottoman army launches a wave of offensive, they will definitely break into the city, occupy the capital of the Holy Roman Empire, and win a crucial victory." Liao Xiuyi Youzi said indignantly: "But, look at what their commander has been doing for the past two months. He has been in a state of indifference from the beginning to the end, procrastinating when attacking the city, and the officers and soldiers of various ministries are still pushing each other. Let others go to die first, and you will get something for nothing in the end.”

"They knew that they were going to attack the fortified city of Vienna, but they didn't listen to our advice at all, and came with heavy siege artillery. As a result, after entering the city, they had to adopt the time-consuming and laborious method of tunnel blasting to attack the city. Attack the city wall. You said that you want to attack the city. At least you have to go all out and besiege from all sides, making full use of your superiority in numbers. But the Ottomans attacked for two days and rested for three days. Are they still worried that continuous attacks will kill the city? The defenders in the city are exhausted, is this to give the enemy enough rest time?"

"Shut up!" Fu Xiuwen raised his foot to give Liao Xiuyi a sneaky look, and said angrily, "Does it mean that the entire staff group seems to know strategy and tactics best?"

"Sir..." Liao Xiuyi looked around at the several officers of the staff regiment in the trench, and saw that they all had mocking smiles on their faces, and their faces turned red immediately. For some reason, he didn't express his thoughts easily.That is to say, he was young and energetic, and he was open-minded, so he yelled regardless.

Also, none of these officers are experienced officers, and the minimum time they have stayed in the Ottoman Empire is more than two years.It's not like me. I graduated from the military academy for less than three years, and I was still serving in the Indian Army. In February this year, I was transferred to the Army Staff Group in the Ottoman Empire for training. Whether it is seniority in the army or familiarity with the Ottoman military and political situation, That is far from being able to compare with them.

Since all the chiefs of the staff group have seen the problem and are unable to make any changes, it must be bad luck with the commander of the Ottoman army, and the combat proposals submitted have not been adopted by others.But he was yelling here, as if he was capable.

After all, they are just a staff group, not the command organization of the Ottoman army!
"The brain is not stupid." Fu Xiuwen glanced at Liao Xiuyi who had an epiphany, nodded and said: "In this Ottoman army, the only commander is Grand Vizikara Mustafa. Our suggestion can Whether it is accepted by him also depends on his personal will and his consideration of the overall situation."

"What is the overall consideration of the Great Weiqi?" Liao Xiuyi asked in a daze.

"Damn it, I'm not a roundworm in his stomach, how do I know what he's thinking deep inside?" Fu Xiuwen scolded impatiently.

In fact, as the deputy head of the staff group, I still know a little about the true thoughts of the army commander Kara Mustafa.

Without him, you are greedy for money!
You know, after the end of the Franco-Dutch War, due to financial problems, Emperor Leopold I of Shinra was forced to abolish almost half of his troops, 46 infantry regiments and 20 cavalry regiments out of 10 regiments and 4 dragoon regiments were disbanded.It wasn't until 1680 that Leopold I dismissed his corrupt and incompetent finance minister Schzendorf and started a new round of tax reforms. Only then did he have a little financial resources at hand and was able to re-recruit as many as 2 troops .

On July 7, when he learned that the Ottoman army was attacking Vienna, Leopold I made an excuse to raise foreign reinforcements, so he patted his ass, fled Vienna with his family, and handed over the capital to Stallenberg count.At this time, there were only 12 defenders in the city of Vienna. After Earl Stallenberg ordered the rapid deployment of nearby troops, the size of the defenders reached 5000.However, the invading Ottoman army numbered 1000 (including a large number of auxiliary soldiers), and the military strength ratio between the two sides reached a terrifying 20:20.

After the complacent Mustafa went to Vienna, what was he thinking at that time?

He is very confident that he has more than 20 soldiers.He believes that the defenders are stubbornly resisting and have strong firepower. If the whole army launches a strong attack, even if Vienna can be taken, it will suffer heavy losses.

Moreover, he also considered that if the entire army was dispatched, after Vienna was captured, those red-eyed soldiers would definitely snatch all the spoils in the city.Mustafa is also planning to use the money as military expenses for further expansion.He felt that as long as he continued to attack the city on a small scale and consume the combat power in the city, he would be able to take Vienna sooner or later, and finally get all the wealth in the city.

As a result, this delay dragged on from July to September, and several rescuers in Europe have also assembled and are rushing to Vienna for help.

The Duke of Lorraine, who dared not fight the main force of the Ottoman army, had already joined forces with Bavaria, Hanover, and the coalition led by King Sobieski of Poland. The size of the army also reached more than 7.

"Ibrahim, you led more than [-] coalition troops from the Principality of Wallachia, the Principality of Moldavia, and the Principality of Transylvania, and went out to the front lines of Nussdorf and Kadenbergdorf. Prepare to block the coming European coalition forces." Grand Vizikara Mustafa looked at the veteran Ibrahim Bey and said solemnly: "In addition, I will send [-] Tatar cavalry from the Crimean Khanate I leave it to you too. No matter what, you must keep the enemy at the outskirts of Vienna and ensure the safety of the left and right wings of the main force."

"Of order, Grand Vizier." Ibrahim Bey bowed to accept the order, but there was a hint of hesitation on his face, and the corners of his mouth moved, as if he was hesitant to speak.

"Ali, you lead the most elite Janissary Army (also known as the Ganishari Army) of 3 people. Starting tomorrow, you will start to attack the city with all your strength, and you must enter Vienna in the shortest possible time." Mustafa transferred Looking at Ali Yeerikaya, the commander of the Yeniceri Army, he said with high hopes: "Tell the officers and soldiers of the Yeniceri Army that as long as they attack the city of Vienna, they will enjoy [-]% of all the spoils. Both will receive two free slaves."

"Of order, Grand Vizier!" Ali Yeerikaya couldn't help licking his lips when he heard this, with a greedy look on his face.The capital of the Holy Roman Empire has accumulated wealth for thousands of years. Even if the Yeniceri Legion has more than [-] officers and soldiers, it is an unimaginable wealth to capture [-]% of the city.

"Muhammad, I will launch a general attack on the city of Vienna tomorrow. I will entrust all the artillery to your command. You must maintain the continuous output of firepower and provide enough artillery cover for the Janissaries to attack the city with all their strength."

"Of order, Grand Vizier!" Mohammad Himshek, the artillery commander of the Imperial Army, bowed and promised.

"More than 100 years ago, His Majesty Suleiman led an army of [-] to besiege Vienna, but due to the weather, he fell short and had to lead his army back." Mustafa looked at the many imperial generals present, with boundless pride in his heart "Now, our Ottoman army is coming to Vienna again, with more momentum than before. We will witness a great military victory here, we will create a miracle of the empire, and we will completely trample the evil Christian world underfoot. Victory Belongs to our great Ottoman Empire, God bless us!"

"God bless us!"

"The true God is great!"

"..."

Looking at the excited imperial generals, Mustafa was also agitated and couldn't help himself. A perfect image seemed to appear in front of his eyes. The imperial army surrounded him and entered the city of Vienna with their heads held high. Countless Christian nobles and people prostrated themselves. His Majesty the Sultan conferred on him the highest imperial honor in hundreds of years with a smile.

"Where did the people from the Qi State Staff Group go?" Mustafa suddenly thought of something. For such a major military battle, do you need to consult the people of Qi State so that they can help check and make up for omissions and improve all military deployments? .

Not to mention, the Qi State Staff Group has shown enough professionalism and meticulousness in fighting wars.Over the years, he has provided countless military guidance for the Ottoman army to conquer the Quartet, ranging from a short offensive and defensive battle to a large-scale battle, from pre-war planning, logistical support, to combat deployment, tactics From the selection to the post-war summary and the perfect ending, everything was arranged in an orderly manner, as if turning a war into a "board" game.

This attack on Vienna, Mustafa, as the commander-in-chief of the army, also made a hasty decision on a temporary basis.Long before the Neymegen Peace Conference, King Louis XIV of France sent envoys to Istanbul many times to urge the Ottoman Empire to launch an offensive from the rear of the Holy Roman Empire to ease the military pressure on France.

However, Mustafa, who has his own small abacus, wants to let France try its best to consume the strength of the Holy Roman Empire, so as to ease the defensive pressure of the Ottoman Empire in the European direction.Because at this time, the imperial army was competing with Tsarist Russia for Ukraine with the assistance of the Crimean Khanate, and temporarily could not spare any extra energy to invest in the direction of Austria.

In 1681, Ottoman ended the war with Tsarist Russia and signed the "Bakhchisarai Peace Treaty", safeguarding the special interests of the empire in Ukraine.

At this time, Count Imre Tekley, who was located in the territory of Shinra, led a Protestant rebellion in Hungary.To counter the emperor, he turned to both France and the Ottoman Empire for support.But the French just finished the war and needed to take a breather, so they encouraged the Ottoman Empire to use this as an excuse to expand its power to Hungary.

After receiving the request from the Hungarians, the Ottomans immediately made Count Sokoli the king of Upper Hungary.This move separated Austria from its eastern neighbor, the Holy Roman Empire, and provided a pretext for declaring war on the Holy Roman Empire should HRE troops enter Hungary.

Sure enough, the Holy Roman Empire sent troops into Hungary to suppress the local Protestant rebellion.Since he had just lost to Louis XIV in the French-Dutch War, Leopold I was unwilling to start a war with Ottoman, which put him in the crisis of fighting on two fronts.

In order to keep the Ottomans neutral in the Hungarian War, Leopold I sent envoys to request the renewal of the peace treaty signed with Koprulu Ahmed that year.Having just defeated Tsarist Russia, the high-spirited Mustafa rejected Leopold I's request very arbitrarily, and even asked the Holy Roman Empire to hand over Gyor, an important fortress in Hungary, and asked Ottoman for the invasion of Hungary. The empire paid huge reparations.

Of course, such a condition was unacceptable to Leopold I, and both parties already knew that the war was about to break out.

The Ottoman Empire assembled an army of 17 and marched mightily towards the Hungarian border.Servants from the three principalities of Transylvania, Moldavia and Wallachia joined in one after another along the way.The Crimean Khanate, which had always been subject to the Sultan, also sent its own cavalry.Finally, when the Hungarian Protestant army joined in, the size of the entire army has expanded to more than 20, with more than 200 artillery pieces of various sizes.

At this time, the Ottoman army seemed to have regained the bravery of more than a hundred years ago after two generations of Koprulu reforms.In 1669, under the guidance of the Qi State Military Staff Group, they took down Crete, the most important overseas stronghold of the Venetians, allowing the empire to completely control the maritime hegemony in the Eastern Mediterranean.

In 1676, relying on the advantages of their national power, they forced King Sobieski of Poland to abandon Podolia and Ukraine on the northern shore of the Black Sea, thus extending their tentacles to the core of the Cossack rebellion.Two years ago, through war, they defeated Tsarist Russia and seized the entire Ukraine.

Even 100 years ago, the central finance, which was destroyed by global inflation, was gradually restored in the increasingly prosperous Red Sea-Mediterranean entrepot trade.In addition, four years ago, they borrowed [-] million Akche from the people of Qi through land pledges, which made the empire's treasury extraordinarily full, which gave Sultan and Da Weiqi the confidence to continue to use troops everywhere.

Now that such a large army has been brought together, the empire's goals cannot be limited to Hungary.His Majesty Sultan and Grand Vizier suddenly had the idea of ​​capturing Vienna, destroying the Holy Roman Empire in one fell swoop, and extending the territory of the empire to the hinterland of Europe.

The Holy Roman Empire did not initially feel that the Ottomans would go to war for the remote Hungarian region.After confirming that the Ottoman army had set off, it was unclear what the movement of the army was.They withdrew the troops that had entered Hungary, but it was not clear whether their opponents were going north to attack Poland.Out of fear, Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I joined forces with King Sobieski of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth to form an offensive and defensive alliance against Constantinople.But both of them lack sufficient standing armies, and both need time to organize forces of sufficient scale.

Under such circumstances, it will be a matter of time before the Ottoman army entered the city of Vienna very easily, surrounded it, and defeated the city.

But who would have imagined that the two-month siege would continue to weaken the strength of the defenders in the city, but relying on their solid defenses and tenacious will to fight, they could keep the imperial army out of the city.So far, reinforcements from the European Allied Forces have arrived one after another, putting the imperial army in danger of being attacked.

At this time, no one from the Qi State Staff Group appeared in the big tent to give effective combat guidance, and Mustafa couldn't help asking about the movements of the Qi State people.

"Grand Vizier, the Qi people all retreated to Belgrade in the rear before noon yesterday." Ibrahim Bey said: "They have not adopted their military guidance for us, so they have been unable to conquer Vienna for a long time. May be critical and express their dissatisfaction with this behavior."

"Huh?" Mustafa couldn't help but look down, "Did they say anything before they left?"

"The people of Qi state say that soldiers are fierce and war is dangerous, and if there is danger, don't fight."

"What's the meaning of this?"

"The Qi people say that in every battle, the worst outcome is always the most complete preparation." Ibrahim Bey said: "Now, the city of Vienna has not been broken, but the European coalition forces have entered the battlefield one after another. If you are not careful in the battle, you will fall into the situation of being attacked by the enemy, and the whole army may be in danger of collapse."

"So, the people of Qi left first because they were worried that the battle would be lost?" Mustafa was furious that the people of Qi underestimated our imperial army so much. With a crowd of 20 and a company battalion for dozens of miles, how can it be shaken by a mere tens of thousands of European coalition forces?
"Great Wei Qi, the Qi people also said something." Ibrahim said with a serious expression: "They said that we should despise the enemy strategically, but we must pay attention to it tactically."

"Huh?..." Mustafa was silent for a while after hearing this, but began to quickly review the various military deployments made just now, trying to find a weak point.

"Grand Vizier, the combat power of the Tatar cavalry is not credible." Ibrahim said bluntly: "It is reported that the European coalition forces who came to aid have tens of thousands of cavalry, our army must not be careless!"

"Hakan, you personally led the [-] Sipahi elite cavalry under the command of Ibrahim's blocking army." Mustafa turned to look at his confidant, Hakan Fidan, "No matter the cost What a price to pay, the European coalition forces that will come to aid must be blocked in Nussdorf with the infantry. If the Tatar cavalry of the Crimean Khanate escapes, they will all be killed!"

"Obey, Grand Vizier!"

(End of this chapter)