Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 650: The Star-Crescent Flag Flying in Egypt
After assembling the team, everyone began to head inland. Before officially setting off, Tuohuan summoned all the middle and high-level officers and informed them of the current situation.

He said that this was the experience summed up by his grandfather Basil at that time. When he was a child, his grandfather told him that the superiority of the Roman army over the barbarians was not because the supreme commander was so outstanding and talented - such people also appeared among the barbarians. The real strength of Rome was not how many talented generals there were, but that they had a large number of centurions and war captains with outstanding abilities and rich experience.

To make these people play to their strengths, you have to tell them clearly what you want to do and what you need them to do, and then let them do it. A mature command team should not have only one chess player and many chess pieces, but a large group of chess players who are working towards a common goal, each doing their own job. It's just that some people are using legions, and some are using brigades. The most basic people may be directly using their own weapons.

Not everyone is like Caesar, who can accurately deploy each centurion at a key position. And even Caesar did this only once because he was forced into a corner. We are all ordinary people, and few have the ability of the ancient sages. Therefore, it is better to be honest and organize well. In this way, it will definitely be much more efficient than the enemy.

So this time, he also wants to make the whole arrangement clear. If anyone has any doubts, don't be embarrassed, just speak up. Because war is a matter of life and death, it cannot be taken lightly. In the future, he will try more and gradually improve this method.

Tuo Huan told everyone that he originally thought he should delay for a while, wait until the defenders of Alexandria were more exhausted, and then enter the battlefield. But who knew that these people were even more useless than expected, and they couldn't hold on for a few seconds. He himself had no experience in commanding a large war, and he lost his composure and let everyone march in advance. This was his problem, and he needed to take the lead in reflecting on it.

However, Zhang Wu, the commander of the Eighth Corps and the general manager of this march, advised him not to think too much. Because even if we look back now, we still don't know whether the people in the city can really hold on; it is hard to say whether delaying for a few days to wait for the old soldiers of the Mamluk Division to get tired will be more beneficial.

Their strategic goal this time was not simply to defeat the Mamluks, but to manage this place as a forward base. If the Port of Alexandria was breached, the Mamluk army would definitely plunder the city, kill people, set fire to the city, and destroy the facilities. At that time, the value of the port would be much lower. Therefore, it might not be worth taking this risk.

Zhang Wu said that the battlefield is a place where life and death are decided, both sides are under great pressure, the pace of making judgments is also very fast, and there are many unpredictable things. It is difficult to make a prediction before it happens; after it happens, making assumptions is also meaningless.

It is not wrong to hope to seize the best opportunity, but an overly idealistic goal is also unrealistic. But now that you have made a choice, you can't regret it.

Everyone agreed with this. Tuo Huan continued to talk about the current situation.

The situation this time was relatively simple, because both sides were looking for opportunities to fight a decisive battle.

The Romans had just won two victories in a row, and their morale was high. After a brief rest, the soldiers still had enough energy to continue fighting. Although they were not as numerous as the enemy, their overall quality was higher than the enemy's. Therefore, they naturally hoped to find an opportunity to fight a decisive battle as soon as possible and defeat the enemy in a field battle.

Facing such a powerful foreign army, the local army should actually retreat first, avoid the enemy's attack, and use the home advantage to slowly consume the enemy. When the enemy can no longer sustain the enemy's attack, or makes a major mistake due to rashness, the balance of advantage will be reversed, and there will be hope of winning. There have been many examples of this idea before. This is how the Crusaders were defeated.

However, Tuohuan believes that although the Mamluks appear to be the Egyptian regime, they are not actually a local force in the general sense.

The current Mamluk army is not even as good as the one the French encountered in Mansoura. At that time, although the Ayyubid dynasty had declined, everyone was competing for the position of Sultan; the Mamluk military leaders often assassinated and annexed each other. However, these disturbances were basically limited to the court, which was a power game between the top leaders and did not have a serious impact on the entire army.

Now, the Mamluk lords have been fighting a civil war for a long time. The emirs in Syria had long ago stopped listening to orders. Although the fuse this time was a series of crises encountered by the Caliphate, from a military point of view, it was actually the open rebellion of the emirs of Syria, which led to the Romans' attack on Egypt. This kind of thing has happened many times in history, so it is not surprising.

The several big warlords in Egypt were not of the same mind. The leader of the other side, Sheikh, was more of an alliance leader than a sultan. Once he showed his weakness, the other warlords didn't even need to have any second thoughts - they didn't try to hide it in the first place.

Although the Romans were strong this time and these people were temporarily united, it was still difficult for Sheikh to command effectively. Everyone knew that the Romans were not easy to deal with, and even if they won, the losses would definitely be huge. The Sultan of Egypt had always been a man with strong soldiers and horses. If he resolutely confronted the Romans and let his own people take the lead in fighting a tough battle, then even if he won, he would definitely be finished.

But on the other hand, if he doesn't go up, it won't work either. If he keeps retreating, even if he says he's luring the enemy deeper into his territory, it will be hard to convince the people. Those who have lost their territory will resent him, and others will question his ability and determination, wondering if he can still lead everyone. After all, everyone made you the leader because they expect you to work and do things. If you don't take on this responsibility, who else can be the Sultan?
Therefore, Tuohuan estimated that the ones who were anxious this time were not the Romans who came across the sea. Before advancing to Cairo, Sheikh would definitely come out to fight them, whether voluntarily or forced.

The water network in the lower reaches of the Nile is relatively rich and the transportation is relatively convenient. The previous Crusaders had poor construction and supply capabilities, which led to various strange situations where they exhausted themselves. The Roman army was well prepared this time, so they were not in a hurry. Everyone should stabilize their mentality and appease the soldiers who may think too much when they first come to the southern foreign land. For other things, just continue to march according to the plan.

The others said they had no problem, so Tuohuan explained the marching route and the order of formation to them.

Their goal was Cairo, the capital of Egypt. It was the stronghold of the Egyptian Mamluks and a place that could not be lost. If they marched there, even if the Sheikh wanted to retreat, others would force him to do so. The road from Cairo to Alexandria was a main road with frequent business trips and was relatively easy to travel. They just had to keep moving southeast along the road.

Tuohuan said that he had also reached a deal with the people in the city. The Romans came all the way here and beat back the Mamluks, allowing them to avoid the tragic fate of being looted and killed. According to tradition, the city was occupied by Rome. But now the situation is urgent and the legion has no time to enter the city again, so they need to pay a ransom for the city. After getting it, everyone will not bother each other anymore.

The merchants and citizens of Alexandria were particularly afraid of the army entering the city. After hearing what he said, they immediately agreed. In just one night, the money was collected and sent over. Tuohuan asked the two legions to send people to take their share and return to distribute it to the soldiers.

In addition, the current garrison in the city is more than 5,000 people. Although most of them are temporarily captured from the surrounding areas and citizens who have been hastily armed, the number is really not small. If they are sent to the battlefield, I guess no one can defeat them; if they are left here, I am afraid that they will be dishonest and cause trouble in the rear. They are the kind of people who are not good enough to do things, but are more likely to cause trouble...

After much deliberation, they decided to take the slightly more formal armed forces organized by the Chamber of Commerce, as well as some of the civilian militia, with them. They did not expect them to go to the front line, but mainly wanted to separate these people to prevent them from causing any more trouble.

Just like that, the team suddenly had a lot more people and started marching forward in a mighty manner.

As they expected, the Mamluks were a little anxious. Their scouts had been watching nearby, engaging in small-scale battles with the Roman scouts from time to time, expelling each other and trying to reduce the other side's reconnaissance range. During the march, the two sides had conflicts, with both sides winning and losing, and they never stopped.

When the expeditionary force reached a small town called Damanhur, they spotted the Mamluk army waiting there from afar.

Damanhur is located southeast of Alexandria, on the road from Alexandria to Cairo. It has always been a town that provides services to merchants and has a relatively important location. The terrain here is very flat, and there are no swamps and wetlands brought by the river branches on the Damietta side, which is conducive to the actions of the Mamluk cavalry. The Roman army did not want to leave the main road again, and the actions of both sides were cautious and conservative.

The Roman army chose to set up camp first. The soldiers moved quickly and dug trenches and built a solid camp in the afternoon. Mamluk scouts came again, and the two sides had another routine outpost battle. However, at night, the Mamluks still chose the safest response and did not send anyone to attack.

After a night, the next morning, after breakfast, the Roman army walked out of the camp. On the Mamluk side, soldiers also poured out from the camps in and around the city. On the flat ground outside the city, the two sides began to deploy battle formations while cautiously approaching each other.

At around ten o'clock in the morning, the armies of both sides ended their mutual probing and formation adjustments and were fully deployed.

The Roman army still had two legions as its core. The Eighth Legion was on the right and the Thirty-third Legion was on the left. The Eighth Legion was more solid, forming a classic three-line formation. Three battalions were placed in the first and second rows, and the other two were kept as reserves at the end.

Each battalion was also arranged in sequence, with each century arranged in three rows; the centuries were deployed in standard battle formations, forming two front lines. The entire legion was almost a rectangle with a narrow front and increased depth. The legion's direct cavalry of more than a thousand people was located on the right wing of the column, acting as a mobile force.

The 33rd Legion followed orders and formed a wider array, with seven battalions lined up in a row, followed by two battalions and the legion's cavalry.

The Eighth Legion was an old legion, and its personnel were mostly from the southwest of Rome, especially the coastal military districts. As early as when Queen Mother Helena was in power, the western Balkans fell into serious chaos due to the disintegration of Serbia, the northward advance of the Ottomans, and the Latin invasion of Albania. In order to avoid the war, the displaced locals fled to the more stable Purple Tent Khanate. Queen Mother Helena sent people to recruit these people, selecting those who were in good health and determined to avenge the barbarians because of the disaster in their hometown, and formed this legion.

At that time, the Queen Mother had little influence on the army. In order to gain support, she personally came forward and awarded the legion with a flag and a number. The Queen Mother was from the Komnenos family, so she specifically authorized the legion to use her family's eagle emblem, with the royal purple as the background and the eagle's wings as the symbol, to express her importance.

Later, Queen Mother Helena did not respond because the Eighth Legion was on rotation and disbanded when the mutiny fell. After the mutiny, Basil III announced to the soldiers that this was just a private matter within the Khanate and would not affect the previous arrangements of state affairs and military affairs. They could still use the previous flags and symbols. In this way, the doubtful legionnaires were appeased. The flag of the Eighth Legion has continued to this day.

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The 33rd Legion was a temporary legion, and the flag they used was the Chinese character "３３".

Fortunately, in the eyes of people in this Mediterranean area, there is not much difference between Chinese characters and pictures. Moreover, the shape of "33" is symmetrical whether it is written horizontally or vertically, which looks quite magical. Therefore, many people really regard it as a symbol and accept it like this...

However, as a formal army, they actually had a symbol. Before setting out, they were assembled and organized on the spot in Dadu, so the Khan specially gave them the city emblem of Dadu, which is the famous moon and star symbol, for use.

The various battalions in the legion also had different origins, unlike the Eighth Legion, which had fought together for a long time. In this formation, on the far right, near the Eighth Legion, were two battalions of veterans from the Thracian region; to their left, were battalions composed of three Morea local war groups, Guo Kang's mixed battalion, and a Dadu battalion; behind them was the first battalion of the main force of the legion and another battalion as a reserve. They were all Serbian veterans, responsible for holding the line in the back. The legion cavalry also stayed behind the line.

The Dadu brigade on Guo Kang's left was the most complicated. They were composed of those who had been checked and had no problems in the Night's Watch during the Dadu incident.

As a warband of Dadu, the Night's Watch is special. They are both a field warband of Dadu itself as a military region and a garrison in the capital city. The Night's Watch has always implemented a rotation system, where some people will fight outside and when the war is over, they will be swapped with those who stay behind to maintain their combat effectiveness and meet the requirements of both identities at the same time.

However, the performance of the Night Watchmen during the turmoil that day was very poor, and it was later discovered that a large number of them had falsely reported their service experience. It was clearly required to take turns to go to the battlefield, but in the end, some people continued to go to the battlefield to gain military merits, while others continued to enjoy the good life in Dadu. The entire army was shocked, and the regiment was strictly investigated from top to bottom. Many relevant personnel were executed or exiled to Novgorod, but some people who had indeed been working hard outside were implicated.

In order to solve this problem, the court decided to allow those who passed the examination to participate in this expedition. If they were proven to be fine in the battle, they could be restored to normal treatment as the final screening measure.

Maybe it was for this reason that, although the two sides were always close, Guo Kang didn't really have much communication with them. One reason was that Guo Kang was also a party involved, and the instigator of the incident, so it was a bit awkward to go there; on the other hand, the atmosphere in their team was a bit weird to be honest...

In Guo Kang's team, the overall atmosphere was quite... cheerful, probably because there were too many Russians. But over there, it was a gloomy feeling. Therefore, Guo Kang only had some communication with them during meetings. This time they were on the left wing of the legion, and I hope they can perform well...

In addition to the two legions, there are also a large number of allied troops.

To the right of the Eighth Legion was the nearly 1,000 Mamluks led by Emir Hafiz of Damascus and their followers. This was also the most powerful of the allies.

To the left of the 33rd Legion were the troops provided by the Knights Hospitaller, the Knights Templar and other small forces. Further to their left were the people brought by other Syrian emirs. The emir of Homs did not come to Damietta, resulting in a shortage of people here. Currently, there were only 600 Mamluks and less than 2,000 cavalry following.

To the left of the Syrians were more than 2,000 Armenian, Kurdish, and Turkmen mercenaries. Their origins were very mixed, and they were basically light cavalry, some of whom were brought by the emirs, and some were sponsored by cities along the way.

Guo Kang didn't know whether they were reliable or not - he thought it would be good if these people didn't turn against him. What stopped them from rebelling was probably because these people had hatred for each other and were watching each other...

Of course, there are those whose combat effectiveness is even worse than theirs: the citizen militia of Alexandria, who are not even qualified to go to the battlefield at present. They have been disbanded by Toghuan and sent to do odd jobs everywhere.

The rest of the troops had already formed up. Guo Kang and his followers also stood under the star-moon flag of the legion, waiting for the battle to truly begin.

(End of this chapter)