1444, Byzantium Resurrects

Chapter 147: Southern Border Prince

Since the collapse of the Almohad dynasty, which spanned the Maghreb region and southern Iberia, the western half of the Islamic world has never been able to form a unified dynasty, and warlords in various places have been fighting each other and disputes have continued.

On the Iberian Peninsula, in the vigorous Reconquista, the Muslims lost most of the territory on the peninsula. The remaining Kingdom of Granada was trapped in the southern part of the peninsula and continued to weaken in frequent political struggles.

The Maghreb region is roughly divided into three parts. All three dynasties had experienced glory and prosperity. At the peak of the Marin Dynasty, it even occupied Tunis twice and was only one step away from regaining unification.

The good times did not last long. After the 15th century, the three dynasties attacked each other, consumed their national strength in endless internal strife, and fell into decline at the same time.

As the former big brother, the Marin Dynasty was the first to fall into despair. The Portuguese in the north quietly rose up during the civil strife among the three countries. After decades of planning and war, they captured the port of Ceuta on the south bank of the Strait of Gibraltar. Prince Henry led the Knights of Avesh and the Knights of Christ to garrison here, built castles and fortresses, and used it as a forward base to communicate with the interior of North Africa.

Since then, this strategically located commercial port never returned to local people until hundreds of years later in the 21st century.

By the middle of the 15th century, the central authority of the Marinid dynasty was almost completely lost. Heroes emerged in Marrakesh, Tafilalat and Sousse, established their own courts, and only nominally obeyed the orders of the Marinid Sultan.

After 1420, Sultan Osman III was assassinated and the power of the Marin dynasty fell into the hands of others. The people elected the infant Hag II as the leader, while the actual power was controlled by the regent Watas, who was from a branch of the Marin dynasty.

In 1455, a new round of Crusades was in full swing. Christian forces surrounded the three Maghreb countries from two directions, causing great panic to local forces.

On September 1455, 9, King Alfonso V of Portugal and the Kingdom of the Algarve personally led an army of 15 troops to the Port of Ceuta, eyeing the prosperous commercial ports on the surrounding coasts.

On September 9, the Portuguese army surrounded the port of Tangier, determined to take this sad city into its possession.

This was not the first time the Portuguese launched an attack on this port. Eighteen years ago, the Portuguese expeditionary force was completely wiped out at the gates of this city, and Prince Fernando was captured and imprisoned to death.

However, compared with eighteen years ago, the Kingdom of Portugal has gradually prospered and become stronger, while the Marin dynasty is almost disintegrated.

On November 1455, 11, under the pressure and threat of Regent Watas, Sultan Hag II of the Marin Dynasty hurriedly summoned his troops to rescue the port of Tangier and fought a bloody battle with the Portuguese expeditionary force south of Tangier.

Under the dual crushing of absolute troop quality and quantity, the Marin army failed to continue the glory of eighteen years ago and was easily defeated by the Portuguese expeditionary force. The soldiers were scattered and the port of Tangier was soon broken.

In this battle, the Kingdom of Portugal avenged its previous defeat and captured Tangier, an important northwestern city of the Marin Dynasty, making the port of Ceuta no longer an isolated city and establishing its absolute authority in northern Morocco.

When the Marinid Dynasty was on the verge of extinction, the situation of the Hafsid Dynasty, its fellow sufferer to the east, was even worse.

After the siege of Kairouan, despite the pleas of Caliph Yahya who occupied Tunis, the vast majority of jihadist fighters bypassed major northern cities such as Tunis and Sousse and headed south in waves, vowing to defend the holy city from invasion.

When the fleeing refugees brought the news of the fall of Sfax to the Tunisian Palace, Caliph Yahya, who was worried about reorganizing his army, was so angry that he fainted on the spot. The whole city of Tunis was shrouded in gloom.

After ending the battle of Sfax, Isaac did not continue northward. After leaving part of the army and vassal troops to guard, he led the Eastern Army southward and met with Ferdinand whose attack had been thwarted in the small town of Suhayla on the west bank of the Gulf of Gabes.

"Your Majesty, the Western Army was ambushed by Sultan Jared east of Gafsa City. I failed to complete your mission. It was my fault."

In the camp outside Suhaila, Isaac saw Ferdinand with a bandage on his left arm.

"No one expected that Sultan Jared would be so decisive. This is not your fault. It would be the same no matter who came."

"Victory and defeat are common in the military, so don't be discouraged."

Isaac patted his relative on the shoulder and poured him a glass of mead.

Unlike Islamic centralized states like the Ottoman Empire, the three Maghreb countries are actually a special kind of tribal union. Sheikhs and emirs in various places control the local military and political power. Their loyalty depends entirely on the strength of the central government, which is equivalent to a group of separatist warlords.

Except for the core area around the city of Tunis, the Hafsid dynasty had very limited control over other places. According to geographical units, the princes were mainly divided into three parts.

The eastern princes were active on the coastal grasslands between Sfax and Tripoli. Due to the lack of terrain barriers, they were most influenced by the central government, made the greatest contributions in the jihad, and also suffered the worst.

The western princes are mainly distributed in the valleys in the Atlas Mountains and the plains north of the Atlas Mountains to the west of Tunis. This area is close to the Zayanid Dynasty and has been occupied by the Marinid Dynasty and the Zayanid Dynasty at different periods in history. It has always been the focus of the Hafsid Dynasty's external defense. The local town governors were mostly generals of the Hafsid Dynasty at first. After taking office, they married and assimilated with local forces, gradually taking control of the military and political power. Relying on their geographical advantages, they stayed on the edge of the Hafsid Dynasty's rule, and chose to surrender or rebel according to changes in the situation, without exception.

As for the south, the situation is quite different.

Since the westward conquest of the Arab Empire, most of the Berbers north of the Atlas Mountains have been rapidly assimilated in culture and religion, accepting their own Muslim identity and gradually moving from nomadic to settled.

The Berbers south of the Atlas Mountains have retained more of their ethnic traditions and are more barbaric in culture. They still lead a nomadic and semi-nomadic life, eating raw meat and drinking blood, and searching for pastures and oases suitable for survival in the desert.

The westward movement of the Arabs also caused the Bedouins, who originally lived on the Arabian Peninsula, to enter North Africa. These desert nomads were even more primitive, carrying out basic life production in clan units, refusing to be civilized, and had a deep-rooted aversion to settled life in their hearts.

These two waves of people were widely distributed in the vast desert south of the Atlas Mountains, and had always been close to the Berber regime in the north. During the war, the rulers of the three major dynasties often used a little benefit to lure the shekhs of various tribes, using them as cannon fodder and consuming them on the cruel battlefield.

There are also many desert tribes on the edge of Isaac's territory. They can be seen in the army of the Hafsid Dynasty on the westward expedition. These tribesmen who have never seen the world will serve as the king's vanguard for a little bit of benefit that seems insignificant to Isaac. They are the best war consumables.

To the south of the Hafsid Dynasty, there were three large tribal alliances mainly composed of these people, namely Mzab, Togurt and Jared from west to east. Their leaders accepted the imperial decree from the Hafsid Caliph and were nominally part of the Hafsid Dynasty.

As the Hafsid dynasty declined, three vassal states in the south began to rebel, expelled the commissioners sent by the Hafsid dynasty to supervise them, and established themselves as local sultans or emirs.

In a broad sense, they are also members of the Islamic world, but their religious ideas are different from those of their compatriots in the north. They are mixed with a lot of local colors and are deeply influenced by primitive religions.

The Togurt Sultanate and the Djerid Sultanate in the east believe in Sunni Islam, while the Mzab in the west believes in the extremely rare Ibadi sect of Islam, which makes them incompatible with neighboring countries.

These people live on the edge of the Sahara Desert, relying on animal husbandry and desert trade to lead a rather primitive life. Agricultural production is extremely limited, and the main cash crops are date palms, which are heat-resistant, cold-resistant, drought-resistant and alkali-resistant.

"Taste it?"

Ferdinand grunted, picking through the scattered dried fruits on the table, picking up one and putting it in his mouth.

Isaac shook his head and kept his distance from the little black and brown thing.

"According to the local natives, eating this fruit is good for the body and can cure diseases and injuries. I don't know if it's true or not."

Ferdinand chewed it, swallowed it, and picked up another one. People often say that when God closes a door, he will definitely open another window. There is some truth in this.

For desert herders, in addition to camels, date palms that can adapt well to the harsh desert environment are the window of life opened by God for them.

Dates are good things. Due to the large temperature difference between day and night in the desert, mature dates are extremely high in sugar content, and are also rich in basic vitamins and various nutrients. They are a treasure of desert herdsmen.

Ripe dates can be used to make wine, the seeds can be ground and used as a substitute for coffee, and dried dates can be made into candied fruit. Many tribes even use dates as their staple food.

As for its use as medicine, Isaac remembered that ancient books of the Celestial Empire did list dates as a medicine, but it was certainly not as effective as the locals said.

The only drawback of this thing is probably that it is too sweet. It's okay to try it for a while, but it will make you feel sick if you eat it for a long time.

When Isaac first came to North Africa, he thought about developing some secondary industries using dates. He tried to set up some date processing factories in Sirte and Ajdabiya, and exported the dried fruits and ground seed powder to Europe as a lower-level substitute for sweets and coffee. The response was good, but the profit was not high, so it could only be used as a means to supplement finances.

At first, Isaac tried to make sugar with this small sweet fruit, but the effect was not good. The syrup was dark brown. Compared with the crystal-clear amber honey and the white snowflake-like high-grade cane sugar, this product with poor appearance obviously did not win the favor of the nobles.

Later, the opening of colonies in West Africa provided a stable source of sugar, and this plan was shelved permanently.

"Isaac, how are you going to deal with Jared and these tribal regimes?"

Ferdinand swallowed the dates in his mouth while unfolding a hand-drawn map on the table.

The map was very rough and ambiguous in many places. There was a circled black dot in the center, with thick lines representing mountain ranges drawn to the north and south of the dot, and notes in Latin next to it.

Gafsa city.

This city surrounded by mountains is located in a large oasis. During the rainy season, moist air currents are blocked by the mountains and form rainfall, which gathers several dry rivers into the valley. Dryland agriculture can be developed to produce fruits such as citrus and grapes. The natural environment is good, and it is a rare large city in the southern part of the Hafsid Dynasty.

In Isaac's plan, this city must be taken.

"Gafsa city is in an important location. If it falls into the hands of the enemy, they can send troops to threaten the coastal corridor at any time and cut off the territory."

"This city cannot be left to the Saracens."

Isaac pointed at the map and said firmly.

To be honest, Sultan Jared's bold behavior and the defeat of the Eastern Army did cause Isaac a lot of trouble, otherwise he would not have temporarily abandoned the plan to advance northward and go south to solve this problem.

If the retreat route cannot be ensured to be open, military operations to the north will involve considerable risks. Now that Isaac is confident of victory, he does not want to take this risk.

"What about further south? Should we wipe them out?"

Ferdinand asked.

Isaac's eyes moved downwards. On the map, there was a large area of ​​indigo to the south of the city of Gafsa. The cartographer obviously wanted to express something with this eye-catching color.

This is Lake Djerid, which is extremely vast and one of the largest salt lakes in the world.

Every summer, the salt lake almost dries up, revealing the barren and hard lake bed.

When the winter rains come, the area fills up with salt water again, revealing a gorgeous pink color.

Due to geological reasons, the local groundwater reserves are relatively abundant, and a number of oasis towns have been formed nearby, mainly the city of Djerid, which is the main base of the Djerid Sultanate.

If it were the 21st century, Lake Djerid would be extremely valuable. The bottom of the lake would produce a variety of salt mines that could be used as important industrial raw materials. The pink salt lake would also attract curious tourists and earn a lot of profit.

But for Isaac now, this place has little value and seems very useless.

"Our target is not the small feudal lords in the south. If they are willing to abide by the law, I can give them military and political autonomy and even religious freedom, and I will not interfere too much."

"There are many nomadic tribes in the desert. After we exterminate them all, more barbaric tribes will come from the south and occupy their ecological niches. In that case, our forces will inevitably be tied down, which will be disadvantageous for the next move."

Ferdinand nodded, obviously thinking the same thing.

"So, you're saying that we negotiate with them and only ask for nominal sovereignty, just like the Hafsid dynasty once did?"

"That's not true."

Isaac grinned, revealing his sharp white teeth.

"I had no intention of being an enemy of them, but they insisted on interfering, which made me very unhappy."

Isaac stood up, put his hands behind his back, and paced around the tent.

The barbarians fear power but not virtue. Blindly negotiating peace will only earn them contempt. Even if peace is achieved temporarily, it will never last.

In this era, peace was never won by the mediation of diplomats, nor by negotiations between monarchs, nor by the mediation of priests.

But war horses and spears.

"Since our Sultan Jared wants to get involved in this mess, let him try my sword to see if it is sharp."

On December 1455, 12, Isaac and Ferdinand joined forces and marched back to the city of Gafsa, which had been occupied by Sultan Jared in the chaos. They marched steadily and surrounded the city.

At the same time, Isaac also sent people across the Salt Lake of Djerid to communicate with the Sultanate of Togurt and the Emirate of Mzab further west, asking them to send envoys to meet with him and discuss a plan to ensure long-term peace and stability in the southern border of Hafs.

(End of this chapter)