1444, Byzantium Resurrects

Chapter 48 The troops march in danger
Inside the White Castle, Isult and Conti looked grim as they listened to the casualty reports of the past few days.

The siege had lasted for a week, and under the enemy's reckless attack, the defenders had suffered a staggering 1,500 casualties.

The enemy suffered about 2,500 casualties.

"Lord Isurt, I wonder if there is any doctor in the city?"

Conte asked softly.

"Many of our soldiers suffered serious injuries due to lack of effective medical treatment, and some of the seriously injured died directly."

Iseult shook his head.

These days, the medical level in the Christian world is far behind that in the Islamic world, and there are very few people who have medical knowledge.

Isurt has sent all the professional and non-professional doctors in the city to the battlefield, but it is still a drop in the bucket.

Not to mention that some doctors are complete parasites.

If you keep vomiting, he will dare to bleed you.

If you have bleeding from an external injury, he dares to give you an enema.

In addition, some doctors are particularly fond of using maggots and rats to eat rotten meat, regardless of whether it is clean or not.

"I will organize another group of militia from the city and try to delay it for a few more days."

They now have no hope of winning the war and only hope that His Highness will return immediately.

Isurte and Conte looked at each other with a wry smile, and saw deep confusion in each other's eyes.

……

"The current situation is that more than 8,000 enemy troops are besieging Sirte, the western border has been attacked, and the southern tribes are unstable."

"Tell me what you think?"

In the bumpy cabin, Isaac looked at the commanders.

"Captain Brahm, you go first."

Bram Palaiologos stood up.

This Captain Brahm was from the court of John IV, was a cousin of John and William, and currently served as Captain of the Guard of the Grand Margrave.

John IV kept his promise in the alliance and lent the most elite Grand Marquis Guard to Isaac to help him return to his country to quell the chaos.

Brahm spoke slowly, his thick beard trembling constantly.

"Your Highness, we should rush back to Surt as soon as possible to assist in the defense."

Having said this is like saying nothing.

"I think you should go ahead and take a fast ship to Sirte to boost morale, command the defense, and tell them about reinforcements."

"Even if you can't spare the time, you should send a nobleman of high moral character to boost the defenders' confidence."

"When there is a strong enemy but no reinforcements, a long defense will lead to failure. Such a defense battle will not only fail to effectively kill the enemy, but will instead embolden the enemy."

That's more like what you're saying.

In a battle to defend a city, morale is far more important than military quality. If there is no reinforcement for a long time and the army is trapped in an isolated city, the morale of the army will be worn away again and again and eventually collapse completely.

"That makes sense, any other ideas?"

Isaac looked at the generals again.

Seeing that they were silent, Isaac sighed.

These guys are all stupid generals. They have no problem marching and fighting, but none of them has the strategic vision to strategize.

From Isaac's current observations, only the Purple Guard's deputy commander, Mehmet, has some vision and can be trained in the future.

"I think it is enough to ensure that Sirte is not lost. There is no need to concentrate all the troops in this small port."

Isaac spread out the map.

"According to intelligence, the enemy is coming with great force and has mobilized almost all of their forces, so their lair is quite empty."

"Your Highness, we must not take this risk! The city of Bilinchi is high and deep, and is surrounded by mountains. Even if they have few troops, we have no way of breaking through in the absence of heavy artillery!"

"We can only do our best to protect the port of Sirte this time. Your safety is the most important thing. We cannot take such a risk."

Before he could finish his words, Isaac's teacher, Count Mikhail, stood up eagerly and tried to stop him.

Isaac looked at his anxious eyes and felt slightly moved.

Mikhail was an old subordinate of his father Constantine. He had been guarding Isaac since he was a child and was loyal to him.

"Count, I am not a fool. I will not go to Bilinchi to gnaw on the city walls."

Isaac motioned for the excited Earl to sit down.

"Our goal is here."

Isaac pointed his finger toward a port on the Mediterranean coast.

Ogale.

This is a small port located east of Sirte and west of Port Brega. It is sparsely populated and surrounded by mostly desert and salt marshes with only a few freshwater wells.

During the Fezzan Kingdom period, this place was used as a buffer zone between the Kingdom and the Mamluks. Neither side regarded this place as their own territory and allowed it to develop freely.

Since the establishment of the Grand Duchy of Surt, there has been no spare troops to manage these marginal tribes, as long as they do not cause trouble.

“The area between Bilinchi and Surt may seem wide, but there is actually only one road, which is a curve formed by several wells.”

"These places are vast salt deserts and sand dunes, which are difficult for humans to survive in and there is no way to replenish supplies locally."

Isaac ran his finger across the map, from Bilinch to Sirte.

"Their supply lines are very long, but there are no problems for the time being. This mainly shows two points."

Isaac stopped and looked at the crowd.

"First, the main food for their army must be livestock, such as sheep and camels."

"Second, they must have a food transfer station on this road, responsible for transferring the food gathered by Bilinchi to the Surte siege camp."

"This transit station was probably built many years ago, and its original purpose was probably not us, or even the Kingdom of Fezzan."

"This transit station was probably established during the heyday of the Mamluks to counter the Hafsid dynasty, but it was only recently put into use."

After these words, the generals seemed to be thinking about something.

"Your Highness, how do you know that this transit point must be in Ogelai?"

Guard Captain Brahm asked in confusion.

"I do not know."

"And I'm sure that this transfer station is not in Ogelai. It's too desolate here."

“Ogale is the only large water source nearby.”

“But because of that, large herds have to pass through here.”

Everyone looked as if they had suddenly realized something.

As long as they could capture this small town, they could cut off Yusuf's supply and return route, trapping his 8,000 men in the desert.

This was Isaac's risky move.

If successful, it would not only resolve the crisis in the port of Sirte, but also greatly undermine the morale of the enemy, causing it to collapse without a fight.

"Your Highness, I have another question." Urda, who was listening, stood up at this time.

"I've been to Ogale when I was doing business. It's very desolate. There are only a few thousand people there, including the dependent areas. How do we get supplies?"

"Even if there are abundant food reserves on the ship, where can we find water?"

Isaac smiled.

"As you said, the local area can still support several thousand people."

"As it happens, there are only a few thousand of us, which is enough."

……

Yusuf's private tent in the Sirte siege camp.

boom--

A wine cup was thrown out of the camp and broke into pieces.

"Asshole! Is there no one around?"

"I can't even pull in cannon fodder!"

Yusuf yelled at a middle-aged man.

"My Lord, most of the tribes around here were either relocated before we came, or took refuge in the port of Surt and the Jufra Oasis in the south after we arrived."

“The remaining small tribes have been consumed.”

The middle-aged man explained quietly to his angry master.

"Since our Sheikhs can't capture the local cannon fodder, let them do it themselves! Block the enemy's first round of artillery fire!"

Yusuf always used the same strategy when deploying troops.
The captured local people went up first to fill the trenches and consume long-range defensive weapons such as artillery shells and arrows.

Then, the subordinate tribes began to attack with siege ladders, consuming short-range defense weapons such as kerosene and lime.

Finally, they threw their siege engines into battle, and the elite troops mustered up their courage and scaled the city walls in one fell swoop.

This plan achieved great results on the first day and almost captured the city wall.

However, as the war progressed, the local population became insufficient, and the subordinate tribes could not afford to die in vain.

It was barely reasonable to ask them to storm the city walls, but it was a bit too much to push them directly onto the battlefield to block arrows.

The Shekhs are not fools, and there is a limit to their patience.

"Sir, there are already quite a few Shekhs who are dissatisfied with us. You can't force them too much."

When Yusuf heard this, his emotions, which had calmed down, suddenly erupted.

He walked forward and grabbed the middle-aged man's neck tightly.

"What did you say? Say one more word!"

"Isn't that what you taught me to do in the first place?"

"The local people go first, the tribesmen second, the weapons bombard, and the elite troops take the final step. Isn't this your strategy?"

"Sir, on the first day, I suggest you send all your elite troops, especially the heavily armored Mamluks."

The middle-aged man grabbed Yusuf's iron-like hand and tried to defend himself.

"Ymir, you are my advisor, you should continue to find solutions for me instead of continuing to anger your lord!"

Yusuf stared at Ymir angrily until he made a hoarse sound, then he put him down.

Ymir rolled onto her side, gasping for air.

After a while, Yusuf calmed down.

"Ymir, don't forget,"

"If you, Bohaili, want to return to the political arena, you can only rely on me, and only I will accept you."

With that, he strode out of the tent, leaving Ymir gasping for breath on the ground.

Yusuf looked at the city wall in the distance, feeling anxious.

The enemy seemed to have divine help. Every time when their army was about to take the city wall, they would summon up the remaining courage and drive their warriors down from the city.

We can't delay any longer. If we delay until the main force of the enemy returns, we will lose the chance to take Surt forever.

At that time, will the resentful tribal shekhs take the opportunity to cause chaos?

Yusuf kicked the stones on the road.

"Gather all the troops, and attack with all your might today, leaving no room for maneuver!"

Trumpets sounded, military flags were drawn up, the siege camp began to move, and pairs of soldiers picked up their weapons and gathered at designated locations, ready to launch a general attack.

……

On the White Castle, Conti stood at the window, looking at the army gathering in the distance, with Guhes and Isurte standing beside him.

In the past few days, they have tried their best, putting every available force in the city into the battlefield, fighting the enemy until the last moment.

There are still a lot of equipment for defending the city, and the ammunition is also complete, but there are fewer and fewer professional soldiers who can use the equipment, and more and more militiamen are pushed onto the city walls.

"Everyone, this may be the last day."

Conte turned his head and smiled.

"Your Highness will be back."

Gu Hess on the side said firmly.

"What?"

"Will be back."

Conte was helpless.

"Well, we have to protect his legacy until he comes back."

The soldiers defending the city also began to gather. After several days of high-intensity defense, these people who were forced into a corner had become numb to the war. Under the coercion of the supervision team, they walked up the city wall in a daze, mechanically waving their swords and guns.

There was a dull look in his eyes, and panic in them.

Nearly half of the most elite Oak Corps had been killed or wounded, and the remaining 500 people were gathered by Conte to fight a desperate battle with the enemy forces that had entered the city.

"After you storm the city walls, you are allowed to plunder for three days!"

"The first person to enter the city will receive a reward of 500 ducats!"

Yusuf yelled at his soldiers, cheering them on like crazy.

Desolate horns sounded, cannons fired, and boulders flew everywhere.

"kill!"

The Cyrenaica soldiers, whose desire for money was aroused, mustered up their remaining courage and rushed towards the already dilapidated city walls like a tide.

The soldiers defending the city buried their heads under the city walls, took out crosses from their corsets, and prayed tremblingly until a patrolling sergeant kicked them off.

The militiamen looked up, only to find that the non-commissioned officers also had the same confusion in their eyes. They turned their heads from time to time, looked in the direction of the port, and muttered something, as if they were praying.

They are praying for the king's return.

(End of this chapter)