1444, Byzantium Resurrects

Chapter 86: Fortress Group

"Your Majesty, please look, this is the Bacharan we brought from the Viceroyalty of La Palma,"

Tobruk City, Tobruk Military District, the eastern frontier of the Kingdom of Cyrenaica.

Isaac looked at the gray-black powdery solid in the bag, reached out his hand, touched a little, and felt it carefully.

Tobruk Military District Administrator Balsamon stood by and explained to Isaac the uses of this building material.

“This volcanic ash is mixed with other building materials to make this powder, which, when combined with water, can harden within a few days, thus improving the strength of the building and the efficiency of construction.”

Balsamon came from a famous Eastern Roman family. He was well-versed in ancient Greek and Roman masterpieces, had traveled to the Timurid Empire to study, and had also dabbled in scientific and educational books in Central Asia and even the East.

At the recommendation of General Andre, Isaac appointed him as the administrator of the Tobruk Military District, responsible for the political affairs of the Tobruk Military District and leading the construction of the Tobruk fortress complex.

After the end of the Cyrenaica War, the Mamluk Prime Minister Ashlaif fled back to his country. Facing the questioning of other ministers and ulema, he attributed all the blame to the commander-in-chief, Prince Mansur, in an attempt to undermine the reputation of Sultan Chakmak.

Sultan Chakmak would certainly not give up, and he gathered a group of ministers to attack Ashriver in defense of his son.

Isaac's "Sea Jihad" plan forced the two gangs to stop fighting, temporarily put aside their grudges, seek reconciliation, and join forces to fight the enemy.

When the news of the annihilation of the Hafsid fleet reached Cairo, instead of both sides breathing a sigh of relief, they fell into deeper anxiety.

Unexpectedly, after a few years, this once insignificant small Christian regime has grown to its current size and continues to thrive with the huge profits from ocean trade.

Sultan Chakmak and Prime Minister Ashriver are both qualified politicians and certainly have basic strategic vision.

As a result, the Mamluk Sultanate, which had been dormant for two years, began to stir again.

One hand reaches out to the sea to accelerate control over Cyprus; the other hand reaches out to the land to provoke border conflicts.

The Mamluks used the port of Matruh as a front-line fulcrum and continuously sent small troops into the Baydi area to fight against the regent "regicide" Marzia.

They completely disregarded their former ethnic ties and killed the Berbers who converted to Orthodoxy and looted the countryside.

The pressure on Marzia increased dramatically, and she had no choice but to ask for help from the Tobruk Military Region in the west. A letter was delivered to the city of Tobruk and then forwarded to Constantinople.

Isaac, who had just gotten married, had no time to enjoy his honeymoon. He brought his new wife and rushed to the city of Tobruk to take charge of its defense.

Currently, the Tobruk Military District has 1,500 garrison soldiers, a small number of whom are Italian mercenaries recruited by Baron Maruna, and most of them are local Copts and migrated Armenians.

Their loyalty and fighting capacity could not be guaranteed, and Isaac did not dare to lead this group of people out of the city for a battle in the field. He could only arrange for them to guard the city.

They were still useful when facing pagans, who were naturally their enemies.

According to Isaac's regulations, the military district garrison troops usually only received a fixed salary of one-fourth of that of the regular army, which was barely enough to support themselves.

As compensation, the military district government would allocate them a certain amount of land locally and give it to their families and servants to cultivate or graze.

Unlike the Oron Military District, the Tobruk Military District was established with a more single purpose, which was to guard against the threat from the Mamluks in the east.

As early as the end of the Cyrenaica War, Isaac ordered the firearms engineer Martinez to go to the city of Tobruk to cast cannons and build large fortifications.

Two years later, the defense of Tobruk has been basically completed. Eight large-caliber heavy artillery are distributed on the fan-shaped city walls, with the gloomy muzzles facing the distance.

The artillery of that era was very heavy and difficult to turn, and was mainly used to deal with the enemy's large siege equipment.

In addition, Martinez also built more than a dozen large and small crossbows and catapults on several towers, which can be said to be armed to the teeth.

Tobruk is located on the coast, and the natural protection of the sea greatly reduces its vulnerable area, but it also brings hidden concerns.

If the Mamluk army followed Isaac's previous strategy of besieging Tobruk without attacking it, and instead took a detour from the south and entered the Green Mountain area to plunder, it would be very troublesome.

So Isaac prepared to build a line of defense to fill this gap.

After all, if it comes to field battle alone, he is not yet a match for the Mamluks, and must rely on the advantages brought by fortifications.

In the Middle Ages, building a castle was not an easy task. It took a lot of time and money, and sometimes it might take several generations to complete.

Of course, these castles that took so long to build were largely to satisfy the owner’s wishes, lakes, gardens, towers, churches…

If we only built a few fortresses for military purposes, things would be relatively simple.

The fortress plan was implemented as early as a year ago. It was expected that three large fortresses and five small fortresses would be initially built, with beacons connecting them, which together with the strongest city of Tobruk would form the entire eastern defense line.

Isaac was very glad to give the job to the knowledgeable Balsamon.

This knowledgeable man can often use his skills to give Isaac big surprises, such as the Bacharan in front of him.

To put it simply, this thing is just homemade cement.

As early as ancient times, ancient Greek ancestors began to use volcanic ash to mix various minerals to make this water-hardening building material for large-scale buildings.

In ancient Rome, engineers took advantage of Rome's unique geographical conditions and mined volcanic ash from the foot of two nearby volcanoes, further inventing "Roman concrete". The buildings built with it have withstood wind and rain without collapsing, proving the superiority of this new material.

Pantheon, Colosseum, Coliseum, Baths...

These monuments, built of Roman concrete, continue to stand as a testament to the glory of ancient Rome.

The splendid civilization fell into dust in the dark Middle Ages. Not only did it fail to develop, but it went into decline.

It was not until recent years, with the advent of the Renaissance, that architecture showed signs of revival.

"Your Majesty, I have been to La Palma Island. The volcanic ash there is of very good quality and can be used on the Tobruk Fortress."

Balsamon was obviously very confident in his skills, and he took Isaac to visit several small fortresses built by Bacharan, and the results were indeed good.

“Will it be too expensive to transport the ash from La Palma?”

Balsamon nodded and said.

“It’s a bit high, but it’s acceptable.”

"In addition to La Palma, there is also some volcanic ash near Mount Sebula, but the sulfur content is too high and the quality is not very good."

Isaac hesitated for a moment.

“How much faster can construction be done with this material?”

"There are abundant stone resources here, and the slave labor you allocated to us is more than enough. As long as there is enough Bacharan, I will be able to complete the construction of all the fortresses before Christmas next year."

Balsamon said quickly.

"How about this? I will ask Governor Lothair to pull out a transport ship specifically responsible for the transportation of volcanic ash. Do you think it is enough?"

"That should be enough."

Balsamon nodded.

"Besides, there are thousands of building materials, and volcanic ash is not necessarily required," Isaac took out a pen, dipped it in ink, wrote a few words on the paper, and handed it to Balsamon.

"Limestone, clay, gypsum, slag..."

Balsamon whispered.

"Break these things up, grind them, and calcine them at high temperature to get a gelling material similar to Bachalan."

"What is the ratio? To what extent does it need to be calcined?"

Balsamon quickly took out a pen and prepared to take notes.

"do not know."

Isaac said generously.

Isaac was able to remember the principles and raw materials of cement thanks to his good knowledge of chemistry, but as for the practical operation, that was too difficult.

"These things are not difficult to find. If you try more, you will always find the right way to make them."

Balsamon nodded, apparently treating Isaac's words as just the emperor's whim.

Isaac felt helpless.

"In this way, a special research fund will be established, and the first engineer to complete it will receive 500 ducats."

Isaac pulled out his purse and threw it on the table.

……

"The Second Guards Corps has assembled, a total of 930 people, please review them, Your Majesties!"

"The Third Guards Corps has assembled, a total of 560 people, please review them, Your Majesties!"

"The second batch of students of the Royal Knights Academy has been assembled. There are 490 people in total. Your Majesties, please review them!"

In the military camp outside the city of Soult, Isaac took Leonor to review the Second Corps of the Guards that had just returned from Cruye Castle, the Academy Corps, and the Third Corps that was being formed.

As per custom, Isaac took Queen Leonor westward from Tobruk to meet with local chiefs and merchants, inspect the territory and declare sovereignty.

Along the way, Leonor walked through the territory that Isaac had conquered inch by inch for the first time as a queen. She was very happy to feel the sincere or forced support of her subjects.

Isaac knew very well that his wife loved the feeling of being the center of attention.

Heading westward from the Green Mountain area, the scenery became increasingly desolate, but Isaac's mood became better and better.

After nearly five years of efforts by Isaac, there are no longer many traditional Berber tribes in the coastal areas of Sirte. The fertile pastures are occupied by Orthodox Christians, who have established livestock bases and gradually formatted and industrialized the fur and meat processing industries.

As the capital of the Absolute Principality of Soult, the port of Soult has nearly 10,000 residents, all of whom are genuine Greek Orthodox Christians. The families of the two legions of the Guards live here.

The situation in St. Joseph's and Fort Narses in the south is similar, with a majority of Greek and Panhellenic Orthodox Christians. It serves as an agricultural and pastoral hub, connecting the northern coast and the southern border.

The cities of Jufra and Alagheh further south retained more tribal forces, which engaged in trade and nomadism around the cities, but they were also visibly declining.

Southwest of Soult is the territory of the Slaves Legion, who mainly live a semi-nomadic and semi-settled life in the form of a thousand-man team.

Each Slaves thousand-man team is Isaac's personal slave. The legion commander Erdosh only has wartime command authority. They train in peacetime and are recruited in wartime. They also occasionally cross the border to go out and plunder.

In this way, after five years of sedimentation, the entire Surt region had completed its initial Hellenization, the old order had disappeared, and the new regime was gradually becoming solid.

Isaac did not have any brilliant governing skills, and was unable to resolve ethnic and religious conflicts, let alone make local dignitaries bow down to him.

All he did was to pull down the former house by its roots and rebuild the Roman home on its ruins.

This method is suitable for places with sparse and scattered populations. If one day we can occupy big cities like Tunis and Cairo, this simple and crude way of governing will definitely suffer a huge backlash.

However, let’s get through the current crisis first.

Isaac came to his senses and looked at the soldiers in front of him who were trying to hold their heads high.

The Guards Corps is composed entirely of Greek and Pan-Hellenic Orthodox Christians. Their combat effectiveness varies, but their loyalty is guaranteed.

Isaac walked slowly, looking at the rows of soldiers lined up in neat formations.

The Second Corps of the Guards had experienced the baptism of war, and its temperament became more calm and restrained, revealing a sharp edge.

The newly formed Third Legion was Isaac's first unit to be equipped with muskets, and a lot of effort was put into it.

The musketeers of the Third Legion took part in the Battle of Kruye Castle, where they performed well in the defense of the city and demonstrated the superiority of the new muskets.

In Isaac's conception, the Third Legion had a full strength of one thousand people, with three hundred spearmen in the front row, three hundred shield-bearing infantry on both sides, three hundred musketeers and one hundred crossbowmen in the rear, basically imitating the organization of the Spanish phalanx.

Isaac looked up at the sky above the Third Legion. On the azure flag, a musket and a spear stood crossed.

The commander of the Third Army was Daniel Aaron, a Greek Orthodox born in Bari whose parents were killed by Ottoman raiders when he was a child.

Later, after many twists and turns, he joined Isaac's Prince Guard, followed him to participate in countless wars of all sizes, made military achievements, and was promoted to legion commander.

Then, Instructor Di Lin reported to Isaac on the battle situation of the second batch of cadets of the Royal Knights Academy.

In general, because Isaac stuffed too many "people with connections" into the Knight Academy, its overall quality has declined and its performance on the battlefield has been mediocre.

There is no way around it. In the current harsh environment, everything has to serve politics.

At this point, the second-term students of the Royal Knights Academy have completed their two-year student life and are about to leave the academy and go to the military camp.

Among them, the outstanding ones will join the Knights of Saint Simon and become knight squires or sergeants, while the less qualified ones will join various legions and become grassroots officers.

Under the eager gaze of all the soldiers, Isaac asked the military honor officer to read out the list of soldiers who had made meritorious contributions in the Cruye War.

The Emperor placed the sword between their hands, and the Empress tied the medal to their chests.

Soldiers are not sailors. They have stronger feelings for their country and the emperor and cannot just talk about monetary benefits.

The feudal system deeply rooted in people's hearts meant that the relationship between the monarch and the soldiers was never equal. A tiny bit of insignificant favor from the monarch might be exchanged for the soldiers' selfless fighting on the battlefield.

In addition to money, this group of lovely people also care about honor and respect.

In the next few days, Isaac took Leonor to the Slaves Legion base in the southwest, met with Erdosh and several captains of thousand-man teams, and received their congratulations and loyalty.

The situation in the more distant Misrata, which had just ended martial law, was very unstable, so Isaac did not go there.

On August 1450, 8, Isaac and Queen Leonor ended their inspection of the territory and returned to Birinci.

(End of this chapter)