Half an hour later, Sultan's inspection ended and he left the courtyard with the happy eyes of the blacksmiths.
Cannon Foundry is located next door to Blacksmith Workshop. There are a small number of coppersmiths and a group of helpers gathered here. Their task is to melt copper ingots and tin ingots into Bronze Cannon.
"Why are they all small-caliber artillery? This thing is not even comparable to the enemy's Three-Pounder. Do you want me to use this thing to attack the city?"
Sultan's right hand reached for the handle of the knife. Considering the rarity of cannon-casting craftsmen, he forcibly suppressed his murderous intention and walked out of the workshop door with a cold face.
At this time, a Court attendant ran over to report the news. His expression was so frightened that his voice changed slightly.
"Your Majesty, Ottoman and Karakoyunlu (Black Sheep Dynasty) are at war!"
Hearing this, Sultan was relieved. He looked at the ground and let out a long sigh, and his mood suddenly became happy.
The fight finally started.
Last spring, after losing Cilicia, Ottoman Sultan retreated to the interior of Syria, and some forces retreated to Erzincan in the north.
As many refugees poured into the east, Ottoman's remaining land was overloaded, and many exiles became bandits. Some people plundered Cappadocia to the west, while others plundered White Sheep and Black Sheep eastward, seriously damaging the relationship between Ottoman and its allies.
Black Sheep repeatedly asked Ottoman to hand over the personnel involved and pay the firearms as compensation, but Bayezid II refused.
Ottoman lacks the ability to produce firearms. These muskets and artillery are the basis for their survival and can never be handed over to the Black Sheep Dynasty. As time passed, the contradiction between the two sides became increasingly intensified. There were rumors within Black Sheep that it was said that Jahan Shah intended to gather troops to punish this unscrupulous ally. Ottoman received the news and began to gather troops.
"No matter who strikes first, it doesn't matter anymore."
What Uzong Hassan is most worried about is that Ottoman will attack White Sheep first. Now that the two neighboring countries are at war, he finally has a little more breathing time.
That night, he received a letter from Black Sheep Sultan Jahan Shah, in which he requested White Sheep to dispatch eight thousand soldiers and assemble at Lake Van within half a month.
Uzon Hassan had no idea of taking sides for the time being. In his reply, he claimed that Georgia and Greece troops were gathering at the border and that he needed to guard against invasion.
Early the next morning, he received another letter from Bayezid II. The letter was mildly worded and asked for help in the tone of a friend. He hoped that White Sheep Army could appear around Lake Van in time to assist the Ottoman army.
"What's going on? Both sides have chosen the battlefield?"
He asked the servant to take down breakfast, and then spread out a roll of parchment map on the table.
To the east of Lake Van is Tabriz, the capital of Black Sheep, and to the north is Kars, the capital of White Sheep. As expected, the main force of Ottoman is expected to gather at Diyarbakir, which is located on the west side of Lake Van.
"From this point of view, Lake Van is the most likely place for the decisive battle. Which side should I choose? Or should I stay away and not participate in this war?"
He stood up and left his seat, walking back and forth in the hall on the soft carpet, thinking about which camp had a higher winning rate.
After losing Cilicia, Bayezid II's army experienced a large number of deserters, and local loyalty was greatly reduced. This time, Ottoman dispatched about 20,000 to 30,000 troops. In recent years, Black Sheep Dynasty's territory has not changed much, and the country has not suffered from famine. If they fight in the border area of Lake Van, they can invest at least 50,000 soldiers.
The problem is that Black Sheep Dynasty's army lacks firearms and relies on traditional cavalry tactics.
Ottoman has a large number of firearms, including muskets and artillery. The disadvantage is that the production capacity is low, and the firearms produced are far from enough to replace the losses. If things go on like this, it will gradually degenerate into a cold weapon army.
Uzong Hassan struggled for a long time. Taking into account various factors, assuming that the two sides faced off on open terrain, he felt that Ottoman had a slightly higher chance of winning.
At noon, he sent messenger riders to various tribes and ordered the leaders to arrive at Kars before March 15th.
After receiving the assembly order from Sultan, the vassal tribe of White Sheep was in an uproar. The leader cried out a lot of reasons to the messenger and asked the messenger to bring his opinions back to Kars.
Spring is the time when nomadic tribes are at their weakest. The first task of herdsmen is to deliver babies to cattle, sheep and horses. They need to guard the herds day and night and protect the newborn cubs from natural enemies such as wolves.
After the delivery is over, the herdsmen drive the expanded herds away from the wind-sheltered winter camps and head to the spring Ranch, which is more open and has richer water and grass. The cubs have limited physical strength, so the migration speed at this stage is slow, and migration routes need to be carefully planned.
During this critical period, all tribe members have their own tasks.
Assuming that some young men are sent out to fight, the production of the entire tribe will be affected, the survival rate of livestock will be reduced, and more tribe members will die of cold and starvation in winter.
The messenger sat on the saddle, looked down at the tribal leader and his people, and repeated Sultan's order, asking the tribe to dispatch 200 people and arrive at Kars at the designated time. "You should know Sultan's character. If you don't arrive after the deadline, Sultan will definitely come with the army to clean up. I believe you still remember what happened two years ago."
After uttering harsh words, the messenger left the winter camp, leaving only the gloomy-looking leader and tribesmen.
This scene not only happened within the territory of White Sheep, the tribes of Ottoman and Black Sheep also received recruitment orders.
Due to the great loss of Bayezid II's prestige, the towns and nomadic tribes in various places had a perfunctory attitude. Some nobles pretended not to know anything, and some nobles sent a small number of nomads to make up for the loss.
Jahan Shah of Black Sheep was in his prime, and the tribes within the territory did not dare to disobey his will, so they went to Tabriz to gather one after another.
As of March 20, a huge army of more than 30,000 people had gathered outside Tabriz city.
In the early morning, Sultan climbed the stone steps onto the city wall, looking towards the vast wilderness outside the city.
Those gray-white felt tents spread from the city wall to the end of the horizon. The soldiers were cooking breakfast, and countless thin streams of smoke rose. Sultan could vaguely smell the aroma of barbecue and wheat porridge.
Sultan took out the telescope and shifted his attention to the outer camp, where many open spaces were fenced off to temporarily house large herds of livestock.
After being exhausted throughout the winter, the horses were generally emaciated and in extremely poor condition, unable to carry armored warriors in a charge.
Therefore, Sultan forced some civilians to harvest young grass in the nearby area, feed the horses with grains, and try to restore a little horse fat to prepare for the next war. "This battle cannot be dragged on for a long time, otherwise the loss of the horse herd will be too great, which will affect our combat strength in the next few years."
Sultan decided to wait for another ten days, then move his troops westward, annihilating the main force of Ottoman in one fell swoop, and quelling the war before the horses died in large numbers.