In mid-July, the Mamluk army was assembled and left Sinai Peninsula in a mighty manner, heading north along the Levant coast.
The terrain of Levant is complex and land transportation is inconvenient, so Mamluk stored a lot of baggage in the Galley fleet. During the journey, the fleet stayed in the offshore area to provide supplies to the Army at any time.
In order to protect the allies' transport fleet, Venice specially dispatched a fleet to escort and expel the nearby Eastern Roman Empire Cruiser.
In early August, Antioch.
The sun is scorching, and Andronikos·Palaiologos is inspecting a construction site in the center of the city.
Nowadays, Andronikos has succeeded Antioch Patriarch. There are few affairs in the parish. He focuses on rebuilding Church of Saint Peter (Cassian Church) in the city.
This church was built in AD 459. It has been the seat of Antioch Patriarch for a long time and has a high status.
During the first Crusaders Eastern Expedition, Crusaders discovered the famous Holy Lance nearby, and the remains of the Holy Roman Empire Frederick I were also buried here.
Two hundred years ago, Mamluk Sultan captured Antioch, and this historic building was burned down.
After fundraising in recent years, Andronikos received 62,000 Florin, and the recruitment of craftsmen officially started, with no specific completion deadline.
If there are sufficient funds, for example, if his good brother is willing to allocate funds, the construction period is expected to be shortened to less than six years. If the money cannot be raised, construction can only be carried out intermittently, and the construction period may exceed a hundred years.
This phenomenon is not uncommon. The Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore of Florence was built in 1296. One hundred and fifty years later, it has not been completed yet.
Suddenly, a stonemason ran over in panic, shouting randomly, "Patriarch, something bad is going on. The Mamluk army is coming. It is said that there are 100,000 troops, and there are many elephants that can breathe fire."
In an instant, the entire construction site was in chaos. The craftsmen dropped their work, packed up their tools and fled home.
Andronikos was also panicked and walked quickly towards the Frontier Army headquarters in the west of the city.
Along the way, he heard different versions of the news. Some people claimed that Venice and Mamluk were fighting together. The Venice fleet carried fifty thousand Mamluk soldiers and was landing in the Cilicia area.
"Venice and Mamluk fight together? Are they crazy?"
Ahead was a spacious building complex. The guard recognized Andronikos's identity and greeted him respectfully.
Entering the command post, Andronikos saw that Frontier Army senior officials were having a meeting. There were more than a dozen yellow soldier models on the south side of the map, representing the Mamluk army.
On the west side of the sea, there are two ship models with different flags placed. The slightly larger ship model hangs a blue flag and belongs to Venice. The slightly smaller ship model hangs a yellow flag and is the transport fleet of Mamluk.
He did a rough count and found that these military models were roughly equivalent to 40,000 people, not the rumored 100,000-strong army.
The number of the Eastern Roman Empire's troops is eighteen thousand, the core is Attica Legion, and the remaining more than nine thousand are Frontier Army, Garrison Troops and Province Militia. Andronikos: "Are these troops enough?"
Hearing this, Damien suspended the meeting and briefly summarized his own tactics: defense and counterattack.
In the first stage, Trace Italienne on the front line is used to weaken the enemy's strength and morale, and the longer the delay is, the better. When reinforcements arrive from the rear, Damien chooses a suitable time to fight, and the chance of winning is at least 80%.
Andronikos was a little unsure, "When will the reinforcements arrive?"
"I wrote to Cilicia Province, Cappadocia Frontier Army for help, and expected to receive two thousand Militia and four cavalry battalions. Even if there are no reinforcements, I am confident to defend the border. I just focus on defense and cancel the second stage of counterattack."
After listening to Damien's explanation, Andronikos was dubious. In the end, he didn't say much and returned to the church to handle his own affairs.
On August 25, Mamluk troops arrived at the border.
The valley where Antioch is located has difficult terrain, with rugged mountains on the east and south sides. The Eastern Roman Empire army built Trace Italienne in several gaps in the mountains and stationed hundreds or thousands of the Frontier Army.
The Trace Italienne on the south side of the gap was specially designed by Vitus, divided into Main Fort in the plain area and Outwork in the northeast, with a garrison strength of 1,200.
At eight o'clock in the morning, surrounded by a large group of cavalry, Sultan came to the nearby gentle slope to observe this concave polygonal fortress.
"What kind of crap is this?" The shepherd serving as the guide reminded in a low voice, "Karak Fortress, the name comes from a small town in the north."
Sultan's tone was a little impatient. "I don't pay attention to its name. The question is, why did Vitus design it like this?"
Karak Fortress has four sharp corners, an irregular shape, a low and sloping wall, and a bulletproof earth slope on the outside. There are some objects covered with gray canvas on the city wall, most likely artillery.
After the Ottoman was destroyed, some remnants surrendered to the Mamluk. An officer had seen the Greece army's Siege Warfare skills and took the initiative to stand up and explain:
"Back then, Turahan was building a city defense in the west of Anatolia. The new wall was low and thick, and heavy artillery could be set up to kill the attacking soldiers. The enemy's response was to dig trenches, gradually extend towards the city wall, and then use a short and thick artillery to bombard the city wall..."
Sultan suddenly remembered that Venice did not provide this kind of artillery with short and thick barrels, so he called the messenger Elion and asked sternly, "Did you deliberately hide this new weapon?"
Elion was confused and had no idea what Sultan was talking about.
A few minutes later, the Ottoman officer drew a sketch on the paper, Elion thoughtfully:
"Your Majesty, when we attack the city, we always use heavy artillery to bombard the city walls. We have never used trench digging tactics. Therefore, Venice Army is not equipped with such artillery."
Sultan did not believe Elion's words. Considering that Venice still had value, he did not embarrass the messenger and turned his attention to the strange fortress ahead.
The commanders discussed for a long time, and some suggested launching a direct charge.
These walls are low, and soldiers can quickly climb them with ladders. It is possible to capture Trace Italienne in one go, saving the long time of digging trenches. Sultan refused to attack by force, "The defenders are equipped with muskets and artillery, and the success rate of a rash charge is too low."
Sultan Choose a safe method: set up Siege Cannon in the distance and continue shelling the wall.
The outer perimeter of Trace Italienne is a bulletproof earth slope. Most of the shells fired by the heavy artillery hit the earth slope, and some shells passed over the wall. Only a few shells actually hit the wall.
The barrel life of the heavy artillery is limited. Even if the barrel is scrapped, there is a high probability that it will still be unable to blast through the city wall in front.
In the afternoon of that day, Sultan canceled the bombardment plan. He accepted the proposal of officer Ottoman and ordered to dig trenches and attack the city.
Once the trench extended to near the city wall, Mamluk soldiers launched a general attack and captured the fortress with their numerical superiority.