After processing the files, Vitus considered the next battle plan.
The war in the southern part of Levant is over. The army needs to pass through the desolate and arid Sinai Peninsula and attack the core area of Mamluk - Nile Delta.
Nowadays, Mamluk's most elite Frontier Army has been wiped out, and the tens of thousands of troops assembled in the country have low combat effectiveness. What really gives Vitus a headache is Sinai Peninsula's natural environment.
"The journey of more than 200 kilometers is conservatively estimated to take ten days. What should we do with the water sources and supplies along the way?"
He unfolded the map drawn by his staff, which depicted an ancient road connecting Egypt and Levant.
It is called "Road of Horus", located in the north of Sinai Peninsula, and is the main channel for Egypt's army to enter Asia.
In ancient times, the pharaohs built many defense facilities on this route to resist attacks from Asia. Horus is the patron saint of the pharaohs, so it became the name of this road.
There are wells in the strongholds along the way, but the amount of water they provide is limited. Moreover, the enemy can fill the wells or discard sick and dead livestock into the wells. This is the method used by Egypt in ancient times to resist the invasion of Persia.
"The army has collected thousands of camels. The number is huge, but it still cannot meet the supply needs along the way. Is it going to launch another sea landing?"
Vitus holds a ruler and compass and looks at the coastline of Nile Delta.
Nile River is divided into two branches downstream and flows into the sea. The hydrological environment of the two estuaries is harsh. The river carries a large amount of sediment and is deposited at the estuary, forming many sandbars with complex terrain. The waterway is extremely unstable and ships are at risk of being stranded at any time.
Looking at the entire coastline, the most suitable large port is only Alexander.
In 331 BC, Alexander the Great built a city here and dug an artificial canal to obtain water and supplies from the Nile River while preventing the port from being silted up by sediment.
For a long time, this city has been Egypt's important trading town in the Mediterranean. It has built a large number of coastal fortifications and has a large garrison.
Aboukir Bay in the east of Alexander has excellent conditions. The disadvantage is that there is a fort on the shore, and it is relatively close to Alexander, so the defenders can quickly reinforce it.
Suddenly, he remembered the experience of Napoleon logging into Egypt.
At that time, Egypt was ruled by Ottoman, and its defenses were lax. The threat to the French Army was not from the land, but from the Nelson fleet that was about to arrive.
Therefore, Napoleon's landing operation was hasty and risky, and the target was the fishing village on the west side of Alexander, which resulted in some soldiers falling into the water and dying during the landing.
After landing, Napoleon continued to take risks. Without artillery, he ordered four thousand French Army to attack Alexander at night.
The plan miraculously succeeded. Alexander's defense was extremely lax, and French Army soldiers climbed over the city wall in the night and captured the entire city before noon the next day.
Vitus doesn't want the success or failure of the plan to depend on the enemy's laxity, so he can only avoid Alexander, which is heavily garrisoned, and choose other directions...
After a long time, he put down the ruler and charcoal pen and sighed, "I'm really convinced. Why doesn't Sultan refuse to surrender?"
He chose a desolate fishing village in the eastern part of the delta as his target.
In the early stage, the army landed in small boats, and engineers later expanded the fishing village wharf so that it could berth small and medium-sized transport ships.
The situation at this moment is different from attacking Acre City.
The goal of the first stage is to capture the city as soon as possible, allow the army to land in the central and southern part of Levant, and prevent the main force of Mamluk from escaping back to the mainland.
After the enemy's main force was destroyed, Vitus had plenty of time. He spent a month slowly transporting the troops, but it was still in time.
Mamluk's source of firearms was cut off, and the newly recruited troops could only be equipped with cold weapons. They could not be trained into cavalry or elite infantry within a month, and they were still a group of cannon fodder units.
May 8th, Jerusalem.
The moment they saw the city, Theodore, Thomas and their guards dismounted one after another and entered the city from the Jaffa gate on the west side.
The city was sparsely populated. Thomas visited many places and found that the number of soldiers on leave far exceeded the local residents. "It will probably take a while until the news of the recovery of the Holy Land reaches Europe, and then the city will gradually become lively."
Walking around from early morning to afternoon, Thomas felt a little sleepy. He said goodbye to Theodore and Andronikos who were praying devoutly, and went to the military camp outside the city alone.
After the war, the expeditionary force was in the rest stage. Thomas walked along the main road inward. The atmosphere was deserted. At least one third of the people were out on vacation.
In the open space on the right, hundreds of people were busy building wooden houses to replace the temporary tents.
On the other side, a group of spearmen took apart the inner lining of Plate Armor, inspected the rust on the surface of the armor in the sun, and then carefully removed it.
"Damascus Scimitar?" Thomas stared at a noncommissioned officer.
The man was sitting under the tent, wiping the tip of the Damascus scimitar with a rag soaked in oil. Suddenly, the noncommissioned officer's movements stopped, and his eyes focused on a gap. His expression was blank, as if he was immersed in some memory.
Thomas originally wanted to buy this trophy, but Vitus agreed to lead him to attack Egypt. By then, he would seize some better equipment, which might be Sultan's personal collection.
He gave up the idea of purchasing trophies and came to the Artillery Camp in the northwest of the camp. "Hey, Leo boy, how have you been during this time?"
Hearing Uncle Qi's inquiry, Leo put down his pen and paper and walked out of the company headquarters. The two chatted for a while, and Thomas smelled a strange incense and was a little confused:
"What good things did you seize?"
Leo shook his head. "It was Pyrethrum that was found in the city during the attack on Tabriz last year. The locals said that this plant can repel mosquitoes, lice and fleas.
I brought some in my package. Starting in April, mosquitoes increased, so I made it into incense according to the locals, and the effect was pretty good."
Thomas observed some dried flowers that my nephew took out, with white petals and yellow cores.
During the battle last year, Thomas saw Pyrethrum planted by Persia people, but he was busy searching for loot and collecting supplies, and ignored these ordinary-looking flowers.
If it really has the effect of repelling insects, not only the domestic people, but the entire Europe will purchase this type of product.
Thomas realized an excellent business opportunity and enthusiastically hugged his nephew's shoulders:
"If this plant is really useful, I will invest 10,000 Florin to plant it and make it into incense and sell it to various places. Don't worry, Leo boy, Uncle Qi will definitely give you a share and treat it as your wedding gift."
Leo was not familiar with business operations and was not sure of the specific profits of this business. He truthfully told the information about Pyrethrum and gave some dried flower petals and incense to Thomas.
One week later, Thomas returned to Jaffa.
Approaching the outskirts of the city, he smelled a strong fishy smell, and the guards' horses snorted uneasily, looking wary.
"Camel?"
Over the hillside, hundreds of camels gathered in the olive grove in the distance. From time to time, new camels arrived at the edge of the forest. They knelt on the ground, put their heads into wooden baskets filled with fodder to fight for food, and then raised their heads contentedly, watching passers-by in the distance while slowly chewing the food in their mouths.
To the south of the olive grove is a small stream. With the arrival of the dry season, the stream gradually dries up, and the exposed river bed breeds some mosquitoes. The camels keep flicking their tails to drive away these annoying insects.
Thomas decided to verify the effect of Pyrethrum.
He placed ground Pyrethrum powder under the shade of a tree and lit Pyrethrum incense in another shade.
After more than ten minutes, Thomas found that there were the fewest mosquitoes under the scented shade, and the powder was slightly less effective.
"Leo didn't lie to me, this incense is really useful."
In the afternoon, Thomas came to Jaffa's official residence in the center of the city and informed Vitus of Pyrethrum's information.
The latter's reaction was dull, "Leo mentioned to me in the letter that I have sent people to the east of Armenian Highlands to collect Pyrethrum in large quantities and subsequently distribute them to combat troops."
Regarding the planting of Pyrethrum, this issue is left to the Agricultural Department and private traders.
As long as it is profitable, Agricultural Company will spontaneously invest in plantations and then sell them to domestic people or Europe.
Although this business can earn huge profits, Vitus has no energy to get involved. He has too many things to do. Military affairs and government affairs take up most of his time, and other fields can only be ranked behind.
Thomas is different. He is idle all day long, and investing in business has become a pastime to pass the time. Even if he does not invest in Pyrethrum, he will invest his money in other aspects.
"On the way here, I saw soldiers collecting camels. When will they launch an attack?"
Vitus: "Wait a few more days. It will be a feint attack on land, and the real killing move will be at sea."
On May 18, Damien led the army to launch a feint attack, targeting the eastern node of Road of Horus - Rhinocorura (later Al-Arish).
The scorching sun was high and the clouds were thin. The soldiers endured the scorching heat and walked forward. With every step they took, they could feel the burning heat of the sand through the soles of their shoes.
On the blue sea in the north, a huge fleet is moving slowly, and the ship is loaded with fresh water and food needed by the Army.
In the southern interior, Mamluk dispatched a large number of cavalry to follow the legion's marching formation on land.
"These cavalry have followed us all the way, don't they feel tired?"
Damien observed the desert cavalry behind the dunes on the south side. These people were not wearing armor and pursued extreme mobility. Assuming that they found the Eastern Roman Empire cavalry pursuing them, they would decisively retreat deep into the desert and then set up an ambush in a certain area to annihilate these outsiders who were unfamiliar with the terrain.
Bang!
There was a sound of gunfire from the sea, and a Eighteen-Pounder Cannon shell passed a thousand steps away and hit the edge of the dune hard. The shell kicked up a large amount of dust and drove away some riders who came too close.
After a while, the riders went back and forth, trying to stay at the edge of the range and watching the long queue from a distance.
At noon, the temperature was getting higher and higher, so Damien ordered to rest in place.
The soldiers took off the thick cloth and brackets from the carriage, built some temporary shade tents, and hid in the shade to escape the heat.
According to desert marching regulations, soldiers have four hours to rest and recuperate from 11 noon to 3 pm. During this period, the Navy rowed its famous small boats to transport fresh water back and forth to the coast, mainly to meet the needs of the horses.
Damien took out the tin kettle, sipped the warm water in the kettle, then spread the map on the ground, picked up stones and pressed down its four corners.
In the eastern half of Road of Horus, the army marched along the coast, with the fleet providing supplies and naval gun cover, which enabled it to overcome some difficulties.
In the western half of Road of Horus, there is a large Lagoon in the north of the coast, which is called Lake Bardawil. The lake water is very shallow and cannot support the navigation of ships, which separates the navy from the Army.
Without the cover of naval guns, the frequency of enemy harassment increases, which can effectively slow down the formation. Moreover, the army can only use Draft Animals to transport supplies and materials, and the logistics pressure increases sharply.
According to the headquarters' plan, Damien's attack range is limited to the eastern half of Road of Horus. After capturing Rhinocorura, he can continue to capture the next two strongholds until the edge of Lagoon.
Later, the army did not have enough camels and the attack could only be slowed down.
"These Mamluk are really hateful. They won't surrender now." Damien put away the map and sat in the shade of the baggage truck to rest.
After two days, the army arrived at the outskirts of Rhinocorura, where drought-tolerant date palm trees grew and white-moon flags with a yellow background fluttered over the city walls.
Seeing this, the soldiers became energetic, organized their equipment and formed formation under the urging of the officers.
The city wall near the coast of the town has been reinforced, while the east, south, and west walls facing inland are weakly defended. Artillery deployed artillery in the eastern suburbs, and it took half a day to blast three gaps in the city wall.
Thanks to the application of Mortar, Three-Pounder, and Iron Bomb, the Eastern Roman Empire army easily defeated the stubborn resistance of the defenders.
At four o'clock in the afternoon, the remaining soldiers escaped from the west gate. Battleship, who had been waiting for a long time, launched a volley, and Eighteen-Pounder Cannon aimed at the area outside the city gate and fired coveringly, forcing the defenders to withdraw into the city.
At five o'clock, the Eastern Roman Empire army occupied the entire city and captured 1,400 defenders.
"A group of recruits Militia, nothing to pay attention to."
Damien inspected the city, focusing on the water sources in the city.
The river flowing through this place is a seasonal river. Throughout the summer, the river completely dries up and cannot provide any fresh water.
Therefore, residents dug numerous wells and Reservoir.
The public Reservoir in the east of the city is the largest. It is located below the ground surface, with a diameter of more than 80 steps and a water depth of four steps. More than 20 stone pillars support the dome. Damien reminds me of the underground Reservoir of Constantinople.
However, before the defenders evacuated, they threw sick and dead livestock into the Reservoir, and the water in the pond was contaminated and no longer suitable for drinking.
A temporary inventory of various ministries revealed that about half of the wells remained intact, making it difficult to meet the army's long-term garrison needs.
Damien anticipated this situation, "Organize the prisoners to dig wells to get water. Remember, they must stay away from polluted pools and wells."
He walked into the town official residence and wrote a report to the emperor who was far away in Jaffa.
According to the prisoners' confessions, Sultan has issued orders to the defenders along the way. As long as the stronghold is lost, the defenders must pollute the wells before retreating to prevent the enemy from using them.
There was little hope of the army passing Road of Horus, so he suggested that the emperor take a cross-sea landing.