On the evening of July 2, 1451, a town northeast of Cairo.
Vitus is reading Cavalry Brigade's report, and the conclusion is: Cairo's city defense is strong, and the artillery carried by the Eastern Roman Empire's army is limited, making it difficult to break through the city wall in a short time.
However, he felt that Sultan would not stand firm and would most likely take the initiative to leave the city for a decisive battle.
The population of Cairo City is between 350,000 and 400,000. Such a large group of residents requires a continuous supply of supplies from the local area.
If the defenders shrink for a long time, Vitus can capture the stronghold in the northwest of the city, set up artillery on the high ground, and cut off the river transportation between Cairo and the downstream city.
After a while, reinforcements from Thomas will arrive at the front line, and the size of the army will exceed 40,000.
At this time, Vitus can send troops to camp around the south of the city, and also set up artillery at high altitudes to cut off the connection between Cairo and the upstream of the Nile River.
Without external material supplies, the fall of Cairo is only a matter of time.
"From a military perspective, the defense difficulty of a metropolis is much higher than that of a Trace Italienne."
The larger the city, the more supplies it needs to consume, and more soldiers are needed to garrison the city walls. The defenders not only have to face the enemy forces outside the city, but also the complicated situation inside the city. Sometimes the city wall is not breached, but chaos starts inside.
Looking at the capitals of ancient empires, Constantinople is the most suitable for defense.
The advantage of Constantinople is that it is surrounded by sea on three sides, Golden Horn in the north, Sea of Marmara in the east and south, and the enemy Army can only attack the city from the west side.
Historically, Constantinople has been attacked by Ostrogoths, Huns, Sasanian, Arab, Bulgar, Rus, Pechenegs, Ottoman and other armies. In most cases, the defenders were able to hold out until the enemy retreated.
The only time it fell was in 1204, when the situation in the Eastern Roman Empire was turbulent and four emperors were changed in a short period of time. As a result, Venice and Crusaders took advantage of the situation and destroyed the entire empire.
After a long time, Vitus finished thinking and found that the sky outside was already dark.
In summer, his taste is relatively light. His dinner is a bowl of mutton soup, a bowl of vegetable soup, and wheat porridge, without alcohol or pungent spices.
The moonlight was like water, quietly pouring into the room. Vitus picked up the silver spoon and ate the food in small bites. The outside world was silent, except for the occasional footsteps of guards changing shifts and their conversations checking passwords.
After dinner, Vitus washed and brushed his teeth, and then lay on the bed to rest. Thanks to the ice basin and Pyrethrum incense, he spent a peaceful night.
In the early morning of the next day, the shrill wake-up call sounded throughout the town, and Vitus left the bed to welcome the upcoming decisive battle.
Eastern Roman Empire has about 22,000 field troops at his disposal, all of whom are old troops who have followed him for many years. They are well-trained and have high morale. They can be called the most elite army of this era.
In addition, Vitus recruited two thousand Copts Militia along the way. Their combat effectiveness was extremely poor, so they were left to guard the town.
Assuming they fail to hold on, Vitus doesn't care.
Upon arriving at the outskirts of the Cairo city, the Eastern Roman Empire army can collect food on the spot. Even if the enemy divides its forces to capture the town, it cannot cause the Eastern Roman Empire army to run out of food.
Before leaving, he told the Coptic commander Athanasius, "For your own lives, hold on to this town."
At seven o'clock in the morning, Vitus led the army to set off. The closer it got to Cairo city, the denser the manors along the way became.
"If I carry the Western Europe knight, these people will definitely take the opportunity to rob and disrupt the order of the entire team."
He turned around and looked at the rear. The military band was playing brisk and melodious tunes. The soldiers were marching in a standard four-row column. Officers and non-commissioned officers were distributed around the queue to restrain some soldiers who had wandering thoughts.
In the distance, the cavalry and Mountain Infantry are responsible for perimeter security and driving away the nearby Beindu cavalry.
After the Levant battle, the morale of the enemy cavalry dropped significantly.
Once the enemy is shot, even if the casualties are minor, they still retreat a long distance, and the harassing effect is extremely poor. Many times, they just wander around the edge of the battlefield, silently following the queue of the Eastern Roman Empire.
In the afternoon, the light yellow outline of the Cairo city wall appeared in the distance.
Vitus couldn't wait to clamp down on the horse's belly, and the white horse quickly rushed to the nearby high ground. He took out his telescope, looked across the wide Nile River and the long yellow sand, and focused on the looming pyramids.
"The meager efforts of ordinary people can actually achieve such great things."
On the northern outskirts of Cairo City, the enemy has deployed a large-scale military formation.
There are about 12,000 cavalrymen, and Mamluk wearing armor, equipped with spears and compound bows only has 2,000. The remaining cavalry is in loose formation, and they are all desert cavalry temporarily recruited by Sultan.
There are as many as 20,000 infantry, and the formation is also loose and chaotic. They are mainly conscripts. You can even see a small number of black soldiers, most likely Nubia people from the upper reaches of the Nile River.
That's it?
Vitus observed his surroundings. He had a wide field of vision nearby and there was no possibility of setting up an ambush. If Sultan could only gather these people, he would have almost no hope of winning.
Although they had the advantage, Vitus did not advance rashly, and retracted the cavalry and Draft Animals back to the center of the formation, allowing the infantry to defend the front and flanks.
The training requirements for field troops are strict, and the orderlies have also mastered the use of spears and Matchlock. Their duty is to defend the three Wagon Fort in the center.
This time, Mamluk prepared the formation in advance, and while Eastern Roman Empire's army was still unfolding, Sultan decided to launch an attack.
Hearing the sound of the attack horn, the desert cavalry, wrapped in turbans and loose robes, rode forward.
Two miles away, Eastern Roman Empire soldiers were still adjusting their formation. The four infantry battalions shrank into a square formation and marched to the flanks following the rhythm of drums and trumpets. The four battalion-level square formations were arranged on the front, with a distance of a hundred steps between them, enough to accommodate a large group of cavalry rushing through.
The remaining two battalion-level phalanxes were deployed in the rear.
The sun was blazing, and heat waves steamed up from the ground, distorting the silhouette of the desert cavalry in the distance, like a group of ghosts floating in the wind and sand.
"Load!"
After receiving the order from above, each company Musketeers took out paper-cased bullets from their waists. They bit the paper shells, poured a small amount of gunpowder into the gunpowder pool at the end of the musket, and then put the remaining part into the barrel of the gun and tamped it down with a purge bar.
At the front of the position, Artillery pulled the lightweight Six-Pounder Cannon and Three-Pounder over and quickly loaded shotgun shells into the gun barrel. After the operation, the gun crew members hid in the nearest square formation, leaving only the gun crew sergeant staying in place, silently waiting for the best opportunity to fire.
A thousand steps.
Nine hundred steps.
Eight hundred steps.
At a certain moment, the desert cavalry on the front spread out to the left and right like seawater encountering a rock. Thousands of cavalry galloped around the perimeter of the military formation, and the dust cloud raised obscured the sight of the Eastern Roman Empire soldiers. The Musketeers soldiers arranged on the front maintained their formation, enduring the sun's rays and the dusty air.
Vitus is staying on a high platform inside Wagon Fort, with a good view. Looking from a distance, the enemy's desert cavalry has circled to the north side of the battlefield and is about to launch an attack on Wagon Fort.
On the frontal battlefield in the south, 20,000 infantrymen slowly advanced northward. Their front line was shaped like a diagonal line, with the east protruding and the west lagging behind, as if it was intentional.
"If you put the only New Army in the east, who will teach them the oblique attack tactics? Officer Ottoman or officer White Sheep?"
Vitus put down the telescope and issued an order to the attendants below the high platform: the two infantry battalions on the second line were transferred to the north to assist Wagon Fort in the defense.
The enemy's desert cavalry has poor combat effectiveness, and Vitus is unwilling to use our own cavalry to attack such low-value targets.
Based on past experience, this type of light cavalry is disorganized, and the longer it lasts, the lower their morale will be. It won't be long before this unit will collapse on its own.
At 2:40, the right wing (east side) of the enemy's oblique formation was engaged in a head-on battle with the Eastern Roman Empire. The two armies used firearms to shoot at each other. The smoke filled the air and the battle situation became tense for a while.
Vitus turned his attention to the enemy's remaining infantry. There were flaws everywhere. As long as the heavy cavalry launched an attack, they could quickly overwhelm the 20,000 people.
However, he still made no move.
Time passed by, and the desert cavalry on the northern front failed to make any progress. Until now, the firepower inside Wagon Fort has been continuous, with solid bullets from long distances and shotguns and muskets from close range, continuously killing and injuring enemies within the range.
Most desert cavalry are equipped with bows and arrows, and their killing effect and accuracy are not as good as Matchlock. A few desert cavalry have muskets, but they are accustomed to firing on horseback, and it is difficult to use the accuracy of muskets.
After the bravest cavalry was killed, the surviving cavalry withdrew from the shooting range and stayed in the distance to watch the situation.
After the fierce battle until now, the horse's physical strength has been rapidly depleted, sweat is flowing down, and the mane and the hair on the chest and abdomen are stuck together in strands.
Huchi, wheeze.
Even when resting on the spot, the horse's breathing is still heavy, its chest rises and falls sharply, and it occasionally shakes its neck, spreading the hot sand and sweat around it.
The vast majority of the recruited cavalry brought their own mounts. In order to preserve this most important asset, some people voluntarily left the team and led their horses to the northwest waters to drink water.
Ultimately, this is a war between Emperor Sultan and Emperor Rome.
They had just harassed the enemy Wagon Fort, and some people thought they had fulfilled their obligations. Even if Sultan won the battle, ordinary herdsmen could only get some spoils at most, but it was not worth the risk of losing their horses and lives to continue fighting.
Realizing that the team was about to disintegrate, the Mamluk noble sent someone to inform the tribe leader, "Keep the formation and wait for the right time to charge!"
Due to the threat, the leaders ordered the herdsmen to stay where they were. Some tribal leaders died in the battle, and the herdsmen under their command lost restraint and fled the warring area one after another.
Three o'clock in the afternoon.
Vitus judged that the desert cavalry in the north had lost its spirit and no longer posed a threat, so he moved the two infantry battalions back to the front, preparing to annihilate the enemy New Army.
Seeing this, Sultan launched the final offensive, with thousands of cavalry charging from the east. Everything seemed to have returned to Battle of Sakarya ten years ago. The cavalry rushed towards the phalanx like a furious wave. The cavalry in the front row was shot and killed, and the cavalry behind continued to advance. As a result, they were blocked by intensive spears and were forced to walk along the gaps between the phalanxes.
Gunsmoke gathered around the phalanx, like an illusory white parapet. The spearmen in the front row kept kneeling with their spears pointing upwards. The soldiers in the back row held their spears straight. Once someone was killed by an arrow, their companions behind them quickly filled the gap.
The second and third waves of cavalry continued to come, like waves crashing against the rocks over and over again, leaving numerous casualties with each charge.
Over time, the corpses formed a loose barricade around the perimeter of the phalanx.
This charge was not as large as Battle of Sakarya and lasted shorter. As the surviving Mamluk cavalry turned their horses and retreated in all directions, Vitus finally began to counterattack.
The first is the desert cavalry on the north side of the battlefield.
Vitus asked Wagon Fort to take out all 2,500 Rocket and fire at these cavalrymen who had lost all their energy.
Rocket has poor killing effect, but is full of momentum. With its dazzling tail flames and terrifying screams, it is best suited to scare tribal cavalry who have never seen the world.
After the Rocket was launched, the three Cavalry Brigade launched a charge and easily overwhelmed the desert cavalry array.
After the enemy army was defeated, Sanggebu, Boranov and other cavalry officers began to blow their trumpets to regroup nearby teams. Their mission was to disperse the desert cavalry, not to kill them all.
Next, the three Cavalry Brigade need to attack the 20,000 infantry stranded on the battlefield, and there is no time to chase and entangle with the desert cavalry.
On the south side of the battlefield, 20,000 infantrymen began to retreat, preparing to return to Cairo city to defend it.
However, it is extremely difficult to retreat in front of the enemy, and there must be a high degree of trust between soldiers and officers. They walked for a while, and suddenly felt the ground shaking. Looking back, Eastern Roman Empire's heavy cavalry spread out into two horizontal lines and were slowly moving forward.
A Nubia Militia shouted loudly, "Greece The cavalry is coming, run!"
Under his leadership, the speed of the entire Nubia square instantly accelerated, and the squares on the left and right accelerated accordingly.
The city gate was getting closer and closer, and the soldiers changed from walking quickly to trotting. Some people threw away their armor and equipment and rushed towards North Gate as fast as possible.
At this point, the officers completely lost control of the troops and were dragged forward by the crowd. A few lucky ones rushed onto the drawbridge, passed through the city gate, and finally entered the relatively safe city.
Most of the soldiers did not have such good luck. They gathered outside the city gate and crowded forward desperately until the Eastern Roman Empire cavalry rushed nearby and the defenders were forced to close the city gate.
With the retreat route cut off, more than 10,000 soldiers who were locked up outside the city surrendered one after another. In order to resettle this group of prisoners of war, Vitus suspended the attack on the city and retreated to the northern suburbs to camp.
At the same time, he dispatched an additional force to station on the high ground near the river, with twelve Field Guns set up above to bombard all ships passing on the river.
From this moment on, shipping between Cairo and downstream cities is cut off.
"Send an order to Thomas to arrive at Cairo within a week. At the same time, leave a force to garrison Mansoura and recruit more Copts soldiers, with the number limited to eight thousand."
After finishing speaking, Vitus looked at the dock in the west of Cairo. Countless soldiers and people were fighting for boats, trying to escape by boat to the west bank, or to a safer upstream area.
He felt that Sultan would not stick to Cairo, and there were only two choices left: surrender or exile in the south.
"This war is finally over."