Continental Warriors Yoo Ma

But despite experiencing a defeat tonight, Philip III was not depressed.

After repelling the attackers, Philip III returned to the barracks with his two Iberian guests.Walking on the mountain path, he said: "Don't worry, you two. Even if those heretics achieved some results by relying on their cleverness, they are just a futile struggle before drowning. My army still has an absolute advantage in terms of quality and quantity. , and the supplies are sufficient. This time, I will double the number of artillery pieces, and strive to end the battle in a week's time!"

Seeing the confident look of the rich and powerful Duke of Burgundy, Pedro and Alvaro could only echo each other.

After arriving at the barracks, a welcome banquet was held in the huge luxury tent where Philip III lived.Although the scale is small, the grade is not low at all.The food enjoyed by everyone on the front line of the war is no less than that in Dijon and Paris.

Pedro and Alvaro once again had a new understanding of Philip III's wealth.

After drinking for three rounds, the three of them gradually chatted away.Philip III shook his wine glass and talked about the topic that the two Iberians were most concerned about: "Pedro, don't worry. Even if it's just to make Isabella happy, I will agree to your request."

Philip III had already lost two wives.His third marriage with the Portuguese princess was a typical marriage between an old husband and a young wife.Although there are many lovers, he still likes this wife very much.

Pedro immediately beamed with joy.

"As long as the three of us work together, the Duke of Barr will definitely be able to make concessions and bring out more benefits." Philip III continued.

Although he and Ma Youfu have a good relationship both public and private, and will become a son-in-law in the future, when it comes to major interests, they still have their own plans.

Before the Crusades, at the secret meeting of Mayouf, Charles VII, and Philip III, after some bargaining, the final agreement was that the French Crusaders would take Morocco, and the Burgundian Crusaders would take Tlemcen.

Although Philip III agreed to this plan at the time, the more he thought about it afterwards, the more he felt that he had suffered a big loss.

Morocco is far stronger than Tlemcen in terms of population, area, and wealth.Philip III thought, why both countries have 2 crusaders, but you take the big head, and I can only take the small head?

Philip III deliberately ignored the role of the powerful navy in Ma Youfu's hands. The more he thought about it, the more he felt that it was unfair. He had been thinking about how to gain more benefits in the Crusades.

Now, the two Iberian guests who came from afar brought him a great gift.

"There are 7000 people in Portugal, 1 in Castile, and 2 in Burgundy. If we can win over the Brittany, we will have more than 4 people! The strength of the troops is already twice that of the French, enough to sit at the negotiating table with Ma Youfu and redistribute the interests." Philip III said with a row of chests.

The Portuguese are not strong in land combat, but they have a capable navy.Needless to say, the Castilians have a strong army that has undergone the baptism of the Reconquest Movement. In terms of combat effectiveness, it ranks among the top in Europe.

Philip III's expectation was that after the capture of Tlemcen, he would continue to march eastward.Taking advantage of the main force of the Moroccan Sultan and confronting Mayouf on the plain east of Rabat, they went straight to Fez.In the end, the inland territory of Morocco and the three vassal states in the south were eaten together.

Of course, before going west, it is still necessary to reach a new benefit distribution agreement with Ma Youfu, so that the other party will stop at the currently occupied Moroccan coastal territory.

Chapter 440 No War in Morocco

For the next three days, the siege of Tlemcen proceeded tepidly.In the absence of cannons, Philip III organized two strong attacks, but without any results, so he simply gave up the attack completely, and only began to strengthen the camp to prevent the surprise attack from happening again.

It seems that before the arrival of the new cannons, Philip III is ready to implement the tactic of siege but not attack.

Pedro and Alvaro eat and drink with Philip III every day, chatting about literature and art.Between drinking and talking, the small circle of the three parties seemed to be becoming more and more stable.

That's it for Pedro.Alvaro, who has been commanding battles on the front line for a long time and is still the leader of the Knights, is a little worried about the current situation.

After all, although he likes fencing with men in bed, he is also very good at fencing with enemies on the battlefield.

"Your Excellency, we have been wasting time under the city of Tlemcen. What should we do if the situation in other places changes dramatically? For example, in the east of Oran Port, in case Mulholland's army crosses Jazair and comes to us Attacked, how to deal with it?" Alvaro asked.

"Don't worry, Oran is safe as long as you guard the narrow and long plain passage on the coastline. Richmond is an experienced veteran. With him guarding the city, it's like a dragon guarding its own treasure house. There won't be any problems. More What's more, we also have naval support, and the artillery units that are vacant due to mountain warfare can also be used to strengthen the city defense."

Alvaro originally wanted to say that Mulholland's fleet is not weak, especially after absorbing a large number of Barbary pirates to join them. In terms of size alone, it is even much larger than Mayouf's fleet.In the case of a decisive battle between the main players of the two sides, the winning rate is about [-]-[-].But now, there is only a squadron stationed in Kebir Port, and this situation is not optimistic.

It’s just that Philip III was so confident that he didn’t take the threat of the Mulholland people seriously. He could only persuade the Duke of Burgundy from another angle, hoping that he would not waste any more time, even if he paid some casualties. , but also to capture Tlemcen as soon as possible.

He said, "Your Excellency, what about Morocco? According to our plan, the inland areas of Morocco, especially the wealthy cities such as Fez, Menex, and Marrakesh, must be captured. Sen wasted too much time, what should I do if the Duke of Barr preempted him?"

With a smile, Philip III took a sip of date palm wine, a specialty of the Mulholland people, before he said slowly: "You don't have to worry about this, Your Excellency Alvaro. The main force of the Moroccans is in the western coastal plain, and Ma Youfu is fighting with all his strength. It will take at least a month for the two sides to gather all their troops, and then fight a big battle to decide the winner. At that time, we have not only captured Tlemcen, but also Oujda in the west. If we take them together, we can directly attack Fez."

Seeing that Alvaro still looked worried, Philip III patted him on the shoulder and said, "Don't worry, Your Excellency Alvaro. Since everyone is a friend with the same interests, I don't mind telling you. As early as in Meli After Leah was captured, I arranged a special troop there, a total of 30 people, all of whom were professionals. A considerable number of them were rangers and druids, with strong ability to survive in the wild. These people All the way south, scattered in the Atlas Mountains, closely monitoring the movements of the Moroccan Sultanate. No information can escape my ears, and everything is under control!"

"Then I'm relieved." Alvaro said insincerely.

This special force of Philip III is indeed powerful, but the number is too small, and there is no way to completely monitor the vast area from Fez to Oujda.The information they obtained must be one-sided and fragmented. How accurate it is and whether it can accurately reflect the overall situation is still a question mark.

When Alvaro was full of worries, the triumphant Philip III was immediately slapped in the face by reality.

I saw an attendant suddenly walk into the big tent with a mess of cups and plates, and reported an amazing news to Philip III: "Mayouf, Duke of Bar, has arrived in Benseklan, and will arrive at the front line of Tlemcen in two hours at most. .”

"Ah?" Philip III was so surprised that he even dropped the golden wine glass studded with precious stones to the ground.

"Why did the Duke of Bar leave the front line at the most critical moment and come here?" He was very puzzled.

The attendant who reported the message said: "Well, I don't know the specific situation, but I just heard the conversation between the Duke of Bar and the accompanying knights. They seem to have won a decisive victory over the Moroccan Sultan."

"Impossible! Harker II gathered more than 1 troops. In addition to the tribal reinforcements from the south... As far as I know, he has a total of [-] troops in Menex! The Moroccans not only have With a numerical advantage and a geographical advantage, the place for the decisive battle is the arid plains suitable for the Berber cavalry. How did they lose like this?"

"I saw many Moroccan captives in the Duke of Bar's team, and many of them were nobles in gorgeous clothes. This victory should be real..." the attendant said again.

He didn't know what he said and accidentally slapped Philip III in the face. He was glared at by his monarch, and quickly shrank his neck and exited the tent.

The atmosphere in the tent was a little awkward.

In the end, it was Pedro who broke the strange tranquility: "Duke, and Your Excellency Alvaro, let's get ready and meet the Duke of Bar first. He didn't stay in Oran, but came to Terai with a group of Moroccan captives." There must be other ideas on the front line of Musen, and we must deal with them carefully."

"Thank you for your pertinent opinion." Philip III nodded.

No wonder he panicked.After all, the previous conspiracies with the Iberians were all joint schemes to cheat old friends. Now that old friends suddenly kill them, naturally they have to worry about whether those little thoughts will be exposed.

After waiting anxiously for more than two hours, the Burgundy military camp outside Tlemcen finally welcomed Ma Youfu's team.

Philip III looked at his future son-in-law and found that after more than a month of fighting in the hot south, Ma Youfu's complexion was a little darker, but he was still full of energy and healthy, and he did not show fatigue even after trekking on the rugged mountain road for a day.

"Good night, Philip." Ma Youfu dismounted and walked to the Duke of Burgundy.

After the two sides greeted each other, Mayouf looked at the two Iberians beside him: "It's a pleasure to meet the Duke of Coimbra and Your Excellency Álvaro."

The two parties walked into the big tent and sat down.Philip III ordered the servants to serve wine, vegetables and fruits again.

After halfway through the extended banquet, Philip III asked Ma Youfu the question he cared about the most: "My friend, why did you come to Tlemcen all of a sudden?"

"Of course it's because the war in Morocco is all over." Ma Youfu spread his hands, and said as a matter of course.

In the Battle of Tiflet a week ago, Morocco's Sultan Haq II personally led an army of about 1000, and fought a decisive battle with the Crusaders and the Royal Alliance Army, a total of [-] troops.

Although the Moroccan army has the advantage of cavalry, it did not perform well in front of French artillery and muskets.Huck II tried to use his familiarity with the terrain and the mobility of the Berber cavalry to launch a sneak attack on the Crusaders, but because Mayouf deployed hot air balloons in the army, this attempt also failed.

In the end, after a day of fighting, Ma Youfu's side lost more than 200 Crusaders and about [-] Imperial Alliance troops.The Moroccan army suffered more than [-] casualties and [-] were captured. The other armies basically collapsed during the chaotic retreat.Even Sultan Haq II himself was intercepted and killed by the rebel army on the way back to Fez, and eventually died in an unnamed small valley.

Of course, this is the declared cause of death of the Sudan.Ma Youfu estimated that it was probably the subordinates of Vizier Abu Zakaria who attacked King Haq II.

After the body of Huck II was transported back to Fez, Zakaria held a grand funeral, and then publicly announced that the weak Marin family was no longer qualified to protect Morocco, and the Watas family should land in Morocco peak of power.He, Abu Zakaria, will immediately ascend the throne as the Sultan of Morocco. At this critical moment of life and death, he shoulders the heavy responsibility of defending the country.

This naked act of usurping power was naturally opposed by many aristocratic conservatives.

Zakaria was also polite, and immediately staged a scene of "throwing a cup as a sign, and fighting with swords and axes".

After this bloody funeral, Zakaria, who was the opposition in Fez, was wiped out, and the domestic situation was initially stabilized.Subsequently, he sent his eldest son to lead troops to garrison Menex to resist the attack of the Crusaders.

But secretly, he wrote a letter to Ma Youfu, preparing to negotiate a peace.

Therefore, after a symbolic siege at Menex, the forward troops of the Crusaders withdrew to the western plains.

Zakaria immediately announced that he had resisted the invasion of the Crusaders and won a big victory.

Through this "victory", after Zakaria further established the authority of the Sudan, he made public his intention to negotiate a peace.

Although some nobles expressed their opposition and anger to the new sultan's abandonment of the lost coastal territories and the act of negotiating peace with the Crusaders.But at this time, the domestic situation in Morocco was chaotic and its national power was weak. The vassal states in the south began to seek independence one after another, and they were simply unable to fight the Crusaders again.

Zakaria promised that the peace is only temporary.As long as Morocco regains its vitality and has support from other Mulholland countries, it will definitely tear up the contract and fight again with the invaders of the Seven Saints.

In this way, Zakaria finally appeased the hearts of the people in the country, and signed a peace agreement with Ma Youfu that had been drawn up in private.

Chapter 440 Five Days Siege

There are three conditions in the contract.

First of all, the Sultanate of Morocco pays [-] ducats to Ma Youfu every year as a protection fee.

Secondly, Zakaria allowed the merchants of the South French Trading Company to enter the Moroccan Sultanate to engage in business activities, and gave them a 50% discount on taxes.

Finally, the nobles of the Moroccan Sultanate are prohibited from taking measures of physical confinement on the farmers under their rule.Moroccans have the right to freedom of movement.

At first glance, these three conditions are not too excessive, and they do not touch the core interests of the Moroccan ruling class.Compared with the previous Crusade invaders, who frequently asked for a change of faith and annexed land, it was much better.

But they didn't know that these three conditions were actually intertwined, setting a trap for Zakaria's rule to collapse quickly.

[-] ducats per year, no more, no less, with the current national strength of Morocco, it takes a lot of effort to get it together.As for Zakaria, the new Sultan, it was too late to enjoy the glory and wealth brought by his power, so how could he pay the [-] ducats out of his own pocket.He will inevitably make up for the shortfall by increasing the means of squeezing the Moroccan people.This would greatly increase the tax burden for the average Moroccan.

Allowing the merchants of the South France Trading Company to enter Morocco seems at first glance to be a good way to promote commercial vitality and increase trade.But with that 50% tax break, it's different.

With such a great advantage, coupled with the backing of the behemoth South France Trading Company, the European businessmen who came to Morocco will soon defeat their Mulholland counterparts and monopolize the market of the entire Moroccan Sultanate.At that time, the 50% tax incentive will mean that the business tax of Sultan Zakaria will be reduced by 50%.

After the sharp drop in income, the only way for Zakaria to maintain his rule is to continue to squeeze Moroccan civilians.

After the implementation of the third clause of the treaty, those Moroccan people who have been exploited so miserable will definitely vote with their feet and flee to the coastal cities ruled by Mayouf.The countryside is deserted, and a large number of people flee to it, which will further reduce Zakaria's income.And those Moroccan nobles whose interests have been harmed will also resent the new Sultan because of this.

We emirs, can't beat Europeans with foreign guns and cannons, can't we also beat you, a rebel who usurped the throne?

At that time, there will be a good show to watch.

When the Moroccan Sultanate is in disarray, Ma Youfu will be able to stand up as a savior and end the chaos.

Some people may think that this whole set of strategies seems very clever, but isn't it troublesome?

But Ma Youfu doesn't think so.

With the overwhelming advantages of the British Empire in terms of military technology, productivity, and social organization, facing a group of third brothers who are brave enough to fight privately but are timid to fight publically, who are 250 times more bulky than the later generations of Jiangsu Province, they all It took almost [-] years to completely conquer it.

Of course, you can say that India has a large population and distance, and it is very difficult to conquer and completely rule.But the area of ​​the entire Maghreb region (including the Sahara region) is larger than that of India, and facing the Mulhollan believers, Wude is far more abundant than the third brother.In addition, compared with the level of civilization in Europe at this time and the world of Mulholland, it can only be said that each has its own advantages, and there is no obvious advantage.

It is no exaggeration to describe Mayouf's ambition to conquer the entire Maghreb region as "whale swallowing".

Since the goal is set so boldly, it is natural to do the opposite and be extra cautious when implementing it.

All in all, the situation in Morocco has been stabilized, and it is only necessary to wait for the development of the situation despite the changes. After leaving a part of the garrison to control various Moroccan coastal cities, he returned to Oran.

Finding that Philip III was still besieging Tlemcen, Ma Youfu decided to take action himself to help him.By the way, he also negotiated the terms of the alliance with the special envoys of the King of Portugal and Castile.

Then everyone worked together, gathered all the forces, fought a decisive battle with Mulholland's main force, and captured Tunisia.

After hearing Ma Youfu's explanation of his intentions, Philip III said with some embarrassment: "Ma Youfu, according to our agreement, the Tlemcen Sultanate should be handed over to the Burgundian army..."

"This is indeed an agreement reached by the Faber Crusaders before the expedition. But don't forget, there are other clauses in our agreement..."

According to the agreement, France attacked Morocco and Burgundy attacked Tlemcen.This is actually the sphere of influence drawn by the two sides.However, there are also supplementary clauses at the back of the agreement: if any party is disadvantaged in attacking, delays the fighter plane, and may affect the overall strategy, then the other party has the right to take over the offensive task to end the battle as soon as possible.

The Burgundian army of Philip III had been at Tlemcen for several weeks, and due to the lack of artillery, it was still unable to launch an attack.If the attack continues after the arrival of the new cannons, the end of the siege will have to be delayed until at least July.

At that time, I am afraid that the Mulhollan Jihad Army has already reached Ceuta!

Ma Youfu cannot allow the [-] Burgundian army to waste time under the city of Tlemcen.

Philip III also knew that he was in the wrong, and wanted to argue: "My friend, I have already spent a lot of effort in Tlemcen, if you give me some time, I will definitely be able to capture this city!"

"Okay, Duke. Tomorrow, I will launch an attack on Tlemcen. If it doesn't succeed, then the right to attack the city is still yours. It's just that you have to end the battle within two weeks, you can't Delay any longer."