Continental Warriors Yoo Ma

Fortunately, after all these matters have been finalized one after another, there is only one last problem left for the monarchs.

When will the next attack begin, and where will the target be chosen?

On the morning of July [-]th, many monarchs who participated in the Crusade gathered in the mansion of Alfonso V in the city of Cagliaria.The meeting held today will determine the next phase of the Crusade's battle plan, and it can even be said that it is related to the success or failure of the entire Crusade - at least they themselves think so.

Because of the great success of the attack on Jazhail City, the atmosphere in the conference venue was quite harmonious.

The victory of the city of Jazhail not only brought a lot of wealth to the Crusaders and stabilized the morale of the army, but more importantly, it completely changed the situation in the Maghreb.

Now the Mulhollan people, who were completely enraged, have pushed their heavy troops to the west, and started a confrontation with the French. A big battle between the two sides is imminent.This is definitely good news for their crusaders.

Although the crusaders who attacked the city of Jazhail were not the same group of crusaders who were stationed east of the city of Oran.But no Mulholland dared to speak out, driven by anger and humiliation.

In their view, whether it is the French or the Germans, they are invaders with blood on their hands, and there is no difference.Driving all Europeans out of the Maghreb is the only option for the devout Mulholrans.

Perhaps the Mulhollands will wake up only after the brutal war wears off their revanchism.But by then, Tunisia might not even exist.

The attack on the city of Jazair completely angered the Mulhollan people, and directed all the enemy's anger to the French-Burgundian Crusaders who had won and won before, causing the Mulhollan coalition forces to advance westward. The strength is greatly reduced.

The mastermind of this series of schemes is Albrecht, the good son-in-law of Alfonso V and Emperor Shinra, the heir of the Grand Duchy of Austria.

However, although the plan looks wonderful, there are many difficulties to be overcome in order to be successfully implemented.

One of the most important points is how to hide from the Mulhollan's surveillance of the sea and lead the fleet to successfully attack.

Under the call of Ismail, many Barbary pirates went to Tunisia to join the crusade against the heretics.Many of these pirates were fishermen or sea merchants. After Ismail broke them up, they were distributed to various towns along the coast of Tunisia, disguised as civilians, under the guise of fishing or running merchants, and closely monitored the movement in the southern Mediterranean. .

Some of them even lurked in the Mediterranean islands to which Aragon belongs, frequently providing the city of Tunisia with new trends for the Crusaders.

Although the war is being fought, the business cannot stop.Is not the gold of the heathen gold?Arab merchants went to the port of Palermo to purchase newly produced wheat and wine. Would the local merchants refuse?It's not a shame to make money.As for whether these Arab businessmen will take this opportunity to collect information on the Crusades, it is not known.

As long as the German and Italian Crusaders stationed in Sicily are dispatched, the Mulholland coalition forces in Tunisia will definitely be able to detect it.Such a huge military operation cannot be concealed at all.Therefore, the only space that Alfonso V and others can operate is to hide their whereabouts after the army is dispatched, so that the Mulhollan people do not know where they are going to attack, so as to achieve the purpose of surprise.

Originally, with Ismail's control over Tunisia's offshore waters, it was difficult to launch a surprise attack.But who told Alfonso V to be lucky enough to pick up an outstanding naval talent.

This man was Johannes Strozzi, who had been lost in the pirate world for some time.

The famous Son of Salt Mist is now Admiral of Aragon.

He was able to be appreciated by Alfonso V. In a short period of time, he climbed from a bereaved dog who came to seek asylum to a high position in the army, and became the most popular minister of the King of Aragon. It is also because of his real skills.

If Strozzi hadn't used the power of the ancient sea god to summon dark clouds and thick fog to cover the fleet's actions, the raid on the city of Jazhail would have been impossible to succeed.

With such an easy-to-use extraordinary power to rely on, whether it is Alfonso V or Sigismund, they will definitely use it as a killer.

Today the city of Tunisia is quite empty, with only 1 Aries Sultanate troops, and a mob of about [-] Mulhollan jihadists and Berber nomads.

The strategic situation was already extremely favorable to the German and Italian Crusaders.The next time the Crusaders depart from the Port of Cagliari, it will no longer be a trick of grabbing and leaving, but will officially land in the Maghreb and start a full-scale offensive.

Which city to choose for the landing site is the last question that the monarchs have yet to decide.

Looking at the chattering people in the conference room, Alfonso V decided to first ask Strozzi, who had made great contributions, for his opinion.

"My admiral, where do you think we should attack next?" Alfonso V said, "Many gentlemen think that we should attack Tunis directly."

Today's Strozzi has already come out of the failure of losing the prism magic cannon. Today he looks very good, energetic, and looks high-spirited.

He said, "Your Highness, I don't think this is a good idea."

"Why?" asked the Duke of Ferrara on the side, "With your magical magic, the whole sea is our back garden. We can go wherever we want, and no one will notice. So, instead of capturing those insignificant little It is better to attack the heart of the enemy directly!"

"However, what if the heart is protected by the best armor?" said the emperor's son-in-law Albrecht. "There are still [-] troops in Tunis today. With so many defenders, coupled with the protection of the strong city wall, it is absolutely impossible to protect the heart." It cannot be captured in a short period of time. When the Mulholland coalition found that the capital was under siege, would they still sit back and watch the army confront Mayouf at the front? The Ottomans and Mamluks will surely return. At that time, our [-] crusaders will be There is a danger of being surrounded by the enemy on the beaches of Tunisia."

"Can the Ottomans and Mamluks retreat with peace of mind? Don't they worry about Mayoufu's surprise attack?" the Duke of Bavaria asked.

The question was so stupid that no one bothered to answer him.

Or Sigismund explained patiently: "The thing Ma Youfu hopes most is that we fight to the death with Mulholland's main force. How could he prevent Mulholland's army from returning to Tunisia?"

"We are brothers of the same faith, we shouldn't..."

No one cares about the Duke of Bavaria who is thinking about it.After all, at the Tiber River Conference, he had already been dubbed a "non-military" hat by Philip III, and he was deeply recognized.

"Since attacking the city of Tunis and hoping for a quick victory is not a practical goal, then where should we choose as the direction of attack?" Duke Milan asked.

"Tripoli, of course!" Albrecht said in an unquestionable tone.

"I thought you had an excellent idea." The Duke of Milan sneered, "Tripoli is more than 650 kilometers away from Tunisia by land! You chose a city in Tunisia that is farthest from our final goal. I really can't help it." I understand. Besides, this road is all desert terrain, are you going to let the crusaders gnaw on the sand and fight the heretics?"

"My lord, Visconti, I think your knowledge about North Africa is outdated." Sigismund said for his son-in-law, "The river formed because of that new holy mountain has long since destroyed Atlas. The coastal area on the eastern edge of the mountains has changed from an arid desert to a fertile alluvial plain. You may not know that even the famous Great Salt Lake of Jared is now drinkable after being continuously injected with fresh water."

Sigismund did not have Mayouf's knowledge of modern agriculture. He did not know that even if there is sufficient water for irrigation, it is not so easy to turn the desert into good farmland.

It's just that after the geographical conditions of the Maghreb have changed because of the "holy mountain", landing from Tripoli and then attacking north is indeed a strategy that can be chosen.

At least, when the Crusaders went all the way north, even if they went a hundred kilometers inland, they could find rivers at any time, so they didn't have to worry about lack of drinking water.

Judging from the combat environment, the Tenth Crusade was much happier than their predecessors.

Moreover, after landing in Tripoli, both the city of Tunis and the Holy Mountain faced the threat of the Crusaders.The enemy who was originally stationed in Tunisia, waiting for work at ease, will face a dilemma: Is it Baodu City or Baosheng Mountain?

Chapter 450 Landing in Tripoli

The monarchs present in the meeting room, those who are more knowledgeable about military affairs, after Albrecht proposed to attack Tripoli, thought for a while, and then they all praised.

"This is really a good idea! In this way, the enemy will fall into a passive position. If they want to keep both the Holy Mountain and the city of Tunisia, the only choice is to take the initiative to fight us! But in this way, we have a huge force advantage, and the enemy had to give up the solid city defense... Our advantage is huge!"

"Moreover, starting from Tripoli and attacking northward, due to the longer distance, we can actually take advantage of our mobility!" said Venetian Admiral Marco, "It was the Siris who inspired us. Jinghua concentrates its operations in the long and narrow coastal areas, and having a superior navy is equivalent to increasing the mobility of the army tenfold! We can rely on sea transportation to achieve large-scale transfers and detours.

For example, when we attack northward to Gabes, we can temporarily stand still and just prepare to attack the holy mountain westward along the Jared Salt Lake—perhaps it should be called Jared Lake now.If the Tunisian army had to come south to intercept us, we could split the army in two.Some of them stayed in place to attract the attention of the enemy, and the other went north on a warship to attack the empty city of Tunisia! "

"Okay, that's a great idea!"

"Your Excellency, your strategy is comparable to that of Alexander!"

The participants cheered and applauded.

The atmosphere in the meeting room is getting hotter and hotter, and everyone seems to be possessed by a famous ancient general, proposing all kinds of wonderful, unimaginable, and strange tactics.

According to incomplete statistics, after the meeting ended, there were three more Caesars, four Alexanders, two Charlemagne, and one Hannibal.

Among them, the Duke who was compared to Hannibal by others thought it was an insult to himself and demanded a duel with him.After all, Tunisia, which the Crusaders are going to attack now, was the location of Carthage in ancient times, and all the monarchs put themselves on the side of Rome.Comparing himself to Hannibal, isn't he implying that he is a spy of the enemy?

Fortunately, with the mediation of Sigismund, this farce-like quarrel did not lead to bloodshed.

Because after the capture of Tripoli, there will be a lot of tactical options, so at this meeting, only the decision to take Tripoli as the next target was finally determined.As for the longer-term strategy, we can only take one step at a time.

After the German-Italian-Aragonese Crusaders determined their attack target, the behemoth with a total strength of more than 7 troops and [-] warships began to move slowly but firmly, and the soldiers pointed directly at Tripoli.

The high-moralized Crusaders set off from the port of Cagliari by boat and sailed eastward. After arriving in the port of Palermo, they replenished their food.Then, the fleet sailed south through the Strait of Messina fully loaded.

After entering the southern waters of the island of Malta, the commander of this fleet, Strozzi, the son of the former great pirate Salt Mist, began to exert the power of the sea god, calling thick fog and dark clouds to cover the fleet's tracks.

Strozzi alone must not be able to cast such a powerful magic.

For this, he had to offer a large number of sacrifices to the gods.And the [-] heathen captives captured from the city of Jazhail came in handy at this time.

This sacrificial ceremony was held, and the crews on the two galleys were emptied.Afterwards, red bloodstains were floating on the surface of the sea stretching for two or three kilometers.

Swarms of sharks that smelled blood gathered around Strozzi's flagship to enjoy this rare gluttonous feast.

In the rolling waves, sharks are scrambling to bite human corpses.Even professional soldiers who are used to seeing death can't help frowning slightly when they see this scene.

"My friend, this Strozzi is not a good thing. The cruel rituals he performed can no longer be simply summed up by the word 'blasphemous'. After the decisive victory of the Southern Expedition, we had better He will deal with it. Otherwise, it will tarnish the reputation of the Trastamara family." Emperor Sigismund said to Alfonso V.

King Aragorn nodded and said: "I understand, Your Majesty the Emperor. Strozzi is like a poisoned dagger, sharp and deadly, but it is easy to hurt yourself. When we decide the outcome on land, don't When the Navy is needed, I will relieve him of his admiral..."

"With all due respect, this is not clean enough. It would be better..." Sigismund gestured to wipe his neck.

"I understand, Your Majesty the Emperor." Alfonso V was noncommittal about Sigismund's suggestion of cutting grass and roots.

Of course he knew that Strozzi was a man who had no faith, acted brutally, had no bottom line, and was very dangerous.But the opponent is also really capable.

After the victory of the Crusades, Emperor Shenluo certainly did not need a navy, but Aragon was another situation.

Alfonso V still has Ma Youfu as his archenemy!

In order to compete with the opponent for Naples and defend Sardinia and Sicily, he must have a powerful navy!In the case of being inferior to the other party in terms of financial resources, manpower, and technology, at least the Aragon Navy must have a naval commander who is so powerful that he can win no battles.

The little chatter about Strozzi's future has gone nowhere.

The violent winds and dark clouds created by the Son of Salt Mist are very powerful, but the Crusader fleet seems to be in the eye of a typhoon, and the surrounding sea is extremely calm.

The Mulholland fishing boats and merchant ships wandering the sea as scouts saw the abnormal weather and were frightened to return to land to avoid the storm that would never occur.

The maritime surveillance network that Ismail had painstakingly built failed again.Without early warning, the governor of Tripoli had no time to gather troops from surrounding cities. The 3000 people on hand had nothing to do with the huge number of crusaders.

Moreover, because the new river created by the holy mountain entered the sea from Tripoli, the original city wall was washed away by the river for a while.The governor of Tripoli was only concerned with making money and enjoying himself all day long, and he had no intention of strengthening the defense at all.In his opinion, the city is "high mountains and far away" and will not be attacked by the Crusaders at all. Why spend money and effort to repair the city walls?

As a result, his negligence and negligence directly led to Tripoli being captured by the Crusaders within half a day.

After the victory of this battle, the Crusaders restrained a lot, but they plundered for three days, and did not let go of their hands and feet to slaughter.After all, Sigismund was going to use the city as his own fief to manage well.

Compared with Ma Youfu's governance plan of corporatizing the newly conquered land, this crusade is still the old way, directly enfeoffing the land.There is no difference from the First Crusade more than 300 years ago, except that there is no more Kingdom of Jerusalem established.

After gaining a foothold in Tripoli, the Crusaders split into three groups.All the way to the southeast coast, the purpose is to occupy Sirte and threaten the territory of the Mamluk Sultanate.Heading inland along the water source of the river all the way, it is necessary to eat all the fixed settlements north of the Sahara Desert.The third, and the largest force, will follow the coastline to the northwest, heading for the coastal town of Gabes, which is the closest to Jared Salt Lake.

To the northwest of this town, at a straight-line distance of about two hundred kilometers, is the new holy mountain that has changed the geographical conditions of the entire Maghreb.

An army improvised by the governor of Sfax, totaling about 5000 men, was rushing to the fort near the small town of Gaetar, north of the Great Salt Lake in Jared.The fortress is located between the two mountains, which just blocked the way for the Crusaders to attack the holy mountain.At the same time, Uzun Hassan, the Sultan of Aries, also led an army of [-] Aries to the south, preparing to fight the Crusaders to the death.Accompanying him was Ibrahim Hashemi, a general appointed by the Sultan of Tunisia.

Ibrahim took the [-] troops pieced together with all the power of Tunisia.Accompanying Tunisian Sultan Aziz II to stay in Tunisia, there were only [-] old, weak, sick and disabled, and [-] jihadist volunteers from other Mulholran countries.

There is no way, Tunisia is now switching the manpower bill to the level of "squeezing them dry", and it is completely impossible to recruit a new force.

Aziz II is quite courageous in this critical moment.He knew that defeating the Crusaders on the front line was more important than his own safety, so he handed over all the elite forces to Ibrahim, leaving only an empty shell in Tunisia.

However, this situation cannot last for too long, so Aziz II is also sending letters to the Ottoman princes and Mamluk generals stationed on the front line of Jazair, hoping that they can return to aid as soon as possible.

Compared with the French and Burgundians who are already full, they are now focusing on consolidating and digesting the occupied areas. Now they have a big appetite, and another crusader who is ready to swallow the entire Tunisia in one fell swoop is the biggest threat.

It's just that it is still unknown whether the two groups of people are willing to return to the aid, and whether Ma Youfu will easily let them return to the aid.

The Crusades, where the two major religious camps collided, fought in the military, but in politics.One side of the Seven Sages is an alliance in bulk, and the various Mulhollan monarchs who came to support Tunisia also have their own plans.

The purpose of the Ottoman prince Muhammad's coming to participate in the jihad is mainly to gain the power of the army through victory—especially the recognition of the two systems of Yeniceri and Sipasi, and at the same time show his piety to the true god Ankabal .

If we understand it according to the system of the game "Crusader Kings", Muhammad came to the Maghreb to gain prestige and piety.

He needs to win, but it doesn't matter if it happens in Oran or Tunisia.

The Mamluk Sultan's mind is not as complicated as that of the Ottomans.Maybe it's because he has done too many ungodly things like drinking "fermented grape juice", so Barsbey sent troops to support Tunisia this time, really purely wanting to protect the country of the Mulholland brothers and guard the holy mountain.

However, when the Crusaders captured Sirte and threatened Egypt from the west, the Mamluks' fighting spirit also began to waver.

Chapter 450 Seven Difficulties of the Princess

Encouraged by the great victory, the Crusaders who attacked Tunisia had already chanted the slogan "Continue to advance eastward, attack Egypt, eat in Cairo during the Harvest Festival, and make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in the New Year".