Continental Warriors Yoo Ma

Anyway, he wasn't an original Mulholland believer, so he didn't have much psychological pressure to convert again.

Subsequently, Mustain joined the Ministry of Agriculture with a high annual salary of [-] livres and began to devote himself to the great cause of coffee cultivation.

The reason why Ma Youfu gave such a high treatment is also to buy horse bones with thousands of dollars. He hoped that the Mulholland followers under his rule would see that he would not treat the original Seven Saints who believed in the Seven Saints from birth. There is no difference between them and the New Seven Saints who have become monks halfway.

This is not the same attitude as the Iberians.

Those Mulhollan believers whose homeland was destroyed in the reconquest movement and were forced to become residents of the countries ruled by the Seven Sacred Religions, some had to convert to the Seven Sacred Religions in order to survive.But even so, they are distinguished from the original Seven Saints and are called New Seven Saints.

But it doesn't mean that everything will be fine once you convert.

Even if they believe in the Seven Saints, these New Seven Saints often have some customs of the original religion.For the religiously fanatical Iberian rulers, if piety is not absolute, it is absolutely impiety, and must be resolutely corrected!

Thus, the famous, or rather infamous Inquisition, was born.

But for Ma Youfu, who was originally a member of the New Seven Saints, there were no such problems.

Even if you say that you don't eat pork, don't eat shrimp and crab, can't drink alcohol, you have to pray five times a day, and you have to celebrate Ramadan, but you are still an authentic member of the Seven Saints, Ma Youfu will not care.

Religious tolerance is a basic state policy.

So far, the remaining matters after the last war have basically been resolved.

The Western Crusaders continued to march eastward along the coastline, attacking the city and occupying land all the way, and finally stopped after reaching Annaba.

At this time, it was only about two hundred kilometers away from the city of Tunisia.

The soldiers of the Western Crusaders also pointed directly at the capital, putting the Tunisian Sultanate in the most dangerous situation.

Because the Eastern Crusaders have gathered under the city of Tunisia, cutting off all land passages with the outside world.Moreover, the number of this army continues to increase every day.

After the Eastern Crusaders approached the city, at the beginning, Tunisian Sultan Aziz II went up to the city wall every day to check the changes in the Crusaders camp outside the city, but every day he got a worse news, and his legs became weak Helped down by servants.

Every day, the crusader camp outside the city will expand a little bit.In the barracks, the number of flags painted with colorful patterns, each representing a noble family, is also increasing.

After being tormented by the bad news for a few days, Aziz II simply chose to be an ostrich and stopped checking the changes in the battle situation. Instead, he drank and had fun in the palace every day, drunk and dreamed, and handed over all the important matters of city defense to Sultan Wu, the white sheep. John Hassan.

The [-] white sheep jihad army led by the other party is the biggest reliance in Tunisia today.

On the morning after Mayouf captured Annaba, Uzun Hassan came to the Sultan's palace with the bad news.

Early in the morning, King Aziz II was having fun there, with a strong smell of alcohol on his body, and he didn't know how much "fermented juice" he drank.

"Aziz, as the master of this city, are you too indulgent?" Uzun Hassan frowned, looking at the Tunisian Sultan lying in the arms of his concubine.

As a generation of British lords who led the rapid rise of the weak white sheep tribe, first destroyed the deadly enemy, the Black Sheep Sultanate, and then bit off a piece of meat from the former Central Asian overlord Timur Empire, and now can compete with Ottoman, The rulers of the three sultanates of the Maghreb are really crumbs.

If it weren't for the great cause of jihad, to protect his brothers and sisters of the same faith from the infidels, to protect the holy mountain, he would not bother to be with these insects.

The scope of this "insect" includes not only the three Sultans of the Maghreb, but also the Mamluks and Ottomans.

Before Prince Muhammad and General Mustain, they took the risk of hastily dividing their forces and went west to Tunisia to stop the Western Crusaders. In Uzun Hassan's view, it was a very stupid idea.

Originally, our own troops were relatively small compared to the Crusaders, and it was more difficult to supply them.The most sensible way is to shrink the troops, lure the enemy to go deep, and then concentrate all the forces to eliminate all the crusaders first.

As a result, the other party chose to act alone for their own small interests.

It would be fine if he won, but in the end he lost to the Duke of Barr.

Due to limited communication conditions, Tunisia now only knows that the Ottoman and Mamluk coalition forces were defeated near Sidi Bel Abbes, General Mustaine was captured, and Prince Mohammed successfully evacuated eastward with the remnants.

Chapter 490 The key lies in the sea

However, the city of Tunisia has no idea how many troops are still under Prince Mohammed, what their status is, and where they are now.

Uzun Hassan no longer had any hope for the Ottomans, and Aziz II had the right to assume that Prince Mehmed's army was wiped out.From his point of view, Tunisia is now in a helpless situation, and the loss of the capital will happen sooner or later. Instead of struggling in vain, it is better to have a good time before dying.

Faced with Uzun Hassan's questioning, King Aziz II was not angry, and drunkenly got up from the concubine's big and bouncy arms, and staggered to the other side with a glass of wine in his hand: "Don't be so serious, My friend, the defense of Tunis City has already been handed over to you, and I only need to be responsible for the indulgence."

"I have the latest news about the battle situation, Aziz, you, as the ruler of Tunisia, should listen to it."

"It's all bad news anyway... so what if I don't hear it?" Seeing Uzun Hassan's reluctance, Aziz II muttered a few words and said helplessly, "Okay, please tell me, Your Excellency Hassan .”

"Annaba has fallen. Mayouf's Western Crusade can reach Tunis within seven days."

"So?" Aziz II spread his hands, "Anyway, nearly [-] crusaders have gathered in the city of Tunisia, and it doesn't matter if there are tens of thousands more."

Aziz II was frightened into despair by the huge force of the Crusaders, but Uzun Hassan, who had experienced many battles, could still see the hope of victory.

Although the Tunisian sultan had given up on himself and left all the defense of the city to himself, Uzun Hassan knew that the other party was the legal ruler of the city and even the country after all.If he wants to unify the forces of all parties in Tunisia, he must get the power support of Aziz II, instead of the current state of complete failure.

So he could only patiently explain: "The conflict between the East and West crusaders is greater than ours in Mulholland. If Ma Youfu is stupid enough to lead his army to the city of Tunisia and launch an attack with Sigismund , is our great opportunity!"

"What chance?" Aziz II's right hand shook slightly, and some of the bright wine in the wine glass suddenly spilled out.

From this detail, it can be seen that although Aziz II was acting self-defeating under the influence of various defeatist strategists, from the bottom of his heart, he still hoped that a miracle would happen so that the Mulholran Jihad Army would European invaders driven out.

"Two large and conflicting armies gathered in the narrow area under the city of Tunisia will inevitably cause various conflicts due to resource constraints. Moreover, both Mayouf and Sigismund want to take the city of Tunisia To gain the greatest glory of this jihad. Therefore, if Ma Youfu also leads an army to the city of Tunisia, then we only need to show our weakness, and if we cannot hold on, we can wait for the enemy to collapse on its own."

Seeing that Uzun Hassan spoke so confidently, Aziz II hesitated: "Then, what if Ma Youfu is not so stupid and stays in Annaba all the time?"

"I guess the Duke of Baal will also make this choice. Judging from his previous achievements, he is definitely a terrifying opponent with extremely clever strategy." Uzun Hassan rarely agreed with Aziz's hypothesis .

He added: "But in this way, it will give us a chance to defeat Emperor Shenluo!"

He clenched his fists and held them high, looking full of momentum.However, Aziz II expressed doubts about Uzun Hassan's confidence: "The Crusaders surrounding Tunisia now have nearly 6 people, and the number is still increasing. How can we defeat them?"

"Aziz, you don't have to worry about this..." Uzun Hassan saw that Aziz II had gotten rid of the alcohol and started to be interested in business, so he carefully analyzed the battle situation for him.

Tunisia is a wealthy city with extremely strong defenses.

Although the city walls are still designed according to medieval standards and have not been specially strengthened for artillery, the Eastern Crusaders did not have the sharp artillery of the French.In terms of spellcasters, the Mulholland camp still has a certain advantage.

Most of the Crusaders who were lured to the Maghreb by the dream of getting rich with jihadi loans were poor civilians.The number of spellcasters on the side of the Crusaders has not increased since the start of the war, and some of them have even been lost due to acclimatization and other accidental factors.

On Mulholland's side, because of the magic drink like coffee, the spellcasting power is already stronger. In addition, the Safavid order brought by Ismail to the Maghreb, although not many in number, is extremely powerful. Elite, the caster ratio is as high as one-tenth.

Taking various factors into consideration, Uzun Hassan came to a conclusion: no matter whether it is to use artillery, a new type of siege weapon, or to use magic tricks, it is impossible for the Eastern Crusaders led by Emperor Shenluo to quickly capture the city of Tunisia. .

The only option for the opponent is to carry out a long-term siege.

But a long-term siege must meet one condition, and that is the complete blockade of the target city.

The problem is that Tunisia is a port city, even if it is heavily surrounded on land, it can still obtain supplies by sea.

Therefore, the key to the outcome of both sides lies in the sea.

"Sea?" Aziz II asked with his tongue out.

"Yes, at sea." Uzun Hassan said, "The Mulholran fleet led by my grandson Ismail is in a duel with the Crusader fleet. Both sides are looking for a chance to defeat each other. Who will win? , whoever can decide the outcome on land.”

If the crusader fleet led by the former famous pirate Strozzi wins, then Sigismund will be able to complete the complete blockade of the city of Tunis from land to sea.After that, it was a long and extremely torturous siege battle, but there was no suspense in the final outcome.

If Ismaili wins, then the city of Tunis opens up.In the case of being able to continuously obtain supplies from the sea, it is not difficult for the city to persist for three to five years until all the strength of the Crusaders is exhausted.

The "Wozreif Victory" that was blown into the sky by the Eastern Crusaders did not cause any substantial losses to Uzun Hassan at all.The Aries Army has successfully withdrawn to Tunisia, and it is still well-organized and the morale of the army is available.Such an army, under the leadership of an excellent general, is it difficult to defend a strong city that can continuously receive support from the outside world, facing only about three times the number of enemies?

"In this case, from today onwards, I will stop drinking alcohol...no, I will not drink fruit juice anymore. As a devout Mulhollan believer, I will pray to the true god Ankabal five times a day on time, hoping that I Smael was able to defeat the heathen at sea."

Seeing that Aziz II finally cheered up, Uzun Hassan nodded in satisfaction.

At least in this way, the morale of the Tunisian army in the city will also be boosted.Those Tunisian nobles who are still loyal to Aziz II will not guard themselves like thieves, as if the decision of Aziz II to ignore the government and hand over all military power was his own conspiracy.

Without internal conflicts and suspicions, Uzun Hassan believed that even if his side was inferior in strength, he could eventually defeat the invaders.

……

The key to the outcome of the Battle of Tunisia was at sea.

Strozzi, who has rich experience in maritime combat, naturally understands this truth.

Ever since he was favored by Alfonso V and became the commander of the Aragon Navy, and then took charge of commanding the entire Eastern Crusade fleet, he cherished this opportunity to make a comeback.

Now that the Crusades are at the last and most critical moment, his navy determines the victory of the entire campaign, which also makes Strozzi more cautious.

At this time, Strozzi's fleet was assembled in the port of Palermo in Sicily.

He was waiting for ships laden with supplies and newly recruited crusaders to arrive in Palermo from various Italian ports before heading to Tunisia together.

This strategy of gathering all the fleet together before starting operations, Strozzi learned from Ma Youfu.

This method was adopted in the "Egyptian Expedition" carried out by the Genoa fleet.If it wasn't for bad luck, he met Strozzi and Ismail, two opponents who couldn't be judged by common sense, on the way, that action could be described as perfect.

Strozzi knew that Ismail's fleet was looking for him, and wanted to rely on a large-scale decisive battle to determine the outcome.

Although he has the power of the sea god, his opponent is not an ordinary person. It is said that he is the reincarnation of the prophet of the Mulholland religion, and he has super attainments in the spells of the school of prophecy.

Although Strozzi is not afraid of the opponent, he also hopes to start a decisive battle with the opponent when the conditions are most favorable to him.

The fleet of the Eastern Crusade was mainly composed of the Venetian Fleet and the Aragonese Fleet, with many scattered Italian city-state ships joining.In addition to the largest number of galleys, there are also many carrack galleons and caravel galleons in the fleet.

It's just that these Carrack galleons are more cumbersome than the carefully improved new Carrack galleons of the Western Crusaders, and are not suitable for use in the "bathtub" of the Mediterranean Sea, and their long-range firepower is far inferior.

Even so, these karak galleons were Strozzi's treasure at hand.With their tall and sturdy hulls, these karak galleons are sea fortresses, strong enough to hold up against several galleys.

The Mulholland Fleet surpassed the Eastern Crusaders Fleet in terms of numbers.Its main force is also a galley warship whose model is similar to that of its European counterparts.It's just that the source of the Mulholland Fleet is more complicated, and there are many light Arabian fast ships used by pirates, so the overall mobility of the fleet is better, but the frontal combat effectiveness is not as good as that of the Eastern Crusaders Fleet.

As for Ma Youfu's West Crusade Fleet, it is an exception. It will not participate in the battle between the two sides, but is busy with trading activities.

Chapter 490: Assassination, Great Victory

In late October, Strozzi's fleet was finally assembled and set sail from the port of Palermo.

As winter was approaching, the westerly winds began to prevail in the Mediterranean Sea again, so Strozzi's planned route was to go east through the Strait of Messina and then go south.After passing the island of Malta, sail west to the port of Sousse.

After the personnel and supplies land here, they can walk about [-] kilometers north to reach the city of Tunisia.

According to the route planned by Strozzi, this large fleet with a total of more than [-] ships traveled smoothly all the way.

But after passing the island of Malta, the situation changed.

The prevailing westerly wind has become southwesterly.

This dry and scorching wind should have formed in the Sahara Desert, and then passed through the gap in the Atlas Mountains and blown to the sea.

At this time, the fleet that had just changed direction near the island of Malta and started sailing west could only advance against the port wind, and its speed dropped a lot.

Strozzi felt that this was not a good omen, and immediately ordered the lookouts to step up their guard.

Although the Eastern Crusaders landed in Tripoli, the offensive can be said to be overwhelming. First they won the victory of Wozreif, and then quickly approached the city of Tunisia.But because of the rapid progress, the Crusaders are now in the area north of Puerto Gabes, controlling only large coastal towns and main lines of communication.

Both inland areas and offshore islands are still under the control of the Tunisian Sultanate.Down

The sparsely populated deserts in the interior are irrelevant. The most important thing is that the islands that can provide anchorages for the fleet are an eyesore to Strozzi.

The Mulholland Fleet is hidden in those islands, and it comes out from time to time to attack the Crusader ships delivering supplies, which is really unbearable.

Otherwise, Strozzi would not adopt the current method of concentrating large fleets.