Continental Warriors Yoo Ma

For example, the Kekena Islands, which are less than [-] kilometers away from Sfax Port, are such a temporary anchorage.The Crusaders in Sfax Port can often even see the Mulholland battleship sailing from the Kekena Islands, wandering back and forth outside the port, firing two shots from time to time to harass.

"If the Mulholland fleet sets out from the Kekena Islands to intercept my fleet by taking advantage of this southwesterly wind, it will be in big trouble..." Strozzi looked at the boundless sea with a serious expression.

Although his opponent, Ismail, grew up in the mountains of Ardabil, he had never even seen the sea before participating in this holy war.But the prophetic power inherited by the other party is indeed a very powerful help in this vast sea.

If the opponent wants to find himself and fight decisively, it is not difficult.

Thinking of this, Strozzi immediately issued an order: "Send the order, the fleet is ready to fight. Also, bring all the Mulholland captives up!"

As soon as he finished speaking, bad news came from the lookout: a Mulholland fleet was discovered in the southwest direction, the scale was extremely large, and the end could not be seen from the beginning to the end!

"Commander, the wind direction is not good for us. The enemy's warships are lighter and more flexible, and now they have the advantage of the wind direction. They can completely treat our Karak galleons as cumbersome elephants." The first mate Said with a worried face.

"You're right. However, since the wind direction is unfavorable, why don't I change the wind direction?" Strozzi showed an expression of excitement and cruelty.

He licked his lips, and said: "Ismail is very good at predicting the future, so can he predict that my Seagod power can completely change the situation on the battlefield?"

Seeing what Strozzi said, the first mate immediately cheered up.The opponent inherited the extraordinary power from the ancient sea god, and has brought many victories to this fleet.

He believed that as long as Commander Strozzi took action, everything would be fine.

That is, before Strozzi casts a spell, a large number of human lives need to be sacrificed as sacrifices.This very Roman approach is really bloody.

But it doesn't matter that the dead are pagans anyway.

With the wind down, the huge Mulholland Fleet, with a total of more than [-] ships, quickly approached the Crusader Fleet.

Just as the warships of the Crusader Fleet began to turn awkwardly against the wind, Strozzi's old men who had followed since the pirate era had already arranged the place for the sacrificial ceremony on the deck.

Standing in front of the altar, Strozzi held the golden trident as a sacrificial vessel in one hand, and asked his men to bring up the Mulholland captives one by one, and then killed them.If he encounters a well-qualified sacrifice, he will cut open the other's chest with his own hands, pick off the hot, bloody, and still beating internal organs, and offer them to the greedy Sea God as a special gift.

"Oh, you're very nice."

After killing twelve prisoners in a row, Strozzi looked at the No. 13 prisoner brought by his subordinates, his eyes lit up.

This is a fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy with long flaxen hair and a strong figure. Even though he was a captive and lived in the harsh environment on the ship for more than a month, he still has a ruddy complexion and bright eyes.

"Grateful to die, mortal. You should be honored that your flesh and blood can be used to please the gods!" Strozzi grinned, and stabbed the golden trident into the boy's chest.

Who knew that at the moment when he was about to die, as if he could predict the future, he leaned his body and avoided the attack.

At some point, the boy took out a dagger made of fishbone from his shorts, and rushed towards Strozzi.

"The murderer whose hands are stained with the blood of the Mulhollan brothers and sisters, accept the punishment of the avengers! In the name of the true god Ankabal, and in the name of Ismail, the successor of the prophet, I will kill you!"

The young man roared angrily, his whole body glowed with a layer of golden light, and a magic imprint with the outline of a crescent moon appeared on his chest.

Strozzi was terrified and tried his best to resist, but no matter how he evaded, the boy seemed to be able to predict his movements, and then change the direction of his moves.

In just a few breaths, five wounds appeared on his body.

The subordinates quickly surrounded him, and all kinds of weapons slashed at the boy frantically.Strozzi himself also tried his best to defeat the powerful and weird boy in front of him.

However, all efforts seem to be in vain.

The golden light shone in the boy's hand, and the fishbone dagger blessed by divine power finally broke through the protective shield of divine power condensed in front of Strozzi and pierced into his chest.

After seeing the successful young Mulholland being hacked to death by his subordinates, Strozzi also lost his eyes and fell on the deck.

Five kilometers away, is the Mulholland Fleet approaching rapidly.

Among them, fifty arson ships burning with raging flames were the first to charge.

……

About ten kilometers northeast of the city of Tunis, outside the New Carthage Fortress where the prism magic cannon was placed, about 2000 meters away, is a camp set up by the Eastern Crusaders.

This fortress did play a role at the beginning of its construction, sharing part of the Crusaders' siege forces for the city of Tunisia.

It's just that the Eastern Crusaders didn't know the existence of the Prism Magic Cannon, so they didn't invest their main force in this direction.

Filippo Maria Visconti, Duke of Milan, led ten thousand Italian crusaders in charge of attacking the fortress.However, after launching a tentative attack and being repulsed by the defending Daming army with sharp firearms, the Duke of Milan stopped supporting him and changed his strategy.

The new Carthage fortress is not like the Tunisian city, which has a port to transport supplies.Surround it and wait for the enemy to run out of food.

Anyway, even if he played well and quickly captured the New Carthage Fortress, it would not have that much impact on the overall battle situation, so why bother working so hard?

The Duke of Milan, who suffered from infertility, now lives a regular regimen of health every day in order to revive his masculinity, even on the front line of the war.

This morning, after the Duke of Milan had breakfast, he put on the exaggeratedly gorgeous plate armor and did weight-bearing exercise in the barracks.

He had just finished warming up and hadn't shed a few drops of sweat. The visit of two distinguished guests forced him to stop.

"My lord, His Majesty the Emperor and His Royal Highness Alfonso are here."

"Strange, what are they doing here at this time?" Duke Milan was puzzled.

But he returned immediately to his tent to meet the two sovereigns.

"Visconti, our situation is very bad." Without even a simple greeting, Emperor Sigismund threw out a sentence that made the Duke of Milan puzzled.

Alfonso V looked around and found no one outside, then lowered his voice and said: "This morning, our fleet arrived at the port of Sousse."

"Isn't this great? Our military strength can continue to increase, and there is a steady stream of supplies..."

"A total of 430 ships, only 160 arrived. And half of them were injured." Alfonso V's tone trembled a little.

"Ah?! Seven Saints!" Hearing the news, the Duke of Milan exclaimed.

Sigismund took up the conversation with a dark face: "Last night, in the waters near the Pelage Islands west of the island of Malta, our fleet was stopped by the Mulhollans. That cunning Ismail. Yes! That's right! The little liar who claimed to be a prophet had ambushed an assassin among the Mulhollan captives on Strozzi's flagship in advance. Strozzi was going to summon the power of the sea god through a sacrificial ceremony to change the direction of the wind, who knows However, he was assassinated halfway and was seriously injured and unconscious..."

After Strozzi fell into a coma, the Mulholland Fleet took the lead in rushing into the Crusader Fleet with its arsonist ships, and launched a suicide attack targeting the Carak galleons, which were like fortresses at sea.

The strongest combat power of the Crusader fleet was paralyzed one after another. At the same time, the formation of the entire fleet was divided into fragments by those arsonist ships.Next, the Mulholland fleet gnawed away the Crusader fleet bit by bit by virtue of its mobility advantage and local superior force.

However, the resistance of the Crusaders was also very tenacious, and the sea battle lasted until the next morning before the final decision was made.

Chapter 490 Three False Romans

In this battle, which was later called the "Battle of Pellaj", including sinking and capture, the Crusader fleet lost a total of 68 ships.Most of the remaining ships broke through the siege and finally arrived at the port of Sousse.The remaining [-] ships, taking advantage of the southwest wind to turn north, fled in the direction of Sicily.

The loss of the Mulholland fleet, except for the fifty arson ships, was only 27 ships.

After this battle, the Eastern Crusaders basically lost control of the Mediterranean Sea.In the future, not to mention competing with the Mulholland fleet at sea, it will be difficult to maintain the sea line of communication.

Leaving aside the 68 ships that fled back to Europe, let’s talk about the 160 ships that arrived in Sousse.Alfonso V judged that if the remaining fleet did not unload the cargo as soon as possible and leave the port of Sousse, it would soon face the pursuit of the Mulholland fleet.At that time, if the remaining fleet is blocked in the port, the maritime transport capacity of the Eastern Crusaders will immediately drop to a negligible level, which will greatly affect the army's siege plan.

Sigismund and Alfonso V combined, and finally came up with a strategy to unload the ships that are still intact as soon as possible, and then leave the port of Sousse immediately.The damaged warships were left in the port of Sousse as bait.

There are many ports available on the southwestern coast of Tunisia, which is why the Barbary pirates have repeatedly suppressed them.It is impossible for the Mulholland fleet to block them all.Although the future East Crusaders have lost the ability to fight the Mulhollans at sea, if the remaining ships are broken up into pieces and fully ensure the sea line of communication, the situation will not immediately deteriorate to nearly [-] crosses. The degree to which the army starved to death.

However, due to the lack of food and clothing, the morale of the Crusaders will definitely be greatly affected.In order to prioritize food supply, other military supplies, such as arrows, gunpowder, shells, worn-out weapons, armor, horses, etc., are difficult to replenish.The combat effectiveness of the Eastern Crusaders will decline rapidly.

Therefore, Sigismund and Alfonso V decided to change their previous strategy, take a strong attack, and take the city of Tunisia regardless of casualties.

For this reason, the Eastern Crusaders made a lot of preparations.

First of all, the 68 damaged ships will be dismantled.All the cannon equipped on the ship should be moved ashore for use by the army.In this way, the Crusaders who besieged Tunisia had almost 130 more artillery pieces on hand.And a considerable amount of gunpowder and shells.Although most of these artillery were small-caliber firearms that could be operated by one or two men, they still greatly enhanced the Crusaders' siege firepower.

In addition, the wood after dismantling ships is also a precious raw material in Tunisia, which lacks forest resources, and can be used to make various siege equipment.

In addition to material preparations, spiritual preparations must also be adequate.

There is no need to attack the new Carthage fortress.Sigismund planned to change to a strategy of encircling and not fighting, and sent a partial division of about [-] people to build fortifications and ditches outside the city, completely isolating the fortress from the outside world, and there was no way to send troops to increase the number of Tunisians. That's it.

However, the ruins of the ancient city of Carthage outside this fortress are still very useful.As the emperor of Rome (Shenra also recognized himself as Luo), Sigismund decided to hold a grand mobilization ceremony on the ruins of Carthage before going to war.In addition to praying to the Seven Saints, the most critical step in the ceremony is to sprinkle salt on the ruins of the city of Carthage, using this "feat" to imitate the Romans' conquest of Carthage to boost the morale and desire of the whole army .

Although the Duke of Milan felt that it was not very appropriate for the devout Seven Saints to imitate the things done by the pagans who believed in Roman polytheism back then, but after thinking about it, he did not say it, but complained in his heart: " The territory of the Roman Empire has never included the German region. You Germans, don’t think that you have gone to Rome to be crowned, and you are the orthodox heir to the Roman Empire. If you talk about the legitimacy of the Roman succession, you have to count us Italians. Even, even The Ottomans, who inherited the legacy of the Sultanate of Roma, were also more pure than the Romans of the Holy Roman Empire."

But the priests accompanying the army had no objections, so what else could he say?

In today's extremely unfavorable situation, if you still want to win, you can only try various methods.

Putting aside the complaints about the identity of the "Romans", the Duke of Milan still feels a little complicated about Sigismund's decision to abandon the attack on the new Carthage fortress.

The princess Seris in the fortress of New Carthage and her immense wealth were woven into mysterious stories one after another in the Crusader barracks and spread everywhere.The Duke of Milan is certainly not like those ignorant low-level soldiers who believe any outrageous rumors, but he still wants to see the beauty of Princess Seris.In addition, it would be even better if they could find a way to restore the man's glory from the Sires.

A western doctor who only knows bloodletting therapy, no!

Mysterious and advanced oriental medicine, amazing!

However, although the gains from capturing the New Carthage Fortress are huge, the premise is that they can win.

At this time, the Ming army still retained the combat effectiveness of the Chengzu era, and its military technology was stronger than that of the Europeans.The Duke of Milan didn't think that he could defeat the Siris army guarding the Carthage fortress with a five-fold advantage.

Now besieging the fortress and not attacking it, although he couldn't get rich spoils, he also avoided greater losses.Whether it was a loss or a gain in the end, the Duke of Milan himself did not know.

"Your Excellency Visconti, you are the most familiar with the situation of that fortress. We need your help to see where is the most suitable place to hold the mobilization ceremony." Sigismund said.

"I'm glad to give you advice." The Duke of Milan said, "The Seres have installed a lot of artillery in the fortress, and they should all be carried from the ship. The performance is stronger than our artillery, but the type is still a stone-shooting artillery. It cannot be compared with the new artillery invented by Ma Youfu..."

There was regret in his tone.

Although there are many manufacturing secrets that are difficult to know about the new artillery pieces equipped by Mayouf's army, at least they are not complicated in appearance.As long as you have the heart, and you are willing to spend a lot of effort to imitate it, it is not impossible to manufacture a copycat product that is [-]% to [-]% of the performance of the original version compared with the products of the Rouen Artillery Workshop.

After all, Ma Youfu was able to build the classic six-pound cannon back then, thanks to the wisdom of Milan craftsmen.

In terms of the level of industrial technology, the North Italian region is definitely one of the best in the whole of Europe.

However, there are very few monarchs who really realize that artillery, a weapon, can change the shape of warfare, and have the foresight to invest in it.

Only the Iberians, who have been fighting pagans all the time, and Britain and France, who have been in love with each other for 100 years, have shown greater interest in acquiring advanced weapons.

The Duke of Milan couldn't help fantasizing that if he had five or six twelve-pound guns that were well received by Mayouv's army, or at least the firepower of the Burgundians, he would not be able to face the new Carthage fortress at this time. would be so powerless.

Although the technical level of the opponent's artillery is not to the point of crushing, the Serisians have a variety of other firearms.

A single shot from a crude benzene hand cannon can explode the finely crafted Milanese plate armor.No crusader knight would want to lead an assault on that fortress unless he possessed more expensive enchanted plate armor.Because that would mean suicide.

There is also a wheelbarrow that can launch hundreds of rockets in an instant, which can also cause devastating blows to attacking troops at close range.

Not to mention the black throwing weapon that was called "fire oil god thunder" by the kind of Siris, "hell's egg" by the crusaders, and "incendiary grenade" by Ma Youfu when he saw it.

After carefully analyzing the various long-range weapons of the new Carthage fortress for the two monarchs, the Duke of Milan said: "Your Majesty the Emperor, and His Highness Alfonso. The enemy's firepower will start to play a role when it approaches 250 meters from the fortress. .First, the recurve bow that Mulhollan people like to use to attack mainly kills lightly armored soldiers. After entering a distance of 150 meters, various small artillery began to fire with shotguns. When the egg' exerts its power.

Therefore, as long as we are far away from the New Carthage Fortress, we can safely hold the ceremony.I think a Roman-era amphitheater two kilometers south of the fort is a very suitable venue. "

Seeing that what the Duke of Milan said was so well-founded, Sigismund didn't think too much, nodded and said: "Very well, just according to your suggestion, we will hold the mobilization ceremony before launching the general offensive at the ruins of the amphitheater."

The ceremony that Sigismund is going to perform is not just a formality.He will gather all the priests in the Eastern Crusade to cast a large-scale compound ritual magic spell, and give all the nobles who participated in the ceremony—also officers of all levels in the Crusade, a buff effect that lasts for several months to improve the army Combat strength, hoping to capture the city of Tunisia as soon as possible.

After five days of preparation, the mobilization ceremony finally began on a sunny autumn morning.

Starting from Sigismund with the highest status, then King Alfonso V of Aragon, then various dukes, earls, barons, and knights, a total of thousands of nobles, dressed as Romans, gathered Around the ruins of the theater, form a long circular team.

Sigismund walked at the forefront of the team, carrying a salt bag, and kept throwing white particles out.

The people behind followed suit.