1620 Winter(Late December)
“Lay berth!”
“Hurry! Reclaim Athens before nightfall! Imperator wants it!”
“Deus lo Vult!”
‘Clash’
“Allahu Akbar!”
“Fight till your last breath!”
“Long live Devlet-i Embed-müddet! (*The Eternal State = the motto of the Ottoman Empire)”
And that’s what the 80,000 soldiers of the 3rd division were doing right now, attacking Athens, which was within the stone’s cast from Crete, which the 3rd division's 230,000 soldiers departed.
Where are the remaining 150,000 soldiers? 140,000 headed straight for Thessaloniki, paving the way for Constantinople while the rest – 10,000 – scattered over the entire Aegean Sea, taking control of all islands in the East Mediterranean sea.
Meanwhile, the 1st and the 2nd division followed suit. 1st division led by Louis XIII captured the Cyprus island in just 4 days, making Levant’s shore region and Egypt within a stone’s throw. The 2nd division – especially John Sigismund and his Teutonic Order - crushed the grand viceroy of Serbia’s army at Transylvania region, marching straight into the Serbia region.
In short, for the Ottoman Empire, it was almost all-front war – except for the northern borders of Crimea peninsula, with Tsardom of Rus in Times of Trouble, thanks to fake Tsars – with my 10th Crusade and Persia’s continued attack on the eastern borders, adding insult to injury.
In this situation, the Ottoman’s metropolitan area – Greece and Istanbul(Constantinople) area is being threatened. Of course, in a normal situation, soldiers must be drafted from other regions to protect the empire’s capital, but viceroys just either kept silent or just said yes in words only.
Why’s that? Due to the long era of the Sultanate of Women, in which either the wives or mothers of the Sultan take full control of the empire, the Ottoman royal’s authority has gone to the dogs!
Besides - thanks to the defeat with the battle against late Felipe II’s Armada and Holy League’s navy and corruptness of the wives/mothers of the Sultan - the Ottoman’s navy has long become a house of cards. There were no signs of the powerful navy fought against the Holy League about half a century ago at the Battle of Lepanto! Ottoman navy was just a bunch of paper tigers, which didn't conduct decent coastal training.
To make matters worse for the Ottoman, the Greece cities’ fortresses were useless from attacks from the sea, since they were mostly made to defend against attacks from the land, and they had to defend themselves against the foes, which amounts to almost 10 times of their troop.
And that made most Greek cities to surrender without a decent fight, although few cities – which experienced severe looting and massacre from the 4th Crusade – resisted. However, even those cities didn’t last long, because soldiers who outnumber the entire city’s population surrounded the fortresses and attacked endlessly.
1621 Winter(Mid January)
“That’s it! I’ll go to the frontline myself! All soldiers, follow me! Death to Franks!”
(*Most Muslims referred to Europeans as Franks)
In the end, the young Sultan - Osman II – personally led the army. Though he was only 17 years old (*Osman II was born in 1604, November 3), he bravely came to the battlefield, wearing armors and carrying his weapons to fight against the
Franks!
“Allahu Akbar!” “Protect the Sultan!”
“Death to Franks!”
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Due to his braveness, Ottoman armies started to gather to protect their Sultan, with viceroys who kept low profile till now started to send some troops. And with Crimean Khanate sending 16,000 cavalries, the Sultan’s army became a sizable amount.
1621 Winter(Early February)
Heraklion, Crete
“I...it’s said that 160,000 Ottoman soldiers have gathered at Alexandroupoli, Imperator!”
“Hmm...Impressive. Does that brat think of himself as Jon Snow, preparing for the Battle of Bastards?”
“I...I beg your pardon, Imperator?”
“Never mind. What are those troops made up of?”
“The Ottoman Empire has gathered all soldiers it can! There are even Janissaries, Sipahis, and cavalries from the Crimean Khanate!”
‘Well, I must admit his bravery. It’s not easy for the Sultan to come to the battlefields himself, even though it’s the only way to fight against the 10th Crusade led by the 1st Imperator of the New West Roman Empire!’
But that bravery can be a double-edged sword. If I was in his – Osman II’s – shoes, I wouldn’t gather the entire troop in one city, preparing for an all-or-nothing gamble!
‘Instead, I would have ordered the soldiers – especially cavalries – to do guerilla warfare, focusing on cutting the 10th crusade’s supplies, defending the Constantinople at whatever cost.’
Indeed, 160,000 is quite a large number, even a good match to my 3rd division – which amounts to 230,000 – but, that's the entire army that the Ottoman Empire could have gathered.
If you lose them - unlike Jon Snow at the Battle of Bastards, who had help from Littlefinger’s cavalries – it’s a dead end.
“It seems that he’s preparing a final battle at the open fields of Alexandroupoli, Imperator!”
“A decisive battle like the Battle of Gaugamela or the Battle of Cannae, huh?”
Yes, that would be indeed ideal, but no need to pursue it. If there’s an easier way, why bother? As a matter of fact, drafting 160,000 soldiers from all over the country resulted in the loss of control in almost every region of the Ottoman Empire.
‘Why should I play into his hands, when I can win if I just wait for a little more?’
“Osman II...as far as I remember, you were killed by Janissaries in the original history. Fine. Dying at the enemy’s hand in the battle is a more honorable death than being assassinated by your man at the palace, isn’t it?”
“I...I don’t understand Imperator.”
“Forget it. Order the 3rd division to avoid fighting with the Sultan’s army. Instead, tell them to take full control of the Greek region!”
“It shall be done, Imperator!”
And with the 180,000 Iberian soldiers obediently following my instructions – since they worshiped me as reincarnated Jesus Christ – forbidding massacre and looting, building fortresses across the occupied Greek regions, 50,000 Italian soldiers who’ve wanted to play around had no choice but to follow suit.
“H...how can this be? T...they’re not marching straight Alexandroupoli – the passage towards Constantinople - but going defensive, even though they have the upper hand?”
“Y...yes, Sultan.”
At the same time, the 2nd division – which the Prussian army is taking the lead, has crushed the empty – with young Sultan drafting 160,000 soldiers, other regions’ troop have dwindled - Balkan border regions of the Ottoman Empire into pieces. That infamous Ottoman just couldn’t stop the 40,000 soldiers and had to retreat from not only Serbia but also from Bulgaria and Albania as well.
Better late than never, even Ferdinand – cousin of the late Matthias, king of Bohemia and Austria – followed Prussian troop, ordering the entire 2nd division to march south. So, adding insult to injury, the entire 2nd division – 210,000 soldiers – swept the entire Balkan peninsula, crushing the feeble resistance of the remaining Ottoman soldiers.
In short, if Franks withstood quantitative disadvantage with a qualitative advantage against the battle with the Ottoman before the 10th crusade, now they have both advantages, defeating the Ottoman overwhelmingly.
“Make Serbia great again! Brothers now's the time to reclaim our homeland!”
“Long live Tsar Krum of Bulgar! All hail the Bulgarian Empire!”
And that led to a series of Christian revolts in the Balkan region. With Ottoman’s grip crumbling, the native Eastern Orthodox Christians and Catholics stood up against the Ottoman. As an Imperator, I chose the biggest ones from each region, and named each as ‘King of Albania’, ‘King of Serbia’, ‘King of Romania’, ‘King of Bulgaria’, ‘Duke of Bosnia’, etc via letter and promised full support to them.
“Long live Imperator!”
“All hail Imperator Eduardo Ivlivs Caesar Avgvstvs!”
After being promised both full support during the 10th Crusade and the title as a king after the war, they all pledged allegiance to me. Also, with the authority from the 1st Imperator of the New West Roman Empire, all other small rebels gathered towards them.
“Don’t you dare threaten them! They’re in my hands now!”
“O...of course, Imperator!”
Of course, the West European aristocrats – especially feudal lords of the Holy Roman Empire(Germany) - were disappointed at the fact they couldn’t increase their feud. But no one had the guts to challenge against me – Edward VII - who was both their biggest supporter, providing all the provisions, and the 1st Imperator of the New West Roman Empire, uniting West Europe after almost a millennium later.
However, I didn’t command those native Christian rebels myself. I just received their battle reports and provided war supplies and military advisors at their request.
‘I’m not a late lioness! I barely fought in the battle myself. I would make a lousy commander if I get in their way! I just need to provide them the necessary supplies and know their current situation.’
“Anyway, more soldiers means more paperwork...ha...”
“Y...you’ve summoned us, Imperator?”
So that’s why I summoned the Iberian generals to bring me secretaries and ordered them to equip their own staff.
Although I’ve made the staff rank with military reform 3 years ago, it was mostly in papers because Cameralism wasn’t well developed yet.
“Yes. I’m also a human, which means I can’t do all this paperwork by myself! So, do you wish me to be drowned in this flood of all these documents?”
“S...sorry to trouble you, Imperator!”
“W...what can we do to please you?”
“Bring me, talented secretaries! Lots of them!”
Everything was a rule of thumbs, which means without my – Imperator’s – interference, nothing is in order.
If it was just 100,000, I can live with it. But with 700,000 soldiers? It’s suicide!
“Also, why are all documents’ forms are all varied? Unite into one clear form! And also...”
‘Do your expensive salary’s worth, you fools! Not only fighting on the frontline but also doing paperwork is also important in the battle because that’s what makes the war supplies and troops move!’
Of course, the Iberian generals didn’t look happy, but who cares?
First, they’re not currently doing battle, they’re just stationed in the fortress. Also, it’s all for their and their future generation’s good. When this experience – maintaining 700,000 army – accumulates, that’ll be the basis of Cameralism. And when Cameralism is completed, not hundreds of thousands, but millions of soldiers can organically move and do much more complicated campaigns!