Chapter 9: Raids

After settling my affairs I planned to set off to the front lines, but as I was making my way out of the mansion I was greeted by my mother and what seemed to be a small army. After my initial surprise, my mother said these are a group of men sent by her supporters to help in the war against the infidels.

These 500 men were well armored with lighter horses like a medium shock cavalry they will be referred to in the future as lance Sipahi, They fight like any shock troop of this time when charging holding a lance forward impaling any man in their path and then pulling their swords for a melee followed by a retreat then charging again.

This is an unexpected gift that came at a perfect time I was a little worried about not having a proper mobile shock unit but now that problem is gone, and I have begun to shape an outline for my European domination legion.

After adding the necessary supplies, we boarded the transport ships in the harbor and began our short trip to Gallipoli. After an hour or two we reached the port of Gallipoli, which I must say has changed a lot in just this one week it may take less time to complete the transition from the walled city to a fortress.

But after arriving in Gallipoli, we marched a few hours until finally arriving in Tzympe the fortress at the end of the Gallipoli Peninsula. After arriving here I sent messages out to the tribes that I had placed in this area letting them assemble all the horses and horsemen they can spare as I have a profitable endeavor they cannot refuse.

After resting my forces for 2 days allowing ample time for these tribes to assemble here, I began to prepare to march toward Tekirdag which is a port city on the coast of Thrace but before marching, I sent 1/3 or 4000 of the conscripted tribesmen to my general Evrenos Bey stationed in Komotini on the borders of Macedonia.

I will lead my army to raid and capture all forts between Adrianople and Selymbria. I will also have Mehmet with the tribesmen and retinue forces he has started from Kesan and raid and conquer up to Adrianople, then back down and raid and conquer while heading south toward Selymbria.

While conversely, I will start by the coast raid and conquer toward Selymbria then turn around and do the same on my way north toward Adrianople. By following this strategy, we can strike like lightning, taking a massive chunk of byzantine land while also gaining some loot and slaves along the way.

This strategy covers all angles and will force the Byzantines to pay a massive amount of gold to sue for peace hoping to save the lands they still hold. But this strategy does not just stop there it also covers my future conquests of All of Thrace including Adrianople and all of Macedonia including Thessalonica.

I will have Evrenos Bey move into Macedonia being very careful and only targeting the Byzantine fortresses we will not be able to take on Serbia right now without the help of the sultan's forces so I will try to avoid conflicting with them until I am ready. And so, with my planned strategy let us arrange the troops and march on the enemies.

The army I am leading is as follows 8000 light tribesman auxiliaries, my 100 personal bodyguard units, and the 240 Tsars guard heavy cataphracts, with the new 500 Sapahi lancers. With this force primarily being horsemen and just the slaves needed to move around supplies and their guards this force is highly mobile allowing us to raid with lightning speed giving me extra time to sort what loot is taken and what is left behind.

So as not to scar my new lands too deeply still allowing room for recovery. In these raids, we will not be enslaving any freeman or roman citizens we will be taking peasant's daughters and sons. leaving room for regrowth and still leaving us some room to have the populace still respect us to not revolt at inopportune times.

After a quick rest, we set off in the evening allowing my elite core unit of heavy cataphracts to show their training as they raided the entire countryside and unsuspecting small forts. We raided through the night arriving outside Corlu in the early morning where we did not leave time for rest, we rode with only my elite units and the leading Beys and their sons toward the gates of Corlu.

Then as we rode, we were intercepted by the garrison forces of Corlu. They had about 200 men and 50 horsemen lined up ready for battle. After being notified by the scouts that this force was blocking the road, we did not stop our pace while moving we arrayed ourselves in a cone formation and slowly picked up our speed until the enemies were in our line of sight.

Then we galloped slowly into a full sprinting charge at the enemies who just noticed the heavily armored riders heading toward them nearly pissed themselves just feeling the ground rumble and seeing the massive dust cloud about 250 yards away and getting closer and closer.

*Rumble Rumble* We rode endlessly picking up steam along the way but about 150 yards away from the enemies I noticed the infantry all dropped their weapons and kneeled on the ground while the horsemen seeing this attempted to flee so I sent the swift Beys group after them.

After about an hour the boys returned with about 30 or so riders in tow tied up on their horses, I can only assume the other riders have either got away or returned to their god. Before I waited for the chase to end, I ordered my bodyguard unit to interrogate the infantry to get the identities of the riders to see if there were any important personages amongst the fleeing riders hoping to get lucky...

And well what do you know the commander's son is here in front of me this should mean that Corlu is mine now. After revealing his forces has surrendered to me the commander of Corlu surrendered as well.

One big misconception in the Middle Ages and all of human history is that when a war is waged there will be a big battle and that will determine the winner. But in reality, wars consisted of small skirmishes and various small battles over a wide range, and very rarely did field battles take place between both sides. There were many reasons for this, but the biggest reason is taking defensive and economic cities or castles makes more sense than trying to force a field battle, what I gain from winning a field battle does not amount to the potential losses as an attacker.

I think major field battles may only happen when a defensive force is trying to break a siege or stop another force from reaching a certain strategic position. Another big misconception is sieging usually did not last long most of the time the defenders just surrendered and were not willing to endure the stresses of a siege, conversely, sieges are expensive affairs for the attackers as well and a prolonged siege has many downsides for the attacker and most forces just did not have the funding or political backing to commit to a prolonged siege.

So, in a war like this majority of these defensive fortresses are willing to surrender to me instead of risking their lives for a non-beneficial siege. When I was making my strategy, this was the premier ideology that shaped the strategy.

But there will be many forces I will face in the future who are unwilling to part with their city and the benefits and will fight me tooth and nail until the bloody end because the benefits are abundant enough to refuse to surrender.

But there are also ways to crush men like this who are willing to fight, that would be what I am doing now to the cities of Adrianople and Thessalonica. I am capturing all the surrounding areas denying any reinforcements and cutting off their means of mentally coaxing their troops and citizens with the idea of reinforcements to boost their morals for a prolonged defensive siege. Once the cannons begin to thunder and the bodies begin to pile up these men will crack, I guarantee it.

After about 2 weeks we have secured the majority of the countryside between Adrianople and Selymbria cutting off Adrianople from its emperor in Constantinople leaving no hope for reinforcements. After securing these lands I will continue to spread propaganda in Anatolia hoping to hook more Turkmen to have them join my campaigns, the Turkmen are more useful in what people referred to in my time as ottoman small wars.

This is placing these militant tribes on the borders with your enemies and letting them attack and raid whenever they please stealing slaves and plunder every time, they cross the border slowly weakening these countries and almost impossible to protect against.

After finishing up the conquest on our end I received news from Evrenos Bey that the 2 main fortresses leading to Thessalonica have been captured and the tribes have been settled down on the Serbian border but there is much land to settle, and the land is ripe with plunder for the taking making this in his mind a prime target for our small war policy.

I have to agree but I am a little worried about applying pressure to the Serbian empire as they are now capable of fielding 17000-24000 troops with a core of 3000 elite troops and many fully armored knights. Making them the strongest force in the Balkans right now and they currently own a majority of Macedonia. Making them my main enemies If I want to claim Macedonian lands as my own.

With such A force as my opponent, I need a few months to raise the elite units I need to face them and allow more time for the cities under me to develop and raise more garrison troops we are spreading thin my useful troops to use as garrison troops at the moment. This may be more crucial than any other as I will not even have enough forces to properly expand and garrison the places conquered. Leaving my lands lacking the proper defense and leaving me with no influence in these new regions making all my effort wasted.

After meeting with Mehmet, I took all the system troops in his command except for the bodyguard unit, leaving him to command the local Turkmen tribes in defending these fortresses and keeping all byzantine messengers and spies from contacting each other.

In less than a month these forts will have a proper garrison trained and employed as I have been preparing the garrison forces for these forts ever since I captured Gallipoli. Next, I marched to Komotini then to Xanthi, and finally arrived at Kavala the last major fort I own on the road to Thessalonica. Why am I gathering my troops and marching toward Thessalonica?

Well, it is simple there are two forts on the road to the city that are owned by the Serbians which means we must be rather swift about taking these fortresses leaving no man alive to report to the Serbians. So that the Serbian emperor is a little hesitant to declare war or retake the forts without further information... Also, this is my best opportunity to take these forts as Serbia is now fighting with Hungary at the moment having barely any troops to spare for a war with us.

So, after bringing all my best units into one region I was now ready to complete this swift conquest our plan is simple surround the fort one side has our cannons, and the surroundings are watched constantly by our mobile auxiliaries the tribal horse archers. After about 4 hours of bombardment, the garrison, or what was left of it was slaughtered on the walls along with their commander.

Siege is simple when you have cannons, even though I don't truly want to damage a section of the walls the shelling is more than enough to rattle anyone who has never seen or heard a cannon before. Then we can send our infantry to the gates and light a bomb to blow the gates apart or we can climb the walls with ladders leaving the defenders no chance as they are too outnumbered to have mounted any effective defense.

The same process went for the Fortress of Serres though they had more defenders so we did not use the ladders and sent a strike team with large shields in a shifty testudo to drop and light a massive black powder bomb at the main gate. After blowing their gates to high hell we already had a team of cataphracts rushing into the fortress breaking any defensive formation they could scrape together and routing the remaining forces... After they attempted to flee the fort, they were slaughtered in mass!

After taking the two Serbian forts I decided to contact the spy in Thessalonica and see how he has progressed over the last few months and if we could take this city early. As this city is the most important to me at the moment as this is a system city.

If I can take this city early, I can speed up my conquest of the trace and maybe even Constantinople If I can play my cards right. Thessalonica is the second most populous city in Byzantium and is considered the second capital of the empire. Let us just say I manage to snatch this city no one is going to be able to take it back my borders will only expand from that point, even making my father's throne irrelevant.

After a day of waiting, I received a reply from sent by using the bird delivery service, A true spy favorite. He said that he has a medium-sized following in the city he estimates his numbers being just above a thousand members. Also, he has 2 captains of the garrison in his fold these men supporting a Turkish overlordship of the region.

There are also a few influential merchants and citizens that have expressed their support for the movement probably knowing this movement originates with me so hoping to win some benefits if the city does eventually fall under our control. He says the walls and defenses of the city have deteriorated a little but not to the point where we could exploit it in any way. He says the governor is a fanatic of the emperor's regent and would never surrender the city willingly, but also explains that the port is practically unguarded as the navy is terrible and the ballistae are in disrepair.

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Host: Şehzade Alaeddin

Dynasty: Osmanli (Ottoman)

Current Allegiance: Ottoman Sultanate

Owned Fiefs: Abydos Sanjak, Karasi Sanjak, Thrace Sanjak (Partial)

Gold: 23,110 ducats

Tax Income: 4600 ducats

(23% Tax Bonus) (20% bonus on mining income in all owned mines)

Trade Income: 580 ducats (before upgrade 119 ducats)

(19% Trade Bonus for all system merchants)

Upkeep: 5000 ducats (Army 2500, Navy 2500, local forces included in upkeep)

Priests: 2 (available 0)

Merchants: 2 (available 0)

Spies:2 (available 0)

Diplomat: 2 (Available 0)

Assassins: 2 (available 0)

Expand Income Details +

Expand Recruitment Details +

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Traits: Admirer of Beauty -2 Command, 10% decrease to cost to bribe, -1 from squalor (increases public order and population growth)

Officer Training +2 Command

Inspirationally Brave +1 Authority, +4 Morale for all troops on the battlefield

Cheapskate 10% discount on construction costs, 10% bonus on tax income (decreases population growth and public order)

Very Cultured +1 Authority, +2 to popularity (improves public order)

Steppe Legacy 20% bonus to cash gained from looting.

Harsh Taskmaster +1 Command, +1 Authority, -1 Morale for all troops on the battlefield, +20% to Movement Points (gives armies the ability to forced march), +1 to law (improves public order)

Legacy of Dread +2 Dread

Social Drinker +1 Command, +1 to popularity (improves public order)

Blessed With Vigor +2 Authority, +25% to Movement Points (gives armies the ability to forced march)

Father's Legacy (Level 2) +2 Authority

Generous 2% penalty on tax income

Womanizer +1 Morale for all troops on the battlefield

Budding Bureaucrat 4% bonus on all trade income, +1 to law (improves public order)

Aspiring Commander +2 Command

Engineer +2 Command when assaulting walls, +60 Build Points (required for the construction of siege equipment)

Mining Knowledge 20% bonus on mining income

Good with Taxes 10% bonus on tax income

Physically Flawless -1 Command, +1 Authority, +4 to popularity (improves public order)

Intelligent +2 Command, 5% bonus on all trade income, 5% bonus on tax income

Reasonable Ruler +1 Chivalry, -1 from squalor (increases public order and population growth)

Bends the Truth -1 Authority

Understands Logistics +1 Morale for all troops on the battlefield, +15% to Movement Points (gives armies the ability to forced march)

Good at Math +1 Command when assaulting walls 10% bonus on all trade

Stoic +1 Loyalty, 200% increase to cost to bribe

Promising Strategist +1 Command

Honourable Ruler +4 Chivalry, +2 Authority

Tactically Sound +3 Command when ambushing, +2 to line of sight (increases the range at which enemies are spotted)

Tolerant to Foreigners -1 from public security (reduces the chances of detecting and capturing enemy agents)

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Command<4> Ambusher Bonus +3 Attacking Walls +2

Authority<9>

Dread<2>

chivalry<5>

Moral Bonus +5

Movement Speed +60%

Tax Bonus +23% ( 20% bonus on mining income) (All owned Settlements)

Public Order Bonus +10 (When In Province)

Population Growth Bonus + 2% (All Owned Settlements)

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Armies tab: No units in this tab will show bonus stats given to units

Dismounted Hasham

The Hasham, 'Guards', are Mamluks selected to be the Sultan's bodyguards and personal regiment. Only kept by Sultans rich and powerful enough to field them, these elite and loyal troops are protected by heavy mail and are armed with a wicked scimitar for slaying their Sultan's foes.

Class: Heavy

Soldiers: 48

Morale: 9

Discipline: Disciplined

Training: Trained

Recruitment cost: 570

Upkeep cost: 125

Attack

Primary weapon: Melee

Attack: 11

Charge bonus: 3

Defence

Total defence: 17

Armour: 5

Defence skill: 4

Shield: 8

Hit points: 1

Attributes

Can board ships

Can hide in forest

Can withdraw

Hardy

Dismounted Byzantine Lancers

Although generally fighting mounted, lancers can dismount when necessary. On foot, they fight as armoured swordsmen, and make effective infantry.

Class: Heavy

Soldiers: 48

Morale: 5

Discipline: Normal

Training: Trained

Recruitment cost: 440

Upkeep cost: 150

Weapon upgrade: 75

Armour upgrade: 55

Attack

Primary weapon: Sword (Melee)

Attack: 11

Charge bonus: 2

Defence

Total defence: 18

Armour: 5

Defence skill: 7

Shield: 6

Hit points: 1

Attributes

Can board ships

Can hide in forest

Can withdraw

Hardy

Turkish Heavy Phalanx

These units use a modified formation consisting of 3 rows of spears and 1 or 2 rows having heavy melee units with larger kite sheilds behind and sometimes to the flank of the main spear guard.

Attack

Primary weapon: modified spear (Melee)

Attack: 8

-Armor piercing

Secondary weapon: Sword or axe (Melee)

Attack: 11

-Armor piercing

Speacial Weapon: Heavy recurve bow (Ranged)

Attack: 9

-Armor piercing

Charge bonus: 0 (no charge for spear units)

Defence

Total defence: 20

Armour: 8

Defence skill: 6

Shield: 6

Hit points: 0.8

Sipahis (Modified local retainer)

Medium armed horse archers, while less mobile than other horse archers, are better suited to hand to hand fighting. This horse archer will surpass even the speed of the fastest horse archers you can find once their bonuses are applied Beware!

Attack

Primary weapon: Cavalry composite bow (Missile)

Attack: 9

-Armor piercing

Charge bonus: 2

Range: 120

Ammunition: 25

Secondary weapon: Cavalry sword (Melee)

Attack: 10

Charge bonus: 3

Defence

Total defence: 16

Armour:6

Defence skill: 7

Shield: 3

Hit points: 0.95

Janissary Varangian Guard

These superbly skilled warriors wield two-handed axes with vicious abandon, hacking down the Emperor's enemies. They are expected to lead the infantry charge into battle with courage and honour.

Attack

Primary weapon: Two-handed axe (Melee)

Weapon attributes: Armour piercing

Attack: 21

Charge bonus: 6

Defence

Total defence: 19

Armour: 10

Defence skill: 5

Shield: 4

Hit points: 1.9

Category: Infantry

Class: Heavy

Soldiers: 120

Morale: 11

Discipline: Elite

Training: Legendary

Recruitment cost: 500

Upkeep cost: 150

Weapon upgrade: 100

Armour upgrade: 75

Ottoman Infantry

Ottoman Infantry are hardy soldiers, well-armed and well armored, they fight with both bows and swords, allowing them to pepper the enemy with arrows and then move into melee to finish them off. Their armor, and training in combat, means that this unit can hold its ground in a close-up fight.

Attack

Primary weapon: Composite bow (Missile)

Attack: 10

Charge bonus: 2

Range: 215

Ammunition: 35

Secondary weapon: Sword (Melee)

Attack: 12

Charge bonus: 2

Defence

Total defence: 19

Armour: 10

Defence skill: 4

Shield: 5

Hit points: 1

Category: Infantry

Class: Missile

Soldiers: 120

Morale: 5

Discipline: Elite

Training: Trained

Recruitment cost: 670

Upkeep cost: 150

Weapon upgrade: 75

Armour upgrade: 55

Navies: navies will not show bonuses granted to recruited units

Lanternas

The Lanternas is the premier version of the war galley, now equipped with gun powder weapons! Being larger, heavier, more durable and better equipped than the war galley, the Lanternas is used by naval commanders in the Mediterranean during the 15th century. Featuring multiple centreline guns and some flanking guns it can take on and destroy war galleys.

Class: Light

Soldiers: 40

Morale: 5

Discipline: Normal

Training: Trained

Recruitment cost: 970

Upkeep cost: 275

Weapon upgrade: 200

Armour upgrade: 200

Attack

Primary weapon: Melee

Attack: 22

Charge bonus: 0

Defence

Total defence: 18

Armour: 0

Defense skill: 18

Shield: 0

Hit points: 1

Attributes

Can withdraw

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