Chapter 51: Seizing The Danube

"For a moment it felt like we weren't in the Danube at all but in the river of time, and everyone was at a different point, though in another sense we were all here at once."

— Elif Batuman

Once all was settled here at the fortress of Kilia, we boarded our ships once more and headed to the next fortified city. The next city on our path is Ismail, a fortified town in the wetlands of southern Moldovia, on the northern side of the Danube.

This town just bent the knee giving no opposition allowing us to garrison the fortress for now. Using this town as a headquarters for this region, we began dispatching soldiers into the inner country... I decided to seize as many towns and fortified cities in each area, so we can solidify ourselves in the areas around the Danube using these areas later for a campaign against Bulgaria, Moldovia, or Wallachia.

Now moving inwards we followed the beaten paths and old roman roads to find the cities we need to seize. Leading these mercenary and ottoman troops down through the wetlands was rather tricky as we are a mostly mounted force, and the horses continued to get stuck in the mud along the way.

So instead of securing the area in a single day, it took a total of three days! And the sad part is that we did not even face any resistance the towns all capitulated not willing to face death or looting from a large foreign army.

We also needed to use the ships to ford the Danube a few times, as the area we are securing is the delta of the Danube there is a maze of waterways squiggling about the land. Once the land was secured we moved on to the next city, and to do this we did not use the fleet to travel there only to once again for the Danube.

The next two targets are on the southern side of the Danube belonging to the weak empire of Bulgaria. According to the strangely detailed map my brother gave us, we can see many forts, towns, and cities dotting the lands around the Danube so we will have our hands full occupying this river.

Striking quickly we secured the two settlements Somowa and Sacktschi, using the last city seized as a springboard we crossed the Danube once more heading toward the next target one of the more important targets. The city of Galatz was the first real resistance we faced since entering the river, I was forced to build a real siege camp and make use of our naval and land cannons.

Sending the signal into the air we begin bombarding the city... This continued for a further two days before the walls fell, and we marched directly through the gaps created in the walls and buried the Vlach garrison under arrow after arrow until there were not any defenders left.

After securing our garrison in the fortress we slept for the night and moved on to our next target. Rushing back through the river we continued our path of conquest, securing everything around the Danube from Galatz to Silistria... Once arriving on the shores around Silistria we were hit with a rude awakening.

Slowly but surely getting out of rafts and ships we began organizing our supplies and our troops on the shores of the Danube just outside the city of Silistria. I came on shore with the second wave of rafts from the flagship, and on the shores, there are about ten thousand soldiers so far... And only a few thousand horses, this has been going on for four hours already and we haven't made any real progress in the unloading of troops and supplies.

But the issue now is that there are flags that can be seen in the distance, thousands of vague figures can be seen on the hillside in the distance... I immediately sent the available scouts and spies out to figure out the enemy and their number. While they were out I lit a signal firework to let the fleet know our landing is now contested.

The enemies look to be about an hour out, so in the meantime, we must organize our troops and prepare for a brutal battle. Rushing all the ships to drop the remaining troops on the land regardless of if they had a mount I cared not... I hurried around on horseback forcing all the troops to prepare for battle and to prepare their arms and armor.

Running frantically across the large landing zone we chose, I screamed "All men prepare for battle! Enemies are ambushing! This is not a drill prepare for battle the enemy is on the horizon!" I was not the only one running around like a chicken with his head cut off I sent many messengers to spread the word...

I need my troops to centralize in one area so we can actually compete with the prepared enemy force. This is my fault I got too comfortable and was caught with my pants down by the enemy... Now I find myself in a tough spot, with my back to the water, and my troops not all on land. I have no real army makeup though I can say that most of the troops on land are archers, mainly horse archers without their mounts.

I have three thousand Horse archers who are mounted, and I will have two more thousand archers on foot. The remaining five thousand are my main armored elite contingent of infantry, they came ashore with me at the time I was not truly even preparing any defense but a quick offense using these men so I am lucky I was thinking ahead in some way.

...After about 40 minutes the enemies could be seen clearly as they sat atop a hill in the distance just a few minutes march, obviously wishing to scare us they sang songs and roared about as they marched closer and closer. I ordered all men on the shores to get information, and I ordered the horse archers to rush forwards and skirmish the enemies to slow them down, I hope they can buy us an extra thirty minutes at least.

I also received information on the enemy, they are a contingent of the central Bulgarian army from Tarnovo sent to hunt us down and expel us from their lands. Numbering nearly fifteen thousand strong they could in the Bulgarian emperor's eyes easily wipe us out or send us packing... But the misinformation they received shall be their downfall.

As even with this small number of troops I have I am confident in at the least surviving the attack, and at best destroying the entire army and using the hostages to secure the city of Silistria. Sparing no time the horse archers sped into the distance to combat the enemies whilst I continued organizing my forces.

Sending a messenger to Evrenos bey, I asked him to cover the enemy with as many cannon shots as possible before they reach our position on the shores... This is the biggest advantage I have, the fact we are on the shores of a river surrounded by a large open plain, allows me to bombard any attacking force.

This applies to the horse archers as well, they should do well as long as they stay out of the sparse hilly areas... After twenty-two minutes my horse archers crossed the horizon galloping full speed away from the last known enemy position. But I already had an understanding of the situation, as my horse archers gradually got closer and closer to my lines, I sent a commander on shore to move them to their positions on the flanks.

Needing no introduction the enemies finally arrived on the battlefields, though less illustrious than I imagined for an imperial force they had decent armor and can be considered well-armed. They also had in their center a contingent of heavy cataphract knights numbering no less than four hundred.

On the flanks, they had horse archer mercenaries obviously from Hungary as they did not give off the look of a Turk-o-Mongolian mercenary. In the front, they were led by lightly armored archers thousands of them armed with bows and spears making up the bulk of the army. Following just behind them was armored infantry wearing lamellar and chainmail to cover themselves and armed with two-handed axes.

I feel I need to mention that there is a large force of men holding axes in one hand and a leashed dog in another... Now I heard from my father that there were commanders who used dogs to chase down horsemen but never did I believe it was true, better keep this in mind moving forwards do not want my horse archers getting caught in the thick of battle without a mount.

As the enemies approached closer and closer, I gave the order to send the signal to the ships... *pop* One... Two... Three... now! *BOOOOOOOM BOOOM BOOOM X500* Hearing the cannons ring from the ships I felt more comfortable as I know the cannonballs now flying over my head will smash into my foes. Giving me a great advantage, and turning the tides in my favor...

I gave the next order once the cannons went silent "Archers fire at will in four breaths, the enemies if they did not piss their pants and run from our mighty cannons the enemies will be in range." Trying my hardest to notice any movements within the dirt cloud kicked up by the crashing cannonballs.

Still, I cannot see anything but still we can all hear the enemy's injured screaming and the commanders shouting commands, so I know they are there. After a few breaths time, our foot archers began loosing arrows upon the hopefully battered enemies, within a short time our archers on average loosed three volleys of arrows.

Still not able to see the enemies, I had an idea to fuel the chaos. It seems the enemy is struggling to recover from the bombardments, so I decided to send the horse archers in once more. Calling their commander I gave him specific orders to not get too close to the enemies. Because they have heavy knights in their mix, and even four hundred of them can route the few thousand horse archers if given the proper circumstances.

Observing the battlefield and my state of mind is rather hard, I do know I am being rather impatient... But I am in a particularly terrible situation I am trying my hardest to turn around, so rushing to eliminate the problem is a given. My horse archers arrived in a short time and began loosing arrows on the enemies, giving no break to the enemies is always a good strategy.

Most men will crack under pressure no matter their training or position in the world, most men will eventually crack under pressure especially if that pressure is a bloodthirsty army. As the horse archers moved about the battlefield launching arrows here and there, the view of the battlefield gradually cleared up.

What was seen was a surrendering enemy, not a single enemy wished to fight I guess the sheer number of cannons is very scary... I believe the enemy assumed we were going to continuously shell them into death, though I can say I felt the need to surrender on behalf of the enemy when my brother used them against my now-dead brothers.

Just nodding to the commanders nearby they all scattered into action and quickly secured the pow... Once they were captured and tied up I ordered the leaders of the army to be marched to the gates of the city and executed for the defenders to see. I want the defenders to surrender the city to my army or I will execute more and more of their captured soldiers each and every day.

It took the remainder of the day to get even half the army and horses on the land, and using these men we built a siege camp... The rest of the army is ordered to just fight alongside the navy it is too much of a hassle trying to bring them onto land, and takes up to much time. Settling in for the night, I basically stayed up all night waiting to see the enemy's reaction in the morning.