Became The Sultan Of The Ottoman Empire [EN]: Chapter 90

Skirmish (1)

“Is this really okay?”

“Shh, be quiet. If we get caught, it won’t end with just getting hit.”

For a mere soldier who could only follow the orders of those in high places, such a question felt dangerous. The fellow soldier glanced around, signaling caution.

At this warning, the soldier lowered his voice even more.

“The place we’re fighting now is Osman’s land, where *he* is. Isn’t this crazy?”

It hadn’t even been a year since he participated in the war of succession as a reinforcement, and everything was vividly remembered.

He had witnessed everything firsthand—Prince Ahmed’s army being repelled just by Osman’s presence, his prediction of the earthquake, and the seizure of the capital.

Now, the thought of him returning as an enemy filled him with fear as he looked at the surging sea.

“The higher-ups must have made a good decision. And we’re lucky we only have to guard the port.”

“You’re right. It’s still better. At least we don’t have to sleep in tents outside. This place is safe too.”

The port, where supplies were piled up, was the most important area, but there were not many soldiers guarding it.

This was because the army of Lazistan Sanjak [a district or territory] or Erzurum, while not strong enough to take Trabzon, was certainly capable of attacking Samtskhe.

To prepare for attacks from both regions, Samtskhe had forward-deployed soldiers, leaving fewer troops stationed at the relatively rear port.

The soldiers, who were chatting idly and watching the port, tilted their heads at a shape visible in the distance.

“Did the supply ship already return?”

“It looks like there are more than that.”

The shape that was far away became clearer, and they looked bewildered as about 20 ships approached.

It was too big and too many to be a supply ship.

The soldiers, contemplating whether to sound the alarm, immediately called the commander, who shouted as he saw the soldiers lined up on the ships, now close enough to be seen.

“Sound the alarm immediately! It’s the enemy!”

-Ding, ding, ding

The alarm rang as armed soldiers filled the deck, and a great commotion arose in the port.

Soldiers hurriedly grabbed their weapons and ran, while civilians ran around in confusion. Hearing the alarm, the ships rowed even faster.

“Shoot! Shoot arrows!”

“Shoot arrows! Don’t let the enemy fleet enter the port!”

They couldn’t even hope for fire arrows, which had to be prepared in advance, and the archers immediately shot arrows.

The soldiers on the ship raised their shields against the pouring rain of arrows, and the screams of soldiers hit by arrows that pierced through the gaps echoed.

They had inflicted damage on the enemy, but the commanders’ faces turned pale. It was far from enough to stop the ships.

Crash!

-Aaaagh!

The ships, which did not slow down as they approached the port, rammed into the fishing boats sparsely floating in the port, and some soldiers on the ships even fell into the sea from the impact.

The soldiers who fell into the sea were hit by the ships that followed, swept away by the surging waves, and disappeared into the sea, but the ships’ movements were relentless.

Thud! Bang!

The enemy soldiers poured out from the fleet that had docked, pushing the wreckage of the destroyed ships straight into the port, and the commander screamed.

“B, block them! You must block them even if it costs you your lives!”

He shouted for a desperate fight, beheading soldiers who tried to flee, but the difference in the size of the forces was already too great.

The port quickly turned into a scene of carnage as the archers positioned on the ships poured down arrows.

The Circassian soldiers raised their voices and charged as they pushed back the enemy.

“They are traitors! Kill them without hesitation!”

“They are enemies who betrayed the Holy Woman! Show them the wrath of the Circassians!”

Ivan, who was constantly encouraging the soldiers, soon wore a savage smile.

He thought that even if they suffered great damage, they only needed to occupy the port, but the enemy’s response was more lackluster than he had expected.

“Did you betray us at this level? Pathetic.”

In the end, Ivan burst into laughter as he watched the disorganized soldiers, who failed to defend the line, flee in droves.

It was the moment when the Circassian flag was planted in the port of Samtskhe.

***

-Get up! Get up quickly!

“Drop stones! Prevent the enemy from daring to climb the walls!”

The siege of Trabzon was fiercely underway.

The commander’s voice, which he had shouted thousands, tens of thousands of times a day, became hoarse to the point of being unpleasant to hear, and the hands of the soldiers shooting arrows were raw from pulling the bowstrings too much.

There was not a single soldier without a minor injury, and when the enemy’s sword, which had climbed the wall, pierced his body, the soldier instead embraced the enemy.

“Let’s die together! You bastard!”

The soldiers who had endured, watching their comrade throw himself off the wall with the enemy, clenched their teeth even harder.

They had already seen this scene so many times that they couldn’t count them on both hands, but they couldn’t help but feel rage rising each time.

It was not only the soldiers who were active in the siege.

It was obvious what kind of humiliation they would suffer if they were overrun by the angry enemy, and people of all ages, men and women, helped with the siege.

They took stones from houses destroyed by catapults and threw them outside the castle, poured boiling water, prepared food for the soldiers, and took care of the wounded, playing their part perfectly.

“These tenacious bastards.”

Corpses were piling up outside the castle, but the enemy’s spirit did not break.

He even suspected that they were thinking of building a hill with the corpses to climb up.

Arda, who was watching the battle situation, asked Batur, who had become Sobashi [commander of a thousand soldiers] in his place as Sanjak Bey [district governor].

“What is the current amount of arrows we have?”

“Thanks to stockpiling supplies for the war with the Safavids, we still have plenty of reserves.”

“That’s a relief.”

It would have been even more frustrating if they were outnumbered and also lacked arrows.

Still, he wasn’t completely without regret.

“It would have been nice if we had enough gunpowder.”

The power of the guns, which could penetrate two or three enemies when fired at close range, played a significant role in preventing the enemy’s initial attacks.

However, they only had a small amount of gunpowder, so they could only use it for about two days.

“Still, isn’t it fortunate that we had that much? Other castles couldn’t even dream of it.”

“Haha, if we were to count the things we lack, there would be no end to it. If we had cannons, those wild beasts would have pissed their pants.”

“Hahaha, they were terrified by the mere sound of gunfire, so that’s probably true.”

There was even a farce where they fell off the ladders in droves, surprised by the roar they had never heard before.

Of course, they quickly regained their senses and attacked, as they were not ordinary elite troops.

Arda, who was lightly joking and trying to shake off the burden of the siege, gritted his teeth as he watched the enemy’s supply ships passing leisurely through the sea.

“Those damn bastards, I will surely send them to hell.”

A unit moving without supplies could not even think of waging a siege and had to focus only on looting.

They had to procure food locally because they didn’t even have much to eat right away.

It was strange that he wasn’t angry that the troops, who would have had to wander around like beggars looking for food, were able to conduct a smooth siege with the help of Samtskhe.

His anger towards Samtskhe was even greater than towards the Safavids who led the attack.

As Arda cursed Samtskhe and vowed revenge, Batur called his superior.

“Sanjak Bey, something is strange.”

“What is it?”

Arda turned his gaze following Batur’s finger, and there was a small pier where the enemy’s supplies were being unloaded.

They should be busy unloading supplies from the supply ship, but only people were moving busily.

He couldn’t be sure just by looking at the fragmentary appearance.

“It seems like something went wrong. Don’t you think?”

“That’s what I think too.”

The two’s gazes naturally fell on the enemy’s command.

As if they were going to eavesdrop on the story from this far distance.

***

Ismail stared at the Trabzon Castle, where the battle was taking place, with a cold, hardened face.

He felt it when he first arrived, but the enemy’s resistance was stronger than he had expected.

The scene of his subordinates and family, the Kizilbash [a Shia religious group], dying was never pleasant, and he tried to turn his thoughts elsewhere.

“I’ll be busy when I get back.”

Ismail fiddled with a long piece of iron.

There was a ruptured part, perhaps because of the impact when it fell below the wall, but it was in the best condition among those brought by the retreating subordinates.

Click, click.

When he pulled the trigger, the tinder part moved up and down.

“Were they using something like this?”

Ismail realized that Yusuf was using gunpowder and prepared to introduce it, but at best it was cannons and hand cannons.

When he asked the Venetian envoy who had visited last time, the gunpowder weapons that came out were only that much, and he only praised their cannons.

However, after being attacked, he could not ignore the power of this small stick.

‘It’s a good thing the enemy had little gunpowder.’

Conversely, it meant that they had to prepare for this if they were to wage war with the Ottomans.

If a full-scale war broke out, they wouldn’t be unable to use this weapon just because they lacked gunpowder.

Mohammad, his most trusted subordinate, ran towards Ismail, who was lost in thought for a moment.

“Shah [Persian title for king], something terrible has happened.”

Ismail frowned because Mohammad, who usually didn’t make a fuss, was doing so.

“What’s going on?”

“The port that was sending supplies has been occupied by the Circassians.”

Ismail was able to have the experience of his head going blank for the first time in a very long time.

Of course, it wasn’t a very good feeling just because it had been a long time.

“Bring Sargis.”

“Yes, Padishah [Ottoman title for sovereign].”

Not long after Mohammad stepped back, Sargis, with a dark complexion, came and knelt down to pay his respects.

“Sargis, tell me in detail what I heard.”

“…I’m sorry, Shah.”

“What I want to hear from you is not an apology, Sargis.”

Sargis opened his mouth at the fierce eyes that seemed like they would tear him to death right away.

“It’s exactly as I said. The port was occupied, and the supply ships that approached nearby were attacked. And the occupying forces claimed to be Circassians.”

“Ha, Circassians.”

Ismail laughed as if he was dumbfounded.

It was a region that was torn apart into clans because it couldn’t even be properly integrated, but he never dreamed that they would do such a thing.

“It’s meaningless to blame you for not being able to protect a single port properly like an idiot. So, what are you going to do about the supplies?”

“…I’m sorry, but the supplies are gathered at that port, so for now.”

Stab!

Sargis’s eyes shook violently as the blade was planted in the ground in front of him, and Ismail said in an angry voice.

“Consider yourself lucky. If you were my subordinate, this sword would have been stuck in your neck, not the ground. Mohammad!”

“Yes, Shah.”

“How long can we last with the supplies we have now?”

Mohammad quickly rolled his head and quickly came up with an answer.

“Even if we save as much as possible, ten days is the limit.”

Ten days was only possible if they saved as much as possible.

It meant that they had to wage a siege with empty stomachs, and Ismail made a cold decision.

“There’s no need to save. Feed the soldiers well. From now on, we will strike day and night.”

“I will follow your command.”

Mohammad bowed deeply and paid his respects.

“I’ll see how long you can last.”

Ismail, who was looking at Trabzon Castle, which was firing stones from catapults again, turned his body roughly.

***

A huge fleet crossed the calm Black Sea.

Three large galleys were followed by 40 galleys, and in between, two large carracks [large merchant ships] with two-story decks and a capacity of up to 1,000 people showed off their majesty.

If you include the small sailing ships and supply ships that followed closely behind, it was a fleet of well over a hundred ships.

Yusuf, who was looking at the sea from the large carrack, suppressed his anger and said.

“Not much time left.”

Until he punishes those who have fearlessly set foot on his land.