Became The Sultan Of The Ottoman Empire [EN]: Chapter 131

The Showdown (1)

Just as fear stems from ignorance, like reaching into a box without knowing what’s inside, there’s also fear born from knowledge.

As dawn broke, the Mamluks felt that fear to their core.

If they hadn’t known what cannons were, they might have seen the five hundred cannons pointed at them as mere chunks of metal that could be dangerous.

But the Mamluks knew that cannons were monsters that could turn thick, high walls into rags in an instant.

Drrrrr!

The cannons encircling the camp in a semicircle looked like an insurmountable iron curtain.

As if their target was not the walls but the Mamluk camp itself, the artillerymen lowered the angle of the cannons, and the envoy who had hastily left the day before returned.

“Your Majesty! Didn’t you say you would give us time to consider?!”

“And didn’t I give it to you?”

He certainly had.

For one night, and one night only.

The envoy, suppressing his anger, which was a mixture of absurdity and rage, said urgently, “This is not a matter that can be easily decided! It cannot be decided in just one night.”

“Alright. I’ll give you more time.”

With those words, Yusuf pointed to the sky.

“Until the sun is at its highest point. I will wait until then. There will be no more.”

“Your Majesty?!”

With only a few hours left, the envoy cried out in dismay, and the menacing silahdars [Ottoman palace guards] stepped forward.

“How dare you raise your voice before His Majesty!”

“Enough.”

As Yusuf raised his hand to stop them, the soldiers pushed their half-drawn swords back into their scabbards.

The clanging sound served as a reminder to the envoy that he had narrowly escaped death.

Yusuf turned away coldly and said, “Go and tell them. The time given is running out, and if any foolish movement is seen, this mercy will end.”

They may not think so, but Yusuf genuinely considered it mercy.

Regardless of the reason, they were enemies who came to harm his people. Why would he spare them?

As the envoy left, the Grand Vizier said, “Your Majesty, they will not surrender.”

“I know. They are a disorganized rabble without even a leader to make such a decision.”

Even if there was one, there usually isn’t anyone who would choose surrender without a fight.

“They were either prepared to fight to the death, flee, or hide in Tabriz.”

The first two options would entail great losses, so the choice was likely narrowed down to the third.

This could be seen from the Tabriz walls opening several times during the night.

“That’s why I gave them such a tight deadline.”

“The Safavids can’t readily open the city gates to the Mamluks, so it will take them a long time to decide.”

No matter how much of an alliance it was, no one knew what would happen if they let 40,000 troops, far more than the Tabriz garrison, into the city.

Like Venice, which gathered the Crusaders and looted Constantinople instead of fighting the Muslims, they could loot and destroy Tabriz.

‘That can’t happen. It will be my land in the future, so I should be the one doing the looting.’

There is a limit to looting, and even if it happens, it must be within control.

There was no time to negotiate with Tabriz, and if they weren’t going to commit suicide by fighting, there was only one thing they could do.

“Tell the artillerymen. If they show any signs of fleeing, open fire immediately.”

“Understood, Your Majesty.”

The Mamluk main force had to be annihilated here.

***

“What have you decided to do?”

In response to his subordinate’s question, the governor of Damascus, one of the four major cities of Islamic culture along with Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem, spat out a mouthful of phlegm.

“There are fools who want to attack, saying the numbers aren’t that different, and cowards who want to surrender. Tell the soldiers to pack their belongings as quickly as possible.”

“Then…”

“Yes, we must flee first to save as many troops as possible.”

Maintaining the troops he brought and preserving his position as governor was his priority.

Unfortunately for him, he wasn’t the only one thinking that way, and those who brought fewer troops than him were moving even faster.

“St, stop them! Don’t let them leave!”

“Get out of the way! You bastards!”

It happened in an instant, without any chance to stop them properly.

The man on the outskirts of the camp grabbed only the bare minimum of supplies, mounted his horse with 300 men, and fled out of the camp.

The trigger the Ottoman army had been waiting for was pulled.

With an earth-shattering vibration, a roar erupted.

-Kwaaaang! Kwang!

-Heeeeee!

Even horses that had been extensively trained as warhorses were startled by the enormous explosion, rearing up and crying out.

The explosion was so loud that even the neighing of the horse right next to him could barely be heard.

That’s why the sight of large chunks of metal flying through the air felt surreal.

“Allah.”

Those were the last words of a soldier as he saw the dark shadow filling his vision.

The shells fell on the camp and the soldiers’ heads.

The governor of Damascus, who had met the Ottoman Padishah [Ottoman Emperor] twice as an envoy and survived, seeing a man who had been said to be protected by Allah turned into a bloody mess by a ricocheting shell, shouted.

“Everyone, calm down! You must calm down!”

The tremendous roar and the falling of large shells were shocking, but the troop damage wasn’t significant.

Unlike the walls, which suffered great damage with each hit, only three or four people died per shell, making it unsuitable for killing personnel.

Just as the situation was barely calming down at the words of the governor of Damascus, who had noticed this, Yusuf simply provided the answer.

Drrrrr! Drrrrr!

“Ugh! Put some more strength into it, you bastards!”

Feeling their muscles being squeezed, the soldiers exerted their strength, and the wheels moved with a clatter.

Even the reserve cannons were brought to the front of the battlefield, and the Agha [commander] of the Janissaries [elite Ottoman infantry] said with concern.

“We don’t have enough artillerymen to operate the cannons.”

“It’s alright. They can learn as they shoot. And what does it matter if they don’t aim properly?”

There were so many targets that someone would die even if they shot randomly.

It was an Ottoman-style flex, fully supplied with gunpowder.

***

The shells pouring down with the explosions were an irresistible force.

They trembled in fear and had no time to sleep.

As the temperature dropped at night, the cannons cooled down faster, and there were more than a few soldiers who couldn’t resist the sleepiness and fell asleep forever.

It was a moment when desertions soared.

“Stop! Prevent them from escaping!”

Deserters stole horses and fled even without clothes, and this trend was unstoppable.

However, not all deserters were safe.

“Kill all those who resist! Spare no one!”

The soldiers with burning wicks wrapped around their bodies like will-o’-the-wisps at night pulled the triggers of their muskets.

The soldiers who fled along the Tabriz walls, unable to establish a siege, could only scream at the firmly closed gates.

In the end, the Mamluk forces were split in two.

Those who gave up resisting and surrendered, and those who were prepared to take casualties and flee.

-Tang!

A comrade hit by a bullet in the head flew away as if bouncing, but the fleeing Mamluk soldiers did not stop.

The Mamluk soldiers who rode their horses through the hail of bullets clashed with the Ottoman soldiers holding bayonets.

Puk!

“Kuhuk!”

A soldier whose chest was pierced by a bayonet, as if his luck had run out while dodging the bullets, grabbed the bayonet with a wheezing sound.

Following closely behind, a Mamluk soldier swung his sword at the Ottoman soldiers.

It was literally a path of blood.

The road they passed was adorned with red blood, and behind the barely breached siege were the Sipahi [Ottoman cavalry] and Crimean Khanate cavalry.

Chasing away the two pursuing cavalries caused enormous damage, and it was too painful a loss for coming to check the Ottomans.

“I am sorry, Your Majesty! We missed about five thousand troops. Please punish me!”

“This is enough.”

Of the total 40,000 enemies, 20,000 had been killed, and about 15,000 had been taken prisoner.

Even excluding the wounded who might die at any moment, about 10,000 were taken prisoner.

Of course, there were casualties, with 5,000 casualties, but this was definitely a great victory.

‘The Mamluks have some potential, so they will recruit more, but the damage done today cannot be recovered in a short time.’

Elite soldiers are not made so easily.

Yusuf rose from his seat and picked up the gun next to him.

“Grand Vizier, I will leave the work here to you.”

There were several cannons that had been damaged by this shelling and turned into bombs, but there were also many intact cannons.

Occupying Tabriz without the help of the Mamluks was easy.

Looking at Yusuf with the gun slung over his shoulder, the Grand Vizier’s eyes widened.

“That cannot be! Why do you need to go in person!”

“I must go in person to cut off that bastard’s breath.”

The Mamluks had suffered enormous damage, and the occupation of Tabriz, the enemy’s capital, was just around the corner, but it was still only half a victory.

Unless he took Ismail’s head, it was not yet a victory.

Yusuf had a near-certain intuition.

“If I don’t kill that Ismail this time, I will regret it for the rest of my life.”

The furthest the Ottomans could reach was Tabriz.

Beyond that, they would have to fight against the natural barrier of the Iranian plateau, which averages 1300m above sea level.

If Ismail, who had become more vicious than in the original history, harassed the Ottomans with the Iranian plateau, the blueprint for the future could be distorted.

“Even so, there is no need to move so dangerously in person! You can trust and entrust the Sipahi and Crimean Khanate cavalry!”

“That’s right. Please trust us!”

The Sanjakbeys [Ottoman district governors] leading the Sipahis knelt down in unison, and Saadet, the Khan of the Crimean Khanate, also paid his respects.

“Your Majesty, please trust me, whom you made Khan. I and the Crimean Khanate will not disappoint you.”

He made Saadet the Khan of the Crimean Khanate because he was easy to leash, but also because he had decent abilities.

In the first place, even with his protection, if he had been incompetent in the Crimean Khanate, where the laws of the steppe prevailed, he would not have been able to survive.

He trusted the abilities of Saadet and his subordinates, but Yusuf’s mind did not change.

“Don’t underestimate Ismail, even though he has stepped into a trap and is being hunted.”

The area where Ismail was presumed to be was between Diyarbakir and Tabriz.

He was trapped because he could build a siege with 60,000 cavalry, but Ismail had the ability to break through this kind of trap.

Even in the original history, he was defeated at Chaldiran, but he didn’t run away well even with a wounded body.

“Even if the enemy is torn apart and runs away, can you be sure that you can kill Ismail?”

“Of course!”

“Even if he throws away the Qizilbash [Ismail’s elite guard] as bait and runs away?”

If the damage to the Qizilbash, the personal guard, was great, it would be a huge blow to Ismail, but he might do so if he was thinking of revenge.

He had to keep in mind that complacency could lead to a big misjudgment.

“Does Your Majesty have a brilliant plan to catch him?”

“It’s not difficult.”

Yusuf smiled coldly.

“All I have to do is reveal that I am here. He will rush to kill me.”

“Your Majesty?! That won’t do!”

“We absolutely cannot do that! Even if it means missing him, we cannot!”

The explosive growth of the Ottoman Empire depended on Yusuf.

If he were to die, it would not simply end with the death of the Padishah, but the entire Ottoman Empire could be shaken.

Yusuf slammed his gun on the floor at the exclamations of his horrified and opposing subordinates.

Kung!

“Silence!”

The conference room fell silent at the rebuke, and Yusuf bared his fangs fiercely.

“This is a showdown I must make! I will not accept any more objections. Prepare to march!”

No matter how dissatisfied they were, they could not object any further once the Padishah had declared it.

All they could do was to do their best to ensure that Yusuf did not get a scratch on his fingertips.

As the subordinates left for preparations and the conference room became empty, Yusuf muttered softly.

“It’s time to leave the stage, Ismail.”

***

“Yusuf!”

Ismail, with his face distorted like a demon, shouted roughly.

The dust rising from the plains became a whirlwind, engulfing the battlefield.