Became The Sultan Of The Ottoman Empire [EN]: Chapter 162

Neigh!

Yusuf lightly patted his snorting, excited horse as he surveyed the enemy lines.

He had been on many battlefields since becoming Yusuf, but he had never felt anything as strange as this war.

“Are the formations complete?”

“Yes, my Padishah [Sovereign or ruler]. We are fully prepared for battle,” Mehmed replied, wiping away the sweat.

The time wasted in Belgrade was minimal, but Mohács, about 150km south of Budapest from Constantinople, was quite far.

It was already late June, and the heat was oppressive. The Ottoman army, having marched a greater distance than the enemy, was exhausted.

A reasonable enemy would have attacked before the tired troops could even form a proper line.

“My Padishah, do you know why they have only been watching us?”

Mohács was a plain, but it was dotted with swamps, and Hungary, having arrived first, had several opportunities to start the battle favorably.

If they had attacked while crossing the swamps, or even before the formations were complete, the Ottomans would have been at a significant disadvantage.

Yet, they had only watched as the Ottomans completed their formations.

“Perhaps they believe attacking an unprepared enemy is against chivalry.”

“Surely, they wouldn’t abandon their last chance for such a ridiculous reason in a war?”

The Islamic world also had a concept similar to chivalry called Futuwa [a code of honor and principles], but Mehmed looked puzzled.

Even so, it was hard to believe they would commit such an absurd act of upholding chivalry in a war that would determine the fate of the nation.

“Or perhaps they didn’t want to leave the battlefield they had already prepared.”

Although many absurd things happened in the name of chivalry, considering the chaotic situation in Hungary, leading an army like this was a miracle in itself.

Tomori Pál, leading the army in place of Lajos, was a commander with at least basic competence, and he couldn’t be that foolish.

Yusuf looked at the enemy lines.

They had the Danube River behind them to avoid being surrounded, a swamp on one side, and hills on the other.

Several tributaries flowing from the Danube made the battle difficult, and the outnumbered Hungarian army had formed the best possible formation.

‘Of course, even considering that, coming out to the plains means they’re out of their minds.’

Choosing the plains as the battlefield meant they were fantasizing about annihilating the Ottoman army with cavalry.

Against the Ottomans, who had roots in nomadic culture.

“I understand your confusion, Mehmed.”

“Yes, my Padishah.”

“Don’t overthink it. Just look at the enemy in front of you.”

The Ottoman army formed a traditional formation.

With irregular troops like the Azabs [auxiliary infantry] and Akıncıs [light cavalry raiders] at the front, and the Sipahis [cavalry soldiers] and Janissaries [elite infantry] in the rear, preserving the elite troops.

The enemy had infantry and artillery in the center, with cavalry on both flanks.

A formation where the cavalry would penetrate while the center held, meaning they were confident in their cavalry.

“You can tell just by looking at the enemy’s formation. My past enemies, now in Allah’s [God’s] embrace, would laugh if they saw this.”

To try to fight a power struggle on the plains against the Ottomans.

If they had properly understood the battles the Ottomans had fought so far, they would never have done such a thing.

“Grand Vizier.”

“Yes, my Padishah.”

“Begin.”

As Yusuf’s command fell, the Ottoman army began to move with the sound of drums signaling the advance.

The Battle of Mohács had begun.

***

With each step, their feet sank a hand’s breadth into the mud.

The soldiers heard a roar as they stepped in the footprints of their comrades moving ahead.

As the Ottoman army advanced, the Hungarian central army fired cannons, and shells from about 50 cannons fell over the Ottoman army.

-Crack!

“Don’t stop! Keep moving!”

Although his comrades next to him were crushed by the shells, the commander only urged them to move forward.

Knowing that stopping meant death anyway, the soldiers gripped their matchlock muskets tightly to avoid being the next unfortunate casualty.

As they approached the enemy, enduring the falling shells, they heard a tremendous roar from behind.

The Ottomans, looking up at the sound of something passing through the air, saw hundreds of shells passing over their heads.

“It’s our artillery! Don’t stand there like fools, move!”

Emboldened by the shells falling mercilessly towards the enemy lines, the Ottoman army quickened their pace.

As the enemy came within reach, the Akıncıs, irregular raiding cavalry, nocked arrows and charged.

“Archbishop!”

“Prepare yourselves.”

Tomori Pál, the Archbishop of Kalocsa and a key commander in this war, quickly assessed the situation.

The flames of battle that had started in the center quickly spread to both flanks.

The combination of Akıncıs and Sipahis freely using the hit-and-run tactics unique to nomads, supported by infantry, was quickly pushing back the Hungarian army.

Tomori, assessing the rapidly changing battle situation, lowered the visor of his helmet.

He saw the Rumelian Sipahis, armed similarly to European knights, retreating to regroup, and Tomori raised his spear.

“Charge!”

“Charge! Charge!”

With Tomori’s command, the heavy cavalry on the right flank, who had been waiting for the moment, began their charge.

The unexpected Hungarian cavalry charge caused confusion on the Ottoman right flank.

The charge of heavy cavalry, even wearing barding [armor for horses], was like a tsunami made of iron, and it was difficult for the poorly trained irregular troops to stop it.

-Taang! Tang!

The hastily loaded and fired bullets often missed, and the muddy ground made it difficult to firmly plant bayonets.

The Hungarian heavy cavalry, not properly stopped, pierced through the Ottoman vanguard.

-Heeheeing!

“Uwaaaagh!”

The heavy cavalry, impaled on bayonets and rolling around, were themselves deadly weapons, and Tomori broke through as the heavy cavalry and infantry opened a path with blood.

‘If I kill the infidel emperor, there’s a chance!’

Tomori, who had planned this move, gritted his teeth, deflecting the incoming bayonets.

The world seemed to be dyed red with the blood shed by allies and enemies, and the heat flowing from the sweltering armor made his mind dizzy.

As Tomori mechanically swung his arms and broke through the enemy vanguard, expecting an open view, a large amount of blood splattered on his face.

“Euhahaha! I don’t know how my father knew!”

Murat, who had blown off the enemy’s head with a pistol shorter than a musket, put the gun in his arms and raised a large sword.

His father’s words that there would be a good opportunity if he stayed here quietly were exactly right.

The knight, hit by the crude rather than sharp sword, was knocked back with his waist bent, and before he could be surprised by the man’s brute force, a gunshot rang out.

“Follow Prince Murat!”

“Even if you die, kill one more!”

The black slave soldiers, with only bloodshot eyes visible on their dark faces, glared at the swords falling over their heads and pulled the trigger.

They had to prove their worth for the future of their tribe, who were likely to be captured as slaves like themselves.

The heavy cavalry were pinned down by the enemy soldiers stabbing bayonets even as they were trampled by horses, and Murat threw his sword at Tomori, who was wearing the best armor.

“Keuheok!”

Tomori, with the sword piercing through the gaps in his solid iron armor, collapsed, and the Hungarian cavalry were horrified.

“Archbishop!”

“Archbishop?”

Murat, remembering that there was only one person called Archbishop among the enemy, roughly pulled out the sword stuck in Tomori’s chest.

Tomori, who trembled briefly in agony, slumped down, and Murat swung his sword at Tomori’s neck.

“That was nothing.”

Looking at Tomori’s head indifferently raised, the cavalry quickly lost their will to fight.

***

As Hungary’s trump card, the right flank breakthrough, was blocked, the Hungarian army quickly collapsed.

The central army, which had barely held out against the line infantry firing relentlessly in formation, retreated mindlessly when the news of Tomori’s death was conveyed.

There was no distinction of status among the Hungarian soldiers fleeing blindly with only the will to live, and the result arrived in front of Yusuf, who was clearing the battlefield.

“Tsk, how foolish.”

Yusuf clicked his tongue, looking at the corpse of Lajos II, who had drowned with a terrified expression.

He was following the procedures of the original history, and the result of falling from his horse and drowning while fleeing was the same.

Although the result of drowning was the same, it was not strange.

‘The probability of a terrified young man in his early twenties falling from a horse in a river is high.’

He would have fled entangled with the fleeing soldiers, and with the weight of the armor, the possibility of drowning was high if he couldn’t get help the moment he fell.

“Grand Vizier, what are the results of the battle?”

“Our casualties are a thousand, and the enemy’s are over 20,000. It’s a great victory.”

It was a large number of deaths for a war lasting less than 2 hours, and the enemy’s casualties were mostly due to the damage suffered while retreating.

“Murat, I heard your role in this war was significant. Well done.”

“It was nothing.”

It wasn’t that difficult to catch the cavalry whose speed had dropped while breaking through the vanguard.

“Rewards and punishments must be properly received. I will give you a separate reward.”

“Thank you, my Padishah.”

Murat, who answered that way, glanced at Mehmed.

He might show emotion since his rival had achieved a feat, but Mehmed was indifferent.

“Brother, I have achieved a feat.”

“Well done.”

Murat made a sulky face at the short praise, and Yusuf laughed lightly as he watched the two’s power struggle.

Mehmed seemed to know very well that there was nothing as meaningless as competing with Murat for achievements on such a battlefield.

“Mehmed, what do you think we should do from now on?”

“In a normal situation, we should suspect the enemy’s trap.”

If Murat hadn’t properly blocked the right flank, he might have felt a little chilled, but looking at the overall battle situation, it was like the cavalry had committed a suicide attack.

It was dumbfounding that Hungary, which had blocked the Ottomans for decades, was ending like this, and the ministers nodded in agreement.

“However, even if I psychologically suspect a trap, rationally speaking, the losses this time are too great to be a trap.”

Mehmed’s gaze turned to the dead Lajos.

Even though the royal authority was hitting rock bottom in Hungary, it didn’t make sense to set a trap using the king as bait.

“The only danger to the empire is time. Let’s advance to Buda immediately.”

“Excellent opinion.”

They shouldn’t be deceived by the reputation of Hungary, which had been built up over the past few decades.

As Mehmed suggested, the Ottoman army, leaving behind some troops to clean up the battlefield, advanced straight to Budapest.

***

The capital of Hungary, later called Budapest, is a city formed by the merger of two cities divided by the Danube River: Buda and Pest.

Until a bridge connecting the two was built in the 19th century, the two cities were connected only by boats, and they were completely separated.

Buda was the central city of Hungary, and Pest was closer to a slum.

The capital of Hungary, which was the first to embrace the Renaissance outside of Italy, Buda was a beautiful city.

Centered around Buda Castle, built in the 14th century, beautiful buildings showed the splendor of Buda.

What greeted the Ottoman army, which was thinking of a siege to capture Buda, was the wide-open gates and Buda, which was close to a ghost town.

“My Padishah, it seems that even the citizens have mostly fled.”

Even Belgrade, which had no reinforcements, was defended by 700 people, but the commanders looked uneasy at the fact that there were no troops defending Buda, the capital of Hungary.

There were no defenders, not even Hungarians, and all that was left were Jews.

“So, everyone has fled, you say.”

“Yes, my Padishah.”

Salamon, who came as a representative of the remaining Jews, bowed his head, and the ministers looked at Buda with uneasy faces.

“My Padishah, no matter what, isn’t it too strange to abandon the capital like this?”

“Perhaps we should think carefully and withdraw the army.”

They were so uneasy that they showed this kind of reaction instead of being happy about the bloodless entry.

“That’s enough. If it’s too easy and unsettling, that’s just Hungary being Hungary.”

It was the same unsettling feeling that had continued to bother Suleiman in the original history, but Yusuf, who knew that Hungary was just not normal, gave the order.

“Absorb the territory held by Lajos before others covet it.”

Because royal families were connected by blood, personal unions often occurred, where one person was the king of several countries, like Charles V.

Lajos II was the king of three countries: Hungary, Croatia, and Bohemia, and with Lajos dead, there were many who would aim for the ownerless land.

When no one could have imagined that Hungary would collapse so easily, they had to swallow as much territory as possible.

The Ottoman army, which received Yusuf’s order, moved quickly.

***

“…Hungary has fallen? This quickly?”

Ferdinand I, who was ruling the Holy Roman Empire as a proxy, had a dumbfounded expression.

“Is it true?”

“Yes, it is.”

“Really?”

“…Yes, it is.”