Became The Sultan Of The Ottoman Empire [EN]: Chapter 191

Became the Sultan of Osman – Episode 191

An Excellent Negotiator (2)

Charles V gripped his goblet tightly.

He felt nauseous with a splitting headache, and voices like auditory hallucinations echoed in his ears.

‘Your Majesty! The allied forces attacking Rome have been annihilated!’

He thought it was nonsense.

He believed the one shouting in a trembling voice was mocking him with lies.

No, he wished it were so. But the news that followed shortly reminded him of the cold reality.

‘The French army is marching towards Milan! The Duke of Milan has requested support!’

‘The Duchy of Ferrara has been occupied by the Republic of Venice!’

‘…Osman has captured Malaga and Gibraltar.’

The endless stream of bad news, with not a single piece of good news, made him wish he were deaf.

The meaningless remarks of the ministers who had gathered urgently seemed to reproach him, as if this situation had arisen due to his incompetence.

It was from this point that Charles shut himself in his room. He simply didn’t want to see or hear anything.

It was after a long time that Charles came out of his room.

“Yes, what do you have to say?”

At Charles’s question, filled with bloodshot eyes and cynicism, the Portuguese envoy bowed his head.

“Oh, we have arrested and punished all the monks who insulted the Padishah [Ottoman Sultan] of Osman.”

“Oh, you did well indeed. And what else?”

“We will gather an army to oppose Osman. We can support about 20,000 men.”

Portugal, already suffering from a blocked route to India and a disrupted economy, had also experienced a major earthquake, leaving them with little capacity, making even 20,000 men a difficult number.

“How long will that take?”

“It will take about four months to set out···.”

“Did you say four months?! Should I ask the infidels who have occupied our ports to wait for four months?!”

The envoy, hit by the goblet Charles threw, slumped down with blood flowing from his forehead, and Charles strode towards him.

Charles grabbed the envoy by the collar and vented his anger.

“Why do you create the excuse and I have to suffer the damage! Do you think I don’t know that you deliberately let Yusuf be insulted?!”

The reason the war broke out.

A shallow judgment to ease the fierce public sentiment was the cause, and Portugal caused the problem, but Spain was suffering the damage. Charles’s hand tightened as he thought this.

Looking back, the most misguided choice, the attack on Rome, was done by Charles’s will, but he needed someone to blame.

“Your Majesty, please calm down.”

The ministers were restless at Charles’s appearance, as if he would kill the envoy if they didn’t stop him.

Killing the envoy wouldn’t cause a war between the two countries, but it wasn’t desirable to have friction between the two countries at a time when they needed to unite.

It wasn’t the ministers around him who were at a loss that stopped Charles’s behavior, who had been showing psychological instability recently.

-A messenger has arrived urgently from the south!

It was news from the south where Osman had set foot.

It was easy to guess that it wasn’t good news, and he didn’t want to hear it, but the words that came out were different.

“Let him in.”

The messenger who entered the grand hall presented a letter, and Charles hesitated slightly before unfolding it.

-Armed Muslims are looting Granada. Testimony suggests they used fluent Castilian, so they are presumed to be Mudejars [Muslims who remained in Christian territory] who have hidden in the mountains. The main weapon, the arquebus [early firearm], is suspected to be from the Ottoman army.

“Yusuf!”

Charles shouted at the petty trick.

***

Having won the battle for Rome, there was no reason to stay in Rome any longer.

Yusuf returned to Constantinople [modern-day Istanbul] with the escort that arrived later and was able to see the haggard faces of his ministers.

“Has it been that difficult?”

“When I heard the plan, I should have stopped you more strongly. No one in the capital felt safe.”

Shemsi sighed, thinking about when the news that the allied forces were gathering in Rome, where Yusuf was, came to Osman.

The letters demanding that troops be mobilized immediately to save the Padishah were the better ones.

When Yusuf was besieged by the allied forces and was waging a siege, there was even a movement to drive out the officials who had endangered the Padishah’s safety.

“If the Janissary Agha [commander of the Janissaries] had not heard the Padishah’s plan in advance and properly controlled them, the Janissaries might have rebelled.”

“Surely not.”

Of course, it could have happened.

The Janissaries are Sufis [followers of Islamic mysticism] who believe in Islamic mysticism, not ordinary Islam, and that Sufism has been altered by Yusuf.

There are so many who firmly believe in Yusuf’s prophecies and regard him as at least equal to Muhammad, so if the commander hadn’t stopped them, they might have taken impulsive actions.

Yusuf, who was calmly drinking coffee, immediately changed the subject.

“Murat has sent word. He says he distributed the weapons as planned.”

Even if the two ports are almost blocked by the enemy’s fleet, it is not to the extent that they cannot send letters.

The Barbary pirates often used the method of disguising themselves as locals and responding from within when they plundered the Spanish coast, so they know Spain so well that sending letters is easy.

At Yusuf’s words, Shemsi said with a slightly worried expression.

“I’m sure the Padishah is not wrong, but I don’t know if it will be that effective. Wouldn’t it be better to focus on defense with the supplies to be distributed?”

“Do you know how many people in the Iberian Peninsula have Muslim roots?”

“I have heard that the number is considerable.”

The Muslims living in the Iberian Peninsula are called Moors, and their history is already nearly 800 years old.

Most of the approximately 250,000 people in the Emirate of Granada were Moors, and 1/3 of the population of Valencia were converted Moriscos [Muslims who nominally converted to Christianity], so it can be seen that a huge population still remains.

“The number is large, and they are in a position to suffer many disadvantages. Carlos [Charles V] issued a decree prohibiting the use of Arabic and Moorish clothing, and the Moriscos paid 80,000 ducats [currency] to suspend this decree for 40 years.”

He had only slightly pushed the backs of those who were being despised and oppressed in many ways and whose dissatisfaction was building up.

“Even if they become bandits and run wild, Carlos, who has to deal with the empire, will have a hard time choosing to suppress them. This will make him even more anxious. His power is not as strong as mine.”

Unlike Yusuf, who could take his life if he wanted to, even as Grand Vizier [chief minister], Charles’s position as King of Spain was not solid.

When he left Spain to vote to become the Holy Roman Emperor, a rebellion broke out and he almost lost Spain.

‘Continuing failures have made his abilities questionable, so there’s nothing more to say.’

Looking only at the results, the expression anti-Christ that Portugal used should be attached to Charles, not himself.

Because he played a big role in Christianity falling to the bottom.

‘Anti-Christ Carlos. It would be fun to spread rumors in the West.’

In an era already complicated by the Reformation, it was unpredictable what kind of reaction would come back if such rumors spread.

He had already attacked Rome twice, so Christians would not be able to easily defend him, and Charles might collapse from high blood pressure.

“What mischievous thoughts are you having that make you smile like that?”

“Was it obvious?”

“I have spent a long time with the Padishah. There were many memorable things when you smiled like that. You smiled like that when you first introduced me to Kahve [coffee].”

Yusuf just smiled lightly at Shemsi, whose face turned pale as if he remembered that time.

Since he is responsible for making his ministers addicted to coffee, it would only be disadvantageous to continue the story.

“Anyway, they are only bandits now, but if left alone, they could turn into a rebellion. It will be enough to motivate Carlos to move quickly.”

“Then an envoy will arrive soon.”

To sort out the tangled situation, they had to solve the problem with Osman first.

The predictions of the two were correct, and an envoy arrived from Spain shortly after, and Yusuf allowed the audience.

On the guillotine platform.

***

“You came all the way here without fear?”

“Pa, Padishah?”

The envoy stepped back as he ran his hand over the guillotine with a sharp blade hanging from it.

But it was in vain because of the two Janissaries who firmly grabbed his arms.

“Why? It’s okay for you to try to kill me, but it’s not okay for me to try to kill you?”

The envoy looked around with anxious eyes.

The gate to the Janissary courtyard, which was usually open to ordinary citizens, was tightly closed.

-Open the door! We have to kill them all!

-They are the Padishah’s enemies! Kill them now!

Because the shouts and noises were so mixed, he couldn’t understand the words coming from outside the castle, but he could tell it was a dangerous situation just by hearing the angry shouts.

The problem is that the inside of the castle is not safe either.

The Padishah was about to put him on the guillotine, and the Janissaries who had lost their comrades in the last battle for Rome were glaring at him with fierce eyes.

“The Padishah’s anger is justified, but please calm down for the sake of the Ottoman soldiers in dangerous places.”

“Are you threatening me?”

“I am saying this thinking of the Padishah’s heart, who always loves the people of the empire.”

“Your tongue is still alive.”

At Yusuf’s gesture, who snorted, the envoy was finally able to gain freedom.

Of course, guns were pointed at the envoys who came with him, but it was fortunate that he had at least gotten a chance to speak.

“The King said that he wants to stop the meaningless war and start talking now.”

“We can continue this war as it is.”

“Please think of Prince Murat in Malaga Harbor. The kingdom can retake the port if it puts all its power into it.”

“If you can catch him, try to catch him. He’s the type who would rather give up his life than be caught by the enemy.”

The envoy sweated at Yusuf’s words.

No matter how much Osman has fortified Malaga, they can occupy Malaga if they overdo it, but they couldn’t because of Prince Murat.

Because he said the same thing as Yusuf just said when he was advised to surrender.

‘If the prince dies, everything is really over.’

Anyone would cherish their life, so I want to think of it as a bluff, but the people of the Ottoman royal family should not be thought of within common sense.

The envoy, who knew this fact well after visiting Osman several times, quickly denied it.

“I’m not threatening you. You can’t keep the prince in a dangerous place forever, can you?”

“I’m not too worried about Murat, but there’s some truth to what you say.”

At Yusuf’s attitude of giving room for dialogue, the envoy cautiously said.

“Wouldn’t it be better to end the war now since both sides have suffered great damage?”

“Let’s hear the conditions.”

“We will recognize the rights to the occupied areas.”

It was a decision made after much deliberation for Spain.

Losing Malta and Tunis was also a painful blow, but allowing Islamic forces to establish themselves on the Iberian Peninsula, even in two small ports, was not something that could be done with ordinary consideration.

It was a condition presented with a lot of opposition in mind, but Yusuf sneered.

“It’s ridiculous to say that you’re giving away land that the empire has already occupied.”

At Yusuf’s attitude of ignoring the conditions he had presented, the envoy asked in a subdued voice.

“Then what are the conditions that the Padishah wants?”

“I’ll have to pay the price for threatening my life. It’s 3 million ducats.”

At the huge amount of 3 million, the envoy was momentarily dazed.

The amount Charles borrowed to spread to the electors to become the Holy Roman Emperor was 850,000 ducats.

Osman’s income before the canal was dug was about 9 million ducats, so it goes without saying how big that amount is.

The envoy hurriedly said at the words that he was asking for the national budget of a considerable country as a price.

“That’s too much! I’d rather choose war than pay that amount!”

Charles inherited a huge number of countries, but that doesn’t mean he has a lot of money.

He can’t even pay his hired mercenaries properly, and he had to borrow money to bribe the electors.

“Then we’ll have to keep fighting.”

“…You will regret it. Our allied forces have a larger naval power, and England has also decided to join.”

“Is that so.”

England is an insignificant island country, but it can be dangerous if England’s naval power is added.

Even though he knew the danger, Yusuf reacted calmly.

“I’ll see how long that opinion lasts.”

***

Negotiations were difficult and time passed helplessly.

When the envoy saw the season change in Constantinople, one piece of news arrived in the capital.

“Padishah. Fifty of the fleets that went to the East have arrived in Cairo!”

Upon hearing the report, Yusuf put down his coffee cup and asked the pale-faced envoy.

“So, did you say you would regret it?”

The envoy felt the sky turn yellow for a moment.