Became The Sultan Of The Ottoman Empire [EN]: Chapter 34

#34. The One Who Eats First (3)

A person’s worth depends on how you use them.

One might think it’s best to have no treacherous subjects and only loyal ones by your side, but sometimes a sycophant who acts like the tongue in your mouth is more useful than a loyal subject who nitpicks at everything in the name of righteous advice.

A type like Aptum, who tried to scheme from the start and almost lost his hand, also has his advantages—he’s quick-witted.

‘He cherishes his own life, so as long as I hold a knife to his throat, there’s nothing to worry about.’

He’s like the politician version of Hassan.

Meaning he’s easy to use, and for Yusuf, a man like Aptum was better.

‘If he were someone whose intentions I couldn’t read, I’d have to keep worrying about him even after leaving him behind. This is better.’

A man like Tarib, the Subashi [Ottoman police chief], was someone he could grab by the collar and manage. Yusuf could turn his attention to Erzurum without worry.

As he headed to Erzurum, Yusuf keenly felt why armies, regardless of East or West, didn’t move during winter.

“It’s insanely cold.”

Even though it was already spring, snow still remained in many places in the mountains, and the distant peaks were covered in snow like eternal glaciers.

Perhaps because he had become too accustomed to the mild climate of Trabzon, where it’s cool year-round but never drops below freezing, the cold weather was a trial.

Moreover, the roads weren’t properly maintained, so the marching column kept stretching out. And there was one more thing that grated on his nerves.

“Your Highness, more scouts again.”

“Leave them be. It won’t change anything even if we capture one or two. Just make sure we’re properly prepared for any possible ambush.”

The scouts assigned to reconnaissance kept clashing with those seemingly sent from Erzurum.

They only exchanged glances before running away, so there hadn’t been any bloodshed yet, but it was quite annoying.

Of course, one could tell something just from the way they operated the scouts.

‘They have no intention of surrendering easily, and the commander of Erzurum is not someone to be trifled with.’

The distance between Bayburt and Erzurum is over 100km.

To operate scouts so densely over this distance means they had planned and operated in advance, even before arriving in Bayburt.

Probably everything, from the process of Bayburt being occupied, had been reported to the enemy.

“Well, it doesn’t matter.”

No matter how capable the commander, all they can do is try to ambush by exploiting carelessness or hole up in the fortress.

Since we’re also operating scouts densely, there’s no way an obvious ambush will work, and as expected, the movement itself was smooth.

Because they took all the defense forces to the Erzurum Fortress, the villages along the way opened their gates without resistance, and we continued to move, leaving behind some garrisons.

It was after ten days that we arrived in Erzurum like this.

“That’s the Erzurum Fortress. It won’t be easy to capture.”

The walls of the Erzurum Fortress, built on a hill, had eight towers rising from them, and soldiers stood guard solemnly on the walls, which were over 2 meters thick.

It was a sight worthy of the name fortress, making it embarrassing to compare with Bayburt.

Hakan agreed with Yusuf’s assessment.

“A fortress that has stood its ground for a long time has its reasons.”

The Erzurum Fortress was built during the time of the Eastern Roman Emperor Theodosius II, a thousand years ago, and was called Theodosiopolis.

It had been subjected to numerous invasions and severely destroyed each time the city’s owner changed, but it was rebuilt every time.

That means it has that much value.

“Let’s try recommending surrender first.”

It doesn’t look like they’ll surrender at all, but recommending surrender was a basic procedure.

At Yusuf’s command, a cavalryman approached the castle gate, and as if waiting, the gate opened.

After a while, when the gate reopened, we received the expected result.

-You pig-like bastards! Leave this place immediately before you incur the wrath of Allah.

In Islam, pigs are considered unclean creatures, so calling someone a pig was among the worst insults.

Just looking at the faces of the commanders, who turned red with anger as they passed around the letter, you could tell.

‘How is just calling someone a pig such a big insult?’

For Yusuf, who had memories of a country where pigs were even used as nicknames, it had no impact at all.

Yusuf thought calmly.

Although it didn’t resonate with him, the cavalryman who had been sent as a messenger returned unharmed, despite being called a terrible name like a pig.

The cavalryman who returned tied to a horse had a humiliating expression, but considering that a messenger’s job is half risking their neck, it was just a small act of venting.

‘This isn’t a strong reaction, and there’s still room for surrender.’

Of course, they wouldn’t surrender with just a warning like in Bayburt, and Yusuf said to the commanders looking at him.

“Since we’ve received such a warm welcome, we should properly greet the owner of this place.”

To properly greet someone, you have to make eye contact.

“Conscript the people around here.”

To have a conversation, you have to be at the same height, right?

If the other party doesn’t intend to come down, we have no choice but to go up ourselves.

***

Tension filled the Erzurum Fortress.

Erzurum was a military stronghold and one of the main battlegrounds in many wars, but until now, the Ottomans had mainly extended their reach into Europe, and it had been a long period of peace.

It was an unusually long period of peace, but.

‘The end of this peace is not far off.’

Even though Erzurum was built on a plateau higher than most mountain peaks, news wasn’t completely cut off.

The new king who occupied Tabriz was greedily swallowing up the existing White Sheep Dynasty’s territory, and they knew that well.

They also knew that he would target this military stronghold.

But they didn’t expect the empire to covet this place.

“Ahun! What about the enemy?”

“They are mobilizing people conscripted from the surrounding area to destroy stone buildings.”

“Are they gathering stones to use in catapults? I can’t figure out what they’re thinking.”

It wasn’t that he regretted the deteriorating state of the fortress.

The outside, not protected by the walls, was a discardable piece, and the supplies had already been moved inside.

He just couldn’t understand the action itself.

“They wouldn’t be doing something like that just to vent their anger.”

Unless the opposing commander was an idiot, he would know that the longer they dragged things out, the more disadvantageous it would be for the besieging army, and there must be a reason for doing such a thing, but he couldn’t guess what it was.

They weren’t even assembling catapults yet, even though they were supposedly gathering stones to use in them.

Because the opponent was moving outside of his predictions, his worries only increased.

“How’s the atmosphere inside the fortress?”

“Many people are anxious. There are rumors that it’s better to surrender than to lose in a siege.”

Abadan smiled bitterly at Ahun’s words.

“It can’t be helped that they’re afraid.”

Traditionally, when a battering ram hit the gate, the lives and property of the defenders could not be protected, and the people of the captured city had to choose between plunder and massacre.

“Especially those who have heard bad rumors about Shah Ismail think it’s better to surrender to the empire.”

“It’s all nonsense.”

He had sent people directly to Tabriz to confirm the facts.

However, no matter how much he dismissed it as nonsense, there were too many people who were convinced that the widely spread rumors were true.

Abadan sighed softly.

‘It’s not easy.’

He had hurriedly started preparing for defense after hearing the news that imperial soldiers were gathering in Gümüşhane, but there were many shortcomings.

On top of that, there were unsettling rumors circulating inside, so he was frustrated as a commander.

If the anxiety increased here, they might not be able to hold out for long.

“Abadan, wouldn’t it be better to surrender? We don’t need to fight those people for Shah Ismail, do we?”

As Ahun said, he was not a subject of Ismail.

Either way, whether it was the imperial prince in front of him or Ismail’s army that would arrive soon, they would have to surrender.

However, there was a reason why Abadan sided with Ismail.

“Ahun, who do you think would win if those who have gathered in front of us and Ismail’s army fought? I don’t think those people would win.”

They had defeated an army of nearly 30,000 twice with a force of only 7,000, so there was no way they would be defeated by a prince who wasn’t even past puberty.

If they surrendered and those people were defeated, Erzurum would surely become a sea of fire.

“I’d rather have those people show me something. So that I can trust them and entrust Erzurum to them.”

Abadan, who sincerely thought so, watched Yusuf’s army every day, and Yusuf lived up to his expectations.

A hill began to rise on one side of Erzurum.

***

High walls are a very advantageous condition for the defending army.

To overcome this, they build siege towers as high as the opponent’s walls and pile up mountains of earth.

‘It’s hard for me to use both of these.’

Siege towers made of wood and iron must be manufactured to match the height of the opponent’s walls, and they are large and difficult to operate.

In particular, because the main material is wood, it is vulnerable to fire attacks.

Building earth mountains is also not easy. Anyone who has played with sand knows that soil collapses more easily than you think when you pile it up.

Moreover, to pile it up high, you literally have to build a mountain, so you need a huge amount of soil.

‘But if there’s cement, it’s a different story.’

Yusuf nodded in satisfaction as he looked at the result.

“Not bad.”

The gray hill, made by mixing stones and concrete dragged from the surrounding area, was close to a steep stone pillar.

The commanders who watched the process of making it directly also looked at it with curious expressions.

“I thought you were just mixing it with lime, but it’s very solid. It’s like a giant stone mountain.”

The commander, who lightly tapped it with his scabbard, was impressed.

“It would be good to use when building fortresses.”

“Certainly, if we only have this, the difficulty will be greatly reduced.”

Building fortresses was not easy.

A castle made by stacking stones required the skill of cutting and stacking stones to fit the shape, and a wall using bricks was not easy because it required baking so many bricks.

However, if there was only cement to firmly fill the gaps between the stones, it would not be difficult to build a castle.

“They were very embarrassed too. They made eye contact with me and were startled.”

Ivan, the Circassian commander, burst into laughter.

The hill, which was built much faster and easier than building an earthen mountain, was so high that the inside of the wall was clearly visible.

Yusuf smiled mischievously as he looked at the catapult being assembled on the hill, which was no exaggeration to call a concrete mass.

“I hope they like my belated greeting.”

After a while, a stone was fired from a trebuchet [a type of catapult that uses a lever], and screams and shouts erupted from inside the fortress.

“The reaction is too much for just knocking on the door.”

Was the knock a little too loud?

Yagiz asked Yusuf, who was watching the catapults being fired as they were prepared.

“Your Highness, what if they still don’t surrender even after doing this?”

It’s not easy to break down the walls with catapults, so they can continue to hold out without surrendering, as Yagiz said.

If it comes to that, there’s no choice.

“Then we’ll have to build another wall around the fortress.”

Let’s see how long they can hold out.

***

“Your Highness, they’re surrendering! The lord of the castle is seriously injured after being hit by a catapult!”

I wondered why it was so noisy.