Became The Sultan Of The Ottoman Empire [EN]: Chapter 68

Time Fight (3)

As the unidentified cavalry crested the hill, Ahmed’s army panicked and retreated.

Having already gathered all available friendly forces, it was impossible that the army appearing on the hill was an ally.

Watching the retreating army, Yusuf felt a small sense of relief.

Drawing attention with the guns and revealing the army on the hill as a bluff had worked.

“It’s fortunate they retreated in fear. A battle would have been troublesome.”

The battle with the rebels had taken place between Ankara and Konya, a distance of over 300km.

That’s the distance from Seoul to Busan [major cities in South Korea], and even with spare horses, covering that distance in three days was an incredible forced march.

The heavily armored Kapikulu Sipahi [Ottoman heavy cavalry], along with those with poor horsemanship and the elderly Grand Vizier, had long since fallen behind.

‘Six thousand left, is it? That’s more than I expected.’

Most of Yusuf’s infantry, not to mention the Janissaries [elite Ottoman infantry] who received extensive training, were mostly from Sipahi backgrounds and knew how to ride horses.

Starting with 13,000 troops, only 6,000 remained, meaning more than half had fallen behind.

It was acceptable since those who fell behind would join later, but the soldiers’ condition wasn’t good enough to fight a battle immediately.

Arda agreed with Yusuf.

“If the enemies knew our condition, they wouldn’t have retreated so easily.”

“It’s thanks to arriving before the enemy messenger who was watching us.”

No matter how forced the march, it couldn’t be faster than a messenger traveling alone.

However, Ahmed’s messenger didn’t know that Ahmed’s army would be here, and Yusuf, who had thoroughly planned with Shemsi, roughly knew where Shemsi would be.

It was natural for Yusuf to arrive before the messenger who had to go near the Bosphorus Strait [a narrow, natural strait connecting the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara] and follow Ahmed’s trail.

Yusuf’s eyes narrowed coldly.

“More than that, isn’t it strange? If there was an attack by Brother Ahmed, the Pasha’s army shouldn’t have been here.”

Because the plan was always to create a safe retreat route and then advance.

No matter how quickly Ahmed attacked, this was clearly strange.

“I’ll have to go and check it out myself. To find out what exactly happened.”

The cavalry led by Yusuf moved heavily to join the infantry.

***

If the Kara-Goez Beylerbey [governor-general of Kara-Goez] hadn’t ruined the soldiers of Ankara by being so easily defeated by the Shehinshah [Persian title meaning “King of Kings”], there would have been no need to force the march.

If the forces of Ankara had been added, they wouldn’t have been able to attempt to defeat them individually.

Although they lost their best advantage, they weren’t too worried. That’s how much time and effort Shemsi and he had put into the plan.

The forced march was just to reduce any possible variables.

“But, I never thought we’d be in this situation.”

Yusuf had saved the day by arriving in time, but the commanders leading the army felt suffocated.

That’s how fierce Yusuf’s atmosphere was, as he was furious.

Even those who were just watching from the side felt afraid, let alone the Georgian commanders who were the target of his anger.

“Did you think you could do as you pleased because you were in a position to help?”

“N, no.”

“You forget the past too easily.”

Yusuf’s words pierced their hearts coldly.

The Circassians and Georgians were different.

Unlike the Circassians, who had established friendly relations from the beginning, most of the Georgian states were those who had succumbed to Yusuf’s army.

Those who were reminded of that time as a trauma turned pale, and Yusuf gave them a chance to recover.

“I will give you a chance. Punish those who have caused problems so far.”

“To what extent…?”

“That’s your choice. I’ll be watching what choice you make. You may leave.”

At Yusuf’s words, the commanders left with dark faces.

It wasn’t just the soldiers who caused problems, and some of the commanders would have to step up as scapegoats.

After all the Georgian commanders left, Shemsi, who had been standing quietly, asked.

“Do you intend to end it like this?”

“Of course not.”

Yusuf smiled coldly.

For now, he needed their help, so he was going to let it go, but this incident had solidified his resolve.

“When I ascend to the position of Padishah [Ottoman sovereign], I will have to reorganize the kingdoms of Georgia to some extent.”

Not all Georgian countries caused trouble.

Countries friendly to the Ottomans, including Samtskhe, followed Shemsi’s control well, and it seemed that Georgia should be reorganized around them.

It was the moment when Georgia’s fate was decided.

“I understand that’s how you’ll treat Georgia. Then what will you do from now on?”

“Wait for the arrival of the delayed troops.”

He also needed time for the soldiers who had endured the forced march to recover, and he had no intention of moving recklessly before all the troops had gathered.

It would only create unnecessary damage.

“Either way, Brother Ahmed has missed his last chance.”

Ahmed should have attacked when Yusuf first appeared on the hill.

It was the only chance to achieve a great victory by defeating the terrified infantry and the exhausted cavalry from the forced march individually.

Now that Yusuf had joined, he had missed the last chance to win easily, and from now on, time was not on Ahmed’s side.

“When the messenger arrives later, my brother will also know his mistake.”

“Wouldn’t it already be an irreversible situation by then?”

By the time the messenger arrived, Yusuf’s cavalry would have recovered from their fatigue to some extent.

Life was a series of choices, and the prince’s wrong choice meant death.

***

A terrible despair settled over Ahmed’s army.

“The one who appeared on the hill was Yusuf’s army? And they were on the verge of collapsing from exhaustion.”

Ahmed’s face twisted hideously as he listened to the report from the messenger who had arrived late, and he drew the sword he was wearing on his waist.

With bloodshot eyes, Ahmed slammed the sword down on the messenger’s neck.

“Y, Your Highness… Keuheok!”

Beheaded without even having a chance to resist properly, the messenger instinctively blocked the wound with his hands, but that scene didn’t seem to register in Ahmed’s eyes.

Ahmed, covered in blood, took rough breaths as he struck the messenger’s neck dozens of times with his sword as if he were chopping wood.

Ahmed, who threw his sword onto the corpse lying tragically in the sea of blood, said to the soldiers standing with stiff faces.

“I don’t want to see it, so get rid of it.”

The soldiers dragged the corpse away as if they were dragging garbage, and Ahmed slumped into a chair.

Despite the dark faces of the commanders gathered here, Ahmed uttered a hollow voice.

“Has Allah [God in Islam] truly abandoned me?”

It was a word that represented the feelings of the commanders gathered here.

As they expected, the situation was getting worse.

At the suggestion of attacking even if it was late, they tried to attack once, but they were greeted not by terrified infantry but by soldiers armed with gunpowder.

Bang! Tatatatang!

“R, retreat! Retreat!”

The Sipahi, who were horse archers, approached with bows to perform their basic tactics of hit and run, but they had to receive a hail of bullets without even getting close enough to shoot arrows.

The Sipahi, who had been severely hit by the hail of bullets pouring down with a roar, became passive in their attacks, and in the meantime, Yusuf’s soldiers who had fallen behind began to join.

When the Grand Vizier, as well as the Kapikulu who arrived last, finished joining, Yusuf moved to cut off Ahmed’s breath.

Yusuf, who was riding on a horse, looked at Ahmed’s army and said.

“Grand Vizier, do you see their terrified 모습 [Korean word for appearance or state]?”

“I see it well.”

Ahmed’s situation was the worst.

The soldiers who sensed defeat attempted to desert every day, and they couldn’t even scout properly because the soldiers sent to scout continued to desert.

The 15,000 troops he had gathered were scattering like sand.

‘Well, many of those who joined Ahmed were led by the situation.’

This was especially true of the soldiers who were dragged from the cities where Ahmed’s four sons were Sanjakbeys [Ottoman district governors].

Because they weren’t those who had followed Ahmed for a long time like the soldiers of Amasya.

“So, he sent this surrender.”

Yusuf chuckled at the letter of surrender delivered through the deserted scout.

The Grand Vizier sighed in relief at Yusuf’s actions and said.

“I’m glad you accepted the surrender.”

“It’s a natural thing. I can’t kill them all. They’re all going to be my soldiers.”

The rebels who were suppressed near Konya and Ahmed’s soldiers were different.

The Turkmens, who made up the majority of the rebels, were those who could side with Ismail at any time and did not follow the rule of the Ottomans.

It’s not for nothing that Selim exiled or killed them to the Safavids [a Persian dynasty] as soon as he took power in the original history.

Suppressing the rebellion was to clean up future troubles in advance, but the current battle was cutting off one’s own flesh.

‘If I become Sultan, there will be many battles to fight in the future.’

He had to fight endlessly not only with the Safavids and the Mamluks [a dynasty that ruled Egypt and Syria] but also with the West.

It was necessary to save even one soldier, and it was enough to take the lives of only the leaders and those who resisted.

“More than that, it has finally begun.”

The opposing enemy camp, which had been facing each other, shook greatly, and then they pointed their swords at each other.

As the sword fight began between those who followed Ahmed and those who chose betrayal to save their lives, Yusuf slung his gun over his shoulder and shouted.

“Advance!”

-Advance! Advance!

Boom! Doo-oong!

With Yusuf’s shout, the sound of drums shook the sky.

It was the sound of drums announcing Ahmed’s end.

***

Even 10 years ago when Yusuf first became Yusuf, no one would have imagined that Ahmed would kneel before him like this.

Not even he himself.

“Isn’t that so? Brother.”

“I should have killed you a long time ago.”

Ahmed’s complexion was pale, having suffered a large wound on his arm due to betrayal, and Yusuf looked down at the kneeling Ahmed.

Ahmed’s hair had turned completely white, as if telling of the stress he had been under, and his complexion was haggard.

Ahmed, who was once closest to the position of Padishah, was too pathetic.

“Was it not enough to try to kill me using Hassan?”

Remembering Hassan, who had lost weight due to excessive work, Yusuf sneered.

“You were just incompetent. Until this moment, you had countless opportunities, didn’t you?”

Opportunities are not fair.

Unlike Yusuf, who had endured with the feeling of walking on thin ice because even a small mistake could lead to falling into hell, Ahmed could make mistakes several times and still be okay.

That was the gap between the two.

However, Yusuf overcame all those crises, and Ahmed wasted all the opportunities given to him.

This was the ending.

“Arda.”

At Yusuf’s call, Arda brought five silk cords, and Yusuf looked at the four nephews kneeling behind Ahmed.

The nephews, who were terrified as if they knew the end, burst into tears and wet themselves.

Ahmed shouted urgently.

“Yusuf, you only need to take my life! Spare my sons!”

Yusuf coldly looked down at Ahmed, who was begging with his head slammed on the floor, which he had been holding upright until just now.

“If you were in my position, would you have spared my sons?”

“O, of course!”

“Do you swear to Allah?”

“……”

Yusuf smiled as he watched Ahmed, who was only moving his lips.

It was ridiculous that he was acting like this, as if it was a difficult thing to falsely invoke Allah for his sons.

“Are you so afraid of hell because you are facing death? Still, I will show you my last mercy. Arda, send my brother off first.”

At least he shouldn’t live longer than his children.

It was the last consideration he could give as a brother and as the same father.

Yusuf gave his last greeting to Ahmed, who was glaring at him with his eyes wide open as he was being strangled.

“I will think about your last remaining young son.”

Yusuf, who was looking at Ahmed, whose body was limp, said to the soldiers.

“Send him to his father’s arms.”

With that said, Yusuf came out of the tent and looked up at the sky.

Dark storm clouds covered the sky, and Yusuf muttered softly.

“There will be a downpour.”