Watching the final death throws of the crusader camp, I decided to move back to the camp leaving one of the commanders to oversee the slaughter of the remaining enemies... But soon I would be surprised a small force of men at arms could be seen exiting the city and rushing towards our forces.
I hopped right into motion to protect the flanks of my sipahi as they may not be aware of the men at arms just yet as they are focused on running down escapees. We quickly organized the shock calvary Kapikulu units into a wide arrow formation. I screamed "CHARGE!!"
As always we slowly picked up speed but the pace this time was quicker than normal as we are galloping the horses downhill toward the charging men at arms. These men at arms are formidable foes as they are armed similarly to knights but sometimes they are harder to fight as they have much experience as warriors in many varied battles and campaigns.
As I said these men at arms are very experienced... Proving my point they immediately noticed our force charging at them and began to turn around rather quickly! They can be even more speedy than my cav as they are smaller in number thus resulting in being more mobile and coordinated than my cavalry.
Before we were even within a fighting chance of catching them, they bolted back into the safety of the walls... Damn, I moved too quickly I could've wasted a few sipahi to catch the enemy's men at arms. Well, it isn't a big deal as I have a large cavalry force so that I can guard against any further sorties from their men at arms during the siege.
After waiting and watching the walls for another hour I moved all the troops I brought back to the camp. We arrived here in the early morning, I did not want to waste any time and ordered the moving and building of the siege camp and all the siege structures.
From our campaign in Anatolia, we brought along many large wooden shields and other small defensive materials to use in skirmishing near the walls. This was all we could afford to bring with us, all other structures must be rebuilt during each siege.
The move went smoothly, During the remainder of the day my engineers begin fortifying our camp and the chosen positions for the artillery. For this siege, I ordered the building of more common siege engines... I ordered the building of two medium-sized siege towers, and two rams to attack the walls weakened by the cannon fire.
I also wanted the troops to build many ladders to fit our needs in terms of our troop numbers and the amount of wall we could make use of... I am planning to overwhelm the Ragusian defenders with our numbers and advantage in skill and experience. One advantage Ragusa believes they have is their navy as I see their ships patrolling the coasts, believing they have no enemies at sea.
Over the next three days all our siege towers, rams, and ladders were built. All the while our cannons bombarded the walls and our mortars indiscriminately fired on the city. Usually, I would not allow the bombing of the city, but I am told by my spies that the citizens here are very loyal to their leadership as they are the ones who voted them into their positions.
I almost forgot Ragusa was a republic for a moment, but remembering the nationality that most republics bring to their citizenry I ordered the shelling of the city and its important areas like governmental halls and palaces. My spies also found the locations of several storehouses near the port which I ordered them to set alight the first chance they get.
I did not personally target grain storage, as I will need the grain in the future to add to my army's supply. But I digress, once everything for the siege was built up I ordered them into positions but not to be used just yet, I want the cannons to shell the walls and the city for another two days before we move.
After giving the orders the night rolled around on this day... And our siege engines did not move but stood in place mocking the defenders as if saying hey we can attack but what is the rush... Knowing what the enemies will do tonight I moved towards the meeting tent where my commanders were waiting for me.
Walking in I kept the greeting brief and said "Listen those men at arms from before will make a night raid tonight and the defenders will be focusing their eyes on their results and the siege engines tonight. So what I want from my men is simple I want a slow battle with these men at arms to be fought around whatever siege engine they target...
-I want the Pike squares on the job they will do well against these off-brand knights! While they battle I want an experienced squad of janissary engineers guarded by a kapikulu contingent to move quietly towards the walls and plant a large barrel of explosives in one of the defender's blind spots.
-When the explosive goes off we will gain our first opening on the wall while also eliminating the men at arms in one go!"
The engineering commander stepped forwards and said "My sultan, this is a great idea and it will be done no mistakes will be allowed!"
as the engineer commander walked out... Omar stepped forwards and said "My sultan, that man is a lackey! hahaha but I believe this is a good strategy, but what about the remaining area surrounding us will we leave them be?"
I thought for a second before responding "Hmm... I am sure we can defend this city against any force the Serbians send even if they send the main force, but to do that we will indeed need a few things. I want our information network established firmly! I want all the messages carried via our secured route from Thessalonica up to our camp here in Ragusa!
-We also need to control the surrounding environment, all the local fortresses and castles in the area need to be in our control, so we can have an active defense against anyone attempting to attack us. And for the navy I want them to lead the marines and capture the surrounding islands owned by Ragusa, and the ones owned by Bosnia."
All my commanders just nodded and left the tent to get to work, while some messengers who were writing down the orders sprinted off towards the capital to deliver the orders and they will also stop by the surrounding region's cities to deliver the orders to those captains as well.
Leaving these orders in the back of my mind I focused on the events that will be taking place here soon. Soon darkness covered the sky, and torches were lit all around. Moving to higher ground to get a decent view of the walls, I waited here to catch sight of the attackers.
After about three hours we still did not catch a glimpse of any attackers... Maybe I was wrong, they may be more willing to just defend against our siege towers than to leave the walls to attempt an attack on them.
But I truly hoped they would take the bait. After waiting another hour it was dark outside here, and late at night and I had to rotate the guards on the siege towers many times as they were just too tired at this point. I even begin to wonder if I should just head to bed it sounds comfortable and makes more sense than waiting out here in the bitter cold for no reason.
But soon without the enemies ever leaving the front gate, we began to hear the sound of hooves pounding the ground... My lookouts started signaling everyone with either their screams or their fireworks depending on how far they were from the camp. Still, I couldn't see the enemies, but I knew they were coming to target one of the siege towers, so if we focus on them we can catch the enemies.
The secret engineer squad hoping to blow apart a hole in the walls was posted in the hills, not in the camp. So they can slip away silently without being noticed by the defenders, but this also means I cannot contact them easily as I am not sure exactly where they are.
Soon the sound of hooves has gotten so close that I knew they were right upon our siege tower on the north side of the camp. Just looking in that direction there isn't much to see as the moon isn't very bright tonight, just a little excited I decided to send a reinforcement of pikes to make sure the enemy's cavalry was subdued properly!
A few moments later you could hear the sound of battle taking place and I could somewhat see from my higher position torches being lit by the attacking cavalry forces. Oh so they want to burn a new Siege tower do they not think we would've expected that, you are gonna have to work harder than that!
Damn, I hope the engineering force left already, I am banking on that breakthrough in the wall. A few minutes later two messengers arrived one said the secret force left for the wall and the other messenger said that our pikemen are fighting valiantly against the cavalry and they are slowly pushing them back.
Hearing the good news allowed my mind to wander a bit instead of remaining stuck on the mission. I truly wonder where the men at arms left the city from... They most definitely did not leave from the gates, so there must be a secret entrance some sort of tunnel as we saw in Kayseri.
I decided to send a scouting force to locate this entrance in the morning, I do not think the men at arms when they flee are dumb enough to run back to this secret entrance. Soon though I received disheartening news, the men at arms are beginning to flee back to the walls.
They have no chance at winning so they are gonna run for it, but what about my operation where is my explosion... *BOOOOOOOOOM* OH SHIT! This is great now I can just go to sleep, running at full speed avoiding all the messengers bringing news I slipped into my tent and right into my bed.
Waking up after about only three hours of sleep, I was bombarded with reports! The most important being the safety of the engineering crew who blew up a piece of the wall... The runner up being the fact that the scouts found the secret entrance. The only reason they found it so fast was that the mercenary men at arms that attacked us last night left tracks all over the place the scouts said they weren't even a tiny bit careful.
This actually made me a little worried about using this entrance... Though it may be possible they were just stupid it is highly possible this is a trap as well. Well, I will worry about the secret entrance later, let us lead the assault on the walls because today shall be the day the city falls.
I went quickly to the morning meeting with the commanders giving them the orders they already understood probably... But with last night's raid, we have a small advantage compared to my original plan. So we shall use that advantage to boost our chances of victory!
So apart from the original assault plan I arranged for a good portion of cannons to be placed in front of the new gap in the wall. By doing this I can clear the rubble in the way of an assault on the gap while also clearing the defenders out of the way. In this way, I will lead an assault on this breakthrough later using my cavalry.
Authors note: I have been thinking of running a second novel similar to this one but a different time period and different nation or culture... Does anyone have any suggestions ??????