The Rise of the European Emperor

In fact, the Venetians not only funded the implementation of the French's counter-intrigue in Spain, but also began to consider funding the remnants of the Watas dynasty in Venice and the Saad tribe in southern Morocco, supporting them to take the opportunity to attack northern Morocco and seize lost ground.

At this time, the Spaniards transferred most of their troops to Italy and France to fight against them. At this time, the northern part of Morocco that had been defeated was empty of troops. Although more than 10,000 Italian mercenaries were later introduced to guard, the troops were scattered because of the need to guard multiple cities. Even the city with the largest garrison does not have more than 4,000 people. Moreover, these Italian mercenaries are basically infantry.

On the other hand, the remnants of the Wattas dynasty and the Saad tribe are all Arab scimitar cavalry, all riding Berbu horses. It would be very difficult to attack those cities by force. However, there is no problem in sweeping the wild.

At the beginning, because the Vatas Dynasty voluntarily retreated to the Atlas Mountains, the main force of eight thousand scimitar cavalry was retained. Although the Wattas Dynasty lost another three thousand scimitar cavalry main forces in many conflicts later, the Sultan of the Wattas Dynasty, Abu Abdullah Burtukali Ibn Muhammad, came from Morocco's Bert Tens of thousands of tribal scimitar cavalry were recruited from the Berber herdsmen. In this way, the remnants of the Vatas dynasty still have a strong strength of 15,000 cavalry. Although the combat effectiveness of those tribal cavalry is average, they may not be able to fight against the main force of Spain. However, if you face Italian mercenary infantry in the wild, you are still very sure.

The Saad tribe south of the Atlas Mountains was originally of average strength. But after the Watas dynasty was destroyed by the Spaniards, it grew rapidly and became the spiritual pillar of the Arab herdsmen in Morocco, and was unanimously supported by the Arab herdsmen in southern Morocco.

Although Morocco in this era is still dominated by Berbers, there are also many Arabs. The various Arab ministries led by Saad can also gather more than 10,000 tribal cavalry.

In the original history, the Saad tribe rose up in 1511. In the name of driving out the heretics from Spain and Portugal, they launched a jihad, embraced their own strength, and separated themselves from southern Morocco. By 1553, the declining Vatas dynasty was simply eliminated, and the Saad dynasty with the Arabs as the ruling class was established.

At this time, although the overall combat effectiveness of the Arab tribal cavalry of the Saad tribe was not as good as that of the remnants of the Watass dynasty, they were considered very strong. After all, the numbers are there.

Moreover, under the lobbying of the Venetians and the French, in order to jointly fight against the pagan Spain, the two major forces have joined forces.

This time, the Venetians planned to transport a large amount of weapons and armor to equip the cavalry and Saad cavalry of the Vatas Dynasty.

Of course, it is impossible for the Venetians to provide them with European-style weapons and armor. Because, that's easy to reveal. If Spain is angered, the Venetians do not feel that they have the strength to confront Spain on land.

Therefore, the Venetians plan to buy a large number of Egyptian-style scimitars and Middle Eastern-style armor (mainly chain mail and armor) from the Egyptian Mamluk dynasty. Then, it was given to the Vatas dynasty and the Saad tribe. In this way, even if the Spaniards find out afterwards, as long as there is no evidence, it is not easy to trouble Venice. Because, the Venetians can find an excuse to say that it was transported to the Moroccans by camels from the Mamluk dynasty on land.

This reason is very tenable. After all, the Mamluk dynasty of Egypt and Morocco are both in the northern part of the African continent. It is reasonable to use camels to transport a batch of weapons and equipment from land. Moreover, the blockade of the Indian route by the Spanish and Portuguese offended not only Venice, but the Mamluk dynasty also hated the Spaniards. It was perfectly reasonable for them to supply arms to the sworn enemy of the Spaniards...

In addition, the Venetians learned from maritime reconnaissance that because of the war with the French, the Spanish fleet originally stationed in the Strait of Gibraltar was sent to block the southern coast of France at this time.

As long as the ships of Venice take advantage of the night, they can completely avoid the small number of Spanish warships left behind in the Strait of Gibraltar, transport the weapons and armor to the southern coast of Morocco, and then send them to the Vatas dynasty and the Saad tribe.

The Venetian High Command also recommended the most suitable tactics to the remnants of the Wattas Dynasty and the Saad tribe-go north to grab food!

The grain grabbing mentioned here does not mean looting the granaries in those cities. After all, scimitar cavalry are only suitable for field battles, not very suitable for siege. Therefore, the Venetian's suggestion is to let the Berber and Arab scimitar cavalry go to the northern region to grab wheat and compete with the Spaniards for food while the autumn harvest is coming.

In recent years, after Spain has occupied the most elite northern region of Morocco, a large amount of arable land has been reclaimed on both sides of several important rivers, mainly to grow barley. What, you ask why not grow more expensive wheat? I'll tell you - because of the lack of water in Morocco...

Although Morocco has the wettest climate in North Africa, it is still arid. If wheat is grown, yields are far less stable than barley in the absence of modern irrigation tools. Because barley is a drought-resistant variety. Moreover, the Spaniards don't know how to fertilize. Barley is much more reliable than wheat when it comes to harvesting from the sky.

At present, the agricultural characteristics of Europe are that the northern regions and eastern European regions mainly grow rye and oats, and seldom grow wheat; while the Mediterranean region currently mainly grows barley, and seldom grows wheat. Only the Golden Basin in Sicily, because of the fertile land and the more advanced irrigation technology of the Italians, dared to grow durum wheat.

As for the Moroccan region where the land is not fertile, the Spaniards obviously did not dare to plant wheat, which has a large yield fluctuation, but chose to plant barley, which is as worry-free as rye and more drought-tolerant.

In addition, it needs to be pointed out that barley can not only be used as food for people, but also like to be eaten by livestock, and it can be used as concentrate for horses. During the war period, the standard feed for the French army's war horses was barley, and each war horse supplied 4.8 kilograms of barley every day...

Therefore, it is very beneficial for the cavalry of the Huatas dynasty and the cavalry of the Saad tribe to attack the Spanish-occupied area in the north and grab the local barley. With these barley, the Berbers of the Watas Dynasty and the Arabs of the Saad tribe can not only choose to make pasta for themselves, but also give the war horses as concentrated feed...

What? You said the Italian mercenaries stationed in northern Morocco would come out to stop it? They didn't dare, because the Italian mercenaries didn't have the confidence to defeat more than 20,000 Moroccan scimitar cavalry in the wild. Therefore, they can only watch helplessly in the city as the cavalry of the Vatas Dynasty and the Saad Dynasty cavalry grab the barley there...

...

Therefore, when the Venetian envoys arrived in southern Morocco, they quickly reached a secret agreement with the two forces. The two agreed to send cavalry to the north to grab the barley from the Spanish colonists, and divided the plundered territory with each other-the Wattas dynasty was responsible for the grain grabbing in the eastern part of northern Morocco; and the Saad tribe was in charge of the grain grabbing in the western part of northern Morocco...

As a result, under the attack of the two-pronged means of the French and the Venetians, it is very difficult for the Spaniards to not be unlucky...

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