The Sun and the Lion

Muhammad quickly fled Qatif under cover of night, leaving an empty city undefended. The sailors rushed into Qatif under the cover of naval guns the next day, but were surprised to find that there were no defenders in the city.

The absence of defenders meant the loss of all obstacles. These sailors exposed their true colors as pirates without hesitation, leaving behind the military discipline emphasized during Kuwait's reorganization. The bandits' spontaneous and unorganized looting activities caused great harm. Mess and unnecessary waste.

The captains had no choice but to put aside the work of taking over the castle. After sending messengers to report the victory, they hurriedly led their soldiers to try to restore order street by street. By the time the chaos in the city ended, it was already sunset.

However, the reason that made the pirates stop looting was not the officers' efforts, but that there really was nothing to rob in Qatif, so the pirates all returned in despair and returned to the ship to rest.

Ahsan, who rushed to the port with the main force, witnessed the chaos in the port. Blood stains and corpses were randomly placed on the street. No one was cleaning up, and no living residents could be seen.

Only the well-known local old imam wanted to come forward to negotiate with Ehsan, but the governor did not have the energy. Only after repelling Jabrid Sultan did he need to negotiate with local forces.

He immediately went to inspect the city fortifications of Qatif, but the result made him quite disappointed.

The city wall is short and narrow, can only accommodate people, and has been breached by cannonballs. There is no need to build siege towers and other siege equipment. Only the simplest long ladder can open up a passage for siege.

"Chief, what should we do?" The cronies and staff who accompanied Ahsan during the inspection looked embarrassed. They simply did not have the resources to repair or even expand the city's defenses.

They didn't know how many troops Al-Hasa Oasis would send to besiege Qatif, but in any case this city was not suitable for defense, and the poverty here made it worthless to defend.

At the same time, the recruitment of mercenaries did not go smoothly. Most of the Bedouin tribes maintained a wait-and-see attitude towards this sudden intrusion of foreign forces. Simply put, they would help whoever wins.

Ahsan looked at his retreating subordinates displeased: "This is not business. Now the whole world knows that we control Bahrain and Qatif. If we abandon the port just because of rumors, it will be a small loss to our face." , It will greatly damage the prestige of the Shah. Will there be any ports in the Indian Ocean that are willing to surrender?"

Rejecting the pessimistic option of abandoning the city and running away, everyone could only rack their brains and use the resources at hand to push back the invading enemy.

"Now the obvious fact is here. The trenches and city walls are unusable. I plan to abandon the outermost line of defense and rely on street defense." Ahsan walked slowly back to the city.

As a typical medieval city, it suffers from shortcomings such as narrow streets and chaotic architectural planning and layout. Both attack and defense can only be carried out through narrow passages. Except for the castle and the square where the bazaar next to the mosque is, there is no spacious place.

While observing, Ahsan thought, maybe he could continuously place obstacles in the narrow streets, and at the same time deploy rear-mounted swivel guns and shooters on the roof to kill and delay enemy troops.

The focus of defense is the castle and the port. Carts and naval guns can be lined up in the square... No, there is no need to remove the naval guns, only the matchlock gun and the rear-mounted swivel gun are enough.

He kept denying various plans put forward by him and his cronies. Being inexperienced, he didn't know what was the right thing to do. If the King of Kings himself was commanding the battle, he wouldn't be so entangled, right?

After some discussion, the battle plan was finally released with difficulty.

"Very good, let's arrange it like this." Ehsan waved his hand to the officers to carry out their tasks.

…………

In the past few days, the Sudanese army appeared in the sight of the sentries from a distance. Flags depicting scriptures and various patterns were flying, which looked very spectacular.

"Your Majesty, look."

Following Emil's prompts, they looked over and saw that the broken low wall was openly displayed in front of them, and the defense was not tight.

Originally they thought Muhammad could hold out until reinforcements arrived, but they did not expect that he was actually defeated by a group of pirates. This made the Sultan secretly curse to humiliate and punish him severely.

The gap in the city wall attracted everyone's attention. Originally, they thought they had to rely on ladders and other equipment to cross the ditch and city wall, but it turned out that there was a ready-made passage for them to use. This was really a great temptation!

"Dear Sultan, by God, is this our Jericho?"

They did not expect that the story that was only in the scriptures would happen in reality. When someone mentioned the allusion, the Sudan understood it and immediately asked the officers to tell the soldiers that the story in the scriptures had reappeared. They Is blessed by Allah.

The soldiers immediately became excited and had high fighting spirit. Many of them knelt down to pray and thank God on the spot.

When the attack bugle sounded, the Bedouin soldiers rushed toward the gap like a tide. They passed through the ditch and the damaged wall without any hindrance.

They finally saw the enemy at the barricade. The shooter on the roof fired his matchlock first, and several people fell immediately. A few matchlock guns were unable to stop the crowd, and the Bedouins rushed to the barricades to fight hand-to-hand with the remaining sailors.

According to Ehsan's arrangement, the defensive forces deployed at each barricade were not considered strong. The Bedouin's attack quickly repulsed the sailors guarding the barricades and began to dismantle these obstacles.

Because of the chaotic organization of this offensive, it was difficult for Sudan to coordinate the archers to cover the soldiers to attack the Safavid army's defense line, which created a safe output environment for the Safavid shooters.

It took a long time for the Bedouin soldiers to dismantle the obstacles. There were no more than ten shooters entrenched on the roof, but they were able to shoot the infantry who lacked armor until they collapsed with their matchlocks and bows and arrows—— No one wants to take down a barrier if they are certain to die.

The advance came to a standstill just after it started, which puzzled the Sultan: "Are these pirates playing tricks? They are cunning by nature. You have to be careful about what they plan next."

While he sent archers to drive away the sailors entrenched on the roofs near the main road to clear the way for the removal of the obstacles, he also sent people to explore other streets in the city to find other ways to the castle.

At the same time, Ahsan has learned about the latest battle situation. He does not know whether his arrangement can withstand this test and can only wait anxiously.