The Sun and the Lion

Zafir wasted no time and led his army to the city of Aden in just ten days, and reinforcements from various regions under his rule arrived later. Fortunately, Ahsan did not relax, and after capturing Aden, he began to prepare to defend against possible raids.

The Sultan observed the high walls of Aden, and there was no change in the city fortifications. The ships parked in the port attracted his attention. He found that there were several warships with the Lion and Sun flag on their masts moored in the port. They seemed to be a small number.

He thought that he could mobilize ships from Mocha Port to participate in the siege and block the sea routes. Perhaps hunger and the anger of the citizens would make the defenders surrender.

With Yahya's reminder, the Yemeni army's siege camp was some distance away from the coast to prevent possible shelling, and the Sudan very carefully asked the civilians and soldiers to dig trenches and erect fences to defend the camp.

"Tsk, this is not easy to deal with."

Ahsan could not think of any way to provoke the Yemeni army's caution. He could only ask the city wall defenders to do defensive work to prepare for any possible emergencies.

For a week, the Yemeni army was manufacturing siege equipment. The sailors who sneaked ashore in small boats for reconnaissance also discovered that camel caravans frequently entered and exited the camp. In addition to the usual baggage, there were probably siege equipment parts among them.

The trenches outside the city wall are also a must for early preparations. The Sudanese cannon fodder was forced to fill the trenches with earth and construction debris. The naval infantry used matchlocks and bows and arrows to try to block it, killing many Yemenis, but one section of the trench It was still filled in.

On the ninth day of the siege, Zafir finally couldn't help but plan to explore the strength of the Safavid army, and ordered to organize a siege force to launch an attack through the causeway with a batch of equipment.

The prepared Yemeni army quickly marched towards Aden, crossed the causeway, and reached under the city wall through the filled trench. Every step forward under the firepower of the sailors was fatal, and it took nearly a hundred casualties to build the siege ladder onto the city wall.

Amidst the noise, the Yemeni soldiers tried their best to climb up the city wall through ladders. The sailors placed the breech-loaded swivel cannon on the crenels and fired. The close-range shooting with shotgun shells was very effective. No matter how elite the Yemeni warriors lying on the ladders were, they were all bombarded by dense lead bullets. The rubble turned into a puddle of minced flesh.

The firing of matchlocks and breech-loaded revolving guns successfully damaged the morale of the Yemeni army. In addition, these simple long ladders were destroyed one by one by solid bullets, and the first tentative attack came to nothing.

Such a development was unacceptable to Zafir. With an angry look, he summoned the emirs to the camp tent for discussion to discuss how to break through the defense of Aden's defenders.

"Dear Sultan, I think we should take measures slowly and use hunger, disease and poverty to force the soldiers and civilians within the city walls to surrender." Zafir's most trusted emir put forward this opinion, which was met with tit-for-tat opposition from Yahya. .

"Ahmed Emir, what do you mean? Let the Sultan, who respects the great and invincible Sultan, passively avoid the war. If your daily loyalty and dedication were not seen by everyone, I would have doubted whether you had accepted the enemy. Party's bribe." Yahya's tone was a bit sinister, which made Ahmed very angry.

"Yahya, among all the people present, you are the least qualified to mention the words brave and cowardly. If you were really qualified to accuse others of being cowardly, you would have died in Aden long ago." He retorted forcefully. Afterwards, he continued to explain: "I did not take this strategy out of cowardice, but out of practical considerations. Aden is surrounded by the sea on three sides and is easy to defend and difficult to attack. Our soldiers can only attack the defenders in a fixed direction through narrow causeways. Launching an attack is very detrimental to our army. Such a simple point is something that the Sultan and other emirs present want to get, but you are so stupid that you want to avenge the defeat regardless of reality, but you don't think about the feasibility of the plan."

These words left Yahya speechless. It took him a long time to hold back the words. On the one hand, he explained that the enemy was an extremely hateful heretic and an extremely despicable thief, and emphasized the eradication of the Safavid army. Moral justice, and then he raised a more fatal practical question: "If the army is besieged here for a long time, where can His Majesty the Sultan go to raise food and grass? When we besieged Sana, we saw the horror of running out of food in the besieged camp. God bless, But how much food is left in Yemen for our army to plunder? How much gold and silver can we spend to buy food from the other side of the sea?"

Indeed, since Zafir had gathered his forces to attack the Zaydites, he had collected additional taxes and provisions from his subjects, and the victory at Sana'a had been difficult and costly.

The Sultan couldn't help but sigh - the time when the new enemy appeared was too coincidental.

He turned his gaze to Yahya, and then moved to Ahmed: "I have made up my mind, you don't need to argue anymore."

The two people who were stopped bowed their heads and saluted: "Yes, I'm looking for Shuyuan www.zhaoshuyuan.com Your Majesty."

"What you said actually makes sense. It's just that our country's current financial resources do not allow the army to continue spending time in the camp. Moreover, the enemy this time is different from the heretics in the mountains. The heretics from the sea are backed by a big country and are much richer than me. Compared with such an enemy, endurance is only a short attack." Zafir reluctantly expressed his willingness to continue preparing to attack the city.

In the next few days, the Yemeni army continued to actively prepare to siege the city. At the same time, reinforcements from various places arrived one after another. The siege force continued to grow. Yahya's confidence doubled Ahmed incomprehensibly.

Two weeks after the siege, the Yemeni army's first full-scale offensive began with high hopes. The archers rushed to the front, pouring arrows at the city wall under the cover of shields. The dense arrows like rain successfully interfered with the shooting of the sailors, greatly reducing the pressure on the follow-up troops.

The siege ladder was once again put up on the city wall and entered the killing zone where the rear-mounted swivel cannon was installed. However, the number of attackers this time was very different from the number of defenders on the city wall. There were still Yemeni soldiers climbing up the city wall to face the sailors.

Seeing that the forceful attack at all costs successfully opened several gaps, Yahya cheered up: "A thief can't defeat a real warrior after all!"

Ahsan quickly sent reinforcements, and the sailors and Yemeni soldiers fought in a stalemate at the top of the city. For a while, it was difficult to drive each other off the city wall. Then a caravel and several small boats appeared on the shore near the city wall, the gun windows were opened and the gun positions were ready.

The shells rushed towards the side of the Yemeni army with the roar of naval guns and breech-mounted revolving guns. The Yemeni archers responsible for providing fire cover were hit, followed by the Yemeni soldiers and siege engines under the city wall.

More breech-loaded revolving guns were carried up the city wall and set up on the crenellations, and even more musketeers climbed to the roofs near the city wall to shoot at the lucky Yemenis. Increased firepower allowed the offensive to be contained.