The Sun and the Lion

"The situation is not good." Seeing that the messenger came back in disgrace, Ahmed did not believe Ibrahim's reply. Seeing that he was definitely going to be beaten, he had to give up the idea of ​​attacking Korkut again and think about how to defend the city. .

Now that he knew about Murad's defection, he could be sure that it was this kid who attracted the Japanese. But anger is useless now, because the panic and anger about not being able to successfully succeed to the throne have driven him to become self-reliant, but instead pushed him further away from his original goal. Now his son's treason and apostasy were involved, and the combined effects of the two incidents were enough to deny his legitimacy and ability to crush all attempts to win the support of the imperial officials.

Now Ahmed had no choice but to do the next best thing, hoping to force Padishah to divide half of the empire to him so that he could rule as the sultan of Anatolia.

Seeing that the arrival of the Safavid army was to extinguish the last hope in the struggle for the throne, he had to take active action and summon his subordinates to discuss countermeasures.

The divisions under Ahmed were serious and there were different opinions. Some people welcomed the king's army, some people fled the disaster, and some people stood firm and waited for changes. The three factions were constantly at war with each other and could not unify their opinions.

He neither believed that he could find safe refuge in Rumelia under the rule of Selim or Korkut, nor did he have confidence in his own military strength. At the same time, Ibrahim did not show any willingness to negotiate. Faced with three options, Ahmed was unable to make a decision.

Time kept passing by in hesitation. The Safavid army dragging cannons was about to arrive at the city. The refugees flocking to Konya made Ahmed feel urgent. In order to save reserves, he ordered all the refugees to flee farther west, and closed the city gates to strictly prohibit locals from mixing in with the flow of people outside the city.

The men and horses holding high the lion's sun banner with a green background appeared in the sight of the sentry from the direction where the refugees fled. The army that panicked everyone finally appeared, and Konya's external traffic was cut off.

"Still resisting?" Ibrahim said displeasedly when he saw the heavy security on top of the Konya city, and then asked Salman, the artillery director, to discuss how to deploy artillery and break open the city's fortifications.

In Salman’s plan, all the artillery used to destroy the city wall was first concentrated on the east side: “Your Majesty, I believe that we should first concentrate ammunition on one side of the wall to quickly drill through the attack channel, and then consider attacking from multiple sides. attack."

"Just do as you say."

While the siege army was encamped and deployed, Ibrahim conducted the last negotiation with Ahmed before the war, or unilaterally persuaded him to surrender. But at this moment, he did not expect that Ahmed would still be willing to exchange letters and negotiate with him, and did not refuse directly.

After learning about this, Murad felt conflicted in his heart. He didn't know whether he wanted a father to be kind and a son to be filial, or a father to be kind and a son to be filial. If the King of Kings accepts Ahmed, then we can only reconcile, but we can incite the Safavid army to kill Konya...

Murad, who was torn between trying to reconcile and committing suicide, excused himself on the grounds of avoiding suspicion, did not provide suggestions for the peace talks, and watched the developments in silence.

While the army was still preparing to attack the city, the King of Kings gave a reply after convening a military meeting, emphasizing that "a man who knows the current affairs is a hero" and "turning sides and surrendering in courtesy, he still retains his status as a prince". You must see clearly how powerful Iran is and don't be blinded by anger for a moment. Acting impulsively will only bring irreparable losses and regrets.

"To the noble King of Iran, Ibrahim, I have seriously considered your proposal..." The wording of this reply was not as fierce as before, and seemed very gentle. Ibrahim preferred the unruly tone in the previous letter. Untamed words. Browsing through the content quickly, he found that Ahmed was still under the illusion that the two sides could still be on equal footing.

"If you are willing to assist me, the right candidate, to obtain the throne of the supreme country, your country will naturally receive generous rewards after the war and the unbreakable brotherhood between our two countries. The two countries are allies, and the great peace of Ummah and Ka The great disaster of Feile will happen tomorrow..."

When Ahmed saw that Ibrahim was also a religious leader and carried out deification propaganda without restraint, he emphasized the future of faith and jihad, hoping to impress the King of Kings who seemed to focus on religion.

"Unfortunately, you guessed wrong." Ibrahim decided to break off the negotiations. No matter what other advantages Ahmed had, just being willing to become a country of brothers was unacceptable. His account was already He was served by more obedient and generous apostates.

After announcing his decision at the military meeting, senior officers in charge of various ministries reported on the progress of various tasks. Salman, who was responsible for coordinating the artillery unit, promised that several gaps would be opened in the city wall soon.

The past few days of correspondence between the two parties were not wasted, and they were all talking while fighting. A section of the trench channel extending from the starting position to the city wall has been completed. The earth and rocks excavated by Looking for Book Garden www.zhaoshuyuan.com have been put into bags to prepare for filling the trench. Other temporary fortifications for cover were also constructed in large numbers.

The artillery position is less than 400 meters away from the city wall, and is surrounded only by trenches and temporary low walls as defenses. The musketeers stationed in it relied on various temporary fortifications to shoot at the defenders' assault troops who came out of the city to harass them. With proper protection, they successfully repelled many groups of enemy troops.

After all the troops who had gone out for a surprise attack had returned to the city, the infantry jumped over the low walls and ditches to remove the enemy's heads and at the same time search for their personal belongings. They didn't waste much time. In just a few minutes, a group of people searched through the corpses abandoned on the battlefield and retreated to the bunker.

The artillerymen who were not affected used the snake cannon to exert its power. The Ottoman soldiers guarding the city felt like "cannonballs were raining down" in panic. The towering towers were the first to suffer. In less than a day, several towers around the city gate were destroyed. It was beaten to pieces and even partially collapsed.

The Ottoman artillery deployed on the city wall tried to fight back, and shelling became a regular part of the siege. The gun barrels hidden behind the fortifications continued to spit out tongues of flame and smoke. In order to ensure continuous firepower to suppress the enemy, Salman coordinated the firing and cooling of each artillery group in turn according to the organization.

There are nearly 150 snake cannons in the army that can shake the city wall, which is far more than the various stone cannons deployed on the city walls and towers in the east of Konya. The Iranian gunners' gunnery level is not to be said to be the best. , but even though Diwan continues to spend money to fund training, he is still stronger than these Ottomans. How can the local firearms unit in Konya be at the level of Kapikuru.

After several days, several sections of masonry walls were finally overwhelmed and collapsed into a steep slope that could be climbed up and down. The infantry unit in charge of the assault quickly rushed out from the trench tunnel dug not far from the city defenses, using the sand and soil prepared in advance. The bags were filled, and they crossed Konya's moat and came to the bottom of the wall.