The Sun and the Lion

Just three days later, in the late summer and early autumn of 1511, 109 years after the great war, another Ottoman army came to Ankara to face the invaders. The sentry on the top of the tower had already seen the big banner in the distance, and the garrison officers and soldiers cheered when they saw the reinforcements arriving.

The sentries who went out on patrol were not blind. In order to know the enemy's situation in advance and buy time for his own troops to launch, Ibrahim specially extended the scout's detection range. Therefore, Ankara's sentries could not only see the military formation of Padishah on the left in the distance, but the Safavid army on the right was coming out of the camp to form a formation.

"There is a good show to watch." Without the shooting of the musketeers on the high platform, Ankara's city walls can be regarded as safe viewing seats. Not only the soldiers, but also the officers grabbed good seats to watch the battle. Everyone expected that the new Padishah would severely beat the invading Persian heretics and lift the blockade of Ankara.

Ibrahim did not attack rashly. According to the scouts' reports, the two wings of the Ottomans were entirely composed of cavalry. The center army consisted of infantry mainly composed of archers and a small amount of cavalry deployed in front of the infantry. The position was not protected by field fortifications.

"Where are the Roma janicheri and artillery?" After repeated questioning, the scouts claimed that they did not see the heavy artillery and musketeers. Ibrahim could only guess that the jenicheri was hidden behind the cannon fodder infantry, and the same was true for the artillery. Or they haven’t arrived on the battlefield yet.

Turning our attention back to our own military formation, the edge of the left-wing troops and horses are several trenches and low walls previously dug for the siege, which can effectively prevent the enemy and our troops from outflanking. So he first ordered the cavalry on the right wing to attack. Believing that he had a numerical advantage, the King of Kings wanted to use his numerical advantage to squeeze out one part of the enemy army from multiple sides.

The red-headed cavalry commanded by Ustaji Khan was the first to attack and gnaw the hard bones. The vanguard was led by his deputy Nur Ali. The man commanding the left wing of the Ottoman army happened to be the upstart "eunuch" Sinan Pasha whom Selim intended to promote, and the main force was also heavy cavalry.

Sinan Pasha ordered an attack, and the cavalry of the two armies galloped forward. Red Head and Sipaxi, who rushed forward, drew their bows and fired several arrows at each other face to face, and then entered the enemy's position to fight hand-to-hand. The arrows fired from a distance of more than ten meters caused a certain amount of damage and interference - especially since the red-headed cavalry were not generally equipped with horse armor.

As soon as they met the enemy, the riders from both sides started to fight with each other, showing off their special skills. Since both Xipaxi and Hongtou were fighting with helmets and armor, long knives were no longer in hand, and hammers and axes that could effectively cause damage were invariably used. The most powerful weapon in their hands.

As a fierce general in the battle, Nur Ali performed well. Within a few minutes, he smashed the heads of several horsemen with his bones, and used his lance to lift an officer off his horse. Seeing this, the surrounding guards and soldiers were greatly boosted in morale, and they fought even harder. Killing, it seems that the Ottoman army is somewhat difficult to resist.

In order to curb the red-headed rapid offensive, Sinan Pasha asked his subordinates Bey and Agha to lead their troops to deliberately besiege the enemy general to achieve the goal, and dispatch cavalry reinforcements that had not yet joined the battle to reinforce the substitutes.

Nur Ali, who was deliberately targeted, chopped off the head of another Ottoman warrior. However, as the number of besiegers gradually increased, Bey and his bodyguards were unable to resist. They could no longer successfully kill several soldiers in a row to frighten the enemy. His armor was thick and hard enough, and it was very likely that he would die suddenly. Now he was only injured, but he could continue to persevere under the protection of his own soldiers.

As the follow-up troops joined the battlefield, the fanatical attack of the Safavid cavalry failed to quickly defeat the enemy, and they still fought in a stalemate with these Sipaxi. Sinan Pasha planned to dispatch the Tatar cavalry to surround the rear to intercept the following Safavid army, cut off the connection between the two groups, and surround the enemy forward.

This dumpling is not easy to wrap, but the flying arrows coming from the side did attract the attention of the red-headed cavalry, and one of them was divided to deal with harassment when reinforcing friendly forces. Through their equipment and clothing, they identified that these enemies were not Sipashi, but probably Mughals.

"The Tatar heretic is seeking death!"

Seeing that someone dared to block their way, they rode forward directly. It was hard to say which of the Tatar riders and Azerbaijani riders was better in shooting skills, but the excellent armor did allow the red head to take advantage. Thad, who commanded the Tatar horse archers, Prince Te saw that there was no advantage in fighting each other, and he was afraid that he would lose even more miserably in hand-to-hand combat, so he quickly sent the herald back to report the battle situation to Sinan Pasha and request a retreat.

The longer the time drags on, the worse it will be for the Tatars. They can't fight off the red heads who are trying to fight melee, let alone the big ones coming.

"Holy shit!" The moment he saw the camel cannon, Prince Saad no longer cared about waiting for instructions. Having seen firearms, he didn't expect that the cannon could directly make the camels run away, so he immediately asked the trumpeter to give the order for his men to retreat. .

"Dear Pasha, the Tatars led by Khanzad have been defeated." Sinan Pasha immediately responded to Sadet's defeat after being reminded by his entourage: "Send the order to Mustafa Bey, Ze Ner Pasha, let them lead their troops to meet Sadet Khanzad and repel the enemy’s pursuit.”

These Tatar soldiers from the Crimea themselves have a low life, but it would be difficult to explain if Sadet, who was commanding them, was captured and killed. After all, he was the youngest son of King Khan. Mingli Gelay sent his son to Gaomen to work for Padisha as a hostage, not to die on the battlefield. Sinan Pasha didn't know whether Selim valued Prince Sadet's life or death, but he was a nobleman after all, so he had better be careful.

The reinforcements of the Sipashi and Akinki cavalry who had not yet entered the battle allowed the Tatars to return to the organized area to reorganize. They successfully used their numerical advantage to drive back the pursuers, and seemed to change their offensive and defensive positions at once. However, with the camel cannon behind them, the Ottoman cavalry had difficulty chasing and escaping, and they were almost killed by the red head who stopped retreating and reorganized his attack until the battle turned again.

The ferocious attacks of the Safavid army made it difficult for the Sipaxi to resist, and they seemed quite passive. But just when it was obvious that the advantage was about to fall to Ustaji Khan and Sinan Pasha were considering whether to retreat, he ordered the red head to take the initiative to retreat and distance himself from the enemy.

The sound of artillery soon told the Ottomans the truth. Sipaxi, who originally thought it was relying on bloody battles to force the enemy to retreat, just took a breath and realized that this was just a misunderstanding. It was just the camel cannon supporting the cavalry in place, shotguns, iron bullets and arrows. They flew into the Ottoman queue together, but the queue was already out of formation at this time, and being shot into by cannons could be described as adding chaos to chaos.

At this time, Ustaji Khan put the Kurdish auxiliary cavalry assigned to his command into the battlefield. At this time, it was the Safavid army that could try to outflank the enemy.

In this way, the red head attacking the enemy frontally has artillery support. Sinan Pasha needs to put all his Sipaxi, Ajinki, Tatar cavalry and other troops into the battlefield to contain the offensive, but the enemy general still has cards. Fighting, but he couldn't muster the strength to cover the back.

Sinan Pasha looked at the remnant soldiers under his command, and then at the enemy troops not far away who were about to attack again. He had no choice but to call the herald: "Go and report to Padisha quickly. Our troops have suffered heavy losses. Reinforcements are needed or they are likely to be routed by the Persians.”

The herald hurriedly rode to the foot of Padishah's banner. Selim was observing the battlefield from a height not far behind the military formation: "Your Majesty, Sinan Pasha was violently attacked by the Persian heretics. Our army and its After a bloody battle, we fought hard and still lost. I hope you can send reinforcements to support us."

"I understand." Selim responded calmly, and began to pick and choose among the reserves that had not yet entered the battle, and selected some elite cavalry to help stabilize the front. However, he did not order to hold on to the end, and he could retreat temporarily if he could not fight.

At this time, Sinan Pasha was only responsible for the left wing of the Ottoman front, but Selim could see the entire battle situation in his eyes. It was not just one wing that was under attack at this moment, the Safavid army was advancing as a whole.

Shortly after the right-wing troops commanded by Ustaji Khan attacked, Ibrahim ordered the left-wing cavalry to attack. The leader of the charge was Ismail, and Afshar Khan was also responsible for the command of this unit.

Ismail was immersed in the joy of charging into battle at the moment. Compared with Nur Ali who was attacking on the other wing, his impact points could be said to be off the charts. The real charge was when the cavalry under Mirza's command charged. People who block people kill people.

Combining religious fanaticism with superb martial arts, who can defeat such an opponent in a mounted battle? The Sipaxi who came to fight could not withstand such a ferocious impact. Among the cavalry here were Christian Sipaxi wearing plate armor. Their better protection made them a relatively difficult target, but they were covered in plates. A is not an invincible plug-in, these Xipaxi with better protection are in the minority, and their performance when encountering siege is only limited. Sinan Pasha was still struggling to hold on in the face of Ustaji Khan's attack, but Dukagin Olu Pasha was manipulated by Ismail and lost his temper at all.

Dukajin Olupasha's tribe, which was hit later, collapsed earlier. He sent out all the warriors among his bodyguards and generals to intercept Ismail, intending to cut down the enemy's morale, but all failed. There was no return, and he didn't even get a single blow, so his head was cut off as a sign of Mirza's martial arts.

Faced with such an overwhelming enemy, the Pasha could only organize an orderly retreat as much as possible, retreating and fighting to preserve his military strength. However, Ismail's continuous pursuit seriously interfered with Dukagin Olupasha's operations. Many middle-level officers were killed for their bravery in combat. The chain of command was almost paralyzed, making it difficult to implement orders.

"Your Majesty, the situation is very good now. They say that the Roma soldiers are strong, but they are still broken when they encounter our army. Is this a false reputation?"

Ibrahim ignored this compliment. Now it is true that the Ottoman cavalry on both wings was defeated, but it was still far from victory. Selim's banner still stood, and the army within it was as stable as a mountain.

The Ottomans started from an inconspicuous small tribe, but many internal changes occurred during their rise and expansion, and the composition of the army was one of them. Compared with other armies with a stronger nomadic tradition, both the Sipaxi and the irregular cavalry can only be said to be one leg of the Ottoman army. The professional standing army composed of elite infantry and artillery is the other leg. Sudan We need to attach these two legs at the same time to walk normally on the battlefield.

Looking at it this way, infantry and artillery are actually more critical. The Ottoman cavalry does not need to kill the enemy alone in the battle and takes over all the work. On the other hand, defeating and expelling the Ottoman cavalry can only be regarded as an appetizer for the battle. Attacking the Chinese defense line composed of infantry and artillery is the key highlight.

In the pre-war meeting, Ibrahim clearly told the generals this "law". Regardless of whether they could understand it or not, they were not allowed to lead their cavalry to attack the Ottoman defense line on their own.

The task of breaking through the Ottoman central army's defense line did not belong to the red-headed and auxiliary cavalry on both wings, at least not the main force. It was the infantry and artillery that really shouldered this important task.

"Okay, give me the order to withdraw the troops. Let them stop chasing and defeating the enemy and return to the starting position." Ibrahim unexpectedly ordered the victorious cavalry troops to withdraw and did not continue to pursue and attack. On the side, his staff and The senior officers were very surprised and tried to dissuade him, but none of them were accepted.

Through flags, drums and bugles, orders were conveyed in a timely manner from level to level. The Safavid cavalry quickly retreated under the equally surprised eyes of the Ottomans. However, retreating in an orderly manner did not mean giving up the fight, but that they stopped fighting hand-to-hand. Many When the red head retreated, he shot an arrow back, causing the rider who wanted to "take advantage of the situation" to pursue him to eat an arrow and run away in confusion.

"Your Majesty, the Persian heretics suddenly retreated. I am afraid there is a deception. It is best to give the two pashas an order not to pursue them." Grand Vizier Hesekzad Pasha could not understand Ibrahim's operation. It is obviously a good opportunity now. , not only can they continue to hunt down the retreating Ottoman cavalry and drive them completely off the battlefield, but they can also change their targets and flank the Ottoman army. There is no reason not to continue fighting.

Selim's face was very ugly. He looked at the slowly advancing Safavid army. He probably knew what Ibrahim wanted to do. Perhaps he wanted to force the formation of infantry to disperse through continuous shelling, and then provide space for the cavalry assault. Create conditions.

There is also a more terrifying guess. Perhaps the vehicle formation defense line he deployed behind the military formation was exposed? But how can Ibrahim detect these troops deployed at the end in advance? Even when the cavalry on both wings was being beaten and retreating, he did not hold back from firing artillery support - in fact, it was because the artillery had not been deployed yet - in order to create surprise when the enemy cavalry attacked the defense line to maximize the impact. enemy.

Padishah couldn't have imagined that the opponent he was fighting would be a time traveler. Although Ibrahim knew little about military affairs and had vague or even unheard of memories of famous battles in ancient times, today's battle situation was just for him to guess. bingo.

All Selim could do was to order Sinan Pasha and Dukagin Olupsha to reorganize their troops, stand by behind the original positions, and ask the infantry to step up the construction of field fortifications, and then improvise.

…………

When the Safavid cavalry rushed out to attack the enemy position, the infantry and artillery units of the Chinese army commanded by Kehobad, Jacob and Salman followed closely and received the order to attack. However, the heavy artillery lacked mobility. Mobile deployment is time-consuming, and infantry equipped with light artillery is slightly faster, but at this time they have not advanced to within the range of firearms.

Troops from both wings returned to their ranks, and the senior officers were able to gather around Ibrahim again. He reassigned Ismail to take command of the reserve force, and Romruhan took over Mirza's original command responsibilities, and discussed the next combat arrangements.

Now the Ottoman infantry was alone and seemed unable to withstand the impact. The cavalry officers believed that the King of Kings' order was actually deliberately favoring the standing army and giving them the opportunity to gain military glory, and was not really based on the consideration of the war situation.

Simply waiting was only for Ibrahim. Seeing the pressure of Safavid infantry and artillery, Selim did not sit still and wait for death. He ordered the Azhab infantry in the front row to take the initiative to engage the enemy and defeat the musketeers in the front row.

The cavalry responsible for covering the musketry were all auxiliary cavalry. The Moguls and Afghans went into battle together. Selim, who was well prepared, ordered the irregular cavalry to intercept the Safavid cavalry. This group of soldiers and horses is mainly composed of Ajinji cavalry, and is mixed with the Tatar cavalry, which suffered heavy losses in the red-headed cavalry and artillery coordinated offensive.

The cavalry of the two armies fought in a melee, and the infantry approached each other without any hindrance. The charging Azab was only equipped with a knife, a shield, a bow and arrows, and almost no armor. In the eyes of the Safavid officers and soldiers, he was a dead man.

"Get ready to shoot!" The officer urged the musketeers to prepare to shoot. The Azab infantry who were actively advancing had already entered the shooting range. The light artillery assigned to the infantry opened fire first. The shells that fell into the crowd claimed many lives.

When the distance between the two armies got closer, the sound of matchlocks firing kept coming, and the smoke and dust produced by the burning gunpowder followed the flying lead bullets, forming a wall of fog.

Two or three shots from the matchlocks made it impossible for the Azab infantry to get close and suffered heavy losses. The Iranian heavy infantry, armed with swords, shields, spears or axes and hammers, and wearing heavy armor, took the opportunity to spring out of the fog and originally planned to attack. The enemy Ottomans were now assaulted and had to fall back to their vehicle lines under cover of their own fire.

"Okay, Selim, the traitor, really has something hidden." As the cannon fodder retreated, Ibrahim was finally able to see the real support of the Ottoman Central Army - Yenicheri, trenches and various light, If the cavalry had been allowed to attack the vehicle formation reinforced by heavy artillery before, it would have likely ended in heavy losses.

From early morning to noon, when the artillery was gradually in place, Ibrahim gave the order to launch a real general offensive.

The first was the artillery exchange between the two armies. Although the Ottoman army was slightly inferior in total size, in terms of the number of heavy artillery and the more experienced gunners, Selim was still superior. Fortunately, Salman's heavy artillery is far away from the enemy's position, so it is not so easy to be reimbursed.

During the interval between shelling, the Safavid infantry carried cannons and launched an attack on Yenicheri. The number of Safavid infantry was larger, and the offensive formation was shaped like a crescent. It was not only the front of the Ottoman army that was hit.

Due to the barrier of the trench, sending infantry directly to charge forward in melee combat would undoubtedly lead to death. At the beginning, the fighting was limited to exchanges of matchlock guns and light artillery. Although there were few people in Jenichery, he still relied on the vehicle formation to shoot, and his own shooting skills were superb, so he did not fall behind.

Compared with the smoke-covered center of the battlefield, the cavalry engagement on the flanks was much cleaner. The Ottoman cavalry was still outmatched and could only continue to retreat, leaving Selim's flanks and rear completely free.

Seeing that the battle was progressing smoothly, Ibrahim dispatched all the remaining troops in his hands. Ismail led all the men in the reserve team and prepared to take the opportunity to go around Selim's back and give him a fatal blow.

Arslan Pasha, who was in charge of the defense line of the vehicle formation, was now stretched to the left and right, and the pressure from the infantry of Yenicheri and Azab, who were being attacked from three sides, increased sharply. In their view, the heretic army was attacking the defensive positions one after another under the cover of continuous firepower. It seems that death is nothing worth mentioning to them. Even if their comrades are knocked down in front of them, they have no fear and even continue to move forward with fanaticism.

Selim's strategy of using strong firepower to severely damage the enemy and then letting the cavalry outflank and pursue them failed in the end. The losses suffered by Sinan Pasha and Dukajin Olupsha were much higher than expected before the war. In addition, Ib Rahim was very wary of the Ottoman cavalry regrouping to fight back when besieging the central army, and assigned troops to continue the pursuit to contain these remaining soldiers.

Now Sinan Pasha believed that the war situation was hopeless and suggested retreating for the future, but Selim rejected this proposal and instead ordered the two pashas to temporarily withdraw from the battlefield to get rid of pursuit in order to preserve their military strength.

I'm the Sultan of Ghazi, so it doesn't matter if I'm at a disadvantage in the battle. It's my duty to fight Kafir!

The encirclement gradually formed, and the heavy artillery bombardment opened several gaps in the vehicle formation. Each unit began to build several attack channels on the trench, and then carried out repeated assaults and counter-assaults against the flying lead bullets and artillery shells. The bottom of the trench was paved. Full of corpses and wounded.

An Afghan officer named Hafizullah was extremely brave. He watched the fighter planes and killed dozens of Yenicheris with his subordinates, successfully broke into the defense line, and even succeeded in seizing and tearing up a flag of the Yenicherry Regiment, which greatly reduced the morale of the friendly forces. A jolt. Seeing this as a great disgrace, Yenicheri frantically besieged the group of Afghan soldiers so that they could not live to be honored by the King of Kings.

The impact of the red-headed cavalry could surprise the Ottomans. Now the generals Ibrahim and Safavid were incredulous at Yenicheri's tenacity. The bloody and cruel tug-of-war actually lasted for several hours without a winner, and the siege The Safavid army suffered huge losses and was exhausted. Even if they relied on large numbers of people to engage in rotational operations, they could not sustain it.

The smoke dissipated temporarily, and the pause in the attack allowed the besieged Ottoman army to breathe a sigh of relief. The ammunition reserve was at its bottom. The fierce battle in the afternoon had destroyed the possibility of victory. Arslan Pasha and Selim, the monarchs and ministers, spent the night discussing a breakout. plan.

The Ottoman gunners nailed the fire doors of each heavy gun to prevent them from attacking the enemy. All available horses and mules were gathered to prepare for the escape. Obstacles were removed, leaving a wide enough passage to break through.

The preparations were still in progress, but there was a sudden commotion outside. The sound of the cavalry's hooves clearly reaching everyone's ears, and everyone regained some hope.

Seeing that the enemy's attention was distracted elsewhere, the assembled Yeniceri took the initiative to attack outwards and create an escape channel for Padisha. Thousands of Yenicheri and Kapikulsipahi who were still able to fight desperately stopped the Safavid army who was trying to push back the breakout troops. Find Shuyuan www.zhaoshuyuan． com

After killing the isolated Jenicheli and the Ottoman cavalry who suddenly returned to the battlefield, Ibrahim was convinced that Selim had completely lost his ability to resist, and he asked the captured prisoners to be brought to him.

Sinan Pasha and Prince Sadet, who wanted to return to the battlefield to rescue Padisha at sunset, successfully became prisoners, making themselves the price of Padisha's breakout.

The troops who rushed into the abandoned fortifications captured the technical staff who stayed behind and the wounded who could not be taken away. They seized Padisha's large scroll and other abandoned materials, but the commander who was originally trapped here was nowhere to be seen. When interrogating these prisoners, the answer they all received was: "Didn't they all run away?"

Sinan Pasha was painfully asked to identify the corpses of the Ottoman sacrificed officers and soldiers in the pile of corpses one by one. He carried out the identification with fear, so much so that he prayed silently all the time. As the identification work progressed, his mentality went from almost collapse to surviving. Finally, he held back his joy and said to Ibrahim: "No one here is a certain pasha or the most noble pasha." Disha.”

Selim could not be seen alive, and his body could not be seen dead. Ibrahim had no choice but to hold back his anger and said: "That's all, just to save yourself, Rom will not be able to be my enemy in the future. Clean the battlefield."

As the victor, the red head was shouting his name and title and cheering, thanking the King of Kings for allowing them to capture and share the glory of victory. But he knew very well that in fact, victory and glory were all won by heroic soldiers under his poor command and through excessive bloodshed.

Ibrahim, who was thinking about this and feeling distressed about his loss, did not let his surroundings see what was wrong with him. He rode back to the camp and said, "I am tired. If anyone comes to ask for an audience, just tell them that I am in the camp."