The Sun and the Lion

Selim and the pashas who had retreated along the way, together with the remaining army, successfully moved into Bursa. The spies sent by Suleiman found Padishah without any difficulty. They learned that this army was not victorious and was about to return immediately. Report to the regent.

Hesekzad Pasha, who sent an errand messenger and was responsible for raising ships to nearby port towns, soon brought back bad news - because Bursa's trade was depressed due to the war, many merchant ships were heading to the other side. The port grabs business from other routes and runs freight.

The transport ships that can be raised now are only enough to transport more than a thousand people back to Kostantiniya without horses and luggage. This transportation capacity is really a drop in the bucket for the defeated soldiers who fled to Bursa.

"With the blessing of God, the most merciful and merciful, everything is well in Rumelia now. If you return in time, you still have a chance to fight back." All the pashas are admonishing Selim. It is not yet known how long it will take for the pursuers to arrive. For safety reasons , giving priority to Padisha's return to the country is the safest approach.

Selim did not plan this way: "You mean you want me to leave the soldiers and leave alone? Flee back to Kostantinye?"

The accusation of this sentence has been thrown on everyone's face, and the pashas quickly lowered their heads: "I am stupid, and everything will be arranged by your majesty."

"I know you want me to go back as soon as possible to calm the hearts of the people in the rear. If I leave, who will calm the hearts of the troops? Suleiman and Gaomen are not decorations. They can solve the matter of Kostantiniya. All the returning soldiers I want to bring Rumelia back instead of losing it in vain.”

Selim, who briefly explained the reasons to the pashas, ​​paused and continued to order: "Arslan Pasha, you are the Jenichery Aga. You will take the Jenichery to evacuate on the first trip. .”

There are exactly a thousand people in Yenicheri who have successfully survived and returned to the army. They can all return to Kostantiniya by boat to help Suleiman stabilize the situation. There are also thousands of recruits who have not yet graduated. Arslan also The veterans and these new recruits must be mixed and reorganized as soon as possible. In this way, there were about 6,000 people in Yenicheri that Suleiman could use, so he would not be stretched thin.

"As you command, Your Majesty."

The Yenicheris successfully boarded the ship and brought the truth back to Gaomen.

The gap between waiting for the fleet to come and go does not mean that there is nothing to do. Selim must not only find a way to get more fleeing soldiers to return to the team, but at the same time, the size of the remnant army itself is not small, because most of the baggage was abandoned during the retreat. , so that the food stored would not be enough without accepting the return of defeated troops.

In order to raise supplies and maintain morale for the troops to continue, attacking civilians is the only option at the moment. The reorganized Ottoman army began to disperse to the surrounding areas of Bursa to raise food. At this moment, the Ottoman army no longer cares about the local people. How can it be kind to these herds that will definitely fall into the hands of the enemy? It’s not an exaggeration to kill them directly, peel them and eat the meat.

As Bursa suffered repeated military disasters, there was no oil or water in the local area, and even scraping the ground three feet away could not raise enough food, so Selim had to expand the scope of collection to ensure military supplies and allowed soldiers to loot.

Iznik, which did not become a battle site or a part of the marching route, was one of the settlements that suffered an unexpected disaster. This small town located on the lakeside has only four to five hundred households and a total population of less than three thousand. It mainly produces painted pottery. and ceramic tiles. The old city walls of the Byzantine era were in disrepair. Part of the open space between the streets and the old city walls was used to grow fruits and vegetables. The whole city looked lifeless.

The riders who came to Iznik were looted along the lake shore, and the refugees from the surrounding villages flocked to the abandoned city wall. For a while, this new batch of refugees made the town swell again.

The citizens and refugees were forced to gather in the square under the coercion of the cavalry. The soldiers glanced greedily at the crowd, and their eyes made people feel uncomfortable.

"Who among you is the leader?" Bey asked sharply to the crowd.

The leader of the potter's guild and the priest walked carefully through the crowd to the cavalry officer: "In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Merciful, Sir, it is really rare for you to come to this place."

"Stop talking nonsense, I'm here on Padishah's orders."

This sentence made the crowd whisper. Now they have long known Selim's defeat. There are more than one group of refugees setting up shacks next to the old city of Iznik, and they were the first ones to come from the east. Because there are too many refugees, the supply of alms at the mosque soup kitchen is always in short supply. If it continues, there will be nothing left to give.

Then, they began to extort local residents, asking for supplies such as food, clothing, livestock, etc., and named some craftsmen to be expropriated. Bey, who led the team, saw that the supplies donated by the citizens were still not enough, so he ordered his subordinates to search from house to house in person.

The people who did not dare to resist could only watch as these officers and soldiers took away all the valuable things from their homes. Fortunately, Selim's military camp was not embarrassed enough to eat people, otherwise even the people here would be kidnapped.

However, this group of people was not the only one who came to Iznik. The Ottoman army, which had become no different from bandits due to their defeat, directly began to kill and rob, forcing citizens and refugees to jump into the lake to escape. Find the book garden www.zhaｏshuyuaｎ.com

And the perpetrators were not only the officers and soldiers who were ordered to rob, but also many broken soldiers who had not yet returned to the army and had fallen into the grass, joined in like a fish in water, causing even greater chaos.

Unintentional and intentional sabotage turned the surroundings of Bursa into a scorched earth. Killings and escapes turned the plains into no man's land. Even the main roads were dug up and destroyed to ensure that large groups of troops and artillery could not pass.

Acting with great fanfare made Bursa the focus, which not only attracted the defeated troops to return, but also allowed the Safavid forwards who came to easily find the enemy's location and obtain some intelligence. They were surprised to find that Selim had already taken advantage of the people, and now Bursa had nothing to exploit.

The red head continued to raid the Ottoman troops who were out collecting food, captured prisoners, and investigated the situation of the military camp in Bursa City, killing the Ottoman sentries who drove away the scouts several times.

The scattered Ottoman army was unable to fight against the Safavid cavalry, so Selim had to gather his troops and suspend the looting of soldiers in the name of raising food. Fortunately, a lot of supplies were raised, which was enough to continue to maintain the troops until the ships arrived.

The scouts sent to conduct reconnaissance then reported: "Your Majesty, the enemy has few troops, no infantry, no baggage or artillery. It should be an incoming vanguard force."

In order to boost morale after being defeated and fleeing, Selim decided to concentrate his forces to eliminate this group of people. He deliberately sent a small force that had gone out to plunder and returned with loot to march along the preset road to lure the enemy. More The men and horses hid near the road.

The red head who didn't realize it was a trick quickly came to kill them. Upon seeing this, the ambush soldiers swarmed up, intending to eliminate them all. The scene was very chaotic. Every rider was fighting with everyone around them. It was hard to say who had the advantage.

"We've been ambushed, kill them all!" the leading centurion roared to the surrounding area and began to organize a breakout.