The Sun and the Lion

After three weeks of winter march, the troops under Ismail successfully arrived at the west side of Trabzon from Ankara. Among them, there were very few stragglers and injured people. In addition, there were rebel militiamen who actively joined out of admiration on the way. The troops were even stronger than when they set off. So huge.

"His Royal Highness Heraclius, the guilty minister." The governor, who was always worried about being punished, met with Mirza in a very humble manner, flattered him in proficient Azerbaijani, and very cooperatively gave up the highest command of the battle to Is. Meyer.

"First explain the current battle situation to me clearly."

"Yes, yes..." Heraclius told the whole process of the siege with a smile, and then added: "I believe that the fundamental reasons for the stalemate in the battle are the lack of continuous heavy artillery bombardment to suppress the defenders, and the lack of fleets to suppress the defenders. Block water traffic in the city.”

There were certainly no warships available under Ismail, and it was impossible to solve the problem of being unable to block the waterway, but the mules and horses dragged fifty heavy cannons - to be precise, it would take a few days, because the road conditions were too bad.

After thinking about how to attack this strong city, he then began to make arrangements. Heraclius first truthfully reported the status of each department under his command, and then said: "I have ordered the rear to gather another 5,000 new troops for reinforcements. In the near future, You can get there.”

This sentence made Ismail pay a little attention. He didn't know much about Georgia. He didn't know how many resources Heraclius could mobilize and squeeze out from within his jurisdiction. He was very concerned about the quality of these recruits. If they were just a make-up, they would be directly employed as laborers. Just use it.

"I see..." He ended the meeting after unilaterally outputting new orders to Heraclius.

The Ottoman garrison's response to Ismail's arrival was still very slow. Since Heraclius's camp was on the east side, their attention was on the east side, and only a few sentries were left on the west side for symbolic duty.

The defenders were sparse and undermanned. The weak defense of the west side of the city wall was noticed by the red head. Some people even thought: "As long as we board the city now before the enemy can react in time, we can easily capture the city wall."

Such a fearless attempt was not approved, and Ismail planned to break the city more safely as planned.

Time passed, and the new deployment of the Safavid army was proceeding in an orderly manner according to the plan. The defenders, who realized the new situation belatedly, also made timely adjustments. But at this moment, "Mustache" Muhammad Pasha - the fled Padisha learned that It was specially awarded after Trabzon had not yet fallen - there were only thousands of miscellaneous soldiers of varying quality in hand, not to mention that Selim ordered to take away the most elite ones in order to reorganize the army, and told him to abandon the city at any time and evacuate. In preparation, soldiers are indispensable, and "sheep" can be discarded.

At this moment, the morale of the defenders was already so low that the Pasha was worried. He doubted whether the various units could withstand even a subsequent strong attack by the enemy under the current circumstances. However, he could only allow the morale of the military to continue to be low - the impact of the Ankara battle could not be offset - and continued to transfer valuable money, food and property away, and made plans for the worst moment to ensure that as many soldiers as possible could be evacuated by sea. , instead of all being martyred in the main castle on the hillside.

Taking advantage of the time before the artillery was in place, the trenches of the siege continued to extend forward. More muskets were fired at the city head than on the east side. The sparse defenders were unable to suppress the advancing death squads. They were filling in several passages along the moat in preparation for boarding the city. .

"Your Highness, I don't think we need artillery support now. This defense line will collapse as soon as it is charged." Romulukhan Durmish, who was convinced of the weakness of the defenders, suggested this, but Ismail objected: " Martyrdom is honorable, but some sacrifices are unnecessary. Impatience and rashness are shortcuts to failure."

According to Heraclius's observation, the Ottoman galley fleet came to Trabzon about twice a week. This news received Ismail's attention. The ideal situation is to take advantage of the gap between the two trips to break the city and let The enemy has no way to escape.

…………

"Your Excellency, I dare to ask, is this city of Trabzon to be defended or not to be defended?" Qadi Omar, who is still staying in the city, and several other highly respected mullahs in the Muslim community, the bishop of the Greek community, and the Jewish community are still staying in the city. The rabbi and others could not help but visit the pasha and ask questions.

It's a question of guarding and fleeing. Muhammad Pasha was equally entangled, but he could not say it clearly. He only responded sideways: "I will definitely carry out your Majesty's orders without compromise."

"So can you explain why the fleet leaves with both passengers and cargo?"

"Padisha has been operating this Trabzon Sanjak for a longer time, and has accumulated richer industries and followers..."

"So do you and your men have the confidence to hold on to the city?"

"Stop talking, stop talking..."

Whether it was defending the city or evacuating, the citizens' cooperation was required. Muhammad Pasha had no choice but to announce Selim's secret order to them. Omar changed his previous skeptical attitude: "Padisha's failure in Ankara is no longer a secret. Evacuation is the best option." s Choice."

Previously, due to the ban and the requisition of all civilian ships, even the rich could not leave privately. There were still a large number of civilians stranded within the city walls. On the one hand, they assisted the defenders in doing what they could, but at the same time they were very vulnerable.

Those who came to see the pasha for explanations were all leading figures and public opinion representatives from various communities. After learning that Gaomen was now allowed to evacuate, they all planned to seize this opportunity for the citizens to leave. I hope the defenders can delay as much time as possible and allow the fleet to make more trips.

After hearing these appeals, the pasha shook his head incomprehensibly. It was impossible to transport the entire city. Even counting the merchant ships hidden in the port as a precaution, they did not have the capacity. It is impossible for the soldiers to be willing to stay and defend the city and take the last boat trip. In order to escape, can the defeated soldiers not be able to kill the enemy but also the citizens?

"Please come back, I will only carry out Padishah's orders." Muhammad Pasha did not agree to any additional requests, saying that he would act on the orders impartially.

Asking the guards to send away the visitors, Muhammad Pasha paced the hall uneasily and thought. He waited until it was dark before going to rest. After morning prayers the next day, he moved the work location to the port area until the personal soldiers reported to him that the city wall had been shelled. Put aside preparations for evacuation.

After several rounds of shelling, there were the sounds of trumpets and fierce drums. Countless figures sprang out of the trenches. The commandos, covered by the hail of bullets, quickly crossed the river, put up long ladders on the broken walls, and the Safavid troops swarmed up. It was much more than the defenders imagined and completely unable to cope.

As agreed, the Georgian army on the east side also launched a large-scale attack at this time. Although they lacked heavy artillery, musket fire and dense arrows were still able to suppress the defenders and they could only hide behind the walls.

"The thieves are powerful, we don't want to fight, we must retreat quickly!"

The weakening caused by the divided defense put the defenders into a dangerous situation with few people. After only one battle, the city defenses in Xiacheng District changed hands. A wave of fleeing soldiers and citizens flowed on the streets, and some unknown people headed towards the hillside. Escape to the upper city area, where there is still a city wall. More people rushed to the port, trying to compete for the limited cabin space.