The Sun and the Lion

"Your Majesty, it's an emergency." Ahmed's soldiers escorted the injured recruiter into the tent, and then reported to Ahmed.

The recruiting officer, who had experienced the aftermath of the disaster, felt his legs weaken and knelt directly on the ground, talking intermittently about his experiences not long ago.

As he listened, Ahmed's fists became stiff, but he refrained from having an attack and just ordered: "I understand, take him down."

Then he used tobacco and marijuana to calm down his emotions, and summoned the herald: "Inform the officers of each department to come to the big tent."

"yes."

Soon after, Ahmed's generals arrived at the main tent.

"The battle related to our destiny will begin soon." Ahmed was silent for a while and said to the surrounding generals. "My recruiting team was attacked, followed soon by various patrols and scouts. If we let it go, then we will only become blind men trapped behind the wall."

As soon as these words came out, the officers present seemed a little uneasy. It had not been a month since the failed attack on Mosul. Although Ahmed tried his best to replenish his troops, they even expanded in number. But the value of a soldier is quality rather than quantity. These new recruits who have just joined the army have just become familiar with their comrades. Ahmed is not worried about whether they have mastered enough combat skills, but whether they can do it in the first time. There are still questions about adapting to military discipline constraints, understanding and executing military orders.

"Patrols and scouts must be increased. The scouts must be veterans. It is enough for the patrol to be led by a competent officer. The size and number of patrols must be increased. The number of scouts in each team will remain the same, but a few more teams will be sent. , the scope must also be expanded.”

The officer wrote down his first order and waited for the Sultan's next move.

"In addition to dispatching additional patrols and scouts, the camp itself must also be well guarded. First of all, the areas inside and outside the camp must be strictly separated. People outside the camp are not allowed to enter the camp. The military market must also be strictly controlled. All suspicious persons must be placed first. Time detention. Soldiers in the camp must also be strictly restricted, and the same applies to officers. They cannot come in and out at will. Violators will be severely punished."

Speaking of this, the senior officers present were somewhat reluctant, but it was hard to object directly.

"Your Majesty, is the same true for those mud-legged people? They are not our warriors and are difficult to manage..."

"I know, but these civilians are necessary, and they can also take up arms to fight for me at critical moments." Ahmed said helplessly.

"Your Majesty, for the sake of safety, I think we can recruit some more warriors." The speaker was a trusted officer of Ahmed. He was a tribal noble under his own account and also engaged in the mercenary industry. As soon as Ahmed saw his face, he knew that he was going to recommend mercenaries to him.

Mercenaries have poor military discipline, only care about money, and have low fighting will. They are prone to accidents during combat. Only a few outliers, such as Swiss mercenaries, are relatively reliable. The Italian mercenaries currently fighting each other on the Italian battlefield have very little professional ethics.

"Your Majesty, this is not allowed. The price of the mercenaries is too high, but they are not reliable enough. Their combat effectiveness is also uneven, and it is difficult to become a pillar on the battlefield." Ahmed's quartermaster hurriedly jumped out to stop him.

"Huh." The officer wanted to retort, but Ahmed stopped him with his expression. He could only look at the quartermaster with dissatisfaction, and then sat down obediently.

Ahmed also knew that his current situation was indeed not suitable for hiring those desperadoes. When he first started his army, had abundant finances and was strong, he hired some troops to participate in the confrontation with Rostam. Rostam was ultimately defeated and died because he spent a lot of money to buy off part of the opponent's emir and all the mercenaries.

But now he has no money on hand, and the military power on hand cannot well deal with the mercenary rebellion.

"Okay, if you don't have any questions, let's adjourn the meeting." Ahmed yawned and waved his hand to make the senior officers retreat.

In the next few days, Ahmed's movements were also noticed by Bayram, who found that the number of patrols and scouts increased significantly. Find Shuyuan www.zhaｏｏｈａ.com Some who cooperated well could support each other until the first batch of reinforcements arrived, which made his attack much more difficult and the losses of the red heads also increased.

On another dark night, in a landlord's house in a certain village, Gharamanluhan once again convened a meeting of the captains to discuss the next battle plan.

The dim firelight illuminated everyone's face, and the candles left by the landlord burned on the candlesticks. The weather was very clear at night, and the moonlight outside the window also increased the brightness of the room through the window.

"Khan, this is news from the Emir." Before the meeting began, the messenger knocked on the door and came in to report to Bayram after getting permission. Then Gharamanluhan received Heraclius's reply.

When he discovered the change in the situation yesterday he wrote to Heraclius explaining the situation and asking for any advice.

He briefly glanced at Heraclius's suggestions. The first was to move the entire army together to reduce the numerical gap between the two sides. The next step is to attract attention. If nearly 10,000 cavalry raid Ahmed's camp, it will definitely attract his attention. If the raid achieves many results, then Ahmed may be able to think that this is Ibrahim. Rushing's main force. This will induce the enemy to focus all their attention on our partial division and create more favorable combat conditions for Ibrahim's main force.

Since the two of them had no way of knowing when Ibrahim would enter the battlefield, Heraclius had no choice but to use the drag maneuver to avoid a direct confrontation with Ahmed, but continued to harass and ensure that his retreat was clear.

After seeing Heraclius's idea, Garamanluhan had a bolder idea - to divide his troops and then use the narrow Taurus mountain trails to annihilate them.

But this was just an immature idea. He put the letter on the table and started tonight's meeting.