1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 812 The Battle of Suez ([-])
April 4, Suez City.

Ahmed Fathi glared at Abdul Malek Highbury, the Mamluk cavalry commander from Ismailia. He pulled it out, and then slashed fiercely at the opponent's neck.

"Dear Abdul." Fathi took a deep breath, and his expression softened a little, "the Qi army outside has less than 4000 people, which is less than half of ours. Moreover, the other party came from tens of thousands of miles away. Since the New World came from the south, we must not have enough supplies. Therefore, they can only adopt a quick solution and use their powerful firearms to launch an attack on the city of Suez. In this case, we cannot use all our forces Concentrating in the city is completely inconsistent with our cavalry superiority."

"Of course I know what you said." Highbury still tightly held the handle of the knife under his waist, and said unhurriedly: "But why did you let all our troops in Ismailia Placed outside the city? Don’t forget, we are the helpers you invited, not the cannon fodder for your city of Suez.”

"Brother Abdul, you can't speculate on our good intentions so maliciously." Fathi said patiently: "My troops have been stationed in Suez for more than ten years, and they know all about the defense facilities of the entire city. Moreover, Some of their family members and relatives are also in the city. Therefore, our troops continue to stick to the city of Suez, which can better take advantage of their familiarity with the city's terrain and stimulate their strong desire to defend the city. Targeted defense against Qi's attack."

"Fatehi Pasha, the size of this small city cannot be compared with that of our Ismailia." Highbury said quietly: "I think that if we are stationed in this small city, our troops will It is absolutely possible to quickly grasp the various defensive facilities and terrain here within a few days, and to hold on to the city well. Moreover, our people have been in this city for nearly a month, and they have already learned a lot about the city. Everything is very familiar. If we retreat outside the city, the surrounding environment may be a little more unfamiliar to us."

When Fathi heard this, he became angry immediately. In a city like mine, a group of foreign troops are completely allowed to settle in. Once our main cavalry withdraws from the city, it will contain and guerrilla the incoming Qi army.Who knows what these lawless Ismailian cavalry will ruin the city of Suez.

In the past month, they have drunk and made troubles in the city, molested women, stolen property, fought and fought, and even had several incidents of armed confrontation with Suez defenders.Since the other party was his helper, Fathi did not dare to punish the troublesome Ismailian cavalry too much, so he could only use two thousand Mamluk cavalry in his hand to separate them from the local people and avoid them as much as possible. They make too much noise.

To be honest, three days ago, when the Qi State Expeditionary Fleet was fighting against the port fort, the extremely ferocious firepower really shocked everyone.The opponent's style of play was completely unreasonable. Relying on his strong guns, he sailed close to the shore, as if he didn't take the threat of the port fort seriously.

But it is undeniable that the Qi State Expeditionary Fleet does have this strength. More than 100 large and small ships stepped forward in turn, and more than [-] naval guns continued to bombard them. Fortresses, official residences..., in less than two hours, all were riddled with holes.

You know, never have you seen such a big battle on this remote coast of the Red Sea!On weekdays, these Mamluk cavalry basically didn't use artillery when they conquered desert tribes and bandits.Both of them rode horses and galloped across the wilderness, holding scimitars, shouting and charging at the enemy.If the battle is unfavorable, or if there is a hard stubble, it is a big deal to turn the horse's head and disperse separately.

Even if Pashas in some places had disputes and attacked each other, when attacking the cities or earth forts defended by the other side, there were only a few cannons that could be used, and they were still old bronze cannons. Compared with the incoming Qi State Expeditionary Fleet.

After withdrawing from the port and the fort, Fathi suddenly woke up after two days of rectification. After the Qi army completed the landing, they would definitely attack the city of Suez. Fleeing back to the city, more than [-] soldiers were squeezed into the small city of Suez.

But the problem is that we obviously still have nearly [-] cavalry, so we can't be blocked in the city by others, let the opponent's artillery bombard us, and calmly attack the city.A cavalry must be stationed outside the city to support the defenders in the city to counterattack the Qi army.

Therefore, Fathi prepared to arrange for the cavalry from Ismailia to leave the city of Suez and stationed outside the city to attack and harass the Qi army and prevent the opponent from attacking the city with all its strength.If there is an opportunity to take advantage of it, maybe the inside and outside can cooperate to create a great victory of the Mamluk cavalry over the Mongols, and teach the Qi people a hard lesson.

However, these cavalry from Ismailia were unwilling to leave the city of Suez and stationed outside the city to eat sand and be exposed to the sun.But the problem is, if he takes the main cavalry out of the city to harass the Qi army, he is worried that these guest troops will stay in the city.For a while, the situation in the city became stalemate, arguing with each other about how to arrange the cavalry to leave the city.

"My lord Pasha, my lord Pasha..." A Mamluk cavalry officer rushed into the hall with a strange expression on his face, "My lord Pasha, there has been movement in the Qi army. They are... besieging the city !"

"Siege?" Fathi heard the words, and couldn't help but look at the officer who came to report in amazement, "Their army number is less than 4000, how can they surround our city of Suez?"

"...Lord Pasha, you'd better go to the top of the city to see for yourself." The Mamluk cavalry officer also looked puzzled, "The current behavior of the people of Qi is indeed ... besieging our city of Suez."

Fathi glanced at Highbury, then walked out.

"Hehe... 4000 people besieged the city of Suez with [-] troops? Listen, why is it so weird?" Highbury couldn't help laughing, shook his head, followed Fathi, and walked out the door.
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Outside the city of Suez, more than 1000 Qi troops, together with more than [-] captured Ottoman naval officers and soldiers and Barbary pirates, are struggling to wield shovels, digging trenches and erecting wooden horses near the only two city gates in Suez. As if to block and siege this small town.

The defenders on the city watched the actions of the Qi army outside, and everyone had a somewhat incredulous look on their faces.You know, the Qi army's landing force that attacked from outside was only 4000 people, and they were actually divided into two halves, blocking the north and south gates separately.

If they have read some of the essentials of warfare in the Chinese "Art of War", "Ten will encircle them, five will attack them, two times will fight them, enemies will divide them, few will defend them, and less will avoid them", They will definitely ridicule the arrogance and boldness of the Qi army outside the city endlessly.Although, a few days ago, you captured the port wharf with your powerful naval gun fire.But this does not mean that you will be able to conquer the city of Suez with less than half the strength of the defenders in the city.

With only [-] troops, you want to block the gate of the city and wipe out all the defenders in the city. You are too contemptuous of the great martial arts of our Mamluk cavalry!
"Shafie, lead five hundred cavalry out of the city!" Fathi had a bad feeling in his heart, and called a Mamluk officer, "disperse the Qi soldiers who were digging trenches, and destroy the horse-repelling horses set up near the city gate." .”

"Yes, Lord Pasha!" Shafi took the order, put on the helmet, tightened the armor on his body, turned around and walked towards the city wall trail.

Two quarters of an hour later, the south gate of Suez City slowly opened, and five hundred Mamluk cavalry filed out. military.

Mamluk means slaves, and most of its members are Turks, Central Asian tribes, Caucasians who were sold into slavery, and recruited brave and skilled knights from West Asia and North Africa. Pashas from all over Egypt paid them high salaries as rewards , Moreover, those who are brave in battle, or those who have made great achievements in battle, are granted freedom from slavery, so they are extremely loyal to their masters.

Although the Mamluk cavalry are brave and good at fighting, they lack strict organization. They basically rely on personal force and lack tactics. overwhelm each other.

The Mamluk cavalry rushing out from the city of Suez hadn't run more than 100 meters, suddenly the horses under the crotch of a dozen cavalrymen in front kept jumping and neighing, knocking the knights off their horses one by one.

"Barbed caltrops!" The experienced Mamluk cavalry immediately realized that the cavalry in front must have encountered the barbed caltrops planted by the enemy in advance.Although all war horses have horseshoes, after years of riding and fighting, the horseshoes of some horses are damaged or fall off. If the cavalry is lazy or negligent, and fails to repair and replace them in time, they are very vulnerable to this kind of plot.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!..."

Just as the cavalry approached and slowed down slightly, more than a dozen artillery pieces of the Qi army's position fired one after another, and the shotguns fired by several of the new howitzers smashed into the cavalry team, and instantly fell dozens of horse-riding Muruk cavalry , making the team messy.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!..."

Hateful Qi people, they set up two refusal horses near the city gate. When the Muruk cavalry crossed or rushed away from the first refusal horse, their horsepower did not recover, and then they had to face the second refusal horse more than ten meters away. Ma, the speed suddenly decreased a bit. During this mere 1 minute of pause, the artillery of the Qi Army's position fired a second round, and most of the shots fired were dense shotguns.

"咴咴..."

"what!……"

The charging Mamluk cavalry kept falling to the ground, and in a short while they were piled up with corpses, which greatly blocked the cavalry behind from continuing to advance.Some brave cavalry turned their horses' heads, trying to bypass the front and reject the horses, and attacked from both wings.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!..."

When there were more than a hundred meters away from the trench dug by the Qi army, the sound of musket fire suddenly erupted from the Qi army's position.Under the astonished eyes of many Mamluk cavalrymen, scattered cavalrymen rushing through the second line of horse rejection immediately fell off their horses, or were thrown to the ground by the wounded horses.

At such a long distance, the Qi army's muskets could easily hit them!

"Withdraw!...Quickly withdraw!"

Before rushing to the position of the trench, more than 100 Mamluk cavalry had already suffered more than [-] casualties. Looking at the neatly arranged musket formations facing each other, if they rushed to the front, wouldn't they have to reimburse more than half of them.Not to mention, there are also several rows of spearmen (bayonets) in the front position.
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"If the defenders of Suez had stationed most of their cavalry outside the city from the very beginning, or dispatched all their cavalry to charge the battle before we had finished rejecting horses and blocking trenches, maybe it would take some time to attack this small city." Hands and feet." Li Fade looked at the Mamluk cavalry who fled back in all directions, with a hint of sarcasm on the corner of his mouth, "Now, they are all huddled in the city of Suez again, and that will do us all!"

"General, shall we launch it at night?" Yue Zhongwu, deputy commander of the army and Lieutenant (Colonel) Zhaoxin, also had a bit of joy on his face.

"No!" Li Fade shook his head and said: "If it is activated at night, the defenders in the city will definitely jump over the wall and flee the city in droves. The black lights and ignorant fires will affect our firearms. Besides, they escaped at night, those Marathas Even the cavalry can't go after them. This time, we must wipe out the [-] defenders. Let the armed pashas from all over Egypt take a look, what will happen if we mess with our country of Qi!"

"General, there are probably many civilians in the city..." Yue Zhongwu hesitated, took a step forward, and said in a low voice.

"Is there?" Li Fade glanced at him.

"..." Yue Zhongwu's expression froze, but he remained silent.

"Instruct the brothers to dig the trench deeper and wider. It's impossible to say, at night, the defenders in the city will jump out." After speaking, Li Fade turned and walked towards the camp.

"Yes, General!" Yue Zhongwu gave a military salute to Li Fade's back, and promised loudly.

"Hehe... I have been fighting for more than 20 years, but at this moment, I feel pity for no reason. What a joke!" Yue Zhongwu couldn't help laughing at himself.

At the head of the city of Suez, Fathi Pasha and many Mamluk officers could not help looking at each other when they saw the cavalry fleeing back to the city one after another.The firepower of the Qi army is not only ferocious, but also its progress and behavior are quite methodical. The barbed caltrops, several repelling horses, and trenches, supplemented by their artillery and muskets, through this simple and crude method, really gave our city of Suez to the fore. Surrounded!
Do they want to use this long-term siege method to eventually make us exhaust the supplies in the city and surrender without a fight?
(End of this chapter)