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Chapter 1163: Strength is empty
The surrendered general of the Guards was named Derviš, a Transylvanian, later Romanian. He was born into a Christian family, and at the age of 7 he was selected to be educated in the palace according to the blood tax rules. At the age of 17, he officially converted to Islam and became a member of the Guards.

In the next 25 years, he and his legion participated in every war launched by the Sultan, and gradually became an officer based on his military merits. His current military rank is called Kurubashi, which is a senior officer who can command ten hortas, or companies.

The Advisory Office and the Army and Navy Statistics Department have collected information on the military deployment and organization of the Ottoman Empire and the Safavid Dynasty of Persia from various channels, but due to different levels, language translations and understandings, there are some large discrepancies.

This time, with the face-to-face explanation from the senior officers of the Guards Corps, Hong Tao finally had a general understanding of the military system of the Ottoman Empire. Based on this, he was able to calculate how many soldiers the other side could mobilize and how much war potential it had.

The Ottoman Guards Corps was called Kapikulu, but this was just a general term and was divided into three parts. The first part was the Yericheni Infantry Regiment, which was the most elite force directly under the command of the Sultan and consisted of 34 battalions and 101 regiments.

Each battalion has 50-70 soldiers, called Segebang, which means dog-trained hunter. They are the Sultan’s personal guard and the cradle of officers at all levels of the Guards Corps.

The regiment consisted of about 100 soldiers, and the chief was called Orta, which was roughly equivalent to the company of later generations. Under Orta were Bayuk and Oda, which were similar to the platoon and squad of later generations. The commander of Orta was called Cholbash, and the commander of Oda was called Bashkarakol.

The highest commander of the Guards Corps is called the Aga, who reports directly to the Sultan himself. The second-level commander is the Dervish, who is in charge of the forces of multiple Hortas.

The second part of the Guards Corps is the artillery, which consists of the artillery regiment, the weapons manufacturing and repair regiment, and the engineering regiment. Works such as digging trenches and blasting city walls are all commanded and implemented by the engineering regiment. Its members are very professional and highly valued.

Originally, Hong Tao thought that the Guards Corps was pure infantry, and the materials collected by the Army and Navy Staff also showed this. But after Delvish's explanation, his previous understanding was obviously wrong, extremely wrong.

In addition to the Yericheni Infantry Regiment and the Artillery Regiment, the Guards Corps also had a special cavalry regiment called Kapikurusuvarileri, which consisted of six cavalry squadrons, all of which were heavily armed and specialized in hard battles.

Interestingly, there is a special department in the Guards Corps called Bektash, whose members are all religious people. They teach soldiers religious knowledge and rules, which is somewhat similar to the role of military chaplains and political commissars in later generations.

The Guards were professional soldiers, and theoretically they had to be ready for war at all times, so they could not get married and had to train in the barracks all year round. However, their treatment was the highest in the Ottoman army, with salaries paid on time every quarter, tax exemptions and pensions.

The information obtained by the Advisory Office and the Army and Navy Statistics Department was not accurate, but the numbers were more accurate. The number of the Guards Corps, including infantry, artillery, and heavy cavalry, totaled just over 3.

However, in terms of the provincial military system, that is, the number of Sipahi cavalry, the data provided by the Empire's intelligence departments were too biased. The Advisory Office concluded that there were about 4 people, while the Navy and Army Statistics Department said there were 10 people. It is not clear who is right and who is wrong.

This time I finally figured it out. The Advisory Office and the Navy and Army Statistics Department were both right, but neither was completely correct. The Sipahi cavalry came from small landowners in various provinces, called Timar, who were somewhat similar to European knights.

Under Murad IV, there were more than 4 timars in the Ottoman Empire. Each household had a Sipahi cavalryman, which was exactly 4, and was the source of intelligence for the Advisory Office. However, European knights had followers on the battlefield, and Ottoman timars also had followers, ranging from 1 to 5 or 6. On average, more than 4 Sipahi cavalrymen plus servants were almost 10.

The Guards Corps + Sipahi Cavalry equals about 15, but this is not all the standing troops of the Ottoman Empire. Many provinces, tribes and conquered areas also have their own private soldiers, or militias. The total number is not easy to count, but in peacetime there are about 10.

The standing army of 30 is not a lot considering the Ottoman Empire's population of more than 2000 million, but it is too large for a bunch of small countries in Europe. This is just the standing army. If there is an emergency call-up in the event of a war, the number is estimated to double.

The figure provided by Delvish was much larger than the estimate of the General Staff. Logically, the previous operational plan should have been fine-tuned or even significantly changed to deal with the new situation.

But Hong Tao decided not to change it for the time being, because Dervish not only provided the total military strength of the Ottoman Empire, but also gave a general idea of ​​the troop deployment.

The place with the largest number of troops is of course Istanbul. If the Guards Corps does not have any combat missions, except for a small number deployed in strategic locations on the border, the rest are stationed near the capital.

The second largest area of ​​military strength is the Balkans. Although Murad IV is shifting his strategic focus toward Anatolia and the Arabian Peninsula, he is still not confident about the Europeans in his heart and still concentrates his heavy troops on the European side, not daring to relax at all.

The third largest military force is Anatolia, which is the Anatolian Peninsula. This is the main agricultural production area of ​​the Ottoman Empire and the most densely populated province, so it must be closely watched.

Compared with its vast territory spanning three continents, the Ottoman Empire's 30 standing troops were a bit stretched. This was a common problem for all major powers. They were unable to cover everything and could only focus on defense.

The Ming Empire had the same problem. Hong Tao's choice was to be strong on the outside and weak on the inside. He placed all his main forces on the borders and unstable areas and used heavy troops to deter them. Instead, the inland provinces and important areas of the capital were relatively empty.

The Ottoman Empire did exactly the opposite. It placed its heavy troops in core areas such as North Africa, Egypt and the Arabian Peninsula, and only stationed a small number of regular troops and governors. The rest were maintained by local militia forces.

That is to say, in the Mesopotamian region, the Arabian Peninsula and Egypt, there was no other Ottoman regular army except the more than 2 Guards Corps + Sipahi Cavalry led by Grand Vizier Tabar.

Hong Tao had never seen the combat effectiveness of the local armed forces, but the Guards Corps and the Sipahi Cavalry had seen it with their own eyes. They had their own characteristics and needed to be treated in a targeted manner. That was all. According to Dervish's introduction, the combat effectiveness of the local armed forces was much worse.

If we calculate it this way, as long as we defeat Tabar's regular army, the Ming army can march freely south of the Mesopotamian Basin. The local militia is not a concern, and if we are more skillful, we may be able to temporarily turn the enemy into a friend.

(End of this chapter)