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Chapter 1185 Mountain War 4
"How long do we have to hold out here? How far away are the reinforcements?" The young soldier had little interest in the witch and didn't know too many specific arrangements. He was more concerned about the issue of reinforcements.

From the port of Fao to Damascus, the Guards Corps lost more than half of its troops, and the Sipahi cavalry also lost more than a third of their horses. Now they have all been converted into camel cavalry. It is no exaggeration to say that it is a remnant army.

If the mountain defense line could not cause heavy casualties to the Ming army, it would be almost impossible to rely on this remnant army to defend Damascus. And there was nowhere to escape to, not far to the west was the seaside, and to the north were rolling mountains.

"……" This question really stumped the two veterans. They looked at each other, and no one knew the news in this regard.

"Hey, I know! When I was escorting the civilians back to the city a few days ago, I happened to meet someone I knew from the Pasha Guard. He said that reinforcements had arrived, and the hundreds of extra artillery pieces were brought by them, but you will never guess who the reinforcements are!"

The three of them were mumbling at the entrance of the cave, which attracted the attention of a nearby veteran. As the topic had reached a deadlock, he also came over wrapped in a blanket and joined the group chat.

"Could it be that the Sultan has come in person?" Bashika reacted the fastest, and a scene immediately emerged in his mind.

Murad IV led the Guards Corps and Sipahi cavalry like a divine army descending from the sky, landed from the Mediterranean Sea using naval ships, crossed the mountain ridges and quietly arrived at the city of Damascus.

Even if the Ming army could really break through this mountain defense line, it would have to pay a heavy price. When they arrived at the city of Damascus with exhausted bodies, they discovered the main force of the Sultan.

Then the two emperors started a face-to-face decisive battle. In the end, Murad IV, who had a strong army and horses, won a great victory and even captured the Ming emperor alive, thus creating another myth.

"As far as I know, the Sultan is still waiting for news from the Pasha in Tabriz. As long as the Ming army is defeated, he will attack Baghdad again." The old soldier who joined last shook his head and denied this speculation.

"From the sea... Could it be that some pasha of Egypt has come with the Mamluks?"

Another veteran believed that sea transportation was the key factor to the truth. Following this line of thought, the most likely source of the reinforcements was Egypt. However, he had serious doubts about the combat effectiveness of the militias in various provinces of Egypt, and there was no joy on his face.

"I couldn't guess it even if I guessed it ten times. I couldn't believe my ears when I heard it. The reinforcements coming from the sea this time were from Venice. They not only sent cannons, but also a lot of mercenaries.

This world is so amazing. Last month we were fighting the Venetians at sea, but now we have become allies in resisting the Ming army. Believe it or not, there may be a few more Venetian mercenaries in our cave one day.

I don't know if I will be able to fall asleep or cut their throats with my dagger. These damn pirates robbed my grandfather and killed one of my uncles. "

Seeing that his companions' guesses were getting further and further away, the old soldier decided not to keep them in suspense anymore and told them all the gossip he had heard from an acquaintance in the Pasha's guards, then expressed his inner conflicts with a sad face.

"Impossible, how could the Venetians come to help us! Your friend must have heard it wrong, even if they really came, they would take advantage of the situation to rob us." Baska was more excited by this answer and directly questioned the source of the news. The Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Venice had been fighting for control of the eastern Mediterranean for nearly a hundred years, and both sides suffered heavy losses. They could be considered strong rivals if not sworn enemies.

If the Ottoman Empire was invaded by the Ming army, the Venetians would be the happiest. Not supporting the Ming army would be the best situation. How could they possibly help the Ottoman Empire instead?

"Yes, there are Bibles and crosses on those cannons. I saw them with my own eyes. I thought they were captured from Vienna, but after listening to Horace, I realized that they must have been brought by the Venetians. There are quite a few of them. There are two above us. You can go up and see them with your own eyes after daybreak."

At this point in the conversation, most of the soldiers in the cave woke up, some were whispering, and some spoke up to defend the veteran. And they were not arguing, the evidence was on the hill.

I don't know how many people couldn't sleep that night, all worried about the upcoming war, or worried about their own fate. But no matter how you analyze it, the killing will start at dawn, and individuals are very small in front of the group, and it is difficult to change anything.

"Beep, beep, beep... tick, tick..." As the sky turned pale blue, the silent Gobi Desert was suddenly awakened by the piercing sound of trumpets. In the Ming army camp at the foot of the mountain, people were shouting, horses were neighing, and smoke was curling up. It was very lively.

When the first rays of dawn broke through the sky, the Ming army, which had hurriedly finished breakfast, also took the steps to attack. Unlike the previous battle formations, the army soldiers formed a long battle line with hundreds of households as units, with a distance of more than ten meters between each person, and walked slowly up the hillside.

That's right, they were just strolling, with neither neat formations nor majestic momentum, and scattered figures all over the mountains. As long as people can walk and climb, there are roads everywhere, but there are few people on the real mountain roads.

This is what Lei Laohu calls mountain warfare, a daily training subject for all the dusi in the north. Unlike traditional infantry, mountain infantry has no dense formations, no prescribed tactics, and even no roads. They have to go anywhere they can, from the bottom of the valley, halfway up the mountain, to the top of the mountain.

We no longer rely on firepower density to suppress the enemy, let alone artillery fire coverage. We can only use the terrain of the mountains to form three levels of friendly forces at low, medium and high levels to respond to each other, rely on each other, and take care of each other, fighting while moving.

The first person to try it out was Huang Taiji, the commander-in-chief of the Western Regions. When he was clearing out the remaining Oirat Mongols in the Tianshan Mountains, he based on the Jurchens' habits and combined the advantages of muskets. He found that dispersed attacks were more efficient than lining up in formation, so he wrote down his experiences and reported them.

After learning about this, the Army General Staff did not stick to the old ways. After carefully studying the data from each mountain battle and listening to a large amount of feedback from soldiers, they slowly came up with a system specifically for dealing with mountain battles.

In the past, if the enemy retreated to the mountains and blocked several important passes, the large army would have to fight hard and risk lives if they wanted to pass through. If the terrain was difficult for the army to deploy and artillery fire was difficult to cover, the difficulty of attacking would increase several times, and the number of casualties would also increase.

After adopting the new mountain combat system, offensive forces are no longer used in a concentrated manner, but are dispersed over relatively vast terrain, relying more on the capabilities of individual soldiers or small groups to fight.

(End of this chapter)