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Some people may wonder, after Li Ding defeated Arterius at Mount Mugojar, the Caucasus region was short of troops and the military morale was unstable. Why didn't the Ottoman Empire send reinforcements to the Caucasus as soon as possible
This is because the Ottoman Empire was facing two huge crises at this moment.
During the past six months in power, Grand Vizier Köprülü Mehmed Pasha has taken harsh measures, executing approximately 15,000 corrupt officials, illegal soldiers, and rebels. He has worked hard to rectify and restore domestic order, and even redirected religious funds for secular purposes to alleviate the financial crisis.
It is not known whether there were political enemies among the 15,000 corrupt officials he executed, but such a large-scale action, such cruel means, and even the use of religious funds, would inevitably arouse strong backlash.
When the news of Arterius's annihilation reached the country, the whole country of Ottoman was in an uproar.
Adana Governor Bapres immediately announced publicly that he had solid evidence to prove that Grand Vizier Köprülü Mehmed Pasha was the mastermind behind the assassination of the Sultan Queen Mother, and requested the Sultan to immediately severely punish Köprülü Mehmed Pasha and his accomplices.
Immediately afterwards, the governors of Kastamonu, Diyarbakir, Kosovo, Jerusalem, Benghazi and Mosul also wrote letters to the Sultan, asking him to severely punish the murderer.
Good fellow! Köprülü Mehmed Pasha is cutting off the wings and claws of these people, because these people were the confidants of the Sultan Queen Mother Kösem during her regency.
Köprülü Mehmed Pasha had been counting on Arterius to achieve a great victory, and then use the power of the victory to capture these people in one fell swoop.
Who would have thought that Arterius, who was highly expected, would be completely wiped out.
Due to the change of trade routes, the Ottoman Empire lost control of the trade between the East and the West and the huge profits of wholesalers. In the past few decades, the fiscal deficit has become more and more serious, and the Timar system, which is the basis of the empire's rule, is in danger of collapse. After a large number of Sipahi cavalry lords went bankrupt, they fled to the border and joined the rebels against the government. This was originally a mess with air leaking in the middle and smoke coming out from all sides.
If at this time, the governors of Kastamonu, Diyarbakir, Kosovo, Jerusalem, Benghazi, and Mosul demand independence again, the entire vast Ottoman Empire may fall apart.
The 19th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Mehmed IV, is only eleven years old this year and has not yet taken power. It is certainly impossible for him to severely punish the powerful Grand Vizier Köprülü Mehmed Pasha and his supporters.
However, Adana Governor Bapres and others have publicly announced that Grand Vizier Koprulu Mehmed Pasha is the mastermind behind the assassination of the Sultan Queen Mother, and the two sides are already irreconcilable.
Köprülü Mehmed Pasha was anxious to find a way to reconcile the conflict between the two sides.
However, misfortunes never come alone. A bigger crisis is coming.
In the Mediterranean, with the promotion of the Qin delegation, the Holy Roman Empire, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Venice and many other principalities formed a huge fleet of nearly 400 large and small warships and launched a fierce attack on the Ottoman Navy.
The most eye-catching of these is a huge treasure ship of the Qin Empire and eight 60-meter-long clipper warships, commanded by Admiral Hua Nanying of the Qin Royal Navy's ocean-going fleet.
On the huge treasure ship, there were nearly a hundred "war eagles" that took off from the deck and launched a terrifying attack on the Ottoman Empire's warships from the air, which stunned the Ottoman Empire's navy and caused them to retreat.
The Daqin Royal Navy became famous in one battle, and it shocked the whole of Europe and the Middle East! The British, Hungarians, and the Dutch, who had just signed a truce agreement with Daqin and established diplomatic relations, couldn't sit still.
The Ottoman Empire had such a vast territory that the Black Sea was their inner lake and the entire southern coast of the Mediterranean was also their territory. From the Caspian Sea to North Africa near the Strait of Gibraltar, and then to both sides of the Red Sea, the crescent-star flag was flying everywhere.
Seeing the defeat of the Mansman Empire's army, the retreat of its navy, and the internal turmoil, it was clear that it was about to fail. With such a big piece of fat meat, who wouldn't want to take the opportunity to pounce on it and take a big bite... No! Take a hundred bites! Eat until your belly is full!
Almost all European Christian countries that could send out navies sent them, and nearly 200 more warships were added all of a sudden. Everyone held up their knives and forks, as if they were attending a feast, and they were extremely excited.
Since the Crusades, it has been Muslims who have been oppressing Christians. The Ottoman Empire was not only aggressive in the Mediterranean, but its army even reached the outskirts of Vienna, posing a severe threat to the entire heartland of Europe.
The emperor of the Holy Roman Empire once wanted to join forces with Safavid Emperor Abbas I to attack the Ottoman Empire. However, due to the many internal conflicts in Europe at that time, the Thirty Years' War broke out soon, and the whole Europe became a mess, so there was no question of attacking the Ottoman Empire.
It’s different now. With the Great Qin Empire taking the lead, everyone is just sending out the navy to deal with the common enemy... ... no, it should be to divide up a big piece of fat meat, so everyone will definitely rush to be the first.
With so many countries coming, it is inevitable that there will be many people and different opinions, and each of them will have their own opinions. Isn't this a mess? Everyone knows that this is not okay. There must be a joint combat commander, otherwise it will be a mess and this war cannot be fought.
There are many internal conflicts among European countries, but they temporarily put aside their grievances because there is a big enough piece of fat in front of them. However, it is not possible to ask the fleet of one country to obey the command of another country.
The commanders of more than a dozen countries held a meeting on the island of Sicily, and they almost got into a fight. Finally, they unanimously nominated Admiral Hua Nanying of the Qin Royal Navy as the commander-in-chief of the combined fleet.
Huanan Ying didn't want to get involved in this matter. Think about it, these hundreds of warships come from more than a dozen countries, and they are bound to have their own selfish motives, making it difficult to command them. The Qin army and navy have already shocked Europe with one battle, and there is no need to use victory to add points.
If I become the commander-in-chief of this joint fleet, it would be fine if I win, but if I lose, wouldn't it destroy the prestige of the Qin army and navy
Hua Nanying immediately declined, saying, "I don't want to be the commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet."
When the naval commanders of various countries saw this, they thought, this is not going to work. If you don't do it, there will be no way to smooth things over! Wouldn't everyone just disband? Everyone came here in high spirits, waiting for a big meal.
Everyone requested again and again and promised that once victory was achieved, Daqin would take 20% of the spoils.
With this condition, and considering that Li Ding's army needed the attack here to relieve the pressure, Hua Nan Yingcai reluctantly became the commander-in-chief of the joint fleet.
Hua Nanying's first order was that the combined fleet of nearly 600 large and small warships would charge into the Aegean Sea, threaten the Ottoman capital Istanbul, and force the Ottoman navy to fight a decisive battle as soon as possible.
Let’s not talk about how much shock this huge fleet, which united almost all the coastal countries in Europe, caused to the Ottoman Empire.
In the Tsaritsyn Fortress at the confluence of the Volga River and the Tsaritsyn River, Commander Ivanov was indeed tricked by Li Ding.
At this moment, Li Ding's army was blocked at the city of Kota in the Caucasus, and was out of food and grass. The city of Atyrau on the Caspian Sea organized a large amount of food and grass, which was to be transported to the city of Kota via the lower reaches of the Volga River.
This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!
Although Li Ding left 10,000 troops in the lower reaches of the Volga River to build fortifications, these 10,000 people were newly captured Kazakhs. Once attacked, how could these Kazakh prisoners of war fight for Li Ding's army and the Russian army
Man is iron, food is steel. As long as this batch of emergency food and grass is captured, Li Ding's army of tens of thousands will surely collapse due to hunger.
By then, the Caucasus, the northern shore of the Caspian Sea, even the Kipchak Steppe and Siberia will all belong to Russia.
Opportunities are rare and will never come again. Ivanov personally led 6,000 cavalrymen to set out overnight and galloped towards the lower reaches of the Volga River... ... .
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ps: Dear brothers and sisters, there are only a few days left this month, and the competition for monthly tickets is so fierce that the votes on the category list are almost mixed together. Hao Yuan can only bow and beg for monthly tickets again! I hope everyone will support me. Hao Yuan bows again!
.(To be continued..)
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