"Maurice, give me back my legion!"

"Damn it Maurice, give me back my legion!"

On September 11, 1625, from the depths of a palace in the Vatican in Rome, such heart-rending roars were heard constantly. This roar was so angry that the Spanish court was proud to be selected as a chamberlain of the king.

The servants all closed their mouths, lowered their footsteps, and stayed as far away from the room where the roar came from as possible.

From the evening of September 4th to the early morning of September 5th, local time, the Ottomans gathered 70,000 soldiers and launched a counterattack against Maurice's defense line outside Jerusalem. On the one hand, their soldiers were brave, and on the other hand, they were extremely lucky: they happened to meet

When the opponent's new soldiers are preparing to enter the fighting position from the rear, and the soldiers originally on duty are preparing to retreat.

Of course, a commander like Morris was not a vegetarian. Although he was temporarily confused by the opponent's fierce shelling, he soon began to reorganize the defense line with the help of Spain's outstanding middle and lower-level officers.

However, no one expected that in this era when machine guns were popular, the opponent would actually have such a large cavalry regiment! What was even more unexpected was that the opponent would dare to directly send out cavalry to charge without first sending infantry to test the firepower!

The rewards of such a bold move were rich: although the cavalry were knocked off by the remaining machine gun points of the Spanish first line of defense during the charge, no less than two thousand cavalry were killed, and nearly two thousand cavalry were lost when they crossed the opponent's first trench.

Half. But when the remaining five or six thousand cavalry rushed into the Spanish defense line, raised their six-round pistols and started beating randomly, and then waved their sabers to chop in all directions, the entire Spanish army was completely in chaos.

The cavalry's relentless attack in front made it impossible for the Spanish infantry along the way to effectively organize the second and third lines of defense. Behind the Persian cavalry, more than 50,000 infantry followed closely, forcing the Spaniards to rely on their respective officers.

Under the leadership of the leader, several or dozens of people formed a small stronghold to resist, but were never able to restore a complete overall defense line.

As a result, the broken defense line and the entire army fought independently... In the early morning of the 5th, the Spanish finally collapsed completely under the crazy attack of the Ottoman-Persian coalition forces. One person turned his head and fled westward, followed by countless others.

From the early morning of the 5th to the dusk of the 7th, the Ottoman and Persian coalition forces pursued the Spanish army for three days! The fifty kilometers of road from Jerusalem to Gaza were littered with Spanish corpses.

During these three days, Morris did not want to organize his troops to fight back. However, his idea was ruthlessly suppressed by the Persian cavalry: As the Persians who relied on heavy cavalry to fight against the heavy infantry of the Roman Empire in the early years

, their superiority in cavalry can be said with pride since ancient times! Morris tried his best, and only a few hundred people gathered. Before the heavy machine guns were set up, the wind-like cavalry immediately surrounded them.

…

In short, at the dusk of the 7th, the defeated Spaniards ran to the vicinity of Gaza, received assistance from the sailors who came ashore in the fleet, and repelled the Ottomans who had been pursuing for three days. In fact, they were at the end of their war effort. After some inventory, they discovered that

There are only more than 17,000 Spanish troops left in Gaza.

You know, the Spaniards have concentrated eight divisions in Jerusalem, with a total strength of 120,000 troops. Although as time goes by, Spanish officers and soldiers who have escaped will definitely continue to come to Gaza to join forces. But

In any case, almost 100,000 people were lost in this defeat!

Not only that, because our side finally collapsed instead of retreating in an orderly manner, all the heavy equipment was lost.

Not only did these eight divisions lose a total of 100,000 people. There are also two divisions in Jerusalem, with more than 20,000 people! If you really count it like this, ten Spanish divisions were crippled: the whole of Spain

Twenty new military divisions, half of them were lost at once!

Morris, who was nearly sixty years old, could not face such a defeat calmly. After handing over the command to the hurriedly arrived naval commander-in-chief, Count Baroudis, he ignored the rule that Christians cannot commit suicide and committed suicide.

: In the words of his suicide note, this was the biggest punishment he could give himself. Otherwise, he would not be able to explain it to His Majesty Philip who trusted him!

Speaking of which, on the night of the 4th, after the Ottomans opened fire on the Spanish positions, two divisions in Jerusalem also quickly opened up: Coutinho and Fernando, two of Rudolf's confidants, were dissatisfied with Philip and wanted to

They want to gain a higher status to find the truth about Rodolfo's sudden death, but they don't want to destroy Spain.

Therefore, that night, the two divisions also began to leave the city to attack the Ottoman positions in the early morning of the 5th.

But unfortunately, they encountered the Sixth Division of the Ming Dynasty, which had the exclusive title of "Iron Wall". Although this division had only more than 9,000 combatants at this time, it relied on the dense defense line and the Sixth Division was already good at defense.

In the west, the Ottoman-Persian coalition forces defeated Morris's army, while in the east, Coutinho and Fernando tried their best and paid the price of more than 3,000 killed on their own side, but they failed to break through the enemy guarded by Zhao Lijiao and Luo Xiong.

One step in defense!

For Zhao's followers, they had actually made up their mind: they would withdraw their entire army to the Ming Dynasty after the messengers sent by them had reconnected with their navy and determined the meeting point. But on the one hand, there were two soldiers in Jerusalem.

The division relied on the help of the navy to defeat them badly in the past few days. On the other hand, Richelieu promised: As long as the 6th Division helps them fight this battle, after the battle is over, he will send out manpower to search for them with all their strength.

Containing the remains of the 6th Division that retreated from Sinai and the remains of the fallen soldiers, and sending envoys to negotiate with the Spaniards to get back the captured officers and soldiers of the 6th Division - if it weren't for this condition, Zhao Zhijiao wouldn't even bother to look at Richelieu.

In any case, for the Ottoman Empire, the Jerusalem Counterattack was a victory. While causing Spain no less than 100,000 losses, such a great victory also completely stabilized Ibrahim's ass on the throne of the Grand Vizier.

Come down.

Of course, the Ottomans were happy, but the Spaniards were in tears. On the 11th, the news reached Rome, and Philip lost control on the spot. After that, he hid in a room and roared heartbreakingly for most of the day.

There was a steady sound of footsteps, and the previously uneasy attendants looked up, but it was Earl Tilly, the nominal chief of staff of the 500,000-strong army who had been almost invisible during this period, and the empire's marshal.

With a creaking sound, the heavy door was pushed open. When Tilly walked into the room, he saw a disheveled, pale-faced Philip who was in a trance.

"Your Majesty, what's wrong with you? Please cheer up!"

"I can't cheer up, Your Excellency, there are ten divisions! Half of the new army is gone! Maurice has betrayed my trust!"

"Your Majesty, yes, we have suffered an unprecedented defeat. But, isn't it just a defeat in a battle? In my nearly sixty years of military career, I have had many glorious victories, but they are far more important than anything else.

Far less than the number of times I have failed. Your Majesty, failure is not terrible. What is terrible is that one failure destroys a person's will! I have failed countless times, and I have also experienced decadence and despair. But as long as I can still stand up

, you will still be energetic to win the next battle!"

"Your Excellency, do we still have hope of victory?"

"Of course, Your Majesty! And in my opinion, this defeat will make our goal clearer. Your Majesty, please get up and I will explain it to you."

As one of the most outstanding mercenaries of this era, Count Tilly's professional ethics are unquestionable: I accept your appointment and accept your money, and I will definitely serve you with all my heart. And this Philip

Your Majesty, hey, he is very good at governing the country. In terms of fighting, he is much worse than His Highness Rudolf. And his willpower is much weaker than Rudolf. But it doesn't matter, as long as Your Majesty can handle it this time, it will be very good.

It will grow up soon.

"Your Majesty." He pulled Philip to a map and said, "After this defeat, our strategy of advancing from the north to the south has gone bankrupt. Next, we need to adjust our troops and focus on carrying out key attacks along the way."

"Which road do you think the concentration should be concentrated on, Your Excellency?"

"Southern Front!" Tilly pointed the baton heavily at Egypt: "Your Majesty, when fighting a small country, of course, you must directly penetrate into an important stronghold like its capital. If you take the stronghold, you will naturally win. But when fighting a big country like the Ottomans,

Even if we capture Constantinople, we may not be able to win. In my opinion, after this defeat, our battle with the Ottomans will inevitably become protracted. Therefore, in the next battle, we must use

The goal is to eliminate the enemy's effective forces and use the opponent's resources to support us in continuing the fight!"

"Your Majesty, I suggest temporarily abandoning the offensive on the northern front for three reasons. First, the defense system in Constantinople is extremely complete, and since our navy cannot break through the Bosporus, the Ottomans have no control over Transcaucasia.

The industrial base can continuously transport various guns and artillery to their Constantinople garrison through the Black Sea. Therefore, it makes no sense for us to hoard heavy troops near Constantinople.

Second, due to the defeat of our army in Jerusalem, the enemy's heavy troop group there can be transferred to the Asia Minor Peninsula. Relying on the other party's control of the Black Sea, they can land on the east side of the Balkan Peninsula at will. If we continue to attack the

There is a heavy accumulation of troops near Constantinople, and the enemy's landing force has cut off the retreat. Then, our northern front is also in danger of collapse!

Third, even if we capture Constantinople, what we will face next is marching on the Anatolia Plateau on the Asia Minor Peninsula. All along the way are inhabited areas dominated by the Ottomans.

There is no doubt that our advance will be very slow.

In short, even if we capture Constantinople, apart from the political gains, other benefits will be very small. Not only that, if we cannot capture this place in the near future, our Northern Front Army will also face huge challenges.

Danger."

"Well..." After Tilly's explanation, Philip's attention returned, and his previous decadent and panic expression slowly disappeared: "So, Your Excellency, where is the southern front?"

"On the southern front, we have now formed a complete encirclement in Alexandria, and we have sea control in the Mediterranean. Therefore, the Ottomans have no way to carry out large-scale rescue. In other words, it is safe for us to attack in Alexandria.

Sooner or later, we will capture Alexandria. And by capturing this place, we will naturally gain access to Egypt, a large granary. This will be extremely beneficial to support our army's subsequent operations. Moreover, after capturing Egypt, we will re-adjust our troops and enter again.

Jerusalem is completely capable of doing this. By then, the Holy City will be truly restored, and your Majesty’s reputation will only be higher!”

"..." After thinking carefully, Philip nodded heavily: "I completely agree with your analysis. Then, Your Excellency, please take the trouble to go to Sofia in person and explain us to Gustave and Wallenstein.

New plan. I decided to transfer five divisions from the northern front to the southern front, and use the remaining five divisions to lift the siege of Constantinople."
Chapter completed!