After making up his mind, Aigron summoned his main confidants and conveyed his next combat instructions.
There is no doubt that since the international situation is developing in the direction he wants, he must take advantage of the trend - he knows that how much weight he can have on the stage depends entirely on how many achievements he has achieved.
Although he has won a glorious victory now, it is not enough. He needs more and greater victories to embellish himself.
He had captured Nafpaktos and held it, and then he would march westward to try to capture Mesolongion, as he had said in his letter to Theresa.
After the previous battle was over, he gave the entire army a temporary rest to recover from the inevitable fatigue caused by continued fighting, while taking the opportunity to replenish his troops.
After this period of rest, he felt that his men had been refreshed and it was time to face new challenges - and during this period, by receiving the volunteers and Greeks sent from the rear by Theresa, he
The number of troops in his hand has reached five to six thousand, which not only makes up for the losses caused by the previous war, but is even larger than when he first set out for the expedition.
He was able to recover so quickly, partly because he used money to pave the way, and partly because he had established his own reputation in Greece, which spread throughout Europe as time went by, and his victory had already
Those who had longed for the Bonaparte family saw new hope.
At the same time, after being tempered by the flames of war, although his army still has many shortcomings, it at least has a backbone - strict military discipline, generous treatment, and a united officer group, which is enough to ensure basic combat effectiveness.
To describe it in one sentence - Aigron feels that he is much stronger than when he first set out for the battle.
And this gave him the confidence to carry out the next battle.
Of course, just having confidence is not enough. He knows that it is definitely not an easy bone to chew off.
After coming to Greece, he also had an in-depth understanding of the previous battles between the rebel army and the Turkish army, so he knew a series of stories surrounding Messolonghion.
This place is located at the southwest end of the Greek Peninsula, with plains to the east and west, and the sea to the south. As long as you control it, you can control a large area around it, and then control the entire southwestern region of the peninsula.
As early as the Turkish rule, there were already garrison defense here. After the Greek independent uprising swept the entire peninsula, this place quickly fell into the hands of the rebels and turned it into their key defense area.
Mesolonghion is very difficult in terms of terrain. It is located on a long and narrow peninsula, surrounded by a lagoon full of islands. Three islands, Marmaris, Crisova and Aitolico control the entrance to the lagoon.
, which makes it only need to worry about a frontal attack.
To the east of the fortress, towards the mainland, is an open plain, but there are also some swamps and trenches dug deliberately by the defenders.
After the efforts of the rebels and the careful design of the designers, a series of forts were built around the front of Messolonghion. These forts formed a triangular protrusion, so that when facing an attack, the defenders could move on several
Shoot simultaneously in different directions.
In this way, Messolonghion Fortress became the main fulcrum of the independence army's defense, and even became a symbol of the Greek independence movement in a sense.
Of course, the Sultan could not tolerate losing Greece. He quickly sent out troops to try to suppress the rebels, and Messolonghion soon became the focus of competition between the rebels and the suppressing army.
In October 1822, more than 10,000 Turkish troops led by Resid Muhammad Pasha, with the help of a fleet, besieged Mesolonghion. Initially, the defenders only had a few hundred people, but they were tenacious.
Resistance, while using negotiations to delay time, eventually, thousands of reinforcements from the Peloponnese Peninsula in the south arrived at the fortress, and together they defeated the Turkish army's attack at the end of that year.
The Turks were not reconciled to defeat. In September 1823, they gathered another army and launched a second attack on Mesolonghion.
However, due to corruption and laziness within the Turkish army, their offensive organization was very chaotic, and the defenders, like last time, used strong defense to defeat every attack.
Two months later, with the arrival of winter, the Turkish army had to retreat in disgust.
After resisting two rounds of attacks by the Turkish army, Mesolonghion became famous and became a holy place in the hearts of people who supported the cause of Greek independence throughout Europe.
Soon afterwards, the great poet Byron also came here. He was ambitious and wanted to devote everything he had to Greek independence and start a great career.
After he settled here, he spent his wealth to recruit a small army, and then formulated an attack plan, hoping to use this place as a base to capture Nafpaktos and completely liberate northern Greece.
However, Byron did not expect that he would die of illness here not long after in April 1824, and his plan was aborted (of course, even if he wanted to execute it, with his weak military strength, it might not be possible)
).
Shortly after Byron's death, in the spring of 1825, the Turkish army, unwilling to fail, once again besieged the Greeks. This time, the leader of the army was Resid Muhammad Pasha, who had failed in the first siege.
When sending troops, the Sultan gave the pasha a death order, "Either capture Messolonghion or have your head cut off" - the Sultan would never tolerate the failure of the third siege.
Resid Muhammad Pasha brought his 20,000 troops to the city of Mesolonghion again and began the third siege.
So a brutal battle began.
Perhaps because of the threat from the Sudan, the Pasha worked very hard this time and immediately asked his men to build many trenches around the front of Mesolonghion. Then, through the trenches, his men gradually approached the fortress, waiting for an opportunity to launch an attack.
However, the Greek defenders in the fortress, although their strength was far inferior to that of the Turkish army, knew that they were fighting for their lives and their homeland, so they still resisted as hard as before, whenever there was a gap in the defense line.
, the defenders would launch a ferocious counterattack and push back the enemy forces, and all the civilians of Mesolonghion, both men and women, would work together at night to help the defenders fill the gap.
In this way, even though Resid Muhammad Pasha led his men to launch multiple rounds of attacks, they were still unable to achieve anything. For several months, he made little progress and was unable to break the will of the defenders.
In the autumn of 1825, this time the Turks had an extra ally - Ali Pasha of Egypt also sent troops to participate in this expedition. After the Egyptian army joined the war, the Greek Independence Army, which had already been greatly damaged by internal strife,
The situation became even worse. As a new force, the Egyptian army swept almost the entire Greece.
In January 1826, Ali Pasha's son Ibrahim joined the siege of Mesolonghion with about 10,000 Egyptian troops. His army also brought a large number of cannons and even a small
maritime fleet support.
The Turkish army, which had been exhausted during the siege, regained its spirit this time. Under the orders of Turkish and Egyptian officers, the besieging army launched multiple attacks. Thousands of artillery shells swept away almost all the residences in the fortress.
The gunboats at sea also cooperated to help, destroying the will of the defenders together.
Taking advantage of the advantage of landing at sea, the Turks finally controlled all the supply lines of Mesolonghion, and during the year-long siege, the defenders' reserves had been exhausted, and starvation inevitably came to these people.
On the head of the Greeks.
Devastated by hunger, the soldiers and civilians in the city ate up everything they could eat, including cats and horses, and Ibrahim Pasha now demanded that everyone in the city surrender. People could choose to be sold into slavery or converted.
If you are a Christian, you can at least escape death.
However, the Greeks in the city refused this request. Even though the situation was so desperate, they still persisted in resisting. They repelled several enemy attacks and caused many casualties to the enemy.
However, everyone knew that resistance was of no use. After discussion, the leaders of the defenders decided that everyone should break out and escape.
The besieging Turkish army discovered the defenders' escape plan, but in order not to arouse their determination to fight to the death, Resid-Muhammad Pasha deliberately played a trick of "surrounding three and missing one" and did not actively stop the defenders and
The flight of residents.
On the night of April 10, 1826, the defenders began to assemble and evacuate as planned. They launched a desperate attack, hoping to break the enemy's encirclement and escort the civilians away.
However, marching and fighting at night were completely unable to maintain discipline. The entire breakout operation fell into chaos from the beginning. When these breakout soldiers and civilians crossed the front line, they were immediately intercepted by the besieging Turkish army. In the chaos at night
The Greeks were either trampled to death or fell into ditches and drowned.
At this time, the besieging army, which had been preparing for an attack, finally launched a general attack. They took advantage of the chaos of the defenders and rushed into Mesolonghion. Then, they killed the remaining defenders and citizens and set fires everywhere.
In this way, amid the wails and explosions, Mesolonghion finally returned to the hands of the Turks.
As for the breakout soldiers and civilians who were lucky enough to break through the defense line, their nightmare was not over yet. After daylight fell, the Turks sent out cavalry to hunt down and intercept the fleeing defenders and refugees in the wilderness. The men were killed, and the women and children were killed.
Captured and sold into slavery - only about 1,000 people managed to escape this disaster in the end, while the rest had to face this fate.
However, although Messolonghion eventually fell and the defenders' resistance failed, their tenacity and perseverance in repelling enemy attacks many times over several years would not be forgotten.
Although they were destroyed, it was only because of the disparity in strength between the enemy and ourselves. In terms of will, this defeat could indeed be called a heroic epic. Those losers had absolutely nothing to be ashamed of.
In other words, if every Greek independence army could show this kind of fighting will, and if their leadership had not fallen into chaos due to endless internal strife, maybe the Greek independence cause would not have fallen into such a dark and desperate situation...
After finally capturing Messolonghion, the Turkish and Egyptian armies vented their accumulated desire for destruction and killing. Then, most of the armies left to engage in new wars with the rebels, leaving only
Part of the army continues to be stationed here.
Aiglon currently does not know how many enemy troops are stationed in this fortress, but he guesses that the number should be between a few thousand.
However, considering that the terrain of Mesolonghion is so dangerous and solid, even if there are only a few thousand people, it will be enough to give him a headache.
Fortunately, he was not without good news - before, Mesolongion's defenders had marched from the west and participated in the siege of Nafpaktos, and in a series of battles, he severely damaged the troops who besieged him.
army.
Although the defenders of Mesolongion were not annihilated and most of them retreated, they must have suffered a lot of losses - and they must have become psychologically afraid of themselves, which would make them originally
Morale that was not high became even lower.
But even so, Aigron still dared not be too optimistic, because the previous performance of this fortress was brilliant enough - the Greeks, with their inferior strength, repelled the Turkish army's attacks many times, and the defenders did not fight until they ran out of ammunition and food.
collapsed.
The benefits of obtaining Mesolongion are great, but if he is not careful, he will also suffer heavy losses here, so Aigron does not dare to be too confident.
Although he is a big gambler, he knows that his gambling capital is very small, so every time he seems to make a bold bet, he only takes action when he feels that he is confident enough.
But this time, he must be more cautious.
After some calculation, Aigron summoned his confidant Edmond Dantès, Count of Monte Cristo.
"Your Majesty, what are your orders?" Edmond Dantès asked respectfully after seeing him.
"Edmund, do you know where our army's next target is?" Aigron asked.
"I know, you want to lead us to capture Mesolonghion." Edmond Dantès was stunned for a moment, and then answered.
"Then do you know what happened there before?" Aigron asked knowingly.
In fact, the fortress did not fall until 1826, which was only more than a year ago. Of course Edmund, who has been in Greece for so long, knew about it.
"I know."
Edmond Dantes nodded, then looked at the young man, waiting for his instructions.
"Then are you afraid? We may have to use our flesh and blood to attack a truly strong fortress." Aigron asked him with a smile.
"Your Majesty, I have never had fear in my heart." Edmund immediately replied, "If you ask me to go on an expedition to hell, I will ride on my horse immediately."
"Hahahaha! That sounds good!" Aigron couldn't help laughing.
Then, he gently patted Edmund's shoulder, "Edmund, even if you are willing to die, I am not willing to waste your lives easily, because I will need you more in the future... So I think we are going to
It is in our interest to capture it with as little bloodshed as possible."
"Then what are you going to do?" Edmund asked quickly.
"I don't know this yet." Aigron shook his head honestly, and then added, "But I think there must be Greeks who know - don't forget, it was only more than a year after the fall of Messolonghion, and inside
Many people have escaped, and we will definitely be able to find some people who are familiar with it."
Then, he increased his voice and said, "Go find me, whether it's a Greek in our army or a Greek from outside, bring this kind of person to me as soon as possible!"