"Fire!" Following Wen Di's order, more than 200 cannons opened fire one after another, and the shells flew towards the delta, marking the beginning of the Battle of Cairo.
While the artillery roared, the multinational 'soldiers' who had been prepared set up boats to cross the river. In an instant, countless pieces of wood floated on the Nile, almost covering the entire river.
Of course, the Mamluks and Ottomans in the delta immediately counterattacked. They did not have many artillery and did not dare to fire at will, so they used various trebuchets and large crossbows; the river on the west side of the delta was only more than thirty feet wide, and trebuchets and crossbows
The range of the aircraft was not enough to deal with cannons, but it was enough to deal with small boats on the river. Suddenly, many stones and arrows flew high into the air and landed on the river. They could probably hit a small boat. They were shouting something.
The person who shouted the slogan of the attack suddenly screamed, and blood oozed from the back that was hit by the stone. However, no one paid attention to him. Others on the boat hurriedly tried to block the hole made by the stone. But they sat down
It was originally a small boat, and the water came out very fast, and soon the small boat sank to the bottom of the river. The soldiers held their swords in their mouths and swam to the shore, but the soldiers in the delta were also ready and braved the artillery fire.
Rush to the shore and shoot arrows into the water to kill the enemies who fall into the water one by one.
But even so, there were still many small boats approaching the delta. The people on the boats jumped out and rushed to the shore. Mamluk or Ottoman soldiers came forward to fight with them. Most of the people who charged were not very good at martial arts and could not form a knot.
The formation was no match for the Tianfang cultists on the opposite side. Seeing everyone around them being killed, some people dropped their swords and turned around to escape, but they were all shot to death by javelins or arrows, and few were able to swim back. Of course, even if they swam back
There will be no good end if you go back. The Ming soldiers wearing armor formed a supervising team and patrolled the river bank. When they saw those who escaped back, they would kill them with a knife.
"It looks like we are going to lose." Wen Di put down the clairvoyance in his hand and said.
"If you can conquer the Delta by driving some slaves and fanatic believers who are fanatical but don't know how to fight, then the Ottoman Empire will not become stronger and stronger." Alfonso, standing next to him, had a look of indifference on his face.
, said. This morning was just their exploratory attack, just like last night when they secretly sent people to swim to try to cross the delta. I would be happy to succeed, but there would be no regrets if not.
"I was very surprised by the scene when so many artillery pieces fired at the same time. I feel that I will never forget it." Although there were only more than 200 artillery pieces firing at the same time, Alfonso was stunned and couldn't help but say.
Wen Di just laughed twice and said nothing. Alfonso added: "It's just that I think it's a waste to use artillery to provide cover for these cannon fodder. The more than a thousand artillery shells fired in the five salvos just now hit Castile
The cost of production in the Kingdom of Leah is thousands of silver coins, and including the freight to transport them to Egypt, this bombardment cost tens of thousands of silver coins." Speaking of this, Alfonso seemed to be heartbroken and couldn't go on.
He was paralyzed, covering his chest with his hands.
"You must have robbed a lot of property in Alexandria before, so you can't even afford the money. And 60% of the cannonballs are from the Ming Dynasty, and only 40% are from you. I haven't said anything about the more expensive ones.
, you complained, which is not appropriate." Wen Di finally asked: "Where are the tens of thousands of silver coins you mentioned?"
"Oh, in order to facilitate trade with the Ming Dynasty, my father and Queen Catherine have decided to change the currency system of the two countries to the same as that of the Ming Dynasty, issuing gold and silver coins of the same weight and specifications. So it can be said to be the silver coins of the Ming Dynasty.
It is also the silver coin of the Kingdom of Castile and Aragon." Alfonso answered the question first, and then said: "Even if there are only more than four thousand silver coins, it still makes me very distressed. After occupying Alexandria, a lot of money was lost to mercenaries.
It's impossible to get them back if they've been stolen, and we can't use this as an excuse to reduce their rewards, so we didn't get much gold, silver, and other valuable things."
"I still suggest that you don't use artillery for cover when using cannon fodder in the future." Alfonso finally said solemnly to Wen Di.
"In this case, there is no need for artillery to provide cover." Wen Di disagreed with his idea, but the cannon fodder was all Egyptian locals or people brought by Alfonso from Fu. Even the Indians were not used as cannon fodder and died.
He didn't feel bad about it, so he agreed.
They were saying that the offensive in the morning was over. The more than 4,000 cannon fodders who were driven onto the battlefield were allowed to withdraw except for a handful of the last batch of chargers. The others were all killed in battle or executed by the supervising team. The coalition forces lost
Hundreds of boats, thousands of swords, and more than a thousand cannonballs were used; in exchange for the Mamluks and Ottomans losing about 200 soldiers, tens of thousands of arrows, and hundreds of stones. Alfonso felt that this exchange
It's more than acceptable, and Wen Di doesn't object to his opinion. After all, cannon fodder is everywhere and can be caught at will, and the boats are made of rough wood and haven't even been dried in the shade. Even if they don't sink in the water, they won't be usable in a few months.
After discussion, the two decided to continue to use cannon fodder tactics, consuming arrows and stones from the Mamluks and Ottomans. After these were consumed, elite troops were used for the landing battle.
The two of them had good ideas, but the arrival of the Ottoman Navy disrupted their plans.
…
…
"Your Highness, today is the fifth day of using cannon fodder. Although the arrows of the Mamluks and the Ottomans have not been used up, I see that they have been used up, and we can use elite troops to attack Kailuo.
"That evening, after withdrawing his troops and returning to the camp, Cao Xing came to Wen Di's camp and had a casual chat with him.
"What? General Cao can't bear it?" Wen Di asked.
"It is indeed a bit unbearable." Cao Xing did not hide his thoughts, nodded and said: "After all, they are all human beings, and it is unbearable to see them being driven to death." Although the people he led his troops to kill were far away.
There were more people who had been driven to die in the past few days, but in his opinion, those people were enemies, and even if these people were cannon fodder, they could barely be considered one of his own.
"General Cao, since there are only three of us, let me just say it straight. Even if they are not driven to death, will they be able to survive in the future?" Wen Di glanced sideways at Li Jiqian, who was also in the tent, and then turned his face.
He said to Cao Xing solemnly.
"Hey!" Cao Xing sighed, stopped talking about the matter, and turned to ask Li Jiqian: "Why did you come here instead of staying at the port?"
"The navy doesn't have much to fight. Since we occupied Suez Port, even pirates have stopped plundering at sea within a radius of 500 miles. The Ottomans and Egyptians don't dare to come and cause trouble, so I handed over the fleet to a few
Commander, come here and see how Fu's navy fights." Li Jiqian replied.
"See how Fu's navy fights? Will the navy still be at war with Fu's country?" Cao Xing asked again.
"Even if we don't go to war with them, look at how they use warships and artillery to make up for their weaknesses; not to mention whether we will fight with the navy in the future. The Suez Canal must be repaired, and I have sent a few troops during this period.
They explored from south to north and asked the locals. There are several large and small lakes between Port Suez and Port Said. The terrain is flat. There should be nothing impossible to build the canal. It just depends on how much it costs.
."
"When the canal is built, the country's navy and merchant ships will be able to directly enter the Indian Ocean. They may do business honestly at first, but gradually they will start to think of occupying a place in the Indian Ocean or even the Southeast Asia. In the Western Regions,
That’s it? The Venetians and the Genoese occupied the east coast of the Caspian Sea. If His Highness, King Qin, hadn’t suppressed them, they would have expanded inland.”
"Your Majesty will definitely not allow them to occupy land east of India. There will be no war at all." Li Jiqian said.
"Even if the Suez Canal is built, it will still be under the control of the Ming Dynasty and the Kingdom of Castile. There will only be merchant ships and a few half-commercial and half-war ships. Can naval forces other than the Kingdom of Castile come over?"
"The country of Castile cannot afford to offend so many countries." Li Jiqian replied: "If you don't let other warships pass, you will offend all the countries. No, not only the countries, but also countries like the Ottomans."
Thinking that the navy can move back and forth between the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf, Castile does not dare to offend so many countries at once. His Majesty also said that he will not invest much in Egypt, and not even many Han people will move here. Egypt will definitely
It's the Castilians who have made the decision, and the country's navy will definitely come."
"Then why build the Suez Canal? How will this benefit the Ming Dynasty?" Cao Xing was puzzled.
"This is His Majesty's will." Li Jiqian himself didn't know what benefit it would bring to the Ming Dynasty, so he could only answer this way. When Cao Xing heard this, he stopped asking.
But at this moment, he remembered what Li Jiqian had said before, and suddenly his heart moved. Just as he was about to say something, he saw the curtain of the tent was opened, and a guard guarding the door came in and said: "Your Highness, from the Kingdom of Aragon
His Highness Alfonso asks for an audience."
"It's this time, what is he doing here?" Wen Di asked doubtfully, but stood up and walked out of the tent to meet him. But he had only taken a few steps when he saw Alfonso running towards him.
Come, Wen Di was very surprised: "Isn't he always very particular about etiquette? Why does he ignore etiquette now?"
But he knew the reason immediately. Alfonso ran to him panting, took a breath and said immediately: "Wen Di, the Ottoman Empire's navy has also entered the Nile River!"
(In order to conform to speaking habits, some names for people from different countries in the article are different, such as Fu/Europe, Navy/Navy, General/Soldier, etc.)