Chapter 1754 A person's diary - no need to siege the city
"After sinking most of the Ottoman warships and making sure that the escaped warships could not catch up, the ships of the Kingdom of Castile stopped and began to salvage the sailors. Of course, they could not trust and would not allow these aliens to be used.
Sailors from Christian countries, but experienced sailor slaves are very valuable, they can be resold to other countries, or even sold back to the Ottoman Empire in the future, so they are willing to salvage.”
"But they didn't salvage many people. This is the Nile River, not the sea. The sailors can swim back to the shore even if they fall into the river. In fact, although many warships were sunk, not many sailors died in the battle.
Most of the people survived, landed on the east bank of the Nile, and then fled north or east."
"But it was completely daylight at this time. After the Ottoman Empire's navy was wiped out, the Ming army could safely and boldly let the soldiers cross the river by boat. Wen Di, the seventh son of the Ming Dynasty, sent all the cavalry to the north and east of Cairo.
The area was searched for sailors. Most of them failed to escape the search of the Ming army, and only a handful of them escaped."
"The soldiers of the Ming army did not kill the captured sailors, but sold them to European businessmen at extremely cheap prices. All the businessmen who came with the army, as well as the officers of Genoa and Venice, were very happy."
"Then the coalition forces salvaged the Ottoman warships. After making up for the losses of the Kingdom of Castile, the Ming Dynasty asked for two-thirds of the remaining ships, and the European countries received a total of one-third. However, the Ming Dynasty
These ships were not repaired immediately, firstly because they did not bring the shipwrights to Egypt, and secondly because they planned to send all these ships to the Port of Suez. It seems that the Ming army regarded the Port of Suez as its future naval homeport.
It also shows that they have no interest in entering the Mediterranean."
"While salvaging the warships, the coalition launched a landing battle in the Delta. After witnessing the annihilation of the fleet, the soldiers stationed in the Delta believed that Cairo could not be defended, and their morale plummeted. The Mamluks were defending their own
Although they had property, they could still fight hard, but the Ottomans had no fighting spirit, and because they were in a dead end, if it weren't for the fact that these soldiers were elites, and Muhammad I was also a general who was good at commanding, they would probably face the enemy's attack.
Surrender directly."
"But even if they did not surrender, their combat effectiveness was very low. Muhammad I realized that the city of Cairo could not be defended. After barely resisting the Ming army's attack on the first day, he led his troops to escape from the Delta in the middle of the night."
"Muhammad I's escape made the Mamluks even more desperate. If not all their belongings were in Cairo, they might have given up resistance and surrendered to the Ming army. But once they surrendered, even if they could survive (this is not sure)
matter), not much property could be left, and their wives might be robbed, so they plucked up their courage again."
"But the Egyptians in the city are no longer willing to help with the defense. For them, there is not much difference between being squeezed by the Mamluks and being squeezed by the Ming and Castilians. Although the Ming and Castilians
The Tilians are all pagans, but the pagans may not be exploited more severely than the Mamluks, and they are not worth dying for. Even if the Mamluks force them to defend on the beach, they will immediately collapse after the Ming army launches an attack.
It took repeated killings by the supervisory team to stop them from escaping."
"Because the Ottomans fled and the Egyptians were unwilling to help defend the city, the Mamluks did not have enough troops to defend the entire delta. They wanted to withdraw all their troops into Cairo. However, the Ottomans escaped in the middle of the night. Early the next morning
The army and the Castilian army would launch an attack, and many things would not have time to move back to the city. Tatar I decided to hold on for one more day and evacuated all valuable things and everyone living outside the city back to Cairo before giving up.
Defense.”
"But his plan failed. The genius was bright, and the Ming army launched an attack with the support of artillery. The Ming army showed strong combat effectiveness. In terms of performance and results, it was even better than what I saw in India.
The expressions on the faces of the officers from European countries who were watching the battle with me at that time, whether they were from the Kingdom of Castile, the Kingdom of Aragon, the Kingdom of England, the Republic of Venice, the Republic of Genoa, etc., were very shocked.
The officer of the Republic of Venice also said that this was a textbook landing battle, and he would definitely include it in the military school textbook when he returned."
"Based on their attitude, I think after the Ming Dynasty showed powerful artillery and equally powerful infantry, no European country would have the idea of going against the Ming Dynasty, not to mention the origin of the goods that Europeans need.
They are all under the control of the Ming Kingdom, and they will never dare to offend the Ming Kingdom."
"Under the powerful offensive of the Ming army, the Mamluks defending the beach quickly collapsed and scrambled to flee back to Cairo City; those who were moving goods also threw down the things they were moving, or fled to Cairo City,
Or surrender to the Ming army. A very small number of Mamluk soldiers resisted resolutely, but were quickly eliminated by the Castilians who landed later. Some Mamluks were captured. The Ming army did not kill them at that time, but sent them to
They arrived at the military camp on the west bank of the river. But in the military camp, they were secretly executed."
"The Ming army captured a large amount of materials, such as grain, trebuchets, and neatly shaped stones, such as large crossbows and arrows. Although the Ming army had firearms as auxiliary siege equipment, General Cao Xing decided not to waste it.
These things were all used when attacking the city the next day. However, he said something very strange at that time: Maybe Cairo can be captured without these things."
"I'm very confused about this sentence: Does he think the Mamluks will collapse directly? But based on their performance in the past few days, I don't think the Mamluks will collapse. Officers from various European countries also think so. But General Cao Xing
He is also a famous general of the Ming Dynasty. He has commanded countless battles and is very famous even in Europe. He is not young yet and will not talk nonsense like a young general."
"But when I wrote this, it was already past four o'clock in the morning the next day. According to the habits of the Ming army, the soldiers should get up, wash and eat, and prepare to attack the city. My doubts may be solved soon
Untie."
After writing this, the diary writer stretched, stood up, opened the door curtain and looked outside. When he saw that soldiers had indeed gotten up, and smoke was rising from the cooking area, he was about to return to the tent and take out the toiletries.
But then he suddenly heard someone calling his name. He quickly turned his head and saw Wen Di walking towards his tent under the protection of several guards.
"Your Highness, Donatello, has met." He said in fluent Chinese.
"You got up so early." Wen Di said with a smile and walked into the tent. He looked around a few times, saw the quills and notebooks on the table, and noticed the ink on the notebooks.
Not done yet, he asked in surprise: "Have you been writing since last night and haven't slept yet?"
"Your Highness, I went to bed last night, but I woke up at the beginning of the morning. I couldn't sleep anymore, so I got up and wrote in my diary." Donatello answered.
"Do you all have the habit of writing diaries?" Wen Di asked again: "Clavio also likes to write diaries, and it seems that Ghiberti also often writes diaries."
"Your Highness, in Fu, those engaged in diplomacy, philosophers, artists and scientists all have the habit of keeping diaries." Donatello replied: "Memory is an unreliable thing. If there is any inspiration or must be remembered at the time,
If you don’t write down the things in your diary, you may forget them in a few days.”
"That's right." Wen Di nodded. Sometimes he himself couldn't remember some things, so he had to rely on others to remind him, or write them down in a notebook.
"But your main business is painting and sculpture. I remember that you wanted to draw a comic book about the Battle of Socotra Island, but you have already started writing?"
"I have already started to paint." Donatello led him to the other side, pointing to the canvas on the shelf and said: "The scene that impressed me most, where a thousand cannons started bombarding at the same time, has been painted."
When Wen Di heard what he said, he hurriedly looked over. He looked carefully at the painting temporarily named "The Roaring of the Cannon" and felt that the quality was very high. Not only did it almost truly restore the scene at that time, but it also made it look like a painting at a glance.
It made people feel so excited that they couldn't help but praise it. Then they thought of something and said: "Stop the painting of the naval battle on Socotra Island for a while and start by painting a few scenes of the landing battle."
"Your Highness, don't you draw the siege battle first after the capture of Cairo?" Donatello asked. The landing battle is certainly worth painting, but the siege battle should be larger in scale and more memorable than the landing battle.
"A siege," Wen Di heard his words, and a smile appeared on his lips. "There won't be any siege."
"Your Highness, what do you mean?" Donatello asked.
"The heavenly soldiers have a way to enter the city without walking through the city wall." Wen Di said.
"Is it possible to dig underground tunnels like the city of Delhi, dig it all the way to the city wall, and then fill it with gunpowder to blow up the city wall?" Donatello said. But he immediately denied his guess. The city of Cairo is on the delta,
The soil was so wet that it was impossible to dig a passage underground. Even if it could be dug, it would definitely not be possible within a few days. It would be better to attack the city. The Ming army still had enough cannon fodder to reduce casualties.
"It's not about digging a tunnel and blasting it." Wen Di said with a smile: "There is a tunnel under the ground. Through the tunnel, the army can enter the city of Cairo without anyone noticing. Why do we need to dig a tunnel and blow up the city wall?"
"And now that the heavenly soldiers have entered the city of Cairo, you can see that the city has been captured soon."
