Chapter 539: Rejoice
Therefore, rejoice, you heavens,
and you who dwell in them.
But woe to you, earth and sea,
for the Devil has come down to you in great fury,
for he knows he has but a short time.
- Book of Revelation, 12:12, USCCB
There is of course, a purpose for Zaganos Pasha to send all these boats.
In fact, Celalettin had roughly the same idea as his old superior. He decided to split his eight hundred men into half, five hundred men to combat the enemies head on, while two hundred men who are not that trained for combat, like the logistics and services personnel, are kept as reserves. Apart from that Celalettin personally handpicked a hundred finest men, kept them at the back banning them from attending any form of combat at all times, training again and again on how to attack in a speared formation after landing on shores.
Celalettin is waiting for his chance.
The troops of Edirne launched their assault immediately on arrival. Despite their eunuch commander being a complete jester when it comes to military planning, but at least his subordinates and junior officers still know what they are doing thanks to the leftover of Murad and Mehmed’s legacy. They understood their opponent’s tactical intentions just a few hours after arriving on the spot and developed a plan of concentrating their attacks on only one side, the one hundred cavalry force shall provide suppressive fire support, galloping at a distance away flinging their arrows towards the enemy positions.
This tactic showed its effect in just a day’s time, the troops from Edirne used its full advantage in manpower, launching one after another wave of attack in a three hour’s interval, forcing Celalettin to constantly move some of his troops from the right side to reinforce the left side that is under attack. Then three hours later, the enemies would change its target, launching an offensive on the right side, forcing Celalettin’s troops on the left side to run all the way back to reinforce as well. A huge number of stamina of Celalettin’s troops are being wasted in this process.
The three arrow towers are indeed the deadliest fortification that Celalettin’s men has built before the battle, but they immediately encountered one problem, that is the rate their arrow gets depleted is way faster than the speed it is being replenished, forcing the archers on top to slow down their rate of fire and even coming to a complete sometimes. Meanwhile hundreds of conscripted peasants are filling up sandbags throwing them down into the trenches with the cost of their lives, aiming to fill these booby traps and holes up.
It is clear that the commanders from Edirne are attempting to use this method to tire the rebels out, and then finish the rebels at once through an all-out attack at the front. Facing this situation, many came to Celalettin asking him to stop hiding his reserves and send them here at once. But the later rejected, he and his guards section joined the battle directly fighting in the most dangerous spots, even losing his blade and helmet at one point of time, but still refused to send the reserves. Whenever the junior officers came urging him again, Celalettin just simply replied that he is still waiting for a chance.
...
The rebels managed to somehow hold their grounds for four days straight under the relentless attacks by the opponents. The morale of the army has already been depleted and is on the brink of collapse if the eunuch decided to attack again. But Celalettin too knows that the statues of the enemies should not be very promising too, from his observations on the enemy encampments. He found out that as compared to a few days ago, the enemies now lay their torches and camp fires in a very disorderly manner, with not much security guard personnel going around in patrol, even religious rhythms can sometimes be heard coming from that side.
Any forms of music, rhythms or tones in army ought to be a haram that should be banned immediately by the commanders (although the Sultan himself has a mehter), and by so far this rhythm has not been stopped yet, meaning that the commanders of that army has become negligent about implementing the basic military rules, or is that the quarrels and conflicts between themselves and the eunuch has became so great that it gave them no extra time on other matters.
Celalettin is right, since the start of the battle, that eunuch appointed by the Sultana Dowager has been attempting to interfere with the control of the army, despising the commanders saying that their attack is way too slow, accusing them that they are deliberately dragging down the pace of the battle so that they can keep more manpower and preserve their overall strength. The commanders argued back with their logical military planning, only to be accused again with the charge of insubordination towards a man of higher rank.
The commander of the rebellion walked into the barracks of the reserves that night, and instantly he is swarmed by his soldiers who protested that they ought to join the fight as well, instead of getting neglected and kept in camp already, making them a thorn in their comrade’s eyes every time they drag themselves back in to camp after another enduring battle. Usually, the commander would just ask them to continue waiting for their chance, and continue their training.
Celalettin this time, however, approved their request, making a brief but sturdy pre battle talk, and then ordered them to start preparing their rations.
The soldiers know what it means to have their meal at this hour; They are going to launch an offensive in two hours’ time.
No one in the garrison closed their eyelids this night, Celalettin has banned them from sleeping. The rebelled soldiers had their rations and waited for their final order.
The night time is becoming shorter and shorter as the summer days approaches. It is around five in the early morning, and the sun is already donning its early shines a little bit over the horizon in the east. Celalettin and his hundred best men made a brief and silent morning Fajr prayer kneeling down in the direction of the holy city Makkah, and then set off for coast, untying the ships letting them into the cold Marmara waters, and set sail for a patch of shores that are clear for a crash landing. Celalettin knows from his intelligence, that the enemies should be still in their sleep at this hour.
It is obvious that days of prolonged marching, cogged up logistics process, substandard leadership, all the bloodshed against their own countrymen and lowering morales have led to the unpreventable downfall of this army’s discipline. According to the Ottoman army regulations set by Sultan Murad II, the army ought to get itself ready to start a day’s activity at five in the morning during war times. But it is clear that even the commanders of this army has forgot, or neglected about this piece of rule now.
The dawn has come, the rebels inside the garrison too prepared themselves for a new day of fighting, but instead of going back to their defensive positions, they lined up in front of the trenches in an offensive formation, and marched off towards the enemy encampment. The enemies are almost shocked out of their minds when they saw the four hundred plus rebels coming towards them, their commanders did not know what to do, whether to take their own initiative to lead their men out and take this valuable chance to encircle and destroy them? Or should they drag that eunuch out of the bed and inform him first.
They are saved of the troubles in the end, because that eunuch commander has already been informed, he came up to the walls, and too did not know what the hell are the rebels thinking by letting their troops out of the fortifications. The eunuch does not has much battlefield awareness or tactical thinking, he cannot even read the map by himself without any form of assistance. Thus to him there can only be one reason why the rebels have decided to start an offensive; they must have acquired support from somewhere else that made them confident enough. And who is strong enough to deliver help across the seas in the region? Only the Rumelians and the more dangerous rebel Zaganos Pasha.
The Rumelians definitely do not have a reason to muddle with the Ottoman internal affairs, so it must be Zaganos Pasha, he must have used this opportunity to finally cross the straits, and march onto Europa.
"Pass my orders!" The eunuch commanded in a frightened tone. "No one is supposed to launch any form of attack without my order! We shall fight a purely defensive war this time round! And send out the cavalries to the straits, watch out for any potential signs of Zaganos’ fleet!"
