The Danube flows slowly, originating from the mountains of Germany, carrying the bits and pieces left by people of different nationalities in different places on its banks, through the vast fields of Austria and Hungary, through the valleys and forests of Croatia and Bosnia, and after a long journey, into the delta of the Bucharest Plain, where the waters are abundant, and then it flows eastward to the Black Sea.

At this time, no one has yet sighed that this river is so beautiful, so there will be no famous heirloom to praise this great river that flows through more than a dozen countries.

On the river, however, a frightening fleet of boats was drifting down the Danube, and the large boats were full of intimidating infidels, and when some of the local children on the riverside stood on the bank of the river and looked at them out of curiosity, they were often hastily pulled away by their families, and then immediately closed their doors, leaving only a large fleet of boats drifting slowly downstream.

A bloated Ottoman stood on the deck of a ship, and beside him, a cannon glittered in the sun.

The Ottoman reached out and stroked the barrel of the cannon, which had been burned a little by the midday sun, his skin was whiter than most Ottomans, and the contours of his face looked more like that of a European in some places.

He wore a large turban on his head, a circle of jewels set around the edge of the turban shimmered with a multicolored light, his hands clenched the hilts carved into ivory, and a pair of shrewd boots on his feet lit lightly on the deck from time to time, as if beating a tune that no one could hear.

Looking at the villages along the coast with their doors and windows closed, the Ottoman man's eyes flashed with mockery, and he leaned over the cannon and squinted one eye as if he was aiming, and then his lips puffed out, making a gentle "boom" that mimicked the explosion of an explosion.

A man walked briskly behind the Ottoman and stopped and bowed: "Venerable Pasha, we are all ready, as soon as you give the order, we can enter the mouth of the Dembvica River at once. ”

"That's great, that Sisugu has been delayed for too long, and I even have some doubts that he will be able to complete the Sultan's mission." The Ottoman, known as Pasha, complained a little, he looked at his subordinates behind him, and saw that his originally clean and white shirt was covered with mud stains, and his face couldn't help but show a trace of disgust, "It seems that Xi Sugu is not going well, is his enemy very powerful?" ”

"It's a bit of a hassle, but I believe it should have been resolved by this time, as far as I know, before I returned, Xi Sugu had ordered his army to attack along the riverbank." The subordinate thought for a while, the corners of his mouth were imperceptible to a smile, thinking about the past discord between his governor and Xi Sugu, and he understood that the governor rarely seized such an opportunity to ridicule the actions of the favored general beside the Sultan, "But his enemy is indeed not simple, it is said that Xi Su Gu has already fought with that person in the Alger River before, although if there is no reinforcement that person is doomed, but it is said that Xi Sugu's situation at that time is not very good, So as soon as reinforcements were sent from the Bucharest side, he immediately retreated. ”

"yes, that's good news, I'd love to get to know that guy," the Ottoman laughed, and he asked with interest, "Tell me what Sisugu looks like, I think it must be wonderful." ”

"But for a proud man, it's better to be able to take on an enemy than to be defeated by a stupid one."

Hearing his subordinates say such philosophical words, the Ottoman burst out laughing again, but when he looked back at the river in front of him, his eyes slowly revealed a look that was completely different from the one he had just smiled.

"Do you think it's safe to enter the Dembvica River?" Pasha asked his subordinates without looking back.

"It depends on whether the Sisugu has annihilated the enemy on the other side, or at least has driven them away from the vicinity of the two fortresses along the river, so that they can lay siege to those forts on the shore, and at least one of them will be captured to ensure that our fleet will not be attacked."

"So pray for a victory for Sisugu, at least this time I hope he will go well." The Ottomans said and looked to the shore again, "It is not like a stream like the Danube in the Mediterranean, but it is like a gutter at the door to the Danube, and I hope that by the time we arrive, the Sissougu has solved our problems for us." ”

At this time, Sisugu was indeed solving the trouble, but it was not the trouble of the Ottoman naval governor, but his own.

After confirming that the main force of Montina's army had gradually moved from the swamp direction to the right flank of the front, Sisugu decided to use his superiority in strength to launch an attack on Montina's army.

For Xi Sugu, victory is what he ultimately pursues, which makes him not deliberately pursue parity with the enemy just to prove that he has a higher command art than the other party, and when he has enough troops, he will definitely not care if he is so victorious, but will put all the forces at his disposal.

Now is the time when he thinks it's time to use all his strength.

Crossing the swamp is a difficult task for ordinary people, but too difficult for a heavily armed army, let alone an enemy.

The Ottoman infantry walked cautiously through the muddy water, the difficult terrain made it impossible for them to maintain their formation, and the soldiers were sparsely scattered and struggling to move forward, while they had to be prepared for the possibility of sinking into a deep quagmire under their feet.

There were not many dry roads for the army to traverse, and most of them were too narrow for three men to march side by side, so the Ottomans had to form several columns and slowly advance with local guides.

Many of the trees in the swamp have been reduced to shriveled trunks and bare branches due to years of corrosion, and from a distance they look like the skeletons of a giant with no flesh and skin.

Although it was noon, the hot water vapor of the sun overhead made the swamp look foggy, and it was not so clear at a distance.

A guide stopped after passing through a dry willow forest, and he gestured to the Ottoman officer who was following him to point to the empty water outside the willow forest.

"See, this is the most dangerous part of this swamp, and there's a river down there."

"Below?" The Ottoman officer looked puzzled: "You said the bottom of this swamp?" ”

"I mean our feet," the guide poked the mud puddle in front of him with his wooden staff, and the muddy water churned up a string of blisters, "Don't look at the water in front of us, there is a deep place and the mud is rotten, if you accidentally walk in, you may sink and never get up again." ”

The Ottomans licked their lips and showed a hint of fear, they were used to galloping on the vast desert, even the mountains of the Balkans were not so difficult to accept, but the swamp in front of them was really a little intimidating, looking at the calm water, imagining that there was an invisible abyss below, which made the Ottomans nervous.

"Follow me, watch the traces I have left behind," said the guide, beckoning to the Ottoman soldiers with bundles of wooden bars on their backs to follow him, "stick the sticks into the ground as I say, and tell those behind to be careful not to knock them over, or they will be in trouble." ”

The Ottomans began to move on, and the officers who followed the guide looked to the sides and shook their heads with a little envy.

Of course, this is not the only place in the whole swamp that can be passed, and most of the other roads that can be passed are not dangerous, maybe the road is a little difficult to walk, but it is not so shocking.

However, if they wanted to attack the Montina position from the swamp, they had to have a wide enough front for the Ottomans to form up, and the Ottomans were obviously unlucky, because they had not only a dangerous swamp in front of them, but also an artillery position that was small enough to pose a threat to them.

11 guns, the largest number that Gompati could collect in Bucharest.

Although only four of these guns can barely be considered heavy guns, the others are almost all small guns that are not much larger than the Eagle Cannon.

The guns were mounted on low box carts propelled by wooden wheels, and when they were pushed into the water, the wheels were pulled out, and the buoyancy caused the wooden box carts to instantly turn into small boats, which the soldiers pushed and pulled towards the position.

Gompati was not very satisfied with his results, and he knew that it was because of this that Alexander had not placed his artillery on the flanks, or in that direction which was now the real front of the battlefield, but in a relatively dry area of the swamp near his side.

Although it still felt muddy underfoot, at least compared to the Genoese who waited nervously for the Ottomans with their feet soaked in water, Gompati's artillery was enough to be envied.

However, despite the artillery, Gompati was not at ease, as he was to command the defense in the direction of the swamp according to Alexander's orders, and from what they knew, the Ottoman army on the opposite side clearly had the strength to attack both on the flanks and in the direction of the swamp.

Whether the Genoese forces alone would be able to withstand the attack worried Gompati.

In addition to concerns about the comparison of forces, those "heavy artillery" were also the reason for Gompati's distraction.

Those guns were removed by Gompati from under the "Monument to the Victors" in Bucharest.

After a search of the city and overheard that the artillery that had previously participated in the First Battle of Bucharest had been sent to the castles along the river and to Dembvica, Gompati was frustrated at the beginning and thought of other options.

He immediately went around the city again and searched everywhere, and finally let him find out that some of the cannons that had participated in that glorious battle were regarded as heroes and even holy relics against the infidels, and since they were holy relics, there should be some that although they would not be sent to Dembvica, they would also become treasures in the churches of Bucharest, so Gompati led people to wander around the city, and finally let him find a few bronze cannons in several churches that were rusty but could still be faintly seen.

Although the process of obtaining these guns did not go smoothly, after the resentment of having to abandon all artillery after the defense of the Muresh River, Gompati finally reassembled his artillery unit.

It's just that those "heavy artillery" seem to make him a little uneasy, although after removing the rusty flaps, he found that two of those cannons were actually made in Milan, but because of the age, he couldn't help but worry about whether they could take on the next heavy responsibility.

The middle of the marshland is more low-lying than the rest of the place, and perhaps because of this, the muddy pools that have accumulated all year round cannot be drained, and as the soil erodes the soil, it eventually forms a bottomless abyss.

It's just that this abyss is hidden beneath the muddy water, but this is even more dangerous and terrifying.

There were hardly any trees in that area, and from a distance it looked bare, except for the curling water vapor floating on the murky water.

Gompati looked at the cannon not far away, it was a strange cannon, small but with a long barrel, and what was even more strange was that the barrel of this cannon was a trumpet.

Even after the marks on the cannon had been cleaned up, Gompati was sure that the muzzle of the cannon was not formed by a failure in the manufacture process, but that the maker had indeed made it into the shape of a horn, for he saw a clear pattern carved along the direction of the open flare on the muzzle.

This began to wonder Gompati, and then he suddenly understood the purpose of the cannon.

Just like he used against the Venetians in Pisa, this was actually a cannon used to shoot shotguns!

It's just that the design of this gun is more ingenious, if you look closely, you will find that the caliber of the barrel of this gun is not consistent, but the larger the caliber is the further you go to the muzzle, and when you reach the muzzle, you simply cast it directly into an open flare.

This made Gompati even more sure that the gun was specially designed to deal with the infantry in dense formations, and Gompati became interested in this cannon, he wanted to know who designed it, but the urgency of the situation made him have no time to carefully remove the rust spots on the cannon except to clean the barrel of the gun as soon as possible, so he could not see the words etched on the barrel.

A shrill brass trumpet sounded through the damp marsh, and Gompati stood up, and he saw that the Genoese on the left side of the position were somewhat confused, or rather glad that they finally did not have to soak in the water any longer, and soon the Genoese began to advance from where they had stayed.

However, according to Gompati's previous orders, the Genoese sword and shield soldiers did not advance for long before stopping.

"It's a pity that you can't use crossbow arrows." Gompati took a breath of damp air and whispered, the muddy terrain is not good for the attack, but it also limits the play of the Genoese crossbow, but looking at the land on the other side, Gompati patted the strangely shaped cannon next to him, "But it's not bad here." ”

As his words fell, a blur of figures appeared across the swamp.

The all-out offensive of the Ottomans began.