Chapter 329: The City of Vienna (2)

The 50,000 Ottoman infantry began to attack from outside the east gate wall, and the return cannons sent huge grease-soaked stones to the Vienna wall, which was the standard siege tactic, and the soldiers lay on the ground and fired at the wall, although the accuracy of the shot could not be flattering, but the dense bullets still injured and killed many soldiers who resisted stubbornly. The soldiers on the walls of Vienna also fired out of the city, but their flintlock muskets did not have the same range as their muskets, just too long to hit the Ottoman soldiers, while their artillery was slightly better enough to fire at the Ottoman return guns.

As soon as the battle outside the East Gate began, the Habsburg coalition forces on the north and south sides began to set out to support. On the south side of the city, the Ottoman soldiers had dug two trenches according to the predetermined plan, which was also told to them by Chief Khaled, the digging method of these two trenches was very distinctive, all the excavated soil was put behind him, and the back was accumulated into an earthen wall, leaving only some gaps in some places, except for these gaps, the rest of the trenches were just unpassable, and the Ottoman soldiers could retreat from the gaps, and after attacking this trench, the Habsburg coalition army could only climb up from these gaps and attack forward.

The ingenious design of the trench position made the Habsburg coalition army suffer a lot, not to mention the heavy casualties under the intensive fire of the rifles, and when they finally rushed to the first trench, they immediately jumped into the trench, ready to fight with the Ottoman soldiers, only to find that they had run along the reserved gap, and could not climb up from other places for a while, so they had to chase along the gap, but sadly found that the Ottoman soldiers had a large number of guns aimed at these cracks, and could not climb over at all.

During the fierce battle in the southern city of Vienna, reinforcements from the north of the Habsburg coalition also began to attack, and they were too numerous to lose some time because of the formation. However, the charge of the troops on this side was the same as in the south, encountering strong sniper fire from the Ottoman army, and the pace of the attack was slow, and it was also slow to open the situation.

The frontal assault of the Ottoman army still did not stop, and both sides were trying their best to organize the attack of the Habsburg coalition, and they were still firing large stones with their return cannons unhurriedly, but the east gate was very strong, except for the casualties of the soldiers, it did not have any effect at all, and even the officers commanding on the tower of the city gate found it strange.

On the northern flank, the first attacking Habsburg coalition was somewhat tired, so the second wave of troops prepared to take over the first wave, and the pace of the battle began to slow down somewhat. When the second wave of soldiers was about to enter the attack position, and the first wave of soldiers moved back, the tide of battle suddenly changed, and the Habsburg coalition was caught off guard and unable to respond effectively.

From the northeast corner, a pair of cavalry, which appeared to have more than a thousand horses, suddenly rushed out, and they quickly launched a surprise attack on the attack position of the Habsburg coalition. Seeing the Ottoman cavalry attack, the famous cavalry unit of the Polish reinforcements "hussars" quickly dispatched, they were very strong in terms of speed and bow and arrow throwing ability, and they quickly dispatched to intercept this cavalry to attack their infantry attack positions and prevent large-scale casualties among the infantry, which was their predetermined tactic, after all, when the cavalry was fighting, the casualty ratio of the two sides was not much different.

Apparently the Habsburg coalition had miscalculated this time, and this time it was not a thousand cavalry that went into battle, but I*Glae's miniature mortar unit, which was one man and two horses, in order to bring as many shells as possible. At a distance of a mile from the infantry position, the first row of 500 small shells flew towards the infantry position, and in the following short time four waves of shells smashed through. The five waves of artillery shells completely blew up the Habsburg coalition forces that were handing over positions, and the already somewhat chaotic positions were now even more unbearable, and the soldiers who had never seen this kind of fighting could not accept such huge casualties, especially the first wave of soldiers, who were beginning to retreat, so they ran faster, and under their leadership, the second wave of soldiers who had just taken over the position also began to run back, and the soldiers who had learned the same changed from withdrawing from the position to fleeing from the position, and then it turned into a rout.

Just as I*Glay's cavalry opened fire, the rest of his more than 4,000 cavalry and the cavalry corps' brigade immediately rushed out from behind the hidden infantry and rushed directly at the retreating Habsburg coalition army.

Perfect planning, excellent timing, and accurate attack lines allowed the Ottoman army to obtain the best combat results. The defeated infantry soon blocked the Polish "hussars" charging path, they had to turn their horses and retreat, trying to get the charge line again after opening the distance, but the opportunity was gone, the Ottoman cavalry corps that rushed behind them had already begun to slash, and I*Gle's team went around again, this time the target of the mortar was the "hussars", after three rounds of shelling, the "hussars" were routed like the infantry.

The most terrible thing on the battlefield is to break the army, they will not only break through the preset position, but also break the morale of the army. In fact, the two waves of soldiers in the forward position were less than 20,000 soldiers, even if the Polish "hussars" were added, there were more than 30,000 people, and the Ottoman cavalry corps that launched a counterattack in an instant was only 30,000 people, but these people quickly crushed the entire barracks of the Habsburg coalition army, and nearly 200,000 troops were all scattered, resulting in countless casualties.

The Habsburg forces attacking from the south soon received news of their defeat, and before the Ottoman army could launch a counterattack, they themselves began to flee, also suffering heavy losses.

The biggest advantage of the coalition army is that it can gather a large number of troops in the shortest time, but the biggest disadvantage is that there are too many troops and the command is not effective, so that if a part of the army is defeated, it is likely to affect more troops. It was with this point in mind that Sheikh Khalid and I-Grei developed this brilliant tactic, and they succeeded.

After the defeat of the reinforcements, the soldiers who remained in the city of Vienna to defend were even more unstable, and enough oil-soaked stones were piled up at the head of the city, followed by the firing of clay pots and fireballs, and the raging fire burned at the east gate, and the soldiers at the head of the city suffered heavy casualties, completely lost the will to fight, and then the Ottoman army broke through the city wall.

Vienna is an ancient city with a rich history and the center of Habsburg rule, and with the rise of the Habsburg royal family, magnificent Gothic architecture has sprung up. After the fifteenth century, it became the capital of the Roman Empire and the economic center of Europe. Handicrafts and commerce are extremely developed, and wealth and works of art are innumerable.

According to the old practice, every time an enemy city is captured, it will be completely looted, and finally the city will be destroyed, so that it will not be used by the local government again. But this time the Ottoman Empire did not do this, because Murad IV found that the effect was not good, except that most of the wealth was collected by officers and soldiers privately, and his own gains were very small, basically not worth the investment in the war, unless he personally led the team. However, if the soldiers were not allowed to hide their belongings, the soldiers and the generals who led the troops would lose the motivation for the war in the future, and Murad IV came up with an even more brilliant idea to benefit both the army and himself.

After the soldiers entered the city of Vienna, they did not kill people or set fires, except for the killing of the resistance of the army, they did not massacre those who surrendered or gave up resistance, but only looted the homes, shops, and treasury of the city of Vienna, and most of this money became the personal belongings of officers and soldiers.

But unlike in the past, all the captives and important members of the Habsburgs were brought together, and Patriarch Khalid personally negotiated with them, yes, with them. Patriarch Khalid told them that the Ottomans did not covet their land, that their land was large enough, and that the reason why they wanted to capture Vienna was because they interfered in the internal affairs of the Ottoman Empire, instigated and supported the rebellion in the Ottoman Empire, and caused great losses to the Empire, so they had to be punished, that is, they could be released, but they had to pay a ransom. Ransom payments were an important source of wealth for nomadic tribes, and the Ottoman Empire had done so for a long time, and now it was back to its old ways.