After a crucial meeting with Hasher Mustafa Davizi, Gawain Gang spent almost a month in Istanbul. Vertices are updated the fastest

During this month, he made surprise visits to many of the upper echelons of the empire who had been close to the East Coast. Unfortunately, not everyone saw it: some were considered responsible, or executed, or imprisoned in the fiasco of the siege of Vienna; Others lead troops to fight on the front lines, or go to areas of chaos to try to restore order. Of course, there are also people who have nothing to do, and we Istanbul are very friendly to the people on the east coast, so Gao Wen has just received a lot of useful information from these people, which has further deepened his understanding of the current situation in this country.

In addition, Gao also had a long-door conversation with the Ottoman ambassador to the embassy, Marati, and had a full exchange of views with him, a diplomat on the front line. After all, although he once served as ambassador to Osman, after all, he has been out of office for many years, and his sensitivity and judgment on some affairs are certainly not as good as that of Marati, a full-fledged ambassador, so talking to him is still very helpful to have a clearer grasp of the whole picture.

Marati told Gao Wengang that things were not as difficult as he had imagined. Not long ago, the Ottomans had defeated the invading Polish army in the countryside of Podolia, killing and wounding more than 7,000 enemy soldiers, which was one of the highlights of a series of defeats in the past year. As for whether it has bottomed out, no one can guarantee it, but it seems that Marati is very confident, believing that the Ottomans are still "very bearable", and the east coast does not need to worry too much about its fate, but should take advantage of this very rare opportunity to seize more and more long-term benefits, such as the reform of the Ottoman Empire's economy, fiscal and taxation systems, etc.

"The Polish king Jansobieski asked his lieutenant to help the Austrians with thirty thousand troops, and he himself returned to Poland lightly, and then organized another army, with all the infantry cavalry, about twenty-five thousand men, to attack Podolia." Marati introduced to Gawaingang: "Sobieski crushed the main force of the Ottoman army under the city of Vienna, and saw many famous legions fall under the iron hooves of his cavalry, so he despised the Ottomans. This time he returned to Poland to organize an offensive against Podolia, also to recover this homeland that had been ceded to the Ottomans, but he came in a rage and left in defeat. The main reason for the defeat was the great help of the Crimean Khanate, and the Great Khan sent his henchmen to collect 20,000 elite cavalry from the country, as well as about 10,000 new infantry (led by feudal lords on the northern shore of the Black Sea) with more than fifty artillery pieces to attack the Poles from the flank. Later, the Duke of Moldavia across the Dniester River also arrived with more than 10,000 soldiers to reinforce the Polish offensive together with the original Turkish defenders of Podolia. ”

It is said that Sobiesky was very disappointed with this defeat and planned to organize more men to come. His aim was not only to recapture Podolia, but even to cross the Dniester River and attack Moldavia. In fact, I wonder a little about his choice, why did he leave Western Ukraine and attack Moldavia instead? For this reason, they even did not hesitate to cooperate with the political and military offensive of the Austrians in Hungary and Transylvania, which is very incomprehensible. Is it because the Crimean Khanate is currently the de facto controller of Western Ukraine, the 'guardian' appointed by Turkey? Marati added.

The successful defensive counterattack of the Ottomans in Podolia happened about three months ago, and because of the news, Gawain has only just learned about it. During this offensive, after a feud with the Austrian king and Leopold of the House of Habsburg, Janszoeswski returned to Poland with the intention of regaining the territory that his country had lost over the past few decades. His first goal was undoubtedly to live in Podolia, the core of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, inhabited by a large number of Poles.

The operation to attack Podolia was very optimistic at the beginning. Because of the Ottoman Empire's ongoing failures over the past year, everyone sees them as a pack of vulnerable dogs. Moreover, the Turks had only a combined garrison of just over 8,000 men in Podolia, and the Polish inhabitants of the area were secretly communicating with Sobiesky, which seemed to be an easy victory.

But the truth is undoubtedly cruel, they forgot about a hungry wolf watching on the side, and that was the Crimean Tatars. A few months ago, the country, with its vast array of fierce cavalry that came and went, had been instructed by Sultan Mehmed II to assemble troops into Western Ukraine, ready to help the empire defend the front lines of Podolia, Transylvania, and Moldavia. The Sultan's envoy stressed that because of the "imminent escape" during the military campaign against Vienna (in fact, the Tatars withdrew after the capture of Hungary, and robbed Hungary before leaving), they were absolutely not allowed any more excuses to flee this time, and that the Ottomans would carefully assess their actions in the future when faced with a possible attack from the Poles and Russians.

To tell the truth, in order for the Crimean Khanate, the most free, strongest, and most unruly country under the Ottoman vassal system, to obey orders, the Ottoman Empire also gave up its face and talked about the Russians, and finally succeeded in making the Great Khan of Grei send troops to fight and defeat the Poles together.

In this battle, the Crimean Tatar cavalry played a decisive role at a critical moment: when the Poles stormed the towns defended by the Turks, Moldavians and Western Ukrainian Cossacks, the Tatar cavalry fought from the flanks and slammed into the rear of the Poles, and finally won a great victory. If you really want to talk about it, it is actually quite similar to the Battle of Vienna, that is, the main force of the enemy besieges the important fortresses and cities defended by the enemy, and when both sides are exhausted, the new force kills from the flank, defeats the enemy army in one fell swoop, and wins the victory, but the scale is much worse than the Battle of Vienna, which was fought by more than 200,000 people.

After the victory of the Ottomans in the Battle of Podolia, it was basically stabilized the hearts of the people who were floating in many nearby areas, and if the Poles wanted to fight back, they would have to wait for a long time. Marati told Gao Wengang that according to some unreliable gossip, after the Polish king Jansobieski returned from Podolia, he quickly sent people to Hungary and asked the Austrians to change the direction of the war and turn northeast to attack Podolia and even Western Ukraine, but the Austrians rejected this suggestion and emphasized that they should continue to follow the original plan, first Hungary, then Transylvania, and finally elsewhere. For this reason, it is said that the two sides had a somewhat unpleasant quarrel, and the Poles were quite dissatisfied with the "ingratitude" of the Austrians, but for now they continued to cooperate for the most part, and the 30,000 Polish iron horsemen in Hungary did not withdraw.

"I can't imagine that the Ottomans can still hold their ground in this area. Because of this victory, the Christian lords of Transylvania who were a little skeptical about the future should have settled their minds a little, right? Hearing Marati's introduction, Gao Wengang was also a little surprised, thinking that this Pole was also big-hearted, and came to attack Podolia with more than 20,000 people, didn't he consider the risk of being besieged by the Turks, Moldavians, Tatars and Western Ukrainian Cossacks?

"What is the situation with the Russians now? They've been watching the show for almost a year, right? Do you have any plans to end up? As ambassador to Istanbul, Marati was responsible for collecting and collating all intelligence and information from Ottoman Turkey, Ukraine, Russia and the Caucasus, and then reporting it to Gawain Gang in Cádiz. Therefore, Gao Wengang immediately inquired with him about the movements of the Russian Empire, fearing that there would be any news that had not yet reached him in the last few months, and that would cause him to miscalculate.

"Not yet." Marati shook his head and said: "But what is certain is that the Russians are very interested in taking advantage of the fire, they have already increased their troops in eastern Ukraine, the number is as high as 40,000, plus the previous garrison, the total number of Russian troops on this line has exceeded 100,000." This number is even more terrifying when one considers that they can recruit tens of thousands of Cossacks under the command of Samoilovich in the relatively densely populated eastern Ukraine. There is no doubt that this is a force that can change the tide of the war, and I don't know how the Russians are doing it, so they have been staring at the Ukrainian steppe, and they are willing to stop if they have to eat it. ”

"There is an old saying in our country, called persimmons pick up soft pinch. Who let the Ottomans behave too badly in the previous wars and be defeated? When your flaws are exposed, you can't complain that others will come to trouble you. Gao Wengang said with a wry smile: "The main force of the Ottoman Empire was pinned down in Serbia and Hungary, and if it weren't for our help, they wouldn't even be able to withdraw from Greece, Albania and other places, plus the Poles were angry about the cession of the province of Podolia back then, so it is inevitable that the Russians will have feelings for Western Ukraine." In this way, we are in big trouble again! This Turk, why is it so unreassuring? We're all about to become their nannies, and the gray hairs on my head in the past year are all their trouble! ”

"In this way, the intelligence on the Russian side should be intensified, and the money that should be spent should not be saved. Just go to Port Azov to investigate, those corrupt officials in Russia can reveal any information for money, not to mention that we are not a country with which they have a strong conflict of interest, and if we spend a lot of money, we should be able to collect some valuable information. Well, try not to look for those aristocratic officials, some of them still have ideals and are loyal to the Tsar, and looking for them will only be boring for themselves. In short, the next move of the Russians is very critical, if their more than 100,000 troops are pressed, they will rely on Western Ukraine and the Crimean Khanate to resist, not impossible, but very dangerous. Gao Wengang stood up, lit a pipe for himself to calm down, and then said: "But the good point is that the current political situation in Russia is a bit chaotic, and they may not really be willing to send troops." Or even if they do send troops, they may not be willing to fight a war that will overwhelm the country, which is an extraneous act for those in power who are still planning bloody palace intrigues, so this is an opportunity. ”

"I'm going to go to the Crimean Khanate in a while, it's very important for us. The Dnieper, Don, and Danube trades, which can be said to be the most important fulcrum of the country, are gone, and years of hard work will be completely wasted. I don't know how much effort it will take to rebuild the business network, and the Russians are not good business partners. Gao Wengang continued: "The Crimean Khanate has become increasingly important since the defeat of the Ottoman Empire, and I learned from my conversation with Fasher Mustafa Daviqi that they have given the country more relaxation and at the same time allowed us greater freedom there, so we intend to cooperate more deeply with this country. ”

In fact, for many years, the people of the East Coast have had a deep cooperation with the most liberal client state under the Ottoman Empire. Especially in the economic aspect, the East Coast and the Tatars jointly built new salt drying plants, meat factories, dairy product processing plants, leather processing factories, etc., and the model was basically that the East Coast people contributed technology and machinery and equipment, and the Tatars contributed labor (plundered slaves) and land, and the two sides worked together to make money.

Of course, we must not forget that many of the investments from the Italian peninsula were brought in by the people from the east coast, which, on the basis of giving the khanates a large amount of tax revenue, also increased their level of productivity in disguise. At the very least, after exporting agricultural products to Italy, the country has made great strides in agricultural production technology, and the area of wasteland cultivated has increased day by day. And when the grain begins to become abundant, the country's population will naturally begin to grow, which is undoubtedly conducive to the integration of the country's various classes of the total population of more than one million, there are a large number of robbed slaves or descendants of slaves, if not well integrated, the future will definitely restrict the country's progress.

In addition, there is no need to say much about matters such as the "Three Rivers Trade", and its importance cannot be overstated, so Gao Wengang felt that at this critical moment, he needed to go to Bekchisalai again and have a good talk with the Great Khan of Gelai.