On December 15, 1683, he arrived in Thessaloniki, an important city of the Ottoman Empire, on a fast liaison ship.

In this city that was quickly busy because of the war, Gawain did not find the rumored Sultan Mohammed IV, who was once stationed here, and it is reported that he had led part of the troops of the Ghanishari army north to Sofia, where he raised food and funds for the front-line army. This news surprised Gao Wengang, and he wondered if the Ottomans had lost their minds and planned to fight a war for the country.

That evening, he summoned the head of the Thessaloniki merchant station and inquired carefully about the recent situation, focusing on information about the Austro-Turkish War, which the people of the East Coast called the "Fourth Austro-Turkish War".

The head of the trading station was a sailor-turned-cadre, who had been the director of the annexed Tirana trading station for many years, and had also courted a Serbian wife who believed in Orthodox Christianity, so he had some contacts in the Balkans and was relatively well-informed.

"Envoy Gao, the news coming from the front is rather chaotic, and there are all kinds of things. I asked someone to analyze it, and then corroborated it with the more reliable information I found from some imperial officials and friends, and it is now almost certain that the main army of the Ottoman Empire has arrived under the city of Vienna, and the two sides have been fighting offensive and defensive battles for a while, but it is not clear who has the advantage. The stationmaster of the merchant station first pondered for a moment, and then said: "But what is certain is that the preparation for this hasty military operation is definitely inadequate. According to the situation in and around the city of Thessaloniki, the Ottoman side temporarily requested a large amount of military supplies, including food, livestock, ammunition, tents, medicine, etc. The Imperial officials who came to collect supplies were very urgent, and they were eager to get everything on the spot. As for the cities, they were not prepared at all, or they had not received orders to hoard war materials in advance, so they fell into chaos. This kind of confusion and contradiction is probably a direct reflection of the confusion of the upper echelons of the entire empire. It seems to me that the Ottoman Empire had no intention of attacking the Austrian hinterland in the first place, and this operation was just an act of Sultan Mehmed IV on the head. ”

Gao Wen smiled bitterly as soon as he heard this. This stationmaster is really a straightforward man, and he doesn't turn his words at all. However, there was something new in his words, that is, the march from Hungary to Austria may not be because the Grand Vitsikala Mustafa was coerced by his subordinate officers, but because they really received the highest orders from Istanbul, so the already retreating army made a sharp turn, while collecting grain and draft animals in Hungary, and at the same time began to plan a route to Austria. By this time, the army of the lords, numbering more than 50,000 people, had actually withdrawn, but Mustafa Davizi did not gather them, and instead a large number of servant troops from Hungary were replaced.

"How did the Austrians respond?" Gawain had just asked his most important question, and he wanted to judge more of the difference from the Austrians' response.

"Their response is to shrink their forces and wait for changes, probably because their elite main force is still on the Western Front and has not had time to rush back." The warden replied, "The Austrian army is widely distributed, and it takes time to assemble, and the Turks have divided their forces to plunder everywhere, firstly for provisions, and secondly, to contain the Austrian garrisons everywhere, so that they cannot quickly approach the capital Vienna." ”

"Still divide the troops?" Gao Wengang's eyebrows raised.

"Yes, but mostly servants, a headquarters led by the Grand Duke of Transylvania, and a large number of improvised Hungarian soldiers, but rumor has it that they had been defeated two months earlier. The poor Grand Duke fled with only a thousand cavalry, and is currently in the rear to contain the rout, but he probably does not have the courage to provoke the Austrian army in Bratislava and other places. The stationmaster said.

"Is this confirmed?" Gao Wengang couldn't sit still after hearing this, even if it was already winter, some fine beads of sweat still oozed from his forehead unconsciously, this is a failure all the way, a great blow to morale, the Ottomans are doing it?

A Hungarian Grand Duke marched into the West with more than 30,000 people, and the generals were not famous generals, and the soldiers were not elite soldiers, and they were easily defeated by thousands of Austrian soldiers. Gao Wengang felt that if he remembered correctly, it was this Grand Duke of Transylvania who invaded Poland and was defeated, and then on the way to retreat, 30,000 horses were raided by the Crimean Tatar cavalry (at that time, the monarch had not yet defected to the Ottoman Sultan, oscillating between Austria and Turkey), and this man fled back with only 400 cavalry. And given this bad track record, why did Mustafa Davizi still feel comfortable putting so many people in his hands, instead of sending an old and spicy officer to take command? You know, even these Romanian and Hungarian soldiers who look like rubbish can play a big role if they operate well, and now they have lost a war and liberated one of the Austrians' flanks, which not only allows the Austrian garrison in Slovakia to sit back and relax, but also facilitates the reinforcements of the German princes, which is simply unreasonable!

The Ottomans were stupid! Both the Sultan and the Great Vizi are stupid! Gao Wengang was already scolding in his heart.

"It's almost confirmed, I got the news through some special channels." The stationmaster of the merchant station looked at Gao Wengang and said in a certain tone: "Their main force of 150,000 troops was earlier than the Daviqi himself, and they may have directly accepted the remote command of Sultan Muhammad IV, who did not know about it at first. ”

Hearing this, Gao Wengang didn't know how to say it, and he was not very optimistic about the outcome of this battle.

"Any news yet?" Gao Wengang asked again.

"Yes. There is one piece of information that can be confirmed, and it is that the Ottoman army carried out a massacre of the city during the attack on Pechtorzdorf, the southern barrier of Vienna. It is worth mentioning that the city was slaughtered after the surrender, and all the surrendered soldiers and the inhabitants of the city were slaughtered. The news spread throughout Austria for a short time, and then began to spread to Poland, Germany, Italy, and other places, and from then on, no one surrendered on the way of the Ottomans, and all fought to the death, which caused them heavy losses. The head of the merchant station said in a helpless tone: "It can be said that the massacre of Pechtorzdorf is a senseless massacre. What other effect could the torture and murder after the surrender be able to provoke the will of the Austrians to resist to the death and the resentment of Christendom? The Ottomans didn't know how to do it, and it was all stupid along the way, and I can't even say anything. ”

"Stupid! Stupid! Gao Wengang slammed the table and said angrily. After speaking, he grabbed a cup of warm tea on the table, tilted his neck and drank it all, only then did he let out a long breath and relieved his mood a little.

"And it's winter, right?" Gao Wengang seemed to suddenly think of something, and asked suddenly.

"It's winter, this- what's wrong? Envoy? The stationmaster asked with some sluggishness. He has lived in the city all the year round, and he didn't think of anything for a while, so he asked a little stupidly.

"What's wrong with winter?" Gao Wengang glared and said, "This is Thessaloniki, it's Greece, of course it's nothing in winter!" But the winter in Germany is still very cold, and in the winter besieging Vienna, a fortified city that has been in operation for hundreds of years, the Ottomans think that their trouble is not big enough? They had been very warm in Hungary before, and they had not planned to go deep into the heart of Austria, but now that their plans have changed on the fly, what are they doing? Do you have enough supplies to protect you from the cold? A winter siege without enough supplies to protect against the cold was a disaster in itself. ”

"What's more! In winter, many rivers were frozen and could not be navigated, but this was not cold enough to be able to transport supplies on the ice by sled, so the Ottomans' logistical lines were destined to become extremely difficult. If my information is correct, when they attacked Hungary before, the Ottomans didn't have much artillery because the roads were not good, and now they have decided to attack Vienna temporarily, and the number of artillery is even smaller, right? Many unfavorable factors have gathered here, what are the Ottomans doing? Gao Wengang now has the feeling of looking up to the sky and sighing, the operation of the Ottomans in the past year is really bad, but they are still self-righteous, and they can't listen to other people's opinions, Gao Wengang and the East Bank Ambassador to Istanbul Marati have put forward opinions several times, but they have been ignored by others, and it is also speechless.

If Gao Wengang had a trace of luck in the Ottoman attack on Vienna before, now that he listened to the report of the head of the Merchant Station in Thessaloniki, even the last trace of luck has been removed. In his opinion, the Ottomans had three disadvantages in this battle: first, they were hastily dispatched and underprepared; the second is to slaughter the city for no reason, arousing the opponent's heart to fight to the death; Third, the weather is unfavorable and transportation is difficult. With these three disadvantages, even if they have the advantage of troops, but in the face of the Austrians who are sitting on a fortified city and have a geographical advantage, I am afraid that the chances of victory will not be very high, so it will be very troublesome!

"What did Muhammad Sultan do in Sofia? This is the end of their war readiness road, right? Gao Wengang suddenly thought of this again, and sneered for a while: "At the beginning, our country sent technical engineers to guide them to build a road from Istanbul to Adrianople, and then extend all the way to Sofia through Plovdiv. The result? I almost didn't even get the project money back, and it took several years of arrears to get a discount! Later, my father asked them if they would continue to build the war road from Sofia to Belgrade, but the idiots were too expensive to build. Now all of them are stupid, right? If there had been a high-level war-ready road from Istanbul to Budapest, the Ottomans' war would have been much easier. It's a pity that there is no regret medicine in the world, and the Ottomans themselves gave up this opportunity, and the bitter fruit can only be swallowed by themselves. ”

"Forget it, it won't help to scold here anymore. I need to meet the Sultan of Muhammad, as soon as possible, and you will contact the local Arkanagha, who is an old friend of ours, and should be able to help him in this regard. It's too late to get to Istanbul, not to mention the fact that the bureaucrats there may not be able to contact the Sultan himself sooner, compared to Sassaloniki. "I want to reach them before things get bad," Gao said. Well, by the way, intelligence gathering cannot be left behind, now that the front line has been fighting for a while, it is impossible to return without intelligence. Don't be afraid to spend money at this time, I'll give you 10,000 ducats, and you give me money to collect intelligence as quickly as possible. ”

"It's much easier to do it when you have money." Hearing this, the stationmaster of the merchant station smiled and said, "I'm going to do these things." ”

The next few days were spent in a frenzy of intelligence gathering and analysis. Under the magic of money, Gawain Gang soon learned more useful information, such as that the Habsburg royal family and officials in Vienna had retreated to the hinterland, leaving only 15,000-20,000 defenders to defend the city, and the defenders may have "hundreds" of artillery, and most of them are heavy artillery placed at the head of the city, which is several times more than the Ottomans; For example, Charles V, Duke of Lorraine, led an elite Austrian field group of 30,000 from the beginning to leave the capital Vienna and withdraw to Linz, an important town west of Vienna, to gather local defenders on the one hand, and to watch the Ottoman army besieging Vienna on the other; For example, the Ottomans had to divide their forces to block the reinforcements from the German states, which further weakened the siege and made Vienna unable to take place despite the loss of more than 10,000 soldiers.

In this way, even if Gao Wengang no longer understands military affairs, he can see that the Austrians are using the fortified city as a shield, and they are doing their best to delay and consume the troops, materials and spirit of the main Ottoman army, waiting for the assembly of their main army and the collection of reinforcements from Christendom. This strategy was so successful that Vienna was now an empty city, and the Habsburg royal family and most of the nobles and wealthy merchants had moved to other regions, and the city now served as a grinding wheel for the Ottomans. Even if it was finally defeated by the Ottomans, it was nothing, and the Ottomans must have suffered heavy casualties and received little useful things.

By that time, the Austrians themselves had gathered tens of thousands of elite troops, and tens of thousands of reinforcements from Germany, Italy, and Poland had arrived, all of which were fresh troops, very different from the Ottoman army, which had suffered heavy casualties after a long battle. At that time, if the two sides started a main decisive battle, what chance did the Ottomans have of winning?

On December 22, 1683, news finally came that Sultan Mehmed IV had gone to Belgrade with part of his guard, and it was not convenient for anyone to see him for the time being. This news made Gao Wengang furious, but there was nothing he could do.

"Contact the Venetian immediately, there's something urgent." Gao Wengang then ordered the stationmaster in a serious tone.