The end of December 1673 was a terrible time for the Ottoman Empire, which was in the midst of four wars.

First of all, in the northeast, after the Xia army forced their way through the Imereti Kingdom, they launched a fierce offensive against the Ottoman vassal state of the Ottoman Principality of Samtskhe, which had been forcibly annexed by the Ottoman Empire from the Imereti Kingdom decades earlier, and they were not loyal to the suzerainty.

Therefore, after the Xia army launched an attack, the Duchy of Samtskhe actually surrendered directly to the Xia army, surrendered to the Xia army, and expressed its willingness to cooperate with the Xia army to fight against the Ottoman Empire.

Daniel Zhang did not refuse the wishes of the Principality of Samtskhe, he incorporated the Georgian cavalry provided by the Principality of Samtskh into the army, and led by Georgian guides out of the mountains to attack Trabzon, an important town in the northeast of the empire.

When the news spread, the Anatolian Legion principality led by Kara Mustafa arrived in the Karaman region, and the new corps commander felt his head grow when he heard that the northeast had also been invaded by the Xia army.

But he could not let it go, compared to Iraq, the Xia army in the northeast was more threatening, if the Xia army conquered Trabzon and drove straight into Anatolia, then the hinterland of the empire would be destroyed by the Xia people.

Therefore, in the case of the two sides, Kara Mustafa decided to lead the main force of the army north to meet Daniel Zhang's Anxi army, and after making the decision, he sent a messenger back to Constantinier to report the matter to the Grand Vizier.

The Ottoman army in Baghdad was thus abandoned without knowing it, and they were still struggling to hold out under the siege of the Xia army, hoping for reinforcements to arrive.

While the two sides fought fiercely on land, a large naval fleet of the Holy Roman Empire, Venice, Genoa, and Spain reached the Ionian Sea in the Mediterranean.

The Christian coalition army assembled a total of 198 warships, with a total of more than 40,000 sea personnel, including sailors and 28,000 soldiers, because the Spanish armada was annihilated by the British in the naval battle of the last century, and it has not been relieved until now, which also caused the warships and supplies of the Christian alliance to be affected a lot.

The Ottoman navy amassed 220 warships, and after the disastrous defeat at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571, the Ottomans learned from the pain, reorganized a large fleet, and invested heavily in training Barbary pirates in an attempt to regain sea supremacy.

The Ottomans were deeply feared by the second "Holy Alliance" formed by the Christian alliance, and upon learning that the "Holy Alliance's navy" had arrived in the Ionian Sea, the Ottoman navy immediately went out to meet them and tried to intercept them in the Aegean Sea.

On January 10, 1673, the navies of the two sides encountered each other a hundred nautical miles south of the Cyclades in the Aegean Sea.

The formation of the Combined Fleet and the Ottoman Fleet is the same straight line, divided into three formations on the left, the middle and the right, respectively, but most of the warships of the Combined Fleet are sail warships with fierce firepower, while most of the Ottoman fleet are still galleys, although they have a certain quantitative advantage, but the quality is worrying.

At twelve o'clock in the afternoon, the battle horn sounded, and the two warships began to ride the wind and waves and rush towards each other, and the Christian coalition warships were the first to open fire, first with a series of white flashes, then with a thunderous sound that almost tore through the sea, followed by white smoke that covered the sky.

The Allied artillery rained down like a torrent of artillery, and the spherical iron projectiles fell into the Ottoman fleet with a sharp whistle that broke through the air, causing astonishing damage to the infidels, sinking several galleys in an instant, and splashing water columns that also obscured the vision of many Ottomans, disrupting their formation.

"Fire!"

Rumble –

Amid the rumbling of artillery, the Ottoman fleet continued to ride the wind and waves under the bombardment of the Allied artillery, but the shells fell from time to time, inflicting terrible casualties on the infidels, and until the two sides were close to each other, almost a third of the ships on the Ottoman side were sunk or heavily damaged.

The vast blue sea was filled with turbaned Green Cult soldiers, broken masts, broken deckwood, countless chests and barrels, and the strong and pungent smell of blood hit the nose, and the beautiful Aegean Sea became almost a hell on earth.

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The Ottomans suffered heavy losses under the artillery bombardment, but they were not defeated, and the red-eyed sailors roared and ordered the slave pulpers who were chained to the place to continue rowing, and while they pounced on the coalition fleet, the guns mounted on the bow of the ships also returned fire.

With the sound of rumbling artillery, the right flank of the Ottoman fleet quickly cut through the thick smoke and slaughtered the left flank of the combined fleet, and a fierce battle ensued.

The Ottoman warship slammed head-on into the Combined Fleet warship, and after the warship crashed violently, the coalition warship that had been collided was almost knocked out of a hideous gap, and the soldiers on the deck screamed and lost their balance and fell.

The Ottomans seized the opportunity and shouted and threw the rope with the hook on the deck of the coalition ship, allowing the hook to get stuck, and the Ottoman soldiers climbed up the rope.

Some of the soldiers on the deck also followed closely with bows and arrows, shooting at the deck of the coalition warship to cover their own robes, and the Christians quickly reacted, struggling to get up from the deck, grabbing their weapons and rushing over.

They rushed to the side and raised their arquebuses to shoot at the enemy, the turbaned greens were beaten in rows, the Christians roared and stabbed their spears, and the pagans who were still crawling on the ropes were stabbed into the sea, and some slashed their swords to cut the ropes, and the soldiers on the entire rope fell to the bottom of the sea amid the screams of the enemy.

Soon after the flank engagement, the Chinese troops of the two fleets also followed closely in close quarters, and the two sides fought on the sea, the warships collided head-on, and one long pedal after another was erected between the warships, and the soldiers rushed to each other's decks with shouts and pedals.

Spanish veterans who had fought Berbers in North Africa pushed the Greens into the sea with their spears, and Barbary pirates wielded maces and smashed the brains of Italians in shiny silver iron helmets.

The Christians, guided by the officers, lined up on the side and shot the infidels who tried to rush in pieces with musket volleys, while the Greens quickly took the lives of the Christians with equally deadly arrows and arquebus pellets.

Blood flowed on the deck, penetrating the cracks of the deck wood, dripping downward, and the sea around the warship was almost stained red with blood, and the rich smell of blood almost attracted the sharks for miles around, and the terrible shark fins swam on the surface of the sea, waiting for food to fall from the sky.

Rumble –

An Ottoman galleys were parked on the side of a Spanish galleys, and the artillerymen on the side seized the opportunity to fire a heavy shelling on the galleys, and in an instant, the galleys were torn to pieces in a volley of close-range fire.

The two galleys collided so violently that their bow was stuck directly in the hull of a Venetian warship, and a large number of Ottoman soldiers rushed onto the deck of the Venetian warship with a shout, fighting each other with the Italians, who saw that the ship was about to fall, so they had to set fire to the powder magazine and blow them into the sky along with the enemy.

In the fierce battle, the right flank of the Ottomans was the first to be routed, and the advantage of the Christian ships was incomparable to theirs, and under the terrible indiscriminate bombardment, the offensive of the Ottoman fleet was torn apart, and the flagship on the left flank was the first to turn around and flee, and under the exemplary effect of the flagship, the ships also scattered in all directions.

Having routed the enemy's right flank, the left flank of the combined fleet did not pursue, but pounced on the middle in the fierce battle, and in the face of a flanking attack from the right flank, the Ottoman flank, despite their best resistance, was opened up by enemy artillery bombardment.

The battle continued until the afternoon of the same day, and ended in a crushing defeat for the Ottomans, just like the Battle of Lepanto a hundred years earlier, when the Holy League won the war again and the Ottoman fleet was almost annihilated.

It was a great victory for the Western world, and after more than four hours of fierce fighting, the blue waters of the Aegean Sea were stained red with blood, and a large number of sharks swam in this area to eat the victims who fell into the sea.

The Holy League sank more than 180 ships, killed tens of thousands of Ottomans, captured thousands, and freed Christian paddling slaves who had been brutally enslaved by the Ottomans.

After this battle, the navy of the Holy Alliance seized sea supremacy in the Aegean Sea and surrounding waters in one fell swoop

After moving south, he easily conquered Crete, a large island in the southern Aegean Sea, and used Crete as a naval base for the coalition forces, so that the Ottoman navy did not dare to leave the Aegean Sea.

The Holy Alliance's victory in the Aegean inspired all the warring nations to war with the Ottoman Empire, and Pope Clement X was so encouraged by the news that he began to call on all Christians to go to the East and join the war against the Ottoman pagans.

He even sent emissaries to Crete, hoping that the coalition forces would land in the Peloponnese, liberate the oppressed Greeks, and rebuild a Christian state that believed in God.

To this end, he promised that the Papal States would also send troops into the war, declaring that whoever excelled in the war would promise him the crown of the Greek kingdom.

The pope's promise was well received, not only for the crown of the Greek kingdom, but also for the possibility of seizing the Peloponnese and getting a piece of the prosperous maritime trade.

The Ottoman Empire was shaken by the actions of the Christians, but they had no way to stop the actions of the Holy Alliance, and to the west, the pro-conquest *** IV and his army were pinned down by the troops of the Holy Roman Empire and could not get out of the front line.

To the north, the Rumelia legion led by Koprulu Mustafa was besieged in Moldavia by the combined Polish-Lithuanian Federation and the Xia army, and could only be supported by a small margin.

To the east, the Anatolian Legion led by Kara Mustafa had just moved north into the mountains of Pontus to reinforce the Blatzon, and was also weak.

The huge Ottoman Empire is now being dragged into the quagmire of war, which makes many Ottoman ministers, including the Grand Vizier, pessimistic mood rise in their hearts.

However, that doesn't mean they're going to throw in the towel.

……

January 12, 1673, Iasi, Moldavia.

"Your Majesty, the Ottoman Rumelia Legion has been routed by us, and it looks like their main force is rushing to Suceava."

On the bloody battlefield, King Mihaus I of Poland looked at the routs that had been gathered and concentrated, listened to the report of the nobles on his side, and nodded with satisfaction.

"Your Majesty, I think we should go to Suceava at once and annihilate the main forces of the Ottomans and Moldavians there, so that we can drive straight into the field and no one can stop us." Marshal of the Kingdom Jan Sobiesky, who was on the side, proposed.

Michau I did not make a decision immediately, and he asked rhetorically: "Where is the Chinese army now?"

"They had just crossed the Dniester River, and the castle of Tigina did not stop them, they conquered it in just a few hours, what a horrible bunch of guys." Another nobleman took over and answered the king's words, and finally could not help but sigh with emotion.

"Then wait for the arrival of the Chinese army, and then we will attack Sucava." When Michau I heard this, he said: "The Ottoman Rummelia army is strong in combat, and we may not be able to annihilate it alone, and when the Chinese enter the war, our victory rate will be greater."

Jan Sobiesky's eyes flashed with disdain when he heard the king's words, and in his opinion, Michau I was really a cowardly character, and how the Polish-Lithuanian Federation could defeat the Ottomans and become strong under the leadership of such a cowardly king.

It was precisely because of his prejudice against the king that he secretly tried to bring about the abdication of Mihau I so that he could become the new king of the Polish-Lithuanian Federation.

At the king's insistence, the Polish army, although defeated the partial army of the Rumelia army at Iasi, did not take advantage of the victory, but waited in place for a week before waiting for the huge Xia army from the east.

When the Polish army met with the Xia army, Jan Sobieski took the opportunity to look at the Chinese soldiers, and the Xia army's military appearance was deeply obsessed, and the flintlock pistols that were commonly equipped also filled his heart with curiosity.

After Fu Xinghua met with Michau I, Sobiesky couldn't help but make a request to be able to observe the shooting of the infantry on the Xia line, Fu Xinghua glanced at him, did not refuse, and just could show the strength of the Xia army in front of the Polish nobles

Great, he took the opportunity to agree to Sobiesky's request.

Soon, a line of infantry was assembled in front of the top brass of the two armies, and the soldiers, under the orders of the officers, reloaded the Type 2 rifles, and then fired a continuous volley at the target standing opposite them, and the three volleys fired the scarecrow that was used as a target flew grass clippings, and even the cuirass draped over the scarecrow was shot out of the dense small bullet holes.

The three volleys fired in a short period of time and the damage inflicted on the armor made the Polish nobles praise again and again, and Sobiesky looked at the Type II rifles in the hands of the Xia soldiers, and his eyes flashed with greed.

If his army could also be massively equipped with flintlock muskets, wouldn't it be easy to deal with the Ottomans with his superb command skills?