The red team marched on the plains on the banks of the Danube River. From the time they crossed the Serbian mountains, the progress of the Jenichery Army never stopped. Unlike what Prince Conde and Count Montecuccoli had expected, the "heavy" Ottoman army did not crawl slowly like a tortoise in the rugged mountains of Serbia, but split into two. Muhammad IV and Mustafa Kara led the main force, the heavily armed siege force, slowly marching through the rugged Serbian mountains.
The 70-year-old Ahmed Koprulze and the commander of the Yenicherry Army Muhammad Pasha, as well as the Kerim Khan Selim Glay I who led 20,000 elite light cavalry to the reinforcements, led five Fifteen thousand light-armed troops (including 20,000 Tatar light cavalry and 2,000 superficial "Mongolian cavalry") quickly advanced in front of the main army, directly into the Hungarian plains, bypassing a series of unimportant fortresses along the Danube River. , and headed straight for the city of Gyor, which is the transportation hub between Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Austria.
Today's Hungary is a key area of contention between the Ottoman Empire and the Holy Roman Empire. Northern Hungary is owned by the Holy Roman Empire and is called Upper Hungary or Royal Hungary.
The rest of Hungary, including Transylvania, was owned by Christian princes who submitted to the Ottoman Empire and was a dependency of the Ottoman Empire.
However, because the Ottoman Empire first won and then lost in a war with the Holy Roman Empire in 1663, its rule over Lower Hungary has been greatly relaxed. On the Royal Hungarian side, the rule of the Habsburg family was more repressive, and from time to time struggles broke out between Hungarian nobles and Protestants against Royal Hungary.
Hungary was an independent country more than 100 years ago (before 1571), ruled by the Zaboa dynasty of Hungary itself.
Because the time of the country's subjugation was too short, and in order to compete for control of Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and the Habsburg family spared no effort to win over the local Hungarian nobles. Therefore, although the Hungarian country was gone, the strength of the nobles was still very high. powerful. Some of the great nobles also wanted to revive their own Hungarian motherland, and for this purpose they formed a rebel group called the Protestant Crusaders!
The Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire, Ahmed Koprulu, had long been aware of this group of Hungarian rebels, so before officially sending troops, he sent people to contact these Hungarians and promised them an "independent, "United Hungary", of course...this Hungary must believe in God and must obey the Ottoman Empire.
I don’t know if Ahmed Koprulu’s promise worked. When the Ottoman vanguard quickly passed through the plains of Lower Hungary and headed for the Gyor Fortress in Upper Hungary, they did not encounter any obstacles. . And they also purchased large quantities of supplies from the nobles of Lower Hungary - all paid for in Aurangzeb's silver rupees! Sometimes the Ottoman army had to pay some compensation, because the Tatar cavalry of Crimean Khan who followed Ahmed Koprulu would rob Hungarian villages from time to time... But in the silver rupee After being comforted, the mood of the Hungarian nobles was relatively stable (most of the victims were serfs anyway), so the army led by Ahmed Koprulu headed towards Upper Hungary at a speed of 70 to 80 kilometers per day. Go to the Gyor Fortress controlled by the Imperial Army of the Holy Roman Empire.
The news of the rapid advance of Ottoman light troops in Lower Hungary was quickly reported to the Grand Palace of Hoffmann by some Hungarian nobles who secretly maintained contact with Vienna.
"Ahmed Koprulu must be old and confused..."
King Leopold I stood in front of a large military map, looking at the arrow that had just been drawn pointing directly at the Fortress of Gyor, and was puzzled.
What does this old man want to do?
Are you too old and confused?
There was no way his lightly-armed troops could break through the fortress of Györ, let alone capture Vienna.
Standing next to Leopold I, Count Montecuccoli frowned and looked like he was thinking hard.
If the situation on the map is true, then the tens of thousands of troops led by Ahmed Koprulu have obviously violated the taboo of going deep alone.
The main force led by Sultan Mohammed IV is still near Belgrade and is slowly moving northward. There is at least 10 days' journey between it and the leading force led by Ahmed Koprulu. Even if they abandon their baggage and heavy artillery and speed up, they will not be able to support Ahmed Koprulu's light troops in time.
But the intuition developed during his many years of military career told Count Montecuccoli that this abnormal arrangement might be a trap!
The Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire was so cunning, how could he make such a big mistake?
But what evil tricks is this cunning Grand Vizier plotting? Count Montecuccoli tried hard to think about it, but he just couldn't think of it.
"Generalissimo," Leopold I suddenly said to Count Montecuccoli, "I understand! The Ottomans' goal is not Vienna, but the Fortress of Gyor!"
Count Montecuccoli looked at his emperor, as if waiting for the judgment of this weak-minded man.
King Leopold I thought about it and said: "At the beginning, they might have wanted to attack Vienna, but now Louis XIV has issued a statement of support for us, and King Bessowski of Poland and De Wit, the Grand Speaker of the Netherlands, have also expressed support. We... In this way, the original advantages of the Ottoman Empire no longer exist. But they have been preparing for such a long time, and they have collected money from the Chinese and Indians, and they have to do something. So they changed He made a plan and changed the target from Vienna to the Gyor Fortress. The purpose of Ahmed Koprulu leading the light troops to advance first was to clear the perimeter of the Gyor Fortress and block our attack before we could react. Reinforcements entered the fortress.
If there were fewer defenders in the Gyor fortress, the Ottoman Sultan's main force could quickly capture the fortress once it arrived. Once the Gyor Fortress is obtained, the Ottomans can set up a defense line along the Danube River and wait for the arrival of our coalition forces with the French and Poles before conducting a decisive battle or negotiation. "
It seems...it makes sense!
Although Count Montecuccoli knew that his emperor's IQ was a bit low, he could not think of a better explanation for the moment, so he said to the emperor: "Then let Charles of Lorraine lead three regiments on a rapid march into the Gyor Fortress. . There are about 2,000 people in the fortress now. If we add another three months, there will be a full 8,000 defenders."
Charles of Lorraine was the Grand Duke of Lorraine, Charles V, who led the Holy Roman Empire army to win the siege of Vienna in history.
His uncle Charles IV is not yet dead, so he is not yet a Grand Duke. He received an education at the Royal School in Vienna, took part in the "imperial examination", and obtained a military rank. He has been serving in the imperial army, participated in many wars, and has grown into an outstanding officer.
If he commands 8,000 people to guard the Gyor Fortress, he can indeed be assured. As long as the Gyor Fortress can be defended and there are enough defenders left in Vienna, Count Montecuccoli will lead the remaining field troops to move out of the city, looking for opportunities to break into the rear of the Ottoman army and force it to return or divide its troops.
Even if the Ottoman attack cannot be broken, it can still delay time and wait for Louis XIV's French army and Besoski's Polish army to arrive.
As long as the French and Polish armies gather together, won't the Holy Roman Empire be able to sit back and relax?
But Leopold I felt that he should be more active and brave... and he was also worried that Louis XIV would take the opportunity to intervene in Hungarian affairs and create a pro-French Greater Hungary!
Thinking of this, King Leopold I gritted his teeth and said to Count Montecuccoli: "Since the enemy's vanguard is not large in number, why can't we concentrate the main force and beat them hard?" The emperor paused and said, "Count, I’m going to personally lead the troops to attack, what do you think?”
