Facing the crisis, the Ottomans made two preparations.
If you fight first, everything will be easy if you win.
If you lose the fight, surrender.
Will the Allies accept the Ottoman surrender?
This is the job of Grand Vizier.
While Muhammad IV led the army to the aid of Constantinople, the Grand Vizier also led the peace delegation to the Third Marine Division.
In Bursa, Grand Vizier met Chang Ying.
"Ottoman can cede Egypt and has no irresolvable hatred with the empire. If the empire can withdraw its troops, the two countries can become a brotherly country. From now on, merchants from the empire can freely enter and exit Ottoman and enjoy the same treatment as the Ottomans. "
The Grand Vizier was not well-intentioned and wanted to alienate the allies as soon as he came up.
Of course Chang Ying would not be fooled by this bit of Huahuachang.
"I am a soldier, and I am only responsible for fighting according to orders. As for peace talks, please wait for the representatives of the empire to arrive."
Chang Ying left the regiment aside and commanded the Second Army to continue advancing.
Watching the Second Army advance to the Sapanca line, the Ottomans were on pins and needles.
As an experienced general, Chang Ying's actions were equivalent to suddenly hitting the waist of the Ottomans.
The reinforcement forward led by Muhammad IV has arrived at Sakarya not far away. The distance between the two sides is only fifty miles, and friction has already occurred between the reconnaissance troops.
In this case, the Ottomans would certainly not be able to move forward to reinforce Constantinople.
Going further west from Sakarya, there is a long and narrow area, and the retreat can easily be cut off by the Second Army.
Once Muhammad IV heads straight to Constantinople regardless and the Second Army captures Sakarya, the essence of the entire Ottoman Empire will be trapped near Constantinople.
The rest of the vast territory would be at the mercy of the allies.
The allies did not even need to take any action against Constantinople. They only needed to besiege it and then send large armies to sweep across other areas. The Ottoman Empire would really be destroyed.
Muhammad IV had no choice but to command his army to line up in Sakarya.
He had to deal with the Second Army first before he could go to reinforce Constantinople.
Chang Ying fully studied the nearby terrain and decided to defend instead of attack.
The Third Marine Division defended Sapanca, Capet and other places respectively, established a defense line around Lake Sapanca, and relied on the surrounding steep mountainous terrain to wait for the Ottomans to attack.
In addition, he also established a reserve team in Goljuk in the rear, which can reinforce various defense lines at any time.
There was a valley south of Sapanca that could go around the back of the Second Army, and Chang Ying handed over this route to the rest of the army.
As long as the Allied forces guard the vicinity of Lake Iznik and prevent the Ottoman army from completing the outflank, the Allied forces will be invincible in this battle.
Anyway, the Ottomans were eager to reinforce Constantinople and would definitely make mistakes during the chaos. Time was on the side of the Allies.
Chang Ying's turtle play made Mohammed IV scratch his head.
Chang Ying ignored his several attempts, whether it was a forced attack or a false defeat, and strictly ordered all the Allied forces not to attack.
Time passed day by day, and the 400,000 Ottoman troops were unable to move.
But bad news came one after another from Constantinople.
The ocean-going fleet finally began to attack the Bosporus.
Although the Ottomans used city defenses and terrain to deploy a large number of artillery on both sides of the strait to tightly block the sea, this time the ocean-going fleet learned its lesson and no longer rushed into the strait rashly. Instead, it took advantage of the range of the artillery to repeatedly ravage Ottoman fortifications.
The generation difference in weapons caused trouble to the Ottomans.
The forts they built were still based on dealing with old-fashioned artillery. It cannot be said that it is not strong enough, but the killing effects caused by high-explosive shells and solid shells are different.
In addition, the cognitive gap also caused huge casualties to the Ottomans.
For example, in the Ottoman fort, gunpowder and shells were piled next to the artillery. This makes it easy to load and launch, and can strike enemy ships on the sea with faster firepower.
In the past, there was no problem with this kind of deployment when facing old artillery.
After all, even if a solid cannonball hits the fort, it is just a big iron ball rolling around, rarely threatening the gunpowder.
But the ocean-going fleet used high-explosive artillery shells. After the explosion, high-temperature shrapnel and gunpowder flew everywhere, directly detonating the gunpowder hoarded by the Ottomans.
So I saw the forts near the coast explode one after another, and countless black smoke rose into the sky, accompanied by the stumps of the Ottomans flying high in the sky.
After three days of fighting, the Ottomans finally realized the danger and urgently modified their deployment.
But it's of little use.
They sadly discovered that their artillery had insufficient range and could not even hit the ocean-going fleet at high altitudes on land.
The ultra-long-range artillery fire of the ocean-going fleet spanning a distance of more than 5,000 meters can completely roll call the forts one after another.
Although the Ottomans built many hidden forts, they would not be exposed as long as they did not fire. But the quantity is insufficient, which seriously affects efficiency.
And this kind of hidden fort will be exposed as long as it fires, and then it will be buried under the concentrated fire of the ocean fleet.
A month later, the communication between the two sides of Constantinople was completely cut off by the ocean fleet. It was difficult to transport supplies on the east coast across the strait during the day, and the Ottomans could only cross the sea at night against the rough wind and waves in the strait.
In this way, the losses can be imagined.
If the northern end of the strait was not still in the hands of the Ottomans, Constantinople would have become an isolated city.
At the end of November, after a fierce battle and at the cost of 43,000 casualties, the First Army finally captured the highlands outside Chatalca.
Catalca, the gateway to Constantinople, was no longer in danger. The Allies could already overlook the entire city from the high ground, and set up artillery to bombard the city indiscriminately.
The Ottomans had no choice but to continue to retreat and defend the mountains and hilly areas west of Constantinople.
Although the First Army suffered heavy casualties, the Europeans were enthusiastic. Especially Eastern Europe, which was once enslaved by the Ottoman Empire, is eager to seize this opportunity to escape.
Romania, Bulgaria, Greece and other countries raised a large number of troops and sent them to the front line, which caused the First Army to expand rapidly.
Due to the ebb and flow, the strength of the First Army has exceeded 700,000.
The Ottoman garrison in Constantinople only numbered 300,000.
If the 400,000 troops led by Muhammad IV could arrive, the Ottomans would naturally rest easy. Unfortunately, the reinforcements were dragged behind by the Second Army and had nothing to do, which suddenly made Constantinople no longer so safe.
When the Grand Vizier and others in the Second Army saw the entire situation, they finally realized that the defeat of the Ottoman Empire seemed inevitable.
"Dear General Chang, please allow us to send representatives back and let the Sultan state the facts. Please believe in Osman's sincerity. We are very eager for peace."
