"BOOM!!", "BOOM!!", "BOOM!!", "BOOM!!"
The artillery shells of the Alliance Army slamd into the fortress walls of Qazvin with imnse force. Explosions echoed one after another, like a torrential downpour of teors. The cannonballs were rciless—so left deep dents in the walls, others cracked them, and a few obliterated entire sections with explosive impact. There was no resistance against the Alliance's onslaught. The cannons tore through the fortress walls with the persistence of farrs thodically ploughing fields.
Kaveh Atashban watched the scene with little emotion. It was exactly as he had anticipated. The Alliance Army's artillery was produced by the three major military conglorates of the Bharatiya Empire—each cannon more advanced, with greater power and longer range than anything the Ottomans possessed. The disparity rendered Ottoman defence futile. Their return fire lacked range, often falling short. The cannonballs rolled forward on the ground, causing so secondary damage, but for Kaveh Atashban, it was negligible and easily endured.
This was one of the reasons Kaveh Atashban was so worried. You have to know that the weaponry of the alliance is indisputably better than the Ottomans, so when it cos to head-on confrontation, they stand very little chance against the alliance army, especially the capabilities of the artillery, which are miles apart. But that does not an that the Ottomans pose no challenge to the alliance army.
In fact, they do, because in this era, Earth is generally less populated, the areas where people live are very far from one another, so most of the ti, warfare is spent on travel. And when it cos to travel, the Bharatiya Empire doesn't have an edge over the Ottoman Empire, since both sides are using horses and carriages. They are pretty equally matched there. The Bharatiya Empire might have the Sheela bicycles that have been newly invented, but they are still in the run-in phase, where they are being tested for use in battle. In this situation, it gives the Ottomans a window of opportunity to fight the alliance army on equal grounds during the travel, and due to this being one of the only strategies that can be used, the Ottoman side has gotten pretty skilled at it.
So, when there was no resistance like all the other battles, Kaveh naturally did not know how to respond.
The battle continued, and the fortress began to be chipped away little by little.
"In a few hours, we should be able to breach the fortress, Commander," his lieutenant comnted. Kaveh was noncommittal and continued to cautiously look at the situation of Qazvin Fortress. He wasn't going to take any chances.
To his surprise, he really did discover sothing unusual. Behind the fortress wall of Qazvin, on top of a watchtower, there was a man with a grey beard looking at them with his hands tied behind his back like he was the master of the world and everything happening in front of him was under his control.
Taking his eyes off the eyepiece, Kaveh's lips twitched, 'What the **** is this?', he was more confused than anything.
"Is he playing the empty fort strategy?" Kaveh wasn't too sure, because if that was the case, then it would an that the fortress of Qazvin is empty.
"Considering that the fortress is empty, where could the Ottomans have shifted their forces?" he asked out loud. The senior officers looked at each other and had no answers. Kaveh did not mind their silence since he himself did not know the answer. Either way, the question was more like sothing he asked himself.
The empty Fort Strategy is a strategy that he learnt from the military theoretical courses occasionally held by high-ranking Bharatiya generals. This was a strategy used by Zhuge Liang, a brilliant strategist during the Three Kingdoms period of China. What was happening right now—sothing similar happened in the early 3rd century AD during the ti when the states of Wei, Shu, and Wu were vying for control of China. Zhuge Liang used the Empty Fort Strategy to scare away the enemy using psychological tactics.
When he learnt about the strategy, Kaveh Atashban thought that he would never fall for such a small trick. But as fate would have it, he was confronted by this strategy used against him, and he had to say he really was hesitant. Not to ntion, whether it is actually the Empty Fort Strategy that is currently being used or sothing else, he had no clue, and even if it is the Empty Fort Strategy that is being used and he knows that the fortress of Qazvin is empty—he wouldn't dare to have his troops set their foot in. What if the fortress is rigged with explosives, so that when enough of his n enter, it will explode and take them with it?
Although there is still the question of why the Ottomans would want to destroy their own critical transportation hub, and all his fears are for nothing, Atashban did not want to take any chances.
So he whispered sothing in the ears of a subordinate.
The sharpshooters from the Hunter company soon received the orders, and they acted. The sharpshooters, who were hidden in all sorts of locations around the battlefield, imdiately used their telescopes and got a visual of the target on top of the watchtower.
The target was a little far away, but it didn't matter since the next mont—
"Bang!!" "Bang!!" "Bang!!"
A line of continuous gunfire was heard, and Sirajith Khan, who was trembling in his boots, praying to Allah that his strategy would work, was shocked by the sudden gunfire. He felt several hot waves pass by his arms. Looking back, several bullet marks were left on the wall. "This is not how it should go," he scread in distress and tried to duck down. Unfortunately, although it was not possible to accurately aim at him from such a large distance, when so many sharpshooters fired at the sa ti, one or two bullets were bound to hit him. And that was exactly what happened. When he tried to get down, a bullet pierced his neck, lodging itself in the spine, while another hit his shoulder, causing the shoulder blade to explode. But the expression on Siraj's face had already stiffened, and his eyes, at their last monts of light, held an expression of disbelief and regret.
Taking his eyes off the eyepiece, Keva Atashban nodded in satisfaction. He felt good taking out the pretentious C***.
Ti slowly passed, and the artillery fire continued. Soon, a path was opened up and the army could march in. But Kaveh Atashban still didn't let the army go in; instead, he only sent a battalion to investigate.
"Bang!!" "Bang!!" "Bang!!"
Gunshots and screams were heard from within the fortress, and monts later, the people who had gone in ca out with a few people on their backs—presumably dead or injured—while taking several Ottoman soldiers as hostages.
Kaveh Atashban let out a deep breath and ordered the soldiers who wanted to be buried to be buried, burned to be burned, and for their clothes, weapons, and identity tags to be sent ho to their families.
"BOOOM!!"
Just as his attention was about to return to the Ottomans as he was going to interrogate the soldiers who had been brought back, a deafening explosion was heard, and this explosion wasn't like a bag of tightly packed gunpowder exploding—it was more like the sound of a lot of kerosene burning at the sa ti.
He looked at the fortress and his eyes widened, "What are these lunatics thinking? Why did they burn down their only fortress in the area?"
He was extrely confused, and it was driving him mad. In anger, he punched one of the Ottoman soldiers in the mouth, causing a few teeth to pry out, leaving behind a bloody face.
He grabbed another Ottoman soldier and slamd him onto the table.
"Bang!!"
"Tell what is happening here. Why did Qazvin blow up?"
To his regret, the Ottoman soldiers did not resist much. They soon spilt all the beans, and getting to know the truth, he was shocked.
Leaving behind the interrogation tent in a hurry, he quickly went to his room and wrote an encoded ssage to be passed back. Consequently, she also had his subordinates send a distress signal with the ssaging rockets encoded with three-word news, "Ottoman flank west."
Very soon, a line of fireworks appeared every few kilotres in the Middle East, until eventually the sight of the fireworks was visible from Hamidan. Without wasting any ti, Kaveh Atashban also sent a fast horse with all the finer details of what he found out and asked for the commander's orders.
What Kaveh Atashban found out was very disturbing. The reason why Qazvin was destroyed was in order to prevent the Bharatiya Empire a foothold in the Ottoman-controlled region, and more importantly, because they had already found a replacent.
It was a new fortress called Amol. It is a fortress located on the coast of the Caspian Sea, on the foothills of the Amal Khu Mountain Range.
Qazvin was indeed the only city linking the Ottoman Empire to the inland regions of the Safavid Empire to the east—at least, that was the case if one relied on land transport. However, this was not true if the route was by water. The Ottoman Empire held complete dominance over the Caspian Sea, allowing for an unhindered naval route. In many ways, this mariti path was even quicker, offering a significant strategic advantage.
With the fortress now being built on the coast, which can get support from the navy, plus being on the other side of the mountain range, the mountain range provides a natural barrier as well. So, setting up a few defensive points should be enough to defend against the Bharatiya onslaught.
Not to ntion, now that the fortress has been built in such a superior geographical location, the flat areas downhill could beco the hunting grounds of the Ottoman troops.
Their strategy of mobile warfare can now be used more freely, and the effectiveness of the tactics can be maximised.
Thinking up to this point, Kaveh Atashban's heart tightened. He looked around to see all the units of his regint located in one place. He had a hunch that this was what the Ottomans wanted, so without waiting for a reply, he ordered:
"Spread out and form small defensive paraters among yourselves. Keep to tight formations and eliminate any Ottoman cavalry unit on sight."
Seeing no one respond to his orders and everyone standing in stunned silence, he beca impatient.
"GO NOW!!!"
He roared.
The officers did not know what had happened. They thought they had won the battle and that it was ti to enjoy the fruits of victory. But why was the general giving orders as if a very dangerous enemy was approaching? Still, since it was the general's command, they imdiately followed it.
---
Lachit Borphukan was surprised when he saw the ergency signal sent by Kaveh Atashban in the sky: "Ottoman flank west."
His eyes widened, and he imdiately understood the implications of the ssage. "Quick, send the prowler unit of the second regint to reinforce General Ezidi Serwan."
The next mont, the distress signal was received from the west.
Lachit Borphukan's face imdiately fell, and he roared, "Go now!!!"
A fast horse quickly galloped towards the Star Fortress to deliver the ssage, while a rocket signal was also sent.
"Prowler unit, assemble! We have work to do!"
A group of 4,000 cavalry units imdiately rushed out from the Star Fortress in Kirkuk.
Ezidi Serwan gritted his teeth in hatred, The Ottomans didn't dare attack the fortress since they knew it would be futile. Instead, they began destroying the infrastructure in Lalishsthan. Ezidi Serwan, who was attacked so suddenly, was furious. He imdiately sent out a distress signal while simultaneously he commanded his 8th Regint to hunt down the Ottoman barbarians.
But, unfortunately, since this was a cavalry battle, the Bharatiya Empire did not have a significant advantage. Their only advantage lay in the better guns used by the soldiers on horseback. It was still a considerable advantage, especially when a standoff occurred, as it was more likely that the forces of the Alliance Army would win. The problem, however, was that due to the almost identical movents of both sides, catching up with the Ottomans, who were constantly moving and causing destruction, had beco difficult.
The Ottomans' movents were erratic as well. They split into groups of several hundred, causing havoc in major towns and villages across Lalishsthan.
In the end, Ezdi Servan was left helpless. He had to split his regint into companies and redeploy them in order to set up a net to catch the Ottomans.
Fortunately, this thod, though dangerous—since there was always the risk of the Ottomans ganging up on a small group of Alliance soldiers—still worked well, since the situation went the other way around, where the Alliance soldiers had more thods of communication than the Ottomans and the Ottomans were the ones to suffer
However, there were still many casualties.
Kara Mustafa Pasha, hearing the sound coming from the east, had his expression change—it beca serious. The next mont, he resolutely ordered, "Retreat!!"
But before he went back, he did not forget to pull the trigger, causing the blood of a middle-aged man to splatter all over the ground.
Murtaza Pasha, who was doing sothing similar a dozen kilotres away, took the sa decision and retreated, but not before he burnt down a granary in a village.
By the ti the Prowler Unit—one of the fiercest cavalry units of the Alliance army—arrived in Lalishsthan, the enemy had already run away. Although no hard infrastructure like fortresses, bridges, and the like was destroyed, the damage caused was not small. Towns, villages, and factories in open areas far from fortresses were all obliterated.
"Damn it!!"
Lachit Borphukan slamd his fist onto the table after understanding how the confrontation ended. This battle he had lost.
"I wonder how His Majesty would react," he muttered to himself. Naturally, he did not forget to write the report and submit it to His Majesty.
Kaveh Atashban, receiving the order to retreat from the commander, was both angry because he hated being played with and thankful because staying here was like a piece of at waiting to be eaten up.
A few hours ago, as he had expected, the Ottoman cavalry did indeed make an attack on their encampnt. Fortunately, he was prepared and managed to fight back the enemy. It could even be said that he won a small victory. But Kaveh knew that the victory was only for a while, because they were out in the open, with their logistic lines stretching 200 kilotres without any protection of a fortress. In such a situation, even if he had the upper hand now, he would be eaten up sooner or later.
In anger, while returning, he didn't forget to burn down a few granaries in villages. Although it didn't cause much trouble to the Ottoman Empire, it was helpful in alleviating his hatred a little.
P.S. The edit is a bit rough; I could have made this more polished and split it into two chapters, but I have a headache now, and I don't have the ti to edit it later
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