Chapter 33: The Last Crusade
If it was war the Turks wanted, it was war the Turks would get. Or rather, not, because the Byzantines would probably take up too much of Cordova's time for them to ever fight.
But Cordova would ensure that the Turks had plenty of fighting to do, even if not against them. The Turks always liked signing military alliances, so now their own weapon would be used against them. There wasn't much useful they could do with the alliances, but in 1332, they did get Sweden, Bulgaria, and the Fatimids to declare war on the Turks in return for some technology. The Fatimids probably wouldn't be able to actually fight them, but Cordova really didn't need a war with them right now when they're sending soldiers through their territory, and the Turks would certainly sign that alliance if given the chance.
This left Turkey at war with everyone but the Abbasids, English, Norwegians, and Byzantines. The first three were no threat to them or anyone, and Cordova was at war with the Abbasids and English anyway, and thus unable to sign military alliances with them. And the Byzantines were someone they were about to declare war on, and honestly, Al-Rahman was scared of what would happen if one of the Byzantines and the Turks started totally overtaking the other. Still, being at war with 9 countries at once was going to hurt them a bit, even if most of those were fighting each other because of military alliances the Turks had signed.
The Turks responded in 1333 by starting the only battle of the Turkish-Cordovan War, and moving some Pikemen to Tours. It would fall in a few years, and there wasn't anything Cordova could do about it, although it wasn't like the city had much real value.
In the silly wars department, Germany got the Byzantines to declare war on England.
Cordova decided to resolve the problem of Tours in 1335 by just giving it to the Byzantines. Better they get it than the Turks get it. And hey, maybe the Turks would declare war on the Byzantines over it, and who knows what would happen then. But, they didn't, so the world will never know.
The citizens apparently wanted Al-Rahman to build a Spanish Inquisition. That was unexpected, seeing as how it would make them unhappy in whatever city they built it in. Maybe they liked the Stealth Attack immunity and "Forbidden Palace Corruption Reduction," whatever that meant.
The Byzantines took the Abbasid city of Basra, near the Persian Gulf, from the Abbasids in 1336- and to the surprise of all, didn't burn it. So they don't destroy everything.
Norway declared war on the Magyars and Bulgars. Maybe they want their city in Finland back. In other news that would go nowhere, the Abbasids declared war on Sweden because the Germans told them to.
The Fleet had reached Tunis and was near Sardinia in 1338. They considered sending a few guys to go capture the English city on the island- with the destruction of Jerusalem, the units they had were probably excessive, and capturing cities would help them beat the Turks at VP's as well- and the Turks sure were making them work for it, passing 21,000 VP's by that point. They were gaining several hundred every few years, with no signs of slowing down.
Germany got the Abbasids to declare war on England in 1339. They're really MA-Happy, especially with the Abbasids.
A bit later, people in Cordoba woke up to find that the Norwegian government had established an embassy there. They might have established their own with Norway earlier if they had thought they had anything to gain from doing so...
After a few years of discussion, the Cordovan government and military had agreed that sending some of the invasion fleet to Newcastle, the English city on Sardinia, would be a good course of action. While they were at it, they decided that they should split the fleet further to increase their chances of doing some serious damage to the Byzantine Empire for VP's. Jerusalem would probably not be defended that well, and even if they couldn't hold it there for long, all they had to do was take it for long enough to bring the Crown of Thorns there. So they'd split it up. A smaller force would head to Jerusalem- and the main force would instead go to the very core of the Byzantine Empire near Constantinople to try and take it out and kill the 3 Byzantine Kings that functioned as heads of the government. The other two were in Athens and Ancyra. Athens could be taken by the Sardinian attack force when they were done, but Ancyra was a bit far inland. If they were to have a chance of taking it, they'd have to go through several other cities first. At the very least, it was unlikely they'd be able to take it as quickly as Constantinople and Athens.
The random wars continued in 1342, with England starting a war with Poland and the Abbasids and Magyars ending their war. And then came one of the few times that a new war would have an impact: The English signed a military alliance with the Fatimids to get them to declare war on the Byzantines.
This would certainly have an impact. The two would probably fight a ton in the Holy Land, and might ignore the Abbasids to fight each other. Or maybe not, as the Byzantines destroyed an Abbasid city on the Eastern edge of the map called "New A..." (Cordova isn't bothering to find out what it was named) Whatever happened, it would impact who controlled the Jerusalem ruins- and might weaken them enough for Cordova to slip in and take them. Speaking of which, the Fatimids built a city right next to them, but not on them. They might own them now- or maybe the Byzantines own them, Cordova doesn't really know.
The first of many battles in the Byzantine-Fatimid War was fought shortly afterward near Sardinia, where a Byzantine Dromon destroyed a Fatimid Curragh.
At that same island in 1344, 2 Galleys, who had been transporting 4 Assassins and 4 Ansar units dropped them off near Newcastle. They'd probably take the city quickly.
Turkey continued to alarm, passing 22000 VP's.
Not much of interest happened in 1345. The English got Norway to declare war on the Byzantines, who destroyed the Fatimid city of New Aswan, a bit to the East of where Jerusalem was, meaning they were probably winning. In the north, Denmark re-took the formerly Kievan city of Polotsk from Bulgaria.
The invasion of Newcastle went exactly as good as you could hope for in 1347. An Assassin took out the Longbowmen in the city, and found that there were only 2 units of Spearmen left in it. Were. The Ansars found them to be quite useful as target practice.
Meanwhile, as most of the Cordovan fleet reached Southwestern Greece, the Cordovan government reached two decisions: One, that they no longer had any reason to fight England, and should make peace. They promptly did so, getting some gold and a city that had been built on the ruins of Orkney. Somewhat funny- Cordova got the island twice, from two different nations, from two different peace treaties. Maybe they'll keep it this time.
Cordova's other decision was that before they decided how to split the fleet, they should check out the defenses of Athens, Constantinople, and Ancyra, so they did:
The good news was that they hadn't upgraded to Swiss Mercenaries yet, and Athens's low defense meant that the force that had taken Newcastle should be able to take the city easily, although they'd have to take some time to heal first. That didn't really matter- they'd be able to reach Athens before the other forces, at their current location, could reach Constantinople and Jerusalem anyway. But Ancyra would be difficult if they could even get there, and the huge number of Pikemen defending Constantinople would make that city difficult to get for even a large number of Cordovan soldiers. This would not be easy at all.
Bulgaria Re-Re-Re-captured Polotsk in 1348, and the Byzantines destroyed New El Alamein, the city that the Fatimids had built near the ruins of Jerusalem. There was almost no doubt that they owned the ruins now. Hopefully, at least the Fatimids could weaken their presence there for the Cordovans to take.
And they certainly were a distraction, at least- huge numbers of Byzantine Dromons were noticed heading West, probably to attack the Fatimids.
Lastly, Germany got Denmark to declare war on Sweden. Finally, a random war that would actually see some fighting!
Nothing much but ship movement happened in 1350. The people whose job it was to watch people's Victory Points reported that the Byzantines were starting to become threatening, too. In that year, the Turks had 22685, the Byzantines had 19510, and Cordova had 17000.
England and Denmark ended a war they never fought in 1351. Too bad, they could have done some actual fighting. Norway also declared war on Turkey at the behest of the Germans. Maybe that was better than not being at war with them, but they still wouldn't do much actual fighting either.
VP Watch reported that the Byzantines had passed 20000 VP's by 1353. Still a few thousand behind the Turks, but no less of a threat.
It was that year that the fleet needed to split in two. 8 of the fleet's remaining Galleys headed for Constantinople, bringing with them the armies of El Cid, Al-Mansur, and Al-Mutamin, 4 units of Ansars outside those armies, 4 of Longbowmen, 2 units of Swiss Mercenaries, and 10 units of Trebuchets. Perhaps sending this many away was a mistake, as now only 4 units of Assassins and 4 of Ansar Warriors remained to attack the Jerusalem ruins. Hopefully, it wouldn't be.
In what was probably good news for some bad news for others, the Byzantines finally signed a peace treaty with the Abbasids in 1354.
No, really, they did, and they didn't immediately re-declare war again this time. Maybe they only cared about taking Jerusalem and not about destroying the Abbasids. They'd probably survive now, when, just like Norway long ago, they had seemed on the brink of destruction and sure to die at some point.
And speaking of Abbasid peace, they were also willing to sign peace with Cordova at this point. Cordova didn't really have any reason to fight them at this point, nor could they really gain from doing so, so they took them up on this offer. They even got some gold for their trouble.
A bunch of ships blocked the Straits of Messina in 1356, greatly annoying the Assassins and Ansars outside that were trying to get through to reach Athens. They'd still get there in time, but a minor course correction would be needed.
From that position, though, they were able to witness an interesting battle in 1357: A Bulgarian Inquisitor attacked the still-Danish Uppsala and took the island of Sicily for Bulgaria.
In war news, the Turks got the Byzantines to declare war on Kiev... again... and Norway, tired of Germany signing them into military alliances, signed them into one against the Magyars. This could end poorly for the Magyars. And, with all that done, the Byzantines got Germany to declare war on Norway, when they had until then seemed like close war allies... okay...
At the end of the year, Cordovan scientists perfected a better kind of Mill that would allow Cordova to produce things quicker. Not that it would matter, it was too late for something like to provide much benefit. At least it gave them a bit of a VP boost, which was better than nothing.
In 1358, strange reports were coming in from Valencia. A merchant ship had drifted in on the winds from somewhere, with the crew either dead or dying of a mysterious ailment. In the following couple of weeks, the sickness was seen spreading to many of the citizens of Valencia, killing large numbers of them. Survivors called it the "Black Death" after the marks it left on the skin of victims.
The military units in the city, which strangely hadn't died yet, fled the city in the following year to avoid infection. They'd return if they needed to, but that was unlikely.
Elsewhere, the fleets just kept moving. The Athens-bound one was at the Southwest coast of Greece, the Constantinople-bound one was in the Aegean Sea, and the Jerusalem-bound one was near Cyprus. They'd reach their destinations in the next few years.
Those fleets noticed a curiously large number of Byzantine Dromons and Inquisitors moving around in 1360. Hopefully, they wouldn't be too much of a problem. They also noticed a Swedish unit on Cyprus, an island that had long been controlled by Denmark. The Swedes didn't attack the city on Cyprus, just pillaged some land.
Speaking of Sweden, they signed a peace treaty with Turkey. Booo! Bad Swedes! Bad!
Worse news was heard a bit later. The Black Death had spread beyond Valencia... to Cordoba. The threat and concern here was pretty large.
After getting all the necessary preparations done in 1362, the Cordovan government got the hell out of Cordoba for a bit, taking with them Al-Rahman and Al-Hakam, and the military units defending the city. They set up temporary government buildings outside the city, and hopefully would be able to return to the normal ones soon.
A thousand miles away, the Galleys reached Athens and Constantinople and unloaded the troops there. They'd have to wait a bit for the others to reach Jerusalem, but they should be able to take those cities soon.
It would have to be fast- the Turks had passed 24000 VP's and showed no signs of slowing down.
The Fatimids appeared in Cordova with a rather arrogant demand in 1363. Ordinarily, Al-Rahman would never give them the Wool they wanted, but a war with them could spell disaster, and it wouldn't matter for much longer anyway. So they could have it, this time.
The Magyars and Poles signed a peace treaty shortly after. Curious that they had never fought much despite being neighbors. They were probably always too busy fighting the Turks.
Speaking of wars, a lot more cities fell that year than had fallen recently, mostly involving the Turks. They captured the Kievan city of Isborsk, Kiev's easternmost city that wasn't isolated (why they haven't captured the farther east and isolated Kievan city is a mystery) but they also lost the formerly Kievan city of Pskov to Germany, and the formerly Magyar city of Mohacs to Bulgaria. Finally, in non-Turkish news, Sweden captured Skalholt. Cordova really wants to control the Balearic Islands, but can't. Sigh.
Finally, in 1365, the Cordovan Galleys reached the ruins that used to be Jerusalem, bringing 4 units of Ansar Warriors and 4 Assassins with them. There were many Byzantine units in the way in some places, and a lot of Inquisitors, but it would not matter at all. In 1368, they'd be ready to fight, and the Byzantines would go down.
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I'm going to have to end it here for tonight, sorry to leave you all hanging. It's late and I have to get up early tomorrow to take the SAT. I'll post the conclusion sometime tomorrow. Until then, cliffhanger, DA DA DA DUM!
