[RFC-DoC] No Cities Left Behind (The Super Secret History of the Mongols)

[momo1000]

Is all your research off of Wikipedia?

 

[Tigranes]

Is all your research off of Wikipedia?

Mostly yes, as I aim to keep this translation of mine more or less on the level of Civilopedia But I am always open for a deep historical debate especially with Jewish historians

_____

 

[christos200]

Once again great update.

 

[hoplitejoe]

Russia is going down

 

[thecaesar]

I have no sympathy for them; the only time the russians were ever friendly with me in RFC was once, and that was when I was America.

Edit: No idea why that smiley is above my post... -shrug-

 

[Tycho]

It happens sometimes thecaesar.

Additionally, Russia is going to pay.

 

[Dumanios]

If you're razing all the cities, then how will you attack Japan, Indonesia, or the Americas?

 

[Tigranes]

If you're razing all the cities, then how will you attack Japan, Indonesia, or the Americas?

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That's an excellent question, professor! I don't want to publish any spoilers ahead of the time but those island nations cannot feel safe just because there is no trace of Mongolian Navy yet. Super Secret History follows the conventional history in the most major aspects.

 

[Jwitti]

IIRC The invasion of Japan failed miserably due to an unexpected storm... right?
EDIT: Without reading the wikipedia, too!

 

[Tigranes]

IIRC The invasion of Japan failed miserably due to an unexpected storm... right?
EDIT: Without reading the wikipedia, too!

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The word kamikaze was coined precisely in that connection

 

[Tigranes]

13. When a wayfarer passes by people eating,
he must alight and eat with them without asking for permission,
and they must not forbid him this.
The Great Yasa of Genghis Khan​

A person who travels on foot, wayfarer, should be either poor or holy man, who does not use or cannot afford to use a horse or a donkey. So those who eat must keep things simple and not to shun from unexpected guests. I am not very sure about "must alight and eat" part, though. What if wayfarer is not hungry -- he still needs to sit down and eat every time he sees people eating? I better check with my brother -- you don't wonna mess with the law, no you don't!

You also don't wonna mess with us, Mongols, but those Holy Romans think otherwise. They keep messing with us again and again. Here, we just finished burning Kiev, and were having some rest on top of the ashes of former glorious city when those pesky Pikeman attacked us from city Lemberg (not shown):



I officially hate Pikeman units. They should not be so effective against us, mobile missile cavalry, with Keshiks being elite guard troops (like Praetorians), but not the bulk of our army. Lemberg was known as Lviv when it was in hands of East Slavic people. It was founded by Prince Daniel of Galicia in the Ruthenian principality of Halych-Volhynia and named in honour of his son Lev (Leo). King Casimir III of Poland undertook an expedition and conquered Lviv in 1340, burning down the old princely castle. Poland ultimately gained control over Lviv and the adjacent region in 1349. From then on Polish lords never stopped attempts to both Polonize and Catholicize the population. Casimir built two new castles. In 1356 he brought in German colonists and within 7 years granted the Magdeburg rights which implied that all city matters were to be resolved by a council elected by the wealthy citizens. So in AD 1357 those Pikemen from Lemberg should represent Poles. Batu Khan was contemplating the retaliatory raid into HRE lands to punish those Poles armed with pole weapons , but our Great Khan Mongke advised him to focus on Russia. Mongols have to conquer Russia before they visit the lands of Poles, Hungarians and Germans. So Crimea was the next target after the Kiev:



Our Ghuzz Elephant was heading to kill Russian Knights sitting in Khersones, when another detachment of Russians came to the rescue and attacked our heavy animals. We were sure its a pure form of Russian Roulette and those Knights have no chance against Elephants -- but lo and behold those lucky bastards had withdrawn, making noticeable scratches on our troops. Ignoring those scratches our animals attacked Khersones fiercely and fearlessly:



The result was very satisfactory:



Russian pride suffered tremendously upon the fall of Khersones. Russians insist that this city was linked to the story of their conversion to Christianity and therefore holds a special place in their national psyche. In 980s it has reportedly fell to Kiev, being in Byzantines hands before. Vladimir the Great, who was still pagan and therefore not Great yet, agreed to evacuate the fortress only if Byzantine Emperor's famous Basil II's sister Anna Porphyrogeneta would be given him in marriage. The demand caused a scandal in Constantinople, as imperial princesses had never been married to non-Greeks before. As a pre-condition for the marriage settlement, Vladimir was baptized here in 988, thus paving the way to the Baptism of Kievan Rus':



Curiously, this campaign of Russian "Constantine" is not recorded in Greek sources, and some historians have suggested that this account actually refers to the events of the Rus'-Byzantine War (1043) and to a different Vladimir. Our troops made sure to further complicate the nitpicking of historians by methodically destroying every single building in Khersones.

Meanwhile in China, after long and protracted siege our Great Khan Mongke finally ordered the general assault on Kaifeng:



Kaifeng was the only city left in Northern China, and was very historically representing the last stronghold of Jin dynasty. It was one of the famous Seven Ancient Capitals of China. Kaifeng reached its peak importance in the 11th century when it was a commercial and industrial center at the intersection of four major canals. During this time, the city was surrounded by three rings of city walls and probably had a population of between 600,000 and 700,000. It is believed that Kaifeng was the largest city in the world from 1013 to 1127. One of the well-known sights in Kaifeng was the astronomical clock tower of the engineer, scientist, and statesman Su Song (1020–1101 AD). It was crowned with a rotating armillary sphere that was hydraulically powered, yet it incorporated an escapement mechanism two hundred years before they were found in the clockworks of Europe and featured the first known endless power-transmitting chain drive. Needless to say triple(!) city garrison promoted Longbowmen were showing stubborn resistance:



When the dust settled after three years (one turn) -- we could not believe our eyes. All our foot soldiers were killed, but Kaifeng still proudly stood guarded with 0.2 defenders:



Those Longbowmen were, no doubt, using Fire Arrows -- the first rocket in mechanism and design. It was made in a variety of forms and launched in diverse manners, but the first design consisted of a pouch of black powder with a stick attached; the arrows were launched from a stand of bamboo sticks. Like the fins on a modern rocket, the long stick on a fire arrow increases stability and accuracy. Fire arrows were launched in salvos from launch platforms such as arrays of cylinders or boxes which could hold as many as 1,000 fire arrows each. Chinese Longbowmen also used in this battle the Flying Firelances, which were bamboo tubes stuffed with black powder; the tube was ignited and used as a flamethrower.

Our 3.2 Great Khan Mongke personally crushed hi-tech defenders and investigated the city. Just like Xian it also had Great Wall headquarters inside:



Conventional history holds it that Great Khan wished to massacre the whole of the Kaifeng population. But fortunately for the North Chinese, Yelu Chucai was more humane, and under his advice Mongols decided to tax people rather than kill them. I need to disappoint all the lovers of men and taxes -- only 2 tumens of new Keshik fighters were spared -- the rest of the Kaifeng followed the fate of Beijing, Xian, Moscow and Kiev. Not to mention Khersones

 

[christos200]

Great update.

 

[Tycho]

Congratulations upon your continued victories Tigranes! Now we just have to see what happens next....

 

[hoplitejoe]

Your not last in score any more

 

[MaxWar]

Awesome as usual, i love how you give historic details and anecdotes about every cities, making them seem unique and important, then Raze em!

I also agree there is something weird with a bunch of random pikemen attacking horses in the open and owning them. In truth the big advantage of spears against horses is when stooping a charge/defending a static position.

Im RL those poles with their poles would have been ground to dust from a distance

 

[Jwitti]

yeah, how do spears get a bonus vs horse ARCHERS anyway?

 

[Alexius08]

yeah, how do spears get a bonus vs horse ARCHERS anyway?

I don't know. Should we give the horse archers some first strikes?

 

[MaxWar]

From having played Medieval Total war a lot and fought the Mongol invasion, i can tell you the really annoying reality of horse archers. Harass Harass HArass HARAss HARASS!! And they basicaly never stop until they run out of arrows. You cannot get near them, they just maintain distance and will grind you you to dust. Melee units and heavy cavalry are useless, you will never catch them. Light horsemen is an option for catching them on the run or isolated pockets. The only thing you can do that works is have a crap load of foot archers yourself, Foot archers have biggers bows and a bit more range so they keep the horse archers at bay.

 

[Jwitti]

I don't know. Should we give the horse archers some first strikes?

I think one and a chance would suffice for reality. For gameplay... I don't know... maybe a -10% vs archery and a +1 boost?

 

[Tigranes]

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Thanks to all my colleagues for their remarks! I am sure you all have read an excellent books called RFC:E and SoI -- they talk about "light cavalry" and "missile cavalry" unit categories -- those categories are treated differently by polearm units ...