Chapter 1547: The Rise and Fall of the First Empire — The Emperor Takes the Field in Person

The red column advanced across the plain along the banks of the Danube. From the moment it crossed the mountains of Serbia, the Janissary corps had not paused in its march. Contrary to what Prince Condé and Count Montecuccoli had expected, the "cumbersome" Ottoman host did not crawl like a tortoise through the rugged mountains of Serbia, but instead split in two. Mehmed IV and Mustafa Kara led the main force — the heavily equipped siege troops — moving slowly through the rugged Serbian highlands.

Meanwhile, the seventy- or eighty-year-old Ahmed Köprülü, together with the Janissary corps commander Mehmed Pasha, and Selim I Giray, the Crimean khan who had ridden to their aid with twenty thousand elite light cavalry, led fifty-five thousand light troops (including twenty thousand Tatar light cavalry and two thousand "Mongol iron cavalry" kept for show) in a rapid thrust ahead of the main army, breaking straight into the Hungarian plain, bypassing a string of unimportant fortresses along the Danube, and driving directly toward Győr, the key junction between Hungary, Bohemia, and Austria.

Hungary at this time was the main contested region between the Ottoman Empire and the Holy Roman Empire. The northern part of Hungary belonged to the Holy Roman Empire and was called Upper Hungary, or Royal Hungary.

The rest of Hungary, including Transylvania, was held by Christian princes who submitted to the Ottoman Empire, and was Ottoman territory.

However, because the Ottoman Empire had won first and then lost in a war against the Holy Roman Empire in 1663, its control over Lower Hungary had greatly relaxed. On the Royal Hungarian side, by contrast, Habsburg rule was more oppressive, and from time to time struggles broke out as Hungarian nobles and Protestants rose against Royal Hungary.

A little over a hundred years earlier (before 1571), Hungary had still been an independent state, ruled by the native Zápolya dynasty.

Because the country had been lost so recently, and because both the Ottoman Empire and the Habsburgs spared no effort to win over the great Hungarian nobles in their struggle for control of Hungary, the Hungarian state was gone, but the power of its great nobles remained very strong. Some of these great nobles still dreamed of reviving their Hungarian fatherland, and to that end had even formed a rebel army of insurgents called the Protestant Crusade!

The Ottoman Grand Vizier Ahmed Köprülü had long since taken note of these Hungarian rebels, and so before formally launching the campaign he had sent men to contact these Hungarians, promising them an "independent, unified Hungary" — one that would of course believe in God, and of course submit to the Ottoman Empire.

Whether or not Ahmed Köprülü's promises had taken effect, when the Ottoman vanguard moved swiftly through the plains of Lower Hungary toward the fortress of Győr in Upper Hungary, it met no resistance. Moreover, they purchased large quantities of supplies from the nobles of Lower Hungary — all paid for with Aurangzeb's silver rupees! Sometimes the Ottoman army even had to pay compensation, because the Crimean khan's Tatar cavalry, moving with Ahmed Köprülü, would occasionally plunder a Hungarian village. But soothed by the silver rupees, the Hungarian nobles remained fairly calm (the ones who suffered were mostly serfs), and so the army personally led by Ahmed Köprülü advanced at a rate of seventy or eighty li a day, driving straight toward the fortress of Győr in Upper Hungary, held by the imperial troops of the Holy Roman Empire.

The news that the Ottoman light troops were advancing rapidly through Lower Hungary was quickly reported to the Hofburg Palace by a number of Hungarian nobles who secretly maintained contact with Vienna.

"Ahmed Köprülü must have gone senile."

Leopold I stood before a large military map, staring at an arrow that had just been drawn pointing straight at the fortress of Győr, utterly baffled.

What was the old man trying to do?

Had age addled his brain?

His light troops could not possibly breach the fortress of Győr, let alone take Vienna.

Count Montecuccoli, standing beside Leopold I, frowned, likewise deep in thought.

If the situation on the map was real, then the army of tens of thousands led by Ahmed Köprülü had clearly committed the great taboo of a lone force plunging deep into enemy territory.

The main force led by Sultan Mehmed IV was still near Belgrade, moving slowly northward, separated from Ahmed Köprülü's vanguard by at least ten days' march. Even if they abandoned their baggage and heavy artillery and quickened their pace, they could not possibly reinforce Ahmed Köprülü's light troops in time.

But the intuition bred by many years of military life told Count Montecuccoli that such an abnormal deployment might well mean a trap!

The Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire was far too cunning — how could he possibly make such a colossal blunder?

But what wicked scheme was this crafty old Grand Vizier hatching? Count Montecuccoli racked his brains, but could not think of it.

"Grand Marshal," Leopold I suddenly said to Count Montecuccoli, "I understand now! The Ottomans' target is not Vienna — it is the fortress of Győr!"

Count Montecuccoli looked at his emperor, as if waiting to hear the judgment of this man whose wits were not the sharpest.

Leopold I said thoughtfully: "At first, they may have wanted to strike at Vienna, but now Louis XIV has issued a declaration supporting us, and the King of Poland, Sobieski, and the Grand Pensionary of Holland, De Witt, have also declared their support for us. With that, the Ottoman Empire's original advantage no longer exists. But they have been preparing for so long, and they have taken money from the Chinese and the Indians — they have to do something. So they changed their plan, shifting their objective from Vienna to the fortress of Győr. And the purpose of Ahmed Köprülü's leading the light troops ahead is to clear the outer approaches of Győr before we can react, and to block our reinforcements from entering the fortress.

If the garrison in Győr is small, then once the Ottoman Sultan's main force arrives, the fortress can be quickly taken. Once Győr is in hand, the Ottomans can establish a defensive line along the Danube and wait for our combined army with the French and the Poles to arrive, then either fight a decisive battle or negotiate."

That actually sounded quite reasonable!

Count Montecuccoli knew his emperor's intelligence was somewhat lacking, but for the moment he could think of no better explanation, so he said to the emperor: "Then let Charles of Lorraine lead three regiments by forced march into the fortress of Győr. The fortress now has about two thousand men; if we add three more regiments, it will have a full eight thousand defenders."

Charles of Lorraine was the very Duke Charles V of Lorraine who, in history, led the armies of the Holy Roman Empire to victory in the Siege of Vienna.

At present his uncle Charles IV was still alive, so he was not yet the duke. He had been educated at the imperial school in Vienna, had sat the "civil examinations," and had passed into a military post, serving continuously in the imperial army and taking part in many wars, growing into an outstanding officer.

If he commanded eight thousand men defending the fortress of Győr, they could indeed rest easy. As long as Győr held, and Vienna retained sufficient defenders, Count Montecuccoli would lead the remaining field army out of the city to maneuver, seeking an opportunity to break into the rear of the Ottoman army and force it to turn back or divide its forces.

Even if this could not break the Ottoman offensive outright, it would buy time while waiting for Louis XIV's French army and Sobieski's Polish army to arrive.

Once the French and Polish armies had gathered, would not the Holy Roman Empire be able to rest without worry?

But Leopold I felt he ought to show himself more active and bold — and he also worried that Louis XIV would seize the chance to meddle in Hungarian affairs and prop up a pro-French Greater Hungary!

Thinking of this, Leopold I gritted his teeth and said to Count Montecuccoli: "Since the enemy's vanguard is not large, why can we not concentrate our main force and give them a sound thrashing?" The Emperor paused. "Count, I intend to lead the troops out personally. What do you think?"

(End of Chapter)