Chapter 1549: The Rise and Fall of the First Empire Is Decided Today

March 30, 1675, in the early hours before dawn.

Beneath a pitch-black pre-dawn sky, a rising clamor stirred in two encampments that had blazed with light all night, as the soldiers of the Ottoman Empire and the Holy Roman Empire hurried through their breakfasts. The Ottoman Janissary corps was known as the "Foodie Corps," and it had always been famously particular about food and drink. The emblem on its battle flag was a soup pot, and every rank in the corps was tied to cooking. If you met a "head chef" in this army, you had better show respect — that man was a very senior officer!

The Foodie Corps' "last meal" before a great battle was, of course, extremely lavish: Turkish dumplings (beef-filled, with yogurt sauce) served with red lentil soup, and officers and cavalrymen got an extra portion of sausage and fried eggs. Whether the Turkish dumplings, the red lentil soup, or the sausage and fried eggs, everything was exquisitely prepared. Even four men of power and influence — Zhu Hengli, Hu Zhongyong, Zhu Lundun, and Shi Baoluo — ate with great relish. One had to admit that the Janissary corps' culinary standard was surely world-class; not even the Ming dynasty's Imperial Guard or France's new army could match them.

The four gathered in a single tent and finished their breakfast in silence, and then the bugle call for assembly sounded. Although they were accompanying Ahmed Köprülü's operation in the capacity of "observers," they had also brought troops with them — the quality of the Ottoman square could only be known once it was put to use! So Hu Zhongyong had also formed a four-battalion long-musket regiment from Goa troops (some of whom were Shi Baoluo's Macau Portuguese), and, to round out appearances, added 1,000 "Mongol cavalry," all of which he brought to the front.

The 1,000 Mongol cavalry would most likely not go into battle, but the "Goa Regiment" would take the field to test itself against the army of the Holy Roman Empire.

Thus the "long-musket battalions" that would take part in today's battle numbered 54 in all, belonging to 14 long-musket regiments, each regiment assigned a half-battery of artillery.

In addition, there were 20 squadrons of Janissary heavy cavalry, 1,000 Mongol cavalry (not all of them actually Mongols), and 15,000 Tatar cavalry from the Crimean Khanate (with another 5,000 on outer watch), all of whom would also appear on the battlefield of Győr on March 30, 1675.

By the time Zhu Hengli, Zhu Lundun, Hu Zhongyong, Shi Baoluo, and the others had finished breakfast, the previously noisy camp had suddenly fallen extraordinarily quiet. The four, who had already spent some time with the Ottoman army, knew that this was the hour when the Janissary and Tatar warriors performed the Islamic dawn prayer.

Once the dawn prayer was finished, it would be time for these Muslim warriors to march onto the battlefield!

Before long, the sky began to lighten, and bugles and drums sounded once more. Groups of Janissary warriors in red robes, wearing exaggerated white "börk" headdresses and sporting great beards, poured out of the various camps. Thousands upon thousands of soldiers formed up into dense marching columns according to the banners of their respective units. Guided by their regimental and battalion flags — each emblazoned with some kind of cooking utensil — they would advance to the line. The skirmishers attached to each battalion had already set out ahead, and under the cover of a small number of Tatar light cavalry they hurried forward to seize the departure positions.

At the same time, the Holy Roman Empire's jägers, dragoons, and light cavalry also moved up to the front and likewise began seizing the departure positions.

The two sides' skirmishers (jägers) and light cavalry (dragoons) met at the front and immediately opened fire on each other!

Skirmishers and jägers armed with rifles had actually appeared on the battlefield earlier than line infantry armed with flintlock smoothbores — as early as the beginning of the 17th century, Denmark had been the first to equip skirmishers (sharpshooters, jägers) with rifles. By the 1670s, as more and better rifles were manufactured, every country began equipping its skirmishers with rifles to screen the infantry squares.

At daybreak, Leopold I, clad in a suit of exquisitely crafted black plate armor, sat on horseback about 200 yards beyond the outermost moat of the fortress of Győr. Before him stretched the open plain — today's battlefield.

This plain had once been wheat fields, abandoned because of the war. Several farmsteads had been burned down, leaving only broken walls and ruins. At the edges of the battlefield there were also two small groves of trees, which did not seem likely to cause much trouble.

When Leopold I, escorted by the Royal Guard, appeared at the edge of the battlefield, the 55,000 imperial troops under his command were pouring out of camp in vast columns and marching toward the field. This army included the entire new army of about 40,000 men, plus some older-style regiments and heavy cavalry units, about 15,000 in all. The latter came from German states loyal to the House of Habsburg, and there were even three cavalry regiments from neighboring Poland.

In the center of the designated battlefield, small-scale skirmishing had already been under way for a while. The contact battle was unfolding between the two sides' skirmishers (jägers) and light cavalry (dragoons).

Leopold, going into battle for the first time, was merely enjoying the spectacle. Listening to the crackle of gunfire and watching the cavalry of both sides dash back and forth across the field, he appeared thoroughly excited. But Count Montecuccoli and Charles of Lorraine, who had taken the field with him, both furrowed their brows.

"Grand Marshal, the gunfire seems far too dense!" Charles said quietly to Count Montecuccoli. "Just how many skirmishers has the enemy sent forward?"

Count Montecuccoli frowned. The gunfire at the front was not sporadic; it rang out in an unbroken stream, as if several smoothbore musket battalions were exchanging volleys.

But the skirmishers and jägers on both sides were armed with slow-firing rifles — how could they possibly produce such dense gunfire?

Just as he was puzzling over this, the gunfire on the battlefield gradually began to thin out!

It turned out that large bodies of infantry from both sides had entered the field, so the skirmishers, jägers, light cavalry, and dragoons each fell back to screen their own main forces.

Count Montecuccoli and Charles of Lorraine also began concentrating on observing the enemy's formation, and both raised their telescopes to look.

"This is... it looks a bit like the squares of ten years ago!" Charles of Lorraine had only glanced a few times before a confident smile appeared on his face. "There are a great many pikes, nearly half... An infantry square like that has very weak firepower and is no match for us at all!"

Count Montecuccoli smiled as well. "Their musketeers don't even have bayonets, so they can't withstand our cavalry charges and have to rely on pikemen for protection. It seems the Turks' military reforms are still too slow — they simply can't keep up with the times!"

Leopold I overheard their discussion, and the Holy Roman Emperor looked extremely excited. He asked the two of them, "Grand Marshal, Charles — can we win?"

"Of course we can!" Charles of Lorraine answered with a laugh. "The Ottomans are doomed. God stands behind Your Majesty today!"

Count Montecuccoli also nodded and said with a smile, "Your Majesty, God blesses the Holy Roman Empire. Victory will surely be ours!"

Leopold I nodded and loudly gave the order to commence battle: "The fate of the empire is decided today. Soldiers all — press forward bravely!"

On the broad battlefield south of Győr, by this time armor and weapons covered the field and banners blotted out the sky. Two well-trained armies, guided by their respective battle flags, were deploying in good order on the northern and southern sides of the field.

The two sides' grand formations were in fact quite similar: both were drawn up in two successive lines, with cavalry posted on the wings and artillery placed in front of the line. From the age of the pike square all the way to the era of line infantry and volley fire, these had been the basic field formations. Of course, exactly how they were arranged still depended on the terrain.

But at the battalion and company level, the two sides' formations were very different.

The main force on the Holy Roman Empire's side had been organized in imitation of France's new army and was already very close to the line infantry of history. In the most basic infantry company, flintlock musketeers made up three-quarters and pikemen only one-quarter, and every flintlock musket was fitted with a socket bayonet.

Their basic formation was no longer the square, but a five-rank line: three close-order ranks of flintlock musketeers, and two open-order ranks of pikemen. As long as the enemy cavalry did not charge, the pikemen would remain standing behind the musketeers.

In addition, the Holy Roman Empire's infantry also used a type of anti-cavalry barrier called the "Spanish rider" (something like a cheval de frise), which could be placed in front of the line or on the wings to prevent enemy cavalry charges.

Unlike the "advanced" infantry formations of the Holy Roman Empire, the Ottoman Empire's battalion-level infantry squares looked far more backward.

(End of Chapter)