Chapter 1600: I Want to Study the History of the Song Dynasty

Outside the woods where the Ottoman army's left-flank forward command post was located, the Grand Vizier Mustafa Köprülü stood on the carriage of a four-wheeled wagon, holding a telescope and staring fixedly at the scene across from him. He watched with his own eyes as his men threw themselves at the Austrians' seemingly thin defensive line in dense formations, only to be shot down in swathes. The number of dead could no longer be estimated, and the Janissary corps soldiers, whose morale had originally been high, had now fallen into panic and confusion. Those at the front had already turned and fled, while those behind, unaware of the situation, were still surging forward in groups.

Front and rear, one side advancing and the other retreating, they collided violently together, and in an instant all fell into chaos.

Seeing this scene, the Grand Vizier Mustafa Köprülü already sensed that something was wrong!

The Austrians were far tougher than he had imagined. After enduring such a long bombardment, and then facing the Janissary corps' massive assault, they had actually held their ground without budging... no, not only held their ground without budging, they had also inflicted enormous casualties on the attacking Janissary soldiers!

This showed that the army Archduke Henry of Austria had hastily expanded was no rabble at all, but an elite force with real fighting power... but how, in such haste, had Archduke Henry managed to train conscripted peasants and townsfolk into crack troops?

Just as the Grand Vizier Mustafa Köprülü could not for the life of him understand how the Austrians could fight so well, a cheer of "Hurrah! Hurrah!" suddenly came from the front... it was the Austrian infantry launching a charge!

Mustafa Köprülü hastily raised his telescope a little higher and aimed it at the place where the shouting had arisen. He saw row after row of white-coated soldiers holding flintlock muskets with fixed bayonets climbing out from behind the breastworks, then surging across the trench. After briefly dressing their ranks, they formed up by company line and hurled themselves at the disordered Ottoman soldiers.

In the process of closing with the enemy, their formation remained extremely well maintained. Everyone appeared unhurried, and no one fired recklessly. They simply advanced at a steady pace, then halted and dressed ranks, and at the officers' word of command leveled their muskets and fired a volley... finally launching a bayonet charge!

"Damn it..." Mustafa Köprülü cursed. He had witnessed the entire process of an Austrian infantry company advancing, dressing ranks, firing, and charging, and was immediately shocked by their performance.

Even the finest Janissary soldiers could not reach this level!

They could not do it even in training, let alone on the battlefield!

The individual martial skills of the Janissary soldiers certainly surpassed these Austrians... they were all long-trained professional soldiers, proficient in shooting, swordplay, the long spear, archery, horsemanship, and many other skills, and could undertake very difficult combat missions, such as reconnaissance, night raids, sieges, and ambushes.

But their discipline and formations simply could not compare with the Austrians' line infantry!

Moreover, the Janissary soldiers' outstanding individual combat skills seemed to be of little use against the Austrians' positions, artillery, and rifled muskets...

"Withdraw for now!" Knowing that this wave of attack had completely failed and that pressing on was meaningless, he had no choice but to give the order to retreat.

In fact, there was no need for him to give the order at all. The Ottomans' first wave of attack had no way of continuing whatsoever. They had already been routed by the enemy and had to fall back and regroup.

Now that they had received the Grand Vizier's order, the Janissary soldiers who were still desperately resisting fell back like the tide.

Of course, what had been repulsed was only the first wave of attacks organized by Mustafa Köprülü!

This Grand Vizier had a full 20,000 Janissary soldiers at his disposal, and still had the capital to keep fighting!

And the lakeside battlefield was merely one component of the Lakeside–Danube campaign... for the Ottoman army, their attack on the lakeside front was only a feint, and did not require them to fight too desperately.

But while Mustafa Köprülü did not want to fight desperately, the Austrians opposite him were full of fight. They seized the opportunity to pursue relentlessly, advancing over the corpses of the Ottomans.

When he saw his ten battalions of Janissary officers and men being beaten so badly they were throwing away their armor, on the verge of turning from an organized withdrawal into a full-scale rout, Mustafa Köprülü had no choice but to order his artillery to immediately fire their expensive explosive shells to stop the Austrian advance.

"B-broken through!"

At the same moment that the left-flank feint force under Mustafa Köprülü's personal command was firing explosive shells, the Ottoman center commanded by Mustafa Kara had successfully achieved a breakthrough!

It seemed that the tactic of "pulling at both wings, breaking through the center" that Mustafa Köprülü and Mustafa Kara had agreed upon had achieved some success.

The center of the Austrian army's defensive line was quite hollow. After Mustafa Kara concentrated 120 cannons and carried out a fierce 40-minute bombardment, signs of collapse appeared. The brave and battle-hardened Mustafa Kara Pasha immediately seized the opportunity and decisively committed 15 battalions of Janissary officers and men, launching a fierce assault!

Although they too came under accurate fire from the Austrians' rifled muskets, took several volleys from the Austrians' smoothbore muskets, and also endured a round of grapeshot, and their losses were by no means small!

But the Janissary officers and men's assault was not broken. These brave soldiers shouted slogans, endured all manner of shot and shell, and forced their way into the Austrian positions. They then launched the hand-to-hand combat they excelled at, and ultimately won victory, driving the Austrians out of their positions...

Just as Mustafa Kara was wild with joy and about to order the Tatar cavalry assigned to his command to launch a charge, one of his staff officers ran up and reported to him: "Pasha, we have discovered a new defensive line behind the Austrians' line!"

"What? A line behind the line?"

"Yes... and it seems there is more than one!"

More than one? Mustafa Kara was somewhat speechless. Why were these Austrians so fond of building fortifications?

"I'll go take a look!" Mustafa Kara did not dare attack rashly, so he took a small escort and went up to the front line, arriving behind a breastwork that his men had just captured.

Once there, he discovered that the Austrians' defensive lines were layered upon layered... behind the first breastwork there were still many circular fortifications, strong points, and another breastwork!

And who knew whether behind the second breastwork there might be a third defensive line? If the fighting went on like this, when would it ever end?

But they could not afford not to keep fighting — there were still many banks in Vienna waiting to be looted!

And if Austria were not crushed, Bohemia and Upper Hungary would collapse along with it!

So this battle had to be won!

Mustafa Kara steeled his heart and ordered the infantry under his command to continue their assault.

Another ten battalions received orders and began attacking a circular fortification blocking the Ottoman army's line of advance from three sides.

The fighting around the circular fortification remained fierce. Although the Austrian defenders were few in number and had no artillery, they had quite a few Jäger rifles, and they shot both accurately and ruthlessly, deliberately picking off Ottoman officers! They actually managed to beat back two successive Ottoman assaults.

But the third assault launched by Mustafa Kara still succeeded!

Probably because the circular fortification was too large while the defenders were too few. After holding out against two fierce Ottoman assaults, the number of defenders had been further reduced, and they simply could not hold any longer!

Watching the flag painted with pots and pans being planted on the highest point of the circular fortification, Mustafa Kara once again moved forward with his staff officers and guards to the newly captured fortification.

Then, disregarding the dissuasion of several regimental commanders and staff officers, he went up to the front line again, crouching behind a breastwork of sandbags to observe the Austrian army's second defensive line ahead.

At this moment, the Janissary corps' skirmishers were launching a probing attack. Several hundred men spread out in a loose array, firing at a distance of one or two hundred yards from the Austrian line, while the Austrians' return fire was sparse and scattered. Even as the Janissary skirmishers pressed closer step by step, they could not produce a fierce hail of bullets.

It seemed the Austrians' center really was somewhat hollow! Mustafa Kara thought to himself: victory is in sight... just a little more effort and we will win!

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