Golden Horde - Scourge From The East

[EvilSanta]

Ouch,Ottos sure are a worthy foe for glorius mongol riders.

[Duke of Wellington]

gorjak - It's top of the to do list

Lurken - I'd suspect as much of you

Saulta - I'll have to remedy that

Iche_Bins - Typical, enjoy my misery

stnylan - I've actually been surprised at how well the Ottoman ai is fighting. But it probably because they have such large armies, theres always another one to surprise you just when its going well.

The Real Deal - Thanks

EvilSanta - They'll fall eventually though

[Grundius]

I go away for a week and when I return all hell has broken lose! The Ottomans are bad enough to deal with, but if you play it nicely, you might annex Sibir, vassalize Shirvan and Crimea and with Shirvan as leader of the enemy alliance, end the war. Perhaps you'll have to take stab-hits refusing peace proposals, but in the end you migth as well end up with a new lliance, given you immediately invite the OE, and with Crimea and Shirvan as vassals. Granted, perhaps the most optimistic scenario, yet still one that should be possible. Good luck!

[Duke of Wellington]

Grundius - Sadly it didn't quite work out that way Perhaps a future war will change thngs. I'll update today.

[billy bob]

Grundius - Sadly it didn't quite work out that way Perhaps a future war will change thngs. I'll update today.

Well?

[Duke of Wellington]

Well?

I'm getting there

[Iche_Bins]

I'm pretty sure his today is not the same as yours
I'm still at yesterday for example

[Duke of Wellington]

I'm pretty sure his today is not the same as yours
I'm still at yesterday for example

Ahh, yes well it'll be along in a few minutes.

[Duke of Wellington]

Ulugh II's Reign : Part 4
With the aid of some slightly stained pictures taken by spies, the defences of Kaffa were breached by the Horde in the second month of 1532. In the east the army met with similar success capturing Karaganda.

Inside Kaffa the scene turned ugly quickly. Ulugh was thirsty for revenge. He personally led bands through the city seeking out Crimean soldiers who were then brutally slaughtered in retribution for the destruction their nation had brought to the Horde's lands.

In one of the last corners of the city to be sacked by the invaders, Sa'adat's son Muhammed Giiray was found unarmed and trapped. Ulugh jumped at what he saw as an opportunity for perfect revenge. He personally slew the cowering Prince before mounting his head upon a stake.

As time went on though and Ulugh's blood cooled he became ashamed of his act of revenge. Feeling remorseful over killing such a defenceless person he decided to take pity on Crimea. Peace was granted to them in exchange for their money and Kaffa.

At last Kaffa is in the hands of it's rightful owners

Volgograd was captured by the Ottoman's in May. They were surprisingly merciful upon the inhabitants though, perhaps they weren't really interested in this war. After capturing it the main army moved back south to lay siege of Kouban.

It was now time to follow Kairwan's advice and strike at Shirvan. The army was regrouped at Astrakhan but moved there via Volgograd distracted the Ottomans who thought Ulugh was gonig to attempt to free the capital.

Regrouping for invasion

Abkhazia was successfully converted to Islam in April 1533. Taking this as a sign from Allah that the time was right Ulugh invaded Daghestan the heart of Shirvan.

Ulugh found himself almost grateful that Shirvan wasn't fighting on his side. Their army put up pitiful resistance. They were nearly tripping over themselves to get away from the Horde as they were routed in only a day.

Able to spare a good portion of his army from the siege of Daghestan Ulugh sent them back home to retake Volgograd.

1534 passed with only the sieges of the two capitals progressing. Until the end of the year that was. The Ottomans were not gonig to give up their hard earned gains so easily. They attacked the Horde besieging Volgograd. Despite having an army only a third of the size of the Hordes they were able to win decisively. Ulugh was dismayed by this, it was a story that had been repeated many times in the war. Defeat was not something the Golden Horde should know. From now on the Horde would be more committed to a better army.

The opportunity to focus solely on improving the army came in January 1535. Daghetan was captured. Shirvan now were desperate for peace as was shown by their offer.

At last

Ulugh was overjoyed at the prospect of getting the Ottomans out of his country. Of course he didn't let this show instead he appeared to accept the peace begrudgingly as if he were doing Shirvan a favour.

Finally the Horde takes control of lands it should have had a long time ago

Now was a time for peace. Over half of the country lay in waste as enemy armies had marched over it. Up north a typical Horde event was taking place

When does the rebelling stop

But it was soon crushed, in true Horde style, by thousands of hooves and arrows.

As peace returned to the country Ulugh came to see the beauty of the land when it was not trampled by marching feet. He wanted it to stay with way, the only land getting trampled should be that of his enemies. In order to help his dream he arranged a marriage between his son Bamtuden and Afet of the Ottoman Empire, it was a union that showed no grudges between the two nations even if relations were a little more strained than before.

But the situation changed dramatically in late 1536. It emerged that for some years now Crimea had been deeply in the sway of the Ottomans. Now the two nations became even closer, Crimea was annexed into the Ottoman Empire. Ulugh was not happy about such a move. The Ottoman's knew that north of the Black Sea rightfully belonged to the Horde but now they chose to openly defy them.

Ulugh became suddenly aware of the fact that friendly relations might not be enough and he felt the Horde needed allies, but who?

[stnylan]

Do a deal with the devil - make friends with some Christians!

[Iche_Bins]

Christians? never

why not go back to the ottomans? They are strong...

I only wonder why you didn't vassalize grimea Shirvan and Sibir? Would have solved the problem of finding allies...

Edit: is this china down in Usbek?

[GrimPagan]

Well, marmeluks are always interested in taking a bite out of the Ottomans, but would be useless against christians, so like stnylan says, perhaps it's time to make some friends amongst infidels.

[Duke of Wellington]

stnylan - Lets not say anything too rash now, we're talknig about the descendants of Genghis. Actually the possibilty neve crossed my mind.

Iche_Bins - Thats Ferghana down there. I never had the warscore to vassalise any of them. Shirvan controlled Georgia and any attempts I made to free it were beaten by the Ottomans. My writing is not good enough to convey it bu the Ottomans really did give me a hard time I only beat them once to every five losses. I don't really want to go crawling back to the Ottomans

GrimPagan - Good points I shall consider it.

[stnylan]

Clearly the descendents of Genghis are being less adventurous in their thinking these days!

[Duke of Wellington]

Ulugh's Reign : Part 5
Kairwan and Ulugh met again. This time it was under more favourable circumstances. Last time the sounds of war and spies had filled the air. Now all was calm in the air surrounding Astrakhan on this peaceful spring morning. Together the Khan and his most repected general discussed the possibilty of alliances.

It was a difficult task no one nation stood out as a friend for the Horde, at least with Crimea gone no nation stood out as an enemy either. But Ulugh did look somewhat uneasily at the Ottomans. Their expansion into the region was an unwelcome move. What had happened to the united front and threat they had posed to Christian Europe? Perhaps two equally powerful nations can never truly be friends each envious of the other.

At last one potential friend was decided upon, albeit a small one, Uzbek. To the Uzbek people Ulugh sent a great gift, an ornate golden chest housing a great jewel encrusted cresent moon and a beautifully illuminated Quran.

The beautiful chest as it was when it appeared in an episode of BBC's Antique's Roadshow some years later

The Uzbeks proved to be no barbarians, they were honoured by the gift or at least pretended to be lest Ulugh get angry. Not something you want to have happen when you are a three province nation and Ulugh is in command of the Golden Horde.

They wisely accepted Ulugh's next approaches. A new alliance was formed between the mighty Golden Horde and Uzbek. The Golden Horde had a friend again.

The Golden Horde and Uzbek, bestest buddies forever

The Uzbeks should have remembered though that states have interests not friends and when the gifts kept coming they must have realised that the Horde was after something.

In May 1538 the Horde got what it wanted, the Khan of the Uzbeks was given an ultimatum, keep his life and submit Uzbek to Horde rule or resist and die. He chose wisely, the Uzbek nation was incorporated at last into the Golden Horde, for the greater good of all, or at least that whats Ulugh chose to believe.

The new provinces of the Golden Horde

The whole Horde in 1538

If you want friends don't eat them, the Horde is alone again

[stnylan]

That iguana is just mean!

[Lurken]

Good one there....with the lizard....

[GrimPagan]

One problem you face is that your technology efficency is reduced by your large number of provinces. It is not made better by the fact that most of them has a pretty low income, so one might consider some of your neighbours in the south and see if any has something interesting to offer in terms of valueable goods, manufactories or CoTs. This way, even if you can't outresearch anyone, you can outgun them, and money is always good in such a noble adventure.

[jwolf]

You could at least be a Komodo Dragon instead of a lowly iguana.

I am curious how your diplomacy will proceed at this point. Good luck.

[coz1]

The lizards killed me. Too much!

Nice work with the Uzbeks, even if you don't have any friends. I'd be more concerned with keeping all that size as it is now. I fear more rebellion will arise and it will be difficult to hold everything together. And as far as Crimea goes - I can almost assure that we have yet to see the last of them.