Part 04 - Riding the Storm (1429-1444)
[video=youtube;WTlhUfBLKlM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTlhUfBLKlM[/video]
So... Ahmad the Younger is dead and Mansur is the new candidate for the title of Malik. Trying to improve the sad situation, the High Council decided to use a little... propaganda among the shipmates to make Mansur's claim more acceptable. They (at least in public) always fully backed Ahmad I's all decisions regardless the internal struggles and debates they had among themselves and ensuring the success of Ahmad's line became they top priority in the last decade.
Ahmad was very old now and the loss of his beloved grandson made his behavior totally apathic. Well, he wasn't even too young when he was raised to lead the corsairs some 25 years ago and now, well above 60, every single person who knew him personally could see that he won't live for long with his grief. But the Council had more important matters to tend at that time - they simply could not let the hardly forged and yet still fragile alliance of the corsair tribes to shatter because of interregnum or worse.
The war preparations against the Mamluks were abandoned for good. Their armies advanced deep into Mongol and Hedjazi territory and a bold attack would simply not have enough time to gain significant advantage over their holdings in the Nile Valley before those armies could march back and crush the corsairs with their vastly superior numbers.
But this was the right decision, because on the 13th day of March in the year 1430, a little more than one year after his grandson's death, Ahmad the Old, first Chief and Leader of the Corsairs of Tripoli was found dead in his bedroom.
There were no sings what could actually cause his death yet it was fairly clear. At least it seemed that he found his peace after raiding the high seas for nearly a half decade and guiding the corsairs for a generation. His funeral was like those for seamen.
The new Chief, Mansur was raised to be leader of the Council on the same day. It was well known that he doesn't care much about the managing of the "shore business" or the advantages of diplomacy, but at least he was a capable seaman just like his brother and grandfather. And now he has the legacy of vengeance too against his far relatives in Egypt.
Although merely thinking about the possibility sent shivers down each council members spine, for the corsairs (and their own) safety they proclaimed one of Mansur's cousins by the name of Ali as his potential successor - just in case. Decades ago they made the choice of bringing a somewhat foreigner's line into the position of the top representative of the corsairs will and they could not let their reputation fall with that line...
However there were more bad news as the Mamlukes were able to destroy the combined forces of the Mongols of Iraq and the Hedjazi and gained significant territories from them. And the Council was well aware of other dangers too becase it didn't take much time for some troublemakers to start their machinations against the young Mansur.
After some months these murmurs became louder and louder but Mansur was young and thus bold too. Against the advice of the Council he ignored those who tried to bear malice to him and ensured the council members "that his actions will shut these men up once and for all".
...and after then not much happened for years - aside from Mansur growing up and realizing the true highs and lows of leading a country. Now those big words were behind him - he even started to listen to some advices. Mostly about governing his shipmates as he had clearly not much natural ability in it at all...
Regardless, his ambitions were the same. Mansur spent the first years of his reign living in the shadow of his dead grandfather, who was already a legend among his people. And Mansur wanted to become even more - so he looked around a bit and found the perfect first step for earning trust in the eyes of his people...
This wasn't a very hard quest - Constantinople has been sacked two times by Ahmad. But Mansur considered it as some kind of test for himself... like a rite of passage into adulthood. Now he was 20 years old and he felt himself ready for doing something that would be a good fundation for his later plans.
Initially the siege went well, Byzantine resistance was light. Even the "Emperor" (of one city...) was rumored to be dead because of the outbrake of plague in the besieged city. This rumor never have been confirmed though. Due to the sudden change in Mansur's foreign policies the Council was in a bit of a panic at first as they saw Ahmad's defiance in the young Malik's not too well prepared attack. But after some debate they agreed on the fact that this defiance was the plus that helped his grandfather bring enemies onto their knees that fast. So they decided to aid Mansur in his quest to strenghten his power as the leader of his people.
However, contrary to the initial success, the siege of the well fortified city took almost 2 years. Many of the Greek defenders died because of fires or diseases or simply starved to death. It was not a big surprise that after the third fall of Constantinople the coffers of the Greek peace delegates were empty. But Mansur were generous and he agreed with the Greeks on terms that recognized him as superior power to the Emperor. Well, you know, that is not a common thing to achive for a young pirate...
But Mansur wasn't fully satisfied with the outcome. And upon returning home, there came the same old boring news that stick to governing a country. Like the poor harvest on his Greek subject's vineyards...
It is a luck that he'd been forbidden to drink that kind of spirit... At least it seemed that the backing of the Council in his quest eased Mansur a bit as he became more and more trusting with the guidance the Council provided for him.
But there came more annoying news: one of the richest merchant of Tripoli was on its way home but was caught in a storm near the Egyptian coast and the sea claimed his body - along with his ship and his goods. It would seem that the Mamluks enchanted those coasts to sink Tripolitanean ships on their own will... you know: the treacherousness of the Burji's of Egypt truly has no boundries.
And if this was not enough, in the 7th month of the year 1440 a mysterious sickness took over Mansur temporarily removing him from the position of Leader of the High Council. Some said it was poison, some more cynic said it was only weakness... either way, once again the Council had to take the responsibility of managing the state for a short amount of time though they were not happy about it - nor some of the supporters of the late Ahmad and his dinasty...
The side suspecting poison and the hands of the Egyptian Burjis in its delivery grew stronger when Mansur's cusin and his potential successor was diagnostised with the same sickness - however, after some days of treatment they both were able to fight back the disease - only to feel more and more hatred against the treacherous Mamluks just on our eastern borders...
An then, suddenly, came the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Mansur:
The king of France, protector of the wretched infidels, was at war with the Norman crusaders of Naples and this meant that he and his coward minions won't protect them in an open war of subjugation. These Normans were true crusaders - they had few and coward allies, defeating them should not be a problem for as brave seamen as the corsairs.
But Allah wasn't with the people of Tripoli on the seas that time - the fleet of the infidels was greater than expected thus the ships of the corsairs had to withdraw from the battle at the Gulf of Taranto to prevent an even bitter defeat. This caused the destruction of the entire Candari fleet but at least the raiding units were dispatched through the Norman kingdom of Naples...
As the Italians had the naval superiority at the moment, the archbishop of Udine, sworn enemy of the faithful muslims, was able to land some troops in Tripoli, while Mansur and his crew were still at the walls of Napoli - thus a call to arms was sent to the Hafsids, now coward servants of the corsairs for decades that this is the time for reclaiming their reputation as trutworthy allies!
In the meantime some corsairs pillaged the long uncontested fortress of the Crusaders on the Island of Rhodos. Sadly they were in quite a hurry to aid the defenses at home so they only managed to bring some of the most valuable treasures...
Finally with the help of the Hafsids and the returning corsairs from the now occupied Naples and the looted Rhodes and after the passive help of the French fleet, which decimated the Normans' ships we were able to defeat the archbishop's expeditionary force.
But the price was already high - the crusaders brought havoc upon the prospering lands of Tripoli, sacking towns and villages, conquering cities, raping girls and women and bringing every curse one can imagine upon the people. It was this time, when Mansur decided to go to the city of Naples and end this war personally...
He had good starting position for it - his crew had full control over the Kingdom of Naples, which already lost its territories around the Greek city of Janina as per request of the French king. The negotiations were short indeed - Giovani de Valois, leader of the Normans had to abandon his crown and swear full loyalty to the Council and Mansur. He also had to severe all ties to other crusaders and place himself and all his subject under the protectorate of Tripoli as a vassal.
And thus Mansur, still under the age of 30, achieved more than his grandfather ever dreamed of... defeating one significant crusader kingdom and bringing it under the influence of the corsairs was truly an achievement that is to be remembered for decades, if not for centuries...