Yemen – The Happy Arabia
Part 13
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Range had always had the knack of convincing councilors of what a country needed. In regard to the leaders of Yemen he had to be crafty in a way of making the leaders think that what he was proposing was actually their idea.
“You know your idea of putting a workshop in every province was a stroke of genius,” he would tell one advisor. “And, tell me what other land has a temple in every province as well.” He would then pause and pose a question, “But, what do you think about our military in defending our new wealth?”
He would then go to another and then another advisor and set them up with the flattery to ask them about their feelings about the army.
Range had a lot of concerns, hopes and insight:
• Inflation was at 7.5
• Military had only 6 regiments to defend all of Yemen’s provinces
• The navy was nearly non-existent
• The taking of Dhofar from Omen and making it a Yemen province.
• Become allied with poor little Haasa.
And, then it all comes to pass:
1) The first step for Yemen was to become an ally with Haasa.
2) When the vote came in for a National Idea – the advisors vote was unanimous for National Banks to lower inflation.
As for the insight – Oman declared war on poor little Haasa. And the roof quickly crashed down upon Oman as almost everyone took up the defense for poor little Haasa.
Learning Oman had made the mistake of declaring war on our dear ally Haasa, I did not waste a moment in mounting an attack against the Omanis. I soon crossed into Dhofar, by Slaalah which stands on a narrow, fertile coastal plains, in the lead of 4,000 troops (half of which were mounted cavalry).
Upon our arrival...we were astonished as we were greeted by leaders of Slaalah and many of its people who were cheering our arrival...we were Liberators to them. We advised that the people of Slaalah remain far from the quickly approaching confrontation. They assured us that they would and that no within the city or the surrounding country side would give warning to the hated Omanis.
We were told by the many of Slaalah people that for some insane reason the Omani army was camped with their backs to a river and a waterfall just outside the city of Salalah. Their commander was either a fool, or he had no idea that we were coming. It almost made me feel that it was too easy to take them.
It was nearly ten in the morning, and only now his men were rising with sleep in their eyes. It was like they were on vacation. Due to the fact that the foliage about their camp was thick, I was able to slip many of my infantry about their position without the Omanis knowing it due to the roar of the waterfall behind his position.
Then I gave the order. .. I moved my cavalry into a position and gave the order. "My cavalry gave out with blood curdling cry as they charged at the Omeni position. Then my bowman began to cut down the Omeni troops as they emerged from their tents.
The Omani general took up a position toward the back of his camp. He was on foot and didn't stand a chance of survival. .. for no sooner had my cavalry broke into the camp his troops (what was left of them) turned and began to run for the river in hopes of safety. Their path was straight toward the poor beleaguered General who was quickly trampled by his men as they retreated.
Those left in the Omani camp were quickly dispatched...they were wiped out within seconds after the cavalry entered their camp. As for the troops that reached the river they shared no better fate then those that had fallen in camp. The river soon turned turn crimson, the color of blood.
There were some that reached safety. But, I later learned they were soon wiped out by combined Mamluks and Ottoman forces.
We didn't advance any further. .. all we wanted was Dhofar...and, nothing else. We took the
province's fort and then demanded tribute from Oman. We took four provinces leaving
Oman with just Muscat.
We took Dhofar (we had a core on it-so there would be rebels to fight) for Yemen and the other three provinces were handed over to our war comrades the Mamluks. We didn't ask for Oman to become a vassal seeing that they were an ally to us until they started a war with Haasa.
The residue of winning the war against Oman was that some of the victors didn’t go home. As many of fifteen thousand just set up house. "And, if they leave soon I'm going to charge them rent."
Adjusting the sliders can bring great thinkers.
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An eighteen year old Range stepped out of his tent and stared down at a small loose swirling funnel that was spinning on the sand at his feet. He thought back to the moment he appeared in Yemen upon the sand dune some two-hundred years before and recalled the face of the man that stood only a few feet away from him that day.
If Range was not imagining he thought the man resembled him. The man appeared to be at least twice his age. But, who was the man?
The next second the man was gone. Caught up in a huge sand storm that rolled up out of nowhere the man was suddenly snatched up and carried off.
“Stay away,” the man screamed out over the roar of the storm. “You can’t help me!” Then the man and the sand storm then vanished into thin air.
I've read a couple of your older AARs, and I have to say that I can see a definite trend of improvement.
