Chapter 3: Assault on Castille (1405-1413)
The situation in Europe, 15 november 1405.
Thanks to the Maroccan provinces, I could support an even greater army. I would need such an army, since I recieved a cry for help from the muslim minority from Andalucia. A second war with Castille would be inevitable, but this time I would be prepared for it. 17,000 men I could support: That army would thunder over the Iberian peninsula. Of course I had to prepare for the war. All the mercenaries would have to be replaced by regular soldiers, who were cheaper and better to provide. I had the time to prepare.
A cry for help from the Andalucian people. My first step towards Spain!
During my preparation, I got help from Rashid Ibn Umar, an engineer who had quite some smart ideas for improved land battles. I hope he will manage a breakthrough, but you know how it goes with scientists: you have to invest a lot of time and money before they give you something usewull in return.
Rashid Ibn Umar in the team: there is still a place free for someone else.
After 4.5 years of building an army, I was ready: on 4 may 1410 I declared war on Castille. Unfortunately it was allied with France and Portugal. Portugal was managable, but France... Not yet. But France took the lead in the conflict, so an easy way out wasn't quickly available. I just had to finish Castille and Portugal as quickly as possible.
One stroke of luck, was that I had no land border with France, Aragon was between us, and France didn't have access through my neightbour. Also, France didn't have a fleet to speak of (3 ships), so an invasion was out of the question.
Since I had no worries about the powerfull French army, I had to concentrate on my two neightbouring foes. My first objective would be to evade the Castillian army, again. Let them again lay siege to Granada. Let them try to get it again. My forces would first overrun Portugal, and force them to negotiations. Then I would finish Castille, the same way I beat them before. And if they would change tactics, by splitting into small forces, I would cluster together and kill their men one by one.
The first battle with the Portuguese went well.
My armies crossed Alejento and met the first Portugese army there. It was a success: they didn't stand a chance. Then I entered Alentejo, and from their my forces spread over the country. At the same time Castille invaded Murcía and La Mancha, but well, I could live with that. Let them play over there while I would backstab them.
My forces spread over Portugal: a plan enfolds.
While my plan envolded, France invaded Vizcaya. Retrospective, this were the only French troops I would see during the entire war. And it were only 1,000 men. I sended my cavalry and beat them easily in two battles, since they fled to Burgos after the first. No more French fries this war!
The French indeed break against our walls. They fled to Burgos, along with some Portuguese, but I found them.
The battles in Portugal went as planned. One by one the provinces fell, and my armies were redirected to the backwater provinces of Castille. But then, in march 1411, my luck seemed to disappear. La Mancha fell on 5 march 1411, and one month later Córdoba was in Castillian hands. My men, who were freeing the people of Andalucía, were attacked by a far greater army, and were forced to flee before they would be annihilated. My first defeat.
Castille strikes back: my first defeat in three wars. This proves that I was right to flee for the Castillian army everytime they were sighted.
I sended troops to free my people, which took time. In the meantime my own men fleed for the Castillian army. I was glad when they struck down at Cadiz and lay siege: That would buy myself some time. Then, on the 6th of july 1411, I occupied entire Portugal. Except... During the peacetime, they had annexed the Irish country Connaught. After my occupation of Lisboa, their capital, the king fled to the Irish isle and said from their that he wouldn't surrender. So I had to ship troops to cross the ocean, while I needed them here to finish off Castille. O my. Well, I first had to destroy the portuguese armies on the Iberian peninsula: then I would cross the ocean to destroy them once and for all.
Portugal is occupied, but not yet defeated.
The Portuguese armies were quickly defeated, but I needed to force them at the negotiation tables. I did that by destroying their transport ships. In one battle, I sunk their for transports.
All of my ships against their transports. A decisive battle, which would force them around the negotiation table.
Cut off from their homeland, I layed a heavy deal on them, which I forced them to accept. If they would refuse, I said, I would send my philosophers to them. That was the final blow that broke their nerves. Blindly they signed the peace treaty, and accepted on 2 september 1412 my terms:
Cede Algarve, Alentejo, Beira and Bragança, and release Connaught as a souverain state.
The peacedeal transfered 2/3rd of Portugal to me.
I was glad that this problem was solved. Now I had to concentrate myself on Castille. Things weren't going as planned: they had quite some victories, and drove my people away. Battles went on an on, and finally they ended up laying siege to Granada. That sounded familiar... Quickly I led my men to the remaining Castillian provinces, and urged them to occupy all. Granada didn't last that long this time, and the Castillian army moved towards Gibraltar. But before they did that, I almost finished occupying Castille. Some small numbers of men went to the areas that Castille had occupied and got them back.
Not everyone agreed with me. Some local catholics from Castilla La Vieja rioted, and raised an army of 5,000 men. Luckily my main army was laying siege on Burgos, the province next door. Before those rebels could do any real damage, I beat them.
It didn;t take long thereafter to finish the war. Castille was tired of it, and couldn't cope with their defeat. My demands were heavy, but they accepted them on 23 november 1413:
Cede Anda.ucía, León, Burgos and Castilla La Vieja.
I connected my loose province with the kingdom.
The last participant of the war, France, was reluctant to accept my offer for white piece. They couldn't get to me, and I couldn;t get to them (well, we could sail, but I would sink any ship they would build and they would kill any men I would land). So on 24 november 1413 the assault on Castille was finally over.
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Some sidenotes:
And the topic title has been changed. Thanks!
I didn't get the Barbary pirates defeated modifier: I haven't seen those pirates anyway.
I indeed wanted the high warscore and therefor attacked Toledo. but there was another reason: Castille was building units in Toledo, which I defeated on completion. After I got rid of them, I just hung around to occupy it
.
Mercs are not easier, but harder to buy: instead of having them immediately at your disposal, it takes some recruiting time (0.25 times that of normal units). Also, the mercs are not anymore refreshed from your unit pool. So, when your merc had a fight and is for example at 800 men instead of 1000, it won't grow back to it's original size. It is therefor less attractive to build mercs on the long term. That's why I only had 2,000 mercs at start: the building time (and limited funds) prefented me from having an enormous army in an instant. For the fast short-term warfare, I used quite a lot of mercs.
