Chapter 5: The Road to Jerusalem
1587-1600
The gala dinner was beginning to wind down, with some attendees having already taken their leave for the night. There was still some revelry and drinks being shared in the grand hall, but Grandmaster Claudius was back in his chambers, considering how the Order of the Knights of St. John should procede.
There was a number of pieces of correspondance which the Grandmaster was poring over. One letter came from a spy in the Spanish court, and informed the Grandmaster that the dutch lowlands had seceded from Spain to form a new independent Netherlands. This, coupled with the new French alliance and the already strong ties with our various italian allies, made expanding into Spanish Italy a prospect worth considering. It was unfortunate that the Crusader Navy had been so neglected over the past few decades; it was unlikely that with only nine light galleys and transports the Knights would be able to pull off a naval invasion of Spain with France. The Grandmaster made a note that the navy should be expanded when the funds became available so that in the future such opportunities would not be missed again.
By the end of 1587, we have completed the Influence Idea group as well as our national ideas. We switch to administrative focus at this time so that we can catch up administratively and eventually take the fourth idea group at ADM tech 14. We could declare war on the Ottomans at this time since the French would accept a call to arms in the event that we promise to give them land in the peace treaty. The Grandmaster knows that the Ottomans have nearly full manpower (100,000) and 70,000 men ready for combat. Grandmaster Claudius sends orders to his Ottoman agents to keep him informed on any wars or conflicts which open weaknesses in the Turkish juggeraught.
With limited expansion opportunities throughout the mediterranean, the Knights are forced to wait… but we will not do nothing! Instead we shall continue the Sub-Saharan Crusades to find wealth and recruit more Knights to join the ranks against the Ottomans!
The Sultanate of Yao is wiped from the map.
A window of opportunity closes; the Grandmaster learns that most of the Netherlands is once more under Spanish control. Perhaps many of the other Western powers were too exhausted from the religious league wars to have the resources to intervene and assist the fledgling dutch nation?
With most of the Knights’ Sub-Saharan holdings still being between 85 and 95% autonomy we are earning only a tiny fraction of the income and manpower that could be gained if we further centralized these lands. We invest a substancial amount of effort (405 ADM + 1.3 monthly state maintanence cost) into turning the Hausa region into a state.
Knights’ Sahel > Knights’ Africa?
After carefully allocating all the new portions of the Hausa State to the various estates, we see our income climb from 8.6 monthly income before expenses to 12.4. The Hausa culture also becomes accepted now that they are an integral part of our growing Christian empire. Our home island of Malta has declined in relevance and becomes unaccepted culture at this time. The Grandmaster laments that he can not give the other African holdings the same amount of attention to centralize them (imagine how rich would the Knights of St. John be), but with the administration of the nation being so woefully behind other nations it was vital to invest in improving technology so that the next idea group could be adopted.
More papal influence is always good.
In 1593 Grandmaster Claudius passes away. As Johannes Baptista de Montbeliard comes forward to fill the seat of the Grandmaster, he decides to deviate from precedence and nominate a talented theologan as heir instead of a mercant. This is because the Knights are not quite so strapped for cash, and also because the beorgeoisie is already stauch supporters of the state so we gain minimal influence by further currying favor with this estate. The new heir is named Filibertus (3/4/1).
It seems that the clergy have taken the appointment of one of their own as heir as a sign that the balance of power is swinging in their favor! The climbing dominance of the clergy is something that the Grandmaster will need to be wary of…
To arms men! The time has come to drive back the Ottomans and begin paving the way to the holy land once more!
Oh… are you sure you don’t need our help France?
…
Alright then.
Sigh… this is not what the Knights thought was coming when they were told to ready their arms.
Grandmaster Johannes receives frequent reports on the ongoing Ottoman-French/Commonwealth war from his agents and from the French emissaries. The Ottomans are being crushed as they try in vain to hold back the French at the Hungarian plains.
The Knights of St. John are armed and ready along the border at all times in case a call to arms should arrive…. but none does.
Later the next year, the Grandmaster has come to terms that there is no chance of a call to arms arriving, and that the French must want to grab as much as possible in the peace agreement for themselves… in which case bringing the Knights in only means less land for themselves. Emperor Louis de Valois must indeed be a cunning and greedy man if this was the case…
The Ottomans had almost completely lost contol of the Balkans at his point, though they refused to give up the fight in the Hungarian plains.
The Grandmaster knew that what he was considering could backfire horribly, and could even be considered insane. He did not care. If the glory of the Knights of the Order of St. John was to be reclaimed, this was the best chance they would have to take it! With the majority of the ottoman forces trapped behind the french lines, fighting fiercely but trapped at the Hungarian plains, Grandmaster Johannes declared a Crusade against the Turks.
The Knights streamed over the borders into Ottoman controlled Magreb with the goal of quickly capturing this region to prevent ottoman reinforcements from this flank and to drive up warscore by taking the two major forts in the region. The French asked for military access, which was swiftly granted. The Grandmaster was grateful to hear that the French Armada was assisting in blockading the Ottoman Magreb forts and had kept most of the Knights’ coastal regions free of Ottoman blockades.
Our spies informed us that Crimea was annexed by the Ottomans. Other agents informed us that the Ottomans had pushed back the French-Commonwealth forces out of the southern balkans . The Grandmaster prayed that neither side would gain an advantage so that a drawn out war would prevent the Ottomans from commiting many resources against the Knights.
The Ottomans were able to muster a small defensive force (7,000) to try and repel our invasion, but it was largely composed of artillery and quickly cut down once the small infantry screening force was dealt with. A gift of 75 gold ducats arrived from the Austrian Archduke to assist us against the Ottomans.
Drive the Turks into the sea where the French wait to destroy them! God wills it!
Neither side seemed to be making progress in the Ottoman-French war. A few provinces had traded sides and tens of thousands lay dead throughout Transylvania, but no progress was made. It seemed that the Ottomans were suffering more though because they had a smaller manpower pool than the combined French-Commonwealth alliance, and its balkan vassals were slowing being decimated.
By halfway through 1597, the Ottoman Magreb was completely under control of the Knights. Tripoli (an Ottoman vassal) continued to be a thorn in our side, but sending men across the strait risked having them trapped by the Ottoman fleet. Instead, we ordered our Muslim vassals to cross instead and crush the insolent little nation while we prepared our own armies for what was next. At this time word reached the Grandmaster that the Persian Empire had also declared war on the Ottomans. The one province Sultanate of Fezzan had so far served as a buffer between the Knights and the Ottoman Empire, and hated both equally so it was unwilling to give military access to the Knights. Now it was time to break through the buffer to get to the Ottoman heartland: Grandmaster Johannes declared war on Fezzan.
In Europe, the Turks had reached their breaking point and could no longer hold back the French-Commonwealth assaults. Most of the Turk’s vassals were now completely occupied.
More gifts arrived for the Order! It seems that the Turks had many enemies that were eager to see the great empire fall. The seige of Fezzan and the island belonging to the Sultan of Tripoli were complete. (Note: I forgot that owning both provinces on either end of a strait allows one to cross even if enemy ships are present, so that is how my Djerid vassal was able to muster his forces to rejoin us). We began to push towards Alexandria, not having seen any major opposition so far.
The Ottomans were putting up a last ditch stand to defend their capital at Constantinople, but even the death of the French general from a stray musket shot was not enough to stop the French armies from overruning the defenders! Another message arrived at the court, but this time it was from the Ottoman Sultan himself.
Read as: Stop being a thorn in my side while I fight the French, Commonwealth and Persians. Take this gold and leave us alone.
Even if we die trying, with the Holy Land in sight we can not turn back! Onwards noble Knights and drive the infidels out!
A fleeing Ottoman army of about 27,000 reaches Cairo expecting a safe haven to resupply, but runs into our Crusader army where a battle erupts. We lose about 2000 Knights while we are able to inflict twice as many casualties on the Ottomans, but because of our small army size the ottomans are able to once more fall back without being cut off.
This event again?! I actually followed the recommendations last time and you want more?! Nothing for you then! REJECT THEIR AUTHORITY!
The Ottoman-French war has come to an end! After the fall of Constantinople the Turks admit that there is little hope of winning and settle for a humiliating peace treaty so that they can turn to deal with the other two thorns in their sides: us and the Persians. The loss of Serbia, Transylvania and number of Austrian provinces is sure to weaken the Ottomans immensely. Even so, we should seek to end our war as soon as possible as well.
Northern Egypt falls to the Crusaders! We are in sight of Jerusalem, but decide to send a regiment of cavalry north to scout for oncoming enemies and see a stack of 48,000 Ottoman soldiers marching towards us.
A lot of our warcore is coming from winning all our battles (superiority casus belli), so a battle with the Ottoman main army can only be bad for us. We send an emissary to the Ottoman Sultan and demand the Holy Land. Perhaps because his armies are not yet in reach and he believes there are more of us than this is in reality (which is only 19,000 men plus our two vassals), but in whichever case, he accepts our demands. We have done it! Even though the road to Jerusalem was long and arduous, we have succeeded! The armies of The Order of St. John marches into the city of Jerusalem victorious!
