31 Siege of Baghdad

The two put on the simulation helmets and put the setting as random. After a moment of silence the system announced the map that these two would be fighting in. It was to be the Siege of Baghdad in 1258. This war was a particularly devastating one for the Islamic community as a whole. This war was between the Mongolian army and the Abassid Caliphate with the latter being the defenders. In history it took only 12 days for the Mongolians to win the war and another week after that to slaughter over 2 million people. This one defeat ended the Islamic golden age in 1258.

It was decided that Baron would be on the defending Caliphate side while Han Xin would be on the attacking Mongolian side. The advantages of both sides were clear. Baron was in one of the technology most advanced cities for its time along with over 50,000 soldiers while Han Xin had a stronger army from multiple countries which totalled almost 100,000 and better starting equipment. The preparation time was ample enough for both sides to prepare everything they needed at about 3 months. Almost simultaneously the first thing that both sides did was to begin building their prized blueprints followed by trying to rally even more troops than what they had.

Baron and his trusty officers ventured out into the nearby Islamic cities to request more soldiers after he had his citizens begin building all sorts of gunpowder weapons. The talks between Baron and the other representatives went back and forth for a couple of days before Baron finally managed to wear them down. The other cities guaranteed Baron close to 30,000 soldiers, and they would arrive within a few weeks time.

Baron wasn't happy that these representatives were only giving him this less men, but he did all he could to bolster his army. Now he just had to wait for them to arrive. Baron returned to the city he was supposed to defend and began supervising the construction of his blueprints. A few days pass when suddenly a piece of news was delivered to him by a messenger.

(M) "Sir, I have news for you."

(BM) "What is it? I'm quite busy, if it's not too important then tell one of the officers."

(M) "Sorry sir, this is of the utmost importance."

(BM) "Speak then."

(M) "The enemy commander Han Xin has negotiated a deal with the surrounding cities. They have promised to not send you any soldiers in order to guarantee themselves safety."

(BM) "Those bastards. What should I do now?" Baron was utterly dumbstruck by the news he had just received. However, panicking now wouldn't achieve anything. He had to take action and he had to do it quick. There were a few options that he could follow through on but none of them were without their downsides. He chose to stay quiet about this matter until only two months of preparation time remained. Then he made his move.

It was forbidden to engage the other strategist during the preparation period, but attacking surrounding cities were not. Baron used his newly built weapons and greatly revitalized army to attack the three nearest cities that had promised him soldiers. Within another month Baron had took over all three, this one month was detrimental to the war between Han Xin and Baron. Now that Baron had an additional three cities he could build weapons even faster than before, and he now had close to a standing army of almost 120,000. The next month would see Baron's four cities produce an unprecedented amount of artillery all of which was delivered to the main city.

Han Xin hadn't spent his time idly either. After negotiating a deal with the three surrounding cities of Baghdad, he had spent most of his time back in Mongolia trying to rally more soldiers for his cause. As such, he didn't hear about Baron swiftly crushing the said cities and now controlled those cities until he was on his way back to the main army. With only two weeks left before the official start of the war there was no way he could retake those cities. Plus it would be a waste of time, resources, and men. He would rather train his army so they could fight more cohesively together.

The last two weeks were quiet as both sides geared up to start battle, and producing as much of their blueprints as they could. Finally the battle would begin with 120,000 men on the defending Baghdad side against 150,000 on the Mongolian side. No matter what happens, this would be an epic war indeed.

As the attacking army, Han Xin launched the first wave of attacks by continuously pelting the soldiers with heavy objects from afar. Baron reacted by doing the same, but from inside the city. This continued on until about a quarter of both sides' artillery being wiped out. By that time Han Xin had ordered his men equipped with repeating crossbows and a myriad of other weapons to have a full on clash with Baron's men. This lasted for several more hours until the darkness of night fell upon them and Han Xin ordered the retreat.

The total losses for both sides had stayed constant throughout the entire day. With both sides long about 3,000 soldiers each. The next day would follow suit and another 4,000 would be lost from each side. The third day was different as Han Xin truly began trying to take Baghdad seriously. From what had happened the two days prior, Han Xin developed a new strategy.

While fighting a war of attrition would definitely yield him the highest chances of success, there was no honour to be had in playing the numbers game. High rewards required high risk, and what better way to do that than to risk almost everything he had into destroying the city in one day? He was no fool, this wasn't the real reason he was willing to commit almost all of his forces to a single offensive. This was merely the feint to an even bigger plot.

Han Xin would throw almost all of his forces against the city, then he would take a small portion of his army to retake the three other cities. One goal of this plan was to deny Baghdad anymore sid from these three cities, another was to confiscate and then use Baron's own weapon against him. However, even this was a feint to an even grander scheme. He woulduse this information twist it a bit then have one of his own messengers deliver some fake news to Baron.

The plan started off well for Han Xin, the majority of the army he had sent to continue fighting night and day against Baghdad. Han Xin continued on to the other three cities and within 5 days he had reconquered all three of them. The reason he retook them so easily was because most of the fighting soldiers were sent to Baghdad as ordered by Baron, therefore retaking the city was fairly swift. They quickly took the confiscated weapons that the workers there had been working on and quickly set off back to siege Baghdad once again.

By the time they had returned, their soldiers had been non stop attacking Baghdad for over a week straight. Han Xin quickly ordered the sound for retreat shortly after he returned. He had these men take a much needed one day break while he had another group of me continue laying siege to the city. By the next morning the tally for both sides were still in favour of Han Xin but he had lost a lot of men during the time he wasn't here. This along with Baron's excellent leadership lead to the two sides' forces becoming nearly equal at 95,000 for Han Xin and 90,000 for Baron. Keep in mind that at the beginning of this war they had a nearly 30,000 man difference, and now that has been advantage had lessened to only 5,000.

Baron was no fool either, he had guessed that Han Xin would try to retake the other three cities so he had purposely taken out almost all of their garrison out, as well as leaving a little surprise for Han Xin to find. What he didn't expect was that there was even more that Han Xin was trying to do. Then a messenger arrived.

(M) "General Baron, we have received word that Han Xin and their men have taken over the other cities and are planning on staying over there for the time being"

(BM) "Is that so? I'll take that into consideration. You are dismissed."

Baron knew something was wrong. Why would Han Xin risk staying over there when the cities were already conquered. Still, he thought nothing of it and continued on his day as usual. Not paying any mind to the message he had just received. In actuality he had heard that the other three cities were being targeted by Han Xin a few days ago, sure he may have relied quite a bit on those cities before, but now that Baghdad was surrounded there was no point in having the other cities around since the goods they manufacture couldn't even get to Baghdad.

The siege started again for the day but Baron noticed something different about the Mongolian army today. They were lined up between multiple cannons that appeared to be the same ones as Baron was using. The first thing he did was to order the messenger that told him Han Xin was still at the other cities to be executed. Then he waited for the enemy to find out the surprise that he left them.

(BM) "You're planning on using my own weapons against me? Dream on Han Xin."