Eagle’s Glory

After making up his mind, Aigron summoned his main confidantes and conveyed his next combat order.

There is no doubt that since the international situation is developing in the direction he wants, he must take advantage of the trend - he knows that how much weight he can have on the stage depends entirely on how many achievements he has achieved.

Although he has won a brilliant victory now, it is not enough. He still needs to decorate himself with more and bigger victories.

He had captured Naphpaktos and held it, and he was about to march west, as he had said in his letter to Teresa, to try to take Mesolonghion.

After the previous battle was over, he let the whole army take a temporary rest, and while calming down the inevitable exhaustion of continuous combat, he took the opportunity to replenish his troops.

After this period of rest, he felt that his subordinates had been rejuvenated, and it was time to meet new challenges—and during this period, by receiving the volunteers and Greeks sent by Teresa from the rear, he The force in his hand has reached the scale of five or six thousand people, which not only made up for the losses caused by the previous wars, but was even larger than when he just left for the expedition.

He was able to recover so quickly, on the one hand, because he used money to open the way, and on the other hand, it was also because he had established his own reputation in Greece, which spread around Europe with the passage of time, and his victory has made Those who had hoped for the Bonaparte family saw new hope.

At the same time, after being tempered by the flames of war, although his army still has many deficiencies, at least it has a backbone - strict military discipline, good remuneration, and a united officer group, which is enough to ensure basic combat effectiveness.

To describe it in one sentence-Aigron feels that he is much stronger than when he first set off.

And this gave him the confidence to carry out the next step.

Of course, just having confidence is not enough, he knows, it is definitely not an easy bone to gnaw off.

After coming to Greece, he also had an in-depth understanding of the process of the previous battle between the rebel army and the Turkish army, so he knew a series of stories surrounding Messolonghi.

This place is located at the southwestern tip of the Greek peninsula. There are plains on the east and west sides and the sea on the south. As long as you control it, you can control a large area around it, and then control the entire southwestern part of the peninsula.

As early as the period of Turkish rule, there were already garrison defenses here, and after the Greek independence uprising swept across the entire peninsula, it soon fell into the hands of the rebels and turned it into their own key defensive area.

Mesolonghi is very dangerous in terms of terrain. It is located on a long and narrow peninsula surrounded by a lagoon full of islands. Three islands, Marmaris, Chrysova and Aitolico control the entrance of the lagoon. , which makes it only need to worry about an attack from one front.

On the east side of the fortress towards the mainland, there is an open plain, but there are still some swamps and trenches dug deliberately by the defenders.

After the efforts of the rebel army and the careful design of the designer, a series of fortresses were built around the front of Messolonghi. Shoot simultaneously in different directions.

In this way, the Mesolonghi Fortress became the main fulcrum of the defense of the Independence Army, and even became a symbol of the Greek Independence Movement in a sense.

Of course, Sudan could not bear to lose Greece. He quickly sent troops to try to suppress the rebel army, and Messolonghi soon became the focus of competition between the rebel army and the suppressing army.

In October 1822, more than 10,000 Turkish troops led by Resid Mehmet Pasha, with the help of a fleet, besieged Messolonghi together. At first there were only a few hundred defenders, but they were tenacious Resistance, while using negotiations to delay time, in the end, thousands of reinforcements from the southern Peloponnese Peninsula rushed to the fortress, and together they defeated the Turkish army's attack at the end of that year.

The Turks were not resigned to defeat. In September 1823, they gathered another army and launched a second attack on Mesolonghion.

However, due to the corruption and slack within the Turkish army, their offensive organization was very chaotic, and the defenders, like last time, thwarted every attack with their strong defense.

Two months later, with the arrival of winter, the Turkish army had to retreat in disgust.

After resisting two rounds of raids by the Turkish army, Messolonghi became famous and became a holy place in the hearts of people all over Europe who supported the cause of Greek independence.

Soon afterwards, the great poet Byron also came here. He was ambitious and wanted to contribute everything he could to Greek independence and start a big career.

After he settled here, he spent all his wealth to recruit a small army, and then formulated an offensive plan. He wanted to use this as a base to capture Naphpaktos and completely liberate northern Greece.

However, Byron did not expect that he would die of illness here in April 1824, and his plan was aborted (of course, even if he wanted to implement it, he might not be able to realize it with his weak force. ).

Not long after Byron's death, in the spring of 1825, the Turkish army, unwilling to fail, came to besiege the Greeks again, and this time, the leading general was Resid Mehmed Pasha, who had failed in the first siege.

When sending troops, the Sultan gave the pasha a death order, "Either capture Messolonghi, or cut off your head"-the Sultan will never tolerate the failure of the third siege.

Resid Muhammad Pasha brought his 20,000 troops to the city of Mesolonghion again and began the third siege.

So a brutal battle began.

Perhaps because of the threat from the Sudan, Pasha worked very hard this time, and immediately asked his men to build many trenches around the front of Messolonghi, and then let his men gradually approach the fortress through the trenches, waiting for an opportunity to launch an attack.

However, although the Greek defenders in the fortress are far inferior to the Turkish army, they know that they are fighting for their lives and their homes, so they still resist as before, whenever there is a gap in the defense line , the defenders would launch a ferocious counterattack, driving the enemy back, and all the civilians of Messolonghi, men and women, worked together at night to help the defenders fill in the gaps.

In this way, although Resid Mehmet Pasha led his subordinates to launch multiple rounds of attacks, he was still unable to do anything. He made little progress in a few months and could not break the will of the defenders at all.

The time came to the autumn of 1825, and this time the Turks had an additional ally—Ali Pasha of Egypt also sent troops to participate in this expedition. The situation was even worse. As a new force, the Egyptian army almost swept across Greece.

In January 1826, Ali Pasha's son Ibrahim joined the siege of Messolonghi with an Egyptian army of about 10,000. His army also brought a large number of cannons and even a small army. maritime fleet support.

The Turkish army, which had been exhausted during the siege, regained its spirit this time. Under the orders of the Turkish and Egyptian officers, the besieging army launched multiple attacks. Thousands of shells almost wiped out the houses in the fortress. The gunboats at sea also cooperated to help, destroying the will of the defenders together.

With the advantage of landing on the sea, the Turks finally controlled all the supply lines of Messolonghi, and during the year-long siege, the reserves of the defenders had also been exhausted, and starvation inevitably came to these On the head of the Greeks.

Ravaged by starvation, the soldiers and civilians in the city ate everything they could eat, including cats and horses, and Ibrahim Pasha now demands that everyone in the city surrender. People can choose to be sold into slavery or converted Christianity can at least escape death.

However, the Greeks in the city refused this request. Even though the situation was so desperate, they still insisted on resisting. They repelled several enemy attacks and caused many casualties to the enemy.

However, everyone knew that resistance was of no use. After discussion, the leaders of the defenders decided that everyone should break out and escape.

The besieging Turkish army discovered the escape plan of the defenders, but in order not to arouse their determination to fight desperately, Resid Mehmet Pasha deliberately played a trick of "encircling three and missing one", and did not take the initiative to prevent the defenders and The flight of residents.

On the night of April 10, 1826, the defenders began to assemble and evacuate according to plan. They launched a desperate attack, hoping to break the enemy's encirclement and escort civilians away.

However, marching and fighting at night could not maintain discipline at all, and the entire breakout operation fell into chaos from the very beginning. When these soldiers and civilians who broke out crossed the front line, they were immediately blocked by the besieged Turkish army. During the battle, these Greeks were either trampled to death or fell into ditches and drowned.

At this time, the siege army, which had been preparing for an attack, finally launched a general attack. They took advantage of the chaos of the defenders and rushed into Mesolonghion. Then, they killed the remaining defenders and citizens while setting fires everywhere.

In this way, amid the wails and explosions, Mesolonghion finally returned to the hands of the Turks.

As for the breakout soldiers and civilians who were lucky enough to break through the defense line, their nightmare was still not over. After daylight fell, the Turks sent out cavalry to hunt down and intercept the fleeing defenders and refugees in the wilderness. The men were killed, and the women and children were killed. Captured and sold into slavery - only about 1,000 people managed to escape this disaster, while the rest had to face this fate.

However, although Messolonghion eventually fell and the defenders' resistance failed, their perseverance in repelling enemy attacks many times over several years would not be forgotten.

Although they were destroyed, it was only because of the disparity in strength between the enemy and ourselves. In terms of will, this defeat could indeed be called a heroic epic. Those losers had absolutely nothing to be ashamed of.

In other words, if every Greek independent army could show this kind of fighting will, and if their leadership had not fallen into chaos due to endless internal strife, maybe the Greek independence cause would not have fallen into such a dark and desperate situation...

After finally capturing Messolonghion, the Turkish and Egyptian armies vented their accumulated desire for destruction and killing. Then, most of the armies left to engage in new wars with the rebels, leaving only A portion of the army continues to remain here.

Aiglon currently does not know how many enemy troops are stationed in this fortress, but he guesses that the number should be between a few thousand.

However, considering that the terrain of Mesolonghion is so dangerous and solid, even a few thousand people would be enough to give him a headache.

Fortunately, he was not without good news - before, Mesolongion's defenders had marched from the west and participated in the siege of Nafpaktos, and in a series of battles, he severely damaged the troops who besieged him. army.

Although the defenders of Mesolongion were not annihilated and most of them retreated, they must have suffered a lot of losses - and they must have become psychologically afraid of themselves, which would make them originally Morale that was not high became even lower.

But even so, Aigron still dared not be too optimistic, because the previous record of this fortress was brilliant enough - the Greeks, with their inferior strength, repelled the Turkish army's attacks many times, and the defenders did not stop until they ran out of ammunition and food. collapsed.

The benefits of obtaining Mesolongion are great, but if he is not careful, he will suffer heavy losses here, so Aigron does not dare to be too confident.

Although he is a big gambler, he knows that his gambling capital is very small, so every time he seems to make a bold bet, he only acts when he feels that he is confident enough.

But this time, he had to be more cautious.

After some calculation, Aiglon summoned his confidant Edmond Dantès, Count of Monte Cristo.

"Your Majesty, what are your orders?" Edmond Dantès asked respectfully after seeing him.

"Edmund, do you know where our army's next target is?" Aigron asked.

"I know, you want to lead us to capture Mesolonghion." Edmond Dantès was stunned for a moment, and then answered.

"Then do you know what happened there before?" Aigron asked knowingly.

In fact, the fortress did not fall until 1826, which was only more than a year ago. Of course Edmund, who has been in Greece for so long, knew it.

"I know."

Edmond Dantes nodded, then looked at the young man, waiting for his instructions.

"Then are you afraid? We may have to use our flesh and blood to attack a truly strong fortress." Aigron asked him with a smile.

"Your Majesty, I have never been afraid in my heart." Edmund replied immediately, "If you ask me to go to hell, I will go on horseback right away."

"Hahahaha! That sounds good!" Eggron couldn't help laughing.

Then, he gently patted Edmund's shoulder, "Edmund, even if you are willing to die, I am not willing to waste your lives easily, because I will need you more in the future... So I think we are going to It is in our interest to take it down with as little bloodshed as possible."

"Then what are you going to do?" Edmund asked hastily.

"I don't know this yet." Aigron shook his head honestly, and then added, "But I think there must be Greeks who know - don't forget, it was only more than a year after the fall of Messolonghion, and inside A lot of people have escaped, and we can definitely find some people who are familiar with it."

Then, he increased his voice and said, "Go find me, whether it's a Greek in our army or a Greek from outside, bring this kind of person to me as soon as possible!"