Chapter 3: Opportunities?
As the King heads south with his ragtag army, Gaston works hard in Oporto to recruit as many new soldiers as possible. Feeling responsible for the disaster against Attiyah, Gaston ignores the King’s orders to stay put and heads out to find the King with the new recruits, eventually linking up with him south of Oporto. Exhausted, Gaston rides to the King and demands a chance to hit back against the Moors.
Though uncertain about Gaston’s leadership abilities and anxious to reach his son (and new grandson) in Lisbon, the King relents and sets up camp near the coast. Perhaps Attiyah feels threatened by the King’s growing army, or maybe there are threats from León to the east, but for whatever reason, the Moorish general heads eastward at a fast pace, leaving the Portuguese lands once again free of invaders.
Meanwhile, Prince Afonso receives news of the battle against Attiyah and rapidly increases construction in the coastal city. He also works hard to recruit as many new troops as possible, knowing they’ll be needed in the years ahead. Unfortunately, the pickings are slim, and Afonso mostly settles for training up local peasants and farmers. With the ongoing wars against the Moorish Caliphate and a low population to begin with, there are just very few even semi-professional soldiers in the area.
Back in Oporto, Sebastiao’s daughter Francesca is born in 1121, and he is, unlike Gaston, content to remain as the governor there. Like Afonso, he attempts to recruit what soldiers he can, but he is equally stymied by the lack of professional soldiers. Should León renege on their uneasy alliance and choose to attack, or should the Moors slip by the King’s army, Oporto would be hard pressed indeed.
Meanwhile, King Henrique and Gaston attack the huge Moorish army camped near Lisbon in the summer of 1121.
As they so often do, the Moors again send their cavalry skirmishers to harass the Portuguese left and right flanks. Lacking any professional archers, the Portuguese must rely on levy archers made up of the local citizenry to try to keep the skirmishers at a distance. It is, at best, only partially successful, but the Moorish cavalry skirmishers eventually run out of javelins and are routed by the Portuguese spear militia and javelinmen.
Gaston, increasingly reckless after the defeat by Attiyah, charges the enemy archers. It provides enough time for the Portuguese infantry to slowly surround and rout the lightly armored Moorish soldiers. The enemy captain is captured, and the entire enemy army soon flees.
It is 1122. Lisbon is now safe, but the King has a decision to make. With the way seemingly clear both south and east, there are two options open: Silves to the south, and Seville to the east.
Both cities present opportunity and challenge. Silves is a coastal city, far from the wars in central Iberia, and more easily defended with its back to the sea. Plus, it is not a city that León or Aragon will be interested in any time soon, so there would be no extra conflict with Portugal’s Christian neighbors. Lastly, as a city with a medium-sized population, there would be considerable financial benefits to come from the increased taxes.
However, as a castle, Seville would (eventually) provide access to the more professional troops that will be needed in a long-term war with the Moors. Oporto is the only Portuguese castle thus far, but it has a small and slowly growing population, making it of limited value for the moment. [For anyone that doesn’t know, the RR/RC component of the Stainless Steel mod severely curtails recruitment of all troops, but particularly the more professional ones. It is not enough to build the buildings required for light men at arms and feudal knights; you must also wait upwards of 8 turns between recruiting of those types. Eventually, the time between recruiting shrinks, but any professional troops are very hard to come by for a long time. Though the AI has the same restrictions, you need to be careful with your armies, since they are difficult to replace.]
The nobles have also been pressuring King Henrique to take Seville, promising him further military support if he does so. At the moment, the Portuguese treasury is flush with money, making the need for a tax base in Silves less urgent. But Seville would be difficult to hold, as it is closer to the Moors’ base in central Iberia, as well as the crossing at Gibraltar where they are able to bring in more troops from northern Africa.
While gathering Afonso’s recently trained troops from Lisbon and deciding on his next move, the King receives news that Oporto has been besieged.
Henrique is torn. This might be the only chance to take either Silves or Seville while the Moors are distracted and regrouping. But Oporto is the capital, and trading it for one of the other cities is hardly a step forward. Gaston wants to take Seville and believes it would be a powerful symbol to strike in the heart of the Moorish Caliphate. In the end, though, the King’s pragmatism wins out, and he urges his army northward. As he nears the city, word comes from Portuguese scouts that a large Moorish army has massed south of Seville. The King may have missed his chance.
The King fights off several small Moorish armies on his way toward Oporto. While each battle is relatively easy, they slow his progress to a crawl. In the summer of 1124, when he and Gaston are within one day’s march of Oporto, the Moors assault the city. Sebastiao will be on his own.
Though the Moorish army is a small one, only 400 or so men, Sebastiao’s garrison is even smaller. Because of the need to constantly send all troops south to defend against the Moorish invasion there, the capital has remained almost defenseless. It will take a miracle for the castle to hold.
Portuguese levy archers man the walls, firing volley after volley at the Moors as they advance with their ram.
Sebastiao sends out the lone unit of jinettes that he has, using them to harass the enemy infantry. While they cause only moderate casualties, they do distract several hundred enemy soldiers, ensuring that the enemy cannot all push into the gate at once.
When the enemy infantry do finally push through the gates, they initially come one unit at a time, instead of en masse.
A few dozen spear militia, some Lusitanian javelinmen, and Sebastiao himself are all that stands in the way.
As the Moorish infantry becomes engaged with the Portuguese spear militia inside the gate, the javelinmen charge their sides.
Sensing his own men about to rout, Sebastiao recklessly charges his cavalry into the other side.
The Moors hold their ground, and even press forward slowly. As the Portuguese men are again about to break and run, the jinettes return, slamming home into the rear of the enemy. Surrounded on all sides by newly emboldened Portuguese, the Moors soon lose heart and run, abandoning the attack.
It is a crucial victory for Sebastiao, but a close one. If not for the jinettes, or if Attiyah (or any competent general) had commanded the enemy, Oporto would have been lost. Knowing that the King is near, and wanting to impress him further, Sebastiao leads the garrison out of Oporto, surprising the Moorish general Sawwar al-Malaki and fewer than 100 men. In a surprisingly easy victory, Sebastiao captures the Moorish general, eventually ransoming him back to the Caliph for more than 1000 florins.
The King and Gaston return to Oporto for two years, biding their time and replenishing their depleted army. Word arrives of the birth of Afonso’s son Fermao, born in 1126.
Gaston is restless, continually urging the King to smash the Moors. Frustrated by being cooped up in the castle, Gaston trains and trains the men, driving himself past the point of exhaustion each and every day. Finally, in the winter of 1125, Gaston d’Aquitaine falls ill and dies soon afterward. His loss leaves the King with only enough generals to govern his two cities. King Henrique promises Gaston on his deathbed that he will take the fight to the Moors in the spring.
The King makes good on his promise, leaving Sebastiao in command of Oporto, and heading south with nearly all the Portuguese forces. After stopping east of Lisbon to once again consider whether to attack Silves or Seville, the King hears word of a huge Moorish army between him and Oporto.
Trying to avoid another assault on the capital, the King speeds north with his army, meeting the enemy in 1127 at the same bridge where Gaston and Sebastiao were defeated more than a decade prior.
Outnumbered and forced to attack across the narrow bridge, the King of Portugal is worried. Still, he knows that about half of his men are veterans, and the enemy is commanded by a lowly captain.
King Henrique sends his archers to the middle of the bridge first, knowing that he has the advantage in missile units. There, the archers begin to fire into the enemy ranks.
Before he can move up his spear militia to cover the archers, enemy cavalry charge into them, bowling them over and throwing many to their deaths in the swiftly flowing river.
Some of the archers rout, but many hold their ground, knowing that this battle could determine the fate of their fledgling kingdom. Soon, the spears come up, and the enemy are pushed back across the bridge.
The King himself makes a rare charge into the enemy, sending them fleeing through the steep cliff valley. Hundreds are run down and killed, while hundreds more are captured.
After the battle ends, the King makes the decision to execute more than 500 prisoners. Word arrives that Oporto was again besieged, but the small besieging enemy quickly retreats after hearing of King Henrique’s victory and subsequent executions.
Throughout the winter of 1127, scouts bring conflicting and confusing reports. There are many armies north of Seville, some Moors and some with different flags.
In the spring, things become clear. León has sent troops into Moorish territory! Whether his allies intend to help him fight off the Moors, or whether they intend to take Seville for themselves, Henrique does not care. For now, the path toward Seville is open.