The Kadin - Bertrice Small [143]
She smiled back. “Turkey’s future, my son. It is several months since you became sultan, and yet you make no move to strengthen and expand our borders to the west Your father had great plans.”
“I am not a soldier, as was my father.”
“Selim Khan was many things. A soldier, yes. But also a poet, a lover, a scholar, a father—but most of all, he was a great ruler! Are you so different? Western Europe is terrified of us. How long will they remain so if my young lion becomes a house cat? If you do not move to protect our borders, they will advance into our lands beneath the blood-soaked banners of their faith and bring death, famine, and destruction to all the House of Osman has built.
“Now is the time for you to strike. They are occupied with their own internal problems and are unsuspecting.”
“As sultan I must lead the army with intelligence. How can I do so when the least among my soldiers has had more battle experience than I?”
“Your father’s plans are carefully written down, and it is all mapped out for you. Piri Pasha has them. All you need do is follow them The Janissaries were loyal to him. If you are clever, they will be loyal to you. They understand your lack of experience and will be patient if you will but lead them Now they grow restless penned within the city.”
Suleiman was thoughtful. “I should have to leave Gulbehar.”
“My son, it is Gulbehar’s duty to await her lord. You cannot live forever as we once did in the cocoon of the Moonlight Serai. You must enter the world and be a man! Listen to me, and I will tell you how to win the loyalty of the Janissaries.
“When the drum of war is sounded and the Janissaries go to draw their pay, go among them on foot and take a handful of silver aspers from the paymaster. I know this breaks with tradition, for the sultan always takes his pay from the cavalry. However, if you do as I say, you will win them over. You will not lose the cavalry’s support, since you ride with them.”
Suleiman marveled at the simplicity of his mother’s words and, following her suggestion, discovered she was right The Janissaries roared their approval of his small action and vowed to follow him forever.
Studying his father’s plans, Suleiman found that he had intended to take Belgrade when Rhodes had fallen. The sultan reversed the plan. Rhodes could not help Belgrade, but the Western Europeans, using Belgrade as a jumping-off spot could aid Rhodes by attacking his flank. With Belgrade safely in Ottoman hands and Barbarossa holding sway on the seas, Rhodes could expect no help at all.
In the spring of 1521, with the snow still melting on the distant mountains, a vast army marched westward from Constantinople for Belgrade. It was actually the grand vizier, Piri Pasha, who led the main attack force. Several days after the sultan’s arrival outside the city gates, its defenders fired the town and retired into its citadel. Suleiman quickly countered by ordering mines placed under the towers of the fortress.
One week later, on August 17, 1521, Belgrade surrendered. It was the sultan’s twenty-seventh birthday, and he was inclined to be merciful, allowing the Hungarian defenders to cross the Danube to freedom Bali Agha, head of the Janissaries, was made the city’s governor. With the coming of the first frost of September, the Ottoman army began its long return march south to Constantinople.
Western Europe was stunned but helpless. The Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, was busily at war with France. Henry VIII of England, after making the expected statement of distress and sympathy, went hawking with his Spanish queen. Venice, more concerned with her lucrative trade with the Turks than the fate of Belgrade, turned a blind eye. The way to Rhodes was open.
It took almost a year to plan and provision the next campaign. Then in late summer of 1522, the last of Suleiman’s army landed on Rhodes, and the Turkish batteries opened up. They were expecting another quick victory but were due to be sadly disappointed.
August passed and September. The Turkish