When the sun reached its midpoint, there was no sign of the Austrian army launching a general attack. Suleiman no longer stayed behind the city wall and came to the Danube River.

He saw that the Danube River outside Buda had returned to calm, at least generally.

"Twenty-two transport ships were lost, two warships and more than fifty ships were damaged to varying degrees." Preliminary losses have been calculated.

"Two hundred bodies have been recovered so far, as well as the same number of injured."

Most of these transport ships were of small tonnage, and the loss of a few hundred people was not a big loss to the Ottoman Empire.

But Suleiman's expression turned extremely ugly.

"The Austrian fleet is still pursuing our fleet downstream."

The fate of these ships is worrying.

In the anchorage close to the main army, the Austrian river fleet was capable of severely damaging the Ottoman fleet. After losing the protection of the army, the only thing left was to pray for a miracle from God.

Although these losses were nothing compared to the size of the Ottoman army, this failure brought about an extremely serious problem.

The troops and horses have not moved, but the food and grass go first.

Although Suleiman has not read Sun Wu's military books, he still knows this military principle.

The Ottoman army was unable to protect its convoys, which meant logistical problems.

Although the words are different, everyone understands the truth.

Logistics is the primary factor that determines the outcome of a war.

No matter how powerful the national power is, it is meaningless if it cannot be invested.

"Your Majesty, about one hundred and seventy prisoners have been captured." This good news shocked Suleiman. The presence of prisoners showed that there was still some powerful counterattack.

However, the prisoners' confessions soon made Suleiman's mood drop again.

"Almost all Hungarians?" Less than ten prisoners were Austrians, which shows that the troops who raided the shore were all deserters.

"They should be the death squads who have just been loaded onto the Austrian warship." The fighting spirit of the Hungarians is still very commendable, but under Ibrahim Pasha's methods, the warriors who were not even afraid of death were still tortured to say

They knew all the information they knew, but of course they couldn't tell anything useful.

So-called intelligence such as "One hundred thousand reinforcements from Austria have gathered in Bratislava." or "The Austrian fleet has a total of more than one hundred thousand-ton ships." Ibrahim Pasha simply did not know.

I can't report it to my boss.

These brave Hungarians are the backbone of the nation and are also potential troubles for Austria. It would be best to incite them a little to take on this suicide mission.

"Your Majesty, are they all sacrificed?" Because Suleiman treated the residents who robbed the Buda Palace leniently, Ibrahim Pasha specifically confirmed the treatment of the prisoners, and must not mess with the monarch's thoughts.

Guess.

"Follow the rules." It's one thing to pardon the residents, but it's another thing to let the prisoners go.

Suleiman didn't know that Ladislaus actually had some intention of killing someone with a borrowed knife, but there was nothing he could do about it.

And it's not the focus of his attention right now.

The strength of the Austrian fleet was actually very limited. However, Suleiman could not get any effective information. Although the first report in the morning was quite accurate, now he was unable to determine the strength of the Austrians.

In the information reported to him by various defeated generals, the Austrian army was generally described as having forty or fifty large ships.

Even relatively reliable generals will instinctively exaggerate the enemy's strength at this time in order to shirk responsibility and comfort themselves.

Taking this into consideration, Suleiman determined that the strength of the Austrian river fleet was fifteen to twenty hundred-ton warships.

"Order the downstream strongholds to try their best to rescue those who fell into the water. And to increase alert, all ships will stay close to the shore for defense."

.............................

After chasing downstream for several hours, the Austrians regrouped at a location they had chosen and turned back north. The Austrians' hydrological intelligence of the Danube River was unparalleled in the world.

Although there were still many Ottoman transport ships fleeing in all directions, after pursuing a limited distance, Yevich terminated the pursuit according to the planned plan and began to collect the loot.

The Ottoman ships that were driven out of Buda had basically been unloaded. So there were very few things like food and weapons, and the main prize was the captured transport ship itself.

A total of more than ten transport ships were captured, and the Austrians basically chose to keep the ships that were not hit by the giant crossbows.

As for the trebuchet on the "Rudolph", it seems that it didn't hit even once.

Among the trophies, there are three ships with relatively large hulls and in relatively good condition.

"Be careful, this is my first ship, young master." The son of an Austrian count was excitedly shouting to his men.

"I am the captain, your Excellency the first mate!" The captain from Venice unceremoniously stated that he was the boss on the ship.

Although the first mate was quite dissatisfied, he finally obeyed.

After all, he finally got the coveted promotion and became a first mate. Although this ship was much worse than the warships built in Austria. But it was still a dream come true, right?

These ships can provide a lot of help to Austria's logistics, and they have great commercial value even if they are not used for military purposes.

Even if it's just the first mate, it can still provide some valuable experience to the rookies.

These rookies had a much brighter future in the river fleet than the Venetians.

There are many unemployed captains in Venice. They have enough experience and are relatively obedient to management, but Yevich still must work hard to localize officers. As a Russian, he must not be ambiguous on this issue.

Otherwise, the complicated local factions in Austria will definitely unite to eat him up, and even Ladislaus will not be able to save him.

Although generals with noble backgrounds are inevitably unreliable at first, after accumulating experience, they can generally perform their duties.

In addition to these three ships of over 30 tons, which have been incorporated into the Austrian formation after emergency repairs, smaller ships are also being brought back to the camp as much as possible.

"General, should we attack a few more villages along the coast, where there are Ottoman supply points?" An officer suggested to Jevich an action that could expand the results of the battle. "And we can get the support of the Hungarian villagers."

Jevich was a little excited for a moment. Although all the Hungarians had been thrown ashore, this was not a suicidal containment mission. There were only a hundred and eighty defenders in these supply points, and they were unable to cope with the combined attack of the Austrian sailors.

Not to mention that none of the spells I prepared today are in use. A spell caster joining this kind of offensive and defensive battle with hundreds of people can definitely determine the outcome.

But this thought only existed for a moment.

"No, we don't know if the enemy has a thousand-man level response force nearby. What's more, the remaining ships in Buda now have the advantage of downwind and downstream. If they regroup and launch a counterattack, it will be a threat. These coastal strongholds

It has little value in the first place, and even if it is destroyed, it will be nothing to the Ottomans. Our sailors and fleet cannot take risks for such low-value targets." Yevich's prestige in the military is still very limited, so he fully explained

He gave the reason for his choice, although this victory has greatly strengthened his authority. "The order given to me by His Highness Habsburg is to pursue a limited victory, but the safety and existence of this fleet must be guaranteed."

It's just that the unlucky gunnery officer in charge of the trebuchet, no matter how strong his background, was related to the Hohenzollern officer, he must be replaced.

His background is really bad, so he must be careful and careful. If it weren't for this damn hit rate, he really wouldn't want to do it.

But after this time, Yevich may be able to find a daughter of a great Austrian nobleman as his wife. With a foothold, many things will be easier to handle.

But will this dissatisfy Machiavelli, his main patron?

It's a really complicated issue.

"After completing the formation, you should not be reluctant to fight. Turn around immediately and go upstream. This is a completely different thing. I don't want to do this work at night."
Chapter completed!