Water Margin people

The lamb bleated in pain, but the little lamb was no match for the group of big men and could only be held down and have its blood drawn.

But this time the blood did not enter Louis VII's body smoothly, and the blood seemed to stop flowing.

"Impossible! Induce vomiting and enema!"

The doctors were very anxious. They had just mastered the secrets of medicine and were unwilling to accept failure at this moment.

A group of people began to do their best, but after a long time, there was no movement from Louis VII, and his body began to get cold and hard. Only then did the doctors truly believe that Louis VII was dead.

“It was God who called him!”

"Our treatment method has saved him!"

“We are right!”

Those doctors began to comfort themselves. They could not accept failure, and were even more unwilling to accept failure.

They looked at Conrad III standing aside, who was the best embodiment of the effectiveness of their medical skills.

But Conrad III, who closed his eyes and thought, did not react at all. Even if Louis VII was tortured to death, he still did not react.

"what happened?"

Several nobles came forward and found that Conrad III had fainted.

"Definitely need a break!"

The doctors quickly came to a conclusion. After all, everyone saw Conrad III vomiting blood and fainting, and he was later treated, so it was reasonable for him to fall asleep and rest.

"What are you doing?"

Eugene III was furious. What he wanted was for Conrad III and Louis VII to wake up so that they could discuss a solution.

But after all the trouble, Conrad III woke up but fainted again immediately, and Louis VII died directly.

"How to do?"

Eugene III looked at the people around him and asked, more than half of the cardinals under his command were also killed or wounded, but the number was large, and there were still people to discuss.

"Your Holiness, we can't go back to Rome. Why don't we go north and cross the Alps? Once we get there, Qi's ships won't be a threat anymore!"

A cardinal spoke up and said that Qi's ironclad ships had put too much pressure on them. They knew they were powerless to resist and could only find a way to escape.

“Over the Alps!”

Everyone was thinking about this suggestion, and no one objected because they couldn't think of a better way.

But the headquarters of the Holy See is in the Vatican in Rome after all. It is a holy place passed down for thousands of years, and they dare not abandon it.

Eugene III did not dare to make a decision on his own. Giving up the Vatican was enough to make him the target of condemnation by all believers.

"If you can launch a holy war just for Jerusalem, then if I let them give up Rome and the Vatican, then I will become a sinner of the church."

Eugene III thought silently in his heart.

"You just run away? The pagans are right in front of us. For the Lord, we should fight and drive them out!"

Bernard looked at the crowd and shouted.

Everyone looked at Bernard in surprise. There are still people who are thinking about fighting Qi. Are they in a hurry to report to heaven?

They ignored Bernard, not because they didn't want to speak, but because they were unwilling to speak at all.

If they say no, that would be disloyal to their God, and those who are disloyal will be despised.

To go would be to commit suicide. The smoke from the battle has not yet dissipated, and the smell of death is still lingering in the air.

"What do you mean?"

Bernard looked at the silent guys and scolded

"Bernard, you are being reckless. We are here to show our greatest loyalty to the Lord. Now the enemy is unstoppable and we have suffered heavy casualties. Do you want to lead the church to destruction?"

A cardinal pointed at Bernard and spoke.

The others all nodded in agreement. They knew that it was time to express their opinions, or they would be coerced by Bernard.

People who play with religions know this method very well. They hold high the banner and coerce everyone to risk their lives.

"Is this your excuse? Since you are loyal to God, why should you be afraid of death! Isn't it your job to go to heaven and see God?" Bernard said to those people.

"That depends on what we are doing! If we all go to see God, what about those lost lambs? What about those poor believers?"

Someone looked at Bernard and said.

"As long as we win, that's all!"

Bernard said this.

"You are dreaming. More than 70% of our 250,000 soldiers have died. You still want to win?"

Everyone looked at Bernard with laughter. This guy was still thinking about victory. What kind of victory was that now? They were already blessed by God to be alive.

"There is still hope!"

Bernard spoke up.

"What hope, can you deal with those ironclads or the terrible explosion?"

Everyone looked at Bernard coldly.

"Although artillery is powerful, it is not invincible! I have thought about it, there is a reason why we were defeated so badly, our troops were too concentrated!"

Bernard spoke up.

"Too focused?"

Everyone looked at Bernard in confusion, it seemed to make some sense.

"Yes, we are too concentrated. They can injure nearly a hundred people with one artillery fire! Under the intensive bombardment, we must have suffered heavy casualties."

"But what if we disperse? If we line up in a row, stretching for dozens of miles, with more space between us, the lethality of the explosion can be minimized!"

Bernard spoke up.

Many people nodded after hearing this. They were also knowledgeable and after thinking about it carefully, they realized that it was indeed effective.

"That won't work either. We are too few in number now. Even if we want to fight, we have to gather our troops and wait for an opportunity!"

A king spoke up.

"Also, the morale of the soldiers is low. It's impossible to fight now."

The others nodded.

"If we leave now, won't it allow Qi to gain a firm foothold? When we come back, there will be no place for us to stay in this land!"

Bernard looked at those people and spoke. He knew that these people were scared and didn't want to go to war with Qi again, but they couldn't leave now.

Once they left, they would not know when they would be able to gather their army again. By that time, the State of Qi would have completely controlled this land, and their arrival would be of no avail.

"It's getting late now, so we should rest for the night."

Someone looked at the dim sky and spoke.

The battle started in the early morning and ended before noon. More than 70% of the Crusaders were killed in just half a day, and the rest of the time they were fleeing.

They felt that this day was more miserable than the previous month. They had been thinking about too many things in their heads and now they just felt dizzy and wanted to rest early.

"The sky!"

Bernard looked at the darkening sky and suddenly came up with an idea. A night attack would be great. The enemy could not be seen clearly in the dark, so they could easily sneak over and engage in hand-to-hand combat.

"It seems to work!"

The more Bernard thought about it, the more it made sense. However, the archbishops and the king all looked exhausted, and the soldiers were even worse. Some of them had already curled up on the ground and fallen asleep.

"Then take a rest first!"

Eugene III looked at the tired faces of the crowd and felt a little tired himself. He could only take a long breath and said to the crowd. (End of this chapter)