Tumeng: I am a national advisor in the Golden Family

Although the Mongolian vanguard had arrived at the city, it was obviously not enough to completely blockade the city with only 2 people, so the Caliph and the princes and ministers in the city.

Many generals also made prompt decisions and immediately sent out cavalry units to escort several envoys to Damascus of the Ayyubid Dynasty and Rome in Egypt.

These messengers brought handwritten letters from the Caliph. In order to get both sides to send reinforcements as soon as possible, the Caliph had written the most sincere letters in the most humble tone he could bear.

After completing the siege of the city, the 20,000-strong army immediately looted the nearby villages.

All the people in the surrounding areas were driven into the territory controlled by the Mongolian army, and all the surrounding crops were harvested or destroyed.

At the same time, a large blockade of the entire city was launched to ensure that Baghdad was isolated and would not receive any reinforcements. It took five days for the Western Expedition vanguard army to accomplish all this.

Zhang Dingxia led the main force and slowly drove to a place thirty miles away from Baghdad city. Before that, the Baghdad army had sent out several troops to compete with the Western Expedition Army, but they had never fought a head-on battle.

Especially in field battles in the plains, they were no match at all, and it was unrealistic to lure the Western Expedition Army into an encirclement.

Baghdad's army suffered several defeats in their attacks, so Zhang Dingxia commanded his army to attack with all their might.

After the main force arrived, they immediately surrounded the entire city, making it airtight, and sent people to cut off all the rice ditches flowing into the city.

Two days later, the main force of the Western Expedition completed the encirclement of Baghdad. At the same time, reinforcements from the West arrived at the military camp outside Baghdad at a turtle's pace.

This army had more than 40,000 people, but after seeing them, Zhang Dingxia showed an expression of extreme disappointment.

Rather than an army, these Crusaders were more like a group of refugees. There were only a few knights on war horses wearing complete armor, and some of the rest were part of the expansion.

Basically, they brought their families with them, and some even carried weapons such as axes and sickles. They did not look like an army at all, but rather a civilian armed force.

"Can this bunch of rabble fight a war? I was actually looking forward to their arrival." Zhang Dingxia looked at this ragtag army and said speechlessly.

Are you kidding me? Even if the Western armies were poor, their equipment was still pretty good, especially the knights wearing thick armor.

The Crusaders were said to be armies from various countries, so they shouldn't have been dressed in such tattered clothes.

There are even quite a few elderly people and women here. More than 50,000 people have come, but Zhang Dingxia estimates that there are only more than 20,000 people who can really fight, or even less than 30,000.

"Second Prince, these guys are not coming here just to consume our military rations, are they? What's the use of these guys coming here?" a Han soldier said.

Even if we gather all the men together, give them weapons, and arm all those who can fight, there are still more than 10,000 women! These women cannot go to the battlefield.

"Second Prince! Although they cannot be called elite troops, some of the knights are still very outstanding. They are well-equipped, and they look young and well-trained. As for the rest, we can give them some weapons." Hulagu said.

There is no way, Second Prince. You have lived in the Central Plains since you were a child, and the first enemy you faced was my brother Kublai Khan.

Kublai Khan would naturally not treat his own army badly, so the weapons they were equipped with were decent. However, the monarchs of these Western armies would not equip them with any decent weapons.

They were holding scrap copper and iron, and even having a piece of broken iron in their hands was considered good enough.

Not coming with sticks is already a great respect for you. These Western Crusaders came here to escape rather than to march on an expedition, and a large part of the Hungarian troops were forcibly sent here.

They were defeated by the eldest prince in Hungary, and all their property was confiscated. When they came to this land, naturally they had nothing left.

The only elite troops were the army formed by the Pope and some mercenaries.
"Forget it! Tell the people in the logistics department to prepare some simple leather armor and ordinary swords. In any case, try to bring any scraps to arm them first.

Then, arm all the men under the age of 50 in the team, and send all the women to the baggage camp to help with the birthing," Zhang Dingxia said.

Let's find some scraps to arm them first! Otherwise, they are not qualified to be cannon fodder.

After these Western troops arrived at the Mongolian camp, they immediately started eating like crazy, even like hungry ghosts, and began to devour the food prepared for them by the Mongolian army.

Only a small half of this army belonged to regular troops, and the rest, more than 2 or even close to , were impoverished nobles from Hungary.

These people naturally did not have any decent weapons or equipment, and they had not had enough food along the way.

The monarchs of the European countries along the way were all decent. They just gave them some food to keep them from starving to death, but they would not let them have a full meal.

While this group of ragtag troops were eating, some Western generals, the Grand Master of the Principality of Antioch, the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the Knights Templar, and even the prince of the Kingdom of Jerusalem were brought to Zhang Dingxia's military camp.

"Greetings, son of the great King John, thank you for greeting us and thank you for making your contribution to the Lord's cause, to the cause of God." The Grand Master of the Knights Templar spoke first.

"My elder brother has already told me about your situation. I welcome your arrival and I hope you will bring a well-trained and well-equipped army. But I was very disappointed after seeing your army. These people are more like people who are fleeing than an expeditionary force." Zhang Dingxia said.

The quality of this group of people is so poor that he couldn't help but complain about it. He even seriously suspected that these people were sent by Western countries to waste his military rations.

Hearing this, the Grand Master of the Knights Templar, who was in charge of protecting the little King of Jerusalem, smiled very awkwardly.

In their Kingdom of Jerusalem's last stronghold, Alan sent a thousand soldiers to support them, but they were more like a thousand refugees than a thousand soldiers.

It would be fine if they did this, at least they still had the Principality of Antioch and some knights of their Knights Templar, as well as the armed forces of other Crusader states to support them.

But he was also speechless about the troops that came all the way from Europe, including those sent by Hungary.

Apart from their several thousand regular troops, the rest were a bunch of refugees, and they didn't even have a decent weapon.

According to the explanation of the accompanying Hungarian officers, these people were more like a group of exiles than an expeditionary force. They were exiled to fight and even die on the battlefield.

Because these guys are traitors who are trying to overthrow the rule of King John's son, Queen Maria.

Such people naturally would not be fed enough along the way, nor would they be given weapons. Some of them even died on the way here.

Those who survived were all young and strong; the old people were basically all dead.

Otherwise, there would be even fewer people in this army who can fight.

“Forget it, I don’t want to say anything else. I will give all the men here some simple weapons and leather armor.

Then they were made the vanguard warriors, the first to attack the city of Baghdad, and the women accompanying the army were all sent to the Oru camp in the rear. During this western expedition, many Mongolian soldiers also brought their families with them, and their wives and daughters were all in the rear.

Your women should also go to the rear and do what they can, such as taking care of the wounded, preparing food for the army, and transporting supplies. "Zhang Dingxia said.

It is actually very dangerous for women to stay with male soldiers, so generally speaking, the women in the Oru camp are responsible for cooking, taking care of the wounded, and driving cattle and sheep to transport military supplies. "Thank you for your kindness. Giving them weapons is the greatest favor to these people.

They will hold their swords and fight for God, for the great God." The Grand Master of the Knights Templar bowed to Zhang Dingxia and said.

Anyway, these impoverished Hungarian nobles are all destined to die, and the Pope has also stated this.

It would be best for them to take up swords and die for God, attacking the holy cities of these pagans; that is their destiny.

“Well! You and your elite soldiers will follow our main force, obey orders, and cooperate in combat.

The military discipline of our Western Expedition Army is very strict. I hope you can all abide by the military discipline if you have nothing to do.

Just stay in your barracks and don't run around.

If anyone dares to run around, especially to the women's quarters in the rear, he will be killed immediately, and even his superiors, superiors, and colleagues will be punished." Zhang Dingxia said.

He needs to make the ugly remarks clear in advance, otherwise, who knows whether these Western soldiers will get sick?

When my eldest brother and my father led the Western Expedition, they both said that these Western armies had no military discipline and even the command system was in chaos.

"Don't worry, son of the great King John, I will definitely discipline my subordinates and inform all members of the Knights Templar and the generals of the Crusader States of your orders." said the Grand Master of the Knights Templar.

This army is a crusade, so he is the nominal leader. Currently he follows the King of Jerusalem, but the King of Jerusalem is still young, so the command of the army falls into his hands.

"You are the son of Khan Guyuk, right? I have heard about you. Don't worry, after coming here, your identity is different from theirs. You are one of us.

Once you conquer this land, you can establish your own country on the land of Jerusalem and rebuild your kingdom.

This is the order of my father, you will definitely become the king of Jerusalem." Zhang Dingxia said to the boy in front of him who looked like a teenager.

This sentence was said in Mongolian, and it was also a test. He wanted to see whether the young prince understood Mongolian. If he didn't even understand Mongolian, then he was not one of his own.

"Thank you, great Emperor Zhang Yong. I will certainly obey your orders. Everything I have was given by the great Mongolian Khan and Emperor Zhang Yong of Central Plains." The young boy's childish voice sounded, but what he spoke was not Mongolian, but Chinese.

"You are also proficient in Chinese, so you can live on the grassland." Zhang Dingxia said.

He thought that it was good enough for the young prince, who grew up with his mother, to be able to speak Mongolian, but he did not expect that he could actually speak Chinese.

"Second Prince, when I was very young, my mother hired teachers for me. There were Chinese teachers and Mongolian teachers. My mother herself also taught me some European languages, so I can speak four languages." The young Prince of Jerusalem bowed to Zhang Dingxia and said.

"Well! Very good! In that case, all these Western Crusaders will be commanded by you this time, and they will all be your people in the future." Zhang Dingxia said.

Very good, this kid will be my neighbor in the future! I hope you feel more at home with our Daqian Empire and Mongolia, rather than those Western countries.

The young prince nodded slightly and returned to his mother.

"When the remaining Crusader generals start the combat meeting, only the little prince of Jerusalem, the queen, the grand master of the Knights Templar, and the Hungarian generals can come to my tent to attend the meeting. The rest of you just have to wait for orders." After saying this, Zhang Dingxia waved his hand and sent the group of people away.

Soon, the Mongolian soldiers collected some common weapons from the baggage camp in the rear that they had collected when they destroyed the Kublai Khanate and other resistance areas of Khwarezm, and then distributed these weapons to the Hungarian nobles present for use.

These people are all infantrymen. Each of them is only given one weapon, and ten people can receive a set of leather armor.

The place where they lived was surrounded by the Knights Templar of the Principality of Antioch, the Hungarian army, and some mercenaries, and was in the most central location to prevent them from escaping.

These people will only be given weapons when they go to the battlefield. Normally, they can only stay in their own barracks and have only one meal a day at noon.

After the Crusaders joined forces in Europe, Zhang Dingxia immediately ordered the Western Expedition Army to deploy all of their heavy artillery and then launch a massive bombardment on the city of Baghdad.

As for these Western Crusaders, Zhang Dingxia ordered the Mongolian soldiers to help them cut down some local trees.

Then they made huge catapults. Dozens of them were operated by the Crusaders, and huge stones were doused with kerosene and thrown into the city of Baghdad.

"Warriors, attack! It's time for justice! Destroy the infidels.

God is watching us, God is watching us, this is a holy battle, you are all forgiven, you are all innocent."

The Grand Master of the Knights Templar waved his sword and commanded the soldiers present to assemble catapults and then launch an attack on the city of Baghdad.

All Crusaders were pardoned by the Pope himself. In Catholic doctrine, all people are born with sin, but as long as they participate in the Crusades and fight for God, they can be pardoned.

Become an innocent person!

Zhang Dingxia did not send out cannon fodder troops to launch a suicide attack immediately, but chose to use artillery and catapults to suppress the city of Baghdad with firepower.

Even when the weather was clear, several hot air balloons were sent into the sky, carrying some explosive packs and dropping them into the city of Baghdad to further destroy the morale of the defending soldiers.

The appearance of these weapons that could fly into the sky and attack the enemy really made the Baghdad defenders feel discouraged.

Fortunately, the Caliph and some religious leaders had given them warnings before, and now some fanatical believers only think that this is a weapon from the devil in hell, not a weapon from God.

On the contrary, after seeing these weapons that could fly into the sky and strike, the Western Crusaders were much more excited.

They all cheered and jumped for joy, then beat their chests frantically, made the sign of the cross on their chests, and then knelt on the ground and prayed devoutly.

"Great Lord, you are watching us, you are watching us as we move forward, and you light our way."

"Attack, attack, throw all these burning stones into the city and let these pagans know how powerful we are." A Crusader excitedly waved his sword and shouted loudly.

The Crusaders who were in charge of operating the catapults nearby also excitedly pulled the ropes and joysticks, throwing huge stones into the city, further destroying this pagan city.

The Crusaders and the Mongol army launched fierce attacks on the city of Baghdad in batches, while on the other side, the Caliph's envoys also hurried to the land of the Ayyubid Dynasty.

As soon as he arrived in Damascus, the Caliph's envoy was immediately received the most honorable treatment.

And he was brought before the contemporary Sultan, the hero of this land, the great recoverer of Jerusalem, the descendant of Saladin.

"Sultan Ayyubid, the great Caliph needs your help now. The great Caliph needs your help. Our sacred holy city of Baghdad is being trampled on. The Mongol army is trampling on our holy city." The Caliph's messenger knelt on the ground and said with tears in his eyes. (End of this chapter)