Crusade against the Pope

Chapter 141 Take the initiative
Although he was extremely anxious, Pierre did not panic after all.

As a soldier who was chosen as a squad leader, he naturally has his own characteristics that are superior to ordinary people.

Pierre is a man of calculations and a calm and composed character.

He first bent down and observed the horse hoof prints, and found that they were numerous and dense, and there was no sign of camels, let alone sheep or human footprints.

This means that the Bedouins who passed through here before did so with the intention of fighting and looting.

Although the Bedouins like to ride camels, when it comes to actual combat, the speed and flexibility of horses are suitable for raids, while the endurance and adaptability of camels are not suitable for looting operations.

How much? Pierre recalled some of the little knowledge the Prophet had taught him, and then came to his own conclusion.

"There are about a hundred horses."

When Pierre said this number, he felt a chill down his spine for a moment, and the two people next to him were even more frightened.

If this number of Bedouins launch an attack on Labret Manor, it will be an extremely cruel test!

If things go wrong, the Labret Manor might be leveled.

"Don't be impatient. Those Bedouins won't be so eager to launch an attack. A long-distance march will consume a lot of their horsepower." Pierre's tone became serious.

"Rafael."

"To!"

"I order you to rush to the company's base immediately and report the situation."

"Yes!"

Pierre is the squad leader, but the other two are not.

However, they were all the original company veterans and from the same hometown, and the two men were not in Pierre's class, so they could laugh and play with each other at will.

Now that the war was urgent, it was natural to return to military order. As the squad leader, Pierre naturally had the authority to give orders.

These are also the long-term training and education in the company.

"Victor."

"To!"

"You are familiar with the terrain around here. I order you to go through the forest and rush to the manor to report the news. Inform the manor that the Bedouins may be gathering by the lake."

"Yes!"

After the order was given and the three were about to separate, Rafael and Victor asked another question in their hearts.

"how about you?"

"Me? I'll go find out the exact number of Bedouins and their current movements."

Pierre reserved the most dangerous mission for himself.

[The Bedouins are more stubborn in their disbelief and hypocrisy and are more likely to be ignorant of the Laws revealed by Allah to His Messenger. Allah is All-Knowing, Wise.]

[Among the Bedouins there are those who consider their expenses as losses and expect misfortune to befall you. A terrible disaster will befall them. Allah Hears and Knows.]

——Confessions 97-98
Nearly six hundred years ago, the Prophet Muhammad left these words in the Bible.

Six hundred years later, the Bedouins are still like this.

The farming settlements in the Middle East are like oasis islands, condensing knowledge and culture, lighting up beacons on the ocean at night.

Then the Bedouins, these people living on the edge of civilization, wandering in the wilderness, are the descendants of the desert and the plateau. They are true nomads, merchants and bandits.

Unlike the Celestial Empire, in most people's minds, there seems to be a clear boundary between nomads and farmers.

That boundary is the dynasty's border, the Great Wall, the Yellow River, or the 400 mm isohyet.

But the Islamic world is different. Farmers live on isolated oasis islands, while nomads surround them.

Leaving the town or village and walking for half a day or several days, you have arrived in the world of nomads.

This seemingly uninhabited wilderness is actually filled with traces of Bedouins, Turks, and Kurds.

However, at present, the nomads active in the territory of Transjordan are mainly Bedouins.

As nomads, they usually migrate according to the changes in seasons and water sources. During the rainy season, green grass grows in the desert, and when the dry season comes, although the land will become dry, the barns of farmers are filled with food.

Pierre and his family have lived in this land for several generations, so they naturally understand the habits of the Bedouins.

Most of the time, Bedouins can actually get along with each other and there will be limited communication between them.

After all, nomads also need to obtain handicrafts and food from farmers.

Farmers also do not mind receiving livestock or dairy products, as well as goods from distant places, from nomads.

But the Bedouins are organized into clans and tribes, and tribes are composed of multiple families.

Different tribes may not have many different styles, but they certainly do not regard themselves as one. Therefore, the Bedouin you met yesterday might be an acquaintance, but the Bedouin you meet today may have put a sword on your neck.

……

The highway runs through the territory of Transjordan from north to south, and there are many branches that can be used for the army to travel. However, those branches are not the shortest roads and are often affected by the terrain and forests, making them unsuitable for large numbers of troops.

Therefore, if you act alone, you can often find a shorter route, or simply cross the mountains.

Victor was a local and was familiar with the terrain. It only took him more than an hour to walk along the road, through the valley and woods, and reach the border of the manor.

In order to save time, Victor didn't even have time to go through the main gate. Instead, he climbed over the fence and rushed to the center of the manor.

clang~ clang~ clang~
What Victor did not expect was that before he successfully delivered the message, urgent bells rang from the church bell tower of the manor.

As Victor was running, he saw quite a lot of familiar faces, holding weapons or wearing armor, gathering towards the church. When they saw Victor, an acquaintance, they didn't even bother to say hello.

When Victor ran to the church, he found that there was no need for him to report the news, as nearly sixty people had already gathered there.

However, he still shouted: "Oh no! Everyone! There are Bedouins coming!"

The number of militiamen currently assembled in the manor is not enough to deal with the Bedouin looting.

Just as Victor was panicking, he felt a gentle tap on his shoulder.

A familiar voice came from behind: "How many of them are there?"

All the panic, all the fear, all the pessimism, accompanied by this slight question, are like cold snow meeting the scorching sun, and instantly turn into cool water.

Because the man asking the question was Garys.

Long before Victor tipped off the suspect, the men standing guard outside Labret Manor had noticed the movement in the distance and lit a signal smoke signal.

The manor system was inherently more rigorous than that of ordinary villages. After Gellis expelled the tax farmers and took control of the northern territory, he also helped many villages build their own watchtowers.

The presence of a large group of cavalry could not be hidden from the sentries.

It’s just that the sentinels outside are unable to pass back accurate intelligence.

Therefore, while the militia was gathering, Garys would still ask Victor about the situation of the enemy.

Victor turned around and saw Gellis standing there, with some Paladin attendants in chain mail behind him, their armor gleaming in the sun.

“I don’t know exactly how many people there were, but it was definitely more than a hundred horses.”

After hearing Victor's answer, Gailis felt relieved. After all, having more than a hundred horses did not mean that there were more than a hundred cavalrymen. For nomads, it was a common configuration for one person to ride two horses during combat.

Moreover, the terrain of Labret Manor is relatively unsuitable for cavalry deployment, as it is the southern valley of the Arnon River.

Although it is relatively more open, the difference in terrain is by no means suitable for large-scale cavalry deployment.

You should know that the average altitude of the Transjordan plateau starts at 600 meters, but the altitude where the river valley flows into the Dead Sea is 400 meters below sea level.

Such a huge difference in altitude brought abundant natural water resources to the valley, but it also hindered the free movement of cavalry.

Therefore, there are not actually many places where fighting might break out.

Garys took the people in the manor and drew a rough map of the manor's terrain, and confirmed that there were four places that were easy to break through.

"Prophet, should we separate our defenses?" asked Russell on the side.

Today, Russell has completely taken over Simon's duties. He and four other Paladin attendants serve as Garys' personal guards.

Of course, these personal guards are not there to protect Garys' life. If something really happens, it is hard to say who will protect whom.

Therefore, most of the time, these guards were running errands for Garys.

"Separate the defenses?" Gaillis considered the possibility for a moment, then gave his answer: "No."

"Given the situation at the manor, we can gather at most 60 militiamen with military training. Including you, the warriors of the order, the number of combatants will not exceed 80."

"80 people deployed separately, with a long support distance between them, they had no time to support each other in the face of the cavalry attack. The final result was nothing more than the enemy discovering their weak points and defeating them one by one."

Although Gailis felt that with his own abilities, he would eventually win once the Bedouins broke into the manor.

But if the loss is too great, it would be very bad.

"What's more, you, the warriors of the Order, are not suitable for this kind of battle. The militiamen currently have very little combat experience, and if we deploy our defenses separately, the losses will be great."

Hearing what Garys said, Russell also frowned, and then pointed to two locations on the simple topographic map on the ground.

"What should we do? Organize patrols in these two places, arrange sentries, and then wait for the enemy to attack and then take the initiative to support them?"

Russell's idea is actually quite good. If the troops are evenly distributed, they will most likely be defeated one by one.

But if the troops are concentrated and deployed to provide support at the critical moment, it might be able to have miraculous effects.

"No, my view is to take the initiative."

(End of this chapter)