Crusade against the Pope

Chapter 144: The Army Passes Through
The crossing of a large army is no joke. In this era, Reynald's three thousand soldiers can determine the outcome of a battle involving tens of thousands of people.

For these three thousand soldiers, a small town of a few hundred people was nothing but a dessert and could be massacred in an instant.

Therefore, after receiving the news that Reynald was sending troops, Gailis ordered the mobilization of all military forces in the territory and was ready for battle.

Then, on this sunny morning, Garys and his team received another message.

Reynald ordered his troops to pass through the main street of Alhadi town.

Of course, this message was ostensibly sent to Isabella.

When Isabella received the message, Garys, John, Simon, George and others were present.

Isabella, wearing a simple crown, did not reply to the messenger directly, but turned her gaze to Gailis and the others.

John and George both looked worried. The risk of close contact between the two armies was indeed very high.

These days, the feudal lords had very limited control over their own armies. If frictions were to occur without careful consideration, conflicts would be difficult to resolve.

But if they reject the other party for this reason, it will appear that they are timid and cowardly, and if the rumor gets out, it will have a certain negative impact.

Finally, it was Garys who said softly, "It's okay."

Isabella also nodded to indicate that this was her intention.

Today, this territory still lacks a systematic central organization, so what Gailis means is what Isabella means, and what Isabella means is what this territory means.

……

The long snake-like Reynard army moved, like a spear, walking on this plateau.

As Leonard rode closer to the town, his expression grew slightly more serious.

At first, he couldn't see clearly when the distance was far, but when he got closer, he realized what a big surprise Isabella and Garys had given him in the past year.

Surrounded by four knights on each side, Reynald rode at the forefront of the army and was therefore the first to meet Isabella.

The girl was not riding a horse, but was wearing simple men's clothes and an ordinary crown on her head to highlight her status.

So when the two met, Reynald looked down on them and had no interest in even getting off his horse, while Isabella had to raise her head and look up.

However, this did not make Isabella seem humble, because behind her were 140 armored soldiers and six fully armed knights on horseback.

Although most of these armored soldiers wore cotton armor, only a small number of soldiers wore chain mail.

But the armored soldiers in Reynard's army are actually at this level, and the rate of wearing chain mail is even lower.

The cotton armor commonly used in Europe at that time was a soft armor made of thick cotton or linen layers, sometimes filled with cotton, animal hair or other soft materials such as leather to increase cushioning capacity.

In terms of protection, ordinary swords that have not been carefully polished cannot cut through this cotton armor. It can provide some protection when facing blunt attacks and can effectively reduce the penetration of arrows, but it is easily helpless when facing spears.

Therefore, the Franks of this period generally regarded soldiers wearing cotton armor as armored soldiers.

A complete formation of 140 armored infantrymen was enough to prove the identity of a lord. This was Isabella's way of showing Reynard that she had grown up.

Looking at this prince who was wearing men's clothes and had short hair, Leonard snorted coldly.

"Long time no see, Isabella."

"Long time no see, Leonard."

The conversation between the two was brief and boring. They were like strangers to each other and there was really nothing to talk about.

Even the etiquette between nobles was simplified to calling each other by their names.

Isabella made way, and the armored soldiers behind her changed their formation, marching in neat steps and standing firmly on both sides of the road, clearing the way for Reynald and the soldiers behind him.

From this, Leonard also saw through Alhadi Town at a glance.

On this main street, every three steps there was a soldier holding a weapon. The average armor rate of these soldiers was between 30% and 40%, which was roughly the same as Leonard's main force.

At the exit of this street, there was a piece of metal reflecting dazzling light. When Leonard led the vanguard into the town, he could feel the clear hostility. The soldiers around him hated him from the bottom of their hearts.

He was sure that if given the chance, those soldiers would charge at him without hesitation.

But he doesn't care.

The people he cared about were at the end of the street.

Gellis placed the highlight of the welcome ceremony at the other end of town.

Unlike Isabella, Gailis was riding on a horse, and behind him were nearly a hundred mounted soldiers.

About 30 of them were clad in chain mail, without outer robes or tunics, letting the sunlight refract from the metal.

However, in Reynard's eyes, these horsemen could not be considered cavalry. Most of them were probably just mounted infantry, and only a small number were clearly light cavalry.

"Not bad, kid. You're much better than my useless stepson. You can be called a self-made man."

Leonard looked down on Gillis's wealth, but he also knew that compared with his stepson Humphrey, Gillis's family was nothing to praise.

If his father had not died in the Battle of Montgisard and the Leper King had not felt he owed him something, it would have been unlikely for Garris to be trained in the palace and become a knight.

But Gellis had no interest in Leonard's praise. After a casual courtesy, he signaled the horsemen behind him to make way and told Leonard to hurry up.

As Reynald's army passed through the town of Alhadi, Gailis also roughly estimated the enemy's military strength.

There were three infantry battalions of a thousand men each, nearly half of whom were wearing cotton armor, and a smaller number were wearing chain mail.

The weapons are mainly spears, halberds, maces, one-handed swords, crossbows, etc., and there are not many longbowmen.

As for Leonard's most elite troops, they were the nearly thirty fully armed knights and their corresponding knight attendants.

These people formed a heavy cavalry unit of more than one hundred people, and there were nearly two hundred hired light cavalry.

The military's magnificence moved the young men and Paladin attendants behind Garys.

The Kingdom of Jerusalem was a country with strong martial virtues, although the number of Franks in this country was probably only a few hundred thousand, and the total population of this country was only four or five hundred thousand.

However, during wartime, the number of troops it can mobilize can reach 20,000. If it mobilizes quickly, it can mobilize at least 10,000 people.

Relying on its more efficient mobilization capabilities than other Muslim warlords in the Middle East at the same time, the Kingdom of Jerusalem won many battles before the rise of Saladin.

Even after Saladin's rise, he was hit head-on in the Battle of Montgisard, where his 30,000-strong army was crushed.

Even though Saladin later got his revenge on Baldwin, he still suffered from PTSD. Before his strength reached its limit, he maintained relative peace with the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

It can be said that it was this army that passed by Gellis that maintained the Franks' colonial rule over the Middle East.

This gave the Franks the opportunity to try to colonize overseas in the 12th century.

Of course, an army like this is not without its flaws.

And the defect is extremely serious.

In Gailis's eyes, Reynald's army of 3,000 people did not clearly distinguish between auxiliary troops, or they simply used ordinary infantry as auxiliary troops.

To put it bluntly, the logistics of this legion of 3,000 people is not just bad, but extremely bad.

There were only about twenty horse-drawn carriages carrying a lot of supplies and some miscellaneous weapons or camp equipment.

Of course, there is actually nothing much to say about this. In the common wars in medieval Europe, the combat radius rarely exceeded 300 kilometers.

With a combat radius of 10 kilometers and carrying days of rations, the marching mission can basically be completed, and there is no need for special, additional logistics troops.

However, once the Franks' march became involved in large-scale corps combat or a true expedition, it would inevitably fall into a chaotic stalemate and disaster before the Third Crusade.

In 1095, the Eastern Roman Emperor Alexios I Komnenos asked the Catholic Roman See for help, and Pope Urban II responded, thus marking the beginning of one disaster after another.

(End of this chapter)