Crusade against the Pope

Chapter 187: The Enemy at Tyre (Two in One)

The atmosphere was somewhat silent.

The embarrassing antics of these monks made Aljos smile.

Those stern-faced Paladins were already preparing to draw their swords.

It took Mishka a moment to see the faces of Garys and his gang clearly, and then he realized the problem.

Oh no! These guys are not Saracens!

Garys looked at the monks, and the monks stood up awkwardly, trying to pretend that the previous scene had never happened.

Then, several Paladins behind Gailis took off their rainproof robes, revealing their clothes underneath.

It was a suit of chain mail, and then a tunic was worn over the chain mail.

Generally speaking, this kind of robe can protect the chain mail from direct sunlight and cause it to overheat, or reduce the possibility of it rusting due to moisture.

Of course, the most important thing is that this kind of robe is usually embroidered with the family crest, color or coat of arms of the knight or lord to distinguish friendly forces from enemy forces in battle.

The robes worn by these Paladins, as warriors of the order, are still symbolized by a red cross on a white background.

In terms of appearance, this red cross is actually similar to the red cross of the Red Cross in another timeline.

However, the red cross of the Red Cross originated from the Swiss flag, while the red cross on a white background of the Palatine is a color-changed version of the Greek cross.

It is characterized by four arms of equal length and is considered the most basic form of the cross symbol.

Of course, no matter what kind of cross it is, it at least means that the people in front of us are not Saracens, not Muslims, but Christians.

Mishka coughed a few times, then straightened his posture and said loudly: "May the Lord be with you"

Mishka wanted to put on a high-profile appearance. After all, as the abbot of a monastery on a holy mountain, he had a very high status.

If only these strange Christians could be subdued, this scandal wouldn't necessarily have spread today.

Seeing the other party's first politeness and then rudeness, Gailis smiled again and showed Mishka the seal ring on his left ring finger.

The pattern on the seal ring is a lion-like shape, set on a capital letter A, symbolizing the House of Anjou.

Well, the House of Anjou, today's royal family of Jerusalem, is also the patron family of the Holy Land.

Judging from the current behavior of these monks, it is no different from apostasy. They will be burned at the stake directly, and no one will speak up for them.

Mishka's face froze, then he stepped back to the side of the road, slowly lowered his head, made a half-bow, and gestured to invite Gailis to enter the monastery.

Garys did not accept Mishka's invitation. He just took off the little white hat from Mishka's head and shook it in front of Mishka.

Sweat dripped down Mishka's forehead, and then he and the monks behind him suddenly prostrated themselves on the ground.

"For us, this is for survival! To protect the monastery!"

"My Lord! We have not given up our faith, we are just... pretending! To buy time!"

Listening to the monks' words, Gailis clapped his hands gently a few times to express his admiration for the monks' superb face-changing skills.

Then he said, "Pretend? Jesus taught us to keep our faith, live or die."

"Besides, I don't recall that we have anything like the Islamic principle of taqiyya."

The principle of Taqiyya means that when Muslims face persecution, threats or life-threatening situations, they can temporarily hide their beliefs or superficially abandon their religion in order to protect themselves.

This principle is generally used more by Shia Muslims.

But in Christianity, there is indeed no such thing as hidden faith.

At best, one can return to the church through "confession and absolution."

Of course, as the prophet of Islam, Gairis would not really do anything to these monks.

But that doesn't mean he won't take advantage of the situation to get some benefits.

Gailis took two steps forward and passed by Mishka, then he turned around and said:
"Now, this monastery belongs to me. Do you have any opinions?"

The abbot of the monastery, Mishka, just kept trembling all over and did not dare to raise any objections.

The other party has the upper hand, and he cannot afford to offend the other party. What's more, the knights behind Garys are all pretending to draw their swords, and they are obviously really angry.

What if he said "no" and the noble in front of him waved his left hand, and the knights behind him rushed up and chopped them to pieces?
If the other party wants the monastery, then just give it to them. At least our group should be able to survive.

Gellis took over the monastery without any hindrance.

The monastery has a main building for living, a church for worship, and some other small buildings such as a mill and a bakery. There are vegetable fields, sheep pens and wells within the walls, and small terraces and orchards outside the walls.

In terms of living conditions, it is actually relatively ordinary, and it can be considered a monastery that operates strictly in accordance with Benedictine regulations.

These Benedictine monks had to take three vows, namely, celibacy (not marrying), celibacy (no private wealth), and celibacy (strict obedience).

The daily monastic life generally consists of collective chanting of scriptures, serious reading, and labor in spare time.

This kind of monastery with a certain degree of self-sufficiency can actually be converted into a military base, which is very convenient.

From the rooftop of the monastery's main building, you can see dozens of kilometers away.

Of course, whether you can see it clearly or not is another matter.

In short, this is an excellent observation post, and the terrain is easy to defend and difficult to attack.

If you want to enhance your defense capabilities, you can also hire Greek farmers from the mountain to help reinforce the walls.

As long as we station a company of troops here and equip them with artillery, even if there are thousands of enemy troops, it may not be possible to conquer them in a short time.

Looking out from here, the enemy's movements within a radius of more than ten kilometers can be seen clearly.

By then, when the smoke beacon towers here are lit, the city of Acre will be able to see it clearly, and the city of Tyre, which is a little further away, will also be able to learn about the enemy's movements through one or two relays.

From a military perspective, this is indeed a treasure land.

Today, the monastery belongs to Gellis.

……

In the monastery dining room, where sunlight shines through stained glass, the air is filled with the aroma of food.

The long dining table was filled with delicious food. The monks, dressed in rough robes, were busy running around, constantly bringing steaming hot food to the table.

The freshly baked bread is crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, the stew is fragrant, and paired with the tempting and delicious lamb chops, it is really mouth-watering.

With the addition of the monastery's own wine, the soldiers, who had been marching for seven consecutive days and fighting hard for a morning, were finally able to have a decent meal.

Of course, the Monastery of Santa Maccovia could not actually accommodate an army of a thousand men, and the restaurant in the main building could only accommodate a hundred people at most.

These hundred or so people were all soldiers who were considered to have made outstanding contributions, performed bravely, or were slightly injured in this battle, and therefore had the honor of being able to participate in this banquet.

As for the other soldiers, they also rested around the monastery, used the monastery's ingredients to make fires and cook, or watched over the prisoners of war.

There were laughter and chatter in the restaurant, and the monks were serving silently on the side, many of them with distressed looks on their faces.

Just with this banquet, plus the supplies provided to the troops outside, they had already eaten 15 sheep!
As for the wine that they themselves were reluctant to drink on normal days, they brought out barrels of it and let the soldiers drink to their heart's content.

"Today we gather together to celebrate this glorious victory! Let us raise our glasses and wish us ever more victory and hope we will continue to move forward courageously in the future! Cheers!"

After a brief toast, the banquet began.

Even Garys drank happily with Balian and the others.

It can be said that this battle really made Garys excited.

Although Gellis had concluded before the battle that he would not lose this battle, the final result was that no one died and only a dozen people were slightly injured, which was particularly gratifying.

It can be said that this battle has indeed proved how powerful artillery combined with chariot fortifications can be in this era.

Unlike General Jan Žižka during the Hussite Wars, Gelis did not base his army around chariots.

At least for now, all Garris has is those 12 small cannons, which are not enough to be equipped on every tank.

Therefore, for now, among the seven companies under Garys's command, the first company is a mixed infantry company, and the second company is a cavalry or mounted infantry company.

The other five companies were incorporated into the tank companies, that is, each platoon was allocated two carriages, and every two squads operated one together.

These carriages are usually used to transport supplies, but on the battlefield they are turned into chariot barriers to provide cover.

This chariot, which was converted from a farm cart, can have its side panels and wheels equipped with sturdy iron clad and removable wooden boards.

When the enemy lacks artillery or catapults, normal human weapons are simply difficult to destroy.

The top of the vehicle is actually a retractable defensive shield, which can be folded up to protect against wind and rain at ordinary times, and lowered during combat to form a defensive shield that is taller than the vehicle body.

Several triangular gun holes were drilled on this panel, and archers could hide safely behind them and shoot with heavy crossbows, bows and arrows, and artillery.

The chariots were connected with iron chains and held up by infantrymen holding heavy shields. When the enemy's morale dropped due to artillery fire or a large number of cavalrymen's horses were shot dead, their own infantry and cavalry could file out.

The cavalry can outflank the enemy's flanks, while the infantry can clear out the cavalry with dead horses, thus securing victory.

The current period is an excellent bonus period for the car barrier tactics.

Before the enemy understands the chariot barrier tactics, all kinds of amazing exchange ratios can be easily achieved.

After all, the power of arrows these days, especially those of nomadic cavalry, is actually quite impressive. At a distance of thirty steps, not to mention whether it can penetrate chain mail, even leather or cotton armor can effectively reduce the damage of arrows.

Unless you are one of those unlucky ones who gets hit in the face by an arrow, most of them are just injured.

Although firearms are slow to load and difficult to use, the lethality they demonstrate is of a different order of magnitude.

In this battle commanded by Balian, a total of 14 people on Garys' side were slightly injured, 300 enemies were killed, and 448 were captured. As for the other soldiers, they could not be captured.

This battle was not a war of annihilation after encirclement. In fact, if the Jordan River had not blocked a part of the Turks, Garys and his men would not have been able to capture more than 400 prisoners.

As for the other Turks, they threw away their weapons and fled with all their might. Those on horseback could not be caught at all, and those who were not on horseback were also difficult to chase.

According to the report from the lower-level soldiers: unless a sword is placed on the neck or the person is tied up, it cannot be easily caught.

……

Gellis's troops rested on Mount Tabor for three days, and finally left behind a company and five artillery pieces to reinforce the defense of the monastery.

According to Gellis' plan, the safest way at the moment was to use Mount Tabor as the boundary, try to recover the lost territory in the north, confront Saladin, and wait for the subsequent Third Crusade to make other plans.

Even Garys himself needs time to develop, despite the chariot-barrier tactics and artillery.

But in the final analysis, the theory of weapons only is not advisable. Weapons are indeed an important factor in war, but they are not the decisive factor. The decisive factor is people, not things.

Ultimately, how a weapon is used depends on the person.

A less wise commander, even if he has weapons that are one or two generations ahead of the enemy, will still fail due to his lack of fighting will, timing of combat, or various unpredictable accidents.

Judging from the current capital comparison between Gairis and Saladin, the troops under Gairis would lose everything if they failed in a large-scale battle after leaving Gairis.

Guy's eagerness for quick success was actually the main reason for his failure.

If he had been cautious enough at the time, he would not have thrown all the mobile forces of the Kingdom of Jerusalem into a hopeless battle.

After completing the repairs, the other six companies began to continue marching northward. They first bypassed Nazareth, the hometown of our Heavenly Brother Jesus.

Then we entered the coastal plain of the eastern Mediterranean, passed outside the city of Acre, and followed the coastline to the city of Tyre.

The territory of Tyr covers an area of ​​less than 450 square kilometers. It is a fairly fertile plain and hilly area. In addition to the port city, there are about to villages.

It was completely captured by the Venetian fleet and the Kingdom of Jerusalem in 1124 and then treated as a direct royal territory.

Because of the Venetians' contribution in the battle, some villages in Tyre were granted as fiefs to some Venetian nobles.

The Republic of Venice also has the right to obtain a certain percentage of port taxes, but at the same time some Venetian nobles will serve the kingdom as knights.

If the Franks in the Kingdom of Jerusalem were similar to the Eight Banners masters of Manchuria before entering the Pass, they were full of martial virtues and relied on the Saracens for farming.

Then the Italians in the Italian city-states were the Shanxi merchants who lent money to the Eight Banners masters and resold goods.

It can be said that Italian city-states were often important driving forces in every Crusade.

These city-states promoted the Crusades, which made it easier for them to obtain goods from the East and obtain commercial privileges.

But all this is in the past. Today Tyre is just an isolated city, filled with the remnants of the defeated troops from the Battle of the Jordan River.

These defeated soldiers survived with the help of the Italian city-states.

Gellis, Balian and others stood on the high ground and observed the Saracen camp outside the city of Tyre.

At present, Saladin's army is still in the southern part of the kingdom, in the Saracen camp outside Tyre. The main purpose is to block the isthmus and prevent the defenders in the city from rushing out to harass Saladin's rear.

The locations where the garrisons were stationed were actually very interesting.

They were stationed at the site of an ancient Roman arena.

As the most important seaport of Damascus and a transit point on the Silk Road, Tyre was once one of the most prosperous cities of Rome on the eastern Mediterranean coast.

Even now, at the end of the 12th century, Tyre was still a prosperous commercial city, providing the Kingdom of Jerusalem with high customs duties.

This maintained the kingdom's rule over Palestine.

After confirming the situation with Balian, Gellis began to arrange an attack on the Saracen camps outside the city.

The entire battle process was actually quite boring.

The process of the battle was not much different from the previous one. First, they showed weakness to the enemy and lured them to attack. Then, they took advantage of the enemy's unfamiliarity with artillery and achieved a surprise victory.

The main purpose was to force the enemy's morale to collapse, use the artillery to scare the horses and destroy the enemy's formation.

Then the infantry attacked and the cavalry outflanked.

If there was any difference, it was that Garys personally participated in the battle, so the soldiers behind him charged more vigorously.

On the battlefield, he showed a fearless and brave spirit, charging and fighting fiercely.

With only a few hundred men, they pursued an enemy force several times their size.

This scene was also seen by the generals defending the city on the city wall and the knights defending the city.

Conrad rubbed his eyes vigorously. As a veteran soldier who had been through many battles, he had seen many strange scenes.

But he had never seen a few hundred infantrymen chasing an enemy force five times their size!
Therefore, he immediately opened the city gate and took his knights and cavalry to join the pursuit.

How can we not bring him along with such a good thing? !
Because Conrad brought the city's defenders to join the battle, the Saracens, whose morale had inexplicably collapsed, ran faster than each other.

Anyone who is a little slower will be stabbed several times if they are not careful.

The situation on the battlefield was tragic, but there were not many actual wounded or dead. This was also a characteristic of this era. Most armies would run away once their morale collapsed.

There is no chance of systematic surrender at all, after all, everyone knows each other's true nature.

There's not even a hint of moral pressure to kill prisoners these days.

Anyone who surrenders and is killed deserves it. It is nothing more than retribution and a result of one's own evil deeds.

Of course, Garys and his men did not chase too far. After they were roughly sure that they had defeated the enemy's organization, they began to clean up the battlefield.

It was also at this juncture that Balian came to Gailis with a fully armed knight.

In terms of appearance, this man is somewhat different from the ordinary Franks. He is tall and slender, with an upright posture, distinct facial features and a handsome face.

But Gellis couldn't explain the difference clearly at the moment.

Until this knight spoke with a unique accent, with ups and downs in his tone, and his hands kept moving and making various gestures.

Garys then realized what was going on.

The guy in front of him who called himself Conrad was an Italian.

"My name is Conrad, the son of William V, Marquis of Monferrat. I was once the Caesar of the Eastern Roman Empire, but now I am just a fugitive who was elected as the commander of the city defense by the nobles in the city."

The Caesar of the Eastern Empire in this era no longer has the same meaning as before.

The original Caesar was the title of the Roman emperor, but it gradually developed into the title of the emperor's heir and became the vice-prince of the Roman Empire.

In this era, the title of Roman Caesar is essentially an honorary title. It enjoys great prestige, but it does not mean that one can inherit the throne.

Gellis extended his hand to Conrad to shake.

Then he introduced himself: "Guylis de Villeroy, a knight of his Majesty Baldwin."

Compared with Conrad's origins and past titles, Gellis's self-introduction is really unremarkable.

After hearing this, Conrad frowned slightly, but he didn't care. A person's past identity did not mean much, especially in the Kingdom of Jerusalem, a land full of turmoil and opportunities, anyone could achieve great things.

The fact that Balian was able to bring him to see Garys was enough to show how special this young man was.

An army of nearly a thousand people, escorting hundreds of Muslim prisoners of war and guarding the carriages, entered the city of Tyre.

These troops, who came hundreds of miles from Transjordan, received the warmest welcome from the citizens of the city.

Given the current situation in Tyre, any fresh troops are invaluable.

The army led by Gellis directly helped to relieve the siege of the city of Tyre.

After communicating with Conrad, Gellis also learned about the situation in Tyre.

The defenders in Tyre were mainly composed of two parts. On the one hand, there were the city guards spontaneously formed by the citizens in the city, and on the other hand, there were the remnants of the defeated army who broke through the siege in the Battle of the Jordan River.

The nobles in the city were also divided into two factions. One part was some nobles from the surrounding areas of Tyre. When facing the approaching army of Saladin, they hid in the city of Tyre, which was easy to defend and difficult to attack, in order to protect themselves.

The other group was the nobles who paid money to redeem themselves and gain freedom when Jerusalem was captured.

The former nobles were busy going out of the city to check whether their estates and property had any losses.

As for the latter nobles, their expressions turned very bad when they saw Balian.

Especially the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Iraklius.

When he saw Balian on the street, he remembered the scene in the mansion in Jerusalem where he was kicked to the ground by Balian and had a sword at his neck.

"Iraklio, long time no see."

　My plan to update more chapters failed, and I was depressed for the whole day, just sitting there and playing badly.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)