Crusade against the Pope

Chapter 257: Preparations for the Siege of Aka

(I feel dizzy and uncomfortable today. I forced myself to write 4,000 words. I need to take a rest now. The quality is poor. I am very sorry.)
In fact, apart from the core-level generals such as Balian.

In fact, most of the nobles found it difficult to understand why the troops of the Order were able to undergo such intense training, maintain such high morale, and execute orders accurately.

Since Eden was the one that Garys needed to fight for, he had a slight understanding of the strangeness here.

Simply put, under Garys' organization, conscription, command, logistics... have been taken away from the main general and divided into various departments.

Although the general staff system has not yet been established, its prototype has already appeared.

The conscription department was led by the Governorate of Antioch and the three counties of Transjordan. Its main task was to have a clear understanding of the sources of the soldiers, to be able to register them and to verify them repeatedly.

This means that deserters’ families will really be implicated, and if there are martyrs who sacrifice their lives, they can also be provided with accurate pensions and preferential treatment.

The command system was built based on a systematic officer corps, with a relatively mature promotion system, and some officers were selected to serve as staff officers to formulate and improve plans...

For example, the intensive training these days was mainly initiated by Garys, and the staff were responsible for formulating the details. At the same time, Garys took Balian to conduct a final inspection and acceptance.

As for logistics, it is even more important. To maintain the high-intensity training of so many troops, it is impossible to prepare food, clothing, camps, military pay, and letters in advance.

Then the soldiers and the commanders of the troops will be entangled in endless trivial matters and will not be able to devote themselves to training.

It can be said that these three parts are indispensable. The army of the Second Kingdom system has begun to move away from the state of relying solely on the arrangements of the commander-in-chief and has begun to perform its duties.

This is just a gimmick and there are many omissions, but with Garys checking and filling in the gaps, it can still function normally.

Compared with other contemporary armies, it has already taken the lead in terms of system.

Moreover, most of these long-trained troops did not directly participate in the previous campaigns launched by Barbarossa, so their morale remained relatively high.

Saladin did not expect that just one month later, another large army would march from Tyre to Acre.

The cities of Acre and Tyre are close together on the map and are both important export transit points in the Levant region.

The straight-line distance between them is only 40 kilometers, and even with the level of a feudal army, it is possible to arrive directly within two days.

With Gellis's marching ability, after gathering in the early morning, the vanguard troops had already arrived near the city of Acre and built a large camp before the evening.

The speed with which these vanguards assembled and the decisiveness of their march exceeded Saladin's expectations.

It can be said that from the moment Saladin received the intelligence, convened the generals to complete the meeting, and prepared countermeasures, the messenger came to deliver the message: the army of the Kingdom of Jerusalem had arrived several miles outside the city of Acre and was setting up camp.

The other party arrived during this meeting? !

According to the information from the spies, after the vanguard arrived outside the city of Acre, they did not fall into panic preparations as Saladin had expected.

Instead, after receiving the order, they began to build defenses with an almost mechanical precision. The wooden stakes were unloaded from the carts, and the soldiers were divided into several teams, some responsible for digging trenches, while others quickly nailed down fences, and every step seemed to have been repeatedly drilled.

It was obvious that these soldiers should be exhausted after the long march.

To be more precise, Saladin did not expect that the Kingdom of Jerusalem would dare to launch a second siege of Acre with only 14,000 troops at the time of Barbarossa's death and the morale of the German Crusaders was broken.

According to his calculations, the troops must be increased by at least half before the Crusaders would have the desire to take action.

After all, although Saladin was defeated in the previous battle and lost a large number of artillery.

But in terms of the number of troops, it actually increased instead of decreased, and the Venetian fleet did not continue to blockade the port during this period, allowing him to maintain a relatively stable supply.

However, even though he knew that the number of Crusaders was relatively small, Saladin still did not take the initiative to attack the camp.

There is a big gap between the two sides in terms of the number of troops, but combat effectiveness is often not calculated in this way.

According to what Saladin himself knew, he couldn't help but be dumbfounded.

These soldiers not only train for up to ten hours a day!
You still need to march dozens of miles carrying heavy loads!
With such intense training, there has not been any mutiny. This fact itself is beyond the imagination of most rulers of this era.

With such strength, even the most elite Mamluks under his command are no more than this!
Saladin thought about his Mamluk cavalry, who had been training since the age of ten and were proficient in swords, spears, riding and archery.

However, even for this elite group of troops, their daily training focuses more on skills and tactical coordination rather than the extreme physical tests of the soldiers under Garys.

The Mamluks were still an elite force, but an elite force that focused more on individual capabilities rather than this kind of overwhelming overall advantage.

Even so, their long-term accumulation has established them as one of the best professional legions in the Mediterranean.

It was because of Saladin that he had such a small group of professional soldiers of several thousand people.

Only then did Saladin realize the terrifying intensity of the training of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. If the information about the training of the Kingdom of Jerusalem’s army had not been confirmed by many parties, Saladin himself would not have been willing to believe it.

"An army that can withstand brutal training will naturally remain undeterred on the battlefield. The will of the army in peacetime is forged with blood and sweat through painful training."

Saladin naturally knew about this matter.

If such a well-trained professional infantry group is used as the core, coupled with the Franks' ordinary heavy infantry, which is already superior to the Muslims.

Then for Saladin's troops, which were mainly composed of nomadic light cavalry, they were like an iron hedgehog. As long as they huddled together, they would have no way to bite them and might even break their own teeth.

"After all, the range of a horse bow is only a few dozen steps. In terms of lethality, it is impossible to penetrate those chain mails." When Saladin thought of this, his face became gloomy again.

In previous battles, Saladin had already proven the limits of nomadic light cavalry. In terms of morale and training, the tribal cavalry under his command lacked the courage and ability to charge like the Frankish knights. If the tribal cavalry were allowed to play on their own, they would generally be evasive and slacking off. They might be able to perform like wolves and tigers when the wind was favorable, but they would easily collapse once they encountered a slight setback.

He could not help but recall again the battle with Barbarossa, how the charge of a thousand knights was like a hammer hitting a flock of sheep, scattering thousands of light cavalry.

This unequal combat effectiveness comes not only from weapons and training, but also from morale and discipline - those Frankish knights would rather die than retreat, while the tribal cavalry would completely collapse at the slightest setback.

Now, facing this more elite infantry corps, Saladin knew very well that in a head-on conflict, his light cavalry had no chance of winning.

The more battles he fought, the more Saladin realized the limits of his abilities.

In other words, Saladin has become more and more proficient in knowing himself and knowing the enemy, but the "other" in his knowing himself and knowing the enemy does not apply to Gairis.

At least he did not expect that the Kingdom of Jerusalem would dare to send only 14,000 troops to continue southward to besiege Acre. What he did not expect was that the direction of this war would not be a pure field battle, nor a traditional long-term siege.

As far as the rhythm of this battle is concerned, the moves made by Garys and his men were typically unconventional.

Generally speaking, a siege is a long process. The besieging party needs a stable camp as a rear. So when the army arrives at the city, it often takes several days to reinforce their camp, and several days or even dozens of days to prepare siege equipment, such as catapults.

During this process, the besiegers would send a large number of teams to the surrounding woods or villages in order to collect materials. Generally speaking, this was a good opportunity for Saladin to harass them.

A large number of professional infantrymen huddled together would be difficult for the hedgehog to bite, but if they were separated, they could be easily defeated one by one.

But these things did not happen...

Gellis's troops completely broke this tradition. They completed the construction of the camp with amazing efficiency and almost did not send out scattered teams, avoiding the risk of being defeated one by one.

For Saladin, this efficient siege warfare style was a disaster.

He not only underestimated the opponent's determination, but also underestimated the combat rhythm and organizational capabilities of this new type of army.

The Kingdom of Jerusalem was no longer a loose alliance ruled by decentralized feudal lords, but a military system that was gradually moving towards centralization and professionalization.

And this is exactly the enemy that Saladin finds most difficult to deal with.

Even, just one day later, Saladin in his camp on Mount Ayadiya received news that the troops that had just completed a forced march had directly attacked the walls of Acre.

The sound of artillery fire continued to be heard from the direction of Acre City.

Just as Saladin's army was gathering to rescue the city of Acre, another messenger came on horseback and reported a piece of news.

The walls of Acre have been breached...

……

The history of Acre can be traced back to the Roman era. It was originally a Roman colony, one of the four colonies established by the Roman emperor in the ancient Levant for veterans of the Roman legions.

In the 2nd century AD, the town's population exceeded 395. However, starting in AD, after the permanent division of the Roman Empire, Acre began its decline, and its population once fell to less than .

But after the Arab Empire conquered Acre, the city began to revive. After the Crusaders conquered the city, Acre became a jewel in the crown of Jerusalem. Its population exceeded 1130 in , making it the most populous city in the Kingdom of Jerusalem outside of Jerusalem.

As the Crusader states reached their peak, Acre became to Jerusalem what Shanghai is to China.

By 1170, Acre had established itself as the first port on the eastern Mediterranean coast, with a population of over . According to an English contemporary, it provided the King of Jerusalem with more income than the entire income of England.

England, after all? What a bitter cold place!
Historically, in 1187, after Sultan Saladin won a decisive victory in the Battle of Hattin, except for Tyre, which chose to hold on under the influence of Conrad, Acre, Beirut and Sidon surrendered without a fight.

By the way... In the thousand-year history of Acre from its founding to the fall of the Crusader States, Acre was sieged six times in total.

Of these six sieges, only one lasted more than two months, and in the remaining five, at least two were bloodless sieges... To some extent, the city of Acre has always surrendered at a reasonable speed.

When Barbarossa defeated Saladin, Acre had already begun to prepare to welcome the king's army...

But who would have thought that Saladin’s improvement to his artillery meant that he successfully turned his artillery into "firecrackers"?
Gun ears, gun carriages, capstans... Saladin didn't invent any of these things. He relied on the Arabs' experience with gunpowder and saltpeter, which was not particularly rare in the Middle East, to come up with a formula with a very high specific gravity of saltpeter... Then he used simple and crude force to increase the range and power.

The final result was that the defenders in Acre were not in a hurry to surrender. They were even rewarded by Saladin for their meritorious service in defending the city.

Barbarossa's previous action boosted the morale of Saladin's side. Besides, the city of Acre had two walls and the outer wall had ten towers. It was impossible to hear the news of the city's fall so early in the morning!
But for Saladin, it was a "shock" to hear such a shock as soon as he woke up.

So for Guy, Humphrey, Iraklius and even other nobles who were still in Tyre and did not go with the army, there were surprises, but more of them were horror.

"No matter what, we must curb the expansion of the Balian faction."

He said this to the participants at a secret meeting organized by Iraklius.

This was based on a purely judgment of interests. If the Kingdom of Jerusalem's homeland was to be recovered, these people would not be needed.

It is conceivable that even if the Crusaders recovered the Holy Land, they would not leave them with much leftovers.

"I heard that the wall of Acre collapsed directly, just like an earthquake. Is this true?"

When he heard this, Iraklius shook his head.

"how can that be possible."

(End of this chapter)