Crusade against the Pope

Chapter 292 The tree fell and the hozens scattered
In fact, Garys didn't know much about cold weapon warfare, and he couldn't effectively guide the cold weapon battles of this era. Instead, he had to often consult Balian and ask about the most basic common sense.

What makes Garys unique is that he was able to build a complete army. Based on the perspective of a 21st century soldier, he has a deep and clear understanding of such a violent group as the military.

What does this group need, what state is positive and can improve combat effectiveness, what is not conducive to unity and will affect combat effectiveness, what role can a certain part play in the war, and how those roles will affect the war.

These insights are gained by summarizing experiences at the downstream of history, and are precisely the insights and insights that the ancients in the Middle Ages lacked.

With the naval victory, the army of Gelis set out along the Palestinian coast through Acre and Haifa and arrived at the Sharon Plain.

The Sharon Plain is a swampy wetland that was not densely populated until the wetlands were drained in the early twentieth century.

The Septuagint version of the Bible calls the Plain of Sharon an "oak forest," which means it is not a suitable place for human habitation.

After arriving at the plain, the Crusaders encountered no decent resistance.

The Second Kingdom's policies regarding rural areas had already spread here, and the good policies of the previous kingdom were rewarded at this juncture.

After the local people confirmed that these Crusaders would not kill innocent people indiscriminately or even levy taxes as rumored,

The local villages in the Sharon Plain not only did not resist, but instead took the initiative to provide food and guides to the Crusaders, and asked the Crusaders to help them drive out the Turks.

There was no way out. After experiencing the surprise of being liberated by the Islamic regime, the local villages were doubly happy to meet the Turkic lords.

In order to consolidate his rule over the local area and be able to quickly mobilize troops, Saladin divided the surrounding Turkic tribes into iqta territories.

The Turkic tribes simply and crudely understood the Iqta territory as their own plundering range.

In their understanding, taxation = plundering, which seems to be true strictly speaking, but at least when the Crusaders collected taxes, they did not think of making a quick buck and leaving. In addition, their own capabilities were limited, so they often could not directly control the villages, so their image was actually better.

At first, Saladin tried to stop this barbaric behavior, but when he found that he did not have the energy to pay attention, he could only let it go. This is what the saying "when the tree falls, the monkeys scatter" means.

After Saladin's successive defeats, almost every tribe was thinking about their retreat and trying to make more money before leaving.

As a result, things went from bad to worse, and each tribe became more and more desperate when they realized that their good days were over.

So much so that when the Crusaders arrived at the Sharon Plain, what they saw was not the various armies preparing to meet them, but a chaotic situation in which local Arabs and Greeks were organizing village militias to try to prevent the Turks from looting.

Even though the vanguard of the Crusaders consisted of only a thousand people, the Turks, who were busy looting, had no intention of resisting such a vanguard.

They began to flee with the looted property and women. Before leaving, the Turkic tribes did not forget to fortify their cities and burn villages everywhere to prevent the Crusaders from getting the cooperation of the local people.

Faced with this situation, not to mention the well-trained troops under Garys, even the German Crusaders led by Eden were a little confused.

The Turks were so ruthless that this group of mobs had nothing to do.

In this situation, what could the Crusaders still plunder?

The German Crusaders' vanguards were forced into a corner and had no choice but to grit their teeth and promise the local people, telling them that they would definitely bring the Turkish bandits to justice.

Of course, the reason why Eden and Garys were able to maintain the discipline of the army was mainly because the military expenses for this expedition had been raised in advance through the issuance of government bonds.

The soldiers who participated in this expedition received about half a year's salary before setting off.

Any looting activity without the consent of the command center would be a question of the authority of the Crusader high-level officials and would be severely punished.

On the other hand, although the Turks set fire to villages and destroyed a large amount of farmland, they were victorious in the naval battle.

The Venetian fleet and the kingdom's navy were able to transport resources day and night to ensure adequate food supplies for the army, and they could even provide simple relief to war victims in addition to marching.

This made most of the Crusaders control their thoughts on looting.

For a moment, the local Arabs were surprised to find that the military discipline of these crusaders who came from afar was much higher than that of the local militia. As for the Turks?
Do they have military discipline?
The current situation of the Crusaders is not just good, but extremely good!

In this situation, Eden raised questions at the command meeting.

"Now, what do I mean? Do we need to start a battle? Do we need to take the initiative to attack?"

As the commander of a force of 8,000 men, nearly half of the size of the coalition forces, Eden was undoubtedly qualified to attend the headquarters meeting, and the intelligence information on the kingdom's side was basically disclosed to him.

For him, participating in the command meeting of the Kingdom of Jerusalem felt like he didn't have to do anything. Someone would send him the prepared intelligence information, and then he would choose a set of combat plans from the ones prepared by the staff, and then there would be special people to execute them.

This is a complete system. From information collection, formulation of combat plans to final execution, there are professionals in charge. As the commander-in-chief, his main responsibility is to regulate and maintain the normal and healthy operation of the system.

Eden, who was born in the 12th century, never thought that war could be so simple before he came into contact with the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

"It would be a bit hasty to launch an offensive. We don't need to charge at the position that Saladin has prepared for a long time. At the moment when their navy is defeated, I don't need to rush to attack. In fact, as long as we maintain the current state, the fruits of victory will fall into our hands."

Conrad's words were a bit mysterious, but his opposition to the attack had actually been revealed.

Conrad briefly described the current situation.

"Before we sent out our troops, the Lionheart had already begun preparing to set off. His target was Egypt. Once we defeated Saladin's navy, we could persuade him to send out his troops directly."

"The local militias in the rear have also gathered and started to make tentative advances towards Damascus to contain the garrison there. Transjordan is also preparing to launch an attack on Jerusalem."

Gailis took over the topic and said, "Eden, in this situation, who do you think is being held back between us and Saladin? Who is eager to start a battle?"

The troops in Damascus are unable to support this side, their hometown Egypt is about to be invaded by the Lionheart, and even the holy city of Jerusalem will face the attack of the Transjordanian soldiers.

As for Garys and his men, with a fleet to provide supplies, they can fight with Saladin until the end of time.

Even if Saladin himself has great self-control, can the generals and soldiers under his command have enough self-control?

Even worse than the Crusaders, Saladin himself lacked a complete logistical supply system. If the food and fodder needed by his army could not be obtained by ships, he could only meet it by looting nearby villages.

However, after two years of war, the landlords had no surplus food!

"So we can wait, wait until Saladin retreats, or he makes a desperate move."

Gellis concluded by summarizing the meeting.

In the past, Saladin almost unified the Middle East and was able to gather tens of thousands of soldiers to wipe out the Crusader states. However, just two years later, the balance of power between the enemy and us was reversed.

Garys still remembers the deductions he had performed over and over again.

No matter how you look at it, Saladin has an absolute strategic advantage, and the Kingdom of Jerusalem can only survive. However, now it is the coalition forces that are attacking everywhere, and Saladin is surviving.

Doesn't Saladin realize his current situation?
Of course he knew it, but the balance of power between the two sides had already widened to the point where they were powerless to reverse the situation.

The coalition forces consisted of four armies in total. The main force was the coalition forces of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the German Crusaders. In addition, there were also the British and French Crusaders, the rear people, and the militia of the three counties of Transjordan.

Saladin's army could not guarantee victory against any of these four armies.

In terms of military strength alone, the total number of troops that Saladin could mobilize to participate in this war was only over 40,000, less than 50,000. On the other hand, the total number of the Crusader coalition forces had reached 60,000.

There were certainly nearly 20,000 European Crusaders here, but Gellis himself organized an army of nearly 30,000.

Three years and thirty thousand men. This is not conscription, but Garys can now ensure that every soldier going to the battlefield has a cumulative training time of more than three months, and that at least half of the soldiers have armor and sophisticated weapons.

(End of this chapter)