Crusade against the Pope

Chapter 314 I am the Good Shepherd
Herders usually do not care about land ownership; they care about the right to use it.

For the nomadic herdsmen, they do not have any strong attachment to their hometown.

The reason why this settlement came into being was simply because they happened to find a place suitable for farming and a summer and winter pasture not too far away, so they divided a group of people from the tribe to settle here.

For the nomadic herders, this was just an attempt to lead an easier life, but in Gairis's view, it was a spark that pushed the Turks into a new era.

Just as he could not allow the epochal changes in the Arnon Valley to be strangled by Reynard, he would not let the farmland planted by the herdsmen disappear easily.

Gairis had no grudge against the Georgians; he simply wanted to reverse the situation in Anatolia.

The morning mist was retreating into the folds of the Armenian Mountains, and the withered grass and newly sprouted shoots were surging in the wind.

The migrating herdsmen dragged winding clouds of dust across the valley floor; the clatter of sheep’s hooves mixed with the cries of babies were crushed by the mountain breeze into drifting whispers.

Standing on the hillside, overlooking the herdsmen who were fleeing the war with their families, Garris said to Arslan beside him, "I heard that the herdsmen are used to raising goats and sheep together."

When asked about his professional knowledge, Arslan naturally nodded.

"The goats like to eat tender shoots, always look into the distance, and move slowly with the flock, and the sheep will follow the goats."

"I also heard that sheep like to eat tender grass. When they see grass, they will eat even the roots. If you leave sheep in one place, they will eat until there is no grass left."

"Yes, that's why we raise them together with goats, and before we drive the sheep to a certain place, we let the horses and cattle graze first. Of course, it's not just that. The sheep's hooves may be able to dig through the snow, but they can't break the ice. In winter, if there are no horses to clear the way for them, the sheep will starve to death or freeze to death."

Having said that, Arsalan had trouble understanding Gairis's intention for a moment, as his words were really a bit incoherent.

Then he heard Gairis say, "No matter how cruel the Turks may seem to others, to me, they are nothing but a group of sheep."

"I will make you, the Yuktu tribe, like goats among the flocks and horses that lead the way among the herds, so that you can lead the flocks away from the pastures that are about to be eaten."

In Arsalan's understanding, the so-called pasture that is about to be eaten up does not refer to the land, but to the way of life.

Nomadism is not an efficient lifestyle, but a compromise made by people in non-agricultural areas, a means of survival by using livestock to obtain dairy products.

For herders, life is always full of compromise and escape.

Now that we have come to Anatolia, the land of the Romans, it is time to say goodbye to our old way of life.

But sheep only know how to eat grass with their heads down. They cannot see far away, and they don’t know that as long as they raise their heads, they can eat the juicy young branches.

Therefore there must be goats mixed in, leading the other sheep away from their past lives.

"And you, I have heard that many shepherds will pick out a lead sheep."

Arsalan became quite excited when he heard this.

Some shepherds will pick out a big ram from the flock, cultivate its leadership style, teach it how to understand human instructions, and make it grow strong and majestic.

In this way, when the shepherd blows the whistle, the head sheep can lead the flock to follow the shepherd's pace, not only leaving a piece of grassland, but also moving pastures to avoid natural disasters and find places with abundant water and grass.

When Gairis mentioned the leader, Arsalan already knew his position and the mission that could not be shirked.

"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hireling is not the shepherd, neither does the sheep belong to him. He sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees. The wolf catches them and scatters them."

“Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd.”

As he said this, Gailis patted Arsalan on the shoulder, and his hand rubbed the weathered rock surface next to him.

In the mountain wind, Gairis's robe rustled. In a while, only he and Arsalan would be left here waiting for the return of the herdsmen.

[May the great Shepherd of the sheep, who was raised from the dead, fulfil all good things for you through the blood of the eternal covenant, through the great Shepherd, so that you may do his will, and through the Shepherd, do in us what pleases him, to whom be the glory forever and ever.]

Amen

……

The scale of the war and the actual number of troops deployed on the battlefield have always been very difficult topics to reach a conclusion.

Even in the 20th and 21st centuries, due to various tactical needs, economic and political conflicts, the actual number of troops deployed on the battlefield, the number of casualties, and the overall number of casualties will not be very accurate.

In ancient times, this problem was even more obvious.

In the Battle of Chibi, Cao Cao falsely claimed that his army had a million men, which was essentially a strategic fraud against the Eastern Wu. For the Eastern Wu, which was located in Jiangdong at the time, the Central Plains was undoubtedly the center of the world and a place of immeasurable wealth.

After all, there was no Google or Baidu in ancient times that could give people a rough understanding at a glance.

However, in different cultural atmospheres, soldiers do not necessarily report more than they actually report, especially in Western Europe, where the culture of chivalry is strong.

It is normal for soldiers to underreport.

First, the two brothers Roger and Robert, with three hundred Norman knights, conquered Sicily.

Another eighty Knights Templar defeated Saladin's army of 30,000.

For Western European culture, it is always beneficial to exaggerate the number of one's own soldiers.

From a strategic point of view, this can lower the enemy's vigilance, lure the enemy into participating in field battles, and further demonstrate the bravery and impact of Western European knights... and defeat the enemy in areas where they are good at.

From the subsequent bragging, it was reasonable for them to lose because they had fewer people on their side, which made it easy to shift the blame and did not damage their honor.

If they win, they can praise the knights who participated in the battle as gods, thereby raising their prestige.

As a result, when examining many historical records in Europe, we often see scenes of dozens of people fighting... As for those peasant soldiers or knights' entourage, they are not worthy of showing up.

But the Anatolia region obviously does not follow the rules of Western Europe.

For example, the Sultan Suleiman of the Rum Sultanate directly claimed that he was leading 400,000 Turkic soldiers to encircle and suppress Georgia...

This number is very intimidating for most people of this era.

After all, everyone really doesn't know how to count. They only know that 400,000 is a rather exaggerated number, and it is difficult to determine what this number actually means.

As a person who came from the 21st century in his previous life, Garys knew clearly what 40 meant.

The Sultanate of Rom, as an elite monster that was kicked during the previous Crusades, was reduced to a monster that was kicked during the clearance. If it could really pull out 40, why did it come to this?

In fact, it is unknown whether the total number of Turks in the entire Rum Sultanate is 40.

The Kingdom of Georgia, on the other hand, was relatively restrained and conservative, with its publicly advertised military strength being only 9.

You have to know that as a country that relies mainly on agriculture, Georgia's population is probably twice that of the Rum Sultanate.

According to Gillis's estimate, it would be between two million and four million, no more or less.

9 versus 40, those outside the venue who don’t know how to count basically assume that Sultan Suleiman will win.

However, the result was unexpected. The Sultanate of Rum suffered a crushing defeat on the battlefield, and there was even shocking news that the Sultan himself was beheaded in battle.

For a moment, the strategic fraud that Suleiman had previously carried out directly backfired on the Muslim side.

Whether it was the Turks in Roma itself or the other emirates that were dependent on Roma, they all felt that the trend was irreversible.

As the military strength on their side had not been significantly reduced, they all went back to their own homes.

They really couldn't run away, so those who were close to Georgia went directly to the Georgians to kowtow and admit their mistakes, change their allegiance, and some even converted to another religion on the spot.

After a battle that achieved an unprecedented victory, the Georgians naturally marched westward and pursued the enemy.

Prevent the Rum Sultanate from gathering a large army again in a short period of time.

According to the Georgian plan, the goal was to at least pursue the enemy to Erzurum and capture the city if possible.

The battle line advanced westwards, and in order to meet the supply needs of the army, naturally a large number of small troops began to disperse, collecting various foods from nearby villages, thus filling the consumption of the tens of thousands of Georgian troops.

For farmers, land is everything to them. Even to avoid war, they dare not go far, not to mention that it is almost September, the season when the crops will mature and be harvested.

The farmers, naturally, did not dare to go far, and they who were hiding in the mountains and forests were heartbroken as they witnessed with their own eyes the destruction of their farmland.

For the Georgians, the main body of their army could not be considered an elite force. In fact, most of them were peasant soldiers drawn from various rural areas in Georgia.

It is also a good time for the Georgians to send troops at this time.

Faced with the wheat that was beginning to turn yellow all over the ground, at least 20,000 Georgians received an order from David Soslan, the husband of Georgia, to rush to harvest the grain within the borders of the Roma Sultanate!

Grab as many as you can!

The climate of the Rum Sultanate and Anatolia is different from the Mediterranean climate of the Levant. It is not a case of sowing in winter and harvesting in spring.

Instead, the Chinese are more familiar with sowing in spring and harvesting in autumn.

The wheat in the fields is turning yellow now. Although it is not yet the most suitable season, if it is harvested forcibly, neither the yield nor the taste will be good, but it will still fill your stomach.

The majority of the troops were Georgian farmers, so they naturally didn't care about the taste issue. Faced with the unattended fields, they were like locusts.

Many of the weapons in their hands were modified from farm tools. They just held sickles and harvested as much as they could.

If they couldn't collect all of it, they would just let the cattle, sheep and horses captured along the way grow in the fields and eat and drink to their heart's content.

David Soslan certainly had never read "The Art of War", but he understood that "a wise general seeks food from the enemy. One bell of enemy food is equivalent to twenty bells of ours."

For a large army, "internal and external expenses, expenses for guests, materials for glue and paint, and maintenance of chariots and armor, cost thousands of gold a day."

Rather than being stingy with money at this time, causing Georgia to spend a lot of energy transporting supplies from the rear, it is better to eat at the hands of the enemy.

Therefore, he also directly told the groups of farmers and soldiers who were about to harvest about the grain harvested and the cattle and horses seized on the territory of the Rum Sultanate this year.

Apart from their own food and drink, anything paid to the army so that friendly forces can also eat can be offset against next year's land tax on a one-to-one basis.

In other words, no matter how much grain was harvested, it all belonged to the conscripted peasant soldiers.

As a result, the morale of the Georgian side was further boosted, and large numbers of soldiers were divided into small teams of hundreds of people and began to spread out in all directions.

Hovanis was the captain of one of the hundred-man teams.

Strictly speaking, he is not actually Georgian. If you trace his ancestors back several generations, they might be Armenians.

In fact, the name Hovanis is the pronunciation of John in Armenian. In other words, you can also call him John.

As a man with Armenian ancestors, Hovannis's family had no choice but to seek refuge in Georgia when faced with the invasion of the Turks.

And now, finally, under the leadership of the Georgians, we have returned to our homeland, and naturally we are filled with indescribable joy.

When it came to the Armenian villages and farmlands, he was a little more merciful. He took his soldiers to harvest some of the grain, but at least he did not destroy the farmlands. He also left a portion of the grain unharvested, which was enough for the Armenians to survive the winter.

However, when facing the Turks, Hovanis hated them deeply.

If it weren’t for the invasion of the Turks, he might still be an Armenian lord!

Why would I have to run off to Georgia to live under someone else's roof?
Taking away someone's wealth is like killing their parents. Facing this national hatred and family feud, he would not dare to go into battle and face the Turkic cavalry. But it was more than enough for him to lead his men to torture Turkic women and children and burn Turkic farmland.

After some searching, Hovanis noticed that there was a Turkic settlement not far from Erzurum.

In this case, he would naturally go there with his soldiers.

The September wind chiseled across the Anatolian Plateau, etching the irrigation canals left by the Romans into palm prints on the earth.

Iron-gray clouds pressed in from the direction of the Black Sea, but were torn into flocs by dry air currents when they touched the plateau.

A beam of light passed through the gap in the clouds and landed on a pass between the two mountains.

Looking in that direction, it seemed as if there was a person standing at the mountain pass, waiting for a long time.

The brilliant light shone on him, making him seem inexplicably sacred, not like an ordinary person.

(End of this chapter)