Crusade against the Pope

Chapter 388: The Syrian War
Social progress does not necessarily have to follow a step-by-step process. In many cases, due to various reasons, a society suddenly develops overnight, and it is normal to take many detours.

But it does not mean that everyone can upgrade their brains and rush into XXism overnight.

Even if your body is in the new era, your mind will remain in the past.

Even though ten years have passed, the Kingdom of Jerusalem has not really implemented compulsory education on a large scale. It has simply reduced the cost of education to a level that the urban class can accept, and with the support of the Zakat Foundation and the religious system, it has tried to increase the number of children enrolled in school.

Illiterate people are still the mainstream of this country, but the relative proportion has been lowered.

Under such circumstances, it can only be said that the centralized movement with the monarch as a symbol and the shaping of the concept of the nation are precisely the historical mission that it is supposed to carry out.

Of course, centralizing power by using the monarch as a symbol is not necessarily equivalent to monarchical centralization.

For example, in England, after the Magna Carta, parliamentary centralization was implemented.

In Jerusalem, the situation is similar, but also different. In a sense, it is closer to the situation in Japan after the overthrow of the shogunate and the abolition of feudal domains.

After Gellis led his people to rebuild the Kingdom of Jerusalem, he used a series of measures to bring the land that originally belonged to the lords under the direct jurisdiction of the royal family.

Then, the aristocratic groups among the original aristocracy who actively approached Gellis, such as Balian, John and others, were arranged to land that did not originally belong to them, appointed as officials and county governors, and given a large amount of financial compensation, which was considered an alternative redemption.

After that, a local parliamentary institution was established based on the model of Transjordan, so that local Palestinians would also be eligible to participate in the political game and promote powerful people among them.

Representatives of these people include the tax farmer who took the initiative to stand on the side of Geris during the Transjordan period, and the group of imams in the Islamic religion who are willing to recognize Geris as a prophet.

Through the form of parliament, these people's support for the kingdom and their loyalty to Isabella were established, breaking away from the original state of ethnic isolation, allowing Gellis and others to mobilize people of other ethnic groups except the Franks.

In this process, parliament is essentially a tool to legitimize Arab participation in politics.

But the real core rulers are still the "dragon followers" who are united around Garys. These people come from various nationalities, which makes it seem that Garys can unite everyone.

Therefore, the Parliament of the Kingdom of Jerusalem was necessary to exist, but it could not be considered the core of power and could not suppress the cabinet government. Instead, in many cases, it became a link for the central government to transmit orders to lower levels.

Although Gellis' speech in Jerusalem Square announcing war on Egypt was expected by the kingdom's top leaders and members of parliament, they were somewhat caught off guard when the moment arrived.

Immediately afterwards, the Kingdom's Parliament quickly proposed a motion and started a complete process of declaring war, which was somewhat like getting on the bus first and buying the ticket later.

Then the cabinet came up with a plan that had been prepared long ago and began to implement it, including contacting allies, mobilizing troops from all over the country, and ordering counties and districts to mobilize militias...

A series of things were carried out in an orderly manner and the country began to act as a whole.

……

In contrast to the orderly situation on the side of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the remnants of the Ayyubid dynasty were at a loss.

Since Saladin was defeated in the battle in 1190, he retreated towards Damascus with his troops, but Saladin did not stay in Damascus for long.

After only two weeks of siege, Saladin made peace with the Kingdom of Jerusalem, giving up Damascus in exchange for retaining some of the remaining land in Syria and signing a ten-year peace agreement.

This part of land, to be precise, is the western part of the Fertile Crescent, with Aleppo as its center, and is the richer part of Syria.

Aleppo is an ancient city. It was inhabited much earlier than Damascus. From an archaeological point of view, there are records about the residents here on clay tablets dating back to 3,000 BC.

In subsequent history, Aleppo continued to grow and develop, eventually becoming the third largest city in Syria after Damascus and Antioch.

In 1128, Aleppo became the capital of the Zengid dynasty, and Saladin probably spent his childhood here.

However, Saladin at that time could not have imagined that he would later accomplish the great feat of recapture Jerusalem and almost unify the Arab region.

I could never have imagined that after achieving such great success, I would lose almost everything in just three years, leaving only my hometown from my childhood.

This ups and downs was a fatal blow to Saladin.

Saladin died shortly after signing a peace treaty with the Kingdom of Jerusalem, leaving behind a dying dynasty to his children.

But whether they were a candle in the wind or a dying dynasty, Saladin's sons were not united as brothers. Instead, they were caught in rounds of internal conflicts.

The Ayyubid dynasty was plagued by disputes over succession.

There are many reasons for this.

First of all, the issue of the son inheriting the family line after the father's death is not something that is taken for granted in Islamic society.

After all, the term Sultan is essentially an official governor appointed by the Arab Empire.

Secondly, Saladin's eldest son, Afdal, died in the previous battle with Reynald, and the most rightful first-in-line heir died unexpectedly.

Then, at the peak of his dynasty, Saladin granted the land near Aleppo to his third son, Zahir.

However, his second son, Aziz, lost his land in Egypt and was forced to come to Syria with some of his subjects.

This laid the groundwork for subsequent conflicts.

Aziz considered himself the elder brother and most qualified to inherit Saladin's title of Sultan.

But Zahir, as a deeply rooted local ruler, refused to give up his power.

The two fought for three years over who was the legitimate successor. In the end, it was not until Saladin's younger brother Adil came to Syria with the remnants of the Ayyubid dynasty that the conflict between the two was resolved.

The result of the pacification was that Adil declared himself Sultan and gained the support of the two brothers' subordinates.

After losing the loyalty of their subordinates, the two brothers had to acknowledge Adil's authority, but they were still unwilling to accept it in various ways.

In order to appease these two men who were ambitious but difficult to kill, Adil married his two daughters to the two brothers respectively, thus strengthening the relationship between the two brothers and unifying the Ayyubid family.

In the palace of Aleppo, Adil listened to the quarrel between Aziz and Zahir, his eyes looking up at the sky, not knowing what to say for a moment.

Just now, the two were about to have a big argument over the next move of the Ayyubid dynasty.

"Uncle, our army cannot leave Aleppo! How can we support Egypt? If the Antiochus army moves eastward, we won't be able to hold on!" Zahir patted his chest and shouted.

Aziz gnashed his teeth and said, "How long can we hold out by defending a city? We are almost losing all the land our father conquered! You only care about your own territory. If Egypt is destroyed, we will be alone and unable to hold out. How can we hold on?"

Are Aziz and the others really concerned about what is happening in Jerusalem? Adil is quite skeptical. It is better to say that Aziz said that simply to refute Zahir.

But whatever Aziz's motives, what he said makes sense.

Over the years, due to the presence of Egypt in front of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, Jerusalem has been relatively abiding by the peace treaty and has never provoked conflict in the border area.

It can be said that Egypt has diverted Jerusalem's main attention.

If Egypt were to be destroyed, there would be no more troops in the Levant that could contain Jerusalem.

As for whether Egypt can win?

Adil curled the corner of his mouth. He had fought with both sides.

When facing the Crusaders of King Richard the Lionheart, he still had ways to fight back, but when facing Jerusalem, he was really desperate.

All I can say is that Egypt is unlikely to defeat Jerusalem.

Therefore, not long ago he agreed to the secret agreement between Crusader Egypt and Ayyubid Syria, and reached an offensive and defensive alliance that was not announced to the outside world.

This meeting was actually held to discuss whether they should abide by the secret agreement and join the war.

Zahir is more conservative and worried about being robbed, while Aziz is more radical and wants to take the initiative.

Just when Adil was about to say something to calm the conflict between the two and inform other subordinates of his decision.

Suddenly, an urgent report came from outside the meeting room.

Once everyone heard it clearly, there was nothing to argue about.

The Governorate of Antioch declared war on the Ayyubid Dynasty just yesterday, and now, militias from all over Antioch have begun to gather.

The advance troops belonging to the Governor's Office have appeared near Aleppo and collided with their patrol!
The straight-line distance from Antioch to Aleppo is 80 kilometers, and if calculated according to Antioch’s border, the Antioch Governorate has taken over the richest valley in Syria.

It is only 40 kilometers away from the city of Aleppo.

The distance of 40 kilometers is really a matter of a day for a cavalry unit with more than one horse to travel. Just as they received the declaration of war, a large group of light cavalry appeared near the city of Aleppo.

Neither Adil nor the brothers Zahir and Aziz expected that the war would come so suddenly, like lightning, catching them off guard.

What else can we do in this environment?

For a while, it was just a matter of fighting back.

Fortunately, however, now it is only the Antioch Governorate that is sending troops against them.

In the eyes of the Zahir brothers, if they couldn’t defeat the Kingdom of Jerusalem as a whole, could it be that they couldn’t even defeat one of its “vassal”?

……

I have to say, in life, who can imagine what kind of opportunities they will encounter in the future?
Especially in an age like this with Garys, anything weird could happen.

To take Roger's own words, if the Governor of Antioch had not personally appointed him, he might still be fishing in his hometown. In fact, there is nothing wrong with fishing in the air force, but the army is more open to him.

At the beginning, he was just a peasant soldier forcibly conscripted by Bohemond, and then he worked under Reynald for a living. After Antioch was liberated, because of his past military experience, he carried the hopes of their village and stepped into the war to recover Jerusalem.

Because of his outstanding performance during the war, Roger inexplicably found himself transferred to the regular army and qualified for military school training.

After several months of military academy training, he became a platoon leader.

Then he was promoted every three years, from platoon leader to deputy company commander, company commander, and deputy battalion commander...

Then, because of the declaration of war on Aleppo, Antiochus expanded his army.

Roger became the battalion commander.

And now he is only twenty-eight or twenty-nine years old, less than thirty.

According to the rules of Jerusalem, the rank of a battalion commander is basically lieutenant colonel, which is not the lowest among the nobles.

In other words, in his hometown, everyone has tacitly accepted that Roger is a great nobleman and is going to be successful.

But Roger knew clearly that although he was now the battalion commander, it was due to the expansion during the war. If he wanted to keep his position, it would depend on his performance during this period.

In case something goes wrong, or there is nothing outstanding, when the war is over and the troops are disbanded, he will still have to be the deputy battalion commander.

This actually depends a lot on luck. After all, in the plan of Antiochus's staff, not all troops have attack missions.

For example, the battalion under Roger's command was only responsible for the task of supporting the periphery and ensuring that food supplies could be transported to the front line normally.

This is very reasonable and normal. After all, the troops in his battalion are mainly composed of mobilized militia, and their training level is relatively not as good as that of the main force.

If we rashly participate in the main attack mission and suffer heavy casualties, it will be a severe blow to the training enthusiasm of the local militia.

As for whether or not to come up with any crooked ideas or do anything out of the ordinary, Roger simply doesn't have the courage to do it.

If he were to be discovered, he might not even be able to catch up with the deputy battalion commander after the war.

But it was this mentality of not seeking credit but avoiding mistakes that got Roger into trouble.

Just as his group of nearly 600 men were escorting food supplies and marching eastward, they suddenly ran into a cavalry unit, and it was difficult to distinguish their flags at first glance.

But judging from the opponent's momentum, it is clear that they want to attack their "logistics force".

This is actually normal. Although Saladin himself was a Kurd, the main body of the Ayyubid dynasty was a nomadic group represented by the Turks.

Although its main force is not large, it has enough light cavalry.

With sufficient light cavalry, it would be meaningless to confront Antioch head-on. It would be better to seize the advantage of mobility and harass Antioch from all directions.

(End of this chapter)