Crusade against the Pope

Chapter 390 Are They Really Not Afraid of Death? !

An army composed mainly of light cavalry does have many advantages.

They are more efficient when assembled and maneuver faster. When they win, they can hunt down the enemy without restraint. When they are defeated, they can retain a large number of manpower and plan for the future.

Even if you are discovered by the enemy, it will be easier to escape.

In other words, they have the power to choose to go to war.

Therefore, even though Adil wanted to strengthen the defenses of Aleppo, after hearing the news that the scouts had found a large-scale grain transport team, he still assembled a group of troops and put them under the command of Aziz.

Let Aziz destroy the transport convoy as quickly as possible. If he finds that Antiochus' main force is about to surround them, he should retreat actively and not waste time.

Under such instructions, Roger saw the scene that happened.

As the saying goes, tens of thousands of people can make a mountain or a sea, but in fact, the cavalry does not need to be tens of thousands to be like a dark cloud.

To be honest, Roger is not a very conscious person, but he also knows that the turning point of this war may be today.

If his supply team was completely destroyed by the enemy, perhaps this expedition to Aleppo would have to come to an end.

But on the other hand, if they could hold on until reinforcements arrived, then perhaps the credit would go to their battalion.

Of course, Roger at this moment did not know that someone had described the conversation in vivid detail afterwards.

In later literary works.

Before the enemy attacked, Heinrich asked Roger: [How long can we hold out?]

Roger answered decisively: [Three months! ]

【why? 】

[Because the food in Camel City is only enough for us to eat for three months! ]

In fact, this conversation inverts the personalities of Roger and Heinrich.

Heinrich was clearly just a Paladin who didn't command the army, but he was actually more radical. Roger knew this because of his past military career.

That is, when raising the flag, it should be raised in reverse.

Ask more about how long the flag can be kept up so that you can gain an inexplicable advantage in some metaphysics.

Of course, this will also have some negative effects, that is, people around him will always find it difficult to feel the burning and high morale from Roger.

Many times, Heinrich was needed to make up for the shortfall in morale.

Viewed from another angle, the quality of their performances happens to complement each other.

After meeting with Heinrich, the two assigned tasks to each other, reaffirmed each other's determination, and started to work on their own.

Roger was still patrolling around the camel wall, making sure that key locations were commanded and guarded by non-commissioned officers or officers. Then he went to check the gunpowder to make sure that it was not damp or clumping.

If you want to survive the wave of enemy cavalry, you can only rely on gunpowder.

At the same time, Heinrich, along with several other company-level Paladins, began to preside over a pre-war mass.

The first step was to open the reliquary and take out the Holy Grail, the Eucharist, the Holy Blood and other holy objects. Then they pried open a box filled with the Seal of Purity.

As the battle could break out at any time, Heinrich did not let anyone else leave their combat posts except for gathering a part of the reserve team to hold a ceremony in the center of Camel City.

The history of the pre-war Mass is actually quite early and was not unique to the Jerusalem Church.

This ceremony aims to seek God's protection, courage and victory for the soldiers through prayer, communion and blessings. It also prays for the souls of soldiers who may have died, asking God to bless them to survive in battle or rest in peace after death.

Under the leadership of Paladin, the marks of purity were distributed to every soldier.

Among them there were those who could read, and they led the people around them in reciting the scriptures together.

[You are my refuge, my fortress, the God in whom I trust…]

[I will not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day, nor of the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor of the disaster that strikes at noonday.]

[Though a thousand fall at your left and ten thousand at your right, I will be safe...]

The pressure of war always makes people more difficult, and Mass is a way to relieve it.

After the collective reading of the Scriptures, the distribution of the Holy Eucharist and the Holy Blood will follow.

However, compared with traditional Catholicism, the Jerusalem Church has developed its own characteristics.

They not only distributed the Holy Eucharist, but also the Holy Blood.

In the medieval understanding, the Eucharist and the Holy Blood were theoretically sacred and inseparable, so the church believed that believers only needed to receive the Eucharist to be saved, so the wine was consumed by the priests themselves.

But this incident was seen by many as a symbol of clergy privilege.

When the Hussites later revolted and carried out reforms, they required believers to share the wine in the Holy Grail with priests, so there was also a branch called the Holy Grail Sect, which meant that the church and believers were equal.

After being blessed by the Paladins, the wine, which looked like blood, was poured into jugs and passed among the soldiers.

Although wine is not particularly precious even in this era, it is still relatively expensive and people do not have the opportunity to drink it on a daily basis.

As the not-so-large amount of holy blood went down their throats, many people felt a surge of courage coming from the bottom of their hearts, and their previously tense emotions were relieved a lot.

Even though the enemy outnumbers us, Jerusalem is protected by God, so there is no need to worry about the outcome of this battle.

What's more, with a large number of camels acting as cover, it would be difficult for the cavalry to charge directly into the formation.

All they had to do was follow their past training, thrust their spears, and fire their weapons under the command of their officers, and everything would be fine...

Opposite Roger's troops, Aziz's troops were also performing religious ceremonies to boost the morale of the soldiers as much as possible.

Under such religious traditions, many armies once regarded war as part of God's will or a mission commanded by God.

They believed that victory was God's will, while failure could be God's punishment.

From this, it is easy to draw another conclusion, that is, the loser in the war loses God's grace and has no right to rule, and the victorious party in the war will naturally find it easier to gain the power to rule.

Today, the Ayyubid dynasty is on its last legs, which is caused by its repeated defeats in wars.

If Adil had not been so tactful, and had come to Aleppo to calm the two brothers and subdue the emirs who were granted land, the Ayyubid dynasty might have collapsed long ago. But Aziz did not want to keep doing this. Although Adil was his uncle, it did not mean that Adil would pass the position of Sultan to him.

Directly plotting a coup would only make the dynasty worse, but if the enemies of the Ayyubid dynasty could be defeated, then everything would be fine.

As for whether I will be defeated in this process?
All I can say is that in the minds of many people, if life is not going as planned, it would be better to just die.

As a gambler, after observing the situation on the hill, Aziz determined that the power ratio of both sides was in his favor, so this allowed him to place a bet.

In fact, he did not take the troops on the hill seriously. Rather, he was worried about whether he could eliminate the enemy as quickly as possible within the limited time to avoid being targeted and returning empty-handed.

However, Aziz had never fought directly with the Jerusalem army, and had no interest in caring about some of Jerusalem's technical and tactical innovations.

He knew that Jerusalem had artillery, he knew that Jerusalem had chariots, and he even knew that Jerusalem sometimes used artillery and chariots together to form Balian chariots.

But what he didn't expect was that artillery didn't have to be tied to a chariot. Smaller-caliber firearms could be easily fired, whether using a temporary bracket or directly mounted on a camel's back.

Now, the Camel City he is facing is actually a simplified version of the Balian Chariot.

This means that he will also face the same dilemma as those who have tried to crash directly into the formation in the past.

As Aziz gave the order, part of the army he led began to prepare to set up camp, while others dispersed to surround and prepare for an attack.

At the sound of trumpets, thousands of light cavalrymen rushed towards the hills from all directions like a black tide.

Horse hooves shook the earth and dust obscured the sky.

However, when the first wave of cavalry approached, the riders charging in the front heard a roar in front of them.

The smoke of gunpowder filled the air, and small-caliber firearms spit out dense bullets, which whistled and tore blood between the chests and necks of the light cavalry.

The number was not large, but it was enough to cause panic in many horses.

When the front row of people and horses suddenly fell down, the riders behind had no time to dodge and bumped into their fallen comrades, causing chaos.

The momentum of the charge was interrupted.

Faced with the threat of casualties, a considerable number of cavalrymen, out of subconscious self-preservation, did not obey orders and tried to cross the camel wall. Instead, they either stabbed the camels with spears or shot arrows from the periphery.

Camels' leather is quite thick. Although it cannot withstand the stabbing of spears, even if they are injured, they cannot move because their legs are bent and tied. Apart from some screams, it is not enough to break through the camel wall.

As for the arrows shot from horse bows, they are even more useless.

Some people who fell off their horses, or who tried to climb over the camel wall, immediately saw the spearmen hidden among the camels coming forward and stabbing out cold rays of light.

Aziz, who was not far away, frowned, but neither ordered a retreat nor ordered continued support. Instead, he continued to observe.

In this round of attack, the cavalry had been crippled by continuous fire before they even got close, and were unable to organize a complete charge formation.

When they got close to Camel City and found that they could not cross it, some riders began to leave the battlefield and tried to retreat in a roundabout way. More people retreated on their own without receiving the order, making the formation even looser.

Then Aziz sighed deeply and ordered the troops to withdraw.

Nowadays, the combat effectiveness of these light cavalry and their obedience to command orders are far inferior to when his father Saladin commanded them.

Of course, the Ayyubid dynasty at that time also had a systematic professional infantry, namely the Mamluks, who could accomplish all difficult and impossible tasks.

But after losing Egypt, it became too difficult to maintain a full-time professional infantry.

At present, only Adil has a large infantry guard under his command that can fully guarantee full production.

Although Aziz severely reprimanded the military leaders and asked them to restrain their subordinates, he himself knew that this would most likely have no effect.

To get soldiers to fight bravely regardless of their lives or physical disabilities is either an army of true fanatics who are willing to sacrifice themselves for some beliefs or ideals.

Or they should prepare for the soldiers' birth, raising, death and burial.

If the soldiers believe that even if they lose their hands and feet, they can still live the rest of their lives relying on the rewards from their lord, then they will naturally not worry too much about getting injured.

Saladin's troops were able to do the former, and now Adil's personal guards can do the latter.

But Aziz could do neither. He could neither convince the soldiers that there was salvation in heaven nor did he have the financial resources to provide for the survival and burial of all the soldiers who had participated in the war.

Therefore, based on human nature of seeking benefits and avoiding harm, it is natural to make protecting oneself the top priority.

"Mahmoud." Aziz called out the name softly to the side.

Immediately afterwards, the deputy next to him arrived.

"Sir, I'm here."

"How do you say we are going to get rid of these people in two days?"

Hearing this, Mahmoud felt a little troubled.

"Sir, it's not that simple. Although we can use cannons or catapults to effectively damage the enemy's wall, it can't be done in two days."

"Most of our artillery pieces are heavy and cannot be dragged here in a short time. As for building catapults, we also need engineers and workers, as well as enough trees, which are obviously not easy to find nearby."

"Those people are only using camels to block our progress. If we offer a generous reward to encourage them, and if our personal guards dismount and lead the way, we will definitely be able to overcome them. But if we do so, we will inevitably suffer heavy losses."

"Sir, you should know that if too many of your personal guards are sacrificed, then Lord Zahir will probably..."

Aziz understood what Mahmoud meant before he finished speaking.

For ordinary troops, it doesn’t really matter if they sacrifice more, but those people don’t know how to fight hard at all, so there is naturally no question of effective sacrifice.

Only his personal guards, whom he had supported for a long time, could take the lead in the charge and tackle the tough problems at this critical moment.

But if more of these people sacrificed their lives... then his foundation would be gone. What if Zahir did something small?
What does he use to defend himself?
Even if you win, you don't have the power to keep the fruits of victory.

When personal interests conflicted with the interests of the dynasty, Aziz chose to prioritize personal interests without hesitation.

At this time, Aziz asked another question.

"Since we are afraid of sacrifice, then they really are not afraid of death?!"

(End of this chapter)