Crusade against the Pope

Chapter 400: Serving in the Egyptian Legion and the Matter of Morality
Serving the Crusaders in Egypt was not an easy task.

Although the recruitment threshold is almost non-existent, it does not mean that the service life is easy.

They have to prepare a complete set of weapons, participate in heavy training, and then shoulder a variety of missions.

In terms of the rigorous training of its troops, Egypt was nothing like a Crusader kingdom ruled by the Franks.

What is the Crusader Kingdom ruled by the Franks?
The original Kingdom of Jerusalem is a typical example. Its army either came from the private soldiers of noble lords who were granted fiefdoms at various levels, or from the temporary mobilization of Franks in various cities, or from being hired with money.

Except for a small number of troops, there is no concept of a standing army.

But the times are always progressing. When the Egyptian Crusaders saw how powerful the standing army of Jerusalem was, they naturally wanted to keep up with the times.

Gellis said that he was taking a big step back from the old ways, and it was only natural that the Egyptian Crusaders should follow suit.

Moreover, Egypt has its own advantages. Whether it is Alexandria or Cairo, they both preserve a considerable amount of information passed down from the Roman Empire era.

Unlike Garys' immature, inexplicably pulled out of nowhere,

After some research, the Egyptian Crusaders dared to say that their military system was much better than Gellis's patchwork system, and that it was the true Roman heritage.

The difference from the ancient Roman Empire is that the Roman legions at that time could produce dozens of them, but now Egypt can only produce eight.

I believe that with such a sophisticated Roman legion system, the Egyptian Crusaders will definitely be more powerful than the crude imitation of Jerusalem!
It came down to Nasser himself.

After the recruiting officer accepted his roster, Nasser found himself assigned to Alexander's Second Legion, known as the Upper Third Regiment.

The legion was originally formed by the Crusaders in the Aquitaine region and was stationed in Alexandria for a long time. In the past ten years, it has not had any outstanding achievements, but because it is responsible for the public security in the Alexandria area, it has caught many petty thieves.

It adopted the famous lion emblem of Aquitaine as the symbol of the legion, and it must have inherited the abundant martial ethics of the original Crusaders.

On his first day at the legion camp, Nasser needed to deal with his equipment problems.

In medieval armies, in theory, all weapons were borne by individual soldiers themselves, but lords and employers would also pay part of the money, or a lot of money, to allow soldiers to purchase a good set of equipment.

Nasser received about several months' salary and, under the leadership of the veterans, went to various places to purchase equipment.

The first thing is a pair of shoes that fit.

Although in Egypt, there is no need to worry about frostbite on your feet in winter, most civilians don't need to wear shoes at all.

But as a military, it still needs to be considered.

After all, no one wants to lose their combat effectiveness in the middle of a charge because their feet are not strong enough and they step on something like an arrow, which would be shameful.

At the same time, considering the local climate in Egypt, using fully enclosed boots would seem too hot, so retro is indeed a good choice at this time.

You should know that ancient Roman soldiers wore sandals.

These leather shoes have hard soles with spikes, slightly lubricated insoles and leather straps, and are quite painful when kicked in the face.

But be careful not to run on hard, smooth stone pavement on rainy days, as it is easy to fall.

But given Egypt's climate, this is unlikely to happen.

Then it was a simple tunic.

As a military uniform, the tunic brought a unified sense of community to the legionnaires, and its practicality was indeed quite good.

In this era, it was very troublesome to make pockets on clothes. People could simply tie the clothes tightly at the waist with a rope or belt. Then they could put various items such as purses into the clothes through their collars and store them close to their bodies without worrying about others taking them away.

Taking into account the climate of Egypt, the tunics of Alexander's Second Legion were all made of linen, which was naturally much fresher than wool.

Then there were kettles, bags, digging tools, cooking pots, sleeping cloaks... and all kinds of other things.

Before he came into contact with the standard armor and weapons of the legion, he realized that becoming an infantryman was not a good choice.

Because all of the above things, along with a few days' rations, need to be carried by the infantry themselves.

As far as carrying weight was concerned, he felt that he was not much different from a mule.

But the miller would not think of working the mule to death, but the old soldiers in the legion would try to replicate the torture they had suffered on the new recruits exactly the same way, or even in a more severe way.

First of all, the most basic training is based on the infantry training outline of Jerusalem and also comes from the research on the ancient Roman legions.

The first training that Nasser and other new recruits of the same period faced was walking.

This walking does not require them to take neat steps, it just means they need to walk.

First, they have to challenge themselves to walk 20 steps within five hours, which is roughly equivalent to marching 5 kilometers in five hours.

Once they successfully complete it, the next goal will become walking 12 kilometers in 60 hours.

After the soldiers got used to this speed, they returned to the 5-hour 20-step training, but this time they had to wear clothing and carry weights instead of simply walking as before.

The most basic physical fitness of a legionnaire is developed in this process.

A general once said: "If a soldier can't walk, what good is he?"

During this process, many people were eliminated, but Nasser performed well because of his good physique.

After completing the most basic introductory training, it is time to train with weapons.

Wooden shields, wooden swords, wooden spears... and wooden enemy stakes.

Through day after day of slashing, stabbing, dodging feints, charging, etc., the soldiers' arms will become thick and powerful until they can strangle civilians.

If it were a real ancient Roman legion, its training would not focus on spears, but on long-term training on heavy javelins.

But Robert, Duke of Alexander, said that there was no need to be so particular, as heavy javelins really had no meaning in today's era.

With a wave of his hand, the legion, after absorbing the gunpowder technology developed by the Ayyubid dynasty, began to replace heavy javelins with cannons of various calibers.

Although the overall quality of these artillery pieces is quite unreliable, it at least solves the problem of having or not having them, and they will surely be able to compete with the army of Jerusalem on the battlefield.

After learning how to use weapons, Nasser realized that this was not the end, but a new beginning.

The battlefield environment is not flat, and there are always various inexplicable complex terrains waiting for soldiers to adapt to.

Therefore, the goal of the next stage became that Nasser had to wear armor, hold weapons and shields, and cross the obviously unsafe man-made complex terrain, such as climbing over pommel horses, crossing low walls, and climbing long ladders...

Such training was full of danger, but fortunately Nasser did not break his leg.

After the recruits have gone through all kinds of torture, they enter the final collective training stage. Each recruit needs to know his position in the army formation, know how to adjust his position, and learn how to change the formation and move along with the formation.

Once this step is completed, qualified combat capability will be formed.

This whole process may take as short as three months or as long as half a year. If you persist, it may take years.

In short, Nasser spent the second half of 1201 in such training.

When he became a veteran, he was assigned some not-so-complicated tasks, and when these tasks were completed, he made great contributions.

He began to take up some junior military officer positions, such as messenger, accountant, and deputy to the centurion.

Generally speaking, these positions are closely related to the work of centurions, so the circles they come into contact with are much higher than those of ordinary soldiers.

On this basis, with just a little effort, you can basically become a formal officer one day.

Immediately afterwards, Nasser was inexplicably promoted to centurion and began to lead his subordinates in training.

It was at this time that Nasser realized that the power of the "Church" was not limited to the Egyptian people.

As Egypt steps up its efforts to reinvent itself, there aren't many people who can provide sufficient knowledge.

In this case, it is difficult to say where to find enough talent.

Perhaps, without the knowledge of outsiders, some successful people once studied in Jerusalem.

……

The Nile is the longest river in Africa and one of the most famous and historic rivers in the world.

It not only nourished ancient Egyptian civilization, but is also the lifeblood of Egyptian society and economy in the 13th century.

Every year from July to November, the section of the Nile River that flows through Egypt will flood, submerging the adjacent plains. In September or October, the river will recede, leaving fertile black silt covering the farmland.

Farmers can then start planting wheat and harvest it the following spring.

Since ancient Egypt, Egyptian officials have sent people to measure the water level of the Nile River every year to determine harvest expectations.

On Roda Island in Cairo, downstream of the Nile, there is even a special stone column water level gauge used to judge the condition of the Nile River.

It was built by order of the Abbasid Caliph.

The central column of the water level gauge on Roda Island is divided into 19 cubits, each cubit is equivalent to the distance from the elbow to the fingertips of an adult male, which is about half a meter.

In other words, this stone pillar can measure water level changes of about 9.5 meters.

According to the engineers' reports to the Caliph, when the water level of the Nile River was less than 12 cubits, it meant that the country would experience severe famine.

When the water level of the Nile River rose to 14 cubits, it meant a good harvest.

If the water level reached 16 cubits, it indicated a good harvest, and a celebration lasting seven days and seven nights would be held.

Correspondingly, Egypt's agricultural taxes can also be increased.

17 cubits is the optimum water level, and a good harvest next year will make the ruler of the land exceptionally wealthy.

But once it rises to 18 cubits, it means that one-quarter of the land in the Nile Delta will be flooded, followed by plague.

In this way, Egyptian bureaucrats were always able to accurately determine how much tax to levy so that the farmers could survive without being overfed.

But for the ignorant farmers, it was really too scary that officials could predict grain output so accurately without even going to the fields.

Therefore, the peasants would also deify the rulers of Egypt, whether it was the original pharaoh, the later Fatimid Caliph, or even the current Crusader Dukes, seeing them as powerful figures who could affect the flooding of the Nile.

Now, at this moment, in Cairo, two Egyptian officials are watching the water level gauge on Roda Island.

They looked at each other and then showed their embarrassment.

According to past experience, now should be the time when the Nile River is flooding the most. But no matter how you look at it, the water level of the Nile River this year can only reach 15 cubits, which is still a little short of 16 cubits.

This is actually a fairly standard number. The Nile River has been roughly like this in previous years, which means that everything is normal.

But can everything really remain the same as before in Egypt today?

According to the results of the meeting of the leaders above.

Today, Egypt's foreign trade has been cut off, and it is expanding its military and preparing for war, so all expenditures are flowing out like water.

Therefore, according to the guidance of some people, taxes will definitely be increased next year, but they are not very willing to come up with too straightforward reasons.

"Ah Ming, what do you think? How can we report this?"

The man called Amin also looked very sad. As a former Ayyubid official who was retained in Crusader Egypt, his life had not declined.

But when facing these new bosses, he always felt much more pressure than when he faced the Saladin brothers.

Perhaps this is because Saladin did not like to threaten people with the death penalty, but the Crusaders actually killed people.

"Idris, I mean, those leaders up there don't really think we or they can control the flood, do they?"

Idris spread his hands to show his helplessness.

After struggling for a long time, Amin finally figured out how to make a decision when faced with the conflict between the requirements of his superiors and objective reality.

After all, the leader is always right. If the leader makes a mistake, it is he who will be fired, not the leader himself.

He said, “How about we pour some water on the 16th cubit of the pillar and then tell everyone that the water has actually flooded the 16th cubit, but it came and went quickly, so only a trace is left.”

When Idris heard Amin's genius speech, he suddenly felt enlightened.

But the moral pressure still made him feel a little embarrassed.

Once the water level is reported to be above 16 cubits, the subsequent tax increase will inevitably lead to the destruction of many homes and lives.

Of course, Amin was dismissive of this.

"Morality? Idris, you still care about morality?! If you still have morality, why are you working for the Franks now?!"

(End of this chapter)