Crusade against the Pope

Chapter 404 General Damietta and the Naval Battle

In the center of the city of Damietta, there is a special general's residence, next to which is his office.

As a centurion, Nasser went straight here after arriving at Damietta, except for eating and resting.

After he revealed his identity, the people here couldn't help but become respectful towards him.

He also said frankly that General Damietta would come to see him later.

Nasser showed no surprise at this.

Although centurions are the lowest-level officers, there are actually only 60 centurions in a legion.

Including the extras, the total will not exceed 70 people.

70 times 8, a total of 560 centurions, constitute the basic command level of the Eighth Regiment.

Although people like Nasser are not qualified to speak at a higher level, it does not mean that those above them do not care about these grassroots officers.

Inexplicably, a centurion traveled thirty leagues to come here, and the local general must be quite curious.

It is normal for him to come in person to meet with the guests. It is nothing special.

In the general's mansion, Nasser met General Damietta, or Duke Damietta.

This Duke of Damietta has the same name as King Richard the Lionheart, both of them are called Richard.

Richard de Canville was an English crusader knight and one of Richard the Lionheart's senior commanders during the Third Crusade.

In 1189, at Chinon, he was in charge, along with three others, of commanding the Lionheart's fleet to the Holy Land.

After conquering Egypt, King Richard the Lionheart did not stay here for too long. He was busy returning to Britain to fight for the throne, and the affairs of Egypt were basically left to his confidants.

Richard was somewhat surprised when he realized that Nasser was a native Egyptian.

But then Nasser showed his pious attitude, whether it was the various etiquette or the words of blessing, they were all very appropriate.

To Richard's surprise, he then asked, "As a native of Egypt, are you originally a Coptic?"

"No, sir, I only recently followed the Latin rites. Before that I had always followed the path of the Prophet Muhammad."

Richard nodded when the Latin liturgy was mentioned.

When Nasser talked about the Prophet Muhammad, his eyes flickered again.

Having learned the lesson of the Kingdom of Jerusalem's failure to mobilize the local population, the Egyptian Crusaders remained wary of grassroots Muslims.

But they did not emphasize that Muhammad must be a pagan liar. Instead, they vaguely indicated that Muhammad might also be a Christian saint.

However, because the Arabian Peninsula is relatively far away from Rome, its development went in the wrong direction.

In Christianity, "ritual" refers to public worship activities with standardized forms, symbolic meanings, and sacred purposes in the practice of religious beliefs.

The distinction between different religious sects is essentially based on rituals.

Therefore, when Nasser mentioned that he followed the Latin ritual, in Richard's eyes he became a local who was actively moving closer to the Crusaders, a talented person with potential and value for united front work.

After confirming Nasser's personal identity, Richard talked to him about his purpose.

"You mean those bandits might have come from Alexandria?"

"Yes sir."

After getting a positive answer, Richard's eyes rolled again.

Although he was the Duke of Damietta, and it was basically impossible for anyone in Egypt to suppress him, he subconsciously felt that this was an opportunity to shirk responsibility.

As long as this matter is confirmed, he will not be the one who loses face, and he may even be able to get some money from Alexander's legion.

"...We are all of the same origin. On issues like this, we should advance and retreat together. If you want to join this investigation, that's not impossible..."

A series of pleasantries culminated in this sentence.

It was obvious that he had wanted to say it directly in his heart for a long time, but he still went around in circles.

The general meaning of the previous words is that the Third Regiment is different from the other five corps. It has a unique status and is responsible for defending the peace of Egypt's territory.

Nasser had such a passionate heart that he traveled hundreds of miles to Damietta. He must have made outstanding contributions to the Crusades, etc.

Among all these twists and turns, a core message was indeed revealed.

That is, the upper three groups and the lower five groups actually have different role positioning.

The upper three regiments were stationed in three important cities to control the entire Egypt and prevent unrest. They were used more to suppress potential resistance actions by the Egyptians.

The other five legions are mobilized more frequently and are currently preparing to launch an attack on Jerusalem.

After all, the economic blockade is still too damaging for Egypt at the moment.

Although given the situation in Egypt, people here will not starve to death.

But if we cannot export large quantities of food, where will the currency come from to sustain the long-term existence of the army?

……

Not to mention Nasser's actions in Damietta, the war between Egypt and Jerusalem has actually broken out.

However, there has been no large-scale conflict between the two sides in recent days.

The armies on land are basically still in a stage of mobilization and confrontation.

During Saladin's conquest war that began in 1187, both sides would control the timing of the battles to May-October, which happened to be the slack season in the Levant, when there was no need to farm.

Unlike the war Saladin launched against Jerusalem ten years ago, both Egypt and Jerusalem have now established a certain amount of standing army.

Therefore, the timing of war outbreaks and the assembly of troops are no longer so closely related to the agricultural cycle.

However, considering the convenience of supplies, both sides are not very willing to see a fight break out in the "winter" of the Levant.

After all, instead of wasting energy and sending large amounts of food supplies to the rear, it would be better to wait until the harvest next year and then both sides will be fed by the enemy.

Unlike the relatively calm land, naval battles have begun to break out in this season when Mediterranean storms are gradually emerging.

At the beginning of the 13th century AD, there were basically two types of larger ships in the Mediterranean: sailing ships and galleys.

Among them, sailboats can also be called round ships because of their relatively low length and width, but they can carry more weight and require fewer people to operate.

In addition to being propelled by sails, a paddle boat also requires human rowing.

It is relatively long and wide, appears more slender, and can sail faster on the ocean. Because it has its own power, it is also relatively more flexible.

Therefore, starting from BC, as early as the ancient Greek period, galleys were equated with warships in the Mediterranean.

Today, times have changed. Although galleys are still the dominant ships in the Mediterranean, their ship designs and fighting methods are completely different from those of two thousand years ago.

For example—Boom!

(End of this chapter)