Crusade against the Pope

Chapter 405 Hydrology
On the boat, Watt used a telescope to observe the mouth of the Nile River, which no longer had the prosperous scenery it once had.

After all, with the Venetian and Jerusalem fleets forcibly seizing passing merchant ships, any merchant who dared to come here to trade was really stubborn.

It’s not that there are no such stubborn guys in the Mediterranean. After all, Venice today cannot be called the overlord of the Eastern Mediterranean.

But those who are stubborn, such as Genoa, are now more concerned about the Aegean Sea.

Until the Genoese, after lengthy internal deliberations, had recovered and diverted their attention from their Aegean interests, the mouth of the Nile would be blocked.

Unless those Egyptian Crusaders intend to use their own fleet to break through the blockade.

Such a blockade is actually destined to be boring. Although there are different ships taking shifts, each ship seems to have nothing to do while drifting on the sea, so they need some small talk to pass the time.

"Brian, when I was chatting with the prophet a few days ago, he raised a very interesting point?"

"what?"

Brian on the side rubbed his sore eyes and stopped looking at the estuary. He was the captain of the ship, and Watt was the naval marshal.

Considering that the ship under their feet was a three-oared warship, 28 steps long from front to back and about 4 steps wide, there were at least 230 rowers alone, and if the soldiers were included, the number would be close to 400.

It was also a first-class battleship in the Jerusalem battle sequence.

Therefore, Brian is already one of the officers closest to the marshal in the kingdom's naval system, so he can naturally chat with Brian in a relaxed and pleasant manner.

"The prophet said that the land we see is actually made up of silt washed out from the interior of Africa by the Nile River."

"Thousands of years ago in Egypt, their coastline was much further inland than it is today."

"Do you know what this means?"

Faced with Walter's incoherent questions, Brian naturally didn't know how to answer.

"what?"

"Our land is alive. It has its own history of evolution, and we can find a lot of evidence that the history of our world is more than 6,000 years."

The idea that the world has existed for six thousand years is a common belief among many Christians today.

Medieval Christians calculated the origin of humanity and the Earth based on the lifespans and genealogical descriptions of characters in the Old Testament Book of Genesis.

This understanding was first developed by early theologians such as St. Jerome and St. Augustine, and was later widely accepted by Byzantine and medieval chroniclers in Western Europe.

The Constantinople Genesis Era or Byzantine Era was the official era of the Eastern Orthodox Church from 691 AD to 1728 AD in the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

到10世纪后期，这个纪元被主流的迦克墩派基督教（天主教+东正教）广泛接受，该纪元至少从7世纪中叶就已固定为公元前5509年9月1日。

According to this era, the current new calendar year can actually be the 1th year of creation.

Brian didn't continue the conversation because this topic was beyond his imagination.

The more important point is that he couldn't understand what the point of a person knowing how long the earth beneath his feet had existed was?

But he couldn't refute it. After all, this kind of behavior of exploring the truth and answering the real world has actually become a political trend in the Jerusalem Church, that is, the theology of Gairis. As a qualified apostle and believer, they should understand everything about the world created by God.

Although Brian didn't say it, Walter had already sensed the other party's thoughts.

"Useless? Of course it is useful. For example, if we understand the topography, hydrology, wind direction and current of the river mouth, we can deploy the fleet more appropriately and find the enemy's possible breakthrough points. Otherwise, why would I bring you here?"

Brian opened his mouth to say something, but at this moment, a voice suddenly came from the lookout on the mast.

"Captain! The enemy fleet has been spotted!"

Brian subconsciously raised the telescope and looked in the direction the observer was looking. It was in the river that a row of paddle boats were coming down the river and forming a formation.

It can be seen that a naval battle is inevitable.

Although he couldn't understand the cause and effect relationship for a while, Brian no longer had time to be serious about it. Under the gaze of Walter, he hurriedly began to direct the sailors and soldiers to prepare for battle.

As for Watt, he began to mobilize other ships through flag signals.

There are about four main outlets of the Nile River. Jerusalem and the Venetian fleets each shared two of these four outlets.

When the fleets are dispersed from each other, the number of ships in each independent fleet is relatively limited.

Take Water's current situation for example. He has only 3 first-rate galleys, 6 second-rate galleys, and 10 small galleys at his disposal.

The size of this fleet was actually quite large in the early 13th century, but it was still not enough when facing the Egyptian fleet, which roughly counted as having 30 ships.

These aggressive Egyptian fleets had not appeared for a long time. It is thought that they concentrated the fleet through the more complex river network of the Nile River. The navy originally deployed in the direction of Alexandria went upstream to Cairo, and then went downstream to complete the assembly here in Damietta.

Compared with sailboats, paddleboats use a large number of rowers, so their sailing speed is guaranteed whether on the sea or on the river.

There are records of many galleys, including the Vikings, sailing upstream to attack inland cities.

From this perspective, the Egyptian Crusaders had previously suppressed the naval impulse to start a war and endured the economic pressure of a long-term trade blockade in order to successfully mobilize the fleet and assemble at the sea outlet near Damietta, thereby gaining a local advantage.

After winning a single naval battle, they could capture enemy ships, thereby increasing the size of the Egyptian Crusaders' fleet.

With the increase of one side and the decrease of the other, the Egyptian fleet may be able to defeat the navies of Venice and Jerusalem alone.

This war strategy was undoubtedly wise, but for Watt, it was also something he had anticipated.

Based on hydrological observations of the Nile River, it is not difficult to detect that the other side will concentrate its main forces here.

After all, the flow rate at the river mouth here is relatively faster, and the wind direction is more favorable to the Egyptian fleet. As the party going downstream, it is easy to obtain a higher speed before entering a naval battle.

In a naval battle, the side with a higher speed will naturally take the initiative and gain the advantage.

Of course, Watt was only certain that the other side would attack if he knew that the other side would have some kind of advantage.

(End of this chapter)