Crusade against the Pope

Chapter 421 Crossing
Thanks to the lords' control over oases and water sources, even the Bedouins were not completely free.

Like Reynald in the past, after he controlled the oasis along the route from Fort Karak to Fort Montreal and then to the Red Sea port, he actually became the object of loyalty of a group of Bedouin tribes.

On this basis, Leonard subsequently relied on the Bedouins to achieve his ulterior motives.

Although there were many conflicts between the Gelis and the Bedouins afterwards, the Bedouins were not a political entity with awakened nationalism.

The ecology of their tribes and clans makes them lack higher-level unity. The feuds and mutual looting between tribes are actually worse than external harassment.

For the kingdom, it was necessary to stir up conflicts among Bedouin tribes, attract weaker tribes to serve its own interests, and transform them into "barbarian allies" by purchasing their livestock and caravan goods and selling handicrafts through commodity trade.

With enough "barbarian allies", it would be relatively easy to curb the invasion of other Bedouin tribes on the kingdom's farming areas or to control some marginal areas.

Yunus ibn Habib was the leader of this six-man team.

Eight years ago, their tribe signed an agreement with the County of Montreal of the Kingdom of Jerusalem to take on part of the patrol and defense work on the eastern line of the Sinai Peninsula. Their main function was to prevent other tribes that were not part of the "Barbarian Alliance" from forcibly migrating to agricultural areas, and to inform the kingdom of the actions of the army in the direction of Egypt.

As a reward, their tribe can get a portion of the franchise trade volume from the kingdom every year.

These concessions allowed them to purchase many goods duty-free in bulk, within their quotas, at periodic markets held in Fort Montreal.

From ironware to woodenware, some medicines and even luxury goods, all are included.

These duty-free purchased goods can bring considerable profits, whether used by the tribe itself or transported to other areas through commercial trade.

Although the kingdom never directly interfered in the lives of the Bedouin tribes, the overall living conditions of the tribes were improved due to this extra income.

Even though some old or young people in the tribe are dissatisfied with the change in lifestyle, middle-aged people in power like Yunus don't think there is any problem.

After all, people have to make a living, so it is better to be pragmatic.

What's wrong with guarding the South Gate for the kingdom?

As he said when flattering Montreal County officials: It is the greatest honor to be a dog of the kingdom, unlike some dogs who run around without knowing who their masters are.

The so-called dogs who don't know their masters here are those guys who are hostile to their tribe.

In addition to obtaining tax-free trade concessions, after entering the war stage, the Kingdom of Jerusalem also issued conscription orders to these "barbarian allied" tribes.

Each male member who brought a horse to the war meant a monthly income of 2 gold dinars.

Although this amount of money is not much, in this era, looting in war is considered legal.

After winning, you can also get extra rewards.

Considering that the Kingdom of Jerusalem has been almost invincible over the years, then participating in a favorable battle is actually no different from picking up money.

Of course, picking up money is picking up money, but it doesn’t mean that there is no risk at all or it is easy.

The process of war is actually traceable. Generally speaking, it is nothing more than assembling troops, collecting information, making decisions, fighting, and cleaning up afterward.

The process of collecting information is actually quite cruel.

Take the present for example. In this cold winter, the main forces of the kingdom are basically in the barracks preparing for war and resting, while these mercenaries need to patrol continuously to strangle the spies of the hostile forces.

Standing on a slightly higher ground, one is surrounded by vast wilderness. The hills and plateaus in the distance are like a long wall stretching across the end of the sky, dividing the known earth.

As far as Yunus could see, he discovered traces of a small troop.

There were probably less than ten people on the other side, all riding horses. They might be a reconnaissance force. The bad thing was that each of them basically had two horses.

Then Yunus realized that he had been discovered, because the enemy changed their horses on the spot in front of him, and after leaving one person to look after the horses, the others rushed towards them at full speed.

At this time, Yunus felt a little regretful. He regretted two things.

One reason was that he had not purchased a telescope beforehand, which resulted in him discovering the other party in the wilderness while being discovered by the other party during the reconnaissance process.

Second, when I went out this morning, I didn’t prepare more horses.

For nomads, having only one horse is far from enough. If a family does not have more than five horses, even normal production and life cannot be completed.

For a nomadic man, more horses are like clothes for women, you can never have too many.

Just as women in later generations would feel uncomfortable if they did not have a closet full of clothes, nomadic men would also feel uncomfortable if they could not choose a good horse when traveling.

This morning, he felt that the condition of his other horses was not good, so he only took this one with him, and the other people in the team followed suit, which resulted in the six of them being unable to change horses.

Although they did not run fast all morning, the horses had actually lost a lot of horsepower after carrying them for such a long time.

The opponent ensured that he had enough horsepower by switching mounts, so that he could sprint in a short time and chase them.

In the wilderness, it is difficult to escape, after all, there is nothing to block the opponent's vision.

If the road is smooth, it will be a death chase.

If you are lucky, you may meet friendly forces who can help you intercept the enemy. If you are unlucky, when your horsepower is exhausted, you will be caught up and chopped to death by the enemy.

In this situation, Yunus made a straightforward choice and led his subordinates, six people in total, to meet the enemy.

When he got closer, Yunus felt that there was still a chance. There were actually only eight people on the other side. After leaving one person to watch the herd of horses, there were actually only seven people.

With the number of people differing by only one, the difference in combat power between the two sides is not that big.

The other side was also somewhat surprised that Yunus and his men dared to directly fight, so they could not help but speed up their horses again. The two sides collided in the badlands of the Sinai Peninsula with an extremely resolute attitude.

When the distance was close enough, Yunus once again decided that it was wise for him to fight instead of running away.

Because the opponent's horse was a size larger than the good horse he was riding.

This means that when the enemy's warhorse is carrying people, the loss of horsepower will be smaller and the sprint speed will be faster, so the fleeing party will be caught up soon.

Yunus had fought on horseback before, but every time he had to face life and death, he was extremely nervous. His palms were sweaty as he held the saber. The opponent was on a tall horse, so he had a slight height advantage.

Even though the weapon in his hand was carefully forged by the kingdom using sandwich technology, it could not eliminate his panic.

When the distance was close enough, Yunus could even feel the other party's ferocious and angry expression. Subconsciously, Yunus also let out a war cry, boosting his emotions, mobilizing his body's strength, and trying his best to excite himself.

He knew that at this critical moment of life and death, even a moment of hesitation would result in him being unable to make a timely strike when the opponent passed by him.

Just when the horses were about to cross and the distance between them was less than ten meters, Yunus discovered that the other party was not raising a sword, but something like a hammer and pressed a switch.

After a moment, a loud noise was heard.

This sound instantly made Yunus realize that the other party was using a firearm that could be operated on horseback!
A large number of stones flew and hit Yunus' chest, making a sound of metal colliding.

The stone hit the steel plate with a clanging sound, which caught the other party off guard and made them suddenly confused.

Even though Yunus was not penetrated by the opponent's firearms because of the breastplate hidden under his robe, the strong force made his body lean back and he had difficulty breathing.

Not to mention the stone fragments that cut his thighs and cheeks, causing him to be injured and bleed.

However, it was precisely this tense moment that made his brain unusually clear. In just a split second, the tip of Yunus' saber cut into the opponent's neck.

Then, without any hesitation, he cut open the opponent's right neck artery, causing blood to spurt out.

Almost the same thing happened to other soldiers one after another.

Yunus's side did not expect that the other side would use firearms on horseback, and the other side did not expect that Yunus and his men were wearing breastplates under their robes and were not just light cavalry.

When the two collided, both were damaged.

After the two sides had passed each other in the first round of charge and each had rushed for dozens of meters, Yunus had the opportunity to check the situation of his subordinates.

I couldn't help but feel heartbroken when I saw this. Among the six people, two had fallen off their horses, and one of them had blood oozing out of his neck and was obviously dying.

The situation of the other side was not much better. Four out of seven people were arrested, leaving only three.

In this situation, Yunus made another decision.

He did not rush into a second confrontation with the enemy, but instead rode his horse quickly towards the enemy's people guarding the horses.

Things turned out just as Yunus had expected. After the opponent's shot missed, they gave up using the firearm because they could not reload immediately.

However, when it came to charging with cold weapons, the other side had lost their courage because of the previous confrontation. Relying on their greater horsepower, they chose to make a detour, and the person who fell off the horse began to escape.

As for the people guarding the horses, after discovering that the main force had been defeated, they turned around and left without saying a word. They did not dare to stay any longer and left the horses where they were to be captured by Yunus.

Only when the other party was far enough away did Yunus have the opportunity to count his losses and gains.

The two people who fell from their horses were not both dead, one of them was only slightly injured.

On the contrary, the brothers who were still riding on horses died soon after, so two of the six of them died today. The good news was that they seized seven horses from the enemy.

Since these horses were walking horses, they also carried some of the people's belongings.

After the subsequent inventory, the spoils were still quite rich.

Having spoils of war actually allows one to tolerate losses. This has always been the case for the Bedouin tribe.

Yunus's reputation among the people around him was even further improved because of his previous correct decision, so he took the lead in distributing the spoils.

"Bashir and Salim, both of them died, so four of the seven horses will be divided among their families."

"Each of you three can take a horse. As the leader, I have a large herd of horses, so you won't need them."

As for the rest of the spoils, Yunus divided them equally into three parts.

One share was given as compensation to the families of those who died in the battle, one share was given to three others as a reward, and one share was kept for himself.

Yunus even made plans for this money, about a dozen gold dinars. He planned to find a way to buy himself a telescope, or to find out if there were any small firearms for sale in the kingdom.

Yunus immediately realized the advantages of using a musket on horseback.

In the previous situation, firearms were not used as long-range weapons, but their function was more like a spear.

An inch longer, an inch stronger. The confrontation on horseback is so thrilling, and the slightest difference can mean life and death.

Therefore, the spear is actually more useful than the saber, but Yunus did not carry it because it was not light enough.

Using firearms on horseback is actually equivalent to launching an attack at a distance farther than a spear, about seven or eight meters.

This first-mover advantage is difficult for the party with less power to make up for.

While Yunus lamented that the Egyptians had no martial ethics, the defeated side began to angrily curse Yunus for his unrepentant bandit nature.

The battle wasn't even over yet but they rushed over to steal their horses.

The key point is that they had lost all their courage in the previous round of attack. Even though only two of them were killed and six were still alive, they did not dare to go back and confront Yunus head-on. They could only grit their teeth and swallow the losses, and then secretly made up their minds that they would get revenge sooner or later.

However, the most urgent task is to report today's experience to the superiors.

Notify the Egyptian Legion's superiors as soon as possible and tell them that the spies of the Kingdom of Jerusalem have begun to penetrate into the Sinai Peninsula.

It may not be long before the main force of the Jerusalem heretics will begin to invade.

Another point is that even the Bedouin soldiers under the Jerusalem heretics were equipped with breastplates, which was really unexpected for them.

However, their attempts to use firearms immediately did not receive sufficiently positive feedback. Does this mean that there is something wrong with the path of using firearms immediately itself?
(End of this chapter)