Crusade against the Pope

Chapter 422 Progress of the Times

The development of firearms was not all smooth sailing, and this was even more true for using firearms on horseback.

At this stage in the early 13th century, except for the Kingdom of Jerusalem, other countries, such as Venice or Egypt, basically remained at the stage of firing the fire gate.

The so-called flash firing is to directly use open flame and fuse to ignite the gunpowder in the chamber.

For handheld firearms, this must be done using both hands simultaneously.

Being on horseback meant that he had to hold the matchlock (hand cannon) in one hand and use the lit matchlock with the other hand to press it into the powder chamber, and he would not be able to draw his sword.

These Egyptian reconnaissance forces have considered what to do.

To put it simply, after completing the shooting, the matchlock gun is wielded as a blunt weapon to cause casualties.

Considering that today's matchlock gun is actually just a stick with an iron barrel in front, this is actually feasible.

It's a nice idea and it's proven to be feasible during training, but when it comes to actual combat, many things are different.

The enemy is not a motionless scarecrow. It is equipped with sufficient breastplate so that it can swing the sword to kill people when hit.

Not only that, moving quickly on a horse without holding the reins actually means the risk of falling off the horse, and you have to spend more energy to keep yourself on the horse.

In contrast, Yunus and his companions, when shot, were able to adjust their sitting position in time and react quickly because they were able to apply force through the reins.

There is actually another problem here. The Egyptian musketeers were loaded with a large amount of gravel. Although this saved costs, the effect on armor-piercing was obviously insufficient. As for the amount of gunpowder loaded, that is another detail issue.

Of course, from the perspective of the development of the times, the emergence of musket cavalry is actually a historical inevitability. It’s just that the technology of various countries is not yet sufficient to implement it, and there are still problems with the development ideas.

After the report of this small-scale battle was transmitted back, Mark, the commander of the Third Regiment stationed in the nearby Egyptian war zone in the southern part of the kingdom, started chatting with the Palatine Sigber beside him.

"The principal actually taught us a lot about firearms. But I didn't expect that Egypt would move so fast."

Siegber on the side also nodded. The two of them are now only about twenty-six or twenty-seven years old, not very old, but as regimental officers, they are already well-known figures in the kingdom.

The reason why they have such a high status is actually because they were already studying in the school when Gellis was still teaching at Alhadi Town School.

As the earliest students of Gellis, their reliability, loyalty, and abilities are among the best in the kingdom.

When Gellis was teaching, he looked ahead to military history and made many predictions about the future.

Part of the point about lancers is that until weapons were advanced to a certain level, shooting from a distance didn't make enough sense.

Not even as useful as lancers, archers, etc.

However, it is a more feasible operation to use horses to maneuver quickly, allowing soldiers to dismount and shoot, and then move away quickly.

In addition to muskets, even some light artillery can be used in this way, thereby attacking the enemy from multiple angles, making the enemy dizzy, or quickly filling the firepower gap of one's own side and stabilizing the front line.

But once firearms evolved to the point where they could be held and fired with one hand, historical innovations would once again change the battlefield situation.

Sigber said: "I think the principal actually knows how firearms should be developed to that point."

"In fact, we all know that the principal knows too much."

Mark felt a headache when he thought of Garys's unfathomable nature, and his habit of half-saying and half-hiding.

For students of Gillis, it is natural to think that Gillis is a prophet.

If Gillis is not a prophet, then how can we explain that Gillis knows everything about astronomy and geography, and can trace back thousands of years and know thousands of years in the future...

Garys is not stingy in teaching about the laws of nature. He will also constantly review and analyze history with his students, hoping that everyone can learn lessons from history.

But when it comes to how the future will develop, Gellis always hesitates. Apart from making some vague predictions, he requires students to think for themselves.

The same is true of the Musketeers.

But it is true that the Egyptians’ progress has once again proved that Gairis was correct and foresighted.

If Gellis had not insisted on arming a part of the Bedouin tribe, they would not have received the news so quickly.

……

The Sinai Peninsula is triangular in shape, with its northern coast bordering the southern Mediterranean Sea, and its southwest and southeast coasts bordering the Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Aqaba of the Red Sea respectively.

The Isthmus of Suez is 125 kilometers wide and is a long and narrow strip of land.

Unlike the precise national borders of different countries in later generations, for many countries of this era, the national borders themselves are vague and gradually disappear into no-man's land.

Coincidentally, the Sinai Peninsula is indeed close to an uninhabited area in terms of population density. According to the estimates of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, there may be only 6 people living in this vast land of square kilometers.

These 20,000 people, mainly Bedouins, live near water and grass, and constantly move between oases.

Of course, there is also the Mount Sinai Monastery. Such a religious holy place can attract some ascetics to settle here and give priority to the transformation of the surrounding environment.

These habitable areas constitute a relatively stable fulcrum, allowing Egypt to deploy its troops in the desert and plateau of the Sinai Peninsula and maintain a certain supply of materials.

Take the current location of the headquarters of the Fourth Legion of the Kingdom of Egypt, for example, which is located in the famous St. Catherine's Monastery.

St. Catherine's Monastery, formally known as the Holy Autocephalous Royal Monastery of St. Catherine of Mount Sinai.

It is a Christian monastery located in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. It is located at the foot of Mount Sinai and was built between 548 and 565 by order of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I.

In the Abrahamic mythology system, it is said that the prophet Moses saw the burning bush here. [Moses was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian. One day he led the flock to the wilderness and came to the mountain of God, Mount Horeb.]

[The angel of the LORD appeared to Moses in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. Moses looked, and, behold, the bush was on fire, yet it was not consumed.]

In Abrahamic mythology, the meaning of the burning bush is similar to the giant crickets and caterpillars that appeared in the sky in response to the Yellow Emperor's sacrifice to heaven and earth.

It declared that Moses was qualified to communicate with God and to serve as a leader of the Israelites.

God said, "I will surely be with you. After you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will serve God on this mountain. This will be a sign to you that I have sent you."

In addition, there are many biblical stories about this place, for example, Moses met his future wife, Sibyl, here.

As for Saint Catherine, she was a Christian saint and virgin.

According to her hagiography, she was both a princess and a renowned scholar who converted to Christianity at around age 14, converted hundreds of others, and was martyred around age 18.

It is said that centuries after the monastery was built, the remains of Saint Catherine were discovered in a nearby cave.

Therefore the name of the monastery was changed to St. Catherine's Monastery.

But some cynical people may still have doubts about this story.

It just so happens that General Lagarde, commander of the Egyptian Fourth Army, is such a person.

He himself did not have any strong religious sentiments. In fact, if this place was not one of the few places where a legion could be stationed, he would not even be willing to come here.

The later theologian, Felix Fabry, left a detailed description when he visited the monastery.

There were "tall fruit trees, salad herbs, grasses, and grains" as well as "more than three thousand olive trees, many fig and pomegranate trees, and a great abundance of almonds and other fruits." Olives were used to make oil, for lighting lamps, and as a seasoning in the kitchen.

Compared to the desolation of the surrounding areas, this place is quite livable.

But General Lagarde was still dissatisfied. To him, this place was too small to gather all the troops. He had to disperse the troops, which was undoubtedly a very risky thing.

Today's Egyptian army, after reform, is no longer the same as the former Western European feudal army.

The Egyptian army was formed based on the remnants of the Third Crusade.

During the reorganization process, this Crusaders still retained many characteristics of the feudal era, but during the reorganization process, they no longer established superiors and subordinates according to the original feudal dependency relationship. Instead, they reorganized according to the system of the Jerusalem Kingdom Army and the ancient Roman professional legions.

In an army under feudal dependency, high-ranking lords are naturally the leaders of the army, and ordinary small lords serve as commanders in the army, while those non-lord knights are either concentrated and used, or serve as middle and lower-level commanders.

It can be said that in a standard Western European feudal society, feudal dependency is the relationship between military superiors and subordinates.

Of course, this system has too many inherent flaws, and what can be passed on through blood is really limited.

The disaster that an unqualified battlefield commander can bring is enough to destroy thousands of troops.

Moreover, the saying that my vassal's vassal is not my vassal, once it is implemented in the army, my subordinates' subordinates are not my subordinates...

The soldiers do not know their generals, and the generals do not know their soldiers. When the battle starts, they rely on the knights' desperate charges, followed by the infantry. As for how many soldiers they have under their command, they do not know, and they do not know how many enemies their troops have killed. If they win, it is God's blessing, and if they lose, they are abandoned by God.

To put it bluntly, fighting a war is as metaphysical as rolling dice, and issues like military equipment and logistics are even more difficult. If the war is fought at home, it is actually not that difficult, as there will just be more deserters, but you can still find civilians to transport food for you.

For an expedition like the Crusades, which was thousands of kilometers away, if a decent system was not clearly established, it would have been a disaster like the First Crusade, with tens of thousands of people dying before even leaving Europe.

In the Second Crusade, even with the King of France as the commander-in-chief of the army, the army still suffered from this standard feudal army. After entering the Anatolian Peninsula, the army almost collapsed.

In such a situation, the King of France reorganized his troops and appointed knights of the Knights Templar as squad commanders of the troops. He relied on the Knights Templar's relatively clear logical hierarchical system to efficiently convey orders.

Compared with secular knights, religious knights place more emphasis on obedience and discipline. Relying on the structure of the religious knights, the King of France brought his troops to Tyre as intact as possible.

Of course, after experiencing so many military conflicts, today's European military system is much more advanced than before. At least, whether it is Barbarossa's German Crusaders or the British and French Crusaders under the Lionheart, they have not had to repeat the arduous marches of the First Crusade.

The Egyptian Crusaders today have almost experienced the second incident of the French king reorganizing the army.

It clarified the existence of the officer class in the true sense.

Although there was no particularly advanced ideological theory to guide them, a clear system of military discipline and rewards and punishments, coupled with a clear chain of command from top to bottom, was enough to transform the Crusaders under the Kingdom of Egypt.

The various military reforms in modern times are to build the army into an execution machine with clear tasks. Everyone in every link must be clear about their responsibilities and fulfill their mission. Only in this way can the army, this monster machine, be pushed forward.

The topic has gone too far. In short, after the military reform, the Egyptian Crusaders have acquired all the distinctive characteristics of a modern army.

It is no longer as blind and stupid as the army of the previous feudal period.

The most typical example is that Garald was able to send a large number of scouts to investigate other areas of the Sinai Peninsula, and summarize this information, so as to build a sand table at the legion headquarters in the monastery to mark the positions of the enemy and our own.

According to the report of the reconnaissance team, they encountered Bedouin cavalry belonging to the Kingdom of Jerusalem about 4 leagues to the north. The enemy was well-equipped, and they lost the first battle and could no longer conduct reconnaissance to the north.

Considering the reconnaissance radius of various troops in this era, it is unlikely to exceed half a day's journey.

This means that the Jerusalem troops are roughly within a 10-mile radius.

This means that if we continue to increase our reconnaissance efforts, we are likely to run into enemy forces, leading to an encounter.

In this situation where a battle could break out, Garald could not help but become cautious.

After all, he couldn't determine the size of the enemy and had no way of judging the balance of power between the two sides.

(End of this chapter)