kingdom of nations

Chapter 81: Siege! (1) Special thanks to the leader He Xinshu Yu Taikan for the extra chapter in the group chat!
Baldwin looked at Cesar, asking him if he had his own judgment on the case, but Cesar just shook his head and remained silent.

He could indeed see that of the two groups of Isaacs, the Haredi were indeed the weaker party, and there was testimony from the Saracens that he was not a bad man.

As for Laban, he was at least a sharp guy. He defected to Amalric I without hesitation when he was still stationed outside the city. And it is estimated that he was not engaged in grain business as people said. An Isaac who was engaged in grain business had no need to persecute a fellow goldsmith in this way.

As for Haridi, I'm sorry to say he wasn't as honest and selfless as the Saracens claimed. He might be a good man, but he was definitely hiding something. He and Raban both knew this secret, but they simply didn't want to tell anyone else. So, Cesar didn't want to interfere with his fate.

"Then let's do as we agreed at the beginning."

As soon as Baldwin spoke, smiles suddenly appeared on the Saracens' faces. Haridi was also smiling, but his smile was always tinged with shame and helplessness. It seemed that he also knew that his deception was extremely unfair to these Saracens.

Laban wanted to plead, but Baldwin lowered his head and said to him seriously, "I do know you. You are not a grain merchant. In fact, you have come to my father many times to beg him to grant you the right to mint coins. At the same time, you are also engaged in the business of precious metals trading and currency exchange, and you also lend money to many people.

A knight I know has complained that you are a greedy dog. Don't be afraid. I say this not to blame you, but to let you know that I understand your true intentions.

Laban licked his lips nervously, and Baldwin waved his hand, "But I can't set a precedent. If this auction-like behavior spreads throughout the city, it will do us more harm than good. We need to count all the people as quickly as possible and resolve their issues first—whether it's redemption or trade.

"If you offer three times the price today and someone else offers five times the price tomorrow, my father might get more money. But he's not a businessman, he's a king and a commander. This benefit is not worth our efforts to resolve. Do you understand?"

"Understood, understood." Raban swallowed his saliva unwillingly. He stood up slowly and looked at Haridi: "...No matter what, you must remember that you are still an Isaac." He said gloomily.

By then, the Saracens' servants had hurried back with the agreed-upon price, plus a little more. The Saracens were pleased that the Templars were willing to yield on this point; after all, they had hesitated when Raban had offered three times the price.

Laban gritted his teeth and looked at them angrily. He wanted to speak several times, but was suppressed by his remaining rationality.

Cesar guessed what he was going to say; everything in the city belonged to Amalric I.

So where did the money for the ransom of these Saracens come from? This is not a detailed investigation. After all, these were people of status, and they did not participate in the rebellion against Amalric I. In fact, when Amalric I actually ruled the city, he would need them.

After all, it is impossible that there are only Christians in this city. Even in the present-day Alaska, there are many Saracens and Isaacs living there. This is inevitable. Any city that wants to prosper cannot maintain its original purity.

The Haridi family couldn't wait to rush out of the city. Before Bilbais fell again, he had already anticipated setting up a small workshop in the village outside the city.

Although there might not be any business for him in the short term, he is just an ordinary person who is content with poverty.

But his peace did not last long. On the fourth night, another group of Isaacs came to the village. Their leader was a real "teacher", a wise man among the Isaacs. As soon as he saw Haredi, he immediately opened his arms, and Haredi could not help but come forward and hug him tightly.

"Teacher!" he shouted emotionally.

“I thought you were going to die in Bilbais,” the Haredi teacher said.

"I had made all the necessary preparations. But I didn't expect to be captured by a Templar as soon as I left the city. Fortunately, he wasn't a particularly evil person, and he allowed us to go back and get our ransom money..."

Haredi told his teacher the truth about what had happened in the city. The teacher had to admit that Haredi and his family had indeed received a lot of protection from God along the way. If even one link was missing, all he would see was Haredi's corpse.

“That group of people still haven’t given up,” Haridi said after mentioning Raban.

"They will never give up. After all, that's..." The Isaac sage didn't continue, and neither did the Haredi. He changed the subject and asked about the teacher's current situation. "We're fine. Honestly, to us Isaacs, there's not much difference between Christians and Saracens. They despise us, attack us, but they have no choice but to use us."

Haridi made him a cup of hot, sweet tea with honey. The wise man took it, drank it all in one gulp, and let out a long sigh.

Although he had always been mentally and physically strong, upon hearing the news of Amalric I's second expedition, he rushed to Bilbais without stopping - this urgent and long journey really exhausted him.

But Haridi was one of his best students. He should have become a sage, but because of conflicts with some tribesmen, he had to become a goldsmith.

Although he was a goldsmith, and the best goldsmith, he still couldn't help but feel heartbroken when he saw him. "Come back with me. Haridi, I need you, and so do the people who share the same ideas and persistence as us."

"I hate war, Master. I don't like any disputes or quarrels. I don't want to raise the knife against my own people."

"You don't need to do this kind of thing yourself."

"Is there any difference between the orders I gave and the actions I took?"

The wise man sighed deeply. "But you see, this world is full of wars. Wars are fought over faith, profit, land, or even just for a horse, a sheep, or a copper coin. Where can you hide? I heard that Amalric I is about to attack Fustat. Although you are hiding here, everyone here will be summoned soon.

The fruit trees here will be cut down, and the farmland will become barren because no one cares for it. There will be a great famine here the following year. Where can you go? Unless you stop being an Isaac and give up our faith..."

"I would never do that," Haridi said excitedly.

"Then think about it again. You still have two daughters in their prime. Do you want them to lose their chastity and lives in this war? If you go back, I can still choose two suitable men from among the young men. Once they get married and have children, your bloodline can continue.

Then you will find that your sacrifice is totally worth it."

We have no idea how Haredi responded to his teacher, but the wise man was right. Amalric I did not force every Saracen to serve him, but these people left the city empty-handed.

Even if the nearby villages could accommodate them, there were tens of thousands of people, and where would their food come from? Moreover, the farmers in the villages also had to prepare to survive the next few months.

They wanted to pick fruits to satisfy their hunger and catch birds and beasts, but these had long been looted by the Knights of the Crusades. There was no such good thing waiting for them. Even the fish in the lakes and rivers had become much less.

At this time, Amalric I issued a proclamation, telling them that if they were willing to work for him, they would receive a certain amount of food and wages. What kind of work? Needless to say, it was for the attack on Fustat—more chariots, more siege towers, ballistae, battering rams, catapults... more spears, more parapets, more tents and houses...

The trees outside the city of Bilbais, those date palms, olive trees, pomegranate trees and fig trees that had grown for several years, more than ten years, or even decades, and were full of fruit, all fell down in the painful gaze of the Saracens. They had to do so, as this was certainly their future, but if they refused to serve, they would not even have the present.

Baldwin and César had seen how the people of Alaska made these machines before—that was when the king was preparing to attack the castle of Tortosa, but compared to this, it was like comparing a toddler to a giant several feet tall. From their height, the workers looked like ants, and the piles of wood and stones looked like sugar cubes.

"Okay," Heraclius put his hands on their shoulders and gently pushed them, "Let's go down and take a look."

The person in charge of this important project was Heraclius. Some people had objections to this. After all, Heraclius was no longer a monk beside the king, but the Patriarch of Alaska. But it was obvious that both Amalric I and Heraclius felt that supervising the construction of siege equipment, fortifications and camps was far more suitable for the latter than kneeling in front of the altar to pray.

Of course, Heraclius would not miss such a great opportunity - looking at pictures, texts, and listening to explanations, what could be better than seeing, touching, and understanding it in person!

"This is a siege crossbow," said the teacher.

To Cesar and Baldwin, it was now just a trapezoidal frame with a crossbeam in the middle and four square fixed feet at the bottom. They were stacked up layer by layer and transported to another area, where people installed metal parts and elastic horsehair ropes on them. Finally, they were properly fixed into a huge assembly, and another group of people stuffed them with straw and loaded them onto a carriage.

Only then did Cesar realize that people at that time already had a crude and simple assembly line consciousness, but this consciousness was caused by professional isolation. For example, if a blacksmith needed a wooden dinner plate, he could not just carve one himself; if a carpenter needed a nail, he could not hammer one himself; if a stonemason was good at carving, he could not cast an iron statue or make a puppet.

Whatever they do, sell, or buy is restricted by the guild's rules. At the same time, they also recognize these rules. These old customs and practices originated from the craftsmen in the noble territories. Any kind of craft, delivering letters, leading the way, raising cattle, collecting honey and beeswax... are all strictly kept secret by every craftsman and passed down as treasures.

Anyone who dared to learn secretly, even if he was already an apprentice, would be whipped or even executed.

With this tradition, everyone is used to not interfering with others, just doing their own work, and then handing it over to another person to complete the next step...

From what Cesar had learned, even blacksmiths were divided into extremely detailed categories. Some specialized in forging horseshoes, spurs, and horse bits, while others excelled at making, repairing, and sharpening tools for carpenters and stonemasons. Some could create exquisite and sturdy railings and window frames, and there were even those who specialized in making nails... large and small, all kinds of nails, from the smallest hooked nails used to secure armor plates to the largest nails used to secure anchors or figureheads...

"These are flat-shooting and projectile crossbows."

Heraclius did not bother these people with their work, but walked over to the finished product to show them, "Around the fifth century BC, the Phoenicians here made the stone crossbows we have today, but they couldn't fire into the air, they could only shoot horizontally. The Macedonians also made stone crossbows that were said to be able to throw metal arrows weighing around a hundred pounds or even more, or fifty pounds of stone.

These catapults are very effective in destroying battlements that are more fragile than city walls, or some relatively thin ramparts."

He led them a few steps and pointed out another type of crossbow. "This is a crossbow the Romans improved after conquering the Phoenicians and Macedonians. It can throw the ball farther and cause greater damage. They call it the Roman crossbow or the scorpion." He stood in front of this device, which was obviously longer than the other crossbows, and made an embrace gesture. "It looks like a scorpion with its front claws extended, right?"

"And this," he said, pointing to a device in a wooden box. "This is a torsion crossbow and its bracket. This type of device requires a lot of rigor and precision, so it can't be randomly stacked and stored. It's a bit cumbersome and takes a long time to make, but it's more stable, has a longer range, and is more powerful."

"These types of crossbows require readjustment before firing. Temperature, humidity, and age will all affect their power and accuracy. A skilled archer can determine this simply by listening to the sound of the two bowstrings to see if they match. If not, manual adjustments are required. You'll experience this firsthand on the battlefield."

The sizes of these crossbows also vary. Some are as small as seats, some are as big as cabinets, and some are directly mounted on carriages, one carriage for one crossbow.

"There are bigger ones, but they can only be assembled on the battlefield," Heraclius said. He noticed that Baldwin's eyes fell on a wooden device that also looked like a ballista. "No, son, that's not a ballista."

"It's called a 'wild ass,' which also comes from the Romans, but we gave it arms so it could launch farther," he said.

"But it's still a trebuchet."

(End of this chapter)