kingdom of nations

Chapter 83: Attack the City! (3)

The precious map was placed in the center of a table made up of several tables. It might have been peeled off a whole piece from a strong calf, with no traces of stitching or gluing. Heraclius washed his hands and changed his outer clothes with Baldwin's help before approaching the table. When he leaned over to look, Baldwin and Cesar could also see the map clearly.

In another world, there are not many people who cannot read maps. Except for the elderly who have not received compulsory education, anyone who has taken geography classes knows how to distinguish locations, directions and heights.

But maps of this era and place were more like crude landscape paintings. The cartographers would very "faithfully" depict houses, castles, mountains, forests, and rivers. It would be difficult to distinguish roads from them. Moreover, they had no contour lines, and could only roughly distinguish the altitude from the size of buildings and mountains.

Some painters also draw animals and human figures...

In addition to these maps, beautiful patterns must be drawn, with saints and angels praying for their protection. A sphere is used to mark the north, south, east and west directions. On the right side of the sphere is drawn the scene of Adam and Eve being expelled from the Garden of Eden, because the Garden of Eden is at the easternmost end, and opposite to it on the west side are the Pillars of Hercules on the Strait of Gibraltar.

The center is Alaska Road. For these people, no place is more qualified to be the center of the world than the Holy City.

This map is no exception. In addition to words, patterns are used to mark place names. For example, Fustat is a tent on the map because it originally meant "tent" in the Saracen language. Then there are several buildings, mountains and a conspicuous river surrounding the tent. Because this river occupies a large area, people can be sure that this is the Nile River.

The huge city of Fustat is right next to this wide and mighty river. When the Saracens built it, they cleverly placed one of the city walls facing the turbulent river and built it as steep and straight as a cliff. If someone wanted to attack from this place, there would be no place to stand.

Perhaps you would say, what if the enemy used a fleet? Siege weapons such as crossbows could also be fixed on the ships, so the Saracens built an arrow tower on the island of Laodai on the opposite bank.

This arrow tower has two tasks: one is to observe and give warnings, and the other is to pull up the iron chain hanging between the arrow tower and the city wall to prevent enemy ships invading from the mouth of the Nile River from entering this narrow area.

After Zengi's Shirku came here, he oversaw the construction of the Laodai Island Fortress. The castle was built around the original arrow tower, and then a drawbridge was pulled up with iron chains - this was at a high place, and at a lower place, they used connected boats as a bridge to cross the river.

What angered Amalric I was clearly not this simple bridge that could be burned down with a single blow. Instead, there was a single, no, two, fresh scratches on the map. "Who are the merchants responsible for exploring this area?" Amalric I roared. "If they dare to come and claim the bounty again, arrest them immediately, confiscate all their property, and throw them all into the Nile without a single survivor!"

"Let's discuss this later." Heraclius was the only one who dared to interrupt him. He carefully inspected the new bridge again. "The section between Laodai Island and Fustat is too narrow and straight. If they wanted to hide it from others, it wouldn't be impossible. After all, merchants can't enter Laodai Island, nor can they stand under the walls of Fustat and look down."

"Have you confirmed it's a stone bridge?"

"Our men saw cavalry galloping across it," Bohemond answered Heraclius' question. Heraclius's face suddenly darkened, and it was no wonder that Amalric I lost his composure.

Their original plan was to mainly attack Fustat's King's Gate and Victory Gate. The third gate, the Market Gate, faced the mouth of the Nile. According to the agreement, when the siege began, Manuel I of Byzantium would send his navy upstream from the Nile to put another pressure on Fustat.

So what did the sudden addition of an island connected to Fustat mean? It meant Fustat had a satellite city that was easily defended and difficult to attack. In the event of a war, they would not only have to be wary of Fustat's other two gates, but also of Saracens entering the island from the main city and then attacking the siege team from the island's bridge.

Another point is that the west side of the island faces the mighty Nile River. Egyptian cities are lined up along the Nile River. Other cities may not be as wealthy as the cities in the Nile Delta, but it is still possible to give some support to Fustat. In other words, the nightmare that the attackers fear most in a siege - the inability to cut off supplies to the city - is about to come.

But the fact is that this is already the case, and they can only decide now whether to take Laodai Island first, or Fustat, or both.

The problem was that not everyone was willing to attack Laodai. Laodai was a real military fortress, which meant that there was not much valuable inside. And since the Saracens built forts and towers on it, it meant that it could not be easily taken. Not to mention that they had to face one or two bridges before attacking the fortress.

Which is the most famous battle of the Greco-Persian Wars? Undoubtedly, it's the Battle of Thermopylae. In that battle, Amalric I Leonidas I of Sparta led 300 elite Spartan warriors, along with a coalition of Greek city-states, against the Persian Emperor Xerxes I at Thermopylae. They repelled four attacks from tens of thousands of enemies, delaying the enemy for three full days—though surprisingly, the reason for this was that the Greek city-states were hosting the Olympic Games... well, that's something we won't need to elaborate on.

But this battle shows how great an advantage the side with the advantage of terrain can have, especially the bridge, which is even more dangerous and cruel than the narrow path along the cliff.

First of all, it is impossible to cross these narrow bridges with a large number of people, and horses cannot run fast. Even spears will be hindered, and the advantages of knights are almost gone here.

Secondly, if the battle was fought on a plain, even if the knights fell off their horses, they could jump up and continue fighting. However, if they fell into the water, although the chain mail was not very heavy, it was still about 60 pounds. Combined with the armor plates and robes, even the most adept knight might not be able to float.

Finally, the enemy will definitely build arrow towers on both sides of the bridge. Even if there is no time to build stone ones, wooden ones will do. They will shoot arrows from top to bottom, and the knights will need to slowly move forward hundreds of feet in the rain of arrows.

"We can burn them first."

"This means we need to fight the defenders of Laodai Island first. They can rush out of the castle at any time, as well as the defenders in Fustat City. The King's Gate is not far from Laodai Island."

So the problem is back to the original point. They must attack two places at the same time, otherwise Laodai Island, which is connected to Fustat, can stab them in the back at any time. Similarly, if they attack Laodai Island and ignore Fustat, Fustat will become a threat to them again!

Just when people were hesitating, Amalric I made a decision. Their army would be divided into two groups. One group would attack Fustat as originally planned, while the other would attack Laodai Island. He generously took on this difficult task. This heavy responsibility would be borne by him, the commander-in-chief of the Crusaders and the lord of the Holy Land. Cesar could clearly see that the faces of several adults relaxed.

After all, these people brought their own knights. They certainly had some noble reasons for coming to the Holy Land, and they told others so, but in fact, everyone knew that they were willing to come here and obey Amalric I's arrangements for their own honor and real interests.

Fustat had been ruled by the Saracens for seven hundred years. Everyone knew that pagans used to decorate their palaces and temples with gold and gems. The caliph's purple robes filled the boxes and rooms inlaid with cedar, and armor and weapons were piled up like mountains.

At Bilebais, they had already received their first reward, a reward that made their journey worthwhile. But who wouldn't want to reduce the knights' losses? Upon their return, they would still have to face the greed of the Church, Amalric I, and the other lords around them. To use a harsh metaphor, they were like beasts out hunting, trying to keep their bellies full while avoiding injury (reducing their own strength) or else other beasts would swarm and devour them.

----

Amalric I made his sacrifice, and everyone dispersed contentedly. Before that, they redefined everyone's positions: who would be in front, who would be in the back, who would be on the periphery, who would be in the interior, how many teams would be formed, which positions would be managed, who would be in charge of the reserves, who would manage the camp and logistics, and what about the hired soldiers and servants... as well as the ladies and women accompanying the army...

This kind of thing has always been the most tedious but also the most important, because it is not uncommon for allies to turn around and leave without mercy due to disagreements on the battlefield. Fortunately, Amalric I had Heraclius by his side.

What else could Heraclius do? He had known that this day would come. In addition to the matters concerning Amalric I, he was also responsible for the arrangements of various sacraments, such as fasting, sacred processions, litanies, sermons, etc. These sacraments had to be performed not only in Bilbeis, but also outside the city of Fustat.

Not only that, he also had to be careful, as there were always people with ulterior motives who would disrupt these rituals and then shift the blame onto the targets they wanted to poison.

His worries were not unfounded. Cesar discovered hallucinogenic herbs among some spices. He also discovered cracks sealed with wax on the sacred vessels they were asked to hold during the procession. The horses Baldwin rode during the procession were not as healthy as they appeared to be. Cesar also discovered that the wine (holy blood) that was about to be distributed to everyone was actually spiked with mercury.

Behind these people may be Saracens, or they may be Christians like them. Heraclius told them without hesitation that they should not think that everything would be fine just because Baldwin had received God's blessing, even if his leprosy was cured.

Everything was in vain before Baldwin had his own children - he couldn't say anything about Princess Sibylle, but it was an indisputable fact that marrying a princess was equivalent to owning a kingdom.

Now, it is unclear whether everything Amalric I did was a blessing or a death warrant for Baldwin.

After performing the sacraments and seeking God's blessing and permission, the army was finally able to march towards Fustat in a mighty manner.

Whether from the perspective of Saracens or Christians, this army was extremely majestic, orderly and pious. The monks held icons and crosses, and the knights raised spears, like thorns rising from the ground surrounding those holy faces.

These young men, endowed with strength, faith, and fighting talent, were all dressed like flowers or birds. They might not be able to wear gold-plated or silver-plated chain mail like Amalric I and the lords, but they could inlay gems and pearls on their helmets or hairnets. Their robes and shields were brightly colored, and their horse clothes were no less colorful.

The upright spears, their tips polished to a shine, reflected the sunlight like flames. They had become knights, and those who had banners put their banners on their spears, and golden silk ropes and silver tassels fluttered in the wind.

When they arrived outside the city of Fustat, some barracks and tents had already been set up. The ancient Roman camps were often built very sturdily in order to survive the cruel winter for them. But in Fustat, Amalric I was not too worried. Even in the coldest January, the temperature here was only uncomfortable at most, and his plan was to capture Fustat within three months.

"I hope to have Baldwin's coming-of-age ceremony in Fustat," he told Heraclius.

From this sentence, we can see the ambition of Amalric I. This is also a tradition inherited from the ancient Romans. When a person conquers a new place, he has the right to use the name of this place as part of his surname.

An envoy soon arrived in Fustat, but when things had developed to this point, everyone knew that Amalric I would not give up this time. It was just a formality. Amalric I asked about the identity of the envoy and was amused to find that he was just a clerk who held a marginal position in the court. He was so scared that he trembled all over and stammered, thinking that he would be dragged out and executed.

"You can tell Shawar," Amalric I said with a smile, "that he always makes me happy."

He did not make things difficult for the messenger and let him go back. When the messenger returned to Fustat, he saw many Christian knights running around in front of the walls of Fustat, not at all afraid of the crossbows mounted on the walls. Among them, two young men who had not yet cut off their swallowtails (the symbol of knights) were the most eye-catching. One of them was wearing gold-plated chain mail and the other was wearing silver-plated chain mail, which sparkled in the sun.

Perhaps this action aroused the dissatisfaction of a Saracen of equal courage and self-respect, who shot down an arrow, aiming at the young man in gilded mail, but the latter, whether out of audacity or negligence, actually reined in his horse and did not move.

He waited until the arrows were in front of him before he gently swung the spear that had come into his hand without knowing when, and brushed them away like a few annoying flies.

The arrows fell to the ground, and the knights following them cheered in unison.

But the other party seemed not satisfied yet. Just when the guard on the city wall used a crossbow out of anger, he pulled the apprentice knight in silver-plated chain mail in front of him and arrogantly told him to turn his back to the city wall.

The opponent seemed to make a helpless gesture, and the huge crossbow arrow that was big enough to penetrate a wild boar came whistling, crossed a distance of several hundred feet in an instant, and hit his back!

At this time, both the Saracens and the Christians were cheering, but the next moment, the Saracens found that the crossbow arrow did not hit him, but was caught by him and held firmly in his hand.

He showed the crossbow arrow to his friend and then threw it casually on the ground.

The cheers on the city wall suddenly disappeared.

----

"All of you, pray for me all night long!" Heraclius said.

(End of this chapter)