kingdom of nations

Chapter 85: Siege! (5) collections thanks for the extra update!
Baldwin ignored Arthur altogether. Since they came here, too many people had been trying to please him on Cesar's behalf. He could tell at a glance that Arthur intended to recruit Cesar. From this, he could estimate that Arthur's background was not ordinary. Ordinary knights did not have the combat thinking of a commander or general. He was so attentive only because he saw that Cesar could not only be a knight, but also a person who commanded others in battle.

Such people either have a family background of learning, with their father and elders teaching them by example - such as himself, or they have innate talents and wisdom given by God, the latter of which is particularly rare.

"Well, Arthur," Blondel observed, and interrupted at the right moment, "we should go back to our prayers."

Every night before a battle, knights and priests would pray, and lords, seigneurs, and kings would hold mass and offer sacrifices, all in the hope of letting God see their piety and efforts. Add to that the knights' constant love of shouting and fighting, and the presence of livestock, merchants, and women, and the camp would always be filled with smoke and noise...

But on the morning of the actual battle, as the morning light poured down on the plain between Fustat and the attackers, it was shrouded in a rare silence.

The defenders in the city seemed to know that today was the day. They waited with bated breath. When the last mist dissipated, those towering behemoths - those giant siege engines that had only been assembled today, the large catapults, the triangular ladders, the "turtle" and the "rat", the towering siege towers... appeared before people like the bared fangs of wild beasts.

The king galloped before his army for the last time. There was no need to say more. Every person here, even every mount and every piece of equipment, knew their duty. He raised his hand high and then waved it down with force.

The drummers beat the drums, the trumpets sounded, and the heralds rushed to various positions quickly with flags in their hands.

The vanguard was the infantry, who were in groups of three or five, at a distance, holding up wicker shield walls together - the ones that Baldwin and Cesar had seen. They hid their bodies and heads behind the shield walls as much as possible. They ran very fast at first, but slowed down when they were about to approach the arrow range on the city wall - the knights' provocations all day long were not just for show. At least when these people stopped and set up the shield wall in front of the trench, the losses were not that great.

Another group of peasant soldiers quickly ran up pushing two-wheeled or one-wheeled carts and dumped the soil and gravel into the trench.

At this time, the King's Gate quickly opened and a group of Saracen cavalry rushed out. The king was well prepared, and a group of prepared knights rushed up to fight with them.

The trenches were quickly filled - not because the Saracens were too negligent or slack in such defensive fortifications, but because Amalric I did not care about money and human lives at all. Although some of the arrows shot by the defenders on the city walls were nailed to the shield wall, there were also farmers and infantrymen who continued to die. When they fell, the people behind them replaced them, and the soil and gravel were pushed into the trenches along with the carts and even the corpses.

"It's a good thing that Forstater doesn't have a moat," Raymond said to the people around him.

"It's not that easy." Bryce Gerard said. He is Damara's father and Gerard's head. Damara's attachment to Cesar has always made him worried, but now he has to let go of his concern for his daughter and concentrate on the battlefield.

At this moment, a herald ran in breathlessly, and he came to convey the king's will - "Attack!"

This time it was no longer just a neat but sparse infantry column. The ferocious beasts lined up in front of the position slowly moved forward amid the shouts of the people. They had wheels under their bases and were pushed by dozens or even more than a hundred soldiers. During the pushing process, the order to "fire" was heard continuously - with a terrifying whistling sound, stone bullets were thrown out, drew an arc in the air, and hit the city wall directly.

However, these stone bullets, which were not very powerful but had a high enough frequency and a fast enough speed, were not used to destroy the city walls, but to suppress the defenders on the walls. Accompanying these catapults, siege towers, and battering rams were densely packed infantrymen, who held long swords and shields and moved forward steadily and slowly in the flying gravel, dust, and flames.

Yes, the defenders on the city wall also began to use catapults. They threw stone bullets wrapped in flames, but the main targets of killing were not people, but those siege towers that were like mobile towers.

If these sticky flames fell on wood or people, they would immediately burn fiercely, but only one or two siege towers were ignited - there was water and sand in the siege towers to put out the fire, and there were leather bags hung on the outer walls, which were also filled with sand and water. The people inside would put out the fire, and the soldiers outside would also put out the flames.

"They are moving!" shouted a knight in charge of lookout and observation. The saint he saw had given him extraordinary eyesight. He could see far away like an eagle. Even standing in the king's camp, he could see fully armed knights running on the suspension bridge connecting Fustat and Laodai Island.

The king could certainly continue to send cavalry to fight these people, but he hesitated for a moment before saying to the herald beside him: "Tell Baldwin to prepare!"

The young people who had been waiting in the tent suddenly became excited. They murmured prayers and made the sign of the cross on their chests. Most of them were only in their teens and twenties, at the time of their most passionate and pure life. Their friendship with Baldwin was also the most sincere. Since they had come to Baldwin's side, that is to say, if they could preserve their honor and lives in this battle, they would definitely stay in Alasar Road in the future and become Baldwin's confidants.

Taking shelter from a reed bank, they arrived not far from the bridge. The Saracens had erected an arrow tower at each end of the bridge. The towers were crude but very sturdy, about a man's height from the ground. They were made of solid mud bricks, probably filled with rubble, and topped with mortised wood, with damp leather hanging on the wood to protect it from fire. But the platform above the towers was made of wood.

They watched the group of Saracen cavalry rushing towards the position from the bridge before rushing out - to avoid encountering reinforcements.

Baldwin's Pollack ran in front of everyone, with a bright spear taking shape in his hand. When the Saracens on the arrow tower saw this, they knew that this was a knight who had been enlightened by the prophet. They immediately made a loud noise and raised their crossbows to shoot arrows at him, hoping to slow down his speed and preferably kill him under the arrow tower.

But no matter how powerful their crossbows were, or how sharp their arrows were, they could not hurt him at all, because Cesar was following closely behind him. His strength was even stronger and heavier than on the battlefield of Tortosa, like another layer of scale armor covering himself and Baldwin, but without any weight or hindrance.

Amid the shouts of the crowd - the Saracens out of fear, and the Christian knights out of excitement, Baldwin's spear pierced straight into the junction of the wooden structure and mud bricks of the arrow tower like an awl piercing the flesh, and instantly shattered the place completely, mud and rocks fell, and wood burst - Baldwin reined in his horse and turned around, while Cesar turned his body sideways and slammed into it!
This completely shook the foundation of the arrow tower. The structure of the arrow tower was originally heavy at the bottom, narrow in the middle and wide at the top. Although the impact of the spear and shield did not cause it to collapse immediately, it made the people on it panic. At this time, the young knights stepped forward and shot the burning arrows into the platform and the gap. There must be water stored in the arrow tower to put out the fire, but the arrows were dense, and some knights shot arrows at the walls and the tops of the platforms.

And for some reason, even if the Saracens brought water, it was difficult to extinguish the flames. Instead, they became more rampant. They shouted "Greek fire" and covered and contained the fire with mud and sand, but it had little effect. The fire grew bigger and bigger and finally began to burn fiercely. The Saracens inside jumped into the river. Some of them were unable to control themselves after being burned by the fire and jumped directly from the arrow tower to the bridge.

At this time, a group of Saracen infantrymen were running from the other end of the bridge. They were holding round shields and bows and arrows. When they saw the knights rushing onto the bridge, they immediately shot arrows at them. However, these knights were all selected by Baldwin and blessed by God. Ordinary bows and arrows could not do anything to them. The leading Saracen shouted loudly, and they raised their round shields again.

"It's a javelin!" Baldwin understood what they said and warned immediately. At this time, the round shield had been lowered and the javelins were thrown at them like a rainstorm. Two knights immediately fell to the ground with their horses, and Baldwin had no time to take care of them.

The "Spear of St. George" in his hand was humming and constantly extending until it reached the length of an ordinary lance, while Pollack was galloping at full speed. The wind blew across his eyes, but he did not feel any pain. Even without looking, he knew that Cesar was beside him and behind him.

"This is God's will!" he cried, and rushed upon the Saracen shields, and upon the javelins and scimitars that flashed behind them.

Just like a hill being obliterated by a flood, the Saracens facing Baldwin only felt a violent hurricane or collapsing rocks coming towards them - in short, it was a force that no human could resist. They fell backwards and spread apart, with blood splattering and flesh torn apart. Some people were not discovered to be dead until they were thrown far away.

And this force was not one, but two. By the time Cesar drove Castor over them, no one had the courage to resist. They either fled back to the fortress or ran to another arrow tower.

"Baldwin!" Cesar shouted. When he came to explore, he felt that this arrow tower was slightly different from the previous one. Now he knew that this arrow tower had an opening on the bottom floor. This opening was blocked by several wooden boards coated with mud. It faced the fortress, so it could not be seen at first glance.

Baldwin jumped off his horse and stabbed the entrance with the "Spear of St. George". Arrows, stones and even torches were shot down from it, but Cesar blocked them all for him.

About ten breaths later, Arthur also arrived. He was furious that he hadn't been able to participate in the real battle - mainly because Baldwin and Cesar were too fast. He saw Baldwin rushing in, and he was also... He was stuck. The entrance was not large, and it was piled with wooden boards and corpses...

Seeing this, Cesar could only drag him out and follow him. The narrow arrow tower was not suitable for knights to fight. Baldwin had already drawn his dagger and fought against the Saracens holding scimitars. Of course, with Cesar there, their fight could almost be said to be unfair.

Baldwin had just killed the last Saracen and pushed him down from the arrow tower when he saw Blondel leading a group of people pushing a ladder. This ladder had no support and was not high enough, but it had iron spikes at the bottom that could pierce the ground and iron hooks at the top that could hook onto the battlements, which was just right for this kind of low fortress.

Baldwin ran down from the arrow tower and pushed the ladder to the foot of the fortress wall with his companions. Some of the knights who came to support them helped them fight against the Saracens who rushed out of the fortress, while the other group, led by Arthur, held steel shields and hard cowhide to protect them from the boiling water, kerosene and hot feces poured down by the defenders.

"You can't be the first this time!" Arthur shouted, completely ignoring the filth splashing on his face. Baldwin and Cesar said nothing, made way for him, and let him climb the ladder first, but then Baldwin pushed Cesar, and Cesar understood what he meant - Blondel had already told Baldwin... This Arthur might be a bastard who just ran down from another battlefield.

The first man to climb the ladder was in the greatest danger, for before he could emerge from the heights he was surrounded by Saracens, who hacked and slashed at him, shouting and hollering, but Arthur paid no heed, for he had prayed before and had received the blessing of St. Paul, whose light would render him insensible to pain and weakness, no matter how severe his wounds were.

But this time he felt particularly good, although it was hard to describe. Let's put it this way, if he was on the battlefield before, it was like a sword piercing grease, and now he felt like he was tearing silk. He saw people screaming and showing terrified expressions, and saw blood splattering and internal organs pouring out, but these seemed very far away from him, as if they had nothing to do with him - he just went all out and moved forward, forward, forward!
(End of this chapter)