I traveled with them to the Northern Song Dynasty

...

The First Crusade, after several years of arduous fighting, ultimately ended with a partial victory for the allied forces of Western European feudal knights and pilgrims.

Previously, the Seljuk Turks occupied Jerusalem and made things difficult for Christian pilgrims traveling to the Holy Land. Taking advantage of this, the Western European Church and secular lords called for an eastward crusade. This diverse army marched eastward, overcoming supply shortages, internal strife, and repeated resistance from Muslim armies. They successively captured strategic locations such as Nicaea and Antioch, and finally broke into Jerusalem. After entering the city, the Crusaders carried out a large-scale massacre of Muslims and Jews and plundered a great deal of wealth.

After the war, the Crusaders did not return the conquered lands to the Byzantine Empire. Instead, they established several Latin Christian states in the Levant, the most representative of which were the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the County of Tripoli, the Principality of Antioch, and the County of Edessa.

These regimes relied on the support of the Knights Crusade and Western Europe to maintain their rule, while also establishing feudal governance systems suited to their local conditions.

The people of the Islamic world have always been determined to reclaim their holy land.

—For the past two or three decades, various forces in the Islamic world have been fighting against these Crusader states, trying to reclaim their holy cities.

However, before the Islamic world could gain influence, the Song Dynasty invaded and completely incorporated Central Asia into its territory.

Thus, the task of retaking the holy city fell to the Song Dynasty once again, and Zhao Yu took up the banner of holy war in the Islamic world.

It is worth mentioning that Zhao Yu rejected all Islamic coronation ceremonies, even refusing to serve as the supreme leader of Islam, and did not admit to believing in Islam. To be precise, Zhao Yu did not admit to having any religious beliefs, and at the same time strictly prohibited his sons and soldiers of the Song Dynasty's expeditionary force from joining any religion—anyone who joined a religion would be immediately discharged from the military without any severance pay.

At the same time, Zhao Yu did not allow people with religious beliefs to hold any official positions in the Song Dynasty or its vassal states—anyone who joined a religion would be stripped of their official position without mercy.

At the same time, while the Song Dynasty was at war with various countries, tribes and forces in Central Asia, these Crusader states took the opportunity, under the pretext of "protecting the territory of the Eastern Christians," to send knightly legions to the eastern West Asia and the edge of Mesopotamia, expanding the territory of the Crusader states and weakening the power of Islam.

As a result, war between the Song Dynasty and the Crusader states became inevitable.

The first to engage the Song army was the County of Edessa.

In order to seize the pastures and oasis trade routes of the Turkic tribes that had just been pacified by the Song Dynasty, Marshal Joslin of the County of Edessa led three hundred Templar Knights, two thousand Western European heavy cavalry and five thousand Latin militiamen across the Edessa defense line on the upper reaches of the Euphrates River and headed straight for the Song Dynasty's outpost town west of Mosul.

The Song army's vanguard camp stationed in the two rivers had already completed its defenses. Zhao Yu's son, Zhao Yong, personally led his private army to form ranks on the open field. Li Lin's cannons had been positioned in advance, and Li Lin's musketeers and archers were lined up in three rows, ready for battle.

The Crusader knights still used the classic medieval wedge-shaped charge formation, with heavily armored knights riding horses and brandishing lances, attempting to break through the Song army's lines with their impact.

Before the Crusader cavalry could even get within effective charging range, more than a dozen Song army Li Lin cannons fired simultaneously, unleashing a barrage of explosive shells that instantly disrupted the dense formation of the knights. Horses and men were shattered, and flesh and blood flew everywhere. The heavy cavalry charge immediately collapsed.

The surviving knights managed to get within a hundred paces, and three rows of musketeers and archers took turns firing in unison. Lead bullets and arrows rained down like a storm. The heavily armored knights and the infantrymen in simple leather armor were no match for them. The soldiers in the front ranks fell to the ground, and the Crusader soldiers in the back ranks were instantly terrified.

The Song army's light cavalry seized the opportunity to encircle and outflank the enemy, while the musketeers advanced steadily.

In just one hour, the expeditionary force of the County of Edessa was completely routed. Jocelyn was wounded and fell from his horse by a Song soldier's gun in the chaos and became a prisoner. The accompanying knightly order was almost completely wiped out. The papal relics, gold and silver supplies carried by the army were all seized by the Song army. King Josephine I was captured alive by Zhao Yong and presented to his father, Emperor Zhao Yu, as a plaything.

The Song army won a great victory in this battle, completely shattering the Crusader states' delusions of eastward expansion. It also allowed the four major Latin powers in the Levant to witness for the first time the Song army's combat power, which far surpassed that of the times. The war situation in West Asia was completely reversed from then on, and the Song expeditionary force began to steadily advance towards Jerusalem with overwhelming superiority.

The County of Edessa guarded the northern gateway to Mesopotamia and served as the frontline barrier for the Kingdom of Jerusalem against the westward expansion of Islamic forces from the East. Its existence directly maintained the strategic depth of the Levantine Crusader states.

When the Song army captured Edessa, this small Crusader state, which had existed for decades, was immediately destroyed. The Christian forces' defenses in northern West Asia were suddenly breached, and Crusader regimes such as Antioch and Tripoli were instantly faced with a direct threat from the Song Dynasty and the military forces of the Central Plains.

This dramatic change quickly triggered a collective panic in the Christian world of Western Europe.

In an effort to save the Holy Land of the East from its perilous state, Pope Eugene III issued a special decree authorizing St. Bernard of Clervo to launch a holy war evangelization campaign throughout Western Europe.

This highly influential theologian reshaped the sanctity of religious holy wars with highly inflammatory rhetoric, defining participation in the Crusades as the necessary path to atonement and salvation, successfully igniting religious fervor in Western European society.

At the same time, expeditions also became an important vehicle for Western European monarchs to realize their political ambitions.

King Louis VII of France, burdened by religious and moral constraints due to the massacre at Vitry, hoped to use holy war to cleanse his sins and strengthen the legitimacy of his monarchy.
Holy Roman Emperor Conrad III intended to enhance the international prestige of the German monarchy in the Christian world and consolidate the loyalty of the feudal lords in Central Europe by leading the Eastern expedition.

The powerful mobilization by religious authorities and the political demands of secular monarchs aligned, ultimately leading to the formation of this large-scale crusade directly led by the royal family.

Thus, the Second Crusade began more than a decade earlier than it would have in history.

Upon learning that their reinforcements had arrived, the Crusader nations seemed to have gained a powerful weapon to defeat the Song Dynasty.

King Baldwin II of Jerusalem, Roger, ruler of the Principality of Antioch, and Count Pons, ruler of the County of Tripoli, led their respective armies, continuing to fight against the Song Dynasty while expanding their own empires.

Baldwin II was even more foolish to send troops to attack Damascus, which was already under the control of the Song Dynasty (and had been enfeoffed by Zhao Yu to his son Zhao Zhi).

It is worth mentioning that at this time, the Muslims in Damascus were very friendly to Christianity; in fact, they could be considered allies of Christianity.

Under these circumstances, the Crusader states should never have attacked Damascus.

Roger, Earl of Pons, and others opposed Baldwin II's foolish actions. They wrote to Baldwin II, urging him to abandon the attack on Damascus and instead join them in attacking Aleppo, the greatest threat to the Crusader states, and to recapture Edessa, which was crucial to the Crusader states.

But Baldwin II ignored him and went on to attack Damascus.

Because he hadn't expected the Crusaders to attack Damascus, Zhao Zhi suffered a loss due to underestimating the enemy. He suffered a rare major defeat during the Song Dynasty's western expedition, even losing many firearms. He led his remaining troops out of the encirclement and fled in a sorry state.

This inflated Baldwin II's ego, leading him to order that swords not be sheathed for three days, which resulted in the Crusaders carrying out a bloody massacre in Damascus.

When Zhao Yu learned of this news, he was furious and immediately removed Zhao Zhi from his position as a vassal king, making him start from the rank of commander.

At the same time, Zhao Yu immediately summoned his other son, Zhao Jian, to confront Zhao Zhi and organize forces to retake Damascus.

In terms of age, Zhao Zhi was Zhao Jian's elder brother; in terms of merit, Zhao Jian's military achievements were also remarkable.

Therefore, after Zhao Jian arrived in Damascus, he did not actually strip Zhao Zhi of his military power. Instead, he allowed him to continue commanding his private army as a commander and even provided Zhao Zhi with additional troops.

While outwardly remaining inactive regarding Baldwin II in Damascus, Zhao Jian secretly intensified intelligence gathering and closely monitored Baldwin II's every move. Meanwhile, Baldwin II had also assembled three thousand elite cavalrymen, ready to strike at any moment. After successfully capturing Damascus, Baldwin II immediately sent envoys back to Pope Eugene III and St. Bernard of Clervo to request rewards.

To encourage the Second Crusade, Emperor Eugene III and St. Bernard of Clervo immediately sent awards to Baldwin II.

Baldwin II was overjoyed upon hearing the news.

On that day, he personally led a large group of officials out of the city to greet him.

This matter was quickly learned by the Song Dynasty's intelligence agents, who promptly reported it to Zhao Jian.

Zhao Jian felt that the opportunity had finally come, so he personally led more than three thousand elite cavalry to gallop over.

Baldwin II was caught completely off guard by the Song army's sudden attack and was caught off guard.

Baldwin II hurriedly returned to the city, but was intercepted by the Song army led by Zhao Zhi in the east of the city and suffered a great defeat, unable to return to the city.

Therefore, Baldwin II had no choice but to flee to Jerusalem via a side road.

After that, the Song army besieged Damascus and captured the leaderless city in just half a day.

Zhao Zhi hated Baldwin II and his Crusaders for causing him a crushing defeat and making him a laughingstock. He also hated them for massacring his city, so he slaughtered all the captured Crusaders to avenge himself.

The arrogant and complacent Baldwin II believed he could occupy Damascus forever and took his wife, mistress, and children with him.

As a result, all of these people were captured by Zhao Jian and Zhao Zhi, and then handed over to Zhao Yu.

That wasn't the end of it. When Zhao Jian took over Damascus, Zhao Zhi, who hated Baldwin II, led his personal guards and chased Baldwin II all the way to Jerusalem.

Although Zhao Zhi hated Baldwin II to the core, Zhao Yu had already issued an imperial edict that no one was allowed to touch Jerusalem. Therefore, even though Zhao Zhi was confident that he could conquer Jerusalem, he did not dare to launch an attack on Jerusalem.

Zhao Zhi could only besiege Jerusalem without attacking it.

Soon, Zhao Lin, Zhao Yi, Zhao Feng, Zhao Yang and others defeated Roger, Earl Pons and others. The Song Dynasty conquered most of West Asia and Asia Minor and also came to besiege Jerusalem.

After discussing the matter, Zhao Zhi and others decided to send someone to their father, Emperor Zhao Yu, to ask for instructions on how to deal with Jerusalem, while simultaneously surrounding Jerusalem and making it appear as if they were about to attack it, in reality to force Baldwin II to surrender.

Baldwin II was an outwardly arrogant but inwardly foolish, stubborn and short-sighted; he was reluctant to achieve great things for the sake of his reputation, and lost his temper over minor grievances; he feared difficulties when planning great undertakings, and was impatient and eager for small gains.

Specifically, seeing that Damascus was undefended, he recklessly attacked and captured it. Now, seeing that the Song army was powerful and about to encircle and annihilate Jerusalem, he was so frightened that he fled Jerusalem overnight.

Zhao Zhi, who had been waiting for a long time, personally led a thousand cavalrymen to pursue Baldwin II for dozens of miles. In the end, he personally cut off Baldwin II's head, killing his enemy and wiping away his shame.

When the people of Jerusalem saw that Baldwin II had fled, they had no choice but to open the gates and surrender.

Even so, none of Zhao Yu's sons, including the Song army, dared to enter Jerusalem.

Several months later, Zhao Yu himself came to Jerusalem.

Upon arriving here, Zhao Yu encountered a very thorny issue: someone offered him the True Cross, a sacred treasure of Christianity.

Even a fool could guess that these religious forces were plotting against him.

Without saying a word, Zhao Yu personally delivered this treasure to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at the first opportunity.

Immediately afterwards, Zhao Yu issued an imperial edict declaring that Jerusalem is a holy city, and no one, including himself, should use force there to destroy its sanctity.

Subsequently, Zhao Yu donated 100,000 taels of gold and recruited 100 Christians, 100 Muslims, and 100 Jews to discuss the restoration and governance of Jerusalem.

— Zhao Yu helped them build a council chamber so that they could argue, no, so that they could discuss how to repair and govern Jerusalem.

In addition, Zhao Yu arranged for three thousand soldiers without religious beliefs to guard Jerusalem, maintain its security, and prevent any person or force from damaging Jerusalem. At the same time, he also prohibited them from interfering in the affairs of Jerusalem, which were all decided by the council.

These three thousand guards are rotated every three years. After three years, a new three thousand guards will come from the Song Dynasty to replace them.

In addition, Zhao Yu stipulated that everyone entering Jerusalem should pay one string of cash, though they could pay more, depending on their own wishes.

Zhao Yu did not accept this money, nor did he allow anyone or any force to accept it. It was used only for the military pay of the three thousand guards, daily expenses, and the maintenance of Jerusalem.

Zhao Yu also had a blackboard wall made to record the names of donors and where their donations went.

It is worth mentioning that this first string of cash was also donated by Zhao Yu.

If penniless ascetics come to Jerusalem, are they not allowed to enter?

Of course, Zhao Yu wouldn't be so inhumane.

Zhao Yu stipulated that those who were unwilling to donate money but were willing to serve as volunteers in Jerusalem could also enter Jerusalem.

In short, Zhao Yu hoped that his selfless actions would bring peace to Jerusalem, the holy city, and allow all believers to come and go freely.

As for whether it would work or not, whether it would be suitable or not, and whether it would be effective, Zhao Yu didn't know. In any case, he had already done his best.

After carefully handling the situation in Jerusalem, Zhao Yu ordered the army to assemble and prepare to confront the main force of the Crusaders from the west...

...(End of this chapter)