A Guide to Becoming a God Starting from a Monastery

The battle, which originally had the upper hand and was about to be won, would be hard to predict if a weight called "protecting the country" were added.

Whether it was the Wolf God or Herzl, they both lost to Thomas, the hidden weight.

"Sir, what's going on?" asked the attendant.

"Protect the country!" Ferdinand said concisely.

"The Knights Templar have the power to protect the country?" The follower blinked and immediately understood what Ferdinand meant.

"An old acquaintance of mine!" Ferdinand said. "Andrea, the one you've met too."

"Knight Andrea? Is it him?!" The attendant's eyes widened. "Is he the Protector of the Nation?"

"Yeah! I've been wondering what the third artifact Thomas possesses is... Now, hahahaha... it's really a bit unexpected!"

"Sir, what should we do? Your attempt to persuade the Sultan to surrender has failed, and it will be difficult to explain to him..."

"It's okay. I told the Sultan before that even if persuasion fails, I will find another way to solve this problem." Ferdinand picked up his sword and took a look. After a small piece of the tip of the sword was cut off, the sword was no longer suitable for use.

Andrea's attack was really powerful. If her luck had been a little worse, her head would have been split open.

Unfortunately, my luck is just so good. And it will always be so good!

"Ah, how do we solve this?"

"This kind of thing is hard to say. I'm not a professional diplomat, and I don't have the time to try again and again." Ferdinand was more open-minded about the matter. He had assessed beforehand that while there was a high probability of convincing Demetrios to surrender, it was only a high probability, not a 100% guarantee.

"Go kill them," Ferdinand said. "Attack the city during the day, and I'll sneak in and kill them at night. I don't need many at a time, just ten or eight mid-level and high-level personnel. Within a week, the Knights' defenses will surely collapse!"

"But you just said that Knight Andrea in the city... he is also a protector of the country."

"Different capital naturally necessitates different strategies," Ferdinand replied. "For example, I know the general structure of the Knights Templar and the location of their mid-level and high-level leaders... but Andrea doesn't know the layout of the Turkish camp. Even if I were to encounter danger, I'd have a high probability of escaping unscathed, while Andrea wouldn't. Most importantly, my army has two hundred thousand men... while the Knights Templar have fewer than ten thousand. So I can attack, while Andrea can only defend! If he were to launch a night raid, that would be extremely risky!"

Attacking and defending seem to be normal tactical choices, with no distinction between them.

In reality, it is completely different.

"Forget today, give it a week!" Ferdinand said. "Use this week to further deplete and exhaust the defenders. Then I should be able to deliver the head of Demetrios, the supreme commander of the Smyrna garrison, to the Sultan."

In this way, even the Sultan could not accuse him of anything.

At the same time, it would not appear to be an easy task - otherwise the Sultan's reward would probably be discounted.

Andrea also has the ability to lead the army in battle, but the death of Demetrios will definitely immediately shake the morale of the entire defenders and significantly reduce morale.

Of course, if Andrea and Demetrios are inseparable, or if they are heavily guarded, then find another target! Killing a few more will have the same effect.

You can only be a thief for a thousand days, how can you prevent a thief for a thousand days!

The next day, the fighting began again.

The massive siege artillery was as powerful as ever. The defenses the Knights had spent an entire night rebuilding were easily ripped apart by the heavy artillery.

The Turks attacked again.

However, after yesterday's battle, the morale of the Turkic soldiers has obviously dropped a lot.

They had to rely on officers' threats, curses, and even drawn knives to force them to attack.

But even so, they once again broke into the city wall and raised a large flag on the top of the city wall.

The battle was extremely bloody. Both sides fought over the breakthrough point for the entire morning, and every inch of land was fought over repeatedly.

By noon, the Turkic attack was finally repelled.

Even if the Sultan personally supervised the battle behind the front line, he could not stop his soldiers from retreating like a tide.

The cannons and muskets on the city walls exerted tremendous destructive power.

Although the Turkic attack was unsuccessful, it was not without gain. Their engineers were still digging, while the Knights had no spare energy for counter-tunnel operations.

In the afternoon, another section of the city wall was blown open.

This time the explosion only opened a small gap, enough for one person to pass through.

However, the demoralized Turks did not take the opportunity to attack.

For the next few days, this relentless fighting continued. The Turks repeatedly blasted holes in the wall with artillery and blasted tunnels, leaving the defenders with wooden palisades to protect the breaches. Meanwhile, the trenches protecting the wall had been largely filled. With repeated blasting, seven or eight breaches of varying sizes now existed in the wall.

But these attacks seemed to be of little use, as the Knights were unusually tenacious and fought to the death. The Turkish soldiers who rushed into the city were driven out again and again. Each repulse meant the death of hundreds, even thousands, of soldiers.

In fact, only one-fifth of the people died in hand-to-hand combat. Most of the soldiers who rushed into the city were shot to death by firing holes and cannons from all directions.

The Knights suffered far fewer casualties, but they could not receive any reinforcements.

The two sides are deadlocked.

Chapter 305: Rediscussion of the God-King Thought 1

On Rhodes Island, Thomas stayed in the restored Knights' headquarters.

Unlike Smyrna, which was engulfed in flames and bloodshed, Rhodes Island was peaceful.

The Knights won several naval battles between the two sides.

The Calais Regatta played an important role.

In fact, the Knights' tactics were more advanced. They no longer used boarding as their main method of combat, but mainly used artillery.

Although the accuracy of artillery fire is completely mysterious, as long as there are enough of them, a blind cat can catch a dead mouse.

Real medium-sized and larger warships were actually quite resistant to shelling. As long as someone could pump out the water in time, they could hold out even after a few hits.

But the light corsair is not the same.

To increase speed, accommodate more crew members, and have more cargo space, a light pirate ship inevitably had to compromise in other areas. Theoretically, it was designed for plunder, not naval warfare. Its intended target was merchant ships without artillery, not warships.

So if you get hit by one or two shells, it will be very dangerous.

After several encounters, the Crescent Moon believers realized that the assembled fleet of the Knights was a complete hedgehog that could not be swallowed at all.

If the fleet does not have the advantage, landing on Rhodes Island would be a gamble and a risk.

If there is even the slightest mistake, there will be no way out and the entire army will be wiped out.

Obviously, the Crescent Moon Cult, whether it is the regular navy or the gathered pirates, do not intend to take this risk.

So all was calm on Rhodes Island.

Thomas could do nothing for the time being, the only thing he could do was to fulfill his responsibility as the Grand Master and keep writing letters asking for help, asking for help from all the nobles who were passionate about the Christian cause.

As mentioned earlier, enthusiasm for jihad is actually waning across Europe. But even so, there are still many people who support jihad and are willing to contribute money and effort.

Unfortunately, there are no computers, no Internet, no copy and paste, and no email in this world, so writing letters is actually a very tiring and boring job.

Thomas had to ask Louis to help him write it.

Anyway, Thomas didn't believe that those distant nobles could recognize his handwriting...

"Grand Commander, I have finished writing another letter!" Louis handed the paper in his hand to Thomas.

After two years in the Knights Templar, Louis not only further honed his martial arts skills, but also learned to read and write.

Although my writing skills are not good enough and the letter is a bit sloppy, it actually makes it more credible.

After all, everyone knew Thomas's background—he was a commoner rather than a noble who came out of nowhere. He had not received a good education, and it would be a miracle if he had beautiful handwriting.

"Okay!" Thomas took a look at it, immediately stamped the seal of the Order, sealed it, and threw it among the pile of letters that were about to be sent out.

"Grand Commander, Master Radagast is here." The guard outside the door suddenly reported.

"Ah, let the master in." Thomas stood up to greet him.

The newly built headquarters of the Knights Templar is a little bigger than before, but it is now extremely empty with few people.

There was no way out. Almost all members of the Knights Templar were either patrolling on ships and preparing for war, or fighting the Turks in Smyrna.

A few minutes later, the blue-robed wizard came in.

Thomas welcomed him into his small reception room. Thomas was not very polite to this old man at first, but now he has become very polite.

As for Louis, he continued to write letters, no, copy letters.

"Master, how is your trip back from the sea this time?" Radagast could predict the weather and avoid storms, so he always followed the fleet.

"Everything is fine, nothing worth mentioning happened. The Crescent Moon Cultists left us alone," Radagast replied.

Thomas had an idea of ​​what this answer meant.

After all, if a battle occurs, the fleet commander will come to report to him first when the fleet returns.

Of course, if nothing worth mentioning happened, you can take a day off and report to him the next day.

"That's good."

"Grandmaster," Radagast said. "I just received some news from a few friends. Also, there are some things I feel I must remind you of."

"Oh, please go ahead."

"It is reported that the fighting in Smyrna is very fierce right now."

Radagast had some independent sources of information, and Thomas had known about this before.

Thomas's side was less closely connected with the Smyrna letters.

Even so, calculating the time shows that the Turks must have completed all preparations for the siege and are fighting fiercely.

"Ah."

"Now, the monarchs of all Europe should know about the Knights' hard work." The blue-robed wizard said humbly.

"It should be," Thomas said. Such important news spread quickly. After a few months, it should have spread everywhere. Unfortunately, even if it did, it would be useless. Thomas didn't think they would change their attitude and offer assistance.

After all, this is a customary practice in Christianity.

The ones who could really help were not the monarch, but other nobles.

This was the history of my previous life, and it’s probably no different in this life.

In fact, although Thomas was writing letters all day long, he actually knew that it was of no help to the ongoing war.

The key is after the war is over!

The Knights certainly need to replenish and restore their strength.

"The Grand Master deliberately concealed his strength in the past, presumably for this day," the blue-robed mage said. "A battle with such a disparate number of people is undoubtedly the greatest test of all. And the truly powerful emerge through this test... This is a reasonable explanation. Even if curious individuals investigate later, we can only attribute it to the grace of Christ, or the unleashing of the potential of those truly powerful individuals during battle..."

"But Grand Commander, have you ever considered that the navy officers and soldiers have quite a bit of criticism about you on this matter?"

"What are you criticizing?"

"They believe that your initial plan to capture Smyrna was correct, but the exorbitant expense of building a castle was inappropriate. As a result, you've now found yourself in a difficult position. If you fail, the Knights will suffer a severe blow!"

"what do you mean?"

"Grandmaster, it's almost time. I understand your original plan was to use the weather to solve this problem. You wanted a perfect victory. But perhaps, this isn't the best approach?"

"Hmm... I haven't thought about it that much. I just left enough forces in Smyrna to win, or at least not lose. As for the rest, let them do whatever they want."

"Sir, how many protectors have you arranged there?"

“Five,” Thomas said.

He expected this level of strength to be sufficient. Besides the five protectors, they also had 10,000 soldiers and ammunition. If they could still lose, it could only be the will of Christ.

"Forget it. It's too late to change your mind now anyway," Thomas said. "Master, you said you've heard some news from your learned old friends?"

"Yes, that's the topic we talked about last time... The Divine King's Thoughts!"

Chapter 306: Rediscussion of the God-King Thought 2

The God-King idea means that God is the king.

In the beginning, the "king" who ruled over mankind was a god! Early civilizations like Egyptian and Sumerian mythology have such records.

Even in China, there is a legend about the Yellow Emperor ascending to heaven. To put it bluntly, the Yellow Emperor was a god!

Then as time went on, for some reason, God stopped being king.

Demigods, descendants of gods, etc. who replaced them became kings.

In Thomas' previous life, this embodied the idea of ​​"divine right of kings."

Over time, the blood relationship between the king and the gods faded, and the king's right to rule only required the approval of the gods.