Chapter 112 Confrontation

With the arrival of the last crusaders, the countdown to the decisive battle with Saladin has begun.

The army spent three days in Montreal recuperating to regain its strength.

In the early morning of the fourth day, as another letter for help arrived from Kaleburg, Baldwin IV finally held a "royal meeting" to divide the lords and the armed forces under the knights into subordinate relationships.

Every knight and noble, more or less, will have his own private armed force, and these private armed forces need to be organized into a unified team according to their profession.

Such as light infantry company, engineer company, cavalry company, light cavalry company, etc.

Nearly 30,000 crusaders marched toward Kaleburg in a mighty manner.

Montreal is not far from Caleb, which is about the same distance from Jerusalem to Hebron.

But during this stretch, the oases are sparser and it is more difficult to obtain supplies.

Baldwin IV was not a reckless man like Guy. He did not march rashly, but brought sufficient supplies, and almost emptied the entire Montreal granary, clay pots for water, and pack animals.

Subsequent baggage teams will continue to transport supplies to the transit station in Montreal, and then replenish them to the front line.

Due to adequate preparations, the historic Battle of Harding will definitely never happen again.

But no one knows whether the Crusaders, who mobilized all their troops to gather only 30,000 troops, were the opponents of the Saracen army, which was limited by poor supplies and could only mobilize 30,000 troops.

Lothar rides on an Arabian warhorse.

He wrapped a gauze scarf around his mouth and nose, and the all-pervasive wind and sand penetrated his body along his collar and sleeves.

Everyone was disgraced.

Fringilla sat in the carriage a little helplessly, not wanting to move.

Prajna still stayed close to Lothar, and after spending the initial embarrassing time, Lothar was now getting used to it.

The sun is scorching.

From time to time, the soldiers would pick up the water bag and take a sip or two. Their footsteps were heavy, and everyone was looking forward to jumping into the clear lake water and taking a good swim.

He looked at the royal chariot guarded by the central army from a distance and sighed softly.

Baldwin IV made two plans for him that day. One was that if the army was defeated and Saladin's army suffered serious losses, he would appoint Lothar as the regent of Jerusalem and oversee the city's defense.

The second is that if the army wins, it will bring the power of victory and cause the Leonards and his wife to "die in battle", and then all the earldom of Transjordan, except Hebron, will be granted to Lothar.

There were three more, which Baldwin IV did not say.

But Lothar knew very well that the third was a disastrous defeat for the Crusaders, and Saladin's army was not injured at all, so he could only return to Europe in despair.

Jerusalem did not use the "reserves" funded by the previous King of Albion to strengthen the city's defenses, as Lothar did in his previous life. After losing most of his elites, it was impossible for him to defend Jerusalem.

The march was dull and tedious.

Baldwin IV gave Lothar command of all armored cavalry, that is, heavy cavalry companies.

Although his qualifications were not enough to convince everyone, the Royal Knights and the Knights of Jerusalem combined totaled four hundred armored cavalry, accounting for half of the cavalry team.

With the assistance of Baron Godfrey, and the fact that he spent two days having friendly "discussions" with the knights, he was able to successfully bring this cavalry unit under control.

The tactics of this era were actually very simple, nothing more than a variation of the hammer-and-anvil tactic pioneered by Alexander the Great.

Use cavalry as a hammer and infantry as an anvil.

When the two armies are fighting, it depends on which side's cavalry wins first to support their own infantry, and then gradually expands the advantage.

The army marched for two days.

From time to time, the Crusaders' cavalry team could spot the other party's scout cavalry wandering far away from the army, and sent out light cavalry to drive them away, but they could not reach their sides at all.

Falcons patrolling in the sky also began to appear frequently.

With such reconnaissance methods, it is simply impossible to fight the kind of battle situation in which divine soldiers descend from the sky and attack from the rear when the Saracens storm Kalle Castle.

Ahead, green shade finally appeared again.

The soldiers cheered.

Baron Godfrey also beamed: "I've been away from Montreal for so long, and I finally see an oasis again. I really want to take a dip in the lake."

Lothar shook his head and said: "Your Majesty will not allow us to camp here. The oasis is closer to Saladin's army, and no one can be sure whether they have poisoned it."

"According to the speed of our march, we may engage in battle with Saladin's army tomorrow. Your Majesty will not take such a risk."

Sure enough, the order to continue marching was quickly issued.

The soldiers complained, but they did not dare to disobey Baldwin IV's orders.

Kaleborg.

Early the next morning.

Count Leonard opened his eyes tiredly. His eyelids were almost stuck with dried blood, and there was a hideous scar on his cheek.

It was a scar left on his face by a Turkic Ghazi warrior.

He looked around, and saw that the once solid city defenses had been destroyed by Saracen trebuchets.

But after many repairs and reinforcements by him, the city wall still stood tall and lived up to the gold coins he scattered.

Of the three thousand elites guarding Kale Fort, there were only less than a thousand left at this moment.

This meat grinder-like siege caused huge losses to both sides.

According to Leonard's estimate, Saladin's army dropped at least five thousand corpses under the walls of Kaleborg!

Leonard trembled and propped up his body with his sword. He loudly woke up the soldiers sleeping at the top of the city and said: "Get up and have something to eat. This is the time when the Saracens are praying. After they finish, they will pray to the soldiers." We attacked."

The tired soldiers woke up one after another.

There are also many wounded soldiers who will never wake up after a night.

The soldiers were so numb to this that they didn't even bother to carry Pao Ze's body.

Dame Stephanie, wearing a heroic knight's armor, climbed up the city wall carrying a food box.

She and Earl Leonard were not only politically married, but also emotionally compatible.

When Leonard was young, he was famous for his handsomeness.

Otherwise, it would have been impossible to rely on his appearance to become the Grand Duke of Antioch and the Count of Transjordan.

She looked at Count Leonard with some distress, and whispered: "When will reinforcements from the Kingdom of Leonard arrive?"

"Maybe the messenger was intercepted. They can't just sit back and watch Kaleburg be captured by the Saracens. Believe me, maybe they will appear on the hillside over there soon."

Count Leonard pointed into the distance and forced a smile.

Kaleborg has been an isolated city for a long time.

Messengers were sent out in batches, but none of them could return successfully.

In fact, he sent the messengers, which was exactly what Saladin wanted, so he allowed the messengers to leave.

Because the more urgent Earl Leonard urged, the more likely it was that the Crusaders would reveal their flaws, but the development of the situation did not go as Saladin expected.

At this time, he found Dame Stephanie, looking at the direction of his finger in surprise. She grabbed Leonard's shoulder with some worry: "Look, that flag, it should be one of ours, right?" "

"Black, single-headed eagle?"

Count Leonard's eyes widened.

After a while, a familiar figure that made him a little disgusted, but seemed as friendly as a god descending to earth at the moment, appeared on the hillside.

He raised the single-headed eagle flag in his hand and waved it towards the top of Kaleborg.

Behind him, tall knight figures one after another gradually emerged from the "water".

Earl Leonard almost jumped up: "Heavenly Father! Heavenly Father! The reinforcements have finally arrived. It is Baron Lothar of Yogurtsburg. I know this guy is a powerful cavalry officer. He came just in time! "

But Dame Stephanie looked worried: "Even Baron Lothar is here, and Humphrey must be here too. He is a brave knight with devout faith and hatred of evil. He will definitely be the first to charge against the heretics."

Count Leonard curled his lips and said nothing.

I thought to myself, if your filial son is really what you said, he should have led the Montreal army to support him long ago.

The cavalry arrived one after another, wearing various blouses. They climbed onto the sand dunes and faced the huge fortress stretching for dozens of miles in front of Kale Fort.

It seems that they have already known the news of the coming people. The Saracen camp did not make any drastic response. It is still like a giant dragon entrenched in the mountains, waiting for the dragon-slaying warriors to come here and be burned by its raging dragon breath. Into scum.

These are the two updates today. I have to adjust my schedule. I’m extremely sorry.