Chapter 814 The Demonic Dragon Appears in the Sky
When the army arrived at the foot of Cairo, it was noon. In front of them was a defense circle composed of many castles and a giant brick wall built and reinforced after Saladin ascended the throne.
Among the defense groups, the most eye-catching one was the "Saladin Castle" standing on the Mukatam Hill.
This castle was also built by Saladin to resist the Crusaders led by the previous king Amalric. It occupied the commanding heights of the entire Cairo area. If you want to take Cairo, you must first take this city.
In the big tent.
Lothar, who got off the dragon saddle, was drinking sweet honey water. He didn't plan to do too much in this siege. If he had to do everything, it would be too boring for him to be the king.
What's more, so many knights and soldiers are still waiting for canonization. If they have no merits and achievements, they can't convince the public even if they are canonized.
Recently, Lothar drew another blank combat record and planned to use it for himself.
After he was promoted, although he could not use money to upgrade quickly, he could finally unlock two new skills, one is "Saint Sophia's Prayer", and the other is "Well-trained" which comes with his five-star Sun King template.
"Kurse, I heard that there is a university in Cairo, which is famous all over the world. From Khorasan, Persia, Malacca in the east, Iberia, Morocco in the west, and Mogadishu and Kilwa in the south, there are imams and scholars coming and going, practicing and debating here."
What Losa said is the famous Al-Azhar University, which was formerly the Great Sacred Fire Altar in Cairo built by the Fatimid Dynasty. Now it is a Zoroastrian theological center second only to Baghdad, and its status is probably the same as that of Jerusalem to Christians.
"That's true. Since we marched towards Cairo, scattered Ghazi warriors have flocked to Cairo. If we take this city, I'm afraid even the Sassanid king will call on the entire Zoroastrian world to launch a great jihad like the Pope did before."
Lothar sneered: "Then let them come. They will calm down after a few more times."
After he took Cairo, he naturally would not allow Zoroastrian scriptures to continue to be taught here. Instead, he planned to exclude scriptures and change to a secular school that teaches mathematics, Latin, agronomy, medicine, astronomy, law and other disciplines.
The knowledge of this era is monopolized by the clergy, which is not a good thing. Take Transjordan under Lothar's rule. If the knights were not literate, any edicts or legal provisions would be misinterpreted by the clergy.
Thinking of the "God's Whip" on the far eastern steppe, Losa couldn't help laughing and said, "Speaking of which, the Sassanid king may not have the energy to trouble me. In a few years, even Baghdad will tremble under the iron hoof of the Tatars."
The Frankish army was approaching, and the soldiers guarding the city walls were the most frightened.
At this time, Al-Azhar University was in a panic. Many clergymen took their servants to pack up and organize precious manuscripts and documents, trying to take these precious manuscripts out of Cairo when the city was broken.
Under the Great Holy Fire Altar, some people raised their arms and shouted, enthusiastically encouraging the clergy to join the war.
"Everyone, are we going to succumb to the barbaric Franks and give this sacred temple to the barbarians? Stand up, fight for God, and sacrifice yourself for God."
Many scholars looked on coldly, especially the extraordinary ones. They knew the horror of the Crusades better than ordinary people. Even the famous masters were defeated by the pagans. If they were not greedy for the precious manuscripts and rare books here, they would have escaped long ago.
This reaction made the caller so angry that he couldn't help but ask sadly: "Have all the warriors loyal to the Holy Fire died by the shores of Lake Brulus and Lake Galilee?"
In fact, not only these scholars, but also many Saracen civilians in the city were unwilling to support Governor Bri and defend the city.
If they could hold it, it would be fine. If they couldn't, if they brought a lot of casualties to the Franks, when the city was broken, I'm afraid that the whole city, young and old, would be slaughtered like Antioch and Jerusalem in the past.
The bad reputation of the Franks, which the Saracen nobles had been promoting, now frightened the Saracen civilians and they dared not confront them at all.
In addition, although the upper nobles and clergy said that the Franks were evil and murderous, who didn't have relatives and friends in the north? Many border areas were separated by a river, and the other side looked peaceful. Even a blind person knew that the so-called "Franks came to slaughter the city all the way" was nonsense.
In addition, the Dark Shadow secretly spread the news that the Franks had come, and the lives of the lower-class people were better than before.
The southern part of Cairo, based on the old city of the Empire era, is the main residence of Copts, and there are still a large number of Coptic churches, including the Hanging Cathedral of St. George, the Church of St. Sergius and Bacchus, and the Cave Church of Abu Serga.
When the war reached Cairo, the Copts were not as fearful as the Saracens. After all, the Franks were fighting in the name of recovering the Holy Land and liberating Christians, which was somewhat effective.
But Governor Buri would not let them go. He had long required the Copts to divide the area into blocks, and each block had to provide ten soldiers with shields, spears, and at least one helmet as armor.
Moreover, as the Crusaders came closer, the new governor's extortion became heavier, especially the Copts, who suffered more severe corvée and taxes than the Saracens.
In many corners of the streets and alleys, there were people who conspired to raise troops and cooperate with the Crusaders to try to find a way out.
They connected with each other and sent messengers to try to contact the Crusaders, but unfortunately, these people's "loud conspiracy" was too conspicuous. They were betrayed by the secret keepers and hanged on the gallows soon.
On the execution day, the Copts also made a scene, which was ruthlessly and bloodily suppressed by Governor Buri.
On the wall of Saladin Castle.
Governor Buri led a group of nobles and clergy to climb the city and look far away.
Standing next to him was his brother's trusted general, who came with 20,000 troops to help, including black-skinned warriors hired from Nubia in the south, and spared no effort.
No mistake, one sentence, one post, one content, one 6, one 9, one book, one bar!
This was naturally not out of friendship between the two brothers, but the two sides were really in danger.
Governor Bri estimated that if Cairo fell in this battle, his brother would immediately take away the gold and silver treasures in the territory, and then flee by boat and go into exile overseas.
He had originally had this idea, but was just greedy for a while. He occupied Cairo and was unwilling to give it up so easily. At this time, he saw the Frankish army formation under the city, advancing and retreating in an orderly manner, and he couldn't help but worry about gains and losses.
How about talking to the Franks?
A melodious dragon roar suddenly came from the sky.
A huge dragon with three heads flapped its wings and flew over.
In Governor Bri's vision, the dragon was getting closer and bigger, and he was so scared that he couldn't help shouting: "Shoot arrows quickly, use the magic gold crossbow, and those wizards, tell them to take action quickly!"
The Saracen nobles were also trembling in their hearts.
If you don't see it with your own eyes, you can never imagine the horror of such a huge flying beast passing over your head.
The black scales that shone with luster were the bravest Ghazi. Facing such a monster, he would probably be defeated.
The next moment, the three heads opened their bloody mouths, and three-colored dragon flames surged out of their mouths, as if to cover the entire magnificent castle. The defenders on the top of the city scattered in an instant, trying to hide in the tower for refuge.
Boom--
In an instant, Saladin Fort, the hub of Cairo's defense system, suffered heavy damage.
And this also represented the signal of attack. Prajna wrote down the words, which turned into giant siege engines and poured huge stones into Cairo.
The hiding Governor Buri looked at the ruined castle and felt a burst of anger in his chest. He roared: "These damn barbarians didn't even send a declaration of war!"