Chapter 482 Target, Jerusalem

The scenery of Ashkelon is different from that of Constantinople. This is Peter's first time in the south, but he knows that he is not here for tourism, but to recover.

"I have never seen such a view!"

"They will soon belong to your Majesty forever."

In Christian's view, this place is already in Rome's pocket, and only a little deterrence is needed to make the other side surrender.

Peter shook his head slightly, "We can't be careless. The south will definitely make some moves. Maybe they will gather a large army."

However, the Minister of Military Affairs was not worried about this, "Your Majesty is overthinking. Those people are just civilians and have no combat power. What's more, we have weapons to deal with them."

Christian turned his head and looked at the rows of camels. Unlike other camels, they have small artillery on their backs.

After the opening of the Southern Canal, someone presented camels to the emperor for viewing, and then the next day the artillery workshop also had a camel and brought a request, which was to create a kind of artillery that could be carried by camels.

Everyone in the workshop had never seen this kind of animal, so they could only ask about the various performances of camels, and studied and designed day and night, and finally produced the camel cannon.

The structure of the camel cannon is relatively simple, mainly including a bracket mounted on the back of the camel to fix the cannon. Some camel cannon brackets also have the functions of rotation and elevation, allowing the cannon to fire while moving. In order to increase the accuracy of shooting, camels are sometimes ordered to kneel or even form a circle to form an indestructible fortification.

Such weapons can adapt to Syria and Egypt, using the endurance of camels to transport cannons and reduce transportation time. It is a weapon specially built for the current situation.

"Don't say so much. I heard that people are panicking everywhere now. This is a good opportunity."

Peter also knew that the coastal towns had fallen into chaos, and this was their opportunity to sweep across Europe. Under his command, part of the army crossed the Sinai Peninsula to the canal area, and the rest attacked and plundered the Jerusalem area.

Just as the army arrived, a delegation of citizens from Jerusalem came outside Ashkelon to see the emperor. Peter was also curious about what they were going to do, could it be surrender?

"The citizens of Jerusalem asked us to tell the honorable Roman emperor that we will do everything we can to defend our city. If you are really able to plant the flag on our mosque, we will recognize you as the ruler of Jerusalem."

Peter sounded like a demonstration, but since they were not prepared to surrender, there was nothing to say. Decided to rush directly to Jerusalem for a showdown.

Like Saladin two hundred years ago, Peter was also sitting here playing a coloring game. Directly and forcefully stated that the towns that voluntarily surrendered could save the lives and property of the residents, while those who did not surrender could only selflessly contribute to the army. In addition, the northern gate was wide open, and the Roman army had already marched straight in, and many towns decided to surrender.

Within twelve days from the time Peter landed in Ashkelon, towns including Ramleh and Haifa surrendered. The local green flag was replaced with a purple double-headed eagle, and Peter kept his word and did not kill them.

The situation in Jerusalem was getting more and more dangerous. There were people praying in the mosque every day. In order to ease their mood, the imam came up with a stupid move: besiege other areas.

He told the people directly that Allah punished them because there were pagans in Jerusalem who were causing trouble. As long as they were driven out, they would be out of danger. Then some stubborn people believed it and led the people to attack the Christian area directly. Not only that, the Jewish area and the Armenian area were not spared, and all pagans were treated equally.

They were going through the last frenzy in the city. The original holy places were insulted, the believers were slaughtered, and only the Church of the Holy Sepulchre where the Christians were located survived. The imam called on everyone to climb the city wall to defend the city. Everyone had weapons, and the previous attacks on other areas of the city barely restored some morale. On June 20, the Roman army occupied Bethlehem in the south.

Four days later, in the 311th year of the First Crusade against Jerusalem, the Roman army besieged here again. This time, not only the troops brought from the mainland, but also Woick's army joined here.

"Your Majesty!"

Wojc brought his son Janku to Peter. His actions in Syria satisfied the emperor. He thought it would take some effort to take it down, but now he could just make the other side surrender without any effort.

"You did a good job. I didn't make a mistake."

This compliment affirmed Wojc's contribution. After many years on the border, he could be promoted to a noble title just by recovering the Syrian region.

"If it weren't for your majesty's trust, I wouldn't have achieved such a great achievement today. Now Jerusalem is in your majesty's pocket. Please give your majesty's order and I will definitely give it to you."

Wojc was full of confidence. He had just occupied a large area of ​​land and his morale was at its highest. Jerusalem didn't have any troops and he would definitely be able to occupy it.

The current Jerusalem is the Old City of Jerusalem, a small city with an area of ​​about 1 square kilometer. It is a little small, but its religious status is not low. It is a holy place for the three major religions of Judaism, Christianity and Crescent. Taking it here is very important for the belief bonus of the Orthodox Christians across the country, and it is also a great gift to the empire after he succeeded to the throne.

"Since they want to defend this place, let them see how I destroy their faith."

Peter's team was still growing, and the Patriarch of Constantinople gave the war the meaning of holy war. As soon as they heard that Jerusalem was going to be attacked, the citizens volunteered to join the war, either by joining the army themselves or donating money and materials. The food and people transported from Constantinople continued to flow in. These people obeyed the leadership of the army and voluntarily joined the transportation of materials and the front-line battles.

This time Peter led 50,000 people to attack Jerusalem. Looking at the surging crowd outside, the city lord felt that there was little hope, but he still calmed down. He knew the fate of Tiberias and understood Saladin's kindness in the past, but he didn't know whether the commander this time could be as kind as Saladin. He recalled the information he knew. The Roman emperor had never been kind to Osman. If Muhammad had not committed suicide in the end, he would probably have been tortured to death by the emperor.

Even those nomadic peoples were divided, surrounded, captured and sold. If he surrendered, would he also suffer the same consequences? Oh, he didn't dare to think about it.