The monarchs of the other two countries, neither Charles nor Edward were fools, and naturally understood what Philip II meant, but they were also quite unpleasant to the republics of Northern Italy that did not obey royal law.

The opulence of Genoa aroused the covetousness of the kings of these two countries, and after the decision that Marseille would go to the king of France, 50% of the booty would go to the Normans, 40% of the booty would go to Burgundy, and 10% of the booty would go to Aquitaine, everyone rejoiced and expressed their willingness to help the king of France against the damned merchants!

In order to increase the danger of the Holy See and make himself the savior of Rome more important, Randy also sent someone to assassinate the only mercenary general of the Holy See who could lead troops to defeat the invasion of Eastern Rome, but the Holy See has not yet fallen.

All Randy wanted was to stall for time, preferably just before Rome was about to fall, to appear on the outskirts of the city as a savior, and to command the coalition forces to defeat the Greeks, so as to gain fame and fortune.

But the Holy See was still able to carry it, and it didn't send 48 letters for help to Randy a day, as Randy imagined.

Randy naturally didn't know that in fact, the situation in the Holy See was already very critical.

After further reinforcement, tens of thousands of Eastern Roman troops surrounded Rome, slinging catapults, and bombarding the city walls day and night, while the Roman mercenaries and armed militias became disorganized because of the loss of their commanders, and could not even hold on to the city, and the empty army of tens of thousands was useless.

At the critical moment, Innocent III personally walked up to the city of Rome with a golden box containing holy bones and holy shrouds to boost morale, which allowed the defenders to burst out with unprecedented morale and repelled the Eastern Roman army.

Innocent III thus completely unloaded the so-called papal reserve, sent mercenaries to search house to house, arrested all possible Eastern Roman agents, or spies, commoners, nobles, clergy, all of them, without interrogation, and gave all their accumulated wealth to the defenders to boost morale.

And so the Holy See survived!

At the same time, such violent purges by the Pope also greatly hindered the operations of Loman's spies.

"Is that really weird?"

30 miles from Marseille, the coalition camp......

"Your Majesty, what's going on?" King Philip II of France asked.

"The messenger I thought I sent to contact Marseille has been there for a day and a half, and there has been no news yet, what happened?"

When Philip II heard Randy's words, he couldn't help but smile bitterly, taking Randy's words as a joke.

I didn't come back for two days, and I was either detained or cut, what else could I do? Everyone here understands people, isn't Randy making fun of him when he says that?

Recall that two days ago, when the coalition forces arrived on the outskirts of Marseille, Randy prepared to send troops to attack the city without saying a word, so as to deter Genoa and make them obediently offer their children's jade silks.

But Philip II just didn't do it, and said with righteous words that we are a teacher of civilization and benevolence, and we should uphold the fine tradition of saluting first and then soldiering, and send envoys first.

Yu Gong can save time and quickly go south to the Apennine Peninsula to relieve the siege of the Holy See.

For private purposes, it can also promote the noble character and chivalry of our monarchs.

These monarchs were not fools, and naturally understood what Philip II meant.

The division of the spoils of war is also famous, if the other party surrenders, then the matter of sacking the arson after the city is broken cannot be done, and at most the other party can only capture the other nobles and eat a ransom.

The city of Marseille belonged to King Philip of France, Philip II got cheap, and if he forcibly attacked Marseille, he would inevitably plunder after entering the city, and half of the plundered things would be handed over to the kings.

Although Philip II said it was high-sounding, Charles of Burgundy sneered or sneered, although Edward was a vassal of Philip II, but he was poor in the past two years, and he did not speak out in support of Philip II, but just stayed silently and did not speak.

Of course, Philip II didn't observe the two bastards who were nominally his vassals, he just stared at Randy.

Because Randy is the commander in chief of the coalition forces!

To Philip II's surprise, Randy agreed easily, not at all disdainful of his own experience as Philip II imagined, which made Philip II, who had been preparing for a long time and hoping to persuade Randy with his three-inch tongue, a little confused.

"Let's try it first! It wouldn't hurt anyway. Randy smiled lightly, affirming Philip II's proposal.

Although the arguments prepared in advance are not useful, such an ending is not bad.

Philip II comforted himself in this way, and at the same time was relieved, knowing that the important port city of Marseille was saved, he thought that as long as these Genoese were not stupid, they would surrender automatically, and the four-nation alliance had the crusade in hand, and the strength of 100,000 armor soldiers, as long as the pros and cons were weighed, it could be concluded that Marseille had no hope and surrender was the right choice.

But Philip II was happy at the time, but he didn't see the sarcastic smile on Randy's lips.

The end result was that the messenger sent by Philip II had no time to talk to the Genoese when he was shouted by an angry guard:

"Damn the French! We will not accept your rule!! After stabbing him to death with a sword, the guard dropped his murder weapon and fled under the gaze of the stunned Genoese soldiers, resisting and resisting the Genoese soldiers' pursuit, and was finally killed by the soldiers by mistake.

The coalition forces waited for two days in a row and could not wait any longer......

Randy would never admit that this was the work of his spies.

The Genoese were very helpless, because they had killed the messenger of peace, and there was no way out, so they began to arrange the city defenses wholeheartedly.

Originally, the Genoese could still escape by sea, although even if they could successfully escape back to Genoa by sea, the coalition would still chase them there after a while, but it was enough to slow down the time of destruction, but this was enough, although it could not completely solve the problem, but it could delay the problem for a while.

When the time comes, this very effective solution will be very popular with everyone in the world.

But the Navy is tragic......

In the previous naval battles, the fleets of Genoa and the Venetians suffered heavy losses and could no longer maintain the security of the Mediterranean, and the Eastern Mediterranean was better, where the Eastern Roman fleet was the territory, and if it was caught, it could be taken prisoner and leave a life.

But Marseille is different, it belongs to the western Mediterranean, it is the territory of the Barbary pirates, these pagan pirates needless to say, the cruel nature and religious antagonism allow them to inflict the imaginable torture in this world without scruples, so that Christians cannot survive or die.

Escaping by boat was rejected after Marseille came to the aid of a broken ship, and saw that the human skin on it had been stripped off, the limbs had been cut off, the woman's genitals had been chopped into meat sauce, and the whole ship had a red crescent painted with blood.

The Crusaders were all Christians, so they shouldn't be as cruel as the pagans, right?

But Randy and the three of them are quite happy, and looting always brings joy!

"So like this, like a robber, snatch all the money that others have worked so hard to accumulate, plunder, kill and destroy, Randy von Hoffmann,"

After returning to his camp, Randy's trouble comes, and Joan of Arc teaches Randy a lesson in a tone of hatred.

Randy shrugged, feeling that it didn't matter.

"Who do you think I am?"

"The Norman King......

"Wait, let me finish talking first!"

Randy waved his hand to stop Joan of Arc's next words and asked, "Then you should also know what this army of mine is."

"Normans, Burgundians, Frenchmen," Joan of Arc frowned, as if understanding what Randy was trying to say.

"Good!"

Randy snapped his fingers and didn't explain again, and Joan of Arc kept her head down and was silent.

Talking to smart people is worry-free, and if it's Artoria who will be following Randy, then Randy will definitely take a long time to explain.

But Joan of Arc was not reconciled!

"What if! I mean, if, I promise you, can you let them go? ”

"What did you say?" Randy turned, surprised.

"If you will give up the sacking of Marseille, I will be at your disposal."

"Who do you think of me? Am I the kind of person who takes advantage of others? ”

"Don't think I'm so bad, I'm actually a good person."

In the blink of an eye, several options went around Randy's mind, but in the end, he didn't say a word, and in the entire camp, the guards knights who were originally in the corner in charge of security, and the spies who were even darker were all gone.

Randy swallowed, although he had thought about using the life of the French to force Joan of Arc to commit it, but for various reasons he had not succeeded.

"Could it be that he is favored by the old man, and closes a door and opens a window at the same time?"

Randy thought about it for a few seconds, but finally shook his head, regretfully rejecting Joan of Arc.

"Sacrificing the collective good for the sake of personal gain is unforgivable even for the king!"

"I can only kill as few people as possible, that's my promise."

"I hope Your Majesty will remember what you have said!"

Joan of Arc knew that it was impossible to have a beast-like army against a wealthy city, and Randy's vague promise to kill as few people as possible was already the best result.

Just as Joan of Arc was about to leave, returning to her tent and praying for the innocent, Randy hugged Joan of Arc's slender waist.

"It's impossible to dispose of it, but it's always okay to kiss it, right?"

As she spoke, Randy leaned over to Joan of Arc's lips and kissed her without waiting for Jeanne d'Arc to protest.

The messenger was killed, and the attacking side had a good reason.

The defending side also had a clear understanding, and the two sides did not ease up again.

Randy had already received the news that the Genoese stationed in this city added up to only two thousand, and none of them were regular troops, although the excellent economic conditions of northern Italy, equipped with iron armor chain armor, large shield spears, but the actual combat effectiveness should only be a little better than the spear sergeants of ordinary countries, and there was no need to worry at all, and Genoa's signature troops, Genoese giant shield crossbowmen, were only equipped with less than two hundred in this city, and the lethality of crossbows was very strong, but the rate of fire was very slow, so there was no need to worry.

What really bothered Randy was the 50,000 citizens of Marseille.

Maybe it's because the consciousness of the city residents is relatively high, or maybe it's the Genoese people who hyped up the slaughter of the city for three days after the city was broken, and the people in the city consciously armed, although the equipment was not as good as the Genoese militia, but the simple shields made of the houses were demolished, and the short spears with a short handle made by the blacksmith shop were still enough, so that Marseille had nearly 10,000 more defenders out of thin air, and when necessary, the old and young women and children could also go to the city wall to block arrows, in general, Marseille's war potential was still very large.

Randy looked at the spies in the city and took advantage of the night, through the secret letter from his personality, and knew that it was unlikely that the promise of Joan of Arc to kill as few people as possible should be fulfilled, maybe without slaughtering the city after the city was broken, this group of damned French people would die in the siege!

"These are your good people!"

Randy was very angry and directly used the related King Philip II of France as a punching bag, and Randy didn't care if the other party was the same king as himself, and didn't give people a good look at it at all.

In fact, Philip II felt very uncomfortable, and Randy's reproach was on the one hand, and watching his people who should have belonged to him against him was another.

"Tomorrow the French army will attack first!" Philip II was furious and made a decision that did not match the title of fox at all.

Day 2......

Randy didn't tell Philip II that he had brought hundreds of loading, unloadable, completely assembly line operations, made of common parts, and extremely convenient and powerful counterweight catapults.

There is no need to storm the fortified city at all, only to wait for a while for the engineers to assemble all these siege weapons, and then they can blast the not very strong walls of Marseille into slag.

But why did Randy tell Philip II? Philip II was not his relative?

However, Randy's purpose is obviously to rescue Rome, why did he bring so many siege equipment? Isn't that weird......

After a day's preparation, the French soldiers rushed towards the walls of Marseille, which were more than four meters high, carrying shoddy ladders.

Immediately after the head of the city was a round of crossbow arrows fired, Genoese crossbowmen were the first in Europe, the crossbow's technological content was not inferior to that of Norman crossbowmen, and the degree of training was still excessive, equipped with heavy scale armor, long swords, and large shields, the Genoese crossbowmen were even better in close combat.

The two hundred Genoa crossbowmen gathered in the front row of the battlements, armed with heavy crossbow machines, and fired a volley at the swarming French spearmen, and without checking the results, they continued to put the heavy crossbows on the ground, raised their feet and stepped on them fiercely, so as to wind them.

The power of the heavy crossbow is on full display at this moment!

The French soldier who rushed to the front row felt as if he had been punched heavily in his chest, and the shield protecting his chest was penetrated at once, and his body involuntarily leaned back, and then he felt a sharp pain in his chest, and when he looked down, he found that only a piece of arrow feathers was left there, and he wanted to get up but felt that something seemed to be pulling him behind him, and he suddenly fell to the ground, and the reason for this was because he was directly nailed to the ground by this crossbow arrow.

(End of chapter)