At the second hour of dawn, Baldwin's camp was the first to beat the marching drums, and on the Iron Bridge Twin Towers, Raymond's lookouts, after observing the situation on both sides of the riverbank, also raised flags, indicating that they could pass the bridge and rush to the opposite battlefield.

Under the silver swan flag, all the knights and sergeants of Baldwin's belonging, on foot, with their armoured wrists, holding spears, swords, and maces that were convenient for close combat, and their shields were covered with animal skins to guard against fire, and they made a neat sonorous sound, shouted loud slogans in unison, formed a narrow column, and stepped over the stone bridge step by step.

Behind them were about 3,000 volunteers from Cilicia, or captives from Mosul, armed with recurve bows, armed with axes and daggers for hand-to-hand combat, either recruited for money, or for the sake of their lives, especially the captives of Mosul, who were Turkic or Persian, and who had been gathered together by Gawain and Baldwin beforehand, and whose only admonition was, "At the time of the decisive battle, stand at the head of the battle and shoot an arrow at the ranks of Kobha." You have the power to choose whether to shoot or not, but if you choose the latter, the Frankish knights behind you will not hesitate to execute you with weapons; And if you choose the former, you will become an unforgivable traitor in the eyes of Mosul, and you will be executed in the same ruthless manner when you return, so after shooting the first arrow, you will not mind shooting the second and third arrows at all, let alone mind, and when your former comrades rush in front of you, see his face clearly, and raise your arms to fight them to the death. ”

Baldwin with his well-equipped cavalry guards, many of them clergymen armed to the teeth, pressed at the rear, and after half an hour, they also paced across the long stone bridge.

Amid the neighing of men and horses, Baldwin looked up, and on the high bridgehead tower, the lookout of Provence looked very nervously at the opposite side in the faint light of the morning light: on the hill that Raymond pointed out yesterday, it was indeed densely packed with the elite cavalry of Mosul, and they were all ready for battle, and some of them were holding torches in front, shining on the two banners with the Hadith verses of Jihad.

And in the rear, Kobuha's army and the endless darkness were completely blended, and it was impossible to discern their numbers.

"The enemy is not moving for the time being, keep moving, keep moving." On the bridgehead tower, the lookouts kept shaking torches and flags to send this message to Baldwin.

When he came to the bridge on the other side, the horn suddenly sounded, and Baldwin hurriedly kicked the mount with the spurs on his boots, causing it to speed up, and directly crossed the ranks of archers who were constantly running forward, and shouted, "All archers, lie down behind the shields of the soldiers in the front, and make no sound, otherwise the enemy cavalry will rush and our cavalry will charge from behind, and you will be caught in the middle, and all of you will be trampled and killed!" ”

Over there, the foot knights in the forefront, regardless of the weight of their armor, lined up their irises one by one, and the skinned wooden trees carried by the military servants, diagonally on the dirt at their feet, and then pressed their arms, or waved their small hammers, and firmly inserted them into them, and soon formed a fixed shield wall in response to each other's shouts and reciprocations, and the poles with narrow pennants were constantly waving, and some of the shields in them reflected a little eye-catching light against the rising sun in the east.

The archers behind, no matter what region they came from or what their beliefs were, now had only one thought in their minds that they were fighting to save their lives for the leader of the pilgrims, and they bent over, carrying bows and arrows, quivers, and hula to form several layers, waved their hands, and rushed to the back of the first column of hoplites, and then also untied their quivers, stuck them in the ground with wooden thorns, and used the iron hooks on their belts to tie the strings of their bows and crossbows. And Baldwin, riding on horseback, constantly gave instructions.

Soon, on the hills, the Turkic drums were beating and the shouts of "Allah is greater" were hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands, and soon spread throughout the banks of the Orontes River.

This was a sign of an attack on Kobha's side - seeing that Baldwin's line was full of infantry and no more than a thousand people in armor, the Turkic cavalry could no longer hold back their bloodthirsty scimitars and pulled them out of their sheaths.

"Goliath, tell the musicians next to the flag car to beat the drums as well." On this side of the bridge, Gawain rode his war horse and stood on a hill, and in front of him were two brigades of soldiers, the Gimagis Brigade and the Guardian Brigade, all in array, with a forest of swords and spears; Behind him, there was the reserve Red Hand Brigade, all of which carried extra-long infantry spears, and then the sound of drums and whistles sounded, and all the men shouted and began to move towards the stone bridge, "Slow down, slow down, don't run too fast, and disrupt the formation of Lord Adana in front." Gregor and Branas, each on horseback, took command of one side and reminded the flag officers under their command.

"His Royal Highness the Grand Duke!" By Gawain's side, the Danish prince Sven led his own army and sent out some impatient instructions, eager to join the battle formation.

But Gawain's eyes were still looking into the distance, looking very calm, just now he held the crown of the seven ridges, observed for a while and then fell asleep, and stayed until Hetomia. After Orson came in, he got plenty of rest, was in good spirits, and cut off his nervousness and anxiety, "Move forward slowly for the time being, if Baldwin can't stand it, we can cross the bridge and go to reinforcements; Now if you want to have a good start to the whole battle, one is to see Baldwin's battle, and the other is to see the surprise attack of Tank Red in the direction of the Acropolis over there. Then Gawain thought thoughtfully, "Perhaps, Tanfred has already started to act." ”

Gawain was not wrong in his prediction, but in fact, at an earlier moment, in a small Turkic stronghold on the hill opposite the Iron Gate Ridge, there was a short fierce fight: led by the Norman knight Krotto, who had performed well in the previous battle of Antioch Dog Gate, and twenty Calabrian soldiers, lurking at the foot of the mountain the day before yesterday, and then lightly armed along the woods and thorns, touching the night, rushed to the stronghold, and slaughtered the defending and sleeping Mosul soldiers, leaving only three alive, forcing them to raise fireworks— The fireworks were a signal for the mountain granary to supply food to the Kobha camp.

When the first captive did not do it, the murderous Croto immediately cut off his hands, and then the screaming captive wailed that I was willing to do it, "It's too late." With that, Croto cut off the other's head and held it in his hand.

The second captive shook and walked to the edge of the beacon platform, but he couldn't light it, and Croto stabbed him to death with another sword, and turned his eyes to the last captive, "Such opportunities are always rare and precious, right?" ”

The captive's face was pale, but he had to calm down, so he prepared the various ingredients of the bonfire, lit the correct fireworks mixed with different colors, and floated towards the opposite hill. (To be continued.) )