Gawain asked Baldwin to be calm and ordered the herald to go to Tarsus to report the news. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

Soon after Anna had consulted with Androdart, Maglendius, Maimon, and others at the small royal council, she returned the proposed plan, "Wait for the news of the two directions, namely, the city of Rome and the city of Jerusalem, and then make a decision, and be patient for the time being." ”

Half a month later, news from both directions arrived almost simultaneously. Everdall's 40,000 Egyptian army had all set out from Ashkelon and routed a suicidal outpost of the Holy City: Everdler sent a large number of mercenaries from Axum (the ancient Ethiopian Christian Kingdom) to the front, and this group of black-skinned foot soldiers marched like a fly, bare-chested with chopping axes and blunt-headed stone hammers, and smashed the Christian horses to pieces, and then countless Egyptian pagan archers followed with wild fire—700 Jerusalem outposts were completely annihilated. More than 30 knight standard-bearers who led the team were all killed in battle, and none of them escaped.

It is not so much that they have lost their fear of the enemy as it is the result of a deep despair. Godfrey, the former guardian of the Holy Sepulchre, had died suddenly, and the crows gathered around him began to disperse, and Patriarch Sambel only knew how to drink high, and did not sympathize with the suffering of the soldiers before the expedition, and now he could only retreat to the safest and strongest towers of the Holy City, trembling, and only sent letters to the city of Rome asking for help from the Holy See to send a large number of crusade troops to the rescue. At this time, the vanguard of the Egyptian army had rushed to the cave hill only fifty thousand miles from the gate of Bethlehem in Jerusalem, and the cities of Arsu, Acre, Tyre, and Sidon were also stirring, and the Crescent strongholds along the entire coastline began to attack in all directions, burning and killing Christian fiefdoms.

On the other hand, the Pope and all the cardinals demanded that the kingdoms of Galvan, Tarsus, Tancred, Baldwin, Adana, and Bohemond form a new alliance and immediately send a large army to Jerusalem to repel the great siege of the Egyptian infidels; At the same time, the Holy See also recognized that Baldwin. Eustace can continue his brother's legacy and continue to reign as the temporal ruler of the Holy City. In addition, Eugene. Pope Owenseth also demanded that all the fleets of Venice, Amalfi, Pisa, and Regaya in the Eastern Mediterranean must abandon all previous prejudices and rivalries, and all assemble in the ports of Cyprus and the Levant, and assume the responsibility of transporting troops by sea for the armies of these four generals.

"Perfect, then the battle flag for the march is fully equipped." The mentor Magrunius is said to have raised his finger when he got the news.

But the Pope did not mention the question of ownership of the Duchy of Antioch, so when April came, Bohemond of Paphos became arrogant and refused to advance.

So Gawain and Baldwin sent a letter, "We swear to live up to the covenant of Kyrenia, and when Baldwin receives the throne of David, the four hundred towers of Antioch City will also be yours." Everything has to be taken in order, and we don't even need an edict from the Holy See to go to war against Tancred. ”

Bohemond, who had been reassured, began to gather all his mercenaries, marched across the Nicosia Plain, joined up with Branas's brigade, and then marched towards the port.

In the castle of Nicosia, Grand Duke Aptsomatus trembled and looked at the rolling army under the wall and on the other side of the river, and gathered a few henchmen, "Now it is estimated that Tancred attached to Antioch will not be able to save my power, and the caliph of Egypt must be involved, even if all the Seljuks are also involved, and the war will burn more fiercely!" I'd rather scorch the beautiful island of Cyprus than let them see the price of despising me, and I didn't say anything back then, don't think I'm a real weak. It was a foolish idea for Everydler to choose to fight Gawain and Bohemond on land between the Holy City and Ashkelon, and quickly sent a small boat to Cairo to tell them that Egypt's real strategy should be to hold the border barriers, and then sow discord between the various nations and maritime city-states of the other side, and use the powerful fleet and my island of Cyprus as the center to destroy each of them. Damn, who can tell that Everdeler about my wise thoughts? ”

Meanwhile, in the hall of the castle of Antioch, Tancred sat in his seat with his sword in his hand, and looked up at the vast and elaborate Persian silk tapestry hanging before him, which rose and fell in the wind like a river wave, making a pleasant sound, and on it the pattern was a long spring scene—the steppe, the horses, the lambs, the vaults, "Why do they always like to paint such scenes?" Tanfred asked.

Beside him, his wife, Mesander of Armenia, replied quietly, "For in the plateaus and deserts in which they live, there are only forty days of true spring in the year, and the rest of the long years are either hot and arid summers or cold winters." So they put their love and affection for spring on this silk tapestry. ”

"I was born in the mountains of Apulia, where spring is the last thing to do. Perhaps my uncle's hatred of me was justified, that I should have been the young knight who had nothing to fight for in the port of Lepanto, who knew nothing but to passionately fight with a good rival like Gawain, angry at Raul's death, joyful or sad at victory or defeat on the battlefield - I was like the spring of Italy, like a sharp sword forged by a Milanese craftsman, and was it the harsh environment here that changed me? After a pause, Tanfred got up and waved his hand, "Let go of the castles of the Syria Gate, I don't want to bear the moral guilt, let Gawain and Baldwin go to Jerusalem!" ”

Half a month later, in the tower of King Herod in Jerusalem, the two monks Sambel and Maurice were huddled, and in front of them, there stood a forest of knights who had broken in from the gate of the tower, all of them had beards and fierce eyes, and their bodies were covered with iron armor, and at a glance there were Todo, Miles, and Lydhold, who had previously been loyal to the Eustace family, "The army of Gawain and Baldwin has reached the high ground below the city, and the Muhammadites of Egypt are retreating southward like a tide, So allow us to go out of the city and fight alongside these two for the honor of defeating the infidels! ”

"You have to protect this tower, no, it's the city. Retreat was only a trick by the Babylonian army of Egypt, and you must not act rashly. Sambel cried as he held on to the pillar, and then he turned in horror, only to see that on the other side of the steps, the brothers Joceland and Gariland were also approaching, and Joselan stretched out his hand and raised his fingers, "Please hand over the command of the whole army, Your Excellency Patriarch, you are making arbitrary judgments on matters that you do not understand, and I personally think it is very dangerous." ”