Far east, the land where the sun rises, is also known as Asia, and the war between the West and the East has never ended, since the collapse of the old Roman Empire, the Crescent Empire established by the Bedouins once succeeded in claiming that there was a huge world empire after that, but in the end the two most important battles - the Battle of Constantinople and the Battle of Poitier were defeated by the Romans and the Franks respectively, and finally the era of the five major khalifas finally came to an end. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 The expedition to Khorasan also mutinied, plunging the Crescent Empire into an era of great division.

But this did not mean the end, since the territory of the new Roman Empire was encroached upon by the Seljuks in the east, and the Holy Land of Jerusalem fell into the hands of the infidels, which is why the Crusades began.

The protracted war began many years ago, and it completely changed the times.

The new Roman Empire declined, the Holy Church gained dominance in the West, and the Holy War against the East began again after Emperor Trajan. But once again, the Raustines found themselves in the predicament of the Roman emperors, that is, the East was too vast for them to replicate the glory of Alexander the Great, even if they won victory after victory. Emperor Trajan once conquered the Fertile Crescent, but in the end he was unable to resist the harassment of the foreign peoples in the East and had to return to the court. While the advent of the New Age seemed to change everything, the Crusaders today had to face the same situation, and the vast expanse of Asia had always belonged to the East, not to the Rastins.

Once the Crusaders established feudal principalities in the Holy Land, but within a few decades, the growing Ayyubid dynasty launched a new scale of Blood Moon Holy Wars. At this time, those countries, except for the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Duchy of Antioch, were destroyed and shattered by the armies of the East. Now, Saladin, the Ayyubid monarch of the Crescent Empire, is leading his army to completely besiege the holy city of Jerusalem, and the crusaders in the west are simply unable to change this disadvantage.

Nearly five years have passed since the protracted war, and Western monarchs have responded to the call of the Holy See to come here to make a mark, not to get bogged down in the quagmire, but the turmoil has long since gotten out of control. Military spending, domestic politics are all things that these monarchs estimate. Four years ago, since the accidental drowning of the Holy Roman Emperor Barbarossa, he has lost much interest in the war in the East. As for the Frankish Emperor Philip, he also left Jerusalem and returned home due to the conflict with King Richard of the Norman Kingdom. In fact, in this blood-soaked holy land, in addition to the willing nobles, only the Kingdom of Normandy and the Kingdom of Aragon still maintain a confrontation with Saladin.

But the situation is now very unfavorable - the Crusaders are held back in Gaza and cannot complete the assault on the Crescent Empire army. What's more critical is that the city of Jerusalem is now on the verge of collapse, the Kingdom of Jerusalem due to the internal struggle for power after the death of Baldwin IV, was surrounded and annihilated by Saladin in one fell swoop in the case of easy attack, and now there are only two or three thousand old, weak, sick and disabled soldiers in the city of Jerusalem barely holding on, and there are even fewer mecha troops. Saladin did not strike the final blow only to estimate the movements of the Crusaders of Normandy and Aragon.

But what is very confusing is that the Crusaders have no intention of rescuing them so far.

Although the main forces of the Crusaders were only Normans and Aragonese, both countries were the most powerful of the Western nations and received technical support from the Holy See. However, Saladin was reluctant to send troops.

Many people could not understand it, and the Holy See kept urging them by telegram, but the two kings, Richard and Jaime, were indifferent. The reason is very simple, once the battle starts, the outcome is unpredictable, and just by virtue of the strength in their hands, there is no certainty of defeating Saladin, who has already risen.

"Why is this happening? Didn't the Holy See give an order? The city is on the verge of destruction, why the Crusaders still refuse to support us. The enraged Archbishop of Jerusalem slammed his cane on the floor beneath his feet, and the sanctuary was filled with the last nobles of the kingdom. One of the greatest achievements of the Crusades, the Kingdom of Jerusalem had existed for nearly sixty years, with four monarchs, but now it was in danger.

This has to be heartbreaking, but the nobles who look at each other are helpless.

Their king, Guy, was killed for his own stubbornness, along with a regular army of nearly 25,000 men and more than forty mechs. The last of the kingdom's vitality has been completely buried, and everyone's hearts are filled with despair.

The only person who could preside over the matter was Count Conrad, who stood before the Archbishop of Jerusalem, and at the last minute brought his elite knights to protect the Holy City, but this was a drop in the bucket.

The Crescent Empire had gathered nearly 100,000 men this time, which was all the forces recruited from Africa and Syria, and Saladin would not give up until he achieved his goal this time. Even if the Crusaders came to the rescue, there was no certainty that they would repel this terrifying enemy. Because now their former mecha advantage is gone. In the previous battles, the self-righteous King Guy used the price of blood to let everyone see the development of the Orientals over the years.

Annihilation, annihilation! Such a shocking word. At first, however, the people of the Kingdom of Jerusalem were confident that they could defeat Saladin's vanguard. But the reality is that they have encountered an ambush on an unprecedented scale, and the strength of the Dongfang's own mecha is even more Chaohu's imagination.

"Your Excellency, you know, even the Crusaders have to be afraid of this situation. Saladin has no fewer knights than His Majesty Richard and His Highness Jaime. Conrad had to stop the bishop's complaints, which only made the city more unstable. This time, Saladin had struck the nation, and the Crusaders themselves had entanglements of interest, and he had no hope of breaking the siege.

In fact, the most desperate hope of the man, who had recently resisted Saladin's attack, was to make peace with the Crescent Empire and end the war with dignity.

This was at the heart of the controversy at the outset, and some recalcitrant people in Jerusalem still wanted to rely on the city to defend themselves against the infidel army, but intellectuals such as Conrad opposed this false idea. It is impossible for the reinforcements from outside to rescue the already stormy Holy City regardless of the huge risks......

On the other side, at the Crusader garrison in Gaza, the Rustines chose to make contact with Saladin.

"Saladin can do nothing but the Holy City, and the two of them can end this protracted war with dignity. Isn't it? ”

As an emissary of the Crescent Empire, this is not an Oriental, but a Rustine!

As a "traitor", this young man stood in front of King Richard and King Jaime but looked calm.

He made an enticing suggestion that Saladin would give up important cities such as Acre and Tripoli at the cost of a ceasefire and the Crusaders' abandonment of Jerusalem.

But at this moment, the faces of the two monarchs in front of him seemed to be covered with a layer of frost.

"Abandonment of the Holy City? Is it such an understatement? Richard said first, the city has always been called a holy place, once it falls into the hands of the Easterners again, it will undoubtedly be a great shock to the West, and the Holy See will never give up.

But the young man had expected such an answer, and looked at the Normandy king in front of him with a smile and said: "Your Majesty, Jerusalem is only a symbolic meaning for the Holy See, and you have to pay the price of blood, and I do not think that Normandy can get anything other than the so-called honor. His Excellency Saladin, on the other hand, allowed Jerusalem to worship and guaranteed the safety of the prisoners. This is something that is good for both parties. In fact, the Holy Church's fanatical crusades are actually weakening the power of the nations, and the two Majesties should be clear about this. What's more, Jerusalem has sent emissaries to talk about its willingness to sacrifice the Holy City. Senseless wars will only satisfy the Holy See in the end. ”

What this man said was not unreasonable, the original crusades were motivated by the belief on the one hand, and the excessive aristocracy of the Age of Ignorance made the society extremely unstable, and the Holy Church was also afraid of the nations with the strengthening of royal power, so this war was started, on the one hand, to suppress the East, and on the other hand, to eliminate its own crisis. But this was not something that the monarchs were happy to see, and the rise in the power of the Holy See made them see another "Roman Empire" being built, which they were invisibly weakened by endless wars.

But this reason alone was far from enough to convince King Richard and King Jaime.

"This condition is far from enough for us to risk a break with the Holy See." Jaime said expressionlessly, the Holy See will never easily tolerate a country challenging his authority, and he does not have the slightest affection for the Crescentists, the war between Iberia and them has been going on for many years, under the Reconquista, the Kingdom of Aragon has almost restored the whole of Iberia, but the Moors across the sea are still a big problem, they are just vassals of the Crescent Empire, with the support of Saladin and Jaime fighting for the last Iberian lost territory. If the Holy See were to interrupt its support for the Kingdom of Aragon at this time, it would be a great blow to the Reconquista, and the cause of reconquest would fall apart.

But when the man heard Jaime's refusal, he said in a hurry: "I am afraid that the current Holy See will not be able to protect itself, and His Excellency Saladin has promised to stop supporting the Moors in exchange for His Majesty's compromise." As for His Majesty, I'm afraid he has already had enough of the constraints of the Holy Church! "Normandy itself was a vassal state of the Franks, and because of the support of the Holy See, the government of southern Brittania became an equal to the Western powers, but the cost was also enormous, because he had to pay a large tribute to the church every year, which was probably a stone in the hearts of successive kings, and it was difficult to put down.

"It seems that you are confident in dealing with the Holy See......" said Richard meaningfully.

"Because its time is coming to an end. And this is probably what the monarchs of all countries are most happy to see! The man who said with a smile undoubtedly touched the hearts of the kings of the two countries, and it is indeed not a pride to be controlled by others, and they can tolerate it. But with the centuries-old heritage of the Holy See, how easy is it to shake its hegemony? Richard and Jaime didn't believe it in their hearts, but Jaime also had the idea of withdrawing at this time, the original Castile nobles in the country were ready to move, and he couldn't keep the army overseas all the time, otherwise he would definitely have elbows and elbows.

"So, what about the conditions that His Excellency Saladin gave me?" Finally, after much deliberation, King Richard also made a decision, and the return of Philip of the Frankish king would undoubtedly have a bearing on his rear, but he must ensure that the benefits were maximized.

And the other party was naturally prepared, "I think, what Your Majesty is most worried about now is the intensification of the conflict with Frank!" Anyway, nominally. In addition to being the king of South Britannia, you are also a vassal of His Majesty Philip, the Duke of Normandy. If you start a war, you will be in a passive state no matter what. ”

And this just poked the sore spot in Richard's heart, he and the king of the Franks have known each other since childhood, and even overthrew his father and usurped the throne with the help of the other party, but Richard clearly understood that the other party coveted his own territories on the mainland - Anjou and Normandy. Not long ago, he and Philip were almost at odds with each other because of their marriage, which is why Richard was worried about the rear.

With a gloomy face, he looked at the man in front of him and asked, "What about Saladin's conditions?" He knew that the other party must not have said these things for no reason. Although this made Richard very unhappy.

"Yes, if there is a war, you will be at a disadvantage, after all, you are a vassal, but what if one of them becomes a Mahatma in the Holy Church world? Then even if Philip wants to do it, he has to consider the pressure of public opinion. ”

"What do you mean?"

"His Excellency Saladin will sacrifice everything but Jerusalem, so that His Majesty Richard will almost single-handedly conquer the coasts of Cyprus and Palestine on the way to the East. And the Crusaders were granted free access to the Middle East, which would undoubtedly be a dignified end. Your prestige will resonate in the East and West. The young man's words were extremely infectious, and for a while, King Richard finally made up his mind.

However, this also made the two kings very interested in the Rastin in front of them, the so-called "rebel".

"What's your name?" Richard looked the young man up and down with meaningful eyes.

The other party bowed respectfully and said, "Arthur, Your Majesty, you must have made a decision now!"