"There are too many opponents to outnumber us. And very vigilant. Those elite pagan cavalry patrolled back and forth around their main force in groups of a hundred. And they are also very vigilant when they camp at night. There are often many traps around the opponent's camp, as well as a large number of sentinels. We tried to attack twice, but we lost nothing but hundreds of our brothers. ”

This is what the troops on the side of Baibers said about Egil's army: "The other party is a very cautious, sophisticated general. To defeat the German Emperor by defeating him was a fool's dream. ”

"But...... Since the ambush is imposed, the method of assault will not work. And what about harassment tactics?" said Zhao, as if asking his partner and rival, and as if talking to himself.

"Or should we gather our armies and fight them one more time, as we did last time? We're going to be heroes to protect the Holy Land, too!" said Bibers, a little excited.

"It's impossible to win, don't forget, we only have more than 15,000 soldiers. The other side is more than twenty times more than us. Zhao Haier shook his head and said, "Completely defeat the infidels, that is the task of Saladin's master. We just have to complete our own tasks. ”

"Well......" although a little unwilling. But Bibers finally nodded and agreed to his partner's offer.

-- In the battle with Albert, he was a great success, annihilating tens of thousands of enemy troops, taking 20,000 prisoners, and killing one of the opposing emperors, with minimal losses. Less than a thousand. After these feats, these two generals have become household names throughout the Islamic world. Some have even begun to compare these two generals to Saladin. Although it is said that it will be fine for a short time. Saladin was not the kind of person who was jealous of his abilities. What's more, at this moment, the crusader army is pressing, and it is the time to employ people......

But what about the future? If the Crusaders were to blow the lamp and pull out the wax throughout the Fatimids, then everything would be casual. It doesn't matter anymore - but. And if the Crusaders were defeated, would Saladin still remember the event, and be jealous of them, and find an opportunity to kill them? Gong Gao Zhen ......

Zhao Haier, who was more cautious, thought about a lot of things. In the end, I decided, "Just do your part." "The greatest merit is reserved for the sovereign. "In this way, you can protect yourself.

On the other hand, although Baibers did not have the political wisdom of Zhao Haier, he could finally know that he only had seven or eight thousand men, and he could not defeat an army fifty times that of himself. Since Zhao Haier is unwilling to cooperate. Then guerrilla tactics had to be adopted.

In the period that followed, the coalition forces were subjected to a constant, almost incessant harassment from the two generals, who were usually waiting in the desert areas that the coalition forces had to pass through, or in small groups of ambushes in water sources and oases. Assault on the Crusaders, ambush. These people are not warlike. Usually just two or three arrows are fired. Then he immediately turned around and fled. The Crusaders were baffled and didn't know what to do.

If, of course, these men were attacking the Norman ranks. It was different—as the most professional troops of the Crusader kingdoms, the Norman soldiers maintained a relatively high morale and a more responsive reaction in such a desertified, unbearable heat. And the training of counter-raids, surprise attacks and ambushes that I do on weekdays will come in handy for a while.

When wearing heavy scale armor. The armoured Mamluks, or the Ghulam heavy cavalry whizzing in. The Norman hoplites would immediately form a dense array, ready with axes. Behind them, the heavily armed crossbowmen and longbowmen quickly wound up and took aim. As soon as the opposing cavalry approached, a burst of all-round three-dimensional flying props waited, flying axes, bows, arrows and crossbows together, cutting the opposing cavalry into a hedgehog shape.

And if the other party is attacked by archers, then there is no need to be afraid. Again, the hoplites lined up in dense formations - this time not with throwing axes, but with iris-shaped shields raised to form a shield wall. At the same time, the cavalry unit composed of heavy knights and light hussars quickly attacked the enemy, and communicated with the light cavalry units on patrol on the periphery with the sound of horns, and the inside and outside should be combined to defeat the opponent.

Of course, although this is said, in fact, the main forces are really not very harassed in this way. The vast majority of the small Arab cavalry, on the periphery, before breaking through to the main force, was discovered and broken by the Norman hussars. In order to cope with the increasingly powerful and heavily armored cavalry of the enemy, Egil once again improved the equipment of the hussars, and now these powerful melee hussars, armed with traditional sabers, were also equipped with a small, four-and-a-half-pound, but absolutely deadly small armor-piercing hammer. These armor-piercing hammers, with a pointed cone on one end and a prismatic plane on the other, proved to be very useful in a dozen or so skirmishes.

When the hussars encountered the weakly armored Arab cavalry, they used their sabers. When they encountered and fought the Mamluk cavalry wearing heavy chain mail, heavy scale armor and piercing armor, they would use these newly equipped armor-piercing hammers.

These armor-piercing hammers have proven to be superior to traditional maces and maces. They are more capable of piercing armor, and when they hit their opponents, they are often able to shatter their opponent's hand bones or ribs, or the most unfortunate of all, their skulls. When dealing with the opponent's scimitar, it will deform the opponent's knife or directly knock it into the air - although the attack speed is slower because of the weight loss, but compared to its advantages, this small disadvantage is completely acceptable.

Because of their strong organization, excellent tactics, and scientific training, these improved melee hussars were able to fight against the Mamluk heavy cavalry with a battle loss ratio of nearly one to one. And against the more disciplined Ghulam cavalry, the battle loss ratio remained at about 1 to 2. After reading such figures, Egil began to seriously consider whether the proportion of these elite light cavalry should be increased in the cavalry sequence, and even, in the future, whether the more expensive and cumbersome heavy cavalry should be completely abolished, and this kind of light cavalry should be completely popularized.

"But, at least not yet. Egil thought, "At least in this era, mounted cavalry still has its value. And as metallurgical technology continues to upgrade, my empire, my craftsmen, will be able to forge the fine plate armor of the Renaissance era. By that time, the combat effectiveness of the heavy cavalry would increase even further...... Well, perhaps until the musket was overhauled, the hoplites still had a purpose. ”

And when Egil was cheap and obedient, thinking about the future direction of the empire's cavalry development, Zhao Haier and Bibers on the other side were worried. In the middle of a desert, the stars and beep burning fires echo the stars in the sky. An army of more than 5,000 Islamic cavalry troops camped here, and the soldiers were quietly roasting on fires, talking quietly or sleeping soundly. The excitement of defeating Albert's army a few days ago is long gone.

In total, during the five days of continuous raids, they lost almost one and a half thousand cavalry. Among them were more than a hundred valuable Mamluks. Their enemies, the Frankish pagans, suffered far less losses than they had expected—five hundred, or three hundred, or less—but certainly higher than those of them, who had a geographical advantage, and who relied on ambushes and surprise attacks. And more importantly, the other side does not seem to be affected by these surprise attacks. Still moving forward towards the Holy Land of Jerusalem.

"It seems that this opponent is much more difficult to deal with than the one named Albert. After a long silence, Zhao Haier said.

"Indeed—I heard that the commander of the other side was another emperor of the Franks, a man of the Norman Empire, called Egil. Bibers said.

"Yes......" Zhao Haier did not seem so interested in this message, and he asked Bibers as if he were talking to himself: "What should we do?" We have lost more than the enemies we harass. It's really hard to say. ”

"What's wrong with you?!Are you trying to give up?!" Biebers said with some dissatisfaction.

"What else can be done?!Will it do anything if it continues besides wasting troops in vain and demoralizing?!It's useless!" Zhao Haier also became a little excited, and shouted at Biebers.

"Allah loves warriors and hates cowards - it is hard for people to imagine such disgusting things like you!" Baibers also shouted loudly - the roars of the two generals spread far and wide in the night, so that many soldiers heard them - the confrontation between the top generals inevitably affected the morale of the rank-and-file soldiers. This has further frustrated the Islamic soldiers, who are already demoralized by successive defeats...... (To be continued.) )