In the Saracen camp.

Saladin repeated the message from the slave with some confusion.

"The Crusaders have sent messengers to have a fair 'knight' contest with us?"

When talking about the word "knight", Saladin deliberately used the Frankish language.

"Why should we follow the barbaric traditions of the pagans?"

Takidin only thought it was ridiculous.

As a Kurd, he also has the bravery of his ancestors in his blood, but unlike the Crusader knights who like to fight alone, both Kurds and Arabs are nomadic people.

For them, the concept of tribalism is more deeply rooted, that is, it values the power of the collective.

Saladin only thought for a moment, then grasped the other party's intentions, and he chuckled, "Are they so sure they can win us?" ”

He paused in his voice and added, "Then it will be as they wish." ”

"My king?"

Takidin was visibly surprised.

Saladin shook his head and said, "A duel doesn't mean anything, but it does make us see what hole cards our opponents are hiding." Tell the Crusader messengers that we are willing to send men into battle and have a fair duel with them. ”

Takiddin continued: "My king, let me go to war!" ”

He slapped his chest, and on his big waist and round body, the fat trembled, and he looked extremely burly.

Saladin glanced at his nephew and thought helplessly—"You are still what you used to be?" ”

In the past, Tajiding was a fierce general with infinite strength and bravery.

But during his time as the governor of Egypt, he indulged in lust, and was hollowed out by wine and women, and now he looks at his body as burly, but in fact, he has long lost his previous bravery.

Saladin decisively refused: "Takidin, you are too impatient now. ”

Tajidin said helplessly: "My king, you know better than me how much it costs to maintain such a huge army, and even if Egypt and Syria are rich, there is a limit. ”

Egypt seems to be a vast territory, but in fact, the real core is only Upper Egypt in the upper reaches of the Nile and Lower Egypt in the lower reaches of the Nile, that is, the Nile Delta, and the rest of the place, most of which are deserts that are inaccessible.

Saladin's army amassed here numbered 40,000 men.

Even if each soldier eats only one kilogram of wheat and does not eat any meat every day, he will consume 40,000 kilograms of grain every day, that is, 40 tons.

And that's just the combatants, not counting the large number of conscripts.

In addition to food, the entire Saracen camp produces dozens of tons of manure every day from soldiers and livestock, which must be pulled out of the camp by carts and buried in distant places to avoid breeding mosquitoes and flies.

Forty thousand men was not the maximum number of soldiers Saladin could muster, but it was the limit of what the land could carry.

If it is a war on the European continent, even if the attacker gathers tens of thousands of troops, it will often divide the entire supporting army into several, or even tens, hundreds, and scatter into the enemy's territory to plunder.

Adopt the strategy of feeding the enemy to reduce the logistical pressure on your own side as much as possible.

Gathering tens of thousands of troops to surround the enemy's city is definitely a ruthless hand that injures 10,000 enemies and loses 8,000 himself.

"If you can take Jerusalem with just money and food, it will be the best deal."

Saladin sneered.

Takidin's idea is right, to gather such a large army is to fight the enemy quickly, and if it is consumed for a long time, even if there is no problem with the supply, the lords and soldiers nested in the barracks will also be restless.

Saladin said seriously: "This war, as long as we can achieve the final victory, I can afford the big price." ”

"Please come over to Master Shermeier and Master Mudrygi, I remember that the warrior who usually guards the dragon by Master Shermeier, as well as Master Mudrygui's personal guard, are all extremely powerful warriors."

The armies of the two sides set up their positions and confronted each other from afar.

No one dares to relax their minds.

Even if the Crusaders knew that the purpose of today's battle was to fight a duel with the infidels, only God knows whether the cunning heretics would take advantage of this opportunity to launch a surprise attack on their side.

The scorching sun overhead made people thirsty.

Many of the soldiers took out their water bladders and took small sips of the already hot water, and some of the knights began to drink beer.

Lothar rode the eclipse and stood at the front of the line.

The big animal was still a little arrogant to show off its tall posture to everyone, but after waiting for a long time, it was not able to let go of its four hooves, and it ran wildly with joy, and it gradually became boring.

Behind him was a company of hussars, holding mounted spears with banners in their hands.

The flag of the double-headed eagle hunted in the wind.

The feathers on the backs of the hussars resemble swans flapping their wings - the wings of the hussars are heavily armed armored archers.

They were heavily armoured, and there were no strands of skin exposed on their bodies.

It was so tightly stitched that it looked like a steamer under the armor, and if it weren't for Frigila who gave them a group cooling, they would have had to put on all their armor to ensure their combat effectiveness when the enemy was about to charge.

Fighting in these conditions, even the light-armed riders don't feel much easier.

Drem finally got his wish and became Ulm's squire, and he followed behind Ulm, who was in charge of the army, and his mood changed from the excitement when he heard that he was going to fight, to the calm later, and then to the current impatience.

He felt like he was back in Hebron's new barracks, where he spent his days standing in the scorching sun and being exposed to the sun, doing some incomprehensible queue training that seemed to be useless in battle.

This is completely different from the war he imagined, killing the enemy, and making achievements.

It's more like two cowards in the tavern who only swear at each other, but no one dares to do anything.

"My lord, I think we might as well just stand here and shout at those Saracens."

"Save some saliva."

Ulm said helplessly.

He glanced at the lightly armed riders assigned to him by Lothar, although they had been trained for a short time, they were already elite compared to ordinary nomadic cavalry, at least they could read the flag and obey orders.

But it is still very doubtful how much combat power there is.

This is the reason why even if he is promoted to the commander of the first army, he still hopes to return to the combat sequence of the hussars and become an ordinary cavalryman.

Thinking like this, he glanced with some envy at his former colleagues who were still clustered around the adults like Praetorian Guards.

By this time, the messengers of both sides had completed their briefing.

Hans, dressed in full clothes, was the first to come to the open space in front of the barracks of both sides.

"I am Torle in the Neva Valley."

The comer, a warrior wearing a Cuman-style overlay chain armor with only a pair of pale blue eyes, was clearly a Nordic barbarian like the Varangian Guard.

The brute looked at the crusader knight across from him, dressed in mirror-like silver-white armor and wearing a barrel helmet decorated with bull-like horns, with a look of implicit contempt.

He is a powerful warrior with the blood of a Karelian dragon under the command of Master Shermel, and he has long been unable to describe it as a human, even if it is a legendary monster such as werewolves, vampires, and swamp lichs, he has easily slain several of them.

Hans said, "I am Hans, lord of Sego. ”

Torle grinned, "Your armor and mounts are good, I think they'll be my trophies - if they're still intact after this battle." ”

Under Hans's helmet, the sound of urns was heard: "Fighting is not by mouth. ”

The beast's instincts allowed him to sense the threat coming from the other party, an enemy who was not easy to deal with, but certainly no more difficult than that madman of Veneto.