On the dusk dirt road, a group of more than 1,000 well-armed crusaders was trudging with difficulty.

The Nile brought life to the Delta, but it did not alter the hot and dry climate, and most of Richard's followers were up-and-coming crusaders who had just arrived in the Holy Land from Europe, and themselves, including the mounts brought from Europe, had difficulty adapting to the climate.

Moreover, Richard's territories of Aquitaine and Anjou, although they are both well-known horse breeding grounds in Europe, rich in Friesian horses and Norman horses, but in order to save the loss of the teleportation array, when Richard and his personal guards came, they did not bring a horse.

This made the entire crusader army, although the knights and squires combined, more than 300 people, but the cavalry was only in their early 100s, and the rest had to fight on foot like sergeants.

"With Your Majesty at the helm, we can also take a majestic city like Damietta."

At present, the level of urbanization in Europe is very low, even in large cities like Rendenwick (London) and Paris, which have a population of less than 30,000, far inferior to Damietta.

In Europe, with the exception of the Apennine Peninsula and southern Iberia under Berber control, the vast majority of cities had a population of less than 2,000 people, and most of the lords lived in large villages.

As one of the most important port cities in Egypt, Damietta had a population of nearly 100,000 before the war, and even if a large number of people fled after the war, there were still nearly 80,000 people, and as long as they settled down, they could become a source of finance and taxation.

"Our goal is the city of Semanud, which will definitely belong to Your Majesty, but if we fight bravely and make achievements in this battle, maybe Your Majesty will seal the port of Boers to us."

The knight guessed optimistically.

Although they don't know whether Port Boers and Semanud are rich or not, in their opinion, the East is full of wealth, and even a small city in the eyes of the Egyptians is much richer than their territories in Europe.

"Heh, your vision is too shallow."

A baron from Aquitaine scoffed.

"When we assist Your Majesty and take the whole of Egypt, is it worth fighting for just a small port?"

The knight who was leading the mount on foot couldn't help but retort: "Even if Your Majesty takes the whole of Egypt, will you still stay here in the East?" If Your Majesty leaves Egypt, won't it still be the domain of the Eastern nobles such as the Marquis of Lothar? ”

"Why not?"

The baron asked rhetorically, "Compared to the territory of Europe, this is like the kingdom of heaven on earth, this is the Promised Land given to us by the Father, and every Gallic warrior should have the right to rule this land." ”

Someone immediately replied: "Indeed, the Saracens occupy such a valuable territory that even Your Majesty may be tempted, right?" ”

There are not a few who leave their original titles and titles behind and go to the East to become kings and lords.

Even some of the aristocratic crusaders were paid for by selling their old titles, and even if many of them wanted to return to Europe after defeat, their original territories were likely to be occupied by their relatives and brothers.

For example, Richard's great-grandfather, Fulke V, lost the lands of Anjou and Mann because he inherited the throne of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

For example, the Otteville family in the current Kingdom of Sicily, during the First Crusade, Bosimund and Tancred, the two uncles and nephews successively became the Grand Duke of Antioch, and their original territory naturally could not be taken care of, and was inherited to members of the Otteville family.

If Richard had won the title of King of Egypt, it would not have been impossible for him to stay in the East and continue to expand his kingdom, after all, only in the East was there so many heretics for him to conquer, and the East was richer, although not very adapted to the climate here, but the new crusaders who had just arrived here were already dazzled by the prosperity of the place.

The knight who led the mount couldn't help but retort: "But your majesty is the noble king of Albion, and the noble lord of Aquitaine and Normandy."

He didn't want Richard to leave his kingdom behind because of the wealth of the East, which seemed to him to be too irresponsible.

But the more he talked, the more unconfident he became, because he also knew that this possibility was not impossible.

Although Richard was also a powerful king in Europe, the Kingdom of Albion converted to Catholicism earlier, and in the entire Christian world, it can be regarded as a relatively noble kingdom honorific.

But in fact, in order to make up for the military expenses to go to the East, Richard has already dug three feet into the ground and is in debt.

It would have been a probable thing if Richard had handed over this mess directly to his brother, the Irish monarch (nominal), John, Earl of Moltan, who had patted his ass and run east to become king of Egypt.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but subconsciously set his eyes on the front of the group, the only majestic figure riding on his mount, wearing a bright red cloak and a golden crown helmet.

Richard was clearly in a pretty good mood, humming Gallic folk songs, the monarch of Albion, who in fact did not even speak Albion, and the common language of his court was Gaul.

Suddenly, a terrible eagle chirp sounded in the sky.

He raised his head, looked at the black dot that hung high above the nine heavens in the clouds, and snorted coldly, "This is the falcon that the Saracens are proud of?" ”

As he spoke, he jumped off his horse and said, "Count Fuller, take my gun!" ”

The captain of the Earlguard's guard frowned and handed over a short spear wrapped in white linen tied to the saddle: "Your Majesty, Her Royal Highness has told you to use this magic weapon sparingly. ”

"It's okay, it's just a magic weapon."

Richard grabbed the spear, and the linen instantly turned into a layer of dust, revealing the dark red glow of the spear engraved with ancient letters—the magic spear used by the demigod hero of Celtic mythology, Cúchulainn, according to legend.

"Behold, warriors of the Crusaders!"

Richard raised the short gun in his hand, threw it violently, and the flying short gun immediately pierced the sky like a red lightning, only to hear a terrible scream of the falcon hovering in the sky, and was poked by the short gun.

He opened his hand again, and saw that the short spear had returned to his hand out of thin air, and on the tip of the spear was a huge bird of prey that looked like it was half a man.

"Your Majesty is brave!"

"St. Michael is above, His Majesty's divine power is simply breathtaking!"

Richard smiled easily at the praise of the crusaders, and he threw the spear back to Earl Fuller: "Clean up this brute, and look at his head, it should be enough for me to eat." ”

Europeans have a tradition of eating large birds, peacocks, swans, are excellent ingredients, this falcon is so majestic, to eat, can be described as a very face-saving thing.

He then commanded the Crusaders: "I have removed the eyes and ears of the Saracens, but this also means that the enemy has discovered our tracks, and is likely to send someone to meet us, so we will rest in place and recharge our batteries here until the enemy arrives, and then"

He raised one hand and squeezed his five fingers fiercely: "Eat them in one bite!" ”

"Heavenly Father willing, we will win this battle!"

"Victory!"

The Crusaders cheered, many of them, who had just arrived in the Holy Land, had heard a lot of the achievements boasted by the local Crusaders, and felt that the Saracens were just that strong, and they couldn't wait to make a difference.