In a crusader camp outside Damietta.

The fluttering blue background gold iris flag, as well as the red background three gold lion flags, are like two distinct torrents.

The news of the Saracens' formation of a large army to the west naturally could not be concealed from the crusaders, and everyone knew that a decisive battle to determine the ownership of Egypt was coming.

The Saracens were no longer willing to endure the encroachment of their territory on the Crusaders, who wanted to fight for the rest of their lives, rather than endure the harassment of the Saracen light horsemen who came and went, gnawing at the enemy's fortified castles one by one.

The news of the Crusaders and Saracens was not closed.

Egypt has many cities and is an important window for Mediterranean commerce, receiving a large number of Latin and Greek merchants every day.

The Venetians were almost at the end of their business with the Genoese, and they were not stingy in serving the pagans, and they could be seen in the courts of many Eastern monarchs.

As important partners of the Latin merchants, the two kings from Europe naturally became the most well-informed part of the crusaders.

After an impassioned speech, the army marched and crossed the Nile to the city of Semanud to join the Crusaders under the command of Lothar, with the two kings as a link.

Not all of these crusaders were loyal to the two kings, but many of them were new to the Holy Land, and some wanted to take refuge in Lothar.

But after Lothar left, they were undoubtedly the most honored men in Damietta, and naturally took their temporary command.

"You said that when we arrive in Semanud, how many of these people will choose to stay with us?"

"What do you mean?"

Philip was puzzled, "Do you think that the prestige of our two kings is not as good as that of Nalothar alone?"

Richard smiled contemptuously, "Don't think too highly of yourself, Your Majesty Augustus."

"Adil led his army from Rashid, the capital of the province of Buhaila, and counted the days, so that when we reached Semanud, they would at least be able to march to the city of Manhur, so that the place where we would finally fight was in the middle of the Nile Delta."

"Our current army, numbering nearly fifteen thousand, will be at least half as strong as the Saracens when combined with the crusaders under the command of Lothar in Semanud."

"This Lothar has an army of ten thousand?" Philip was puzzled again, "Where did he get so many people? Remember, not so long ago, wasn't he just a fledgling Frontier Count?"

Philip had also collected a lot of news about Lothar in the Holy Land these days, but it was still a bit staggering to hear the number "ten thousand".

You must know that the "army" that can be recognized by Richard does not include those conscripted old peasants who can't even hold a spear, at least they must have undergone a certain amount of military training, can wear basic armor suits, or can relax the standard as a crossbowman light infantryman.

In fact, in Albion and Gaul, the more powerful lords did not choose to recruit the cowardly and incompetent peasants to fight, believing that it would be better for them to work in the fields in peace than to send them to war, so as to support the knights and sergeants who were engaged in battle.

To be able to pull up such an army of 10,000 people has surpassed most kings in Europe.

You must know that in the original Battle of Hastings, William the Conqueror and the army of Harold, the king of Albion at that time, had 10,000 soldiers on both sides.

"Half of his own army, and half of his vassals, his followers' army."

Richard added, "At the time of the Battle of Galilee, he drew out tens of thousands of troops from a territory with a total population of no more than 100,000."

Philip counted the time and wondered, "It's only been half a year since he arrived in the Holy Land."

"Legend has it that Lothar has a unique discipline that can transform a peasant into a warrior in a month or less—I guess it's the potion effect."

Although Richard also sent people to inquire about this so-called "drill code", he did not believe that there was such a magical thing in this world.

Richard shrugged his shoulders: "Anyway, it's a fact anyway, Lothar's army is there, both in terms of equipment and combat effectiveness, it is very good, this has been tested in previous wars."

"Even if you say that, I still don't feel incredulous, this Marquis of Lothar, or a duke or something, captured a group of peasants, gangsters, outlaws to be knights for himself, this is the origin of the famous hussars, royal knights, and those armored iron horses?"

Richard rolled his eyes, "I don't believe it either, but that's the truth, Philip, don't look like a dirt bun who has never seen the world, this is not the demeanor of the most noble Augustus."

Both kings had a Janissary army that had been trained with a lot of money and did not skimp on potions, but even with the help of potions, they had been carefully selected warriors, not just a serf taken out of the field.

From a young age, the nobles had to receive military training, and their greatest daily leisure and entertainment was to ride horses to hunt wild beasts that might endanger their territory, even low-level monsters such as water ghosts.

This kind of hunting is not the same as the hunting activities held by big nobles like Lothar, it is a very daily activity, which is equivalent to the activity of later generations to open their mobile phones and play two games, and it is also an important source of meat for nobles.

The farmer had to toil day after day, eating grain like cattle and sheep, and not meat.

Even if they were allowed to hunt, hunters who specialized in hunting were good at nothing more than bows and arrows, and when war came, these hunters were often called up as light infantry for long-range support.

In this case, the gap between people is greater than the gap between humans and monkeys.

Lothar's "miraculous" military training method, in the eyes of outsiders, even if there is extraordinary power involved, still seems too mysterious.

Philip spread his hands, "Well, if this Lord of Lothar has the ability to turn a farmer into a warrior, then I wouldn't be surprised why he's so keen to please the lowly."

"That's why he's going to co-opt those heretics, heretics?"

Philip frowned, thought for a moment, and said, "Maybe it's more. Your grandfather, William the Conqueror, ruled Albion with 25,000 Normans with 1.5 million men, only to rebel one after another. The Egyptians were far more numerous than the Albions by five or even six times, and the Crusaders were only twice as numerous as the Normans brought by William the Conqueror."

He glanced at Richard, and there was a hint of banter in his voice: "It seems that this Marquis of Lothar is indeed a smart man, if it were you, I guess I would have to wait for them to rebel, and then raise the butcher's knife and kill the dark, right?"

Richard snorted coldly, "What's the use of entrapping those civilians? Do these civilians dare to take up arms and rebel against their lords in the defense of Lothar when the lords who rule over them, the powerful people of the land?"

Philip chuckled, "Is it possible that if the commoners were docile and obedient, Lothar wouldn't need so many nobles to help manage his territory?"

Philip, who preferred to appoint bureaucrats, had already begun to ponder the meaning of Lothar's series of initiatives.

Dividing the nobles, although it saves trouble and effort, but the legacy is endless.

When William the Conqueror defeated Albion, the first to raise the flag was the Earl of Boulogne, who fought alongside him at the Battle of Hastings, followed by a series of civil strife.

There are not a few precedents for vassals to carry banners and confront the monarch, or even replace them.

If all the subjects pay taxes to the king, even if there is no knight class, the lower lords, as the king himself, can use the money saved to build a standing mercenary army with a large number?

In other words, only the lower knightly class was retained, but the middle and lower class nobles were replaced by their own appointed, non-hereditary bureaucratic aristocrats.

Philip imagined to himself, well aware of the resistance that would come with doing so, but even more aware that once such a feat was accomplished, he would be "a nation."

...

The Crusaders of the East marched westward.

Semanud's X

The word army is also seizing the time to prepare for war.

Lothar, the generalissimo of the Crusaders, left the city of Semanoud early this morning, leaving only Curls here to coordinate the overall situation.