Crusade against the Pope

Chapter 185 I only want Mount Tabor! (Two in one)

The fire was put out, but the attack by a dozen Turks caused irreparable damage to the Orthodox village.

Amid the groans and sobs of pain from the surrounding peasants, Gairis came up to the three Turks.

The rainy season has arrived in Palestine, and dark clouds often block the moonlight in the night sky.

These Turks could not see Gairis's face clearly, but his eyes, which seemed to be emitting fluorescent light, left a deep impression on him.

Just now, just now!
And this man was like a god or demon, appearing in every corner of the village. When he drew his sword, people and horses... were easily torn to pieces.

They survived because the villagers stabbed them off their horses with sticks.

After swallowing their saliva, the Turks heard a young man next to the man ask in Turkic: "What tribe are you from? Where are you from?"

A Turkic man opened his mouth and said something with a panicked look mixed with hysteria.

Gellis looked at Alexandros, and the boy replied, "He said 'devil'!"

With a frown, Garys cut the Turk's carotid artery, and blood splattered onto the face of another Turk nearby.

Perhaps because of the passion in his face, the Turkic man became much more honest. At least he could understand and speak human language.

Alexandros translated the Turkish text and Gairis understood its meaning.

"That is to say, there is a 2,000-strong Turkic army on the north side of Mount Tabor, preparing to attack the St. Macovian Monastery on the mountain?"

"And this group of people are actually part of the scout force, coming here under the cover of night to earn some extra money for themselves?"

"Yes."

In Gelis's mind, a rough map of Palestine emerged.

For the time being, Mount Tabor was located in the Jaffa territory, southwest of the Sea of ​​Galilee, only two days' infantry march from Acre.

If a battle breaks out here, it should be easier to attract Saladin's attention.

"Tallos, you must go to the camp immediately and inform Balian and the others of the situation."

"Alexandros, Schiller, you two come with me, we have a lot to do tonight."

"Yes!"

The two Paladins answered in unison.

As for the two survivors, Gellis handed them over to the survivors in the village.

……

At night, Gellis traveled through Palestine with Alexandros and Schiller.

According to the prisoners, there was a temporary camp nearby, which was the gathering place for their scouts.

For Garys, if he wanted to surprise the enemy on the north side of the mountain, he had to eliminate the enemy's scout troops.

Make the other person deaf and blind.

Garys and his two companions were not riding horses, nor were they wearing chain mail. Instead, they were wearing armor and marching in the valley between the mountains.

As they approached the woods, Gellis, relying on his experience from his previous life, taught Alexandros and Schiller how to sneak.

Lift the leg you are striding with, and lower it gently, keeping your weight on the leg that is touching the ground.

If necessary, half-kneel on the ground to lower your center of gravity, and use one hand to clear away debris such as branches on the ground to avoid making any noise and share the weight of your body.

Although these operations waste a lot of time and energy, it is worth it.

A camp with a lit campfire was not far from sight.

When Garys and his men arrived here, no enemy noticed their presence.

With a little help from the distribution characteristics of photoreceptor cells, it is not difficult to get clearer and more obvious night vision.

There were about seven or eight people in this camp, and there were no fences or walls.

It can be seen that it is indeed just a temporary place for scouts to spend the night.

There were still some tents with no one lying in them. Counting the empty spaces, the number was roughly equivalent to the number of Turks who attacked the Greek village at night.

In addition to the two Turks, there were twelve slaves tied up near the campfire.

It can be seen that these slaves were part of the harvest of this group of Turks.

Alexandros took a deep breath. In a sense, he had experienced the same scene before.

Gailis patted him on the shoulder and pointed to a tent from which a faint light was still coming out.

Alexandros nodded to indicate that he understood the situation, and then everyone assigned their combat tasks and prepared to launch an attack on the camp.

Sometimes dark clouds cover the moonlight, making the earth pitch dark.

Alp stared at the crackling fire, silently keeping watch at night. Beside him were Arsalan and the twelve bastards.

The Turks, or Turkic peoples, were spread across the Eurasian land bridge during this era.

It connects the Three Qins in the east and Asia Minor in the west.

As a nation with a strong nomadic character, the Turks have a tradition of using slaves.

The demand for slaves forced warriors like Alp to attack again and again.

As for the good and evil of slavery?

Warriors like Alp had never considered this.

Because this is the way their ancestors have lived.

The weak eat the strong.

Alp noticed some sound, he quickly stood up and looked in the direction of the sound.

It was the sound of a whistling wind.

"who!"

As he shouted this, Alp felt a chill on his neck, and then he seemed to lose the feeling in his limbs.

Then a feeling of weightlessness came over him, and his thoughts began to become sporadic. It was not until this time that he realized that his head had fallen off his head.

Such an attack was easy for Garys.

The two Paladin followers also blocked the way and stopped those who wanted to escape on horseback.

They didn't let any escape.

When the morning light once again filled the world, Balian saw Garys leaning against a tree trunk.

Having worked hard for half the night, Garys is now resting his eyes.

After hearing Balian's footsteps, Gellis slowly opened his eyes, "I don't want to know what happened; I just want to know when we will take Mount Tabor."

Garys gave full command of the army to Balian. Now he needs to have a good rest.

……

As autumn turns to winter, the winter in Palestine is actually not suitable for fighting.

Because the continuous rain extinguished the enthusiasm of all warmongers.

The lack of food will also affect the soldiers' fighting enthusiasm.

Fortunately, there are countless villages in the land of Palestine.

Those were ready-made supply points. Relying on the food collected from nearby villages, thousands of soldiers roamed freely across this land.

And thanks to Allah, although there have been dark clouds overhead in recent days, it has never rained.

However, Batur, the Turkic Emir, was hastily awakened by his own guards before he woke up naturally.

"It's bad, sir! Just to the south, just to the south! An enemy camp appeared a few hundred steps away!"

He originally wanted to scold his guards for not knowing the rules, but when the news about the enemy camp came out, Batur was suddenly awakened.

He casually put on a coat, rushed out of the tent, came to the high place of his own camp, and looked towards the south in the direction pointed by the guards.

Just over there, less than 400 steps away, there were twenty or thirty horse-drawn carriages, relying on the terrain of the mountain, forming an arc-shaped formation.

In addition, some soldiers walked out of the chariot formation, as if they were planning to dig another trench in front of the chariot formation.

"No, this! Damn it! Are those scouts blind? The enemy is so close and no one came to report it!"

"waste!"

"Bastard!"

"shit!"

Batur got up cursing, and when he opened his eyes he gave himself a big surprise.

Holy shit! Less than 400 steps?! These days, longbows can shoot at about 150 steps, which is within three arrows’ reach.

However, what made Batur feel relieved was that the scale of the opponent's convoy was not that large.

It is estimated that there are less than a thousand people. The number of soldiers under his command is twice that of the enemy, so it can be said that he has the advantage.

Just attack and everything will be fine!
The maximum range of a medieval longbow usually does not exceed 200 steps.

The gravity catapult made by the Arabs, also known as the Huihui cannon, had a maximum range of no more than 300 steps.

It can be said that in the Middle Ages, except for some guys who tried their best to pile up the pulling force of the crossbow, there would be no projectile weapon that could cause effective damage at a distance of 400 steps.

Therefore, although Batur was shocked and angry, he was not too frightened and was able to organize his army calmly.

Half of the soldiers under his command were Turkic light cavalry, and the other half were infantry.

According to Batur's experience, this kind of chariot barrier is difficult to conquer.

But as long as they are not in a hurry for success, the soldiers in the chariot camp actually lack the ability to counterattack.

In a situation where the enemy force is twice as large as theirs, and relying on the superior rain of arrows, the performance of this chariot barrier cannot be said to be useless, but it can only be said to delay death.

After all, it's 2000 against 1000, and they are all nomadic light cavalry. It's time to let the Franks on the opposite side witness what "arrows raining down" means!
Hundreds of Turkic light cavalry rushed out.

At the same time, nearly a thousand infantrymen formed a line and slowly advanced under Batur's command.

Then, in a place where Batur could not hear, words that he could not understand were being shouted loudly.

"Charge! 5 ounces!"

"Target! The northeastern cavalry group!"

"Distance! One hundred steps!"

"Elevation! mil 1-50!" The use of artillery, or the use of weapons, is ingrained in Garys' mind, no matter in his past or present life.

The overly complicated 21st century artillery commands were something that Gellis himself felt was unnecessary.

However, some concepts of artillery from later generations are still very effective in this era.

Clear and concise commands from the gunner help the artillerymen operate the artillery efficiently and accurately.

Different mil-angles are used at different distances, which helps the shells to land accurately so that they don’t fly over people’s heads or fall to the ground prematurely.

As for the so-called mil angle, it is actually another way to calculate the angle.

In military science, 360/1 of a circle, or 1 degree, is a very large number and is not enough for precise control.

An acute triangle with an angle of 1 degree will be 1 meters wide at a distance of 1000 meters and 17.45 meters wide at a distance of 500 meters.

The error range of more than ten meters, dozens of meters, or even hundreds of meters is extremely terrifying for artillery in later generations.

Therefore, if you issue commands directly using degrees without adding a decimal point, the error will be very large. Adding a decimal point will make the command complicated.

Using one tenth of a degree or one hundredth of a degree also faces similar problems: it is either too large or too small.

Therefore, in military science, all countries have adopted the secret position system.

英、美确定以周角的1/6400为1密位，也就是将圆的360度，切成了6400份。

The Eastern Bloc represented by the Soviet Union, including China, determined that 1/6000 of the circumference was 1 mil, which means that the 360 ​​degrees of the circle were divided into 6000 parts, which also means that 1 mil is equal to 0.06 degrees.

The secret number is written by drawing a short line between the hundreds and tens digits. For example, the secret number 7 is written as "0-07", which is read as "zero, zero seven", and the secret number 478 is written as "4-78", which is read as "four, seven eight".

[Elevation angle! 1-50 degrees! ]

The meaning of this command is to raise the muzzle by 9 degrees.

Through a mechanical muzzle-lifting device, even a medieval farmer who had just learned to read could easily and quickly adjust the muzzle height by a few degrees.

As for [Charge! 5 ounces!], it is the weight of a standard package of medicine.

Because of the cumbersome process of loading artillery in this era, Garys put the charging instruction first.

The devil is often in the details, and Garys is a person who pays great attention to details.

He told the soldiers under his command the experiences from his previous life in great detail.

"Light it up! Fire it up!"

There was a dull sound of cannon fire, and five cannons mounted on carriages spewed out flames from their muzzles, followed by five projectiles that fell into the cavalry formation.

Because the cavalry was relatively loose, the five shells only hit two horses and one Turkic cavalryman.

The horses and Turks who were hit in the head and chest were killed instantly.

But the enemy's numbers were too great and the horses' hooves shook the earth.

Most of the Turks did not realize what was happening. They only heard a loud noise coming from the chariot camp in the distance, and then something seemed to fly over.

Only a few people saw the horrifying scene.

The Turkic cavalry were still charging, and they did not seek to rush directly into the chariot camp.

On the contrary, these Turkic cavalrymen took out their short bows one after another, and when they were about 30 steps away from the chariot camp, they drew their bows and arrows, ready to shoot at the soldiers in the chariot camp.

Although those chariot barriers could provide a certain degree of protection, the difference in numbers made Batur firmly believe that he had the advantage.

Even though the killing effect of the Frankish infantry crossbows was relatively stronger than that of the light cavalry's arrows, the number could make up for all the differences.

However, what these light cavalrymen did not know was that before they charged, several artillery commanders issued the following instructions:
"Charge! 5 ounces!"

"Reload! Shotgun!"

The production of cannons was a very troublesome task. Even if all the blacksmiths in Arnon County worked together, they could only produce a total of 12 cannons of two specifications.

The difference between these two types of artillery lies mainly in their caliber and multiples of caliber, which makes them have different effects when firing different projectiles.

One that can shoot farther, is more accurate, and has a smaller caliber, just a small cannon with a caliber of about 4cm.

The other type shoots closer and is very inaccurate, but has a larger caliber and can be filled with more lead bullets or stones in addition to conventional projectiles.

"Light it up! Fire it up!"

In an instant, there were several loud noises, and seven cannons fired at the same time like roaring beasts.

The roar of artillery fire was deafening. Nearly a thousand lead bullets poured down like a storm, instantly drowning dozens of Turkic cavalry who passed by the chariot formation.

Almost in an instant, the sound of war horses' hooves and the roar of artillery fire intertwined to form a symphony of death.

Lead bullets tore through the air, sweeping through the Turkic cavalry with sharp whistling sounds. Blood splattered everywhere, screams rang out one after another, and the faces of those cavalrymen were instantly cut into a bloody mess.

The uninjured horses, after hearing the loud noise at close range, became panicked for a moment, disobeyed commands, and began to run wildly in fear!
They screamed in fear and fled in all directions. The chaotic scene swept away like a tidal wave.

As for the horses in the fort, although they were a little restless, they were still strong during the previous artillery training.

These horses had heard the sound of artillery fire many times at close range, and were constantly comforted by their owners, so they remained calm.

The smell of sulfur and gunpowder was mixed with the smell of blood for the first time in this Palestinian land.

Brought the baptism of iron and blood.

Steel! Gunpowder! Faith!

Then, a large number of arrows were shot from the chariot formation. Balian commanded the archers to shoot at the Turkic cavalry who had not reacted as quickly as possible.

Although the arrows thrown from the chariot camp could not be called a rain of arrows, the cavalrymen were in a state of confusion or were eager to calm their mounts and had no ability to fight back.

"Charge! 5 ounces!"

"Target! Northeastern infantry group!"

"Distance! Two hundred steps!"

"Elevation angle! 2-50 mils!"

"Light it up! Fire it up!"

There was another dull burst of artillery fire, followed by five iron bullets that streaked across the sky and landed in Batur's infantry formation.

Several Muslim archers and infantrymen were hit without warning, with fatal blows to the head and chest, killing them instantly.

Suddenly, blood gushed out like a fountain, dyeing the surrounding land red.

As for the other few soldiers who were hit and barely survived, their limbs literally exploded under the impact of the shells.

The iron balls, with a diameter of about 40 mm, are propelled by 5 ounces, or about 150 grams, of gunpowder. They can still tear apart any flesh and metal armor at a distance of 200 steps.

Not many people died, because even though the bullets hit the dense infantry formation, they were too small and the gunpowder load was insufficient.

It is impossible to achieve the effect of a single bombardment of the Bloody Alley in later generations.

But the unknown is the greatest fear.

In the eyes of the onlookers, at that moment, more than a dozen people fell down in vain, and all they could hear was the sound of flesh exploding.

After a moment or two, he heard the sound of an unidentified object breaking through the air, and after another moment, he heard a dull sound coming from the distance.

What happened? Not only Batur, but the entire 2,000-man army was in a bewildered and helpless situation.

The wails and screams of the fallen soldiers seemed so real and yet so otherworldly.

The fear of the unknown hangs over countless people.

They could not advance, retreat, or disperse. For a moment, there was a strange silence except for the groans of the wounded.

Nearly half a minute passed and Batur did not take any effective countermeasures.

The weapons used by the enemy were beyond his understanding, and for a moment the Turkic man fell into a state of brain failure.

These consecutive attacks only caused dozens of casualties, which seemed insignificant to an army of two thousand people.

But fear is like a plague. Once it spreads, it cannot be contained by human power.

The casualties of just a few dozen people were enough to shake the soldiers led by Batur.

what can we do about it?

From experience, it was probably caused by the enemy's projectile weapons.

The best way to deal with enemy projectiles is to rush into the enemy camp as quickly as possible and enter the melee.

Yes,

The enemy is protected by a car barricade!

"Charge the entire army!"

Batur gave the order, but facing the solid chariot barrier, the light cavalry under his command were not willing to jump in fearlessly!
Through the line of carriages, the cavalrymen under his command could see the dense forest of spears in the enemy camp.

There are not only spears, but also many sickle-shaped weapons.

Obviously, any light cavalry that rashly charged into the chariot camp would end up being attacked by a group of people!

This means they will sacrifice their lives for victory in the battle!
Everyone comes out to make a fortune, but if they die, what’s the point of making a fortune!

Everyone has been robbing so many things these days, wouldn't it be a big loss to lose your life at this time? !
No one obeyed Batul's orders.

In fact, the second round of shotgun shells had already been loaded in the chariot camp. During this period, the continuous arrows and crossbow arrows were also weakening the fighting will of the light cavalry.

Accompanied by another round of shotgun baptism.

Finally, some of the Turkic light cavalrymen could no longer hold back and were the first to flee.

The pressure suddenly reached a critical value.

The broken window effect is applicable at this moment.

Rout, infighting, trampling on each other...all kinds of bad things happened in such a moment.

It's out of control!
It was also at this time that the chariots that formed the chariot camp changed their formation.

A dozen elite knights, along with hundreds of cavalrymen, rushed out of the chariot camp.

More than five hundred infantrymen wearing cotton armor or chain mail filed out and followed closely behind!
These six or seven hundred people launched a charge against the Turks, whose army was three times their size!
Ta da, da da,

The sound of horse hooves resounded across the land again.
The sound of the horses' hooves this time was much duller than those of the light cavalry, and the density of the hooves was not high, but this meant...

"Deus vult!"

Fate is such...

　I will add more chapters to repay the monthly ticket when I am free on the weekend.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)