kingdom of nations

Chapter 152 Breakout
Where are the people you brought?

Faced with this question, even Kamal, whom his political enemies had always called an old fox, was taken aback. Indeed, in Apollo, only a few people could be more perceptive than him, but none could be as decisive as him. What happened after the Sultan's coffin was first carried out of the south gate of Apollo Castle had already given him an ominous premonition.

Such a solemn and grand event was actually not difficult to handle; they had scholars and scriptures, and Nur ad-Din had even made arrangements for himself during his lifetime.
Even so, they still made a mess of it—you see, at times like these, even the most unruly vizier or emir would hold their breath and bow their heads in submission, not only out of respect for the monarch and the deceased, but also to avoid being questioned and attacked by the masses.

As for what happened during the first funeral procession—Kamal didn't see much trace of human intervention in it, but even if it wasn't a conspiracy, as one of the successors, they should have considered that, given Sultan Nur ad-Din's prestige among the people, and in a time inevitably influenced by past traditions and the Isaacs and Christians, such a thing was possible.

Not only were they completely unprepared beforehand, but even when the first signs appeared, they remained as slow-witted and helpless as pigs, only concerned with their own safety. If they were on the battlefield, he had no doubt that they would abandon their father's coffin, the people, and the army to flee.

The funeral the next day disappointed him even more. It was the Great Vichir and the great scholar who came forward to correct the mistake, not any of the three princes. If they were still young and inexperienced, what about the King of Arazarus? What about the young knight who came with him? They had just defeated Sultan Nur ad-Din's tens of thousands of troops not long ago.

Can these two useless idiots really lead the Saracens against the Crusaders?

When Amalric I died during the expedition, Kamal was relieved, believing it to be further proof that the Saracens were blessed by God, since Nur ad-Din was already old. Amalric I, however, was in his prime, and his death not only led to the failure of the Second Crusade in Egypt but also foreshadowed the decline of Arazari and other Christian nations.

After all, his successor, a young man barely an adult, contracted leprosy. Even with the revelation of the prophet and the blessing of God, his illness had not gone away. How many more years could he live? Or could he really lead an army to fight against the Saracens? This undoubtedly gave the Saracens a chance to catch their breath after Nur ad-Din's death.

He didn't want to say it, but he had to. He even considered that among Nur ad-Din's three sons, there wasn't necessarily another Sultan like the Light of Faith (Nur ad-Din). He just needed a ruler who could maintain the status quo. He was only in his fifties and could simply wait quietly for a new Sultan to come of age before assisting him.

Unfortunately, while those two princes were quite incompetent in dealing with outsiders, they were as cunning and ruthless as jackals when dealing with their own people. Their methods were extremely brutal; they simply divided people into two categories: those who were useful and those who were not, and disposed of the ones who were not useful.

If you question them, they might confidently say that their father, Nur ad-Din, did the same. But they fail to consider that Sultan Nur ad-Din was a universally acknowledged, brave, and wise monarch. As long as he was alive, even after the great defeat at the Sea of ​​Galilee, no emir or vizier would dare to disobey his orders.

Look at that Kurdish uncle and nephew pair. When Shirku and Saladin were in Syria, they were considered to be in high positions of power and had made great military achievements. Shirku was the governor of Damascus. Even with such authority and achievements, after Shirku became the Grand Vizier of the Fatimid Caliph Atid, he still did not dare to approach Nur ad-Din.

They knew very well that as soon as Nur ad-Din saw them, he would order his soldiers to capture them and execute them, and not a single soldier in their army would raise a weapon against the Sultan for them.

The two princes only saw the seemingly dazzling but actually illusory glory floating on the water's surface. They were captivated by it and yearned for it, unaware of the turbulent eddies and profound meanings hidden beneath the surface. Ironically, because they were Nur ad-Din's sons, they had quite a few supporters, whether they were genuinely loyal or simply wanted to use them as puppets.

Kamal knew that if he were willing to humble himself, choose one of these two idiots, kneel before them, and kiss a corner of their robes, he could not only save his life and his family, but also potentially rise higher, perhaps even becoming the Grand Vizier. But the thought of having to clean up the mess left by the "Sultan" on the throne countless times in the future made him feel nauseous.

His decision was right.

If he chooses the eldest or second prince, then he will now have to go against his conscience to deal with his former colleagues. They may not be friends, or even enemies, but in any case, the only ones who will be seen as thorns in the side by the two princes are the most upright ministers and generals.

Some of them were not originally in Apol (serving as governors and officials in other cities), but returned here to complete the final step of their loyalty. They probably did not expect that simply by refusing the princes' offers, they would face fierce persecution. Or perhaps they expected to be dismissed and expelled, but they never expected to lose their lives.

But it is clear that someone around the prince was instigating him, perhaps the vultures that were waiting to devour their flesh.

Kamal was able to gather these people together because they had already been imprisoned in the Apol Castle jail. Even so, several ministers who were too outspoken had either been killed by the guards in the conflict or resolutely followed Nurdin to the underworld.

Kamal didn't even have time to mourn them—he first sent his family out of Apol, and then used every means at his disposal to rescue them from prison. Fortunately, at this time, the followers of the eldest and second princes were still fighting amongst themselves in important places such as the royal hall, the throne room, and the palaces of the second and third wives, and could not attend to them for the time being.

Chaos reigned within the castle, and fear gripped the crowd. In this climate, gold became the most persuasive asset—after all, the outcome of the two princes' struggle was uncertain, and no one knew who would become Sultan. If Kamal were to speak of promotions and rewards to the guards now, they would only scoff, but gold was different. Gold could buy many things, especially when many were pessimistic about the future.

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As the Christian knights excitedly rushed into the adjacent palace to seize gold and jewels, Camar brought in the survivors. Cesar glanced at them quickly and noticed that they were almost all men, young and old. Some ministers had completely white hair and beards, but they seemed to be in good spirits.

The biggest problem was with those who had been tortured. Cesar saw some obvious mutilations—he knew there were also people with extraordinary abilities among the Saracens, these people were called scholars. Among the Saracens, healing and fighting were not strictly separated; a person could be a doctor or a warrior: "Are there any 'scholars' among you?" "Yes," Kamal said. Without these people, he wouldn't have been able to bring those who had been tortured out. The damaged limbs couldn't be found, but at least the bleeding had stopped, and they could move on their own.

“Once we start running, we may never stop,” Cesar reminded Camar. Camar nodded silently; the forgiveness and assistance from these Christian knights was already an unexpected bonus.

Before stepping through that door, he thought it would take a long time to persuade the young knight with his silver tongue. After all, the latter should have been overjoyed to welcome his father and mother, but instead he was faced with such terrible news.

Kamal brought him the remains of two relatives not as a favor, but as compensation. He was not a fool and never thought of using this to bargain. He only hoped that it could slightly alleviate the blow brought by this devastating news. He held this hope because he had observed that Cesar had been very rational and calm throughout the journey.

Even if he were to be consumed by rage over the death of his parents, Kamal was prepared to extinguish his hatred with his own blood, hoping that he would soon remember his promise to the Christian King Baldwin IV—that he himself and his knights were more important than the dead.

He never expected that Cesar would make a decision so quickly and accurately.

Cesar, however, had already left all his complicated thoughts behind, whether it was the death of Count Josephine III of Edessa and his wife, the Saracens' plea for help, or the reckless actions of Sultan Nur ad-Din's son.

Although he hadn't experienced it firsthand, he had seen it countless times in history books—power struggles that erupted and intensified instantly could destabilize a city or even a country at any moment. And since they were both heretics and enemies, they couldn't possibly gain the protection of either side; instead, they were likely to become the target of everyone's ire. What they needed to do now was get out of here as quickly as possible; everything else could be dealt with later.

He had to thank Kamal. If Kamal had only brought that sad news, he would have had only two choices. The first was to risk the annihilation of his entire army to search for two corpses in this palace complex, which was nine arrasas in size, without any definite location or obvious features; the second was to abandon everything, take nothing, and leave immediately.

If that's the case, upon returning to Alassa, he will face countless accusations, and even the knights who escaped unscathed will resent him, because he sees them as cowards who would rather endure such humiliation than let them escape from Apollo.

Kamal has now solved his biggest problem. Their only, and necessary, choice is to leave immediately.

This place is about to become a meat grinder.

Cesar shared Kamal's view; he didn't believe Nur ad-Din's two sons could control their emirs and Fatahs, and their soldiers were unlikely to be bound by public opinion and law like soldiers a thousand years later. Even with stern admonitions, would they remember anything when they saw women, gold, silver, and silk?
Once plundering, rape, and killing begin, the evil in people's hearts will be amplified without limit. At that time, let alone the Sultan's son, even if Sultan Nur ad-Din were to return to the world and stand before them, they might still swing their swords at him.

Just as everything was nearly ready, the knights returned. Camar looked over and saw that they had indeed followed Cesar's orders, taking only valuable jewels and gold coins. None of them had taken any women with them, although a few bold female slaves followed behind them, begging the knights to take them away.

But these knights were so heartless that they even drew their swords in response to their entanglement. The reason they didn't immediately fall into a pool of blood was because the knights were already preparing to depart and didn't want to cause any more trouble.

"If I were you, I would hide as soon as possible," Kamal said, but that was all he said in that brief sentence.

He brought about forty men, making forty-one including himself. It wouldn't have been difficult for the Christian knights to take them away; they could have just brought half of their squires or one more person on their horse.

This meant that they would have to transfer some of their spoils to other knights or packhorses.

The Saracens were somewhat nervous; even if they weren't Fatah before, they had dealt with more than one Fatah. They knew, of course, that the Christian knights, like the Saracen soldiers, were extremely protective of their personal property. Moreover, their sacrifice wasn't to rescue Christians, but to rescue a group of former enemies. To their surprise, not a single knight protested or refused; their absolute obedience made the subsequent actions flow smoothly and swiftly.

Less than an hour had passed when Camar was pulled onto the horse by Cesar, and he was still somewhat dazed.

The young knight before him bowed his head, and Cesar prayed softly. Then people saw silver melt, or stars pour down, and a glittering river flowed through them, covering each Christian knight with a layer of chainmail like dragon scales.

The Sultan's high-ranking officials turned and looked around, finding many others doing the same thing. Yes, without exception, a miracle was taking place in this tranquil courtyard. They had never seen such a magnificent sight. How God loved this handsome young man! This was a glory that even Sultan Nur ad-Din had never experienced.

(End of this chapter)