Chapter 178 Death is swallowed up by victory
"Whenever you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then you will know that her desolation is near. At that time, those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains; those who are in the royal capital must leave; and those who are in the country must not enter the city. For this is a day of vengeance, that everything that is written may be fulfilled. 】
——"Luke" 21:20-23
After the messenger left, Balian glanced at the people in the conference hall, including Patriarch Irakli, who couldn't help but lower their heads slightly.
This is not only because Balian has the highest rank among the existing nobles, but also because he has shown his own character that is enough to make others ashamed.
Long before the siege began, Balian had always emphasized that Jerusalem was a dead place and that there were no soldiers to save it, and tried to lead the Franks in the city to evacuate as soon as possible.
However, except for a few rational people, the vast majority fell into an unspeakable despair.
Many of them even felt that even if they died, they would die in Jerusalem.
Of course, when Saladin's army really surrounded the Holy City, as a human being, his desire for life overcame the self-righteous "martyrdom" plot.
However, Balian knew that Jerusalem was a dead place, but he still crossed the abyss and entered the city regardless of the risk.
It was clear that Saladin had opened his eyes to Balian and allowed him to leave Jerusalem with his wife and children.
But Balian still chose to stay in the city.
The knights in the city had a backbone, Patriarch Irakli, and they were relieved after seeing Balian.
"Father, you came back in time at this juncture." A knight said flatteringly.
Balian smiled helplessly: "Then pray to Heavenly Father, and pray that we can survive this disaster safely."
"May Heavenly Father protect us and win this battle." Another knight said.
But after Balian suppressed his smile, he showed an extremely calm expression and announced to the people around him: "No, this battle will be lost, so I decided to surrender."
The council hall fell silent for a moment, with only the crackling of torches and a hint of blood filling the air.
All the knights, including Irakli, were in disbelief.
The former pillars of the kingdom, role models of knights, and people who supported the king, are now taking the lead in surrendering?
"In this world, there is no kingdom that is immortal, and there is no temple that cannot be demolished. Only the temple of the human heart can be passed down from generation to generation..."
"Israel's temple has been demolished time and time again by the Father. Every time the Jewish temple is demolished, what is the fate of those Jews who try to resist?"
While speaking, Balian looked at Irakli, looking at the patriarch, staring at the uncertainty on his face.
The knights have no reason to care about history, but the church must remember history.
History is the past of the church and the orthodox claim of the church. Therefore, the church must record history and tell past history to future generations.
The Jews repaired the temple twice in succession, and the first time it was destroyed by King Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon.
The book "Lamentations of Jeremiah" is left in the Bible, recording the tragic situation at that time.
【He sent down fire from above and penetrated into my bones;】
【He set a snare under my feet and caused me to fall;】
【He makes me lonely and melancholy all day long. 】
After that, after the Jews returned to their homeland, they rebuilt the Temple, which was historically called the Second Temple.
In 70 AD, the general of the Roman Empire, later Emperor Titus, suppressed the Jewish uprising, captured Jerusalem, and destroyed the Second Temple, leaving only the "Wailing Wall".
Every time the temple was destroyed, it meant a massacre of the city and the despair of the Jews.
"Do you want us to fall into that kind of plight?"
"Send a messenger to them and tell Saladin that we are willing to surrender if he promises to let us leave safely."
Balian recalled what Garris had said, and he repeated those words to those present.
[Don’t make unnecessary sacrifices. You should remember: it is the people who own the land, not the land who owns the people. 】
[Only one who is supported by the people is still a king even if he is not crowned; one who only has land but no people is not worthy of being called a country. 】
[You should remember that a lonely city cannot be defended for long because it has no help from outside and no food within. However, Saladin is not a bloodthirsty person, and you can make peace with him. 】
[If he asks for ransom, you should give it; if he refuses, you can threaten him and use the Muslims and holy places in the city as hostages, but do not commit massacre, because the hatred in the world should not increase anymore. 】
——Excerpt from the first chapter of "The Book of Balian"
For today's Balian, the Holy City of Jerusalem may be important, but what is more important is the temple in that person's heart.
Rather than letting the blood of the Franks stain the city of Jerusalem red, it would be better to move the population here to a suitable place and wait for the opportunity to plot again.
After all, in this era of Palestine, land is not actually scarce. What is really scarce is population.
Saladin had tens of millions of subjects, so he could be defeated again and again.
The Franks numbered less than one-fiftieth of that.
If you want to rebuild the Kingdom of Jerusalem, then every person is precious.
When Balian expressed his thoughts, both the knights and Patriarch Irakli agreed.
"But, there is a problem..." But someone still raised objections.
"What's wrong?"
"Saladin sent a messenger to order us to surrender, but..." The knight was a little unable to say the next words.
"But they cut off the messenger's nose and ears and sent them back." Irakli finished what the knight had not said.
The conference hall fell silent again. The torch that illuminated the hall swayed dimly, reflecting on Balian's face, revealing an extremely distorted face.
The scars on his face twisted like centipedes, and the fists in his hands loosened and tightened, tightened and loosened again. He took deep breaths again and again, and in the end there was only a long sigh.
"Forget it..."
"Go and prepare to hold on to the wall."
The cold wind suddenly rushed in from the window, and the light of the torch shook violently and almost went out.
Balian's chest was pressed tightly by invisible weight.
The bloody smell that filled the air was no longer a vague shadow, but a thick liquid seeping out from the cracks in the wall, forcing its way into his nasal cavity and corroding every breath he took.
Once upon a time, the hall he was in was flooded with blood around his ankles; once upon a time, the streets of Jerusalem were blocked by corpses; once upon a time, Jerusalem was devastated and the smell of corpses rose to the sky...
"The blood debt is too deep and we cannot repay it. We can only beg for Saladin's promise to at least let his men stop massacring the city..."
"Arm all adult Frank men, and summon all the noble children and wealthy businessmen in the city. I will canonize them as knights."
When everyone else left the hall, Balian sat down weakly against a pillar. He heard some sounds and smelled thicker and thicker blood.
He lowered his head, eyes half-closed, and the entire space was shrouded in solidified blood.
Eighty-eight years ago, this was not the Temple Mount. At that time, it was called Al-Aqsa Mosque. It was the distant mosque in the Koran and the place where the Prophet Muhammad ascended to the seventh heaven at night.
Here, a flood was set off, and the blood of women and children gathered together.
……
Balian canonized all aristocratic children in the city who are over 16 years old, as well as men from wealthy merchant families, as knights.
He organized all the people to collect food and raised donations from the residents of the city, thereby raising funds for the war, or preparing a ransom.
In this extremely busy situation, a knight came to find Balian and told him that someone was looking for him.
"Your Majesty, I want to see you."
Balian was a little confused for a moment, but then he realized who his majesty was.
"I will go see Sibylla."
"By the way, where is she now?" Balian, who was about to walk out of the hall, turned back and asked the knight.
"Your Majesty, she is now in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre."
"Okay, I understand." Balian stepped out of the Knights Templar hall and walked down the mountain towards the Christian city.
The area of Jerusalem is about 0.9 square kilometers, the city wall is about 4.5 kilometers, and the average height of the city wall is 12 meters.
In this city, there were always 20,000 people gathered all year round, but now, due to the war, nearly 30,000 people have gathered.
As he walked through the streets, all kinds of messy prayers and curses entered Balian's ears, and the stench of garbage, feces and corpses penetrated his nose.
In his eyes, this former holy city was in devastation.
【Jerusalem committed evil and became abomination】
[Her filth was all over her dress, she never thought it would end like this]
When Balian arrived at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, it was already under strict guarding by some guards.
The Church of the Holy Sepulcher is considered to be Golgotha mentioned in the Bible. It is the place where Christ Jesus was crucified and where he was buried.
More than 1,100 years ago, Jesus was arrested, sentenced to death, and brought to this place to be crucified. He was executed between two thieves, with a humiliating sign hung around his neck - "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews."
At three o'clock that afternoon, Longinus pierced the Messiah's body with a spear to make sure he was dead, and blood and water gushed out from the wound.
Because that day was Friday and the Jewish Sabbath had begun, Jesus' body was temporarily stored in a nearby tomb until the anointing of his body was carried out after the Sabbath.
Three days later, when the Sabbath was over, several women took perfume and came to anoint His body. They found that Jesus' body was missing. An angel announced to them that Jesus had been resurrected.
After meeting the guards, a monk led Balian into the underground tomb in the church.
Dim light spilled in through the narrow cracks, forming beams of faint light beams that shone on the ground, which was filled with moist air.
Balian passed by the sarcophagi in this mausoleum, where the former kings of the Kingdom of Jerusalem were buried.
Through the lighted lamps, Balian could clearly see the patterns on the sarcophagi, as well as the stone tablets on the sarcophagi that recorded their deeds.
"Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep."
"As death came by one man, so also the resurrection of the dead came by one man."
"As in Adam all die, so in Christ all shall be made alive. In one moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, we Change too.”
"This corruptible must put on incorruption; this mortal must put on immortality; this corruptible must put on immortality; this mortal must put on immortality; then it is written" "Death is swallowed up in victory" will be fulfilled."
Balian recited in a low voice the passages in 1 Corinthians about the Passion of Christ in the past, and touched the sarcophagi with his hands.
Nowadays, the resurrection of the dead is no longer a lie. The Lord's body once again walks on the earth. When the Day of Judgment comes, these former kings will also wake up from this sarcophagus.
Barry paused as he passed one of the sarcophagi, where Baldwin IV was buried.
"How could the kingdom... fall into such a situation?"
The young man with the iron mask asked feebly. "Baldwin, we deserve this."
"Are you sure?"
"I'm sure."
"You made...a choice?"
"That's your choice."
Balian responded.
Taking a few steps forward again, he saw a woman sobbing on a small sarcophagus.
She is twenty-eight years old this year and is in the most charming and charming years for women.
That graceful figure is enough to captivate the soul, but at this moment, Balian has no time to appreciate such beautiful scenery.
In Balian's eyes, what he saw were the mistakes, cowardice and incompetence of Guy's royal power time and time again.
It was this couple who, because of their wrong decisions time and time again, pushed the Kingdom of Jerusalem to its current situation.
"You...can...kill, her."
"This way...there will be no obstacles..."
Balian's hand touched the hilt of his sword, but he did not pull out the sharp blade.
Instead, he whispered: "Baldwin, you really deserve to go to hell..."
"We...Anjou, the final ending...is hell."
"Because, that is, our home... we are all, children of the devil..."
"But Isabella won't. She has already made a covenant with God."
"I hope... so."
The shadow of the dead still covered the sky, and the former king seemed to be still alive.
Balian turned his attention to the small sarcophagus.
Inside was Baldwin V, the nephew of Isabella and the Leper King. Balian had carried the child and was crowned king in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher at Isabella's request.
"He is my dearest nephew, so Balian, can you help him?" Isabella's soft voice sounded in her ears.
Baldwin V is Isabella’s closest nephew, so isn’t Sibylla the Leper King’s closest sister?
The smell of blood has made Balian a little confused. It is difficult for him to distinguish between the true and false in this world, and he can only behave according to his own conscience.
Sibylla turned her head while sobbing. She noticed Balian's right hand holding the hilt of the sword, but did not react.
"Balian, are you here?"
"Yes."
“Is Heavenly Father punishing me now?”
"He is punishing us all."
"Why don't our prayers have any effect?"
"Our Heavenly Father will not condescend to listen to this noise in the city, for the stench of adultery, disgusting luxury, and unnatural sin stand in the way of bringing our prayers to our Lord."
Sin haunts them, the Franks, who falsely follow the names of gods and do the things of ordinary people. Shouting the name of faith, greedily seizing land and wealth, so the crusades again and again are full of blood and ugliness.
Balian and Sibylla talked a lot under the watchful eyes of the seven former kings.
Among them are those about the Leper King, about Isabella, and about Gareth.
With Guy now held hostage in the hands of Saladin, Balian also made a deal with Sibylla.
"He wants to abdicate, he must abdicate."
Sibylla's face was bitter, but she could only nod.
……
As time passed, Jerusalem lacked the rugged terrain of Karak.
After the siege equipment was complete, Saladin's army launched an attack from the direction of the Tower of David, the north gate of Jerusalem, and the Damascus Gate in the northwest.
Accompanied by dense rain of arrows, Saladin's warriors pushed heavy siege engines and siege towers as they approached the Holy City.
For six days, the ground outside the city was stained red with blood, and brutal siege battles were repeatedly staged. Each siege ended with heavy losses for Saladin's side.
Finally, under the joyful eyes of the Franks, Saladin put away the royal tent, and then in their desperate fear, recamped towards the Mount of Olives.
The Mount of Olives is located in the east of Jerusalem. There is a lack of attack gates here, making it difficult to effectively destroy Saladin's siege equipment.
The Franks could only watch helplessly as Saladin ignored their presence, prepared a large number of siege equipment, and watched helplessly as he sent out engineers to dig tunnels.
Projectile trebuchets, counterweight trebuchets, and traction trebuchets made low roars one after another.
Those sealed clay pots mixed with saltpeter and kerosene poured heavenly fire into the city.
Hundreds of kilograms of gravel fell on the city wall.
Saladin's engineers dug a large space under the walls of Jerusalem, propped up wood inside, and then poured kerosene over it.
With a little spark, the flames burned under the city wall.
Then the wood supporting the tunnel collapsed together, and the city wall above also collapsed.
This is where the real bloody battle begins.
Balian led the knights who could not be conferred for more than half a month and pressed his body and sword against the gap in the city wall.
The air is filled with anxiety and despair.
Priests paraded around the city barefoot to offer their final prayers to the Lord, and the women of the city dipped their children's hair in basins of cold water and then cut it off, in an attempt to extinguish the wrath of the Father through these penances.
"The LORD has purposed to tear down the walls of Zion; he has drawn the line, and will not withdraw his hand until it is destroyed." He makes the city and its walls mourn and fall together. 】
[At the beginning of every hour of the night, rise up and cry out, pouring out your heart like water before the Lord. Your children are starving and fainting in the streets, and you have to raise your hands to the Lord for their lives. 】
“Should a woman eat the child she has given birth to or the child she has nursed? 】
[No one will escape from the day of the LORD's wrath, no one will survive. My enemies have killed all the babies I rocked and raised. 】
——"Lamentations of Jeremiah"
When dawn came two days later, Balian walked out of Jerusalem alone.
In front of him stood Saladin's army of Saracens, and behind him lay the crumbling walls of the capital of the Last Kingdom.
Balian faced thousands of troops alone, and the blood stained on his body had completely covered up the color of the burqa itself.
The morning light shone on him, bringing a ray of blessing from the Holy Spirit to this lonely man.
He is fighting the same tide and is the enemy of the Islamic world. Behind him are countless sinners, begging for the forgiveness of the Father.
Everyone knows that he will definitely lose...
Because he is not the son of the Father, he cannot bear the sins of the world on himself.
"Saladin!" Balian shouted angrily.
"Is that enough? You want more!"
"I don't mind being stained with more sins! Killing more people!"
However, Qianjun never responded.
They just looked at the defender of Jerusalem in silence.
The heavy price paid in these days has forced these proud soldiers under Saladin to learn respect.
Saladin, escorted by his personal guards, came to Balian.
"If I say that your blood has not been shed enough, will you continue to resist?"
Compared with Balian who was bathed in blood, Saladin's clothes were neat and tidy, and he didn't look like he was on the battlefield.
Facing Sultan's question, Balian smiled, and the scars on his face twisted.
"Surrender, Balian, I can make sure you are safe."
Balian still shook his head. This was not enough. He was not here for this.
"Then, plus your queen?"
Balian clicked his tongue, this was not what he wanted.
"Not enough, far from enough. What I hope is that all the Franks in the city are safe."
"Everything is safe? Then who will pay the debt you owe?"
In the morning breeze, the sky was dyed red with corpses all over the place. Saladin's words awakened the long-dormant ghost here.
Those ghosts scrambled to get into the gaps in Balian's armor, soaking the cotton armor underneath.
Blood, endless blood, like a wave flooding the earth,
In the scorching sky, an eagle soared above Balian's head, holding a crossbow equipped with seven crossbow arrows in its talons.
It shouted in a hoarse voice: "Disaster is coming, Jerusalem! Franks, your retribution is coming!"
Those seven crossbow arrows are the seven deadly sins.
Balian squirmed his lips. He felt the burden, but he still spoke frankly.
"Whether it's more debts or more sins, you have to know that there are still many Muslims in the city. If you don't give the Franks peace, then let me die with those Muslims."
"Until then, I will bulldoze all holy places."
Saladin looked at Balian, and he walked around Balian twice as he did the last time they met in his tent.
"You are still the same as always, you don't know how to lie."
Still one update for two, and I will save some manuscripts now and start adding more updates on the weekend
(End of chapter)