Chapter 251 The Death of Barbarossa
The current overall structure of the Second Kingdom is obviously problematic.
Rather, it is a blatant state of multiple shadow governments.
The nominal supreme leaders are still Guy and his wife, but the King's Landing Parliament has emptied the royal power, deprived the power from the king, and transformed it in the direction of the virtual king.
Due to Guy's own defeat at the Sea of Galilee, even the traditional aristocratic system began to abandon Guy and form their own parties.
At the same time, although the current highest authority is the King's Landing Parliament, which combines the upper and lower houses, the King's Landing Parliament itself does not have an executive agency. Instead, it relies on the seven departments of the royal government that are being reconstructed to implement the bill.
Even though the right to form a cabinet is nominally directly controlled by the parliament.
But almost all the middle management positions in the seven departments are inextricably linked to the Order, and quite a few of them are Transjordanians.
This means that the orders issued by the cabinet essentially depend on the religious order for execution.
In other words, no matter what the cabinet minister said, it was actually not as loud as Gareth's fart.
This situation is undoubtedly problematic and unsustainable.
But politics is the product of compromise. Under the wave of the Third Crusade, even Gareth does not want to stir up too many variables, allowing the Order to surface directly, or to truly figure out a suitable central structure.
Just make do with it and be patient. Anyway, the wave of the Crusades is coming quickly, but it is actually going away quickly.
During this process, Garris was also busy with something. He was sitting in his study, looking up a large amount of relevant information, as well as some reports handed over by Paladin.
Identify some situations.
For now, he has found some clues.
When Isabella walked into the study with a glass of drink, she saw Garris leaning on the chair with a tired look on his face.
"What's wrong?"
Isabella was quite concerned.
"We are indeed in a bit of a dilemma at the moment."
Garris said in a nonchalant manner, and took the drink handed over by Isabella. After taking a sip, the sufficient sugar content made people slightly excited, and their spirits improved a lot.
"Everyone knows that in the kingdom, the Franks are the rulers, and the Saracens are the ruled, so the Kingdom of Jerusalem is the country of the Franks, so when the Franks' country perishes, it will occupy the vast majority of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. What does it matter to the majority of Saracens?”
"For now, the Kingdom of Jerusalem has lowered taxes and increased political rights in exchange for the political position of the Saracens choosing the "silent majority."
"But the Crusaders came, and holy warriors like Gerald began to act."
"The higher the religious consciousness of the Franks, the easier it is for them to attack the Saracens. Especially now that Tire has a large number of German Crusaders stationed. They come to the Holy Land to fight in the name of God."
"For now, Barbarossa can still restrain his army, but as time goes by, sooner or later there will be a large-scale attack by the Franks on the Saracens. And once this happens..."
In fact, even if no large-scale attacks broke out, small-scale bloody conflicts have already occurred.
Many of the reports around Garris are about these things.
For example, some holy warrior insults Muslims in the street and prepares to draw his sword...
At the same time, the Saracens are not sheep. The bonds and closed communities based on the same beliefs have given the Saracens a quasi-military organization centered on the mosque.
I won’t say what the quality of this mobilization is, but at least the quantity is quite scary.
"If there is a vicious incident where the Franks attack the Muslim community, Isa, you will find that no matter what choice we make, it will inevitably reduce the favorability of some groups in the kingdom towards the government."
"Isa, based on a fair and just attitude, what will be the outcome of the trial of those Crusaders?" Garris asked.
"The Franks will think that we are not pious enough, or even contrary to God's will." Isabella replied softly.
"What if we let the Franks attack the Muslims?"
"The domestic Saracen community will unite to fight, and they will even seek help from the Saracen leader abroad, that is, Saladin."
We are indeed in a dilemma.
No matter how you think about it, as long as it is a conflict at the ethnic level, you cannot break out of this framework. In the eyes of the Franks, the royal government belongs to their own people. If their own people do not help their own people, but they still help the infidels, they must be corrupted by the infidels. .
In the eyes of the Saracens, they are the victims, and their revenge is just and natural...
"Let's take another extreme hypothesis. What would happen if Saladin was inside the kingdom and encouraged the Saracens to attack the Franks?"
"Or directly, what if he planned the attack but disguised it as being carried out by the Saracens in our territory?"
When Garris asked this question, Isabella's expression froze again.
"We must start the war as soon as possible. Now the German Crusaders have gathered in Tire, and Barbarossa has been quite fighting these days."
"Let's speed things up a bit."
"In addition, regarding the recruitment matters of internal propaganda, we must be clear that this is not a crusade, but a return of the Kingdom of Jerusalem to its homeland."
“Replace ethnic identity with national identity.”
"By the way, Khalid and the others also arrived a few days ago. In the next few days, to be precise, when the German Crusaders leave the city of Tire, I will personally organize a propaganda team to lower the kingdom's Internal hostility ”
……
"I know what everyone is worried about, but I want to say, is Saladin our Sultan?"
"The small jihad preached by the caliphate ended when Jerusalem was conquered! We must now fight for our own great jihad! Those who follow the Lord's orders and become the ones who please Allah are the great jihad!"
Qairis can be regarded as revisiting his old place, taking Khalid and several imams of the Hanafi school to preach in various Muslim settlements.
He had a long chat with the local village elders, and he was accompanied by some Arab officers who had already served as company commanders.
Let them tell their stories to the locals in Tire, or simply bring everyone together to chat about their family and friends, so that everyone feels friendly.
The purpose is to let the Saracens in the kingdom understand that the kingdom is changing now.
Not only are taxes collected less than before, but there is also room for advancement in terms of political status.
Jihad is a very special concept in Islam, literally meaning "effort" or "struggle". It has multi-layered meanings in Islam and can include individual spiritual endeavors as well as collective social or military actions.
Generally speaking, major jihad refers to spiritual self-improvement, while minor jihad aims to defend Islam and launch a "defensive" war against non-Muslim regimes. It is regarded as the last option for those who are "oppressed" .
The methods of war are subject to many moral conditions.
In a sense, jihad is the only word of war allowed in Islam.
Muslims can even launch mini-jihad against road bullies, violent groups, and non-Muslim leaders and countries that attack Islam. Generally speaking, Muslims understand mini-jihad as a defensive war.
There are many theoretical problems here, and there will be many changes in actual implementation, especially since there are many Islamic schools, and there are often differences in the interpretations of different schools.
Therefore, the current propaganda launched by Gairis, declaring that the minor jihad has ended and that the major jihad will now be carried out, is not a treason, but is quite in line with the original meaning of the Qur'an as perceived by many people.
Even now, Gairis is speaking in public and debating with the imams, which is a kind of tongue jihad.
Naturally, this process was not smooth sailing, and many imams launched many verbal counterattacks, criticizing Khalid and others as traitors.
However, in terms of Gairis's theological attainments and the amount of information he has been exposed to in later generations, it is far beyond what ordinary imams of this era can match.
In the process of these debates, Gellis' reputation was enhanced, and many Saracen villages near Tire knew that there was also a great Islamic scholar among the Franks.
The breadth of his knowledge is far beyond what ordinary people can match, and when he quotes the classics, he can speak clearly and logically, which makes people believe him.
In fact, many Saracens expressed the hope that Garris could become their parliamentary representative so that they could speak for them in the parliament.
It was during this process that the first large-scale battle of the Third Crusade broke out.
……
April in Palestine is the time when the rains have just stopped. Strictly speaking, spring is the lean season in Palestine, which is not a good season for fighting.
But in Barbarossa's view, this was also the best time.
As early as a year ago when preparing for the German Crusade, Barbarossa had already reached a consensus with the Venetians.
With the Venetians participating in the war, the Crusaders' side was far stronger than Saladin's side in terms of quantity and quality of naval ships.
A large number of galleys used Tire as a base. Starting in February, they blockaded Acre and intercepted Egyptian ships transporting food supplies to Acre.
At the same time, the Venetians also contracted the food transportation of the German Crusaders, which also meant that Barbarossa would gain an advantage in logistical supplies.
As a result, as the highest status person on the Crusaders side, Barbarossa issued the order to launch an offensive in the military meeting.
Now, almost all the German Crusaders have arrived in the city of Tire, and together with the troops from the Second Kingdom, the total number has reached 20,000. With the help of the fleet provided by the Venetians, this army surrounded the city of Acre in just three days.
However, Saladin's army was not in the city. When he discovered that Barbarossa was preparing to march on Acre, he left Acre with the tribal troops he had recruited nearby.
Set up your own command post on Mount Ayadia to avoid being surrounded by the Crusaders and unable to command the overall situation.
Barbarossa commanded his army and fleet to surround the city of Acre, while Saladin built a position with a meniscus curve with a larger radius, vaguely surrounding Barbarossa's army.
In the next two weeks, skirmishes continued between the two sides.
Saladin's troops tried to pass Barbarossa's blockade of Acre, constantly trying to find weak points in Barbarossa's siege.
Sometimes they succeeded, and were able to eke out a supply line to Acre and occasionally ambush Crusaders' foraging parties.
Around such a supply line, several battles broke out between Barbarossa's army and Saladin's troops, but both sides were quite restrained and did not invest too many troops.
Both sides had follow-up troops coming towards Acre, and Barbarossa was able to receive support from the Crusaders from Europe from time to time.
Saladin also had considerable forces scattered throughout other parts of his vast territory, some in Aleppo, some in Damascus, and of course many more in Alexandria, Egypt.
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Such a huge army is gathering that all insiders except Gehlis believe that the battle here in Acre will determine the situation in the entire Levant region.
In their opinion, the outcome of this battle was either that Saladin's conquest of the Levant ended here, or that the Crusader countries were completely destroyed.
At the end of April, Barbarossa decided to launch a large-scale attack on Saladin's growing army.
As far as the current situation is concerned, Barbarossa's army has exceeded a threshold.
It could no longer be effectively replenished, but Saladin's army seemed to be endlessly pouring in from the surrounding area.
In terms of the equipment and training levels of both armies, Barbarossa's army, with the German knights as its core, was also in a crushing situation against Saladin's nomadic tribes recruiting riders. It can be said that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. .
In the early morning of April 28, 1189, the morning light rippled slightly in the waves of the Mediterranean Sea, and the air was filled with a moist smell.
The coastal plain outside Acre has become a lively battlefield preparation site. The Crusader army crawled across the earth like a plague of locusts, their flags fluttered in the wind, and the light reflected from their swords and armor was like stars in the sky.
Light infantry equipped with crossbows walked in front of the main force... War horses, weapons and various heraldic flags formed the main body of the army.
The infantry walked in the forefront, and the crossbowmen's team stretched into a snake-like array, with full quivers on their shoulders. Then came the main army, with various heraldic flags creating a wave-like visual impact.
The most eye-catching thing is the army of knights.
The heavy cavalry group composed of four thousand people was like a torrent of steel. The German knights were wearing heavy chain armor, the black and white battle flags of the Knights Templar were flying, and the red cross of the Knights Hospitaller was shining in the sun.
This huge heavy cavalry group has a size of 4,000 people.
When the Crusaders arrived at the foot of Mount Ayadia, the battle began. The infantry separated to the left and right, making way for the knights to charge. The knights drove their horses, and the dust raised by the horses' hooves covered the sky. There was a commotion in the Saracen array in the distance.
"Charge!" Gerald, the grand leader of the Temple Regiment, raised his sword high and rushed toward the enemy's formation with the army.
The defenses of the Saracen army collapsed under the onslaught of the Crusader knights, and the enemy troops fled like a tide. But when the knights entered the camp, they found that it was just an empty shell.
The knights of the Templar Order did not pay attention to their trophies and launched a pursuit of the retreating soldiers alone.
But there is something wrong with this direction. It is not to the south but to the north. When Gerald noticed this detail, he found that he was alone and separated from the crusaders.
While the Crusaders were working in vain in the camp, enemy reinforcements arrived from the direction of Acre.
Another part of the Saracen army also came from the foot of Torun Mountain. Gerald turned around and looked around, only to see thick smoke rising from the original camp of the Crusaders. The supplies and baggage were burned, and the fire reflected half of the sky red.
Saladin, in this battle, was obviously better. Not only did he lure the enemy deeper, he also changed his family.
The neighing of war horses, the shouts of soldiers, and the chaotic scene are despairing. The Templars fell into a tight siege, and Gerald led his troops to resist. He swung his sword like Death's scythe, but every time he drove back an enemy, more came.
After realizing the situation, Barbarossa's main army finally reorganized its army and launched support in the direction of Gerald.
But those infantry troops encountered fierce bombardment from Saladin's artillery position when passing at the foot of Torun Mountain.
The firing of dozens of artillery pieces caused heavy damage to the infantry units in the Crusaders, and their morale dropped to the lowest point.
Saladin's nomadic light cavalry also took this opportunity to attack the infantry group in the Crusaders. For a while, Barbarossa seemed to be about to be defeated.
However, at the critical moment, the iron hooves of the German knights sounded.
Compared with the nomadic cavalry under Saladin's command, the performance of the Frankish knights seemed very reckless.
Just act rashly if you are in trouble.
In this short distance of several hundred meters, no one or thing could stop their iron hoofs.
When Barbarossa's knights charged, the tribal cavalry once again, like countless times before, easily collapsed. They may have dared to mince meat with the Tukobos, but they could not stop the charge of the heavily armored knights.
The tribal cavalry could not stop Barbarossa's knights, nor could the gentle slope of Mount Torun.
Just like Mengisa, Saladin once again lost to the knights' desperate charge. For this reason, nearly a hundred of his artillery were abandoned at the foot of Torun Mountain.
In the end, Barbarossa's Crusaders won the battle, although they did not save Gerald, although their camp was burned clean, although in terms of troop casualties, the Crusaders suffered much more.
But just the dozens of bronze cannons were enough for Barbarossa to make a fortune.
Most of Saladin's artillery is equivalent to a ten-pounder, and the error range is relatively large, but it is still to the same extent. A cannon weighs about six hundred to seven hundred kilograms on average. The total of so many cannons amounts to dozens of tons of starting bronze!
Although copper is not valued much in the Mediterranean world, as a metal, it is also a very expensive asset.
For this reason, Barbarossa was quite happy. He had paid a lot of attention to the knowledge and rumors about artillery when he was in Tire. On the walls of Tire and the artillery in the coastal forts, Barbarossa also went there. Visited.
Garris was well aware of the artillery research conducted in Acre.
In order to make the Germans pay attention to the potential artillery threat, Balian even demonstrated to Barbarossa how to use the artillery and what the artillery should pay attention to on the spot.
It was with the help of that knowledge that Barbarossa gained confidence in how to deal with Saladin's artillery.
Although he successfully defeated Saladin's army, Barbarossa also realized the value of artillery, so he paid special attention to these trophies.
The battle was over, just like it had been at Mengisa. Three thousand Mamluks escorted Saladin out of the battlefield and gave up their artillery positions to Barbarossa.
When Barbarossa took off his helmet and looked at the cannons made of bronze that reflected golden light in the sun, his expression was quite complicated.
This battle with Saladin was not the largest he had ever experienced in terms of the number of people involved, but Saladin left a deep impression on him.
Whether he voluntarily abandoned his camp and burned Barbarossa's siege equipment, or the artillery position at the foot of Torun Mountain, if the light cavalry on the opposite side had not gathered to attack his infantry group, they would have been He had the perfect opportunity to charge forward, and he was able to reverse the situation in that life-threatening situation.
Barbarossa, a European emperor, personally touched these cannons made by pagans and felt the residual heat left after the fierce shooting.
Unlike many of the cannons he saw in Tyre, Saladin's cannons were all made of expensive copper, and their barrels were not as slender as the cannons in Tyre. , you can also feel a little bumpy feeling on the surface of the copper.
As for the gunpowder used, it is in the form of black powder, and the gunner needs to be packed with expensive silk before the war begins.
Although Syria is the origin of silk, saltpeter is also produced in the Middle East. However, the amount of materials required to fire a cannonball in this way made even Barbarossa sigh at the expense of such a weapon.
However, the price of this weapon is obviously worth the money. Any armor equipped by a person cannot block the shooting of this weapon. This also means that anyone can control this weapon to kill the knight.
Frederick summoned some captured Saracen gunners and ordered them to demonstrate how to fire a cannon, promising that they would be exempted from any punishment if they fired the cannon.
Under Barbarossa's order, the gunners tremblingly turned the muzzle of a cannon and aimed it at the city of Acre in the distance. They knew that this distance would not pose any threat to the city of Acre, so they There was no intention of resisting.
The first step in using the artillery is to clean the previous barrel, then load a silk powder bag into the muzzle, and then use the barrel to push it into position.
Considering that the tolerance between the muzzle and the shell is a bit large, in order to utilize the gunpowder gas as much as possible, the scholars and craftsmen under Saladin came up with a way. They rolled the straw rope into a cake and stuffed it into the barrel of the gun. Then load the lead shot shells.
Finally, when the gunpowder is ignited, the gunpowder gas pushes the straw rope cake with a relatively high degree of sealing, rather than directly pushing the cannonball that has a large gap between it and the caliber of the gun bore.
When the stubby muzzle spurted out gunpowder flames, the shells were also pushed out. The war horses nearby heard the sound of such cannons, and couldn't help but feel a little uneasy and became irritable.
Then came the second shot. Because of the thick barrel, the sound of this shot was more dull than explosive.
Barbarossa felt that it was not difficult to control the artillery, so he called Roger, the Grand Master of the Knights Hospitallers, and asked him to do it for him.
First, stuff the silk medicine bag into the hot barrel, then use the straw rope cake as a plug, and finally the cannonball, everything is so simple...
"At that time, His Majesty Frederick showed a cheerful smile. He told us that the times would change because of this." The German knight said sadly about that scene in front of Garris and Isabella.
"Then he inserted a lighted thin wooden stick into the small hole, and we heard a deafening explosion. Not only His Majesty, but also Grand Commander Luo Xie was killed."
Even Garris opened his mouth wide when he heard this. He never thought that things would turn out like this.
(End of chapter)