Chapter 259 The sun dims, the stars fall; the sea boils and the souls become one.
At night, the city wall of Acre stood not far away like an iron curtain.
Those brightly lit towers, as well as patrols holding torches, are constantly patrolling the walls of Acre.
Unlike Chinese cities, most cities in the Mediterranean world during the Middle Ages did not naturally function as administrative centers.
City walls are often built by citizens themselves to isolate the inside of the city from the outside and divide it into two worlds.
On this land, even if there is no tangible city wall, it has been invisibly divided.
No matter how tall the wall is or how majestic the people who live in the city are, Gareth wants to destroy it.
Maybe it will take many detours, kill many people, and fill Jerusalem with mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
But Garris will not stop, because only the flowing river water can remain clear, otherwise it will only decay and decay.
The Antioch Army's vanguard mission has been completed, and it has successfully built a large camp near the coast outside Acre, as well as a large number of temporary docks that can quickly dock.
The inland sea characteristics of the Mediterranean make the effectiveness of these temporary docks particularly prominent.
The normal high and low tides in the Mediterranean Sea are only about 30 centimeters, which means that even a temporary dock made of wooden piles and a pontoon can be used to transfer supplies and call soldiers ashore day and night.
On the second day after launching troops to attack the city of Acre, thousands of soldiers, artillery, and ships from Italian city-states arrived at the camp and entered the stage of position construction.
In this process, the Gehlis troops who have been trained for a long time often carry out civil work with German Crusaders or levies from Tripoli, build trenches outside the city, and build trenches outside the city in the evening of the next day. Push various artillery pieces to their proper positions.
Everything was silent and quiet, and the people on the city wall turned a blind eye to it.
Of course, what if you see it?
Even though Saladin also deployed some artillery on the city of Acre, most of the artillery he produced had been captured in the previous battle with Barbarossa.
The remaining ones, both in caliber and quantity, are far inferior to the enemy troops that can be seen on the wall.
Even if they have to fight out of the city, from the perspective of the defenders in the city, it actually has nothing to do with them. After all, Saladin's large army is not actually in the city of Acre.
In order to take advantage of his own side, Saladin gathered his army in the camp south of the city. He tried to use this to rely on each other to ensure that the city of Acre would not fall into a long-term crisis. The dangerous situation of being under siege and having no reinforcements.
Therefore, they are naturally not willing to take the initiative to go out of the city to fight.
And what about Saladin?
Saladin was also preparing for the subsequent war, and sent a large number of cavalry to start harassing the Crusader camp.
In Saladin's perception, he had just completed a 40-kilometer rush march and was still building a camp yesterday. So before the official siege began, it would take two days to build the city.
After all, this is not a small-scale battle involving thousands of people, but a large-scale march of tens of thousands of people.
Saladin, who had the experience of commanding tens of thousands of troops, judged others by himself, and naturally knew how troublesome it would be to handle the coordination between different armies.
When there are more people, all kinds of unexpected things will always happen. There is no such thing as a general giving an order and tens of thousands of people commanding it like arms.
This is actually the same for Gareth.
It’s just that his solution to the problem is even more evil.
Since when there are more people, all kinds of unexpected things will always happen, shortening the battle duration is actually an objective way to reduce the occurrence of accidents.
In the coalition system, the only ones that Garris actually directly intervened in command were the troops formed by his own subordinates. As for the German Crusaders and the feudal lords' army in Tripoli.
After the two parties reached some consensus, Garris was almost completely delegating power and would not give orders.
The troops, which numbered just over 4,000, were able to mobilize quickly with the support of hundreds of subordinates who had followed Garris two and a half years ago.
As for these four thousand people, they actually did nothing else but stabilize the front, dig out the camp, and push the artillery into the predetermined position.
Then we went to rest in batches.
...
The night of May 15, 1189, was a difficult night for the defenders in Acre.
The Crusaders who were defeated just last month, tens of thousands of them appeared out of nowhere.
My life a month ago is still fresh in my memory.
At that time, the Venetians blocked the port, and it happened to be a lean season.
There wasn't much food in the city, so the emir who was guarding the city naturally refused to stock the food.
After half a month of defending the city, many people were unable to open the fire at home, and some even starved to death.
Zakariya is one of them. Just thinking about his life a month ago makes him tremble.
For this reason, he also took the initiative to sign up and join the garrison organized by the Emir. For no other reason, he just hoped that the Emir would put some food so that his family could survive.
Nowadays, the city of Acre is quite depressed. A large number of Franks were sold into slavery or expelled from the country.
Only local Muslims like him, or ethnic minorities such as Orthodox believers and Orthodox believers, can still live within the city walls.
The moonlight is like silver, shining on the rough stone surface of the city wall. The wilderness in the distance is shrouded in night fog, and the vague outline is vaguely visible.
Zakariya walked on the high wall with heavy and cautious steps. The sound of footsteps and the collision of armor were particularly clear in the silent night.
“Pay attention to the shadows outside the city.”
The leading team leader whispered so.
Organizing night patrols is an important part of defending the city to prevent enemies from destroying or infiltrating at night.
The patrol stopped at a section of the north side of the city wall, which is the lowest side and is vulnerable to attack.
The soldiers took turns tapping the wooden shields on the inside of the city wall with their spears to confirm that no hidden enemies were climbing up. Several archers approached the shooting hole, put down their torches, and put their ears close to the stone wall to listen for any unusual sounds below.
A gust of wind blew by, bringing with it the soft sound of dead leaves slapping against the city wall.
The leading team leader frowned and signaled Zakaria to climb up the sentry tower and check the front.
Zakaria on the guard tower lit a weak torch and placed it next to the observation hole. Then he raised his longbow and aimed at the area in the distance where the enemy might be hiding.
"How is the situation?" the team leader asked in a low voice.
"No movement was detected," Zakaria replied, with uncertainty and nervousness in his tone, "but there seem to be some strange lights and shadows in the northeast."
His night vision is indeed Not very good, but those Crusaders do seem to be up to something.
It’s already early in the morning. Could it be that we are preparing to attack the city when the sun just rises the next day?
Zakaria regretted a little. He was a soldier just to earn a living. Regardless of any achievements in military service, it was just to earn more food.
If someone dies, there will really be nothing to eat.
Just when Zakaria was a little flustered, he suddenly saw a fire near the distance, flashing for a moment, followed by a whole row of fires flashing again.
Those firelights that should be dazzling when viewed up close are actually not very different from starlight in Zakaria.
Just when he was doubtful, Zakaria felt something strange in his heart, and felt a slight sense of danger.
Then there was a crashing sound, and he felt the sentry tower under his feet shaking, and then various panicked screams and moans came from under the tower.
When Zakaria stretched out his head and looked at the patrol he belonged to, he saw that the team leader who was holding the torch had somehow been broken in half.
Then someone shouted again: "The artillery fire! The enemy has fired the artillery! Go and sound the alarm!"
Is this going to start a war?
Zakariya was at a loss and felt that the division was unreal.
How can we fight in this early morning when we can't see each other's faces!
......
Although relying on the absolute advantage of artillery, the Crusaders fired at the northern end of Acre City in the early hours of the night, causing a certain amount of damage.
But the current artillery effectiveness is not enough to destroy the city wall efficiently.
Especially the city walls of Acre also used a large number of marble strips as raw materials.
Its strength is far beyond that of an ordinary brick wall.
Therefore, it is impossible to expect to be able to destroy the wall in a short time.
But indeed, this artillery bombardment is the prelude to the attack.
Roger's company was shaken awake when the artillery sounded.
They have been in a state of rest for the past day, used to relieve the tension of the first battle and the fatigue of the previous march.
However, they were not the ones taking the lead today.
Looking along, I saw some troops already getting ready to go.
Different from ordinary troops, these people do not have heavy armor or even long weapons, but they are tied with some cloth belts, and some round things are hung on the cloth belts, and they are holding in their hands Holding an unlit torch stained with oil.
The [Prophet] is currently patrolling these "Grenadiers" and making a speech.
“Our mission is to blow down the city wall! Create a hole for the brothers behind!”
"That's what happened in Akka City. You have fought so many battles with me, and you have never lost with me!"
"Everyone worked hard, fought in, rushed in, and went to If you rush forward, you may die, but if you stand still, you will be a living target and you will definitely die!"
"But as long as we win this battle and let the enemy surrender, everyone will definitely not die! Do you understand?"
"Understood!"
Gehlis has already No more preaching about things after death. Everyone actually knows those things.
There is also a difference between death and dying.
These soldiers under Garris are real religious believers, and they naturally know what kind of future awaits them.
They know and they are willing to believe that the end of history is happy, because the Holy Word is in front of them, and resurrection is not unfounded.
The miracle of life was concentrated in front of them, and the candle of hope lit up this dark land.
When life is reborn, there will be no more sadness, and they are willing to use their lives as the motivation for the coming of the "kingdom of heaven".
Garris took a deep breath, and then slowly let it out. A shovel was tied to his back, and a manuscript was hung on it.
Both hands lifted a wooden barrel and placed it on their shoulders.
In these two barrels, there are real dangers.
Many times, chemistry is not as profound as many people think.
The ancient alchemists were not all liars.
There are many achievements among them, which have become the cornerstones of later generations of chemical industry.
Jabir ibn Hayan in the 8th century AD described in his writings the method of preparing strong acids, including nitric acid, hydrochloric acid and substances similar to sulfuric acid, by distilling alum and sulfur.
And by the time Garris took action, it was no longer difficult to make acid using local methods. Although the Garris Cannon mainly uses brown gunpowder and can also prepare "perfect" black gunpowder, those things are still not enough to face the city wall of Acre.
For this reason, Gareth even needed to prepare some more dangerous things himself.
Add concentrated nitric acid to concentrated sulfuric acid with stirring, and wait until the container is cooled to room temperature.
Then mix in cotton fiber or starch.
This process is so dangerous that Gallis needs to be careful to ensure that the temperature does not exceed 50 degrees Celsius.
Stop stirring when all the added starch is soaked by the acid and becomes a thin paste, then let it sit for 15 to 20 minutes.
Add clean cold water to another vessel, and then pour the reaction solution into it.
After several precipitations, crude nitrated starch is obtained.
Nitrostarch, also known as nitrate starch, was still an important explosive in the 20th century and was widely used in artillery shells, grenades, landmines and industry.
The higher the nitrogen content, the stronger the explosive ability. Nitrated starch containing more than 12.2% nitrogen can even be more powerful than TNT.
The small wooden barrel on Garris's shoulder contained more than 80 kilograms of nitrated starch.
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Its explosive power is 5-10 times that of black powder.
Gairis did not dare to let others make such dangerous things. Relying on his own hands, the whole party could only produce so much.
It can be said that success or failure depends on this.
In the night, hundreds of artillery pieces of different calibers fired small projectiles across the sky and hit the city wall.
The flash of those muzzle fireworks tore through the darkness, and from time to time reflected the face of the gunner on the side.
The current moonlight is actually just right, allowing people to operate the artillery by the light of the fire.
Several artillery on the walls of Acre also began to try to fight back, and the two sides broke out in the first clearly recorded artillery battle in history.
But under the cover of the artillery shells, Garris and the grenadiers had left the military camp, separated from the large army, and rushed towards the north wall of Acre.
Roger, just watching these people disappear into the night, he couldn't help but feel brave in his heart.
Those days when he served for Bohemond seemed to be as long ago as a previous life to Roger. He initially joined the Antioch Army just to protect his hometown. peaceful.
But now I have a lot of feelings for this army.
After these months of training and education, he found the meaning of his existence.
He is convinced that what he does can bring good things to more people. He is convinced that what he does is in line with the teachings of Christ and is redeeming himself and others.
A new era reveals its corner. In this era, there are no heavy taxes and people can redress their grievances...
Just this corner has already called countless people like Roger People are fascinated by it.
They can't wait to see more.
For this reason, they followed in the footsteps of Garris.
They stride forward, breathing the air full of gunpowder smoke in the night.
Gerys is not a pagan god who is jealous of man's happiness.
They don’t need to be like Sisyphus, with endless labor.
The end is right there, under the walls of Acre.
Three hundred steps away, within a few minutes, the guards on the city wall were attracted by the artillery, but they did not dare to show their heads.
When Garris rushed to the bottom of the city wall carrying two 80 kilograms of explosive barrels alone, none of the people on the wall realized what was happening.
After that, it’s all about drafting and digging, all of which can only be done by Garris alone.
The manuscript and spade were waved in Garris's hands with a swishing sound.
No one had ever been able to move so quickly like him. In less than two minutes, Garris opened a hole in the city wall and inserted two barrels of explosives.
A full 80 kilograms of explosives were buried under the north wall of Acre, and then Gellis inserted the fuse and left it for about 5 seconds.
After Garris lit the fuse with the match rope, he flew away a hundred meters and returned to the group of "grenadiers" who were traveling with him.
None of this can be replicated by ordinary people.
When the grenadiers saw Garris returning from his "flash", they found it incredible even if it was not their first time witnessing a "miracle".
And when Garris stood in front of them, looking at the wall of Acre, he counted down five times.
The next moment, the thunderous roar rang in the ears of tens of thousands of people throughout Akka City.
It was a loud noise that transcended everything, it was the earth shattering, it was the door to hell being pushed open violently, and the huge explosion shook every inch of the air.
Thousands of garrison guards in Akka City and those ill-fated warriors on the city wall were swallowed up by this violent explosion, leaving no chance to resist.
No one even had time to notice the flying rubble and fragments of flesh and blood, which instantly disappeared into the thick smoke and dust.
The ten-meter-high city wall collapsed completely in this moment.
Countless stone bricks flew in all directions like huge cannonballs, tearing up the air and sweeping away everything around them.
Human power became so insignificant in this firework and explosion that all sounds outside the city of Akka disappeared in this moment.
At this moment, the limit of life and the edge of death are almost pulled very close.
When the aftertaste of the roar ended, the edge of the mountains in the east finally revealed a faint corner of the morning sun.
The new sun is rising and a new day is beginning.
A corner of this new heaven and new earth was torn apart in this deafening sound.
Gairis gave the order at this time.
“Attack.”
Akka City has opened its arms.
After that, the "grenadiers", or suicide squads, beside him would rush forward, seize the gap and then hold it firmly, waiting for reinforcements from behind until the entire city wall was captured.
……
[The trumpet sounded]
[The earth and mountains were lifted up and shattered]
[Then terror will take place]
[Heaven will be divided, because on that day it will be extremely fragile]
The end, the end is coming!
Zakariya became hysterical. Just now, the city wall was like a rope, shaking violently in front of him.
It was a city wall of nearly ten meters, which collapsed and made a hole.
When the loud noise came, he even felt that the earth was shattering and it was the beginning of a new heaven and a new earth!
Like Christianity, Islam conceptualizes the relationship between this world and the next in terms of a diachronic timeline.
The history of mankind in the world begins with the fall of Adam and ends with the judgment of God.
Contrary to Christianity, however, Adam's fall did not result in a complete separation of humanity from the transcendent world.
The two other worlds (heaven and hell) are similar to this world in space and time.
Thus...
[The sun dims, the stars fall]
[The sea boils, the souls unite]
[The scroll is unrolled, the human world is stripped away]
[Hell burns, heaven is opened The meeting is approaching]
Zakariya fell into the plight of leaving the world, but he will eventually stand up.
Because the end of the world is yet to come, but those "Crusaders" charging under the first ray of sunlight are already almost reaching the gap.
The remaining Muslim soldiers, under the command of the officers, reluctantly pushed out of the human wall and came to the gap tremblingly, fearing that another earth-shattering roar would appear.
But then, Garris, who was still the leader, noticed that enemy troops began to appear in the gap, and took off an iron "grenade" from the soldier on the side.
The grenade weighed about 4 pounds and was filled with black powder and had a fuse inserted.
After the fuse was lit, Garris threw it with a little force.
The 4-pound grenade drew an arc in the air, flew 50 steps, fell into the gap, and hit a soldier's helmet.
When the other party was a little confused, there was another "earth-shaking" roar.
Saladin would not leave Géris for long.
Gairis must take the soldiers around him and the reinforcements behind him to capture the city of Acre as quickly as possible.
He did not intend to engage in any field battle with Saladin. After all, his own troops were relatively small and indeed lacked mobility on the battlefield.
At this time, it is natural to make use of strengths and avoid weaknesses.
Akka has three walls.
These walls cut the city into three areas.
They are the old city of Acre, the new city, and the buffer zone between the two city walls.
The city wall blown open by this first explosion was the outermost wall of Akka, which was also the most magnificent city wall.
Accompanied by much smaller explosions one after another, the grenadiers used grenades to clear away the remaining enemy troops on the wall.
Immediately afterwards, Roger's Antiochian army began to provide support and firmly guard the gap in the city wall, so that the real main force could pour into the city of Acre to attack the remaining city wall. .
As the leader of the German Crusaders in the siege of Acre, Eden naturally had to take the lead.
When he came to the gap in the city wall, he stared blankly at the opening.
Previously, he had felt this earth-shaking feeling in the camp.
Only when I walked aside did I realize what "power" is.
When he looked at Garris who was commanding the troops at the side, he couldn't help but open his mouth, only admiration remained.
This is the demeanor that the Son of God, the "Lord of Hosts", should display!
(End of this chapter)