Chapter 260 The End of the Akka War

Chapter 260 The End of the Akka War

Zakaria was holding a spear, his legs constantly shaking. Previously, he was standing on the tower, which was higher than the city wall.

Therefore, the impact of the explosion can be felt more intuitively.

It was like the sky was shattering and the earth was falling apart, it was the star in the dark night.

The stone-repaired tower underfoot trembled. It was not a force that humans should resist.

Even though there were Saracen officers who organized a human wall and tried to block the gap, the explosion that followed dispersed the crowd.

The crusaders swarmed up the first city wall almost effortlessly.

Zakaria did not dare to continue the confrontation here and hurriedly retreated towards the second city wall.

But the Crusaders who flocked to the area did not intend to stop there.

Hundreds of black powder grenades were ignited and then thrown into the inner wall.

Following a violent explosion and the sounds of war roars, ladders came up against the inner wall.

It can be said that the Crusaders' attack on the city of Acre was a climax from the beginning. The explosion that transcended the times caught the defenders of Acre by surprise.

Compared with the heavily guarded outer wall, which started at seven meters high, the lower inner wall had almost no defenders.

All the defenders on duty did not expect that the Jerusalem army could break through the outer wall so quickly. Their main forces were still concentrated on the outer wall.

After the grenade was thrown, the suppressed inner wall soldiers were unable to deal with the ladder

Laurent, Roger's company commander, saw that the ladder had just been set up, so he pushed aside the soldiers in front of the ladder and rushed up the ladder without hesitation.

Compared with ordinary ladders, siege ladders have to be very long and cannot be particularly stable.

When Laurent climbed up alone, he was shaking violently, but as a company commander, he didn't care about being cautious.

The grenades just thrown have cleared the top of the inner wall. If you don't take advantage of this stage to climb up quickly, someone might push the ladder away after a while.

At this time, standing still is equivalent to waiting for death. Only by moving forward can there be more ways to survive.

It can be said that Laurent has no distracting thoughts now. All he has in his mind is climbing the ladder, and he doesn't think about all the other dangers.

The sound of grenades still exploding not far away, and the panicked wailing and moaning on the wall had nothing to do with him.

With this indomitable momentum, Laurent climbed onto the wall of the inner city in just a few breaths.

This scene played a leading role in the eyes of other soldiers.

Immediately there were other people imitating Laurent and starting to climb desperately.

When Laurent rushed to the wall, he realized that this was a big deal.

At this early morning, most of the defenders in Acre City were still resting and had not climbed onto the wall.

Just as Laurent was gathering his men, he heard the sound of footsteps. The soldiers who had been alarmed by the previous artillery battle were rushing up the city wall from the military camp under the wall.

When the soldiers at the front saw the scene on the wall, they seemed particularly hesitant and subconsciously stopped.

The defenders behind were eager to rush up, and more than twenty people huddled together for more than ten seconds.

When Laurent saw this scene, he naturally lit a grenade and threw it in that direction to clear a clearing.

By the time Roger rushed up to the wall, he subconsciously felt nauseated.

War in the gunpowder age is no longer similar to the cold weapon age.

One day ago, Roger and the others faced off against the cavalry for half an afternoon, and there were not even twenty dead on both sides.

Now, just by rushing against the wall, you can see mountains of corpses and internal organs.

……

Acre can be divided into the old city and the new city,

The old city and the new city each have an inner wall, and the two urban areas are also separated by a city wall.

Beyond the entire inner city is the outer wall.

Thirty towering towers are scattered on these walls.

For the soldiers led by Laurent, they must seize more towers as soon as possible before the enemy can react.

Naturally, Garris also took the lead, rushing in front of the team and fighting bloody battles.

From time to time, arrows flew past Garris's ears.

For Garris, arrows with such speed were not a concern at all.

After rushing down several towers, a large number of Saracen defenders reacted and tried to drive Garris and this small group of soldiers off the wall.

I saw Garris standing ten steps away with his sword in hand. He passed by the defenders, and seven or eight heads fell to the ground, spinning on the wall.

"This!"

Behind them, the defenders who could see this scene were dumbfounded and deeply shocked.

The two guys who didn't care about life or death were trying to build up the courage to stab Gellis with their spears.

But after just a few moments, the other party was cut off at the waist.

In the light and shadow of the sword, Garris's movements were so violent that no one could see clearly.

Whether it was the defenders or the soldiers under Garris, they saw those two guys who didn't know whether to live or die. It was like they were cut open with scissors from the waist up. Blood and internal organs spurted out, and they couldn't stop it no matter what.

Many defenders quickly retreated and exclaimed loudly.

"Devil! Devil! The Crusaders are really devils!"

Their faith in God became stronger and stronger.

But the reason for this determination is not what they want.

With Garris taking the lead in charging into the battle, no matter how many defenders there were on the small city wall, Garris would always be able to block the way.

Naturally, they are winning every step of the way.

It was at this time that Saladin's camp woke up and began to organize reinforcements in an attempt to disrupt the Crusaders' siege.

Nearly an hour had passed since the city wall was blasted, and it was at this moment that all thirty towers were about to be captured.

The ground shook and roared.

Thousands of regiments of cavalry lined up on the plains of Acre like dark clouds.

Saladin was extremely anxious when he heard about the situation in Acre City.

It's just two nights of work, how come the city of Akka is about to be lost!

In order to save Akka, Saladin even issued death orders to the emirs under his command.

That is to say, no matter what the cost, keep Akka.

Time seems to have returned to a day ago, but at that time, there were only a few thousand people guarding the camp, but now there are nearly ten thousand people guarding the camp.

Garris brought his elite core and threw himself into the bloody city wall to mince meat. In this battle that required a final decision, he couldn't care too much. He had to fight fast and slow to win steadily.

The ones left outside the city at this time were naturally the troops of the German Crusaders and Knights, as well as the levies of the feudal lords.

These people added up to less than 10,000 people, and they were mainly infantry. They were arranged into thick phalanxes of thousands of people, preparing to resist the impact of Saladin's cavalry.

The crossbowmen in the formation were also preparing to fight back.

Generally speaking, nomadic cavalry will not collide head-on into dense infantry formations.

In addition to the psychological offensive in battle, they will look for the enemy's weak flanks and in the process throw a large number of arrows at the military formation.

The long-term battle between the Crusader Franks and the Saracens has also accumulated rich experience.

In order to deal with such a passive situation, the Franks would arrange large groups of heavily armored knights at the rear and flanks of their own military formation to drive away those Saracen cavalry who dared to go around.

Most of the time, the knights would return to their formation after driving off the Saracen cavalry.

And many times, hot-headed knights would even give chase.

In the former case, it was actually the crossbowmen in the military formation who fought back against the Saracen cavalry.

The knight actually plays the role of protecting the flanks and butt. After all, the range of the foot bow can be three times that of the horse bow.

And if the latter situation occurs, then basically there will be no good results.

The battles between the Eastern Empire and the Muslim Turks allowed them to sum up a lot of experience.

1. Tough and sufficient infantry must be available on the battlefield at all times.

2. Outposts and sentries must be carefully set up around the army to avoid surprise attacks.

3. Avoid fighting on broken terrain where enemy deployments cannot be observed.

4. Maintain a sufficient number of reserves and flankers;

5. During combat, ensure that there are natural obstacles such as rivers, swamps, and cliffs behind you (and your flanks if possible) to prevent the roundabout tactics commonly used by the Turks from threatening your flanks or camp defenders.

6. The camp must be fortified.

7. Never pursue the enemy recklessly, nor let the infantry and cavalry be separated.

Even if the Eastern Empire has such rich battlefield experience, it will inevitably be defeated at the hands of the Turks.

The Franks who were in the latter situation repeated the mistakes they made over and over again.

That is to say: the knight pursued recklessly, so that the infantry and cavalry were disconnected, because the horse power was exhausted, and then they were slaughtered by the Saracen cavalry in turn.

Of course, Saracens actually repeated their mistakes again and again.

That is: often encountering knights head-on in narrow terrain, and then feeling at a loss when faced with high and fanatical lance charges.

It's just that this battle will not be a repeat of the past. After all, now, the two forces in Palestine are making great strides towards the next era in the fierce war.

This time the Franks protected their flanks no longer with knights, but with a large number of carriages loaded with light artillery.

Even a few days ago, everyone knew that they didn't need to get too close to the Franks' formation to avoid encountering cannonballs.

But now, just looking at the big hole in the wall of Akka, one knows how critical the situation in the city is.

In this case there was no time for the Saracen cavalry to hesitate.

In the rush of the war, they were rushed into the wrong battlefield.

The sea of ​​hussars, moving like thunder and boiling like the sea, hit the rocks, and the rocks shone with the fire of saltpeter. This was a battle involving nearly 30,000 people.

The Franks' military formation, in conjunction with the main camp, built an iron wall on the Acre plain.

Confrontation after confrontation is the passage and sacrifice of life.

Leaders of many tribes tried to organize riders to rush away from the other side's military formation, but then they despaired.

Bedouin tribe, Kurdish tribe, Turkic tribe...

Their cavalry are not just soldiers, they are also the production unit of the tribe. When tribal leaders use their cavalry to fight, they must consider input and output.

For these tribes, once the losses are too heavy, even if they win and win a lot of trophies, where will they get the force to defend their trophies?

Compared with Western Europe, which has a relatively stable social order, the morale of tribal riders and the upper limit of morale are naturally much lower.

There is no way to deal with a battle that is too brutal.

No matter how talented Saladin was, he could not make adjustments on this issue.

Faced with this brutal meat grinding battle, the emir and the tribal leaders finally came up with a plan.

6◇9◇Book◇Bar

They decided to send a force to bypass the blockade and make a detour through the distant hills. Of course, this would take a very long time.

Especially at this time, Balian had already led nearly five hundred knights, plus about a thousand heavy infantry, as a detachment, to break away from the formation.

These knights are based on the previously recruited Knights of the Order, plus knights from the Knights Templar and the Knights Hospitaller.

Balian is known as the "Defender of Jerusalem" and is undoubtedly a legend.

In this 12th century era, having high prestige itself meant being able to appease the morale of the military.

Horse hooves sounded, coming from the south. Balian, who had been waiting for a long time, raised his spear. This is a gentle area between hills. The terrain here is slightly broken and can hide the large group of people.

When the hooves of the Saracen cavalry came, Balian also led the knights behind him around a corner and appeared in front of the nomadic riders.

Through the narrow vision of the barrel helmet, Balian noticed the hesitation of the nomadic riders. Balian understood one thing, these enemies were afraid.

Another gallop and another charge were about to begin, and this time the Saracens made a big mistake in the battle - they encountered the knights who had been waiting for a long time in the narrow terrain.

……

With the surrender of the last tower on the outer wall of Acre, the overall situation was actually decided.

The relatively low inner wall is quite disadvantageous when faced with the situation where the tall outer wall is completely conquered.

Unlike the siege of Acre in 1291, Acre at this time did not strengthen the height of its inner walls, nor did it dig a moat on the outer walls.

When the riders reported back and all the cross flags were raised on the walls of Acre, Saladin had no choice but to be angry.

Faced with the continuous retreat of his subordinates, he could only withdraw his troops and began to prepare for a retreat.

With Saka City being breached, the camp here was meaningless.

The large number of artillery prepared before was supposed to be used as the winner on the battlefield, but in the end, Barbarossa seized them all by chance.

He began to gather his troops. He gave up his plan to continue fighting with the Crusaders under the city of Acre. He even planned to give up almost all the territory north of Jerusalem.

Saladin can still measure the relationship between people and place clearly.

Acre, which was conquered by Saladin a year and a half ago, once again returned to the embrace of the Kingdom of Jerusalem amidst blood and smoke.

Garris walked in again through the city gate.

On both sides of the road were blood-stained soldiers, who all saluted Garris and Garris returned the salute in a brief entrance ceremony.

No one came to surrender, and no citizens came out to cheer. None of the red tape and nonsense appeared.

Garris declared his power to the Mediterranean world in the simplest and crudest way. If he wanted to possess Akka, he could take it by raising his hand.

And this also means that Gehrys has become the elephant in the room, completely exposed on the stage.

Even though those Jerusalem nobles might have thought of pretending to be blind and not asking anything, they now had to examine this [Holy One of Jerusalem].

In the face of such force, the citizens of Acre, both Greeks and Saracens, fell silent.

Even the European Crusaders and the knights of the two major knight orders who entered the city with Garris's army were a little confused and felt unreal.

In the eyes of these "friendly troops", they seemed to have just experienced a day's march and a day's repair.

Then he stood there and watched how brave and skillful the troops under Garris were. Their contribution in this battle was so little that they didn't know how to ask for the spoils.

In the original history, Acre was conquered by Richard the Lion-Hearted.

After Acre was recovered, it quickly replaced Tyre as the capital of the kingdom due to its wealth.

After Richard the Lion-Hearted signed a peace agreement with Saladin, the Kingdom of Jerusalem began to give up and engage in a tough confrontation with the Muslim world.

Instead, it took advantage of Acre's unique geographical advantages and relied on its peaceful relations with surrounding Islamic countries to gradually become a trade hub connecting the East and the West, and it became increasingly prosperous.

In its original history, the kingdom in the 13th century could be said to have had good fortunes among Islamic countries, and there were signs of a resurgence at one time.

Of course, ever since the Kingdom of Jerusalem lost Jerusalem, the royal power of Jerusalem has actually become a laughing stock, and no one cares about it.

As for Acre, it is known as the city of knights. The three major knights in history have all established their headquarters here.

Various other small knights have also used this place as their headquarters.

Since then, a new chapter has begun for the Kingdom.

The king's power declined, but the influence of the knights became more and more prosperous. This was the dilemma of the original kingdom in history.

Not anymore, whether Isabella ascends the throne directly or not.

But after Garris showed such military strength, Isabella's prestige actually increased.

You must know that this time, the main force in the siege was not the Crusaders from Europe, but the troops trained by the Kingdom of Jerusalem, which were legions "directly affiliated" with the Kingdom.

Even though Garris himself didn't care much about it, his influence has already reversed the development of history.

No one can ignore him anymore, and the attitudes of the people around him are bound to change.

For example, when the news came back to Tire, Humphrey and Guy's faces were particularly distorted, compared to the desolation of himself and others.

The success of Garris and the others is even more irritating.

……

Of course, although the main urban areas of Acre have been captured, it does not mean that all resistance activities in the city have ended.

In the city of Akka, there is a castle in the center of the city that is resisting.

However, when facing the siege of the Crusaders, the other party showed a clear intention not to resist.

Even the envoy sent by Garris was let in by the other party.

The leader of this mission is actually not a Christian believer.

But Ilyas, the bearded imam from Transjordan.

Since Qairis was recognized by many imams in Transjordan, he actually began to organize a coalition of Muslim scholars.

It can be regarded as a new advisory committee, responsible for coordinating the Muslim believers in the territory so that they can accept the existence and appearance of Garis.

This organization can be described as very effective in Transjordan.

The conflicts between different ethnic groups began to be bridged due to the efforts of the committee and the characteristics displayed by Garris himself.

When Garris needs to start expanding his power, he will naturally need more advisers to help him communicate with the Muslim people.

These people, represented by Elias, came to Tire half a year ago, and together with Garris, they preached to the people in the territory.

After Ilyas walked in, the emir who was guarding the city was quite surprised. After all, he never thought that the person who came in to persuade him to surrender would be a Sunni Islamic scholar.

For this reason, the Emir of Kanata is quite generous. Of course, he has no choice but to not give face. Now Saladin has probably given up on the city of Acre, and the outside of the castle is surrounded by the Crusaders.

The artillery that was originally outside the city was gradually moved here.

Whenever he saw those artillery pieces, the Emir of Kanata could not help but tremble in his legs.

The force that the Emir of Kanata relied on in the past is now extremely weak.

At this time, a Muslim scholar could come in as a messenger to persuade him to surrender. The Emir of Kanata was naturally overjoyed.

"Oh! Fellow Christian, we are all the people of Allah, you must help me get this done!"

The formerly domineering Emil begged humbly.

Ilyas, the bearded man, patted the Emir of Kanata.

"Don't worry! Sir Gairis, that is the prophet chosen by Allah, a saint more powerful than Samson,"

"Uh..."

The Emir of Kanata didn't know what to do when he heard the bearded words.

And then no, are you really a Sunni Imam?

Would Sunni scholars say there is a prophet out there?

Kanata couldn't do it all of a sudden. Kanata sighed. In this case, he had to agree that the situation is stronger than the person.

The subordinates on the side expressed their objections on the spot, thinking that they should not surrender like this, at least they should not surrender to the infidels so easily.

At this time, Kanata asked: "What if the Franks break through the fortress and come in to slaughter women and children?"

Faced with such a moral question, the subordinates beside Kanata didn't know how to respond. After all, the murderousness of the Franks was a story they had heard since childhood.

Antioch was massacred when the city was captured, Jerusalem was massacred when the city was captured, and even the city of Acre under their feet was plundered by the Genoese.

[Caught by greedy flames, they took part in an orgy of plunder that is said to have claimed the lives of some 4,000 residents and defenders that day. 】

When Kanata heard the bearded guarantee, his face couldn't help but become kind, and in seeking a favorable peace agreement from the Franks for the safety of women and children, he was also learning from the previous Balian.

The legitimacy of this was even praised by Sultan Saladin. Of course, Kanata's shameful heart will never tell his true meaning. While women and children are safe, the safety of Kanata Emir himself is also at stake. Got guaranteed.

Of course, there is no need for Kanata to be ashamed of this kind of thing. Forty years later, Frederick II, the grandson of Frederick Barbarossa, relied on the display of military power and diplomatic negotiations to fight without a single blow. Recapture Jerusalem in one fell swoop.

Compared with the Sixth Crusade of later generations, Kanata need not be ashamed. At least he risked his own life and fought on the wall, and his men suffered heavy losses. No one can fault it. .

At this point, the city of Akka was completely captured.

(End of chapter)