Chapter 264 The battle for the civil fortress
Wooden castles and stone castles are completely different concepts. Wooden castles are actually nothing in this era.
Quite a few small rural lords will try to build one for themselves to suppress the local farmers.
But once the stone wall was built, the nature of things began to change.
City walls are the core part of fortifications. Whether in the East or the West, the design and construction of city walls are affected by terrain, military technology, resources and cultural traditions, so they have significant differences.
Western city walls are mostly made of stone. The walls are taller and thicker, and are often equipped with arrow towers (or towers) to provide shooting views.
The top of the wall was usually crenellated to protect archers or crossbowmen.
The city walls of the Celestial Dynasty were mostly made of rammed earth, and some were covered with bricks and stones. The walls were relatively wide and thick, and the top was wide enough for carriages to pass.
There are turrets at the corners or important nodes of the city wall, and enemy towers are set up at intervals between the city walls to store supplies or improve defense.
In terms of defensive effect, the city walls of the Celestial Dynasty paid more attention to comprehensive defense and were mostly integrated with political centers and administrative districts to maintain local stability.
European-style city walls, on the other hand, focus on short-term resistance to sieges. They are mostly the core of autonomous cities or noble castles, adapting to the scattered feudal separatist environment.
Transjordan built a stone-walled castle outside Madaba, which also meant the expansion of the "fief" to the north.
In fact, Madaba is not a big city. If it were just a threat to Madaba, Saladin would not be so eager.
But after having this stone-walled castle as a transit station, Transjordan, as an independent system, once again made further progress, going deeper to the northwest. After arriving near the Jordan Valley, it began to build a second castle.
Hundreds of craftsmen and thousands of soldiers marched brazenly beside the city of Madaba.
Then build earthen walls and quarry stones.
When he learned the news, Saladin took a few deep breaths to calm down.
After losing the city of Acre, he heard the news again. In his opinion, this was the aggressiveness of the Christians and they were trying to repeat what happened at Jacob's Ferry Castle ten years ago.
Exactly eleven years ago, in October 1178, only one year had passed since Saladin's disastrous defeat at Mengisa.
The fear of being chased by the Crusader knights has not faded away, and he was even robbed by a Bedouin tribe when he was still in despair.
At that juncture, following the Leper King's orders, the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Knights Templar reached an agreement.
They banded together to build a castle east of the Jordan River, between Hula and the Sea of Galilee, at a place called Jacob's Cross.
Over the next six months, the foundations were excavated, and the city wall, which was "astonishingly thick and of sufficient height," began to take shape.
The reason why the Leper King built a castle and a fortress at that location.
On the one hand, there are strategic considerations, and on the other hand, there are religious factors.
It was here that Jacob, the founder of the Jews, wrestled with an unknown being and was given the name Israel.
The stories in the Old Testament are followed by both Christians and Muslims. Muslims even call this place the "Ford of Weeping."
It is also important in a strategic sense. It is an important crossing connecting Acre and Damascus. It is also part of the "Coastal Road" and a key transit point on the Silk Road.
By coincidence, the location of the second civil fort built in Transjordan happened to have similar characteristics to the Jacob's Ferry Fortress.
It is also an important river crossing point and only one day's march away from an important city (Jerusalem).
Once the construction of this fortress is completed, in Saladin's view, relying on this fortress, the enemy forces from Arnon will be able to harass the city of Jerusalem and the third holiest place of Muslims at any time.
In Islam, Jerusalem (Al-Quds) has an important religious position, particularly because of its association with some key events in the Islamic faith.
Verse 1 of Chapter 17 of the Quran, "Night Journey" (Al-Isra), clearly mentions the night journey and ascent to the sky between Jerusalem ("Far Temple") and the Prophet Muhammad:
[Praise be to Allah - He takes His servants on a night journey from the Haram to the Far Mosque. We have blessed the surroundings of this Mosque, so that We may show him some of Our signs. He is indeed All-wise, He is All-seeing. 】
——The first section of "Night Journey"
The "Forbidden Mosque" refers to the Kaaba in Mecca, and the "Far Mosque" is generally interpreted to mean the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.
In addition to the Quran, the importance of Jerusalem is also mentioned in the Hadith.
Muhammad once said:
[There are only three mosques worth traveling long distances to worship: Al-Haram, My Mosque (the Prophet's Mosque in Medina), and the Far Mosque (Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem). 】
——"Bukhari's Hadith Collection"
Although performing Hajj at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem is not a religious obligation for Muslims, Ibn Majah’s hadith collection clearly states: [Prayers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque are equivalent to a thousand prayers at other mosques. 】
Due to Muhammad's repeated emphasis, Jerusalem naturally has a special status in the Islamic world.
Now Saladin's prestige came from retaking Jerusalem, so naturally he could not tolerate losing Jerusalem again.
"The destruction of the Franks has fallen from heaven. Now is the time to smash their crosses. Had their death not been imminent, they would not have built houses of weeping."
When facing the fortress of Jacob's Ferry, Saladin was so calm that he could say: "Let them build the castle, and then we will uproot it and make it disappear."
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And then, he did it.
In that battle, the Leper King survived, while the Grand Master of the Knights Templar was captured, the Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller was captured, and even Balian was captured...
The Franks spent more than half a year building a strong castle and fortress. For Saladin, it only took him less than 6 days to demolish it.
The flames rising from the towers of Jacob's Fortress and the traces left by the tunnel excavation all proved Saladin's military power.
He allowed the Franks to build a fortress, not because he wanted to make it bigger, but because he knew the limits of his own strength and the limits of what the Franks could do. He turned a simple military battle into a political and religious battle. battle.
Whenever the Franks in the Kingdom of Jerusalem read the chapters related to Jacob in the story of Genesis in the Bible, they will think of Saladin's great deeds at Jacob's Ferry, the place where Jacob wrestled with God.
[Jacob was the only one left. A man came and wrestled with him until dawn. 】
——"Genesis" 32:24
[The man said, "Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but your name shall be Israel." For you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed. 】
——"Genesis" 32:28
However, Saladin once dared to do this, but now he cannot do it.
The original enemies had disappeared with the wind as he captured Jerusalem, but now he was confronting a group of real religious lunatics. And those religious lunatics also mastered the art of gunpowder.
So much so that Saladin started writing a diary and complaining.
"If a fortress is equipped with thirty artillery pieces, then any siege machinery will be meaningless. The siege tower can no longer be advanced, the trebuchet is useless, and the tunnel excavation has to start from a few hundred steps away."
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"In the end...the attacking party can only continue to attack the ants, or find a way to blast open the city wall...or else they will spend dozens of days digging tunnels and burying gunpowder barrels under the city wall."
Although Saladin could understand why a hole was opened in the wall of Acre, he could not understand why the wall of Acre was blown open so quickly.
All he could say was that he suspected that there was a mole in Aka City, or that there was a tunnel in Aka City that he didn't know about, leading to the city wall.
I never expected that it would be Garris carrying two explosive barrels, rushing directly to the wall under the cover of night, and manually digging the hole on site.
Because of gunpowder, the battle around the city wall has changed.
The gap between the two sides in the battle depends not only on the number of people, but also on the gap in firepower.
It's a pity...most of his artillery was taken away by Barbarossa.
Read the original text in Liu#9@书/吧!
They can only use dangerous tactics to cut off the hand stretched out from Transjordan.
Saladin sighed again. No matter what the current situation was, the war would continue.
When he left Tiberias with some of his troops and came to Jerusalem, the Mamluk legions in Alexandria further south also began to move north, carrying a small number of artillery.
……
On the other side, Old John personally escorted the supplies to the construction site of the Jordan River Fortress.
In addition to him, even Simon and George are actually here.
As the county magistrate of Arnon, John Sr. actually also holds the position of governor of Transjordan, and has temporary jurisdiction over Karak County and Montreal County.
As for Simon, he is currently the highest-ranking Paladin in the Order, and actually leads the Order in Transjordan.
Needless to say, George is the Field Marshal of the Kingdom.
These three people represent the civil affairs, the religious order, and the military respectively. They can be said to be the three giants in Transjordan at present.
It can be said that the three giants of Transjordan are all gathered here.
It is enough to see that they are determined to win this place.
When the materials were unloaded from the carriage and sent to the construction site, Old John shook his head and sighed for a long time.
"I always feel that this is a bit overwhelming."
Over the past long period of time, Transjordan's progress has not just expanded its territory.
Garris spent nearly two years in Transjordan, not just building an administrative team and a religious system.
In fact, he also wrote a large number of notes on natural science, which were sorted and placed in the library and used for teaching in schools.
Some of these things are too profound to be reproduced, but many times just a little inspiration can bring about a leap that people in this era have never thought of.
Coupled with the handicraft production capacity based on the river valley's hydraulic workshops, the emergence of many things is actually no longer a fantasy.
"In war, do you need to care about the method of winning?" George acted quite indifferent.
"That's right. We've already gone to the battlefield and are fighting to the death. It's really not appropriate to say victory without force. The most important thing is that Saladin has almost assembled his troops in Jerusalem. Since we don't plan to give up. This outpost, then we must use the fastest and most efficient way to strengthen the defense here.”
John sighed, looking at the progress of the times and the progress of those murderous weapons, as an old man, he was still very uncomfortable with it.
On the other side, George seemed much colder.
As a frontline commander, he is responsible for the lives of his comrades. The only direction he can consider is how to kill the enemy more effectively and protect his own people.
As for what methods and weapons were used in this process, and what cruel killings were caused, we should reflect on it after the war is over to see if we have not done enough and whether we need to make persistent efforts.
"This batch of materials and weapons are mainly related to 10 4-pound guns and 5 8-pound guns. Each gun is equipped with 50 rounds of solid shells, 100 rounds of shotgun shells and corresponding brown powder cakes. The others are basically It’s just cement.”
"Do you have any special needs for the next batch of supplies? As for cement, do you want to bring more?"
Cement is actually not a new thing, its history can be traced back thousands of years.
In ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, around 2000 BC, a material made of a mixture of gypsum and lime was used to bond stones.
As for the most famous Roman cement in ancient times, it was made from a mixture of volcanic ash and lime. This material was used in the construction of projects such as the Pantheon and the Roman Aqueduct, and its strength is impressive.
Although medieval people relied more on natural stone and traditional stucco.
But with the emphasis and foresight of Gairis, the Transjordan region is naturally going to undergo a wave of "Renaissance."
Hearing John's words, George licked his lips and said:
"Cement? No need. As far as the current situation on Saladin's side is concerned, it won't give me the opportunity to build too many permanent fortifications. There is a high probability that the war will start in a few days. The next batch of supplies, if possible, will It would be better to pull some more barbed wire as a backup.”
Listening to George's words, John nodded.
The reason why he needs to be involved in escorting supplies is that this batch of supplies is too important to tolerate any mistakes.
Now it was a race against time to set up positions before Saladin attacked.
After completing the exchange, John looked towards the construction site.
It can be seen that there is no obvious towering castle wall here. There are only some earth walls or ditches that prevent the cavalry from crossing, or many unidentified wooden piles.
The soldiers were pushing the artillery he brought to the arranged gun positions.
In fact, this place is far from being a castle. Even the foundation of the city wall has not been built here.
(End of chapter)