People in the Middle Ages, draw cards to get promoted

In the Saracen camp.

Saladin repeated the message from the servant with some doubts.

"The Crusaders sent a messenger to have a fair 'knight' contest with us?"

When speaking of the word "knight", Saladin deliberately used the Frankish language.

"Why should we follow the barbaric traditions of pagans?"

Takidin just found this ridiculous.

As a Kurd, he also has the bravery handed down from his ancestors in his blood, but unlike the crusader knights who like to fight alone, both Kurds and Arabs started as nomads.

For them, the tribal concept is more deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, that is, they pay more attention to the power of the collective.

Saladin only thought for a while, and then understood the other party's intentions. He chuckled and said, "Are they so sure that they can win us?"

He paused slightly, and said again: "Then it will be as they wish."

"My king?"

Takidin was obviously surprised.

Saladin shook his head and said, "A duel doesn't mean anything, but it allows us to see what cards our opponent is hiding. Go tell the envoys of the Crusaders that we are willing to send people to fight and have a fair duel with them."

Tajiding continued: "My king, let me fight!"

He patted his chest. On his big and round body, the fat trembled, making him look extraordinarily burly.

Saladin glanced at his nephew, and thought helplessly—"You still think of yourself as before?"

The former Takidin was a powerful, brave and skilled general.

But during his time as the governor of Egypt, he indulged in sensuality, and his body was hollowed out by wine and women. Even though his body is still burly, in fact, he has long since lost his previous bravery.

Saladin resolutely refused: "Takidin, you are too impatient now."

Takidin said helplessly, "My lord, you know better than me how expensive it is to maintain such a huge army. No matter how rich Egypt and Syria are, there is a limit."

Egypt seems to have a vast territory, but in fact the real core area is only Upper Egypt on the upper reaches of the Nile River and Lower Egypt on the lower reaches of the Nile River Delta, and most of the rest are deserts that are inaccessible.

Saladin's army assembled here numbered 4.

Even if each soldier only eats one kilogram of wheat and does not eat any meat, the daily food consumption is [-] kilograms, or [-] tons.

These are just combatants, without counting the large number of conscripts.

In addition to food, the entire Saracen camp produced tens of tons of excrement from soldiers and livestock every day. It had to be pulled out of the camp with carts and buried in a distant place to avoid breeding mosquitoes and flies.

4 people is not the maximum number of soldiers that Saladin can gather, but it is the limit that this land can carry.

If it was a war on the European continent, even if the attacking side assembled an army of tens of thousands, they would often divide the entire supporting army into several, or even dozens, or hundreds of them, and disperse them into the enemy's territory to plunder.

Adopt the strategy of feeding on the enemy to reduce the logistical pressure on one's own side as much as possible.

Really gathering tens of thousands of troops to surround the enemy's city is definitely a ruthless hand that will hurt the enemy ten thousand and self-damage eight thousand.

"If you can take Jerusalem with only money and food, it will be the most cost-effective deal."

Saladin sneered.

Takidin's idea is correct, gathering such a huge army is to fight the enemy quickly, and if it takes a long time, even if there is no problem with the supply, the lords and soldiers nestled in the barracks will become restless.

Saladin said earnestly: "As long as we can win the war, no matter how high the price is, I can afford it."

"Master Shamel and Master Mudriji, please come here. I remember that the warrior that Master Shamel usually guards the dragon, and Master Mudriji's bodyguard, are all extremely powerful fighters."

The armies of the two sides spread out their positions and faced each other from a distance.

No one dared to relax.

Even if the crusaders knew that the purpose of the battle today was to fight against the heretics, but only God knows whether the cunning heretics will take advantage of this opportunity to launch a surprise attack on their side.

The scorching sun above the head made people thirsty and unbearable.

Many soldiers took out the water bags they carried and took small sips of the already hot water, and some knights even started to drink beer.

Lothar rode a solar eclipse and stood at the forefront of the team.

The big animal originally showed its tall and straight posture to everyone, but after waiting for a long time, it could not let go of its four hooves, ran wildly, and gradually became bored.

Behind the hussars, the cavalry company held the flag-tied spears tightly in their hands.

The banner of the double-headed eagle fluttered in the wind.

The feathers on the back of the hussars are like swans soaring high - the wings of the hussars are fully armed cavalry archers.

Their armor is heavily armored, and not an inch of skin is exposed from top to bottom.

The armor was so tightly stitched that it looked like a steamer under the armor. If it wasn't for the group cooling technique performed by Furingilla on them, they would have to put on all the armor neatly when the enemy was about to charge to ensure their combat effectiveness.

Fighting in this kind of weather, even those light riders didn't feel much easier.

Durham finally got his wish and became Ulm's attendant. He followed behind Ulm, who was alone in charge of the army, and his mood changed from excitement when he heard that he was going to fight to calm later, and now he was a little impatient.

He felt like he had returned to the boot camp in Hebron, where he stood under the scorching sun every day to be exposed to the sun, and did some queue training that didn't matter, and seemed to have no effect in fighting in battle.

This is completely different from the war he imagined, killing the enemy, and making contributions.

It's more like two cowards in a tavern who only swear at each other, but no one dares to do anything.

"My lord, I think we might as well yell at those Saracens if we just stand here."

"Save your saliva."

Ulm said helplessly.

He glanced at the light riders assigned to him by Lothar. Although they had undergone short training, they were considered elite compared to ordinary nomadic cavalry. At least they could understand the semaphore and obey orders.

But how much combat power there is is still very doubtful.

This is the reason why he still hopes to return to the battle order of the hussars and be an ordinary cavalry even if he is promoted to the commander of the first army.

Thinking of this, he glanced enviously at the former colleagues who were still clustered around the adults like Imperial Guards.

At this time, the messengers of both parties have completed the notification.

Hans was fully dressed and took the lead to the open space in front of the barracks of both sides.

"I am Torle of the Neva Valley."

The person who came was a warrior wearing a Cuman-style face-covered chain armor with only a pair of light blue eyes exposed. Obviously, he was a Nordic barbarian like the Varangian guards.

The barbarian looked at the crusader knight opposite, who was wearing mirror-like silver-white armor and a barrel helmet decorated with bull-like horns, with a hint of contempt in his expression.

He is a powerful warrior with the blood of the Karelian dragon under the command of Master Shemer. He has long been unable to be described as a human being. Even legendary monsters such as werewolves, vampires, and swamp liches have been easily killed by him. Only a few.

Hans said: "I am Hans, the lord of Sego."

Torle grinned and said, "Your armor and mount are good. I think they will be my trophies—if they are still intact after this battle."

Under Hans' helmet, there was a muffled voice: "Fighting is not based on the mouth."

The beast's intuition allowed him to sense the threat from the opponent. This enemy was not easy to deal with, but it would definitely not be more difficult to deal with than that lunatic Veneto.