People in the Middle Ages, draw cards to get promoted

Chapter 580 The Eve of War
In the Crusader camp outside Damietta.

The fluttering blue flag with a golden iris and the red flag with three golden lions are like two clearly separated torrents.

The news that the Saracens were forming a large army to march west naturally could not be hidden from the Crusaders. Everyone knew that the decisive battle to determine the ownership of Egypt was about to come.

The Saracens were unwilling to tolerate the constant encroachment of their territory by the Crusaders, and the Crusaders wanted to decide the outcome of the battle in one go, rather than endure the harassment of the Saracen light cavalry who came and went like the wind and had to take down the enemy's sturdy castles one by one.

The Crusaders and the Saracens were not isolated from each other.

Egypt has many cities and is an important window for Mediterranean trade, receiving a large number of Latin and Greek merchants every day.

The business of the Venetians and Genoese almost reached Kara-Khitan (Western Liao Dynasty), and they were also willing to serve the pagans. They could be seen in the courts of many Eastern monarchs.

As important partners of Latin merchants, the two kings from Europe naturally became the most well-informed group among the Crusaders.

After an impassioned speech, the army set out. With the two kings as the link, the mighty army of more than 10,000 crusaders was going to cross the Nile to the city of Semanud to join the Crusaders under Lothar.

Not all of these crusaders were loyal to the two kings. Among them were many crusaders who had just arrived in the Holy Land, and some wanted to surrender to Lothar.

But after Lothar left, they were undoubtedly the most honorable people in the city of Damietta, and naturally gained their temporary command.

"How many of these people will choose to continue to follow us when we arrive at Semanud?"

"What do you mean?"

Philip was puzzled: "Do you think the prestige of our two kings is not as great as that of Lothar alone?"

Richard smiled contemptuously: "Don't think too highly of yourself, Your Majesty Augustus."

"Adil led his army from Rashid, the capital of Buheira Province. Calculating the time, by the time we reach Semanud, they will have at least reached Manhur City, so the place where we will finally fight will be the middle of the Nile Delta."

"Our current army has nearly 15,000 people. After joining forces with the Crusaders under Lothar in Semanud, our total strength will be at least half of that of the Saracens."

"Lothar has 10,000 troops under his command?" Philip was puzzled again. "Where did he get so many people? I remember that not long ago he was just a newly appointed frontier earl, wasn't he?"

Philip had collected a lot of information about Lothar in the Holy Land these days, but he was still a little shocked when he heard the number "ten thousand".

You know, the "army" that Richard could recognize did not include those conscripted old farmers who couldn't even hold a spear steadily. At the very least, they had to have undergone a certain amount of military training, be able to wear a basic suit of armor, or be light infantry who could relax the standards as archers.

In fact, in Albion and Gaul, any lord with some power would not choose to recruit those cowardly and incompetent peasants to fight in battle. They believed that instead of sending peasants to the battlefield, it would be better to let them work in the fields to support the knights and sergeants who were in charge of fighting.

Being able to raise an army of tens of thousands of people like this already surpasses most kings in Europe.

You have to know that in the Battle of Hastings, the armies of William the Conqueror and Harold, the King of Albion at the time, had only 10,000 soldiers each.

"Half of them are his own army, and the other half are the armies of his vassals and followers."

Richard added: "During the Battle of Galilee, he relied on a territory with a total population of only 100,000 to mobilize an army of tens of thousands."

Philip calculated the time and said puzzledly, "He has only been in the Holy Land for half a year."

"People say that Lothar has a unique military training manual that can transform a peasant into a warrior in just one month or even less. I guess it may be the effect of the magic potion."

Although Richard had sent people to inquire about the so-called "Manual of Exercises", he did not believe that there was such a magical thing in the world.

Richard shrugged. "Anyway, this is the fact. Lothar's army is there. Both its equipment and combat effectiveness are very good. This has been tested in previous wars."

"Even if you say so, I still find it hard to believe. This Marquis Lothar, or the Duke or something, captured a group of peasants, rabble, and desperadoes to serve as his knights. Is this the origin of the famous Winged Hussars, Imperial Knights, and those Armored Cavalry?"

Richard rolled his eyes. "I don't believe it either, but it's the truth. Philip, don't act like a country bumpkin who has never seen the world. This is not the demeanor of the most honorable Augustus."

Both kings had a royal guard that they had trained at great expense and did not skimp on potions, but even with the help of potions, they were all carefully selected warriors, not just serfs picked from the fields.

Nobles have to receive military training since childhood, and their biggest daily leisure and entertainment activity is riding horses to hunt wild beasts that may endanger the territory, even low-level monsters like water ghosts.

This kind of hunting is not the same as the hunting activities held by great nobles like Lothar. It is a very daily activity, equivalent to people in later generations casually opening their mobile phones to play a few games. It is also an important source of meat for the nobles.

Farmers can only work hard day after day, eating grains like cattle and sheep, but they cannot get meat.

Even if they were allowed, the hunters who were responsible for hunting were only good at using bows and arrows. When war came, these hunters would often be recruited as light infantry to provide long-range support.

In this case, the gap between people is greater than the gap between people and monkeys.

To outsiders, Lothar's "miraculous" method of training troops still seemed too mysterious, even if it involved supernatural powers.

Philip spread his hands. "Well, if our Lord Lothar has the ability to turn peasants into warriors, then I am not surprised why he is so keen on currying favor with those lowly people."

"Is that why he is trying to win over those heretics and pagans?"

Philip frowned, thought for a while, and said, "Maybe more than that. Your ancestor, the famous William the Conqueror, used 25,000 Normans to rule Albion, which had a population of 1.5 million. As a result, rebellions broke out one after another. The number of Egyptians far exceeds that of Albion by five or even six times, but the number of Crusaders is only twice that of the Normans brought by William the Conqueror."

He glanced at Richard, and said with a hint of joking in his voice: "It seems that this Marquis Losa is indeed a smart man. If it were you, I guess you would just have to wait for them to rebel, and then raise your butcher knife and kill them all, right?"

Richard snorted coldly, "What's the point of winning over those commoners? When the lords who rule them, the local tyrants, rebel, will these commoners dare to take up arms and rebel against their lords to defend Lothar?"

Philip chuckled and said, "Is it possible that if the common people were all docile and obedient, Lothar would not need so many fiefdom nobles to help manage his territory?"

Philip, who prefers to employ bureaucrats, has begun to think about the deeper meaning of Lothar's series of actions.

Although enfeoffment of nobles saves trouble and effort, it also causes endless troubles.

After William the Conqueror conquered Albion, the first person to raise the banner of rebellion was the Count of Boulogne, who had fought alongside him in the Battle of Hastings. A series of civil wars followed.

There are many precedents of vassals taking up the banner to confront the monarch, or even replacing him.

If all subjects paid taxes to the king, even if there were no knight class and lower-level lords, could the king himself use the money saved to raise a considerable standing mercenary army?
In other words, he only retained the lower class of knights, but replaced the middle and lower class nobles with bureaucratic nobles appointed by himself and who could not be inherited.

Philip indulged himself in his fantasy. He was well aware of the resistance that would arise from doing so, but he was even more aware that once he accomplished such a feat, he would be able to truly claim to be "I am the state."

The Crusaders from the East marched westward.

Semanud's Crusaders were also wasting time preparing for war.

Lothar, the Grand Marshal of the Crusaders, left the city of Semanud early this morning with a small entourage, leaving only Kurus here to coordinate the overall situation.

(End of this chapter)