Chapter 548: Difficult Siege

In the lands controlled by the Fatimid Caliphate, the Crusaders' march did not change much and remained as smooth as before.

Although this is the territory of the Fatimid Caliphate, because it was captured during the fierce battle between the Turks and the Crusaders, many emirs here did not obey Cairo much.

Therefore, just like in the north, the Emir here also treated the Crusaders courteously, sent supplies, and opened roads. He just wanted this army to leave his land as soon as possible.

However, as they got closer and closer to Jerusalem, they encountered more and more resistance, because the further south they went, the more troops came from Egypt. They were not the same as the emirs who were just like grass on the wall.

The Crusaders also faced more battles, but they were all small-scale battles. The Fatimid garrison on this land was mainly gathering towards Jerusalem. The resistance to the Crusaders was mainly a small number of scattered troops and the closer they got to the Holy City, the smaller the number.

Many fanatical Muslim lords.

The path of the Crusades truly turned into a road of war. Christians and Muslims were fighting non-stop in the wilderness, by rivers, in towns, and wherever they could find them, shouting to God.

They fought with each other in the name of each other, leaving corpses behind.

In most cases, it was the Crusaders who were victorious. The bright red cross marched forward surrounded by believers. The closer they got to Jerusalem, the higher the morale of the Crusaders became, because the walls of the Holy Land were right in front of them.

Soon, the Crusaders occupied Ramre, not far from the Holy City. The Muslims here voluntarily gave up because they thought they could not get support. The reason why the Crusaders occupied this place is simple. It is less than forty miles away from Jerusalem.

kilometer.

The Crusaders dedicated this place to the church, and then they moved on to Bethlehem, which was only 9 kilometers away from Jerusalem. They established their rule here. This city is the city where Jesus was born and is the main stronghold for Jerusalem. The Crusaders believed that they

It is very necessary to control this place.

However, there were disagreements within the Crusaders about who should belong to this city. Tancred, who captured the city, believed that it should belong to him, but others believed that the place where Jesus was born should not belong to a secular lord.

Just considering that the papal envoy Bishop Admalik had died on the way to the Holy Land, the city belonged to the war monk Peter, Peter's Civilian Crusade, or Holy Army (full name: Holy Church Believers Crusade)

——The name suggested by Volorida——now has a stronghold of their own.

Occupying Bethlehem also meant that the Crusaders came to the city of Jerusalem and saw its walls and the sacred domes on the walls. Many people burst into tears at the first sight of the walls of Jerusalem and knelt on the ground uncontrollably.

Facing that city, even the Crusader lords were like this. They crossed thousands of rivers and mountains, and now they finally arrived here.

Volorida was also deeply touched by being in such a scene. Although he was quite indifferent to faith, he couldn't help but burst into tears when he saw the scene in front of him.

As for Vasiliko - he rushed back when the Crusaders occupied Bethlehem - he felt more of a sense of accomplishment. After paying so much, they finally arrived under this city.

Although the Christians were extremely moved in front of the Holy City, they did not forget that the city was occupied by Muslims, and a quite powerful Islamic army was gathered here.

Iftikhar al-Dawlay was the garrison of the city, and he had ten thousand men under him, part of the army of the Fatimid Caliph and part of the fanatics who had learned of the siege of the infidels.

The city has been preparing for war for a long time, with sufficient supplies and weapons, and has destroyed all available water sources around Jerusalem.

Moreover, Iftikhar also drove out all the Christians in the city to prevent them from rebelling. These Christians joined the Crusaders after the arrival of the Crusaders.

Including the citizens who temporarily joined, the Crusaders now had exactly 70,000 people. They surrounded the city in an orderly manner according to the pre-agreed plan. Jerusalem was also a huge city that needed to be faced with concentration, and then they found themselves

Got into an embarrassing situation.

The supplies that can be provided to the Crusaders around Jerusalem are very limited. The Islamic defenders destroyed everything that could be destroyed before withdrawing into the city. Now the Crusaders often have to go far away to collect supplies.

As for the various materials needed to make siege equipment, they can't be found locally. There isn't even much wood here!

But there was no other way. The Crusaders could only collect all kinds of supplies as much as possible while strengthening the blockade of Jerusalem. However, the supplies of the Crusaders were still shrinking day by day. Soon, the Crusaders had a food shortage problem.

"Hey, when will this day end? Those Muslims really did us a terrible job this time."

Volorida looked at the scorching sun outside the tent and the listless soldiers on duty before the scorching sun, and complained uncontrollably. Originally, he was not a person who liked to complain, but the situation in front of him was really too bad.

Under the high temperature of summer, the Crusaders encountered many problems, but fortunately there was no need to march. In the previous march, there were thousands of stragglers from the Crusaders.

Rostislav's second son made a hand-made cooling fan and fanned some air on his face. Unfortunately, the wind was also hot. For Volorida, who had lived in Rus for a long time, the weather was really unbearable.

The bad weather even made Volorida no longer interested in finding women. Originally, he planned to go to the Holy Land to have fun with those Arab and Persian dancers, but now it is also a war and the weather is bad, so he really didn’t even think about it.

Think about it.

"Wait, we have to wait, wait for when the supplies arrive. Right now we have built a few long ladders. If we use these things to besiege the city, we will die." Vasiliko said calmly. The environment did not make him angry. In fact, he

Still calm, "Let's go, let's go to a meeting and see if there is any good news recently."

After saying this, Vasiliko stood up, and then wrapped a white cloth around his head several times. After fighting in the Holy Land during this time, Vasiliko also learned some little tricks of the pagans.

Volorida followed him, but he was still not used to his brother's dress. In fact, there were not many crusaders like Vasiliko who accepted the methods of the pagans so calmly.

The Crusader lords were in a huge tent. The decoration here was very simple. There was nothing except benches and seats. The crusaders' red crusaders were flying in front of everyone.

"We can't do this anymore, comrades, if we besiege the city like this, we won't be able to capture it even until the end of the world! We must capture the sacred city under the watchful eye of Christ!"

As soon as they entered the tent, everyone heard Raymond's roar. The Count of Toulouse was talking useless nonsense again. He urged the Crusaders to launch an attack, completely ignoring that the Crusaders were currently seriously short of siege equipment.

"Yes, yes, we all know this. Thank you for pointing out the fact that is now well known, but any action will have to wait for the two men from Normandy and Flanders to return with supplies."

After the two Russians sat down, they complained about Tancred. Bohemond's nephew was still following the Crusaders because although his uncle had succeeded, he still had not found the land that belonged to him, so he continued

Follow the Crusades.

The disrespect in young Tancred's words aroused a burst of hostility from Raymond. He was the most powerful and prestigious nobleman in the Crusaders. This young man actually spoke to him like this, but Raymond's attack was overturned by Gover.

Ray interrupted.

"If we want to take over the Holy City, faith alone is not enough. Lord Raymond, we need wisdom and supplies. We can only continue to wait."

"Continue to watch those infidels show off their power on the city walls? Continue to lower the morale of the army? If we don't take action, the morale of our troops will really collapse!"

What Raymond was talking about was exactly the predicament the Crusaders were facing right now. Supplies that had not arrived for a long time, the irritating high temperature and the siege that God knew when it would end had made the Crusaders extremely tired. Some people even thought that they could not take Jerusalem.

, and then chose to become a deserter.

"If you ask me, that's right. If we attack earlier, we'll be done with it."

Volorida whispered to Vasiliko that the current situation made him extremely irritable, so he hoped that this would end soon.

Vasiliko said nothing. He knew that his brother was just speaking according to his emotions. If he really thought this was okay, he would have stood up and expressed his views loudly.

Just when the discussion among the Crusader lords seemed to end with another quarrel, suddenly there was a commotion outside the tent, and then several knights wearing cross smocks walked in carrying a man.

This man was dressed as a sailor and looked like he was dying. Looking at this man, Vasiliko thought of the Italian sailor he had seen in the imperial capital, and that man finally spoke at this moment.

"Our fleet arrived at Jaffa... that place had been abandoned by the pagans... so we occupied it..." the sailor said hesitantly because of fatigue, "I am a Genoese, and our fleet brought supplies and building materials...

Those who build siege engines...we need support! We need support!"

After saying the next sentence, the Genoese passed out. Godfrey immediately ordered the man to be sent down to rest. Then he learned from the knights that the man was found in a wilderness not far from Jerusalem.

of.

Then Godfrey looked at everyone, and then saw an idea from everyone's expressions, and immediately went to support the Genoese people. The next second everyone took action.

The Crusaders quickly selected a select team, which brought together the elites from all parts of the Crusaders. The camp was handed over to Raymond. Although the Earl sometimes liked to go against everyone, no one questioned his

Ability, this count has always been regarded by everyone as an old-fashioned but reliable parent.

The Crusader knights were galloping in the desert of the Holy Land to rescue their fellow believers and the fleet that brought them important supplies.

"Brothers! We are about to arrive in Jaffa! Be careful, we are about to start a war!"

The rough voice made everyone tighten their weapons, and naturally the same was true for Vasiliko and Volorida. The outline of Jaffa had appeared in front of everyone. At the same time, everyone also saw those magicians wearing turbans and scale armor besieging the city.

Tima soldiers.

The Egyptians did not have time to react to the sudden arrival of the Crusaders. Almost in an instant, the Crusader knights dispersed the Egyptian infantry who were planning to enter the city.

According to the pre-arrangement, Tancred's men stayed to clear out the Egyptian soldiers outside the city, and drove these people further away, while others entered the city one after another.

At this moment, the city of Jaffa is also in the midst of a fierce battle. Bodies can be seen everywhere on the streets. The Egyptians are besieging a Crusader barricade on the main road. The two sides are fighting each other on the barricade made of various garbage. Then Godfrey

He took the lead and plunged into the pagan front, followed closely by the others.

Vasiliko killed a guy who was charging at him with a spear, and then found that his brother was not only killing one, but also drove his horse to trample to death another guy who didn't have long eyes. As for further away, Egypt

As the people were being routed, the Genoese on the other side of the barricade rushed forward.

This declared the end of the battle. The Egyptians were quickly annihilated, facing two sides of the siege. With this main siege force being dealt with, the battle was actually over, with only some small-scale battles still going on.

The arrival of the Crusader Knights completely reversed the battle situation. The Genoese fleet, which had been in danger just now, immediately turned the corner. As the last Egyptian in the city dropped his weapon, cheers resounded throughout the place.

The Genoese were extremely grateful to the Crusaders for their help, and the Crusaders were particularly surprised by their arrival. After communicating with the commander of the fleet, they discovered that the amount of various building materials brought by the Genoese was far greater than the Crusaders expected.

, this is enough for the Crusaders to build many big ones.

Moreover, the Genoese decided to follow them to the Holy City. As for the reason, although Jaffa was under Christian occupation, there was still a large Egyptian fleet cruising in the outer sea. The Genoese were actually blocked in the city.

They could only go to the Holy Land with the Crusaders, which was in line with their thinking. Every Christian wanted to go to Jerusalem.

After leaving some Genoese as defenders, the victorious team returned to Jerusalem. Their team gained a lot. Not only did they obtain a large amount of supplies, but they also opened a road to the coast.

It is a pity that the coast is still controlled by the fleet of the Fatimid Caliphate, and it is still very difficult for the Crusaders to receive assistance from the sea, but after all, the road has been opened, which is better than nothing.

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Chapter completed!