In the face of survival and interests, everything else has to give way.
Just like Fatimid and Byzantium, one believed in Islam and the other believed in Christianity, but allowed believers of each other to exist. Even in their respective capitals, there were places of worship of the other religion.
The same goes for the Crusaders!
Late in the reign of Baldwin I, pagans were allowed to return to their homeland because the number of Christians was too few to support the operation of a large city.
In order to solve the marriage problem of the Crusaders, Christian men were even allowed to marry those pagan women.
It won't work if we don't solve it. A group of singles will leave their hometowns and it will really be terrible to cause trouble.
This continued for more than twenty years, and the population of Jerusalem gradually recovered, and the number of pagans accounted for a very high proportion.
As the king of Jerusalem, Fulk did not have many troops.
Gathering all the troops in the country, there are only more than 500 QS. Each of his subordinates has a few infantrymen and grooms (the infantrymen and grooms combined are probably between a few to a dozen people. The number depends purely on the number of soldiers.
QS’s financial resources).
If grooms are also counted as soldiers, the total strength of the Kingdom of Jerusalem is approximately 7,000 at this time - when the Ming soldiers captured the Helim Fortress, they killed 8 QS and more than 100 soldiers.
There are also two groups that have a cooperative relationship with the king: the Temple QS Group and the Hospital QS Group.
Currently, there are dozens of QS regiments in each of the two major groups, and there are hundreds of troops under their command.
After Fulk collected the money for the goods, he set off with his army.
For the sake of their own profits, many nobles were afraid of encountering robbers on the way, so they took the initiative to send over to help. The two major QS groups also sent ten QS each with their retinues.
It was so vast that more than 2,000 troops were dispatched, and there were only more than 200 QS.
Just as they were setting off, Fulk's army left near Helim Fortress was attacked.
It was an oasis, with ten QS and more than a hundred retinues guarding it to prevent domestic nobles from sneaking in to trade.
They're waiting for the Bedouins!
…
But I saw two to three hundred Arabian nomadic light cavalry, some even riding camels, suddenly rushing out from behind the sand dunes at noon.
"Enemy attack, enemy attack!"
The Crusader infantry panicked and took up arms.
Some grooms put harnesses on the horses, and some grooms helped QS put on his armor.
Boo hoo hoo.
The Bedouin began to roam and shoot arrows, and the unarmored grooms suffered heavy casualties.
A few Crusaders infantry had bows and arrows, but it was difficult to hit the fast-running Arab light cavalry.
After the Crusader QS was equipped, he mounted his horse and charged towards the enemy.
However, the Bedouin did not engage in battle, but rode war horses and camels to fly kites. Their number was more than twice that of the Crusaders, and more than twenty times that of the Crusaders QS.
The Crusader QS was unable to resist, so they retreated while fighting with their infantry and grooms.
Gradually withdrew to Hailim Fortress where Ming soldiers were stationed.
"Who should we help?" Zou Tong, the commander of the Ming army, asked.
Qian Wei was watching the excitement with a telescope and said with a smile: "They are fighting life and death, what does it have to do with us?"
Zou Tong said: "Those Crusaders are doing business with us after all."
"Don't worry about it." Qian Su said.
Qian Su called the translator and asked, "Who are those people wearing robes and turbans?"
The interpreter replied: "Bedouin."
"What's the background?" Qian Su asked.
The translator explained: "There are two types of Arabs here. One type is doing business like us and mainly lives in the coastal areas. The other type is nomadic and occasionally farms. They are called Bedou
Because of people.”
"It turned out to be a nomadic tribe in the desert." Qian Su thought of the tribes in Mobei.
The translator lamented: "The Bedouin often fought against the Crusaders, often relying on ambushes and sneak attacks. Unfortunately, the various Bedouin tribes have feuds, and it is difficult for them to unite. Otherwise, they alone could defeat the Crusaders.
It is difficult to gain a foothold. The only people who can unite the Bedouin with the outside world are the four caliphs of the year."
The Crusader QS had fled outside the fortress and shouted to the Ming soldiers: "Let us in quickly!"
The Ming soldiers ignored it.
The Crusaders QS could only escape around the fortress, and they could no longer take care of the infantry and grooms.
Some grooms, riding spare horses carrying baggage, followed the QSs and fled.
But the infantry and grooms without horses had no choice but to resign themselves to their fate.
On their way to escape, they were chased and shot with arrows by Arab light cavalry, and fell to the ground one by one and died.
Perhaps they were afraid of the Ming army in the fortress, so the Bedouin did not continue to pursue them. They divided their hands to clean the battlefield, and sent someone to ride a camel to shout.
"Guests from far away, this desert belongs to us!" the camel soldiers shouted at the top of their lungs.
Qian Su said to the translator: "Tell him, I don't care who owns this place. I captured the castle from the attackers, and whoever wants to take it back must give money. Gold or silver will do."
Another man in robes came on horseback: "The pagans in Jerusalem are all villains. I hope you will not trade with those villains!"
Qian Wei said: "Okay. If you pay to buy all my goods, I won't sell them to anyone else."
The translator turned around and said: "They have no money, and the Bedouins are very poor. Tribes often attack each other because of grabbing pasture and food. This kind of vendetta has lasted for hundreds of years."
Qian Su said: "If you don't have money, let him go!"
The translator shouted: "The Ming Dynasty is here to do business, and it only needs gold and silver!"
The outside of the fortress stopped responding and continued to clean the battlefield.
They were so poor that they even took off the underwear from the corpse, as if they could keep wearing it after washing it.
The food and weapons that were grabbed were also piled up and distributed uniformly.
These Bedouins came from three friendly tribes, and the spoils were distributed extremely carefully.
After distributing the spoils, they wandered back and forth outside the fortress and even approached the port to observe Ming ships. It seemed they wanted to do something but were unable to do so.
Qian Wei ordered: "Send them a cannonball and send them away as beggars."
The fortress has six artillery pieces, all of which were moved from battleships.
"boom!"
When a shell was fired, the Bedouins looked up to the sky in shock. They thought it was thunder in the sky.
The shell landed in the sand, bounced and rolled forward, but did not hit any people or animals.
The nearby Bedouins gathered around and confirmed that the thing was made of iron, and actually picked it up carefully. Their expressions were quite awed. Several leaders saluted towards the fortress, then asked everyone to retreat silently, and soon disappeared.
In the desert.
…
Fulk's lungs almost exploded when he heard that his troops staying in the oasis were attacked.
They came quickly and slowly and spent the night in the oasis at dusk.
The Grand Commander of the Temple QS Regiment, who also led his troops this time, is called Hugh de Paynes - this person is also translated as "Paying".
He is the founder of the Temple QS group, and he is over 70 years old this year!
Paying asked: "How many soldiers are stationed in the fortress?"
"What do you want to do?" Fulk asked.
Pa Ying said: "We have more than two thousand soldiers. If there are not many troops stationed in the fortress, we can use tactics to attack suddenly."
Fulk said angrily: "The goods are on the ship. Even if we can raid and recapture the fortress, the other party's big ships will leave. Don't we need so many treasures?"
Paying stopped talking.
The treasures on the Ming Dynasty cargo ship are related to the interests of countless nobles and businessmen. If he dares to sabotage this matter, he may soon "die" of an inexplicable illness.
It is normal for an old man in his seventies to die suddenly of illness.
Early the next morning, Fulk led his troops forward, but was stopped one mile outside the fortress by Qian Hu's men.
The translator came to spread the message: "Those who carry weapons must stop here. Those who want to go to the ship must take off their armor and put down their weapons!"
Paying drew his sword and stuck it in the sand, saying, "I'll wait here!"
"I'll go take a look."
Raymond de Puy, the grand leader of the hospital's QS regiment, started to take off his armor with a smile.
They rarely fight at this stage, mainly providing services to pilgrims, providing food to Christians, treating diseases, etc. Only when the king leads an expedition or encounters an emergency, the hospital QS regiment will take up arms.
Of course, as the war becomes more intense in the future, these guys will eventually become primarily focused on fighting.
Boxes of gold coins were carried onto the ship, and boxes of goods were carried out.
The QSs surrounded the goods with their eyes shining, and they kept chanting and praising the Lord.
Fulk ran to discuss the ransom with Qian Hu: "I can offer up to 50,000 silver coins for this fortress. You can sell it to the Egyptians, if they are willing to buy it. You will eventually leave, and then I can buy it from Egypt."
We took it back from the hands of others. More than ten years ago, this place belonged to Egypt. If we can capture it once, we can capture it a second time."
This is pure nonsense. When the Crusaders captured this place, there was no fortress at all.
Now that there is a fortress, with the strength of the Crusaders, even if they can defeat it, they will suffer heavy losses.
It's a pity that the Egyptian caliph didn't live up to expectations. The Ming envoys had already gone to negotiate. The caliph expressed his willingness to buy the fortress and port, but only agreed to pay 30,000 silver coins - this place was very important to the Crusaders, but not actually important to Egypt. Even
It doesn't even have a population.
"Okay, fifty thousand is fifty thousand." Qian Zhen was too lazy to argue any further.
He picked up 13,333 taels of silver for free, and Qian Su thought it was okay. No one died when he captured the fortress, and the only shelling scared the Crusaders away.
Fulk returned to Jerusalem joyfully with the crusaders and goods.
As for redeeming the fortress, he had to wait for the goods to be sold to merchants and receive the money before he could come over to pay the bill. The fortress was temporarily occupied by the Ming army.
A few days later, before the Crusaders came to redeem the castle, the Bedouin actually came to trade.
They brought over a hundred Arabian horses, hoping to barter them and then sell them at a higher price to make money.
The purest breed of Arabian horses is in the hands of the Bedouins. Not only has it not degenerated, but it has been continuously bred from generation to generation.
Arabian horses are not as expensive as imagined, their characteristic is that they are durable!
If the horse breeds growing in the desert were precious, they would have died out long ago.
It only requires a small amount of food and water to maintain physical fitness, and its heat dissipation performance is excellent, making it very suitable for long-distance travel.
In order to show their sincerity, the Bedouin soldiers stopped at a long distance and only sent a few men to drive the horses to the fortress.
Commander Zou Tong observed with a telescope and said: "They are all good horses. Your Majesty will definitely like them. Last time, I was only on guard against fighting and didn't even think of buying horses from these desert herders."
Qian Wei said: "There is still some goods left, enough to buy all the good horses in front of me!"
