The method used by the Norman Bohemond to capture the city was very simple. It could be said that it was simple to the extreme. But on the other hand, this was also the reason why he touched a blind spot in thinking that no one had thought of.
Everyone subconsciously thinks that the city is full of Muslims who are determined to resist to the end, and the reality is indeed similar. There are really many Muslims who are determined to resist to the end.
But there are also those who waver, and there are also people who are not Islamic believers.
Bohemond had been trying to find a way to talk to the defenders on the city wall during the interwar period. At first he failed, but in the end he found a way and a channel.
He got in touch with an Armenian mercenary captain in the city. Although the defenders dispersed the Christians in the city before the arrival of the Crusaders, these Christian mercenaries who had been fighting with them for a long time were not dispersed and defended the city to the end.
They all need people. When food is sufficient, the more people the better.
And these Christians have become the most unstable part of the garrison in the continuous battles. When the staunch Islamic believers are becoming more and more desperate in the continuous battles, then the attitude of these people of scripture naturally goes without saying.
And metaphor.
The Armenians, who were becoming less optimistic about the prospects of defense, decisively decided to hand over the towers they were defending after colluding with Bohemond. So on a dark night, Bohemond took his knights to Antioch
Under the city.
They carefully crossed a large pit called the Pit of Death by Christians. In order to fill this pit, the civilian Crusaders under the control of the war monks suffered heavy casualties, and the Condemned Army subsequently launched a desperate charge against the city wall and was repulsed.
Already.
As time arrived, a rope was lowered from the city.
Bohemond was the first to climb up the rope, where he saw the Armenians cooperating with them, and then more and more Normans climbed onto the city wall. Their actions caused a lot of noise, and the knights' armor
Various loud noises continued to be made, but since this was the defense zone of Armenian mercenaries, no one cared.
After a certain number of his men boarded the city, Bohemond led the Norman knights towards the city gate. The Muslims there were completely caught off guard by the sudden attack, and many of them were wiped out in their sleep.
His neck was broken, and a few people who stayed at their posts were also killed in a short battle.
Since the actions of Bohemond and others were very sequential, they did not send out the city's alarm until the end of the battle. They were not discovered until Bohemond opened the city gate and waved a torch at the Crusader camp outside the city.
But it didn't matter when we found out at this time, because the Crusaders had already broken into the city.
Because it was an attack in the dark, most of the defenders were either wiped out or dispersed, and a small number of remaining organized troops fled through the city gate leading to the back mountain.
It can be said that the Crusaders took over the city that had troubled them for nearly a year in a few hours, and what followed was a carnival for those who had gone through the hard battle.
In such an era, post-war looting and even massacres are commonplace, especially after a hard battle. The soldiers after the hard battle are full of resentment and many need to vent, either through killing or killing.
Either through a woman's body, or through enough gold and silver to make everyone feel exaggerated.
The Crusaders did not have enough camp prostitutes, nor did they have enough money, so the only option was massacre - which is what the Crusaders wanted.
Antioch has become a city of hell. The streets are stained red with the blood of Islamic believers. Death can be seen everywhere. There are unchecked atrocities everywhere. Men's heads are chopped off one by one. Women's luck is better. If
If they were not raped to death, they would be thrown into a prostitute camp, and at least they would have a chance to survive.
After baptizing the city with blood and fire, Antioch became quiet. It was unprecedentedly quiet. The expelled Christians were able to return to their former homes. Looking at the corpses on the ground, they were a little frightened.
, but it was not unexpected. This was not a rare sight, and many people even worked with the Crusaders to clean up the corpses themselves.
In the castle of Antioch, the Crusader lords were celebrating this great victory, because it meant that the door to the south was completely open to them, and as long as they worked harder, they could go to the Holy Land, Jerusalem.
Everyone was very excited, and everyone was immersed in the wine called victory. After taking complete control of the city, the Crusaders organized a day and night of celebrations. Now is the time to feast.
But after the banquet, a piece of news hit everyone's face. It came from Baldwin, Count of Edessa.
Although he led his own army to resist, the enemy army still passed through the county of Edessa. The army of the Emir of Mosul, Kelboga, had arrived. He joined the armies of the Emir of Aleppo and the Emir of Damascus.
, the number of troops under his command reaches 60,000, which is 60,000 soldiers.
There are currently only about 40,000 combatants in the Crusaders, and the other 30,000 are civilians, merchants, monks and the like. They have no combat effectiveness at all, and the enemy number is 60,000.
Although the Crusaders had defeated the Islamic army many times, everyone still couldn't help but tremble when faced with an Islamic army that was 20,000 more than themselves.
In the end, Bohemond stood up and encouraged everyone. We can even take Antioch. Why should we be afraid of those Muslims? Isn't it just that there are more people? But they have defeated more with less many times?
Godfrey followed Bohemond to boost the morale of the people. The noble lord said that God is on our side and we will definitely win.
This boosted everyone's morale, and everyone agreed that yes, they had defeated the emir's army many times with less and more, so what should they be afraid of this time? Just face it bravely!
Vasiliko felt that something was wrong, while Volorida was made excited by the speech. Vasiliko finally chose to give in, so the Russians also joined the attack.
So just like that, the Crusaders made a plan to attack. Once the Islamic army arrived, they would go out of the city to defeat them.
Kelboga's army arrived very quickly, but when they arrived at the city of Antioch, what they found was not the Christian garrison huddled inside the city, but a battle array outside the city, ready to fight them.
An army of Christians fighting.
This caught Kelboga off guard. He did not expect that the Crusaders would take the initiative to attack, but he did not give in because of this. This would affect his prestige. Without prestige, how could he lead these emirs in the future?
Therefore, he ignored the unstable foothold just after the arrival of the army and the challenges of the Crusaders.
In this battle, the Russians were responsible for commanding all infantry. In the Crusader combat order, the Crusader infantry were the biggest weakness, and the Russians were famous for infantry warfare, so the task of commanding the infantry was left to them.
The two princes Rurik were very casual about this. Anyway, there were only about a hundred cavalry among their six thousand people, so it didn't matter.
So during the battle, the two Prince Rurik and thousands of Crusader knights rushed towards the Muslim front like a sea. The dust raised almost covered the entire battlefield. The only thing that could be seen clearly was the
Flags flapping in the wind.
The Islamic believers were the most confident. They thought that the Crusaders would definitely fall in front of their numbers, but the next development was completely beyond their expectations.
It was obviously the first time for the Emir's soldiers to face the attack of knights. Many of them started to run away after the first wave of attack. What made all the Emirs angry was that those of their men who had experienced the attack of the Crusader Knights
The veteran actually ran the fastest!
Bohemond's performance among the Crusader lords was the most outstanding. He skillfully divided the Emir's army and then defeated them. This dazzled the two Prince Rurik. With such skillful use of cavalry attacks, I'm afraid they
My father is at this level... maybe even lower than this.
The allied forces of the emirs collapsed, and they were defeated at the hands of the Crusader Knights. Their huge army collapsed and collapsed, evaporating like the remaining snow in spring facing the rising sun.