Although it was said that the Egyptians' Nile River defense line was broken, for Edgar, this did not reassure him.
Egypt's capital remained strong, and emirs across Egypt were prepared to face the Crusader invaders. This was a land full of hostility, and most importantly, as the Crusaders left the Nile, the river was bound to be destroyed.
The Egyptian army is once again closed, and the Crusaders' retreat will be cut off.
But compared to these, Edgar's current problem is how to choose the direction of the next siege.
The Crusaders currently have two options. One is Alexandria, the economic center of Egypt. This city founded by Alexander the Great is still the center of Egypt today. Its wealth is known to everyone who comes to the East.
The other is Cairo, the capital of Egypt. It has been the center of Egypt from ancient times to today. It is the largest city in Egypt and the most populous place in Egypt. The pharaohs commanded the whole of Egypt here. Now it is the residence of the caliphate, a symbol of ancient and modern times.
The place of handover.
These two cities are both famous and giant cities in Egypt. No matter which one they win, it is extremely important. Therefore, now the Crusaders are faced with a multiple-choice question. They obviously only have enough troops to win one of these two cities.
For this reason, several heated discussions were held within the Crusaders. The radicals advocated advancing directly to Cairo. As long as Cairo was captured, the entire Egyptian Muslim community would collapse, and the waiting Copts would quickly fall to them.
The moderate faction advocates taking Alexandria. As long as Egypt's economic center falls into their hands, this huge city by the sea can provide the Crusaders with a solid base, and the Crusaders can also gain access to it during the attack.
Help from the Italian fleet.
There are supporters of both views, and both sides are very reasonable. This even caused a lot of disputes in the Crusade camp. People with different views attacked each other and even almost started fighting.
Edgar himself is undoubtedly a conservative. In his opinion, advancing directly to Cairo is too risky and is simply a gamble.
Egypt is different from the Holy Land, which has complicated forces. This place has been run by the Fatimid Caliphate for hundreds of years. It is impossible to count on the local emirs to send supplies. It is too difficult to collect supplies.
Not to mention the troops that the Fatimid Caliphate could mobilize. From Edgar's observation of the Nile River defenders, these guys' combat effectiveness far exceeded that of the Fatimid army, which was always chased away by the Crusaders. It seems that local operations have strengthened them.
of combat effectiveness.
Just trying to convince everyone was a huge project. In order to convince the lords, Edgar and his father were delayed for a full week.
However, the Crusaders were not idle at all during the week. They continued to attack the surrounding areas and plundered the wealthy villages in the Nile Delta. Then they found that these villages were even richer than those they robbed on the right bank of the Nile.
The huge trophies solved the problem of low morale of the Crusaders caused by the quarrels between the upper classes. It seems that the Fatimid Caliphate obviously believed that the Crusaders could not break through his Nile River defense line, so he did not start expropriating Egyptian villages at all, which left the Crusaders to pick up
Got a big deal.
At the same time, during this week, the Italians helped Edgar well. During the time when the Crusaders passed through the Sinai Peninsula, it was the fleets of Italian city-states that provided supplies and brought new Crusaders.
For these Italian commercial republics, taking Alexandria could contain the damn Fatimid fleet and further expand their commercial scope, so they gave Edgar their full support.
It can be said that the Italian fleet came here just for this reason. If it were not because they wanted Alexandria in the hands of the Christians, they would not fight with the Fatimid fleet in order to maintain the supplies of these British country bumpkins.
Everyone is very aware of the importance of the Italian fleet to the Crusaders. Everyone is eating the food sent by the Italians. It is clear that without them, the Crusaders will be hungry.
Therefore, the support of the Italians gave Edgar a great say, and coupled with a series of exchanges of interests, the lords were finally convinced by Edgar.
Finally, after solving a series of thorns, Edgar's Crusade was able to set off again, and their current goal was very clear, which was Alexandria.
The soldiers and people at the bottom didn't have much opinion about this. Most of them came here because of the good life promised by Edgar. In their opinion, it would be fine whether it was in Alexandria or Cairo.
And many of the most radical Crusader nobles left the team. They formed their own teams and went to besiege Cairo. In their opinion, it would not be too easy to deal with the Egyptians.
As for the fate of these people, the Crusaders only learned about it three months later, which made everyone give up the idea of besieging Cairo, because the Crusaders were not only defeated by the Fatimid army in Cairo, but the Egyptians also took these prisoners.
All were crucified, which is the so-called "let them die like their prophets."
After making the decision, the Crusaders advanced very quickly. They quickly pushed to Alexandria, eating everything in their way along the way.
When Alexandria appeared in front of people, everyone couldn't help but marvel at it. It was another famous city on the same level as Antioch and Jerusalem, and it also had a magnificent lighthouse that was regarded as a wonder.
This means huge walls for giant cities, and lengthy sieges.
However, the Crusaders were already prepared to besiege the city, and they also had the Italian fleet to block the sea.
In their view, this is a test given by God, and only by passing this test can they win a sweet victory.
Like Alexandria, in Aleppo and Damascus to the east, the Crusaders besieging the city also had the same idea. However, unlike the Crusaders who were still facing the threat of the Egyptian army, there were no such worries at all.
The enemies are all inside the city walls.
But this does not mean that these two cities are so easy to fight. The huge number of defenders and the huge amount of food only mean that this city will be extremely difficult to chew. The current Crusaders' attacks on these two cities have ultimately failed.
Finish.
So for the Crusaders, there is only one choice, and that is the traditional starvation of the city.
Originally, this strategy was almost unfeasible in the Near East, which was full of hostility to the Crusaders. However, because Monomakh's siege of Baghdad attracted the hatred of the entire Islamic world, the Crusaders were able to siege the city in such a leisurely manner.
During the ensuing siege, whether in Alexandria, Aleppo or Damascus, there was a serious problem of soldiers fleeing. There were always some people who did not want to waste time on the siege.
If someone left the camp like this before the siege started, no one would care about it at all. The Crusaders were a volunteer army, and whether to participate or not was entirely up to you.
But the siege has begun. If you escape again, the next step should be military law. So many deserters were executed like this, but at this time the war monk spoke.
Under his suggestion, these criminals were recruited into the famous Convict Army. The reason why this army is famous is because the Crusaders would completely drain the use value of this army during the war and let them carry out various tasks.
This is a dangerous task, and these people are completely used as livestock. Their situation is so tragic that even Muslims find it extremely miserable.
Apart from this episode, the siege time was so boring. I could only stare at the city wall in a daze every day, but it was much more exciting in Alexandria.
The Crusaders under the walls of Alexandria repelled three attacks from Cairo. Although the Egyptians' combat effectiveness and willpower were much tougher than when they left Egypt to fight, they still had to collapse in the face of the cavalry attack.
Relying on the flexible use of knights, Edgar was able to defeat the Egyptians again and again. However, the reason why his hammer and anvil tactics were used so smoothly was still due to the tenacity of the Russians. The Russian infantry led by the two Prince Rurik
Can always withstand the impact.
In the worst defeat for the Egyptians, even the Grand Vizier of the Fatimid Caliphate was killed, and his death sounded the death knell for the Alexandria defenders. The death of this powerful Egyptian minister meant that Cairo would begin again.
A power struggle, and Cairo will not send a single soldier to Alexandria until this power struggle comes to an end.
Although the defenders did not know this yet, they watched their reinforcements continue to be defeated, and the morale of the Egyptians behind the city wall became increasingly low. They originally thought that the Caliph's army would rescue them, but now it seems almost impossible.
With the loss of hope, the problem of food shortage was also exposed. Unlike Aleppo and Damascus, which had long known that they would be besieged, Alexandria did not carry out any more food reserves.
As a large trading city, Alexandria's food supply relies heavily on daily imports. Food from overseas and the upper reaches of the Nile River is the source of life for the city. Now that the supply has been cut off, problems are about to break out.
Although the governor of Alexandria in Fatimid had stored three months' worth of grain for a long time, it was only three months, and there were also a large number of profiteers and corrupt officials who stole the grain and resold it at high prices. As a result, half a year's worth of grain could be used by the savings.
It's almost gone in three months.
The governor of Fatimid began to restrict food for residents, and his restriction caused a big problem. His restrictive policy was different for different groups of people, because the Copts in the city received more food than Muslims.
Much less, the dissatisfied Copts began to gather in crowds to cause trouble, and began to incite dissatisfaction throughout the city, making the city restless.
Originally, according to the practice of war with Christians, Christians would be expelled before the war started. However, because the Crusaders came so quickly, Alexandria did not have time to expel the local Coptic believers, and then caused a huge disaster for itself.
trouble.
Alexandria is also the seat of an Orthodox Patriarch, the Patriarch of Alexandria. The Copts quickly united around this Patriarch, and they even began to secretly form their own armed forces and start secret connections.
But where is the airtight wall in the world? News of the secret formation of armed forces was soon revealed to the governor of Fatima.
This led to a full-scale conflict. It was impossible for the governor to accept this kind of behavior that was no different from rebellion. Did the Coptic believers form an armed force to protect him, the governor who deducted their food? He must have planned to open the door to the Crusaders!
The Governor is regretful at this time. Why didn't he just drive these Christians out in the first place? Now there is such trouble.
As a result, fighting broke out in the city, and the Muslims began to hunt down the Copts. These Monophysites were regarded as traitors, and those who were close to them would receive the same treatment.
But what they didn't expect was that the Coptic believers actually completed the assembly of most of the believers without everyone knowing, and the assembly point was their church.
It is not difficult for the Copts to do this, because most Monophysites live near their churches, but to do it quietly like this is enough to show that these guys have long harbored evil intentions.
The governor was still proud of his decision at that time. It was precisely because of his decisive actions that these traitors were discovered in time. If it had been a little later, there might have been big trouble.
But what happened next was completely different from what he had imagined.
As the Coptic believers gathered in the church, the defenders originally planned to catch them all in one fell swoop, but to the governor's surprise, these Coptic believers actually withstood their siege and defended the Coptic cathedral tenaciously.
Against Muslims.
There was such a huge battle in the city, how could it not be seen outside the city, and upon seeing this, the Crusaders immediately launched a siege of the city, which put the defenders directly into the dilemma of being attacked from both sides.
The Crusaders' siege equipment set up the city wall much more smoothly than before, and then countless soldiers poured out.
Under such circumstances, the Crusaders successfully breached the city gate of Alexandria. Although they did not know why the resistance of the Islamists was not as weak as before, they succeeded if they breached it.
Needless to say what happened next, a massacre began like this. In a country that is struggling, attackers will inevitably massacre the city to vent their inner pressure. Alexandria is currently experiencing this situation.
Due to their earlier gathering, the Coptic believers directly avoided the massacre by the Crusaders. Instead, they joined in the Crusaders' killings, serving as guides for the Crusaders and pointing out the hiding places of the Islamists.
For the senior leaders of the Crusaders, these killings are not that important. What is important is that they finally captured such a city, which means that a new Crusader country will be born from it, and people care more about the benefits.