I Became The King Of Crusaders [EN]: Chapter 199

< 199 - The Egyptian Expedition (4) >

Damascus

“Yah Mansur! (Victory to Mansur!)”

The cheers of the Muslim soldiers echoed off the fortress walls.

They gathered the wounded and captured the remaining prisoners.

“Long live General Al-Adil!”

It was a clear victory for the Muslims.

The Franks, who had besieged Damascus, were scrambling to escape.

However, Saladin’s expression was grim, despite the victory.

“If you allow me to pursue them, I will go and capture the Inkita (English) and French kings right now!”

“No, lifting the siege is enough. If we pursue them now, we might fall into their ambush.”

Saladin said, looking at his brother. He gazed at the corpses around the fortress walls.

The Muslim forces had suffered more casualties than the Frankish soldiers in chainmail.

Their victory was solely due to the difference in numbers and the fog. Thanks to the fog covering the city, Al-Adil’s surprise attack was successful.

“I wish we had captured at least one of the kings.”

He clicked his tongue.

During Al-Adil’s surprise attack, the Inkita (English) knights countered with a charge.

Just before they entered the siege lines, knights with yellow lily emblems covered their retreat.

Yellow lilies.

Those were the Franks known as the Kingdom of France.

The enemies succeeded in breaking through, and ultimately, capturing the commanders failed.

“I heard that the King of France fell ill some time ago. It seems Baldwin somehow managed to get him back on his feet.”

Saladin muttered.

He turned his head again to look at his brother.

“First, reorganize the troops and prepare to march. It’s time for us to go on the offensive.”

“I will move the reinforcements from Baghdad to the rear. If we entrust them with the vanguard…”

“No, put the reinforcements sent by the Caliph at the front. We can’t afford to argue over merits right now. Winning the war is the priority.”

Saladin shook his head.

“We can always drive them out after winning the Jihad [holy war].”

The Muslim citizens of the Levant, including Damascus, still supported him.

The initiative was in his hands.

“Is there still no news from Egypt? If only Inkita and France besieged Damascus…”

The remaining Crusader forces must be in Egypt.

“I sent messengers, but it will take time to get proper information.”

Al-Adil said, dismounting from his saddle. He gestured to disperse the soldiers gathered around him.

“By now, Damietta is likely to have fallen. But they wouldn’t have captured Cairo easily.”

“We can’t afford to be complacent. In the worst-case scenario, Cairo may already be in their hands.”

Saladin said.

Egypt was too far from Damascus.

The time it took to exchange information was several days or more.

Al-Adil asked,

“Then what are you going to do, brother? Whether Cairo has been captured or not, marching to Egypt is…”

“No, going to Egypt now is meaningless.”

Saladin took a deep breath.

“How did the Romans drive out Hannibal?”

“Excuse me?”

“The Punic Wars. Instead of fighting Hannibal directly, the Romans attacked Carthage, his homeland. As a result, Hannibal had no choice but to leave Italy.”

Saladin said.

“If we strike Jerusalem, Baldwin will have no choice but to return here, whether he likes it or not.”

“Baldwin must know that. He must have strengthened the defenses of Jerusalem accordingly.”

“Then let’s see how well he has prepared.”

Saladin waved his arm, and generals and officers gathered around him.

“First, we will strike Tiberias. If the great army of the Jihad besieges Tiberias and burns the surrounding villages…”

His gaze turned to Al-Adil.

“They will send a request for support to Jerusalem.”

“Then we can draw out the garrison in Jerusalem.”

“Yes, even if they don’t come, we can still take Tiberias. The rear will be secure.”

Saladin looked around at the assembly and added,

“After that, we go straight to Al-Quds (Jerusalem). Not Jerusalem, but Al-Quds.”

Al-Quds.

The officers who heard his words looked at each other with surprised expressions.

Soon, shouts and exclamations erupted.

“Allah wills it!”

* * *

Egypt

“We are already in a death zone. And our supply lines have been cut off.”

King Lalibela said with a grim expression. He looked back and forth between me and Richard.

“But to go deeper into enemy territory… I can’t agree to that.”

“We have no choice but to keep advancing if the plan is to succeed.”

I said.

We were surrounded by the main force led by Taqi ad-Din.

‘Well, strictly speaking, we aren’t surrounded.’

The enemies were avoiding direct confrontation and only pressuring us.

Their intention was to wait until we ran out of supplies and collapsed from exhaustion.

Meanwhile, the Damascus support army advanced towards Damietta, blocking our retreat.

With the supply lines cut off.

Now we were sandwiched between the Damascus support army and Taqi ad-Din’s main force.

“Taqi ad-Din probably won’t bring in the Damascus support army. He will try to settle the score himself somehow.”

I said.

By now, the Damascus support army would have besieged Damietta.

“What if the Romans don’t return?”

Lalibela sighed deeply.

“From our current position, we can somehow break through and return to Damietta. But to advance further towards Cairo… that’s madness.”

He said.

“To wedge ourselves between Cairo and Taqi ad-Din… it’s like running headfirst into being surrounded on both sides.”

“It would be strange if I said it wasn’t madness.”

Richard burst out laughing.

“But the King of Jerusalem isn’t wrong. Even if the Romans return, it’s meaningless if Taqi ad-Din escapes. Isn’t that right?”

“Exactly.”

I nodded.

In any case, Taqi ad-Din was avoiding a direct confrontation with us.

If we advanced further, we could block their retreat and prevent them from returning to Cairo.

“But it’s also like we’re willingly entering their encirclement.”

Richard muttered, stroking his beard.

“Do you trust the Roman Emperor? No matter how great an emperor he is, he can’t ignore the influence of the nobles.”

“I trust the Basileus (Emperor).”

I recalled my last conversation with Alexios.

The firm will in his voice.

Since coming to Egypt, he had never lied or made empty promises to me.

My gut feeling told me the same.

“Then it’s decided.”

Richard shrugged.

“We have no choice but to keep advancing. As you said, either we enter the lion’s mouth and get eaten, or we cut open its belly and come out. It’s one or the other, isn’t it?”

He burst out laughing again.

“If we die here, at least our passage to heaven is guaranteed. We died fighting for the Holy Land.”

“Even so, I have no intention of dying yet.”

I replied with a smile.

Where would I go if I died now?

Pretending to be a saint when I’m not even a believer, selling the names of God and the archangels.

To hell, I suppose.

Well, that’s only if hell and heaven really exist.

Lalibela also sighed with an expression that said he couldn’t help it.

“If we squeeze out the most from our current supplies, we can last up to three days, but no more than that.”

He said.

“If we can’t find supplies before then, we’ll have to start eating the horses.”

“You don’t have to worry.”

I said, turning my head north. The scent of the sea faintly carried through the sand.

Perhaps my prediction would be wrong, as Lalibela said.

But there’s nothing certain in war. We have no choice but to trust the actions that the Eastern Roman Empire has shown so far.

“Because my friends will be back before three days pass.”

* * *

Damietta

“What is the defensive state of the Frankish bastards?”

Amali asked, looking at the fortress walls.

They had advanced right in front of the city, but the Franks offered no resistance.

“The number of troops has greatly decreased since the Romans left. And they left with the main force…”

“So there are only a few thousand terrified infantrymen.”

Amali scoffed as he said that.

The Franks were clearly not familiar with fighting in Egypt.

‘They’ve been running away all week.’

Those who came from Damascus were essentially thrown as meat shields to stop the Frankish advance.

But didn’t the Franks run away to Damietta to avoid them?

And even the retreat of the Romans.

‘Even that cowardly Taqi ad-Din is finally taking action.’

As the situation became more favorable, Taqi ad-Din ordered them to advance to Damietta.

His intention must be to capture Baldwin himself.

‘But it doesn’t matter.’

It was Amali and his men who had driven out the Franks so far.

Now that they had Damietta in their hands, Taqi ad-Din would have no choice but to acknowledge them.

“Charge quickly! Drive those evil Frankish devils beyond the walls and out to sea!”

“Waaaah!”

The soldiers shouted and ran towards the fortress walls.

The numbers were insufficient to carry out a siege.

But Amali deployed his forces without hesitation.

‘The enemy’s morale is low anyway. We only need to get over the walls once.’

There was no easier opponent to defeat than a terrified enemy. As he thought, the momentum gradually began to pick up.

A Muslim soldier who climbed up the ladder shouted and swung his sword.

It was then that a strange sound was heard.

Something like the sound of water being cut.

The soldiers’ gazes turned one by one towards the Nile River. The shouts and screams that had been shaking the fortress walls had disappeared.

“What in the world is that…”

Huge ships appeared all over the Nile River as if swept in by a whirlwind.

A strange symbol that looked like a combination of X and P.

Below it was a crimson flag.

“It’s the Rumin (Romans)! The Rumin have returned!”

“What nonsense… How could the Rumin who left a few days ago have already returned? No matter how quickly they sent a request for support, it would take several days…”

Not only Amali but all the other officers were staring blankly at the scene.

Huge ships and crimson flags.

All were symbols representing the Roman Empire.

It was only after a few seconds that they came to their senses.

“Everyone, take battle positions! Stop the Rumin before they land!”

“No, everyone retreat! We can’t fight those bastards with our forces!”

Shouts and screams came and went.

The tone was 180 degrees different from just now when they were attacking Damietta.

In the meantime, the ships stopped one by one.

And small wooden boats were lowered one by one from the decks.

Snekkjas [small, swift Viking ships], the small transport ships of the Vikings, appeared. Dozens of wooden boats raced towards Damietta.

Distinctive chainmail and axes.

It was the Varangian Guard [elite Byzantine soldiers, often of Norse origin].

“Drive out the Egyptians!”

“Offer victory to His Imperial Majesty!”

Following them, Alexios appeared from the ship on horseback.

A guard stood beside him holding a flag with X and P drawn on it.

X and P.

The sacred symbol that Emperor Constantine saw in his dream the night before the Battle of the Milvian Bridge.

The Labarum [a vexillum that used the