The Youngest Prince Of The English Royalty House [EN]: Chapter 54

[Episode 54, The Land of the Black Desert (2)]

I hefted my Brown Bess long rifle.

I loosed a whistling arrow, a signal arrow as they’re known in the East.

―Phew-woo-oong.

My arrow was the signal for the massive army to advance.

“Attack!”

Dust billowed as the horses charged.

‘I’m no strategist to overcomplicate things. Orders are given, so I just need to fight. No need to overthink it.’

The Crusade’s grand strategy was determined by ‘Holy Roman Emperor’ Frederick I.

Godfrey relayed the old Emperor’s grand strategy to our corps.

Yes, the goal of our Crusade is to demonstrate the Crusaders’ might to our Muslim friends and seize Egypt, the Mediterranean’s breadbasket.

Of course, my safety remains the top priority today.

Tension washed over me, as it always does.

If something goes wrong, I could die on this battlefield and become an even more incompetent commander than King John in the history books.

That’s why I’m so on edge.

The lucky successes we’ve had so far could easily crumble.

I silently raised my greatsword.

Now is the time to be a medieval knight, not a whining reincarnator.

―Hee-hee-ing.

I tugged the reins.

* * *

―Egyptian Campaign, near Cairo.―

Two legions clashed.

“Waaaah!”

“Attack!”

The mission: reclaim Alexandria, the ‘true’ Christian holy land, defend Egypt against Islam at all costs, and secure its vital grain supply.

“Let’s go!”

The Irish territorial army, with their sky-high morale, volunteered to lead the vanguard, taking precedence over the Holy Roman Empire army, despite their larger numbers.

Behind them, troops from the Holy Roman Empire and the Kingdom of Jerusalem advanced together.

Next came those fighting under the golden lilies, the symbol of France.

Perhaps because the commanders of the Egyptian campaign were John and Emperor Frederick,
many assumed that only Crusaders from the Holy Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Jerusalem, and the Kingdom of England were involved.

In fact, French knights were present as well.

The Crusades were, from the beginning, an international effort.

From the start, Western knights were ambitious individuals seeking to carve out territory near the holy sites.

These Western knights formed the Crusades, an international coalition.

Among these ambitious Crusaders were many powerful figures from the Kingdom of France,
including Count Alberic of Dammartin and Baron Matthew of Montmorency.

The Count of Dammartin was a knight sent by Princess Marguerite, Prince John’s eldest sister-in-law.

The Baron of Montmorency was one of Philip II’s close aides.

“I can’t understand Prince John’s thinking at all.”

“He must be planning to wipe out the Islamic bastards first.”

The two men, amidst the fierce battlefield, remained relaxed even as they beheaded Islamic soldiers.

Their extensive war experience allowed them to converse even in the midst of such chaos.

Of course, Count Dammartin and Baron Montmorency’s elite troops were guarding them,
and they were capable of cutting down any Islamic commander who dared to rush them, making their composure possible.

The French nobles held complex feelings toward John.

From the start, the Kingdom of France was divided into factions supporting Henry II and Philip II.

This was before the Hundred Years’ War, so concepts like ethnicity or centralization were not yet fully formed.

There was no clear allegiance between Henry II and Philip II.

Instead, many nobles prioritized their autonomy as lords and the benefits of joining a particular faction.

The Count of Mortain, the Duke of Ireland, and the youngest prince of England, John Anjou―Plantagenet.

The self-proclaimed Safe John.

A man with red hair, inheriting the blood of the Anjou family.

He seems overshadowed by his three great older brothers,
but Prince John is a young knight with excellent archery and swordsmanship.

And, Prince John had.

The exceptional Godfrey, the unemployed sea bum Charles of Toulon, and the Duke of Norfolk, Robin.

And.

He respects Godfrey’s strategies, who is fighting hard with the ‘evil’ from the East,
cares for Charles’s fleet, and makes good use of Robin’s archery, and John.

He converted to the true faith, Christianity,
and is also John, who cleverly uses the Eastern mysteries of the Easterner ‘Evil’.

But.

What’s more important than that in this fierce war is.

Individual strength.

‘John,’ cutting down Islamic soldiers like harvesting crops, looked different from his usual Safe John persona.

He didn’t display the lion-like movements of Duke Richard of Normandy, a human weapon himself.

However, John led the battlefield with a wolf-like demeanor, relentlessly exploiting the enemy’s weaknesses.

But what does it matter?

The important thing is to kill the Islamic bastards effectively.

The Irish territorial army who saw this said.

“As expected of Prince John.”

The Crusader formation began to shift.

It was time to deploy tactics.

What Emperor Frederick was aiming for was.

The weakest point on the left flank of the Islamic coalition defending Egypt.

That’s where the reinforcements from Khwarazm were positioned.

The strategy they prepared was the hammer and anvil tactic that had been used for a long time.

A tactic used by Alexander the Great and Hannibal in ancient times.

The saying goes that even the strongest steel can be bent if placed on an anvil and hammered.

It’s a tactic of drawing the enemy’s attention with powerful infantry and striking the enemy’s flank with bypassing heavy cavalry.

―Doo-doo-doo.

However, this classic tactic was well-known to the Islamic forces, given its long history.

‘I expected it.’

―Doo-doo-doo.

“Now is the time. Commence the operation!”

But Prince John deployed two unexpected forces.

The Flemish mercenary corps and the Mortain mercenary corps.

The former was an elite force provided by his mother like pocket money, and the latter was a penal unit created by recruiting bandits.

‘Prince John’s pseudo-Tercio [a Spanish infantry formation].’

Employing the Tercio, a strategy designed to counter cavalry.

Blocking horses with long spears and unleashing crossbow and longbow fire in a crossfire.

The Islamic army was literally being swept away.

‘This is Prince John? When did he prepare such tactics?’

Perhaps because he was a vassal of Princess Margarita? Baron Dammartin was genuinely impressed by John’s tactics, which he was witnessing for the first time.

“Oooooooo!”

A newly emerged, unidentified legion appeared with a great roar.

Judging by their appearance and the scimitars [curved swords] in their hands, the cry of ‘Allah Hu Akbar [God is the greatest]’ seemed imminent.

“Brothers of Allah, waaaa!”

“Damn it, it’s the Islamic bastards!”

Because they had a somewhat Middle Eastern appearance, everyone assumed they were reinforcements for the Islamic army.

But.

“Look at that flag!”

At someone’s shout, people.

Stopped fighting as if on cue and looked at the flag waving with the invading force.

“That’s not the Crescent Moon flag.”

“The cross is drawn on it!”

It was a cross flag, not a crescent moon flag, flying above them.

They were dressed in shabby clothes that seemed to have seen better days, but their eyes were sharp.

“I am Isaac, the rightful son (meaning the eldest son) of Il-Arslan.”

Speaking clearly in Latin, the lingua franca [common language] of the West.

The appearance of the new commander caused.

“···.”

Both the Crusaders and the Islamic forces were speechless.

Meanwhile, Alā ad-Dīn, who seemed to have something to say, asked the one leading the newly emerged army.

“Why is Uncle here…?”

Something that should never have happened was happening here in Egypt.

* * *

―Ireland―

While Safe John was fighting hard in the Egyptian campaign.

Ireland was as peaceful as ever.

A once-lonely island frequently raided by Vikings, the homeland of the Celts.

It was once a Michelin three-star restaurant that Vikings liked to plunder [a place that was frequently raided].

Now, under the protection of the Anjou-Plantagenet royal family, it was a territory that no one dared to touch.

Privateers [state-sanctioned pirates] sponsored by Queen Eleanor were actively capturing Islamic pirates and turning them into slaves.

There were many pirates even in the 21st century, so how much more would there be in the 12th century?

Anyway, Ireland, a territory that used to curse ‘bad things England,’ had seen a significant improvement in public sentiment thanks to Prince John’s good governance.

Of course, the Celts, who had suffered greatly, harbored a lot of resentment toward the oppressive English,
but in the end, what to eat right now was more important than old grievances.

“Now that we are under Prince John, can we call ourselves English?”

A Celt, drunk on beer, wondered aloud.

Life was good now.

So good that you could drink as much of this damn beer as you wanted.

Then another Celt said.

“You’re wrong. We are just subjects of His Highness (John).”

“Is that so?”

Of course, there were still many who considered that nonsense.

The Celts had a long-standing grudge against the English. They had often enjoyed plundering feasts.

But even so, the public sentiment of the Celts ruled by the Prince of England was positive.

“But it’s not bad, is it?”

“That’s right. They don’t conscript us at will, and they don’t take much from us.”

“Of course, there is no one as virtuous as our lord.”

The serfs [peasants] of the Middle Ages worried about how much would be taken away under the pretext of a good harvest before they could even celebrate.

But John only took what he needed and didn’t think of exploiting the people under all sorts of pretexts.

From Safe John’s point of view, it was only natural, but that in itself was a great source of satisfaction for the Irish people.

While the people were praising John.

In the most precious place, there were two most adorable babies.

“Wah~”

“Wah!”

Charles and Elizabeth, born as twin siblings. They are John’s children.

Of course, it was their grandmother, Queen Eleanor, who took care of these babies.

“I, who was the proud owner of Aquitaine [a region in France], am now working as a nanny for my twin grandchildren.”

“You didn’t have any other chores anyway, did you?”

“Do you think so? Nanny, take the children away.”

“Yes, Duchess!”

As the grandchildren left.

“Where’s James?”

“He’s busy playing with his cousin Otto these days.”

“The cousins are getting along so well.”

“It’s natural for families to get along well, but isn’t this family strange for turning family feuds into rebellions every time?”

“So how many did you kill?”

Mary said nonchalantly at her mother-in-law’s words, who changed the subject.

“I killed them moderately. Spies, heretics [those who go against the church], and those who tried to interfere with Prince John! I want to kill more, but as a mother of three children, I can’t get too much blood on my hands.”

“Hahaha. There’s no way Mary, known as my successor, would kill people ‘moderately.’ Aren’t you cruel and thorough?”

“Can you be as good as your mother, who held a sword during John’s childhood?”

“··· That’s too much.”

To bring up the fact that she caused a major rebellion close to a civil war, leaving young John behind.

“I didn’t know John’s value back then.”

Still, Eleanor, like St. Augustine, the epitome of repentance.

Hadn’t she repented of her cold mother days in the past?

And now Eleanor is making various efforts for Prince John.

“But even belatedly, I’m putting my heart and soul into John, aren’t I?”

“Do you really think so?”

Eleanor, saying with all her heart.

“That’s why I put people in Mortain, didn’t I?”

“Yes, I know it well.”

With Lionheart Henry far away as a member of the English Regency Council, there was no representative there.

But Eleanor filled the empty representative position,
by placing a nobleman who listened well to her and had a personal liking for John.

At that time.

“It’s a victory. Thanks to the performance of the vanguard led by Prince John, our Christians have recaptured Cairo.”

“Is that really true?”

“Our John did it.”

Both Eleanor and Mary were happy.

Considering the splendid ancient Egypt of the past, the current Egypt is an outdated neighborhood.

But considering the status that Egypt has had for a long time, recapturing Cairo, one of its centers, is a great achievement.

And,

There was one more surprising piece of news.

“Prince John impressed one of the Islamic bastards and brought him into the arms of Jesus.”

In the arms of Jesus.

In short, it means that a Muslim converted to Christianity.

According to Islamic doctrine, conversion, especially to Christianity, means becoming a person who will be burned to death forever in hell for the rest of their life.

While quietly thinking about something.

Duchess Mary of Ireland neatly finished assessing the situation.

“Thanks to the converted Muslim, John was able to conquer Egypt.”

“Indeed! I have to treat John even better.”

Queen Eleanor smiled with joy at the fact that her youngest son had become more useful.

“Mother, you’re giving off a sinister smile right now.”

“How can I give off a sinister smile in front of my ‘talented’ daughter-in-law?”

Mary, looking at her mother-in-law, took out a report from the drawer.

She showed it to her mother-in-law and said.

“Mother, now that things have turned out this way, we need to go to the next step.”

Then, Queen Eleanor, who had read all the words written in the document, said in a calm voice.

“You want me to help?”