Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

In the face of survival and interests, everything else must give way.

Just like Fatima and Byzantium, one believes in Islam and the other believes in Christianity, but they allow each other's believers to exist. Even in their respective capitals, there are places of worship for the other religion.

The same is true for the Crusaders!

In the late reign of Baldwin I, pagans were allowed to return home because the number of Christians was too small to meet 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 must be solved. A group of bachelors left their homes and it was really terrible to make trouble.

This lasted for more than 20 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 the army of the whole country, there were only more than 500 QS. Each of his followers was a few infantry and horsemen (the infantry and horsemen added up to about a few to a dozen people, the number depends purely on the financial resources of the QS).

If the grooms are counted as soldiers, the total force of the Kingdom of Jerusalem is about 7,000 people at this time. When the Ming soldiers captured the Hailim Fortress, they killed 8 QS and more than 100 soldiers.

There are also two regiments, which are in cooperation with the king: the Temple QS Regiment and the Hospital QS Regiment.

At present, the two major QS regiments have dozens of people each, and the troops under their command are also several hundred people.

After Fulk collected the payment for the goods, he set off with his army.

Many nobles were afraid of encountering robbers halfway for their own profits, so they took the initiative to send them to help. The two major QS regiments also sent ten QS each, accompanied by their followers.

There were more than 2,000 troops, including more than 200 QS alone.

Just as they set off, Fulk's army left near the Hailim Fortress was attacked.

It was an oasis, with a total of ten QS and more than a hundred followers, guarding here to prevent domestic nobles from coming to trade privately.

They waited for the Bedouins!

…

But two or three hundred Arab nomadic cavalry, some even riding camels, suddenly rushed out from behind the sand dunes at noon.

“Enemy attack, enemy attack!”

The Crusader infantry hurriedly picked up their weapons.

Some grooms put on harnesses for the horses, and some grooms helped the soldiers put on armor.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh.

The Bedouins began to cruise and shoot arrows, and the unarmored grooms suffered heavy casualties.

A few Crusader infantry had bows and arrows, but it was difficult to hit the fast-running Arab cavalry.

The Crusader soldiers finished putting on their armor and mounted their horses to charge at the enemy.

The Bedouins did not engage in battle, but rode their 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.

The Crusaders could not resist, and retreated while fighting with their infantry and grooms.

Gradually retreated to the Hailim Fortress where the Ming soldiers were stationed.

"Who should we help?" asked Zou Tong, the commander of the Ming army.

Qian Chen was watching the excitement with a telescope and said with a smile: "What does it have to do with us if they fight to the death?"

Zou Tong said: "Those Crusaders are doing business with us after all."

"Don't worry about it." Qian Chen said.

Qian Chen called the translator and asked: "What are those people wearing long robes and turbans?"

The translator replied: "Bedouins."

"What are they?" Qian Chen asked.

The translator explained: "There are two types of Arabs here. One is doing business like us and mainly lives in coastal areas. The other is a nomadic life, and occasionally farms. They are called Bedouins."

"It turns out to be a nomadic tribe in the desert." Qian Chen thought of the tribes in the northern desert.

The translator sighed: "The Bedouins often fight against the Crusaders, often ambushing and attacking. Unfortunately, the Bedouin tribes have feuds, and it is difficult for them to unite. Otherwise, they alone can make it difficult for the Crusaders to gain a foothold. The only ones who can unite the Bedouins are the four caliphs of the past."

The Crusader QS has fled outside the fortress and shouted to the Ming soldiers: "Let us in!"

The Ming soldiers ignored him.

The Crusader QS could only escape around the fortress. They could no longer care about the infantry and horsemen who followed them.

Some horsemen rode spare horses carrying baggage and fled with the QS.

But the infantry and horsemen without horses could only leave it to fate.

On their way to escape, they were chased and shot by Arab light cavalry, and fell to the ground and died one after another.

Perhaps because they were afraid of the Ming army in the fortress, the Bedouins did not continue to chase. They separated people to clean up the battlefield and sent another person on a camel to shout.

"Guests from afar, this desert is ours!" the camel soldiers shouted at the top of their lungs.

Qian Yan said to the translator: "Tell him I don't care who owns this place. I took the castle from the attackers, and whoever wants to take it back has to pay. Gold or silver is fine."

Another man in a long robe came on horseback: "The pagans in Jerusalem are all villains, I hope you don't trade with those villains!"

Qian Yan 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, the Bedouins are very poor. Tribes often attack each other because of grabbing pastures and food, and this feud has lasted for hundreds of years."

Qian Yan said: "If he has no money, let him go!"

The translator shouted: "The Ming Kingdom is here to do business, and they only want gold and silver!"

No one outside the fort responded, and they continued to clean up the battlefield.

They were so poor that they even took off the pants from the corpses, as if they could be washed and worn again.

The looted food and weapons were also piled up and distributed uniformly.

These Bedouins came from three friendly tribes, and the spoils were distributed very carefully.

After distributing the spoils, they wandered back and forth outside the fortress, and even approached the port to observe the Ming ships, as if they wanted to do something but couldn't do it.

Qian Yu ordered: "Send them a cannonball, just as if to send away beggars."

The fortress had six cannons, all of which were moved from the warships.

"Boom!"

A cannonball was fired, and the Bedouins looked up at the sky in shock. They thought it was thunder in the sky.

The cannonball fell into the sand, bounced and rolled forward, and did not hit anyone or livestock.

The Bedouins nearby 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 the fortress, then asked everyone to retreat silently, and soon disappeared into the desert.

…

Fulke was so angry when he heard that his army left in the oasis was attacked.

They hurried over and spent the night in the oasis at dusk.

The Grand Commander of the Temple QS Regiment, who also led the army this time, was called Hugh de Paynes - this person was also translated as "Pa Ying".

He was the founder of the Temple QS Regiment and was over 70 years old this year!

Paying asked: "How many soldiers are stationed in the fortress?"

"What do you want to do?" Fulk asked.

Paying said: "We have more than 2,000 soldiers. If there are not many soldiers stationed in the fortress, we can use a strategy to suddenly attack it."

Fulke said unhappily: "The goods are on the ship. Even if we can raid and recapture the fortress, the other side's big ships will leave. So many treasures will not be needed?"

Paying stopped talking.

The treasures on the Ming cargo ship are related to the interests of countless nobles and merchants. If he dares to destroy this, he will probably "die of illness" inexplicably soon.

It is normal for an old man in his seventies to die suddenly of illness.

The next morning, Fulk led his troops forward and was stopped by Qian Yan's men one mile outside the fortress.

The translator came to pass on the message: "Those carrying weapons stop here. Those who want to go to the ship must take off their armor and lay down their weapons!"

Payen drew his sword and stuck it in the sand, saying, "I'll wait here!"

"I'll go and see."

Raymond de Puy, the grand commander of the Hospital QS Regiment, smiled and began to take off his armor.

They rarely fought at this stage, mainly providing services for pilgrims, providing food to Christians, treating diseases, etc. Only when the king led his troops on an expedition or encountered an emergency, the Hospital QS Regiment would take up arms.

Of course, as the war becomes more intense in the future, these guys will eventually become combat-oriented.

Boxes of gold coins were carried on board, and boxes of goods were carried out.

The QSs surrounded the goods with shining eyes, and kept chanting praises to the Lord.

Fulk ran to talk to Qian Yan about the ransom: "For this fortress, I will offer a maximum of 50,000 silver coins. You can sell it to the Egyptians if they are willing to buy it. You will leave eventually, and I can take it back from the Egyptians. 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 take it down, they will suffer heavy losses.

It's a pity that the Caliph of Egypt is not up to the task. The Ming envoy has already gone to negotiate. The Caliph expressed his willingness to buy the fortress and the port, but only agreed to pay 30,000 silver coins-this place is very important to the Crusaders, but it is not important to Egypt, and there are not even a few people.

"Okay, 50,000 is 50,000." Qian Yan was too lazy to bother anymore.

Qian Yu thought it was okay to pick up 13,333 taels of silver for free, anyway, no one died when the fortress was captured, and the Crusaders were scared away by the bombardment.

Fulk returned to Jerusalem happily with the Crusaders and the goods.

As for redeeming the fortress, he had to wait until the goods were sold to merchants and the money was collected before he could come to pay the bill. The fortress was temporarily occupied by the Ming army.

A few days later, the Crusaders had not come to redeem the castle yet, and the Bedouins actually came to trade.

They brought more than a hundred Arabian horses, wanting to barter, and then sell them at a higher price to make money.

The purest Arabian horses are in the hands of the Bedouins. And not only have they not degenerated, but they have been continuously bred from generation to generation.

Arabian horses are not as precious as imagined, their characteristic is endurance!

If the horses growing in the desert were precious, they would have died out long ago.

Only a small amount of food and water are needed to maintain physical strength, and the heat dissipation performance is superb, which is very suitable for long-distance raids.

To show their sincerity, the Bedouin soldiers stopped at a distance and sent only a few people to drive the horses to the fortress.

Commander Zou Tong observed through a telescope and said, "They are all good horses. Your Majesty will definitely like them. Last time, I was only concerned about preventing the battle and didn't think of buying horses from these desert herders."

Qian Yan said, "There are still some goods left, enough to buy all the good horses in front of us!"