strictlysupreme Chapter 875 2 battles
Chapter 875 2 battles
Chapter 875 Two Wars
Wuwuwu——
A melodious horn sounded from the mountain.
Besieged by internal and external difficulties, the Tatars finally chose to retreat.
But even after retreating, Ivan still felt a lingering fear.
This war was undoubtedly a tragic victory. It was visible to the naked eye that the number of people they lost was far greater than the number of bodies left by the other side.
Even the royal guards like the Gongfen Army had obvious gaps in equipment, individual combat power, and tactical coordination compared to the enemy's Qiexue Army.
If Ivan's troops had not descended like a god at the critical moment and cut off the Tatars' retreat, and if the Tatars had not been limited in number and intended to preserve their strength and not fight to the death, it would be hard to say who would have won.
Watching the Tatars retreat one after another, Ivan, who was holding on to his last breath, collapsed in a pool of blood.
He panted and cursed in Slavic slang, then said, "It seems that Kuchlug and those merchants from the East were not exaggerating. This tribal alliance called Tatar is much stronger than the Cumans and Turks."
Fulk nodded silently on the side. The feeling of oppression brought to him by these Tatars was also unprecedented. If the Mamluks and Frank knights were put in front of them, they would probably be no match for them.
Ivan took a long time to calm down before taking a deep gulp from the water bag. "Did you notice that any other army would be in disarray and in a state of collapse if they were in this situation? But even if the Tatar cavalry were defeated, they withdrew from the battlefield in an orderly manner, making it difficult for the Khitan cavalry to expand their victory."
The discipline displayed by this group of Tatar cavalry made Ivan, who had seen Cossack and Cuman cavalry before, wonder whether they were still nomadic cavalry.
Fulk certainly noticed this. Throughout history, the heaviest casualties in wars were never when the two sides were fighting each other, but when the defeated army was being hunted down.
"Rather than saying they were defeated, it would be better to say they were retreating on their own initiative."
Fulk said worriedly: "Ivan, our loss this time is not small."
"Don't worry, we will definitely get a share of the captured weapons and supplies!"
Ivan was full of confidence in this. In this battle, he had demonstrated his worth. The Khitans, who were now in a critical moment, would definitely pay a higher price to win him over.
As for the loss of troops, he actually didn't care much. After all, he didn't have to pay pensions, and he also saved a salary. According to the spoils of war, everyone who survived this time would make a fortune.
With these people around, those who want to join Ivan's tribe and use fame to gain wealth and fame will have to fight for their chance.
While the two were talking, Yelu Zonghan came up to them with a smile on his face and said, "Iwan Qianhu, you have made a great contribution this time. I will report this to Juer Khan and ask him to promote you to Wanhu and grant you a large grassland!"
Before, Yelu Zonghan, who still had the ambition to defeat the enemy and recover lost territories such as Husiwoerduo, might not have considered this tragic victory so rare.
But having witnessed the terror of the Tatars with his own eyes, he now fully realized that what Qutuliglu said about the terror of the Tatars was by no means an exaggeration.
After all, this is just a small force of the Tatars!
The Naiman tribe, the former overlord of the Tatar steppe, was said to have a hundred thousand soldiers under its command during its heyday. Now that the Tatar tribe has unified the entire Tatar steppe and moved eastward to occupy the entire territory of the Great Jin Dynasty, it is conservatively estimated that it has at least two hundred thousand soldiers under its command.
With such a powerful enemy ahead, the Sassanid Persians, the Ghurkes, and the Khwarezmian rebellion all became minor problems.
After hearing what the interpreter said, Ivan's face was filled with fear and trepidation: "Thank you, Your Highness, the Emperor's uncle, for your appreciation!"
"Ivan, in addition to the reward from Jur Khan, I will also give you a huge reward. I will give you a quarter of the spoils of this battle, including the captured slaves, the captured cattle and sheep. You can distribute them all!"
Yelu Zonghan actually didn't like foreigners very much, but the Khitans' rule in the Western Regions was completely dependent on foreigners. After all, there were too few Khitans in the Western Regions.
Both sides had to rely on foreigners to maintain their rule. Yelu Zonghan felt that Ivan, a group of mercenaries with no foundation, was more worthy of being won over than the old tribes that had been rooted in the Western Regions for hundreds of years.
Thinking of this, Yelu Zonghan became even more amiable.
Boom! A clay jar filled with asphalt and kerosene, which could be described as degraded Greek fire, was hurled onto the top of the city wall by a giant catapult, and balls of sticky black water were sprayed everywhere.
Immediately afterwards, flaming arrows fell like raindrops, igniting the black water in an instant.
The wooden fortresses and towers built on the top of the city were soon set on fire by the rapidly spreading flames. The defenders hiding inside let out miserable wails and jumped off the city walls one after another in the hope of a quick death.
While the old and new overlords in the vast Central Asia were fighting each other for life and death, under the walls of Homs, the Crusaders from Europe once again launched a fierce attack.
The Ayyubid Dynasty still retained the vast territory of Syria and ruled over millions of people. Even a lean camel is bigger than a horse. If it were placed in Europe, it would still be a first-class power.
But with the coronation of the new king of Jerusalem and his impending northern expedition, the morale of the entire dynasty had completely dissipated.
The various pagan peoples under his rule, such as the Greek Orthodox Christians, the Syrian Orthodox Christians, and the Armenian Apostolic Christians, were all thinking about when to break free from their shackles and surrender to the Crusaders. They looked at the Saracen nobles who had once been domineering with increasingly malicious eyes.
The Zoroastrian subjects were in a panic and contacted distant relatives everywhere to find a way to survive.
Everyone knew that the Ayyubid dynasty was on the verge of capsizing.
At this time, the city of Homs was in ruins.
"The Crusaders are retreating again!"
"we won."
"The sacred fire will burn forever, and Holmes will never fall!"
Ramla was a Jewish garrison. Although he didn't like the Saracens very much, he still hated the Franks who wanted their lives, manors, properties, and workshops more than the Saracens who just extorted money.
It is said that several elders of the Jewish quarter had previously sent messengers to seek refuge with the Franks, but unfortunately, the outcome was obvious: the Franks were simply unwilling to accept them.
The food reserves in the city were almost exhausted. If it weren't for King Saladin's 500 Kassaj Guards who risked their lives to break through the siege and enter the city with a batch of supplies two days ago, even if they still had the will to hold on, they would not have the strength to do so.
But right now, the food rations they are allocated every day are already pitifully small.
They are still considered lucky. Most of the civilians in the city can't even have a bowl of porridge or water to drink every day.
He guessed that the nobles in the city should still have some food stored at home, but it was impossible to expect those misers to admit it or even take out some food for them.
As for the outcome of the city being broken?
If this continues, people in the city will start cannibalizing each other before the city is captured.
Suddenly, a weak shout of "It's time for dinner" was heard from the top of the city wall. The defenders who were lying like corpses against the wall woke up one after another and rushed towards the officials who were delivering food.
Ramla tried his best to grab it, but what he finally got was just a small, pitiful piece of moldy black bread.
“Lord, when will we get out of this hell?”
Somewhat desperately, he tore the bread into pieces, stuffed them into his mouth, moistened them with saliva for a long time, and then swallowed them down his throat.
The Crusader camp outside the city.
"Why did these cowardly Germans retreat without permission? Didn't they find that our Frankish knights had already occupied the city walls? Let Leopold come to see me. I want to ask him how he manages his men."
The Lionheart roared in rage.
Originally, Homs was about to lose its last resistance due to internal and external difficulties, but a few nights ago, due to the lax guarding of a siege army, it was broken into by a capable Mamluk cavalry.
Although this army was small in number, it brought the last glimmer of hope to these damn defenders.
In addition, the Crusaders were notorious, and even a relatively tolerant monarch like Lothar suffered greatly from them. How could the people of Homs not resist to the end?
"Things with the Germans are always so bad!"
"Let them see a siege camp, and they can even leave such a big hole!"
Philip on the side sighed and said, "We have suppressed these Germanic Crusaders too much before. Now that they have heard that Lothar is coming and have a backer, they are determined to fight us to the end."
"Rather than being cowardly, they simply don't want us to capture Homs before Lothar arrives, because they all think we won't treat them fairly."
"That Leopold is also a self-righteous bastard. After he came, he gathered the Germanic Crusaders to compete with us. He didn't think that he was just a duke, and he could be on equal footing with us just by Henry's order?"