Drawing Cards in the Middle Ages to Rise in Ranks-Chapter 526 - 305: Breaching the City

The course of the battle was truly lackluster.

The reinforcements of Governor Iben, newly arrived and unsteady, stood no chance against the charge led by Losa’s finest heavy cavalry, numbering over three thousand elite riders, serving as the spearhead.

They lacked the courage for a desperate fight, burning bridges behind them; the reinforcements, not even halfway across the river, began to retreat en masse.

Among the reinforcements on the shore, most of the soldiers conscripted from various villages lost their courage and desperately attempted to flee back across, while a few elites, under the command of their respective lords, barely managed to form a formation.

But not every army has the capability to face the Crusader heavy cavalry charge head-on.

With just one round of charge, the enemy fell like cut wheat. Blood stained the Nile River red, and the bodies were swept away by the waves, flowing into the sea.

Derum fought fiercely, taking down several people, his face smeared with blood.

The exquisite martial arts of the Imperial Knights were displayed beyond doubt at this moment. Even though he was a new recruit, his combat skills were remarkably adept.

Eupert laughed heartily: "These timid and cowardly heretics fall like waves of wheat. Indeed, as it is said, the Saracens, once stripped of plots and schemes, are insignificant in combat."

This brave and battle-hardened Crusader Knight from Saxony had killed at least a dozen enemies in the recent battle, including a well-equipped Saracen noble, astonishing Derum.

He thought to himself: So this guy’s tale of strangling a bear with his bare hands might actually be true!

"Those who lay down their arms shall not be killed!"

With Losa’s order given, the last resolve of the Saracen resistance faded bit by bit, and one by one they dropped their weapons, dejectedly awaiting the Crusaders’ judgment.

Sebastian, waving the flail in his hand, was about to strike down a prisoner who had laid down his weapon and ceased to resist.

"Stop, Cardinal!"

Seeing this scene, Derum hastily shouted.

The knights loyal to the bishop, those who received land from the monastery to farm as their own fief, although not bound by feudal ties, were practically akin to retinues, all drew their weapons.

"Halt, who are you?"

Derum pointed to the crest on his chest: "I am a knight under the Marquis’s command, Cardinal. Before the attack, the Marquis explicitly ordered no killing of prisoners. What do you think you are doing?"

A knight under Sebastian’s command spoke: "Heretics are beyond saving; Hell is their rightful destination."

Derum frowned; it’s worth remembering that he too was a heretic before.

"Cardinal, the Marquis’s command must not be compromised. Killing a prisoner who has laid down their weapons will not add an ounce of glory to you or the knights under your command."

Cardinal Sebastian frowned, throwing his weapon to his attendant, and took off the golden cross encrusted with red gems hanging around his neck, holding it up before Derum: "Knight, is your Marquis greater, or is His Holiness the Pope greater?"

Derum hesitated, as someone without roots, and even one who was "guilt-free if killed," he seemed not to challenge this authority.

"The Lord once said: Render unto God what is God’s, and unto Caesar what is Caesar’s."

Hans, wearing a winged helmet resembling bull horns and clad in silver-white armor, rode out from among the cavalry: "Cardinal, this is the battlefield, and the Supreme Commander here is the Marquis. Even His Holiness the Pope should not question the Marquis’s command at this crucial moment for all Christians, only thus can we achieve final victory."

"Ha, do you really think the Crusader cause sees repeated triumph because of him? It’s the Holy Spear’s achievement, it’s the miracle of God, it’s the holy Crusader cause that has brought success to your Master, not your Master contributing to the Crusader cause."

"Can your Master, just because God has revealed His power through him, become complacent and overjoyed?"

"Without your Master, any high-ranking, exceptionally wise Monarch leading this army, whether it’s the King of Gaul, the King of Albion, or the Duke of Bohemia, would defeat the wicked heretics—because it is God’s will."

"But before the Marquis arrived in the Holy Land, even with fragments of the True Cross, the Holy Mother Mary’s Molar, the Holy Thorns and a heap of relics of various Saints, the Crusaders repeatedly suffered defeats." 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

Hans looked unflinchingly at Sebastian’s blue eyes: "When Emperor Conrad and King Louis led the Eastern Expedition (referring to the Second Crusade), they also bore holy relics, but they too ended in disastrous defeat, leaving countless children of Christ either slain or sold into slavery to heretics."

"This is the Heavenly Father testing our piety. Any great undertaking must endure numerous trials before it can be accomplished."

Hans smiled, questioning: "Then, Cardinal, are you divinely enlightened to believe that this Crusade is destined for ultimate success? Otherwise, what gives you the confidence that any Monarch could achieve such a great undertaking?"

Sebastian opened his mouth, wanting to speak but hesitating.

In this era, few dare to brazenly claim divine revelation, more common are those with mental issues who truly believe they have received such a revelation, rather than those who subjectively want to deceive by it.

Sebastian was clearly not among them.

He did not answer Hans’s doubt, but cast a look of disgust at him and said coldly, "What is your name, Knight?"

"Your Eminence, you may call me Hans, Lord of Sego, Commander of the Royal Knight Order."

"I will remember you."

Sebastian looked at Hans’s unwavering expression and sneered, speaking with double meaning, "May God bless you to ascend to the Celestial Kingdom, young knight."

"May you achieve the same."

Hans merely nodded slightly, with no flaw in his courtesy, as he watched the Cardinal leave in annoyance.

It was a long time before he turned back to look at Derum behind him and said, "Well done, Derum."

"My Lord Hans, you know of me?"

"The Marquis and the Ulm Knight have both mentioned you to me."

Hans patted Derum’s shoulder: "The Church is not entirely made up of saints like Bishop Urding; there are more like Sebastian—Marquis calls them hyenas, greedy, cruel, bullying the weak, and lazy to gain."

Derum sighed deeply, "I knew from the beginning that people like Bishop Urding are rare to find throughout the world. Not only Bishop Urding, but Ulm Knight, Knight Jeanne, and even you, are rare."

Hans couldn’t help but laugh: "I’m not qualified to be ranked alongside Knight Jeanne."

Along with a distant rumbling.

The knights who were clearing the spoils of war all cheered; it was the massive catapults at work, a stone projectile precisely hit the wall, like a flesh-and-blood millstone, grinding the protruding battlement and the Saracen soldiers hiding behind it into dust.

...

The catapults wreaked havoc throughout the morning, leaving the entire Feilaimai Castle in ruins.

By afternoon, as a large stone precisely hit the city gate, the Crusaders poured in one after another.

...

Losa stood atop the tower of Feilaimai Castle.

Caravans loaded with ale, wine, grains, salt, fish, leather, and water jars entered the castle in an endless stream.

Feilaimai Castle wasn’t large and couldn’t hold much.

"Across the way, that’s the Nile Delta."

Losa said so.

On the other side, one could clearly see a verdant scene, with the sea wind blowing over green waves of wheat, and prosperous villages emitting curling smoke, along with orchards cultivating olive trees and fig trees, lined row upon row.

Turning back, the sky and earth were still yellow and desolate.

"It’s like a whole different world."

"That place will belong to you sooner or later." "As you said today, to behold the beautiful scenery on the other side from here."

Losa, unable to help but laugh, glanced at Kurs and then said, "Alright, enough of that jesting. I heard that today Hans clashed with Cardinal Sebastian?"

"Yes."

"Not only that, reports below say this Cardinal has been quite disobedient, constantly associating with the dukes and nobles among the Crusaders, trying to enhance his own influence. It’s obvious he wouldn’t want you to claim the crown of Egypt."

"Just a jumping clown."

Losa sneered; his loyalists were spread throughout every corner of the entire Crusader, like the root system of the Tree of Life deep beneath the ground, firmly gripping the army, even a little sand mixed in would have little impact on him.