paranoianovel Chapter 889: Flames Burning the City (Continued 1)
Chapter 889: Flames Burning the City (Continued 1)
Chapter 889: Flames Burning the City (Continued)
Three days passed in a blink of an eye.
In the early morning, a thin layer of mist hung in the air of Damascus. More than a dozen Mamluk generals surrounded a young general wearing gorgeous scale armor and climbed up the city wall.
He looked with a worried brow at the camps below the city where various Crusader flags were flying one after another. These days, the Crusaders were busy preparing for the siege, and the harassment plan he formulated not only resulted in too many casualties, but also achieved very limited results.
No matter how fierce and fanatical the recruited desert nomads were, they were no match for the iron armor and honed combat skills of the Frankish knights.
A Mamluk general whispered, "Your Highness, the Frankish barbarians outside the city have been gathering more and more recently. They are driving their magic dragons, forcing every village to provide them with military supplies and water, and even offering gold and silver to bribe them. Our plan has obviously failed."
The young general said with some regret: "I have long said that we should fortify the city and clear the land, leaving no water source for them. Without water, those arrogant Frankish barbarians will be like thirsty fish and be slaughtered by us."
He is Malik, Saladin's eldest son and his favorite son.
Now that Saladin was seriously ill, he naturally took over the rule of Damascus.
This was not a difficult task for him. Saladin had originally planned to hand over Damascus and the heartland of the kingdom in southern Syria to Malik after his death, and make him the king of the Ayyubid dynasty.
Malik already had a fairly broad ruling base in these places and a team that was dependent on him.
Mamluk said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty is kind and does not want the people to suffer."
Malik smiled bitterly and said, "If I can save my father's kingdom, I would rather bear the infamy of an executioner."
He could understand his father's decision. Since the fall of Damascus was almost inevitable, it was still necessary to maintain the last reputation of the Ayyubid family. However - he was unwilling to accept it.
He had waited for so many years, and when he was about to seize power, he took over a dying country.
"General Mujit, have my good brothers been behaving well recently?"
The general hesitated for a moment, but still said, "His Highness Zahir and the reinforcements he promised are still in Aleppo, and there is no news. His Highness Aziz has been staying at home recently and has not been against you."
As Saladin became seriously ill, the Ayyubid dynasty began to show signs of disintegration after several consecutive failures.
Local lords began to disobey the central government's orders, and Saladin's three sons also began to fight for power.
Saladin originally planned to hand over Egypt, centered on Cairo, to his second son Aziz, and Aleppo in northern Syria to his youngest son, Zahir, who had been captured by Lothar.
Originally, there was nothing wrong with this division, as it was fair except that it would lead to similar strength among the various schools and local separatism.
But the problem is that Egypt is gone.
Now that Aleppo has been returned to Zahir after Adil was appointed governor of Egypt, Aziz is the only one left among Saladin's three sons with nothing. How could he be satisfied with this?
Therefore, when the Crusaders were still attacking Homs, Aziz began to fight openly and secretly with Malik, trying to take the Shawbek area south of Damascus for himself, and even seek Malik's position as crown prince.
The two sides were at loggerheads, and their respective supporters even openly fought in the streets of Damascus, and only stopped after Saladin, despite his illness, had to scold them.
Malik showed a hint of sarcasm on his face. "Oh, it seems that my father's reprimand has worked. Aziz, that idiot, is still only thinking about fighting for power even though the kingdom is in danger. It is because the country is full of such people that we have fallen into the current situation."
The power of the Ayyubid Dynasty was ten times that of the Crusader Kingdom in terms of population alone, and its wealth was dozens of times greater.
In Malik's opinion, if the kingdom could unite and exert its full strength, Goodes would have returned to the embrace of the Holy Fire long ago.
Saladin treated his clan very well, but this large-scale enfeoffment was a complete failure in Malik's view.
"If I defeat the Franks, I will not be like my father, who only uses people from my clan. Regardless of whether they have blood close to mine or not, I will depose them and make room for talented generals."
Malik reiterated his political views. In his view, the royal family and his brothers were the cancer that restricted his authority and caused the dynasty to fall into division.
When his father was still alive, he could appoint and dismiss these royal governors at will, but Malik knew very well that he did not have this authority. Unless he could defeat the invading Franks and achieve a brilliant victory, even if the Crusaders retreated, the dynasty would fall apart.
The Mamluks' expressions were slightly moved, and they came forward to express their loyalty.
They naturally knew that this was just a blank check, but at least Malik was sincere in fulfilling this blank check, whether he could do it or not was another matter.
boom--
In the distance, the counterweight catapults set up by the Crusaders began to show their power again. Giant stone bombs as big as millstones hit the towers and walls of Damascus like roaring thunder.
"The Franks are at it again."
"Your Highness, quickly get down from the city and hide!"
A group of Mamluk generals hurriedly surrounded Malik and walked down the city wall.
"damn it!"
Malik came to a safe area in a somewhat embarrassed manner, brushing off the dust that had fallen on his head. "I don't know where these Franks stole our technology from, but they actually built such a catapult. Those who betrayed the Holy Fire should go to Hell."
At the right time, a melodious horn sounded.
There were bursts of exclamations from the top of the city wall, and the lookout in the tower desperately shook the copper bell.
Malik, who was complaining, and the expressions of the Mamluk generals all froze - the Frankish army outside the city finally couldn't sit still and planned to attack the city!
It's only been three days. Can't those pagan devils hold back?
"Your Highness, it's not good!"
A Kasaj guard suddenly rushed over quickly. After being stopped by Malik's guards, he anxiously said, "Your Highness, His Highness Aziz and his confidants said they were going to attack the Franks' camp and left the city."
Malik's expression turned stern: "Haha, hahaha!"
He laughed, but there was no smile in his voice.
"This is my good brother, my good brother who wants to compete with me for the throne!"
Everyone knew that Aziz's claim of attacking the Frank camp was pure bullshit. After lying in wait for so many days, the second son of Saladin unexpectedly did something big and fled the city.
He looked at the generals who were full of indignation, contempt, and hatred, and said coldly:
"Okay, everyone. Since my brother has gone ahead of us to fight against the pagans, we can't just sit there. It's time to ask the mages trained by the kingdom to decide our life or death!"
The Ayyubid dynasty naturally also cultivated its own spellcasters. The origins of these spellcasters were similar to those of the Mamluks. They were all loyal people who had received military training and brainwashing education since childhood.
But the problem is that they have only been trained for a short time. Even though Shemaier taught them everything he knew when he was still alive, their average level is only that of a primary wizard, which is not comparable to the Ayyubid Wizard Group that once had a generation of legendary spellcasters.
Even Shemer himself died at the hands of that pagan devil, let alone his useless students?
"Everyone, I know that the key to this battle is to shoot the pagan dragon. I am also ready to deal with that beast, so don't worry!"
Malik pretended to be confident and laughed, "The Frankish chief likes to travel by dragon. This is his biggest flaw. If we can kill him together, the Franks will retreat without a fight!"
(End of this chapter)