paranoianovel Chapter 888: Flames burn the city
Chapter 888: Flames burn the city
Chapter 888: Flames burn the city
In the Crusaders' camp outside Damascus.
"Help!"
"Hurry, someone, where is the doctor?"
More than a dozen scouts, covered in blood, rushed in, pushing the wounded on carts.
A Knight Hospitaller heard it and immediately stepped forward to check the situation.
The young scout was stunned for a moment, then he pushed the other man away and shouted, "Get out of the way. I want the gentlemen of the Order of Saint Lazarus to treat my captain!"
The Knight Hospitaller couldn't help but let out a bitter smile. He pointed to the "Eight-Pointed Cross" on his chest and said, "Don't worry. I am also a member of the Order of Saint Lazarus. Let me see your respectable captain. I promise I won't give him an enema or bleed him."
The Knights Hospitaller here refers to the Knights Hospitaller under Lothar.
Since they have all obtained the Holy Light Seeds and have been tempered in several combat records, the Holy Light Seeds have grown vigorously and are perfect for treating external injuries.
The young scout was somewhat suspicious, he only knew that along the way, the most wounded soldiers came out from the camp of the Order of Saint Lazarus, while most of the wounded soldiers in the other camps were carried out.
He didn't want Galio, whom he regarded as his brother, to have to take care of him all the time and turn into a stinking corpse that would be covered with flies in a moment's time in the climate of the Holy Land.
"No, I need to find the monks of the order to treat our captain."
The Hospitaller said irritably, "I told you, this is me. If you don't want your captain to be delayed any further, hand him over to me now!"
As the two of them were arguing, a majestic voice rang out: "What's going on?"
Everyone bowed their heads and saluted: "Your Majesty."
Lothar took a quick glance and realized what had happened. After he obtained the buildings of the three major knightly orders' headquarters, the members who were transferred were all included in the combat sequence of the Knights of the Order of Saint Lazarus, and the camps were also built separately.
Ordinary soldiers might have seen these knights of the order, but that was when they appeared in the camp as monks or doctors, or when they appeared on the battlefield fully armed, wielding war hammers or holding lances.
It is difficult for anyone to equate these two images.
"Take the wounded down."
"Can"
The young scout stammered, not daring to act rashly in front of Lothar.
"Child, who is the injured person to you?"
He cried and replied, "It was our captain, Knight Galio. He was hit hard on the head by a pagan bastard in order to save me. Even a large part of his helmet was dented. It's all my fault."
"Galio... I remember him, a very young, very brave Coptic boy, God bless him."
Lothar patted the young scout's shoulder gently. "He is important to you, but you must believe that he is not only important to you, but also to me. I will not let those quacks take over my bravest scout captain."
More than a dozen wounded scouts had their eyes reddened by what Lothar said. They were extremely grateful and were taken away by the hospital knights for treatment.
After pacifying the soldiers, Lothar returned to his tent.
He felt a little restless. His soldiers were so easily satisfied that they would give their lives for him with just a few nice words.
Leopold came back from outside at the right time and said with a frown: "It seems that the locals are not very cooperative."
"Your Majesty, if you could just ride your dragon over their heads or burn down a few villages, they would be much more obedient."
"Excuse me, Your Majesty, but you are too lenient to these unruly people."
Leopold felt that perhaps because Lothar had suddenly risen to a high position, he lacked the experience that ordinary lords had in dealing with the lower-class people.
War is war, and there is no room for so-called chivalry.
Not attacking civilians, especially pagan civilians, is extremely rare even among bards and novels.
After all, once a war breaks out, the lords can still hide in the fortresses, but the villages that are not protected by tall city walls will be the first to be hit.
On the one hand, looting these villages can help us get food and supplies from the enemy, and on the other hand, it can also weaken the enemy's war potential.
Who cares about the wailing and corpses everywhere?
Moreover, they were enemy civilians.
"The walls of Damascus cannot stop us."
Lothar said in a deep voice: "If we take this city, they will realize who is the real owner of this land."
Imitating the Tatars in history and massacring cities at will can indeed greatly deter the enemy and even cause many cities to surrender without a fight.
But Lothar never wanted his morality to completely slide to the average of this era, which would make him doubt what the point of traveling to this world was. Was it just to have another feudal monarch who was more capable of fighting?
"Besides, I have asked the scouts, and they found that only a few Saracen villages dared to attack us, and the perpetrators were mainly Saracen scouts. The Ayyubid dynasty is about to sink, and smart people will realize that now is the best time to jump off the ship."
"My lord, perhaps what you are thinking is what the Saracens want us to do, to provoke us to massacre the village and inspire hatred among the locals against us."
Leopold sneered and said, "It seems that we have imagined that Saladin is too noble."
Lothar shook his head. "I have met Saladin. He is in a very bad condition. He looks lifeless and his life force is like a candle in the wind. I suspect that the military affairs of Damascus may no longer be under his control."
If Saladin was not suffering from schizophrenia, this would probably be the most correct guess.
After all, with his current power, even if he really "becomes his enemy all over the world", and all the local people unite and gather more than 100,000 militiamen to fight him to the death, he will not be able to change the overall situation.
On the contrary, firmly implementing the policy of clearing the countryside will have a greater impact on oneself.
"Sir Leopold, would you like to come with me?"
Losa suddenly spoke.
"What are you going to do?"
"My soldiers are fighting the enemy, and I can't just sit in the tent and wait, so I plan to go there in person and try to negotiate a deal with the locals."
After Losa finished speaking, he said, "Prajna, help me put on the armor."
Leopold hesitated for a moment, looked at the red-robed woman beside him, and coughed lightly.
The woman in red rolled her eyes and walked forward to help him put on the armor.
In the evening, when Losa returned to the camp, he brought back dozens of carts of supplies, water jugs, wine, food, vegetables, and even many slaughtered sheep and pigs.
The soldiers happily unloaded their supplies, looking forward to sleeping in the camp and having a hot and delicious meal tonight.
"Look, even pagans are easy to talk to if you reason with them, right?"
Losa looked at the happy crowd and spoke with a smile.
Leopold opened his mouth and said after a while: "If there wasn't a dragon hovering over your head, I don't think they would be so generous."
“So I decided to just do it.”
Lothar's eyes were bright. "From tomorrow on, the dragon will hover over every village. I believe that under the watchful eye of Ladon, even the most barbaric and fierce pagans will become reasonable."
Leopold was a little helpless. It turned out that you also knew that the "magic dragon" was the "truth".
"Let's go, have a good meal tonight and get a good sleep. We are all exhausted after running around these days."
Lothar patted Leopold on the shoulder, then took a deep look at Damascus, which was lying like a python on earth under the night sky.
Three days later, such a magnificent city will be in our hands.