paranoianovel Chapter 697 Right-hand man
Chapter 697 Right-hand man
Chapter 697 Right-hand man
As the sun rose, the Crusaders stationed inside and outside the city woke up from their slumber.
The clergy who accompanied the army gathered together, holding gold, silver, bronze, or wooden Latin crosses, Orthodox crosses, Coptic crosses, and even rare Armenian crosses.
The barefoot monks in sackcloth and the bishops wearing golden miter and holding scepters came to the military camp and led the soldiers in morning prayer, praising the resurrection of Jesus Christ and confessing their sins.
Cardinal Sebaitisian took off the black robe he usually wore, put on a red cassock and a red cloak to highlight his prominent status as a "cardinal".
But unfortunately, this guy doesn't seem to be loved by others. The only people around him are the guard knights on his church estate and the elite among the Apennine mercenaries.
"These people would rather believe in heretical servants of God and the clergy appointed by the kings and nobles than listen to the teachings of the true faith. I have begun to doubt whether the Crusaders who came to the Holy Land are still pious or have already been bewitched by the devil."
Speaking of "devils", Sebastian glanced at the distance with some jealousy at the ascetics from the Order of Saint Lazarus and the crusaders who surrounded them and prayed for God's grace.
It’s not that he’s unpopular.
The lower-level soldiers had no idea about the filthiness of the church's upper echelons, or the conflicts between him and Duke Lothar. They just thought that he was dressed gorgeously and had a high status, so they kept their distance from him.
The well-informed nobles were also unwilling to have anything to do with this cardinal who had only a false title and was disliked by the Grand Marshal.
Even the two kings of high esteem had clearly acknowledged the Grand Marshal's position. If he incurred the Grand Marshal's dislike, there would be no need for any conspiracy. All he needed to do was delay the distribution of supplies or place him on a dangerous front line, which could cost his life.
Although the Grand Marshal is upright, everyone has relatives and friends who are close to him.
At that time, both of them would be granted titles of princes for their contributions. Would the Duke of Alexander and the neighboring Duke of Siwa be the same?
Lothar put on his armor and came to the courtyard. The Winged Hussars who served as the guards immediately stopped what they were doing and looked at him.
A horse neighs.
The tall Eclipse leapt dozens of meters above the heads of a group of Winged Hussars and jumped in front of Lothar. It raised its hooves high, neighed excitedly, and its eyes were full of eagerness to try.
The groom who was taking care of it looked at the reins that had been broken free from his hands with helplessness. It was not right for him to stay where he was. He wanted to step forward to apologize, but he could not squeeze through the neatly dressed armored cavalry.
Lothar patted Eclipse's big head, jumped on his horse, waved his hand and ordered:
"Set off."
At his command, the Winged Hussars mounted their horses one after another.
The door of the mansion was wide open, and Losa rushed out first.
The reason for agreeing to the challenge from Adil was simple. In front of the dragon, the city wall was completely useless. This was not the Theodosius Wall with an embedded magic circle in yesterday's battleship world.
If they wanted to rely on the city walls for defense, the entire city would easily be burned down, and they would then have to leave the city to challenge the enemy. But by that time, all the advantageous terrain outside the city would have been occupied, which would be unfavorable for tens of thousands of Crusaders to deploy their battle formations.
Baron Charles was inspecting his cavalry. In addition to the Flemish knights and their followers, his cavalry also included many landless knights from Flanders and Wallonia who had defected to Lothar.
Lothar gave all these people to him to command, totaling more than 300 heavy cavalry, named the Flanders Walloon League.
"Everyone, it's time to make achievements. Most of you are like me, the unappreciated second sons of your families, or simply bankrupt knights, who have inherited nothing except the armor and spear handed down from the family."
"If it were in Europe, we would probably die in an unjust territorial conflict and would never get a piece of land after fighting all our lives. But now we are in the Holy Land, in Egypt, fighting to liberate the Holy Land and defend the great cause of Christ."
"We are loyal to Duke Lothar, who is known for his generosity. Even a farmer who was once worthless can be promoted to a knight if he has made meritorious contributions. Do you think that we nobles are inferior to those new recruits who have just put down their farm tools?"
Baron Charles' face flushed and he spoke passionately, as if he had learned a little bit of Lothar's teachings.
Suddenly, the sound of horse hooves was heard in the distance.
The Iron Pagoda cavalry, dressed in black lamellar armor and equipped with horses, looked as majestic as an iron tower. There were also the Qiexue cavalry, equipped with similar style but relatively lightly armed. They all carried bows and arrows and formed a winding marching team, followed by baggage wagons.
The leader was a strange man with a distinct Turkic appearance, riding a three-meter-tall land dragon.
"Isn't this the heavy cavalry company under your command? Why is there a person I haven't seen before leading them?"
Baron Charles was very sure that he had never seen this guy before, but he had the illusion that they were "blood-related". He soon realized that this person should be the newly promoted relative of His Majesty.
"Baron Charles?"
The man was looking down from above. The giant dragon under his crotch had bulging muscles and a pair of claws with nearly two-meter-long winding blades. Even if it was wearing three layers of armor, it would probably be easily cut in half.
"Yes, I am."
He stepped forward.
The man exuded a noble air, and said calmly, "I am Orhan Celebi. His Majesty has ordered me to serve as Lord Hans's deputy. Lord Hans has ordered you and me to lead our light and heavy cavalry to assemble immediately."
"His Majesty?"
Baron Charles' heart sank. This guy really knows how to flatter. Our master hasn't even been crowned king yet.
He nodded and said, "I have gathered all the troops and horses. We can set off after a little preparation."
Orhan glanced at the relatively neat cavalry on the opposite side, as well as their servants who were leading horses, pack animals, and carriages loaded with food for the knights and their mounts, water jugs, replacement lances, heavy armor to be worn in battle, and other supplies.
It seems that Your Majesty has a lot of talented people under his command in this world.
"Hey man, can I ask you a question?"
"You said."
"Is this dragon under your crotch the one that the Lord gave to our followers? Why don't I have one?"
Baron Charlie was very envious and tried to pat the big guy with his hand. The sharp-clawed dragon under Orhan's crotch obviously did not hurt the dragon king's follower with a familiar breath, but just shook his head impatiently.
"hair?"
Orhan thought this word was quite appropriate: "It can be considered as a gift from the master. As for you, you don't have the blood of dragon taming."
"Dragon-taming blood, similar to the Targaryen bloodline?"
Baron Charles was extremely curious, because he had never heard of any dragon knights in this world.
This time it was Orhan's turn to be curious: "Which family is the Targaryen?"
Baron Charles looked surprised and said, "Targaryen is not a family. It is a fictional family in the novel Song of Winter and Summer written by the Lord. You haven't even read the Lord's works. Could it be a spy sent by the Saracens?"
He paused and said, "No wonder you look like a Turk. Are you a Mamluk?"
Orhan was about to explain when he saw Baron Charles smiling: "Hahaha, just a joke. We are blood relatives and half brothers. How could I possibly suspect you of being a spy?"
"Sir Hans, His Majesty's army in this world seems a little ordinary."
Looking at the troops that were continuously pouring into the camp, Giovanni Giustiniani frowned.
For example, the newly formed Long Sword Company composed of Coptic soldiers, most of their equipment was captured from Saracen soldiers. Although they had undergone some crash training, in Giovanni's opinion, they were not as good as the militia who guarded Constantinople at the time, not to mention the Janissaries.
Although, by the standards of that era, they were already a pretty good infantry company, and much better than the group of old farmers brought by the Saracens, they were only worse.
Compared with the Renaissance period when plate armor had already become popular and elite standing armies such as the Imperial Armored Cavalry and the Hungarian Black Army had appeared, it was far behind.
“It’s just a different time.”
Hans paused for a moment, and replied in a tone that was neither soft nor hard: "If it were the Teutonic Knights of my time, only one grenadier carrying a grenade filled with white crystal powder would be able to kill dozens or even hundreds of armored cavalry."
Giovanni smiled and said, "Your Excellency has misunderstood. I did not mean to accuse you of not being good at training soldiers. I just think that according to your Majesty's temperament, if it is your own army, you will not be stingy in providing them with the best equipment and the most sophisticated training."
Hans nodded slightly. "You are right, but the situation does not allow it. Your Majesty has been here for less than a year since he came to the Holy Land and established this foundation. This Long Sword Company has been established for less than a month. Before this, they were either loaders, porters, farmers, or even hunters. They had never touched weapons. It is already quite good to be able to do what they have now."
“I am ignorant of this.”
Giovanni smiled, looked at Hans for a while, and then asked, "Which family does Sir Hans come from?"
Hans shook his head: "I don't have any family."
He really had no family, but after hearing what he said, Giovanni's kindness became more obvious. He hesitated for a moment, but still asked: "Sir Hans, what was the situation of the wandering wolf tribe in your time?"
Hans shook his head and said, "You should actually ask Miss Cherylina about this matter. She is the princess of the Basilicata family. Their family has opened up a new home in the New World, a place called Texas, and announced that all wolves, regardless of their origins, can join and become a member of the Texas Wolf Clan."
Giovanni was a little surprised: "Didn't they trick the stray wolves into becoming their slaves?"
"No, the wandering wolf tribe is not stupid. They declared that all wolves are equal, which angered the Wolf Lord. The Wolf Lord even sent an expeditionary force led by the Yaxi family to attack them. Unfortunately, they failed due to our interference."
Hans was very proud. He was also involved in such a big event, although he did not play a big role.
"Wolves are equal."
Giovanni couldn't help chewing on this word carefully, and a glimmer of longing flashed before his eyes: "Hearing you say that, I really want to go to your timeline to take a look."
In his timeline, most of the wandering wolves lived in his fiefdoms, Lemnos, Chios and other places. Although they had the protection of Rome, they no longer lived under the Genoese as before and became a group of displaced mercenaries.
But with the departure of His Majesty and Miss Viviana, Rome has lost its greatest deterrent weapon. Although the clawed dragon under Orhan's crotch has grown a lot, how can it be compared with the three-headed dragon, the bronze-horned red dragon, and Miss Viviana's red and black dragon?
The Wolf Lord, a terrifying existence who has lived for who knows how many years, has always been a huge mountain weighing down the heads of all the wandering wolves.
"My lord is here!"
Hans suddenly spoke loudly.
In the distance, dust was flying and a flag with a double-headed eagle was raised high. Giovanni looked at this familiar flag, and the dusty memories of the past jumped out one after another, and he was a little dazed.
"It is an honor, Your Majesty, to have the privilege of serving under this flag once again, and fighting alongside you."