Although Tuohuan hoped that he would appear, there were too many things going on with Guo Kang in the next few days.
Moreover, the amount of grape juice consumed at the Khan's banquet was so terrifying that he wondered how the great Khans of the past dynasties had persisted. Therefore, he told Tuohuan that he was very busy during this period, and he really couldn't take care of it when he was drunk all day long.
He also used the reason that Guo Di's direct descendants were not his own, so he found his cousin to take the place of two banquets. In this way, he canceled most of the banquets and finally had some free time.
Princess Jeanne took a Genoese merchant ship and arrived at Dadu Pier. For this reason, Theodora summoned Guo Kang and others to the platform and greeted them with great fanfare. Guo Kang initially doubted that the smaller the situation, the better. But when he arrived at the place, he discovered that the banner she was flying was to welcome the Frankish Crusaders.
This may have seemed a bit too hellish for the local Greeks, but Theodora said it was actually a very good reason.
European nobles abandoned their families to participate in the Crusades, which was something that could be publicized to the outside world. No matter how unhappy the nobles are, they will openly praise them, and most people who have nothing to do with them will usually help them to encourage them.
As for who the Crusaders will fight and when, it actually doesn't matter. Although the Holy See has issued many calls, actual actions still depend on the mood of the nobles. She could have stayed in the city, or even wandered around. Anyway, it would take time to recruit troops - not many people were really willing to take back Jerusalem these days, and some had reasons to delay.
Although the Purple Horde Khanate itself has established a foothold in northern Syria, it has always lacked interest in expanding southward and is only content to discuss business and transactions with local emirs. As for Jerusalem, it is a worthless target. Guo Kang said that it is a religious town, which may be a relatively decent statement.
More than a hundred years ago, after Khorezm was defeated by the Mongols, Prince Zalandin led the remaining defeated soldiers to flee west. After Zalandin's defeat, a group of dispersed Khorezm troops entered Syria.
Although from the perspective of Easterners like them, Khorezm was just an inconspicuous country that relied on the Western Liao Dynasty to rise and was destroyed when it had nothing to do with the Mongols. But in the west of Central Asia, it was really a hegemon, and it was once The kind of serious sultan who successfully went to Luo, captured the Caliph and had a serious talk.
In West Asia, the Khorezm people were famous for their brutality and good warfare. The Ayyubid dynasty, which was in the middle of a civil war at the time, hired this remnant army to attack the disobedient Syrian princes. Because the "prestige" of the Khorezm people was so great before, the locals immediately united.
The Crusader countries such as the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the County of Tripoli sent troops one after another, as well as troops from the Temple, Hospital and Teutonic Knights. They also joined forces with the Emir of Damascus, the Emir of Homs, the local Kurdish warlords, and Bedu Because of the armed forces of the tribe. Count Walter, a nobleman from France, served as the leader of the coalition to resist the Egyptian and Khorezm mercenaries.
The Emir of Homs had fought with the Khorezm people before and believed that he should hold on to the camp and wait for the enemy to be exhausted. However, Count Walter relied on his strong strength and decided to take the initiative to attack. As soon as the two sides fought, he led the main knights to attack the enemy, but was held back and failed to achieve victory.
The Frankish knights, who had the strongest combat effectiveness, disappeared inexplicably. The others were attacked by the superior cavalry of Khorezm and were defeated one after another. The knights were finally surrounded and annihilated by the enemy army that had freed their hands.
This battle caused the three major knights to lose almost all their main military forces in the Middle East, and the Crusader countries' national strength, which had been slowly recovering for many years, was once again severely hit. The entire history of the Crusade movement in the Middle East has also entered its final stage of destruction.
On the other hand, the Egyptians actually did not benefit. The Khorezm army rushed into the defenseless Jerusalem and carried out almost indiscriminate massacre and looting. When the officials of the Ayyubid dynasty later took over the city, they found that the entire city had been completely destroyed and had basically lost its use value.
This loss may be more serious than the massacre of the Crusaders. After the war, Jerusalem, which was once a relatively large city, had little left except its religious significance. It was not able to recover until more than a hundred years later.
More than ten years ago, when Emperor Timur's uncle attacked Syria, Jerusalem was still dilapidated and in ruins. Timur didn't even bother to launch a holy war against it. He just robbed Damascus and left here.
Considering that the old uncle launched jihad against the "Mujahideen State" more than once and beat up the two major Ghazi countries of Delhi Sultan and Ottoman, this place should really have no oil or water at all.
Therefore, few nobles from the Purple Horde Khanate and even Western Europe are interested in this kind of place that Timur did not rob.
On the contrary, the religious significance of Jerusalem is huge, and it is painfully big.
The Egyptians who occupied this place should feel this most.
At the beginning, Saladin, the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty, was scolded by various believers every day because he led the army to clean up the civil strife but did not attack Jerusalem. After he was defeated, the church members were not very grateful to him. There was no shortage of those who deserved civil strife and rebellion. Saladin himself probably couldn't even explain the significance of this city.
The same is true for Europe: the Holy Land is only effective before and just after occupation, and then it can only be left to its fate.
After many futile battles, the famous Crusade participant Richard the Lionheart even came up with a marriage plan: let his sister marry Saladin's brother, and then hand over Jerusalem to this "United Kingdom" , please don’t bother yourself from now on. Saladin actually agreed. In the end, a group of nobles on both sides resisted resolutely, which led to the bankruptcy of the plan.
Therefore, the Purple Horde Khanate has no interest in taking care of such troublesome places.
At first, some Greek fanatical believers wrote to the Khan, hoping to regain Jerusalem from the hands of the pagans. The Khan's court's reply was that the local pagan forces had accumulated a lot, and Rome's current power was limited and it was not easy to act rashly.
Of course, if everyone is devout and firmly hopes to fight the powerful pagans, then the Khan's court can help contact the ship and send the volunteers on their own.
In this regard, the Greek believers fell into hesitation.
They argued that although there were no people in Jerusalem now, it was the nominal territory of the Mamluk dynasty. If the Holy City is captured, the Mamluks will definitely be urged by the church members to take it back, and they will have to fight them.
Although everyone hopes to fight the powerful pagans, the Mamluks are a bit too powerful. Heavenly Father has always been kind to the world, and he would not want such devout believers to die in vain, so let it go.
The Khan's court pushed the situation along, saying that all this was the will of the Heavenly Father anyway. There is no way to fight now, which means that Heavenly Father is more cautious and is not ready yet. Let’s talk about it when he’s ready.
After that, the Greeks didn't say much about it.
Therefore, at this moment, Princess Jeanne can indeed declare to join a crusade, and announce that the Purple Horde Khan will support her and draw out a group of her own followers. But here, there are really not many people who are interested now, so it is probably impossible to get it together in the short term, and there is no way to force it.
Moreover, the Crusaders suffered heavy losses that year. Although there were still many believers in Syria, there were not many powerful military forces left. She needed to contact the bishops to regroup the troops. This period of time can be long or short, just use it up.
(End of chapter)
