OBS Chapter 884: Prohibition of Massacre
Chapter 884: Prohibition of Massacre
Chapter 884: Prohibition of Massacre
In the distance, a giant catapult made an ear-piercing roar as it smashed a wooden tower in half.
The crossbow mounted on it collapsed, crushing several Saracen crossbowmen who had no time to dodge into pulp.
The Jewish soldier Ramla hid behind the battlements, trembling like a quail.
The broken stones fell on his simple iron helmet like raindrops, but he did not feel much pain. His body was shaking uncontrollably and he recited prayers loudly, as if as long as he had God in his heart, the blade would not hurt him.
“The Lord will be king over all the earth. In that day the Lord will be one and his name will be one.”
The Crusaders, shouting slogans and pushing siege towers and ladders, slowly approached the city wall.
A Saracen officer pushed Ramla and said in words that Ramla half understood: "Hurry up, pick up the push rods, and push those ladders away!"
"If you want to live, stand up and resist. The more you fear death, the more you will die!"
"The Franks will not forgive you for betraying the gods they believe in!"
Ramla and the Jewish soldiers, like a group of headless flies, tried to push away the Crusaders' siege weapons under the command of Saracen officers.
However, the siege engines built by the Crusaders were equipped with iron hooks. Once they were placed on the city wall, they could not be cut off in a short period of time even with an axe, let alone propped open with a push rod.
The huge rocks they threw down would often only be deflected by the baffles on the battering rams.
As the giant siege tower approached the city wall, the gate at the top suddenly slammed and hit the city wall like a suspension bridge.
A Templar Knight wearing a huge helmet and a white surcoat with a red cross appeared in front of Ramla like an iron tower.
His cold eyes under the huge helmet looked at Ramla as if he were looking at a dead man.
In an instant, the Jewish soldier, who was previously just a leather tanner, felt a chill in his bones, and the pole in his hand fell to the ground with a snap.
"Die, you pagan barbarian!"
The Saracen officer beside Ramla roared, drew a double-edged sword, and rushed towards the Templar.
I thought the fight between the two sides would be evenly matched, but the next moment, Ramla saw a flying head rolling down the city wall.
These knights were the most elite among all the Crusaders, and their treatment of ordinary Saracen soldiers was undoubtedly a dimensionality reduction attack.
The murderous Knights Templar were like tigers out of the cage, stepping on the "drawbridge" on the siege tower and charging onto the city wall.
Ramla didn't dare to fight against these infantry knights who were armed to the teeth, so he turned around and tried to escape.
"Don't run, go back!"
What greeted him were the furious Saracen soldiers and the sharp Saracen swords in their hands.
Despair welled up in him.
Just then, someone suddenly shouted, "Faroo Shah has run away!"
"The Governor has broken through with his guards. He has abandoned us!"
The continuous shouts shook the Saracen soldiers who had been quite determined. This was a battle that was doomed to fail. If it were not for the Franks' reputation for brutality, they would have wanted to lay down their weapons and surrender long ago.
"what should we do?"
"Running too?"
"But where can we two-legged people run to?"
The Saracen soldiers also despaired, and began to retreat one after another.
Many officers and generals no longer stayed at their posts, but instead tried to preserve the manpower in their hands and find a way to survive.
After Farushah led his men to break out, the order in Homs has been completely destroyed.
They could no longer organize effective resistance, and even those fanatical believers who still had the will to fight were swept away by the fleeing soldiers and either went with the flow or fought on their own, where they would soon be wiped out.
This defeat was the beginning of a series of defeats.
In the past, even if the city gates and walls were captured, there would still be a series of tough battles ahead, such as street fighting, or the offensive and defensive battles to capture the mansions of wealthy families, all of which were time-consuming and costly.
But it is difficult to have such an opportunity now. The Crusaders who rushed into the city were like wolves driving a flock of sheep, advancing without stopping.
Under the supervision of Lothar's military law corps, no one stopped to rob civilians. The generals of various units marched purposefully towards various key points in the city of Homs and occupied the gates of each city.
Under such an offensive, even though they knew the brutality of the Crusaders, a large number of defenders chose to lay down their arms. They really could not fight this battle any longer - as long as they were not killed, they would rather be sold as slaves.
Moreover, from the dragon that circled in the sky but did not continue to attack, we could get some clues - the pagan monarch did not seem to want to kill them all.
A Zoroastrian imam shouted: "Don't be deceived. The dragon does not spit out dragon fire only because the pagan devil wants to use Homs as a jewel to adorn his crown instead of burning it to ashes!"
"Given the Franks' barbarity and tyranny, they will never let anyone go."
"We must fight to the end, relying on Holmes, and fight to the last moment."
boom--
A breeze blew by, and the Zoroastrian imam's head fell to the ground.
This was done by Cherinina who had sneaked into the city. Although she didn't like to attack ordinary people, this man seemed too hateful to her.
Demonizing one's own master and inciting civilians to die, according to the book written by Prajna, that is "the way to death."
But in fact, if Losa hadn't come.
After Homs was captured, there was a high possibility that a brutal massacre would take place.
According to the original historical storyline, after Richard captured the city of Acre, he massacred 2,700 Saracen prisoners in one go.
In the Fourth Crusade that took place earlier, according to the original historical line, the Crusaders also massacred thousands of people after they captured Constantinople. These people were all so-called "Christian brothers."
It’s different now. Lothar issued his own ban as soon as he took power.
Now the soldiers under his command have entered the city. Compared with the Crusaders who broke into the city before, they do not have any combat mission. The only order Lothar assigned to them is to "supervise the battle."
Generally speaking, prohibiting one's troops from massacring a city would likely lead to the dire consequence of a mutiny.
Everyone is working for you, putting their heads on the line, isn't it just for massacre and looting?
What's more, most of the Crusaders were self-supporting in their weapons and had no food or wages. Even their lords found it difficult to restrain their behavior. Yet Lothar still used such a high-pressure policy to treat them.
If it were any other king except Lothar, these Crusaders would probably have mutinied.
But Losa is different.
Firstly, his identity had become increasingly sacred, and he was even regarded as the Lord of all hosts, that is, another incarnation of Jesus Christ. Even the two kings had to bow to him, not to mention ordinary crusaders.
No matter how reckless the Crusaders were, they did not dare to try to anger this "leader of all the Franks in the East" who could control the dragon, not to mention that there was a team of supervisors with cold expressions and sharp blades in their hands behind them.
Secondly, Lothar has also promised that the spoils captured in this battle will be distributed uniformly after the war.
Although the amount is certainly not as much as if they had robbed it themselves, Lothar was famous for his wealth and generosity. With Lothar backing them up, they don't have to worry about ending up with nothing.
As for the higher-ranking Crusaders and nobles, what they wanted was not only to plunder some property, they also hoped to catch Lothar's eye, be granted a piece of land, stay in the Holy Land, and never return to that barren Europe.