Section 51

The next day, Duke Frandel re-toured to the front line with his own troops. Although the joining of the Templars made the entire team look much larger, the dejected appearance of the exhausted Duke's vassals and soldiers cast a shadow of misfortune. The soldiers who followed the Duke were mostly handicraftsmen or residents in the city of Antioch. Therefore, when the team left the castle, women could often be seen following far behind with their children, and the soldiers also frequently turned back to hope to see their families. This miserable scene made people cry.

However, the Templars were arrogant. Under the leadership of a team of priests and monks holding crosses, they followed closely as if they had already stepped into a place of victory. The tall horses and the knights in chain armor took a brilliant and glorious victory under the guidance of the Lord. This is what Lei Ruo and his knights could imagine. The sharp sword longed for the blood of the pagans, and both young and innocent people would fall under the sword of the Templars.

"Captain Lei Ruo, what are your plans for combat?" In a small village that was resting in the middle, the Duke and Lei Ruo sat in the room provided by the village elders. They were silent all the way. Duke Frandel was uneasy for the future, while Lei Ruo disdained to talk to the duke who he thought was a cowardly battle. During the rest, Duke Frandel finally broke the embarrassing situation and spoke.

"Well, it's very simple. We split the troops into two. Your Duke took your men and horses to attack the enemy from the front, and my Knights and I attacked from the flanks and would definitely defeat the abominable pagans." Commander Lei Ruo picked up a cup of cool water taken from the deep well and took a beautiful mouthful. The hot weather was really unbearable for him. This hell-like weather is really suitable for pagans.

"But my army is insufficient, and their morale is low." Duke Frandel frowned and said to Commander Lei Ruo.

"Hmph, they are all cowards, but please rest assured. The frontal attack is just to attract the attention of the enemy, and my Templars and I are the fists that hit the enemy hard." Commander Lei Ruo said with a smile.

"What if I don't agree?" said Duke Frandel.

"Oh, then the Holy See will receive a written report, and you, your family and your territory will face trials from the Inquisition, in order to ask whether you and your family are pious to the Lord." Lei Ruo said mercilessly.

"I have dedicated my life for the Lord." Duke Frandel stood up angrily. Even though the duke was in his forties, his courage still existed when he was young. The title of "Lion" Frandel was not in vain.

"Then continue to contribute to the Lord until the end of your life, so that your souls and your family can be protected." Lei Ruo continued to threaten.

"Hmph." Duke Frandel left with his sleeves, and the chief treasurer beside Lei Ruo looked at the direction where the duke left worriedly.

"What if Duke Frandel refuses to fight?" said the chief of the treasury. Although the authority of the Holy See can temporarily suppress the duke, if the duke refuses to follow, the Holy See, the emperor far away, actually has no choice but to use this respected old duke.

"Don't worry, he will do what I said." Lei Ruo took a sip of water and said confidently. He was sure that the arrogant and arrogant Duke would attack Saladin's army from the front.

Lei Ruo had a correct grasp of Duke Frandel's psychology. When the troops set off again, Duke Frandel led his army to leave the village early and did not even say hello to Commander Lei Ruo. This kind of quarrel only showed the anger and helplessness in the duke's heart. The duke's army headed straight towards Saladin's army, while the Templars detoured the enemy's left wing, and they advanced cautiously. Although the Templars were all arrogant knights, their military literacy was undoubtedly the hidden and detoured advance to avoid many of the reconnaissance light cavalry under Saladin.

"The Antiochs are attacking." Muhald received the news from his castle, conquering the border castle in the Antioch territory, so that he and his soldiers could not camp in the wild. He found a room where the officers were originally in the castle, and Muhald lived in.

"Yes, sir." The commander-in-chief said to Muhard on one knee.

"How many of them are there?" Muhard frowned and leaned against the thick cushion. The ground was covered with exquisite moisture-proof carpets, and the young servants were accompanied by the smoker and wine.

"Looking at the flag, it should be the troops led by Duke Frandel, and the number seems to be quite large."

"It's really strange. They just retreated, how could they have the power to attack actively?" Muhard stood up and walked to the window and paced. As a general Saladin liked, Muhard's command power was not lower than Saladin himself. Although he was a little impatient sometimes, this did not affect his judgment on the battle situation.

"Maybe it's the cause of honor. You must know that these Western barbarians are always reckless and rude." The priest next to him said.

"Impossible, Duke Frandel is a long-standing rival. He will not attack without being fully sure." Muhald turned around and said to the messenger, "Send more light cavalry to reconnaissance and find out the enemy's motives."

"Yes." After receiving the order, the messenger left immediately to convey.

Muhald tried to guess the motives of the Antioch army carefully, and Duke Frandel led his men to station thirty miles from the Saladin army. He knew that he did not need to advance. The enemy would take the initiative to fight when he saw him. In order to ensure that he could delay more time so that the Templars could reach the battlefield, the Duke ordered his men to erect many flags, which seemed to have twice as many troops from afar.

"Duke, this is really a good idea. The enemy seems to have just sent the reconnaissance light cavalry to watch from a distance, and there is no intention to go out." The vassals admired Duke Frandel's trick, but Duke Frandel shook his head with a smile.

"This is not my attention. This is what Lord Schwab taught me before leaving." The old duke said the truth. It turned out that when he was leaving, Schwab knew that the Duke was too small and it was easy to be attacked by the enemy as a weak link, so he made an idea to the Duke.

"Duke, you should bring more flags when you leave to confuse the enemy's judgment of our number." Sure enough, the Duke followed this suggestion and ordered his logistics officer to bring many triangles and swallowtail flags. Originally, fifty people fought a swallowtail flag, but it turned into thirty or twenty people fought a swallowtail flag. From a distance, it looked quite spectacular, and in the eyes of the uninformed enemy, it was very intimidating.

Schwab's plan was just a real and real strategy, but no matter how good it was, it depends on the use of people. After a whole day, both sides maintained restraint. However, on the morning of the third day, Muhard personally led a Mamluk to approach Duke Frandel's camp surrounded by light cavalrymen. The pagan general rode his horse past the camp with horses and smoke. The arrival of so many Mamluk cavalry and light cavalry really made the soldiers in the duke's camp very nervous. The crossbowmen used crossbows to face the pagans outside the camp with crossbows. The vassals ordered their knights to keep running in the camp with flags. The sound of horse hooves rolled like thunder to intimidate the pagan army outside the camp.

"Um." Muhard heard the sound of horse hooves in the camp, saw smoke and dust rolling in the camp, and retreated a little to his side with his brows locked. However, when he saw the rising smoke from cooking, he suddenly smiled at the corner of his mouth, and then immediately turned his horse's head back to the castle.

"Sir, what's the situation?" The priest looked at Muhard who jumped off the horse curiously, and saw Muhard showing joy.

"Immediately order the officers to assemble the soldiers and we will attack Duke Frandel's camp at noon." Muhald said to his messenger.

"Sir, if the enemy dares to attack again, we must gather a large number of military forces. Should we wait until the chief executive returns before making plans?" the priest suggested to Muhard.

"What a large number of military forces? I think Duke Frandel is really confused. He dares to provoke only with only a few soldiers." Muhald sat on the thick carpet, drank a big gulp, and said with a slight angrily.

"What? Sir, you mean they are just bluffing, no." The priest said in disbelief through the window of the castle, looking at the camp of Duke Frandel with flags fluttering.

"Yes, although the flags they were holding were twice as many, these fools did not expect that the smoke from their soldiers' cooking exposed their actual military strength. I dare to conclude that there are only two thousand men in the camp of Duke Frandel."

"I really don't take us seriously." Although Saladin returned to the country with a large number of elite soldiers, Muhald still had more than 10,000 soldiers, and Duke Frandel's little force was like a strong man or a baby.

"Woo~~~~." A dull trumpet sounded in the border castle. The pagan army gathered in the trumpet. The noise suddenly rang across the earth. Duke Frandel heard the enemy's trumpet in the tent. The Duke, who had been through the battlefield, immediately realized that the enemy had seen through his real and real strategies.

"Gather the vassals and prepare for battle immediately." At this point, the old duke pulled out his sword without saying a word and said to his servants that he could only fight bravely at this time, hoping that the Templars could arrive at the battlefield in time.

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Chapter completed!