Drawing Cards in the Middle Ages to Rise in Ranks

In the distance, a giant catapult, accompanied by a piercing roar, collapsed a wooden tower in half.

The bed crossbow mounted on it toppled down, crushing several Saracen crossbowmen who couldn’t evade in time into pulp.

Jewish soldier Ramla shivered like a quail hiding behind the parapet.

Gravel rained down on his rudimentary iron helmet, yet he hardly felt any pain; his body shook uncontrollably, loudly reciting prayers, as if he believed that with God in his heart, he would not be harmed by blades.

"The Lord will be king over all the earth; on that day, the Lord will be the only one, and his name the only one."

Shouting their chants, the Crusaders pushing siege towers and cloud ladders slowly approached the city wall.

A Saracen officer shoved Ramla, shouting, "Get up quickly, pick up a pole, and push away those ladders!"

Ramla, along with the other Jewish soldiers, like headless flies, were trying to push away the Crusaders’ siege weapons under the Saracen officer’s command. But the Crusaders’ siege weapons were equipped with iron hooks, which, once hooked onto the walls, couldn’t be chopped off even with axes in a short time, let alone pushed away with poles.

Watching as the giant door of the siege tower opened, like a drawbridge crashing onto the walls, a Templar Knight wearing a giant helmet and clad in a white coverall with a red cross appeared in front of Ramla like a steel tower.

His indifferent eyes beneath the giant helmet looked at Ramla as if he were already dead.

In an instant, this Jewish soldier, previously just a leather tanning craftsman, felt a chilling breeze in his bones and dropped the pole in his hand to the ground.

"Die!"

The Saracen officer beside Ramla shouted, drew a double-bladed sword, and charged at the Templar Knight.

Though he expected a balanced confrontation, Ramla saw a head rolling on the city wall the next moment.

Vicious Templar Knights, like tigers released from a cage, stomped onto the "drawbridge" on the siege tower and charged onto the city wall.

Ramla didn’t dare confront these men and turned to flee.

"Don’t run, get back!"

Welcoming him were enraged Saracen soldiers and their sharp Saracen straight swords.

Despair welled up in his heart.

At this moment, someone suddenly shouted, "Farushah has run away!"

"The Governor broke out with his guard; he abandoned us!"

Consecutive shouts made even those determined Saracen soldiers waver. This was already a battle destined for defeat; if not for the brutal reputation of the Franks, they would have surrendered their weapons long ago.

"What do we do?"

"Run too?"

"But where can we, with these two legs, run to?"

The Saracen soldiers also despaired; many began to withdraw.

Many officers and leaders no longer stayed at their posts; instead, they considered preserving their living forces to find a way out for themselves.

After Farushah broke out with his men, the order in Holmes was utterly destroyed.

They could no longer organize effective resistance; even the fervent believers still willing to fight were swept along by the retreating soldiers, lost in a dilemma.

This rout led to consecutive defeats.

Usually, even after capturing gates and walls, there would be a series of grueling battles afterward, like street fights or battles for those noble residences, all lengthy and costly battles.

But now, it was difficult to have such opportunities; the Crusaders charging into the city moved forward relentlessly, like evil wolves herding sheep.

Under the oversight of Losa’s military law units, no one paused to plunder civilians; leaders from various divisions purposefully advanced towards key points within Holmes City, seizing the gates of each city district.

Under such an offensive, even knowing the Crusaders’ brutality, a large number of defenders chose to lay down their weapons. They couldn’t fight this battle anymore—as long as they weren’t killed, even being sold as slaves was acceptable.

Moreover, one could discern some hints from the Demon Dragon circling in the sky—that Heretic Monarch seemingly didn’t want to slaughter them all.

A Fire Worship imam shouted, "Don’t be deceived; the Demon Dragon isn’t spewing Dragon Flame simply because that heretic Demon Lord wants to adorn his crown with Holmes, not burn it to ashes!"

"With the Franks’ savagery and brutality, they will spare no one."

"We must fight to the end, using Holmes as a reliance, fighting to the last moment."

Boom—

A light breeze blew past, and the Fire Worship imam’s head fell.

Cherina had acted, sneaking into the city; although she disliked attacking ordinary people, this person seemed too vile to her.

Demonizing her lord, inciting civilians to their deaths; according to Prajna’s writings, that was "a path destined for death."

But actually, if Losa hadn’t arrived.

After Holmes was breached, there was indeed a high possibility of facing a brutal city massacre.

In the original historical line, Richard, after capturing Acre City, killed 2,700 Saracen prisoners in one go.

In the Fourth Crusade that had happened previously, in the original historical line, after the Crusaders captured Constantinople, they also killed thousands—these were still so-called "Christian brothers."

It’s different now; Losa already issued his ban at the first opportunity of seizing full power.

Now, his soldiers have entered the city; compared to the Crusaders who first charged in, they have no combat tasks; the only order Losa has assigned them is—"supervise."

Usually, prohibiting one’s army from massacring a city could lead to the dreadful consequence of mutiny.

Everyone fights for you, tying their heads to their belts, isn’t it all for massacring and looting the city?

Moreover, the vast majority of Crusaders came to the Holy Land with self-provided weapons; even their Lords found it difficult to restrain their actions, yet Losa still employed such high-pressure policies to handle them.

For any other king besides Losa, the Crusaders would very likely mutiny.

But Losa is different.

Firstly, his identity is increasingly sanctified, even regarded as the Lord of All Armies, another embodiment of Christ, even two Kings have to bow to him, let alone ordinary Crusader soldiers.

Secondly, Losa promised that the spoils acquired from this battle would be uniformly distributed after the war.

Although the amount certainly wouldn’t match personal plundering, Losa’s wealth and generosity are renowned; with Losa backing them, they don’t need to worry about ending up empty-handed.