Ch.177Unstoppable Momentum (5)

“Hurry up and build it!”

At Philip II’s shout, the soldiers moved urgently.

Seeing this, Philip looked at the Mediterranean Sea with a displeased expression.

“What on earth are they doing?”

He was cursing Richard who had still not arrived.

This was understandable since they needed to combine their forces to recapture Jerusalem.

“At least the good news is that the Holy Roman Emperor has crossed the Aleph River, so we should be able to join forces soon.”

The Dignified King said this while surveying the battlefield.

This was the Levant region, where the holy city of Jerusalem was located.

When Jerusalem fell to the Ayyubids, naturally the entire Levant region came under Islamic influence.

“Your Majesty. All the mangonel catapults are ready.”

“That’s good.”

Philip II said this while looking at the mangonel catapults.

These catapults would be sufficient to break down the walls built by the Saracens, or the Arabian people.

“No matter how advanced their technology may be, it will be powerless against the technology created by our France.”

The reason Philip spoke this way was actually to hide his concerns.

What worried him was none other than the counterattack of the Arabian army.

The Middle East was currently in chaos.

The Seljuk Turks were essentially divided for unknown reasons, and the Abbasid Dynasty situated between them failed to fulfill its role as the leading Islamic state.

Nevertheless, the Crusaders had suffered greatly several times due to Salah al-Din, who was based in Egypt.

Not only had they lost influence in the Levant region, but the vanguard of the Crusaders who had departed from Hungary had suffered near-annihilation due to Salah al-Din’s outstanding military talent.

For this reason, Philip II couldn’t help but be wary of Salah al-Din.

The truly fortunate thing was that the Ayyubids didn’t have much knowledge about siege weapons.

Of course, since this information was purchased from Venetian merchants, it was somewhat suspicious to fully trust it.

“Still, Venice is a Christian state, so they have no reason to deceive us.”

There was one fact that Philip II didn’t know.

It was that Venetian merchants, though Christians, were traders who would sell anything if it made money.

Because of this, Philip II overlooked the fact that they would inevitably lean toward those who paid more in places where they conducted business.

Anyway, apart from that, the Dignified King had finished preparing the mangonel catapults.

And now all he had to do was wait for Barbarossa or the Lionheart.

“Whoever arrives first, we will join forces and liberate the Levant region from the hands of the infidels.”

Philip II said this while clenching his fist.

Unfortunately, his wish would be realized much later than he thought.

* * *

I looked at Hamadan with an interested expression.

Then I turned my head and asked a question to a man who was clearly a Semu person.

“Is that so?”

“Yes, great ruler. Hamadan has a river flowing downstream, and if we block it, the entire city will dry up and die.”

“Why are you offering this information to me?”

To this, the Semu person bowed and revealed his reason.

“Because I believe you are a Christian ruler who can speak Latin, and at the same time, you are someone who will give us an opportunity.”

“An opportunity?”

“Yes. I believe that if the Christian ruler Gurkhan conquers this place, you will allow us to trade here.”

“I never said such a thing. But if you bring me more information, I might consider it.”

At this, the Venetian merchant smiled.

And like Shylock from the novel “The Merchant of Venice,” he rubbed his hands together with a sinister smile.

“What information do you need, my ruler?”

“Do you have information about Baghdad?”

“Ah! Baghdad! The city of gold and glory. Also known as the city of knowledge, I believe.”

“Indeed. I seek a way to annex it.”

“Then could you wait just a moment?”

“Just a moment?”

“Yes. I will quickly gather information about that place.”

“When you say quickly…”

“I will return before the battle for Hamadan ends.”

The Venetian merchant looked at me with eyes full of greed.

I nodded in response. Then I turned my head and gestured to Munglig.

Munglig then handed me a pouch filled with gold with a displeased expression.

“I give this to you.”

“Thank you. Thank you, great Khagan.”

“If you bring valuable information, I will reward you more. However, if you bring false or useless information…”

As I said this, I pointed outside with my finger.

There were Islamic merchants impaled on spears, becoming food for birds.

These were men who had tried to sell me information before the Venetian merchant arrived.

But the information they provided was false, intended to trap me, unlike what I already knew.

How did I know this? I was able to immediately tell through cross-verification with the information I already had.

That’s why I had those merchants who tried to harm me with lies impaled on spears.

I deliberately pierced them through the right side instead of the left where the heart is, making them die slowly and painfully.

Seeing this, merchants became too frightened to tell me any more lies.

The Venetian merchant before me must have seen this too, so the possibility of him deceiving me was low.

If he did deceive me, I would simply impale him on a spear.

“I will not disappoint you.”

“Go.”

I gestured to dismiss him.

Then I turned my head to look at Munglig.

“Have someone follow him.”

“I receive your command, Gurkhan.”

This was not the Ulus.

It was a battlefield where plots and schemes prevailed.

Therefore, I couldn’t completely rule out the possibility that the Venetian merchant might sell information about me to the enemy.

For this reason, I had to have someone follow him.

“If I had known this would happen, I should have brought Elunka and the Tamma.”

Honestly, I wanted to bring both the Tamma and the Kheshig.

But at that time, the Ulus had just finished a war with the Jin Dynasty.

Therefore, either the Tamma or the Kheshig had to remain for security.

Otherwise, it would be difficult to respond to a possible invasion by the Jin Dynasty or an internal rebellion.

For this reason, I left Elunka and the Tamma in the Great Capital.

And I had them assist my son Khasar.

Anyway, without the Tamma, the current situation was not at all pleasant.

It would be nice if I could use cheats like in a game to survey the battlefield, but unfortunately, this world wasn’t like that.

I had to send spies and determine whether the information from returning spies was true or not through cross-verification.

This made even approaching information a cautious matter.

“For now, we’ve reorganized swift scouts into a new intelligence unit, Gurkhan.”

At Chilaun’s words, I nodded.

It would be irresponsible to do nothing just because we lacked resources.

So we had to reorganize the scouts into an intelligence unit, even if it was improvised.

“Is there any report from the intelligence unit?”

“Yes, Khagan. As the Venetian merchant reported, there is a river flowing through Hamadan. If we block it, the enemy will suffer from severe water shortage.”

“I see.”

As I keep mentioning, I intended to thoroughly destroy Hamadan.

This was necessary to prevent others from daring to rebel against me.

Setting an example with strict punishment to prevent additional damage was most effective in this era.

So I planned to destroy Hamadan in the most terrible way.

“Have you gathered the corpses as instructed?”

“Yes, Gurkhan.”

“We can load them into catapults and fire them at the enemy as soon as you give the order.”

“Good.”

After saying this, I stood up.

Then I raised my voice as if speaking to the Atabegs of Hamadan who dared to rebel against me.

“Prepare the catapults. We will show the enemies hell falling from the sky.”

* * *

Soldiers gathered in Hamadan to defend against the Mongol army’s offensive.

As they gathered, the walls were filled with soldiers armed with bows.

“With this many troops, even those nomads won’t be able to do anything.”

All nodded at the words of the eldest Atabeg.

With this many troops, it was nearly impossible for the Mongols to conquer Hamadan.

Of course, this didn’t mean that the forces in Hamadan could go out and defeat the Mongol army.

But they could hold out for at least a few years, so the Atabegs planned to endure.

If they did, they assumed the enemy would either retreat from exhaustion or move elsewhere, abandoning Hamadan.

The reason for this assumption was simply that the Mongol army was an expeditionary force.

By nature, an expeditionary force couldn’t stay in one place for long.

So the Atabegs of Hamadan held the unfounded belief that if they held out here, the Mongol army would definitely withdraw.

“Besides, even if the enemy has siege weapons, it’s impossible to break down the walls in one go…”

“Aaaaaahhhhh!”

“What’s happening!”

“What’s going on that we hear screams?”

Just as the Atabeg was about to say something, horrifying screams came from inside the city.

These screams startled the Atabegs, causing them to investigate the situation.

The officers checked and returned.

The faces of the officers who assessed the situation had turned pale.

“Th-that…”

“Answer immediately! What’s happening!”

“Blood is coming from the wells inside the city… and corpses have surfaced.”

“Corpses…?”

“Yes. Even in the river, corpses have flowed in and are contaminating the water.”

“And the corpses have blocked the water outlets. If left like this, the entire water supply will be contaminated, and the river will be blocked, making it impossible to secure water.”

“This is serious.”

“We must dispose of the corpses immediately.”

Just as the Atabegs were about to come up with a solution, suddenly something flew over their heads.

And it landed right next to them.

“Th-this is…”

“A-a corpse…”

The Atabegs were too shocked to say anything.

Then they looked up at the sky.

Hell was unfolding.