Chapter 6: The Great Black Flag
Tancred, with his flag in hand, had just rushed a quarter of a mile away from his defensive rock, and on the other side his mercenary general, Estus, with six hundred mercenaries of Armenian or Turkic or Greek origin, also raised his banner, and went along the wall built from the top of the hill to reinforce the Shengquan Stone Fortress, which was surrounded by fire and smoke.
As a result, I saw an avalanche of soldiers and men running down from the top of the mountain, shouting everywhere that "the stone fort and the ramparts have been taken away by the infidels", "Where is my father! Hercules shouted anxiously, but the black smoke was removed from his face, and it was still black smoke, and Parkard disappeared, his life and death unknown.
Soon, the hideous figure of the Turks flashed on the ridgeline, and the arrows whistled down from the smoke one after another, accurately and violently, and there were people around Ostu who kept screaming and covering their throats and foreheads, and fell into the grass. The soldiers of Siyan, the more they fought, became more and more courageous, and immediately firmly suppressed and crucified the troops of Ostu and Hercules at the foot of the mountain.
In the midst of the shouts of murder, Patriarch John. Okhilt watched the Pilgrims below rout and defeat everywhere, frustration and disappointment welling up in his heart, and he thumped his head against the walls of the towers behind him violently and rhythmically. But in his head, soon a third flag was raised—behind the flying horns, Aggie stood proudly at the highest bell of the tower, and behind him, all the temples of Antioch, both Orthodox and Catholic, rang out, and the high-pitched chanting of the worshippers in the mosque soared into the sky. With Agghi's wrath and wisdom, it was also the signal flag for the assault of Sansadonias and the Crescent Dead.
"My son. Open the gates and raid and burn the enemy's defenses to the ground! ”
Heaven-shattering roar. Behind the long wall at the northwestern end of Antioch, the two huge gates of the Dog Gate and the St. Paul's Gate were the core, including the small gate and the secret gate on the periphery, and almost at the same time burst open, rushing to the front, heavy Turkic warriors wrapped in fish scale leaf armor and holding patterned shields, they were close together, and their armor rubbed against each other. Boldly pouring out from the gates, calmly and quickly approaching the fence of the besieging pilgrims at St. Paul's Gate. Behind this group of elite and daring warriors were daring arsonists in asbestos coats and firing pots, as well as Futois' guild warriors wrapped in white turbans and carrying bows and swords.
Tongues of fire swished everywhere, reflecting a serpent-like light behind the group of heavily armed samurai, making their figures particularly terrifying.
The same scene is seen at Ademar and Baldwin's camp at Doggate. The priesthood was furious, "Before Hugh. Capet also kept coming in reports that a massive enemy was massing in front of his position south of the city, which was utterly cowardly and vain. Just confusing our own people! But the brave monk did not panic, and he watched as the Turks crawled up and down the ground in search of hidden servants and priests, despite the arrows that the Turks had fired into the camp. Angrily banging on the ground with his cane, "Baldwin of Adana." There were also the two Robert and Stephen at the gate over there, and Gawain on the other side of the Orontes River behind him. All of them are concentrating on reinforcements of this front - this is the target of the infidels enemy, and the rest of the area is just their tactics - damn it, what the hell is Tanfred doing in the middle of the defense, why not beat the enemy back? ”
Although Ademar does not understand the battle formation, his judgment of the situation is still accurate and clear.
But this was of no "high rubles egg": the great black flag of Yagy had just fluttered on the tower for less than half an hour, and the pilgrim defense in front of St. Paul's gate had completely collapsed, and after Tancred abandoned it with his elite infantry and went in the direction of the fortress at the mouth of the river to save his uncle, the fate of the defense was decided, and there were few powerful soldiers to protect it, and the Turks swarmed in, setting fire and slaughtering everywhere.
The Einsatzgruppen of Ostus and Hercules, not to mention going to reinforce the Holy Spring Stone Fort above, now they could not even protect themselves, and all the defeated soldiers fled towards the confluence of the Orontes and Falfa rivers, and countless people were frightened by the terrorist attacks of the Turkic soldiers, panicked, threw themselves into the waves of the river, and soon swept away, disappearing forever and life.
Some of the others ran towards the "Gawain Bridge" and the camp of the Dog Gate, but they were also cut by the arrows and knives of the Turks protruding from the Dog Gate, and the mutilated corpses were immediately scattered under the city walls.
Soon, the camp where the priesthood had been stationed was also in danger.
At this time, the two banda detachments of the Guardian Brigade that had been urgently mobilized stood at the other end of the bridge with their flags, and the red bird feathers on Gawain's hat and helmet fluttered, and drove their horses to the front of their queue like a whirlwind, "It will be difficult to deal with the defense over there if it completely falls, Branas, you take these two detachments, and run first to defend the bridgehead over there; I and I took all the cavalry companies with me to the iron bridge over there, and went to support Orson and Bohemond; Giovanni had already begun to organize all the Red Hand Brigade infantry out of the camp - Merlot and Prince Sven remained in the camp, with the remaining men, acting as a mobile reserve. ”
Following the command, Branas took the lead, pointing to the bridge that stretched straight to the other side of the river, the sound of the marching flute sounded, the Banda infantry detachment of the two guardian brigades, with the Germans carrying the two-handed swords in the vanguard, stepped on dense steps, under the bridge they stepped on, many heads let out a terrible cry for help, floating and sinking from the Falfa River, many people were washed to the protective wooden fence dozens of feet away from the left and right of the bridge, some people sank directly to the bottom, and some luckily grabbed the beams of the wooden fence, still struggling.
Tancred, with three hundred cavalry and never looking back, met Bohemond and New Bohemond, who had escaped from the ambush and siege of Adesonius, and his uncle was carrying a shield with a Turkic arrow shot like a cow's hair.
"Bred is dead." Bohemond was saddened to see his nephew who had come to meet him.
"What about your people?" Tancred asked loudly.
Bohemond was ashamed, "either dead, half-dead in hiding or still resisting." ”
"But you are alive, but this kind of living has no effect on the dead or alive Christians—and then the honor of you, uncle, and the Duke of April, will die in decay before the eyes of all."
Upon hearing this, Bohemond's face turned pale and self-conscious, but he rekindled his fighting spirit, "The coffin can rot, the crown can fall to the ground, but the fame of the Apulian warriors will never fade." With that, he reorganized his scattered outfit and armor, twisted his body, took a riding spear again, and stood side by side with his nephew, "Let's turn around and assault first, and rescue Raymond and Orson." (To be continued.) )