Thus, General Qaraghdi's advice was not taken to heart by his master, and according to the established plan, the camp in Mosul began to make careful preparations for a decisive battle with the Christians five days later.

On the other hand, Peter, who had returned to the city on a donkey, explained to all the lords that there was no hope for peace, and that all men, knights, soldiers, and craftsmen, regardless of men, women, and children, must prepare for a decisive battle.

Two days later, Baldwin arrived at the Orontes stronghold by the "Bridge of Gauvin" with all his men, some two hundred and fifty knights of all colors (castles, fiefdoms, or vassals), and more than five hundred armored sergeants, and a thousand lightly armed infantry, most of whom Baldwin had recruited from Eastern Cilicia, and many logistical servants.

But at this moment, Gawain had already driven a large number of laborers to completely destroy the outer fortress that had been built under the guidance of Gedier, including the gate tower, and there was no trace of it - Gawain had consulted his subordinates in advance, and everyone agreed with this idea - anyway, at the moment, the core stronghold of our back in the decisive battle with Kobuha was the city of Ata, and the Orontes camp had lost its effect, as long as a small number of vigilant soldiers were left to prevent Kobuha's soldiers from swimming across (now it seems that The chances of this happening again are slim to none), but there is something to be guarded against, and that is the tactics and barracks of our army, which need to be kept strictly secret from other pilgrims.

This is the root cause of the demolition of the barracks.

Between the plains and the camp in front of Atta, Gawain and Baldwin stood in front of the rows of knights and sergeants, and began to give pre-battle instruction, but instead of the usual prayers and begs to the Lord, it was surprisingly explained by the commander the tactics of the upcoming battle.

It must be known that in this era, such a move is still very rare, at least in the Frankish world, because for them, whether they use spears or bows and arrows, foot soldiers are inherently inferior, they just need to learn to stand firm and hold the weapons in their hands, and no one cares whether they are dead or alive in the melee, or what role they play in the battle; And the core force of the battlefield, the knights or sergeants on horseback, no one cares how they fight, because they are born warriors, and it is ridiculous to worry about them as much as they worry about whether cats will climb trees.

Gawain still stood in front of all the Frankish knights and explained the tactics, and the core of his explanation was: in the decisive battle in the coming day, you must abandon the previous way of fighting.

Standing at the forefront, holding the Silver Swan flag, Baldwin's chief standard-bearer, Angie Burnset, immediately asked, "Is it for us to stop riding horses and use spears with flags?" And over there, the Earl of Burke, who also belonged to the Eustace family, was also full of incomprehension.

Gawain was right, "Because the place of the decisive battle across the iron bridge is a wilderness sandwiched between two mountains, it is the place where the horses gallop, and it is also the place where the infantry is properly arranged." The Turks would have expected that our men would only charge with spears, a tactic that might have been effective against them once or twice, but this time it was not necessarily - the Turks would have used a large number of spearmen, archers, and light horses to defuse our offensive and take the opportunity to set up ambushes everywhere in order to achieve victory over us. ”

"Then do you want us to fight on foot!" Many of the Frankish knights crowed, and this was something they could never accept—as knights, as honorary soldiers, they would rather die on horseback than win like lowly infantry.

But Gawain did not relent, "It's time to abandon this outdated concept, at least in this critical battle, our horses are insufficient, and the number of horses of the Turks cannot be compared, so in the horse battle, we must concentrate the horses, but not an assault force, but a mobile transport force, to carry you to the fiercest and most critical areas, defeat and crush the enemy." From now on, you will be trained in squads, groups, and even platoons with the shield and sword soldiers of my brigade to deal with all kinds of pagan enemies. ”

Later, Baldwin also spoke to the banner of the Silver Swan, and he said bitterly, saying that the battlefield and the enemy are constantly changing, and that we will soon go to the Holy Land, and we may encounter more and lighter enemies, and that it will not work just by relying on the previous way of fighting to the death and bravery, and we must use infantry groups to deal with the enemy's infantry groups.

It took a long time for the knights and sergeants of Adanab to accept the reality, and the Italian veterans to which Gawain belonged gathered under the banner of the Silver Swan and the Red Hand Seven Ridges, and swore to accept the supervision of the Grand Duke of the Empire.

"Divide all the people into fifty teams equally, and then select two flag bearers from each team, let the flag bearers receive training first, and then call the flag bearers to train the personnel in the team, and the outstanding soldiers in my brigade and regiment will serve as training instructors, so that the speed of success is the fastest!" Gawain was not polite at all, because most of the Italian soldiers were peasants or small squires, who had previously served as the Duchess of Matilda or the Byzantine Roman Empire, and their status was not high in the eyes of this group of knights, and it was difficult to accept that they should guide themselves.

After a hundred "trained standard-bearers" are selected, it is an intense and intensive training, but it is much easier than training new soldiers, because this group of people is already experienced in battle, and it is enough to get rid of some old habits and accept some new ones.

But the so-called new habits are not so easy for people to accept calmly.

For example, when using shields, the Italian veterans said to the group of "trained standard-bearers" that when you were riding on a horse, you had to keep your irises at the side of your body, covering your knees and calves, and then charge with your spear in your hand. But now you are in a much more complicated situation when you are fighting on foot - you have to "play with your shield" first.

So the arrogant knight, like an artist, began to hold the handle of the iris shield, and began to move up and down around the front and back of the body, left and right, and there were detailed rules on what position was to guard against the enemy's bow and arrow, what position was to guard against the enemy's spear, and what position was to guard against the enemy's machete. Then the Italian veteran gave them the method of using their shields and raiding the enemy's spear formation: "Cover your shield over you, and rush forward with your body low, and don't look at the enemy's spear, but only at the enemy's forehead and face, and do not stop, the enemy's spear will stab at the point, and if you block it, he will have to stop before he can stab the next spear, and you will take the opportunity to continue to advance, and then swing your sword and slash at the enemy three feet away, and first cut off the enemy's hands, so that they will inevitably throw away their spears, or retreat or draw their swords and fight with you in a short battle. You smash his weapon with your shield, slash him with a sword, put it on his neck or chest, and you're done! (To be continued.) )