Alien Knights

The loud noise of artillery fire shook the earth, and the diffuse smoke covered the battlefield.

Hundreds of siege mortars lined up, and the dense shells bombarded the gates of Baghdad like a rain of meteorites.

This city known as "The Gift of Allah", as the capital of the Abbasid Empire, has been struggling for a month under the attack of the Ayyubid Empire.

As more than 2,000 shield vehicles and tens of thousands of soldiers advanced again, the sound of muskets and shouts sounded once again on the battlefield that had been silent for a moment.

On a low mound 1,500 meters away from the city gate, thousands of cavalry guarded a mighty middle-aged man wearing a white scarf, who quietly observed the situation of the war without saying a word.

In the distance, a general wearing Maranmo mail armor galloped wildly and shouted excitedly: "Great Caliph! The omnipotent Saladin the Great! The enemy can't hold on anymore!"

Saladin, who was nearly fifty years old, looked nothing like the legendary "Invincible God of War" who was on the battlefield, but more like a scholar who had been immersed in academics and books for a long time. When he heard the general's shout, he didn't have the elation and joy that others had expected, but instead had a solemn expression and sharp eyes.

While looking at the last-ditch resistance on the city wall, Saladin stroked the gray beard on his face, and said to the running general, "Issam, send another envoy to persuade the nobles in the city to surrender."

The general known as Yilam reined in his horse, stared wide-eyed, and asked incredulously, "Are you going to persuade him to surrender again?! Caliph, with all due respect, there is no need to persuade him to surrender..."

"Tell the nobles in the city that my condition for persuading them to surrender this time is to allow them to take all their property and servants and leave Baghdad."

"You are allowed to bring all the family property and servants?! Emperor Saladin, did I hear you right?! The first time you persuaded them to surrender, you asked them to give up all their wealth, leaving only their life; the second time you persuaded them to surrender, you allowed their owners to take away gold equal to their weight; this time, you even allowed them to take all their property and escape?!"

"Caliph! I don't understand why the more favorable the battle is to us, the more lucrative the terms you offer to persuade us to surrender?!"

Saladin laughed and swung his horsewhip. On Elim's mount, he whipped the whip violently, and shouted at the back of the running away: "Remember the conditions I said! Just do it!"

Half an hour later, the mission to persuade the surrender entered the city, and the entire battlefield fell into deathly silence again.

After another half an hour, the surrender mission returned to the central army and returned to Saladin.

"My lord, the nobles of the Abbasids learned of your proposal and divided into two factions. One faction decided to leave Baghdad with their wealth, while the other faction vowed to use their lives to guard the coffin of the Abbasid caliph and members of the royal family. These people planned to abandon the outer city and retreat to the inner city."

Saladin looked at the city filled with gunpowder, and asked in a deep voice, "How many defenders are there in the inner city?"

"Three thousand people, one thousand of them are the royal guards of the Abbasid Empire."

Issam tightened the reins and whispered to Saladin: "The strength of the last army in the inner city should not be underestimated. Moreover, the terrain there is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and there are countless turrets and forts. This will be a tough nut to crack."

Saladin stroked his beard and said with a smile: "No matter how hard the bone is, it will not escape the day of being smashed."

The army of the Ayyubid Empire retreated ten kilometers back, and Baghdad opened the city gate, and the flag symbolizing the Abbasid dynasty on the city wall was slowly lowered.

Saladin, who was riding on a horse, looked at everything in front of him and nodded slightly.

Looking at the aristocratic convoy slowly moving out of the city, and imagining the wealth loaded on it, Yilam clenched his lips in heartache and sighed.

Saladin unscrewed the stopper of the kettle, took a big sip of water, looked at Elim and shook his head and said, "Look farther away."

"The Caliphate! We have 70,000 troops and 170 cannons. To us, Baghdad is like a fruit on a tree. We can pick it up on our tiptoes!" Elim said sadly, "Although there are royal wealth in the inner city, the wealth of these nobles is only a lot more than that! And now, so much wealth is slipping away under our noses! If we can capture this money, we can form an army of 100,000...no, 200,000, and that's where it is." At that time, no one in this world can compete with you!"

Saladin saw the other person's expression in his eyes, smiled and repeated the words just now: "Irem, look farther away."

Elim turned his head and looked around, and whispered to Saladin: "Caliph, why don't you assign me a cavalry, and I will order those soldiers to take off their military uniforms and hide their flags. We can follow those nobles and launch a surprise attack at a suitable place, and no one will know..."

Saladin waved his hand and rejected the proposal with one sentence: "In the presence of Allah, my promise is like a law that cannot be shaken!"

After waiting for six full hours, the convoy of Baghdad nobles finally disappeared from the sight of the army.

Saladin led the army and entered this ancient southern city with a history of thousands of years.

Traces of the war are scattered all over the city, the trees have been cut down cleanly, the houses are full of traces of artillery fire, and the cries of women and children can be faintly heard in the closed doors.

"Proceed with the order! First, no soldiers are allowed to commit atrocities in the city; second, the military medical team immediately treats the wounded and sick in the city; third, order Emani to lead the warlord army to maintain law and order in the city!" After finishing these words to the clerk, Saladin shouted at Elim: "Before we go to attack the hard bone of the inner city, let us first see the real wealth in this city!"

With Elim's puzzled expression, Saladin led the army into the building complex in the north of Baghdad.

Looking at the majestic and magnificent buildings in front of him, Saladin got off his horse, lowered his head, and moved forward on foot instead.

Yilem, who followed suit, looked at the towering and gorgeous buildings in front of him, and asked in a low voice, "Caliph, where is this place?"

"The courtyard and buildings in front of you are Baghdad University; the building on your right is Nuristan University; further away, there is the largest library in the world - the Palace of Wisdom."

Saladin's deep voice made a group of people hiding in the building come out. They were dressed in rags, their faces were yellow and thin, but their identities were undoubtedly revealed by their tall and straight figures and wise eyes.

Saladin handed the whip to the guards around him, walked quickly towards the group of people, and said with a smile as he walked, "Issam! Did you see that? These are the most precious treasures in my mind!"

After a brief exchange of greetings with the scholars in Baghdad, Saladin got back on his horse and shouted to everyone: "In the name of Allah! I hereby declare that everything here is under the protection of me—Saladin! Food, medicine, safety...everything that is needed here, I will provide it!"

After issuing a series of orders, Saladin took the helmet from the guards and put it on his head, and swung his whip towards the Baghdad palace: "It's time to break the last bone of the remnant of the Abbasid Empire! Let's go!"

At this time, the inner city of Baghdad had already been heavily surrounded by the troops of the Ayyubid Empire.

The muzzles of hundreds of cannons were facing the main gate of the palace, and the soldiers repeatedly checked the powder and flint of the muskets.

Before Saladin came to the inner city on horseback, he asked an old general in charge of the attack: "Naizar, what is the situation of the enemy?"

"Something's wrong." Naizal turned his head and said to Saladin: "We can't see the enemy on the wall, and we have called several times but no one answered. The inner city is silent. It looks like a... dead city."

Just when the army was in doubt, the gate of the inner city slowly opened.

A majestic giant with a height of nearly two meters, with a metal ghost mask on his face, and arrows and broken spears all over his body, pushed the door open from the inside.

Immediately afterwards, several giants in the same attire came out of the city gate, knelt down by the side of the road, motionless.

Saladin, who was sitting on horseback, looked at the strange giants in front of him, and his heart moved.

At this moment, a young man wrapped entirely in black robes came out of the city gate, and he said loudly in slightly jerky Arabic: "The great and wise Emperor Saladin, your humblest servant, now dedicates to you the Baghdad Palace, the supreme diamond in the crown of the empire!"

Saladin took a deep look at the young man kneeling on the ground, and led the army into the inner city without saying a word.

As soon as he entered the city gate, Yissam looked at the scene in front of him and said suspiciously: "It's strange, the Baghdad palace in my memory doesn't have such a high hill?"

Seeing the scene in front of him clearly, the old general Naizal opened his eyes wide, and with a loud voice from his throat, he shouted: "God is above! This is not a hill at all!"

A "mountain" made of human corpses appeared before everyone's eyes.

Thousands of dead, some were guards guarding the palace, some were maids and servants in the palace, and some were even members of the royal family. All were stripped of their armor and clothes, and the corpses were divided and torn into pieces, piled together, and turned into an extremely brutal "landscape".

All of this is simply not something that humans can do, only demons can have such behaviors. Even for warriors who have experienced many battles and are used to seeing soldiers who died, this situation made them feel a biting chill from the depths of their hearts.

Saladin pulled the reins of the horse, walked up to the man in black, looked at the man who lowered his head to his horse's hooves, and asked in a deep voice, "You captured the inner city of Baghdad?"

The man's body didn't move, but the voice seemed to come from the ground: "Yes, the great Saladin, my men and I have defeated the enemies in the inner city."

Saladin glanced at the group of two-meter-tall "giants" and asked, "How many people are there under your command?"

"three hundred."

"How dare you deceive the wise caliph?!" The angry Issam drove over at this time, and began to reprimand the man in black loudly.

Saladin raised his right hand and stopped Issam from shouting.

Looking at the young man surrounded by hundreds of muskets, Saladin thought for a while on his horse, and finally asked, "Young man, tell me your name."

The man in black lifted his hood, revealing a pale face, and he said with a smile, "Supreme Saladin, my name is Throat."