Drawing Cards in the Middle Ages to Rise in Ranks-Chapter 440 - 122: Kurds

He certainly didn’t have as much confidence as others thought.

On the way east from Jaffa, Losa encountered many groups of pilgrims, who enthusiastically joined the army, receiving long spears and shields from local lords or monastery armories. Women in towns and villages were sewing cloaks overnight.

It is worth mentioning that almost all of the lower-level soldiers, without exception, were equipped with a shield. Even if it was just a wooden board carved with an axe, it could still double their survival ability on the battlefield.

In the Crusaders, from low-ranking soldiers to high-level lords, almost everyone was equipped with a shield.

The slightly better ones would have leather wrapped around the edges.

The ones that were even better would have iron sheets clamped around the edges and center to prevent cracking from heavy blows.

The best ones had metal covering the entire shield with various decorations.

The pure iron shield was used only by the Empire’s armored cavalry for small round shields, because it was simply too heavy and too much of a hindrance in battle.

But the cavalry under Losa often did not wear shields because their armor was good enough, especially the armored cavalry, both the rider and horse were armored, able to resist the Saracens’ archery.

The Eclipse was also armored.

This unicorn nightmare horse had a body far larger than an ordinary steed, and walking at the front of the group, everyone who saw it would instinctively exclaim, "Oh—my God!"

The armor on Eclipse was custom-made, with scale armor pieces sewn together, attached to its black skin. The horse helmet with a hollow horn perfectly fitted its unique horn on the head.

For it, this set of equipment provided more than just defense; it was primarily to cover its appearance, which was so different from ordinary warhorses.

With Eclipse’s strength, the weight of a horse armor was nothing.

However, as a dark creature, Eclipse, like Furinjira, did not like the constant high sun in the Holy Land, so a layer of white silk horse clothing was added to the horse armor for shade.

The horse clothing bore his double-headed eagle emblem, and the neck and side were marked with the prominent yellow cross, symbolizing the identity of the Grand Master of the Saint Lazarus Knight Order.

The Saint Lazarus Knight Order was the union of the "Teutonic Order" and the "Defender Knights of the Saint Lazarus Order," both represented by the yellow cross.

Jeanne, in silver armor and a blue sun-shading cloak, rode up to Losa: "What does it feel like to be praised by everyone?"

Losa smiled a little reservedly: "I really didn’t expect so many people to idolize me."

"Having your vanity satisfied?"

Jeanne was used to it; when she first led the Franks to defeat the United Kingdom forces, she also received such treatment.

"I thought there would be more people jealous of me."

Jeanne calculated and said: "The gap is probably too big, so it doesn’t invoke much jealousy. Besides, I think you fulfill all the fantasies people have about knights."

"What do you mean?"

Jeanne explained: "Rising like lightning from a landless knight without fiefs and gaining the followers of witches—even King Arthur didn’t have the personal following of the Lady of the Lake."

"Haha, just a lucky kid."

Losa self-deprecatingly remarked. He never thought of himself as particularly impressive. Without the system’s help, he would at most just be a newly-titled little baron.

"Yes, so many people admire me, but honestly, I’m not confident that I can definitely defeat Saladin. He’s recruited quite a few casters under him."

Jeanne raised her hand and waved towards the distant Chelina: "Don’t forget, what the casters of this world fear most is the Demon-Blocking Gold. With our chief assassin Chelina, unless they are Legendary Tier casters, whoever comes will die."

With a stealthy body technique, combined with the silence of a choking throat, the boost from wolf poison potion on attack power, and the suppression of Demon-Blocking Gold on casters—even Anna, if she hadn’t set up magic arrays in advance or had the home-field advantage in Constantinople to teleport at will, she was still very likely to fall in Chelina’s ambush.

Jeanne patted Losa’s shoulder: "Anyway, just relax. Together, you will eventually become the overlord ruling the Levant, and if you want to take Constantinople then, I’ll help you take it."

The movement was a bit comical because Eclipse was taller than a grape, and Jeanne wasn’t as tall as Losa, so she had to step on the stirrup and tiptoe to pat Losa’s shoulder.

Losa was a bit surprised: "Why so gentle all of a sudden?"

Jeanne smiled and said: "Not used to me being gentle with you? It’s just that you’ve been under a lot of pressure these days, trying to comfort you a bit."

"If you really wanted to comfort me, we could sneak off somewhere quiet tonight."

Jeanne suddenly expressed surprise: "Prajna, when did you get here?"

Losa quickly turned his head and found that, although Prajna was looking at him from a distance, she was still quite far away from the two of them.

"Hahaha."

Jeanne laughed back and forth: "You’re so afraid; maybe you shouldn’t be sneaking around doing that at a time like this? Prajna is like a little watchdog guarding its food, watching you closely."

...

After hitting the road for half a day, by noon.

Knight Stephen suddenly maneuvered his steed and rushed to Losa’s side, saying: "My lord, the scouts have reported they discovered a group of Crusaders plundering a Saracen caravan."

Losa was slightly stunned and said helplessly: "Doing business in the Holy Land at this time, are they crazy?"

Knight Stephen said helplessly: "Maybe they haven’t gotten the news yet."

He also found this issue a bit troublesome.

The two countries had officially declared war, so it wasn’t just plundering a caravan; even a city massacre couldn’t be blamed.

He couldn’t just block everyone’s way of making money, could he?

That would easily make him the target of public criticism, which was contrary to Losa’s usual style.

"We’ll observe the situation and not get involved."

Losa gave the order, rode his horse to a small hill, and watched the fight below.

"Wait, the banner they’re flying looks somewhat familiar."

Kurdish?

The Kurdish cavalry he had previously led, with their skilled archery and riding, had left a deep impression on him.

They were undoubtedly a force not inferior to the elite Mamluk’s combat strength.

"Aren’t you supposed to be following your master?"

"We got separated."

"The master was defeated and captured; Saladin dispatched him to the Caucasus Mountains to unite the scattered Kurdish tribes and be the Governor of Georgia."

Losa couldn’t help but laugh: "How is that different from appointing him as the Governor of Constantinople? The Kingdom of Georgia is not weak, and it occupies advantageous terrain, surrounded by mountains. Even if Saladin leads a large army himself, it would be difficult to conquer there."

"Exactly, so my master never intended to go there."