Chapter 6

The first two weeks of August 1260 were hectic as we made final preparations. Polish and Teutonic troops poured into the city, filling the temporary camps we had erected for them. Our ships would all be in port by August 15.

The undercurrent of excitement had grown steadily and the sight of one particular ship in the harbor, escorted by five of our patrol boats brought nearly everyone to the harbor. Pope Alexander IV waved to the gathered throng from the deck of his ship, then debarked and greeted me. We talked as we made our way to the largest church in town. He was stunned by the number of troops we actually had available. I was amazed myself. Once we arrived at the church, I was prepared for the investiture. In a lengthy ceremony filled with prayers, praise, exhortations, and caveats, I was crowned Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, charged with permanently returning the Holy Lands to Christian control, and with keeping all the lands of the Empire safe.

When we exited the church, thousands of silk banners were flying, each with the Crusader Cross emblazoned proudly on it. Messengers were immediately dispatched to Baghdad to let Duke Jedrick know. The messengers carried hundreds of silk Crusader banners for Jedrick’s troops. I had been stunned to learn that he had amassed 180,000 troops for the Crusade.

Jedrick and his troops would leave Baghdad September 1, headed for Damascus. A thousand scouts would range far ahead of his columns of troops, hoping to prevent advance word of their movement from spreading.

A week later, our armada set sail for the Holy Land. We got word in Crete that the Nile flooding had mostly receded, and we made our way to Jaffa (modern Tel Aviv). Our troops debarked as patrol ships captured the harbor, preventing the departure of any ships that could warn the Mameluks. Our troops spread out rapidly, guarding routes from the north, south, and east. Any forces arriving to relieve the city would be ambushed.

Jaffa fell within twenty-four hours, providing us a base of operations for the sixty thousand Polish troops and Teutonic Knights. The excitement of the Teutonic Knights to be back in the Holy Land was palpable. Within a week, we controlled the coast from Gaza in the south to Acre in the north. Mameluk reinforcements from Egypt would have to come in by ship, still unable to ride through the muddy lands that had until recently been submerged beneath the Nile.

I can only imagine the consternation in Jerusalem when we didn’t immediately attack them. The consternation didn’t last long, though. Our Mongol troops from Damascus arrived two days after we finished securing the coast. Having heard of the ease with which Baghdad had been defeated by a much smaller force than they now faced, Damascus had capitulated after only four days. Fifty thousand troops of the now defeated Abayyid Sultanate had joined the Mongol troops; bringing the total number of troops to 230,000.

When Jerusalem surrendered, thousands of surrendered Mameluk troops were loaded aboard our cargo ships and sent to Khadjibey as slaves to be distributed among the dozens of new mines or to be used working the fields this summer.

Our scout ships gave us plenty of warning about the Mameluk fleet finally sailing our way. Half of our ships sailed around them, coming in from behind them while the other half sailed along the coast to meet them. They seemed to be headed for Gaza so we shifted the bulk of our troops there. IF they made it ashore, the estimated sixty thousand Mameluk troops would now meet nearly four times that number of our troops. My remaining Mongol troops were mopping up, securing the area east of Jerusalem aided by the Teutonic Knights.

Our patrol boats dodged easily in and out among the heavily laden Mameluk ships as our archers rained arrows down on the ships from beyond their range. Many ships were set ablaze from the fire arrows we used. Several were sunk by the ballista. More than half of their fleet surrendered. The remainder tried to flee only to find their escape cut off. Some fought to the last man, but most surrendered at that point.

Like the troops from Jerusalem, the surviving Mameluk troops were shackled and sent to Khadjibey. The slaves forced by the Mameluks to row their ships were used to continue rowing the captured Mameluk vessels that were still seaworthy. They were promised their freedom when the Crusade was over.

Using other captured Mameluk ships, we headed for Damietta, seizing the city and all the ships in the port. Most of our troops had debarked in the pre-dawn light before anyone (still alive) noticed it wasn’t Mameluk troops. The fight was nothing more than a minor skirmish, our archers easily fending off the Mameluk troops.

Once Damietta was secure, we sailed along the coast for Rashid, a small town on one of the three exits of the Nile into the Mediterranean. With no troops protecting the village, it was easy to conquer. Fifty thousand troops were left to guard the town and we sailed to Alexandria. The ruins of the once proud city of Alexandria held nothing more than a fishing village now. Still, by taking the town and the final mouth of the Nile, the Mameluks now had no way to reach the Mediterranean and we controlled the coast from Alexandria all the way to Tripoli.

By the time we got back to Damietta, the muddy ground surrounding the Nile had dried enough that farmers were plowing and planting, even with the presence of foreign troops in the city. Regardless of the outcome of our endeavor, crops needed to be planted now if these people had any hope of surviving another year.

As we prepared to march on Cairo, our scouts reported that Mameluk troops were headed our way. They estimated 60,000 troops would be here late the next day. Our scouts had already sent messengers to Rashid and Alexandria.

All day the next day, our scouts continued to report the progress of the Mameluk troops. They finally arrived very late that afternoon and a Mameluk messenger rode nervously into our camp. While I read and considered his message, I had food and drink brought to the messenger and directed him to a canopy that we used to keep the hot sun off us.

Sultan Qutuz taunted us, offering us a chance to withdraw. He cited the fate of previous Crusades that tried to invade Egypt. Commander Baibars, the Commander leading the Ayyubid troops helped me pen my reply. I made sure the messenger met Commander Baibars, formerly a Mameluk himself until a political split caused them to leave Egypt and choose to serve the Ayyubid emirs who had controlled most of the Levant (except the Crusader States) to the border of the former Abbasid Caliphate. They had been among the Ayyubid troops who volunteered to ride with us against Cairo.

I rode back out with the messenger, halfway to the Mameluk lines. My message to Sultan Qutuz reminded him that none of the other Crusades had managed to capture the Holy Land, the Ayyubid Sultanate, and the Abbasid Caliphate. None of the other crusades arrived in Egypt with 230,000 troops. I hadn’t made the same mistakes in planning and timing as my predecessors. In fact, I effectively used the flooding of the Nile to my benefit, forcing him to send reinforcements to Jerusalem via the sea--reinforcements we had easily defeated and sent to a watery grave or to Khadjibey in shackles. If they surrendered now, they would be allowed to return to their families. If they faced us in battle, they would be comrades-in-chains with the rest of the previously captured Mameluk troops.

I waited for an hour in the blazing sun to meet with the Sultan. When he didn’t show up, I turned my back and showed the bottom of my shoe to their lines before spurring my horse back to our lines. Knowing that a nighttime attack by the Ayyubids forty years ago had defeated the Crusaders, we doubled our sentries and kept a third of our troops awake all night.

Again using one of my favorite attack strategies, we were ready to attack well before dawn. Five thousand Knights astride their destriers were ready with their lances and their heavy armor. I hoped the troops from Alexandria and Rashid were able to ferry across the river from where they were and were able to merge and get behind the Mameluk troops to prevent them from escaping.

Behind the lance knights rode the heavy cavalry, protecting the 125,000 archers. We had just gotten ready to attack when our sentries rushed back, warning that the Mameluks were beginning their own attack.

They definitely wouldn’t be expecting the reception they were going to get. Starting out slowly to make sure everyone was following; we were quickly up to full speed just before we collided with the mounted Mameluk cavalry. The noise from their own horses and camels had kept them from hearing us approaching. After puncturing their front line and discarding our lances, many of which were still embedded in one of the Mameluks or their horses, we switched to swords, hacking our way through the wave of Mameluk cavalry that hadn’t expected to meet us so soon. Well before the sun rose, we finished hacking our way through their lines. Now behind them, I saw the cluster of 20 Mameluk cavalry obviously meant to protect their Sultan.

“On me!” I bellowed, quickly gathering a following of more men than I could count. The Sultan’s guards fought valiantly, but were quickly overcome. Alone now, the Sultan capitulated. “I thought we could defeat you despite your superior numbers by surprising you in the night,” he admitted.

“Unfortunately for you, I had the same idea. We were preparing to attack you just before dawn,” I admitted.

The capture of the Sultan brought a reasonably quick end to the battle. The Sultan’s eyes widened later when he saw more of our troops riding in behind him. For several days, the Mameluk troops were divested of everything but their clothing. Then they were shackled and sent off on our ships, ships leased from other countries, and captured Mameluk ships. Many of the captives were pressed into service rowing the captured ships; the slaves who had previously done the rowing were freed. Most still wanted to serve aboard our ships, happy that their former captors were now the ones in chains.

Leaving a large enough force to contend with the dwindling number of Mameluk prisoners waiting to be shipped north, we rode towards Cairo. I could sense the unease of former Sultan Qutuz when he saw Commander Baibars and his Bahri troops riding with us. His unease was well founded. Once we were out of sight of his now-captive troops, Baibars bound the hands of his former enemy behind his back and had him dragged to the river’s edge. His feet were also bound, and he was thrown into the shallow water by two very large men who quickly hurried away from the water.

The splash when he hit the water was answered several times along the bank as a number of crocodiles slipped into the river. Qutuz struggled valiantly and finally managed to get his head above water for several seconds before he was jerked back under, his surprised scream cut off even before it could be well formed. The water where he disappeared roiled for several moments before it calmed. Only a slight pink tint to the water in the area bore witness to his fate.

We took our time reaching Cairo. None of the cities along the way offered any resistance. We looted the homes and businesses of the wealthy, leaving untouched the homes of those who struggled day-to-day just to survive. Baibars nodded his appreciation of our tactics. The common people would remember that they had been left alone if King Boleslas allowed him to remain as the Duke of Egypt.

Even the remaining troops in Cairo offered no resistance, obviously hoping to avoid the same fate as the ones we had defeated. They had even refused to allow the wealthy families in the city to escape with their belongings. After consulting with Baibars, we agreed to let those remaining troops join his troops.

Their knowledge of the city simplified the looting process. I just stood and stared at the exterior of the opulent palace for nearly five minutes when we reached it. Inside was even more beautiful. Immediately I knew my Palace in Khadjibey would be similar.

Hundreds of the most beautiful young women in the city were brought to the Palace. I chose two, knowing my wives would be wroth with me if I returned empty-handed. While they liked the gold, silk, marble, and other fineries I returned with after each campaign, it seemed to me their greatest excitement was over the woman or women I returned with. Knowing how jealously most women shielded their husband from other women, I had no idea why they were that way. Hell, I had no idea why they did half of the things they did. I just knew better than to comment or try to dissuade them, especially outnumbered as I was.

Baibars also chose several women to join him in the Palace. The rest were placed aboard the ships carrying the loot from Cairo and environs down the Nile to Damietta, and then on to Khadjibey. When I finally left Cairo, Baibars had instructions to send a constant supply of the beautiful white limestone and all the marble he could quarry to Khadjibey for the Palace I intended to build there. Mameluk architects and engineers had been among the first spoils sent to Khadjibey with instructions to design something like the Palace in Cairo, but the plans had to meet with the approval of my wives. Once my wives approved, construction could begin, whether or not I’d seen the design. Two thousand masons used to working with marble and limestone went too. Having seen cotton being planted in a large number of fields, I asked to have more cotton planted as soon as possible. The cotton cloth I had already taken back made for much more comfortable clothing than wool or linen.