The Restoration of Rome: In the Name of Augustus

Chapter 109 Naval Encounter at Jaffa

In early January of 1183 in the Julian calendar, amidst the smoke and fire off the coast of Jaffa, the Jerusalem fleet and the Egyptian logistics fleet were locked in a fierce battle.

Just as Zahir's warships were locked in combat with the enemy ships, the round ship and two escort ships trapped in the core of the encirclement also managed to stabilize their position.

The round boat has a platform at both the bow and stern, surrounded by walls about half a person's height, with small cross-shaped holes in the walls.

The crossbowmen, positioned on high ground, could safely and accurately fire their bolts through the small crosshairs, suppressing the Ayyubid infantry and archers on the enemy's deck.

Heavy crossbow bolts pierced the wooden planks of the enemy ship, even pinning the enemy to the mast.

The close-range suppression from long-range crossbow bolts, combined with the bloody boarding maneuvers of Zahir's mercenaries, barely managed to stabilize the crumbling front.

However, the disparity in numbers between the enemy and our forces was simply too great, and some enemy ships were even equipped with catapults and ballistae. When three Ayyubid warships equipped with catapults joined the battle, the situation took a sharp turn for the worse.

A boulder came hurtling towards the ship, striking the rudder of a frigate with pinpoint accuracy, causing the warship to spin out of control.

The other ship was hit by a flaming ballista and quickly burst into flames. Jerusalem soldiers jumped into the sea to escape, but most perished in the fish or from a hail of arrows; only a few were rescued by the round ships.

Lyon's ship was also caught by several grappling hooks. Despite the soldiers' desperate hacking, a few Ayyubid soldiers managed to jump onto the deck. Count Raymond personally led the Tripoli knights and the royal guard in a brutal hand-to-hand battle.

After a fierce battle, the Ayyubid soldiers on deck were temporarily repelled. Earl Raymond, without even wiping the blood from his face, rushed into the cabin and reported to Lyon, "Your Highness! We can't hold out much longer at this rate!"

Raymond himself didn't know what use reporting this news to Leon would be; he just subconsciously turned to him for help.

But it seems like a dead end. Even if Lyon is incredibly smart, he may not be able to make up for the absolute gap in combat strength.

Lyon pursed his lips and carefully stepped out of the cabin, his gaze sweeping over the severed limbs on the deck and the wounded soldiers leaning against the mast, panting heavily.

He made up his mind, turned around and went into the cabin, his gaze falling on the several pottery jars in the corner of the cabin that were carefully secured, covered with damp cloths and tied tightly.

The ship lacked a specialized pressurized jet system for Greek fire. With time running out, Lyon had to improvise with whatever was available.

"Count, order the spare mast to be dismantled! Bring in the ballast!" Lyon immediately commanded Count Raymond beside him.

Without any hesitation, the count carried out Lyon's orders.

The sailors chopped down a spare mast with their battle axes, while the Tripoli knights and the royal guards rolled in heavy ballast stones.

Under Lyon's command, they used cables to secure the mast to the stern railing, creating a massive lever.

"One hundred and twenty yards away!" the lookout on the round ship declared, based on the enemy ship's hull height.

Lyon personally adjusted the height of the lever support and used stacked barrels and planks to precisely control the firing angle.

The knights operated the lifting pulleys, suspending the ballast stone at one end of the lever. At the other end, the crew made a cartridge pouch out of canvas and rope, carefully placed the Greek terracotta pot inside, and secured a piece of linen soaked in grease to the mouth of the pot as a fuse.

Throughout the process, enemy arrows whistled past from time to time, and Count Raymond personally held up his shield to block them in front of Lyon.

Lyon raised the torch and lit the fuse as the lever reached its highest point.

"Cut the cable!"

The soldier quickly cut the tow rope, the counterweight end plummeted, and the terracotta pot at the other end of the lever flew in an arc toward the enemy ship.

The first shot landed in the sea in front of the enemy ship, igniting a strange fire on the water.

Count Raymond stared in disbelief, utterly dumbfounded: "This...this is Greek fire?!"

Lyon quickly directed the adjustment of the support height, and thank God, the second shot hit the target accurately.

The earthenware pot traced an elegant curve in mid-air before shattering on the enemy ship's mainsail, scattering viscous fuel that ignited upon contact with fire and continued to burn on the water, impossible to extinguish.

Lyon continued loading. The soldiers had already achieved a high level of coordination after several attempts, and their operation was skillful. Loading, pulling, and firing were all done in one smooth motion.

Two more enemy ships were engulfed in flames, and three huge torches appeared on the sea, with thick smoke obscuring the sky.

On the burning enemy ship, Ayub soldiers cried out as they jumped into the sea, trying to swim to their friendly vessels.

The remaining enemy ships panicked and fled, abandoning their allies. Zahir, who was conducting guerrilla warfare, pursued the fleeing enemy, leaving behind several more battered ships and capturing a large number of prisoners and supplies.

The battle ended quickly. Some soldiers were responsible for rescuing Ayub soldiers who had jumped into the sea to escape, while others counted the casualties and took care of the wounded and the dead.

Archbishop Heraclius led the priests out of the cabin and came to the row of corpses to pray in hushed tones.

At this moment, Zahir also returned, laden with supplies and prisoners from the Ayyubid ships. The Danes worked together to lift one of the prisoners from Zahir's ship, who was wearing a lamellar armor and appeared to be unconscious, onto the round ship where Lyon was, took him to the lower deck, and roughly threw him to the ground.

"Look at this guy's armor, not bad. I reckon he's a junior officer." Zahir kicked the unconscious prisoner in front of him and sneered, "He jumped into the sea before he could take off his heavy armor, so his stomach is full of seawater. He probably won't wake up for a while."

"Time is of the essence, we can't wait." Leon's expression was grave, his tone cold. "Bring the other prisoners over and have them wake him up, by any means necessary."

"Otherwise..." Leon said viciously, "we'll let them go into the sea to feed the sharks!"

Zahir paused, looking at Lyon with surprise.

I don't think I've ever seen him this angry before...

He gave Lyon a deep look, accepted the order, and led the other conscious prisoners into the cabin. He whispered a few words to them, and the prisoners trembled and agreed.

They exited the lower deck and locked the conscious prisoner and the unconscious officer inside.

At this moment, an officer in charge of counting the casualties came to report. In this encounter, more than ten people died, more than twenty people fell into the water and went missing, more than one hundred people were slightly injured, and only a few people were seriously injured.

The enemy ships were all logistical fleets that had been hastily set out to fight, so their personnel were not elite, but they were equipped with catapults and ballistae. The vast majority of the Jerusalem soldiers who died were killed by bombing.

Lyon's heart was bleeding—the casualties were even worse than those in the defensive battle of Berthechean!

I thought that since Adil's main naval force of more than 60 ships passed through Jaffa half a month ago, and now another half a month has passed, the Egyptian navy should have finished dispatching. I didn't expect that there would still be ten ships beside and behind a logistics ship.

It was his recklessness and his underestimation of Saladin's war potential that led to the deaths of more than thirty Jerusalem soldiers.

If it weren't for the Greek fire, the consequences would have been unimaginable!