On the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea, the capital of Rhodes Island, Rhodes Port. A young boy dressed in military uniform stood on the city wall, using a telescope to look out to sea. "Report to the commander-in-chief, Turkish troops have landed on the north shore!" "Darn it!" The boy in the black warrior cloak put down his telescope with a stern face. Perhaps due to anger, his bright red hair seemed to be standing on end. "Notify the naval commander to immediately lay the sea chain to block Rhodes Port!" "Yes!" "Notify Marshal Pierre to gather all the knights and immediately go to the commander-in-chief's palace." "Yes!" "Notify the finance minister to immediately count all the goods in the warehouse." "Yes!"... Precise orders were issued from the boy's mouth, like a tight spring, starting the war machine of Rhodes Island. After doing all this, the boy leaned tiredly on the battlements of the city wall. On the sea ahead, the Turkish fleet sailed in great numbers. Ships followed ships, sails followed sails, endlessly stretching out on the horizon. No matter how optimistic the estimate, the number of warships should exceed one hundred. Such a powerful fleet was not something the naval force of the Hospital Knights could handle. So the boy, as the commander-in-chief, could only watch helplessly as the Turkish army landed on the beach in small boats, with nothing he could do but blockade the port and wait for help from European countries. Looking at the soldiers of Turkey pouring onto the beach like a tide, the young commander-in-chief felt a bitter sense of powerlessness creeping up in his heart. He stared blankly at the sea until a messenger arrived. "Your Excellency, Marshal Pierre and the knights are waiting in the council hall." "Understood, I'll go over now."... The guard at the door pushed open the heavy door for the commander-in-chief. The boy walked into the council hall, where everyone stood up to show their respect. The boy waved his hand to signal everyone to sit down, then went straight to the main seat under the red and white cross flag of the Hospital Knights. This was the seat reserved for the commander-in-chief. The boy swept the hall with his eyes, and there were more than 300 Hospital Knights from the eight linguistic areas of Provence, Auvergne, France, Italy, Aragon, England, Germany, and Castille sitting here. This was almost two-thirds of the strength of the Hospital Knights on Rhodes Island. "Since the commander-in-chief has arrived, let's start the war council." Marshal Pierre suggested to the boy. "Hmm, let's get started. First, let's talk about what intelligence we have." "Yes." The intelligence officer sitting on the marshal's other side immediately stood up. "According to the internal reports of the Knights in Adrianople (the Ottoman Empire's capital from 1426 to 1453), the commander-in-chief of the invading Turkish army is Mehmed Pasha (Note: Pasha is an Ottoman official title, meaning governor or general), and the Turks have mobilized a preliminary estimate of over 50,000 troops, including 3,000 of the most elite new Turkish troops, and approximately 100 or more warships." As soon as these words were spoken, there was an uproar in the council hall. It should be noted that the total strength of the Hospital Knights on Rhodes Island was only about 6,000 troops. Of these, only 600 belonged to the most elite knights, sergeants, and military monks of the Hospital Knights, with only 1,500 mercenaries and 200 archers who could be considered regular soldiers sent by the Pope's country. The remaining several thousand were all militia composed of the citizens of Rhodes Port and paddling slaves. 50,000 against 6,000 did not look like a winnable battle in any way. For a time, a panicked atmosphere began to spread in the council hall. The knights began to whisper to each other. "Quiet!" Marshal Pierre heavily slammed the table, "As knights dedicated to God, how can we lose heart before the enemy even arrives?" Looking at the angry Marshal, the knights quickly quieted down. However, this was only a moment of submission to the long-standing prestige of the Marshal's distinguished military achievements. Inside, they still doubted whether "we can really defeat the Turkish army with its 50,000 soldiers?". At this point, the young commander-in-chief spoke up."Gentlemen."

The young man stood up and placed his hands on either side of the round table. He once again scanned the faces of everyone in the hall.

"Do you remember the creed of our Hospital Knights?"

The knights hesitated for a moment before answering in unison, "Defend the faith and relieve suffering."

"Exactly!" The young man exclaimed with enthusiasm. "'Defend the faith, relieve suffering', this is the creed that we have upheld for over three hundred years."

"What does 'relieve suffering' mean?" The young man straightened his chest. "You must know that when our first commander, Gerald, established the hospital, it was to help those who were starving and destitute but had a devout faith and were determined to go to Jerusalem on pilgrimage."

"To assist these pilgrims devoted to God, Commander Gerald established free hospitals and relief stations along the holy route, and distributed bread to the poor. This was a righteous act of helping the weak and the poor, and also the original intention of our Hospital Knights. This is the meaning of 'relieve suffering'!"

"So what is 'defending the faith' then? You must know that our Hospital Knights are defenders of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem! With the trust of the church and the king, we have repeatedly charged into the forefront of the Crusades and fought countless bloodshed battles against pagans!"

"Although in the end, the holy city was still occupied by the evil pagans, every knight of our Hospital Knights can proudly declare that we fought to the last moment!"

"our Knights of the Hospital are the most faithful servants of God and the sharpest blade in the hands of the Pope!"

"Even now on the Rhode Island, we have never stopped fighting against the pagans! At sea, we have sunk countless pagan ships, and on land, we have followed the monarchs of various European countries to conquer the Mamluk fortresses."

"Rhode Island is the shield of Europe, the first front line of guarding the faith in God and fighting against pagans."

"For three hundred years, we have never retreated. For three hundred years, we have never given up."

"Now, we are only facing enemies with numbers advantage. Knights, tell me, are you going to retreat just for this?"

The young man's powerful speech hammered on every knight's heart like a hammer.

Yeah, we are the honorable Hospital Knights, we can't retreat like this!

Seeing the emotions of the people have changed, the young man was secretly delighted.

"Knights, don't panic. We are only facing the savage chiefs and their sword-wielding slaves from the east."

Hearing the commander's derogatory remarks about their enemies, the knights burst into laughter and followed the commander's words.

"You must know that our Rhode Island is the strongest fortress in the entire Mediterranean. Our warehouse is full of grain, wine, cheese, and salted meat. We have countless crossbows and cannons deployed in our towers, and our soldiers are equipped with the strongest Milan armor and swords. No matter how many of those Turkish chiefs and their slaves come, we can blast them to pieces!"

The young man's passionate speech successfully fueled the knights' morale, and they responded loudly.

"Yes! We will beat our enemies until they cry and beg for mercy!"

"Let the Turkish chief go back to his Persian nanny to have some milk!"

Seeing that the knights' emotions had been fully stirred up, the young commander seized the opportunity to push the atmosphere of the entire meeting to a climax:

"Knights, let us fight for glory and faith! Hallelujah!"

The knights also responded in unison.

"Hallelujah!"

"Hallelujah!"

"Hallelujah!"

"Hallelujah!"