Shirkuh fortified Belbeis and for three months resisted all attacks from his opponent. Nur ed din now made an expedition to Palestine and Amalric had need to hasten home to protect his own kingdom. An armistice was arranged and both armies left Egypt. But in 1167 Amalric again advanced at the head of a large army. Rumors of this advance having reached Nur ed din he at once sent Shirkuh to Egypt with a force of two thousand horsemen. He had barely crossed the Nile when Amalric appeared on the opposite bank. Shirkuh halted at Giza, and Amalric took up his position at Fustat. Shawer allied himself with Amalric, who dictated his own terms and insisted that the Kalif should ratify the treaty. Shirkuh, alarmed by the strength of the combined armies, retreated to Upper Egypt. Pursued by his opponent, he turned and gave battle, April 18, 1167, at a place a few miles south of Minya. The Egyptians were defeated, but Shirkuh, not having troops sufficient for a march on Cairo, withdrew to Alexandria, where he left Saladin in command with one-half of the army, and moved toward the South to collect contributions. Alexandria was soon besieged and blockaded. Provisions were lacking in the city and there was talk of surrender when news came that Shirkuh was advancing rapidly to their relief. He halted before Cairo and invested that city. Amalric then raised the siege of Alexandria and a peace was made by which Shirkuh and the king promised to withdraw their troops from Egypt. It is stated that Shirkuh received fifty thousand ducats, and the king twice that amount from the revenues of Egypt. There remained at Cairo, moreover, a general of Crusaders with a large number of men as a guard against Nur ed din. But peace was of short duration; the advantage which came to the King of Jerusalem by the terms of the treaty induced him to violate his promise in the hope of eventually getting control of the country. Incited by the Hospitalers, whose chief wished to keep his Order in Belbeis which he had charged with a debt of more than one hundred thousand ducats, Amalric advanced early in the winter of 1168 but this time he entered Egypt as an enemy. He arrived at Belbeis in November, captured that city and slaughtered its inhabitants. He then besieged Cairo. A wall at which women and children were toiling both by day and by night had been raised around the city. November 12th Fustat the most ancient part, called usually Old Cairo, was by command of Shawer set on fire to hamper the enemy, and it continued to burn for fifty-four days and nights. Adhad, the Kalif, despatched courier after courier with letters to Syria imploring Nur ed din to help him, and to picture the greatness of his need he inclosed locks of hair from the heads of his wives, as if saying: “The enemy are dragging our women by the hair. Come and rescue!”