(7,000), Granada (1,000), Cordoba (1,000), 5,000 bordering Castile and 4,000 in western al-Andalus, succeeding waves of horsemen, in conjunction with the garrisons that had been left there after the Battle of Sagrajas, made responding, for the Taifa emirs, difficult. Soldiers on foot used bows & arrows, sabres, pikes, javelins, each protected by a cuirass of Moroccan leather and iron-spiked shields. During the siege of the fort-town Aledo, in Murcia, previously captured by the Spaniard Garcia Giménez, Almoravid and Andalusian hosts are said to have used catapults, in addition to their customary drum beat. Yusef also established naval bases in Cadiz, Almeria and neighboring ports along the Mediterranean. Ibn Maymun, the governor of Almeria, had a fleet at his disposal. Another such example is the Banu Ghaniya fleet stationed off the Balearic Islands that dominated the affairs of the western Mediterranean for much of the 12th century. Siege of Valencia Although the Almoravids had not gained much in the way of territory from the Christians, rather than merely offsetting the Reconquista, Yusuf did succeed in capturing Valencia. A city divided between Muslims and Christians, under the weak rule of a petty emir paying tribute to the Christians, including the famous El Cid, Valencia proved to be an obstacle for the Almoravid military, despite their untouchable reputation. Abu Bakr ibn Ibrahim ibn Tashfin and Yusef's nephew Abu 'Abdullah Muhammad both failed to defeat El Cid. Yusef then sent Abu'l-Hasan 'Ali al-Hajj, but he was not successful either. In 1097, on his fourth trip to al-Andalus, Yusef sought to personally dig down and fight the armies of Alfonso VI, making his way towards the all but abandoned, yet historically important, Toledo. Such a concerted effort was meant to draw the Christian forces, including those laying siege to Valencia, into the center of Iberia. On August 15, 1097, the Almoravids delivered yet another blow to Alfonso's forces, a battle in which El Cid's son was killed. Muhammad ibn 'A'isha, Yusef's son, whom he had appointed governor of Murcia, succeeded in delivering an effective pounding to the Cid's forces at Alcira; still not capturing the city, but satisfied with the results of his campaigns, Yusef left for his court at Marrakesh, only to return two years later in a new effort to take the provinces of eastern al-Andalus. After El Cid died in the same year, 1099, his wife Jimena began ruling until the coming