People in the Middle Ages, draw cards to get promoted

Chapter 271
early in the morning.outside Jerusalem.

Several contiguous houses, surrounded by a church, stretched along the west bank of the river.

The criss-crossed fields are full of greenery.

Under the towering windmill, Father Edmund, who was carrying a sack of rye and wearing an old vestment, walked into the mill.

"I need to borrow the mill."

He pointed to the bald top of his head—a testament to his Catholic priesthood.

The guard of the mill glanced at him, squeezed out a "hmm" from his nasal cavity, and ignored the poor man. He couldn't pay the mill usage fee to a clergyman.

As for whether this person is a liar?

The most indispensable thing in Jerusalem is this kind of ascetic monk, and the guards are no strangers to it.

half an hour.

Edmund walked out of the mill carrying the ground flour.

He had been an ascetic from Saxony, and was now a member of the Order of St. Lazarus.

His situation has not been improved by joining the Order, and he is still very poor, which is why he is willing to join the Order of Saint Lazarus.

It is not that the church has never received donations, but almost every donation does not stay in the hands of the church for long.

Jesus said: Feed my lambs.

So Edmund, as well as the clergy of those orders, thought that they should distribute food to those who were hungry.

Adding in the cost of treating pilgrims without compensation, the entire church is living in poverty.

At this time, he heard dense footsteps.

Immediately afterwards, a Black Eagle military flag rose slowly from the hillside, gradually revealing behind it a burly sergeant in a full set of chain mail.

Holding the flagpole in his hand, the flag-bearing retinue walked at the forefront of the team with a proud face and regular steps.

A group of commanding knights, both men and horses, all wearing bright plate armor, followed beside the team of peasants and soldiers he led.

With different weapons, the infantry phalanx lined up neatly and were almost fully armed. Edmund glanced at a heavily armored infantryman carrying a two-handed axe on his shoulders, and was almost staggered by the murderous look in the opponent's eyes.

Behind the team, there was a dense sound of horseshoes.

The Teutonic knights wearing black cross robes on a white background, surrounded by their attendants, proudly accepted the inspection of passers-by along the way.

They each had a horse now, their armor was complete, and they were looking forward to a battle to prove their worth.

Immediately afterwards, Edmund saw the familiar coat of arms again—it was the apologist knight of his own church.

The mill guard walked out of the mill and said at the top of his voice, "This is Earl Lothar's army. They are going to fight again? Who is it with this time, Saladin? Or the Persians?"

"Lord Count!"

The Miller looked at Edmund in astonishment. This poor priest ran towards the team with a full face of expectation, and he couldn't help muttering: "My God, is he trying to beg for alms from the Earl's army?"

"What a bold fellow."

Subsequently.

He saw the young man on horseback, surrounded by knights, who looked extremely dignified, muttered something helplessly, and then took out the money bag to Edmund.

Edmund happily walked towards the mill with a purse in his hand, waving his arms to the procession, and greeting those religious brothers who might have never met.

among the ranks.

Lothar complained helplessly to an apologist knight: "Can I know what Uldin has taught you? When he saw me, he ran up and hugged my horse's neck to ask for money? "

A look of embarrassment appeared on the face of the guardian knight.

"My lord, you know that the church's financial problems have always been very tight. There are poor people everywhere, and we cannot refuse to help them."

Hiberlander's face froze when he heard this.

In other words, their impoverished Teutonic Knights will merge with another Holy Lazarus Redemption Order that is equally impoverished and even wants to beg from their lords on the street in the future?
Since the establishment of the Knights Order, Heberland, who had been worrying about money, couldn't help showing a trace of sadness on his face.

...

At the court meeting in Jerusalem.

The attendant murmured in Raymond's ear for a while, and although Raymond's expression did not change, there was still a murmur in his heart.

This Lothar, whose territories are all deep inland, how could he lead such a huge armored army to conquer Cyprus?

What was the use of him getting Mazotos?

Instead of extracting commercial taxes from those merchant ships at anchor?

Ha, this idiot, with so many ports in Cyprus, who would purposely go to Mazotos to anchor.

He got rid of distracting thoughts in his mind, and stared at the debate of the nobles on the field with a serious face.

The conquest of Cyprus has been unanimously approved by the Crusader princes.

Leaving aside, Isaac, who occupied the port of Cyprus and reached a cooperation agreement with Saladin, posed a huge threat to all Crusader merchant ships.

Isaac's rampant behavior on the island of Cyprus, including killing priests and robbing nuns, is enough for the Christian world to criticize them.

You know, it wasn't just the Orthodox Church that Isaac attacked.

It's just that these people have differences on how to deal with the island of Cyprus.

Many Crusader nobles intend to take advantage of this opportunity to occupy the magpie's nest and take the island of Cyprus for themselves-this must have the support of the kingdom.

Otherwise, even if they captured some land in Cyprus, they would be weak and impossible to defend.

"You are too reckless. The island of Cyprus is a friendly state of the kingdom and an important territory of the empire. The queen regent has already paid the salary and promised to advance the military expenses for this trip, so you should not ask for more. Greed, but One of the Seven Deadly Sins!"

"Hmph, does she throw a bone and want us to fight like mad dogs?"

"Listen to me, everyone. Since Saladin cut off his support for the Turkic tribes, the relationship with the Eastern Empire has been easing. We cannot push the Eastern Empire to the enemy's side."

"Then we won't send troops."

"If you don't come out, you won't come out!"

In the hall, a group of people were fighting fiercely with each other, and there was no such thing as the so-called aristocratic demeanor.

Hans was also in the hall, listening to the arguments of the crowd, he couldn't help feeling a little bored.

Things are clear.

It's those landless knights who have just arrived in the Holy Land, and they can't wait to expand their territories and obtain fiefdoms.

This group of people is the source of turmoil in the Holy Land, but they are now important supporters of the Lothar faction. The confluence of the Queen Mother's Party and the Royal Party also means being involved in these disputes.

For example, Baron Godfrey did not attend the court meeting at all.

"enough."

A majestic male voice sounded at the gate of the palace.

The young prince wearing a black dragon head cloak strode into the hall.

All the Crusader nobles felt a little afraid to look directly at him for a while.

During this period of time, Lothar received the vote of the Teutonic Knights. Although this group of knights was often ridiculed by their peers as the Beggar Knights, Lothar gained nearly a hundred more knights. This is a great event.

In the minds of many nobles, Lothar is not only equal to Raymond in status, but also has to catch up in hard power.

"Your Majesty didn't forcibly conscript any lord to participate in this battle. Since it's all voluntary, why bother to quarrel?"

Lothar's tone was not high.

But everyone present had to listen intently.

"In this battle, I will send [-] armored soldiers and [-] armored cavalry to conquer the tyrant who established himself as king on the island of Cyprus."

Done.

Lothar ignored anyone present and walked out of the palace.

Leaving behind a whisper of nobles.

"Count Lothar has a relationship with the empire again? How long has he been in the Holy Land?"

Someone dissatisfied: "Count Lothar is really a great prestige. It is said that he has won the allegiance of those poor knights. This is not even Lord Raymond's eyes."

Raymond sneered: "He hasn't gone far, can he catch up and say it in front of him?"

The man was suddenly at a loss for words and dared not speak any more.

Outside, an army uniformly equipped with black eagle burqas on white background and black cross burqas on white background is already in full swing.

This trip into the city was not only a demonstration, but also to show his support for the king.

His footsteps paused slightly, as if he had noticed a certain line of sight, he raised his head subconsciously.

Baldwin IV was standing by the window, smiling gently at him.

The corners of Lothar's mouth curled up.

He waved his hand up.

It's not that he doesn't know that he is standing on the opposite side of those radicals.

But he doesn't care.

(End of this chapter)