In my ears, flies buzzed.
Lothar covered his mouth and nose with a mask. The strong smell of blood and corpses was nauseating.
The corpses of Saracens were everywhere. They had been stripped of their armor and their bodies were naked. Even some of their personal clothing had been taken away by the sergeants.
The torn corpses were cut into sections, and mosquitoes and flies were densely lying on them. As the vultures fell one by one, they dispersed and exploded into a ball of black mist.
Hans said with emotion: "My former instructor once said that flies are the revenge of the dead on the living. The living kill the dead, and the dead breed flies."
"Your instructor is Knight Friedrich?"
Lothar said thoughtfully.
Hans was a little surprised: "You actually know?"
Lothar recalled: "Knight Frederic is a very powerful officer. Although his personal martial arts is limited, his ability to train new recruits and boost morale is not bad."
To put it bluntly, this is a pure halo-type follower.
But for this kind of follower who can bring benefits to an army, personal martial arts is often no longer important, not to mention that he is also good at training new recruits.
Lothar turned around and ordered: "Andreas, send someone to burn the corpses of those Saracens."
This first-generation citizen who once worked as a knight's valet has now become a heroic wing cavalry.
Andreas wondered: "Sir, in the Zoroastrian faith, after death, the body is burned and can return to the Kingdom of God. Do we really have to be so lenient to them?"
Lothar shook his head:
"This is not a kind act. The rest of the Crusaders are behind us. I'm worried that exposing these corpses to the wilderness will breed a plague."
Lothar paused slightly and then said: "As a hussar, you should also know what 'bacteria' are.
I've had enough of those 'quack doctors' who want to chop off an entire leg when an injury can be cured by applying anti-inflammatory herbs, and think the devil is inside when it's clearly a headache from being hit with a blunt instrument. Take a cross and drive it into their skulls. "
"Is this killing someone or saving someone?"
Hans said with some indignation: "The hussars taught them battlefield first aid knowledge, but they were scorned by those people. In my opinion, all these quacks should be kicked out of our team."
"Then do it. When you get back, drive them all away!"
Lothar said coldly: "Those who disdain my orders because of their status as doctors should be eliminated from my team."
...
In front, the group of Mamluks were fully armed and standing on a hillside.
Seeing Lothar and his party approaching, the leader Mamluk shouted in Gaulish:
"My master is with you?"
Lothar nodded and said, "That's right."
"We will surrender to you in compliance with the master's will, but I must remind you that what you can't get on the battlefield, you can't get at the negotiation table either."
Lothar frowned: "Do you want to disobey your master's will?"
Mamluks who disobey their master will lose all their political credibility.
This is not yet an era when the Mamluks have formed military and political groups and can even influence government affairs.
The Mamluk leader loudly said: "No, of course not, the master's will is our life."
"We will pay the equivalent of our own lives, but don't expect us to walk into your prison camp obediently, because we know very well that if we do this, the safety of our master will not be guaranteed!"
"Can."
Lothar nodded in agreement: "Maybe you don't believe it, but I never thought about harming your lives from the beginning to the end. Since you are willing to pay the ransom in advance, I am also willing to accept it."
"According to the ransom, we should at least receive gold and silver equal to the value of your complete set of weapons and equipment and war horses. In other words, each equipped cavalry will receive"
"For each light cavalry, I will get twenty suludes, and for each armored cavalry, I will get one hundred suludes - you still have one hundred and fifty people left, right?"
Lion Lothar said loudly: "To put it all together, I want 10,000 Sulades gold coins, or equivalent silver coins, jewelry, and war horses."
"No, you're blackmailing!"
The Mamluk team was immediately shocked by this terrifying number.
"The ransom for a noble is often only a thousand dinar silver coins. How dare you ask for such an outrageously high price?"
The Mamluk leader said angrily: "Even if we take out all the money we have, we still can't come up with this number."
"The premise of a thousand dinar silver coins is to let you leave empty-handed, but now it is obvious that you will not hand over your weapons, equipment, baggage, and mounts."
Lothar refused to give in and said: "This is a reasonable price. If I hadn't reached an agreement with your master, I would have killed you all on the battlefield. When the time comes, everything on you will become my trophy!"
"If you continue to fight, you will also suffer huge losses. This is not a favor to us!"
Lothar said coldly: "You have disobeyed Prince Zaheer's order. I generously agreed to your request, but you have gone too far and are not even willing to hand over a single sum of money. You are tarnishing your master's reputation." , putting him in a position to break his oath sworn by the Holy Fire and the honor of King Saladin.”
"Think about it, if Prince Zahir goes back, how will he treat you, the Mamluks, who are not loyal enough?"
The Mamluks chatted in low voices for a while.
After a while, the leader shouted: "We really don't have so much money, and we can't give up our armor, weapons and mounts. It would be no different from entering your prisoner camp. If you want to violate your oath, We won't have any way to fight back."
This time, his tone softened a lot.
Lothar frowned and calculated that 10,000 Sulades was indeed a bit outrageous, so he said: "Then eight thousand, this is the lowest number. If it is any lower, you will go against the master's will and make the master Suffer the infamy of broken promises!"
The Mamluks discussed for a while, and the leader shouted: "Okay, we will collect the money before sunset and send it to your camp, but I want to warn you that you must protect the safety of your master, otherwise We will not launch a desperate charge against your military camp at any cost!"
"no problem!"
Lothar readily agreed.
War, although tragic, is indeed the fastest way to make money.
Eight thousand Suludes gold coins, in terms of tax collection, are equivalent to the tax revenue of Jorge Rusburg for hundreds of years.
...
In the evening, the Mamluks sent a team of people to lift heavy wooden boxes from the camels and moved them into Lothar's tent.
When he opened it, he found that it was filled with gold and silver vessels, coins and gems. Many of the items were beyond valuation. If they were thrown into the system mall, they probably wouldn't be able to exchange for 8,000 gold coins.
But that's because the system mall is inherently dark. If you slowly sell those gems and gold and silver utensils, instead of just taking their precious metal value, eight thousand Sulades gold coins should be more than enough.
The Mamluks kept their promise, and Lothar naturally reciprocated the favor and generously agreed to their request to meet their master.
In addition, Lothar also ordered people to spread signs for recycling loot, asking the sergeants and knights to take all the loot that was inconvenient to carry to a camp to exchange for coins.
Lothar returned it to the system mall in exchange for gold and silver coins with his face engraved on them, and took one-tenth of the "fire consumption" in exchange for them.
It's not that Lothar was looking for a little "fire", it was just these scraps that would greatly slow down the march of the Knights.
In addition, increasing the circulation of gold and silver coins bearing his image will also greatly increase his reputation.
By the time we finished all this, it was completely dark.
Hans walked into the camp and said with a smile: "Sir, did you know that the sergeants of the Knights gave you a nickname in private?"
Lothar said with great interest: "What nickname? Stingy?"
The system mall is really dark, and Lothar is also worried that the recycling price he gives will make the sergeants and knights dissatisfied, but if he knew the prices offered by the merchants who accompanied the army, he would definitely not think so.
"Of course not, one is Lothar the Generous, and the other is Lothar the Brave!"
Lothar was a little surprised and said: "Ha, this is really surprising."
The nicknames given to medieval lords were not always complimentary.
For example, Charles the Bald, Louis the Stutterer, and Amalric the Fat (the late king of Jerusalem).
The more neutral ones are Edward the Long Legs and Frederick the Red Beard.
Lothar's ability to obtain the titles of "Brave" and "Generous" is enough to prove that his reputation within the Knights has reached a new height at this time.
...
evening.
Outside Jerusalem.
Military tents are like white flowers blooming on the desolate Gobi Desert.
Most of the Crusaders have set off one after another today, and tomorrow will be the last batch, which is also the headquarters of Baldwin IV, the Knights of Jerusalem commanded by Baron Godfrey.
In the central royal tent, there is a soft wool carpet, and exquisite woven flower curtains hang on the walls. The tables and chairs inlaid with patterns and magic-blocking gold threads are filled with exquisite oriental colored porcelain.
Baldwin IV leaned on the chair and took off his mask. Judging from the surface, his face had almost completely returned to normal, but the physical deformity remained unchanged.
Opposite him, Baron Godfrey is holding a black chess piece and playing against him.
"Baron Godfrey, I want to take Hebron away from Count Leonard and give it to Lothar. His fiefdom is too barren. It will be difficult for him to grow into a pillar of the kingdom."
Baron Godfrey frowned and said, "I'm afraid not. Unless Kalle Castle is breached, there will be too many people who will object to Count Leonard's attempt to deprive him of his territory without obvious guilt."
Baldwin IV put forward a hypothesis: "What if Bethlehem is given to Leonard and replaced with Hebron?"
"This may work, but the premise is that Baron Lothar can make enough achievements, otherwise it will be difficult to convince the public."
"well."
Baldwin IV let out a long sigh.
Uldin's treatment re-infused vitality into his broken life. Combined with the royal physician's aromatherapy, he could feel that his body was gradually recovering to health.
He sometimes thought that if he had been able to receive such treatment when he was young, instead of the "enema" and "bloodletting" proposed by those quack doctors, perhaps the situation in Jerusalem would be very different now.
But by this time, the situation in Jerusalem had turned into a complete mess.
His enemies are the Crusader generals, the stubborn and conservative nobles, the ambitious newcomers from Europe, the independent military order of knights, and those who are full of intrigues and vying for power. Church clergy - in addition, there is the most powerful enemy, the brilliant and powerful Egyptian eagle Saladin.
"Godfrey, let Balian come to my tent and obey my orders. I will make him a Knight of the Banner. Perhaps, he can learn something from me."
Godfrey said in surprise: "Thank you, Your Majesty!"
Baldwin IV's eyes were still calm, but inside, there was a trace of impatience suppressed. Jerusalem, like him, now looked like a terminally ill person.
The only people he could consider as his confidants were Baron Godfrey and Lothar.
He is eager to increase the strength of the royal party.
...
By the evening of the next day, Lothar had led the knights to the outside of Montreal.
Montreal is not Montreal in Quebec.
It is a desert city located in the earldom of Transjordan. It was a city built here during the First Crusade to maintain supply lines.
Therefore, it has a strong Western European castle style, rather than the unified European, Arab and Jewish style of Jerusalem.
On the high ground in the center of the city, a towering castle made of mud and bricks stands majestically. Nearly seventy years of wind and sun have made the city's walls look dilapidated and mottled.
"There's an army!"
On the tower, the guards said in horror: "Is Saladin's army coming? Has Fort Kalle been breached?"
"It's not the Flame Flag, it's the Crusader Flag and the Black Eagle Flag!"
The panic on the guard's face was quickly replaced by excitement: "Reinforcements are coming, great, they are our people, notify your Excellency immediately and prepare to receive them."
Lothar and his party were quickly welcomed into the city.
The city's guard is the stepson of Earl Leonard, the son of Countess Stephanie and her ex-husband, also named Humphrey.
Just like Amalric was not only the name of the late king, but also the name of the Prime Minister of the Palace and the concubine of Queen Mother Agnes.
"Baron Lothar, I've heard your name. You solved the swarm of locusts in the desert. Now you have ignored the past and led the royal knights to come to support you. It's really admirable!"
Humphrey said with compliments on his face.
"Count Leonard and I have no conflicts to begin with, so how can we ignore our past grudges?"
Lothar had a sincere smile on his face: "My army ran into a Saracen cavalry outside the city and suffered heavy losses. If Lord Humphrey can agree to us setting aside a piece of land here for repairs and providing supplies, , the group couldn’t be better.”
Humphrey's expression changed slightly: "What a heavy loss..."
ps: There is one more chapter to make up for yesterday’s post.
