Water Margin people

After Baldwin IV returned to Jerusalem, Conrad III and Louis VII were sitting on the benches in the church with indignant looks on their faces. They already knew that Baldwin IV had left the city to negotiate peace.

But they felt that this would be a loss of face, and they should defeat their enemies so that the Arabs would not dare to come to Jerusalem again.

But the cardinal took out the Pope's order, and their first task was to find the Ark of the Covenant and escort it back to the Vatican.

Louis VII did not refute. He had offended the Vatican before, and this time he came to ease the relationship and regain the support of the Vatican.

Conrad III needed the support of the Holy See to become the emperor of the empire, and he did not dare to disobey the church's decree at this time.

"Your Highness, I have already spoken to Saladin. He agrees to make peace, and we can go through the western desert to look for the Ark of the Covenant!"

Baldwin IV walked into the church and said to the cardinal.

"coward!"

Conrad III cursed in a low voice. He thought that Baldwin IV's peace talks were cowardly and that the powerful Holy Roman Empire would never bow its head.

"How can you guarantee them that they will keep their promise?"

Louis VII looked at Baldwin IV and asked, he did not trust the Arabs.

"They have no choice, and neither do we! The Qi army is in the Persian Gulf. If we fight here, we will both perish, which will be a bargain for Qi!"

Baldwin IV said.

"Is Qi as strong as you say? They are just a country in the East!"

Conrad III said that they knew very little about the East, but they knew that it was a country very far away from here, and they did not believe that the East could reach such a far place.

"We cannot contend with the strength of the East."

Baldwin IV shook his head. He used to think so too, but now he has realized the gap between the two sides. It is an insurmountable mountain, and they may have only seen the tip of the mountain.

"With a powerful empire here, what is there to be afraid of?"

Conrad III looked arrogant and fearless with his nose in the air.

"None of this is important. Now let's discuss finding the Ark of the Covenant."

The cardinal cleared his throat and spoke.

Everyone discussed in the church until late at night. As long as Baldwin IV was explaining the situation, he sent a number of people to investigate and made some discoveries.

"Archbishop, the defenders outside the city report that the enemy has withdrawn!"

A priest came in holding a cross and spoke.

“Thank God for your protection!”

The cardinal held the silver cross on his chest and began to pray towards the cross in the center of the church.

The others also stood up, made the sign of the cross on their chests and began to pray.

"Withdraw now!"

Seeing the Arabs retreat, Lu Fang and others felt regretful. They also wanted to see the two groups perish together.

"Well, if you want to leave, then leave. We have to fight eventually. Let's start plan 2!"

Deng Fei said.

"Let's go! Hurry!"

Ou Peng put away the telescope and urged.

Several people quickly led their people away and headed northeast.

In the desert in the northeast.

"Hurry up, cover them all with sand!"

Mi Sheng was urging his soldiers to bury a small village with sand.

The soldiers drove the war horses and camels, and the yellow sand was pulled and pushed forward by the plows and sleds.

This was an uninhabited village. Mi Sheng and his people had renovated it and decorated it with all kinds of treasures they brought. In order to make it look more like a treasure trove, he also had people bury everything with sand, making this place look like a treasure house that had been forgotten for a thousand years.

After thousands of people worked hard, the village was finally buried in the yellow sand, and Mi Sheng nodded with satisfaction.

"General, General Lu Fang and his men are here!"

A soldier reported to Mi Sheng.

"Oh, are they here? It looks like those people are coming soon!"

Mi Sheng was overjoyed when he heard this.

"General Mi, the enemy's 50,000 troops are on their way!"

Lu Fang shouted from a distance, "Okay, okay! Guys, wipe off all traces and let's retreat!"

Mi Sheng yelled at the soldiers.

The soldiers quickly cleaned up their footprints in the sand and then slowly retreated.

Huge crosses were raised and the Crusaders marched into the desert with determined eyes as they entered villages one by one looking for news about the Ark of the Covenant.

"We have an agreement with the Arabs. You can plunder, but if you burn and kill, it will probably cause a war!"

Baldwin IV frowned and looked at Conrad III and said that these Crusaders still killed anyone they saw and robbed anything they saw, just like bandits in the desert.

"It's just some villages. If Saladin dares to come, I will deal with him!"

Conrad III said nonchalantly.

The entire desert turned into purgatory. After searching countless villages, the Crusaders finally found a torn map.

“The treasure on it seems to be the Ark of the Covenant!”

Louis VII looked at the map and spoke. This parchment map was very old and it was obvious that it was very old.

"This village seems to be heading east!"

The cardinal looked at the map and then spoke, they were heading north after leaving Jerusalem, and now they had found a map heading east.

"It looks like there's nothing to the north, how about we go east?"

Conrad III said eagerly.

The rest of the people nodded and continued heading north to Asia Minor. The countries there did not have a good impression of them.

"Order the army to go east! The Lord's call is in the east!"

The cardinal spoke while holding the cross in his hand.

The Crusaders immediately headed east.

It took only two days to reach a sand dune.

"The map shows it's right here! But there's nothing here!"

Conrad III looked at the map in his hand and complained. Compared to staying in Jerusalem and enjoying himself, coming out to look for holy relics was a torture.

“Dig it for me!”

Louis VII immediately ordered that things in the desert could only be hidden under the yellow sand.

The army immediately rushed to the sand dunes and began digging.

"There's something down there."

Soon a soldier started shouting.

Soon more soldiers shouted.

"Sure enough, there is something!"

Louis VII burst into laughter.

The cardinal immediately led the bishops and priests in prayer.

"here?"

Baldwin IV looked around and saw a sea of ​​yellow sand.

"Your Majesty, this is the edge of the desert. Going further east is the upper reaches of the two rivers!"

William whispered.

As the soldiers continued to dig, the ruins soon revealed part of their true appearance.

"Your Majesty, this is a Zoroastrian pattern!"

William looked at the flame pattern on the wall and spoke in a low voice.

"Zoroastrianism?"

Baldwin IV suddenly had a bad feeling in his heart. The Manichean treasure had already caused a bloody storm in this land. Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism were closely related, so he was afraid that they were also related.

"Gold! Gold!"

A burst of surprised shouts was heard, and a soldier had dug up gold.

The soldiers who were digging worked even harder, digging frantically at the yellow sand on the ground. (End of this chapter)