Video spoilers history, starting with the blitzkrieg on Poland

A new sky screen appears.

In the video, a group of people in armor slowly marched past on modern streets and captured by countless mobile phones.

Obviously not marching.

It's more like a performance.

The voice of the sky also slowly sounded:
[One of the oldest existing national regimes? ]

[There are only two rental buildings in the entire country? ]

[It is an observer state of the United Nations, recognized by more than 100 countries around the world. ]

【The "national destiny" has lasted for 900 years, which is an antique. 】

[This UN observer entity is the Knights Hospitaller. ]

【The Knights Hospitaller.】

[He is both a devout monk and a brave warrior. ]

[He was both a practitioner of medical charity and a pioneer of European plundering and expansion.]

[Their history spans thousands of years, from the poor hospital in Jerusalem, to the strong fortress of Rhodes, to the maritime hegemony of Malta. ]

【It eventually evolved into a special entity sitting on the UN observer table today.】

[The birth of the Knights Hospitaller is closely related to the pilgrimage craze in the medieval Christian world. ]

[In the 11th century, as Jerusalem became one of the three holy places of Christianity, thousands of European believers embarked on the arduous pilgrimage.]

[However, due to banditry, disease and hostility from Muslim forces along the way, many pilgrims died in a foreign land.]

[It was in this context that in 1099, a French nobleman named Gerald obtained permission from the local Muslim ruler.]

【A hospital was established near the Church of St. John in Jerusalem.】

【Specially for the treatment of sick and injured pilgrims. 】

[And the local lords can also gain more benefits from pilgrims. ]

【The hospital started out as a small charity.】

【But Gerald's good deeds soon won widespread support. 】

【The pilgrims were filled with gratitude and donated money and goods. 】

[The victory of the Crusades allowed the hospital to acquire a large amount of land and wealth. ]

[In 1113, the Pope officially recognized the Knights Hospitaller as an independent religious order, granting it privileges such as tax exemption and judicial immunity, so that it was not subject to the jurisdiction of secular governments and directly obeyed the Pope.]

[At this time, the Knights still focused on medical assistance. ]

[Their logo is a white octagonal cross on a black background, symbolizing adherence to faith and protection for the suffering.]

Outside the sky.

Qin Dynasty.

When Ying Zheng saw this, he felt something was wrong.

"In the beginning, the Knights Hospitaller may have just wanted to do good things."

"But doesn't this make us the vanguard and scouts of the Crusades?"

"The local lord is still too immature."

"With tensions between the two camps at a standoff, how dare you allow others to build buildings and courtyards on your own land?"

"If he wasn't so stupid."

"That's possible. The benefits brought by the pilgrims are really too high."

……

[However, with the establishment of the Crusader States, the situation in the Holy Land became increasingly complicated.]

【Muslim forces continue to fight back, and the pilgrimage route is full of dangers. 】

[In 1120, Raymond, Grand Master of the Knights Templar, made a key decision.]

【While maintaining the medical mission, an armed force was formed to protect the pilgrims.】

[This transformation caused another huge change in the nature of the Knights Hospitaller.]

[It gradually evolved from a simple charitable organization to a religious knighthood with military functions. ]

[The militarization of the Knights Templar was further accelerated in 1126.]

[At that time, they were granted military trial power and could independently adjudicate military affairs.]

[In 1135, Pope Innocent II further granted them immunity from church bans and excommunication.]

【To completely free it from the control of the local church. 】

[By the middle of the 12th century, the Knights Hospitaller had 7 large fortresses and more than 140 buildings in the Kingdom of Jerusalem. ] [It became an important military pillar of the Crusader States. ]

[Their members are divided into three categories: priests are responsible for religious affairs, knights are responsible for combat, and non-commissioned officers are responsible for logistics and auxiliary work. ]

[At the end of the 12th century, the Knights Hospitaller became involved in the power struggle of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.]

【After the death of King Baldwin IV of Jerusalem, Roger, Grand Master of the Order, opposed Guy de Lusignan's succession, but failed. 】

[This political mistake soon brought disastrous consequences.]

[In July of the same year, the Crusaders and Saladin fought a decisive battle at Hattin. Due to command errors and internal conflicts, the Christian army was almost annihilated.]

[The disastrous defeat at the Battle of Hattin led to the fall of Jerusalem, and the Knights Hospitaller were forced to retreat to the coastal city of Acre, where they rebuilt their base.]

[For the next century, the Knights continued to participate in the defense of the Crusader states.]

[However, as Muslim power continued to grow, Christianity's strongholds in the East were lost one by one.]

[In 1291, Acre was conquered by the Mamluks of Egypt.]

[This marks the fall of the last bastion of the Crusaders in the East.]

[The Knights Hospitaller and other survivors evacuated in a hurry and fled to Cyprus by ship.]

[Trying to use the island as a springboard to counterattack the Holy Land.]

[However, due to the political turmoil in Cyprus, the Knights had difficulty gaining a foothold. ]

[Finally, in 1306, they turned to Rhodes in the Aegean Sea and began to attack the Byzantines on Rhodes.]

[Rhodes' strategic location is extremely important, controlling the main transportation routes between the Aegean Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean. ]

[In 1310, the Knights took full control of Rhodes and, over the next two centuries, turned it into an impregnable Christian fortress.]

[The Knights Hospitaller established a powerful navy here. ]

[And with its superb naval warfare technology, it became the mainstay in resisting the expansion of the Ottoman Turks. ]

【During this period, the Knights reached the peak of their wealth and power. 】

[In 1312, Pope Clement V disbanded the Knights Templar and gave most of their property to the Knights Hospitaller.]

[The Knights not only established a complete administrative and military system in Rhodes Island. ]

[They also accumulated a lot of wealth through maritime plunder and trade. ]

[The "Pirate Knights" are famous. ]

When the commentators saw this, they all started to complain.

"Traditional pirate art is really going nowhere."

《The coast has been plundered again.》

"The most annoying thing in EU4 is the North African gays and the Knights Hospitaller, who plunder the coast every day."

"He really did a lot of bad things."

《Lodo Island? Please refer to the Record of Lodoss War.》

"The prototype of Zhouyou's Rhodes Island is the Knights Hospitaller, an armed medical order."

"Isn't Rhodes a Byzantine territory? Byzantium doesn't care?"

"Byzantium was facing serious internal problems at this time, and its territory in Asia Minor was almost completely swallowed up by the Ottomans and other Turkish warlords."

Outside the sky.

Han Dynasty.

Emperor Wu of Han, Liu Che, could not help but complain:
"Isn't Byzantium the successor of Rome?"

"Why are you so useless?"

"It would be fine if they were defeated by other grassland powers."

“But how come we can’t fend off a mere gang of robbers from the hospital who don’t even have their own land?”

"And you're giving your own land to these pirates for free?"

"With this display of military might, can we still call ourselves Rome, which is said to be as famous as the Han Dynasty?"

"And the group of knights."

"When Tianmu told the story of the Eastern Expedition before, they burned, killed, and looted along the way like robbers."

"Now that they have been beaten back and have retreated to the sea, they are still doing their old business."

"Is it really a pirate civilization?"

Although Liu Che complained like this, he still had a smile on his face.

After all, it's none of my business, so I'll just ignore it and watch it for fun. (End of this chapter)