Crusade against the Pope

Chapter 107 Leonard is the law!

Chapter 107 Leonard is the law!
The land ownership system in China is very different from that in Western Europe.

In the Celestial Empire, private land ownership was established very early on. The ownership of land could be bought, sold, and transferred, which gave rise to a class of rentier landlords who lived on land rent.

But it was different in Europe. Under the European feudal system and the manor economic system, serfs depended on the manor land for their existence, and owning a manor meant providing feudal obligations to the superior feudal lords.

Simply put, the superior lord granted a manor to a lower-level noble, and the lower-level noble became the owner of the manor. He collected taxes and food from the manor and trained soldiers to meet the call of the superior lord.

Below the owner of the manor, no one can be called a landlord.

However, many lords or manor owners did not own only one manor. In order to manage multiple manors, a group of stewards emerged.

They are not lords and not necessarily nobles, but they have the right to help the lord manage the vast estate.

This is why, two days ago, Garys heard the housekeeper say at Charlie's door that his grandfather was also a farmer.

Compared with mainland Europe, the upward channel still exists in Palestine.

In Jerusalem, whether it is a noble, a king, or any other position, the probability of death in the line of duty is much higher than in mainland Europe.

Who knows, one day you might get lucky and because too many people in the upper class die, it will be someone's turn to be the steward... You should know that even the average reign of the king of the Kingdom of Jerusalem was no more than 10 years, and there were a lot of them without descendants.

The steward of Labret Manor was actually just an ordinary freeman three generations ago, but he suddenly got lucky and rose to prominence.

At first, the first generation of stewards might have had a lot of brotherhood with ordinary Franks, but this is already the third generation...it's hard to say what the past friendship is like.

After all, he is a housekeeper now. If he still hangs out with the peasants like before, his job as a housekeeper would be in vain.

As the third-generation steward of Labret Manor, Lucas naturally had his own pursuits. He built the best mansion for himself, located on a mound, facing the church across the sky and overlooking most of the manor.

On weekends and days off, even Lucas, who is busy on weekdays, puts down his work and enjoys his leisure time.

Until there was a reckless knock on the door and an unexpected person rushed into his study. It was Father Gabriel.

Butler Lucas turned around and looked. He never expected that Father Gabriel would just barge in without anyone introducing him.

Father Gabriel was still wearing the vestments, but he looked disheveled and out of breath.

"Father? Uh...what are you doing?"

"Oh no! Lucas, those unruly people are rebelling!"

As soon as he opened his mouth, Father Gabriel was accused of being a rebel.

Lucas was stunned when he heard this: "Father, are you saying that there are pagan serfs rebelling?"

"Don't worry, I will gather the free people right away and ask them to take up arms and prepare to defend themselves!"

"No!" Seeing Butler Lucas's bewildered face, Father Gabriel hurriedly explained: "Listen to me! It was those bastard freemen who rebelled!"

"what?"

Lucas was a little confused and took a while to make sure that Father Gabriel was talking about free people, not serfs.

"Father...are you...joking?"

Father Gabriel opened his eyes wide, and as if he was crazy, he answered decisively: "It's the free people! During the mass, those unruly people directly scolded me for talking nonsense!"

"Just like what we discussed before, you go and lend money, and I go and add burdens to those unruly people, leaving some families with nowhere to go. But the result... I was interrupted when I was only halfway through my speech today!"

Whether they are priests or stewards, they are the most powerful people in the manor.

One represents the secular lord and the other symbolizes the church's theocracy. They manage the Labret estate together. As members of the ruling class, it is natural that they are in collusion with each other.

Although the serfs of the manor are attached to the land and the land belongs to the lord, the free people do not!
Strictly speaking, the freemen were not absolutely dependent on the feudal lords. They only rented the lords' land. In the eyes of the steward, they were a corner that could be dug up, so the steward set his sights on the freemen group.

As long as he could force a free citizen to become his personal slave, it would mean that his steward would have more capital to pass on to his family. Besides, the girl Emma really looked like what he liked.

She has regular features and a beautiful face. She looks energetic because of her youth. She is slightly malnourished and looks a little childish. She is truly a beauty.

Even though Lucas was already married, he wouldn't mind having an extra capable maid.

When Emma's brother Jacques was around, Lucas had to be more restrained, but now that Jacques's life or death is unknown, Lucas can't help but have some evil thoughts.

For example, the inexplicable death of Emma's father was partly due to Lucas's concern.

Butler Lucas listened to Father Gabriel's rambling description and gradually realized that something was wrong.

But he was not panicked.

"Father, you are really worrying too much. You are dazzled."

Lucas couldn't help but sneer as he listened to the priest's description of the scene in which the "crown of thorns" appeared out of thin air on the head of the "false prophet."

"There is no such thing as witchcraft in this world. Isn't this what you have always taught? You have always been the most anti-superstitious person." As a priest, Gabriel has long been committed to spreading correct teachings in the manor.

Strictly speaking, Father Gabriel's theological theories were not bad, and he was also a genuine priest who graduated from a seminary. Naturally, he firmly denied the existence of any witchcraft.

Only God is supreme in this world, and even the devil was created by God. But as a priest who has received the holy order, how could he be bewitched by the devil?

Lucas couldn't help but sneer again when he thought that Father Gabriel, who had sworn in the past that witchcraft did not exist, was actually worried about the existence of wizards.

Gabriel's eyes turned red with anxiety, and his old cheeks couldn't help but turn rosy.

"Lucas! Every word I said is true! That bastard peasant really had a crown of thorns on his head! Even Christ on the cross laughed at me sneerfully! If this isn't witchcraft, then what is it?"

"Ha! Come on, come on, your eyes are blurry, or it's just an illusion. How can Christ laugh at you?"

Lucas couldn't help laughing. After he finished laughing, he continued, "They are just a bunch of free people. They can't cause any trouble. I'll take some people to check it out and catch the troublemakers and beat them up. You can supervise it yourself later!"

"In the Transjordan Territory, Lord Reynard is the king. What is there to worry about? Even if the king comes, he will treat our lord with courtesy and kindness."

"A bunch of free folk? No problem! They can't cause any trouble."

As he spoke, Lucas couldn't help laughing again.

First of all, today we can see Father Gabriel being suspicious. Secondly, how could a group of free people rebel?
This La Brette estate belongs to Reynald, and don’t the Franks know what Reynald’s temper is like?

In Reynard's territory of Transjordan, the tyranny has long been off the charts. Who would be so cowardly as to dare to rebel?

And what Lucas said was really right. Even the couple who now sit on the throne of Jerusalem have to restrain themselves when they arrive in the Transjordan territory.

There is no other reason. After all, it was Reynald who helped the couple wear the crowns. It can be said that without Reynald, it would be hard to say whether the throne would belong to Sibylla and Guy.

So Lucas stood up, found some people from his own mansion, asked them to prepare weapons, and go to help Father Gabriel get back his face.

Unlike the tax farmer Ahmed, strictly speaking, there is no private army in Labret Manor. After all, the free people themselves are the main body of the army, otherwise Lucas would not have arranged free people like Charlie to stand guard at night.

However, due to some personal considerations, as a butler, Lucas must have some die-hard friends to help him bully men and women.

The composition of this private armed force is roughly as follows: 1 cook, 2 grooms, 3 gardeners, and 4 guards.

These 10 people constitute the ironclad subordinates of Butler Lucas. Relying on Leonard's power, they act tyrannically in the manor.

After all, usually Lucas would lead these ten people to fight against three or four people, and relying on their numbers, they would win every battle!

However, Lucas and his gang did not consider one thing at all...

What if the free people...really rebel?
……

The originally gloomy church is now filled with joy and the mass presided over by Garys is much more moving than the one celebrated by Father Gabriel in the past.

First of all, Gellis never spoke Latin, but preached in Old Frankish, which was known to the free people in daily life, so everyone could understand him.

Secondly, when Garys preached, he didn't talk about obedience or dedication, but just picked out words that everyone liked to hear.

Finally, with the prayer after Holy Communion and the blessing from the priest, the Sunday Mass is coming to an end.

Garys smiled and nodded to all the believers present.

And he read:
“May the Almighty Father grant you His abundant grace”

“Make Your Faith Sure”

“Your Life Is Full of Hope”

“Your souls overflow with love”

"May my Father bless you to spend every day in peace."

After this final blessing, Gellis loudly announced that today's mass was completely over.

"Mass is over, go and preach my Gospel!"

Everyone in the church smiled and said, "Thank God!"

However, at this moment, the side door of the church was suddenly opened and a slightly embarrassed person rushed in.