Crusade against the Pope

Chapter 126 January 1187

The Book of Isaiah is a prophetic book in the Old Testament, mainly composed of the prophecies of the prophet Isaiah.

The prophet Isaiah predicted the future of various nations and mentioned the birth of the Messiah, saying that the Messiah would be born of a virgin, endure many sufferings, and eventually die bearing sin.

This is interpreted by Christian tradition as pointing to Jesus Christ.

Isaiah 2:4 says that when the Day of Judgment comes, Jehovah will judge the conflicts among many nations and make the people on earth beat their swords into plowshares so that they will never fight again.

This is to emphasize that God will bring peace and justice.

But when Gillis says this in reverse, his implication is clear: it is not Judgment Day yet, and therefore God will not personally bring peace and justice.

If people on earth want to fight for justice for themselves and prevent the fruits of their labor from being stolen, they need to take up arms to defend their rights.

For this, the farmer will need to take up his sword, the craftsman will take up his spear...

Fortunately, Garys and his men were able to forge swords and spears to arm the farmers and craftsmen.

Of course, the output of Skar Village is far more than just weapons. Various agricultural tools are the mainstream.

In order to expand production, the workshops in Skar Village have already expanded their scale and have successively sent out invitations to recruit apprentices to the surrounding villages and the town of Alhadi.

Although the scale of several hundred people is still not worth mentioning, it can gradually meet the needs of surrounding rural areas.

Relatively cheap iron products, as well as various supplies that Gailis purchased wholesale from passing caravans, were circulated in the territory by merchants, truly connecting the entire territory.

North Jordan, like a living creature, is full of vitality in this winter.

……

The gears of history always jump a little bit inadvertently, and then push the whole world in a new direction.

Gellis rescued a group of pilgrims from Reynard. Those Muslims lived in Alhadi for a while, and were then taken in by a passing caravan.

To be precise, they were accepted by Zayd's caravan, the same caravan that was rescued by Garys in the drizzle.

Zayd has passed through Alhadi town twice in the past few months and has a very familiar relationship with Garys and others.

The caravan picked up the survivors as it passed through the town of Al-Hadi and escorted them to Damascus after they completed their pilgrimage to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.

When these survivors arrived in Damascus, news spread in Damascus that Reynald had torn up the armistice agreement and was wantonly attacking pilgrim caravans.

This was not the first time, but again and again! The armistice agreement between the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Ayyubid Dynasty was once again trampled upon by Reynald!

The Muslims were angry again. They were gathered together by Islamic jurists and shouted loudly outside Saladin's castle!
They asked the Sultan to punish the Crusaders!

Damascus at this time had a population of nearly 200,000 and was hailed as a paradise on earth and the pearl of the Arab world.

When such a city is boiling, even Saladin can only sigh that the trend of the times is pushing him to the sky. If he takes a wrong step, he will be doomed.

If it weren't for the repeated threats from the Crusader Kingdoms, how could the Arab world, which regarded division as the norm, be so easily unified by Saladin? He became the Sultan of a dynasty with tens of millions of people.

Saladin knew how his position was established.

So he walked out of the protection of the Damascus Fortress, he stepped into the boiling sea of ​​Muslims, and in the market of Damascus, looking at the countless Muslims who showed expectant expressions, he made his promise.

"The Kingdom of Jerusalem needs to give an answer, and Reynald the 'Breaker' must pay with blood."

A city was mobilized, but this was not the end, only the beginning.

Messengers were sent to Baghdad, Cairo, Cordoba, Mecca...

Not only Damascus, nor just the Ayyubid dynasty, but the entire Islamic world, was like a sleeping beast, slowly opening its eyes and casting its gaze upon the arrow that had pierced its body.

The Islamic world, stretching from the Indus River in the east to the Iberian Peninsula in the west, spanning three continents, will know of Saladin's promise and will send their own volunteers to add their own contributions to this year's cause.

Zayed, who was in Damascus, witnessed this scene with his own eyes, but he was not moved by it, only deeply frightened.

He recalled the dream he had. In that dream, both the Dajjal who shattered the stars and the Mahdi who unified the world had light green and black pupils and were young men with light blond hair.

Under the cover of night, the young man made a prophecy to him: next year, when Jerusalem is captured, the cross on the Al-Aqsa Mosque will be removed.

It is now January of 1187, which is the next year as we had mentioned before.

The gears of the world turned slowly, just as that person had expected, but no one could stop it.

If this prophecy really came true, then would the Franks' prophecy about the fall of Baghdad and the fire in the Palace of Wisdom be true? Zayd did not dare to tell others what he knew, for he was afraid that he would be regarded as a madman, and he was even more afraid that he would be labeled a defeatist by those fanatical jurists.

Zayd kept a secret in his heart. He was impatient and wanted to tell Gairis everything that happened in Damascus as soon as possible to see if the Frank would be surprised, or if he had expected it...

Saladin naturally didn't know what Zayd was worried about, he had more important things to worry about.

While Saladin was gathering his army, out of a last bit of respect for the armistice agreement, he sent an envoy to visit Raymond, Count of Tripoli and Lord of Tiberias.

Raymond was a very special person. He was the ruler of the County of Tripoli among the Crusader states. He also became the lord of Tiberias because he married a widow from the territory of Tiberias.

In the Kingdom of Jerusalem, he and Balian represented the interests of the local nobles. They emphasized not to overly stimulate the religious feelings of Muslims, but to focus on maintaining peace through commercial trade.

He is the kind of person who, in peacetime, is nice enough to go hunting with Saladin's brother.

However, Raymond refused to meet with the delegation openly, and the faction he represented has now lost power in the kingdom.

So he directly refused to act as a middleman and was unwilling to be the punching bag between the kingdom and the Ayyubid dynasty.

Then Saladin's delegation went to Jerusalem to meet the king. Guy expressed deep sympathy and was willing to provide all assistance except effective help. He even asked Reynald to pay compensation.

Then, when Reynald's reply was delivered to Jerusalem, the head of Saladin's delegation looked at Guy on the throne with a look as if he were looking at a dead man.

The reply was short and powerful: Bullshit.

Guy said he was powerless to do anything about it and sent the delegation away.

However, the delegation did not return directly to Damascus, but chose to visit the courts of various powerful lords in the Kingdom of Jerusalem one by one.

The head of the delegation talked a lot with those powerful lords, mostly about Reynald, and secondly about Guy's throne.

Many rumors spread.

For example, some people say that Prince Bohemond III of Antioch chose to sign a peace treaty with Saladin because he was afraid of fighting when the war was about to break out.

For example, Saladin expressed great sympathy for Raymond's situation, and even secretly promised to support him to become king in the future and help him seize the throne of Jerusalem.

These rumors were absurd, but they added a lot of suspicion to the nervous kingdom.

However, when the delegation arrived in Nablus, Balian de Ibelin wanted to keep the Muslims out, but his knights brought him unexpected news.

"My lord, those Saracens said they brought news of the young lady."

Balian was silent. These Saracens who were stirring up discord in the kingdom really knew the weaknesses of human nature. No wonder the other lords chose to talk to them.

He was certain that as soon as he met with the delegation, the Kingdom of Jerusalem would be embroiled in yet another rumor, and he would not have the opportunity to defend himself.

But could he refuse? That was news about his daughter!
"Okay, I'll meet him in the hall, and I hope he won't lie."

However, what Balian did not expect was that when Saladin's delegation left Nablus, there was no more rumor in the Kingdom of Jerusalem that would damage Balian's reputation.

There is always a lack of clear boundaries between truth and falsehood. Many times, if three people say something, it can make people believe it, no matter how untrue it is.

But sometimes, just telling the truth is enough to drive people apart.

What's worse, even if you don't say anything and just reveal a place name, the direction of development of things will fall into chaos.

It can be said that in January of the year 1187 in the Chinese calendar, the land of the Levant was destined to be turbulent.

……

Several riders, one on each horse, traveled from north to south along the Transjordan Highway, passing through the woods, the Gobi Desert, and the wilderness.

Palestine is a magical land. In this small country, four vegetation types can be divided: Mediterranean, dry grassland, desert and oasis.

The magnificent natural landscape in various forms adds a touch of sacredness to this ancient land.

As the warm winter sun is about to set, a prosperous town can be vaguely seen in the distant horizon.

"It looks like we're almost at Alhadi Town, Humphrey."

The middle-aged man in the lead turned his head and said this to the young noble beside him.

(End of this chapter)