Crusade against the Pope

Chapter 139 System Construction
The 12th century was a strange era, during which the Liao and Jin dynasties replaced each other in the East and the Crusades in the West reached their climax.

Saladin emerged as a tyrant in the Middle East, and the authority of the European church reached its peak.

A flood that will change the world is brewing, and the Eastern Roman Empire is about to face its own tragedy.

However, compared with those changes in the world pattern, Aljos felt that he had come to a strange place, met strange people, and encountered strange things.

The town of Al Hadi is a strange place because Muslims live in communion with Christians.

Although they still clearly distinguish themselves from each other, they will at least understand each other as people who are equal to themselves. They will understand the source of each other's beliefs, and then be surprised to find that the Lord they believe in is the same.

Gellis is a strange man because he calls himself a prophet and makes one prediction after another about the future.

He said that heaven is approaching and this world is coming to an end, but if believers just wait, the Lord's Judgment Day will be a long way off.

Not only that, before that, the Lord will abandon his altar and hate his sanctuary! Because those gorgeous things cannot compare to the temple in the heart.

The fall of Jerusalem was inevitable, but it was only the prelude; it would not be long before Constantinople would also be captured.

Then Aljos also saw something strange, because almost everyone in this small town believed what Gellis said and acknowledged that he was a prophet.

Aljos thought this was blasphemous and heretical, but so what?

He was already fascinated by the notebook that Gellis handed him.

He got the answer from it and realized what the church lacks in this day and age.

[Heaven is not something high above, far away from the mundane world, with birds singing and flowers blooming, but a place on earth where God’s will is carried out. Heaven and the Kingdom of God actually mean “God’s rule”. Wherever God’s will is carried out is Heaven.]

[The Kingdom of Heaven is not the Kingdom of God, and it is even more incompatible with Rome on earth. When the Kingdom of Heaven is about to come, it means that everyone will be an enemy.]

[The reason why the Jews persuaded the Roman governor Pilate to crucify Jesus is a clear proof.]

[“If you release this man, you are not a friend of Caesar, for anyone who makes himself a king rebels against Caesar” (John 19:12)]

[Therefore, people in the world must choose between Caesar and the Kingdom of Heaven. There is no two suns in the sky, and no two kings in a country. The peace of Rome is a sacred peace, and the Kingdom of Heaven cannot disturb it. The reason for executing Jesus was not secular, but sacred, because "Caesar is sacred"]

[Because the Kingdom of Heaven has not come, the poor people of the world have to bear the cross and keep silent and endure. ]

[Nowadays, priests no longer die as martyrs. They have become accomplices of the Roman Caesar and betrayed the Kingdom of Heaven.]

Only when the sword that oppresses the poor also strikes the priests can it be clearly shown that their faith is not empty.

【Only by watering with the blood of priests and the poor can the seeds of the Gospel become the fruits of the Kingdom of Heaven.】

【They will make up for the lack of suffering of the cross together with the poor, truly become the body of Christ, and be united with the Lord. 】

This is what Archos saw in the notebook, and it is also what he longed for from the bottom of his heart. A little spirituality from the Holy Spirit touched his heart and made him devote himself crazily to the work of theoretical compilation.

He realized that a new round of religious reform would rise again from this frontier of the Christian world, and he himself was a participant in it, closely at the center of the storm of the times.

The religious reform that is about to break out is not the first. As early as the beginning of Jesus' preaching, it was actually a reform of Judaism, and then the apostle Paul made Christianity a universal church, which was another religious reform.

The religious reform that people often talk about in later generations actually broke out in the 16th century, roughly 350 years later. That reform directly changed the religious landscape in Europe and had a significant impact on Europe's politics, economy, and culture.

The most intuitive statement is that the religious reform in the 16th century broke the Roman Catholic Church's monopoly on religious authority in Western Europe.

The monopoly of religious authority is essentially a monopoly of the right to interpret scriptures, that is, which scriptures should be interpreted and how to interpret the scriptures.

The effect of this power in the Celestial Empire is similar to that of formulating the Three Bonds and Five Constant Virtues, clarifying social order, identifying who the rulers are and safeguarding their interests.

Catholicism's monopoly on religious authority in Western Europe played the role of "abolishing all schools of thought and respecting Confucianism alone", making Western Europe highly constrained ideologically.

And because the Roman Catholic Church is a real secular institution, relying on its monopoly on the right to interpret scriptures, churches in various places can amass huge amounts of wealth for themselves in the name of God.

The clergy became a naked privileged class.

With the accumulation of a large number of contradictions, dissatisfaction with the Catholic Church's monopoly on religious authority, and dissatisfaction with the economic exploitation and oppression of the Catholic clergy, Western Europe essentially became a powder keg.

Martin Luther ignited this powder keg. His behavior was similar to that of reforming the old system under the pretext of returning to the original source. He elevated the status of the Bible, rejected the Roman Catholic Church's monopoly on religious authority, weakened the privileged status of priests, and cracked down on the church's economic exploitation.

Because this idea met the unanimous demands of everyone in northern Germany, from the monarch to the merchants and ordinary people, the vigorous religious reform began.

Of course, the three-foot-thick ice did not form overnight. The 16th century was just an outbreak of contradictions, not a process of accumulation of contradictions.

You should know that as early as the 11th century, more than a hundred years before Gellis' time, the Roman Church had already begun selling indulgences.

The fact that conflicts have not been aroused does not mean that they do not exist. We must know that the iceberg exposed above the sea is only a small tip of it.

Rather than creating conflicts, Garys's arrival forced latent conflicts out of the way.

As for Eastern Orthodoxy, it is not perfect either, because it has become a vassal of secular power. Although it has not been pushed to the forefront of the storm, it can be said that it has hidden problems.

In order to cure his illness, Archos would rather admit that Gellis is a prophet than let the scene that happened in the church in Cyprus reappear before his eyes.

Of course, Gellis gave his notes to Alchos not simply to ask him to help him organize his theories. His expectation for Alchos was that he could take over some of his work and participate in the education of the school's theology and philosophy major.

It is already March and the spring rain has already fallen. The grains on the farmland have begun to fill with grain after they have earred, and will be ready for May.

It has been exactly one year since Garys came back to life.

By then, the wheat in the field had been harvested and the war could break out at any time, so he would naturally have no time to stay in school to teach.

Fortunately, Aljos is here now, and he seems to be quite interested in this job. Garys also found some of the ideas he put forward interesting.

Together with the disciples he had accepted at the beginning, now, after a year of teaching by words and deeds, they have been able to grasp some of the core concepts and can assist in teaching as senior students.

Then when the war breaks out, I can withdraw from the school.

As for the other three, Gellis also talked to them.

Indeed, Gairis had already set them free, but the situation in the Holy Land was unstable and war could break out at any time. If they were allowed to leave Transjordan on their own, they would be more likely to be dragged into the war.

In addition, Garys offered them generous working conditions, so they all signed three-year employment contracts.

The Greek doctor entered the hospital, and the two businessmen began to settle some unimportant accounts while teaching at the school.

Although the system of Gillis does not require a group of professional bureaucrats, the demand for accountants will only increase.

After all, local constituency councils pay taxes, and someone needs to calculate the tax amounts to avoid widespread tax evasion.

Someone has to settle the accounts of profits or losses of each workshop and shop, including the purchases and sales of the caravans.

It's just that the business hasn't been expanded yet, and Garys has to rely on his good brain, with Isabella's help, to make an overall plan.

Once the subsequent industrial chain is completely built, unless Garys evolves into an organic supercomputer, he will not be able to manage it at all.

To put it bluntly, Garys' main source of income was not from collecting agricultural taxes, but from relying on his advanced knowledge to set up state-owned workshops.

Later, when the business becomes bigger, Garys will have to divide the different industries and establish a real central organization.

At that time, in order to ensure the purity of the sect itself, the sect and the kingdom cannot be merged into one.

……

The rainy season is over, and from this moment on, Palestine enters the dry season. For the next four months, not a drop of rain will fall from the sky.

The river level will drop and the sun will get hotter.

But before that, whether Christians or Muslims, whether Ayyubids or the Kingdom of Jerusalem, whether men, women, young or old, all will have a good harvest.

Unlike the tense atmosphere of preparation for war in other places, almost all farmers in the northern territory of Transjordan are silently expecting and sincerely wishing the prophet all the best.

After all, in other regions, a good harvest also means taxation, especially the last harvest before the war, which is exploitative to the extreme!
But it was different in the northern territory of Transjordan. Tax farmers had been completely eradicated, and poll tax was no longer required. The only thing left was the tithe, which had to be paid voluntarily.

This means that the bulk of the grain will be taken by the farmers themselves, and only such a harvest can be the farmers' own harvest.

In the past, those so-called harvests were nothing more than another feast for the feudal lords.

[You care for the earth, send down rain, and make the earth fruitful]

[The river of God overflowed with water, preparing grain for them.]

[Your goodness brings a fruitful year, and your footsteps drip with fatness.]

[The wild pastures overflow with abundance, and the hills and mountains are filled with joy.]

At such a time, Pierre submitted an application for leave to the company.

Pierre was originally a soldier of Reynald, and near the town of Al-Hadi, he witnessed the prophet killing people with just his words.

He was later taken to the Skar village to repair water conservancy projects for several months. After being preached and inspired by the Prophet, he decided to stay and join the Prophet's side.

Based on the group of soldiers sent by Reynald, Isabella appointed Knight George as the company commander and formed the first professional infantry company in the territory.

Different from other troops in the territory, their professional infantry can be said to be the only regular army in the territory.

As a professional soldier, Pierre received a basic salary of half a gold dinar every month, and because he also served as a squad leader, he was able to receive an additional 2 silver dirhams.

It is roughly a monthly salary of 8 silver dirhams. This salary does not seem high, but since the company provides all expenses for food, clothing, housing and transportation, as well as some benefits every now and then, 8 silver dirhams are actually net income.

After more than half a year, Pierre managed to save up four gold dinars, which was more than most people of that era.

He came to the office of the company commander George. There were quite a few people queuing outside the office, and it was obvious that they all came to ask for leave.

"How about it, did the company commander say he could approve a few more people's leave? It's almost harvest time, can't everyone go back and help?"

"I don't think so. According to the company commander, the war is imminent and the company's staffing rate cannot be less than 14%. This means that at most people can take leave at the same time."

"Ugh."

As soon as he arrived, Pierre heard his colleagues muttering.

They are a regular army, and regular troops have their own rules and regulations.

Although the prophet gave them good food and drink, they could have some oil and eggs every day, and they could have a big meal on Sundays, but the rules he set were very strict, and the weekly training volume was also quite large.

There are even regulations on how many people can leave the barracks at the same time and how many days of leave they can take each time.

When it was Pierre's turn to walk into the company commander's office, he saw the company commander holding a notebook and drawing something, and he kept pulling his hair, obviously worried about arranging the holiday.

By May, everyone wanted to go back to help their families harvest the farmland, and also wanted to use their wages to buy some scarce goods in the town and bring them back.

But regular troops are regular troops, and training and preparation for war are the greatest significance of this company's existence. It is impossible to open a back door for everyone just because the day of harvest has come.

If something happens at this time and the company cannot gather enough people, it would be irresponsible for the safety of the territory.

As a knight who had trained in the royal palace of Jerusalem, Captain George was able to distinguish the priorities when arranging such matters.

Hearing the knock on the door, Captain George looked up and saw that it was Pierre who came in. He then frowned, flipped through the book in his hand, and said directly: "Pierre, so far, it seems that you have never asked for leave to go out?"

To which Pierre loudly replied, "Yes!"

"Well, I'll approve your leave, but I can only give you 10 days. Remember to report back after 10 days."

"Yes!"

　A chapter of 4,000 words, and today we should be able to update over 10,000 words.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)