Crusade against the Pope

Chapter 147 "The Man of Unlimited Power" "The Man of Absolute Despotism"

June is a good month to start a war. In June, every village in Syria and Palestine is a ready-made granary.

No matter where the troops went, as long as they saw smoke rising from cooking fires, they knew they would not go hungry.

The chronicler Jean de Venette wrote:

[The nobles' only desire was to persecute the peasants, to make them work to death, and to leave them defenseless against them.]

【Thus, the miserable peasants suffered persecution from all sides, both from friends and enemies. 】

[They had to pay tribute to both sides in order to cultivate their own vineyards and fields.]

In this era, if the peasants do not take up arms and become militia, if they do not learn to fight for themselves, they will ultimately be nothing more than fat sheep waiting to be slaughtered.

Reynald unscrupulously ignited the flames of war within the territory of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

At the same time, Saladin in Damascus also began to mobilize his troops.

Saladin was in his study, with a map of Syria and Palestine in front of him. It showed many details, including roads, towns, larger villages, terrain differences... Water sources were marked more clearly.

On the Arabian Peninsula, there are more factors that determine victory or defeat than many people think, and the factors related to water sources that determine victory or defeat are more than those who do not read history would expect!
With the help of the intelligence network built by Arab merchants, Saladin knew much more about Jerusalem than Jerusalem knew about Saladin.

Therefore, Saladin learned the news shortly after Reynald sent out his troops.

"Afdal's action was relatively successful. He diverted the attention of the King of the Franks from Jerusalem to Acre. This changed Reynald's marching route. Due to the water source, his marching route was also predictable. He should only move along the Jordan River."

Having said this, Saladin turned his head and looked at the person next to him and asked him.

"What do you think about this?"

Beside him was the blue wolf Muzaffar.

He had been an enemy of Saladin in the past, and personally led his army to attack Saladin's left wing and fought with Saladin on the battlefield.

But when Muzaffar realized that the Zengid Dynasty was only a group of insects left and there was no hero like Nur ad-Din, he decided to defect to Saladin.

In response to the surrender of such a powerful general, Saladin showed a demeanor that was completely different from that of other sultans.

Saladin trusted this surrendered man almost unreservedly and even married his sister to him.

Saladin's secretary and historian Imad al-Din Isfahani described Muzaffar the Blue Wolf as follows: He is bold and daring, a thoughtful hero, a lion that goes straight to his goal, and the most reliable and determined leader.

When Saladin asked the Blue Wolf Muzaffar what he thought, he naturally understood what Saladin meant.

The cause of this war was that Reynald tore up the armistice agreement, and Saladin himself was also put to the test.

If Reynald could be captured before the decisive battle, it would be a huge blow to the morale of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

From the perspective of the Muslims in Damascus, the war goal had been achieved ahead of schedule and the punishment of the Franks had been completed.

The Blue Wolf Muzaffar nodded slightly, and then he said: "My lord, I will take off his head and bring it to you."

"Very good, how many people do you need?"

"The four thousand men of my headquarters are enough for me." Blue Wolf Muzaffar seemed particularly confident. These four thousand men were his base and had been following him in battles for many years.

But Saladin frowned when he heard the number.

"Four thousand people..."

"I will assign one of my direct Mamluk troops to you, and add additional volunteers to make up 7,000 men."

To be honest, Saladin's experience over the years has always told him one thing: although it is difficult to dispatch too many troops, it is easier to win if you can overwhelm the enemy with the number of soldiers. Saladin has always found it difficult to master overly sophisticated tactics, as he seems to be born lacking the intuition that a tactician should have.

To this end, Saladin could only do everything to the best of his ability before the battle began and outside the battlefield, and then let God decide the outcome of the war.

The Blue Wolf Muzaffar frowned, but he did not reject Saladin's kindness.

The Middle East of this era had a completely different political logic from that of Western Europe or China.

If Gellis were to make an evaluation, he would say that since the Arabs conquered Persia, this hot land of the Middle East has been contaminated by the Persians' worship of the "Holy Lord" and has begun to revere absolute dictators.

Of course, the so-called "holy lord" is also the tyrant on the other side of the coin.

The absolute despotism of the Holy Lord actually also means the absolute despotism of the tyrant.

Whether they are saints or tyrants, they often have a contemptuous attitude towards building systems to restrain themselves, and they act recklessly as if they were pushing over a toy.

As a result, the Seljuk Empire and the Ottoman Empire established by the Turks were more systematic and more respectful of politics than these tyrants.

After the collapse of the Seljuk Empire, this hot land of the Middle East became a paradise for these "people with unlimited power" and "people with absolute despotism".

The sultans have all secular power, can appoint officials at will, issue any legal provisions, have the highest judicial power, are both the makers and executors of the laws, and are the nominal owners of all land and resources in the country.

The Sultan is the country's supreme military commander, and can even ensure the army's loyalty to him by monopolizing military resources and strictly controlling horses and weapons.

The sultan has almost absolute control over the country's economic resources, including land distribution, the tax system, and the management of trade.

However, the so-called "person with unlimited power" and "person with absolute dictatorship" are often just clowns.

As destroyers of the system, most sultans do not have a court at all, and they are unable to transform these nominal powers into a country through a system.

The scope of their commands and influence is limited to their own people, and it is difficult for them to transform their will into the will of the country through a mature system.

The so-called Sultanates of this era were not countries at all, but just a series of warlord forces.

The so-called integration of politics and religion is nothing more than a piece of empty words, because integration of politics and religion is at least a political system.

The sultans did not arrange religion through a clear system, but relied on their own armies and authority to manipulate Islam like a puppet.

This kind of unrestrained power means that they don't need to respect so-called traditions at all, and they can rely on the army to wantonly carry out all kinds of tyranny.

Of course, as a price, these days, no Middle Eastern dynasty can be passed down for more than three generations...

The late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, which lasted for hundreds of years, is an oversized period that is particularly interesting.

The reason why the Kingdom of Jerusalem was able to rely on hundreds of thousands of Franks to survive for 88 years in this hot land of the Middle East was obviously because the surrounding Muslim warlords were too useless.

So much so that the Leper King really had the nerve to say that he brought peace and order to Palestine...

Compared with this group of "absolute despots" who have no idea what the state system is, the feudal aristocratic republican system of the Franks can be considered to allow the people to live and work in peace and contentment.

Even though Saladin was an outlier among sultans, who knew how to build cities and tried to reconcile the interests of various Islamic factions, he was still the authority itself.

The word Sultan literally means "authority" or "power".

Therefore, even though the Blue Wolf Muzaffar felt that there was no need to bring three thousand unfamiliar troops to the war, he still did not refuse Saladin.

Because it is unnecessary and inappropriate.

The Sultan offered him thousands more men, so how could he refuse?
　Fourth update. I still owe three chapters of 1215 monthly tickets, 1315 monthly tickets, and 1415 monthly tickets.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)