Crusade against the Pope

Chapter 210 The Storm is Coming, Reactions from All Sides

The Kingdom of Jerusalem, from its inception, was a Frankish kingdom.

This is the cornerstone on which the kingdom was founded. Without the Franks' successive crusades, this country would not have survived to this day.

But what is the problem?
The question is, can the kingdom really survive for long by relying on the Crusades?

The answer is impossible.

As long as more than two-thirds of the country's citizens are still regarded as potential enemies.

Once the Crusader forces in Western Europe declined, the collective consciousness of Muslim communities strengthened.

Then the Crusader states would inevitably be destroyed, with no possibility of reconstruction.

Muslims in the country can be said to have ushered in their "liberation".

The newly arrived Crusaders could just walk away, saying that this was not their home.

But where can people like Isabella, Balian, and the Leper King go?
The day the country is completely destroyed is the day they will be left homeless.

They had to make a choice, they had to forge a new identity.

The emergence of Gellis provided the foundation for the birth of a new identity and made their choice no longer wishful thinking.

This is not the first time such a case has occurred in history.

In 911, Rollo the Walker reached a peace agreement with the then "Foolish King" Charles III.

The latter gave Rouen and its surrounding lands to Rollo in exchange for his allegiance and asked him to convert to Christianity.

Just one generation later, the Normans were born.

French replaced the Scandinavian languages, and the Christian faith replaced the Norse gods.

These descendants of Vikings openly integrated into the Christian world and conquered England under the leadership of the "illegitimate son" William.

Of course, the emergence of the Normans is difficult to replicate in the Middle East.

But with the emergence of Gairis, both Islam and Christianity have a new choice.

A choice that clearly includes the old faith.

To create an entirely new system, distinct from the Catholic order, in which Jerusalem could reside.

To put it bluntly, we can win more and more local allies through Garys.

This ally is not just a country, but also a nation, and even more so Orthodox Christians and Muslims.

Facing the Islamic wave, the Franks, numbering more than 100,000, were like a ship that could capsize at any time. On any stormy night, the ship could be destroyed and people could die.

But if there are millions of people who identify with Guerris, then facing the wave of Islam, they will be like a reef, standing firm despite the impact of the sea.

And if millions of people believe that the Holy Word has returned to the earth and that Gailis is a saint walking among men, then there will be a brand new wave, originating from Jerusalem, the holy city of the three religions, and rushing to all corners of the European continent.

This is not about building a huge empire, but what is certain is that once the religious structure of the Middle East changes, it will inevitably be conducive to the continuation of the kingdom.

Because the country has more options for its future.

Based on such future goals, the Orthodox Christians and Muslim groups in the kingdom are actually potential "fellow tribesmen" who can sit at the table and eat together.

Another point is that Isabella's confrontation with the old aristocracy was not to take power back into her own hands, but to concentrate power in the Parliament of King's Landing.

Because only in this way can we use Gary's brand to unify people's hearts and use practical political interests to tie everyone on the same boat.

Power and responsibility are matched, and rights and obligations are relative.

Seeking unlimited power means unlimited responsibility.

If people are not allowed to sit at the table to eat, then those who cannot sit at the table will one day overturn the table as well.

[A powerful country is rich in its people, a hegemonic country is rich in its scholars, a surviving country is rich in its officials, and a ruined country is rich in its warehouses and government offices. This is what is meant by "fullness at the top and leakage at the bottom", and there is no way to save the country from disaster.]

——"Wei Liaozi"

In Tyr's palace, Isabella, Balian, and several other knights were making various calculations.

Be it Tyre or Beirut, neither of them are large territories, and they can be found through preliminary visits or inventories.

Although it is not enough to fully understand the population situation of the two territories, it is enough to determine the approximate number of villages and the distribution of religious situations.

From these complicated data, Isabella said frankly with a cold face: "It is not feasible to fully liberalize the election, and Garys also admitted this."

"As things stand, we don't need to fully open up elections. We just need some leading figures among the Greeks and Saracens to have a deeper exchange with us."

“Due to our own situation, the right to be elected also needs to be more restricted.”

Balian and others standing by also knew what the limitations Isabella mentioned meant.

After this long period of bargaining and compromise, both the aristocratic group and the wealthy business group accepted the consensus that members of the House of Commons are elected.

What kind of people are eligible to vote is another issue.

The plan proposed by the church is that all adults over the age of sixteen who can independently write out their candidacy pledge in "simplified Latin" have the right to vote, regardless of gender.

"Simplified Latin" is a language that has appeared in history and is simpler than Latin.

The Frankish language of this era was, to some extent, a simplified version of "Simplified Latin", so it was acceptable to traditional Franks.

According to the plan, the various scriptures that the order is compiling will be written in "Simplified Latin" within the Kingdom of Jerusalem (there are no restrictions on foreign countries, such as Cyprus).

In other words, within the Kingdom of Jerusalem, followers of Gelis theology had more opportunities to participate in the game of political power.

This is naked favoritism, laying the foundation for political interests in a new community and a new national identity.

Just as Isabella and her group were discussing the plan intensely, a servant pushed open the small door next to the conference room and walked in, handing a letter to Isabella.

When Isabella saw the wax seal on the letter, she was stunned at first, and then her originally cold and serious face couldn't help but bloom like a flower.

But when she opened the letter and began to read its contents.

Isabella's expression turned cold again.

"Ballian, we are in trouble."

"what happened?"

For a moment, Balian was a little confused.

“The apocalypse is coming.”

Of course, the situation may not deteriorate to that extent, but Isabella and the others need to be prepared to respond and send people to support Garys.

As Isabella repeated the contents of the letter, everyone present made the sign of the cross.

But unlike in the past, this time everyone on the field did not think that this was God punishing the world.

Because Garys was there, and Garys had already told them how to resist the plague.

The era in which mortals lost their lives due to ignorance seemed to be coming to an end.

After a brief discussion, Isabella, dressed in a robe, began to give orders one by one.

"Jos, you take two companies north and march as fast as possible to Tripoli."

"Yes!"

"Kaffey, gather the medical personnel from other companies and start vaccinating the residents in the port area."

"Yes!"

Jose and Kafei each bowed to show that they obeyed Isabella's orders.

"The port of Tyre City will enter a quarantine period from now on."

"Any crew member on a ship without a special permit will need to be isolated for seven days and undergo quarantine before they can disembark."

Isabella gave orders in a clear and organized manner, which, in the eyes of Balian standing by, seemed to indicate that she was becoming more mature.

……

A similar scene also happened in Cyprus a few days ago.

However, unlike Tyre, Cyprus does not have any internal divisions and does not need to consider too many reforms in the short term.

Cyprus itself has a complete tradition of autonomy. Whether it is the Eastern Empire or the Arab Empire, the rule over Cyprus is essentially based on the collection of tribute.

They will not interfere too much in the lives of the islanders.

Without Isaac, the lives of the Cypriot islanders seemed to have returned to normal.

But the traces of Gellis could not be erased after all, and the news about the Cyprus incident began to spread to all parts of the Mediterranean along passing merchant ships.

In fact, the residents of Cyprus today have converted collectively after witnessing the miracle performed by Gellis during the 30,000-strong march.

Of course, the islanders did not feel that they had betrayed their beliefs, but rather that they had moved from one correct path to another, more correct path.

It can be said that we have won and are about to win again.

Today, on the island of Cyprus, everyone from the Archbishop of the Holy Synod to the farmer grazing cattle in the countryside.

The name of "Saint" Gailis is known to everyone.

And in a short period of time, the Church of Cyprus received immeasurable divine blessings because of the “miracle” performed by Gellis.

In the Orthodox Church, "miracles" demonstrate the power and will of the Heavenly Father and mean that "God" is intervening in people's lives.

It can be said that if Gellis had not corrected it in the future, Cyprus might have truly moved towards a "unity of church and state" system and become a true church state. In fact, according to Gellis's thinking, he did not think it was necessary to establish a huge autocratic empire spanning Europe, Asia and Africa.

In a sense, such an empire has little chance of long-term existence.

If it wants to maintain it for a long time, it will inevitably fall into the situation of the Ottoman Empire and become a prison that imprisons many nationalities.

This goes against what Gellis pursues. He does not want a "dystopia" to appear, and he also rejects the existence of a "Leviathan".

Therefore, Gellis did not intend to simply force Cyprus, which had its own unique culture and history, into the Second Kingdom of Jerusalem.

The relationship between Cyprus and the Second Kingdom can be a higher-level alliance, or they can coexist as part of a "federation".

In response to Gellis's letter, the Cyprus Church and the Cyprus Liberation Front each organized personnel to be sent to Tripoli.

Since Cyprus is only a day's sail away from Tripoli, the Cypriot representative had already met Gellis on the day Isabella received the letter.

In Garys' clinic, Garys announced something to those present.

"The city of Tripoli stinks to high heaven, and the Latin churches are so ignorant that their sins have blinded their eyes."

"Pride, envy, anger, laziness, greed, gluttony, lust... these sins have made them unknowingly allied with the devil."

"The apocalypse is coming, smallpox has arrived, and in order to save this city from those evildoers, we need to pay the price of blood."

Garys's eyes swept over the people present again.

Among these people, there are old subordinates like Jos, veterans of the Serbian Liberation Front, and also Orthodox Christians from Botlen and Tripoli.

These people, these people standing in front of Garys, are convinced that they are following Garys and fighting against the spiritual evil in the air.

The sky was already thick with dark clouds, and the city of Tripoli seemed as bustling as ever.

But in the downtown area, there is a yard that is crowded with many people.

They looked at Garys on the stage, knowing full well that in the next room, the discovered smallpox patients were being isolated, and there were currently five of them.

It can be said that the spread of smallpox is inevitable.

But the people in front of Garys were fearless, because Garys was standing right here, walking with them, pointing them in the direction to go.

In front of these people, Gellis pronounced a verdict on the Church of Tripoli, saying that the Latin priests here had been blinded by sin.

This was the first time that Gellis had declared an entire local church astray; previously, he had sought to reform it.

But now, there is no time for him to take his time and do a meticulous job. He must cut the Gordian knot, deal with the church in Tripoli, take over the city of Tripoli, and start the prevention and control of smallpox.

Whether the plague can be controlled has in fact become a point of conflict between Gellis's theology and Catholic doctrine.

For the sake of human life, Gellis must strongly deny the medieval church's view that plague, famine, and war are God's punishment on the world.

"What we know about God, about the Father, about my Father and your Father, is written down clearly and unambiguously on paper."

“I want to tell you that because of the Father’s love, we have life and freedom, and can experience happiness and beauty.”

“But life is in opposition to death, freedom is in opposition to chains, and only pain can highlight happiness.”

"Jesus Christ begged our Father to take away the 'cup' but he still obeyed the 'cup' in the end because he knew that if he did not drink the bitter wine in the 'cup' and did not suffer on the cross, how could he show the resurrection to the world and prove to the world the existence of 'eternal life'?"

"So, whether it's sin, pain, disease, etc., it's all like this."

"Only by drinking the bitter wine in the 'cup' can we better appreciate the sweetness."

"Those things that are not beautiful are also gifts from the Lord. But these gifts are wrapped with thorns and are full of sharp thorns. We must endure the pain, overcome the suffering, and tear open the outer shell to taste the essence inside."

Gillis delivered a sermon word for word that was intended to critique much of the theological doctrine of the age.

The reason for criticism is that the religion of this era makes people care more about the salvation of their souls than this world.

It is because of the religion of this age that has delayed mankind's fight against plague, famine, war and death.

Marx once pointed out: "To abolish religion as the people's fantasy of happiness is to demand the realization of the people's real happiness."

The church of this era, whether consciously or unconsciously, often causes people to fall into confusion, lose the ability to discern and think, and blindly believe and follow the words fabricated by priests as if they were the truth.

The church in Tripoli wants people to believe that the world is an abyss of sin and a sea of ​​suffering; for the sake of future happiness in heaven, one must endure hunger and suffer the baptism of suffering.

This is replacing love for the world with love for heaven and sanctifying poverty and suffering.

But those priests and nobles often do whatever they want and lead a dissolute and shameless life.

“Don’t be deceived anymore! Open your eyes! Stand up! Face the suffering! Drink the bitter wine in the ‘cup’ together with Jesus, walk towards the cross of history, and then welcome the Passover ‘resurrection’ that belongs to us!”

People demand life and "resurrection". Those who try to stop all this are servants of "death" and need to be fought against, made to repent, and redeemed.

After finishing his speech, Garys was greeted with cheers from the audience.

Even the souls of the dead who had been buried here for thousands of years rose from the ground and celebrated together, because the day of "resurrection" was coming.

After this speech, Garys began to make his own arrangements.

In the past few days, Gairis has visited the lower city of Tripoli.

Then he found at least three patients who were already in the rash stage. Gellis forcibly dragged those people out of their homes and isolated them in this mansion.

Smallpox is a serious viral infectious disease that is not only highly contagious and pathogenic, but also has a relatively long incubation period!

Generally speaking, smallpox can be divided into five stages: incubation period, prodromal period, rash period, scab period, and recovery period.

The incubation period is as long as 5 to 16 days! During this period, the infected person has no symptoms and is not contagious.

After the prodromal phase, which lasts about 2 to 4 days, the infected person begins to experience flu-like symptoms, such as high fever, headache, back pain, fatigue, vomiting, and sometimes muscle pain.

At this stage, the patient is already contagious.

The rash and scab stages are the most obvious. Red maculopapular rashes will gradually appear on the skin, usually starting from the face and limbs and gradually spreading to the whole body.

The rash is most contagious during the period, but it can also be mistaken for chickenpox.

As a highly contagious disease transmitted by droplets, when Garys discovered a total of five patients in the rash stage, it actually meant that there were many more patients in the prodromal and latent stages that had not been discovered.

Even in the 20th century, due to the lack of effective antiviral drugs, the treatment of smallpox mainly relied on supportive care to help patients through the course of the disease from the perspective of alleviating symptoms and preventing complications.

Not to mention the 12th century.

Therefore, the key to fighting smallpox is to vaccinate against smallpox, isolate patients and block the spread of the disease.

Fortunately, if the patient is vaccinated with cowpox vaccine in the early stages of smallpox infection, during the incubation period, or when symptoms first appear, it can alleviate symptoms or prevent severe attacks of smallpox.

Although patients infected with smallpox cannot be cured by vaccination, it can at least reduce the mortality rate and severity of the disease.

Therefore, large-scale vaccination against smallpox is necessary and essential!

In order to achieve this effect, Gairis has already begun planning how to capture the city of Tripoli!
Before that, small-scale cowpox vaccination had already begun based on the connections between Orthodox Christians.

This scene of cowpox vaccination was seen by the church in Tripoli.

In the solemn church, information about the smallpox and the actions of Gérice and his entourage were reported to Archbishop Olivier every day.

But Archbishop Olivier did not rush to speak out, nor did he try to interfere or stop it.

He is waiting for a man, waiting for the Sword of God to be drawn from its scabbard so that it can strike the enemies of the Church.

Before, he had several Templar Knights and some soldiers around him.

But this number was far from enough, far from enough to suppress the Greeks in the city.

After Count Raymond III of Tripoli closed the castle and declared quarantine, the situation in Tripoli went in a wild direction.

In the early morning, the church was particularly solemn.

The huge stained glass windows decompose the morning light into red, blue and gold, sprinkling it on the smooth marble floor.

On the walls and pillars on both sides of the church, stone sculptures of saints and angels look down on everything in the hall from the shadows.

Here, Archbishop Olivier waited for the person he was waiting for, and there was also an unexpected surprise.

Two knights in armor followed the light of the rising sun and walked into the church through the gate.

One of them was wearing a pure white cloak of the Knights Templar, with a bright red cross on his chest that was particularly eye-catching.

The other one was wearing the black cloak of the Knights Hospitaller, and the white cross pattern on the black cloth looked solemn and dignified.

After seeing the Archbishop, the two men bowed one after another, and Archbishop Olivier also responded.

Archbishop Olivier is not the superior of these two people. It can be said that these two people came here completely voluntarily.

"Master François and Master Stephen, it is my honor to have you two here," Archbishop Olivier said politely.

Master François is the Grand Master of the Tripoli Chapter of the Knights Templar, and Master Stephen is the Grand Master of the Tripoli Chapter of the Knights Hospitaller.

These two people are the heads of the two major knightly orders in Tripoli. Their words and deeds also represent the knightly orders' concern about the situation in Tripoli.

"I was visiting the Knight's Castle these days. When Stephen received your message, he also heard it and decided to come along."

"By the way, where is that heretic now? What kind of blasphemous words has he said? How many people has he deceived?"

"I'll take people with me and catch him now!"

Master François seemed very talkative and full of confidence, not giving any thought to what would happen if he couldn't defeat Garys.

How could something like that happen?

Knights Hospitaller and Knight Castle
(End of this chapter)