Crusade against the Pope

Chapter 219 The mantis stalks the cicada and the oriole follows behind
Like other vassals of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, with the extinction of a family lineage, the kingdom took back the fiefdom in the name of royal power.

This is not an unacceptable fact because of the close ties between the Tripoli region and the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

To be precise, for the princes of Tripoli, there is not much difference between obeying the King of Jerusalem directly and obeying the King of Jerusalem indirectly.

Gellis administered the last rites to Raymond, bringing bread and holy oil, and promising him a crypt under the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Raymond then returned a will, in which he confirmed the claim of the Kingdom of Jerusalem to the Earldom of Tripoli by bearing the seal of the Earl of Tripoli.

In other words, a united rule is about to begin.

And just like in Europa Universalis 4, in order to stop the unification of its old enemies, the Principality of Antioch also led its army south.

Now, in front of Gailis was a mob of five thousand people, with messy flags and noisy voices, setting up camp in a haphazard manner, as if they were on a picnic.

Behind Gailis were fifty soldiers. Although they were few in number, they were well-organized and followed orders, exuding an aura of strict law and order.

However, "the stutterer" Bohemond did not seem to care about the difference in quality between the two armies, and seemed to believe that his side was the advantage.

At the beginning, Gellis invited Prince Antiochus to the castle for a chat.

But it was rejected by Bohemond III, who then invited Gellis to his camp for negotiations.

Gailis frowned at the proposal, but readily agreed and only brought fifty people with him as his ceremonial guard.

If there were too many people, he was afraid that he wouldn't be able to protect them all.

However, when this group of people were about to arrive at Antiochus's camp.

Antiochus sent another messenger to request that not all 50 people could enter, and only Gellis could attend the meeting with up to four followers.

This greatly annoyed Alexandros, Jose and others.

Whether it was the Paladin group or officers like Jos, they all felt that Garys was being insulted.

"It's okay, it's okay, I can go in alone."

Whether he was humiliated or not, Gailis didn't really mind. It would be better to say that if Prince Antiochus had any bad intentions, he would be asking for humiliation.

At this juncture, Puliwan took the initiative to step forward again.

"Sir, please allow me to enter the camp with you."

"I am the Lord of Botlen. I am here to bear witness for you and to say some things for you that are not suitable for you to say in person."

Garys glanced at Pulivahan and nodded.

The meeting between Gellis and Bohemond began with the declaration of their respective names by their attendants.

When Plivan made that long list of claims, Bohemond's head began to buzz.

The Saint of Jerusalem, the Lord of Tripoli, the Plenipotentiary of the Second Kingdom, the Head of Cyprus...

It was almost as if they were saying directly that Gairis was the child of Jehovah, the brother of Jesus, and that he came to Jerusalem to fight for the family inheritance.

But this long list of titles was enough to scare Bohemond.

After all, in his hands, Gaillis still holds the royal scepter of the Archbishop of Cyprus, the royal seal of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, and the crown of the Count of Tripoli.

These things, these accessories, are not something that ordinary people can wear.

The combination of these three words tells Bosimonde, Prince of Antioch, that there is a person who is equal to him standing in front of him, and that the other party has the courage to meet him alone without fear.

After the two sat down, they stared at each other for a long time, neither of them speaking.

In Gellis's eyes, Bohemond had brown hair and black pupils. He had a typical Norman appearance and his ancestors came from the Kingdom of Sicily in southern Italy.

Once upon a time, the Normans, whose ancestors were Vikings, had already ruled over Normandy, England, Italy, Antioch...

Completed the transformation from a bandit to another kind of "bandit".

Finally, Bohemond lost his patience and got straight to the point: "Of...Tripoli, I...we, each half, my child Raymond, will inherit the County of Tripoli, and then...then he will pledge allegiance to the kingdom."

Listening to the conditions proposed by Bohemond, Gailis curled the corner of his mouth. Bohemond's words were not clear, but his skill in making promises was really good.

Half for each? What a joke... His half refers to his son inheriting the County of Tripoli, and Gairis' half means getting his son's loyalty?

No, from a historical and legal point of view, even the Principality of Antioch should pay tribute to the kingdom.

Although there is a saying within the feudal system: as long as I fulfill my obligations to pay taxes and serve, my personal identity has nothing to do with the lord.

According to the logic of feudal society, Gelis, as a party to the royal power of Jerusalem, obviously needed to enfeoff lords to manage Tripoli. In any case, subordinate lords were indispensable.

Therefore, no matter who served as the Count of Tripoli, as long as he was able to fulfill his feudal obligations, his impact on the royal power of Jerusalem would be minimal.

But then again, can you, the descendants of the House of Poitiers-Antioch, really fulfill your feudal responsibilities to the Kingdom of Jerusalem?

It can be said that what Bohemond said was like taking off your pants to fart.

Anyone who believes it is mentally retarded.

So Gellis responded without hesitation.

"I reject."

The meeting or negotiation thus reached a deadlock.

In his hand, Gellis held the will left by the former Count Raymond of Tripoli, and actually controlled the city of Tripoli and the Castle of Saint-Gilles.

As for the Principality of Antioch, it had Raymond's theoretical heir, and he brought an army of 5,000.

At the same time, Bohemond was followed by at least half of the princes of Tripoli.

You have to know that the reason why Bohemond came relatively late these days was that he spent a lot of time, bringing his army, visiting the princes north of Tripoli one by one and forcing them to take sides.

Bohemond believed that his side was in a favorable position, so he would do whatever it took to get the most practical benefits.

If the noble council of the County of Tripoli were to be convened to discuss who would be the Count of Tripoli, Bohemond would have a good chance of winning.

However, no matter how tense the atmosphere was, even though the negotiations ended unpleasantly, Bohemond did not directly detain Gellis.

After this, Gellis and others held negotiations with Bohemond again and again.

In fact, most of these negotiations were nonsense, but Gellis didn't care. After all, he needed time to recuperate, while Bohemond had 5,000 troops to support.

In the absence of looting, Bohemond's side should be the anxious party.

However, the development of the matter was beyond the expectations of everyone present.

Even Garys was caught off guard.

A messenger from Antioch brought a message that made Bohemond's face suddenly change. Almost on the same day, someone in Tripoli also brought a message to Gellis from the port.

[Reynald appeared in Antioch and raised the banner of rebellion. He has now entered the city of Antioch and demanded that the lords of the Principality of Antioch recognize his identity as the Prince of Antioch.]

When the new round of negotiations began, the atmosphere became weird, and both sides seemed to realize that the other side had information.

But do they have the same information?
"You...you know it too?" Bohemond said in a low voice, realizing that he was facing an irreversible situation.

"Probably knows more than you do."

"Exchange... exchange information?"

"can."

They each took out a piece of paper, wrote down their information on it, and exchanged it with each other.

Bohemond took the note from Gellis and his face instantly turned gloomy as if it were frosty. He knew that the message came from the sea.

The sea route means that the news he gets is faster than the land route, which means that the information provided by Garys is the latest.

The note in Gellis's hand read in Latin: Reynald rebelled and was preparing to attack Antioch.

Therefore, the two pieces of information combined, the order should be.

About six days ago, Antioch sent word by land that Reynald had rebelled and was preparing to attack Antioch.

About three days ago, he attacked the city of Antioch and demanded that the lords of the Principality of Antioch recognize his status as Prince of Antioch.

The two pieces of news confirmed each other.

This means that while Prince Bohemond of Antioch was marching south with an army of several thousand men, his old nest was destroyed by his adoptive father.

Once Raynald stabilized the situation in Antioch, Bohemond would become the former Prince of Antioch.

In this situation, compared to seizing the County of Tripoli, it was more important for him to return quickly and defend his position.

"Tripoli?"

"It's yours." Bohemond's words were concise and powerful.

He stood up and left, leaving the princes of the County of Tripoli with a confused look on their faces.

Originally they were prepared to take sides and even planned to start a fight, but the situation suddenly changed at this moment, leaving them looking at each other in confusion, not even sure what was going on.

After Gellis announced Bohemond's current predicament, the faces of those princes were also quite interesting.

When Bohemond gathered his troops and marched north, Plivan also came to Gellis' side. The two looked at the army heading north and started to communicate.

"I feel like there's something wrong. Can Reynald capture Antioch in three days?"

Although the city of Antioch at this time is far smaller than it was in its heyday, it still has an area of ​​3.5 square kilometers, which is three times the size of the holy city of Jerusalem. How could it be conquered so easily?

"Tell me your analysis?" Garys was actually aware of the problem here, but instead of pointing it out directly, he decided to see what Plivan thought.

"So far, we have received two pieces of information. One is from the merchant ships of the Principality of Antioch and the port of Latakia, saying that Antioch was conquered and a large number of lords obeyed Reynald."

"And the other piece of news, a messenger sent by Antioch, only expressed that Reynald had rebelled and was preparing to attack Antioch."

"It only took three days to capture it? Antioch is too vulnerable!"

After listening to what Privan said, Garys smiled. Privan's logic in thinking about problems had begun to become complete, and he knew how to question.

“Secondly, these two pieces of information, no matter how you look at them, can’t actually be generalized.”

"The information we received was essentially just hearsay from the merchant ships coming from Latakia. The information Bohemond received from his own messengers was reliable."

“When reliable information and unreliable information are mixed together, the originally unreliable information will seem particularly real.”

"And the unreliable information relayed by you will also appear more reliable because of your authority."

"People are like this. They will subconsciously believe what an authority says, and because of the authenticity of other information, they will create the illusion that all information is true."

"My Lord, I think you have thought of all this."

Facing Pullivan's words, Gailis deeply realized that Pullivan was indeed a talent.

Then he concluded: "Pulivan, someone is fighting a perception war, and I don't mind fueling it."

News of the fall of Antioch had spread, and along with it came all sorts of gossip.

Rumor has it that all of Bohemond's heirs were brutally massacred by Reynald.

Some also claim that Bohemond's wife and daughter were abducted by Reynald and even became his playthings.

It is said that even Bohemond's mother was pinned to the bed by Reynard...

Considering that Reynald was Bohemond's adoptive father, the last rumor is actually quite insignificant.

The more Gillis pieced together this information, the more interesting it became.

During this period, he continued to communicate with Tyre regarding the liquidation of the Tripoli Church and the reform plan for Tripoli.

……

Jocelyn pushed open the heavy wooden door and stepped into a quiet farmer's yard.

This area is surrounded by solid stone walls, and although it is summer, it is not as hot as in the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

The climate here is much more livable, and there are lush forests everywhere.

In those forests, Joslan caught a good thing. He was holding a fat rabbit in his hand. The fur was shiny and looked particularly plump in the sun.

In the corner of the yard, Reynald was concentrating on drawing on the ground with a thin branch. On it were various calculations and a simple map of Antioch.

"I just heard the sound of horse hooves. Have you solved it?" Leonard looked back at Jocelin.

Jocelyn nodded and handed the rabbit in his hand to the follower beside Leonard.

"Solved. This is the fourth one. But I still don't understand why you are so sure that those messengers must pass through here?"

"Because I am the prince of Antioch, and I know this land well."

"Because all the messenger routes in Antioch were originally mapped by me and my team. Any attempt to bypass this route will add an extra day to the journey, and those messengers cannot afford to be delayed."

　I promised to add more

　　
　
(End of this chapter)