Crusade against the Pope

Chapter 230 It’s Torun, but it’s not Torun
As night falls, a cool breeze blows by.

In an open space in the center of the village, dim lights illuminate the surrounding darkness.

There were some simple straw mats on the ground, and a few wooden boards were put together to form a low table, which was full of food brought by nearby villagers.

A few bowls of bean stew, some hot freshly baked flatbreads, and a few plates of dried goods made from dates.

The crowd gathered around the lights, and the lively laughter mixed with the children's laughter echoed in the night sky.

At one end of the open space was the bride's seat. She was wearing a white cotton gown and a veil that covered half of her face. Her exposed cheeks were slightly flushed under the light.

Sitting next to her were several elderly women, humming simple blessing songs in melodious voices.

At the other end, the groom and his relatives and friends, many men gathered together, talking in low voices and occasionally bursting into hearty laughter.

Someone stood up from the crowd, picked up a hand drum, and beat out a simple rhythm. Someone else took out a wooden flute and responded.

Then a few young people stood up first, formed a circle, and performed a simple dance to the music.

Dong, Dong, Dong... Dong, Dong, Dong...

In the village, most families participated in the banquet.

Even travelers coming from afar can also sit at the table.

When the music paused for a moment, the only roasted whole lamb began to be cut into pieces.

The groom handed each guest a piece of bread. When he came to the traveler, he was a little surprised, but chose not to make a fuss, as he did not have much ill will towards the Franks.

Especially this year, the Franks in Tyre have rarely gone to the countryside to collect land taxes, so their lives have become much better.

After receiving the bread, Gairis said fluently in Arabic: "May Allah protect you."

The groom was even more surprised, but he still replied: "May Allah protect you."

"By the way, where is this?"

"This is Torun."

"how did you guys meet?"

Garys secretly pointed to the young and beautiful bride not far away.

The groom, who was the same age as him, couldn't help but feel a little shy, and whispered: "We grew up together."

"I don't have any suitable gifts here. I just happened to pass by here. I'm so sorry."

"It's nothing. It's our honor that you can come."

"Then, may the grace of Allah be upon you, and may your marriage be filled with hope and happiness."

"Thank you."

……

In the wilderness with a slight breeze and sand blowing, the dusk is slowly swallowing up the remaining light of the day.

A few crows circled in the air, making miserable cries.

A simple tomb was dug up, and a middle-aged man with a naked upper body and thin ribs exposed was found alone beside the tomb.

Next to him was a corpse, equally thin in comparison.

The man recited scriptures in a hoarse and low voice, and the fragmented sound was blown away by the wind in the wilderness.

Even the air had no intention of responding to his lonely prayers.

"I will surely raise the dead...I will surely record their good deeds and their evil deeds...and their deeds...I will record all things...in a clear book..."

He carefully lifted the body and slowly placed it in the tomb. Without an assistant or bystander, he could only kneel on the ground to move the not-so-heavy body.

Finally, the body lay at the bottom of the tomb, facing sideways towards distant Mecca.

He paused for a moment, raised his hands to his forehead, and began to recite to himself:
"Lord, please forgive this soul's sins and protect him with your mercy..."

There was a slight choke in his voice between sentences, but he never paused.

Still kneeling on his knees, he did not use a shovel. Instead, he used his hands, which were full of traces of time, to sprinkle handfuls of sand piled nearby into the grave.

Every grain of quicksand of time is fate that falls on people.

What the earth gives birth to will also return to the earth.

The tomb was not deep, just enough to bury one person. When he was about to fill the pit, the sound of horse hooves came from the direction of the North Star.

The man ignored it, but stood up, picked up two stones from the ground on the other side, and simply placed them on the top of the mound. There was no name, no inscription, only this mark symbolizing belonging.

He stood there, bowed his head and thought for a moment, then knelt down, touched the ground with his hands, rested his forehead on the sand, and said a final prayer for the deceased.

Garys, who came here with a horse, did not interfere with the man's actions.

Just stand aside and watch when it is done.

He then walked up to say hello and asked where he was.

Then, Gillis got a reply.

"This is Torun."

"How did he die?"

"He was hungry for three days and beaten twice with sticks. His internal organs were injured and he is dead..."

When he heard this, Gailis couldn't help but look back at the village where he spent the night.

He and Alexandros didn't actually walk very far today, but they had crossed a boundary without knowing when, from a world full of new life to a world full of death.

This is a bleeding land where poverty lingers like a shadow and the poor have to fight to the death for their daily bread and water.

Every day must be decided to be a winner, otherwise you will die young.

When Garys noticed the marks of the man's ribs, he couldn't help but panic.

"How long has it been since you last ate?"

The man just remained silent, as if he didn't want to answer the question.

Garys touched himself again and again, but couldn't find what he wanted.

He turned around and went to Alexandros, took out the leftover bread from last night and the water bag filled with wine and quickly handed it to him.

The man, who was obviously a Muslim, didn't care about the wine, nor did he say thank you. He just leaned against the grave he had just made.

Eat noodles with wine, chewing them slowly.

Shared his story with Garys.

Gellis and his entourage abandoned the main army and did not board a ship. Instead, they rode on horseback through the mountains of the Levant, heading south.

Before heading to Tyre, Gailis wanted to know what was going on in the area, so he did not rush into the city, but continued to walk south a little and came to Toruń.

It’s just that this is Toruń, but it’s not just Toruń.

Toruń, this territory was originally supposed to belong to Humphrey IV, but with the invasion of Saladin, it fell easily.

But with the brief ceasefire between Saladin and the Kingdom of Jerusalem, this place became the first line of border between the Second Kingdom of Jerusalem and Saladin's forces.

The forces of both sides are intertwined on this land, and you are in me and I am in you.

Therefore, many villages actually cannot tell which side they belong to.

Just started to take sides for various reasons.

This man who had not eaten for some days was a member of the village of Ain Nur.

A few months ago, there was a small dispute in their village.

To be precise, there was a small disagreement in the village over which side to stand on and which side to pay tribute to.

Most people wanted to stand on the side of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. After all, they might be able to pay less land tax.

But Milad, the rich man in the village, was not happy, after all, the guy bought more than a dozen Christian slaves.

At that time, the Catholic Church opposed Christians being enslaved, fearing that their efforts would be in vain.

Later, conflicts broke out in their village because of this matter. People like Morag, relying on their numbers, beat up the rich man Milad.

I thought this matter was over.

Then came the bad news...

Saladin's relatives, the Kurdish Fawaz tribe, are the backers of the rich Milad.

After the rich man Milad sent his son to seek help, the Fawaz tribe led their troops into the village.

Morag, the leader, died instantly, and many others who were close to Morag were also killed.

The rich man Milad suddenly became the local tyrant in the village and began to help the Fawaz tribe collect taxes.

Relying on the help of the Kurds, the rich man Milad tried his best to plunder the village in order to win the favor of his master.

In addition, the seeds that had been lent out in previous years were forcibly taken back at double the rate. Now, life became difficult for many people in the village.

"borrow?"

"Yes... I want double the amount..."

"He will go to hell."

"Who says it's not?"

"Besides, his family started using slaves to farm the land, so there was no need for me to be a tenant anymore."

Just as Garys was chatting with the man.

From the direction of the village, a man on horseback came towards them in a haughty manner and met Garys.

"Ibrahim! Ha! As expected! He is still thinking of colluding with the Franks!"

"Tell me, you apostate, how do you plan to die?"

As he said this, he spat on the middle-aged man.

Garys turned his head and asked, "Who is he?"

"Millad's son-in-law, the young master of the Fawaz tribe..."

"Oh, thank you for talking to me so much." Gailis stood up, faced the young man on horseback, and drew his sword from his waist.

Without waiting for the other party to speak, a moment later, Milad's son-in-law, the young master of the Fawaz tribe, was beheaded.

Ibrahim opened his mouth wide, and the young man's saliva that had splashed on him before now splashed on him with the young man's blood.

In this sunset, Gairis, who had easily chopped off another man's head, turned around and said to Ibrahim who was still squatting on the ground:
"I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse those who curse you."

Ibrahim's dry lips opened and closed slightly, and he began to recite in a low voice: "You will surely raise the dead, and you will surely record their good and evil deeds and their deeds; you will record everything in detail in a clear book..."

"If you think that anyone in Milad's family should not die, tell me first... As for the Fawaz tribe, how many of them are there in your village?"

"Five, five!"

"Well, these five will not survive this night."

As the setting sun looked like blood, Garys and Ibrahim made a pact.

This land that has shed blood will inevitably shed more blood.

……

The Kurds are an ancient ethnic group in West Asia, mainly distributed in the border areas of Türkiye, Iraq, Iran and Syria, which is traditionally known as "Kurdistan".

Its origins can be traced back to the ancient Medes. In the mid-6th century BC, the Median Kingdom was conquered by Cyrus the Great of the Persian Empire, and the fusion of the Medes and Persians is believed to have formed today's Kurds.

The areas where the Kurds live have been ruled successively by regimes such as the Seleucid Empire, the Parthian Empire, the Roman Empire, the Sassanid Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire.

In the late 7th century AD, the Arab Empire expanded, the Kurdish region was conquered, and the Kurds began to accept Islam.

The vast majority of Kurds are Sunni Muslims of the Shafi'i school.

They established many small states between the 10th and 12th centuries, but their nomadic cultural traditions made it difficult for them to unify and establish a powerful dynasty.

With the invasion of powerful enemies such as Armenians, Persians and Turks, these small countries gradually disappeared.

The area later became part of the Turkic Seljuk tribe. Afterwards, a large number of Kurds joined the army of the Zengid dynasty because of their tough character. The tribe where Saladin was born was one of them.

However, although Saladin established the huge Ayyubid dynasty, the dynasty's foundation was actually the original Egyptian Fatimid dynasty.

Therefore, his influence on the Kurds was quite insufficient. Although many Kurdish tribes were willing to serve Saladin, the main reason was that they were eager to receive rewards from Saladin.

The Fawaz tribe was a representative of these tribes. As a reward for migrating into the former territory of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, they were granted the privilege of collecting taxes in Toruń and obtained this iqta territory.

That night, Gellis led several Paladins from Alexandros into the village and ended the battle in a short time.

When the sun rose as usual the next day, Ain Nur, a small village with a well, realized that many people had died in the village last night.

And Ibrahim was helping Gairis to erect pillars and tie the rich man Milad and his son to the pillars.

Then he piled firewood under the feet of the two men.

The only drawback is that neither Gairis nor Ibrahim forgot to shut up Milad's son.

Therefore, even after the person was tied to a pillar, one could still hear the words coming out of his mouth.

"You lowly beasts, remnants of hell, you are so stupid that you don't deserve to live in this world!"

"The rotten flesh that even poisonous snakes disdain to devour deserves to be trampled in the mud and chewed into bones."

"Go to Hell and wail forever. Allah is too lazy to forgive useless fools like you. You only deserve to be thrown into the abyss to feed the dogs!"

Amid the continuous insults, the surrounding villagers finally realized what was going on, and hurried to collect firewood nearby and piled it at the feet of Milad and his son.

When Milad's family began to seek to replace their tenants with serfs, they had already begun their transformation into feudal lords.

When he actually became a tax farmer, he actually became the lowest level feudal lord in the feudal system.

In other words, the rich man Milad completed the process of transforming from a sheep to a wolf.

For wolves, isn't it natural to eat sheep?

But, after all, everyone is mortal.

Garys didn't care, and neither did Ibrahim. Finally, it was Alexandros who went up and slapped Milad's son a few times to tell him to shut up.

"What will we do in the days ahead? The Kurdish tribes will come here and burn everything in our village."

"Go to Tyre. There aren't many people left in your village. Forget about the autumn ploughing this year. In this chaotic war, your crops will be ruined. I'll keep this land in mind for you. Come back and plant it this time next year. I promise you that the kingdom will not collect taxes from you next year. Don't worry, everything will be fine this time next year."

"and……"

"Tyre? The Kingdom of the Franks? How can we trust them?"

"It's okay, trust me, everything will be fine. I am a Frank, and the next Frankish queen will be my wife."

Ibrahim picked up another piece of firewood and threw it under Milad, then he suddenly realized a problem.

"who are you?"

“The Imam of all nations on earth and a prophet before Muhammad.”

As he said this, Gairis took a lit torch from Alexandros and handed it to Ibrahim.

Ibrahim took the torch, looked at Garys' young face through the blazing flames, and was stunned for a long time.

"everything will get better."

"Yes."

After saying this, Ibrahim threw the torch into the pile of firewood.

Milad and his son began to beg for mercy and cry...then they cursed, followed by endless screams.

Garys felt that he should light a cigarette for himself at this time, but he actually didn't smoke and there were no cigarettes in this era.

I am being changed.

There is no doubt about it.

When he just woke up, Garys couldn't bear to see the burning at the stake and wanted to give the person some quick death.

But now, that's it.

Ibrahim standing next to him is much more qualified than him.

……

Ghairis exempted the village of Ain Nur from taxes and even signed a document and stamped it with the seal symbolizing the royal authority of Jerusalem.

For a time, the kingdom's kindness, mercy, and generosity were sung by the villagers.

When the news spread, the villages along the border could not tell whether they were under the rule of the Ayyubid Dynasty or the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

Many people came to inquire about what was going on. How come they didn't even collect 30% of the tax and directly exempted the tax for next year? !

After seeing Gailis, many of them began to seek refuge from the nearby Second Kingdom garrison.

When all these things were reported to the city of Tyre, Isabella's expression became very strange. Such a situation had caught her off guard.

Isabella even convened a special meeting for this purpose.

"I support the border villages' request to return to the kingdom. If we publicize this internally, it will prove that we are the true rulers of Jerusalem."

"But what about the contract with Saladin? If we expand, will it be considered a violation of the peace agreement?"

In the conference room, someone considered the risks of doing this.

"For now, trade with Transjordan depends on the peace agreement we signed with Saladin. Would it be seen as a provocation to him if we accepted the allegiance of those villages?"

"And right now we still have troops staying in Antioch in the north. If a war breaks out, can we handle it properly?"

Some people have pointed out some current problems in the territory of Tyre, and these problems are actually quite troublesome.

Isabella had actually already gotten used to this chaotic scene.

Everyone has an opinion they want to express and everyone has their reasons.

As the person presiding over the meeting, Isabella needed to listen, organize what the others said, and understand their ideas before expressing her own opinions.

Then make your own decision.

When the time was almost right, Isabella's cold voice echoed in the conference room.

"Rights and obligations are equal, and you always have to pay a price for what you get."

"Saladin distributed the peasants to tribes one after another, in exchange for the loyalty of those tribes, and obtained tens of thousands of horse-riding warriors."

"Saladin is trying to shed the skin of a 'jihadist' for himself. He is all talk and no action, and he still treats the peasants like cattle and horses."

"He chose the latter between the Muslim people and those horse-riding warriors, helping the Muslim people in his homeland to recognize his true face."

"At this juncture, we choose to accept the words of those Muslim people."

"I dare say you will see that after Saladin's visit, Muslims will think of us for the first time. They will serve the kingdom, support the country's rule, be willing to interpret fair judgments, and even change their faith."

"The only reason they did this is because Saladin abandoned them and we accepted them."

It actually doesn’t matter. This is the limitation of the times, or it can be said to be a choice based on personal interests. Saladin knows the power of the people, but he cannot trust the power of the people.

For him, defeat would be the end of him.

What is the use of public opinion?
That is nothing more than a more stable rule and the people's praise, and these things cannot be converted into military power in a short period of time.

By cooperating with the nomadic tribes and sharing his newly acquired lands with them, he would quickly gain an army that, in his eyes, was strong enough to rival the Franks.

Theoretically, there is no problem with this. After all, the regular Franks are just feudal troops, and the two sides are like the pot calling the kettle black.

But it can only be said that Saladin still could not understand what kind of enemy he was fighting against.

If he knew what was going on with Garys, perhaps he would not have chosen to fight in the first place.

……

Because of the Knight of the White Horse, the land of Palestine experienced a period of relative peace in 1188.

But apparently, the Rider of the Red Horse is coming.

In Hague, the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick symbolically accepted the pilgrims' scepters and relics, and his army began to flock to Venice, preparing to board ships and sail directly to the port of Tyre via the island of Cyprus.

This officially marked the beginning of the Third Crusade.

　I feel like I'm being targeted. My original reader group was bombarded by reports. If you want to know the trends, you can join a new group to avoid losing contact.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)