Crusade against the Pope

Chapter 248 Sage Time

Garris is not an old-fashioned person in the true sense of the word. Anyway, once the atmosphere is right, everything will fall into place naturally.

After making the other party almost lose consciousness, Garys also restrained himself a lot.

When everything was over, the girl fell asleep with her naked skin pressed against him.

There is no escape from the sage time that Garys deserves.

Among the Ten Commandments of Moses, the sixth one is "Thou shalt not commit adultery", which provides a virtue for Christianity - chastity.

There are three forms of chastity: married, widowed, and virgin.

Anything that is not one of these three categories is actually a sin against chastity.

In fact, not only that, the Catholic Church clearly and explicitly states that masturbation is a sin.

As for pornographic pictures, fornication, prostitution, rape...

Each of these is more sinful than the other.

The term fornication refers to sexual relations between unmarried men and women.

There is no doubt that Gillis and Isabella committed adultery.

But at that time, the atmosphere had reached that point. If I didn't continue, Isa might be very, very uncomfortable...

That's how Gillis consoled himself.

He didn't want to repeat the mistake he made half a month ago.

In a sense, the other party really just wants an attitude from you.

……

Time flies.

Frederick "Red Beard" did not stay in Cyprus for too long.

Although there are often storms in the Mediterranean in January, the straight-line distance from Paphos Port to Tyre Port is actually only 1 kilometers, and it can be reached in two days following the sea breeze.

For this, Frederick was willing to take some risks.

And when he led some of his trusted followers to Tyre first, a welcoming ceremony similar to that in Cyprus appeared again.

Frederick "Red Beard" was naturally very pleased with the Kingdom of Jerusalem's gesture of respect.

The red carpet covered the entire pier, and Garys mingled with the crowd, examining the legendary emperor.

Frederick, 65 years old, has a well-proportioned figure. Compared with Gérice, he is a little shorter. He has bright blond hair mixed with white hair. He has sharp eyes and a slightly red beard.

But his title, Barbarossa, is actually the Italian transliteration of "Red Beard".

One origin of the "Red Beard" is that the Italians claimed that the emperor's beard was dyed red with human blood in Italy.

When Barbarossa first came to the throne, the imperial power had declined and only remnants of power over family territories and bishops and monasteries remained. But now the emperor's authority extends throughout the empire, and he is the most powerful man in the Christian world.

Balian brought Isabella and Sibylla and their husband and wife and bowed to Frederick, to which Barbarossa responded, looking at Isabella with a playful look.

"Your army is impressive, little one."

"That's not my credit."

Isabella showed a little humility. Currently, Gellis was not in the political center of the Second Kingdom and was not too dazzling. He was still in a semi-behind-the-scenes state. Only a few nobles knew that Gellis was now in Tyre.

However, she still couldn't help but think of the out-of-control behavior between the two of them in recent days.

A little courtesy became the opening remarks of both parties, and then Balian personally took Frederick to a palace prepared for him. During this journey, Frederick also asked a lot about the current situation in the Holy Land.

In the process, Frederick deliberately avoided some matters concerning the Kingdom of Jerusalem, and this was not his first visit to the Holy Land.

In addition, the kingdom gave him special face, so he would not poke at our wounds.

He knew that in the Kingdom of Jerusalem, many customs and practices were different from those in Europe, and if the conversation turned to the local conditions of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, it would often end in a bad mood.

"Is Saladin in Acre now?" asked Frederick.

"Yes, and his tribe attacked my kingdom not long ago. I am now preparing for war," Balian replied.

"Let me help you attack Saladin."

Having said this, Frederick patted Balian on the shoulder.

The story of Balian defending Jerusalem alone has now spread across Europe.

This makes Balian's reputation actually much higher than Guy, who had experienced a devastating defeat.

So much so that Frederick "Red Beard" subconsciously regarded Balian as his equal.

"Are you not waiting for the arrival of follow-up reinforcements? As far as I know, the crusaders in France and England are gathering and preparing to set off."

"Don't count on the French, and don't count on the English."

"Once they have assembled their army, can they still come to the Levant?" Frederick said with a hint of sarcasm.

As far as the current situation is concerned, the Third Crusade is more of an excuse for a ceasefire or an excuse for levying taxation for the various forces in France and England.

The internal conflicts among them have not been properly resolved. If any party goes out alone, there is a possibility that other forces will take advantage of the situation.

Frederick knew more about the situation in France and England than Balian and others.

"They are restraining each other and harboring ulterior motives against each other. After they have armies and wealth, how can they think of the situation here first?"

"Our army is at its peak, so we should give Saladin a head-on blow!"

As soon as Frederick arrived in Tyre, he acted extremely strong, and his words and deeds showed that he regarded himself as the savior of Jerusalem.

This vague sense of arrogance still made Balian feel a little uncomfortable, even though he knew it was not intentional.

Balian could only keep agreeing with Frederick's words.

It was impossible for the Kingdom of Jerusalem to restrain Frederick "Red Beard". At most, it could try to win his favor and then allow him to lead his army and roam freely on the land of Palestine.

For Saladin, who was only a few dozen kilometers away.

He had also received news of Frederick's arrival.

In fact, he had already known about it when Frederick's army arrived in Cyprus.

Even during the winter rainy season, he issued the call for troops, fearing any unexpected events.

By calling on tribes that were simply granted land, Saladin assembled an army of more than 10,000 light cavalrymen in just about a month.

Including the Mamluk Guards under his command, an army of 15,000 is now ready near Acre.

A large number of merchant ships are sailing out of the port of Alexandria in Egypt, carrying food supplies to Acre.

And more troops are pouring into Acre from all corners of the Arab world.

It is conceivable that as time goes by, the Sultan’s army will surely number in the tens of thousands!
(End of this chapter)