Crusade against the Pope

Chapter 270: The Clash of the New and the Old

In the Book of Genesis, Noah released a dove to search for land, and it returned with an olive leaf in its beak, heralding the end of the flood.

In Leviticus, pigeons were considered clean animals and were one of the common animals used for sacrifice.

When Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit descended in the form of a dove. In the subsequent book of Acts, there is a close relationship between the Holy Spirit and the dove.

Therefore, when a group of pigeons landed on the eaves of the church and turned their heads to look at the crowd, many of the more devout people began to fall into a slightly sacred atmosphere, telling themselves that it was God who was watching them.

Later, when the thunder sounded, the Paladins might be able to get used to it, but other Orthodox believers subconsciously thought of certain Bible passages preached by the priests.

There are roughly seven passages in the four Gospels of the Bible that mention Jehovah acknowledging that his heavenly brother Jesus is his Son.

Distributed in three time nodes, one is when John the Baptist was baptized, which is the place where the Battle of the Jordan River Crossing took place, and John the Baptist baptized Jesus.

One is when Brother Tian led his disciples to climb Mount Tabor to reveal the holy image, which was now occupied by the Greek Brotherhood.

Another time happened in Jerusalem, when Brother Jesus shouted, "Father, glorify your name!" Then a voice from heaven said, "I have glorified my name, and I will glorify it again."

These passages highlight the uniqueness of the Heavenly Brother and emphasize that Jesus is not just a prophet or a teacher, but the Messiah with a divine nature.

To announce Jesus' authority to the crowds or disciples who heard the voice, proving that his teachings and actions had the approval of the Heavenly Father.

Of course, Gérice has also reinterpreted these scriptures. Under the Gérice theological system, these scriptures have been given a deeper meaning for the poor at the bottom of society.

But no matter what, Gellis did not explain too much, but left room for the believers' imagination.

When all this was accomplished, Gellis established basic mutual trust with the locals of Nazareth and shrouded himself in a layer of mystery.

The locals couldn't help but make the sign of the cross among themselves. Was it a trick of the devil?

How is that possible?
This is the holy place where angels descended!
……

There is actually nothing much to say about the Kingdom of Jerusalem being a multi-ethnic country.

What Gellis did was to reintegrate religion and try to reshape a national concept.

Eat your food bite by bite and do things step by step.

Taking the city of Nazareth is only one step. The key is to continue extending southward and truly open up the road to Transjordan.

At the same time, Arnon would expand northward, capture the city of Madaba, and continue northward along the Jordan River.

If this plan succeeds, it means that the two sides will probably be able to meet in the Nablus territory.

Opening up such a land route means that merchants will no longer have to worry about Saladin's mood.

On the other hand, the previous lord of the Principality of Galilee was Raymond III of Tripoli, and Geris was Raymond's testamentary heir.

It also means that he has the first-order right to dispose of the land of the Principality of Galilee. Such power will make it easier and more proactive for him to carry out subsequent reforms.

As for the lord of the Nablus territory, he was actually Isabella's mother Maria Komnenos, so Gailis was able to hold the Nablus territory directly in his hands without having to worry too much.

As for Transjordan, with both Leonard and Stephanie dead, no one except Humphrey was willing to claim the land.

If the above plan is perfectly implemented, it means that the total area that Gellis can control will be close to 5.9 square kilometers, which is about the size of Tongliao.

In terms of population, it will be close to 70, about a quarter of Tongliao.

Once this step is completed, the next step will be to strive to completely recover the entire Jerusalem before 1191.

By that time, Gairlis was actually confident that he could give the ancient land of Palestine a complete makeover.

In a sense, what Gailis needed was not victory in the war, but people who had been trained in the war and the lands that had been swept away and were out of the control of the nobles.

It was all worth it…

When Gellis asked the temporary councillors in Nazareth if there were any potential enemies around that were worth noting,

After the leaders in the city whispered to each other, they told Garys that two years ago, a group of bandits appeared on Mount Tabor in the southeast of the city, calling themselves the Brotherhood.

"So, did those bandits do anything evil?"

Garys asked in passing.

The leaders in Nazareth whispered to each other again and then gave their answer.

"Uh... it seems not... apart from lowering the prices of meat, eggs and milk in the city, I haven't done anything..."

"By the way, it seems they are trying to sell salted fish this year, it tastes pretty good."

"Does that count?"

Many people spread their hands, because apart from this, they, the city people, did not feel the presence of the brotherhood on Tashan.

……

At the beginning of December, the market opened in Nazareth as usual.

No matter how the war is fought or which side the city of Nazareth belongs to, life must go on.

Whether they were knights or lords, the conflicts between them were both far and near to the peasants.

To put it in a distant perspective, that is the masters' business. Farmers should not interfere. No matter which side wins, they will all come to collect taxes.

To put it simply, it is because during wars, the masters will try every possible means to extort every penny and every grain of food from the peasants so that they can win.

Since the outbreak of the war in 1187, even if the number of battles has not been ordinary, the intensity has not been high.

But the once prosperous rural areas of Palestine began to become depressed.

On the contrary, the dozen or so villages around Tashan seem unusual.

Early in the morning, the bazaar in Nazareth became bustling. No one could tell that this place was under the rule of the Turks not long ago, nor could anyone guess that Fawaz was conspiring to launch a counterattack to retake the city.

In short, folks from all over the surrounding villages would come to Nazareth with their produce to attend the market.

Although silk is produced in the Levant these days, the cloth that most farmers can make is still mainly linen.

In addition to the coarse cloth, there were some vegetables, wooden objects, pottery, and of course poultry such as chickens and ducks.

In the 12th century, although the country was poor, the Levant had a developed handicraft industry and the cities had a pretty good purchasing power. Regardless of whether the farmers could afford meat or not, the city dwellers could really afford to eat some meat.

Dimitri was one of the farmers. He carried a basket of eggs carefully. Even though there was a lot of straw in it, he was still worried that some of them would be bumped or broken. He felt sad for a long time.

You know, he was reluctant to eat these eggs himself, so he came to Nazareth to sell them so that he could have some money to buy needlework.

The early morning sun shone through the eaves onto Dimitri, and beside him were many farmers like him.

Chickens and ducks clucked from time to time, making the place seem a bit noisy. In the Middle Ages, although the price differences between different regions seemed huge, the price differences between different eras were even more difficult to compare.

But for a peasant like Dimitri, his life seemed frozen in amber.

Year after year, day after day, the prices of most commodities actually have a constant.

How many copper coins can I get from this basket of eggs? If I add a chicken, I can get another dirham.

Then, you can use these coins to buy some needle and thread, some coarse cloth, or donate two coins to the church for peace of mind.

In short, this has already been fixed. It was like this when we were born, it was like this when we grew up, and it will be like this in the future.

However, when Dimitri finally squeezed into the market and came to a shop that sold chickens and ducks, he heard terrible news.

"An egg costs three coppers, a duck egg costs four coppers, and a chicken costs less than a silver dirham."

The guy in the shop was quoting prices quickly.

Hearing the price, Dimitri took two deep breaths of the cold winter air.

"Didn't you pay 5 copper coins for an egg last month? Your price is too low. I will lose money if I continue like this!"

The guy was too lazy to answer, and seeing Dimitri's reluctant look, he started to chase him away.

Nowadays, in the city of Nazareth, anyone who wants to buy chickens and ducks is not very happy to see these individual investors.

Not to mention the varying quality of chickens and ducks, many farmers also use rotten or broken eggs to fill the bill.

There was no way before, but since Mount Tabor, people have been supplying truckloads of goods, and the quality is uniform and good, and the price is not too high.

It is actually very clear how to choose.

These country folks, if they want to sell, sell it. If they don't, get out of here. I'm a city man, and they won't serve me at all!
No matter how Dimitri wanted to argue.

The guy pointed in the distance, and when he looked over there, he saw a group of people rushing over. It was a donkey-drawn cart, with several layers of cages stacked on top of it, filled with many cages.

There were not just chickens and ducks, but also rabbits. When the group of people unloaded the goods, this bustling scene attracted the attention of many people.

When the boss of the shop heard the noise, he came out with a smile on his face and tried to get close to the leading brother.

Compared to those retail investors, this group of people are his gods of wealth and the targets of his big business.

As soon as Dimitri saw the boxes of eggs being carried out, he knew that the shop was not going to accept eggs from individual customers anymore.

But selling eggs is not a small matter. I can't find enough money to buy cloth. When winter comes, it will be freezing in Nazareth!
"Hey, buddy, please don't talk about money. You're not short of money. Just take the four copper coins."

"It is! It is!"

The farmers who came to the market with Dimitri also joined in. Even if they didn't want the price to return to last month, they would at least sell it at the price of 4 coppers.

Otherwise, they really won’t be able to survive this winter.

However, not only was the guy indifferent, the boss over there was also shouting at the guy to hurry over and help unload the goods.

Dimitri was begging here, and the two sides were fighting back and forth. The guy became a little anxious for a moment, and the boss over there was calling people, so he pushed a little harder.

Unexpectedly, Dimitri slipped and fell backwards. Even though he was supported by other brothers behind him, he did not get hurt.

But this basket of ten or so eggs fell to the ground with a crack.

For a moment, the noise in the market died down.

The air had never been so thick before, it choked Dimitri's neck and suffocated him.

The people are fine, but the eggs are.

When the other farmers saw this scene, they didn't know what to say.

Is it a big deal? It's just a broken egg.

Is that a small matter? That’s a lot of eggs!

"what!"

Dimitri yelled, his eyes red, and rushed towards the guy.

He would rather get hurt himself than have anything happen to the eggs.

Following Dimitri's actions, many people around dispersed, leaving a space for the guys and Dimitri to fight.

Only Charles, the leader of a truckload of chickens, ducks and rabbits, frowned when he saw this scene.

Then he walked over, brought his brothers behind him, and forcibly separated the two people who were fighting.

"What's wrong? What happened?!"

Although Charles was not very tall, he had been exercising every day over the years and looked very strong. In addition, he had more people on his side, so it was difficult for Dimitri to continue fighting.

The guys over there knew full well that Charles was actually the second in command on Tower Hill, so they exaggerated the story.

After listening to this, Charles took a few deep breaths and felt a little uncomfortable.

When Alex told him about these things before, he didn't feel anything because he hadn't seen it with his own eyes.

But when this scene really happened, I was still speechless.

When he led the villagers to raise chickens and ducks, he did not let them roam freely like ordinary farmers.

Instead, they fenced off the land, prepared special feed, and even raised earthworms when making compost, and raised maggots in the summer.

Earthworms are rich in protein, amino acids and various trace elements. They are high-quality animal feed for chickens and ducks. They have low breeding costs, take up little space and have fast production speeds.

It not only provides rich high-protein feed for chickens and ducks, but also produces high-quality organic fertilizer, forming a circular economy breeding model.

Judging from the results, Charles could clearly feel that the chickens and ducks he raised were much healthier. Not only did they grow faster, they also laid eggs more diligently.

Just by looking at the chickens and ducks behind him and the chickens and ducks held in the hands of the surrounding farmers, you can immediately see the difference.

The chickens and ducks behind him even have brighter feathers!
How can these individual investors compare with his poultry!

But in this case, what kind of "catastrophe" will families like Dimitri face?

I know how to choose chickens and ducks from the shops in the city with my eyes closed.

As a result, farmers who were not part of the brotherhood began to find that not only were the prices of various poultry unable to go up, but they couldn’t even sell them!
(End of this chapter)