Crusade against the Pope

Chapter 317 Natural Allies

One thing David Soslan had to admit was that when he first met him, he felt that Gillis was not as good as he was known to be.

But Gellis was not an ordinary farmer after all. Even though he had just been applying fertilizer in the vegetable garden, after seeing David Soslan, he took the initiative to wash his hands and changed into clean, white and simple clothes.

Nowadays, wearing clean clothes itself is actually a symbol of status.

A real farmer does not have the financial resources to buy himself a set of clothes that are neat and flawless.

So David Soslan put aside his contempt, maintained his composure, and walked into the cabin at Garys' invitation.

It looks like this wooden house was newly built, and many of the wood textures are still fresh. Although the overall decoration layout is not gorgeous, it exudes an inexplicable warmth, and it can be seen that a lot of thought has been put into many places.

For example, the clothes hangers at the entrance, the tables and chairs with specially polished wood splinters, the well-made kettles, the silver knives and forks...

In this era, if you want to judge a person's aristocratic level, you can actually tell from his or her living habits and home decoration.

No matter what aesthetic style it is, there is actually a premise, which means spending a lot of energy and effort on things that are of no benefit to life.

In David Soslan's view, this calmness that comes from being free from the pressure of survival is the standard for distinguishing different classes.

It can be seen that Gellis is not a vulgar person, but is actually a person of noble birth who knows how to appreciate beauty.

After David entered the house, Garys did not rush to speak. He turned around and told Arslan to go to the kitchen to clean up and help him prepare dinner.

After Arslan left the small living room, Garys gestured to David Soslan to sit with him at the dining table.

"You said you were Garys, the Garys of Jerusalem?"

"Yes, it's me."

"You also say that you are the Holy One of Jerusalem and the head of Cyprus?"

"Yes, that's right."

"And then you say that you are the Imam of all the peoples on earth, and the regulator of the order of the world established by your father?"

"Ah."

Faced with these titles calmly, Gellis did not refuse at all.

The two questions David asked earlier actually didn’t matter. After all, the title of saint was not an exaggeration. As for the identity of the head of Cyprus, it was a position. David had actually heard of Gailis holding this position.

By the time he got to the third question, David was already a little angry.

No matter how you look at it, the word Imam can be classified as pagan, but the word father, in Gairis's mouth, obviously refers to God the Father.

In other words, the man in front of us believes that he is the son of Heavenly Father and the brother of Jesus. He has received a mission from heaven and has come to the world to re-establish the order of the world.

This is to place one's own identity above royal power and above secular power.

David would never have believed that such a presumptuous person could be so presumptuous if it were not for the scene described by Hovanis's hundred-man team and the personal experiences of dozens of soldiers.

But those things really happened, so David could only come here to verify it with the attitude of believing it is true rather than not.

If Garys was talking nonsense and was a wizard, then he would find a way to chop the guy off.

If Gillis really meant what he said...

This is something to talk about.

After confirming the other party's self-identification, David did not hide anything but asked directly, trying to gain the upper hand in the conversation and turn this exchange into an interrogation of Garys.

"What do you find me for?"

"I know of a pair of brothers who are currently in your court. One of them is called Alexios Komnenos and the other is called David Komnenos. You will be using them soon."

In response to this, Gailis did not give a direct answer to the other party. After all, he had spent a lot of effort to deal with David's subordinates twice, just to create a scene where David came to ask for a meeting, so as to gain the dominant position.

Just as Gailis thought, David was quite surprised after hearing what Gailis said.

It seems that Garys was too well-informed. Normal non-Georgian nobles should not have known about this matter at all.

Alexios Komnenos and David Komnenos, the Komnenos brothers, were grandsons of Andronicus, the last emperor of the Komnenos dynasty of the Eastern Empire.

After Andronicus was deposed and executed because of an uprising of the citizens of Constantinople, the brothers fled to Georgia to seek refuge with their aunt because their mother was the sister of Queen Tamara.

At the same time, Gailis's next sentence was even more shocking, as if Gailis had insight into something.

David Soslan became more cautious when he saw Garys's gaze.

As for Garys, he was more calm. It was not because he had insight into certain things, but because he was at the downstream of history, he guessed the current strategic approach of the Kingdom of Georgia.

This matter goes back to the geopolitical structure of Anatolia.

Due to the massive westward advance of the Seljuk Turks after the Battle of Manzikert, large areas of Anatolia now become the territory of the Rum Sultanate.

Although the Sultanate of Rum was often divided, every time it was unified, it showed a clear aggressive attitude towards the surrounding countries.

Now in its golden age, Georgia is exceptionally strong and is not afraid to go to war with Rom.

But war itself is extremely dangerous, and no one can calculate all the details on the battlefield, so many generals have to rely on gods for victory or defeat.

No matter how advantageous or powerful one is, one has to consider the possibility of defeat on the battlefield.

Georgia's overall size is smaller than that of the Rum Sultanate. Even in peacetime, it faces frequent border robberies by the Rum Sultanate, which seriously undermines Georgia's economic development.

As a result, Georgia has long been committed to establishing a buffer zone around its core territory.

This is true whether it is conquering the Islamic Emirates or helping the Armenians regain their territory.

Now, with the Fourth Crusade inexplicably targeting Constantinople, Queen Tamara realized that she had another opportunity.

She thought that she could use her two nephews to carve out a piece of the declining Eastern Empire's territory to help her isolate herself from the threat of the Turks.

Since the Greater Caucasus Mountains are located in the north and east of Georgia, as a natural barrier, the mountain passes leading to the Eastern European steppes are relatively easy to guard and control. In addition, Alania does not have to face the harassment of the Eastern European Khanate in the north of the Greater Caucasus Mountains. The Black Sea is to the west and the Caspian Sea is to the east, which are relatively safe. Therefore, the Kingdom of Georgia only needs to sort out the geopolitics of the southwest, southeast and south directions, and it can be in a state of long-term peace without worrying about pagan invasions.

As far as Gairis knew, Queen Tamara had assisted the Komnenos brothers Alexios and David Komnenos in capturing Trebizond before the fall of Constantinople.

Now, although the outbreak of the Fourth Crusade has been relatively advanced, Garys feels that Queen Tamara will not easily let go of this opportunity.

Especially now that Georgia has defeated the Rum Sultanate, they should have more energy to complete their plans.

This actually overlaps with Garys’ own plan to a certain extent.

Georgia needed to isolate itself from the looting attacks of the Rum Sultanate, and Antioch actually had the same need. They all needed to establish a buffer state in Eastern Anatolia.

Therefore, Georgia and Jerusalem have a basis for cooperation.

However, cooperation is cooperation, but who will take the lead in the cooperation is something that has to be fought for. At the same time, how this buffer state is established, in what form, and which side it will lean towards after it is established are even more problematic.

From the perspective of Georgia's interests, it may be possible to use the Komnenos brothers to cut off a piece from the Eastern Empire, extend it to the south, and then add a group of emirates that defected to Georgia to complete the plan.

But for Gillis, Georgia's approach was too rough.

It can be said that Georgia simply forced the Emirs of Eastern Anatolia to change their allegiance from the Sultan of Rum to the pagan King of Georgia.

Due to the difference in military strength, those small emirate states will naturally not disobey Georgia's orders in the short term.

However, since the economic model has not changed, these small Turkic countries still need to resort to looting to make up for their lack of productivity.

Even if there will be no large-scale, systematic looting of Georgia, sporadic attacks will not disappear.

At the same time, since they were unable to launch a large-scale invasion to the north, the main direction of looting by those emirates would naturally shift to the south, that is, they would target the Syrian region under Jerusalem.

Although, with the level of training of Jerusalem's army and advanced weapons and equipment, it would be easy to defeat those small Turkic raiding teams.

But you can't guard against thieves for a thousand days. If there is a gap in the defense line, it will be extremely destructive to the economic development of the Syrian region.

Economic development can only be rapid and powerful in peacetime. Farmers troubled by war cannot work hard on farming.

Since the Kingdom of Jerusalem's main focus is now on fighting Egypt in the south, it is difficult for Gairis to directly withdraw a large number of troops to the north, so he had to come here alone.

As Garys took the lead in the conversation through various previous preparations, David Soslan gradually understood Garys's intentions.

As an excellent commander, he temporarily put aside the mysteries of Garys and switched to the mindset of a politician.

After confirming Gellis's identity, he thought about it and concluded that Georgia and Jerusalem were not enemies. Due to geopolitical reasons, the two sides should be natural allies.

After all, there is Anatolia between the two sides, there is no territorial border and no border friction, but at the same time both sides have to face harassment from Muslims.

"You mean to say that you not only want to force the Emir group to side with Georgia here, on Armenian soil, but you also want to change the living habits of the residents here so that they no longer need to plunder?"

When David Soslan summarized Garys's ideas, he subconsciously gave a sarcastic smile.

Transform the Turks?

What kind of fantasy is this?

In David Soslan's view, this is like asking a wolf to give up eating meat. It is a revision of the Turkic nation, and in fact, it is no different from creating a new nation from scratch.

The difficulty of this can be imagined. Knowing the difference between the Turks and them is not just about nomadism and farming, but also about Islam and Christianity!
Different religions meant that they were difficult to rule directly, and local Turks would subconsciously resist direct rule by Christian rulers.

"How about we make a deal?"

Faced with David's questioning, Garys did not refute it. He needed to speak with facts instead of engaging in useless debate here.

"trade what?"

"I will help you capture Erzurum, and you will give me the governance of this area, excluding the city."

"Next year, the Paladin group under my command will come here. By then, I will prove to you that no matter what nationality or belief you are, you are the people of Heavenly Father and the Lambs on earth. You can not only repent, but also bring a better future."

"Will you help me take the city of Erzurum?"

After listening to what Garys said, David didn't pay attention to the latter part, but focused on the former.

As a fortified city, Erzurum took in the remnants of the Rum Sultanate, and now there are many troops in the city.

Thanks to the leadership of the Sultan of Rom, everyone was working together, and David had already planned to withdraw his troops.

However, if the city of Erzurum is not conquered, all the land gained from the previous victory will be regained by the Rum Sultanate in a short time.

Therefore, David is quite distressed now.

He could not allow the Rum Sultanate to continue to control the city of Erzurum, but he certainly could not conquer it in a short time.

Compared with the influence of the Rum Sultanate on the surrounding areas through the city of Erzurum, he actually doesn't mind who the lord of this territory is.

It can be said that the city of Erzurum is not important, but it is very important for the Rum Sultanate to lose the city of Erzurum.

Even so, David still subconsciously said: "Why do you do that? You are alone."

In response, Gellis lifted up a silver spoon on the table and showed it to David, indicating that there was nothing special behind it.

In the silent silence, the silver spoon bent by itself.

David opened his mouth in surprise for a moment, but even more amazing things were yet to come.

After bending to a 90-degree right angle, the silver spoon began to straighten itself and split into a fork.

"I said before, I am the supervisor who sets the order of the world for Heavenly Father. As long as I want, I can do it."

Reference map of the current political landscape, from CK2.

(End of this chapter)