Crusade against the Pope

Chapter 318 Aladdin's Three Wishes
Can a person change things through will alone?

David Soslan is not a very religious man. In fact, about 80% of the faith in his mind is water.

This is because his identity and status have already reached the top of secular power.

Moreover, the Orthodox Church is different from the Catholic Church. The Orthodox Church is clearly dependent on secular power.

Therefore, he often doubted whether the words spoken by the bishops and priests truly represented God, and often doubted whether God really cared about people.

Perhaps religion is a complete lie, and all the records in the scriptures were made up by humans...

However, having such thoughts does not mean that David is an atheist. He is just full of doubts about many things.

For example, David actually suspected that Gellis was a wizard who, after learning certain spells, pretended to be sacred here.

But so what?

What matters is what kind of benefits Gillis can bring to him.

Garys handed the "silver fork" back to David, and after David took it, he could feel the inexplicable power that the spoon had experienced.

David looked at Garys deeply, and at this time, Arslan, who had been busy in the kitchen for a long time, brought the food.

It was a carefully cooked grilled lamb chop, with spices of pepper and cumin being repeatedly applied during the grilling process.

The aroma of the charcoal fire condenses on the meat, making the outside slightly charred, but the inside must be tender and juicy.

In addition, Gailis took out a bottle of rum and motioned to Arslan to fill it up.

When the strong smell of alcohol hit his face, David couldn't help but raise his opinion of Garys again in his mind.

These foods and drinks have completely surpassed the standards of ordinary people of that era. It is not an exaggeration to say that they are delicacies that only the royal family can enjoy.

In this way, at least David no longer had any doubts about Garys' identity as the representative of Jerusalem.

He just hoped that the other party could bring him the city of Erzurum as he said.

If Gellis can really do that, why not give this land to him?

The Sultanate of Rum is Georgia's biggest enemy at the moment.

Without further ado, David had lunch with Garys openly. There was no further communication between the two during the meal.

After finishing the meal, David praised Arsalan's cooking skills and said that the rum tasted really good.

Then there was no more communication.

Arsalan couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief when David's army left.

In fact, Garys was also quite surprised. It must be said that David was a very rare person.

While being cynical, he also possesses many excellent qualities such as courage, humility, and diligence.

Even though Garys showed the other party some power that was beyond the reach of mortals, the other party only respected the unknown instead of worshipping him.

Only Garys can deal with the pressure brought by this kind of aura calmly.

Arsalan on the side couldn't help but feel awe, realizing the difference between him and the truly strong ones.

However, Gailis could also understand that if David did not possess such qualities, Tamara might not have chosen him as her husband, and the couple would have led Georgia into an unprecedented glorious era.

Looking at the huge entourage of 300 people escorting David away, Gailis turned his head and said to Arsalan.

"I will be away from here for a while. Remember to take good care of the vegetable garden for me."

Arsalan naturally accepted the advice.

He had also heard about the previous communication between Gairis and David. Although Arslan found the reform direction and goals proposed by Gairis a little unbelievable, if Gairis was in charge of it himself, perhaps this would be possible.

By that time, this land will be independent from the Sultan of Rum and will naturally have a better future.

For him personally, it actually means a clear path to success and will change his destiny.

……

Not long after the Seljuks completed their conquest of most of Anatolia, Alexios I appeared and supported the independence of the Sultanate of Rum.

During the period of the Rum Sultanate's independence, in order to maintain its independence and resist the threat from the Seljuks, its relationship with the Eastern Empire was not bad.

In addition, in order to rule the local area, the Sultan of Rum appointed a large number of Turkic tribal leaders as Beys, thereby gaining the support of the Turkic tribes and obtaining a large number of soldiers.

The city of Erzurum and the surrounding large areas were ruled by the Sartuki Bey dynasty, which was founded by Emir Sartuk, the commander of Alp Arslan.

This Bey dynasty often competed with the Kingdom of Georgia for hegemony over the Kars region.

Today, the Bey dynasty has reached its end.

Here we have to mention the complex titles and their meanings in Islamic civilization.

Most Islamic titles can be divided into two categories: either political or religious, or simply a combination of politics and religion.

To put it in order, the titles commonly used in politics, from top to bottom, are: Caliph, Sultan, Emir, Bey…

The Caliph is the successor of the Prophet Muhammad. In theory, he is the leader of the empire's unified politics and religion. In name, he is the common ruler of the world. In reality, he is similar to the Zhou emperor of the Celestial Empire, who becomes increasingly decadent with the passage of time.

At this point in 1200, the Caliph of Baghdad was actually the master of the city of Baghdad, and his external appeal was only nominal.

Sultan means power and authority. In the beginning, they were actually governors appointed by the empire. But with the decline of the authority of the Caliphate, the sultan group actually formed their own courts and became independent monarchs.

Emir is inferior to Sultan. Its original meaning is military commander. It originally refers to the commanders and governors stationed in various places by the Caliph. It is also a title of senior nobles.

After the decline of the Caliphate, many emirs, like the Sultan, began to establish their own courts and become independent monarchs.

However, many times, the Sultan himself would appoint Emirs, and those Emirs would often become increasingly independent as the Sultan's authority declined.

As for the word Bey, it is different from the previous Arabic titles. It comes from the Turkic word meaning "leader" or "chief". The so-called Master Bayi in the story of Avanti also comes from this title.

Likewise, as the sultan's authority declined, the bey's independence would increase over time.

In Gellis's view, this political structure in the Middle East is extremely unhealthy and chaotic, even more outrageous than the theory of dynastic cycles.

It can even be said that it was not until the collapse of the Arab Empire, or perhaps until the Ottoman period, that the Middle East truly ushered in long-term stability.

All dynasties before that could collapse at any time and without any hesitation.

This is naturally the problem that Gellis needs to solve, or the part that he needs to reshape.

The starting point is the besieged city in front of Geiris - Erzurum. To be honest, Geiris did not intend to lead Georgia to launch a military siege on Erzurum.

Given Garys's ability, if he acts as a vanguard, then no one can stop him on the battlefield.

When one side's morale is broken, the other side will naturally be able to pursue and capture the solid city wall.

But the street fighting, massacre and looting that may follow...

These are what Garys cannot bear to see, so what he wants to do is not to cause killing, but to bring peace.

……

Cold and claustrophobic.

The stone walls were made of rough limestone, with damp moss growing in the cracks, giving off a musty smell of decay.

The iron door was heavy and cold, covered with spots of rust.

This is the Sartuki Bey family dungeon located in the city of Erzurum. However, this dungeon now holds the Bey of the Sartuki family, Aladdin.

Aladdin never imagined that he would be imprisoned in his own home by his trusted confidant.

Moreover, the person who ordered his imprisonment was actually Sultan Suleiman, who was said to have died on the battlefield.

Well, this is indeed my own fault...

After all, when Sultan Suleiman's flag fell on the battlefield, he seemed to be the first Bey to run away.

It was also because of him that the Roma army, which originally had the strength to fight, was defeated in the Georgian charge.

But, there is a reason for this!

But obviously the Sultan would not listen to his explanation. At the same time, after a large number of Roma defeated troops gathered in the city of Erzurum, the military strength that was originally directly under his jurisdiction had been diluted to the point where it was difficult to launch a resistance.

Therefore, his confidant acted as a hero with just a few words from the Sultan and made the decision he thought was appropriate.

What will the future be like?

Aladdin was a little confused. No matter whether the Sultan of Rom could turn the tide and defeat the Georgians, it seemed that he would not have a good ending.

It is in this kind of torment that time passes day by day.

When the time came to September, Aladdin noticed something unusual one night.

From time to time, the squeaking sound of mice gnawing could be heard in the corridor, but the footsteps of the patrolling guards had not been heard for a long time.

Then, not long after, his iron door was suddenly opened, and a person he had never seen before appeared in front of him.

Judging from his face, he was neither Greek, nor Georgian, nor Turk. For a moment, Aladdin could not tell what nationality he was.

Behind him, there were a few more people who looked like Turks and seemed familiar, as if I had seen them before.

"Is it him?" the leading man asked the person behind him.

The man behind him nodded quickly: "Prophet, indeed, he is the original owner of this city."

After getting a definite answer, the middle-aged man looked at Aladdin lying on the ground and said, "I can fulfill your three wishes, but you'd better think it over carefully."

"what?"

Aladdin was a little confused for a moment. He felt really puzzled by the appearance of this group of people.

However, not long after, he seemed to smell a hint of blood, and then noticed that there was a lot of blood on those people's feet.

In other words, these people should have killed their way in silently, so they should be the enemies of Sultan Rom and his savior.

"I-I want to get out of here and live!"

Without hesitation, Aladdin made this first wish immediately.

Then he heard the other party snap his fingers, and followed by a ding sound, the anklets that had originally handcuffed Aladdin broke.

Then he heard the other party say: "What you just said were two wishes, one is to leave here, the other is to survive."

At this moment, Aladdin no longer cared whether it was one wish or two wishes. He just stared in surprise at his anklet that was suddenly untied.

No, he is free now?
What on earth just happened?
Then what do the opponent's followers call him?
what?
Of course, what Aladdin didn't notice at this time was that the other followers behind that man also swallowed their saliva when they saw this scene.

Even though it was not the first time I witnessed the prophet's miracle, I would still be shocked every time I saw it.

Is this the result of being favored by Allah?

Possessed divine power that is unattainable by ordinary people.

Sure enough, a prophet is a prophet.

Without much ado, the Turks behind Gairis hurriedly picked up Aladdin and began to leave the dungeon of the Sartuki Bey family under the leadership of Gairis.

As he left the dungeon, Aladdin noticed that there were quite a few dead bodies along the way.

Most of the corpses were dressed as the Sultan's personal soldiers, and most of them were killed by a single sword in the throat, without even a cry for help.

It can be seen that in order to save themselves, this group of people killed everyone along the way, and even after killing everyone, they managed to infiltrate perfectly.

Aladdin couldn't help but feel in awe of the leader. Perhaps, the other party was really a "prophet".

Only those who can receive divine inspiration can perform so miraculously.

This time the time spent going back is much faster than the time spent sneaking in.

After all, when we came, there were still many people blocking the way, but when we left, no one could make a sound.

When he arrived at the place, Aladdin noticed that he seemed to have arrived at a military camp, and this camp seemed to be the location where his direct descendants were stationed.

Then at this time, he realized who those Turks were who had rescued him before.

They are from the nearby Yuktu tribe!
At this time, Aladdin finally breathed a sigh of relief. After all, as a vassal of his Sartuki family, the Yuktu tribe was still trustworthy, and some people had been dispatched to participate in the war before.

No wonder he felt familiar with them. Aren’t these the same group of people who escaped with him? It was dark and he didn’t dare to communicate, so he didn’t recognize them for a while.

When everything was settled, the mysterious man who had rescued him before came to him again.

He said to Aladdin: "Now, you can tell me your last wish."

(End of this chapter)