Crusade against the Pope

Chapter 398 What cake to eat?

It has to be said that the Egyptian Crusaders did learn from the lessons of the early Kingdom of Jerusalem.

After the establishment of four states during the First Crusade, the Franks' rule over the local area was actually quite loose.

On the positive side, this reduces administrative burden and returns to basics.

On the negative side, the Franks are the only people in the country who can serve as the ruling base.

It's simply that there were not many local people in the Palestinian region, and with the long-term immigration from Europe, there was a population of about 100,000 Franks.

The Franks refer to European Catholics.

Apart from these tens of thousands of people, the kingdom's rule was quite weak.

Even the Greek Orthodox were excluded from the ruling circle.

They have no interest in missionary work and have also enacted laws to prohibit mixed races.

From the perspective of expanding the size of the country, this is tantamount to tying one's own hands. If you think about it carefully, you will find that this kind of thing is actually quite common in Europe and the United States.

After all, privileges become less valuable the more people participate in them.

In the Middle Ages, being an ordinary freeman was a privilege in itself.

But it didn't work in Egypt because there were too many local Egyptians compared to the Crusaders.

The total population of Egypt at this time was approximately six to eight million, while the total number of Crusaders was only around ten thousand.

Compared with Jerusalem, this is a real small tribe dominating a big country.

The gap between the two sides is so obvious, and Jerusalem is also eyeing them covetously from outside.

Naturally, more ethnic groups are needed to express their united front values.

Directly absorbing Muslims into the ruling class was undoubtedly a political mistake for the Crusaders.

Therefore, the Egyptian Crusaders simply established eight legions in the style of the Roman era.

These eight legions were not divided by nationality, but people of different nationalities were dispersed and mixed to form the military structure.

The purpose is to use militarized organizational management to shape a new ruling group and abolish the nation's own identity.

It's just that among them, the Franks were more likely to be in high positions, but ordinary Arabs, Copts, Caucasians, and Turks could also climb up if they had military merits.

In this system, the Egyptian Crusaders were naturally at the top, and the Coptic Orthodox Christians served as deputies in civil affairs. The original Mamluks were converted and absorbed into a high-quality vassal army.

As for the Arab Muslims who are the main ethnic group, they either become slaves or have to endure all kinds of oppression.

They suffer discrimination in work, life, marriage and taxation.

Of course, what's even more ridiculous is that even though the Crusaders have exploited the Egyptians so much, many Egyptians still feel that life here is slightly better than when they were ruled by Saladin.

The situation during Saladin's reign was slightly better than that during the Fatimid period.

Overall, the lives of the Egyptians were getting better and better during these constant changes of dynasties!

Therefore, most people do not actually have any firm will to resist.

Of course, whether this "slightly better" effect is the psychological suggestion effect brought about by the Egyptians' winning theory is a matter of opinion.

For the young and energetic Nasser, he had not experienced the turbulent situation in Egypt during the Fatimid dynasty.

At that time, the authority of the Fatimid Caliphate declined, and only religious and nominal power was retained. The real power was held by the Grand Vizier.

The power struggles among these grand viziers might even lead to them seeking help from the Crusaders or Sunni forces, thus inviting in wolves.

Such frequent wars between the north and the south inevitably led to the abandonment of farmland and the decline of commerce.

In order to maintain its regime, the Fatimid court had to frequently increase taxes, which exacerbated public resentment, led to the expansion of local forces and weakened central control.

This has undoubtedly become a vicious cycle.

It can be said that when Saladin entered Egypt, Egypt was a country with religious divisions, corrupt regime, external oppression and internal out of control.

It was on the verge of collapse of the Fatimid dynasty, and this situation provided fertile ground for Saladin to quickly take control of the overall situation and establish the Ayyubid dynasty.

When Saladin ruled Egypt, Nasser was still young and had no memory of the situation at that time.

At that time, Egypt's overall situation had improved under the governance of the Saladin brothers.

It refers to the fact that he reduced the power of the feudal lords and unified power in politics, reorganized the military and fought against the Crusades, and even completed reform and unification in religion.

But Saladin was not satisfied with ruling Egypt. Instead, he often needed to withdraw Egypt's financial revenue and military forces to fight in Syria.

Later, a long war broke out with the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

This naturally brings a considerable burden to Egypt.

Even though the general public has a relatively high enthusiasm for jihad, things like fluctuations in food prices and shortage of labor in rural areas are inevitable.

On the contrary, it was only after the arrival of the Crusaders in Egypt that long-term peace came and European merchants began to purchase large quantities of Egyptian goods.

In a short period of time, the overall economy has undergone a visible transformation.

Therefore, the older generation of Egyptians are content with the situation in Egypt, which is indeed not very good, but slightly better than before.

Even recently, due to the competition between the Kingdom of Jerusalem and Egypt, the economy has fluctuated and the standard of living has declined.

But everyone still subconsciously thinks that this is only temporary...

But young men like Nasser were different, and before he could remember, the Ayyubid dynasty had lost Egypt.

Therefore, it is obvious that the people who have bullied him since he was a child are those Copts, those "Christians".

Due to the difference in status in life, Nasser had a conflict with the other party, and as a result, he was beaten badly by the crowd.

If it weren't for the people in the "church" who helped him with his treatment, he might have died on the street the next day.

Of course, if not for this, he would not have had access to the "church". It can only be said that fortune goes with misfortune.

This week's church was in the mansion of an Arab merchant near the port.

Nasser had a good impression of the Arab merchant family. After all, in today's Alexandria, there are actually not many rich people who are willing to support the poor.

Allowing the church to hold events in their home was undoubtedly a considerable risk.

After arriving at the mansion, Nasser did not rush to knock on the door. He first looked around to make sure there was no tail, then left the main gate and entered through the small door of the neighbor next door.

Then through the hidden tunnel, he finally reached his destination.

Before entering, a question came from inside: "The Gospel of Simon, Book 2, Verse 5."

Then Nasser replied: "The prophet stands on a high place and announces his identity to the world." Then the door was opened and he was allowed to go in.

Now quite a few people have gathered in the "church", sitting in groups of three or two, discussing what has happened recently.

Some of them talked about how their next-door neighbor had married off his daughter, while others said that a legion was forcibly conscripting soldiers.

These trivial neighborhood matters became a way to pass the time before church.

Nasser didn't care much and walked to the altar to help the priest prepare the Eucharist.

When I touched those breads, I felt a little strange because the shapes of these breads were different from before.

After noticing Nasser's strangeness, the elderly priest did not speak directly, but just gave a kind smile.

When most people had arrived, the missionary led everyone in prayer and then preached.

"Many of you here may have heard it, and many of you may not have heard it."

“I want to tell you that when the Israelites followed the prophet Moses and left Egypt, things were not smooth sailing.”

“And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt.”

“The Israelites said to them, ‘We would rather die by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate our fill of bread. But you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole community with hunger.’”

The priest told a story that Nasser had heard several times, and this story actually really touched Nasser.

In this verse, the Israelites, although they were slaves, missed their slavery because of the “meat pots.”

This reveals the cruel reality of the oppression structure: the oppressors often exchange food and clothing for the oppressed's giving up of freedom.

In this case, can the "meat pot" be considered a grace given by the oppressors?
No, the “meat pot” is meant to make people willingly remain in an unjust order.

Then, the priest continued to analyze the second half of this passage.

The road to justice will not be comfortable. It must go through the wilderness, endure hunger and confusion. Although the Israelites escaped the tyranny of Pharaoh, they still miss the past when facing the real difficulties.

This means that true freedom is not as simple as escaping from oppression, but rather enduring the painful process of reshaping the order of life.

Nasser actually didn't quite understand this perspective, but he wouldn't refute it.

After this sermon, which some people understood but some did not, ended, the Eucharist and Blood were distributed.

Many believers who come to the "church" do so for nothing else but the food distribution.

Different from other Christian churches.

Their church has always been quite "grand" when distributing the Eucharist.

Many times, there is no need to break bread, but instead a whole piece of freshly baked unleavened bread is simply stuffed into the hands of those participating in the Mass.

As for the holy blood, each person will be given a cup and allowed to drink it all.

But today is different. What is distributed today is not the original unleavened bread, but fermented bread.

These fermented breads are, on the whole, much softer, showing their original shape, and have the mark of the cross on them.

In fact, people rarely eat this kind of food, so they were quite surprised when they received it.

But except for Nasser, after completing these rituals, the others left the "church" directly.

Only Nasser came to the priest, helped to clean up the holy vessels, and asked about the reason for the replacement of the Holy Host.

"What's the point of asking? Isn't it enough to have something to eat? And don't you think that leavened bread is more delicious than unleavened bread?"

Nasser was speechless for a moment. It was true. Although the flour quality of the unleavened bread in the past was not bad, it became dry and hard after it got cold. It could only be eaten by boiling it in water.

And for many poor Egyptians, fuel itself is a heavy burden.

After all, there aren’t many forests in Egypt for people to collect firewood.

Nasser knew that the priest had something to say, but since he was pretending to be stupid, he did not ask any more questions.

The priest himself is of course aware of the implications of this behavior.

The difference between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church can be clearly reflected in the issue of whether to eat leavened bread or unleavened bread.

The translation of Catholic Church comes from Catholic, which means universal and general church. Therefore, Catholicism actually calls itself the Universal Church.

The word Orthodox comes from Orthodox, which means orthodox belief and correct worship.

In the early history of Christianity, there was no regulation on what kind of bread to eat; everyone ate it however they liked.

It is nothing more than that in the subsequent development process, the Roman Church believed that the Last Supper was a Passover dinner. According to the Book of Exodus, the Jews only ate unleavened bread during the Passover, so Jesus also used unleavened bread, and therefore everyone had to eat unleavened bread.

The Church in Constantinople believed that the Eucharist was not a re-enactment of the Passover, but a celebration of resurrection life.

Yeast symbolizes resurrection and the vitality of the Holy Spirit and naturally has a unique position.

Plus, fermented bread is really delicious, so more people choose fermented bread.

This matter was originally nothing, but with the great schism between the Eastern and Western churches, people became increasingly cautious after 1054.

What kind of bread you eat is equivalent to expressing your "religious" attitude.

The priest knew that his "church" was actually a branch of the Jerusalem Church. When he was preaching in Egypt, he often distributed unleavened bread, which showed that the Jerusalem Church was still heavily influenced by the Roman Church.

Now, at the request of superiors, it has been changed to leavened bread, which means that the Jerusalem Church must completely draw a line between itself and the Roman Church and become bigger and stronger in the Orthodox Church system in the future.

"That's right, Nasser."

Before ending the ceremony, the priest called Nasser again.

"What's the matter, Father?"

Nasser turned around and noticed that the other person had an expression as if he wanted to say something but hesitated.

"No, nothing... Never mind, I'll just get straight to the point."

"If you had the chance, would you join the Legion?"

The so-called joining the legion means joining the Eighth Regiment. This is not necessarily a good thing, nor is it necessarily a bad thing.

"I mean, our 'church' has some connections in the legion, and we want to expand this network, so we need some more suitable people to participate in this cause."

"You also know that it won't be long before the war breaks out."

The priest was quite old and his expression was a little stiff. In his opinion, it was quite risky to let Nasser take on such a task at this juncture.

(End of this chapter)