Crusade against the Pope

Chapter 9 Plan
For Guillis, in fact, the princes and nobles of the Kingdom of Jerusalem were no different in essence from Saladin in his eyes.

The biggest difference between the two is that one believes in Christ and the other believes in the Sealed Prophet. They even obey the same god.

Therefore, Gailis could watch the destruction of the former Kingdom of Jerusalem without any burden. After all, it was just a group of Muslim feudal lords replacing a group of Christian feudal lords.

But in Gellis's opinion, instead of tearing each other's flesh and blood for the benefit of the feudal lords and being carried away by so-called religious beliefs, why don't the people point their spearheads at more core things?

For example: the feudal system itself.

After integrating the memories of his previous life, Gailis had to admit that a little ambition had arisen in his heart.

This ambition is not about building an ideal society or seeking hegemony, but simply an urgent hope that society can progress faster and faster.

Just like the Taiping Rebellion in later generations, Gailis not only wanted to overthrow the existing feudal dynasty, but also to propose a new program, build a new system, and bring a new style to the world.

To this end, Gellis was willing to take advantage of the conflicts between the feudal lords and to package himself as another prophet.

He needs to do his best to mobilize all the forces he can access and use to push the progress of the times a few steps faster.

In Gelis's grand plan, the destruction of the old Kingdom of Jerusalem was necessary.

Because only when the rotten big tree in the past falls down completely can it provide nutrients to the new saplings, allowing them to thrive in the sun, wind and rain.

The conquest of the holy city of Jerusalem by Saladin also meant that the feudal order established by Christian aristocratic lords over the past ninety years was broken.

The feudal order of the Kingdom of Jerusalem would enter a blank window of chaos before Saladin re-established the Muslim iqta feudal order he represented.

By making good use of this window period, Garys will have plenty of ways to expand his power without having to compete with other feudal lords.

As for whether watching the demise of the Old Kingdom of Jerusalem would lead to the loss of both sides and the failure of Garys's career, he felt that this was unlikely to happen.

To be honest, the Muslims in the Middle East at this time were truly the military low point of the Eurasian continent, being either attacked by the violent Crusaders or by the Turkic peoples.

Whenever a nation in East Asia that failed in internal circulation migrates westward and is converted to Islam, when those nations open their eyes to the world, they will be surprised to find that the Muslims who preached to them are not very good at it...

Then those nations will come to the conclusion: Instead of being inward-looking in East Asia, it is better to march into Baghdad. It is easier to seize the Arab Caliph than to seize the emperor of the Celestial Empire.

Historically, a year later, Saladin did destroy the main force of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, but it seems that was the only military highlight in Saladin's life.

When Saladin destroyed the main force of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and then conquered the holy city of Jerusalem, the enthusiasm for jihad in the Muslim world began to wane, and the military strength showed a trend of declining at the speed of light.

So much so that three years after conquering the holy city of Jerusalem, Saladin still failed to completely destroy the debris of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, leaving only a bunch of cities, castles and various resistance forces.

When 1191 came, Richard the Lionheart landed in the Holy Land, and Saladin began a new round of beatings, which ultimately forced the great ruler Saladin to fail in his attempt to expel the pagans and recover the Holy Land.

All that remained was a crippled Kingdom of Jerusalem.

Based on these circumstances, Gairis was confident that he could make clever use of the crisis of Saladin's conquest of Jerusalem, thus laying a solid foundation for future development.

"So what are you going to do?" Isabella was already attracted by Gellis's description of the future crisis. After all, this concerns the future of Jerusalem, the future of her mother and stepfather. "First, I plan to give that guy Reynard a gift."

At the mention of causing trouble for Reynard, Isabella became interested and looked up at Garys with a look of deep curiosity.

Gellis stepped aside and sketched a watermill on the riverbank.

"There are actually quite a few villages nearby. These villages need to pay various taxes to Reynard every year. It is far from being a paradise."

"Among the many taxes, some are imposed openly, while others are unwritten rules, such as the milling fee."

As soon as Garys started talking, Isabella already knew what Garys was going to do.

Exploitation in feudal society is a technology. Simply collecting taxes in kind cannot actually meet the high war expenses of the feudal lords.

By monopolizing all production and living materials in their own territories and selling franchised trading rights to specific merchants and craftsmen, feudal lords were able to achieve more efficient secondary exploitation.

The same is true of mills. Feudal lords would implement a monopoly policy in their own territories, forcing their subjects to process grain in fixed mills.

Of course, these mills would not provide processing services to the people for free, but would charge high grinding fees.

What does the effort of the villagers to walk more than ten miles to grind a few bags of wheat have to do with the lord? Who made you unlucky to be born in a village far away from the lord's mill?

This is life!

God's will can actually explain why some people are born with a golden key, and why some people are destined to work endlessly for a bite to eat all their lives.

As for why the people did not build mills themselves, it was because building mills was a technical job that ordinary farmers did not know how to do. Secondly, they had to ask the lord whether the sword in his hand agreed.

But it just so happens that Gillis can solve both of these problems.

Drawing a sketch of a water mill and studying the technology required was easy for Gellis, but what about the sword in Reynard's hand?
He didn't come to cause trouble for Garys, but Garys was planning to take the initiative to cause trouble for him. He is not a coward at all.

As long as there is a more convenient mill that charges a lower grinding fee, we can start from the smallest details, win over the hearts of the surrounding people, and use this as a starting point to build a new community.

"However, some things still need to be considered in advance. Although the terrain here is neither too big nor too small, and the water flow is neither too fast nor too slow, it is just right for building a water mill. But the hydrological environment will also change."

"In the Dead Sea area, rainfall increases in spring and winter. The water level of the river in front of us will rise and the flow rate will also increase. If the technology is not up to standard and we just want to make things simple, even if we really build a water mill, it will break down in no time."

Garys spoke with great interest, and when he noticed that Isabella was listening very attentively, he had an idea that could help Isabella better integrate into the group.

"Are you interested in designing a water mill that can adapt to the changing hydrological conditions here? I mean a water mill that can be used during both high and low water seasons, regardless of whether the water flow is fast or slow."

Gailis's words made Isabella hesitate for a moment, and then the girl nodded with a resolute expression. It couldn't be said to be a coincidence, but it could only be said that as a member of the royal family of Jerusalem, the education she received must have included some engineering.

　Today's update is complete, I'm going to run a takeaway
　　
　
(End of this chapter)