kingdom of nations

Chapter 73: To Egypt! (4) (Special thanks to the leader Mo Yexiang for the extra update!)

"Although I know that some families will intentionally or unintentionally ignore and alienate their youngest children," Heraclius said, "I didn't expect them to ignore you to this extent."

Longinus smiled bitterly. Some lords always suffered from having no boys or too few boys, but his father suffered from having too many boys. He had seven boys and four girls.

His territory was not rich, and he could not even achieve the goal that had almost become a rule - that is, after supporting the eldest son to ascend to the throne, he would continue to pave the way for the second and third sons in the church and other lords' castles - when Longinus was born, his mother was old and had no affection for this unexpected youngest son. She even called him a sin.

At this time, his eldest brother was already married and his nephew was one year older than him.

Heraclius said this because he had asked Longinus before. His father did not receive the blessing of God, but his eldest brother received the favor of the saint. Although it was not much, it was enough for him to protect the family from falling from the current class. Perhaps for this reason, Longinus' father put all his chips on this eldest son.

But as the eldest son who has been "blessed", he did not reveal a single detail about the true situation of the "selection ceremony" to his younger brother. This person's character is really worrying.

As for the others, even without Heraclius' reminder, after becoming squires and being able to walk out of the castle and interact with other knights, Baldwin and Cesar were too lazy to listen to those boasts that were simply a combination of the Bible and myths and legends.

Those knights and monks blessed by God either said that they fought a dragon as big as a mountain for three days and nights, or that they were tempted by seventy-two succubi but still maintained their chastity - completely ignoring the fact that all the "selection ceremonies" were held in churches.

But this is also human nature. If there are only a few people who are blessed by God and favored by saints, people may exalt them and regard them as new "saints". But when this situation becomes more and more common, and it seems that there will be more of it in the future, they will regard each other as competitors. What's wrong with being able to eliminate a future enemy?
Therefore, getting the truth from these people was harder than fetching water from hell. Longinus had tried to ask them several times, including the priests he escorted and the knights he rescued. But after hearing several jokes in a row, he felt that he was the joke and never asked again.

Later, he felt that he was a sinner and no longer dared to have such fantasies.

"So I am..." Longinus asked dryly.

"Yes, you are blessed, you are a knight of God," Heraclius asked curiously. "Why do you look unhappy?"

"I don't know," Longinus croaked. "I don't know, sir. I saw no light, heard no music, I just slept."

"Who are you comparing yourself to? Cesar or Baldwin?" Heraclius asked in surprise. "You don't think that the favor they received is shared by everyone."

"Of course not, but..."

"This is a mistake," Heraclius said. "That's not sleep (he couldn't help but curse Longinus's elder brother again). That's gratitude. You followed Saint Barabbas, and when he bestowed his favor on you, it might not have lasted long. The priests were outside the door and didn't notice it, but then you must have really fallen asleep..."

If Longinus had been guided by his brother, he would have known that he was chosen when Saint Barabbas said his name, instead of simply treating it as a dream and continuing to sleep unconsciously. As a result, when the priests opened the door, they saw that Longinus was not praying devoutly, but was sleeping soundly. It is no wonder that they were angry.

This kind of situation actually happened before, but the children who were chosen by chance would always be confused, but when they returned to the castle and their parents, they would always show something unusual - and what Longinus met were three despicable Crusaders and a Saracen.

He suspected that his survival was due to the protection of Saint Barabbas. He even tried to call upon the saint's name again, but Heraclius restrained him. "Don't trouble us," he said. "You will be carried on a stretcher with the procession for the next few days."

While Cesar was busy with his work, he was still keeping an eye on Longinus. When he heard that Longinus had failed and had left the church but had not returned to the castle, he immediately went out to look for him.

Fortunately, the place where Longinus had the accident was not far from the church. The bath was originally built by the Saracens to clean the bodies of believers from afar, which was the same as the Pool of Siloam under the Temple Mount. The Saracen also pulled him up.

"Have you seen the Saracen?"

"No," said Longinus, "but he is certainly not an ordinary man."

Heraclius nodded. "I examined the Crusader's body. He had been slashed many times with great force. His mail was damaged and his bones were broken, but the fatal wound was a cut throat. The man stepped on him with one foot and then cut his throat with a scimitar..."

"I heard the knight begging for mercy and asking for last rites, but the Saracen refused. He asked if the knight had ever asked the Saracen to pray."

"There are merciful knights who, if conditions permit, will let their enemy, even a Saracen, make a final prayer to their gods, but that guy is definitely not among them." Heraclius said affirmatively. Indeed, a knight who is willing to show mercy to his enemy will not engage in looting and raping women.

Just like Cesar, he would soon become a knight, but if you said he would become a man like Walter, Heraclius would never believe it.

"How is my master?" asked Longinus. This question made Heraclius look a little worried.

------

Amalric I's decision to launch his expedition in September was a carefully considered decision. By the time he set out in September, assembled his army in Gaza and began his expedition, it would already be October. The Nile River's flooding had ceased, and the army no longer had to worry about flooding. Furthermore, Egypt's harvest took place in June and July, but if they had attacked then, the Crusaders would have still needed to hire farmers to harvest. By this month, the wheat and rice had already been harvested, dried, and threshed. With all the grain safely stored in warehouses, it was time to begin planting. If they failed to plant by then, the farmers would have starved to death the following year.

Therefore, their resistance will not be too serious, and they will only beg for some food and seeds to be left to them - as long as they are properly controlled, there will not be too many desperate actions such as killing livestock and burning food.

Of course, no one knows what the Crusaders will do.

In order to avoid excessive consumption and loss of personnel during the expedition, Amalric I had to start holding tournaments and hunting competitions frequently. Each tournament had a considerable bounty, and there were also beautiful and elegant ladies - that's right, in the battle between Amalric I and the Templar Walter, the ladies should not appear, only courtesans would follow the army.

But it was different in the holy war, because each expedition would take two to three years, and some knights and lords' wives protested that if they were not allowed to be with their husbands to have children (only armed monks needed to abstain from sex), what would they rely on to survive if their husbands died.

The church was finally forced to compromise and said that because the war against pagans was sacred, wives were allowed to accompany the army.

Some Crusader knights did return home with their wives and children.

So after staying in Gaza Rafa for a while, the tents of the nobles from Frank, Apennines and Hungary became more colorful. Of course, these noble ladies could not come here alone, and they also brought their maids and servants.

The blooming of these beautiful flowers did calm the anger of many young warriors. They no longer cared about a piece of bread or a bowl of soup, nor did they try to leave the camp to burn, kill and loot around. After all, violating pagan women instead of killing them would be suspected of being lacking piety or self-control.

There was also less friction between them. It wasn't that they were no longer eager to fight, but that they could spend their energy on martial arts competitions and hunting competitions. After all, these competitions would have rewards and the smiles of the ladies. Being able to kiss their fingers was better than anything else, wasn't it?
However, whenever there was a tournament or a hunting meet, Baldwin and Cesar had to appear. Their reputation had long spread beyond the Holy Land. Everyone knew that King Amalric I had an heir favored by St. George and a servant favored by St. Jerome. They swore to each other that they were brothers without blood ties, like gems inlaid in gold, complementing each other, making it difficult to know which one to cherish.

They served the king, and were sometimes loaned out to serve a noblewoman. Of course, they weren't used as servants, but more as decorations. Cesar received particularly much attention, so much that it troubled Heraclius. Although Baldwin's illness could be considered a reason, and he didn't need the favor of a noblewoman, but...

"They spend too much time around women. It's time to let them go meet the Saracens." When the king said this, Heraclius was not surprised at all. He just thought, he's finally here. He bowed and accepted the order, and went to inquire if anything had happened recently.

The Saracens did not sit idly by and watch the army advance. They kept setting up obstacles and harassing them, but to no avail.

"I was just about to tell you," Count Raymond, who was being questioned, said with a cold expression, "We need some people to take revenge."

----

Damara threw herself into Cesar's arms and burst into tears.

When Baldwin and Cesar were called to the edge of the camp, they didn't know what was going on. They saw some knights gathered in one place. Some were shouting angrily, some were kneeling on the ground and praying to God, and some were tearing their robes and raising their fingers to swear.

When they came over, someone shouted, "Here comes Prince Baldwin!"

So everyone made way for them, and at the end of the path were several corpses covered with cloaks and flags.

Damara was crying on one of the corpses. When she saw Cesar, her first reaction was to rush over, tightly pull his sleeve, and drag him to the corpse: "It's...it's...it's Elena." She cried breathlessly, almost suffocating, but still insisted: "She was killed, killed..."

The knight on the side came forward and told them what had happened before.

Elena was the noble lady who had been shopping in the market with Gerard de Redfort. She was several years older than Damara and had married a Crusader knight after Amalric I married the Byzantine princess.

She couldn't bear to leave her husband on this expedition, and her husband couldn't bear to leave her either. They had no children, so she followed.

Just a few days ago, Elena and several other noble ladies went out for a horseback ride with the knights who were guarding them. On their way back, they saw a dense fig forest with deep purple fruits as numerous as the stars in the sky. The knights went in and picked some fruits for them to quench their thirst.

Unexpectedly, a group of Saracens suddenly rushed out from inside. They shamelessly ambushed the knights, killed them and kidnapped Elena and other noble ladies.

Elena's husband immediately led people to search, but found nothing. He hurried to find the king and begged him to negotiate with the locals. He wanted his wife back even if he had to exchange her for a box of gold. But before they found the culprit, Elena and the other ladies were all back - with their heads and bodies separated.

"She, she..." Damara sobbed, pointing at the corpse and unable to continue. But the knight who had been standing beside the corpse - who should be Elena's husband - bowed to Baldwin: "If you want, no," he said, "you should see her body."

He lifted the cloak that covered the body.

(End of this chapter)