I traveled with them to the Northern Song Dynasty

...

In many people's minds, the Crusades were an invasion of the enlightened, diverse, and wealthy Central Asia by the barbaric, backward, and corrupt medieval church.

In fact, this is just a misconception of these people.

The immediate trigger for the Crusades was the Byzantine Empire's appeal to the Roman Catholic Church for help in the fight against the Seljuk Turks' invasion of Asia Minor. At the Council of Clerman, Pope Urban II called for the "recapture of Jerusalem," the "liberation of Christians in the East," and the "forgiveness of the sins of all participants," thus deeply linking religious salvation with military action.

For medieval Western European believers, participating in the Crusades was a shortcut to spiritual redemption. This atonement-style religious mobilization was the core bond that united hundreds of thousands of participants: from noble knights to peasants, from feudal lords to landless vagrants, all regarded going to the East to fight as the ultimate way to practice their Christian faith and receive God's grace. Religious identity completely transcended the geographical barriers of feudal territories.

This is the fundamental manifestation of its "religious war" nature.

At the same time, the Islamic camp also responded with the banner of "jihad." Muslim forces such as the Seljuk Turks and the Ayyubid dynasty defined resisting the Crusaders as an obligation to defend the Islamic faith and protect the holy land. The religious antagonism between the two sides is the underlying spiritual logic of the conflict that has lasted for nearly two hundred years.

Stripped of its religious veneer, the Crusades were essentially a culmination of the social contradictions of medieval Western Europe and their outward transfer.

At this time in Western Europe, the feudal fief system became solidified, and the primogeniture system caused a large number of non-eldest son nobles to lose their lands and property, becoming landless knights. The lower classes faced difficulties such as land scarcity, heavy taxes, and frequent famines, and internal class contradictions and land contradictions became acute.

The Pope's launch of the Crusades could both divert violent conflicts within Western Europe to the East and expand the Roman Catholic Church's secular control over Western European countries.
Feudal nobles longed to plunder land, wealth, and slaves in the East and establish their own Eastern territories.

The merchant class, especially the Italian city-states of Venice, Genoa, and Pisa, hoped to break the Muslim monopoly on Mediterranean trade routes and seize dominance in Eastern trade through eastward conquest.

The Peasants' Crusaders, on the other hand, harbored a simple desire to escape serfdom and find fertile ground for survival.

The secular demands of different social classes, combined with religious appeals, created a bizarre synergy, turning this religious war into a "collective exodus" and "plunder" of interests in Western European society.

Judging from the actions and outcomes of the war, religious fanaticism repeatedly crossed the line of civilization, making this war full of two-way cruelty.

After the First Crusade conquered Jerusalem, a massacre was carried out against the Muslims and Jews in the city. The holy city was stained with blood, and looting and destruction became commonplace.

When Muslim forces reclaimed lost territories, they also carried out brutal reprisals against Latin states such as the County of Edessa and the County of Tripoli established by the Crusaders, with massacres and looting being commonplace.

Ultimately, the Crusades were a complex cross-cultural conflict, driven by the religious antagonism between Christianity and Islam, the shift of internal contradictions within Western European society, and a combination of secular power struggles, commercial interests, and geopolitical maneuvering.

It was neither a unilateral, barbaric invasion by the church, nor a contest of superiority or inferiority between civilizations, but rather an inevitable product of the intertwining of multiple contradictions in geography, religion, and society in medieval Eurasia.

Before Zhao Yu ascended the throne, the Crusades had already launched their first expedition to the East and established a number of Crusader states in West Asia and the southern edge of Asia Minor.

The war between the two sides has never stopped over the years.

Logically speaking, Khwarazm, as one of the powers in Central Asia, must have formed a deep-seated enmity with these Crusader states, a feud that would last until death.

However, because he hated the Song Dynasty even more, Aladdin Etsiz decided to seek help from these Crusader nations and sent people to persuade them to join forces against the Song Dynasty.

Aladdin's envoy first traveled north to Edessa to meet with Joseph I, the ruler of the County of Edessa, and said to her: "The Song Dynasty's iron cavalry has now crushed the Central Asian kingdoms, and from the Pamir Mountains to the shores of the Aral Sea, all have fallen into the Song Dynasty's territory! The Song Dynasty's military might and weaponry far surpass those of the Seljuk Turks. After conquering Central Asia, their next step will inevitably be westward, and your country will be the first to bear the brunt. You must be on guard..."

Then, turning towards Antioch, he said to Roger, the ruler of the Principality of Antioch: "Your country controls the East-West trade routes. After the Song Dynasty occupies Central Asia, it will surely want to open up the Mediterranean trade routes. At that time, all the trade routes and cities controlled by your country will be seized by the Song Dynasty. Moreover, if the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold. If the king sits idly by and watches Central Asia fall, and the Song Dynasty's iron cavalry continues to advance westward, how can your country survive alone..."

He then traveled south to Tripoli and told Count Pons, the ruler of the County of Tripoli, "Once the Song Dynasty controls Central Asia, it will monopolize the Eastern trade routes for silk, spices, and jewels. The trade alliances between you and the merchants of Venice and Genoa will be rendered meaningless due to the Song Dynasty's blockade. Only by joining forces to resist the Song Dynasty can we preserve the trade routes of the Levant..."

Finally, he entered the royal palace in Jerusalem and began persuading Baldwin II: "The Great Song Dynasty is a heretical power. After sweeping through Central Asia, it will surely see the Christian territories in West Asia as a thorn in its side and seek to completely uproot the Holy City. At that time, the holy light of Jerusalem will be obscured by the dust of the Eastern cavalry! Only by uniting the nations, understanding the principle of 'if the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold,' and working together to resist the enemy, can we protect West Asia and the Holy Land of Christ..."

The Song Dynasty's aggressiveness is beyond question. Anyone with eyes can see that Zhao Yu intends to establish numerous vassal states for his sons and enfeoff them accordingly.

The key issue is that Zhao Yu had too many sons. If each of Zhao Yu's sons had become a feudal lord, even conquering the entire world wouldn't have been enough to reward all of them.

Thus, as long as the Song Dynasty does not suffer a major setback, it will certainly continue to advance westward.

The key is to strike first; those who strike later will suffer.

Therefore, while various countries, tribes, and forces in Central Asia were at war with the Song Dynasty, a group of Crusader states decisively took action. Under the pretext of "protecting the territory of Eastern Christians," they dispatched knightly legions to advance into eastern West Asia and the edge of Mesopotamia, expanding the territory of the Crusader states and weakening the power of Islam.

In just two years, these Crusader states took advantage of the fact that the Song Dynasty was preoccupied with fighting against the Central Asian holy war forces such as Khwarazm and had no time to look westward, to gradually encroach on the remaining Seljuk territories, annex oasis city-states and trading posts, and push the eastern borders of the Crusader states significantly eastward. At the same time, they provided military equipment and supplies to the Central Asian holy war forces, using their military strength to delay the westward advance of the Song Dynasty and buy time for their own expansion.

Thus, Roger of Antioch marched eastward and seized three fortresses on the upper reaches of the Euphrates; Joseph I of Edessa took the opportunity to annex the pastures of several surrounding Turkic tribes, expanding the territory of the county by nearly a hundred miles; Pons of Tripoli controlled two commercial ports on the western coast and monopolized transit trade; and the Kingdom of Jerusalem also sent a detachment to take over unclaimed territories east of the Jordan River.

Aladdin Etsiz's envoys successfully obtained material support from the Crusader states, believing they had found allies. However, these Crusader lords never intended to truly fight the Song army to the death; they merely viewed this Sino-Japanese war as a gluttonous feast for territorial expansion and profit grabbing. As a result, the Central Asian holy war failed, Aladdin Etsiz was assassinated by Central Asians who hated the Crusaders, and the remaining resistance in Central Asia was completely wiped out. The Song Dynasty now faced off against the Crusader states.

As Zhao Yu was not directly involved in the Crusades, he didn't care who was right or wrong, who was righteous or who was evil.

Zhao Yu's attitude toward religion was consistently one of not understanding or comprehending it, but respecting it, even revering it.

It was precisely because of this attitude that Zhao Yu's principle was always that as long as divine authority did not contradict his imperial authority, his sons' royal authority, or be tainted by secular power, he would support freedom of religion.

In addition, Zhao Yu emphasized to the commanders of the Song Dynasty and his sons who wanted to become princes that they could touch and fight anywhere else, but Jerusalem was the one place they absolutely could not touch.

Jerusalem, as a holy city shared by Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, is the core flashpoint for religious conflicts in West Asia and even the entire Eurasian continent.

By avoiding contact with Jerusalem, the Song Dynasty directly avoided the risk of its expeditionary force becoming a common enemy of various religious forces.

If the Song army forcibly captures the holy city, it will not only provoke a fierce counterattack from the European Crusader nations, but also enrage the Islamic tribes such as Arabs and Persians. The nomadic forces and local governments that were originally neutral or observing will all turn to the anti-Song camp, and the Song Dynasty will be mired in an endless religious holy war, and the military achievements of the western expedition will be completely ruined.

By adhering to the bottom line of not touching Jerusalem, the core conflict of religious contradictions was isolated outside the strategic territory of the Song army, reducing the conflict between the Song Dynasty and various religions.

However, the tree may wish to remain still, but the wind will not cease.

After the Song Dynasty defeated all the countries, tribes, and forces in Central Asia, it naturally replaced the Turks as the protector of Islam.

To be honest, Zhao Yu was unwilling to get involved in this endless religious war.

On the other hand, if the Song Dynasty had taken over the power vacuum left by the various countries, tribes, and forces in Central Asia, and had taken the initiative to protect the Islamic tribes and religious groups as the maintainer of order in Central and West Asia, it could have directly and solidified the Song Dynasty's century-old foundation in the region through a series of benefits.

Conversely, if the Song Dynasty were to abandon its protection of Islamic forces, or even allow the Crusaders to suppress and massacre Muslim tribes, the Song Dynasty would instantly fall into a desperate situation of backlash from all sides, and the territory and achievements it had made in the western expedition might collapse in an instant.

To put it simply, over 90% of the people in Central Asia and Mesopotamia are Muslims, and tribes, city-states, and oasis settlements are all bound together by Islamic faith. If the Song Dynasty respected the faith of the masses and protected the Muslim community, it would directly dissolve the hostility and resistance of the conquered ethnic groups.

Furthermore, the Central Asian jihadist forces that were previously wiped out had incited rebellion under the guise of "defending Islam." With the Song Dynasty taking over the role of Islam's protector, it effectively cut off the religious pretext for local rebellion. Ordinary Muslim tribes no longer needed to worry about the safety of their faith and would naturally submit to the Song Dynasty's military and political jurisdiction. Governance measures such as tax collection, railway and highway construction, and tribal registration could be smoothly implemented without the need for the Song Dynasty to constantly station heavy troops to suppress them, thus significantly reducing the cost of maintaining stability in the region.

While the Crusader states expanded eastward under the banner of liberating Christians, their true aim was to plunder land and trade routes, and they had long since forged a blood feud with the Islamic tribes.

If the Song Dynasty were to protect Islamic forces, it could quickly gather together the remnants of the Seljuk tribes, Arab tribes, Persian nobles, and other forces, incorporating these Muslim militias into the flanks of the western expeditionary army. Leveraging their familiarity with the terrain of West Asia and their knowledge of local customs, the Song Dynasty could counter the eastward advance of the Crusader knightly legions.

At the same time, the Song Dynasty, as an "Islam protector," was able to establish diplomatic ties with the Ayyubid Dynasty of Egypt and Muslim regimes in North Africa, breaking the blockade of the Levant by the Crusader states and reopening the land trade routes from Mesopotamia to the Mediterranean coast. This allowed the profits from the trade in silk, porcelain, spices, and light and heavy industrial goods to flow into the Song Dynasty, and also built a secure passage for trade between the Song Dynasty and West Asia.

Furthermore, if the Song Dynasty sheltered Islamic forces, it would have a pretext to go to war with the West.

The Crusades were originally a pretext for religious conquest but in reality a means of plunder. The Song Dynasty, by protecting the oppressed Islamic tribes and standing on the grounds of humanitarianism and maintaining order, exposed the greed and brutality of the Crusaders to the countries of Eurasia. Fighting them was seen as "acting on behalf of Heaven," rather than simply an act of aggression.

Zhao Yu was unwilling to get involved in religious wars, but he was still very interested in conquering Europe.

Furthermore, without conquering Europe, how could Zhao Yu have enough territory to enfeoff his sons?
Crucially, Zhao Yu, who harbored deep resentment over historical events such as the Eight-Nation Alliance's invasion of Beijing and the Opium War, always wanted to give those barbaric and arrogant Western bandits a good beating.

The crucial point is that if the Song Dynasty leads the people of the Islamic world to defeat the Crusaders, they will likely completely submit to the rule of the Song Dynasty and Zhao Yu's sons who have become vassal kings here.

The temptation is undoubtedly enormous.

Furthermore, since Zhao Yu had chosen to launch a western expedition, he naturally hoped to establish a nation that would occupy most of the world's territory, just like Temujin.

And then there's the fact that Europe has countless beauties—blondes, redheads, brownheads, hot women, and women of all kinds of charm…

Zhao Yu was very vulgar, truly vulgar. As emperor, besides fulfilling his ambitions, his greatest desire was to sleep with as many beauties as possible. He not only wanted to achieve the feat of killing 100,000 people—an achievement no man in history had ever accomplished—but he also hoped that these "100,000 beauties" would be of all kinds, so that he wouldn't have lived in vain as a man.

of course!

Zhao Yu also knew that the number "100,000" was too exaggerated. After all, a long-lived person can only live for more than 30,000 days. After deducting the period of old age and childhood, there are only more than 20,000 days left. Therefore, "100,000" was just the number in his ideal. In reality, he would be satisfied if he could achieve 30 or 40%.

In short, for various reasons, Zhao Yu decided to take up the banner of holy war and go to war against the Crusaders...

...(End of this chapter)