A Guide to Becoming a God Starting from a Monastery

"You're here, so you know what this place is for. So, what do you need?"

As expected...After the Battle of Smyrna, the entire structure of the city was turned upside down. The old ruling class was completely expelled.

The business of Wolf's Den was also inevitably affected.

This is why the wolf leader is so easy to talk to. Even if people have no money, they still have to eat!

If it were normal, it would be more likely that the leader wolf would take out weapons.

"I want this." Thomas pulled a small booklet of only two or three pages from his pocket.

This is a list of intelligence he needs in the near future.

Including the so-called Wolf God, the war situation between the Sultanate of Rum and the Buyid Dynasty, and some other intelligence from Africa.

There were a lot of them, but they weren't difficult to find. They weren't the kind of information that was extremely confidential (by Wolf's Den standards).

Especially the Wolf God.

It's really uncomfortable to be staring at a bomb that could explode at any time.

Although the intelligence the Pope had brought was comprehensive, Thomas still felt it was insufficient. After all, the more you know about the enemy, the better.

"This one is available... this one is available. This one won't work. We need time to investigate..." said the wolf leader after reading the booklet.

"can."

"Two hundred florins each." The wolf leader asked tentatively.

Thomas pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket.

It was a very comprehensive document for withdrawing money—a document for withdrawing money from the Jewish side. Basically, you could withdraw money anywhere there was a Jewish community.

The leader took the withdrawal documents, said "Please wait", and went upstairs.

A short while later, he came over with a pile of document scrolls and booklets.

The two parties quickly completed the transaction and agreed on the time for other intelligence.

Within four months, Wolf's Den will have the intelligence ready.

In this way, the last worry of the expedition was gone.

The next step was to lead the fleet to Acre and join forces with Pierre's Knights Templar. Together they would plunder... no, fight for Christ!

Chapter 165 Expedition 2

In the conference room, Thomas spread out his map.

His finger pointed to a point on the map.

Everyone's eyes were focused on where his finger was pointing.

"Here is our first target, Tunisia!"

Tunisia is located at the northernmost tip of the African continent, separated from Sicily by only the short Tunis Strait, and controls the throat of the Eastern and Western Mediterranean.

This area has a typical Mediterranean climate, with hot and dry summers, warm and humid winters, and abundant annual rainfall, making it suitable for living.

But it has an older and more famous name: Carthage.

A long time ago, the Phoenicians from the Syrian coast sailed here. They took advantage of the excellent natural conditions and geographical location here to build a city. By developing maritime trade, they eventually developed the city into a famous country - Carthage.

Unfortunately, after the three Punic Wars, Carthage was conquered by Rome and became part of Rome, called the province of Africa.

Later, the Crescent Cult rose to prominence and launched a massive conquest. The Eastern Roman Empire suffered repeated defeats, and the entire province of Africa soon fell. From then on, this fertile land came under the rule of the Crescent Cult.

Currently, Tunisia is ruled by the Hafsid dynasty, whose capital is Tunis. The ruler is an elderly monarch named Abu.

He didn't achieve anything particularly outstanding in his life, he could only say that he defended his own country.

Everyone looked at the map without saying anything, but their eyes unconsciously turned to the gloomy face on the other side.

The two group leaders are completely two different types of people.

One is an ambitious young man, the other is a gloomy middle-aged man like a sculpture.

It is hard to imagine that two knightly orders could launch an expedition under the leadership of two such people.

Although the Knights of Rhodes Island sent out their main force (navy) on this expedition, the Knights Templar also invested a considerable amount of effort.

They prepared an army of five thousand.

For the Knights Templar, this was practically all the available mobile forces they had. In this respect, Pierre's sincerity was sufficient.

He was sincere enough, but everyone knew that he was not very optimistic about this great expedition.

It's an adventure and a gamble.

The Knights Templar had to do this in order to work together, or in order to borrow the artifact.

It would be better if you could avoid taking risks.

"From here... it's a long way over there," Pierre said. "After Crete, there might be no more resupply stops! Crete is a Venetian colony, and the Venetians are unreliable. They might refuse."

The navigation capabilities of ships in this era were actually very poor. They basically had to sail close to the coastline and could not go in a straight line like the ships in Thomas' previous life.

"So we're going straight ahead without stopping," Thomas replied. "Even if they accept our request for supplies, they'll leak this information. By then, the Crescent Moon Cult will probably be ready!"

"The difficulty... Food is easy, but what about the fresh water on the ship? If I remember correctly, the fresh water can only be guaranteed to be fresh for two weeks."

One of the biggest difficulties encountered while sailing is drinking water.

This problem cannot be solved by simply installing a few more containers on the ship. In fact, if it is ordinary water, it will become rancid and undrinkable due to bacterial growth within a few days, let alone two weeks.

But adding a little vinegar can extend the shelf life to two weeks.

Fresh water storage has always been a very serious problem in navigation. In Thomas's memory of his previous life, during the Age of Exploration, in order to solve this problem, the crew chose to drink alcohol - or mix smelly water with alcohol to drink.

That's why, in that era, crew and drunk were basically synonymous!

"I have a way." Thomas has experience in this area.

Although there were no seawater desalination equipment like the ships of his previous life, Thomas had at least experienced the information age in his past life and had acquired some strange knowledge. Therefore, he still remembered how to preserve fresh water.

By boiling water before pouring it into a container, mixing it with a little alcohol and adding a small amount of olive oil to block out the air, you can easily extend the shelf life of fresh water to several months.

"And scurvy..." Thomas said. "I have a solution for that."

People at that time did not know that the root cause of scurvy was a lack of vitamin C, but Thomas knew. Not only did he know, he also knew how to solve the problem.

Nothing much, just some lemons... lemons keep for a long time. But even if the lemons don't keep, I can still take some beans and sprout them along the way.

"Master Thomas, how do you want to solve this problem?" someone asked curiously.

“Christ gave me a revelation,” Thomas replied with a smile.

Fresh water and sepsis were the two biggest enemies of the expedition, and after these two problems were solved, Pierre didn't think about saying anything.

He gently lifted his long hair from his forehead. For a moment, his eyes turned completely black. With these black eyes, Pierre looked at Thomas with a melancholy look.

He saw the mighty fortress towering between heaven and earth, the banner of the Knights of Rhodes fluttering overhead. And there stood Thomas, the young, proud, and ambitious Grand Master, all alone, gazing at the castle from afar at the end of the road. Then he rode away, alone, along the long, lonely road. His desolate figure cast a long shadow against the setting sun.

He succeeded, and he failed!

He had to leave.

This is the end of Thomas.

A very ironic ending.

If he had a choice, he believed that Thomas would choose to die on the battlefield rather than leave in such a miserable way.

Over there, an officer was actively asking Thomas for advice on how to solve the scurvy problem caused by freshwater storage.

This is normal, every naval officer cares about these two things.

In fact, these two things were like two shackles on the sailors' heads, and no one wanted to cut them off.

Pierre's eyes passed over him, just a glance.

He saw his broken body bobbing in the waves. Blood dyed the water red. This was his end.

Those who kill with the sword will die by the sword.

Another person who is helpless.

Pierre said nothing, sadness and brokenness overtaking him once again.

Everyone is like this... everyone is like this. Is justice and redemption just a fantasy in the mind? Is nothing in this world trustworthy?

Even Christ?

We are living in a nightmare, he whispered to himself. Nightmares are like the mottled shadows cast by trees on the wall at midnight. They are everywhere.

His shoulders slumped, and then, vaguely, he heard exclamations of "Grandmaster!"

Chapter 166 Expedition 3

"I'm fine," Pierre tried to look up and shook himself.

He didn't want to use his power, not even once if he could help it.

But this time it was impossible, because he had to be responsible for the 5,000 soldiers of the Knights.

The cost of using power is heavy, and it will make his mind unstable, making him sentimental, gloomy and depressed.

Well, for a knight, it's not normal to have these qualities. Only a poet would have them.

No one else has the same power as him, so they cannot see those nightmares and naturally cannot know the sadness in his heart.

On the other hand, Thomas had already begun to explain his overall concept and the Star-Moon Cult cities that were included in the prey list.

But Pierre just listened to the other party's long speech casually.

When you understand the ending, sometimes you really don’t care about the process.

Thomas's first target in this expedition was the Hafsid dynasty in Tunisia, but this was only the first prey. His real target was the city of Ceuta.

Ceuta, a commercial and military stronghold of the Crescent Moon in North Africa, enjoyed a crucial strategic position. Located at the southernmost point of the Strait of Gibraltar, it straddles the eastern and western borders of the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, connecting Western Europe and North Africa with a mere 12 nautical miles of water.

A place of great wealth but little defense.

This is also the last stop of this expedition.

Along the way, Thomas hoped to attack the cities of the Crescent Moon Cult one by one.

But Thomas did not want to engage in a siege that would result in heavy casualties. In fact, except for Ceuta, which he had to attack, he hoped to resolve the issue of other cities in a peaceful way.

The troops arrived at the gates of the city, then extorted a "ransom fee" and left.

Just collect some money and leave...what a naive idea.

All we can say is that Grand Master Thomas is still hopelessly naive. He still hopes to suppress the Crescent Moon Cultists through negotiations rather than solving the problem with fire and sword.

Of course, many people were already raising objections, but Thomas insisted on negotiating peace. He advocated using the power of the bloody cross flag to try to deploy troops outside the city and use threats to force them to submit.

It was a cliché, nothing new. This made Pierre feel sleepy, and he couldn't help but wonder if he had been so naive all those years ago.

Until the comrades around him fell one by one... I don’t know how many people died, the naive self finally gave up!

If he had two divine weapons, he would use them to crush all his enemies without hesitation!

No excuses were necessary. Thomas still didn't understand that mercy and forgiveness would only embolden his enemies, and that only ruthless judgment could bring justice.

He could almost imagine the disappointment on Thomas' face when he had to let his soldiers engage in street fighting in the future.

Guys who are particular about form always want to exchange a small amount of blood for a large number of sacrifices.

Unfortunately, this was a mistake.

But the Knights must pay for Thomas' naiveté, for he possesses two artifacts.

As for why Thomas chose Ceuta... the reason is very simple.

Because Thomas had reached an agreement with the Portuguese.

The Portuguese would take over Ceuta after the expeditionary force left.

As for why the Knights of Rhodes were able to collude with the Portuguese, it is actually very simple.

Because the two sides have economic and trade exchanges, or in other words, an agreement to purchase weapons and equipment.

Every now and then a ship would arrive at Rhodes Island—of course it wasn't Rhodes Island now, it was Smyrna—to deliver the purchased weapons.