People in the Middle Ages, draw cards to get promoted

Chapter 133 The allegiance of the vassals
Pepin rode his war horse, his head held high, before a procession of pagan pilgrims, his mount dressed in an elegant horse coat, which depicted his personal coat of arms of a red bull.

After much thought today, he still decided to withdraw from the Royal Knights and become a "Honorary Knight", that is, a nominal member. He no longer needs to fulfill his obligations and lost his "salary".

He hopes to serve Lothar and become a feudal knight.

On the one hand, he admired the lord who had led them to successive victories.

On the other hand, he believes that serving Lothar is far more promising than staying in the Royal Knights—in less than a month, Lothar was promoted from Baron to Earl of Transjordan.

If it wasn't for the age mismatch, he would have suspected that Lothar was the illegitimate son of Baldwin IV.

into the city.

Pepin was taken aback.

"Father above, this Hebron is so rich?"

Many Jerusalemites have never been to Hebron once in their lives, because it is a holy place for pagans, and it is full of pagans who should have confronted them with swords.

Bethlehem (also translated as Bethlehem) a little north is quite different. Because it is the birthplace of Jesus Christ, there is an endless stream of pilgrims every year.

Baldwin IV wanted to entrust this place to Lothar.

But after discussing with Lothar in private, he decided to abandon this idea.

Because there are many churches in Bethlehem, and there are countless properties belonging to the church, only one-third of the entire city can belong to the secular lord of Lothar.

You know, even Jerusalem has to donate a quarter of its taxes every year to the Cathedral of the Holy Sepulchre.

This is the rule established during the time of Godfrey of Bouillon, the first king of Jerusalem (who only claimed to be the guardian of the holy tomb, but he was the uncrowned king).

And Lothar, with his current strength, is impossible to start with the church's real estate.

He is not the French king who dared to bring out the prisoner of Avignon in his previous life.

The religious power in this era is still in its heyday. With the pope's order, even the emperor of Great Germania, Hohenstaufen, will be devastated.

But Hebron was different.

No matter how much he tosses about the pagan local tyrants, he will only be regarded as a "faith fanatic who has inherited his father's style."

He wants to "intensively cultivate" Hebron, develop this city full of pagans into the foundation of his own rise, and then use this to gradually control the entire earldom.

This will be a rather lengthy process.

After dealing with these internal affairs, Lothar will consider external expansion. He will not initiate border provocations like Leonard. Once he decides to fight, he must ensure that he has enough chances of winning.

"Ulm!"

At a glance, Pepin saw standing outside the lord's hall, the local tyrants who had just helped the pagans recover their arrears, and were about to return to Ulm, where they reported to Lothar.

"Pipin! Why are you here?"

Ulm surrounded him with a group of hussars.

"I quit the Knights."

Ulm was surprised and said: "How could it be? Haven't you been promoted to be the banner officer? You obviously have a bright future, why did you quit?"

"Ha, if I don't follow the lord, I always feel weak. Anyway, the lord is still the leader of the grand regiment. If I follow him, it's no different from staying in the Knights."

He talked and smiled familiarly with the hussars.

The friendship of fighting side by side on the battlefield is quite stable when there is no conflict of interest.

Ulm hurriedly said: "Follow us in, your lord is holding a banquet, and you came at the right time."

At this time, in the main hall, Lothar was having a good conversation with a baron wearing a red burqa with a golden fire dragon emblem on it.

The baron, who is said to be distantly related to the Wessex royal family of Albion, is named Argon Rudolph, and is the largest baron with real power in the Earl of Transjordan—the lord of Petra.

Also in this war with Saladin, accepting Lothar's commander, the two have a friendship of fighting side by side.

His territory was far away from Hebron, but he returned to Jerusalem with the king.

He wanted to pay a visit, but Hans told him that after learning that Lothar had rushed to the fief, he immediately led his followers and knights to follow without stopping.

When he saw Lothar for the first time, he stepped forward quickly, kissed the heraldry ring on Lothar's finger, and knelt down on one knee to show his allegiance to him.

"My lord, I, Argon of Rudolph, am willing to serve you, please accept my allegiance."

Lothar quickly helped him up, and performed a scene of "deep love between monarch and minister" with him.

This is why Lothar held a banquet.

Although he received the titles of Lord of Hebron and Earl of Transjordan, these vassals had previously pledged their allegiance to Reynard.

In other words, even if Lothar became their lord according to the law, they were still counted as Leonard's vassals before they expressed their allegiance to Lothar.

Even if they refused to fulfill their obligations to Lothar, others had no reason to blame them.

Lothar only retains the power to crusade against him, but cannot appeal to Baldwin IV, because this is already a request for the intervention of external forces, which will definitely cause a backlash and discredit him.

Because this matter itself is an internal matter of the Counties of Transjordan, once he cannot solve it by himself, he will be regarded as the king's mouthpiece, running dog and minion.

In this day and age, that's not a good reputation.

Even King Philip of Gaul is still sitting on the island of Gaul Island (the royal territory surrounding Paris, similar to Zhili Province). The vast territory beyond that is not subject to King Philip at all. control.

The nobles of this era generally believed that it was good for the king to take care of his own affairs, not to interfere in the affairs of his vassals at will, and not to summon vassals at every turn.

Encountering foreign invasion is a special case.

Therefore, Lothar's first priority now is to accept the allegiance of all vassals.

Fortunately, Lothar led the Knights of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Southern Territory to an impressive record.

Many of them naturally have a good impression of Lothar.

In addition, now, the upgraded angel statue can increase the favorability of the vassals directly under him. Therefore, the vassals who came to see him still gave Lothar a lot of face.

But giving face doesn't mean you don't despise it.

In their view, the majesty of the new lord is far inferior to the formidable Earl Leonard of the past.

But this is something to be thankful for.

No one wants to have a powerful lord on their head. As vassals, they hope to decentralize power, but as lords, they hope to strengthen their control over the knights' territories under their command.

This is human nature, and even Lothar is unwilling to let Baldwin IV meddle in the affairs of his court.

At this time, Pepin strode forward and knelt down to Lothar: "My lord, I have given up all positions and titles in the Knights, and I only wish to serve under your command."

The atmosphere in the arena became quiet.

Because they all know that they will witness a sacred ceremony of conferring knights.

Lothar didn't hesitate, even if he bought a horse bone with a thousand dollars, he had to be generous once, and he couldn't be fooled by a fief such as a mill or a bridge.

He put the sword on the opponent's shoulder and said loudly.

"Pipin, you have served under my command and made many achievements, but because you are a knight of the Royal Knights, I cannot bestow you fiefs. Now, since you choose to be loyal to me, I will seal you as Lord of the Negev."

The Negev is a village with a population of nearly six hundred and a small copper mine.

It can be regarded as a top knight fief.

Of course, after Pepin was transformed into a hussar later, he could essentially only serve as the "tax collector" of the Negev (jue).

In fact, in other words, the vassal taxes drawn by Lothar are higher, and the control over the local area is deeper.

He will not be stingy with the salary that should be given.

Although Lothar can not give a penny to the soldiers who have changed jobs, and even let them work under the command of other lords, and then transfer them to Lothar after earning money.

Capitalists will cry when they hear this.

But Lothar is not a devil!
Soldiers who have changed jobs are more loyal, which does not mean that Lothar will squeeze this loyalty.

Doesn't it become "a good man should be pointed at a gun" again?
Loyalty should be rewarded!
No matter how this loyalty comes from.

Baron Argon admired: "Knight Pepin, I remember you, you are indeed a good warrior. My lord, I must congratulate you for getting a powerful help."

Everyone reacted immediately, and congratulated Lothar with a toast.

Pretty words don't cost money, and baskets of baskets are thrown at Lothar's head. If he is not mentally tough, I am afraid that he may really get lost in people's flattery.

Things are going very well.

All the vassals saluted Lothar happily and pledged their allegiance, including those pagan tyrants, who also flattered and promised to send an extra tax at the end of the month.

No one jumped out to give Lothar a chance to slap his face.

This is also understandable.

How long has he been inviting?
To be able to come here so quickly, he already had the idea of ​​showing favor.

If you really don't want to give Lothar face, just don't come.

The host and guest enjoyed themselves, and bid farewell to these people.

Andreas said beamingly: "My lord, they brought a lot of gifts, especially Baron Argonne, who gave you ten uncastrated stallions."

Lothar smiled and said, "The head of the stable, Ryan, must be very happy. These are the first batch of stallions in the territory."

(End of this chapter)