People in the Middle Ages, draw cards to get promoted

after the war.

Jerusalem regains its former prosperity

On the streets, there were crusaders wearing burqas everywhere. They surrendered their weapons in groups and idled around the city all day long.

They are all crusaders in the Northern Expedition.

It's just that compared with the grandeur of the past, the results obtained by Regent Raymond are really lackluster.

Although there was no effective annihilation battle and several small defeats in a row, they finally recovered all the land occupied by the enemy.

On the bright side, it can also be declared that this is a big victory.

After Regent Raymond returned to Jerusalem, the ownership of the Jerusalem Knights also returned to his hands.

But after the hands of Baron Godfrey, this knight order will more or less bear his mark.

In addition, Lothar was named the Earl of Transjordan.

The Royal Party, which was originally weak, seemed to be able to keep pace with the Queen Mother's Party when Renard of Châtillon lived in Carlebourg.

In this era, the king and local vassals had both struggles and cooperation.

The vassals need a king who can eliminate the conflicts among the lords, command the army, and defeat the enemy when facing foreign enemies.

But the consensus is that no one wants a strong, iron-fisted king sitting on their head.

This is why Baldwin IV has still not announced that he has basically recovered and returned to power.

In the great hall of the palace.

Raymond sat in a chair by the king's throne.

Below, dozens of noble lords were present here.

Raymond raised his hand to signal the crowd to silence: "Today's topic is how to arrange the army of pilgrims returning to Jerusalem."

After the words fell, Palace Prime Minister Amalric immediately said: "How else can I arrange it? Take the weapons and equipment back to the warehouse, and dismiss everyone on the spot, and let them fend for themselves."

Immediately someone answered: "That's right, it is the duty of all Christians to protect the Holy Land. Do we need to pay them a severance package?"

The pilgrims were recruited to join the army, using Richard the Lionheart's father, Henry II, who pre-stored in the "holy treasury" to maintain the wealth of the next Eastern Expedition.

And the money had apparently been exhausted long ago.

It is very unrealistic to maintain such a large standing army, even Saladin could not do it.

Guy of Lusignan, the new baron of Montgissard, said, "My territory is short of manpower. I can accept a group of pilgrims as my subjects."

Several lords expressed their willingness to accept pilgrims to lead the people.

Godfrey said: "Although a peace treaty has been concluded with Saladin this time, he will not give up on recovering Jerusalem. Looking around, there are pagan territories everywhere. We are outnumbered, and we are alone and helpless. Has this war not made you realize the fact that the enemy is strong and we are weak?"

Inside the hall, there was a complete silence.

Raymond coughed lightly, and continued: "During this war, we have unearthed many brave warriors. They should not die in the fields. Your Majesty, I, and Baron Godfrey all think that they should die in the fields." From this pilgrim army, select the elite to form a new standing army directly under the kingdom."

Knowing the real core of today's "issue", the nobles shouted one after another.

"In other words, His Majesty the King wants to impose a new vassal tax on us?"

"The dispatch of troops this time happened to be when the fields were harvested. We have already paid a lot to defend the holy land."

"That's right, the armistice agreement lasts for three full years. We can write to His Majesty the Pope again after three years, asking him to order the kings to launch a new round of crusades."

A new crusade?
Among the crowd, Guy felt a little ridiculous.

In the past, he would think so too.

But this time, when Jerusalem was under threat, how long did those European kings delay their journey?

Those kings, if Jerusalem hadn't really fallen, how could they be willing to travel thousands of miles to Jerusalem to kill them?
Baron Godfrey said: "There will be two new standing armies. What His Majesty means is that he hopes that these two armies will be commanded by Lord Guy of Mongisa and Lord Reginald of Sidon respectively. "

The implication is that the Jue Party and the Queen Mother Party should maintain a standing army respectively.

This is the dangerous "contrary to the king's desire to centralize power".

The originally unanimous voices in the field began to be divided immediately.

For example, the palace minister Amalric, although his younger brother was granted the title of Mengisa and became his powerful help, but after all, Mengisa is only a small place.

It would be a great thing for him to be appointed as the commander of a new standing army.

Especially now, the well-deserved leader of the queen mother's party, Count Leonard of Transjordan, has been deposed and his influence has greatly diminished.

If he takes this opportunity to continuously expand his influence in the kingdom, he will most likely become a figurehead launched by the Queen Mother Party to compete with Regent Raymond.

Of course, this is just his imagination.

In fact, in the eyes of many people, he is just a fool who relies on his nepotism to get to the top. He neither has a rich fief nor the ability to command troops.

Just by playing tricks, he is not qualified to be compared with Regent Raymond.

And Raymond, in fact, has a very pure idea-to defend the safety of the kingdom.After this battle, he had a clearer understanding of the gap between the two forces.

Although the Principality of Tripoli is relatively independent, it is actually closely related to the Kingdom of Jerusalem. The Principality of Edessa and the Principality of Antioch, which have been conquered by pagans, are a lesson from the past.

Not to mention that as the regent, he is already half the king of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Whether the kingdom exists or not is closely related to his personal power.

But the objections of the nobles only stagnated for a moment, and then they rang out again.

The so-called two "parties" are just holding together for warmth because of their interests, and they are not really close at all.

There is no shortage of contradictions between them.

For example, two neighboring lords, today you occupy my manor, and tomorrow I rob your caravan, it is simply commonplace.

If it is in Europe, without the threat of foreign enemies like the Saracens, it is not uncommon for them to fight a few low-intensity wars for this.

"I don't think it's necessary. The brave crusaders have never been afraid of the challenges of the pagans, and, with the blessing of the heavenly father, we won again, didn't we?"

Earl Thirière from Flanders said: "I agree to form a standing army, but the leader should be changed. Guy, the lord of Mongisa, was lucky and burned Saladin's food and grass, but that It doesn't mean he has the ability to command troops."

Guy blushed with anger: "What the hell are you talking about!"

Earl Thirrier looked as usual, and snorted coldly: "That's the truth, you two brothers are just in the honor of Earl Lothar. Burning the enemy's food and grass is not only due to your credit, without you, there will be other knights .”

He still remembered Guy's insult to him back then, and this time the Northern Expedition returned without success. He hardly gained any benefits from participating in the Eastern Expedition.

He didn't want to offend the powerful Jue Dang, so he naturally wanted to take Guy to the knife.

At this time, the guards of the Royal Knights standing outside the hall shouted: "Transjordan, Lord of Hebron and Jogrysburg, Grand Master of the Royal Knights, Earl Lothar has arrived!"

The guard's tone trembled with excitement.

Lothar's legendary experience has become a household legend in Jerusalem.

According to the bards, he received the blessing of the heavenly father through prayer, which enabled the crusader knights to see things at night, adding a bit of sacred aura to him.

The faces of many lords in the hall also changed slightly at this time, wondering why the newly appointed earl ran back to Jerusalem so quickly?
Is there another plan?
Compared with before, Lothar has finally become a pivotal role in this city.

Outside the main hall, a young lord wearing a black cloak with a double-headed eagle emblem and bright plate armor strode into the hall.

As soon as he arrived, he attracted everyone's attention, and some people were even secretly thinking about whether his trip had any deep meaning.

Godfrey said with a smile: "Ha, Lothar, you came just in time. I heard that you led people to complete the feat of slaying a dragon. Tell me carefully!"

Lothar smiled and said: "It's not a feat worth mentioning, it's just a ground dragon that has no wings and can't breathe fire."

No one cares about Lothar's small actions in his own territory these days.

First, he moved so fast that the news hadn't spread; second, even if it spread, no one would care.

Hussein and Adnan are equivalent to bigger village tyrants. They do cover the sky with one hand in the local area, but to put it bluntly, they are basically useless.

The Kingdom of Jerusalem is, after all, a Christian kingdom.

The vassals who belonged directly to Lothar, that is, Transjordan, stepped forward to salute Lothar one after another. A considerable number of them were members of the Queen Mother Party.

It's just that the queen mother's party is already weak now.

Many people hope that Lothar can jump to their side and become a new leader.

There are also some people who want to follow Lothar to the Royal Party. They originally thought that there is no future for the Royal Party. After all, Baldwin IV is terminally ill.

But Lothar, the "lucky guy" who rose from a landless knight to the Earl of Transjordan like a rocket, is enough to show that their initial thoughts were completely wrong.

The centralization of the Kingdom of Jerusalem is better than most of the kings on the European continent. On the one hand, it is influenced by foreign enemies, and on the other hand, it is also because the previous monarchs of the Kingdom of Jerusalem can almost be called acting gods. This made the king of this kingdom naturally cast a sacred aura.

A king is a king after all!

As long as he survived for a day, he would still be the most prominent and authoritative feudal lord of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

Seeing Lothar showing off, Amalric was a little annoyed, but he didn't dare to say anything.

There are many people who are more displeased with Lothar than him.

But likewise, Lothar's habit of throwing gloves at every turn was widely spread along with Amalric's embarrassing experience.

They were afraid that a word would offend him, and they would throw the glove in their face. Who would have the guts to fight a duel with a legendary knight who could kill werewolves first, and then dragons?

In this regard, Regent Raymond can't compare with Lothar.

At this moment, they saw Raymond standing up on his own initiative and walking towards Lothar for a chat, and they were even more shocked. They thought that Lothar was just a lucky guy who got the title of short earl by stepping on dog shit. , with a deeper understanding.

"Lothar, your performance in Kaleburg is very good. To be honest, when I know that you have achieved such a huge result, even I feel a little envious."

Lothar smiled and said humbly: "Sir, if you didn't hold back the Saracens' offensive from the north, even if we won some small victories here, it would not be worth mentioning. If you want to say envy, there is really no need, because The results you have achieved are obviously better than mine."

Raymond laughed and said: "I'm talking about envy, not envy you, but envy your father Werner, even if I am better than him in everything, the only thing is that I am far from being able to compare with him. That is to have such an outstanding son."

The two of them bragged about each other's business, which made some confused people realize the prestige of Lothar in the kingdom now.

"If you have any difficulties, feel free to come to me. As a lord, the difficulties you have to face are not only pagan enemies, the most deadly is the backstabbing from your back."

Lothar was slightly taken aback.

Regarding Raymond's beautiful words, which were obviously intended to win over, he felt an unusual aura.

Could it be that Raymond knew that in the territory, those local tyrants were preparing to attack him?

That's fast enough!
"My lord, thank you for your warning, but I don't think those bedbugs hiding in the gutters and the rats that only dare to shuttle in the sewers can pose any threat to me."

Raymond nodded and said: "It seems that I am overthinking. An outstanding commander should be able to consider these things."

He paused slightly, and said again: "Count Lothar, what do you think about the kingdom's plan to form two new standing armies?"

As the great lord in the kingdom, nominally second only to Earl Raymond, Lothar's will also has a decisive weight at this moment.

Lothar glanced at Baron Godfrey, and didn't communicate with him and the king when he came, so he didn't know what roles these two played.

See Godfrey nodded slightly.

Lothar said: "I thought this matter should have been very clear. In this war, haven't everyone seen the gap between the enemy and us?"

"We tried our best to gather 100 troops, because the total population of the kingdom does not exceed [-] million, and half of them are pagans who do not need to perform military service."

"As for Saladin, he simply summoned an army of [-] troops to attack us from two directions."

Lothar looked at the crowd, with a hint of sarcasm in his tone: "I know that many people still have the idea that the Crusader knights can easily overwhelm the slave cavalry, but the Saracens are not static, they will also learn .”

"Presumably this time, you also realized that their Mamluk cavalry is very different from the previous Gulam, didn't you?"

Raymond was deeply convinced of this: "Yes, I never expected that the cavalry formed by the pagans with slaves could compete with our noble knights."

"Yes, my lord, they were born as slaves, but they have been influenced by the scriptures of Zoroastrianism since they were young, and they have been trained in martial arts since childhood like the knights. They are weaker than our knights for no reason."

The two of you sing together, which means that the two biggest lords in the kingdom have decided to join forces to implement the resolution of forming a standing army.

Plus Lord Godfrey and the King behind the scenes.

There is no suspense in this court meeting.

After the meeting is gone.

Lothar ordered one of the hussars under his command: "Send someone to send a set of refined plate armor to Earl Raymond."

Another set, which he intended to give to Lord Godfrey.

It's a gift, not a sale.

On the one hand, it was a show of goodwill. On the other hand, the two most prominent lords in Jerusalem had put on the refined plate armor produced by Hebron. There was no better advertising space than this.

Baron Godfrey punched Lothar's chest, and let out a dull echo: "Okay, even Raymond wants to win you over, how does it feel?"

"How does it feel?"

Lothar asked knowingly.

"Of course, how does it feel to be the Earl of Transjordan?"

"Being praised, listening to flattery every day, countless people want to please me-tsk, to be honest, if this feeling is not good, it is farting."

Lothar smiled and said: "But Lord Godfrey, I always remember what you told me before we parted, don't worry that I will get lost."

"If you can say that, I'm relieved."

"Let's go, let's go to see His Majesty together."

After Baron Godfrey finished speaking, he nodded to Banruo, Fringila and Jeanne respectively, and then led Lothar into the long corridor leading to the king's bedroom.