People in the Middle Ages, draw cards to get promoted

Chapter 570 Stability
Early the next morning.

Lothar held a grand ceremony to enter the city. Hundreds of elite armored cavalry, with the most proud attitude, surrounded Lothar, the Crusader prince who was famous even in Baghdad, and inspected the entire city of Semanud.

The citizens looked at him with fear and caution, and no one dared to look him in the eye.

Soldiers like Abdullah who knew Coptic and Saracen shouted loudly along the street: "All Christians and pagans, please listen carefully. From today on, the city of Semanud will return to the embrace of our Lord Jesus Christ. All Christians will only need to pay half of the usual taxes in the next year. Pagans do not need to worry. Our Lord allows you to remain the same. No one will be massacred, and no one will force you to convert. As long as you do not violate the laws set by the Duke, you will be protected by the Crusaders."

"Christian brothers in the city who still adhere to the old faith, we are not enemies, but compatriots. We come here to liberate you, not to enslave you!"

People often say that we should judge a person by what he does, not what he says - this sentence itself is correct, but it has become a wise saying precisely because people are accustomed to listening with their ears, rather than seeing a person's true heart over time.

The propagandists mobilized by Losa, under the protection of the guards, went to the streets and preached to ordinary people like missionaries.

After the entry ceremony, Losa returned to the Governor's Palace.

After all this, the situation in Semanude City can basically be said to have been temporarily stabilized.

In fact, as long as there is no large-scale riot on the first night, the Semanud people will basically not rebel easily again.

It's not that he is overly optimistic, but the city of Semanude is dominated by the middle class, and as we all know, the middle class is naturally compromising.

People who are barefoot are most vulnerable to oppression, but they are also the most likely to risk everything to rebel, because they have nothing to lose. On the other hand, people in the urban middle class who wear shoes find it difficult to make up their minds to rebel even if their interests are harmed.

...

At this time, Lothar was chatting and laughing with the bishop of the city of Semanud. The bishop had privately had contact with the "Dark Shadow" under Lothar's command and was warmly received by Lothar.

"Your Excellency, from today on, half of the Holy Fire Altars in Semanud will be in your charge. No one will ask the Coptic Church to merge with the Catholic Church. You can remain the same and be loyal to me alone."

The bishop said with a delighted look on his face: "Praise the Father, praise the Duke who is favored by the Father. I believe that all Christians will be overwhelmed by your achievements, and every Coptic will be excited for the true faith to recover Egypt."

Losa smiled and replied, "This is the responsibility of every devout Christian among us to expel the pagans and recover the Patriarchate. Your Excellency, I am just worried about who should be appointed as the Archbishop of Alexandria in the future?"

The bishop was excited by Losa's series of promises and repeatedly promised to spare no effort to encourage Copts to join the army and contribute taxes to support the Crusade.

Send this bishop away.

The smile on Lothar's face gradually faded. Heresy is sometimes more hateful than paganism.

For example, in the late Eastern Roman Empire, there was an attempt to unify the churches in exchange for the help of the Latins, but this was strongly opposed by the Orthodox Church in Constantinople.

They would rather accept Ottoman rule than submit to the Latins.

Although the massacre and looting of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade had already caused deep hatred between the two sides.

But Losa felt that the most important factor was that the merchants from Venice and Genoa had too many privileges in Constantinople. Not only did they have their own dedicated urban areas and a large number of colonies, but Latin merchants also enjoyed many tax-free privileges.

Domestic businessmen still need to pay taxes when doing business, but foreign businessmen do not.

How can such a country gain the support of the people?

This is also why Losa has always been wary of funding from Latin merchants and is unwilling to accept prices such as establishing trading posts and granting trade privileges in exchange for their full support.

Treaties are not something that can be signed casually.

The Latin city-state, which was founded on the navy, did have the strength to mobilize a large fleet to come and collect debts armedly.

Although Lothar was not afraid of them, he did not want to make enemies out of thin air.

Therefore, Losa has no intention of making Coptic Christians return to "orthodoxy" and only by giving them a more relaxed environment can he win the support of this group of people.

Kurs, who was hiding in the shadows, stood up after the bishop left and said with some emotion: "This guy has such a big appetite. He really dares to eat half of the altar."

Losa smiled and said, "I'm not afraid of his big appetite, but I'm afraid of his timidity. If we hand over half of the original Zoroastrian altar and part of the real estate to them, the Copts will be forced to stand on the opposite side of the Zoroastrianism."

"Now, he has no choice but to follow us."

"Koules, how do you think the administrative system of Semanud City should be rebuilt?"

Kurth hesitated for a moment, then smiled bitterly and said, "Sir, I'm afraid we'll have to rely on the locals. Most of our administrative personnel are in Damietta, unless you transfer Andreas and Mueller to the front line."

Lothar shook his head.

One of these two people is responsible for logistics, and the other is responsible for the port of Ella. These are all crucial matters, much more important than a mere city of Semanud.

He knew very well what Coors said. The biggest difficulty for him to follow the path of urban aristocrats was the lack of talent.

Although the loyalty of subordinates is important, loyalty alone without ability is not enough.

To be a good urban noble, it is definitely not enough to just be literate.

A crusader knight who is all brawn but loyal to Lothar would obviously find it difficult to be a city noble who needs a flexible brain to avoid being deceived by cunning citizens.

Unfortunately, the army under Lothar, like most armies of that era, was filled with these muscle-brained brutes.

They were heavy archers from the Eastern Roman Empire and received an excellent education, but they only knew military skills such as literacy, drawing, and drill. They had no problem being military instructors.

But it is beyond our capabilities to allow them to directly participate in urban management.

"But if the citizens govern themselves, can these citizens be trusted in a territory that has just been taken over?"

"They can't be called reliable, but for now it's enough as long as they don't cause trouble."

Losa added: "We need a big victory. As long as we defeat Adil, Egypt's fate will be sealed. If only one side is left, even fence-sitters will have to lean towards us."

Similarly, no matter what kind of administrative system Lothar builds now, if he is defeated on the battlefield, the citizens of Semanud will immediately rise up in rebellion.

Buheira.

A huge Saracen coalition has gathered here.

War is always the devil that destroys order.

Many civilians were displaced and, intimidated by the Crusaders' reputation for brutality, flocked to the city to escape the war, filling the streets and alleys with refugees.

Famine and plague, two disasters that have always accompanied war, came one after another.

While providing relief to the victims, Adil spared no effort to exaggerate the brutality of the Crusaders, at the same time urging them to have the courage to take back their homeland and recruited the best and strongest among them to join his cannon fodder camp.

Representatives of these civilians who had lost their land would stand up every day and pray that Adil would send troops as soon as possible. However, the nobles whose territories were taken away by the Crusaders were much more honest. Once they lost their territory, they also lost most of their wealth and military power. At this time, they were like wild beasts that had lost their claws, and they were afraid that Adil would find any reason to deprive them of their power.

"Master Shemaier, when will our king arrive by ship?"

The black-robed wizard said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty has his own considerations."

"I just received a military report that the gateway to the Central Delta has fallen, and Lothar has occupied the city of Semanud."

Master Shemaier said in surprise: "Governor, as I understand it, this should be a good thing. The more territory the Crusaders occupy, the more dispersed their power will be, and the more troops will be willing to gather under your command."

Adil said in a deep voice: "Master Shemaier, if the battle of this war is to be counted, it will fall on you. We are just ordinary people. If you fail, no matter how many troops you have, it will be useless."

His complexion did not look good, his beard had not been trimmed for a long time, and his eye sockets were bloodshot.

The more he learned about Lothar's past battles, the more uncertain Adil became.

The tide of war has changed.

It has become completely different from his previous era. Supernatural powers determine everything. It seems that a famous general like him is about to be abandoned by time in just half a year.

"I need a guarantee!"

Shemaier looked deeply at Adil, Saladin's trusted general and the lion of the Ayyubid family, and said after a long while: "Your Majesty's magic advisory group will defeat the Crusaders at the extraordinary level."

His voice was steady and full of confidence. "In the library of Alexandria, there are many precious books. They may be worthless to you warriors, but they are priceless to us spellcasters."

During this time, he found an extremely powerful treasure in the library. With the help of other spellcasters, he was still confident that he could defeat the Crusader Prince and the witches under his command.

"Master, if that's the case, I'm relieved."

Adil breathed a sigh of relief: "Christmas for the Crusaders is coming soon. Master Shemaier, if you have no objection, we will choose this day to fight the Crusaders!"

(End of this chapter)