People in the Middle Ages, draw cards to get promoted

Chapter 636 Refugees and Property

The war caused Semanude to become overcrowded.

This place is crowded with country people who have fled here to escape the war. The stench is overwhelming, their eyes are numb, and their pitiful belongings are piled up in the streets and alleys.

The city dwellers despised these country bumpkins, but were powerless to question the Duke's order to let them into the city. They could only watch the scene coldly, while keeping a close eye on their private property. Those who could afford it even raised a few vicious dogs and tied them in the yard to guard their homes.

They were not only on guard against the so-called "rednecks", but also against the poor and dishonest pilgrims.

"These damned rednecks, damned Frank thieves!"

"If this continues, there will be a plague in the city."

"God, no matter who wins, the war should end as soon as possible."

Most of the locals were in panic. They did not have the enthusiasm of the Crusaders, and they would not gain much no matter who won the war. Many people were willing to accept Lothar's rule, but that did not mean they were willing to take up arms and fight for Lothar.

Anyone can rule this city as long as they can keep the fighting out.

The "country bumpkins" were filled with despair. The Black Gurams did not show any mercy to them just because they were Saracens or Copts. They robbed and killed these pure mercenaries, even if they were subjects of other Saracen lords, not to mention the traitors who "defected" to the enemy.

The earliest group of people saw their villages burned down, their property looted, their women raped, and their men massacred. These bloody evidences forced them to abandon their homes and move to the city where they could not survive.

The monks of the Order of Saint Lazarus distributed some relief food every day, but it was just enough to fill their stomachs.

They have no place to live and can only sleep on the streets. The numerous rules in the city make them feel at a loss - these days, there are even cases of people being beaten with sticks by patrol police for urinating and defecating in public.

Suddenly, someone exclaimed: "The Duke is here!"

The remaining hope flashed in the eyes of these stiff and numb people. Many refugees stood up and tried to cry out about the ugliness, cruelty and hatefulness of the "enemy", hoping that their new lord could take back their homes as soon as possible.

"Go away, you damned country bumpkin! Don't block me from admiring the Duke's heroic figure."

One pilgrim was suffocated by the stinking crowd of refugees.

"We also want to pay homage to His Excellency the Duke!"

"We are also subjects of His Excellency the Duke."

A few refugees who were fluent in Frankish and probably belonged to the gentry class shouted: "How dare you bully and insult your poor Christian brothers whose homes were destroyed by the pagans in this sacred place?"

The pilgrims were speechless and started to curse: "You damned heretics! The Duke is the protector of us Germans, not the protector of you Copts."

A Coptic priest held up the distinctive cross and responded: "You shallow fool, the Duke is the universal monarch, the protector of all his subjects regardless of their ethnicity."

The pilgrims were silenced and soon squeezed out of the procession.

From a distance, one could see Duke Lothar riding on a tall horse and wearing a golden mask. Behind him followed the famous Winged Hussars, and heavily armored foot guards blocked the sides of the road.

"May God have mercy on us, may the Holy Father and the Son have mercy on us, and forgive the sins of the world."

"Brothers of Christ, please let me pass. I have been to the tomb of St. James in Santiago. No one is more pious than me. Please let me touch the stirrup of the Duke up close!"

A devout pilgrim rushed over and fell under the hooves of Eclipse's horse.

Eclipse snorted in dissatisfaction, and white smoke with a sulfur smell came out from the gaps in his helmet. If this guy did anything out of line, it would crush his head with one hoof.

The pilgrim kept making the sign of the cross on his chest: "Your Highness, my wife and I sailed from Aragon, passed through Sicily and came to the Holy Land. She is a good Christian, a well-known devout believer, and the neighbors all praised her. But we encountered the devil at sea, those Berber pirates, they... They violated my wife, God, it was a terrible nightmare, but she is still chaste, right?"

Mordel raised his axe, looking impatient:
"Get out of the way. Everyone who comes to the Holy Land has their own story. But my Lord is not a priest and has no obligation to listen to your confession. He has a more important mission, the great mission of driving out the pagans with spear and sword."

"Well, let him continue."

Lothar stopped Model and said, "She was forced to do it, and no one can blame her for it."

"But my poor wife still committed suicide by jumping into the sea."

The pilgrim covered his face and cried bitterly: "She will go to hell, Your Highness. I hope, I beg you to forgive her sins. I will spend the rest of my life traveling to all the holy places, just hoping that she can ascend to heaven."

"I'm sorry, God has granted me many favors, enabling me to perform miracles on His behalf, but He has never said that I am the Son of God."

Lothar thought for a moment, made the sign of the cross on his chest, and said, "But if I am, I am willing to forgive your sins. If I am not, I also wish your wife can be redeemed."

"Thank you for your tolerance, may God bless you!"

The pilgrims' faces showed expressions of surprise and joy.

He had witnessed many of Losa's miracles with his own eyes. He had been to Jerusalem and the New Habsburgs. On the way to Egypt, he had also seen the Sinai Peninsula, which had changed greatly. How could such a person not be the Son of God?

"Grand Marshal, Your Excellency Grand Marshal, please make the decision for me."

A Coptic refugee tried to rush out but was pushed back by a quick-eyed and quick-handed guard.

Losa raised his voice and said, "Everyone, this is not a church, nor a court. If you want to accuse someone, you can seek help from the patrolman or the court. If you want to repent, please seek help from the priests."

He originally just wanted to come and see the refugees' situation. If things didn't work out, he would hire a ship to take some of them away and send them to the Sinai Peninsula to reclaim wasteland. But he didn't intend to waste all his time on these trivial matters.

It was originally a house that belonged to Saman sahib.

Richard the Lionheart took the wine brought by the Saracen maid and drank it all: "I thought the most delicious wine in the world was in Gaul, Fuller, do you know where this bottle of wine is produced?"

"I don't know. I've rarely drunk since you called for the crusade."

Fuller was very frank. He was a vassal of the Norman family and owned a total of more than 70 manors and properties in Maine and Alençon. Including his annual salary as the captain of the earl's guard, his annual income was about 1,500 pounds of silver.

This is roughly equivalent to 30,000 Suledes gold coins, a huge fortune.

But war is a money-eating beast. He has to maintain his own armed forces and repair the castle. Moreover, a considerable portion of the taxes he receives are in-kind taxes. It would be a huge loss to cash them out in a short period of time.

Richard smiled awkwardly and handed the glass to Fuller: "It's Cyprus, the territory of our Grand Marshal, the Limassol Military Region in his title, the Greek territory."

The Earl's guard captain frowned and said, "Lord Lothar's territory is really rich in resources."

He took a few dates from the belt buckle at his waist and handed them to Richard.

Sweetness was a very precious taste in that era. Even for a king, being able to spread a layer of honey on the bread at every meal was a great enjoyment.

But in the Holy Land, people can eat as many dates as they want.

"Try this."

Richard took out a paper package containing yellowed sugar cubes. These were made by a sugarcane mill in Semanude. The Saracens cultivated sugarcane for the purpose of making sugar. After Lothar occupied the city of Semanude, the sugar mill belonging to the original lord became his.

"Is this also Duke Losa's property?"

"What do you say?"

The two looked at each other speechlessly.

Richard was not a man who pursued pleasure, but the abundance of resources in the East and the huge profits that could be obtained from business still moved him a little. After all, with money he could support more soldiers and horses, and since he was on the front line bordering the pagans, he didn't have to worry about not having wars to fight.

This place is perfect for him.

Richard couldn't help but complain: "If the crown can be sold, I really want to exchange the crown of Albion for Lothar's existing territory."

Count Fuller shrugged his shoulders and said expressionlessly, "But Duke Losa probably won't be willing to exchange with you. In front of him is a golden crown of the King of Egypt, waiting for him to pick it up personally."

Richard sighed. Indeed, compared with the crown of Egypt, what was the crown on the island of Albion?
Suddenly someone came from outside to report that King Philip was here to visit.

When the two met, King Philip did not speak directly, but said casually: "Our great marshal's travels are really grand, with winged cavalry leading the way and armored guards following. Even you and I can't compare to him, right?"

In this era, the pomp of a lord's travel is the best way to demonstrate his authority.

Many kings' courts have lower-ranking nobles serving as attendants and officials, as well as royal knights who guard the king all year round.

But it is obviously impossible for the knights, who are colorful and move in a chaotic manner, to have such an imposing manner of disciplining and commanding authority.

Most kings could not afford, or were unwilling to bear, the expenses of every trip. They generally did not live in cities. Each trip was more like a long-distance outing to inspect the territory, and their food and accommodation were provided by the locals.

Many times, when you are drinking in a pub, the person sitting next to you may be a king, prince or something like that.

A drunk who looks just like you, is drunk and reeks of vomit. Would you believe that he is approachable, a king with divine power, or that he has no bearing of a king?

Philip was envious, and so was Richard.

Richard frowned and asked, "What do you want to say?"

Philip rolled his eyes. This guy was still as straightforward as ever: "Do you feel that our Grand Marshal is a little too generous?"

"How to say?"

King Philip calculated and said, "Providing relief to the victims, providing food and fodder for the Crusaders, maintaining so many elite troops, settling them in the Sinai Peninsula, and recruiting refugees, each of these will require a huge amount of money."

Richard sneered: "Oh, when I set out, I heard that a merchant fleet flying the double-headed eagle flag arrived in Provence. The cargo on a single ship is worth tens of thousands of gold coins, right?"

Philip shook his head. "Not enough, far from enough. You are the King of Albion, Lord of Aquitaine and Normandy. In order to maintain an expeditionary force of 10,000, you almost sold your crown. Where do you think he got so much money?"

"Perhaps the Venetians, to whom the Genoese lent a large sum of money."

“No matter how rich the Venetians and Genoese are, not everyone will bet.”

Philip shook his head. "I think he may have discovered one or several large gold mines with astonishing production, and built a huge coin minting workshop in a hidden place. Otherwise, there is no way to explain where those beautifully shaped gold coins with his portrait on them came from."

In fact, Losa's financial situation was not as good as Philip imagined, and he was on the verge of bankruptcy.

In addition to so many expenses, Lothar also has to bear the huge cost of upgrading his followers. Lavinia has just been promoted and still needs a lot of money to upgrade to the full level of the Elite One stage.

His sources of income come from four major sources: one is the various taxes within the territory, of which the commercial tax in Port Ella accounts for a considerable portion, and Damietta and Semanud have not yet gotten on track.

The second is the spoils of war, including the capture of the two cities of Damietta and Semanude and the seizure of the inheritance of their former lords.

In addition, those old weapons and armor that should have been stored in the armory to rot, or distributed to lower-level soldiers, were all recycled by him and exchanged for gold coins. This money was also a huge sum of money.

The third is Losa’s various private properties, such as plate armor, coffee, printing workshops, and grape plantations.

At the same time, the system transfer also brought a large amount of equipment, which could reduce the money spent by Lothar's armed soldiers. For example, for the newly formed Qiexue cavalry company, he only needed to provide war horses and pack animals.

Fourth, the money Captain Hogg obtained from robbing pirates in the Red Sea, digging up shipwrecks, and collecting pirates' treasures is also a huge fortune, at least much more than those business activities that have not yet seen much profit.

Richard hesitated: "What does it have to do with us if he hides a gold mine?"

Philip smiled and said, "Why, do you really have no desire to become the king of Egypt? Our great marshal is so wealthy that even kings like you and me have to be tempted."

Richard's face darkened. "What do you want to do? Although I don't like him, I can't possibly attack Brother Christian at such a critical moment."

Philip sneered and said, "Of course not at this time. I will make a move when the bread is divided."

He knew that Lothar was not easy to mess with. In fact, he didn't really want to provoke Lothar. No matter how rich the East was, he had no intention of staying here to be king. At most, he would earn a huge sum of spoils and return to Gaul.

To put it bluntly, he just wanted to instigate Richard to stay in the Holy Land and fight Lothar. Compared with Richard, his younger brother, King John the Landless, was much easier to deal with.

Richard cursed inwardly.

If Martha hadn't reminded him, he would have been tempted by the fox.

In the Saracen camp by Lake Bruluce.

Adil was concentrating on handling military affairs when a dark shadow suddenly appeared behind him. The dark shadow looked submissive and said with his head down, "Sir, there is new news from the city."

Adil was shocked.

"Did Master Shemaier send you?"

"Yes, sir. The leader of the Franks, the Prince of Lothar, is making a big move today. The city is in turmoil now. Please be careful and don't fall into the Franks' conspiracy of a night attack like before."

Adil frowned and said, "I know."

The city of Semanude was captured by Lothar not long ago.

Even without the traitor Master Saman, there are still a lot of people willing to pass on information. As long as the city of Semanud needs to communicate with the outside world, this is unavoidable.

Even if the whole city is closed, people in the city will still have channels to pass on the news.

Adil frowned and said, "What on earth is this Losa thinking?"

He didn't think Lothar wanted to launch another night attack. With Master Shemaier around, he was not the kind of idiot who would fall into the same pit twice.

The few Black Gurams he sent out for a test attack were all ready to give up, but they did not expect that they had any conflict with the Franks at all.

These Franks simply held their ground and refused to come out. Some fortresses with more prominent geographical locations were simply abandoned and allowed to be taken over by them.

"Let the Governor of Fayoum, Majid Isma, come to see me. Hasn't he always boasted about his elite Mamluks and wanted to own a seaport as his territory? Let him take the lead and test the Franks' idea."

The Faiyum Province is located south of Cairo. It has a well-developed canal network that irrigates a large amount of farmland, and river transportation is therefore prosperous. The provincial governor of Faiyum is considered to be a powerful figure among the many governors of Egypt.

Adil did not intend to continue wasting time like this. If the Crusaders fought a war of attrition, they would most likely not be able to defeat them. However, the war broke out in Egypt, which was their territory.

Rashid of Buheira, the news that an entire city was reduced to ruins had spread.

The Crusaders were fierce and his side had suffered defeat after defeat. Although the army's morale was high in the past two days after his encouragement, no one could say how long this situation would last. It would be better to take advantage of the high morale of his side and fight the Franks.

(End of this chapter)