Chapter 744 In the Autumn of 1489 AD, the So-Called Holy War

The Moorish village is full of dead silence. Judging from the burned orchards outside the village and the damaged water canals at the entrance of the village, this should have been a fairly prosperous village at one time. At least in the territory of the Kingdom of Castile, there are not many villages that can build canals.

"Praise the Lord! The Moors in the south of the peninsula are really good at working!"

The old knight Lorenzo rode his horse and patrolled the looted village, but he didn't see any living things. With great interest, he looked at the entire row of stone houses in the village, as well as the chicken coops surrounded by wooden fences beside the houses, and the faintly visible, large-scale barn. As an old Venetian knight who owned a manor and managed it himself, he knew very well how much wealth such a village could create every year!

"Tsk tsk! It's a waste to let the fanatical and rude Castilians conquer such a rich land and kill these well-managed Moorish farmers! They will only turn the orchards and farms that create wealth into pieces. poor pastures, and play with their 'beautiful' goats."

The old knight Lorenzo raised the corners of his mouth, looked at the whole dead village, and sneered heartily.

"Of course, Castile is a pious and warlike crusader kingdom after all. Although they are poor and white, and their annual income is not as good as that of the little Granada, they burn, kill and loot, and they are all good fighters. Before raising sheep and grazing horses on the farm, they must clean up the land thoroughly, turn the obedient Moorish farmers into slaves, or crucify them and burn them!"

"Haha! Poor and white, a poor Castilian ghost holding a sheep and praying!"

Hearing the old knight Lorenzo's ridicule, more than a dozen Venetian cavalrymen all responded together and laughed happily. You guys came here as crusaders, fighting for the Lord in these valleys, and it was blood and sweat. But King Fernando of Aragon didn't even have enough supplies, and they had to spend money to buy them on the black market in the camp.

Fortunately, the leader is the young knight Giovanni Tran, whose family is powerful, generous and rich. Otherwise, everyone might be like those shabby knights in the peninsula, who borrowed Jewish loans guaranteed by the church, and then became poor, crazy and red-eyed, looking for the Moors to rob them everywhere.

Everyone laughed, only the young knight Giovanni frowned. He felt that although the knights of Castile were poorer, their beliefs were firm, even fanatical and fearless!

If a small team of Castilian knights were to fight against the same number of Venetian knights, even if the Venetian side had better armor, they might not be able to fight. Right now, all parties are comrades-in-arms in the jihad. Is it really okay to have their own minds and secretly discord?

"Cough! Giovanni, I remember that beside the camp outside the city of Barcelona, ​​there was a military market selling Moorish slaves."

The old knight Lorenzo turned his head, glanced at the young knight's expression, and changed the topic with a smile.

"Praise the Lord! You will inherit the family business in the future. The Tran family has many large manors on the Italian peninsula. When you return to the Barcelona camp, you can take advantage of the low price and buy a few more skilled manors. Moorish serfs or craftsmen. In Venice, the hiring price of such skilled manpower is very high! Of course, the young Moorish female slaves have a special taste, maybe they are born as noble girls, and you can buy a few more.”

"Uh, buy a few Moorish female slaves? Are you born?"

Thinking of the exquisite appearance of the Moorish woman, the young Giovanni licked his lips, feeling a little moved. He hesitated for a moment, saw Mimi's smiling expression on the old knight, and lowered his voice.

"This, isn't it good? If you let your father know."

"What are you afraid of! Your revered great-grandfather, Governor Nicholas Tran, encountered the fall of Constantinople when he was in his fifties. In his hands, he has 'saved' a group of young Byzantine ladies."

The old knight Lorenzo groaned with a smile, like a seductive old fox.

"Here, it is also being saved! But the ones who are saved are ordinary knights who sell slaves. When this holy war is over and there is nothing to rob, how many holy war knights who owe debts will be poor, bankrupt and homeless. Ah? So, even for the sake of the Lord, you should buy it!"

"This way, you have also seen it. The so-called noble jihad in the south of the peninsula, isn't it that the church and the nobles pay money, the knights and the militia send people, and then they all go to rob the rich Moors? The last one is to win, If you rob a lot, you will become famous. If you don’t rob much, you will be in debt. And the money will end up in the pocket of the church? The moneylender is just a glove, saying If you lose it, you lose it"

"...Lord, I'm looking for a well! After running for so long, the horse needs water!"

Hearing what the old knight said, the young knight Giovanni was sweating on his forehead, and hurriedly rode his horse and ran away. He knew that what the other party said was true. He also knew that behind the lending to the devout holy war knights, there were also the great nobles of Venice, even his own family.

The jihad knights fought bloody battles, burned and looted, and the last big ones will still fall into the hands of the church and the great nobles. It's just this kind of thing, he doesn't want to think about it. If I think too much, I'm afraid it will shake my faith.

"Hey! You are still too young for such a firm belief!"

Looking at the back of Giovanni riding his horse, the old knight Lorenzo shook his head. He sighed in a low voice, feeling a little melancholy rarely.

"Old Sylvester asked me to take you to the peninsula to participate in the jihad, not just to give you some qualifications and fame! You know, as the heir of the Tran family, you always have to serve as a member of Venice , got in touch with the inside story of the Republic, and secretly traded with the Roman Church, Jewish merchants, Ottomans, Arabs, Crimean Tatars, and even the Moors in the southern mainland!"

"You will have to deal with so many complicated personnel and affairs in the future, how can you become a devout and brave believer like an ordinary knight? You know, this era has changed, and it is no longer what it was during the Crusades! .”

"Well, but it's okay, it's still a long time! Anyway, it's all here."

The old knight Lorenzo paced his horse, and while following the young knight Giovanni from a distance, his thoughts drifted away, thinking of his youth. It was not until Giovanni stopped by a well and uttered an angry curse that he changed his expression and rode his horse.

"Giovanni, what's the matter?"

"Vaffanculo! Damn it! Damn it! Bah! These poor knights who killed indiscriminately!"

Giovanni was furious, cursed a few times to vent his anger, and then pointed to the dark well.

"Cazzo! Damn! This well is dirty and unusable!"