Chapter 636 Refugees and Property

The war caused Semanud to be overcrowded.

It was crowded with country folk who had fled here to escape the war. The stench was overwhelming, their eyes were numb, and their pitiful belongings were piled up in the streets and alleys.

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

Not only to guard against the so-called "country bumpkins" in their mouths, but also those poor and dishonest pilgrims, they

"This group of damned country bumpkins, Frankish thieves who deserve to go to hell!"

"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 are in panic. They don't have the enthusiasm of the Crusaders. No matter who wins this war, they won't get much benefit. Many people are willing to accept Losad's rule, but it doesn't mean they are willing to take up arms to fight for Losad.

Whoever rules this city can be fine, as long as the war can be stopped outside.

The "country bumpkins" are full of despair. The Black Gurams did not let them off because they were Saracens or Copts. These pure mercenaries, even the subjects of other Saracen lords, they robbed and killed them, not to mention these traitors who "surrendered" to the enemy.

The earliest group of people had their villages burned down, their property robbed, women were insulted, and men were slaughtered. These bloody evidences forced them to abandon their homes and come to the city where they could not survive at all.

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

They had no place to live and could only sleep on the streets. The numerous rules in the city made them feel at a loss - these days, people were often beaten with sticks by patrolmen for urinating and defecating anywhere.

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

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

"Damn country bumpkin, get out of the way, don't stop me from admiring the Duke's heroic figure."

A pilgrim was squeezed by this group of smelly refugees and was suffocated.

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

"We are also the subjects of the Duke."

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

The pilgrims were speechless and turned to curse: "You bunch of hateful heretics, the Duke is the protector of us Germans, not the protector of you Copts."

A Coptic priest held up the unique cross and responded: "Shallow fool, the Duke is the universal monarch, he is the protector of all subjects regardless of ethnicity."

The pilgrims were speechless and were soon squeezed out of the team.

From a distance, you can see Duke Lothar riding on a tall horse and wearing a golden mask, followed by the famous winged cavalry, and the heavily armored foot guards blocking the road on both sides.

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

"Brothers in 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 hoof of Eclipse.

Eclipse snorted in dissatisfaction, and white smoke with the smell of sulfur came out from the gap of 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?"

Model raised his axe, looking impatient:

"Get out of the way, everyone who comes to the Holy Land has their own story, but the Lord is not a priest, and has no obligation to listen to your confession. He has a more important task, the great task of expelling pagans with spears and swords."

"Okay, let him continue."

Lothar stopped Moder, Said: "She was forced, no one will blame her for it."

"But my poor wife still jumped into the sea and committed suicide."

The pilgrim covered his face and cried: "She will go to hell, Your Highness the Son of God, 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 given me many graces so that I can perform various miracles on His behalf, but he has never said clearly that I am the Son of God."

Lothar thought for a moment, drew a 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 saved."

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

The pilgrim's face showed a look of surprise and joy.

He had witnessed many of Lothar's miracles with his own eyes. He had been to Jerusalem, the New Habsburg, and on the way to Egypt, he had also seen the Sinai Peninsula that had changed drastically - how could such a person? Maybe it’s not the Holy Son?

"Generalissimo, Your Excellency, Generalissimo, please make the decision for me."

A Coptic refugee tried to rush out, but was pushed back by a guard with quick eyesight and quick hands.

Lothar raised her tone: "Everyone, this is not a church or a court. If you want to accuse someone, you can go to the police and the court for help. If you want to repent, please go to the priests for help."

He originally just wanted to come and see how the refugees were doing, but when that didn't work out, he hired a ship to take away some of them and send them to the Sinai Peninsula to reclaim wasteland. He had no intention of wasting his time on such trivial matters.

It was originally a mansion belonging to Mr. Saman.

Richard the Lionheart took the wine sent by the Saracen maid and drank it in one gulp: "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 haven't drank much since you called for the crusade."

Fuller was very honest. He was a vassal of the Norman line and owned a total of more than 70 manor properties in Mann and Alençon. Including his annual salary as captain of the Earl's Guard, his annual income was 1,500 pounds of silver. about.

This is roughly equivalent to 30,000 Sulades gold coins, which is a great wealth.

But war is a gold-eating beast. He has to maintain his own arms and repair the castle. Moreover, a considerable part of the taxes received are in-kind taxes. If he wants to discount them in a short time, it will be a huge loss.

Richard smiled awkwardly and handed the wine glass to Fuller: "It's from Cyprus, the territory of our Generalissimo. It's the Limassol Military District in his title, the territory of the Greeks."

The Captain of the Count Guard frowned: "Lord Lothar's territory is really rich in products."

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

Sweetness is a cherished taste in this era. Even for a king, being able to spread a layer of honey on the bread for every meal is a very enjoyable thing.

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

"Try this."

Richard took out a paper packet, which contained yellowing sugar cubes. This was made by a sugar cane pressing mill in Semanud. The Saracens cultivated sugar cane for the purpose of making sugar. Lothar occupied Semanud. After conquering the city, the sugar pressing workshop belonging to the original lord became his.

"Is this also Duke Lothar's property?"

"What do you think?"

The two looked at each other speechlessly.

Richard was not a person who was greedy for pleasure, but the abundant products in the East and the huge profits he could obtain from business still moved him. After all, if you have money, you can raise more soldiers and horses, and you are in a different situation. On the front line bordering Christians, there is no need to worry that there will be no battles to fight.

This place was perfect for him.

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

Earl Fuller shrugged and said expressionlessly: "But I'm afraid Duke Lothar won't be willing to exchange it with you. In front of him, there is a golden crown of the King of Egypt, waiting for him to pick it up himself."

Richard sighed. Indeed, compared with the crown of Egypt, what is the crown on the island of Albion?

Suddenly someone came outside to announce that King Philip had come to visit.

When the two met, King Philip did not say anything bluntly, but said as if nothing had happened: "Our generalissimo, if nothing else, the pomp and circumstance of his trip is really sufficient. The hussars opened the way, and the armored guards followed. It's you." I can’t compare, right?”

In this era, the pomp and circumstance of traveling can best demonstrate the authority of a lord.

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

But the knights, who were colorful and chaotic in their actions, obviously could not have such a majestic and imposing manner.

Most kings cannot afford, or are unwilling to afford, the cost of each trip. They generally do not live in cities. Each trip is more like a long outing to inspect the territory, and the local area is responsible for their own food. Stay.

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

A drunkard who is just like you, who is drunk and smells of vomit, would you believe that he is an approachable king with divine power, or that he lacks the magnanimity a king should have?

Philip was envious, and so was Richard.

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

Philip rolled his eyes. This guy was as straightforward as ever: "Do you feel that our Generalissimo is too generous?"

"How to say?"

King Philip thought about it and said: "Relieving the victims, providing food and fodder for the Crusaders, maintaining so many elite troops, settling in the Sinai Peninsula, and recruiting refugees, all of which require huge amounts of money."

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

Philip shook his head: "Not enough, far from enough. Your majestic king of Albion, lord of Aquitaine, and Normandy almost sold his crown in order to maintain an expeditionary force of 10,000 people. How do you think he can do this? Rich?"

"Perhaps the Venetians, the Genoese lent him 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 many large gold mines with an astonishing yield, and built a huge mint in a hidden place. Otherwise, this cannot explain the coins with his face printed on them. Where did the beautifully shaped gold coins come from?”

In fact, Lothar's financial situation was not as good as Philip imagined. He was now almost bankrupt.

In addition to so many expenses, Lothar also had to bear the huge cost of upgrading her followers. Lavinia had just been promoted and needed a large amount of money to upgrade to the full level of the first level.

His financial resources include a total of four major projects: One is various taxes in the territory, of which the commercial taxes at Ella Port account for a considerable share. Damietta and Semanud are not yet on track.

The second is the spoils of war, including the conquest of Damietta and the two cities of Semanud, obtaining the inheritance of the former lords.

There were also old weapons and armors that should have been stored in the arsenal to rot, or distributed to lower-level sergeants, but he recycled them and exchanged them for gold coins. This was a huge amount of money.

The third is Lothar's various private properties, such as plate armor, coffee, printing workshop, and grape plantation.

At the same time, the system job 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 Xue Xue Cavalry Company, he only needed to provide war horses and pack animals.

The fourth is that Captain Hogg robbed bandits from the Red Sea, excavated sunken ships, and collected the pirates' treasures. This is also a huge amount of wealth, at least much more than those commercial activities that have not yet seen much profit.

Richard hesitated for a moment: "What does it have to do with us that he is hiding a gold mine?"

Philip smiled and said: "Why, do you really have no idea about the throne of the King of Egypt? Our Generalissimo is really too rich, so rich that even kings like you and me have to be tempted. ”

Richard's face sank: "What on earth do you want to do? Although I don't like him very much, it is impossible for me to take action against a Christian brother at such a critical moment."

Philip sneered: "Of course not at this time, just wait until the bread is divided before taking action."

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

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

Richard cursed inwardly.

If Martha hadn't reminded him, he might have really been tempted by this fox.

In the Saracen camp on the shores of Lake Brulus.

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

Adil was taken aback.

"Did Master Shemeier send you here?"

"Yes, sir. The leader of the Franks, Prince Lothar, is making big moves today. There is a lot of excitement in the city. Please be careful and don't fall into the Franks' night attack plot like before."

Adil frowned and said, "I know."

The city of Semanud was captured by Lothar not long after that.

Even without Mr. Salman as the insider, there are still a lot of people who are willing to pass on information to the outside world. As long as Semanud City still needs to communicate with the outside world, this is something that cannot be avoided.

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 is this Lothar thinking?"

He didn't think Lothar wanted another night attack. With Master Shemeier here, he wasn't the kind of fool who would fall into the same pit twice.

The few Black Gulams he sent to test the attack were already ready to give up. Unexpectedly, there was no conflict with the Franks at all.

These Franks just couldn't hold on, and some of the fortresses with more prominent geographical locations simply gave up and allowed them to take over.

"Let the Governor of Fayoum, Majid Ismail, come to see me. Doesn't he always brag about his elite Mamluks and his desire to own a seaport as a territory? Then let him take the lead and try out the Franks' idea. "

Fayoum Province is located south of Cairo. The canal network here is developed, irrigating a large amount of farmland, and river transportation is also prosperous. The governor of Fayoum Province is also a powerful and powerful figure among the many governors in Egypt.

Adil did not intend to just waste it like this. The Crusaders would most likely not be able to compete with them, but the war broke out in Egypt and on their territory.

The news has spread that the entire city of Al-Rashid in Buhayra has been reduced to rubble.

The Crusaders were fierce, and our side was losing consecutive battles. Although after his encouragement, the morale of the army was still high in the past two days, but no one was sure how long this situation would last. It would be better to take advantage of the good morale of our side and fight with the Franks. Give it a try.