Chapter 130 The sun has set in Jerusalem
[Samuel grew up over the years, and the Spirit of the Lord was with him, so that every word he spoke came true without failure. 】
[It was known to all the people of Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba that the Lord had made Samuel a prophet. 】
[The LORD appeared again in Shiloh, for he revealed his word to Samuel, and Samuel spread the word throughout all Israel. 】
——"1 Samuel" 3:19-21
In the Bible, the vast majority of prophets are actually not very popular, and they are rarely supported. Instead, there are more records of certain prophets being rejected and such and such prophets being opposed.
Even the establishment of the ancient kingdom of Israel went against the wishes of the prophet Samuel.
Even though everyone in the four quarters of Israel knew that Samuel was a prophet and knew that the Spirit of the Lord was with him and that every word he spoke came true without fail, he still could not command the twelve tribes.
But it was obvious that Garris was a special being, and his reputation in this land was already extremely high.
Balian is a man of great courage and wisdom.
He clearly knows what his principles and bottom line are, and as long as his bottom line is not touched, he will be very flexible.
There's nothing wrong with being flexible. It's easy to be tough in this world.
In his eyes, Humphrey's value as a "person" has long shriveled up. If it weren't for the fact that Humphrey was indeed the lord of the Toron Territory and was valuable as a bargaining chip in politics, he wouldn't even want to bring this young man to see Isabella.
After getting along along the way, the deeper Balian got to know Humphrey, the more disappointed he became.
Therefore, although he had never understood Garris's status in this small town, after noticing that the situation was not good, he immediately performed the sacred cutting.
……
The farce was over. Humphrey, who had been abandoned by Balian, did not have the guts to repeat what he had said before in front of hundreds of people who were potentially hostile.
After Humphrey and his two knights were disarmed and under strict guard, Gareth invited Balian to lunch at the Grapevine Inn.
Arab restaurants are the mainstream in Alhadi Town, and there are only two places suitable for Franks to eat.
Since it was Garris's treat, Balian and his accompanying knights arrived at the hotel, sat down carelessly, and ordered the most expensive dish of the day.
Looking at the royal seal ring on the ring finger of Garris's left hand, Balian's expression was not that good. After all, this daughter of his own has never written a letter, and now he has a lifelong partner, which is really hard for him to adapt to.
But after looking at Isabella, who was sitting side by side with Garris, her expression softened a little.
Today, Isabella does have a will that matches her status and personality.
This status is not a princess, but the heir to the kingdom.
"Gairis, tell me about your current situation now. This town should be Leonard's land." Before waiting for the food to be served, Balian took the lead in bringing up a topic.
"It should be said that it was originally Leonard's territory. Now it is bounded by the Arnon Valley in the south and going north to the north shore of the Dead Sea. It is all... Isabella's territory."
Halfway through his words, Garris paused and did not talk directly.
"How did you do it? That guy Leonard is not so easy to talk to, right? Then, why do the surrounding townspeople call you prophet?"
Garris briefly chatted with Balian about what happened during this period.
However, Balian didn't stop at the first word he spoke.
"Wait, you said you came back from the dead?!"
Garris spread his hands and showed Balian the penetrating wound on his left hand, as well as the horrific wound from his ribs to his abdomen.
Balian fell silent after reading this. As a battle-hardened knight, Balian naturally knew what kind of injuries one could survive and what kind of injuries only the Lord could save.
Just like before, Balian taught others, he was not eager to question what Garris said next, but chose to listen more and think more.
After Garris finished his long story, Balian ignored the incomprehensible miracles and refined a few key points.
"So, you have already eaten four hundred of Leonard's people, and you have also completely eliminated the tax collectors in this land, and even controlled the Islamic preachers and asked them to serve you? ”
Gareth nodded, it was so convenient to talk to smart people.
Smart people always grasp the key points of things and know how to communicate effectively with others.
Balian took a breath. Among these three important points, eating the four hundred people related to Leonard was actually the least worth mentioning.
The latter two are things that the Kingdom has struggled to achieve in the past 87 years.
Eliminating the power of tax collectors meant direct local rule, and controlling Islamic preachers meant being able to mobilize the power of Muslims.
Although Balian didn't quite understand how Garris did it, looking at his adopted daughter's expression, he knew that Garris wasn't lying.
"Bella, don't you plan to return to Jerusalem now?" Balian asked. Isabella shook her head. For her now, it was easy to distinguish what was a dangerous place and what was safe.
What's more, now that the Leper King is dead, the nephew of Baldwin V has also died inexplicably, and the only living Angevin blood relative, her sister, is even more unfamiliar and difficult to distinguish.
Everything is different. The past is the past and the present is the present. You cannot always regard the past as the present.
"If I go to Nablus, I won't go to Jerusalem." At least she still has her mother and several half-brothers and sisters in Nablus.
"Then the throne..."
Before Balian finished speaking, he got the answer from Isabella's eyes.
Therefore, he turned directly to look at Garris, glanced at the royal seal ring again, and said: "Tell me what you think, young man."
In this cozy hotel lobby, Garris listened to Balian's words and knew that he was testing him.
With his index finger tapping the table a few times, Garris gave his answer: "Given the current situation in the Holy Land, a war with the Ayyubid Dynasty is unavoidable."
"Even in this small town, I hear caravans passing by carrying the news of Jihad."
Jihad is the Islamic concept of jihad, but Islam divides jihad into major jihad and minor jihad.
It should be noted that big and small jihad does not describe the difference in scale, but the difference in the objects of their jihad.
The Great Holy War is generally considered to be a fight against the devil and an attempt to escape from its corruption.
Small holy wars often mean sword-to-sword struggles.
Although this Jihad was launched by Saladin and will be recognized by the Abbasid Caliphate in the future, with the aftermath spreading to the entire Islamic world, it is still a small jihad.
The meaning expressed is: [This pagan regime is persecuting Muslims, we must fight back! 】
"At this time, asking Isabella to go to Jerusalem to force the palace to become king will not help at all. Even Saladin is unable to prevent the outbreak of jihad. Changing a king will not bring us peace now."
"However, rashly proclaiming the king will only create another round of division within the kingdom."
"We are facing a formidable enemy. We should not talk about uniting to fight against the outside world, nor should we take the initiative to become a target."
"Although the throne is good, it is not something that ordinary people can sit on safely."
Balian nodded. Although Garris's speech was not very profound, it was sufficiently self-aware.
"Not bad, much better than Humphrey."
If Balian had read Three Kingdoms, then his evaluation of Humphrey would have quoted Cao Cao's famous saying: He is fierce and timid, and he is fond of making decisions; he cherishes his life when doing big things, and forgets his life when he sees small gains; he is not a hero. .
Humphrey puts his own interests above those of others, and when the opportunity to become king arises, he has no scruples in connecting among the nobles, regardless of the overall interests of the kingdom.
However, once he discovered that Isabella was missing, he immediately surrendered and rushed to the palace overnight to pledge his allegiance to Sibylla and Guy, completely abandoning those allies who had conspired with him.
Although it can't be said to be swinging between left and right, in Balian's opinion, he definitely doesn't look like a king.
In fact, most of the nobles in the Kingdom of Jerusalem are only at this level, and they are all insects.
Humphrey can't be said to be despicable among them, and he can even be said to be strong among insects.
But insects could not save the country, and the sun had already set on Jerusalem.
Even if Balian dares to say that he can serve his country with his own life, it will be of no use.
"Tell me how many soldiers you can pull out in total, and what the general training equipment is."
Garris thought about it for a while, and then felt that there was no need to hide it: "First of all, counting my total of 11 knights and 28 attendants."
Those attendants who survived the rainy night have all been canonized as knights by Isabella or Garris. In addition, Jos, who surrendered to Garris for his outstanding performance, was also canonized as a knight, a total of 11 people.
As for the attendants, they are mainly the holy warriors of the Order. For now, they are actually the guards directly under Garris.
The new group of attendants are being trained by Simon, and the old group has already taken some veterans to train militiamen in other villages.
"In addition, there is 1 company of the standing army, currently with a total of 140 people, and 8 companies of militia are recruited. The number of individual companies is smaller, close to a thousand people."
Company in French is compagnie, which is derived from companio. It originally refers to a group of people who live, work or travel together. However, with the formation of feudal system and military organization, it began to have a military flavor.
Therefore, when Garris said that he had nine companies in total, Balian could understand the meaning.
"Standing army?" Balian was a little confused about this word. He was not wondering about the meaning of a standing army, but he was wondering whether Garris could afford to maintain the standing army he knew in his heart?
Is Gareth so rich?
(End of chapter)