Chapter 131 If Jesus were alive, he would be a guerrilla
"Yes, the standing army has a total of 140 people including officers. It is currently at full strength. They are mainly armored heavy infantry who can use swords, shields and spears, and some are crossbowmen."
According to Garris's standards, such a standard company is actually an 8*4*4 model, that is, 8 people in one squad, 4 squads in 1 platoon, 4 platoons in 1 company, roughly a platoon of sword and shield bearers. Two platoons of spearmen, and a platoon of crossbowmen.
A squad of 8 will choose one of the soldiers to be the squad leader. For a platoon of 4 squads, 2 additional veterans will be appointed as platoon leaders as sergeants. The company headquarters will be composed of the chief, deputy company commander and 2 health workers, for a total of 140 people.
This kind of organization is more complicated than the army in the Middle Ages, but it is far inferior to that of later generations. It does not even have a cooking squad.
Generally speaking, it is designed to deal with small-scale battles in the Middle Ages.
However, such a seemingly simple company of 140 people was not easy to equip for the feudal system of Western Europe.
For the feudal lords, they were happy to see this result, allowing lower-level feudal lords to recruit private armies. They were willing to pay expensive prices to recruit mercenaries during wars, and were willing to entrust manors to knights in exchange for their loyalty.
Nor will it maintain too many standing armies.
Everyone knows how good a standing army is. An army that can be mobilized immediately and trained on a regular basis will have a crushing advantage against conscripts.
But the standing army has a shortcoming: it is too expensive.
This Jingui means gold is precious in the subtitles, and it requires a lot of gold to maintain it.
A well-trained elite standing army will divide the overall expenditure into three parts, namely personnel expenditure, equipment maintenance, and logistics support.
The expenditure ratio of these three parts will also be close to 1:1:1.
According to Garris's calculations, the salary he paid to his standing army was 6 gold dinars per year, and if equipment expenses and logistical support were included.
The annual expenses for each of these soldiers who obey orders under Garis will be close to 25 gold dinars.
A company of 140 people will cost at least 3,500 gold dinars, and the actual cost is close to 4,000 gold dinars.
According to the head tax standards of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, on average, a family of five old farmers must pay 2 gold dinars per year.
In other words, if you are a lord of another territory, it means that 2,000 households of old farmers are needed to support a Gallis-standard company.
In addition, even if the militiamen did not take out much money from the treasury, which of those knights and attendants were not gold-eating behemoths?
That is to say, Garris has a team of blacksmiths and is able to skip the middlemen and purchase livestock from farmers, so that he can reduce the actual money spent.
Well, focusing on an internal circulation currency, self-produced and self-sold is the king these days.
"The main reason is that a war is imminent. Even if I don't plan to lead my troops into the war, I still need to have a certain amount of self-defense force. Therefore, this is not a matter of temporary gains and losses."
As Garris said, the waiter on the side brought wine and filled it for everyone on the table. Of course, Isabella only got a glass of sweet drink.
"What's more, those tax collectors and families have accumulated money for generations, and now I have confiscated it, so I still have quite a lot of money."
Thanks to Brother Ahmed, it was tax collectors like him who provided Ghalis with a large amount of supplies and cash, as well as a ready-made compound for training soldiers.
“Furthermore, because of the camel traders’ highway in Transjordan, there are many caravans coming and going, and doing business with them is really profitable.”
As if in response to Garris's words, several plates of barbecue were brought to the table.
Looking at the carefully cooked food on the table, Balian thought of the meal he had last night. Garris really dared to sell a dinner for half a gold dinar.
But when I think about the difficult journey of those businessmen, and considering that the pockets of those people are so rich.
In addition, dry food for traveling is not a good thing that is kind to human teeth and stomach.
It is not impossible for Balian to understand that a fine dinner can sell for a high price.
As for the militiamen, Balian didn't ask too much.
Balian now has a preliminary understanding of Garris's strength.
The total military strength of 1,000 people includes a long-term training professional infantry company, 11 knights and 28 squires.
This has exceeded the average of all the territories of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, and is even comparable to the Ibelin family.
And in Balian's opinion, the quality of Garis' army should not be bad. With enough knights, elite heavy infantry, and a sufficient number of levied peasant soldiers, it was already quite good in the medieval era.
Just like that, everyone was chatting, talking about the future, and sharing news with each other, and it was still harmonious.
After the meal, Isabella was sent away, and Balian's knights were sent back to the guest room.
After only Balian and Garris were left, the two looked at each other for a few times and realized that they both had something to say that was not suitable to be said in front of others.
The diners on the side were coming and going. Even though they were embarrassed to come up and say hello to Garris, Garris was still the focus of their attention.
"It's not suitable here, come outside with me." Garris said.
Listening to Garris's words, Balian also nodded.
……
To the east of the Jordan River, except for those fine river valleys, is generally a slightly desolate plateau.
The width of the Transjordan Plateau ranges from 50 kilometers to 130 kilometers, and its height gradually decreases toward the east, becoming more desolate.
Although it is a plateau, the annual rainfall is at least 350 mm, which is enough to maintain autumn plowing and spring harvest. Now is the time when winter and spring alternate. The winter rain has gradually died down, and the spring rain will usher in at the beginning of March.
More than half a year ago, Garris came back from the dead in the spring rain of the Transjordan Plateau, and now a year has almost passed.
Garris took Balian out of Alhadi Town and entered the wilderness.
On this plateau with stars and greenery, a middle-aged man in his forties and a young man in his late twenties stood side by side.
Garris is a little taller and looks more upright, while Balian has a broader chest, dark brown hair, and is actually quite handsome.
After leaving the town, when they decided that they were the only two people in the world, Balian took the lead to pause, then looked at Garris's face and spoke first.
"You say you are a prophet? The younger brother of Jesus, who met the Father in heaven when he died?"
Even though he had seen the wounds on Garris' body and put aside those questions, it didn't mean that he thought Garris was a true prophet.
It may be just good luck, it may be just being healed by God, it may even be the power of the devil...
He could understand why Garris wanted to package himself, and he could imagine what Garris was carrying.
In this desolate land, if you want to build a territory from scratch, if you want to bridge the gap between Christians and Muslims.
Then falsely calling yourself a prophet is an excellent method.
Replace the old religious identity with a new religious identity.
But he still felt that it was quite blasphemous for Garris to do this, but when he was in the town before, he couldn't open his mouth.
After all, that town was obviously full of Garris believers.
Humphrey had already witnessed the boiling sea of believing people questioning their prophet in front of them.
"Of course I am a prophet." Garris spread his hands towards Balian, he was very magnanimous. Now he no longer has many entanglements.
Even though no one or God has ever placed a mission on Garris, he still carried the cross himself just like Jesus.
It’s still the same sentence: Things cannot be named, and names cannot be true. Names cannot be true, so things are nothing.
Sometimes, Garris would often think about one thing: how to remove all the deifications of Jesus by later generations and restore him to a living mortal.
So what was Jesus thinking when he broke into the temple and accused the chief priests and scribes of making the temple a den of thieves?
Perhaps he was really angry, and what was Jesus thinking when the Romans came to arrest him after he was threatened and reported by the Jewish elders?
Despite the questioning of the Roman governor and the contempt of the people around him, he still frankly said that he was a prophet. What was he thinking at that time?
As long as he simply denied it, he could escape the death penalty, but he never said it...
It was indeed Jesus who carried [the cross] Himself, and He never denied Him until His death.
This is indeed a violation of authority and an opposition to the corrupt Jewish upper class.
As Father Camilo Torres said in later generations: If Jesus were alive, he would be a guerrilla.
Gareth often feels that there is nothing wrong with this sentence.
"How do you prove it?"
Balian's eyes were amber, and there was no hint of joking in these pupils.
Garris still spread his hands, and then the young man disappeared from Balian. Then, before Balian showed an expression of disbelief, he felt a tap on his right shoulder.
Almost subconsciously, Balian turned around and punched him.
Then he found that his fist was caught by Garris' left hand.
Not only did this punch not cause any harm to Garris, it actually shocked him, as if he was punching granite.
Balian stared at Garris. He subconsciously held his breath and did not dare to blink.
But it was of no use. His left shoulder was lightly tapped again, but this time Balian did not punch again.
The expression on his face was neither crying nor laughing. For a moment, he didn't know how to face the world or what tone to use to talk to Garris.
Finally, after choking for a long time and calming down, he turned around and asked: "Prophet, what prophecy did you bring from God?"
At this moment, the afternoon sun shines on this desolate plateau, but it cannot bring any warmth.
The ground is pale and yellow, with sparse vegetation lingering in the wind. The ridgeline in the distance is like a lifeless skeleton, lying across the pale sky.
Time seems to have stopped flowing here, and only the sun is setting westward little by little.
Standing on such a piece of land, Garris repeated what Jesus had said.
"Whenever you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then you will know that her desolation is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains; those who are in the royal capitals will leave; and those who are in the country will not enter capital city. For this is the day of vengeance, that everything that is written may be fulfilled.”
(End of chapter)