Chapter 147 "The Man with Unlimited Power" and "The Man with Absolute Despotism"
June is a suitable day to start a war. In June, every village in Syria and Palestine is a ready-made barn.
No matter where the troops go, as long as they see the smoke rising, they know that they will not go hungry.
The chronicler Jean de Venet wrote this passage:
[The only desire of the nobles is to persecute the peasants, make them work to death, and leave them without protection in front of them. 】
[As a result, the miserable peasants suffered persecution from all sides, whether from friends or enemies. 】
[They had to pay tribute to both parties before they could cultivate their own vineyards and fields. 】
In this era, if farmers do not take up arms and become militias, if they do not learn to fight for themselves, they will be nothing more than fat sheep to be slaughtered.
Leonard unscrupulously took the lead in igniting the flames of war in the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
At the same time, Saladin, who was in Damascus, also began to mobilize his troops.
Saladin, who was in his study, had a map of Syria and Palestine in front of him. Many details were marked on it, including roads, towns, larger villages, terrain elevation differences... As for water sources, additional markings were added. Clear.
In the land of the Arabian Peninsula, there are more factors that determine victory or defeat than many people think, and the factors that determine victory or defeat due to water sources are more than those who do not read history expect!
With the help of the intelligence network established by Arab merchants, Saladin knew much more information about Jerusalem than Jerusalem knew about Saladin.
Therefore, Saladin learned the news soon after Leonard sent troops.
"Afdal's action was relatively successful. He mobilized the attention of the King of the Franks from Jerusalem to Acre. In this way, Leonard's marching route would be changed. Due to the water source, his marching The route is also predictable and should only follow the Jordan River.”
Saying this, Saladin turned his head to look at the person next to him and asked him.
"What do you think about this?"
Beside him is Muzaffar the Blue Wolf.
He had been an enemy of Saladin in the past. He personally led his army to break through Saladin's left flank and killed Saladin on the battlefield.
But after the Blue Wolf Muzaffar realized that there was only a group of insects left in the Zangid dynasty, and there was no longer a heroic figure like Nur al-Din, he decisively chose the best place to live and chose to join Saladin.
For the submission of such a strong general, Saladin showed a completely different demeanor from other sultans.
Saladin almost unreservedly trusted this surrendered man and married his sister to him.
Saladin's secretary and historian Imaddin Isfahani described the Green Wolf Muzaffar this way: He was bold, a thoughtful hero, a lion who went straight to the goal, and the most reliable and determined leader.
When Saladin asked the Blue Wolf Muzaffar what he thought, he naturally understood what Saladin meant.
The cause of this war was that Leonard tore up the armistice agreement, and Saladin himself was roasted on the fire.
If Leonard could be captured before the decisive battle, it would be a huge blow to the morale of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
In the eyes of the Muslims in Damascus, it was considered that the war goal had been achieved ahead of schedule and the punishment of the Franks had been completed.
Green Wolf Muzaffar nodded slightly, and then he said: "Sir, I will take off his head and bring it to you."
"Great, how many people do you need?"
"The 4,000 men I lead in my headquarters are enough." Green Wolf Muzaffar seemed particularly confident. These 4,000 men were his base and would follow him in battles all year round.
But when Saladin heard this number, he frowned.
"Four thousand people..."
"Design one of the Mamluk troops directly under me to you, plus additional volunteers, to make up 7,000 people."
To be honest, Saladin's years of experience have been telling him one thing: Although it is difficult to dispatch an army with too many troops, it will be easier to win if he can overwhelm the enemy in terms of the number of soldiers. Overly sophisticated tactics have always been difficult for Saladin to master. He seems to be born with a lack of intuition that a tactician should have.
For this reason, Saladin can only do his best before the battle begins and outside the battlefield, and then God will decide the outcome of the war.
Green Wolf Muzaffar frowned, but he did not reject Saladin's kindness.
The Middle East in this era has a completely different political logic than Western Europe or China.
If Gehrys were to comment, he would say that since the Arabs conquered Persia, the hot land of the Middle East has been contaminated by the Persians' worship of the "Holy Lord" and their admiration for absolute despotism.
Of course, the so-called "Holy Lord" is the tyrant with whom he has two sides.
The absolute tyranny of the Holy Lord actually means the absolute tyranny of the tyrant.
Whether it is a holy lord or a tyrant, they often have a contemptuous attitude toward the establishment of a system that restrains them. They act as recklessly as if they were overturning a toy.
So much so that the Seljuk Empire and the Ottoman Empire established by the Turks were more systematic than these tyrants, and both knew how to respect politics.
After the Seljuk Empire collapsed, the hot land of the Middle East became a paradise for these "people with unlimited power" and "absolute despotism".
The sultans have all temporal powers, arrange officials at will, issue any legal provisions, have the highest judicial power, are both the makers and enforcers of laws, and are the nominal owners of all the land and resources of the country.
The Sultan is the country's supreme military commander, and can even ensure the army's loyalty to him by monopolizing military resources and strictly controlling horses and weapons.
The sultan has almost absolute control over the country's economic resources, including land allocation, the tax system, and trade management.
However, the so-called "people with unlimited power" and "people with absolute dictatorship" are often just clowns.
As destroyers of the system, the vast majority of sultans have no court at all. They are unable to transform these nominal powers into a state through a system.
The scope of their command and influence is limited to those around them. It is difficult for them to transform their will into the will of the country through a mature system.
The so-called sultanate of this era is not a country at all, but just one warlord after another.
The so-called unity of politics and religion is a piece of paper, because the unity of politics and religion is at least a political system.
However, the sultans did not arrange religion through a clear system, but relied on their own troops and authority to manipulate Islam like puppets on strings.
This kind of unchecked power means that they do not need to respect the so-called tradition at all, and can rely on the army to carry out all tyranny wantonly.
Of course, as a price, there are basically no dynasties in the Middle East these days that can be passed down for more than three generations...
It can be regarded as a super-large one that lasted for hundreds of years, including the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, which is particularly impressive.
The reason why the Kingdom of Jerusalem has been able to persist in the hot land of the Middle East for 88 years with the support of hundreds of thousands of Franks is that the surrounding Muslim warlords are obviously too weak.
So much so that the Leper King really had the nerve to say that he had brought peace and order to Palestine...
Compared with this group of "absolute autocrats" who don't know what the state system is, the Frankish feudal aristocratic republican system can be regarded as an existence that allows the people to live and work in peace and contentment.
Even though Saladin was an outlier among the Sultans, who knew how to build cities and would try to reconcile the interests of various Islamic factions, he was still the authority itself.
The free translation of the word Sudan is "authority" or "power".
Therefore, even though Green Wolf Muzaffar felt that it was unnecessary and did not need to bring three thousand strangers to join the battle, he still did not refuse Saladin.
Because it is inappropriate and inappropriate.
The sultan gave himself thousands more people, so how could he possibly refuse?
Fourth update, there are still three chapters of 1215 monthly tickets, 1315 monthly tickets, and 1415 monthly tickets that have not been repaid.
(End of chapter)