Chapter 169 Garris’ prophecy came true
The air was hot and dry, and the sunlight was like an invisible sharp blade, cutting the earth, cracking it and drying it up.
The city of Karak looks like an entrenched beast on the high platform in the distance, and the khaki city wall looks a bit dazzling under the scorching sun.
The wind on the plateau blew through the gravel and cracked soil, raising dust, which made Adil squint his eyes.
As a member of the Ayyubid family, Adil served in the Zanji dynasty as an officer.
After Nureddin's death, Adil turned to Saladin's command without any scruples and helped his brother rule Egypt.
In the hot land of the Middle East, it seems that it has never been a theorem that the father dies and the son succeeds.
Personal allegiance to the sultan is often far superior to identification with the dynasty.
To be precise, these dynasties in the Middle East are not countries at all, but just warlords one after another.
It is very rare for a warlord to be able to avoid betrayal before his death.
Therefore, it is difficult to find a dynasty that can last more than three generations in this land...
In this case, it is naturally impossible to say that Adil has no ambition.
But if you want to seize the throne of Sultan, you need to be strong enough to suppress your nephews.
If the city of Karak can be captured with very few sacrifices, it will naturally be great for Adil.
In fact, he did not bring out too many soldiers and horses.
In the desolate land of Transjordan, once the army exceeds 4,000, it will be quite difficult to maintain it.
"Malik, organize another siege, this time on a larger scale. We need to put more pressure on the city and force them to make a decision as soon as possible."
Adil turned his head and gave these instructions to the young man beside him.
The young man nodded in response and turned to mobilize the troops.
According to Adil's instructions, this time is not a tentative attack, but a real demonstration of their military power to Karak City...
……
Under the same scorching sun, an unspeakable tension was brewing in the square outside the church in Karak City.
Etienne was sweating profusely. Everything was fine, but suddenly in the crowd, someone accused him of being a murderer.
As we all know, Etienne has always been kind to others. He is a good person who would not even dare to kill a chicken!
"Where did I kill someone?! How did I kill someone?!" Etienne's eyes widened and he tried to seek support from the onlookers, but his words seemed to fall into silence.
However, just when he was about to argue, another voice suddenly sounded.
"Get down now! You murderer!"
The voice was hoarse and low, completely different from the previous accusations, and the direction of the sound was also different.
Etienne's eyes quickly scanned the noisy crowd, confirming that it was not the same person. Cold sweat slid down his back, and anxiety gradually swallowed up his reason.
In response, Etienne said loudly: "Come here, catch that guy who slandered people out of thin air!"
However, there was dead silence and no one responded.
The high walls of the church cast long shadows in the sunlight, covering a small patch of ground beneath Etienne's feet, but he felt as if he had nowhere to hide.
Etienne is just a member of the city council. How can he raise any private soldiers in the city?
The soldiers responsible for maintaining order ignored his call.
What's worse is that those two voices were just the beginning. More and more people joined the ranks of condemnation, and angry screams sounded one after another in the square.
Etienne looked at the surrounding citizens, trying to find some support in their eyes, but people just avoided those who spoke out.
Soon, several strangers were isolated from the crowd and stood directly in front of Etienne.
These five people are of different ages. Some are lame in one leg, some are blind in one eye, some are strong men with big shoulders and round waists, and some have ugly faces and stubble.
They were dressed in rags and had a vile air about them.
Etienne felt his throat go dry. He had never seen these people before.
The five of them couldn't help but surround Etienne and several members of his party.
The next moment, they all took out several bulging money bags from their arms and threw them heavily at Etienne.
Etienne subconsciously reached out to block it, but it was still a step too late.
Heavy money bags were thrown at him from all directions, and one of them hit him firmly in the face.
The searing pain caught him off guard and staggered back a few steps, almost falling.
The scattered copper coins scattered like rain, making a crisp sound of metal colliding with stone slabs.
"It's him!" the five people shouted in unison.
"He paid us to kill Father Garris!"
For a moment, all the citizens who saw this good show were at a loss.
How come, Councilor Etienne just said he wanted to get to the bottom of it, and then five people showed up, hit people with money bags, and said Councilor Etienne was the culprit who hired murderers?
"This blood-stained money was all given to us by Etienne!"
"Now, if we don't want it anymore, give it back to him!" Just like they had rehearsed a long time ago, these people shouted in unison again, and then told the story vividly one by one.
How did Etienne find the broker, how did the broker find the five of them, and how did the five of them subcontract one by one, so that no one was willing to kill the priest.
At the end, the lame Alban burst into tears in front of the public and recited the dialogue between him and the priest.
["Father! I actually exchanged the blood of innocent people for money!"]
[The man covered his face and cried, like a child who lost his father, with tears flowing down his wrinkled cheeks. 】
[He threw all those dirty coins on the ground, making a jingling sound, accusing himself of his crime. 】
[The prophet turned back to look at the scattered coins, then stepped forward, helped the man up, and said warmly: "Have you ever sold the blood of an innocent person? Don't you think I'm still fine now?"]
[There is compassion in his eyes, like a glimmer of light in the darkness. 】
——"The Book of Kharak" 6:5-10
The lame Albon was really crying uncontrollably, and his heart-wrenching confession conveyed his true feelings to the people around him.
He told the truth, so he was extraordinarily convincing.
And the citizens were gradually infected by that emotion.
As for Etienne, he was stunned after being hit with thousands of copper coins.
He stretched out his hand to cover his face, feeling a stinging pain and feeling wetness on his fingertips.
It was the blood that oozed out after his skin was scratched by the money bag. The blood mixed with sweat flowed from his cheek to his chin, and then dripped to the ground, mixing with the copper plates scattered on the ground.
For a moment, those copper plates truly became blood-stained money, only stained with Etienne's blood.
He tried to open his mouth to speak, but it was so painful that he couldn't make a sound. The corners of his mouth were also cracked, and the smell of blood filled his mouth.
It wasn't until a while later that he came back to his senses.
"You...you slanderous bastards!"
"How could I instruct you to kill people! You must provide evidence when you speak!"
"What's more, if you, a cripple, didn't kill Garris, what would happen to this funeral!"
Just when Etienne's attention was attracted by the lame Albon, he did not notice that there was an extra person in the shadow of the church steeple behind him.
The man took aim for a while, then slammed another large bag of money at Etienne, hitting the congressman in the back of the head and causing him to stumble forward.
This time Etienne finally failed to stand still and fell into the pile of coins.
What surprised the citizens was that this time Etienne was buried in silver coins.
Those shining silver plates emit dazzling light under the sun and are breathtaking.
"I testify! It was he who gave me this blood-stained money and asked me to find someone to murder Father Garris!"
The broker who was found by Etienne at the beginning came out of the shadow under the church steeple.
The man held a linen jacket stained with dark red blood in his left hand, and held a dazzling sapphire in his right hand.
Listening to this familiar voice, Etienne's mind was shocked.
He stared blankly at the silver and copper coins scattered on the ground, and felt that everything seemed to have stopped. The noise in the square suddenly became extremely distant, and he could only hear his own rapid heartbeat.
Even the scorching sun during the dry season in July seemed cold and lacked warmth.
What's even worse is that someone else came forward to testify.
"I testify! That gem belongs to Mr. Etienne! I saw it at Mr. Etienne's house two days ago!"
"I testify! Turk came to me not long ago and asked me if I wanted to murder Father Garris, but I refused!"
"I also testify! I heard with my own ears that Monsieur Etienne, Monsieur Bernard, and Monsieur Hugues were discussing how to find someone to kill Monsieur Garris!"
"Me too!"
These people were of all kinds, from the gardener of Etienne's house, to a small businessman in the lower town, to a hard worker with only a handful of strength... They all stood up and made their voices heard.
For a time, no one cared whether Garris was really dead or faked.
The citizens only knew that seven members of Congress, including Etienne, had hired a murderer to kill their most respected Garris...
"I didn't, it wasn't me..." Etienne wanted to defend himself, but his words were extremely weak.
Three people can become tigers, not to mention these dozen people are all telling the truth they know.
The infection caused by telling the truth is many times more powerful than telling lies!
In public, Etienne, who was buried in copper coins and silver coins, was unable to refute. Accusations and curses from all directions bombarded his eardrums like thunder, making him breathless.
The congressmen who accompanied him were also surrounded by angry citizens.
After someone took the lead, the citizens, with red eyes and ferocious faces, picked up piles of copper plates from the ground, raised their arms, and threw them at the originally aloof congressmen.
The copper plate hit the ground with a harsh crunch.
More coins hit the heads, shoulders, and backs of the congressmen, hitting their helpless bodies.
The citizens' anger found an outlet, and the surge of anger swallowed up every inch of air in the square.
[Hey, you rich people! Howl and weep, for the trouble is coming upon you! Your treasures are rotten, your clothes are moth-eaten, your gold and silver are rusted; and this rust will be your witness, devouring your flesh like a consuming fire! 】
——"James" 5:1-3
The prophecy that Garris had made in the church before was fulfilled in this way.
First update, the monthly ticket is almost 700, I will update again tomorrow
(End of chapter)