Chapter 190 You are the one who comes
One thing to say is that the iron bars in the cell are actually not very thick, at most they are only about the thickness of two or three fingers.
But what happened to Gareth?
For so many days, he gave a small portion of his food to other people in the cell! This person looks like he has lost a lot of weight!
And then, there he was, a guy who called himself the Holy One of Jerusalem.
Just because Andre said "I believe". Believing in God means loving the poor and believing that they have not been abandoned by God.
Garris stood up and bent the iron railing with his bare hands!
Nicholas, Andrei, especially the guy who sneered.
For a moment, it didn't feel real, and for a moment, it felt like this scene was too weird, so much so that the man who made the sneer even slapped himself in the face to make sure whether this scene was a dream.
The burning pain on his cheek told him that it was all true.
Garris really broke open the iron pillar with just his human power.
Some of Andre's prisoners also stood up and tried to follow suit.
However, without exception, those iron pillars may have swayed or even deformed a little, but they would never be able to directly open a gap for people to pass through like Garris.
Although Garris's face looked a bit labored, it seemed that this scene was not so easy for him.
But if Garris can do it, they can do it. If they can't do it, they can't do it.
Because of the length of the dungeon, there is still quite a distance, and the jailers at the end of the dungeon are all drinking and playing dice.
Those drunk guys didn't pay attention to carefully guarding the prisoners.
After all, this is just work, and they are just doing a day's work and making a living.
Therefore, they did not notice what happened at the end of the prison.
Garris also made a silence gesture to signal the prisoners not to shout.
Considering Garris's performance in breaking apart iron pillars with his bare hands, all of the prisoners were very well-behaved.
Regardless of whether they are the people under Nicholas or not, the prisoners with normal brains are now thinking about asking Garris to open the door for them.
In such a situation, Garris walked through the quiet dungeon corridor and came to the interrogation room at the end of the dungeon.
There is a jailer here. Because he has drunk a lot of wine, he is lying on his back on a chair and looks like he is about to fall asleep.
Garris tapped a jailer on the shoulder and asked him where the keys to the cells in the dungeon were.
The jailer complained impatiently, and then pointed to the keychain on the wall. Those keys were obviously used to open the cell door.
Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Garris took the key to the door and opened some prison doors.
But there were some that Garris did not open, such as the one who committed murder intentionally, or the one who committed rape.
The prisoners released by Garris, except for the resistance members under Nicholas, were basically people with minor crimes.
Because Garris let the others go, but not those who had committed serious crimes, there was a clamor in the dungeon.
At this time, the jailers at the end of the corridor realized what had happened.
The sleeping jailer was shaken awake. Just when he was about to have a seizure, his colleague beside him shook his head and looked towards the dungeon corridor.
Now at least a dozen prisoners have walked out of their cells.
"What are you doing! You are going to rebel!"
Realizing the problem, the jailers jumped up in a hurry.
The originally drunken state suddenly became sober because of this sudden change.
These people hurriedly raised their spears from the corner and pointed them at the prisoners at the end of the prison. To be precise, the spears in their hands were pointed at Garris.
In this narrow terrain, the long gun has an absolute advantage.
For a while, they failed to understand what was going on with these prisoners who were originally held in their respective cells.
Why did he suddenly get the key and open his cell door?
But no matter how strange it is, these prisoners who are half-dead from starvation are currently unarmed, so it shouldn't be difficult to take care of them.
After all, who in this world is not a mortal body? No matter how good your skills are, you can't stop a bunch of spears and thrusts.
However, the mortal body in the eyes of these jailers was the Frank to be precise.
Not only did he not obediently return to his cell, but he actively walked towards the jailer.
"Go back! Go back!"
"Come here again and we will kill people!"
With these words of warning, the three jailors held long guns and began to advance.
In this narrow passage, no one can avoid the spears in their hands!
Then, for some reason, the Frenchman disappeared.
When they discovered Garris again, one of the jailers felt that the spear in his hand was extremely heavy!
The Frank actually stepped on the barrel of his gun and rushed towards them!
"Huh?"
Before the guards could react, fists as big as sandbags hit them directly in the face!
After a few solid punches, these jailers who were waiting for death were dizzy for a moment!
The prisoners behind Garris swarmed forward and snatched the weapons from the hands of the three jailers.
And looked at the last jailer.
The man panicked. This was beyond his expectation. He wanted to escape, but when he turned his head, he only saw Garris, blocking the exit of the dungeon.
In this situation where there was a wolf in front and a tiger behind, the man raised his hands tremblingly.
There were bursts of laughter in the dungeon, and the prisoners realized that their necks were about to be far away from the executioner's axe.
The buddies in the dungeon are all talented, they speak well, and they work neatly, and no one is bothered by it.
Under the leadership of the jailer, they found the most inconspicuous door in the castle. In the past, only excrement workers would enter and exit through this door.
The small gate is on the back of the hill on which the castle rests. No one will pay attention to it. By walking around the hill, they can see the bustling town not far away. If they continue to follow this path, they can merge into the uninhabited wilderness. Or find a few unknown villages.
"You don't really plan to run into that wilderness." Garris saw the hesitation of these guys. Although the weather was no longer as cold as before, it was still enough to freeze to death a few people without clothes in the middle of the night.
"No, we have a hiding place near here. If you are willing to come, you can come with us." Nicholas said.
Nicholas owes Garris a life. In fact, half of the people here owe Garris a life. In just a few days, more than half of them will be executed collectively, and less than half of the remaining people will be executed. Sent to hard labor.
They were rebels, scum, or other poor people, but the strength and decisiveness shown by Gareth in the dungeon won their recognition.
……
January in Cyprus is the same as in Palestine.
The cold wind mixed with rain poured into everyone's body and extinguished their passion.
But there are some things, some flames, some anger, that the rain cannot extinguish.
Ever since Isaac landed on the island, he and his mercenaries have been humiliating the island wantonly.
From the day of his coronation, Isaac began to plunder Cyprus, raping women, defiling virgins, inflicting excessively cruel punishments on perpetrators, and plundering citizens' property.
[Now the Cypriots, who were respected and had wealth as great as Job's, would be begging in the streets, naked and hungry, unless they were slain with the sword by this violent tyrant. 】
——Niktas Joniates
The so-called Job is a wise man in the Bible who possessed incalculable wealth.
Where there is oppression, there is resistance.
Faced with Isaac's brutal behavior, many people stood up and tried to overthrow his rule.
But, these all failed.
As an ordinary local nobleman, Nicholas contacted some relatives nearby, organized an army, and launched a modest rebellion.
However, as a result, their group was defeated by Isaac's troops.
So that for a long time, I could only hide in Tibet.
There were originally thousands of troops, but now there were only twenty-eight of them left.
"As I said before, Cyprus was part of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt before it became a Roman province."
"When Ptolemy X Alexander I died in 88 BC, he bequeathed his kingdom, which at that time included Egypt and Cyprus, to the Roman Republic."
"At first the Roman Senate was reluctant to accept the kingdom because they feared that whoever was sent to conquer the Ptolemaic Kingdom might become too powerful and threaten the democratic principles of the republic."
"After that, due to some circumstances, Rome finally annexed Cyprus, but except for the governor and a few officials they sent, Cyprus was generally autonomous."
"With few armies and far away from the strife of the mainland, the Roman peace brought prosperity to the island."
Garris was in a wooden house, telling Andre and the others about the past history of the island.
These histories are actually not unknown, and Nicholas himself knows it well. In the process, Garris also repeatedly reminded Nicholas and the others why they failed.
Because their uprising and rebellion essentially just mobilized the power of a town and some farmers.
They never put forward a loud slogan, never mobilized the power of other municipalities, and never gained unanimous support from the citizenry.
The reason why Gehris wants to repeatedly talk about the glory of the Roman era at this juncture is that he wants to put forward a slogan.
Just like Confucius said in the Spring and Autumn Period when rituals and music collapsed, he wanted to restore the rule of the Three Dynasties.
He, Galis, also wanted to restore the rule of the Roman Republic on this island that was bullied by Isaac.
Most of these discussions by Garris are actually a bit far-fetched, and they are classics that are mentioned repeatedly in history that are beneficial to him.
But he does give a core idea about why "Rome" fell.
That is, the changes in power relations during the transition between the republican system and the imperial system were one of the keys to Rome's transition from strength to weakness.
In Gehris's discussion, the strength of the Roman Republic was closely linked to its unique republican system, which emphasized citizen participation and the country's belonging to all Romans, creating a strong sense of civic responsibility and community.
During the Roman Republic, citizens had the opportunity to serve the country through elections and joining the army. The center of power in Rome was decentralized, and the consuls, senate, and popular assembly all represented the interests of citizens to a certain extent.
This system inspired people to actively participate in the affairs of the state, and citizens fought for Rome because they felt that Rome belonged to them, not to any ruler.
However, when Rome transformed into an empire, especially after Augustus established the principal system, although the emperor was nominally the "first citizen" (Princeps) and retained a certain appearance of a republic, in fact power began to be gradually concentrated in the hands of the emperor.
As time went on, Roman emperors increasingly viewed the state as their personal property, and the emperor's power became absolute, especially during the reign of Domitian (81-96 AD) and some later emperors. The authoritarian nature of the country is becoming more and more obvious.
This concentration of power has led to a growing sense of distance between the state and its citizens.
When citizens no longer think that they own Rome, but rather that Rome owns them, a sense of public participation and responsibility fades away.
The citizens of the Roman Empire gradually transformed from free republican citizens to subjects subject to the emperor. People were no longer proud of their country and no longer willing to sacrifice for it because they no longer felt that Rome belonged to them.
When this bond between citizens and the state is severed, the state loses the core strength that supports it—the loyalty and sacrifice of its citizens.
The lack of this sense of shared social responsibility led to a decline in Rome's vitality, ultimately leading to the decay and collapse of the empire.
"The country became the emperor's 'private property', and citizens gradually became passive subjects and no longer the masters of Rome."
"As a result, the army gradually became a professional mercenary army. Soldiers fought for personal interests or rewards from the emperor, rather than to defend their common Rome."
"Rome is the Rome of all citizens! Not the Rome of one family!"
The rain outside the window was dripping, and everyone in the house, especially Nicholas, kept tapping their fingers on the floor after listening to Garris's words.
He had to admit that he lacked something. In fact, everyone in this room lacked that thing.
These people never thought that the situation in Joseprus would be corrupted to the extent it is today.
They only superficially attributed the reasons for Rome's defeat to external challenges such as barbarian invasions and pressure from Germanic tribes.
They just blamed the current situation in Cyprus on the "Emperor" Isaac, but never thought that it was the "Emperor" system itself that made Rome no longer Rome and Cyprus no longer Cyprus.
Garris's words became more and more tempting. Of course Garris knew what the problems were with his words. Of course he knew that many of his arguments were untenable.
But for Gehris, if "Rome does not belong to the citizens", then it would be better for such Rome to die as soon as possible.
Just like when he deliberately said that "Caesar" killed "Jesus".
Of course, Garris knew what the death of Brother Tian was recorded in the scriptures, but that did not prevent him from deliberately highlighting the existence of "Caesar" for his own point of view.
["If you release this man, you will not be a friend of Caesar, for whoever claims to be a king rebels against Caesar" ("John 19:12")]
[Thus, people on earth must choose between Caesar and the Kingdom of Heaven. There are no two days in the sky and no two kings in the country. The peace of Rome is a sacred peace that cannot be disturbed by the Kingdom of Heaven. 】
[The execution of Jesus was not for secular reasons, but for divine reasons, because "Caesar is holy"]
"A Rome without 'Caesar' is a good Rome, a Rome without 'Augustus' is a true Rome."
"Cyprus should and cannot have a 'Caesar' anymore. The only one we really and only need to revere is the Father in heaven, and all of us are his people."
"Any secular tyrant is an idol and needs to be defeated by us."
"As the Holy One of Jerusalem! This is my declaration!"
A flash of thunder flashed outside the window, followed by the roar of winter thunder. At this moment, a person hurriedly opened the door.
The cold wind and rain outside splashed into the house.
Garris noticed something was wrong. There seemed to be many people outside the house.
"No! That guy Hector is coming with a group of people!"
The sky outside the house is gray, and the heavy rain is mixed with the cold wind of winter, cutting everything on the earth coldly.
Outside the house, dozens of people gathered, standing in a dense circle. Many of them held sharp farm tools with front ends ground to a sharp edge, which could be used as weapons.
According to Gareth's observation, these people also expressed surprise when they saw Nicholas and the others. They had never thought that they would meet by chance in such a place.
Dozens of people were breathing rapidly in the cold, constantly spitting out white mist.
Dozens of eyes stared closely at Garris and the others, showing an indescribable expression, which seemed to be fear and admiration.
Garris muttered to himself in a low voice: "The one who comes is not good, the one who is good will never come..."
Nicholas on the side replied a few words and introduced the other party: "You are the one here."
"Then they are not actually enemies. They are all heroes who rose up together to resist Isaac."
Garris frowned. If the other party is also a good man who raised an army to resist Isaac, what is going on now?
Nicholas's explanation for this is: "They did something wrong and tricked us into resisting Isaac's army, while they themselves escaped."
When Nicholas said this, his expression hardened involuntarily.
Although in that situation, anyone with a discerning eye knew that they could not defeat Isaac's mercenaries, but they were fighting desperately, and the team in front of them sold their friendly troops in order to survive.
And this kind of behavior is just like what Garris said. This group of people is fighting for no reason.
They were a mob, driven solely by superficial agitation, the temptation of some money, or their hatred of Isaac.
Therefore, when the situation is not good, everyone will fly away when the disaster strikes, and no one can take care of the other.
The rain was falling lightly, and the rain from the sky wet Garris's clothes and hair. He took the initiative to walk into the rain and look at these people.
Garris's calm and almost indifferent appearance made these dozens of people's hearts beat. For a moment, they didn't know whether the rumors about Nicholas and his group were true.
According to legend, a few days ago, when Nicholas was captured in the castle dungeon, this group of people took the opportunity to escape.
They fought all the way out of Isaac's castle. Regardless of who they were, every living creature was massacred by this gang of desperadoes.
And their group had done something unreasonable again. If they weren't being hunted down so fiercely by Isaac's troops, they wouldn't have thought of coming to Nicholas' hiding place to hide.
I originally thought that there was no one here, or that Nicholas and his group were not here, but unexpectedly they bumped into each other.
The leading man was a little exhausted. He pointed at Nicholas behind Garris and shouted:
"Nicholas! If you hadn't instigated everyone to join you in the rebellion, how could we have fallen to this point!"
"Now we all have our own homes and can't go back! Those Turks are wandering around our village. If it weren't for the protection of the bishops, our families might have been murdered!"
The rain was still falling, and facing the accusations from these people, Nicholas could only lower his head.
As strong as the passion was during the rebellion, how bitter is the desolation after the defeat now.
Thousands of brothers are now dead and scattered. Some of the famous ones are hiding in hiding.
And Cyprus is another small island country. These people will one day be caught and hanged in various cities and intersections to announce to the people the fate of the rebels.
After listening to the words of the man opposite, Garris actually smiled.
"So, are you going to kneel down and beg Isaac for mercy?"
"In other words, do you think the emperor's rule of this island is reasonable?"
The man opposite was speechless for a moment. He didn't mean that. He just wanted to push the problem onto Nicholas to cover up the ugliness of people like him running away from the battlefield.
"Come here, I have something to tell you." Garris waved.
The other party was a little stunned, but he definitely wouldn't just listen to Garris.
Garris shook his head, knowing full well that there were some conflicts between the two parties, whether they were big or small.
Both sides dislike each other, one side feels that the other side is running away, and the other side blames Nicholas for ruining their peaceful life.
And if you want such two parties to talk calmly, it is not difficult in Garris' opinion.
Garris stepped forward. His movements gradually became faster, and the distance covered with each step became larger and larger.
When the people on the opposite side reacted, Garris's figure disappeared directly from the rain, leaving only a channel that was knocked open.
It’s still a big chapter of 6,000 words.
(End of chapter)