Chapter 231 Economy
The more successful you are, the harder it is to accept failure. This situation not only occurs in the Islamic world, but also applies to the Christian world.
For the Catholics, in order to recapture Jerusalem and control the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, they sacrificed hundreds of thousands of lives and paid an inestimable price.
This was not only a huge religious victory, the establishment of the Crusader Kingdom also brought huge economic benefits to the Catholic world.
Unlike the scarcity of local resources in the Catholic world, the Eastern Mediterranean has a large number of prosperous cities that produce many sophisticated handicraft products, many of which are luxury goods - such as sugar, silk, perfume, soap, etc., which are A rare treasure in the European Catholic world.
Shipping these goods to Europe can bring in profits many times over. Therefore, many Italian city-states, such as powerful republics such as Venice, although secular commercial republics, also displayed great religious zeal.
The Crusader states granted these Italian city-states many privileges and fiefs, and these privileges were only a small part of the gains the Republic gained from the Crusades.
For example, Tire had Venetian knights and Venetian fiefdoms, while Tripoli maintained a deep partnership with Genoa. In the process of capturing these coastal cities, the navy of the Italian city-states also made great achievements.
Because of this, past success has prompted the Catholic world to increase its stakes and determine to continue to regain lost ground. Together, these economic and religious factors were the driving force behind the Crusades.
……
In 1115, Baldwin I of the Kingdom of Jerusalem began to build the first Crusader castle, Fort Montreal, on the territory of Transjordan.
The following year, 1116, Baldwin I captured the city of Aqaba on the Red Sea coast, which allowed the kingdom to control all roads between Damascus, Egypt and Arabia, protecting the Crusader countries from the east, and allowed for profitable raids on caravans passing through the area.
As for the Fort of Montreal, the pilgrim Thietmar, who visited the castle after the Muslim conquest in 1217, called it "a most excellent fortress, surrounded by a triple wall, the strongest I have ever seen fortress".
After the defeat in the Battle of the Sea of Galilee, the Transjordan region quickly gave up its allegiance to Leonard and turned to the religious forces headed by Garris and Isabella.
Now it has become the county with the largest area, the smallest population, and the southernmost among the three counties of Transjordan.
Due to the particularity of its geographical location, it also became a breakthrough point that Saladin was trying to seek.
After a series of border conflicts broke out in the Torun region, causing heavy losses to the Kurdish tribes, Saladin began to accuse the Second Kingdom of breaking the contract, and took advantage of the situation to launch a tentative attack on Transjordan.
As far as the results are concerned, the troops under his command did not capture Fort Montreal quickly.
On the contrary, they encountered a fierce counterattack with support from the garrison in Karak City.
However, this test was not fruitless. A large number of soldiers claimed that they had witnessed the Franks using mysterious weapons.
Saladin's life has not been very good recently. It has been more than a year since he mobilized his soldiers.
In more than a year, he led his troops across the Kingdom of Jerusalem to regain the Holy Land, but now it has reached an unsustainable point.
Strictly speaking, it is not that there is no progress at all, but it has reached a stage where investment and harvest are not proportional.
Tir was like a steel nail, poking into the coastline, blocking his army from continuing to advance north.
As a strategist, Saladin has his own unique understanding of war.
In a war, many tactical or operational failures will not actually cause deterioration at the overall level.
Because these tactics and battles are not of decisive significance, but if most of the battles that make up the overall war fail, or one or two decisive battles fail, strategically speaking, you will be in trouble. .
This feeling is especially obvious for Saladin today.
After a tentative attack on Transjordan failed, it was no longer possible to capture Tire.
Then even if Saladin crossed Tire, ate Tripoli, or Antioch, it would not help change the overall situation.
Because those expeditionary forces from Europe can still land directly in the hinterland of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and purchase large amounts of materials as supplies from merchant groups through the seaport.
But Saladin was already losing interest. The only thing he is really concerned about right now is the recovery of the Franks' mysterious weapons.
After more than half a year of collecting various information, plus the transmission of intelligence on the war situation in Transjordan a few days ago.
The engineers and blacksmiths under Saladin's command told him that a breakthrough had been made and invited him to go to the docks of Acre to take a look.
In the port area of Acre, the people had long been separated by the Mamluks. Several cylindrical stubby objects were placed there, as well as various sundries.
Among these miscellaneous items, there are five components in total.
The largest one is naturally a cylindrical thick and short body tube, which is placed on a wooden frame.
There is also a bag of gunpowder, a shot put that was painstakingly crafted, a very thick wooden stick, and a very thin wooden stick.
"These are the weapons used by the Franks this year?" Saladin looked a little confused and turned his attention to several soldiers aside.
Those soldiers were survivors of recent battles. They had personally experienced battles with the Franks and personally experienced the power of that mysterious weapon.
Many of them were a little skeptical, but one of them nodded.
"Sir, that's it. The principle of this thing is actually not complicated. We didn't think of it for such a long time in the past. It can be said to be a complete accident."
Saladin's subordinate The engineer defended himself slightly.
From the first news of this type of weapon came, it was not until almost a year later that we figured out what was going on. It did seem that they were somewhat unqualified.
Saladin didn't care about the engineer's excuse, but just stepped aside and let these people demonstrate it.
He saw a blacksmith separate a part of the gunpowder, wrap it in silk and stuff it into the tube, and then use a thick wooden stick to poke the medicine bag in.
After completing this step, the blacksmith stuffed the lead ball into the pipe and pushed it in with a thick wooden stick again, and pushed it firmly.
After these two steps were completed, the blacksmith picked up an awl and poked a small hole in the back of the barrel.
Then, he borrowed a torch from the side, lit the thin wooden stick, and inserted it into the hole.
With a muffled sound, smoke rose, and Saladin, who was so close to such a weapon for the first time, felt his heart suddenly shrink.
Then I saw a splash of water exploding on the sea not far away.
“Okay!”
Saladin shouted immediately.
The blacksmiths and engineers on the side couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
To put it another way, they themselves find it hard to describe what they have worked out.
The principle is indeed very simple. It is to ignite the gunpowder in a relatively closed space and use the suddenly expanding gunpowder gas to push the lead ball.
But that’s true, but the results they tested several times before were not ideal.
First of all, it is quite difficult to create a relatively closed space, and it requires a very experienced clock craftsman to create it.
Secondly, it may be a problem with gunpowder, because in the past years, the Arabs were not well aware of the explosive effect of gunpowder and have long used it as a combustion accelerant.
This makes their gunpowder explosion effect seem to be very unsatisfactory. It is currently not enough to propel the lead ball to destroy thick wooden boards at long distances.
All I can say is that I hope I can fool him this time, and I hope Lord Sultan won’t be too curious and go find out more about the power of this weapon.
But the more you are afraid of something, the more it will come.
"How far can this weapon of yours hit, and can it destroy a carriage?"
When Saladin mentioned the carriage, what he thought of was the tactics used by the Franks.
Use the carriage to protect your infantry, and then use the carriage as cover to shoot at the Saracens.
Everything is simple, but it is also this simplicity that makes them difficult to crack.
The engineers looked at each other and then complied.
Adjust the position of this small cannon, which is roughly a cubit long, and find a carriage for testing.
However, they carefully adjusted the position of the carriage, roughly thirty steps away from the cannon.
The blacksmiths who built the cannon, under the command of the engineer, cleaned the barrel, loaded the gunpowder and shells, repeated the previous steps, and ignited the gunpowder in the barrel again.
There were two more bangs, and the carriage not far away was smashed into pieces in front of Saladin.
“Allahu Akbar.”
Saladin seemed very satisfied when he saw this scene.
As the engineer on the side took a breath, Saladin said another sentence.
“Move the carriage thirty steps further.”
"My lord...this..."
The engineer on the side wanted to defend something, but after Saladin ordered it, he obviously could not disobey and had no choice but to go over and do it.
This time, although it did hit, just as the engineers had worried, the cannonball was embedded in the thick wooden boards of the carriage and did not penetrate.
While Saladin carefully inspected the damage effect, both the engineer and the blacksmith couldn't help but feel a little frightened.
After all, the thing they built was very different from the soldiers' description of Frankish weapons.
"Oh - that's enough."
However, Saladin was not too demanding.
Although this weapon looks quite different from those of the Franks, at least the principle of this weapon has been discovered by the Muslims.
Then from Saladin's point of view, all that's left is just how much time it takes to catch up.
The reason why Arab Muslims had a brilliant civilization in the Middle Ages is related to the fact that they absorbed the excellent technologies of various civilizations from all over the world island.
Perhaps many technologies were not invented by Arabs, but they were developed by Arabs.
Furthermore, the potential of this weapon is also very impressive. A group of blacksmiths who had never touched a bow and arrow could easily shoot at a target dozens of steps away.
No matter how this thing looks like now, it at least has potential.
"Come and get a reward! All the craftsmen and engineers who participated in the design and creation of this weapon can each choose two slaves, and then I will give you 200 dinars to divide among yourself!"
The craftsmen and engineers were very happy when they heard the previous words, but when they heard the second words, they looked embarrassed.
Finally, a scholar came up to Saladin and told Saladin in a low voice that they had spent a lot of brass to cast this weapon.
Then, in recent days, Cyprus, the main copper producing area in the Eastern Mediterranean, has begun to restrict the sale of copper mines for unknown reasons.
This caused the price of copper in Acre to skyrocket.
Although in the Middle East, the value of copper is not as good as that of China, the value of brass has become quite expensive after experiencing price increases.
After hearing the news, Saladin was stunned for a moment, and then immediately thought of the news about the great changes in Cyprus.
He just stood on the beach of Akka, looking north and was stunned for a long time.
Spit out a name at the end.
"Gaillis?"
"Except from Cyprus, where does the copper we can purchase mainly come from?"
Saladin asked Isa Hakkari in a low voice.
Then Issa Hakari on the side also looked quite bad: "That's Asia Minor, or over there in Persia..."
With such a long distance, the price is naturally It can't be cheap.
In fact, even if Saladin releases the news to purchase copper mines, it will be quite a long time before the ore is transported by sea.
“Can’t we use iron?”
Saladin couldn't help but ask.
Then the engineers and blacksmiths looked even more embarrassed. Obviously, the cast iron cannon was a bit beyond their capabilities.
After the principle of this gunpowder weapon was understood, they, Muslim engineers and scholars, quickly realized what would determine the power of this weapon.
Of course, when the casting technology is not that high, if you want to increase the power without being blown up by excessive gunpowder, then the easiest way is to add money and use copper to reduce the technical difficulty.
If you can't get cast iron, then add more money to exchange for brass. If brass is still troublesome to cast, then add more money and exchange for bronze.
When a cannon is fired, gold is worth ten thousand taels. This is not only about the benefits of war, but also about the cost of war.
The standing army in this era is a gold-swallowing behemoth, and Saladin’s spending on the Mamluks accounted for half of all his expenses.
After roughly calculating the cost of mass-producing bronze cannons, Saladin began to feel bad.
Especially now that the price of copper has actually begun to rise...
Although this war against the Kingdom of Jerusalem allowed him to gain a lot of spoils, at the moment it seems that those I'm afraid not all the money I make will be used to make cannons.
Moreover, producing artillery in small quantities and producing artillery in large quantities are two different things.
The production of copper in this era was limited, and the largest nearby copper mine was controlled by Garris.
Once a large amount of money is invested in purchasing copper for the purpose of casting cannons, the copper price will inevitably rise again. After the copper price rises...
Compared with on-the-spot command, what Saladin is really proficient in is actually internal affairs.
So he can intuitively realize the series of price changes and the pressure on himself.
It has to be said that Saladin misses the time when he was against the "Leper King", at least at that time he didn't have to worry so much.
If you can win, fight. If you can't win, wait until the "Leper King" is dead before fighting.
But now, Gareth is a young man, and he actually doesn’t have many years to live.
Time is really precious.
……
On the other hand, economic issues have also become a major point of controversy within the Second Kingdom.
Because the head tax was exempted and the land tax was reduced, many farmers had some spare money and were able to go to the city for shopping. This objectively stimulated a round of urban handicraft industry. prosper.
However, prices of goods have also risen due to shortage of supply, which has begun to affect the lives of citizens.
In the House of Lords, a noble member representing the Balian family first proposed a motion on this issue. The first sentence he spoke was:
"I It is proposed to implement a certain amount of tax rebates for workshops with multiple commodities on the list to reduce production costs, expand production scale, lower selling prices, benefit more people, and improve the competitiveness of export commodities. ”
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Immediately afterwards, the noble congressman announced a list of commodities, including cloth, glass, dyes, soap and other major outputs in Syria.
This proposal made the legislators present involuntarily turn their attention to Sibylla on the throne.
On the surface, this proposal seems to be a gift from the monarch to the people, but the ultimate beneficiaries may not be the families of these members of Congress present.
As landless nobles, they have very few properties in the city of Tire.
Obviously, this motion is aimed at supporting Isabella's side.
After the first trade from Transjordan to Tyre, Transjordan began to send skilled craftsmen to Tyre.
Based on these skilled craftsmen, Isabella's faction established multiple factories outside the city of Tire to produce some consumables, daily necessities, and even some medicines nearby.
Thanks to the use of simple processing lathes and other simple machinery, these workshops are able to produce more and higher quality goods in a shorter time.
In addition, improvements in certain simple technologies have also made original goods in the Arab world more beautiful and effective.
For example, the original Arabic soap industry was improved and the pH of the soap was more scientifically prepared. Craftsmen also added sulfur to the soap to produce sulfur soap.
Sulfur soap can not only inhibit sebum secretion, but also kill bacteria, fungi, molds, mites and parasites, and has certain preventive and auxiliary treatment effects on some skin diseases.
Because of its remarkable curative effect, sulfur soap has been widely promoted and is even regarded by many Arab doctors as a topical medicine for the treatment of skin diseases.
After creating such huge economic benefits, if someone is not jealous, it is definitely impossible.
As a result, at this juncture, the members of the Balian faction also proposed to provide subsequent tax exemptions for this type of workshops.
Of course it caused quite a stir.
Remarks that Queen Sibylla is actually Balian's puppet are becoming more and more noisy.
In fact, Tire’s various reforms are now indeed in a dilemma.
Isabella and Balian brought too few people to directly take over the territory here. They established the current administrative state through a large number of interest exchanges.
At the same time, the royal power was not transferred directly, but remained in the hands of Sibylla.
Now that Guy has returned, Sibylla's attitude has actually begun to become a little vague.
Many aristocratic groups gathered under the banner of Jerusalem Patriarch Irakli and began to openly connect.
The reason why Balian, Isabella and others did not fall out directly with these nobles.
Actually, one reason is that those nobles are not very firmly opposed to reform.
They are actually opposing the dividends of the reform, which have not been completely eaten up by nobles like them.
And this actually leads to a big problem.
What was the most critical aspect of developing productivity in the 12th century? Is it because the technology is insufficient? Is it conservative thinking? Or is it due to the opposition of certain traditional forces?
No, the most critical point lies in the consumer group.
Compared with the strong market of later generations, the consumption that the consumer groups of this era can carry out is pitiful, and the products produced in this era will also be damaged due to some of the most common impacts. Falling short of success.
So in Tire, Garris asked Isabella and the others to directly exempt the head tax and reduce the land tax, just to give the peasants a little more poor spending power.
And this increase in consumption power has caused violent fluctuations in prices in Tire, which has affected the lives of the citizen class. It can be seen that both producers and consumers in this era are maintaining what kind of A dangerous balance.
Either the consumption power is insufficient and the goods produced cannot be sold, causing producers to go bankrupt; or a simple excess of consumption power can cause prices to rise, which can affect the lives of other groups of people.
This is the situation Tier is facing. Because of the weak consumer market, any fluctuation is unbearable.
Reducing taxes on workshops and lowering prices is one of the ways to deal with price conflicts within the city.
As for exporting?
These days, Tire's main export target is Europe. Before the discovery of American gold and silver mines in Europe, the proportion of people with spending power in Europe would only be lower than that of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
You must know that the urban population proportion of the Kingdom of Jerusalem has exceeded 25% for a long time, while the urban population proportion of Europe has never exceeded 10% throughout the Middle Ages.
Of the less than 10% of the urban population, how many are urban poor with low consumption power?
If you make a little estimate, you will find that the number of people with spending power in Europe may not exceed two million. If divided into the hands of each country, it will only be between tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands.
If you expect the external market to absorb the output of the Second Kingdom in the future, this will most likely be an extremely embarrassing thing.
It can be said that the contradiction in the parliament lies in whether the dividends of the reform are embezzled by the nobles, or whether they are used to cultivate new consumer markets.
(End of this chapter)