Chapter 230 It’s Torun, but it’s not Torun either
Night falls, and a cool breeze blows.
In an open space in the center of the village, dim lights illuminate the surrounding darkness.
There were some simple straw mats on the ground, and a few wooden boards were put together to form a low table, which was filled with food brought by nearby villagers.
A few bowls of stewed beans, some freshly baked hot bread, and a few plates of dried dates.
The crowd gathered around the lights, and the lively chatter and laughter mixed with the laughter of children echoed in the night sky.
At one end of the open space is the bride's seat. She is wearing a white cotton robe, with a veil covering half of her face. Her exposed cheeks are slightly flushed against the light.
Beside her sat several older women, humming simple blessing songs with melodious voices.
At the other end, the groom and his relatives and friends, many men gathered together, talking in low voices, and occasionally burst into hearty laughter.
Someone stood up from the crowd, picked up a tambourine, and played a simple rhythm, and someone else took out a wooden flute to match the rhythm.
Then several young people stood up first, formed a circle, and danced a simple dance to the music.
Dong, dong dong...Dong, dong dong...
Most families in the village participated in this banquet.
Even travelers from far and wide were also present.
When the music stopped for a moment, the only roasted whole lamb also began to be cut up.
The groom handed each guest a piece of bread. When he came to the guests, he was a little surprised, but he still chose not to make a fuss. He didn't have much ill feelings towards the Franks.
Especially this year, the Franks in Tire did not go to the countryside to collect land taxes so much, and their lives were much better.
After taking the bread, Gairis said in Arabic familiarly: "May Allah protect you."
The groom was even more surprised, but he still replied: "May Allah protect you." Allah protects you."
"By the way, where is this?"
"This is Torun."
"How do you know each other?"
Gairis secretly pointed at the young and beautiful bride not far away.
The groom, who was about the same age as him, couldn't help but feel a little shy, and then whispered: "We grew up together."
"I don't have anything to take advantage of here. Gift, I’m so sorry that I happened to pass by here.”
"It's nothing. It's already our honor that you can come."
"Then, may the grace of God be upon you, and may your marriage be full of hope and happiness."
>"Thank you."
......
In the wilderness where the wind and sand are rising slightly, twilight is slowly swallowing up the remaining light of the day.
Several crows hovered in the air, neighing miserably.
A simple tomb was dug, and a middle-aged man with a bare upper body and thin ribs exposed was alone next to the tomb.
Beside him was a corpse, equally skinny in comparison.
The man recited the scriptures in a low voice, his voice hoarse and low. The thin voice was blown away by the wind in the wilderness.
Not even the air has the intention to answer his lonely prayer.
"I will surely raise the dead... I will definitely record the good and evil they did... and their deeds... I will record everything... in detail in a clear model..."
He carefully lifted the body up and slowly placed it into the grave. Without assistants or bystanders, he could only kneel on his knees to move his not-so-heavy body.
Finally, the body lay at the bottom of the tomb, facing the distant Mecca.
He paused for a moment, raised his hands above his forehead, and began to chant alone:
"Lord, please forgive this soul's sins, and please protect him with your mercy..."
There was a slight choking between the sentences, but there was no pause.
Still kneeling on his knees, he did not use a shovel, but took his hands full of traces of time and scattered the sand piled next to him into the tomb one by one.
Every grain of quicksand of time is the fate that falls on people.
What the earth breeds will also return to the earth.
The grave was not deep enough to bury one person. When he was about to finish filling the hole, there was a sound of horse hooves coming from the direction of the North Star.
The man ignored them, just stood up, picked up two stones from the ground on the other side, and simply placed them on the top of the mound. There was no name, no inscription, only this symbol of belonging.
He stood there, lowered his head and thought for a moment, then knelt down again, touched the ground with his hands, pressed his forehead against the sand, and said the last prayer for the deceased.
Gairis, who came here with the horse, did not interfere with this man's actions.
Just stood aside and watched when it was all done.
He just stepped forward to say hello and asked where he was.
Then Gareth got an answer.
“This is Torun.”
“How did he die?”
“He was hungry for three days, beaten twice with a stick, and his internal organs were injured. I can't live..."
When he heard this, Garris couldn't help but look back at the village where he spent the night yesterday.
He and Alexandros didn't actually go very far today, but they crossed a line at some point, from a world full of new life to a world full of death.
This is a bloody land, poverty lingers like a shadow, and the poor need to fight to the death for daily bread and water.
Every day we have to decide a winner, otherwise we will die early.
When Garris noticed the marks on the man's ribs, he couldn't help but panic.
“How long has it been since you had something to eat?”
The man was silent, as if he didn't want to answer the question.
Gairis touched himself again and again, but couldn't find what he wanted to touch.
He turned around and went to Alexandros' side, fetching the leftover bread from last night and a water bag filled with wine and hurriedly handed it over.
The man, who was obviously a Muslim, did not pay attention to the wine or say thank you, and just leaned against the grave he had just piled.
Just drink wine and eat noodles, chewing slowly and carefully bit by bit.
Share his story with Gareth.
Gehlis and his party abandoned the army and did not take a sea ship. Instead, they rode horses in the mountains of the Levant, heading south.
Before heading to Tire, Garris wanted to know what was going on nearby, so he was not in a hurry to enter the city, but continued to walk some distance south to Torun.
It’s just that this is Torun, but it’s not just Torun.
Torun, this territory was originally supposed to belong to Humphrey IV, but with Saladin's invasion, it fell easily.
But with the brief ceasefire between Saladin and the Kingdom of Jerusalem, this became the first line of contact between the Second Kingdom of Jerusalem and Saladin's forces.
The forces of both sides are intertwined in this land. I am among you, and you are among me.
Therefore, many villages cannot tell which side they belong to.
I just started to take sides for various reasons.
This man who has not eaten for some days is a member of Ain Noor Village.
There was a small dispute in their village a few months ago.
To be precise, there was a slight disagreement in the village about which side to stand on and which side to pay tribute and taxes to.
Most people want to side with the Kingdom of Jerusalem. After all, they might be able to pay less land tax.
But Milad, the rich man in the village, was not happy. After all, that guy bought a dozen Christian slaves.
But these days, the Catholic Church is opposed to Christians being slaves, fearing that it will be in vain.
Later, conflicts broke out in their village because of this incident. People like him, Morag, took advantage of their numbers and beat up the rich man Milad.
I thought this matter was over.
Then the bad news came...
Saladin's relatives, the Kurds from the Fawaz tribe, were the backers of the rich Milad.
After the rich man Milad asked his son to ask for help, the Fawaz tribe led their troops into the village.
Morag, who took the lead, died immediately, and many others close to Morag were also killed.
The rich man Milad suddenly became the local bully of the village and began to help the Fawaz tribe collect taxes.
With the help of the Kurds, the rich man Milad tried his best to search the village so that he could win the favor of his master.
Coupled with the forced retrieval of seeds lent out in previous years, many people in the village are now having a difficult time.
“Borrow?”
"Yes...you will have to pay double..."
"He will go to hell."
"Who says otherwise?"
"Besides, he The family started using slaves to farm the land, so there was no need for me to be a tenant.”
Just when Garris was chatting with this man.
From the direction of the village, a man on horseback came to them arrogantly, and then saw Garris.
"Ibrahim! Ha! Sure enough! The evil spirit has reached this point, and you still want to collude with the Franks!"
"Say it, you apostate, How do you plan to die?"
As he said this, he spat on the middle-aged man.
Gairis turned his head and asked: "Who is he?"
"The son-in-law of Milad, the young master of the Fawaz tribe..."
"Oh, thank you for telling me so much." Garris stood up and faced the young man on horseback. A long sword was drawn from his waist.
Without waiting for the other party to speak, Milad's son-in-law and the young master of the Favaz tribe died after a moment.
Ibrahim opened his mouth, and the young man's spit that had previously splashed on him was now splashed with the young man's blood.
In this sunset, Gairis, who easily beheaded others, turned around and said to Ibrahim, who was still squatting on the ground:
"I will bless those who bless you; I will curse whoever curses you.”
But after opening and closing his dry lips slightly, Ibrahim recited in a low voice: “You will surely raise the dead, you will surely. Record the good and evil they did, and their deeds; record everything in detail in a clear template..."
"If you feel that any of the Millards deserve to die, Just tell me first... As for the Fawaz tribe, how many of them are there in your village?”
“Five, five!”
"Well, none of these five will survive tonight."
The setting sun was like blood, and Garris made an agreement with Ibrahim.
This land that sheds blood is bound to shed more blood.
……
The Kurds are an ancient ethnic group in West Asia, mainly distributed in the border area of Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria, which is the area traditionally called "Kurdistan" .
Its origins can be traced back to the ancient Medes. In the mid-6th century BC, the Mede Kingdom was conquered by Cyrus the Great of the Persian Empire. The fusion of the Medes and Persians is believed to have formed today's Kurds.
The area inhabited by the Kurds was successively ruled by the Seleucid Dynasty, the Parthian Empire, the Roman Empire, the Sasanian Persia and the Eastern Roman Empire.
In the late 7th century AD, the Arab Empire expanded, the Kurdish region was conquered, and the Kurds began to accept Islam.
The vast majority of Kurds are Sunni Muslims who believe in Shafi'i.
They established many small countries between the 10th and 12th centuries, but their nomadic cultural traditions made it difficult for them to unite and establish a powerful dynasty.
With the invasion of powerful enemies such as Armenians, Persians and Turks, these small countries gradually disappeared.
The area later became part of the Seljuq Turks. Later, the Kurds entered the army of the Zanji Dynasty in large numbers due to their strong folk customs. The tribe where Saladin was born was one of them.
However, although Saladin established the huge Ayyubid dynasty, the basic base of this dynasty was actually the original Fatimid dynasty of Egypt.
Therefore, his influence on the Kurds is somewhat insufficient. Although many Kurdish tribes are willing to serve Saladin, the main reason is that they are eager to receive Saladin's rewards.
The Fawaz tribe is the representative of these tribes. As a reward for moving into the old land of the former Kingdom of Jerusalem, they were granted the privilege of taxing in Torun territory and acquired this Iqta territory.
That night, Garris led Alexandros and several Paladins into the village, and it didn't take much time to resolve the battle.
When the sun rose as usual the next day, Ainnur, a small village with a well, realized that many people had died in the village last night.
And that guy Ibrahim was also helping Garis, erecting pillars one after another, and tying the rich man Milad and his son to the pillars.
Immediately piled firewood at the feet of the two people.
The only flaw is that neither Gairis nor Ibrahim forgot to gag Milad's son.
Therefore, even after the person is tied to the pillar, you can still hear the words coming out of his mouth.
“You despicable beasts, the remnants of hell, trash who are too stupid to live in this world!”
“Carrion that even poisonous snakes don’t bother to swallow, you deserve to be stepped on in the mud. Chew the bones."
"Go to hell and mourn forever. Howl, God is too lazy to forgive useless fools like you, you only deserve to be thrown into the abyss to feed the dogs!”
In the midst of such continuous insults, the surrounding villagers realized what was going on! , and then hurried to collect firewood nearby and piled it at the feet of Milad and his son.
When the Millards began to seek to replace their tenants with serfs, they had already begun to transform into feudal lords.
When he truly became a tax collector, he actually became the lowest feudal lord in the feudal system.
In other words, the rich man Milad completed the process of changing from a sheep to a wolf.
For wolves, shouldn’t eating sheep be a natural thing?
But, in the final analysis, everyone will die.
Garris didn't care, and neither did Ibrahim. Finally, Alexandros slapped Milad's son to shut up.
"What will happen in the days to come? Those Kurdish tribes will come here and burn everything in our village."
"Go to Tire, your village doesn't have much If you are still alive, don’t expect plowing this year. With this war and chaos, even if you plant the land, it will be ruined. I will help you remember this land. Wait until this time next year and come back to farm. I promise you, the kingdom will not collect taxes from you next year. Don’t worry, everything will be fine by this time next year.”
“And...”
"Tyre? Kingdom of the Franks? How can we trust them?"
"It's okay. Trust me, everything will be fine. I am a Frank, and the next Queen of the Franks will be my wife."
Picked up another piece of firewood and threw it under Milad. Ibrahim suddenly realized a problem.
“Who are you?”
“The Imam of thousands of peoples on earth, and a prophet earlier than Muhammad.”
While talking about this, Qaris He took a lit torch from Alexandros and handed it to Ibrahim.
Ibrahim, who took the torch, looked at Garris's young face through the blazing flames and was stunned for a long time.
“Everything will be fine.”
“Yes.”
With that, Ibrahim threw the torch into the pile of firewood.
Millad and his son began to beg for mercy, cry...and then curse, followed by endless screams.
Garris felt that he should light a cigarette for himself at this time, but he actually did not smoke, and there were no cigarettes in this era.
I am being changed.
There is no doubt about it.
When he first woke up, Garris couldn't bear to see the burning, and would think of giving others some pleasure.
But now, that’s it.
Ibrahim on the side is more qualified than him.
......
Gairis exempted the village of Ainur from paying taxes, and even signed a document and stamped it with a seal symbolizing the royal power of Jerusalem.
For a time, the kindness, kindness and generosity of the kingdom were sung by the villagers.
When the news spread around, the villages located on the border could not tell whether they were under the rule of the Ayyubid Dynasty or the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
People came to ask what was going on. How come they didn’t even collect 30% of the tax, but directly waived the tax for the coming year? !
After seeing Garris, many of them began to seek shelter from the nearby Second Kingdom garrison.
When all this was reported to the city of Tire, Isabella's expression looked very strange. Such a situation made her somewhat unexpected.
Isabella also held a special meeting for this purpose.
“I support the border villages’ request to return to the Kingdom. If this kind of thing is publicized internally, it can effectively prove that we are the real co-owners of Jerusalem.”< br>
"But what about Saladin's contract? If we expand, will it be considered a violation of the peace agreement?"
In the conference room, someone considered the risk of doing so.
“The current trade with Transjordan depends on the peace agreement signed between us and Saladin. Will our acceptance of the allegiance of those villages be regarded as a provocation to him?”
"And now we still have troops staying in Antioch in the north. If a war breaks out, can we handle it properly?"
Someone pointed out some problems in the Tire territory, and these The problems are actually quite troublesome.
Facing this chaotic scene, Isabella has actually been used to it for a long time.
Everyone has their own opinions that they want to express, and everyone has their own reasons.
As the person presiding over the meeting, what Isabella needs to do before expressing her opinions is to listen, sort out what these people say, and understand their thinking.
Then make your own decision.
When the time was almost up, Isabella’s cold voice echoed in the conference room.
"Rights and obligations are equal, and you have to pay a price for what you get."
"Saladin enfeoffed the peasants to one tribe after another, in exchange for the allegiance of those tribes, and received dozens of "Saladin is taking off his "jihadist" skin."
" Although he showed great righteousness in vain, he still regarded the peasants as cattle and horses."
"He chose the latter between the Muslim people and the horse-riding warriors, and helped the Muslim people in the kingdom's homeland to recognize him clearly. "
"At this juncture, we choose to accept the words of those Muslim people."
"I dare say that you will see that after Saladin comes, Muslims will think of us for the first time. They will serve the kingdom, support the country's rule, be willing to interpret fair judgments, and even change their beliefs."
“The only reason why they do this is The first reason is that Saladin abandoned them and we accepted them. "
This actually doesn't matter. This is the limitation of the times, or it is a choice based on personal interests. Saladin knows the people. power, but it is impossible for him to trust the power of the people.
For him, as long as the army is defeated, it will be his own doom.
What’s the use of popular support?
That is nothing more than a more stable rule and the praise of the people, and these things cannot be converted into military power in a short time.
Cooperating with the nomadic tribes and sharing his newly acquired land with them, he was able to quickly obtain an army that in his eyes was enough to compete with the Franks' army.
Theoretically, this is no problem. After all, the regular Franks are just feudal troops. Both sides laugh at each other.
But it can only be said that Saladin still failed to understand what kind of enemy he was fighting.
If he knew what Garris was about, he might not have chosen to fight in the first place.
...
Because of the White Horse Rider, the land of Palestine experienced a period of relative peace in 1188.
But obviously, the knight on the red horse is coming.
At Agno, the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick symbolically accepted the pilgrims' scepters and relics. His army began to rush to Venice and prepared to board a ship via the island of Cyprus until it reached Titus. Port.
Thus officially kicked off the Third Crusade.
I feel like I'm being targeted, and my original reader group has been bombarded by reports. If you want to know the trends, you can join a new group to avoid losing contact
(End of this chapter)