Chapter 281 Egypt Egypt!
Egypt, Egypt...
As soon as the word Egypt came out, Richard's attention was drawn to it.
Guy's incident was certainly irritating, but the relationship between Richard and Guy was not that close.
The mob in Tire certainly needs to be punished, but they don't seem to be in a hurry.
On the contrary, it is Egypt, Egypt...
Richard naturally did not know the specific situation in Egypt, but he had also heard about the prosperity of Egypt and the fertility on both sides of the Nile River.
It can be said that Egypt supported the prosperity of the Ayyubid dynasty and laid the foundation for Saladin's great cause.
Egypt in the 12th century was an important commercial and trade center, located at the hub connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean.
Cairo and Alexandria were important centers of international trade, and luxury goods such as spices, silks, and pottery flowed through Egypt to Europe and Asia.
In terms of population, there are as many as six million, or even more, at least twice that of England, and most of them are concentrated in the Nile Valley and Delta areas, which is easy to manage.
Such a fertile land has not been good at fighting from the beginning to the end. It has been ruled by a few foreign factions for a long time.
The core of Saladin's army was the Mamluks, composed of Turks and Caucasian slaves, and the main body of the army was heroes from other Islamic tribes.
As for Egypt’s native population…
Whether they are Copts or Arabs who immigrated or converted later, they all behaved quite "docile".
In other words, no matter who rules Egypt, it seems that it is just a castle in the air, a dilapidated house. As long as you step forward and give a gentle kick, the house will collapse.
As long as the robber who occupied Egypt can be driven away, another one can naturally be replaced, and the Egyptians at the bottom have no objection to this.
There is nothing more suitable than Egypt. Just thinking about the great achievements of Alexander the Great made Richard unable to hold back.
As Anthony said, Saladin's army is now gathering in Palestine, and even the Mamluks, Saladin's true core, are present in Jerusalem.
Saladin had already invested all his money in Jerusalem like a loser. For him, if he lost Jerusalem, he would lose everything.
At this moment, Egypt is completely defenseless...
"Look, just as I said, the crown of Alexander is reserved for you, and the Lord will put a crown of beauty on your head and give you a crown of glory."
As Anthony described it, it was as if God had handed over the thousand-year-old country to Richard.
Richard crossed himself subconsciously.
Capturing Egypt can be said to be his long-standing ideal. In another timeline, Richard also planned attacks on Egypt many times, but failed due to some reasons.
Now, there is no more appropriate time than now, and if you want to capture Egypt, you will definitely need the cooperation of the Second Kingdom.
Isabella and Gehrys launched an attack on Jerusalem from the north of Palestine, holding back Saladin's main force.
As for himself, he assembled his fleet and broke through the wind and waves to reach the Nile Delta.
……
Balian curled up on his bed. This was not a very gorgeous room, everything was plain and simple.
There was no trace of rosiness on his pale face, and there was just a look of death.
The torture of illness and the ulceration of wounds were strangling this middle-aged man's neck.
"Guy is dead?"
"Yes, the news is that he died before landing."
Beside the bed, Garris was holding the "old man"'s hand, his palm covering the back of his hand.
"If he hadn't left, he wouldn't have died so easily." Balian's voice was already very thin.
"It is true, but he is afraid. He feels that he will definitely die if he stays in Tire, because too many people here want to make life difficult for him."
"Hmph... In a panic, he couldn't distinguish the importance and jumped to conclusions easily. He is really as smart as ever."
Balian dismissed Guy's choice.
In politics, stupid people are often tolerated more easily than competent people.
But a fool is a fool, and he can risk his own life.
"Those citizens before? You made arrangements in advance, right?"
"There were plans, but more of them were just following the tide."
With Balian's current state, Garris would naturally not cover up anything again.
Citizen riots were certainly not unexpected for Garris.
It can even be said that in the matter of riots, there is only an accident of time.
Since a year ago, Garris began to make plans to damage Guy's reputation, eliminate the other party's authority, and spread Guy's jokes.
When newspapers appeared, they overtly and covertly pointed out Guy's wrong choices through columns such as political affairs.
In this case, all it takes is an accidental spark to start a fire.
Even if there is really a lack of sparks to ignite the haystack, Garris will personally make up for it.
During the riots, those Frankish veterans who took the initiative to organize teams to restrain the crowd had naturally received drills on their plans early on.
Everything is orderly in chaos, seemingly accidental, but actually inevitable.
"What are you going to do with Richard?"
"I offered him Egypt."
"Why? I mean is it necessary?"
For Balian, he had never come into contact with Richard the Lionheart. In his opinion, the Lionheart was essentially just a prince of England and a leader of the Crusaders.
"It's a similar situation to Eden, but his military power is much stronger than Eden."
When it came to Eden, Balian actually understood what Gellis meant.
This isn't the first time they've spoken about the future of the kingdom. In past reviews, Garris has always emphasized one thing.
The Kingdom of Jerusalem was not a normal country, not even normal in the Middle Ages.
From its founding, the country had no future and the Crusade was doomed.
Because Palestine, this holy land, fell into the hands of Christians and was the site of four wars.
Any slightly ambitious sultan around would try to recapture the holy city. The surrounding small countries were unable to provide sufficient assistance to the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
This country is always in a situation of external expansion or facing threats. There is no such thing as a hinterland in such a small country. Every town can be a front line of war.
From 1099 to the present, in the past 90 years, the war has never stopped, the population will only become more declining, and sooner or later the economy will completely decline.
For Garis, it was intolerable to be distracted by war. If he wanted to quickly transform the Kingdom of Jerusalem, he would have to make corrections in a relatively peaceful situation where he would not be distracted by too much energy from the surrounding areas.
At the very least, Gareth wanted to ensure that the kingdom's main energy would not be diverted by military affairs, and he was not trying to build a Prussian-style military state.
Therefore, in Gairis's plan, both the north and the south need to have a relatively stable two wings, so as to use the Palestinian area as the core hinterland, break away from the long-term war, and carry out economic and civil affairs-centered transformation.
The north is Eden, and the south can naturally be Richard. Without directly ruling more areas, it can reduce its own administrative pressure and avoid direct hostility with Islamic forces.
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Balian continued to stare at Garris, and the future of the kingdom seemed promising.
For him, how powerful an empire is is actually meaningless. He hopes to see that one day, the Kingdom of Heaven is no longer an illusion or an empty talk, just like Baldwin had expected...
"I can't stay much longer. Before that, please complete the wedding with Isabella...ahem..."
Garris did not answer directly, but he knew that this was actually the "old man's" last wish.
He just nodded, took the holy oil, and made a cross on Balian's palm.
Afterwards, Iraqi slightly opened the door and entered the room. After seeing Garris, he didn't say anything. Instead, he sat beside Balian's bed and prayed a few words. His face looked a little melancholy.
No matter how hostile the relationship between Irakli and Balian was, they were still of the same generation and had fought side by side.
Irakli was much older, but it turned out that Balian had to take the first step, which naturally led to a lot of melancholy.
After briefly chatting with Balian for a while, Irakli turned his attention to Garris again, took a few deep breaths, and didn't know how to open his mouth for a while.
Compared to idiots like Guy and outsiders like Geoffrey, as a veteran who has led a faction for so many years, how could Irakli not know the real person in charge of Balian's side.
In the long-term game, his side has completely lost, losing control of various government departments in the kingdom, and unable to regain control of the land.
At first, he tried to push Humphrey into the ring, but that proved to be pointless.
Not only that, but there were a few words about the Transjordan region, plus the changes in the church in Tripoli. As the patriarch, Irakli naturally knew something about it.
Under such circumstances, it seemed unwise to continue to remain hostile to Gareth.
Therefore, in the past year, Iraq has maintained a tacit understanding and tried its best to keep conflicts within the parliament.
But this alone was not enough. He was actually still worried about what Garris would do with him.
This has nothing to do with whether Garris is a [prophet], it is just a game on the power field, and the outcome has been decided at this moment.
……
The news of Guy's death made some people happy and some sad. The Franks at the bottom naturally clapped their hands and applauded, but the Franks and nobles at the top seemed quite gloomy when they gathered together.
Especially when the news came that Richard the Lionheart chose not to take part in the matter, the nobles who had supported Guy were even more disappointed.
This, without the Prince of England, they, they really can’t even sell their country!
In the current situation, Irakli once again held a meeting of his own faction.
Many landless nobles in the Second Kingdom subconsciously joined Irakli's faction to protect themselves.
Upon hearing that Irakli had convened a meeting, some nobles who had not been involved in politics in the past came running over.
"Lord Patriarch, this, this Balian, they are going to kill them all! Guy and His Majesty Guy are gone, how can we get back our manors?! I only have a few manors. After they are gone, How can I survive?”
The one who spoke was Jocelyn, who was technically a distant relative of Isabella. He was a landless noble from the county of Edessa. After he came to Jerusalem, he worked as the steward of Tire and had a manor outside the city. .
However, Jocelyn's manor had been invaded by Saladin, and now that it has been taken back by the kingdom, the ownership of the manor has become ambiguous.
Iraq glanced at this guy with a bit of resentment. Jocelyn got a lot of benefits for himself when he was the steward of Tire, including several manor houses outside the city and many shops in the city of Tire. There are more than a thousand gold and silver in his hands.
There is no question of not being able to survive.
The other landless nobles sighed one by one. Compared to Jocelyn, their situation was even worse. After all, most of their manors or other properties were now under Saladin's control.
With Jocelyn's experience, they knew that the kingdom would not return the recovered manor to them so easily.
Nowadays, the attitude of the kingdom has always been the same, which makes the landless nobles quite crazy. In the past two years, they have exhausted all their means.
Don’t talk about giving money, giving women, visiting relatives...
Those bumpkins from Transjordan are really insufferable and refuse to let them know any information.
As for the old man Balian, he made a lot of jokes one after another. He didn't mention anything about the manor and just kept emphasizing the nobility annuity.
There were also many landless nobles who were absorbed into the royal government because of their culture and were promoted step by step. However, before they could come into contact with the real inner circle, two of them were kicked out.
The reason is simple: they violated the department's rules and regulations and leaked state secrets to unqualified people, so they are not allowed to continue to hold their positions.
This group of nobles was immediately confused.
Are they not qualified? !
Is this, this Kingdom of Jerusalem still the country of their nobles?
Even they are not qualified, so who is?
They were angry and troubled, but they really wanted to pick up the sword and fight against the kingdom, but they didn't have the courage. During the war with Saladin, they really acted a bit out of the ordinary. The other party could accuse him of treason without saying a word. hat down.
Then they wouldn't even have the chance to sit here and have a meeting.
"Everyone here, from my point of view, you will no longer have a manor in a short period of time. As for the matter of His Majesty Guy, I have communicated with Her Majesty Isabella. It was purely an accident... and there is absolutely nothing wrong with it." The elements of conspiracy, as for the mob that besieged His Majesty’s residence at that time..."
"I think it's better not to trouble them."
It was a bit difficult for Iraq to say this.
For a time, many nobles slumped in their seats. Thinking about Guy's fate, many of them were trembling.
(End of chapter)