bookandnovel Chapter 870 King’s Landing
Chapter 870 King’s Landing
Chapter 870 King’s Landing
Royal Palace of Jerusalem.
The royal knights in purple robes had already lined up outside the palace gate.
Lothar served as the Grand Master of the Royal Knights, although not for long as he soon stepped down and handed over the position to Hans, but it was obvious that this period of time left them with very deep memories.
"Good day, your majesty!"
"Your Majesty, now that you have been crowned as the leader of all the Crusaders, are you going to lead us north to conquer the remaining forces of Saladin?"
"Your Majesty Lothar, when shall we set out to support the two northern kings and Lord Raymond?"
They looked a little excited; as the royal family's personal soldiers, most of them came from prominent families and had the right to use the most sophisticated equipment in the royal arsenal.
But in essence, it has always been a garrison guarding the royal palace. Since the great victory at Mongissar and the disastrous defeat at Fountain Valley, its only actual combat opportunity in recent years was following Lothar to fight Saladin at the Battle of Kaleborg.
That battle also completely established the reputation of the Royal Knights, and straightened their backs that were broken in the Battle of Spring Valley.
Today, the Royal Knights, most of whom are young people, obviously still have an enterprising spirit.
Although a royal knight can receive land and salary, he does not have a hereditary territory and is a salaried worker. Also, since the territory directly under the royal family is small, it is difficult for him to seek much room for advancement.
Lothar looked at the royal knights and did not speak for a long time.
He watched the excitement on everyone's faces fade away and become uneasy, then he slowly spoke:
"Where is His Majesty Baldwin?"
Everyone looked at each other, many of them obviously didn't know the answer to this question, and some wondered why Losa would pay attention to this insignificant issue.
"No one can give me an answer?"
Lothar's current status is far different from the "lucky one" who was favored by Baldwin when he first arrived in the Holy Land, was named Baron of Yogersburg, and was appointed Grand Master of the Royal Knights.
When his tone turned cold, many people broke out in a cold sweat.
After a while, someone came out and said, "His Majesty Baldwin has left the palace. He said he was going to Jaffa to visit His Majesty Sibylla, and he took a lot of things with him. I thought His Majesty Baldwin had told you about it."
"I see."
Losa nodded and said, "During the time I was away, you guys were indeed quite lazy."
Even though I knew the answer but I still had to pretend.
Lothar waved his hand and said, "Everyone, go down and do your job. I will hold an internal tournament tomorrow. There are hundreds of people in the Royal Knights, and half of them must stay to guard the palace."
The excitement of the royal knights had cooled down a lot at this time, and they were not sure they could stand out in the selection.
Entering the palace, Losa looked at the familiar furnishings and sighed.
"Are you still used to it?"
"What are you used to?"
“The transformation from guest to host.”
A female knight in bright silver plate armor came behind Lothar at some point.
Lothar smiled and asked without turning his head: "Has our chivalrous knight set off?"
"Yes, and it is a very complete adventurer team configuration. If His Majesty Baldwin can really learn to use the Holy Light and become a Paladin, I think they can all start to accomplish the great cause of slaying the dragon."
Lothar sighed softly.
A knight-errant is just a nicer name for a landless knight, because most of the fiefdom knights need to guard their fiefdoms, manage manors, and fulfill their feudal obligations to the upper lords, and it is impossible for them to roam around.
The Landless Knights were mostly a group of idle and self-important people. They usually worked as mercenaries or even highway robbers. They were notorious in the vast rural areas of Europe.
The so-called "chivalrous knights" in this era were just some petty bourgeoisie who had rarely seen knights and listened to stories made up by bards in taverns.
Because most of the knights with true chivalrous spirit had already died in battles with robbers, bandits, ferocious beasts, and monsters, leaving not even a bone behind.
Lothar took off the heavy crown and placed it on the tray held by the maids.
Jeanna randomly picked a chair and sat on it, crossed her long and slender legs and placed them on the table: "Now that you have accomplished your great cause, why do you look unhappy? Are you worried about His Majesty Baldwin?"
"It's not a problem actually. With the dragon scale armor I gave him and the care of Nishaya and Dimitri, his safety shouldn't be a problem."
Although Nishaya was just a little witch, in the immortal cultivation novels that Losa often read in his previous life, she was considered a descendant of a famous family. She was gifted and had a bright future, and was qualified to play the childhood sweetheart of the protagonist in the early stages.
Most wild mages have not undergone this kind of systematic mage training, so wizards are keen on constant adventures and searches for secrets, or sticking to research. They have to make up for their shortcomings.
According to the extraordinary law of "knowledge is power", Nishaya has actually obtained the key to enter the advanced spellcaster.
With such a team of adventurers, if what Jeanne said was true, Baldwin could become a paladin. He believed that one day his name would be known throughout Europe.
"Then why are you still frowning?"
"The tree wants to be still but the wind does not stop. I originally just wanted to relax for a while after retaking Egypt. That's why I have never intervened in the Northern Crusaders. But now the situation has changed, it seems that I should also organize my army to go north and completely wipe out the remaining enemies in the Levant."
Losa rubbed his brows. The business he was about to expand was indeed too big.
On the one hand, he had to raise resources to supply the Crusaders who were originally besieging Constantinople to go to East Africa and start an African Crusade. On the other hand, he had to continue to conquer the remaining enemies in Egypt.
Now he had to take control of the Northern Crusade in Jerusalem as well.
Although the financial and taxation pressure has been reduced sharply after the resumption of trade in Alexandria, the pressure on administrative resources is about to become greater and greater.
"This should be an easy thing, right?"
Jeanne asked doubtfully, "I don't think you need to gather a new army. Just take these 8,000 people and set off north. If we calculate the time, the Germanic Crusaders led by Duke Leopold will soon land in Tripoli. By then, he will be your strong supporter."
Lothar sighed and said, "I am afraid that the Crusaders will become more and more fanatical. They will not be satisfied even after annexing the Levant. To the east, there are the Elamshahr that occupies the Mesopotamian Basin. To the west, there are the Turks entrenched in the interior of Asia Minor. To the north, there are the Seljuk Turks who rule the Armenian countries. Even to the Kingdom of Georgia in the north, new 'foals' will arrive every year, as well as landless knights and the second sons of nobles who have nothing."
In fact, he did not like Alexander's style of expedition. A generation of people conquered a vast territory, but most of the regions were still under the rule but not governed. After the fall of the monarch, the country would fall into a state of fragmentation.
As the saying goes, "Its rise is sudden, and its fall is sudden."
Although he lived a long life, he actually dreamed of retiring one day and becoming an emperor in name only.
Jeanna frowned, thought for a moment, and said, "The Crusaders are a war machine. If it is not used for a long time, it will decay. If it is not used, it will become a carriage horse. I think you can definitely control this carriage."
Losa chuckled and said, "That's a very vivid metaphor. I didn't expect you to say something so philosophical."
Jeanne couldn't help but knocked Lothar on the forehead.
"I have been the Grand Master of the Holy Knights for so many years. Do you still think I am the peasant woman who could only write my own name?"
Losa couldn't help but complain: "If you weren't so unreliable in your words and deeds, I wouldn't look at you with new eyes just because you are a little more serious."
At the right time, Lavinia, Cherinina, Viviana and others entered the palace hall. They brought their own belongings and asked with some confusion: "Captain, how should we arrange our rooms in Jerusalem?"
"Just pick whatever you want. We won't be living here for long."
Lavinia frowned and said, "I thought I could live a leisurely court life. Where are we going next? To the north to fight against the so-called pagans?"
She didn't want Lothar to become a warmonger who was addicted to expanding territory. Lothar wanted to formulate a code of law himself, but due to frequent wars, he has not been able to complete it until now, because she simply had no time to conduct in-depth research among the people.
"Ah."
Lothar sighed softly: "But I promise that after defeating Saladin and bringing the entire Levant under the rule of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, I will calm down and govern this country."
"Where did Fulin go?"
Viviana glanced back and said, "Oh, she is packing up the alchemical equipment. She said she wants to build a wizard tower for herself in the palace in Jerusalem."
As she was speaking, the angry vampire lady strode in.
"Jerusalem had collected a lot of alchemical equipment before, but I didn't expect that they were all taken away by that stupid little witch Nishaya! My lord, you have to give me money, a lot of money!"
In Alexandria, the vampire lady who took over Shemer's inheritance has now completely moved from frugality to luxury.