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In June 1559, in order to celebrate the signing of the Peace of Cato-Cambrezi and the marriage of the princess, in accordance with the French aristocratic tradition, Henry II decided to hold a grand jousting tournament of knights in Paris.

Speaking of which, I believe everyone is familiar with knights.

A knight, as the name suggests, is a warrior on a horse.

Until the 8th century, the infantry played the main role in European theaters, until the 7th century, when the conquering Arab cavalry used stirrups, and in 711, the Arab cavalry crossed the Strait of Gibraltar and entered Europe.

The Franks and Germanic peoples learned to use stirrups almost simultaneously.

The stirrup not only makes the cavalry and the war horse better integrated, but also completely liberates the hands of the cavalry, and can use the weapon as he wants, so that the cavalry has become a "human gun" with a strong impact.

There was a proverb that a Frank on a horse could punch a hole in the walls of Babylon.

The rise of cavalry gradually replaced the dominance of infantry on the battlefield.

So, war is really a major form of cultural exchange, and Westerners have to thank the Arabs.

Since the collapse of the Roman Empire, the fiefdom system has prevailed in the world, and the core of the fiefdom system is the knight.

If we compare countries at that time, it was not based on the size of the economy, but on the number of knights they had.

There is a saying that nobles are not all knights, but knights are nobles.

Strictly speaking, training a knight is very strict, takes a long time, and requires a lot of manpower and material resources.

Ordinary people, at the age of fourteen, have to follow a knight and become a squire, and then in their twenties, they are appreciated by the lord, and after having a fiefdom, they can be regarded as real knights.

Among them, being taken in by a knight, I don't know how many children of ordinary civilians are stuck, plus the knights fight every day, the knights can be captured and treated preferentially, while the squires face death directly.

This is the most difficult road, and it is also the main one.

The second way is to participate in the martial arts competition.

The so-called jousting tournament, that is, a group of wandering knights, that is, a group of reserve knights who did not have a fief, usually the sons of the nobility without inheritance, to compete in the joust, so as to select the winner, be selected by the nobles, canonized as knights.

This is the easiest and most convenient.

However, it is not universal, and ordinary people can only survive silently.

As a knightly kingdom, the news that His Majesty the King was going to hold a knights' conference spread rapidly throughout Europe for a while.

France, England, Germany, Spain, Italy, these countries with a strong knightly culture, those reserve knights rode horses and boats, and went to France in a steady stream to participate in knightly conventions, hoping to be favored by His Majesty the King and become real knights.

Duchy of Lorraine, a small town.

At this time, as the two most noble people in the town, the knight of Bernard and the knight of Bastien, looked into the distance with excited faces.

Just now, the two of them said goodbye to their son.

"You say, old Bernard, there must be many people coming to this knights' conference in France, can your son do it?"

Bastian blinked, looked into the distance, and said to the Bernard Knight, who was still a little sad on the side.

"Who knows, that kid has to go, and I can't stop it, and I will definitely let the whole of Europe see the style of the Bernard family!"

Speaking of this, although the Knight of Verne felt a little excited in his heart, he was more worried.

His son is the eldest son in the family, and in order to train him, I don't know how much effort was spent, and this time he went to the knights' conference, not to get honor, but to return safely.

"Yes! I advised my boy not to go, it was dangerous, but when I looked back, when he was older in the future, he would still have to go out, so it was better to go out now! ”

The Bastian knight sighed.

Although the knights were most injured in the contest and there was no danger of death, these young people, sometimes because of the instigation of a few women, engaged in life-and-death duels.

Especially during the tournament, a large number of beautiful ladies haunt the scene, and how can the young and vigorous probationary knights endure it?

At the same time, the two apprentice knights who had just left the house were full of excitement and had no worries.

"Charles, do you think that after we go to Paris, we will be able to get the king's appreciation and be canonized as knights?"

The younger ones, only 16 years old this year, David . Let. Bastian asked Charles, who was riding a large white horse, with some trepidation.

"Of course, I will definitely get the affection of all the noble ladies and become a knight admired by everyone!"

Xia Er's handsome face showed a different kind of brilliance, staring at the front with blazing eyes, and said proudly.

"As for you? I'm still young and my strength is insufficient, so let's go this time and accumulate experience purely for a while! I'll leave the limelight to me! ”

Charles turned his head, looked at the skinny David, then at his immature face, shook his head, and pouted.

"Ahh Hearing this, David looked at his thin arms, then at Charles's thick body, and lowered his head, discouraged.

"But, David, not this time, just wait for the next time, you can definitely become a knight!"

Seeing the appearance of his companion, Charles cleared his conscience and comforted.

Only then did David raise his spirits, and with Charles, each with a servant by his side, rode forward.

The poor two servants rode two donkeys, looked at the two young masters who were speeding up, and hurriedly urged and chased after them.

By the time David and Charles arrived in Paris, it was June 29, and the deadline for registration was approaching.

Charles and David patted their chests with palpitations, and finally came to visit, but it didn't turn into a play.

After signing up, the two searched all the hotels in Paris, but they were full, and the price of living in them soared to one silver coin a night.

In this way, Charles and David searched and searched, and only rented two houses, and after paying a one-time fee for a week, the two settled down.

With his eyes closed, David was still reminiscing about the crowding of today's registration, a very large number of knights and reserve knights, personally reporting their family names and family crests to the registrar, pressing their handprints, and explaining some rules and regulations, which were extremely cumbersome.

He roughly counted the number of people who were signing up at that time, and he could imagine what a spectacular scene it would be tomorrow.

As soon as he thought of this, he was very excited and couldn't sleep, even if he knew that he was hopeless, but seeing such a picture was also a good material for future bragging.