But if you don't let wars and private fights, the knights who are good at martial arts will be unemployed, and they can't go to the crusade every day, and what will they use to prove their strength, valor and chivalry? So the knights, the nobles, and the church jointly organized a knightly jousting conference, so that these idlers who were full of energy had a channel to vent.

In the 11th and 12th centuries, jousting tournaments were no different from wars, with knights divided into two groups, wearing armor, riding horses, and fighting with weapons. There is also a rope fence around a piece of open space called the safe zone, where the knights can enter the safe zone to repair armor, deal with prisoners of war, collect ransom or something, next to a group of noble lords and old ladies shouting vigorously, the scene is a bit like the Roman Colosseum.

The casualties of this kind of jousting tournament were also quite serious, and the church could not stand it anymore, so it continued to intervene, so after hundreds of years of evolution, by the thirteenth century, the knights' jousting tournament evolved into a model similar to the sports meeting. It is divided into several items of riding, spear riding, swordsmanship and wrestling, and it is not allowed to rush together to fight, it is a one-on-one fair duel, and in principle, no personal vendetta is allowed, and the death and injury rate is relatively small.

"Didn't you say you knew Oriental martial arts? Karl also said that you are very good at fighting, should you sign up for wrestling, and if you win, you can charge a lot of ransom for the defeated as prisoners of war. As he walked, Friedrich II told Hong Tao about the history and present of the knightly jousting tournament, and encouraged Hong Tao to also appear on the field.

"Don't go! I'm not short of money! Hong Tao knew what this unscrupulous emperor wanted to do, he wanted to see himself laugh, which meant that he didn't believe in what martial arts he knew.

"I can also gain the favor of many noble ladies, and since the Pope is here, I am afraid that the nobles of the whole of France will come, and some people from the west of Germany will also come. Carl says you're passionate about women. "If you can't make a plan, you can come again, seeing that money can't tempt Hong Tao, the emperor throws out a big killer again, beauty!

"Is Baron Youjiang good-looking? If there is, I'll go! Hong Tao pursed his mouth like a scoop, he has been in Europe for several months, and he has not seen a single one. At this time, the quality of European aristocratic women was really bad. All of them are wearing nightgowns and headscarves, and they have to have more soil. Even if they don't have soil, Hong Tao doesn't dare to touch it, for fear of getting sick. Moreover, aristocratic women in Europe get married very early, generally at the age of fourteen or fifteen, if they are still single in their twenties, they are guaranteed to be widows, and they may have been married twice and had children. One only has to look at the two wives of Friedrich II to understand that they were all second-married. Emperors can only marry widows, and Hong Tao doesn't think he can find any good goods among these noble women.

"Are there many nobles like Baron Jiang in the Great Song Empire?" Friedrich II was not a fuel-efficient lamp either, and his palace was full of women from Ajla, Byzantium, and it was hard to believe that they were just servants.

"It's all over the place...... Why don't Your Majesty and I go back and live for two years? "Hong Tao likes to poke other people's lung tubes.

“…… How about bringing me a few next year? Be a Chinese teacher for me...... "Friedrich II obviously wanted to go, but certainly couldn't, but he had another way.

"Yes, ten, you can't learn more......" Hong Tao agreed very happily this time. He will definitely not do such a lack of virtue as taking a girl from the Great Song Dynasty to Europe to be a palace maid, but there is no psychological burden at all when he catches some Japanese girls and sends them over. Many Japanese aristocratic girls can speak Chinese. It is estimated that Europeans can't tell the difference between the Great Song Dynasty and Japan, and they are happy to do it.

Vernon is the name of a castle built on a high slope on the north bank of the Seine, in front of which it is like a carnival, and many tents are erected. Each tent has a flag and a family coat of arms representing its identity. There is a 100-meter-long open space in the middle, and there is a wooden stand on the long side, which is obviously not big enough, and there are still many people who can't sit on it, so they can only stand and watch on both sides of the stand.

At this moment there was a pair of knights in the clearing, riding horses and charging at each other with long spears. The moment the two sides staggered, the tip of the cavalry gun collided with the opponent's shield, making a muffled sound that could be heard from a distance. Then one of the knights was knocked off his horse and fell so the ground that he looked as if he was wounded, and struggled several times without getting up. The victorious knight, no matter how painful the loser was, threw his shield and spear and ran to the front of the stands for a good show, which attracted earth-shattering cheers, and most of the women listened to the voice.

This kind of scene looks quite cruel, but it can really accelerate people's adrenaline secretion, and even the war horse under Hong Tao's crotch is stimulated by the noise in the distance. It seemed to be familiar with this atmosphere, and kept digging its front hooves and shaking its head, trying to rush up to join in the fun, but the reins were strangled by the flood.

"Toot toot toot...... ......"Friedrich II, Hong Tao and the knights of the guards have been standing a few hundred meters away from the stands without moving, but he is also an emperor, even if he visits the door casually, it is a big deal, the necessary score has to be placed, he is waiting for King Louis to greet him." Louis IX apparently knew of Friedrich II's arrival, and soon the castle remembered the sound of the trumpet, and a group of knights with flags greeted him.

"Louis is obviously much stronger than you, he is more like an emperor, and you are more like a scholar." Hong Tao's eyes were focused, and he saw Louis IX riding a white horse at the front. He had a resolute, emaciated face, a serious expression, and a suit of armor and a crown on his head made him look very imposing, far more imposing than Friedrich II, although he was still slightly younger, only in his twenties.

"I think you're complimenting me, I really want to be a scholar!" The thickness of Friedrich II's face also belongs to the MIX level, and after meeting Hong Tao, it has increased dramatically, and ordinary words can no longer stimulate him.

The process of meeting an emperor with a king is bound to be tedious, boring, and hypocritical. The two people who were not very familiar and not very compatible had to let everyone see how close they were, which was very awkward, at least Hong Tao thought so. What's even more awkward is that Hong Tao has to pretend to be a grandson with him, standing there respectfully waiting for Friedrich II to introduce himself as the Duke of Nanyang from the East, and then bow respectfully to the young king. Of course, that's all there is to it, don't think about getting down on one knee like any other knight, and if the king had to do it like this, he would do it with a smile. But don't let Hong Tao go alive, the price of kneeling is very large, it may be a city, it may be several cities, they will all be turned to ashes because of this kneeling.

What worries Hong Tao more is not King Louis IX, but Pope Gregory IX, who sits at the top of the stands. You said it was the same IX, and Louis IX came down to greet him, and this Gregory IX sat on it without moving, and even if Louis and Friedrich II walked to the viewing platform, he still showed no signs of getting up. This faction is too big, and all such people Hong Tao will classify them into the category of unfriendly.

Originally, there were only two high-backed chairs on the highest level of the viewing platform, but when Friedrich II came, there were three, and he and Louis IX sat on either side of the pope. At this time, Hong Tao realized that there were also clear camps on the cost-effective viewing platform, with secular people on the left and church people on the right. Since they didn't invite themselves to sit down, they had to find a place for themselves, and now Friedrich II certainly didn't care about such a trivial matter as arranging a seat for himself, and he was arguing with the pope with an emperor's face.

This Pope Gregory IX is actually a talent, a typical Italian beautiful man. A tall crown, a white robe with a sacrificial cloak embroidered with golden religious patterns, and a bent staff in his hand, it looks like a priest in a suit in the game, very sacred and majestic. But his overly gloomy eyes ruined all the good, and he looked at everyone like a thief, especially himself.

"Your Majesty the Pope, Your Majesty the King...... "The problem is that no matter how you can't get used to it, you have to be more disciplined when you get to other people's land, Hong Tao understands this truth, and he is particularly able to endure it in this regard." The more you don't want to see me, the sweeter I smile at you, pretending to be forced to slap your face is the preference of hot-blooded young people, we don't ask for merit but for no fault, it's useless to take advantage of it, because this is a lot of loss.

"Duke Ait, I've heard of your name, but it's associated with something bad. In Rena, you used the devil's way to destroy the Lord's church, right? Sure enough, Gregory IX was not only a gloomy fellow, but also had no self-cultivation, and even finished the formal greeting ceremony, and began to open no pot.

"Your Majesty, I must clarify that I did not take part in the war in Christendom, and I did not even look at it, but I only chartered my ship to His Majesty the Emperor, which was a kind of reward for His Majesty's hospitality to me, and it was for rent. It is his right to do what His Majesty the Emperor has done with my ship, and as long as he does not damage my ship, it will not violate the agreement between us. In fact, this is not always the case in Christendom, the Venetians can charter ships to any of the belligerents, and they can also make deals with the Saracens (the European contempt for the A-La Bo, since the word A-La Bo is forbidden, so I try to replace it with the Saracens in the future), I don't see any difference here. "It's definitely not good to quarrel with Hong Tao, he can make up a nonsense for ten years, it's still a set, he doesn't want to admit it, as long as he doesn't use force, no one can catch it.

(To be continued.) )