After reading this, the sleeping officer took the idol out of the shrine with great dignity and put it into the leather box with him. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

This mixture of paganism and Christianity is still common in the Adigai and Alanya regions, and Winjominna is no exception. The next day, she boarded the smooth ox-drawn official car, and walked out of the north gate directly connected to the Tarsus Palace, where the mighty Sidnus River and the long stretches of cultivated fields continued to pass before she lowered the curtain, and Wen Ruomina, who was on a solo mission for the first time, took a deep breath and held the sealed paper and leather case on her knees.

At the same time, Gawain received the news of a remarkable victory that annoyed a red-haired and redbearded hero, who was Bohemond, Duke of Antioch.

He had just led his army to capture and plundered the huge pagan city of Homs, which should have been a glorious victory, but now it was all stolen by Gawain, which made the lord very unhappy in the "Central Tower Palace of Aggie" in Antioch! Now the ambition to build up greater feats was unbearable for Bohemond.

Bohemond touched his red beard, stared at the silver plate map in front of him, and waved his fist with one hand at the knight and the Persian treasurer beside him, impassionedly, "Now I am carrying out a very effective immigration strategy, there are more than 200 knights in Normandy, Apulia, Britain and the Two Sicilies who have come to serve me in the past year, and I now have 240 military towns and fiefs including Antioch, Latakia, Tartus, Samosata, and Homs, and nearly 20,000 warriors of all nationalities serving me. Now is the time to fulfill my vows of holy alliance with Gawain and Godfrey - I will march into Marash, slaughter the rebelled Arni thieves once and for all, and annex this rich and dangerous mountain country. ”

"My Highness, you can ask for reinforcements from the two kingdoms," suggested a cloaked knight named Lenolde from the Two Sicilies at the map table.

Hearing this, Bohemond nodded and touched his beard, "Gawain is no problem, he will definitely reinforce me with at least one brigade, after all, old friends." But Godfrey is sweeping around the hostile forces around the Holy City, and I'm afraid that the military is not too rich. ”

"At the very least, Lord Tanfred, of Galilee, will return here with his army and fight with you."

"That's right, I've called Tanfred back, and I've got my servant Ridwan of Aleppo and the Maronites of Lebanon to assemble under my banner -- I'll be leveling Marash in the autumn and winter of this year." Bohemond never forgot the humiliation inflicted on him by the Armenians.

Soon, Antiochus's herald cavalry galloped into the Holy City, just as the lords' meeting had just ended.

Godfrey, who was in the consul's seat, raised the question: Now that the entire Holy City region has been wiped out by our army, and the lords' estates have been settled, where should the entire nation be targeted?

One faction advocated going north and taking Tyre and Sidon, for these were two powerful coastal cities in Lebanon, and which had previously been hostile to Raymond, and we had ample excuses to declare war on them; Others, on the other hand, advocated the capture of the city of Asa (i.e., the city of Assuf), which was not far from the Holy City, an important seaport city too close to Jerusalem, and would be a great danger to the kingdom if the Egyptian fleet used it to carry soldiers to land and raid.

Godfrey muttered, "Both of you have plenty of reasons. So I had a hard time making a choice. ”

So he began to ask the heavyweights, Jocelan, Tancred, and Flanders Robert.

Jocelan echoed the former, arguing that it was necessary to expand the kingdom's customs revenues first.

Robert agrees with the latter, arguing that geographically Egypt is bound to pose the deadliest threat to Jerusalem, and that the sooner the potential danger from the periphery is removed, the better.

When there was a quarrel under the seat, Tancred, Prince of Galilee, remained silent.

In this way, he became a man of great weight.

The Guardian and Archon of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem saw that he could not reach a resolution in a short time, so he adjourned the meeting and asked the leaders to think again after they returned.

Without saying a word, among the many knights who had come and gone to gather to discuss, he walked out of the rock-domed mosque, which is now the council hall of the kingdom, and has also been transformed into a large military camp, with rows of stables built in the courtyard, soldiers in helmets carrying crossbows and spears everywhere, slaves carrying baskets on their backs to collect horse manure, all actions in the sun show the defilement of the Crescent holy land, Tanrred wiped his nose with his fingers, and then straddled his mount, and walked down the crooked streets of Miyagi, Went to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. There, many pilgrims and soldiers knelt solemnly in front of the small sarcophagus coffin in the center of the rotunda, expressing devotion and mourning.

Suddenly, Patriarch Sambel turned out from behind the pillar and smiled flatteringly at Tancred, "Has the consul made up his mind?" ”

Tancred shook his head, then knelt on the floor like the others, his head hung and muttered a prayer.

The patriarch took him by the shoulders from behind and whispered, "Your uncle has sent a secret message from Antioch, ordering the cavalry to rest in my lodge, and he asks you to return with all the soldiers to assist him in attacking Marash. In addition, there is a requirement for you to push Jerusalem into the war with Egypt as much as possible. ”

"That is, my uncle, after pacifying Marash, would go south to capture Tripoli, Tyre, and Sidon, and swell his power to the point where no one could match. So he didn't want Godfrey to go north, but wanted him to attack the city of Asa and fight Egypt? ”

"That's what I mean, that's what my mission as a patriarch is, to keep forcing Godfrey to fulfill his duties as a paladin and fight against powerful heretics, rather than become a king vying for power over the Holy See, and Egypt is the most appropriate target, and it's better for Godfrey to be trapped in an almost endless journey - deserts, fortresses, long roads without water." Sambel's tone was gloomy, and then he laughed like a devil with bat wings and a hooked nose, "In addition, I promise you that almost half of the wealth plundered on this Temple Mount at the fall of the city will be given to this Holy Sepulchre, and that I will give you seven hundred marks of gold in it, provided that you follow the advice of your uncle and me." ”

"It's very simple, I suggest tomorrow that the decision be handed over to the gods, and the shrine that will be drawn by lot is under your management, and I shouldn't need to say anything more about the rest." Tancred replied.

Sure enough, the next day, when Tancred proposed such a plan, the consul readily agreed, and naturally handed over the power of operation to Patriarch Sambel: after Sambel placed the two names "Asauf" and "Sur" (the Franks called Tyre "Suer" into the shrine), the consul stepped forward and reached into the cave to extract one of them.

The name that appeared, of course, was "Asuf".

"Oh oh oh!" The knights in the hall drew their swords in response, and Jocelan stood cross-legged in the crowd and shook his head slightly.

"Everyone, carry the tents and crosses, the goal of the warriors has been decided!" (To be continued~^~)