After a short break, the first thing the recovered Earl Don did was to hold a funeral. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

A funeral ceremony for this group of soldiers to ascend their souls to heaven.

In the previous war, Count Don forced them to hold the formation, which brought victory, but also killed them - in the course of the war, they could also vent this anger on the enemy's army, but after the war, who would these soldiers whose anger was not yet clean vent their anger?

Therefore, the need for a funeral, a ceremony, is like the white Qi in the East eating and sleeping with the soldiers, and the Napoleon in the West being able to call out the name of every member of his personal guard, which is an act of buying people's hearts.

And now, what Count Don is doing is also buying people's hearts.

But because Priest Philip had not yet returned, the ceremony was held by Count Don himself.

First of all, there is a coffin that can hold the body, although the little Count Tang tried his best to cremate things directly, simple and fast, but for medieval Christians, cremation is simply unacceptable evil, cremated people at the time of the final judgment can not be resurrected at all, can not accept the judgment, and will finally fall directly into hell.

Therefore, the little Earl Tang had no choice but to support the burial.

All the soldiers went out in unison and cut down dozens of towering trees, then they hollowed out the trunks of the trees, put the corpses, or meat puree, into them, and then collected numerous flowers and decorated them in the trunks to hide the smell of the corpses decomposing after a few days.

In fact, there was no direct treatment in this way, and the corpses that were still in the process of decomposing were extremely prone to plague, so Count Xiao Tang did not dare to let this army enter the city at all. So the whole army stopped outside the city, and of course, for a high-sounding reason: to dig a cemetery.

Fortunately, the Count of Don had already sent knights in advance to ask the families of the war dead to attend the funerals of their loved ones immediately - which was not too difficult, because these soldiers were only serfs, so their families also lived on farms.

By the time the deceased's relatives arrived, it was already three days later, and the body had begun to decompose and smell, but fortunately it was November in Ireland, and although it was not very cold, it did have a somewhat effect on delaying the decay.

The relatives have seen the deceased, or have seen the mixed meat of the deceased, and then they start crying, or shouting, and then it takes half a day for the deceased's relatives to recover their emotions, and then it is time for the priest to come on the field.

As mentioned earlier, Priest Philip was not there, so the priest was replaced by Count Don himself.

If this is an orthodox priest, then the funeral process can be tedious.

First of all, there is a welcoming ceremony.

The coffin of the deceased is parked in front of the priest, and the priest throws 'holy water' into the coffin, symbolizing the recollection of the baptism he has received in his life.

Then the eulogy is read.

"In the waters of baptism, we remember that he was baptized, converted to Christ, and made a disciple of Christ; May he also follow Christ and reach the heavenly land of eternal bliss. ”

After the eulogy is read, the people present, the relatives of the deceased, and the friends of the deceased begin to sing the hymn. Slowly moving into the church to the beginning and end of the Christian journey on earth, the altar, and getting a glimpse of the Lamb on the throne.

Then on the altar, the priest begins to recite the scriptures, which include-

Opening words

- Hymns (choose a poem related to light, such as 'Song of Mercy Light', and light the resurrection wax in the darkness)

- Officiating address

- Verse 1 (Introduction, offering wax to God, chanting, offering incense to the altar or coffin)

- Verse 2 (Introduction, Offering of Wax to God, Chanting, Offering of Incense to the Participants)

- Verse 3 (Introduction, Offering of Wax to God, Chanting of Hymns, Offering Incense to the Participants)

-Reading

- Short dialogues

- Officiating with a short sermon

- Witnessing and sharing with relatives and friends

- Song of Thanksgiving (Introduction, Wax to the Virgin, Singing of the Thanksgiving Song, Offering Incense to the Virgin)

- Prayer

- The Lord's Scripture

- Closing Prayer

- Blessing officiating

- Finale (Participants can come and sprinkle holy water on the altar or coffin)

In conclusion, attending the funeral of a devout Christian is not an easy task, but we can also understand that the funeral process is just so that the relatives of the deceased can take a second look. It's like our ancestors also had the custom of keeping vigil, so that the filial son can take a look at this dear person again.

But Count Xiao Tang is not a devout Christian, and there are so many people who died this time, one by one is not tired of him, and as a traditional Chinese, he only believes in kneeling to the sky and kneeling to his parents, and it is even more nonsense to ask him to chant the scriptures, and he does not know the words of the Bible, and the special code is still written in Latin, so the final funeral process is like this-

First of all, everyone came and saw the remains of the deceased, which is available in both the East and the West, and you are used to it—although most of the deceased were mutilated limbs and arms, and a few were fleshy and muddy, so there was really nothing to look at.

And then there is the sending of a band to play music, which is easy to understand, the dead, they all have to listen to music, music, this is a good thing, it can cultivate discipline, and it can also increase the sense of happiness, you see, there are several angels around God who specialize in singing.

But what happened next made this group of ignorant villagers incomprehensible - Count Tang actually sent a large amount of food to these dead people! It's all white bread!

It's white bread! White bread! White bread!

You gave it to the dead! And watch them rot!

Born in an agrarian civilization, the little Tang Earl can never understand Europa's pursuit of grain, as early as the Tang Dynasty, the grain planting ratio of the Han people can reach 1:20, and the rich land can reach 1:40, but what about Europe? If you can plant oats up to 1:4, it's a great harvest!

So this year's grain production of Count Xiao Tang is just reaching a yield ratio of 1:9, which is enough to cause a war!

But the sacrifice of grain to the dead was so that they would not starve in the ground, and for such a reason, the peasants could not object to the Count of Don.

After all, the dead are the greatest, and the dead are still their loved ones.

Then there is the coffin, the funeral, the choice of a feng shui treasure, the choice of a good day and an auspicious day to be buried, such a set is done, to be honest, the peasants do not know what these means, neither the priest to pray, nor sing hymns, to say the Bible, but in these funerals where there is no God at all, the peasants can feel a sense of solemnity.

Respect for the deceased.

In the past, the priests said that the dead would be blessed when they went to heaven, and even if they were freed from their sins, they would be able to enjoy the service of angels and no longer have to suffer a little, but no one ever thought about what to do if the dead were hungry on the way.

What if the deceased gets hungry on the way to heaven?

Do you want him to starve?

So this set of rituals was done, the dead were given dignity, glory, and offerings, the peasants and soldiers were satisfied, and then it was time to cook the living.

The living is always more important than the dead.

This is an indisputable fact. But now, as the most important labor force of a family, the only pillar of a family, such a prime-age man has died, how can he leave behind orphans and widows live?

Young people may be able to kill the enemy regardless of life and death just by relying on their enthusiasm and an ethereal sense of glory, but middle-aged veterans must consider their wives and children to share their lives, so once they reach the length of service, they will choose to retire, even if there are no dischargers, they will try their best to save their lives and not work hard.

It's not their fault, once they're dead, can they still expect the lord to feed their wives and children?

But we all know that whether it is in the past or the present, even in the distant future, veterans will always be the most valuable wealth, veterans have rich experience, veterans have skilled skills, veterans also know when to attack, when to retreat, many records show that as long as there is a veteran in a team, then the mortality rate of recruits in this team will be much lower.

Therefore, the Count of Don had to co-opt these veterans, pikemen and light infantry, who were able to survive the charge of the hoplites, which could already be said to be experienced.

"Whoever dies in battle, their families will be given fifty acres of wasteland for their own farmland. And for twenty years, their families could receive 200 kilograms of wheat, 100 kilograms of barley, and 200 grams of honey, three pieces of pork weighing 10 kilograms, five chickens, a cow, and any supplies worth 10 gold coins from the lord every year. ”

That's it, such a material, not to mention the cultivated land for the time being, just the grain and meat taken away is enough for the serf family to live quite well, and can even be called a middle-class life, not to mention the annual compensation of 10 gold coins, which is equivalent to 14,000 in modern times - don't think that this is not much, in the Middle Ages, due to the scarcity of materials, most of the people had money could not be spent, and could only be used to buy food.

And this ten thousand four, if you only use it to buy rice, you can calculate how much you can buy!

But such a compensation is likely to lead to another possibility, that is, once a soldier is crippled, but he is not dead, then he may commit suicide.

A crippled person is just a crippled person, who will only add a burden to the family, but death can bring wealth to the family, so why doesn't he die?

So, in order to prevent this from happening, Count Don made another contract.

"For those whose injuries are not serious, such as an opening in the arm, but can be healed and have no impact, they will be regarded as first-class disabilities, and a one-time compensation of 2 gold coins will be paid for blood supplementation. For those who are seriously injured, such as having their ears cut off, being blind in one eye, or having one finger broken, and have an impact but have a low impact, they are regarded as second-degree disabilities, and the compensation is based on the standard of one-half of the deceased. For those who have become disabled, have broken arms or legs, are blind in both eyes, and have completely lost their labor force, they shall be regarded as third-degree disability, and the compensation standard of the deceased shall be fully in accordance with the deceased's compensation standards. ”

That's it, such a contract that takes care of both the living and the dead, makes everyone very satisfied-although the cost is inevitably a bit large, but a loyal army, an army that is both brave and fearless, and also obedient to orders, this is not something that can be bought with money-besides, although it looks like a lot, but this is more than a grade cheaper than hiring a mercenary who costs 2,000 gold a month for a one-time time!

After the order was issued and the first compensation was in place, Count Tang found that everyone, whether knights, peasants, or serfs, had a good opinion of him more than a notch - even if he was a knight, he could die in the war, and the knight's son was not necessarily a knight, once no knight appeared within three generations, the knight's fief would be recovered!

And the enthusiasm for joining the army in the territory has also risen for the first time, in the past, except for the cavalry, the other soldiers were caught by the strong men, or the homeless people who couldn't survive, but now they are all actively signing up, and every conscription mouth is overcrowded!

Such a change is undoubtedly a pleasant surprise, proving that Count Don's money was not spent in vain, and also giving some comfort to Count Tang's increasingly dry wallet. So the next time is winter, which is the best time to build a large number of buildings.