S: The previous article confused the names of Hussein and Adnan, and it has been revised.

The war ended, and the city of Jerusalem returned to prosperity.

Knights in crusader robes, sergeants in an endless stream.

They were all crusaders of the Northern Crusade.

It's just that compared to the momentum of his departure, the results achieved by the regent Raymond are really lackluster.

Although there was no effective war of annihilation, and there were several small defeats, the land occupied by the enemy was finally recovered.

On the bright side, it can also be claimed to be a big victory.

After the return of Count Raymond to Jerusalem.

The Knights of Jerusalem also returned to him.

But through the hands of Baron Gofrey, this order will more or less bear his mark, plus Lothar was made Count of Transjordan.

The royal party, which was originally weak, seemed to be able to keep pace with the Queen Mother's party when Renard of Châtillon was living in Calleburg.

In this era, the king and the local vassals both fought and cooperated, but no one wanted a strong iron-fisted king sitting on his head was the consensus.

This is the reason why Baldwin IV has not yet declared himself largely cured and returned to power.

Raymond sat in the palace hall, behind a table at the front.

Dressed in a blue burqa, he raised his hand to the noisy nobles and signaled to silence the crowd: "Today's topic is how to house the pilgrim army. ”

As soon as the words fell, the palace minister Amalric immediately spoke: "How else can it be placed, put the weapons and equipment back in the warehouse, dismiss them on the spot, and let them fend for themselves." ”

Someone immediately answered: "That's right, it's their duty to protect the Holy Land, do you want us to pay them a severance pay?" ”

The pilgrims were recruited for military service, using the father of Richard the Lionheart, and Henry II was pre-deposited in the "Holy Treasury" to maintain the wealth of the next crusade.

And this money has apparently long been depleted.

The new baron of Monguiza, Juyin of Lusignan, spoke: "There is a shortage of men in my domain, and I can accept a group of pilgrims as my subjects. ”

"Saladin's threat to us is still serious, and his dynasty encloses the entire Holy Land, hasn't this war taught you a lesson?" ”

Raymond continued: "Yes, in this war we have unearthed many brave warriors, who should not die in the fields. Your Majesty, I, and Baron Gofrey, all believe that the elite of this pilgrim army should be selected to form a new standing army directly under the kingdom. ”

"In other words, His Majesty wants to impose an additional tax on us?"

The nobles immediately complained: "This dispatch of troops coincides with the harvest of the fields, and we have already paid a lot to defend the Holy Land. ”

"Yes, the armistice is three years old, and we can write again to His Majesty the Pope in three years' time, asking him to order the kings to launch a new crusade."

Baron Gofrey spoke: "There will be two new standing armies, and Your Majesty means that you want these two armies to be commanded by Juyin, the lord of Mongiza, and Reginald, the lord of Sidon, respectively. ”

The implication is that the Jue Party and the Queen Mother Party should maintain a standing army respectively.

This is the exact opposite of the dangerous idea that "the king wants to centralize power."

The voices of unanimous opposition in the audience immediately stopped.

For example, the palace minister Amalric, although his younger brother was named Mongisa and became his powerful helper, but Mongisa is only a small place in the end.

It would be a great thing for him to be appointed commander of a new standing army.

Especially now, the former well-deserved leader of the Queen Mother's Party, Count Renard of Transjordan, has been deposed and his influence has been greatly diminished.

If he takes advantage of this opportunity, he will probably become the face of the Queen Mother's party to fight with the regent Raymond.

Of course, this is just his own imagination.

In fact, he is a stinky fish and a rotten shrimp, he does not have a rich fiefdom, he only plays tricks, and he is not qualified to be compared with Count Raymond at all.

And Raymond, in fact, has a very pure idea, which is to defend the security of the kingdom, and after this battle, he has a clearer understanding of the gap between the two forces.

The Count of Tripoli, although relatively independent, is actually closely related to the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

Not to mention that as a regent, the whole of Jerusalem was placed under his rule, and it is not an exaggeration.

But the opposition of the nobles only stopped for a moment, and then they sounded again.

The so-called two "parties" are just huddling together for warmth because of interests, and they are not really intimate at all.

There is no shortage of contradictions between them.

Let's say two neighbors, today you occupy one of my estates, and tomorrow I rob one of your caravans, it is simply a common thing.

If it was in Europe, without the threat of the Saracens, it would be common for them to fight a few low-intensity wars for this.

"I don't think it's necessary, the valiant crusaders have never been afraid of the pagan challenge, and, with the blessing of our Heavenly Father, we have won again, haven't we?"

Count Thirier from Flanders spoke: "I agree to form a standing army, but the leader should be changed, the lord of Mongiza, Juyin, although he hit the shit and burned Saladin's grain and grass, it doesn't mean that he has any talent to command the army." ”

Ju Yin's face turned red with anger: "What kind of bullshit are you playing!" ”

Count Thierier's face was as usual, and he snorted coldly: "That's the case, you two brothers are just stained with the light of Count Lothar, and it is not only the credit of the two of you to burn the enemy's grain and grass. ”

He still resented the insult that Ju Yin had given him at the beginning, and this time the Northern Expedition was fruitless, and he participated in the Eastern Expedition and almost did not gain any benefits.

He didn't want to offend the powerful Jue party, so he naturally wanted to use Ju Yin to open the knife.

At this time, the guards of the Royal Knights who were guarding outside the main hall shouted: "The lords of Transjordan, Hebron and Yogrusburg, Grand Master of the Royal Knights, the Count of Lothar have arrived!" ”

The guard's tone trembled with excitement.

Many of the lords in the main hall also changed their faces slightly at this time, secretly saying that the newly appointed earl had run back to Jerusalem so quickly?

Is there any plan?

More than ever, Lothar has finally become a major player in the city.

I saw that outside the main hall, a young lord wearing a black cloak printed with the crest of a double-headed eagle and wearing bright plate armor strode into the hall.

As soon as he arrived, he attracted everyone's attention, and some people were secretly wondering if there was any meaning to his trip.

Gao Frey laughed and said, "Ha, Lothar, you came just in time, I heard that you led people to complete the feat of slaying dragons, tell me about it quickly!" ”

Lothar smiled and said, "It's not a feat worth mentioning, it's just a wingless earth-walking dragon." ”

Lothar's movements in his own territory, no one cared at all.

First, he moved so fast that the news had not yet gotten out; Second, no one cares even if it spreads.

Hussein and Adnan are equivalent to the larger village tyrants, and they do cover the sky with one hand in the local area, but to put it bluntly, they can't be on the table at all.

The vassals who belonged directly to Lothar stepped forward to salute Lothar, and most of them were members of the Queen Mother's Party, but now, the Queen Mother's Party was weak.

Many people hope that Lothar will jump on their side and become a new leader.

There are also people who want to follow Lothar to change jobs, they originally thought that there was no future on the side of the royal party, after all, Baldwin IV was terminally ill.

But Lothar, the "lucky one" who rose to prominence like a rocket to become the Count of Transjordan, is enough to show that their initial thinking was completely wrong.

The centralization of power in the Kingdom of Jerusalem was already stronger than that of the kings of the European continent, on the one hand, due to the influence of the Eastern court, and on the other hand, because of the previous monarchs of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, which can almost be called generations of divine kings.

A king, a king after all!

As long as he does not die for a day, he will still be the most prominent feudal lord of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

Seeing Lothar in the limelight, Amalric was a little annoyed, but he didn't dare to say anything.

There were many people who were not used to seeing Lothar.

But in the same way, Lothar's habit of dropping gloves at every turn is also well known.

They were afraid that a word would disappoint him, and the gloves would be thrown in his face, who would have the guts to duel with a legendary knight who could fight werewolves first and dragons later?

At this time, they saw that the regent Raymond actually took the initiative to stand up and walked towards Lothar to talk, and they didn't dare to have any crooked thoughts.

"Lothar, you did a great job in Calleburg, and to be honest, even I felt a little envious when I knew that you had achieved such a great result."

Lothar smiled and said, "My lord, if it weren't for the attack you launched from the north with the Saracens, even some small victories on our side would not be worth talking about, and there is really no need for you to say envy, because the results you have achieved are obviously better than mine." Raymond laughed and said: "When I say envy, I don't envy you, but envy your father Werner, even if I am better than him everywhere, the only thing is far from being comparable to him, that is, giving birth to such an outstanding son." ”

The two of them exchanged business blows, and some people who were confused realized the prestige of Lothar in the kingdom now.

"If there is any difficulty, just come to me, as a feudal lord, the difficulties you will face are not only the infidel enemies, but the hidden arrow from your back is the deadliest."

Lothar was slightly stunned.

For Raymond, who was obviously deliberately trying to win over the beautiful words he said, he felt a hint of something unusual.

Does it mean that Raymond knows that in the territory, those local tycoons are preparing to attack him?

"Thank you, my lord, for your warning, but I don't think that the bed bugs hiding in the gutters, the rats that only dare to run through the sewers, can pose any threat to me."

Raymond nodded, "It seems that I was overthinking, and an outstanding commander should be able to take these things into account." ”

He paused slightly, and then said, "Count Lothar, do you have any thoughts on the kingdom's plan to form two new standing armies?" ”

As the nominally second only to Count Raymond in the kingdom, Lothar's will has also taken on a decisive weight.

Lothar glanced at Baron Gofrey, who had not spoken to him and the king when he came, so he did not know what role the two men had played.

Seeing that Gao Frey nodded slightly.

Lothar said: "I thought this matter should have been very clear, in this war, haven't you seen the gap between the enemy and us?" ”

"We have managed to muster together an army of 50,000 with all our might, for the total population of Jerusalem does not exceed a million, and there are still half of the infidels who are not required to perform military service."

"And Saladin just lightly gathered an army of 60,000 and attacked us from both sides."

Lothar looked at the crowd and said with a mocking tone in his tone: "I know that many people still have the idea that the Crusader Knights can easily defeat the slave cavalry, but the Saracens are not static, and they will learn. ”

"Presumably this time, you also realized that their Mamluk cavalry is very different from the previous Ghulams, aren't you?"

Raymond was convinced: "Yes, I never expected that the cavalry formed by the infidels with slaves could compete with our noble-born knights. ”

"Yes, my lord, they were born slaves, but they were nurtured by the scriptures of Zoroastrianism since they were children, and they trained martial arts from an early age like the knights, and they are all the personal soldiers of the lords of each place, and their combat effectiveness can be imagined."

The two of you sing and I harmonize, which means that the two largest feudal lords in the kingdom have decided to join forces to implement the resolution of forming a standing army.

Plus Baron Gofrey and the King behind the scenes.

There is no suspense in this court.

After the pilgrimage dispersed.

Lothar instructed one of his hussars, "Send someone to deliver a set of refined plate armor to Count Raymond." ”

The other set, which he also intended to give to Baron Goldfrey.

It is to send, not sell.

On the one hand, it was a gesture of goodwill, and on the other hand, the two most prominent lords of Jerusalem were wearing refined plate armor made by Hebron, and there was nothing better than this.

Baron Goldfrey punched Lothar in the chest, and let out a dull echo: "Okay, even Raymond wants to woo you, how does it feel?" ”

"How does it feel?"

Lothar asked knowingly.

"Of course, how does it feel to be an Earl of Outer Jordan?"

"Being touted, listening to sycophants every day, countless people want to please me - tsk, to be honest, if this feeling is not good, it is a fart."

Lothar smiled and said, "But my lord, I always remember what you told me before we parted, don't worry that I will be lost." ”

"If you can say that, I'm relieved."

"Let's go, let's go to see Your Majesty together."

After saying this, Baron Gofrey nodded to Prajna, Frigilla, and Jeanne, respectively, and then led Lothar into the long corridor leading to the king's bedchamber.