The sky is clear.

The humid sea breeze from the Mediterranean Sea blows away the sand and dust brought with it from the inland desert.

Lothar, dressed in a black cloak and riding on a mount, walked at the front of the line.

Beside him, followed by Ned Stark, who had just joined his command and had not yet been transferred, collided with the characters in the Song of Winter and Fire, but it was not uncommon.

The husband and lover of the Queen Mother Agnes have the same name.

However, this did not prevent Lothar from intercepting a batch of well-fitting plate armor that was being sold at the armor workshop in Jerusalem, and changing the clothes of the newly arrived knights under his command in advance.

"Ned, what happened to you and that aristocratic girl from Austria?"

Nedqiang smiled, "My lord, you still remember this. ”

Lothar smiled: "Of course, the appearance of your eyebrows and flirts in the martial arts arena at the beginning made me envious very much, a pure love is so precious among nobles." ”

Ned lowered his eyelids and said in frustration, "Scarlett was betrothed to a baron of real power, and you know that a poor knight like me, her father would not agree to marry her to me. ”

Lothar was silent for a moment, feeling that her talent for small talk was really limited.

The outcome of that incident, think about it, and you know.

But he just didn't have a brain, and he opened his mouth and came.

"Birth doesn't mean everything, Ned."

Lothar smiled encouragingly: "I believe that even people from ordinary backgrounds without prominent ancestors and bloodlines can do great things. ”

Ned was stunned, he took this as Lothar's comfort to him, and said gratefully, "I appreciate you for being able to say that. ”

Because what Lothar said was contrary to the mainstream view of the European continent.

After the Habsburg family of later generations developed, they also desperately tried to trace the inconspicuous bloodline back to a source - just like the Tang Li family recognized Lao Tzu as the ancestor, which was as unreliable.

Later generations of Harburg even dragged their ancestors to Caesar's Julius family.

This HRE and Rome, can that be the same thing?

"Honestly, Ned, I rarely see North Germans in the Holy Land."

Ned is from Holstein, which is almost the closest Greater Germania has to the Nordic border.

Ned explained, "Just like in the Holy Land, you rarely see Iberian crusades. We preferred to join the Northern Crusades because it was closer to our homeland. ”

The Northern Crusaders were conquering the Baltic states, and the later famous Kingdom of Prussia and its predecessor, the Teutonic Knights, were the products of the Northern Crusaders.

"I see."

The two chatted casually, Ned was a very intelligent knight, both courage and intelligence, and was the most outstanding of the newly recruited knights who were ready to be transferred.

Beside the road, there are fields and vineyards, and horse-drawn wagons carrying oak barrels drive on simple dirt roads towards Jerusalem.

The estates of the villages and nobles were distributed in an orderly manner.

Some wealthy knights even built castles in their domains, which stood on high ground with coats of arms and flags fluttering from the tops.

"Lothar, all these lands are yours?"

Otto rode up to Lothar and asked in some surprise.

Lothar stretched out his hand, pointed to a vineyard, and said, "From there, except for some estates that were divided among the knights, it will be mine." ”

Otto suddenly showed a look of envy: "Heavenly Father is above, then don't you have endless wine?" ”

Lothar snorted lightly: "Uh-huh, not only that, Hebron's wine is famous throughout Jerusalem, and with the wine industry alone, I can feed an army of hundreds of people." ”

The land of the county of Allgäu is actually quite fertile, but due to transportation and other problems, the crops produced cannot be sold for money, and the grain in the warehouses obviously cannot be converted into various consumer goods.

The truly wealthy nobles on the continent had to belong to those who occupied large gold and silver mines and were able to exercise the right to mint money.

For example, Emperor Henry, who owned the silver mines of Gozra, and Otuka I, Duke of Bohemia, who controlled the major gold and silver mines in Bohemia.

The famous Tyrolean silver mines, under the control of Leopold, Count of the Austrian Frontier, are still unexplored.

Lothar had the idea of one day returning to the Continent and buying the territory from Leopold.

This is also one of the few "prophets" he can use.

to Hebron.

This former capital of King David, the holy land of Zoroastrianism and Judaism, once again brought Otto an unimaginable shock.

Look at the beautiful complex, the palatial mansion with the garden.

Otto has a feeling that Grandma Liu has entered the Grand View Garden.

That's why you deserve to be called a "prince", right?

In contrast, as a count, Allgäu is like a rich man in the countryside.

"Lothar, this city is your fiefdom?"

Otto was not so much asking questions as he was emotional.

"Of course."

"Heavenly Father is above, His Majesty the King is really generous, although you have made such outstanding feats, but such a rich city, you will be sealed with it?"

Lothar bowed slightly: "Well, I have to thank Your Majesty for your generosity. ”

In addition to the city-states on the Apennine Peninsula, many cities in the Germanic region with a population of five or six thousand people already belong to the category of "big cities".

Paris, with nearly 50,000 people, and London, with 20,000 to 30,000 people, are among the top cities.

The whole of Albion, including Gael, Ireland, and all the population, combined, is just over three million.

"In continental Europe, even some grand dukes do not have such a large and rich city, even if there is, they are divided into free cities and city-states."

The rise of the city led to the rise of the artisans, guilds, and burghers, the nobility needed them to earn money for themselves, and the two sides compromised with each other in the struggle, which gave birth to the rise of free cities.

"Of course, this is a holy place with milk and honey."

Lothar said with a smile.

In fact, the population of the Kingdom of Jerusalem was not large, except that a few large cities were more developed for commercial or religious reasons.

Hebron's permanent population was more than 10,000 people, but it could easily have doubled if pilgrims were included.

Lothar returned to the inner fort of Hebron, rested for a moment, prepared a glass of wine chilled in a well for each of his knights, and began to inquire about the recent situation in Hebron with Curles.

The answer can be summed up in four simple words: "in order".

Since the attack that night.

The traitors and rebels left behind by Lothar's purge of the local chieftains were dealt a terrible blow by the thunderous methods of Coors, and many disappeared without a word.

There was no public trial, and there were no large-scale arrests, but their shops, mansions, and fields quietly changed owners.

This royal court butler, who used to be a vampire guard and dedicated to protecting the blood nobles of his superiors, has dealt with too many assassinations, and he is also very good at assassination.

The ghostly shadow magic is simply impossible for ordinary transcendents to counter.

What a talent Kurs is!

Lothar sighed in her heart and said to Curles, "Curles, are you too condescending as my butler and treasurer?" ”

Coors shook his head and said respectfully: "Serving you is a matter of servants' duties. ”

Lothar said simply: "This way, Curs, I authorize you to form a secret agent unit directly under me, responsible for intelligence, assassination, and security. The men were selected from the remaining veterans, the Varangian Guard, and the Hussars, whose loyalty was assured. ”

"I understand."

"You don't have to have too many people at the beginning, let's set it at ten, I know it's very small, but let's put a framework in mind first."

Lothar's current military strength is actually quite large, as long as he recruits the full quota, he can basically touch the upper limit of his existing territory and population.

But what is missing is time.

"Oh, by the way, what about that Julia?"

Julia is the vampire that Frigila has subdued, and after completing the mission of assassinating Countess Stephanie, she is left behind by Lothar.

"Are you talking about the native bloodline?"

Kurs frowned slightly: "I'm sorry, my lord, because of the shortage of manpower some time ago, I took it upon myself to send her to find out information for me." ”

Lothar couldn't help but sigh, worthy of being a vampire, how could someone be allowed to be lazy.

"Well, it's good, Hebron doesn't feed people who eat white rice."

Coors felt the same way, so he said, "My lord, that Baron Furk, after recovering from his injury, was arranged by me to be a garrison officer, don't you think?" ”

Lothar understood what Coors meant, shook his head and said, "Coors, the number of Imperial Knights I have in hand is very short, this Furk, even if he has any outstanding talents, I will talk about it later." ”

To be honest, even without a transfer, the loyalty of many of Lothar's subjects is guaranteed.

After all, he is not a perverse tyrant who does not distinguish between rewards and punishments.

Therefore, for some knights and armies that do not involve their core secrets, Lothar generally has the idea of not having to, or postponing their transfer.

"Well, I won't stay here for long, Curles, Hebron is in your hands, I'm relieved."

He also instructed Andreas to study hard with Cures and be able to take charge of himself as soon as possible.

So Lothar left Hebron with his men and continued on to the port of Ella.

…

On the Red Sea.

The earthy red cliffs on both sides reflect the dark red color in the sunlight, and the dense algae in the shallow sea make this ocean really have a red color at first glance from a high place.

Two three-deck galleys moving side by side are cleaving the waves.

They were a group of pirates from Yemen, mostly pirates of fishermen near the Gulf of Aden, who had nominally submitted to the Ayyubids with King Shemur of Yemen, but who had often been at odds with the Sassanid Persians, who had been loyal to them for the time being.

In the Indian Ocean, even the flying of the Ayyubid flame does not exempt them from paying a toll, and if you are weak or deceived, it is not uncommon to swallow them in one bite.

Two galleys, each with their only mainsail, are moving leisurely on the sea.

One of them had a giant ramming horn on the front, made from the horn of a narwhal, a ferocious sea monster.

When approaching the enemy, you can use the blood sacrifice to awaken the whale spirit in it, and raise your speed so that this sharp collision angle will go straight into the belly of the enemy ship.

With this rambling horn, this pirate group from Yemen made a great name in the western Indian Ocean (it is clear that the western Indian Ocean of this era is not called the West Indian Ocean, and it is only called this name in the text for ease of reading).

A piercing eagle chirp sounded suddenly.

A falcon of great steed pierced through the clouds like a sharp arrow and swooped down.

The sailor, whose arm was covered with calfskin, reached out and caught the swooping falcon, its sharp claws piercing the calfskin on the sailor's arm.

The grinning sailor with his teeth bared in pain cursed and scolded: "You damn flat-haired brute, every time you don't make Lao Tzu's arm full of blood spots, are you not satisfied?" ”

He took off the parchment tied to the falcon's legs, took a cursory look at it, and then exclaimed, "Chief, here comes the work!" ”

Amid the cheers of the pirates, he quickly approached the captain standing at the bow of the ship, wearing a white turban, and said respectfully: "Chief, Dahab's 'Impaler' has given us a reward for a surprise attack on the port of Ella - all the plunder is ours, and we are only required to kill and wound as many defenders as possible." ”

"Isn't Port Ella his brother's domain?"

The captain frowned.

"It has fallen, and now the owner of it is a crusader prince named 'Lotardine.'"

"Lotardine?"

The captain frowned.

"I haven't heard of it."

"Is he a subordinate of that arrogant Renard?"

It had been a long time since he had paid attention to the situation of the Crusader countries on the Mediterranean coast, it was too far away from them, and during the time when the Suez Canal had not yet been opened, the Red Sea was simply a moat from the Mediterranean.

Unless, like the arrogant Crusader Raynard, he carried the ship to land and into the sea—and then it really sank into the sea.

"Perhaps, the 'Impaler' didn't mention these details, but the conditions he gave were indeed very good, you must know that it was the port of Ella, the pearl of the Red Sea!"

The sailor's face was beaming.

The captain snorted lightly: "The port of Ella, which has experienced a baptism of war, and the port of Ella, which has been ruined by the stupid brother of the Impaler, is no longer worthy of this title. ”

The sailor smiled and said, "Captain, there is a saying in our hometown that the skinny Bactrian camel is bigger than a horse. ”

The captain nodded slightly: "Indeed, the target is the Red Sea, full speed ahead, we will launch a surprise attack on Ella Harbor tomorrow morning, with the first rays of sunshine rising in the east!" ”

The Crusader princes, in the eyes of these Yemeni pirates, were nothing to worry about.

Because they are in the Indian Ocean, there is simply no sea power.

No matter how powerful the Crusader fleet was in the Mediterranean, it was beyond the reach of these pirates who roamed the Indian Ocean.