The convoy flying the black double-headed eagle flag, escorted by thirty hussars, slowly left the port of Ella.

Lothar took only thirty hussars with him, and even the titular Earlguard, the Varangian Guard, remained in port Ayla to garrison.

This is the front line in the end.

Although Phil Orn temporarily fled because of the local chiefs, the military management and the policy of dividing the land were stabilized.

But in this battle, the enemy suffered heavy casualties, and the families of these dead were still alive, and it cannot be taken for granted that they would be bought off by the policy of dividing the land.

Moreover, there are many fanatical believers in Zoroastrianism among the common people, and this part of the population is also a hidden danger.

It's up to Curles' secret service to slowly screen and purge it.

Roadside.

Almost all the civilians who saw the carriage of Lothar bowed their heads and saluted.

Far after the carriage had gone away, there were still people with crosses painted in front of them.

With Zahn, the former lord of the rampant Jewel, in front of him, the civilians of Ilah Harbor were even more supportive of Lothar than the basic market of Lothar and the commoners of Hebron.

Hans sighed with some emotion: "My lord, have you seen it, everyone is very supportive of you. In the past, when we patrolled every day, people brought melons and fruits to us to eat. ”

Lothar smiled.

The people at the bottom are easy to fool and not easy to fool.

No matter how stupid people are, don't they themselves know whether their lives are good or not?

"Isn't this a matter of course, adults are good enough to treat those people!"

Fringira snorted softly, "In Transylvania, they can eat a full meal a day, which can be regarded as the mercy of the vampire lord there." ”

Cellina sat in the carriage, she couldn't ride a horse, and the horses weren't as fast as she walked.

Hearing this, he said thoughtfully: "It's the same with the two Sicilies. Only the wolf clan can be in a high position, and the civilians not only live in hardship, but also have to beware of one day their children being captured and eaten by the wolf clan, but people dare not resist, and can only live like walking corpses. The whole society is dead. ”

Lothar asked, "That's why your father rebelled against the wolf lord?" ”

Cellina shook her head and said, "No, he is not so noble, he just wants to stand on his own and get rid of the control of the wolf lord." ”

Lothar was a little disappointed.

Idealists who are willing to betray their own class are still in the minority after all.

Jeanne said: "This is normal, in the vast New World, recruiting those wandering wolf clans, or the wolf clans who are depressed in the native land, and establishing themselves as kings, is much stronger than staying in the two Sicilies and looking up to the wolf lord's snort." ”

She shrugged her shoulders: "If you dark creatures all run to the New World, our Holy Church Knights will be much more relaxed, and I haven't taken a vacation for two years in a row before I was summoned by my lords. ”

Cellina frowned.

It wasn't what she had thought before.

Fringira sneered: "Cellinina, see, the so-called crimes such as deviating from the traditions of the wolf clan are all fake, in the final analysis, it is still a power struggle. ”

"The old wolf lord, where can a new wolf lord be crowned king in the New World?"

"That's right."

When Cellinina heard this, she jumped out of the carriage and came to the carriage in which Frigila was riding, took out the tin box, and took out a chocolate bar to feed.

The action is done in one go.

Jeanne sighed: "When did the relationship between these two get better? ”

Hans was shocked.

Oops, thighs are going to run!

…

The hiccups on the way were not on Lothar's heart.

Now that the situation in the territory has stabilized, Lothar does not want to go to war again anytime soon.

He is not a war maniac, and over-extension could also provoke Adil's interference, and the great desert of the Sinai Peninsula is a moat, but only if he does not provoke Adil too much.

Attacking Egypt is the most lucrative option, but it requires Lothar to have enough strength.

At the very least, an expeditionary force of tens of thousands of people can be pulled out, and it is possible to gain a foothold in North Sinai, the bridgehead of Egypt.

It's the same thing with the Abyssinians, the benefits are limited, but the difficulty is not low at all.

In Lothar's world, after all of Africa had been partitioned, Abyssinia was the last to fall, later than Egypt.

The two great powers, Britain and Italy, have both fallen in the sand here.

So, short-term planning, recuperation, and reclamation of wasteland.

In the medium term, it will go south to expand its territory and strengthen its strength.

In the long run, he went north to enter Sinai and conquered Egypt.

Whether or not to consolidate the vassals in the realm, especially to take Montreal and Calleburg, which Renard occupies, depends on the situation within the kingdom, such as whether a suitable legal basis can be found.

The Kingdom of Jerusalem was his backing, and if he blindly expanded inward, he would be a loner once his reputation in Christendom was discredited.

Now, for example, if Adil dared to do anything to him, he would only need to raise his arms and call in, with the support of Baldwin IV, to bring the entire Jerusalem crusade to his aid.

Jeanne rode the "grapes" to the side of the carriage.

"Miss Cellinina, it's good to be serious, but don't always be so listless, young girl, you should be more energetic and enthusiastic!"

Cellina frowned and nodded, "What you said makes sense, what should I do?" ”

"Try to be like me and smile all the time."

Cellinina curled the corners of her mouth and smiled stiffly, but Jeanne was satisfied: "yes, that's what it looks like." The little girl should have less bitterness and hatred, and more sweet smiles. ”

She stretched out her hand and touched her chin: "The journey is boring, let's have a game of Gwent cards for the three of us?" ”

"GWENT? What is that? ”

Cellinina wondered.

Jeanne took out the delicate small iron box: "We all have a set of card decks, you can borrow one set from the adults first, and the three of us will take turns to fight." ”

…

The carriage creaked along.

It's not stable.

Lothar covered her neckline with a veil and rode side by side with Hannya, and the cold air coming from Hannya's small air conditioner was pleasant.

Ahead, a small oasis appeared.

The oasis survived by a small village that had been given by Lothar to an edict knight promoted from the Saracen peasant army.

"Let's go see how it goes here."

Although there is no doubt about the loyalty of the knights of the edict, it can be seen from the paper report that it is not the same as the field trip.

Agriculture-oriented, Lothar is a sentimental statement.

Money alone and no one is just a plate of delicacies on the table.

Historically, there have been few business empires that can be beaten, and even if they are prominent for a while, they will gradually decline later.

Carthage, which once controlled large swathes of North Africa and Iberia, the Eastern Empire, which had a destroyed military district system, the city-states of the Apennines, the Arab Empire, and even the distant Song Dynasty, were all precedents.

The mass use of slaves and mercenaries to fight will sooner or later lead to bad results.

Another purpose of his return to Jerusalem was to accept some of the pilgrims as his subjects—despite the policy of dividing the land, there was still a lot of land under his hands that was uncultivated.

In addition, the arable land in the new Habsburgs is constantly increasing.

The migration of pilgrims not only increased the population.

At the same time, it can also improve the population composition of the territories under Lothar, and the Germanic immigrants of the same language and race are more trustworthy than the Saracens.

"Your Excellency?"

Before he got closer, he saw a tanned man in the field, like an old farmer, grinning in surprise, and his teeth looked snow-white due to the contrast in color.

He struggled to pull his leg out of the mud and ran towards him: "My lord, why did you come to me?" ”

Lothar smiled and said, "Ramla, I'm going back to Hebron, stop by to see you." ”

His gaze swept over the peasants who had followed the knight of the edict named Ramla, who had come with them—most of them lean, dark-skinned, but healthy.

Ramla introduced: "My lord, they are all peasant soldiers under my command. The canal has just been built today, and we are trying to use it to water the land for the first time – it's much easier than carrying buckets to fetch water, and it won't be long before we can clear up a large area of farmland. ”

"You're doing a good job, Ramla, and I'll compliment you to your mother when I get back."

Ramla smiled embarrassedly: "Lord Xie, I still have a reluctant request, if I can, I want to bring my mother here, and the land of Hebron will be divided among the others." ”

"Of course that's fine, even if you don't say it, after a while, Grand Curs will take care of it."

Ramla was pleasantly surprised, "Thank you, sir." ”

"You're welcome, I'm going to thank you."

Lothar's expression was a little complicated, and the knights under his command had a much harder time.

Although he gave a lot of salary, one was counted as one, and no one wanted to be like a real noble knight, who was freshly dressed and idle.

Say goodbye to Ramla.

The convoy continued on its way, passing through more than a dozen villages, some of which belonged to the port of Ayla and some of which belonged to the bishopric of Alaindere.

Lothar could see that the faces of the vast majority of the people, although tired, were full of hope, which was completely different from the numbness and indifference of the past.

Their lives are not good, and many are still receiving relief food, because the newly cultivated land has not yet yielded its yield.

But Lothar's actions show that he is a benevolent and generous lord.

Their daily toil is to work for their own future, and they do not have to worry that one day, all the fruits of their labor will be snatched by Lothar.

Towards night, Lothar finally arrived in Novohabsburg.

In the distance, you can see the lush, huge canopy of trees that look like wings hanging from the sky.

You can also feel the joy coming from the tree of life.

It grows fast, far as Lothar expected, thanks to the blessing of faith.

as "God".

The more people who come to worship, the more power of faith it gains, and the faster it grows.

This trend continues.

I'm afraid that in less than half a year, the Tree of Life will be able to enter the maturity stage ahead of schedule, and he can be transferred to the woodland archer to make up for the weakest link in his army.

Armenian mercenaries, in this battle, exposed serious problems.

If it's a little farther away, there's no armor-piercing ability.

Against the well-armored Saracen infantry, there was little damage, at most a sling stunted a few unlucky people.

It's cheap, but it's not easy to use either.

Defending the city can also have a certain effect, but if it is a field battle, the effect will only be worse.

Lothar quickly ended the mercenary contract, and now he had the money to hire more and more powerful mercenary teams, such as the Turks from Asia Minor.

But he still prefers to train his own army.

Nor do I look at the poor performance of the Apennine city-states, which counted on mercenaries all day long, after unification.

You must know that after reunification, Italy is at least a nation-state. But its performance is even inferior to the Austro-Hungarian dual bulk empire that was saved up by political means after the decline of the Habsburgs.

He raised his head and looked at the new Habsburg on the high ground in the distance, the eagle banner flying at the head of the city, and a trace of pride was born in his heart.

Since the war, he had been an empty count, and his power in Transjordan was even subservient to Baron Renard and Argonne.

And now, he seems to be the most powerful prince of Transjordan, and he can pull out thousands of troops, which can really match the title of Count of Transjordan.

…

Sassanids.

Ctesiphon.

A group of envoys returning from the Tatar steppes were crying to Bahram VI about the humiliation of the Tatar khans from the family of Bahram on their trip.

The diplomatic documents that came back made the king of kings and his courtiers even more angry.

The content of the document is: "I know the strength of the king, the greatness of the monarch's country, I know that the king rules one of the vast lands of the earth, which is a country of thousands of years, and I am deeply willing to reconcile with the king, and I am willing to regard the king, and I still love the son." ”

"This group of barbarians on the steppe dare to humiliate our king like this, saying that they want to reconcile with us, but they regard our king as such. It's unforgivable! ”

"Heh, these barbarians from the east all think that they are the Tang Empire, and they are so angry."

The ministers were furious.

The Sassanid king's face showed a trace of anger: "The Khitans of the Liao State have repeatedly invaded our land back then, and even asked me to call them ministers and pay tribute. ”

One of the generals said: "A steppe chieftain, your subordinate is willing to personally lead a large army, and conquer it, and capture the Tatar Khan and his wife and daughter, so that our king will be angry." ”

Palace Minister Mustafa coughed lightly: "Your Majesty, don't raise troops in anger, the grassland is barren, and our labor expedition is not profitable at all." ”

King Bahram VI of Sassanid did not look very good.

He took a long breath and forcibly suppressed the anger in his heart: "What Mustafa Grand Vizier said is reasonable, the Tatars are barren, and the nomadic light horses come and go like the wind, just like the White Huns at the beginning. If I send a large army on an expedition, they will only have to drive the cattle and sheep to the tents and take refuge in the east. ”

The White Huns were actually not the same thing as the Huns, they belonged to a branch of the Tatars who moved westward, and they were much more advanced than the Huns, which once brought a lot of pressure to the Sassanid Empire.

Sassanid Persia had no interests in the steppe, occupying that kind of poor and remote land, and it was better for the Sassanid king to continue to go south and attack the scattered Tianzhu.

Tianzhu was wealthy, but not good at war, like a large treasury, the cornerstone of the rise of the ancient empire of Sassanid Persia.

The current Sassanid Dynasty, like the Eastern Empire next door, is a thousand-year-old country that has accumulated shortcomings for a long time and is too old to bear.

It has long since changed from being dominated by the Persians to a dualistic bulk empire dominated by Persians and Arabs, and its internal problems are very serious.

"Your Majesty is right, the Tatar barren land, although the territory is vast, the population is less than a million. Just reprimanding the Khan of the river for expelling the Tatar caravan and not trading with it can cause the prices of the steppe to skyrocket, the people's livelihood to wither, and to be greatly punished. ”

In the court, except for some generals who are eager to make meritorious contributions.

The Sassanid king, as well as the courtiers of Mustafa's palace, were reluctant to attack the steppe.

There is too little oil and water, and the labor expedition is too much money and food, but the income is almost zero, so it is better to fight with the Khitans.

"But, as you say."

Bahram VI added: "The Great Altar of the Sacred Fire of Ctesiphon has been completed, and the news that Saladin has formed an advisory group of spellcasters in Damascus has spread widely, attracting many dormant spellcasters, and we must not be left behind. ”

"Your Majesty, as of today, there have been thirty-six priests, Wu Zhu has arrived at the Great Sacred Fire Altar, and the Holy Fire Sacrifice can be held at any time to select your caster advisory group."

Mustafa Palace said with a straight face: "As the patriarch of Zoroastrianism, you are a mere courtier Saladin, how can He De compare with your appeal?" ”

(End of chapter)