Outside the city of Damietta, in a newly captured copper mining camp.

The Crusaders were clearing the battlefield, and the guards who remained there seemed to be unaware of the fall of Damietta, and were easily wiped out.

After the men were eliminated, the Crusaders drove the slaves, shackled on their feet and their faces covered in mud, to the open space in the middle of the camp.

There, standing was a knight in shining armor and a Danish axe in both hands.

He has a striking swastika on the front of his placket and an eagle crest embroidered on his chest.

"What are they going to do?"

"Isn't it going to be the execution of us all?"

"Looking at the swastika on him, they don't look like they're Saracens."

"Is it so?"

The slaves had different expressions, some expectant, others fearful.

Immediately they saw the tall knight, carrying the Danish axe in his hand, walking briskly, and under the terrified gaze of one of the slaves in front of him, he raised the axe and slashed it fiercely.

Keng——

The shackles under the slave's feet were smashed open.

The frightened slave was slumped on the ground, his face full of happiness for the rest of his life.

The knight held the axe in his hand and said in a loud voice: "The Grand Lord of the Crusaders, Lord of Upper Egypt, Transjordan, Limassol and Hebron, Lord of Lothar, Guardian of the Holy Lance, has decreed that from now on, all believers who believe in Christ will automatically shed their slavery status and become a free people." ”

"Listen to me, my brothers in Christ, from this day you are free!"

Some of the slaves immediately cheered excitedly.

But there are still many slaves who are still at a loss.

Seeing this, the knight summoned his companions, who knew various languages, and retranslated what he had said.

There was silence at first.

Then the slaves cried out in tears: "Freedom, we are free, praise God, praise the Duke of Lothar!" ”

"I knew that sooner or later the Crusaders would come and save us."

Under the guidance of the knights, they broke and smashed the shackles on their feet, and some of the slaves, full of hatred, smashed the bodies of the overseers and guards beyond recognition with stones and iron pickaxes.

But after the madness.

Some of the new "free people" who are still rational are starting to worry again.

A slave who claimed to be from Brandenburg cautiously asked, "Dear knight, who will this copper mine belong to?" ”

The knight shook his head and said, "I don't know, this has to be something that the Duke considers." ”

The slave asked, "Shall we continue to work here?" ”

The knight laughed and said, "Haven't I made it clear? You are free, go to Damietta, to Jerusalem, to Tripoli, you can now go wherever you want, and no one will stop you. ”

The slave smiled bitterly and said: "Master Mingjian, among us, if we have a little skill, we will not be thrown into a place like a mine, so we just run to the city, how can we settle there?" ”

Even if you have a skill, it is not so easy to become a citizen, and the guild organizations in many places are extremely xenophobic and conservative, and they will be so excluded that outsiders can't stay at all.

Otherwise, according to the rule in many cities that you can obtain citizenship by staying in the city for a hundred days, serfs would have run away long ago.

His face was full of humility and bitterness: "We can only plow the land and mine, but there is no shortage of farmers in Coptic, even if we want to go home, we have to rely on mining to make up for the road first." ”

After he finished speaking, someone came forward and said humbly: "Moreover, we have no way to go home, there is no place for us to live there for a long time." ”

The knight suddenly realized: "I see, but the mining is still over, the war is not over yet, who knows when this copper mine will be back in operation, I have a good place here, there, as long as you work hard, not only do you have two meals a day, but you can also get a piece of land of your own."

The knight began to paint a picture.

The slaves were so fascinated that they couldn't believe that such a good thing could happen to them.

"Sir, what you said is true?"

The knight looked the slaves up and down at the right time, and a disdainful smile appeared on the corner of his mouth: "God is above, if it weren't for your pity, how could I tell you such a good thing?" Is there anything else about you people who deserve to be deceived by me? ”

Beside the knight, a knight in armor immediately stood up, and said in a loud voice: "Pay attention to your words, standing in front of you is the Grand Master of the Royal Knights of Jerusalem, Lord Hans, who has been fighting with the Duke of Lothar for many years. ”

The slaves were so despised that they were relieved of their hearts and thanked the Crusader knights with joy.

Wait until the knights send these slaves away.

On the side, the blonde female knight, who had been watching for a long time, came over: "I have to say, Hans, your acting skills are too exaggerated." ”

Hans said helplessly: "I'm not good at this kind of thing, and when they go to Sinai, the first thing they will do will definitely be to call me a dead liar." ”

"They'll thank you eventually."

Hans shrugged, "I hope so." Are the adults still asleep? ”

"Why are you still asleep, this is special training."

Jeanne corrected and asked, "Are you just busy with this these days?" ”

"Yes, before I went to bed, I was asked to select a group of trustworthy pilgrims from the liberated white slaves as the first batch of immigrants to be sent to the Sinai Peninsula."

After the Crusaders occupied Damietta, most of the slaves in the city were emancipated, especially the white slaves, who were mostly Christians, many of whom were pilgrims from the Frankish region, and there were also pirates who raided the villages along the coast of Asia Minor and captured Greek and Turkic slaves, in addition to the slave trade that prevailed in the Black Sea, and the Rus' slaves sold by the Cumans.

This part of the people, who were already destitute, had nothing, and were of a humble position, and it was difficult for them to leave land for them to cultivate in Damietta, and to move them to Sinai, where they faced the least resistance.

At the same time, they are far more trustworthy than the Copts, who have been ruled by the Saracens for hundreds of years.

"Thank you for your hard work."

"To be honest, I thought it was just a simple job."

Hans smiled wryly.

But when it came to it, Hans discovered that not all slaves wanted to be freed.

Generally speaking, in Europe, serfs were higher in status than slaves, and legally, their personal freedom was bound to the land, and they were often not eligible to leave the land and make pilgrimages to the Holy Land.

Unless they are willing to pay a specific tax for it.

Many of the pilgrims who were captured and sold into slavery by pirates and Turkic bandits were actually fugitive serfs from Europe.

Although they were not slaves before, as serfs, they had to respond to the lord's conscription, but also obey the lord's forced labor without compensation, cultivate the fields assigned by the lord, and pay high and varied taxes.

If a tyrannical lord is put on the table, he may be whipped or even put to death for the slightest mistake – and this, albeit a violation of the Shari'ah, is often carried out without interference.

After being sold into slavery, many of them were surprised to find that life was better than before.

For example, the Mamluks, although they were slaves, were also the confidants and retainers of their masters, and their status was many times higher than that of ordinary free people.

Therefore, the slaves of Damietta, even if they were Christians, were grateful to their masters.

It's not that they are servile, but this is the case in this era, whether it is Europe or Egypt, the contradiction between man and land is very serious, and the surplus labor force leads to the generally low treatment of serfs - in response to the saying "you don't do it, some people do it".

The statue of an angel increases the loyalty of the people, but it doesn't happen overnight.

And these slaves in front of them, as miners, are undoubtedly the bottom of the slaves, and their loyalty is guaranteed.

In addition, their physical condition is not bad, they have not been destroyed by the long dark underground life, unlike the group of miners liberated by Hans before, only a third of their lives are left, and they will have to wheezing and coughing for a while when they take two steps.

"Those who can work harder."

Jeanna patted Hans on the shoulder, revealing an encouraging look: "I think you should take the time to learn the Saracen or Coptic language, there will always be times when you need to use it, and adults have always had high expectations of you." ”

Hans said helplessly: "I'd rather be like Veneto and soak in training camp every day. ”

Jeanne waved her hand in a chic manner: "This is not up to you." ”

She took a few steps, stopped, and said, "I almost forgot to get down to business while chatting with you, did you and Veneto often talk together during this time?" ”

"Not often, only occasionally."

"Then you have a good fight tonight."

Hans looked surprised: "Why? ”

"The Tree of Life has advanced, and Jeanne has brought back a new batch of leaves from the Tree of Life, and Uldin has concocted a new 'Lazarus Elixir' based on this, and wants to test the effect on you."

Hans: "? ”

Jeanne looked at Hans's look of disbelief, and seemed to feel a faint pain in her conscience, and said with a dry smile: "It's a rare opportunity, it just so happens that you usually feel that you can't let go of your hands and feet when you usually fight, and this is also an opportunity." I'm very optimistic about you. ”

So saying, he walked away.

"I still have to inform Veneto, remember, I must come in the evening!"

Hans looked at Jeanne's back, daring to be angry but not daring to speak.

It's a pity that the thighs that I originally expected to be able to rely on, Chelinina, the flower of the wolf clan, directly surrendered to the enemy, and his five-star little wolf really didn't have a lot of face under Lothar's hands.

Meanwhile.

In the world of the book.

Time flies, a month's time, and the blink of an eye is nearing the end.

The demon hunters stood at the other end of the suspension bridge, watching the backs of the two of them stepping on the snow with one foot deep and one foot shallow, and gradually moving away, with some emotion.

Eskar's face was full of amazement: "Miss Cellinina is really a little outrageous, Lothar's progress during this time, we all see it, I didn't expect that the last battle was still beaten so badly." ”

Lambert hugged his chest and smiled: "It's miserable, but if you want me to say, Nina still released the water." ”

Geralt nodded and said: "Indeed, with her speed, the three of us together may not be her one enemy, if you really want to be ruthless, Lothar can hardly say that she can go through a few rounds, strength, speed, defense, any aspect to the extreme, it is terrifying." ”

"Haha, I suddenly remembered the scene when Geralt asked Miss Cellinina to ask for a match, and at that time, the two of you were still fighting back and forth, and now that I think about it, it's really ironic."

Lambert scoffed with a wicked smirk.

Geralt couldn't help but laugh and said, "Cellina is a very polite little girl, and she can't bear to bully me, an old man. ”

Viselmir added, "Much stronger than Ciri. ”

Lambert's tone was as sharp as ever: "We all have to admit it, Ciri was completely taught by us to be a wild child in Kellmohan, who would know that she was previously a lion cub in Sintra, a princess of a kingdom?" ”

A group of witchers slowly walked back to the castle.

"You didn't close the hole in the hall in this bad weather, and now when the wind blows outside, it's like a hundred kikimo are calling in your ear."

"Daddy Viselmir, you let a witcher do the work of a bricklayer like making a goat blow a trumpet on his ass. We can't blame our bad craftsmanship, at least the hole is not very airy. ”

"Daddy, I have to add that a monster like an ant doesn't make the kind of shrill cry you say."

"It's a metaphor, metaphor understand!"

Geralt sat back in his chair, looked at the empty wine glass on the table opposite, and couldn't help but smile: "To be honest, without Lothar and Nina, our place will be a lot more deserted, so it's better to be next year."

"Don't, don't think about it!"

"I don't want to see that woman from Yennefer."

Lambert sneered, "It's the same with Daddy Viselmir. I'm sure she'll be here in that condescending tone, commanding us as if this was supposed to be her territory. ”

He felt that Geralt really didn't have a good eye for women—at least far worse than Lothar.

Look at someone's female companion!

(End of chapter)