Time passes slowly in the undercurrent.

Every day, the crusaders returned to Mieta with a load of booty.

The merchants who accompanied the army were all depicted, and a large number of oriental silk fabrics, precious furniture, spices, porcelain, glassware, and even dried mummies unearthed from graves were transported to the city and sold to merchants.

Many of the Crusaders were anxious to cash in on them, so the prices were kept low, and the merchants naturally made a lot of money, and they could make a fortune by shipping them back to Europe, nay, even just back to Jerusalem.

Realizing this, Lothar immediately erected a sign in the barracks saying "Buy the spoils of war", which was actually to exchange the loot sold by the soldiers into gold coins with his portrait, and then extract some of them as loss, and then return the rest to the other party.

This is simply a no-brainer deal, which makes Lothar's already shriveled wallet a big return of blood.

The Crusaders also felt that they had benefited, as the purchase price offered by Lothar was often more fair than that of the accompanying merchants, and the gold coins offered were of good quality and fairness, so the soldiers lined up to sell the spoils from morning to night.

But they would never know that in the middle of the barracks, the venerable Duke of Lothar was personally in charge of the resale of the spoils of war.

Outside the tent, some crusaders described how they dealt with the mummy monster that had come back from the dead, boasting about their prowes, and some of the business-minded took out the amulet of the cross they were wearing, claiming that it possessed powerful exorcism powers and could be obtained for only ten gold coins.

Lothar sounded very strange, and these mummified corpses were really valuable in the loot shop, each of which was worth thousands of gold coins, so he specially called a group of servants to study it carefully to see if there was really a magic in it.

After all, the gods of ancient Egypt existed, and it was not uncommon for the mummy of the pharaohs to see the light of day.

But in the end, nothing special has been researched, it is just a dried corpse that has been treated with special secret medicine and embalming.

It is worth mentioning that at this time, mummy was already widely used as a medicinal material, but the word "mummy" still refers to "asphalt", and this "drug" was produced in the territory of Renard in Chatillon, earning him a lot of money every year.

As for how the European continent later became popular with the consumption of real mummified corpses and regarded them as a cure-all, Lothar is unknown.

It was not until the evening that Lothar hurried back to his mansion, freshened up, changed into the Holy Cross Plate Armor, and appeared in the hall.

There, there are already several nobles, waiting to swear allegiance to him.

During this time, every day Crusader nobles came to his estate and swore allegiance to him.

Almost all the Crusaders from Germany chose to defect to Lothar's side.

Their strength is weaker, their weaponry, and the elite of their soldiers are inferior to those of the more wealthy and developed Gallic nobles, and they need the support of Lothar as a protector, otherwise they may not even be able to keep their own territory.

On the contrary, the powerful Gallic nobles began to be restless when they learned that Richard the Lionheart had arrived in the Holy Land.

They were not necessarily willing to go to Richard, and although many Gallic nobles regarded Richard as the second king of Gaul, the vast majority still recognized Philip II as the sole monarch, and some Gallic nobles did not recognize anyone at all.

After all, in this era, there was not much difference between a monarch and a vassal, and the king of Gaul was nothing more than the owner of Gaul in the eyes of many.

But they thought that with Richard's support, they would have the leverage to bargain with Lothar between the two.

You Lothar can sit as the Duke of Egypt, but I can't sit as the Duke of Egypt?

Hopefully, after the defeat of Egypt, everyone will be able to compete for the throne of king.

In addition, of course, there are also a small number of Gallic nobles such as Baron Goffrey, who choose to be closely attached to Lothar, in their opinion, although Lothar is from a Germanic aristocracy, but also a representative of the native aristocracy of Jerusalem, and the interests of both sides have long been involved, or they are simply overwhelmed by Lothar's long-term invincible record.

Not everyone is guided by their interests. There are also many people who are decisively devoted to his command because of Lothar's charisma.

For example, the Baron Rudolph from Aquitaine in front of him.

"Stand up, Baron Rudolph, I accept your allegiance, and from this day onwards you may join the Imperial Knights Company or the Armored Cavalry Company to fight for me."

Lothar lifted the knight in front of him: "As your sovereign, I will guarantee your life, property, and honor, and I swear by the honor of the Habsburgs under the witness of the Father." ”

Baron Rudolph, for some reason, burst into tears of gratitude.

He raised the cross he wore on his chest and said loudly: "My lord, my sword will serve you from now on, I will not ask why, no matter where your sword is pointed, my soldiers and I will rush to the battlefield as soon as possible." ”

"Okay."

Lothar smiled reassuringly.

Although it was only a private allegiance, there was no testimony from the clergy.

But they have formed an unbreakable bond, not only the legal constraints of this era, but also the almost instinctive obedience of all the soldiers of the system to Lothar, and everyone who swears allegiance to him will become a courtier that Lothar can fully trust.

You don't have to be like the vast majority of feudal lords in this era, you have to be careful with your vassals, and you have to be careful with open guns and arrows from all sides, a carelessness may even lead to the vassals turning to support your brother who also has the right to inherit, and fight a war of title succession.

By late afternoon, Lothar was getting ready to fall asleep.

Inside an empty mansion.

The vampire, dressed in a delicate dress, knocked on his door again.

"My lord, there is a messenger who wants to see you."

"Whose messenger?"

Lothar pushed open the door, her mind full of doubts.

Ordinary messengers who want to visit him should not pick such a time.

If you visit late at night, you definitely don't want to be known by others.

Coors's deep voice rang out: "Here, it's a Saracen. ”

Lothar frowned.

"Take me to him."

Come to the lobby.

The envoy had been waiting respectfully for a long time, and when he saw Lothar, he said bluntly: "Lord Duke, my lord wants to meet with you. ”

"Who is your adult?"

The envoy said in a respectful tone: "According to your Frankish name, my lord is Adil, the governor of Egypt under the command of His Majesty Saladin. ”

Lothar's prestige is already thunderous in the Saracen world.

He didn't dare to take the slightest offense.

Lothar frowned, "What is there to talk about. ”

The envoy said: "Lord Duke, my lord has heard that a monarch from the European continent has arrived in the Holy Land, aren't you worried that your position will not be guaranteed, and the fruits of your upcoming victory will be snatched away by him?" ”

"No, how could it be, this is good news for any Christian, it won't be long before tens of thousands of elite crusaders from Albion will arrive in the Holy Land, and if your family is smart enough, it's best to get on a boat and run to Syria with your army to join Saladin."

The messenger quickly reminded, "Lord Duke, listen to me, my lord, King Saladin, to be exact, who wishes you to rule the Franks in the East, and he will help you to establish the title of King of the Franks in the East." ”

Lothar couldn't help but sneer, "Saladin wants to support me as the king of the Eastern Franks? What are he kidding? ”

The envoy said sincerely: "Your Excellency, you should also know that after the two successive defeats of our king, the prestige is no longer as good as before, and the lords of all places have two hearts for our king, and these people can be handed over to the duke. ”

Lothar was slightly stunned.

He couldn't help but sneer: "In the same way, those Crusader lords who don't obey my orders and disobey the yin and yang, I can also report to you and hand them over to you to deal with?" ”

The envoy said seriously: "That's right, this is the way to win-win cooperation. At that time, the Duke will be the king of the Franks of the East, and the king will be the lord of the Saracens of the East. ”