Time flies.

The Crusaders who remained in Damietta, the strongest of them, had already moved into the city of Semanud.

Upon hearing the news, the merchants came with a large supply fleet, laden with grain, grass, ordnance, and Crusader knights, nobles, and pilgrims who had come by ship, and docked at the port of Semenud in front of Deboers.

The forward positions of the Crusaders had gradually shifted from Damietta to Semanud.

Centered on the city of Semanud, the territory that had belonged to the Governor of Mahri was quickly encroached upon.

Port Boers, several important castles on the shores of Lake Brulus, were brought under the control of Lothar.

As for the villages under its jurisdiction, Lothar did not send any more people to collect taxes and food, and these people had been looted by the governor of Mahri in the name of "defending against the Frankish barbarians", and there was really no oil or water.

In order to prevent this group of peasants, who had nothing to lose, from taking risks, Lothar not only did not rob them, but forced the local leaders to open warehouses to release grain, and did not take a bag of grain with them when they left, but only requisitioned the arsenals of the local leaders, and took away most of the weapons, armor, and even iron ingots in the blacksmith shop.

In the crusader camp in the city.

Hans sighed with emotion: "You can't imagine the look in the eyes of the hungry peasants when they open their granaries full of grain, who usually claim that all the taxes are paid to Governor Mahri. ”

The old god Veneto said: "My lord, this is dividing the relationship between the local leaders and the peasants at the bottom, maybe as soon as the crusaders leave, the food distributed to them will be handed back again, and when the local leaders want to wave their arms and incite them to fight for the 'holy fire', these guys will definitely have to think about whether these leaders are deceiving them to die." ”

Hans shook his head and said, "Your Excellency has also confiscated the arsenals of those local chiefs, to be honest, I don't think those local chiefs still dare to 'wave their arms', they will not even be able to keep their granaries from being looted by the peasants." ”

The two men talked as they turned their gaze to the camp's training ground.

More than fifty Coptic recruits, armed with spears and shields, were divided into two groups to practice, and the spears in their hands were not equipped with spearheads, but even if they did not have spearheads, it would hurt for a long time to be stabbed by wooden sticks.

Therefore, the battle between them and them was also quite intense.

In the past few days, the monks of the Order of St. Lazarus and the Copts have been preaching in the streets every day, distributing free herbs and healing the common people.

This practice won the trust of a group of Copts, so in recent days Copts have come to the Crusaders' recruiting offices to join the army.

"Stop."

"Veneto, you go get a spear they use, let's practice against each other, and show these little guys!"

Veneto had a constipated expression on his face: "Wouldn't it be nice to leave this kind of thing of training recruits to you, why do you have to get involved too?" ”

Hans smiled and said, "I can't pick an ordinary person to practice, right?" ”

As soon as the two entered the field, they were quickly greeted with cheers from the Coptic recruits.

Hans is actually a very charismatic young man, even if he suddenly occupies a high position and obtains the blood of the wolf clan, he has never shown a domineering side in front of ordinary soldiers and low-level civilians.

Although he was still short, he still received the unanimous support of the recruits.

The two practiced against each other, and the recruits were dazzled and amazed.

When they stopped, they still felt a lot of aftertaste and breathtaking.

Veneto put down his spear, stepped aside and frowned, and said, "It's only a few days before the decisive battle with Adile, and no matter how much they train, it is estimated that they will be embarrassed and useless. ”

Hans shook his head: "You don't understand. ”

Although the combat effectiveness of these Coptic recruits is very average, even after a period of training, when they go to the battlefield in the future, they will most likely only be used to "fill in the line", which is the lowest level of consumables.

The conscription profession, although it is also a systematic service, can bring them very little combat experience.

But the significance of these people is that they buy horse bones.

"Why don't I understand, isn't it still the same set of differentiation and co-optation."

Veneto said with some disdain.

Hans nodded, "Indeed." ”

"Since we learned that we were coming, many peasants have fled the famine—this is the statement given by some of the big merchants in the city, in fact, the harvest season has long passed, and the peasants' flight from the famine will not cause the price of grain to soar, and the granaries in Semanud have long been stocked with grain."

As for why food prices have skyrocketed, of course, it is a way for local big businessmen to recover their losses.

"These people can't survive anymore, so they choose to join the army, although anyone with a little brain should know that they will wait until we and Adil split the victory and defeat before choosing a side, but they have no room to wait."

What is Diaomin?

Once a person can't live, no moral shackles, any letter of the law will no longer have any meaning to them, they will become a thug - so Lothar takes this matter very seriously.

He has already begun to stabilize food prices.

Naturally, the way is not to discuss with local merchants tenderly, that is too cheap, we are crusaders, Frankish barbarians, do not use some barbaric methods, are we still worthy of being called "barbarians"?

Anyway, the burghers of Semanud City did not have the courage to raise the anti-flag until the Crusaders and Adil split the victory.

As for in wartime, they should cooperate with the enemy inside and outside, and secretly communicate with each other, even if there is no such thing, it will not affect them to do so.

After Hans finished speaking, he gave an order: "Galio, after the drill, take twenty people and come with me." ”

It is also particular about taking them.

It is obviously more credible to publicize the inappropriate practices of the upper echelons of the burghers than to do them themselves, and this is also a way to divide them.

The people at the bottom are always inciting, and their distrust of the people at the top is also innate, and Hans knows very well what he is going to do, and what it means.

...

The other side.

"Do they think that these small favors can buy the Semanuds?"

The representative of the burghers, a tailor-made merchant who had become a merchant in the cloth business, Lord Saman, was sitting in his low-key but luxurious mansion, listening to his men's reports on the Order of St. Lazarus.

"At most, they are the insignificant paupers, the most treacherous, the hateful, the philistine, the lowly, the unhonored, even if they join the infidels, they will not add the slightest strength to them, but will only consume the infidels' food and grass."

Lord Saman actually belonged to the city nobility of Semanud City, because he donated a large amount of military supplies and grain, he was canonized as "Shekh" (chieftain, also used as a low-ranking noble title) by the governor of Mahri, and was a big man in the business community of Semanud City.

The elder of the neighborhood where Galio lived, "Hussein", was nothing more than the head of a caravan under his command.

"Schekh, the fighting power of the Franks should not be underestimated, even the elite guards of the Governor were easily defeated by them, if they do something against us, our caravan guards are definitely not their opponents."

"Heh, if you've ever heard about that demon duke, you'll know that he's actually a smart man and a staunch defender of order, and he wouldn't do that."

Lord Saman held up a chubby finger: "In this city, one-third of the people work for me, the other one-third work for me indirectly, and only the remaining one-third is under the jurisdiction of the governor, if I die..."

He snapped his fingers together.

"The whole city is going to be paralyzed, the Demon Duke is smart, not like those thugs."

His tone was relaxed: "I think it won't be long before this demon duke will come to visit in person, and I don't know how much food will be enough to satisfy this demon duke's appetite." ”

But it doesn't matter.

Over the years, he has accumulated a lot of net worth and can withstand such losses.

Moreover, some of his losses can be recovered by manipulating food prices and hoarding.