"Once the election results are in, even I will obey..."

Richard couldn't help but sneer, "Does the little fox really think that he has a chance to win?"

Originally, the situation was still unclear, Philip had a small advantage, but Richard was not too inferior, Philip relied on prestige and interests, and Richard relied on personal bravery and leadership ability, and he could win one victory after another.

Wealth can be seized by seizure.

Honors can be based on military merit and prestige.

Both can be taken from the battlefield, and with this, Richard has a loyal following of his own.

Captain Fuller, Earlguard, whispered, "But His Majesty Philip does have the upper hand right now."

"But the most advantageous is probably my uncle, the king of Jerusalem is regarded as the commander of all the Franks in the East, and we may not bow to him, but to do so will indeed divide the crusaders."

"So, Philip's Majesty still has a public heart?"

"Phew, how is that possible?"

Richard was dismissive, and although Philip did not do anything to be sorry for him on the surface, he first broke his promise, insulting Philip's sister for having an affair with his father, Henry II, and refusing to fulfill the marriage contract.

But after he betrayed his father and claimed the crown of Albion, something suddenly occurred to him.

Although his father doted on his young son, his father's desire to deprive him of his inheritance and leave all his lands to John was told to him by Philip II in an implicit and unspoken way.

If the series of struggles over Albion's crown are compared to the richly painted murals, then in the shadows in the corners of the frescoes hide Philip's thin figure and the faint smile on the corners of his mouth.

"Philip is a conspirator, a serpent entrenched in a corner, hissing with a poisonous letter in his mouth, Sir Fuller, if not at the right time, I doubt that he was born of an affair with a Greek mistress when King Louis the Elder was on his crusade."

Richard sneered.

King Louis's first wife was his mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, and now Philip was born to his third wife, Adele of Champagne, long before the old king joined the Crusades.

It is worth mentioning that the three most powerful women in Europe today are Eleanor of Aquitaine, and after Richard left for the Holy Land, he appointed her regent in charge of all her lands on the continent.

The second was Richard's wife, whom he appointed over the entire kingdom of Albion.

The third is Philip's mother, the queen mother of Gaul, who was also appointed regent of Gaul by Philip, and two of the three are the wives of the old king Louis, which shows that although the old king's fertility is very poor (Eleanor was with him, he couldn't give birth to a son, but after remarrying Henry II, he gave birth to four sons in five years), but the vision of choosing a wife is still very good.

Knock –

In the church bell tower, the melodious sound of bells is heard.

This is a signal that the Great Army Conference is about to begin.

When Richard opened the window, he could see many Crusader nobles dressed in sworn silk and striding through the streets, shouting at those who were not qualified to attend the military council, and those who were not to be outdone, shouted and choked back.

Their movements were very loud and disturbing the people, but not a single resident dared to show the slightest dissatisfaction with this, and they closed their doors one after another, not daring to make the slightest noise.

"Your Majesty, it occurred to me that His Majesty Philip would do something about who is qualified to sit in the military council?"

The captain of the Earlguard's guard looked worried, "If more than half of the entire military council are supported by His Majesty Philip, then how can we win?"

Richard chuckled, "All right, Fuller, I want to laugh as soon as you use your brain. If Philip dared to do so, he would only be asking for his own misery, and the army would be a laughing stock, as well as himself."

With that, he changed into his trademark red robe, shouted to his guards, and rode out of the manor gate first.

At this time, it was not yet dark.

Countless torches could be seen along the way, and even if they were not qualified to attend, there were people who wanted to see the excitement, and almost half of the crusaders came to participate in the event that determined the focus of the next military strategy.

The ceremony was tedious, and by the time everything was ready, it was already dark.

It can be seen that the military seat is clearly divided into three parts, and the three parties of Lothar, Richard, and Philip each occupy three directions on the conference field.

The Lothar faction was placed opposite Richard, and he didn't have to stand up to see the plate knights sitting around Baldwin IV on the other side, a little trick that made Richard sneer.

Even if he has been accustomed to seeing it for a long time, Dan Li couldn't help but be a little moved when he saw the bright armor worn by the elites under Lothar's command, the crusaders of the Lothar faction, whose plate armor forging process had already thrown out those Milanese blacksmiths who claimed to be the best in the world in forging skills.

"Brothers of Christ, we may come from all corners of the world, from all over the world, and we may never have met each other, and we may not even have personal grudges, but by the will of God, we are gathered today for a common purpose, for a great cause, to save the enslaved Christians, to recover the Bishopric of Alexandria, which had fallen to the hands of the pagans for countless years..."

Philip II began to speak.

He obviously drank the magic potion of "Loud Bright Trumpet", his voice was extremely loud, and he stood facing the morning light, and his whole person seemed to be plated with a layer of golden light, which made people feel a sense of admiration and worship when they heard it.

Richard couldn't help but curse in a low voice, "Next!"

"Martha, bring me a similar potion!"

After a ridiculous remark about what had been said to be unnutritious, Philip suddenly held up a piece of paper: "However, a shocking scene happened yesterday in plain sight, when Renard of Chatillon, a brave and upright Crusader knight, was assassinated in the street."

The news was not a secret, it had already spread throughout the Crusaders, so the atmosphere was still calm, but as he said the next word, it was completely different.

"Among these Assassins, we have found a secret letter about His Majesty Richard."

The voice fell, and the questioning voice of the mountain and tsunami sounded.

"Huh."

Lionheart snorted coldly, not even bothering to stand up and refute anything.

No one would believe in such a shallow conspiracy, and with the reputation of King Lionheart, people would rather believe that he pulled out Renard's heart in the street than that he would do such an unhonorable thing as buying a murderer.

Philip raised his hand and motioned to Richard's followers to calm down: "Yes, that's right, this murder is ridiculously naïve, and if it was really an assassination plot by the Crusaders, wouldn't it be better to hire a few pagan assassins?"

"As I said yesterday, this is a conspiracy concocted by the Saracens, a conspiracy to make us hate each other, and fight among ourselves! If the infidels could assassinate Lord Renard in the streets, wouldn't they have done even more terrible destruction? Semanud, a city recaptured by the Duke of Lothar, still harbors such Saracen daughters, and when I learn of this, will I be able to sleep in peace?"

He raised his tone: "I do not think about my own safety, but for the safety of the whole great cause of the Crusaders, so it took me all night to find out this minions of Saladin, who was hiding in the city of Semanud!"

"Come, bring him up, and put him to death under everyone's noses!"

When Master Saman was dragged up, his feet were weak, he was wearing heavy shackles, and his face was frighteningly pale.

Until now he did not understand why Adil betrayed him.

Could it be that the hermit of Semanud City, the great merchant who single-handedly weaves a vast trade network, has no value in such a little attraction?

That demon duke is like that.

The two kings of the Franks were like that.

Even Adil, whom he regarded as his own, was the same.

With four ropes wrapped around his limbs, he closed his eyes in despair.

…

At this time.

In the Saracen camp on the west shore of Lake Brulus.

The governor of Egypt and the brother of King Saladin, Adil was also speaking impassionedly to the Saracen army gathered under the banner of the Holy Flame.

In the middle of his speech, there was an abrupt pause, and his voice became mournful: "My brothers, I have just received news that the Crusaders have executed a virtuous and virtuous man, Saman of Semanud. They used four horses to pull the poor old man's limbs...

Look at what happened to those who took refuge in the Crusaders. Saman, a man of noble birth and high moral character, fell to such a terrible fate because he misbelieved the false words of the Franks, and after losing his usefulness."

"Poor Samanid sage, he has given everything he has for his survival, and when the crusaders ask for money, he gives up his hard-earned wealth, and when he asks for food, he opens the granary that he has spent more than ten years amassing, but even so, the greedy and cruel Franks are still unwilling to spare this virtuous sage. After squeezing everything out of him, this poor old man will be executed with such cruel punishment!"

Someone in the audience shouted:

"This is what happens to traitors!"

"It deserves it, this is the will of the Holy Flame, the retribution of the betrayer!"

Adil shook his head and said, "No, he just wants to live!"

Two tears broke out of his eyes as he spoke with emotion: "Shall we rebuke a brother who is struggling to survive under the sword of the Franks? No, even if King Saladin were here, he would only pity the misery of the sage, and would not condemn his betrayal."

"For he was forced to do nothing, and it was the fault of the Franks, the fault of the greedy, shameless, and holy crusaders, who were even more savage than the most cruel robbers!"

"Brothers, among you there are Sunpies, there are Christians, there are followers of the Old Gods, and you may have thought in your hearts that this is not your war, but please know that as long as you live in this land, with the savage and domineering style of the Franks, they will not give you any tolerance once they have gained power, and even if you can seek peace for a while, you will be reduced to slavery, and you will be left to the mercy of the barbarians."

"Are you willing to be slaves, wagging your tail and begging for mercy from the infidels in exchange for a living?"

The Saracen army roared, "No, of course not!"

"Kill all the heretics!"

"Fight with them!"

"The flame burns forever, supreme and great!"

Adil waited until the people had calmed down before he said again: "You are a group of fearless warriors, fearless men who are not willing to survive, and of course I believe that, and if it were not for this, you would not have gathered under this banner."

"Warriors, the time of decisive battle against the barbarian Franks is near, we have built our siege equipment, prepared enough food and water, and now please join me in the battle, so that the barbarians can appreciate our bravery more than theirs!"

He shouted, harnessing his mount and leading his guards out of the camp gate.

All the units of the Saracen coalition immediately responded and followed in an orderly manner.

Looking at the red-eared faces, everyone was already enthusiastic, and they couldn't wait to fight to the death with the Franks immediately.

"That's a great story."

Baron Fulke sighed.

He also led his lords and knights to fight against the lord next door, but before the war, it was nothing more than a few words of "God's will" and "robbing the food and women of the next village".

Not only the content, but also the voice of the governor of Adil, as if it contained magic, even if he was a Frank, after listening to it, he couldn't help but feel his blood boiling.

Ivan smiled and said, "Is what Lord Adil said false?"

Fuller shook his head helplessly.

Although he was a Frank, there was no arguing for this, and the Frankish army was indeed more barbaric than the Saracens, and if the Saracens had broken a law

The cities of the Rankers, they would filth the women of the whole city, and sell all men and women into slavery.

But if it is reversed, it is the Franks who have conquered a Saracen city.

Then there is a high probability that they will set off a terrible massacre, both men and women (the Crusaders generally only do *** from Europe, and will not defile Saracen women, on the contrary, Saracens like Frankish women very much).

That being said, didn't the kingdom of Jerusalem still have a symbiosis with the pagan chiefs? After the chaos caused by the slaughter, there is always a return to order, and the Franks are also divided into types.

For example, the army of the Lord of Lothar would never slaughter the city at every turn.

Fuller silently made amends for his former accomplices, but asked, "Ivan, have you heard of the sage named Saman?"

"Of course."

Ivan's expression was a little strange: "It's just that the version I heard about is that he is a somewhat powerful, but not much, ordinary businessman."

Free to read.