On the slope of an unknown hill somewhere on the border of the Byzantine Empire......

A knight from the East made a common oath with two knights from the West, and they raised their swords and proclaimed the Holy Order of Knights in the name of the knighthoods of Viscount Charles and Zhao Bufan, with Viscount Charles as Grand Master, Zhao Bufan as the second Commander, and Rolf as the Third Commander.

In order to unite the faith of the Order, they decided that each of them would utter a single word, forming the slogan of the Order.

Viscount Charles spoke of freedom, Rolf spoke of loyalty, and Zhao Bufan spoke of chivalry, and although it took a lot of effort for Charles and Rolf to understand what chivalry meant, they respected the wishes of their partners and recognized the legitimacy of the word.

Later, Zhao Bufan and Rolf waited quietly with their followers, while Viscount Charles entered the Byzantine Empire alone and rushed to its capital city of Constantinople to seek recognition and support.

After a month of speeches, propaganda, and negotiations, Viscount Charles succeeded in gaining the approval of the Byzantine Emperor John II and the Orthodox Church, recognizing the legitimacy of the Holy Knights, allowing them to cross the border and recruit soldiers, and even offering financial support of five thousand gold coins.

The price was that the Holy Knights had to accept the restraint and moderation of the Orthodox Church, agreeing to the construction and protection of churches in the territories they would occupy in the future, and the obligation to send troops into battle when the Byzantine Empire was attacked.

Such a treaty will obviously bring a lot of complicated follow-up problems, but the current Viscount Charles can no longer take care of so much, he feels that there is nothing anyway, everything he gets is earned, as for the future...... That should be said later.

He happily brought the treaty back.

Zhao Bufan read it carefully.

Then he couldn't help but watch it a second time.

After reading it for the third time, he blushed and said, "Charlie, you signed a deed of sale, and I refuse to fulfill more than half of its obligations." ”

Rolf immediately said, "I fully support Rillo's opinion. ”

This made Viscount Charles very unhappy, "Lillo, Rolfe, don't be too harsh on me, you must understand that we only have the slightest right to speak, and excessive demands will provoke the other party, and I will be burned alive on the torture rack in Constantinople, if you always question it afterwards, then you can negotiate it yourself now." ”

Zhao Bufan turned around directly, completely pretending not to hear.

"That...... Rolf, are you all ready to go?"

"Of course!"

Rolf answered and walked very fast.

Looking at the appearance of the two of them, Viscount Charlie cursed indignantly, "Great God of Light, why don't you punish these two irresponsible bastards, they are as disgusting as bed bugs, and it is really the most unlucky thing in my life to meet them......"

With his curse like a resentful woman, the newly formed Holy Knights set out again and entered the Byzantine Empire.

In order to increase their strength, they did not rush to the road, but with the support of the Orthodox Church, they visited the important cities of the Byzantine Empire one by one, they went to Constantinople, recruited many people who had lost their financial resources, and then traveled south to the Peloponnese, where Viscount Charles gave many public lectures in Athens to recruit people who were willing to follow them in search of the future.

In the prosperous island of Crete, they have recruited more than 300 mercenaries with great combat effectiveness.

In the western part of the Balkans, they encountered a large number of pilgrims and monks who had gone to the East to preach, and Zhao Bufan and Viscount Charles gathered them together and became part of the team, and many of the displaced and bankrupt people who had fled were absorbed.

The size of the team gradually grew......

By the time they sailed to the island with the support of the Byzantine navy, the number had already reached more than three thousand.

They then spent nearly three months on the eastern shore of the sprawling island of Cyprus to train their followers in combat, and the Byzantine Emperor John II had the governor of Cyprus give them many obsolete old equipment from the army, which, although it looked disorganized, did eventually take on the appearance of an army.

During this period, Zhao Bufan also discussed with Viscount Charles and Rolf to determine the basic system of the Holy Knights.

They established a three-member council as the supreme decision-making body, and divided the Order into three parts, with the pilgrims and missionaries who followed them in charge of property, logistics, and rituals, collectively known as the Holy Friars, and the main infantry fighting force called the Holy Warriors, with the Holy Knights and Knight Servants at the core.

Since only three of them were officially knighted knights, Viscount Charles decided to take advantage of the power given by the Church to select people with better character and better combat skills from among the mercenaries to be knighted by the Holy See, and Ram, the first mercenary captain to follow them, became the first to be canonized.

After three months of brutal training, the Holy Knights had gained a certain level of combat effectiveness, and the governor of the island of Cyprus did not want to continue to support them, urging them to go to the Levant as soon as possible to support the beleaguered Principality of Antioch.

Zhao Bufan and Viscount Charlie's original idea was to delay as long as they could, and let the army take shape before setting off, but after a few days, the governor of Cyprus refused to provide food assistance, forcing them to set off as soon as possible.

One day in the late summer, with the support of the Byzantine fleet, they sailed from the eastern shore of the island of Cyprus on a warship to the war-torn Levant, and it did not take long for them to reach the port city of La Odise, the Principality of Antioch, because the distance between the two sides was already not too long.

Before coming to shore, Zhao Bufan had an in-depth discussion with Viscount Charles and Rolf.

How to settle in Laordisse, how to seek the support of the lord, what are the conditions for taking refuge in the other party, how to seize the first territory......

Almost a complete set of schemes was formed.

Outcome......

None of it worked.

La Odisse is a dilapidated seaport city.

From the perfect urban structure, Zhao Bufan can feel the prosperity of this place, and the large number of people who still live here also shows that it has not been in decay for a long time, but it has no managers, no garrisons, the harbor is depressed, the market is deserted, and there are piles of garbage everywhere, and the citizens are even more yellow and thin, and a large area is sickly, even if they see the arrival of their strange army, they are not afraid, and their eyes are almost numb.

Zhao Bufan felt very worried.

"Charlie, maybe we should find someone to ask what's going on here, and if there's a plague, we'd better get out of here. ”

"I couldn't agree more with Rillo!" Rolf chimed in.

Viscount Charlie showed obvious displeasure: "Then why don't you ask for yourself?"

Zhao Bufan smiled bitterly and spread his hands, "Although I don't want to admit it, your affinity is indeed higher, and your language is more convincing, maybe you can let them tell more truths." ”

"Damn Rilo, you can always find a reason for me to run errands, if I catch the plague, the god of light will curse you......"

Viscount Charles scolded and left with a group of people, no matter how reluctant he was, but he knew very well that with Zhao Bufan and Rolf's shallow knowledge of the area, it was likely that they would not be able to ask anything, and even cause hostility among the citizens.

Things went smoothly, and the worried Viscount Charlie soon appeared in front of Zhao Bufan again, and said extremely anxiously, "Liluo, there is no plague here, but it has been abandoned, it was originally the direct territory of the Duchy of Antioch, but its duke died in the battle of the Bloody Land a few years ago, and the legitimate heir is too young, and he is still in the territory of their hometown, so it is impossible to come to this war-torn place to assume the dukely duty."

Therefore, the Duchy of Antioch was regent by Baldwin II, King of the Kingdom of Jeru, and it was originally relatively stable, but the navy of the Fatimid Empire attacked it last year, slaughtering all the remaining armies, and then the Battle of Jaffa broke out, and our fleet of the Republic of Venice defeated the Fatimid navy and helped the Crusaders recapture the place.

Sadly, Baldwin suffered a heavy blow in the war with the Seljuk Empire in the east, and both himself and Count Joselin of the Count of Edessa were captured and never redeemed, and the harbor city of La Odisse was forgotten, and even the coastal plain centered on it was abandoned.

The nobles of the Principality of Antioch were busy resisting the Seljuk Empire in the east, and fearing that the Fatimid Empire would attack the coastline again and damage their strength, so they took the Antioch Mountains in the east as the dividing line and retreated to the vast eastern plateau, abandoning the narrow coastal plain in the west.

Even more terrible is that they swept away the wealth and most of the supplies, and the village is better enough to grow crops to feed themselves, while the citizens of the port of La Odisse are completely bankrupt, they have nothing but fishing and picking wild vegetables to feed their hunger, many people starve to death, and it is only a matter of time before the plague breaks out. ”

With Viscount Charlie's narration, Zhao Bufan's frowning brows had stretched, and the corners of his mouth even showed a smile, "It seems that we are lucky to pick up a piece of territory." ”

Viscount Charlie heard the meaning of his words, and said in a panic, "No, this place is very dangerous, if the Fatimid fleet comes, we will die, we should leave quickly, join the powerful lord, and then try to lay down a territory." ”

"This time I support the great Viscount Charlie!" Rolf eagerly made his choice.

Zhao Bufan looked at them and said with a smile, "Charlie, you are from the Republic of Venice, and you don't understand the navy?"

Viscount Charles shook his head, "Although we have a strong navy in Venice, I have not been in contact with it, to be precise, most of us have not been in contact with it, the affairs of the navy are only understood by the fleet, and in order to ensure that the enemy does not find their weaknesses, everything about them is kept secret from the outside world." ”

Rolf repeatedly, "I don't understand either. ”

Zhao Bufan smiled, his eyes getting brighter and brighter, "It takes a long time to build a strong navy, and the Fatimid fleet was only defeated by the Venetian navy last year, how can it be possible to form a navy that is enough to support their expedition in a short period of time? Even my rich hometown, the Great Song Empire, can't do it, let alone the Fatimid Dynasty? What is their population?

"How many people are there in the Great Song Empire?" asked Viscount Charlie curiously.

"More than 120 million!"

"Shhhhh

Viscount Charlie and Rolf gasped almost at the same time......

。