1444, Byzantium Resurrects

Chapter 73 The Knights of Saint Simon
There was a cool breeze and clouds and mist, which was a rare good weather in Bilinchi in summer.

On the parade ground, a row of knights stood in an orderly manner, their eyes slightly presumptuous, scanning the young king in front of them with scrutiny.

What they didn't know was that the king in front of them was also observing them.

"The height is acceptable, the physique is good, um..."

"From the way he stands, it's clear that he rides a horse frequently, which is not bad..."

It seems that Conte has indeed made careful selections.

Isaac turned his head and looked at Conte who was standing solemnly beside him.

"Baron, let them mount their horses and try their lances."

The knights were neatly dressed, holding lances in their hands and riding on their horses. They immediately changed their appearance from being shabby to being strong and showing the demeanor that a noble should have.

These knights also wanted to show off their skills in front of Isaac, and they used all kinds of tricks and techniques.

Looking at their performance on horseback, Isaac felt relieved, but then he felt a little unhappy.

Isaac prepares to form an order of knights.

The Knights Templar originated during the Crusades and was originally a military monastic organization responsible for protecting faith, relieving suffering, and leading the charge in the holy war against pagans.

Later, monarchs of various countries gradually discovered that establishing a knightly order could greatly enhance the nobles' sense of participation and honor in the war. At the same time, a strong knightly order could play a decisive role in the battlefield.

This is a powerful weapon with both political and military functions.

As a result, the Knights Templar were no longer the exclusive military force of the Holy See, and powerful countries began to establish their own knightly organizations.

The Order of the Golden Fleece in Burgundy, the Order of Avis in Portugal, the Order of the Garter in England, and the Order of the Dragon in Hungary are all outstanding among them.

The original members of the Knights Templar could be roughly divided into knights, sergeants, priests, and farmers. Among them, the most important knights were the armored cavalry.

At the beginning, Isaac wanted to ensure the political purity of the Knights Templar, and tried to recruit all Greek Orthodox Christians and select strong men from the Guards to join.

Then, the cruel reality slapped Isaac hard in the face——

You can’t pick a general among short people.

Nowadays, not everyone can become a heavily armored knight.

A heavily armored knight needs to be able to withstand armor weighing hundreds of kilograms, hold a four-meter-long heavy lance, and be familiar with charging techniques and horsemanship.

In short, this is an aristocratic branch of the army that requires a complete aristocratic system or a perfect military training system.

The Eastern Roman Empire had been in chaos for many years, its conscription system had completely collapsed, its military training system was in name only, and wars were entirely fought by mercenaries and conscripted peasants. There were almost no standing troops, let alone heavily armored knights.

At the same time, the long-term hunger among the people has caused these Greek Orthodox Christians to have poor physical fitness. They are unable to obtain sufficient nutrition when they most need to grow, resulting in them lagging far behind in height and weight.

There are only a few qualified knights among these people.

Isaac discovered this drawback long ago and established the Royal Knights Academy in the hope of rebuilding the military training system.

Apart from this, we can only look abroad to find qualified knights.

This is the origin of this group of French landless knights.

With these people as the foundation, we can slowly improve the organizational structure, which may be of great use in the fateful battle in a few years.

As for the more expensive Armored Paladins, even if one has money, it is impossible to form them without ten years of training.

"Conte, are you willing to lead a knight organization?"

Conte was stunned for a moment, then suppressed his surprise.

"Your Majesty, are you going to establish a knight organization based on these landless knights?"

Isaac nodded.

"Your Majesty, you..."

"Don't want to?"

"That's not the case. I really didn't expect you to give me such an important position."

Baron Conti smiled.

"I thought you would favor Count Mikhail more."

"Everyone respects Count Mikhail, but my relationship with him is just familiarity..."

"It's okay, I believe you."

Isaac smiled and patted Conte on the shoulder.

Isaac obviously had selfish motives in choosing Baron Conti as the leader of the Knights Templar.

On the one hand, Conte has sufficient qualifications but is taciturn and has no conflicts of interest with the generals. On the other hand, these French knights believe in Conte and are willing to obey his command.

And then there is...

"Who do you prefer for the vacant position of the head of the Oak Corps?"

"I believe your majesty has already chosen someone."

"How is Deputy Corps Commander Lild?"

"If you have courage and wisdom, you can take on great responsibilities."

Conte sighed inwardly and continued speaking according to Isaac's meaning.

He knew very well that just last month, Deputy Corps Commander Liard got married, and the bride was from a branch of the Palaiologos family.

It seems that His Majesty is no longer satisfied with simply controlling this army and wants to start gradually localizing them.

"I heard that you and Helena, the daughter of Thomas the Despot of Achaea, are in love with each other?"

Isaac looked at Conte with a smile.

"Your Majesty, this..."

Conte looked a little embarrassed.

They just danced together at the coronation ceremony, there was no "hit and miss" at all.

"Princess Helena likes you very much."

"Your Majesty, I..."

"Then it's settled. I'll ask for your hand in marriage."

"Once you get married, you will officially take over as the Grand Master."

Isaac's tone left no room for doubt.

Conte was helpless.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

……

Tripoli, City Hall.

Led by the waiter, Albert passed through doors and rooms and entered the hall.

Apparently there were guests in the hall, and the sound of conversation reached Albert's ears.

"Your Majesty, we are willing to formally enthrone you as the Emir and rule the vast territory from Tripoli to Surt..."

The voice was familiar, coming from an envoy from the Hafsid dynasty.

Albert sneered.

The Merchant Council of Tripoli was very interesting. Every time, they would deliberately summon the envoys of Tunisia and Bilinchi to the palace at the same time to watch the verbal battles between the two sides and enjoy the pleasure of domination.

Once these businessmen, who have been inferior for so long, begin to have power, they become unscrupulous and arrogant.

Albert shook his head contemptuously.

"Lord Albert, the envoy from the Kingdom of Cyrenaica!"

The messenger called out loudly, and Albert put on a confident smile, walked into everyone's sight neither humbly nor arrogantly, and stood right next to the envoy of Hafs.

The man sitting on the stage is the nominal lord of Tripoli, the puppet prince Nasirlan elected by the Merchant Council, the elder brother of Omar, the lord of Misrata, and the cousin of Yahya, the caliph of the Hafsid dynasty.

"Your Highness! I think you should remove this Christian messenger from your city! His stench will affect the appearance of Tripoli!"

Before Albert could say anything, the Hafs envoy took the lead and started the attack.

Again.

Albert sighed softly.

They have been entangled like this for many days. Prince Nasirlan has no real power, and the Merchant Council is waiting for the price and watching the two sides argue.

"Messenger from Tunisia, I think it is necessary to remind you that this city and the faithful city council do not exclude Christians. I have seen Christian merchants from Italy and Spain in the city more than once."

"Besides, this is an open and inclusive city that belongs to all citizens and the city council, not to any individual or family!"

After the speech, the merchants watching nodded one after another, obviously dissatisfied with the Tunisian envoy's excessive emphasis on Nasirlan.

"Nonsense!" The Hafs envoy was obviously very experienced and did not dwell on the topic that was disadvantageous to him.
"Since you occupied Surt and Cyrenaica, countless Muslim civilians have been driven out of their homes and sold into slavery, using their flesh and blood to make a golden crown for your king!"

"Tell me, how much money have you made from trafficking civilians in the past few years? One hundred thousand ducats? Two hundred thousand ducats?"

"What qualifications do you and the executioner behind you have to talk about religious tolerance!"

The messenger's words were impeccable, and Albert was speechless for a moment.

This situation had happened a few days ago. Whenever the envoy of Hafs lost a debate, he would bring up the slave trade, trying to incite religious sentiment and divert hatred.

Albert had no good solution for this.

His Majesty the King did go too far, this is an ironclad fact that cannot be refuted.

"This has nothing to do with what we are discussing. Please stop arguing."

Before Albert could speak, a tall and thin businessman nearby stopped the Hafs envoy from continuing his accusation.

Albert knew him, the Bedouin Hofen, the largest slave trader in Tripoli. It was not easy for a Bedouin to gain a foothold in Tripoli.

It is said that in his early years, this slave trader used his identity to lead the Berber tribe to capture his Bedouin compatriots as slaves, completing the bloody accumulation of capital.

In the Berber white slave trade conducted by Isaac, Hofen took advantage of his geographical location to sell white slaves to the west and made a fortune.

"Heh... yawn."

In the hall, a sudden yawn broke the tense atmosphere, and everyone quickly looked towards the source of the sound.

Sitting on the throne representing power, Prince Nasirlan was leaning on the armrest with big dark circles under his eyes and a dazed look in his eyes.

After a while, snoring sounds began to emerge, and then became louder and louder until they echoed throughout the hall.

"Lina, you're so soft... so fragrant..."

Nasirlan began to grope in the air with his hands, talking in his sleep, with his mouth open stupidly.

The messenger from Hafs sighed heavily, looking disappointed.

"You can try to contact Nasirlan and express our goodwill."

The Messenger recalled that Caliph Yahya said this to him in the city of Tunis.

"But don't put too much hope on him, he is not as stupid as Omar,"

"This cousin,"

Yahya shook his head.

“I don’t know how to evaluate it.”

The envoy's initial negotiation strategy was to unite the forces in the city that were willing to support the prince and give up some of their commercial interests in exchange for compromise and submission from the Merchant Council.

But who would have thought that this Prince of Nasirlan had no power at all. He stayed in his room with prostitutes all day and all night long, and watched the Merchant Council completely sideline him.

Merchants are interested in trade privileges, but they start to prevaricate when it comes to responsibilities and obligations.

Want to get rid of nothing?

Now, the envoys didn't know how to convince the merchants in Tripoli.

"Tell them that we have only two goals."

Yahya stood with his hands behind his back.

"First, we must station troops in Tripoli to guard against attacks by Christians;"

"Second, I hope they will stop trading with the Christians and send out private fleets to intercept the Christians' plundering ships."

"If that's not possible, then try to gain their neutrality."

Yahya sighed.

"In short, we must not let them turn to the Christians!"

"Don't worry, Your Majesty, we will definitely return victorious!"

The messenger felt uncomfortable when he thought about how he patted his chest and made a solemn promise before leaving.

Caliph, what shall I do!
The messenger looked up and let the sigh catch in his throat.

"Your Highness is tired, let's stop here today!"

The Bedouin Hofen stepped forward at the right time, apparently not surprised by such a situation in Nasirlan.

"Wait a minute."

A hoarse voice came.

At the position closest to Nasirlan, the chairman of the Merchant Council, the mayor of Tripoli, Zakarichi, spoke slowly.

Zakarich walked to the middle of the hall and naturally blocked everyone's view of Nasirlan.

The president narrowed his eyes and looked at Albert.

His eyes were narrow and long, and always sparkled with a gleam of light.

Zakaria's eyes looked Albert up and down, giving him goose bumps.

It's like a poisonous scorpion holding up its stinger.

Albert thought to himself.

"Emissary from the East, before we negotiate, I have a question."

His voice was hoarse and unpleasant, but it carried the arrogance and commanding attitude of someone who had been in a high position for a long time and did not want to be questioned.

"You say."

"Your Mediterranean fleet disappeared after its last appearance in the Homs area, leaving only a few pirate ships."

"I wonder if you could tell me,"

Zakaria stared at Albert's eyes like a venomous snake, making him feel uncomfortable all over.

"Where did they go?"

……

"Guard against suffering and help fellow countrymen."

"With my sword, I will wipe out all the villains."

Archbishop Elster is presiding over a ceremony in Billings Cathedral.

Isaac Palaiologos, co-emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, Prince of Cyrenaica, and Despot of Soult, stood aside, waiting for the ceremony to end.

"In the name of God, I pledge to guard the faith;"

"In the name of Saint Simon, I pledge my loyalty to the king."

"I will swear in the name of the Lord, and wield the sword in the name of the Lord;"

"I will serve the Roman emperor and become his sharpest spear."

"I will serve the Roman Emperor and become his most loyal spear!"

Baron Conti led the knights in swearing an oath loudly.

Isaac stepped forward, untied the sword from his waist, and placed it on Conte's raised hands.

"Baron Conti, I appoint you as the first Grand Master. I hope you will fulfill your oath."

"I will protect you with my life!"

Conte yelled.

"I will protect you with my life!"

The knights roared loudly.

Isaac looked at their excited faces, but his heart was calm.

After several days of thinking, Isaac basically designed the specific framework of the Knights Templar.

The honorary knights, including Isaac himself and other nobles, are political products. They usually do not go to the battlefield. There are twenty-four of them in total, similar to the Knights of the Garter and the Knights of the Golden Fleece.

The knights are the main force of the Knights Templar, heavy cavalry responsible for charging operations and playing a decisive role on the battlefield. There are currently fifty-three of them, and it is expected to be expanded to one hundred.

Squires are the reserve force of the Knights Templar, between auxiliary personnel and combatants. They are responsible for managing the daily life and war affairs of the knights. When necessary, they can go into battle together to kill the enemy. There are currently 106 of them, and they are from the Royal Knights Academy.

The monks, the ideological force of the Order, were Orthodox monks loyal to Isaac and were responsible for political work.

Isaac will temporarily support these knights out of his own pocket, and will later allocate castles and properties to them.

At present, the knights' loyalty to Isaac is still very low, and their feelings need to be cultivated slowly.

As for the oath, just listen to it happily.

On July 1449, 7, Isaac established the Order of St. Simon in Billinge, and took St. Simon, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus, who was famous for his loyalty, as the patron saint of the order.

(End of this chapter)