Crusade against the Pope

Chapter 25 My Brother is Confused

Garys's visit and investigation of Monterey Village has come to an end. Combining his past experiences and knowledge from his previous life, Garys dares to say that his understanding of the rural areas of Jerusalem has surpassed that of most noble lords.

In the village of Monterey, for example, their ancestors followed the Crusaders into the Holy Land and made a contribution to the recovery of the Holy Land. Although they are completely free people on a religious level, it is actually difficult to judge their living conditions.

They did live a much better life than the Muslim serfs living near the manor, and were completely and purely free men in terms of religion. They could also freely reclaim wasteland, and thus become self-employed farmers, leading a relatively affluent life.

For this group, on the one hand, the Crusader lords did not bring them under direct management under the manor system because they were too far away. On the other hand, based on their faith in Christ and some martial traditions passed down from their ancestors, these self-cultivating farmers were able to produce high-quality soldiers.

Therefore, the lords usually do not interfere too much in these villages, and at most they reach some feudal contracts.

Villages like Monterey had to pay a lot of taxes every year and provide some high-quality soldiers to participate in the lord's military training. In return, the lord of Transjordan also had to assume the obligation to protect the villages of Skar and Monterey, and try his best to ensure that these Christian villages were free from attacks by Bedouins.

Of course, is there any binding force in the so-called contract reached between the peasants and the lords?
When facing some lords who are willing to respect traditions, past contracts are still of some use. But once you encounter a humanoid lord like Reynard, who can kill pagans while allowing the pagans to massacre and capture slaves in his territory, then perhaps those past contracts are not even enough to wipe your butt.

Although, in the Kingdom of Jerusalem, due to multiple identities such as religion and ethnicity, as well as the special circumstances in Jerusalem, most Christian villages were not very good at recognizing that they belonged to the ruled class.

After all, feudal rule has its own warmth and tenderness. Although this warmth and tenderness is just a fig leaf to cover up conflicts, for some people who emphasize religion and ethnicity, they cannot see through that layer of gauze.

But for villages like Monterey Village and Scar Village, they have a very clear self-awareness. After all, they have old Biden, Leonard, who has never shown his kindness in their territory. Anyone with a sharp mind knows that they are just meat on the plan board, and Leonard can eat it however he wants.

Of course, even if they have a clear understanding, it does not mean they have the ability to change. Even though many villagers actually have weapons or armor passed down from their ancestors, those rusty things, when facing the private soldiers of the tax farmers and the heavy infantry armed to the teeth, the mob against the well-trained ones will only result in a one-sided defeat.

Many of the villages that dared to resist have already suffered tragic consequences!
But this time it was different. A saint, a brother of Christ who could kill people with his bare hands in the blink of an eye and knock down seven or eight strong men in two breaths, came to their village. Oh my God! This was a blessing that took generations to come!

When the villagers heard that Gairis had beaten the tax farmer's nephew, Faisal, who was extorting money and doing bad things, they realized that things were going to change.

During these days, Garys has been constantly promoting the appearance of heaven in the village, telling everyone that good days are coming soon!
However, even though many people were willing to stand up and follow Gellis after following Cardoso's example, more people still had their own concerns.

After all, under the leadership of Garys, they actually had the courage to kill a tax farmer, but once they considered the lord Reynard behind the tax farmer, they hesitated.

To be honest, due to their lack of knowledge, the villagers lacked a clear understanding of many things. For example, they could not tell which one was larger, the Kingdom of Jerusalem or the Roman Empire... They could not tell the difference between Arabs and Turks... They could not even clearly explain the relationship between Jehovah and Jesus.

There is a cruel noble lord who has ruled them for a long time, and a new millennium saint who has performed miracles. Many villagers are still a little confused and don't know who will win.

But they will help whoever wins.

Naturally, they were unwilling to make a bet easily and follow Garys to kill people. Of course, they would not take the initiative to be hostile to Garys. After all, Leonard would kill people, and Garys would also kill people. They did not think that Garys was a good man.

……

The sky was clear and cloudless. With the arrival of summer, the temperature began to rise, and even the water level of the river at the entrance of the village gradually dropped.

The tax farmer Ahmed arrived later than Gairis expected, and he didn't know what he had been doing during these days.

But when ten soldiers wearing armor and turbans, holding swords, shields, guns and bows, escorted the fat and strong Ahmed to the village, they felt something was wrong.

Because the village was too quiet, it seemed as if they had known that Ahmed was coming, so everyone went back to their homes, packed up their things, and locked themselves in their houses.

Such an action seemed a little ridiculous to Ahmed. After all, "The wind can come in, the rain can come in, and the lord's tax collectors can come in." This was a phrase that Ahmed often said.

What if the door is closed? Why not just remove it?

But before Ahmed removed the door, he noticed that there seemed to be a lot of people gathering in the village's grain drying yard.

A young man was standing on a makeshift platform, preaching something loudly.

"My brother once said: Give back to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. I think my brother has lost his mind! Every penny of tax he paid to Caesar became an arrow shot at his disciples and believers, causing him to be hung on the cross!"

"Later on the apostle Paul added: 'For this very reason you pay taxes, for they are God's ministers, who have this special duty. Give to everyone their due: to him who is due taxes, taxes; to him who is due tribute, tributes; to him who is due respect, respect; to him who is due honor, honor."

"If you ask me, this is bullshit! The world is one family, and everyone is created by Heavenly Father and God. Everyone is a brother or sister! Why should we, the children of Heavenly Father, be afraid of, respect, and obey other children of Heavenly Father? Have they ever been anointed by Heavenly Father? Why didn't I hear Heavenly Father mean this when I was in Heaven?!"

Garys was of course well aware of the record of Brother Tian's death in the scriptures, but that did not prevent him from deliberately highlighting the existence of "Caesar" for his own point of view.

He needed to oppose secular tyranny and the "tyrant" represented by "Caesar".

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(End of this chapter)