kingdom of nations

Chapter 344 Begging
However, Philip II soon realized that he was thinking about a rather foolish question, or rather, the question was not foolish, but it was not suitable for him at the moment.

Although he is now the ruler of a country, how much territory, military power, and wealth does he actually control? In comparison, Cesar at least has the strong support of King Arrassal, and he has won the support of the Cypriots through his bravery, loyalty, and fairness.

He shouldn't be too anxious; he should calm down and take the first step.

At least during this expedition, he hoped to gain some loyal knights like those under Cesar, even if it meant exhausting all his existing wealth—however, he had to hesitate because of the oath he had taken. Without that oath, he could have allowed his knights to plunder and slaughter at will, and nothing would have earned their loyalty and love more than that, with only some stubborn heretics sacrificing themselves.

Among them may be innocent women and children, but so what? Christians have suffered the same, or even worse, persecution as pagans throughout history.

The thought of having to pay a portion of the money he wouldn't normally have to give away pained the young king. But then he thought that if he followed Richard, he wouldn't have to worry about not winning merit in future battles, and that merit would bring him more spoils of war.

The oath they swore only guaranteed that even after the city fell, the residents would still be protected in terms of their dignity and personal safety, but not their property. Moreover, whether they were Isaacs, Saracens, or Turks, they would all have to pay a ransom.

Their property would inevitably be confiscated, and the cost of ransom would already be a huge fortune. Moreover, the king of Arazarus desired the city and its people more, so Frederick I was the only one who would share this wealth with them.

As for Richard, he might consider exchanging other spoils of war for gold and silver, things the other party didn't value—such as horses and armor, and Cesar… He thought of Cyprus—Philip II was unsure whether he should raise the commission entrusted to him by his ministers now, or wait until after the fall of Damascus.

Frankish merchants wanted rock sugar, coffee, Roman cement, and even olive oil and wine that Cyprus already had, but so far they could only buy these things from Venetian merchants, who were so good at trading that their profits were almost unbearably meager.

Therefore, when they heard that their king was going on an expedition with the lord of Cyprus, they immediately rushed to Paris. They gathered in front of Fontainebleau Palace, pleading to see his ministers or directly to the king. They presented all sorts of expensive gifts, all for a franchise license; of course, a production license would be even better.

Upon arriving in Cyprus, Philip II discovered that the owners of the rock sugar and Roman cement in Cyprus might not be interested in selling their formulas for the time being, but given the friendship between Cesar and Richard, it shouldn't be a problem for him to issue twenty or thirty franchise licenses.

Oh, and there's also the demand from pilgrims. While pilgrims can travel on Knights Templar ships or follow their caravans, there are plenty of people who want a piece of the pie.

This time, the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre and the Knights of the Good Church accompanied King Alassa, while the Knights Templar followed Frederick I. Philip II's mood was thus much lighter. He did indeed dislike the great lords around him, but similarly, the Knights Templar had also occupied a lot of land, castles, and even cities and ports in France. With the endorsement of the Church, they could even levy taxes on the King's subjects instead of the Church and monasteries.

They can even lend money at exorbitant interest rates.

Their merchants were even more unscrupulous and reckless—Philip II heard many merchants lamenting about this while receiving the request.

The reason why the Knights Templar were able to receive so much donation was quite simple: it was because they helped many pilgrims successfully make their way to the Holy Land. But apart from the Knights Templar, were there no other people who owned knights and ships?

Of course, there are, for example, Philip II.

Especially with Cyprus already under Crusader control, Philip II was eager to try his luck, but before he could even bring it up, he heard a commotion outside the door.

Then a knight outside the tent requested permission to enter. After being granted permission, he stepped into the tent and bowed deeply to the monarchs inside, saying, "Your Majesty... Your Highness... A group of Saracens have arrived outside."

"Sarasans?"

Before the main army had even set up camp, scouts had already been quickly dispatched. The Saracens were spotted from a distance of one farth. It is said that they had been lingering in the distance for a while, but only approached hesitantly after seeing a small group of knights carrying a red flag galloping towards them.

As the knights became wary, a white camel galloped out from among them, carrying an elderly man with silver temples. Judging from his attire, he was clearly the elder of this group of Saracens, or rather, their "scholar"—their spiritual leader.

The enemy raised their hands high from a distance, spreading their fingers wide to show them that they held no weapons. The one holding the red flag was none other than the loyal old knight, Albon. If it were a newcomer, they might have already rushed forward and engaged in battle without thinking.

But he had been wandering in Syria for so long, having not only hired Saracens but also been hired by them. Moreover, he knew that his young master was not the kind of reckless man who enjoyed killing and bloodshed. So he went up to him and spoke with him in Saracen, which surprised the old Saracen man.

He directly asked Albon if he was the follower of the black-haired, blue-eyed crusader knight, and after receiving a definite answer, he requested to meet the knight.

“There are many Saracen tribes surrounding Damascus,” Richard said, “but when you attacked Damascus, many chieftains followed Saladin. After Saladin was defeated, why didn’t he take them with him?”

“Taking them away is not an easy thing to do,” Cesar replied. “These tribes were scattered in different places before, and they fought wars more than once over water, land and people. You could say that they were enemies of each other, except for us. Moreover, although one tribe may not have many people, ten tribes would be quite a lot. If they stay here, even though the land is barren and resources are scarce, at least they still have their olive trees, wheat fields and livestock.”

If they had gone to Egypt with Saladin, not only would Egypt have been unable to afford such a sudden and enormous expense, but they themselves would likely have found it difficult to relinquish the assets they had acquired with blood and lives.

Cesar paused slightly. He did not tell Richard that after he became the governor of Damascus, although his time was short, he had indeed kept his promise. Therefore, not only the people of Damascus, but also the chiefs had paid tribute to him. It was just a pity that he broke his promise in the end, although this was not his intention.

"I'm going to see him..."

"and many more……"

"Just call him in."

Richard interrupted Philip II, shrugging indifferently. “There are indeed four… no, three kings and one despot here, but one is the spear of the Holy City, one is the shield of the Holy City, and I am the most agile and fearless knight in the Plantagenet dynasty—of course…” He slapped Philip II on the shoulder so hard he almost fell onto the carpet, “And our little Philip. He may be young, but he is very brave, or rather, you can trust us, and yourself. A Saracen isn’t going to scare us to death.”

“Too vulgar,” Philip II muttered.

Baldwin smiled broadly behind his mask. "Bring him in," he said, instructing his servant. "You may leave his scimitar behind." With Cesar here, could anyone possibly be harmed?

The knight accepted the order and left without hesitation. To them, even if Satan, the lord of hell, crawled out from the crack, as long as Cesar was there, they had no need to worry about the safety of the kings.

The newcomer was indeed an old man, even though he had also received the prophet's revelation and had a scimitar hanging at his waist. He looked even older than Heraclius or Frederick I, like a piece of linen that had been washed but not dried and was folded up wet—stiff, rough, and full of wrinkles.

As soon as he stepped into the tent, he bowed deeply to the Christian kings, then straightened up and looked at everyone in the tent with neither arrogance nor servility: “I see four crowns shining brightly, one of which is particularly dazzling.”

Richard burst into laughter at the compliment. He had no doubt that the most dazzling crown belonged to him. He jumped up from the carpet, only to realize something was amiss. He then turned to look at Cesar—since the other party had come to pay homage to him, Cesar was the true master in this tent. Cesar remained silent, but walked to the ice chest, lifted the lid, and opened the quilted cotton padding to reveal layers of ice and snow.

He picked up a glass, scooped in half a glass of crushed ice, and then poured in grape juice.

The scholar bowed to him again, accepted the cup with both hands, sniffed it to confirm that it was grape juice, not wine, before drinking it down in one gulp.

Richard clapped his hands happily. "You're a straightforward man," he said. "When you come before the king, you must have something to ask."

Now that you have drunk the water Cesar gave you, you are considered our guest. So, in this temporary peace, tell me your request.”

The old man's request did not surprise them. He had come to beg them to forgive his village and tribe and not to harm the innocent women and children.

Philip II's eyes were cold: "You say they are just innocent women and children, but we do not know how many of them are capable of taking up arms. Perhaps when our army passes through your area, we will be followed by a pack of hungry, untrustworthy jackals."

“You can see for yourselves that there are no young men left in our village, only old people, women and children.”

"Where are your young men? Are they waiting for us in Damascus?"

“I don’t want to lie. But a few months ago, the governor of Holmes sent men to our village, demanding that we provide soldiers.”

"You readily agreed?"

"No, we do not wish to agree, for we know that the governor is a treacherous and untrustworthy man who has attacked Damascus and other cities inhabited and ruled by Saracens several times, all for his own selfish desires."

"Then you occupied it," he said, looking at Cesar with a hint of reproach. "You made a promise to us and kept it. But it didn't last long. You left and replaced it with a tyrannical man just like the previous Crusader knights. And the people of Damascus opened the gates for him, on the promise of the governor of Holmes."

But like your knight, he also regarded his promises as worthless. He refused to accept the peace treaty we signed with Damascus, demanding gold, oil, livestock, wheat, soldiers, and women from us. He sold our children into slavery and burned our houses. And when we voiced our objections, he rebuked us.

He said that there is no excuse before God. If a Saracen stays in the territory of the pagans, unless he is just passing through, he will have to accept the pagans' slander of the Prophet and God. Staying with them is like staying with unclean things like pigs. Even if you are clean, you will not be able to avoid being contaminated.

Those who would rather endure humiliation and torture than be slaves to the enemy are as worthless as roadside weeds, and whatever punishment they receive is only right.

Upon hearing this, even someone like Philip II was taken aback.

Richard muttered to himself, "I thought only we had idiots like this around here."

The old man shook his head. "There are quite a few people who support this view."

"And what about you? Why don't you obey his will, but instead fawn over us and collude with your enemies?"

"Enemies? You are indeed enemies, but what about those Saracens who force our boys to fight for them and our girls to serve in bed?"

They do not cherish their own kind, nor do they regard the laws proclaimed by the prophets as nothing; their hearts are as filthy and greedy as yours.

We pray that God will have mercy. When was it ever that simply wanting to live on our own land, to raise our own children, and to take care of our own crops and fruit trees became an unforgivable sin?

I'm here today clinging to the last shred of hope that we can survive.

But if no one wants us to live, we are not incapable of fighting to the death—though we are old, weak, and powerless, we can still take up arms—if you are unwilling to show us even a little mercy.” He sighed deeply, tears streaming down his face.

"Why have I come here to endure your humiliation? It is because one of you promised us that he would treat everyone justly, whether they are men or women, whether they are Saracens or Christians, whether they are willing to kneel at his feet and give everything, or hold fast to their homeland and obey his laws."

You once said that, but you broke your promise. And I have come here today only to ask you one question, Your Highness: We have almost nothing now. We cannot provide you with food, nor can we give you gold or silver. We have no young women, only the mother and grandmother of our children. We have only some meager gifts, which are the last of our possessions that we can offer you.

"So, can you grant our request and preserve our lives and dignity?"

What else do you have?

"Fifteen sheep, ten jars of oil, twenty cartloads of wheat, and some livestock, including the white camel I'm riding; you can take it. Such a beautiful white camel can fetch a good price in Constantinople, and some valuable things we've collected—women's jewelry."

If you don't mind.

"Did you leave any food behind?"

If anyone else had asked, even a Frankish farmer would have gritted his teeth and said absolutely nothing. But the old man merely glanced at Cesar: "Enough to last us until next year's harvest."

“That will do. But I will send my soldiers and knights to search the village. Please have your people open the gates. I guarantee with my reputation and my life that they will not harass, plunder, or massacre.”

“If you haven’t changed, then I’m willing to believe you,” the old man said, bowing deeply to them again, placing the cup on the ground, and walking out.

A moment later, a group of knights emerged from the camp, carrying torches and accompanied by squires and armed attendants.

The old man probably didn't know that among these knights were four important figures: Cesar, Baldwin, Richard, and Philip II. The latter two insisted on going to see for themselves to make sure the other party wasn't lying, and were also curious whether there really were Saracens willing to do such a dangerous thing just because of Cesar's past integrity and keeping his promise.

Although their village was located on one side of the main road, it was hidden behind several hills and far from other villages. If the other party went back on their word and allowed the knights to act recklessly, the destruction of this village would be silent.

And the truth seemed to be just as the old man had said. Whether the young men in their village had been forcibly conscripted by the governor of Holmes or had been deliberately hidden away, when they passed by, looking through the open gates, they could not see any young and strong men, only old people, women with headscarves and weary expressions, surrounded by their children. There was no fear in their eyes, only endless indifference and numbness.

They seem to be waiting for an outcome, whether good or bad doesn't matter. Perhaps for them, ending their difficult lives and going to heaven would be a kind of happiness.

This was probably all the impoverished village could muster. The old man wasn't lying; they had indeed left behind enough food to last until the next harvest season, along with some livestock. A knight looked at Cesar, seemingly wanting to ask if the livestock should be taken away as well, but Cesar simply shook his head slightly.

No need.

He had an excellent reputation among merchants and had prepared ample supplies for this expedition.

Although this resulted in his and Baldwin's private vaults being so empty that rats could run around in them, at least they didn't have to go against their conscience.

Under Philip II's slightly surprised gaze, the army quietly passed through the village, while a few people emerged from the village, watching the Christian knights with equal silence, as if they were separated into two spaces by a transparent pane of glass.

After passing through the village, César distributed some of the livestock and wheat to Richard and Philip II.

Only after they had parted ways and walked a considerable distance did Philip II ask hesitantly, "Shall we do the same thing from now on?"

“I don’t know,” Richard said, “but we can at least try.”

Of course, if they shoot arrows at us first, we'll charge in and slaughter them all.

Philip II sighed, at a loss for words; this was far beyond his expectations for this holy war. And in the end, just as Richard had predicted, they tried, and they found that the Saracens who came to investigate would look at their banners first, and they would hardly dare to approach until they found the red banner.

Richard would then send messengers to a safe location to demand livestock, wheat, or other military supplies. Almost any village that came out to negotiate with them would be spared—Richard wouldn't care even if those "scholars" dared to haggle with Richard for the sake of their people.

But if the other side refuses or resists, Richard will keep his promise and kill all the enemy's warriors, leaving the old and children to fend for themselves, while the women will be sold into slavery, which will be handed over to the merchants following behind them.

Even so, Richard's actions still drew criticism from some of the knights.

Although the four kings had sworn an oath to ensure that the knights' actions conformed to the virtues they were required to follow, some knights still relapsed into their old habits.

When they passed through a small village, they wanted not only all the village's food and livestock, but also its women. The village's warriors, finding themselves unable to fight them, fled with their livestock and women into a semi-abandoned castle.

The knights pursued the enemy without the permission of Richard or Philip II.

The castle was small and dilapidated, but a castle is a castle. They couldn't break through the Saracens' defenses anytime soon. Logically, if they had just slunk back to their camp, no one would have noticed their defeat.

But these cunning Saracens took advantage of their retreat to release some of their livestock to roam freely, and the knights, ignoring their leader's warnings, scattered to catch the animals.

Then, something happened that made Richard laugh in anger and left Philip II speechless. Indeed, the Saracens seized the opportunity to rush out of the castle and attack the knightly column. Three knights were captured, two were wounded, and one unfortunately fell from his horse while galloping, breaking his neck and dying—a truly disgraceful end.

“What a disgrace!” Richard almost jumped up literally. If these knights had only been momentarily greedy and had not suffered any losses because of it, he could have calmly given them a few lashes. But now they had become a laughingstock, and he felt utterly ashamed, especially since these weren't even Philip II's knights—they were his.

Now he has to pay a sum of money to redeem the knights from these Saracens.

“We…” one of his knights asked cautiously, looking at the king, “We can also take down that castle.”

"Stop," Philip II said hastily in a low voice. "For now, it's just a loss of money, and we might be able to keep this under wraps with Richard and his army. But if they unite and attack a castle," Philip II rubbed his temples in exasperation, "this will become a legend throughout the Arabian Peninsula."

(End of this chapter)