Great time travel

Chapter 4. The Knight from the East

As Li Wei said, when the figure of their group appeared at the intersection, there was also a loud horn sound from the seaside manor flying the flag of the Knights Hospitaller in front of them.Immediately afterwards, an old gray-haired knight came out with a few cavalrymen.

This is an old man with a dignified appearance, as thin as a dangerous rock, but there is always a smile in his gray-blue eyes.Like the other hospital knights, he wears a gray cloak and chain mail decorated with an octagonal white cross emblem on a red background, but he wears jeweled rings on his hands, and a wide-brimmed belt and silver-plated buckle around his waist. , and also wore a string of heavy silver necklaces around her neck, which looked very luxurious.

He is Li Wei's theoretical uncle in this world (arranged by the main god system), Diderot, a senior knight of the Knights Hospitaller.bacon.

——As a military monastery that has been fighting on the front line against heretics for a long time, the Knights of the Hospitaller must rely on the continuous infusion of manpower and material resources from the rear of Europe in order to gain a firm foothold in the West Asia where heretics are everywhere. Jihad persists.

For this reason, the Knights of the Hospital have not only been working as trade agents between West Asia and Europe, trafficking lucrative spices, silk, porcelain and other oriental commodities to Europe to accumulate military expenses, but also established a huge " Backing up the public relations lobby", doing all they can to deceive and recruit European recruits to fill the manpower gap caused by the long war: the eastern front of Christendom will always need tall and powerful soldiers.But if you can write and count, you will be even more popular-the literacy rate in Europe at that time was worrying, and the Knights of the Hospital always lacked competent bookkeepers.Later, even married people can join the Knights Hospitaller, but they must bring their wives with them-you don’t think the Knights Hospitaller has only male members, do you?Don't forget there are so many hospitals.Of course, after joining the Knights Hospitaller, the old marriage relationship is tantamount to being dissolved. The man goes to the battlefield, and the woman becomes a nun and nurse, and they may never see each other again.Although such a thing sounds stupid and self-abuse, in that era of extremely strong religious atmosphere, many Europeans chose to join the Knights just to embark on the road of martyrs, and they only wanted to be martyrs... …Unfortunately, with the development of the times, such pious people will soon become less and less.

When history entered the fourteenth century, the Holy Land of Jerusalem fell again, and the Crusader kingdoms were destroyed one after another. The Knights Hospitaller, who was trapped in Rhodes Island, had become the last reef in the sea of ​​pagans, and the battle situation became tighter day by day.In order to gain more support, the Knights Hospitaller's public relations activities in Europe have also become more active than ever.They successfully lobbied and disseminated various heroic stories through the believers, and shaped Rhodes Island into a knight's paradise in the eyes of the European people. It was a garden-like refuge for the holy warriors after fighting the heathen. .Helplessly, as the jihadist enthusiasm has generally cooled in Europe, the effect of the above-mentioned public relations deception is still getting worse every year.

Although God did a great favor to the Knights Hospitallers at this time—the Knights Templar, their rival for many years, was secretly wiped out by the church and the King of France, and a considerable part of the property that originally belonged to the Knights Templar was transferred to the Knights Hospitaller. The Knights Hospitaller, whose finances have become more and more tight in recent years, has been a little more comfortable, and finally able to support more church members.However, in medieval Europe where the commodity economy was underdeveloped, money could not solve all problems. Without the support of local powerful people, the Knights would not be able to raise enough manpower and material resources even with gold coins.

It is precisely because of this that the Knights Hospitaller has been trying to recruit those powerful European aristocrats, allowing many knights to stay in Europe to actively lobby, which is similar in form to modern Chinese pyramid schemes.Some outstanding "salesmen" were even able to persuade a noble knight with a family and business to give up all the glory and wealth to join the holy cause of the Knights of the Hospitaller, and donate all his property, including the territory, to the order.

Of course, such devout fanatic lords and aristocrats are rare in the whole of Europe - most of the guys who can be mixed into the ranks of rulers are more shrewd and pragmatic, and not so easy to fool.Even the Knights of the Hospitaller itself, under the impact of the wave of Renaissance thought, learned from the Roman Church and became more and more "degenerate", or secularized-the high-level leaders of the Knights who originally prohibited marriage have privately Keeping mistresses, making many illegitimate children, and carve up Rhodes Island's land and property, in essence, hereditary inheritance... The Knights themselves are already so crooked and scandal-prone, how can they coax those news How about the well-informed nobles destroying their families and repaying them?

Coercion?The strength of the Knights is far away at the other end of the Mediterranean Sea, beyond reach, and generally speaking, they cannot directly attack Christians.

Talking about fooling around?This group of warriors whose job is to slash people with swords, can they really compare to the full-time magic sticks of various monastic societies in Europe in terms of deception skills?

Therefore, in many cases, the senior members of the Knights Hospitaller on the European continent are recruited through methods such as the exchange of benefits, but the local tyrants put a piece of skin of the Knights Hospitaller on themselves—— For example, the uncle of Knight Levi in ​​this life, Diderot, the little lord of Marseilles.Bacon, nominally inspired by God, donated all his property, including the territory, to the Knights Hospitaller. In fact, he made a deal with the Knights Hospitaller in exchange for the "Marseille Import and Export Branch" of the Knights Hospitaller. As a "major shareholder", he was able to use the name of the Knights Hospitaller to engage in trade and labor export (that is, "sell piglets" to Rhode Island and recruit homeless people there to serve as cannon fodder), and organized French pilgrims to go to the East Jerusalem to go on a pilgrimage to collect protection fees and intermediary fees (although the Holy Land has once again fallen into the hands of infidels, Arabs who are good at doing business will not refuse European pilgrims to come to Jerusalem to send money to invigorate the economy), thus obtaining far more than The lucrative rewards of planing in the soil.

Of course, the Knights of the Hospital also expanded their contacts and obtained reliable funding and manpower supplements—it is not safe to use locals to fight in the East.

According to the setting of the main god, Li Wei was originally expected to serve as his uncle's trade agent in Rhodes Island after the death of his parents.But Diderot.Seeing that he was old and had no descendants, Bacon took advantage of the opportunity of the Knights of the Hospital to send reinforcements to the King of France (the Knights of the Hospital can only fight against heretics, and cannot intervene in the internal struggles of the Christian world, so as not to destroy other Transcendental status. However, since the Knights Hospitaller of Rhodes Island has changed from an organization to a country, they can change their name and send secular knights in its territory back to Europe to fight. Of course, the combat effectiveness is much worse than that of the genuine Knights Hospitaller. However, in order to show their position, even weak soldiers who have not been beaten must still be sent out), and Li Wei, the closest junior by blood, was called back, and he was prepared to let him inherit the family's manor and property.

Wait, something seems wrong, right?Didn't it mean that the lord has donated all his property, including the territory, to the Knights Hospitaller, and everything has become public property?How can it still be hereditary in one's own family?
Alas, if you take some things too seriously, you lose, boy!There are unspoken rules everywhere in this world, and many things cannot be taken seriously!
So, for the safe return of the knight of Levy, Diderot.Bacon expressed his heartfelt satisfaction.

"...I have already heard about the Battle of Crecy. His Majesty the King fought in this battle. It was really embarrassing."

After exchanging a few pleasantries outside the gate of the manor, Diderot reached out and patted Li Wei on the shoulder, comforting him and said, "...don't be too depressed, my child! This defeat is not your fault. The glory of the Bacon family will not So tainted by it. I'm glad you came back safe and sound."

"...Thank you for your consolation, Uncle! But I'm still sorry for not being able to obtain military exploits and bring new glory to the family and the Knights." Li Wei sighed and said listlessly, "...our army was defeated in this battle It’s so miserable, I really don’t know what’s going to happen next.”

"...What will happen next? Who knows except Almighty God? Anyway, it is impossible for the soldiers of the British to cross the whole of France and fight all the way to Marseilles in the south. That's enough. There’s no need to think too much about the rest.”

Diderot said disapprovingly, "... After this battle, we have fulfilled our vassal obligations to His Majesty the King, and we have also repaid the knighthood for these years. No matter what happens after the war in the north So, it has nothing to do with us, my child..."

Having said that, he looked at the girl in Li Wei's arms, with a kind smile on the corner of his mouth, "...forget about war and glory, now, your most important task is to get married as soon as possible. Give birth to a few sons, let the blood of the family pass on... Well, I have prepared meals and bath water, hurry in and have a hot meal and take a hot bath, you must be exhausted from the journey It's..."

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Indeed, since the defeat at the Battle of Crecy was so ugly, and the king took the lead in fleeing the battle, he had no confidence to blame others, so Li Wei was not held accountable by the French royal family and the Knights of the Hospital after he withdrew to Marseilles. With the help of his uncle, he replaced the captain of the senior who disappeared, and climbed to the throne of the head of the Marseilles branch of the Knights Hospitaller—although he had few followers.

But on the other hand, after the end of the Battle of Crecy, in which tens of thousands of corpses were buried in one day, the cruel flames of war have not yet been extinguished from the land of Western Europe.

After winning the victory at the Battle of Crecy and almost wiped out the French field forces, the complacent Edward III took advantage of the victory to lay siege to the port of Calais - this port is the closest place on the European continent to the island of Great Britain. It is Dunkirk, which was famous far and wide during World War II.However, the city of Calais was solidly defended, and the soldiers and civilians did not surrender in deadly battles. The British army was repeatedly unable to attack, resulting in many casualties, and even almost sparked a mutiny.

On the other hand, on the island of Great Britain, King David of Scotland led 1 soldiers and horses from the north to invade the mainland of England in accordance with the treaty of alliance signed with the King of France.

However, the British army of this era is worthy of being an extraordinary existence with golden fingers. It can be said that it is lucky. Even if the British king and the elite main force are trapped in the French battlefield, the small number of miscellaneous troops left behind in the country still bravely meet the Scots.In the Battle of Neville's Cross, 1 British troops defeated [-] Scottish soldiers and horses, and even captured the Scottish king, thus completely relieving the worries of the north.

When the good news came, the morale of the British army on the front line of Calais became more and more high. After besieging the city, they began to wantonly ravage the northern territory of France, burning, killing and looting.However, the French army became more and more depressed, almost daring not to resist, and they were bound to lose in every battle if they fought occasionally. The flower of French knights has withered!

During the long offensive and defensive battles, the Calais defenders sent envoys to break through the siege several times and asked for help from King Philip VI of France. However, the French royal family was frightened by the British army who seemed to be possessed by the god of war, and refused to send troops. Rescue Calais and watch the northern seaboard become a hunting ground for the British.

In the end, after holding on for a full eleven months, the port of Calais had run out of ammunition and food, and the desperate remnants of the army and civilians finally erected a lowered flag at the top of the city, and then sent six of the most famous citizen representatives, bald and barefoot, to Putting a gallows rope around his neck, he went out of the city to beg forgiveness from King Edward III.These six righteous people successfully moved the King of England and saved the lives of the people of Calais, thus becoming the city heroes of this port... More than 500 years later, in 1884, in order to commemorate the deeds of these six righteous people, the Calais at that time The mayor of Lai raised funds to build a monument to loyal souls, and specially hired the famous sculptor Rodin to create the immortal group sculptures of "Calais Righteous People" in the history of world art, which still stands in the Place de la Risier in Calais.

So far, in this big game between Britain and France, the French, who have a good hand and reliable allies to help out, have lost a complete defeat.Humiliated before international observers across Europe.Moreover, the current situation in France is getting worse and worse: not to mention the lands and cities that have fallen, even in the rear far from the battlefield, the death of a large number of lords and nobles has also led to the serious collapse of the French domestic ruling order ——Thousands of soldiers became bandits after being disbanded, and internal strife broke out in countless aristocratic territories due to disputes over inheritance rights.The looting and burning of various villages and towns by these defeated soldiers and the English invaders created a large number of refugees who had nothing to lose, wandering and fleeing between the countryside and the roads, hitting this turbulent country wave after wave like a flood .

Even the Port of Marseille, which is located in the southernmost part of the country, has been attacked by several defeated soldiers successively, and several manors have been looted or burned.

Faced with such a chaotic situation, the noble knights in the Port of Marseilles immediately united and organized a crusade to suppress them. After a siege that was not much more difficult than hunting, the knights easily defeated these mobs and captured them. There were thousands of distraught soldiers, many of whom were actually Italians.However, just as the rich and nobles in Marseilles who had suffered property damage stood up angrily, and were about to drag the captured rout soldiers to the side of the road immediately, hang them all on the spot and hang their corpses for public display, they were Diderot.The old cavalier Bacon dissuaded:
"...Gentlemen, these routs did pose a threat to the city, but their fate deserves our sympathy.

They were all the most simple common people, and never left their houses for even one league (approximately a mile), until one day, the lord's call came.So they set off under the splendid banners of their lords, with ragged shoes and equally ragged clothes, even bare feet.They often carried no decent weapons, just sickles, sharpened hoes, or crude hammers made from stones attached to sticks with leather ties.Brothers, father and son, and friends embark on the journey together.Most of them have heard the ballads and stories of the knights, and when they set off, they were eager, dreaming of witnessing wonders, winning wealth and glory.War seemed to them a great adventure, a journey they had never dreamed of.

And then they got a taste of war--a taste that is enough to break a man of weak will.More continued to hold on, day after day, until countless battles had been fought, a brother had seen his brother die, a father had lost a son, and a friend was trying to bleed out his blood when his belly was split open with an axe. Intestines stuffed back.They saw the lord who had led them into battle cut down, and another lord declared loudly that they were now his.No sooner had their wounds healed than half healed did they suffer new, more painful wounds.They never had enough to eat during the war, their shoes gradually disintegrated during the endless march, their clothes rotted into rags, and many people got sick from drinking dirty water and shit in their pants.More people fell ill after being exposed to the rain, their foreheads were so hot that they could bake bread.

If they wanted new boots, or a warmer cloak, or a full meal, or money for a doctor's visit, they had to take it from the dead, and before long, they began stealing from the living, too—in lands where the army passed , there are ordinary people like them in the past.

They stole these people's things. At first, they were forced to survive. They had to steal chickens and dogs, kill cattle and sheep, but then they plundered the wives and daughters of these civilians. A little bit of good.

One day, when they looked around and realized that all their friends and relatives had passed away, they were surrounded by strangers, and the flags on their heads were unrecognizable. They didn't know where they were or how to get home.They fought for the lord, but the lord didn't know their names, and only shouted majestically, asking them to line up, pick up spears, sickles, and sharpened hoes, and stand firm.Then, the knights attacked, those knights who were all in iron armor and couldn't see their faces, the roar of steel filled the whole world when they charged... Then, they finally collapsed and became deserters.

They either turned around and ran away on the battlefield, or fled with dead bodies after the battle, or sneaked out of the camp in the dark night, looking for a place to hide.The life of a deserter doesn't know what will happen today, and he doesn't know what the next meal will be. He lives like a beast and not like a man. Kings, lords and gods are not as good as a piece of rotten meat to them. At least meat can make him live another day; Not as good as a bag of bad wine, at least bad wine can drown his fear temporarily.

For those who are not familiar with war, war may mean romance and glory, but in fact, war will always mean hell! "

Looking at the deserters kneeling all over the ground in front of them, with tattered clothes and numb eyes, like walking corpses, the white-haired old knight took off his helmet, and said with emotion, "... ...Indeed, under the current situation, it is necessary for us to wipe out and destroy these deserters, lest they cause more damage, but we should also sympathize with them. Leaving aside those murderers with proven evidence, others only robbed People with a few pieces of bread, let’s spare their lives, in this damn year, enough people have died..."

After Knight Diderot finished speaking, a deep silence enveloped everyone present.In the end, all the knights and lords agreed that Knight Diderot would be solely responsible for disposing of the prisoners.And Li Wei was even more moved to tears, thinking that his uncle is really a noble person, a great him, a person who has escaped vulgar interests, a good person with lofty humanitarian feelings...

Then, he was stunned to see that Uncle Diderot turned around and loaded all these captives on a slave ship and sent them across the sea to Rhodes Island to serve as coolies and cannon fodder for the Knights Hospitaller. If so, sell them to the slave market in Alexandria, Egypt... Well, after all, war always means hell, and even if these captives are slaves to pagans, they are much better than being hanged in the outskirts of Marseilles!
Sitting on the balcony of the seaside villa while drinking mellow wine, looking at the slightly protruding belly of his new wife, Sir Levi couldn't help but be filled with the joy of being a father, and soon put those deserters who didn't regret their deaths They forgot.

Not long after, another piece of good news reached Marseilles—the war was over, and the Kingdom of France and the Kingdom of England had reached an armistice.

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One year after the end of the Battle of Crecy and one month after the fall of Calais, Britain and France, exhausted from fighting, finally signed a one-year armistice agreement.After another half a month, King Edward III returned to London triumphantly with rich spoils.

No matter how humiliating and embarrassing it is, the dawn of peace finally shines on the land of France temporarily.And the suffering French people finally have a relatively safe environment where they can calmly restore their homes, pastures and arable land that have been burned by the war.

But unfortunately, for the Europeans in the Middle Ages, this short period of peace was just a prelude to another unprecedented catastrophe.

Because, an invisible and intangible god of death has quietly come from the east...

——In September 1347, when the Gallic Chicken finally lowered its proud head and knelt down to the former courtier John Bull for peace, the other end of the European continent, the city of Kaffa on the Crimean Peninsula on the northern shore of the Black Sea, 9 A merchant ship is loaded with all kinds of oriental products and sails from here.

What no one knows is that these twelve merchant ships full of wealth are actually twelve ferocious monsters.

Soon, this fleet will draw a black road of death on the bustling and busy Mediterranean in the past...

And the little happiness possessed by the traverser Levi Knight will be ruined in an instant because of this...