Chapter 107: Bethlehem (2)

Cesar could see the group of people coming to welcome him, and they could of course see Cesar.

The first thing that leaped into Bishop Andre's field of vision was a crimson flag. Against the backdrop of yellow sand and the sky, it was so gorgeous, scorching, and eye-catching. This color couldn't help but make the Bishop feel worried—when he heard that the King had enfeoffed Bethlehem to a young knight, he had many plans.

If the other party was a greedy person—of course, for him, this was almost the best result. Filling the money box had always been a simple matter—just increase taxes. The residents of this city had long been accustomed to being submissive, and the pilgrims who traveled long distances to get here wouldn't care about those worldly possessions. As for those pagans, it was already God's mercy that they were allowed to walk into this city.

If he was a sentimental person, Bishop Andre of course had ways to deal with it. He knew several slave traders who served the Christian King, the Arab Caliph, and the Sultan at the same time. No matter what you wanted, they had it.

White skin, black skin, brown skin, tender new buds, blooming flower buds, and sweet fruits, even the boys severely criticized by the church were available. Anyway, after they arrived by the new master's side, nominally they were just servants and attendants. As long as the knight didn't go too far, no one would come to meddle in other people's business.

What was the Bishop most worried about? Of course, it was the common ailment that almost every young person had—the desire and abuse of power.

Especially since he heard that the new master of Bethlehem's birth was not illustrious, and once people who were once humble grasped power, they would impatiently use it in a way of draining the pond to catch all the fish, as if they didn't use it now, it would disappear quickly like foam on the sea.

They had no experience, no guidance, but had many strange ideas and arrogant thoughts that needed to be followed and implemented quickly and thoroughly—these people acted unscrupulously and wouldn't plan carefully or weigh repeatedly—anyway, they had no blood relatives or in-laws to worry about. They would act recklessly until the King or someone else could no longer tolerate it and decided to cut off their heads.

But before that, most of them had already caused great losses.

Bethlehem was a golden fruit. Bishop Andre had managed this city for several years. He didn't want his hard work to be destroyed overnight. And as the Knight of Bethlehem's team gradually approached, the Bishop's heart became even more uneasy—because he saw that on the crimson flag, there were no common patterns such as city walls, long swords, spears, and crosses, but only a golden Al-Asar cross embroidered in the center to the left.

The coat of arms of the King of Al-Asar was a huge yellow Al-Asar cross drawn on a white shield. This golden Al-Asar cross, although much smaller than the King's, could not appear here without the new King's special permission—this was almost saying that the new King was willing to transfer part of his power and prestige to this page.

And as people knew, although a knight was enfeoffed with territory, he was not the owner of this land. It could only be said that he could obtain the assets he needed from this land—this was also why the kings and lords of the Holy Land could easily push through "money fiefs." Even if knights didn't have real territory, they could still obtain money, satisfy their living needs, and prepare armor, horses, and weapons.

And even if they did, knights had no right to buy or transfer this land, and once they couldn't fulfill their duties, the lord could still take back this fief.

So most knights didn't care what was on the territory, what laws there were, how much farmland, how many forests, how many mills and rivers? Such troublesome things were generally handed over to the clerics, stewards, or even a merchant by their side, as long as they could come up with the money when they needed it.

But the special thing about Bethlehem was that the superior of the Knight of Bethlehem was not a baron or a count, but directly under the King of Al-Asar. If Baldwin was willing to let Cesar exercise his power, Cesar would become the true master of Bethlehem.

Cesar didn't know how the Bishop's heart was churning at this moment. He dismounted a hundred feet away from the Bishop. As a knight, he should kneel before Bishop Andre and kiss the ring on his hand, but Bishop Andre hesitated for a moment, then took a step forward and raised his hand, so Cesar only needed to lean forward slightly to complete this kissing-hand ceremony.

"You are truly tall," after Cesar straightened up, Bishop Andre said sincerely, "I feel as if I have seen King David in his youth."

"Knights as strong as me are as numerous as the stars," Cesar did not accept this praise: "It's just that they each have their own duties and cannot come to your Bethlehem."

"This city belongs to Jesus Christ," Bishop Andre said immediately, and then he smiled and took a step back, letting his students bring a silver plate about three feet in diameter. On the silver plate lay a bronze key.

"Now I hand this city over to you," the Bishop said crisply, "You must treat it well, after all, it is so fragile, and so beautiful." "I have already seen it," Cesar said. He had already seen many huge and magnificent cities. And Bethlehem was indeed as the Bishop said, like a miniature model, making people feel pity at a glance.

And the most eye-catching building in this city was of course the Church of the Nativity, but it looked more like a military fortress—under Bishop Andre's warm invitation, when he struggled to squeeze through the small door that was only four feet high, Cesar thought so.

Of course, according to the church's statement, this door was not built so small just to resist enemies. It had a nickname called the Gate of Humility, meaning—no matter how noble the pilgrim, when coming here, he had to bend his waist, lower his head, and carefully pass through it sideways.

The location of Jesus' birth was not on the ground, but in an underground rock cave about fifty feet long and ten feet wide, which was originally just a stable of a hotel owner in Bethlehem.

Bishop Andre held a candle in front and led them to the manger where Jesus Christ had been placed. It was covered with layers of purple and golden silk. Under the candlelight, they shimmered with pearly light and rippled, but no matter how precious they were, they couldn't compare to that manger made of mud and pottery.

The Bishop placed his finger gently on it, and then withdrew it, "You can touch it now."

They touched it in turn. Someone was so excited that they cried. He said he saw the Virgin Mary holding the Holy Child sitting in the manger, Saint Joseph kneeling beside them, looking at them with loving and reverent eyes, and three doctors in gorgeous robes prostrating on the ground, offering gold, myrrh, and frankincense to the Holy Child.

Cesar couldn't see anything, but he could look at other people's reactions. He found that knights who had received blessings, such as Longinus, had expressions of surprise or confusion, while ordinary people almost didn't, and if they did, it was faked.

"This place is as holy as the Church of the Holy Sepulchre," Bishop Andre said proudly when leading them out: "There is not a single child who has not succeeded in the selection ceremony here."

It was also because Jesus Christ's death represented that He had redeemed the sins of the people in the world—therefore His "death" was greater than His "birth." Otherwise, Bishop Andre would rather call this the holiest of the holiest places.

Afterward, their party stayed at the Church of the Nativity, participated in the next day's mass and prayers, and received communion. This was almost a necessary process; no one could afford the crime of being insufficiently pious.

On the third day, Bishop Andre brought the history books and materials of Bethlehem—population, shops, workshops, and craftsmen, etc...

The captain of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre here came to visit Cesar, but he was quite polite and distant to Cesar. They had not participated in the previous expedition and didn't know much about the strength of Cesar or even Baldwin. Just as Cesar's initial asceticism was thought by people to be intentional posturing, they also suspected that the achievements of these two youths in the expedition were fake, either stolen from others, or made out of nothing, intentionally exaggerated.

Cesar didn't feel anxious about this.

One of the greatest responsibilities of a knight to his fief was to ensure the peace of the city and villages, especially Bethlehem—pilgrims came in an endless stream, not at all inferior to Al-Asar. There were countless people who wanted to intercept a lamp or more from this flowing river of gold. They could be Turks, they could be Saracens, or even Christians.

Cesar had long decided that before he left Bethlehem and returned to Al-Asar, he would clear away all the filth here—that is, in the words of people at this time, he could guarantee that a woman holding a child could walk from east to west, from south to north, and always be safe and sound.

This might be a bit difficult to do, but it shouldn't be a big problem.

Afterward, he looked at the accounts of taxes and spoils. Bishop Andre might have made some small moves, but generally speaking, there were no major loopholes.

After all, the Bishop was also a member of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre. He had taken an oath not to retain any private property, and he still insisted on this oath now. Even if there was misappropriation, it was misappropriated for those Knights of the Holy Sepulchre in Bethlehem. Even if it was taken to Baldwin, Baldwin wouldn't blame him too much.

Cesar gently put down these files. His material desires were also not that strong. These were not what he cared about most.

He wanted to understand the administrative management and judicial situation of this city more.

The laws of this period were very chaotic. There were canon laws, customary laws, and a lord could also have his own laws, contracts, and most importantly, private courts.

If Baldwin came here and wanted to establish a King's Court, Bishop Andre had no way to oppose it. But as a knight, Cesar didn't have this power.

But if he had the King's charter, it would be different.

Bishop Andre felt a headache. The thing he worried about most finally happened. If the other party just made random judgments according to his own mood and preferences, that would be fine.

He was worried that in order to establish his status in Bethlehem, this young man would make extremely absurd and ridiculous judgments, and these judgments might be used (customary law). He could of course oppose it, but that would be equivalent to giving the young knight an embarrassment.

If he felt he had been humiliated, he might go from bad to worse and oppose him, completely violating Bishop Andre's original intention.

He had to bring those case files for Cesar to see, saying from the bottom of his heart that even Bishop Andre had no right to try major cases of treason or riots. Most of the cases involved were just disputes over property or honor.

The method Bishop Andre used to determine guilt or innocence was also very simple, which was trial by ordeal.

One-third of the more than one hundred case files involved people who had undergone the boiling water test, one-third had undergone the cold water test, and a few had undergone the hot iron test.

These people first had to participate in mass and receive communion with the people they accused or who accused them. If they didn't show signs of being possessed by the devil—such as fearing the church, being burned by holy water, or being unable to recite scriptures, etc. —they could undergo the trial.

The boiling water test, as the name suggests, is to put your hand into boiling water or hot oil. If their hands didn't heal within the predetermined period, then they were guilty.

The cold water test is to tie up the person undergoing the trial—usually the right hand and left foot—and then throw them into the river. If they sank, they were innocent. If they floated up, this meant Jesus Christ rejected them, and they were guilty.

The hot iron test was even simpler. After all, what Cesar was most familiar with was a test his teacher had told them about—when the Crusaders were attacking the Holy Land, they unfortunately encountered a terrible predicament. At that time, a cleric claimed to have discovered the holy spear that had once pierced Jesus Christ's body. This discovery greatly encouraged morale and also changed the situation of the war.

It was just that this cleric didn't get a good result. Because someone immediately questioned the authenticity of the holy spear and demanded he undergo trial by ordeal, that is, the hot iron trial. He had to walk through the fire holding the holy spear he claimed was the holy spear. As a result, he was burned, suffered very serious burns, and groaned on the bed for a full ten days before dying in pain.

He and his holy spear became sinners and evidence of crime, which also led to the failure of this battle.

However, in Bethlehem, most of these people who underwent the trial were pardoned. Cesar guessed that they might also be one of Bishop Andre's incomes.

"If you are willing, next Wednesday is court day," Bishop Andre said in a tone like coaxing a child: "You can sit with me and exercise this power."

"Can I know what kind of cases they are?"

"They are all within your power," Bishop Andre explained, indicating that he didn't mean to calculate Cesar. "We are going to judge a dog, a group of insects, and a man and a woman."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 108 =====