Chapter 119: Wind

The caravan leader might really just be making a joke, but how much truth was in this sentence, only he knew.

After all, during this period, merchants might be the group with the keenest sense of smell and the fastest action in the whole society.

Perhaps some people will feel puzzled. If the masters of fortresses and palaces all know that merchants are a group of profit-seeking, two-faced, despicable people who may defect to themselves and their enemies at any time, how can they tolerate merchants continuing to walk in their cities and manors?

This has a lot to do with the backward transportation and information flow at this time.

Everyone in every place, whether it is Paris or London, whether it is farmers, craftsmen, or even some knights and nobles, they are born where they live, and they rarely leave their territory, unless they are going to fight for the king, or going to a certain place for pilgrimage. Most people will almost never leave the streets or villages where they live in their lives.

The villages and towns at this time can even be said to be a society of acquaintances—that is to say, everyone knows the people around them, and any stranger appearing on the street will cause friendly or malicious stares.

Similarly, because everyone is familiar enough with each other, many humiliating public punishments have been derived, such as the famous pillory, hand-neck shackles, hand-foot shackles—as the name suggests, it is when a person commits a crime that is not too big or too small. But the judge thinks that he needs to receive an unforgettable education, so he will sentence him to accept this punishment.

Hand-neck shackles are to fix a person's hands and head on a wooden board, letting him maintain this posture with his butt sticking out, which may last from a few hours to a few days. Hand-foot shackles are to fix hands and feet on the same wooden board, letting the punished person only sit helplessly on the cold and dirty ground to be mocked and spat on.

Sometimes people also throw filth at them.

But the most important thing is to make them feel ashamed and have no place to hide, not dare to commit crimes again, and let people see their faces, so as not to suffer their disasters again.

In such an extremely closed society, people are accustomed to self-sufficiency, but human desires are always endless, and they always have things they want.

Thus, merchants emerged. They are like rivers flowing through hills, valleys, and wilderness, constantly bringing new things and taking away local produce. The merchant's greed for profit easily causes others to feel disgusted and hated, but no one can deny that without merchants, a city, or even a country, will quickly become dead and silent.

It is so in peaceful times, and even more indispensable in wartime.

There is no military food that is easy to store, cheap industrial products, and convenient transportation in this era. And when a knight goes on an expedition, being able to prepare enough horses, weapons, and armor for himself and his attendants, and even armed servants, is already quite commendable. Food? Perhaps there is a little, but it will be eaten up soon. What after eating up? Of course, it is to "exchange" with spears and swords.

You all probably haven't forgotten, we said before, once it is determined to fight or go on an expedition, the lords and monarchs everywhere will post notices, requiring the knights who come to respond to the call not to plunder at will on the way...

However, this is only limited to their own territory. In the territory of pagans, there is no such restriction. For example, the Crusader knights led by Amalric I once ransacked everything around Bilbeis. They snatched all the wheat, wine, and grease, and shot down all the birds and beasts.

Even so, they still couldn't guarantee that there would be no possibility of food shortage on the long expedition.

First, because once the number of troops and subordinates far exceeds the scope that the local area can bear, even if they torture everyone they see to death, they can't get more food; second, the pagan farmers and defenders will not be stupid enough to wait for them to plunder. They may hide the grain, or they may burn it directly like Shawar.

At this time, the importance of merchants is highlighted. They will collect food from all sides. And then transport it thousands of miles to where the army is stationed, and sell these things to them.

At the same time, they also bear the heavy responsibility of turning the knights' spoils, those utensils, furniture, and fabrics that they don't need for the time being and can't carry with them, into income. They will give knights money, or other goods that knights want, such as armor, horses, and weapons. The knight's payment and gain perfectly form a cycle in the hands of merchants.

It can be said that without merchants, knights probably wouldn't have any interest in any expedition, because they couldn't get what they wanted from the battle at all.

The caravan leader followed Haridi to Qumran. Qumran is located in the northwest corner of the Dead Sea, indeed not far from Bethlehem and the water source where they stayed, and it is indeed a vast and barren land.

Although for the people of the hermit sect, this is a peaceful land, the Garden of Eden bestowed by God to them.

Although this "Garden of Eden" made Haridi's wife very frustrated, just as she heard before, the people of Qumran all live in low houses, just like the village they saw at the water source before, without windows. Even in the daytime, they have to light lamps in the house. People with slightly taller stature need to bend down and lower their heads when entering and leaving the house.

They went to see the wise man of Qumran. Haridi's wife could feel that when the wise man looked at him, there was more evaluation and suspicion in his eyes. When she and her daughter could leave, she simply left the house like running away.

"You should care more about and love your wife." The wise man looked at the back of Haridi's wife and said: "She didn't grow up here, and has never followed our laws and education—her eyes are full of anxiety. Perhaps everything here will make her feel strange. Don't blame, and don't rush to teach her. All she needs is time."

Haridi was silent. When he left Qumran, he was full of anger and unwillingness, but these anger and unwillingness had been alleviated in the nearly ten years of exile. The nostalgia for his hometown outweighed the indignation of his youth, or rather, thinking about it now, it couldn't be considered an insult, just a different view on doctrine and philosophy.

"Then, Haridi, you have been away from here for so long, walked so many places, have you seen anyone who might become the Holy King in your heart?"

Facing the wise man's question, Haridi thought for a moment and shook his head heavily.

"No, elder, I have walked so many places, from Qumran to Bethlehem, from Bethlehem to Al-Azar, and from Al-Azar, walked to Acre, from Acre to Jaffa, and from Jaffa to Gaza, took a ship to Alexandria, from Alexandria to Bilbeis. I have seen kings, dukes, and Grand Masters of the Order, seen Sultans, and also seen Caliphs, Grand Viziers, and Emirs."

"I observe their words and deeds, guess their thoughts, measure their virtues, but what I see—everyone, whether he is humble or noble, he is just an ordinary person. Perhaps they still have ideals in their hearts, but just like me, they ultimately have to succumb to reality."

"There are many young people who have the same ideas as you." The wise man said: "They heard that the Messiah will inevitably return to the world, so they want to find this Holy King from the world with all their heart. But we all know that he has not yet descended. At least before the Judgment Day, he will not appear in the world again—he has already redeemed our sins. I have never heard that a debt can be repaid twice."

"And humans have always been ungrateful and do not remember the past."

"Just a few days ago, someone came to me and said that we should re-establish our country. Instead of pursuing that illusory savior or Holy King. But have we not had our own country, our own temple, our own king? We have King David, and King Herod, and Solomon. They were all wise kings, but ultimately they could not resist the temptation of the devil. Whether it is wealth, honor, or power, they will completely change them."

"I said, don't pin your hope on others anymore. As long as he is still a human, he cannot get rid of the sins on his body."

"Haridi, since you have already returned, then you should know that what we can do is wait, waiting for the arrival of the last day. When the Messiah sees us, I hope our repentance and patience can wash away the sins on us and lift us to heaven."

"I still have luck in my heart," Haridi said: "But perhaps you are right."

After saying this sentence, he felt like he had put down the heavy stone in his heart and showed a relieved smile.

The wise man also showed relief. Young people always have times of stubbornness and mistakes, and Haridi is his favorite student. He hopes that Haridi can take over his position in the future—not just Qumran, perhaps, his departure is precisely to let him do better in the future, who knows.

"And the matter of that merchant." The wise man said: "That foreign merchant, although he can also be called our clansman, he has finally been contaminated with too much greed from the outside. I don't want to see him, so you go—we don't need money, but we need salt, and sugar, salt is the most important, and sugar is also indispensable. Perhaps some grease."

"Do you also feel that a war will descend here?"

"I can indeed see some things. An old star is about to fall, and a new star is about to rise, but it is a pity that its light is fleeting."

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Baldwin did not know that someone had made the most accurate judgment on his fate less than a hundred miles away from them.

He decided to "tour" for many reasons.

First, Amalric I left too hastily, and for a period of time before, he had been suffering from leprosy and could not leave the Castle of the Holy Cross at all, let alone follow his father to tour everywhere.

He had only seen the names of cities, castles, ports, villages, and settlements on maps and files, and learned about some of their situations from teachers and lords like Raymond. But what the real situation was, even Heraclius could not guarantee—and not face to face, he had no way to understand the attitude of nobles and knights toward him.

They could fill the letters with words of praise, but Baldwin didn't believe it. If war broke out, they would take out supplies, equipment, and knights at his command.

Also, the state of these castles and towns needs to be carefully surveyed. Are the reserves sufficient? Is the training sufficient? Are there signs of walls collapsing or missing? Can the residents in the city live safely?

Also, although the ministers of Al-Azar are not "willing" to believe the judgment he made, and are more likely to conquer the territory of Mleh in the north in the near future, he can only use the name of "tour" to observe those Saracens at a closer distance to see if they have any unusual movements?

Also, at the previous tournament, Cesar firmly refused the Princess—regardless of the fact that Queen Mother Maria was the most noble woman in the field at that time, Sibylla would only regard Cesar's avoidance as a shame. The last person who brought her this shame was Count Etienne.

And for the Princess, Cesar's current status still could not be compared with a Frankish Count. Her anger would only be more intense.

Baldwin had to worry, if he continued to let Cesar stay in the Castle of the Holy Cross, he didn't know what crazy and ridiculous things his sister would do?

He still had some family affection for her. Their father had already gone far away from them. He only hoped that the two of them could help each other and support each other in their future lives, rather than impatiently showing their fangs and fighting for power that he didn't know existed.

But he also believed that as long as there was a chance, Sibylla would not be merciful to Cesar.

In Bethlehem, Baldwin received an incomparably grand and magnificent welcome. Not to mention Bishop Andre—he was also equivalent to someone who watched Baldwin grow up.

Just talk about the merchants in the city. They always believed that Bethlehem was no less holy than Al-Azar. Al-Azar had the Holy Sepulchre, which was good, but they also had the place of the Nativity here.

If the future king could shift part of his attention to Bethlehem, they believed that even if it couldn't replace Al-Azar, the future Holy City might change from one to two.

Cesar got three times more things in Bethlehem than Baldwin. However, the merchants carefully did not send prostitutes. No one knew what the physical condition of this young king was now—but Baldwin noticed that the banquet seemed to be missing something. Prostitutes were essential at banquets at this time, just like there were no flowers in a vase, which was easy to attract attention.

"I heard that the prostitutes they sent were all rejected by you." Baldwin held his cup and joked. "In fact, you don't have to care about me at all—the noblewomen of the Castle of the Holy Cross have been complaining that you are too unromantic. A knight who is too romantic is of course not very good, but you can occasionally appreciate the gems and pearls placed in front of you. If you like anyone, tell me, and I will try to ask her intention."

"You need a loyal lady."

Cesar didn't know what to say. He knew in another world that syphilis was traced back to the 8th century, and the evidence came from the Vikings. He couldn't be sure whether a prostitute would carry spirochetes (syphilis), and given the standards of hygiene at this time, inflammation and fungi were also common dangers. Even if Heraclius said that people who received blessings were not easily invaded by diseases—but he really wasn't prepared to take risks.

"Haven't I already sworn loyalty to a certain lady?"

"Queen Mother Maria?" Baldwin was a bit hesitant. It wasn't impossible, but before the status of the Queen Mother of Al-Azar, Maria was a Byzantine princess.

"No," Cesar said: "It's your little sister, Isabella. I hereby declare that she is the most beautiful, most noble, most benevolent, and most pious lady in the whole world," he said seriously: "What do you think?"

Baldwin couldn't help laughing.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 120 =====