Chapter 136: On the Road to Aleppo (1)

"I didn't expect you to still do this," Geoffrey said excitedly.

Cesar couldn't help but show a nostalgic expression. "When I first arrived at the Castle of the Holy Cross, I often made this for Baldwin." In fact, during this period, except for some places favored by God—such as the "land flowing with milk and honey"—people's helplessness toward nature, their fear of technology, and the strict control of the church and the royal family meant that the output from the land had never been satisfactory.

Except for festivals and grand events, some Crusader knights would just cycle through bread, cheese, and vegetable soup every day when they were at home. Meat mostly came from semi-wild pigs, sheep, and aging cattle, as well as chickens, ducks, and hunting. During the fasting period, fish depended on whether there were rivers on their land; otherwise, there was only salted fish to eat.

Even these "masters" mainly focused on ensuring their bodies could persist in heavy training and frequent expeditions, rather than the taste, color, and texture of the food. Commoners, of course, didn't need to be mentioned.

Even in the castles of great nobles, the cook was not valued for culinary skills, but for whether he could process game quickly and well, smoke, pickle, and air-dry meat, and whether he could accurately distinguish and store grains and vegetables.

And those wealthier great lords and kings, the things they ate were still limited to the preciousness of the ingredients—from elegant swans to narwhals, from onions to saffron. When a person went to a banquet, judging whether the banquet was good or bad usually only depended on whether there were extravagant sugar piles or saffron soup dyed golden yellow.

There was even a bad habit of passing food down continuously for a hundred or two hundred years. Simply put, food was first offered to the master and guests of honor (not cut into small pieces). They cut off the parts they needed with daggers and then passed them to guests of lower rank. After these guests finished taking what they needed, the remaining scattered meat scraps would be bestowed upon attendants and servants.

After the attendants and servants carefully gnawed the last bit of meat on the bones, this bone might be thrown to the hunting dogs shuttling back and forth on the dining table—some servants ate more carefully and would break the bones to suck the marrow inside, and if anyone among them didn't do so, they would be mocked for having the style of a master.

Cesar was lucky. As soon as he entered the Castle of the Holy Cross, he became an attendant beside Baldwin. Baldwin didn't seem to have any intention of bestowing breadcrumbs, soup bases, or meat scraps upon servants—it might also be because he had already contracted the disease and was accustomed to not leaving anything "to reward people."

When Cesar brought the pot, boiled thick soup, and then took out two bowls, filling one for each of them quite fairly, Baldwin didn't raise any objections. They thus naturally developed a habit that belonged only to them.

And after he and Baldwin became squires, needing to stand behind the nobles at banquets to serve plates and pour wine, the King and the then-Wang Hou Maria didn't force them to eat these leftovers—if Baldwin hadn't been a prince, perhaps someone would have mocked them for not knowing what was good for them, as the food left on the King and Wang Hou's plates was definitely the most delicious and soft.

Uh, how to say this? The Wang Hou at the time, Princess Maria, at least ate neatly and cleanly (that is, not so messy). And King Amalric I, just like the Countess of Jaffa complained, his hand that might have just wiped his nose would just wipe it on the tablecloth or outer robe before pinching the food on the plate, leaving behind things that could make Cesar gasp in surprise and retreat three steps.

That period might have been when they stole food most frequently. The grace of God and the saints was making them grow up rapidly, and the energy needed for growth would not come out of thin air. Their stomachs seemed to be growling all the time—dry bread was just better than nothing, and the pot on the fireplace in Baldwin's room was never empty. It was either stewed salted meat and vegetable soup, or hot wine and fruit.

I don't know when it started, but when the chubby Dean John came to visit him, the things he brought gradually changed from books and holy objects to food. To tell the truth, the few secret recipes of the Gerard family were quite effective. After eating a large bowl of canned mutton or a box of candied fruit, they could always sleep well.

However, for Baldwin, he preferred the dishes Cesar made. He wouldn't be like the cooks in the castle, who, in order to show the preciousness of the dishes, desperately put spices in them. Sometimes the soup served at the banquet was more like a bowl of paint with perfume added, and its taste could be imagined.

But at that time, the food in the castle was not so rich, and Cesar often went to the market to scrape up ingredients, so the means he could display were only those few.

"Can it be drunk? I think it's about time, it should be drinkable. What did you add to it, is it saffron?"

Geoffrey's series of questions pulled Cesar back from his memory. He looked down at the large pot. The liquid in the pot was making a gurgling sound. Large and small milky-white water bubbles constantly burst and rose from the bottom of the water. The meat chunks and vegetables inside, like fish schools rising and falling under the water surface, rolled up and down with them.

Sniffing hard, at first, one could only be scalded by the rolling hot steam, but then came the aroma. It was not the pungent smell of spices, but a rich sweetness contained in the water vapor, as if it had to be broken to be smelled. Every strand was so long and clear (Geoffrey could even clearly distinguish the smell of mutton, wild onions, and cabbage), going straight into the lungs, making people salivate.

"No," Cesar said: "I just added some beetroots and ginger."

"That's also very precious," Geoffrey said sincerely, trying to open his eyes wide to make himself look cute. Cesar looked helplessly at him circling around, unwilling to leave—"Do you want to taste the flavor?"

Geoffrey immediately beamed with joy. The cook on the side immediately understood and took a wooden bowl as big as a horse's head—it was almost a small water bucket. Cesar lifted a large spoon and filled it with plenty of mutton and cabbage. The Templar knight took it and ran out of the kitchen immediately. In the blink of an eye, he didn't know where he had run.

He could always find a suitable place, perhaps a quiet and comfortable corner—hurriedly eating this special extra dish before the meal. According to him, he was just tasting the flavor for the knights, so as to avoid Cesar making mistakes because he was not familiar with their tastes. This kind of statement would, of course, make the knights sneer—every knight, whether Templar, Hospitaller, or Holy Sepulchre, was definitely quite consistent in their shared hatred at this time.

"This is truly hell," Geoffrey said while swallowing the delicious meat soup, "If I ate this kind of soup in my hometown, I might not have run to Jerusalem." He said somewhat disrespectfully, but he really didn't expect that Cesar would use this means to eliminate the somewhat stiff and tense atmosphere in the team.

Baldwin's original intention was, of course, good, but he ignored his identity, the King of Jerusalem, and the previous Battle of the Sea of Galilee—it was the only victory the Crusaders had achieved in recent years, and this victory could almost be judged as a miracle. Before this, who could have imagined that Nur ad-Din's tens of thousands of troops would be defeated by a few hundred knights in one night, and even Nur ad-Din himself unfortunately fell from his horse and became a cornerstone under the feet of this young King.

Or perhaps, he had blind confidence in Cesar, believing that he could handle all things well, including these ninety knights and the squires, armed attendants, and servants they brought.

Among these knights, there were indeed some who had followed Amalric I on the expedition to Egypt, and some had even received Cesar's kindness on the battlefield. They were undoubtedly on Cesar's side.

But after the main force of the Crusaders went north to expedition to Mleh and suffered a great defeat, in order to make up for the losses, the three major knight orders transferred a part of the members who were originally stationed on the remote battle lines without exception, and recruited a part of newcomers. Even if these people had heard of Cesar's affairs, they would be dizzy by those absurd things that felt more like miracles fabricated by clerics.

What? He was originally just a slave and escaped to the front of Amalric I's horse before finally being saved? What? He became Baldwin's attendant and only took a few days to make the Prince obey him? What, he could even participate in the Selection Ceremony with the Prince? And this Selection Ceremony, they should have completed it in the Temple Cathedral, but the next morning, people found them sleeping in front of the Holy Sepulchre?

What? The Prince obtained the Spear of Saint George, which, although rare, was not surprising, but the attendant beside him could also obtain favor no less than any son of a count or duke? What? They became squires before they were fourteen, followed by the battlefield of the expedition, and the dying King held a sword-granting ceremony for them, letting them become knights at an age when some people were still feeding pigs in the castle?

What? The new King regarded him as a brother and made an equal vow. No, no, no, he was actually the new King's brother? He was the only son of Joscelin III, who was imprisoned in Nur ad-Din's castle? And what about the handprints on the birth certificate, a property worth 200,000 gold coins, etc., etc. They all had to suspect that at least a part of this was a lie concocted by the new King to elevate this servant to a position that did not originally belong to him.

They were full of doubts and guesses about him. Although they wouldn't directly provoke him, they mostly maintained an attitude of observation and alienation. Not to mention, I don't know how Baldwin IV had a sudden inspiration to draw people from the three major knight orders.

The relationship between the Templars and the Hospitallers had always been very bad. They looked down on each other. The Templars mocked the Hospitallers for being weak hypocrites, and the Hospitallers retorted that the Templars had now degenerated into money-grubbing misers.

What about the Holy Sepulchre knights? It could be said that the Holy Sepulchre knights had been independent of the major knight orders from the beginning. Because their first Grand Master was the guardian of the Holy Sepulchre—the first Godfrey, an indisputable saint. The subsequent Grand Masters were also the Kings of Jerusalem. And their duty was to guard the Holy Sepulchre and the Holy Cross. Except for the King's personal expedition, they rarely participated in other people's wars.

It would be strange if these young and spirited knights gathered together and didn't rub out a little spark.

In other places, the means that could quickly make them close were also difficult to apply here. The Temple, the Hospital, and the Holy Sepulchre were all armed monk organizations. Except for the Grand Master of the Holy Sepulchre knights being the King of the Holy Land, because he needed to fulfill the "Godfrey's Vow" and had to take over the heavy responsibility of inheritance, the knights all had to abandon secular desires and devote themselves to God's cause.

They could not own private property, nor did they have inheritance rights, or the right to be inherited. They forbade female sex, that is, they could not pursue noblewomen, nor could they use prostitutes. Fortunately, to ensure combat capability, they could still eat meat and drink a little wine, but getting dead drunk would also be reprimanded. Their spare time had to be used for training or prayer. But except for a few fanatical believers, no one could get pleasure from these two activities.

That is to say, if you want to make them convinced, you cannot give them rewards like a King, nor can you invite them to a brothel like a dissolute son, much less fight in private, gamble, or dance. The only thing left seems to be one of the most basic human desires—eating and drinking.

And in Cesar's world, eating and drinking was indeed one of the most effective social means. Now he could also afford this expenditure.

He originally had savings of several hundred gold coins, and after being knighted, he also received a reward from King Amalric I. After Baldwin ascended the throne, he gave him 3,000 gold coins without hesitation. And Wang Hou Mother Maria and the Countess of Jaffa also had gifts, as well as gifts from various ministers used for friendship. After all, he was a close minister beside the new King.

Just like this, Cesar's private property rapidly appreciated to ten times the original. And he still had a property of 200,000 gold coins in his hands. Although he was only managing it, to say he would be short of money, at least in these few years, it was absolutely impossible.

Adding meals for the knights was a good thing that was reasonable. But he was willing to cook for the knights himself, which was a bit beyond people's expectations. What surprised them even more was that he actually cooked quite well—no, it should be said, delicious to the extreme. Clearly, it was the same fish, duck, chicken, and pork, but he could make them soft, delicate, melt in the mouth, rich in flavor, without any fishy, gamey, or foul smell.

Not strange. In this period, people, apart from spices, had no, or difficult ways to eliminate those fishy and gamey smells—not to mention wild game, even pigs, chickens, and ducks raised by people would not be castrated. And even after smoking, pickling, and air-drying, meat stored for too long could not avoid a trace of decay.

Cesar, of course, only used the freshest ones. Anyway, their team had thousands of people, so they could eat it up no matter what.

It was just that when they walked in a mighty way, the villagers in the surrounding villages couldn't help but flee in panic. This was their innate survival wisdom—no matter what flag these knight masters were flying, they might instantly turn into beasts that only knew how to plunder, rape, and kill, until they knocked on the door of a nearby castle and explained their intentions, and the master of the castle came forward to buy enough things from these residents.

Of course, such consumption was much greater than just letting these knights eat a little dry bread and drink a little water every day, but this heavy burden also had a return. The knights all had big appetites, and fortunately, their taste buds were not yet completely hopeless. Every day's three meals became their most anticipated thing—although this three-meal schedule made the clerics in the mission slightly hesitant, they soon closed their mouths.

They were clerics, but they were also clerics in the knight orders, who had to ride horses to fight and dismount to calculate accounts. Daily physical and mental labor overlapped.

Enduring hunger and thirst was, of course, a very good way of asceticism—but if they could eat such a meal beautifully after waking up comfortably, they wouldn't refuse either.

And Geoffrey was the only knight every day who could righteously come to eat the first portion or an extra portion.

The reason why he hadn't been beaten to death until today—all contradictions were eclipsed before "Geoffrey's extra meal"—of course, it had to be attributed to Cesar's favoritism.

This old knight had looked at him with favor and love when Cesar was still a small attendant. Even though he had once done something that Cesar could almost not accept, there was no doubt that he was still one of Cesar's benefactors.

Until today, he still stood on Cesar's side. On the day of departure, his "Count" was both teasing and reminding—those knights, even if they had doubts, one thing could never change, that is, Cesar was indeed the only heir of the County of Edessa. Before his father, Joscelin III, returned to Jerusalem, he was also the only one who could speak on Edessa's affairs. Not to mention, he was also the cousin of the King of Jerusalem.

They could choose not to believe, but they had to respect, otherwise, Cesar had the power to punish them, or even hang them.

This allowed Cesar to spend the next few days peacefully. Now, "don't offend the cook if you don't want to offend anyone," this sentence is true everywhere.

He handed over the next things to the Christian cook who had been staring at his every move and carefully pondering, and when he walked out of the simple kitchen and took a deep breath in the gorgeous morning light and cool air, the knights had also walked out of their respective tents or rooms.

They rested temporarily in this small village last night. This village belonged to the Saracens, but they also had the mission from Aleppo beside them. With a little explanation, they got some rooms. The other knights, of course, could only set up tents outside the village to rest. However, even if there were enough rooms in the village, the knights might not be willing to sleep peacefully under the surveillance of the enemy.

Fortunately, there was no change last night. Everyone was fine, and they couldn't wait to come to the open space. There was no hall in the castle here for them to sit together and share food, but since it was delicious food, there was no need to be so particular.

They followed their respective habits, either sharing a steaming mutton pot with a few people, or dividing it into their own wooden bowls and then sitting aside to enjoy it alone.

Geoffrey had returned. He went to ask for a large bowl of meat soup as if nothing had happened, as if he hadn't eaten anything at all. He ate another meal heartily on the side. After eating, he threw the wooden bowl to his squire. The little guy immediately ate some of the remaining vegetables inside, drank the remaining soup, licked the bottom and edges of the bowl reluctantly, and then walked to the well to wash the bowl.

"What are we eating for lunch?" Geoffrey wiped his mouth—he used to be too lazy to do this, but if someone greasy dared to approach, Cesar would immediately run three miles away. "We should be able to reach Bosra by noon," that was a city close to Damascus. Although it was not big, it was also quite prosperous. "We might be invited to a banquet."

Of course, formal banquets were generally held at night, but at noon, the manager would definitely provide them with food.

Geoffrey squeaked and left somewhat unhappily.

"After we reach Bosra, we will go to purchase spices and materials," Cesar said helplessly. Geoffrey didn't look back, but still turned his back to him and immediately raised his hand to make a gesture of God's blessing.

Just as Cesar said, the manager of Bosra hurriedly prepared after receiving the message from the mission. When he knew they needed spices and food, he immediately sent carts of wheat, barley, beef, and mutton, and even provided some pork.

Saracens didn't eat pork, but they could provide fresh pork, which showed their intentions.

"Look, what is this?" Cesar held a small box and showed it to Geoffrey. Geoffrey took it and opened it. Inside was a box of saffron—this precious spice should be offered to the King or the Viceroy. Geoffrey lazily stretched his nose to sniff it, and the strong smell made him turn his head and sneeze.

"He has something to ask of you, or us," the old knight said.

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 137 =====

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