Chapter 24: Unlucky Count Etienne (Part 2)

"It's snowing."

Count Etienne's expression suddenly became ugly.

In fact, even if he didn't say it, the people sitting around could feel it—even if the overly dim light made it difficult for them to see small things, but those rustling things that kept falling on their hair, eyebrows, and beards, what else could they be?

Not to mention, the cold air unique to snowy days was constantly surging toward them. It was like the dagger of the Turks, clearly and quickly piercing into the knights' joints, cutting their lips, stabbing into their throats, making them feel that all the blood in their bodies was being drained even if they just moved a little.

Count Etienne deeply felt that he must have been cursed by the devil to have fallen into this situation.

Envoys, even if it was a war between two armies, holding flags and war books to the enemy, might not all suffer humiliation and lose their lives. He was also a Holy Land envoy—the exchanges between France, Britain, and the Holy Roman Empire and the Holy Land had never stopped, especially before and after each expedition, every king, every lord, and every grand master of the knight order had to contact frequently and closely to ensure that they could respond to each other and would not have mobilization failure or message disconnection.

Envoys carrying letters and charters might have some dangers, but there was no doubt that they also received the most respect.

When Louis VII summoned him and handed him the appointment letter of Holy Land envoy, Count Etienne also fully believed that this would be a good thing to contribute to God, to the King, and to the Christians. Although the road was long, rugged, and full of wild beasts and pagans... he still proudly believed that he could perfectly complete this work and return home safely, just like every envoy before.

It was just that he didn't expect that not all dangers came from wild beasts and pagans. A young and beautiful Princess also put him in trouble. Facing those unkind gazes, Count Etienne didn't even dare to stay until the next day—God knows, that night he was wearing chain mail, an iron helmet on his head, eyes wide open, holding a sword, staring at the door, and spent the day like a year. Although Amalric I noticed his mistake and promised him that no one would challenge him or do despicable things...

But Etienne was twenty years old when he broke into the church and snatched his beloved girl Adelaide. How could he not know what a twenty-year-old young man could do?

He had to abandon the original plan—knowing that people who came to the Holy Land could never not go on a pilgrimage—and left early with his knights, attendants, and clerics. He could only look back at that holy hill from afar in the pale golden morning light.

The people around him were also sighing. They all thought this was a rare opportunity and used every means to join this team—who didn't want to see the silk workshop on Andros Island, travel through the ruins of the Colossus of Rhodes, sing loudly in the semicircular theater of Myra, wander in the port of Phoenice, and enjoy the cool sea breeze in the sound of seagulls?

They also planned to pray before the tomb of Saint Nicholas, look for the miracles of Saint Peter in Cyprus, they would pass through the Gate of David, and gaze for a long time at the famous round gold dome under the Temple Mount, which was the temple of the pagans, and now belonged to the Knights of Christ; they would go to the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus once prayed with his disciples, and also suffered Judas's betrayal here.

They also wanted to go to the most holy place, which was the Holy Sepulcher Church. They would crawl forward and kiss every inch of the ground, whether it was the cell where Jesus was imprisoned after being betrayed, or the pit left after the cross was inserted after he was hung up, or the pillar he was bound to when he was scourged, or even the stone block where he was forced to wear a crown of thorns and dripped blood on it, and the stone tomb where he finally slept and resurrected there...

And the chapels built around this holy place, Mary Magdalene, St. John, St. Mary, St. James, St. Peter...

They came with hope, and even paid a lot of rewards in advance. Now these had become empty, which inevitably made Count Etienne suffer a lot of complaints. He could only promise them on the boat that after returning to France, he would give each person a gift worth one hundred gold coins. They heard this and immediately calmed their anger and beamed with joy.

Of course, this expensive debt could not be borne by Count Etienne alone. At the root, this was still the absurd thing made by the arrogance and recklessness of Louis VII and Amalric I. It shouldn't have been his responsibility in the first place—Amalric I had promised to give him a good compensation, and presumably Louis VII would not be too stingy. Using this money to ensure his safety on the return journey was the most cost-effective thing.

It was just that Count Etienne didn't expect that his ship hit a reef shortly after passing through the strait between Cyprus and Tarsus.

We have described the routes of the First and Second Crusades to you in detail. If you also have a map related to it like the King and Prince of Yafa, you will find a very interesting thing.

That is, from the map, the Crusaders could have taken a boat in Sicily or Athens and reached Yafa directly across the Mediterranean, but they had to go the hard way, cross most of Europe, West Asia, and Central Asia, and also pass through part of the Seljuk Turk territory, cross Armenia to reach Antioch...

Did they feel that God's test was too simple, so they wanted to increase the difficulty?

Of course not. This has to be blamed on the backward shipbuilding and navigation technology at this time. Whether large or small ships, almost all were single-masted, single-deck, and the only kinetic energy they relied on was wind and manpower, which could not withstand the attack of deep-sea storms and waves; and the problem of insufficient ship load caused by this also made people have to choose between two difficulties—either guarantee passengers and cargo, or guarantee supplies...

Another tricky hurdle came from direction and routes—people in later generations often saw the captains and lookouts of this period holding a telescope to scan the surroundings. What were they looking at?

Looking at land.

They needed to rely on the scenery on land or islands to determine that they hadn't gone the wrong way... No way, it was still a hundred years before the compass or Sinan from the East was introduced to Europe...

In short, the ships at this time almost had to walk close to the coastline to ensure they wouldn't get lost, and also to avoid encountering storms that were difficult to resist. It was also convenient to stop and replenish supplies, but this also had a problem, that is, ships were very easy to hit reefs in the near sea.

At this time, Count Etienne hadn't realized that this was not an accident, but the captain was a decisive person. After discovering that the ship hit a reef, he disregarded everything and ordered the sailors to rush the ship to the shore. The ship made an unbearable creaking sound, used up the last bit of strength, and finally didn't sink but ran aground.

They couldn't be sure where this was. Perhaps it was the territory of Christians, or it could be the territory of Seljuk Turks. Regardless, continuing to stay here was not a good thing. Given that there was a quite notorious law at this time—the ownership of shipwreck items, no matter what faith, as long as there was a shipwreck that rushed to the shore, all the things on it belonged to the local lord.

The pagan lord might accept the survivors on the ship together, after all, slaves were also an asset.

You might think that the Christian lord could be better? No, in order to avoid subsequent trouble, they would simply kill all the survivors and witnesses...

Count Etienne and his attendants were quite quick. They not only escaped from birth, led their horses away from the cabin—some horses broke their legs or necks, they could only leave them there—but also brought away some food and wine as much as possible.

After walking for a while, they found that the scenery they saw was strange, and they didn't find any traces left by humans. A knight climbed onto a broken dead tree and looked into the distance, but couldn't see the smoke and fire rising from the village or castle.

Count Etienne tried to ask their guide, but this guide seemed to have been hit on the head in the collision, and had been groaning, unable to say anything, let alone point out a correct path for them, even if he was put on the ground to walk, he couldn't walk a straight line.

They could only put him on the horse's back and take him away.

Everyone's clothes were soaked, and seeing that the daylight was gradually becoming weak and could no longer bring even a bit of light and heat—the pilgrimage road in December had also begun to condense ominous white frost—the wind blew, and they trembled all over, almost unable to stand still. Seeing this, Count Etienne had to teach the knights to dismount, let the horses block the outside, and the knights walked in the middle.

Fortunately, they soon encountered a pine forest.

They didn't know how long this pine forest had existed. The ground was covered with a thick layer of pine needles, and only the surface layer was slightly damp, while the bottom was thick and dry. When the knights saw it, they immediately cheered. They raked and dug up a large pile of pine needles, cleared a small open space in the bushes at the edge of the forest, and lit a fire on it.

The horses were still left outside. The attendants tied the horse blankets and cloaks together and draped them on them, using long swords and spears to support them, so they had a roofless tent, but this could at most block the wind for them. They shared some food brought from the ship, knocked on a few pine cones, drank wine, and their bodies warmed up.

After solving the imminent crisis, the knights also became active. An audacious attendant—he was the illegitimate son of the Count of Champagne, and from the bloodline, it could be said that he was Count Etienne's nephew—couldn't help but complain half-truthfully that Count Etienne was too heartless.

Yafa was the cradle of the church, the center of the world, and the place that every Christian regarded as "most holy." Being a king elsewhere, one enjoyed secular power. Being a king in Yafa, one could enjoy both secular power and receive God's blessing, health, and glory, and would inevitably be able to ascend to heaven surrounded by saints in the future.

To this young man's questioning, Count Etienne just shook his head, "I can answer you with a Saracen poem: 'Yafa is a gold basin filled with scorpions.'"

Whoever has greed for it, whoever reaches out, whoever will be bitten.

Although Count Etienne only stayed in Yafa for three days and one night in Yafa, he couldn't see it more clearly. Amalric I was indeed a hero, but he no longer had the energy and spirit of the past. He was like a tree struck by lightning, rotten inside, and only the outside barely kept intact. The reason why he insisted on not falling might be because of his promise to Christ—before choosing a suitable successor, he must never give up easily.

But who was this person?

Prince Baldwin? A leper who couldn't live past thirty?

Or Raymond, Count of Tripoli? Bohemond, Prince of Antioch? Oger de Balben, Grand Master of the Hospitaller Knights, Philip de Milly, Grand Master of the Knights Templar? Or him, a French noble who came from afar?

Count Etienne didn't believe that these people were as noble as they appeared, willing to put the crown of Yafa on an outsider. If he really fell into their trap, was worn out by the interests in front of him, and really stayed to become Princess Sibylla's husband, the biggest possibility was to be sucked dry by these guys, used up, and then "died in battle," "died of illness," or even "went missing"...

It was just that he couldn't say these words to anyone.

"But Princess Sibylla is truly a beauty. I really can't believe you could be so iron-hearted."

At this, Count Etienne could really laugh out loud, "Because I saw her, I firmed up the idea of running away."

"Do you doubt her love?"

"Love? Although Princess Sibylla is only thirteen, I can't see these in her eyes," Count Etienne looked around. Those young attendants and knights all had curious expressions on their faces, while the older ones showed smiles that were in tune with the Count, "Don't you feel danger?"

"Like Princess Sibylla, such a beauty, always has means to make these young guys lose their helmets and armor," an older knight joked wittily: "Not to mention danger, even if Satan threw a basket at their feet, they would jump into it without hesitation."

"Then I can teach you a thing here," Count Etienne raised a finger, "At any time, in any place, facing anyone, you might as well put yourself in her or his position and think about it. If you were her/him, would you be willing to take out benefits for a stranger for no reason?"

"Odysseus's sailors came to a desert island, and a beautiful woman greeted them, preparing a rich wine feast for them. They ate, drank, and turned into the pigs of the witch Circe;

There is also the fierce Medea. In order to help her lover who stole the Golden Fleece escape, she didn't even hesitate to dismember her own brother and throw him on the road. But when Jason changed his heart, she was willing to weave a gorgeous robe and create an exquisite crown for his new love, and as a result, the poor Princess died of poison;

There is also the Delilah we know well. Samson knew she was the daughter of the enemy, but still held her in his arms, leaked his secret, and was finally gouged out of his eyes by the Philistines, brought to Gaza, locked with copper chains, and pushed the mill like livestock..."

"Gentlemen," he sneered: "Princess Sibylla is only thirteen, and I am already thirty-seven, older than her father. No matter how others flatter, I know I am walking toward the grave. Are there no companions around her who are of the same age, suitable status, and handsome appearance?

She condescended to me, which was a deal that lost money to the extreme. I can hardly imagine how much I would have to repay in the future to satisfy her if I signed the contract."

He finished his words in one breath, and the atmosphere in the field was a bit stagnant. The knight who interrupted earlier pitied these young people who were fascinated by beauty, and suggested that they could walk into the pine forest when the daylight was still there. There might be a nest of hazel grouse, or even a few rabbits, a deer. They still had some food now, but this bit of food would be consumed by tomorrow.

The knight's suggestion was agreed by everyone.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 25 =====