[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-nation-of-ten-thousand-nations":3,"chapter-the-nation-of-ten-thousand-nations-the-nation-of-ten-thousand-nations-chapter-73":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","The Nation of Ten Thousand Nations",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2333041,4562,"Chapter 73: To Egypt! (4) (Special Thanks to Patron Mo Ye Xiang)","the-nation-of-ten-thousand-nations-chapter-73",73,"\u003Cp>“Although I know some families unintentionally neglect and distance themselves from their youngest son,” Heraclius said, “I never imagined they would ignore you this thoroughly.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Longinus smiled bitterly; some lords struggled with having no boys or too few boys, but his father struggled with having too many boys—he had seven sons and four daughters.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His lands were not wealthy, even failing to meet what had become a near-rule: after elevating the eldest son, continue paving paths for the second and third sons within the Church and other lords’ castles—when Longinus was born, his mother was already old and felt no maternal affection for this unexpected youngest son; she even called him a sin.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At this point, his eldest brother was already married, and his nephew was a year older than him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Heraclius said this because he had previously inquired: Longinus’s father had not received God’s blessing, but his eldest brother had gained the saint’s favor—though modest, it was enough to keep the family from falling from its current rank; perhaps because of this, Longinus’s father had staked all his hopes on the eldest son.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet this eldest son, already “blessed,” had revealed not a single word about the truth of the “Selection Ceremony” to his younger brother—his character was truly worrisome.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As for the others, even without Heraclius’s warning, once Baldwin and Cesar became squires and stepped beyond the castle to meet other knights, they had no interest in listening to tales that blended Scripture with myth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Those knights and monks who claimed God’s blessing would say they battled a dragon as vast as mountains for three days and nights, or that they resisted the seduction of seventy-two succubi while preserving their chastity—all while ignoring that every “Selection Ceremony” was held inside churches.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But this was only human nature: if only a few received God’s blessing and saintly favor, people might elevate them as new “saints”; but when such cases grew more frequent—and seemed destined to grow even more—they began to see each other as rivals; what harm was there in eliminating a future enemy?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So extracting the truth from these men was harder than drawing water from hell; Longinus had once cautiously asked a few times—some priests he escorted, some knights he saved—but after hearing several jokes, he felt he himself was the joke, and stopped asking altogether.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Later still, he came to believe himself a sinner and dared not entertain such fantasies.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Then I am…” Longinus asked dryly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yes, you have been blessed, you are favored—you are now a knight of God,” Heraclius asked in surprise, “Why, you don’t seem happy?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I don’t know,” Longinus said hoarsely, “I don’t know, my lord. I saw no light, heard no music—I simply slept.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Who are you comparing yourself to? Cesar or Baldwin?” Heraclius asked in astonishment. “You don’t think their favor is something everyone gets, do you?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Of course not, but…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It was a misunderstanding,” Heraclius said. “You didn’t fall asleep (here he cursed Longinus’s eldest brother again)—you were in a state of rapture. You followed Saint Barabbas, and his favor may have been brief; the priests were outside the door and didn’t notice—but later, you definitely fell into real sleep…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If Longinus had been instructed by his brother, he would have known the moment Saint Barabbas’s name was spoken that he had been chosen—not merely dismissed it as a dream and continued sleeping obliviously, so that when the priests opened the door, they found Longinus not praying devoutly but snoring loudly; no wonder they were angry.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Such cases had indeed occurred before, but the children who barely qualified always returned dazed and confused; yet upon returning to castle and family, they inevitably showed signs of the unusual—yet Longinus encountered three vile Crusader knights and a Saracen.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He guessed his survival likely owed much to Saint Barabbas’s protection; he even considered calling upon the saint’s name again—but Heraclius stopped him. “Don’t bring us more trouble,” he said. “For the next few days, you’ll be carried on a stretcher with the column.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cesar, busy with his duties yet still watching Longinus, learned he had failed the ceremony, left the church, and not returned to the castle—he immediately went out to search.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fortunately, the place where Longinus had been injured was not far from the church—the bath had been built by the Saracens for pilgrims to cleanse themselves, just like the Pool of Siloam beneath the Temple Mount; and it was that Saracen who had pulled him up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Did you see that Saracen?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No,” Longinus said. “But he was certainly no ordinary man.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Heraclius nodded. “I examined the Crusader knight’s body—he suffered multiple heavy slashes, his chainmail was torn, bones broken, but the fatal wound was a throat cut. The man stood on his chest and sliced his throat with a scimitar…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I heard the knight begging for last rites, but the Saracen refused. He asked whether the knight had ever let a Saracen pray.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Some knights, in mercy, allowed their enemies—even Saracens—to pray to their gods when circumstances permitted—but that man certainly wasn’t among them,” Heraclius affirmed. Indeed, knights who showed mercy to enemies would never pillage or rape women.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Like Cesar—he would soon become a knight—but Heraclius would never believe he could become someone like Walter.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“How is my master?” Longinus asked. The question brought a rare flicker of worry to Heraclius’s face.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>——————\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Amalric I chose to begin the campaign in September after careful consideration: by the time the army assembled at Gaza Rafah and set out, it was already October—the Nile flood had ended, and the troops no longer feared inundation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Egypt’s harvest occurred in June and July, but attacking then would require hiring farmers to reap; by this month, wheat and rice had all been harvested, dried, and threshed—all grain safely stored in granaries, and it was time to plant anew—if planting failed now, next year’s farmers would starve.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thus, their resistance would not be fierce; they would merely beg to be left with some food and seed—properly managed, there would be little burning of crops or slaughter of livestock, no desperate scorched-earth tactics.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, how the Crusader knights would behave remained unknown.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To avoid excessive losses during the campaign, Amalric I began holding frequent tournaments and hunts, offering generous prizes and beautiful, elegant noblewomen—yes, in Amalric I’s feud with the Templar Walter, noblewomen should not have been present; only courtesans followed the army.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But in a holy war, it was different: campaigns lasted two to three years, and some knights’ and lords’ wives protested that if they were not allowed to accompany their husbands to bear children (only armed monks were required to abstain), what would they live on if their husbands died?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Church eventually compromised: since the war against infidels was holy, wives were permitted to follow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Some Crusader knights did indeed return home with their wives and children.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After lingering in Gaza Rafah, the tents of nobles from Francia, Apennine, and Hungary grew vibrant with color; these noblewomen naturally did not come alone—they brought their maids and servants.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The bloom of these lovely flowers calmed many young warriors’ rage; they no longer quarreled over a loaf of bread or a bowl of meat broth, nor tried to leave camp to pillage and burn—after all, violating infidel women instead of killing them risked suspicion of impiety or poor self-control.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Their internal friction also lessened—not because they lost the urge to fight, but because they channeled that energy into tournaments and hunts, where prizes and ladies’ smiles awaited; to kiss a lady’s fingers was surely better than anything else.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet whenever tournaments or hunts occurred, Baldwin and Cesar were required to appear; their fame had spread beyond the Holy Land—everyone knew King Amalric I had an heir blessed by Saint George and a squire blessed by Saint Jerome; they had sworn oaths as blood brothers, like gems set in gold, mutually enhancing each other, leaving others unsure which to cherish more.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They served beside the king and were sometimes lent to attend noblewomen—but they were never used as servants; rather, they were treated as ornaments. Cesar drew especially intense attention, so much so that Heraclius grew weary; though Baldwin’s illness could be cited as an excuse, and he needed no noblewoman’s favor, yet…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“They spend too much time around women. They need to meet the Saracens,” the king said. Heraclius was not surprised—he thought, At last. He bowed and went to inquire whether anything had occurred recently.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Saracens had not watched passively as the army advanced; they had continually set obstacles and harassed—but none had caused significant impact.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I was just about to tell you,” Count Raymond said, his face grim. “We need men for vengeance.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>————\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Damara crashed into Cesar’s arms and burst into tears.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When Baldwin and Cesar were summoned to the camp’s edge, they did not yet know what had happened. They saw knights gathered in a circle—some shouting in fury, some kneeling to pray to God, others tearing at their cloaks and swearing oaths with raised fingers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When they arrived, someone cried, “Prince Baldwin has come!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Everyone parted to let them through, and at the path’s end lay several bodies covered by cloaks and banners.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Damara was weeping uncontrollably over one of them; upon seeing Cesar, her first reaction was to rush to him, clutch his sleeve, and drag him to the corpse: “It’s… it’s… it’s Eleanora,” she gasped, choking on sobs, yet forcing out the words: “She’s been killed, killed…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A nearby knight stepped forward and recounted what had happened.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Eleanora was the noblewoman who had once shopped with Gérard de Defu; she was years older than Damara and married a Crusader knight after Amalric I wed the Byzantine princess.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For this campaign, she could not bear to leave her husband, nor he her; they had no children, so she came along.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A few days ago, Eleanora and several other noblewomen, escorted by knights, went horseback riding; on their return, they saw a dense fig grove, its deep purple fruits as numerous as stars in the sky. The knights entered to gather fruit for them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Suddenly, a group of Saracens burst forth, shamelessly ambushing the knights, killing them, and abducting Eleanora and the other noblewomen.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Eleanora’s husband immediately led a search party but found nothing. He rushed to the king, pleading for negotiations—even offering a chest of gold to retrieve his wife. But before the culprits were found, Eleanora and the other noblewomen returned—decapitated.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“She, she…” Damara sobbed, pointing at the corpse, unable to speak further. The knight standing silently beside the body—the husband, presumably—bowed to Baldwin: “If you will, no,” he said, “you should see her body.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He pulled back the cloak covering the corpse.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1791,"2026-06-20T20:58:34.857Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","f56c8a482be0a9b111e99985ffb3f427eb5bab15f54c6b35e1ec060a92858cac","the-nation-of-ten-thousand-nations-chapter-74","the-nation-of-ten-thousand-nations-chapter-72",168,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-nation-of-ten-thousand-nations-cover.jpg"]