In the Middle Ages, people drew cards to be promoted to nobility.

Today is a rare good weather.

The sky is clear and the wind is gentle and the waves are gentle.

After the death of the harsh and stingy Jewish businessman.

Captains and sailors no longer need to pretend to be busy, exposing their moist and sticky skin, and standing leisurely on the deck to bask in the sun.

An assortment of changes of clothing hung from the mast.

Passengers were also chatting in twos and threes on the deck. No one wanted to stay in the stuffy cabin.

The atmosphere on the ship has been awkward for the past two days.

Several passengers simply disembarked directly in Crete, intending to transfer to other ships to the Holy Land to escape this dilemma.

On the night of the Kraken, Lothar saw many unsightly scenes. Passengers and sailors, regardless of gender, hugged each other. In Catholic teachings, both annihilation and homosexuality are sins.

"When we reach the Holy Land, all sin will be eliminated."

Father Beckett said to the people.

That night, he and a male sailor rolled around in the cabin for a long time under the influence of the siren's song.

Jesus certainly didn’t think that when people reached the Holy Land, their sins were gone, but the priest said so anyway.

Just as Jesus would not think that killing pagans is not sinful, but is the way to the kingdom of heaven, but His Majesty the Pope said so anyway.

Sailors have to be particularly clear-eyed about this. They have been running around on the sea all year round and their beliefs are not pious.

They would even pray to the pagan sea god Poseidon when tsunamis, pirates, and storms came.

And on a ship that is so narrow and isolated from the world, although homosexuality is not commonplace, it is certainly not unimaginable.

It is said that the corpses of the sirens can be squeezed out of precious spices that are comparable to ambergris and have aphrodisiac properties, but Lothar gave up the practice of cutting open their corpses to obtain incense.

Slaughtering humanoid creatures like pigs and sheep is something he cannot do yet.

…

Two full days had passed since they sailed from Crete.

They passed by the island of Cyprus during this period, but did not stay there for long. They only replenished a wave of fresh water and sailed away.

It was once the core territory of the Eastern Empire. After the regent queen of the Eastern Empire was crowned, she took the opportunity to become independent and possess a considerable maritime power.

After passing Cyprus, they were very close to the Holy Land, and from time to time they could vaguely see the dim coastline in the distance.

The ships here have also become much denser.

Merchant ships loaded with spices and silks from the East; passenger ships carrying scattered Crusaders; and pirates equipped with many large oars and ballistae mounted on the bows. The windy rowing warships can often be seen on the sea. Broken planks and wooden barrels floated apart.

They were plundered and destroyed merchant ships, as well as the wreckage of pirate ships destroyed by the navy.

"Look!"

The sailors suddenly became excited.

Someone cheered: "It's our ship!"

On the distant sea level, a large fleet gradually appeared in front of everyone.

Small frigates, huge battleships, galleys.

Their huge black sails are printed with white cross emblems.

The sails swelled in the wind, bringing powerful power to push the large ships across the sea.

"That's the Fleet of the Knights Hospitaller!"

Lothar immediately ordered: "Hang the Crusader flag and don't let our Christian brothers misunderstand our identity!"

Father Beckett and Yourong said: "The Knights Hospitallers have a large maritime force in the Holy Land. They often patrol the sea to protect the safety of trade routes and sea pilgrims."

This is the power of the Knights today.

Not a kingdom, but better than a kingdom.

Lothar glanced sideways at him, making him feel a little guilty.

In the past few days, Father Beckett had obviously calmed down a lot. The old guy's loss of virginity caused his face to fall greatly on the ship. He was afraid that Lothar would spread the news and became worried about gains and losses.

When the Kirk ship arrived at the port outside Jaffa, it happened to be noon and the light was at its most poisonous.

The landform here is severely weathered, with deserts and Gobi Desert everywhere. Several tower-like buildings with severe erosion can be seen faintly, standing on the endless Gobi Desert.

Fringilla's lazy voice sounded: "Sir, the sun is so hot that it makes me almost die."

Lothar felt helpless: "Stop pretending, you just overdrawn your mental power once, and you will be fine after sleeping for two days. How can you, the vampire royal family, be so fragile?"

"Only vampires are afraid of the sun!"

Prajna was still quietly following Lothar, like his shadow.

I usually try to minimize my presence, but at critical moments, I can always make people feel at ease.

"Hans, raise my swallow-tailed flag!"

Lothar ordered: "From today on, we may have to deal with many nobles, and you will temporarily serve as heraldry officer."

Hans looked troubled: "Sorry, sir, although I am honored to accept this position, my knowledge in heraldry is limited and I am afraid I am not qualified for the position."

Lothar shook his head and said: "You have to be incompetent. Moreover, your knowledge of heraldry is already better than that of most knights."

Ryan warned the people under his command and said loudly: "Stand up straight and remember what Sergeant Model and I have taught you these past few days. Don't lose your dignity!"

"yes!"

Among these people, the men now all hold spears and shields. Although they do not wear armor, they all wear uniform robes and look presentable.

Of course, they are still just appearancers and can only serve as a guard of honor.

Their combat effectiveness is only slightly stronger than that of the conscripted peasant soldiers.

Talking on paper will never be as good as real practice.

Lothar took a deep breath of the dry wind blowing from the interior.

finally reached!

"This is the Holy Land. Countless people come here to seek salvation... and wealth. Poor knights from the West can also transform themselves into lords of a city here."

Lothar stood on the pier, stepping onto solid ground for the first time in several days. His steps were unconsciously a little erratic, but Prajna helped him in time.

"Get ready to go. It's not far from Jerusalem. If we reach our destination early, we can rest better."

The Kirk was handed over to the captain, but all the wealth of the merchants on the ship was requisitioned by him to serve as "sacred funding" for the defense of the Holy Land.

Just walked out not long ago.

At this time, Lothar saw a team coming down from the pier. They were carrying flags with yellow crosses, and most of them were wearing dark red and white blouses.

They are well-equipped and look like professional sergeants and knights.

The leading knight held the horse and asked directly: "This familiar standing lion emblem, are you from the Habsburg family?"

"You are?"

Lothar frowned.

The Habsburgs were not a very prominent family, and their influence was limited to Swabia and Bavaria.

He really didn't expect that he would be recognized not long after he got off the boat.

"I am Kevin McKidd, a knight loyal to Baron Godfrey of Ibelin. This is the young master I serve, the only heir to Baron Ibelin, Lord Balian."

Lothar cast his gaze behind the knight, the young man wrapped in a dark red robe.

It turns out that this person is the real owner, but he doesn't seem to have any sense of existence.

"I am Lothar of Allgäu, the Habsburg family, the second son of Count Werner, and a landless knight."

Lothar nodded to the other party: "It's an honor to meet you, Sir Balian of Ibelin, Knight Kevin."

"Knight Lothar, your father and my master are very good friends. They served His Majesty the King together in the Royal Knights of Jerusalem. I witnessed with my own eyes their deep friendship as they fought side by side."

Kevin Knight looked at Lothar's burqa, with a hint of nostalgia in his eyes: "This style of robe is really nostalgic."

The Royal Order of Jerusalem is clearly not a military order like the Knights of the Temple and Hospitallers.

Rather, it is an honorary title similar to that of the Knights of the Golden Fleece of Burgundy in later generations, representing a kind of rank and glory.

"It's just that I don't understand why he didn't choose to stay in the Holy Land, but returned to a poor mountain valley like Switzerland and became a country count."

"To be honest, I don't understand what he was thinking - I always thought he returned to Swabia because he could no longer survive in the Holy Land."

Lothar shrugged.

He had heard of the other party's name, one of the few comrades in the Holy Land whom Count Werner had briefly mentioned.

Baron Godfrey of Ibelin.

The Ibelin family is not simple. Although it is only a baron, the gold content of this baron is still not comparable to that of Count Werner of Allgäu.

First of all, Ibelin is so close to Jaffa. It is a trading city with developed commerce. There is an endless stream of caravans passing by. Just collecting taxes is a huge amount of revenue.

In addition, the size of the Kingdom of Jerusalem was limited, and there were only a dozen named barons in total.

Baron Ibelin is obviously one of the best. He is a close confidant of King Baldwin and a die-hard royalist. He has more than one fief of Ibelin to his name.

On the way here, Lothar was thinking about how to get involved with them. Unexpectedly, he happened to meet the other party's heirs and retainers here.

Knight Kevin asked: "Knight Lothar, are you planning to go to the Holy City?"

"That's right. Now that we have arrived at the Holy Land, how can we restrain our eagerness to rush to the Holy City immediately to pay homage to the Holy Sepulcher and the Cathedral of the Cross on the Mount of Olives?"

"Ha, that's true. If you don't mind, let's go together. The Baron is waiting in Jaffa City. I think he will be very happy to see himself and the son of his old friend at the same time."

"That couldn't be better."

Lothar chatted with the other party with a smile on his face: "Belrian, are you a Gaul? Maybe it would be more appropriate for me to call you Balian."

Balian nodded slightly: "Yes, that's right, Knight Lothar."

"Belian, you seem a little reserved?"

"Indeed... I am not a noble. What I mean is that I was just a blacksmith, so I am not good at dealing with people like you."

"I see."

Lothar nodded and said: "But with all due respect, you don't need to be restrained at all. In this era, there are many nobles who are as despicable as villains. As long as you have a noble soul, even a blacksmith can be proud of the prince."

Balian's situation, to put it bluntly, is the legalization of illegitimate children, which is not uncommon in this era.

It is more common in families that have no heirs. Of course, due to weak claims, the inheritance rights are forcibly taken away by relatives of powerful nobles.

In the Middle Ages, there was a legal principle, but in the final analysis, it still relied on fists.

ps: Many of the contents of the movie Kingdom of Heaven are artistically processed or even fabricated out of thin air. For example, Balian is not an illegitimate child at all, but the third son of the family, and he is not as young as in the movie.

The point here is, don’t try to learn history from novels.

Because the author stated that he would use some movie plots, fabricate some plots, and finally add a small part of historical plots.