Chapter 133 The Allegiance of Vassals

Pepin rode past a procession of pagan pilgrims on his steed, his mount draped in a dressy vest depicting his personal coat of arms in red bull.

After much thought today, he decided to withdraw from the Royal Knights and become an "honorary knight", that is, a nominal member. He no longer needs to fulfill his obligations and has lost his "salary."

He hopes to serve Lothar and become a fief knight.

On the one hand, he admired the lord who had led them to successive victories.

On the other hand, he believed that serving Lothar had a better future than staying in the Royal Knights. In less than a month, Lothar was promoted from baron to earl of Transjordan.

If it weren't for the age difference, he would have suspected that Lothar was the illegitimate son of Baldwin IV.

Go into the city.

Pepin was startled.

“Father in heaven, is this Hebron so rich?”

Many Jerusalemites have never been to Hebron once in their lives, because it is a holy land for the pagans and is full of pagans who should be at war with them.

Bethlehem (also translated as Bethlehem) slightly to the north is completely different. Because it is the birthplace of Jesus Christ, there is an endless stream of pilgrims every year.

Baldwin IV once wanted to entrust this place to Lothar.

But after discussing it privately with Lothar, he decided to give up the idea.

Because there are many churches in Bethlehem and there are countless real estates belonging to the church, only one-third of the entire city belongs to Lothar, the secular lord.

You know, even Jerusalem donates a quarter of its taxes every year to the Cathedral of the Holy Sepulchre.

This was a rule set down by Godfrey of Bouillon, the first king of Jerusalem (who only claimed to be the Guardian of the Holy Sepulchre, but was an uncrowned king).

And Lothar, with his current power, would not be able to attack the church's real estate.

He is not the French king who dared to bring about the Prisoner of Avignon in his previous life.

The religious power of this era was still at its peak. Even the emperor of Germania Magna and Hohenstaufen would be in a state of distress when the Pope gave an order.

But Hebron is different.

No matter how much he tormented the local tyrants of the pagans, he would only be regarded as a "faith fanatic who inherited his father's style."

He wanted to "intensively cultivate" Hebron and develop this city full of pagans into the foundation for his rise, and then use this to gradually control the entire earldom.

This will be quite a long process.

After handling these internal affairs, Lothar will consider external expansion. He will not start provocations like Leonard. Once he decides to fight, he must ensure that he has enough chance of winning.

"Ulm!"

At a glance, Pepin saw standing outside the lord's hall. The local powerful men who had just helped the pagans recover their debts were about to return to Ulm to report to Lothar.

"Pipin! Why are you here?"

Ulm came up with a group of winged cavalry.

"I quit the Knights."

Ulm was surprised: "How is that possible? Haven't you been promoted to Flag Officer? You obviously have a great future, why did you quit?"

"Ha, I always feel uncomfortable when I'm not with you. Anyway, you are still the grand leader. If I follow him, it's no different from staying in the knights."

He chatted and laughed familiarly with the hussars.

The friendship of fighting side by side on the battlefield is still quite stable when there is no conflict of interest.

Ulm said quickly: "Come in with us quickly. The Lord is holding a banquet. You come at the right time."

At this time, in the main hall, Lothar was chatting happily with a baron wearing a red robe with a golden fire dragon emblem on it.

This baron, who is said to be distantly related to the Wessex royal family in Albion, is named Argon Rudolf. He is the largest baron with real power in the earldom of Transjordan - the lord of Petra.

In this war with Saladin, he accepted the command of Lothar, and the two had a friendship of fighting side by side.

His territory was far away from Hebron, but he returned to Jerusalem with the king.

He originally wanted to pay a visit, but after learning from Hans that Lothar had rushed to the fief, he immediately followed without stopping, leading his retinue and knights.

When he saw Lothar for the first time, he quickly stepped forward, kissed the heraldic ring on Lothar's finger, and knelt on one knee to express his allegiance to him.

"My lord, I, Argonne Rudolf, am willing to serve you. Please accept my allegiance."

Lothar quickly helped him up and performed a scene of "deep love between king and minister" with him.

This is also the reason why Lothar held a banquet.

Although he received the titles of Lord of Hebron and Count of Transjordan, these vassals were previously loyal to Leonard.

In other words, even if Lothar became their lord according to the law, before they expressed their allegiance to Lothar, they were still counted as Leonard's vassals.

Even if they refused to fulfill their obligations to Lothar, others would have no reason to blame them.

Lothar only retained the power to attack him, but could not appeal to Baldwin IV, because this was a request for the intervention of external forces, which would definitely cause a backlash and discredit him.

Because this matter itself is an internal matter within the earldom of Transjordan. Once he cannot solve it himself, he will be regarded as the king's mouthpiece, lackey and minion.

Not a good reputation in this day and age.

Even King Philip of Gaul still occupies the position of owner of the island of Gaul (the royal territory surrounding Paris, similar to the Zhili Province). In addition, the vast territory is not affected by King Philip at all. control.

The nobles of this era generally believed that it was best for the king to take care of his own affairs, not to interfere in the affairs of his vassals at will, and not to summon vassals at every turn. It was best not to have any contact with each other until death.

Encountering an invasion by a foreign enemy is a special situation.

Therefore, Lothar's first priority now is to accept the loyalty of all vassals.

Fortunately, Lothar led the knights of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the southern territories to achieve impressive results.

Many of them naturally have a good impression of Lothar.

In addition, the upgraded angel statue can increase the favorability of the direct vassals. Therefore, the vassals who came to see him still gave Lothar face.

But giving face doesn't mean that you won't despise it.

In their view, the majesty of this new lord was far inferior to that of the formidable Earl Leonard of the past.

But this is something to be thankful for.

No one wants to have a powerful lord on their head. As vassals, they prefer to decentralize power, but as lords, they hope to strengthen their control over the territories of their knights.

This is human nature. Even Lothar did not want Baldwin IV to interfere in matters in his court.

At this time, Pepin strode over and knelt down to Lothar: "Sir, I have given up all positions and titles in the Knights, and I only wish to serve under your command."

The atmosphere became quiet.

Because they all know that they will witness a sacred ceremony of canonizing knights.

Lothar did not hesitate. Even if he had to buy horse bones for thousands of gold, he had to be generous once, and could not fool him with a fief like a mill or a bridge.

He put the sword on the opponent's shoulder and said loudly.

"Pipin, you once served under me and made many meritorious deeds. However, because you are a knight of the Royal Knights, I cannot give you a fief. Now, since you choose to be loyal to me, I will make you a knight." Lord of the Negev.”

The Negev is a village with a population of nearly six hundred and a small copper mine.

It can be regarded as a top-notch knight's fief.

Of course, after Pepin was transformed into a hussar later, he could essentially only serve as the "tax collector" (jue) of the Negev.

In fact, in other words, the vassal tax collected by Lothar is higher and the control over the local area is deeper.

He will not be stingy with the salary he deserves.

Although Lothar could not pay a penny to the soldiers who had transferred jobs, and could even let them work under other lords, and then transfer the money to Lothar after they earned it.

Capitalists will cry when they hear this.

But Lothar is not a devil!

Soldiers who have been transferred are more loyal, but that doesn't mean Lothar will squeeze this loyalty.

Doesn’t that mean “good guys should be held at gunpoint” again?

Loyalty should be praised!

No matter where this loyalty comes from.

Baron Argon praised: "Knight Pepin, I remember you, you are indeed a good warrior. My lord, I must congratulate you for getting a strong helping hand."

Everyone reacted immediately and toasted to Lothar to congratulate him.

Nice words were free of charge, and basket after basket was thrown at Lothar's head. If he hadn't been mentally tough, he might have been lost in people's praise.

Things were going very well.

All the vassals happily saluted Lothar and pledged their allegiance, including those pagan powerful men, who also flattered him and promised to send an extra tax at the end of the month.

No one jumped out to give Lothar a chance to slap him in the face.

This is also understandable.

How long had it been before he extended the invitation?

Those who came so quickly had the intention of showing good will.

If you really don't want to give Lothar face, just don't come.

The guests and hosts enjoyed themselves and bid farewell to these people.

Andreas said happily: "My lord, the gifts they brought are quite large, especially Baron Argon, who gave you ten uncastrated stallions."

Lothar smiled and said: "Lian, the stable master, must be very happy. These are the first stallions in the territory."