Chapter 812 The Fourth Crusade

Alexander.

The sky has turned bright.

When a sleeping soldier suddenly opened his eyes, he was immediately startled by the heads of people surrounding the bed: "Heavenly Father!"

The comrades in his tent were all gathered together at this time.

"Tell me, how was the decisive battle?"

"Did we defeat those Brits?"

Looking at his eager companions, the soldier who had just woken up couldn't help but smile: "Of course, not only did we win, we also had an unforgettable banquet. The girls from Texas are so enthusiastic. very."

The soldiers in the military camp suddenly let out bursts of unwilling wailing.

"What about the process?"

"What's the specific process?"

they asked again.

The soldier cleared his throat and adjusted his posture: "This will start from that morning when the enemy was in total."

From the military camp on the side, an excited shout suddenly came out: "We won!"

As if a signal, in the early morning, a wave of cheers erupted from various military camps one after another.

The soldiers came to the outside of the military camp with joy. The officers who received Lothar's order ordered a large number of wine barrels and dishes to be moved out, and a bonfire was set up in the camp. The smell of barbecue spread throughout Alexandria.

Some Crusader nobles who were sleeping soundly were frightened by the movement and drew their swords: "Have the Saracens made a comeback?"

After a long time, after learning that it was Lothar's soldiers who were having a party, they lay back on the bed cursing.

"These people are absolutely crazy!"

"Your Majesty actually allows them to mess around!"

Standing at the highest point of the 400-foot-high Alexandria Lighthouse, Lothar looked at this scene with a smile on his face. This time the combat record was successfully completed, and he felt quite proud of it.

The aftereffects of merging with the mountain spirit also disappeared after he returned to the main world.

"The next step is to recover the entire Egypt step by step."

He looked back at Prajna, who had successfully completed her promotion, and reached out to take her into his arms.

And just when Lothar was preparing to swallow up the entire Egypt, go up the Nile River, and take control of the fertile flood plains, river valleys, oases, towns and villages, and make the crown on his head worthy of the name.

On the Adriatic coast, gathered here in the Crusaders' camp waiting to take the boat to the Holy Land.

King Béla III from Hungary, wearing Byzantine scale armor and the crown of St. Stephen, broke in under the escort of a group of Magyar cavalry.

He went straight to the highest point of the camp, a stand originally designed to hold knightly competitions.

"Fellow believers in God, standing before you is the King of Hungary and Croatia who carries the will of Saint Stephen. I came here because I wanted to go to the Holy Land with you and participate in the great cause of jihad."

"But the land where Christ stood - Jerusalem, and the Patriarchate of Alexandria - have returned to the glory of God. What is the point of setting off now?"

Bella III emotionally shouted: "Are we traveling thousands of miles to sell off our family properties, manors, and titles at very low prices just to get a handful of soil from the Holy Land?"

Many of the crusaders had reached the point of no retreat.

The traveling expenses they paid when they came were all obtained by selling off their property or even mortgaging their territory. The buyers were not easy to deal with. They were either churches or princes from various countries who stayed behind. This led to them being stranded in Dalmatia. .

"So what do we do now?"

Many Crusader soldiers and nobles looked sad: "At the height of the war, we were unable to afford the rising shipping fees. Now that the war is over, we don't know where to go to participate in the holy war."

Bela III raised his arms and shouted: "Believers, in the east, the Queen of Cities, the throat of the world, has countless silks, spices, gold and silver pouring into it every day."

"When the goods there are shipped to your and my territory, one gold coin can be sold for ten or twenty gold coins."

"Egypt has been recovered. If we go there again, it will be difficult for us to make any meritorious deeds. The new Crusader King Lothar has always been known for his stinginess and greed. All the glory belongs to him alone, and he will not share half of the profit with you."

Some people have doubts about this, but in this situation, it is not easy to stand up and refute. After all, no matter how generous Lothar is, he will not allocate territory to them, the latecomers who have not made any merit, for no reason.

There is no mistake. One post, one content, one 6 one, one book, one book, one read!

A Crusader noble shouted loudly: "Your Majesty, no matter how rich the Queen of Constantinople is, she will not give us half a cent. What do you want to say?"

Bella III burst out laughing: "That's not what I want to say. Dear believers, please listen to the most orthodox royal descendant of the Eastern Empire, Prince Alexios from the great Angelos family."

He pointed behind him. The prince of the Eastern Empire, who was wearing a gorgeous purple robe and a golden crown, strode onto the stage and stood in front of Bella III: "Everyone, the throne of the empire is being taken over by a shameless Dukas bitch. She took over the throne and murdered the late emperor. , claiming to be the Queen Regent, usurped the throne, and launched a war against the Christian compatriots in Sicily. She turned the sacred palace into a place of sexual pleasure, imprisoned the loyal ministers, and persecuted the descendants of the ancient emperor - her crimes, I can Talk about three days and three nights.”

"Everyone, come and join my just cause - I promise here that if you can help me regain the throne, wealth, official titles, and even the empire's territory in Asia Minor, I will not hesitate to give them."

The Crusader nobles looked at each other in bewilderment. They could never have imagined that the way out given by Bella III was to go to war with the Eastern Empire of the same clan.

Some Crusader lords withdrew on the spot, saying that they participated in the Eastern Expedition for redemption. Egypt was liberated, and they could go to the Levant to continue fighting. Pointing swords at fellow believers was an unjust act, and what was the difference between them and the lowly and shameless mercenaries?

But more Crusader lords were still quite pragmatic and planned to continue listening to the prince's words.

Some people wanted to join, but were a little afraid: "We are ordered by His Majesty the Pope to go to the East to fight against the pagans. If we give up halfway and go to war with our own believers, I am afraid that we will be excommunicated by the Pope."

Alexius IV laughed and said, "Don't worry, if we win this battle, I will start to promote the bridging of the rift between the Eastern and Western Churches, so that the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church will be unified. At that time, they will all respect His Majesty the Pope as their leader. He will have no time to reward you, so how can he blame you for this?"

As soon as these words came out, Alexius had convinced most of the Crusader lords present.

The rest were just worried about the high walls of Constantinople. They had no money left, let alone recruiting craftsmen and building siege weapons all the way to advance. Even maintaining daily military supplies was quite difficult.

The prince struck while the iron was hot: "I know you are worried that this battle will be difficult to win, but I have reached an alliance agreement with the Venetians, and they will provide all the military supplies for this battle."

"The Venetians are the richest in the world and have the most powerful fleet in the Mediterranean. If we form an alliance, we can make the minions of the false emperor Lagaia who attacked Sicily trapped and killed on the island of Sicily."

"And we only need to take the Venetian ships to land in the open areas along the coast of Thessalonica or Thrace. At that time, we only need to fly the flag of the orthodox emperor Angelos to make the enemy open the city gates, surrender to us, and provide military supplies to support us to fight to Constantinople."

Alexios IV said with great joy, as if he had already seen the scene of himself leading his troops into the city.

During this period, the most famous person on the entire Mediterranean coast was the Crusader King who conquered Aeguptus.

But what would his achievements be compared to me who took back Constantinople? No matter how fertile Aegyptus is, how can it be as important as Constantinople, which has the wealth of the world?