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

Early in the morning.

Lothar woke up from meditation and felt that her mind was very active, without any sense of sluggishness when she first woke up.

Look up.

Prajna, who was holding an ancient book with a worn cover and reading it, looked up at the right time and said: Good morning.

Lothar replied: Good morning.

He asked curiously: What book are you reading?

Gaul Wars.

Lothar said Oh: Are you going to start learning how to lead troops in war?

The War of Gaul is a military book written by Gaius Julius Caesar describing his experiences in conquering Gaul.

Prajna pointed to the two old books on the table: Well, there are also Civil War Chronicles and Long March Chronicles. I have already read these two books. You can also read them in your spare time.

Lothar said seriously: When I finish handling the trivial matters at hand, I will seriously calm down and read.

Maybe it was because he had been lingering outside the door for a long time, or maybe it was just a coincidence.

As a top assassin, Cellinina heard footsteps at the right time.

Then there was a knock on the door: Sir, are you awake?

Come in, the door is unlocked.

Cellinina entered the room.

Today she wore a jacket that looked like a hooded windbreaker from later generations, and a linen shirt underneath, which was very in line with the characteristics of this era.

Although there was no emotion on her face, Lothar could still tell that she was a little nervous.

Fringilla, who had just woken up from under the quilt and opened her eyes, stuck out her head and asked, Nina, do you want to go shopping? I slept a little late last night, and I want to sleep a little longer.

Go on to sleep, Fulin, I can't play with you today.

After Chelinina comforted Fringilla, she looked at Lothar again.

Her voice was a little reserved: Sir, I heard Jeanne say last night that you plan to give me the task of resettling the refugees?

Yes, I have this idea. I originally wanted to tell you last night.

Lothar paused slightly and asked, Is there any difficulty in coming to me so early?

Cellinina nodded slightly: It's my lord. I have never done anything similar. I am worried that I will mess things up.

“Just because you haven’t done it, doesn’t mean you can’t do it well.”

I never thought that one day I would lead troops to fight.

Lothar pointed to the chair opposite and motioned for Cellinina to sit down: What is your cultural level? In addition to Chinese, what other languages ​​and writings do you know?

Chelinina was stunned for a moment, then spoke a string of words that sounded hot but still pleasant to the ear.

Is this Italian?

Lothar was a little confused.

He came to the Holy Land via the Veneto sea route. He did not take the traditional Messina route, so he had not personally visited the southern part of the Apennine Peninsula.

For Italian, his impression was still in the North Apennines.

Chelinina's face turned slightly red, she wrung her hands together and said softly: Sorry, my accent is a bit strong.

Lothar joked: Fortunately, you didn't put your five fingers together to make that gesture?

Otherwise, Lothar would be reminded of Lord Corleone in the movie The Godfather.

Is that so?

Cellinina gestured and said seriously: This is indeed very useful. Sometimes when we can't distinguish each other's dialects, we will use gestures to communicate.

Lothar joked: So sign language is the real common language on the Apennine Peninsula, right?

Probably because his attitude was indeed reassuring, Cellinina, who was sitting tensely, gradually relaxed.

She continued: I know some Austrian and Gascon, where I was trained as an assassin.

Lothar thought thoughtfully: In other words, you can speak some Germanic and Gaulish, and that's enough.

The people assigned to you this time are all Franks. If you are proficient in these three languages, you can communicate with most people.

The Frankish Empire established by Charlemagne included northern Apennines, Gaul and the entire Germania, which happened to correspond to these three languages.

Lothar continued: Can you write Latin?

Cellinina nodded and said, Well, many of the family's classics are recorded in Latin.

There is an inheritance relationship between Italian and Latin, but this inheritance relationship is farther than the inheritance relationship between ancient Chinese and Simplified Chinese.

Typically, mastery of Italian in no way equates to the ability to read and write Latin.

From this point of view, Prajna is the most knowledgeable and talented of all people.

She can speak almost any language and understand all classics.

Resettling the citizens is actually the same as settling immigrants in the New World. Your family has roots in the New World, so you should be familiar with this kind of thing.

Cellinina was slightly startled: Sorry, sir, I returned to the Two Sicilies to receive traditional training when I was very young. Later... the family was destroyed.

Lothar's face stiffened slightly and she said softly: I'm sorry to mention this - but Miss Chelinina, you have to have confidence in your talent. This is not a very difficult thing.

He said bluntly: What do you think is the most important thing for resettling the people in the territory?

Chelinina thought for a moment and said tentatively: Divide the fields?

Yes, the land in New Habsburg is relatively fertile. If it is allocated here, it should be allocated less. If it is allocated in a remote place, it should be allocated more.

In addition, the new residents are all self-cultivating farmers. Coupled with the tax-free policy and free rental of farm equipment in the border area, the taxes they can collect will be far less than the income in the initial stage.

Therefore, we cannot allocate too much land to them out of benevolence, because they may not be able to cultivate it all. If it is abandoned, it will increase their burden.

Taxes are collected based on land shares.

Chelinina frowned and nodded: I understand, is there anything else you want to remind me of?

Lothar raised her hand and subconsciously wanted to pat her shoulder. Halfway through, she felt a little abrupt and stopped.

I know you are worried that you will mess things up, but it is not easy to do well in resettling the people, and it is also difficult to mess up, so just go ahead and do it.

After Lothar finished speaking, she raised her tone again: Jeanna, stop eavesdropping outside. Come in too.

Jeanne walked through the door awkwardly.

Lothar said to her: I said last night that since you are responsible for the expansion of the army, in addition to training, recruiting is also your responsibility.

You have to communicate with Chelinina about this matter.

You can select some experienced veterans from the new citizens as the backbone, but the number should not be too large, because as young and strong laborers, they will still need to contribute to reclaiming wasteland and building houses.

In addition, the three cities of Hebron, Alandre, and Filhorn need to train urban militia. They will maintain law and order in peacetime and assist in defending the city in wartime.

Because urban citizens are often relatively wealthy and can bring their own weapons and equipment.

Of course, you can also pay money in exchange for exemption from service, which is equivalent to the shield tax paid by knight nobles. In this way, we can save part of the expenses to train the standing army.

Every free citizen who settles in the territory of Lothar has the obligation to serve.

Serfs and heretics did not need to perform military service and were just pure providers, but this was not something to be envied because they were customarily taxed heavily.

There are also farmers and soldiers trained by the knights of the order. You can also select some of the outstanding ones as the backbone.

In a month I will see a new standing army fully manned - three hundred light infantry, one hundred light cavalry, and five hundred heavy infantry.

Light infantry refers to the projectile arms including slingers, archers, harpooneers, etc.

Heavy infantry refers to the troops that form frontal formations and maintain the front line.

Light and heavy are classified according to occupations, not according to the weight of equipment.

Jeanne admired: What a big deal, you expanded the army to nearly a thousand people in one go. Where did you get rich from?

Lothar said angrily: You don't have to worry about money. There are a lot of old weapons and armors stored in the arsenal. If you don't make good use of them, they will rust.

Having said that, Lothar does still have a lot of money left on hand, but resettling the people and reclaiming wasteland are all net investments at this stage, and it can be said that money is flowing like water.

The number of direct fiefdoms increased and became a burden.

Sometimes, Lothar had to admit that although the enfeoffment system was not conducive to centralization, it was absolutely worry-free!

Jeanne said sternly: Since you said so, let me take care of this matter. Give me a month, and I promise to return you a decent army.

It’s been a month, and it’s pretty good to have something in place.

Lothar nodded and looked at Cellinina again.

She no longer refused and said seriously: I will do my best.

Lothar waved his hand and said: Don't try too hard. The number of people you recruit should not be too large. Too many people will be too heavy for the current burden on the territory. Let's limit it to five thousand people.

That is to say, the Eastern Crusaders are still worried about overpopulation.

If it were placed in the Northern Crusade, a bunch of border lords would have large tracts of land, which was in short supply for farmers to cultivate.

But unfortunately, compared to the Iberian Crusade and the Eastern Crusade, the Northern Crusade had too few participants, limited to the three Scandinavian countries and the North Germanic region.

The most important territories of Germania are in the southern regions of Swabia and Bavaria.

…

In the afternoon.

Outside an inconspicuous mansion.

Following Lothar's order, a group of fully armed Crusader sergeants broke open the door of the mansion and rushed in like wolves and tigers.

Some knights who are nervous about money have been gearing up for a long time, hoping to take this opportunity to make a small fortune.

Hans hesitated and whispered, I'll go in and take a closer look.

Lothar frowned, knowing that Hans meant well.

No, just let them do what they want. The owner of this mansion is a Jewish businessman named Fredman. He has a very bad reputation. He is not only engaged in human trafficking, loan sharking, opening casinos and other industries, but he is also the one who hoards the most food. Businessmen, it is most appropriate to use him to scare the monkeys.

Besides, if you don't use their money to feed your subordinates, who will be willing to do their best for you in the future?

Hans was slightly startled, hesitated, and then said: I want to save those women and children. There are always innocent people in this mansion.

Lothar frowned and said, Okay, as long as you are watching, don't let them go too far.

Speaking of which, this Jewish businessman was also unlucky.

Human trafficking sells black slaves and prisoners of war.

Lending money and opening a casino are crimes that will not lead to death - at least, the whole family will not die.

However, although they are all hoarding food speculators and they all have backing, this group of Jews do not, at least not on the surface, so who are they to blame if they are not to cause trouble for these people?

Bad luck is bad luck.

But is it unjust?

It's not unfair either.

In this era, if ten moneylenders lined up to be hanged on the gallows one by one, at most half of them would be unjust.

As Lothar said, the first company simply chose a notorious Jewish businessman to scare the monkeys.

The second one is much more honest.

In front of the sword, he quickly handed over the food obediently, but no matter how many questions Hans asked, he refused to tell the mastermind behind it.

Forget it, there's no need to worry about who instigated it. I wouldn't be surprised if this kind of thing involves the church.

Lothar frowned. He could not treat his brothers as fiercely as he treated the heretics. His core interests were not in Jerusalem.

The various forces here are so intertwined that, in Lothar's view, it would be more comfortable to deal with the heretics with a sword.

He glanced at the man who was tied up by the soldiers: Mr. Keitel, since you voluntarily handed over the stored grain and donations, a virtuous person like you will definitely not engage in loan sharking. Let's leave now.

The bald Jewish businessman named Keitel suddenly showed an expression of surviving the disaster on his face: Yes, I voluntarily donated food to alleviate the famine in the city.

My lord, thank you for your kindness.

Before going out.

Lothar paused slightly: Mr. Keitel, if you want to live longer, it's best not to engage in this dangerous business again.

A wry smile appeared on Keitel's face: Your Majesty, Earl, once people like us get on the ship, will there be a chance to get off again?

Lothar was silent for a moment.

Then I can only pray that next time, you can still come up with the 'money' to avoid disaster.

Keep going out.

He really had no choice. As long as he, Keitel, could no longer provide them with enough benefits from the great nobles or bishops he was backing, he would definitely end up in a bad end.

The great nobles and clergy had to cherish their feathers, which was why these Jewish merchants were valuable.

At this time.

A knight in a blue robe ran towards this side: Please get out of the way, I want to see the Earl.

Lothar recognized the other party's identity at a glance: Long time no see, Kevin Knight, why are you here?

Knight Kevin took off his helmet respectfully, saluted, and said in a low voice: My Lord Earl, my lord invites you to be a guest in the manor to discuss tomorrow's palace meeting.

Okay, I understand, please wait a moment.

Lothar looked at Hans and asked, Do you understand what I did?

Hans nodded: I understand, we are not here to seek justice for the victims, but to stop the 'food shortage' problem in the city.

Yes, don't expand. The current situation in the Holy Land is for stability.

Lothar patted him on the shoulder: The rest of the matter will be left to you. This will also be a test for you.

Hans said Yeah and said solemnly: I will do it well.

After doing this, Lothar turned over and mounted his mount, and said to Knight Kevin: Let's go, I haven't seen Baron Godfrey for a long time. Is he in good health?

Lothar didn't see Baron Godfrey at the competition between witches and knights yesterday, which was obviously abnormal.

Kevin Knight's face was a little heavy: It's not good. My old injury has occurred again. In the past few days, my legs have been hurting so much at home that I can't even ride a horse.

Lothar frowned.

Even excluding his friendship with Baron Godfrey, this old baron is also his most important political ally at the moment. Before Balian has grown up, if something happens to this old baron...

Have you asked Bishop Uldin of the Order of Saint Lazarus to take a look?

Not yet. My lord has been recuperating at a manor in the countryside some time ago. He just arrived in the city by carriage today.

Lothar breathed a sigh of relief: That's okay. Bishop Uldin's medical skills are obvious to all of Jerusalem.

Kevin Knight looked calmer: If you say so, I will feel more relieved.

Lothar reacted: Why, are you afraid that Bishop Uldin's reputation is all due to my praise?

Kevin smiled awkwardly and said: I don't dare.