paranoianovel Chapter 880: Four-headed alliance?
Chapter 880: Four-headed alliance?
Chapter 880: Four-headed alliance?
Three rows of knights holding lances with Capet's fleur-de-lis, the Golden Lion of Anjou and the red flag of the Toulouse-Tripoli branch tied to the ends of their lances, armed from head to toe and with even their mounts covered in gorgeous horse clothes, surrounded their masters and walked out of the endless crusader camps.
Looking at the six hundred Winged Hussars who had already lined up in neat rows and were waiting, the three alliances had complicated expressions.
Richard actually didn't hate Losa. At most, he was a little jealous, because Losa was really good at fighting, fair and generous, and it was really hard to dislike him.
But their interests conflict with each other, and they cannot be friends.
He had imagined more than once, if there was no Lothar in this world, who else could have been the one to defeat Saladin personally and save the Holy City from danger, known throughout the Christian world?
Philip was mostly envious, but what he envied was not the prosperous territory that Lothar owned, but the lofty prestige he had gained through the holy war. The throne inherited through blood sounded stable and more legal, but in fact everyone knew that it was not as good as the founder of a kingdom.
When he ascended the throne at the age of fifteen, the regency was given to the queen mother. It turned out that a king had to be controlled by others.
Later, in order to get rid of the regency of the kingdom by Queen Mother "Adele of Champagne", he decisively chose to marry the Count of Hainaut. While gaining a strong ally, he also got the territory of Artois as a dowry.
After his strength increased, Philip found that he could finally show a little bit of his authority as a king, so he decisively formed an alliance with the wealthy family of Alsace in Flemish, launched the Champagne War, and completely removed the shackles on his royal power.
But Philip discovered that even if he took back the power of the king, the Capetian royal family was still in the dilemma of not being able to issue orders beyond the island of Gaul.
The nobles in regions such as Anjou, Normandy, and Aquitaine were even more powerful and influential than him, the king. The House of Anjou even obtained a new crown on the overseas island of Albion.
Whenever he wanted to expand his power, the nobles of Gaul would be like fence-sitters, sometimes leaning towards Anjou and sometimes towards Hohenstaufen.
Even though he had expanded the royal territory of the Capetian dynasty by more than four times, he still felt that his power was pitifully small compared to Lothar.
So Philip envied Losa very much. He recorded what he saw and heard in a notebook more than once, and discussed with his servants and staff more than once the consequences and risks of doing so in Gaul.
But no matter what he faced, Philip had no intention of backing down.
Raymond's attitude towards Losa is much more complicated.
Awe, fear, resistance, anger, unwillingness
The royal power was once in the hands of him as the regent, and for a long time he was considered the uncrowned king of Jerusalem.
As the most powerful official in the kingdom, Raymond knew very well what a strong monarch like Lothar would do to him after he came to power.
In his mind, the throne of Jerusalem should not be privately handed over by Baldwin.
But now that Lothar's kingship was an established fact, he had to either fight a war of succession to the throne of Jerusalem or accept it. Raymond, who was nearly 40 years old, chose the latter.
Seeing that the other side had made a spectacular display, as if waiting for an audience with the three of them, the "Three Heads Alliance" looked at each other, and at the same time, they pulled the reins and stopped.
"What do you mean, he's just waiting there for us to come forward and see him?"
Arrogant, so arrogant!
Richard was furious.
"What does he take us to be? His vassals?"
At this time, they saw Leopold, who had been following behind them and had no right to be on par with them, leading a team of cavalrymen with red and white flags, passing by them arrogantly with a smug smile on his face.
It seemed to be saying: "Since you are unwilling to come forward, let me go first."
Raymond couldn't help but sneer: "Look at how proud he is, as if it was not Lothar who was crowned the King of Jerusalem, but Leopold."
"Something that relies on human power."
Richard cursed angrily. He felt that Leopold was not to his liking from the first moment he saw him. He wanted to kick his smiling face to pieces.
Feeling the angry gazes coming from behind, Duke Leopold felt quite proud. There was nothing he could do about it. In terms of status, wealth, and the strength of his subordinates, he was not as good as the others.
After arriving at the Holy Land, he had to endure complaints from his subordinates and exclusion from the triumvirate. He was fed up with being caught in the middle.
Now that Lothar is here, he has a backer, how can he not be proud?
He pulled the reins, jumped off his mount, walked straight to Lothar, knelt down and said:
"Your Majesty, now that you have ascended the throne of King David as a lion, it is truly God's grace to the entire Germanic nation. I have heard that the Saracens call you the King of the Eastern Franks, and now you deserve the title."
"Good day, Sir Leopold."
Lothar returned the greeting and helped Leopold up.
The Austrian duke said cheerfully, "I heard that your majesty has the title of vice-emperor of the Eastern Empire, and is the legitimate Basilius of the Levant and Egypt. If you recapture Syria this time, it will be justified to establish a new Frankish Empire in the East, just like Charlemagne."
Lothar smiled and nodded. If Leopold were in the court, he would definitely be a flatterer who would do anything to please him.
Now it’s the turn of the triumvirate to get restless.
Leopold had already passed them and was the first to meet the emperor. The nobles, both big and small, who were eager to meet the new king were also eager to try. If they didn't step forward at this time, would they just be here as a background?
The three of them looked at each other for a while, and it was Philip, who had the highest status and position, who rode forward first and greeted Lothar.
"Philippe de Capet, King of Gaul, by the grace of God, and as a soldier of Christ, I extend my highest congratulations on your coronation in the holy city of Jerusalem."
Richard's congratulations were a little dry: "God bless you, the new king of Jerusalem."
Although the Kingdom of Jerusalem had a small territory, its sacred halo gave it the authority to govern all Christians who came to the East to participate in the holy war.
This was what Richard had always dreamed of.
Otherwise, at the previous military council, he would not have been ready to compete for the heir to the throne of Jerusalem with the support of Raymond. Compared with the territories in Europe, he hoped to fight forever on the battlefield in the East.
Of course, all this is based on the identity of the supreme commander.
Rather than being inferior to Lothar.
As for Raymond, it was obviously impossible for him to greet him as casually as Philip and Richard.
He dismounted with some difficulty, came to Lothar, and kissed the ring in Lothar's hand that represented the kingship of Jerusalem.
"Your Majesty, I regret to be absent from your coronation."
"Your Excellency is fighting the pagans in the north, which is much more important than attending a coronation. Godfrey of Bouillon resolutely resigned the crown and was willing to be the guardian of the Holy Sepulchre. This shows that compared to fighting the pagans, secular power is insignificant. Don't you agree?"
Raymond looked at the smiling face of Lothar, was silent for a moment, and nodded: "You are right, compared with the great cause of the Eastern Expedition, secular power is unimportant."
Everyone knew this, but after Raymond said this, he could no longer make trouble by saying that Lothar's coronation was illegal, because the struggle for secular power had to give way to the sacred cause of the Crusade.
"Okay, everyone."
Losa helped Raymond up and said with a smile: "Now, the war in Egypt is coming to an end, but the war in Homs is dragging on. What is the reason?"
He was the first to start the trouble.
When he decided to go north, he never thought about joining the so-called "Triumvirate" and becoming the fourth head, or supporting Leopold and becoming the fifth head, two against three.
His intentions were clear when he arrived in Homs.
The Crusaders can only have one head!
Triumvirate?
I am the only one!