Aid and Plans

Lothar spoke frankly. "Your Majesty has given me a mission, but I have too few men at my disposal right now. I need your help, Lord Godfrey."

He explained in detail to Baron Godfrey what Baldwin IV had entrusted to him.

"I have a hundred cavalrymen and twelve knights under my command. How many men do you wish to borrow?"

Baron Godfrey asked with a grave expression.

That many cavalrymen?

Lothar was startled by the forces under Baron Godfrey's command. Few even among the counts of the Empire could rival him in maintaining such a large standing force.

The counts of the Empire referred to those directly subordinate to the Emperor in Greater Germania, rather than counts enfeoffed under various dukes.

Werner was one of them.

If the levied peasant soldiers were included, Baron Godfrey alone could field over a thousand men.

After pondering for a moment, Lothar replied, "At least twenty men, preferably knights. I need someone who can adapt to changing circumstances and is familiar with the terrain and the distribution of powers in the Holy Land."

Godfrey asked leisurely, "What do you intend to do?"

"If you merely plan to burn a few villages, loot and slaughter a few hundred heathen civilians, then ten cavalrymen will be enough. Their martial skills are all quite polished."

Lothar frowned. "Burn villages? Slaughter civilians?"

"I never intended to do that."

War would inevitably harm civilians, but he would never personally massacre those unarmed people.

He could not get past that barrier in his heart.

Lothar's expression turned solemn. "Justice, mercy, punishing evil and rewarding good, never drawing one's sword against the weak—these are the tenets of knighthood."

Godfrey said earnestly, "But His Holiness the Pope once said that killing heathens does not count as murder. Lothar, you must understand that rigid people, whether in the Holy Land or elsewhere, can never accomplish great deeds."

Lothar fell silent for a moment, then shook his head.

"My lord, perhaps you are right. But a person cannot ignore his own conscience. I cannot deceive myself and tell myself that this is right."

Godfrey did not speak for a long while.

Lothar raised his head. On the baron's face, he saw relief, approval, and nostalgia.

He let out a long sigh. "Lothar, you truly do not resemble your father. That is the honest truth."

"Other than your wisdom and courage, you resemble him neither in appearance nor temperament. You are far more handsome than your father."

Godfrey patted Lothar on the shoulder, and the two exchanged smiles.

"Your father was a devout believer. He understood political maneuvering and military strategy, yet he did not possess your kind heart."

"He was called an executioner, a cold-blooded butcher. He never showed mercy to his enemies, nor did he spare the Crusader nobles who colluded with heathens. The Crusader nobles feared him, while the heathens hated and feared him."

Seeing Lothar's strange expression, Godfrey smiled. "But do not worry. Many in both the Baronial faction and the Queen Mother's faction admired Werner's fairness and integrity. No one will take their resentment out on you because of it—at least not openly."

Lothar smiled.

He was not actually afraid of being targeted. A mediocre man was never envied; since he had inherited the protection of Father Werner, there was nothing wrong with a father's debts being repaid by his son.

Still, it was naturally best if there was none of that.

The smile on Godfrey's face gradually faded, revealing a trace of melancholy. "The reason your father left the Holy Land back then was that he had grievances against both me and Your Majesty. Because on many occasions, rather than supporting him, we stood against him."

"He believed that we had betrayed the lofty ideals we once established, begging the heathens for peace instead of fighting resolutely to the end."

A trace of bitterness appeared on Baron Godfrey's face.

Lothar was slightly stunned. Count Werner's past conduct had indeed made him seem like a devout believer.

But this was the first time Lothar realized that he had once been so uncompromising.

Even though the Battle of Montgisard had defeated Saladin, the disparity in strength between the Crusader states and the Kingdom of Ayyub remained enormous. Their sheer scale was there for all to see.

"But looking at it now, he should have come to understand it as well. Otherwise, he would not have sent you to our side."

"Lothar, the fact that Your Majesty entrusted such an important duty to you shows that he thinks highly of you too."

Lothar said solemnly, "I will certainly not disappoint Your Majesty or you."

"Do not put too much pressure on yourself. Returning alive matters more than anything, even if you must bear disgrace. Only by living can there be a future."

"I understand."

Godfrey patted Lothar on the shoulder. "I have a Kurdish cavalry troop under my command. They once served the Zengid Dynasty. After the Zengid Dynasty was destroyed by Saladin, they swore to avenge their lord, even if it meant serving heathens."

Godfrey stared into Lothar's eyes. This counted as one of his greatest secrets.

Although in the Holy Land, Crusader nobles more or less colluded with heathens, and even King Baldwin IV had once exchanged letters with Saladin.

This was absolutely not something that could be brought into the open.

Lothar said decisively, "Then that could not be better. We will take this Kurdish cavalry troop! But the problem is, Saladin will surely pin this matter on the remnants of the Zengid Dynasty."

The Zengid Dynasty had once been the overlord of the Kingdom of Ayyub. Several years ago, Saladin had overthrown it and occupied all its territory, making them the remnants of the previous regime.

Moreover, their power had always been concentrated mainly in places like Aleppo and Antioch, so they were familiar with the terrain.

Count Reynald, formerly the Duke of Antioch, and Count Joscelin III of Edessa had both been defeated by the Zengid Dynasty's armies, losing their lands from that point onward.

And Saladin himself was Kurdish, so it would make sense for this Kurdish cavalry troop to belong to him.

Godfrey chuckled. "What the truth is often does not matter."

Lothar understood as well and nodded. "The Sasanian King lacks a reason to send troops. We only need to give him one."

If Saladin retook Jerusalem, he would become the savior of the entire Zoroastrian world.

His prestige would immediately overshadow that King of Kings of the Sasanian Dynasty.

And on the surface, the Sasanian King could not hinder Saladin either. Otherwise, he would have no way to answer the Zoroastrian believers who longed to reclaim the Holy Land.

Godfrey added with a smile, "Even if there are unreasonable parts, the Sasanian King will cover them up for us."

He looked at the beads of sweat in Lothar's sideburns and smiled. "You should change into a silk robe. It would be cooler, and more fitting for a noble."

"Do not worry. In Jerusalem, silk is not that expensive yet. It only becomes several times more costly after passing through the hands of those miserly merchants. If you cannot afford it, I can give you one."

Lothar hurriedly said, "Then I will not stand on ceremony."

Godfrey froze for a moment, somewhat helpless. "I was only being polite."

Lothar wore a bitter expression. "I truly am out of money. Your Majesty rewarded me with a thousand solidi, but I decided to use that money to equip fifty armored soldiers."

"Provisions, military equipment, soldiers' wages, training grounds—I wish I could split every gold coin in half."

"Fifty armored soldiers?"

Godfrey was stunned.

"Lothar, in the Holy Land, using that money to organize ten cavalrymen would be more useful than fifty armored infantrymen."

Lothar said helplessly, "As a knight, I cannot recruit wandering knights and their retainers. I can only hire mounted soldiers, whose combat power is far inferior to knights, and they are far too expensive."

The battle against the Magyars had made the gap in combat strength between knights and ordinary nomads abundantly clear.

Of course Lothar knew that in this era, cavalry were kings. More precisely, cavalry had always been the undisputed kings until the rise of the great pike formations.

No matter how illustrious Alexander's phalanx was, it could not change the fact that the Companion cavalry had been the decisive force.

Even the Empire's invincible legions, bearing square shields and raising eagle standards, needed to hire barbarian and Nubian auxiliary cavalry.

He also held the Winged Hussar's fleur-de-lis banner, a divine cavalry artifact. He should have been developing cavalry with all his strength.

But knowing was one thing; he could not afford it.

Even without counting the grain needed to feed it, a warhorse alone cost as much as the equipment for several armored soldiers.

"Indeed."

Godfrey was persuaded. He nodded. "It is enough that you have your own considerations. My experience may not necessarily suit your actual circumstances."

"Rest in the city tonight. Tomorrow, we will set out at once and return to Ibelin. You must rendezvous with that Kurdish cavalry troop there."

"By sea?"

"Yes. Ibelin is not far from the coast. I will arrange for you to take a ship north and land at Port of Haifa, then pass through Galilee and enter Ayyubid territory."