People in the Middle Ages, draw cards to get promoted - Chapter 864 Who else would you rather me?

"How dare you come here!"

"Why are you embarrassed?"

Losa reached out and took down a hardcover book from the bookshelf. Whether it was the calfskin cover inlaid with gold foil and silver thread, or the snow-white paper inside, it showed that it was very expensive.

"Tsk, are Jaffa and Ashkelon so wealthy? A complete set of hardcover books. I thought only the princes and nobles of the Eastern Empire who monopolized the silk weaving industry would buy such flashy things."

Sibyl was furious: "You have made it so difficult to sell indulgences in the place where your bookshop was built, and now you have the nerve to say that this is just some kind of gaudy thing."

The reason why many workshops under Losa are doing so hot is not only because of their outstanding quality, but also to a considerable extent because of Losa's "star effect". The slogan "If you don't buy, you're not a Christian" is really terrible in this era.

Losa was embarrassed for a moment.

This propaganda strategy was indeed what he instructed to Malus, who was in charge of the printing workshop. According to the church, Lothar had gained a huge amount of "good deeds" by regaining the Holy Land, which was enough to be allocated to believers to atone for their sins.

The twists and turns involved cannot be described in a few words, but when it reaches Losa's hands, there is often only a piece of paper saying "everything is going well".

Kurth is an expert at this kind of shady tactics. If he randomly selects a few elite woodland archers, they can form a first-rate assassination gang of this era. As for open struggles, Lothar is not afraid of them at all.

"In fact, I came here specifically to see you, Your Highness Sibylla. Do you not understand why His Majesty Baldwin wants to pass the throne to me?"

Sibylla took a deep breath and sneered, "I don't understand. Not only do I not understand my brother, but I also don't understand why you, Lothar, already own the whole of Egypt, and yet you still want to covet the throne of our Anjou family?"

If Jerusalem were not a holy place for three religions, there would be an endless stream of pilgrims every year, giving the city vitality.

It was just an ordinary, remote town. If it weren't for the frequent support of pilgrims and Crusaders from Europe, the entire kingdom would have been razed to the ground by the Ayyubid dynasty long ago.

In addition, the port of Ella, the key to the Red Sea, the richest place in the entire Kingdom of Jerusalem, was also in Lothar's hands. Sibylla really couldn't understand why Lothar wanted to compete with him for an insignificant throne of Jerusalem.

"Your Highness, Jerusalem does not belong to any one person or family."

Sibyl snorted and raised her white chin: "You have a giant dragon, those witches, and an elite and powerful army. If I were you, I could do it too."

She knew she was making a specious argument, but what could she do? Admit that she was inferior to others, and admit that Jerusalem was far better in Lothar's hands than in hers?He stood up, took a piece of cheese pie from the table and placed it in front of himself.

"Your Highness Sibilla, you are actually very talented, but what you have learned and what you can do is never to make more pies, but to compete with others and share the same pie."

Seeing Sibylla was eager to refute, Lothar raised his hand and said, "Your Highness, please don't be anxious. This is actually not the reason why His Majesty chose me to succeed the throne of Jerusalem."

Lothar still did not give Sibylla a chance to refute: "I know, this is easy to understand. After all, Jaffa is a port city. The biggest income here is tariffs and commercial taxes. Even in times of war, the rulers rely more on the guilds in the city to provide town militias instead of recruiting peasants to join the army."

"But if we follow the same line of thought, my territory in Transjordan should be completely barren except for the port of Ella."

Sibylla was stunned. The sacred trees in New Habsburg and Sinai Peninsula had long become famous holy sites. Every year, countless people came here to pay homage. Zoroastrians, Copts, Jews, Catholics, and Orthodox Christians all regarded this place as a miracle of God.

Sibyl was no exception.

Many castles and towns such as New Habsburg and Alanderle have grown in size and have an increasing number of settled populations, and they have taken shape as the rudiments of a city.

You have to know that these places were barren lands before. The new Habsburg established by Lothar was a purely military fortress built to guard against the Saracens in the east.

Losa said calmly: "Ask yourself, are these changes only due to the attraction of the sacred tree? You should know that from a utilitarian point of view, these territories have always been negative-yield assets for me. The investment I put into them is much more than the taxes I collected."

Sibilla's voice was a little hoarse: "Like what Bellian is doing now?"

"Is this why you were able to gather an army of tens of thousands to fight against the pagans?"

"Yes, they are willing to fight to protect their land, and they are also willing to fight for me who has given them a good life, because they know very well that without me, no one will treat them so well again."

Lothar looked into Sibylla's beautiful eyes and asked, "This is why His Majesty Baldwin chose me to be the King of Jerusalem instead of you. He couldn't do it, and neither can you."

Sibilla suddenly realized what Losa and Baldwin were thinking. She widened her eyes and said, "You want to push your own practices in your territory to the whole country? This is totally asking for trouble! They won't accept it!"

Historically, as a monarch, the people who should be won over the most and not offended the most are the aristocracy.

If the peasants were to suffer, at most a group of them would become bandits and the news would probably not even reach the king's ears, as the local nobles would have joined forces to wipe them out.

If you make the nobles suffer, you might actually lose the throne.

"In fact, I didn't want to take over this mess at first, but His Majesty the King seems to be determined to abdicate. Unless we put him under house arrest, I'm really worried that if we're not careful, he'll take his old servant and run off to become a knight-errant."

Losa smiled and said the last thing in his heart: "But then I thought, if I don't do this, who will do it?"

He bowed humbly and said, "Your Highness, I will take over the throne of Jerusalem, even if it means starting a civil war, because who else can take this position but me?"

In fact, he felt that the situation would not reach the point of a civil war.

Although he had to snatch food from the nobles and the church, Lothar had no intention of knocking the nobles to the ground with one blow. That was simply unrealistic. Although cutting flesh was painful, it was better than having a dragon flying over his head.