The Youngest Prince Of The English Royalty House [EN]: Chapter 28

[28. The Unfair Venice]

-Vienna, Holy Roman Empire-

The Third Crusade, formed mainly by the great Western powers of England and the Holy Roman Empire!

A name that fills the heart with grandeur just by hearing it.

Thanks to the departure ceremony currently taking place in the Papal States,
the Islamic countries in the Middle East are once again on high alert.

The Crusade, driven by the interests of Middle Eastern hegemony and the protection of holy sites!

However, even before the battle with the heathens has begun,
the crusaders were already furious.

This isn’t the usual mistake made by crusaders,
such as, ‘I’ll take this area, you just watch.’

It’s not a conflict within the command that anyone could easily predict.

Originally, Thomas Becket would have been assassinated by the seven nobles who followed Henry II, and the Pope and England would have crossed an irreversible river [created irreparable damage to their relationship].

However, Prince John saved Thomas Becket, leading to the butterfly effect that started the Third Crusade.

And the supreme commanders of this Crusade are
Henry II and Frederick I, who have reigned for many years and made their respective countries powerful!

At this time, when negotiations with the Kingdom of Hungary were about to conclude!
Venice, which was in charge of supplying military provisions through private channels, caused an accident.

Right before the sacred holy war.

“Ha. What are these guys doing?”

“How much did those Venetian merchants skim off?”

“They’re worse than Jews!”

In the Middle Ages, calling someone ‘like a Jew’ was a harsher insult than calling them a ‘bastard.’

The knights spat out that insult.

The Venetian merchants were cursed because they messed with the supplies.

In medieval warfare, supplies were extremely important.

There was the traditional method of looting supplies from occupied enemy territories.
The requisition method of bringing supplies from one’s own territory.

And most importantly,
private supply through merchants or intermediaries.

All three methods were important,
and commanders who knew anything about fighting knew that an army that wasn’t properly supplied couldn’t fight properly.

Of course, apart from limited self-supply,
the only one capable of flexibly procuring military supplies in the Mediterranean was
the Republic of Venice, nicknamed the most Serene Republic.

Of course, the Republic of Venice wasn’t a very likable country to Europeans.

However, its rival, the Republic of Genoa, had even better ‘skills’ than the merchant republic,
and above all, with a resourceful Doge (the representative of the merchant republic), Emperor Frederick and Henry II trusted Venice.

However, the merchants of the Republic of Venice, who were in charge of the private supply to be delivered to the crusaders,
supplied ‘defective arrows and swords,’ and even mixed some hollow grains into the precious food.

Foolishly tampering with the military supplies of those who were moving to spread the Lord’s will.

It was only natural that the knights of the Crusade were furious.

“Father, what will you do?”

To Duke Richard of Normandy’s question,
Henry II said nonchalantly.

“The German Emperor will take care of it when he returns soon.”

The Holy Roman Emperor was currently visiting King Béla III of Hungary to negotiate regarding supplies.
The Kingdom of Hungary was a geographical and diplomatic bridge connecting the Eastern Roman Empire and the Western powers.

Soon after, the red-bearded Emperor Frederick returned from the Kingdom of Hungary.

‘The Venetian guys wouldn’t have messed around unless they were crazy… but I should take this opportunity to show them the difference in power.’

After thinking about the Venetian situation for a moment, he
spoke decisively as if he had realized something.

“We need to send them a stern warning. To show them what it means to insult our Crusade.”

Emperor Frederick was thinking of mobilizing the fleet to give them a stern lesson.

**

-Republic of Venice-

The 40th Doge of Venice, Orio Mastropiero, who is currently reigning as the Doge of the Republic of Venice.

He is the one who was elected as Doge by arguing that the future of Venice lies in stabilization rather than reckless expansion.
He is working day and night to restore Venice’s reputation, which has left a bad name all over the world and is being cursed internationally.

Anyway, because of the butterfly effect in history where the massacre of Westerners did not occur in the Eastern Roman Empire,
his moderate policy gained legitimacy.

Doge Orio now argued that after stabilizing the interior of the Republic of Venice, they should start a more intimate ‘business.’

But.

At this moment when the unprecedented event of the Crusade is taking place,
the grand plan was disrupted because of the merchants who sold their souls to greed, like those Jewish bastards.
The benevolent Doge, who usually soothed both hardliners and moderates, saying, ‘Haha, you guys are working hard for Venice,’ was quite angry today.

“Are you guys out of your minds?!”

“….”

“Enrico!”

“Yes, Your Excellency.”

When the Doge called him, Enrico Dandolo came forward with a troubled face.

“What did you tell me? That we could cooperate with the Third Crusade and make a lot of money?”

The Doge, who blurred his words like that, looked at the other merchants and said.

“Is this cooperation?”

It wasn’t that he couldn’t refute the Doge’s words,
but Dandolo knew that expressing his opinion at this point could be a weakness.

Right then.

“Your Excellency, we have a big problem.”

A report came in that the Crusade fleet
was slowly loitering in front of Venice.

Of course, the Crusaders wouldn’t ‘really’ attack Venice,
that was just giving pressure.

Saying, ‘You cheating merchant republic bastards, give us the money back!’

The Doge felt a cold anger again.

‘Since it has come to this, I need to establish some discipline.’

He was already angry,
but there were too many clueless merchants.

Business is trust.

Those who were crazy about money made ridiculous noises, saying they would do business with a ‘fleet.’
Thanks to sticking to that old method, how many countries have we earned the resentment of?

First, we need to fix this.

“Prepare compensation immediately. And be prepared to accept their demands.”

That was the Doge’s order.

Even the proud Dandolo couldn’t oppose that opinion.

And the most important thing is
to punish the culprit of this incident.

“So, did you find out? Who tried to scam the Crusade?”

“This happened in the Abel Guild.”

Dandolo answered the Doge’s question,
and the Doge was shocked.

Abel!

That trustworthy man who had been risking his life for Middle Eastern trade for a long time,
played a trick that would be caught so easily?

“Abel? Why would that guy who always did so well do that?”

“There is a lot of evidence here. However, we have physical evidence, but the person in question is missing.”
The Doge, who received the physical evidence from Dandolo that contained Abel’s fund flows and movements,
spoke with cold eyes.

“Even if the person is missing, there must be accomplices. Arrest everyone related to Abel!”

Not long after,
the delegation of the Republic of Venice visited the Crusade camp very carefully.

Of course, all the losses were the responsibility of the Republic of Venice,
and to make up for this loss, the gentle Doge Orio began a major purge.

**

-Dublin, Ireland-

I, who am living diligently today,
am hearing new news from Peter, the Chief Secretary of Ireland.

“…that’s what they say.”

“Ha…”

The Third Crusade had problems before it even started!

‘It’s a relief that our proud father didn’t grab the Emperor by the collar.’

Ah, of course.
It wasn’t that our father and the Holy Roman Emperor grabbed each other by the collar,
but that the merchants caused an accident.

As expected, Venice!

Amazing. The most Serene Republic!

“Wow, those Venetian bastards are crossing the line.”

“That’s what I’m saying.”

Peter and I are about to develop a Venice phobia.

It’s not like the Imo Incident at the end of the Joseon Dynasty [a military riot and political crisis in Korea].

They’re messing with the sacred food that our Crusaders will eat.

After ranting about Venice with Peter and heading to the office,

“Mother?”

My mother was waiting for me in the hallway.

“Son, you need to study, right?”

Ah, that’s right. I’m taking classes from my mother these days, right?

“What about Peter?”

“Today’s class is a special class that can be given to a legitimate youngest son, not a bastard.”

“Don’t tell me you’re going to…!”

“Oh, John. This mother doesn’t touch her sons’ people. Peter’s biological mother is a bitch, but Peter is a bastard who is helpful to you, isn’t he?”

For some reason, when she emphasized ‘bastard,’ my mother’s expression was too chilling.

I was worried about Peter, making an expression that said, ‘You can’t touch my people.’

But that was just a worry.

“John, I will tell you about the Crusade.”

“Yes?”

“Didn’t you know? This mother participated in the Second Crusade when she was the Queen of France.”

“Ah!”

“I’m disappointed. How many heathens did this mother kill for the glory of Jesus Christ?”

Oh, that’s right, our mother. She had experience participating in the Crusade when she was the Queen of France.

It was a moment when I thought our family was amazing again.

Yes, taking people’s lives is our specialty! Specialty!

“Anyway, the Second Crusade was a completely failed war. It was a mess. They were like idiots. They only looked at what was in front of them and didn’t know how to read the big picture.”

My mother recalled the past.

At that time, my mother was the young Queen of France,
and the only ‘female knight’ in Europe.

“No matter how much I advised them, those men wouldn’t listen to me. Anyway, in my youth, I was just a pure queen who wasn’t cunning.”

Huh?

Not cunning?

“I’m not as cunning as the men of the Angevin family.”

I was speechless.

No, how can ‘Mother’ not be cunning? Where can you find such a brazen statement?

“Looking back on my young and glorious past, there are so many things I regret.”

But my mother was now recalling the past very confidently.

“If I had been as cunning as Henry and your brothers, the Second Crusade wouldn’t have failed, and the Great Rebellion would have succeeded.”

Ah.

Our mother wasn’t cunning, so she easily divorced that Louis VII and instigated her sons to start a great rebellion.

I gained more knowledge.

“Don’t live like me. And don’t forget that this is a time of upheaval.”

With those words,
my mother, who was reminiscing about the past, spoke with a face full of regret.

“First of all, our people don’t know the Middle East well. So, they tried to take only the immediate benefits without thinking. That’s why the Second Crusade failed…
John! My youngest son, listen carefully. True profit is not immediate profit. You must have the insight to see the profits of the distant future.”

Soon, my mother, who raised the corners of her lips, said.

“What I mean is that the incident in Venice is not a coincidence.”

**

-A Fortress in the Middle East-

When Prince John was diligently learning about the Crusade,
the Islamic forces, who received the latest news of the Crusade declaration, were shocked.

Those cunning heathens, who should be fighting each other,
suddenly joined hands and crossed the wall to declare a Crusade to save the Kingdom of Jerusalem!

They wondered what these guys had eaten wrong.

In fact, the Islamic friends were planning to drive out the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

Jerusalem is a holy land not only for Christianity and Judaism but also for Islam.

Because Jerusalem is where the great prophet Muhammad (Mahomet) received Allah’s call and ascended.

But the Islamic forces didn’t push it.

In order to destroy the current Kingdom of Jerusalem with Baldwin IV,
the Islamic forces also had to be prepared for many things.

But after Baldwin IV, who suffered from leprosy, died,
the Kingdom of Jerusalem would collapse from within due to the power struggles of the fools.

And after that, the Kingdom of Jerusalem would be a country that could be destroyed much more easily than eating dates.

But after the Third Crusade was declared.

Many things have changed in many ways.

Sultan Saladin, who had never let his guard down since his defeat to the young Baldwin IV!

He knew very well that he had to be prepared for something huge this time.

Because this Crusade, unlike the last Crusade (the Second Crusade), would clearly be a fatal war.

“It’s an ominous thing… It’s clear that the Franks (the term Muslims use to refer to Europeans) are determined.”

“Sultan, what shall we do?”

“Send a letter to the Caliph (the head of the Islamic Empire) in Baghdad. We may lose Egypt.”

“Yes, Sultan.”

As his subordinate left.

Time passed again, and a merchant dressed in Venetian clothes entered.

It was Abel, the target that the Doge of Venice was desperately looking for.

“Sultan, I have completed my mission. But the chaos was shorter than expected.”

“Abel, no, Ibrahim. You have suffered for 20 years in Venice. Now that your war is over, we must begin our war.”

With those words, Saladin thought.

‘The Frankish Emperor and King may have declared a new Crusade, but in fact, everything happened because of John… that guy.’

Of course, that was a misunderstanding.

A dangerous misunderstanding if John was nearby!

Allah’s Pirates (1)