My British Empire

  Chapter 416 Knights Assembly (Part 1)

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  The time suddenly came to June 1559. In order to celebrate the signing of the "Cato-Cambrazzi Peace Treaty" and the princess's wedding, according to the French aristocratic tradition, Henry II decided to hold a grand knight tournament in Paris.

   Speaking of this, I believe everyone is familiar with the Cavaliers.

  Knight, as the name suggests, is a warrior on a horse.

  Before the 8th century, the protagonists on the European battlefield were always infantry. Until the 7th century, the Arab cavalry who conquered the Quartet had used stirrups. In 711, the Arab cavalry crossed the Strait of Gibraltar and entered Europe.

  The Franks and the Germans learned to use stirrups almost at the same time.

  Stirrups not only make the cavalry and the horse better integrated, but also completely liberate the hands of the cavalry, so that they can use weapons as they like. In this way, the cavalry has become a "human bullet" with strong impact.

   There was a proverb at the time: A Frank on a horse can punch a hole in the wall of Babylon.

  The rise of cavalry has gradually replaced the dominance of infantry on the battlefield.

  So, war is really the main way of cultural exchange, and Westerners should also thank the Arabs.

  Since the collapse of the Roman Empire, the fiefdom system has prevailed in the world, and the core of the fiefdom system is knights.

  If we compare countries at that time, it is not based on the size of the economy, but the number of knights they own.

   There is a saying that not all nobles are knights, but knights are all nobles.

  Strictly speaking, training a knight is very strict, takes a long time, and requires a lot of manpower and material resources.

  Ordinary people will follow a knight at the age of fourteen and become a servant, and then they will be considered a real knight when they are appreciated by the lord and have a fief at the age of twenty.

  Among them, being taken in by a knight, I don’t know how many children of ordinary civilians were stuck. In addition, the knights fought every day, and the knights could be treated preferentially by captives, while the attendants faced death directly.

   This road is the most difficult and the most important avenue.

  The second way is to participate in the tournament.

The so-called martial arts tournament, that is to say, let a group of wandering knights, that is, a group of reserve knights without fiefs, usually the sons of nobles who have no inheritance rights, come to the competition to choose the winner and be selected. Selected by nobles, canonized as knights.

   This is the easiest and most convenient.

  However, it is not universal, and ordinary people can only suffer in silence.

  As a kingdom of knights, the news that His Majesty the King will hold a knights conference spread rapidly throughout Europe.

France, England, Germany, Spain, and Italy, countries with strong knight culture, those preparatory knights rode horses and boats, and went to France continuously to participate in the knights' meeting, expecting to be loved by His Majesty the King in one fell swoop and become real knights. knight.

  The Principality of Lorraine, a small town.

  At this time, as the two most noble people in the town, Knight Bernard and Knight Bastian looked into the distance with excited faces.

   Just now, the two of them bid farewell to their son.

   "Tell me, old Bernard, there must be many people coming to this knight's conference in France. Can your son do it?"

  Bastian blinked, looked into the distance, and said to the Bernard knight who was still a little sad.

   "Who knows, that kid insists on going, and I can't stop him. He even said that the whole of Europe must see the style of the Bernard family!"

   Speaking of which, although Knight Verne felt a little excited, he was more worried.

  His son is the eldest son in the family. To train him, I don’t know how much effort was spent. This time, he went to the knight meeting, not seeking honor, but returning safely.

   "Yes! I advised my kid not to go, it's dangerous, but when I think about it later, when he gets older, he will still have to go out, why not go out now!"

   Knight Bastian sighed.

  Although knights are most injured in martial arts competitions and there is no danger of death, these young people sometimes engage in life-and-death duels because of the instigation of a few women.

  Especially during the martial arts tournament, there are a lot of beautiful ladies and young and vigorous trainee knights, how can they bear it?

   At the same time, the two trainee knights who had just left the house were full of excitement and showed no worries.

   "Charles, do you think that after we go to Paris, we can be appreciated by the king and canonized as knights?"

  David Jean Bastian, who is relatively young, only sixteen years old this year, asked Charles who was riding a big white horse with some anxiety.

   "Of course, I will definitely get the marriage of all noble ladies and become a knight respected by everyone!"

  Charles' handsome face had a different kind of brilliance, staring at the front with piercing eyes, and said proudly.

   "As for you? You are still young and lack strength. Go this time and simply accumulate experience! Leave the limelight to me!"

  Charle turned his head, looked at the thin David, and then at his immature face, shook his head, and said with curled lips.

   "Ah!" David heard this, looked at his thin arms, then at Charles' thick body, lowered his head, and became discouraged.

   "However, David, it won't work this time, just wait until the next time, you will definitely be able to become a knight!"

   Seeing his companion like this, Charles comforted his conscience.

  David finally lifted his spirits, and followed Charles, each with a servant beside him, and rode forward on horseback.

  The poor two servants rode on two donkeys. Seeing the two young masters who were speeding up, they quickly urged them to catch up.

  By the time David and Shard arrived in Paris, it was already June 29, and the deadline for registration was almost over.

  Charles and David patted their chests with lingering fear, and they finally came here, so don’t turn it into a game.

   After registering, the two of them searched all the hostels in Paris, but every one was full, and the price of living also soared to one silver coin per night.

  So, Charles and David searched and searched, and only rented two houses. After paying the fee for a week, they settled down.

With his eyes closed, David is still reminiscing about today's crowded registration. The huge number of knights and reserve knights personally reported their family names and family crests to the registrar, pressed their fingerprints, and explained some rules. It was extremely cumbersome .

  He roughly counted, and the number of people who signed up at that time had exceeded one hundred. One can imagine what a spectacular scene tomorrow will be.

  When he thought of this, he was so excited that he couldn't fall asleep. Even though he knew that he was hopeless, seeing such a scene would be a good material for bragging in the future.

  (end of this chapter)