I was beheaded in the Middle Ages for 20 years

Xu Siling keenly sensed Guillaume's subconscious resistance and distrust from his expression and attitude.

This situation is normal.

A nobleman suddenly appeared out of nowhere and came all the way from central France to the northern area of ​​the front line. No one knew what he was doing in the village of Milo.

It was natural for Guillaume to be wary.

But the problem is that Xu Siling has a special identity, he is Fei'er's knight.

His reputation among the nobles was not very good, but he was still very popular among the people.

Everyone said that he was the murderer who forced the previous king to death.

That being said, one is the late king who died after a disastrous defeat, and the other is the saint who saved everyone.

If given a choice, few would choose the former.

So when people see Xu Siling, they are full of trust.

But Guillaume was not a nobleman, but a commoner. When he looked at Xu Siling, he looked thoughtful for a long time.

"The fields are difficult to plant, or rather, we don't have seeds to plant. We asked the lord to borrow seeds, but we were rejected. In order to survive, we had no choice but to go up the mountain to hunt for meat."

Guillaume admitted it boldly, while Xu Siling and John's expressions did not change.

He breathed a sigh of relief.

"You don't have to worry about anything. I'm not here to blame you. Many times, life is not easy. There is no need to think about these things."

John couldn't help but agree when he heard Xu Siling say this: "The lord won't blame you. If he comes to you later, let him come to me."

"Looking for you?" Guillaume had a strange expression on his face and looked up and down at John who was sitting next to Xu Siling.

John was wearing a full set of armor, looking dignified and majestic, with his thick brown hair loose, matching his deep green eyes, emitting a firm and righteous light.

Everyone says Xu Siling is crazy.

Guillaume was not clear about this, but at least he knew now that the knight in Xu Siling's hands might be even more arrogant than Xu Siling himself.

John realized that Guillaume didn't recognize him, so he changed his words: "I said, find Sir Knight Raya! Don't worry, no matter what happens to you, Sir Knight Raya will protect you!"

Xu Siling raised his eyebrows. He didn't mind taking the blame for John. After all, his name was already bad in the aristocratic circle, and more debts would never burden him.

John's acting was so good that it made Guillaume feel even more uneasy.

After some arguing, Guillaume finally mustered up the courage to ask.

"I wonder why Sir Knight Raya came to Milo Village, and how our Milo Village can help you."

"I came to the north mainly to see the situation on the Calais Fortress front, but I didn't expect the situation to be so grim."

Guillaume understood a little after hearing what he heard.

The war between Britain and France is imminent and will not be long.

As the perfect knight of the kingdom and the best warrior of France, it is not difficult to understand why Xu Siling went to the front line in advance to investigate the situation.

"But I didn't expect that I would encounter so many British people before we got close to the Calais Fortress. When we were clearing out the spoils, we found that they had made a lot of money from France."

At this point, Guillaume sighed softly, with a look of gratitude on his face.

"Sir Knight Raya, your willingness to kill these British is good luck to us civilians. The surrounding villages can breathe a sigh of relief."

"Why don't you consider moving to a town?"

"The Lord does not allow it"

John wondered, “Why?”

"Before the Black Death broke out, the town of Saint-Le-Desserant was closed, so it was not realistic to move in." Guillaume explained, "After Miss Raya became a saint, she provided methods to control and treat the Black Death. At that time, the village had been abandoned due to the previous war, and the lord would not lend us seeds. We did not have enough money, so we wanted to move into the town again."

John pressed, "He still won't give it to me?"

Guillaume nodded.

“Why not? Isn’t it his duty to protect the people in his territory and allow them to survive? He knew that the people in Milo Village had no seeds to grow crops and were almost unable to survive, but he still refused to let them go to the city for refuge!”

John's angry look stunned Guillaume.

Xu Siling explained helplessly: "This is normal, don't be so surprised."

"What's normal?"

"This is all thanks to our good king."

Hearing Xu Siling mentioning him, John calmed down immediately: "What does this have to do with the king?"

"If the town takes in all the people from the villages and manors in the territory, who should the nobles collect taxes from? The town's internal production alone cannot support the army."

"But we can't push our people out."

"If there had been no Black Death and no war, the lord would certainly not have done this. But the aftermath of the Black Death is still there, and the war with the British is imminent. More importantly, we have to pay the king's taxes."

John retorted: "The situation in the north is different. The king has reduced taxes for these territories, which is similar to the south."

"But you have to consider the war and life. No matter how hard the country and territory are, the nobles will not suffer themselves. This situation cannot be changed by reducing taxes."

Guillaume stood aside, watching the two people talking in front of him with a look of disbelief on his face.

It has nothing to do with Xu Siling directly.

But it was John who was very straightforward when chatting with Xu Siling. As Xu Siling's knight, he actually spoke to his lord in this way.

Xu Siling spoke in a preaching tone, but she was not angry.

As they were chatting, Xu Siling thought of something and turned to look at Guillaume.

"Guillaume, do you know Lance?"

"Lance? Nicol Lance?" Guillaume sighed, "Of course I know him. He is also a villager of Milo Village. I have always had a good relationship with him, but he has left Milo Village a while ago, bringing his family with him, saying that he wants to move there."

Guillaume suddenly stopped talking and looked at Xu Siling, smiling and asking, "I forgot that the place Nicol said he was going to move to was Miss Raya's territory. According to the time, he should have successfully arrived at his destination. Could it be that Sir Knight Raya has met him?"

Xu Siling shook her head: "I've never seen the man you're talking about."

Guillaume laughed a few times. "It's all right. I'm sure you'll meet him someday. Nicole is different. He has very unconventional ideas and an active personality. He's restless even after getting married and having children. He always shows off his strengths everywhere."

"I haven't met Nigel, but I have met his daughter, Asa."

Later, when Xu Siling was on the way to relocate the Lance family, they encountered mountain bandits in the town of Alston, and the entire family except Asha was slaughtered.

When Asa fell into the hands of robbers, the situation she encountered was even worse.

Fortunately, I survived after all.

"Asha is living happily in my territory, and there are people taking care of her. She mentioned you to me, so I went north to find out about the situation in Calais Fortress and came to see you by the way."

After hearing everything, Guillaume lowered his head and clenched his fists. It was obvious that he found it difficult to accept this sudden news.

After a while, he sighed and forced a smile. "I told him not to take his wife and children around. I should have tried hard to stop him the night they left."

"Because of this incident, Miss Raya ordered the elimination of all the bandits in the territory. The bandits who killed Lance were unable to escape and were hung on the trees on the mountain road."

"I know, Miss Raya is kind-hearted and a saint. She is different from other lords."

"To be honest, I'm quite curious about you. Asha praised you to me, saying that you are very capable. I didn't think much of it at first, but when I came to Mailuo Village, I saw the villagers' protective actions and temporary mobilization responses. It was obvious that they had undergone a long period of training. If I'm not mistaken, this is all thanks to you."

Guillaume smiled bitterly: "It's not just me, but also my brothers. Without them, we can't defend the village of Milo."

"Tell me more about yourself."

This time Guillaume was no longer on his guard.

After learning that Xu Siling had saved Asa and avenged Asa's family, and knowing why Xu Siling suddenly appeared in Mailo Village, his inner defenses were opened up a lot.

Guillaume told Xu Siling about his background and the situation of Mailuo Village.

It turned out that Guillaume, Asa's father Nicol, and several men from the village of Milo were there.

They were able to protect the village of Milo from being looted and destroyed by British mercenaries.

All because they are the 'remnants' of the Knights Templar.

John was stunned when he heard this.

But Xu Siling seemed to have expected it and was not too surprised.

In the past few hundred years, the Knights Templar did a lot of bad things in the name of Jesus.

Whether it was killing people or burning and looting, the Knights Templar made a fortune during the 200 years of the Crusades.

After the complete failure of the Crusades, the Knights Templar lost their last piece of territory in the East.

But they did not find an island as their territory or establish their own country like the Knights Hospitaller or the Teutonic Knights.

The Knights Templar chose to return to France, proving that the French are still home-loving.

What a coincidence.

During this period, the king of France was the "handsome" Philip IV, Blanche's grandfather and Isabella's father.

Philip IV was extremely powerful throughout Europe.

France's foreign wars have been ongoing, which has led to its financial deficit.

As the saying goes, war costs money. Why fight a war without money?

Philip IV's way of getting money was simple and crude, which was to ask the Holy See for money, and if he couldn't get it, he would borrow from the Vatican staff.

Thus began the conflict between Philip IV and the Holy See.

And just at this time, the Knights Templar returned to France and came to the door.

Given Philip IV's style of doing things, would he let go of the fat meat right at his fingertips?
Philip IV thought that as long as he accepted the Knights Templar as his followers, he could obtain a large amount of wealth to make up for the emptiness of the national treasury. This was a great thing.

Guillaume spoke vividly and with an extremely interesting expression, which made John, who was sitting nearby, feel a little uneasy.

He coughed and said, "The Knights Templar represent the Holy See. Does the king really dare to do that?"

John certainly knew that Philip IV had taken action, but he could not stand Guillaume criticizing the king of the Capetian dynasty in front of him.

Of all the Crusades that took place so many times, it can be said that only one was successful.

The status of the Holy See in people's hearts began to gradually decline. As long as Philip IV did not openly encircle and suppress the Knights Templar, basically no one would care about the Holy See.

Moreover, the influence of the Knights Templar was no longer what it used to be. With just a little effort, Philip IV could make them kneel down and sing the song of conquest.

"As long as the benefits are great, nothing is impossible." Guillaume didn't care too much about John's mistake, and continued to explain: "The king found Jacques, the Grand Master of the Knights Templar, and hoped that the knights could protect a pilgrimage team to Rome, and promised that he would give them a part of the land as a territory after the success. Faced with the king's invitation, Grand Master Jacques naturally agreed. After all, the Knights Templar were stationed in France, and they had to have a good relationship with the king."

"But the Knights had no idea that when they were escorting the team to Rome, a group of bandits suddenly appeared on the way. They attacked without saying a word, and the knights fought hard against them."

"Although the enemy had a large number of people, they were no match for the Knights Templar. The combat effectiveness of that generation of Knights Templar could not be compared with that of the first generation, but they trained hard on weekdays. Those bandits were naturally no match for the Knights Templar."

When the news of the failure of the plan reached Philip IV, he was quite troubled.

He originally wanted to arrange a group of robbers to kill the pilgrims and then put the blame on the Knights Templar.

Philip IV then issued a warrant for their arrest, and finally used some tricks to make them surrender.

But he didn't expect that he hired more than 200 people, but couldn't defeat dozens of knights.

Seeing that this plan failed, Philip IV immediately came up with another one.

Then came the incident that the French Jesus filial son loved to see.

In 1301, Philip IV deliberately raised taxes on church clergy in an attempt to anger the Pope.

Sure enough, the Pope immediately fought back and ordered the collection of tithes from the believers of the French people.

Common people throughout Frankish territory were complaining.

During this period, Philip IV did not make any statement.

A month later, Philip IV felt the time was right, so he convened the first Estates General, stating that the king only obeyed God.

The Pope may not interfere in any internal affairs of France.

At this meeting, Philip IV received the support of almost everyone, resulting in the strengthening of the royal power and the weakening of the power of the Holy See.

But that was not all. In 1303, Philip IV publicly tried the Pope in France in the name of the king.

But the Pope is not stupid. How could he go to France to stand trial?

This also gave Philip IV an excuse to send troops, so Philip arranged for soldiers to arrest the Pope directly, and then imprisoned him on the charge of colluding with the Mongols.

Soon afterwards, news came that the Pope had died.

The problem is coming.

The Pope of the Holy See died 'accidentally'.

Philip IV now had two choices.

One is to support one of their own to become Pope, and the other is to move the Vatican to France so as to better control it.

If you were Philip IV, what would you choose?
the fact is.

Only children make choices, Philip wants them all!

In this regard, Xu Siling had to admit that Philip IV did better than him in terms of "having it all".

Guillaume talked about past events, and even though he had not experienced them personally, he became angrier and angrier. His face turned redder and he clenched his fists and started shaking them violently.

"Just like Sir Raya, I also think that the former kings of the Kingdom of France were all bastards!" (End of this chapter)