My British Empire

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

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

A knight, as the name suggests, is a warrior on a horse.

Before the 8th century, infantry was the protagonist on the European battlefield. 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 cavalry's hands, 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 walls of Babylon.

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

Therefore, 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 have as the standard.

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

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

Ordinary people would follow a knight at the age of fourteen and become a servant, and then they would be considered a real knight when they were appreciated by the lord at the age of fourteen and had a fief.

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 the captives, while the attendants faced death directly.

This road is the most difficult and the main road.

The second way is to participate in the martial arts 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 is going to hold a knights meeting quickly spread 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 a lot of 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. What did he say that the whole of Europe will definitely see the style of the Bernard family!"

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

His son was the eldest son in the family, and he had spent a lot of effort in training him. This time, he went to the knight meeting, not seeking honor, but returning safely.

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

Knight Bastian sighed.

Although most knights are 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 large number of beautiful ladies and young and energetic 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 was 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!"

There was a different kind of brilliance on Xia Er's handsome face, and he stared at the front with piercing eyes, and said proudly.

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

Charles 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.

Only then did David lift his spirits, and he 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, hurriedly urged them to catch up.

By the time David and Shard arrived in Paris, it was already June 29th, 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 signing up, 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.

In this way, 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. At that time, the number of people signing up had already exceeded 100. One could imagine what a spectacular scene tomorrow would be.

Thinking of this, he was so excited that he couldn't sleep. Even though he knew that he was hopeless, seeing such a scene would be a good material to brag about in the future.