After nearly a day of trek, Roger's team turned out from the coastal mountains and reached another valley.

This valley is much larger than the previous one, with farmland and villages.

The old guide introduced: "It is only half a day away from Tripoli. We will set out tomorrow morning and we will reach the base of the Earl of Tripoli at noon."

Roger looked at the sky and asked in confusion: "Why don't we hurry up and hurry up, so that we can reach Tripoli before dark."

The old guide laughed and said, "No, no hurry, there are good things here, and you have come here, and you can leave without trying it. It's a pity."

He enthusiastically recommended Roger the specialty here, a sweet reed he called "zucra".

Just like the guides from later generations who sell local specialties.

Some villagers came to salute, dressed up by Arabs, but they could see that their lives were very hard.

The old guide was like a fox leading the way for a tiger, and he was imposingly asking the villagers to take out all the good things.

The latter said in panic: "We are surrendered to and protected by the Earl of Tripoli, and we are willing to contribute our crops, and only ask you not to plunder and harm us."

After receiving Roger's promise, the villagers respectfully led Roger and his party to their farmland.

Roger just glanced at it and recognized what the sweet reed, named "Zucre", was.

He thought, isn't this just sugarcane? Sicily also planted under his arrangement.

He saw that the sugar cane here was almost everywhere on the plains in this valley.

Roger cut down a section and tasted it, and the sweetness was higher than the ones grown by himself.

Roger's soldiers all started eating happily.

The sweetness in the sugarcane juice brought the morale of the army back to the depression caused by the panic caused by being forced to sleep with the snake the night before.

The old guide introduced the hard work of the farmers here, and said:

“They plant such grass every year, and when harvesting, locals use small mortars to mash mature crops;

“Put the filtered juice into your own container until it hardens, with snow or white salt;

"They scraped off these clumps, or mixed them with bread, or dissolved in water as seasoning."

The old guide gnawed the sugarcane and said, "This taste is really sweeter than honey.

"Some people say it is also a kind of honey, found on the surface of Jonathanus, the son of King Saul."

Roger remembered that this record does exist in the Bible Samuel.

He asked the villagers to show him the candy.

The villagers obediently brought a small bag.

Roger tasted it and it was better than Sicily's in terms of appearance and sweetness.

He said directly in Arabic: "This is a good thing, I have bought it from Arabs, it is very expensive.

"You can definitely get a lot of money by producing this here, but why do I see you wearing so embarrassingly?"

The villager shook his head and said, "We cannot sell it. All the output belongs to the Count. He will send knights to exchange for us every once in a while."

Roger asked the villagers about the exchange ratio of grain and sugar, and the villagers reported a very low number.

Roger said: "Then why do you still need to plant 'Zucre'? Isn't it good to plant food directly?"

The villagers sighed and said, "No, no matter what they plant, it is better and more food than the ones they sent us."

"But the Count does not allow us to plant anything else, and this plain is only so big. Even if we want to plant something else, there is no place to plant it."

Roger thought, this is not to treat these people as serfs in the sugarcane field.

He said while eating, "We have eaten your 'Zucre' now, aren't your output less?

"Why would you blame the knights for not collecting enough sugar?"

The villagers just smiled bitterly.

Roger thought about it and felt that he had asked a stupid question.

Since these villagers were afraid of the knights under the Count of Tripoli, they were of course afraid of their own troops.

So he changed his question and asked, "Have you been living this kind of life?"

The villagers were suddenly excited and blurted out: "No, we were having a good life before you Christians came..."

Then the villager covered his mouth and kowtowed in panic.

The old guide hurriedly explained: "Sir, he didn't mean that. He actually wanted to say that life was not good, and his Latin was not good, and he spoke Arabic, hell."

The old guide kicked the villagers kneeling on the ground and cursed:

"If you can't speak, don't talk nonsense. You dare to offend the Christian master. You want to die!"

Roger looked at the farce in front of him laughed and cryingly.

He actually didn't feel offended at all.

But then he thought that this place was not Sicily, which pursued religious tolerance, and that the Arabs here might often be in a state of oppression by Christians.

The old guide couldn't kick it anymore, and he pleaded: "Sir, please be a lot of it. He didn't mean to offend it, but just..."

Roger deliberately raised his face and said, "It's just what?"

The old guide stammered and refused to say anything.

Roger pretended to be fierce and fierce, "I mind hiding it more than offense. If you don't tell me the truth, I must cut him off with your head."

The old guide shouted: "What kind of evil am I doing?"

But the villager became stubborn and said, "One person does things and one person does it. If you want to behead your head, you will kill me."

Roger held the hilt of the sword and said, "I want to chop his head because he hides it from me."

The villager said with red eyes: "Okay, since you want to listen, I will tell you in detail.

"I know you will definitely kill me after hearing this, but I just want you to let this old man go."

Roger said solemnly: "As long as you don't hide it from me, I promise that I will not hurt anyone."

The villagers shook their heads and said, "I do not believe in your Christian promises."

"But forget it, it's enough to be able to say this quickly before death."

So the villagers began to tell:

"When you expeditioners passed through Tripoli, they reached an agreement with us that they would not harm us as long as we were willing to provide supplies and did not hinder their progress.

“We have always adhered to this agreement, even if the Kingdom of Jerusalem was established and the kings were replaced, we have been living peacefully with them and maintaining trade.

"However, nine years ago, Bertrand, the illegitimate son of Count Raymond, with the help of the Pisa and Genoese, besieged Tripoli from both sea and land, with the help of the powerful military power.

"But with the help of the Egyptian king - he sent 500 soldiers in weapons and armor, the citizens of Tripoli resisted tenaciously.

“Bertrand sieges for three whole weeks, but the city will not be shocked by any bombardment such as siege towers and trenchers, nor will it be conquered.

"At this time Baldwin, the king of Jerusalem, came, and under his command, Baldwin of Edesa and all the Christians came.

"The Arabs in Tripoli, knowing that they cannot bear the power of Christians, so they seek peace.

“But we do not intend to hand over the city to anyone except the king.

"We believed only the king's faith in the faith, fearing that the Pisa and the Genoese would tear up the agreement and put us under attack, as the Aks encountered in the south, could not leave the city peacefully.

"So after accepting the city, King Baldwin raised his right hand to promise us that we could leave the city without any damage, but only take away what our shoulders could withstand.

"Therefore, the rest of the city's gates were opened, and the Pisa and Genaians and all the Christian army entered the city, guarding the defensive walls and towers.

"And those 500 Egyptian warriors, who were not Tripoli, naturally did not need to comply with the agreement, but because the city was besieged, they could not leave.

“After hearing that the city surrendered to Christians, they hid and entered their underground residences and prepared to leave after the blockade was lifted.

"And at this time, a woman was arrested when the city was just captured and was being tortured harshly, to force her to hand over the money.

"Christians do this torn up the agreement that they just signed, because the king promised not to hurt us and allowed us to leave.

"At the end, in great pain, the dying woman said to the person who tortured her like this: 'If you are willing to spare my life, torture me no longer, and release me from the shackles, I will take care of the safety of you and your brothers, and I will reveal this to you...'

"The woman told the people who tortured her truthfully about the fact that this woman hid the Egyptians underground, and these people told the king Baldwin and the other leaders about it.

“Immediately, King Baldwin and everyone gathered together with their weapons, rushed everywhere, and blocked the intersection to the underground camp.

"The 500 people inside resisted very little, and were finally defeated by force and fierce offensives and brought out.

“Christians killed these people under the sword together.

"They then, as promised, liberated the woman from the torment, and all her property was returned to her, both with a house and other things.

“However, in contrast, King Baldwin claimed that the citizens of Tripoli violated the agreement first on the grounds that the citizens covered up Egyptian soldiers.

"So, about 20,000 citizens left in the city were killed by Bertrand, Pisa, and Genoese.

“But they didn’t find much valuable clothing and jewelry.

"After the agreement was torn apart by King Baldwin, the desperate citizens brought all valuable things, gold, silver, and precious utensils to the center of the city and burned them."

Roger couldn't help but interrupt and asked, "You are just a villager, how could you know so much?"
To be continued...