Chapter 1,159 The Knights of Etichenstein and the Knights of Bleidenstadt

In the quiet winter, come to the Hessen Mountains of Ingau, at the foot of the Taunus Mountains.

The dignified Earl of Ingo, relying on the support of the two last loyal knights and a batch of food from the Normans, hibernated quietly in the remote manor at the foot of the mountain like a hibernating bear.

Only two knights were willing to continue to be loyal to this lord. For their own benefit, the other vassals had all pledged their allegiance to Ludwig, the more powerful Duke of Bavaria and King of East Francia, and summoned their own retinues to join the army of the Eastern King. , in order to gain greater benefits in the new year's war.

There was once a powerful old nobleman, but now he is so depressed that he can only lick his face and go to the barbarians to get some food.

The family can no longer live in luxury, and those servants and a few attendants who never leave are touching. For those people, the old noble can only give them the same food as themselves.

On such a painful day, some servants died quietly on a snowy night. The helpless people endured the wind and snow and buried the dead under the mountain.

The hazy sky accompanied the desolate scene, and the unexpected death of a horse directly broke the old nobleman's guard.

Robert didn't cry, but it was because he had been unable to see the sun these days. Everyone was hiding in a barely warm house and suffering, relying on oatmeal to survive, and he had to consider saving on firewood.

Wearing coarse robes and furry hats covering their entire heads, there is a brazier on the floor of the house, where the dignified earl and his family are warming themselves.

The prerequisite for Robert's release by Ludwig was that he handed over a ransom, a batch of gold and silver utensils in his home in exchange for ransom. In this way, Ludwig used Poxialu to promote "active release" to the outside world. He took this batch of precious metals and slightly eased his military expenditure.

As a price, almost all military strength was lost, the family's century-old wealth suffered a huge loss, and even the old manor was sold.

Living in seclusion at the foot of Taunus Mountain is not a long-term solution, because the remaining funds have been exhausted, and if you continue to stay here, you may live worse than a slave in the future.

"Nantes, Tours. What can your brother give us? Can it be a fief?" He stared at the flames slightly dully while he was warming up, and whether he threw some wood blocks into it.

His wife had had enough of such miserable days, clinging to her husband and scolding Ludwig for his tyranny and arrogance.

Adelaide, the daughter of the old Count of Tours. Although remarrying Robert, who was next to him, was a stopgap measure at the time, now he is looking at his destitute husband and his son who is suffering. Her heart was bleeding.

"Ludwig was unfair to us, and Lothair was just as arrogant. Maybe Charlie can do it."

"Charlie..." Robert sighed deeply: "Your brother is here, Charlie, because my father-in-law opposed Lothair. Your family lost Alsace, and I went to Tours...your brother."

"At least because I am her sister, we must be given a territory to live on. Besides, didn't the Norman in Nassau say that he will give us enough money when spring comes?"

"Do you really believe them?" Robert couldn't help but look at his wife's haggard face.

"Otherwise? Staying here would be more painful than killing me."

Thinking of an unpredictable future, Robert made the sign of the cross on his chest: "Please bear with it some more. In the spring, our family will go to Nassau, and we will wait there. Those Normans have converted to God and should keep their promise." "

Because together with the servants and the last remaining soldiers, the entire family only had enough food left to last until spring.

These people don't know how to farm at all, and they never want to open up wasteland under the mountains. They lack the ability to rely on their own efforts, and that's why they are poor nobles.

Engaging in agricultural production to save oneself, this kind of thing made other nobles laugh out loud when they learned about it.

Especially his wife Adelaide, as a peasant woman it would be better to go to a monastery to become a monk. Because, his sister is the queen of King Lothair! He was of great status, but the worst he could do was go to Burgundy to join his ex-husband's family and the son he had given birth to before.

Although this kind of thing, the current husband Robert is even more reluctant.

Where is sisterhood today? At least his brother-in-law Lothair will punish his family to death. It seems that his brother-in-law is even more vicious than the Norman pirates. Even the Normans were willing

Italy and the rebellious Saxon nobles drank and drank.

Spring came earlier in the Hesse Mountains. The towering Taunus Mountains quickly shed their snow caps. The melting snow made the streams violent. The land was first muddy, and then quickly dried under the continuous scorching sun.

When they noticed the buds protruding from the pine forest, preparations for leaving the "Yamshita Villa" had already begun.

First, two messengers rode horses to the two villages in the nearby mountains to convey the count's order to the local knight lords.

The two lords, the Knights of Eti (today's Inderstein) and Bleidenstadt (today's Taunustein), knew that the earl and his family must leave, and what would they do if the earl left.

Knights came from different directions, and even the Knight of Bredenstad brought the local monastery bishop to the meeting in person.

"My lord, the distinguished guest you are expecting has arrived." The attendant nervously reported the situation to the desolate earl.

Things happened a bit suddenly. Although he was in despair, Robert hurriedly asked: "Are they all here?"

"They're all here." The attendant who was half-kneeling and saluting hurriedly stood up, "Both knights are here."

"Huh? They still come together?"

"And...Father Weinbach of Bredenstad Abbey."

"Him? And them? That's fine. Tell them to wait a moment, I have to sort things out. Me! I am a count after all!"

Just like the Robert family wanted to put on their best clothes, he decisively put on his own armor and spent some time on it.

Then when he appeared again, the two knights saw this lord and sensed that he was about to ride into battle.

The two knights half-knelt and saluted, using this grand salute to declare their continued loyalty to the count.

For a moment, Robert, who had been silent all winter, felt a sore nose.

"Gilbert von Etikenstein, Ballard von Bredenstad. Get up quickly! And you." At this turn, Robert nodded slightly and said, "Father Weinbach."

These two knights were actually successors, and their father had died on the banks of the Elbe River.

The eldest son automatically inherits the title. As for how to operate the knight's territory, the two young nobles are seriously lacking in opinions.

The young man wanted to avenge his father who died in the war, but something embarrassing happened. His own prince made peace with the Normans, who were supposed to be enemies. On the other hand, King Ludwig of the East was the reason for his miserable life.

Are the Normans really villains? The two knights who had never been on the battlefield didn't know much about it. They only knew that there was a new master in Nassau, a group of Normans converted to God, and they heard that the life of the locals immediately improved.

Converted to God, became friendly to the peasants, and things improved for the local monastery. Letters from local priests were sent to Bredenstad Abbey. The priest believed the description of his friend Father Conrad and also believed the description of Father Bachbert of Koblenz Abbey.

Who can expect much from the Normans? However, it was found that the people of Coblenz and Nassau were greedy after the conversion of the Norman troops. Famine did not occur, and the monasteries were not looted. On the contrary, the lives of the priests in the two monasteries were improved.

All they got were some positive descriptions, which had a great impact on the minds of the three nobles. Those statements that are unfavorable to the Normans are indeed true, but the Normans entrenched in Nassau and Coblenz are probably aliens.

It was possible to get in touch with them, because the two knights and Father Weinbach had to find their own position again after the count left.

They spent the whole winter studying to figure out where to go.

Taking advantage of the impending visit to the Earl, they wanted to re-explain their position.

The servants cleaned the reception hall, but as soon as they entered the place, everyone shook off the mud from their boots, and they still faced the bleak wooden house.

March is already quite warm in the Ingau area, but only the Hessen mountainous area is still too cool.

With the towering Taunus Mountain at its back and hidden in the mountains and dense forests, this is a good place for seclusion, but it is a prison for ambitious people.

Two young knights brought the wooden stool and they

Instinctively, he was so in awe of Robert that he even stuttered when he spoke.

As for the wise man, he wore a high bishop's hat inlaid with gems, held a gold-plated cross in his arms, and sat quietly in a black robe.

Robert took the lead to relieve the embarrassment: "I have thought about it a lot. Your fathers are real warriors. God ordained that I should not die, but I survived by luck. So, do you hate those Normans?"

The two knights looked at each other, but Gilbert of Etikenstein spoke first: "Hate! How not to hate! But... even now, I don't know who to hate."

"Me too." Ballard sighed softly: "The Earl was also ordered to fight north, and my father has the obligation to follow you. There is even the Baron of Nassau. Maybe this was all a conspiracy from the beginning! It was Ludwig My lord...he is persecuting all of us." When he said this, Knight Ballard also risked his life.

"You! You are young and energetic! How dare you criticize the noble king!?" Robert asked with a deliberately sullen face.

"Isn't it? The Baron of Nassau is now mixed with the Normans, and their lives have become better. And Liudolf of Westphalia has now become the Duke of Saxony."

"Good boy." Liu Doufu, who squinted his eyes, was slightly surprised: "You actually know so much?"

Ballard, a young man who spoke enthusiastically, became more and more angry as he thought about it: "Everyone knows this, how could I not know? Maybe we didn't need to fight the Normans in the first place. It was Ludwig who ordered us to go north and fight them bloodyly. .I! Never want to fight for that man again. I don’t want to die without honor.”

The boy spoke very wildly, but he helped Robert vent his anger. He asked again: "Maybe that's the case! Alas. So, you two, think about what your future will be like?"

"This..." Ballard suddenly hesitated.

"What about you?" Robert looked at Gilbert again.

"I...I plan to..."

At this moment, Robert had already guessed the attitude of the two vassals, and a greater sense of desolation arose spontaneously. He still wanted to persist: "The Norman nobles will buy the high Leingau, or in other words, the baron of Nassau will buy this area. The baron can now call himself an earl, and I will give up this place. I destroyed it with my own hands. The family's legacy! They promised me a huge sum of money and a ship to take me to Tours. I will leave the Eastern Kingdom forever, what about you? I advise you two to follow me! When I make a comeback, you two will no longer be knights. .If I become an earl again in the West, you must be a baron!"

For a moment, the two young people were really moved.

However, they had reached a consensus before coming - not to leave.

The two of them exchanged glances and suddenly half-knelt down.

Ballard was the first to speak: "Sir, please forgive us. Here are the tombs of our ancestors, our relatives are all here, as well as our farmland and vineyards. I... don't want to give it up."

Gilbert also had the same attitude: "Sir, please forgive me. I won't leave."

"I spoke with great pride just now. Now I have no ambitions!" Robert had already expected such a result. He clenched his fist and banged his thigh, and then lamented: "That's okay! At least you have your own land, your own wife and children. , as well as servants, retinues, and farmers. And I! The noble Earl needs your help this winter. Perhaps in your eyes, this Earl is just like a burden."

"Don't dare! We don't dare!" Ballard hurriedly denied.

"Forget it! I still want to thank you two for the food you gave me. This is your homeland, and I understand that you don't want to leave. I have to leave! If I leave, I won't be able to give you any more good gifts. .So...whose vassal are you going to be again? You should know that I am no longer worthy of your allegiance."

This makes sense. Roald was criticizing the betrayal of the two men with sarcastic words.

To be fair, the two did intend to betray. From another perspective, the other knights had already betrayed, and it was rare for the two to persist until now.

Facing the two silent people, Robert didn't bother to sigh: "So be it. I will leave the Villa and go to Nassau. You can join the Baron of Nassau, even if this Baron is a woman, she

Her husband was a pure Norman. That is a Norman nobleman, but you are not the murderer of your father. Even that nobleman is about the same age as you, knows Latin and has converted to God. The most important thing is that he is against Lothair. Nassau has been your neighbor since ancient times. If you go to Nassau, your life will remain the same, or even better. "

"It seems that this is the only way it can be." Following the count's words, young Ballard explained that he had already planned it, and so did Gilbert.

If the two knights are loyal to Nassau, then the control range of the black fox living in Nassau Village will include the entire southern Hessian Mountains.

The two knights did not take the initiative to leave Robert. If the count did not leave on his own initiative, the two would always live as vassals. Because the area is a mountainous area with limited transportation and little external contact, the population controlled by the two knights is very small, and the settlements in these two mountain valleys in the huge mountainous area make the scope of the knights' territory theoretically extremely large.

Although the territory is large, the vast mountain forests are actually no-man's land. Villagers have to be wary of leopards, wild boars and bears. In contrast, the legends of the Normans are nothing.

So what if the knight defected to Ludwig, who had a huge garrison in the eastern plains? My father and some of his retinue soldiers died in battle for that guy's brutality, should we continue to bleed for him? Especially in the past summer and autumn of 841, Ludwig fought a fruitless "defeated battle" in Kaiserslautern. Although he declared victory, why did thousands of soldiers die in the battle?

Should the farmers in the valley continue to bleed for him?

Two knights and a priest, after his family left, he still needed these three to do something for him.

Robert is willing to be the introducer and takes the two knights to Nassau, making them loyal to the real Baron Sophia Nassau as knights and serving as her knights. In this way, the two men were not loyal to the Normans, and there was no legal problem.

In addition, the knight has been a neighbor of the Nassau family since ancient times and is a noble loyal to the Nassau family, so the knight has no psychological grudge.

Regarding the mountain villa where I live, in principle it belongs to the Knights of Bredenstad, or the Taunustein area in a broader sense. The estate was at least a settlement; its property was transferred to the monastery and was managed by Father Weinbach.

He still had a group of servants and retinues, but Robert no longer forced himself on these people. Those retinues and servants who were willing to stay were given to the two knights, and even the last horses were given as gifts. The Robert family wanted to leave lightly, as long as they kept the hundreds of pounds of silver coins promised by the Normans.

Could it be said that the Normans would not cause trouble during the voyage? Traveling to Tours by sea is quite a feat.

Robert was also worried, but thinking of his past glory...

In the past, my family had a huge fiefdom in Ingau-Worms. Nowadays, Worms is completely under the jurisdiction of the bishop, and his own plain area of ​​​​Leingau is completely occupied by Ludwig. Only a part of the mountainous area is left to maintain the dignity of the so-called Earl of Leingau.

Even if it sells land, what Nassau can buy can only control the inaccessible mountainous areas of Leingau. Rich places such as Wiesbaden, Mainz, and Frankfurt are all in Ludwig's hands.

There is nothing left to lose!

Robert, who would rather believe in the promise of the "Fox Brothers" instructed by King Rurik of Rus, finally began to immigrate with his family.