Chapter 1,471 Selling Deer for the Sake of My Daughter-in-Law

Originally, Mistuy of Lübeck was very concerned about the strategic siege of his county Oberlidit, but seeing the close relationship between the King of Rus and the Duchess of Saxony that night, he couldn't help but confirm that his worries had become a reality.

He was so angry that he returned to his military camp, sat in front of the blazing fire to warm himself up, and took another look at the city of Hamburg in the twilight.

He couldn't help complaining to his nobles: "Why didn't I know that the relationship between Ross and them was so close? I was kept in the dark for so many years. King Ross has great ambitions. That man can take charge of local affairs in Hamburg now, but he will not be able to rule in the future." The whole area?”

"I didn't expect that woman to be so stupid." Baron Morn followed the words of his lord to make the other party feel better.

"He is indeed a stupid person. No! Not entirely true. Maybe the Duke of Saxony and the King of Ross have a secret agreement, and that woman is just doing things on behalf of her husband."

"Then what should we do?" Baron Morn asked again.

"Let them all go to hell! I will never recognize the power of Rurik, and I will never obey his command. The two armies are together today just because they are on the way."

"But we still have to cross the river. Now the pontoon bridge in Hamburg has long been broken. Our army must pass through boats to cross the river. If the Russians control the barges, we..." Baron Morn's worries had to make everyone think about one more thing.

"Then ignore them. The worst case scenario is that we move upriver and cross the river to Magdeburg. We pass through the territory of the Thuringians, and our army appears directly from the north of Mainz."

Mistuy laid out a seemingly clear road map.

Lübeck's army headed for the source of the Elbe River, thus entering the Eastphalian region and passing through the neutral and peaceful bishopric, and then continued south to Thuringia, which was just a step away from Frankfurt on the Main.

This road followed the eastern border of the Frankish Empire. It was a bad path, but fortunately the all-cavalry army of Lübeck had strong cross-country capabilities.

More importantly, Lübeck's army was almost entirely Slavic. They were Slavs who converted to God, and the area where Magdeburg is located already touched the territory of the Sorbians.

As a branch of the Wenderslav tribe that surrendered to the Franks, the Sorbs converted to God as a whole. The whole tribe did not have an independent feudal noble. There were many small leaders with the title of baron, and all of them were loyal to Ludwig, Duke of Bavaria. myself.

As a Slavic people, the Sorbs also faced attacks from close relatives, and then faced the more powerful Frankish army. They surrendered and converted in exchange for safety protection. As an obligation to surrender, they had to serve in the army for the Franks.

It was Ludwig who was responsible for the defense of the eastern part of the empire. Since he took over Bavaria, Osteria and Sorb, he began to strengthen the reinforcement of troops. However, he could not point out the two bishoprics of Eastphalia in the neutral zone, because in principle they were under the jurisdiction of the Roman emperor.

At that time, Louis the Pious directly managed the entire Eastphalia including Magdeburg. Magdeburg means the great city. It was established under the order of Charlemagne and served as an important base for the Eastern Expeditionary Force.

Lothair now inherited the title of "Roman Emperor", and Eastphalia was nominally under the jurisdiction of this man. Jurisdiction is only in name. Because of this deliberate decision, there are no military vassals here. There are only two archbishops responsible for managing people's livelihood, and Saxon villages that have the right to defend themselves and are only allowed to defend themselves.

The Eastphalian region is now divided into two bishoprics, Hildesheim (the seat of the bishop of Hanover) and Halberstadt (the seat of the bishop of Magdeburg).

Mistuy has never been here, but he knows the map of the southern region. Although he stayed in Lübeck for a long time, he had a key understanding of the power distribution of the nobility and priests in the northern and eastern parts of the empire, especially some key roads.

When it comes to roads, there is of course no Roman road that leads directly from Hamburg to Cologne.

The latter's march route along the Elbe River to its source is also an option.

"The bishop of Magdeburg will definitely allow us to cross the river from the local pontoon bridge, and we may also be able to get some supplies from the Sorbians. But do we really want to forcefully invade the territory of the Thuringians? I am a little worried." Baron Morn was worried again.

"I think he dares!" Mistui emphasized his tone: "I learned that Thakurf had already led his troops south. Can his people still prohibit friendly troops like us from crossing the border? As long as I inform those nobles that we are If they serve Ludwig, they should consider the consequences of stopping us. It may be difficult for Ludwig to defeat his elder brother, but it is more than enough to deal with the Thuringians."

"That's true." Baron Morn shrugged, "It depends on what King Ross will do."

Mistuy has a better relationship with Baron Morne. After all, they have a certain marriage relationship with each other. It is precisely because of this that he allowed the fleeing Saxons to enter the territory of Baron Morne three years ago and allowed the people named Gust. Temporary settlements were built.

In contrast, his relationship with Baron Ratzeburg was somewhat distant, and his relationship with Baron Rostock was even weaker. Even so, the Lübeck Army still assembled a behemoth with a total of 1,500 cavalry, two-thirds of which were heavy cavalry under the Frankish definition. Even in peacetime, this cavalry unit could be called a strategic weapon. Now, By joining Ludwig's camp during the Great Conflict, it provided a strategic reserve army.

The more Mistui thought about it, the more promising his actions became.

While Mistui had to live in a tent outside the city, Rurik could stay directly in the castle, just like he did three years ago.

The next day, Ross's 1st Cavalry was dressed up and marched through the city of Hamburg.

This is the King of Ross who defeated the Frank army with the Duke three years ago!

People who still had vivid memories of the war stood on both sides of the street, happily looking at the handsome face of King Rus and praising his gorgeous and heroic cavalry.

Among the people cheering and watching the fun, there were many Danes. Although they converted to God and became New Saxons, based on past traditions, they admired the strong the most.

Rurik is the hero of the north, and his status is at least equal to that of the warchief Godfrey.

Some news about what the Ross-Lübeck coalition will do after arriving in Hamburg has already left.

The coalition forces have proven with actions that they will not disturb the lives of the local people, and they intend to cross the river quickly.

Only the bridgeheads on both sides of the former large pontoon bridge were left alone. Those iron chains were all recycled, and in the city of Hamburg, they were processed by blacksmiths and turned into weapons for the armed army - a large number of spearheads.

The boats that were used as pontoons were all recycled and transformed into barges and fishing boats. The unusable ones were used as fuel and burned last winter.

Now the only main ships that can ply the Elbe River are the classic Nordic dragon-headed warships. The drike reliefs on the bows have been scraped off and replaced by abstract carved Madonnas, or a crossbar is mortised and tenoned to make the bow a cross structure. Because the owner of the boat has converted his entire family.

These people knew very well that King Rus's cavalry had to take their own boats if they wanted to cross the river.

They have full confidence in their long boats. In addition, it is now the dry season of the Elbe River. The width of the Elbe River in Hamburg has shrunk to less than 200 meters, and both sides are extremely flat. There are places suitable for people and horses to board the boats and land everywhere.

Now that he had passed the city, Rurik personally led the cavalry into the city's bishop's church.

An old man in black robe stood here.

"Hey! Eskil, I haven't seen you look so old in three years?" The words were spoken in sacred Latin, and even Rurik's attitude on horseback looked very frivolous.

Eskil raised his head with a sullen face. He learned something from Bishop Ratzeburg. He now lacked affection for Rurik and expressed deep regret for Mistuy of Lübeck.

"You're still here, thank God your troops are not running wild in this city."

"Why thank God? You should thank me for maintaining restraint." Rurik dismounted again, "You are getting older, but you still have the strength to make irresponsible remarks to me with a straight face."

Esquier emphasized his tone: "You are going south to participate in a cruel war! You know, I am opposed to any war."

"That's right. Now the princess has given me great powers on behalf of Liudov..."

"I have been informed of this, so you can appear to have a legitimate fortune of slightly more than Hamburg, and you can instruct everyone to do things for you. I advise you, it is best not to do this."

"Huh?" Rurik almost laughed, "Old friend, am I really a bad person? Maybe. But only in this matter will I be a good person. This city belongs to my son and wife Home, just because of this, I must protect it. Anyone who dares to attack Hamburg is a provocation to me."

Eskil didn't think there was any necessary relationship between this, and still put on an old face as stiff as stone: "The biggest threat to Hamburg is you. You came here to plunder wealth, you... are like Attila . Attila of the Huns, the only difference between you and that barbarian is that you came across the sea. That’s not right! You only have a large number of cavalry now, and you are the second Attila.”

"Oh? Is this considered a compliment?" Of course Rurik understood that this was a harsh sarcasm: "I originally wanted to talk to you about the past in peace, but forget it now. Don't think that I don't know the little tricks. In the war back then During this period, you deceived my wives and concubines and secretly performed illegal baptisms on my other two sons. I am fully aware of this matter. I will not pursue this matter, but now you still have to do something for me."

Esquier still didn't take it seriously: "What does it have to do with me? I am a saint from the north, and this is the Archdiocese of Hamburg. I have no obligation to do things for you, a stranger. Even if you understand our sacred Latin..."

"But this matter has been authorized by the Duchess, and you should help me. But...if you don't help me, I will have to take it by force."

"Then forget it." Eskil suddenly relented. Because he had suffered a big loss, he suddenly changed his face in front of all the priests. "If things are within an acceptable range, I...will be willing to help you."

"That's right, you are a smart man. I don't make things difficult for smart people. Now I ask you to open the granary in the city."

"Ah?! Are you really robbing food?!"

"Bah! Is peaceful trade considered plunder?" As he said this, Rurik walked forward and looked down at Eskil: "Papa, you can live in poverty, you can live on only river water and black bread, there is no need to ask for anything. The others join you in asceticism. I made a deal with the Duchess and the Baron of Essen, and I learned that the church was in charge of the great granaries of the city, and so I asked you for your instructions. See, it is out of respect for you that I speak in Latin Talk to you so much, otherwise I would have snatched it away."

Esquier hesitated for a moment, but he still wanted to ensure his dignity, so he mentioned his only request: "The transaction is okay, but I want to ensure absolute fairness. Only when Baron Essen comes and he supervises the transaction can I rest assured."

"Can."

Therefore, the results of the secret conversation between Rurik and the Duchess in the stone chamber last night are now revealed.

Now that the Ross Army no longer needs its large herd, its size needs a major reduction.

In this era, the Saxons had been affected by wars over the years and were unable to raise large livestock in large numbers, so the number of cattle and sheep was very low. Liudov, who is a Duke, and his family cannot ensure that they have meat to eat every day, which is very different from the life Rurik is used to.

The reindeer that can come all the way from Ross are all individuals with excellent physical fitness. Due to the special characteristics of all the stags, it is impossible to breed them even if there are many local people in Hamburg.

The bucks are large and now starting to grow their thicker winter manes, each providing a large area of ​​high-quality pelt. Reindeer meat tastes like beef. Although locals have seen wild reindeer herds, hunters can still kill some wild deer, and this is one of the few opportunities for locals to obtain red meat.

No one thought that deer could be used as draft animals, but many people who saw reindeer thought that they might be used as draft animals.

Having a group of large livestock is always a good thing. For the Duke family, killing a deer is enough to feed them for a long time.

Rurik decided to take out a thousand reindeer, of which 500 were normal trade and 500 were gifts.

The reason for giving the gift was simple - I had to make my daughter-in-law live a good life.

The engagement between the Duke's youngest daughter and Rurik's de facto eldest son Reglaf is about equal to marriage. Since Eskil is their common godfather, Rurik estimates that the wedding will be held in Hamburg when they get married. Kiel himself was the host. As for the exact location of the wedding, it was probably St. Peter's Cathedral, which should have been completed at that time.

King Rus wanted to bring out a thousand reindeer, which really shocked Eskil. What surprised him even more was that he knew that Ross was raising deer on a large scale, thus giving Rurik abundant capital. Why did thousands of reindeer suddenly arrive in Hamburg?

Eskil had to believe that the deer had just come this way.

Rurik is also making profit on the exchange price of reindeer with oats and rye.

He no longer sought to exchange for the same weight of grain, and the price set was even lower than in Gdańsk.

A large, heavy male reindeer trades for three hundred pounds of grain, which is about as good as giving it away.

So, half of a thousand deer were sold and half given away, and the part sold was at cabbage price. In the end, Rurik was able to exchange for 150,000 pounds of grain on the same day in Hamburg, which was really a major supply for the expeditionary force.

This was less of a problem than taking the grain out of the warehouse where the tithe was stored, and they would still have plenty of surplus grain afterward.

Because Hamburg was already the core area of ​​the Saxons, during the first spring plowing after the war in 841, the local people finally welcomed stability and actively farmed. This year, the work of collecting the tithe was forced to be suspended, and the people got a critical respite.

In 841, they actively cultivated wasteland on both sides of the Elbe River. Although the harvest that year was very bad, the harvest got better the next year.

Now that the harvest season of 843 has ended, the grain harvest in this region has approached the limit that the Saxons' rough agriculture can achieve, and it is also the normal level in their cognition, and this is enough.

More than 50,000 people live here, and the settlements are recovering faster than expected. Rurik can also judge that their recovery speed is indeed very fast by the ease with which Rurik obtained so much food.

Because Liudov and his army of 5,000 people are said to be heading south cannot go empty-handed. They will march with a large amount of food, but the Saxon warehouses have not yet been emptied.

Rurik had to take another look at Eskil.

Although the small lords everywhere were not obliged to pay food taxes to the Liudolf family living in Hamburg, the tentacles of the Bishopric of Hamburg could reach the entire Principality of Saxony. Eskil has spent most of his life in the north building up a team of priests over the years, which can control most villages from top to bottom. Lords at all levels entrust the work of tax collection to the church, so that the church collects two "11 tax", from which "necessary donations" were drawn for the consular affairs.

The so-called "necessary donation" is to collect another "tithe tax" based on the share of the "tithe tax".

In terms of finance alone, Eskil and his team actually control the finances of the Principality of Saxony. The two most important tithes every year are the church tithe and the lord's tithe. The former Hamburg bishop sits in the church and collects the full tax, and the latter One-tenth is taken away in the form of labor fees.

As a result, 11% of the farmers' income fell into the hands of the church, and Eskil had absolute discretion in this regard.

The wonderful thing about this is that this old guy has been an ascetic all his life, and he has such strict requirements for lower-level priests. As a result, the priests of the Diocese of Hamburg lived in poverty in terms of food and clothing, and they did not have to be so poor.

Objectively, Eskil's behavior quickly accumulated wealth for the entire principality. This batch of food had very little internal consumption, so it could supply Liudov's army for expeditions, hire labor to build the cathedral, and also supply the Russian and Lübeck armies. .

Eskil has his own temper, which can be seen in the different attitudes towards Ross and Lübeck in terms of giving food.

Even if the Mistuy of Lübeck is not a good person, at least he is a genuine Christian. He accepted a small "donation" of money from Mistui, thus sponsoring him far more food than the money could buy. Simply because Mistui's entire family was converted.

As for agreeing to open the granary and complete the transaction of exchanging the reindeer herds for wheat, Eskil publicly declared: This is not a transaction, but a gift between nobles.

Eskil was fed up with the wandering days. He knew that he had to stay in Hamburg and promote the Duke of Saxony's various ideas in order to ensure that everything would be normal in his later years.

So the little girl Alice became a key figure in this transaction, even though she knew nothing about it.

Rurik declared: This is a gift from me to my daughter-in-law. I hope she will grow up to be the most beautiful woman.

On behalf of the Duchess, Baron Essen declared that this was a gift from the Principality to the King of Russia to thank the Russian army for their great help during the war.

Since the whole process of reindeer-for-grain transactions was barter, and not a single silver coin was used during the process, one could argue that it was “not a business,” and the Hamburg church could call it “not a loan shark.”

It is inappropriate to define all business practices as criminal usury, a point the Diocese of Cologne has made many efforts to address.

Eskil is in the north, and the philosophy he upholds is even more taboo on trade. Due to the fact that trade cannot be denied in reality, now he has no choice but to use words to make up for the rationality everywhere.

Of course, these measures are still baffling to the Danes who converted to God. These pragmatic people have always been pragmatic, and converting to God is also a rational choice. As for the promised paradise... who knows?

The King of Rus is selling deer in a high-profile manner. Many people who own long boats have learned that the Rus-Lübeck coalition will launch a river crossing operation from tomorrow, and all boat owners will be able to receive significant rewards.

For one round trip by barge, one silver coin was given for transporting ten people or ten horses.

The commission for such a ferry service is incredible. After all, the Elbe River is not wide and extremely calm during the dry season. It is too easy to cross the river with a long boat, and you will earn a lot of money easily.