Chapter 1,479 Siegburg and the Downtrodden Court Count Hermann

The huge Russian army detoured from the east of Cologne, and Rurik was able to inspect the main walls of the entire city and estimate its size more intuitively.

There was no need to stay anymore, the soldiers paid attention to the city of Cologne again, and drifted away from the edge of the city.

The army returned to its original marching posture. Each team formed a unit, keeping a certain distance between each unit, and arrived at the Rhine River in columns after bypassing the city.

Next stop, Bonn.

"Perhaps you arrived at the edge of Bonn three years ago, and you plundered the local villages." Rurik held the reins with interest and asked Fisk who was accompanying him.

"Maybe. We just moved along the road and attacked the villages when we encountered them. Anyway, they were all enemies of our army at that time."

"But this time we must not launch another raid."

"Maybe." Fisk shrugged nonchalantly, "It's just that our army is extremely large, and the villagers will run away when they see us. They will leave a lot of property behind, isn't your Majesty moved?"

"Leave them enough supplies for the winter. They should all belong to the Diocese of Cologne. Robbery of them will be justified. For long-term planning, we must be more polite to all the locals on the north shore this time."

"I guess they can't understand your kindness." Fisk still pursed his lips and shook his head.

"I'm afraid it's because your methods were so cruel that they were filled with fear..." Rurik was too lazy to talk about this matter.

Assembling in the autumn and winter of 840, the Ross cavalry was completely in a state of freedom to fight.

Although there were only 200 cavalry, the cavalry continued to wreak havoc in the area around Cologne as a rogue bandit, creating an objective massacre and terror. Every village that heard the news fled with their entire village. Hiding in the forest was the first choice. Now they could not escape into the city. People took refuge in the forest.

Bonn is located some distance from Cologne, and the main body of its settlement is the old Roman military camp ruins area on the south bank.

Today, Bonn is not yet on par with Cologne. A new village emerged on the ruins of the Roman ruins, and on the north bank of the river, where the small river Siegburg meets the Rhine, there are more villages.

At that time, a village that Fisk led his troops to plunder was one of the villages in the Sig River Basin.

Legally speaking, this area is the eastern border of the Diocese of Cologne, but it is quite a special existence.

At that time, Cologne was the main camp of the Roman Eleventh Legion, and Bonn was the location of its small camp. As time passed, when Charlemagne raised his troops to attack Saxony, part of the army that crossed the Rhine was stationed near Cologne. The area near Bonn was really excellent because of its flat terrain, close to the river, and far away from the Saxon activity area at that time. Frontline rally point.

At that time, Charlemagne had twelve military confidants under his command, and they were all awarded the title of "court count". This kind of military nobles were in local fiefs, and they were authorized to form "king power". In a sense, these nobles were Charlemagne's imperial envoys.

There is Michael Castle (Siegburg) in the upper reaches of the Sieg River. Its owner is the Ezones family, which is a hereditary "court count" and has many villages as family fiefs. In this way, the task of the court earl is to lead the king's army and command operations during war, and his status can be described as a general under the king's command.

Times have changed, and since the civil war in the empire began to take shape in 838, all hereditary court nobles have fallen into confusion.

The prince actually united with his younger brother to oppose their king father. The key is that they successfully joined forces to imprison their own king!

Lothair and Ludwig once worked together, but the two brothers succeeded and turned against each other in a very short period of time. The struggle for interests finally made them fight each other, which forced nobles and bishops everywhere to choose sides.

The Ezones family, which owns Michael Castle, has absolute royal power because its fiefdom is located on the right bank of the Rhine, which has long been the radiation area of ​​Ludwig's influence. "Roman Emperor" Lothair completely recalled The garrison in Bonn, learning that the Ezones had not declared allegiance, abandoned it in anger.

In an instant, the Ezones family had no army in their hands, and apart from a small group of family guards, all that was left was to recruit strong men from several fief villages to organize militia when necessary.

He was once a general under Charlemagne, and his family became a polished commander in a mere forty years. He was originally a court count with a very high status, but he was regarded as the new generation of "Roman Emperor" almost because his family was located on the right bank (north bank) of the river. How sad it is to question or even deny.

Since you have been abandoned by the emperor, it is better to choose another wise emperor.

While watching helplessly, the Ezones family could only choose to be loyal to Duke Ludwig of Bavaria. However, with their already insignificant size, it was natural for them to be ignored by Ludwig.

The family has almost lost its military strength, and the only thing left is a castle, a few fief villages, and a noble title with decreasing value. The family territory is located in the Diocese of Cologne. Count Hermann of this generation suffered the humiliation of losing military power, and then faced an even worse economic situation. Compared with being forced to become frugal in life, the serious gap between his noble name and his actual status made him most angry. , a strong sense of powerlessness devastated his heart.

Even though Ludwig launched an adventurous expedition three years ago, Count Rheingau personally went out and Baron Nassau accompanied him. If there had been such a crusade in the past, Hermann, as the court count, would have led a king's army to participate in the war. As a result, Ludwig adopted the most contemptuous attitude - not notifying and ignoring.

Of course, Ludwig also had a reason: all your court counts are legally loyal to Lothair. I dare not use you. It is my greatest mercy not to abolish your fiefdom.

The past three years have been a dream.

Villages in the Bonn area were attacked by horse bandits, and Ludwig's expeditionary force was completely wiped out.

The active Earl of Rheingau was defeated, so that the county was directly abolished, and his family also left.

A magical force sprang up in the old land of the Rheingau. Hermann was not a fool. He was shocked to find that a group of Norman pirates had turned into vassals of the Franks. The county of Nassau-Koblenz was A freak was born in this way, but it happened that such an uncle country was almost bordering his own family territory.

The Siger River where Michael Castle is located is still far away from Koblenz. Due to the frequent movements of Nassau-Koblenz's longships flying cross flags this year, they often pass by Bonn. As a result, the court earl Hermann was forced to have initial contact with them.

Similarly, the black fox who actually controls the uncle country cannot think highly of a court earl who has an empty name and no military strength, but from the standpoint of a businessman, he cannot be stupid enough to look down upon him with cold eyes. The Black Fox does not ridicule his downfall, nor does he respect his name. Compared to the Black Fox, there is just a down-and-out nobleman in the northwest of Nassau-Coblenz that he did not care about in the past. Black Fox really doesn't want to deal with this kind of person before providing some value that is beneficial to itself.

However, the location of Michael Castle is more subtle. Two small rivers converge to form the Sig River, which is relatively wide during the high water season. The flat delta area is very suitable for farming. A wooden fortress with a stone foundation was built here. Along with it There is also an abandoned military camp. Because the army had withdrawn, Hermann, who had become a polished veteran, no longer had any reason to maintain the empty camp, so he allowed its buildings to collapse and the grass to grow wildly.

Only the key facilities built for the military camp have been preserved - the wooden bridge with stone piers across the Sig River.

Bridges are a good thing. With their existence, people in various fiefs and villages can communicate at low cost. No matter how many people go to Cologne to attend large masses, there will be less trouble crossing the river.

Because the river bed of the Sige River is full of mud, even the cavalry must find an excellent ford crossing. The result of forcibly breaking through is often that the horses' hooves sink deeply into the mud. In addition, it is late autumn, the river water is already freezing cold, and the horses are dripping. Crossing the river has become extremely dangerous.

Rurik knew this clearly. The Russian army arrived at the Sig River one after another. He could not help frowning when facing the wider river.

"The water is too cold. The cavalry's hooves would freeze if they were in the water."

"What the king said is absolutely true, but... we rush over at the fastest speed, and the horses should not be harmed." Fisk looked confident at this moment.

"Oh?" Rurik became interested: "You robbed this place three years ago?"

"That's not true. Haha, I was able to successfully rob three years ago, but this time the frightened villagers have fled."

The current Ross army witnessed some empty villages, and the army has been setting foot on farmland that was abandoned in winter. Now they are standing by the river, with their horse hooves trampling on the withered meadow. While the entire army is waiting for the king's order, the horses and reindeer are already happily He lowered his head and gnawed on dry grass freely.

Just when Rurik decided to take the risk and rush across the river, the boy Ruben who clumsily hugged the horse's neck dismounted from the horse in a clumsy manner and hurried to Rurik.

"Is that you? Boy, do you have anything to say?"

"Yes. I am willing to be your guide. I have a certain understanding of this area. As long as..." The boy mustered up his courage: "As long as the king gives me some money, I will tell you everything I know."

"You kid..." Rurik was both happy and a little angry, thinking that this Ruben was indeed a small profiteer from that community, but he needed some good advice: "You go ahead and say it, I won't be able to do without you after it's done. the benefits of."

"Okay. Thank you for your generosity, Your Majesty. Your God is with you."

"So, you know something about areas outside of Cologne?"

"Yes." The boy continued to explain in stumbling Latin. Now he mentioned one person in particular, and his right hand pointed to the northeast upstream of the Sig River. "There was a down-and-out nobleman there who once commanded a large army, but now..."

"Is there such a thing?" Rurik scratched his face, looked at Fisk and asked casually: "I heard from the returning Blue Fox that his younger brother Black Fox controls Nassau and is already bordering the Cologne Diocese. When will it happen again? A court earl pops out?"

"Who knows? Maybe he is a down-and-out noble."

The boy seemed very calm when facing the two little giants from the north. His lack of stage fright was his survival advantage. The boy now also knew very well what these Russians needed.

Obviously his statement attracted the attention of King Rus. The boy Ruben continued: "The ruler of the upper reaches of the Sig River is named Herman. He has a castle and several fief villages. His family was originally Charles. The highly respected Paladin is now just an ordinary country noble."

"Paladin?" Rurik was quite familiar with this word, but he really had to rely on the boy's interpretation of what it specifically meant. He smiled at his general Fisk: "Brother, if I were the new Charlemagne, you would be my court earl."

Fisk laughed casually: "Is that so? Then, I will not be as depressed as that Herman. Thanks to the king's reward, my family has prospered."

"Of course." Rurik looked at the boy again: "As for how that Herman fell into despair, you need to explain it to me."

In this way, when Rurik learned about the reason why Herman, the leader of the Ezones family, fell into decline, he could only sigh with emotion as to why he was so unstoppable.

"A great nobleman who is not decisive enough actually wants to sit on the sidelines in a time of great conflict? Stupid. Who allows him to be neutral." Rurik said quietly, "If that man had declared his allegiance to Lothair earlier, he would not have fallen like this. .”

"Do you pity him?" the boy Ruben asked boldly.

"It's just a pity. At least that man still has some fiefs and villages to prevent him from starving to death. By the way, does he have a fortress? Does he have a military camp? Can he raise some troops?"

"There is a castle named after the archangel Michael, and an abandoned military camp, now overgrown with grass." When saying these words, Ruben also felt sorry for this former nobleman, and added: "Our The small community made some deals with him. We had money and he had food. The man was so poor that he only had some leftover food. If we didn't buy it, he would hardly get cash. Even so, he would go to Cologne every festival. Participating in a grand mass is very expensive. In order to maintain his honor and dignity, he has no choice but to borrow money from us. Of course, we are fair. If he borrows money this year, he will have to pay double the money next year. If he does not have cash, he will have to borrow money from us. Sufficient wheat deduction.”

100% interest rate? This is more cruel than nine out and thirteen back! Based on Catholic faith, Easter, Christmas (winter solstice), and the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary are concentrated in the second half of the year, which happens to be around the wheat harvest season. In this way, the court earl who participated in the mass event would have the funds to participate in the event. If it is true, If you don't have money, you can only borrow money from this group of loan sharks.

It was hard for Rurik to say that Ruben and his relatives were unkind. They were the only ones who could provide financing to poor nobles and buy their grains with arrogance. Without their presence, Herman would probably be even poorer.

As for the military strength of the down-and-out noble, Rurik disagreed with the description of the boy Ruben. The boy is just a small profiteer with a promising future. He has nothing to do with combat, and his understanding of war and armaments must be superficial.

The boy claimed that the noble could muster up to twenty horsemen. Why is this so? Just because in previous years when the small community went to buy oats and rye, the court count Hermann wore the colorful old clothes and showed his nobility in a gorgeous manner. His breeches were made of coarse cloth, and his iron helmet was rusty.

Every year when buying food or going to collect debts, Herman would always receive them with this attitude. "Maybe if he can get more cavalry, he won't just take out twenty cavalry. This is not considered decent."

"A down-and-out man, no matter how poor he is, will still wipe his mouth with suet to show off, just to imply that he can still eat good barbecue every day..." Rurik shook his head. At this moment, he quite appreciated the boy Ruben's offer. A different kind of information.

For such a down-and-out nobleman, what could he do when Ross's army walked past him in a majestic manner?

Based on the current situation, the Ross cavalry army must choose a suitable place to cross the river. The characteristic of Michael Castle is that it controls a stone pier and wooden bridge. This bridge was a basic building for the smooth passage of the Frankish army in the past. It was an extremely critical bridge in the region. It was meaningless to the Ross fleet, which took advantage of water transportation, but it was of no use to the cavalry of this land expedition. Very important.

"Just go to Siegburg, just go to Michael Castle. I want to see how depressed this destitute court earl is. By the way, we can cross the river smoothly from the bridge outside his castle." Rurik waved his hand, and he Another sudden thought: "This time, maybe our army can make use of the abandoned Frankish military camp."