Chapter 738: Go to South Frank
You can search "Rurik's Rise Search Novels ()" in Baidu to find the latest chapters!
In general, an earl in the frontiers should not leave his fief.
Earl Robert decided to make an exception, just because he felt that the stability of the border was more like the tranquility before the storm. With his knowledge of the Danes, even if the other party suddenly launched an attack, he would definitely not find fault in winter. He felt that he had a very critical time window, and used the winter period to travel to Regensburg in the south to explain the situation to Prince Ludwig and seek military assistance.
As for the business problems of the Rus, these are completely dispensable little problems.
Blue Fox wasn't sure that his mouth could convince the Count that a gift of a steel sword would attract the other party's absolute attention.
In the city of Hamburg, the Count finally made a decision after deliberating for three days. He took a quiet Sunday afternoon, and the next day was naturally a Sunday. After the morning ceremony, he had a very simple conversation with Eskil and Joseph Blue Fox on business issues at the Hamburg Abbey.
The monastery is a sacred place, and it seems that no worldly things should be talked about. The earl did it intentionally, and he hoped that the solemnity of the place would allow the converted Rusian Joseph Blue Fox to fulfill the agreement.
"The merchant ships of the Rus can enter Hamburg, and once you have entered the Elbe, the merchant ships cannot go further into Hamburg. You can only provide me with leather, iron and gems, and I will only provide you with rye. Your merchants and sailors must All wear the cross, and must hang the flag with the cross, and also my flag, otherwise it is illegal. Your merchants are not allowed to enter the city even if they come, but they are allowed to camp by the river. If I learn that your men have attacked My village, future trade is interrupted."
The Earl of Hamburg has not been simple enough to easily listen to Blue Fox's description that the so-called Russ are businessmen of peace.
Viking pirates, these odious sea wolves have been attacking Frank for a long time. The entire Frankish kingdom has a population of 10 million, but it is distributed in an extremely wide area. Most of the area has not been developed. The people basically rely on small lords such as barons and viscounts to build their villages to protect themselves, and they also rely on rivers to establish settlements. However, the "evil wolves" also attacked along the waterways.
The Earl of Hamburg, the Earl of Flanders, and the Earl of Bremen, who stretched out to the northern border, have fully understood what Vikings are, and these "worst wolves" are almost all bandits from Denmark.
Are Russ and Danes any different? Probably no different.
It's just that the Russ are farther north, because the distance is too far, and the cost of those guys looting Frank is higher, so they develop trade as peaceful merchants.
If peaceful trade is possible, it would be better if they all converted.
The Earl of Burger mainly considered Saint-Eskil's face, and also received a gift from Blue Fox.
He placed restrictions on each other's trade, and caution must be exercised before determining that the Rus were truly peaceful merchants.
Two new parchments were filled with text, all in Latin.
The count could only understand part of it, but fortunately the priests knew it all. Rigorous and important documents of deeds were written and signed in Latin, and in this way the count tried to prove himself as a civilized man, and to prove that Frank was indeed the sole heir of the great Roman Empire.
Unexpectedly, the fat man from Rus read the document quite proficiently.
"You? You know Latin? You are so proficient." Such a phrase could not be translated by Esquier, and Count Robert came.
The performance of the blue fox was amazing. He replied: "In the Principality of Ross, many people understand Latin, especially my prince is the most proficient."
The Count was speechless for a moment, but he was embarrassed when he wanted to show his hand.
Come to think of it, that's a good thing. As a Frankish noble with upright roots, the Count was once a barbarian in the northwest and east, including the land under his feet that was also the territory of the Saxon barbarians. Over time, many barbarians have become civilized (referring to conversion),
On the contrary, the Danes, the Obertides, and the Pomeranians remained stubborn. The Rus seemed to show their positive attitude, perhaps as Saint-Eskil described, it was already a step away from converting the Rus, as long as the prince of the Rus was won, everything would be easy.
The two sides signed the contract document in duplicate. Frank, as the most typical feudal country, did a good job in signing the document. The Count was a little surprised that the Russ Blue Fox was very comfortable with the signing. He also learned that the so-called Principality of Rus, like the Kingdom of Franks, pays attention to the correct procedures in signing the contract, and pays more attention to the proper implementation and despises the unilateral tearing up of the contract.
Blue Fox became the de jure unofficial and de facto first diplomat of the Duchy of Ross. He agreed to many of the Count's seemingly unreasonable demands, especially that the visiting sailor merchants must dress as if they were converts, but in terms of belief, the merchants in the north have always believed in what they believed. This is the case with Lanhu. He is willing to believe that it was the Lord who protected him that he escaped. Since it was effective once, he can continue to believe it in the future. After all, who knows the twists and turns of sailing from the core of Ross to this cramped Frank Burger?
The blue fox was authorized by the earl to move freely in Hamburg, but his activities were firmly controlled by the monastery. He wanted to take a good look at the lives of the locals, estimate the purchasing power of the locals, and report to the prince after returning to Ross.
Any diplomat will routinely reside with the head of the country, and gathering intelligence is not only a matter of convenience, but also a must.
The timing of Blue Fox's arrival in Hamburg was rather delicate. Although he really wanted to return to Ross early to tell the prince what he had seen and heard, especially by appearing in person to prove his own well-being. He also wanted to enter the South of the Franks and explore this "mega-kingdom" beyond his conception, not only to satisfy his desire to explore, but also to explore business opportunities.
He could not leave, only when Esquill and Earl Robert decided to leave, could they accompany him as an entourage. As for whether he can see Prince Ludwig, the highest noble of East Frank, this is unknown.
Esquil will not leave until the major festive ritual is complete.
As the real Archbishop of Hamburg, when the people of Shili Baxiang learned of the return of such a great saint, they began to inquire about the reliability of the news. more. Even some lower-level viscounts, barons and even the lowest-level riders, as long as they have the ability, also bring their entourage and family members to participate in the festival, but also to witness Saint-Esquier himself, hoping to get his blessing.
On the 8th of September in the Julian calendar, the feast of the Virgin Mary.
Lan Huxiang took a good look at the lives of the people here, and his hope was finally fulfilled at this festival. He put on a priest's clothes and appeared in the parade, and was ordered to follow the group with his head hooked.
A team of priests will circle around the city. The more robust priests will carry a large black cross, and the other two will work together to hold a painting of the Virgin Mary on a wooden board. This portrait is extremely abstract.
There are also priests holding a pure gold shrine containing the remains of a noble priest of the past.
An oriental Buddhist temple erects a tower and houses a Buddha relic, and the entire temple will have divine power, so the monks firmly believe.
A similar thing happened in the Franks, where the deceased priest also had divine powers, such as a phalanx, a strand of hair, placed inside a gilded shrine, a "golden apple", a golden cross, thus bringing the monastery closer to the Lord .
Esquil can be sure that when he dies, many parts of his body, chiefly hair and fingers and toes, will be taken by many monasteries. He didn't feel panicked, everything was after death, he thought very openly, because his soul would reach heaven, and the mortal body no longer mattered.
The festive Esquils put on a splendid dress, a robe of white and gold stitched, and a towering hat on top of his head. He only dresses like this for major ceremonies, and he is naturally an ascetic on weekdays.
The team of priests gave the gathered commoners a solemn and sacred feeling. The priest holding a golden urn followed Eskil, and the saint was holding a freshly picked cypress branch dipped in holy water and sprinkled it on the people on both sides of the kneeling. .
The priests sang hymns to the Virgin, and their steps shuffled along with the song.
As long as the holy water is splashed on the body, the patient will recover, the bad luck will be eliminated, normal people will be blessed with happiness, and pregnant women will receive this holy water, and the child will be born safely.
Even the earl's family was unavoidable. His entourage and personal guard were all waiting for the clergy to pass by him to receive divine blessings.
The parade was an important part of the ceremony, and it was an opportunity for the blue fox to finally see the local ordinary farmers. To him, the peasants here were not significantly different from those of the Slavic peasants in the far east. They were all dressed in frugal sackcloth and linen, and their faces were generally yellow and thin. Do these people really have the power to buy Ross merchandise? Wait a minute! Lanhu suddenly realized that his big customers were basically a group of nobles, and the "currency" they could take out was rye. If the "currency" was insufficient, it would not be a problem, then it would be better to levy taxes on this group of farmers.
The peasants were certainly not having a good time, and it seemed that the earl didn't care for them either. The work of caring for the common people is the work of the clergy. Is it good for the clergy to do it? Obviously not.
"It is said that the saints Moses and Jesus from a long time ago cared about his people very much. It is described in the book. Rurik, it should be another real saint..." Blue Fox held back the words in his heart.
The festival continued into the night and ended with the singing of the boys in the choir.
Frankish festivals are rather dull, there is no night carnival at all, and even the evening meal is the same sour brown bread, and some savory soup made of cabbage, carrots and snow peas. Indeed, yellow root carrots and snow peas are native products of Flanders and Hamburg.
After completing the festival, one of Esquier's wish came to fruition. This is the first time he has presided over the Christmas feast of Our Lady in Hamburg since he served as the de jure bishop of Hamburg. I am afraid that such a festival will not be hosted for several times.
According to his previous conception, going to Regensburg to deliver the letter to the prince was to travel up the Elbe River, and then take about three weeks to arrive by land.
Regarding this trip, Eskil has lost the right to speak and act. The Earl of Hamburg took advantage of the occasion of the festival to convene a military conference after calling the lower nobles who attended the meeting, namely his own vassals, to deal with the threat of the Danes, and announced He will bring a group of bodyguards to meet His Royal Highness with Saint Eskil in person.
Sudden threat of war? Each vassal had to take good care of their own territory, and then hope that the prince's personal soldiers could be reinforced.
Meet the prince, there are not many guards!
The Count decided to travel lightly and try to reach Regensburg as quickly as possible, because this journey is slow, whether by water or land.
The Franks were too big, especially after the conquest of Saxony. In the battle between Charlie the Hammer and the enemy who crossed the Pyrenees, it was obvious that the Franks planned to gather an army of 150,000 people. As a result, it took three months for the army to march, and finally 70,000 people completed the assembly.
The Earl of Hamburg has few soldiers, and his fiefs are not rich. Most of the soldiers have to stay and garrison. To put it mildly, it is to defend against Denmark, which has changed, and to conduct a winter offensive. It is impossible to supply too many people.
Only ten of the most capable soldiers were selected, they were canonized as knights by the earl's assault, and their fate has changed from a squire soldier suddenly to the lowest noble. The Earl hopes that in this way, they will gain the absolute loyalty of the ten of them in order to cope with the possible unexpected events of the journey.
Compared with Esquil's proposal to go retrograde the Elbe and then take the land route, the Count directly rejected it.
What else can Esquill do? can only recognize it.
On that day, the Earl, who had prepared a batch of rye bread, jerky, and cask ale, was ready to set off.
Also taking this opportunity, the blue fox clearly saw the Frankish inland ships.
They were all rowing boats, far inferior in length and breadth to the Viking longships. The Frankish ships had no cocked ends, although there were masts in the middle, so the height was really worrying.
This kind of boat is not suitable for sailing at all, or it is suitable for floating on the sea in low sea conditions, but this kind of small boat is very suitable for sailing in inland waters, and the maneuverability looks very good.
A Frankish rowboat can seat ten people, but if a horse or a pony-cart dismantled into parts can seat only six.
The Count brought his youngest son to meet the world, and there were only twelve people behind the squire knight. Eskil has long been accustomed to walking alone, he is a battle-hardened doer, and he has the confidence to go to Regensburg alone, even in his old age.
He only had two attendant priests, Blue Fox and Vardy. This trip was of great significance, so he did not bring little priests who could "enjoy".
The earl has his own black information, which is illegal concubinage cheating, and Eskil has an undisclosed and unclear intimacy with the little priest.
And this journey is risky, because the Count chose a special waterway. If the journey is dangerous, both Vardy and Blue Fox can come forward and participate in the battle, which other priests can't do!
Both had murdered and were essentially vicious Vikings, at least that's what Esquill thought. Because he stayed in the Principality of Ross for half a year, he knew that those guys were no matter how polite they were, and they were all downright murderous and ruthless people. If this ferocity is used in the right place, and they are converted, they must be the bravest guardians of the faith.
If the blue fox is still worried about killing the bandits, the Slavs Vardy are simply fierce.
Although the gem-encrusted dagger was a blue fox's saber, it was a gift to the prince, a trick brick for meeting, so it was naturally wrapped in leather. Both Blue Fox and Vardy have short iron swords hidden under their robes. Under normal circumstances, priests should not do this. However, there are risks in the journey. If you have basic self-defense ability, the earl will no longer make irresponsible remarks about the abnormal behavior of the priest. .
The route of the journey has been very clear, leaving Hamburg and going downstream into the ocean, going south along the coastline into the mouth of the Weser River, upstream to the source of the river and arriving in Frankfurt, after getting some supplies from the local Marquis, continue south into the Rhine tributary. , turn overland to a tributary of the Danube, and then go downstream to Regensburg.
This is the easiest and quickest way. As for Esquil's set of paths, it is close to the territory of the Bohemians (Czechs), which is more risky. After all, Saint-Esquier did not understand the military or marching, and the Count had no intention of criticizing. It was not the first time he had taken the path he had chosen, so he knew it well.
Their group has already started to act...
The latest chapter address of The Rise of Rurik:
The rise of Rurik read the full text at:
The rise of Rurik txt download address:
The Rise of Rurik Mobile Reads:
For the convenience of reading next time, you can click "Favorites" below to record the reading record of this time (Chapter 737 to South Frank), and you can see it when you open the bookshelf next time!
If you like "The Rise of Rurik", please recommend this book to your friends (QQ, blog, WeChat, etc.), thank you for your support! ! ()