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Can a woman become a baron? Of course.

In order to avoid the annihilation of noble heirs, some extreme measures have reasons to be implemented.

The city of Mainz on the south bank of the Rhine River has thick Roman stone walls. It was a permanent city expanded by the Roman Empire. It stands on the left bank of the Rhine River, watching over the Germanic world in the north. After all, the German Franks stood on the ruins of Rome.

After the establishment of the New Kingdom, Mainz, which was originally a border area, gradually became the hinterland of the kingdom.

The Alemannic tribe has disintegrated, and its tribal leaders have also become aristocrats of the Frankish system. This was a compromise with the surrounding tribes during the Frankish conquest.

Especially the Adalbert family, Counts of Metz, whose ancestor was an Alemannic chief.

This place where the ancient Alemanni people lived for generations has now become the peak area of ​​civil war, and a series of tragedies are taking place.

The thick stone walls cannot give absolute peace of mind to the people taking refuge in Mainz. In the eyes of ordinary people, Charlemagne's third grandson, King Ludwig of the East, is not a good person. This guy used rough methods to avoid his power being diverted.

It's so bad that he forced ordinary farmers to fight. Sadly, these farmers, who had no choice, picked up weapons modified from farm tools and faced almost their own people.

The army was entrenched in Mainz, and ordinary farmers endured hardships. They did not dare to complain to Ludwig. The king's military operations made no progress and suffered a lot of losses. He could only comfort himself by claiming that he had "not been defeated."

This year's autumn harvest is just around the corner. As many as 2,000 farmers were killed in the war, which further weakened the labor force. This made the agriculture of Laiyingao and Laiingao even worse due to the war.

The living must join in the autumn harvest, even a group of green-faced peasant women must carry scythes to harvest oats and wheat.

The area south of Mainz is the Oberlin Plain, where a group of farms are abandoned and a large number of refugees gather in Mainz. The priest from the diocese of Worms comforted the emotions of these poor people, claiming that "your suffering comes from insufficient piety."

", using this rhetoric to try to separate King Ludwig's militarism from disaster.

The people need to eat, and the main force of the Eastern Kingdom stationed here needs to eat even more.

After a lot of piecing together, Ludwig believed that he still had a strong army of 3,000 men who dared to fight. This was his last trump card in the middle reaches of the Inn River, and for the time being he no longer dared to take a big gamble.

Half of the three thousand men are cavalry. The men need to eat and the horses need to eat grass. If such an army stands still, it will be a huge material consumption machine.

Perhaps it would be the best choice to disperse the army to the fields to collect grain personally. Ludwig not only could not think of such a move to cherish the people's power, but also never tried to think of it.

What he cares about is how much food he can receive this year, and he hopes to save enough supplies to avoid spending money on food supplies from Bavaria.

After all, the main people he was frantically wasting away were the people in the Earldom of Yingao. He had never regarded this place as his core territory, so he had no psychological burden on how to waste it.

To make matters worse, the real Count Leingau and his family went to live in seclusion in the Taunus Mountains in the north. They had neither betrayal nor loyalty. They simply abandoned the entire fiefdom and let Ludwig do whatever he wanted.

The local lords were in ruins, and Ludwig felt a little more vented to vent his anger, and became more aggressive in plundering the local people's surplus food and human resources.

Just when the situation was anxious and complicated, the Russians entrenched in Nassau actually brought good news.

Blue Fox's Ross army camped outside the city guarding the ships.

He himself took a small group of elite followers, as well as his brother Black Fox and his sister-in-law Sophia Nassau, and walked into the city of Mainz under the escort of elite Frankish heavy cavalry.

Larger cities lack the firepower for prosperity.

Lan Hu had a sullen old face, and he saw groups of decadent people sitting idle on the dirty streets. The old woman had a sad face, and the gray and white headscarf covered her face as if to hide her poverty, while the children with confused eyes were all

His little face was dark, and hard dry nasal mucus was stuck on his face, but no adults were there to wash his face.

When these people saw Ludwig riding a tall horse, they did not avoid him at all. They just looked up and did nothing.

Ludwig didn't pay attention to his own people, as if he didn't see them at all. He was even more contemptuous of the mounted guards.

The monarch and the people actually have such a numb relationship with each other? This situation does not exist in Russia at all.

"Ludwig will always be an arrogant guy." Blue Fox's initial understanding of him has not changed even after so many years.

The corruption in the city was shocking to Black Fox. Little Sophia Nassau just subconsciously kept grabbing Black Fox's fat arm, instinctively feeling that this place was a terrible place of right and wrong.

It has a good name, but due to the devastation of the war, its prosperity has ceased.

"Perhaps prosperity can be restored, provided that their civil war can be ended." Thinking of this, Blue Fox looked at Ludwig's back on the horse again, feeling that this man would not give up.

The main roads in the city are paved with dense stone slabs, a legacy of infrastructure from the Roman era, as are the heavy stone buildings.

A stone building with remnants of Roman style became Ludwig's temporary palace, where he intended to mercifully entertain Blue Fox and his party as a landlord.

After all, Blue Fox also has the status of an earl, and his younger brother Black Fox has the status of a baron equivalent to the Frankish system because he married into the Nassau family.

Earls, barons, and marquises (countries on the border), the great nobles in the de jure control areas of the Eastern Kingdom can only be counted on one hand. Earls are indeed of a higher rank than barons de jure, but it is not necessarily true when it comes to military strength.

The noble king, Ludwig, was captured. During the peace talks, he saw too many strange things in the north. To be fair, he admired the complex and delicious catering made by the Russians. Now he brings a batch of Russian food.

I love the glass tableware.

Compared with being noble and elegant, the catering Ludwig can provide today can be described as very crude. He ordered a local goat to be roasted, and he must choose one with fat enough tail oil for roasting. There are no special ingredients for roasting the lamb, only

There was coarse salt and chopped thyme. When eating meat, the nobles cut the meat themselves with knives and even tore it with their own hands.

Like a bear sitting in a stone warmed by a fire, Ludwig was such a beast. He deliberately waited until the fat sheep was roasted before announcing the start of the banquet, and invited the foreign nobles who were in a daze in the city to a private meeting.

There are no wives or concubines. Of course, Ludwig has the right to secretly keep some maids, and it is also okay to have some illegitimate children. He does not bother to do this. This is not a mental disorder caused by his faith. The so-called eldest brother Lothair now clearly understands

It means putting yourself to death. When life and death are at stake, all your thoughts should be devoted to war. Why think about anything else?

The stone house is like a secret room. All the attendants have left, and there are only four people in the room: King Ludwig, Count Blue Fox of Gothenburg, the son-in-law of Baron Nassau, and Sophia, the daughter of Baron Nassau.

The four of them are all nobles. It can be said that tonight is a secret meeting of the nobles. Even the young Sophia feels uncomfortable in this nervous atmosphere.

Maybe the girl should leave this rude aristocratic secret gathering, but the sizzling fat roasted lamb that was served made her salivate. Of course she couldn't leave, because she was a key figure.

Ludwig's attitude towards the Blue Fox was extremely complicated. He played with the Ross steel sword inlaid with rubies and cut the mutton himself with this sharp treasure, deliberately letting the Blue Fox see clearly.

"That sword was once the sword of King Rus. I gave it to you back then." Blue Fox's eyes were sharp.

"Indeed. I was beaten very hard by you last year! The noble me was almost captured by an unknown warrior. Fortunately, the other party was actually a nobleman. This sword was not taken away by your Rurik in the end. It is such a good sword.

!Still mine.”

"It's a good sword." Blue Fox smiled and stood up again, suddenly pulling out his sword. The sword wind buzzed and it was the sword that attracted Ludwig's attention.

Seeing his brother like this, the little fat black fox also pulled out his sword and showed it off with a smile.

As the saying goes, holding a sword and killing oneself begins, Ludwig felt a hint of threat, so he covered up his embarrassment with a smile, but when he looked at their swords, a strong sense of familiarity arose spontaneously.

Blue Fox said with a little arrogance: "Do you really know the origin of the sword?"

"I don't know."

"Your sword was first ordered by my father and given to King Rurik. Then the king gave it to me and finally gave it to you as a gift. The swords of our four brothers all have similar styles and are all made by the same master.

hand."

Ludwig never knew this, "So, my sword is actually not very noble?"

"No. Even if we brothers are loyal to different kings, we are all nobles. The sword you ordered is already valuable. The sword you are holding is worth two pounds of silver coins."

What a businessman's smooth wisdom. What does it mean to "have different loyalties to kings"? Ludwig glanced at the fat little man who married into the Nassau family, and felt happy in his heart.

"Since we all carry swords, we are all nobles. I allow you to move freely! Come on! Let's share this fat sheep."

A rather plump piece of lamb leg was cut into a glass plate by the black fox, and he personally brought it to Sophia Nassau. The little girl had long been drooling with greed. She had never dared to say a word, but now she carried it with her head down.

Have a knife and fork ready to cut and nibble the meat.

Originally, it was very inappropriate for such a little girl to join the secret dinner party of the nobles in a rather indecent way. Ludwig specifically allowed the participation of the youngest daughter of the Baron of Nassau. In essence, he did not regard her simply as a woman. Logically speaking,

In the past, the humble Baron of Nassau existed as a minor vassal of the Count of Leingau, and did not even have the right to face the king. Now of course Ludwig did not respect this girl, but only the fat man next to her, and the fact that he could easily win the throne.

Rus' troops in Lower Koblenz.

After chewing a lot, Ludwig had a hard stomach. He slammed the small dagger (a kind of tableware) on the oak table in a vulgar way, and said arrogantly: "To be honest, I admire you for capturing Koblen."

Ci's behavior. My king's recent war in the south has not gone well, but your position in the west has helped me regain face. You also cleverly sent the prisoners to my hands, which really alleviated some of my shortage of troops.

"

Obviously this guy spoke like this to pave the way for a deep and confidential conversation.

Looking at the king, during the short time he stayed in the city, Blue Fox urgently inquired about some situations. He told his brother Black Fox to shut up with his eyes, smiled meaningfully for a while, and then said: "In this way, you

There is a benefit, so we also need a benefit."

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"Benefit, what do you want to get?"

"Just like the treaty we signed with each other at the beginning of the year. Me! As the Count of Gothenburg in Ross, I led the army to help you fight, helped you capture Coblenz, and gave you the prisoners. You must pay me a sum

money."

"Money? What am I paying for?" Ludwig's arrogant face relaxed.

"One hundred and forty prisoners, each worth two pounds of silver."

"You? Seriously?!"

"really."

"Greed!" A surprised Ludwig raised his head and asked sharply, "Why bother?"

"Oh? Could it be that your noble past couldn't even afford three hundred pounds of silver coins? You must know that the Bishop of Cologne paid five thousand pounds of silver coins to buy peace. You, noble man, are not even as good as a bishop?"

Ludwig was so agitated that he gritted his teeth. As a king, it was inconvenient for him to point out that he was indeed short of money. More than just a lack of money? The current situation was really destitute and exhausted.

For a few moments, Ludwig admired the Normans' ability to operate longships and rob everywhere. Forced by his status, doing gangsterism was not only despicable but also blasphemous to his faith. However, he could rob far away places in a short time.
To be continued...