Chapter 1089 Pepin III, the great butler of the Flanders country
In this era, a European nobleman could legally own a vast territory, but he had only a few subjects.
The County of Flanders was divided into two, Count Baudouin only retained the southern territory and switched allegiance to the Eastern Kingdom.
This was the result of the war in 840. Earl Baudouin did this in order to preserve his power, and he was well aware of the consequences of doing so. However, he was more worried about the Vikings like Denmark and Rus than the revenge of King Lothair.
A bloody blow. Only by betraying Lothair can he exchange for the Vikings' promise of "not raiding"! Baudouin didn't think that Lothair in the distance would stand up for him, but it really angered the Vikings, and their longships could be sent at any time.
They can all be killed.
However, Flanders, whose territory has been severely shrunk, only has one large city, Ghent, and large settlements such as Antwerp (burned), Brussels and Lille. Otherwise, it is all scattered rural areas.
Brussels is already a border city of the Count. To its east is the demilitarized Diocese of Maastricht, and further east is Charlemagne’s resting place, Aachen.
Flanders's legal defection made King Lothair extremely angry, but after he calmed down, why did he send troops to conquer other than to curse a few idiots? The local nobles had always been strong-headed, and he had accurately calculated Count Bodo
An will not take the initiative to cause trouble, so there is no substantial threat to herself.
Then in the spring of 841, Aachen's defense strength was strengthened. This was King Lothair's attitude.
This attitude alone was enough to make Baudoin nervous, and as a last resort, he also strengthened the defense of the border town of Brussels.
Thanks to the geographical existence of the small Maastricht parish on both sides and the Maas River dividing the two sides, it seems that the two sides are just sending more troops through the air to hint at each other's attitudes.
Baudouin would never take the initiative to cause trouble. He was severely beaten in last year's war and suffered huge losses in troops. He is actively licking his wounds.
He lacked trust in the Vikings, and the public's attitude was also highly wary. Only a group of domestic traveling merchants were bold and wanted to actively seek out the Vikings to try trade.
Because the summer sheep shearing season in the country has arrived.
What’s the biggest problem now? Making money!
In this era when military nobles and priests ruled the world together, there were no pure civil servants around Count Baudouin. When the count was employing people, the eldest son of a knight who participated in the war and died in battle automatically inherited the title, and Baudoin took the opportunity to promote him.
Some leaders. He believed in his own eyes and felt that some of the boys he had selected would become qualified warriors in the future.
Fortunately, there was a steward who served the Baudouin family, and his concept of status corresponded to that of the Chancellor of the Frankish court.
The butler is responsible for commanding the servants to take care of the master's daily life, and also takes care of the finances. After all, the wise earl spends time patrolling his territory every year, setting up circuit courts to punish injustice, visiting and monitoring lower-level nobles, and even a very special person.
The simple reason - hunting and paying tribute.
It is a coincidence that this steward's name is Pepin. Stewards are also hereditary. Since there is no taboo about names, a name can be passed down from generation to generation.
The steward Pepin III was really faithful in taking care of the count's wallet. He didn't dare to think anything wrong. It was this honesty that made him seem to be harmless.
This is indeed the case. The steward Pepin had no power ambitions and he carefully managed the money bank. However, last year's war had exhausted the funds.
One day, on a sunny afternoon, Baudoin specially summoned his butler. When he made this decision, he had a premonition that his money was about to be spent.
What is a big noble with no money? The lower nobles will change their allegiance to others, and in the end the big nobles will only have empty titles and become losers. This is what Baudoin fears most.
"How much money do we have now?" He could feel the financial strain on the butler's face, but he still wanted to find out for himself.
Pepin cocked his head and said nothing...
"say?!"
"Yes... our money bank... has bottomed out."
"I've sensed something." Baudoin spat hard and said, "How much...is it?"
"My master, you still have less than two hundred pounds of silver coins."
"Ah? That's it? Where did the money go?!" Baudouin couldn't believe his ears. He rushed forward and grabbed the key collar very seriously.
Pepin was also startled, and continued to listen to the adult's questioning. "Could it be that a thief misappropriated it?"
Baudouin hinted that his butler was unclean, but the latter was not angry and was grabbed by the collar to explain.
Regarding how much money was given to the nobles who died in the war, how much food was spent on resettling refugees, how much it cost to purchase new weapons and organize new guards, and even the additional allowances paid to the border city garrison...
"Sir, you are generous. Without your help, many people would not be able to survive this winter. But if you continue like this, the money and food will eventually be exhausted."
"You are right!" Baudoin let go of his hand angrily. He realized that he had gone too far and refused to give in. He asked again: "What should I do now? I have no money and I will perish!"
"Yes!" Pepin also came prepared, and then deliberately asked in a low voice and in a seductive manner: "Then, my lord, do you believe the Normans?"
"Them? I don't want to believe it. At least not completely."
"Then what do you think of Lord Lothair?"
"That man? I don't like him. Once he frees his hands, he will hit me. At that time, I may surrender voluntarily."
"The price of surrender must be that you pay a huge sum of money to ensure that your family's power is permanent." Pepin, who managed finances, spoke to the point. Baudouin was speechless for a moment.
Pepin continued: "So no matter what, you need money, either to expand your army, or to pay tribute to Lothair in the future. I don't understand the struggles of the great nobles, I only know that you need a lot of money now."
"So? You! Get me money! I want to get rich as soon as possible."
"Is this why you summoned me? I do have a solution."
Hearing what his butler said, Baudouin felt relieved. He let out a sigh of relief and said, "You can tell me what to do. As long as it doesn't violate your faith, it's okay."
Pepin's method was very straightforward. He organized an official caravan in the name of the earl to directly traffic wool to the Normans. Specifically, he was looking for the so-called "Ross Shops" and doing business directly with the big merchants of Ross.
This sounds outrageous, but in fact the conditions are there, but Flanders must have great courage and hope that the peace promises of the Russians and Danes will be true.
"Who was the king before the disaster? It was you! Sir, those farmers have received your protection, and now their lives have stabilized again. You have reason to recover the profits. This year, our wool is completely embargoed by Lothair. You ordered
Block the roads and prohibit all traveling merchants from trafficking wool. You collect this summer’s wool and assemble at the revitalized port of Antwerp. And I will take the initiative to find the Ross merchants for you.”
The steward was by no means a person who just talked the talk and didn't practice. Since he proposed the plan and was willing to implement it, Baudouin couldn't think of an easier way to make a fortune, so he simply went on to prepare for the big adventure that Pepin III decided to embark on.
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In this era, merchants were despised by the church. According to the belief, any behavior of getting something for nothing was improper. Pious priests would not associate with merchants. However, the nobles needed this group of merchants to provide necessary supplies.
The local church did not like Pepin's family and criticized him as a jester. Getting certain benefits from managing the count's finances was considered a mistake by the priests. Baudouin needed such a person very much, but considering the nobles and priests
Due to their public opinion and attitude, it is impossible for him to give any title to the Pepin family. Even if the butler is hereditary, all previous butlers are just butlers at best.
But who would be willing to be a lowly person forever?
The steward Pepin was temporarily given great powers so that he could go to various villages to collect excessive taxes on the count's behalf.
The cavalry escorted him, who was suddenly dressed up, and rushed to the village outside Ghent. He ordered the villagers to gather and announce this year's tribute quota.
The tithe is the most traditional tax law. One-tenth of the farmers' various outputs is paid to the church, and one-tenth is paid to Count Baudouin. Currently, the county is divided due to war, leaving the huge Utrecht Church
The district also split. The peasants' tithes were paid to the Bishop of Ghent, and another version of the tithes was paid to the count, so that the farmers actually became one in five.
In addition, there is the most traditional poll tax, which is paid directly to the count. Pepin announced in a high-profile manner: "You have all received asylum and escaped the war. For this reason, you must pay the poll tax for the next three years. You may not be able to get it."
If you pay enough for food, use the wool as a deduction!"
What can the peasants do? Even if the count's army cannot defeat the Normans, they can easily deal with themselves. What's more terrible is that the peasants cannot logically prove that the count's order is wrong.
Peasants disobeying their lords? This behavior is punishable by hanging, and is defined by the priests as a folly that will surely lead to hell.
Now is the sheep-cutting season, and villages that have experienced disasters hope to "recover blood" by cutting sheep this summer.
Since ancient times, villages have harvested wool and processed it themselves. The wool will be degreased by boiling water, air-dried, and then stuffed into sacks and sold to merchants.
Farmers themselves cannot consume so much wool, so the popularity of decent clothing in rural areas of Flanders is actually very high. Both young and old wear wool clothing. However, wool cannot be used as food, and the local land is not fertile and easy to eat.
In the face of seawater erosion, animal husbandry is more profitable than growing grain, but wheat is the basis for survival.
In normal years, they barely have enough food to eat, so they rely on selling wool raw materials and semi-finished products to make money to buy extra food. However, the largest textile center in this area is in the Cologne region, and merchants purchase goods from Flanders and ship them to
Aachen, direction of Cologne. Businessmen only transport raw materials and make a lot of money by changing hands.
It’s good if you can make money! If you ask for too much, you are not pious enough!
Many people actually think this way. They want to make money but also have face. However, for the Pepin family, the reputation of the family has always been bad anyway, so what does face mean? Since they have been promoted by the earl, then let the bad guys do it to the end.
Pepin asked for a three-year poll tax, and the people were respectful in public, but secretly cursed this old man and his whole family to go to hell.
Go to hell? Let’s talk about it after death.
Pepin couldn't care so much. He felt that since he had already become a great villain, he might as well do it to the end.
So every village received the order. People didn't quite believe that the earl was so harsh, and they were more willing to believe that this Pepin was a greedy person who deliberately increased his power.
How the people understood it was their business, what Pepin wanted was the wool.
Since the earl's order prohibited all traveling merchant activities, merchants who dared to go to the village to buy wool had been arrested by the army. They were thrown into a cell in Ghent, their property was confiscated, and their children were all sent to a monastery. Some people encountered such bad luck, merchants among them
The message was delivered faster than arrows. In a short period of time, no one dared to go to the village to purchase various supplies. In fact, the border roads were closed to all noble territories in the Middle Kingdom. Even if some merchants took risks, they could not leave the country freely.
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Count Baudouin didn't even know that he was creating a "wool monopoly", but he took his people to hunt in the coastal woodland west of Ghent, thinking of satisfying his family's need for meat by hunting wild boars.
Pepin deliberately lowered the purchase price, which was fully twice as low as the price usually offered by traveling merchants! If he had not considered that he could not catch all the money, he would have planned to go further.
Wool began to gather in the city of Ghent and was continuously delivered to Baudouin.
The tawny coarse cloth sack on the trolley is stuffed extremely solidly. As long as the hemp rope is untied, the inside is slightly yellow wool that has been compressed as hard as possible.
Just touching this first batch of goods made Baudoin's scalp numb. Looking at the butler Pepin who was standing aside smiling and not answering, he had thousands of questions that he wanted to ask clearly.
People are suffering? All this is the will of the Lord.
Baudouin felt that he could ask for a "no attack" promise from the Norman army, which would be enough for the people to be grateful and spend money, because peace did have a clear price.
The wool was used to offset the tithe and the three-year poll tax, and Pepin was very thief and withheld the part that should have been paid to the church in Ghent. He even prepared a rhetoric, the so-called "You are the servants of God, do you have any respect for the secular people?"
Wealth is extremely greedy." The priests lived a life of asceticism and would not die of hunger anyway, and indeed no priests cared about where the funds went.
In the eyes of outsiders, this Pepin was a greedy villain who might become a great villain like Judas. The Bishop of Ghent even personally suggested to Baudouin to stay away from such villains.
Bad guy? Who is the bad guy? The one who can’t get me money is the bad guy. My butler is obviously a good guy!
Of course, Baudouin would not say this to anyone, and asked his family members not to make any comments on related topics.
It was another early summer night, and the world was peaceful. At least there was no sign of trouble in Flanders, and the border cities were all peaceful.
Dinner was roast hare meat with oatmeal porridge. Baudouin was a count. He was severely beaten by King Rurik of Rus last year, and so far he can only live a hard life.
Baudoin would never forget the great peace talks in Hamburg at the beginning of this year. He fully accepted the results of the peace talks and couldn't stop eating the wonderful meals provided by the northerners.
Barbarian? Are people who can cook exquisite dishes really barbaric? At least when it comes to eating, Baudouin is very envious of the Russians, and now he has stained glass tableware given by the King of Rus on his dining table, thus demonstrating his noble status.
He also knew that glassware was nothing among the Russians, and even many ordinary soldiers had such noble utensils in their homes.
"You are doing well now." He summoned Pepin and praised him.
"I...just did what I was required to do."
Pepin held his hands together, wore a robe like a stake, and a feathered hood could not hide his curly gray hair. He was indeed old.
"Now that the wool is arriving one after another, the next step is how to sell it. Do you already have a plan?"
Pepin said without thinking: "Yes. I sent fishermen to the direction of Utrecht, and sure enough I found that the Normans were building their brand new Durist, called Rotterstad or something like that."
"Did they hurt the fishermen?"
"No. There was a misunderstanding at the beginning, and he was released after he found out that he was one of ours. There is enough intelligence to prove that the Ross merchants are really here! Moreover, Baron Nassau has just arrived in Utrecht. If Nassau hadn't sent someone
Wandering around Rotterstad, our fishermen are really going to be killed..."
Pepin talked a lot, he was almost giving a report. Baudouin's mind was very confused. It seemed that Rotterstad, the "New Durist", was obviously a wasteland near the sea, but it had become the center of various forces.
Gathering of delicious food?
The information Pepin received was that the immigrant team of the Baron of Nassau, Russian merchants, natives of Utrecht, natives of Groningen, Danish immigrants, and Danes who had just robbed Britain and were eager to sell their stolen goods were all lingering at the mouth of the Rhine River.
.They all have their own purposes, and Rotterstad, which is under construction, is enough to provide an opportunity for people from all walks of life to communicate.
How come such a good thing is so rare in Flanders?
But before Pepin went there in person, he hit his chest hard: "I'm about to leave. I want to talk carefully with the Ross merchants and try to sell all the wool at a high price this year."
"Very good! Go ahead and do it!"
Baudoin didn't say anything immediately. The fact was that he wanted to reward the Pepin family with some good things after the event was completed. A title? No! Maybe, he could look for a boy from the Pepin family to be engaged to his youngest daughter. The family