Normally, a border count should not leave his fief.
Earl Robert decided to make an exception because he felt that the stability on the border was more like the calm before the storm. Based on his understanding of the Danes, even if they suddenly launched an attack, they would definitely not find trouble in winter. He felt that he had an extremely critical
During the time window, he used the winter period to go to Regensburg in the south to explain the situation to Prince Ludwig and seek military assistance.
As for the business problems of the Russians, these are completely insignificant and trivial issues.
Blue Fox was not convinced that his words could convince the earl, but offering a steel sword as a gift would attract the earl's absolute attention.
In the city of Hamburg, the Count finally made a decision after three days of careful consideration. He took out a quiet Sunday afternoon, and the next day was naturally Sunday. After the morning ceremony, he met Eskil in the Hamburg Abbey.
, Joseph Blue Fox gave a very simple conversation on business issues.
The monastery is a sacred place, and it seems that no secular matters should be discussed. The count did this intentionally, hoping that the seriousness of the place would allow Joseph Blue Fox, a converted Russian, to fulfill his agreement.
"Russian merchant ships can enter Hamburg. After you enter the Elbe River, merchant ships cannot go deeper into Hamburg. You can only provide me with leather, ironware and gems, and I will only provide you with rye. Your merchants and sailors must
Everyone wears a cross and must fly a flag with a cross and my flag, otherwise it is illegal. Even if your merchants come, they are not allowed to enter the city and are only allowed to camp by the river. If I learn that your people have attacked
My village’s future trade will be interrupted.”
The Earl of Hamburg is not naive enough to easily believe what Blue Fox said about the Russians being peaceful merchants.
Viking pirates, this group of hateful sea wolves, have been attacking the Franks for a long time. The entire Frankish kingdom has a population of 10 million, but it is distributed over an extremely wide area. Most of the area has not been developed, and the people are basically
Relying on the Baron and the Viscount, small lords formed strongholds to protect themselves, and even built settlements along rivers. However, the "Evil Wolf" also made sneak attacks along the waterways.
The Counts of Hamburg, Flanders, and Bremen who stretched out to the northern border have fully understood what Vikings are. These "bad wolves" are almost all bandits from Denmark.
Are there any differences between Russians and Danes? Probably not much.
It's just that the Russians are located further north. Because the distance is too far, the cost for those guys to plunder Franks is higher, so they develop trade as peaceful merchants.
If it is true that peaceful trade is possible, it would be better if they all converted one after another.
The Count of Hamburg mainly considered Saint-Eskilde's face and also accepted the Blue Fox's gift.
He placed restrictions on trade with each other, and caution must be exercised before confirming that the Rus' were truly peaceful traders.
Two brand-new parchments are filled with text, and the contents are all written in Latin.
The count could only understand part of it, but fortunately the priests knew it clearly. Strict and important contract documents should be written and signed in Latin. In this way, the count tried to prove that he was a civilized person and that Frank was indeed a member of the great Roman Empire.
The only successor.
Unexpectedly, this fat Russian man actually read the document quite skillfully.
"You? You actually know Latin? You are so proficient in it." Such a phrase could not be translated by Eskilde, so Count Robert spoke it.
Blue Fox's performance was amazing, and he replied: "In the Principality of Rus, many people know Latin, especially my prince, who is the most proficient."
The earl was speechless for a moment. He wanted to show off his skills, but he was embarrassed.
Thinking about it again, this is a good thing. As a Frankish aristocrat with a well-established background, the earl once had barbarians in the northwest and east, including the land under his feet that was once the territory of the Saxon barbarians. As time has passed, many barbarians have been civilized (referred to as converted).
On the other hand, the Danes, the Obertridites, and the Pomeranians remained stubborn. The Russians seemed to have shown their positive attitude. Perhaps, as Saint Eskilde described, they were already one step away from converting the Russians.
Yao, as long as we win over the Russian prince, everything will be easier.
The two parties signed two copies of the contract document. Frank, as the most typical feudal country, did a very good job in signing the document. The earl was a little surprised that the Russian Blue Fox was very easy to sign the contract. He learned another thing, the so-called Ross
The Principality, like the Frankish Kingdom, pays attention to correct procedures when it comes to signing contracts, and it also pays attention to its proper implementation and despises unilateral tearing up of contracts.
Blue Fox became the de jure unofficial and de facto first diplomat of the Principality of Ross. He agreed to many of the count's seemingly undue demands, especially that the visiting sailors and merchants must dress up as if they had converted, but in terms of faith
The merchants in the north have never believed in any spiritual thing. This is the case with Blue Fox. He is willing to believe that it was the Lord who protected him and escaped from death. Since it worked once, he can continue to believe in it in the future. After all, he sailed from the core of Ross to this cramped place.
Who knows the twists and turns of Frankburger's success?
Blue Fox was authorized by the count to move freely in Hamburg. Even so, his activities were firmly controlled by the monastery. He wanted to observe the local life and estimate the purchasing power of the locals, so that he could report to the prince after returning to Ross.
report.
Any diplomat will routinely report to the head of his country about the situation in his country. Collecting intelligence is not only a convenient thing but also a must.
The timing of Blue Fox's arrival in Hamburg was quite subtle. Although he wanted to return to Ross as soon as possible and tell the prince what he had seen and heard, especially to show up in person to prove his safety. He also wanted to enter the south of Frank and explore this area.
The "ultra-large kingdom" beyond his concept not only satisfies the desire for exploration, but also explores business opportunities.
He cannot leave. Only when Eskil and Count Robert decide to leave, can they go with them as followers. As for whether he can meet Prince Ludwig, the highest nobleman in East Frankfurt, it is unknown.
Eskil would not leave until the major holiday rites were completed.
As the real Archbishop of Hamburg, when people from all over the country learned that such a great saint had returned, they began to intensify their efforts to inquire about the reliability of the news. As that period gradually approached, people sleeping rough and building shacks on the grass outside Hamburg began to
There are more and more. Even some lower-level viscounts, barons and even the lowest knights, if they are able, will bring their retinue and family members to participate in the festival. They also want to see Saint-Eskilde himself, hoping to get his blessing.
September 8th of the Julian calendar is the feast of the Nativity of Our Lady.
Lan Hu wanted to take a good look at the lives of the people here, and at this festival his wish finally came true. He put on the clothes of a priest and appeared in the parade, and was ordered to go with the parade with his head raised.
A team composed entirely of priests will circle the city. The stronger priests are carrying a large black cross, and two others are holding a statue of the Virgin Mary painted on a wooden board. This picture is extremely abstract.
There are also priests holding a pure gold shrine, which contains the remains of a noble priest from the past.
If a Buddhist relic is placed in a pagoda in an Eastern Buddhist temple, the entire temple will have divine power. The monks firmly believe it.
Similar things are happening in Frankland. The deceased priests who have been canonized also have divine powers, such as a finger bone and a lock of hair, which are placed inside the gilded shrine, the "golden apple", and the golden cross, thus making the monastery closer to the Lord.
.
Esquier can be sure that after his death, many parts of his body, mainly hair, fingers, and toes, will be taken away by many monasteries. He does not feel panic, everything is after death, and he thinks very openly
, because your soul will reach heaven, and your mortal body will no longer matter.
During the festival, Eskil puts on a gorgeous dress, which is a pure white cloth robe sewn with gold threads, and wears a tall hat on his head. He only dresses like this for major ceremonies, and he is naturally dressed as an ascetic on weekdays.
The procession of priests gave the gathered common people a solemn and sacred feeling. The priests holding golden urns followed Esquier. The saint was seen holding newly picked cypress branches and buds, dipping them in holy water and sprinkling them to the people kneeling on both sides.
.
The priests sang hymns in praise of the Virgin, and their footsteps moved slowly to the singing.
As long as the body is splashed with holy water, the patient will recover, the bad luck will be eliminated, normal people will be blessed with happiness, and if a pregnant woman gets this holy water, her child will be born safely.
Even the count's family is not exempt from the custom. His retinue and bodyguards are all waiting for the priests to pass by and receive divine blessings.
The parade was an important part of the ceremony, and Blue Fox took this opportunity to finally see the ordinary local farmers clearly. In his opinion, the farmers here were not significantly different from the Slavic farmers in the far east. Both of them wore simple coarse linen clothes.
, their faces are generally sallow and thin. Do these people really have the ability to buy Ross products? Wait a minute! Blue Fox suddenly realized that its big customers are simply a group of nobles, and the "currency" they can offer is rye. If the "currency"
"Insufficiency is not a problem. We will increase taxes on these farmers at that time.
The life of the peasants is definitely not good, and it seems that the earl does not care about them. The work of caring for the common people is the work of the priests, do the priests do a good job? Obviously not.
"It is said that the saints Moses and Jesus cared for their people a long time ago. This is how it is described in the book. Rurik should be another real saint..." Blue Fox kept 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 somewhat dull, with no nightly carnival at all. Even the food at night is the same sour black bread, as well as some salty soup made of cabbage, carrots and snow peas. Indeed, yellow
Carrots and snow peas are native products of Flanders and Hamburg.
After completing the holiday celebrations, one of Eskil's wishes came true. This was the first time that he presided over the Christmas feast of Our Lady in Hamburg since he became the de jure bishop of Hamburg. I am afraid that he will not host such a festival for many times.
According to his previous idea, to go to Regensburg to deliver a message to the prince, he would have to go upstream along the Elbe River, and then walk about three weeks by land to arrive.
Regarding this trip, Eskil had lost the right to speak and act. The Earl of Hamburg took the opportunity of the festival to convene a military meeting after convening the lower-level nobles, namely his vassals, to deal with the threat from the Danes, and announced
He will bring a group of guards to meet with Saint Eskil in person to see His Highness the Prince.
Suddenly there is a threat of war? Each vassal has no choice but to secure its own territory and hope that the prince's personal soldiers can provide reinforcements.
When you meet the prince, don’t have too many guards!
The count decided to travel lightly and try to reach Regensburg as quickly as possible, because this journey was slow whether by water or land.
Frank was too big, especially after conquering Saxony, and its territory further expanded. Once, Charles the Hammer and the enemies who crossed the Pyrenees had a decisive battle in Bordeaux. It was clear that Frank planned to gather an army of 150,000, but in the end, the armies in various places used three
After marching for a month, 70,000 people were finally assembled.
The Count of Hamburg originally had few soldiers, and his fiefs were not rich. Most of the soldiers had to stay and garrison. At best, it was to prevent Denmark from launching a winter offensive when the weather had changed. At worst, it was because of the expense of this preparation.
It is impossible to provide for too many people’s expenses.
Only ten of the most capable soldiers were selected, and they were canonized as knights by the Count. They suddenly became the lowest nobles from a retinue of warriors, and their fate had changed. The Count hoped that in this way, he could gain the absolute loyalty of the ten of them.
To cope with possible mishaps during the journey.
Compared to Eskil's proposed route of going against the Elbe River and then taking the overland route, the count directly rejected it.
What else could Eskil do? He could only agree with it.
That day, the earl, who had prepared a batch of rye bread, dried meat and barrels of ale, was ready to set off.
Also taking this opportunity, Blue Fox had a clear view of the Frankish river boats.
They are all rowing boats, and their length and width are far inferior to the Viking dragon-headed longships. Frankish ships do not have a structure with two raised ends, although there is a mast in the middle, but the height is really worrying.
This kind of boat is not suitable for navigation at all, or it is suitable for drifting on the sea in low sea conditions. However, this kind of small boat is very suitable for inland navigation, and its maneuverability seems to be very good.
A Frankish rowing boat could seat ten people, but if a horse or a small carriage disassembled for parts was installed, it could only seat six people.
The earl took his young son to see the world, plus a mere twelve people following the knight's retinue. Esquier has long been accustomed to walking alone. He is a man of action who has experienced hundreds of battles. Even though he went to Regensburg alone, he still
I have confidence even as I get older.
He only has two attendant priests, Blue Fox and Vardy. This trip is of great significance, so he does not bring any young priests who can "enjoy" him.
The earl had his own scandal, which was that he illegally kept a concubine for an affair, and Eskil also had an undisclosed and unclear intimate relationship with a young priest.
There are risks in this journey, because the earl chose a special waterway. If there is danger on the journey, both Vardy and Blue Fox can step forward and participate in the battle, which is something other priests simply cannot do!
Both of them had killed people, and they were essentially vicious Vikings, at least Eskil thought so. After staying in the Principality of Ross for half a year, he knew that no matter how polite those guys were, they were all serious murderers.
Ruthless people. If this cruelty is used in the right place and they complete their conversion, they will definitely be the bravest guardians of the faith.
If the blue fox is still worried about killing bandits, the Slavic Vardy is simply cruel.
Although the dagger inlaid with gems is the sword of Blue Fox, it is a gift to the prince and a secret to meet each other. Naturally, it must be well wrapped in leather. Both Blue Fox and Wadi have daggers hidden under their robes.
Sword, under normal circumstances, priests should not do this. However, if the journey is risky, you should have basic self-defense ability. The earl will no longer make irresponsible remarks on the priest's abnormal behavior.
The route of the journey has been very clear. Leave Hamburg and go down the river into the ocean. Go south along the coastline and enter the mouth of the Weser River. Go upstream to the source of the river and arrive at Frankfurt. After getting some supplies from the local marquis, continue southward into a tributary of the Rhine River.
, take the land route and turn to a tributary of the Danube River, and then go down the river directly to Regensburg.
This is the simplest and fastest way. As for Eskilde's route, it is close to the territory of the Bohemians (Czechs), which is even more risky. Saint-Eskilde does not understand military matters after all.
The count didn't know how to march, so he had no intention of criticizing him. This was not the first time he had taken the path he chose, so he knew it well.
The group of them has already started taking action...