"Oh, I'm going to Constance." The chubby businessman pressed his hat, "In this damn war, the ticket price from Mingxing City to Constance has actually increased so much."
"Is it okay?" Ask smiled and said, "Safety is important after all. If it weren't for having connections in Swabia and Bavaria, this team wouldn't dare to do cross-border passenger transportation, right?"
"I hope we don't suffer a military disaster, otherwise I'm really sorry for the high fare I paid." The businessman naturally understood what he meant. Recently, the empire has been in chaos, and the soldiers he encountered were all unreasonable.
It's okay to charge some tolls, but you're afraid that the other party will suspect that you are rich and kill people and steal money, which is not worth the gain.
Since he was going to the Principality of Swabia this time, Aske found a well-connected private team.
Because the carriage was narrow and there were so many people, it was very inconvenient to live there, so the girls could only stay in the fire island while he carried the ancient books outside.
The convoy was swaying and bumping along the way. This land originally belonged to the Norik province of the Western Solomon Empire. The empire fell only a few hundred years ago, and the inter-provincial roads were badly damaged, with potholes and gravel everywhere.
The tremors, tremors, tremors, finally reached Stuttgart, where the convoy was stopped by a group of soldiers.
The people in the car looked outside in fear and noticed that the soldiers' cloth armor had fish bone emblems on it.
They were the family private soldiers of Count Eberhard of Württemberg.
Eberhard I, nicknamed Count Fishbone, is currently competing with the Sauron family for a large territory in the Principality of Swabia.
Nominally, the current princes of these two families are Duke Conrad, the lord of the Principality of Swabia and Franconia.
However, with the development of the Griffin family so far, only Duke Conrad's lineage remains, and the other branches have become extinct.
Conrad, an old gryphon, is also unable to have children and currently has only one daughter, who is married to Count Frederick, the current head of the Sauron family.
So the Sauron family began to make preparations, waiting for the day when the old griffon passed away unfortunately, and they would start to inherit the griffon family's political legacy and the principality territory.
They even changed the family flag from a hunting dog to a falcon, and added the wings of the gryphon family. From then on, they called themselves the Falcon family, the heirs of the gryphon.
Unexpectedly, the old griffon actually got involved with the Holy See. Not only did he try to create an heir through in vitro fertilization technology, but he also openly rebelled against His Majesty Emperor Otto.
As a result, other lords within the Principality of Swabia also began to become restless. Among them, Count Fishbone was the one who danced the most happily among the lords. His reason was also very simple:
Currently, the Principality of Swabia belongs nominally to Duke Conrad of the Griffin family.
As a result, Duke Conrad rebelled.
His Majesty the Emperor will definitely deprive him of his fief.
As the son-in-law family of the old Griffin, your Falcon family is definitely not qualified to inherit.
Wouldn't the large amount of land in the Principality of Swabia be inhabited by virtuous people? As long as I take advantage of the Franconian war to get into a quagmire, quickly conquer and occupy the surrounding territories.
Then he made a public declaration to join His Majesty the Emperor's camp.
Your Majesty will definitely recognize my de facto occupation of the current territory and grant me its de jure right to rule in exchange for me continuing to cause trouble behind the old gryphon.
There is no big problem with this logic. This is how politics is played in feudal countries. During peacetime, legal principles are emphasized, and during wartime, interests come first. Mature nobles can usually jump back and forth between the two to seize the maximum benefits for their own family.
.
The only problem is that the Falcon family, which has also been preparing for this for many years, of course cannot just sit back and wait for death.
So Count Fishbone directly led his troops to the Stuttgart Castle, which was about 64 kilometers away from the Saueren Castle in Hechingen. Both sides unanimously strengthened their walls and cleared the country, and they were ready to rush to the opposite side to seize land and people.
It was under such circumstances that the soldiers sent out by Earl Fishbone to patrol met the convoy that Asker was in.
"Sir." The leader of the convoy also recognized these people as Count Fishbone's people, and quickly came out to establish connections and said, "We were ordered by Lord Ulrich to go to the nearby principality to purchase supplies. These people are using the surplus of the convoy.
The transportation capacity and the passengers brought back by the way, Sir Ulrich also knows this."
Ulrich, the biological brother of Count Fishbone, was naturally recognized by these private soldiers. The squad leader just said with a smile:
"Logically speaking, since it is Sir Ulrich's business, we can't be embarrassed. However, the Earl has recently issued a death order of martial law. He is afraid that these travelers may be mixed with the spies of the Falcon family, so routine searches are still required."
The leader of the convoy was still trying to say something, but the captain of the private squad had already pushed him away and sent his men into each carriage to have people come out to check.
"What is your name?"
"Brooks."
"Where are you going and what are you doing?"
"Going to Ulm to visit relatives."
Similar interrogations continued in front of each carriage. Some slick passengers stuffed their money after being interrogated, and the soldiers let them go.
Those who don't stuff money will look like they are poor, so they will be pushed and shoved a few times by the soldiers, and they will be able to endure it.
Finally it was Ask's turn. The leading soldier was about to question him, but when he saw clearly what he was wearing, he was a little frightened.
This guy... is armed to the teeth with spears, shields, swords, battle axes, pistols and throwing knives. At first glance, he is not a good guy.
"You..." The soldier turned around to see where his comrades were, and immediately summoned the courage to shout, "What are you doing!"
"A person who sells weapons." Ask replied.
"A person who sells weapons? Why do you carry so many weapons with you!?"
"Sell it." Ask said.
Soldier:………………
He didn't hear the other party's answer clearly and subconsciously asked the questions he had prepared.
The soldier next to him laughed loudly: "Bayer, people say they are selling weapons. Are you stupid to ask them what they are doing with these weapons?"
"I, I suspect that he is a spy of the Falcon family!" The soldier named Bayer felt a little embarrassed and could only forcefully defend himself.
"In that case, then you should 'question' him carefully. If he can't provide 'evidence', then arrest him."
Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Asker sighed, took out a few banknotes from his bag, which were small-denomination banknotes "Copper Dollar Geseta" issued by Venis, and silently handed them to the other party.
Unexpectedly, the other party refused to accept it: "Are these Venis banknotes? We only accept imperial coins."
Ask:………………
God only accepts imperial coins! Don’t you have a bank here? Are precious metal coins not heavy to carry around?
He was silent for a long time, showed a harmless smile, and asked the soldier who was obviously alert:
"I don't have any imperial coins with me. I wonder if you can accept another kind of coin?"