Rise of Rurik - Chapter 736

[Chapter 737 This is the first contact between Ross and the Frankish nobles]

Hamburg really gave the Blue Fox a bad impression. If most of the Frankish cities are like this, how can they claim to be a strong capital?

They seem to be a broken house that collapses when one sets foot on it.

The buildings in Hamburg are all made of wood, and a few buildings are built of stone.

The Hamburg Abbey is mostly built of stone, with a layer of mortar on the surface.

The decoration in the house is also simple, and there is no podium where the cross is set up, but there are some gold objects here.

Blue Fox is sponsored in the priest’s dormitory attached to the monastery. He is a special figure and enjoys a separate room.

The bell in the morning brought dawn, and the lazy blue fox had to get up, and could not help complaining in the twilight of the morning light: “Their life is so hard, how can they still bear it? They have to chase after a wonderful paradise, and they don’t want to enjoy it now. ”

Complaints are complaints, the blue fox has to get up, if you can’t catch up, you won’t be able to eat the black bread this morning.

That kind of food is not delicious, but he has no choice, and this group of priests is extremely self-disciplined, and will not provide food outside the meal time.

He could only bow his head under the eaves, and looked forward to meeting with the local earl.

Eskil finished all his morning work, his eyes were bloodshot, and he stayed up all night listening to the dictation of his subordinates and flipping through the documents recorded in parchment.

His mental state was slightly poor, and he didn’t pull himself together until he was about to go to the Earl’s mansion.

He doesn’t need many attendants, or the blue fox and the Slav Vadi are enough.

The three of them were all dressed in black robes, and they walked slowly with their hands clasped in front of their stomachs, their heads hooked, which was awe-inspiring.

Earl Robert did not attach much importance to this meeting. What can the priest say?

Leaving the monastery to enter his own official residence, even the noble priest should follow the secular life.

In this era, the Pope of Rome had not yet obtained the huge secular power in Western Europe. The three princes of Frank naturally respected the Pope, but they still regarded the Pope’s mediation decision as nonsense.

Prince Ludwig has such an attitude. As a subordinate, Robert consciously received the “northern master and apprentice” at home, Bishop Eskil of Hamburg, which has already shown his importance.

None of the soldiers dared to stop the priest, who opened the gates to welcome Saint-Esquil and whispered to each other.

Unlike the Earl, the Countess attaches great importance to it.

The countess and her maid greeted him in the courtyard of the mansion and offered her best wishes in words.

The blue fox squinted his eyes all the time, even though his head was hooked, his eyes inadvertently glanced at these women.

“Are Frank women like this? The most honorable countess is actually an old woman. These maids are quite interesting…”

Eskil didn’t care about the attitude of the blue fox, and learned that the earl was on the second floor of the mansion, so he had to go upstairs.

At this moment, Earl Robert is waiting here. He is well aware of the way of life of those priests, so there is no need to prepare for the meeting.

He dismissed his servants and waited for three priests in his dining room.

Multiple wooden tables are put together to form an integral large wooden table, and a layer of plain white linen is laid on it, which looks quite neat overall.

There is a bronze lamp holder on the table, and it is not necessary to light it up during the day.

There were also sterling silver dinner plates on the table. They were indeed noble tableware, and the purpose of placing them now was nothing more than to support the count’s face.

The count was sitting at the most honored place at the dining table. When the priests arrived, he first stood up and bowed slightly, and then said that he could sit as he pleases.

It was not the first time for Eskill to visit this building. He looked around for a week and was sure that the furnishings of the restaurant had not changed, as if time was frozen.

With his eyes, he signaled his two attendants to sit down casually, implying that they should not act rashly.

Robert shrugged and tapped the table to break the awkward encounter.

“Saint Esquil, I have waited for you. What a big deal it is, please come and visit me personally.”

“But there is one big thing, it’s very important.” Esquier came prepared this time. He lifted his robe and put the cloth bag in his pocket on the table, and took out a piece of parchment folded like a handkerchief.

“What is this? Could it be a letter?”

“My lord, your guess is very correct. This is a letter from the new king of Denmark, a man named Horik Clarsson. I hope that I will be the messenger or middleman to deliver it to Prince Ludwig. inside.”

“There is such a thing?!” In just one sentence, Earl Robert already understood the seriousness of the situation.

“How?” Eskil lifted his old and wise head, his eyes hinted.

“You… want me to act as an intermediary to deliver the letter to the prince?”

“Would you like to? However, I would rather see the prince in person. Apart from this letter, I have other things I would like to inform the prince.”

Hearing that, the earl, who was on pins and needles, did not reply immediately. He was very curious about the content of the letter, especially since the writer was that Horick, so he must be more vigilant.

The earl simply demanded: “I want to know the contents of the letter. I am directly responsible for His Royal Highness, and there must be no mistakes in anything that passes through my hands.”

“There is nothing wrong with you looking at the letter in advance.”

The entire parchment letter was stuffed into the earl’s hands, and the important information written in it earl Robert instinctively raised his vigilance.

How could the thin parchment carry a man’s ambition?

How dare a hound in captivity negotiate terms with its owner?

!

Putting down his trembling hands, the first thing Robert saw was a threat to the peaceful life in his territory.

He sighed: “I know Horik, a western bandit, a wolf of the sea, stole from Durist, and claimed to be the Earl of Flanders. He and his gang were not punished by submitting to His Royal Highness. I am sure Hearing that the prince arranged for Horik to return to Denmark to seize power, the prince even wrote me a letter.”

“Oh?” Eskil, who was now in the turn, was taken aback: “It turns out that Horik’s coming to Denmark was planned by His Highness the Prince?”

“The prince did it, but the situation should not be like this. Horik can call himself king, but the prince canonize him as an earl at most, and the whole of Denmark should also submit to the prince. Horik actually said that Denmark and us belong to each other Once the prince finds out about it, I’m afraid there will be another war!” At the end of the speech, Robert’s lips trembled a little, and his expression fully demonstrated his fear and loathing of war.

How does Robert not loathe war?

It doesn’t matter if he has plenty of troops, but his Earl of Hamburg is in the north, and the Danes, Oberlidids, and Pomeranians are active in the border area. If you are safe, if you launch a military operation, it will be impossible to suppress it with your own strength.

Now that a dangerous signal has appeared, who can guarantee that Denmark will not bite its master back because the pirate leader Horik has usurped power?

“Maybe a war has already broken out.” Eskil tapped his fingers on the table, his eyes were trembling, and tears flowed down rarely.

“Padra… you actually cried?”

“Hateful Horick, our monastery in Hadeby has been destroyed! I should have stayed in Hadeby this year, but Horik expelled me. The war in the Northland has broken out, and Horik is eliminating dissidents. Massacre!”

“But isn’t he converted?!”

“He is a hateful traitor. He betrayed the Lord and defected to the gods of the barbarians. He also sacrificed human blood to demons. Lord, please send down thunder and lightning to punish this rebellion…” Eskill took Ray kept making the sign of the cross on his chest.

At this level of description, Earl Robert was completely afraid of the war and trembled. He was stunned for a while before he asked a question: “That villain who made a deal with the devil will not cross the Great Wall to attack me now.”

“I don’t know. I just want to meet the prince soon and explain my experience in the north in detail.”

The count nodded, he was sure that his days of being so comfortable and boring could come to an end.

No one likes war, and when the real threat of war arises, the nobles of the kingdom must step up.

[To tell the truth, I have been using the source-changing app recently to read and update books, switch between sources, and read aloud with many timbres. www.huanyuanapp.com is available for both Android and Apple.

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“The prince is scheduled to be in Regensburg, and I will personally escort you there.”

“Is this true? It’s really a good thing.” There was an unexpected breakthrough in the matter, and Eskill replied very decisively.

The count confirmed that his words did not come out of his mouth, but rather he muttered with his fingers, how long would it take to go retrograde along the Elbe River and then walk overland to reach the residence of the Duke of Bavaria, which is Prince Ludwig’s Regensburg Fortress.

It seems that this is the big thing to talk about today, and it is obvious that Earl Robert can see that the matter is not over yet.

Esquier had two priests in his retinue, one unremarkable, the other as big as a drum.

Seeing that the Earl was interested, Esquier grandly pushed Blue Fox to the foreground.

Blue Fox took off the hood of his burqa, revealing a typical priestly hairstyle, which also made his face clearer.

“Fat priest in the Northland? Padra, you once said that this man is very important to me. Is he a believer you recovered from the Northland?”

“Exactly. Joseph was converted not long ago, and he was also a victim of Horik’s atrocities. And…”

The count didn’t wait for Eskil to finish, and asked again: “Is he a Dane? Or a Saxon? Looking at his blond hair, he must not be a Pomeranian, and he can’t be our Franks? At least he must not be Turin. root people.”

“It’s from Ross.”

“Russians? What’s that?”

At this moment, Eskil regretted that the blue fox could not speak Saxon very well, let alone Frankish.

However, Earl Robert could only speak Saxon and Frankish, but he could not speak Latin.

Earl cannot communicate directly with Blue Fox, there must be an interpreter standing in the middle.

Eskill is willing to do such an translation, and now it is finally the turn of Blue Fox to explain his ideas as a special envoy of the Principality of Ross with one mouth.

Everything Blue Fox said was new. The count only knew that the Danes were a threat, and he also believed that the north and the unknown abyss of energy in the world were the territories of the Danes.

It was unexpected that the Sea at the End of the World existed, and there lived other peoples, the Svealans and the Russ, who were enemies of Denmark.

The blue fox is very clear that he has passively represented the whole of Ross outside. I am afraid that this is the first time the Principality has contacted the Frankish Kingdom. In a respectful manner, he briefly told a local nobleman about the Ross Principality.

In this restaurant, he had a short conversation with Esquier in Latin, and suddenly understood Earl Robert’s concerns about the safety of the Earl.

So prescribing the right medicine, I only picked what the Earl liked to hear.

For example, the Principality of Ross can mobilize 10,000 troops. The Principality hopes to do business with the Frankish Kingdom and can export a large amount of leather to the Kingdom.

Although the princes of the Principality have not converted, they are very interested in the sacred faith. The students of St. Eskil already own a monastery in the Principality of Ross…

Sure enough, the fat man was an outsider, a strange but sincere Ross, and even a priest.

Although Earl Robert’s description of “Ross has 10,000 soldiers” is extremely exaggerated, the Earl did learn about the clues about the Ross people.

“My viscount guarding the border gate paid me a batch of wonderful squirrel skins, which are said to be made by Danish merchants. It is not easy to think about it. Joseph, could this be the leather trafficked by you Ross?”

After Eskill’s translation, Blue Fox responded decisively.

He could see through his own eyes the frank warriors on the border flocking for high-quality leather, and then looking at the simple furnishings of this house, he thought that there was actually a huge demand market here in Hamburg.

The blue fox simply made up some words and put on a very low posture on behalf of Prince Rurik. After all, he is doing business to make money, so it is not shabby.

“Our young prince admires Frank, and we hope to have opportunities for trade. If all is peaceful, there will be a large amount of high-quality leather and good iron to be shipped to Frank, and even to your Hamburg first. But the hateful Horik To end it all, he killed the merchants of Rose, killed the converts, looted the hides that should have been shipped to Frank, captured the blood and sacrificed to the evil gods. Your houses should be gorgeous, when there is a bear head to show your might .We were going to sell some bear skins, which should have been your decorations this winter. But they were all taken away by Horick, which is a huge loss for us. And in the future, Ross The trade route with Frank was also almost interrupted…”

At least they won’t have trouble with wealth!

Eskill translated quite hard, and the vocabulary was very accurate.

There is a hatred that the treasure that should belong to oneself is lost because of Cheng Yaojin who suddenly came out and took it away. This is the situation of Earl Robert’s current anger.

The envoy Joseph Blue Fox’s description of Ross, Robert doubtful, but it is a fact that they brought the leather.

Seeing the mixed emotions of hatred and friendliness in the Earl’s eyes, Blue Fox was convinced that his approach of getting close had achieved initial success.

He deliberately displayed the cross on his chest, showing that he was actually a devout convert, and the presence of the Saint-Esquil platform beside him deepened this feeling.

Of course, Blue Fox has always been prepared to meet the great nobles of the Franks!

He and the Slavic Vadi both have steel swords for self-defense, the difference is that his sword is inlaid with gems and gold, and Vadi’s sword is made for actual combat considerations.

Wadi’s sword is a complete combat weapon, and Blue Fox’s sword is more about self-defense and the need to show wealth.

A long sword was concealed in the priest’s burqa, and the scabbard had a hole, which could be threaded into a strap made of leather and hemp rope and carried on the body.

Wadi, who had been silent all the time, was ordered to unload the steel sword, and it was placed on the table suddenly like magic, which really shocked the earl.

“You, you came into my residence with weapons. You are priests, and you hide soldiers’ weapons?”

Eskiel hurriedly smoothed things over: “According to the regulations, this is of course wrong, but the Lord is furious! My child, this sword should belong to you! I dare say this is the best sword you have ever seen in your life. The Lord asked the envoy of Ross to deliver it to you, and the Lord asked you to protect the people, protect peace and fight against rebellion.”

In fact, this is a steel sword commonly used by Ross people. It seems ordinary but unstoppable.

The count liked Esquier’s words very much, picked up the scabbard and quickly pulled out the sword, only to hear a low buzzing sound, and a bright white sword trembled in his hand.

It was bright white, completely different from his gray iron saber.

Even, this sword seems to have some incredible elasticity.

As far as the color is concerned, he felt that it was indeed a good sword.

As the blue fox said, “It’s soft and strong, it can cut your saber”, the earl felt that this was absurd based on his own cognition. It is impossible for one sword to cut another sword, unless you swing a big ax to smash it. .

Blue Fox said it swearingly, bluntly saying that the sword represents the sincerity of the envoy of Ross, and it would be a shame for him if he could not cut off any iron sword.

The count acted decisively, put his saber on the table, and slashed bravely with the new sword in one hand, the saber broke in response, and the steel sword also split on the table case, splitting the tablecloth, leaving deep marks on the oak table.

The count was ecstatic, and he pointed the new sword at the window, and could not see the slightest curling of the blade against the sunlight.

“Ah! The sword is in my hand!”

The Ross people are still extremely mysterious. Obviously, because they have shown great sincerity, they have a lot of hatred for Denmark. Ross will definitely not be the enemy of Frank, let alone the enemy of the Earl of Hamburg.

On the contrary, the earl got a steel sword which can be said to be a great benefit, which is 10,000 times better than the blue fox’s flattering words to Ross.

The earl even personally apologized for his rudeness to the fat blue fox. The blue fox naturally accepted the apology and struck while the iron was hot to illustrate the possibility of business. The so-called Ross merchants might be able to bypass Denmark and enter Hamburg upstream from the mouth of the Elbe River. , directly unload the precious leather and exchange it for locally produced rye and other useful materials.

Commercial communication seems to be possible, but this puts Robert in a dilemma.

Without him, Earl Robert will stay in his own territory and will not go out if there is no major event. Due to his status as a vassal of the kingdom, weddings, funerals and other major events and accidents, he will visit the Earl of Flanders at the mouth of the Elbe River If it is inappropriate, it will even be considered a threat by the other party.

Robert’s understanding of geographical concepts can be described as poor, but it is possible to rely on waterways and oceans to directly communicate with the Ross people, after all, it is a good thing.

There has been a breakthrough in commercial actions. Earl Robert verbally made a decision to welcome Ross merchants to direct transactions. As for the formalization of the trade treaty, Prince Ludwig actually needs the first affirmation.

Only when Ludwig recognized the Principality of Ross as a country, can the two parties have completely legal trade.

[End of this Chapter]