Rise of Rurik - Chapter 739

[Chapter 740 Blue Fox and the Earl of Bremen]

Can obese people be associated with fakirs?

Blue Fox didn’t care too much, he wanted to investigate the entire city defense structure of Bremen, at least he had to go around the streets and alleys at the root of the city wall.

It is precisely this behavior that is out of the ordinary, and the relatively dense crowd can hide it in the market, but now it is exposed to the eyes of the citizens.

The appearance of a fat man in this era is a blink of an eye. Ordinary people tend to lose weight even if they don’t eat well. Why is an ascetic monk obese?

Bremen is an important logistics transfer point for the northern Frankish wool trade. In addition, cheese products and hemp fabrics will also be distributed to inland areas through here.

The prosperity of commodity trade naturally gave birth to bandits. Bremen needs these merchants to pay high taxes, so it is obliged to eradicate bandits.

The thief caught it and had his hands chopped off, and the looters in the city caught it and dragged him to the square to hang him in public.

As for the bandits wandering outside the city, they must be wiped out regularly, and a small cavalry unit is dedicated to this job.

As the saying goes, bandits should be suppressed at any time, and the Earl even used this to train troops.

There are also soldiers patrolling frequently in the city. These people are generally familiar with the faces of the citizens after walking frequently, but every day there are peddlers outside the city to sell goods, so the soldiers have to be more vigilant when patrolling.

Three ascetic monks walking around the streets at the base of the city wall?

The patrol captain led five of his subordinates to stand still on purpose and sneak around. After all, the other party is an ascetic, and no matter how weird his behavior is, he should not be arrested rashly.

The blue fox was completely unaware of all this.

It has been nearly fifty years since Bremen was expanded. The city has been renovating and expanding slowly. Since the urban buildings are mainly made of wood, repairs are more frequent.

Most of the citizens are no longer engaged in agriculture. They either serve the various handicraft families of the Earl of Bremen, there are also purely settled merchants, and there are also family members of soldiers.

These people are almost cut off from rural life. They are the earliest urban residents in Western Europe and the pioneers of the “civilian class”.

The taxes collected by the earl have led to the employment of many people, and the prosperity of the merchants has also allowed the citizens who do not farm the land to have other jobs.

The results of the “Carolingian revival” are vividly displayed in Bremen. The city has long lost the seriousness and depression of the military fortress period, and a thriving commercial atmosphere has emerged and continued to develop.

It’s just that its prosperity is inferior to that of Hedeby in the past, as well as the rising Neurosberg on the Neva River and Birka in Sweden.

At least that’s what Blue Fox judged.

Lanhu appreciates the local people’s architecture very much. Although most of them are single-story thatched houses with wooden walls, there are also a number of double-storey houses.

He deliberately stopped to observe for a while, couldn’t help but stroked his beard that had been cut off in satisfaction, and couldn’t help smiling.

“The two-storey house is based on stone blocks. The first floor is a stone chamber, and the second floor is pure wood. It is very good, so that the building does not have to worry about flooding, and the upper floor can live freely.”

Rose can also learn from the house-building model of this group of Franks, and he is trying to remember.

Continue to walk, and there is another moth in front of you.

The wooden windows on the second floor of a certain building were opened, and the few passers-by who were put down clearly got the signal and ran away.

After a while, hands holding a wooden basin appeared, and some brown sticky matter fell down the slope.

There is no need to explain what happened.

The blue fox subconsciously pinched his nose, and in desperation he yelled loudly in Norse language: “What a villain, dare to throw feces casually. If it splashes on me, I will cut off your head!”

The language is Norse, and most of the residents in the city are Saxons who are good at speaking Saxon.

The two languages have the same origin, and the people hiding in dung heard the abuse but understood a few key words in it. When they fixed their eyes and saw that the abuser was actually a priest dressed as an ascetic, they couldn’t help crossing their chests and lamented their sins.

It was the casual curse of the blue fox that attracted the uninvited guests, and the patrol team that had been trailing swarmed up and captured the three of them.

“Hey! Why did you arrest me?” Blue Fox shouted in Norse language in desperation.

But the patrol captain directly reprimanded in Norse: “Are you a Dane? I have dealt with you. Disguised as a priest to enter the city? I have observed you for a long time. Priests don’t know how to curse and don’t look around in military areas. Your meticulous work!”

“It’s a misunderstanding! A misunderstanding. We came from the church.” The accompanying priest hurriedly explained in Frankish.

However, it is useless to explain, Lan Hu and the other three were tied up with ropes, and escorted to the earl’s residence in front of the citizens, which is the inner castle of the city.

Blue Fox wanted to explain, but he was still turned into an underground prison. With the bronze lock falling, he became a bird trapped in the pit, which was really hard to fly.

“It’s really unreasonable!” He slammed on the wooden door hard, and his mouth was not clean.

Although the jailer was impatient, but the other party was an ascetic monk anyway, although he was sent here for no reason, it is better not to act rashly, maybe they stopped when they got tired of cursing.

Things are indeed strange, will ascetics also abuse and complain?

Really unheard of.

For the Earl of Bremen, today should be an ordinary autumn day.

Earl Hunter guards his rich land, and earns a lot of wealth every year by collecting transit fees from merchants. With this money, he can support more troops and recruit more soldiers when necessary. Many militias defend the city.

It was precisely because of the good weather today that the Earl led more than fifty people out of the city on horseback at dawn.

Autumn is a good time to hunt wild deer. By the way, it can also deter robbers hiding in the forest. It is also a reassurance for small merchant ships and land merchants on the border to show their existence. It is also a warning: they must pay taxes.

Until evening, the earl who shot two deer with his bow came back with his troops.

The horseshoes of the cavalry turned over a lot of dung, and the Earl really didn’t think about tidying up the traffic and sanitation conditions in the city.

Seeing the Earl’s return, the crowd avoided one after another, and most of them bowed and saluted in the street.

The cavalry returned in menacing fashion to the inner fortress of the city, that is, the area across the town square from St. Peter’s Church, where stood a wooden fortress three stories high, or it should be four stories high, because the gabled top floor stood A conical arrow tower, it is the commanding height of the city, and it is also a platform for the Earl to look down on the whole city, and he can also watch the enemy’s situation during the war.

The blue fox who visited the city has not returned in the evening!

St. Esquil was already panicking, because the rule is not to eat after the meal. Based on his understanding of the fat blue fox, even if the man’s faith is not purely on the issue of eating, he is unambiguous.

The blue fox and the accompanying priest seemed to have disappeared. What’s worse is that the gates of the city have been closed now, and the city will enter a curfew period when the sun goes down.

While the priests are noble, they are also restricted by many dogmas. For example, they are not allowed to leave the church area at night unless necessary, and the closed walls and doors may even be locked.

Will the blue fox never run away?

He’s from Ross!

St. Eskil’s mind was in a mess, and the local priests provided some seemingly reliable suggestions, that is, to ask the Earl of Bremen for help.

The discussions of the priests and Eskil’s anxious appearance were noticed by the subdued Earl Robert of Hamburg. The old nobleman said with almost affirmative tone: “A fat ascetic is suspicious no matter how you look at it! The Earl’s Castle is right here On the other side of the square, if I were Hunter (referring to the Earl of Bremen), I would send someone to take it down immediately when I saw such a person in front of my eyes.”

Robert is so sure, Eskill can be regarded as the backbone.

“Joseph Blue Fox is an envoy of Ross and a convert I trained. Even if he is not a pious person, if something goes wrong, I don’t want to go to Ross to preach.”

Hearing this, Robert deliberately turned on the fire: “Then you have to hurry up. My old friend always has to face the robbers outside the city. If Joseph Blue Fox is regarded as a gangster in Qiaozhuang, I am afraid that he will be punished by pumping his intestines.” .”

It was scary to hear that, Eskil’s legs tightened, and he simply made an exception and announced that he would go to the earl’s fortress to see the situation in person at night.

Can make Northern Saint Eskiel so reckless, is that fat man really a baby?

Robert didn’t want to disturb Hunter, and he didn’t want other nobles to know that the dignified Earl of Hamburg had left his fief without authorization.

Now that I want to be low-key and afraid, I can’t do it.

St. Peter’s side had to be prepared, and the castle was another situation.

Today’s hunting harvest is not bad. Although there are only two small deer hunting, according to the usual probability, two deer hunted in a week is a normal level.

Buckskin is the earl’s treasure, and will be made into leather gloves, leather hoods and saddle skins.

The deer head will be made into a specimen and become a pendant of the house.

As for the venison, the earl kept the most chewy hindquarters, and rewarded the soldiers with all the remaining meat.

“Ah! The warriors have had a good harvest today!” He returned to the house, and the young countess took off the robe for him herself.

The young son ran over with a smile, was picked up by him, and kissed his delicate face with a mouth full of beards.

The original wife of Count Hunter of Bremen died of a high fever, and the poor wife left only one daughter.

The daughter had married into neighboring Flanders and became the wife of Earl Baldwin.

Hunter, who became single, had been a happy free man for several years. During this period, he was also recruited and conquered the Normans who stole Port Durist, but ended in defeat.

Hunter was very nervous about the Normans. The group of guys were legally recruited by Prince Ludwig, but everyone knew that they were a group of wolves that needed a lot of meat to feed to stabilize them.

As long as the people north of the Great Wall of Schleswig are Normans, the Normans are roughly equivalent to pirates.

Earl Hunter’s understanding is very simple and practical. He never crossed the Great Wall to visit the Danish area, even though the geographical distance between them is not far away. In my heart, Normans and pirates are equated.

“The prince is playing with fire. Harald and his men are pirates, and Horik and his men are also pirates. Who can guarantee that this group of people will not suddenly rebel, and who can guarantee that they will only attack Lothar and not Assault on you (referring to Ludwig)?”

In recent years, he has settled down. The most intuitive manifestation is that he collects tolls every year very happily and increases every year.

He married the daughter of the Marquis of Frankfurt under the arrangement of Prince Ludwig. This was a purely political marriage. Because of this marriage, Ludwig of East Frank had a hand in the affairs of the Duchy of Alemanni.

The Duke of Alemanni’s family became extinct, and the title of country was once vacant.

King Louis the Pious wanted to entrust the land to his youngest son Charlie, which caused other princes to conspire to imprison his father and his poor younger brother Charlie.

Now that the Frankish King Louis the Pious was released, although he became the king again, the huge kingdom was essentially controlled by the princes and the great nobles on the frontier. He lost his military power and only had titles. No one cared about King Louis anymore.

Ludwig did not have the title of Duke of Alemanni, which has always been vacant.

The Marquis of Frankfurt had already declared his allegiance to Ludwig, and he had to do so because an elite army had been stationed at Regensburg, and the army was rushing along the banks of the Danube, and it only took two days for the cavalry to reach Frankfurt.

Frankfurt is the largest city in the Duchy of Alemanni. The Marquis has his own thoughts, because the kingdom has been divided in essence. If it is officially split, he can imagine that he can mention Alemanni from Prince Ludwig who is the king. Duke title.

[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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A political marriage has strengthened the relationship. The Marquis does not want his young daughter to marry the elderly Count of Bremen, but what can be done?

This marriage is recognized by the Pope.

The Earl of Bremen is a loyal minister of Ludwig, and the Countess is a nobleman of Frankfurt.

Hunter took a break to drink a large glass of wine from the silver jug, and then described to his wife the results of his hunting in the woods.

Although it was a political marriage, the earl fell deeply in love with his young wife, especially after the woman gave birth to a son.

Now the Marquis of Frankfurt has changed his attitude a long time ago, because his territory is an inland transit station for northern wool. Frankfurt and Bremen have economic ties, and collecting commercial taxes on wool merchants has brought Frankfurt very good business. income.

In the near future, the grandson will inherit the Earl of Bremen, and the business cooperation between the two will be more comfortable.

The countess listened to Hunter’s description, she was just an ordinary woman, so ordinary that she didn’t have her own thoughts, she just prayed step by step every day, and lived a peaceful life.

After the venison leg was cooked, Earl Hunt tore the oily meat under the oil lamp, and ordered his son to eat the meat, saying: “You must be brave when you grow up, and now you must act like a Beast, tear me apart like a hungry wolf.”

The little boy grew up in such an environment. He had a father who was good at hunting, at least, and suppressing bandits. He took his father as a role model by hearing and seeing.

The appearance of his son tearing at the meat made Hunter very happy.

At this time, the city sheriff, who was waiting for an opportunity, informed the earl, who was in a good mood, about the deliberate priest arrested by his subordinates.

“What? You arrested strange ascetics? Did they really mean it? You shouldn’t be so reckless. I don’t want to go to church for you to confess.”

The magistrate was also very helpless: “But my lord, the ascetics are swearing at people in Norse. We arrested them near the city wall, because we are afraid…”

“Wait…” Hunter pinched his beard and realized that things were not simple.

The magistrate guessed what the earl meant, and said: “We have interrogated something. A fat priest said that he was a friend of the northern saint Esquier. He also said that the saint is in the city.”

“It’s ridiculous. It’s not the time for St. Eskil to come to Bremen to take up his post. He is in Hamburg!”

“Yes. But the three ascetics say that Saint-Esquil has entered the city. And…”

“And what?”

“The Earl of Hamburg himself is in town.”

“Ridiculous!” Hunter yelled, obviously frightening his son, and said in a soothing tone: “You go down first. I will go to the dungeon after I finish eating. You know, I’m afraid this is Norman Conspiracy of men. Sheriff! You show your vigilance, go to the treasurer for twenty silver pieces.”

“Thank you sir.”

The magistrate left happily, and the poor patrol team who actually arrested the blue fox and his party was only rewarded with one silver coin per person.

In a sense, Earl Hunter guessed right. In Frank’s concept, Ross is also a kind of Norman, and the arrested blue fox is indeed a military and commercial spy. He was caught while collecting intelligence. .

Blue Fox didn’t suffer any severe beatings in the dungeon. Firstly, the jailer didn’t dare to, and secondly, the fat man “confessed”. The information he confessed shocked the warden so much that he had to prepare black bread as a confession.

A friend of St. Esquil’s, the fat man feared that his soul would be filled with dirt if he offended the fat man.

The earl was still busy eating meat, and another soldier came to report the situation.

His mind was in a mess, and he criticized sharply: “I’ll talk about it later.”

“But my lord, you should look out of the window. There is a procession of torches coming out of the church, and they are coming towards us.”

Hearing that, the earl immediately stood up, and then quickly ran to the tower on the top floor of the fortress, and indeed saw a torch team.

“Oops, don’t let me catch Eskil’s friend. It’s bad luck. Saint, if it’s you, you should come here!” Earl Hunter gritted his teeth, and immediately ordered his subordinates to connect the inner castle with the city When the suspension bridge is lowered, I will personally meet the visitors.

[End of this Chapter]