According to the descriptions of people who escaped from Hadeby, those who stayed behind in Ross's shop all ended up dead.
If Blue Fox himself really dies, it will not be a loss to the majority of Russian people. But the loss of shops meant that the Ross lost their market in Denmark. The Danes' war behavior was to force the Principality of Ross to launch a commercial war for revenge.
Of course, Ross can use this as an excuse to launch a war between countries, and even bring in the Kingdom of Sweden, which did not get any benefits in the previous war, and the two countries will join forces to beat Denmark.
Many people thought that Blue Fox had no body left, but not only was he still alive, he was now passively disguising himself in a brand new and extremely safe image and heading towards the northern border where the King of East Frank passed.
A group of priests in black walked south holding crosses. Esquier was a noble and elderly man. He sat in a carriage and took care of the supplies of a group of people traveling as well as the most precious sacred objects taken from the monastery.
There is also a fat man in black who is responsible for holding down positions. He is none other than Blue Fox.
He was almost alone, running towards the unknown south wind. He was extremely curious and at the same time extremely frightened. He didn't know what he would see and hear when he entered the Frankish Kingdom, and he was also afraid that he would encounter an accident.
Now, I can only obey the request of the old guy Eskil, and first be a believer and a priest.
"Maybe their gods will protect me..."
Everyone was speechless along the way. They were walking on a rugged forest road. The so-called road was just some yellow lines exposed in the grass. Obviously, not many people walked on this road on weekdays.
We had been gone for many days, and many young priests felt that this departure was a break with Hedeby Abbey. The teacher's sacred work of spreading faith to the north ended in failure as Hedeby experienced war. Maybe there really is a turning point here! Sitting in the carriage was the fat Russian Joseph Blue Fox, who actually became the teacher's friend.
After walking through another oak forest, a strange open space appeared in front of them.
There is a grassland here, but what is very strange is that no one is grazing cattle and sheep.
If you look carefully, there is something like a rammed earth embankment in front of you. It can even cover up the woods behind, seriously interfering with people's sight.
No doubt the blue fox noticed this geographical anomaly.
"Eskilde, what is that?" he asked.
"do not you know?"
"How do I know? This is my first time coming to such a southern place."
Esquier pointed his wooden stick at it with a smile: "That's the Schleswig Wall! Godfrey, the great leader of Denmark, ordered it to be built back then, just to prevent the invasion of the Kingdom (special Franks). It's a pity, the Kingdom is still there Possessed the city of Schleswig.”
Lan Hu really doesn't care about things in the distant past. Naturally, the main reason he came to the south was to take refuge, and the second reason was to find out about the business atmosphere here.
He asked casually and very vulgarly: "Are there any merchants in the city? Are there any prostitutes?"
Some words were taboo for priests. Eskil was trembling with shock and didn't know what to say for a moment. He held it in for a while before staring at the blue fox with a dull face: "Joseph, you have been baptized, please don't say some devilish words. You must keep your heart pure, and you cannot do dirty things that are not allowed in the scriptures!"
"I understand. But I just asked if there are prostitutes in the city. If there are prostitutes, there are businessmen, and I want to talk to them."
"Forget it! I'm warning you, the identity you have to protect yourself is Priest Joseph. If you do something extraordinary, I can't protect you."
"Whatever..." Lan Hu shrugged, cursing in his mind that this old guy only had a manly body, and ended up believing in the so-called sacred faith and never being close to women for the rest of his life.
The wooden crosses carried by the priests were very conspicuous, and the retinue of Viscount Schleswig who guarded the border easily noticed this situation.
A solid rammed earth wall cuts off the Jutland Peninsula in the middle, with trenches on both sides of the wall. Just because of this, the so-called "Great Wall" is not an insurmountable line of defense at all. Its greatest role was actually that Chief Godfrey blocked the entry of Frank cavalry.
By 835, the control of the entire Great Wall was under the control of Ludwig of the Kingdom, which belonged to the territory of East Frankia. The specific management of the Great Wall fell into the hands of the Count of Hamburg, and several of his viscounts controlled military points along the Great Wall. . Among them, one city is the largest border military town!
Generally speaking, Danes cross the Great Wall because they believe in Odin and other Nordic gods. If they cross the Great Wall and enter the south, they will be arrested or even executed for their wrong beliefs.
A large number of refugees escaped across the Great Wall a month ago. After the identity of the believers was confirmed by the Viscount's personal inspection, they were safely sheltered.
Now, even the most tenacious priests have withdrawn. How terrible has happened to Hedeby? !
Viscount Henry realized the complexity of the situation and quickly mobilized the city's guards to enter the border gate.
The thick wooden door was opened, and a group of armored soldiers walked out.
Viscount Henry took off his helmet to greet the priests, and stood still watching them enter.
The soldiers and nobles treated these priests with a high degree of courtesy. They showed discipline and stood on both sides of the gate to signal, and then watched them enter the city.
Eskil and the Viscount exchanged glances, and the blue fox was keenly aware of the risk and very cleverly lowered his head so as not to look at anyone's face.
As Lan Hu said, of course there are prostitutes and itinerant businessmen in the city. The fiefdom of Viscount Henry is here. In today's era, Schleswig is not only a bitter and cold place in East Francia, but also a place with intertwined political and economic forms. With the Kingdom of Denmark to the north and the Oberlitids and Pomeranians to the east, Viscount Henry's fiefdom was located on a bad bulge. It was impossible for him to collect too much tax from nearby villages, so he solved the funding problem by collecting tolls from passing merchants.
The city, which was originally a village-like city with a small population, is now overcrowded. Now that a group of priests have withdrawn, many war refugees have gathered, opening their arms and hoping to receive the blessings of the priests.
Because the cross being carried still had a special sign hanging on it, it meant that a regional bishop was coming. who is he? It was Eskil, the "Bishop of the North."
People fell to their knees, opened their arms and mouthed calls for salvation. Eskil then got off the carriage and motioned to the little priest to open a bronze urn containing holy water containing fragrant rose essential oil. He dipped some yellow pine branches in the holy water and sprinkled them with it as a blessing.
Did you gain divine power in this way? The blue fox was amazed and thought that maybe Prince Rurik could also learn one and let the high priest "sprinkle water".
Blue Fox also got off the carriage, and in a moment he saw a man in black with a wrinkled face and no beard hurriedly walking towards him. He must be the priest of this city.
After many days of walking, the small classroom students, whose legs and feet were a little weak, finally got a chance to rest.
Schleswig was a border outpost city established by the Danes. Now it is occupied by the Franks, and the role of the city has not changed essentially. For such a small city and the surrounding sparsely populated villages, only a dozen priests can be stably supported.
Compared with the national organizational structure of the Frankish Kingdom, the organizational structure of the Holy See invented and determined by the Roman emperor was more complete. The Holy See is like a tree trunk, and the bishops of the various regions under its jurisdiction are thick branches. There is an archbishop. The cities under the large region have bishops (patriarchs). Finally, in the villages, there is a priest. This tree-like management model allows the Holy See to manage every village in Western Europe.
In terms of status, Eskil is much higher than the city's bishop (patriarch), and he also has the right to act arbitrarily on matters of faith in Schleswig.
He placed many young priests on the spot in the city of Schleswig, handed a bag of silver coins to the bishop of the city, and said: "This is the funds given to me by His Royal Highness, and I will leave them with you for the time being. We all You need to live on, and you continue to teach the young priests. When we spread the faith to the north in the future, one Danish village after another will need many pure priests, and they are the children around us."
The old guy Eskil has been appointed by the Holy See to be the bishop of Bremen in a few years. He has a good relationship with the Archbishop of Reims, Hinkmar, and also has a good relationship with Prince Ludwig.
The Bishop of Schleswig respected him, and Viscount Henry not only had respect, but also many secular questions.
On that day, Henry personally confessed to Esquier in the monastery in this city on the grounds of penance.
He claimed that he had failed to protect the people with sacred beliefs and had just watched them flee. The only thing he could do was to open the door and let them in, and then took some rye from the warehouse and cooked it and gave it to them.
Although the Viscount is a nobleman, he behaves like a little saint!
Eskil believed it, and then thought of another character - Prince Rurik of Rus.
"Henry, my son. You have done a good job, you have practiced your beliefs, and you have saved many people. The Lord has forgiven you, and as long as you continue to stick to your principles, your soul can be saved... "
This seemed to be a scene, and Henry was really heart-warming to hear it. At this point, Henry's true purpose begins to unfold.
"Padra, I only have one question. Why? Why did a large number of merchants and villagers outside the city walls evacuate to the city? Is there really a war in the north? I learned that the person who came was the Dane Horik, and he was not Harald Clark. His nephew? Isn’t he a servant of the prince? Isn’t he calling himself Count of Flanders? Why does he want to bring disaster?”
When mentioning this matter, Eskil changed his calm demeanor, and he let out a long sigh, hinting at the complexity of the matter.
After the procedural work was completed, Eskil invited Viscount Henry to a secret room for detailed discussions.
There are some things that Eskil will not explain to a lower-level noble. It can be said that what he said is in vain. He specifically explained the war incident that occurred in Hedeby Freeport and even Horik's true attitude.
He vouched for his honor, claiming that Horik had betrayed the kingdom and everything might be back to thirty years ago.
This description made the viscount shudder. Although some things have indeed become legends because of the records, some old men who are still alive and living in Schleswig were also part of the expedition to Denmark following Charlemagne when they were young. What happened in the past They are not so stupid that they have forgotten. The viscount's grandfather had made meritorious service in the war that year and was made a baron to guard the captured city of Schleswig. When his father inherited the title, he was also granted the title of viscount for his meritorious service in guarding the border.
"Could it be that the Danes will attack us? That's not true! Don't they know the consequences of doing this? The kingdom will be furious." The Viscount couldn't believe it and didn't want to believe it. After all, if there was a war, the place where he was would be war-torn.
Originally, as Eskil, he should not pay attention to the secular world, and he should not interfere even in a life-or-death war.
However, Horik, the new king of Denmark, used force to force him to retreat, and he also treated the people of Hedeby with murder. They actually dared to attack the monastery. This was the most direct act of war!
Horik did not declare war on the Franks, and even had a letter that he needed to deliver to Prince Ludwig himself.
Naturally, Eskil would not inform Viscount Henry of this matter. He emphasized one point: "You must protect the people at all times, just like Moses spent his life protecting his people. This is what you must do as a lord."
Henry was moved to tears by a bishop who was plainly dressed, strong in faith and highly respected. He personally taught him.
As for Eskil's intention to continue south to Hamburg, Viscount Henry was also willing to send a few knights to serve as his retinue. Eskil politely declined, because this was already a safe zone. Although the road south was also accompanied by desolation, after all, this place was already safe. Dangerous beast? The bears and wolves had been killed by hunters long ago. Otherwise, why would the Russian leather be so sought after by the merchants of Hedeby? In fact, Eskil also noticed that many of the soldiers under the Viscount's command had clothing that was obviously made of squirrel skin, and its origin must be Ross.
He didn't have to worry about bandits. Even the barbaric guys didn't dare to attack the priests. Eskil has never heard of a priest being killed by bandits. Based on his personal experience, he has been a "lone ranger" for many years. Most of the time, he traveled the north without any followers to spread his faith. Now he is Only when you are older do you need help from your attendants.
They rested three times in Schleswig. Most of the young priests regretted that they could not continue their journey south with their teacher, and envied the chosen ones for the opportunity to see the Bishop of Hamburg.
During these three days, the priests ate only black bread and pure water, with some cheese and carrots.
Such a meal can be described as light, not to mention that black bread is much inferior to wheat bread in terms of calories.
Life now really leaves Lan Hu speechless. He can only console himself by saying, "My father also survived in such an extreme state back then." Not only was Blue Fox constantly consuming his energy, but his daily diet was light and oilless. What was even worse was that he learned that whenever he stayed in Frank for one day, the food would remain the same.
why is that? That's the rule!
This is the rule of the Roman Pope hundreds of years ago. It is said that only those who are simple and frugal in style will have no miscellaneous desires in their hearts, and their hearts will be pure, so that their souls will enter heaven.
In contrast, it is difficult for these priests to imagine the life that Blue Fox lived before. Blue Fox can squander money arbitrarily, maintain illicit intimate relationships with many women, and eat meat without restraint. Such a lifestyle was completely opposite to the "ascetic model" of the priests.
The blue fox is enduring, and this endurance can be called torture.
What's even worse is that I will continue to endure this torture for the foreseeable future.
A fat bear will be tortured into a skinny fool! He felt that he had lost a lot of weight. If he continued to live like this, he was afraid that within two months, he would become as skinny as those little priests.
"If I become thinner and return to Ross, will my father still recognize me? Will my brothers and wives still recognize me? Will the prince... still accept me as a thin man?!"
The image of being as fat as a seal is a family characteristic. The so-called warrior's beard and muscles are a symbol of combat power. The fat figure of a businessman is better than a hundred amber hanging on the body, which can better demonstrate the financial strength of the businessman and promote the completion of the transaction.
I could barely chew the sour black bread, but I had to chew the slightly sweet yet bitter yellow-rooted carrots. Slightly smelly cheese has become the only delicacy that the blue fox can enjoy, but this thing is still in short supply.
He tasted the taste of poverty for the first time in his life, but he didn't know that Henry, Viscount of Schleswig, could only provide such food to Eskil and his party who were about to go south.
Subjectively, the Viscount still wanted to prepare more delicacies for the noble Esquier and his entourage, but he really couldn't bring out any treasures.
The viscount, his retinue, and the knights living in the village all lived on black bread on weekdays, and only on holidays they ate wheat bread. The men ate black bread, and the horses, in small quantities, oats.
This is already Frankish territory, and the food culture is indeed different from Denmark or the world further north. The staple food of local people, regardless of poverty or poverty, is rye, and the fields near the city almost exclusively grow rye.
This is an optimal solution. The local area is still cold and wheat growth is weak, but the growth of rye and oats has been stable. However, rye is more suitable for making bread. It has a sour taste and a sweet aftertaste when chewed carefully. A dull life needs this kind of food. adjust. But oats, it’s hard to describe in one word…
