Hamburg really gives the Blue Fox a bad impression. If most cities in Frankfurt are like this, how can they claim to have strong capital?
They seemed like a shabby house that would collapse as soon as you set foot on it.
The buildings in Hamburg are all made of wood, and a few buildings are made of stone.
Hamburg Abbey is mostly built of stone, with a layer of mortar on the surface. The decoration inside the house is also simple. There are some gold objects on the podium where there is no cross.
Blue Fox is sponsored in the priest's dormitory attached to the monastery, and he is a special person who enjoys a separate room.
The bell in the morning brought dawn, and the lazy blue fox had to get up. In the dim light of the morning, he couldn't help but complain: "How can they endure such a miserable life? They have to chase the wonderful paradise and don't want to enjoy it now." .”
Complaints are complaints, Blue Fox must get up, if he can't catch up, he won't be able to eat the black bread this morning. That kind of food was not delicious, but he had no choice, and these priests were extremely self-disciplined and would not provide food outside of meal times.
Under the eaves, he could only lower his head and look forward to meeting the local earl.
Esquier finished all his work in the morning, and his eyes were bloodshot because he stayed up late at night listening to the dictations of his subordinates and flipping through documents recorded on parchments.
His mental state was slightly poor, and he didn't pull himself together until he was about to go to the count's mansion.
He doesn't need many attendants, or the Blue Fox and the Slavic Vardi are enough.
The three of them were all dressed in black robes. They were walking slowly with their hands in front of their stomachs and their heads raised in awe.
Earl Robert did not attach much importance to this meeting. What could the priest say? After leaving the monastery and entering his official residence, no matter how noble a priest is, he should follow a secular life.
At this time, the Roman Pope had not yet acquired huge secular power in Western Europe. The three Frankish princes naturally respected the Pope, but they still regarded the Pope's mediation resolution as nonsense.
Prince Ludwig had such an attitude. As a subordinate, Robert consciously showed his importance by receiving "the master and apprentice of the north" and the Bishop of Hamburg Eskil at home.
No soldiers dared to stop the priests. They opened the door to greet Saint Eskilde, and then whispered.
Unlike the Earl, the Countess takes her very seriously.
The countess and her maid greeted him in the courtyard of the mansion and offered her best wishes.
The blue fox kept squinting his eyes, and even though he was tilting his head, he still glanced at these women inadvertently.
"Are Frank's women like this? The most noble countess is actually an old woman. These maids are quite interesting..."
Eskil didn't care about Blue Fox's attitude. He learned that the count was on the second floor of the mansion, so he went upstairs.
At this moment, Earl Robert is waiting here. He knows the lifestyle of those priests very well. There is no need to prepare snacks and water purification for this meeting. He can just talk about any big things, and there is no need to talk about other trivial matters in detail.
He dismissed his servants, and three priests were waiting in his dining room.
Several wooden tables are assembled into a large wooden table, with a layer of plain white linen laid on it. Overall, it looks quite neat. There is a bronze lamp holder placed on the table, which does not need to be lit during the day. There are also sterling silver dinner plates on the table. They are indeed the tableware of the nobles. The purpose of placing them now is nothing more than to support the count's face.
The count was sitting at the most distinguished seat at the table. When he saw the priests arriving, he first stood up and bowed slightly, then said he could sit down wherever he wanted.
This was not the first time for Eskil to come to this building. He looked around and was sure that the furnishings of the restaurant had not changed, as if time was frozen. He motioned with his eyes to his two followers to sit down wherever they pleased, implying that they should not act rashly.
Robert shrugged and tapped the table to break the awkwardness of the encounter.
"Saint Eskilde, I've been waiting for you. What a big event it is, please come and visit me personally."
"But there is one big thing, it is very important." Eskil came prepared this time. He opened 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 personal letter from the new king of Denmark, a man named Horik Klarsson. He hopes that I will deliver it to Prince Ludwig as a messenger or intermediary. .”
"Is this happening?!" In just one sentence, Earl Robert already understood the seriousness of the situation.
"How?" Eskil raised his old and wise head, his eyes already giving hints.
"You...want me to be the middleman and deliver the letter to the prince?"
"Are you willing? However, I would rather see the prince in person. Apart from this letter, I have other things I want to inform the prince of."
Hearing that, the Earl who was sitting on pins and needles did not reply immediately. He was very curious about the content of the letter, especially since the letter writer was Horik, so he must be vigilant.
The earl asked simply and carelessly: "I want to know the content 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 reading the letter in advance."
The entire parchment letter was thrust into the earl's hands. The important information written in it made earl Robert instinctively vigilant. Can a thin piece of parchment carry a man's ambition? A captive hound actually dares to negotiate terms with its owner? !
Putting down his trembling hands, Robert's first insight was that there was a threat to the peaceful life in his territory.
He sighed: "I know that Horik, a Western gangster and a wolf of the sea, stole Durist and called himself Count of Flanders. He and his gang were not sanctioned because they surrendered to His Royal Highness. I really heard that He said that the prince arranged for Horik to return to Denmark to seize power, and the prince also wrote me a letter."
"Oh?" Eskil, who was in his turn now, was startled: "So it turns out that Horik's coming to Denmark was planned by His Highness the Prince?"
"It was the prince who did it, but the situation shouldn't be like this. Horik can call himself king, but the prince can at most make him an earl, and the whole of Denmark should also submit to the prince. Horik actually said that Denmark and we are countries. Once the prince learns about the relationship, he is afraid that war will start again!" At the end of the sentence, Robert's lips were already trembling a little, and his expression fully showed that he feared and hated war.
How could Robert not hate war? It doesn't matter if he has sufficient troops, but his Earldom of Hamburg is in the north, and the Danes, Oberlitids, and Pomeranians are active in the border area. These foreign races seem to be Peace of mind, if a military action is launched, it will be insufficient to suppress it with just one's own troops. Now that danger signals have appeared, who can guarantee that Denmark will not bite its master because the pirate leader Horik has usurped power?
"Maybe the war has already broken out." Eskil tapped his fingers on the table, his eyes trembling, and rare tears flowed down.
"Padra...you actually cried?"
"Hateful Horik, our monastery in Hedebe was destroyed! I was supposed to stay in Hedeby this year, but Horik expelled me. The war in the North has broken out, and Horik is excluding dissidents. Mass killing!”
"But didn't he convert?!"
"He is a hateful traitor. He betrayed the Lord and defected to the barbarian gods. He also used human blood to sacrifice the devil. Lord, please send down thunder and lightning to punish this rebellion..." As he said this, Esquier took the thunder with him. Keep crossing yourself.
At this level of description, Earl Robert was completely afraid of the war and was trembling. He was stunned for a while before he squeezed out a question: "The villain who made a deal with the devil will definitely not cross the Great Wall to attack me now."
"I don't know. I just want to see the prince as soon as possible and explain everything I experienced in the north."
The Earl nodded, convinced that his days of ease and boredom were over. No one likes war. When a real threat of war arises, the nobles of the kingdom must step forward.
"The prince is scheduled to be in Regensburg, and I will personally escort you there."
"Is this true? It's really a good thing." Things unexpectedly broke through, and Eskil replied very decisively.
The count confirmed that his words did not come from his mouth. He clasped his fingers and muttered something about how long it would take to go backwards along the Elbe River and then take the land route to reach the residence of the Duke of Bavaria, which is Prince Ludwig's Regensburg Fortress.
It seems that the big thing to talk about today is this matter. Obviously Earl Robert can see that the matter is not over yet.
Esquier had two priests accompanying him, one of whom was plain in appearance, and the other who had a belly as big as a drum.
Seeing that the count was interested, Eskil ceremoniously pushed the blue fox to the front desk.
The blue fox took off the hood of his burqa, revealing a typical priest's hairstyle, which also made his face clearer.
"The fat priest in the North? Padra, you once said that this person is very important to me. Is he a believer you recovered from the North?"
"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 speaking, and then asked: "Is he a Dane? Or a Saxon? Looking at the blond hair, he must not be a Pomeranian. He can't be one of us Franks? At least he must not be Turin." Root people.”
"It's from Rus."
"Russian? What is that?"
At this moment, Esquier regretted that Blue Fox could not speak Saxon very well, let alone Frankish. It happened that Count Robert only spoke Saxon and Frankish, but not Latin.
The count cannot communicate directly with the blue fox, and there must be an interpreter standing in the middle.
Eskil is willing to be such a translator, and now it is finally Blue Fox's turn to use his mouth to explain his ideas as the special envoy of the Principality of Ross.
Everything the blue fox said was novel. The earl only knew that the Danes were a threat, and he also believed that the north to the nameless abyss of the world was the territory of the Danes. Unexpectedly, the sea at the end of the world exists. There are other people living there, the Svealans and the Rus, who are enemies of Denmark.
Lan Hu knew very well that he had passively represented the entire Ross outside the country. He was afraid that this was the principality’s first contact with the Frankish Kingdom. Youdao felt that the first meeting would determine the success or failure of the future relationship to a large extent, so he regarded it as a businessman. In a respectful manner, he gave a brief introduction to the Principality of Rus to a local nobleman.
In this restaurant, he briefly discussed with Esquier in Latin, and suddenly understood Earl Robert's concerns about the security of the earldom.
Prescribe the right medicine to the problem and pick out what the earl likes to hear.
For example, the Principality of Rus 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. Students of Saint Eskil already have a monastery in the principality of Rus...
As expected, this fat man was an outsider, a strange but sincere Russian, and a priest.
Although Earl Robert believed that the description of "Russian troops with ten thousand soldiers" was an extreme exaggeration, the Earl did learn about the clues about the Russians.
"My viscount guarding the border gate paid me a batch of wonderful squirrel skins, which are said to be made by Danish traders. It is not simple to think about it. Joseph, could this be the leather that you Russians trafficked?"
After Eskil translated, Blue Fox responded decisively. Through his own eyes, he could see the Frankish soldiers on the border who were eager for high-quality leather. Looking at the simple furnishings of this room, he thought that there was actually a huge demand market in Hamburg.
Blue Fox simply made up some words to express a very low profile on behalf of Prince Rurik. After all, he was doing business to make money and was not shabby.
"Our young prince admires Frank, and we hope to get opportunities for trade. If everything is peaceful, there will be a large amount of high-quality leather and good iron shipped to Frank in the future, and even to your Hamburg first. But the hateful Horik To end all this, he killed the merchants of Rus, killed those converts, looted the leather that was supposed to be shipped to Frank, and captured people to sacrifice their blood to the evil god. Your house should have become gorgeous, when there is a bear head to show your might . We planned to sell some bear heads and bear skins, which should have become your decorations this winter. However, these returned items were snatched away by Horik, which is a huge loss to us. And in the future Ross The trade routes with Frank were also almost interrupted..."
At least they won’t struggle with wealth!
Esquier translated very hard and the vocabulary was very accurate.
There is a kind of hatred that is called the loss of a treasure that should have been one's own because of the sudden attack of Cheng Yaojin. This is the current anger of Earl Robert. Robert was doubtful about the description of Rose by the messenger Joseph Blue Fox, but it was a fact that they brought the leather.
Seeing the mixed emotions of hatred and friendliness in the count's eyes, Blue Fox was convinced that his approach was initially successful. He deliberately displayed the cross on his chest to show that he was actually a devout convert, and the presence of the Saint-Eskilde platform beside him reinforced this feeling.
Of course, Blue Fox had always been prepared to meet the Frankish nobles!
He and the Slav Vadi both had steel swords for self-defense. The difference was that his sword was inlaid with gems and gold, while Vadi's sword was made purely for actual combat considerations.
Wadi's sword is a complete combat weapon, while Blue Fox's sword is more concerned with the needs of self-defense and showing wealth.
A long sword was hidden in the priest's cassock. The scabbard had holes for the leather and hemp rope to be worn as a strap and carried on the body.
Vardy, who had been silent all this time, was ordered to remove the steel sword and suddenly placed it on the table as if by magic, which really shocked the count.
"You entered my residence with weapons. You are priests, and you hid soldiers' weapons?"
Esquier hurriedly smoothed things over: "Of course this is wrong according to the regulations, but the Lord is angry! 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 Ross messenger 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 the Russians. It seems ordinary but it is unstoppable.
The Count liked what Eskil said very much. He picked up the scabbard and quickly pulled out the sword. He only heard a low buzzing sound, and a bright white sword actually trembled in his hand. It was actually bright white, completely different from his own gray iron sword.
In fact, this sword seems to be incredibly flexible.
Judging from the color alone, he felt that this was indeed a good sword. As Blue Fox said, "It is soft and strong, it can cut off your sword." Based on his own knowledge, the earl felt that this was ridiculous. It was impossible for one sword to cut off another sword, unless he wielded a big axe. Smash.
Blue Fox spoke categorically, saying that the sword represented the sincerity of the Ross messenger, and it would be his own shame if he could not cut off any iron sword.
The count acted decisively, placing his sword on the table, and slashed at it bravely with the new sword in one hand. The sword broke immediately, and the steel sword also hit the table, split the tablecloth, and left deep marks on the oak table. The earl was overjoyed. He pointed his new sword at the window, facing the sunlight without seeing the slightest curl of the sword's blade.
"Ah! The sword is actually in my hand!"
The Ross people are still extremely mysterious. Obviously, because they have shown great sincerity, they have a lot of hatred towards 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 was a great benefit, which was ten thousand times better than the flattering words of the blue fox to Rose.
The earl even personally apologized for his rudeness to Fatty Blue Fox. Blue Fox naturally accepted the apology readily, and striking while the iron was hot illustrated the possibility of business. The so-called Rus merchants might be able to bypass Denmark and go upstream from the mouth of the Elbe River into Hamburg. , directly unloading the precious leather, exchanging it for locally produced rye and other useful materials and transporting it away.
Business exchanges seemed possible, but this put Robert in a dilemma.
Without him, Count Robert would stay in his own territory and would not go out unless there was an important matter. As a vassal of the kingdom, he would go to visit the Count of Flanders at the mouth of the Elbe River for important events such as weddings and funerals. If it is inappropriate, it may even be considered a threat by the other party. Robert's understanding of geographical concepts is very poor, but it is possible to rely on waterways and oceans to directly communicate with the Russians, which is a good thing after all.
There was a breakthrough in commercial operations. Earl Robert verbally made the decision to welcome the Ross merchants to direct transactions. As for the formal establishment of a trade treaty, Prince Ludwig's approval was actually needed. Only when Ludwig recognized the Principality of Rus as a country could the two sides have completely legal trade.
