Normally, a border count should not leave his fiefdom.
Earl Robert decided to make an exception because he felt that the stability on the border was more like the calm before the storm. Based on his understanding of the Danes, even if they suddenly launched an attack, they would definitely not find trouble in winter. He felt that he had an extremely critical window of time and used the winter period to go to Regensburg in the south to explain the situation to Prince Ludwig and seek military assistance.
As for the business issues of the Russians, these are completely trivial issues.
Blue Fox was not convinced that his words could convince the earl, but offering a steel sword as a gift would attract his absolute attention.
In the city of Hamburg, the count finally made a decision after three days of careful consideration. He took out a quiet Sunday afternoon, and the next day was naturally Sunday. After the morning ceremony, he had a very simple conversation with Eskil and Joseph Blue Fox on business issues at the Hamburg Abbey.
The monastery is a sacred place and it seems that no secular matters should be discussed. The count did this intentionally, hoping that the seriousness of the place would allow Joseph Blue Fox, a converted Russian, to fulfill his agreement.
"Russian merchant ships can enter Hamburg, but after you enter the Elbe, merchant ships cannot go deeper into Hamburg. You can only provide me with leather, ironware, and gems, and I will only provide you with rye. Your merchants and sailors must All wear crosses and must fly flags with crosses and my flag, otherwise it is illegal. Even if your merchants come, they are not allowed to enter the city and are only allowed to camp by the river. If I learn that your people have attacked Future trade in my village will be interrupted.”
The Earl of Hamburg was not naive enough to easily believe what Blue Fox said about the Russians being peaceful merchants.
Viking pirates, this group of hateful sea wolves have been attacking Frank for a long time. The entire Frankish Kingdom had a population of up to 10 million, but it was distributed over an extremely wide area. Most of the area has not been developed, and the people basically rely on small lords such as barons and viscounts to form strongholds to protect themselves. They also build settlements along rivers, but the "evil wolves" also make sneak attacks along the waterways.
The Counts of Hamburg, Flanders, and Bremen who stretched out to the northern border already fully understood what Vikings were. These "bad wolves" were almost all bandits from Denmark.
Are there any differences between Russians and Danes? Probably no different.
It's just that the Russians are located further north. Because the distance is too far, the cost of robbing Franks is higher for those guys, so they open up trade as peaceful merchants.
If it is true that peaceful trade is possible, it would be better if they converted one after another.
The Count of Hamburg mainly considered Saint-Eskilde's face and also accepted the gift from the Blue Fox.
He placed restrictions on trade with each other, and caution must be exercised before being certain that the Rus' were truly peaceful traders.
Two brand-new parchments were filled with text, all written in Latin.
The count could only understand part of it, but fortunately the priests knew it clearly. Strict and important contractual documents should be written and signed in Latin. In this way, the count tried to prove that he was a civilized man and that the Franks were indeed the only successors to the great Roman Empire.
Unexpectedly, this fat Russian man actually read the document quite skillfully.
"You? You actually know Latin? You are so proficient in it." Such a phrase could not be translated by Eskil, so Count Robert opened his mouth to speak.
Blue Fox's performance was amazing, and he replied: "In the Principality of Ross, many people know Latin, especially my prince, who is the most proficient."
The earl was speechless for a moment. He wanted to show off his skills, but he was embarrassed.
Thinking about it again, this is actually a good thing. The Earl was a Frankish aristocrat with a well-established background. The northwest and east were once barbarians, and the land under his feet was once the territory of the Saxon barbarians. As time has passed, many barbarians have become civilized (referring to conversion), but the Danes, Oberlitids, and Pomeranians have remained stubborn. The Russians seem to have shown their positive attitude. Perhaps as Saint Eskilde described, they are already one step away from converting the Russians. As long as they win over the princes of the Russians, everything will be easier.
The two parties signed two copies of the contract document. As the most typical feudal country, Frank was very procedural in signing the document. The Earl was a little surprised that the Ross Blue Fox was very easy to sign the contract. He also learned that the so-called Ross Principality, like the Frankish Kingdom, pays attention to correct procedures in signing contracts, pays more attention to proper implementation, and despises unilaterally breaking contracts.
Blue Fox became the de jure unofficial and de facto first diplomat of the Principality of Rus. He agreed to many of the count's seemingly unreasonable demands, especially that the visiting sailors and merchants must dress up as if they were converted, but in terms of belief, the merchants in the north always believed in whatever spirituality they believed. This is the case with Blue Fox. He wants to believe that it was the Lord who protected him and escaped. Since it worked once, he can just continue to believe in the future. After all, who knows the twists and turns of sailing from the core of Ross to the cramped Frankfurt Hamburg?
Blue Fox was authorized by the count to move freely in Hamburg. Even so, his activities were firmly controlled by the monastery. He wanted to observe the life of the locals and estimate their purchasing power, so as to report to the prince after returning to Rus.
Any diplomat will routinely report to the head of his or her country about the situation in their country. Collecting intelligence is not only a convenient thing but also a must.
The timing of Blue Fox's arrival in Hamburg was quite delicate. Although he wanted to return to Ross as soon as possible to tell the prince what he had seen and heard, especially to show up in person to prove that he was okay. He also wants to enter the southern part of Frankland and explore this "super-large kingdom" that exceeds his concept, not only to satisfy his desire for exploration, but also to explore business opportunities.
He could not leave, and could only go with him as a follower when Esquier and Count Robert decided to leave. As for whether he can meet Prince Ludwig, the highest nobleman in East Frankfurt, it is unknown.
Eskil would not leave until the major holiday rituals were completed.
As the real Archbishop of Hamburg, when people from all over the country learned that such a great saint had returned, they began to intensify their efforts to inquire about the reliability of the news. As that period gradually approached, people slept in the open and built shacks on the grass outside Hamburg. There are more. Even some lower-level viscounts, barons and even the lowest knights, if they have the ability, will participate in the festival with their retinue and family members. They must also see Saint-Eskilde himself and hope to receive his blessing.
September 8th of the Julian calendar is the feast of the Nativity of Our Lady.
Lan Hu wanted to take a good look at the lives of the people here, and at this festival his wish finally came true. He put on the clothes of a priest and appeared in the parade, and was ordered to go with the parade with his head raised.
A team composed entirely of priests will circle the city. The stronger priests are carrying a large black cross, and two others are holding a statue of the Virgin Mary painted on a wooden board. This picture is extremely abstract.
There are also priests holding a pure gold shrine, which contains the remains of a noble priest from the past.
If a Buddhist relic is placed in a pagoda in an Eastern Buddhist temple, the entire temple will have divine power, the monks firmly believe.
Similar things are happening in Frankland. The deceased priests who have been canonized also have divine powers, such as a finger bone and a lock of hair, which are placed inside the gilded shrine, the "golden apple", and the golden cross, thus bringing the monastery closer to the Lord. .
Esquier can be sure that after his death, many parts of his body, most notably his hair, fingers and toes, will be taken away by many monasteries. He didn't feel panic, everything happened after death, he thought very openly, because his soul would reach heaven, and his mortal body no longer mattered.
During the festival, Eskil put on a gorgeous dress, a pure white cloth robe sewn with gold threads, and a tall hat on his head. He would only dress up like this during major ceremonies. On weekdays, he would naturally dress up like an ascetic.
The procession of priests gave the gathered civilians a solemn and sacred feeling. The priests holding golden urns followed Esquier. The saint was seen holding newly picked cypress branches and buds, dipping them in holy water and sprinkling them to the people kneeling on both sides. .
The priests sang hymns in praise of the Virgin, and their steps moved slowly to the singing.
As long as the body is splashed with holy water, the patient will recover, the bad luck will be eliminated, and normal people will be blessed with happiness. If a pregnant woman gets this holy water, her child will be born safely.
Even the count's family is not exempt from the custom. His retinue and bodyguards are all waiting for the priests to pass by to receive the sacred blessing.
The parade is an important part of the ceremony. It takes this opportunity for Blue Fox to finally see the ordinary local farmers clearly. In his opinion, the farmers here are not significantly different from the Slavic farmers in the far east. They both wear simple coarse linen clothes, and their faces are generally sallow and thin. Do these people really have the ability to buy Ross goods? Wait! Blue Fox suddenly realized that his big customers were basically a group of nobles, and the "currency" they could offer was rye. If the "currency" was insufficient, it wouldn't be a problem, and they would just increase taxes on these farmers.
The life of the farmers is definitely not good, and it seems that the earl does not care about them. The work of caring for the common people is the work of priests. Do priests do a good job? Obviously not.
"It is said that the saints Moses and Jesus from long ago cared for their people very much. This is how it is described in the book. Rurik should be another real saint..." Blue Fox kept the words in his heart.
The festival continued into the night and ended with the singing of the boys in the choir.
The Frankish festivals seemed dull, with no night carnival at all. Even the evening meal was still the same sourdough black bread, and some salty soup stewed with cabbage, carrots and snow peas. Indeed, yellow carrots and snow peas are native products of Flanders and Hamburg.
After completing the holiday celebrations, one of Eskil's wishes came true. This is the first time that he has presided over the Christmas feast of Our Lady in Hamburg since he became the de jure bishop of Hamburg. I am afraid that he will not host such a festival for many times.
According to his previous idea, to go to Regensburg to deliver a message to the prince was to go upstream along the Elbe River, and then walk about three weeks overland to arrive.
Regarding this trip, Eskil had lost the right to speak and act. The Earl of Hamburg took the opportunity of the festival to convene a military meeting after convening the lower-level nobles, namely his vassals, to deal with the threat from the Danes and announced He will bring a group of guards to personally pay homage to His Highness the Prince together with Saint Eskilde.
Is there a sudden threat of war? Each vassal had no choice but to secure his own territory, and then hope that the prince's personal soldiers would provide reinforcements.
When you meet the prince, don’t have too many guards!
The count decided to travel lightly and try to reach Regensburg as quickly as possible, because this journey was slow whether by water or land.
Frankia was simply too big, especially after the conquest of Saxony, its territory further expanded. When Charles the Hammer fought against the enemies who crossed the Pyrenees in Bordeaux, it was clear that Frank planned to gather an army of 150,000 people. As a result, it took the armies from all over the country three months of marching to finally complete the gathering of 70,000 people.
The Count of Hamburg originally had few soldiers, and his fief was not rich, so most of the soldiers had to stay and garrison. At best, it was to prevent Denmark from launching a winter offensive when the weather had changed. At worst, it was because of the expense of this preparation. It is impossible to provide for too many people’s expenses.
Only ten of the most capable soldiers were selected, and they were canonized as knights by the count. They suddenly became the lowest nobles from the ranks of retinues, and their fate had changed. The earl hoped that in this way he could obtain the absolute loyalty of the ten of them to cope with possible mishaps on the journey.
Compared to Eskil's proposed route of going against the Elbe River and then taking the overland route, the count directly rejected it.
What else could Eskil do? I can only agree with it.
That day, the earl, who had prepared a batch of rye bread, dried meat and barrels of ale, was ready to set off.
Also taking this opportunity, Blue Fox clearly saw the Franks' river boats.
They are all rowing boats, and their length and width are far inferior to the Viking dragon-headed longships. Frankish ships did not have a structure with raised ends. Although there was a mast in the middle, the height was really worrying.
This kind of boat is not suitable for navigation at all, or it is suitable for drifting on the sea in low sea conditions. However, this kind of small boat is very suitable for inland navigation, and its maneuverability seems to be very good.
A Frankish rowing boat could seat ten people, but if a horse or a small carriage disassembled for parts was installed, it could only seat six people.
The earl took his youngest son to see the world, plus a mere twelve people following the knight's retinue. Eskil has long been accustomed to walking alone. He is a man of action who has experienced hundreds of battles. Even if he goes to Regensburg alone, he still has confidence, even though he is old.
He only has two attendant priests, Blue Fox and Vardy. This trip is of great significance, so he does not bring any young priests who can "enjoy" him.
The earl has his own black material, which is that he illegally maintained a concubine and had an affair, and Eskil also has an ulterior secret and an unclear intimate relationship with a young priest.
There are risks in this journey, because the earl chose a special waterway. If there is danger on the journey, both Vardy and Blue Fox can step forward to participate in the battle, which is something other priests simply cannot do!
Both men had killed people and were essentially vicious Vikings, at least that's what Eskil thought. Because he had stayed in the Principality of Ross for half a year, he knew that no matter how polite those guys were, they were all ruthless people who killed people like crazy. If this ferocity is used in the right place, they will be the bravest guardians of the faith after completing their conversion.
If the blue fox was worried about killing the bandits, the Slavic Vardy was simply vicious.
Although the dagger inlaid with gems is the sword of the blue fox, it is a gift to the prince and a secret to meet each other. Naturally, it must be well wrapped in leather. Both Blue Fox and Vardy had short iron swords hidden under their robes. Under normal circumstances, priests should not do this. However, the journey is risky and if you have basic self-defense capabilities, the earl will no longer comment on the priest's unusual behavior. .
The route of the journey has been very clear. Leave Hamburg and go down the river into the ocean. Go south along the coastline and enter the mouth of the Weser River. Go upstream to the source of the river and arrive at Frankfurt. After getting some supplies from the local marquis, continue southward into a tributary of the Rhine River. , take the land route and turn to a tributary of the Danube River, and then go down the river directly to Regensburg.
This is the simplest and fastest path. As for Eskil's path, it is close to the territory of the Bohemians (Czechs), which is even more risky. After all, Saint-Eskilre did not understand military affairs or marching. The count had no intention of criticizing him. This was not the first time he had taken the path he chose, so he knew it well.
The group of them has already started taking action...
