Can obese people and ascetics be associated?
Blue Fox couldn't care less. He wanted to investigate the entire city defense structure of Bremen, and at least go around the streets and alleys at the base of the city wall.
It was this behavior that went too far. The dense crowd at the market could hide it, but now he was exposed to the eyes of the public.
The emergence of a fat man in this era is just a blink of an eye. Ordinary people are generally thin because they don't eat well. Why is an ascetic obese?
Bremen is an important logistics transit point for the northern Frankish wool trade. In addition, cheese products and linen textiles will also be distributed to inland areas through here.
The prosperity of commodity trade naturally gave birth to bandits. Bremen needed these merchants to pay high taxes, and it was obliged to eradicate the bandits. The thief caught him and had his hands chopped off. The robbers in the city caught him and dragged him to the square and hanged him in public. As for the gangsters wandering outside the city, they need to be exterminated regularly. A small cavalry unit is dedicated to this job. As the saying goes, bandits must be suppressed at any time, and the earl even used this to train his troops.
There are also soldiers patrolling frequently in the city. These people walk frequently and are generally familiar with the faces of the citizens. However, there are vendors and goons from outside the city coming to sell goods every day, so the soldiers have to be more vigilant when patrolling.
Three ascetics walking in the streets at the base of the city wall?
The patrol captain and his five subordinates deliberately stayed still and moved furtively. After all, the opponent was an ascetic, and no matter how weird his behavior was, he could not be arrested hastily.
Blue Fox was unaware of all this.
It has been nearly fifty years since Bremen was expanded. The city has been renovating and slowly expanding. Since the city's buildings are mainly made of wood, renovations have been more frequent. Most of the citizens are no longer engaged in agriculture. They either work for various handicraft families serving the Earl of Bremen, there are also pure settled merchants, and there are also the families of soldiers and retinues. These people are almost separated from rural life. They are the earliest urban residents in Western Europe and the pioneers of the "citizen class".
The taxes collected by the earl created employment for many people, and the prosperity of merchants also allowed citizens who did not farm to find other jobs.
The results of the "Carolingian Renaissance" are most vividly displayed in Bremen. The city no longer has the seriousness and depression of the military fortress period, and a thriving business atmosphere has emerged and continues to develop.
It's just that its prosperity is inferior to that of Hedeby in the past, as well as the rising Novorosberg on the Neva and Birka in Sweden. At least that's what Blue Fox thinks.
Lan Hu admires the local architecture very much. Although most of the buildings here are single-story thatched houses with wooden walls, there are also a number of double-story houses. He deliberately stopped to observe for a while, and couldn't help but stroke his beard that had been cut off with satisfaction, and couldn't help but smile.
"The double-storey house is built on stone foundations. The first floor is a stone room, and the second floor is made of pure wood. It's good, so the building doesn't have to worry about flooding, and the upper floor can live freely."
Ross can also learn the house-building model of this group of Franks. He is trying to remember it.
Keep walking, there is another moth ahead.
A wooden window was opened on the second floor of a certain house, and the few pedestrians who left it clearly got the signal and ran away. In a moment, hands holding a wooden basin appeared, and some brown sticky substance immediately went down the slope.
There is no need to explain what happened. Blue Fox subconsciously pinched his nose, and in desperation, he yelled in Norse and cursed: "What a villain, you dare to throw the feces casually. If it splashes on me, I will chop 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. The people hiding in the dung heard the curse but understood a few key words in it. When they took a closer look, they saw that the curser was actually a priest dressed as an ascetic. They couldn't help but cross their chests and lamented their sins.
It was Blue Fox's casual curse that attracted the uninvited guests, and the patrol team that had been following them swarmed up and captured the three of them.
"Hey! Why are you arresting me?" In desperation, Blue Fox still yelled in Norse.
The patrol leader directly scolded you in Norse: "Are they Danish? I have dealt with you. Disguised as a priest and entered the city? I have been observing you for a long time. Priests will not curse, let alone look around in military areas." Your meticulous work!”
"This is a misunderstanding! A misunderstanding. We came from the church." The accompanying little priest hurriedly explained in Frankish.
However, explanations were useless. Lan Hu and the other three were tied up with ropes and taken to the count's residence in front of the citizens, which was the city's inner fortress. The next step was to be imprisoned and await retribution.
Lan Hu wanted to explain, but he was sent to the underground prison anyway. As the bronze lock fell, he became a bird trapped in the pit, unable to fly.
"This is really unreasonable!" He banged the wooden door hard and said dirty words.
Although the jailer was impatient, the other party was an ascetic after all. Although he was sent here for no reason, it was better not to act rashly. Maybe they would stop when they got tired of scolding.
Things are indeed strange. Would an ascetic also curse and complain? It's really unheard of.
For Count Bremen, today should be a normal autumn day. Earl Hunter guarded his sacred land and made a large fortune every year by collecting transit fees from merchants. With this money, he could support more retinues and recruit more troops when necessary. Multiple militiamen defend the city.
Precisely because the weather was good today, the Earl led more than fifty people on horseback out of the city at dawn.
Autumn is a good time to hunt wild deer. It can also deter bandits hiding in the forest. It can also show your presence to small merchant ships and land merchants at the border to reassure them. It also gives a warning: you must pay taxes.
Until evening, the count who shot two deer with a bow returned with his troops. The horseshoes of the cavalry turned over a lot of dung, and the count did not think about sorting out the traffic and sanitation conditions in the city. Seeing the Earl's return, the people avoided him one after another, and most of them bowed and saluted in the street.
The cavalry stormed back to the inner citadel, the area across the city square from St. Peter's Church, where stood a three-story wooden fortress, or rather four, because of the gabled top floor. There is a conical arrow tower, which is the commanding height of the city and a platform from which the count overlooks the whole city. He can also observe the enemy's situation during war.
The blue fox that visited the city has not come back yet in the evening! Saint-Eskilde was already panicking, because the rule was not to eat after meal time. Based on his understanding of Fatty Blue Fox, that man was unambiguous on the issue of eating even if his faith was not pure.
Blue Fox and the accompanying priest seemed to have disappeared. What's worse is that the city gate is now closed, and the city will enter a curfew when the sun sets. While the priests have a noble status, they are also restricted by many dogmas. For example, they are not allowed to leave the church area at night except when necessary, and the closed walls and doors will even be locked.
Will the blue fox always run away? He is from Russia!
Saint-Eskilde was confused, but the local priest provided some seemingly reliable suggestions, which was to ask the Count of Bremen for help.
The discussions among the priests and Eskil's anxious look were noticed by the incognito Count Robert of Hamburg. The old nobleman almost said with certainty: "A fat ascetic is suspicious no matter how you look at it! The count's castle is here On the other side of the square, if I were Hunter (referring to Count Bremen), I would see such a person dangling in front of my eyes and I would immediately send someone to capture him."
Robert is so sure, Eskil has a backbone.
"Joseph Blue Fox is the messenger of Ross and a convert I cultivated. 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 became angry: "Then you have to hurry up. As an old friend of mine, I always have to face the robbers outside the city. If I think Joseph Blue Fox is a gangster from Qiaozhuang, I'm afraid he will be tortured by evisceration." .”
It was scary to hear that. Eskil's legs tightened and he simply made an exception and announced that he would go to the count's fortress at night to check the situation.
To be able to make Northern Saint Eskil so reckless, is that fat man really a treasure? Robert did not want to disturb Hunter, nor did he want other nobles to know that the dignified Earl of Hamburg had actually left his fiefdom without permission.
At this point, even if I want to keep a low profile, I can't do it.
St. Peter's Church requires some preparation, but the castle is another story.
Today's hunting harvest was pretty good. Although it was just two small deer, according to the normal probability, it was normal to catch two deer in a week.
Deerskin was the earl's treasure and would be made into leather gloves, leather hoods and saddle skins. The deer head will be made into a specimen and become a house decoration. As for the venison, the count kept the chewiest deer hind legs and gave all the remaining meat to the soldiers.
"Ah! The warrior has gained a lot today!" He returned to the house, and the young countess took off his robe herself.
The young son ran over with a smile, and was picked up by him. He kissed his delicate face hard with his bearded mouth.
The first wife of Count Hunt of Bremen died of a high fever, leaving only one daughter behind. The daughter has been married to nearby Flanders and became the wife of Count Baldwin.
Hunter became a single man and lived as a happy free man for several years. During this period, he was also recruited to conquer the Normans who had occupied Durist Port, but he was defeated.
Hunter was highly nervous about the Normans. Those guys were legally recruited by Prince Ludwig, but in fact everyone knew that they were a group of wolves that needed a lot of meat to stabilize. As long as the people north of the Great Wall of Schleswig were Normans, the Normans were roughly equivalent to pirates. Earl Hunter's understanding was very simple and pragmatic. He himself never crossed the Great Wall to take a look at the Danish area, even though they were not far apart geographically. According to the descriptions of the real Earl of Flanders and a large number of businessmen, in his In my mind, Normans and pirates are equated.
"The prince is playing with fire. Harald and his people are pirates, and Horik and his people are also pirates. Who can guarantee that this group of people will not suddenly rebel, and who can guarantee that they will only attack Lothair and not Attack you (referring to Ludwig)?"
In recent years, life has settled down. The most intuitive manifestation is that he collects the annual tolls very happily and increases them every year. With the help of Prince Ludwig, he married the daughter of the Marquis of Frankfurt. This was a purely political marriage. Because of this marriage, Ludwig of East Frankfurt became involved in the affairs of the Duchy of Alemany.
The Duke of Alemany's family died out, and the title of Duke of Alemany was once vacant. King Louis the Pious wanted to grant the land to his youngest son Charles, which caused other princes to conspire to imprison their father and poor brother Charles.
Now that the Frankish King Louis the Pious has been released, although he has become the king again, the huge kingdom is essentially controlled by the princes and the big nobles on the frontier. He has lost his military power and only has his title. No one cares about Louis as king anymore.
Ludwig did not have the title of Duke of Alemany, and this title has always been vacant.
The Margrave of Frankfurt had already declared his allegiance to Ludwig, but he had to do so because an elite army had been stationed in Regensburg. The army was running along the Danube River, and the cavalry could reach Frankfurt in only two days. Frankfurt is the largest city in the Duchy of Alemany. The Marquis has his own ideas, because the kingdom has been essentially split. If it is officially split, he thinks he can acquire Alemany from Prince Ludwig who is the king. Duke title.
A political marriage strengthened the relationship. The Marquis did not want his young daughter to marry the elderly Count of Bremen, but what could be done? This marriage was recognized by the Pope.
The Count of Bremen was Ludwig's great loyalist, and the Countess was a Frankfurt noble.
Hunter took a break and drank a large glass of wine with the silver jug in hand, and then described to his wife the results of his hunting in the forest.
Although it was a political marriage, the count fell deeply in love with his young wife, especially after the woman gave birth to a son.
By now, the Marquis of Frankfurt has long since changed his attitude, because his territory is an inland transfer station for northern wool. Frankfurt has economic ties with Bremen. Charging commercial taxes on wool merchants can bring very good business to Frankfurt. income. In the near future, his grandson will inherit the Count of Bremen, and then the business cooperation between them will be even more comfortable.
The countess listened to Hunter's description. She was just an ordinary woman, so ordinary that she had no thoughts of her own. She just prayed step by step every day and lived a calm life.
After the deer leg was cooked, Earl Hunter tore the oily meat under the oil lamp, and asked his son to gnaw the meat. He even said: "You must be brave when you grow up, and you must behave like this now." It’s a wild beast, tearing flesh from me like a hungry wolf.”
The little boy grew up in such an environment. He had a father who was good at hunting, hunting, and suppressing bandits. He took his father as a role model by hearing and seeing.
The sight of his son biting the meat made Hunter extremely happy.
It was at this time that 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 men.
"What? You arrested strange ascetics? Did they really mean it? You shouldn't be so reckless. I don't want to go to church to confess on your behalf."
The sheriff was also helpless: "But sir, the ascetics were swearing in Norse. We arrested them near the city wall, because we were afraid..."
"Wait..." Hunter pinched his beard and realized that things were not simple.
The Sheriff guessed what the Earl meant and added: "We found out some things during the interrogation. A fat priest said that he was a friend of Saint Eskil in the north. He also said that the Saint was in the city."
"It's ridiculous. It's not the right time for Saint-Eskilde to come to Bremen to take up his post. He is in Hamburg!"
"Yes. But the three ascetics all said that Saint-Eskilde had entered the city. And..."
"And what?"
"The Count of Hamburg himself is in town."
"Ridiculous!" Hunter yelled, obviously frightening his son, and said in a soothing tone: "You go down first. When I finish eating, I will go to the dungeon to have a look. You know, I am afraid that this is a Norman Conspiracy. Sheriff! Be very alert and go to the Quaestor to receive twenty pieces of silver."
"Thank you, sir."
The Sheriff left happily. Unfortunately, the patrol team that actually arrested Blue Fox and his party only received a reward of one silver coin each.
In a sense, Earl Hunter's guess was right. In Frank's concept, the Russians were also a type of Normans, and the arrested Blue Fox was indeed a military and commercial expert. He was arrested while collecting intelligence. deficit.
Blue Fox did not suffer any severe beatings in the dungeon. Firstly, the jailer did not dare, and secondly, the fat man "confessed". The information he confessed was so shocking that the warden had to prepare black bread and offer it to him. He is a friend of Saint Eskilde. If he offends this fat man, his soul will be filled with dirt.
The earl was still busy chewing meat, and another soldier came to report the situation.
His mind was in a mess and he criticized harshly: "If you have anything to do, we'll talk about it later."
"But my lord, you should look out the window. There is a torchlight team coming out of the church, and they are coming towards us."
The earl immediately stood up and quickly ran to the tower on the top of the fortress, where he indeed saw a torchlight team.
"Oh no, I really caught Eskil's friend. It's really unlucky. Saint, if it were really you, you should have come in a big way!" Earl Hunter gritted his teeth and immediately ordered his men to connect the inner castle with the city. After lowering the suspension bridge, he will personally meet the visitors.
