Can a woman become a baron? sure.
In order to prevent the nobles from exterminating their heirs, some extreme measures were justified.
The city of Mainz on the south bank of the Rhine River has thick Roman stone walls. It was a permanent city expanded by the Roman Empire. It stands on the left bank of the Rhine River, watching over the Germanic world in the north. After all, the Germanic Franks established a new kingdom on the ruins of Rome, and Mainz, which was originally a border area, gradually became the hinterland of the kingdom.
The Alemannic tribe has disintegrated, and its tribal leaders have also become aristocrats of the Frankish system. This was a compromise with the surrounding tribes during the Frankish conquest.
Especially the Adalbert family, Count of Metz, whose ancestor was a chief of Alemanni.
This place where the ancient Alemanni people lived for generations has now become the peak area of civil war, and a series of tragedies are taking place.
The thick stone walls could not give absolute peace of mind to the people taking refuge in Mainz. In the eyes of ordinary people, Charlemagne's third grandson, King Ludwig of the East, was not a good person either. In order to avoid losing his power, this guy's methods were rough and harsh, and he forced ordinary farmers to fight. Sadly, these farmers who had no choice in picking up weapons modified from farm tools faced almost their own people.
The army was entrenched in Mainz, and ordinary farmers endured hardships. They did not dare to complain against Ludwig. The king's military operations have made no progress and he has suffered a lot of losses. He can only console himself by claiming that he has "not been defeated."
This year's autumn harvest is just around the corner. As many as 2,000 farmers were killed in the war, which further weakened the labor force and made the agriculture of Laiingau and Laiingau even worse due to the war.
The living must join in the autumn harvest. Even a group of green-faced peasant women must carry scythes to harvest oats and wheat.
The area south of Mainz is the Oberlin Plain, where a group of farms are abandoned and a large number of refugees gather in Mainz. The priest from the diocese of Worms appeased the emotions of these poor people, claiming that "your suffering comes from insufficient piety", trying to separate King Ludwig's militarism from the disaster.
The people need to eat, and the main force of the Eastern Kingdom stationed here needs to eat even more.
After a lot of piecing together, Ludwig believed that he still had a strong army of 3,000 people that dared to fight. This is his last trump card in the middle reaches of the Rhine River, and he no longer dares to gamble.
Half of the three thousand men are cavalry. The men need to eat and the horses need to eat grass. Such an army standing still is a huge material consumption machine.
Perhaps it would be the best choice to disperse the army to the fields to collect grain personally. Such a move of caring for the people's power was not only unimaginable to Ludwig, but he never even tried to think of it.
What he cares about is how much food he can receive this year, and he hopes to save enough supplies to avoid spending money on food supplies from Bavaria.
After all, the main people he was frantically wasting away were the people in the Earldom of Yingao. He had never regarded this place as his core territory, so he had no psychological burden on how to waste it.
To make matters worse, the real Earl of Lyingau and his family went to live in seclusion in the Taunus Mountains in the north. They had neither betrayal nor loyalty. They simply abandoned the entire fiefdom and let Ludwig do whatever he wanted.
The local lords were in ruins, and Ludwig felt a little more vented to vent his anger, and became more aggressive in plundering the local people's surplus food and human resources.
Just when the situation was anxious and complicated, the Russians entrenched in Nassau actually brought good news.
Blue Fox's Ross army camped outside the city guarding the ships.
He himself took a small group of elite followers, his brother Black Fox, and his sister-in-law Sophia Nassau, and walked into the city of Mainz under the escort of elite Frankish heavy cavalry.
Cities are larger, but they lack the firepower for prosperity.
Lan Hu had a sullen face as he saw groups of decadent people sitting idle on the dirty streets. The old woman has a sad face, and the gray-white headscarf covers her face as if to hide her poverty, while the child with dull eyes has a dark face, and no adult has washed his face with dry snot sticking to his face.
When these people saw Ludwig riding a tall horse, they did not avoid him at all. They just looked up and did nothing.
Ludwig didn't pay attention to his own people, as if he didn't see them at all. He was a mounted guard and looked even more contemptuous.
The monarch and the people have such a numb relationship with each other? This situation does not exist in Ross.
"Ludwig will always be an arrogant guy." Blue Fox's initial understanding of him has not changed even after so many years.
The corruption in the city was shocking to Black Fox. Little Sophia Nassau just subconsciously kept grabbing Black Fox's fat arm, instinctively feeling that this place was a terrible place of right and wrong.
It has a good name, but its prosperity has ceased due to the devastation of the war.
"Perhaps prosperity can be restored, provided that their civil war can be ended." Thinking of this, Blue Fox looked at Ludwig's back on the horse and felt that this man would not give up.
The main roads in the city are paved with dense stone slabs, a legacy infrastructure from the Roman era, as are the heavy stone buildings.
A stone building with remnants of Roman style became Ludwig's temporary palace, where he intended to mercifully entertain Blue Fox and his party as a landlord.
After all, Blue Fox also has the status of an earl, and his younger brother Black Fox has the status of a baron equivalent to the Frankish system because he married into the Nassau family.
Earls, barons, and marquises (countries on the border), the great nobles in the de jure control areas of the Eastern Kingdom can only be counted on one hand. Legally speaking, the earl is indeed higher than the baron, but it is not necessarily true when it comes to military strength.
The noble king, Ludwig, saw too many strange things in the north during the period of his capture and peace talks. To be fair, he admires the complex and delicious catering made by the Russians. Now he has a batch of Russian glass tableware and he can't put it down.
Compared to being noble and elegant, the catering Ludwig can provide today can be described as very crude. He ordered a local goat to be roasted, and he had to choose one whose tail was fat enough for roasting. There are no special ingredients for roasting lamb, only coarse salt and chopped thyme. When eating the meat, the nobles cut the meat themselves with knives and even tore it with their own hands.
Like a bear sitting in a stone warmed by a fire, Ludwig was such a beast. He deliberately waited until the fat sheep was roasted before announcing the start of the banquet, and invited the foreign nobles who were in a daze in the city to a private meeting.
No wives or concubines, no maids. Of course Ludwig had the right to secretly keep some maids, and it was also okay to have some illegitimate children. He didn't bother to do this. This was not a mental disorder caused by his faith. The so-called eldest brother Lothair clearly wanted to put himself to death. When life and death were at stake, all his thoughts should be devoted to war. Why think about anything else?
The stone house is like a secret room. All the attendants have left, and there are only four people in the room: King Ludwig, Count Blue Fox of Gothenburg, the son-in-law of the Baron of Nassau, and Sophia, the daughter of the Baron of Nassau.
The four of them are all nobles, and tonight can be said to be a secret meeting of the nobles. Even the young Sophia felt uncomfortable in this nervous atmosphere.
Maybe the girl should leave this rude aristocratic secret meeting, but the sizzling and oily roasted lamb that was served made her salivate. Of course she can't leave, because she is a key figure.
Ludwig's attitude towards the Blue Fox was extremely complicated. He played with the Ross steel sword inlaid with rubies and used this sharp treasure to cut the mutton himself, deliberately letting the blue fox see clearly.
"That sword was once the sword of King Ross. I gave it to you back then." Blue Fox's eyes were sharp.
"Indeed. I was beaten so hard by you last year! The noble me was almost captured by an unknown warrior. Fortunately, the other party was actually a noble. This sword was not taken away by your Rurik in the end. It is such a good sword. ! Still mine."
"It's a good sword." Blue Fox smiled and stood up again, suddenly pulling out his sword. The sword wind buzzed and it was the sword that attracted Ludwig's attention.
Seeing his brother like this, the little fat black fox also pulled out his sword and showed it off with a smile.
As the saying goes, holding a sword and killing oneself begins, Ludwig felt a hint of threat, so he covered up his embarrassment with a smile, but when he looked at their swords, a strong sense of familiarity arose spontaneously.
Blue Fox said with a little arrogance: "Do you really know the origin of the sword?"
"I don't know."
"Your sword was first ordered by my father and given to King Rurik. Then the king gave it to me and finally gave it to you as a gift. The swords of our four brothers all have similar styles and are all made by the same master. hand."
Ludwig never knew this, "So, my sword is actually not very noble?"
"No. Even if we brothers are loyal to different kings, we are all nobles. The sword you ordered is already valuable. The sword you are holding is worth two pounds of silver coins."
This is really the smooth wisdom of a businessman. What does it mean to "have different loyalties to kings"? Ludwig glanced at the fat little man who married into the Nassau family, and felt happy in his heart.
"Since we all carry swords, we are all nobles. I allow you to move freely! Come on! Let's share this fat sheep."
A rather plump piece of lamb leg meat was cut into a glass plate by the black fox, and he personally brought it to Sophia Nassau. The little girl had been drooling with greed for a long time. She had not dared to say a word, but now she was sullenly carrying the prepared knife and fork to cut the meat and eat it.
Originally, it was quite inappropriate for such a little girl to join the secret dinner of the nobles in a rather indecent manner. Ludwig specifically allowed the young daughter of the Baron of Nassau to participate. In essence, he did not regard her simply as a woman. It stands to reason that the humble Baron of Nassau in the past existed as a minor vassal of the Count of Laingau and did not even have the right to face the king. Of course Ludwig didn't respect this girl now, he just looked at the little fat man next to her and the Ross army that could easily capture Coblenz.
After gnawing a lot, his stomach was hard. Ludwig rudely slammed the small dagger (a kind of tableware) on the oak table and said arrogantly: "To be honest, I admire you for capturing Koblen." Ci's behavior. My king's recent war in the south has not been going well, but your position in the west has helped me regain face. You also cleverly sent the prisoners to my hands, which really alleviated some of my shortage of troops. "
Obviously this guy spoke like this to pave the way for a deep secret conversation.
Looking at the king, during the short time he stayed in the city, Blue Fox urgently inquired about some situations. He told his brother Heihu to shut up with his eyes. He smiled meaningfully for a while and then said: "You will get a benefit from this, so we also need a benefit."
"Benefits, what do you want?"
"Just like the treaty we signed with each other at the beginning of the year. Me! As the Count of Gothenburg in Rus, I led the army to help you fight, helped you capture Coblenz, and gave you the prisoners. You must pay me a sum money."
No anti-theft
"Money? What am I paying for?" Ludwig's arrogant face relaxed.
"One hundred and forty prisoners, worth two pounds of silver each."
"You? Seriously?!"
"really."
"Greed!" A surprised Ludwig raised his head and asked sharply, "Why bother?"
"Oh? Could it be that your noble past could not even afford three hundred pounds of silver coins? You must know that the Bishop of Cologne paid five thousand pounds of silver coins to buy peace. You are so noble that you are not even as good as a bishop?"
Ludwig was so agitated that he gritted his teeth. As a king, it was inconvenient for him to point out that he was indeed short of money. More than just a lack of money? At present, people are really exhausted and horses are exhausted.
There were moments when Ludwig admired the Normans' ability to maneuver longships and plunder. Forced by one's status, doing gangsterism is not only despicable but also blasphemous to one's faith. However, going to distant places to plunder is a shortcut that can solve military problems in a short time.
In fact, from the moment he saw the Ross army at the landing site, Ludwig had evil thoughts in his heart. It is indeed inappropriate to send people to do evil things yourself, but the Normans are recognized as the "apostles of Satan". How about arranging these evil people to do evil things and then secretly divide the spoils? Just like the group of Norman mercenaries from Denmark that he had raised before, some of the dirty work that was not convenient for him to do was done by the down-and-out Danish nobleman Harald Clark. Moreover, the Dane Horik, who was stripped off by the remote control command Naihe, was a good dog before he turned against him.
As long as northerners can be exploited, they can become good dogs by relying on the temptation of fame and fortune.
Ludwig knew that he couldn't take advantage of the blue fox, but his younger brother was obviously very good at it.
He didn't say that he couldn't get the money now, but instead asked: "You will surely rob Coblenz if you occupy it. That place was occupied by Lothair, so you must have made a fortune."
"We are just fulfilling our treaty obligations in this matter. As for the prisoners and some ordnance sent, you have already taken the prisoners, so you owe me three hundred pounds of silver coins. As for the captured weapons and equipment, I can sell them to you cheaply. Those silver coins I will distribute it to the soldiers, and I hope you can pay for it quickly."
"This..." Ludwig said with a low face: "Anyway, the people are already in my hands and are loyal to me. Now is the time for the king to employ people, and personnel and supplies are relatively tight. Let me get the money immediately. I tell you clearly, Let’s talk next year.”
"Is this intentional debt?!"
"That's right. I owe it to you on purpose, how about it?"
Blue Fox was pretending to be angry, but when he saw that the other party seemed to be serious, he relaxed with a smile. After all, Blue Fox concluded from what he saw and heard in the city that this guy was not rich for the time being, so it was unnecessary to force him to pay.
"Okay, I'll take note of this account first. I have another big event this time. It's really my brother Heihu and my sister-in-law Sophia."
Ludwig still had a sullen face and said meaningfully: "I have already guessed what your intentions are."
"Really? But the guess is definitely not comprehensive enough. I know that you Franks are very particular. My brother needs a title, and my sister-in-law needs a title even more. Henry Nassau plans to give the land of Nassau to Sophia, and also It’s this girl. How about it? My venerable king, do you approve it?”
Of course, there is no problem with recognition, but at this juncture, Ludwig is more concerned about the benefits he can get after recognition. "Of course I have the right to consecrate a new baron, even a woman. But what good will this do to me?"
"Of course it is the allegiance of a new noble."
"Is he your brother?" As he spoke, Ludwig's eyes were already staring at the eager black fox.
"It's not..."
Therefore, Blue Fox solemnly put forward his own ideas and intended to bargain with Ludwig.
This is his plan: Sophia Nassau is canonized as Baron Nassau and rules over the old land of Nassau and Koblenz. Black Fox serves as the baron's steward and the actual leader of the baron's military affairs. The future son of Black Fox and Sophia will definitely inherit the title and continue to be loyal to Ludwig and his successors. The Ross army stationed in Nassau can act as the Nassau Baron Army, especially participating in the civil war from the standpoint of the Eastern Kingdom.
Ok? Of course!
A long time ago, under the strong military oppression of the Franks, the Danish chieftain Godfrey nominally surrendered to Charlemagne. Although his successor Harald Clark was in decline, he still led a group of warriors to serve the Eastern Kingdom.
Among all the Frankish nobles, Ludwig's fiefdom was geographically marginalized, and his army was relatively close to the Normans, Wends (generally known as the West Slavs) and the Moravians. s contact. The Normans are not simply "Satan's apostles". They are fierce and exploitable, and the rising northern monarch Rurik is indeed a hero who can communicate.
Everything is for profit! Faith is just a fig leaf for competing for interests!
Ludwig saw the truth very clearly, especially the Cologne diocese, which had expanded in strength after the war. Those priests were no longer servants of God. They had clearly begun to become nobles and lords, and their wielders were clearly count-level large-scale authority. With both divine power and military power, and financial power firmly under their control, they can claim to be able to build a paradise on earth in Dar es Salaam. But in Ludwig's view, this kind of stuff was a big threat to his power.
First of all, it is impossible for Black Fox to be legally loyal to Ludwig, but his future son can. Sofia must now kneel down on one knee, and the little girl owes her allegiance to Ludwig like a male noble.
In the stone chamber, the identity of a baroness was confirmed.
But Sophia was ignorant of all this. She was afraid of the bearded king. When the sword was placed on her left and right shoulders and the head of her head, which had already been taken off, she trembled subconsciously. In the end, she learned to speak a Latin phrase to declare her allegiance. .
She is just a little girl, but completing the enfeoffment means two big things. First, the Baron of Nassau, who was also in the Leingau area, still existed, which made a new nobleman exist in the local area, and Ludwig no longer had to worry about everything. Secondly, enfeoffment is tantamount to recognizing the Baron of Nassau's right to rule Coblenz. This matter will definitely not be recognized by the Middle Kingdom. Then the barony or the de facto Russian forces will encounter a key blow from the Middle Kingdom. Derwig would be happy to see a strong person help him share the pressure.
So, based on the second benefit, can the third benefit be derived?
Their Norman Ross, who goes by the name of Baron of Nassau, is clearly more greedy and cunning than the Danes. Considering that they cannot immediately come up with a batch of money to redeem the prisoners, those ruthless people in the north will definitely be angry unless they authorize these guys to do something more to satisfy their hunting appetite.
