Of course, Otto didn't simply want to take Sophie back to her parents' home to relax, but he had other plans.
According to historical trends, if nothing unexpected happens, the war between the Carolingian families for the land of the Kingdom of Lotharingia will end in a short period of time, and King Louis of East Francia will become the biggest winner.
Most of the land in the Kingdom of Lotharingia will be merged into the Kingdom of East Francia, and the part captured by the Kingdom of West Francia will also be lost to the Kingdom of East Francia in a short period of time.
It can be said that the Kingdom of East Francia basically inherited the entire Kingdom of Lotharingia.
This war, in a short period of time, will undoubtedly cause a reshuffle of the nobles of the original Kingdom of Lotharingia and a new power struggle within the Kingdom of East Frankia.
If I remember correctly, shortly after the annexation of the territory of the Kingdom of Lotharingia, two new kingdoms, Alemannia and Laetia, will be established, mainly in Switzerland and Swabia.
The territory of the Kingdom of Alemannia includes most of Switzerland. Since it has been upgraded to a kingdom, it is natural that there will be more duke positions, and the title of Duke of Jura is what Otto is planning to enter this time. Objectives operating in the courts of the Waban and East Frankish kingdoms.
As long as he can successfully become the Duke of Jura, by virtue of his status as Duke of Jura, Otto can expand his influence to the entire Swiss region, including Bern and Neuchâtel, the two areas closest to the Aargau. into the pocket.
With Otto's current status as a baron, it is undoubtedly very difficult to become a duke. Therefore, he needs the help of his wife Sophie and the power of the Sighard family in the Principality of Swabia.
Of course, Otto still has a very important advantage, and that is money.
As a baron, or even as a count, Otto was considered wealthy.
Although he owed a sum of money to the church in the Basel area, there was no need to rush to pay the money in a short period of time, and the business tax dividend from the beginning of the year in Bern had arrived.
Therefore, even though the wedding had cost a lot of money, Otto was still well off.
Not to mention, with the current situation in Aargauland, if you ask businessmen to borrow money, they will definitely flock to him. Otto will definitely not be short of money for operations.
If you have money, it will be easier to do things no matter what era you are in. Historically, there were not a few HRE emperors who bribed their votes. If you can use money to win the emperor's position, it must not be difficult to get a duke title.
The only problem is that Otto forgot when the two kingdoms were established, but it doesn't matter. Before the kingdom was established, wouldn't there be a few dukes in Switzerland?
With Otto's current strength and reputation in Switzerland, plus money to open the way, it shouldn't be impossible to become a duke.
Sophie was very happy that Otto would take her out to play, and was busy preparing various small gifts for her relatives and friends. Although they were separated not long ago, their identities are different now, so the etiquette is naturally different.
Otto packed the territory's specialty products, mainly Lafite wine, and brought a large amount of gold, silver and jewelry. He led dozens of carriages and a luxury convoy of 500 soldiers toward the capital of the present-day East Frankish Kingdom. Heading to the region Baden.
Such a large-scale convoy is easy to be spied on by interested people, especially since it has to pass through the territories of many nobles along the way. Unhappiness and misunderstandings can easily arise.
To this end, Otto sent knights to clear the way ahead, and at the same time contacted the Sighard family and his family's knights in the Principality of Swabia in advance, asking them to bring their troops to meet them.
Although Otto was very confident in the combat effectiveness of his five hundred soldiers, after all, they were fighting on other people's territory and it was an away game. Fighting should be avoided as much as possible.
When passing through Zurich, Bethe, the younger brother of the Earl of Zurich, personally led troops to escort him for a while and gave Otto a gift, saying that he was celebrating Otto's happy wedding and hoped to maintain a good relationship with Otto. .
To be honest, when Bet came with his army, he almost scared Otto, thinking that the other party wanted to attack him and capture him directly, thus regaining Basel in one fell swoop.
After all, it would not take an army of thousands to escort Otto for a certain distance.
It later turned out that Otto was overthinking, but through this, Otto had a clearer understanding of the strength of the Zurich Territory.
It appears that in northern Switzerland, the Honfried family of Zurich will be his biggest enemies as he expands his influence.
When the Earl of Zurich took away the main force, it was not easy for Bet to pull out thousands of troops. Although the vast majority of the soldiers could only scrape together weapons and had no armor, the nearly two hundred soldiers with various armors were enough to prove the strength of the Zurich leader.
It seems that the rumors that the Zurich Territory has gradually regained its strength after the family civil strife decades ago and has made great progress in cannibalizing the two earls to the east are likely to be true.
When he first heard this rumor, Otto still didn't believe it. If Zurich was so powerful, why not take back Basel. Basel is the legal territory of Zurich, and its geographical location is extremely important. There is no reason not to take it.
Now it seems that the Earl of Zurich, whom he has never met, is probably worried about the church, so he has not taken action, and he may also have the idea of keeping a low profile.
If Bet hadn't come with soldiers to escort him this time, Otto might still have misjudged the strength of the Zurich Territory for a long time.
It seems that this trip is also a good thing. You can observe the situation of the surrounding noble territories at close range and have a clearer judgment on their strength.
Like the Zurich Territory, there were only a few nobles who personally escorted Otto's convoy with soldiers. Most of the noble territories sent some food to express goodwill and pretended not to see Otto's motorcade.
There is no way. Now the nobles and troops of the entire East Frankish Kingdom have gathered towards the Baden area. There are not many troops left in each territory. If they rashly contact Otto, they are also afraid that Otto will loot them. Otto's five hundred The soldiers all looked elite.
Even the Duke of Swabia left his territory and led his army to Baden.
In view of this, Otto also changed his plan and no longer went to the territory of the Duke of Swabia. After joining the army sent by Sighard to meet him and his own Swabian knights and soldiers, he quickly moved towards Baden.
Otto couldn't care about anything else at this time. Looking at this posture, it seemed that the East Frankish army was about to set off. It would be embarrassing if he was delayed and couldn't catch up with the army.
If you want to become a duke, money and strength are important, but reputation is equally important. This must-win war is when Otto builds his reputation, so he must not miss it.
Fortunately, Otto was lucky. The large army of the Kingdom of East Frankia did not leave Baden at this time. Only the vanguard troops entered the territory of the Kingdom of Lotharingia, which finally prevented Otto from missing this battle.
"Nonsense! Otto, why did you bring Sophie too?
This is war, not a child's play! "
Upon seeing Otto, Count Ansbach couldn't help but cursed.
