The Duke of Franconia acted very quickly. After talking to Otto and learning that the church was involved in the rebellion in Saxony, he contacted the Duke of Bavaria.
After receiving the news, the Duke of Bavaria immediately sent nearly 20,000 troops to support the Duke of Franconia in countering the rebellion.
As the regent and heir of the East Frankish Kingdom, he could easily mobilize the resources of the entire kingdom.
At the same time, the Duke of Franconia also conducted a wave of recruitment and gathered ten thousand people himself.
This wave of troops totaling 30,000 people was ready to suppress the rebellion in the Principality of Saxony.
Although the Duke of Franconia said nicely that Otto should take revenge personally, in fact the army Otto could command was only five thousand, and he still commanded it together with Count Werner.
The remaining army was personally commanded by the Duke of Franconia.
Otto also understood. To put it bluntly, he was not a vassal of the Duke of Franconia, and he was not related to the Duke of Franconia. How could he truly trust him and hand over the army to his command.
Being able to command five thousand men has exceeded Otto's expectations. Otto originally thought that he was just a show-off, but now he can command an army and gain some military exploits. What's more, he's not satisfied.
Count Otto and Werner took the lead in entering Saxony.
The two people have cooperated before and have a good relationship, but this time, they are no longer superiors and subordinates, but at the same level.
"What are you going to do?" Count Werner asked.
"I thought about the reasons for the previous failures in counterinsurgency. In addition to the support of the church, it was largely because they were too soft before.
The local people don't trust us, and the nobles are unwilling to cooperate with us. Therefore, when His Excellency the Count suppressed rebellions before, he always won first and then lost. If he showed any signs of decline, he would not be able to stay in the Principality of Saxony.
In this case, let's make it simple and clear out all the nobles and uncooperative priests.
At the same time, there will be no mercy for disobedient people. Anyone who dared to provide information and support to the rebellious nobles would be killed.
As long as a group of people are killed and heads are poured out, there will naturally be no problem in the Saxony region. "
"Isn't this too radical..." Count Werner was startled. Although he got a signal from the Duke of Franconia to respect Otto's opinion, if he followed Otto's approach, it was very likely that Provoking a larger rebellion.
"On a larger scale?" Otto glanced at Count Werner strangely, not knowing what he was thinking.
"Your Majesty the Earl, you want to tell me that almost all the Saxon nobles are participating in the rebellion. Isn't it considered a large-scale rebellion? Could it be that all the Saxons must be mobilized to be considered a large-scale rebellion?"
Count Werner was speechless for a moment. Yes, almost all the nobles participated in the rebellion. No matter how large-scale a rebellion could be, how big could it be.
In fact, Otto originally did not want to adopt such a radical plan.
Throughout history, in most cases of rebellion, only the culprits were punished, and the followers were spared.
It's just that due to the contradiction between the Saxons and the Franks, the two sides have always been in a state of disdain for each other. The effect of the soft policy will only be counterproductive.
From the beginning, the Saxon nobles only wanted to partially fulfill their feudal obligations to now openly electing leaders. If they continue to be gentle, they might declare their independence from the East Frankish Kingdom and establish an independent country tomorrow.
For this kind of alienated area, the toughest methods should be used to kill the local people until they are scared and afraid to resist, and then use gentle methods to win over the people.
After all, no matter what Otto does now, it is impossible to compete with those Saxon nobles for the hearts and minds of the Saxon people.
That can only bring fear to them.
The march route chosen by Otto and Count Werner this time was no longer the previous one of starting from Malburg and attacking the Principality of Saxony from south to north. Instead, they chose to enter from the Münster area and march to Saxony from west to east.
The Münster area, which later became the area under the jurisdiction of the bishop, can be said to be one of the manifestations of the powerful power of the church.
The Saxon War was more of a religious holy war than a war fought by Charlemagne to expand territory.
During the war, Charlemagne destroyed the sacred tree of Ilmisl believed by the Saxons and asked the local Saxons to convert.
After that, Charlemagne relied on the power of the church to rule the Saxony region and gave the church a large amount of land. This led to the emergence of earls like Münster that were almost controlled by the church.
In Saxony, it can be said that the power of the church is quite powerful.
Therefore, no fool would believe that there was no involvement of the local church in this rebellion launched by the Saxon nobles.
The Duke of Franconia had not fallen out with the church before because he was not sure what the church's attitude was. Now, Otto has the authority to deal with the church.
The reason why they chose to march from the Münster area was that in the previous wars Franconia had attacked from the south and the Saxons were prepared. More importantly, the bishop of Münster was a relatively neutral figure in the church. The God of Love series.
At the same time, many priests of the Luna family are in the Münster area, and Otto is still counting on some key information from them.
Even now, the Münster region has not achieved semi-independent status and is still the direct jurisdiction of the Duke of Saxony, but Otto can still feel a strong religious atmosphere here.
Not to mention anything else, the number of monasteries, churches and temples in Minster alone is probably more than that of some small principalities combined.
Almost all the wealth gained by the church in the Münster area during so many years of rule was turned into these real estate properties.
Here, Otto first visited the Bishop of Münster, but the Bishop of Münster had a cold attitude towards Otto and Werner, and sent them away with a few perfunctory words.
Otto didn't mind at all. He didn't expect the Bishop of Münster to provide any decent help. The Eros family had always focused on preaching and had nothing to do with the secular world. They could be regarded as the ascetic monks of the church.
Coming to visit the Bishop of Münster is just an attitude.
That is, we will never tolerate the priests who participated in this rebellion, but we will never implicate irrelevant people in the church.
Soon, Otto found several priests of the Sun God family through the list provided by Valens, and actually heard an important piece of information from them.
"What, the sacred tree that the Saxons worshiped before evolved from a certain human torso of the God of War? And the God of War is a close follower of the Sun God, so the Saxons should worship the Sun God?"
Otto looked at the priests in front of him in disbelief, unable to believe what he heard.
Several people nodded.
"Yes, this is the answer that Bishop Jason found from the classics. The Saxons and we believe in gods, but they don't realize it.
Nowadays, this statement is widely circulated in Saxony, and many Saxons believe it! "
"What a talent, let me knock it! It would be a shame for Bishop Jason not to write novels!" Otto said sincerely in admiration.
