Simon and his party arrived at the only connection between Rothenburg and the outside world - the wooden bridge on the moat in front of the main entrance.
At this time, Simon could take a closer look at what the count's castle looked like.
The exterior walls of Rothenburg are made of solid logs. The tower at the main entrance is not as rounded as the towers on both sides, but looks particularly square and straight.
There are neat stacks on the fort wall next to the tower. Of course, this place is not as wealthy as the town of Wiesbaden to equip each section of the city wall with crossbowmen. There are only a few archers wearing thin armed uniforms standing in twos and threes at the crenellations of the Rothenburg Castle wall.
From the front of the castle, you can see three towers, two on the left and one at the middle main entrance. Each tower has a bright square flag printed with the Earl's family coat of arms - half red and half equally divided from the middle. It has a yellow background, with white crosses painted on one side of the red background, and dense blue rhombus squares painted on the other side of the yellow background.
Simon knew that this cut-shaped coat of arms was a new coat of arms designed by merging the coats of arms of both families after the count's family intermarryed with another family, using the dichotomy method. Some families will use the four-quarter method.
It is foreseeable that as time goes by, heraldry will only become more and more complex, and in the end I am afraid that only specialized heraldry officers will be able to understand it.
"Come in quickly, you two little bastards who have been idle all day." The soldier standing guard at the door just raised his eyes and glanced at the two young men in front of Simon who were pulling a cart of hay, and then let them in.
The soldier standing guard at the door was obviously the most elite private soldier under the Earl's command. He was wearing a segmented brimmed helmet with padded soft armor, a sturdy chainmail shirt, and leather padded shoulder pads. Wearing mittens and chainmail gloves, holding a sharp ax gun, he held his head high and looked at every little nobleman and peasant who wanted to enter the castle.
"Oh, dear lord, forgive me for being ignorant and not seeing your coat of arms. Are you here to show your allegiance to our new earl, Mr. Ruterbert?" The elite soldier holding an ax gun turned his eyes. He opened his eyes wide and his thick beard twitched twice, but he didn't recognize Simon's coat of arms.
"This is Sir Simon from Dorsten. In addition to congratulating the new earl on his succession, he also has some private matters to discuss with the bishop of Frankfurt." The fat man got off his horse and walked to the elite soldier standing guard at the door. He quietly stuffed a few copper coins into his hand.
In an instant, a bright smile broke out on the face of the elite soldier who was originally full of fatigue and lack of interest. He opened the pocket next to his belt and stuffed the copper coins into it, then shouted at a loud voice to the castle in the courtyard. The pager, after giving some instructions, stepped aside in a flattering manner and made a "please" gesture towards the gate of the castle.
"Let's go in." Simon wiped his oily face, sniffed, and said to Fatty and others.
Since the new earl had just taken over in the past few days, Rothenburg was very lively. Before Simon entered the door, he could already see the bustling craftsmen and farmers doing their jobs in the inner fort.
Simon led Fatty and others into the castle, and the familiar strong odor and odor took turns bombarding his increasingly powerful nasal cavity.
Simon saw a simple thatched shed on the right side of the main entrance tower. Inside, there were bags of bulging grains, wooden barrels filled with various wines and barrels, and rolls of thick wine that were tied tightly. fur.
Next to the shed, two farmers wearing thin rolled-sleeved linen clothes were moving baskets of apples and onions from a nearby carriage into the shed. A soldier wearing a short leather-filled jacket was lazily leaning on a spear. The shed pillars are covered with moss, but their eyes are shining with light, to prevent evil-minded thieves from stealing things from the shed when no one is paying attention.
To the left of the main entrance tower, there is a small wooden house. On the large mottled oak table in front of the wooden house are scattered tools such as wooden hammers, nails, hand axes, flat axes, hand awls, chisels, and hand crank drills. There was also a rusty saw leaning against a large, flat tree stump next to the table.
There was an ox cart parked next to the wooden house, pulling a whole cart of logs. A guy wearing a white turban and dark blue robe who looked like a carpenter was working with a guy who looked like a lumberjack and had a bare upper body. The thick logs were moved and stacked next to the fort wall.
Behind the carpenter's cabin was a small pigsty. An old attendant wearing a brown robe and a leather belt opened the low door of the pigsty, carrying a wooden bucket and pouring feed into the pig trough.
On the edge of the fort wall near the pig pen, a poor pig covered in mud was tied tightly to a short wooden ladder with its four feet. A large log was placed under the wooden ladder to catch the pig's blood. In the basin, a fat kitchen worker wearing an apron stood aside holding a carving dagger and indicating where to cut.
Next to the pigsty, Simon saw a woman in a brown dress kneeling on the ground and leaning forward to fumble for something from a short mini shed. After a while, the woman leaned back from the small shed, holding something in her hand. Picking up an egg with chicken dung on it, she immediately put it into the small basket on her right. It turns out that mini-shack is a chicken coop.
"Aha, look at that naughty child!" As Pedi joked, Simon looked to the right. Next to the thatched shed where supplies were stored, two children wearing bright red patterned short robes were playing on a tall haystack. They were playing, and beside them, the two young men who had been scolded by the gatekeepers as bastards who had nothing to do all day stood holding pitchforks beside the carriage pulling hay, looking at the two naughty children who didn't know what to do.
Next to the haystack is a pile of dung piled high. A manure digger holding a manure fork is shoveling a pool of fresh horse manure on the ground into the dung pile.
Simon was really worried that one of the two children would accidentally fall from the haystack into the dung pile, which would be pretty cool.
"This honorable Lord Simon, my master, the great Count Luterbert invites you to enter his lord's tower and dine with his vassals in a while. Please follow me!" Wearing red wool The young castle pager in a long robe and a blue sleeveless linen coat walked up to Simon's horse, saluted, and then led Simon and his party towards the second gate of the inner castle.
It turns out that what Simon and others are currently in is just the outer fortress of the castle, which is equivalent to an urn.
If during the war, if the enemy breaks through the first outer fort wall, they will be surprised to find that they have only broken through a small fort, and there is another high fort wall behind them waiting for them to fight with their blood and lives. Capture it.
However, compared to the majestic main entrance tower of the outer fortress when you first entered, the door leading to the inner fort seems a bit low and simple. It is just a tower built on the uneven wall.
There are several narrow shooting openings on the front of the Douluo, and the top of the Douluo is airtightly covered by a layer of moist animal skin.
Simon learned from Gabriel that such an animal skin roof was actually used to prevent the roof from being ignited and burned by fire arrows during war.
After entering the inner fort, Simon immediately felt that his field of vision was much wider than the outer fort, which seemed a bit crowded and cramped just now. This inner fort has a special granary, a large storage platform, several large wooden houses for soldiers to live in, as well as a pinging blacksmith workshop and a smelly leatherworker workshop.
In addition, Simon also saw specialized weaponsmith forging shops and armorer forging shops. Next to the two forging shops, there was also a bow and arrow workshop.
In the bow and arrow workshop, there are not only old craftsmen who make crossbows, but also young apprentices who connect arrowheads, arrow shafts and arrow feathers.
"Let's park the horses in the stables." Under the guidance of a little stableboy wearing a green hood with a runny nose, Simon and his group parked the horses in the large stables next to the fort wall.
At this time, seven or eight war horses and traveling horses were already tied in the stables. Among them, two war horses were wearing bright heraldic horse clothes. It seemed that their owners were of high rank.
There are three wooden horse racks next to the stable. Two of the horse racks are stacked with various saddles and stirrups. In addition, there is a long iron nail nailed to the side of the horse rack, with six old and new nails hanging on it. horseshoes.
And next to the wooden vest rack stacked with leather vests and chain vests, a young attendant was carefully wiping a dirty riding crop.
"Peddy, come and take off the saddles from our horses and put them on the vest stand." Simon ordered to Peedy. At the same time, the fat man and the young castle pager walked side by side at the front.
There is a well in the center of this large inner fort, and on the other side of the fort wall not far from the well, there is an armory that is locked by an iron lock, and a building that is constantly carrying food and supplies. The lord's kitchen where servants carrying dishes frequently come and go.
Perhaps there are not enough rooms for guests in the count's tower. In the open space of the inner castle, there are two temporary tents set up with brightly dyed striped tents. There are different coats of arms at the mouths of the two tents. Burqa-clad soldiers stood guard.
"Lord Simon, I'm sorry that your attendants can only eat and live in the side room on the left." The young castle pager led Simon through another thick castle wall and gate. Ruterbert Only then did the count's tower truly appear before Simon's eyes.
This cylindrical tower is three stories high and looks much larger than the Lord's Tower in Dorstenburg.
On both sides of the door of Earl Rutbert's tower, stood two elite soldiers wearing similar equipment to the elite soldiers at the gate of the outer castle just now.
At this time, Fatty and Miller had already opened the wooden door of the side room next to the lord's tower with their luggage. Simon saw by the light of the torch in the room that there were densely packed hay beds and linen blankets inside.
There is a large long wine table in the center of the side room. Some private soldiers of other lords are drinking beer, cider and playing dice games on the long wine table.
"This is Simon from Dorsten, the legal lord of Fordeburg, known as the Crusher of Norman Pirates!" The young castle pager shouted loudly in a long and rhythmic tone while opening the lord's door. The heavy door of the tower.
"Count Rutbert, Bishop of Frankfurt..." Simon looked expressionless and calm on the surface, but his heart began to beat faster and faster as he muttered silently.
