After everyone settled down, Simon and Fatty rode through the bustling inner city and headed straight for the tall royal castle in the distance.
"Is this the royal castle?" Simon and the fat man walked to the front of the castle and saw many servants transporting supplies and some well-dressed nobles walking through the tall main gate.
"My lord, please explain your identity and purpose of coming. We cannot let anyone in casually, not even nobles." Simon and the fat man arrived at the entrance of the gatehouse. A man wearing a tall Norman helmet and short sleeves Wearing mail and studded leather armor, wearing mittens and padded leather gloves, and wearing a robe with the royal spear crest pattern, the bearded royal soldier holding a sharp broad-leaf spear said loudly to Simon .
"This is Simon of Dorsten, the destroyer of Norman pirates and the legitimate ruler of Woldburg. We have come to see the king this time and request the royal family to grant a crenellation to Sir Simon's newly built Woldburg. Permit!" The fat man stepped forward with a gentle grip on the horse's belly, raising his head and looking condescendingly at the bearded royal soldier guarding the door. He seemed a little dissatisfied with his slightly disrespectful tone.
"Good guy, the equipment of the royal family's private soldiers is actually much better than the equipment of many young knights!" Simon looked at the guard soldier and was amazed in his heart.
"That's it, please wait for my lord." The bearded royal soldier winked at another soldier standing guard next to him, as if to ask him to keep an eye on Simon and the other two. After the latter nodded, he walked into the doorway, apparently going to find the castle pager.
"Please come in. The king is meeting with the distinguished Duke of Bavaria in the hall. Sir, you have to wait in the garden for a while." The bearded soldier came back after a while, and then made an invitation gesture to the door.
Simon and the Fat Man rode their horses into the doorway. The first thing they saw was the blacksmith's workshop, tailor's workshop, weapons workshop and crossbow workshop built against the edge of the fortress wall.
The royal blacksmith's workshop looked much larger than the other blacksmiths Simon had seen. In addition to the blacksmith who was swinging his hammer enthusiastically at the anvil, there were also many young apprentices sitting at the big wooden table weaving locks. Armor and mail turban.
There were many brightly colored cloths hanging in the royal tailor shop, and there was even a roll of precious purple cloth, which seemed to have been bought from the distant East Rome. In the tailor shop, a woman is operating a foot-operated horizontal loom. At this time, the tailor with scoliosis and his apprentices were sewing pieces of noble clothes and robes.
In the weapon craftsman's workshop, there are several exquisite half-hand swords and short swords placed on the weapon racks. The weaponsmiths are installing the cold-gleaming spearheads onto the spear handles. In addition, there are some weaponsmiths who are painting the already finished fan-shaped cavalry shields with royal heraldry patterns.
In the royal crossbow workshop, a disheveled black-haired craftsman was polishing an iron-clad crossbow. Judging from the appearance of the craftsman, he should be Italian or from a country bordering the Mediterranean Sea. Buckets of crossbows and bows and arrows are neatly stacked in the workshop, and several high-quality recurve bows are hung on the walls.
The strange thing is that there is no leather workshop or craftsman making leather armor in the inner castle. Simon concluded that the smell caused by the leatherworkers was too smelly and dirty, so the king arranged for the royal leather workshop to be located outside the city.
"Sir, let me help you." The stable boy wearing a wide red hood quickly ran to Simon, took the reins from Simon's hand, and took "Lucky" into the stable. Urin bent down and knelt down on one knee, letting the horse lower his body so that Simon could dismount.
"Are you Sir Simon? Please follow me!" The castle pager came to the stable at some point. This is a young man wearing red and white linen clothes with a leather belt around his waist. There are two whip marks on his face. It seems that he was severely punished for dereliction of duty at work not long ago.
Simon and the Fat Man followed the castle pager, passed through the apprentices carrying materials and the servants performing their duties, and arrived at the foot of the king's tower.
This is the first masonry tower that Simon has seen since he came to this era.
The outer wall of the king's castle tower has been plastered with lime mortar. There are narrow and high windows on the wall. In addition, there are also neatly arranged holes.
After bypassing the wide main entrance of the castle tower, Simon and Fatty were taken to the side of the tower, where they saw a wooden wall about two meters high made of thin boards dividing a space in the inner fort.
"Dong dong dong."
Simon and Fatty were taken to the small wooden door with patterns carved in the middle of the wooden wall by the castle pager, and then knocked on the wooden door several times. After a while, a sound of footsteps came from inside the wooden wall, and a maid in a blue dress opened the wooden door.
The young castle pager said something in the maid's ear. After hearing this, the maid looked at Simon and nodded: "Dear Sir, please wait on the bench in the garden for a while, waiting for the king to meet you." After talking to the Duke of Bavaria, I will take you to see him."
Then, Simon and Fatty entered the small garden on the side of the tower. The ground of the garden is paved with large flat stones, and in the flower beds next to the garden surrounded by low wooden boards, there are many flowers and plants that Simon cannot name.
Simon heard the melodious music of the lute playing songs, accompanied by women's chatter and laughter. Looking not far away, under the cover of a curtain wall made of wickers and vines wrapped around the wickers, Simon could vaguely see through a small gap a royal minstrel wearing bright yellow clothes behind the curtain wall. Poet, on the chair next to the bard, there are two elegant women sitting.
"Please come this way, Sir."
Following the footsteps of the maid, Simon and the Fatty came to a small pergola built with wood, and the top of the pergola was covered with dense grapevine branches and leaves.
"Master, I'm so nervous that I want to vomit." The fat man's face was as red as if he had drunk strong alcohol, and his body was trembling slightly. At this time, he was constantly wiping the dense sweat on his head with his sleeves.
"Don't be nervous, the king won't eat you." Simon patted the fat man's shoulder and found that he was also a little nervous. "It's okay. Now the king is encouraging the nobles in the kingdom to build castles to defend against the Magyars. There’s no reason why he shouldn’t issue us a crenellation permit due to the Viking invasion!”
Just then, a sound of conversation came from the side door leading to the garden next to the tower, and it got closer and closer. Simon guessed that the two people talking wanted to come to the place where he and the fat man were sitting to talk.
"Just kill the rebellious Slavic leaders. Other Slavic peasants who followed the rebellion should also be punished. But remember, you are not allowed to deprive those peasants of their lives. Doing so will only sow the seeds of revenge in the hearts of the locals. Our taxes will also be greatly reduced. In addition, those evil pagan remnants are constantly encouraging the local Slavs to revolt. We have to ask the Bishop of Cologne and the Bishop of Frankfurt to send more priests to the Rostock area to preach and exorcise demons... Oh , who are these two people?" A young man wearing a gorgeous patterned woolen sweater and several gold rings on each finger of both hands and the white-haired old man next to him stopped and looked at the people sitting in confusion. Simon and Fatty in the pergola.
"My lord, I am Simon from Dorsten." Simon and the fat man knelt down on one knee and paid tribute to the young man. Although Simon didn't know who the young man was, judging from his clothing, he was definitely a member of the royal family.
"I'm Otto from Liudolf, you guys get up first. Wait, Simon from Dorsten? I think I've heard of this name," Otto had long red curly hair and was frowning at this time. He frowned and thought about something, "I remembered that my Bishop of Cologne mentioned you to me not long ago. I heard about your deeds in Foldburg from him. In addition, he also said that you are a very pious person." Christian, right?"
"Honorable Prince Otto, yes, it's me." Simon was secretly delighted. It seems that the early investment in the Bishop of Cologne has now begun to pay off.
"Ah ha, if there were more capable and pious knights like you in the kingdom, we wouldn't have to worry about the Normans and Magyars." Otto smiled and suddenly took off the A gold ring, "My father once said that if anyone in the kingdom can severely combat the arrogance of the Norman pagans, my father will personally reward him heavily. However, in addition to the Count of Hamburg, there are already two No one has received similar rewards and commendations in the years. I think your heroic actions have undoubtedly set a good example. This gold ring is considered a reward from me on behalf of my father."
Simon was stunned for a moment, then came to his senses under the hint in the eyes of the white-haired old man next to Prince Otto: "Thank you very much, my generous Prince Otto!"
"No need to thank me, you deserve this." Otto liked Sir Simon who was humble, polite, pious and capable compared to other knights. "Besides, if I guessed correctly, you should be here to pay tribute to the royal family. Are you applying for a creeling permit from Fort Verde?”
"That's right!" Simon said as he couldn't help but sigh in his heart that the heir designated by the king was so thoughtful.
"My father will meet with the Duke of Bavaria later, and will also meet with the Duke of Franconia and the Bishop of Mainz, and have dinner with the Dukes and Bishops. If you need a crenel opening permit, I can give instructions to my attendant Daniel, who I will take you directly to the clerk’s office to find the clerk.”
"That's great!"
Not long after Otto and the white-haired old man left the garden, a middle-aged man who looked very honest and honest walked into the garden from the side of the tower and went straight to the pergola where Simon and the fat man were: "Is this Sir Simon?" Really? I'm Daniel, please follow me."
Simon and Fatty entered the side corridor of the palace through the side door of the tower. After walking forward for a while, Otto's attendant Daniel led the two into a room that was not too big.
The room was very dark, but there was a candlestick with a weak flame in front of the big wooden table next to the door. Simon could see through the firelight that the old scribe sitting in front of the big wooden table was concentrating on copying a Bible. The floor of the room is covered with hay, and the wooden box in the corner contains parchment rolls sealed with sealing wax. Two apprentice-like young men are counting documents in front of the wooden box and doing something on the parchment paper. Record.
"Secretary Dana," Daniel said to the clerk in a low voice. Hearing the sound, the clerk put down the quill with ink on it and raised his head in confusion. "On the order of my master Otto, I brought Lord Simon of Dorsten came to issue a crenellation license for Völdburg.”
"It turns out it's you, Daniel. Since it's Prince Otto's order, there must be no problem," the old clerk stood up on the edge of his chair, picked up the candlestick and turned to the apprentice next to the wooden box and shouted, " Arlin, bring a new piece of parchment quickly!"
