Upon hearing the order to serve the dishes, the servants respectfully held the plates with both hands, walked into the tent in order, and placed the dishes that exuded a strong aroma of spices on the trestle table.
There were no dishes on this rough and simple table that Simon particularly liked. He felt that Lange's chef was simply ruining the food, especially the pot of pork stewed in red wine.
When the chef wearing an oil-soaked apron brought this pot of sour-smelling food to the table, Simon knew what it would taste like without even tasting it - imagine someone stewed a pot of sour-smelling food with vinegar. What does the sawdust look like when it is brought to you?
After putting down the stew pot, the chef hurriedly returned to the grill next to the tent, picked up the big iron, and used two broken thick branches to pick off the roasted mutton on the iron. The smell was so bitter that the tent was ruined. The guard standing guard at the door stared directly at the glistening grilled meats that were placed on the plate one after another, and he kept swallowing his saliva.
Immediately afterwards, the chef inserted the emptied iron rod into the charcoal fire, took out a sparrow-like boning knife from somewhere, and skillfully separated the mutton and mutton bones. Judging from the professional technique, it should not be the first time. Did it once.
Every time the knife falls, a stream of crystal clear juice will be squeezed out of the mutton. The hungry guard at the tent door stared closely at the chef's movements. He thought to himself that even if one of the bones was thrown to him, he would rush up and chew it without regard for face.
Unfortunately, the bones were not reserved for the guards and other attendants. When the chef entered the tent with the chopped lamb, Count Lange's dog keeper staggered over with a greasy woven basket and put it in the tent. The bones on the wooden table were swept away, and then he returned to the edge of the garrison camp. There was a small clearing under a small beech where three hounds were tied.
The dog owner overturned the basket, and the dogs swarmed up happily. This sight made the guard stare straight in the eyes.
In fact, what the guards coveted was not the bones that were not even meat. Today, other soldiers in the camp could eat roast chicken and stewed meat, but without exception the taste was very bland. What he coveted was the high-end taste of the fine salt and spices on the mutton, which was not something ordinary people could taste.
After dinner was served, under the leadership of the host Count Lange, everyone folded their hands on the table, closed their eyes and lowered their heads, and began to pray devoutly before the meal.
“Lord, thank you for preparing delicious food for us to enjoy throughout the day. Please forgive us for not always thinking about those who are praying for food because of hunger. Please alleviate their physical pain and at the same time encourage us to let us Look for ways to help others in the abundance of resources you have. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”
Hearing Lange's prayer, Winter seemed to have heard the most absurd speech in the world. These words coming from Lange's mouth were even more outrageous than the king himself who had lived as a sharecropper for a year.
Duke Amadeus also sneered at this. He knew that today's food was obtained by Lange from robbing farmers. This would undoubtedly make the situation of those who were already hungry even worse. God would not do it because of Lange. He was easily forgiven for his false prayer.
Next, it’s time to enjoy the delicious food. Lange's servant brought another large plate of perfectly toasted oatmeal bread to the table.
As for where the bread came from, the simple conditions here definitely meant that it was impossible to thresh and grind the oats snatched today, then mix them into dough and bake them in the oven. This was all done by Lange using the remaining unslaughtered livestock to find the troops. The food merchant exchanged it. Anyway, he didn't intend to leave any evidence, so he simply ate or exchanged everything he had in hand.
While all the nobles at the table were taking the food from their plates and stuffing it into their mouths, Baron Winter unexpectedly sat motionless in his chair, like a lifelike stone sculpture.
Duke Amadeus cut a piece of roast beef with a table knife and was about to put it into his mouth when he glanced at his spy chief Winter from the corner of his eye. He was suddenly frightened by his strange behavior and broke out in a cold sweat, as if he had been attacked by someone. Thrown into the ice cave. The suspicious Duke put down the beef while holding back his saliva and hunger, and looked at the faces of the other people at the table. He wondered if someone had poisoned it.
Soon, Winter's actions attracted the attention of other people at the table, one, two, until the alcoholic Baron Lemaître, who was belatedly aware, stopped touching the food on the plate, and the atmosphere at the table seemed very strange. The fire in Earl Lange's heart burned even brighter. Winter was equivalent to the fourth person who pushed the blower blades into his fire today. Was he really just here to cause trouble?
"Winter, why don't you eat? Aren't you hungry?" Baron Karl opened his gray-blue eyes wide, looked left and right, and finally decided to be the first to break the deadlock.
"As a Christian who still has a conscience, I will not eat these things." Winter's calm reply was like a big stone thrown into the lake, causing a shocking wave.
The nobles looked at Lange and Winter with uneasy expressions. Someone quietly stretched out his index finger under the dining table, just in case something went wrong and someone was poisoned, so he could press his throat and spit out everything he had eaten.
The servants waiting around the tent were so frightened that their faces turned white. Simon would bet they were whiter than Flemish wool. Lange's servants all know that Baron Winter is the Duke's spymaster. If he refuses to eat because the food is poisonous, this means that everyone who prepared the dinner, including the chef, will be hanged, and It also depends on the health of the nobles who have eaten on the table to decide whether they will be further cut into pieces and fed to the dogs.
"Maybe one day you will starve to death due to your inexplicable conscience. When that day comes, I think you will be so hungry that you will fight for food in the hay trough with the pigs in the barn," Lange suppressed his anger. , said harshly, "Now, you'd better give me a reasonable reason, otherwise I will have to ask you, this disappointing guy, to leave here."
"Since you want to hear it, okay, everyone, listen up. According to the information obtained by my spies, all the ingredients at the banquet tonight, including the food currently being eaten by the soldiers in Count Lange's camp, are all It was snatched from the nearby village of Elberfeld. As a devout Christian, I couldn't even take a bite of all the filthy food with blood and sin on this table."
"What!?"
The nobles on the table quickly put the food back on the table in surprise and wiped their mouths with their sleeves, as if they were eating human flesh and blood. Some people breathed a sigh of relief as if they were reborn after a disaster, such as the servants around them. At least this incident had nothing to do with poisoning. No matter where the food came from, they servants didn't need to go to the gallows anyway.
Everyone's attention shifted to Lange. To Simon and Winter's surprise, Lange's expression was uncharacteristically calm. He looked like a cold-blooded killer, but there was a disturbing hint of anger in the corner of his mouth. Smile: "The words you said are like dead leaves falling from the trees in autumn. They have no roots or roots, and there is nothing convincing about them. Your accusations are extremely ridiculous. In addition to slander, they are still slander!"
"My people saw your soldiers dressed like robbers, with blood on their bodies, carrying a cart of food and herds of livestock, walking back from the main road. And the direction you are coming back from is where you were robbed just now. I passed the village of Elberfeld. I don’t believe that such a coincidence happens, so the answer is very obvious.”
Lange's vivid description convinced most of the nobles at the table, but at this moment, a rough voice broke into everyone's ears like a heavy bull.
"No, no! In the final analysis, all this is just your inference," Earl Wolfe grabbed the silver cup in front of him and took a swig of wine, then tapped the table twice with the bottom of the cup to signal to the person behind him who was responsible for pouring the wine. The servant told him, "You don't have any evidence that you can produce, which means that your current accusations are just imaginary fabrication and slander."
"If your eyes are still good, you will definitely find that most of the livestock brought back by Earl Lange's soldiers are female." Winter continued to make moves unhurriedly. "As we all know, no farmer will Willing to sell milk-producing cows and goats, sows capable of giving birth, and hens capable of laying eggs. Even if they are willing to sell, the price will be very high. Yet now we eat them like black bread, even Even the handymen who did menial work were involved. My God, such a thing is simply shocking and unheard of! If these livestock were not robbed, I can’t think of a more reasonable explanation.”
"I don't need to explain, because you still can't provide any evidence," Langer arrogantly picked up a piece of barbecue, stuffed it into his mouth without any scruples, and chewed it. This was definitely provoking Winter, "What is your original intention?" It’s not at all seeking justice for those ignorant farmers, it’s just to find an opportunity to attack me, that’s all.”
The nobles at the table became suspicious. They seemed to have reached a fork in the road, and they were confused whether to believe Winter's logical and reasonable inference or Lange and Wolfe's insistence on innocence without evidence. Although Baron Carl, Lemaitre and Hale were leaning toward Winter, Winter had a special status as the Duke's spymaster. They did not want to be treated as pawns in a game of interests, so they chose to remain silent and stay at the fork in the road. Wait and see.
"Perhaps, we can bring the survivors of the village to Count Lange's soldiers and see if they can identify some familiar faces?" Duke Amadeus came out to ease the atmosphere, and he made a pertinent question. suggestion.
"This won't work, my dear Duke," Lange quickly shook his head, but did not forget to maintain due respect for the Duke. "These farmers were attacked by bandits and now have nothing. If someone gives them an identification If there is a chance of the murderer, even if they are brought to the king's personal guards, they will insist that he is the murderer."
"You will go to hell if you lie about this kind of thing!" Baron Karl made the sign of the cross on his body.
"Who knows, as long as they sincerely confess to the priest afterwards and claim that they did it because they couldn't survive, God will definitely forgive them. The question is, who will forgive those poor soldiers who were wronged by the anxious farmers? ?" Earl Wolf took another sip of wine. Although his family had converted to Christianity for many years, he still believed in the ancient Germanic polytheism. He did not like God who could forgive sins as long as he repented. His creed was a tooth for a tooth and an eye for an eye.
For a while, the dinner table fell into an awkward deadlock.
"Since everyone can't come up with a conclusion after arguing, we can only leave this matter to God for judgment." The alcoholic Baron Lemaître put forward his opinion through the wine gall.
Everyone's eyes widened. Leaving it to God to decide means that Lange and Winter have to engage in a life-and-death duel. The winner is the one favored and blessed by God, while the one who dies is naturally a shameless liar and is despised by others.
Everyone focused their attention on the Duke again. His vassals were going to engage in a life-and-death duel. Although the lord's interference was inappropriate, this was a special period. The Magyars had already been stationed on the other side of the river, and had even scared some noble soldiers into deserting. In this case, everyone's power is precious. Will the Duke interfere in the duel?
.
