"Sir, your hair is as shiny and brave as a lion's mane."
In the large room, the Mercian maid was combing Oran's hair while he was soaking in a barrel.
At the same time, I also hope to find out some news. The princess said that as long as it is about any serious matter, one silver coin will be given for each word.
The woman's fingers are gentle and very experienced.
Olan just closed his eyes and accepted the service without saying a word.
On the surface, the king still respected Oran's arrival.
The silks, carpets, and even the fireplace with fire in the room were specially designed by the painter.
This is a temporary residence built by Mercians in the past to treat foreign monarchs or successors without staying in the king's presence.
In the bathhouse room, someone carved a line of words:
“It is in adversity that we realize our true nature.”
The calligraphy is beautiful, and it's also engraved.
Being able to write means being noble, but knowing how to engrave is something that has been specially learned.
Priests would leave engraved copies of some particularly noble books.
This means that the person who wrote it has a profound theological literacy.
"Do you know who left this?" Oran asked.
"I don't know, but the last guest was His Highness 'Alfred' from the south."
"Have you seen it?"
"I've seen the Crown Prince very gentle, just as charming as you."
The maid expected Orlando to ask a few questions, but then he stood up and dressed without even looking at the well-groomed maid.
】
He has long been accustomed to being served, and he is not shy or uncomfortable even when he meets a servant for the first time.
When the maid walked out, Kunsang came in.
Also following were the guild merchants who came to Mercia with Oran this time.
Oran's followers stayed outside and did not start discussing secrets until they were sure that no one was approaching.
"You continue to go south and sell the northern furs and wooden handicrafts we brought. Remember, record the rivers, mountains, and highlands you pass through if you can."
Oran was very happy to coax the king this time, and gave his business group trade certificates, so that they could stay on the border of Mercia for more time.
Oran asked them to explore the main routes of the country.
In this era, maps were precious things and could not even be traded or sold, they could only be explored secretly.
For safety, Olan also taught them simple pinyin and numerical symbols to use in writing maps.
Every businessman used to perform tasks must be married and have children.
The waist contains poisonous water taken from the fangs of poisonous snakes.
Oran left their wives and daughters in King's Landing.
In this way, even if Xizuo is caught, he still has to consider his relatives.
After the businessman left, Oran put the table together, took out another map of Mercia, and compared it.
"The king now lives in 'Tamworth', which is where we are currently. This is the essence of Mercia, which produces copper and iron. This is also the reason why Burgred was willing to fight for the last 'Battle of Repton'. Once Repton is lost, this place cannot be defended.
In the past few days, I have been observing carefully and found that there are actually sentry towers in slightly higher places around here.
There are Vikings in the northeast, and Berry, the sharp sword of 'Lincoln', is on guard.
From now on, this man was handed over to Gliese to contain him. Lincoln was on the border with his 'York', and he was very familiar with the terrain.
To the east, on the border with East Anglia, is Stamford, which is mainly agricultural.
Although the city is not big and does not have many residents, it is regarded as the granary of Mercia. It has been the center of craftsmen's activities since the time of King Offa, and is now the territory controlled by Amon the Confessor.
This man and the king both prospered and suffered losses, so he could be considered very loyal.
In order to be the king, Downey now wears a pair of pants with me, and Downey will check and balance him.
But people's hearts are filled with holes. When Downey becomes king or county chief, his attitude towards us will be different in the future.
After I went back, I was reminded that we cannot allow the queen to decline, and we must keep them in check.
This woman is quite useful. Last time she wrote sonnets and led the cavalry to defeat a Viking army. She also has good relations with churches in various places.
I heard that the bishop in Rome also had contacts with her.
Courageous, famous, and from a noble family. "
Speaking of the Queen, Kunsang asked in confusion, "Then we spent so much effort to pull her down with Downey, and even asked Joan of Arc to spread rumors about her, saying that she entered the church during menstruation and blasphemed the gods. Even the country was invaded by Vikings?"
The appearance of Joan of Arc and the Atonement Scroll made the devout Queen Edmund very disgusted.
So later Oran also wrote and learned sonnets, but they were all slanderous and aimed at the Queen.
If the queen were in front of Oran now, she would probably draw her sword to separate life and death.
After hearing Kunsang's words, Oran explained,
"The purpose of pulling the Queen down is for our benefit, so that Downey will ally with us, and she is also willing to marry one of her daughters to a small nobleman from my subordinates who was born as a beggar.
If we continue to support the queen, it is also to protect our interests. If we advance and retreat, the situation will be different. "
Kunsang nodded slowly.
Speaking of this, Oran wanted to remind Kunsang.
When the guild merchants return to their own territories and sell the foreign goods they have taken, they will be distributed among the county chiefs and lords.
Olan knew even better what his men had done.
Not to mention that Kunsang was easy to kill. He also carried out agricultural reforms and made a mess in the territory.
The farmers fled, but he even crossed the border to kill people!
He once sent people to chase Ladd and Nanding's territory and execute the fugitives alive.
Lords need to be "fair", otherwise they will make their subjects more and more dissatisfied.
"Kunsang, we are different now. When we held one-third of Durham, we had a small territory, but we acted decisively.
When he became the Sheriff, he stepped onto the stage and had to deal well with the kingdom and the priests.
Now that I am the regent, I face the surrounding monarchs, as well as foreigners and even heretics.
I can no longer use the knight's method of managing the manor,
My eyes will not fall on 'farmers stealing' or 'wells drying up',
You are my important minister. You are no longer the child who was randomly bullied by the Vikings.
You have a name, the name I gave you,
You have a wife, a royal descendant,
You have the title, Viscount of Northumbria,
You have glory, and the scars all over your body are ironclad proof!
Don't be like a butcher, treating your subjects as cattle, sheep, pigs and dogs.
Don't learn from my arrogance, you will kill your loved ones. "
Olan was afraid that one day, he wouldn't even be able to protect him.
With his heartfelt words, Kunsang understood what Oran meant.
But human nature cannot be changed overnight or with a conversation.
Olan is very familiar with Kunsang, he can tell it from his eyes.
Persuasion failed!
He sighed inwardly.
After becoming a lord, Oran fell in love with this profession.
Hundreds of miles across the border, any woman will appear in his bed if he wants to.
And this career is accompanied by deception, conspiracy, cruelty, violence, betrayal and other elements.
If one day Kunsang threatens his rule, maybe...
Oran didn't dare to think about it any more. Moving on to the political situation in Mercia.
"Shrewsbury and Cambridge are..."
After the Sheriff of Mercia talked for a long time, his eyes finally fell on "Pander".
"He was originally from Wessex, but after losing his son, he fell out with the crown prince and fell out with the king. Later, he was persuaded by us, Mercia and the queen to join Mercia, which caused Wessex to lose Very long border.
My contact with him was all through Sals.
At present, this person has ambitions to separate his own country, but he has no conflict with us yet, and he has a big feud with Alfred, so he will keep socializing first and wait and see how the situation changes in the future. "
