According to the descriptions of people who escaped from Hedeby, those who stayed behind in Ross's shop all ended up dead.
If Blue Fox himself really dies, it will not be a loss to the majority of Russian people. But the loss of shops meant that the Ross lost their market in Denmark. The Danes' war behavior was to force the Principality of Ross to launch a commercial war for revenge.
Ross can of course use this as an excuse to launch a war between countries, and even bring in the Kingdom of Sweden, which did not get any benefits in the previous war, and the two countries will join forces to beat Denmark.
Many people thought that Blue Fox had no bones left, but not only was he still alive, he was now passively disguising himself in a brand new and extremely safe image and heading towards the northern border where the King of East Frank passed.
A group of black priests walked south holding crosses. Esquier was a noble and elderly man. He sat in a carriage and took care of the supplies that a group of people were traveling on, as well as the materials taken from the monastery. The most precious sacred artifact.
There is also a fat man in black who is responsible for holding down positions. He is none other than Blue Fox.
He was almost alone, running towards the unknown south wind. While he was extremely curious, he was also extremely scared. He didn't know what he would see and hear when he entered the Frankish Kingdom, and he was also afraid that he would encounter an accident.
Now, I can only obey the request of the old guy Eskil, and first be a believer and a priest.
"Maybe their gods will protect me..."
Everyone was speechless along the way. They were walking on a rugged forest road. The so-called road was just exposed in the grass. There are some yellow lines, obviously not many people walk on this road on weekdays.
We have been gone for many days. Many young priests feel that this departure is a break with Hedeby Abbey. The teacher’s sacred work of spreading faith to the north has ended with Hedeby’s war. Ended in failure. Maybe there really is a turning point here! Sitting in the carriage was the fat Russian Joseph Blue Fox, who actually became the teacher's friend.
After walking through another oak forest, a strange open space appeared in front of them.
There is a grassland here, but what is very strange is that no one is grazing cattle and sheep.
Look carefully, there is something like a rammed earth embankment in front of you. It can even cover up the woods behind, seriously interfering with people's sight.
No doubt the blue fox noticed this geographical anomaly.
"Eskil, what is that?" he asked.
"Don't you know?"
"How do I know? This is my first time in such a southern place."
Eskir With a smile, the wooden stick pointed directly: "That is the Schleswig Wall! It was built by Godfrey, the great leader of Denmark, to prevent the Kingdom (special Frank) from invading. It is a pity that the Kingdom still has Schleswig "Yige City."
Lan Hu is really indifferent to things in the distant past. Naturally, the most important thing for him to come to the south is to take refuge, and the second is to find out about the business atmosphere here.
He asked casually, askedIt was very vulgar: "Are there merchants in the city? Are there prostitutes?"
Some words were taboo for priests. Esquier was trembling with shock and didn't know what to say for a while. He held it in for a while before staring at the blue fox with a dull face: "Joseph, you have been baptized, please don't say some devilish words. You must keep your heart pure, and you must not do dirty things that are not allowed in the scriptures!"
"I understand. But I just asked if there are prostitutes in the city. Where there are prostitutes, there are businessmen, and I want to talk to them."
"Forget it! I'm warning you, the identity you have to protect yourself is Priest Joseph. If you do something extraordinary, I can't protect you."
"Whatever..." Blue Fox shrugged, cursing in his heart. The old guy only had a manly body, but he believed in the so-called sacred faith and never got close to women in his life.
The wooden crosses carried by the priests were very conspicuous, and the retinue of the Viscount of Schleswig who guarded the border easily noticed this situation.
A solid rammed earth wall cuts off the Jutland Peninsula in the middle, with trenches on both sides of the wall. Just because of this, the so-called "Great Wall" is not an insurmountable line of defense at all. Its greatest role was actually that Chief Godfrey blocked the entry of Frank cavalry.
Historically, in 835, the control of the entire Great Wall was controlled by Ludwig of the Kingdom, which belonged to the territory of East Frankia. The specific management of the Great Wall fell into the hands of the Count of Hamburg, and several of his subordinates The Viscount controls military points near the Great Wall. Among them, one city is the largest border military town!
Generally, Danes cross the Great Wall because they believe in Odin and other Nordic gods. If they cross the Great Wall and enter the south, they will be arrested or even executed for their wrong beliefs.
A large number of refugees escaped across the Great Wall a month ago. After the identity of the believers was confirmed under the personal inspection of the Viscount, they were safely sheltered.
Now that even the most tenacious priests have withdrawn, what terrible things happened to Hedeby? !
Viscount Henry realized the complexity of the situation and quickly mobilized his guards in the city to enter the border gate.
The thick wooden door was opened, and a group of armored soldiers walked out.
Viscount Henry took off his helmet to greet the priests, and stood still watching them walk in.
Soldiers and nobles treated these priests with a high degree of courtesy. They showed discipline and stood on both sides of the gate to signal, and then watched them enter the city.
Eskil and the Viscount exchanged glances, and the blue fox was keenly aware of the risk and very cleverly lowered his head so as not to look at anyone's face.
As Blue Fox said, of course there are prostitutes and itinerant businessmen in the city. Viscount Henry's fiefdom is here. In today's era, Schleswig is not only a bitter cold place in East Frankfurt, but also a place with intertwined political and economic forms. With the Kingdom of Denmark to the north and the Oberlitids and Pomeranians to the east, Viscount Henry's fiefdom was located on a bad bulge. It is impossible for him to collect it from nearby villagesIf you collect too much tax, you have to rely on collecting tolls from passing merchants to solve the funding problem.
The city, which was originally a village-like city with a small population, is now overcrowded. Now that a group of priests have also withdrawn, many war refugees have gathered, opening their arms and hoping to receive the blessings of the priests.
Because the cross being carried still had a special sign hanging on it, it meant that a regional bishop was coming. who is he? It was Eskil, the "Bishop of the North."
People knelt down, opened their arms and mouthed calls for salvation. Esquier then got off the carriage and signaled the little priest to open a bronze urn containing holy water containing fragrant rose essential oil. He dipped some yellow pine branches in the holy water and sprinkled them with it as a blessing.
Did you gain divine power in this way? The blue fox was amazed and thought that maybe Prince Rurik could also learn one and let the high priest "sprinkle water".
Blue Fox also got off the carriage, and in a moment he saw a man in black with a wrinkled face and no beard hurriedly walking towards him. He must be the priest of this city.
After many days of walking, the small classroom students, whose legs and feet were a little weak, finally got a chance to rest.
Schleswig was a border outpost city established by the Danes. Now it is occupied by the Franks, and the role of the city has not changed essentially. For such a small city and the sparsely populated villages around it, only a dozen priests can be stably supported.
Compared with the national organizational structure of the Frankish Kingdom, the organizational structure of the Holy See invented and determined by the Roman emperor was more complete. The Holy See is like a tree trunk, and the bishops of the various regions under its jurisdiction are the thick branches. There is an archbishop. The cities under the large region have bishops (patriarchs). Finally, in the villages, there is a priest. This tree-like management model allows the Holy See to manage every village in Western Europe.
In terms of status, Eskil is much higher than the bishop (patriarch) of the city, and he also has the right to act arbitrarily on matters of faith in Schleswig.
He placed many young priests on the spot in the city of Schleswig, handed a bag of silver coins to the bishop of the city, and told him: "This is the funds given to me by His Royal Highness, for the time being. Leave it to you. We all need to live, and you continue to teach the young priests. When we spread the faith to the north in the future, one Danish village after another will need many pure priests, and they are the children around us. "< /p>
This old guy Eskil has been appointed by the Holy See to be the bishop of Bremen in a few years. He has a good relationship with Archbishop of Reims, Hinkmar, and has a good relationship with Prince Ludwig. Very good too.
The Bishop of Schleswig respected him, and Viscount Henry not only respected him, but also had many secular questions.
On that day, Henry personally confessed to Esquier in the monastery in this city on the grounds of penance.
He claimed that he failed to protect the people with sacred beliefs. He just sat and watched them flee, and the only thing he could do was to open the door and let them in, and then from the warehouseHe took some rye and cooked it and gave it to them.
Although the Viscount is a nobleman, he behaves like a little saint!
Eskir believed it to be true, and then he remembered another character - Prince Rurik of Rus.
"Henry, my son. You have done a good job, you have practiced your beliefs, and you have saved many people. The Lord has forgiven you, you just need to continue to stick to your principles, and your The soul can be saved..."
This seemed to be a scene, and Henry was really heart-warming to hear it. At this point, Henry's true purpose begins to unfold.
"Padra, I only have one question. Why? Why did a large number of merchants and villagers outside the city walls evacuate to the city? Is there really a war in the north? I learned that the person who came was the Danish Horik. , Isn’t he the nephew of Harald Clark? Isn’t he the prince’s servant? Why does he want to bring disaster?”
Mention this matter, Eskil. He changed his calm demeanor and let out a long sigh, hinting at the complexity of the matter.
After the procedural work was completed, Eskil invited Viscount Henry to a secret room for detailed discussions.
There are some things that Eskil will not explain to a lower-level nobleman. It can be said that what he said is in vain. He specifically explained the war incident that occurred in Hedeby Freeport and even Horik’s true identity. manner.
He vouched for his honor, claiming that Horik had betrayed the kingdom and everything might be back to thirty years ago.
This description made the viscount shudder. Although some things have indeed become legends because of the records, some old men who are still alive and living in Schleswig also followed Charlemagne on his expedition to Denmark when they were young. As a member of the Communist Party of China, they are not so stupid that they have forgotten the past events. The Viscount's grandfather had made meritorious service in the war that year and was conferred the title of Baron to guard the captured city of Schleswig. When his father inherited the title, he was also granted the title of Viscount for his meritorious service in guarding the border.
"Could it be that the Danes will attack us? That's not true! Don't they know the consequences of doing this? The kingdom will be furious." The Viscount couldn't believe it and didn't want to believe it. After all, if there was a war, where he was The earth will be ablaze with war.
Originally, as Eskil, he should not pay attention to the secular world, and he should not interfere even in a life-or-death war.
However, the new king of Denmark, Horik, used force to force him to retreat, and he also treated the people of Hedeby with murder. They actually dared to attack the monastery. This was the most direct act of war!
Horik did not declare war on Frank, and even had a letter that he needed to deliver to Prince Ludwig.
Eskir naturally would not tell Viscount Henry about this. He emphasized one point: "Protect the people at all times, just like Moses spent his life protecting his people. This is what you do What the lord must do."
A bishop who was simply dressed, religious, and highly respected personally taught him, and Henry was moved to tears.
For EskilAs for continuing to go south to Hamburg, Viscount Henry was also willing to send a few knights to serve as retinues along the way. Eskil politely declined, because this place is already a safe zone. Although the road south is also accompanied by desolation, after all, this place is already safe. Dangerous beast? The bears and wolves had been killed by hunters long ago. Otherwise, why would the Russian leather be so sought after by the merchants of Hedeby? In fact, Eskil also noticed that many of the soldiers under the Viscount's command had clothing that was obviously made of squirrel skin, and its origin must be Ross.
He doesn't have to worry about bandits, even the barbaric guys don't dare to attack the priests. Eskil has never heard of a priest being killed by bandits. Based on his personal experience, he has been a "lone ranger" for many years. Most of the time, he did not take any followers with him, traveling the north to spread the faith on his own feet. Now he is Only when you are older do you need help from your attendants.
They rested three times in Schleswig. Most of the young priests regretted that they could not continue southward with their teacher, and envied the chosen ones for the opportunity to see the Bishop of Hamburg.
During these three days, the priests ate only black bread and purified water, accompanied by some cheese and carrots.
This kind of meal can be described as light, not to mention that black bread is much inferior to wheat bread in terms of calories.
The current life really makes Lan Hu speechless. He can only console himself by saying, "My father also survived in such an extreme state back then." Not only did Blue Fox consume a lot of energy, but his daily diet was light and waterless. What was even worse was that he learned that whenever he stayed in Frank for one day, the food would remain the same.
Why is this? That's the rule!
This is the rule of the Roman Pope a hundred years ago. It is said that only those who are simple and frugal in style will have no miscellaneous desires in their hearts, and their souls will be pure, and their souls will enter heaven.
In contrast, it is difficult for these priests to imagine the life that Blue Fox lived before. Blue Fox can squander money arbitrarily, maintain illicit intimate relationships with many women, and eat meat unscrupulously. Such a lifestyle was completely opposite to the "ascetic model" of the priests.
The blue fox is enduring, and this endurance can be called torture.
What’s even worse is that I will continue to endure this torture for the foreseeable future.
A fat bear will be tortured into a skinny fool! He felt that he had lost a lot of weight. If he continued to live like this, he was afraid that within two months, he would become as skinny as those little priests.
"If I become thinner and return to Ross, will my father still recognize me? Will my brothers and wives still recognize me? Can the prince... still accept me as a thin man?!"
The image of being as fat as a seal is a family characteristic. The so-called warrior's beard and muscles are a symbol of combat power. A businessman's fat body is better than a hundred amber hanging on his body, which can better demonstrate the financial strength of the businessman and promote the transaction. Negotiated.
You can barely chew the sour black bread, which is slightly sweet and intertwined with the bitter yellow roots.Carrots are hard to chew. Slightly smelly cheese has become the only delicacy that the blue fox can enjoy, but this thing is still in short supply.
For the first time in his life, he tasted the taste of poverty. Little did he know that Henry, Viscount of Schleswig, could only provide such food to Eskil and his party who were about to go south.
Subjectively, the Viscount still wanted to prepare more delicacies for the noble Esquier and his entourage, but he really couldn't bring out any treasures.
The viscount, his retinue, and the knights living in the village all live on black bread on weekdays and only eat wheat bread on holidays. The men ate black bread, and the horses, in small quantities, oats.
This is already Frankish territory, and the food culture is indeed different from Denmark or the world further north. The staple food of local people, regardless of poverty or poverty, is rye, and the fields near the city almost exclusively grow rye.
This is an optimal solution. The local area is still cold and wheat growth is weak, but the growth of rye and oats has been stable. However, rye is more suitable for making bread. It has a sour taste and a sweet aftertaste when chewed carefully. The boring life needs this kind of adjustment. But oats, it’s hard to describe in one word...