Rise of Rurik

In this era, a European nobleman could legally own a vast territory, but he had only a few subjects.

The County of Flanders was divided into two, Count Baudouin only retained the southern territory and switched allegiance to the Eastern Kingdom.

This was the result of the war in 840. Count Baudouin did this to preserve his power, and he was well aware of the consequences of doing so. However, compared to King Lothair's revenge, he was still more worried about the bloody attacks from the Vikings such as Denmark and Russia. Only by betraying Lothair can the Vikings promise not to plunder! Baudoin didn't think that Lothair in the distance would stand up for him at all, but if he really angered the Vikings, their longships could kill him at any time.

However, Flanders, whose territory has been severely reduced, only has one large city, Ghent, and large settlements such as Antwerp (burned), Brussels and Lille. Otherwise, it is all scattered rural areas.

Brussels is already a border city of the Count. To its east is the demilitarized Diocese of Maastricht, and further east is Aachen, Charlemagne’s resting place.

Flanders's legal defection made King Lothair extremely angry, but after he calmed down, why did he need to send troops to conquer other than to curse a few idiots? The local noble has always been a strong head. He was sure that Count Baudouin would not take the initiative to cause trouble, so there was no real threat to him.

Then in the spring of 841, Aachen's defense strength increased. This was King Lothair's attitude.

This attitude alone was enough to make Baudoin nervous, and as a last resort, he also strengthened the defenses of the border town of Brussels.

Thanks to the geographical existence of the small Maastricht parish on both sides, the two sides are also divided by the Maas River. It seems that the two sides are just adding troops to hint at each other's attitudes from a distance.

Baudouin would never take the initiative to cause trouble. He was severely beaten in last year's war, and he was actively licking his wounds after losing a lot of troops.

He lacked trust in the Vikings, and the public was also highly wary. Only a group of domestic traveling merchants were bold and wanted to actively seek out the Vikings to try trade.

Because the summer sheep shearing season in the country has arrived.

What's the biggest problem now? Make money!

In this era when military nobles and priests ruled the world together, there were no pure civil servants around Count Baudouin. When the country was employing people, the eldest son of a knight who participated in the war and died in battle automatically inherited the title, and Baudouin took the opportunity to promote some of the best. He believed in his own eyes and felt that some of the boys he selected would become qualified warriors in the future.

Fortunately, there was a steward who served the Baudouin family, and his concept of status corresponded to the chancellor of the Frankish court.

The housekeeper is responsible for commanding the servants to take care of the master's daily life, and also takes care of the finances. After all, the wise earl spends time patrolling his territory every year, setting up circuit courts to punish injustice, visiting and monitoring lower-level nobles, and even for a very simple reason-hunting and demanding tribute.

By a very coincidence, this steward's name is Pepin. Butlers are also hereditary. Since there is no need to avoid names, a name can be passed down from generation to generation.

The butler Pepin III was really faithful in taking care of the earl's wallet. He didn't dare to think anything wrong. It was this honesty that made him seem harmless.

This is indeed the case. The steward Pepin had no power ambitions. He carefully managed the money bank. However, last year's war had exhausted the funds.

One day, on a sunny afternoon, Baudouin specially summoned his butler. When he made this decision, he had a premonition that his money was about to be spent.

What is a rich nobleman without money? The lower-level nobles changed their allegiance to others, and in the end the high-ranking nobles had empty titles and ended up being the lost dogs. This was what Baudouin feared the most.

"How much money do we have now?" He could feel the financial strain on the butler's face, so he still wanted to find out for himself.

Pepin cocked his head and said nothing...

"say?!"

"Yes... our money bank... has bottomed out."

"I feel something." Baudouin spat fiercely: "Exactly... how much is it?"

"My lord, you have less than two hundred pounds of silver."

"Ah? That's it? Where did the money go?!" Baudoin couldn't believe his ears. He rushed forward and grabbed the key collar very seriously.

Pepin was also startled and continued to listen to the adults' questions. "Could it be that a thief misappropriated it?"

Baudouin hinted that his butler was unclean, but the latter was not angry and was grabbed by the collar to explain.

Regarding how much money was given to the nobles who died in the war, how much food was spent on resettling refugees, how much was spent on purchasing new weapons and organizing new guards, and even the additional allowances paid to the border town garrison...

"Sir, you are generous. Without your help, many people would not be able to survive this winter. But if you continue like this, the money and food will eventually be exhausted."

"You are right!" Baudoin let go of his hand angrily. He realized that he had gone too far and refused to give in. He asked again: "What should I do now? I will perish without money!"

"Yes!" Pepin also came prepared, and then deliberately asked in a low and seductive voice: "Then, my lord, do you believe the Normans?"

"Them? I don't want to believe it. At least not entirely."

"Then what do you think of Lord Lothair?"

"That man? I don't like him. Once he frees his hands, he will hit me. At that time, I may surrender voluntarily."

"The price of surrender must be that you pay a huge sum of money to ensure that your family's power is permanent." Pepin, who managed finances, spoke to the point. Baudouin was speechless for a while.

Pepin continued: "So you need money no matter what, either to expand your army or to pay tribute to Lothair in the future. I don't understand the battles of the great nobles. I only know that you need a lot of money now."

"So? You! Get me money! I want to get rich as soon as possible."

"Is this why you summoned me? I do have a solution."

Hearing what his butler said, Baudouin felt relieved. He let out a sigh of relief and said, "You can tell me what to do. As long as it doesn't violate your faith, it's okay."

Pepin's method was very straightforward. He organized an official caravan in the name of the earl to directly traffic wool to the Normans. Specifically, he is looking for the so-called "Ross Shops" and doing business directly with the big businessmen of Ross.

This sounds outrageous, but in fact the conditions are there, but Flanders must have great courage and hope that the peace promises of the Russians and Danes will be true.

"Who was the king before the disaster? It was you! Sir, those farmers have received your protection, and now their lives have stabilized again. You have reason to recover the profits. This year our wool is completely embargoed by Lothair, and you ordered Block the roads and prohibit all traveling merchants from trafficking wool. You collect this summer’s wool and assemble at the revitalized port of Antwerp. And I will take the initiative to find the Ross merchants for you.”

The steward was by no means a person who just talked and did not practice. Since he proposed the plan and was willing to implement it, Baudouin could not think of an easier way to make a fortune than this, so he simply worked hard to get the plan that Pepin III decided to leave for. adventure.

In this era, merchants were spurned by the church. According to the belief, any behavior of getting something for nothing was improper. Pious priests would not interact with merchants. However, the nobles needed this group of merchants to provide necessary supplies.

The local church disliked Pepin's family and criticized him as a jester. It was regarded as a mistake by the clergy to obtain certain benefits from managing the earl's property. Baudouin needed this kind of person very much, but considering the public opinion attitude of the nobles and priests, it was impossible for him to give any title to the Pepin family. Even if the butler was hereditary, all previous butlers were just butlers at best.

But who would be willing to be a lowly person forever?

Pepin, the steward, was temporarily given great powers so that he could go to the villages on behalf of the earl to collect excess taxes.

The cavalry escorted him, who was suddenly dressed up, to the village outside Ghent. He ordered the villagers to gather and announce this year's tribute quota.

The tithe was the most traditional tax law. One-tenth of the farmers' various outputs was paid to the church, and one-tenth was paid to Count Baudouin. Currently, the county is divided due to war, causing the huge diocese of Utrecht to be divided as well. The peasants' tithes were paid to the Bishop of Ghent, and another version of the tithes was paid to the count, so that the peasants actually became one in five.

In addition, there is the most traditional poll tax, which is paid directly to the earl. Pepin announced in a high-profile manner: "You have all received asylum and escaped the war. For this reason, you must pay the poll tax for the next three years. You may not be able to provide enough money and food, so you can use your wool as a deduction!"

What can farmers do? Even if the count's army couldn't defeat the Normans, they could easily deal with themselves. What's even worse is that the farmer couldn't logically prove that the count's order was wrong.

A peasant disobeying his lord? Such behavior was punishable by hanging and was defined by the clergy as a folly destined to hell.

Now is the sheep-cutting season, and villages that have experienced disasters hope to "recover blood" by cutting sheep this summer.

Since ancient times, villages have harvested wool and processed it themselves. The wool will be degreased by boiling water, air-dried, and then stuffed into sacks and sold to merchants.

Farmers themselves cannot consume so much wool, so the popularity of decent clothing in rural areas of Flanders is actually extremely high, and both young and old wear woolen clothing. However, wool cannot be used as food, and the local land is not fertile and prone to seawater erosion. Animal husbandry is more profitable than growing grain, but wheat is the basis for survival.

In normal years, they barely have enough food to eat, so they rely on selling wool raw materials and semi-finished products to make money to buy extra food. However, the largest textile center in this area is in the Cologne area. Merchants purchase goods from Flanders and transport them to Aachen and Cologne. Merchants just transport raw materials and make a lot of money by changing hands.

It’s good to make money! To ask for too much is not religious enough!

Many people actually think this way. They want to make money but also need face. However, for the Pepin family, the reputation of the family has always been bad anyway. What is face? Now that you have been promoted by the earl, let the evildoers do it to the end.

Pepin demanded a three-year poll tax, and the people were respectful on the outside, but secretly cursed this old guy and his whole family to go to hell.

Go to hell? Let’s talk about it after death.

Pepin couldn't care so much. He felt that since he had already become a great villain, he might as well do it to the end.

So every village received the order. People didn't quite believe that the earl was so harsh, and they were more willing to believe that this Pepin was a greedy person who deliberately increased his power.

How the people understood it was their business, what Pepin wanted was the wool.

Since the earl's order prohibited all traveling merchant activities, merchants who dared to go to the village to buy wool had already been arrested by the army. They were thrown into a cell in Ghent, their property was confiscated, and their children were all sent to a monastery. Some people encountered such misfortune. Businessmen passed news faster than an arrow. In a short period of time, no one dared to go to the village to purchase various supplies, and the border roads were actually closed to all noble territories in the Middle Kingdom. Even if Some businessmen who take desperate measures cannot leave the country freely.

Count Baudouin didn't even know that he was creating a "wool monopoly", but he took his people to hunt in the coastal woodlands west of Ghent, thinking of satisfying his family's need for meat by hunting wild boars.

Pepin deliberately lowered the purchase price, which was fully twice as low as the price usually given by traveling merchants! If he hadn't considered that he couldn't catch all the fish, he would have planned to go one step further.

Wool began to gather in the city of Ghent and was continuously delivered to Baudouin.

The tawny coarse linen sack on the trolley is stuffed extremely solidly. As long as the hemp rope is untied, the inside is slightly yellow wool that has been compressed with all its strength.

Just touching this first batch of goods made Baudoin's scalp numb. Looking at the butler Pepin who was standing aside smiling and not answering, he had thousands of questions that he wanted to ask clearly.

People suffering? All this is the will of the Lord.

Baudouin felt that he could ask for a "no attack" promise from the Norman army, which would be enough for the people to be grateful and spend money, because peace did have a clear price.

The wool was offset against the tithe and the three-year poll tax, and Pepin was very thief and withheld the portion that should have been paid to the church in Ghent. He even prepared words, so-called "You are servants of God, are you extremely greedy for worldly wealth?" The priests lived a life of asceticism and could not starve to death anyway, and indeed no priests cared about where the funds went.

In the eyes of outsiders, this Pepin was a greedy villain who might become a great villain like Judas. The Bishop of Ghent even personally suggested to Baudouin to distance himself from such villains.

Bad guy? Who are the bad guys? Those who can't get me money are the bad ones. My butler is obviously a good person!

Of course, Baudouin would not say this to anyone, and asked his family not to make any comments on related topics.

It was another early summer night, and the world was peaceful. At least there was no sign of trouble here in Flanders, and the border cities were all peaceful.

Dinner was roast hare meat with oatmeal porridge. Baudouin was a count. He was severely beaten by King Rurik of Rus last year. So far, he can only live a hard life.

Baudoin would never forget the peace talks in Hamburg earlier this year. He fully accepted the results of the peace talks and couldn't stop eating the wonderful meals provided by the northerners.

brutal? Are people who can cook exquisite dishes really barbaric? At least when it comes to eating, Baudoin is very envious of the Russians, and now he has stained glass tableware given by the King of Rus on his dining table, thus demonstrating his noble status. He also knew that glassware was nothing among the Russians, and even many ordinary soldiers had such noble utensils in their homes.

"You are doing well now." He summoned Pepin and praised him.

"I...just did my duty."

Pepin held his hands together, wore a robe like a stake, and the feathered hood could not hide his curly gray hair. He was indeed old.

"Now that the wool is arriving, the next step is how to sell it. Do you already have a plan?"

Pepin said without thinking: "Yes. I sent fishermen to the direction of Utrecht, and sure enough I found that the Normans were building their brand new Durist, called Rotterstad or something like that."

"Did they hurt the fishermen?"

"No. There was a misunderstanding at the beginning, but he was released after he found out that he was one of ours. There is enough intelligence to prove that the Ross merchants are really here! Moreover, Baron Nassau has just arrived in Utrecht. If Nassau hadn't sent someone Wandering around Rotterstad, our fishermen are really going to be killed..."

Pepin talked a lot. He was almost giving a lecture. Baudouin's mind was very confused. It seemed that the "New Durist" Rotterstad, which was obviously a wasteland near the sea, had become a hot spot for all forces to gather?

The information Pepin received was that the immigrant team of the Baron of Nassau, the Ross merchants, the natives of Utrecht, the natives of Groningen, the Danish immigrants, and the Danes who had just robbed Britain and were eager to sell their stolen goods were all wandering at the mouth of the Inn River. Back. They all have their own purposes, and the Rotterstadt under construction is enough to provide an opportunity for people from all walks of life to communicate.

How come such a good thing is missing from Flanders?

But before Pepin went there in person, he hit his chest hard: "I'm about to leave. I want to talk carefully with the Ross merchants and try to sell all the wool at a high price this year."

"Very good! Go ahead and do it!"

Baudouin didn't say anything immediately. The fact was that he wanted to reward the Pepin family with some good things after the incident was completed. Reward with a title? No! Perhaps, you can look for a boy from the Peping family to get engaged to your youngest daughter. Family marriage is the biggest reward.