Rise of Rurik

Robert is not old. He is in the prime of life in his thirties. However, he has experienced too many ups and downs in the past few years, and his whole person looks too old.

He grew a beard to show his sincerity and to cover up freckles, acne marks and even some scars on his face.

His eyes were deep and lacked fire. He seemed to be worrying a lot, and his whole person looked very sad.

He is obviously not old. At first glance, he looks like he is fifty years old.

Perhaps, because his father died of illness ten years ago, he was worried about the interests of the family after inheriting the title. His predecessors did not pave a smooth road for him, and his fiefdom was often visited by top nobles. He had a lot to consider. Now we have to consider the future, think and do too much, and the whole person looks old.

It is also true that he is not old and still has choices in life, otherwise he will continue to sink under the Taunus Mountain, which will even cause the entire family's strength to shrink extremely, and even the descendants will be ineffective until they die.

Many nobles think that Robert is an old guy. If he cannot regain a certain strength in a few years, it will be too late to treat others when he reaches forty, and he will really become a hopeless old guy.

The returning Blue Fox and his party are in urgent need of a good rest. The soldiers need to eat and drink before sleeping well.

Although Brother Fox wanted to have a good talk with the Robert family who broke in without permission, he was not in good spirits and had to choose a different date. As the local master, he naturally had to entertain this down-and-out nobleman with good wine and meat.

The latter also expressed understanding.

The wealth looted from Trier has opened the eyes of locals in the village of Nassau!

All the boxes were opened, and everyone was shocked by the amount of silver coins inside. The soldiers who were tired from the voyage originally planned to sleep in for three days in a row. The thought of being able to share the money soon made everyone excited.

The money is controlled by the lord, and in principle, the black fox, who is the steward, has ownership of all the money before the spoils are distributed. He has mastered a huge sum of money at a young age. Even though he comes from a big business family, his father never gave him the opportunity to manage such a huge sum of money. Now he is so excited that he is in a hurry.

He had no choice but to ask his brother Lan Hu for advice and simply broke into the room where he was resting with an oil lamp.

After drinking some wine, Blue Fox was already fast asleep. Hearing the sound, he slowly got up while holding his slightly dizzy head.

"It's you. Let's talk about everything tomorrow." After saying that, he fell down and closed his eyes.

"Brother. It's about dividing the money." Black Fox continued.

"Split the money? The money we grabbed? What?"

"I am……"

"Idiot. It's the first time I have a huge sum of money and I can't make up my mind." The blue fox with his eyes closed was obviously a little perfunctory.

Black Fox refused to give up: "There is too much money and food. I am just thinking about how much money should be given to the brothers. Less will not work, and more will not work. I... I am too young, and I am afraid that I will not be able to deter them. "

"So you still have to beg me? Anyway, it's really embarrassing. So... you should lose weight, play with swords and bows more, and it's best to really kill a few enemies on the battlefield, so that those guys will really obey you."

"But you stopped me. I should have killed a few enemies during the operation."

The blue fox opened his eyes again, sat up again and laughed naively: "If you have a chance in the future, how much money do we have now? Is it a thousand pounds?"

"Not that much, more than nine hundred pounds. There is quite a lot of food."

"Just give each of the brothers a pound of silver coins. Everyone involved in the operation will have a share, and the rest is yours. As for the food, no one will give it! Oh, that's not right." Black Fox thought for a while: "Give it We will give the church fifty pounds of silver coins and put all the sacred objects we grabbed in our monastery. Well, we will also give the church a thousand pounds of wheat."

"Huh? And give it to those guys, they didn't contribute at all. I mean, that old guy Conrad doesn't deserve it."

"He is not worthy." Blue Fox shook his head, "But if you want to live a good life here, you do need the support of the monastery. You give them money and food so that they can live a normal life. If the church is disobedient, you threaten to cut off the money and food. , so that Conrad and his successors can only speak good words for you in the future, act according to your needs, and provide legal proof for anything you do."

"Isn't this... bribery?"

"It's just bribery. The money you get in the end is indeed not much, and I think it is completely enough. Remember, we will start selling wine on a large scale next year. We in Nassau will make a lot of money from this industry. When I have a good rest, I will do it myself tomorrow. I'll go and appease my good brothers." That's it, Blue Fox fell asleep again.

After experiencing so many things in the past few years, even Old Gould had to admire that his second son was more legendary than when he was young.

The next day, the sleeping blue foxes held a massive rally in Nassau Village with great fanfare. The distant and low Viking horns awakened the sleeping village. Under the autumn sunshine, the soldiers walked out of the barracks in the riverside fortress and gathered on the plains outside the village.

As more and more people gathered, a large number of villagers came to watch the fun.

Even Robert himself came to see the "gathering of barbarians" with his wife and young son "Little Robert".

What could a gathering of Normans have? It must be an identity spoils sharing meeting.

Just because he knew the character of this group of ruthless people, Robert was not surprised at all when he learned that they looted and burned the ancient city of Trier, and even took it for granted.

They are savage and cunning, which does not mean that they cannot be contacted. On the contrary, this group of savages is fair in some aspects.

Robert's status is noble, and his wife's status is even more important. The Earl of Tours' daughter Adelaida (nicknamed Al) first married the semi-independent Duke of Burgundy, then divorced due to various problems, and then married Robert, Earl of Leingau. Elle was five years older than Robert. She was already an elderly woman. She arrived at Leingau with a generous dowry and gave birth to Robert's son in the second year of their marriage.

After all, she is a divorced female noble, and there are very few candidates for the great nobles who are willing to accept her and are qualified to accept her. Unwilling to commit herself to marriage, she was even mentally prepared to spend the rest of her life in a monastery. At that time, Robert's father passed away, and the fiefdom was in chaos. The territory was coveted by all parties, especially the Margrave of Thuringia, who was eager to have a piece of territory for himself. Marrying the divorced Ayr of Tours meant that he had the support of the Count of Tours in the Aquitaine region.

This is a marriage that both men and women need. Only after the marriage does he know the beauty of this marriage, because Al of Tours knows how to be charming...

However, in a series of wars, Robert lost his actual power and money. Unable to let go of his past glory and practical factors, he could only live in seclusion in the countryside. As a divorced female aristocrat, Al believed that if she abandoned poor Robert again, , it is absolutely impossible for a third nobleman to accept an old woman as his wife. Go to a monastery and die? No! If Robert goes to the Western Kingdom, relying on the relationship between the Robert family branch in the Western Kingdom and the relationship between the Earl of Tours family, everything will turn around.

even……

As a wife, Al knows how to calculate better than her husband. As a woman, it was not easy for her to stand out among the Frankish nobility, and she could not participate in any military operations. The only means she could use to help her husband was to engage in conspiracy and calculations.

Now, the two wanted to see what these Normans were going to do.

A slightly fat warrior stood tall on a cart of hay, surrounded by more than three hundred Ross warriors who had returned to Nassau Village.

This person was Blue Fox. He yelled a few words in Norse first, and then pulled up the little fat Black Fox.

Then came the public announcement of the plan to distribute the money, followed by a huge uproar among the onlookers.

The distribution of money after the war had been agreed upon long ago. Blue Fox didn't care how much property the brothers plundered privately on the battlefield. In the end, the largest amount of money stolen from Trier must be distributed according to the original idea.

Soon, tables were made of stones and wooden boards on the wasteland. Blue Fox specially asked his younger brother Black Fox to distribute money to everyone. People who were eager to receive money lined up happily.

Although accurate measurements could be made with a bronze balance, since all the coins seized were Frank silver coins of good quality, they were simply minted according to their minting settings, and one hundred coins per pound were delivered to the soldiers.

The soldier who got the money counted it again by himself. He didn't bother to worry about whether he had lost or gained, and ran away happily.

This matter must be carried out by the black fox himself, and even the little girl Sophia sits aside and quietly watches the show. In terms of nature, this is the baron distributing money to the loyal soldiers, the black fox is responsible for distributing the money, and Sophia is responsible for acting as the supervisor and mascot.

The money was in his pocket, and later money would be sent to Eric "Big Tooth" and his gang stationed in Koblenz.

All the food for the garrison does not need to be purchased by everyone, and can be consumed steadily from the plundered food. The money distributed to the brothers is purely war dividends. Naturally, you can spend the money however you want, although there is a lack of consumption opportunities in this world.

A pound of silver among common warriors? Robert and Al were stunned!

First of all, the salary of the Frankish standing army was less than one pound of silver coins a year. A considerable part of this money also had to pay for weapon maintenance, supplementary meals, medical expenses, new clothing, etc. Frank's standing army was severely depleted, but the material supplies of the standing army were always the best. They asked themselves that Robert in his heyday could only support five hundred heavy cavalry. He had to use his wife's dowry to purchase equipment for them, and the salary given to them was not much.

A count has five hundred personal heavy cavalry. With this strength, he can quickly mobilize two thousand peasant soldiers or even more if necessary. Such nobles must be the ones that must be fought for in the civil war. Unfortunately, Robert was defeated.

Although the defeated nobleman was not like a lost dog, he had lost all yearning for the Eastern Kingdom after experiencing the humiliation of the prisoners, even though the land of Yingao was the birthplace of his family.

"They actually gave ordinary soldiers one pound of silver coins. That little fat man is actually the Baron of Nassau. This baron is stained with Norman habits. It is really different. He is more dominant than the previous one." Surprised Al Madam pointed out the big problem right to the point.

"That boy is Paul Black Fox. How much can a boy do? His brother Blue Fox didn't teach him."

"The First Minister of the Ming Dynasty"

"You look down on him?" The lady glanced at her husband and smiled contemptuously.

"You? You seem to look down on me?"

"Of course not. If that were the case, I wouldn't be suffering under the Taunus Mountains with you. I just think that these brothers in the north can be put to good use and our plan can be implemented well for them."

"I hope so. But how could you see it?"

"You?" The lady looked at her husband again: "You have never acted so generously. My father had never been so generous to his subordinates in Tours. I talked with the priest when I was in the monastery. Those who followed The farmers they attacked in Coblenz were indeed exempted from the tithe, and the priest was worried about not having enough food to eat in the future. To be fair, these people were doing evil, but it was good for the loyalists."

"Yes." Robert gritted his teeth when he thought of his series of experiences, and then he felt a sense of despair and powerlessness. "They used money to win over a group of evil people and even seduce ordinary farmers. They attacked the city of Trier and made ill-gotten gains. Then they distributed the money, which is equivalent to saying that the people in this place have become gangsters."

"You can't say that." Madam tsked: "I don't think King Ludwig is more moral than them. He has taken away almost all of your fiefdoms the right to tax, and Ludwig himself made peace with the Normans. , his status is nobler than yours, and what he does is no different from these Normans."

"It's so barbaric! Those bewitched farmers dare to do anything. In order to get money, they don't have to be moral."

"What's the point of talking about this now? Do you have any extravagant hopes that those ordinary farmers are suitable?" The lady said again: "Now you need to make a deal with those two foxes."

"Yes. By God, I would do it, but not sell my soul to the devil. I could never consider myself friends with them."

"I can't say anything absolutely. I think that little fat guy Paul Black Fox has a great future. Anyway, his son must be the Baron of Nassau. At least give our son a chance, and maybe we can still contact him in the future."

"It's up to you. The little lord abandoned me, and Lai Yingao also abandoned me. I can only rise in the Western Kingdom. I need money now, a lot of money."

In Europe today, any dispute is often resolved in the simplest way, such as war, plunder, and assassination. It is extremely rare for nobles to be willing to sit down and negotiate, unless both sides fight to the death and there is no time to gather military power in a short period of time, which leaves room for negotiation.

Now, Count Robert of Laingau can no longer chat with even one baron in terms of military strength. His current strength can only require the legal allegiance of two knights living in the mountains. As for the other vassals, they are all physically loyal. He was taken away by King Ludwig and directly participated in the brutal Battle of Kaiserslautern.

Only in this way did Mrs. Al have the opportunity to go to the front desk.

Promises and implementation are two concepts. The Fox Brothers promised and implemented. The soldiers who got the money immediately began to live and drink in the small village of Nassau. They don't have much to do for fun. Their greatest pleasure is drinking and then playing behind-the-scenes games.

The game of "grab the clay pot" is a popular sport among Nordic people. Each side sends more than a dozen strong men to fight, shirtless, to grab jars filled with pickled fish and put them in the opponent's defensive position. This is the original version of rugby. As a barbaric game, it can be said to be immoral in the Frankish world. However, Nassau has been completely occupied by the Russians, and the conquerors can do whatever they want.

Even for men, it is indecent to play shirtless. The Rus' army was playing here, making noises and making bets to squander their newly earned rewards. The village of Nassau had never been so happy. Villagers who lacked entertainment came to watch the fun one after another. Some even secretly joined the gambling game set up by the Russians. There were also smart people who hurriedly carried wine barrels and took the opportunity to sell ale and wine at high prices to make a quick buck.

The once honest villagers were assimilated by the Normans in just four months?

Father Conrad had nothing to say. He was self-aware and it was best to keep silent about the current situation in Nassau Village and his current situation.

After all, they were short-handed, so the Russians gave fifty pounds of silver coins in cash, placed the holy objects that Trier had snatched in the small Nassau monastery, and provided five hundred pounds of wheat to support the priests. The ten priests did not need much food. Blue Fox promised that the monastery would not have to worry about food or the safety of life and property in the future. In exchange, the villagers would no longer pay tithes to the monastery.

take? This is ill-gotten wealth. Don’t want to take it? Then the holy objects will be melted and destroyed by them. As for the priests' food and livelihood, Conrad had no choice but to compromise and comfort himself by saying, "The conditions they gave us at least ensure that we have enough food and clothing."

The cross made of gold and silver is also inlaid with rubies. It can be seen that the gold cup containing holy oil in Trier Cathedral is intact, and there is also a bronze urn plated with gold wire. There is a strong smell of rose aromatic oil inside. It is obvious that it In the past it was the holy urn containing holy oil.

There were even sterling silver candlesticks in abundance, and even more bronze and gold-plated vessels.

The priest and the young priests had never seen so many precious holy objects, and it was a miracle that some parchment documents were brought back by the Blue Fox group. These signs indicate that they still maintained an extremely low bottom line despite burning Trier.

The cathedral was burned, large numbers of people were deported, and even Archbishop Hutto was released. Relics and documents were seized and eventually had to be placed in a monastery.

Father Conrad realized that there were many things that he could not say directly. Considering that the attack on Trier was actually secretly approved by King Ludwig, if this reason was made public, it would be tantamount to a catastrophe in his life.

Father Conrad comforted himself: "I am not stealing, but protecting them with devout faith. I protect the lost sacred objects for Trier Cathedral. If they ask for their return, I will return them in the future. Now , I will use them first for mass and new baptismal rituals..."

In this way, Conrad's acceptance of the spoils of war was a legitimate act. He also knew that after taking the money and food given by the Russians, he would do further work for them in the future. "As long as we don't wreak havoc in Nassau and Coblenz, everything will be fine."

The Nassau Abbey and the Koblenz Abbey clearly had in-depth transactions with the Fox Brothers of Ross, and on the surface it seemed that the clergy were also bribed with money.

Robert and his wife had nothing to say about this. Perhaps it was just because the godfathers of these two foxes were both Archbishop Esquier of the North.