Rise of Rurik

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The Elbe flows calmly as she slowly drains west into the Atlantic Ocean.

The existence of a small town by the river, the erected wooden walls and towers, and even the three gates reinforced with stone, proves that the city is indeed a military stronghold.

The morning mist permeated the river, forests and farmland, and the whole world was gray. The soldiers who stood guard all night and the men who took over took over their tasks. Only then did they take off the rough cloth hood to keep out the cold, remove the leather armor with riveted iron sheets, and withdraw to their barracks. rest.

For the city of Hamburg, today is another normal day after the fall.

Earl Robert was still sound asleep, he didn't have to worry too much about his work, the squire servants would take care of everything.

When the morning fog gradually dissipated, a small number of merchants in the "commercial street" in the city set up their booths one after another.

The curfew was over, and after the city gates were opened, vegetable farmers pulling carts paid an entry tax to the soldiers guarding the gates, settled down in the open space of the market, and publicly sold their vegetables and surplus grain.

Cabbage can be said to be the largest vegetable sold here. The buyers targeted by vegetable farmers are the soldiers in the city, as well as those craftsmen, servants, and horse slaves who serve the Count.

Naturally, there are also people who sell meat and leather. They are professional hunters or livestock herders, but the trading volume in this area is not large.

The earl and his family were Frankish, and the ten closest bodyguards were also Frankish. In addition to this, the inhabitants of the entire city are Saxons.

Hamburg was originally a riverside village of the Saxons in the past. After the whole area was conquered by Charlemagne, the Saxons who surrendered to the Franks all converted to God and recognized the new Frankish nobles as their lords. After some turmoil, they went to worship a new one. God, pay taxes to the new lord.

The Principality of Saxony, which was formed spontaneously by the Saxons, has disappeared for 30 years, and 30 years have been enough to smooth people's memories. Not many Saxons escaped to Denmark and joined it, and a large number of people still live there. They forgot their hometown, and they only knew their lord, who knew very well the annual tax to be paid, and the days when they had gone to the monastery for worship.

Life is so monotonous and boring. The peasants live peacefully day after day. The lords are very active in collecting taxes and hunting, and other days are also accompanied by boredom.

Earl Robert had had enough of his rotten wife, the old woman was getting older, but their divorce had to be approved by the Holy See, which was only a theoretical possibility.

There are some things that can only be stolen because of his own honor. The milkmaid he keeps is a favorite concubine. He must not let the priest know his behavior. If they don't recognize him as the heir to the title, the boy will be trained as a servant, and then he will find a knight by the head. He felt that his actions had been very benevolent.

If there was anything else that could cheer up the count, it would be wearing a full set of armor and fencing with his subordinates.

In recent years, the territory has been peaceful, and the peasants have had a good life. This is reflected in the fact that the agricultural tax every autumn is in place.

The harvested agricultural taxes and grains are stuffed into the warehouse, which is the survival material of noble families, retinues, and craftsmen. Part of the grain was also transported as tribute to Regensburg, Bavaria, the residence of Prince Ludwig.

The original meaning of Regensburg is the "City of the Roman Legion". The city was the seat of the Third Legion before the fall of the Western Roman Empire. It evolved from a large military camp to a city. A thousand of the most capable soldiers are also stationed here. Regensburg's status as the capital of a country is a foregone conclusion if his domain officially becomes independent from the Franks.

Taking the road from Hamburg to Regensburg is a bumpy road given the current traffic conditions.

Fortunately, the source of the Elbe River is long and long, and it travels upstream to reach the upper reaches, and then reaches Regensburg by land. The journey time is greatly reduced.

The prince's official status is Duke of Bavaria and Duke of Saxony,

Under the current division system of East Frank, there is no marquis in the entire duchy of Saxony, or the titles of marquis and earls are very vague. The Earl of Hamburg is directly accountable to the Duke of Saxony, that is, to the Prince himself.

It's just that this area of ​​Saxony is a new land conquered by the former king Charlemagne with iron and blood. Many Saxons died locally, and the degree of development is not as good as that of Bavaria. The prince never expects how much tribute the lords in the north can offer. Their biggest task is actually only one: to prevent the Danes and Pomeranians from encroaching on the kingdom's territory.

However, the earl's financial resources can only support 300 standing soldiers, and the viscounts under his command have fewer soldiers. When it comes to the baron level, it can only be the baron's master who will personally go into battle and kill.

The permanent residents of Hamburg have been maintained at 600 people for a long time. In addition to the stationed soldiers and a few soldiers' families, there are carpenters, blacksmiths, potters, and horse slaves and their families who are directly responsible to the count. Although there are merchants, the local political and economic conditions are not enough to develop a big businessman like Ross's Gould.

In other words, Hamburg and other Frankish cities in this era lacked the soil for the existence of big businessmen.

A star city among the cities of the Hanseatic League, it has not yet been able to show her commercial influence. She is only a regional military stronghold in the northern border region of the Franks.

The count can be regarded as a garrison with this small amount of troops?

Frank is no longer Charlemagne's Frank, and although the three princes fought infighting and civil war broke out, more regions can be said to have maintained peace for a long time. The days of stability are too long, and everyone is pursuing longer-term comfort. In order to increase their income, the soldiers served the count to receive "wages", and they had to start some small industries, personally chopping wood and hunting to subsidize the family or enriching their wallets, and then gathered in the only wheat tavern in the city to taste delicious food.

An ordinary-looking carriage came from the north. There were many people passing by on weekdays. The soldier in charge of the gate wanted to stop him and collect the entrance fee as usual. The people sitting on the carriage took off their burqas. Showing off the sterling silver cross hanging on his chest, it was the soldier's turn to respect him.

"I am Esquier, the Apostle Esquier of the North. Children, go and inform the people of the monastery, go and inform the count, I am back!"

Because Hamburg is the cathedral of the region, the reason why Eskil is respected by the noble lords and the bottom people in the entire region comes from his other identity: the bishop of Hamburg.

As early as the year before, in 833, he proposed to Reims to take the Hamburg area out of Bremen and set up a new bishopric. Archbishop Sinkmal of Reims not only approved, but also appointed Eskil as bishop of Hamburg. Officially approved by Rome in 834.

It's just that this "Bishop of Hamburg" hopes to influence all the Danes in his lifetime, so that he can make a great contribution to the great cause, and doesn't he also help the kingdom solve the frontier problems? In the clergy's conception, those barbarians would end the war after they became strange to God, and the Franks and Denmark would be reconciled, and Denmark would obviously be peacefully incorporated into the Frankish kingdom, specifically by Prince Ludwig.

The daily affairs of the Hamburg monastery are managed by a chief priest, whose name is Jacob. If there is no accident, when Eskil goes to Bremen as a bishop a few years later, the position of the bishop of Hamburg will be taken over by Jacob. Even Eskil stayed in the barbarian territory outside the Great Wall of Schleswig for a whole year to stick to his Hazelby monastery, one purpose was to deliberately "play missing" to exercise Jacob's work ability.

No, Jacob hurried to the small square of the city with more than a dozen little priests to meet his teacher Esquier.

Both sides were speaking in Saxon, which made the onlooker Blue Fox very embarrassed. Even if they chat in Latin, so they can understand part of it.

Most of the priests hung their heads, but a fat priest looked left and right.

With a commercial sense of smell, Blue Fox immediately paid attention to the commercial street in the city. His eyesight was very good, and he saw at a glance that the green things sold there were spherical cabbage and some meat. kind. Other than that, there isn't any? !

Isn't this guy Eskil saying that Hamburg is a big city in the north? Could it be that he has a huge deviation from his understanding of the city?

Soon, the blue fox also saw something discordant.

A woman was dumping the brown stuff with a wooden tub. She looked closely at the dung water, and what was even more terrifying was the dirt road that was spilled directly in the city.

He also saw that a man actually lifted his robe, turned his back to the road, and felt constipated at the root of the wooden wall.

This explains the faint sour smell in the city, and looking at the slightly muddy ground where my boots collapsed, I think this muddy has nothing to do with the rain.

"You Franks and Saxons, you are very willing to live in such a dirty place? If you are in the Principality of Ross, you dare to throw dung in the street, but you will be fined to cut down at least a hundred pine trees!" Blue Fox scolded inwardly. , so far he is not optimistic about Frank's business atmosphere at all, and he is even more worried after witnessing the life of the locals.

He was missing the good old days of Ross, and this stinky place really didn't want to linger for a while.

But where can we go?

Blue Fox was dressed as a priest, but his still fat image had nothing to do with a priest. The way he looked left and right was noticed by one person, Robert, the Earl of Hamburg.

When meeting the great "Apostle of the North", the real Bishop of Hamburg, Eskil was not allowed to wear battle clothes. This nobleman knew the style of the priests very well, so he put on a rather simple sackcloth and linen. The sabre on the waist and the calfskin boots on the feet show their extraordinaryness.

Even the Slavs Vardy acted like a priest, but the blue fox's actions were too frivolous, and the look of looking around made the count vigilant.

"Soldiers, listen to my orders to detain the fat sheep in black later," he said.

The attitude of the soldiers was obviously very nervous. After all, was detaining a little priest a disobedience to the Lord?

The earl ordered: "I suspect that the fat man is a Danish workman. Be vigilant, and don't let the long peaceful days numb your brains."

Esquil recognized the Count, and he opened his arms to greet the local lord with a smile, and Count Robert greeted him with courtesy.

Unexpectedly, the soldiers who received the order suddenly pushed the fat blue foxes to the ground very rudely. The blue fox struggled instinctively, only to be pushed to the ground. The sudden situation made the parties confused, and Esquil was even more shocked.

"Robert, what are you doing?! You can't be rude to the priest! Let go of Joseph." After that, Eskill kept making the cross on his chest.

The count was also marking the cross, and he had his own set of words: "My dear Padra, please forgive my rudeness. If I misunderstand me, I will go to the monastery to repent. But I am a local magistrate, and it is my duty to protect my people. You This clergyman is looking around, is this appropriate? I'm concerned that this person is a security risk to my burgers."

Eskil's heart tightened when he heard this, and his eyes glanced at the still speechless blue fox, scolding the Russ for not learning the rules of being a priest even though he knew he had entered the Frankish hinterland.

He continued to mediate: "Joseph was a recent convert. This is all arranged by the Lord. Robert, you can rest assured that he is safe."

"Okay." The count shrugged and ordered the soldiers to let go of their hands.

Only then did the blue fox slowly stand up, and it was the fat belly that made the slightly thin Earl feel extremely strange, and he couldn't help but tease: "I have never seen such a fat priest, I have never seen such a Fat man. Perhaps, that's what the Lord intended. Padra! You have unearthed a strange piece of amber in barbarian territory."

They spoke in Saxon, and Blue Fox was almost an outsider, and he didn't know where to say what he wanted to say.

This is not the place for public greetings, and Esquil's arrival in Hamburg is very purposeful. He has returned to his own territory, and he always has a major mission. He has to go back to the monastery to arrange his daily work, and at the same time, he also has to listen to the work report of the pastor left behind.

Esquil explained to the Count: "Robert, your eyes are keen. My Joseph not only has a strange belly, he is indeed a special person. I have important news to inform you, I want to ask you to do something for me. And my Joseph will be very important to you. I have some necessary work to do, and I will visit you in person at your mansion tomorrow, and I will have a good talk with you. "

Earl Robert was a little stunned, but he still didn't care, and said casually: "Okay. Please forgive my recklessness."

"You are a vigilant lord. That's good! That's why His Royal Highness values ​​you in guarding the North. You should pay attention, your work is likely to become more difficult in the future."

Eskill used "hard" once in particular, and Robert noticed some inexplicable feeling, as if he was walking in the forest, there were gangsters in ambush with bows, and the arrows were already aimed.

The blue fox was quite awkward, and the group was walking on the last road back to the monastery.

He complained: "Eskil, that man is the local lord? Is that the Count of Burger you said? It's so against me."

If the blue fox is indeed a low-level priest, Esquil will definitely criticize it severely, and there will be a punishment for confinement in a separate room to reflect.

"You're too flamboyant. Joseph, you should keep a low profile."

"Am I being too high-profile? I am a Russ merchant. Since that man is a lord, I am willing to negotiate business with him. You know, we Russ need customers to buy our fur."

Esquil wanted to laugh, but he couldn't hold back his laugh, and his aging head shook slightly.

"why are you laughing?"

"Nothing. Earl Robert has sharp eyes. You are indeed not a qualified priest, and you cannot be religious."

"But your Lord has blessed me, and the Lord must have his intentions. This is what you said." Lanhu emphasized.

"That's the case, so I will keep my promise and give you the opportunity to introduce, but it depends on the count's attitude. Oh! In fact, the matter of tomorrow has nothing to do with you, I will find a way to meet the prince, and let the prince choose at that time. Will I see you! You should understand that the great nobles don't like businessmen, and that's how Frank is."

"Ridiculous. Don't their great nobles like to do business? Who can't live with money?"

Esquier shrugged: "Frank's businessmen are always accompanied by mortgages. This is the devil's behavior."

"Why not? Wouldn't it be reasonable to lend money to someone in need to help finish work ahead of schedule, and the merchant would take a paycheck afterwards?"

"This is making a deal with the devil." Esskill wanted to say that although merchants were important in Frankish society, they were also very lowly. However, under the indignant questioning of the blue fox, Esquil could only euphemistically point out the reason.

The blue fox was so angry that he gritted his teeth!

"Damn! In Rus, our merchants are highly respected, and our prince is not only a prince, but also a big businessman! Do the Franks think we are inferior? If so, why would Rus do business with them."

Hearing that, Esquill stopped walking with a sullen face, turned to look at the blue fox and pointed out solemnly: "Then, you have to make a choice. In what capacity do you want to meet the count? Priest Joseph? Businessman Blue Fox? Or the envoy of Prince Ross?"

These words were too level, and the blue fox froze.

"Yes! I am the special envoy of Prince Ross! I will meet the great nobles of Frank in this capacity."

"Very good! Don't complain anymore. I'm going to go to Ross to take a good look, and I'll need your guidance. I'm old, you have to help me with the final work of my life, and I will always protect you. I I just ask you to stop doing rude things, and if you don't have to, be a calm priest, even if you are pretending, at least you have to pretend to be a little bit like."

The two chatted for a while, and Blue Fox and Esquill reached a consensus.

The content of their chat was naturally heard by the little priest beside them, and everyone shivered. The little priest who stayed behind waited for the teacher, but unexpectedly, the teacher communicated with a fat man in Latin throughout the whole process.

What is the identity of the fat man?

The most nervous thing is the resident chief priest Jacob, facing a more talented priest (referring to the Romans who are skilled in using Latin and called the resurrection), for fear that he will be replaced by this person as the bishop of Hamburg. Jacob had nothing to do, he could only pray to the Lord...

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