Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 606: There are too many vassal states of Alemanni
While Guo Kang and others were making intensive preparations, many people in other parts of the mainland were also paying close attention to the development of the recent situation.

In the Kingdom of Bohemia, there were several sheds on a small hill. Various flags and ceremonial guards were placed on the open space outside.

However, although it was very formal, the flag here was only a large flag made of ordinary linen with the word "Ming" written on it. Next to it was a hand-painted Sanchen flag and a flag with the name of Wu Fan written on it.

Under the flags, there were a few ceremonial tools scattered around. If you counted them carefully, there were only two wooden signs, a wooden stick, a few long sickles commonly used by local farmers, and a large axe for chopping trees. Compared to ceremonial items, they looked more like the racks in the village blacksmith shop...

Although the facilities were simple, the place was quite lively, with people constantly coming and going. Two large groups of people had gathered in the open space, glaring at each other and muttering as they waited.

Soon, several people came out of the shed in the middle. The leader was a man with an oriental face, tall, dark and thin, with a short, untidy beard, wearing a rough-cut robe and a black crown. Next to him, there was another man with a dark complexion and a thin figure, but this man was wearing a scholar's robe, a turban, and holding a few books.

After the two of them came out, someone shouted, "The King of Wu is here!" Everyone quieted down. Someone brought out a wooden chair from the shed and asked the dark and thin man to sit down first.

"Everyone look at me!" At the front of the crowd, a local man who was also wearing a robe but had half-long hair raised his hand and shouted loudly: "Everyone follow me and learn how to salute!"

"okay!"

"Hurry and continue!"

"Hey, can't I see from here?"

Everyone started talking at once and echoed the words.

"Quiet, quiet, kneel down first!" The man who seemed to be the MC seemed to be used to this situation and continued to remind everyone loudly: "Look at me, kneel like this, and then bow! Do you see it?"

The people in the front row said they had watched, but the people in the back obviously couldn't see what he was doing. Some people began to squeeze forward, while others loudly asked the people in front what they should do. The people in the front, in turn, asked them to shut up and be quiet in an even louder voice. After arguing for a while, they finally quieted down under the reprimands of several leaders and began to try to salute.

However, in this day and age, few European nobles know about Eastern etiquette, let alone in a rural area like this. The man who demonstrated just now didn't do his movements well, and the people who tried to imitate him looked even weirder.

As for the unclear part, you can only use your imagination to fill in these "Ming Dynasty etiquette". Everyone tried to do the greeting gesture according to their own understanding; at the same time, under the leadership of the leader, they shouted "Long live Caesar!" "God bless the King of Wu!" and other auspicious words in various strange pronunciations.

However, the King of Wu and his companions seemed to be used to it and did not care. The King of Wu gave an order, and the crowd ended the chaotic ceremony. Someone brought out a simple wooden table and a small stool, and the scholar sat down, put down the documents, and took out paper and pen from the alley next to him to prepare to take notes.

"Hey, Old George, how are we doing? We practiced specially before coming here." Taking advantage of this opportunity, the leader of one of the sides called the host and asked expectantly.

"I've already told you not to call me that in formal occasions." The emcee, Old George, was immediately displeased and lifted up the sleeve of his robe to show him: "I am now an official with a surname. You have to call me Lord Mu."

"No, why is he showing off?" The people around him immediately started talking.

Hearing the excitement, more people came over and asked curiously what was going on. The people inside were happy to explain to them.

According to several old people, their village did not have a formal name, because the village was right by the river. The lord had invested money and hired an engineer to build a water mill on the river. The engineer came from Bavaria and called the mill "Mueller". So over time, everyone simply called the village with the mill "Mueller Village". The civilians in the village actually did not have surnames, but when they needed to deal with outsiders, they would call themselves "someone from Mueller Village" to distinguish them.

Old George was originally a servant in the town church. Because he was diligent, he was appreciated by the priest and asked to help with some worship-related work. Taking this opportunity, Old George also learned some cultural knowledge and learned a few characters.

Later, the priest wanted to occupy the public land where the cattle were grazed in the village, and a conflict broke out between the priest and the villagers. The priest had a good relationship with the lord, and he bribed the higher church to get their support, so no matter how they protested, it was useless. Finally, the lord sent people to beat up the villagers who led the petition.

Everyone was angry, but the village's strength was indeed no match for the lord. Someone with a more cunning mind suggested asking other villages about their situation. Coincidentally, someone in the neighboring Dashitou Village had done business with merchants and had been to several nearby cities.

The man suggested that if they were really determined to go against the church, they could ask the Hussites for help. This was a new sect, and their leader was a famous theologian in Prague. He opposed the corruption of the church and had a great influence in the church and secular society. If they could invite them to be their backers, the local lords and priests would not dare to be so arrogant, and the problem would probably be solved.

The villagers asked this well-informed young man to find the Hussites. The process of finding people was not difficult, because the Hussites were making a big fuss at the time, and their people were active in many places. However, everyone originally thought that inviting a respected monk from there to reprimand the priest and the lord might solve the conflict. But the Hussites told them that the monk had been forced to flee far away because he had offended the big shots there. At present, only a few disciples are still here, barely maintaining everyone's daily sacrificial activities.

The villagers were somewhat disappointed, but the Hussites said that it didn't really matter. Because even if the monks were here, it would be useless to persuade them through debates. The monks' theological attainments were much higher than those good-for-nothings hired by the earl here. But even if they could convince them, they couldn't stand the other party's direct violence. The superiors didn't listen to his appeals at all, and they allowed hooligans and thugs to harass him every day. In the end, nothing was achieved. Therefore, they believed that in the end, it would still depend on who had the harder fist. Instead of waiting for the monks to come back and debate with the village lord, it would be better for everyone to go directly. Although the monk is not here, his eldest disciple is still here.

This senior disciple now travels between different villages every day, helping everyone hold some daily prayers, or praying activities before starting work or sowing, etc. He knows a lot of people, and each village gives him face.

As long as their village clearly expressed support for the Hussites, they could ask the eldest brother to come forward and persuade other villages to send people to help. With the reason to help brothers of the same sect, I believe most people can be convinced. Those villages that are farther away may not be convenient, but the nearby villages can send some people, which is not a small number.

Although the lord and priest of their village had some power, they were far from being big shots compared to the earl and the bishop. Since they were so numerous and powerful, they had to at least make some concessions when they rushed forward. In this way, it was actually considered a success.

The villagers thought it made sense and agreed. They prepared some food to entertain the people who came to help, so no one from other villages objected. Soon, the Hussite leader brought several hundred people from eight or nine nearby villages and came to gather.

The priest had never seen such a situation before, and was terrified. He quickly ordered the church to be closed and defended. But the people in the church were also panicking. Seeing that the enemy was strong, Old George and others did not listen to him, but opened the door, welcomed everyone in, and beat the priest severely. After that, they tied him up and went to find the lord again.

The lord had never seen such a scene, but his lair was more solid and his followers were more united, so they couldn't get in for a while. So he confronted the villagers while urgently sending people to ask the count for help.

But at that time, the count was in the middle of a lawsuit with a foreign German nobleman, and the fight was about to break out. He had no time to care about him, so he wrote a letter to scold him and told him to solve his own problems himself and not to expect others to help him clean up his mess.

After that, the lord temporarily stopped his actions. Old George and others claimed that they had always cared about the safety of the villagers and hated the priest's behavior. It was just that they had not found a suitable opportunity before, and they were definitely not greedy for the little salary paid by the priest. Because they had indeed achieved their goal, no one went to investigate the matter.

On the other hand, although he did not suffer direct losses, the lord who lost face still held a grudge. Half a year later, the lord managed to gather more than 200 mercenaries and wanted to take revenge. However, the mercenary team plundered along the way, stopped and started, and there was no secrecy. Therefore, everyone knew about this matter very early.

The villagers who heard the news were quite worried, but this time, they had already had successful experience. After a brief discussion, everyone decided that running away or holding on was useless, and they still had to call for help - after all, the lord could call for external help, so could they.

After making up their minds, the villagers went to the Hussite elder brother for help. However, the elder brother said that he had been a soldier before and knew the level of military strength of the people. Given the current situation of these villages, it was okay to scare the priests, but it would be a bit troublesome to deal with organized mercenaries.

However, he said, it is not impossible to deal with it. Recently, a group of people who claim to be from the Ming Dynasty came to the vicinity. They are very unfriendly to the lords of various places, often robbing the rich to help the poor, helping the people to deal with bandits and bullies, and teaching them all kinds of knowledge. If we can call these people here, things will be safe.

Most of the villagers had never seen the world, and the biggest noble they knew was the earl. As for the Ming Dynasty, no one had even heard of it.

Therefore, the villagers were still a little unsure and asked the eldest brother what the Ming Dynasty he was talking about was. Was it as big as the earl? The eldest brother comforted them, saying that the Ming Dynasty was a superpower in the East, more powerful than the entire Holy Roman Empire. The legendary country of Elder John was said to be this country.

The eldest brother had been to Prague with the monks and was the most knowledgeable person here. According to him, the nobles and wealthy businessmen there were proud to collect a piece of porcelain from the Ming Dynasty. According to the people of the Ming Dynasty, these treasured objects were not as good as the decorations in ordinary people's homes in their eyes - because only the defective products that could not be sold would be packed and shipped here to be sold to these uneducated and old-fashioned nobles.

Their leader was the King of Wu during the Ming Dynasty, and he had seen all kinds of rare treasures. Compared with the nobles here, you can imagine how powerful they were.

The eldest senior brother also said that there were rumors that they discovered that there were too many vassal states here, and the nobles were fighting each other for no apparent reason all day long, and the people could not even get basic security guaranteed, so they specially sent a big man here from afar to rectify the beliefs and secular order here.

He reminded everyone that they must seize this opportunity and go to the Ming Dynasty to seek justice. After all, a king came here to suffer without bringing many people with him. What was he trying to achieve? Could he not survive in the Ming Dynasty? It must be that the Heavenly Father could not bear the suffering here and asked them to come here to redeem everyone! If this opportunity was missed, I am afraid that prayers would be useless.

After he said this, everyone thought it made sense, so they asked the eldest brother to contact these Ming Dynasty people again. After a few days, someone really came.

These "Ming troops" only had more than a hundred people, but they were full of all kinds of strange people and had strong fighting power. After they arrived at the village, they learned about the situation everywhere, dragged the villagers around in circles, and explored the distribution of rivers, wells, and bridges. They also asked the elders in the village to lead the way and went to several surrounding villages to test their attitudes towards the lord. After completing all this, they came to a stream at night and ambushed.

That evening, the mercenaries came here to drink water and rest. These cheap mercenaries hired by the lord were not very professional. After routinely looting around, they relaxed their vigilance and began to eat, drink and have fun. Taking advantage of this opportunity, the Ming army suddenly launched an attack and easily defeated the group of mercenaries. Most of the invaders, including the lord himself, were killed in the chaos. Others who ran fast fled in panic, never daring to come back.

Although he only killed a small lord, His Majesty the King seemed very happy and has been stationed nearby for more than three months. Other nobles around him also did not know his background and did not dare to harass or retaliate easily. Because of his reputation after this fight, all the villages came here to ask for help when they encountered any unsolvable difficulties. If there were conflicts that could not be resolved by themselves, they also liked to come here to ask the court to make a decision. Soon, this small hill became famous.

In order to deal with local problems, the Ming Dynasty also recruited a lot of local people to help out or do some communication and translation work. Old George and a few others became the first batch of employees because they were literate and smart. After that, even people like him began to swell up.

(End of this chapter)