At the end of the Tang Dynasty, it was a feudal town, but in Western Europe

That is to say, Hadlard's family has been operating in Thuringia for hundreds of years. If it was replaced by other dukes, it is estimated that they would not be able to afford this money, but in Western Europe, which lacks precious metals, this is already enough to make Hadlard extremely heartbroken.

The queen was very harsh on the dukes, but she treated those earls very favorably. She not only rewarded them with wine and clothes, but even borrowed flowers to present Buddha, and exempted them from two years of military service—from Hadrad.

These two strokes weakened a wave of Hadrad, which made him itch with hatred, but Her Royal Highness could not stay outside all the time, so all the guards from Six Thousand Solida and Austrasia arrived. Afterwards, the queen walked towards her manor in the Rhineland Shi Shiran.

Although Her Royal Highness made a fuss, he was not in vain. From the hands of the guards and priests, Hadlard confirmed a precious piece of news--Charlie will visit Turlingen next year.

With the entire precious message, Hadlard turned and left. He did not return to his castle immediately, but went to the hunting ground outside the castle, where he had a country house for resting during hunting and receiving guests.

There is a small lake near this villa, and on the island in the middle of the lake, Hadrad built a summer silver hut, but at this moment, in this hut, there are not women and slaves, but men of all kinds.

They came from all over Thuringia, and they were basically nobles and priests loyal to the Hadrad family.

"My friends, I have brought good news!" Hadlard said excitedly to the retainers while hanging the cloak on the clothes hook beside him, "Next year, that despicable and rude King Charles will visit Saxony and Thuringia."

"That's great." A bald little nobleman said while rubbing his bare head, "I'm afraid that I'll stay in my lair all the time, and I don't want to come to our place, so I won't even have a chance to do it."

And a relatively old priest said in a muffled voice: "This time, Queen Fastrada squeezed 1 solidars from Saxony and Turingen, and she abused the nobles in this way, offending dignity, such cruelty and ruthlessness, I think it is very reasonable to launch a rebellion in the name of killing the queen."

"That's right." Hadrad took out a roll of parchment and spread it out on the table. It was the genealogy table of the Carolingian family, "You see, among the princes of the Carolingian dynasty today, Pepin of Barcelona is a hunchback. In terms of normal handover, he is not qualified to become king. Only when he encounters abnormal accidents can he become king.

Except for the adult hunchbacked Pepin, among the remaining princes, Charles and Pepin of Italy are still minors, Prince Louis is even just a baby, and their mothers come from various places.

If something happened to Charlie, would it be possible that Frank would always be empty?Among the many princes, only the hunchbacked Pepin is an adult and has enough ability, but he is a hunchback. Guess how many nobles support Charles of Aquitaine?How many nobles would support Pepin in Italy?And how many people support the hunchback Pepin?

If something happens to the king, we don't even need to kill him, just imprison him, will the Lombards in Italy move?Will the Bavarians change?Even those Saxons, Frisians, and even Visigoths, Basques, and Bretons will not be moved?

At that time, as long as we can resist their first two attacks, we only need to watch the show behind closed doors.You know, for those nobles, it doesn't matter who is the king, it is important to have a king.

For those princes and prince followers who have brought their father back, the king doesn't have to be himself.

But if his father is there, he must be the king, whether it is the king of Frank, the king of Italy or the king of Aquitaine!

We have detained Charlie and taken him as a hostage. Who dares to attack us in the name of killing the king's father?We can arbitrarily put forward conditions to delay them, win over one party and alienate one party. Although this will cause a complete breakdown of our relationship with some Franks, the shackles on our heads have disappeared! "

"But what about after that? After we get rid of Charlie?"

The small house suddenly fell into confusion. They looked at each other and wanted to say something, but they couldn't say it.

"That's not something to think about now." Hadlard quickly ended this somewhat dull topic, and continued with the previous content:

"In other words, as long as we can keep Charlie under control, everything will be fine!"

But soon, a nobleman raised a question: "But how do we catch Charlie? He doesn't have any guards, does he?"

"You don't have to worry about that. Charlie is just on patrol, not on an expedition. Even if he does, he won't be able to bring too many troops. Don't worry, Charlie will fall into my hands in a way that he never thought of, a surefire way!" Hadlard showed a confident and mysterious smile, "When the time comes, you will know."

"I have another question." An old priest stood up tremblingly. "Then what if the Duke of Saxony appeared to disrupt the situation? Although I don't know what method you are going to use, what if the Duke of Saxony sent an accompanying army?"

"This is indeed a trouble..." Hadlard rubbed his chin and fell into deep thought. "At that time, I will find some small troubles for the Duke of Saxony in advance, so that he can't get out!"

As soon as the words fell, there was a hasty knock on the door.

"Who?"

"My lord, it's me, your personal servant." The dull voice said, "From Saxony, a messenger from Saxony has brought you a message, and he wants to tell you personally!"

The people in the room looked at each other, and then Hadlard let everyone go at their own pace, muttering "what's the matter?" and walked out of the hut to meet the messenger.

Chapter 281 Iron! Iron! Iron!

At the beginning of June, Feng Sen's scheduled trip to Salzgitter began. However, before that, he sent a letter inviting Hadrad to hunt in the Harz Mountains, and said that he would tell the important things about Her Royal Highness.

Feng Sen also didn't expect how much psychological shadow this letter would bring to Hadrad. The last time Feng Sen and Pepin brought him a small surprise, it made him feel like he was bitten by a snake once and feared for ten years. Iwawa's mentality.

Especially when Feng Sen's envoy arrived, it happened to be when he was plotting to rebel in the name of killing the queen.

Anyway, in the past few days, Hadlard has been investigating layer by layer, reviewing the entire plan again, even if no problem is found, it makes him feel quite tossed and turned.

On the contrary, Feng Sen's operation went very smoothly. He walked all the way from Hamburg to the vicinity of the Harz Mountains on the new straight road built.

Contrary to the Central Plains, the terrain in Western Europe is high in the east and low in the west, especially in the North German Plain. From the sea to the Harz Mountains, there are vast plains and forests.

These black and quiet forests, even Feng Sen's frantic felling during road construction and land reclamation, could hardly damage them in the slightest. The power of human beings in front of this forest is like Jingwei reclamation.

However, it is predictable that with the development of population and agriculture, the vast forests will always disappear. From the situation in the Guanzhong area, from the fertile fields in the Han and Tang Dynasties to the barren drylands in the Ming and Qing Dynasties It can be seen.

Due to this special terrain, most of the territory of Saxony is no more than a small bag of soil, and there are even places lower than sea level, and there are no metal veins in the entire territory.

Coincidentally, when the sea breeze pours into the interior from the coast, the first mountain encountered, the Harz Mountains, is rich in mineral deposits, ranging from iron ore to gold mines, all of which are gathered in this small mountainous area.

At the end of spring and the beginning of summer, even Saxony, which is wet and cold all the year round, becomes warmer. Perhaps because of the current climate, Feng Sen even feels a little bit of heat.

In mid-June, Feng Sen successfully arrived at the scheduled destination, Salzgitter.

Standing on a small peak on the Salzgitter Ridge, Feng Sen couldn't help squinting his eyes as the warm summer wind beat against his face.

Under the ridge, there is a newly reclaimed village. The houses in the village are new and old. The new houses may have been built in the last three or four days, while some of the old houses can even be traced back hundreds of years ago.

Because this place used to be the settlement of the Germanic barbarians. Hundreds of thousands of years ago, the ancestors of the Franks lived chaotically on this land until the appearance of the Romans.

While the Romans brought them slaughter and blood, they also brought civilization to them, just as they did to the barbarians in the north. Without the great invasion of Germanic immigrants, the Slavic tribes north of the Elbe River would not know when they would be promoted to the feudal era.

Hundreds of years ago, with the arrival of the era of great migration, countless barbarians went south.

The same is true for the barbarians in the settlement of Salzgitter. They left their cold hometown with their families and headed south like migratory birds.

This once bustling settlement was abandoned until Feng Sen brought people back here again.

Even the people are still the same group of people, but many things have changed. At least the people who appear here now are not barbarians wrapped in furs, but "civilized people" dressed in linen.

During the three months from February to early June, with the flow of Solidar in Feng Sen's treasury, this small mountain village near the Blanken Mountains was established. Most of them were Feng Sen from Freed slaves recruited from all over Frankland.

If nothing else happens, they will become the first residents of this new village. When they move into the house they have booked, they will officially become a free citizen, not a despised freed slave.

Standing on this small mountain peak, Feng Sen looked down at the village in front of him. At the foot of the mountain, countless laborers and slaves were diligently opening up the mountain road. This is also the first element of Salzgitter iron ore mining - the road.

At the starting point of the road, there are layers of chaotic and orderly houses. Inside the houses, Feng Sen can also see the granaries and large and small warehouses of the whole village, where the tools and materials of the whole village are stored. .

What Feng Sen admires the most is the blast furnaces outside the village. They are said to be blast furnaces, but they are actually very short, at most two people tall, but their iron production efficiency is more than twice that of before.

Due to the lack of kaolin, it is basically unrealistic to make blast furnace iron smelting like in the Central Plains, but these metallurgical craftsmen also brought new ideas to the local metallurgical craftsmen. With the cooperation of the two, a new type of smelting The iron stove came out.

This kind of ironmaking furnace is an extension of the Sritia Roman furnace, but it also incorporates the ideas of the Eastern blast furnace. It is a ten-foot (about 3 meters) shaft furnace, which also discharges the slag downward through layers of oxidation and reduction. After Feng Sen's investigation, this has initially reached the level of the Han and Jin Dynasties.

Feng Sen has calculated that 100 kilograms of iron ore and 250 kilograms of coal can produce about 40 kilograms of iron, and the conversion rate from cast iron to wrought iron is about one-third.

This design finally got rid of the semi-submerged iron-making furnace, which can only produce fifty pounds of semi-molten iron in eight to ten hours.

As long as iron ore can be supplied, as long as the bellows can still be moved, a blast furnace can even produce one furnace every two hours. Although the iron blocks produced each time are not much different from the previous ones, the rate is greatly increased.

Sometimes, Feng Sen himself would be a little emotional. Although the Central Plains occupied the leading position in the early and mid-term of iron smelting, he pointed out the technology tree for large-scale use of iron when there was no need for large-scale use of iron.

But when it was really necessary to use iron to make guns on a large scale, due to the lack of iron and fuel and political and social factors, it failed to go further, and was overtaken by Europe instead.

To be honest, the quality of the iron ore and coal here makes the craftsmen in the Central Plains feel a sense of luxury—they have never fought such a battle for wealth.

What restricts iron production now is the coal production on the Ruhr side.

Feng Sen and the iron smelters calculated together that as long as iron ore and coal mines can be supplied, Salzgitter can produce [-] catties of iron at its peak every day, even if it is a daily iron production. It can be maintained at a daily output of more than [-] jin.

Then an average of 20 catties of iron per month, after Feng Sen’s actual investigation and the judgment of several craftsmen, there is still potential to be tapped. As long as Salzgitter can develop normally, the annual output will exceed 10 in less than [-] years. Ten thousand catties are nothing to worry about.

And it is conceivable that in the next few hundred years, this area will become a mining center. Salzgitter plus Ramersberg mine, iron ore + gold mine, it is difficult to think about it. It is no wonder that Goslar will become the capital of Shinra.

Looking at the iron-making scene in full swing below, Feng Sen seemed to have seen those red molten iron lumps turned into countless hoes, swords and armors, which fell into the hands of the farmers and draped on the soldiers.

Chapter 282 You must hit the queen hard

"Your Excellency, you are good at archery!" A tribal chief shook his beard and dragged over a wild boar whose eyes and brain had been pierced by a long arrow.

Looking at the thumb-thick arrow shaft in the wild boar's eye socket, the local chiefs couldn't help swallowing their saliva. When they turned to Feng Sen's direction, the fear and flattery in their eyes became more obvious.

"Haha, luck luck."

Feng Sen handed the longbow pasted with birch bark to the side servants. Such a big bow is not suitable for use on horseback at all, and it can't even be carried, so it can only be handed over to the side for safekeeping.

Hadrad's face twitched. This group of damned Easterners seemed to be born to shoot arrows. The Avars he met were best at riding and rapid shooting, while these Easterners were good at foot shooting and heavy bows.

"Everyone, please don't be restrained." Feng Sen said to them with a smile, "I have prepared bows and arrows for everyone. Those who hunt the most today will not only get a full set of chain mail, but also enter the My guards, so please behave yourself."

Soon, the orders conveyed by Feng Sen spread to the ears of the local noble youths. As they were gearing up, the Saxon youths from all parts of South Saxony shouted and chased their prey.

This day was the day when Feng Sen invited Hadrad to hunt, not only Hadrad, but also many nearby Saxon chiefs, to show that the behavior was aboveboard and to prevent others from saying that the two dukes conspired together Kind of gossip.

"Your Excellency, Duke Hadrad, would you like to walk with me?"

Hadrad knew that the main event was coming, he smiled and nodded slowly: "Since it was invited by His Excellency Anthony, let's take a walk."

In the daily life of nobles in the Middle Ages, hunting was an important activity. The first point was to train soldiers, the second point was to add meat to the castle, and the third point was the most important point for nobles to hunt—talk.

You know, the Middle Ages was not a time of peace. A nobleman invited another nobleman to talk in his own territory. Would you dare to go?

Unlike the impressions of many people in later generations, unless it is a superior-subordinate relationship, the intrigues and secret talks in the Middle Ages are often not in the dank huts in the castle.

In particular, conspiracies that require the cooperation of multiple equal nobles, the conversation and cooperation often occur in the hunting grounds, because the view here is wide, others cannot eavesdrop, and everyone is within sight. spread the word.

Although Hadlard was a little uneasy at the moment, he still maintained his superficial composure and walked with Feng Sen by the edge of a small lake.

A few small white flowers sway quietly with the wind on the lake, and the fresh and warm air makes people feel drowsy.

"Your Excellency Hadrad, I heard that you were fined six thousand gold coins by the queen?" Feng Sen's first sentence poked Hadrad's heart and lung tube.

Suppressing his anger, Hadlard immediately retorted: "I heard that Sir Anthony was also fined [-]?"

Feng Sen shook his head: "That's not true, it's just on the surface. In fact, she only needs two or three hundred gold coins."

Gan Liliang!Hadlard almost scolded, why am I a gift worth six thousand real gold and platinum and nearly a thousand solididas, and you are two or three hundred?Is it because I'm ugly?

Hadrad held back his anger, forced a smile and said, "Hahaha, after all, Your Excellency Anthony is a member of the Carolingian family. It is normal that the Queen will protect you."

"Your Excellency Hadrad, do you think that I came to you today just to mock you?" Feng Sen put on a wry smile.

"Hard to say."

Seeing Hadrad's distrustful gaze, Feng Sen sighed: "Your Royal Highness, I didn't ask for money, but moved away my cash cow."

"Money tree?" Hadlard thought for a moment, then realized that it was from Siris's loom, and then the corners of his mouth turned up slightly.

This life is really not afraid of misery, but of comparison. Originally, Hadlard felt that it was already miserable for him to be robbed of so much money, but he didn't expect there to be even worse here.

Although he doesn't know how much the loom is worth, Hadlard at least knows that a loom with an annual output of [-] horses is worth more than [-] solidars.

"His Royal Highness, you not only ask for my loom." Feng Sen said with a sad face, "I also ask for money to help her build a woolen workshop in Friesland. I will contribute and I will contribute, but all the money belongs to her."

"Puff puff...you continue to talk." Hadrad only felt that most of the depression accumulated during the time of knowing Feng Sen had dissipated, and his impression of the queen was much better.

Feng Sen scratched the back of the black horse that sat down: "I was thinking, this kind of situation can't happen again. If it happens in the future, let alone every year, every three years, it will hurt the muscles and bones."

"Your Excellency Anthony, you mean that you have some complaints about the queen?" Hadlard faintly felt Feng Sen's meaning.

"I didn't mean that, I didn't mean that at all!" Feng Sen hurriedly said, "No, I didn't mean it, don't talk nonsense, but then he continued, "But what the queen has done really makes me very uncomfortable. Although she is the queen of His Royal Highness Charlie, I still want to teach her a lesson and let her know that although I am a courtier, I am not easy to provoke."

"Oh—" Hadlard said hastily, "after all, she is Charles' queen. What can we dukes say? There's nothing she can do about it."

Although Hadlard's words seemed to be telling the truth, judging from his words and tone of voice, the breath of fire was indeed ready to come out.

Feng Sen laughed secretly at Hadrad's acting skills, and on the surface he gritted his teeth and said, "I can't breathe...I..."

"Calm down, calm down." Hadlard pretended to pick up a water bag from his entourage, and handed it to Feng Sen. "Drink some water. To be honest, although she is the queen, I don't feel well in terms of what she has done... I don't know, Your Excellency Anthony, how do you plan to retaliate?"

"Hmph, just watch it. Next year, when Charlie brings her on tour, I'll make sure she makes a big fool of herself in front of all the nobles. Just watch it!" Feng Sen said, talking Another turn, "But before that, I have one more thing, I want to ask you for a favor."

"What are you busy with?"

"She wants me to build a woolen workshop for her in Friesland. How can I have the money? You know that I have borrowed a lot of money from Jews and local nobles, and now I have nothing..." Feng Sen pretended With a helpless look, he said to Hadlard, "Can you lend me some?"

Chapter 283 Never go wrong, always said to be foolproof!

borrow money?Hadlard hesitated.

In this era, according to the teachings of the church, especially among the believers of the Heavenly Father, loan sharks are not allowed. If you borrow money and then get it back, not only will you not get much profit, but if there is any accident, you may lose all your money.

The latter Jews took advantage of this loophole and made a fortune by borrowing usury loans. When the royal families of various countries gradually replaced the other roles of Jews in business in the Middle Ages, they successfully transformed the financial industry.

Borrowing money is not impossible. Hadlard estimated in his heart that he borrowed the money to embarrass the queen.

If the relationship between Feng Sen and the queen becomes impasse next year, it is almost impossible for Charlie to let Feng Sen accompany him again. Even if he is accompanied, given the rift between the two, there will be a lot of things he can do.

In fact, Hadlard hoped that Feng Sen could go with Charlie and the queen, because as long as he got involved, when something happened, Feng Sen's yellow mud would fall off his crotch, and it would be shit or shit.

In this way, I might be able to add an ally, those tyrannical dental soldiers and Eight Banners soldiers, Hadrad was very impressed and coveted for a long time.