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

At the beginning of May, the first batch of coal was delivered from the Ruhr. Feng Sen inspected it and found that it was basically anthracite, that is, low-sulfur coal, which saves even coking and can be directly used for ironmaking, which is more efficient than charcoal. And the quality is much higher.

But the problem is - Feng Sen has no iron.

There are iron mines on the European side, whether it is Goslar in Thuringia or the Falun Copper Mine in Sweden are rich in resources, but it is a pity that there is no shadow of iron mines in Hamburg.

Therefore, for a long period of time in the future, Feng Sen can only import iron ore.

A large-scale government-run iron workshop should not be possible, but it is a pity to keep these coals dry. After thinking about it, Feng Sensi finally decided to build a cement workshop.

This is not the modern cement, but the product of crushed pottery and sand mixed with slaked lime.

The temperature for firing quicklime to slaked lime is 950 degrees. With Ruhr coal, I can’t make refractory bricks that can withstand more than 1000 degrees. Can you still make your 950-degree slaked lime?

However, another problem arises in this way, that is, these things need to be ground, so the mill is also imperative.

But where the manpower for the newly opened workshop comes from is another problem. Feng Sen twirled the brush in his hand, and finally wrote down the words "Jianhu Qimin" and "Slave Handing the Flag" on the paper.

But this has brought about some problems, that is, the registration of households and people needs manpower, and where should these literate and arithmetic people come from?After much deliberation, only those attendant monks from Bremen can do the job.

Oh, it's really difficult, let's take a step at a time.

After closing the account book in his hand, Feng Sen stretched his waist and lay down in Arvo's arms.

Chapter 77 Ador, Class Assassin

June [-], the fourth year of the founding of the Middle School, was a beautiful and sunny day.

The wheels were rolling, and an exquisite carriage was slowly moving forward on the dirt road in the countryside of Hamburg. Around the carriage, a dozen or so heavily armed knights watched nervously on both sides, always guarding against the bandits and refugees who jumped out of the forest.

The blue curtain with a little white circle pattern was lifted, and a small silver-white haired head poked out from the carriage, looking around curiously.

Unlike ordinary dirt roads where the woods are closely next to the dirt road and the branches are intertwined, and sometimes even block the route of the carriage or horse, there are no trees within one foot on both sides of this country road in Hamburg, and some wooden piles left on the ground From the looks of it, it should have been chopped off on its own initiative.

Although the dirt road in Hamburg is still a dirt road with potholes, the safety has been greatly improved in terms of the trees that have been cut down on both sides, because there is no way to hide people, and it will become more difficult for bandits to raid.

Ador had never been to Hamburg, she didn't know what it was like here before, but she was more willing to believe that it was due to her knight Feng.

"Be careful, don't be seen by others." Lyudmila pulled back Ador who was almost out of the carriage.

"Don't worry, the trees on both sides have been cut down, the bandits have no chance, and we have no goods." Ador hugged Lyudmila's arm and laughed.

Lyudmila said angrily: "Even so, you can't leave my sight, or what if I let you run away again?"

"Oh." Ador said coquettishly, hugging Lyudmila's arm, "I just wanted to see Feng, but my father and godfather would definitely not agree, so I sneaked away, and now I'm in Hamburg. Definitely won't be running again."

Lyudmila looked at Ador and couldn't help feeling a little headache.

Five days ago, she set off from Minden and returned to Auborite. There were no twists and turns along the way, until one day she found Ador in a wooden barrel filled with bacon, which was very dirty.

When she saw her for the first time, Lyudmila's pupils were really filled with blood. She didn't know how Ador ran out secretly, and how he hid in the freight carriage secretly.

She even hid in a carriage filled with bacon barrels for five days, and was active at night, only to be discovered when she was almost in Hamburg.

Lyudmila even wondered if she did it on purpose. Anyway, she was almost in Hamburg. She probably couldn't stand such a life, so she took the initiative to let them find out.

For the safety of Her Highness the Princess, it must be too late to return to Minden now. If she encounters the Saxon rebels on the way, it will be over, so the best way is to send the princess to Hamburg, and ask Minden to send someone to pick her up.

Lyudmila’s task of reporting to the Eupolite people is also very important, and it cannot be delayed. Returning the princess at this moment is because Charlie expressed his favor and trust to the Kingdom of Eupolite. Our alliance does not need a hostage guarantee. mean.

"I'm going to Hamburg soon, don't mess around anymore, I'll take you to see the Earl of Hamburg later, stay here honestly, His Highness is probably mad with anger now."

"hey-hey."

The carriage continued to move forward, and after crossing a wooden bridge, there were more farmland and houses on both sides of the road. There were also more pedestrians on the road, including local Saxons wearing Virginia caps, Franks wearing Germanic helmets, and some Slavic businessmen driving carts.

"Are there so many people in Hamburg?" Lyudmila asked the guard who had been to Hamburg next to him.

The guard shook his head and looked around: "No, I remember that Hamburg was quite desolate. There were only two or three villages and a few manors, and there were basically no people on the road."

"Go and find out."

"Okay, Your Royal Highness."

The guard went out to investigate, and Lyudmila's horse team continued to walk along the Alster River. Soon, the core area of ​​Hamburg came into view.

On the south bank of the Ulster River, there are still the crooked houses that Lyudmila is familiar with, with cattle, sheep and livestock wandering around.

But it was different on the north bank of the Ulster River, where there were three neatly arranged settlements.

Each settlement is surrounded by fences. The distance between the settlements is the same and parallel, and the distance between the houses is also the same and parallel. All the houses are almost the same size, and the shape is exactly the same.

When Lyudmila saw these orderly houses, she felt strange and inexplicably comfortable.

The roofs of Tang-style houses are quite different from those of Frankish houses. They are not spires or domes. Viewed from the side, they look like triangular hills. Some eaves protrude far, while others barely protrude from the walls. Less than half a foot.

Under the eaves of the house, there are copper-colored wind chimes made of animal bones or broken pottery shards. Whenever the wind blows, there is a crisp sound of jingling.

Compared with the colorful and resplendent Frankish aristocratic mansions, such a house with white walls and gray tiles is still too simple, which somewhat breaks Lyudmila's understanding of the Seres people - their silk is so gorgeous.

However, whether it is the north bank or the south bank of the river, excrement and urine are rarely seen on the roads. Old people and children in some villages carry baskets on their backs, holding long wooden tweezers and shovels to collect excrement and urine on the ground.

The air is much fresher.

A part of the car curtain was lifted. Lyudmila was still a child after all. She couldn't help sticking her head out, and took a deep breath. The air was full of the strong smell of wheat.

On both sides of the Alster River, countless canals lead from the river to the farmland. The blue and yellow wheat fields swayed gently under the summer wind, and the blue river water gurgled in the canals. Farmers and slaves toiled in the fields.

After crossing the Alster River, Lyudmila asked someone to inform the Earl of Hamburg, while she parked the carriage in a stable area reserved for foreign guests.

"Lyudmila, look over there!" Standing on the edge of the carriage, Ador held the hood of the carriage and pointed to a direction not far away. In that direction, people in various clothes and costumes were thinking about Gather over there.

The hamburger fast food truck pushing a trolley also sold hamburgers, tempeh and soy sauce behind them, and many wandering mercenaries from other places were standing in front of the trolley and bargaining with the slaves.

Lyudmila also saw a dozen or so soldiers who were obviously from Seres maintaining order in the place where the crowd gathered.

"Let's go take a look too." Ador pointed excitedly.

"No, you just stay here and don't move around."

But as there were more and more people there, and it became more and more lively, Lyudmila's child's temper also became a little violent, and she also looked over there with an itchy heart.

"your Highness."

The two guards who went to investigate the situation and informed the Earl of Hamburg returned at the same time.

"His Royal Highness, the Earl of Hamburg is not in the castle. He will hold a reward meeting today, and there is no time to inform him."

"Your Royal Highness, there are so many people here because the Earl of Hamburg wants to sell the weapons he got from the Vikings at a low price at the market, and it happened to be a rally, so the chiefs from all over the place came, so there are so many people."

"Then..." Lyudmila looked at the turbulent crowd with some excitement, and finally seemed to accept her fate, "Let's go and have a look."

Chapter 78 Two-flag system - Saxon flag and Frankish flag

Alvin has never been so nervous in his 15 years of life. He is sitting in a corner of the wooden platform, with Feng Yi and Feng Er beside him. Yes, in this award ceremony, one of the protagonists is Alvin.

As a Saxon, Alvin’s caste is a slave. Yes, the Saxons had an internal caste system in the early days. Like the caste system in other places, the lowest caste of Saxons is also aboriginal.

The three castes within the Saxons, from low to high, are edhilingui, frilingi and lazzi, representing nobles, free people and enslaved people, excluding slaves and untouchables.

The highest-ranking Saxon nobles set out from Holstein and conquered the war groups in the south, the free men were the peasants and auxiliary soldiers who set out with the war groups, and the last enslaved were the local aborigines.

And the caste that Alvin belongs to is the last enslaved person, that is, the local original aborigines.

At the beginning, his father decided to go out with the army in order not to bear this identity, but was finally defeated by the more powerful and advanced Jingnan army. For this reason, he became a slave from the lowest caste, and finally paid the price of his life, but failed to achieve his goal.

Old Alvin's lifelong wish may be realized in his son, because Alvin will complete the biggest change in identity, from an ordinary Saxon slave to a Han with a foreign surname.

In Alvin's simple world view, if Han people are the first caste, then Han people with foreign surnames can be counted as the second caste.

Thinking of this, Alvin looked at Feng Sen, who was sitting in a wheelchair, with a bit of heat in his eyes.

"...Thanks to the hundreds of households who contributed their strength in the battle. Similarly, many of their subordinates also made contributions in this battle. No amount of rewards can reward them for their heroic demeanor of killing the enemy. Therefore, I have decided to give these Saxon warriors an honorary title, that is, countrymen."

Feng Sen was wrapped in bandages, sitting in a wheelchair with a ruddy complexion, holding a metal horn, and roared down with confidence, "I need to explain to you the purpose of titles such as Xiangshi. First of all, Xiangshi and righteous From the same, is a martial arts.

The requirement for obtaining this title is to behead one level on the battlefield, so you may not understand what I mean by "Xiangshi". Xiangshi means that if I need to relocate the population and build a new village, Xiangshi will be a member of a hundred households in the new village. The first choice is that when a certain family becomes extinct, a capable person from the village will be selected to succeed him.

The reason why I tell you this news is for the implementation of the new law, and you all know that the Viking pirates in North are prevalent recently, and often dozens of people are enough to harm hundreds of miles, but they come and go like the wind, and the village There is no unity between them, for this reason, I decided to implement the two-flag system! "

Looking at the people below, Feng Sen coughed, and then said: "The so-called two flags are the Saxon flag and the Frankish flag, which are essentially equivalent to managing you as an army."

There was a "wow", and there was a lot of discussion in the venue, and many big and small landlords, nobles or free people began to whisper to each other.

"My lord, I don't agree, I'm a freeman! A freeman means freedom, how can I be controlled like an army?"

"Lord, if you want to train us like those Saxon slaves, we will definitely not agree."

"Quiet! Be quiet!" The glaring Tang army soldiers quickly entered the arena, waving the big sticks in their hands, beating the commotional people, and quickly restored their silence.

"Don't worry, my friends." Feng Sen showed a strange smile on his face, "First of all, I want to explain to you what the so-called two flags are. The two flags are divided into the Saxon flag and the Frankish flag.

Banner is a supporting system for hundreds of households. Ten hundred households form a thousand households, and ten thousand households form a ten thousand households. In this way, each level forms a banner.

When the army is fighting, each banner sends troops to follow the battle, and when there is no war, they farm and hunt under the leadership of hundreds of households, which is no different from daily life.

The relationship between the Bannerman and myself can be divided into two types. The first one is the coat, and their relationship with me is that of the master and the freed slave. "

The so-called patronage is a very indescribable social relationship in the Carolingian era. One party swears allegiance to the other party. It is very similar to the vassal system, but it is different from it.

To give an inappropriate example, the relationship between patrons and protected persons is very similar to that between the emperor and the eunuch. For the eunuch, only the emperor can give him power. At the same time, when he makes a mistake, only the emperor can protect him.

But unlike the relationship between eunuchs and the emperor, only the emperor had eunuchs in the Central Plains, but almost all nobles here had "eunuchs".

The Frankish society at this time was a society based on patronage and vassals. Almost everyone had to swear allegiance to someone or obtain patronage from someone, and their social status was basically linked to the patronage.

The so-called prime minister's concierge is a seventh-rank official, but unlike the prime minister of the Central Plains, the prime minister on Frank's side really allows the concierge to be a seventh-rank official.

Charles promoted slaves or freed slaves to agents of the royal family or stewards of the manor more than once, and his son Louis the Pious went even further, appointing a freed slave, Ebo, as the Archbishop of Reims, forcing Bishop Tegan of Trier to curse: "The emperor may make you a freeman, but he can't make you a nobleman, that's impossible!"

The two-flag system established by Feng Sen was born from Enbi.

In the Frankish tradition, a rich man like an earl and landowner will inevitably gather around a group of armed men. If they are armed slaves, their relationship is that of master and servant; if they are free militiamen, their relationship is that of patrons. Like the protectors, this group of free militias has an old Frankish traditional title-"Personal Guard".

"This means that the so-called two-flag system is nothing more than an expanded army of soldiers and armed slaves. Of course, don't worry everyone. There is an old saying by the sage Siris that governing a big country is like cooking a small dish, so I won't directly enforce it.

Among the Saxons, as long as they have military exploits, they can apply to me to become a bannerman, and the same is true for Saxon slaves, while slaves without military exploits, former prisoners of war, Frank slaves and freed slaves in my hands are all pledged as coats. "

Hearing this sentence, many people present breathed a sigh of relief, but many people also thought about it, especially some wandering mercenaries who were only here to buy Feng Sen's [-]-piece subsidy for second-hand weapons. It seems that being a bannerman is a good choice.

"Of course, this is not only because of the need to guard against attacks from the Vikings and to unite everyone, but also because I have received news that the Saxons are about to rebel again." Feng Sen sat In the wheelchair, he slowly spit out such a fact.

"what?"

"It wasn't just last year..."

"My lord, you must protect us."

"Cough, cough, cough." Feng Sen coughed a few times, "During the battle with the Vikings, I was seriously injured. I may not be able to attack, and I can only stay in the castle. This is why I want to form two flags." system reasons.

With myself and other people as guarantees, so that when one village is in distress, the rest of the villages can at least stand by and wait for my support...Iopa, Fulsen, don't let your guard down, you know, there are many people present Hundreds of households had the blood of Vidukind soldiers on their hands.

They did not hold back when Vidukind sent troops to attack the Saxon villages that had converted to the Father. "

Seeing the complexion of the chiefs and noble landlords below changed, Feng Sen ignored them and called out in a flat voice: "Aren't there still those three heroes who protected Hamburg? Give them As for the reward, call them up.

Oh, by the way, I also want to remind you that from now on, only banner people can change their surnames to Han people with foreign surnames, and only Han people or Han people with foreign surnames can serve as thousands of households or be promoted to Fubing.

In other words, our current martial arts system is Xiangshi - Yi Cong - Fubing - Yabing, and the highest military honor of Yabing will not be awarded from now on, only the current Jingnan Army hereditary for. "

Soon, Feng Yi, Feng Er and Alvin walked to the front of the stage under the leadership of several slaves.

"Feng Yi, a Saxon, his parents and relatives were all killed by the Dan people, he was handsome and kind, adopted him as his adopted son, and gave him the surname Feng and the number one."

"Feng Er, Saxon, and Feng Yi are brothers, adopted as adopted sons, given the surname Feng, number two."

"Alvin, a Saxon, his father was a rebel, but his son was faithful, and he was admitted to the Hamburg Elementary School as a soldier."

"The three of them cut off the first rank of Viking together in the Elbe River. Although they killed little enemies, they had great communication skills. Therefore, these three were accepted as Han people with foreign surnames, and they were given the post of Qianniuwei and each of them was given fifty fields. Mu, one house, ten pieces of linen, two pieces of cow clothes, three slaves, two pairs of pigs and sheep, one cow and one horse, one solidar, four loads of firewood per month, and winter clothes with charcoal. One bucket of white flour and three buckets of barley for the month.”

Behind Feng Sen, the three people broadcast loudly twice in Chinese Frankish and Saxon respectively. Under the envious eyes of everyone, Feng Sen picked up the Futou on the wooden square plate and tied their hair. wear well.

"Feng Yi, from today onwards, your name will be Feng William."

"Feng Er, from today onwards, your name will be Feng Hansi."

"Here!" Feng Yi and Feng Er, oh no, it was Feng Weilian and Feng Hansi who touched the hairpin on their heads happily, and clapped their hands back.

"Alvin, what do you want your last name to be?"

"Hui Jieshuai, I also want to be named Feng."

"Well, Alvin means everyone's favorite friend in Saxon. If so, your name is..." Feng Sen patted Alvin on the shoulder, "Feng Youde."

--------