prince of europe in quintiles

Has the Saxon army fallen?

In the spring, Earl Teppler couldn't help but summoned the knights, and launched an attack on the border of the Duchy of Saxony, the Earl of Paderborn (the same name in ancient and modern times).

For some reason, the Cassel army really took down several villages and towns.

Everyone beamed and believed that the Saxon army had indeed fallen.

But in fact, it was just the bishop of Paderborn, one of the more powerful bishops in Saxony, who was in conflict with the local count because of rumors of human trafficking.

When the two sides ended their infighting and jointly dealt with the intruders, Earl Tapler was beaten and fled on the banks of the Weser River. The family lost nearly two hundred soldiers before escaping the disaster.

And when they finished, it was already mid-April.

Taking advantage of this period of time, Huo Teng led the prepared army, went down the Yachi River, quietly bypassed the country of Kassel, and entered the Rhine River through the Fulda River.Huo Teng did not take a boat, but rode through this journey with a hundred mobilized knights.

He also soon came to Frankfurt in the Middle Ages.

This is not the largest financial center in the future, but it has already become a famous trading point nearby because of the cathedral and the prosperous city.

When Huo Teng led the army to appear outside the city, a trade fair that was being held suddenly dispersed.The townspeople and peasants seemed to be terrified when they saw the knights showing off their might.

"Has the conflict between nobles and commoners here reached this level?" Huo Teng muttered to himself while pinching his chin.

Chapter 91 I Can't Spell Humans Anymore

You may not believe it, but in the seemingly flat plains of Western Europe, Germany is actually a country that lacks plains.In the south of it are large areas of mountainous areas, and in the middle are rolling hills and terraces. Only the plains where rivers such as the Rhine flow and the gentle areas on the northern coast can be regarded as valuable plains.The plain area of ​​the whole country is less than [-]%.

This is also the reason why the Principality of Saxony is so strong. His family swallowed up most of the North German Plain, which has the largest number of Germans.Farming here is better than digging and stuffing wheat seeds with your hands, compared to no harvest in the mountains.

Therefore, it is also the reason why the Principality of Franconia and the Principality of Lower Lorraine are so important.Because these two duchies control the middle and lower plains of the Rhine respectively.The core of the Franconia region is the large area of ​​fertile riverside farmland surrounded by the north-south cities of Worms and Mainz; the Duchy of Lower Lorraine is dominated by the lower plains led by Cologne.

When Horten's knights appeared in the plain on the left bank of the Rhine, the battle in the distance had just ended, and the citizens of Frankfurt formed a bombardment charge formation, relying on everyone's momentary anger, they kicked the noble army out of the city. market.It is hard to believe that the knights, who mastered violence, were once at a disadvantage in the struggle with the citizens.

This is because there is a very paradoxical phenomenon in Franconia.

Although a large number of dukes, emperors, and royal relatives in the entire country came from the city of Worms, Franconia was politically very weak for decades.Even the nobles have degenerated to a certain extent.

Because almost all the German dignitaries are afraid that Franconia will pop up another powerful duke.So when Emperor Otto ascended the throne, he took the opportunity to split Franconia into many counties and bishoprics with the help of fighting against the Magyar nomadic tribes from the east, as well as those strange beastmen and other ethnic groups. , directly turned into a plate of loose sand.

This dish of loose sand lasts for decades.Until now, although there is a Duke Eberhard in name, and there are many powerful earls under his jurisdiction, these people live their lives behind closed doors.A large number of bishops left behind by Emperor Otto in the past are also entering the church now. Instead of reading scriptures, it is time to settle accounts and manage cities and villages.

For example, Archbishop Heribert of Cologne's half-brother, Bishop Heinrich of Würzburg, is a powerful speaker in East Franconia.

Under such a situation, it is no wonder that the people of Franconia would rather listen to the bishop than play with the nobles.The aristocratic forces are shameful and embarrassing, and they don't know how to properly govern the people, so the people are not fools.

But when the Cavaliers Expeditionary Army led by Huo Teng approached Frankfurt, a strange thing that made people laugh and cry unexpectedly happened.

Seeing nearly a hundred knights approaching from a distance, the citizens of the city were frightened out of their wits for a moment, and hurriedly pushed the carts, carrying all kinds of wine, bread, mutton, pork, etc. out of the city, to express condolences to the knights who came from afar.

Horten thought it was a reward from the people of Frankfurt for helping them clean up the robbers and greenskins from afar, so he gladly accepted the gift and enjoyed the rare good times of the year with the knights.The eating habits of the people in the German region are very normal. They like to eat wheat products, pork sausages, sandwiches and other foods, which are much more normal than the barbarians in the UK.

Yes, at least in this period, the British were treated like barbarians by France and Germany.

It wasn't until the middle of the eating, drinking and frolicking that a little old man ran out of Frankfurt. He was wearing a bishop's costume and yelled while posing strangely: "Wrong, wrong, wrong!"

"What's wrong?" Huo Teng hastily stuffed the sausage into his mouth, and then stopped in front of the old man righteously.

By the way, he also kicked the widow Amelia, telling her to take the knights to search for wine and meat, and never return it.

"I entertained the wrong person. These wine and meat were sent to Baron Ingelheim just now. But you gave them to... oh, what should I do?" The little old man was so anxious that he sat down on the ground, I can't get up.

Huo Teng took another bite of the apple and said, "That Baron Ingelheim, how many knights does he have?"

"How many...about...18?"

The little old man counted with his fingers, and seeing Huo Teng's group of knights, he jumped up and grabbed Huo Teng's hand: "Who are you? You must help this poor city. Do nothing."

"Who am I...you don't even know me, who are you?" Huo Teng was dumbfounded.

For the first time, he was not recognized.

But thinking about it carefully, it seems to be true.

He has always built all his fame in Göttingen County and the nearby mountains.

For the residents of the plain city two hundred kilometers away, who would remember the deeds of the barbarians in the northern mountains.

Expressed in real data, Huo Teng's reputation in Göttingen is +4, which is directly known to everyone, but his reputation in Frankfurt is zero, and no one knows.

"My Frankfurt bishop, Peter, is also the chairman of the city's parliament, responsible for the governance of the whole city." The little old man slightly unbuttoned the hat on his head, revealing his specially shaved head.This is a unique hairstyle that only priests would trim. They believed that by shaving their hair on the cap, they would be able to communicate more closely with God.This concept, transferred to literary works, is that a large number of religious people are designed to be bald.A shiny head can enhance piety.

Huo Teng held back for a long time before he said: "I am the palace minister of the Earl of Göttingen, a hero recognized by the people of Göttingen, and the conqueror of Millhouse. I fought in Göttingen with five hundred soldiers. The [-]-thousand besieging army of Saxony was defeated. I have come here this time to lead my knights to help Lords Burgard and Willikis eliminate the bandits, greenskins, beastmen and rebels who are raging in the local area."

Huo Teng uses a more formal church accent, mainly using his broken Latin to communicate.So the first reaction of Bishop Pete, who understood Huo Teng's true identity... was to get away from him quickly.

"We have invited you for this meal. Hurry up and fight."

Bishop Pitt shouted from the top of the city.

"It seems that the bishop looks down on us." Amelia raised her head, looked at the high walls of Frankfurt, and couldn't help thinking: "If we can conquer this city, our family won't have to go back to Göttingen to suffer."

"Don't think about it, there are bishops, monks, city guards, etc. in this city. They are much stronger than us." Huo Teng waved his hand and chose to give up Amelia's unrealistic idea.

The reason why Frankfurt was so powerless before the knight harassment was because it was an internal conflict.Those hidden forces still acquiesce to the development of the situation and seek reconciliation.

If Huo Teng launched an attack on Frankfurt illegally, he would wait to be killed by the church.

And just at this time, the group of knights who ran away came back again.

Huo Teng greeted the knights who had just eaten to get on their horses, while he rode half-half Griffin Quick Spirit, holding a sea dragon tusk gun, and was going to perform to the people of Frankfurt, what is the fury of the North.

When Kuai Ling, a ferocious beast with a quarter of the griffin blood, launched an impact, coupled with the destructive charge of the Shanghai Dragon Fang Gun, Huo Teng unexpectedly discovered that when this beast with a speed of over 70 kilometers per hour exerted its combat power, It was Huo Teng who couldn't control himself.

During knight training, the knight is not allowed to change his posture easily when charging.So Huo Teng maintained a fierce charging posture and crushed this group of people.

Hundreds of northern knights charged together and easily crushed Baron Ingelheim and his entourage.

The only problem is that it's a little too crushed.

So much so... that the corpse of Baron Ingelheim was almost beyond human.

Chapter 92 My ass is going to be stolen

The Middle Ages was a time of thousands of years of development. During this general period of time, in most cases, knights and nobles were not as sacred and inviolable as some garbage articles claimed.

Otherwise, wouldn't the knights who died on the battlefield have to be compensated by the enemy?

Even after being captured, it is possible to die in the enemy's barracks, or even beheaded on the spot.Only those kings, dukes, etc., because they wear heavy armor, are almost impossible to die easily like small tanks, so they are often captured and negotiated terms.

But the nobles have always been arrogant and domineering, but it has never changed.From the time of Charlemagne to the Renaissance, the behavior of the nobility was surprisingly consistent.The only thing that is not unified is that those people who are oppressed by the nobles have become richer and armed with their ideas. They have chosen to confront the nobles and gradually fight for their own power.

Huo Teng stared at the rotten meat and began to think.

Whether the way he killed Baron Ingelheim seemed too rough.

But then, Huo Teng shook his head and denied his silly idea.

This year is the year when the fist is the biggest. The tyrannical earl challenged the duke, the duke challenged the king, and the king challenged the emperor. Who is not going up?Could it be that Huo Teng still wants to take this piece of rotten meat to Ingelheim City to seek an apology from the people there?

joke.

"Take this group of corpses and tell the people of Frankfurt that they will never be harassed again." Horten raised Ingelheim's flag with his spear, and the knights cheered unanimously.

Of course, Huo Teng unceremoniously accepted the horses, chain mail, domed helmets, and well-made swords and spears left by these knights who died in battle.Even if the knights have a set of people, there are also knights and attendants.

These trophies, especially the horses and armor, are precious items of the heirloom level.With these lost, the ruling family of Ingelheim can basically start preparing for post-disaster reconstruction and even move.

At this time, the citizens of Frankfurt were greatly surprised. The old Bishop Peter, who had abandoned Huo Teng, ran back and asked for a one-on-one meeting with Huo Teng.

He even sent a hundred bags of bread directly as a reward.

However, Huo Teng, who had already wiped out the Ingelheim army, did not consider these unscrupulous solicitations from Frankfurt for the time being.

We should go straight to Mainz now.

Taking advantage of this rare opportunity for someone to give away the head, chat with Burgard.Although this person's mind is not very good, he is also kind and able to do things. He is countless times stronger than most knights who can't distinguish ten-digit addition and subtraction.And he is very rich, in charge of Franconia's money bag.

What's more, Archbishop Burgard of Mainz stood behind Bishop Willikis of Worms.The place he went to after he retired honestly was not ordinary.The city of Worms is very prosperous and prosperous, and there are especially many imperial nobles who grew up here.It can be said that when Willikis controls this place, he controls the connections of the empire.Everyone has to give three points of face.

Abandoning the expired solicitation of the Frankfurters, Huo Teng directly led the people westward along the Rhine River and then southward. At the corner, they came to an undefended big city without even a city wall.In this era when a few thousand people in an ordinary city are considered great, Mainz's population of tens of thousands is already one of the best in the empire.

Don't wonder why there are no city walls, because the walls of most towns, villages, and castles in Franconia were demolished under Burgard's call.

Burgard's original intention was to build a world without war by tearing down the city walls.And forcing Duke Eberhard to demolish the walls of the city is also his very famous record.

But what the devil knows is that if you tear down the city wall yourself, the robbers don't care about truth, goodness and beauty, and the endless green-skinned and beastman monsters don't care about etiquette, justice and shame.They just want to kill and loot.

It can be said that Burgard himself is responsible for a large part of the bandits, greenskins, and beastmen that are currently flooding the plains on the left bank of the Rhine.

The leading knight holding the emblem of the sword and angel went to Mainz, and soon returned to the team under the leadership of the hermit Morris.

"Welcome to the Holy See of Mainz, which is the administrative center of Germany." Morris welcomed.

That's right, the Holy See of Mainz.

This does not mean that the church has made a joke about two popes, but because of the Archbishop of Mainz, he is the second Holy See in Western Europe besides the Roman Catholic Church, and Mainz, which enjoys the highest honor in the region north of the Alps Archdiocese.

When a bishop becomes the Archbishop of Mainz, he automatically becomes the Speaker of the Reichs Electoral Council and is a permanent member of the Electoral Council. He is also the Pope's ambassador, responsible for dealing with the Pope's affairs that the Pope cannot reach.At the same time, he was the Metropolitan of Germany.

Since the Archbishop of Mainz is responsible for the election of the emperor, the honor of the emperor's coronation, the ability to replace the pope in exercising power in Germany, and the ability to compete for the position of German prime minister, when these powers are concentrated in one body, the pope and the emperor have to Give him three points of face.Considering the barrier of the Alps and the deep bond between the emperor and the church, it is not surprising that the Holy See of Mainz appeared.

In history, there have been many incidents in which the pope united with the German electors and bishops to oppose the emperor.But there are very few cases where the Pope can succeed in doing things without respecting the Archbishop of Mainz.Once the Pope self-righteously starts to interfere in the election of the Archbishop of Mainz, then the Pope will basically never want to interfere in German affairs.The emperor would be so happy that he would die laughing.For example, the Bavarian Ludwig, who was mixed in the Luxembourg dynasty, received a lot of support after the Pope of Avignon brutally interfered in the election of the Archbishop of Mainz, causing the Pope to have nothing to do with him.

"It's really magnificent." Huo Teng looked enviously at the prosperous town.The churches here are different from other places, with unique craftsmanship and obvious Roman Greek style.Most churches have no access to state-of-the-art financial resources and just pile up a small house.

"It's really magnificent. I once went to Rome with a pilgrimage team, and I found that Rome has been in decline. Except for the ancient ruins covered with green grass, the Pope's residence is nothing more than that." Inz's admiration.

No wonder.

At this time, the city of Rome had only [-] to [-] residents, and large areas of the city had been degraded into farmland.Several big families take turns to sit in the manor, the city lacks governance, and it is dirty and smelly.The emperors used to live in country houses or castles.

"Then why don't the pope move here? Wouldn't it be better to rule the church directly in Mainz and establish a heaven on earth on Charlemagne's land?" Huo Teng said deliberately provocatively.

"No, because Rome is Rome, and Rome is the capital of Romania."

But this time, it was a gentle middle-aged man with a long beard and a shaved head who refuted Huo Teng, that is, the archbishop of Mainz, Burgard.He severely criticized Huo Teng's erroneous thinking: "Romania cannot lose the city of Rome, just as we cannot live without Jerusalem. The Rome in the east has become what it is today because it abandoned the city of Rome. They have already lost God. God's favor, and we are God's chosen people to save the Christian world."

Huo Teng did not expect to meet Dana with the provocation, and hurriedly bowed his head in agreement.

This set of sophistry has been the foundational line of the Roman Catholic Church for a long time.That is, Rome, abandoned by the Roman Empire, will not decline until Constantinople.When they left the city of Rome, they were not worthy to inherit the real Rome.Romania (that is, the country established by Charlemagne the Frank, Germany, Frank and other countries are counted among them) with Rome as its capital and the Catholic Church as its spiritual leader is the real Rome and a vibrant chosen people of God.

This kind of debate has no correct result. The two countries have their own debate policies and have been arguing for more than 100 years.

"Your question is very good, but you still need to learn more." Burgard saw that Huo Teng accepted it humbly, and also praised it with satisfaction, "If you can read more books during the battle, I can give you a license when you return to Göttingen. You hold the monk's exam."

Huo Teng was dumbfounded for a moment.

I didn't expect Burgard to be so brain-dead.In other words, his thinking mode has been completely locked in the church.

"Ahem... When I came here, I encountered a group of rogue knights harassing the citizens of Frankfurt. I led the army to destroy them. I didn't expect that the leader was Baron Ingelheim. This matter..." Huo Teng walked , while telling the whole story.

Sure enough, when Huo Teng changed the word order and changed it to fighting for justice, Bulgarde praised Huo Teng with a little surprise, although it was very troublesome: "You are a general like St. Maurice. Ingelheim I will issue an order to reprimand you for Mu’s problem, but you need to work hard to wipe out the bandits and robbers on the plain, and open up traffic on the road to Worms. Otherwise, farmers will not be able to farm, merchants will not be able to trade, and our society will be in chaos.”

What is rare is that Burgard attaches great importance to social stability and development.This is already an odd line of rare species.

"Okay. We need a sum of money. After recruiting a group of reliable fighters, we will act immediately." Huo Teng promised, patted his chest.

Burgard is naturally good at following others.

Afterwards, Horten and the knights were arranged to live in a monastery outside the city gate.

As soon as Huo Teng arrived in the room, he immediately summoned the black assassins he sent to accompany the hermit, Mr. and Mrs. Schmidt.

"Brother Morris has fulfilled your mission very faithfully, without any sign of betrayal." Essen Schmidt said that Horten's concerns were completely groundless.

Huo Teng patted his chest.

Since it was the first time he sent monks, he was actually afraid in his heart that the monks would betray Michael for the benefit of the church.

"Damn it, I don't want to be that hapless black person in St. Maurice. But if you give me the holy gun, I'd love to."

Horten let the Schmidts go down. He lay on the bed and looked at the cross on the window, muttering to himself.

The Spear of St. Maurice, as the guardian sacred object of the German country, has always been a necessary material for the emperor's coronation.But in fact, this thing appeared in the last century, and I don't know if it is true or not.

……

After two or three days of repairs, the Ingelheim family went to Mainz to file a complaint without incident.

Huo Teng rode Kuai Ling at that time, and the threat of the griffin caused the family's war horses to loosen and fall to the ground on the spot.No one dared to challenge Huo Teng to a duel in glory, so where did this family come from?

During the period, Burgard also prepared property, bread and wine worth two thousand gold coins to help Huo Teng clean up the endless bandits and robbers on the plain.