"The King of England is going on a pilgrimage to Rome?" As soon as Archbishop Dagobert of Pisa arrived at the Holy See residence, he was shocked by the new news that had been circulating secretly.

Rome is still in the hands of the apostates, does this mean that England is ready to change its position?

The Norman castle was lit by giant candles on the walls, and in the white light, a row of people invariably hid their faces in the shadows, and although they were limited in number, the power of the Church Princes was no less than an army armed to the teeth. The cities of Tuscany have been out of the Emperor's control, Florence, Lucca, Pisa and Genoa are all supporting the Pontifies, and the younger Gus Patrick of England has just brought in a large amount of Peterkin.

"You may have heard that our favorite son, King Edgar of the Anglo-Saxons, is about to follow the example of his ancestor Alfred and make a pilgrimage to Rome along the Frankish road." The Holy See's loud voice interrupted Dagobert's erratic thoughts.

"In order to guarantee this peaceful pilgrimage, we, Bishop Urban, servants of God, have issued a royal decree to the whole of Christendom that our former Bishop of Rome, Brother Grigory, has excommunicated Gilbert and Henry, the Pseudo-Emperor of German, who had usurped the Apostolic Throne of St. Peter, and that from now on we will march to Rome to expel the apostates from the temple of the martyrdom of the apostles, to cleanse all filth and liberate the city of all cities!"

The young and powerful Urban II was better at stirring the hearts and minds than the first two pontiffs, and when he was Bishop of Ostia, the Holy See was known for his eloquence, and in the ears of the Church princes present, the words of the Holy Father meant that the coming was not an enemy, but a strong ally, so everyone became excited, and began to discuss the prospect of marching into Rome, and some even began to think about how to repair the Saxon Academy (Schola Saxonum) in Rome. After all, the King of England is currently the biggest benefactor of the Church.

"Holy Father." After the crowd dispersed, Dagobert finally had a chance to report to Urban alone, "Conrad has rejected us, his men are collecting food and grass in Lombardy, and I'm afraid we must be ready for battle." ”

Urban II shook his head: "There will be no reinforcements, we have just sent a message in Germany, Aachen is preparing for the coronation of the king, it seems that the little lion is about to leave Italy." ”

Dagobert immediately understood the source of the Holy See's confidence, and Rome was now an isolated city.

"We can't afford to send the Normans any more this time." Urban whispered, "Rome will not forget Gisca's army, and we must not enter the city as bloody conquerors." ”

If the Normans couldn't use it, then only the Canossa army would remain......

Dagobert felt that something was wrong, the Tuscan army had just gone through a bitter battle, could it continue to complete the task of besieging Rome?

"Will the King of England take his army south?"

"King Philip won't agree, at most there will be a team of followers." Urban seemed to remember something, and smiled, "If the English army enters Italy, the Franks will probably immediately remember Charlemagne." ”

Dagobert was taken aback, could it be that the Holy See intended to ......

Seeing the strange eyes of the Archbishop of Pisa, Urban immediately shook his head: "Impossible, if we really do this, not only will we lose the Franks, but the Germanic princes will immediately side with Henry, and Constantinople ......"

Dagobert was relieved, the Holy See did not seem to be confused, if it was really to recover Rome, he would sell the crown everywhere, but he was afraid that Italy would never be at peace.

It's just that since he returned from his last mission to England, a deep-seated question has always haunted him: who is that kid, and why is he like a mold cast from the king of England?

The Palace of Westminster was now in full swing, the King's pilgrimage was to begin at Canterbury, the nobles and priests of his retinue were to assemble to the south on time, and the royal guards in fresh clothes and angry horses were marching down the avenue to convey the royal edict to the counties, and collect the fireplace money, as if they were preparing for a war.

As summer draws to a close, and as the experience of the past is that the amount of surplus food will determine the hunger before the autumn harvest, and this is when the tax will have the greatest impact on the people, and in order to prevent famine, Westminster must also arrange for the supply of local markets, especially to monitor the price of dried Baltic herring.

In the name of collecting Peterkin, King Edgar recovered the soke of the 100 East Anglian districts controlled by Peterborough and Ely, and the judicial income from these 100 districts would henceforth become Peterkin's reserve and be transported to the royal mint.

As a result, the scale of this levy has greatly exceeded the estimated amount of Peterkin, and even the employees of Whitehall are uneasy: if this is so much delivered, will it always be done in the future?

Edgar was still mourning for his mother, his sister Margaret scratched her cheeks, tore off several locks of hair, and tore her mourning gowns, and the Queen's maids, including Lady Glouoch, followed the queen's example, and scratched each other's cheeks and showed their grief in blood, but among these noblewomen, Glouoch was the only one whose grief came from the bottom of her heart.

"I will bring back my mother's rosary, and as for the inheritance that my mother has left me, I will entrust someone to manage it on my behalf, and Malcolm is rebuilding the royal residence in Edinburgh, and I intend to use the proceeds to build a convent there and pray for her soul."

Catching a glimpse of her brother's worried eyes, Margaret barely squeezed out a smile: "Don't worry about me, grief can polish the will, this is what I learned from my mother." If she and her father had chosen to stay in Hungary, perhaps we would have taken a more ordinary path, unlike now, when the envy of this world is becoming heavier and heavier, and everything is involuntarily. ”

"I know all this, and now listen to me, dear Margaret, I know that Edinburgh is a fortress on the top of a volcanic rock, with a difficult terrain and a connection to the North Sea. I will secretly station a hundred guards at Bebanburg for your call, and if there is any danger, you can always arm Edinburgh and wait for assistance. ”

These words were spoken in Hungarian, and no one present knew except the two siblings, and the Queen of Scotland did not show relief when she received this promise, but shivered. Although she was secretly worried about Malcolm's death, she didn't expect her brother to be so optimistic about the future situation in the north.

Malcolm, the High King of Alba, had been a northern ally of the English crown since Edward the Confessor, but his grip on his country had begun to wane, the Gaelic nobles were more stubborn than the Northumbrians, and Malcolm's brutal interference in the election of the heir had encroached on the traditions of the clan in a gravity that was incomprehensible to outsiders. The primogeniture system was not really mainstream in the Alba Kingdom, and the clans preferred to sit on the throne in turn, and now Malcolm even gave up his eldest son and tried to use the election to replace the heir, but such an election was not a German election, and the election of the Gaelic crown prince usually meant a change of royal branch, and the candidates should be the brothers and cousins of the current king, not just the second son.

"Also," Edgar continued in Hungarian, "I want to keep her ......"

Margaret immediately looked back at Madame de Grooch, who quickly lowered her eyelids away from the Queen's gaze.

"It's your business, you just decide, why bother asking me?" Margaret secretly sighed in her heart, her younger brother is actually a lover, and even the old lover who is nearly forty years old still remembers it, and her husband has white hair, but there are only those young ones in his eyes.

She and Glouoch have always had a good relationship, but at this time she was a little jealous, and when there was no one, she angrily told Glouoch what Edgar meant, and was a little worried about this close friend: "His queen is the sister of the king of Franks, you must be careful, this is not your Molay, nor my palace, you can take that temper, don't offend that woman." ”

Glouoch bowed his head silently, tears falling to his chest like beads of broken threads, and he didn't know whether he was happy or sad.

She was a hostage of King Malcolm, and it was not without risk for the queen to let her go, and although the queen was growing in power now that the Scottish king's health was already in poor condition, such a thing could still attract resentment.

She didn't know much about Edgar's queen, but the reputation of Frankish women was so great that even the Saracens of the East once mocked Frankish men for their inability to control their women and let them ride on their heads.

Reminded by Margaret, Glouohe began to think about how to face the Gallic woman of his imagination.