After only a few days of travel from Paris to Lyon, English pilgrims found themselves in a different world, the ancient royal city of the Burgundians on the banks of the Rhône, once the administrative center of the Roman Empire's province of Gaul, with some of the finest walls and roads in all of Gaul, and the remains of a marble statue of Nepton, the god of the sea, lying at the foot of a classical-style church on a nearby hill.

It was one of the most powerful Gregorian areas, and a short distance north was the world-famous Clony Abbey, which was theoretically part of the Holy Roman Empire, but the reformers had expelled the Imperial garrison of Villeneuve Fortress long before the recent Council of Lyon, and the English were not hindered in any way.

The Archbishop of Lyon, Hugue, was a relative of the old duke of Burgundy, a close associate of Gregory VII, and was now the de facto lord of the imperial city, but the bishop was currently in meetings in Italy, and the old duke of Burgundy was in the abbey of Cluny, but had not been seen since his abdication, so the English had been supplied in the city and left.

From this south, turning from Avignon, you can reach the port of Marseille, which was the route along which most caravans boarded ships to Italy before Egmort was built by Saint-Louis as the Grand Port of the South.

At this time, as the Holy See was still in Italy, neither Avignon nor Carpentera had yet to become a mecca for Italian architects and painters, and the magnificent papal and episcopal palaces did not yet exist, and Edgar saw the secluded valleys of Provence, the blue sea of saffron and the golden vineyards. After Italy and Germany fell into war, it seemed to be the only backyard of the empire, a scene of peace.

Such a comfortable journey took half a month, and before the news of the fleet came from the southern seas, Edgar was a guest of honor at the court of the Count of Provence, and his royal guards were generally welcomed by the noblewomen at the court of Count William, and the blonde warriors from the north were full of exoticism to them, and the glittering jewels of the royal guards showed their noble status. As for the king of England himself, at this time he also wore the white dress with gold thread edges, his long golden hair hung down to his shoulders, his well-groomed beard was woven into countless braids, and the ends were decorated with gold.

The lord of Boburg, William Hugg, was an important vassal in the earl's court, and was quite dissatisfied with the English dominance, and soon began to provoke the Norman Roger de Mortimer through drunkenness, and the two fought for a while, and the lord of Boburg, who was exploiting the herdsmen in the ravine, was obviously no match for the battle-hardened Norman generals, and Lord Willem Hugg was quickly carried down by two servants.

In the midst of the tumult, Edgar began to try to ask the Count about the current state of the Empire.

"Swa-Shwa himself has left Italy, Your Majesty." The Count did not seem to care to divulge the secrets of his lordship, "their carts, heaped with goods stolen from Italy, crossed the passes of Liguria and headed straight for Aachen. ”

"Aachen?"

"Haven't your Majesty heard? Prince Conrad is about to be crowned king of the Romans. The Burgundian seemed to have a mocking tone, and seemed to have no respect for the new thirteen-year-old king.

Edgar was taken aback, and Henry IV and Conrad reconciled? Why didn't the Holy See inform itself?

"I heard that the Emperor's army has kidnapped the Archbishop of Cologne, and they are also heading for Aachen, tsk......" Edgar saw the gossip flame flickering in Count William's eyes, and couldn't help but sigh, this is really the right place.

Before the Provençal man was completely drunk, Edgar figured out most of his family tree, and even knew a lot about the privacy of his rival, William, Count of Toulouse, who was actually more than one Count in Provence at present, and the entire country was governed by Count William Bertrand himself and his brother and cousin, and Count William's cousin was married to Raymond, the brother of Count Toulouse, who was said to be extremely brave, who was still strong after losing an eye in the Holy Land, and is now participating in the Holy War against the Moors.

Edgar had already heard Philip's group of Burgundian relatives boast of their exploits in Spain, and in fact, the Christians of the peninsula were currently being suppressed by the Sultan of Yusuf for their own protection without Cid, and the emissaries Edgar had sent to the Moors to see with their own eyes the minaret that the Sultan had made of Christian heads. However, there was no need to mention such a matter to the Franks and Burgundians, and no one in Europe knew of the Guinean gold of the King of England, only that the northern pirates had begun to operate frequently near the Pillars of Hercules, and that the Sultan of Yusuf, who knew about it, did not bother to reveal his precariousness to the Christians.

The Provençals had long forgotten the wars, their ancestor William I had liberated the coast from the Saracens a hundred years ago, the siege of Carcassonne and Toulouse by the Moorish armies of Spain was a myth of the bards, and the country west of Septimania was still in a state of peace, and the host was unaware that the pilgrims he had entertained were intending to use their port as a base for war.

"What a bunch of happy guys." Robert Mallett looked coldly at the drunken master of the banquet hall and said to the king.

"In a few days, we'll do it when the ship arrives." Edgar smiled, "It's a big deal to give this adult a little more gold to suppress the shock - I hope the Italians look like this." ”

"The Lombards didn't fight in the first place, and even the Pope was lost to Robert Gisca, but the Venetians have fought hard for more than ten years, and maybe two." Speaking of this, Mallet mocked again, "The Franks are not as good as a year after year, and I heard that this time in Spain, the carpenter count of Melun actually abandoned his army and absconded in front of the Moorish army. ”

"But after the reconciliation of Emperor Henry's father and son this time, perhaps we must be careful of the comeback of Swa." Edgar wasn't going to make Mallet too lightly.

"The herd ......" seemed to remember the battle in the Black Forest, and Mallett nodded his head with a gritted look on his face.