The departure of the Earl of Cumbria made the King of England decide to tour the north again, and just as Westminster's expansion was underway, and the new complex was modeled after the layout of Whitehall in later generations, to provide office space for the expanding Crown government, Tony Island became more crowded, and Edgar simply took the entire royal family with him and went to York to escape the heat.

Away from the Sussex factory area in the south, the air is noticeably cleaner, with no diffuse smell of burning coal or the smell of sulphur from the mines, and the vast forested northern land looks almost indistinguishable from 10,000 years ago. Twelve knights side by side on the ancient Roman road marched side by side, guarding the magnificent royal carriage, the sound of horses' hooves and the sound of iron armor grinding startled the red deer on the side of the road to escape into the forest, and the flying dragon flag fluttered in the wind, constantly emitting a majestic whistling.

Edgar sits on the back of a terrifyingly tall horse, accompanied by Baldwin de Boulogne, who has just returned to the kingdom.

"We heard that the emperor wants a divorce?"

"Sources from the south say that Emperor Henry is secretly married to Mrs. Nordmark, and that the Empress is under house arrest in a castle in Swabia."

"Looks like we should send him a gift." The king replied as he pondered.

"What Henry wants at the moment is probably his own palace."

After the fall of Goslar's palace, Rodrigo used it as a first-line fortress for the coalition army, and originally Edgar planned to use this palace as a condition of negotiation with Henry to coerce the other party to accept the Duke of Saxony's rule over the north, but Rodrigo has now succeeded in inciting the princes to join Meissenbianber, so that Edgar does not intend to give up the important town that controls the silver mines of Saxony.

"If we agree to a truce, Henry will probably take a breather."

"Your Majesty really intends to let the Germans go? But how can the Holy See explain it......"

"The army cannot be out for a long time, for the time being, it is still the main thing to stabilize the territory we have acquired, and the Holy See does not care much about the north at the moment, and the cardinals are still bent on letting us go to Italy to fight for them."

Edgar had already heard that the Pope was secretly visiting the Duke of Aquitaine, and that even Philip had sent an envoy, and that the king's interest in the affairs of the Spanish peninsula may have made the Holy See see the possibility of wooing the Franks to join him, and that he was no longer the only option for Urban II.

"In that case, shall I write a letter to Godfrey?" Baldwin felt relieved, both Boulogne and Lower Lorraine, his two brothers were tired of the war, Eustace was better, after all, trade with England was the foundation of Boulogne's development, and Godfrey currently had to bear most of the blow from the Swa, and could only hide in Bouillon Castle and wait for the Imperial army to abandon the siege, or wait for the city to run out of food.

"Tell the Duke of Lower Lorraine that his days in the castle are almost over."

The white oak flag of the royal guard finally fell, and the speed of the royal team slowed down as York's massive turret came into view.

"It's amazing."

"It's big enough, but it's not very useful." Edgar knew that Baldwin was admiring the castle's turret, but the upgraded fortifications of the ballista turret were not practical, on the surface this thing was sturdy, large, complex, and expensive enough, in fact, not to mention heavy artillery, even for a counterweight trebuchet, this tall and thin city defense structure was too obvious a target, and as for the thickened stone wall defense, it would obviously squeeze the space in the gun room. Fundamentally, the pedestal of such a huge round tower is the biggest weakness.

Of course, there were not many foreign enemies that could threaten York Castle at the moment, and the artillery was only available to the royal army and the royal castle, and it was difficult to install heavy trebuchets close enough that these wooden siege engines would be destroyed by the fire of the turrets without getting close to the moat.

The various guns installed on York Castle were all early products of the Royal Ordnance Factory, and the heaviest could fire fifteen-pound shells, not to mention siege towers and catapults, even warships could not resist a single blow.

Hugh Barn is currently the commander of the fort, and the handicapped Lord Mayor of Yorkshire, who oversaw the construction of the massive northern fort, once told the king that no one could breach it unless the enemy flew from the sky.

"That's where William beat us."

Baldwin followed the direction of the king's finger, and near the swelling stream, stone mounds were everywhere, broken spears and corroded helmets and horse bones were numerous, and the turquoise grass reflected the glow of metal from time to time.

"Harald's battlefield is in the swamp over there, and Mokka has dug a big pit there to bury his Sein."

For Edgar, the north was littered with graves, even the nearby riverbed was buried with warriors who had died for him, that blood-clotting winter had brought too many lives, starving Anglo-Saxons everywhere, and the overturned runestones of Rune were engraved with the name of the dead Northumbria.

"Has my father ever been here?" Baldwin asked suddenly, the silent wilderness giving him an inexplicable urge.

"Perhaps, I have heard that the old Earl Eustace joined King Edward with an army, joined the Northumbrians, and banished Earl Godwin with him. But as far as I know, he probably hasn't been to the north since then. ”

Not many people even remember the grievances of decades ago, Eustace de Boulogne and Sven Godwinsen, who drew their swords against each other in Westminster, have long since become two corpses, sleeping in their own dark crypts, King Edward the Confessor and Earl Godwin are also dead, and the ambitions and hatreds of the past are like these bones and weapons that have been washed away and corroded by the rain - only lifeless memories remain.

"If I'm gone, Baldwin, will you remain loyal to my son?"

"Yes, my majesty."

The King stared at the Earl of Lincoln, as if not satisfied with the answer.

"You know, my Earl, the throne does not inspire loyalty, and if one day, I give my daughter to Philip's son, or Alfred has his own castle, and then you will see how quickly they fall apart, how quickly the lords will fall apart, and my courts will conspire and correspond with each other, why not? They are now committing adultery with each other, when they will abandon the throne of England sooner, we will fight side by side, jealous of each other, betrayal of each other, we have as much love as we have hatred, we can endure hunger and thirst, and we can indulge in lust, this is the proof that we have lived, as all those who died before us—I envy you, my lord, because you have two siblings, but I pity you, because your brother also makes you miserable, do not deny it, Lord Earl, When your brother is destined to be a knight and a lord, and you are destined to wear the black robe of a monk, won't you be filled with resentment that you came out of the womb later? ”

"Does Your Majesty want me to swear eternal allegiance to the throne?"

"Allegiance to the throne, good choice, no matter what time it is, the throne is always there, even if the blood is not dry, there will always be someone sitting on the chair. Good enough, my Earl, that's enough—if Lincoln remains loyal to the throne forever, at least we won't become the next Godwin. ”

Baldwin saw the king's worries, the tall fortress of York did not make the kingdom permanent and the ruins of the ancient Viking king's ramparts can be seen nearby, but there is nothing left except the foundation, the stone and wood have been picked up by the locals and used in the construction of fences and barns, the dock where the dragon leader docks, and now the weeds are buried along with the carvings of the pagan gods.

The succession of England will be the grave of countless princes and nobles, which the king has foreseen countless times in his dreams.

At the head of Adrianople, Angus, the heir of Molay, secretly observed the departure of the main force, still unable to understand this decision of the chief nobleman.

The Pechenegs were in the wilderness in the distance, a sea of white tents, not a real siege camp. But even so, sooner or later, General George's departure would be noticed by the enemy, and Adrianople would be defended only by a group of local troops and foreign mercenaries like Angus.

If it weren't for John Ducasse still in the castle, Angus would have almost thought he was going to abandon the fortress.

The walls still bear the banner of the Central Army, but the nomads may not know it, and they may not care: how much attention does the predator pay to the pattern of the prey?

Peter the Norman executed deserters all night, some of his men tried to sneak in with General George's Central Army sequence, and Angus's screams echoed all the time, which made him feel a strange sense of relief, iron discipline was still in force, which represented some kind of order, order prevents chaos, chaos creates death.

It is about to begin, there will be no more trumpets and flags, the long repression will suffocate them all, and those who leave will flee as if fleeing the apocalypse, but it will not be enough to avoid the fate of destruction.