In this era, banquets and dinners were the best way for these nobles, who lived all day long, who knew only to calculate their neighbors' territories and exploit serfs, to obtain news and make friends with the powerful.

In addition, you don't have to be careful about food reserves, let your family let go of their stomachs and feast, maybe any rich and powerful young nobleman looks at his son who is not a weapon, or his daughter who only wastes food all day long, from then on, the family carp jumps into the dragon gate, and can rise to the top, why not do this kind of good thing?

Therefore, there are so many nobles who come to Rome today, almost all the nobles in Italy who are not good enough to participate in the banquet have come, and even those knights who do not have knighthoods have tried their best to come in groups with some nobles, taking advantage of each other's identities in order to get this opportunity to wag their tails like the new masters.

From this point of view alone, these noble lords who claim to have noble blood and a long history are not so noble and clean, they are just lackeys of higher rank in front of the superiors, and domestic pugs are also dogs.

These aristocrats from various small castles dragged their families to dig out the heirloom clothes at the bottom of the box as much as possible, and carefully washed a few dusty clothes worn by their ancestors, for fear of damaging the outdated decorations on them, and put them into their bloated bodies with great care, posing as if they were well-off.

Then, like the merchants who sell fake watches in the south, they put those real and fake gems and jewelry, as if they were on display, on any exposed skin, and make themselves lustrous, although they do not look noble at all, but like an old rooster with a bald tail, talking and laughing, opening and closing their mouths to Rome and Greece, and raising their voices in a high-pitched voice for fear that others will not know that their family is from a noble family with a long history.

But when he proudly thought that he had succeeded in attracting everyone's attention in the envious eyes of others, he didn't find that his fat little son was using dirty hands and unruly grabbing those tempting foods that he had never seen before, and his vulgar greedy expression that had never seen the world exposed everything!

The so-called aristocracy is nothing more than the poor parasites who can always find a new master who kneels down the fastest.

The attendants quickly removed their bunks, and on the red carpet in the middle of the hall, brought a long table of solid wood neatly put together, on which candlesticks made of expensive beeswax were placed at a strict distance, and then began to let the maids hand the carefully prepared food and barrels of the Holy See's own wine to the table.

In order to highlight the vastness and abundance of the German Empire, His Majesty the Emperor specially ordered the Italian Grand Judge Helibert to allocate a special fund to bring ingredients from all over the world, and the most famous chef in Italy was in charge of the preparation, so that Germany could achieve an overwhelming victory not only militarily, but also in food culture.

So, thanks to the strange vanity of His Majesty, we can find on long tables precious cod from the North Sea, matsutake and wild venison from the Polish forests, black sausages from Bavaria and plump herring from the Adriatic Sea.

Each dish was carefully cooked, steaming hot with the tantalizing smell of the Venetian merchants' mysterious oriental spices from the Levant, and even the nobles of the well-informed Italian coastal city-states stared at these ingredients from almost every corner of Europe, marveling at Germany's vast wealth and unfathomable military might, and at the same time awe Emperor Otto, who held the supreme power of the empire.

After the banquet began, His Majesty the Emperor, who had changed into a costume, sat at the top, and on his right hand was His Majesty the Pope Ni in a white background and gold-rimmed uniform, and the rest of the Grand Dukes were arranged on both sides of His Majesty the Emperor in order of power within the empire, and I, as the second protagonist today, or the best supporting actor, was placed on the right side of His Majesty the Pope, a very honorable position.

Henry, Grand Duke of Bavaria, sat across from me and smiled, while the old Duke of Swabia, who sat to his right, stared at me dissatisfied, wondering why His Majesty the Emperor and His Holiness the Pope had exalted me, a clown who seemed to him to be grandiose, but in front of the two Majesties he could only vent his anger on the chicken leg on the plate, and the poor chicken leg meat was torn to pieces.

"Congratulations, Lord Count Nijmegen."

Pope Neon leaned over and spoke to me with his glass, still with an amiable smile on his face, but I felt that behind these false smiles was venom-stained fangs, ready to tear me apart.

"You have become the youngest count of Germany, relying on your own mind rather than your ancestral shadow, and the land of Italy is truly your blessed land."

"Your Majesty, you've won the prize, it's all God's protection!"

I noticed that the eyes of the archdukes around me were all focused on me, and Emperor Otto, although he seemed to be intently enjoying the grilled herring in front of him, was in fact likely waiting for my answer with his ears pricked up.

At this time, you must not make a mistake, you must push two, six or five, everything is the credit of God, you just pick up the cheap by the way, otherwise you will offend all the big nobles here!

The youngest earl? Hehe, maybe soon he will become the youngest dead man!

His Majesty the Emperor took his glass and drank slowly, everyone knew that this was a precursor to his imminent speech, so they all lowered their heads and pretended to be busy with their own affairs, quietly waiting for Emperor Otto's instructions.

For a while, the atmosphere at the dinner table was a little awkward, only the small and medium-sized nobles at the other end of the long table were still happily clinking glasses and laughing with each other, which could be regarded as adding a little bit of human touch to the deserted hall.

"Whenever this kind of scene where many people gather together, I feel a kind of coldness from my bones, wrapping my frozen body little by little, I don't know why."

His Majesty the Emperor slowly lowered the wine glass, as if it were a sleeping baby, for fear of damaging the corners of the golden treasure.

"But only this kind of time can make me feel that my dream really exists, and because of this, I can prove that it has been realized, how many generations of German kings have long-cherished wish, that is, to sit on the highest point of Rome and enjoy the worship of ten thousand people, we have almost emptied ourselves, those warriors who really pay, but forever lie on the land of a foreign land, let the corpses slowly rot, and we now have to sit here, and these greased clowns in front of us push the cup, even if we know that when we are defeated by stronger opponents, They will run to their new masters with their tails wagging. ”

"Your Majesty, you are drunk!"

His Majesty quietly took Emperor Otto's wine glass away and put it in the tray of his attendants, lightly changing the subject, and stopping the emperor from saying more outrageous words in time.

The young emperor shook his head, stretched out his hand to push aside the plate on the table, and kept tapping the table with the blade of the dagger in his hand, his tone was soft but could not hide the impatience of the period:

"I'm reminding everyone, the more you go to the highest point of life, the fewer people can follow you, you must cherish the comrades-in-arms who are still standing behind you at the moment, giving you support, we are sitting here now It seems to be very beautiful, but this is just a small stop on the long journey, there is still a long way to go, we need to work together, instead of dwelling on how to get more loot and slaves for ourselves."

Emperor Otto said, glancing at the Archduke of Swabia and the Duke of Upper Lorraine, whose faces were a little unnatural, and it was obvious that His Majesty was pretending to be drunk so hard, just to gently knock it, these two high-ranking Grand Dukes, the road ahead is long, and it will take a long time.

The Pope cleared his throat, and everyone turned their attention to him, only to see him gently tear the well-baked white bread, and gently dip it in the salt and stuff it into his mouth, and then say word by word:

"And the Lord said, Do not judge men, lest ye be judged, for as you judge men, so you will be judged, and with whatever measure you measure, you will measure it against you. If you feel that other people's distribution is unfair, then others will inevitably be dissatisfied with your distribution, so that such a close friend may also turn against each other, we have just achieved such results, but have learned to lie on glory and sleep lazy, then what is the difference between us and the Italians like lambs that we look down on? ”

At this moment, all the great nobles lowered their heads and were silent, and His Majesty the Emperor and His Majesty the Pope sang and harmonized, which achieved the expected goal very well, and people had to wonder if the two of them had been rehearsed in private.

As I said before, the German Empire was a union of states established by the principalities, and the emperor was only a nominal co-master, as long as the royal family was strong enough, then these rebellious grand dukes would unite under the banner of the eagle to gain glory, otherwise they would disobey the orders of the imperial family, and even conspire to replace the other.

Fortunately, the current royal family of the Duke of Saxony is strong enough, and the painstaking management of three generations of emperors has made the empire flourish like the newborn sun.

However, these powerful clan dukes have been the kings of their respective ruling regions for hundreds of years, and they have great autonomy in politics and economy, and the people in their territories have been their private property and warriors for generations, and they have a strong sense of identity and centripetal force for these duke families, and their power is intertwined, and it is easy to move them.

Therefore, since Emperor Otto ascended the throne, like the previous emperors, he has also suffered from the strong power of the principality and the constraints on the imperial power, but he is helpless against the current situation that affects the whole body, and can only make small repairs piecemeal, interspersed and infiltrated little by little, and gradually disintegrate the seemingly impregnable clan royal power.

"I have decided to make Italy a direct fiefdom of Germany, and not to be divided into small fiefs subordinate to the various principalities, so that it is conducive to the establishment and revival of the authority of the empire on this land, and the Italian magistrate Helriber will exercise his power as governor, and as for the prisoners of war and the spoils of war in those cities, I will divide them equally according to the contribution of the war, and the rest will be donated to the Holy See as a devotion to God, do you have any objection?"

His Majesty the Emperor said in an irrefutable tone that he had already planned in his heart, or the dictatorial plan of the two cousins, and his expression did not look like he was discussing something with the Grand Dukes at all, but said arrogantly: "Huh? Who is not convinced, stand up! ”

"God knows, this is really a fair thing to do!"

The Grand Duke of Swabia was the first to say that the Duke of Upper Lorraine could not get more than himself anyway, and what could be happier than seeing his opponent eat deflated with him?

The rest of the dukes also semi-voluntarily echoed the old duke's words, and the tense atmosphere at the banquet finally came to an end.

However, the young emperor, who was not shocking and dying, was not willing to let the atmosphere go on so dullly, and before the others could pick up the dishes and catch their breath, he went on to announce his ambitious plan:

"It's already February, and when we return to our fiefdoms, there is not much time left for us to prepare for spring ploughing, and the enemies on the surface have basically bowed down, so this year is a good time for us to bury our heads in development."

His Majesty the Emperor slapped the table excitedly, like a child who had found his favorite toy: "The Eastern Roman Emperor led an army of 40,000 and was surrounded by the Saracens of Syria, but as far as the current situation is concerned, if Baghdad and Cairo do not help, the whole of Syria and Lebanon will soon return to the arms of God." ”

"The Danish man Svan, who may be plundering the southern coast of England with his dragon-headed warship, to the disdain of the ragged islanders, and the French boy who can only make trouble and intrigue behind the backs, and struggle over the ownership of Burgundy and Provence, a civil war seems inevitable. Gifted by the Alliance, none of our enemies have the energy to deal with the Empire. It's time for the world to hear our cries! ”