Earl Heribert is a burly, middle-aged man with blond hair and turquoise eyes inherited from his mother's family.

It is said that the Earl came from the northern city of Stettin, near the Baltic Sea, and intermarried with the Viking royal family of Scandinavia for a hundred years, which not only helped the security of the northern territory from the harassment of Vikings, but also obtained foreign aid for the family and ensured the family's right to speak in Germany.

But I think the most effective point is that the family genes have been greatly improved, and many blonde and blue-eyed muscular guys have been mass-produced.

The Count was dressed in elaborate chain mail, covered with a white mink-trimmed red cloak that represented the Count, and rode a very powerful Nordic heavy warhorse, followed by the knights of his own family, equally tall and well-armored squires.

The Earl greeted me with great cultivation, first commending me on behalf of His Majesty for my meritorious work in conquering the fortified city by taking the peril alone, and then at the welcome banquet he had prepared, while secretly sending off Qiu Bo with the noble lady, he secretly revealed to me the true purpose of the trip.

At this time, the nobles and women of Ravenna were dressed in rich costumes, gold and silver, and painted eyebrows and teeth at the dinner table, showing the wealth and cultivation of their family, and at the same time expressing their family's determination and ability to be loyal to Germany to the emperor's ministers.

It seems to me that everyone is a well-groomed pug, smiling and wagging his tail to show goodwill, and he knows the times to bloom himself in front of the most powerful forces, and human beings are indeed the tendency of interests.

The Italian aristocracy, having only woken up from a dream after the fall of Mantua and Ravenna, turned their heads one after another, as if for the first time they found themselves so ridiculous and vulnerable, gathering under the German banner and mercilessly betraying their former allies.

The rebels have cowered in the castle of Engels has become the end of the crossbow, and now His Majesty's army is taking advantage of the victory to pounce on Rome, along the way have looked at the wind and shadows, the number of troops has increased geometrically, and even the army will find that there are many more emotional Italian nobles around them unconsciously, and the march is completely a juggling armed procession, but the expansion of military power also brings an increasingly prominent problem.

Earl Heribert played with the elegant silver wine glass in his hand, the scarlet wine liquid in it adhered to the wall of the glass, like a thin spray of blood, feeding his fat belly of poop, I stared intently at the wine glass in his hand, and my heart beat like a small drum, as if it was my own life that was being toyed with, as long as the big man in front of me was not careful, his head would break and bleed.

"Your Majesty's logistical supply line is too long, before the expedition, His Majesty had advised His Majesty not to plunder the villages along the way, so as to ensure that the conquered areas would not be instigated by people with ulterior motives to rebel again, but the road conditions are not good, the seaborne grain has just been taken over by the Venetians, and it is a drop in the bucket to be able to help.

"If the army's grain and grass can't keep up, the combat effectiveness will decline, and loyalty will also be affected, seeing that the great cause of counterinsurgency that is about to be victorious may have twists and turns, when I came, His Majesty specially explained that I want to come to you to get the gold coins and grain and grass needed for the next attack of the whole army, after all, the well of Ravenna is very close to the fire field where there is a shortage of food, which is convenient for emergency relief, which is one of the reasons why Your Majesty sent you thousands of miles to attack Ravenna."

I stared at the pork leg roasted in front of me, which was thinly sprinkled with a layer of finely cut oriental spices, making the whole dish exude an enticing aroma, as if there were countless pairs of big hands that seduced the soul, dragging everyone's senses and smells.

I swallowed and spat, and I didn't know whether I was greedy for the thigh meat torn off by Count Heribert, or I couldn't make a decision: "Lord Count, please try this smoked herring with sauce again, it is a specialty of Ravenna, and it tastes very good." As he spoke, he enthusiastically moved the plate to the Earl's side.

"It is indeed very good, the nobility of Italy enjoys life more than the royal family of the court, the curiosities from the Levant and the mysterious Orient have crisped the bones of their serving, the heroic spirit of ancient Rome has long been forgotten, and the offspring of the wolf has become lambs to the slaughter on the chopping block, like a young widow in unclothed clothes, ravaged by the strong men of the neighbors on the left and right."

"The loss of Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica to the Saracens, the occupation of Taranto by the Eastern Empire, and the constant wars of the kingdoms allowed the empire to gain access to the interests of the peninsula."

Count Heribert cut the herring into small pieces with a dagger, covered it with a square scarf in his left hand, and put it in his mouth as if he were elegantly chewing and swallowing it slowly.

"To get back to the point, you've been in control of Ravenna for a long time, and I believe that there must be a lot of good things in this old duke's castle that we didn't expect, how many things can be taken out here now? His Majesty was in a hurry, and even the fodder for feeding the horses was running out of fodder in the cart pushed by the miscellaneous soldiers. ”

I glanced up at the drunken Julius who was staggering out of the hall with two plump breasts around his arms, and quickly considered his answer, and then approached the Count and said:

"We found a cellar in the chapel of the castle where the gold coins were hidden, but unfortunately we and the Venetians shared the responsibility of searching in the city to show fairness, so the gold coins found were divided between them in half......"

I looked at the count's rapidly darkened face, and hurriedly continued to report: "But there are countless wheat in the granary, some of which has been loaded on ships, and some of which I have distributed to poor citizens in the name of the emperor to win support and trust, and at least three-fifths remained, as long as there are enough means of transportation, even the nobles of the whole of Europe can afford to come to Germany!" ”

Duke Heribert had a well-maintained eye at the corner of his eye, the hidden crow's feet were stretched, and he smiled and ate the remaining fish on the plate, and then wiped his mouth with a square towel unlike most German nobles, and said to me with a wine glass: "I want to thank you on behalf of Your Majesty, Viscount Randy!" ”

"It should be! You're welcome! ”

I nodded and touched the wine glass, but my heart was dripping blood, and I felt sorry for the gold coins and food that I didn't have time to transport, and feeding the dogs was better than giving it to this group of white-eyed wolves!

Two days later, I led my men and drove the wagons to the marching camp of His Majesty the Emperor, and in the long procession there were many citizens of Ravenna dressed in simple leather armor or chain mail, holding spears, and wearing special round-brimmed hats.

The small merchant Modiunas, who claimed to have some influence among the citizens, raised his arms very interestingly, and brought me two thousand cheap infantry, many of whom had known each other for a long time, had experience in going to the battlefield together, and had a strong ability to organize and coordinate operations, relying on a rigorous phalanx and orderly advance and retreat to break the enemy.

I smiled at the fact that these equipment supplies were all self-care propertied people, and I couldn't help but sigh at the advanced Italian military service system, which is a bit like the military system of the Tang Dynasty that I learned in the history books before, or the peasant and military system of the Byzantine Empire, to ensure the health of the smallest members of society, hide the wealth from the people, and then combine them into an army, which greatly guarantees the quality and quantity of soldiers, so that the economy and military are both hard to grasp, I secretly wrote down, and decided to carry out similar military reform in the territory in the future.