"I used my old connections to find an opportunity to visit the Count of Flanders himself, but he doesn't seem to care too much about you, as a dull aristocrat who values blood and origin, it is not unreasonable for him to have such a reaction, and his family's history dates back to the Merovingian era."

Leonardo pushed away the cups and cups on the table in front of him, cleared out a small piece of clean tabletop, and took out a document stamped with the lion coat of arms of the Count of Flanders to show me.

"Later, I learned that the Earl was going to hold a grand banquet in the near future, and invited all the nobles in the vicinity, and even the younger brother of the King of France was on the invitation list, but the ingredients were missing one of the most important things, the Limburg aeron mushroom."

"Lip mushroom?"

I asked rhetorically, the name sounded so funny, and somehow I kept thinking of the mouth of a sausage that had been blown up by firecrackers.

"Yes, a mushroom that grows only in the pine forests of the Limburg region is a great addition to cooking venison, but it is so delicate that if it is left from the soil for more than two days, it will shrink and wither and lose its original use."

Leonardo is worthy of being an all-rounder, and in order to solve my doubts, he will tell me the specific situation of the goose lip mushroom: "The success or failure of this banquet is directly related to the face of the Count of Flanders and the prestige among the nobles in this area, so there is absolutely no room for error. ”

"After learning about this matter through the insider, I sent someone to transport a batch of L. lip mushrooms from Limburg overnight, and in order to ensure freshness, each one was transported to Flanders with a whole piece of native soil, and finally delivered to the earl's kitchen before the banquet, and then he pried open his clenched teeth, and promised to include you in the selection of those who were considered, but ......"

"But what? You obviously just see that I'm listening seriously and selling off, hurry up! I shook his shoulders impatiently, bullied the old man with no public morality, and almost shook his old bones to the ground.

"Ahem, you're trying to kill ...... for money."

Leonardo pounded his squeaky old arms and legs, and coughed pretendingly: "But he wants to test your true strength, I hope you can lead your army to conquer the robber Louis entrenched in the Capello Valley, he is a bully who despises the authority of the Count and plunders the past merchants, seriously damaging the Count's rule and the interests of the people, the Count's army has been defeated by him by taking advantage of the terrain several times, and now he is becoming more and more arrogant and does not know how to restrain himself, and gradually has a tendency to sit on the throne." ”

"Louis the robber?"

I muttered the name, and turned my head inquiringly to look at Jensen, who was standing on the outermost side: "After so long in the green forest, are you familiar with this person?" ”

Ting Sen nodded and replied: "Of course I am familiar, when he was down, he once forced me to join the gang, and I lost a lot of brothers in order to escape from the clutches of the devil, and this blood debt will be paid back sooner or later!" Louis is a name that disgraces a thief, and he robs everyone he sees without principle, whether it is a poor old man or a helpless woman and child, he is a mad dog. ”

I rolled my eyes and muttered in my heart: "It's all robbers, and what are you pretending to be high......"

——————————

The entire ruling machine in Nijmegen was running at high speed, and everyone was like a clockwork gear, clucking and clucking to carry out their respective missions, biting very closely, methodically preparing for the pre-departure event.

As a lord, I am idle and bored, and I keep putting my chain mail in the sand every day to grind and wash, or oil weapons, and almost have profound attainments in this business, which is the benefit of ten thousand people, and there will be a lot of people busy implementing any sentence, leaving you with a lot of leisure time to walk cats and dogs, and think about life boringly.

The vassals, who had seen the formidable strength of the Count of Nijmegen, rushed to the castle of Herusbeck as soon as they received the order, and rushed to set up a marching tent outside the castle, like mushrooms blooming after the rain, and a large piece appeared in the blink of an eye.

Leonardo carried me behind my back to collect professional prostitutes from all over the world, providing a full range of services for every man who loves face and is willing to spend money, and at the same time learned the most authentic and detailed information from between the pillows, killing two birds with one stone.

Wangcai's work went a little wrong, and in addition to the food that kept the castle running, there was not much food and grass that could be provided to the army.

Moreover, the requisitioned people always deserted, because going to the construction site to beg for a living, or tending to the oat seedlings that had just grown, relatively speaking, was much less dangerous than going out to fight a legendary devil-like bandit leader, and besides, seventy percent of the remuneration could not be paid until the victory returned, who knew where their heads would be hung and dried at that time, so some people were afraid in their hearts, and would rather offend the majesty of the lord than dare to take this risk.

"You have been so merciful to them, my lord!"

A middle-aged knight who had been trained in the war, poured a large sip of ale, and said rudely to me, he had been promoted to the rank of hereditary baron because of his performance, and his big open mouth gave off a foul smell of bad breath, and saliva mixed with food scraps splashed everywhere, making me frown, and my eyes were quick to dodge.

"These cheap bones are born to be trampled under the feet of people, God has already arranged it when he created things, what they need to understand is just obedience and obedience and obedience, there is no need to be so reasonable, whoever is disobedient will directly pull up the standing cage and dry him half to death!"

"I guess the inferior quality of the ale, which makes you stunned, goes straight to the standing cage? Let me find so much wood, if there were such neat wood, I would have nailed myself a big bed a long time ago, and I would never waste it on such a meaningless thing. ”

I resisted the urge to vomit in my throat, tried to keep my facial expression calm, and made a joke with my glass that made everyone around the table laugh.

After the laughter, Modiyunas pushed away the clean plate in front of him, which was full of chicken bones and unpalatable garlic, and he didn't think that this guy was still a picky eater, he looked at the people around him who were laughing and eating, and asked:

"Then my most respected Earl, how are you going to raise the food and grass of the whole army within the appointed time? If there are not enough soldiers and civilians, logistics will be the biggest reason for our failure, and no one will pour the night pot at night, and we will be smoked to death by the monstrous stench! As soon as he finished speaking, there was a loud laugh of banging on the table and slapping the bench.

I stared at his earnestly inquiring eyes, nodded with satisfaction, and then raised my hands and pressed them down twice to signal everyone to be quiet, and every vassal stopped what he was busy with and focused his eyes on the lord's body, I brushed the mustache that I had slowly gathered to decorate the façade in the past few days, leaned back in the chair and said:

"I've always wondered, what makes a country strong in your opinion? Let's talk about it, it's okay, tell me what you really think. ”

Everyone looked at me at the question that suddenly popped out of nowhere, obviously not expecting that their feudal monarch would ask such a question that seemed to be a good answer, but in fact there was no standard answer, and they all sat quietly in a daze for a while, waiting for the first colleague to speak.

"A strong army that can destroy all dominance."

A knight sitting in the corner said, and this rhetoric, combined with his powerful figure, was indeed very convincing, and made people feel a suffocating sense of oppression.

"Anything else?"

I smiled at the knight who was brave enough to speak his mind, and continued to follow the rules, hoping that others would talk about it and use this opportunity to get to know his subordinates better.

Another knight, who was a little older, stood up and said, "Illustrious origins and countless relatives and friends, these close networks can make anything more effective with half the effort, and no one dares to challenge the entire family behind you, which is equivalent to fighting with countless opponents, and lions are afraid of wolves." He was clearly more experienced, and believed that the blood bond was much more reliable than the covenant of the sworn oath.

"This is indeed suitable for the children of families with ancient blood, but it is not a universal law, as far as I know, several emperors of Eastern Rome, who were not from very noble backgrounds, still relied on their outstanding talents and continuous efforts to become the supreme of the empire, and accepted the worship of tens of millions of people under their feet." Isn't it embarrassing to mention the bloodline theory in front of me, and everyone knows how much water I have in my background.

The knight, who had just spoken rudely, wanted to improve the bad image he had left on me, so he carefully rubbed his hands together and organized his clumsy language: "The high prestige of the lord, and the sincere allegiance of the vassals, such a country is a tightly clenched fist, a rock that cannot find a flaw, and can crush any innocent fanatic who dares to come to challenge." ”

I nodded approvingly, which made the nervous knight smile relaxedly, it seemed that he was still not less influenced by literature and art, but as for whether to spend time listening to the priest read the Bible, or whether he was familiar with the minstrel of the bard, I further inspired them:

"One heart is indeed the foundation of the country's long-term peace and stability, but not all, some countries even if the monarch and the minister are united, but still can't get rid of the tragic fate of broken mountains and rivers, the country is destroyed, why?"

"Tell me, my lord, how can we build an eternal kingdom of heaven that God will be proud of?"

Perhaps enough of me talking about it, Leonardo asked, standing up from the back of the table. Although he had essentially become my first vassal, he was not allowed to dine at the same table with the nobles due to his status as a merchant, and it was only with my intervention that he compromised and gained a place on the edge of the long banquet table.

(End of chapter)