His Holiness the Pope, on the other hand, attached great importance to the victory in Nijmegen, and his secret envoy soon came to Utrecht by boat with a message, where he met me alone and congratulated me, but at the same time reluctantly pointed out that before the official order of His Majesty the Emperor was issued, His Holips had to pretend to be deaf and dumb, and could only express his concern for Nijmegen in his personal capacity, and he swore that the Holy See would never delay Nijmegen in the question of the belonging of Friesland, and would certainly do its best to facilitate the matter.

After saying these tacit routines, the envoy turned to the point, implicitly raising the Pope's concern about the current situation, and hoping that through the understanding between the two sides, some verbal agreement could be reached, so as to add weight to the Pope's victory in the subsequent possible actions.

His logic is very ridiculous, in fact, I have never understood why the Pope, who was saved by me, always has to pull himself up no matter what he does, and is so affectionate as if I know him well, Nijmegen is speechless in the political circle of the empire in terms of strength and discourse, and he is not even a little brother who lifts shoes.

Moreover, Nijmegen was separated from Rome by a thousand mountains and rivers, and even if the alliance had an emergency, it would not be possible to save it in time, so the olive branches he repeatedly threw were either used with ulterior motives or promoted by a flood of mercy, and the possibility of the latter was very small.

"Could it be that His Majesty the Pope is really crooked? Obsessed with me? Thinking of this, I couldn't help but shiver down my spine, and a chill in my heart.

On November 1st, Halloween, which was more respected in China in later generations, came to this time, and people did not have a more funny way of celebrating and renovating costumes and props like in the future, pumpkins only grew on the land of America, and did not come to the Old World with the ships of the colonists, so people just lit lanterns in front of the door to remind the ghosts who wandered around in the darkest night not to trespass into God's sheltered houses, but these small orange lanterns, decorated after the medieval sun set, The dark night sky makes it much more lovely.

Standing in front of the castle window, I admired the rare lights of thousands of homes, and only in a big city like Utrecht can I create the feeling of the lights of a modern city in later generations, and I feel very nostalgic for the world thousands of years from now.

A few days after Halloween were a series of festivals of remembrance of the dead, and in Utrecht after the war, the oppressive atmosphere of this remembrance was even stronger, and even the weather was very gloomy, and from time to time a little rain was sprinkled to set off the sadness of the family's night crying, so that the soldiers of Nijmegen could not help but begin to miss their relatives back home, and the feeling of war-weariness and homesickness spread like a plague, and the military spirit was slightly unstable, and Kohler and the bull were like me expressing faint worry.

I thought that I would taste the roast goose of St. Martin's Day in Utrecht this year, and by the way, I would be able to make up for the loss by scavenging some departure tax in the autumn breeze, but I didn't expect that His Majesty the Emperor finally noticed that this incident happened in the corner of Germany, and belatedly sent an envoy to announce that the most important thing for this war was the final decision of the rich lowland country of Friesland, and for a time the whole of Germany turned its attention to Utrecht, and I was on the cusp of public opinion.

I became a prominent upstart in an instant, and I successively received many envoys who came with various secret orders, and the big lords who privately sent secret envoys to contact their feelings, basically all had the following thoughts, either gloating, or envy and jealousy, or wanting to draw some benefits for themselves by the way, or looking for an opportunity to form an alliance with Nijmegen and win over a powerful comrade-in-arms to support me.

On the main road to Utrecht, horse-drawn carriages and missions on horseback were crowded everywhere, and everyone with the same mission was embarrassed to face each other, and then staggered their itineraries with weak hearts.

The content of His Majesty's edict is basically expected, but there are some unexpected discrepancies in the details, Nijmegen worked hard to make the cake, and he did not get the largest piece, although he has long been mentally prepared, but the result is still a little unbearable when it is in front of him.

Leonardo reminded me more than once that Nijmegen, which is not legally and rationally dominant, will definitely not be able to monopolize such a huge Friesland and the annexed Zeeland region, and after the heir of the Earl's family is extinct, the higher lord to whom he is loyal will automatically gain the power to dominate this land, and we can only trust His Majesty the Emperor as much as possible, and we also need the existence of Nijmegen on the northwest border of the empire, praying that we will not waste our efforts to make wedding clothes for others, and in the end we will get nothing empty-handed.

In the final partition agreement, His Majesty the Emperor, as the fiefdom of the Earl of Friesland, became the supreme lord here, and he annexed the three territories of Groningen, Drenthe, and Gelderland to Saxony, while Utrecht continued to retain the independent identity of the bishopric, which was tantamount to hanging a sword over the head of Nijmegen, unable to connect the territories, like a fish bone choking in the throat, neither up nor down, and it was suddenly stuck there to annoy you.

Taking care of Nijmegen's interests, His Majesty the Emperor will eventually be dismembered and less than a third of the Friesland remained, canonized to me as a new fief, and the Frisian Earl as a political entity disappeared forever.

Your Majesty has obviously read the letter I submitted, and learned the background of the Flanders expedition, although he is extremely disgusted with the nominal power of another country into the state affairs of Germany, but he does not hate to share benefits with the Count of Flanders, and it is still an acceptable sacrifice to win over a force that can contain the Capetian royal family, and spit out some scraps of meat that he can't chew into his mouth, and in view of the consolidated in-law relationship between Nijmegen and Flanders, as well as Lower Lorraine, his concessions can also gain the favor of the three parties at the same time, Who wouldn't love such a retreat?

The territory of Nijmegen in the Zeeland region was no longer a fief, and the vassals in this land were transferred to other places, and everyone turned a blind eye to Flanders' control of Zeeland, which extended Flanders' sphere of influence to the north, providing fertile estuarine plains and relatively better ports to the sea.

After learning that he had regained control of the city, the Bishop of Utrecht finally ordered the church to be closed for more than ten days, and the devout people who were waiting outside flocked in, and the scene was very much like a store with a big sale.

The present cathedral is a symbol of spiritual independence in the hearts of the citizens of Utrecht, representing the freedom and democracy of the city, and although the insatiable bishop and his henchmen are not very popular, as long as they can drive out the invading Nijmegen people, the citizens are more than willing to re-imprison the religious yoke on their heads, at least the bishop is a relative man of his own.

Since it is a city of people, it is best to withdraw voluntarily before they issue a less friendly eviction order, and in recent days the revolt of the citizens of Utrecht has become more and more open, and the whole city has shown the hostility of the red luoluo, and both men, women and children have spontaneously rejected the unpopular Nijmegen people, so that the soldiers can only be trapped in the barracks and castles, and in an instant they become angry little daughters-in-law.

Before leaving, I took the time to visit the Bishop of Utrecht, who had been closed, and he was not good at refuting our face, after all, we would have to bow our heads and not look up in the future, and things on the scene had to be done, so the atmosphere of the conversation between the guests and the host was relatively harmonious, reaffirming the traditional friendship while emphasizing their respective rights and obligations, and pretending to shake hands and say joy.

It wasn't until I tasted the poor sour feast deliberately put forward by the church with clear soup and little water that I endured it to the limit, and I no longer wanted to continue to stay, so I took a leave of absence and left with my men, and the mottled stone façade of the church behind me looked eerie against the light, and the sound of the bell sounded like a horn to urge life, which made people feel very uncomfortable both physically and mentally.

"His Majesty the Emperor still doesn't trust me very much, so he has to bury such a restrictive nail, and the superior will set up a trick under his hands." I smiled helplessly, and with a sharp turn on my horse, I returned to the castle under the escort of the cavalry.

The saddest people who learned that we were to leave were probably the merchants of Utrecht, who came to the Earl's Castle in tears and asked for an audience, and with a handful of snot and tears of reluctance, they almost knelt on the ground and hugged their thighs.

I stared at this group of excellent extras with a sneer on my face, and the implication of their words was nothing more than that things were done, people came out, and taxes were paid, why didn't you want to pat your ass and leave in the end?

Leonardo glanced at me, and I saw the same disdain on his face, the old guy has always thought very highly of himself, and felt that he was different from these small merchants and peddlers who pursued fishy profits, and the concept he adhered to was somewhat similar to Lü Buwei, who funded Qin Shi Huang's father and son to dominate the world at the end of the Warring States Period.

Leonardo saw that I didn't want to talk nonsense with these small businessmen, so he took the initiative to stand up and appease them, coupled with his financial strength and special status as a businessman, so the merchants in Utrecht stopped crying and pricked up their ears to listen to him, Leonardo stood next to my right hand, and Kohler's gang of descendants were only lined up on both sides of him, and this most honorable position also showed the reliability of his right to speak, and the businessmen could not doubt:

"Do you think that you have achieved what you are doing today by your wisdom and diligence, when you have to carry out the royal decree of His Majesty the Emperor, that Utrecht will be the independent city where the Bishops will be stationed, and that they will proclaim the supreme glory of God in the Low Countries? No, it is a gift from God, and everything on earth is nothing but mortal dust compared to his greatness. ”

The merchants of Utrecht immediately took out all kinds of golden crosses that were trapped in the fat around their necks, pretended to be pious, and prayed in fear: "Praise be to God! All glory be to the Father! ”

The pitches are mixed together, blending into an annoying hum.

Leonardo watched with satisfaction as the merchants performed hard, killing them first for a while had a good effect, at least psychologically, he pressed his hand to signal everyone to be quiet, and continued:

"Utrecht is a city of free and brilliant commerce, Venice on the coast of the North Sea, and it is believed that under the rule of the bishop, the city can be purified with piety to God, more and more extravagance and those who do not respect God, and create a holy city of God."

Speaking of this, he paused deliberately, observing the reactions of the businessmen below, and through the hints between the lines, he tactfully let them recognize the situation and understand who is the one who can really cover it.

(End of chapter)