The Saracens did leave us hillbillies far behind when it came to cooking delicious food and pleasures, and while most of the European lords were still thinking about how to make their stone castles less cold in winter, the Saracens wore cotton tulle robes and walked under the shady tents, sipping wine with ice cubes and hugging each other.

Take the Saracen-style roast leg of lamb in front of us as an example, our people may not be so patient to turn the lamb, but the crux of the problem is that no lord can use a lot of spices so extravagantly to mix the taste of the food to be delicious and attractive, even the emperor of the empire can't treat the priceless spices as worthless pine leaves, not to mention that not every meat with pine leaves can achieve the icing on the cake delicious effect, I can at least name a dozen kinds of pine leaves added to ruin the food of this dish!

The Count of Hanover burped his full belly, and at the same time cut the unfinished leg of lamb in front of him into small strips, dipped it in the sauce carefully prepared by Chef Saracen, and stuffed it into his mouth, strolling leisurely through the side seams.

You guessed right, that's right, this is the second leg of lamb that his old man has eaten, and given that each thigh of this whole sheep is thicker than my arm, so you can imagine his combat strength, and the capacity of his belly, the Earl did not be polite to me, and did his best to feast.

"Pour the wine!"

The old earl raised his glass and shouted rudely, restoring the normal image of the nobles at the table, those Western food etiquette that has been repeatedly learned, imitated and praised by people in later generations, at least in this era, has not yet been formed, and the table knife and fork are not even a shadow, everyone is like a hungry beast, tearing food without rules, and pouring inferior wine syrup.

Regardless of the ugly appearance and rough sound of eating, just the fact that they are waving daggers at their waists all over the table to cut meat, and rubbing grease on their clothes without caring is enough to make people sick to their stomachs, not to mention that every bone that is still stained with saliva and tartar has to be eaten by the attendants or hunting dogs waiting on the side, this scene is no less exciting than going to a safari park to watch the captive tiger swallow live pigs!

I looked at the old earl, who had eaten to my heart's content, and suddenly regretted that I had been so clumsy in this generous way of conversation, and that this old man was not a decent man of shame at all.

"Don't let the poor goat be dismembered, Lord Earl, for we have serious business to discuss."

I made a joke that I couldn't even enjoy myself, and said dryly: "At this moment, the nobles who are guarding outside and waiting for the news are fat lambs waiting to be slaughtered. ”

"Isn't that what you're good at?"

The Earl of Hanover chewed the mutton in his mouth and replied vaguely: "Your clever little head melon will always have a few more twists and turns than us, you say that I will do it, everything will naturally get twice the result with half the effort, are you right, Randy?" ”

"You've always been so wise to let things change when things happen."

I praised the Earl's philosophy of acting, but in my heart I had already scolded this old fox to the bottom, the ability to chase the smell was first-class, and he was naturally indispensable if he was cheap, and he seemed to participate in the distribution of spoils but was not really involved, counting the money and picking himself cleanly, and there were hole cards that could be turned over at any time, which was really a trick.

"In this case, the younger generation will put forward his own little opinion on the future political situation, please correct."

"I love to listen to stories, especially when I eat meat, because when my old mother told me the legend of Charlemagne when I was a child, she fed me a whole roast pigeon, and a bone got stuck in my throat and almost choked me to death, so angry that my father punished her so hard that he threw her to the castle guard, who was as hungry as a wolf and a tiger."

The Count of Hanover raised his glass and squeezed his eyes at me, half-jokingly, half-seriously: "I guess maybe it's a reward for both sides, haha!" ”

I picked up my cup and touched it with him, took a shallow sip to moisten my throat, sorted out the black lines all over my head, and then began to recount my well-thought-out thoughts in earnest:

"For the sake of today's plan, the top priority is to ensure the continuation of the Saxon line, and must not let other families get involved in the throne, as vassals you and I both understand the price to be paid once the country changes hands, this is not only a change of regime, but also the beginning of a counteroffensive, those villains who are good at falling into the well, will take this opportunity to jump out and stab us in the back."

When the old earl heard this, he froze the movement of stuffing meat into his mouth, as if he remembered the tragedy that happened in his childhood, when his father was on the side of Henry, the bird catcher of the Duke of Saxony, and thus constantly fought against the hostile lords around the feudal kingdom who were loyal to Conrad I, causing the people of his fief to wither and devastation, and finally his opponent broke through the castle and was brutally hanged on the city gate.

And the Earl himself was taken hostage and began to live as a prisoner for most of his childhood, until Duke Henry ascended the throne and he regained his freedom and inherited his father's title, so when it comes to the mutual vendetta between **********, the old earl can be said to have experienced it in person.

"The empire must not fall into the hands of the Duke of Franconia, although their family regained the rule of the duchy behind Otto the Great, but they are still haunted by the loss of the throne, like a poisonous snake lurking in the depths of the dense grass, ready to burst out and bite people fiercely, without the slightest understanding of the emperor's sympathy for them!"

The old duke said indignantly, with a red face, as if he had some indescribable deep hatred with those people, in fact, the group of people who killed his father back then had long since become ancient, and their descendants were also deprived of the inheritance of the territory, and the old duke hated it now was nothing more than the title of Franconia like a thorn in the throat.

"Naturally, the throne cannot fall into the hands of the Duke of Franconia, and it is not the best choice in both legal and reasonable terms."

"Of the remaining two principalities, in terms of blood relationship, the Swabian line is from the eldest son of Otto the Great, and it is far purer than the Bavarian line from the Emperor's younger brother, Duke Henry."

I played with the rim of the elaborate gold wine glass, which was delicately embossed to make it not only a vessel, but also a rare work of art.

"What's more, Bavaria has made a lot of mistakes for us on the issue of the throne."

"That's right! I am also in favor of passing the throne to Swabiabi, who have an advantage in blood that no other family can match, and the descendants of Otto the Great, who are in good prowess, might have tasted the supreme power in his lifetime if it had not been for the poor Duke and his death on the battlefield against the infidels, may God bless his humble soul! ”

The Earl of Hanover raised a dagger with mutton in it, pretending to mourn the Duke of Swabia who had just died of serious injuries.

"The eldest son of the old duke is a soft-headed and strict wife, a topic that the aristocratic circle never gets tired of chatting about in private, he can't even suppress his wife, watching her swagger from the main door of the bedroom, swaggering and pulling her lover in to be happy, but she doesn't even dare to let go of a fart, not to mention those vassals and aggressive brothers with evil intentions, if you want me to say that such a person is suitable as a puppet at the foreground, I like your choice, Lord Earl!"

Stupidity! I stared at his smug face and scolded in my heart, these simple-minded and well-developed fools have even less developed brains than the eunuchs of ancient China two thousand years ago.

I waited quietly for him to swallow the food mixed with his mouth full of, and then continued slowly: "But I don't think that raising a weak puppet will help protect our interests, Swabia has been hollowed out in many battles, and their current strength is not even comparable to the cowardly Upper Lorraine, once he is put on the throne of Berlin, every nobleman will know who is grabbing the greatest interests behind the scenes, and Saxony will become the target of public criticism, Maybe even within us there will be different voices, believe me, an emperor who can't even control his own wife is difficult to convince the public. ”

"Then what do you mean ......"

The old earl didn't expect that the conversation just now was just a brick throw, or a pit for him to jump, and complained a little unhappily: "Don't tell me that you have a better choice, is it the cunning Duke Henry of Bavaria who is as cunning as a loach?" Please, although I admit that you are very smart, but Lord Duke is not a good person, he is not a rag doll willing to be manipulated by others. ”

I was really impressed that he could think of this step, and I hooked the corners of my mouth with satisfaction, and began to peel the seafood prawns on the waiter's new hand, and replied slowly:

"Your opinion must be the opinion of all the nobles, the Duke of Bavaria is a shrewd man, so everyone can believe that the succession of the imperial throne is not operating in secret, and a tough monarch will help maintain the unity of the empire, avoid the possibility of civil war, and also let the surrounding countries give up the attempt to split the empire, the idea of killing many birds with one stone, why not?"

The Earl of Hanover nodded silently, agreeing with what I said, looking at the disgusting grease at the corner of his mouth, I patted my stomach and continued:

"Duke Henry's ambition to covet the throne is well known, and greed is as impossible as a greedy weasel who turns a blind eye to a loophole that can get into the chicken coop."

"Bavaria has lost a lot of elite in the battle, at least at this moment, it does not have an advantage in the right to speak, not to mention that we have the Duke of Normandy standing behind him, he will understand the complicated situation he will face if he returns to Rome or Berlin to discuss the succession to the throne, and cooperating with us is the easiest and the best choice at the moment, as you said, the Duke is a smart man, and he will follow our established plan to get into the noose himself, although he also understands what it means."

(End of chapter)