"God's most pious servant, guided by a pure soul, the noble Bishop of Berlin has arrived!"

The guard guarding the doorway struck his scepter twice, alerting all the feasters in the hall to the attention of the visitor.

As if he had been waiting for a long time, the Grand Duke of Swabia could not wait to get up from his seat, and rushed over with his hands raised to take the lead in saluting, so the nobles in the audience bent down one after another, and welcomed the archbishop, including the drunkards who were still slanted and drunk.

"Children who serve the Lord faithfully, do not have to be so formal, God has given you elixir and brocade food, which is a reward for your hard work, please continue to enjoy it and enjoy it, God bless Germany!" The bishop drew a void circle in the air with a cross, and the people below hurriedly bowed their heads in silent prayer.

"You may be seated, Father Priest."

The Archduke of Swabia led the archbishop to his place and sat down, and the people around him were very familiar with each other, and they distanced themselves from them, so that the two old men had space to say some private words, but they seemed to have discussed it, and looked at each nobleman who looked at them with kind eyes, nodding in a friendly manner, and the atmosphere that had just been a little cold slowly warmed up and became lively again.

"Lord Earl, the Bishop invites you to take a step to speak."

Just as I picked up the chicken thighs that had been on the plate in front of me for a long time and were about to treat my stomach, a little priest with a lovely St. Peter's hairstyle came up to my ear respectfully and said, I looked up at the main seat, and the two respectable adults were indeed gone.

"Got it, you help me show the way."

I put the greasy chicken leg back down, wiped my dirty palms on my trousers, straightened up some wrinkled clothes, and followed the little priest around the door of the banquet hall, and up the stairs to a small room at the end of the corridor.

The little priest motioned for me to wait aside, and he went up to the knight standing at the door and pointed to me something, and then the knight knocked on the door, and when he got permission, he opened it and made a gesture of invitation to me, and I took a deep breath and walked in with firm and strong steps, and the door closed the moment I withdrew my foot.

The room is not facing the sun, and the windows are not opened, the temperature in the room is very different from the warm hall, the fireplace opposite the door is burning with neatly chopped firewood, the orange tongue of fire is greedy **** The beeping sound of burning wood releases the heat, and there are five or six tearful candles lit on the candlestick in the middle of the room, and the bishop is looking at me helplessly with the Grand Duke of Swabia through the darkness, with their own incomprehensible expressions on their faces.

"Sit down, Lord Count Nijmegen."

The Archbishop of Berlin was the first to greet me, and he pulled me to his side, and sat down on a mound covered with thick animal furs.

I deliberately feigned flattery, bowed humbly to the two powerful kings, and lowered my posture as much as possible, and I still knew how to keep myself safe on other people's turf.

"I don't know what the adults are looking for me to come here, so I hurried over when I got the news." I carefully sat down with only half of my ass, hanging in the air to somewhat keep my mind on guard before danger came.

The Archduke of Swabia lowered his head and did not squeak, but only cared about fiddling with the wooden knight model on the table that was used for deducing tactics, and the Archbishop of Berlin looked at him and then at me, and squeezed out a little smile awkwardly to liven up the atmosphere:

"Actually, it's not anything important, just now I was exchanging views with the Duke about your unauthorized execution of Earl Amersofroort, but unfortunately we didn't reach a consensus, but please rest assured, I have completely stated my position, I am on your side, even if the lawsuit ends up with His Majesty the Emperor, or even His Majesty the Pope." The archbishop deliberately emphasized the latter sentence in order to attract the attention of the Grand Duke of Swabia.

"My lord, I think you must know better than me the reason for this, if the actions of the Count of Nijmegen are not punished, then all those who are waiting for the results will get a wrong signal, and the whole strictly followed feudal order will be chaotic, no one will serve God devoutly, everyone can only fight each other in black and white, and the execution of noble priests or nobles will be executed, such a reality is really terrible."

The Grand Duke of Swabia finally put down the little wooden man he was studying, and spoke impassionedly, but every one of us, including himself, dismissed these arguments as farts, just opening remarks, and the real focus was on the back.

"Lord Count Nijmegen has a reason, and I have already told you the details of this, he is indeed at fault, but he is also forced to do so."

The Archbishop of Berlin leaned over to bring himself closer to the Grand Duke: "Besides, what a sad thing it is that his original betrothed partner, Miss Crescenty, has been cruelly skinned, my lord, my lordship!" ”

I sat on the side with a sad look on my face, but my heart was unusually calm to watch the performance of the two old men singing and harmonizing, estimating that the heat was almost the same, and it was time to put some fierce material, so I stood up suddenly, almost overturned the table, tried my best to squeeze out a few muddy tears to add points to myself, and said to the two old men word by word:

"I ask the Lord for forgiveness for the sin of killing, and if I am to be punished, I will be punished willingly, and I will not break the rules of the world because I am alone!"

"God forbid!"

The Archbishop of Berlin immediately uttered his lines to the right amount of subtlety.

"I believe that the Grand Duke is the most impartial and respectable existence in the whole of Germany, although many people now doubt your strength and piety, and run to those who jump off the beam in front of Your Majesty and beg for mercy by the little people who have been favored for a while, but God Almighty is just, and he will give you eternal innocence and respect for all."

I looked at the old duke whose face changed slightly, but it was really difficult to see through his thick mask of hypocrisy, they were all masters who didn't see rabbits and didn't scatter eagles.

After a pause, I continued: "As a sign of repentance, I will pay for the construction of a magnificent church in Cologne and Nijmegen, and invite the best Italian architects to design it, and dedicate humble praise to the great and infinite God!" When the time comes, I hope to invite the bishop to preside over Mass and bless him. In addition, in order to facilitate the pilgrimage of all believers, I will build a stone road from Nijmegen to Aachen to Cologne, so that all people with good intentions can come to listen to the teachings of the saints of the present world and see the revered old duchess of Germany! ”

The Archbishop of Berlin was obviously shocked by my generosity, he didn't know whether it was cooperation or really opened his mouth in disbelief, and after a moment of surprise he realized his faux pas, and immediately coughed dryly twice to cover it up, but he could still see the naked greed in his glittering eyes.

You must know that the cost of building two churches alone is enough to show the strong economic strength of Nijmegen, not to mention that there is a stone road equivalent to the size of the highway of later generations, and the cost is even more astronomical.

I am the best at this kind of thing, the church or something mixed with sand can save a lot of corners, and the manpower is not costly, and the actual cost is still within the acceptable range.

As for the stone road, I didn't say when the construction would begin, how wide it would be, and how long it would take to repair it.

The old duke was not in a hurry to show his attitude, in this respect, he was much calmer than the archbishop of Berlin, I saw the old duke pick up the knight model he had just put down and rub it carefully, the flame of the candle on the candlestick not far away trembled slightly, and the ashes burned in the fireplace still spared no effort to flicker the bright and extinguished sparks, as if he wanted to bow down and die and then contribute all his energy.

I squinted my eyes as if to see through the essence behind the phenomenon, staring at the void air.

"It seems that the old guy is not so easy to deceive, no wonder he can maintain the crumbling building in the wind and rain, a little bit of his own."

I thought to myself, and decided to tie the old duke to my chariot no matter what, after all, we have a common enemy, and we don't want our vassals to be smarter than ourselves, but we want to see the emperor who fights for each other, and the ambitious pope who always hides behind his tall brother.

"I have heard that your eldest son's youngest son has reached adulthood, and if he is allowed to do so, I would like to welcome him to come to Nijmegen to study, and one day to establish a career, and whatever happens in the future, the whole of Nijmegen will be the staunchest support behind him, and all the money, food, and armor will be in supply."

I know that my status is not in the eyes of the old duke at all, and according to common sense, these big nobles will only send their children to the emperor's court or the Vatican to work as errands, so as to find a good background, close the relationship with the core leadership of the empire, and prepare for their future inheritance of the family business.

But now the situation in Swabia is that the eldest son is simply unable to suppress his younger brothers, and once the struggle for power turns into a civil war, it is a great opportunity for the conspirators who stand behind those stupid children and hope that Swabia will be torn apart, which may include the always modest and polite Grand Duke of Bavaria, and the muddy Grand Duke of Franconia and the Duke of Upper Lorraine, and the shadow of the Roman emperor looming behind the interests.

And the significance of my decision to join lies in the unfathomable financial resources, the law of the supremacy of money has been the same since ancient times, and the Count of Nijmegen is known for his cunning and good at war, and the Archbishop of Berlin has obviously been gagged by the bribes he has secretly received, and the power of the clergy is on my side, and the tripartite alliance is undoubtedly the best choice at the moment.

"Whoever exalts himself will be humbled!"

"Whoever has low self-esteem will eventually become the supreme!"

The old duke put the model down, rubbed his wrinkled hands, as if to warm himself, and paused for a long time before he said a sentence:

"Is the knight you can fight the most called a bull?"

(End of chapter)