The first millennium of Christmas has finally arrived in anticipation.

There is nothing special about this festival, and tomorrow will still be dark, but people who have been depressed all year long can find a reason to forget all their troubles, eat and drink unscrupulously with high-sounding reasons, squander their energy and life, and enjoy the treatment of being their own king for a day, and the wealthy regions may continue the festive atmosphere for the following month, until the first ten days of fasting after Candlemas.

This is a different Christmas, the first time as the head of the family, I appeared at the banquet with my wife and child in my arms, accepted the congratulations and worship of the vassals, looked at the radiant smile on Serena's increasingly maternal cheeks, and the infant son stared at the world curiously, the satisfaction was indescribable.

I raised my glass to the sound of the crowd's blessings: "Let us thank God for His gifts, Nijmegen people!" ”

Before the words fell, the lively crowd responded to my call, one after another shouted praises, if there are still people unhappy in this jubilant scene, then only Kohler, who was dragged by the bull with a black face to fight for wine, has always been strict with himself, he rarely overeats, just stands aside and different and different hip-hop, at this moment he is holding the wine barrel and the bull sea drink is happy, the wine syrup flowing from the corner of the mouth wets the long shirt, making the whole person look decadent, I whispered to Serena in my ear, Get up and walk around the clown in the middle of the hall to make his way to the bull's table.

"Why is it a little grieved?"

I picked up the glass on the table, pushed the bull's shoulder and motioned for him to squeeze it aside, stretched one leg over and straddled the bench, gently touched Kohler with the glass, and drank it up.

"Still mad at me?"

"Do you want to hear my truth, sir?"

Khloe took a sip from his cup. Exhaled a strong smell of wine: "This is my fate, there is nothing to complain about, it's just that this place is jammed, thousands of arrows pierce the heart, I feel like a scarecrow stuck in the field at the mercy of the man, from a distance it looks like a person, but in fact it is just a puppet." ”

He clenched his fists and pounded on his chest, and the sound was all empty echoes, the corners of his eyes were foggy, and he frowned aggrievedly.

"In this turbulent world where fierce beasts are rampant, in order to survive, the only way to survive is to constantly strengthen your strength, and become a beast that grinds its teeth and sucks blood, as you said, this is everyone's helpless fate, and I am the same."

Patting Kohler on the back, I took the other leg and sat down, the laughter in my ears seemed to have nothing to do with me, and the loneliness he evoked gradually enveloped my heart.

"Look at me, don't you also accept fate calmly? I am very content to have such a happy family as I am now, but I can only thank God for his favor and tell you one thing: When God closes a door, he often opens a window for you in an unexpected place. ”

Kohler sniffed hard, raised his wine glass and drank it all in one gulp, the hazy tears in the corners of his eyes disappeared in an instant, and his deep and tough temperament returned to him.

This is the formidable marksman, calm as a piece of ice: "I don't have anything to admire when I grow so big, either run away or resist, like a lost dog, only you give me the care I haven't seen for a long time, I feel like I live like a person, Nijmegen is the only thing I want to protect, even if I need to give up and sacrifice, I will treat her well, the wife I have never met, only for you, and only for Nijmegen." ”

I deliberately turned sideways to pour the wine, not wanting Kohler to see my tears, and said as calmly as possible: "The Count of Dieppe is the most important vassal of Normandy, with high prestige and great status, his daughter's name is Adele, it is said that she is a famous female warrior, and her unruly and untamed wild horse-like personality should be very much to your liking, and the marriage will strengthen the alliance between Nijmegen and Normandy, and you will also get a piece of the Count of Dieppe's territory near the Somme or a huge dowry, think about it yourself." ”

Kohler nodded, it was a tacit acquiescence to the arrangement of his marriage, a child from a servant family, able to marry the daughter of the earl, this is the glory that many people dream of, Kohler, who yearns for an unrestrained life, has understood that his fate cannot be chosen since he willingly put on the cage of Nijmegen, and the loneliness and crying just now are just hysterical struggles before resigning to fate, as if when a child is finally about to bear the pain of growth, the rebellion and cry of adolescent dying like a dying of adolescence:

"If you want to wear a crown, you must bear its weight!"

That's the price of choice......

As the main mother, Serena was arranged by me to take the lead in preparing for Kohler's marriage, which was the first of the important ministers to marry a wife, so the pomp and circumstance had to be done beautifully, so as to show the great strength of Nijmegen and the importance he valued for Kohler.

The wedding took place on January 3o, three days before Candlemas, at the Ghent Cathedral in the Countdom of Flanders, and although it may soon become an adversary on the battlefield, many of the guests who received the invitation gladly came to give face to the Duke of Nijmegen, and the participants understood the political significance behind the marriage, and the Duke of Normandy was a blatant announcement of the alliance between the two countries, and a warning to the nobles who were ready to take advantage of the civil war to attack Nijmegen.

Even King Robert in Paris had to weigh his weight well, not to mention the Count Siegfried of Luxembourg, who was on the cusp of public opinion, he was also invited, and at the moment he was gloomy and hid in the corner to drink, deaf to the greetings of others.

The wedding was a success, the scale and momentum almost caught up with the coronation of the emperor, and people forgot that the real theme was nothing more than the union of the daughter of the baron and the count, and the two of Nijmegen and the Duke of Normandy, who were at the same table in the same car, were the focus of everyone's attention, and the smiling Count of Flanders, the bearded duke Baudouin, the consolidated Triple Alliance was about to emerge.

The little lord caught in the middle had to reconsider his position, and I watched Count Siegfried's face grow longer and longer, like an angry donkey, and he said words of blessing to the crowd with the wrong mouth, and the pleasure of playing tricks made me so refreshed that I almost laughed out loud.

The approach of Candlemas marks the imminent arrival of spring, but also means that war will soon break out, the warmer climate seems to be becoming less pleasant, and the sunny slopes have turned into a clean dry grass, which is ugly and ugly on the snow.

The Duke of Nijmegen, who could not be idle, issued several orders non-stop, such as suddenly stopping the purchase of grain and materials, and then instructing the local chambers of commerce to empty all stocks at a price that was almost free of charge, so that the high prices immediately dived, and the speculators who hoarded materials to be sold at a price went bankrupt one after another, and the merchants lost their fortunes, and in the face of the large-scale expansion of the Nijmegen Chamber of Commerce, they raised the white flag and reluctantly accepted the annexation.

In order to make huge profits, the small lords swept away the countryside under their rule, and the people who lived in hardship and misery continued to flee, resulting in a withered scene of ten rooms and nine emptiness, and now they are sitting in warehouses full of grain but no one cultivates and serves, and the funds invested in them are also lost.

The great lords did not have a good time either, especially the various vassals, counts,

In order to prevent a possible attack in Nijmegen, the knights were called up in the main castle for the whole winter, consuming a large amount of food, in order to continue to feed the army, they could only grit their teeth and loot their villages and towns, which also caused a large number of people to flee, and when Nijmegen manipulated the chamber of commerce to reduce the price of food, the big lords suddenly looked up, and half of the population remained in the empty territory, but no one was willing to farm.

Because they now need very little money to buy a year-round supply of grain, the farmers want to switch to the wool that Nijmegen buys at a high price, and their economy is tied up in Nijmegen, losing its hematopoietic function to maintain vitality.

As Easter approaches, the weather is getting warmer and warmer, Christians are abiding by the forty-day fast starting from Ash Day, of course, most of the wealthy nobles, will appear pious and simple on the surface, and then hide in their rooms at night to eat and eat Hesse, after all, life is too short to be happy in time, only the dead can become the shrine of the Vatican, who wants to be a strict self-disciplined saint?

While thinking so, I threw the remaining chicken legs to the long-coveted hounds tethered to them, dragged the tablecloth and wiped my mouth, and burped contentedly with the light of the candles, and it was so boring to go to church during the day to listen to the priest's lectures, and there was no oil and water in my stomach that I was not allowed to eat lunch, and my gurgling was louder than the chorus of the choir, and the whole audience stared at me in astonishment, as if they were not hungry, and made the dignified Duke blush to the base of his neck, and he did not dare to raise his head shyly.

"My lord, there is important news!" Rollo hurried in without knocking on the door, which was enough to show the urgency of the situation.

"Could it be that His Majesty the Emperor has divorced his wife?"

I turned around and took the candlestick in my hand and lit up most of the table in front of me: "What news?" ”

Rollo placed a parchment roll the size of a palm in my hand: "The Duke of Bavaria has died, just the morning before yesterday. ”

"Who! Who are you talking about? I was so frightened that I stumbled and stumbled on my chair when I got up, and the candlestick was dripping with wax and oil on the back of my hand.

"Your brother-in-law, Duke Charles of Bavaria, passed away the day before yesterday." Luo Luo looked at the Duke's nervous eyes, repeating word by word, slowly, for fear that I would not hear clearly.

"Duke Charlie? What a damn one! How could he braided at this juncture! ”

I threw the candlestick on the ground in a fit of rage, and the room instantly darkened, and Rollo hurriedly ran over to pick up the falling candle, and stepped on the flame burning along the traces of wax oil with his foot, and I stared blankly into the void and muttered to myself.

"Our news channels are open, and others must not have gotten this news yet, so call Leonardo at once, hoping that my sister can temporarily control the situation and hold out until the arrival of Nijmegen's army."

"No need to call, I'm coming."

Leonardo, wearing a robe, looked like he had just been woken up by the attendant, walked into the house on crutches, calmly found a seat by his window and sat down, then took out another roll of parchment from his bosom, and said unhurriedly:

"The Duke of Carinthia got the news before us, and now he must have fully mastered the court, fortunately, it is his own people who protect your sister and nephew Otto, they have been transferred out and are going to a safe place to take refuge, I suspect that the Duke of Carinthia colluded with the traitor to kill Lord Charles, otherwise he would not have succeeded before us."

I didn't respond, biting my nails and pondering for a long time before I spoke: "It seems that someone has been calculating me from the beginning, hum, things have become interesting." ”

(End of chapter)

Please remember that the first domain name of this book is .. Biqu Ge mobile version update fastest website:m.