"On behalf of my family, Lord Count Segard, I would like to extend my sincerest greetings to you!" A middle-aged man with black hair on the lid of the pot humbly stood in front of Han Xing's throne in Göttingen and bowed, then took out a letter from his bosom, bowed (shēn) and said with both hands: "This is a letter from your Lord Earl!" ”

"Hans, go get it!" Han Xing nodded, then waved his right hand with the sapphire ring, and motioned for Hans to go and take the letter.

Hans hurriedly stepped forward to take the letter with both hands, crept to Han Xing, carefully cut the red wax that sealed the letter with a letter opener, and then opened the letter paper and handed it to Han Xing.

Unlike modern envelopes, medieval letters were not enveloped, but simply a piece of paper was folded, a drop of rè wax was dropped, and a stamp was stamped with a signet ring. The signet ring Han Xing also has one, which is made of silver, and the whole is round, and the middle is usually his own coat of arms. The reason why wax is dripped on the letter is to prevent someone from intercepting and peeking at the contents of the letter, if someone peeks at it, it will inevitably destroy the integrity of the letter (xìng), and if you want not to destroy the integrity of the letter (xìng), you can only melt the wax.

The stamps of each family have their own merits, and if someone melts the wax seal, with the manufacturing process and production level of the Middle Ages, it is impossible to copy a signet ring that is exactly the same as the original owner's stamp (the shape and size will be different).

The content of the letter is similar to that of Han Xing's previous letter to Frederick I, and the beginning is full of beautiful words, or content that flaunts his own (shēn) status (the nobler the letter, the more light on the face of the recipient), and only at the end does he go straight to the point:

The gist of it is that in the war with Count Sāo, he is at a disadvantage, and there is a way that "the lips are dead and the teeth are cold", and he also knows that Han Xing and Count Na (Sāo) do not deal with each other, and even condemns and spits on Count Na (Sāo) for violently encroaching on Han Xing's lawful territory (Ganquan Village), and then calls on Han Xing to join the side of the second son, Dietrich, and participate in the grand event.

In fact, even if the Count of Pomeron did not send a letter to invite Han Xing to join the Principality of Hesse in the succession war, he would still be going to clean up the Count of Sāo, but his plan in the short term was to sit and watch the snipe and mussels fight, counting on the fisherman's profit. From his point of view, the Count of Sāo is hateful, and the Count of Pomeron is not a good thing, it is better for them to lose both, and then interfere in the succession war of the Duchy of Hesse in the name of "hanging the Duke of Hesse", and support a puppet to slowly annex the Duchy of Hesse.

It's just that judging from the current situation, the strength of Count Sāo is to stabilize Count Pomerne, so that this guy has begun to rush to the doctor, you know, this Count Pomeron is a notoriously cautious eye, with his (xìng) character, if he can support this war alone, he will definitely not invite Han Xing to "get a piece of the pie".

Maybe the Count of Pomeron was busy with the civil war and didn't notice Han Xing's counterattack in the Duchy of Saxony, if he had known that Han Xing had become a duke-level existence, would he still "lure the wolf into the room"? Otherwise, he has reached the point of life and death, and it is too late to think about him.

No matter which kind of situation (qíng) it is, Han Xing welcomes this invitation a hundred, if it is said that there is a suspicion of making something out of nothing in the name of "hanging the Duke of Hesse", the invitation of the Count of Pomeron is equivalent to giving Han Xing a step down, so that he can enter the Duchy of Hesse openly.

"Please tell the Earl of Pomeron for me, I am willing to join Master Dietrich's side!" Han Xing put down the letter paper and nodded slightly to the messenger below.

"Lord Count Segaard, my Lord would like you to meet him at Ammenburg!" In an instant, the messenger with the lid of the pot had a look of ecstasy on his face, although he quickly returned to normal, he still couldn't jump Han Xing's eyes.

It has to be said that the Count of Pomeron is indeed a personal spirit, and the most important news is delivered by people, avoiding the possibility of the letter being robbed and the news being exposed.

"Please tell Lord Count Pomerne, and I will join him as soon as possible!" Han Xing waved the scroll of letter paper in his hand, and the messenger immediately faced Han Xing when he heard this, and cautiously exited the hall in Göttingen.

The next day, Han Xing led the army towards the territory of the Duchy of Hesse in the south, and there is a large area of forest in the entire Earldom of Hesse, which is really worthy of the name of "Hesse", and it is no wonder that the Duke of Hesse will never forget the Paderborn region! After all, Göttingen and Goslar are excellent agricultural and plain areas, rich in wine and cereals.

And what does Hesse produce? Timber! However, the problem is that the maritime industry is in the ascendant in this era, and even the "water bullet lines" in Germany, such as the Lena and the Rhine, have not been rationally utilized, and the shipbuilding industry is infinitely close to zero. However, the high-grade buildings are not popular and are made of wood, so the people of the entire Duchy of Hesse are having a hard time.

Hunting is much better than logging, because large areas of forest mean a lot of wildlife habitat, and the price of wood in Hesse has not been able to rise just because it is used as fuel. Perhaps the Duchy of Hesse is the only one that encourages civilians to cut down forests! You know, in the Middle Ages, poaching and poaching were often capital offenses.

Han Xing met the Count of Pomerne in Ammenburg, the Count of Fritzlar drooped as always with a pair of mung bean eyes, and said that "eyes are the windows of the soul", which is not wrong at all, this Count of Pomeron is a greedy, cautious, and calculating nobleman.

But the moment he saw Han Xing, he was really smiling more than seeing his father, his face was as bright as a blooming chrysanthemum, and his already small mung bean eyes narrowed into a slit, and he trotted up to greet him and said, "Lord Count Segaard, you are finally here!" ”

Han Xing inquired about the situation (qíng), and then learned that the current situation is very not optimistic, the Count of Pomeron has led his army to fight with the Count of Na (sāo) twice, the first field battle, the Count of Pomeron 2,500 against 3,000, there is no doubt that the fiasco.

Hearing this, Han Xing was very helpless and secretly confessed to this guy, and said in his heart: "You're afraid that you're not mentally retarded, and you dare to play field warfare with others when there are few people, isn't this begging for a fight?" It's rare not to lose~"

The second time it broke out in this Amerné Fort, the Count of Pomerne gathered 1,800 remnants of the army, trying to regroup here, but found that the Count of Na (sāo) followed them (shēn) and rushed up, and also made a few ballistas as big as (chuáng), that is, the Roman-style ballista that Han Xing had seen, and the result was a crackling and indiscriminate bombardment, this Amernne Fort was not a military stronghold, and there were a lot of "local materials" when it was built. Wood is used to plaster mud.

Wooden buildings are inherently prone to decay, not to mention that I don't know which 2500 Amerné Castle was built at the beginning, but it was actually made of wood that had not been dried, and after a long time, it directly decayed and decayed, becoming as crunchy as wafer biscuits, and rotting when pinched. As a result, it was bombarded by ballistas. To this day, you can see the scorching marks on the wooden wall, and there is a section of the wooden wall that has fallen directly to the ground.

In any case, in the previous battle, the army of Na (sāo) was also sharply reduced to more than 2,400 men, and the Count of Pomeron was the defender, although the wall was a little rotten, but it was also the attack of the Na (sāo) army. And the most ironic thing is the origin of the scorch marks on the city wall - there was a magician under Count Na (Sāo) who tried to burn the city wall with magic, but the wood was damp and rotten, and it was burned for most of the day, and it was impossible to live or die!

Han Xing burst out laughing when he heard this, and he had to say that the brain circuit of Count Sāo was also six! Wood can burn, yes, but damp wood is hard to burn, so if you want to ignite the walls of Amernerburg, you should pile up enough dry igniters at the base of the wall and set it on fire! Maybe I didn't dare to approach the city wall, so I chose to make this decision!

After that, the double reversal reached a stalemate, and the impulsive and reckless (xìng) grid of Count Na (sāo) once again made him make the wrong decision, he chose to launch a strong attack at the expense of sacrifice, and the result can be imagined, after paying more than 400 casualties, Count Na (sāo) retreated disgracefully.

Hearing this, Han Xing probably thought why Count Bomeen chose to go to the hospital in a hurry, because he didn't know that Han Xing had been promoted to the rank of duke (qíng), and for a long time, he had been playing "playing house" with the Count of Sāo in Hesse. Forgive Han Xing for calling their war with such a contemptuous "adjective", after all, in his opinion, a battle of thousands of people is a small fight at all!

Han Xing led an army of 4,000 to arrive, which greatly boosted the morale of the Pomerian army, and the two sides once again occupied the advantage of troops, so Hao Hao (dàng) (dàng) headed towards Marlborough, the capital of Hesse.

Han Xing also met the young master Dietrich, this young master Dietrich did not seem to have the "style of a father" at all, and his ten fingers were slender. (shēn) is thin, has a vegetable-colored face, has a pale complexion, and a pair of blue eyes look full of melancholy. It looks like a legendary sick (jiāo) boy who looks about twenty years old. What Han Xing didn't expect was that it was actually this young master Dietrich who persuaded the Count of Pomeron to ask for help from him.

Han Xing talked to him for a while, and felt that although this young master Dietrich looked like a medicine jar, he had already coughed two or three times before he could say a word, but he was gentle and elegant, and he talked fragrantly, but he looked like a strategist. I have to say that he left a very good impression on Han Xing, so much so that Han Xing really planned to support him as the new Duke of Hesse.

After a day and a half of marching, the combined army of Han Xing and the Count of Pomeron approached the capital of Hesse, Marburg, a castle with a thick brick and stone wall ten meters high, Han Xing didn't remember much! After all, there were thirty or fifty castles he had seen, but none of them were opponents of artillery. It's just that he has the purpose of weakening the Count of Pomeron, but he doesn't plan to use artillery as a "shortcut".