Compared to the pain and troubles of the Earl of Stuttgart, Xiao Yan is now much more relaxed. Before he knew anything about the Rose Leader, Xiao Yan had to hurry up and rush to the Rose Leader, and then surprise those enemies. But after learning the general situation from his "father", what Xiao Yan wanted to do was not only to catch the enemy off guard, what he wanted to do was to gather these opponents and then chop off the fingers of these opponents with force.

Let these greedy counts, together with the marquis, normalize what is called the pain of the heart. Let them know that if they want to do something to the Rose Collar, be careful about how long they can keep their lives.

On the other hand, the level 7 thief also made Xiao Yan feel worried. It's true that he's the dice of the Shijie Tree, and it's also true that the Shijie Tree won't let other powerful beings affect his progress. But if an accident happens in the "plot" of the shijie tree, the shijie tree will not jump out and interfere. In other words, Xiao Yan could not worry about the "Lord", and not worry about the will of Kel'thugad interfering and threatening him, because that is not allowed by the Shijie Tree. But it would be a mistake to think that you can sit back and relax like this, and there will be no more life-threatening threats. Being assassinated by a strong man among the natives can also be regarded as an option for dice. Shijie no Tree will definitely not interfere with such a decision.

Therefore, Xiao Yan still can't be careless now, as long as he is still surviving in this trial, he must continue to be cautious and careful enough.

The problem has to be solved at the source, and the problem of the Rose Collar lies with Viscount Sartre of Württemberg, and the problem of Württemberg stems from the greed of Tustaff, Count of Stuttgart. So, I want to calm down the Rose Collar as soon as possible. The real need to be solved was Tustaff, Count of Stuttgart. Solved the problem here. Whether it's knocking on the mountain or shaking the tiger. It's better to follow the vine, and the next trouble for the Rose Collar will be minimized.

Stuttgart, like all Holy Roman castles, consists of a central castle with a central castle and several streets that fan outwards from the castle. The road in front of Stuttgart Castle is narrower than in Speyer, where the abbey and castle are combined. There was no wide main road leading directly to the main entrance of the castle, and the houses in front of the castle were all made of wood, in order to prevent the enemy from using the house to make siege stones if the castle was besieged.

As for the timber used to build the houses, it could have been burned before the soldiers retreated back to the castle. Don't worry about being used to make siege engines. Of course, what will happen to the inhabitants of the houses is not a question for those soldiers to consider.

Frankly, if these houses were not burned, they would have served a greater defensive role, and the houses were so close to each other that it would be extremely inconvenient for two strong soldiers to pass through the tunnels together.

Of course, there is also a more normal passage that allows 4 horses to ride side by side. However, this passage is very well guarded and very tortuous. The entire passage is flanked by walls about 10 feet high. This was the castle's exclusive post road, from which the knights entered and exited the castle, and the counts who went to the castle had their carriages enter the castle.

Xiao Yan was sitting in a dilapidated tavern outside the castle, just like Tosto, which was also run by a dwarf. In fact, due to the large number of people coming and going from Stuttgart, there are also a large number of mercenary groups and adventurers traveling from Stuttgart to the Black Forest. Dwarves who are therefore able to mend weapons and equipment, and who are able to make wine, are even more popular here than women.

Like the dwarves of Tosto, the dwarves in Stuttgart did not bring all their families to the vicinity of the castle, and they had their own camps a little further from the castle. If the dwarven camp near Tosto is a small village, the dwarven settlement near Stuttgart is already the size of a town.

The sudden arrival of Carpenter made the dwarven town suddenly noisy, and Xiao Yan could see the dwarves' heartfelt praise for Carpenter. The brown-haired boy could also see the tears that these dwarves kept shedding when they saw Carpenter, and it seemed that living in the human Shijie did not make these dwarves happy, and their hearts always longed for the former dwarven castle and dwarven kingdom.

When Carpenter announced that he wanted to retake the dwarven castle, the dwarves in the village let out a loud roar, but luckily it was at least 40 miles away from Stuttgart, so there was no need to worry that such a roar would be heard by the knights, who thought that there was a hungry mob there.

"You're more authoritative than I thought."

Leaving the mage and dwarf family in the camp, Xiao Yan followed Carpenter to the town outside Stuttgart Castle. Here, there are a large number of industries of the dwarves, which, of course, are also subject to the harsh exploitation of the Tustaff.

Hearing Xiao Yan's voice, Carpenter whispered, "It makes me feel safer to be your subject, but the dwarves won't want me to be your subject, except for the dwarves who came with us." I can't be your subject if I want the support of the other dwarves, but they are willing to be your subjects anyway. ”

Xiao Yan smiled slightly, and did not continue to discuss this aspect. Carpenter is the prince of the dwarves or something, which is not much different for Xiao Yan, but it has a completely different meaning for the dwarves. This can be seen from Carpenter's reluctance to hand over the Brilliant Jewel in the first place, and it was not until he was forced by Loka to do so. Carpenter has the pride of belonging to the "aristocracy", and has always been.

Already approaching the Rose Collar, Xiao Yan is thinking more and more about the problem, and he can't keep someone like Carpenter who has no sincerity. Rather than make this dwarven prince who thinks he is noble resentful in the future for some reason, it is better to make an alliance agreement with this dwarven prince now. Give him back the dignity of the prince in exchange for a more realistic future.

Using Duval's corpse as an opportunity, Xiao Yan relieved Carpenter of his civil rights. However, he only removed Carpenter from civil rights, not the other dwarves. Whether or not Carpenter understood this, at least now Xiao Yan was duly rewarded for his good deeds.

Not only did the dwarves arrange everything for him, but they also hated his enemies. It sounds like this is the natural temper of the mountain dwarves, the enemy of a friend is the enemy of the mountain dwarves, and no matter who the enemy is, the mountain dwarves will definitely not back down easily.

"You want to take this castle?"

Carpenter asked in a low voice as he wiped his boots with thatch. The flames of the hearth in the house were burning, and although it could not make the whole room warm like spring, it was at least much warmer than the outside. It's January 1002, and the Black Forest is still covered with snow, and even Stuttgart is not getting warm. After many heavy snowfalls, the ground was trampled on repeatedly, and part of the snow melted, making the whole ground muddy and cold. Hand-stitched leather doesn't stop the dirty snow at all, and it seeps into the boots along the seams of the stitches. After walking outside for a while, you will feel that your feet no longer feel anything. Most of the frostbite in this era occurs at this time, not in the colder winter, at least at that time the snow outside has not melted and will not seep into one's own shoes, and as long as you move around in time, it will not be as bad as it is now.

Clumsily pulling his feet out of his cold boots, Carpenter put his feet in front of the hearth and groaned in comfort, despite the painful smell of his feet in the flames of the burning wood. Then he turned his head to look at Xiao Yan. I don't know when, the former lord of Carpenter had moved himself closer to the window, where the shielding was not tight, and every now and then a bone-chilling cold wind would pour in, but now it seemed that the brown-haired boy was more satisfied with the position.

Hearing Carpenter's question, Xiao Yan lightly clicked on the wooden table in front of him and whispered, "Yes, occupy it, but don't own it." ”

"Because of the House of Lords?"

Carpenter felt that the teenager in front of him was so changeable, and with his long life experience, he couldn't see through what the teenager was thinking. But facts will always prove that what this teenager thinks about is often what he must face in the future.

Xiao Yan shook his head slightly, as February is approaching, the emperor will die soon, and then Henry will intercept the emperor's corpse and seize the emperor's token. After that, the House of Lords in Magdeburg would immediately be plunged into chaos and noise. The old and new aristocracy will continue to shuffle with Henry's later actions, and until Henry is normally crowned emperor, the House of Lords will not have time to take care of Württemberg and Stuttgart.

Xiao Yan would love to use this time of turmoil to own Stuttgart and not just the Rose Territory, but the Empire could not allow him to own two transportation fortresses at the same time, and the Rose Territory was relatively far away from Italy, and it was also further away from the crisis that was soon to come.

After Henry seized the Emperor's token, the Holy See did not recognize Henry's authority as Holy Roman Emperor until a few years later, when Henry became King of Italy, and the new Pope crowned Henry and recognized him as Holy Roman Emperor.

This kind of thing sounds light, but after seeing too many things that have not been recorded in history in this trial, Xiao Yan no longer believes in the so-called "peace between nobles". Henry's actions will inevitably bring a bloody storm, and at this time, it is the right choice to hold on to his Rose Collar steadily.

"I need an excuse."

Xiao Yan looked at the map spread out on the desktop and whispered. It was a map of the interior of the castle that Carpenter had brought in from the outside, from several Dwarven Craftsmen and Dwarven Gemmers in the castle. (To be continued......)