The little mess caused by the drunkard Scott has not yet reached the ears of Duke Ulrich, and there are many things that are enough for him to worry about during this time, but as the first duke, Ulrich, who used to be a golden iron horse, is different from the average Neustrian noble, he has experienced more storms than when he was comfortable, and he has suffered some rare setbacks before, but he is confident that he is still in control.

As a teenager, Ulrich was the head of a small tribe in the north, and his family, like his neighbors, occupied a fertile meadow in the middle of a fjord embraced by high mountains. They cultivated and grazed in the meadows in the summer, fished in the bays, went north in the autumn and winter to hunt walruses and bears, and rowed with their tusks and furs to the southern realms to trade in exchange for food and cloth to make up for the lack of land in their homeland (a predicament that made him and his neighbors not get along), and they lived in peace as farmers, fishermen, and merchants. However, when he quarreled with the abbot of a small convent over the selling price, he drew his sword as was customary in his hometown...... After bloodbathing this lonely little monastery, he gained unimaginably great wealth that could not have been obtained in ten years of business.

After that, he made Neustria his ranch, and he "crossed" the kingdom of Neustria every year to plunder churches and monasteries, and then turned into a merchant, selling the loot in churches and monasteries in other countries, and his buyers mostly knew the origin of his goods, but the valuable manuscripts and holy objects he sold were so cheap that they could not refuse. After he sold his booty, he bought iron tools for his tribe to increase their armament.

Afterward. When he fully realized the weakness of the kingdom of Neustria, he took the tribe by ship from his bitter cold homeland. Settling in the warmth of the South, the Neustrian people hated and feared him. But there was nothing to be done - oh! They actually have a way! As long as they were united under the banner of their king, how could his little tribe be able to fight again, and how could they be equal to a kingdom? If the Neustrian could unite under their banner, then even if a northerner could kill ten Neustrian warriors, the eleventh would kill him, and Ulrich and his tribe would be completely dead.

But many of the Neustrians - or rather, the Neustrian nobles - were selfish. They are not willing to unite under their royal flag! They feared that this would increase the power of the royal family, and that not only would foreign robbers like the Duke of Ulrich be expelled, but they would not be able to continue their business of kidnapping and looting people and goods on the roads of the highway - they would rather indulge the Duke of Ulrich and plunder the unfortunate Neustria with them than have any justice in Neustria! There were also some nobles, who lived in luxury and in luxury with their monastic neighbors, who simply took the name of Ulrich or simply joined his ranks in plundering Neutria. The Duke has also seen a lot of these.

So when the King of Neustria approached him and proposed a marriage, the Duke of Ulrich agreed, which was very advantageous for him - to marry his daughter to the orthodox king of Neustria. His grandson is the rightful king of Neustria! When the time comes, who can deny that he is the orthodox aristocrat of Neustria? His grandchildren can marry the kings and princesses of neighboring countries, when the time comes. He, the leader of a small northern tribe. Its blood will be all over the royal families of various countries!

And this marriage, in the eyes of the Duke of Ulrich, was not purely profitable for him. First, he could no longer plunder Neustria excessively, for it was about to be his "inheritance of his grandchildren", and secondly, Duke Ulrich was no longer the patron of the lawless local nobles, but an ally of the orthodox king. The orthodox king appeared to be weak to Ulrich, but in fact through this marriage he was able to obtain a powerful alliance. After the marriage, as he expected, the royal power of Neustria was slightly stronger than before, and the local nobles, for the sake of his new father-in-law, finally paid some taxes, and his court was able to adjudicate some noble disputes, at that time, Neustria had a rare respite, and the Duke of Ulrich was satisfied with his "grandchildren", and intended to further expand his tribal blood and his power, and to support his personal priest as Archbishop of Neustria, And then to control the entire Neustrian church was also part of his plan. Continuing with his plan, he had no doubt that one day he would be able to get all of Neustria.

At this time, his former neighbors, other northern tribes, were inspired by his experience and came to plunder the unfortunate kingdom. The local aristocracy, which had always harbored different intentions, began to use the name of foreign enemies to become lawless, but Ulrich did not seem to take this seriously, and only blindly fought for power and profit internally......

In fact, he clearly understood that it was not difficult to frighten the divided Neustrian tribes with the force of his clan, but to defend the whole of Neustria from attack? There aren't that many of them! It's one thing to rob, it's another to defend a kingdom! Moreover, the alliance between him and the orthodox king was based on his force rather than the king's view of him as a gentleman...... If he had wiped out his tribe in order to defeat the robbers, would the orthodox king remember his sacrifice, or would he have found another powerful nobleman to marry?

The Duke of Ulrich did not believe in his son-in-law's character and integrity, nor did he have the strength, so when he faced the invasion of foreign enemies, he only blindly cleaned up the interior and fought for power from the native nobles of Neustria. On the surface, he was immersed in palace fighting, but in fact, this old warrior knew that he could only fight palace fighting at the moment - he didn't have the strength to fight a dignified battle with foreign enemies! He also has to preserve his strength! His cards must be held in his hand and cannot be played! If you want to fight, tell those Neustrians to fight, and if you die, just to make room for him and his "grandchildren"!

Unfortunately, the Neustrians, though not smart enough to understand Duke Ulrich's plans, were not so stupid as to plan to die for Duke Ulrich's centralized power. In the face of a new wave of northern pirates, they wisely closed their doors and let the northern robbers rob as much as they wanted...... Or simply throw in new robbers to rob their neighbors......

After his son-in-law's last-ditch attempt to build a navy, he abdicated to the monastery, both disappointed by fate and with hope that Ulrich would be able to take Neustria seriously. This is a loss for the Kingdom of Neustria, but it is not a small benefit for the Duke of Ulrich, who further grasps the royal power of Neustria, however, he still has no intention of defeating the pirates, he wants to preserve his strength and drive away the tigers and wolves! It is best that the Neustrian nobles and the northern pirates both die together, and at that time, everything in Neustria, he alone has the final say!

His dream was beautiful, but what did it mean that the next series of changes dazzled his eyes, and he learned that when the northerners invaded again, they had already reached the vicinity of the Everglades, and were only a step away from the court of Alonael? It shows that the nobles along the road have completely voted for the northerners and lured the wolf into the house! He has been fighting geese all his life, but he was pecked in the eye by geese!

Fortunately, he had already made an engagement to the royal family of St. Omer for his granddaughter, so he took the court and his tribal army into exile in St. Omier, and threw the broken Neustria to the new robbers.

But who would have thought that the little bishop he had supported in the first place, Tournest, would actually take advantage of the opportunity to rise? He was originally just a small move used by the archbishop of the Duke to fight against the church in Neustria, but this pawn actually crossed the river and became king! He repelled the new robbers, settled down in Aronael, and did what his son-in-law expected him to do, and which he never felt he was capable of......

Therefore, he has always told his cronies and the court that he is nothing more than a group of stupid rebels who have taken advantage of the king's misfortune, but in fact he had to wait for the Pope and many foreign helpers to gather to "recover" Neustria! He never said these things to anyone, because he either didn't trust them (Ulrich would not be so stupid as to make his weakness public!). Or they feel that they are not capable of helping him, well, if he has a good helper to discuss, for example......

The Duke of Ulrich shook his head, and banished the thought from his mind, that his son, as it should be called by blood, did not really recognize him, that he was nothing more than an embroidered pillow! He was born beautifully, and he was very good at fighting, and he was the kind of aristocratic knight that a girl dreams of—he looked good in a class of fools and fools, but he couldn't be a duke! His heir must be a descendant of noble blood! Only the descendants of the noble blood know how to deal with the insidious tricks beneath the smiling faces of this court! A shepherdess's stupid child is not a no! It's okay for that stupid big guy to fight and kill outside, but he doesn't know anything about the internal struggle for power and profit! Ulrich is not at ease with putting in his hands the power that he has worked so hard to get in his hands! Of course, for an old robber who bought and sold the bishop's office, he said that there was a formal marriage back then, and anyone could talk back to him? But to be in power, it is far from that simple!

Outside the window, the terrible north wind howled, and the duke couldn't help but think about it: "What kind of scene will it be on the sea?" (To be continued......)