The city of Lienz is lively.

At least it's a lively day.

Taverns, weapon shops, and blacksmith shops were crowded with knights, nobles, nobles, noblewomen, and many more servants dressed in all kinds of square flags.

Lothar and his party settled down at the inn for the time being.

Moder crouched in front of the fireplace, baking everyone's laundry soaked in the drizzle.

Ryan did his job perfectly, bringing back the rifles and shields that Lothar and Hans needed, and supervising the guys' blacksmith shop in the backyard to nail the two newly acquired Hungarian horses.

Lothar held a steaming bowl of oatmeal and drank it in small sips.

Hans wiped his newly arrived riding gun, his expression visibly nervous.

Like Lothar, he was only an acolyte before, and had not actually been on the battlefield.

Therefore, although in terms of attributes, his martial arts are already quite good, but they have not been tested, which always makes people a little lacking in confidence.

The exact time of the tournament was not said, but when it was early in the afternoon, almost the entire city began to flock to the hunting grounds outside the city, and they naturally knew that the tournament was about to begin.

The hunting grounds were for the private use of the lord.

Hunting without permission is a crime, and the offense can be large or small, and even the harsh lord will even execute the poacher.

The common people were regarded by many lords as livestock worthy of eating only grain, and only the meat eaters of the nobility were worthy of being called humans.

Lothar and his party followed the crowd all the way to the hunting grounds.

It's overcrowded.

In the most central part of the hunting ground, the wooden grandstand built around the jousting arena is quite a bit of the grandeur of the Colosseum of the ancient empire.

The seat of the Count of Leopold is at the top.

From left to right, the eagle coat of arms of the Great Germania Empire and the red and white coats of arms of the Babenburg family are hung.

On either side are wrap-around stands, arranged from top to bottom.

In the Middle Ages, when most of the tournaments were still modestly held, this was the equivalent of a large stadium that could accommodate tens of thousands of people.

Lothar sighed a little: "This Count Leopold is also an ambitious man. ”

"It is said that this Count Leopold also intends to participate in this round of the Crusades, but for the sake of His Majesty the Emperor's face, it is still in the preparatory stage for the time being."

A few years ago, the emperor was fighting with the Pope.

The struggle between the imperial power and the clerical power was almost at a fever pitch, and the emperor was keen on a group of clergy who were rich enough to rival the country and tried to reduce the power of the clergy.

The Pope was eager to rally a vote of loyal princes and go to war against the Hohenstaufens.

Although the fight did not start later due to various factors, the Pope also opened the emperor's membership.

Even if both sides now have the intention of easing, before the Pope reinstates the emperor's membership, some small and medium-sized feudal lords still dare not make their own claims.

Although the Great Germania was loose, the emperor still had his authority.

After all, as the head of the Hohenstaufen family, the Schwabian land owned by the Emperor Henry was also among the four major states of the empire (namely Swabia, Saxony, Franconia, and Bavaria), and was very powerful.

The Emperor was both the Emperor of the Empire and the most powerful feudal lord within the Empire.

Of course, Bohemia was the strongest state in the empire, but Bohemia was predominantly inhabited by Slavs and had always been outside the center of power in the empire.

The reason why Lothar said that Count Leopold was an ambitious man is evident from the scale of the competitive tournament he held.

In fact, the vast majority of knightly tournaments have no prizes.

The champion gets fame and honor, and that's the biggest reward.

And the winner of each battle can demand ransom from the loser, or receive the opponent's armor and horses as a reward, just as he won the real war.

Therefore, holding a knightly competition is a good thing for the lord in many cases.

Knights can also show their prowess, whether it is attracting the attention of their lords, standing out from the landless knights, and transforming into knights of the miners.

It's still a good thing to gain fame, make yourself famous, and then wait for the price to sell.

It can be said that the Knights Athletic Competition is a large-scale job fair, and it is a grand event that almost every knight has participated in.

It's a pity that Lothar's father, Count Werner of Aargau, was too poor.

He simply couldn't feed more knights, so he never held a competitive tournament to solicit the idea of knights.

Thus, to date, Lothar has not been able to really take part in such a popular entertainment of medieval noble knights.

Of course, knightly tournaments are also a very dangerous activity.

In previous competitions, there are few that have not had casualties.

Even if you use a white beech wood riding gun that is easy to break, and a round blunt sword head, if you really fight, it is still easy to cause casualties and lifelong disability.

Especially the poor egg knight with incomplete armor, the family road is in the middle, and there is only a pair of ancestral armor left, which can be called the poor light egg knight of the old antique armor.

Often, the weak point of his armor will be spotted by the enemy and give a fatal blow.

But they still flock to it, hoping to be valued by the feudal lord and recruit themselves as knights of the fiefdom.

"My lord, I've heard that foot squires like us can also participate in the competition. ”

Lothar shook his head: "It's best not to, only knights can kill knights, in case you are not careful, you will probably have to kill a knight." ”

These words immediately poured cold water on Modell.

At this time, melodious singing was heard from the crowd.

A bard from the north of Albion, with a lute in his arms, sings and dances as he plays.

The Celts, who inhabit the islands, seem to have been born to be good dancers, singing some famous songs that have endured for a long time.

Occasionally, it will be improvised.

When a bard saw the veiled Prajna, his eyes lit up, and he played the lute and danced beside him: "Ah, a beautiful black-haired woman from the East, she walks side by side with our valiant knights..."

As he sang, he smiled flatteringly and held out his hand to Lothar.

Lothar smiled helplessly and motioned for Ryan to place the coin in the palm of his hand.

Praruo looked at this scene with a blank face, she was a master of expression management, and she couldn't see the slightest psychological fluctuation just by looking at her eyes.

A huge long table is filled with delicacies, roasted pheasants, peacocks, and even swans, all kinds of game, and large bottles of fine wine for guests to eat.

It's like a buffet in later generations.

Already the knights and their companions, drunk, ran to the stands and danced to the singing of the bards.

Under the Earl's Stand, in the center of the tournament field, there is a long fence, separated by a simple wooden fence.

When the tournament begins, the knights will enter on both sides of the baffle and then compete to avoid the horses colliding and causing irreparable damage.

In the stands, many noble ladies have already arrived first.

They exchanged their heads and looked at the knights who appeared in the ring.

Some noblewomen made no secret of their favor for some of the knights in the field, throwing winks and garlands at them.

Many aristocratic couples who came together through political marriages rarely restrained each other's behavior, which also made both parties uninhibited even though they were married.

It is said that if these noblewomen take a fancy to any knight, they will not only recruit them as guests, but also fund a sum of money for the knight to buy equipment and even develop into long-term lovers.

Ahead, a knight with painted bird feathers on his head, like a peacock trying to open the screen and court, is waving to the stands.

His appearance was handsome and fair-skinned, which immediately caused a large number of noble ladies to scream.

Participating in jousting tournaments, winning the favor of noble ladies and ladies in the stands in order to obtain funding, and even prostitution, is also the pursuit of knights.

Lothar was keenly aware that in the crowd, there was a knight in old armor who glanced at a young lady in the stands.

The young lady's eyes were full of worry, but the knight's face was resolute.

Obviously, this is a love story between a down-and-out knight and a noble lady.

Once the knight can win the game, or rise to prominence and gain favor, he will have the hope of marrying this noble lady.

But Lothar didn't think he expected much.

A well-equipped suit of armor would have enabled a knight like Lothar to be outnumbered by ten in battle with the nomadic cavalry of the Magyars.

There is a nail and there is no armor, the fine armor and the old armor, which are completely two different concepts.

"The competitive competition in this era is really interesting."

Lothar sighed.

"Hans, have you ever been to a similar event?"

Hans shook his head and said, "The athletic tournaments of our time have been transformed into social performances, and the knights are dressed up like pheasants, and there is no need to compete at all. ”

He was also dazzled and excited, and he had already begun to fantasize about easily defeating the enemy in such a scene, winning the applause of the audience.

"Look, the Earl is here."

Someone shouted excitedly.

People were suddenly boiling.

In this age of lack of entertainment.

They were very grateful to the generous earl for being able to spare such a large sum of money for them to enjoy such a lively event.