Otto naturally didn't simply want to take Sophie to relax and take her back to her parents' house, but had other plans.

Historically, if nothing else, the war between the Carolingian families for the lands of the Kingdom of Lotharingia will end in a very short time, with Louis, King of East Francia, the biggest winner.

The vast majority of the land of the Kingdom of Lotharingia will be incorporated into the Kingdom of East Francia, and the part of the Kingdom of West Francia will also be lost to the Kingdom of East Francia in a very short period of time.

It can be said that it is not an exaggeration to say that the Kingdom of East Francia basically inherited the entire Kingdom of Lotharingia.

This war, in a short period of time, will undoubtedly cause a reshuffle of the nobles of the former kingdom of Lotharingia, and a new power struggle in the East Frankish kingdom.

If memory serves, shortly after the annexation of the territory of the Kingdom of Lotharingia, two new kingdoms will be formed, mainly in Switzerland and Swabia, Alemania and Laetia.

The territory of the Kingdom of Alemannia includes most of Switzerland, and since it has been upgraded to a kingdom, it is natural that there will be more dukedom positions, and the title of the Duke of Transjura is the target of Otto's preparation to enter the court of Swabian and East Francia.

As long as he can successfully become the Duke of the Transjura, with the status of the Duke of the Transjura, Otto can expand his influence to the entire Swiss region, and the two regions closest to the Aargau Collar Bern and Neuchâtel can also be bloodlessly captured.

With Otto's current status as a baron, it is undoubtedly quite difficult to become a duke, so he needs the help of his wife Sophie and the power of the Sighard family in the Duchy of Swabia.

Of course, Otto still has a very important advantage, that is, he has money.

As a baron, or even as an earl, Otto was rich.

Although the church in the Basel area owes a sum of money, there is no need to pay it in a short time, and the commercial tax dividend at the beginning of the year has arrived.

Therefore, even if a lot of money was spent on the wedding before, Otto had a lot of money in his hands.

Not to mention, with the current situation of the Allgao collar, asking merchants to borrow money, they will definitely flock to it, and Otto is absolutely not short of money to operate.

Money, no matter what era it is easier to do things, there are not a few people who have been bribed by the Emperor of the HRE in history, and if you can use money to win the position of the emperor, presumably a duke title, it should not be difficult.

The only problem is that Otto has forgotten when the two kingdoms were founded, but it doesn't matter, if the kingdoms are not established, is it possible that the Swiss region will not get a few dukes out?

With Otto's current strength and prestige in the Swiss region, plus money to open the way, it shouldn't be impossible to mix up as a duke.

Sophie was very happy that Otto was going to take her out to play, and was busy preparing various small gifts for her family and friends. Although it has only been separated for a short time, now that the identity is different, the etiquette is naturally different.

Otto packed the domain's specialty, mainly raffite, with a large amount of gold, silver and jewelry, and led dozens of carriages and a luxurious convoy of 500 soldiers to Baden, the capital of the present-day East Frankish Kingdom.

With such a large-scale convoy, it is easy to be watched by people with intentions, especially if you have to pass through the territory of many nobles along the way, it is easy to cause unpleasantness and misunderstanding.

To this end, Otto sent knights to open the way in front, and at the same time contacted the Sighard family and his own family knights in the Duchy of Swabia in advance, asking them to bring troops to meet them.

Although Otto is very confident in the combat effectiveness of his five hundred soldiers, after all, in other people's territory, it is an away battle, and the situation that can avoid fighting should be avoided as much as possible.

When passing through the territory of Zurich, the younger brother of the Count of Zurich, Bate, personally led troops to escort a section and gave Otto a gift, saying that it was to celebrate Otto's happy wedding and hoped to maintain a good relationship with Otto.

To be honest, when Bate came with the army, he almost startled Otto, thinking that the other party wanted to attack him and take him down directly, so as to recover Basel in one fell swoop.

After all, escorting Otto for a distance would not have taken an army of thousands at all.

It turned out later that Otto was thinking too much, but with this, Otto had a clearer understanding of the strength of the Zurich Lord.

It seems that in northern Switzerland, the Humphreids of Zurich will be the worst enemies of his expanding influence.

With the Earl of Zurich taking away the main force, it is not easy for Bet to pull out thousands of troops. Although the vast majority of soldiers could barely scrape together weapons and had no armor, the nearly 200 soldiers with various types of armor were enough to prove the strength of the Zurich Lord.

It seems likely that rumors that the Zurich Lords have gradually regained their strength after the family civil strife decades ago and have made great progress in encroaching on the two counties to the east.

When he first heard this rumor, Otto was a little unconvinced, if the Zurich Territory was so strong, why not take back Basel. Basel is Zurich's de jure territory, and its geographical location is extremely important, so there's no reason not to take it.

Now it seems that it is estimated that the Count of Zurich, whom he has never met, is afraid of the church, so he has not done it for a long time, and most of them also have the idea of taoguang and obscurity.

If it weren't for this Bette who came to escort him with soldiers this time, perhaps for a long time, Otto would have misjudged the strength of the Zurich Lord.

It seems that this trip is also a good thing, you can observe the situation of the surrounding noble territories up close, and have a clearer judgment on their strength.

Like the Zurich Lord, only a few nobles brought their soldiers to give them a ride in person, and most of the nobles' domains sent some food as a gesture of goodwill and pretended not to see Otto's convoy.

There is no way, now the nobles and troops of the entire East Franconian Kingdom have been assembled in the Baden region, and there are not many troops left in the various territories, and they are rashly in contact with Otto, they are also afraid that Otto will sack them, and Otto's five hundred soldiers look like elites.

Even the Duke of Swabia left his territory and went to Baden with his army.

In view of this, Otto also changed his plan, no longer going to the territory of the Duke of Swabia, and after joining the army sent by Sighard and his own Swabian knights and soldiers, he made a rapid advance to Baden.

Otto didn't care about anything else at this time, and it seemed that the army of East Francia was about to set off, and it would be embarrassing if he delayed it and couldn't catch up with the army.

If you want to become a duke, money and strength are important, but prestige is equally important, and this must-win war is the time for Otto to brush up his prestige, so he must not miss it.

Fortunately, Otto's luck was good, at this time, the large army of the East Frankish Kingdom did not leave Baden, and only the vanguard drove into the territory of the Kingdom of Lotharingia, so that Otto did not miss the war.

"Nonsense! Otto, why did you bring Sophie with you.

This is war, not child's play! ”

As soon as he saw Otto, Count Ansbach couldn't help but scold.