Chapter 801 Give it a try
Matt never imagined that Kane Hawke, the lord of Arachisburg, and Dylan Hawke, the lord of Tira City, the largest port city in the south, were brothers. One was extremely rich, while the other's territory only had a mere million Fenniers. It was really unbelievable.
Matt looked around the entire lord's hall, and except for a few pieces of porcelain worth a few dollars placed next to the lord's seat, he really didn't find anything valuable.
"But~" Odo paused and looked up at Art, "The citizens in the castle and the merchants do have a lot of valuable things in their homes."
At suddenly stopped and glanced in Odo's direction, looking a little serious. "Tell me what's going on!"
Otto quickly stood up and explained, "Sir, I think you have misunderstood. The soldiers who broke into the homes of the residents in the fort were only to search for the Lombard soldiers who were hiding everywhere, and did not violate military orders and plunder the belongings of these residents. If our soldiers After emptying out the wealth in the homes of these fortress residents, how could there be only one million pfennigs worth of gold and silver on this account? "Then how do you know that the homes of these fortress residents are rich?" Art asked again.
Odo explained: "They were found in places where deserters could be hidden in their homes~"
The soldiers of the Welsh Legion were all too familiar with this kind of incident where a large amount of property was often found when searching deserters' homes. In the battle of Santia alone, the Welsh Legion soldiers who entered the city found more than 1.5 million pfennigs in property from the homes of those citizens.
Hence, Art didn’t ask any more questions, but immediately changed the topic.
"You just said that seven to eight hundred farm tools were found in the arsenal?"
"Yes, sir. Not only that, many farm tools were also found in the homes of these fort residents, and they appear to be more durable than those made by the craftsmen in the valley. It's strange, why do they make so many farm tools!" Odo was puzzled by this question.
Matt returned to his seat and said, "That's all, let them go. In addition, the legion will leave here tomorrow morning. You leave the two government officials who went north with us and let them be responsible for managing the daily affairs here. Also, select a squadron captain and five or six soldiers from the first division, and then select a squadron of young peasant soldiers from Obote's reserve regiment to garrison here."
"Yes, sir."
At this time, Angus stood up suddenly and asked, "Sir, what about the captured Lombard soldiers? There are more than a hundred of them. Once they rebel, I'm afraid~"
Ater sighed lightly. Now that the war is imminent, he really doesn't have much energy to arrange the affairs of these prisoners of war.
Hence "First, chain their hands and feet, and stay here to build the city wall. As for the rest, we will wait until we capture the city of Milan."
h "Yes!"
After seeing the two people disappear, Art picked up the glass cup in his hand, stood up and walked slowly towards Robert who was sitting at the table.
Robert saw this and was about to stand up, but was pushed back by Art who walked forward quickly.
"Sir, what are you doing~" Robert didn't understand why Art left him alone at this time.
Matt sat down on the chair next to Robert. Seeing this, Ron quickly picked up the jug beside him and filled Art's glass with bright red wine.
Matt picked up the wine on the table and motioned for Robert to clink glasses with him.
Ding～
The sound of the glass cup being clinked is clear and sweet.
Taking a sip of the wine in the glass, Art let out a long sigh.
"I'm afraid your lord is not just here to keep me here to drink~"
Matt grinned and said, "That's natural!"
"My lord, please make it clear!" Robert looked at Matt with expectant eyes.
I saw Art pulling the map on the side in front of him and pointing to the location of Milan City without hesitation.
Robert turned to look in the direction of Art's finger, gently put down the wine glass in his hand, and thought quickly about Art's true purpose in his mind.
As Art's most trusted confidant, Robert can always inadvertently see Art's true purpose every time. But this time, he was in trouble. When he looked at Art again, those sharp eyes like an eagle were staring at him motionless~
"Could it be that your Excellency intends to monopolize Milan?"
Robert calmed down and looked at Art firmly from the light again.
Standing aside, Ron moved his eyes back and forth between the two of them, observing their every move. The count's bodyguard was often confused about topics that were beyond his ability to understand between the two of them.
After a while, Art suddenly laughed loudly, and then breathed a long sigh of relief.
"How confident do you think I am?" Art looked expectantly at this priest who was supposed to be devoted to religious affairs.
Robert did not speak, he just raised the wine glass to his mouth again and took a sip gently. For this alcoholic high-ranking church member, wine helps his brain think more clearly.
Robert blurted out after carefully deducing the meaning behind Art's words.
"Then it depends on how much leverage you can give the Duke of Provence~"
Att was satisfied with this answer. I saw him pick up the wine glass again and drink it all in one gulp.
Robert also raised the wine glass to his lips, but his eyes stayed on the face of the ambitious lord of Wales in front of him.
As the Welsh Army occupied more and more land, the size of the Army also expanded exponentially. In just a few months, the frontier count of the Burgundy Kingdom performed a trick of an ant swallowing an elephant for the world.
The lord of Wales expanded so blatantly, apparently because the death of the previous king, Flanders, left him with no worries.
Robert knew very well about such an ending. But as the bishop of Art's territory, he could only obey the count's wishes. After all, everything he had now was thanks to him... At this time, Art put down the glass cup in his hand and walked slowly outside the lord's hall. Behind him, Robert and the guard Ron stopped in place.
· Art raised his head and glanced at the bright moon hanging in the sky, and asked with great interest: "What do you think the Duke of Lombardy will do when he hears the news that we have invaded the city of Milan?"
· The two looked at each other beautifully.
In the absence of a palace finance minister and a bachelor, Duke Witott convened this royal meeting at an impromptu meeting.
In the empty hall, in addition to the Duke of Lombardy who was sitting at the head, there were also Francesco, who had just been appointed as the Palace Minister of Military Affairs a few days ago, as well as the deputy minister and the palace intelligence chief who temporarily replaced the finance minister.
The meeting was chaired by Francesco, who held military and political power.
..—Let’s talk about it. "The voice of the Lombard Duke sitting at the top was a little hoarse, but the majesty on his face was not diminished at all.
Francesco, the Minister of Military Affairs, who was sitting in the front row of the official table, winked at the Palace Intelligence Chief who was sitting opposite.
The intelligence officer in a light brown silk robe moved his slightly obese body, raised his head with sparse hair, cleared his throat, and said hesitantly: "Let me tell you, Your Majesty the Duke, there is news from Rome~"
Duke Witott, who was physically and mentally exhausted, put his hands on the armrests, leaned forward slightly, and hurriedly urged, "Say it quickly!"
"Yes, Your Majesty the Duke." The intelligence chief took out a piece of parchment from his arms and slowly opened it. "The Grand Bachelor and the Bishop met with the Pope on the day they arrived and asked the Holy See for help regarding the current predicament we are facing. But~" The intelligence chief glanced at the Duke of Lombardy.
“But what!” the Duke of Lombardy urged, slapping the armrest fiercely.
· Upon seeing this, the intelligence chief hurriedly continued: "In addition to asking Milan to accept the jurisdiction of the Holy See, the Pope also made a clear territorial claim, asking us to put all the territory of the principality under the name of the Holy See. Otherwise, they would rather watch Lombardy being eaten by our enemies one by one than never lend a helping hand."
These words were like nails driven into the heart of the Duke of Lombardy. It was hard for him to imagine that the demands of the Holy See could be so despicable. It was tantamount to letting the Duke of Lombardy hand over the legacy that his ancestors had built for generations.
bang!
Duke Witott suddenly became furious, stood up, overturned the glass cup in his hand, rolled it down the steps and broke into pieces.
"Tell the university ministers to return to Milan immediately. Even if I burn the entire city of Milan, I will never let the Romans step on it!"
Duke Witote's roar echoed throughout the hall, and several palace ministers sitting at the court affairs table hurriedly stood up and lowered their heads in silence.
A moment later, Duke Witott asked again: "What's the news from Swabia?"
However, the palace intelligence chief, who had already been trembling with fear from the Duke of Lombardy's wrath, didn't hear it at this time.
“Are you all deaf?” the Duke of Lombardy pointed at a few people and yelled.
Back, Your Majesty, Duke, the finance minister has sent a secret message, saying that, as long as our sincerity is strong enough, the Duke of Swabia is willing to help us. Hearing this, Wei Wei As if he had grasped a life-saving straw again, Duke Witote immediately said: "Immediately tell the Chancellor of Finance in a secret message that as long as Swabia is willing to help me regain the lost territory, let them ask for any conditions!"
The atmosphere in the hall suddenly became extremely tense, and the ministers present were like eggplants beaten by frost, saying nothing.
Francesco looked at the angry Duke Witott. He wanted to report the military intelligence coming from the south after the intelligence chief had finished explaining the information from Swabia. Now it seems that this is tantamount to adding fuel to the fire~