Chapter 1001 Buying Peace

Before his eyes were the murderous Ross cavalry, the senior priest Marquez was trembling with fear and anger.

"You actually arrested many innocent villagers. You must release them."

Fisk nodded: "It can be released. But is this your only request?"

"No! You must leave our sacred Cologne, stop all killings, and never set foot here again. I know you have destroyed many remote monasteries, look at the good things you have done, killing people everywhere you go, calling you devils No injustice at all…”

The more Marquez talked, the more excited he became. Fisk listened with all ears. Hearing this man's rebuke was simply an affirmation of the Ross Cavalry.

Fisk had no intention of arguing with this person and asked again: "Have you finished speaking?"

"That's it." Then, Marquez suddenly stopped, and then issued his ultimatum: "We ask you to leave, release all the prisoners, leave our Cologne diocese, and never disturb the Frankish territory in the future. To this end, we will Pay a sum of money for you to leave with dignity. Otherwise, you will all be burned to death when Frank's army arrives."

"Is that it? Are you threatening us?" Fisk noticed the last sentence of his words, took a few steps forward, and faced the poor priest with strong coercion like a giant.

Those who accompanied Marquez were trembling, but he tried to remain calm.

Then, Fisk suddenly drew his sword, and the buzzing sound of the steel sword was really bizarre. He held the sword in his hand and played with it deliberately: "This sword of mine killed too many Frankish soldiers. I have seen the East Frankish army you mentioned, and they are not strong. I know that your king is in the north with his army, but it is a pity that they will They were all killed by our army. Do you... think your Cologne is really safe? But if you are willing to pay, we can leave mercifully."

Marquez felt that these Ross cavalry were bluffing. Can the powerful Kingdom army really be defeated? It's incredible.

But if these horse bandits don't leave, it will be difficult to hold the Christmas Mass in Cologne. The situation is very unfavorable for the Diocese of Cologne. The Archbishop and the True Cross are not in the cathedral, and the people have been suffering from panic for months.

It would be blasphemy if High Mass had to be cancelled, and everyone would face even greater suffering next year.

The disaster of faith is on the one hand, but the most serious problem is that if this group of horse bandits, who are obviously not afraid of the cold, continue to wreak havoc, next year's spring plowing will not be possible.

It's still this group of horse bandits. Their activities are equivalent to cutting off the "Road to Hell" trade line.

Farmers cannot sow seeds, otherwise there will be famine if they miss the start of autumn. Businessmen did not dare to cross the road, and the cotton and linen textile handicraft industry in Cologne also withered.

Parishes would be unable to collect full tithes and instead spend money feeding hungry people.

As an aspirant to succeed the archbishop, Marquez could not tolerate such a situation, and pitifully Cologne was not an invincible enemy.

"You..." Marquez heard the news in horror, "are you still going to attack Cologne? No! You are lying, our king will not be defeated!"

"Maybe. But no one stopped us at all. Look at these innocent villagers, maybe... you are cruel enough to watch us behead them all. Think about it! All we want now is money."

Marquez knew they could do it.

"Okay, we'll give you money. I'll give you a hundred pounds of silver and you can leave. Don't... don't have any more wars."

It was already a great shame for a normally arrogant high priest to bow down to the barbarians. Marquez felt that he had made a huge concession, but...

Fisk was sure that the Latin description he heard was accurate, but the amount was too bizarre.

"What did you say? A mere hundred pounds?" He pressed his ear. "Can you say that again."

"Yes. One hundred pounds. You take the silver coins and leave, and release all the villagers. We...will forget the sins you have done in the past."

"Absurd. Where's the money?" Fisk scolded.

Marquez hurriedly gave his entourage a wink, but he saw the priest holding a huge linen bag taking a few steps forward. He was too frightened to stand still, and the heavy cloth bag fell directly to the ground.

The hemp rope at the girdle came apart and the silver coins fell to the floor.

Fisk's eyes widened when he saw the shiny silver coins. However, when he looked closely, he noticed that some of the silver coins were black.

"This is the money for you, please leave." Marquez continued with a frown.

"So, you want us to personally pick up the money that fell on the ground?"

Marquez was silent for a moment.

"Okay. Priest, what's your name? Can it really represent Cologne?" Fisk asked again suppressing his anger.

"I am Marquez, Cardinal of the Archdiocese of Cologne. I will be the next archbishop, authorized to negotiate with you. Brave barbarian general, you may..."

"I am Fisk, captain of the cavalry under the rule of the Kingdom of Ross. Well, my name has been announced, and now you can die without regrets..."

It happened very suddenly. Fisk had been holding the sword in his hand, and suddenly it penetrated deeply into Marquez's abdomen and twisted it hard from left to right.

The ambitious Marquez was aware of the risks, but naively overestimated the virtues of his enemy. He was directly assassinated by Fisk before he could finish his words. The cavalry waiting to be hit immediately shot arrows to kill the remaining people.

In an instant, the first wave of negotiators sent by Cologne were killed, and the defenders and priests standing on the city wall witnessed everything.

"Ah! Shut the city gate quickly!" The acting archbishop yelled in a panic.

The suspension bridge has not yet been pulled up, the iron fence at the city gate has been lowered, and the heavy wooden door is closed.

But Fisk shook off the blood on his sword and kicked Marquez to see if he was dead. Seeing that he was weak and panting, he ordered his dismounted subordinates to help the dying body up. Fisk performed a performance art and beheaded it in public.

He roared at the walls of Cologne with his bloody revelation.

He shouted again: "You think you can send us away with a hundred pounds of silver coins?! You are insulting the great warrior Odin. Send people out to negotiate with us again! Send people quickly! Otherwise I will kill a few every once in a while. captive!"

Fisk was serious, and the soldiers were dissatisfied with the Cologne's attitude. A mere one hundred pounds of silver coins might have been withdrawn in the past when everyone got the money, but that makes no sense now.

Of course, Fisk's understanding of Cologne mainly comes from the description of King Ragnar of Denmark. It is said that there is a lot of wealth in this city. Ragnar can't get a lot of treasures, so the Ross cavalry try their best to get glory.

Fisk kept roaring, and the cavalry warriors were also showing off their power.

The tied prisoners were shivering in the snow, somewhat aware that they would die here.

Feeling that time was almost up, the Ross warriors randomly captured ten people from among the prisoners. They were all grown men. They thought they were going to be assassinated, but the ropes around them were all untied.

This move was seen by the people on the city wall.

Acting Bishop Hildwin saw it clearly: "They killed the martyr Marquez and then released the prisoners?!"

The prisoners who had been released from their restraints were seen standing there dumbfounded.

Until the warrior stepped forward, banged the buckler with the hilt of his sword and roared: "Run! You idiot, you are free."

Only then did the ten prisoners run away.

Unexpectedly, Fisk suddenly whistled, and the cavalry on standby set up their bows and fired arrows.

Those who had reached the suspension bridge were suddenly hit from behind. Some people had fallen to the ground, while others struggled to stand up. Unexpectedly, they were hit by an arrow in the neck and died directly on the suspension bridge.

Fisk nodded with satisfaction. To this day, the brothers are still good at shooting moving targets.

They were clearly hunting, but the scary thing was that the targets were humans.

In an instant, there was an uproar and wailing at the top of the city, and the prisoners became even more desperate.

Fisk continued to shout: "We want more silver coins. You humiliated us with a hundred pounds of silver coins. This is the result. Stop using old silver coins to deceive us! Send new representatives out of the city quickly! Otherwise I will continue to kill!"

The chaos of the situation has left Hildwen in a state of confusion. The defenders are now more fearful than angry, and the closed door remains unmoved.

So Fisk went ahead and ordered the prisoners to be executed.

The poor peasant woman shivered and cried bitterly. Fisk reserved the last mercy for such people. They were blindfolded, forced to kneel, and then beheaded cleanly.

Death occurs in an instant, but a large amount of red blood appears on the white earth instantly.

Many people fainted directly on the city wall. The people called on the priests to stop the killing. Many senior priests hoped that Hildwin would come up with a solution.

As Hildwin hesitated, the killing outside the city continued.

Finally, when the Ross cavalry also killed the three captured village priests, Hildwin could no longer remain silent without conscience.

"Is there no one to negotiate with me?" Fisk continued to shout outside the city, "Are you going to sit back and watch me kill all your villagers? Are you really watching cruelly? You are also a murderer!"

Fisk knew that he was speaking of strange logic. The priests did not kill anyone, but... their choice to stand by and watch was political suicide.

Hildwin finally broke through the defense under the huge pressure. He took the risk and had a wooden box brought in and stood on it, exposing almost his entire body behind the battlements.

"I am the Acting Archbishop of Cologne, Hildwin! I am a Russian! Please stop killing, and I will discuss it with you in detail!"

"Okay! Come out and negotiate quickly! Don't try to be cunning, otherwise you will only get the corpse."

After a while, Hildwin appeared with only two followers holding high crosses.

As soon as they left the city, the city gate was immediately closed.

In a tense and suffocating atmosphere, Hildwin stood next to Marquez's headless body and secretly wept for the martyr.

Fisk remained arrogant and said deliberately: "You should understand that if you humiliate us, you will die."

"Everyone is destined to die. If you die for your beliefs, it will be my honor." Hildwin's expression remained unchanged as he looked into Fisk's eyes, which were full of grief, anger and protest.

These words were very useful to Fisk, so his subordinates should not use their bows.

"Since you are willing to die for your faith, it is obvious that your city is full of ungodly people. We believe in different gods, and maybe we can have a battle to determine the outcome. You dare not! So your gods will not help you."

"..." Hildwin didn't want to say anything more.

"Since you have chosen to be cowardly, I am too lazy to force you anymore. Just pay! Give us a huge sum of money and we will leave."

"You can give me money... Since you are not satisfied with one hundred pounds of silver coins, you can give me a price."

Fisk nodded: "Give us five thousand pounds of silver coins! I know you can afford it."

"What? Five thousand pounds?!"

"It must be five thousand pounds, otherwise all the prisoners here will die. Not only that, everyone in this area will face our attacks every year." Fisk made a careful statement, and his words were bragging, "We They will come in rowing boats and horses. They will kill everyone they see, burn all the villages, and they will organize an army to take down Cologne. You will all die."

"You...how do you have such hatred against us?" Hildwin was so anxious that he stamped his feet and was at a loss.

"Unless you take out five thousand pounds of silver coins and give us some ale and other things. You are not giving it to us, but you are dedicating it to the Kingdom of Rus. If I don't kill you, you can't afford the price of refusal."

It seemed that there was no room for bargaining. Hildwin really didn't want to deal with this mess, but the matter in front of him really couldn't be solved without him.

The Central Frankish army was on the south bank of the Rhine. They were on guard but did not dare to cross the river into the parish of Cologne.

Unless the Diocese of Cologne is willing to give up a lot of power to serve Lothair, King of the Middle Franks. it's out of the question! Lothair wanted to re-establish a great unity, and the move to cut down the vassals triggered a civil war. If the Diocese of Cologne were loyal to Lothair, the de facto independent theocratic small state of Cologne would disappear.

Let the priests give up their huge power to borrow troops from Frank? forget it! It's better to spend money to send these devils away.

"Can I... trust you?" Suddenly, Hildwin asked.

"As long as you hand over five thousand pounds of silver coins, we will evacuate. Maybe in the future our king will announce the end of hostility to Cologne. You have bought peace today and in the future."

Hildwin sighed and begged cautiously, "We will. We can hand over the money tomorrow, but these innocent people..."

"The prisoner will not give you money until he has the money! Listen, I want to see silver coins tomorrow, don't imagine that we don't know how to count. A sack is a hundred pounds, and we want fifty sacks. Give us some more horses and vehicles, We’re leaving with the money.”

"Okay. I would still like to ask you to hand over all the children. They are too young and weak."

"No. The only thing you can do is collect the corpse. Oh, by the way." Fisk had a flash of inspiration, "You are the acting bishop. I have actually met your bishop, named Hardbold?! You and I The kingdom's army encountered, I almost killed your archbishop, the captives have told us too many things. To be honest, your kingdom's army has been defeated now, you Cologne should think carefully about your future..."

Fisk did not know the specific battle situation in the north, and he firmly believed that Ross would win. The fact that Archbishop Hadbold had been attacked by chance, and especially his reference to a "huge golden cross mounted on a vehicle," convinced Hildwin to believe it.

The winter campaign was an unwise move by King Ludwig, and Hildwin fell into deep despair. He got extremely harsh withdrawal conditions from the Ross Cavalry. After all, Cologne couldn't afford it. They couldn't give up power and future wealth, they could only give up their current wealth.

So Hildwin, who returned, added fuel to the fire, pointing out that the True Cross had been lost and that Archbishop Hadbold was dead.

He claimed that these were all said by the Russians, and whether they were true or false, the senior priests in Cologne did not dare to speculate anymore.

The whole city is full of cowards. Even though there are strong-mouthed kings who want to fight the barbarians outside the city, they give in if someone really encourages them.

The door to the treasury was opened, and just like the legend Ragnar learned, the warehouse under the Cologne Cathedral did contain an astonishing amount of silver coins.

It is a reasonable thing to hide silver in the church. Most of the wealth accumulated by the Cologne Diocese in the past three hundred years is stored here in the form of precious metals. In fact, the wealth has always increased with the tithe tax, toll duty, ferry tax, etc.

Now, it’s time to buy peace!

At night, Acting Bishop Hildwin knelt in the church and prayed for atonement: "Lord! Forgive us for our appeasement. For those poor lambs, we are willing to spend a lot of wealth in exchange for their safety. This is not a deal with Satan."