Chapter 628 9.51

Chapter 628 51

Time flies by, September is gone, October follows, the fields outside Constantinople are golden. The blue sky is like water.

Today is a rare good day.

With a creaking sound, the heavy iron gate with the Holy Lord Christ shining on the world is slowly pulled open by several elephants, and one after another, the golden eagle flags with two heads are hung on the city wall.

A new day has officially arrived.

More than a dozen caravans have gathered on the streets outside the city. This is the last batch of caravans that rushed to the city before the "King's Birthday Banquet". Seeing the royal flags being hung on the city wall, the sleepy caravan guys put away their sleeping bags.

They have been awakened by the lively rehearsal of the troupe around them.

"General Sibio, listen! That's the sound of war horses. Why are they behind us!

"How did they fly over the Alps that no one has ever crossed? ! "

This full-throated roar came from a Roman general wearing a silver helmet and red robe not far away.

His outfit seemed to be in good shape, but if you look closely, you can easily find that the broadsword on his waist is not sharpened, and the armor he wears is obviously made of a thin layer of iron.

Such a thin plate armor is obviously not suitable for fighting against the enemy.

This is obviously not a real general, but a drama actor.

The actor who sang the lines was obviously not young, and he had been fully armed and started practicing before the sun rose.

Behind him, there were more than 20 carriages parked in groups of three or two. The carriages held lions, wolves and other beasts, and groups of young actors sat around the animal pens and chanted their own lines.

At the end of the team, there were even two war elephants covered with painted cloth. It was not difficult to see that he came from a large-scale theater troupe.

There was no need for a complete performance, Simply getting up early to practice has won the applause of other caravans around him.

Rome is a great country.

Thousands of years ago, King Hamilton of Carthage led his army across the Alps and appeared in the heart of Rome without warning. The harsh climate caused him to lose half of his troops before he even saw the Romans.

No matter who you look at, this is a crazy decision. Even in the late ancient times, there were still many ways to avoid the enemy's main force, but Hannibal chose the most unlikely way.

This almost suicidal behavior successfully allowed them to successfully avoid the Roman elite soldiers, avoid the powerful gods, and even exceed The imagination of the Olympian gods successfully appeared in the rear of Rome.

Taking advantage of the surprise attack, he led the remaining troops to a decisive battle with the Roman commander Scipio in the Second Punic War. With a well-rested and united army, they killed the Roman legions and made it the first major defeat since the founding of this young country.

According to normal logic, no emperor would choose to watch his ancestors being slaughtered by barbarians on his birthday, but the reason why Rome is great is that it is an open and inclusive country.

This troupe that arrived at the city gate before the king's birthday was a senator who went to the Visigothic Free City-State on a special trip, The descendants of Carthage who were invited with a large sum of money.

The full set of armor they wore and the strong war elephants were even purchased by the Romans. This was a special request made by the Byzantine King "Mikhail III".

The old king is no longer young, and he must warn his subjects that Rome is not invincible.

Seeing the heavy city gate carved with 12 angels slowly open, all the people waiting outside the city gate had quite excited smiles on their faces.

Driving the caravan to Constantinople successfully before the king's birthday, this means that the large amount of gold and silver has almost lined up in the market, waiting to jump into their pockets.

The king celebrates his birthday, and the whole city will hold a 10-day celebration. The kings and lords from all over the Western Continent will bring their vassal families to attend the state banquet. These big men will not be soft-hearted when spending money.

Thinking of the gold and silver that will be put into the money bag, the caravan, from the porters to the bosses, only feel that the fatigue of the journey has been swept away, and the whole body is full of energy.

The city defense officers stationed on the city wall held scroll quills and stood on both sides of the city gate.

Constantinople is the largest city in the Western Continent, with a permanent and floating population of nearly one million. Managing such a huge city requires three thousand city defense soldiers to work day and night.

Before the caravan enters the city, they need to check the customs documents first to determine which city the caravan departed from, which countries it passed on the way, and how long it took to reach the Byzantine Empire.

After all the seals and times on the customs documents match, the next step is to check the goods to confirm that the merchants did not carry gunpowder and kerosene, which are prohibited from being sold in the city, as well as ancient monsters.

Caravans entered the city one after another in an orderly manner.

However, among this group of merchants driving carriages, a group of white horsemen wearing animal skins seemed quite out of place.

Each of them was lightly equipped and did not carry any goods.

**

"I still find it hard to believe that the old lizard that killed all of our brothers has now become one of ours?"

"Hehe

When we first met, wasn't Buchanbush our enemy?

Wasn't Archbishop Francis our enemy?

Wasn't King Ecbert of Wessex our enemy?

Aren't they all our brothers now?

I basically understood. Boss Loki was able to pull us out of the underworld, and 90% of the success was due to this old lizard. "

After traveling back to the human world from the underworld three months ago, when "Greedy Wolf" Guraul crawled out of the hot springs in Murmansk, he kept thinking about the same question in his mind.

The brain nerves of the Slavs cannot handle too profound problems. Compared with thinking, they obviously prefer to use their hands to solve the difficulties in front of them.

This "mortal enemy becomes an ally" drama is obviously a bit difficult for him to accept.

But the Sat beside him doesn't think so.

Since he was with Loki since he was a child, Sat is much better at thinking than ordinary Vikings. After experiencing one war after another, he has long seen that there is no eternal enemy in this world.

As long as you are strong enough, no one will be your enemy.

Everyone will compete to become your friend.

From the cold and piercing Moore After Mansk returned to Paris, Archbishop Jerome met his wife Katya again after 13 years.

13 years ago, Jerome was much older than Katya.

And 13 years later, the old archbishop was still the same age as when he died, while the Valkyrie Katya had become a capable duchess. The two had a lot to talk about when they met. They stayed in Paris for only two days before returning to the Lorraine province under Katya's control.

It was obviously not easy for Alfred to see his biological father Ecbert again.

They are members of a real family.

Loki had been away from the throne for 8 years, and he had countless government affairs to do every day.

This made Sartre and Guraul, the two resurrected bachelors, quite at a loss.

At this time, the Normandy Kingdom was no longer the Hanshui Village that was full of crises.

Loki had been away for 8 years. , the kingdom is still running as usual. On the one hand, of course, it is thanks to Ecbert's hard work, and on the other hand, there has been no war in the kingdom in the past decade.

Sitting on the rich land of France, the residents of the kingdom no longer have to rely on looting as before. Whether it is opening a farm or going out to sea for trade, the citizens of the Kingdom of Normandy have a more stable way to make money.

Sartre followed the Duchess Katya into the province of Lorraine for a while, and was surprised to find that the Duke's life was completely different from before.

In the Scandinavian Peninsula, the most important task of the Viking Duke is the annual autumn looting.

Building ships, collecting steel, and forging weapons are the main responsibilities of the Duke. As long as he can lead his people to plunder supplies to survive the severe cold, he is a good lord loved by everyone.

However At this time in the Kingdom of Normandy, Sartre found that the lords no longer had to wield weapons to go out and chop people.

Katya was once a Slavic Valkyrie.

However, she has not participated in battles for many years. Her main job every day is to meet with merchants, develop mineral resources in the province, or build city docks to allow more people to move into the province of Lorraine.

13 years later, she has become a "civilized person".

On the other hand, Sartre and Guraul experienced a bloody fight with the undead swordsman in the dark underworld for a full 13 years. 13 years later, the combat capabilities of the two have improved by leaps and bounds. After returning to the human world, they were surprised to find that their country has been away from war for a long time.

After a round, the two were surprised to find that they were like abandoned children eliminated by the times.

This made the two of them quite at a loss.

After a month of idle noble life like being in prison, Sartre and Guraul were a little tired. The two were originally thinking about whether to return to Hanshui Village to live a retired life, but at this time, Loki arranged for them to come to Constantinople.

On the one hand, they wanted to see the business of the Viking Princess Mehrandin.

On the other hand, they wanted to go to the city to see the excitement and broaden their horizons during the days of the king's birthday.

The two of them really had nothing to do in Paris, and it seemed reasonable to go out for a walk, so they followed the caravan and stood in front of the gate of Constantinople today.

Everyone followed the long caravan to line up to enter the city. When they were about to approach the Roman sheriff, Sartre reached into his arms, took out the pass and handed it to the Roman official.

The pass contained several approval documents, as well as all the state capitals they passed along the way from the Kingdom of Normandy to Constantinople.

The identity that Ecbert created for them was a group of Viking merchants who followed the caravan to Constantinople to do business.

The problem lies in this "merchant" identity.

The Roman sheriff stationed at the city gate has been in this position for half his life. He has seen too many caravans and merchants of all kinds, and has trained a pair of extremely sharp eyes.

The customs document said that these people were merchants, and they did drive a carriage.

But there was no cargo in their carriage.

This was not Ecbert's fault. Before setting off, he did arrange several carts of French cheese and red wine as "commodities" for the two-person team.

However, Guraul discovered by accident that this thing was fragrant and delicious, and it contained a lot of calories.

It was more filling than eating meat.

The seven or eight Viking strongmen who followed the team ate and drank for a month, and when they arrived at the gate of Constantinople, the carriage was empty.

This undoubtedly aroused the suspicion of the city defense security officer.

Seven or eight strong men walked over mountains and ridges for a month and came to Constantinople from the Kingdom of Normandy. This way, including people and horses, it would cost a lot of money just for food and accommodation.

If this is a group of merchants who want to enter the city to do business on the King's birthday, they have nothing in their hands.

What are they selling?

Looking at the weapons they carry with them and the strong aura they exude, the sheriff holds the pass in his hand and carefully examines each of them.

The feather pen hovered in the air for a long time and never fell.

(If this is a group of robbers or smugglers, surrounded by a dozen sheriffs, they will show some tension.

But these people still entered the scene with a look, and it is not difficult to see a trace of sleepiness between their eyebrows if you observe carefully.

This is a natural reaction of the human body when it is extremely relaxed.

You can't pretend.

Then the question is

This group of people are holding forged documents, and their strength is very strong, but they don't behave like villains at all.

What do they want to do when they enter the city on the King's birthday?

" A group of 7 people set out from Paris without any goods."

"All of them held weapons in their hands. The 7 people knew Norse and English. They were strong and their arms were especially strong. It seemed that all of them were chosen by God."

When encountering special situations that he could not guess, the old sheriff tended to record all the details he could see. Constantinople was able to stand for a hundred years in the Western Continent. This city, which relied on business to prosper, never had the tradition of rejecting visitors.

Whether it was a businessman carrying goods to make a fortune in the city, or a squire who came to the city to shop, The sheriffs all tended to let them into the city first.

If there was no trouble after entering the city, they would send people to arrest them.

In the eyes of Roman merchants, this was better than letting a potential merchant go.

The sheriff frowned and wrote one Roman word after another on the straw paper in his hand. During the whole process, the Vikings did not even look at him, making him feel that everything he did seemed to be in vain.

However, at this moment, a very pleasant voice suddenly sounded in his ears.

"Brother, the city gates were just opened early in the morning. Have you not had breakfast yet? "

The sheriff looked back and saw a young noble wrapped in exquisite silk.

He held a warm sesame seed cake in his hand.

The freshly baked cake was sprinkled with shiny sesame seeds, and the steam rose, making the indescribable deliciousness of the food perfectly exude.

Before the sheriff spoke, the sesame seed cake was stuffed into his hand.

Also, under the cake, there was a slightly hard relic.

The sheriff gently turned over one foot, and what he saw was indeed a glittering French broom.

Only a corner was exposed, but it emitted a dazzling light.