The King of Jutland was half lying on an extremely soft chair covered with fur, silently looking at the letter in his hand.
Below, a group of Viking warriors were holding weapons and eyeing the heavily armed knight in the center of the hall.
Facing the provocative and fighting eyes of the Vikings, the knight was not afraid, and even smiled at them and raised his eyebrows.
Immediately, a bad-tempered Viking warrior took two steps forward with a hand ax and walked in the direction of the knight, as if he wanted to have a full-scale martial arts showdown with the knight.
But soon, other Viking warriors nearby grabbed him.
Taking action without the leader saying anything is an act of provoking the leader. If it is serious, your life will be lost.
"Is this the answer the Kingdom of East Francia gave me?"
The King of Jutland sat up straight, raised the letter in his hand and asked.
"Your Majesty the King of Jutland, the most heroic ruler of the North Sea, this is not the kingdom's answer to your Majesty, but the answer to you from our Lord Duke."
The knight bowed slightly and answered in a neither humble nor overbearing manner.
"So, is this the Duke's answer?
Is this the Duke’s sincerity?” The King of Jutland frowned displeased.
"No, no, of course not. This is the Duke's sincerity."
The knight bowed slightly and opened the two boxes next to him.
When the first box was opened, even the Viking warriors in the hall couldn't help but change their colors.
There were piles of human heads in the box, and many people's eyes widened, as if they were recounting the shock of death.
Although these heads had been treated long ago, the bloodstains had dried up, and there was no special stench, the Viking warriors' faces didn't look good when they saw this.
Just when a Viking warrior was about to scold him, the knight opened another box.
Compared with the bloody horror of the previous box, the second box was undoubtedly much more harmonious. It was just an ordinary box of gold and silver jewelry that reflected light.
"Your Majesty, many nobles of the Principality of Saxony have plundered your territory privately because of greed. The Duke and Count Otto were extremely angry when they learned about this.
So, I was sent here to bring these nobles who caused trouble without authorization and gave them a gift to express their apology.
The Duke expressed great regret for the injuries suffered by the prince. He had already sent people to search for doctors in the kingdom, and also wrote letters to Paris and Constantinople. It would not take long before well-trained doctors would come to treat the prince's injuries.
.
Please also ask Your Majesty to look at the previous friendship between the two parties and calm down a little."
"Friendship? Hahahahahahaha..."
The King of Jutland stood up, laughed unbridled, and kept looking at the knight in front of him.
"When did we Vikings and Franks have friendship? I didn't know. Your Excellency is really good at joking and successfully made me laugh."
Hearing the words of the King of Jutland, the Viking warriors present picked up their weapons and waited for his order to chop the Frankish knight in front of them into pieces to avenge the prince.
"Your Majesty, this is our goodwill, and we hope your Majesty will accept it. If your Majesty is unwilling to accept it and insists on provoking a war, we will have no choice but to accept it.
However, I hope your Majesty will not forget the Battle of the Netherlands.
Your Majesty, do you want to see the Battle of the Netherlands again?"
When they heard about the Battle of the Netherlands, the atmosphere in the venue instantly suffocated, and many Vikings had solemn expressions on their faces.
In fact, the reason why there has been no large-scale conflict between the Vikings and the Frankish Kingdom in recent years, and even very few robberies, is closely related to the Battle of the Netherlands that year.
Although it is called the Battle of the Netherlands, the location of this battle was not actually in the Netherlands, but in Paris.
At that time, large areas of the lowlands, including the Principality of the Netherlands, had become a gathering area for Vikings. They used the swamps in the lowlands to plunder the interior of Europe unscrupulously.
Until the rise of the Frankish Kingdom.
After the rise of Charlemagne, most of the barbarians on all sides were subdued and obediently accepted the rule of the Frankish Kingdom, and the Vikings were no exception.
In the Battle of the Netherlands, which was sung by many bards, the Franks dispatched more than 24,000 men, including more than 3,000 knights. The Vikings had about 60,000 troops.
The reason why there is such a huge gap in military strength is not that the Frankish Kingdom is not strong enough, but that the Vikings can use all the people to fight when necessary. This is something that the Franks cannot match.
The number of troops does not determine the outcome of a war.
It was precisely because of the support from the tribes of various Viking kingdoms that the Viking leaders in the Netherlands at that time did not choose to defend, but confidently chose to take the initiative to attack. The target turned out to be Paris, the capital of the Frankish Kingdom at that time.
Unfortunately, there was a huge gap in equipment and training between the personnel participating in the war. Especially the three thousand well-equipped knights became a nightmare for the Vikings.
Due to living on the sea for a long time, the proportion of cavalry among the Vikings was very low, while the proportion of cavalry in the army of the Frankish Kingdom was very high. There were more than 10,000 cavalry in the army of 24,000.
In the open terrain around Paris, the cavalry undoubtedly had a huge advantage. Under the leadership of Charlemagne, the Frank cavalry, which consisted of three thousand knights, actually easily defeated the Vikings, who were famous for their bravery in Europe at that time.
Yes, the Vikings were indeed brave, and their personal force was very strong. But when faced with the mass charge of heavy cavalry, the Vikings discovered that the power of individual bravery was too small.
Their weapons were unable to pierce the armor of those knights. With the bonus brought by the war horses, the Frank knights could easily cut down each of the brave and skilled Vikings.
As a result, the Vikings' aggressive attack turned into a huge defeat.
In the end, the remaining more than 40,000 exhausted Vikings were surrounded by the Franks in the Principality of the Netherlands.
Charlemagne did not show mercy and slaughtered all these Vikings. After that, he wiped out the Viking gathering places in the lowlands one by one and brought the lowland areas under the rule of the Frankish Kingdom.
The results of the Battle of the Netherlands spread to the Vikings, which caused a shock to the Vikings at that time. After that, several tribal leaders who claimed that Odin came to earth led the warriors to seek revenge, but the result was only for Charles.
Emperor Man's glorious achievements have added a few more trivial things.
After this battle, the Vikings were completely honest. Afterwards, the leaders of various Viking tribes sent gifts to Charlemagne to express their friendship.
Since then, the Frankish Kingdom and the Vikings have maintained a relatively peaceful situation until now.
After the Vikings found that the Franks were not easy to bully, they turned their attention to the island of England.
Now, the knight in front of him once again mentioned the Battle of Holland. It had not been too long since this battle, so the Vikings naturally felt sad.
"Joke! His Majesty Charlemagne has been dead for many years. Is the fragmented Frankish Kingdom still capable of reenacting the Battle of the Netherlands?"
The King of Jutland was the first to come to his senses and shouted loudly with a fierce look on his face.
"If your Majesty doesn't believe it, you can try it."
The knight had a calm smile on his face.
"If your Majesty feels that the Franks are easy to bully now, you can summon your warriors to go to Bremen now. The Duke will be waiting for you in Bremen.
However, if you reject the Duke's kindness and go to Bremen without getting the results your Majesty wants, then perhaps only the gods know whether the Kingdom of Jutland can still exist."