Chapter 372: Madness of the Emperor Lodovico
Chapter 372: Madness of the Emperor Lodovico
Ludovico, who was lying on his bed, started to sweat quite a bit because he was having a nightmare.
In it he could see his empire burned to ashes by an army that dressed in strange clothes, but the leader of the invaders had a strange clothing as well as red hair.
When the dream became a real suffering, the emperor opened his eyes and, using his only hand, grabbed his face.
‘Who will be the subject of my dreams? That red hair I know someone told me about him.’
At that moment Ludovico got up from his bed and walked to a table in his room, from where he took a jug of water.
As he drank water, he remembered that his sister Kassia’s husband must be a young man with red hair.
This made Ludovico angry, who threw his jug of water ‘That damn will use her husband to attack me. She must be crazy if she thinks that someone like her can steal my empire.
She will not attack me because I will attack first. I will use the entire fleet of the empire to destroy her hopes and dreams.
If I can’t attack the heathen in the north, at least I will attack their stupid island and turn it to ashes.
It will be a very strong message and it will make my daughter Adelaide learn that family is only family when it does not affect interests.
It will also be a good example of the power of God over the pagans. All of them must burn in the fire.
Especially that stupid Anders, who I haven’t been able to find, but sooner or later I’ll have him in front of me.
He will pay for everything he did with blood. ‘
Emperor Ludovico began to laugh before guards covered by iron armor entered his room.
“Emperor Ludovico, we heard strange noises. We hope you can tell us if you need help.”
Ludovico smiled and looked at his guards with great happiness. “I want you to call a meeting with all the nobles and merchants of the empire.
I want you in the next few days in the capital to be able to speak on a very important topic.
Also bring Guido and Duke Gautier, they know how to get where I want to go. “
The guards nodded and left to carry out the emperor’s strange orders, although they really wanted to refuse.
They could not do anything because the same pontiff supported him, so hurting him would be going against the church.
So they could only wait for their holy war to end so they could finish him off as the ancient Praetorians killed the emperors.
A few days later, in the city of Aachen, all the nobles and merchants of the empire were gathered in the imperial palace that had been built by Emperor Carlo Magno.
Everyone was in the throne room where Ludovico was sitting on his throne with a maniacal smile, watching as everyone settled down.
When everyone was settled, Ludovico got up from his throne and looked at everyone. “A few days ago, I had a dream of how a pagan burned the entire empire and even burned the city of Rome.
The pagan was a red-haired man who turned out to be the husband of my traitorous sister Kassia of Thrace.
That woman married a dangerous pagan who will endanger the entire Christian world. That is why, because we cannot attack the pagan Vikings until almost the end of the year.
I propose to make a punitive expedition to burn the island of the pagan king named Einar and kill my traitorous sister in the process.
It will be a punishment more than enough for a bitch like her to be able to die at the hands of men of religion like us.
In order to launch the punitive invasion of the North Island, I want all the fleets in the northern part of the empire to participate.
According to some spies, the region is poor but there are technologies and products that can make us rich for what any merchant with ships who participates with his fleet will receive.
God’s forgiveness of our added pontiff and will also earn dividends for the expedition to the north. If the land is habitable enough, I promise to make any volunteer who participates in the expedition noble.
For all this, they will have a month to prepare because at the beginning of July, the fleet will leave to attack the pagans.
We hope that the fleet can reach its destination in two months, due to information that we will be able to find a formidable defense in place.
Like dangerous weapons, but we with the blessing of God our Lord, we will win against those pagans. That is why I want to hear.
You agree to take part in the punitive expedition to the Nordic kingdom, led by the pagan Einar and my stupid sister Kassia of Thrace. “
Everyone shouted because they thought it would be a simple conquest, so even the merchants agreed to participate because they believed they could earn a lot of money.
That same day throughout the empire, word began to spread about an expedition where volunteers could become noble.
So thousands of free men and small groups of bandits and mercenaries began heading to the northern ports.
Even small nobles, like knights or barons, prepared small groups of soldiers, using their servants as soldiers forced to fight with them.
The church supporting the stupid Emperor Ludovico motivated groups of pilgrims and fanatics to join the punitive expedition.
Even thousands of monks from monasteries on the European continent decided to unite, to take up arms in the name of God.
Unbeknownst to them, they were creating the first crusade in history, long before the attack on the Nordic land.
Many merchants from the south went north to offer their ships for the expedition, as they believed they could win.
The movement of troops alarmed the Byzantines and the Emirate of Córdoba because they did not understand the Emperor Ludovico and his strange actions.
For them, the emperor was already completely insane and only looking to make stupid wars like some Roman emperors who did stupid things, like declaring wars against the sea.
The movement of troops and the purchase of thousands of ships in the kingdoms of the island of Britain alarmed Jewish merchants.
Who, using horses and a wide spy network, carried the news of the attack to the city of Carcol and to the Jewish council.
This set off the alarms of all of them, so some ships were prepared in an emergency to carry the news that a great fleet would attack the Nordic kingdom.