Rise of Rurik

The square outside the church with its stone pavement, this place for open-air activities, is now the gathering point for the Russians to plunder.

With the cathedral on one side and the emperor's palace on the other, the discovered property began to gather here, and some prisoners were also twisted here.

The city of Trier is neither small nor large. There are more than two thousand residents within the city walls, and combined with the miscellaneous people outside the city, there are five thousand people living here for a long time. These people lived in the small riverside plain surrounded by mountains. Most of the people were surprised to find that they were being attacked in the city, and they went crazy and fled to the mountains and forests to hide without a trace.

Since the total number of Russians who invaded was only about 500, the defenders fought at the gate and encountered delays, giving more people time to escape.

Only a few prisoners were turned to the square. They were all those with inconvenient legs and feet, those who were hesitant, and even some women with children and old men on crutches. Some people have been killed in the attack. Those who were able to be twisted into the square are not sure whether they are lucky or facing a more cruel ending.

There was a killing just outside the cathedral, with many priests lying dead. Some captured civilians were shocked to see those blond barbarians asking the archbishop something.

Even the noble bishop cannot stop the viciousness of these barbarians. What can some civilians do?

The captured people lowered their heads and sobbed softly. Many people felt that Archbishop Hutto would soon be beheaded by the evildoers...

But it’s not as if the blue fox chopped off Hutto’s head.

Thanks to the intelligence from Fred and others, Blue Fox learned the name and basic identity of Archbishop Hotto, the most powerful person in the Trier diocese.

He was now holding Hutto by the collar with one hand and holding the steel sword against his neck with the other hand, demanding in Latin: "Silver coins! I want more silver coins! Tell me where you hide all your money."

Hutto's heart bleeds when he hears that the sacred language comes from the mouth of a pure robber and liar.

"You! Apostles of Satan! God will send down divine punishment, and you will all be struck to death by lightning!"

The old guy kept chattering, his mouth was as hard as a stone, and he kept repeating verbal curses such as "divine punishment" and "thunder and lightning".

"Shut up! Tell me where the silver is! Tell me where all your cellars are, or I'll kill you."

The blue fox was still pressing, but Hutto's attitude became even tougher, or in other words, he put on an attitude of wanting to kill or cut himself into pieces, resolutely showing his uncooperation.

"Brother, execute this stubborn guy." The impatient Black Fox bared his teeth and suggested in Norse.

"Kill him easily? No." Blue Fox turned around and scolded his younger brother for his recklessness.

"Why bother? This man doesn't want to say anything. Besides, our brothers have already brought out many suitcases containing money, and we have already made a fortune."

"So you? Are you satisfied with this little wealth? Stupid."

Forget it, Blue Fox continued to question Hutto, but saw the old guy closing his eyes as if waiting for death.

"Damn martyr! Do you want to be a saint of your faith?! I won't give you a chance." Feeling that there would be no result if he pressed him further, Lan Hu pushed him down cruelly.

The old man in pain reluctantly sat down with his hands on the ground. His eyes opened again with a fierce look, and he cursed silently with his eyes.

The blue fox twisted his neck and said with a straight face: "Bishop Hutto of Trier. Compared with the flexibility of Bishop Hardbold of Cologne, I am very dissatisfied with your stubborn attitude. We are only here to rob wealth, killing is never the purpose. , is just a passive method to plunder wealth. If you escape, I will not hunt you down. If you obediently hand over all your wealth, I will let you go afterwards."

Hutto heard from the contact that these gangsters were the evil men who attacked Cologne in the legend. The horrific evil deeds spread far and wide. As the priests quickly spread the word by word of mouth, it became a terrifying legend when it reached Trier. .

"You Normans! You are all demons." He did not listen at all and continued to curse and curse.

"Devils? We are indeed demons, and you have never seen real demonic behavior."

Compared to other Ross nobles, Blue Fox is easy to reason with. Maybe it was Rurik himself who launched this robbery, and his methods might be more delicate. He boasted that he could do it well now.

Really killed Hutto? In terms of creating chaos, executing an old man, because of his extremely noble status, this person's death will definitely cause a "big earthquake."

Then kill him? Absolutely not. After all, this person is a servant of God, a "high priest". Blue Fox is not an atheist but believes in all kinds of gods.

If you fail to interrogate the old man, you will be cursed by him. Then let this guy sit in this city square and watch the destruction of Trier!

The Blue Fox was not here for the purpose of killing. The primary purpose was to remove property, and the second purpose was to fulfill the secret conspiracy agreement with King Ludwig - to destroy the city of Trier.

Hutto was tied up and sat there, so that he could see for himself the destruction of the entire city.

Lan Hu ordered his two subordinates: "Watch this old guy closely, and don't do anything even if he curses or abuses you. Let him see us looting, setting fire to, and moving everything away!"

It doesn't matter if the archbishop doesn't cooperate. It's better to go to the church and see for yourself.

Blue Fox aggressively dragged his younger brother Black Fox into the Trier Cathedral, which is full of Roman significance. This was not the first time he attacked the monastery. The church he saw now was indeed extraordinary.

With his head held high, he couldn't see the wooden beams on the roof, but some were actually a series of stone arches. The Roman arch is made of solid granite as the basic material, and key parts are assisted by Roman cement bonding. The gravity of the building is dispersed by the arch structure. The stone arches in various directions in the church form a large-span structure and become a very solid existence.

Rows of wooden chairs in the preaching hall have been smashed to pieces by destructive warriors, while huge wooden crosses hanging on the walls have been torn down and smashed.

There was indeed nothing valuable in the hall until Blue Fox himself arrived in the occupied cellar.

"Is this the only place to hide money?" he asked a brother who was busy collecting property.

"Yes, boss, all the money has been moved away, and the rest doesn't seem to be of much value."

"Impossible, follow me and continue digging. The cellar here is obviously very big, and there may be a secret door or something like that."

Blue Fox estimated that a group of priests had no intention of digging a large cellar. As for digging, many years ago he was ordered to run Ross' shop in Hedeby, so he pre-excavated the cellar and escape tunnel, which really became a life-saving passage. He knew that the fallen Rome was a great existence, and the city of Trier must be a relic of the old Rome. The Franks only built their city based on the original urban architecture.

There are indeed many wooden doors in the cellar, and the sensitive blue fox is aware of the flowing air inside.

Seeing the solid stone wall, the bronze lamp holder, and even some solidified grease, he felt it and judged that this cellar must be frequented by people.

In the cellar, the Russians have always used burning wooden branches as torches. As the bronze lamp holders began to dance with flames, the cellar became clearly visible, and some secret doors that were once plunged into darkness could no longer be hidden.

Blue Fox suddenly ordered the dozen or so followers around him to keep quiet.

"Brother, what's going on?" Black Fox asked in surprise.

"Stop talking, let's watch the flames."

Indeed, as everyone remained still, the flames dancing against the walls continued to tremble. The witty Blue Fox suddenly pulled up his brother's hair. Under the light of the flames, the hair was indeed floating in one place.

"What's going on?" Black Fox asked, covering his head.

"It's windy. This means there are other exits from the cellar. Boy, learn how to do it."

Lan Hu reprimanded the brothers for lax inspection: "If someone escapes along the secret passage with a lot of treasures, we will suffer great losses. Fortunately, we can't escape my eyes. Let's go check quickly, be careful and hide somewhere." The enemy will fight us to the death." As soon as he finished speaking, everyone drew their swords collectively.

The city of Trier not only had surface structures, but the underground space was also used by the Romans. Feeling the direction of the airflow, the correct secret door was discovered.

There is a breeze in the long alleyway, and there seems to be strange movement if you listen carefully.

"Shield wall! Ahead! Others follow me."

The three of them pieced the shield together, placing the steel sword against the edge of the shield to open a path. Blue Fox followed with other brothers holding torches, and lit the bronze lamp holders they could find along the way.

The more they advance, the more the brothers feel the subtlety of this hidden mystery, thinking that they will definitely find the big secret room where the money is actually hidden.

Blue Fox thought the same thing, but people all heard strange noises, which might be moans or cries.

"There may be real enemies. We can catch them by surprise. Keep walking."

The people who were ordered tightly grasped the hilt of the sword, but what they saw next in a large underground space really surprised them.

enemy? No. On one side of the alleyway was a wooden cage with at least twenty men locked inside. It was these people who made the noise.

"These people are like beasts in a cage. They can't escape even if they want to. Should we execute them according to our rules?" Black Fox asked.

Blue Fox examined the environment of the house and found that the oil lamps on the wall and the oil lamp on the table were both on. There were wooden chairs scattered on the ground, and even some leather goods that had not been taken away. It was obvious that someone had been here but had escaped extremely well. hurry.

"It looks like this is a prison."

"Oh? This is where they keep prisoners? But these people are so skinny, what crime can they commit?"

My brother had questions, so Lan Hu turned his head and asked softly: "Why don't you ask in person."

"Forget it, I just want to get rich."

The imprisoned people were all huddled together with fear in their eyes. They were disheveled, and some of them looked like they had injuries to their limbs. From everything he saw, Lan Hu estimated that they had been punished with whippings and the like. Just like my brother estimated, just looking at the cowardice of these people, what could they have done wrong? unless……

Blue Fox asked briefly in Frankish, and some people were really frightened and told how they were imprisoned.

The reason is quite simple. When the tithes were paid during the recently concluded autumn harvest, these tenant farmers, who already owed debt to the church, still failed to pay their land rent after paying corresponding taxes. Naturally, they became debt slaves. Most of the farmland in the Diocese of Trier is religious property, as are the mountains, forests and lakes. Farmers who want to hunt for food will be thrown into prison if they are caught. Although they can fish on the banks of the Moselle River, it is a pity that farmers lack the means and do not expect to survive. of catch. Renting church acres is a way for many farmers to survive, and it is also the only means of survival for poor-minded people.

Being in debt and becoming a debt slave is quite normal and taken for granted in the northern world. As a smart businessman, Blue Fox has very sophisticated methods to deal with this situation. What's the use of catching and beating debt slaves? It is better to give them some means to make money and repay the debt. Blue Fox thinks that a good way is to train them into armed thugs or errand boys. After all, they are in debt, and such employees appear to be loyal and cheap.

There were twenty people in the cage. After all, they were debt slaves of the Trier parish. Did their unfortunate experience arouse their inner anger? The seemingly submissive farmers are by no means the cowards in front of them. As long as they are given a chance, they may be able to arouse the suppressed anger in their hearts.

Blue Fox immediately smashed the wooden cage to pieces, and seemed to be about to kill it, which scared the group of people and cowered together.

"Now I let you go!" Blue Fox explained in Frankish, "The city of Trier has been occupied by us, and your debt is gone. You follow us and take revenge! Go kill! Go burn! They are not God. Servant!"

Blue Fox didn't want to explain much, nor did he expect that his words would make them submit. The best way was to force each other with swords. As expected, these people stood up one after another and were pushed to walk in front of the team.

I thought I'd find a secret room where the treasure was hidden, but instead I found twenty farmers who were in debt, which was a good thing. The peasants who regained their freedom suddenly realized that these blond intruders holding bucklers must be the Normans who were the legendary "Apostles of Satan". The strange thing was that they were not killed.

These farmers knew what blue foxes were most afraid of, so they promised that they would never kill them and expressed their sympathy for their plight.

"Those priests are greedy, so we came to attack them. I have no hatred against you. If it can help us get rich, we will let you leave safely."

Individual farmers whose emotions resonated cautiously acted as guides and simply led these Normans in the underground lanes to the hidden underground granary.

The blue fox didn't know how long he had been walking, but he was extremely relieved when he discovered the underground granary. The burlap pockets are neatly stacked, and cats suddenly appear and then disappear alertly. The steel sword pierced a sack, and what came out was indeed dry wheat grains.

Can the underground of Trier be used as a granary? Are you really not afraid of getting wet?

Blue Fox, who had no intention of finding out the cause, had been worried that the army would not have enough food for the winter, so he prepared extra longships for the attack.

The exit of the underground granary was discovered. The brothers walked up the stone stairs and smashed open the wooden boards with axes. The loud sound of such smashing naturally alerted the people on the ground.

Then when the first head popped out of the tunnel, he saw a group of brothers setting up a shield wall, and even a loaded crossbow facing him.

"Hey! It's one of our own."

The misunderstanding was cleared up in Norse, and in a moment the blue fox appeared with his brothers from the open-air granary.

Why can the underground be used as a granary? The obvious answer is that there is not enough space in the ground granary.

After chatting with the guys on the ground, Lan Hu found out that they were busy looting the so-called emperor's palace, and this granary was located in the outer building of the emperor's palace.

Constantine's palace, which is equivalent to the inner city, already has ready-made guard quarters and granaries. It is logical for the church to rule Trier by using the architectural layout from hundreds of years ago.

Soon, he met Eric "Big Tooth", exchanged information and started the next step of robbery.

No, the farmers who have regained the light have to face a tragic situation - the city is being looted. They were very worried that this group of Normans would demolish their homes in the villages outside the city and kill innocent family members. As Blue Fox said, "We have no intention of being attacked by poor farmers, we only rob the rich people's money," they suddenly Peace of mind.

Who are the rich people? The church is the only rich person in Trier.

Hearing that the city's defenders could escape faster than hares, and that the entire Trier was undefended and there was no need to worry about the enemy's counterattack, the blue fox had to move the food with confidence and boldness. Twenty freed debt slaves were ordered to serve as porters, carrying grain in captured carts to the docks at the city's western gate.

They worked in panic, saw killings and corpses, and were even more shocked to see the superior bishop with his hands and feet tied, sitting in the city square like a captured beast, witnessing the large-scale plunder of the Normans, and felt in their hearts I'm really happy, and I'm glad you have today.

Because arson has already occurred, there is nothing to plunder from ordinary houses. Most of them are wooden buildings that can easily catch fire. Blue Fox asked his subordinates to try to light the entire city on fire.

It's just because Blue Fox doesn't have heavy-duty destruction equipment, so it can't destroy heavy stone buildings in a short time.

The emperor's palace and the cathedral still had to be destroyed as much as possible, so due to the large amount of wood on the upper floor of the church, thick smoke began to billow. Poor Archbishop Hutto watched all this silently and closed his eyes unbearably.

The total amount of ironware, gold and silver seized was not large, and the leather goods and cloth seized were not welcomed by the brothers, but the leather boots and felt boots found were taken away.

The largest amount of loot was sacks of wheat, as well as some rye and oats, which were gradually moved into unloaded longships, and even captured boats were used to load as much as possible.

As long as enough food is seized, there is no need to raid villagers in Nassau Village. The best way to win over those farmers is to reduce taxes, but to maintain a garrison of up to 600 people, the daily food consumption is huge. The only way to move Trier's food is to take advantage of the situation, and there is only one chance.

Because the flames in the city are getting more intense, wooden houses are igniting one after another. Eventually, the entire city will be burned down to only the blackened stone walls. What to do with the food that cannot be moved? In line with the principle that he cannot get it but cannot let the enemy take it away, Lan Fox still ordered it to be burned.

The ground in the city is raging with fire, the red flames on the roofs of double-storey houses are extremely frightening, and the underground lanes are also smoldering. There were obvious flames on the upper floors of the cathedral, but the smart blue fox had already packed up the parchment documents and carried them away, including announcing that the distribution rights of the sacred vessels seized from the church were in his personal hands.

The looting lasted for two days, and the city was already in flames, as if the gates of hell had been pried open in Trier.

Blue Fox and his brothers no longer wanted to stay. He cremated the ten brothers who died in the battle according to Viking funeral rites, and then forced the twenty rescued debt slaves to join the group. Even though the latter was unwilling due to religious issues, he had to join in the face of the threat of "if you don't join, you will die."

What is the use of keeping debt slaves? Essentially, it is to increase the agricultural population in Nassau Village, which has too few human resources. These farmers have already committed serious crimes and can no longer live in the Trier area. They can only leave their hometowns to live in another area. In the future, they will look for opportunities to bring their separated family members. take away.

A group of prisoners were also held at the dock. Those who had been waiting for death were suddenly released. Then, driven by soldiers, they fled like crazy...

Blue Fox carries out his plan, even including the release of Archbishop Hutto.

The ropes that bound him were untied, and all the restraints on Hutto were gone.

"You! You are the apostles of Satan! Normans, you will not die well!"

"Stubborn old man. You are free." Lan Hu said calmly.

"If you let me go, I will inform everyone I know about what happened to Trier. I will tell the King of Frank, and the army will attack you."

He immediately became interested when he mentioned the blue fox: "Is it that Lothair? You can tell him that we are here! We are Russians, Swedes, and Danes. In the final analysis, we are Normans! Now we are Normans Revenge of the Men! We will plunder everywhere, this year Trier, next year Aachen. Haha! Go tell Lothair that we will burn Aachen and destroy your Charlemagne's tomb."

"You! You guys..."

"Let's go! Hutto, go and report the news!" Then, it was Blue Fox who took the lead in ridiculing, which then caused everyone to burst into laughter.

Archbishop Hutto staggered away frustrated, with the city in flames behind him. The palace belonging to King Lothair, the noble cathedral, everything was in flames, everything was the evil deeds of the Normans! It just so happens that these Normans also know sacred Latin.

Hutto fled to the forest alone. He couldn't help thinking that maybe it was because of his impiety that Satan took advantage of it...