Rise of Rurik

The oak keel was dug into the river mud, and Ross soldiers bravely disembarked from the ship on both sides.

The arrows stuck in the soft soil were missing, and their feathers were like harvested ears of wheat. Seeing the enemy appear, the injured who did not want to die were struggling to escape even though they were squirming, while the remaining ones just wanted to end their pain as soon as possible.

Swords and axes launched their final merciful finishing blows, but two Frank soldiers who did not appear to be seriously injured were carried away after receiving a sap.

The boss wanted to capture at best only one or two "tongues" to provide information, so the Ross army had no reason to revive all the wounded.

"Enough of the prisoners, cut off the heads of the others! They say that if the head is missing, they will not be able to go to heaven. Let them be angry in hell."

The leader shouted so loudly that everyone recovered the lost arrows and began the final "destruction". The scene was very bloody at one time.

At the same time, the escaping Frank army had traveled far away. Flag captain Quentin suffered another setback. He could say that his loss of troops this time was still very small. However, the morale of the army suffered a big blow. The soldiers were frightened by the inexplicable loss of javelins and arrows. The formation collapsed and the soldiers could not escape. They are everywhere, and it will take some time to form a team.

This matter can no longer be reversed by shouting loudly, either by himself or by calling on a few more people. Even if his throat is broken by shouting, the running people are still running around.

While he was in a state of despair, he actually saw the Normans paddling ashore in their boats.

Quentin, who was riding a horse, gritted his teeth and was delighted that he was followed by a group of heavy cavalry.

"Follow me! Crush them before they land!"

No one doubted whether this was a conspiracy by the Normans. Quentin, who had suffered two losses, did not care too much. He wanted to make up for the lost face.

More than fifty cavalrymen smashed at the landing Russians like hammers. The ground was shaking slightly. The soldiers who were busy pulling out arrows and collecting trophies heard the shouts of their companions on the ship not far away, as well as the sound of horns representing "battle" one after another. As soon as they looked up, they saw the armed and iron horses running towards them without knowing whether to live or die.

At this moment, the Russians on the ship were already covering the brothers on the shore.

The javelin was fired again, and such shocking shooting was unable to stop the cavalry from continuing to advance.

"Don't be too busy! Let's evacuate quickly."

At this moment, the half-stranded longship had already piled a lot of loot. There were also some captured short wooden bows and iron helmets scattered on the ground, and many of the boots of the dead bodies had not been removed. According to the old tradition, the Russian army would strip off some useful things from the enemy, even rags, and sell them for money. Now everyone could no longer care about it. A group of people rushed to put on their clothes in embarrassment and even humor. They evacuated to the water in fear and took a long breath.

The cavalry could not fight through the water, nor could the fleets land.

After six torque slingshots shot down a group of horses at the last moment, the Frank cavalry retreated again.

One side is on land and the other is on water, so both sides will be exhausted.

Those cavalrymen were still within the range of their torsion slingshots, but the distance was already far away and the enemy's positions were scattered, so the lethality of shooting was no longer significant.

Wadi, who was ordered to act, did not hope to defeat the opponent's thousands of men with only three hundred men at hand. Sometimes insulting the enemy's personality was more destructive than killing him. Of course, Vardy can preach like this, calling on the brothers to lift up their clothes again and continue to make indecent moves towards the enemy, accompanied by endless Frankish swear words. The brothers are still heroes who like to take revenge. Fortunately, they are not stupid, so they have no choice but to obey Wadi's request.

For a time, the longships lined up in a single file, covered in white squirming things, and they formed a "white wall" that once stretched for a long time. Quentin and his cavalry had already retreated far away, and they all saw clearly what disgusting thing was squirming, and what they heard in their ears was even more disgusting.

"Damn it, they're scolding us. They're so mad at me! They're so mad at me!"

What can Quentin do in a fit of impotent rage? He thought of a move, and spent some time gathering the loudest warriors in the team. He had only one order: "Imitate them! Scold them! Don't worry about swearing against morality. How to deal with the Normans?" Everything works!"

The two sides fell into a war of words.

The Russian troops on the ship never thought that geothermal heat could be used

To fight tooth for tooth, brothers have always been the only ones to engage in a collective scolding battle with Viking war cries. How could the enemy do the same?

Vardy was furious, and his brothers even more so.

"It's already like this. Why don't you land together and hack them to death?" Some soldiers really couldn't stand the humiliation.

"I know you're angry, but we have to endure it!"

"I can't stand it any longer!"

"Keep on enduring!" Wadi was insisting on being patient. His own face turned red with rage.

Fortunately, the veteran was wiser and did not rush to launch a beach landing. They continued to stand still. One of the reasons was to buy time for the troops in the rear to assemble. Wadi knew that scolding and harassment were all aimed at tiring the enemy, and at night, the brothers would continue to organize manpower to create noise to make the enemy uneasy, and even find ways to sneak around at night.

Of course, you can go downstream to ask for reinforcements, but it is incumbent upon the brothers to rely on local military power to annihilate the invading Zhongwang *** team and recapture Koblenz. This is related to the brothers' honor.

No matter how you explain it, the Ross Army stationed in Nassau did give up Coblenz with almost no resistance. It can be said to be a ruse and has a bad reputation.

The scolding war here was very loud. When both sides got tired of scolding, someone with a very loud voice suddenly came out and uttered a curse word. After a while, a large-scale scolding war broke out again.

At the same time, a fleet of boats went around the bend of the river, escaped from the cover of the riverside woods, and suddenly appeared on the river.

"That's Koblenz right there. Boss, it's the one that's on fire."

"Keep rowing, and be on alert." The sullen Blue Fox didn't want to say much. He rowed with the other brothers. In order to reach Nassau as soon as possible, he had no choice but to add his own strength.

After a while, people with sharp eyes saw the boats frozen on the river.

Isn't that our ship? !

"Boss, turn around and look. It's our longship!"

Hearing a roar from his subordinates, Blue Fox turned around and saw this bizarre scene.

The small flotilla is rowing against the current. On their starboard side is the residential area of ​​Koblenz where open fires are still burning, and on their port side are the barren plains and dense forests along the river. The flags of Ross were hoisted high on the masts of all the longships in the fleet, and they happened to be the same flags that were fixed on the river.

From the perspective of the Franks, it was clear that the Normans had summoned reinforcements.

New nine ships? Aren't there at least four hundred enemies coming?

Quentin's heart tightened, "Damn it, are you waiting for reinforcements to deliberately delay? Are you now preparing to land for a decisive battle?"

He ordered to stay away for the time being and began to publicize to his subordinates that the decisive battle was about to take place. As soon as the soldiers who had been tortured heard that a battle was about to begin, the armored soldiers quickly returned to the team. Everyone deliberately hid in a distant place and formed an array, waiting for the landing battle.

However, there was no decisive battle.

At least not today.

During the fleet round, Vardy recognized the old master who stood up at a glance.

"Boss! Why...are you here suddenly?"

"It's you?! Vardy, what are you doing? And those people? Enemies?" Although Blue Fox had already guessed it, he still needed to ask.

"It's the Franks! As you can see, Coblenz was destroyed by them."

"I saw it all. Are you all okay? In such a tragedy, wouldn't it be true that many people died? Where is my brother?"

"Everything is fine." Vardy's relieved smile proved that Ross's army was fine.

They negotiated on the river, and Blue Fox finally learned some detailed information.

According to the existing intelligence, no matter how you think about it, Blue Fox believes that King Lothair's counterattack this year is to take advantage of the lost Coblenz. As expected, the war cannot be carried out according to the ideas of the Ross Kingdom. Now that something like this has happened, the plan of the Ross Expeditionary Force must indeed be adjusted.

"Fortunately, I made the right judgment." Blue Fox sighed happily.

He had just arrived, and his appearance made the brothers feel that it was a divine soldier descending from heaven, but they saw that the reinforcements were only over a hundred people.

In fact, this is not the case. When Wadi learned that a serious Russian army with 1,000 people would be deployed in as soon as one week,

Entering the battlefield, what else could Wadi say? He just held his chest and lamented about his former boss: "You are as clever as Rurik."

Since Vardy and his team are carrying out the tactics of exhausting the enemy, let's continue scolding them. Blue Fox said one more thing: "Light a bonfire as much as you can on the other side of the river at night, beat the drums and trumpets as much as you can, and scare them crazy."

The small fleet carried some production and living supplies and continued to carry out its original tasks. Blue Fox was very happy that the small fishing village of Lanstein at the mouth of the Lanhe River had become a temporary large settlement.

According to tribal thinking, population is more important than land. Most of the residents of Koblenz moved to the other side of the Rhine and were stationed in Llandstein. If Nassau, controlled by his younger brother Black Fox, wants to rise, it needs to control as many people as possible. After all, Koblenz, which was only occupied last year, is still quite far away from Nassau Village. It is separated by the main channel of the Rhine River, which is about 300 meters wide, and it is even more like a natural chasm.

Taking advantage of the war, all the peaceful residents moved to the other side of the river. After the war, many people will definitely not go because they have to continue living.

The small fleet suddenly entered Landstein, and the stationed Black Fox thought it was Wadi who had been sent out and returned early.

After all, the number of ships arriving was almost the same as the number sent out, and at first glance this was indeed the case. However, Heihu took a closer look and saw the slimmer face of his second brother, and he was as happy as if he had picked up a piece of gold.

He was more than happy. When he heard that the blue fox was coming, Robert and his wife hurriedly approached the small pier. The family needed cash, and when they thought about getting the money soon, they tried to control their excitement, but their bodies were shaking uncontrollably with excitement.

Just as the Roberts hoped, they watched multiple heavy suitcases being moved down.

There is a saying that the implementation of the contract must be done grandly, so Lan Fox deliberately opened all the suitcases in front of the Robert family in a public place.

Now, present are Earl Robert and his wife, five vassal knights, blue fox and black fox brothers, and even Father Conrad and Identity Bachbert as witnesses.

Even good people tend to have evil intentions in the presence of huge sums of money. Blue Fox needs a lot of witnesses to prove that the money was transferred to Robert's hands.

Just as the blue fox thought, Robert's legs weakened when he saw the money. Thanks to the support of the two knights, he stood up steadily.

"Five hundred pounds of silver coins, divided into five boxes. Yours!" Blue Fox said very simply.

"Huh?! So much? I remember what you promised last year... was the final payment of three hundred pounds this year."

"What? Too much?"

"No, no...hehe, the more money, the merrier."

"I should have given you three hundred pounds. But what?" Blue Fox shrugged and pointed his big hand towards the east: "King Ross is very concerned about your current situation. Although we were rivals in the past, there is no reason for us to fight each other. . King Rus will give you some more money to help you make a comeback. When you and your subordinates arrive in Tours in the future, our good relationship should be maintained."

This is actually what Blue Fox said.

Regarding this matter, Rurik did not give any money at all. Instead, he sent his de facto eldest son, Reglaf, the legal king of Mercia, and served as Robert's follower in future escort operations. If money was indeed given, it was not at Robert's disposal. It was for his son's future activities in the southern Frankish world.

For a son to work as a follower to a down-and-out earl, such courtesy is certainly worth a thousand pounds of silver, because the political power behind it is endless.

After all, down-and-out Robert needed international influence. He can't do this by himself, so the big guys help him.

International influence is invisible and intangible, but it is really useful at critical times.

At this moment, Robert's old Zhuhuang wife was much more influential.

Blue Fox actually gave him an extra two hundred pounds of silver coins, which was not much money. He has a large number of troops and "stud" capital, so if the money is gone, he will just rob him. What's more, this year he plans to make a sneak attack on the rich Maas River Basin. This year, he personally has all the cash.

No, the blue fox used his words again and took out genuine northern jewelry - a necklace of colored glass beads mixed with amber.

This necklace is deliberately exaggerated. No matter how you look at it, it looks like a huge treasure.

The stones are strung together, making it heavy, but wearing it around the neck definitely shows off the aristocratic wealth in an exaggerated way.

But its actual value is not expensive.

With huge amounts of cash, a down-and-out noble can quickly recruit a group of mercenaries to make a comeback. As for the countess and the second daughter of the old Earl of Tours, Adelaide, she took the necklace with an exaggerated smile on her face full of crow's feet. This smile lacked beauty, but the blue fox still said some nice words: "Madam will look thirty years younger when she wears this northern jewelry."

"Well said. Joseph (Blue Fox's Christian name), you are a noble northerner. When I get to Tours, I will tell my brother about your goodness."

"Thank you for your kind words, Madam." After saying that, Blue Fox bowed slightly like a devout priest.

It doesn't matter whether it's a superficial act or it's really from the heart. The moment the money is delivered, it means that the contract is completed, so that his sister-in-law Sophia Nassau officially becomes the Count of Leingau.

Even so, the Barony of Nassau is still the core of the current huge territory, and it is more appropriate to call it the County of Nassau.

The Count was faced with the Koblenz crisis since its establishment. Retaking the territory across the river can be described as a battle for the founding of the Count.

Now is not the time to celebrate the official establishment of the country, what is currently being considered is fighting.

The two young men were present when the money was "gifted", but they were ignored by Robert, who was jealous of the money. It was not until he got the money that he learned their identities.

One is Reglaf, the real king of Mercia and the de facto eldest son of Rurik, who is also the only daughter of the last princess of Mercia. This identity has even been recognized by the Pope of Rome. After all, his godfather is the Archbishop of the North, Eskil. Even Reglaf was still too young. Robert had a chance encounter with him two years ago, but he never expected that this child would be asked by Rurik to be his follower when he went south. Even to a large extent as Ross's envoy.

The other young man is Bruno, the eldest son of the former Count of Westphalia and today the Duke of Saxony. This child, Robert, was actually no stranger to him. After all, the distance between the two counties of Ingau and Westphalia was not very far. Nobles were very particular about marriage. Robert had reason to know a little about the children of his noble neighbors.

Today's Bruno is dressed as a Norman, or wearing a beautiful outfit. No matter how he looks, he is a Russian warrior. If the boy did not introduce himself in fluent Frankish, it would easily lead to misunderstanding.

Bruno was reluctant to dress up as a Norman and go to war at first, but after doing some ideological work, he took the initiative to jump on the Russian ship.

Can the boy fight? Perhaps he couldn't bear to have him take part in the attack on the Aachen boys. However, if he goes to Tours with the Robert family and goes as the eldest son of the Duke of Saxony, it will undoubtedly increase his future political capital.

But it would be unreasonable for this kid not to participate in a little battle when he puts on these clothes. Sooner or later Bruno will become a military noble, this is an irreversible obligation.

Isn't there an opportunity right now?

To recapture Coblenz, the nobles gathered in the fishing village of Landstein reached a consensus.

The blue fox is coming! A capable general is here! There were even a thousand elites arriving at full speed in long ships.

Will the passive situation be reversed in an instant? Happiness comes a little too quickly.

Reinforcements are on the way, and the Norman forces will far exceed those of the Middle Kingdom. The Norman army will not take action against the Coblenz refugees, will abide by the contract, and will only annihilate the King's army who set fire to the city and killed them without mercy.

Two good news It doesn't matter that as night falls, the refugee camp in the huge Lan River estuary area quickly learns these exciting good news.

The people felt that victory was already within their grasp, and they only had to wait a while longer before they could sit back and watch the war end before going back to rebuild their lives.

However, the fate of the people cannot be decided by themselves. After all, they have all arrived on the north bank of the Rhine River.

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