Rise of Rurik

According to Father Conrad, it takes a whole day to start from Nassau Monastery and walk along the mountain road to Wallendaal Monastery.

He estimated that he would have to walk twelve Roman miles, and even if he started from Emsbad, ten Roman miles (about 15 kilometers) would be indispensable.

Didn't they already use Frank's units of length? This is indeed the case, but Charlemagne's unification of weights and measures was a fine-tuning of the old Roman system. Church clergy based in Europe are still accustomed to the old Roman system, which is no different from five hundred years ago.

Traveling long distances on foot is a great test for an elderly priest.

The team has entered the mountainous area. The explorers under Blue Fox used fire salt and tinder and took out the bow drill to easily make a fire.

The black bread baked during the night, now cold, was toasted and heated on sticks by the campfire, and finally eaten with a layer of butter and honey.

Although he was very tired, Conrad held the stick with the pieces of bread in his hands. The aroma filled his nose and he couldn't help but enjoy it.

"Ah! It's a pleasure to be able to eat sweet and delicious food in the barren mountains."

Everyone was busy taking a rest, and almost no one paid attention to the priest's words. But Lan Hu heard it, and he happened to have many things to ask urgently.

"Papa, how far is it?"

"It's summer now, and we'll be there in the evening."

"Very good. This unfortunate mountainous area has made me dizzy. It's easy to get lost without your guidance."

It sounded like a compliment, but Conrad didn't want to have an unfortunate "summer outing" at all. "Joseph, why do you bother?" he asked.

"What's wrong?"

"You Russians are good at sailing. Why don't you let the reinforcements row directly to Nassau? Why let them go overland? What do you want? To make yourself happy?"

"Haha. Although it is a bit troublesome, in order to ensure the safety of the battle, I decided to make this move." Blue Fox sighed softly.

Talking about Blue Fox's strategizing is really an exaggeration. The so-called mountain road does not exist. There is a stream here, like a mountain torrent that has washed away a large number of stones, naturally creating a gravel road. It can walk, and it's challenging to have an army of people walking quickly.

More importantly, the reinforcements will carry a lot of equipment, the most critical of which is a batch of heavy armor.

Do you expect soldiers to wear heavy armor, carry personal belongings, bedding, bucklers, weapons and equipment, and walk with flying feet? What's more, the Seventh Flag Team is a group of young men with high morale but whose physical fitness needs to be improved.

"Maybe you have a reason..." Conrad stopped asking. He ate the bread and pointed to the northwest with a wooden stick in his hand: "The mountainous area is not complicated. After passing this mountain col, you will enter the flat area. There is a It's woodland, there's a road in it, and there's some farmland on both sides of the road. We can get there directly by following the road."

"Without further ado, let's set out urgently. Me!" The blue fox stood up and patted himself, casually licking his grease-stained hands in his mouth, then rubbing them on his clothes: "I have to hurry up Go over and explore the landing point of our army.”

The structure of the huge Hessian mountainous area is extremely trivial. There is only one large mountain in the southeast, the Taunus Mountain, and the rest are low hills. The valleys between the hills will form a plain that may be wide or narrow, and there will also be streams in it. Part of the plain has reclamation value, and part of it is a simple flash flood discharge channel.

The rest of the journey was uneventful. The accompanying warriors carried bows, wooden sticks used as marching poles, and daggers tied to short spears. They were worried that wild animals would attack them, but all they saw were scattered squirrels and sudden bird calls.

"There is woodland ahead, and Valendar is in it."

The priest, whose calf was sore, looked exhausted. He still carried the cross-shaped cane on his last journey and took off his black hood. Wearing a black robe, he looked like an ascetic who had experienced hardships but had a strong will.

The difference is that these Russians, even the former big fat Blue Fox, are brothers who are still in good spirits.

…

For the civilians living in the woods, the sudden intrusion of a group of outsiders made them stay on high alert.

Until these people showed two flags.

One side has a white cloth with a black cross on it, and the other side has a white cloth painted diagonally with blue stripes.

The villagers knew the cross and saw that there were priests in black robes among them, so their initial vigilance dissipated a lot.

The blue fox and his party walked majestically through small-scale farmland and entered the forest. When a bold villager came to hear the news and learned that it was Father Conrad of Nassau Abbey, he simply became a guide.

Soon, they found themselves in a small forest village with a small stream running through the village. The blue fox took a look and determined that it was unnavigable.

Villagers use local materials to build their houses, and use wood haystacks to build their roofs. The largest building in the village is the monastery. It is also made of pure stone and even has a stone tower. A bronze bell hangs high on the narrow tower, which is clearly visible.

The intrusion of outsiders attracted many vigilant villagers to watch. The local priest Dolf learned that a priest from Nassau had suddenly arrived. He didn't know what had happened, so he quickly packed his robes and plated the most precious copper with silver. Wear it on your chest and take the priests out to meet in person.

Under the bronze bell of the monastery tower, two priests in black robes stood face to face in a rare moment. The difference is that behind Father Conrad stood a group of tall warriors with solid golden hair.

"They are the Normans. What are they doing here..." Father Dolph did not dare to ask so presumptuously.

He was nervous at first, but as Father Conrad spoke first, the topic quickly changed.

Because, walking through the forest and standing on the bank of the Rhine River, black smoke was still rising not far away. The burning Koblenz is there, and the Wallendaal Monastery, now hidden in the forest, finally knows the more serious inside story and the initiator of all disasters.

There will soon be a large-scale and inevitably bloody war, from which Wallendal Monastery cannot be immune because it is too close to the battlefield.

Everyone was invited into the monastery, and all the Ross warriors, including Blue Fox, showed off the cross pendants they had prepared.

They collectively performed a play and prayed in this simple monastery, and as expected, they immediately gained the favor of the local clergy.

When Blue Fox took out the prepared gift, he was so happy that he shed tears, and coupled with the lobbying of Father Conrad, the local priest Dolph believed all the words.

Even accepting such a reality that they do not want to accept but have to accept - Valandal Monastery has become a part of the war.

Father Dolph had no choice. Legally, he now had to obey the orders of the Archbishop of Cologne, and Cologne was a multi-faceted ally of these Normans.

To his surprise, the previously sent messenger met the Norman fleet. It was this fleet that had just stayed in Cologne. It was the Norman man in front of him who called himself Joseph Blue Fox. Archbishop Hardbo had recently arrived. Germany has in-depth exchanges.

The gift-giver was a noble man, and Dolph, who knew he couldn't be offended, had no choice but to comply.

"So, what can we do for you?" the priest asked deliberately, and the implication was to explore the role Wallendaal wanted to play in the next war.

Blue Fox answered simply: "We are allies, but you don't understand us. Organize all your villagers, organize all your horses, donkeys and carts, and when my army lands, they will act as my men carrying supplies. You follow We’re going to take a trip to Nassau and there will be a monetary reward for anyone who participates.”

The priest cannot say that he is greedy for money. The gift of a pound of silver coins has greatly impressed Dolph, and the large amount of hard "papyrus" made his eyes light up. As for a "transparent crystal cup" as a gift, it can be used as a sacred vessel for mass ceremonies and infant baptism, which reflects the piety of these Normans.

Work for the Baron of Nassau and get paid! This is an act of kindness that the villagers have never heard of.

Since ancient times, it has been obligatory for ordinary people to serve the nobles. How can they actually get some rewards from it? They did not doubt that there were only 200 villagers in Wallendal, and only about 50 strong men could be mobilized. According to their beliefs, local women must not engage in labor. Fortunately, each family took out all their carts, and the monastery also donated donkeys for pulling stone rollers and horses for pulling firewood carts.

There are not many citizens, and there are few means of transportation, but it is better than nothing.

Blue Fox and his party stayed overnight in Wallendaal in the forest. Early the next morning, he led his entourage through the woods and stood on the bank of the Rhine River. He quickly selected a land with soft mud as a landing site.

This place was by no means randomly selected. The villagers who led the way pointed out that the place was called uvervare, which means "the ferry from where you can row to the other side." The locals only have small boats and do not travel on the Rhine River on weekdays. The biggest use of their boats is to meet the travel needs of local priests.

The villagers of Linzi will almost never leave the small land where they were born. Even if they intend to go to Nassau to get a reward, for many people this is the furthest excursion in their lives.

Standing at the landing site, Blue Fox could see the thick smoke still rising not far away. This was undoubtedly Coblenz. However, due to the direction of the river and the cover of the forest, he could not see clearly the still smoldering residential areas, which also occupied the local area. The Frankish army could not see itself either. This is exactly what he wants! The so-called huge reinforcements took a detour with a lot of sweat, and finally appeared behind the enemy without being aware of it.

According to Blue Fox's vision, the triangle area in Koblenz sandwiched by two rivers will definitely become a desperate situation from which there is no escape, and the enemy must be annihilated.

Heavy armor and heavy weapons and equipment are the key to victory. How powerful they are on the battlefield will be how laborious they are to transport during non-combat periods.

The young Seventh Flag Team will carry at least ten torsion slingshots. Even if the various parts can be assembled into a push-pull mobile and flexible weapon, don't expect the soldiers to carry the two crossbows all the way through the ten-mile mountain pass. .

There are too few local civilians, and more civilians and vehicles need to be transported from Nassau.

For the sake of tactical concealment, Blue Fox would rather choose a difficult path.

No, on the second day after arriving in Wallendal, two warriors with excellent legs and feet advanced lightly. They only had swords hanging on their waists and only brought their lunch rations and drinking water with them, and then returned the same way.

The clever blue fox follows the same tricks that the Russians used to hunt in winter, making obvious marks along the way. Here, branches are tied with conspicuous blue and white cloth strips, and wooden stakes are driven in.

So at noon on the fifth day, the Nassau armed villagers, who were most easily mobilized, and some Ross garrison soldiers assembled a behemoth of more than 400 people, driving a group of cattle and horses used as animal power, and pulling some wooden carts. It took one and a half days and a night's stay on the way to reach Wallendaal.

This team alone has shocked these forest residents. Father Dolf could not have imagined that the Norman Joseph Blue Fox had such ability. Now he was extremely convinced that an army of a thousand men would indeed arrive in rowing boats.

Everything is under the control of Lan Hu, or there is a tacit understanding.

At the mouth of the Rhine River, the various Nordic heroes stationed here did not hesitate to lay their long boats in the rich fishing ground at the mouth of the sea during the period of peace. They tried their best to catch herring and cod, smoked dried fish and boiled salt from sea water, first to satisfy their appetite, and secondly to reserve military rations for the expedition.

The new order from Blue Fox actually requires the Ross elite to be stationed here and go retrograde to Nassau to participate in a defense battle? !

Blue Fox actually didn't tell everyone about the good things about the war. Although the nobles had regrets, they could only watch a thousand elites quickly organize their supplies and march upstream.

Therefore, from their standpoint, a few days after the army drifted to Rotterstad at the mouth of the sea, Nassau upstream was in danger. No one could have imagined that the Franks took action first.

After receiving the order, Grund and Askard's troops loaded various supplies onto the longships, and then jumped on board one by one. Adults and young people mixed together, and the forty longships moved at full strength.

But on the days when Blue Fox hoped, he still had no idea how to take care of the reinforcements he was longing for. He could understand that time was inevitably delayed due to some circumstances. Fortunately, the next morning, on the wide channel of the Inn River, a group of long boats beat their giant oars rhythmically, like albatross flapping their wings on the water surface and preparing to take off.

The width of the Rhine River here is stable at about 300 meters, and the river as a whole shows a north-south direction. This is very disadvantageous for the Russian army sailing in the summer. It cannot use the power of the north wind to fight the river water, and the entire army can only rely on continuous paddling. Paddleboarding is a great test for everyone’s body.

Veteran Grund saw the Ross flag flying high by the river. That was probably Nassau?

He saw some people wearing their own clothes stationed on the shore, and some even stood up straight, waving small flags with both hands and using horns to signal the fleet.

No, all the ships rushed into the preset landing site under correct guidance. The oak keels dug up the mud. After the soldiers put away the oars, they twisted their bodies hard before turning over and getting off the ship to rest.

Blue Fox himself stood here, still pleased to see the army arrive even one day late.

"You're one day late." He faced Grund with a smile.

"No way. No one would have thought that the current flow of the river would be unpleasant. Is this Nassau?"

"Not really."

Grund frowned: "Where are we? Where are the enemies? Although the brothers are tired, they still have the strength to put on their armor and fight with them immediately, and they are very strong."

"Really?" Blue Fox shrugged: "You really have to prove that you are strong, but... I don't know about Asgard."

The too-young Askard is here, rowing for many days in a row, even if his arms are sore, in order to prove that he is indeed a real old Russian.

After all, just like Ross's name, rowing hard to sail a long distance is an immutable ancestral method.

When Askard was questioned, the boy curled his lips and looked extremely stubborn: "I am not a coward. Where is the enemy? My sword wants to drink blood."

"You? Boy! You have a very wild tone, I like it. But now is not the time to fight."

When Blue Fox explained the situation to the two officers, their morale, which had been high due to the landing, inevitably dropped a lot.

"Why bother?!" At this landing site, veteran Grund became suspicious of Blue Fox: "Brothers are never afraid of bloodshed. We just force the beach to land and kill them, how about it? Our sneaky actions now make us look cowardly. . You... now look like a businessman, good at calculations."

The last words were not compliments. Blue Fox lowered his face and said, "This is called tactics! Do you understand tactics?! Even when the king comes, you have to praise me. I am the commander appointed by the king, and everyone must listen to me."

"Yes!" Grund replied perfunctorily: "I'll just listen to you. I value the result more. Even though this is the territory of the Franks, brothers don't trust their people. Annihilate the enemies of Coblenz, we will sacrifice our blood to Austria." Man."

"Of course." Blue Fox forced out another smile: "The ship will be parked here first, and I will leave a small number of people to take care of it. Others, through the forest of Wallendal, we will enter Nassau from the mountains and emerge from behind the enemy's rear. .Sealing the enemy's retreat is like catching a fish in a pottery jar. How you catch it depends on your mood."

"That's right. This metaphor is interesting. Catching fish in an urn..." Grund nodded with satisfaction and said no more.

There was nothing wrong with the next move, if anything it was a heavy rain.

Summer rains are always accompanied by thunder and lightning. Fortunately, when the heavy rain poured down, thousands of reinforcements, as well as civilians transporting heavy equipment, had successfully passed through the mountains and arrived at Emsbad, a place that produces stone and can be used for hot springs. Good place.

Since there is a hot spring in this place, let's take a good rest to prepare for the future battle.

Thunder and lightning are considered to be the will of the God of Thunder, and the reinforcements stationed in Nassau believe that this is a warning from the gods and a blessing for war.

Two consecutive days of heavy rain caused flooding in the mountainous areas and caused the Lan River to become turbid. The army complained endlessly, but fortunately the sun shone again on the third day.

They lit bonfires to wash their clothes, and then jumped into hot spring pools in groups to clean themselves with soap. In this way, everyone can say that they have finished bathing and changing clothes before the battle, and the warriors will face the powerful enemy with the most glorious image.

For the Blue Fox, the fighter he was waiting for was fully mature, and even this thunderstorm became a wonderful boost.

It is conceivable that the Frankish troops were ordered to garrison Coblenz, but almost all the houses were burned down, leaving the army with nowhere to hide. The sudden drop in temperature may have exhausted many people, and the military rations in reserve were also flooded. If they did not retreat after this, they would be asking for death.

According to reports from soldiers who implemented harassment tactics on the river as usual, the Frankish army had withdrawn to the fortress. They were clearly trying to strengthen the fortress, but the wooden structure of the fortress was all destroyed in the fire, and it would take a long time to rebuild it. At least trees can be cut down to make a large number of shacks next to the mounds. The Franks have built their simple military camps. Of course, such military camps are not fortresses and have no defense capabilities.

This is really the good information that everyone hopes for. After the final rectification, the combat operation with the purpose of annihilation begins.

First of all, a large-scale river crossing operation started from the upstream Shipai Ferry...