Rise of Rurik

The army captured the small village without any effort. They killed many people and did not bother to pursue the escapees.

Compared with the wooden houses in front of them, the ruins of buildings not far away were wrapped in dense bushes. Those gray-white broken walls and snow-white marble columns mixed in were extremely attractive to the soldiers.

The guide Omlad from Bavaria has changed into a Russian robe, and at this moment he has transformed into a Norman.

He stood next to the plump black fox, holding a broad-bladed sword and pointing directly at the ruins, panting: "There used to be a huge palace there, and the emperor of Rome lived there."

"Is there still treasure?" Black Fox was very interested.

"There should be no more. If there is, it will be completely plundered by the people here."

"At least... I have to go see it. Haha, the second abandoned palace in Rome."

Kangze's palace is located in a relatively remote location. It is located at the confluence of the Saar River and the Moselle River. The palace built here can enjoy the beautiful scenery. It was precisely because of his remoteness that after the fall of Western Rome, Frank rebuilt a new "Roman Empire" on its ruins. Some old-era palaces were restored, and more were abandoned.

Some stones from the ruins of Kangze were directly transported to the nearby city of Trier. The Frankish king revived the city. As part of the price, Kangze was buried in history by bushes and trees.

In order to get a glimpse of the true appearance of the palace ruins, the black fox had to climb a low mound.

Standing on a high place with the gentle wind blowing in his face, he held on to the pitted gray and white stones. The sun was shining brightly, but an inexplicable feeling of loss came to his heart.

More soldiers were boringly tapping with their axes, as if hoping to break open the stone wall and take out the gold that had been hidden for countless years.

Everything was in vain, people began to feel bored, and they spontaneously returned to the landing beach at the foot of the hillside.

"It's boring. There are really only rocks in this place." The squinting black fox complained from side to side. He needed some more advice from Omlite.

"It's true that there are only stones, but this place allows you to stand high and see far away. Look over there!"

Omlet pulled a branch and pointed to the southeast, where there were still rolling hills. Black Fox squinted his eyes and was delighted to see a rather obvious spire building with a very obvious cross on it.

"A monastery?"

"It's the monastery. Don't you... just like to rob the monastery?"

"How? Could it be..." Black Fox rolled his eyes at the drunken guy: "Could it be that you are suggesting that we show mercy?"

"I dare not. You are all devils, and I have sold my soul to the devil."

"You mean you plan to work with us? Haha, I suggest you personally behead a priest to prove that you are really a Russian."

"Only this...I can't do it. I also advise you not to do this, Paul. As a baron, you have to pay attention to the impact in the future." Ormlet said a few nice words for the sake of giving wine, seeing this Paul Black Fox was impatient and quickly explained the business: "That monastery is the Ermina Priory, which is under the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Trier. In my opinion, you have burned down the cathedral in Trier twice, and there is no need to destroy it again." A little church.”

"Burning and destruction is Ludwig's request." Black Fox shrugged: "We people never cared, and now the king doesn't care either. If Frank's God wants to punish him, Ludwig can't escape."

"Ouch, that's not what I meant."

"what is that?"

"Don't you want to drink?" Omlet continued pointing: "Nassau is rich in wine, and it is exactly the same here. I dare say that there must be a lot of wine accumulated in the warehouse of that monastery."

At the mention of wine, the two people, one old, one young, one fat and one thin, looked at each other stupidly and slowly laughed wildly.

"I thought you were going to say there's cider there. We Northerners never drink it, but wine is drank every day now."

"Who's going to complain about too much wine? This place doesn't really belong to Sal yet, so there's no cider yet. But we'll be able to drink it in a few days."

The targeted town is called (Today's) in today's era. The entire town exists around the Ermina Priory. The greatest significance of its existence is to provide the "holy blood" to the city of Trier. That is, wine of very good quality.

The next day, Black Fox ordered the army to exile the prisoners, which surprised the soldiers. In fact, he had also listened to some of Omlet's remarks, saying that since robbery was the main purpose, killing was dispensable.

For a moment, he relaxed his grip, but when the fleet left, Kangze's village was deliberately burned to the ground.

The smoke undoubtedly alerted the towns not far away, but the people who fled yesterday had already informed the locals that the Normans were coming by boat.

The priest of the monastery obtained the letter from the Archbishop of Trier, and he knew everything about the Norman raiding incident last year. He also knew very clearly what kind of ships the attackers would have and the methods they would use.

Thinking that they were a group of demons that existed like Satan, the entire town panicked and began to evacuate under the organization of the local church that night.

They were afraid that the Normans would attack at night, and felt that the terrifying ships could land on the beach at any time. The panicked people fled with only a few necessary items, including the priests, and the sacristans carried large sacks, which contained only important gold-plated sacred vessels and even wooden barrels containing holy oil.

Instead of evacuating along the river, the entire town headed straight into the nearby dense forest to wait out the disaster.

For this reason, the monastery left behind a large number of oak barrels that filled the entire small warehouse. All the barrels were fastened with iron rings. They contained fine wine that was planned to be delivered to Trier in the autumn and was still fermenting slowly.

Black Fox's Ross fleet landed without any resistance, and of course they didn't see any living people.

This made the soldiers who were planning to fight very regretful. They all called the locals cowards who could only run away.

The soldiers couldn't help being careless, and they immediately started searching. Hundreds of soldiers rushed to the monastery. When they saw the gold and silverware being moved to the empty admonition hall, they became so angry that they vented their anger on the rows of benches and smashed them with axes. .

But in the wooden house not far away, the soldier holding the barrel and throwing it broke out with an inspiring roar.

"Wine! Brothers, come and drink!"

The soldier holding the barrel in both hands unloaded it, quickly attracting more than thirty people to watch. A strong man held a big ax and violently smashed the barrel. He was so excited that when he hit the ax, the purple-red wine with the intoxicating aroma of grapes lingered. People did not care about wasting natural resources, and took off their helmets to use it as a bowl. If you can't bury it cleanly, take a bowl of wine and drink it.

In the end, those brothers who started late ended up with the sticky lees at the bottom of the barrel. Even so, the lees that are still fermenting have a unique flavor. It is like grape jam with a strong wine flavor. The brothers did not waste such a good thing.

The strong man moved the entire small warehouse's wine barrels in a "manual assembly line" method, and finally moved out as many as thirty barrels!

Compared with the wooden barrels popular in the northern world, these barrels captured from the Frankish Essence Area are larger, better made, and stronger.

The act of violently smashing barrels is too stupid, because there is a cork on the side of each barrel that is difficult to pull out. As long as you twist it hard and then pull it out, the so-called holy blood will flow.

That night, Black Fox's Ross army was resting after being occupied. Every soldier drank some wine, including the specially recruited Nassau and Coblenz militiamen. It was very fair for everyone to drink "a helmet" "The wine was so heavy that all seven large wooden barrels were drank clean by a group of soldiers.

The bottom lees were not wasted and were used as an additive for cooking wheat porridge. Finally, everyone used the captured oats and rye to make a sweet, grape-flavored porridge with a wonderful taste.

At night, the drunken soldiers slept around the campfire. They could go to sleep in the occupied houses, but the drunken people were too lazy to move.

It stands to reason that the Ross army in this situation is the most vulnerable, and the young Black Fox also neglected to arrange sentries due to his huge victory.

Thanks to the vigilance of the accompanying veteran Wadi, Black Fox and the two newly promoted young barons who came to Yingao drank happily and called themselves brothers, and he could not fall into it.

Vardy set up some sentries, even though he felt that the night must be very safe.

So, the priests and people of Trier diocese who were burned and killed by the Russians along the Moselle River were really just a group of defenseless sheep who could only be beaten passively?

To a large extent this is the case.

The Frankish garrison in Luxembourg has a permanent flag force. Under normal circumstances, these troops are enough to eliminate possible bandits.

After the city of Trier was sacked last year, the garrison of the Luxembourg Fortress, which had been depressed for a long time, had to cheer up. However, even if Trier is being attacked, the Heart Piercer will have to ride a horse for a whole day to arrive. If the Luxembourg defenders provide military assistance, it will not be until the third day at the earliest.

This time, the city of Trier was still in flames. The straight-line distance was more than 30 kilometers, and the real path was nearly 50 kilometers. The Luxembourg hill fortress could clearly see the red-burned sky in the distance at night.

The defenders took precautions that night and removed their manpower that night. The next day, they sent a small group of cavalry to run with all their strength to find out what was going on. They even met some refugees during the day...

But this has nothing to do with the sailing Black Fox Division. Just because the fire in Trier has not been extinguished, they have to continue their new plunder with the plundered oats, rye and the remaining twenty barrels of wine.

The soldiers had a very deep sleep all night, and the soldiers who woke up were generally still a little groggy. They laughed with each other and praised the delicious wine they tasted last night. Then they ran to the riverside to wash their helmets clean, but the smell of grapes lingered on their heads no matter what.

The black fox sat cross-legged. He was the one who drank the most last night. Omlet who was leading the way was kicked and kicked before he got up with a groan.

"Hey! Old guy, are you really awake?" Black Fox patted this guy's furry face vigorously.

"Wake up, it should be... wake up."

"Bah. You're trembling even as you speak, you guy... forget it." Heihu accidentally pushed slightly, and Omlet couldn't get up from lying down, and he snored again for a while.

By chance, Wadi, who was still paralyzed, walked over holding on to the hilt of his sword. As soon as he approached the black fox, he saw the "red-nosed" guide lying on the ground.

"This guy is actually drunk when our troops are about to leave. Look, his face is red and he has a red nose."

"Haha, I know why Ludwig punished this guy." Black Fox sighed softly: "Go and see how many people really drink and make mistakes?"

"At least thirty. You really shouldn't have allowed your brothers to drink last night." At this moment, Wadi looked like an older wise man. In terms of age, he was indeed one generation older than Black Fox.

"Okay, I'll be more cautious next time. Thirty drunk people will not delay our army's movement. This city..." Black Fox squinted and looked at the whole town again, "Continue to set fire to destroy, and burn down their monastery. .”

"This is natural. I have arranged for people to unload the bronze bell. There is nothing left to take away from the entire monastery. Just get on the boat first, and I will arrange for people to carry the drunk guide aboard. I will take care of everything. .”

"Oh, I'll leave it to you."

Black Fox is the commander-in-chief of this operation, and the specific affairs are supervised by the veteran warrior Wadi. The Slavic man Vardy was born as a prisoner of war. He was first kidnapped by the Danes and then bought by the Rus. He was there when the Blue Fox traveled to his death, he was there when the Blue Fox was left out in Regensburg, he was there when the Great War lasted throughout 840, and he was there when Ludwig himself was captured. Dee also became a witness.

This old soldier is really experienced in hundreds of battles, and he will not feel any psychological discomfort from killing and setting fires. At this moment, he ordered his subordinates to set fires with a sullen face, just like a cold killing machine.

The whole town was burning, smoke billowed into the sky, and the monastery gradually collapsed in the fire and smoke.

All this seems like the Russian army is provoking God. The accompanying Nassau and Coblenz are really interested in it, but all the Russian soldiers who have clearly converted to God are still rowing happily and not taking it seriously.

Of course, this fire quickly brought negative effects to the Saar River Basin, which was already full of water vapor, forcing the fleet that continued to advance to the shore to hide in the forest to avoid the sudden heavy rain in summer.

The world has become humid, and there is even a different kind of dampness that makes the majority of soldiers feel uncomfortable.

Omlet finally woke up after being doused in the rain. After understanding the situation, he felt ashamed and shouted: "Drinking really delayed things."

Black Fox didn't have time to listen to his guilty apology. It turned out that the army had really picked up a treasure. Although this man was from Bavaria, he obviously knew a lot about this area. It doesn't matter how he learned about it. The key is that the brothers need to know which important Frankish towns they will encounter in their next march.

Obviously, although the attack on Sarabrücken is the biggest purpose of this trip, it is no longer the only purpose. The brothers are happy to plunder some special towns and enjoy fine wine and delicious food.

"When will we really arrive in Sal?" The black fox asked the most important question of the clichéd guide after he woke up.

I saw Omlet continue to point up the river: "Saarburg! There are many villages over there, and a large number of villages surround a small fortress. That is Saarburg."

"A fortress? Isn't it going to be a war?!" Black Fox suddenly became more vigilant.

"Of course. If you are lucky, you can still catch Baron Thrall, if he is really there."

"Huh? But Ludwig said that Baron Saar has led his troops to Sarabrücken?"

"Who knows?" Omlet shrugged helplessly: "You might be able to seize his family papers and empty out his money bank. Don't use the rhetoric of the new Ludwig boss. He won't just put his money away. Put it in one place, and Baron Sal must be like that too.”

"You." The cheerful Black Fox muttered in the end, "It does work."

Because the huge mountainous areas are almost undeveloped due to extremely inconvenient transportation, the huge mountainous areas of the Saar region are also haunted by ferocious beasts such as wild boars, leopards, and forest wolves, as well as many European wild deer. Just like other nobles, Baron Salgao would personally take his followers to hunt in the mountains, relying on the big beasts he killed to supplement the food for himself and his elite soldiers.

Salgao seems to be a very large area, and only the area along the river is really developed, and part of the riverside area downstream is under the direct jurisdiction of the Diocese of Trier.

The Baron does not completely own this basin. The uppermost part belongs to the Baron of Briscoe, and further east is the huge Northern Vosges Mountains.

The village area of ​​​​Saarburg is a core, continuing to extend upstream, and the villages on the riverbank gradually become more and more complete. When reaching Sarabrücken, this town with a clear bridge is another core.

The huge battlefields of today's civil war are inevitably in the huge Palatinate-Inland region south of Mainz and north of the Saar River. Count Metz, as a die-hard supporter of King Lothair, has intervened here with great intensity. , Baron Salgao did not want to lose all his resources because of the bloody civil war between the two princes. So what? King Lothair had a huge army in Strasbourg, and the army must enter the battlefield of the civil war through the only permanent bridge on the river.

Baron Salgau could only move his mansion to Sarabrücken, where the living conditions were not very good, and act as a "logistics administrator" for his loyal past.

So in a sense, Ludwig's Count of Upper Main worked as a clerk, and so did Count Salgau.

If one party can destroy the nobles who control the army's logistics lines, it will undoubtedly be a major blow to the other party.

Originally neither of the warring sides could do this, but Ludwig welcomed the Russians who came by boat...

So it’s time for the village near Saarburg to have legendary cider?

Omlet didn't pat his chest and say that there must be one, but just explained: "You should be able to get some. I heard that the villages there like to brew this. The deeper you go, the more you can find it."

The possibility of plundering gold, silver, grain, precious wine, or even directly plundering noble family documents in order to extort a large ransom in the future. The black fox used these words to encourage the soldiers, and he was also telling himself.

It had just stopped raining, but the soldiers didn't care about their wet clothes. They banged their shields, raised their steel swords, and opened their mouths wide.

The so-called village area of ​​Saalburg has been targeted.