Rise of Rurik

There is a fortress on the slope of the hill. It is slightly foggy today, and the appearance of the fortress is somewhat hazy.

"Is that the Salburg you are talking about?" Black Fox asked, thinking of Omlet.

"That's it! Didn't you attack the fortress of Coblenz? Then, it should be... no problem to take down this fortress?"

"Oh? Why do I think you doubt our methods?"

"I don't dare." With these words, Omlet's frown seemed to say a thousand words.

"Go ahead. Explain what you think."

"real?"

"Really." Black Fox said casually. It was the last moment anyway, and the army only needed to find the best shoal to land.

"Yes. That fortress existed a long time ago. Maybe you can't conquer it in one day."

"So, two days?"

"Maybe."

"Two days..." Staring at the fortress, the black fox shook his head with a mocking smile. He no longer paid attention to the guide, but turned around and yelled at the many soldiers on the flagship: "Destroy the village! Break the fortress that you can all see! Give you one day! I will empty the fortress tonight."

Suddenly, the soldiers rowing the flagship shouted at the same time. They still raised their heads and returned to silence, just like the calm before the storm.

How to breach the fortress? The Ross Army already has sufficient experience in this regard.

But speaking of Saarburg, the small fortress that the Ross army saw has existed since the Roman era, because it was originally a small Roman military camp hundreds of years ago. The purpose of its military garrison was to protect the lower reaches of the Saar River. Imperial Villa.

The villa has been reduced to ruins, and the Roman military camp has also disappeared. However, the tamped foundation was used a second time by the Frankish nobles, and the fortress that collapsed to only the ruins was built again with locally available stones.

The Beckrich family, Barons of Saar, restored this small fortress and later converted it into a residence.

But most of the army had been stationed upriver at Sarabrücken for more than a year under the Baron himself, and it seemed as if the densely populated area of ​​Saarburg had been deserted.

The locals live a quiet and daily rural life. The war between the nobles seems to have nothing to do with them. The village priest still presides over daily activities in the monastery. The people go to the monastery once a week to listen to the church. Such a simple life day after day, year after year, they The connection with the nobility seems to be limited to regular taxes.

Ordinary farmers are not even qualified to serve as soldiers.

Because the baron trusted his retinue more, he would not recruit peasants who looked weak as soldiers unless absolutely necessary.

However, on this seemingly ordinary day at the end of July, a snake-like fleet suddenly appeared on the Saar River.

The nearby villagers have never seen this spectacle. They live in the valleys formed by hills and rivers. The people know little about the outside world. They don't even know how terrible the Normans are. Only a few people have a certain concept, just like their mother. To scare disobedient children, they always use the example of wild beasts in the mountains and forests. The Normans are probably a kind of wild beast.

No one connected the fleet that suddenly appeared in front of them with the Normans, let alone the killing that was about to happen.

The gentle slope below Salburg is an elite area carved out by the river bend that is very suitable for farming. Nearly a thousand villagers live here in three villages.

There are many villages in the river valleys, and even some small villages on the hillsides.

Black Fox's fleet deliberately flew Ross's flag high, and the oarsmen watched the villagers working in the river bend go out to watch the show? At least those grazing cattle and sheep by the river stood as stupidly as wooden stakes.

"Are they idiots? Don't they know we are going to kill them soon?" the young soldier said casually, and everyone in the rowing group began to discuss it.

The calm Wadi scolded this boring discussion.

"Shut up, everyone! Don't worry about killing these fools after landing. We need to break the fortress quickly and prepare all your crossbows! There are also torque slingshots. As soon as we get ashore, assemble them for me."

This Russian army is indeed well prepared. The old tradition of the Russian army being good at archery must be resolutely carried forward, that is, shooting javelins and missing arrows may not necessarily defeat the fortress defenders.

In Wadi's estimation, he subconsciously overestimated the enemy's will to resist. Although the fortress on the hillside was not big, the defenders would definitely resist to the end! They even dug trenches and made structures like suspension bridges.

He used the Russian defense pattern to estimate the enemy in front of him, and without hesitation he thought of cutting down wood to make a battering ram.

Some of the warriors were still rowing, and more were stringing their crossbows. To deal with a group of desperate farmers and herdsmen, an ordinary wooden-armed crossbow is enough.

The crossbow modified from a short wooden bow can forcibly reach a very large draw distance by stretching. If the bow arms were not glued with a thin layer of tendon with pine glue, they would have broken.

The warrior held the arrow in his mouth, stepped on the bow arm with both feet, and inserted the arrow in one go.

As for those warriors with heavy steel-armed crossbows, their eyes were only fixed on the fortress called Salburg.

The width of the Saar River has always been maintained at about 80 meters, but in the soothing bay area where the Saarburg is located, the width has suddenly expanded to about 150 meters. Here, there are steep rocks on the left bank of the river, and the right bank is extremely flat, making it easy for long boats to wash up the beach.

Following the horn, almost all the longships turned around at the same time and washed up on the beach at the same time.

The possibly soft-hearted Nassau and Koblenz militiamen looked at the ship and the previously captured supplies for the time being, while other Ross warriors immediately disembarked and launched an attack.

Nearly four hundred soldiers appeared at the same time, giving fatal shots to those who watched the excitement.

The arrow was easily knocked down with a whooshing sound, and the ignorant peasants were easily knocked down. Now people who were farther away witnessed the death of their friends and relatives, and finally began to hold their heads and scream loudly.

However, the army has already launched a full-scale attack. The uniformly dressed Russian soldiers, holding swords and shields in hand, have already rushed into the villages and houses with the continuous help of arrows from their comrades.

They did not start looting on the spot, and even turned a blind eye to the terrified villagers who had no time to escape.

Because everyone has learned this information-there is gold and wine in the fortress.

Poor Salburg only had about 20 retinue soldiers. They were quite old. Since they had been loyal to their lord in their youth, the baron was kind enough to keep them. The family records of these old warriors are all in the Saarburg area, and many of their sons are now stationed with the baron in the upper reaches.

What does the appearance of strange ships mean? Until a large number of white soldiers landed on the beach, the fortress defenders hurriedly pulled up the suspension bridge.

However, before they could figure out what was going on, the "white army" had already surrounded the small fortress on the hillside.

The young warriors set up a traditional shield wall, and the brothers with crossbows used all their strength to suppress the shaking figures on the stone wall.

The defenders tried to shout, but the man who leaned out half of his body immediately fell to the ground in full view of his companions. There were still many arrows stuck in the body, and no one dared to shout anymore...

"Rush?"

"Just climb the wall?"

"Yes! Karl, do you dare?"

"Why don't you wait for Wadi and the others to bring over the chopped trees?"

"Why are you waiting so long? This wall is not high. Brothers can climb up and win easily. Who doesn't want gold?" That's all. The young warrior named Haradric quickly put his buckler on his back and held a sword in one hand and an ax in the other. He rushed towards the rough stone wall.

Seeing someone take the lead, other soldiers rushed forward. The centurion who was in charge of the command did not want to wait any longer and immediately joined the team that forcibly attacked the city.

The defenders had been frightened by the missing arrow attack. They retreated into the fortress. Just when their minds were blank, a large number of soldiers carrying shields climbed over the wall.

Then when Black Fox himself panted and ran to the sloping slope in front of the gate of Salburg, the entire fortress had been captured, and the city was broken faster than the majority of soldiers imagined.

"You're late." Wadi stood at the door and pinched his waist to show off his speed.

"Yes! I'm late... I'm really not good at running. How about it?"

"Are you asking me how much money I got?"

"Yes. Are there any nobles?"

"No. On the contrary... there is a lot of wine. Haha!" Wadi laughed loudly and wildly, turned his back, yelled, and strode into the already overcrowded fortress.

The more experienced Ross warriors who have been stationed in Nassau for a long time are now all knights loyal to the Earl of Nassau. They already understood what this status meant. It would be more honorable to rob ordinary villagers than to rob nobles.

Everyone wanted to grab gold from the Saarburg, but unfortunately people were disappointed in this regard.

Fortunately, the legendary apple cider really appeared! The warriors who have mastered the skills no longer violently smash the barrels, but twist and pull the corks off the oak barrels. What flows from them is no longer the purple-red nectar, but another kind of wine with an alluring aroma. Faint yellow turbid liquid. The bold ones tasted it a little, and the extremely sweet taste with a special alcoholic flavor made the soldier's scalp numb with shock, and then he fell into ecstasy.

Could this be cider?

Yes, and no, or this is the second cider that is undergoing secondary fermentation and starting to slowly acetate.

The arrogant soldiers killed the defenders so thoroughly that they no longer had the chance to ask questions. After capturing the fortress, the villagers took the time to escape. The Russian army still captured some villagers and asked for some information before executing them.

Did you really find cider? You thought Omlet would taste it himself and give Dajun a solid answer.

However, lessons learned from last time were learned. Although more oak barrels were looted this time, the whole army just drank and celebrated after the war.

Because of the information they got from the prisoners, the baron was stationed at the bridge upstream, and they got a very important piece of information - it would take about three days to ride across.

It takes three days to ride from Saarburg to Sarabrücken?

The grassland by the river was full of bonfires lit by the army, and the captured cattle and sheep were killed on a large scale. They didn't even want fresh leather, peeled it off and left it alone. Such wasteful behavior was unimaginable in the past.

The villagers escaped completely, and only a few villagers have been caught out, and all of them have been severely traumatized.

Three villages were looted. The army looted some food and also found a lot of private wine stored in pottery jars.

On one side is cooking the captured wheat, this time being sure to be flavored with some cider lees. On one side, beef and mutton were grilled, half-cooked and then torn into bloody bites.

Paddling against the current and fighting, such high-intensity actions are a huge test for everyone's physical fitness. For this reason, most of the soldiers eat a lot.

The lamb leg was roasted until it was sizzling with oil, and one side was already burnt.

Holding such a large piece of meat, Omlet felt extremely complicated. Tonight, he sat next to Black Fox and Wadi, listening to their chatter, and he also continued to provide some suggestions.

The firewood burned cracklingly. It was either newly cut wood or flammable materials taken directly from demolished houses.

Chewing the meat, Black Fox's words were somewhat unclear: "We won just after landing. What do you think? It doesn't even take two days."

This was exactly what Omlet was hesitant and afraid of. "Yes, you are too fast."

"This attack on Sarabrücken should be so quick. Now that we have got the cider, it's incredible that our ship seems to be overfilled. I really regret that I would have known that I would have taken all the remaining longships." Bring it with you.”

"You are too greedy." Wadi also had regrets, but there are only so many ships now.

"Forget it. It's too early for you to execute the prisoners." Black Fox rolled his eyes at Wadi helplessly: "I still want to know more information."

"I think the current information is enough. It takes three days to ride along the riverside road. Sal is a really big place."

"It is indeed very big. The cavalry can reach Sarabrücken in three days. How is your ship?" Olmsted, who spoke, simply answered for Black Fox: "I think we will set off tomorrow morning and arrive at noon the day after tomorrow. "

"This is the best. Just like the villagers here have escaped completely, it is a waste of my time to get entangled with them. Alas, I still regret that I brought too few boats."

"Perhaps you can still find some small boats in Sarabrücken, but those boats are not as useful as...these big ships in the north." Omlet subconsciously looked at the long boats washed up on the beach. Under the moonlight and bonfire, They are so incompatible with the silent village, they are clearly ghosts from another world.

Indeed, the drike's hideous head decoration on the bow of the ship resembles the legendary devil from hell. Especially at night, Europeans and Americans are inexplicably afraid of it when they see it.

Of course, this fear does not just come from a terrifying tree. He is in the midst of a powerful and ruthless plundering army. All the Norman legends were no longer legends. At this moment, he was already a Norman.

They sail fast, attack quickly, arrows are fierce, and their methods are ruthless! He also knew that when the army left tomorrow, what would happen to Salburg and nearby villages would be a huge fire.

There were no young women among the prisoners captured yesterday. Black Fox and Wadi tacitly allowed their subordinates to "do things", so these poor villagers who had lost their use value had their heads removed.

Then there was another large-scale arson. Residential houses with thick haystack roofs were first exposed to thick white smoke, and gradually red flames appeared. Finally, the fire connected into one area and the entire area was plunged into a sea of ​​flames...

The fleet continued to travel backwards on the Saar River. Behind the soldiers was the burning earth, and it was like cracks were being torn apart in the earth, and thick smoke was rising like a volcanic eruption.

Captured iron tools, various wine barrels, and piles of grains had already filled three long ships. The three ships were completely towed, and one person on each ship was left to look after the loot.

The situation is not what Black Fox complained about. The entire fleet clearly has a lot of cargo space and remaining tonnage.

In fact, it was because he was delighted to discover that this place was truly the highlight of the Franks. Ever since the fleet started plundering from the Dawn Valley, which they visited for the second time on the Moselle River, everyone rowed and plundered all the way, and the brothers enjoyed good food and drinks along the way. There is fat every day. If drinking doesn't really cause trouble, I would definitely drink to my heart's content every day.

There were three ships carrying the loot, and another ship carrying the young female prisoners whose hands and feet were tied. Now there is only one empty long ship left. If this ship is filled, the reserved space for the other ships will begin to expand. Loading.

Everyone believed that there would be more plunder if they continued sailing, especially the biggest plunder at the final destination of Sarabrücken.

Can ships still carry cargo? Who knows. Just like everyone didn't know whether a bloody battle would break out with the local garrison, the soldiers believed that they would win, and then they also had to estimate whether the remaining space would be used to load the captured iron stomach or continue to load the captured wine.

They didn't have to think about it for too long, because a surprise battle came unexpectedly, and this was the battle that Black Fox's fleet had to fight.

A stone monastery suddenly appeared, and with it a small town. All the sharp-eyed warriors noticed that there were people on horseback on the shore, and those horsemen also stopped and watched before running wildly.

Seeing this scene, all the soldiers became nervous. The series of easy and even boring victories some time ago had once paralyzed everyone's spirits. Now they saw the very serious Franks' horse-riding armed men, and their relaxed spirits suddenly cheered up.

"What is that?!" Black Fox pointed at the target monastery and asked Ohlet loudly: "Why didn't I see the bridge?! Is it Sarabrücken?!"

"No!" Olmsted said bluntly with a serious face.

"What is it? You must not lead the wrong way."

"How can you doubt me? Paul! That's the town of Forkingas, that's the Monastery of St. Martin! That's the largest monastery in the Barony of Sal. Don't you want to rob gold and silver? Go ahead and rob it!"

This is true, why does Black Fox sound like he is venting his anger? Olmsted's tone was suddenly harsh. Considering his identity, Black Fox estimated that this person must be disgusted with looting the monastery.

But what does it matter if brothers from the north have no sense of sin and have crosses hanging on their chests? Just like an altar, if the enemy's altar is robbed casually, Odin will not blame him, as long as he treats his own altar well. This set of traditional concepts has been completely transplanted into the attitude towards the monastery church. The monastery in Nassau is everyone's "sacred altar". As for the so-called St. Martin's monastery, it is a big fat sheep waiting to be slaughtered.

No, the flagship blew the horn, and the rhythmic sound of the horn meant attack.

This battle was not planned, and the army moved early in the morning and planned to paddle to Sarabrücken at noon to plunder. Suddenly, a town named Foklingas popped up in front of them.

what to do?

The choice of Black Fox and everyone is to grab the gold.

The cavalry that showed up disappeared without a trace, leaving only shallow horse hoof prints on the hard road.

There has always been a Roman road along the Saar River. After years of vicissitudes, there are still few weeds sprouting on the road that has been pounded.

The town of Falklingas has a monastery as the center of the town. The locals who ran too slowly were slaughtered by the army of black foxes. The soldiers who planned to fight the local defenders were disappointed again. They showed their anger and looted the monastery. This time everyone was no longer disappointed. Some silver coins in the suitcases were dug out, and the gold and silver sacred vessels were not able to be transported in time. was seized.

The priests were all killed in the monastery, especially the priest. The soldier who saw him stabbing himself with a sword was actually wearing a cross pendant, and lost consciousness and life in an incredible way...

Almost instantly, the entire town was occupied by the Ross army, and the flag with white background and blue stripes was flying here.

The black fox still felt no guilt, but out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that Omlet, who was leading the way, was silently crossing his head and chest.

With a belly full of laughter, he walked over and slapped the old guy on the shoulder: "No need to be sentimental. What you do is what you do. If God, God, thinks we are barbaric, just send down thunder and lightning."

"I don't dare to say that." Olmsted raised his head suddenly and subconsciously covered the fat baron's mouth: "Paul, I'm afraid that what I said may turn out to be a prophecy."

"Forget it." The black fox wiped his mouth and continued to point to the upper reaches of the river: "You actually know this place? Then isn't Sarabrücken already very close?"

"Of course, if I know nothing, how can your Majesty hand me over to you?"

"Oh! You really did meritorious service today."

"But those escapees on horseback will report to Baron Sal." Omlet shook his head regretfully: "You don't have to worry about their night attacks. But... your actions have been exposed, and he will gather his troops to fight you."

"Fight?!" Black Fox lifted his belt with a smile, and subconsciously covered the hilt of his sword: "I even want to kill an enemy to prove that I am a real warrior. Haha, a chance to fight is something we can only dream of."

Olmster really didn't want to call these northerners arrogant. After all, they drank and ate meat together these days, especially when he called the fat man Paul and the others were not angry. This way he really regarded himself as an old friend. He was actually very touched. I am also willing to do things well.

but……

"It's better to be careful. You must prepare for battle tonight. If there is a decisive battle! It will be tomorrow!" This is Olmsted's most prudent advice.

The black fox retracted his relaxed smile, and from the guide's serious face, he cheered up: "Very good. Tomorrow is the decisive battle, and this city will still be burned down when leaving tomorrow. St. Martin's Monastery Right? It must be burned."