Rise of Rurik

The system of universal military service once created by Charlemagne, which continues into the present civil war, is rapidly dying out.

When the main enemy of the empire has weakened, the foundation of the rationale for maintaining the system has also been shaken.

The system has been weakened intentionally or unintentionally by various places. After all, the Lombards, Saxons, and Avars have either surrendered or been defeated. As the empire has been peaceful for a long time, there is no need to force all Franks to be in a high state of military mobilization.

During this period of peace, the power of the priests gradually increased, and many dioceses had the power to recruit soldiers. However, recruiting soldiers for war was inconsistent with the church philosophy of this era.

Why should we fight against each other? Facing the stubborn barbarians, just continue to send missionaries to lobby their leaders.

Churches all over the country have this understanding, and they are also happy that after reducing their financial expenditure, more expenditure can be used for faith matters.

From the death of Charlemagne to the outbreak of the civil war across the empire, there were no large-scale wars or disasters in the core areas of Frankish life for nearly thirty years. The wars were all in the border areas.

Claiming to be in the heart of the empire, the Diocese of Maastricht never thought of continuing to implement the military service system. It was only when a large number of refugees poured into the city and faced with the deteriorating public security environment that the archbishop reluctantly deployed a thousand-man army The so-called army.

However, even if the regular Frankish army was attacked by a heavily armed force of 3,000 to 4,000 men without any warning, defeat would be inevitable.

Those few hundred people in the Frankish military district who abandoned the city and fled could not care too much in the critical moment, and a large number of the elite escaped without caring about riding horses.

They headed straight south along the road along the Maas River. They seemed to be heading straight to Liege, but in fact they were heading straight to Herstal, the military camp north of Liege town.

Herstal originally meant a military camp.

It is not an ordinary military camp. This is the place where Charlemagne himself was born exactly a hundred years ago. Even if this military camp was not important before, it has become extraordinary now that the emperor of the empire was born.

The military camp is turned into a fortress, and the town of Liege is directly south of it, so it is no exaggeration to call the military camp the Liege Fortress.

The small wooden bridge for passing personnel and supplies was also built at the military camp fortress.

One hundred cavalry quickly left Maastricht, and the centurion was obliged to report the great disaster in the north to his superiors stationed in the fortress.

And while the "Holy City" is experiencing brutal looting and killing, Liege is still peaceful, as if every day is the same, a calm and warm summer time. People don't need to worry about war; There is the possibility of flooding from the Maas River, as well as annoying mosquitoes.

The cavalry came suddenly and without warning.

There is only one standard unit stationed in the fortress, and it is an infantry standard unit that no longer enjoys the glory of the past in the empire.

As the saying goes, if a soldier can buy a horse at his own expense, he can be incorporated into the cavalry standard corps, which is a mobile unit prioritized by monarchs and local nobles. Soldiers without money would always serve as infantry. If it were a standing army, their status would naturally be much higher than that of levy militia, but far inferior to their colleagues on horseback. They would be stationed at key strategic points unless necessary.

Captain Pelote de Macas led his 23rd bannermen to serve Lothair, the only Roman emperor. ….

He has no surname, or the word that could be used as a surname is not worth mentioning. The word "Marcas" has a lot of origins. It is actually the name of the Frankish palace guard army. Now as an honorary title, Lothair verbally awarded it to the flag unit stationed in the birthplace of his grandfather the Great. The flag captain also He called himself "Marcas".

Of course, Perlot hopes to truly become a noble. When he gets older, the emperor will grant him a small fiefdom and reward him with a baron for his service.

Once, the Diocese of Maastricht managed a large area. The diocese was split a hundred years ago, and the Diocese of Liège emerged.

A divided Maastricht diocese turned into two demilitarized zones. Who dares to attack the sacred church jurisdiction? !

At that time, Frank had not yet forced the county of Flanders to surrender, and the existence of these two parishes served as a buffer zone.

The people of Flanders and the local nobles never wanted to be ruled by the Frankish Kingdom.

But they are not good at it either. Even a small country has the desire to expand. Even after Charlemagne's powerful military attack, Flanders was defeated and the surrendered nobles were massacred. The local surrendered nobles used marriage to forcibly assimilate the Frankish nobles who had been installed in the past.

This was Count Baudouin. He did not stand on the Franks' side, but led the Flanders army to assemble in the border fortress of Brussels to confront the Franks.

Flag Captain Perot was well aware of the military confrontation in the northwest. As the commander of the rear troops, he was assigned multiple tasks of garrisoning, logistics, and troop reinforcements by a higher-level "imperial envoy".

The rebellion of the Flanders has existed since ancient times, but now the local Frankish nobles have raised their flags to support Ludwig and no longer recognize Lothair as the only Roman emperor.

The flag captain was extremely uneasy about the prospect. The scale of the civil war has expanded rapidly this year. Could the peaceful Liege and Maastricht also suffer?

The garrison in the northern holy city suddenly fled back. Perot was startled at first, and then jumped up and down in anxiety.

He drew his sword and kept pacing, shouting: "Norman ships are everywhere! Their soldiers are everywhere! They kill everyone they see and loot everything. What are they going to do? Are they going to attack us?"

The centurion said bluntly with a straight face: "We cannot let the Holy City be humiliated, we must save it."

"Rescue? Rescue!" The sword was directly placed on the shoulder of his subordinate. A red-faced Perot asked sternly: "Why don't you go to rescue? You escaped."

"I...my manpower is limited."

"You also know that our troops are limited. Do you think that our troops will be enough when we reach the fortress?"

"It must be enough." The centurion was convinced of this and responded solemnly: "As long as our elites are dispatched, everything will be fine. We may not be able to defeat them in the water, but in the land battle, those of us who have received the glory of Charlemagne The warriors of Sanctuary are invincible."

"You..." The blushing Perot laughed angrily at this subordinate: "Marcus, you have listened to too many sermons from the Archbishop in the Holy City. Think carefully about the current situation of our flag team and count on me. Is it possible to rescue him?"

"This...if this is not possible. Let's go ask Lord Tristan."….

"You? Are you teaching me how to do things?"

"I can not."

Perot stamped his feet and sighed: "Forget it. Maybe, this is the only way."

The so-called Tristan was a general from the standing army directly controlled by Lothair. Although he was a flag captain, he was now authorized to command four cavalry flags. This man is not a feudal noble. He is only responsible to Lothair himself, and there is no need to doubt his loyalty.

Maastricht suffered a large-scale invasion and looting by the Normans, and hundreds of thousands of refugees began to flee on a large scale.

Perrot realized another disaster. The so-called Normans may not have thought about continuing to attack Liege along the Meuse River. Tens of thousands of refugees fleeing from the north had already blocked the town of Liege.

He is a professional veteran, not an aristocrat who governs a place. He took the initiative to pass the news to the town next to the fortress, which immediately caused a large-scale panic.

That night, people in the town of Liege and nearby villages began to take action, and crowds gradually gathered on the narrow bridge. Either driving horse-drawn carriages, donkey carts, or two-wheeled carts, people began to flee with their belongings. They had all heard the legends about the Norman killings and were afraid that death would come to them.

However, this was not what Perrot wanted.

A group of people had fled overnight, but by the next morning, the fortress garrison took the initiative to take control of the bridge.

The flag captain Perrot specially set up a cross flag, and the neatly dressed Frank soldiers lined up in a human wall, stuck their mandarin duck shields on the ground, and threatened the escapees who tried to break through with swords and spears.

He personally pointed his sword at the anxious people and said angrily: "The Normans are not devils, they are northern bandits who kill without limit. They are Danes in essence. The benevolent Charlemagne did not drive them all away. Now these evil people are here again." Start looting..."

However, in a chaotic environment, how many people can listen to a flag captain's popular science about the Normans?

Be aware of talking more

To no avail, Perrot set a simple rule: "Women, children, and the elderly, carry your belongings across the bridge! All men with long beards and non-grey beards shall stay as militiamen!"

Everyone knew the flag-captain, who presided over recruitment in the diocese of Liège in the spring.

Conscription is not about recruiting more people. It is essentially a limited restoration of the conscription system. Those free farmers and debt-free tenant farmers who boasted that conditions permitted could serve as soldiers. Soldiers will receive military pay and food supplies in the form of silver coins, which is very attractive to farmers after the busiest spring plowing. Those who are strong enough are absorbed, bringing the total strength of the fortress garrison to a thousand people.

Now, there are 500 elite infantry, 500 militiamen, and more than 300 old horses of poor quality.

A thousand soldiers are already an extremely large military force in the eyes of ordinary residents. Could it be that so many troops can't solve the problem of the Norman invasion?

Perot seeks stability, and secondly, there is a possibility that is extremely scary to consider.

What if those Normans had entertained the idea of ​​going to Aachen? They will definitely not be able to reach the city of Aachen, but their mere existence is already a huge disaster.

In one day, thousands of strong men of various ages were captured and forcibly armed. Fortunately, these people's equipment was much better than that of the Maastricht defenders who were blown up. After all, Herstal, the Liege fortress, has ample weapons and equipment. The sleeve-type iron spearheads were stored dry and stored in large quantities. Even though many of them were found to be decayed after opening the wooden box, everything was fine. ….

The wooden forks were removed from the pitchforks used for farm work, and the spearheads were put on to become short spears. When necessary, these Franks living in Liege used the old tactic of their ancestors to throw the short spears as javelins.

The wooden shield is prepared by oneself, and each person has a short spear. As for the armor and stomach, it depends on his ability.

Is it enough to expand the military strength to 2,000?

Perrot simply sent people to nearby villages to implement the troop increase order, and also sent messengers on horseback to bring his own letters written on parchment and deliver them to General Tristan at the scene of the military confrontation in Brussels as soon as possible.

It was at this time that some refugees from the north began to arrive in Liege one after another.

Perot still used his old tricks. He organized soldiers to check the refugees on the only way. The Archbishop of Liege is responsible for the relief work. The duty of the garrison is to implement the orders of King Lothair and ensure that the king's authority is shrouded in Liege and Maastricht on the left bank of the Meuse River. If there is an invasion by a foreign enemy, it is obligatory to take the initiative to attack. , unless the enemy is strong.

So the messenger also rushed across the bridge and rode straight to Aachen, just to tell the local defenders that a large number of Norman troops were coming.

Militia forces are growing, and the flight of frightened adult men has been curbed.

It’s not that they have been inspired by any righteousness. Just looking at the people hanging on the roadside makes them dare not disobey.

The defenders of Liege Fortress expanded at an unprecedented speed, and their strength went straight to 3,000 people.

As for the combat effectiveness of such a large army, Perot seriously lacked confidence. The Franks, who have been in peace for a long time, have picked up hoes and sickles and become farmers. Do they still have the bravery of their ancestors?

Perrot himself had limited knowledge of ancient times. In his opinion, the Normans who boldly landed could not be defeated in one fell swoop unless the heavy cavalry stationed in Brussels came back.

Counting on the large group of militiamen at hand, self-protection is acceptable.

To be fair, the Blue Fox and his army who occupied Maastricht had long been disenchanted with Frank in everyone's minds because the victory was too simple and fast and the looting was too gratifying. Frank is nothing. This city is said to be the most important city on the march. It has been conquered. Wouldn't it be easy to invade Aachen and plunder the Jinshan Mountain next?

No one realized that not far away in Liege, the local Franks were expanding their troops at a very high speed to save themselves.

In the Assumption Cathedral in Maastricht, the saint's tomb is placed in the center of a spacious stone chamber. The veterans of the standing army who broke into it recognized it as a coffin, and they were crazy about the gold on the stone.

They used hand axes and small hammers to peel off the gold. After the surface gold was scraped off, they struck it with a long-handled tomahawk used for logging, and the sarcophagus broke into pieces.

The bones of Saint Savatius were exposed, and these Russian warriors were not afraid at all. They were delighted to see that there were a large number of gold and silver ornaments and buried gold objects on the bones, which were all robbed again.

The cellar and library of the monastery were also rummaged through, the cash box was moved outdoors for exchange, and even a large number of parchment books sealed in cowhide in the library were transported to the square outside the cathedral.

Of course Grund knew that half of it should go to himself and half to the king. When the king asked for his share of the income, just hand over the boxes of silver coins he found to the king. As for the looted gold, the king often had a tacit understanding. Don't ask. ….

The wars and plunders in the past years have been like this, and I think it will be the same this time. Especially the king attaches great importance to looting books from the monastery. What is the value of a bunch of messy things? Since the king likes it, let him do what he likes.

Grund thought so, and Blue Fox almost felt the same way. The difference was that Blue Fox was not as short-sighted as Xiaobing. As a noble, Blue Fox needs battle honors and some imaginary things. It doesn't matter if he doesn't keep the spoils for himself.

The entire inner city was plundered by the elite Ross army, while the Swedish Mälaren army and the Götaland noble armies had no choice but to retreat and plunder the lower city and slums in the outer area.

Fortunately, for these poor warriors who live beside the cold lakes and rivers in Scandinavia, the harvest from just looting the lower town has already surprised them.

After all, the residents who can live in this city have some wealth. They are not priests and do not directly serve priests, so of course they can only live in the lower city. Residents who had no time to escape were killed and their property was robbed. Or he escaped so fast that all the belongings he could not take away became the possessions of the northerners.

They were already very satisfied. Unless they saw the results of the elite group of Ross who blocked the gate of the inner city to prevent entry, they might become jealous.

But Bjorn, Duke of Mälaren, knew everything. He wasn't angry. After all, anger was useless. He just felt a fire in his heart.

Fortunately, he led a group of people to easily capture the camp left by the Frank garrison. They realized that this place was a military camp, and subconsciously thought that they would encounter fierce resistance, but they entered easily. They captured a batch of ordnance, and the Swedish army's armed capabilities were immediately improved.

Bjorn then took control of an area enclosed by wooden walls. When the wooden door was smashed open, the house inside was completely different from other houses.

what is that? It’s a granary!

As a big landowner of the Melalen tribe, he is very familiar with all this. Of course, the more gold and silver, the better, but food is the foundation of life.

"It's all food. If all the houses were full of food, wouldn't it be enough for my tribe to eat for a year?! No! Two years..."

He was so happy that he muttered to himself and suddenly issued an order: "Control this place, even if the Russians come, we won't give it to them! The Melalen people control this place!"

And this is the response I plan to give to the greedy blue fox, the so-called "you grab gold and silver, I grab food, and I want gold in exchange for military rations." .

The reborn star fruit