Rise of Rurik

The amount of gold and silver sacred artifacts seized from the cathedral was enough to fill a longship. The amount of seizures was staggering.

Most of the sacred artifacts were still handed over to the blue fox. Of course, these sacred artifacts that should have been "luxuriant and leafy" have become bare. He knew that the Franks used sacred objects in the church, such as a cross, which must be accompanied by large and small growths. A large number of small parts were dug up by the soldiers and became scattered silver and gold ingots.

Even so, the loot he got was still huge and priceless.

For example, in the case of Cologne Cathedral or other churches, due to the relative lack of pure gold in the local area, the cast and forged sacred vessels were either gilded (gilt) to coat the bronze with a layer of gold and silver, or lead-added alloy. Unlike those in the north, the cathedrals in the Frankish hinterland had stronger financial resources. Maastricht has been a holy place for hundreds of years, and has accumulated enough wealth for the locals to cast sacred objects in pure gold.

Are they really willing to hand over the sacred artifacts they grabbed?

Not really, they didn't turn it in completely.

The war has just begun, and more treasures can be obtained when the army invades Aachen!

Putting the pure gold and silver from every corner of the sacred vessel into your pocket and handing over the larger parts is an explanation to yourself and to the king.

Relatively speaking, Rurik, who was far away in New Roseburg, also earned a large amount of war dividends.

As many as fifty wooden boxes were brought up from the cellar. Most of them had bronze locks. Fortunately, the keys were also found.

Blue Fox imagined that all the boxes contained gold coins, but the result made him a little regretful.

There are indeed a lot of silver coins. There are as many as thirty boxes full of silver coins. As for the quality, they are really uneven and even have archaeological value. It's just that the quality varies, there are some boxes here containing pure copper coins.

In the era of hard work, how much value does a mere copper coin have to the Kingdom of Rus? Melting copper coins, adding lead, casting them into bronze arrow clusters, and then making them into hunting arrows is probably its final destination.

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There were many boxes, but there were no gold coins in them. Blue Fox could not help but suspect that the gold coins had been robbed by the soldiers.

He did not investigate carefully. After all, most of this army was directly loyal to the king. As for his own vassal troops, all those Jotalan soldiers looted the outer city.

The huge city was completely occupied. There were once a hundred thousand people in the city, but all the residents had disappeared. Nearly five thousand people were killed in the city, and most of the people had fled. This was not because the army was merciful at the last moment, but because it was getting dark and everyone was busy looting. Facing the overwhelming number of fugitives, no one was willing to put the gold and silver at their fingertips and not stuff it into their clothes to chase and kill the fleeing cowards.

More than 80,000 residents fled Maastricht according to their own abilities. They fled in all directions, which naturally caused a chain panic in the surrounding villages. But the panic really became out of control and spread to the county of Flanders. This takes time.

Only Frank's elite troops had efficient reaction and mobilization capabilities. Nobles large and small lacked this ability. What's more, the Maastricht parish under attack was demilitarized. When the Holy City collapsed, it meant Everything in the entire area collapsed.

After cleaning up the battlefield in the north of the city and being satisfied with the looting, Gorm and other Jotalan nobles took their men to spend the night in the city.

They ate local wines, jams, and bread cubes, and took away clothes and leather shoes that were urgently needed in the north. They were not picky, they even took off the curtains and kept them for themselves.

Here, when all the Jotalan nobles reported to their lord, Commander Blue Fox himself, they learned that the Lord had issued an order to rest for three days.

The so-called three days of rest is equivalent to three days of free robbery, and it is also equivalent to the so-called "three days without sealing the sword."

This is a necessary means to maintain morale. Considering that the people in this city fled, Blue Fox no longer has to bear the title of "butcher" in Japan. After all, he is not a natural military aristocrat, and he is not willing to take the initiative to commit any meaningless killings.

Whether the killing is meaningful or not all depends on his personal cognitive concept. Archbishop Gregory is a hot potato that must be dealt with. If other Frank nobles are captured, they will also be executed after asking for some information.

His only regret was that his subordinates acted too quickly. Even though there were a handful of prisoners, could he still get any valuable information from the woman who was stunned after being tortured?

During the three days of free plunder, with a huge roar, the city's only bridge connecting the two sides of the Maas River collapsed.

The timbers on the bridge deck were artificially pulled into the river, the wooden bridge piers were pulled down, and the stone bridge piers left over from the Roman era were destroyed as much as possible.

The city's wharf was destroyed after the valuable loot was loaded. The captured local ships obviously had no navigation ability, and some small wooden boats were deliberately scuttled.

The army did a very thorough job. The so-called reinforcements that were supposed to be on guard against the enemy were suddenly killed and the evacuation was in a hurry.

The Ross Army, Finnish Army, Danish Army, and Götaland Army among the coalition forces no longer camp in the city on the left bank of the river, even though there are inexhaustible free houses in the city. They set up a new camp in a large open field on the right bank of the Maas River. They would rather spend some time clearing the bushes and grass, and would rather sleep in an inferior place.

Until it started to rain on the third day...

The rain lasted for four days. Faced with the bad situation, Blue Fox, who did not want to stay on the left bank, had to invite the army that was already camping on the right bank to the left bank and live directly in the inexhaustible private houses to take shelter from the rain.

It was they who ran to the right bank in large numbers, and it was they who ran back again.

The Russians' operations dazzled Bjorn. For these Dukes of Malaren, when he deliberately ignored the Blue Fox's "camp on the right bank" order, he used actions to declare that he had new ideas.

The smart blue fox can also realize it. After all, he is a man who once served as the king of Sweden.

The sky cleared up and the rain lasted enough time for the soldiers to rest and for the nobles to think about what to do next.

It was too easy to capture Maastricht, but a four-day rainstorm directly offset the speed of capturing the city. According to the battle plan, the city was captured and the bridges were destroyed. The next step was to go upriver to Liège to capture the local town and demolish the local bridges.

The dead bodies in the north of the city were left unattended, and the churches and monasteries in the inner city were still in chaos.

Seven days have passed, and the area within the stone wall has begun to emit a stench. Since the entire Russian army moved to the right bank, Bjorn and his Swedish army rushed into the inner city. They came in to take a look, and when they saw the mess, they left in anger.

Bjorn still insisted on dominating the city's granary. He was looking forward to the blue fox's gold in exchange for food. However, despite the rain, the Russians still had no idea about the granary and seemed to suddenly not care about it.

Finally, the Ross envoy with blue stripes and white robes approached the Swedish army’s camp.

The envoy knelt down on one knee to Bjorn, Duke of Mellaren, as a courtesy to the abdicated king, which made Bjorn feel very good.

"Get up, messenger. Let me hear what Blue Fox has to say. I have the treasure he needs here..."

"It must be food." The envoy who stood up changed his face again: "The boss said that you can control the granary. Our army is not short of food now. I will take it in your hands when it is really scarce."

"Huh?! He doesn't want the gold in exchange for some more? You Russians stole almost all the gold. It's really unreasonable..."

Bjorn got angry at an envoy, who tried not to be humble or condescending: "Then, please go to the dock tonight. The boss will discuss with the nobles what to do next."

"You came here just to talk about this?"

"Exactly. The words have been conveyed and I'm leaving."

After saying that, the veteran soldier from the standing army turned and left, and Bjorn didn't have any temper at all.

"Sir, isn't this too arrogant?! Look at me catching him and bending his legs." The soldier whispered in Bjorn's ear, deliberately pretending to be eager to try.

"No. Those are not the soldiers of that guy Blue Fox. They are Rurik's elite, so they are arrogant."

"Just watch him humiliate us Mellaren people?!"

"It's not a humiliation. I serve Rurik, not the Blue Fox who comes from this merchant family." Bjorn shrugged, "I have my own arrangements. I will go and talk to them tonight."

The rain really delayed the advance of the coalition forces, and Lan Hu didn't want to delay any longer. On the first day after the rain, he gave the order to the elite troops to reorganize and fight again.

At first, he asked the Russian army of the standing army First Standard and the young Seventh Standard to fight. However, other nobles reacted strongly and had to mobilize in full force.

Anyway, the bridge has been destroyed, even if it is still difficult for large armed cargo ships to pass, all obstacles to longship navigation have completely disappeared.

The Russian army, which had plundered a lot of money, was eager to make further wealth. Other nobles complained that the Russian army had robbed too much, and they needed to be taken care of in the new battle.

This requires a meeting to unite all the nobles. Of course, Blue Fox noticed the Duke of Malaren's independent action thoughts. What about Bjorn? Will he continue to attack Liège? Is he still willing to accompany him to attack Aachen?

He had a hunch that Bjorn might have had the idea of ​​giving up as soon as he could.

After all, the "local rich man" overlord controls the city's huge granary, and he is probably committing an old habit of a big landowner.

In the evening, Bjorn arrived belatedly, and this delay somewhat proved his attitude.

Then it wasn't just Lan Hu who he neglected, but a whole group of nobles.

Of course he was very angry. As the saying goes, "I had a secret meeting with Rurik, and I took the initiative to hand over power to him. My title is the highest in the coalition."

He is absolutely right to think so, and the fact is basically the same. However, there are only 500 Swedish Mellaren troops at hand, and other nobles can buy his skills and sell his face.

No, he came with his entourage arrogantly. This arrogance really made the young people in Ross uncomfortable.

"Why are you so arrogant? You haven't taken any action with us these days." Kelha and his little boy Digu.

"I think he can't forget that he was the king of Sweden." Askard felt that he had seen everything clearly.

Yin Val frowned and shook his head: "He still cares about the throne. Didn't he give it up on his own?"

"Who would be willing to let go of their power?" Askard deliberately teased the young brother with weak legs: "You will definitely not let go of your power when you become the King of Denmark."

"That's natural. If anyone makes fun of my disability, I will kill them."

Yin Val was not talking nonsense. Ever since he learned that the Duchess of Ostara also had leg problems but was a powerful "human Valkyrie", he had become extremely confident. Of course he met Carlotta when he was studying in Novgorod, and after seeing is believing, he became motivated to forge ahead.

This expedition was an extremely important opportunity for him. He had only a small number of Danish troops, but now the situation has changed further. The free-traveling Danish fishermen truly learned that there was Ragnar's son in the coalition army, and they came to surrender one after another. These Danish fishermen followed the rebellious army and grabbed some property. They were afraid that they would need a new identity if they were cheated, so they turned into Yinval's soldiers.

His military strength has almost expanded to 400 men. Regardless of how well organized this group of people is and whether they can fight a tough battle independently, fortunately, the strength of his troops is already satisfactory enough.

After all, in the traditional Viking world concept, it was already a big deal for a chief to have three to four hundred warriors.

Now, the main force of the army is on the right bank again, and the open space is suitable for the army to gather and start a new journey.

Blue Fox organized an open-air barbecue banquet on the left bank of the damaged pier and broken bridge. The nobles gathered around the campfire, waiting for the roasted sheep to mature slowly.

Bjorn had no intention of eating mutton here, and he caught a lot of it himself. In the camp in the city, he could eat mutton chops, which was not a rare thing.

"You're here! Come on, find a place to sit down."

Lan Hu put on a businessman-like smile, but secretly thought that this guy was really arrogant.

Bjorn sat down and asked knowingly: "So, why are we gathering here tonight? I see the army on the other side of the river is gathering again, and now we are going to attack Aachen?"

"Of course not. Duke of Mellaren, you clearly know that."

"What?!" Bjorn scratched his beard deliberately.

"Attack Liège and destroy the local bridge before we attack Aachen."

"Liège? An unfamiliar name. Attacking there seems to have nothing to do with us Mellaren people."

"You?! It doesn't matter." Blue Fox suppressed his anger and used his eyes to keep the young people calm. Youdao: "We are a coalition force, and we want to take joint actions. I invite you here this time to tell you that tomorrow the coalition forces will set off, and we will have a huge force to attack Liege in one day."

"Really? But..." Bjorn continued to pinch his beard as if he didn't take it seriously, "It was easy to capture Maastricht. Less than ten of our troops died in the battle. Presumably the Ross elite suffered no losses. . The Franks are too weak. Their main force is not here. To attack Liège, you only need to send a hundred men to win, so why bother?"

"Oh?" Blue Fox narrowed his eyes. He thought for a while and asked deliberately: "In that case, if your Melalen Army is dispatched, the victory over Liege will be yours."

"I don't dare. Of course, such an honor must be exclusively enjoyed by the Ross Army. After they invade Aachen, it is said that there is a gold mountain there. Of course, all the gold will be exclusively enjoyed by the Ross Army..." This statement has a very sinister meaning. Heavy.

In a sense, Bjorn was not good at pretending. The more he spoke, the more excited he became, and finally he said what was in his heart: "You will do the attack, and all the gold and silver will be yours. Just like attacking this city, if it weren't for us Mela The Lun people contained their main force in the north of the city, how could you Rus people easily invade the inner city? When it came time to plunder, you took away the gold, what did we get..."

Bjorn's eyes widened with anger. Although Blue Fox felt a little bit guilty, he had such an attitude anyway, and there was no need for him to show weakness.

"But you got the granary. This is a rich place. If you occupy the granary, you will also get huge wealth, but we can only continue to eat the stored grain."

"But food is not gold." Bjorn shook his head.

"What are your plans?"

"You can start a business. Give me silver and gold coins, and I will give you food."

"Is that all?" Blue Fox was amused, and other nobles were also amused when they saw this.

The laughter of the crowd made Bjorn even more embarrassed. He felt that he was too boring like a clown, and he even thought of retreating. Of course, he couldn't retreat yet. Then he coughed and asked, "Is it still necessary to talk?"

"Yes." Blue Fox cheered up: "The last question is, will you go to Liege tomorrow?"

"Liège? We both know the intelligence. There is a fortress there and there are Frank garrison. Could it be that we attack first this time? Can you guarantee that we will get all the gold and silver?"

"I can't guarantee it. It's just that as a coalition force, we should all march."

"No." At this time, Bjorn had already stood up: "This Duke was personally invited by King Rurik to participate in the war. If Rurik himself were here, I would implement his request, but you! Blue Fox Gu Desson." Bjorn's big hand pointed directly at the blue fox's nose, and the scene suddenly became very ugly: "You can take the people to Liege yourself! The Duke will stay here to digest the fruits of victory."

Blue Fox looked serious: "Are you... not going to participate in the attack on Aachen?"

"I won't go. I'll stay here. There will definitely be many cellars dug in the city, and gold and silver will definitely be found. Rurik is fine, but I can't trust you. Let's go."

That's all, Bjorn held on to the hilt of his sword and walked away, and his entourage followed suit.

The scene suddenly became very embarrassing...

"He left. He really didn't take you seriously, haha." Grund tilted his head and asked the blue fox with a hint of teasing.

"It doesn't matter. If we rob the gold and silver and don't give it to him, even a noble will be angry." Suddenly, Blue Fox realized that what he said was wrong. He quickly glanced at the several nobles of Jotaland in front of him and said as if to make amends: " I treated you badly in Maastricht, and when we get to Liège, you will surely share a lot of the looted gold and silver."