Rise of Rurik

In extreme panic, Bishop Hatgar of Liège took all the priests and left the city of Liège, as well as the Bishop's Cathedral of Liège, which he had personally funded.

He left through the wooden bridge with all the sacred vessels, books and most of the cash, and followed another Roman road as quickly as possible to the barony of Limburg in the eastern border of the diocese of Liège.

The core area is in a forest, with some scattered farmland opened up in the forest, and due east of the forest is a large piece of worthless swampland.

The fiefdom of Baron Limburg is here, but this kind of summer nobleman who is very close to Aachen does not have strong family strength, but his status is noble.

Baron Andorf of Limburg has no great ambitions. He is loyal to Lothair and guards the security of the southern suburbs of the kingdom's capital. By the way, he also provides some daily services to the priests who pass through his fiefdom.

There were not many travelers in this era. If there were many, they were priests for academic exchanges and a small number of businessmen. Relative to business, the business situation in the area around Aachen itself is better than nothing.

Aachen exists at the crossroads of two Roman avenues, but it is not a commercial city. Businessmen only use its convenient transportation. The real destination of most of those businessmen is Cologne.

The road from Aachen to Cologne is called the "Cologne Avenue", but businessmen often jokingly call it the "Hell Road".

After all, this was the road built by Emperor Augustus hundreds of years ago when he sent troops north to attack the Teutons. Twenty thousand Roman soldiers died in the Teutonic Forest, so this road became the so-called road to death.

Time has passed, and the barbarians of the past have established a new empire. This road still continues its highest priority military significance. If they want to conquer the north, the Frankish army can also choose to take this road north and take the road at Cologne or Dusseldorf. The boat crossed the wide Rhine River.

When building Roman roads, they always tried to make them as straight as possible. They mostly used stones to pave the roads in Italy. When the empire became too large, they often built rammed earth roads in remote areas.

For hundreds of years, the road from Aachen to Cologne has always been a thoroughfare, which is equivalent to fifty Roman miles (about 80 kilometers).

On such a journey, a traveler can complete the entire journey in four days using only one pair of feet.

Blue Fox has already learned about this traffic information in Cologne. It is an option to attack Aachen from the direction of Cologne along the "Hell Road" that has been known for a long time.

For the sake of safety, and considering practical reasons, the coalition forces resolutely chose to penetrate the Meuse River and try to shorten the time wasted on the land march.

South of Aachen is the Barony of Limburg, and north of Aachen is the Count of Jülich.

The task given to Eberhard, Count of Jülich, by King Lothair was to garrison his fief and organize an army to fight when necessary.

When the Bishop of Liège fled to Limburg, the Baron was shocked that the bishop came to his residence in a very low-key manner.

Baron Andorf hurriedly greeted him. He saluted the bishop and kissed the bishop's old and trembling hand.

"Papa, you came too suddenly."

Just as he was about to say a few words, the bishop rushed to speak: "My child, can you give me a place to stay temporarily? I want to sort out my emotions, and... tell you about a disaster."

The baron was so shocked that he hurriedly escorted the bishop to the local monastery. The carriage was placed in the courtyard, and all the entourage received meals and long-lost safety.

The baron could see that the bishop was in a hurry. His mind was buzzing as he listened to the story, and he didn't know why the news came like a bolt from the blue.

"This... this..." He suddenly yelled at the situation in the monastery: "The Normans actually did all kinds of evil along the Meuse River?! They actually destroyed Maastricht and Liège? Could it be that they are next? Are you going to attack me?"

The former is a fact, and the latter is purely the Baron's terrifying speculation.

This speculation is not unreasonable. After all, the well-informed Bishop of Liège is also Lothair's palace adviser. The information revealed by the bishop cannot but be thought-provoking.

As the saying goes, the Carolingian royal family came from a powerful palace prime minister. The palace prime minister was too powerful and emptied out the king. So in order to avoid history repeating itself, Charlemagne simply did not have a palace prime minister. However, the king needed some smart and capable nobles to assist him. The palace prime minister system was abolished and replaced by the advisory system. Power was shared with some big nobles and archbishops. They were all the king's advisers and they had to be loyal to the king for their own power.

In today's civil war era, advisors had to choose sides, and those advisors who supported Lothair naturally gathered into one organization - the Imperial Faction.

The Bishop of Liège did not blame the Baron for his indiscretion, for his own excitement was contrary to his vocation.

The bishop spoke hoarsely as if his neck were in chains, and the movements of his hands were also very exaggerated.

"Norman pirates are killing and stealing everywhere, and Maastricht is a living hell. Where is the army? If the king's army can destroy them, all this disaster will end. But... the Normans are still marching. I told him so. (Referring to Lothair) Don’t put all the army in the east. Now the rear is empty and we are being attacked by the Normans..."

This is true. The baron feels that the bishop knows a lot about the Normans.

This is indeed the case. Although he has not actually had a face-to-face encounter with the Ross coalition, he knows a lot about what has happened in the north over the years.

In other words, this Hatgar can also get some first-hand parchment letters.

It all happened because of the Archbishop of the North, Eskil, who loved to write letters. After writing many of his experiences into letters, he sent young priests in a relay, first to the Archbishop of Cologne, and then to the Archbishop of Reims, Schink. Mal's hand. After all, the financial supporter behind the missionary work in the north is Archbishop Sinquemar of Reims, and Esquier has the obligation to send him regular letters.

Reims then copied these letters and sent them to the archbishops of other regions, so-called fulfilling the church's obligation to share information.

While a large number of middle and lower-ranking Frankish nobles knew little about the Normans, many archbishops' knowledge of the Normans had already risen to several levels.

The Bishop of Liège was more willing to call the Normans Danish pirates in a precise way. He did not understand the emerging Russians, but he knew the most about the Danes. Only these guys could fight their way into the Meuse River from their long-standing stronghold at the mouth of the Rhine River, and then Create havoc. What is horrifying when you think about it is that in the past, Danish pirates only robbed houses in the offshore, and they often attacked the county of Flanders. What's going on now? The Danes have never gone deep into the Maas River to carry out large-scale plunder, but now they dare to do so.

While fleeing, the bishop desperately thought about the whole story in pain. His wise mind felt that all this was probably a terrible conspiracy.

The more he thought about it, the more he felt that it was all true. After meeting the nearest military nobleman, Baron Limburg, in this monastery, he sternly made his own suggestion: "I'm afraid all this is part of the civil war. I am very I am worried that those Danes will risk attacking Aachen. From what I understand, there are not many defenders in Aachen now! If our new Rome is attacked and Charlemagne's holy tomb is insulted, you and I will be sinners. I hope you will mobilize the fiefdom immediately To all my warriors, may the Lord give you glory.”

War is an opportunity, but improper war can also lead to the annihilation of the entire army.

The baron was caught in a tangle, but he had never seen the bishop's trembling eyes. The pleading attitude seemed to say: "Only you can guard Aachen."

"Then mobilize!" The baron looked at the black wooden cross hanging high in the monastery, and subconsciously made the sign of the cross on his chest. At this moment, he seemed to have become a saint.

Suddenly, as if a divine power came over him, he fearlessly swore: "I swear with all my honor that I will defend my homeland and my faith with my life, even if it means sacrificing my life."

The Bishop of Liège was very worried that the Bishop of Maastricht had been killed. The tragic death of a friend made him sad and angry, but the bishop was still clear-headed at the critical moment. King Lothair's main force is now in Strasbourg. Knowing the inside story, he understands that the king will launch an autumn offensive in the hope of defeating his most powerful brother Ludwig in Mainz and ending the civil war in one fell swoop.

The Flemish people who had rebelled in the past year were ready to move, causing the legions that should have been stationed in Aachen to mobilize to the northwest.

In recent years, the area around Aachen has not been peaceful. Norman activities have become more and more rampant, and the great nobles are aware of this. But no one expected that the Normans could actually reach a place just one step away from Aachen.

As an advisor to the king, the Bishop of Liège intended to personally warn the military nobles of all sizes around Aachen during the critical moment, and then rushed into Aachen and cooperated with the Archbishop of Aachen to mobilize the people of the city to defend the holy city.

Even if there is some possibility that the so-called Normans left with too much loot and contentment.

It is impossible for him to base the solution to the crisis on the enemy retreating when he sees good. There is even a possibility: why should the Frankish army passively defend? When Aachen gathered enough militiamen, led by mostly nobles, they could obviously take the initiative to launch a holy counterattack against the barbarians.

After getting some supplies in Limburg, the Bishop of Liège started to set off again, this time temporarily bypassing Aachen and heading straight to the count of Lich, because he knew that the military nobleman had a fresh army in his hands, which was originally intended as a military force. The "tactical reserve" that solves the Flemish offensive problem is currently the best Aachen defender.

If the bishop wants to go to the count of Jülich, he must first arrive at its important border town of Duren.

Durham is a Celtic word meaning "gateway". This former Gallic settlement lasted throughout the Roman Empire and was expanded by the Roman emperors into a rest palace.

Charlemagne inherited and further expanded the palace here, becoming the closest royal palace to Aachen.

But as the glory of the emperor dissipated, the glory of the palace gradually dissipated.

Lothair, who claimed to be the only Roman emperor, could choose many palaces in the empire as his long-term residence. Facts have proved that he now prefers to stay in Strasbourg.

The status of Durham Palace has plummeted, but the historic monastery here is extremely important to the Bishop of Liège who is in a hurry.

The carriage advanced rapidly along the Roman Avenue extending north, and the bishop simply brought a small entourage with him. He risked being attacked by wild beasts in the forest along the way and wanted to see Count Jülich himself as soon as possible.

He was sponsored by Durham Abbey, had a brief chat with the local priest, stayed for one night, and then went straight to the town of Jülich.

This is completely the core area of ​​Frankfurt. It can be said that there is a village every few Romes near all the Roman avenues.

Like flags sprinkled on a chessboard, Frankish villages of all sizes are arranged quite densely, and almost all settlements are covered by dense forests. As former forest dwellers, a large number of Franks immigrated early to areas more suitable for breeding. In the Paris Plain, there are also a large number of people who rely on the lowland areas centered around Aachen. They ask for living space from the forest. Obviously, as long as development continues, this huge forest area in Western Europe will be forcibly transformed into farmland.

For people today, forest resources are simply inexhaustible.

Dense forests, rolling hills, and rivers running through the forest.

Farmland relies on these natural rivers and is irrigated using readily available water resources.

The good living environment fostered a large rural population, so much so that there were a large number of residents under the jurisdiction of Count Jülich whose fiefdom was due north and east of Aachen. These people were also the basis for supporting his military strength.

The reason why he was sealed here was because the earl family was related to Charlie Martel, nicknamed the Hammer. Therefore, earl Eberhart was a distant blood relative of King Lothair.

Being in a dense forest, one's view is obscured.

The Earl is living a daily life that he is very familiar with. Now his daily job is to supervise the military training of his own soldiers and ensure that the recruited militiamen maintain basic training. He also uses these human resources to order them to carry axes. Logging on the Earl's private forest.

Why not use free manpower? By cutting down wood, making it into usable wood, and then selling it to farmers, the earl could make extra money.

After all, it is expensive to maintain a cavalry of hundreds of people.

The best way to maintain the combat effectiveness of your soldiers is to hunt. The forest near the town of Jülich is often infested with wild beasts. There is no problem in hunting wolves and foxes. If you can kill a bear, you can make a fortune.

On this day, while the count was resting in the forest camp, his subordinates who came from the city hurriedly reported the news of the sudden arrival of the Bishop of Liège.

The subordinates who dismounted spoke half-kneeling, and also repeated a sentence specially stated by the Bishop of Liege: "A powerful Danish barbarian tribe has done all kinds of evil in the Maas River, and they are likely to be detrimental to Aachen."

"Danish barbarians?" The earl scratched his beard vigorously and was puzzled. He ordered his subordinates to lie down and asked again: "I'm still wondering why Hatgar suddenly came to my place. Are you just going to tell me this?"

"Absolutely true."

"Okay. Go down. It's really ridiculous." The count didn't quite believe this explosive crisis warning: "Can a small group of pirates scare him half to death? Scared him into coming to my fief in person? Or does he have some other agenda? ?”

Thinking that something big might really happen, the count's good mood for hunting disappeared.

The cavalry team sounded the rallying call, and the scattered teams gathered together. A powerful Frankish heavy cavalry unit assembled and returned to the town of Jülich.

At this moment, the Bishop of Liège has been waiting here for a long time. He and his entourage rested in the city, ate bread and drank some wine to relieve themselves from the fatigue of traveling.

The earth is shaking, and listen carefully to the neighing of war horses.

The delighted bishop walked out of the door with a smile. Just outside the church, he saw a powerful heavy cavalry unit standing majestically in the stone square.

A well-dressed man skillfully trained his horse, and the horse carried him out of the formation and headed straight towards the black-robed Bishop of Liège.

"Isn't this the Archbishop of Liège! My friend, Hatega, you came to me unexpectedly, and I was not prepared to welcome you. I am guilty of poor hospitality."

The earl called the bishop by his first name, and Hatgar himself didn't care. They were both advisors to the king, not to mention that the earl was a distant relative of the king.

He dismounted and invited the bishop to his house to discuss the terrible news at length.

So until the two met face to face, reality forced Earl Eberhard to believe it.

Every hair on his head stood upright, his beard was full of hair, and he looked like a lion. Eberhard was so surprised that he paced with his hands behind his back and said to himself: "What has happened to the Danes so crazy? They attacked Maastricht and Liège. Even the local garrisons could not destroy these pirates." .How did they become so powerful when they were just a group of pirates who were beaten up by Charlemagne?"

"Perhaps it has something to do with the dramatic changes in the situation in the north over the years." The bishop, who seemed to be sitting calmly, was already in a state of turmoil: "My friend, you should have heard that Ludwig suffered a huge defeat in the north, and that Cologne lost the entire Something about Westphalia.”

"I have heard a little bit. However, those nobles have nothing to do with us now. They are just Danes. I remember they are not loyal to Ludwig? Isn't it possible? Wait!"

Seeing that the earl had realized something, the bishop continued his conjecture with a sullen face: "It is an open secret that Ludwig maintains a Danish mercenary force. The occupied Durist is full of Danes, and the local leader actually calls himself Ferdinand." Count Landers is still loyal to Ludwig himself. Maybe he suffered a defeat in the north, but as far as the result is concerned, those Danes are still loyal to him. And the rebellious Saxons, I don't believe those guys are really rebellious now .”

Therefore, when news about the great changes in the political situation north of the River Inn reached the Middle Kingdom, the nobles here learned that the news from the east and west was somewhat distorted.

As a consultant to the kingdom, Bishop Hatgar of Liège was wise. He summed up some meaningful information among his numerous messages, and tried his best to clarify the logical chain on the way to escape.

Of course he had no conclusive evidence, but in line with the principle of "the biggest beneficiary is also the biggest suspect", and since the two sides of the civil war were already at odds, he crossed himself on his chest and said conclusively: "All of this is most likely Luther's." Vichy’s conspiracy was most likely caused by the military advisers he sent to guide the Danes’ actions.”

The count was trembling all over, "I just don't understand! If this is true, then Ludwig is too crazy! He clearly knows that his grandfather's holy tomb is in the city, does he still support the Danes to use force near Aachen? ?”

"Perhaps this is the fate of being a member of the royal family." The bishop concluded. The struggle for power of several generations of Carolingian kings has always been accompanied by horrific bloody killings, and he did not want to mention it more.

"So, what should I do? Should I gather all the cavalry and go to Liege to annihilate the Danes?" the count asked.

"Don't be reckless, at least not now. I have arranged for the residents of Liège to flee in all directions. The Danes can at most run wild in the empty towns and let them plunder the property that cannot be taken away. As long as they do not extend their clutches to Asia. Aachen. We must first ensure the safety of the city of Aachen, and then plan to destroy these invading Danes."

"So I'm the only defender?"

"I'm afraid, this is your fate." The bishop raised his head and looked directly into the earl's eyes, saying seriously.

His clenched fists slowly loosened, and his tense body relaxed. The Earl nodded: "I understand. I will immediately order the assembly of all nobles and mobilize as many militias as possible. So, what else will you do?"

"I will go to Aachen immediately to make peace with the local bishop. I will personally put on armor and lead the Aachen militia to defend the city, and then choose the opportunity to take the initiative."

"That's fine. I will immediately send the cavalry to report to the east. I hope the king can know the crisis here as soon as possible." The earl finally added.