Rise of Rurik

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Askard, who was extremely tired, lay in the pile of corpses like most of the soldiers. He was exhausted and fell asleep, not caring about the mud all over his body, let alone the corpses around him.

He even ignored the casualties of the Seventh Flag Troop he led, and most of the surviving young soldiers of the entire flag troop were sitting or lying down. They had no joy after victory. They were severely exhausted and just wanted to rest. Even when they lay down, they still kept their swords in their hands, just worried that the enemy would counterattack again.

But the Frank cavalry did escape, and Count Gilbert of Ramengau just wanted to leave this place of right and wrong as soon as possible.

The three standing army cavalry banners accompanying him on his escape, some even lost their orders, when they learned from Gilbert that their general Tristan had been killed, and they realized that it was possible to recapture the general's body, their The morale of the military was completely shattered, and it seemed that the only option was to withdraw to the military camp in Brussels.

In the final analysis, Gilbert and these guys are not from the same group. No matter what goes wrong in the Brussels barracks, it has nothing to do with La Mongao.

He just wanted to go home as quickly as possible with the army whose losses were not serious, and do his best to defend.

"You...really escaped? Won't you come back?!" Blue Fox squinted his eyes and held the brim of his helmet with both hands so that he could clearly see the enemy's retreating back under the scorching sun.

Blue Fox was standing on the battlefield. There were corpses of horses and soldiers everywhere. The soldiers who were busy cleaning the battlefield kept poking the enemy's wounded soldiers and pulling out their own wounded.

A feeling of confusion arose spontaneously. He knew that such a bad scene could be completely avoided. There was no need for the army that sacked Aachen to fight with the Frankish elite from beginning to end. Furthermore, the "road map plan" arranged before the operation was launched clearly stated that the essence of the so-called destruction of bridges was to avoid a bloody battle with the enemy's main force in the west.

This is great, destroying the bridge has become a means, and fighting with the enemy's main force has become the goal.

Which link caused the big problem?

There is no need to doubt anything. It is the "Northern Faith" that everyone is obsessed with that caused the current situation.

All coalition soldiers who are willing to participate in the expedition must consider themselves to be warriors who believe in Odin and Thor. They worship force and hate the most humiliating things done by petty people in front of them. Unlike flexible businessmen who have a flexible moral bottom line, they are like strong wine in a bottle. A spark can ignite a fire.

It's true that benevolence is rewarded. Look at the large number of soldiers who have fallen to the ground. They should have gone home happily with their trophies, but now they are all finished!

There is a good thing. The trophies that belong to the dead left in the camp on the other side of the river will definitely be taken away by the survivors. The nobles of that department are responsible for how the spoils of war are distributed among the various coalition forces. In the final analysis, the Blue Fox's first responsibility is Ross's own army.

And this also gave him a headache.

Some teenagers were killed by the cavalry, and even though they were wearing armor, their chests were pierced by lances.

The Seventh Flag truly experienced their first fierce battle since their establishment. They paid a bloody price and the recruits finally became veterans. Is this price too high? "I have returned to Fort New Rose. How should I report to Rurik? Tell him that I was unable to restrain the coalition forces at the critical moment and was forced to watch them walk alone?"

Let’s not think about these things for now.

Blue Fox hurriedly issued an order. The so-called Ross Army headquarters soldiers were cleaning the battlefield and collecting the bodies of their own personnel. Any injured were treated as much as possible. If they were really hopeless, they would be hit with an ax on the back of the head. Of course, when doing so, they were on the verge of death. The deceased must hold the sword tightly in his hand.

He will not care about the casualties of other troops. Each noble is responsible for the aftermath of his own people. Whether the corpses of the war dead are buried on the spot, taken away to another place to be buried and burned to ashes, or simply left on the banks of the Maas River. I don't care at all, Blue Fox boasts that it has no obligation to pay attention.

But all the corpses of the dead that can be found in Ross's own army must be taken away, even if it is midsummer, the corpses will quickly stink and have to be moved away.

Blue Fox led his soldiers to search among the corpses in person. He walked towards the gathering place of the soldiers of the Seventh Flag Team, and soon found Aske, who was lying in the mud and sleeping soundly.

"Is your boss seriously injured?" He then asked a soldier.

"It's okay, I'm just too tired."

"I saw blood in his mouth."

"Maybe he bit his mouth. I saw with my own eyes that he was pushed into the water by the war horse. It seems that the gods helped him..." The little warrior spoke lightly, and the blue fox felt his scalp numb when he heard it!

He looked at Askard and couldn't help sighing: "You reckless boy! You led your brothers to charge without understanding the situation. If you die, how will I explain to your father? How will I explain to the king?"

After talking to himself, the blue fox kicked hard, and Askard slowly sat up and asked as if he had just woken up from a dream: "It's dark now? We won the battle."

"We won the battle. Boy, clean the battlefield, count your people, and tell me the specific losses. Take away all the fallen brothers."

"Okay." He tried his best to hold his dazed head, licked his lips and suddenly felt a heartbreaking pain.

Thanks to the cloth armor with riveted iron pieces and the chain mail lining for protection, he was hit by the cavalry, and the strength was cushioned by the armor and lining. Only when his chest was not shattered did he have the right to continue to survive. However, his teeth gave him He bit his lower lip deeply, and now the blood has stopped flowing. His whole body has calmed down, and the adrenaline level that was enough to numb his nerves has returned to normal. The injury to his mouth can be said to be very minor, and even the pain of licking it is enough to make him I feel like I'm going to die.

The huge casualties of the Ross coalition are visible to the naked eye!

The nervous warrior's spirit gradually relaxed. Looking at the entire battlefield, there were no living enemies. There was even no trace of enemy activity in this area.

Just south of the battlefield, at first Blue Fox only led Ross elites to set fires on the periphery. The warm southeast wind helped the fire, and the fire was spreading irreversibly. When all the peripheral residences were ignited, even the inner city sandwiched in the middle was on fire. And protected by the city wall, all the buildings in the inner city will inevitably be caught in the flames.

All afternoon the coalition forces were clearing the battlefield.

None of the five Jotalan nobles died, not because they had backed down from the battle, but because they were lucky enough. However, the soldiers they brought from their hometown suffered heavy losses.

Killed in action, who can be blamed? Do you blame the enemy for being too ruthless? No, everything is fate.

People living in harsh environments have their own understanding of death. They die on the battlefield with weapons in hand, their souls will go to the Hall of Valor, and the bodies left behind in the world will be buried.

The Jotalans still prefer burials. They dig large pits and fill them with the corpses they find. They also put the weapons of the dead in the trenches as burial objects, and then cover them with earth and oats.

The Danish army also suffered considerable losses, but the losses of the Danish soldiers caused by Yinvar the Boneless were much less. Those free fishermen have always seemed to be outside the ranks of the coalition forces, only joining the coalition forces when necessary. Now that it is not good for these people to die in battle, their final bravery must be recognized to some extent.

Danish soldiers were also buried in the dug pits. These dead lay together with a group of Mellaren dead, and everything was buried under the soil.

The Frank army's crazy charge paid a huge price. No one collected the corpses for them, and even their helmets and armor were pulled off.

The coalition soldiers who clean the battlefield will rarely search for their own dead. The loot that can be looted comes from the enemy's depths.

No one noticed that there was a corpse that belonged to the Frankish general Tristan. He was dead, his helmet and armor had been stripped off, and his body was finally exposed to the sun in a very miserable appearance.

The corpses of the Ross coalition were buried on a large scale, and a large number of white things gradually appeared on the battlefield, that is, the corpses of the Franks, together with the corpses of the horses, gathered together to become a humiliation to the glory of the Franks.

On the other side of the Maas River, the Ross Army Camp.

The losses of Ross's army mainly came from the 7th Banner Troop. The flanks were washed away by the cavalry. Some people fell into the water and disappeared, probably sinking into the mud at the bottom of the river. Now there are more than a hundred corpses found alone. It is impossible to survive. More than a hundred people died from serious injuries.

After all, the Seventh Flag Team was still involved in the final stage of the fight, and half of the entire team suffered casualties. They are the first generation descendants of the old Russians who immigrated. The vast majority of them are half Slavic. This does not mean that they are weaker than their parents. The cruel price paid by the young people through this battle finally proved He is worthy of the name Ross.

That is, when everything settled down and he saw a large number of corpses of his comrades lying flat in an open space in the camp, the feeling of sadness was enough to make Askard burst into tears.

He cared about his brother who died in battle, and Alicia cared about her as well.

Although they were on the other side of the river, a small number of people who stayed behind directly witnessed the whole process of the battle on the other side. They saw thrilling scenes one after another. If it was not necessary, they would have wanted to join the chaos with weapons in person.

Alicia and Princess Gisla both saw the fact that the French army was defeated. The proud heavy cavalry did not overwhelm the Norman array after all.

The two girls had different attitudes. Gisla knew that it was a standing army that belonged to her father. Even if Lothair ignored her daughter, she was still a princess after all. She hoped that the Frank army would win, but everything was over...

The frustrated Gisla did not report any thoughts to outsiders. She learned that this Norman army could not even be called the main force. The emerging overlord of the north, the Kingdom of Rus, only sent a small number of standing troops and vassal troops, and gathered Some stragglers, this kind of second-rate or third-rate army, defeated the Frankish elite.

She just wanted to get away from these barbarians as soon as possible. Although she didn't know her uncle Ludwig's attitude towards her, at least she took her niece in for Charlemagne's sake.

Alicia's attitude was completely different. She was conquered by more than just her body.

When Askard took off his armor and washed away the mud and blood in the river, he appeared in front of Alicia again in a cleaner appearance. She walked up, and when Askard was also surprised, , the girl had already opened her upper arms and hugged him.

Now, who can question Askard's failure to conquer this woman.

"I even thought you were dead. What would I do if you died? I don't want to be a servant in the hands of the Franks anymore. I want you to fulfill your promise. But you... almost died..." She said a lot.

Askard was silent for a moment, hesitating for a long time and caressing her back: "The figurative god protects me. I'm not dead. It's over. Everything will be fine."

Although she had heard that her father and brother ancestors had participated in the war against Charlemagne, and for a time they were beaten with corpses everywhere, Alicia was just an ordinary girl from a lower-level noble family, and she had only heard of those things but had never seen them.

I thought that the killing of the Normans in Aachen was the most barbaric thing I had ever seen in my life. Now the city of Maastricht was in flames, and the battlefield next to the city was literally littered with corpses.

She still didn't have the courage to go to the battlefield to find out what was going on across the Maas River, but as the corpses of the young Ross men were gradually delivered to the camp, she first vomited violently after witnessing the tragedy, and hurriedly avoided it, not daring to look directly.

In the evening, the fire in the city seemed to tear open a hole in the earth. According to the Franks, it was the fire of hell spurting out. According to the northerners, it was the human world of Misgard that was falling apart.

The excessive flames were more noticeable than the setting sun, and across a river, people resting in the camp could also feel its heat.

The soldiers of the First Flag Team of the Standing Army launched operations against the rear with a group attack attitude due to their extreme armor stomach and extraordinary physical fitness. In addition, as a new force, they launched a group attack. They didn't have any casualties. Although there were injuries and the injuries were serious enough to force the soldiers not to fight again for a long time, they did not have any privacy.

These troops are all personal soldiers of King Rurik of Rus. The normal operations have continued to this day and the troops have suffered very few casualties. Blue Fox feels that he is enough to report his duties to the king.

Finally, an astonishing number of fallen soldiers from the Seventh Banner Corps were revealed. Each young soldier had a clear name, and even had an iron nameplate with inscriptions engraved around his neck. Even if the nameplate was lost, their clothes were deliberately embroidered by their parents. Enter the child's name. Even if these are lost, it is possible to draw a conclusion on who died in battle just by counting the centurions.

After explaining the aftermath, Blue Fox found Askard again and patted the kid on the shoulder. Facing the corpses on the ground, the depressed feeling made him embarrassed to speak.

"Uncle. Do you have any orders? Or...are you planning to blame me for being reckless?"

"It's okay. I don't blame you for being insulted. I don't blame you." Blue Fox sighed slightly: "You will grow up because of this, and all living warriors will become veterans. Only your uncle and the king can judge whether you have done something right or wrong. And only your uncle can judge. As long as you have a clear conscience."

"yes."

Asking themselves, Askard did feel that he had acted too hastily at that time, and for a moment he could not imagine that everything was a conspiracy of the Franks.

"The bodies of the dead found by our unit are all here, and there are also some missing brothers who probably fell into the river and disappeared. I almost drowned too, alas."

"Don't talk about this yet. Tell me how many troops you lost?"

"One hundred and fifty people were killed and missing, and there were more than a hundred injured. If another strong force comes, the Seventh Flag Team will no longer be able to fight."

"Serious loss! But we defeated the powerful army of the Middle Kingdom. You and your brothers have achieved great glory at a young age and are worthy of praise." As he said that, Blue Fox patted the brat on the back.

With this encouragement and praise, Askard felt much better: "What if they are corpses? Cut down the wood and burn them, or bury them on the spot."

"Ship and take them away. Go to Rotterstad to cremate them. Eventually we will bury the ashes of all the soldiers in the cemetery of New Rossburg. This will also give an explanation to your uncle and all the old Ross people. And your troops The portion of the spoils obtained that originally belonged to those who died in battle shall be given to their families.”

"I will." Asgard nodded.

"Very well. Get all the cloth seized from Aachen."

"what for?"

"Wrap them as a shroud. We'll leave as quickly as possible and finish burning the bodies before they start to stink."

"Alright alright……"

The war dead were tied up like insect chrysalis with cloth and hemp rope, and then they were carried by their companions to the longboat and stacked neatly. The whole process was silent.

In order to avoid a sneak attack, which obviously caused heavy losses, Lanhu ordered the entire army to light bonfires on a large scale to continue to create the illusion that the coalition forces were still strong.

His caution was important, but the Frankish army in the west had fled.

He has also been worried about the Frank army coming from the direction of Aachen. Although the enemy troops who destroyed the Geul River Bridge may not be able to cross the river, if they insist on crossing the river, they can still send a certain army to seek revenge.

Now is the reality of the coalition's fragility, and Blue Fox cannot stay in this riverside camp for another day.

He gave the entire army the last and only day off, and then continued to clean the battlefield the next day. There were piles of helmets and armors ripped off from the Franks, especially the helmets. Blue Fox didn't want any other trophies, so he just plundered the entire army. of enemy helmets gathered in his hands.

This is a kind of token. First, it proves to Ludwig that the Kingdom of Rus has implemented the secret agreement and even made a major contribution, and then can extort some political resources. Secondly, it was also a clear explanation to King Rurik of Rus. After all, the coalition forces really collected as many as 1,900 Frankish-style iron helmets. There was no need to fake this item. It was enough to prove that the coalition forces had at least eliminated an equal number of elite enemies. .

As for how many Frank militiamen were killed, it would be meaningless to report a number to the king.

Only by proving the number of elite soldiers killed can the merits after the battle be evaluated.

In fact, this was a helmet captured in a normal operation. Even so, at the scene of the chaos in Maastricht, the coalition forces captured as many as 400 horses, and 900 Frank troops were killed.

The general was killed in battle, and half of the entire army was lost. Such a cruel loss ratio was extremely rare for the Frankish army. They could persist until nearly half of them were killed before the entire army collapsed due to accidental factors, which is enough to prove that they are worthy of being elite.

However, the Ross coalition forces on the opposite side were not afraid of death in their fury, and suffered exactly the same proportion of losses and persisted until the end.

Yes, the coalition lost more than a thousand people in this battle. If the previous losses are included, more than 1,500 people in the entire Ross coalition have died so far.

Although Blue Fox was not distressed by the mass death, he estimated that King Rurik was not distressed either. Those who died were all vassals, servants and allies. They were not so much the army as the most traditional northern militia. Such people are brave and ruthless and will do anything to make money. If there is a new war, with a call, a group of poor people will bring their own bucklers and weapons to join the army and participate in the expedition.

Now, the action is over.

On the appointed day, all the loot was loaded onto the ship. Some longships were piled with the corpses of the dead, and some were even simply used as tools for transporting horses. All war horses that were docile and controllable were driven onto the ship, and the best quality ones were naturally taken away by the Russian army. Blue Fox intended to pay tribute to Rurik, and the rest of the horses were probably sold on the spot at the mouth of the Rhine River.

Who would buy a horse? That must be Henry of Nassau, Count of the Netherlands.

That guy is an ally, and he is definitely willing to pay for war horses.