Rise of Rurik

The entire Mainz became a giant barracks. It was supposed to be a city of faith that maintained peace and sanctity. She became a battleground for both sides in the civil war.

The city is named after the hills next to it. To the south of the city is the vast Palatinate Plain.

This place is very rich in water and grass, very suitable for farming, and also suitable for war. When the plain area extends to the Northern Vosges Mountains, it perfectly connects to the mountain plains. The entire plain was called Rheinland, and it was now a strategic point that Ludwig and Lothair were fighting for.

Only the agricultural production in the area near Mainz has not been damaged. The wheat harvest season has arrived and farmers have begun their harvest. However, all the wheat collected must be paid to the king's army after leaving seed grain and rations.

If the peasants don't hand it over, the powerful army will take it for themselves.

Ludwig, who was stationed here, was exercising unprecedented direct rule in an almost exhaustive way, and Archbishop Odegaard, who should have had real power, said nothing about this.

The Frankish monarchs of all generations have regarded Mainz as a holy place to spread their faith. Now it has become a strong military town, gathering 30,000 combat soldiers, and the Norman influence has also penetrated it unprecedentedly.

The Rus forces appear in this city and will join this year's war as Ludwig's allies.

If Charlemagne were alive, he would definitely be angry at the unfaithful war between his descendants. But what he should regret more is that the city he chose, Aachen, was looted...

What can a man who has been dead for thirty years say?

His two grandsons, who hold great military power, refused to negotiate, and the war at Laiyinlan was already on the eve of breaking out.

War alarms were sounded throughout Mainz, the army rushed into the city, all idlers were cleaned up, and some beggars simply disappeared from the world. All the lax warriors became nervous, and all the blacksmith shops in the city worked hard to make final preparations for the king's active attack.

The more military supplies the better, and the more military ration reserves the better.

Ludwig met the "labor fee" requirements of the nobles of Saxony, Nassau, and Thuringia. It was paid in the form of grain. Due to the emergency of the war, the delivery of wheat had to be delayed.

On the surface, Ludwig suffered a loss. Not only did he have to pay out of his own pocket to feed the troops brought by his vassals, he also had to pay them a large amount of food after the war.

However, as long as the crazy strategic plan I set this year can be basically successfully completed, all efforts will not be a problem, and the food required to pay the vassals can be delivered quickly.

The key question is Strasbourg, and the key question lies in Kaiserslautern.

Kaiserslautern is a city sandwiched between two mountains. The hills have become natural walls, making it an easy-to-defend but difficult-to-attack place. But it had to be taken because a heavy army was stationed there.

Ludwig could not think of any better tactics for the time being. To capture Strasbourg, Kaiserslautern must be captured.

Therefore, the first stage of the military operation was to assemble almost all military forces to strike hard, and Kaiserslautern must be captured in one go.

For this reason, he was willing to take military risks. The so-called Mainz did not leave heavy troops behind. If the eldest brother's army sets out from Strasbourg to attack Mainz, if the eldest brother succeeds, he will succeed. As the saying goes, he will fight his enemies and I will fight mine.

Ludwig had such a temperament. Once a large-scale combat operation was decided, courage became the first priority.

He has no worries about gains and losses. After all, even the Mainz and Frankfurt he currently owns are the territory of his vassals, not his direct control area. Only when a strongman touches his Bavaria and Austrian fiefdoms can he really touch his base.

Warriors from Bavaria were busy polishing swords and axes, and the cavalry rushed to feed their horses with new wheat.

At the last moment of the battle, a group of elite soldiers had two meals of wheat every day. And the 3,000 combat-ready cavalrymen he had cobbled together were now fat and strong.

There were more than 20,000 troops under Ludwig's direct control, including 3,000 combat cavalry, 20 infantry flag corps (numbers varied), and nearly 10,000 armed militia composed of local farmers.

There are also 5,000 Saxon troops and 1,000 Thuringian troops.

and the Nassau Army, whose numerical size and tactical capabilities are unknown. They did carry the banner of Nassau, but in fact everyone from the king to the soldiers agreed that they were always Norman mercenaries.

But now Black Fox and his wife Sophia have temporarily brought to Mainz only their own hundred-man guard.

Of course, the Nassau army can regroup according to the secret agreement and then rush to the Saar River. The so-called Yusala Brucken's broken bridge waits for the enemy to defeat the defeated army.

Black Fox intends to do this. He must implement the matter effectively and not start taking action immediately after the meeting.

The Ross army in Nassau just needed to rest and recuperate, and with the speed of the Ross people's movement, he estimated that even if Ludwig's army set off for many days, he would not have time to leave again.

So what is the quality of Ludwig's army compared to two years ago?

It is not convenient for Black Fox himself to go to the camp of his standing army to find out what is going on, but he can get the news from friendly forces in Saxony.

It was a sunny afternoon, less than five days before the expedition.

He swaggered into the Saxon army camp with his wife. A high-flying Rus flag was like a sign of peace, if only to the Saxons.

Liudov mobilized an army of five thousand troops and came to Mainz. He also endured tremendous pressure.

The temporary wooden shack was Liudolf's royal residence. It was really shabby. The specially placed wooden huts, the large number of flagpoles and the flying Saxon flags all showed the might of the army.

These warriors who broke into the Saxon military camp carried huge round shields like turtle shells and butterfly helmets covering half of their faces. Each warrior wore chain mail, a cloth-covered vest, and finally a blue stitched Ross robe from strips of cloth.

Such heavy infantry escorted two richly dressed nobles, one large and one small, one man and one woman. The group of people was eye-catching enough. The Saxon warriors were too busy watching the Ross warriors to care whether they belonged to Nassau or not. This was not ordinary. Soldiers need to care.

Of course, those native Saxon nobles who led troops from the north to join the war, that is, high-ranking nobles with the title of graf (count), as many as five counts came after hearing the news, and they judged the black fox in the military camp in front of the deliberately ostentatious black fox.

Black Fox and Sophia immediately became Liudov's guests.

The wooden table bought from the city is set with a Ross-style glass plate filled with dried fruits, and the glass is filled with ale brought from the north.

"This is your first time in my military camp. If you don't have anything good to entertain you, I'll treat you with ale from my hamburger." Liudov had an easy-going attitude and sat on a makeshift chair made of rough wood. sit.

"Sit wherever you want? Then sit wherever you want."

The black fox was very relaxed, but Sophia was much more cautious. She looked around uneasily and glanced outdoors from the corner of her eyes.

Liudof fully noticed this: "Haha, it seems that the Earl of Nassau is a little panicked?"

Black Fox coughed twice hurriedly and clutched his wife's wrist.

"Sofia is still a child. Besides, she is a woman."

"Indeed." Liudof shrugged: "But she is an extraordinary woman. It would be great if my Alice had such a noble status."

"Alice? I remember that your daughter married the eldest son of King Rus. She will definitely be the queen of Mercia, noble Alice, how can you regret it?"

"Haha." Liu Duofu nodded: "It seems that in addition to your military ability, you, a young man, also know my family affairs. You obviously did not participate in the war two years ago..."

"It doesn't matter. My brother and I have always shared information, and I know about any interactions between my brother and you. Besides..." Black Fox had to think carefully before saying some words. He hesitated for a while and then said: "I am now Wei Baron Sparten is Ludwig's vassal and the son-in-law of the Nassau family. But all this I have is not a reward from Ludwig, the defeated guy."

"I understand." Liudov chuckled: "It's Rurik. Your soldiers who won the battle, your initial wealth, and even your coming here from the far north were all arranged by Rurik."

"That's right. We in Nassau are just cooperating with Ludwig. My favorite monarch is still Rurik."

"Very good, you are a young man who values ​​friendship. Of course it's okay for you to tell me this, but it would be bad if Ludwig learns about it."

"He? Uncle, your question is ridiculous." The very liberal Black Fox simply said bluntly: "Don't Ludwig understand? You, me, and the Marquis of Thuringia all helped him win the civil war. What do we want to maintain an Eastern Frank? Isn’t it more freedom? You and I can do whatever we want in the future. If he issues a combat request that is unfavorable to us, he will not respond and I will not send at most a hundred soldiers. Deal with it. What do you think?"

"A hundred soldiers? If it is really bad for me, I will follow the example of the Marquis of Thuringia. A thousand soldiers are enough. Besides..."

Feeling that his persuasive words were effective, Black Fox hurriedly asked: "Can't the army of the Margrave of Thuringia do the same?"

"He? Thakurf is very smart. He brought only weak soldiers. You are a Norman and it is not convenient to find out. My people noticed that the beards of those soldiers were white and their faces had a lot of wrinkles. Can such an old guy fight?"

"And you? In that case, your soldiers are all young people."

"This is natural." Liudofu straightened his face slightly and said bluntly: "Because it is very beneficial to me."

"How beneficial?"

"Young people, you..." Liu Duofu suddenly stood up and moved a wooden stool to sit down directly under the surprised eyes of Black Fox.

He put his mouth to the black fox's ear: "We are allies. I can tell you my secret agreement with Ludwig. This time I attack Kaiserslautern, my Saxon army is the main offensive force. I will win." Fighting head-on, as a deal, my army has the right to loot the entire city. I will loot it without hesitation."

This was something Black Fox had never thought of. Indeed, this matter could not be discussed openly at a military meeting.

Now he somewhat understood Liu Doufu's reason for mobilizing troops. "But, won't you have to pay a heavy price for going to fight head-on?"

"No! I will win quickly." Liudov pointed directly at his head: "Your Rurik gave me a lot of inspiration. I wonder if you have noticed that there is a huge difference between my army and the Frank army?"

"Different?" Black Fox thought carefully: "I noticed that your military camp seems...each soldier has a spear. Those spears are really long."

"Yes. All the soldiers in our army carry spears, and the militiamen I trained in Hamburg all fight with spears. I don't have the ability to organize a large number of cavalry troops now. I am really poor, but I have limited tactics."

Now it was not up to Black Fox to ask. Liudov had already clearly explained the situation between his army and Ludwig's Frankish army.

Smart people learn war in war. Liudov, who was once defeated by Rurik, had no ability to imitate the elite troops of the Russian army and train his own strong army. He could only learn based on part of his hard work.

The five thousand Saxon troops are almost all infantry. This is all the soldiers that the entire principality can muster. If there are heavy casualties, there will be catastrophic consequences. But each graf noble decided to take a gamble with his own duke, and the whole of Saxony was gambling on the fate of the country.

As many as eight Earls of Graf sent troops. This part of the army was divided into eight flag teams, each of which was imitated by the Ross standard of 500 people. The flag team soldiers are almost all young people from several large villages. The daily training items are very simple, that is, the entire flag team holds a spear and thrusts in one direction.

Each flag team brought a small number of vehicles and horses, and the soldiers' personal supplies were mainly carried by themselves.

Compared to these noble armies, Liudov's current formation only had a thousand soldiers and horses, thus creating an army of five thousand men.

The armor coverage rate of soldiers is very low. If the battle turns into a group fight in the mud, such soldiers will be at a great disadvantage. Unless all warriors act in formation, past wars have proven that if the army is all spearmen fighting in formation like the Slavic Banners in the Russian Army, the combat capability will be extremely terrifying.

A wall of spears that are constantly poking at each other continues to advance. Can enemies with only melee weapons withstand it? Past actual combat has proven that it cannot withstand it.

Therefore, Ludwig's newly recruited army was still based on the Frankish tradition. The infantry still carried a small shield, holding ancestral broad-bladed swords and battle axes, and even throwable hatchets.

Ludwig's army was strong in strength. Although there were 20,000 infantry, the number of heavily armored heavy infantry was not as large as it was two years ago. He is actually overdrawing his military strength.

They are not equipped with a large number of spears. If there is a fierce infantry battle, it will definitely turn into a large-scale hand-to-hand battlefield group fight.

The only thing that stood out was the cavalry, but Liudov didn't think highly of this either.

"He claims to have assembled five thousand cavalry. In my opinion, the only ones who can really fight are three thousand cavalry."

Black Fox had heard a lot, and although Liudov had a disdainful attitude, he now claimed that there were about two thousand cavalry that did not exist at all.

"You can't fight with two thousand cavalry?" he asked.

"Yes! No. They are all horses that pull carts. They transport soldiers' stomachs and food. Of course they can also be ridden to fight when necessary. It's just that kind of horse..." Liudov shook his head disdainfully: "Forget it. Bar."

Liudov had no reason to sing a war hymn to Ludwig, and it was impossible to completely deny it. He is not optimistic about Ludwig's directly controlled army of more than 20,000 people. His biggest obsession with this year's war is to loot and make money in Kaiserslautern.

"The Saxon army has turned into a plundering group. From the duke to the soldiers, they are all robbers. They are very similar to us. You... the more you interact with us Russians, the more you look like us." These sentiments The words Black Fox would never say.

What he didn't know was that many soldiers of the Saxon Army were people who had migrated back to their hometowns from the Jutland Peninsula. The Saxons who fled to the Danish world to escape the persecution of Charlemagne have returned home. After living together for half a century, many people are completely indistinguishable from the Danes. Only the Saxon dialect can prove themselves.

Looting is bad. This is not a moral issue, but it is a matter of being prepared to be killed by the other party when looting, unless it is a legal robbery.

During the period when the Saxon Army was stationed in Mainz, there had been many incidents of soldiers attacking villages on the spot. Liudov didn't care at all, and Ludwig pretended not to see it. Only the locals suffered.

They would never rob their own people in their hometown in Saxony, nor would they dare to harass the Archbishop of Cologne and the territory of the Marquis of Thuringia during the march. Military discipline continued to deteriorate after arriving in Mainz.

As the saying goes, this is a huge army with the actual purpose of robbery, but the corruption of military discipline is a kind of praise.

Liudov hoped that the army would make a fortune through looting. The richer the Saxons became, the more they would support him as the duke, so why not do it.

So by joining this group of guys, Black Fox finally found a soulmate. Taking advantage of the opportunity, the two continued to discuss their thoughts on the robbery.

Black Fox still hides some things deep in his heart, such as his plans for the entire Saar region.

He finally understood that Ludwig had probably made secret agreements with all the great nobles besides the military meeting. Will Ludwig make a secret agreement with the Marquis of Thuringia? Who knows...

"What did you decide to do next? I thought you hurried back to Nassau to mobilize troops." Liudov finally asked.

"I do plan to go to the Saar River again. As for the deployment of troops, we can wait."

"It's okay to wait. Ludwig gave the entire army a week to prepare. I have relatively enough time, and he barely has enough time."

"He..." Black Fox was young and energetic, and was not optimistic about the so-called seven days: "Ludwig was too slow. I thought he would at most order the final preparations and leave in two days."

"Do you still think that he, a Russian, can move quickly?" Liudov said helplessly: "The larger the army, the slower it moves. Please be considerate."

"Who cares about him? I don't care anyway. As you said, my army can move quickly. I will stay in Mainz for a few more days to observe."

"That's fine, as long as you want."

So Black Fox got crucial information in the Saxon military camp that was not easy to talk about at a public military meeting. He felt that the Saxons would suffer huge losses, but these five thousand "men in black" were just trying to rob and make a fortune. When he came, he must have had the consciousness to be killed.

For me, the mission of the Nassau Army is to go to the Saar River to prevent the enemy from possible defeat. Can the enemy really defeat it? How much profit can you make from the defeated soldiers?

Black Fox coveted the future of the wine industry in the entire Saar region, and had no interest in those defeated troops. In fact, he was not very interested in the next battle.

However, the situation reversed the next day.

It was definitely not that he had figured something out, but that a distinguished guest came to the camp he set up by the river - a small fleet of long boats that also hoisted the Ross flag.

Isn't the man standing on the bow of the boat the second brother Lan Hu?

The appearance of the blue fox in Mainz really confused the black fox. As the ship deliberately forced the beach on its own riverside camp, they jumped off the side of the ship in the style of old Ross. Black Fox watched helplessly as his second brother stood in the shallow water touching his knees in the mud, opening his arms to hug a girl with long curly hair.

The girl appeared to be about the same age as his unmarried wife, Sophia Nassau.

The black fox's doubts quickly turned into surprise. After some pleasantries between the two brothers, the blue fox placed his hands on Gisla's young shoulders and announced in a loud voice: "This is Lothair's daughter, and Ludwig is hers." Uncle. I found this girl in Aachen, so it’s a surprise for Ludwig!”

Surprise...a surprise indeed. Especially at this good time when the Eastern Kingdom's army is about to move south.

The Black Fox instantly realized that when Ludwig held his eldest brother's daughter and his own niece, wouldn't he immediately have a card that could blackmail Lothair?

Obviously, the Blue Fox came to Mainz as a "gift", and it was also a no-profit event. He would definitely be able to get some benefits.