Rise of Rurik

Lindisfarne, the place name was very foreign to Rurik.

Actually? This monastery is deliberately alive on a remote offshore tidal island. There are many treasures in the monastery, but the priest still adheres to the creed and lives a life of few desires.

This is now the most important religious center of the kingdom of Northumbria, which was rebuilt after it was sacked by the Bergen Vikings forty years ago.

Absorbing the tragic disaster of the last defense, the kingdom also began to strengthen it with granite, which is relatively easy to obtain locally.

The catastrophe has passed, and the youngest witnesses are now nearing the twilight of their lives. Most of the former priests died in the robbery. The priests who moved in later could only follow the narrations of those who witnessed the disaster to imagine the scene of the disaster, and these people also went to the kingdom of heaven one after another...

Lindisfarne Abbey, where tranquility has been restored, even if the kingdom has been in civil strife for decades, the nobles who are fighting for power will never covet more and more gold spontaneously donated by believers in the monastery. Silver, instead, the king sent an army to build a barracks on the outskirts of the monastery.

Rather than guarding against possible sea barbarians, the king cared more about whether the religious center of the kingdom was really in his hands.

Lindisfarne is 200 kilometers away from the royal city of York, but it is less than a day's journey from Bamburgh, another military town in the north of the kingdom.

Although he has learned a lot of information from Paul, Rurik always has a hunch, because his army is going to penetrate into the core ruling area of ​​Northumbria, and it is inevitable to face a larger-scale battle.

Will the battle drive this group of Viking warriors mad? They certainly will.

After the army finished eating, they immediately began to carry the spoils.

Rurik had planned to set sail at noon, but it took too much time to carry food and other spoils (mainly recovered iron and cloth). Time lingered into the afternoon, and people who were exhausted by the toss of carrying supplies had to continue to nest by the sea, gorging on the seized wheat to recharge their batteries.

And the fire in Edinburgh has not been extinguished, there is still a red hell.

Rurik even found ropes tied with the horses that pulled the cart, hoisted them directly to the ship of the Avlora, and finally stuffed them into the cabin. As for the carriage, it was not wasted. The plates, wheels, and axles were disassembled and loaded onto the boat.

The other long ships carried a lot of cargo, the most important of which was grain.

The Bergen settlers in Shetland valued food, while the Balmers preferred gold, silver, copper and iron.

a new day,

When the sea fog was still in the air, the entire Viking fleet left Edinburgh, where the flames were still alive.

The fog hid the traces of the fleet, and the huge fleet was drifting aggressively southward along the coastline.

And this is destined not to be a long voyage.

A cool north wind was blowing, and in the face of the sudden change of wind, the ships did not hesitate to raise their sails.

The oars were retracted with great relief, and with only two or three people left in the longboat, the large ship could be steered perfectly.

At the same time, Paul, who was captured, was being invited by Rurik to stand on the bow deck with an incredible feeling.

He felt the sea breeze, and looked sideways at the waves crashing at the bow of the boat, and couldn't help but sigh: "This! Could it be Noah's Tivat?"

Rurik fully understood the man's words, and responded casually and proudly: "The ark is big, there is only one! My ship is very small. However, when you come to my port, you will see more such large ships."

"This is the biggest boat I've ever seen. No wind or wave can overturn it."

"Of course." Rurik continued proudly: "We have the ability to build larger ships, and maybe one day, we will build island-like ships, like the ark. But to accomplish this goal, I need a lot of Money to recruit craftsmen to build, that's one of the reasons I'm going to keep attacking. Do you think I'm a villain?"

"This..." Paul had nothing to say, speaking with conscience, he was convinced that this very young Rurik was not an extraordinary man, this son absolutely understood the wisdom of those books!

I'm afraid this Rurik knew Latin! It's a pity that he didn't know anything and could only listen to the explanations of those noble and arrogant priests.

Look at the situation again! This large ship, the Avlora, is completely different from other ships. The people on the boat are generally uniform, they are not the lamb of God, but it cannot be said that they are dirty. The commander, named Rurik, was handsomely dressed and full of wisdom.

If the young man now travels to Lindisfarne to be baptized by the bishop himself, and then goes to Rome on the pilgrimage in this large ship, he must be a noble king. And himself, a grain officer in charge of grain, may be consecrated by Bishop Lindisfarne for his introduction.

Unfortunately, all of this is a beautiful fantasy. Just like heaven, the endless beauty is out of reach...

Lord Rurik is extraordinary, but his army is going to attack Lindisfarne.

Since they had taken Edinburgh in just one afternoon, what about facing the monasteries in the south?

Do not! Not just a monastery! And its attached military camp!

More than just a military camp! This sea barbarian army might directly attack Bamburg, which is further south, and burn that city to the ground.

Thinking of this, Paul felt more and more that he was going to hell when he died.

However, this Rurik claimed to be a saint blessed by Odin, the great god of the north. Anyone who fought for him would enter the Temple of Vallaha after death, and those who were poor would go to the wonderful Asgard.

Maybe, that Valhalla and Asgard mean the same thing as Paradis (heaven)?

For a split second, Paul had a sudden suspicion of his own beliefs.

The fleet then sailed with great winds, reaching eight knots for some periods.

People's enthusiasm did not decline in any way. Many people imagined that a fast voyage would be able to reach the destination on the same day. In the end, everyone held a lot of gold tonight, and the local woman lived happily for a night. After the brothers, because of the great victory, the ship can no longer carry more wealth, and then everyone will return with a full load.

Then because I know the route, I will come again next year.

This is indeed the case. People have been watching the coastline moving forward. It is not even before the evening. Everyone with good eyesight can see the city and a strange building in the distance through the very clear air blown by the cool wind. .

Paul, who was sleeping on the side, was pushed up by Rurik. He pointed to the distance and asked, "Isn't that Lindisfarne you said there?"

Seeing the building with the steeple in the distance, Paul swallowed hard: "Yes. It's Lindisfarne, the monastery with the steeple. Your lord, look over there."

Paul pointed in another direction: "That's the guard's camp. If you want to attack the monastery, you must...have to fight those people."

"Roar? A battle?" Rurik lifted his spirits slightly, "It seems that I can't loot without destroying the defenders."

Soon, several loud people began to dance and shout to the casual long boatmen behind, which means that there are hostile targets ahead.

The people who were bored by the long voyage quickly became full of fighting spirit. People were screaming with excitement, and the stowed oars were turned over again.

The wind and the oars drove the longship to its maximum speed. Realizing the actions of those guys, Rurik ordered that the speed should not continue to be lowered. Shocked, and began to run at full speed.

Paul saw that these sea barbarians are already tuning their heavy weapons! There were even some strange things being lifted from the cabin onto the deck, Paul himself had absolutely no idea what it was, he instinctively told himself it was some kind of weapon.

The fleet rushed forward aggressively, and as the distance shortened, Rurik couldn't help clenching his teeth when he saw the whole picture of the so-called Lindisfarne Abbey that had been cleaned up.

Why? He saw this monastery, said to be full of wealth, turned out to be located on an offshore island with small cliffs and a clear breakwater-like road leading to land.

Not only that, the people who built the monastery were afraid that the small cliffs would not be able to strengthen their defenses, so they piled up a circle of low stone walls.

The stone walls are not terrible, Rurik really felt that the geographical conditions of those small cliffs made it impossible for the fleet to land on the beach and go straight to the monastery.

One thing is clear from the many circumstances, that the new monastery has strengthened its defenses sufficiently since Lindisfarne was attacked long ago.

However, this is probably just a small obstacle encountered by the Viking army on the way to attack.

The mast of the Avlora now flutters the blue-white flag of Ross, the navy flag of the Duchy of Ross!

Rurik had already ordered to adjust the course of the flagship Avlora, causing all subsequent longships to turn.

He glanced at the flag of the mast for an inadvertent moment, and suddenly had a plan in his mind.

"Yavlo!" Rurik yelled.

"exist."

"We captured the Northumbrian king flag, didn't we throw it away?!"

"How could it be thrown away." Yevlo looked proud: "That's our glory! The felt cloth has been washed and dried."

Rurik pointed at the mast: "Send me to take down our flag and hang up that flag."

"Ah! What does this mean?"

"You're too naive, Yevro! It's a trick! I'm going to make those guards, those priests, think we're their friends."

After being personally instructed, Yevluo suddenly realized, and after this roar, he assigned people to climb the mast and change the flag.

This is an era without telescopes, and everyone in Lindisfarne has already watched the huge fleet of ships heading this way.

Everyone has heard the news of the attack on the monastery decades ago, but that is a long time ago, and it has become a kind of legend.

The point of view is changed to Lindisfarne.

In the Admiralty Battalion in Normbria, an infantry captain named John was awakened by his own men.

"Sir! Something big! The sea..." The soldier pointed in the direction of the ocean with a violent trembling.

"Are you frightened by something? Take me to see it."

As soon as the infantry captain walked out of his barracks, he saw a large number of soldiers standing outside the camp, squinting at the approaching fleet. They had never seen a fleet of this size, especially noticing a strange large ship among them.

What's the situation? !

The infantry captain subconsciously felt that there were many dangers, and when he saw clearly that the king's flag of his kingdom was flying on the big ship, he suddenly couldn't make up his mind.

In fact, most people are suspicious, maybe this fleet was built by the king? It's unbelievably weird, and does anyone know what happened to the king's fleet?

The soldiers wanted an explanation from the infantry captain, and Johnson knew nothing.

In line with whether the visitor is an enemy or a friend, it is always right to remain alert.

He could not make up his mind now, so he issued an order, which was to order a centurion under his command to urgently evacuate to the monastery with his own people, and then close the gate.

The other two centurions led the team and followed him to the coast to form an array. If it was Master Wang, they would welcome him, and if they were the enemy, they would go to war.

As for the soldiers who did not return to help the Earl of Bamburgh to collect food in the countryside, John couldn't care less.

John has achieved the most basic qualities of a soldier. He devoted himself to military deployment in the shortest possible time. The most important thing is that he correctly fulfilled his important responsibility of guarding the monastery.

The wooden doors of the monastery have been closed, and the priests have learned of the arrival of a suspected royal fleet.

Very different from the attitude of the army, many priests naively thought that the king himself and his beloved fleet had arrived at the monastery, because the Mass of the Assumption on the 15th of August was coming! This year, the king himself came to attend the grand mass with a mighty fleet, and everything made sense.

However, Rurik never cared about the rival's Assumption Festival. The main reason why he chose to loot in July and August was that during this period, Britain had just harvested wheat, and Vikings from all walks of life had to take this opportunity to make a fortune.

He estimated that his deceitful methods had fooled his opponent to a certain extent, and that a kind of armed men dressed in orange even lined up outside the coastal camp, which made him interested.

"Maybe they weren't fooled." Yevro said with fear.

"It doesn't matter, they are lined up, but they are more likely to be hit by us. Yevro!"

"exist!"

"Take the buddies to adjust the weapons, all bull trebuchets aimed at starboard. Torsion slingshots on port side moved to starboard. Others, with crossbows ready to throw."

"As ordered!"

With the size of the Avrora, washing the beach is just asking for a beach. As the ship got close enough to the coast, Rurik stared at a wandering enemy soldier with a mechanical sight with a torsion slingshot fixed on the starboard side, and the sight frame locked the enemy's figure, especially the size of the figure Rurik determined the position.

"Riveting now! 150stika away! Starboard against the enemy!"

With the violent shaking, the Avrora stopped abruptly, and as the anchor was dropped from the port side, the whole ship was naturally starboard facing the shore.

“Hjutraaaa!”

Rurik roared loudly, and all the ranged weapons on the Avlora fired at the same time!

This move made Paul fall directly to the ground. He couldn't imagine that these devices were all firing deadly weapons? ! At such a long distance, can it really hit the sergeant on the shore?

The ten-round javelin of the twisting slingshot, with a parabola per second, went straight to the Northumbrian defenders in the formation with a whirring sound.

This was followed by ten stone bullets from the bull catapult, followed by light arrows from the crossbow.

The people on the shore had never seen the Torsion Slingshot, or it was simply the loss of these weapons in Britain, which led to the horrific ignorance of these fighters about these weapons.

John heard only an approaching rumbling, and after a moment of hesitation he suddenly felt terrified.

Unfortunately, what followed was the casualties of the soldiers.

Some soldiers were nailed directly to the beach with javelins, while others had their shoulders broken by stones, and their smashed heads died instantly.

People began to retreat subconsciously and raised their iron-reinforced shields.

Those of them who were instructed to station in the monastery can be described as the elites of the kingdom, so they are much better in terms of weapons and equipment. In essence, there are more than 300 guards, of which more than 100 have chain mail, and the shields of 200 people are reinforced with metal.

It's a pity that these defensive tools of theirs are a little stronger than the paper that can be broken with a single poke in the face of Rurik's more powerful long-range weapons.

The light arrow hit some unsuspecting people, and more people started to retreat subconsciously with their shields up.

"Don't withdraw! It's the enemy! Warriors of Northumbria, meet me!"

John threw his sword and tried his best to appeal, and his fighters calmed down, but soon the second round of stone bullets and heavy javelins fell again!

Not only that, more than 30 long ships carrying menacing Viking warriors have already begun their final flooding. They are holding a murderous aura and are only one step away from landing on the shore to fight.

It was also at this moment that the infantry captain John finally realized that the enemy who came to Fan was not something he could stop himself.