Rise of Rurik

The people of Godfreyhagen have no idea of ​​the imminent threat!

Of course, they also know that every year, the Ross ship majestically rushes through the wide Denmark Strait. The painful experience told them not to provoke these madmen on the sea. If the Russians had no other intentions, fishing boats and merchant ships should stay away from them for the time being.

The two sides have maintained a rather delicate relationship for several years.

Since the end of the expedition against Britain, the Viking Kingdom of York has emerged on half of the Kingdom of Northumbria. After Viking immigrants from Norway stabilized a territory, a steady stream of immigrants began. This was a colonial act, a spontaneous movement of Norwegians. The Norwegians from all walks of life were forced to rely on fishing for health. They also wanted to open up a new livelihood of growing wheat to expand their experience and endurance. Therefore, Biyoni Magnute, the king of the Viking Kingdom of York and Rurik's blood-sworn brother, Song desperately tried to absorb these newcomers, the kingdom lived according to Viking customary laws, and his strength continued to increase.

With this ally in the east, every year the Russian Spyut's grain harvesting team could get grain from the weakened Northumbria and Mercia.

Forced by the strong fighting power of the Vikings, Northumbria and Mercia lost their military strength to resist. This loss is not only reflected in the difficulty of the nobles recruiting more troops, but also in the fact that the two kingdoms originally had a small population, and the population became even less after being attacked by the Norwegian-Russian coalition.

There was a ceasefire with each other, and the two small kingdoms paid tribute to the Vikings. They were not just fat sheep who contributed wool every year. They paid tribute and received the promise of military assistance from the Vikings. Deterred by the Viking army, the powerful Kingdom of Wessex was also afraid of going north to fight against the invaders.

Even the situation in Wessex is complicated.

In just eight months in 838, the kingdom's coastal villages had been plundered many times. The attackers could only be Danes who came across the sea. Although they were just stragglers, the kingdom's army was just about to counterattack every time. When they arrived at the attack site, all they saw were corpses strewn about and the remains of the farm burned to only embers.

but now! A large Danish army has rushed to the southeastern peninsula of Britain and landed in the Celtic Kingdom of Cornwall.

The leader of this army was none other than the Danish Thorgis. He and his brothers stole a corner of Ireland a few years ago and built a fortress named Dublin. So what are the choices for the Danish people who are unwilling to support the new Danish King Horik and are unwilling to fight with him? They can become Norwegians, they can immigrate to the Viking Kingdom of York, or they can defect to Thorgis in Dublin.

As the Viking Kingdom of York expands in strength, Thorgis's strength is also growing rapidly!

Thorgis saw an opportunity, and more than forty longships carrying a thousand people set out from Dublin and arrived in the Celtic kingdom of Cornwall.

The Cornish people were the Romanized Celtic people. They tried their best to resist the Wessex invasion across the sea. Facing the brand-new invaders from the sea, it was impossible for them to fight on two fronts. In line with the principle of joining if you can't beat him, the King of Cornwall actually reached an alliance with Thorgis. Both sides have their own demands. The Danes want wealth, and the Cornish want to regain their land. The two sides organized a coalition force of up to 3,000 people to march to the border village of Hunston. Egbert, who learned that the king of Wessex was good at bathing, hurriedly led the country's elite to rush to the southeastern border.

A battle between the Wessexians and the Danish-Celtic coalition is inevitable!

But all this has no immediate significance for the Ross people, and even the Ross people lack understanding of the Kingdom of Wessex itself.

Ross's Sorgon ship can enter and exit uninhabited territory, cross the Denmark Strait, and then go straight to Hunter Bay in central Britain, enter the River Ouse to contact the British kingdom, take away the tribute and sail away.

All went well with this tribute in the past years, and Spuyut will also bring news about King Biyongni and his brother Floki.

There is also information about the situation of the crown prince of Northumbria, Ella, and the situation of the Mercian nobles.

Because the situation in 838 AD is very special, the Russians will officially announce something to the Mercian nobles - the orthodox princess Mary gave birth to a boy, and gave the Pope a Christian name. The boy named Reglaf is The sole heir to the throne of Mercia.

The original plan was for the royal pirate and great explorer Siput to announce the news in person. Spyut does not need to meet the Mercian nobles, he only needs to inform the "Broken Arm King" of Northumbria about this news. If this guy is still alive...

These are all things for later.

There is only one target for the Ross coalition - Godfrey Hagen.

The diamond-shaped Ross fleet has only one large ship. Even those standard armed cargo ships have much higher decks than traditional long ships. They are obviously smaller ships. It depends on who they are compared with. Compared with traditional long ships, even armed cargo ships are bigger.

Eight small boats were unloaded from the rowing boats suspended by ropes on the sides of the main ships and sailing cruisers such as the Avora, and could transport eighty people to the beach at one time.

Yes, Rurik expected that he was going to make a beach landing!

Because Ragnar's intelligence indicates that he has a good understanding of Godfrehagen's geographical outline.

"After all, he is a ruthless man who has been in Frank for many years. He is very particular about building fortifications."

Godfreyhagen is a political city, and its core is the so-called "palace" of the Danish King. King Horik was burdened with original sin, and the surrendered leaders also understood that this man became king with the support of the Franks. He was afraid that the lords would form a coalition to rebel, so he still created the "Priest of Odin" and continued to bleed the God King with the blood of slaves, so as to continue to swear that he was still a warrior of Odin, thereby stabilizing his willfulness.

He was also building walled "palaces" and walled cities.

It was a camp built on a stone hill along the coast, and the core area was a large military camp. The brothers who had been fighting with him for many years completely occupied the territory of the Robard tribe. The men married on the spot and began to breed children. A large number of Robards followed this group of outsiders, a prosperous city grew, and other institutions affiliated with the city were born. Just like the shipbuilding workshop standing in the city port.

Godfrey Hagen, who is still alive in a wide field of vision, is actually the only place that Spyutsogon ships must pass through. The information he provides is completely consistent with Ragnar's information, so Rurik wants it from the beginning. Think of siege warfare.

Can a wooden fence stop the Russians?

The torsion slingshots on the ship that can be quickly disassembled are currently excellent siege weapons.

Even a siege weapon was dismantled into parts and placed in the cabin of the Aurora.

The Ross fleet rushed to the Oresund Strait, which belongs to the Denmark Strait, and Rurik was also quite familiar with this sea area.

The flagship hoisted the skull and crossbones flag with black stripes on a white background, which was a signal to prepare for battle.

The soldiers standing on the bow of the flagship ship then informed the other ships with flags, and the final order was spread to all ships.

"Brothers, get ready, polish your swords, prepare your shields, and bring them to the bow and arrow, we are about to land!" Each ship was passing on this message, and the soldiers in the cabin rushed to the deck singing and laughing. .

Everyone saw a large city. On a low stone hill stood a group of buildings surrounded by wooden walls. Under the stone hill were a large number of low thatched houses.

The tall wooden houses have a Frankish style, and the area outside the wooden walls has a large number of thatched houses, which are quite traditional longhouses.

But traces of the Russians had already appeared, and black smoke was unusually burning on the coast.

"What is that?!" Rurik asked Ragna beside him.

"It's not like there was an accidental fire. I'm afraid our enemies were prepared."

"Is it a beacon? Creating thick smoke as an alarm?"

Ragnar didn't know the inside story in this regard, so he could only nod. He was a little nervous and said: "Brother, if they make preparations, we are very likely to encounter their cavalry."

"Cavalry? Frankish-style cavalry? Are you afraid of them?"

"Me?" Ragnar laughed rudely to cover up his embarrassment. He was embarrassed to say that he was really afraid of the cavalry, so he said: "At least you Russians are definitely not afraid. I have seen you kill Frank cavalry with these heavy weapons, as easy as cutting down a small tree with an axe."

Arik was not on the flagship. If he were present, he would not hesitate to review last year's Bremen war record. The so-called Ross bow array defeated the Frank cavalry.

Arik Haosheng described the incident. "The Chronicle of Bremen" was also regarded as major news, printed on paper as a public publication, and posted on the bulletin board in the square for the public to watch.

Rurik had no fear of the Danish cavalry, and the landing site he chose did not seem to be a place where cavalry could easily stretch out.

He drew his sword and pointed directly at Godfrey Hagen's port: "No matter how much it is, we will rush to the port. Now we are ready to release the boat, and the soldiers are also ready to anchor. We cannot delay too much time and strive for Catch the enemy by surprise."

The soldiers on the deck got orders one after another, and Ragnar also got orders, but he was a little worried: "Do we still have a chance to launch a surprise attack now?"

"I hope so." Rurik was also a little nervous. He still felt that he still had too few soldiers on hand. He simply said sincerely: "I am not ready for a decisive battle with Horik, but I really don't want to let go of this opportunity. It would be best for him to personally lead his troops to fight with our army. Ragnar, I hope you will kill him by then." The evil man’s head.”

To really cheer him up, Ragnar patted Rurik's shoulder deeply with a tight mouth. A look is worth a thousand words. He also went down to prepare, and gave orders from his voice to the men on the nearby fleet.

This is the revenge of the Danish Stonewall tribe, and also the revenge of a large number of Danish exiles.

From their point of view, Godfreyhagen is not the capital of Denmark at all. It is a city of sin, and the raven flag flying in the city is simply ridiculous.

The Ross coalition was as powerful as a rainbow, with steel swords flashing with cold light, and crossbows and short wooden bows at the ready.

Especially the arrangement of the torsion slingshots by the Russian army. According to the order of the semaphore, all the slingshots installed on the starboard side of all the ships in the army were removed. These unloaded slingshots do not participate in fire support, but are directly transported to small boats with small trolleys, and then directly transported to the shore as land warfare weapons.

Look!

The Danish fishing boat's frantic escape disappeared from sight, and the entire Godfrehagen port was in chaos. After the fishing boats fled into the harbor in large numbers, they chose to wash up on the beach. The frightened fishermen had no control over their catch and ran away with the soft fish that they could easily carry. Let the battle go to hell!

This was an eye-opener for everyone. They saw the provocative passing of Ross ships every year and hated the blue and white striped jib. Today is extraordinary. A large number of large ships are in the port. The sinister jibs are like the taunt of monsters. There are a large number of clearly visible armed personnel. They are the Russian army! They were clearly planning to launch an armed raid on Godfrey Hagen!

Chaos descended on the harbor, and the common folk of the Robard tribe fled. Because Horik was not their elected leader, the Robards were in an alliance with this group of people who had returned from the Frankish territory, but they only respected Horik as their leader.

Only those men from the Robard tribe who took advantage of Horik decisively took up arms to fight for their monarch.

As early as the first beacon ignited black smoke, and the black smoke spread the message all the way to Godfrehagen like dominoes.

Horik was in the city. He originally thought that today would be another ordinary sunny day with no major incidents, but the black smoke was clearly visible.

"Maybe it's a misunderstanding?" It was the black smoke warning system he set up. Thinking that the hateful lone-wolf Ross ship passing through the strait would not come at this time, maybe it was a defender who accidentally set it on fire. The thick smoke from the firewood pile filled with cow dung caused an oasis.

However, he still ordered the elite soldiers within the city walls to remain on alert. Although there was no definite information about the enemy attack for the time being, it was necessary to remain vigilant, so the people outside the city walls were also partially mobilized.

Godfrehagen is not a big city. The city is the residence of Horik's elite troops and their families. Even though there are many people from the Robard tribe living here, these people are still a minority. Including women and children, there were more than 4,000 people in the city, and they were spread over a large area in the form of a big cake.

The port area is a densely populated area, and the lanes here are also quite complex.

The current port area is even more chaotic, because the fleeing people have parked the ships in a mess. No one will have any doubts at this moment. Regardless of whether Horik accepts it or not, a typical Ross army rushed over!

Standing on the wooden wall, Horik looked at the approaching fleet and felt that none of this was shown. His legs were shaking uncontrollably, and he finally controlled them with willpower.

"Brothers, it's an enemy attack! Let's go and fight! Rustand! Stad! Get your cavalry and get ready! I think the Russians are about to land, you rush over and drive them into the sea!"

Although the two generals had doubts, since it was the king's order, they should obey it.

Besides, their family members are also here, and the money they looted in the past is also here.

Especially Stad, it was he who was ordered to take over Heideby, and the war broke out. He wiped out the Russian forces in Hedebe and killed a large number of Russian warriors (mercenaries are equivalent to the Russian army), which was considered a meritorious service. But in the subsequent conflict with the Frankish Kingdom, the boy was also injured and almost died.

Studd still had some physical after-effects after recovering from his injury, but they didn't show up when he was riding a horse. He wanted to perform meritorious service again, and he also felt that the incredible massive invasion of the Russians was directly related to the fact that he had killed about a hundred of their soldiers before.

On the way back to the stables in a hurry, General Rustand heard the news pessimistically: "You have killed the Russians, do you know their strength? We are not prepared for their massive invasion this time. I am worried..."

"Don't be afraid." The limping Stade cheered up: "I have killed a hundred of them, and this time I will kill a thousand of them. It is difficult for us to defeat them at sea. As long as these people come ashore , is the world of our cavalry. Remember! No army can defeat Qibin in a land battle. The only one who can defeat the cavalry is another cavalry."

With these words, Rustand's worries were relieved.

Please remember the first domain name of this book: . :