Rise of Rurik

The city of Bremen was burned, and Earl Hunter, who pursued the Normans, was killed.

The demons from the sea came and ran as fast as they came. They caused killings everywhere. A large number of villages were reduced to ruins, and a large number of people poured into Hamburg in the north.

Almost all those going to Hamburg were Saxons. If they were Franks, they fled south as soon as possible.

Once upon a time, Hamburg was an active Hamburg, which has been a small tribe of Saxons since ancient times. Who would have thought that building a military fortress occupied and transformed by the Franks would become the hope of a large number of Saxons.

It was because of the destruction by the Normans along the Weser River that the villages and houses were reduced to ruins. The city of Bremen was also reduced to ashes. The local St. Peter's Church and many people who took refuge were reduced to powder.

The entire earldom of Bremen almost became a white field, and the fleeing people went their separate ways. Some of them fled to the nearby Counties of Flanders (today's northern Netherlands), some fled to the Counties of Cologne, and even further south to the Counties of Rheingau.

Most of the refugees who could not escape were Franks. Also during Charlemagne's great conquest, a large number of Franks were forcibly moved to the newly conquered Saxon territory and mixed with the locals.

Charlemagne was now long dead, and even his successor, Louis the Pious, was dead. Civil war has broken out among the three princes over inheritance rights, vassal reduction and many other matters.

For the disadvantaged Prince Ludwig, he must join forces with his younger brother Charles the Bald to defeat his eldest brother Lothair, who is also the legitimate king.

But the Normans' destruction of the Bremen area came just before the outbreak of the civil war, which meant that his strength was hit to a certain extent before the war began.

In the summer of 840 AD, Ludwig's main army had left his loyal Regensburg and entered the central and western areas of the fiefdom from the east.

The army was stationed at Mainz and Worms on the Rhine, which was the fiefdom of Count Robert of the Rheingau.

As long as the army advances not far south, the first thing it will face is Strasbourg, a military town directly controlled by Lothair.

As the de jure king, Lothair, who controlled the central region, had to fight on two fronts. Fortunately, the area he controlled was densely populated, and the population was mainly composed of Franks of the same race. Unlike his two brothers, Ludwig had a large number of Alemanni, Thuringians, Saxons, and even some Sorbian (West Slavic) slave soldiers. As for Charles the Bald, he had a large number of descendants of Romanized Gauls, as well as Burgundians from the duchy of Burgundy who had an ambiguous attitude.

On the Eastern Front battlefield, Lothair and Ludwig recently fought a battle. The battlefield was Lautenberg (Kaiserslautern). He took advantage of the strong troops and horses, but was unable to continue northward and entered Mainz to kill him. brother Ludwig.

On the Western Front battlefield, Paris Island was occupied by Lothair's royal army, and Charles the Bald was forced to strategically shrink.

As a strange fourth party in the war, the Duke of Burgundy immediately expressed support for the real passing Lothair. As for the king's order to send troops to attack Charles the Bald, the Duke of Burgundy did send troops, but secretly sent people to contact Charles. The two armies remain in confrontation and this war cannot be fought.

On a macro level, the situation is very good for Lothair. As long as the war continues to be delayed, he is confident that he will force his two brothers to come to Aachen barefoot to seek peace.

This was the civil war situation in the Frankish Kingdom in 840. Compared with before the outbreak of the civil war, Lothair's actual control area expanded.

But he didn't know about a series of positive measures taken by his two brothers. For example, Charles the Bald first sent an envoy to Rome to ask the Pope to do some practical work as a mediator, and secondly, he sent an envoy to the uncontrolled Breton. In the Tani area, they tried to recruit some mercenaries from the rebellious local Romanized Celts to fight for themselves.

Lothair also didn't know that his good brother Ludwig was actually trying to win over the Danish forces.

However, no one knew that Ludwig's series of actions finally attracted a group of polar bears and Nordic sea wolves...

Because of the difficulty in transmitting transportation information, Ludwig, who was far away in Mainz, had no idea of ​​the major events happening in Jutland and even the entire Viking world.

The first Frankish vassal to know the news was naturally the Count of Hamburg.

The earl personally led two hundred cavalry all the way north, and prepared all the lower-level nobles in his territory for war. All Saxon men must also be armed. Because intelligence shows that the people who started the war were the Normans, or in other words, the Danes who caused the horrific killings in Bremen a few years ago!

The messenger moved quickly towards the south carrying the parchment letter. It was a long journey, requiring horseback riding and boating. It took at least fifteen days to convey the message.

The Earldom of Hamburg was already the northernmost aristocratic jurisdiction of the Frankish Kingdom. It was extremely large, and Earl Robert's power was theoretically very large. Because most of the surrendered Saxon tribal chiefs were canonized as barons, and according to the law, they had to listen to Robert. It's just that Robert and his fathers have never used the power granted by the king for a long time. In fact, he can only rule these traditional Saxon nobles in name, as long as they do not rebel.

This time, no one could ignore the terror wrought by the Normans. Robert issued an order that all Saxon nobles in the territory must serve immediately and recruit soldiers to fight against the possible march of the Normans southward.

Robert's two hundred cavalry arrived at the northernmost border town of Schleswig first. As soon as they arrived here, they saw a large number of refugees. They told about the terrible wars in the north and various bizarre stories.

"More than 10,000 longships landed in Jutland? Is Horik going to be finished this time? Are the Normans still going to invade Frankia?!"

Count Robert expanded his military camp in Schleswig. He had to wait for the vassals and retinues arriving one after another, as well as the troops of the native Saxon nobles.

He was certain that at least a thousand warriors were dillydally marching on foot to the north. Don't expect the speed of this group of people. They are not Franks but almost all Saxons. It is too far-fetched to expect them to fight the Norman Danes.

Fortunately, he recruited a group of men among the refugees in Schleswig and armed them with crude weapons by surprise.

His troops instantly expanded to a thousand men, but the quality of the soldiers was too high.

He inquired about the Westphalian Count Liudolf among the refugees, hoping that the man would successfully leave the Aleb Fortress and withdraw.

However, Robert did not receive any news. Thinking that Liu Doufu was in danger, he had to stick to this place even more. Perhaps the troops he had on hand were unable to force the Normans to move south, and they would at least have to resist for a while before withdrawing. He even looked for opportunities to make peace with the Normans to ensure that he would not suffer unacceptable losses.

As a result, cross flags were flying everywhere in Schleswig, and Charlemagne's three lions flag was erected here.

A large number of soldiers composed of Saxon refugees were dressed up for the assault on Qiaozhuang. The blue fuel they could find painted huge crosses on their plain cloth robes, just like a group of crusaders.

Then Schleswig became extremely calm...

Facing a large saltwater lake, the local people can barely make a living by fishing. It happened to be the wheat harvest season, and Robert was not worried about the lack of supplies for his army.

He still has a naive fantasy in his heart. The so-called Normans also have to harvest wheat in August. Now that wheat is harvested everywhere in Frankland, the Normans can just sit back and watch the wheat being harvested? The Normans would not necessarily go south. They would prepare for the winter after harvesting wheat.

In Robert's opinion, if there was no war in August, there would definitely be no Norman invasion this year.

The commander-in-chief was so optimistic that optimism began to spread among the army.

However, a large number of people who fled did not dare to go north. They fished in the saltwater lake in front of them to store supplies for the winter. They also chose to accept Robert's invitation and arrived in Hamburg in the south. They opened up farmland for farming along the Elbe River, and taxes were naturally paid. To the Earl's family.

War is an opportunity. Robert is a Farak. He naturally lacks the support of the local Saxons unless he is benevolent to the latter. Arrange the northern refugees to survive the winter successfully and live a stable life in the future. Soon, these people will become the people that their families can directly control.

He claimed to his army: "As long as we continue to delay time, wait until the autumn rain gathers and the temperature drops, everything will be fine. We only need to wait another twenty days, and then we can go home."

Twenty years? ! Robert, who knew nothing about the war in the north, soon encountered disaster.

In a sense, Schleswig refused to conduct strategic reconnaissance in the north out of fear, so much so that it even knew nothing about the strength of the Norman army and the situation of Liudolf and Horik in the north.

Their fishing boats did not dare to leave the deep Schley Bay, so they adopted the attitude of "defending the Maginot fortifications" and prayed that the Normans would not appear.

Then, a large number of rowing long boats are advancing...

At first it was just a shadow, but the sharp-eyed sentinels standing in the tower noticed the approaching danger.

The horn is still blown, and the small copper bell hanging high in the monastery is also being struck wildly.

A sentry quickly reported the terrible scene to his master, and Robert was completely uneasy now.

The optimism was wiped out, because the rowing boats were advancing very fast, and what was even more incredible was that there was actually a cavalry advancing rapidly along the waterfront.

Look! Those flying were massive Russian flags!

The Ross flag was no stranger to people living in Jutland, and it was no stranger to the Count of Hamburg himself.

Earl Robert stood on the rammed earth wall of the Great Wall. Facing the continuously advancing Russian army, whose identities were completely identifiable, he suddenly felt that the world was very unreal.

"Is this the real Russian army? They actually have cavalry? No! Isn't that really Liudov's cavalry?"

He murmured in his heart, and immediately overturned his judgment.

Those cavalry were enemies, at least not friendly forces. Look at the crazy paddling of those boats, they are trying to land on the beach!

However, the Great Wall of Schleswig, which was under their control, was powerless against them.

resistance? How can it be!

The total length of this fortification is not very long, and it is deliberately stuck in the deepest part of the east and west bays of the Jutland Peninsula. It is a fortification that digs large trenches and rams large walls to build, which itself is to defend against the Franks. This made it difficult for the Frankish army to cross the border, while the Danish army could easily bypass the Great Wall in rowing boats. This fortification that Chief Godfrey presided over fifty years ago was to bully the Franks' maritime power.

Therefore, the city of Schleswig occupied by Robert was completely defenseless.

A subordinate warned: "Sir, many people are fleeing, and we must retreat too."

"You?" Robert glared at the subordinate: "What are you talking about? The enemy is about to land. If no one stops them, the fleeing people will be captured easily like running poultry."

That's all, he put aside all other thoughts and raised his arms and shouted: "Soldiers! Mount your horse! Fight!"

The people who had just fled were really like poultry running around. They took refuge in the nearby woods in large numbers. The priests did not leave. They brought urns filled with holy oil to the infantry in formation, dipped cypress branches in oil, and blessed the soldiers who stood firm.

A group of recruited soldiers also fled. The strength of those guys was worrying, and Robert never counted on these people. Fortunately, the infantrymen from their hometown in Hamburg had arrived, even if these men had not yet repaired themselves when they arrived.

The blessed warriors will not leave, because the priests said that their original sins are forgiven. When these barbarians are defeated, great good will be accumulated. If they die in battle, their souls will leave and go to heaven.

Robert was deeply moved by this scene, because the huge army was quickly arrayed, and he was busy arranging the cavalry, while the infantry were calmed down by the priest's blessing ceremony, and he no longer had any worries.

As a commander-in-chief, Robert's current actions are worthy of his prince, Prince Ludwig.

You must know that he really brought out a real army of 1,400 people, and knowing that the Norman and Russian troops were about to land, he held high the cross flag and Charlemagne's three lion flags, and marched in Schleswig An emergency formation was formed on the grassland next to the town. This posture was to fight the enemy who was about to land.

The defenders completely abandoned the town. Robert did not understand and did not want to engage in street fighting, especially in areas near water. The Normans were able to take advantage of tactics.

If they are deceived into an inland area, the balance of victory will most likely lead to Frank.

I saw the Count of Hamburg, holding his lance high and riding in front of the infantry array to review, shouting: "Franks! Saxons! The people coming are the Russians and even the Danes! They will bring killing! Now for your own For your life, for your wives and children, and to protect your wealth, fight with them!"

If it is to protect their family and wealth, many people will risk their lives.

Of course, everyone's eyes were fixed on the most combat-effective Frank cavalry, which ensured the stable morale of the infantry.

The infantry array was mostly composed of Saxon peasants. They were illiterate and rarely left their hometown. A large number of people have lived near Hamburg for generations, and many of them are descendants of the Hamburg tribe of Saxony. They mostly carry short spears, swords and axes, and their weapons are no different from those of the barbarian Principality of Saxony in the past.

Only elite cavalry can maintain the fighting spirit of the army. Using cavalry to achieve a tactical advantage is the key to victory.

Look at the Earl of Hamburg's cavalry. Two hundred cavalry are standing in formation. The soldiers are all wearing chain mail. The horses have leather armor on their chests. The horses' heads are reinforced with armor. Each horse is covered with coarse cloth. The cavalry looked majestic with extremely long lances, and this cavalry maintained Robert's pride.

The cavalry soldiers believed that they could easily kill the barbarians, just like Charlemagne's cavalry killed all kinds of barbarian infantry. Find Shuyuan www. zhaoshuyuan.com Even defeated the Avars barbarian cavalry.

As for the annihilation of the Count of Bremen's cavalry, this matter was selectively ignored by everyone.

After all, the news of the death of this great nobleman was too bizarre. He was indeed dead. It is still doubtful that a large number of cavalry were killed. There is a convincing theory that the cavalrymen were killed by the Normans because they were stuck in the mud by the river and could not move at all. After all, the bodies of men and horses were found on the riverside. The nobles believed their own statement and were convinced that the Norman barbarians were invincible and attacked the noble Frank nobles in the mud.

This is of course not true. If someone could examine the dense holes on the corpses, they would know that they actually died from intensive arrow strikes. Since all the arrows were later recovered by the Ross-Ragnar army as usual, no reliable evidence was left.

The battlefield of Schleswig is not a muddy ground, it is a piece of hard land, especially since the autumn rain season has not yet arrived. The ground is the hardest period of the year. Robert felt he had chosen the right battlefield.

He had never fought against the Russians. Based on past experience, he felt that traditional tactics could be used to recreate the new barbarians.

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