Rise of Rurik

Robert of the Rheingau, who marched on the order, and Harald Clark, the deposed king of Denmark, who accompanied him, encountered the Saxons fleeing to the north with their three thousand cavalry.

This is very abnormal!

If they want to escape, the smartest choice is to flee to Cologne, which is not only adjacent to the Westphalian region, but also protected by the clergy. No force dares to take advantage of it.

As a result, they fled north without hesitation. Not only because they are all Saxons, but also because of the news that will make all Saxons excited - a hero announcing the restoration of the country.

Robert and Harald Clark were skeptical at first. The cavalry had no intention of capturing the fleeing people, and continued on their way after obtaining some intelligence.

Whether Liudov really betrayed the kingdom is completely insufficient to rely solely on the words of a group of lowly peasants.

Especially for Robert, because of his past friendship, he subjectively did not want to fight Liudov at all.

The rational count maintained the greatest restraint. Because of what the farmers said, the stone pier bridge next to the ruins of Bremen was re-paved with wood. Even if it was a patchwork of newly cut trees, there was no need for people to pass through. question. As for who provided this information, the farmers confirmed that it was Liudov.

Even so, Count Robert still had great illusions. He did not believe in Liudov's rebellion, and was more willing to believe that these were plots by the Normans to sow discord.

After all, the capricious Dane Horik, who surrendered his kingdom out of sheer force, was simply not to be trusted.

Similarly, Harald Clark, the deposed king of Denmark, beside him, had a sterling silver cross hanging on his chest, which seemed to completely prove his piety. Can he be trusted? No!

Robert had great concerns about all the Normans, even though Harald Clark had been a vassal for thirteen years. The thing is very clear. If Prince Ludwig trusted this person, he would at least be conferred the title of baronet, but he didn't. If you don’t trust your own monarch, you don’t have to trust yourself either.

However, when he saw a large number of clearly Norman longships parked on the banks of the Weser River in the ruins of Bremen, Robert really couldn't hold back.

The huge cavalry launched an attack under his command!

The three thousand cavalry have been maintaining a marching column. Although they are about to launch an attack, this column-marching team needs some time to change into a horizontal formation.

The well-trained Frankish elite cavalry gradually formed a wide offensive front while their horses were jogging slowly.

The cavalry armed with lances arrived at the risk one after another, and those armed only with swords and battle axes followed behind.

Because they saw that there were densely packed people sitting on the river bank next to a large number of boats.

There are a large number of those people carrying round shields like turtle shells. Doesn't this image look like Norman pirates? Those golden hair looked particularly dazzling in the sun, and many pirates wore seemingly uniform blue and white clothes.

Robert had never seen such pirates, but they could only be Normans.

So, they are well-trained pirates! According to Harald Clark, these pirates are Russians, so they must be eliminated! Rumor has it that this group of elite pirates killed and burned Bremen, and now they are here again. If this pirate army is allowed to continue to show off in Frankish territory, I don't know how many villages and cities will be in ruins.

As for Prince Ludwig's battle against King Lothair, this was after all a melee of nobles in Frankland.

Robert was forced to be involved in this dispute as a vassal. In principle, he did not like this civil war at all, but when it came to the crusade against the barbaric Normans, that was a different attitude.

The Frank cavalry made a huge noise here. Their clothes were also blue and white. In particular, most of the horses of the elite cavalry were covered with a layer of "blue and white sheets", and the riders generally wore chainmail armor on their upper bodies.

What is elite? When marching, the rider's armor is curled up and hung on the saddle, and he quickly puts it on when he is about to attack.

If the sun is shining right now, they will look particularly dazzling under the bright sunshine.

The Ross Army and the Saxon Army, who were standing by the river for "fishing and leisure", were suddenly shocked by the sudden appearance of a large and dazzling object, which made everyone tremble.

What is Aric doing now?

He originally took off his coat and faced the sun, exposing his thick chest hair, so as to enjoy a warm sunbath.

There were also many young Russian soldiers who jumped directly into the river to take a bath. They washed their bodies with slightly smelly soap. If not all of them were wearing white underwear (Rurik ordered them ten years ago), this scene would be different from those waiting on the shore. The Saxon refugees were indeed too immoral.

A stove was set up by the river, and oats were being cooked in ten large iron pots.

Due to insufficient technology, these mass-produced iron pots made of cast iron are too thick. If you want them to cook oats well, you need to add more firewood. It heats up slowly and dissipates heat very slowly, so after the stove is ignited, the stove fire not only does not stop, but a large amount of food and river water are frequently poured into it, so that everyone, regardless of whether they are soldiers or refugees, can eat pulpy wheat porridge anytime and anywhere. , but it solves the problem of drinking good water and eating.

At the beginning, one of the refugees appeared to be a bad guy, until the responder suddenly appeared and claimed to be a Saxon warrior serving Liudov.

The refugees all went northward in the form of village associations. They were driven to the river bank with anxiety, and were immediately given hot wheat porridge, which was extremely useful to the refugees who were tired from traveling.

The refugees did not know the Russian flag, but it looked like a cross flag rotated 45°. There is indeed a cross flag flying here, and SAKSON is spelled out in letters in the upper left corner. What this means is clear at a glance.

The vast majority of the Saxon people from Westphalia used to worry that their lord would be used as a target of Lothair's anger because of his support for Ludwig. When the lord's messenger picked up the family members overnight, even the tomb of the great hero Vidukind was dug up and moved. When people heard about it, they took part in a panic flight for their lives.

Every village has moved northward in the form of an armed association. The priests stationed in the village often stabilize the people's hearts, and the small lords in the village or the lord's sons or cronies serve as commanders.

This is very similar to the way of life of the traditional Saxons a hundred years ago. A village is a fighting group with strong fighting spirit and survivability.

A village often has only two to three hundred people, and smaller ones only have a hundred people. They fled for their lives with this year's new wheat harvest and whatever soft goods they could take away. They wanted to enter Hamburg via the Weser River, believing that the bridge had been repaired.

Until the refugee team that fled for their lives arrived in the ruins of Bremen, they immediately found that they had two choices. Or continue walking over the bridge to Hamburg, which might take five or six days of dilly-dallying, since they were not an army after all. Or you can take the ship provided by the Duke (the Ross Fleet Squadron) and arrive in just one day.

Refugees who basically never leave the village and have almost completed their entire journey this time, many of them have been tortured to the point where they can only tear some leather and tie their feet with hemp rope, and can barely move on the road full of weeds. Taking the sea route is very risky. What is very subtle is that many villagers have seen the ocean for the first time. They were willing to believe in the promise of arriving in one day, but the commander of the fleet, Arik, was determined to wait until tomorrow to set off early together so that arriving in Hamburg tomorrow evening would not delay the refugees from finishing their meal.

The waiting refugees were sent to Hamburg, and the squadron was divided into two under Arik's arrangement. One team transported people, and the other team was on standby in the ruins of Bremen.

Therefore, in the ruins of Bremen, the Ross-Saxon coalition maintained a strength of only more than 500 troops for a long time. This force is not small, but it is too shabby for Arik now.

Because some ships must be arranged to catch seabass on the spot to satisfy the soldiers' appetite. They are Russians after all and can’t say enough about their love for grilled fish.

Four hundred soldiers hung out their fishing nets by the river, polished their weapons, washed their clothes, bathed, and even just basked in the sun.

More than two hundred refugees were not in a hurry to board the ship. They learned that there were a large number of Norman Rus mixed with their Saxon compatriots. Everyone was naturally surprised at first, but everyone knew nothing about the Rus and anything about pirates. It's all hearsay. According to descriptions in the scriptures, a devout person should not listen to slander, but should see with his own eyes and listen with open ears.

They believed in their own eyes. Although these Russians had strange clothes and hairstyles, it was these people who gave the tired people hot porridge and would soon take them to Hamburg.

Many people, even the accompanying priests, saw many large ships on the river bank that had never been seen before in their lives. Based on their extremely limited knowledge, they pointed at the large ships and said that it was Teyvat mentioned in the scriptures.

It was certainly not the Ark, but for all the refugees, it was the Ark.

But now, a large group of life-threatening Frank cavalry suddenly appeared.

All the casual people stood up, and Arik's relief instantly turned to fear.

He was so shocked that he opened his mouth wide and roared several times, and then gave the order: "It's the enemy! Let's get on the boat quickly."

Get on board? Suddenly run for your life?

Although almost everyone ran in panic towards the half-stranded longship parked by the river, some young soldiers of the Second Flag, led by Konuson Jr., insisted on defending the camp where wooden sheds had been erected. Fan.

Young Konuson was not a young man, on the contrary, he and Aric were similar in age. They were both in their early thirties, a time when a Viking warrior was not only young but also wise.

His father was a feudal official who was appointed as the governor of the New Roseburg Capital District. In principle, he would take over immediately when his father died.

Young Conuson, who had fought many bloody battles and was proven to be a pure man, served as the flag captain of the Second Flag in this war, and most of his subordinates were young soldiers recruited from Fort New Rose. Everyone's arrogance is here, the Second Flag Team is not afraid of those cavalry.

Little Konuson was still naked on his chest and back, and his chest hair and tattoos were clearly visible. He faced Arik with a steel sword filled with blood, and directly refuted his order to escape: "We can't escape! I want to fight those enemies."

"you?"

"right!"

Arik's eyes widened with anger, and his strong aura forced the little Konuson to subconsciously take a step back. In an instant, Arik became angry and punched his old friend in the stomach.

The little Konuson, who was in pain, was very puzzled. He bent over and held his stomach, and raised his head with wolf eyes that were intent on killing people.

"Why hit me. Are you...going to be a coward?"

"You... Oops!" Arik stomped his feet angrily and said angrily: "If you want to fight them desperately, I won't stop you, but if you want to drag many brats who have never been to the world to die, I will give you another Punch. Fool, turn your head and take a good look! Look how many there are in them."

Because there was not much time left for the Ross-Saxon Army, and the refugees, old, weak, women, and children, no longer cared about carrying heavy luggage, and jumped onto the long ship as soon as possible, and even waded into the water to climb aboard.

There were many handcarts, oxcarts, and small wagons, carrying sacks of oats that had not yet been transferred to the ships.

The oatmeal in the ten-cupped cauldron was still bubbling.

Seeing the cavalry becoming more and more overwhelming, little Konuson suddenly became frightened.

persist in? Pooh!

Look at those cavalry! Their whole bodies reflected the strong sunlight, which proved that they were all wearing iron armor. But it is not surprising to wear armor, and the Russian army also wore armor in large numbers. However, the number of their cavalry was ridiculously large.

The refugee men and women were shouting that the arrivals were Frankish cavalry. Some people even threatened that the cavalry of the Frankish King had come to kill them.

The Ross-Saxon warriors who were still on the shore hurriedly took their personal belongings, especially their weapons, and quickly pushed the long boat into the river, then climbed directly onto the boat and entered the wider river. in the Weser River.

As for those who were still swimming, they climbed into the nearest longboat that was running away.

There was no time to untie the ropes from the wooden stakes that fixed the big ships. The warrior carried the Nordic forest ax and slammed it into contact and fixed it.

After receiving that punch, Kenuson felt that his belly was already somewhat bruised. Now he doesn't blame Arik for being rude at all, because the enemy's cavalry has already arrived!

Yes, the Frankish cavalry launched an attack after arriving about three hundred meters away from the Ross-Saxony camp.

A white war horse rides an iron man, and an extremely long lance is aimed forward.

Count Robert took the lead, which reflected the self-cultivation of a great Frankish nobleman. He was so brave that he instantly impressed the elite cavalrymen from Regensburg who were only loyal to Ludwig himself, and they were all willing to accept his orders unconditionally.

On the contrary, Harald Clark, the deposed King of Denmark, and his brothers would not be stupid enough to fight against the current Nordic overlords, the Rus, and stayed at the rear like a thief. He has already thought up his excuse - our war horses are all bad horses, can you expect bad horses to fly?

All the big Ross ships had drifted onto the Weser, and all the torsion slingshots on the sides immediately took off their oilcloth jackets. The sailors didn't care too much, grabbed a handful of gelatinous seal oil, applied it to the chute, and inserted a javelin. The ratchet winch rotated crazily, the mechanical sight stared at the enemy's densely packed cavalry, and the driver of a torsion slingshot fired.

All the ships were running away, but those who were reluctant to part with supplies were a step behind.

There were Saxon refugees who couldn't give up their new wheat. They tried their best to carry the sacks and ran to the river, but the last long boat had already floated away quickly. The refugees on the boat didn't care about anything. They grabbed the long oar and rowed hard together with the Russians on the boat. Everyone behaved exactly the same when it came to saving their lives.

No matter how the people on the shore called, the boats would not stop.

At this moment, Arik and Little Konuson had quickly climbed onto the deck like monkeys, following the rope net thrown by the ship.

Arik, who had just settled down, had no time to rejoice.

As little Conuson shouted just now, running away without fighting is really a coward.

Then fight for a while and then retreat! Now that the brothers have entered the water, can those cavalry still float on the water?

"Crossbow! Torsion slingshot! Shoot me!" he roared.

Now, the dense cavalry has swept across the camp just now. The whole process from the tiny phantom of the cavalry to the arrival of the huge cavalry group took less than ten minutes.

Pity the Saxon refugees who were reluctant to part with their money. They couldn't swim and didn't even have the ability to swim to escape, so they were directly stabbed to death by their spears. The Frank cavalry just wanted to kill all the Norman pirates, so they regarded the people in front of them as pirates. They had no idea at all. Give yourself a chance to defend yourself.

What is very subtle is that because the cavalry charged so fiercely, some cavalrymen suddenly braked when they were approaching the river bank, and were suddenly hit by the brothers behind them, causing them to fall into the Weser River with their horses and men.

The Frankish army was so helpless that it suffered casualties because the horses could quickly run back to the shore wet, and the cavalry in armor would sink directly to the bottom and drown if they fell into the river.

Angry at the Norman pirates' quick escape, Count Robert could only curse on the shore.

The Frank cavalry did not have the multi-functional characteristics of the Eastern Roman cavalry. The latter carried hard bows and long arrows and could be used as mounted archers. Unfortunately, these Frank cavalry had almost no bows and arrows. The so-called soldiers carrying bows and arrows are also private actions. The purpose of carrying bows and arrows is purely for hunting and hunting during wartime.

On the other hand, the Ross army is waiting for this opportunity.

There are three large combat ships remaining in the Weser River. They declare the majesty of the Russian army and the presence of food ships. There are also a number of standard armed cargo ships whose job is simply to transport refugees.

Now, because these ships are equipped with different numbers of torsion slingshots, everyone is waiting for the enemy cavalry to catch them off guard when they arrive at the river.

After all, when Bremen was burned down, the brothers also launched a defensive counterattack against the pursuing Frank cavalry on the river bank.

This time, Arik was at an absolute military disadvantage. If he had not made an appointment in advance, he would rather abandon all the Saxon refugees and run away.

Now the reckless Arik has greatly transformed. He has become considerate of the overall situation, and now he has become one of the protectors of the new Principality of Saxony.

Basically all the torsion slingshots were fired at the same time, and the javelins rushed towards the Frank army's horses. The sharp and barbed javelins made the chain armor of the Frank army riders useless. The powerful momentum directly overturned the entire cavalry. . After all, this is close-range shooting, aiming at a target about fifty or sixty meters away, and the precision and power of the javelin fired are extremely high.

There were more than thirty slingshots on the sides of all the ships, and there were more than 200 warriors holding crossbows and short wooden bows. The single-body short wooden bow made of extremely low-cost oak wood can be said to be a popular weapon and hunting tool for sailors, and it can even be used for shooting fish.

The short distance between the two armies made short wooden bows useful.

And because the Weser River was blocking the way, the Frank army could only be beaten passively.

Many times, too many troops are a big trouble. Now it is extremely difficult for the commander to convey orders.

Robert is now in jail. He saw a large number of javelins fired from the enemy's ships. His army is being damaged, and any armor is like a layer of cloth!

Not only that, a large number of enemy arrows fell from the sky. Those arrows seemed to be ineffective against the armor, but his own subordinates were screaming and being hit by the arrows.

Until even Robert himself was hit by an arrow.

He couldn't feel any obvious pain when his nerves were high. He angrily pulled out the arrow stuck in the chainmail under the shoulder pad of his left arm, and then he saw the clue. This kind of arrow cluster is a kind of thin needle? !

In an instant, he understood that the enemy was well prepared.

Did his cavalry regiment take advantage? No!

He yelled: "Get out! Those Saxons lied to us, this is a trap!"

The cavalry regiment's chaotic retreat has begun. This retreat is unorganized. The cavalry behind did not understand the pain of the cavalry in front. They retreated slowly, while the cavalry in front who was being beaten turned around and squeezed.

It was their retreat that was quite chaotic, and the Russian army took advantage of the opportunity to fire continuously.

The arrows and javelins were shot out as fast as possible, regardless of whether they were killed or not, even if they were injured.

Until, the cavalry regiment left behind some corpses of men and horses or the injured, and fled beyond the maximum range of the javelin.

"Damn it, look for Shuyuan www.zhaoshuyuan.com There are still a lot of things taken on board. Forget it..." Arik stopped mumbling and planned to retreat quickly.

At this time, little Konuson quickly took Arik's arm and pointed to a location very close to the upper reaches of the river: "Stone Pier Bridge! We must destroy it! We cannot let this group of cavalry quickly cross the bridge afterwards."

This matter was proposed by Conuson the Younger, who also personally ordered the destruction of the bridge.

So a long boat rushed upstream, taking advantage of the retreat of the Frank cavalry, to put ropes on the logs. The soldiers rowed bravely and dragged the logs to the Weser River. As for destroying the stone pier, everyone has no ability.

At least the bridge was temporarily damaged. Even if the enemy wanted to build a bridge to pass through, they would have to cut down some big trees first, which would take some time.

When Arik saw this, he didn't hesitate anymore. He just left the soft things on the shore there if they couldn't be taken away. Indeed, the oats boiled in the iron pot gave the enemy an advantage.

Those supplies are nothing. If you don't tell your king brother the news of the enemy army's attack quickly, everything will be too late!

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