Rise of Rurik

The brutal battle was over now. The Frank cavalry who had not yet been killed were just gesticulating in vain with their swords, desperately facing death.

They were threatened with an astonishing number of spears and halberds, and were stabbed and killed one by one.

The killing continued all morning until, at noon, the last visible Frankish cavalry fell in despair.

The battle is over without any joy after victory.

Almost all the Ross warriors were covered in blood, their blond hair and golden beards were dyed red, and their white and blue-striped robes were also stained with thick blood.

The soldiers were already picking up the corpses, finding the enemy's wounded soldiers, and executing the seriously injured ones. The slightly injured ones were temporarily kept alive so that they could become slaves in the future.

So Robert, Count Robert of the Rheingau, was dressed in a rather special way. The Russian soldiers discovered that he was not dead, so more than ten people quickly worked together to drag him out from under the horse carcass, and then dragged him to the river to rest.

Another person who was unlucky and lucky had his hands tied and was dragged out of the pile of corpses. Henry, Baron of Nassau, is not dead, and even still has a clear mind, but he coughed up blood after a sudden fall, and now his energy is very weak.

Among all the five senior commanders, except for the cavalry flag captain who was stabbed in the torso and died suddenly on the spot, the other four were captured and dragged to the river.

It was a fact that the entire Frankish cavalry was wiped out, but as many as 200 wounded soldiers of varying degrees were captured.

Many of them will not survive today due to the rapid deterioration of their injuries, but quite a few can survive with surgery.

Continue to kill the wounded soldiers? No. Keeping the lives of these so-called Frank elites has greater benefits, such as escorting them back to the mines in the north to work as slaves.

Rurik tacitly allowed his subordinates to clean the scene freely, and the equipment they seized was theirs as long as they could drag it away.

The work of rescuing our own wounded soldiers was also in progress, so the bodies of the Russian army's dead soldiers were also dragged to the river. As for the wounded soldiers of the Russian army, they must be treated regardless of the severity of their injuries.

Now Rurik will not lament his loss. Today, all brothers are fighting for their lives. Rurik also knows that if the enemy destroys the array, he can also be hit to death by heavy cavalry.

To be fair, our losses today are indeed quite heavy. At first glance, our corpses can be as large as four hundred, and our wounded soldiers are almost the same. There will also be corpses of our own party brought back, and they died in the final fight.

A thousand men were lost, all the Frankish elite cavalry were replaced, and half of the elite of Ludwig, King of East Frankia, was destroyed in one battle. How can Ludwig fight this battle?

The Russian army won a great victory! The brothers who died in battle deserved their death.

Now it's time to do some post-war reckoning.

The victorious soldiers swept the battlefield in detail. Danes, Saxons, and Russian soldiers inspected every corpse on the battlefield where corpses were dead. They stripped the corpses of their armor and kept axes, swords, and spearheads for themselves.

A large number of arrows were recovered, even though many were broken or damaged and could not be used. The spiky carbon steel arrow clusters are difficult to bend, so what the army actually recovered were arrow clusters.

This kind of cleaning of the battlefield was extremely popular among the soldiers. Liudov's Saxon army simply "switched shotguns for cannons" because of this battle.

He lost many men due to the collision of heavy cavalry, but in the end, the soldiers held the line in a last-ditch battle. The soldiers who survived took the captured chain mail to the river to clean it, and then put it on their bodies. Their linen trousers belts were replaced by enemy cowhide belts, and their crude wooden shields were replaced by triangular kite shields. Many people had captured broad-bladed iron swords hanging on their waists, and often had several handy hand axes hanging on their belts.

Taking away the armor from a dead body was what a Saxon native would do after being exploited for a long time.

The soldiers of the Russian army had experienced many battles. They also checked the dead bodies, especially looking for the small pockets of the corpses, and took away the coins and other valuable weapons.

A large number of corpses of our own dead were dragged to the river and stacked neatly. The wooden or metal "dog tags" they carried were marked with personal information. Rurik sent people with paper and quills to count the identities of the victims in detail, so that they could be cremated. The ashes will be collected for burial in the New Roseburg Cemetery, and condolences will be made to the family of the deceased.

Fighting inevitably involves sacrifice. When accepting the king's call to start this great cause, the soldiers must be prepared to make sacrifices.

The living mourn their fallen comrades, but the fight continues.

Every bannerman suffered losses, many very young warriors, who died on the banks of the Elbe, their short lives blooming like fireworks.

According to Rurik's order, all the victims of one's own side were screened, and each warrior had his own fire and turned into ashes. The ashes will be placed in a wooden box made by surprise, with the deceased's detailed identity written on it. The weapons and equipment of the deceased should be preserved as much as possible, especially the standard steel sword. The eldest son of the deceased will receive his father's ashes and his father's sword.

Eventually, all the children of the victim will be supported by the state, and his eldest son will immediately become a replacement fighter for his father's banner unit, and will be replenished as soon as he reaches the appropriate age.

As for the wives and concubines of the victim, the head wife could remarry but this would also mean giving up the right to inherit the husband's legacy. The main wife will immediately become the head of the family, and the side wife will be free to stay or leave.

With this system in place, soldiers don’t have to worry about their family’s financial ruin after they suddenly die in battle.

In the afternoon of that day, the soldiers who had basically cleaned up the battlefield began to cut down trees everywhere.

They threw the corpses of their enemies into the Elbe River, allowing the water to wash them into the ocean.

A large number of pine trees were placed in the remaining open space, and the cremations of our own war dead were carried out that night.

The huge group of injured people had all arrived in Hamburg via the pontoon in the afternoon.

The liquor used for anesthesia is no longer enough, but it is enough for debridement.

Several large iron pots were specially used to boil boiling river water. After the boiling water cooled down, the sterilized water was used to clean the wounds of the wounded soldiers, and then the wounds were sutured with twine.

The wound is sutured like leather clothing, then a layer of honey is applied and then wrapped in plain white linen cloth. Whether it recovers depends on luck.

At least Eskil's wound healed well, and he did not suffer from scurvy, which caused the wound to be infected. Of course, he regarded this as "the favor of the Lord", completely ignoring the fact that the Russians had great medical skills.

Of the so-called four hundred wounded, after their first night, only about three hundred wounded were left alive. After enduring the most difficult night, the remaining injured can theoretically return to normal after a long period of recovery.

It's not that the Russians are really good at medical skills, it's because the wounds of these lucky people are all on non-vital parts of their limbs. As long as the wound infection is closely controlled, most of them can survive. That’s a story for another day.

However, Count Robert of the Rheingau had already experienced a serious inflammatory reaction in his injured left arm.

Baron Nassau had already woken up first. When he woke up, he found himself lying in a complete house with stone walls. Through the narrow stone window, he saw orange light shining in.

"It's already evening? Am I...really not dead?"

He suddenly felt that he was covered with a blanket that looked like felt. He suddenly wanted to sit up, but it felt as if all the joints in his body were broken.

He subconsciously began to howl, which immediately attracted the guarding soldiers to push open the wooden door.

They were the elite standing army of the Ross Army with bear heads on their heads. Their sudden appearance made Baron Nassau see their ferocious fangs.

"Ah! It's a monster from hell!" He shouted and fainted again.

When he woke up again, a familiar person was already standing in front of him.

"Is it...is it you? Count Liudolf of Westphalia?"

"It seems you didn't hit your head. It was me." Liudov replied with the arrogant attitude of a winner: "It's the Duke of Saxony. Nassau, you were defeated. Your defeat is not your problem. Now I see you wake up." , I’m very pleased.”

"I am defeated. We are destined to fail in this battle, so..." Baron Nassau was relieved and immediately asked the key question: "What will you do with me? Execute me? Or, demand a ransom."

"Execute you? No. Am I such a despicable person? You are not a Frank. My family has no enmity with you since ancient times. I have already thought about how to deal with you. Now I give you a choice."

"A choice? Why don't you ask me to be loyal to you?"

"Correct." After saying that, Liudov walked straight over and sat directly by the wooden window: "This is my hamburger, and this is my country. My territory needs some emerging nobles, and your lord Robert has already It’s over, you don’t have much power in East Frankfurt, so why not be loyal to me now and I can make you an earl.”

The promotion from baron to earl was too incredible. In this era where pedigree is important, it is almost impossible for the Nassau family to be promoted to earl due to pedigree issues. That position is basically reserved for Frankish nobles.

Unless, the one he is loyal to is not the King of Frank.

"If I am loyal to you, I am betraying Frank. You... you know it." Baron Nassau's eyes trembled: "My village is still in the Rheingau. If I declare my allegiance to you, my tribe and family may be taken away. Threatened. So..."

"So what?"

"I need recognition from the priests."

"This is easy to handle!" Liudov said hurriedly: "The northern saint Eskil is here with me. You know, he was originally going to be the bishop of St. Peter's Cathedral in Bremen, and the bishop's seat was also to be placed in Bremen. May. Now the situation has changed. He decided to make the small monastery in Hamburg the seat of the bishop. He is the archbishop of the entire Saxony region and also serves as the bishop of Denmark. He has enough power to recognize your title of earl."

In all Saxony, the ascetic Eskil was indeed the highest-ranking Catholic priest.

As for the nobles demarcating each other through war, this violent method was actually disgusted by the Roman Pope of this era. They believe in constant preaching and enlightenment, and rely on missionaries to travel around to persuade the barbarians to convert. They piously or naively believe that as long as everyone believes in God and lives according to the lifestyle prescribed by the great scriptures, perfect peace will be achieved. Peaceful.

Esquier opposed the war, even though he knew that the noble lords, especially the Norman nobles, disdained his approach.

Finally, the King of Rus, the King of Denmark, and the emerging Duke of Saxony miraculously all hoped for peace after a brutal war.

He was greatly shocked and immediately supported this constructive determination.

Eskil immediately declared the monastery of Hamburg as his episcopal seat. He was already the bishop of all Saxony and the north, and the "office" destroyed in Bremen was reopened in Hamburg. He recognized Liudolf as the Duke of Saxony, and if the Baron of Nassau was willing to become an earl loyal to the Principality of Saxony, Esquier would immediately perform an anointing ceremony to recognize it.

Baron Nassau thought for a moment and declared his allegiance to Liudov on the sickbed.

"You made the right choice. Unfortunately, I can't give you a suitable fief right now. Do you... have any suggestions?"

Liudolf just asked casually. He had actually thought of a way to move all the people in the old fiefdom of Baron Nassau to the north. He would find a village left by Frank immigrants near Hamburg as a temporary fief, and then seal it. The implication of a larger territory is that these new immigrants will take up an ax to ask for farmland and pasture from the forest.

Unexpectedly, Baron Nassau said something like this: "I want to take my people away from the Franks. I don't want to be persecuted by them, nor do I want to be invaded by the Normans. I want a place with rich water and grass, such as a swamp." "

The original meaning of Nassau is "wet swampland", but there is a place that fits his idea.

Liu Duofu's face darkened and he lowered his head with a serious attitude: "There is a place suitable for you."

"where?"

"To Flanders."

"Flanders? That's a county. Do you still want to continue the war?"

"Why not? I have defeated half of Ludwig's elite cavalry. Can he still unilaterally stop the civil war and really send the main force to the north? In that case, Lothair's army will easily capture the entire Rheingau. Then the whole Alemany. Besides...those Normans are a bunch of hungry wolves who eat meat but don't spit out bones. I must satisfy their terrible appetite. Why not, just borrow troops to attack Flanders, so that they retreat, You can help me govern the place."

Want to continue fighting? Baron Nassau shuddered.

But if you think about it carefully, it's not impossible.

The Count of Flanders was also an outsider to the locals, who were all Frisians, and the Count was a Frank.

"The current Count of Flanders is Baudouin, and he is a playboy. Like his father, he was obedient to Horik's pirates. We will fight over, and after the Normans have finished plundering, you will Occupy that place.”

"But Flanders is huge."

"Then occupy the northern Friesland region. You can serve as my western barrier. I need you. Listen, war is inevitable. Ludwig's army has no time to go north to attack me this year. For this reason, I want to expand my strength. . Henry, your Nassau is just a small village in the Franks. If your family defectes to me, you will immediately become the earl who rules the land. If you want your family to have a great future, just follow me. We have no way out, we can only create a new one. A situation.”

Should he be a submissive little lord for the rest of his life, or should he become a powerful person in a certain area?

Nassau chose the latter, but he was still worried that he would be plundered by the Normans in the future because of his proximity to the sea. At this time, Liudov immediately came up with the so-called "Danish-Saxon Non-Aggression Treaty" and "Ross-Saxony Non-Aggression Treaty". Does this treaty with the Heretic King have any validity? Nassau instinctively thought it was unreliable, but now he could only agree.

Henry Nassau is a smart man who is now taking a huge gamble with the fate of himself, his family, and his village.

Only lower-level nobles could easily instigate rebellion, not to mention that because of Nassau's act of riding alone into the camp to negotiate, even the Normans respected him as a man, and Liudolf thought he was impressed by him. Find Shuyuan www.zhaoshuyuan. com

But for Count Robert of the Rheingau, the situation completely changed.

It's not necessary to kill him, and there's no need to continue to imprison him.

Because Henry Nassau said these words on his sickbed: "Robert thinks you are a traitor who sold his soul to the Norman devil, and the Normans are all robbers. He feels that there is no reason to negotiate with you at all, and feels that the heavy cavalry charge , will overwhelm your army. You cannot make him surrender."

Maybe, Robert really can't be forced to surrender, so that's okay.

Liudov knew very well that if the King of Rus and the King of Denmark wanted to kill this man, they would not treat his wounds now. Otherwise, if the wound on his left arm is swollen with an egg, if it develops for a while, the person will die of fever.

He had learned of the decision of King Rurik of Rus, and said that he would have a "good talk" before banishing him.

Let this great nobleman, who lost his army and generals, spare his life and go to personally "report the good news" to Ludwig during the civil war!

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