Rise of Rurik

Once upon a time, the vast and sparsely populated region of Flanders was an independent kingdom. The country has moved from the age of tribal confederations to the age of kingdoms, until it was directly bordering the expanding Frankish kingdom.

Once upon a time, the territory did not have today's huge Frankish territory, and its north directly faced three so-called "barbarian countries", which were Germanic forces that were similar in blood.

They are, respectively, the Kingdom of Flanders, the Grand Duchy of Saxony, and the Grand Duchy of Thuringia.

There is another special existence, that is, the westernmost descendants of the "Wenderslav ethnic group". They have a small population and are extremely weak, and they were easily annexed by the Franks.

Whether it is a kingdom or a grand duchy, their ethnic composition is different from that of the Franks. They believe in the sacred tree, Odin and the World Tree. And this was Frank's excuse to conquer them, thus covering up the kingdom's desire for expansion.

In other words, when the Frankish Kingdom entered the imperial era, only expansion could maintain the stability of the empire.

So once the empire stopped expanding, civil war broke out immediately. Now, since the death of the old king Louis the Pious in 839, the three princes have led the entire Franks into civil war.

The kingdom under the rule of Charlemagne, the common grandfather of the three princes, was at that time very strong and powerful, and no one from the surrounding ethnic groups was dissatisfied. Even the Pope in Rome wanted to anoint him with holy oil and crown him "Emperor of the Romans".

The Kingdom of Flanders was defeated and annexed to Frankia.

At the beginning, the nobles were not liquidated, and the defeated nobles were awarded the title of marquis, or "border earl".

This was a means of transition. According to Charlemagne's plan, a large number of Franks would migrate to these newly conquered lands, thereby changing the composition of the local people. At the same time, a large number of Franks moved out to alleviate the overly dense population in the core area of ​​​​rule.

Because, in this era dominated by rugged agriculture, the population of the kingdom under Charlemagne actually increased to 12 million. Even though people still live in scattered areas, every homesteader family that can serve must take care of the overly large farmland and adopt a rotation system to ensure that famine will not occur.

Only expansion can alleviate the suffering of the people and satisfy the expansion desire of the nobles.

Just like the defeated and surrendered Saxon Grand Duke Widukind, who was originally renamed a marquis but still called himself a grand duke internally.

Charlemagne had been ruling the country for a very long time. When he got older, he finally had to consider making some decisions about his posthumous affairs.

When he was young, Charles was used to seeing nobles killing each other. He was worried that after his death, his children would kill each other until the kingdom was extinct. He was worried that the surrenderers in the border areas would rebel, so some measures should be taken to avoid such an outcome.

Therefore, since he began to "divide the kingdom into three parts to avoid civil war among the great nobles", it became a national policy.

Starting from him, all the indigenous marquises of the "border counties" were replaced by Frankish nobles.

This move has completely different impacts on different regions. Flanders accepted this fate smoothly. The Frisian nobles abdicated and were replaced by the Counts of Flanders installed by Charlemagne. The region's title was downgraded, which also meant that the kingdom could theoretically control it directly. But the newly promoted earl immediately chose to cooperate with the native nobles of Flanders, relying on marriage and moderate political means to maintain the stability of the family rule. It was such a move that made the Earl of Flanders appear to be very incompetent militarily.

As for the Saxony region, Widukind, who was already a "court official", immediately raised troops to rebel after hearing that the king wanted to reduce the vassal. The Saxon Restoration Movement broke out, forcing Charlemagne to conquer the country himself. The movement failed. Although Widukind was not killed, the family had been reduced to aristocrats living under surveillance and moved to the Frankish hinterland, seemingly forever separated from the opportunity for rebellion. The old land of Saxony was immediately moved to more Falak immigrants, and the border county was dismantled into the county of Bremen and the county of Hamburg.

Just southeast of Saxony is the Thuringia region. The Thuringians had been incorporated into the Franks two hundred years ago, and it was not unacceptable for the whole family to accept the rule of a Frankish noble. Because the Thuringians directly faced another foreign race, they were Pomeranians and Polish tribes. Even the Franks who migrated must work together with the Thuringians to withstand the expansion of these "Pan-Wenderslavs" one after another. Or it was because the Franks had better weapons and equipment and better military organization. Without these foreign aid, the Thuringians did not feel that they could defend their territory.

However, just thirty years after Charlemagne's death, the posthumous pattern he designed, so-called no civil war in the kingdom and no rebellion on the border, all came to nothing.

He overestimated the continuity of his family's bloodline, and as a result, only Charlie's family survived. He also underestimated the magnanimity of his three grandsons. He did not expect that his grandson Lothair wanted everything. It was Charlemagne himself who set an example, making Lothair feel that he must bring Frank into a new era based on the great grandfather, so the third The first priority is to reduce the vassal state, and then become as great as Augustus.

Of course, Charlemagne had many calculations, but he could not have calculated that in the north of the Baltic Sea, the so-called unknown world could give birth to powerful frost power.

Just like the cold wave that occurs every winter across Europe, one day the Normans can unite and launch a southern invasion with a stronger military and stronger purpose.

The descendants of the appeased Widukind family regained the glory of their ancestors and Saxony was restored.

Even Flanders, which smoothly accepted abdication and became dominated by the Frankish nobility, encountered purposeful invasions.

All this was given by Rurik, the greatest king of the Normans, the King of Rus, the great man blessed by Odin, the monarch of the East Slavs, the suzerain of the Finns, and the leader respected by all the Nordic forces.

Now, the great Rurik was slightly tired, and led a powerful army with concentrated essence to rush towards the north of Flanders County in a battleship.

A special noble led his meager retinue of only ten, so-called special allies, to accompany Rurik's squadron on the expedition.

He was none other than Henry Nassau.

It was the first time he sat on a ship as tall as a mound, and it felt like a dream. The entire fleet was still rushing along the coastline in the north wind of autumn. Standing on the deck, the strong wind seemed to blow me away. The ship did not rise and fall too violently. Even so, Nassau still had to endure the weird seasickness.

This is very strange. My hometown in Nassau is close to the Lanhe River and the Rhine River. Inland navigation is not a problem, but when I get to the sea, my stomach starts to turn.

He was holding on to the wooden railings of the ship, looking at the undulating waves, and kept retching, and his spirit was depressed.

After all, his own condition was not good, and he was lucky enough to survive the previous defeat. As for the former enemies becoming current allies, many fantastic things have happened. The great nobles have already announced their separation from Frank in the civil war. There is no need to debate whether his political adventure is worth it.

Because Nassau has no choice.

Liudov would send a guide to lead the Russian-Danish coalition to Utrecht in Flanders, and he would not care how to plunder them afterwards.

Since we need a guide, it doesn’t hurt to have one more.

Henry Nassau was one of the guides. Just because he knows that the mouth of the Rhine River is within the Earl of Flanders. If there is a piece of land there that will be allocated to him in the future to become a new Earldom, there is currently an unnamed Earl of Nassau, so he is very motivated to go and see for himself. Condition.

Naturally, he also has his inner Xiao Jiujiu, who calls on King Rurik of Russia and King Ragnar of Denmark not to kill the locals indiscriminately.

"You should not go here just to rob and kill. I will be the ruler there in the future, and I will also do trade with you in the future. If the locals are wiped out by you Normans, it will be like killing a cow. You will never think about it in the future. Get the cow. Therefore, we should raise a flag that the locals are Frisians, not Franks, expel the Franks, and let the locals recognize the Principality of Saxony as the suzerain, which will facilitate my future rule."

What Henry Nassau said made sense. Ragnar felt that this guy was too greedy. He was still an enemy and a prisoner a few days ago, but his attitude changed faster than a businessman. Is it really just for profit, and the honor of the warrior can be completely ignored? This made Ragnar very ashamed.

What Rurik felt was a deep shock.

Henry Nassau, the village chief, actually has such long-term ideas? This person actually put forward a reason that was enough for him to be cautious about killing and stop killing - he still wanted to do business in the future.

What Nassau said revealed two things. One is that the locals just want to live, and it doesn't matter who becomes the lord. The second one is even more interesting. There is the mouth of the Rhine River. Going up the river, ships can not only enter the hinterland of Europe, but also enter the village of Nassau in the Rheingau region.

Henry Nassau was a pragmatic man. They had fought each other before because he had to be loyal to Count Robert of the Rheingau. Now that he had taken refuge with Liudolf, Duke of Saxony, he naturally had no reason to be an enemy of Ross Denmark.

Because the position changed and the enemy became an ally, the subordinates who died in the previous battle died?

Ragnar didn't understand this very much. He despised this guy in Nassau, but he didn't exclude him from occupying Flanders in the future. Because Flanders Durist is located near the mouth of the Rhine River. It is a colonial town in Denmark. In the past, Horik occupied this place. Now, is it not natural for Ragnar to inherit it?

(Durist in this era is close to Rotterdam)

Some intelligence even pointed out that the land distance between Utrecht, the main target this time, and Durist was relatively close. In theory, there would be no problem for Denmark to retake this colonial town.

So during the voyage, the three people made a conspiracy.

Gu Suan

Nassau will seize most of the Flanders territory. After the Russian-Danish coalition helps him facilitate this, it will naturally gain considerable benefits.

The core point of this interest is the ownership of Durist. Even if it is now occupied by the Franks, the geographical advantage is huge, and the houses, warehouses, and docks can be rebuilt in the future. But it must be a free port for all Normans, just as it was in the past.

Nassau agreed to this without even thinking about it.

Nassau has only one request: "Don't kill indiscriminately. You first arrest people and then loot their property. Give me a chance to persuade the locals to surrender to me, and I will protect their lives. This way you get Wealth, I gained the people.”

This is a win-win situation. Rurik secretly admires that this Nassau has the ambition to become a tycoon, but he is too weak and can only work for the strong. Even if he becomes a count, he will not be able to make any splash.

But Ragnar found this outrageous.

"You are also an outsider to them. How can you force them to surrender to you with just one mouth?" he said.

Nassau had his own explanation: "But they don't want to be killed by you."

Only a factual example can test whether the win-win plan planned by both parties is reliable.

Theoretically, the fleet can sail as fast as two days and arrive at the coastal city of Utrecht in the bay on the evening of the next day.

Because the geographical structure of this era is very different from that of a thousand years later, Flanders is a mixture of the Netherlands and Belgium, with the main part still in the Netherlands. At this time, large-scale land reclamation had not yet been carried out, and a large amount of land was still shallow sea. Thousands of years later, Utrecht, already an inland city, is now a seaside town.

Similarly, Groningen, a large village in the north of the region, is now also a coastal town of Frisians.

Groningen can be said to be a town, its size is about the size of a large European village, and its population is only three hundred people. Its original meaning is "green field", which is Groenngard in Norse. Its location is indeed a very flat coastal field facing the ocean. Such an environment is actually not suitable for growing wheat, but it is very suitable for grazing. The grass soaked by the sea breeze and salt spray is slightly salty, which gives the milk produced by the cows a unique salty and fresh taste, and the cheese produced is also more delicious.

However, the high-yielding Holstein cows of this era were not born, and Groningen, like other towns, was unable to develop dairy products as an industry.

The town does have its own specialty industry - wool.

Groningen is very conspicuous because the villages in the huge surrounding area can only be counted on one hand. This town has undoubtedly become the foothold of the Ross-Danish army, mainly because there is a ready-made small dock and ship berth here. They saw local fishing boats, realized there were villages in the area, and immediately targeted Groningen.

Nassau wanted to conduct an experiment here. He knew that the Norman army could easily surround the entire village. Whether to kill all the people was all at the whim of King Rurik of Rus.

Who can save these people's lives? "After all, it's just me!"

Capture a village and town, loot some to replenish supplies, rest for a night and then attack Utrecht tomorrow.

With a clear goal, the coalition forces are highly motivated.

They were certainly pragmatic and had no illusions about the villages they discovered.

What can you grab in a coastal village? At most, there are only a few slaves and a small amount of fish. There are rumors that the Frisians are good at raising sheep. If they can get a batch of wool from here, it will be a worthwhile trip.

Rurik was looking forward to getting sheep and wool in this area.

As a result, the Norman army appeared in the sea visible to the naked eye from the town of Groningen.

The fishermen who first noticed the anomaly had no idea what they were seeing. Are those floating objects actually ships? There is a very obvious sign hanging on the mast. Since the flag is a flag with blue cloth strips sewn diagonally, it looks like a rotated cross flag.

Ordinary fishermen didn't even think about escaping for their lives at the first time. They knew that the north of them was also Frankish territory. Maybe the earl there had sent a huge envoy to come to the south to do business with the earl.

So the nobles would have the intention to tangle with the fishermen?

The fishing boats took themselves out of the way, deliberately keeping their distance from what they considered the noble's vessel. They also took the initiative to move towards their hometown, until they noticed that this amazingly large fleet was heading straight for their hometown village.

Rurik stood on the deck, wearing a bearskin coat and ignoring the wind and waves.

The weather is not good today, and it might rain in the next few days.

Although the wind and waves were not high, it still posed some challenges to the Russian soldiers in the process of getting from the big ship to the long oar boat. The large ships have all anchored near the shore, and the rest of the landing operations need to be completed by small boats to avoid stranding.

The soldiers moved lightly and boarded the longboat along the rope ladder thrown from the big ship. After the longboat was fully loaded, they immediately pulled out the long oars and headed straight to the small dock visible to the naked eye.

Whether it is a small boat unloaded from a large ship that can only be rowed by ten people, or a traditional rowing boat towed that can fit forty people into it.

The first wave of coalition landing troops consisted of 800 people. The soldiers stood at the bow of the ship holding the flag, and the soldiers on the same ship rowed hard. The first people to land waded ashore, and then pushed the semi-stranded boat away, so that the brothers left behind on the boat could quickly go back and pull another boat.

The landing people lined up on the shore. They had occupied the pier. They saw soldiers wearing white robes and blue stripes everywhere. They were very neatly dressed and held a large number of flags with the same pattern.

Obviously only Frank's regular army could have such a military appearance. Because Ragnar's men also put on proper clothes to keep out the cold, the appearance of the pirates with tattoos on their bare backs did not exist at all. The first thing that people who stopped to watch thought was that this was a noble Frankish warrior.

The villagers had never seen such a spectacle. A group of well-dressed foreigners suddenly came to the isolated town that lacked stories. Instead of running away, they took the initiative to greet them and take a look at the situation.

Even the lord who manages the village, a Frisian Baron of Groningen, came with his entourage to find out.

The black-robed priests of the monastery also held cross flags and carried black wooden crosses to direct the somewhat chaotic crowd, intending to welcome the so-called temporary rest of the northern Frankish nobles with enough dignity.

In fact, the flag of the Kingdom of Rus is like a cross flag rotated 45°, which really deceives these people who actively choose to live in isolation.

Also because Groningen's life from lord to villager was too closed.

Even if some people thought that these people who suddenly emerged from the sea were very similar to the Danish pirates who occupied Durist Port, no one took it seriously.

The fact is that the pirates have been defeated by King Ludwig himself, and even civilians know about this. The baron here learned another thing, which was explained by the Earl of Flanders himself. The so-called neighbor Earl of Westphalia (Liudov) was demoted to Denmark, which is equivalent to saying that Denmark has been controlled and monitored by Frankish forces. Let me tell you optimistically that there may be something like Norman pirates in the future. They are just a handful of down-and-out fishermen who will never threaten everyone's lives again.

The problem is that the burning of Bremen was kept secret. When the Bishop of Utrecht learned of the incident, he was devastated and ordered the news to be blocked to avoid panic among the people in the diocese he was responsible for.

The prelates remained silent, and the Count of Flanders, although aware of the matter, kept the news secret from the people. Find Shuyuan www.zhaoｓshuyuan.com

Anyway, the Normans were not attacking their own territory, so why worry about it? As for the majority of the people, they can just live their lives in peace. Telling them these terrible things, and telling them what the city of Hamburg is and what the city of Bremen is is really unnecessary. If we delay farming, won’t we not be able to collect enough taxes in kind? That's asking for trouble.

The Port of Durist is in his own hands. It was once a colony of Norman pirates. The pirates also arrogantly called themselves "Counts of Flanders". Now the arbitrators have long since given up and left.

Now the real title of earl has been smoothly transferred to the hands of the mixed-race noble Baudouin, and he has undoubtedly become a ruler that most Frisians are willing to accept. All because the man was half Frisian, nothing more.

Ordinary people do not and dare not have any unreasonable thoughts. They obey the arrangements of their lords and go to the monastery every Sunday to listen to scriptures. Their daily life consists of farming at sunrise and sleeping at sunset, plowing in the spring, shearing wool in midsummer, harvesting wheat in autumn, and flax, and then stocking up on supplies for the winter.

Now, the peaceful autumn life of Groningen people is facing a big crisis.

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