Rise of Rurik

The distance between Ghent and Antwerp was not far. Refugees could flow into Ghent in a short time, so it would not be difficult for the earl to pull out an army on the spot and march directly to Antwerp.

His brother-in-law died in the battle, the important town was lost, and the areas farther north were completely lost. A large number of people poured into Ghent, which caused dissatisfaction among the locals.

Count Baudoin decided to send troops immediately because of his sister's tears and instigation, but also to balance the stability of all forces in the country.

First, the vassals of the Counties must be summoned to organize an army to assemble in Ghent, which will take some time.

For example, in Lille in the southernmost remote area and Bruiser in the eastern border area, don't expect reinforcements from the nobles in these areas.

Either recruit troops to fight on the spot, or surrender and stay in Ghent.

Baudouin still chose to fight.

Because if you don’t fight, you won’t survive.

A large number of refugees gathered under the city of Ghent, and Baudoin ordered the city gates to be closed, seemingly to keep the refugees out.

The priests were trying their best to maintain law and order, and the soldiers in the city stood on high places and watched every move of people outside the city.

Refugees are driving large numbers of sheep, goats and cattle. People need food and livestock need grass. What was very bad was that the people fled so fast that they were unable to take away the stored fodder. Although the cattle and sheep suffered no losses from the Norman plunder, they were very short of materials.

A large number of livestock are wandering outside the city, such as goats, which can chew up grass roots. All livestock are frantically plundering the withered yellow meadows outside Ghent. Even hard dead branches are being eaten by goats and cattle. Eat it hard.

All the people sow are spring oats and spring rye, and farmland is deliberately abandoned in autumn and winter. There is still a huge amount of soothing wild land here, which is still overgrown with weeds and becomes a good food for cattle and sheep. However, the livestock from the north have a sharp conflict with the livestock raised by the people of Ghent.

The wealth of Flanders was built on the wool trade. A large number of cattle and sheep gathered in Ghent. Is there enough fodder to eat? Baudouin did not want his country to fall into internal strife and cause internal conflicts among the people.

What's more, a large number of northern fief knights led all the villagers to gather outside Ghent with weapons.

Considering his own lineage, Baudoin did not feel that he could convince the "siege soldiers" to remain absolutely responsible with just a few words.

In the County of Flanders, the Franks are more numerous toward the south, and the Frisians are more populous toward the north.

The feudal knights from Antwerp were all Frisians, and so were the villagers they brought with them.

Therefore, Count Baudoin, after consulting with his close followers (ministers) and the Bishop of Ghent, awoke to gather the troops in the city, and accompanied by the bishop, pacified the refugees outside the city.

The people who were looking forward to salvation were indeed saved. The bishop braved the cold rain and poured holy oil on the refugees to reassure them.

Baudouin appeared on horseback and immediately met with the knights of the feudal lords to announce his decision to them.

"You were supposed to guard Antwerp, but you didn't keep your oath. Of course you have a hundred valid reasons. My brother (actually brother-in-law) was killed, a large number of people were killed, and the northern region fell into chaos. I will not listen to any excuses. I Just Antwerp!”

Baudoin's attitude was quite decisive. He wanted to gather soldiers from all sides, even select strong men from the refugees, and immediately rush to Antwerp along the river.

They must immediately gather as many troops as possible and launch a pursuit immediately, otherwise the Normans who came in rows will disappear. Baudouin did not want to lose this opportunity for revenge, and a surprise conscription began now.

Of course, this is compulsory conscription. All the refugees from the north, including boys as young as fourteen years old, were immediately given weapons and food and joined the uncle's army.

Such an almost unlimited conscription does not involve the villages in the Ghent area, but the village's fief knights must serve.

Baudoin pieced together things here and there, and used forceful means on the left to pull out an army of nearly 3,000 men.

This number is extremely astonishing. If King Lothair and King Ludwig of the Franks knew that the cowardly Count of Flanders could still muster such a force, then both sides would issue a series of orders to force the Count to send out a large army to participate. The civil war did not serve itself.

Although Baudouin's family comes from the Frankish mainland, he runs this place and his family interests are completely tied to the locals.

His family wanted to avoid offending both sides. It not only maintained good diplomatic relations to convey benefits to both sides, but also actively pretended to be weak.

If he hadn't been offended by repeated invasions by the Normans, he would have had no intention of gathering a huge army to show off his strength arrogantly.

Of course, actually gathering such a large number of soldiers, including more than 2,000 unarmored armed farmers, was an unprecedented feat.

Baudouin felt that he was sure to win. No matter how barbaric the Normans were, could they defeat this army? Including the lower-level nobles and peasant soldiers in the army, they were confident because of their strong military strength, and they were blessed with holy oil by the bishop himself. The war was directly given sacred significance.

This is not a civil war among the aristocracy, and the peasants are not being dragged along to make up the numbers. Everyone is fighting for their faith and their homeland. Although they are very nervous, everyone has a great reason to fight for it. If they die in battle, this achievement will be enough to make their souls enter heaven at the moment of judgment.

Baudoin didn't want to wait at all. He prepared in a hurry and made his best efforts in a short period of time.

All the old weapons were taken out from the warehouse. The peasant soldiers basically popularized short spears, and they were also widely equipped with a special weapon modified based on short spears-the Ri'an stick.

A hard oak stick has been the weapon of the Frisians since ancient times. The stick is inlaid with nails and animal teeth, giving it the meaning of a mace. An iron spear is placed at the front of the stick so that it can thrust and smash.

The army carries a variety of weapons, and they have no clear organization. Basically, men from each village follow their own lords. Count Baudouin led the largest army, and his bodyguards were elite armored men.

Even so, there were only less than 300 armored men in the 3,000-strong army. There is also news that the newly arrived Normans are good at using arrows, so we will also bring more Orion archers, but there are few people who are good at archery in Baudouin.

The patchwork army began to move. Their team looked chaotic, but in fact it was divided into blocks after blocks. The core of the block was a fief knight.

Calculated in this way, Baudouin's army relied on armed units composed of knights, and at least the minimum order was maintained in the chaos.

The army rushed to Antwerp as fast as possible. Count Baudouin led them to take a shortcut, but even so they had to spend two days on the journey.

From the refugees fleeing to the army's counterattack, it would take up to four days at most.

It was precisely because of the rain that Rurik felt that there was only a slight chance that the local nobles would send troops to counterattack. The rain made the Russian army relax. Faced with a large amount of materials that needed to be moved urgently, people only thought about how to load the loot onto the ship, and did not do anything to guard against the enemy's counterattack.

The whole world is wet, and the feeling of coldness and dampness is extremely disgusting. After all, the war has continued until now. Once the army has settled down for a short time, the war-weariness has risen slightly.

Rurik already lived in the city of Antwerp during the Battle of the Barons, and most of the soldiers also lived in the city. As for the dead bodies in the city, they were thrown directly into the bay during the operation to loot the city. The Russian army completely occupied Antwerp and planned to move it into a "rough house". As for burning it, Rurik certainly thought about it, but it was too humid now. , setting fire is useless.

The army rested temporarily, waiting for Ragnar's Danish army to return from plundering the nearby countryside.

Rurik was also waiting for the end of this abominable and inescapable autumn rain. Only such a rather dry north wind could recover, and the ships with a good harvest could return against the wind.

This would have been impossible if Rurik had not been inert.

With more than a thousand elite soldiers in hand, he was full of contempt for the Count of Flanders before taking action. All rumors said that the Count was a coward since ancient times. Rurik was skeptical at first, but now a series of battles are going too smoothly, and he really looks down on the enemy.

Everyone was waiting for the rain to stop. At the same time, Henry Nassau, who was accompanying the army, and the servants and nobles who joined the coalition army, could not help but plunder property in the city.

The feudal knights from the Utrecht area ignored their feelings for their southern compatriots and pocketed the useful treasures they found. No one will condemn this kind of robbery. Since no one will sanction it, they can do things with confidence and boldness.

The knight and his retinue, who could be counted on one hand, grabbed some wool and carried some grain as their own rations.

God will punish the thief!

No priest now criticizes this behavior. When the first feudal knight fattened himself for it, others quickly began to follow suit.

The Baron of Groningen has no way out. He has betrayed his former lord Baudouin in every sense. Since he can only go to the dark side, he might as well bring his own miniature army to join the robbery sequence.

Of course, Rurik can be seen in the actions of such temporary allies. They just followed the army to make up the numbers and did not submit a suitable certificate. Now they directly turned into bandits and robbed. It can be said that they really submitted a certificate.

He issued an order that all soldiers in the army must recognize the wealth looted by the Allied forces. With this order, Henry Nassau was quite satisfied, and even had a special regret - it was a pity that I did not have enough plundering troops.

However, the army of the Count of Flanders appeared!

A group of soldiers withdrew from the south. They were all Danish warriors who ignored the mud and ran away carrying sacks.

When the brothers failed to gain anything, they were naturally willing to fight with the enemy. Now everyone had something that they must take away. Although they were not war-weary, they at least had to put the looted property at the landing point in Antwerp, and then listed it. camp ground.

Rurik did not send any scouts to guard far outside the city, but sent soldiers to stand on the partially intact wooden walls of the city to act as visual sentries. Others are holding the small bronze bell of the monastery in the city. According to the plan, this large metal object must be moved, but it is really a good thing for sending signals, so for the time being, let it continue to stand on the only spire of the monastery.

Many people came from the north, and the sentry's slack heart became tense again.

As a result, the bronze bell was rang indiscriminately, and the soldiers who were still resting became vigilant and walked out of the house where they were hiding from the rain with their weapons. Rurik also rushed out of the residence with his personal guards. Standing outside, he shouted filial piety: "Who is ringing the bell? Is there an enemy?"

The sentry immediately reported seeing a large number of people moving south.

Soon, Ragnar entered the city with important news from the south. He breathlessly warned his Rurik brothers: "A large number of armed men are moving towards Antwerp. Either fight! Or retreat now!"

A large number of armed men? Rurik asked suspiciously at first: "You are so brave that you are chased by the local army? Are they very strong?"

"At least the force is huge. Of course I can fight them alone, but the opportunity to gain glory should not be taken by me alone." Ragnar used words to make up for himself, and his trembling eyes still hinted that he was afraid.

Could it be that the Count of Flanders insists on acting against nature? Are you going to launch a counterattack in the autumn rain?

"If this army is severely damaged, it will create a good foundation for our future plunder. I will use my advantage to kill as many of their effective forces as possible. It would be great if I could capture their leader and ask for a lot of information. If that count also Among them, he must be captured," Rurik decided.

Even though it was technically fine to evacuate in the light rain, it was just beneath the honor of doing so. When he informed his men of Ragnar's war warning, the soldiers in the army instantly became more motivated.

The coalition forces moved into action, and suddenly time caught Henry Nassau off guard. But he didn't have time to complain about the sudden incident. Since it was a full-scale military operation, his so-called "Netherlands Army" had to join the battle.

Why fight? Fighting in formation outdoors is undoubtedly the most exciting way to fight.

Rurik gave the order and the entire army evacuated Antwerp. The monastery's bronze bell fell to the ground as the steeple was deliberately damaged. The bell was deformed and was dragged away with a rope.

The soldiers were slightly tired, and they used cables to dismantle the remaining walls of the city as much as possible. Some buildings in the city also had their load-bearing columns cut down, and then used ropes to pull them down. Accompanied by non-stop rumbling sounds, more than half of the buildings in Antwerp City had collapsed to the ground overnight.

The coalition soldiers still stayed at the initial landing point and spent the night in an open-air array.

Rurik was waiting for work. The sides of the battleship were all facing due south. All shipboard torsion slingshots were placed on one side and arranged at the maximum elevation angle to prepare for battle.

Another thirty torsion slingshots were carried ashore and placed on carts in front of the battle.

The soldiers of the Russian army all wore chain mail, and more than a hundred people in the standing army, including the guard captain Grund, wore heavy scale armor covered with iron plates. These armors are "decisional battle equipment." Rurik believes that Ragnar will not exaggerate, and if there is a war, the enemy will definitely be seen today.

Rurik called on the entire army: "We must respect our opponents. The best respect is for our troops to wear the thickest armor, carry the sharpest swords, and kill them in the simplest and crudest way."

It can be said that, to put it another way, the so-called coalition forces are eager for a fierce one-sided killing.

So he added: "Let us use the blood of our enemies, the blood of Odin!"

What is certain is that the Count of Flanders does not have any manpower and material resources to form a regiment as fierce as the Frankish heavy cavalry. If dealing with a weak brigade dominated by infantry, Rurik decided to use his most traditional tactics that had little risk and best demonstrated Ross's tactical capabilities to deal with the enemy.

Just at noon that day, the light rain seemed to stop. Although the world is still cold and damp, which makes people feel bad, everyone is cheered up as some people on horseback appear in the far south.

People warned each other, calling on everyone to put on their armor, prepare their crossbows, etc.

What they saw was actually Baudouin himself!

It was the Count of Flanders who personally led his cavalry squad of more than thirty cavalry to lead the way in front of the large army. He noticed his city of Antwerp, but unfortunately the appearance of the city had changed beyond recognition.

He even saw a large number of strange ships anchored in the bay, as well as white things that were too obvious in the gray and black world.

Take a closer look and you will see that it is an army!

Was it the Norman army? If the refugees hadn't reported it, Baudouin would have misjudged it.

It's completely different now. Those men in white are the most vicious enemies.

He immediately pulled up the reins and returned to the main army, calling to his densely formed army: "Don't feel tired! The decisive battle is about to begin! Follow me to launch an attack!"

He kept repeating similar words, making the entire Flanders Army know from top to bottom that the decisive battle was about to begin.

nervous? excited? fear? Or confused.

Peasant soldiers, feudal knights, and capable retinues, no one could complain or hesitate, and continued to advance towards Antwerp in this dense formation, approaching the Norman army in white.

The decisive battle will begin on this cold October afternoon when the light rain gradually stops, and the winner will definitely be decided in one afternoon.