Rise of Rurik

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The success of the continuous plundering gave Ragnar unprecedented confidence, and his ambitions expanded to the extreme. His eyes were set on Cologne, a large city not far upstream of the river.

Since the wealth of the entire region is being enriched in Cologne, as long as the brothers can successfully seize its monastery, wouldn't they be able to plunder a large amount of gold and silver?

This is definitely not a problem.

The brothers just need to act faster, just like they did in previous operations, quickly complete the looting after landing on the beach, and then quickly evacuate to a safe area before they can react.

No Viking before had penetrated so deeply into the heart of Europe.

In other words, the Russian blue fox Gouldson completed the feat of exploration and even reached the Danube River rafting further south. At that time, Blue Fox hid his true identity and always conducted inspections as a disguised priest. He was not a typical Viking.

So Ragna knew nothing about Cologne, only that there was a lot of wealth there, and the brothers really sharpened their swords and moved on.

The direction of the river was conducive to the Danish longships sailing against the current. The soldiers placed the looted property and prisoners in the middle of the ships. Everyone used the wide oars to cooperate with the sails to achieve the fastest sailing speed.

The desire for wealth swept away the fatigue of the rowing elbows, and they sang the songs of the north, approaching Cologne.

They even committed another killing during their trip to China.

The fleet was in an area where a small river merged into a large river, and everyone suddenly saw a village.

Like a snack served before a barbecue feast, the attack on this village was a prelude to the attack on Cologne.

Ragnar led his men to land forcefully and captured the village like a storm.

Although the villagers, old and young, could not immediately understand the situation, they first wanted to protect themselves and their families, so they fled into the forest without any resistance, "giving up" their belongings to the attackers.

The monastery in the poor village naturally became the target of the attack. All the priests and villagers who had no time to escape were killed, and the building was set on fire.

In their madness, the Danish warriors offered sacrifices to Odin, whom they believed in, with fire and killing. They also chopped down the captured goats and peeled off the skins. They were so luxurious that they only roasted the meat. As for the many goats and sheep that could not be taken away, they were simply killed directly under Ragnar's instructions.

"We can't take it away, and we can't let the Franks have it anymore. All the sufferings of our Danes are caused by these Franks, so we can take extra revenge in this way."

What he said set a great tone for the inexplicable killing of livestock.

The brothers only had to obey the king's order, and all the captured livestock were killed, but all the lamb legs were chopped off, and they took advantage of the ample time to quickly roast them into cooked food for subsequent dry food.

Their detailed village was in principle just one of a large number of settlements that appeared along the Rhine and was essentially nothing special.

It's just that its geographical location is very close to Cologne. If there is a fire here, you will definitely notice the clues in the direction of Cologne.

This village is Dusseldorf. It is a purely Frankish village built by a group of Franks who immigrated decades ago when Charlemagne was still alive.

Just west of Dusseldorf there are a large number of emerging Frankish settlements with different populations, the largest of which is Gladbach, Mönchengladbach.

Ragnar was killing people here in the name of revenge. According to this theory, the targets of persecution were indeed serious Franks.

The village is full of flammable wooden houses with haystack roofs. Although the autumn rains some time ago affected this area, the dry north wind has returned the houses to flammable dryness.

The Danes set fires everywhere and billowed smoke, which was directly reflected in the "red sky" at night.

You know, the straight-line distance between the village of Dusseldorf and the big city of Cologne is only more than 20 kilometers.

It seems like a long distance, but in today's era the air is extremely clear, and every clear night there is a gorgeous Milky Way across the sky.

The fire in the village turned the clouds in the sky dark red, and the strange scene attracted Cologne's intense attention that night.

Because a great man and his powerful army are now in Cologne.

This situation was something Ragnar had not expected, but he was not completely unprepared.

But the two Frankish princes who were caught in the civil war, Lothair and the main force of his Middle Kingdom were still settled in the Strasbourg area in the south. Due to the strategic advantage in the summer, Lothair began to expect his two younger brothers to accept My own idea is to give up most of my power and live peacefully in a small fiefdom for the rest of my life.

Compared with the initial strong reduction of the vassal order, Lothair has made concessions. The two younger brothers can still hold the title of duke. Although the territory has been severely reduced, the status is still very noble.

Such a decision was absolutely unacceptable to Ludwig of the Eastern Kingdom and Charles of the Western Kingdom.

But now we have entered the autumn and winter gatherings, and the civil war in the kingdom is coming to an end due to the climate. After all, they are all brothers. The three parties are fighting fiercely on the battlefield, and they continue to negotiate in private.

It was in this delicate atmosphere that Ludwig received a bolt from the blue.

The Eastern Kingdom's rear suffered an incredible blow! The Normans invaded in large numbers, and the Saxons mercilessly backstabbed. If only this was not a serious problem, the elite heavy cavalry he sent ended up being wiped out.

Count Robert of Raiingau, who had full command, only escaped with his own life. How dare such a mediocre man, who lost three thousand cavalry, have the nerve to come back and report the tragedy? In response to the great nobleman who committed such a serious crime, Ludwig, who was furious, immediately ordered him to be imprisoned. If it were not for the consideration of political stability, he would have wanted to directly withdraw his family's ownership of the Lyingau territory.

Reason prevailed, and he didn't want other nobles to see that his king was a fool with a small belly and easily get into trouble.

The letters that came back, written on special materials, shocked and annoyed him.

When Ludwig reached middle age, he always thought highly of himself as the supreme ruler on the eastern border of the kingdom, but he had a very bad shortcoming - his inability to use Latin proficiently.

Look at these letters written by the so-called King of Rus himself. The words are all in Latin. After being translated by priests, the content of the words is really the most abhorrent provocation and threat.

Behind the provocative threat, Ludwig's eyes widened and his spine felt cold!

betray! There are traitors everywhere. The Saxons betrayed, wouldn’t the Thuringians betray them?

If the Saxons continue to grow bigger, they will inevitably have even more unreasonable demands. This is more terrifying than the Norman invasion!

He began to regret his move to send Count Liudolf of Westphalia to Denmark, which now seemed a complete fool's errand.

What he couldn't believe was that the total of three thousand cavalry he sent out was actually wiped out. He knew that the existence of the Ross Kingdom was just a self-entertainment act of a Norman chief who had proclaimed himself king. He arrogantly thought that this was not a big deal. At most, he was a northern chief on the same level as Chief Oberlidit. As a result, his main force turned out to be...

The civil war with the brothers was an internal matter within the kingdom, but a group of fierce Normans invaded in large numbers, which was a challenge to the entire kingdom.

Ludwig wrote a letter to his eldest brother Lothair, requesting that the civil war be suspended and that the Eastern Kingdom send troops to attack the invading barbarians.

"No matter what, we must suspend the civil war now. I will lead the army north to attack all invading Normans. The elimination of the barbarians is a just and necessary measure. Please do not cross our existing borders for the sake of morality."

Lothair himself received the letter. He felt that his brother was looking for an excuse. In fact, he suffered a loss on the battlefield and planned to push it to the rear to recuperate.

Lothair made his own judgment. He concluded that Ludwig was lying, but considering the situation of his own army, he was unable to launch any offensive throughout the winter, so he decided to put the drama aside with his brother Ludwig. Keep acting. This person replied with a letter: "Since it is a barbarian invasion, please be sure to destroy it. I swear in the name of the king of all Franks that I will not interfere with your great campaign against the barbarians."

In his reply, Lothair did not forget to reiterate that he was the true and only king, and added the suffix "Duke" to his brother's name in the wording.

Ludwig no longer had time to do oral gymnastics with his eldest brother on specific vocabulary usage, so he immediately wrote back and praised his eldest brother for his wisdom.

In Lothair's view, this was indeed a sign of resignation from his younger brother.

The army of the Middle Kingdom did take visible measures. The army maintained a defensive state, and the garrison in some areas also dismantled their camps and retreated. Lothair did not want to build a palace in the field area, so he would either go back to Aachen to spend the winter, or spend the winter at the palace in Strasbourg. He decided to choose the latter.

Seeing these measures, Ludwig placed some border troops in defensive positions, and all the elites among them were withdrawn.

Ludwig was recruiting troops aggressively in the Leingau area, especially in the villages near Wiesbaden, Mainz, and Worms. The autumn harvest had ended and the fall and winter slack had arrived. The furious Ludwig ignored the imprisoned Count Robert of Leingau and forced himself to recruit men to serve in the north.

Even, including all the men in Nassau Village.

Because the Baron of Nassau was also a part of the open rebellion, he even recognized the treasonous Liudov as his prince. Ludwig then abolished the barony status of the village of Nassau in the name of the king and downgraded it to the point where it was not even considered a knighthood. Henry Nassau's entire family was imprisoned, and other male villagers were forcibly drafted into the infantry.

Even though some generals persuaded the king to go north to fight in winter, it was a foolish move.

The furious Ludwig couldn't listen at all.

His main army has been stationed in Mainz-Frankfurt, and he has been recruiting troops in the nearby Leiingau area. A group of elites cannot be moved, and he has rapidly expanded the mobile army to as many as 20,000 people!

Large numbers of peasants were forced to fight, and all Sorbian slaves now joined the army.

He even sent an envoy to hurry up and take the original Roman road straight to the Marquis of Thuringia in the northeast.

He ordered the Marquis of Thuringia to do his best to mobilize Thuringian warriors to immediately enter the Saxony area and gather in the direction of Hamburg.

Ludwig did not expect the Margrave of Thuringia to be very cooperative. This was actually a test. The Margrave of Thuringia and his people were incorporated into the Frankish Kingdom, which was very similar in nature to the measures taken by the Flanders and Burgundians, that is, they were not incorporated into the kingdom through large-scale wars. As a political exchange, the local nobles had With huge autonomy, they are actually the princes of one place.

The status of the Thuringian nobility could not be destroyed by "emptying the cage and changing the bird". The local nobility was loyal to Ludwig and there was indeed no tendency to rebel in the past. But now, with the third national rebellion in the history of the Saxons, Ludwig's attitude towards the Thuringians has become very ambiguous. Whether Thuringia sends troops, how many troops it sends, and whether it works hard to suppress the rebellion have become standard means of testing its loyalty.

He values ​​his own strength more.

Five thousand elite infantry, ten thousand local service militia, and nearly five thousand Sorbian slave soldiers. The former's 15,000 men are the main force in the battle, and the latter's 5,000 Sorbians are mainly responsible for escorting logistics supplies.

There are also a thousand heavy cavalry led by Ludwig himself, and a thousand light cavalry organized by various horses and people who know how to ride. There are also two thousand cavalry.

Thanks to the army stationed in the Mainz area for a long time, there was a smooth Roman road leading to Cologne.

The gathering of 22,000 people can be said to be extremely rapid. After all, most of the soldiers have already been entrenched here.

Worried about the separation of the infantry, cavalry, and baggage and carriage teams, Ludwig personally led the army to keep the mighty army advancing towards Cologne.

Of course, although the entire journey was only about 150 kilometers long, and it was along existing roads, it was still a huge challenge for Ludwig to have such a large army moving at the same time.

Cavalry and elite infantry have arrived in Cologne.

At this time, Archbishop Harden Bolt of Cologne not only learned of the tragedy in the north, but also wished that brave nobles would organize a rebel army to go north to crusade against the barbarians.

The archbishop and all the priests believed that Ludwig was a good man blessed by the archangel, and that the huge army would be able to wipe out the Norman savages in one fell swoop. For this reason, Cologne immediately provided a large amount of its own tax revenue to support Ludwig with real food.

Cologne, a city built during the Roman Empire with a total length of six kilometers of stone walls, welcomed a king into the city.

Ludwig led the arriving soldiers to worship in the city's cathedral, because this war was against barbarians who were obsessed with killing, even if the priests felt that they could stop some killings by constantly sending missionaries to persuade those barbarians to convert. , obviously all the past moves ended in failure, so the archbishop simply took the lead and authorized Ludwig to kill the enemy.

The Archbishop of Cologne anointed the forehead of Ludwig, who was kneeling in front of the icon, and blessed, and then announced: "The Lord forgives your sins! The Lord authorizes you to use a sharp sword to attack the devils in the north. Those apostles of Satan will be defeated by you." Give death.”

Even the Archbishop of Cologne supported this just move, and the morale of Ludwig's army was unprecedentedly high.

What further pleased him was that the Franks who fled from the north were subjects of the Eastern Kingdom under Ludwig.

The blood of the Franks had not been lost, and they saw a huge army with the style of Charlemagne.

Ludwig had the same style of beard as his grandfather Charlemagne. Everyone said that this king could inherit Charlemagne's military power, just like the conquest of Saxony and the Norman world half a century ago. Today's glorious history will Repeat.

Ludwig was delighted to receive such praise, and he effortlessly recruited as many as 2,000 Frankish militiamen in Cologne, armed with their own weapons and horses.

Even the Archbishop of Cologne decided to go to the north in person after some thought. Because there is news that the northern saint Eskil is not dead, but this high-status man actually got together with the rebels. Whether he was being coerced or the old guy had his own ideas is unknown.

The archbishop was still hesitating. However, both Bishop Hardbolt and King Ludwig of the Eastern Kingdom, as well as the people and priests of Cologne, all saw the red-hot sky in the northwest.

The priest thought this was a celestial warning or a revelation from God.

However, Ludwig, who was extremely sensitive to the battlefield, directly denied all speculations of Bishop Hardbolt: "Are there bandits near Cologne? It was clearly something burning on a large scale and lighting up the sky."

The bishop didn't know anything about it, and while hemming and hawing, Ludwig snatched his words: "If there are bandits, you are seeking death. Bishop, don't panic, my army will go to find out what's going on after dawn."