The defeated soldiers who had fled the military camp outside Lindisfarne Abbey ran madly along the dirt road in the forest towards Bamburgh.

The rain during this period really chilled them.

When the fifty or sixty of them arrived at the Bamburgh pass in ragged clothes, wet all over, and with black mud on their legs, the soldiers managing the pass thought they were a group of farmers trying to enter the city.

The soldiers began to question, and the fleeing army immediately revealed their identities and the tragedy of the raid on the monastery.

They were released into the city, and the terrible news immediately spread.

Their appearance was like a plague coming to Albert, Earl of Bamburgh and the priests.

"Are they Picts?" After learning the news, the Earl immediately held a meeting in his mansion.

The garrison commanders from the entire city gathered together, and the bishop who attended the meeting changed his usual calmness and became angry and eager.

The centurion who escaped back washed his face and continued to report: "I don't know if they are Picts or not."

"What on earth do you know!" The count stabbed the meat-cutting dagger into the table and continued to curse, "You are the scum of the kingdom. You led the people to evacuate and watched the monastery being attacked by them."

The centurion hurriedly explained: "Sir, there are at least a thousand of them, and they are as crazy as devils emerging from hell. Many people died in battle, while the enemy was almost unscathed."

Everyone listened with trepidation to these brief words.

"You..." the count held his chin. He couldn't believe this person's words and continued to ask, "Are you a Pict? Or someone else?"

"They must be the Picts." Bishop Edmund vowed. "Those people refused our leadership, so they raised troops to attack the monastery. Just like what happened before, we have good control over the land in the north. Those barbarians are just

Pretending to join our faith.”

"Go tell the king about this." The count bared his teeth. "Now, those Picts may have attacked the Holy Land."

Maybe they were really Picts? The centurion who escaped never thought so.

"Sir, I saw that they came across the sea. They have many ships. I doubt it."

"What do you suspect?" the count pressed.

"Just like the monastery was attacked decades ago. It was not the Picts who attacked us, but the barbarians from the sea."

"Those people? Is it really them?" These words were like a thunderbolt, and the earl suddenly became excited and then frightened.

Bishop Edmund was also trembling with fear, "Just a few years ago, Wessex and Kent were attacked by those sea barbarians. They attacked the monastery, killed the priests, destroyed the holy tomb, insulted the holy bones, and took away a large amount of gold and silver. That's it.

The pirates who took over Flanders!"

"My Lord Bishop, are you saying that the legendary pirates are targeting us?"

"The incident decades ago is not a legend." Bishop Edmund stamped his feet and said sternly, "About ten years ago, a group of pirates sacked Lindisfarne. This time, only the Picts or those

Only sea robbers can do that."

The count dug into his fist, and big beads of sweat kept falling.

"It just so happens that at this time, the king is coming to participate in the festival. Now I want to tell him that the holy place of the monastery has been occupied and even destroyed by the enemy." He smashed the table in extreme anger and stared at all the officers with sharp eyes. "I want to take it with me.

Do you have the confidence to completely eliminate those villains?"

Without exception, all the centurions beat their chests for the attack on the monastery. In order to prove their bravery, they accused the fleeing officers of being traitors and cowards who did not deserve to live. They fully supported the counterattack and tried their best to prove their own bravery.

Strength, such as bragging about his achievements in the civil war more than ten years ago.

But the earl's head has not yet been coaxed into paste by this group of obviously bragging men. He himself is the cousin of King Aenred and an officer in the civil war.

He is not a pampered man, but a strong man who fights on horseback. At least his camp is winning the civil war, and then uses military means to suppress the centrifugal domestic nobility, which also ensures that the two small countries continue to be unified.

The Kingdom of Northumbria survives.

But the stability of the kingdom is based on the stability of its military strength. A thousand barbarian pirates landed and destroyed it, which seems to be very embarrassingly powerful!

The count already had a countermeasure. He bent down at the desk and continued, "We must organize soldiers and horses to kill them completely. There is no room for compromise. I will immediately gather soldiers, organize men in the city, and organize farmers in the village. This is to defend justice and light.

In the battle, I will wait for the king to arrive and form a strong army to attack."

Earl Albert was also a thick-blooded person, because his cousin King Eynred could be described as a "warrior king". If he rashly sent out troops, regardless of victory or defeat, he would be competing with his cousin for credit.

Transgression will make the king jealous, and the kingdom may fall into civil war.

He suddenly called loudly: "Glory belongs to the king, we must prepare for war."

Edmund Pigfoot whispered tragically, "This will be a bloody Assumption Day."

"There's nothing we can do about it. Those pirates are like Satan's familiars. If we can't kill them, the whole kingdom will fall into hell. Let the king lead the expedition and let other countries see our strength. War!"

"aye!" the centurions present shouted loudly, with full confidence.

It was pity that the centurion who led the escape was imprisoned. This man could not escape the charge of being a coward and a traitor. As for who could punish him, it was naturally the king.

…

The seemingly huge Kingdom of Northumbria in Britain has just ended a hundred years of chaos. After King Erdwulf was expelled by a coalition of domestic nobles and churches in 806, the nobles immediately began to target the kingdom.

A large-scale civil war broke out in power. However, Erdwulf, whose family was in exile, was restored in 808 with the intervention of Charlemagne of the Franks.

He received military assistance from the Franks, a cavalry force trained by the European Franks, who helped him suppress those opponents.

But how could this great king have Charlemagne's skills?

He made an alliance with the surrendered nobles and gave the priests more power in order to gain support. For those who were determined opponents, Prince Aenred was ordered to throw an army to conquer.

It was due to this achievement that when Erdwulf died of illness, Eynred was immediately crowned king. So far, 110 years have passed since the outbreak of civil strife. The people finally enjoyed a rare relative peace, but this

The world is never peaceful.

In the north of the kingdom are the Picts, and in the south are the kingdoms of Mercia and Kent. News about barbarian invasions is also spreading.

King Aenred is well aware of the many threats facing his kingdom, and he has no illusions of being immune from the chaos.

However, he never dreamed that the most important monastery in the kingdom, the place where he was crowned, would be occupied by a group of barbarians!

The king, some of his family, his personal guard, and more than 500 people arrived in Bamburgh from York. When he arrived, the tragic news had spread throughout the city.

What happened was not only that, people who fled to the south from Edinburgh on the northern border claimed that Edinburgh had been destroyed by seafaring barbarians, and another group of barbarians from the Pictish Kingdom randomly began to try to invade.

When the king came to Bamburgh, his cousin Earl Albert immediately gave up his mansion.

However, the two terrifying news came like a bolt from the blue, which almost shattered the king's head.

In his rage, he simply didn't think, and faced all the officers present, even the subordinate centurions, with indignation.

"Decades ago, barbarians from the sea attacked the monastery. We rebuilt it and it is still being attacked today! I am afraid that it was also this group of people who attacked Edinburgh, and our defenders were actually defeated. Are they devils? Ours

Is it because the victorious army has been in peace for too long that men have become useless? You are simply a bunch of useless people! Our holy land was occupied by barbarians and the city was destroyed by them! At least a thousand soldiers died, and they are still there

victory!"

All the officers raised their heads, and even those who followed the king did not dare to speak out against it.

Count Albert tensed up and said bluntly: "King, those enemies... are very strong. There are at least a thousand of them, and everyone is very good at fighting. They also have some special weapons. We..."

"Shut up! They are all excuses. The soldiers are not religious enough. Do you think I am a fool? How many men in the military camp are hanging out with the women who are being kept? The strong men have become fools. They only know how to enjoy themselves and think that we are different from our neighbors.

There will be no war after our country has signed an alliance. Don't make excuses, cheer up!"

It is foolish to belittle his men too much. King Aenred needs these people to realize that they have been humiliated by the enemy and must fight to the death to restore their honor.

Count Albert continued to speak bluntly: "The soldiers who escaped, especially a centurion, told some very detailed information."

"What? There are still cowards who escaped?"

"Exactly."

"Why not hanged?" The king was furious, glaring at his Earl cousin with hawk-like eyes.

"This... centurion is being held in my cell and needs your judgment."

"Okay! Okay..." The king's heroic figure leaned back slightly, looking at the people present almost at chin level.

He was quiet for a while and then asked his cousin: "Except for the centurion, where are the other soldiers who escaped?"

"Now they are all incorporated into my army."

"That won't work. Brother, letting these cowards infiltrate the army is not a good thing for us."

The count was surprised: "Are those soldiers also going to be hanged? To be honest, they are just humble people. If the officers don't escape, they won't dare to escape."

"No, no, no, we should follow the Frankish approach on this matter. You know, I have some knowledge in Frank, I even met Charlemagne himself. The Franks have a strong army, and I thought their strength lies in running the army.

How to be strict? Kill the cowards in the army to scare others. All soldiers should know that those who run away will be killed, and those who fight will be rewarded."

Although this set of rewards and punishments is very simple and straightforward, can it really be implemented in specific situations?

As king, Aynred thought very highly of himself, at least in Northumbria.

He firmly believed that the Frankish army was strong, but Charlemagne's army was becoming more and more decadent in the hands of his heirs who were busy fighting among themselves. He even didn't know that Frank's "German" Louis had an army of hundreds of people under his command.

The leader of the "blond mercenary" was Harald Clark, the former Danish leader who was expelled in 826.

The once all-powerful Frankish army has declined, and even Aynred himself is about to enter middle age.

It has been sixteen years since he became king. The kingdom cannot be said to have been peaceful for a long time under his governance. At least there is no longer military conflict with Mercia, and the friction with the Picts in the north is also very low.

He remained quiet for a while and then came up with a solution: "Then follow Caesar's rules. Brothers, assemble the army and the people of Bamberg. I want to show everyone the fate of those who betray their duties."

What are "Caesar's rules"? It's exactly eleven kills.
To be continued...