Because the Frankish Kingdom was a huge land power, they had no navy, let alone a river fleet.
Located in the Italian region, the kingdom has always maintained a certain number of warships. The trireme warships inherited from the Greek and Roman era are still the absolute main force, but they have not encountered any actual opponents.
In other words, even if the strength is seriously declining, most of the large Christian ships cruising in the Mediterranean belong to the Eastern Roman Empire.
The significance of the existence of Frank's maritime warships is reflected in the self-protection of its southern ports.
Although inland waterway shipping is important, it is always difficult to play its role on weekdays.
Only the river people in some areas were allowed to fish as a profession, this was largely due to the tolerant policies of the lords and priests who controlled the local areas.
All the wealth of the nobles comes from taxes on their territories and land, and various means are used to force them to farm the land with peace of mind. This is the basis for the nobles to stabilize their financial resources and tax base.
People who are restricted from fishing naturally have no need to build boats. Even if they face a large river, there are very few fishing boats, and some are only small barges crossing the river.
The nobles would rather spend more money building pontoons than building large ships.
This is the dilemma that now faces the knight Quentin Westerlade, captain of the banner, who is ordered to regain the lost territory.
In front of you is the wide Moselle River!
Wearing heavy armor, he stood by the river on a tall and strong Frankish horse. Facing the surging river in summer, he looked at the water with furrowed brows and sighed.
"If I have enough ships, even if the ship can only transport five people, my army can reach Koblenz quickly!"
He was complaining, and the attendant soldiers around him took advantage of the situation and said some kind words to the captain.
"Stop talking!" He signaled everyone to shut up: "Continue walking along the riverside road and cross the bridge when you reach Trier! I hope God bless us that there is indeed a bridge there."
The Middle Kingdom has always maintained a garrison in the area near Aachen. Although Aachen is the capital and has the reputation of New Rome, the city was built late and has not yet expanded into a large city.
To the south of Aachen is the almost uninhabited Ardennes region. There are many kinds of wild animals here, and unarmed people entering the forest can easily become prey for bears, wolves, etc.
Passing through the mountainous woodland here is the Luxembourg Military Camp.
This place is also the residence of Quentin, the flag captain who went on an expedition.
He and his men were not stationed here for a long time. Last year, the city of Trier was sacked, and a group of refugees fled to Luxembourg to ask for military protection. After the disaster, Lothair ordered new troops to go to Luxembourg to strengthen defense, and even assigned some troops to station in the special area.
Lille City cleans up the mess.
The armor and stomach were mounted on carriages, and Count Metz's men operated these logistics carriages to ensure the light advancement of the army.
Many Frank infantrymen today only wear cloth clothes of similar colors, iron helmets of similar styles on their heads, and their shoes are all low-cut leather shoes, tied firmly with hemp rope laces.
Each of them wore a broad-bladed iron sword and a throwable hand ax at his waist. Each of them carried his own small buckler, which was much smaller than the Norman shield, but was covered with iron. The emphasis was on flexibility during combat.
Block or even take the opportunity to hit and stun the opponent.
But such infantrymen seemed too ordinary. There were so many of them, they only held swords and axes, and there were very few archers in the army.
Including more than 200 people sent by Count Metz, who was in charge of logistics, a total of nearly 700 infantrymen. The scene was indeed majestic. How was the combat effectiveness?
At least flag captain Quentin is confident.
His confidence and even pride not only come from the fact that as a standing army officer with a knighthood, he can command more than 800 people in battle. The king attaches so much importance to it. Maybe if he does a good job and successfully captures Coblenz for the king, then he will no longer be
A knight.
Just like his surname, or the name of his hometown village, Westerlad, Quentin is the lord of this agricultural village located on the edge of the Ardennes region! The civil war gave a large number of standing army soldiers opportunities, and those officers themselves were also lower-level nobles.
In this era when it is quite difficult to jump up the ranks, serving the king in the military service is simply a great opportunity for a knight to be given the title of baron, even if the fiefdom may not increase.
Names and titles are more important than gold and silver, and they are worth fighting for by junior officers!
King Lothair will fulfill all his promises, and the vast number of soldiers in the standing army will also be willing to perform meritorious service on the battlefield.
For Quentin, his other confidence comes from the cavalry centurion led by himself! The Frankish heavy cavalry is invincible in the world!
The army of more than 800 people has a great sense of justice. The soldiers are encouraged by the slogan: "Revenge for Trier! Expel the Norman pirates who occupied Coblenz!"
Many things are difficult to hide even if some people want to. Who attacked the city of Trier? It can be clearly identified as the Norman pirates. How did the pirates get all the way to Trier, because Ludwig had already contacted the Normans?
A despicable agreement was reached. Lothair did not have sufficient evidence, and he was not a fool. The mastermind behind the attack on Trier could figure it out with his toes.
As for Coblenz, there is ample evidence that it was occupied by the Normans, especially from the letters of the priests. Even if the Normans converted to Christianity, is this a reason not to attack? Ludwig has been raising a group of
Norman mercenaries who believed in God, their strength was greater than that of a standard army, and their strength was extraordinary. They could do all the hard and dirty work that was not suitable for pious people to do.
Regarding these, King Lothair still firmly believed that the so-called "Harald Clark Mercenaries" had never disappeared. This Norman mercenary group had done all the bad things, and it was this group of Normans who occupied Coblenz.
In this way, Quentin's flag team marched forward with a series of information obtained.
For the king! For God! Destroy the nobles who are collaborating with the Norman devil! Save the people oppressed by the pirates!
The soldiers' emotions were high. When they arrived at the city of Trier, which was severely damaged and repairs were too slow, their emotions immediately turned into anger.
Standing at Nicholas Gate, the northern gate that was burnt black but still standing, Quentin felt as angry as if his own home had been burned down.
When the people who had fled back saw the newly arrived Frankish army, they all gathered together and cried about their miserable experiences.
Even ordinary soldiers are regarded as saviors by the civilians, and everyone is given high hopes.
It is no secret that the Normans controlled Coblenz, and now these Trier refugees also know it.
The army took a short rest in this city to fully absorb the anger of the locals.
It is a right thing to kill the enemy, and it is also a right thing to punish those traitors who defected to the Normans. Anyone who does things for the Normans must be killed! All villages in Coblenz will go through the "Doomsday Judgment on Earth", and anyone who has done anything for the Normans must be killed.
Anyone who has served the Man people will be hanged!
Standing on the ruins of Trier, Quentin angrily preached his ideas of venting anger to the soldiers. His shouts attracted hundreds of responses. The suffering people howled heartbreakingly when they heard it.
After passing the Trier pontoon bridge, the army took a shortcut along the mountain road and rushed to Koblenz as quickly as possible.
Their anger and eagerness to achieve success suppressed their physical fatigue, and they moved forward as quickly as possible on their feet.
Even so, Quentin is neither deaf nor blind, and he learned some legends about the north. It is said that the Normans are not only a group of despicable pirates, but also good at land warfare. A group of weaklings who were beaten by Charlemagne in legend are now also
Has it become stronger? It must be so. There were colleagues stationed in Coblenz, and there was even a stone fortress. How come it was quickly captured by the Normans?
Could it be explained simply by the fact that there are too few local troops? Based on Quentin's understanding, this is probably the whole reason.
The road was once again close to the Moselle River, which was very close to Coblenz. After completing the final rest and recuperation, the whole army began the final sprint.
Flag captain Quentin kept wandering around the bonfire at night, constantly emphasizing discipline: "Polish your swords! Pack your shoes! We are about to enter our destination. We will first surround the first village, try the local nobles, and uncover
All villagers who have cooperated with the Normans will be hanged on the spot! However, you are not allowed to attack local women or rob wantonly! Violators will be beaten with twenty military sticks!"
The Frankish regular army has basic military discipline. In principle, it is a serious crime to attack civilians and priests!
Unless those people are evil people who have betrayed morality.
Quentin was ordered to cleanse Coblenz of all Norman forces and all traitors. The soldiers recognized their mission this time, and the entire army began a well-trained advance the next day.
So, the first village was suddenly surrounded by a large army.
Upon seeing this, the village knights, riding on thin horses and with their slightly depressed followers, cautiously greeted the Frankish army flying cross flags and lion flags. They were definitely not Ludwig's army. They could march from the upper reaches of the Moselle River
Only the army of the Middle Kingdom came.
Unable to greet the knight, the heavy cavalry surrounded him and immediately disarmed them.
"Why?! What are you doing?!" The knight's neck was also pressed, his whole body was pressed to the ground, and his face was pressed hard into the mud crushed by the horse's hoofs.
Quentin took off his helmet, rode proudly on his horse, and stared straight down with contemptuous eyes: "I don't need to know who you are, I only know that you are a traitor. You were originally the subjects of King Lothair, and now you are betraying
Kill the king! You deserve to die!"
"Why? Allow me to explain? I have never..."
"Come here! This person actually dares to quibble! Hit me!"
After a severe beating, the village knight lost his intuition. When he regained consciousness, he found that a rope had been tied around his neck.
He opened his eyes hard and suddenly found that his entire family had been arrested, and his sons, attendants at home, and even the stable boy who was responsible for taking care of the horses would also be sentenced to death.
Everyone's mouths were stuffed with cloth balls, and their hands and feet were tied tightly.
The whole village, old and young, was driven to one place by this group of warriors. The sun was setting in the west now, and the afterglow of the setting sun made the warriors in chainmail shine brightly. What they gave to everyone was not the slightest glory, but the fear that invaded the bone marrow.
Without any excuse, the whole family of the village knight was arrested, the men were hanged, and the women were taken into custody. In principle, they were sent to a women's monastery in the south to die.
Although Quentin, the banner captain, is a knight, he is really extraordinary. He has more than 800 combat troops and is directly responsible to King Lothair. Now he is carrying out the king's orders.
He came prepared and executed the prisoners not indiscriminately.
He took out a parchment scroll, and Lothair's imperial edict was written on it.
He read in public that the army was ordered to execute all the nobles of Coblenz who had betrayed the king and defected to the Normans. The execution had nothing to do with the civilians, but all those who had cooperated with the Normans would also be punished.
The death sentence had been pronounced, the ropes were pulled up, and all the prisoners were hung on the trees, struggling desperately and gradually losing their breath.
Quentin squinted his eyes and quietly watched the deaths of those people, and then stared at the trembling villagers who were hugging each other like a devil.
"Say! Who else has worked for the Normans?!"
No one answered for a while.
He asked three times in a row, but all the people responded to was trembling.
"It seems you won't tell me!"
If the Normans were like demons when they were killing and robbing, the current Quentin Westerlad is also half as good.
He ordered his subordinates to dig out all the honest male farmers, and then issued a "kill order on October 1."
For a while, the women cried and the men howled, and the unlucky ones who were selected were frightened and fainted on the spot. Even so, they were still twisted, put on ropes, and hanged alive on the tree.
Although the priest in the village denounced this atrocity like the apostle of Satan, what he got in return was the indifference of Quentin and his gang.
He would never attack a priest, but he did threaten him.
After being frightened for a while, the priest shut up. Quentin gave the priest a task, which was to solve the aftermath of the punishment.
The army would not stay in the first village for long. The next day, after looting the property and food of the slain knights in the village, this killing force continued to focus on the second village.
It's the same killing, but this time because the village is close to the river, those with quick legs feel in danger, so they don't care about taking the soft goods from their homes, and run away with their wives and children, sitting in a boat and going down the river...
When the first wave of refugees appeared, the third village that heard the news immediately began to flee. The refugees claimed that the knight master in their village had been arrested and hanged. The troops who claimed to be loyal to King Lothair claimed that they were all killed on orders.
All the nobles will be killed for betraying Lothair.
Facing a powerful enemy, the village knights felt that they had no ability to resist at all, and the only thing they could rely on now was the Norman army.
The top priority is to escape!
No, the most real news of the killings came to the village of Nassau with the extremely fast rowing dragon-headed warships of the Normans. This was the command of Eric stationed in the Coblenz Fortress with witnesses and trembling soldiers.
The village knight came in person, and the information given by multiple witnesses living in different places was very different. It was undoubtedly a bolt from the blue.
How many enemies are there? Maybe a thousand more. What is the enemy's purpose? It seems like they are just killing people everywhere.
The Frankish army suddenly arrived without any warning, and Black Fox felt regretful for his carelessness. But things had already happened. The purpose of the crusade was to recapture Coblenz. How could they succeed in such a thing?
Of course, Black Fox does not feel that the local civilians must be saved. The key lies in the strategic location of Coblenz. Ross's strategic fulcrum in the middle and upper reaches of the Rhine River is in the Lahn River Valley of Nassau, and Coblenz is the gateway. Lost
It, Ross's layout is broken.
What can he do?!
Black Fox decisively mobilized. He was young and energetic and wanted to establish a career on his own. However, out of self-confidence, he was unwilling to ask for support from his friends who came to the mouth of the Inn River.
It is possible to piece together an army of 700 to 900 people by relying on the northern heroes, Utrecht immigrants and local villagers on hand.
Those so-called soldiers who only hold simple weapons and don't wear armor are best used to wave flags and shout. After quickly counting their own strength, Black Fox estimated that he could mobilize at most 500 reliable soldiers.
that's enough.
However, it may not be necessary to rely solely on these people to fight to the death against the huge army that suddenly comes.
At this moment, the cunning nature of a businessman made his fat head work rapidly.
"Of course Coblenz can't be lost, and I'm not at the point where I have to fight them to the last drop of blood."
It was at this critical moment that Father Conrad could not ignore the armed action in this settlement. He walked into the baron's mansion, where he faced an unexpected situation. The four of them, Black Fox, Robert and the two newly loyal knights,
Faced with emergencies, there is no end to talking.
When Father Conrad came, everyone was silent.
"I beg you!" The priest said with a tearful voice, "Since those armies are demons! I beg you to save the people first! Let them have no one to kill! Go save the innocent lambs! Use your ships to save them."
They were transported to the other side of the river. You are also a Christian, and your righteousness will be praised forever."
When the priest said this, Black Fox remembered that there was indeed a sterling silver cross hanging on his chest.
At first, Black Fox was hesitant about evacuating the people in the Koblenz riverside area. He could rescue him. Although there were not many boats at hand, their carrying capacity was very strong. In addition, the riverside residents had many small boats, so they could
Provide assistance for transporting people.
Black Fox can hesitate, his fiancée Sophia has been persuaded by Conrad. The education this little girl received makes her consciously save people from fire and water. After all, her identity is also the ruler of Koblenz, and she is not the one who rules.
A piece of land, including the residents on it.
Now faced with his wife's determination, the hesitant Black Fox no longer hesitated.
At this moment, Robert, who was waiting for the ship, raised a new possibility: "Why risk it now? It's not like your brother won't come, I'm afraid they are already on the way at this moment. I don't have many people now, but I can help you. I also
I can’t bear to see those guys killing indiscriminately in Lothair’s name, which is why I have never been loyal to Lothair.”
Black Fox then thought that as long as the war was delayed a little, he could wait for his second brother Blue Fox's ship. By then, Robert's family would have to leave by ship.
"Then let's not fight for now. Let's delay the war first! Evacuate as many people as possible first! Fight with them for time! Assemble all the ships and rush to make rafts, and we won't stop at night! Evacuate all the villagers under the Koblenz Fortress!"