According to Father Conrad, it takes a whole day to start from Nassau Abbey and walk up the mountain road to Wallendaal Abbey.
He estimated that he would have to walk twelve Roman miles, and even if he started from Emsbad, ten Roman miles (about 15 kilometers) would be indispensable.
Didn’t they already use the Frankish unit of length? This is indeed the case. However, Charlemagne’s unified weights and measures were a slight adjustment to the old Roman system. For the church clergy headquartered in Europe, they are still accustomed to the old Roman system, which is different from the 500-year-old system.
There was no difference before.
Traveling long distances on foot is a great test for an elderly priest.
The team has entered the mountainous area. The explorers under Blue Fox used fire salt and tinder and took out the bow drill to easily make a fire.
The black bread baked during the night was now cold. They were put on sticks and placed by the campfire to bake and heat, and finally they were spread with butter and honey and eaten.
Although he was very tired, Conrad held on to the wooden branch with the pieces of bread stuck on it. The aroma rushed into his nose and he couldn't help but eat it happily.
"Ah! It is a kind of enjoyment to be able to eat sweet and delicious food in the barren mountains."
Everyone was busy taking a rest, and almost no one paid attention to the priest. But Lan Hu heard it, and he happened to have many things to ask.
"Papa, how far is it?"
"It's summer now, we'll be there in the evening."
"Very good. This unlucky mountainous area has made me dizzy. It's easy to get lost without your guidance."
It sounded like a compliment, but Conrad didn't want to have an unfortunate "summer outing" at all. "Joseph, why do you bother?" he asked.
"What's wrong?"
"You Russians are good at sailing. Why don't you let the reinforcements row directly to Nassau? Why let them go overland? What do you want? To make yourself happy?"
"Haha. Although it's a bit troublesome, in order to ensure a safe battle, I decided to take this step." Blue Fox sighed softly.
Talking about the blue fox's strategizing is really an exaggeration. The so-called mountain road does not exist. There are streams here, such as mountain torrents that have washed away a lot of stones, and naturally there is a gravel road. It can walk people, and if you want the army to walk quickly,
Very challenging.
More importantly, the reinforcements will carry a lot of equipment, the most critical of which is a group of heavy armor.
Do we expect soldiers to wear heavy armor, carry personal belongings, bedding, bucklers, weapons and equipment, and walk as fast as they can on their feet? What's more, the Seventh Flag Army is a group of young men with high fighting spirit but their physical fitness needs to be improved.
"Maybe you have a reason..." Conrad stopped asking. He ate the bread and pointed to the northwest with a wooden stick in his hand: "The mountainous area is not complicated. After passing this mountain col, you will enter the flat area. There is a
There is a road in the forest land, and there are some farmland on both sides of the road. We can reach it directly by following the road."
"Without further ado, let's set out urgently. Me!" The blue fox stood up and patted himself, casually licking his oily hands in his mouth and then rubbing them on his clothes: "I have to hurry up.
Go over and explore the landing point of our army."
The structure of the huge Hessian mountainous area is extremely fragmented. There is only one big mountain in the southeast, the Taunus Mountain, and the rest are low hills. The valleys between the hills must form a plain that may be wide or narrow, and there must be some
Streams. Some plains have reclamation value, and some are simply mountain torrent discharge channels.
The rest of the journey was uneventful. The accompanying warriors carried bows, wooden sticks used as marching poles, and daggers tied to short spears. They were worried that wild beasts would attack, but all they saw were scattered squirrels and sudden squirrels.
Birdsong.
"There is woodland ahead, and Wallendaal is in it."
The priest, whose calf was sore, looked exhausted. He still carried the cross-shaped cane on his last journey and took off his black hood. Wearing a black robe, he looked like an ascetic who had experienced hardships but had a strong will.
The difference is that these Russians, even the former big fat Blue Fox, are brothers who are still in good spirits.
…
For the civilians living in the woods, the sudden intrusion of a group of outsiders made them stay on high alert.
Until these people showed two flags.
One side is a white cloth with a black cross on it, and the other side is a white cloth with blue stripes painted diagonally.
The villagers knew the cross and saw that there were priests in black robes among them, so their initial vigilance dissipated a lot.
The blue fox and his party walked majestically through small-scale farmland and entered the forest. When a bold villager came to hear the news and learned that it was Father Conrad of Nassau Abbey, he simply became a guide.
Soon, they found themselves in a small forest village with a stream running through the village. The blue fox took a look and determined that it was unnavigable.
The villagers use local materials to build their houses with stones, and use wood haystacks to build roofs. The largest building in the village is the monastery, which is also made of pure stone. There is even a stone tower with a bronze bell hanging high on the narrow tower.
It's clearly visible.
The intrusion of outsiders attracted many vigilant villagers to watch. The local priest Dolf learned that a priest from Nassau had suddenly arrived. He didn't know what had happened, so he quickly packed his robes and plated the most precious copper with silver.
Wear it on your chest and take the priests out to meet in person.
Under the bronze bell of the high tower of the monastery, two clergymen in black robes stood face to face in a rare sight. The difference was that behind Father Conrad stood a group of tall warriors with pure blond hair.
"They are Normans. What are they doing here..." Father Dolph did not dare to ask so presumptuously.
He was nervous at first, but as Father Conrad spoke first, the topic quickly changed.
Because, walking through the forest and standing on the banks of the Rhine River, black smoke was still rising from a place not far away. The burning Koblenz was there, and the Wallendaal Abbey, now hidden in the forest, finally knew the more serious inside story.
He also learned the origin of all disasters.
There will soon be a large-scale and inevitably bloody war, and Wallendaal Abbey cannot be immune to this because it is too close to the battlefield.
Everyone was invited into the monastery, and all the Russian warriors, including Blue Fox, showed off the cross pendants they had prepared.
They collectively put on a play and prayed in this simple monastery, and as expected, they immediately gained the favor of the local clergy.
When Blue Fox took out the prepared gift, he was so happy that he shed tears, and coupled with the persuasion of Father Conrad, the local priest Dolph believed all the words.
Even accepting such a reality that they do not want to accept but have to accept - Valandar Abbey has become a part of the war.
Father Dolph had no choice. Legally, he now had to obey the orders of the Archbishop of Cologne, and Cologne was a multi-faceted ally of these Normans.
To his surprise, the previously sent messenger met the Norman fleet. It was this fleet that had just stopped in Cologne. It was the Norman man in front of him who called himself Joseph Blue Fox. Archbishop Hardbo had recently arrived.
Germany has in-depth exchanges.
The gift giver was a noble man, and Dolph, who knew he couldn't be offended, had no choice but to comply.
"So, what can we do for you?" the priest asked deliberately, and the implication was to explore the role Wallendaal wanted to play in the next war.
Blue Fox answered simply: "We are allies, but you don't understand us. Organize all your villagers, organize all your horses, donkeys and carts, and when my army lands, they will act as my men to carry supplies. You follow
We’re going to take a trip to Nassau and there will be a monetary reward for anyone who participates.”
The priest cannot say that he is greedy for money. The gift of a pound of silver coins has greatly impressed Dolph, and the large number of hard "papyrus" made his eyes light up. As for the gift of a "transparent crystal cup", the so-called
It can be used as a sacred vessel for mass ceremonies and infant baptism, which reflects the piety of these Normans.
Work for the Baron of Nassau and get paid! This is an act of charity that the villagers have never heard of.
Since ancient times, it has been compulsory for ordinary people to serve the nobles, so how can they still get some rewards? They have no doubt that there are only 200 villagers in Wallendal, and only more than 50 strong men can be mobilized. According to them
According to the belief, local women must not engage in labor. Fortunately, each family took out all their carts, and the monastery also contributed donkeys for pulling stone rollers and horses for pulling firewood carts.
There are not many civilians, and there are few means of transportation, but it is better than nothing.
Blue Fox and his party stayed overnight in Wallendaal in the forest. Early the next morning, he led his entourage through the woods and stood on the bank of the Rhine River. He quickly selected a land with soft mud as a landing site.
This place was definitely not chosen randomly. The villagers who led the way pointed out that the place is called uvervare, which means "the ferry from where you row to the other side." The locals only have small boats and do not usually move on the Rhine River. The most useful use of their small boats is actually
Meet the travel needs of local priests.
The villagers of Linzi will almost never leave the small land where they were born. Even if they intend to go to Nassau to get a reward, for many people this is the furthest excursion in their lives.
Standing at the landing site, Blue Fox could see the thick smoke still rising not far away. This was undoubtedly Coblenz. However, due to the direction of the river and the cover of the forest, he could not see clearly the still smoldering residential areas, which also occupied the local area.
The Frankish army could not see itself. This was exactly what he wanted! The so-called huge reinforcements took a detour with a lot of sweat, and finally appeared behind the enemy without being aware of it.
According to Blue Fox's vision, the triangle area in Koblenz sandwiched by two rivers will definitely become a desperate situation from which there is no escape, and the enemy must be annihilated.
Heavy armor and heavy weapons and equipment are the key to victory. How powerful they are on the battlefield will be how laborious they are to transport during non-combat periods.
The young Seventh Flag Team will carry at least ten torsion slingshots. Even if the various parts can be assembled into a push-pull mobile and flexible weapon, don't expect the soldiers to carry the two crossbows all the way through the ten-mile mountain pass.
.
There are too few local laborers, and more laborers and vehicles need to be transported from Nassau.
For the sake of tactical concealment, Blue Fox would rather choose a difficult path.
No, on the second day after arriving in Wallendal, two warriors with excellent legs and feet marched lightly. They only had swords hanging on their waists, and only brought their lunch rations and drinking water with them, and returned the same way.
The smart blue fox follows the same tricks that the Russians used to hunt in winter and made obvious marks along the way. Here, they tied branches with conspicuous blue and white cloth strips and drove wooden stakes.
So at noon on the fifth day, the Nassau armed villagers, who were most easily mobilized, and some Ross garrison soldiers assembled a behemoth of more than 400 people, driving a group of cattle and horses used as animal power, and pulling some wooden carts.
It took a day and a half and spent the night on the spot before arriving in Wallendaal.
This team alone has shocked these forest residents. Father Dolf could not have imagined that the Norman Joseph Blue Fox had such ability. Now he is extremely convinced that there will indeed be an army of a thousand people rowing.
Everything is under the control of Lan Hu, or there is a tacit understanding.
At the mouth of the Rhine River, the various Nordic heroes stationed here did not hesitate to lay their longboats in the rich fishing ground at the mouth of the river during the period of peace. They tried their best to catch herring and cod, smoked and dried fish and
He took seawater to boil salt on a large scale, first to satisfy his appetite, and secondly to reserve military rations for the expedition.
The new order from Blue Fox actually requires the elite Ross troops stationed here to go retrograde to Nassau to participate in a defense battle?!
Blue Fox actually didn't tell everyone about the good news of the war. Although the nobles were regretful, they could only watch a thousand elites quickly organize their supplies and march upstream.
Therefore, from their standpoint, a few days after the army drifted to Rotterstad at the mouth of the sea, Nassau upstream was in danger. No one could have imagined that the Franks took action first.
After receiving the order, Grund and Askard and their troops loaded various supplies onto the longships, and then jumped on board one by one. Adults and young people mixed together, and the forty longships moved at full strength.
But on the day that Lan Hu hoped for, he still had no way to take care of the reinforcements he had been waiting for. He could understand that there was inevitably a delay in time due to some circumstances. Fortunately, the next morning, on the wide channel of the Inn River, a group of captains
The boat flapped its huge oars rhythmically, like an albatross flapping its wings on the water surface, preparing to take off.
The width of the Rhine River here is stable at about 300 meters, and the river runs in a north-south direction. This is very disadvantageous for the Russian army sailing in the summer. It cannot use the power of the north wind to fight the river water, and the entire army can only rely on non-stop paddling.
Paddleboarding is a great test for everyone’s body.
Veteran Grund saw the Ross flag flying high by the river. That was probably Nassau?
He saw some people wearing their own clothes stationed on the shore, and some even stood up straight, waving small flags with both hands and using horns to signal the fleet.
No, all the ships rushed into the preset landing site under correct guidance. The oak keels dug up the mud. After the soldiers put away the oars, they twisted their bodies hard before turning over and getting off the ship to rest.
Blue Fox himself stood here, still happy to see the army arrive even one day late.
"You are one day late." He faced Grund with a smile.
"No way. No one would have thought that the current flow of the river is not pleasant. Is this Nassau?"
"Not really."
Grund frowned: "Where is this? Where are the enemies? Although the brothers are tired, they still have the strength to put on their armor and fight with them immediately, and they are very strong."
"Really?" Blue Fox shrugged: "You really have to prove that you are strong, but... I don't know how Asgard is."
The too-young Ascard is here, rowing for many days in a row, even if his arms are sore, in order to prove that he is indeed a real old Russian.
After all, just like Ross's name, rowing hard to sail a long distance is an immutable ancestral method.
When Askard was questioned, the boy curled his lips and looked extremely stubborn: "I am not a coward. Where is the enemy? My sword wants to drink blood."
"You? Boy! You have a very wild tone, I like it. But now is not the time to fight."
When Blue Fox explained the situation to the two officers, their morale, which had been high due to the landing, inevitably dropped a lot.
"Why bother?!" At this landing site, veteran Grund became suspicious of Blue Fox: "Brothers are never afraid of bloodshed. We just force the beach to land and kill them, how about it? Our sneaky actions now make us look cowardly.
.You...now look like a businessman, good at calculation."
The last words were not compliments. Blue Fox lowered his face and said, "This is called tactics! Do you understand tactics? Even when the king comes, he has to praise me. I am the commander appointed by the king, and everyone must listen to me."
"Yes!" Grund replied perfunctorily: "I'll listen to you. I value the result more. Even though this is the territory of the Franks, brothers don't trust their people. To annihilate the enemies of Coblenz, we will sacrifice our blood to Austria.
Man."
"Of course." Blue Fox forced out a smile again: "The ship will be parked here first, and I will leave a small number of people to take care of it. Others, through the forest of Wallendal, we will enter Nassau from the mountains and emerge from behind the enemy's rear.
.Sealing the enemy's retreat is like catching a fish in a pottery jar. How you catch it depends on your mood."
"Yes. This metaphor is interesting. Catching fish in a urn..." Grund nodded with satisfaction and said no more.
There was nothing wrong with the next move, if anything it was a heavy rain.
Summer rains are always accompanied by thunder and lightning. Fortunately, when the heavy rain poured down, thousands of reinforcements, as well as civilians transporting heavy equipment, had successfully passed through the mountains and arrived at Emsbad, a place that produces stone and can be used for hot springs.
Good place.
Since there is a hot spring in this place, let's take a good rest to prepare for the future battle.
Thunder and lightning are considered to be the will of the God of Thunder, and the reinforcements stationed in Nassau believe that this is a warning from the gods and a blessing for war.
Two consecutive days of heavy rain caused floods in the mountainous areas and caused the Lan River to become turbid. The army complained endlessly, but fortunately the sun shone brightly again on the third day.
They lit bonfires to wash their clothes, and then jumped into the hot spring pools in groups to clean themselves with soap. In this way, everyone could say that they had completed bathing and changing clothes before the war, and the soldiers would face the powerful enemy with the most glorious image.
For Blue Fox, the fighter plane he was waiting for was fully mature, and even this thunderstorm became a wonderful boost.
It is conceivable that the Frankish troops were ordered to garrison in Coblenz. As a result, almost all the houses were burned down, leaving the army with nowhere to hide. The sudden drop in temperature may have made many people exhausted, and the stored military rations were also flooded. If this was not enough,
To retreat is to seek death.
According to the reports of the soldiers who were carrying out harassment tactics on the river as usual, the Frankish army had withdrawn to the fortress. They were clearly trying to strengthen the fortress. However, all the wooden structures of the fortress were burned in the fire. It would take a long time to rebuild it. At least there were
Trees could be cut down on the mounds to make a large number of shacks, and the Frankish army had built their crude military camps. Of course, such military camps were not fortresses and had no defense capabilities.
This was really the good information that everyone hoped for. After final rectification, combat operations with the goal of annihilation began.
First of all, a large-scale river crossing operation started from the upstream Shipai Ferry...