Chapter 1179 The Great Plunder of the Moselle River
A sergeant named Omlet appeared in front of the Black Fox as a senior guide.
After being officially canonized, he spoke arrogantly: "Your name is Omulat? What is your identity?"
"Yes. I am a centurion."
"Centurion? Could it be Ludwig...oh no. The king assigned you to me, where is your army?"
"Of course there is none."
"You came here empty-handed? Alone? Now we have to believe that you can successfully bring the brothers to that place called Thrall? Are you worthy of our trust?"
Omlet was obviously much older than Black Fox. He maintained a forbearing and calm attitude, neither humble nor overbearing, and calmly replied: "I am worthy of trust."
"Forget it. I guess the king can't find any wise men. Just follow us. If you really lead the brothers to the right place, I will reward you."
"That's fine."
"Huh? Giving you rewards, such as some money and wine, can't make you happy? You look glum. Could it be that you have suffered some injustice in the king's military camp?"
"Nothing. Whatever happens is fine..."
"Whatever." Black Fox didn't want to talk any more. He estimated that this guide was a person with a lot of stories and his strange experiences could be the subject of conversation during the voyage. There was no need to think about it now.
In fact, this Omlet is an alcoholic.
He accepted wine, ale and even rye, just because drinking delayed the opportunity to fight. Last year in the battle of Kaiserslautern, many people in the entire centurion followed their old man to drink before the battle, so they appeared on the battlefield in a dazed manner.
.As a centurion, he bears full responsibility!
After the war, he was punished. As a veteran of the standing army, Ludwig felt soft and did not execute him. Instead, he deducted one year's salary and spent seven days in a wooden cage to reflect.
Throwing him to the Russians in Nassau as a guide was, in a sense, a punishment of exile.
It is not uncommon for soldiers to drink ale and wine freely. This guy is a typical example of someone who dares to lead his troops to get drunk before a big battle.
His behavior of being neither humble nor arrogant in front of the black fox is definitely not due to his personality. It is actually because he drank too much wine and polluted his spirit. If he didn't drink, he would be drowsy. On the contrary, drinking a large glass of ale will soon make him stronger.
Edge up.
But how does Black Fox know this?
The Black Fox had his own complaints in Mainz, and Ludwig's new request after the grand canonization was, "The king has given you a title, wouldn't it be reasonable for you to express a gift now?" So after some bargaining
, the young Black Fox had no choice but to take out five longships and continue to "lease them free of charge" to Ludwig. The return deadline is Christmas this year.
Can the longship be returned after being snatched away by that domineering guy? The black fox felt a bit uneasy.
Traditional longboats are no longer rare in the Kingdom of Rus. All wealthy owners or fishermen who are desperately saving money order higher-end rowing boats.
The newly built traditional longboat is made by adding some strange elements to the old model. Buyers can ask the craftsmen to add materials according to their personal preferences.
On the other hand, many of the old longships have been soaked in the water for twenty years. Thanks to the careful use of materials for the keels and ribs during shipbuilding, they can still continue to operate today...
To be fair, Black Fox has a lot of longships on hand, but they are all old objects. How many more years can they be used? If you can use the old ships to cheat Ludwig at a high price in the future, it can also be regarded as the afterglow of old objects.
Already.
So Omlet looked wilted on the way back, but when the fleet finally returned to the village of Nassau, the brothers who disembarked happily went to drink this year's new wine, and he quickly became energetic after drinking a large glass of it.
.
Omlet became excited and started shouting arrogance in his Bavarian dialect, which Black Fox and his brothers couldn't understand, and even the local Nassau villagers couldn't understand.
Until this guy was punched by an impatient waiter, he covered his face and finally came to his senses.
In order to celebrate Sofia becoming an earl and Black Fox becoming the baron of Wiesbaden, it coincided with the start of wine production in the Land River Valley this year, so an open-air wine banquet was indispensable.
The last grapes from last year's harvest spent the entire winter
After a very long silent fermentation, it became the first batch of wine this year. Although the low temperature environment forced the fermentation to take longer, it was still a good quality wine, which was drank up by the reveling warriors, and Sofia was not exempt from tax.
Drunk.
Everything is just the beginning, because last year we mobilized manpower to expand grape planting, and now it is time to harvest grapes on a large scale, and larger-scale brewing operations have begun.
Everything is worth celebrating. All the warriors who have been knighted know that because Sophia's title is legal, so is their identity.
They are not entirely happy about this. A new opportunity for war is just around the corner. This time the army will follow the old path they looted last year. Not only will they revisit the old place of Trier, but their destination is a place further upstream called Salvador.
The place in La Brucken. It doesn’t matter if the place name is pronounced strangely. This operation is still the same as last year. The looting and arson were approved by Ludwig again. A new opportunity to make a fortune has arrived!
In fact, the dispatched guide Omlet specially explained a new situation that made the brothers happy - there are special products in the Saar region.
What's the specialty there? The answer is apple cider.
Apple cider? The battle-hardened brothers have never had it again.
"Not only apple cider? There are also perry wine, cherry wine... You have robbed Sal, and you must look for some barrels. There may be this kind of delicious food. Don't forget to let me drink it too, haha..."
No one regarded Omlet's description as bragging. The brothers didn't know what the word afpel meant, but when they thought of "red" or "very sweet", they could use their imagination to think of some kind of delicious food, or
It's raspberry preserves.
Looting delicacies and feasting on them was largely the driving force behind the plundering of northerners. Now that the lives of the brothers who immigrated to Nassau are getting better, their desire for delicacies has not diminished.
Even, they have more desires, such as robbing people, especially young women.
The Ross warriors who all became vassals of the Count of Nassau, although there is no fiefdom now, there will definitely be one in the future. The huge Lyingau where Nassau is located is full of uncultivated potential wasteland, even if their own land is only one-third of an acre.
Some married a wife and gave birth to a group of children, and then controlled some slaves to live a life, and a Frank-style knighthood was probably established...
Why go out to sea for business? Almost all the brothers are not from the Ross tribe, they are franchisees who always use the banner of Ross. The King of Ross gives the brothers a possibility to live and work in peace and contentment. In the end, the good days now are still for everyone to kill them with swords and axes.
.Now the brothers are more loyal to the young Black Fox and the younger Sophia.
What are we going to do when we march into the Saar region? The soldiers who gathered quickly already knew it.
Killing, looting, and arson are tasks, but other than that, everyone gets what they need according to their abilities.
The army assembled, and the warriors once again put on their reinforced leather helmets, round shields with the image of Ross's oars on their backs, and put on standard Ross robes to cover their chain mail and cloth face armor.
They are still flying the flag of the Kingdom of Rus as a matter of course. They will always act under the flag of Rus until the County of Nassau draws its own flag.
There was no sacrifice to the northern gods because everyone was no longer Odin's warriors. Father Conrad also claimed that he was ill and did not do Catholic blessings, but in fact he did not want to violate his conscience.
It seemed that this expedition was not blessed by any of the gods, but the brothers didn't care.
Married warriors and their women gathered at the docks of Nassau Village to deliver the last supplies to their Norman men, even small crosses that were said to be blessed as amulets, or most directly, full beards for their husbands.
A kiss on the face.
A large number of unmarried warriors looked at this grand occasion with awe. They were young and full of wildness, and regarded the women in the group of refugees from Coblenz as crooked women and did not bother to marry them. Because the good-looking ones had already been married off, they did not want to make do with it.
This time they just want to grab some beautiful things in the Saar region.
On the shore, the black fox head wearing chain mail was still bloated, and the helmet he was wearing was still crowded with the flesh on his face.
Sophia, who was in a complicated mood, would not hold back from the expedition. She squeezed her husband's fat hand tightly, tilted her head and muttered silently:
"This time, we must win. You must loot as much as you can, and you must make a fortune."
"What did you say? Make a fortune?" Black Fox was surprised.
"We must make a fortune, we must become powerful."
Listening to these black foxes, he couldn't believe his ears. He gently lifted his wife's chin: "Some people say that I am not a warrior, which is to underestimate me. And you. I see that you are already a Norman noble, and Liuli."
Just like the female nobles under Ke's command, you... are a Valkyrie."
"Thank you for the compliment." Sofia didn't smile at all, but gave her final instructions: "Don't let anything happen to you."
"That's natural. The title can only be inherited by our children. Let's go."
Shaking off his wife's hand, the black fox clumsily jumped to the side of the boat like a fat bear. When he jumped onto the long boat, the boat floating on the pier shook violently.
For this attack on Nassau, more than half of the elite troops were sent. Four hundred Russian warriors with knighthoods, coupled with a hundred brave men selected from Nassau and Coblenz, totaled an army of just over 500.
Take twenty longships and start the operation.
On the shore, Sofia leaned her head and watched them leave quietly, until the last boat disappeared into the river bend, completely covering the mast for the hills.
"Am I really what they call Valkyrie? If so, I should do better."….
Faced with a complicated situation, an extremely noble aristocratic girl is either driven crazy, or is forced by the current situation to become a female military aristocrat. There is no doubt that Sophia belongs to the latter.
There was no need for five hundred warriors to board twenty boats. This was done deliberately by Black Fox. Considering the need for plundering and capturing prisoners, he had to reserve a few empty boats and use the existing production value as vacancies.
Lots of locations.
For this reason, he made some military adventures. The so-called soldiers did not carry much rations, and they did not have large or small bags with bedding. It was midsummer now, and the soldiers were lying on the grass wearing armor and sleeping soundly. There was no need to worry.
If you catch a cold, you can naturally ignore a lot of baggage, and the space and ship load you free up can best be filled with the legendary cider you plundered.
In this way, the army's supplies relied heavily on local supplies.
Where to go for supplies? Didn't we sail up the Moselle River last year and plunder a village along the way? Of course we will plunder more villages this time.
The Ross army who was ordered to plunder bypassed the ruins of Coblenz. The black fox took the general, Vardy, who became the baron, and the two knights of Lyingau who had surrendered early, and Gilbert, who was now the baron urgently.
Ted and Ballard.
Vardy has no psychological burden for looting and arson, but the latter two are a bit worse. It is Black Fox's request to bring these two with them. They must continue to prove through their military exploits that they are indeed loyal to Nassau.
This was a challenge for Gilbert and Ballard. Even if they were ordered to rob, they were not very willing.
Omlet's guide is not needed for the rest of the voyage.
Let’s look at this sergeant from the Eastern Kingdom. He was dressed like a so-called Norman Rus. Putting on a blue-striped white robe, his mentality changed. It was as if his suppressed soul had been released. He knew that putting on this suit of clothes could bring about the precepts of his faith.
Forget about it. As for the souls that do evil things and go to hell? Who knows? He looked around and saw that these Russians didn't care about anything. Maybe he...
No, the fleet went upstream and once again arrived at the "Dawn Valley" that had been looted. The river here made a big bend, with steep rock walls on the right bank and flat land on the left bank.
The villagers could not forget the difficulties they had encountered and called the strange ship with pointed ends the "Apostle of Satan."
"Satan! He's here again! Everyone, run away!"
The messenger rushed to the village, and the news quickly spread throughout the small village. The small bronze bell newly hung in the village monastery was beaten wildly, and the priest personally led the villagers to flee to the mountains and forests to the west.
The sound of the copper bell was too obvious, and the soldiers who were eager to get supplies immediately landed. It didn't matter that the villagers escaped faster than last time, as long as the army got the supplies.
"Is there any cider in this place?" The soldiers, who were obsessed with the wine, quickly completed the occupation of the village, and then began to search through the boxes and cabinets.
The so-called sweet cider was not found, but some wheat, dried fish, slightly smelly cheese, and more than ten wooden barrels were found.
Of course it's not cider. When you open the barrel, you will be greeted by the unique aroma of ale. It was worthy of seizing some low-quality fermented ale, so the army camped in the Dawn Valley, sharing the seized ale and slaughtering the cattle and sheep that the locals had no time to take away.
It is said that this place belongs to Trier, and it is either an ally or an enemy. It is said that the Archbishop of Trier supports Lothair, and it is an obligation to destroy this place in accordance with the treaty...
After all, they were still the Russian army. No, the bonfire that was about to go out early in the morning was lit with more firewood.
The soldiers came out of the houses where they stayed and went to the bonfire to receive lit torches.
As the commander of the operation, the obese Black Fox must hold a charred wooden stick with a huge flame. "Brothers! Last year we didn't burn down this village on a large scale because of the rain. We can't let it go this year. Follow me!"
Arson!"
All the soldiers responded to the call, and Gilbert and Ballard among them had to hold on to the burning torch.
"What else can you do? Just follow them and set fire to it."
"It can only be like this. In the final analysis, it is a task given by Ludwig, and we can only obey it. May the Lord forgive us."
At least the villagers escaped completely, and the two of them did not feel much guilt for simply setting fire. Together with the Russians, they burned down the village of Dawn Valley. They also slaughtered all the cattle and sheep, specially chopped off the limbs of the animals and roasted them half-cooked overnight to serve as food.
Military rations.
The big oars continued to row, and the Ross fleet continued to move against the Moselle River. Behind them was the village with thick smoke. The unparalleled smoke was clearly visible to the residents of Trier, which was not very far away.
On the ruins of the cathedral, church reconstruction work continues. Detrier is an ancient stone city from the Roman era. Even after a fire, it is not difficult to repair wooden buildings on the ruins.
Refugees who had nowhere to go last year returned one after another and struggled to rebuild their homes on the ruins. The Frankish army passing through was said to be to regain Coblenz, which had been stolen by the Normans. Their righteous act was cheered by the people, but they suffered from the inability to take revenge.
The people spontaneously gave some supplies to the advancing Quentin Banner Corps, which contained the New Year's promise of victory, and watched as the Frankish army gradually disappeared from sight.
What's going on with the thick smoke in the north?
The mentally sensitive residents of Trier were suddenly panicked. Archbishop Hutto, who had learned a lesson from his mistakes, had no choice but to summon the lower-level priests overnight. Faced with nearly a thousand people who poured into the church that was still being slowly repaired, he reluctantly announced: "
We evacuate immediately just in case. God will punish those devils and we must survive."
The great evacuation of the residents of Trier began. The church acted as the presence of the great nobles here. The people completely obeyed the orders of the archbishop. They left without a single complaint and followed the bishop's fatal evacuation route as soon as possible.
Don't they try to resist?
Even if Hutto, who had suffered great losses, had such an idea, he had no such power under the current situation. The Bishopric of Trier was a member of the imperial faction, and Hutto supported Lothair as the "only Roman emperor."
, the parish received many privileges. In exchange, the local area could not recruit mercenaries privately. The existing mercenaries only assisted in collecting taxes and in principle obeyed the king's dispatch. The local defense was completely outsourced to the army of the Middle Kingdom. The garrison's headquarters was located in
Not very far from the Fortress of Luxembourg.
What civilized nobleman would go back to attack a monastery or even burn a cathedral? Such evildoers will surely be punished.
But the Normans didn’t do this at all!
The original agreement made with the late King Louis the Pious was that the diocese of Trier was essentially undefended. It never imagined that it could be attacked by a group of Norman pirates crossing the sea in the heart of the empire...
They had no choice but to flee. Hutto had already issued an evacuation order, instructing people to evacuate towards the safe direction of Metz or Saar. In order to avoid exposing themselves, they should try their best to get into the forest with their skins, and they should go together to avoid encountering bears.
The wolf attacked. In this way, Hutto and the priests loaded the sacred objects and other important items into the carriage overnight, and drove straight to Metz along the Roman Avenue by the river by carriage...
The Black Fox's army arrived in Trier on the third day after they left Dawn Valley. All the soldiers reached a consensus. Considering that Trier suffered a big loss last year, they must be prepared for the city this year. The brothers are about to
Facing the heartbeat
World War I. They spent some time sharpening their swords and were more cautious when marching.
However, when they arrived in Trier for the second time, what they saw was almost an empty city.
There were only a few people hanging out at the riverside pier. Some boats seemed to be planning to leave, and some were already paddling hard upstream.
"Weird thing, are they trying to escape?!" Black Fox squinted his eyes and already guessed roughly.
Wadi, who was also on the flagship, couldn't help complaining: "Maybe our arson will expose our whereabouts again. They will have time to escape, and we may not be able to steal much."
"It doesn't matter, this city is still in ruins. Look, the fire we set has blackened the city gates."
"Haha, I think so. What should we do?" Wadi asked again.
"Go ashore and rest! I hope we can find something good."
The so-called door blackened by the fire is the Nicholas Gate. It was burned black three hundred years ago, and the fire last year made it blacker and darker.
The army still captured nearly a hundred people who had no time to escape in the city. After hearing some information, half of the prisoners were deliberately taken to the riverside and killed one by one.
The other half of the prisoners witnessed the brutal killing in horror, but they were released.
He became the instigator of cruel methods, and the black fox looked indifferent when he saw the dead bodies floating along the river.
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The opportunity is now!"
As a result, all the longships began to rush onto the beach...