Chapter 1187 We will spend the night in Maastricht tonight
Antwerp is not only a densely populated city, it is also an important trade node.
People in distant places had no intention of finding out what "Vikings" were. They only knew that this big city was maliciously burned down, and innocent people who had no time to escape were killed.
Not only Antwerp was attacked, but the town of Nijmegen, also located in the Maas River Basin, was also viciously massacred and burned.
It seems that attackers will show up at any time. As long as they appear in a village or even a big city, even poultry will be killed, not to mention innocent people.
If it is just a civil war between nobles, the warring parties may not necessarily affect the common people.
However, it turns out that the Vikings targeted everyone indiscriminately. The Maas River Basin was too close to Antwerp. Two years ago, the local lower-level lords fled with their people on a large scale. This caused a chain reaction that scared the residents on both sides of the Maas River to move upstream.
Area evacuation.
The village priests also don't understand "Vikings". Based on their understanding, such brutal and ugly people are probably the devils described in the scriptures.
Some priests preached to nervous people like this: "They were attacked by the devil because they were not pious enough. Now, we can only go to the cathedral and use our strength to wash away the impurity."
People believed it to be true, and now they could only believe in priests. The same priests who preached in this way also continued to strengthen their ideas during their sermons, and everyone's belief attitude became extremely pious, and then there were big families and families.
migrant.
People fleeing the disaster are heading towards Maastricht. This city is not only the seat of the bishop of the region, but also a holy place of pilgrimage.
As early as the fourth century, Saint "The Savior" built a Cathedral of the Assumption in the city. It is a Romanesque church with a large number of bracket structures and a towering bell tower. The gray granite walls tell the story of historical accumulation.
Being covered with moss makes it more ancient. The saint became an archbishop and saved the people in the big world from barbarian invasions. This is the origin of pilgrimage.
This cathedral is not the only one in the city. Several monasteries and cathedrals are combined to form a center of faith.
But it's not just that. The Roman-era bridge over the Meuse River has long since collapsed and been replaced by a wooden bridge.
Some of the stone piers were renovated, and those that were completely damaged were replaced with wooden piles.
Made of hard oak piers, the bridge is still strong after half a century, but the only drawback is that it is too narrow.
The 100-meter-wide Maas River still requires barges to connect the two places.
There is only one small bridge in the big city. Nowadays, nearby residents are moving here on a large scale because they heard the horrific legends. Many people come to this cathedral as pilgrims to wash away their sins, making the cathedral, which is already busy with daily official duties, even busier.
What alarmed everyone even more was that in the New Year of 842, a large number of troops crossed the bridge from here to the other side.
The Frankish cavalry needed to cross the river as quickly as possible, and the bridge here was narrow, so some cavalry detoured and divided their troops from the bridge at Liege Fortress.
No one knows where this army is going. In short, the area on the left bank of the river has become unstable.
However, Maastricht is rightly called a big city. If a population of 100,000 people floods into it in a short period of time, what will life be like?
It was originally a holy place for pilgrims, but a large number of slums sprouted outside the solid stone walls of the Roman era. The people who fled suddenly lost their livelihood and had to become humiliating beggars.
Five hundred years later, are new barbarians invading now?
This time Archbishop Gregory maintained a certain degree of rationality. He did not believe in the so-called "devil", but he knew the meaning of "Viking" very well. As an elite, the senior priests had always known that a group of Danes were stationed at the mouth of the Rhine River.
, they are the Vikings themselves. Their behavior was obviously curbed, but now they have become rampant for some reasons.
"Did God give me the mission to be the second savior? Can I...save the people here?"
Saint Savatius saved the people and became prosperous. His tomb is in the Cathedral of Our Lady. The sarcophagus contains a large amount of gold and silver, with Latin instructions carved and gold cast. The gold and silver in the church are dazzling, and even the announcement
The largest black wooden cross in the auditorium is also decorated with a large amount of gold.
The jewels in the church are proof of the city's greatness, but for the archbishop, if those Vikings were bold enough to enter the interior and attack, Maastricht, with its magnificent church and warehouses stocked with large amounts of food, would certainly be attacked.
object.
What else could the Archbishop do? Only God knows if and when the Vikings will come. Hundreds of thousands of mouths want to eat! The church set up a porridge shed to distribute thick oatmeal. At first it was still sticky. Enter
After 842, the porridge given out gradually became clear and watery.
There are many reasons for this result. First, before the wheat harvest in the golden autumn, the granary managed by the church was being consumed on a large scale. The priests themselves chose an account and determined that if the rationing was not reduced, the entire city's grain reserves before the autumn harvest would be exhausted.
Exhausted. Do you still have to go to Aachen to borrow food at that time? If Ru Fei has no choice but to do so, the archbishop will not do this.
Secondly, it is also the factor of civil war.
Now, various cavalrymen from the four banners under King Lothair have arrived at the Brussels Fortress through the bridge, while other infantrymen are slowly crossing the river.
If this army were to attack, it would have been in action long ago, and it seemed that they were only facing off against the rebellious Earl of Flanders.
The confrontation between large armies means that money and food will continue to be consumed. The standing army needs military pay. This can be paid after the war, but if there is a lack of military food, everything will be bad.
The Diocese of Liège and Maastricht were asked by King Lothair to pay some grain. The Archbishop did so at the expense of his already stretched grain stocks.
The archbishop was trying to maintain the status quo, thinking about the threat of the Vikings. What if they really came? A group of strong people among the refugees were organized. They used farm tools as weapons and were armed with nearly a thousand people. These people's
The present stage of existence is entirely about maintaining order, and it is precisely so that they can get enough food every day.
"As long as you endure until the autumn harvest, everything will be fine!"
However, many innocent people have been buried in mass graves outside the city, and they all died last winter. Even so, the fear of Viking attacks still drove everyone to stay in the city.
Finally, the Vikings came.
The army led by Blue Fox doesn't care what the situation is in Maastricht. Killing and looting are the purpose of the operation. Nothing can make the soldiers angry more than the empty villages. The anger generated by the failure to loot is the right thing.
It drives everyone to become more and more violent.
Finally the first visibly inhabited town appeared.
The longships were flying many flags of Rus, and the warriors on the oars were as excited as seeing gold and silver when they saw the smoke-filled towns.
Lan Hu breathed a sigh of relief. Standing on the commanding height of the stern of the towed armed cargo ship, he could see very far.
He informed the flagmen: "Start an operation to sack this town."
How to loot? The rules are that there are no rules.
Although Blue Fox is Rurik's personal commander, what he can firmly control is the Russian army, the Gothenburg army and the Finnish army, as well as the little Danish army led by the disabled Yinval, the Swedish army and the following troops from all walks of life.
Armed fishermen are like a group of bandits, destined to be unorganized and disorganized.
The horns of the entire army were blown, followed by the dull sound of drums. These fantastic sounds were like ghosts from another world.
The targeted settlement is called Roermond, which is the only way for pilgrims to Maastricht in the north. There are also some refugees living in this city. Because the city is small and has few material reserves, it is not far from the big city.
Recently, those refugees passed through this place on their way to the big city, and most of the locals still lived an idyllic life by the river.
Of course they had also heard about the Vikings and mass killings, and now they saw a large number of incredible-shaped boats suddenly appearing on the river.
Who are these people? Why are there so many ships rushing here?
Could it be the Vikings?!
The bronze bell of the small church in the city rang, and the uninformed people stopped what they were doing. Finally, people who were running out of breath rushed into the town, shouting "Viking", and the prepared people finally panicked.
There was no time to get the goods. Foreigners with blond hair and white robes had already landed. They held huge round shields in one hand and shining swords in the other. Although they were completely different from the Frankish heavy-armed warriors, they gave the people the same majestic temperament.
.
Finally, when soldiers with crossbows fired at the fleeing people and saw their relatives and friends being knocked down, anyone who was stunned would start running to the east unless his legs were filled with lead from fear.
The attacking Russian army roared and charged, and the monastery in the city became the main direction of attack.
The undefended town of Roermond, a very important "stop" on the pilgrimage route, is now completely occupied by the Ross army.
The disorderly robbery had already begun, and the First Standard Corps of the Russian Army's Standing Army, which was at the forefront, had experienced hundreds of battles, so they knew best where the gold and silver was.
While the awakened armed fishermen were busy looting people's houses and rummaging through pots and pans, the First Flag Troop of the Standing Army had completely taken control of the monastery. Flag Captain Grund ordered the strong warriors to stand like stone pillars at the main and small gates.
This unit has its own gold and silver. Even if the young Seventh Flag Team wants to come in to fight against the autumn wind, they are chased away with smiles by these tough veterans of the same race.
Ascard, who was holding a sword, was speechless. He led a group of boys outside the gate and yelled and cursed. The curses were quite unpleasant when they were angry.
The "keeper" at the door just kept his mouth shut. If it hadn't been for the eldest son of "Two Swords" Arik, everyone would have slapped him to silence him.
It was Grund who came out aggressively.
"That kid is cursing us to die early?"
"It's me!" Askard refused to change his name: "You are so greedy, you will definitely die early!"
"Really? Boy, you are so weak, and you insult others when you can't steal them? Do we still have to give you some gold and silver? You have not done any meritorious service."
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"you!"
"Listen, your Majesty has given another order. Everyone in this expedition will rob based on their ability, and half of the proceeds will be returned to the treasury afterwards. If you don't have the right to do it, don't yell!"
"Damn it!" Askard banged his buckler several times and called on his angry subordinates: "Let's go and plunder the next stronghold."
The town of Roermond only has about 500 permanent residents in peacetime. In other words, there are three types of people who settle here. Priests, who have fields at home but go to the city to do small business and provide daily services to pilgrims passing by.
.
Most people do small business. They are farmers at heart. During their off-farm days, they sell some woodware, cloth, woolen clothes and other daily necessities they know how to do.
These daily necessities that had no time to move were looted, and the property owners who resolutely protected their wealth were killed.
The blue fox, who is just a small money man, has no greed at all. He doesn't even bother to enter the city, and he doesn't show weakness in the face of the wails of the captured women.
He ordered his subordinates to notify all the nobles: "Set up camp on the spot and bury the stove to cook. All the prisoners will be executed tomorrow. We don't have time to capture them. After that, continue to march."
The town of Roermond is neither close nor far from Maastricht. In principle, the Ross fleet departs in the morning and will definitely arrive in the evening. However, for the towns that are fleeing, they cannot afford to hike in one day.
Go to the big city.
The next morning, the soldiers who had slept all night began to board the ship.
Blue Fox reboarded the flagship of the armed cargo ship. Seeing that his troops had been assembled, he ordered to set off.
"Boss, there are still some people on the shore who have not boarded the boat." The guard asked cautiously: "Wait for them?"
"They are all a group of Danish fishermen who have popped up from various places. They are satisfied with looting small villages. Ignore them and let's go."
Blue Fox did not order arson. This was not a good intention, but because the target could be seen from a distance if the smoke billowed.
The soldiers who had had a full breakfast were full of strength. Each of them had a stomach full of boiled oatmeal and peas stewed with some extra salt.
The warriors on the voyage took off their armor one after another. They didn't know when they would reach the target. They only knew that wearing obviously insignificant burdens was completely useless for paddling.
Even the young soldiers of the Seventh Flag, some of them simply moved bareback. Their immature shoulders and backs had been deliberately tattooed by their parents, with swords, axes, and runes tattooed on them. These tattoos
The warriors seem to be protected by the gods. They are almost all the new generation of mixed-race Rus people. It is precisely because of this that they need tattoos and runes to prove their identity.
The young people rowed hard just like their fathers and grandfathers. Asgard didn't know how much strength they had left to reach their destination. However, after being humiliated in the last town, he urgently needed to take his brothers to Maastricht.
Find your place.
He rowed hard to keep up with the adults, and scolded his brother who caused the oars to collide due to laziness.
He also shouted some inspiring words: "If we see a town with a bridge, that will be our goal. We will definitely make a fortune by robbing gold and silver!"
"Hurrah!" The young warrior responded with this special war cry very carefully.
"Is that boy so angry that he wants to kill someone?" Grund smiled knowingly after hearing Askard's roar. He and the veterans would never let go. If there was an opportunity to plunder gold, the brothers would still take it for themselves.
have.
However, long-term paddling has continued to consume the strength of the soldiers. Even if the flow rate of the Maas River is not fast, any carrying will lead to retreat without advancing. In order to avoid collision with the boat behind, everyone must continue paddling.
Paddling vigorously is a skill that all northerners must master. It is not the arms that exert the force, but the legs pushing on the bottom of the boat and the whole body moving backwards.
The daylight hours in summer are very long. They set out in the morning. Before evening, a large city suddenly appeared in the distance.
The somewhat sleepy Blue Fox who was staying on the flagship was awakened. Standing on the stern deck of the ship, he saw the tower of the church in the distance, a large area of the city, and an obvious wooden bridge.
His fatigue disappeared immediately, and he immediately ordered: "Notify everyone to put on their armor quickly, we have to complete the robbery!"
He then said domineering words in a low tone to the people around him: "Tonight, we will spend the night in Maastricht."