Chapter 50: Hafgen, the Axe-Bearing Lion, the Dane
For the Sithians, they needed pastures in the south to supply production.
For the Danes, they not only need pasture, but they also intend to unite with the Siya Alliance and recruit at least some of the participating tribes to their alliance. Of course, this behavior is not easy, because "betrayal" is an act that both parties must
Intolerable.
The Danes' poaching behavior aggravated the conflict between the two parties.
Since relatively "peaceful" means could not achieve the will of the Danish Alliance, finally in the spring meeting of the Danish Tribal Alliance in 828 AD, as many as twelve tribes attended the meeting, and they all elected the most powerful Robard tribe.
The leader Hafgen becomes the leader of the alliance.
The Robard tribe, the so-called Robard, means "red ship" in the Old Norse language.
Because the main body of the Robard tribe is very close to the Oresund Strait, they have a very advantageous geographical location and relatively developed commercial activities, so the strength of their tribe is naturally unparalleled.
The tribe obtained a large amount of madder from trade, which they used to dye linen and decorate their battle longships.
There is a huge long boat rowed by as many as a hundred people. It is decorated with an exaggerated and ferocious bow, which is a dragon head. It is also smeared with madder fuel to look like a dragon opening its bloody mouth. People believe that this
Once the decorations have appeared, many enemies will be frightened and flee.
It is called the "Red Dragon" and is also a symbol of the wealth and power of the tribal leader. In a sense, it is the "crown".
Hafgen is a madman with ideas. In the tribal duel, he killed all the challengers, and the entire tribe worshiped his mighty power.
At the tribal alliance meeting, some people also questioned his strength.
And Hafgen did not hesitate to bring up the ancient tradition of the alliance-the duel.
Refusing because of fear of death?
No! Refusal is a coward, and cowards will be expelled from the tribe.
Basically the doubters named by Hafgen have no right to say no.
In the so-called duel, the leaders of the two alliances each send a warrior to participate, or even the leader himself goes into battle.
Two warriors will engage in a life-and-death duel and end with the death of the loser. The death of the warrior represents the failure of the leader and the tribe to which he belongs.
The old leader will not foolishly go into battle himself, he will send the bravest men in the tribe.
The brave ones also serve very much, because after winning a victory, their personal prestige will increase dramatically, and it is very possible to become a new leader with this qualification.
Hafgen will not stand aside and remotely control a warrior to fight for him.
He is a person with overwhelming self-confidence, and his personal strength is also obvious to all.
Hafgen has very strong muscles. There are rumors that this man can eat a roasted sheep in one meal. He always wields a lumbering ax that is not sharp. Don't look at the axe. With his brute force, he can
Easily chop down a tree as thick as a bowl.
With such brute strength, it is not a problem to chop down a big tree, and it is no problem to chop down an enemy.
Thanks to this brute strength, he won the support of many tribes without much resourcefulness. Because the small families that make up the tribe, after seeing the ferocity of Hafgen, they were very willing to submit to his banner.
, thereby gaining a sense of security.
Even if some tribes are suspicious of Hafgen, the loss of a large number of families under his command is real.
Because Hafgen is indeed the kind of legendary warrior!
In any life-or-death duel, he would fight in person. While holding a battle ax, he only wore a simple linen waistcoat on his upper body.
He just deliberately showed off his strong arms and the golden hair on them.
He is also a man with a perfect beard. Because of his great martial arts skills, he naturally has many wives and concubines, so his beard is also braided into unique braids by his women.
Through some brute force, one tribe after another in Jutland was willing to identify with such an alliance leader.
If this person is just a reckless person, he won't be able to make much noise in his own field.
But this guy is very ambitious!
The Hafgens gave him the nickname "Golden Retriever", but he himself preferred the nickname "Lion" given to him by the Franks.
First of all, Hafgen had never seen an African lion. Through the Frankish merchants who bravely crossed the border, he learned about his nickname and the origin of it.
In the far south, in the extremely hot world, there is a ferocious beast that is the overlord there. This beast is characterized by its amazing beard, terrifying fangs and claws that can easily kill people.
After all, these Frankish merchants are just doing business. They don't care whether their master is the "successor of Augustus" or the new leader of the Danes, the "Golden Lion". As long as they can do business on their land, they can do less.
Paying taxes is no problem.
The Danish tribes in Jutland can become more and more powerful and distance themselves from their relatives in Scandinavia. On the one hand, these Frankish merchants.
In the ninth century, they were Frankish merchants. A few hundred years later, they were German merchants.
They even established a free city in Hamburg on the border between the HRE and the Kingdom of Denmark, and established a commercial alliance with the oppressed Saxons.
No matter how the times change, merchants are merchants. And in the new era, because of new science and technology, the merchants of the Hanseatic League discovered an amazing way to make money, and this way of making money was also followed by the industrial countries a thousand years later.
If the guideline is to import rough-processed products for finishing.
Even as early as the ninth century, Frankish merchants knew that the north produced large quantities of iron.
What attracted these Frankish traders to venture into Viking territory were the local specialties: animal furs, pig iron and copper.
Merchants also secretly transported horses, linen, and a large number of Western European handicrafts.
This trade route has always existed in peacetime and will continue to exist for a long time to come.
As the steel-making method originating from India was introduced to the HRE, Hanseatic merchants immediately began to import northern pig iron on a large scale or directly ship iron ore, process it into steel in their own workshops, and then sell it to Denmark and Sweden.
The price skyrocketed sixfold.
Finally, the King of Sweden learned from the painful experience and spent a lot of money to recruit blacksmiths from the German region to serve him. After working hard, he finally laid the foundation for Gustavus II's ordnance strength to dominate Europe.
That was hundreds of years later.
In the ninth century, even the Franks' iron smelting technology was quite poor.
Of course, the iron smelting technology in the Roman era hardly developed, which also led to the successors, the Franks and many other Germanic tribes. Even if they formed feudal countries, they lacked the ability to forge fine iron.
In comparison, the Danes and Siyans, whose craftsmanship is equally backward, are probably the so-called blessings of Odin!
The iron ore they discovered happened to be a particularly high-quality vein, and the quality of the iron ore was really good.
The blade of a battle ax cast from these iron ores can break most Viking swords without being very sharp.
After all, it has to be forged by a blacksmith with poor iron smelting skills. Its carbon content is too high, which leads to poor flexibility of the iron sword, and the blade is easy to break and bend during a fight.
Especially the flexibility issue, don't think about trying to block, chopping too hard can cause it to break.
Its only advantage is probably that it can be made into individual wires and then woven into chain mail.
Poor iron-smelting technology was prevalent throughout Europe in the ninth century, but the sword-holders were all smart. Whether they were Franks or Vikings, they always adopted thrusting tactics when using iron swords. In a sense, it was like holding a sword in their hands.
A lengthened spearhead. Not to mention, the damage caused by this stabbing tactic is even more terrifying.
But for the majority of Vikings who were good at single combat, they always carried an axe. It was a tool for cutting down trees and repairing ships, and it was also the most powerful weapon for fighting.
With a battle ax in his hand, Hafgen was not afraid of his opponents in chainmail.
All tribes, including Hafgen's own Robard "Red Ship" tribe, also have a group of armor-weaving masters.
Chain armor can resist the attacks of bows and arrows to a great extent, and it can also basically resist the thrusts of swords and spearheads, preventing them from getting close to the skin and only causing a bruise. In the end, life is saved.
However, chain armor cannot withstand powerful and heavy attacks from blunt weapons. In the face of tomahawks whose main purpose is to cut wood, chain armor is of little significance.
I am afraid that throughout the entire Middle Ages, attacks by blunt weapons were insurmountable. Even if it was a plate-armored warrior dressed as a can, the enemy used an ax and a chisel to enter the battle, which was as easy as a can opener to open a can.
Holding a battle ax and becoming the leader of the Danish tribal alliance, Jutland welcomed a fierce man.
What is the ambition of "Golden Retriever Lion" Hafgen?
Very simple!
Following in the footsteps of his predecessors, he continued to attack Britain to obtain the gold stored in the monasteries there, kidnap the cattle and sheep there, and even kidnap the people there as slaves.
He is very willing to show his strength to outsiders.
Those Siyans are their own race, but not only are they not willing to submit to the Danes, they are also unwilling to hand over the other half of their pastures. Isn't this behavior an offense to themselves? The alliance of the Siyans is absurd, and they must
To disintegrate, all tribes must submit to themselves!
But there is no rush to solve the problem of the Siyan Alliance now, because not only the Siyans, but also a large number of Norwegians on the "Road to the Far North" in western Scandinavia will also be included.
of.
Hafgen's biggest dream is to integrate all the Norse-speaking tribes in his lifetime. After building a strong force, there will be no need to carry out sneak attacks and plunders.
The battle ax will fall upon all of Britain, which will become the territory of himself and his heirs.
The battle ax will also fall on the Frankish Kingdom. Since the leader of a tribe can obtain the title of "Augustus", why can't I, Hafgen?
Although Hafgen is not sure what the meaning of "Augustus" is, in short, according to Frank businessmen, the so-called "Augustus" is the only one who rules all the places where feet can tread and all ships can sail.
The leader is the greatest leader.
Hafgen is almost forty years old, but he is still strong and full of confidence in the future.
However, on the road to realizing your ambition, you must first solve many difficult problems.
At present, his first task is to eliminate those who question and oppose the Robard tribe in the tribal alliance, and must use the most determined means to eliminate them to consolidate his rule.
After completing this important task, he went to conquer the Wende people who also surrendered to the Franks and began to encroach on the Danish territory with the support of the Franks.
After dealing with the rabble on the southern border, the strategic move to unify all Norse-speaking tribes must begin!