They seemed to have a hatred for everything. They smashed the wooden chairs in the monastery with their big axes, and hacked at the stone walls everywhere. It seemed that they could find the mezzanine and fish out gold.
Those who first broke into the monastery got more or less gold and silver, but most of them still didn't hunt what they hoped for.
Most of the Viking warriors had to plunder the bodies, taking away boots and belts. Even the black robes and stoles of the priests were pulled off, and the bodies were discarded.
More than a hundred people searched everywhere. They reached the southeastern end of the monastery and saw some stone tablets standing here. They took it for granted that this was a tomb.
"Brothers, there must be gold and silver buried in the grave. Let's dig it!"
Someone got started, and people from all walks of life began to knock down the stone monuments, and started digging with the shovels they found, and even with their hands.
However, all they found were broken wooden coffins and piles of bones.
Instead, they found a silver ring and a cross from the finger bones of the skeleton.
They even destroyed the tomb of Saint Cuthbert, Bishop, just like the monastery that he personally selected and built on the site, which was wantonly destroyed by barbarians from the sea.
Even those who didn't get enough wealth looked at the smiling faces of the guys who got gold and silver, and with envy and jealousy, they directed their hatred towards the monastery itself.
Finally someone started setting fires!
The so-called holy water is more accurately said to be holy oil. It is actually the essential oil extracted from roses, so the holy water has a strong floral fragrance, and the floral fragrance is considered to have the power to cleanse dirt. The monastery reserves a lot of such rose essential oil.
It is also regarded as a kind of medicine, so this monastery is also known as the "healing place".
But these holy oils have become arson agents.
Rurik and his men found some parchments in the confusion except the Gospels.
The book, or record book, is actually written in Latinized Old Saxon. It is a record of the monastery's events and contains details of the monastery's rules and regulations.
Another batch of letters was also seized.
The chaos in the monastery forced Rurik to evacuate. Only ten books and documents he needed were taken outdoors.
He held a piece of parchment in both hands and couldn't help but shake his head as he looked at the densely packed text.
"What does it say? Paul."
"A letter from the king, a compliment to the monastery, and..."
Suddenly, Paul's eyes widened and he hurriedly said, "Sir! It's..."
"what exactly is it?!"
"It's a letter from the king. The king is coming to attend mass on the fifteenth of this month."
"Is it a grand festival?" Rurik asked.
"The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a great festival."
"It's so amazing." Rurik hurriedly collected the letter, looked at the already smoking monastery, and shook his head with a tight mouth, "It seems that the king will be disappointed. However, I can also attack him."
"Ah! Sir...you, this is not good."
"What's wrong? Do you think you are a sinner by doing things for me?"
"This..." Paul's hesitation said it all.
Rurik said bluntly with a straight face, "In Northumbria, you are just a lowly serf. If you and those nobles are not the lambs of the Lord, how can they be noble? Are you lowly? I will not take it away from you.
Faith. Take these holy books back and I will keep them well. Don’t you understand your current situation?"
Paul heard enough hints and said silently, "The king will definitely come with the best troops of the kingdom."
"Elite! What I fight is the elite. This is truly glorious."
Paul really didn't know how to evaluate this young man. He was rational, wise, and knew the value of the holy book, but he was also crazier than those barbarians.
Attacking the king? How arrogant this is. He knew he had no way out...
Lindisfarne Abbey still has a lot of wooden structures, and the smoke from its wonderful spire became more and more serious, and finally the red flames filled the sky.
Taking all kinds of things they grabbed, the Viking army hurriedly fled the monastery. As for the dead, they were naturally buried in the monastery.
People stepped on the road that was about to be submerged due to high tide, and everyone retreated to the coast and retreated to the camp next to the boat mooring.
There were only a dozen people in the army who sprained their arms and bruised their skin in the chaos. They retreated with almost no casualties.
There are people sitting everywhere on the beach, some are happy and some are upset.
After all, this is really a robbery based on skill, and those who seize the opportunity will naturally gain the most. For example, Geiger of Vashoby got a lot of Frank silver coins. Since the Floki brothers were also involved, he followed the agreement
But it needs to be distributed to the chief family and some to Biyongni.
The heads of various families gathered together to communicate with each other about today's gains.
Indeed, some people complained about showing off. The excited Biyoni boasted that he had gained great glory. He patted his chest and boasted that he had captured and killed a big shot. He also made fun of Rurik's persistence in parchments.
"My brother Rurik said those written things are the most precious! The Russians are indeed a little different from us, and maybe that is indeed very precious."
After that, everyone laughed.
The laughter was gone, and those who were not rich continued to shout, "I want to keep fighting! I want to go south and keep exploring."
Someone immediately echoed, "Didn't Lord Rurik's prisoner say that there is Bamburgh in the south? That is a city. We can fight there, and everyone can make a fortune."
When they hear about the opportunity to make a fortune, everyone ignores that their ships may no longer be able to carry more treasure. People are greedy, so who would dislike having too much treasure?
People became interested and stared at Rurik.
"You don't laugh at me anymore? Do you want to listen to my opinion again?" Rurik scolded deliberately.
"Sorry, brother." Biyongni asked, "What do you think if we attack that Bamburgh?"
"I don't think so. Since you choose war, everyone! I also like war. Now I have learned something big."
"What's the matter?"
Rurik grimaced: "You are busy robbing gold and silver, and I have captured a letter. I learned that a festival is approaching in this kingdom, and the king himself is coming to the monastery."
"Is it a sacrifice?" Biyongni immediately became alert.
"Exactly. So, we can intercept and kill them. We may fight their strongest army and get a lot of treasures."
Suddenly someone slapped their chest: "Why are you hesitating? My people haven't grabbed many treasures, and I won't go back unless I get rich!"
"Then fight! Fight them openly! Odin hopes so, this is our destiny." Biyoni's shouting resonated with everyone, and Rurik said nothing after seeing this.
Although he didn't know what he would encounter, Rurik estimated that the Kingdom of Northumbria could be forcibly reduced to the Danfa Zone. Coupled with the recent war, the kingdom's military equipment and national strength must be unbearable.
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The strongest army? The king's personal guard?
Then set up a battle line on the beach and have a decisive battle with the king's army!
Although the people under his command are not elite Russian troops, they are still warriors carefully selected by the Balmok people.
These people's personal weapons and equipment, which were once very rudimentary, have been greatly improved due to the seizures in the victory.
The King of Northumbria will definitely come. Rurik vaguely remembers that it was the legendary king here who killed Ragnar, triggering a fierce attack by the Viking army. Is that king named Ella?
No, Ella is probably still a young man or even a teenager.
Rurik didn't care who the king was, nor did the other warriors. Maybe it was not good to be too relaxed, but they were not Rus. Rurik knew that he could only mobilize those family leaders and force ordinary warriors to
Doing some things is really inappropriate.
People began to build their own camps, and a sudden rain made the world become cold.
The rain extinguished the fire in the monastery, and the messy courtyard was prohibitive. The Vikings had to hide in the occupied old military camp, huddled in wooden houses and waited for the weather to clear.
The rain continued for two days, and the land was still muddy. People could not just eat wheat, so they began to fish in boats and went hunting in the woods with captured bows and arrows.
The 15th is getting closer and closer, and it seems that the threat of war is approaching.
They are not preparing for battle, so Rurik can be lazy.
Because of his in-laws and personal relationships, Rurik was able to mobilize a total of 300 people from Biyoni and Geiger.
War should not be a group fight based on individual use of force. Since a large number of spearheads were captured, Rurik simply trained this group of people to form a long-haired team.
The new wooden poles were tied to the spearheads, and three hundred people formed a spear team. When the team was training, Rurik sent Yevro to simply train these people in two movements, which was nothing more than walking in a group with spears, and listening to orders.
The target of attack is unanimously directed towards the outside world.
He knew that Bruce of Scotland, with a group of barefoot farmers and a large number of so-called spears made of just sharpened oak wood, defeated the English mail cavalry on a suitable battlefield.
Compared with those farmers, these Balmoks have a clear sense of teamwork. Moving the shield wall is their specialty, and if they use spears, they can also push forward forcefully.
What is different from the emergency training here is that the other Vikings are either lazily watching the show or hunting and fishing.
Some people even ran to very far away places in an attempt to find wild boars and kill them, but they ended up encountering Northumbrian mounted scouts!
In the encounter on the forest trail, only two scouts were besieged, one was killed and the other was captured.
The neatly dressed soldiers immediately stripped off their equipment, and after being beaten again, they were taken away barefoot and undressed by the Vikings like prey.
As for the two rare riding horses, they were taken away.
The prisoners were escorted to Rurik, and this situation caused the whole camp to explode.
Many people believe that a war is about to happen, and imagine that a large army is coming to kill them. They are not afraid at all, but think that they are a group of fools who are sending gold and silver to be killed.
Rurik has a "translator" Paul beside him. After a few days of contact, Paul has been forced to learn some Norse vocabulary. This is not difficult, because Old Saxon and Norse have too many similarities.
After learning that he was beheaded and grilled by his fellows on horseback, Rurik felt speechless and did not want to ask any more questions.
He directly interrogated the prisoner surrounded by many family leaders. The trembling man had no integrity at all and directly confessed the important information.
The so-called King Aynred of Northumbria will come to the monastery in person to attend the festival. The king is very particular about pomp and circumstance when traveling. In addition to being escorted by a group of capable guards, he will also bring a group of treasures and attendants with him.
The family leaders were overjoyed, but Rurik had to be particularly vigilant.
Someone shouted: "Haha, their king has arrived in Bamburgh. We killed this most noble man to show Odin our strength."
"Yes! This is the greatest honor."
"I can't wait any longer. I want to kill a hundred enemies."
Some even called: "It's a waste of energy for us to stay here. We row boats to get to Bamburgh. Kill them and gain wealth!"
But some leaders are more cautious, because they don't want to suffer too much loss. If they can fight more with less, they will naturally insist on doing so.
The family leader hoped that Biyongni, who had the largest number of soldiers, would come up with one. Biyongni and Geiger said that Rurik was the master in this area.
The prisoners were pulled down, and they were deemed to have lost their use value and were killed directly.
After all, Rurik had experience in commanding large battles, and the Balmok people believed that this was not bragging.
He stood up and faced everyone: "You have all heard that they have cavalry! I advise you to be more vigilant. Fortunately, I am also prepared."
However, Rurik's words are like playing harp to a cow, because those who don't know the power of cavalry at all.
Of course, Rurik couldn't say that he had much experience in this regard. He had never fought against a cavalry team in person, and all his knowledge of cavalry could only be described as arm's length. It would naturally be effective to deal with the infantry's spear array by paying more cavalry, and he hoped so.
Rurik continued to shout, "Let's not talk about the cavalry. Their king has been waiting for us to occupy the monastery, which is the report of the previous escapees."
This statement caused some people to look down upon them and sarcastically said, "Are we afraid of cowards? Why? Even if they gather people, I will fight them here and chop off a hundred heads."
People were talking and laughing again, and optimism permeated the entire camp.
This was simply a danger signal, but what was the enemy's specific strength and armament? Rurik couldn't believe the prisoners' words too much.
After all, it was exactly as the prisoner said, two thousand men. What a force like this.
The Kingdom of Northumbria quickly assembled a regular infantry of 2,000 men. Rurik did not believe this. Britain in this era was just a group of peasants led by lords and capable servants to fight, and the battlefield would be filled with sickles, dung and forks. Only A very small number of cities are guarded by standing troops with acceptable equipment. However, the defenders of these cities have proven their weakness through poor combat.
The only thing Rurik was wary of was the cavalry. Thinking about it carefully, there must not be many cavalry in the kingdom.
Just deal with the cavalry properly, and forget about the farmers and the standing soldiers who are stronger than the farmers.
Reason told Rurik that he should not take it lightly, but the more he thought about it, the more he looked down on the enemy.
Who will win between a thousand strong Viking men who take pride in killing enemies versus two thousand armed farmers with farm tools?
They were full of confidence. Rurik sat down again and said, "We will just wait. The enemy may have two thousand people, or even more."
"Then kill them all. Each of us can kill ten of them." One person shouted confidently.
Biyongni nodded, "Indeed, we still have some powerful weapons. We may have killed two thousand enemies in Edinburgh and here, and our losses so far are less than a hundred. This time we will prepare again to use the utmost
Kill two thousand more of them to save losses."
From what Biyoni said, it was so easy to kill the enemy. Everyone thought so, and Rurik could only agree.
After learning the enemy's basic information, Rurik and the people he could directly mobilize began to actively arrange the battlefield.
The people of Geiger and Biyoni were the most stable, and Rurik persuaded the one hundred fishermen in Shetland, saying, "You just want to get rich and don't want to fight head-on. You should stand behind my line with bows and arrows. If necessary,
Shoot arrows for cover, and after the war I will give each of you a silver coin, as well as peace and kindness from us Russians in the future. You are also qualified to clean up the battlefield after the war."
The people of Shetland do care about their lives. If they really wanted to be warriors in Bergen, they would not immigrate to the islands. They are indeed afraid of direct battle, and it is really a good thing to become archers.
Rurik wanted to recreate the decisive battle on Gotland, but the scale of the battle was greatly reduced.
He began to pile up wooden platforms on the flat land near the sea, and then piled them up to suddenly create a ramp. Ten torsion slingshots were densely placed on five platforms with a height of only about one meter. Together with their own height, they were just above the heads of the soldiers in front.
As a flexible weapon, the trebuchet can move at will by pulling on the rope.
Ten trebuchets, ten slingshots, and nearly eighty crossbowmen. The three hundred people holding spears were the core of the battle. When necessary, they threw their spears and put on the shields behind them, instantly becoming a classic defense force.
Beijing Sword and Shield Hand.
All the family leaders could clearly see that Rurik of Rus did have some tricks, and the army was trained to be more impressive.
But is this really the case? The approaching enemies are just farmers who come to the rescue. Killing the farmers can only be the glory of victory. Only by killing the king's guards and seizing the king's baggage vehicles can huge wealth be obtained.
Rurik and the others decided to wait for work, so the other brothers were the first to attack and join in the plunder. He always had a hunch that his conquest should not always go so smoothly. Those family leaders and their subordinates who had their own way of doing things and did not obey orders,
It is possible to suffer losses in future battles.