The fleet has entered the Weser River, but the atmosphere in this area is a bit scary.
Arik stood on the bow of the boat and frowned. He muttered to the people around him: "The atmosphere is too quiet. There is no human atmosphere. I don't think this area is very rich."
Blue Fox also felt strange: "It's strange. When I left a few months ago, there were many fishing boats floating in this river, and there were also boats at the entrance to the sea."
"Perhaps we were exposed? They fled out of fear?" Yevro was also confused.
After much deliberation, they decided to move forward. Arik even issued instructions to prepare for battle. After all, it was the first time that the brothers entered the unknown hinterland of Frankish territory, and they might encounter enemy attacks under any circumstances.
Soon, there were obvious signs of villages ahead, or it could be said that they were simply the destruction of villages.
Arik squinted and stared: "Why do I think that is a burned village? Who did all this?"
This is equivalent to asking the blue fox, but how does the blue fox know the situation?
"There is a village in this generation. As for signs of destruction, we might be able to send someone to take a look."
Arik shrugged: "Okay, send a dozen brothers to take a look. It would be great if they find the barn and seize the grain."
The Salmon Chief lowered two flat-bottomed rowing boats hung over the side. They were real boats, and they were used to land ten people.
The fleet also took the opportunity to anchor, and everyone waited for good news.
They didn't wait too long, but unfortunately they obviously didn't get good news either. Those who returned were empty-handed, except for a few people holding blackened wooden sticks, and there was no "capture".
They all boarded the boat one after another to report their duties, and each one of them had obviously encountered some bad luck, and their expressions were grim.
Arik was furious: "Are you frightened or have you encountered an enemy? It doesn't look like there was a fight."
The leader shook his head and said bluntly: "Boss, you'd better not go there. Those villages stink, with rotting corpses lying everywhere. It's so smelly, it's a cursed place."
"Oh? You mean someone attacked there?"
"And the attack has been going on for a while. Look at the method, it's quite our style."
"We?" Arik shook his head: "We will also collect the bodies of the dead! So a group of gangsters attacked the village?"
"Who knows?"
Arik waved in greeting without saying anything, and he and the others quickly reached a consensus. It is said that there are gangs of gangsters in this generation, and this is probably the reason why the environment is so quiet.
A Frankish village was attacked in broad daylight. Based on Blue Fox's understanding of this generation, he immediately pointed out that this must be reality. Because this area belongs to the Count of Bremen, it is not surprising that there have been bandit activities in the territory.
"As far as I know, the earl was ordered to lead an army to attack the Danes. The departure of the army naturally made the bandits rampant."
Based on this information, Arik couldn't help but have other thoughts. Will the so-called gangsters rob Bremen first? Will the brothers come all the way to be in vain?
Boxes of cast-iron shells were carried to the deck, and the torsion slingshots of all ships were ready for battle.
Warriors with bows and crossbows stood guard on the deck, and everyone was watching their surroundings, ready to fight at any time.
Arik and his group of knife-edge blood-licking guys have a high sense of battlefield, especially when they were attacking the Karelians, they were also unexpectedly attacked while sailing on the river, and they were afraid of another mishap.
The fleet was arranged in a column, so that if it was attacked on either side, all kinds of long-range weapons could carry out saturation strikes. The Ross army was highly wary of hidden arrows flying from the riverside forest, and their vigilance was excessive.
They had passed the fairly straight channel of the Weser River, but bends began to appear in front of them, and large forests had blocked the river channel.
As the lead ship completed the turn, the scene ahead instantly aroused the tension of the soldiers.
Because the Salmon Chief took the lead as the flagship, Arik rubbed his eyes hard and exclaimed: "Ah! What did I see? The long ship? Who are this large group of people?"
How did the Franks have Viking longships? Arik was confused for a while. He asked Blue Fox, but Blue Fox couldn't explain why.
"At least they are not our allies. Everyone here may be our enemy." Blue Fox warned, and the listeners were highly alert.
Arik also felt that what Blue Fox said was very pertinent. Youdao said that offense is the best defense. In order to avoid being attacked by this group of obvious Nordic armed men, it is better for the Russian army to give them a rain of arrows first.
"Attention, brothers! Raise our skull and crossbones flag, put the arrows in place, and wait for my order to fire!"
The Ross Army was not disguised throughout the entire route, and the flags of each ship were flying. However, when they encountered unknown armed men on the Weser River, the skull and crossbones flag became a battle flag.
Not only did they raise the flag, but the horn holders blew the deep and powerful horn.
All signs prove that this army, which is like a divine weapon descending from the sky, is about to cause a killing spree!
Look at the group of longships and personnel docked on the shore, who are all actively fighting. They don't seem to want to engage in a water battle with Ross. Indeed, their longships are no match for Ross's big ship.
All the people in different clothes came ashore, and the bonfire camp on the shore instantly turned into a military formation.
Round shields painted in colorful colors form a long shield wall, which is some distance away from the river.
"They are going to fight, maybe these people are Danes!" Blue Fox deliberately responded: "The Danes should also attack!"
Arik nodded and saw that the brothers were ready to shoot arrows.
Yevluo stepped forward at the critical moment: "We don't even know their true identities, so we can't just fight when we meet! I don't like fighting in a confusing way."
"When they turn into corpses, the few remaining alive will be enough for us to know who they are." After speaking, Arik raised his right hand, and when it fell, thousands of arrows were fired.
Arik's hand was held by Yevro, and he was close to his bearded face. "Brother! The prince was worried that you would be reckless, so he asked me to accompany him. Look at them! They put on a grand battle formation! I think we should negotiate with them.
After all, they are obviously not a Frankish army, we cannot fight a foolish war."
Arik staggered and temporarily gave up the battle order.
Since the negotiation was initiated by Jevlo, he was responsible for the negotiation.
Let's look at Jevlo now. He is wearing a typical Viking war helmet and carrying a blue and white buckler on his back. He is slightly short, and the guards around him are tall and strong man-slaying gangsters from the First Flag Team.
.
When they landed, some people held the Russian flag and walked straight to the well-arranged military formation.
The more Jevlo moved around, the more clearly he could see the faces of those people, and he felt something strange further.
"I actually saw armed women and children?!"
Indeed, among the armed men there were women with blond hair, and their beautiful facial features were very different from those of unshaven men. As for the armed children, they were obviously small men and still stood on the front line of the military formation.
Jevro stopped and then shouted in Norse: "Who is your leader?! Do you want to fight with our Rus? If you want to fight, charge and kill, come on!"
Behind him was the tense Ross fleet. There were thirty torsion slingshots on the enemy side alone, and there were even two hundred people armed with various types of crossbows.
Looking at the armed men again, they were lined up in a long line and it was unclear how many people there were. Their apparent size was very deceptive. Some of them were sure to be holding a flag with the raven heraldry. They remained vigilant and were not afraid of Jevlo's attack.
Moved by shouting.
Time continued to ferment the situation, and finally Jevro roared for a while, and the opponent's array finally moved.
The array gave way, and several bearded young men with strange braids stepped forward, holding round shields and battle axes.
"Are you the leader?" Jevro continued to ask.
A young warrior roared like a lion: "I know you! Rus!"
"Oh? So who are you? Danes?"
From Javlo's perspective, the other party hesitated for a while before pointing out that he was indeed a Dane. After hearing this clearly, Javlo subconsciously held the hilt of his sword and signaled others to prepare for battle in case of any eventuality.
Seeing that the speaker left his entourage and continued to move forward, Yevluo also ordered his entourage to stand by and went up to meet him.
The man in front of him was quite tall and strong, and his deep eyes were filled with vicissitudes of life. The first impression that gave Yevro was that this man had experienced too many things.
Gevrolo asked cautiously: "This is obviously the territory of the Franks, why are you Danes here?"
The man asked arrogantly: "This is indeed Frankish territory, why are you Russians here?"
It was so boring to question each other, and Jevlo's self-esteem was offended.
"Why? Have you seen this fleet? We came to plunder treasures. It's really unlucky that we met you Danes here." Jevlo's words were deliberately provocative. He instinctively felt that the two sides were still going to fight.
Maybe these people are still Frank's mercenaries, after all, there have been rumors about this for a long time.
Unexpectedly, when the robbery was mentioned, the young man who seemed to be the leader laughed wildly: "Oh, I can probably guess what you want to do! You want to rob Bremen."
Jevro was so surprised that he couldn't help but retreat: "You actually know?"
The two sides were quiet for a while, and the man shouted again: "It seems that I guessed it right. People from Russia, maybe we can make a deal."
"What?"
"You and I will treat it as if we have never encountered it. Your fleet will continue sailing and we will continue to camp."
"Why? Wait!" Yevro realized something unspeakable. He frowned and asked, "So, you don't actually want to attack us? Even if you set up a battle formation."
The man also banged his shield and pointed out: "If you attack us, our army would rather fight back."
Javro took advantage of the situation and laughed in a low voice: "You know how powerful Ross is, so you should understand that choosing to fight is to fight with an egg against a stone. Our Ross navy killed your old king Hafgen, and no Danes can defeat our fleet.
"
"Not necessarily if it's a land battle. But for the sake of honor, we would rather fight, even if we are defeated. If my tribe is defeated at your hands, we will be honored even though we are defeated."
The words of this young leader were admirable, and many signs showed that they were really just camping on this river beach, and their encounter with the fleet was an accident. They did not want war, and they were not afraid of war.
Essentially, they still don’t want to fight!
After thinking about it for a while, Jevro started to change the subject a little and said something nice: "We are also looking for a suitable campsite. We don't want to fight, and the same goes for you. Maybe, we can share this
A river beach."
"you……"
"I am Javlo, Finnish Javlo, a general (war chief) under the command of the Prince of Rus." Javlo was the first to send a peace signal.
Looking at the man again, he held his head high and said: "Okay! A warlord among the Russians. I am Ragnar Sigurdsson. People say that I am a man in woolen trousers. I killed a big shot named Olegin."
, it is said that he is the king of the Svealans. I am a big shot, and you must be just a small role among the Rus."
A small role? Jevlo has no intention of showing off that he is the count of the entire Suomi people. In theory, he manages Finland on behalf of Prince Rurik, especially the 30,000 people in Suomi.
Indeed, this man is Ragnar, a great pirate who is destined to be legendary. Unfortunately, as history has destined, he illegally robbed Paris in that plane and was forced to find a reason for the Eastern and Western Franks to invade Denmark, and was thus captured by Horry.
The king was expelled.
Today, Ragnar is in a state of exile with his entire clan. The people camping on this river beach are the last group of his clan members.
A brave person will always continue to be brave. He lost many excellent warriors, and also lost many women and children. Although the essence of the tribe is still there, it is a pity that everyone has become a bandit who has lost his territory, and is really a bereaved dog. However, they
He has not lost his pride.
Ragnar continued to claim that he was leading the entire Stonewall tribe into exile. In principle, he did not want to fight, at least not a meaningless battle with the Rus.
Jevlo had no affection for Svealan or the concept of Sweden, but this man claimed to have killed Olegin with his own hands. If true, he was indeed a respectable man.
The two sides are still trapped in a chain of suspicion, and a misunderstanding can lead to a fight between the two sides.
Perhaps the Russian army could try to exercise restraint, but it is not ruled out that this group of Danes struck first.
Jevro thought for a moment and persuaded the conflicted Ragna: "Our Russian army is indeed planning to attack Bremen. Since you won't participate, don't cause trouble for us. I don't ask you to put down your weapons, at least after we land.
Don't ask for trouble later. This river beach is huge, and our army will keep its distance from you. You can't completely trust us, and we can't completely trust you. However, since you are warriors, we might as well get together tonight to share ale and toast.
Fish, you can also have a good chat. The Franks are all our enemies, and the enemies of our enemies are friends. At least we don't have to fight. Please think about it carefully."
Jevro felt that he had exhausted all his power. No matter what Ragnar chose, the Ross army just needed a qualified anchorage and a suitable camp for the army. He withdrew safely, and all his actions were ignored by Ali in the distance.
Ke and others could see clearly.
From Ragnar's point of view, no matter how heroic he is, he is not stupid enough to make an enemy of the Ross fleet. Now, is he still a Dane? The entire tribe has been expelled by the Danish King Horik. If he had not withdrawn
Soon enough, everyone will be killed by those people.
The Danes were still on alert, and Ragnar and his cronies watched helplessly as the Ross army, which was basically uniformly dressed, landed. Their formation looked chaotic, and they would definitely not take the initiative to attack.
Seeing this, someone encouraged Ragna: "Chief, we should strike first. Their ship is very good, and there must be a lot of food in the cabin. We take the opportunity to seize the supplies, and everything will be fine."
"Are you a fool?" Ragnar was furious. He immediately used his remarks as an example and announced to all the tribesmen: "Don't try to attack them by surprise. The Russians are not fools! Now the Franks are chasing us, and the Danish villain is chasing us.
Kill us. If we offend the Russians and are hunted down by them, everything will be over!"
Indeed, from the perspective of the Russians, how could Arik, as a commander, be moved by Jevlo's remarks? Especially since the man named Ragnar claimed to have killed Olegin!
Even if Olegin is no longer a thing, he is still the leader elected by all the Svealan tribes. He is his uncle Otto and he has to be respected on the surface.
At this moment, this moment, Arik was very jealous of his younger brother Rurik. Although his brother did not kill the old Danish King Hafgen, he also used the ship Aurora to smash him into fish feed.
On the contrary, Arik showed some timidity. It was a pity that he did not have the "king-killing" level of achievements.
He didn't know the specific reason. This encounter was a fantasy. Since the other party's original intention was not to fight, the Russian army had no need to fight to the end with a group of exiled Danes before attacking Bremen.
The Russian army landed, but all ships stayed behind. Each torsion slingshot was aimed at the Danes' bonfire camp, the chute was used at a high angle to face the enemy, and the weapons were replaced with lightweight javelins, so that if the Danes made a mistake,
The Ross Army can demonstrate the first mover advantage.
Arik himself also set foot on the river beach. The soldiers carried the iron pots from the ship, piled the bricks brought from New Roseburg, and built the pots and stoves on the spot. Together with the charcoal brought from his hometown, the pot was cooked on the Weser River.
Boil wheat and salted dried fish in the water to make salty soup.
The commanders of both sides maintained restraint, and also maintained vigilance and hostility. The camps of both sides were about three hundred meters away from each other, because Ragnar believed that by maintaining such a distance, the terrifying bows and arrows of the Russian army would definitely not hit him.
On top of that. At least Ragnar did not dare to really anger the Ross army for the sake of the lives of the last women and children in the tribe.
As night gradually fell, the aroma of wheat soup wafting from the Ross camp ruthlessly filled the sky above the Ragnar camp. During these days, Ragnar's people relied on robbery along the river to make a living. The piracy had scared the Frankish civilians with soft hearts.
Fleeing in all directions, it became even more difficult to rob homes and provide supplies. They tried to attack Bremen, but all their efforts came to nothing when they saw the wooden castle.
Ragnar actually couldn't hold on any longer. According to his plan, he would sleep on the river beach tonight, eat some food that was not much, and paddle a boat to leave the river tomorrow. As for where to go in the future? Denmark will definitely go back.
If you don’t want to go, maybe try your luck in Flanders (northern Netherlands), or continue to rob all the way along the coastline. If you can find an island with fresh water, the whole family can settle down. After all, the tribe’s main occupation is fishing.
, it can make a comeback if it can form a stable fishing village.
However, another theory began to circulate in the camp.
Then someone groped to Ragnar's side: "Chief, brothers are really hungry. Since the Russians don't want to attack us, can we actually ask for some help from them? They are obviously cooking a delicious meal, and everyone is
They are Odin's warriors and should give us some."
Hearing this, Ragna really wanted to scold his man for being a fool, but his stomach growled and he immediately made a fool of himself.
If there is anyone who can impress him with his perseverance, it is his two children. Especially his eldest son Ivar, whose legs are atrophied, and his second son Bjorn, who has just learned to walk. The children complain that they are hungry, even though they are hungry.
Even though he had a heart of stone, Ragnar's heart still softened.
He didn't want to have anything to do with the Rus, so he treated them as if they were strangers to each other in today's encounter. However, the mood of the entire tribe was agitated, and not everyone could insist on their honor and resist the temptation of food.
He gritted his teeth and summoned his tribe's cronies to gather together for a surprise small meeting.
"I have decided! The leader of the Ross army wants to talk to me. I can go to the meeting and maybe get some food for the brothers. But maybe this will be a conspiracy. If I am killed, you can take it with you
The tribesmen retreated to the woods and tried not to fight with them."
The confidants looked at each other and fell into silence...
They all wanted to say something but could not speak. Looking at them again, Ragna made up his mind and ordered: "I will go to the meeting by myself. Don't follow me! I don't believe they are despicable people, so I left..."
…”
Ragnar stood up, patted himself, arched his back, picked up a burning firewood, and ran towards the Russian camp.
A burning flame was approaching the camp, and the vigilant Ross army had secretly picked up the guy.
"Is this the guest you are talking about? Maybe Ragnar?" Arik, who had already stood up, asked Jevro in confusion.
"It should be so. He is only one person. Please don't be too nervous, brothers, and don't use violence without orders at any time. I... will go and see the situation for myself." After saying that, Yevro also picked up a piece of firewood.