A pair of vigilant eyes stared at the lonely visitor. Everyone saw that the man was very impressive and showed no signs of timidity in the face of the powerful Ross army.
Ragnar was a ruthless man who was hacked out of a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood. His first murder was to kill the leader of a neighboring tribe. It was a very fair duel, at least that's how the duel was. Both sides offered sacrifices to Odin.
So that onlookers will serve as witnesses.
At that time, Ragnar was wearing thick woolen trousers that were resistant to snake bites. His clothes were quite special, as if the woolen trousers had this magical power. A fledgling boy hacked his opponent to death, thus becoming qualified to compete for the Danish Grand Alliance Leader.
But at the last moment, Hafgen thought he would win, but he cheated and stopped the duel with his absolute military strength, thus becoming the leader of the Danish alliance and becoming the king.
That was already ten years ago...
Ragnar is not an old man. He is only twenty-six years old now and is in the golden age of Viking warriors. Unfortunately, the limited population of his tribe cannot support the great dream of a young hero. It is already very difficult to survive now.
Even if he is in trouble, he will not sell some dignity in exchange for the support of others.
Under night, two people holding torches met.
Yevluo asked with a calm face: "It seems that you have thought about it and want to talk to us."
"Let's talk? Ah, we really need to talk."
If the Rus wanted to launch an attack, they would not delay it until nightfall. Ragnar had never fought against a real Rus in his life, and the bad information he heard made him even more afraid to advance. This time he finally entered Rus.
In the riverside camp, even though the light was dim, many strange scenes came to his mind. He frowned and realized that it was indeed difficult to defeat these guys. At least his own people would definitely lose in a fight. However, those Franks would also be defeated.
?
Ragnar saw clearly that the Russians were busy gathering around the campfire to cook delicious meals. The tempting aroma actually came from the huge iron container!
The Rus' army had an "iron content" beyond his understanding, as if iron tools were commonplace in their community.
Those characters who looked like ordinary warriors each carried multiple weapons and were using specialized iron digging tools to level the floor of the shack where they would sleep tonight.
They also had large and small linen bags with wonderful designs, and the straps were actually used to tie the mouths of the sacks. This was not surprising in itself, until he noticed that someone took out a piece of bread that could be seen with the naked eye. It was not black bread.
It is toasted brown wheat bread. This is a high-end food in the territory of the Franks, not to mention this group of Russians further north?!
Some warriors sat down with their swords in their hands. Their eyes were like torches, and they stared at Ragna passing by with provocative eyes. Then they fiddled with the sword body and let the dancing flames illuminate it.
There are also soldiers who use tree branches as supports to light up their chainmail armor as a whole and hang it together with their helmets.
No one would wear heavy chain mail all the time. The chain mail shining brightly by the flames is a silent showoff and mockery to the visitors!
Fear was out of the question, Ragnar just envied them for having so many protective gears. He couldn't help but imagine that once his army had these, it would be able to fight fiercely with the Franks, and he would not even lose his home in Denmark.
Jevro deliberately took Ragnar for a walk in the camp. This was a heart-breaking move, and it also directly exposed part of the strength of the Ross army. There are risks in doing so, but the Ross army has its own self-esteem from top to bottom.
It has turned into arrogance, especially when facing a group of Danes, and it becomes even more arrogant. The brothers did not take off their pants to laugh and ridicule, and they had already tried their best to restrain themselves.
"Have you seen it? Once the war starts, you will definitely lose." Yevro said arrogantly.
How did Ragnar do this? He knew very well that he did not have the upper hand, at least verbally. He deliberately asked back: "If you take off your armor, are you not afraid of a sudden attack by my people? You are not afraid of a night brawl.
Full advantage.”
"Haha. Do you dare? I still warn you!" Yevro suddenly turned around, his face still arrogant, and pointed his big hand at the parked warship: "Our heavy weapons are always on standby. As long as you dare to attack, many people will
They will die on the way to charge. I don’t know what you have encountered. From my judgment, you have a serious shortage of soldiers. Even children and women are forced to take up arms. Stop it! Danes! This river beach has been destroyed.
Our Russian army is firmly in control."
"I want to see your leader immediately." Ragnar suddenly changed the subject.
"You're about to see it."
Soon, Ragnar sat beside the inconspicuous bonfire, and those sitting on his left and right were the elites of the Russian army.
Arik looked provocatively and deliberately clenched the hilt of his sword with his right hand, just to test Ragnar's reaction.
But he saw Ragnar retaliating with tooth, holding the hilt of the sword tightly but not taking the initiative to attack. Because he saw that the people sitting around the bonfire were ruthless people. Not only did he have no chance of winning in a real fight, but he angered the Russians so much that his own
The tribesmen are going to die on a large scale again.
After a stalemate for a while, Aric loosened his grip on the hilt of the sword, and the atmosphere relaxed: "Yes, you are a warrior. My brothers and I allowed you to hold the sword to the audience, thinking that you would be a coward praying for peace, but you did not lose anything."
The courage to break up and give it a try.”
Ragnar held his head high, looking at the situation, he would definitely not be safe, so he wanted to save face for his people. He observed the young man who was speaking: "I heard that the leader of your Rus people is young and promising.
You must be the leader? I can’t even figure out how you can go to the territory of the Franks and rob them if you don’t attack your old enemy Denmark?”
"I... am not Chief Ross."
"You? Not?"
Arik smiled, with a hint of sadness in his smile. Who doesn't want to be the prince of the entire Rus, but he is not the one chosen by God, and he has no ability to govern a big country. He is just a reckless man.
"The prince of the Principality of Rus is Rurik, and I am the prince's brother. The Prince of Rus has received the blessing and favor of the great god Odin, so our entire Rus tribe, as well as all the tribes that have surrendered to Rus to accept their rule, have benefited."
Ragnar said without changing his expression: "Indeed, the real northern warriors are all blond. There are obviously many black-haired people in your team. The Finns who were supposed to be slaves have become warriors. So there is a legend that the Russians
Is it true that I conquered the Eastern Land (Finland)?"
The words were a little aggressive, because he didn't know Yevlo's identity.
In this way, Jevloko had to hold his head high and show off: "You! Ragnar the Dane has no idea of my noble status."
"You? How noble are you? My friend..."
"You call me friend? Maybe if we have a peaceful meeting today, we can be friends in the future. I am Count Jevlo of Finland, loyal to the Prince of Rus. I have more than 30,000 people, even though it may seem to you
Weak brigade, I can indeed summon 10,000 Finnish warriors. We Finns are not good at fighting, but are best at archery. Joining forces with the Russians, we have become rich and powerful. This time I am following the prince's order to attack the Franks..."
Jevro had a good time showing off, but Arik showed off his achievements again. He must point out his resentment, and the fact that at the age of only nineteen, he led four hundred warriors to avenge an evil enemy and achieved a great victory.
As an absolute strong man, the Ross Army is willing to show off his great achievements, firstly for psychological self-satisfaction, and secondly to shock the audience.
Nordic social culture has a tradition in this regard. A warrior should show off his achievements to his guests. Many times, he would give himself various nicknames, which are essentially honorary titles. If no nickname is given, it can refer directly to one achievement. It is okay.
We talked for three days and three nights.
Ragnar was quite surprised. In the past, he could only get fragmentary descriptions of the Russians from a group of losers. This time, it was self-narrated by senior members of the Russian army. He was convinced that he got the most accurate information. Co-authored by the Russians
The battles they have experienced in the past are not of the same order of magnitude as their understanding of war? The Russians always try to choose large-scale decisive battles. Once a fight breaks out, the strength of both sides is always close to 10,000 people. They call themselves the Russian Army.
There may be 50,000 enemy soldiers killed every year. Even if this number is reasonable, even killing 10,000 people is extremely cruel.
The only decisive battle in his memory was when he, as a member of the Danish Allied Forces, led two hundred of the most elite soldiers to encounter King Olegin of Svealan (Sweden) by chance. After a bloody battle, he chopped off the man's dog head and gained a large sum of money.
's achievements.
He originally didn't want to mention this matter, because he considered that the relationship between Ross and Svealand was very close, and talking about it might anger them. But the Ross people were already boasting that they had killed the old Danish king who led the counterattack against Svealand.
Hafgen, bringing up "Kill Olegin" is actually retaliating with tooth for tooth.
What is strange is that the attitude of the Russian people is completely ambiguous.
Look at Arik's expression. There is no anger at all, but a smile of praise: "Odin doesn't like lying warriors. You can't afford to make this joke. I believe you killed Olegin. Very good! I have seen it a long time ago.
That man is so distasteful that I wish I could kill him with my own hands! Now we have nothing to do with Svealand. They were defeated by you Danes and now have no ability to compete with us, the Principality of Rus, for the power of the Northern Baltic Sea. So what about you?
?Your tribe is clearly in exile."
Aric, a native of Russia, was a nobleman of the generation, and he only spoke some heart-to-heart words. From Ragnar's point of view, he could no longer hide it.
Ragnar was so cruel that he decided to tell the truth, but what he described was something that Arik and the others had never heard of.
It turns out that when Denmark and the Franks were fighting near the Great Wall of Schleswig, Ragnar had already taken advantage of the chaos and entered the Frankish territory to rob. Robbery and making a fortune was one purpose, and strategic revenge by opening up a new battlefield was the biggest reason.
.
However, Horik, the once tough new King of Denmark, suddenly gave up. According to Ragnar's rude and jealous description, the situation is like this.
"Horlick was originally a hunting dog raised by a Frankish noble. Later, the dog decided to become a human again, which made the owner dissatisfied. The dog fought back for a while, but finally became a good dog again. I heard that the man took off his shirt and was like
The plucked wild boar knelt at the feet of the great Frankish nobles and kissed their toes. He even begged for forgiveness, even if he had to become a eunuch to atone for his sins, as long as he could continue to be a Danish nobleman under the Frankish rule..."
Just hearing Ragnar say this made him feel uncomfortable all over. The hairs on Arik's body stood up, and then he was filled with anger. The angriest was undoubtedly Blue Fox, who simply yelled: "Scoundrels! Kill my people and destroy my shops.
, he is obviously brave, but he surrenders to Frank in this way!"
When Blue Fox said this, he immediately attracted Ragnar's attention. Ragnar was also surprised by this visit, because in the peaceful days in the past, the "Stonewall" tribe did buy some high-quality and cheap ironware and a batch of iron tools in Haideby.
High-quality leather. There are rumors that the owner of the shop is a Russian. No one in the free Hedebe cares about this. The Ragnar tribe who got the good goods had doubts but pretended to be confused. Unexpectedly, the shop sitting in front of them was
Boss! This also explains the real reason why the Ross fleet suddenly entered the Weser River.
Ragnar continued to explain his story. The so-called Horik was forgiven by Frank. He must have sold certain interests in exchange for peace. The reason for his conclusion was that after the truce, Horik suddenly sent his troops to
They turned their spearhead and charged towards the "Stonewall" tribe. They received weapons support from the Franks, and they had superior strength and weapons and equipment. After crossing the sea, they killed the Stonewall tribe and suffered heavy losses.
Horik is an enemy! Although the survivors still call themselves Danes, in their view Denmark has been essentially occupied by Frank's lackeys. They have seen deeper conflicts. The so-called biggest enemy of the tribe is Frank! They have lost their homeland.
There was nowhere to go. With the cold winter approaching in the near future, the brothers could only take the remaining men and row into East Frankland to rob to survive, but things did not go well at all.
At this point, Ragnar, who was already very excited after speaking, clenched his hands into fists, smashed them to the ground, and said viciously: "We have lost everything, and now we can only be pirates. Many women and children were killed by them.
, regardless of the fact that they are also Danes. Many lords have left Denmark, and everyone is unwilling to be loyal to a Frankish dog. Now I still have more than 400 men, and there are only 300 men who can fight. In fact...
There were Frankish pursuers behind us. We didn't grab much supplies, because those Frankish farmers transported most of the things to Bremen. With our small number of people, we simply couldn't capture that city. Now we can only
I can go hungry."
Looking at this description, Aric heard the betrayal and suffering they experienced, and he immediately felt empathy and burst into tears.
Blue Fox was not guilty of this. With a businessman's thinking, he understood Ragnar's deep begging buried in his language.
As for Jevro, the most he thought about was actually to win over, and at the worst, these victims could become allies of the Principality of Rus.
"Have you decided where to go in the future?" Arik asked, wiping away tears.
"Maybe Flanders, go there to try your luck. Let's grab a village and live there first."
Jevro took the opportunity to speak: "Russ and you have no reason or need to fight. Horik and the Franks are our common enemies. We should unite. Why don't you go to Rus!"
Arik slapped his thigh: "That's how it should be. Ragnar, bring your people to join us. I admire you as a hero, and heroes should not be in trouble."
In this way, the Blue Fox also followed the words, his mind was more active, and his words were very smart: "However, the hero's arrogance cannot be tarnished. This time our Ross fleet is ordered to attack Bremen Ragnar. What is now in front of you
There are two roads."
"What is it?" Ragna still liked what the businessman Blue Fox said.
"First, if you don't accept us, you will leave on your own tomorrow and we will pretend we don't know you. Finally, we Russians will attack Bremen. Second, we will form a coalition and share the spoils after conquering Bremen (actually by virtue of
After that, we will form a fleet and go back to Ross for the winter. I choose you to choose the second route, because the Principality of Ross is hiring people, and I can reveal a major secret to you. The prince of Ross has long been tired of the conflict with Denmark.
War. Danes and Danes are different. People like Horik must be punished! As for you, when you choose a peaceful attitude, we can be friends. One day Horik will be expelled, and we
Plan to do business with friendly Danes, and I think you are that kind of person."
"Then unite!"
To everyone's surprise, Ragnar's words were very decisive. Arik was stunned, and then he thought about it. Ragnar must have thought about it a long time ago, but he just didn't want to lose face and ask for alliance.
The so-called alliance was definitely not what Ross should have helped, but Ross still provided one day's rations for his own army. This actually didn't matter. Because of Rurik's paranoid emphasis on logistics, the Ross army purchased supplies on a large scale before setting sail.
, so that even if the action achieves nothing, at least the brothers will not go hungry.
Ragnar's men couldn't afford to pay for a day's rations, but they still paid the price. The two teams joined forces to attack Bremen, forming a larger river fleet and sailing against the current to the city of Bremen.
According to the plan, Ragnar's people will serve as the main offensive force, and the Russian army will provide more fire support and use heavy equipment to knock down Bremen's wooden city wall. Ragnar will inevitably suffer huge risks, but after the city is broken, it will also
They were the first to enter the city, and in theory the best property was snatched by them.
Although Arik felt that this arrangement would benefit these Danish homeless dogs, Blue Fox emphasized the real purpose of this operation: "Why bother with gold and silver? They can't eat it when they are hungry. We need to find the warehouse and rob it."
Wool and grain. It’s warmer here than our home in Northern Europe. The Franks have just finished their wheat harvest. Ragnar said that farmers took wool to the city to take refuge, so that they couldn’t grab anything, so a lot of wheat is in the city. We need to
What we do is to pull the wheat away as much as possible according to the order!"