Chapter 816 The Rus Navy in Goldfrehagen, the capital of the Kingdom of Denmark
The people of Godfreyhagen have no idea of the imminent threat!
Of course they also know that every year, large Russian ships rush through the wide Denmark Strait in a majestic manner. The painful experience tells them not to provoke this group of madmen on the sea. If the Russians have no other intentions, fishing boats and merchant ships will follow them after discovering them.
Just stay away from the edge for now.
The two sides have maintained a rather delicate relationship for several years.
Since the end of the expedition against Britain, the Viking Kingdom of York has risen on half of the Kingdom of Northumbria. After the Viking immigrants from Norway stabilized a territory, a steady stream of immigrants began. This was a
The colonial movement was a spontaneous movement of the Norwegians. The Norwegians were forced to rely on fishing for health. They also wanted to open up a new business of growing wheat to expand their experience and perseverance. Therefore, the king of the Viking Kingdom of York, Rurik, became a blood sworn brother.
His brother Biyongni Magnutson worked hard to absorb these newcomers. The kingdom lived according to Viking customary laws, and his strength continued to increase.
With this ally in the East, every year the Russian Spyut's grain harvesting team could obtain grain from the weakened Northumbria and Mercia.
Forced by the strong fighting power of the Vikings, Northumbria and Mercia lost their military strength to resist. This loss was not only reflected in the difficulty of the nobles recruiting more troops, but also in the fact that the two kingdoms originally had a small population and were
After the attack by the Norwegian-Russian coalition forces, the population decreased.
The two small kingdoms ceased fighting with each other and paid tribute to the Vikings. They were not just fat sheep that contributed wool every year. They paid tribute and received the promise of military assistance from the Vikings. The Viking army was intimidated and powerful.
The Kingdom of Wessex was also afraid of going north to fight against the invaders.
Even the situation in Wessex is complicated.
In just eight months in 838, the kingdom's coastal villages had been plundered many times. The attackers could only be Danes who came across the sea. Although they were just stragglers, every time the kingdom's army just wanted to fight back.
When I arrived at the scene of the attack, I saw only corpses strewn about and the remains of the farm that had been burned to only ashes.
But now! A large Danish army has rushed to the southeastern peninsula of Britain and landed in the Celtic Kingdom of Cornwall.
The leader of this army was none other than the Danish Thorgis. He and his brothers stole a corner of Ireland a few years ago and built a fortress named Dublin. So those who were unwilling to support the new Danish king Horik were unwilling to
What choice did the Danish people at war have? They could become Norwegians, immigrate to the Viking Kingdom of York, or defect to Thorgis in Dublin.
As the Viking Kingdom of York expands in strength, Thorgis's strength is also growing rapidly!
Thorgis saw an opportunity, and more than forty longships carrying a thousand people set out from Dublin and arrived at the Celtic Kingdom of Cornwall.
The Cornish people were the Romanized Celtic people. They tried their best to resist the Wessex invaders who crossed the sea. Facing the brand new invaders from the sea, it was impossible for them to fight on two fronts. They joined in if they couldn't defeat them.
Logically speaking, the King of Cornwall actually reached an alliance with Thorgis. Both sides had their own demands. The Danes wanted wealth, and the Cornish people wanted to regain their territory. Both sides organized a coalition of up to 3,000 people to attack the border village of Hunston.
After learning that the King of Wessex was in serious trouble, Egbert, who was good at bathing, hurriedly led the elites of the country to rush to the southeastern border.
A battle between the Wessexians and the Danish-Celtic coalition is inevitable!
But all this has no immediate significance for the Russians, and even the Russians lack understanding of the Kingdom of Wessex itself.
Ross's Sorgon ship could go in and out of uninhabited territory, cross the Denmark Strait, go straight to Hunter Bay in central Britain, enter the River Ouse to make contact with the British kingdom, take away the tribute and sail away.
All went well with this tribute payment in the past years, and Spuyut will also bring news about King Biyongni and his brother Floki.
There is also information about the situation of Aela, the crown prince of Northumbria, and the situation of the nobles of Mercia.
Because the situation in 838 AD is very special, the Russians will officially announce something to the Mercian nobles - the orthodox princess Mary gave birth to a boy, and gave the Pope a Christian name. The boy named Reglaf is
The sole heir to the throne of Mercia.
The original plan was for the royal pirate, the great explorer Spyut, to announce the news in person. Spyut did not have to actually meet the Mercian nobles, he only needed to inform the "Broken Arm King" of Northumbria about the news.
Just fine, if this guy is still alive...
These are all things for later.
There is only one target for the Ross coalition - Godfrey Hagen.
The diamond-shaped Ross fleet has only one large ship. Even those standard armed cargo ships, their decks are much higher than traditional long ships. They are obviously smaller ships. It depends on who they are compared with. They are longer than traditional long ships.
Ships, even armed cargo ships are huge.
Eight small boats are unloaded from rowing boats suspended by ropes on the side of the main ship, and sailing cruisers such as the Aurora can transport 80 people to the beach at one time.
Yes, Rurik expected that he was going to make a beach landing!
Because of Ragnar's intelligence, he has a good understanding of Godfrehagen's geographical outline.
"After all, he is a ruthless man who has been in Frank for many years. He is very particular about building fortifications."
Godfreyhagen is a political city, and its core is the so-called "palace" of the Danish king. King Horik was burdened with original sin, and the surrendered leader also understood that this man became king because of the Franks.
Support. He was afraid that the lords would form a coalition to rebel, so he still created the "Priest of Odin" and continued to bleed the God King with the blood of slaves, so as to continue to swear that he was still a warrior of Odin, thereby stabilizing his willfulness.
He was also building walled "palaces" and walled cities.
It was a camp built on a stone hill along the coast, and the core area was a large military camp. The brothers who had fought with him for many years completely occupied the territory of the Robard tribe. The men got married on the spot and began to breed children. A large number of Robard people
Relying on this group of outsiders, a prosperous city is developing, and other institutions affiliated with the city are also born. For example, the shipbuilding workshop standing at the city port.
Godfrey Hagen, who is still alive in a wide field of vision, is actually the only place that Spyutsogon ships must pass. The information he provides is completely consistent with Ragnar's information, so Rurik wants to
Think of siege warfare.
Can a wooden fence stop the Russians?
The torsion slingshots on the ship that can be quickly detached are now excellent siege weapons.
Even a siege weapon was dismantled into parts and placed in the cabin of the Aurora.
The Ross fleet rushed to the Oresund Strait, which belongs to the Denmark Strait, and Rurik was also quite familiar with this sea area.
The flagship hoisted the skull and crossbones flag with black stripes on a white background, which was a signal to prepare for battle.
The soldiers standing on the bow of the flagship ship then informed the other ships with flags, and the final order was spread to all ships.
"Brothers, get ready, polish your swords, prepare your shields, and bring them to the bow and arrow, we are about to land!" Each ship was passing on this message, and the soldiers in the cabin rushed to the deck singing and laughing.
.
Everyone saw a large city. On a low stone hill stood a group of buildings surrounded by wooden walls. Under the stone hill were a large number of low thatched houses.
The tall wooden houses have a Frankish style, and the area outside the wooden walls has a large number of thatched houses, which are quite traditional longhouses.
But traces of the Russians had already appeared, and black smoke was unusually burning on the coast.
"What is that?!" Rurik asked Ragnar beside him.
"It's not like there was an accidental fire. I'm afraid our enemies were prepared."
"Is it a beacon? Creating thick smoke as an alarm?"
Ragnar didn't know the inside story in this regard, so he could only nod. He was a little nervous and said: "Brother, if they make preparations, we are very likely to encounter their cavalry."
"Cavalry? Frankish-style cavalry? Are you afraid of them?"
"Me?" Ragnar laughed rudely to cover up his embarrassment. He was embarrassed to say that he was really afraid of cavalry, so he said: "At least you Russians are definitely not afraid. I have seen you use these heavy weapons.
Killing the Frank cavalry was as easy as cutting through a small tree with an axe."
Arik was not on the flagship, but if he were present, he would not hesitate to review the Bremen battle record last year, when the so-called Ross bow and arrow array defeated the Frankish cavalry.
Arik Haosheng described the incident. "The Chronicle of Bremen" was also regarded as major news, printed on paper as a public publication, and posted on the bulletin board in the square for the public to watch.
Rurik had no fear of the Danish cavalry, and the landing site he chose did not seem to be a place where the cavalry could easily spread out.
He drew his sword and pointed directly at Godfrey Hagen's port: "No matter how many there are, we will rush to the port. Now we are ready to release the boat, and the soldiers are also ready to anchor. We cannot delay too much time and strive for
Catch the enemy by surprise."
The soldiers on the deck got orders one after another, and Ragna also got orders, but he was slightly worried: "Do we still have a chance to make a surprise attack now?"
"I hope so." Rurik was also a little nervous. He still felt that he still had too few soldiers. He simply said sincerely: "I am not ready for a decisive battle with Horik, but I really don't want to let this opportunity go.
But he'd better lead his own troops to fight our army in a fierce battle, Ragnar, I hope it's you who will cut off that evil man's head by then."
To really encourage him, Ragnar gave Rurik a deep pat on the shoulder with a tight mouth. A look was worth a thousand words. He also went down to prepare, and gave orders to the guys on the nearby fleet with his voice.
This is the revenge of the Danish Stonewall tribe, and also the revenge of a large number of Danish exiles.
From their point of view, Godfreyhagen is not the capital of Denmark at all, it is a city of sin, and the flag with the raven pattern flying in the city is simply ridiculous.
The Ross coalition was as powerful as a rainbow, with steel swords flashing with cold light, and crossbows and short wooden bows at the ready.
Especially the arrangement of the torsion slingshots by the Russian army. According to the order of the semaphore, all the slingshots installed on the starboard side of all the ships in the army were unloaded. These unloaded slingshots did not participate in fire support, but were directly transported to the small boats with small trolleys.
, and then transported directly to the shore as land warfare weapons.
Look!
The frantic escape of the Danish fishing boats disappeared from sight, and the entire Godfrehagen port was in chaos. After the fishing boats fled into the harbor in large numbers, they chose to wash up on the beach. The frightened fishermen could not control the catch, and carried the soft and easy-to-carry
Just run away and let the fight go to hell!
This was an eye-opener for everyone. Every year they could see the provocative passing of Ross ships, and they hated the blue and white striped jibs. Today was extraordinary. A large number of big ships were waiting in the port, and the sinister jibs were like
The monster's taunt, there are a large number of clearly visible armed men there, they are the Ross army! They are clearly going to launch an armed raid on Godfrey Hagen!
Chaos descended on the seaport, and ordinary people of the Robard tribe were fleeing. Because Horik was not their chosen leader, the Robards were allies with this group of people who had returned from the Frankish territory, but they only respected Horik.
It's just the leader.
Only those men of the Robard tribe who took advantage of Horik decisively took up arms to fight for their monarch.
As early as the first beacon ignited black smoke, and the black smoke spread the message all the way to Godfrehagen like dominoes.
Horik was in the city. He thought that today would be another ordinary sunny day and that there would be no major incidents throughout the day, but the black smoke was clearly visible.
"Maybe it's a misunderstanding?" It was the black smoke warning system he set up. Thinking that the hateful lone wolf version of the Ross ship passing through the strait would not come at this time, maybe it was a defender who accidentally set it on fire.
The firewood pile filled with cow dung created thick smoke and caused an oasis.
However, he still ordered the elite soldiers within the city walls to remain on alert. Although there was no definite information about the enemy attack for the time being, it was necessary to remain vigilant, so the people outside the city walls were also partially mobilized.
Godfrehagen is not a big city. The city is the residence of Horik’s elite army and their families. Even though there are many people from the Robard tribe living here, these people are still a minority. Including women and children, the entire city is
There are more than 4,000 people in the city, and they are spread over a large area in the form of a big cake.
The port area is a densely populated area, and the lanes here are also quite complex.
The current port area is even more chaotic, because the fleeing people have parked the ships in a mess. No one will have any doubts now, whether Horik accepts it or not, a typical Russian army rushed over!
Standing on the wooden wall, Horik looked at the approaching fleet and felt that none of this was shown. His legs were shaking uncontrollably, and he finally controlled them with willpower.
"Brothers, it's an enemy attack! Let's go and fight! Rustand! Stad! Bring your cavalry and get ready! I think the Russians are about to land, you rush over and drive them into the sea!"
Although the two generals had doubts, since it was the king's order, they should obey it.
Besides, their family members are also here, and the money they looted in the past is also here.
Especially Stad, who was ordered to take over Hedeby, which led to the outbreak of war. He cleared away the Russian forces in Hedeby and killed a large number of Russian soldiers (mercenaries were equivalent to the Russian army), which was regarded as a meritorious service.
But in the subsequent conflict with the Frankish Kingdom, this kid was also injured and almost died.
After Stud recovered from his injury, he still had some physical sequelae, but they were not visible when he was riding a horse. He wanted to perform meritorious service again, but he also felt that the Russians' unbelievable large-scale invasion was different from the fact that he had killed about a hundred of their soldiers before.
There is a direct relationship.
On the way back to the stables in a hurry, General Rustand heard the news pessimistically: "You have killed the Russians, do you know their strength? We are not prepared for their massive invasion this time. I am worried..."
"Don't be afraid." Stade, who was walking with a limp, cheered up: "I have killed a hundred of them, and this time I will kill a thousand of them. It is difficult for us to defeat them at sea. As long as these people come ashore
, is the world of our cavalry. Remember! No army can defeat Qibin in a land battle. The only one who can defeat the cavalry is another cavalry."
With these words, Rustand's worries were relieved.