Harald Clark expected that he would be defeated. Due to many reasons, he decided to rush forward despite knowing that he would have a narrow escape.
Thus ushered in the destined failure.
However, for a sixty-year-old man like him, even if he is not as crazy as he is today, what hope does he have in the future?
Even if the chaos in the north is resolved, and I am awarded the title of baron for my meritorious service, should I live alone in an unknown small village in East Francia? I don't even have any heirs.
Although he converted to God, today he is running towards death like a Viking warrior.
He is already an old man. What did he get after working as a mercenary for more than ten years? Even an earl was furious at pointing fingers at the former king of Denmark. It was really a shame and a great humiliation.
If you die in this battle, it will be like making a glorious ending to the embarrassing second half of your life.
But at the moment when he was truly on the verge of death, his desire to survive trumped everything else.
He hid in the most conscientious way, like "a harpooned cod" being pulled out from under the pontoon.
Fortunately, he did not die in the battle, but he was very cold.
In the city of Hamburg, Sigurd's son Ragnar was standing here, and behind him stood a group of soldiers. Look at their free and easy clothes, they were all Danish troops! For a moment, he burst into tears.
"Are you Harald Clark?" Rurik asked, leaning his head and looking at the old guy with a white beard who huddled silently at his feet.
"I just said it. I am Harald Clark, and I was the King of Denmark more than ten years ago."
"Indeed." Ragnar sighed and looked up at the sky again. He thought of a lot in that moment. "I met you back then, when I had just become famous, but the next year you were expelled by everyone for betraying Odin.
.I really can’t believe that you didn’t die. Moreover, you became the dog of the Franks.”
"What else can I do?" Harald Clark asked in frustration.
"Who knows. Maybe I should kill you. Not only are you a traitor to Odin, but you also actively attacked us. You deserve to die. And the rest of your subordinates deserve to die."
As he spoke, Ragnar drew out his sword, and when he was about to stab, Rurik grabbed him.
"Wait a minute! Brother! This person cannot be killed."
"Why? Do you pity him?"
"No."
"I heard that when you killed Hafgen, you stood on the bow of the ship and shouted, "Go to hell."
Rurik shrugged, thinking that his shouting back then had so many miscarriages? His subordinates must have been bragging in private and this guy heard about it.
"But, this man cannot be killed. It is not because he was once the leader of Denmark. By the way... you will never feel that an old guy with a white beard threatens your status. I have inquired a long time ago, and this man does not even have any heirs."
"You have no heirs?!" Ragnar felt extremely ridiculous, so he lowered his head again: "It seems that even if you fled to Frank, the nobles there would not arrange a wife or concubine for you. You are really pitiful. However, a traitor ended up like this.
, everyone is very happy.”
Suffering rounds of humiliation, Harald Clark felt extremely regretful at this moment. Why did he grab the pontoon just now? It would be better to just sink into the Elbe River.
Rurik asked his Ragnar brothers to stay calm, and said: "I am the commander of the entire army. This is what we have agreed upon. Including the defeat of her army, it was all done by our Ross army. This person
I know a lot of information, so I want to interrogate him. Besides, he used to be the King of Denmark, so why not..."
Suddenly, Rurik put his mouth to Ragnar's ear and whispered: "You can perform a ceremony. Let this man announce that you are the real king of Denmark. Then make him worship Odin again, and then give him
Arrange a small house to support him, since he doesn’t have many years to live anyway.”
Ragnar suddenly realized, he leaned over and muttered: "It's okay to let him recognize me as the King of Denmark, but if I support him, other nobles will say I'm a fool."
"You don't like him? No problem, just give it to me. This man's army was defeated by the Russian army. He is my prisoner of war. I will deal with him."
"That's fine." Ragnar nodded.
After killing a defeated old man with his own hands, Rurik was still tired of his blood staining his sword.
Rurik did not kill Harald Clark, not because he was not a man enough to kill prisoners, but because this man represented Denmark's past. Harald Clark was a contemporary of Otto, and he escorted him all the way to Rus.
Rurik thought it would be a great good thing to display it to the public.
How will the people of Ross understand this?
His own king personally killed the former Danish King Hafgen, cut off the hands and feet of the new Danish King and made him a human pig, and finally captured the earlier Danish King Harald Clark. The three Danish kings were either dead or captured. It was really
How glorious? But even so, Rurik was still determined to show mercy to this old man.
…
The sudden defeat of Harald Clark scared the remaining two thousand Frankish cavalry.
Count Robert of the Rheingau looked at the wide Elbe River and the city of Hamburg, which was protected by a large number of ships. He felt that approaching the river was asking for death. The cavalry could not cross the bridge safely, and approaching the river would inevitably encounter arrows. He was already at Weser
He had suffered a big loss, but he did not dare to squander himself and Ludwig's elite cavalry anymore.
But he felt that he didn't have no chance at all.
The situation is now very clear. The city of Hamburg and the surrounding areas are firmly occupied by the Normans. There is a high probability that the local Saxons are colluding with the Normans. As for the Franks living locally? His army has already found some people who went to the house.
The empty Frankish village suddenly gave rise to an ominous omen.
"If you really kill us Franks, His Highness Ludwig will definitely send a large army to conquer you! He will kill you in revenge." He muttered.
The Frankish cavalry's iron cavalry had a huge tactical advantage. As long as the Normans dared to reach the south bank of the Elbe River and challenge them in depth, they would be seeking death. The cavalry's iron cavalry would trample them into pulp.
Knowing his advantage, Robert deliberately set up camp in an open area further south of the river. There were endless reeds and rushes swaying in the autumn wind, which were good fodder for war horses.
His army concentrated on an abandoned village further south, and it was here that they found the body.
The body of the deceased was blackened and pus oozed out, and the stench made people feel strongly uncomfortable.
These people are not enemies, but Franks who immigrated here!
The soldiers hurriedly dug a hole to bury the found bodies. After this glance, the soldiers felt even more hatred towards the Normans.
That night, the soldiers stationed in this village used the captured cooking utensils to cook wheat. They discussed the day's war and had a serious lack of confidence in the future battle.
The grassroots soldiers had no hope of victory in the crusade, because the tragedy of Harald Clark's three hundred cavalry being wiped out in an instant was clearly seen by everyone. No matter how arrogant these elite warriors were, they did not want to be hit by arrows at that time.
It was themselves who were hurt. They were unwilling to attack, let alone retreat. Although they had expected the murderous behavior of the Normans, they were still shocked when they saw the tragic corpses of the Frank immigrants.
Anger, fear, frustration, fatigue, and bewilderment were all combined into one body. The soldiers were like this, and the pressure on the leading nobles only increased.
There were several people sitting by the bonfire, including Supreme Commander Robert himself, three cavalry flag captains, and Baron Henry of Nassau, a minor vassal in Robert's territory.
The strange situation in Poyun puts Robert in a dilemma. In fact, he still doesn't know who his enemy is until now. Just knowing that Hamburg is full of Normans and that a large number of Frank immigrants were killed, there is a high probability that the Saxons will rebel.
.
Robert talked a lot. The three cavalry flag captains were too lazy to talk and did not bother to say that they were all Ludwig's soldiers. In principle, they were obeying Robert's orders this time. It was really a critical moment and they also wanted to act.
Running away.
Robert could not fully mobilize the three already weakened elite cavalry standard units, so he made an agreement with the three officers here.
"I won't let you take the risk of attacking, but you shouldn't evacuate on your own initiative. We will stay here, like a spear that can be stabbed at any time, forcing the enemy to stay on guard. As for figuring out the current situation, it is my responsibility.
"
Is it really Robert's responsibility? His eyes immediately turned to Baron Nassau.
"Henry, we have always been neighbors. This time we have encountered a big crisis, and we don't know the enemy's situation. Now I ask you to do something."
Doing business? It's definitely not a good thing. What a pity, who allows himself to be just a lower-level nobleman living in a tiny village?
There are also multiple baronies in Robert's Earldom of the Rheingau, and these barons are the village chiefs of a village.
A river called the Forest River has a long origin and eventually empties into the Atlantic Ocean in the area of present-day Amsterdam. Today's Amsterdam does not exist yet, and the port town named Durist coincided geographically with it at this time.
The fiefdom of Baron Nassau is located on the banks of the Lan River, a tributary of the Lin River. It is a wetland with rich water and grass adjacent to the two rivers. It is really suitable for farming. Even so, Baron Nassau's economic situation is relatively good. It is precisely because of this that he
Only then can he be able to raise a small cavalry and join Count Robert's army to serve him at critical moments.
Gu Xie
After all, a baron is just a baron, because the next action still carries huge risks, and Robert is worried that his own soldiers will suffer losses.
The Baron of Nassau was forced to listen. The so-called task was for the Count to order himself as a negotiator to have a good talk with the Normans.
"This...doesn't this mean I'm going to die?"
"How could they be sent to death?! Could they kill the messenger?!"
"They will definitely do it. Because they are Normans, like the apostles of Satan..."
Robert laughed awkwardly. He could not guarantee that the Normans would not kill the envoys, but he had to find out the enemy's true intentions and summarize them as key information to the monarch Ludwig.
Intimidating this baron? Forget it! None of the people in the Nassau villages were Franks. They submitted to the kingdom very smoothly in the early years. Because they were too small, they only granted the title of baron to the leader of the village.
The Robert family was the outsider. After all, he was a branch of the family, and quite a few of his relatives actually lived in the geographical location of today's Belgium and were Lothair's vassals.
As an earl, Robert did not dare to force Henry to go.
He arranged this: "It is certainly a huge risk, but now, only you can take on this important task. You will investigate the information, and this information will eventually be sent to the monarch. No one will bury your contribution, and I will personally report it to the monarch. With your feat, your fiefdom will become larger and your population will increase. Both the monarch and I need you. In fact, I only need you to find out their situation and confirm their identity first. If there are real negotiations, I will have to go there in person. .You don’t have to worry anymore.”
"So I'm actually just a connector?" Henry asked cautiously.
"That's probably true. You should also try your best to find out the enemy's intentions. The more detailed the better."
Of course, the three cavalry captains from Regensburg would not go into this muddy water, they would just sit and watch the show.
Henry, Baron of Nassau, was in a dilemma and had to take over the job.
Considering that the risk was too great, he even found a clean wooden board and carved a piece of text with a carving knife. This was a will, and he entrusted it to Robert: "If I die, give it to me." Family. My title will be inherited by my eldest son."
The baron behaved like a martyr. He even cut off a lock of hair and sealed it in a box. He said that if there was no body left, this lock of hair would represent his final burial in the monastery in the village of Nassau.
…
Just across the Elbe River, Rurik ordered a huge fireworks display.
So on the north bank of the river, a large number of bonfires were strung together like a chain, making it appear that the other bank was full of troops.
This had a big psychological impact on the Frankish army on the other side. After all, Charlemagne never used the cunning campfire tactics when he was alive. In other words, the traditional Frankish army was very martial in fighting, just showing off the army in a big way, and finally The enemy's military formations clashed head-on in a decisive battle.
Hamburg was filled with joy after the victory, and everyone was confident of holding on to the fruits of victory.
Rurik discussed with the generals and nobles, especially Ragnar, Liudov, and Robert. The so-called army cannot stand here meaninglessly. As for taking the initiative to attack, it is theoretically possible, but the risk is still too high.
Rurik's interrogation of Harald Clark was completed very smoothly. This man was not willing to give up his Catholic faith and start believing in Odin again. He claimed that he had been abandoned by Odin long ago. If he could choose an ending, he would rather put down his arms. Become a monk.
Become a monk? Yes. But if you want to return to Frankland, you will definitely not have a stable life. Staying in Denmark is completely impossible, and you will be beheaded on the order of Ragnar.
This Harald Clark had already met Horik, who was locked in a wooden cage and turned into a human pig, under Rurik's instruction.
Horik and Harald Clark are indeed related by blood, but they have long been strangers.
He saw the blue fox again and was equally surprised.
"When my friend Blue Fox was in trouble, you protected him and helped him complete his journey. Because of this contribution, I will spare you from death. You were once the king of Denmark. Ragnar would kill you, but I don't want to kill you. .I invite you to the far east, where there is a monastery. It doesn’t matter if you don’t give up on God. You can retire there. As long as you honestly report the intentions of your Frankish army and provide this information, I will ensure your happiness in your later years.”
Harald Clark surrendered smoothly, and had to sigh: "I was still the King of Denmark when you were born. My people attacked your fleet. I know this, but it was not my order..." So
Another set of excuses.
That was in 821. Uncle Ogier died in a Danish sneak attack after going off course. This incident was indeed the result of the Ross fleet crossing the line first and successfully counterattacking. However, this incident undoubtedly aroused the anger of the Ross people and made the Ross fleet even more angry.
What kind of bilateral relations is adding fuel to the fire?
Everything has passed. The former King of Denmark has become a lonely old man with white hair.
Harald Clark would choose the right opportunity to recognize Ragnar as the real King of Denmark, and also recognize Rurik as the great King of Rus. This move was the vanity of the Danish nobles who ended their political lives and greatly satisfied themselves.
The information he provided was quite solid, and at the night meeting, everyone understood the true strength of the enemy, and even determined how many Franks Arik had killed before escaping.
"The enemy only has two thousand riders, so I don't think there's anything to be afraid of." Ragnar shouted at the meeting.
Many nobles also had the same attitude. Even Liu Doufu, who was completely intimidated, instantly became a staunch militant.
"I suggest taking the initiative." Liudov declared confidently: "I know Robert, he is my neighbor. I really didn't expect that Ludwig would send him three cavalry banners. Robert also brought his own fiefdom.
When the main force comes, he has already suffered too many losses and is still unwilling to evacuate. In my opinion, he will not dare to attack rashly again. If we cross the Elbe River and attack them, we will definitely be able to annihilate his cavalry."
These remarks surprised Rurik: "When did you...when did you suddenly become so confident?"
"This is an opportunity! Ludwig only has 5,000 elite cavalry. Our coalition forces can take this opportunity to kill half of his cavalry. If the remaining Robert suffers heavy losses, Ludwig will be in danger in the eastern part of his territory.
There are no more soldiers available. Then we can do whatever we want."
Rurik also understood it, and he constructed a map in his mind.
The so-called King Ludwig of East Francia had his base in Bavaria, and his other territories were actually several major territories.
There are no great vassals in the Alemannic region, of which the Count of Rheingau is the existing great vassal. The rest of the area is mostly under the jurisdiction of bishops and towns directly controlled by Ludwig. To the east, there is West
The Count of Valia, the Count of Flanders, the Count of Bremen and the Count of Hamburg. The problem is that the local Saxons in areas including Bremen and Hamburg are already happy to hear about the resurrection of the Principality of Saxony.
The earldom of Westphalia had ceased to exist in name only, because the earl was Liudov, who transformed himself into the Duke of Saxe and openly engaged in military confrontation.
The eastern part of Ludwig's territory was either a political vacuum or a traitor. Only a weak Count of Flanders was fishing on the Dutch coast. In other words, the Flemish people in the area were unwilling to take the initiative and only wanted to attack.
Remain neutral and be loyal to whoever wins in the end.
If the entire army is dispatched and bites those Frank cavalry, it is feasible to annihilate them in one fell swoop. However, we must also consider that they will use their ultra-high mobility to escape. The main force of the Ross army is the Marine Corps. Once there is no fleet protection, infantry will be used to fight the cavalry.
We still have to face a lot of risks. Because the Russian army has suffered a big loss in this regard recently, and the initiator is the current ally, Duke Liudolf of Saxony.
It was precisely because of this that Rurik became more aware of the risks involved.
Why attack with all your strength? The time has entered autumn, and the climate is getting colder quickly. Once it rains, it may rain for ten days. This is the so-called autumn rain season in Northern Europe in September. Such weather is really not suitable for fighting, and those Frank cavalry must have
Materials are in short supply and we cannot hold on for too long.
Revenge against the Franks is necessary, but it is too late this year. The army fought from spring to autumn. Although it won one victory after another, the army was still quite exhausted. If it continued to fight, it would face the huge Franks. Even if it was to engage in pirate plunder,
It became untimely. The minimum limit for the army to stay is the end of October. Otherwise, the eastern and northern Baltic Seas will freeze, and the fleet will have to spend the winter on Tombstone Island in the Åland Islands.
How much more results can be achieved with more than a month left?
It's better to talk to the enemy's commander, Count Robert of Rheingauer.
Who served as the matchmaker? The northern sage Eskil was a generally recognized figure.
Eskil, who was originally very speechless and distressed by this battle, was brought out. When he learned that a war might be resolved with his own words, he was willing to serve as a facilitator in negotiations.
Eskil began to actively prepare, as did the Russian, Danish and Saxon armies.
Can they really recognize the Principality of Saxony and maintain peace through negotiation? Bah! Only by defeating Ludwig and killing his elite will the others be subdued.
To hell with gentlemen's agreements, everyone only recognizes fists.
So Rurik ordered everyone to actively cut down the wood, and make a large number of long wooden poles to sharpen them, so as to use them as wooden spears. Let the entire army, regardless of ethnicity, set up a spear formation, and let Frank's cavalry charge.
Hedgehog formation, such ordinary Saxon farmers gathered together, at least they are not easily knocked down.
Rurik ordered all night to make preparations, but only the Frankish army on the other side of the river was still in a state of war.
So early in the morning, Baron Nassau, with ten of his entourage, rode towards the bridgehead by the river while holding three flags high.
These three flags are unusual. One is a cross flag with a white background painted blue, and the other is Charlemagne's three lion flag.
The last side is just plain white cloth.
Of course, this white cloth does not mean surrender, it represents negotiation. Even though Baron Henry of Nassau felt that the Normans did not understand the habits of the Frank army at all, he still rushed to the bridgehead and prepared to face the Norman sentries that appeared there again...