The East Frankish army camped on both sides of the road, and the more open areas in the woods were good places to set up tents.
The woods covered the road ahead, and the soldiers gathered dead branches and stones everywhere. They unloaded the pottery urns from the carriage and poured water from the stream to cook the oats.
As the king of the Eastern Kingdom, Ludwig's own food was not much better than that of his soldiers.
There are not so many bells and whistles, and a barbecue is a very hearty meal.
The lower-level nobles who shot rabbits specially presented a freshly skinned hare to the king, and Ludwig was happy to cut off the roasted meat with a knife.
After all, he is not a mediocre person. As a military noble, he is not used to riding in a carriage at all.
He marched on horseback himself, and when necessary, he also intended to command his beloved heavy cavalry troops to charge.
Today, even though Charlemagne's era has passed, the bravery of the Franks has not been lost.
Charlemagne had four grandsons, and they all knew how to ride horses to fight. Such great nobles were always on the front line of battles, simply because all lower-level nobles needed their king to be a brave warrior.
In this way, the great nobles may also put themselves in danger. For example, the second eldest brother, who was twenty-three years old, galloped on his horse and accidentally fell off the horse and was seriously injured and died.
No one cared about the death of the second brother, and even secretly rejoiced at his death. In this way, the fourth brother, Bald Charlie, who had no fiefdom, immediately and reasonably replaced most of the second brother's fiefdom.
The three princes represent the three top forces in the kingdom, and they each gather their friends to fight.
After all, they are brothers from the same father and mother. War is war. If there is a one-man duel, no one is willing to kill the brother.
However, Ludwig was determined to deal with the rebellious Saxons and invading Normans, and he was also mentally prepared. He said that this battle was a gamble on the national destiny of the Eastern Kingdom.
He was extremely satisfied when he looked at the dense array of bonfires on both sides of the road. The army rested in the town of Münster for a few days. After the follow-up army arrived, the whole army set off at the same time. Now the whole army maintains a very close distance. He
I was able to observe the grandeur of the army under my command.
"I have 23,000 mercenaries, and I have the blessing of the archbishop. There is no need to worry about the winter expedition, I will win!"
The strong military strength gave him unprecedented confidence, but long hours of riding on horseback made Ludwig feel sleepy every evening.
He is actually only thirty-five years old, and as a European monarch, he is in the prime of life. It is at this age that his pioneering and enterprising spirit remains, and he has the courage to carry out today's "Winter Offensive".
He didn't bring his wife or son with him on this trip, and there wasn't even a maid by his side.
There are even no women in the entire huge army.
Many times the authority of the king cannot be extended to the retinues of the minor nobles, who would secretly do things such as robbing women. This time, because the Archbishop of Cologne went on an expedition with sacred objects, he found that there were people stealing, robbing and robbing women.
There is only one method of punishment - hanging.
Ludwig decided to resolutely maintain military discipline entirely because of the archbishop's monitoring eyes.
As a result, the Eastern Kingdom's army became not only well-known but also infallible. To the Franks, Ludwig indeed became a great hero.
But this does not mean that there is no plundering of the people. When the army passed through Münster, it basically moved the granaries of this small town. For this reason, the local priests complained. Thanks to the mediation of the archbishop himself, these complaints were eliminated.
The army still needed more logistical supplies. Ludwig did not know how long this winter war would last. His launch of this war was not only a vent of his anger, but also the support of Archbishop Hardbold of Cologne.
The Archdiocese of Cologne is a place of production. Under the protection of the priests, the people here have always remained neutral in the civil war. It can be said that the people live and work in peace and contentment. By exporting food, they can continue to accumulate wealth.
If they support a certain party in the civil war, their strength will be greatly enhanced. Nominally, the Bishopric of Cologne is classified as the Eastern Kingdom, but in fact it has always been a regional qualification.
Now the Archbishop, out of his own safety, is determined to support Ludwig's just actions, which in fact proves that they are indeed loyal to the Eastern Kingdom.
The Archdiocese of Cologne did indeed encounter a real sneak attack by the Normans, and it was a fact that Duisburg and Nijmegen suffered tragic blows. Therefore, they not only gathered a thousand people to support Ludwig, but they were also willing to move their warehouses
Wheat is used as military ration. Once the so-called army encounters a ration crisis, backup can be continuously and quickly transported to the north through the "Hell Road".
Aren't they afraid of winter snowfall?
In fact, the "Hell Road" leading to the north was carefully built by the Romans in ancient times. It is as solid as a rock. If the snow is serious, horse-drawn sleds will be used to transport wheat to the north.
It was already evening, and the whole army had finished their meal and planned to wrap up their blankets and sleep.
As night falls, some visions that can be obscured by the treetops of the forest cannot be concealed.
The fierce fire burned the northern sky red, and people who were dozing off stood up one after another.
Everything was just like what they saw in Cologne. It was obviously late at night and the sky in the northwest was unusually bright red. It was later proven that this was a vicious act of murder and arson by Norman pirates.
When someone realized this, an unconfirmed news spread among the military.
"The Normans are setting fire to the North!"
The soldiers hurriedly informed King Ludwig of the news, causing the young monarch who had just been lying down to get up suddenly.
It’s incredible that the Normans went overland and set fire to it. How could their ships still run on land? Are there still big rivers in the north?
Walking out of the tent with doubts, and following the direction pointed by the soldiers, he saw a terrible vision in the north.
Are there any towns in the north?
At the same time, Archbishop Hadbold was extremely shocked after hearing the rumors. The vision in the sky proved that a certain place was burning. The burning place was none other than the town of Osnabrück.
The archbishop hurriedly found King Ludwig, and the two continued their brief exchange, deducing that the enemy had invaded Osnabruck rampantly, and with the shameless means of the Normans, they must have killed everyone they saw.
Then burn everything.
"Revenge! These satanic attempts must be punished!" The archbishop's eyes were filled with tears. He could not tolerate his faith being tarnished, especially the sacred Osnabruck. Because it was founded by Charlemagne in Saxony.
the first monastery, and the first colonial town.
Thinking of his great grandfather's masterpiece being tarnished and his faith being tarnished, Ludwig felt double hatred in his heart, and Ludwig couldn't care too much.
It was really not suitable for fighting at night, and the Frankish army did not have the ability to fight at night. It was actually because of a special factor that restricted the army's ability to fight at night - night blindness.
The situation of the elite troops was better. Among the largest number of peasant soldiers, one or two became blurred at night.
Some priests explained that this was because God did not want the soldiers to be addicted to weapons, so he sent down divine power to punish them. Some priests speculated that this was because the soldiers were addicted to weapons and lacked piety in their faith, so they were cursed by demons that haunted the night.
It has been everyone's consensus not to fight at night. Ludwig and the Archbishop can do nothing even if they look at the flames in the north.
(The amount of yellow-rooted carrots grown in the Eastern Kingdom is too small, and the people mostly rely on oats and rye to satisfy their hunger. They eat more than nothing, and their overall physical fitness is not high enough. There are more carrots grown north of the Elbe River and in Scandinavia, and the people
Eat more fish, like oily cod liver and seal liver, generally not lacking in vitamin A.)
There may be an encounter with the Normans ahead! As for why no one speculated that the rebellious Saxons might be responsible for the disaster, everyone did not believe that they would betray their faith and attack the monastery.
All the soldiers were mentally prepared. Some were excited, some were trembling, and many were mentally numb.
The chainmail and leather riveted iron armor that had been thrown on the carriage began to be distributed to elite soldiers, many of whom wore armor instead of cotton.
Ludwig also made some arrangements, planning to send a force of 500 heavy cavalry and light cavalry, all lightly armed, to explore as quickly as possible.
Others are mentally prepared for an encounter.
…
So the next day, Frank's light cavalry began to run wildly.
Carrying round shields on their backs and wearing the lightest upper body armor, they dashed forward.
A flag captain of the heavy cavalry flag regiment was leading the mission. He felt a bit robbed of honor by suddenly taking off his heavy equipment to carry out the mission.
The war horse jogged all the way, maintaining a high speed equivalent to ten kilometers per hour.
They traveled about ten kilometers in a sudden, and when the forest cover dispersed, they saw a plain in the forest and a town that was still burning.
The soldiers were heartbroken when they saw all this.
"They really attacked the monastery! Damn it, where is the evil figure?" The flag captain looked left and right, cursed the Normans for their shamelessness, and ordered the cavalry to disperse to investigate the situation.
These light cavalry went straight to the burning town, trying to find anyone alive.
But they saw many dead bodies in the bare farmland.
Checking the cause of death of the deceased, some were hacked and some were shot.
There were fatal holes in the body, and the deceased could only die from arrows. The cause of death is even more suspicious. Could it be that the Norman archers could still run to the southern forest area, and how dare they be so reckless after breaking away from the ship?
When the news came back, the flag captain thought for a while and made a sudden judgment - there were enemies stationed in the nearby woods.
Could this open space in Osnabruck be a battlefield?
Hoping to get more information, they decided to conduct further inspections and also hope to find some survivors to figure out what happened.
Little did he know, a pair of eyes were watching everything happening here in the forest in the distance.
Regarding the appearance of the Frank cavalry, this incident really surprised the Russian cavalry general Fisk.
The Ross cavalry carried out a mass killing yesterday, and the brothers took away a lot of gold and silver utensils and some wheat. After all, they were deep in enemy territory, and Fisk, who was young but experienced in many battles, still had to hide his figure tightly.
They spent the night in the forest, and their horses were placed among the trees.
Yesterday's slashing had consumed a lot of energy among the brothers, and they all had an extra night's sleep. They were supposed to continue southward to look for targets for a sneak attack after waking up, but instead they noticed a large group of cavalry appearing in an open area.
Fisk and some of his friends went to the edge of the woodland.
Someone muttered: "Who are they? They can't be Franks."
"There is no one but the Franks."
"Boss, what should we do? Suddenly rush out and catch them off guard?"
Everyone was asking Fisker about his attitude. He gritted his teeth and thought for a while: "No. Let's continue to see."
So, they stayed at the edge of the forest and continued to observe.
This is never a good idea.
But the Frankish light cavalry were ordered to search around the entire town, and some cavalry planned to go to the forest area to explore.
There are some shaking white shadows in the woods to the west of the town, which are too conspicuous in the gray-brown forests of late autumn and early winter.
More than thirty Frank cavalry lined up in a horizontal line. For safety reasons, they moved collectively and walked quickly in the direction of the white thing.
Suddenly, the Russians in the forest were shocked.
"Oops! We're exposed!" Fisk exclaimed.
"Boss, how about we fight."
"That's right! Brothers are tired of killing those boring villagers. Attacking those Frank soldiers is not interesting at all."
Under the fire of all the guys, Fisk also risked his life. "Then fight! Let's fight according to the grassland tactics! We will shoot them in this open land. Let's go!"
They collectively pulled away, and from the perspective of the Frank cavalry, they saw some white monsters swaying collectively for a few times before disappearing collectively.
In this way, even a fool would know that there must be something big there, either some unknown beast or an enemy ambush.
However, it was said that the Ross cavalry had already noticed the presence of the Farak cavalry. They had already raided to eat dry food, and were busy holding cloth bags filled with oats and passing them to the mouths of their horses.
Although they could mount their horses and fight, now that they saw General Fisk running back in a hurry, they all knew what to do.
"Everyone mount up! Shoot the enemy! Follow me!"
After a while, the Ross cavalry temporarily tied the fifty horses where the logistics supplies were placed to wooden stakes. All two hundred cavalry removed their white bear furs to keep out the cold, put on iron helmets, took recurve bows and a large number of arrows, and rushed out collectively.
forest.
They hold the bow in their left hand while holding the reins, and they hold three light arrows in their right hand.
Two hundred horsemen appeared one after another. The cold white leather jackets they wore outside their bodies made the Franks who came to investigate instantly understand. Unfortunately, they had no power to fight back.
The dense arrows made the thirty cavalrymen feel uncomfortable. As the Ross cavalry passed by and fired accurately in the face, in the end, all thirty Frankish light cavalry were wiped out in just one round.
The Ross cavalry are uniformly dressed, and each squad leader has feathers on the top of his helmet. The more feathers, the higher the rank.
Fisk's iron helmet looked like a blue and white rooster's comb, and the brothers followed his movements and launched attacks.
At this moment, the Frankish light cavalry had no formation at all. Each of the riders had their own tasks. They had to search a large area and they were extremely scattered.
This gave the Ross cavalry every opportunity to defeat them.
Two hundred cavalry formed a group and rode and fired at the lone enemy.
The entire army uses conical carbon steel armor-piercing arrows. Seeing that the enemies have armor, many people directly choose to shoot at their horses.
Once a cavalryman falls from his horse, he is likely to suffer fractures and ruptured internal organs. If he is lucky, he can stand up with a buzzing head. Such people become a living target while standing.
This is not like a battle, but more like a collective hunt by the prairie people.
The captain of the Frankish flag seemed calm in the face of the sudden attack. He tried his best to gather the heavy cavalry under his command, and then ordered to his subordinates: "Those light cavalry recruited temporarily are unreliable! Warriors of the kingdom, draw your sword! Follow me and charge!"
"
There are more than a hundred of these heavy cavalry. They are well-trained and gathered together. Unfortunately, although they are called heavy cavalry today, they do not have real heavy armor at all. They sacrificed protection for the sake of easy marching. Even so, facing a sudden
Enemies that appear will still attack.
Although they still don’t know the specific identity of the enemy, their clothes are incredibly uniform, and they appear in the ruins of the city. Who else can be the enemy to carry out horrific killings besides them.
The desire for revenge and the sense of honor were intertwined, and the Frank cavalry finally organized their troops to watch the battle, just to confront the Ross cavalry.
I saw Fisk holding his bow high, and the cavalry split into two groups for a moment.
Next came the specialty of grassland tactics. The brothers held three arrows in their right hands and passed by three companies of horseback and shooting. Needless to say, how many enemies and horses were killed in this attack. In just one round, the Frankish light cavalry's wall was ten
The array is scrambled.
Not only did the Ross cavalry have some creative twists and "returning arrows".
The sharp arrow clusters broke through the gaps in the armor and penetrated into the flesh, and some arrow clusters were even cut into the riveted iron sheets.
The Frankish cavalry was not discouraged and encountered another desperate "non-contact blow" in the second round of confrontation.
This open area became a battlefield for the cavalry of the two armies. Although one side had a large number of troops, since it did not have a single archer, it was ruthlessly mocked by the other side's cavalry archers.
Those real Frankish light cavalry had collectively fled along the same route. Noting that continuing to fight would be a recipe for death, the flag captain reluctantly ordered: "Let's go! This is going to be the venue for a decisive battle."
At the end of the last round, Fisk's eyes were full of enemies fleeing.
One brother's eyes turned red and he shouted arrogantly: "Don't run away! Cowards! If you run away, I will hunt you down myself!"
Many people were willing to pursue and kill them, but Fisker gave the order to stop them. In other words, they did not start the pursuit immediately.
The Ross cavalry was ordered to recover the arrows, look for the enemy's wounded, capture a few relatively healthy prisoners, tie them up and take them away. As for the other wounded, they killed them together and started a Viking-style insult!
So, after capturing two lightly wounded prisoners, all the other prisoners were beheaded.
As many as eighty wooden pestles were placed on the ground, with heads dripping blood on them. The captured broad-bladed Frank iron swords were also placed directly next to the heads, and combined with the town behind which was still burning, the sense of terror was further heightened.
strengthened.
The Ross cavalry retreated into the woods again, and this time the brothers could no longer waste their time here.
No one understood the Frankish language, so Fisk did not know the enemy's situation, so he sent a cavalry squad of ten people to escort the prisoner of war and a small amount of captured iron, and rushed towards the Bremen Bridge on the Weser River as quickly as possible.
In order to meet Arik's bridge-destroying force, inform him of various news, and then transport the prisoners of war to Hamburg.
Fisk still didn't know the enemy's situation. He estimated that the large number of cavalry was actually a kind of scout. The scouts actually had hundreds of cavalry. Wasn't the enemy's large force not far away?
The soldiers continued to hide in the forest not far from the road, and continued southward in the gaps between the trees.
Then at noon, they could hear a lot of roaring noise nearby with just their ears.
It was the sounds of soldiers walking and whispering to each other, the creaking of vehicles, and the humming of packhorses, all combined into a low roar.
The Ross cavalry are both informative and terrifying, and at the same time, they also have a strong desire for sneak attacks.
Sneak attack? Do you want to do it?! Of course you have to do it!
It's time to find a suitable sneak attack target.
Fisk, who has experienced many battles, does not need to fight with the Faraks. If he wants to sneak attack, he can sneak attack the enemy's weak brigade. Based on past war experience, and even his own marching experience, the weak brigade is always at the end of the team, even with a lot of baggage.
Also at the end.
Therefore, Fisk deliberately moved everything in a narrower direction, making a large circle and arriving at the rear of the Frankish army's march.
There is no one here, but there are many traces left on the ground.
"Just go along the road! Sneak attack on their tail. If they fight back, we will retreat south along the road. Follow me."
With an order, the Ross army began to carry out a "tail-biting attack" on the Frank formation at an extremely magical position in the afternoon and towards evening.
Ludwig was completely unaware of all this.
On the contrary, Ludwig understood a little bit of his fate, and even made a serious misjudgment about it.
The Frankish army began to march rapidly, and everyone was on alert. This was because of the bloody intelligence obtained based on personal encounters with the light cavalry, such as the Norman cavalry who were all dressed in white. All of this was exactly the same as Count Robert's report.
Ludwig felt that a war was bound to break out at Osnabruck.