For the Sithiya people, they need pasture in the south to supply production.
For the Danes, they not only need pasture, but also intend to unite with the Siiya Alliance and recruit at least some of the participating tribes to their alliance. Of course, this behavior is not easy, because "betrayal" is intolerable to both parties.
The Danes’ poaching behavior intensified the conflicts between the two parties.
Since relatively "peaceful" means could not achieve the will of the Danish Alliance, finally in the spring meeting of the Danish Tribal Alliance in 828 AD, as many as twelve tribes attended the meeting, and they unanimously elected the strongest Hafgen, the leader of the large Robard tribe, became the leader of the alliance.
The Robard tribe, the so-called Robard, means "red ship" in Old Norse.
Because the main body of the Robard tribe is very close to the Oresund Strait, they have a very advantageous geographical location and relatively developed commercial activities, so the strength of their tribe is naturally indescribable.
The tribe obtained a large amount of madder from trade, which they used to dye linen and decorate their battle longships.
There is a huge long boat with as many as a hundred people rowing. It is decorated with an exaggerated and ferocious bow, which is a dragon head. It is also smeared with madder fuel to look like a dragon opening its blood. Big mouth. It was believed that the appearance of this ornament would frighten many enemies into flight.
It is called the "Red Dragon" and is also a symbol of the wealth and power of the tribal leader. In a sense, it is the "crown".
Hafgen is a madman with ideas. In the tribal duel, he killed all the challengers, and the entire tribe worshiped his mighty power.
At the meeting of the tribal alliance, some people also questioned his strength.
And Hafgen did not hesitate to propose the ancient tradition of the alliance - the duel.
Refuse because you are afraid of death?
No! To refuse is to be a coward, and cowards will be expelled from the tribe.
Basically the doubters named by Hafgen have no right to refuse.
In the so-called duel, the leaders of the two alliances each send a warrior to participate, or even the leader himself goes into battle.
Two warriors will engage in a life-and-death showdown that ends with the death of the loser. The death of a warrior represents the failure of the leader and the tribe to which he belongs.
The old leader will not be foolish enough to go into battle himself, he will send the bravest people in the tribe.
The brave ones are also very helpful, because after winning the victory, their personal prestige will skyrocket, and it is very possible to become a new leader with this qualification.
Hafgen will not stay away and remotely control a warrior to fight for him.
He is a person with overwhelming self-confidence, and his personal strength is also obvious to all.
Hafgen has very strong muscles, and there are rumors that this man can eat a roasted lamb in one meal. He always wields a lumbering ax that is not sharp, because the ax is not sharp.With sharpness and brute strength, he easily chopped down a tree as thick as a bowl.
With such brute strength, it is not a problem to chop down a big tree, and it is no problem to chop down an enemy.
Thanks to this brute force, he won the support of many tribes without much resourcefulness. Because of the small families that make up the tribe, after seeing the ferocity of Hafgen, they were very willing to submit to his banner and gain a sense of security.
Even if some tribes are suspicious of Hafgen, the loss of a large number of families under his command is real.
Because Hafgen is indeed the kind of legendary warrior!
In any life-or-death duel, he would personally fight. While holding a battle ax, he only wore a simple linen vest on his upper body.
He deliberately showed off his strong arms and the golden hair on them.
He is also a man with a perfect beard. Because of his great martial arts, he naturally has many wives and concubines, so his beard is also braided into unique braids by his own women.
Through some brute force, one tribe after another in Jutland was willing to identify with such an alliance leader.
If this person is just a reckless man, he will not make much noise in his own field.
This guy is very ambitious!
Hafgen gave him the nickname "Golden Retriever", but he himself preferred the nickname "Lion" given to him by the Franks.
First of all, Hafgen had never seen an African lion. Through the Frankish merchants who bravely crossed the border, he learned about his nickname and the origin of it.
In the far south, in the extremely hot world, there is a ferocious beast that is the overlord there. This beast is characterized by its amazing beard, terrifying fangs and claws that can easily kill people.
After all, these Frankish merchants are just doing business. They don’t care whether their master is the "successor of Augustus" or the new leader of the Danes, the "Golden Retriever Lion", as long as they can do it under their control. If you do business on the land, you can pay less taxes, so everything is no longer a problem.
The Danish tribes in Jutland can become more and more powerful and distance themselves from their relatives in Scandinavia. On the one hand, these Frankish merchants.
In the ninth century, they were Frankish merchants. Hundreds of years later, they were German merchants.
They even established a free city in Hamburg on the border between HRE and the Kingdom of Denmark, and established a commercial alliance with the oppressed Saxons.
No matter how the times change, businessmen are still businessmen. And in the new era, because of the new science and technology, the merchants of the Hanseatic League discovered an amazing way to make money, and this way of making money was also followed by the industrial countries a thousand years later - importing rough processed products for processing finishing.
Even as early as the ninth century, Frankish merchants knew that the north produced large quantities of iron.
Attract these Frankish merchants to venture into Viking territoryYes, they are local specialties: animal furs, pig iron and copper.
Businessmen also secretly transported horses, linen, and a large number of Western European handicrafts.
This trade route has always existed in peacetime and will continue to exist for a long time.
As the steel-making method originating from India was introduced to the HRE, Hanseatic League merchants immediately began to import northern pig iron on a large scale or directly ship iron ore, process it into steel in their own workshops, and then change hands. Then they sold it to Denmark and Sweden, and the price skyrocketed six times.
Finally, the King of Sweden learned from the painful experience and spent a lot of money to recruit blacksmiths from the German region to serve him. After working hard, he finally laid the foundation for Gustav II's ordnance strength to dominate Europe.
That was hundreds of years later.
In the ninth century, even the Franks had poor iron smelting technology.
Of course, the iron smelting technology in the Roman era hardly developed, which also led to the successors, the Franks and many other Germanic tribes. Even if they formed feudal countries, they lacked the ability to forge fine iron.
In contrast, the Danes and Siyans, whose craftsmanship is equally backward, are probably the so-called blessings of Odin!
The iron ore they discovered was a particularly high-quality vein, and the quality of the iron ore was really good.
The blade of a battle ax cast from these iron ores does not need to be sharp to break most Viking swords.
After all, it has to be forged by a blacksmith with poor iron smelting skills. Its carbon content is too high, which results in poor flexibility of the iron sword, and the blade is easy to break and bend during a fight.
Especially the problem of flexibility. Don't think about trying to block, as chopping too hard can cause it to break.
Probably its only advantage is that it can be made into individual wires and then woven into chain mail.
Bad iron-smelting technology was prevalent throughout Europe in the ninth century, but the sword-holders were all smart. Whether it was the Franks or the Vikings, they always adopted thrusting tactics when using iron swords. In a sense, it was like holding an extended spearhead in their hands. Not to mention, the damage caused by this stabbing tactic is even more terrifying.
But for the majority of Vikings who are good at single combat, they always carry an ax. It is a tool for cutting down trees and repairing ships, and it is also the most powerful weapon for fighting.
With a battle ax in hand, Hafgen is not afraid of opponents wearing chain mail.
All tribes, including Hafgen's own Robard "Red Ship" tribe, also have a group of armor-weaving masters.
Chain armor can resist the attacks of bows and arrows to a great extent, and it can also basically resist the thrusts of swords and spearheads, making it impossible to penetrate the flesh and only cause a bruise. In the end, life is saved. .
However, chain armor cannot withstand powerful and heavy attacks from blunt weapons. In the face of tomahawks whose main purpose is logging, chain armor is of little significance.
I am afraid that throughout the entire Middle Ages, attacks with blunt weapons were insurmountable. Even if it's dressing upCans of plate-armored warriors, the enemy's axes and chisels enter the battle as easily as a can opener can open a can.
Holding a battle ax and becoming the leader of the Danish tribal alliance, Jutland welcomes a fierce man.
What is the ambition of "Golden Retriever Lion" Hafgen?
Very simple!
Follow the footsteps of their predecessors and continue to attack Britain to obtain the gold stored in the monasteries there, kidnap the cattle and sheep there, and even kidnap the people there as slaves.
He is very willing to show his strength to outsiders.
Those Siyans were originally of their own race, but not only were they unwilling to submit to the Danes, they were also unwilling to hand over the other half of their pastures. Isn't this behavior an offense to myself? The Siiya people's alliance is ridiculous, they must be disintegrated, and all tribes must submit to their own command!
But there is no rush to solve the problem of the Siyan Alliance now, because it is not only the Siyans, but also a large number of Norwegians in the "Road to the Far North" in western Scandinavia. People, they also need to be included.
Hafgen’s biggest dream is to integrate all the Norse-speaking tribes in his lifetime. After building a strong force, there will be no need to carry out sneak attacks and plunders.
The battle ax will fall on all of Britain, which will become the territory of himself and his descendants.
The battle ax will also hit the Frankish Kingdom. Since the leader of a tribe can obtain the title of "Augustus", why can't I, Hafgen?
Although Hafgen does not know what the meaning of "Augustus" is, in short, according to the description of the Frank businessman, the so-called "Augustus" means to rule all the places that can be stepped on, all The only leader in a place where ships can sail is the greatest leader.
Hafgen is almost forty years old, but he is still strong and full of confidence in the future.
However, on the road to realizing your ambition, you must first solve many difficult problems.
At present, his first task is to eliminate the guys in the tribal alliance who question and oppose the Robard tribe, and he must use the most determined means to eliminate them to consolidate his rule.
After completing this important task, he went to conquer the Wende people who also surrendered to the Franks and began to encroach on the Danish territory with the support of the Franks.
After dealing with the rabble on the southern border, the strategic operation to unify all Norse-speaking tribes must begin!