Lindisfarne, this place name is very unfamiliar to Rurik.
What about reality? This monastery was deliberately built on a remote offshore tidal island. There were many treasures in the monastery, but the priests still adhered to their creed and lived a life of purity and abstinence.
This place is now the most important religious center of the Kingdom of Northumbria. After it was looted by the Bergen Vikings forty years ago, the kingdom rebuilt it.
Learning from the tragedy of the last time the defense was in shambles, the kingdom also began to use very rare granite that was relatively easy to obtain locally to reinforce it.
The disaster has passed, and the youngest witness is now almost in his twilight years. Most of those former priests died in the plundering disaster. The priests who migrated later could only listen to the oral accounts of those who experienced it and imagined the scene of the disaster, and these people also went to heaven one after another...
Lin Disfarn Abbey, tranquility has been restored here. Even if the kingdom has been experiencing civil strife for decades, the nobles vying for power will never covet the increasing gold and silver donated by believers in the abbey. , instead the king sent an army and built a military camp outside the monastery.
Rather than guarding against possible sea barbarians, the king was more concerned about whether the religious center of the kingdom was truly firmly in his hands.
Lindisfarn is two hundred kilometers away from the royal city of York, but it is less than a day's journey from Bamburgh, another military town in the north of the kingdom.
Although he learned a lot of information from Paul, Rurik always had a hunch that because his army was going deep into the core area of Northumbria, a larger-scale battle was inevitable. .
Will fighting drive these Viking warriors crazy? They certainly will.
After the army finished eating, they immediately began to carry the loot.
Rurik originally planned to set sail at noon, but it took too much time to carry food and other trophies (mainly collected iron tools and cloth). Time passed in the afternoon, and the people who were exhausted from carrying supplies had no choice but to continue to stay at the beach and eat the captured wheat to recharge their batteries.
The fire in Edinburgh has not been extinguished, and it is still a blazing hell.
Rurik even found ropes to tie the horses pulling the cart, hoisted them directly to the ship of the Aurora, and finally stuffed them into the cabin. As for the carriage, nothing was wasted. The carriage plates, wheels, and axles were dismantled and loaded onto the ship.
Other longships carry a lot of cargo, the most important of which is food.
The Bergen settlers in Shetland valued food, while the Balmoks hoped for gold, silver, copper and iron.
On a new day, when the sea fog was still lingering, the Viking fleet all left Edinburgh, where the flames were still burning.
The fog concealed the traces of the fleet, and the huge fleet was drifting southward menacingly along the coastline.
And this is destined not to be a long voyage.OK.
A cool north wind blew in. Faced with the sudden change in wind, each ship raised its sails without hesitation.
The people put away their oars with great relief. Only two or three people were left in the long boat, which could perfectly maneuver the big boat.
At the same time, the captured Paul was invited by Rurik to stand on the bow deck with an incredible feeling.
He felt the sea breeze, and looked sideways at the waves crashing against the bow of the ship, and couldn't help but sigh: "This! Could it be Noah's Teyvat?"
Rurik was completely After understanding what this person said, he responded casually and proudly: "The ark is very big, there is only one! My ship is very small. However, when you come to my port, you will see more big ships like this."
"This is the largest ship I have ever seen. No amount of wind or waves can capsize it."
"Of course." Rurik continued arrogantly: "We have the ability to build even bigger ships. Ships may one day be built as big as islands, just like that ark. But to accomplish this goal, I need a lot of money to recruit craftsmen to build it. This is one of the reasons why I want to continue attacking. , Am I a wicked person?"
"This..." Paul had nothing to say and spoke with his conscience. He was convinced that this very young Rurik was not an ordinary person. He definitely understood those scriptures. wisdom!
I’m afraid this Rurik also knows Latin! Unfortunately, I know nothing and can only listen to the explanations of those noble and arrogant priests.
Let’s look at the situation again! This large ship named Aurora is completely different from other ships. The people on the ship were generally dressed uniformly. They were indeed not the Lamb of God, but they could not be said to be dirty. This commander-in-chief named Rurik was brightly dressed and full of wisdom.
If this young man goes to Lindisfarn to be baptized by the bishop himself, and then takes this big ship to go to Rome for pilgrimage, then he will definitely become a noble king. And I, a grain officer in charge of food, might be canonized by the Bishop of Lindisfarne to a priesthood because of my introduction.
Unfortunately, all this is a beautiful fantasy. It's like heaven, but the endless beauty is out of reach...
Lord Rurik is extraordinary, but his army wants to attack Lindisfarne.
Since they captured Edinburgh in just one afternoon, what about the monastery facing the south?
No! Not just a monastery! And its attached military camp!
It’s not just a military camp! This sea barbarian army might directly attack Bamburgh further south and burn that city to the ground.
Thinking of this, Paul felt more and more that he was going to hell after death.
However, Rurik claims to be a saint blessed by the great northern god Odin. Anyone who fights for him will enter the Vallaha Temple after death. Even the worst ones will go to the wonderful Asth. Gad.
Perhaps, Valhalla and Asgard are one and the same as Paradis (heaven)mean?
For a moment, Paul suddenly had a doubt about his belief.
The fleet followed the wind and sailed at a very fast speed, reaching a speed of eight knots in some periods.
People’s enthusiasm has not waned at all. Many people dreamed of a quick voyage and could reach their destination on the same day. In the end, everyone held a large amount of gold tonight and took possession of the local women and spent the night happily. . Later, because of the great victory of the brothers, the ships could no longer carry more wealth, and everyone would return home fully loaded.
Then because I know the route, I will come again next year.
This is indeed the case. People have been watching the coastline. It was not even evening yet. People with good eyesight could see the walled city in the distance through the clear air blown by the cool breeze. , and a strange building.
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Paul, who was sleeping on the side, was pushed up by Rurik. He pointed into the distance and asked: "Could that be the Lindisfarne you mentioned?"
Seeing the building with a spire in the distance, Paul swallowed hard: "Yes. It's Lindisfarn, the spire. Look over there, my lord." Paul pointed in another direction: "That's the camp of the defenders. ...We must fight fiercely with those people."
"A battle?" Rurik cheered up a little, "It seems that I can't plunder the defenders."< /p>
Soon, several people with loud voices began to shout loudly at the long boats dancing casually behind them, indicating that there was a hostile target ahead.
The people who were bored by the long voyage quickly became full of fighting spirit. People were shouting excitedly, and the folded oars were turned out again.
The wind and oars drove the longship to its maximum speed. Realizing the actions of those guys, Rurik also ordered not to continue to reduce the speed. The mainmast was full sail and the stern jib was hoisted. The Flora shook violently and began racing at full speed.
Paul saw that these sea barbarians were already debugging their heavy weapons! There were even some strange things moved from the cabin to the deck. Paul himself had no idea what they were. He instinctively told himself that they were some kind of weapons.
The fleet rushed forward menacingly. As the distance shortened, Rurik couldn't help gritting his teeth when he saw the whole picture of the so-called Lindisfarne Abbey.
Why? He saw that this monastery, which was said to be full of wealth, turned out to be located on an offshore island with a small cliff and an obvious road that resembled a breakwater extending to the mainland.
Not only that, the people who built this monastery were worried that the small cliffs would not be able to strengthen their defenses, so they built another low stone wall.
The stone wall is not scary. Rurik really feels that the geographical conditions of those small cliffs prevent the fleet from landing directly on the beach.Rush to the monastery.
Many circumstances clearly illustrate one thing, that is, since Lindisfarne was attacked a long time ago, the new monastery has strengthened its defenses sufficiently.
However, this is probably just a small obstacle encountered by the Viking army on the way to attack.
The mast of the Aurora is now flying the flag of Ross with a white background and blue stripes. This is the naval flag of the Principality of Ross!
Rurik had ordered to adjust the course of the flagship Aurora, causing all subsequent longships to begin to turn.
He looked at the flag on the mast for an inadvertent moment, and suddenly he had a clever plan in his mind.
"Jevlo!" Rurik shouted.
"Yes."
"The King of Northumbria's flag we captured was not thrown away, was it?!"
"How could it be thrown away? "Jevro looked proud: "That's our glory! The felt cloth has been washed and dried." Rurik pointed to the mast and said, "Send someone to take care of us. Take down the flag and put up that flag."
"Ah! What does this mean?"
"You are too naive, Yevlo! ! I want the defenders and the priests to think that we are their friends."
After being personally instructed, Yevluo suddenly realized that he roared and assigned people to climb the mast to change the flag.
This is an era without telescopes, and everyone in Lindisfarne has already watched the huge fleet heading here.
Everyone has heard about the attack on the monastery decades ago, but that happened so long ago that it has become a legend.
The perspective changes to Lindisfarne.
In the naval camp of Nornbria, an infantry captain named John was awakened by his men.
"Sir! Something big happened! The sea..." The soldier pointed in the direction of the ocean with violent trembling.
"What are you scared of? Take me to see it."
As soon as the infantry captain walked out of his barracks, he saw a large number of soldiers standing outside the camp, squinting. Looking at the fleet getting closer and closer. They had never seen a fleet of this size before, especially when they noticed that there was also a strange large ship among them.
What's going on? !
The infantry captain subconsciously felt that there were many dangers, and when he saw clearly that the flag flying on the big ship was actually the royal flag of his kingdom, he suddenly couldn't make up his mind.
In fact, most people are doubting that maybe this fleet was built by the King? It was incredibly strange, and could anyone know anything about the king's fleet?
The soldiers wanted an explanation from the infantry captain, but Johnson had none.
No matter whether the visitor is friend or foe, it is always right to remain alert.
Now that he could not make up his mind, he issued an order, which was to order one of his centurions to lead his own people to evacuate urgently.Go to the monastery and seal the gate.
The remaining two centurions led the troops and followed him to the coast to form an array. If they came from the king's army, they would welcome them, and if they were enemies, they would fight.
As for the soldiers who had not returned to the army to assist the Earl of Bamburgh in collecting grain in the countryside, John could no longer care about them.
John achieved the most basic qualities of a soldier. He devoted himself to military deployment in the shortest possible time. The most important thing was that he correctly fulfilled his important responsibility of guarding the monastery.
The wooden door of the monastery has been closed, and the priests have learned about the arrival of a suspected royal fleet.
What is very different from the attitude of the army is that many priests naively thought that it was the king himself and his beloved fleet who had arrived at the monastery, because the Assumption Mass on August 15th was approaching! This year the king himself came with a fleet of ships to attend the grand mass, so everything made sense.
However, Rurik never cared about his opponent’s Assumption Festival. The main reason why he chose to plunder in July and August was that Britain had just harvested wheat during this period, and all the Vikings wanted to take advantage of it. This is a great opportunity to make a fortune.
He estimated that his cunning methods had deceived his opponent to a certain extent, and the fact that a kind of armed men in orange clothes were arrayed outside the coastal camp made him interested again.
"Maybe they were not fooled." Yevluo said fearfully.
"It doesn't matter, they are in formation, but they are more likely to be attacked by us. Yevlo!"
"Here!"
"Take the brothers with you Adjust the weapons, all the bull trebuchets are pointed to the starboard side, and the others are ready to launch with their crossbows. ”
With the size of the Aurora, if it washed up on the beach, it would be asking for stranding. As the ship got close enough to the coast, Rurik used the mechanical sight of a torsion slingshot fixed on the starboard side to focus on a wandering enemy soldier. The sight frame locked the enemy's figure, especially the size of the figure. Rurik determined the position.
"Rivet now! Distance 150stika! Starboard facing the enemy!"
With violent vibrations, the Avora suddenly stopped. As the anchor head was thrown from the port side, the entire The ship's natural starboard side faces the coast.
"Hjutraaaa!"
Rurik roared fiercely, and all the long-range weapons on the Avrora fired at the same time!
This move shocked Paul to the ground. He didn’t expect that these devices were firing deadly weapons? ! Is it really possible to hit the sergeant on the shore at such a long distance?
The ten-shot javelin with the rotating tail of the torsion slingshot went straight towards the Northumbrian defenders in formation with a whirring sound in a parabola per second.
This was followed by ten more stone pellets from the bull trebuchet, and light arrows from the crossbow.
People on the shore had never seen a torsion slingshot, or it may be that these weapons were lost in Britain, which led to these warriors' terrible lack of use of such weapons.Know.
John only heard the approaching rumble, and after a moment of hesitation, he suddenly felt fear.
Unfortunately, what followed were the casualties of the soldiers.
Some soldiers were directly nailed to the beach by javelins, while others had their shoulders broken by stones, and their heads were smashed and died instantly.
People began to retreat subconsciously and raised iron shields.
Those who were ordered to garrison the monastery can be called the elites of the kingdom, so their weapons and equipment are much better. In fact, there were more than 300 guards, more than 100 of whom had chainmail armor, and 200 of them had metal-reinforced shields.
Unfortunately, these defensive equipment of theirs are only a little stronger than paper that can be broken by a poke in the face of Rurik's more powerful long-range weapons.
The light arrows hit some unsuspecting people, and more people began to subconsciously retreat with their shields in hand.
"No retreat! It's the enemy! Warriors of Northumbria, fight me!"
John waved his sword and appealed with all his strength. His warriors calmed down, but then Soon the second round of stone bullets and heavy javelins came down again!
Not only that, more than thirty longships carrying menacing Viking warriors have begun their final dash to the beach. They are holding back a murderous aura and are only one step away from landing to fight.
It was not until this moment that John, the infantry captain, finally realized that the enemy coming from Fan was not something he could stop.