John woke up from his short sleep. He subconsciously pulled at the surrounding area with his hands, and suddenly woke up when he touched something soft.
That was not a dream! But it's true!
After waking up, John stared at the pitiful look cast by the woman next to him in the morning light.
He knew there was no turning back, but this was the road to personal glory, and only fools would try to turn back.
Obviously, this mansion belonged to the Earl of Bamburgh, and it became the palace of the King of Northumbria. Now, a lower-level knight occupies it.
John decided to proclaim himself king, and the news spread throughout the army.
Some people are full of hope, some are just waiting and watching, and many people are very angry about this transgression.
There is even another kind of person here!
These people are indeed hateful. They do not hate John for usurping the king's power or blaspheming the queen. Their greatest hatred is very simple - why is it you.
John liked to be called a "usurper", but he himself was too lazy to think about it.
Those who hated John had to suppress their anger in their hearts. Even if they greet those who bow and flatter them at the door of the mansion, they must consider the imminent severe test.
Even if this John is a bastard, there is no one in the entire Bamburgh City who can unite the people and boost morale to fight against the invading barbarians from the sea.
Even if John's evil deeds are to be liquidated, it will have to wait until everyone wins the war.
Ask yourself, what do the bad things in the king’s family have to do with mortals? What good thing would it be to be a usurper or a usurper?
At least this John also controlled the situation neatly when he rode his horse to suppress the people who were robbing food.
A large number of neutral observers did not care at all whether their king was called Eynred or John. They knew that they had to live in the city until the barbarian war ended.
Most of the people in the city are neutral. In other words, the hardship of life has tempered them into docile sheep.
They still don’t know that the magnificent “Great Viking Age” has arrived. In the years to come, it will be normal for people to move their families and families to defensive fortresses built by lords like today.
Compared with the walls of family residences built by ordinary rural lords to guard against bandits and wild beasts, the walls of Bamburgh City are also made of wood, but they are larger in scope and higher in height.
In this way, can we withstand the barbarian attack with the wall?
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Lindisfarne Abbey is a stone wall! The ending is still fall.
Although she was not officially crowned, Queen Anna, who could legally serve as regent, faced the soldiers and civilians who rushed to the door of the mansion in the early morning. She firmly endured the pain and announced that John had become the new palace minister.
The current responsibility of Palace Minister John must be to protect the people of Bamburgh City and must forceThe enemy retreats.
As for what powers John can still gain after everything is over, Queen Anna remains silent.
The people all noticed that the once proud queen had completely lost her temperament. People were whispering and slandering this woman's indiscretion. When someone whispered that when the war is over, this woman should go to the monastery to become a nun. To apologize. What's more, there are soldiers who have a grudge against John for usurping power. They naturally think that John, a weakling, has the ability to usurp power, so it must be the trick of the young queen.
After all, Bamburgh’s city defense work began in the early morning.
John stood at the head of the wooden wall and ordered the people to collect stones and carry them to the city wall. He also carried wooden blocks to the wall.
A large number of pottery urns were also collected, filled with soil, and used as heavy throwing objects to kill possible enemies climbing the wall.
After all, Bamburgh has a similar strategic position to Edinburgh. The two cities are essentially military fortresses, and it was on this basis that they developed into the administrative center of a region. There is a reserve of arrows, swords and spears in the city, and now John does not hesitate to recruit all men between the ages of ten and sixty, whether they are immature or old, they must all take up arms now.
Young children and old men don’t have to actually fight with the enemy. John just hopes that when the crisis comes, they can use weapons to protect themselves.
As for the women and children in the city, they were all driven to some controlled residential buildings. They are essentially guarded by soldiers to prevent them from getting in the way during the battle, or even becoming hopeless battle victims.
It must be said that John has a certain degree of city defense wisdom, which has a lot to do with the Frank-style military knowledge he learned in the cavalry.
Some people began to doubt whether the sea barbarians really wanted to attack Bamburgh, and some people noticed the people emerging from the woods.
The remnants of the cavalry and a small number of infantry who entered the city were just the fastest escapees, and there were still a large number of soldiers fleeing behind them.
The tired soldiers returned to Bamburgh. They immediately received food and water, but they did not get much chance to rest before they were forced by John to take up arms again.
Throughout the morning, people escaped from the woods. They walked around the bare farmland after the harvest, and finally returned to the city.
John was supported by three hundred tired men, and it would take some time for them to regain their fighting strength. One good thing about these people coming back is that they dispelled the doubts of the weak-willed people in the city about whether the enemy would attack.
The Viking fleet is coming to Bamburgh, this is absolutely true!
At lunchtime, some soldiers stationed at the tower were horrified to see a piece of sail appearing in the bay not far away.
"The barbarians from the sea are coming!" the soldier shouted while ringing the warning bell desperately.
The call of alarm was like thunder, and the cooked wheat in the bowl suddenly lost its aroma.
The soldiers scrambled to climb the tower, and John himselfI also climbed to a high place and looked at the approaching fleet with mixed feelings.
John consciously used all his strength to gather the small number of inherent defenders, gathered them in armed rout, and armed the boys and old men in the city. In this way, he pieced together a "big army" with a strength of up to 2,000. .
Is such an army considered a large army? Among them, only three to four hundred people can really fight.
The situation in Bamburgh City is extremely complicated. This is a small town, and people from all the surrounding villages have taken refuge in the city with only a small number of livestock.
The barbarians from the sea are coming, and the number of people taking refuge in the city has reached 4,000.
The enemy is already landing!
The city was in chaos, soldiers and conscripted men were trembling, women were crying and children were screaming, and people were waiting for the enemy's attack in fear and anxiety.
At least the people hiding in the city felt at ease because of the protection of the solid wooden walls. Their homes in the countryside would be robbed and killed by the pirates who landed, and only this city could save their lives.
They naturally believed that the defensive capabilities of wooden walls could save everyone's lives, but they did not know that the Vikings who landed brought ladders made when they conquered the stone walls of the monastery, and even the main people who made siege engines. Parts are also disassembled, packaged and shipped.
Of course, Rurik came prepared. He did not intend to land indiscriminately and attack the city immediately.
The fleet entered a small fjord, where the sea wind swirled and the waves became more violent.
Large ships like Avora also swayed violently with the waves, and the warriors who rowed the long boats had to be washed by the sea water frequently.
The captured Eynred has already seen the towers in Bamburgh. Is it really a safe place there? Will the Vikings keep their word and as long as they pay the ransom, Bamburgh can avoid destruction?
But now he is more worried about the big ship being capsized by the waves.
Rurik looked fearless, holding on to the huge mast and looking down at the Broken Arm King: "Look at this sea area, it can obviously be used as a small port. It seems that your people are real If you don’t know how to build a boat, you really don’t want to fish.”
This is indeed the case. Apart from the ability to build a small boat, the technology of making larger ships has long been lost in the Kingdom of Northumbria.
"We are about to land! The King of Northumbria!" Rurik patted the man's bearded face, "I am the Duke of Ross, and you are the defeated king. You were captured by me and It’s not something that’s detrimental to your honor. I’m going to take you to land, and I’ll let you go back and continue to be king, provided you keep your promise. Will you hand over the tribute?”
“I will.” Eynred said without hesitation.
"I'm not afraid of you going back on your word." As he said that, Rurik faced the bow of the ship, with his back to the king: "Is that Bamberg? It's just a wooden city. Remember, those who irritate me As a result, I will let you witness the fire of this city among the corpses on the ground."
Eynred had nothing to say. He increasingly felt that the boy in front of him was a little devil. In a few years. He must be a murderous tyrant.
In the Viking torrent, Northumbria was just a small player destined to be destroyed, occupied, and colonized. The huge kingdom would become a colony of various Vikings and permanently change the place. population and language structure.
Rurik doesn’t care about Eynred’s attitude towards him, he is already organizing manpower to land.
The long boat rode directly on the big waves to hit the beach. The Avora parked offshore. Rurik and others escorted Eynred to board a long boat and landed on the beach of Bamburgh.
Sometimes, nearby villagers return to some of the rocky areas on the seaside to pick up mussels. As for fishing, they are more willing to paddle boats in the calm river.
After the Vikings assembled their troops with great momentum, Rurik only left a handful of people who were injured in previous battles or in poor physical condition, a total of one hundred people to stay at the camp at the landing site.
The remaining six hundred soldiers used ropes to pull the captured horse-drawn flat cart (the packed parts were assembled at the seaside), carrying materials for the camp, and even the dismantled four torsion slingshots and all the bull slings. The plane headed straight for Bamburgh.
In this era, six hundred fully armed soldiers were a powerful military force in Western Europe.
In Frankland, only Duke-level nobles could quickly come up with such a mobile force.
The army marched forward in preparation, swaggering through the wormwood grassland on the seaside and the small harvested wheat fields, perhaps walking less than two kilometers before arriving at Bamburgh.
The enemy is approaching the city! The huge force is shocking!
The hands of the Northumbrians on the city wall holding short spears were trembling. Even though they had more troops, they seemed to have more people. In fact, once the city was broken, they were all lambs to be slaughtered.
Someone suggested to John, who was in charge of the defense and had just been publicly named the palace prime minister by the queen: "We should send people to find out the truth. We need to find out the attitude of the enemy. If we can give them some money to let them leave, Brothers will not die."
Originally, John, who was obsessed with war, was only thinking about how to defend himself. He slapped his forehead and thought that "taking money to eliminate disasters" was a good idea.
After all, people will only remember who forced the enemy to leave, whether it was defeating or spending money to eliminate disasters, people only look at the results. By then, John Stockwood's royal power will surely be used by the public, so that he can legally possess Queen Anna and legally possess the royal power.
Who will be this messenger?
Of course whoever proposes it will implement it!
A soldier named Jacques took on the role of envoy, and it was he who put forward the opinions. In order to express Bamburgh's desire for peace, two young priests were forced to accompany Jacques.
John is willing to implement the plan to spend money to eliminate the disaster, but he does not know the appetite of the barbarians.
The Earl of Bamburgh's property is currently equivalent to being occupied by John. He asked Jacques to bring a pound of silver as a meeting gift.
On the other hand, Rurik ledWith the army standing under Bamburgh Castle.
He looked at the small wall and naturally compared it with the stone walls of Borgholm Fortress and Lindisfarne Abbey.
The King of Broken Arms was hidden. Rurik turned his head and looked at Eynred who was sitting on the ground. He pointed at the wooden wall and said proudly: "This is Bamburgh? What is this?" City wall? Our siege vehicles can quickly create a city gate with just one impact."
Paul translated truthfully, and then Eynred made a bold request: "You take me to the city, I will let you. They took out the money and food, and a group of young and pure women. If you get these, just leave."
"Oh? Then drive me away."
"This..."
Rurik shrugged, with an intriguing smile and shouted arrogantly: "I like your food, your silver coins, and your women. But , I prefer your land!"
"Ah! You...are not going to leave?"
"It's a joke," Rurik smiled and touched Einred's head. , signaling the laughing brothers to set up camp immediately.
Is this a joke? Is it really a joke? How did Geiger of Washoeby ignore his father's teachings about opening up new territories? The heads of various families became interested in the land itself, and even the Bergen immigrants in Shetland were evaluating the development potential of this area.
Biyongni and Geiger, two unruly people, came over and pointed out that a fierce attack could easily break the city.
"Are you teaching me how to do things? I am your commander, and you still obey my command."
Biyongni was a little unhappy and pointed at the wooden wall Yelling: "My brother! Are you cautious about this kind of fragile wooden wall like a sheepfold?"
"I still want to resolve this matter peacefully. I threaten them and force them to give up their resistance." I want to hand over my property obediently."
"What do you want to do?" Geiger asked in time.
"Just like we did on the coast near the monastery."
"Placing bonfires everywhere again?"
"Of course. It's not just that. Rurik said, pointing to the open space: "They can see our full strength now, but not at night. We have to light a bonfire here, and I have to do the same at the landing site." The brothers entered the forest to guard against the enemy's surrender camp and capture the fleeing enemies. "I think this is unnecessary." Biyongni shook his head boredly.
"Brothers, just follow my decision. This is a strategy. When you Balmoks carry out expeditions in the future, you can use such intimidation tactics when facing strong enemies. Because we are Allies, I just told you about this Russian tactic."
Biyongni had nothing to say and casually said: "It's okay, brothers, let's get back to work tomorrow. The spirit is powerful even when attacking a city."
People began to act according to Rurik's actions. Those who were ordered to enter the northern forest area for deployment soon had unexpected gains.
To be exact, it was the defeated troops who were still fleeing to Bamburgh. They wandered all the way and finally reached the city walls, where they were captured by the barbarians who were waiting for help.
But the Vikings did not kill them. In a short period of time, more than 30 prisoners were twisted to the Viking camp.
When these frightened warriors and armed farmers saw their king here, they were first shocked with bone-shaking surprise, and then had mixed emotions.
It was already afternoon, and it was supposed to be a leisurely afternoon. The Russians had already set up a camp under the city that seemed to be loosely guarded, but actually concealed murderous intent.
There are Viking warriors who have been watching the movements on the Bamburg side, and bow-making warriors are also deployed in the woods to the north and south.
Finally, a gap opened in the wooden door of Bamburgh City Wall, and someone walked out carrying the Northumbrian flag.
Rurik, who was lying on the leather cushion and soaking up the afternoon sun, was immediately awakened.
"Master, there is a situation! It may be their envoy." Yevluo said cautiously.
"Messenger?" Rurik immediately got up and complained: "I have been through a storm all morning, and now I want to take a rest, and now I have to talk to the enemy's envoy?"
< p>"This...if you don't want to talk to him, I will kill him with my brothers.""No need. The envoy came just in time to let the captured Broken Arm King talk to them. . We were already missing a messenger, and now the problem is solved."