It is precisely because of the amputation of his left forearm that the humiliated Eynred hopes to consolidate his power through his own force.
He led the kingdom's most elite troops to stationed in Dole Village (Sheffield) on the border. Regarding the territorial request of King Wiglaf of Mercia, he naturally refused outright.
But now that the armies of both sides are fighting on the border, a full-scale war has really broken out, which is definitely not a good thing for Northumbria.
At the end of the wheat harvest, Eynred, who had enough food and grass, actually had enough time to continue the stalemate with the Mercian army here.
But unlike Northumbria, the capital of Mercia is Oxford. The journey from Oxford to the village of Dole, a land of anxiety, is equivalent to 200 kilometers on traditional dirt roads.
And there is only 70 kilometers of road from York to here. In terms of logistics alone, Northumbria has an advantage.
Several messengers on horseback rushed to Dole Village like crazy and rushed to the king's tent.
"What's going on with you? Something big happened in York?" The soldier responsible for leading the horse stopped them and asked casually.
The messengers all looked frightened. They fell off their horses, and when they got up, they stretched out their hands and shouted to report important events to the king.
What is more important than resisting the invasion of Mercia?
In the king's tent, Eynred, who was dressed in chainmail and had a wooden prosthesis with a leather glove hanging on his left arm, summoned the messenger to report.
I saw several people kneeling on the grass. When the leader saw the monarch, he opened his arms and shouted: "It's the Vikings! They are here again! They have a huge force, and they are everywhere on the sea. It was a big ship like a mountain, with thousands of fierce warriors." Just hearing this, a rush of blood almost broke through Eynred's head, and his blood pressure suddenly jumped to 180. , the whole person was in a trance for an instant, and he fell down again just as he stood up.
This move shocked the Bishop of York standing next to him.
The bishop shook the king's body in a panic, barely waking up the frightened man.
"What...are you talking about? Vikings? Their ships are all over the sea?!" Eynred started slowly.
The messenger continued to say in horror: "They are coming! The target is York."
"York!? No! Wait!" Eynred was angry and covered his head to calm down. Replied: "Who asked you to report the message? If the message is wrong, I will hang you!"
The messengers were all taken aback, and then said: "It was the Duke of Bamburgh. He said it The people in the north are fleeing, and now Bamburgh is occupied by the Vikings again."
"Him? Graywulf, I made him earl and asked him to rebuild Bamburgh. , but..."
The messengers all listened to the king's curses with their heads raised, and just lay there doing nothing.
Things became very difficult, and the Viking invasion suddenly disrupted his plan.
But EinRed couldn't be said to be unprepared for what happened, because he did have an agreement with the blond Viking boy last year. He made a humiliating agreement with these northern bandits and ceded a piece of land to They live.
This is a shameful agreement. When the situation stabilizes, the nobles across the country are opposed to it. The radical young nobles are clamoring to gather an army for revenge. The so-called Viking landing is the occasion of their destruction. Outraged, Eynred had no choice but to agree to their demands. As a result, both Mercia and the Picts in the north began to revolt.
As fate would have it, did the Vikings really come?
The soldiers on the front line are still facing off. Both sides have huge military camps, and neither side has any intention of retreating.
The white-on-orange-checkered flag of Northumbria was flying, and the blue-on-yellow flag of Mercia on the other side of the river was also flying.
The two sides faced each other across the Shiv River, and there was not a single boat on the river.
On that day, the king summoned the generals of the Northumbrian army to hold an emergency military meeting.
Although Eynred was still not sure how critical the situation was due to the difficulty in transmitting information, he had already determined that this group of Vikings brought a large number of ships to force him to fulfill his mission. promise.
As night falls, the king’s tent is ablaze with lights.
The banner captains, cavalry captains, and even the leaders of the village militia were all invited to the meeting.
People's faces were full of fear. They were afraid of an all-out war with the Vikings, but the Vikings really came.
Based on limited information, Eynred had wishful thinking about the Vikings.
"You are all afraid! You all think that we must go to war with the Vikings to ensure that our territory will not be lost. Now they are here, but you are afraid!"
The flag captain was stimulated. He stood up and beat his chest to express his loyalty to the king: "I am not afraid! If it is to protect everything we believe in and our homeland, I am willing to lead the soldiers and fight these barbarians to the end. One person will not surrender until his death!"
"Okay!" Hearing this was really encouraging, but Eynred was not pleased at all.
He simply pointed at the man: "Whitley, I believe you are a brave man. Therefore, I should arrange an important errand for you."
"I am working for His Majesty. ." The man slapped his chest again, feeling secretly happy.
Eynred faces the generals again. He has no reliable staff around him. He can be called a dictator to the army. In other words, his family now relies on its existing military strength. To maintain this, this power is not stable.
If you don't control yourself well, you may be eaten alive by the Vikings, or overthrown by the nobles in the country, especially the young man from the north, a descendant of the Penician royal family.
He made what he thought was the right decision, which was to divide his troops at this special moment.
The elite troops should return to York immediately, and the army composed of farmersWhen to stay here.
To be honest, Eynred felt that the flag captain named Vitley was not a strong man at all. This person forced his way forward just to get his new canonization. No matter how beautiful his words are, what's the use?
Maybe Vitelli would really lead his brothers to fight the Vikings to the last man. Such a result would be equivalent to weakening the king's military strength.
Since Eynred's defeat last year, he did not want to have another decisive battle with the Vikings even if he was killed. Therefore, this time he returned to York urgently, not with the attitude of "the monarch will die for the country" at all. Instead, he personally found the young commander of the Vikings and negotiated peace with him.
It’s okay to cede some land. Even paying a batch of tributes is fine as long as it can buy peace.
When he made this decision, he already believed that the commander of the Viking army was the young man named Rurik. At least, that boy was very beautiful, and beautiful children would never be bloodthirsty beasts.
Eynred had seen the terrifying fighting power of the Vikings and also knew their strong speed of action.
After experiencing this night, Eynred also decided to act quickly.
Many farmers in ragged clothes suddenly changed their outfits. Soldiers from two infantry flag corps were ordered to take off their orange robes and hand them over to a thousand farmers.
Which Wheatley wants to fight the Vikings for meritorious service? Pooh! Eynred did not want to go to war with the Vikings at all this time.
Wheatley was left alone, only himself.
The man was immediately faced with a strange sight, as his soldiers transformed into a swarm of as many as a thousand peasants disguised as regular troops. His mission was to lead this group of people to sway the flag by the river every day, creating the illusion that the main force in Northumbria was still actively moving, in order to deceive Mercia on the other side and deter it from acting rashly.
What about reality? At noon that day, Eynred had already led a thousand elite infantry, more than 800 armed farmers, and a hundred cavalry, and tried his best to advance quickly and lightly along the road leading to York.
At the same time, Rurik and Magnut’s 3,000-man crusade had just arrived at the mouth of the Ouse River.
The action against the current begins! It happened that the Ouse River was a relatively standard northwest direction in this era. With the still soothing south, the fleet could raise its sails and move forward smoothly.
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There are a group of villages living on the riverside, and the Russians and Baers on the boat The people of Merck are forcibly suppressing their thoughts of plundering and getting rich.
The leaders of each ship are calling on the brothers to exercise restraint.
"You all row well and wait quietly. We will capture York, and all the wealth will be yours." Similar remarks were spread, and the army had a clear hope.
But in the eyes of the residents of the villages along the river, a large number of strange boats suddenly broke into the peaceful Ouse River!
What flag is that? ah! Could it be that the Mercians attacked by water?
This is a pure coincidence. The flag designed by Rurik for the Russians is very similar in pattern and structure to the flag of the Kingdom of Mercia.
Large ships like the Aurora sail unimpeded on the River Ouse. The white flags flying on the masts are sewn diagonally with strips of blue cloth. The flag of Mercia has a sky blue background dyed with woad, and the diagonal lines are stitched with yellow strips of cloth.
Ordinary farmers can't control that much, and they start to run away when they see this flag with a similar structure. They were unaware of the Viking invasion or that residents of nearby villages had fled into the city.
The peaceful life of the residents of the lower reaches of the Ouse River was broken by a fleet suspected of being Mercian that suddenly invaded the river. They began to flee and flocked to Roydis (Leeds), a city that had existed in Roman times. cities for refuge.
Rurik did not know that Roydis was also a place that could be plundered, and his spearhead was directed at York.
At night, the fleet camped by the river.
The Viking army who disembarked tried to get some useful things nearby. Everyone thought that the hinterland of the British Isles was full of treasures. Now that they entered the hinterland, they did not expect that the surrounding areas around the river were either reeds or woods, just like here. It is deserted and undeveloped, but everyone can feel that the climate here is much more comfortable than back home in Northern Europe.
The village discovered during the day has long passed, and the brothers cannot suddenly leave the camp to slander and rob homes.
They lit a large number of bonfires by the river, ate the dry food they carried, and even grilled some fish they caught during the voyage.
As for when they will arrive in York, the soldiers all received exciting news - the army will surely arrive at the city of York tomorrow.
The genius was bright, and the impatient troops boarded the ship one after another to begin the final journey.
At this moment, the wind was slightly weaker, so Rurik's big ship was pulled forward by the long oar boat. The entire fleet was squeezed into the river with a width of only fifty meters, and was forced to be compressed into a long snake formation. They were still moving forward, much slower than yesterday.
The navigation is at its final moment. From the mouth of the Ouse River to York, the waterway route is only 40 kilometers.
York, when the midday sun shines on the earth, the city is not only crowded with a large number of civilians taking refuge, but also sergeants ready for battle.
Prince Ella is in the city, staying in the well-protected palace.
Although the Prime Minister felt that Greywulf, the Earl of Bamburgh, who had escaped from the desert, took over as the "defense commander" of the capital, which was a serious act of trespass. However, the king led his troops outside, and the people of York could only I can rely on him as a great nobleman.
It’s not that Graywulf doesn’t covet the throne. If his cousin Aynred dies, he kicks the young crown prince and becomes the king himself, and then chooses an opportunity to go to Rome to pay for the coronation and canonization and become the king. How can a legitimate king not do this? At least he needs a feat to convince other nobles to resist him.He recognized himself as a hero because of the Viking attack on the capital.
Greywulf, who has only dozens of personal followers, is now in charge of the defense of York. Counting the farmers recruited by surprise, there are only more than a thousand people capable of fighting. On the other hand, there are many nominal armed men. These people can barely protect themselves, so don't expect them to be able to fight against possible enemies.
If these people are fighting with the Vikings in the wild, what is the point of seeking death?
If everyone relies on the York Stone Wall for defense, they can at least hold on for a long time. When the king's army comes back for reinforcements and other earls lead troops to reinforce, these invading Vikings will be driven away. .
But the archers at the top of the city saw a tall tree moving on the river in the distance.
What is that? Oh no! It's them!
It’s a Viking!
The soldiers at the top of the city immediately shouted at the people in the city: "The devil is coming! Men, take up arms and fight!"
The priests called the Vikings devils. When the soldiers at the top of the city sounded the alarm, people began to flock to York Church in the city.
On the contrary, a nun left quietly under the escort of several other people. She was none other than the queen who was forced to atone for her sins in the monastery.
The Viking army came anyway, and the queen just wanted to return to her son Ella. She didn't think Graywulf could really withstand the Viking attack, and she even felt that the man who suddenly returned was more threatening.
If mother and son are both going to die, then let’s die together! Let York be buried with him for his absurd life.
"Look! That's York." Paul, the grain officer who is already a senior leader, pointed with his hand.
Rurik stood at the bow of the ship and followed Paul's fingers to clearly see the pier outside York and even the city surrounded by a double-layer defense system of stone walls and wooden walls.
"Hey, that Eynred is quite smart. He has strengthened his defense." Rurik was really surprised.
Jevro realized that he had got a fighter plane, so he asked: "Shall we get off the boat and start attacking the city immediately?"
"No need." Rurik sighed slightly: " This city is difficult to attack."
"My lord, in my humble opinion, our army will conquer this city using traditional methods."
"That's true, but I want to fight with you. Talk to the king. If they are willing to provide what our army needs, our army will not have to shed blood and sweat to attack this city."
Hearing this, Jevro said no more.
Rurik quickly saw the flat area between York's small wharf and the city wall. After all, this was a city built next to a river, which gave the army an excellent landing site.
He began to ask the soldiers leading the ship to shout at nearby ships, asking the army not to rush to attack the city after disembarking, but to set up a formation to scare the enemy and force the enemy king to negotiate.
Rurik has already thought about it. If the negotiations break down, it will not be too late to attack the city, and when that time comesHis siege weapons are also well prepared, and he is not unprepared for a strong attack.
But Rurik overlooked one thing, that is, this is a coalition force. Due to the current narrowing of the Ouse River, the fleet formation has been stretched too long.
Magnute did not hear his son-in-law's request at all, and when this man saw the great city of York, his whole mind was already imagining mountains of gold and silver, and being tied up with ropes. The tied captives.
Magnut roared angrily, his beard trembling, and then drew his sword and ordered: "Warriors of Balmok! For this wealth! Attack the city!"
Those long The ships were forced to dock if there were not so many ships. The warriors held shields against most of their torsos and held swords, spears, and axes in their right hands. They roared and attacked York's city wall. Regarding how to attack a city, Biyongni at least had a little experience, but the majority of Balmok soldiers really lacked understanding. They were charging with enthusiasm, and their minds were already blank.
In an instant, there were shouts of killing, and those who disembarked early from the ships that were clearly at the rear would rather run a little longer than forcefully attack.
"Damn it! Damn it! You guys are too hasty!" Rurik stamped his feet in anger at the sudden situation.
Completely infected by the impulse of the Balmoks, Arik, who was staying on the Sperosvilia, also began to order the nearby First Standard Soldiers to start wading into the water. Reinforce allies.
Among the chaotic Balmok assault army were a group of soldiers wearing white robes and blue stripes.
"Damn it, Arik, you are reckless!" Rurik cursed secretly.
The battle started like this?
Jevro asked hurriedly: "Sir, they all started to attack spontaneously, we..."
"No! Keep sailing, I want to get close enough to York." Rurik said lowly roared.
Then he gave an order to Yevlo: "Let the brothers shout as much as possible and tell the ships of the Ross fleet that they must follow the flagship and cannot land without permission!"
"Yes!"