A pair of vigilant eyes stared at the lonely visitor. Everyone saw that the man was very impressive and clearly showed no fear in the face of the powerful Ross army.
Ragnar was a ruthless man who was hacked out of a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood. His first murder was to kill the leader of a neighboring tribe. It was a very fair duel, at least that's how the duel was. Both parties offered sacrifices to Odin, and the onlookers would serve as witnesses.
At that time, Ragnar was wearing thick woolen trousers that were resistant to snake bites. His clothes were quite special, and it seemed that the woolen trousers had this magical power. A fledgling boy hacked his opponent to death and thus qualified to compete for the Danish Grand Alliance Leader.
But at that time, Hafgen thought he would win at the last moment. This man cheated and stopped the duel with his absolute military strength, thus becoming the leader of the Danish alliance and becoming the king.
That was ten years ago...
Ragnar is not an old man. He is only twenty-six years old now and is in the golden age of Viking warriors. Unfortunately, the limited population of his tribe cannot support the great dream of a young hero. Now it is very difficult to just survive.
Even if he is in trouble, he will not sell some dignity in exchange for the support of others.
Under night, two people holding torches met.
Jevro asked with a calm face: "It seems that you have thought about it and want to talk to us."
"Talk? Ah, you really want to talk. . ”
If the Russians wanted to launch an attack, they would not delay it until nightfall. Ragnar had never fought against a real Rus in his life, and the bad information he heard made him even more afraid to take the plunge. This time we finally entered Ross’s riverside camp. Even though the light was dim, many wonders came to our mind. He frowned and realized that these guys were indeed difficult to defeat, at least his own tribe would definitely lose in a fight. But wouldn’t those Franks also lose?
Ragnar saw clearly that the Russians were busy gathering around the campfire to cook a delicious meal. The alluring aroma actually comes from a huge iron container!
The Russian army has an "iron content" beyond his understanding, as if iron tools are commonplace in their community.
Those who appear to be ordinary warriors each carry multiple weapons and are also using specialized iron digging tools to level the floor of the shack where they will sleep tonight.
They also have large and small linen bags with wonderful designs, and the straps are actually used to tie the mouth of the sacks. This in itself was not surprising until he noticed someone taking out visible bread from the bag. That's not black bread, but toasted brown wheat bread. This is a high-end food in the territory of the Franks, not to mention this group of Russians further north? !
Some warriors sat down with their swords in their hands. Their eyes were like torches. They stared at Ragnar passing by with provocative eyes. Then they fiddled with the sword body and let the dancing flames illuminate it. .
There are also warriors who use tree branches as supports to light up their chain armor as a whole and match it with their helmets.Hang together.
No one would wear heavy chain mail all the time. The chain mail shining brightly in the flames is a silent showoff and mockery to the visitors!
Fear is out of the question. Ragnar just envied them for having so many protective gears. He couldn't help but imagine that once his army had these, they would be capable of fighting the Franks, and they would not even be able to fight the Franks. Lost his home in Denmark.
Jevro deliberately took Ragnar for a walk in the camp. This was an offensive move, and it also directly exposed part of the strength of the Ross army. There are risks in doing so, but the Ross army's self-esteem from top to bottom has turned into arrogance, especially when facing a group of Danes, it becomes even more arrogant. The brothers did not take off their pants to laugh and ridicule, they were already exercising the utmost restraint.
"Have you seen it? Once the war starts, you will definitely lose." Yevro said arrogantly.
How did Ragnar do this? He knew very well that he did not have the upper hand, at least not to fall behind in words. He deliberately asked: "You have taken off your armor, so you are not afraid of a sudden attack by my men? In a night brawl, you do not have a full advantage."
"Haha. Do you dare? I still warn you!" Yevluo suddenly turned around, his face still arrogant, and pointed his big hand at the parked warship: "Our heavy weapons are always on standby. As long as you dare to attack, many people will die on the way to charge. I don't know what happened to you. No matter what, in my judgment you have a serious shortage of soldiers. Even children and women are forced to take up arms. Stop it! This river beach is firmly controlled by our Russian army."
< p> "I want to see your leader immediately." Ragnar suddenly changed the topic."You are about to see it."
Soon, Ragnar sat beside the inconspicuous bonfire, with the elites of the Ross army sitting on his left and right.
Aric looked provocatively, and deliberately clenched the hilt of his sword with his right hand, just to test the so-called Ragnar's reaction.
However, Ragnar responded in kind, holding the sword hilt tightly but not taking the initiative to attack. Because he saw that the people sitting around the bonfire were all ruthless people. Not only did he have no chance of winning in a real fight, but if he angered the Russians, his own people would die on a large scale.
After a stalemate for a while, Arik loosened his grip on the hilt of the sword, and the atmosphere relaxed: "Yes, he is a warrior. My brothers and I allowed you to hold the sword before you, thinking that it would be a prayer. He is a coward who has not lost the courage to break up and fight."
Ragnar held his head high, looking at the situation, he would definitely not be safe, so he wanted to save face for his tribe. He observed the young man who was speaking: "I heard that the leader of your Rus' people is young and promising, so you must be the leader? I can't even figure out how you can go to the territory of the Franks and rob them if you don't attack your old enemy Denmark?"
"I... am not the leader of Ross."
"You? Not really?"
Aric smiled and smiledThere is a hint of sadness in it. Who doesn't want to be the prince of the entire Rus, but he is not the one chosen by God, and he has no ability to govern a big country. He is just a reckless man.
“The prince of the Principality of Rus is Rurik, and I am the prince’s brother. The Prince of Rus has received the blessing and favor of the great god Odin, so our entire Rus tribe, as well as all the tribes that have surrendered to Rus to accept their rule, have I got the benefit."
Ragnar said without changing his expression: "Indeed, the real northern warriors are all blond. There are obviously many black-haired people in your team who should be slaves. The Finns have all become warriors. So the legend that the Russians conquered the land in the east (Finland) is true?"
The words were a little aggressive, because he didn't know Javlo's identity. .
In this way, Jevloko has to hold his head high and show off: "You! The Danish Ragnar doesn't know my noble status at all."
"You? How are you noble? ? My friend..."
"You call me a friend? Maybe we can have a peaceful meeting today and be friends in the future. I am Count Jevlo of Finland, loyal to my subordinates. There are more than 30,000 people. Even though it may seem like a weak force to you, I can indeed gather 10,000 Finnish warriors. We Finns are not good at fighting and are best at archery. This time we are strong. But on the order of the prince, he attacked the Franks..."
Jevro showed off, but Arik started showing off his achievements again. He must point out his resentment and the fact that he led four hundred warriors to avenge an evil enemy and achieved a great victory at the age of nineteen.
As an absolute strong man, Ross Army is willing to show off his great achievements, firstly for psychological self-satisfaction, and secondly to shock the audience.
Nordic social culture has a tradition in this regard. A warrior should show his achievements to the guests. Many times he gives himself a variety of nicknames, which are essentially honorary titles. If he is not given a nickname, he will not be given a nickname. You can talk about one achievement for three days and three nights.
Ragnar was quite surprised. In the past, he could only get fragmentary descriptions of the Russians from a group of losers. This time, he was convinced that he got the most accurate description from a senior member of the Russian army. information. Co-author: The battles that the Russians experienced in the past are not at all on the same order of magnitude as their own understanding of war? The Russians always try to choose large-scale decisive battles. Once a fight breaks out, the strength of both sides is always close to 10,000. They claim that the Russian army may have killed 50,000 enemy soldiers over the years. Even if this number is accurate, even killing 10,000 people is extremely cruel.
The only decisive battle in his memory was when, as a member of the Danish coalition, he led two hundred of the most elite soldiers to encounter King Olekin of Svealan (Sweden) by chance. After a bloody battle, he was killed. He achieved great success by killing that man's head.
He did not want to mention this matter because he considered that Ross and Svealan had a very close relationship.Can irritate them. But the Russians were already boasting that they had killed the old Danish king Hafgen who led the counterattack against Svealand. Bringing up "Killing Olegin" was actually retaliation.
The strange thing is that the attitude of the Russian people is completely ambiguous.
Look at Arik's expression. Feifan was not angry, but showed a smile of praise: "Odin doesn't like lying warriors. You can't afford to make this joke. I believe it was you who killed Olegin. Very good! I have long disliked that man and wanted to kill him with my own hands! Now we have nothing to do with Svealan. They were defeated by you Danes and now have no ability to compete with us, the Principality of Ross. The power of the Baltic Sea. So what about you? Your tribe is obviously in exile."
Arik, a Russian, is a nobleman of the generation, and he has some heart-to-heart words. It's not good to hide it anymore.
Ragnar was so cruel that he simply told the truth, but the content described in this opening was something Arik and others had never heard of.
It turns out that when Denmark and Frank were fighting near the Great Wall of Schleswig, Ragnar had already taken advantage of the chaos and entered Frank territory to rob. Robbery and making a fortune is one purpose, and strategic revenge by opening up new battlefields is the biggest reason.
However, the once tough King Horik of New Denmark suddenly gave up. According to Ragnar's rude and aggravated description, the situation is like this.
“Horlick was originally a hunting dog raised by a Frankish noble. Later, the dog decided to become a new man, which made the owner dissatisfied. The dog fought back for a while, but finally became a good dog again. I heard that that man He took off his shirt, like a plucked wild boar, and knelt at the feet of the Frankish nobles, kissing their toes, and even begged for forgiveness, even if it meant becoming a eunuch to atone for his sins, as long as he could continue to be a Danish nobleman under the Frankish rule... …”
Just hearing Ragnar say this made me feel uncomfortable all over. The hair on Arik's body stood on end, and then he became furious. The most angry one was Blue Fox, who simply yelled: "Scoundrel! The person who killed me, destroyed our shops, is obviously brave, but he surrendered to Frank in this way!"
Blue Fox said so said, immediately catching Ragnar's attention. This trip to Ragnar was a surprise, because in the past peaceful days, the "Stonewall" tribe did buy some high-quality and cheap ironware and a batch of high-quality leather in Hedebe. There are rumors that the owner of the shop is a Russian. No one in the free Hezeby cares about this. The Ragnar tribe who got the good goods pretend to be confused even though they have doubts. Unexpectedly, the person sitting in front of me is the shop owner! This also solved the real reason why the Ross fleet suddenly entered the Weser River.
Ragnar continued to explain his story. The so-called Horik was forgiven by Frank, and it must have been the sale of certain interests in exchange for peace. The reason for his conclusion was that after the truce, Horik suddenly turned his troops and rushed towards the "Stonewall" tribe. They were supported by the Franks in terms of weapons, troops and weaponryThey all had the upper hand, and after crossing the sea, they killed the Stonewall tribe and suffered heavy losses.
Horik is the enemy! Although the survivors still call themselves Danes, in their view Denmark has been essentially occupied by Frank's lackeys. They all saw the deeper contradictions. The so-called biggest enemy of the tribe was Frank! They lost their home and had nowhere to go. In the near future, the cold winter was approaching. The brothers could only take the remaining people and row into the nearby East Frankish territory to rob to survive, but things did not go well at all.
When the words reached this point, Ragnar, who was already very excited about the words, clenched his hands into fists, smashed them to the ground, and said viciously: "We have lost everything, and now we can only be pirates. Many. Women and children were killed by them, without any regard for the fact that they were also Danes. Many lords had left Denmark, and everyone was unwilling to be loyal to a Frankish dog. Now I still have more than 400 men, and only men can fight. Three hundred people. Actually...we still had Frank pursuers behind us. We didn't grab much supplies, because those Frank farmers transported most of the things to Bremen, and we couldn't grab them with our small number of people. They lost that city and now they can only go hungry.”
Looking at this description, Arik immediately felt empathy and burst into tears after hearing the betrayal and suffering they experienced.
Blue Fox was not guilty of this. With the thinking of a businessman, he understood Ragnar's deep begging buried in the language.
As for Yevlo, the most he thought about was to win over, and at the worst, these victims could become allies of the Principality of Ross.
"Have you thought about where you will go in the future?" Arik asked, wiping away tears.
"Maybe Flanders, go there to try your luck. Let's grab a village and live there first."
Jevro took the opportunity to speak: "Russ has no fight with you anymore. The reasons and necessity are that Horik and the Franks are our common enemies, so we should unite. Why don't you go to Ross!"
Aric slapped his thigh: "That's how it should be, Ragnar. , bring your people to join us. I admire you as a hero. Heroes should not be in trouble.”
The blue fox also followed the words, his mind was more flexible and his words were very smart: “But, heroes. Your pride cannot be tarnished. This time our Ross fleet is ordered to attack Bremen. There are two paths before you."
"What is it?" I like what the businessman Blue Fox said.
“First, if you don’t accept us, you will leave on your own tomorrow and we will pretend we don’t know you. Finally, we Russians will attack Bremen. Second, we will form a coalition and conquer Bremen. After that, we will share the spoils (actually, we will grab it based on our ability). After that, we will form a fleet and go back to Ross for the winter. I choose you to choose the second way, because the Principality of Ross is hiring, and I can reveal a major secret to you, Ross. The prince was already tired of the war with Denmark. The Danes were different, and for people like Horik, it was necessary.Crusade! As for you, when you choose a peaceful attitude, we can be friends. One day Horik will be expelled and we intend to do business with the friendly Danes, which I imagine you are. "
"Then unite! ”
To everyone’s surprise, Ragnar’s words were very decisive. Arik was stunned. When he came back to his senses, he thought about it. Ragnar must have thought about it a long time ago, but it was just because of the He didn't want to lose face and ask for alliance.
The so-called alliance was definitely not what Ross should do, but Ross still provided a day's rations for his army. This actually didn't matter, because Rurik was obsessed with logistics. , causing the Russian army to buy supplies on a large scale before setting sail, so that even if the operation failed, at least the brothers would not be hungry.
Ragnar's men could not afford to pay for a day's rations. But they still paid the price. The two teams joined forces to attack Bremen, forming a larger river fleet and sailing directly to the city of Bremen.
According to the plan, Ragnar's people will be the main attack. In terms of strength, the Ross Army mainly provided fire support and used heavy equipment to knock down Bremen's wooden city walls. Ragnar would inevitably suffer huge risks, but they were the first to enter the city after the city was broken, and theoretically had the best assets. They were all snatched up.
Although Arick felt that this arrangement would be advantageous for these Danish homeless dogs, Blue Fox emphasized the real purpose of this operation: "Why bother with gold and silver? They cannot eat when the stomach is full. We need to find the warehouses and plunder wool and grain. It's much warmer here than our home in Northern Europe, and the Franks have just finished their wheat harvest. Ragnar said that the farmers took refuge in the city with them, so that they could not grab anything, so a large amount of wheat was in the city. What we have to do is to take away as much wheat as possible according to the order! ”