That night, the cavalry troops of the Russian army completed their rendezvous. In Rurik's view, his son Reglaf had helped Ross control the city of Auxerre, which was equivalent to the fact that Ross had completed the siege of the city.
But Rurik also began to worry about other things.
Since the Mercian army has three thousand troops, including other noble armies, and they have been besieging the city for some time, will the long siege cause hardship to the soldiers and civilians in the city? If there was a famine in the city, it would be hard for me to explain to that old guy Conrad.
On the other hand, just under the city of Auxerre, facing the chaos caused by the cavalry attack, Reglaf had to bite the bullet and lead the troops to clean up the mess.
Countless mud was thrown up where the horses' hooves stepped, and some wounded soldiers were lying wherever the enemy soldiers went.
In the shack area of the besieging army, more soldiers were lying dead.
Many soldiers were seriously injured. Those who had lost a lot of blood were sitting on the side with their last strength. Even though their companions provided a lot of rescue, a large number of wounded soldiers died of their injuries before the sun went down.
The Bekon Knights led a group of elites to successfully intercept a group of Auxerre cavalry. A fierce battle broke out between the two sides. The enemy's tenacity in fighting was something that the goatee-bearded veteran had never imagined.
The noble cavalry of Mercia lost a lot of their soldiers and horses in the chaos. The battle finally ended when Wibert led a hundred heavy cavalry from the Count of Nantes.
All the intercepted Auxerre cavalry were killed in battle, and no one had the intention to surrender. The abnormal behavior was really surprising.
The conflict is finally over.
The Ross cavalry who participated in the siege pursued the enemy soldiers fiercely, and the army on the other side of the river watched
them drifting away.
The battlefield was filled with fallen armored soldiers. The dead horses were pressing on the bodies of the soldiers who were still staring at death. The blue eyes gradually became dull. The solidified blood was smeared on the chain armor. The air was filled with fishy smell and sweat. Stink.
Beikong was breathing deeply. The iron sword in his hand had been discarded due to severe bending, and he had been fighting with a hand ax. The right hand holding the wooden handle was now extremely numb, and he was still holding on to the ax handle almost relying on instinct.
The chainmail was stained with the enemy's snow. With a numb look on his face, Wibert drove his horse closer to Beikong. The other party had a black goatee and was easy to identify: "Oh, your face is red, your face is red." The beard has also turned red."
Beikong wiped his face with his trembling left hand: "I think... I should go to the river to clean up."
" Gather your troops first. It’s unbelievable. This group of cavalry went crazy. Only God knows how many of us they killed. If we hadn’t fought back quickly enough..." Wibert was also very dissatisfied with the fierce battle that took place this afternoon. He didn't. Say it again.
"Okay, I should dismount and check the situation."
Unexpectedly, as soon as Bei Kong got off the saddle, he couldn't stand still and collapsed to the ground.
Seeing this, many followersThe soldier came over and helped the young veteran up urgently.
Wilbert could never see that Bekon was injured. He also dismounted and faced Bekon and stretched out his right hand: "You are just too tired."
"Not entirely. . I just took a few blows from them, thanks to this armor and my strong bones.”
“Okay, can you still stand up?” I can't die." As he said this, Beikong stretched out his right hand and suddenly felt a discomfort in his chest. After several violent coughs, he still coughed up some blood.
Seeing such an astonishing scene, a young man immediately came over: "Brother."
"It's okay. Maybe I need to take a good rest for a few days."
Beikong had suffered serious injuries in the past. If he took off his lining clothes, he could still see the cuts and arrow wounds on his torso. Like him, a descendant of a small noble who fled from the Count of Anjou more than ten years ago, in order to survive and get a chance to restore his title, he can only bite the bullet and work as a thug for other nobles.
Every time they participate in an operation to kill forest bandits, the brothers are always attacked by bandits with inferior equipment.
This time he was fighting against the regular elite troops of Auxerre. Now he was just coughing up blood. If he hadn't put on this armor, he might have had his internal organs chopped out by the enemy.
Beikon took a good rest for a while, and the other cavalrymen dismounted, gathering their brothers and collecting scattered weapons. They wanted to find a few people who were still alive among the dead. Unexpectedly, the battle was too fierce and all the enemy soldiers were killed.
They found some tokens on the enemy soldiers that were enough to prove their identity - they were indeed the troops of the County of Auxerre.
Beikon rested for a while. He felt better and then he stood up with his mount. He turned his back to the setting sun and looked ahead. Logically speaking, the Ross cavalry who launched the pursuit at this time should have returned. Could it be that they really encountered the large force of the Auxerre Army and continued to tremble with the opponent?
Given the character of the bald general, this might really be the case.
"Ah, just a fierce battle with their vanguard ended up like this. What if all their troops came up?" Beikong shuddered when he thought of this, because of the fact
It has been proved that the Mercian army, which was quickly recruited, did not have a complete advantage when facing a truly heavily armed and powerful enemy.
His eyes were fixed on the wooden bridge not far away, and he shook his head regretfully: "If I had known this, I should have demolished that damn wooden bridge."
Until evening , the cavalry returned to the camp collectively.
At this moment, Regrave has basically finished cleaning up the mess.
The two sides did not leave a way for each other to survive. The enemy soldiers who could have been captured were smashed into pulp in the hands of the furious soldiers. Some soldiers even smashed the dead enemy soldiers beyond recognition. , in panic, he still didn’t recognize his relatives, and actually instinctively attacked his companions.
The fallen soldiers were pulled aside one after another.Soon the dying soldiers were also taken away.
Reglaf had to face a heart-wrenching fact. The Auxerre army came as fast as lightning. Most of the enemy soldiers successfully evacuated with the main personnel after killing many people. .
The Mercian coalition suffered as many as 300 casualties. By the time the sun went down, there were 200 dead among them. They were all warriors trained from Shannon and Anjou, as well as charioteers from Hermiles.
The soldiers pulled the dead together and laid them flat in a matrix. More and more corpses were pulled over. Regraf, who witnessed all this with his own eyes, turned pale.
This was the first defeat I had ever experienced. The enemy retreated completely and my own side suffered huge losses.
His emotions were suppressed to the extreme, and he suddenly shouted to the sky, shocking all the soldiers who were moving the corpses to a halt.
"Didn't I train you how to defend against cavalry? I forgot all about it now!"
He became more and more excited as he spoke, breathing heavily and looking at the city of Auxerre angrily.
The battle that broke out in the afternoon
For a time, the city of Auxerre felt that it had gained vitality. Our own cavalry massacred the besieging troops outside the city, and the defenders on the city wall cheered.
It was impossible for Reglaf to ignore the behavior of the city defenders. Standing next to the pile of corpses, he suddenly turned around and drew his steel sword and pointed it directly at the city.
A crazy idea arises spontaneously - siege the city!
Because while the defenders were shouting, they continued to curse at the besieging army.
The city wall of Auxerre is not high, it is just quite thick, and the city does not have any ditches as a barrier. Originally, Reglaf did not plan to attack the city. He hoped to exhaust the defenders through a war of attrition, and then wait until the huge army of "Bald" Charles joined forces to discuss the punishment of Auxerre.
Reglaf couldn't swallow this bad breath. Besides, there was a high probability that the main force of the Auxerre Army was on the other side of the Yona River. If the enemy wanted to rescue their city, they had to return through the bridge.
Anyway, the unexpected Uncle Fisk is always protected by the gods, and his father’s army also regards the Burgundian forces as targets that must be attacked. Fisk went to fight on the east bank of the river again. They were all cavalry, and every warrior was so cunning that the enemy soldiers could not catch any of them.
He decided not to care about Fisk's affairs. Moreover, there were still some Ross cavalry who did not attack due to the need to guard the camp. He was Rurik's de facto eldest son. With a face that looked exactly like his father's, he Are you still worried about how to deal with them?
Finally, the Mercian cavalry who completed the interception returned, and Bekon urgently needed to report the situation to Reglaf himself. He returned to the camp on horseback and saw that the messy scene had been almost cleaned up. There were bloodstains everywhere on the ground, and many shacks were still collapsed.
Because the war horses were too heavy, the horse corpses were still lying there. The corpses of the enemy soldiers have been pulled away.
There was no figure of the king everywhere, but warriors sitting everywhere. Everyone's face revealed unwillingness and anger, but the panic Beikon imagined was not the same.exist.
He heard from a few soldiers at random, and everyone said that the king was with the fallen soldiers.
The dead were dragged to one place, and following the carriage carrying the bodies, Bekon finally met Reglaf.
He dismounted and endured the pain. After all, even a relatively minor internal injury would take a day or two to heal.
He approached Reglaf, who had just vented his anger, glanced at the dead people everywhere, and reluctantly said: "The enemy has been driven away."
"Yes, I saw it all We're here." Reglaf's eyes were still fixed on the corpse: "I know that my uncle led the troops to continue the pursuit and has not come back yet."
"In this battle... I failed to intercept him. ."
"I don't blame you, it's because I'm too kind to my enemies." Regraf pouted and shook his head.
Bei Kong clearly noticed from the corner of his eyes that the too young king clenched his fists. He hurriedly asked: "What should we do next? The enemy's vanguard army was driven away by us. If their The army will arrive."
"Their army will definitely arrive. Then, when they reach the other side of the river, I will show them how I destroyed their city."
"Siege the city?" Beikong was shocked.
"Yes, no one will be left alive after the city is broken. My kindness is limited, and it ends here."
Regraf calmly said such cruel words, Bei Kong was suddenly startled, and then he realized that the thriving young king in front of him was actually the son of King Rus
.
Although Bekon only had a very vague concept of the King of Rus, if he compared it with the great Danish nobles such as Horik and Harald Clark, he would understand it quite well.
Beikong shuddered. After he stabilized his thoughts, he asked: "Do you really intend to completely destroy them..."
"Yes. Otherwise, I will feel sorry for these people who died in the battle." Brothers. They are all my soldiers, and I must avenge them!"
The boy's calm words contained the most brutal murderous intention.
Bekon knew that he was not qualified to persuade the king, and he had no intention of doing so. Looking at the dead bodies on the ground, Beikong himself was worried. Then he thought about the death of another retinue of cavalry. In terms of revenge, he supported the king.
But he also heard that Reglaf's revenge would be extreme - they would restore the ferocity of the Normans.
Reglav said sternly: "Since you have come back, call a military meeting immediately. Damn it, I want to attack the city tonight!"
Reglav is not very good Knowing the truth that "a soldier who mourns will win", his current idea is to follow his heart.
While cleaning the battlefield in the afternoon, he saw his soldiers quickly regaining their energy. Everyone's panic stopped abruptly. As they continued to carry dead bodies, more and more soldiers showed anger.
Because those who died were all their fellow villagers and neighbors. Although everyone’s expedition was to fulfill their obligations, it was originally against Bo.The Gendians had no grudges. They suffered heavy losses in this sneak attack. Even if they had no grudges, they would become big grudges.
The attitude of the militia is very simple - since the Auxerre army killed its own people, the enemies of Auxerre City must pay with blood.
There was resentment in the army, and while everyone was still furious
Regraf decided to counterattack overnight.
The so-called military meeting was nothing more than announcing his decision to his generals and allied nobles, and requiring all dissenters to follow his lead.
The Mercian army was not inexperienced in siege, so the objections were concentrated here. No one thought there was anything wrong with looting after siege.
According to Reglaf's idea, cutting down wood to make long ladders to climb the wall was a time-consuming and labor-intensive act. Furthermore, the climbing soldiers could not free their hands and were easily hit by stones thrown from the city wall. Killed and injured.
The way to break the situation is to use a large number of ready-made grain carriages, cut down some trees and pile them on top to make siege vehicles, and use brute force to break open the city gates.
During the siege, he had observed that not all gates in Auxerre were equipped with complex gate systems.
Only the city gate facing the south has a winch iron fence lifting system to strengthen the defense of the heavy wooden gate.
Even if the other three wooden doors do not have this set of equipment, their wooden doors are definitely very thick, and if it is just a collision, it will not be able to open them in a short time. In this case, what about using fire attacks?
Regraf developed a method of assault shooting based on the plan implemented by the Russian army in the past.
The soldiers understood the king's attitude. Many people felt that the means to destroy the city should be feasible, but the methods after the city was broken were too cruel.
"Don't be merciful to them. If the enemy army returns, they will never be merciful to us. We will start attacking the city immediately and tear down the wooden bridge planks now. Act now."
p>This was the king's order. The furious Mercian army did not bother to bury the brothers who died in the fierce battle in the afternoon, and immediately launched a surprise night offensive
.
Regraf had not planned a night attack from the beginning, just because the wooden door of Auxerre City was too thick. Tonight's operation was to perform special damage on the damn door first.
At nightfall, the besieging army had the upper hand and lit a large-scale bonfire. The bonfire was larger tonight to swear to the defenders that the besieging army had not suffered any losses.
In fact, the defenders had long been paralyzed during the long siege.
Archbishop Heribo is fully responsible for the defense of the entire city. He unites the army and the people with faith. He has full control over the allocation of resources to ensure that the soldiers defending the city have relatively good food to maintain their strength. All those who successfully entered the city to take refuge At least the civilians don't starve to death.
Heribo was struggling to keep Auxerre from being destroyed. That afternoon, when he saw his own cavalry suddenly appearing, he thought that the painful siege that lasted for three weeks had been lifted, but he despaired again. The cavalry actually retreated.
HerryBo quickly cheered up, because the visitor must be just the vanguard of the Earl. After confirming that the city is besieged, the lord's army will definitely launch a large-scale offensive in the next few days to rescue the city.
Although he couldn't understand why the Earl, who organized a huge army, came back, at least the city would be saved.
Of course, there are many other possibilities. For example, the count sent a small force to strengthen the defense of Auxerre, and unexpectedly encountered the enemy besieging the city.
The Archbishop did not dare to think too much. In times of crisis, he had to ask the soldiers and civilians who were struggling in despair. The so-called Earl was about to come to rescue them.
The city of Auxerre was in a depressing scene, first filled with hope and then despair. The soldiers who defended the city were so painful that they didn’t know what to do. Thanks to the archbishop who held the ceremony in the cathedral overnight
During the Mass, the bells suddenly came to mind in the quiet night. The choir of Saint-Germain Cathedral brought the echo of heaven, and the confused soldiers and civilians finally calmed down.
However, there was a lot of excitement outside the city.
The priests accompanying the army in Reglaf were asked to keep quiet. The soldiers pretended that the bells did not exist, and they were immersed in doing their own things.
Most of the soldiers were asked to go to bed after eating to prepare for an all-out attack tomorrow.
He selected some strong men in the army, especially those "forest hunters" who had been hiding in the Sologne Forest and the Anjou Forest for a long time. No matter how glorious and upright these brothers were, they would eventually be able to survive. For some years, they had been doing the business of forest bandits. They deliberately attacked the nobles' army, and their methods were not without cruelty. Now they can continue to attack the city of Auxerre with ruthlessness.
Everyone in the "Forest Hunters" is an archer. They are organized and the orders they receive are to use bows to suppress the enemies at the top of the city in order to protect the army's powerful weapons.
It was also a long-term siege and no siege action was carried out. The defenders patrolling the city wall had long been mentally numb. They especially believed that they should sleep at night. Any military action was impossible. In addition, this night Many soldiers went to the cathedral to purify their souls, and there were few guards patrolling the city walls.
It seems that the thick stone walls and blocked heavy wooden doors have ensured that the city is impregnable.
Regraf did not know that the city wall was almost unguarded tonight. If some soldiers were really sent out to carry some makeshift long ladders, they could quietly get under the city wall at midnight and start climbing. Climbing, it is possible to complete the city destruction.
He was still angry, so he chose a very
high-profile solution.
Under nightfall, a large number of soldiers pulled out burning strips of cloth from the bonfire. They prepared some intentionally cut pine trees. In order to ensure more efficient burning, some had left their carriages empty just because they were dry. The wood was smashed to pieces. All kinds of flammable materials were prepared. At Reglaf's order, hundreds of people rushed to the west gate of the city with flammable materials.
The focus of the Mercian army's attack is this relatively inconspicuous west gate, even if it has the same woodThe door is thick. Will the wooden door still remain strong after being burned overnight?
When the bewildered defenders noticed that the besieging army had actually launched a night attack, it was already too late. Various flammable objects quickly ignited open flames. They were deliberately piled in the door openings, and the fire became more and more intense. big.
Although the city of Auxerre has stone walls inherited from the Roman era, it has never suffered a fatal attack, and all fire prevention measures have not been taken, so that even if the defenders on the city wall hold a bucket of water, It is also difficult to accurately pour the fire ball in the city gate hole.
The Mass is still going on, the Saint-Germain Cathedral is still full of soldiers and civilians kneeling, and the teenagers in the choir are still singing the music of nature despite their fatigue.
Suddenly, the tranquility was broken by the defenders who broke into it.
The soldier no longer pays attention to the slightest etiquette. He shouts heartbreakingly: "No! Ximen! It's on fire."
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