Rise of Rurik

The Frankish civil war seems to have nothing to do with the city of Aachen. No matter how the nobles fight, the life of the people in the city remains the same.

This sacred city located in the dense forest still enjoys her peace and tranquility, she is great because of Charlemagne, and Charlemagne was finally buried here.

The former Roman baths have undergone a major transformation, and on its foundation, a magnificent palace has been erected.

This is the Royal Palace of Aachen, the favorite residence of Charlemagne himself. Suffering from severe gout in his later years, he loved to take baths, and it seemed that only the hot springs in Aachen could relieve his pain.

His time is over, and his descendants inherit this hot spring palace.

He hopes to use a set of aristocratic system to regulate all the nobles, so that the noble fights that happened to him will end forever. Perhaps enfeoffing the great nobles is the best way to bridge the conflict, as long as the sons are distributed to various places, they can enjoy eternal peace? Maybe it is.

The great emperor died, and his heavy coffin was placed in the Aachen Cathedral next to the palace, and it was placed in the Palatine Hall!

At that time, the Pope of Rome consecrated him here, and finally became the glory of "Roman Emperor". Now, here he lies in eternal glory.

However, this European emperor never dreamed that although his sons did not set off a frenzy of civil war, the most terrifying civil war happened to his grandson.

He also never imagined that the Saxons who had been crushed by his own iron hooves would rebel, and the Danes who had been forced to surrender by force would dare to attack the "new" created by him less than thirty years after his death. Rome" Aachen!

Bishop Heinbach of this session of Aachen, as Lothair's court confidant, his greatest job was to guard Charlemagne's spirit.

Lothar owns the ownership of his grandfather's palace, and is more obliged to guard his grandfather's tomb.

However, Aachen is not a comprehensive big city. It has the name of "New Rome" but it does not have the city atmosphere of Rome at all.

She is a city of faith, the priests live a peaceful life in this city, and almost all the residents inside and outside the city serve the priests.

The thick Roman-style city walls were further reinforced, and the 500 palace guards in the city were unshakable city defenders.

The task of these soldiers is to guard the palace and the cathedral. They are well-dressed and well-equipped, and all soldiers are only loyal to the king himself.

Although they belonged to the standing army, these soldiers would not participate in any field battles. They even only had a small number of horses, and they usually appeared as infantry.

As for the real standing army standard team, no one thinks these "guards" are real soldiers, they are more like a guard of honor. Even Lothair himself does not think that this kind of army has strong combat effectiveness. As long as they show the magnificence and glory of the royal family in various activities, they have fulfilled their duties perfectly.

In addition to these ceremonial work, their second duty is to maintain the law and order of Aachen city.

This is the new Rome, and those who can live in the city are either wealthy people, or a large number of skilled craftsmen, and criminals are only theoretical existences.

Every day, the imperial guards put on gorgeous costumes and patrolled the streets and alleys of the city. During festivals, whether the king was in the city or not, they participated in a series of festive activities according to the arrangement of the archbishop.

Time in the city seems to have stopped, and every day's life is exactly the same as the previous day, just like Charlemagne who rested in the Palatine, Aachen has gained eternity.

However, several carriages rushed towards the city along the Aachen Avenue.

The soldiers of the Praetorian Guard guarding the gate have never seen such a guy rushing into the city gate since he took office.

They hastily raised the suspension bridge slightly, so that they did not want to fall into the cliff of the carriage that filled the moat around the city and rein in their horses.

The Yufu's action was too harsh, the horse that had been whipped slammed to a sudden stop, and the tight birth directly strangled the horse fainted.

The manager of the mine in Bright Lead Village, who was already injured, was thrown out directly.

He gritted his teeth and endured the severe pain and got up. At this moment, the vigilant city gate guards were already yelling maliciously.

I just heard the chief wailing in pain: "There are enemies attacking! Let us enter the city quickly, I want to see your captain!"

However, how can the honorable captain of the Imperial Guard be seen by a group of people who intend to break into the city?

However, the incident at the city gate soon reached the captain's ears.

Thinking that the good holy city is peaceful on weekdays, suddenly there are armored soldiers in a carriage rushing into the city, something abnormal must be a big deal.

With a group of soldiers, Sebastian, the commander of the Imperial Guard, appeared in person at the southern gate of the city where the chaos occurred, and this gate was also the end of Aachen Avenue.

After a simple cross-examination, after confirming the other party's identity, Sebastian ordered the gate to be lowered with a suspicious attitude.

A strange army has attacked the mines of Bright Lead Village? Those soldiers were wearing white robes on a large scale, with obvious blue lines on the robes? Those soldiers who killed at sight, used huge round shields extensively, and were extremely good at archery?

Speaking of missing arrows, the mine supervisor, who was wounded by the arrow, turned in the arrow that stabbed him.

After all, a guard of honor like Sebastian's banner captain is also a fighter at heart. Many people think that their brothers are flamboyant, but he doesn't think so because of his arrogance.

He observed the arrow, the cluster of arrows looked like iron needles but extremely hard, and the brown arrow feathers felt like poultry. The iron arrow clusters of the Frankish army are all broad-bladed and barbed, and the needle arrows are not equipped.

What exactly was the army that attacked the village of Bright Lead? Could it be Flemish?

But those armies had plenty of bucklers, not the Flanders.

The existence of the so-called time difference is that when the Ross army is only about fifteen kilometers away from the city of Aachen, those ordinary people who fled from Maastricht and Liege thought that it would be safe to cross the river and enter the forest area. The large and small Frankish villages in the forest can give these refugees a certain amount of life care, and once they start to settle down, the eager escape stops abruptly, and they become extremely slow, making the disaster that should have been reported to Aachen It is impossible to be faster than the Ross people.

It was also at this time that the Bishop of Liege, who was determined to turn the tide, was still on his way. He didn't think those Normans would be extremely fast. Besides, based on his knowledge of the Norman pirates, those guys didn't have the guts to attack Aachen. I'm afraid these pirates are still entrenched in the Meuse River to digest the results of the battle. .

The city of Aachen is like a fat sheep lying down, its soft belly facing the butcher's knife.

On the other hand, the marching blue fox felt that he had wasted too much time, and he would encounter many obstacles if he continued to attack Aachen along the main road.

The bright lead villages and towns in the intelligence were easily destroyed, the coalition forces looted certain good things, and most importantly, the army correctly discovered the Geul River.

As the intelligence said, based on observing the flow of the river, Blue Fox believes that it will indeed flow into the Maas River. Looking at the width and depth of this river, in theory large armies can use this river for navigation, but the problem is that it is too narrow and can at most accommodate a long ship.

Geul easily provided sufficient fresh water supplies for the Ross coalition forces. The soldiers replenished their drinking water and ate a hot meal overnight with the resources at their fingertips. The cooking utensils that provided food for the slaves in the mines were used by the Ross army on the spot, and the local small grain depots were looted. It can be said that the coalition forces have reserved sufficient physical strength for the final battle the next day.

And a crucial siege vehicle.

The rescued old Dane Eric didn't have a domineering nickname, because he had no time to take care of it, so that his white beard was exaggerated in length.

The shackles and handcuffs were removed, and the old man put on a pair of leather boots and the seized clothes. His physical condition is not bad, and now he tied his beard with a rope, and put on a pair of iron helmets. A pair of spare round shields was given to him, and he took a Nordic hook axe, as if the Danish pirate from thirty years had been resurrected in situ.

At this moment, "White Beard" Eric got a new life, and he pledged his allegiance to the "Boneless Man" Yinvar, who had a bad leg, even though this kid was only twelve years old.

The more useful the person, the more courtesy they should give. Blue Fox doesn't care about Eric's identity at all. This person has provided some information that no one could think of before the war. His value is no less than a pound of gold!

Because, Blue Fox has never heard that Aachen still has a circular moat, and because the moat is drawn from a natural river, it even has to receive the waste water from the hot springs in the city, so that the water in the moat is completely running water, and part of it is running water. The water will eventually be poured into Geul Hanoi. It was because of this Eric who had been to Aachen as a slave and found the characteristics of this city.

This brought a major obstacle to the engineering of the Ross Army, but attacks on trenched urban armies were not unheard of.

Having had successful experience, Blue Fox knows how to break the game.

"If I attack hard, will the tragic battle in Aleb Fortress be repeated? If the projectile of the torsion slingshot directly breaks the iron chain, the suspension bridge will fall down. Wait a minute, in case those chains are thick, the cast iron bullets probably hit If you don’t wear it, or I just cut down some pine trees and build a bridge directly on the ditch, it’s enough for the soldiers to run over and smash the suspension bridge with a big ax.”

After some thinking, Blue Fox still felt that the bridge-building plan was more reliable.

It was a brand new day, and the thick morning fog in the lowlands filled the whole world, and the soldiers who camped found that their clothes became wet again.

Horns and drums sounded loudly, and the sleeping people woke up one after another.

At this moment, the people who woke up early have already boiled a lot of wheat with the captured cooking utensils and the iron pots they brought. The soldiers brought their own wooden bowls and dug a large bowl in their respective camps, and then sprinkled some dried salted fish meat to cool it down slightly. Once you have it, you can feast on it.

This is the last meal before the Great War. No, Blue Fox himself began to lead the team to walk around the elite camp of Ross, shouting as he walked: "Hurry up! Eat quickly! Gather and set off after eating! Tonight we will be in Aachen" overnight."

The last sentence was very powerful, and the morale of the soldiers was greatly boosted.

Soon the army began to assemble. The two flag teams of the Ross Army who finished their meal first, the soldiers licked their bowls after wolfing down, threw them into their backpacks and began to line up.

It was already the last advance, and the main force of the Ross army, who quickly formed a team, took the lead. This forced the rear team, especially a large number of Gotaland fighters and Danish fighters to finish eating hastily, and they didn't care about the whole team, and followed the main force of the Ross army in a mess, for fear that they would dawdle in the gold grabbing operation Slow down.

Walking about nine Roman miles, this is the important information of "White Beard" Eric. The blue fox walks on a very flat road. According to his own experience, it is obvious that the coalition forces can reach Aachen before noon.

It is said that the city is large but lacks an outer city, and many villages outside the city are scattered in the forest, but there are no military barracks near the city.

It is obviously the capital of the new Rome that the Franks call themselves, but there is no large standing army stationed there? This is what Blue Fox feels is extremely ridiculous.

The capital of the Kingdom of Ross is New Roseburg. The main force of the kingdom's naval fleet is stationed in the capital, and a large number of standing troops and citizen soldiers are stationed there. Especially the naval power, which is what the Kingdom of Ross is proud of. The brand new and strongest battleship, the Sea Sovereign, guards the capital.

The king should have such an attitude towards the capital. Isn't it natural to defend the capital with strong military strength? The Franks will pay for their stupidity or arrogance.

Therefore, the Ross coalition forces entered the land of no one in the final battle.

There were no enemy obstacles at all, and there were indeed villages near the Aachen Avenue, but those villages were farther from the road. It is possible to rob them, but it is not necessary. As the end of the heartbeat is getting closer, the soldiers are getting ready to put on their armor.

Until, the army saw the obvious city wall in the distance.

Immediately, the morale of the army was lifted, and the excited soldiers shouted collectively, and now it was not up to the blue fox himself to give the order. The soldiers grabbed the armor on the trolley and put it on as quickly as possible while helping each other.

The blue fox was very pleased with their decisiveness, so they hurriedly called the veteran Grund and the young Askad.

"The main attack is our Rus's! Grund! Your heavy armored army is in charge of the storm, carrying logs to build a wooden bridge, rushing up to destroy the drawbridge. Askad! Your men are waiting to attack with Grund, you All the crossbowmen in your hands help suppress the enemy!"

Both of them patted their chests and said yes, their resolute eyes said that they would win.

After a while, the blue fox called Keerha again: "Take your Finnish archers and those who transport the torsion slingshot. Your task is to cover the siege and suppress the enemy's counterattack on the wall."

For the first time, Kelha was assigned the task like a veteran veteran. He resolutely said that it was the first time in his life that the young man had the opportunity to fight in person. He was no longer a servant of some big man, but took over his father Yevro's position in the traditional Russian army.

At this moment, Blue Fox also realized that he was present as Rurik himself.

All the powers of this military operation itself were bestowed by Rurik himself. "If I don't do well, if I fail. Maybe, I will be deprived of all rights, and even die as an apology. If I win a big victory, it will be a greater honor."

Gathering his mind, he put on his helmet and shook the gorgeous dyed goose feathers on the top of the helmet.

He decided to supervise the battle himself, so he attacked together with the heavily armored berserkers of the first banner team of the standing army.

"Brothers! Let's go!"

He took the lead in walking quickly, and the whole army simply put down all temporarily useless trolleys in the middle of the road, and only pushed the special engineering cart forward with all its strength.

At the same time, Aachen, who had been completely skeptical about the attack on Bright Lead villages and towns all night, on this perhaps normal morning, it was the soldiers standing on the city wall on daily patrol who saw a large crowd suddenly appearing on the road from afar. And that strange flag that flutters.

It can be said that the description of the village mine master who reported the attack was completely questioned by the Bishop of Aachen.

After all, this steward is essentially a slave overseer. According to belief, the pious bishop is full of deep contempt for such people, even if they are a group of criminals, why use extreme means to deal with them? From the bishop's point of view, there is no need to use handcuffs and shackles. You only need to influence them, and these guilty miners can work with peace of mind to atone for their sins.

The bishop thought that this person was lying, probably because of the brutal torture in daily life that caused the death of many slave laborers, so he fabricated a so-called attack to explain that the planned output of lead ingots could not be completed.

Yes, Aachen has been peaceful for so many years, even if it is a noble civil war, Aachen will not be affected.

Sebastian, the captain of the Banner of the Imperial Guard, is more willing to believe the words of the bishop. After all, he is an advisor to the king, and his status is still very light. If he has his own ideas to mobilize the army to do something without authorization, the king will blame him for going alone. Maybe he was fined to be a slave to mine ore.

So in the past night, nothing happened in Aachen.

Until the morning of a new day, a strange armed group appeared.

The guards, who didn't know it, thought it was the army of a certain nobleman who was going to cross the border. Anyway, it's normal for armies from all walks of life to borrow routes over the years. In spring, a large number of cavalry passed through.

The guards were not vigilant, but those troops were approaching quickly, which made people instinctively nervous.

Sebastian, who was sleeping late, was woken up, and the sudden anger of getting up was extinguished by his subordinate's report.

"Is this true? A strange army appeared?! Is what that guy said true?!"

The subordinate patted his chest and said yes, realizing that something had happened, he hurriedly changed his clothes.

Just when he had just put on his armor, put on his armor belt and walked out of his dormitory with a broad-bladed saber in his hand, he heard unusual movements. It was the sound of shouts, horns, and drums.

"It's the South Gate! What's going on at the South Gate?!"

"Maybe? Siege?!" The guard was trembling when he said this.

Indeed, the blue fox who rushed to the city of Aachen led his troops to attack the city very decisively.

The city of Aachen is roughly circular, with a diameter of nearly one Roman mile, or about 1,500 meters. Such a scale is neither too big nor too small in Europe at this time and space.

There are more than 3,000 residents in the city on weekdays. Apart from the garrison and priests, they are just a group of people who serve the former two. There are very few wealthy nobles living in the city. In Aachen, which has no market atmosphere, the people are so focused on their work that the craftsmen in the city will not go out of the city casually, so even the first batch of people who warned the city of Aachen do not exist at least today.

The guards at the gates had no idea that the Norman pirates would come to the city, and they had never even seen the Normans.

As for the blue fox, maybe he can also use some words to directly coax the gate guards into saying "We are all the Frankish army".

He didn't, and he thought at the beginning that the other party recognized what the Norman army was. He was just pleasantly surprised by the fact that this city is not small, so there must be a lot of wealth, and he was also shocked by the fact that the defenders were better than nothing.

The heavy infantry of the Ross army launched an attack immediately, and the crossbowmen first accurately hit the gate guards~www.readwn.com~ and occupied the drawbridge before the opponent could react.

"It went so smoothly, if I knew I would have to bother to build a wooden bridge?" Blue Fox was delighted in his heart. He himself had already passed the suspension bridge with the heavy infantry.

Their speed was too fast. When the gate guards who survived by chance tried to close the heavy wooden gate, they were slammed into the gate by as many as fifty heavy infantry who crossed the suspension bridge first, while hundreds of troops following were still swarming cross the bridge.

On one side were hundreds of strong Nordic men in heavy armor shouting and pushing the door reasonably, while on the other side there were only a dozen defenders blocking the door.

Soon, the last effort of the defenders failed. Grund's heavy infantry rushed through the southern gate of Aachen City, moving faster than anyone imagined, as simple as swallowing a herring in one gulp.

Blue Fox broke the city so quickly that he couldn't imagine it. He even had a vague feeling that this might not be the capital of the Franks.

But following the army into the city, he easily saw the steeple of the cathedral in the city and a large-scale building complex. There are no such luxurious buildings in ordinary cities! This is true of Aachen.