Rise of Rurik

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Just through the letters sent by Tour's messengers and hearing his description of Tour's current situation, it is still impossible to judge what is happening in Tour.

"Bald" Charlie is young, energetic and resentful. He has his own ideas, even if some of them are not on the table.

I want to send a trustworthy person to Tours and Shannon. As the little king of Aquitaine, I will send such an imperial envoy to bring investigation materials and come back to report on my work.

During his exile, Charles had only a few followers around him, and those who could stick to him were loyal ministers who had stood the test of time.

There are people here from Italy, Burgundy, and even small nobles who once followed their mother and then turned to follow themselves. They made the same choice, and without exception were forced to cut themselves off from their past status and wealth.

Just like Lothair deprived Charles of his Coblenz fief, as the king of the Franks, he issued a decree to cancel all noble fiefs and titles that supported Charles.

At that time, Lothair inherited the main power of Louis "the Pious" and reduced the vassal to fully grasp the power to trigger this war. Years of war have continuously worn away the emperor's power, and Lothair has now become the "King of Strasbourg".

Charlie, who had been suppressed to the point of being almost useless, suddenly became the spokesperson of the southern nobles, even though Charlie still does not have his own direct territory.

But this will not prevent Charles from enfeoffing those who are loyal to him.

According to the late king's decree to divide the empire in 817, the family of the second son Pepin inherited Aquitaine.

As early as 839, the southern nobles worked together to expel Pepin's family, and Lothair had to transfer his nephew to Provence. The southern aristocrats in Aquitaine, Toulouse and other places were unable to reshape the aristocratic republic based on reality. They needed a royal relative to be their king. This person could not be strong, so "bald" Charles, who looked like a lost dog, was invited to be the little king. .

"Bald" comes from the collective ridicule of the imperial nobles. Because he is an illegal little king elected by the southern nobles, he is only a king in name, but there is no crown on his head!

Charles' power could not be recognized by Lothair. The way to solve this problem was very simple - defeat Lothair and force him to make peace, or kill him and replace him yourself.

The twenty-one-year-old Charles also disdained his third brother Ludwig. That man was more than twenty years older than him. He seemed to have no great ambitions, because the emperor wanted to take back the power of the Grand Duke of Bavaria. This Only then did he force him to rebel. Charlie already knew that Ludwig suffered heavy losses in the northern battle. That man continued to organize troops to participate in the war after losing his troops, probably just to keep his Bavarian fiefdom.

Does his third brother have lofty goals? Charlie didn't know and didn't bother to know.

The young man is now eyeing the hometown of the Franks, a large area from Aachen to Metz. As long as he captures it, he will become the well-deserved king of the Franks. At that point, he can define his own legitimacy!

What do the small group of exiled nobles who follow him want?

The picture is of future prosperity and wealth.

The war will definitely have an outcome that is unfavorable to Lothair. The territory directly under the jurisdiction of the "Roman Emperor" will at least be greatly reduced, and the large amount of empty unclaimed land will be divided up by the victors. Charles would eat a big piece of cake, and the smaller cake would be divided among the nobles loyal to him.

Charles's promise of enfeoffment seemed very cheap, but once he obtained a large area of ​​Frankish fiefdoms, which were the noble fiefdoms assigned by the empire in the past, he could greatly reward the heroes of Conglong.

Once upon a time, Pepin II inherited the title of the little king of Aquitaine from his father. Not only was he unable to make such a promise, he instead obeyed the request of his uncle the emperor to weaken the power of the lower nobles of Aquitaine. For a time, everyone was in danger. Forced a group of nobles to rebel. "Bald" Charlie appears without any embarrassment. This young man's cheap promises at least prove that he is "somewhat sensible."

He aroused the greed of the nobles. Now it is not only a matter of maintaining the current power, but also using this war to eat away at the large amount of power that was once controlled by the pure-blood Franks. Why not be more proactive?

Including Bernard, Count of Poitiers.

Bernard's brother Emenon became an outlier in Aquitaine because he supported Pepin II. He was forced to go into exile with Pepin II. The vacant title of Poitiers was passed to his brother Bernard. Hold on—even if this man would never have received the title.

Bernard would not thank Charlie for getting the title. It was a cooperative relationship where each of them got what they needed.

Charles made the promise of breaking the earth and granting titles to those who were loyal to him, especially his old cronies who followed him. Therefore, he must recognize Bernard's status to set an example to the nobles.

He intends to use Paris as his future residence, which requires the current Earl of Paris and his followers to physically disappear. The large amount of land vacated needs new owners. The wealthy Paris plain area is very suitable for agriculture. It is a fragrant piece of cake that attracts many people. Covet.

The cronies who gave up everything and followed Charles were given the thumbs up, or at least made barons.

A cavalry team of fifty was formed as a surprise, led by Ariubert, Charles' old confidant. This man was from Alsace.

The Alsace region in the Rhine Valley was originally given to the young "Bald" Charles by Louis the Pious in 829. Now Alsace is not only occupied by Lothair, but Ludwig leads his Bavarian army into it. Once inside, the wealthy and populous Rhine Valley became the main battlefield of the Civil War.

Charles once had territories directly under his jurisdiction. Coblenz, the Palatinate, and Alsace were nominally his, but now they are all lost. Some nobles loyal to Charles were forced into exile, hoping that their future masters would grant them back their lost fiefdoms.

Aribert's family is a baron in Alsace. Now a baron who has lost his territory and army, if he were not a close associate of Charles, he would be worse than a knight.

Aliobert only had more than 20 soldiers left in his hands, and Count Poitier provided more than 20 cavalry to help Charles gather enough of this "armed messenger cavalry team."

The weather is getting colder and colder, and the sky is always gray, as if a snowfall is brewing.

In the rough and mottled stone square in the city of Poitiers, the cavalry was gathering.

Charles personally handed an embroidered flag into the hands of Aribert, who dismounted and knelt down to thank him for the help, but just looked at the pattern of the flag.

"Is this...the emperor's battle flag?"

"Yes, you should think of me when you see the Lion's War Flag. Ario, I want you to go to Shannon first to meet the Norman King of Mercia. Don't worry about your lack of title. Bring the war flag. If that guy knows his stuff, then I will be respectful to you." Charlie looked down.

"I obey. But..."

"If that man is dismissive, it means he is not our friend. Go ahead! Try to record what you see and hear, and act quickly while it is not snowing."

"As you command." Ariobote stood up and folded the finely embroidered lion war flag and put it away.

He mounted his horse in silver-plated stirrups, bowed his head in greeting to his little king, then turned his horse's head and ordered loudly: "Cavalry! Let's go!"

As a result, the cavalry soldiers left Poitiers with their spears and headed north along the Avenue of Aquitaine.

Whether heading to Tours or Shannon, the team must pass the important Roman stone bridge over the River Avina.

The Romans were very particular about building bridges. They deliberately laid foundations in areas with gentle water flow and made a large number of stone arches, so that the flow of the river would not be affected and the stability of the bridge would be ensured.

It is precisely because the river water becomes soothing in this place that after the river channel infiltrates an area, river sand continues to accumulate in the center of the river.

That’s the best river sand for cement! However, the local people have long lost the technology of making Roman cement.

The arch bridge made use of cement mortar technology and hard granite excavated on site, allowing the stone bridge to remain standing for more than 500 years, while the sandbar in the river became larger.

No one until Bruno's Saxon army established a hunter's camp and bridgehead next to the bridge, taking advantage of the location of the sandbank shoal, and put the small dock into use immediately after it was built. It happened to be the dry season in winter, so the construction work was very rapid.

In fact, this area of ​​bridges and sandbanks has a history of

Remains of the settlement. Digging river sand on the sandbar can yield some pottery fragments from the old era.

The bridge and sandbank are the natural eastern boundary of the Shannon area. It has no name now, and it only had a name in another plane in the tenth century AD.

In another dimension, the small nobles of West Frank moved here and built a small castle on the sandbank. They were born in the Bouchardais family, and the castle was called Bouchard Sandbank Castle.

This man was very smart. He established a castle stronghold on the north-south transportation line, asked for bridge taxes from business travelers, and gave some food supplies to passing priests to gain favor. His family naturally developed rapidly.

Therefore, the head of Bouchard, which had developed into a barony during the Hundred Years' War, participated in the Battle of Agincourt. He also fell from his horse in the mud after the heavy rain, and was smashed to pieces by the English army's iron awl, armor and skull...

The villagers of Sologne-Fontaine set up wooden stakes on the river beach and sandbar and hung up ropes to dry fish and meat. Because a large number of bonfires were lit, the yellow beach became black and gray.

The entire camp seemed in chaos, and the air was filled with a burning smell.

It seemed that the weather was getting worse. Bruno, who had been a hunter for a while with his men, was very worried about rain or snow and had to hunt and fish as much as possible before the snowfall.

Today, a small number of people remained in the camp. Bruno and his large army were busy carrying and dragging back the birds and beasts they had shot.

But... just through the gap in the forest, the scene ahead was shocking.

"Damn it! An enemy?"

"Sir, our camp has been occupied by those cavalry. What should we do?"

Bruno's ears were full of voices asking for war, especially the hunters who were the most angry. One person thought about what he had experienced in the past, suppressed his inner anger, and estimated: "Sir, maybe these cavalry treat our camp... as forest wanderers."

"Don't they regard us as gangsters?" Bruno must be furious.

"Sir, what should I do?"

"Whatever! Soldiers!" Bruno looked around, "Fortunately, we have more people now. Now put down the capture, bring the bows and arrows, and follow my command."

Bruno has long been trained to be brave and good at fighting, and as the next generation of Duke of Saxony, his inner sense of glory makes him unable to tolerate other armed forces overstepping his own.

Even now there are only more than fifty brothers left.

Bruno noticed that the horsemen were dismounting one after another, and there were corpses lying on the sand, obviously those of his murdered men, while the armed men were calmly cutting up their prey and directly eating the dried fish hanging on the rope.

Thinking that it was now a period of civil war, he had also heard that the Burgundians were about to make a move. Maybe the revenge of the imperial nobles had already begun, and this strange cavalry team was the enemy.

At least, the cavalry's actions really weakened Bruno's strength. If he didn't retaliate immediately, he wouldn't be like a man.

The Saxon soldiers, led by their eldest son Bruno, each turned into an archer. They wandered in the forest and gradually reached the edge of the forest while the light was dim in the evening.

"They are not wearing armor. They are asking for death. Brothers, just like hunting..." Bruno gave another order.

As a result, arrows were set up one after another, and more than fifty people were not discovered. They aimed at the target in groups of three or four.

Bruno himself nocked an arrow: "Ready! Shoot!"

Suddenly there was a whooshing sound all around. Ariubert and his men, who were sitting down to eat the captured meat, completely relaxed their vigilance. The sudden arrow hit them by surprise.

An arrow whizzed past him, almost hitting his arm.

Ariobert stood up and shouted: "It's an enemy attack! The gangsters are coming!"

He quickly drew his sword and found his horse immediately.

Many soldiers were hit by arrows, and the cavalrymen who had taken off their chain mail armor only had linen and leather coats to protect them from the cold. Because it was a relatively close shot, the bone arrow cluster penetrated the clothes and penetrated the flesh. However, this was not the standard armor-piercing arrow issued by the Russian army. The arrow cluster penetrated the flesh, and the soldier was struck for a moment.

Unable to pull out the arrow, he tried hard to find his horse with the arrow stuck in his body.

Some people who were hit by arrows rolled on the ground several times, staggered up and ran for their lives frantically.

At least the wounded soldiers could still move. Several of Bruno's men left in the camp were directly killed by these cavalry.

Those who were killed in confusion participated in the siege of Orleans. They planned to fight again next year, but they died inexplicably.

Bruno knew that he had no advantage in numbers unless he took the opportunity to launch a surprise attack.

"Shield wall! Let's go! Hunter, keep shooting!"

After a rain of arrows, Bruno noticed that nearly twenty of the soldiers sitting on the ground munching meat had been hit by arrows. It seemed that no enemy was killed at first, but once they were hit by arrows, their strength would be greatly reduced in the subsequent battles.

On the other side, Aribert, who had been attacked by a surprise attack, had no time to complain, nor did he have time to put on his chainmail. Only a few people put their iron helmets on their heads.

All those who mounted their horses retreated to the stone bridge. They still don’t understand why the stone bridge is paved with wood, why there is a camp at the end of the bridge, and why there is a wooden pole and a strange flag hanging on it~www.readwn.com~The men who can’t keep up are temporarily unable to control it, Alio Burt gathered a dozen cavalrymen, who gathered on the bridge to block the retreat of his other men.

He raised his broad-bladed sword high and shouted: "That's it! Soldier! Draw your sword and prepare to fight!"

Because at this moment, an armed team walked out of the forest.

Bucklers formed a wall, followed by soldiers wearing chain mail and iron helmets.

The hunters realized that the enemy was on alert and that there was little use in continuing to shoot arrows, so they took up their hunting spears and hid behind Bruno's trusted veteran, intending to fight with their spears to assist their companions.

Bruno didn't care too much. The enemy stayed on the stone bridge, which made it impossible for the cavalry to deploy, and many horses were still tied to some wooden stakes in the camp. It seemed that the enemy was running away so fast that they could not untie the reins.

"Warriors, rush to the bridge! Kill these enemies and avenge our slain brothers!"

Soon after, Saxon warriors holding round shields occupied the bridge. Their Frankish swords and hook axes were placed on the shields. Spears came out of the gaps. If you look closely, the spearheads seemed to be wet with blood.

They shouted slogans collectively and moved forward step by step. Judging from this posture, they were actively seeking a fight.

But Aribert, who came from the south, was not here to fight an unnecessary fight. When he calmed down, he gradually realized that things were too strange - what kind of gangsters were so powerfully armed?

Are they really forest bandits?

Anyway, Aribert will not retreat. As a baron who has lost his land, thanks to the trust of Lord Charles, if it is known that he fled without fighting, then don't think about the bright future of his family.

"Hold still!" He continued to order, his eyes wide open and his sword pointing straight ahead, constantly comparing the progress of the shield wall, and yelling with all his strength: "Forest bandits, today is the day you die!"

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