Rise of Rurik

Enough gold and silver sacristy had been seized from the cathedral to fill a longship, a staggering amount.

Most of the sacred artifacts were still handed over to the blue fox. Of course, these sacred artifacts that should have been "luxuriant" have become bare. He knew that the Franks used the sacred objects in the church, such as a cross, which must have growths of various sizes, and a large number of small parts were dug away by the soldiers and became scattered silver and gold ingots.

Even so, the trophies he got were huge in scale and priceless.

For example, in the case of Cologne Cathedral or other churches, due to the relative lack of pure gold in the local area, the casting and forging of the holy vessel was carried out, or the gold-plated (gilt) process was used to coat the bronze with a layer of gold and silver, or the bronze with lead was used. alloy. Unlike these north, the cathedrals in the Frankish hinterland were more financially powerful. As a holy place for hundreds of years, Maastricht has accumulated enough wealth for the locals to cast holy objects in pure gold.

Are they really willing to obediently hand over the sacred artifacts they have snatched?

No, they turned it in and didn't turn it in completely.

The war has just begun, and more treasures can be grabbed when the army invades Aachen!

Putting the pure gold and silver in the corners of the holy vessel into the pocket, and handing over the large parts, is an explanation to himself and to the king.

Relatively speaking, Rurik, who is far away in Fort New Rose, also earned a large amount of war dividends while lying down.

As many as fifty wooden boxes were brought up from the cellar, most of them with bronze locks, but fortunately the keys were also found.

Blue Fox imagined that all the boxes contained gold coins, but the result made him a little regretful.

There are indeed a lot of silver coins, as many as 30 boxes are full of silver coins, as for the fineness, it is really uneven, and even has archaeological value. It's just that the quality is uneven, and there are some boxes here that contain pure copper coins.

For the Kingdom of Ross in the era of hard work, how much is a mere copper coin worth? Melt copper coins and add lead to cast them into bronze arrow clusters, and then make them into hunting arrows, which is probably its destination.

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There are many boxes, but there are no gold coins in them. Blue Fox inevitably suspects that the gold coins have been looted by the soldiers.

He did not investigate strictly. After all, most of this part of the army was directly loyal to the king. As for his vassal troops, all those Gotaland soldiers looted in the outer city.

The huge city was completely occupied. At one time, there were 100,000 people in the city, but all the residents had disappeared. Nearly 5,000 people were killed in the city, and most of them had fled. This is not because the army was benevolent at the last moment. It was just that the sky was getting dark and everyone was busy looting. Facing the overwhelming number of fugitives, no one chased and killed the fleeing cowards with the gold and silver at their fingertips.

More than 80,000 residents fled Maastricht by their own means. They fled in all directions, which naturally caused a chain of panic in the surrounding villages, but the panic really became out of control and spread to the territory of Flanders. It takes time.

Only Frank's elite troops have efficient response and mobilization capabilities, and the nobles, large and small, lack this ability. What's more, the attacked Maastricht Diocese is demilitarized. When the Holy City collapses, it means Everything in the whole area fell apart.

After cleaning the battlefield in the north of the city and completing the looting contentedly, Gorm and other Yotalan nobles brought their subordinates to spend the night in the city.

They ate fine wine, jam, and bread cubes from the local people, and took away the clothes and leather shoes that were urgently needed in the north. They are not picky, and even take off the curtains and take them for themselves.

Here, when all the Yotaland nobles reported to their lord, the commander Lanhu himself, it was only known that the Lord gave an order to rest for three days.

The so-called three days of rest is equivalent to three days of free looting, and it is even more equivalent to the so-called "three days without sealing the sword".

This is a necessary means to maintain morale. Considering that the people in the city have fled, Blue Fox no longer has to bear the title of "butcher" in Rihe. After all, he is not a natural military aristocrat, and he is not willing to take the initiative to do any meaningless killings.

Whether the killing is meaningful or not depends entirely on his personal cognitive concepts. Archbishop Gregory is a hot potato that must be disposed of. If other Frankish nobles are captured, they will also be executed after asking for some information.

His only regret is that his subordinates acted too quickly. Although there are a small group of prisoners now, can he still get any valuable news from the frightened woman after being tortured?

During the three days of free looting, accompanied by a huge bang, the only bridge connecting the two sides of the Maas River in the city collapsed.

The timber of the bridge deck was artificially pulled into the river, the wooden piers were pulled down, and the stone piers left over from Roman times were destroyed as much as possible.

The docks of the city were destroyed after the valuable loot was loaded, and the captured local ships were obviously incapable of navigating, and some small wooden boats were intentionally scuttled.

The army did a very thorough job. The so-called beware of the enemy's reinforcements suddenly killed and made the evacuation in a hurry.

The Ross Army, the Finnish Army, the Danish Army, and the Gotaland Army in the coalition did not camp in the city on the left bank of the river, even though there are inexhaustible **** houses in the urban area. They set up a new camp in a large open field on the right bank of the Maas River. They would rather spend some time cleaning up the bushes and weeds than sleep in a bad place.

Until the third day it started to rain...

The rain lasted for four days. Faced with the bad situation, Blue Fox, who was unwilling to stay on the left bank, had to invite the army that had already camped on the right bank to the left bank and live directly in the inexhaustible houses to avoid the rain.

They were the ones who ran to the right bank on a large scale, and they were the ones who ran back.

Bjorn was dazzled by the actions of the Ross people. For these Dukes of Mälaren, when he deliberately ignored the Blue Fox's order to "camp on the right bank", he was declaring that he had a new idea with his actions.

The clever blue fox can also realize that, after all, he is the man who once served as the king of Sweden.

After the clear sky, there was enough rain for the soldiers to rest and for the nobles to think about what to do next.

It was too easy to take down Maastricht, but a rain that lasted for four days directly offset the speed of winning the city. According to the battle plan, to capture the city and destroy the bridge, the next step is to go to Liege upstream to capture the local town and tear down the local bridge.

The dead bodies in the north of the city are left unattended, and the churches and monasteries in the inner city are still in chaos.

Seven days have passed, and the area inside the stone wall has begun to emit a bad smell. Since the Ross army moved to the right bank as a whole, Bjorn led his Swedish army into the inner city. They came in with a mentality of picking up leaks, and when they saw the messy scene, they withdrew out angrily.

Bjorn still insisted on dominating the granary in the city. He was looking forward to the blue fox's gold in exchange for food, but after hearing the rain, the Ross people still had no idea about the granary, and seemed to suddenly not care about it.

Finally, the envoy of Ross in a blue-striped white robe approached the Swedish camp.

The messenger knelt down on one knee to Bjorn, Duke of Mellaren, as a courtesy to the abdicated king, which made Bjorn feel very good.

"Get up, Messenger. Let me hear what Blue Fox has to say, here I...have the baby he needs."

"It's food." The envoy who stood up changed his face again: "Boss said, you can control the granary. Now our army is not short of food, and I will take it in your hands when it is really expensive."

"Huh?! He didn't want to exchange the gold for some? You Ross people stole almost all the gold. It's really unreasonable..."

Bjorn got angry at an envoy, and the envoy tried his best to be neither humble nor overbearing: "Then, please go to the pier tonight for a while, the Duke. The boss will discuss with the nobles what to do next."

"You came to me just to say this?"

"Exactly. The words have been conveyed, and I am leaving."

After all, the old soldier from the standing army turned around and left, and Bjorn was not angry about it.

"My lord, isn't this too arrogant?! Watch me catch him back and bend his legs." The guard whispered in Bjorn's ear, deliberately pretending to be eager to try.

"No. That's not the **** of that fellow Blue Fox. It's Rurik's elite, that's why he's arrogant."

"Just watch him humiliate us Mellaren?!"

"It's not a humiliation. I serve Rurik, not the blue fox from this merchant family." Bjorn shrugged. "I have my own arrangements. I'll go talk to them tonight."

The rain really delayed the speed of the coalition's advance, and Blue Fox didn't want to delay any longer. This was the first day after the rain, and he gave the elite troops the order to fight again.

At first, he asked the First Banner Team of the Standing Army and the Young Seventh Banner Team, such Ross Army to play. However, other nobles reacted strongly, so they had to turn into an all-out mobilization.

Anyway, the bridge has been destroyed, even if it is still difficult for large armed cargo ships to pass, all obstacles to the navigation of long ships have completely disappeared.

The Ross army, which has robbed a lot of money, is eager to make a fortune. Other nobles complain that the Ross army has robbed too much, and they need to be taken care of in the new battle.

This requires a meeting to unite all the nobles. Of course, the blue fox has noticed Duke Mellaren's idea of ​​independent action. What is going on with Bjorn? Will he continue to attack Liege and attack Aachen?

He had a premonition that maybe Bjorn had already had the idea of ​​quitting as soon as it was good.

After all, the "rich landowner" overlords the huge granary of the city, a big landowner's old problem is probably committed.

In the evening, Bjorn arrived late, and this delay has somewhat proved his attitude.

Then it wasn't just Lan Hu who he neglected, but all the nobles.

Of course he is also high-spirited. As the saying goes, "I had a secret meeting with Rurik, I took the initiative to hand over power to him, and my title is the highest among the coalition forces."

He was completely correct in thinking this way, and the facts were basically the same, but the Swedish Mellaren army at hand was only 500 people, and other nobles could buy kung fu to sell his face.

No, he came with his entourage arrogantly. This arrogance really made Ross's young people uncomfortable.

"What's the air, you haven't acted with us these few days." Keerha and the little guy Didu.

"I think he can't forget that he was once the king of Sweden." Askad felt that he had seen everything clearly.

Yin Var pursed his lips and shook his head: "He still misses the throne, didn't he give it up by himself?"

"Who would be willing to let go of his power." Askad deliberately teased the little brother with a leg problem: "You will definitely not let go of power when you become the king of Denmark in the future."

"That's natural. If anyone makes fun of my disability, I'll kill him."

Yin Waer is not talking nonsense, ever since he learned that the Duchess of Ostara is also a powerful "Valkyrie" with weak legs, he has become extremely confident. Of course, he met Carlota when he was studying in Novgorod, and seeing is believing, he has the motivation to forge ahead.

This expedition is an extremely important opportunity for him. The Danish soldiers under him are not many, and the situation has changed further. Those Danish fishermen who sailed freely learned that there was Ragnar's son in the coalition army, so they came to vote one after another. These Danish fishermen followed and robbed some property from the rebellious army. They were afraid that they would be caught by the black and needed a new identity, so they turned into Yinvar's soldiers.

His military strength has almost expanded to 400 people, not to mention how organized this group is, whether they can fight tough battles independently, but fortunately, the military strength is enough to be gratifying.

After all, in the traditional concept of the Viking world, three or four hundred warriors under a chief is already incredible.

Now, the main force of the army is on the right bank again, which is an open space suitable for the army to gather and start a new journey.

Blue Fox set up an open-air barbecue banquet on the destroyed pier and broken bridge on the left bank. The nobles gathered around the campfire, waiting for the roasted sheep to mature slowly.

Bjorn didn't intend to eat mutton this time, and he himself caught a lot. It's not uncommon for him to eat lamb chops in the camp in the city.

"Here you are! Come on, find a place to sit down."

Blue Fox put on a businessman's smile, thinking that it's really arrogant to spy on this guy.

Bjorn sat down and asked knowingly: "So, what are we gathering here tonight? I saw the army on the other side of the river gathering again, and now we are going to attack Aachen?"

"Of course not. Duke Mellaren, you know it very well."

"What?!" Bjorn scratched his beard deliberately.

"Attack Liege, destroy the local bridge and then attack Aachen."

"Liege? An unfamiliar name. Attacking there seems to have nothing to do with us Mälaren."

"You?! It doesn't matter how." Blue Fox suppressed the fire, and kept the young people calm with his eyes. You said: "We are the coalition forces, we want to join forces. I invite you this time to tell you that the coalition forces will launch tomorrow, and we need a huge force to attack the next day."

"Really? But..." Bjorn continued to pinch his beard with a look of indifference, "It was easy to capture Maastricht, and less than ten people were killed on our side, so the Ross elite must have suffered no losses. The Franks are too weak, their main force is not here, you only need to send a hundred men to attack Liege, so why bother?"

"Oh?" Blue Fox narrowed his eyes, he thought for a while and deliberately asked: "In this case, your Mellaren army is dispatched, and the victory of the next day will belong to you."

"I dare not. Naturally, such an honor must be exclusively enjoyed by the Ross army, and then they invaded Aachen. It is said that there is a gold mountain there, and all the gold is of course exclusively enjoyed by the Ross army..." This sentence has a strong sense of yin and yang. .

In a sense, Bjorn is not good at disguising. The more he talked, the more excited he was, and he finally spoke his mind: "Let's do the attack, and the gold and silver belong to you. It's like attacking this city, if it wasn't for our Mera The Lun people restrained their main force in the north of the city, how did you Ross people break into the inner city so easily? When it came time to loot, you took the gold, what did we get..."

Bjorn was already glaring. Although Blue Fox felt a little bit sorry, anyway, the other party already had such an attitude, so he didn't need to show weakness.

"But you got the granary. This is a rich place. If you occupy the granary, you also get a huge amount of wealth, and we can only continue to eat the stored grain."

"But food is not gold." Bjorn shook his head.

"What are you going to do?"

"It can be a business. Give me silver coins and gold coins, and I will give you food."

"That's all?" The blue fox was amused, and the other nobles were also amused when they saw this.

Everyone's laughter made Bjorn even more embarrassed. He felt that he was as boring as a clown, and even had the idea of ​​retreating on his own initiative. Of course, he could not retreat now. He coughed and asked, "Is there any need to talk?"

"Yes." Blue Fox cheered up: "The last question is to attack Liege tomorrow, will you go or not?"

"Liege? You and I both know the information. There is a fortress and a Frankish garrison there. Could it be that we should attack first this time? Can you guarantee that we will get all the gold and silver?"

"I can't guarantee it. It's just that as a coalition force, we should all march."

"No." This time, Bjorn stood up: "This Duke was personally invited by King Rurik to join the battle. If Rurik himself is here~www.readwn.com~ I will implement his request, but You! Blue Fox Gouldsson." Bjorn's big hand pointed directly at Blue Fox's nose, and the scene suddenly became very ugly: "You take someone to fight Liege yourself! The Duke will stay here to digest the victory fruit."

Blue Fox looked serious: "Don't you... plan to participate in the attack on Aachen?"

"I won't go. I'll stay here. There will be many cellars dug in the city, and gold and silver will be found. Rurik is fine, but you, I don't trust you. Let's go."

Forget it, Bjorn walked away holding on to the hilt of his sword, and his entourage followed suit.

The scene was suddenly very embarrassing...

"He left, I really don't take you seriously, hehe." Grund tilted his head and asked the blue fox jokingly.

"It doesn't matter. If we plunder the gold and silver and don't distribute them to him, even a nobleman will be angry." Suddenly, Lanhu realized that what he said was wrong, and hurriedly glanced at the nobles in Yotaland in front of him, and said as if to make amends: " You were treated badly in Maastricht, but when you arrive in Liege, the looted gold and silver will surely be divided among you.”