Rise of Rurik

Bishop Hartega of Liege left the city of Liege with all the priests in extreme panic, and also left the Bishop's Cathedral of Liege, which he personally funded and built.

He left through the wooden bridge with all the sacristy, books and most of the cash, followed another Roman road at the fastest speed he could, and arrived at the Limburg barony in the east of the Parish of Liege.

The core area is in a forest, and some scattered farmland has been opened up in the forest, and a large worthless swamp is just east of the forest.

The fiefdom of Baron Limburg is here, but this kind of summer noble who is very close to Aachen, the family strength is not strong, but the status is noble.

Baron Andorf of Limburg has no big ambitions. He is loyal to Lothair, guarding the security of the southern suburbs for the capital of the kingdom, and by the way, doing some daily services for the priests passing through his fiefdom.

There are not many travelers in this era, if there are many priests who come and go for academic exchanges, and a small number of merchant groups. Compared with business, the business situation in the area around Aachen itself is better than nothing.

Aachen exists at the intersection of two Roman avenues, but she is not a commercial city. Merchants who come and go just take advantage of its convenient transportation. Most of the real destinations of those merchants are Cologne.

The road from Aachen to Cologne is called "Cologne Avenue", but it is often called "Hell Road" by businessmen.

After all, this is the road built by Emperor Augustus hundreds of years ago when he sent troops to the north to attack the Teutonic people. Twenty thousand Roman soldiers died in the Teutonic Forest Fort, so this road became the so-called road to death.

Times have changed, and the old barbarians established a brand new empire. This avenue still maintains its highest priority in military significance. The so-called conquest of the north, the Frankish army can also choose to take this road to the north and take a ride at Cologne or Dusseldorf. The boat crossed the broad Rhine.

Roman avenues were always built as straight as possible. They mostly paved roads with stones in Italy. When the empire became too large, roads in remote areas were built more rammed earth roads.

The road from Aachen to Cologne has always been a thoroughfare for hundreds of years, and the whole journey is equivalent to 50 Romani (about 80 kilometers).

For such a journey, a traveler can complete the journey in four days with only one pair of feet under normal conditions.

The Blue Fox has already obtained this traffic information in Cologne, and it is an option to attack Aachen from the direction of Cologne along the "Road to Hell" that has been known for a long time.

For the sake of safety, and considering practical reasons, the coalition forces resolutely chose to penetrate the Maas River to minimize the time wasted on the land march.

To the south of Aachen is the Barony of Limburg, and to the north of Aachen is the County of Jülich.

Count Eberhard of Jülich, the task entrusted to him by King Lothair was to garrison his own fiefdom and organize an army to go into battle when necessary.

Then when the bishop of Liege fled to Limburg, the baron was shocked that the bishop visited his mansion in a very low-key way.

Baron Andorf hurried to meet him, saluted the bishop, and kissed the old and trembling hand of the bishop.

"Papa, you came too suddenly."

Just as he was about to say a few words of greeting, the bishop rushed to speak: "My child, can you give me a place to stay temporarily? I want to sort out my emotions, and... tell you a disaster."

The baron was taken aback, and he hurriedly escorted the bishop to the local monastery, where the carriage was placed in the courtyard, and all the entourage were given food and safety after a long absence.

The baron could see that the bishop was in a hurry, and he listened to the report with his head buzzing, and the news of a thunderbolt made him not know what to do.

"This... this..." He suddenly yelled at the situation in the monastery: "The Normans did all kinds of evil along the Meuse River?! They actually destroyed Maastricht and Liege? Could it be that they will be the next attack me?"

The former is a fact, and the latter is purely the baron's terrifying guess.

This speculation is not unreasonable. After all, the well-informed Bishop of Liege is Lothair's court adviser in another identity. The news revealed by the bishop has to be thought-provoking.

As the so-called Carolingian royal family came from a powerful palace minister, the palace minister was too powerful to overshadow the king, so in order to avoid history from repeating itself, Charlemagne simply did not set up a palace minister. But the king needs some smart and capable nobles to assist the left. The palace minister system is abolished and replaced by the consultant system. The power is shared with some big nobles and archbishops. They are all the king's advisers.

In today's civil war era, advisers had to choose sides, and those advisers who supported Lothair naturally gathered into an organization—the Imperial faction.

The Bishop of Liege did not blame the baron for his gaffe, since his own agitation was contrary to the priesthood.

The bishop spoke in a hoarse voice as if his neck was in chains, and his movements with his hands were exaggerated.

"Norman pirates are killing and robbing, and Maastricht is a **** on earth. Where is the army? If the king's army can destroy them, all disasters will end. But... the Normans are still marching. I told him ( Refers to Lothair) Don't put all the army in the east, now the rear is empty, we are being attacked by the Normans..."

That being said, the Baron felt that the Bishop knew a lot about the Normans.

This is indeed the case, although he did not actually face to face with the Ross coalition forces, he knows a lot about what happened in the north over the years.

In other words, this Khatga can still get some first-hand parchment letters.

It's all because of Archbishop Eskill of the North. This guy who loves to write letters wrote a lot of his knowledge into letters, and then sent a little priest to send them to the Archbishop of Cologne first, and then to the Archbishop of Reims Sink. Mal's hand. After all, the financial supporter behind the missionary work in the north is the archbishop of Reims, Sinkmar, and Eskil gave him the obligation to send letters regularly.

Lance copied these letters again and sent them to the archbishops in other regions, so-called fulfilling the church's obligation to share information.

When a large number of Frankish middle and lower nobles knew little about the Normans, many archbishops' knowledge of the Normans had already reached several levels.

The Bishop of Liege is more willing to call the Normans the Danish pirates in a subtle way. He doesn't understand the emerging Ross people, but he knows the Danes the most. Only these guys can enter the Maas River from the stronghold at the mouth of the Rhine River for a long time, and then Create havoc. It is frightening to think about it carefully. In the past, the Danish pirates only robbed houses in the coastal waters, and they often attacked the country of Flanders. What's going on now, the Danes have never gone deep into the Maas River for large-scale looting, and now they dare.

While fleeing all the way, the bishop desperately thought about the whole story in pain, and his wise mind felt that all this might be a terrible conspiracy.

The more he thought about it, the more he felt that it was all true, and after meeting the nearest military nobleman, Baron Limburg, in this monastery, he snapped out his suggestion: "I'm afraid this is all part of the civil war. I am very I am worried that those Danes will risk attacking Aachen. As far as I know, there are not many defenders in Aachen! If our New Rome is attacked and Charlemagne’s Holy Sepulcher is humiliated, you and I are both sinners. I hope you mobilize the fief immediately All fighters of the Lord, may the Lord give you glory."

War is an opportunity, but it can also lead to annihilation if the war is not done properly.

The baron was caught in a tangle, but he had never seen the trembling eyes of the bishop, that kind of begging attitude seemed to say: "Only you can guard Aachen."

"Then mobilize!" The baron looked at the black wooden cross hanging high in the monastery, and subconsciously crossed his chest. At this moment, he seemed to be a saint.

Suddenly, as if a divine force was in his body, he swore fearlessly: "I swear with all my honor, I will defend my homeland and my faith with my life, even if I sacrifice my life."

The bishop of Liege was very worried that the bishop of Maastricht had been killed. The tragic death of a friend caused him grief and indignation, but the bishop was still clear-headed at the critical moment. The main force of King Lothar is now in Strasbourg. Knowing the inside story, he understands that the king will launch an autumn offensive in order to defeat his most powerful brother Ludwig in Mainz and end the civil war in one fell swoop.

The Flanders who have rebelled in the past year are ready to move, causing the legion that should have been stationed in Aachen to be mobilized to the northwest.

In recent years, the area around Aachen has not been peaceful, and the activities of the Normans have become more and more rampant, and the nobles all know about this. But no one would have imagined that the Normans would be able to kill just one step away from Aachen.

As an advisor to the king, the Bishop of Liege intended to personally warn the military nobles around Aachen, big and small, in a critical moment, and then rushed into Aachen, and cooperated with the Archbishop of Aachen to mobilize the whole city to defend the holy city.

Even if it were a certain possibility, the so-called Norman raids were too content to leave.

It is impossible for him to base the solution to the crisis on the enemy accepting it as soon as it is good. There is even a possibility, why did the Frankish army defend passively? When Aachen has assembled enough militias, led by mostly nobles, it is obvious that they can take the initiative to attack and launch a holy counterattack against the barbarians.

After getting some supplies in Limburg, the Bishop of Liege started to set off again, this time bypassing Aachen temporarily and reaching the Earl of Jülich, because he knew that the military aristocrat had a fresh army in his hand, which was originally intended to serve as a military force. The "tactical reserve" to solve the problem of the Flemish attack is currently the best guard of Aachen.

Before the bishop went to the Earl of Jülich, he first had to arrive at its important border town of Durham.

Durham, Celtic means "gateway". This former Gaul settlement has gone through the entire Roman Empire era, and she was expanded by the Roman emperor as a resting palace.

Charlemagne inherited and further expanded the palace here, becoming the closest royal palace to Aachen.

It's just that as the glory of the emperor dissipated, the glory of the palace gradually dissipated.

Lothair, who claims to be the only Roman emperor, can choose multiple palaces in the empire as his long-term residence. Facts have proved that he prefers to stay in Strasbourg now.

The status of Durham Palace plummeted, but the historic monastery here is extremely important to the Bishop of Liege who is in a hurry.

The carriage quickly advanced along the Roman road extending northwards, and the bishop simply took a few entourages with him, risking being attacked by wild beasts in the forest halfway, and wanted to see Count Jülich himself as soon as possible.

He sponsored in Durham Abbey, had a brief chat with the local priest, stayed overnight, and then went straight to the town of Jülich.

This is completely the core area of ​​Frank, and there is really a village in a few Roman miles near all the Roman roads.

Like flags sprinkled on a chessboard, the Frankish villages, large and small, are quite densely arranged, and the settlements are almost covered by dense forests. The plain of Paris in the land, and a large number of people in the lowland area centered on Aachen. They asked the forest for living space. Obviously, as long as the development continues, this huge Western European forest area will be forcibly transformed into farmland.

For today's people, forest resources are almost inexhaustible.

Dense forests, rolling hills, and large and small rivers running through the woodland.

The farmland is next to these natural rivers and is irrigated with water resources at your fingertips.

A good living environment has raised a large number of rural populations, so that the fiefdom is located due north and due east of Aachen, and there are a large number of residents under the rule of the Earl of Jülich. These people are also the foundation of his military strength.

It can be sealed here precisely because the earl's family is related to Charlie Matt, nicknamed Hammer, so Earl Eberhart is the distant blood relative of King Lothair.

In the dense forest, people's vision is blocked.

The earl is living a daily life that he is all too familiar with, and now his daily job is to supervise the military training of his own soldiers and retinues, to ensure that the militiamen who have been recruited maintain basic training, and to use these human resources conveniently, ordering them to carry axes. Logging in the earl's private forest.

Why not use free manpower? Logging, making it into usable timber, and selling it to farmers, the earl can make a lot of money by doing this.

After all, maintaining an iron cavalry with hundreds of people is very expensive.

The best way to maintain the combat effectiveness of the soldiers is to hunt. The forest near the town of Jülich is often haunted by wild animals. Hunting wolves and foxes is no problem. If you can kill a bear, you can make a fortune.

On this day, when the Earl was resting in the forest camp, his subordinates who came from the city rushed to report the news of the sudden arrival of the Bishop of Liege.

The subordinate who got off his horse knelt down and said something, and also repeated a sentence specially explained by the bishop of Liege: "A powerful Danish barbarian has committed all kinds of evil in the Maas River. They are likely to be harmful to Aachen."

"Danish barbarians?" The earl scratched his beard vigorously and heard it inexplicably. He ordered his subordinates to flatten, and asked again: "I still wonder why Hartega suddenly came to me, so you just tell me about it?"

"It's absolutely true."

"Okay. You go down. It's ridiculous." The earl didn't quite believe the explosive crisis alarm: "Can a small group of pirates scare him half to death? Scared him to come to my fief in person? Or do we have other plans? ?”

Considering that there might be something really big, the earl's good mood for hunting disappeared.

The cavalry blew the assembly horn, and the scattered teams gathered together, and a powerful Frankish heavy cavalry unit assembled and marched back to the town of Jülich.

At this moment, the Bishop of Liege had been waiting here for a long time. He and his followers rested in the big family in the city. They ate bread and drank some wine to dissipate.

The earth is shaking, listen carefully and the neighing of war horses.

The delighted bishop walked out of the gate with a smile. Just outside the church, he saw a mighty heavy cavalry unit standing here majestically.

A well-dressed adult trained the horse skillfully, and the horse drove him out of the formation and went straight to the Bishop of Liege in black.

"Isn't this the Archbishop of Liege! My friend, Hartega, you came to me so suddenly that I was not prepared to welcome you. I am guilty of poor hospitality."

The earl called the bishop by his first name, and Hartega himself didn't care. Both of them were advisors to the king, not to mention that the earl was a distant relative of the king.

He dismounted, and invited the bishop to his mansion to speak in detail of the terrible news.

So until the two talked face to face, the reality forced Earl Eberhard to believe it.

Every fine hair stood upright, with a beard and fur, and the whole person looked like a lion. Eberhard was so surprised that he walked around with his hands behind his back, and said to himself: "What the **** is going on with the Danes? They attacked Maastricht and Liege, and even the local garrisons couldn't eliminate these pirates." It's just a group of pirates who were beaten up by Charlemagne, how did they become so powerful?"

"Maybe it has something to do with the drastic changes in the situation in the north over the years." The bishop who seemed to be sitting calmly was already turbulent inside: "My friend, you should have heard that Ludwig suffered a big defeat in the north, and Cologne got the whole about Westphalia."

"I've heard about it a little bit. However, those nobles have nothing to do with us now. They are only Danes. I remember that they are loyal to Ludwig? Could it be? Wait a minute!"

Seeing that the count realized something, the bishop continued his speculation with a sullen face: "It's an open secret that Ludwig is raising a Danish mercenary army. The occupied Durist is full of Danes. Count Landers is still loyal to Ludwig himself. Maybe he lost the battle in the north, but in the end, those Danes are still loyal to him. And the rebellious Saxons, I don't believe those guys really rebelled now .”

Therefore, the news about the great changes in the political situation north of the Rhine River reached the Middle Kingdom, and the nobles here learned that the news was somewhat distorted.

As the advisor of the Kingdom, the Bishop of Liege, Hartega, has wisdom, summed up some meaningful things in his complicated news, and tried his best to clear up the logic chain on the way of escape.

Of course he has no conclusive evidence, but in line with the principle of "the biggest beneficiary is also the biggest suspect", coupled with the fact that the two sides of the civil war have been torn apart, he drew the cross on his chest and said convincingly: "It is very likely that Luther Vichy's conspiracy is most likely the military adviser he sent to guide the Danes' actions."

The count was trembling all over, "I just don't understand! If this is true, then Ludwig is too crazy! He knows that his grandfather's holy tomb is in the city, so why does he still support the Danes' use of force near Aachen?" ?”

"Maybe this is the fate of being a member of the royal family." The bishop said so far. The struggle for power and wealth of the Carolingian royal family has always been accompanied by terrible **** killings, and he did not want to mention more.

"So, what should I do? Could it be that I gather all the cavalry to go to Liege and annihilate those Danes?" The count asked ~www.readwn.com~ not to be reckless, at least not now. I have arranged for the residents of Liege to flee in all directions. Those Danes can at most run wild in the empty town, and let them loot the property that cannot be taken away, as long as they do not extend their clutches to Aachen. We must first ensure the safety of the city of Aachen, and then attempt to eliminate these invading Danes. "

"So I'm the only defender?"

"I'm afraid, this is your fate." The bishop looked up into the earl's eyes and said solemnly.

The clenched fists were slowly loosened, and the tense body relaxed. The count nodded: "I understand. I will immediately order all the nobles to gather and mobilize the militia as much as possible. Then, what will you do?"

"I will go to Aachen immediately to make peace with the local bishop. I will personally put on armor, lead the militia in Aachen to defend the city, and then take the initiative to attack when the time comes."

"Alright. I will immediately send cavalry to report to the east. I hope the king will know the crisis here as soon as possible." The count finally added.