Rise of Rurik

The joy of the autumn harvest did not come to Mainz, 30,000 troops were waiting in full battle, and the whole city was in a state of slaughter.

Just outside the city, a large number of carriages gathered. Mostly there are two horses and one cart of supplies, and the sacks are neatly piled up, and the period is full of new wheat that has just left.

There was no time to grind flour anymore, and the whole army relied on cooking rice to satisfy their hunger during the battle.

For the vast majority of soldiers, although the attack on Kaiserslautern is for the king, even if they win, they will hardly get any property.

What makes their will to fight not bad? It is the steady supply of large quantities of food, and the crucial salt.

Compared with Lothair, one of Ludwig's strategic advantages is that he firmly controls the Salzburg Salt Mine in Bavaria.

The local archbishop acted as the steward of the salt industry. While providing the king with a steady stream of income from selling salt, he also hoarded a large amount of prepared coarse salt for military use.

What ordinary people eat is coarse salt, and the magazines are not completely removed, and there is a certain bitterness. But salt is salt, and only when you eat enough salt can your body be full of strength.

This is the last day before the departure of the whole army. It is today that the great and generous Duke Ludwig of Bavaria rewards the most ordinary peasant soldiers with the ultimate delicious meal.

The wooden bowl is filled with boiled wheat, nothing more than a handful of salt. This kind of food is seriously short of oil and water, but in this troubled world, in the Mainz area that has been in war for many years, ordinary people can no longer afford bread, and the delivery of salt is rare and expensive.

The economic blockade is also a natural means of combat. Since the entire Mainz Diocese was firmly controlled by Ludwig, Lothar no longer transported materials, especially salt, to this territory that once belonged to him.

At first, Ludwig rushed here as an outsider. To establish his own authority, he deliberately reduced the import of key materials to this place many years ago.

Finally, the Rhineland region, including the entire Diocese of Mainz, became the main battlefield where the two noble princes competed for power.

There are two extremes in the current Lyinland battlefield.

On one side, Ludwig rewarded the whole army before the battle, feeding the horses with salted oats. The soldiers were full of strength, and each soldier also brought a little more dry food—black bread that was hard to a stone.

The bread was hard enough to be eaten with a tomahawk, even if it was very grinding. No, I don’t know if the old bread that was distributed was the old bread baked at the beginning of the year. It is as hard as a stone, so there is no need to worry about spoilage, and ordinary soldiers will bear it. It was smashed into pieces and put in a sackcloth pocket, and the other small pocket was a soldier's little salt bag.

A mouthful of bread crumbs and a lick of salt, such a large-scale behavior feels that the soldiers are voluntary, and this is Ludwig's order to implement it.

After all, did he get some methods from the Ross people to help improve the military, so-called all soldiers prepare some dry food that can be eaten immediately around the clock, so the army does not need to bury the pot for cooking.

"If my army is energetic enough, is sleep necessary? Those ordinary peasants are just peasants, they may not be as brave as those peasant soldiers. At least my men don't need to stop to cook for at least three days, Enough for me to push quickly and take Kaiserslautern."

Ludwig imagined that his army could move as quickly as the Ross people. He didn't want to admit that as long as the speed of those guys came from the superior longship, it must be that those guys didn't even have to cook.

Because, during the captivity, he did see the Ross people who were fishing. It seemed that they didn't even remove the internal organs of the herring, and stuffed the fish into their stomachs with their big mouths with rotten teeth. It was so barbaric and unreasonable.

Instead, you can learn some of their skills, and even use these villains to fight for yourself, so that you can re-enter what those pedantic priests said in the future: convert them into "civilized people" as much as possible.

On the other side is the Lothair Army stationed in Kaiserslautern, mainly the Army of the Earl of Metz and the Army of the Baron Saar who fled here. Due to the cut off of traffic and the continuous destruction of the war, the area has not yet run out of food, but the entire army Food must be saved.

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The days of good weather are very conducive to the autumn harvest, and isn't this a good day for fighting?

Even the Saxon army carried large quantities of dry rations at Ludwig's own request. In fact, he does not need to teach this matter, and Ludoff, Duke of Saxony, who is very familiar with the Ross people, has more thorough reserves.

As long as peace is restored, the Saxons can quickly regain their strength.

When they were on their way, they lined up in four columns, almost all of them were carrying spears of similar length, and the army dressed in black passed by one small town after another. How dare the peasants pay more food?

Since the route of the march was largely in Westphalia, this was the old fiefdom of Liudov.

However, he did not regard the local people as his relatives. In fact, he regarded the Saxons in the north as "cows". He is still smarter than you now, refusing to extort money, but leading people to actively use the opportunity of the civil war to make money by plundering. Everyone has the opportunity to make a fortune, which is why the people support it.

He deliberately took advantage of the ignorance of the facts in ordinary villages, which continued to claim that he was a local earl, and forcibly obtained a batch of grain in the name of collecting tithes.

He did not and felt that it was unnecessary to tell Ludwig about this, but after arriving in Mainz, the Saxon army had already started cooking "big pie teppanyaki".

Compared with the 20,000-strong army that only belonged to Ludwig, and the Saxon army with only 5,000 troops, their ration reserves should not be underestimated.

In Saxony, people made a little money in just one year by cooking sea salt, fishing for dried fish, selling wheat, and other goods such as precious leather and honey. But the overall livelihood of the people is still sluggish, because even ordinary Saxons know that their troubles must be due to lack of military strength. All the local graf counts, such nobles are often similar in strength to the barons in the south. They would rather be hungry and get a lot of weapons. and tools.

Luckily, the Russ are really selling cheap spearheads, axes and hammers in Hamburg.

The selling price of a good spearhead is only six silver coins. According to the requirements of the Ross people, the original selling price plus the transportation fee can be purchased with only sixty pounds of wheat.

The point is that the Rus can easily transport the previous spearhead, but it is more appropriate to call it a spearhead than a spearhead.

First cast iron ingots from pig iron, smashed and decarburized by frying steel, and finally hammered into military thorns with sleeves by craftsmen.

The cost of raw materials is also continuously reduced, and the group of blacksmith workers is growing day by day. In the capital city of Ross, which is suffering from imported inflation, its price has become extremely low.

Even so, there are cheaper ones, which are the spearhead of direct pig iron casting. At least the Russ will never use it as a spear to fight, it is only used for hunting.

Its price is even cheaper. The housekeeper with only two silver coins has already removed moles from the Saxon people. Of course, they are not ignorant fools. Half a century of Saxon wars has made the local people poor. Are they foodies? However, the two-silver spear is cheap because of its unreliable quality, but they have no choice.

If there is a plate armor, the Saxon army no longer holds shields for all members.

Only Liudov and his own soldiers were heavily armed, and the rest of the soldiers didn't even have leather armor. Thanks to the abundance of wild boars and wild deer in forest areas, some warriors simply used lightly leatherized wild boar skin as leather armor, even if it smelled stinky when worn, it was better than being killed easily.

Everyone had a small round shield tied to their left arm. He could only protect the front of the soldiers and drive them away. Most of the neck, crotch, and legs were made of commoner clothes, and the worse ones only had step skirts. If they ran too fast, they would be exposed. Indecent. There are also many barefoot soldiers. After they arrived in Mainz, many of them had been unlucky enough to wear out the soles of their feet. The barefoot people made temporary shoes for themselves with rags, scraps of leather and hemp rope here.

Of course, the Saxon people can spend money to go to Hamburg and the emerging Schleswig to buy oriental moccasins shipped by the Russians. The quality is really good, but the price is enough to buy ten high-quality spearheads.

Liudov gave his all for what seemed to be a decisive battle.

In the Saxon army camp, the spearheads of the soldiers were polished to a bright shine.

They are not afraid of war, and now they are talking and laughing with each other around the bonfire, discussing whether they can change into a good dress and grab a pair of good flip shoes after the invasion of Kaiserslautern.

No one mentioned the matter of dying in battle, and no one worried that they would lose.

After all, the Principality of Saxony won the first battle of the restoration of the country. No matter how much they paid, they did defeat the Frankish army on the frozen Elbe River.

The enemy at that time was the ally now. Even so, many Saxons regained their arrogance. Although their own armaments were simple, they just looked down on the army directly led by Ludwig, mainly composed of Bavarians and residents of the area around Mainz.

So they also looked down on Lothair's army.

In the first two battles of Kaiserslautern, Ludwig and Lothar had victories and losses. Now it is the Duke of Saxony's turn to lead an army almost entirely composed of Saxons.

Perhaps this moment of battle requires the supreme commander in full costume and riding a horse, ostentatiously preaching among the armies.

Ludwig did, but had no desire to swarm the entire army for a public lecture.

He didn't think it was necessary, and besides, the vanguard army in the first battle was not his own.

In fact, in his opinion, a big reason for the chaos in 840 was that he broke their bottom line in the Norman world. Lyudov was originally ordered to fight against the rebellious Danes, but now they have become allies, and he has also signed a humiliating peace treaty with the Danes.

Ludwig hated this generation of Dukes of Saxony. According to his plan, this title was done by himself, and now...

It's hard to say.

Liudov, who was still an earl at that time, had five hundred elite troops, but he had already shown extraordinary military mobilization power. Not to mention the combat effectiveness of the army that this guy has assembled, he can summon 5,000 troops in a short period of time, I am afraid that all the nobles who are loyal to him are the only ones who have the ability to do so.

This was a kind of unexpected joy, which made Ludwig's confidence swell. Besides, if there is still no major progress in the battle this year, it will inevitably mean **** internal friction between the Duke of Saxony and the Earl of Metz. One is a full-fledged and not loyal nobleman, and the other is an enemy with extraordinary strength.

Of course, it would be foolish to say defeat before a battle. Although it was necessary to plan for the worst, Ludwig decided to go to the Saxony barracks to boost their morale in the early morning of the day of departure.

"Perhaps I should lie and say that Kaiserslautern has plenty of gold. These wild folk in the forest must be mad as beasts."

No, the morning fog has not dissipated, wearing a purple robe, a golden crown on his head, and a gem-studded Ross steel sword hanging from a gold silk leather belt. The Three Lions battle flag entered the Sax barracks that had already started to line up in a very high profile.

He was surprised that these troops had already moved in the early morning.

"Are you so eager to get rich? That's fine." He smiled evilly, and ordered his followers to announce the arrival of the king with great fanfare.

The barracks immediately became extremely noisy. Liudov, who hadn't dressed yet, hurried out of the wooden shed. When he saw Ludwig in purple and riding a big horse, he subconsciously saluted based on noble etiquette—half kneeling.

"Get up! You are the Duke, and I allow you to speak directly to me at any time."

"No! Let's look up to you." Liudov didn't take it seriously, and asked again: "Today's expedition, the king came to my camp, do you have something important to say?"

"There is something! Now I still want to see your army! You must know that your people will be the vanguard. If your morale is sluggish, I won't worry about it."

"Don't worry. The Saxon army is already ready, and I will win! Please..."

"How?" Ludwig asked.

"Just as you promised, if our army wins the first battle, all the property in Kaiserslautern will belong to us."

"Yes." Ludwig answered decisively without even thinking about it. This decisiveness is very reassuring. "I am here for this, and I want to reiterate this to your army, and I have some details to tell you."

"What's that detail?"

"Things about more wealth. Go gather your lower nobles, or raise your army! Better... I can see the real face of the Saxon army after the fog clears."

"Let's gather then, I was going to gather and set off."

What else can Ludwig say? It happened that the army was assembled to let him see the majestic military might of the Saxons.

The fog slowly dissipated, and a dark army gradually revealed its true face.

The whole army wears black clothes, and the limited horses are also black horses. The Saxon army often wears a black leather or cloth hat, which is defenseless and only used to keep out the cold and wind, and now it is also for neatness and beauty.

Less than 30% of the soldiers had iron helmets, but their formation stood neatly, and a cold "forest" was extremely dazzling in the sun.

It was the first time that Ludwig saw such a gathering in Saxony. He didn't care when they marched, but what he saw now was clearly a strong black army.

Bad memories that had been buried for two years came back again.

Although he was riding a tall horse, what he felt was not the loyalty of the princes under his command.

He had to think carefully: Saxon is like this, I can still suppress him now, if I die, can my son suppress Saxon?

"I hope this army can take Kaiserslautern and pay a heavy price for it," he thought.

Ludwig was silent for a while, his legs clamped tightly on the horse's belly, proudly flaunting his purple robe, he suddenly grasped the reins tightly and roared in front of the Saxon army.

It seems that this man is the Duke of Saxony! Of course, one of the main reasons for the outbreak of war in the north was that this Ludwig wanted to be the real Duke of Saxony with all the power. His temperament was also the fuse of the Frankish Civil War. The Duke of Alemanni was vacant, and Ludwig decided to take the title. Even if he couldn't get it, he couldn't let his elder brother Lothar get it.

Pairs of blue eyes stared at this mighty monarch, no one thought he was great, even if he was dressed gorgeously.

"Kaiserslautern! That is my palace! My palace has been seized, and all the gold and silver I have left in it have been plundered by the enemy! There are a hundred chests full of gold coins. I give you Saxons to get it Opportunity! Attack Kaiserslautern, you take everything you want! I allow you to loot freely, you only need to return me an empty palace..."

Ludwig continued to repeat these words, but weren't these all discussed in the past? As for the so-called one hundred boxes of silver coins, this is the first time I have heard of it.

People became more and more excited, and Liudov, who was caught in it, was the most excited.

He heard it very clearly, and leaning on the hilt of his sword, he went straight to the monarch on horseback, and asked eagerly, "Are you telling the truth?"

"I'm not going to lie ~www.readwn.com~ unless...the gold and silver were all taken away by the damned Metz people. If that's the case, what do you think?" Ludwig looked sideways, his arrogance undiminished.

"Then let's fight!" Liudolf sighed. He guessed that this was Ludwig's deliberate rhetoric to lure the army. I'm afraid he also said this to the army directly under him.

However, what if there are really those one hundred boxes of silver coins? If the Saxon army wins the war, they can immediately buy countless good things from Ross, and the current decline will disappear.

It is fair to say that the morale of the Saxon army is even stronger. No one is grateful to Ludwig, they just want to make a fortune with their duke.

The Saxon army camp made a lot of noise, but the Ross people stationed by the river could no longer hear it. Because the blue fox, the black fox, Sophia, and even the princess Jisla, who had changed her identity and killed herself from her ancestors, had already left in a long boat.

The sun was shining, and Liudov, who was full of confidence, made a move immediately. Behind him is a dense forest of spears.

His sword was pointed due south: "Saxon! Onward!"