Rise of Rurik

In front of him were the murderous Ross cavalry, and the senior priest Marquez was trembling and leaving with anger.

"You have captured a lot of innocent villagers, you must release them."

Fisk nodded: "It can be released. But is this your only request?"

"No! You must leave our holy Cologne, stop all killing, and never set foot here. I know you have destroyed many remote monasteries, look at what you have done, and kill everywhere you go, calling you devils No injustice..."

The more Marquez spoke, the more excited he became. Fisker listened attentively to this man's rebuke, which was simply an affirmation of the Ross cavalry.

Fisk had no intention of arguing with this man, and asked, "Are you finished?"

"It's over." So Marquez stopped abruptly, and then gave his ultimatum: "We ask you to leave, release all prisoners, leave our Cologne parish, and do not disturb Frankish territory in the future. To this end, we will Pay a sum of money for you to leave with dignity. Otherwise, you will all be burned when Frank's army arrives."

"Is that so? Are you threatening us?" Fisk noticed the last sentence of his words, took a few steps forward, and faced the poor priest with strong coercion like a giant.

Those who accompanied Márquez were already trembling, and only he tried to remain calm.

So, Fisker drew his sword, the humming sound of the steel sword was really bizarre. He deliberately fiddled with the sword in his hand: "This sword of mine has killed too many Frankish soldiers. I have seen the East Frankish army you mentioned, and they are not strong. I know that your king is in the north with a large army, but unfortunately they will All killed by our troops. Do you... think your Cologne is really safe? You are willing to pay, and we can leave with mercy."

Marquez felt that these Rus cavalry were just bluffing, could the powerful kingdom army really be defeated? Incredible.

On the other hand, if these horse bandits do not leave, it will be difficult to hold the Christmas Mass in Cologne. The current situation is very unfavorable for the Diocese of Cologne. The Archbishop and the True Cross are not in the cathedral, and the people have been panicking for months.

It would be blasphemy if the Masses were forced to be cancelled, and everyone would face worse suffering next year.

The disaster of faith is one aspect. The most serious problem is that this group of horse bandits, who are obviously not afraid of the cold, continue to wreak havoc, and the spring ploughing next year will not be carried out.

Or these horse bandits, their activities are equivalent to cutting off the "road to hell" trade line.

Farmers can't sow seeds, and if they miss their farming work, there will be famine in the fall. Merchants dare not cross the road, and the cotton and linen textile handicraft industry in Cologne will also wither.

The parish will not be able to collect the full 11th tax and will instead spend money to feed the hungry.

Marquez, who is interested in succeeding the archbishop, cannot tolerate such a situation. Poor Cologne is not an invincible soldier.

"You..." Marquez heard the news in horror, "Still attacking Cologne? No! You are lying, our king will not be defeated!"

"Maybe. But no one is stopping us at all. Look at these innocent villagers. Maybe...you are cruel enough to watch us behead them all. Think about it! We only need money now."

Marquez knew they could do it.

"Okay, we'll give you the money. Give you a hundred pounds of silver, and you go away. No... no more wars."

It is a great disgrace for the arrogant high priest to bow down to the barbarian, and Marquez feels that he has made a huge concession, but...

Fisk was sure the Latin description he had heard was accurate, but the amount was too bizarre.

"What did you say? A hundred pounds?" He clucked his ears. "Can you say that again."

"Yes. One hundred pounds. You leave with silver coins and release all the villagers. For the sins you've done in the past, we... let them go."

"Ridiculous. Where's the money?" Fisk snapped.

Marquez hurriedly gave his entourage a wink, only to see the priest holding a huge sackcloth bag taking a few steps forward. He was too scared to stand still, and the heavy cloth bag fell directly to the ground.

The hemp rope at the end of the bundle was unraveled, and the silver coins fell to the ground.

Seeing the shiny silver coins, Fisker's eyes went straight, but when he looked closely, he noticed that some of the coins were black.

"This is the money for you, please leave." Marquez frowned and continued.

"So, you asked us to pick up the dropped money ourselves?"

Marquez was silent for a while.

"Okay. Priest, what's your name, can you really represent Cologne?" Fisk asked again, suppressing his anger.

"I am Marquez, Cardinal of the Archdiocese of Cologne, I will be the next Archbishop, authorized to negotiate with you. Brave barbarian general, you may..."

"I'm Fisk, captain of the cavalry under the Rus Kingdom. Well, my name has been announced, and now you can die without any regrets..."

It happened very suddenly. Fisker kept holding the sword in his hand, and suddenly plunged into Marquez's abdomen deeply, and twisted it a few times from side to side.

The ambitious Márquez, aware of the risks, was only naively overestimating the virtues of his enemies. He was directly assassinated by Fisk before he finished speaking, but the cavalry on standby immediately shot arrows to kill the rest.

In an instant, the first wave of negotiators sent by Cologne was killed, and the guardians and priests standing on the city wall witnessed all this.

"Ah! Shut the city gate to death!" The acting archbishop roared in a panic.

The suspension bridge has not been pulled up, the iron fence of the city gate hole has been lowered, and the heavy wooden gate is closed.

However, Fisk tried to shake off the blood on the sword, and then kicked Marquez to the ground to see if he was dead. Seeing that he was gasping for breath, he ordered his subordinates who dismounted to help the dying body up. Fisk did a performance art and beheaded it in public.

He snarled at the Cologne city wall with the **** reveal.

He shouted again: "Think a hundred pounds of silver will be enough to send us off?! You are insulting the great Odin warriors. Send someone out to negotiate with us! Send someone quickly! Or I'll kill a few every once in a while. captive!"

Fisk was serious, and the soldiers were also dissatisfied with the attitude of the Colonians. The mere hundred pounds of silver coins were left in the past, and people might have withdrawn the money when they got it, but now it makes no sense.

Of course, Fisk's understanding of Cologne comes mainly from the description of King Ragnar of Denmark. It is said that the city has a lot of wealth, and Ragnar can't get a lot of wealth, but the Russ cavalry try their best to get glory.

Fisk kept roaring and filial piety, and the cavalry warriors were showing off their power.

The bound captives were all shivering in the snow, and they were somewhat aware that they were going to die here.

Feeling that the time was almost up, the Ross warriors grabbed ten people from the captives at will. They were all grown men, and they thought they were going to be assassinated, or all the ropes on them would be untied.

This move was seen by the people on the city walls.

Acting Bishop Hildwin saw it clearly: "They killed Marquez the Martyr and then released the captives?!"

I saw the prisoners who had been released from their restraints stood there dumbfounded.

Until the soldier stepped forward, beat the round shield with the hilt of his sword and shouted: "Run! You idiots, you are free."

Only then did the ten prisoners run away.

Unexpectedly, Fisk suddenly whistled, and the cavalry on standby took bows and shot arrows.

Those who had already touched the suspension bridge were suddenly hit from the back. Some fell to the ground and stood still, while others struggled to stand up. Unexpectedly, they were shot in the neck again and died directly on the suspension bridge.

Fisker nodded in satisfaction, the brothers' ability to shoot moving targets has not diminished to this day.

They are clearly hunting, and the horror is that the hunting objects are people.

For a moment, the city head was in an uproar and wailing, and the captives became even more desperate.

Fisk continued to shout: "We want more silver, and you humiliated us with a hundred pounds of silver. This is the result. Hugh, deceive us with the old silver! Quickly send a new representative out of the city! Or I will continue to kill!"

The turmoil of the situation has left Hildwin without a master, and the guardians now fear more than anger, and the closed gate remains motionless.

So, Fisk went on to order the execution of the prisoners.

The poor peasant woman was shivering and weeping, and Fisk reserved his last mercy for such a person. They were blindfolded and then arranged to kneel before being beheaded cleanly.

Death is an instant thing, but a lot of blood red instantly appeared on the white earth.

Many people on the city wall were directly dazed, the people called on the priests to stop the killing, and many senior priests hoped that Hildwin would come up with a solution.

As Hildwin hesitated, the killings continued outside the city.

Finally, when the three captured village priests were also killed by the Ross cavalry, Hildwin could no longer remain silent in his conscience.

"Is there no one to negotiate with me?" Fisk outside the city continued to shout, "Do you want to sit and watch me kill all your villagers? Are you really looking at it cruelly? You are also murderers!"

Fisk knew he was talking strange logic, the priests didn't kill people, but... they chose to stand by and it was political suicide.

Hildwin finally broke the defense under tremendous pressure, he gave it up, and a wooden box was moved to stand on it, showing almost his entire body behind the battlements.

"I am Hildwin, Acting Archbishop of Cologne! Russ! Please stop the killing, I will talk to you in detail!"

"Okay! Come out and negotiate! Don't try to play tricks, otherwise you will only get the body."

After a while, Hildwin showed up with only two entourages holding the cross high.

As soon as they left the city, the city gates closed.

In a tense and suffocating atmosphere, Hildwin stood beside Marquez's headless body and wept secretly for the martyr.

Fisk remained arrogant and said deliberately: "You should understand that if you humiliate us, you will die."

"People are inherently dead, and it would be my honor to die for the sake of faith."

These words are very useful to Fisk, so that the subordinates should not take the bow.

"Since you're willing to die for your faith, it's obvious that your city is full of ungodly people. We believe in different gods, and maybe we can have a battle to decide the outcome. You dare not! So your gods don't help you."

"..." Hildwin didn't want to say more.

"Since you have chosen to be cowardly, I don't bother to force you any more. Pay for it! Give us a huge sum of money, and we will leave."

"You can give money... Since you're not satisfied with a hundred pounds of silver, you can make a price."

Fisk nodded. "Give us five thousand pounds of silver! I know you can get it."

"What? Five thousand pounds?!"

"It must be 5,000 pounds, otherwise all the prisoners here will die. Not only that, but everyone in this area will face our blows every year." Will come in boats, come on horses. Will kill everyone you see, burn all the villages, and organize an army to bring down Cologne, and you will all die."

"You... why do you have such a big hatred with us?" Hildwin stomped his feet in a panic.

"Unless you give us five thousand pounds of silver, and give us some ale and other things. You are not giving us, but giving to the kingdom of Rus. I will not kill you, and you cannot bear the price of refusal."

It seems that there is no room for even bargaining. Hildwin really doesn't want to deal with this mess, but he really can't solve it without the matter in front of him.

The Middle Frankish army was on the southern bank of the Rhine, and they were on guard but did not dare to cross the river into the Diocese of Cologne.

Unless the Diocese of Cologne is willing to give up a great deal of power to allegiance to the Middle Frankish king Lothair. it's out of the question! Lotaire wanted to re-establish a great unification, and the move to cut the vassal detonated a civil war. If the Diocese of Cologne swears allegiance to Lothair, the de facto independent theocratic small state of Cologne will disappear.

Let the priests hand over huge power to the Middle Franks to borrow troops? forget it! It's better to spend money to send these devils away.

"Can I... trust you?" Hildwin suddenly asked.

"As long as you hand over five thousand pounds of silver, we will evacuate. Perhaps our king will announce the end of hostilities against Cologne in the future, and you have bought peace today and in the future."

Hildwin sighed and pleaded cautiously, "We will. The money can be handed over tomorrow, but these innocent people..."

"The captives won't give you money until you get the money! Listen, I'll see silver coins tomorrow, don't imagine we don't know how to count. A hundred pounds for a sack, we want fifty sacks. And give us some horses and wagons, We're going with the money."

"Okay. I'm still willing to ask you to hand over all the children, they are too young."

"No. The only thing you can do is collect the corpse. Oh yes." Fisk flashed a light, "You are the acting bishop, I actually met your bishop, it's called Hudbold?! Me and you What happened to the kingdom's army, I almost killed your archbishop, and the prisoners have told us too many things. To be honest, your kingdom's army has now been defeated, and you Cologne should think about your future..."

Fisk did not know the specific battle situation in the north, and he firmly believed that Ross would win. The fact that the accidental attack on Archbishop Hurdbold, especially his reference to the "giant golden cross placed on the vehicle", convinced Hildwin.

The Winter War was an ill-advised move by King Ludwig, and Hildwin fell into deep despair. He got the extremely harsh withdrawal conditions of the Ross cavalry. After all, Cologne could not afford it. They could not give up their power and wealth in the future, they could only give up their current wealth.

So the returning Hildwin added fuel to the fire, pointing out that the True Cross had been lost and that Archbishop Hadbold had died.

He claimed that these were the words of the Rus, whether it was true or false, and the high priests of Cologne dared not guess any more.

The whole city is full of cowards~www.readwn.com~ Although there are strong-mouthed kings who want to go outside the city to fight the barbarians, if someone really pushes them, they will persuade them.

The door of the vault was opened, and as Ragnar had learned of the legend, the warehouse under Cologne Cathedral did indeed contain an astonishing amount of silver coins.

It is reasonable to store silver in the church. Most of the wealth that the Diocese of Cologne has gathered over the past 300 years has been stored here in the form of precious metals. In fact, wealth has always increased with the 11th tax, crossing tariffs, and ferry taxes.

Now, it's time to spend money on peace!

At night, Acting Bishop Hildwin knelt down in the church and prayed for atonement: "Lord! Forgive our appeasement. For those poor lambs, we are willing to give a lot of wealth in exchange for their safety. This is not a deal with Satan."

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