Rise of Rurik - Chapter 1384

[Chapter 1,483 The Destination of the Journey]

Compared with Nassau in the mountains, Koblenz, with its open environment, is a better place to live.

A young peasant who was captured in his early years has finally become a generation of nobles after years of armed struggle. It is a great blessing for Wadi.

His fiefdom was legally located in Limburg further up the Lahn River. The area was also an open land, but its size was far less comfortable than that of Koblenz.

In terms of macro geography, the Rhine River splits the mountainous area like an axe. Its left bank is the huge Ardennes area, and its right bank is the even bigger Hessen mountainous area.

The Koblenz area is located at the confluence of the Moselle and Rhine rivers. It is a large basin surrounded by mountains. In this environment, small streams make up the land, and sufficient but non-flooding water resources nourish the earth. As long as it is fully developed, The entire basin area is a unique grain growing base.

This basin area centered on the city of Koblenz was so good that it was transferred to the youngest son Charles “the Bald” during the lifetime of Louis the Pious.

It was originally a territory directly under the jurisdiction of Lothair. Due to this situation, Lothair took it back by force.

But now, even Lothair himself is unable to protect himself, and the entire Koblenz region is in the hands of the County of Nassau-Koblenz.

At first, Black Fox and his brothers only occupied the “German Corner” where the city of Koblenz is located. Now, the forces have controlled the entire basin. Villagers have either fled into exile, or stayed to join this emerging Bolan. country.

There are some Roman-era ruins in the area, as well as traces of Celtic activity.

They both became kings and filled the area with Frankish immigrants three hundred years ago.

As the Merovingian army led the way, the settlers followed and occupied the ruined Celtic villages.

In a sense, tragic history is repeating itself!

The conquerors became the conquered, and the Russians who came in long boats suddenly became new vassals. Black Fox and his brothers initially regarded all the villages in the basin as big fat sheep to be plundered, but now they have to be lenient after settling down. means of governance.

Because for most warriors, it is too dangerous to settle in the newly conquered Saar River area because it is too dangerous to stick to the enemy forces. It is better to stay in the Koblenz Basin area to find good land as their own small knightly territory.

Almost none of the hundreds of knights in the Great Feud had land. To this day, they still have to fight with swords to gain wealth, instead of sitting on the heads of their subjects to exploit wealth.

What’s worse is that although we have the name of knight, we don’t even own war horses. Our lives are much better than when we first arrived two years ago, but are far from meeting everyone’s expectations.

On the contrary, all the knights have wives through various means. Almost all of them are local villagers. Whether the marriage is voluntary or not, the marriage is recognized by the local priests. As the children are born, they can only acquiesce to this reality.

But marrying a Norman from afar is not a hardship. These blond strangers always bring back plundered property. Compared with her past life as a village girl, her current life is indeed rich, at least for herself and her children. There is no need to worry about eating at all.

No, the Nassau Army did something big again this summer!

A fleet set out at the beginning of spring and rushed upstream along the Moselle River.

There is clear intelligence that Count Metz has been strangled by the coalition forces of Ludwig and his Duke of Saxony and the Marquis of Thuringia in the Battle of Kaiserslautern.

This incident was not only the death of Count Metz himself, but also the loss of the elite of the city of Metz.

The expeditionary force was not able to break through the stone-walled city of Metz, but many villages in the surrounding areas were looted, the belongings of several monasteries that lacked protection were evacuated, and finally even the buildings were burned down.

The Nassau army always flies the Ross flag and still adheres to the northern style in dressing up. Therefore, in the eyes of the locals, they are the legendary Norman pirates who commit crimes.

His father died in battle, and the earl’s son took over the earl’s position in times of crisis. He had no available soldiers, so he locked the city gates and used the turtle tactic. Then he stood on the high wall and watched the Viking longships passing by the city gate in a majestic manner. Then I looked at the thick smoke rising from the distant village and was heartbroken.

At that time, because Count Metz had just gathered a large army, he spent a lot of money to support the Roman Emperor Lothair.

No matter whether Count Adalbert was alive or dead, it was impossible for him to quickly return reinforcements when the Nassau army sneak attack occurred.

Black Fox took his brothers and walked away with the looted materials with almost no loss. They suddenly became fatter, and objectively, they no longer needed to levy taxes on the newly conquered villages in Koblenz. .

The Frankish Civil War gave people like Black Fox the opportunity to make a fortune. Currently, war dividends alone can meet the living needs of the soldiers in the country.

Black Fox Gui started out as a businessman. He was made Baron of Wiesbaden by Ludwig. In fact, he did not have complete control over the local area, so he entrusted the power of tax collection to the bishop of Wiesbaden and asked him to wait until the bishop was present. While collecting the church tithe, he also conveniently collected his share of the lord’s tithe, and didn’t bother to care about other matters.

The basic base of Black Fox and its brothers has always been in the Lahn Valley and the Koblenz Basin area across the Rhine River. It is really powerless to control it in further areas.

Just like the entire Saar River Basin, Ludwig recognized the area as the new fiefdom of the County of Nassau-Koblenz. More than a year had passed since the large-scale invasion and plunder, and the black fox no longer visited the area. Another incident occurred there. What everyone knows nothing about.

In the valley of Nassau, a corner of the country can grow grapes and produce wine immediately. Even if the wine slurry is basically fermented, the extremely sweet taste is enough to offset the lack of richness of the wine. As long as it is assembled and transported to the Ross mainland in autumn and winter, you can make a profit. Quite abundant.

In the past, the amount of grapes planted in this area was too limited, and only a few people could afford wine. Therefore, even if there was good wine, it could not be bought at a high price. If it was stored for a long time, it would become sour and smelly and had to be thrown away.

The growing demand for wine in the Kingdom of Ross has given the locals of Nassau and Coblenz a unique opportunity to earn wealth. It has also objectively stimulated local industries such as barrel hooping, nailing, oak plank processing, and shipbuilding and repair.

When Coblenz was no longer the front line of the war, all the villagers who fled into Nassau’s Lahn Valley on a large scale returned in 842. The subsequent war had nothing to do with them. The five thousand people living in the “German Corner” The lives of the huge number of people remain the same.

But in some ways life has changed permanently.

Now, the Ross flag is planted on the bank of the Wade River, and Wadi is ordered to lead a group of brothers to wait here for the army of King Ross.

“Boss, look over there!” A soldier shouted excitedly. All the people who walked out of the house after hearing the news followed the direction of the finger and saw a steady stream of cavalry appearing.

“It’s them! Unbelievable, it’s our cavalry!”

Having known that King Rus was back, Wadi was still trembling with excitement. He suppressed his trembling mouth and told his brothers: “It’s time to welcome King Rus. Put on our clothes and let the king know clearly that we are friendly forces.”

At this moment, a small wooden bridge was built across the small Wade River.

Even when the river reaches the intersection with the Rhine River, its width remains about forty meters even in the wet season, but now it is only less than thirty meters.

Deep pine wood piles were driven into the center of the river. The trunks of the felled tall red pine trees could almost cover the entire bridge deck. They were pulled over one after another. After the bark was removed, the bridge deck was laid, so that people on the bridge could move freely. If you move around, barges with their masts removed can pass under the bridge, and even long boats with their masts can still pass smoothly.

Wadi and more than 20 men did not wear armor. They were wrapped in thick gray-brown reindeer skins, and then put on white robes with blue patterns sewn on them. They were secured with armed belts and hung Ross steel swords on their waists. between……

All the performances were just like those of ordinary Russian infantrymen, and Rurik could understand everything from a distance.

“Haha, I saw it all! It turns out they are Black Fox’s people, our people.”

“I almost had some misunderstandings.” Fisk laughed and said, “I thought our infantry flag team had also arrived.”

“It’s definitely the Black Fox’s army. That guy is pretty good. He claimed to be Ludwig’s vassal in the letter. Now he only needs to wear such clothes to prove that he still cares about us.”

“It doesn’t matter to me. He was forced to surrender to Ludwig. In his heart, he is still the king’s man. It was you who entrusted him with this important mission. Now everything is under your control.” Fisk complimented.

This compliment was a statement of fact. What Rurik didn’t expect was that Black Fox had gone so far. No matter how far he looked, he was not the city of Koblenz. A soldier wearing a Ross costume was standing here. He could only say that he was an expatriate. The guys have taken on new identities and conquered a large territory in the Frankish hinterland during this time of great war.

There is a river ahead. Does the whole army still have to wade across the river?

The settlement with the Ross flag flying is also equipped with obvious bridge facilities, and the pillars at the head of the bridge are obvious.

Rurik noticed this keenly and thought that Black Fox had a very thoughtful idea.

Rurik was so arrogant that he was at the head of the team. He was in a very good mood today. As the distance got closer, he gradually saw the faces of the greeters clearly.

Seeing this, Wadi urgently ordered his subordinates to kneel down.

So at the end of the bridge, a kind of warrior in white robes knelt on one knee. They waited with their heads raised until the horse’s hoof stepped on their father.

“Warrior! Raise your heads.” A loud male voice came.

Wadi looked up suddenly and immediately saw the young face leaping on the horse.

“King Ross! Your Majesty!”

It was a somewhat unfamiliar face, and he seemed to have seen it before.

Rurik leaned forward with great interest: “Do you recognize me? You… look familiar.”

“It’s normal for the noble king not to recognize a little person like me. I’m Wadi, and I joined the king as early as seven years ago. At that time, I was working as an errand at Ross Shop in Hedeby.”

When Rurik mentioned this, he suddenly realized, “Ah, I think of you. Wadi! You are Wadi. That slave Wadi. But… you are now a noble.”

Wadi couldn’t hide his joy: “This is a gift from the king, giving us poor brothers a chance to rise.”

“Are they all them?” Rurik glanced at the people kneeling on one knee: “I have learned about you in the letter. You have done a good job! Maybe you have done some good things this year, and now you are all Get up!”

“As commanded.”

It wasn’t until he gave the order that the soldiers in front of him stood up. Apparently they still understood who was the real king.

Rurik asked again: “This is not Coblenz. I heard that it is a huge settlement. What is the name of your place?”

“It’s the Wade River dock. I’m here to greet the king on the order of Lord Black Fox. Lord Black Fox is already in Coblenz, and he is waiting for the king to go…” Vardy was so anxious that he told all about his mission. , and even pointed out a suitable temporary camping site for the army-Landstein.

It sounded like everything was arranged by the black fox, but the little fat man didn’t come by himself, which made Rurik somewhat annoyed.

He was overall satisfied with Black Fox’s arrangement, and now he was pretending to be harsh: “Maybe Black Fox himself should come to see me instead of sending you here.”

“This… maybe this place is too desolate, and it feels inappropriate for him to see you here.”

“Really?” Rurik shrugged: “Maybe that kid wants me to take a good look at Koblenz, which he occupied. Whatever!” His eyes looked forward: “Anyway, Deutsche Corner, here I come .”

The bridge is not narrow and is large enough for the whole army to pass quickly.

Rurik was very satisfied with Black Fox’s considerate measures on the road issue. Now Wadi began to officially perform his mission. As a leader, he led the main force of the Russian army from afar to the end of the journey and took advantage of the situation to answer questions for the king.

Rurik could not ignore the village not far away. Now he learned that it was called Battendorf. In addition, he also learned about the Wallendaal Monastery hidden in the woods that he was going to pass, as well as three nearby small villages.

The entire army continued along the meadows on the right bank of the Rhine. The Ross Army had not been able to see the city of Koblenz before. Just because the twisted river channel formed the bay area, it could be developed into excellent riverside farmland, but now it is covered by a large area of forest. Covered by the dense pine forest, it was obvious that the Wade River was very close to the city of Coblenz, and the entire army had to leave this last river bend to see the clues of the big city.

Wadi’s brothers happily rowed the longboat as guidance, and he himself rarely got to ride on a spare horse to go with Rurik. Therefore, Rurik had learned many details of the matter before officially meeting the black fox.

Especially after learning the big news that just this past summer, they made a huge fortune by sneak attack on Metz.

However, Rurik is also very concerned about this year’s material transportation and learned of this situation.

Vardi spoke eloquently: “Rhine River shipping is very beneficial to me now. In August, the fleet transporting wine rushed down the river at the end of the flood season, and the brothers escorting supplies had already arrived in Rotterstad. , our merchant ships must be on their way to New Roseburg now.”

At their speed, the wine ship must have arrived at the mouth of the Rhine before early September. Red Fox and his guys must have stocked up on other supplies locally. In the end, all the goods were moved to armed cargo ships and headed straight for the Denmark Strait. And go.

Think about what your army was doing at that time?

Maybe the navy can meet them halfway.

“Maybe this year’s supply transportation operation is not a good thing. If the Black Fox and Red Fox leave all supplies to supply my army, the logistics will be further filled, which will be a major benefit for possible military operations this winter and next year’s operations. Forget it, Forget it. It’s good for national confidence that the treasures from Nassau can be transported to the capital smoothly during a large-scale war. For the future, I also need such stable trade.”

Around the last bend, it is said that Wallendaal Monastery is hidden in the nearby forest.

The river beach here is full of mud. It has obvious traces of large-scale human activities, so that the grass has been trampled to death, leaving only black mud that can be seen everywhere, and lines that are obviously gnawed out by the keels of long boats when they washed up the beach. groove.

The most eye-catching one is Koblenz in the German Corner.

Every pair of eyes were attracted to the abrupt hills on the other side of the river. In the large flat area under the mountains, there were row upon row of houses.

“I see it! What a Coblenz, it’s a big city.”

Seeing the king’s excitement, Wadi introduced with great interest: “There are more than 5,000 villagers in the place you see alone, and they all now belong to the county of Nassau-Coblenz. Now, they will all obey your command. .”

“Oh? Are there really so many people? Did that guy from Black Fox count them?”

“It’s true statistics.” Vardy continued: “Added to other controlled villages, as well as local residents of Nassau. There are also those Danish brothers who came from the lower reaches to settle in the new country. Our country is really There are 10,000 people. UU Reading www.SonicMTL.net ”

Compared to the tens of millions of people in the Frank Empire, ten thousand people was really a small number.

Although the number of people is small, they are highly concentrated. If something big happens, the black fox who controls this place can mobilize quickly.

Ten thousand residents is just the current situation. As long as it continues to develop peacefully, it is not impossible for it to expand into a country of 100,000 people in twenty years.

If it reaches a scale of 100,000, it is no longer a small force!

Based on Rurik’s estimation, he believed that this area could support such a population with its current technological level.

It has a promising future, and at least the resources in this region will be able to support a huge Ross garrison.

The priests of Wallendal were forced to admit the reality. They were all controlled by a powerful Norman force named Nassau Ross, and maybe soon the entire Engelsgau area would be controlled by them.

While trembling, the priests learned that the army was passing through, and the villagers left the village to seek shelter in the mountains and forests.

All disasters have not happened, and the big city of Koblenz is in sight. Rurik continues to move towards the fishing village of Landstein at the confluence of the Lahn River and the Rhine River, just because the open land under the hills has been developed and protected in the past. Since it could house thousands of refugees during the war, it is now more than enough to house the Ross cavalry.

The afternoon sun should have made people lazy, but the Ross army was all in a state of excitement. It was said that Landstein was just an open land, but it seemed to contain huge treasures that lured the soldiers who came here to the expedition to be extremely excited.

Rurik was also infected by this excitement, and he shouted: “Brothers! Our journey has been completed successfully! We have created a myth, and all of you are heroes when we arrive at the Landstein camp.”

His shouts intensified the excitement, the Russian army put on a gorgeous guard of honor, and the cavalry began to run wildly to express their happiness.

[End of This Chapter.]