Rise of Rurik - Chapter 1393

[Chapter 1,492 This is the logistics warehouse of the Ross Expeditionary Force]

“Your Majesty, he is from Russia.”

“Yes! It should be King Rus! Ah, my brother.” Ragnar looked at the mouth of the Rhine River in high spirits.

The Danish army, which had already plundered a lot on the southern coastline of the Kingdom of Wess*x, returned to Rotterstad. Under the leadership of Ragnar, the victorious pirate army decided to spend the winter in this warm place and planned to The looting will continue next year.

Originally, Ragnar was busy plundering the nearest “fat sheep”, and he was cautious about the Russians being so bold that they went deep into the Frankish world to plunder. He had suffered losses in the plundering operation, and he knew that relying only on his own army would not be enough. Weakly being overtaken by the heavy cavalry of the Franks, the brothers will turn into mud under the iron hoof.

At Ross’s shop in Rotterstad and the local Ross military camp, he learned about their raids on the inland Frankish town of Metz during the summer.

If you can’t make a fortune or break the city and loot it, it’s considered a failure!

If the proud warrior could not break the city, there would be no success. Reluctance permeated the Ross military camp.

The soldiers were silently sharpening their swords. It was said that they were the King of Rus who was waiting for his chariot to conquer in person. Under his wise leadership, more Frankish cities were captured and plundered.

Because… after all, they ransacked the Aachen Palace.

However, in the eyes of Baudouin II and Henry Nassau, this group of real Russian troops was too wild, and even distant Metz no longer seemed safe.

Although the area that was attacked belonged to the imperial nobles, it was also part of Frank after all. It was sad that the once powerful empire had fallen like this.

These two people do not have sympathy for the local people of Metz. The Earl of Metz is a big force that strongly supports Lothair, and this force is their own enemy.

The Russians carried out large-scale looting and killing of civilians on the opposing side, which was a satanic act. Although Henry Nassau was not happy about this, he did not make any public statement.

In the past 843 years of the warm period, the Russians and Danes who were entrenched at the mouth of the Rhine, and even the county of Nassau and Coblenz, which was actually controlled by the Russians, had grown into extremely powerful interference forces, like steel pierced into the bones of the empire. knife.

Now, the huge fleet of the Ross Army is here!

Even Henry Nassau, who was temporarily living in Utrecht, stood high and saw the giant ships being towed by many long boats in the estuary area.

“Those warships appeared. These ships fired deadly javelins and defeated Ludwig’s heavy cavalry from a high position… They also defeated my cavalry. Damn it, I live by the sea but I don’t have such big ships.” Henry Nassau complained about himself. After a while, he immediately summoned his own soldiers and followers.

“Prepare your horses and go check out the territory of the Russians!”

Henry Nassau had restored his cavalry force and relied on local wealth to maintain a cavalry force of a hundred men. The strange thing was that most of them were Danes who had converted to God and worked hard with the salary given by Henry.

Today, the Netherlands maintains an infantry and cavalry force of 300 people, which is mainly composed of Danish immigrants who believe in Catholicism, and selects the best from the local Frisian and Brabant tribes.

He suffered great losses in the war, and his current status and wealth were not obtained by himself through the war. If it were not for the mediation and arrangements of King Rus, the Nassau family would not be where it is today – after all, Black Fox Gouldson has nominally married into Nassau. The family is gone.

Facing the King of Ross, Henry Nassau was respectful and awe-inspiring. He led his own horsemen to the Ross army camp quickly, only to find that the King of Denmark and his savages who were good at plundering had already arrived.

However, his eyes were already deeply attracted by those battleships. He raised his head and made a big cross on his chest with his trembling right hand.

“Sir, is this… really the fleet of King Rus? Does he own Noah’s Ark?” A Brabant warrior fell into deep confusion.

Even the Danish soldiers on horseback in the opposing army looked confused when they saw the huge Ross ship.

Although there are legends that the Russians built a lot of ships in their hometown, they thought it was another Avora-class ship, but unexpectedly…

“Noah’s Ark?” Henry Nassau shook his head subconsciously: “Absolutely not, they don’t believe in God. Only Noah knows how to build a floating mountain. Come on, let us walk over slowly, don’t disturb these Normans Wild party.”

Although he was generous, the closer he got to the Russian and Danish troops, the more fearful Henry Nassau became. He led the cavalry to stand like a guard of honor in the wasteland outside the Russian-controlled area of Rotterstad, and they watched quietly. everything.

At this moment, Ragnar had already led some brothers to greet him happily.

The Danish army hoisted their “Raven Flag with a white background” with abstract lines. They also learned war in the war. They saw that the Russian army always prepared a large number of flags and displayed them in battle. Ragnar followed suit, but this guy did not He didn’t know that raising the flags was just an appearance. The essence was that each flag was the flag of a tactical team. He only felt that raising the flags was particularly bluffing. When the Danish army raised the flags like this, the formation was full of flying flags. The “Raven” warriors seem to be watched by Odin all the time. They are not brave and feel happy.

Rotterstad is a large settlement shared by Ross and Denmark. Due to its convenient location, this place is more suitable for the Danes to establish a stronghold. If Ross’s first expeditionary force had not been here, the Ross settlement would have been visually overshadowed by the emergence of the Danes. Villages were flooded.

The main body of Danish immigrants built settlements along the Rotter River and then expanded in all directions. Their architectural style basically inherited the style of their hometown. Because Ragnar was too busy plundering and selling stolen goods to supervise the construction of his own stronghold.

The settlements owned by Danish immigrants spontaneously achieved an order in the chaos. In the eyes of the newly arrived Russian troops, the brothers could easily distinguish which houses were Danish and which were Russian without looking at the flags.

All the buildings in Ross Barracks are arranged in a matrix, and the shop area has thick wooden walls.

Those large wooden pillars were cut down from the upstream area and transported to the river mouth by water. They were installed as masts and deeply inserted into the pre-dug soil pits. With dozens of large wooden pillars as the core, the stronghold wall was built.

At its center is the residence of Governor Red Fox, and the Ross-controlled area of Rotterstad has become a legion fortress.

If the Western Roman Empire was resurrected, standing in Utrecht you might notice a familiar scene by the seaside, but it is a pity that the red and purple colors characteristic of Rome are missing from all the signs of the fortress.

The fat little red fox stood here. He was eagerly looking forward to Rurik’s arrival and was eager to report on his work.

Everyone who was looking forward to Rurik was disappointed. As the fleet area stabilized, people began to land in small boats one after another. People on the shore learned very clear news from the landing brothers: King Rus was not in the fleet.

King Rus is not here?

So, where is King Rus?

Red Fox, Ragnar and others soon welcomed the two big figures who landed. Blue Fox and Goldlund finally arrived at Rotterstad at the mouth of the Rhine River.

“It’s you! Blue Fox, you’re back, where is your king?” Ragna’s eyes were as wide as bells, and he asked with his head.

Because of the intelligence, Blue Fox was not surprised to see Ragnar, but he was still surprised to see this guy at the dock in front of Ross Fortress.

He immediately put on a businessman’s smile: “Friend, I didn’t expect to see you here.”

“Answer my question. Where is your king? Where is my brother Rurik?”

“Yes!” The little fat man asked like a red fox: “Brother, all the soldiers are waiting for news about the king. Why do some people say that the king is not in this fleet?”

“Did you just find out?” Lan Hu glanced at his younger brother.

The little fat man was also honest: “The brother who just logged in said it.”

“That’s good, it seems that our actions are not carried out by the public.” Sighing secretly, Blue Fox saw that there were many important nobles present, and simply pointed out the reality: “King Ross is here! Our king has chosen a brand new path. The huge cavalry is traveling through a forest unknown to all of you, and they may have arrived at their destination, Coblenz, but it seems that our fleet is dragging its feet.”

He spoke as if Blue Fox was the commander of this huge fleet, which was worthy of belief. After all, it was he, Blue Fox, who led the first expedition.

“What a pity.” Ragnar, who was originally in high spirits, lowered his head. When he raised it again, his face was filled with sadness: “I still wanted to catch up with him, but I didn’t expect that he had already gone to another battlefield.”

Blue Fox tapped his chest lightly with his fist and continued to compliment: “Great King of Denmark, maybe you don’t have to worry. I saw that you led a powerful army, and I also learned that you have made great achievements on the island across the sea. Victory. Don’t you want to share the glory with my king? There is obviously a brand new war in front of you. ”

These flattering words were like a fire in the harsh winter. Ragnar felt comfortable after being spoken about. The old boy had completely ignored all the risks of intervening in the Frankish civil war. He could see the blue fox’s intention, and he stamped his feet hard on the spot. Leaving deep footprints: “Done! My Rurik brothers continue the war against the Franks, and I want to help.”

Now, the heavy wooden doors are open to guests from afar, and the troops stationed in the city after more than a year’s absence have finally received reinforcements from their hometown.

Askard, Kelha, Ivar, and the veteran Grund, although they did not wait for King Rus himself, they were amazed to see the huge fleet covering the river mouth and the countless landing warriors.

The Ross Navy’s comprehensive landing operation has begun, first of all thousands of soldiers, and secondly a large amount of supplies.

Based on Rurik’s plan, Rotterstad will serve as the logistics base for the Ross Expeditionary Force in full condition. At the same time, the Counties of Flanders and the Netherlands will continue to provide logistics for Ross.

Everything is basically working towards Rurik’s plan.

The huge iron anchor sank into the mud of the river bottom, and the warships headed by the Sea Monarch seemed to form a new archipelago in the river mouth area.

A large number of vacant longships relied on these warships, and supplies were constantly being moved from the holds.

Even if the north wind has begun to blow, there is a risk of autumn rain. For convenience, the sailors have taken off their shirts and went into battle. When one group of brothers is tired, they will be replaced by the next group. After they have rested, they will be replaced. They just want the supplies and energy to continue to be used. Longship input warehouse.

Because the Ross Shop in Rotterstad has been fortified, the core purpose of its construction is to serve as the largest material distribution center for all Rhine trade. The port area controlled by Ross holds an excellent position and can be regarded as the northern third in this era. It has a good port and is equipped with a huge throughput warehouse.

This system is extremely conducive to business in peacetime, and in wartime it is a unique logistics base for the expeditionary force. Relying on the Russian army’s superior waterway transportation capacity, the expeditionary force fighting inland can have no logistical worries.

Red Fox has been implementing the plan since he was sent here by Rurik. He is quietly expanding the warehouse area, so that the walls of the shop fortress are getting longer and longer, and more and more longhouse-style warehouses with wooden floors are built inside.

Since the king is considering future prospects, Red Fox will continue to build the vacant barn as planned.

Although he had some doubts, he now saw that the landing soldiers were carrying them on their shoulders or carrying them on trolleys. The supplies that had just landed were constantly being transported to the vacant warehouses. The scale of the various supplies was beyond imagination.

When the sky was still bright, the material transport work quietly started. It was already late at night, and even with the guidance of a bonfire on the shore, the transport work was not over.

The entire Rotterstad was lively and illegal for this purpose. As as many as 5,000 people completed the landing, the river mouth area was instantly overcrowded.

Opening a new camp in the wasteland immediately cannot be accomplished overnight, so the soldiers had to suffer hard on the first night of landing.

The existing military barracks had to be crowded with double or even triple the number of soldiers. If the brothers were not all from Ross’s hometown, there would be a lot of quarrels and fights.

As for the warriors from Jotaland, they have joined forces with all their remaining companions. At this point, their situation does not require Blue Fox’s personal attention. Even they have no choice but to camp on the spot guarding their longships.

The bonfire is as bright as the stars, and the flames are swaying under the north wind. The unloaded iron pot is fully cooking the wheat porridge, and the huge settlement is immersed in an intoxicating aroma.

As the local governor, the fat little red fox provided all the troops serving King Rus with a free sumptuous dinner, but only one.

The king might really be able to command 10,000 or more warriors to continue to conquer the Franks. This would be so majestic, but when the army is not fighting, it is frantically consuming the supplies stored in the warehouse every day.

Although the supplies unloaded from the mountain of warships are said to be enough for the entire army to last until next spring, Red Fox is still deeply worried.

Red Fox’s personality is similar to that of his three brothers. There are four boys in the family, each of whom was trained by his deceased father to become a businessman.

The current situation forced Black Fox to focus more on the production of military force and special materials, and also forced Red Fox to become an economic expert and an excellent port dispatching expert.

Because I learned more advanced mathematical knowledge from Rurik in New Roseburg, and coupled with my own situation over the years, all the mathematical knowledge I learned was fully put into practical use.

Although his warehouse management and port dispatching command are completely incomparable with those of the era a thousand years later, they are also the best in Western Europe today.

The scheduling principle that Little Fatty Red Fox adheres to is bookkeeping. He also has enough paper for him to record a large number of documents at low cost, so that the dispatch of materials can be basically smooth.

Now the warehouse area is facing the largest input of materials since its establishment. Individual weapons, heavy weapons, armor, various military rations, clothes, shoes and hats, backpacks, bedding, medicines, and other strange things have to be transported. Warehouse and register immediately.

The arduous work was handed over to his subordinates, and Red Fox urgently promised them a reward. As a result, the scribes who were trained by him, led by professionals sent from Ross, began to work overtime overnight.

Red Fox knows his priorities very well. Based on his understanding of King Ross, when the expeditionary force arrives, the new military operation will not be interrupted by the harsh winter. The battle will begin quickly. At that time, any material consumption of King Ross will need to be controlled by himself. The warehouse will be allocated immediately.

Therefore, for the brothers who work overtime, working so hard that they vomit blood is worth it. Lord Red Fox will not break his promise when he decides to give out a bonus equivalent to two months’ salary. If things don’t go well, he won’t get the money. Driven by profit The eyes of all the scribes under the bonfire seemed to be in charge, supervising the bare-chested people carrying materials, arranging the materials, and writing accurately on the paper.

Each warehouse longhouse has a chief and a deputy in charge. Usually, if there is a problem, they will be fined. Now… because it is related to the success or failure of King Rus’s expedition, they take it for granted that if they really make a mistake, they may be responsible for delaying the war. I apologized with death.

There are rewards for doing well, except that problems may lead to death. They are scaring themselves and are forced to be extremely serious in doing things.

In addition, the large amount of new paper that arrived was put into use immediately, and a small number of scribes who accompanied the army were ordered to assist in the work. The problem of importing materials into Ross’s large logistics warehouse soon became no longer a worry.

Smaller armed cargo ships took turns to dock at the pier, relying on a group of human-powered lever cranes already installed at the pier to quickly unload large amounts of materials using pocket nets.

As the load gradually decreases, the wet waterline of the cargo ship is also revealed. When a cargo ship is truly emptied of its cargo, only the ballast stones at the bottom of the ship are left. Relying on the torch for lighting, the people working at the dock take a deep breath and stare in amazement. The draft of the surface clearly exceeds one stika (approximately one meter).

Most of the armed cargo ships have a full load displacement according to their original design. Most of them are equipped with twenty to thirty tons of various cargos. They are gradually towed away and replaced by another ship after entering the empty ship state.

All human cranes cannot stop, even simple coolies are promised extra bonuses.

They are all employed by Little Fatty Red Fox. Youth is not a problem. He has more advanced knowledge, is promoted by the nobles, and has strong action and execution ability due to his family education. The most important thing is that his local power is completely owned by the King of Ross. Order.

When the king is away, the red fox is a symbol of royal power, just like the Palatine nobles under Charlemagne, enjoying temporary privileges comparable to the royal family.

He knew very well where his power came from. He converted to God on Rurik’s order just to do things easily under the noses of the Franks. Therefore, in theory, Red Fox had religious status, and he did not have time to go to Utrecht or Utrecht in person. We held services at the cathedral in Ghent, but occasionally participated in Catholic festivals and had some conversations with Archbishop Arbery of Utrecht.

He was very disgusted with Arbery calling him “my child”. Due to the situation, Red Fox could only reply “my father”. He thought it was enough if his actions on the scene were justified.

It is also very important to visit Henry Nassau and Baudouin II in peacetime, not to mention… that Count Baudouin II of Flanders has thrown his daughter into the Ross Shop.

This is why when Red Fox changed into a gorgeous outfit and formally invited the nobles who stayed, those who came from afar, and the nobles next door to gather at the governor’s palace in the fortress, he came with a girl who was also gorgeously dressed. .

She was none other than the daughter of Baudouin II, a too-young girl whose Christian name was Mary, UU Reading www.SonicMTL.net and accompanied the red fox as the governor’s wife.

Even though the two have not yet held a formal wedding due to their age, the priests and nobles in the area recognized their relationship.

No one is more urgent than Baudouin in this regard. He most hopes that his daughter will give Red Fox a son as soon as possible. This will not only make the two parties happier in the wool trade, but also rely on blood ties to win over the Ross forces at the mouth of the Rhine. , then the Count of Flanders does not have to worry about the very bellicose and reckless Gilbert who is the land neighbor, Count Ramengau.

I heard that the Russians value family ties very much. If Flanders encounters a border crisis, Red Fox will definitely be able to bring his Norman army to help his father-in-law fight. As a deal, the Norman army will be free to plunder Ramon’s country.

Because the matter is indeed urgent. Count Ramongao is a ruthless person who kidnapped the princess, and young Gilbert was a Paladin who was once favored by Lothair. However, when the boy saw the beauty of the third princess, he started to seize her. Be aware and act quickly.

The young man made a mistake and made an exchange. Gilbert must resolutely defend Lothair and lead troops to fight against all the nobles who supported Ludwig and even the various Norman intervention forces.

This has been a headache for Baudouin for a whole year. In the past, small-scale frictions continued on the southwestern border between the Counties of Flanders and the Counties of Ramon-Gaud (now in the central region of Belgium).

Now noticing the epic arrival of the Magnificent Rus Expeditionary Force, Baudouin, who received the news overnight, was so happy that he had no time to sleep.

He simply broke into the bedroom of his old housekeeper Pepin himself and informed the old guy of such a big event.

Baudouin couldn’t calm down his excitement: “No matter what, I must take the Deerstad tomorrow. I want to have a good talk with the great nobles of Ross!”

[End of This Chapter.]