Rise of Rurik - Chapter 741

[Chapter 742 Was Attacked on the Danube River]

Blue Fox and his party finally left Bremen, and they continued to travel upstream on the Weser River.

The wind from the north pierced through the river, and the three boats with their sails lowered finally didn’t have to row retrograde.

Their voyage has an end point, which is the ferry town of Minden on the upper Weser River.

Viscount Minden is a local lord, and the small city has only three hundred residents, but the surrounding villages have a large population.

This is already the inland area of Frank. Long before the rise of the kingdom, Minden was controlled by the Franks. Earlier, it was the northern contact area between the Roman Empire and the Germanic tribes.

Although Minden is in a dense forest, it is close to the three tributaries of the Weser River. Farmers have developed the agriculture here, making this small town and the nearby fief villages rich.

When the ship sailed to this point, the Earl of Hamburg asked Viscount Minden to provide a sum of supplies, including horses and carriages, as his noble status.

Although the tributary that continues along the north-south direction can take advantage of the northern wind to quickly go south to reach Frankfurt, there are only small villages and no large cities in the upper reaches of the tributary.

It was in Minden that a bad late autumn rain not only made the world cold and damp, but the haze almost covered the earth. The oppressive and cold atmosphere made bards and traveling merchants willing to leave.

Viscount Minden is naturally not a vassal of the Earl of Hamburg, so giving some food and beverages is the utmost kindness.

However, the bishop of St. Eskil is very famous in the north, especially in the Saxon region. It is really an honor for the viscount to meet the bishop himself today.

They sheltered from the rain here for five days, and did not resume their journey until the sun returned.

After experiencing the incident in Bremen, Blue Fox had to keep a low profile. He was even more silently recording what he saw and heard, paying attention to the “Franken Inland River Transport Trade Road” he had experienced in the past days, and estimating whether the Ross merchants could trade here. Ross Can the army invade along the river, and if successful, what kind of property can be plundered?

The blue fox paid special attention to the wooden bridge over the Weser River in Minden City.

“It was built very skillfully. The arch is too small. The Ross ship must not pass through it, but the long ship can…”

The three boats are simply left here. They are the property of the Earl of Hamburg. The Earl used this as collateral, rented a carriage with the Viscount, and reassembled the accompanying horses and disassembled carriage parts. A group of people pieced together and sat in four carriages. On the way, along the dirt road stepped on by the people coming and going, along the tributary of the Weser River, go south, and the next stop is Frankfurt.

This is the first field trip of the Principality of Ross to the Frankish Kingdom, and the glory belongs to the blue fox.

Never before had a Swede, a Rus, penetrated so far south.

Countless words used to describe the warmth of Frank’s south, but the blue fox felt the coldness with his own skin.

It is indeed warmer than my hometown in the north, but only warmer.

The two flags of the Earl of Hamburg and Prince Ludwig hung on the carriage. They didn’t need to hide their identities, especially after entering the Duchy of Alemanni.

Because there is only His Royal Highness the Marquis in Frankfurt, the title of Duke of Alemanni is still vacant until now.

The entire region was controlled by Prince Ludwig, and the Count of Hamburg unfurled the banner to prove that he was the prince’s loyal minister.

In the open world, even the Frankish Kingdom with a population of 10 million, in Alemanni and Bavaria, the dense forests here affect the development of villages and even obscure people’s vision.

Almost all the strongholds are built along the river, and there are actually large uninhabited areas in the city and the city.

They were finally discovered by the cavalry patrolling for the Marquis. After confirming their identity, the initial surprise disappeared, and then they sent the distinguished guest to Frankfurt with enthusiasm.

“This… is Frankfurt?” Lan Hu Ang looked at the stone city gate of Gundam and sighed, and there was no lack of murmurs in his heart. The so-called strong attack of the city is not easy to fight.

Charlemagne designated Frankfurt as a kingdom as a center of faith. In the era of his rule, its status was second only to the capital Aachen.

Because Frankfurt is the land of Longxing of the Frankish tribe, and it is the place where the greatest chief in the legend, the mercenary general Frankus in the northern border of the Roman Empire, stationed troops.

The city is so grand, and the stone city walls are wide, strong and tall. Blue Fox claims to have seen it a lot, and looks small like an ant in front of this city.

And the more magnificent is the south, where there is a wall in the sky, and the clear air cannot block the magnificence of the huge mountains.

“What’s that? A towering mountain range?” Blue Fox asked Eskiel.

“Great mountain! The Alps! Across this mountain is Italy, and Rome! The Pope is in Rome.”

Eskil was really moved, and Blue Fox couldn’t understand it. He just felt that this mountain was an insurmountable moat.

In this geographical location, the Danube River runs towards the southeast almost close to the mountains. Even the Frankish nobles do not know where the river will flow.

St. Eskil’s status is naturally lower than that of the Archbishop of Frankfurt. The northern sage made a report on his work, which directly aroused the priest’s nervousness about the affairs in Denmark.

The nobles will deal with secular affairs, and the priests will not be discouraged.

If it is said that the next appointed Eskil is responsible for desperately spreading the faith to the Norman barbarians in the north, the task of the Archbishop of Frankfurt is to spread the gospel to Bohemia and Poland.

Such actions will encounter resistance from the locals to some extent, and countless priests have fought for their faith and honor.

As for the use of force to force the barbarians to believe, this is not allowed, at least they are subjectively unwilling to use force.

Both the Blue Fox and the Earl of Hamburg had to accommodate the old man Eskil so far, and only resumed their march when their festive celebration mass was over.

They stayed in the huge and magnificent Frankish city for ten days.

Blue Fox’s ten days are not just staying in the monastery to eat boring black bread every day. He can visit the city with the local priest, but all actions are low-key. With the previous lessons, he dare not set foot in the key areas of the city.

There are no friends of Earl Robert here, and if Eskil doesn’t help if something happens, he will suffer.

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He purposely went to two markets in the city to observe the business transactions here and observe people’s expressions.

He saw the beggars, and saw the patrolling soldiers driving the beggars away.

There are thieves who are stealing, and there are thieves who are caught by mistake.

He even saw the public hanging in the city square, where the three thieves were hoisted up like salted fish, making their final struggle under the boos of thousands of citizens watching.

Frankfurt is not as grand as her high stone walls, and the world inside the city is indescribably chaotic.

The noble here does not love his people, and the priests only appear on festivals.

The commercial atmosphere in the city is stronger, and the materials traded here are obviously more prosperous than Viking trading points such as Roseburg, Bilka, and Hedeby.

There is no slave trade here, and the trading volume of cloth and pottery is very large, and there are also many expensive wines in the north that are traded at much cheaper prices.

The blue fox is greedy, but unfortunately because he has to pretend to be pious, he can only live with black bread and clean water every day in the foreseeable future.

There is no oil in the stomach, so that he, the fat man who gnawed off the whole leg of lamb, is now so thin that his cheekbones are clearly visible!

Blue Fox is passively losing weight, and the dramatic change in his body can be reflected in the reduction in the size of his clothes.

A first snow fell in Frankfurt. Soldiers on patrol cleared up several frozen corpses early in the morning, and some priests went to mass graves to offer their last prayers to the dead.

At least in the Principality of Ross, this situation should be avoided as much as possible. The prince is not inferior to his subjects who died suddenly in the snow and ice because of poverty.

The priest is full of kindness, but those believers are dying in pain. The Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin did not give alms, and only people will appear as frozen corpses…

“Their beliefs are very hypocritical. Their lords only care about their own self-interest and watch the people die. Those people cannot give the nobles their lives, and Ross has an opportunity.”

Blue Fox kept the horrific things he saw in his heart like no other, and kept silent on the surface.

The horse team arrived in Frankfurt, and before leaving, it became a fleet again.

It turned out that the Normans in Denmark had a commotion, and the war crisis in the northern border of the kingdom forced the Earl of Hamburg to report the news in person, and even the Northern Saint was also in the team.

The Marquis decided that things were very difficult. In order to avoid accidents in the middle of the team, an army of fifty people was ordered to escort the team by boat, in case the Earl of Hamburg and the saints encountered river bandits on the way.

Compared with the new crisis in the north, the duchy of Alemanni, which is legally unowned, has spawned a large number of bandits. The ownership of this place is contested by two princes. It seems that Prince Ludwig has seized power, but in fact Lotai Prince Seoul is also active in covert operations.

Some soldiers seem to be soldiers and act like soldiers, but when they are in a secluded place, they turn into bandits.

Because of their Prince Lothair, the prince could not compete with his younger brother, so he sent people to make trouble in Alemanni to create tension.

As the saying goes, what I can’t get, my brother Charlie can’t get it, and you Ludwig can’t get it.

The fleet formed a long snake formation and floated quietly on the Danube River. It seemed that this couldn’t be more peaceful.

Blue Fox relaxed his vigilance. He had been eating badly for more than two months, and now it was October. When he put on his winter clothes, he realized that he was very thin.

He wanted to eat the meat that Zizimao had, but he could only eat black bread.

He pulled up his burqa and hat, and leaned against the mast of the ship to rest against the growling of his stomach.

Most of the soldiers were drowsy, the afternoon sun made the world warmer, and Robert, Earl of Hamburg, was already snoring comfortably.

The team lost almost all defenses, and suddenly, there were swishing sounds from both sides of the drink.

Some soldiers who fell asleep were shot through the cheek by an arrow, and even hit the artery in the neck.

An injured person fell into the icy Danube River, and the woolen coat to keep out the cold was instantly worth a fortune, and the whole person fell to the bottom of the river.

The count was no longer sleepy, picked up the wooden mandarin shield to protect his body, drew out his steel sword, and called out to his people: “Go! Row quickly!”

They were powerless to fight back. The marquis army who was ordered to guard did not bring a bow at all. The narrow river became a battlefield. No one could determine the true identity of the attackers. They covered them with shields and drove them away. There was a scuffle between the boats and all the boats ended up docking, and while it was ridiculous and crazy, it did.

The so-called Saint Eskil is so frightened that he diapers his pants now. The blue fox is naturally not afraid of this after experiencing war. He picked up a scattered wooden board from the boat to serve as a shield, and only heard a sound, and a cluster of barbed arrows The board has been pierced.

“Ah! It’s a crime! The gangsters actually attacked the priests, and their souls will go to hell.” Eskil trembled as he spoke.

“Forget it! Esquier, it’s important to save your life now.”

“Oh! No, Joseph, I will stand up. I will raise the cross and persuade the bandits to stop attacking.”

“Did I hear wrong? How dare you stand up, stupid! Vardy, hold this old guy down, don’t let him get hurt.”

“What about you?” Vardy asked fearlessly.

“I can only defend myself! Damn, these Frankish soldiers dared to land instead of running for their lives?!” The blue fox hastily pulled out from the rolled up leather blanket the one that was supposed to be a “tribute” to Prince Ludwig. The sword, this is Lanhu’s own saber. Its sword has killed the enemy, which is equivalent to drinking blood. Holding the steel sword, he suddenly has the confidence.

Under normal logic, the drifting fleet should speed up and flee for their lives when they are attacked, but the Frankish soldiers all went in the opposite direction, and even the Earl of Hamburg himself went ashore screaming.

Arrows were still flying randomly on the river, and the archers were very unreasonable, even if they saw priests in black robes still aiming and shooting.

The blue fox hung the sword in his waist, and held the wooden plank in both hands as a cover.

Eskil still couldn’t forget the luggage he put on, and Wadi was not used to it, grabbing the old man’s clothes and pulling him to the shore.

The forest gave cover to the soldiers who abandoned the ship, but chaos broke out in the forest again.

A group of green forest heroes in rough clothes clearly came prepared. When they rushed out of their hiding place aggressively, the Earl of Hamburg, who had experienced many battles, knew that something was wrong.

The earl is the most honorable nobleman here, and also the military chief of the northern border, so he is naturally capable of commanding wars.

“You fools who have lost their heads for the war, the enemy came prepared, and you jumped into the trap by yourself. Now listen to my command, gather together and hold your swords tightly, and everyone is not allowed to run around.”

Most people were willing to listen to the earl. The fifty escort soldiers sent by the Marquis of Frankfurt had already killed many people at the moment of the attack, and several people were killed in the scuffle on the shore.

The count organized about fifty fighters including his cronies, and he was surprised to find that the Ross blue fox, who had become much thinner, had taken off his burqa and was holding a sword in his hand.

“It’s you! Joseph Blue Fox, you are actually a warrior?” The count was taken aback.

“I have no choice.”

“Where are the saints?”

“Eskill is fine, but frightened. Your men have surrounded him for protection.”

A converted priest who became a soldier?

Perhaps this blue fox was also a Norman warrior before.

The earl didn’t think much about it, now that the situation is special, there is one more soldier and one more to take care of him.

The army of the Frankish Kingdom also pursued the barbarian style of fighting. First, they formed a shield wall to attack, and when the enemy was crushed, it was a single-handed battle.

The reason why the Frankish army was strong for a while was the cavalry unit it had. Compared with the cavalry, the role of the infantry is becoming like an extra.

Earl Robert formed a circle in the woods near the shore, and the sword-bearers in rough cloth rushed up screaming.

The two sides began to fight in chaos. Although there was no hatred for each other, and even though they didn’t know the identity of the other party, Earl Robert felt that his life was already in danger, and if he neglected it, he would die in a foreign country.

However, when the battle started, the Earl realized that those guys who looked like armed farmers were actually wearing cowhide armor inlaid with iron pieces under their coarse cloth clothes.

Could it be that the Marquis of Frankfurt attacked?

Can’t!

Most of the guards here are soldiers of the Marquis.

Perhaps the only explanation is that these gangsters are not gangsters, they have a very pure purpose – to kill everyone in the fleet.

Maybe they are those people…

[End of this Chapter]