Rise of Rurik

Wigraf actually knew that there were chasing troops behind him. The defeat of his Mercia army was not because of his incompetence, but because the enemies on the big ships were too strong!

Is that the Vikings? They are allied with Northumbria!

A full-scale war seemed to be imminent. He fled with the remnants of the army all the way. However, the morale of the soldiers who lost too many supplies was also bad, and the road to escape was slow.

When he was about to arrive at the Birmingham barracks, he sent messengers to rule several key lords, and ordered them to organize an army to arrive at Birmingham immediately.

The king's hand letter that the messenger received was quite extreme, that is, the lord who had obtained the letter was required to use no means by any means, and must come up with an unlimited number of troops.

Why?

Wigraf's original words were crisp and outrageous: "The kings of Northumbria betrayed their faith, and they cooperated with the barbarians, which is equivalent to making a deal with the devil, and they intend to kill all Mercians."

There were not many horses, and the messenger rode wildly.

The Shrewsbury nobles were the first to receive the king's request for help. Although the earl thought it was strange, he had never seen the king so anxious, so he began to organize troops.

The messenger continued to deliver the message, heading for Worcester and Oxford...

Wigraf, the noble army that is too far away, can't count on it for the time being. His weary division finally arrived at the Birmingham barracks, and finally got valuable supplies.

Only when he arrived here and fled all the way, Wigraf had time to calm down.

He asked the remaining soldiers: "How is Tamworth heading now? What about Nottingham?"

However, the few defenders who have been tossed by the heavy rain recently have no desire to go out to explore the way.

Wigraf couldn't ask why, thinking that he was fast enough to escape in the rain, and that his enemies were also facing the same predicament.

Before he went to sleep, he ordered his subordinates to arrest all men over the age of twelve in the nearby village, ordered them to perform military service immediately and bring their own food to Birmingham to report.

However, the next day, when the exhausted defeated army had just stumbled to sleep in the king's barracks for the night, and their energy had not recovered, an army hurriedly came in the fog.

The soldiers remained alert, and upon discovering that it was the army of the Earl of Leicester,

Alertness counts as contact.

Hearing that reinforcements have arrived, this is undoubtedly good news after the rain has passed!

Wigraf happily received the Earl of Leicester and praised him enthusiastically in person: "It seems that you have received my letter, and you are indeed the great loyal minister of the kingdom."

The Earl of Leicester pulled his face down, and even his beard was bleak.

The Earl couldn't hide his grief and anger, and then he burst into tears: "Your Majesty! Tamworth, already..."

"What did you say?"

"Tamworth has been surrounded by an army! The capital is in danger! Many people are fleeing."

"You... are you kidding?" Wigraf's face turned pale in an instant, and he smirked for a long time.

"Indeed, I swear to God. My army is powerless to defeat them, and I am looking for yours. It is great that you are not in Tamworth, Your Majesty."

"Okay? My prince! My canary!" Wigraf stomped his feet angrily, and he almost fainted.

But reason prevailed, and he did not believe that the Northumbrians were moving so fast. Wait a minute, what if that's a Viking?

Shouldn't it be! Nor should the Vikings be so fast.

Wigraf believed that there were enemies standing under the walls of the capital, and Tamworth should have said that something had happened, and it should not have been fatal.

He asked casually, "How many soldiers have you brought?"

"Three hundred people."

"Why so much? Not enough."

"Your Majesty, my strength is very weak."

Wigraf shook his head, feeling that the Earl of Leicester was feigning weakness.

"It doesn't matter. Three hundred people are not too few. I have to wait for two more days. When the Earl of Shrewsbury brings his soldiers, we will join forces to go to Tamworth."

Wigraf has so far been optimistic. He trusted his prince Bottwoolf to be able to guard the city, and he was eager to let Mary, the little slave who played the role of a daughter, kneel beside him in a single shirt and sing a ditty.

The so-called Queen Mary is indeed not Wigraf's daughter, but the product of the queen's adultery. Wigraf and the queen were purely political marriages, and the two gave birth to Bottwoolf to complete the task. As for his success as king in the future, in order to avoid the scandal, he forgave his wife who became queen, but the anger was difficult to heal, and this anger was vented on poor Mary. Not to mention, she has grown into a beautiful maid, an interesting canary.

Poor Mary, if Wigraf were to die, the true identity secret would be lost forever in history with the death of all who knew it.

Birmingham Barracks is not far from Tamworth, which is the barracks on the left bank of the Tame River, and the capital on the right bank.

A scout went straight to Tamworth, and they saw a shocking scene from a distance. They traveled all night with very bad information, and they were about to inform the king, so angry that King Wigraf drew his sword.

"Are you lying to me? Damn crow, I'm going to kill you!"

The scout cried on his knees, clutching his heart and swore to God that he had not lied.

"Maybe what they said is true." Earl Leicester said with trembling, "I took in the refugees and saw the barbarians attacking the city."

"What else did you see?" Wigraf asked the scout to calm his anger a little.

"I saw a lot of enemies, a lot of big ships."

Another scout said: "I saw the flags on those big ships. They look like our flags. Those enemies clearly attacked us in Dole Village..."

"Is it a Viking? Damn it!" Wigraf was furious with deep fear. He never dreamed that a large number of barbarian flags could fly on the walls of his capital, which would be a shame for the queen to commit adultery.

The war with Northumbria is no longer the main contradiction. In the worst case, this is the case. If your capital is destroyed, isn't your wealth and royal power shaken?

Do not! Prince! Has he died in battle?

Wigraf was eager to lead his troops to retake Tamworth, for the humiliation was worse than surrendering to Wessex.

At the lowest point in life, an army appeared like an angel descending!

It was the Earl of Shrewsbury and his army of more than six hundred people! It was a veteran of many years of fighting against the Welsh Old Britons in the western part of the kingdom.

Indeed, the soldiers of the Earl of Shrewsbury were well equipped, and many Mercians called them well-trained, only inferior to Wigraf's elite soldiers. So naturally there is a saying that the so-called Earl of Shrewsbury family can compete for the throne of Mercia at the right time as long as there is a reason.

However, when the earl learned of the disaster in the capital, more than half of his arrogance had dissipated.

Wigraf couldn't care less, he used a tough method to recruit more than 500 people in several nearby villages.

All the reinforcements, headquarters troops, barracks defenders, and farmers were added together, and an army of nearly 4,000 troops was born!

With so many men gathered together, the spears erected like a dense forest.

Although the spearheads are rusted, there are still some sharpened wooden poles and wooden pitchforks, and even threshing flails and mowing scythes.

Weapons are varied, but such a force has reshaped Wigraf's self-confidence.

Standing on a high ground in the barracks, he held back his anger and gave orders to the assembled crowd.

"The Northumbrians have betrayed their faith! They made a pact with the devil who came across the sea!"

"The nasty enemy attacked our army and is now attacking our Tamworth!"

"Mercians! I order you to take up arms! This is not a fight for me! The most ordinary peasants, now you are the sergeants of the kingdom. You shall fight for your wives and your children, for wealth and glory."

"Don't think that these wars have nothing to do with you! The Northumbrian army who signed a contract with the devil, they are already monsters! They will eat everything that moves, turn grass and trees into yellow, and turn cattle and sheep into bones. They will also take your souls, and if you don't defeat them, we will all go to hell!"

Wigraf said a lot, and cursed and threatened a lot.

The assembled army was very frightened, and because of the fear, the morale was very strangely improved.

Mercia's territory is naturally larger than Northumbria, and its population is larger than the former. If Wigraf is given enough time, he can indeed bring out 10,000 soldiers, which is almost equal to "astronomical" troops in this era. armies to fight any attackers.

What he is doing now is almost a gamble with his kingship.

Yeah, what else is there to lose? A king who has lost Tamworth, if he renounces it, is tantamount to abdication. The kingship will not remain secure unless he fights hard with his army and saves Tamworth.

Because Wigraf was a military nobleman before he became king, being forced to submit to the King of Wessex in his early years had discredited him. A successful restoration did not restore his former destiny, and now he knows he must fight hard.

Wigraf's patchwork army began to advance towards Tamworth.

Meanwhile, the Rus, Balmerks, and Northumbrian armies were actively dividing the spoils of Tamworth.

Rurik estimated that he had plundered a million pounds of wheat in one city of Tamworth, and with the oats he plundered at York, there was no problem with plundering a million and a half pounds of corn.

Even so, he threw a batch of grain to the Balmers who were about to start a big immigration.

This scale of grain is roughly equivalent to 580 tons.

That's an extreme number, but Rurik's is completely true.

Avlora-class sail cruisers, one ship is more than enough to carry 100 tons of cargo!

The Duke of Ostara and the Sperosville, the two ships directly carried one-third of all the captured wheat!

Their smooth and thick hulls packed so much cargo that their sleeping depth in the Tam River dropped by nearly a meter.

Fortunately, this river is not a stream. Its channel can easily drown people, and it can really float a full-loaded boat.

Rurik's fleet, those armed cargo ships with the largest number, a transshipment equivalent to 30 tons of wheat is very normal, and these cargo ships alone are enough to pull the wheat back.

The Balmers were busy selecting slaves from captives, and the Northumbrian king Ernred was eager to control the refugees. The plundering of the population on Rurik's side really didn't look like a Viking, but the Queen Mary and the one hundred and twenty women had to be taken away. This also includes the captured old priest of Lindsay Abbey, who is to be escorted to Ross.

In fact, Rurik was able to run away with his own people and trophies, because it was already September.

However, he can't just focus on returning to his hometown for the winter, and for practical reasons, he has to wait for the Balmers, and then evacuate together.

Because, some materials belonging to Ross are still thrown in the Narvik Fjord in the extreme north, especially a large amount of good salt, which needs to be taken away.

After all, it was September, and Rurik knew that there was not much time left for him. Thousands of Balmers could spend the winter in Britain, but not themselves.

In the tent, he consulted with his cousin Arik and decided to split up when they returned home.

"Let me be the leader of the escort? Isn't this... the Sorgon voyage?" Arik was a little surprised.

"I really can't help it. Our army came to an end during the war in Britain. The people of our hometown need a lot of wheat, and our grain fleet must arrive before the sea freezes."

"That's the truth. But you have to go to the hometown of the Balmers again? You have to sail for at least 20 days before and after!" Arik exclaimed inappropriately.

"This is to announce to them that we Russ are reliable allies. Besides, I have to bring back those salts, but I can buy more salt. Brother, we must seize the opportunity."

"Why?"

"I'm afraid that the Balmers who start farming will not be keen on making salt anymore. We have to stock up on salt when we seize the opportunity."

Arik kept scratching his head. To be honest, he was eager to go home. Since his brother was so determined, he had no complaints.

Arik never worried about any of Rurik's voyages. The brave man was not afraid of the sea, and his brother also received the blessing of God. The storm at the sea could not overturn Rurik's ship, but only helped it go wild.

The agreement was to wait for three more days. In fact, on the second day, seeing that the world was safe and sound, the Rus people went all out to ship the wheat, and they were quickly transporting the wheat into sacks by leveraging the rope net pocket.

This night, the Ross warriors and their mercenaries gathered by the bonfire again. After they were full of wheat and rice, they slept soundly in order to cultivate their bodies that were wholesaled for carrying supplies.

As for the captured women who learned of their fate, they could not stop sobbing, and some cheered up, thinking that the days ahead should not be too bad in a new place.

Only the broken-brained Queen Mary, who saw the corpse of her brother whose head was half chopped off and turned into a winner's bowl, had a strange joy instead.

She took the initiative to have a very close relationship with Rurik, trying to please the boy as much as possible to please herself.

She wished that she could conceive and give birth to a child earlier, so that the descendants could continue to hold the title of Mercian nobles and open up new territories in the future. Because, although he was down and out, the Rurik of Rus and his powerful principality continued to support his noble identity.

Because this is the revenge of Queen Mary.

She was taking revenge on her father, by overthrowing the rule of King Wigraf and his heir, and then replacing him with Rurik's son, which was the ultimate revenge.

What a sad princess. She doesn't know her identity until now. It is precisely the members of the royal family who are silent about the scandal, and the rest of the insiders have also been physically destroyed to ashes. Mary had no idea that the humiliation she suffered was indeed an original sin.

Living in the moment for a while, she really felt that Rurik was a holy young man. He exuded the fragrance of flowers (with special soap), no dirt on his body, golden hair and handsome face, which woman Not interested?

Compared to bluntly speaking, as a nobleman, he is really unclean. But Rurik, far from complaining, behaved like a bull in April, having sex with him, and for the first time Princess Mary felt like a woman, not a sinful canary.

She has a rare self-awareness, knowing that she can attract Rurik's attention from Ross is not her skin, but the fact that she is the top noble of Mercia and the fact that she can speak Latin fluently. The most important thing is the latter. She also basically found out what happened after she was "captured" to the Principality of Ross - becoming a Latin teacher.

But things have changed.

A very small encounter took place this evening.

It was Balmerk, who wanted to fight the tooth sacrifice, and went to the woods on the other side of the river to try to hit some hares, but he encountered the scouts of the Mercian army.

Although the Mercian scouts tried their best to escape, one was captured after being hit by an arrow.

Why do strange soldiers appear here? The Balmers, who felt that there was a huge peculiarity among them, took a lot of twists and turns to take the captives back to the camp on the riverside when it was close to dawn the next day.

New captives appear? The sudden situation made the people of insight in the Viking coalition instinctively take precautions. Everyone is veterans on the battlefield, and they all felt the approaching murderous aura, and the so-called prisoners easily confessed everything—the army of Mercia is coming!

At dawn, the world is still immersed in mist, and the sun rises lazily, and the golden light illuminates the world as if it were a sanctuary.

The Russ, Balmerks and mercenaries, and even the Northumbrian army, the mixed allied army now has no time to linger.

The Northumbrians blew their horns, as did the Rus and Balmers.

Because the captured scouts deliberately exaggerated the strength of the Mercian army, claiming that there were at least 10,000 troops.

Ten thousand soldiers? Rurik couldn't believe it subconsciously, but according to Ernred's description, he believed a little.

"Since the enemy has so many troops, are you afraid?" Rurik deliberately asked Ernred with a broken arm with contempt.

It is impossible to say that he is not afraid. As a king, Ernred still bites the bullet and says that he is not afraid.

It was such an answer that Rurik and Magnut simply counted together.

"Let the main force of your army cross the river and fight them decisively!" Rurik stated his position to Ernred on behalf of the Viking coalition, "This is after all the war between Northumbria and Mercia, whether we help or not depends on our mood."

"But this is not in accordance with the treaty!" Ernred tried to defend.

"No! What we signed is just a non-aggression pact. Don't worry, I won't sit and watch your army be wiped out. Besides, Tamworth is their capital, and Mercia and you are desperate for granted. Unless you renounce it Central Mercia, including Tamworth, and subsequent rule over Pexet and Chester." Rurik said this, and Ernred could only bite the bullet and order his army to pass through the Vikings. A temporary pontoon built by the coalition forces.

Just as the various sergeants of the Northumbrian army were halfway through, a flag suddenly fluttered from the low flat mounds in the distance.

It's the Mercian army, here they come.