At the end of the Tang Dynasty, it was a feudal town, but in Western Europe

However, compared to the hungry and cold enemy forces outside, Bremen, as the logistics center of Charlie's Northern Expedition, placed food and clothing supplies that could supply [-] troops, which is definitely more than enough to supply the [-] Frankish defenders here.

"Crack crackle crackle!"

The continuous light rain did not stop, and the rain spread and washed wantonly on the fort wall, washing away the blood and fire left by the Saxon rebels and Danish soldiers on the fort wall, and also washed away the soldiers guarding the fort wall. The remaining trace of body temperature.

The silky rain weaves into a white mist, hiding the distant river and forest in blur.

In this blur, the only silhouette that can be seen is the cathedral built by Archbishop Willerhard, but now, those sleeping in the church are no longer those monks and priests, but countless Frankish soldiers. Wrapped in fur or wool, shivering in the cold.

In a corner of the church, a wounded knight was holding a small knife. While cutting off the rotten flesh on his arm, he was also bleeding himself to balance the fluids in his body. The air was filled with the smell of blood.

In the church, the former decorations of the Father's Church have disappeared, either stolen by the Vikings or burned down during the later Vidukind occupation.

The entire cathedral in Bremen has basically turned into a large basilica-style house, with few religious decorations, and in a long room behind the hall, there is a continuous sound of iron-like collisions, accompanied by Splash of sparks.

The long sword with the tip of the rolled sword stabbed out suddenly, and Diodorf turned his wrist, and sparks flew between the two swords. He picked up Charlie's long sword and was about to attack.

Not only did Charlie not retreat, but he stepped forward and kicked Diodorf's hand, kicking his sword. At the same time, Charlie swung his long sword and precisely stopped at Diodorf. husband's neck.

"Your Highness is good at swordsmanship!" Diodolf shrugged helplessly, "I admit defeat."

"That's right, your swordsmanship has improved a lot compared to before, and your strength is well controlled. As long as you spend a third of your time flirting with the maid to practice swordsmanship, it's enough to fight me two more times. .” Taking out the towel, Charlie smiled and wiped the sweat off his face, “Work hard! Maybe your sword skills can reach one-tenth of mine in your lifetime.”

"Your Highness, Your Highness." Earl Eric's voice interrupted the conversation between Charlie and Diodorf.

Today's Earl Eric has long lost the arrogance he had before. He wrapped his head and eyes with a white cloth, hung his left hand on his chest, and ran in small steps with a limp.

"What's the matter? Are you so out of breath?" Inserting the long sword into the scabbard and hanging it on a wall nail on one side, Charlie smiled at Earl Eric without any grudges.

Unlike Charlie's calmness, Earl Eric looked excited. He struggled to pull out a letter wrapped in cowhide from his pocket, and the wax seal on the letter was familiar to both Charlie and Diodorf. Cyrus Alphabet” – Feng.

"This is?" Charlie's eyebrows trembled.

Earl Eric swallowed a mouthful of saliva: "Reinforcements, the reinforcements of Count Anthony of Hamburg have arrived. The scouts he sent and our spies met up on the Weser River. He told us that they have arrived near Bremen."

Charlie stepped forward, snatched the letter from Eric, and couldn't wait to open the red wax seal. A neat Latin letter written on papyrus appeared in Charlie's eyes.

Charlie's eyes widened, he carefully read the letter from the first letter to the last letter, and then handed the letter to Diodorf: "I don't know Latin, read it to me."

"Obey." Shaking the letter in his hand, Diodorf read aloud, "Dear King David of the Franks, elder brother and king of the followers of the Frankish Father, ruler of the earth...His Royal Highness Charles:

Thanks to Heavenly Father, I defeated the [-] Uda rebels on the banks of the Settenkaner River in late November this year, and cut off Uda’s head with my own hands, so I finally calmed down the south and was able to go north to rescue you……"

"Wait, he defeated Uda's [-] rebels?" Charlie asked in surprise, "Did you say how?"

"No." Diodorf scanned the whole text and shook his head. "However, he mentioned that he had salted Uda's head and sealed it up, and captured nearly 9000 people. It should be proven true."

"Continue reading."

"Your Highness... So I went south, reached Brunswick, and went west to join forces with Duke Hadrad of Thuringia, and then went north. But Duke Hadrad is a man cursed by the devil, He is sinister and vicious, he can go north but he doesn't go north, I heard that he is still secretly offering sacrifices to their evil gods, Your Highness, I suggest you cut off his head after the battle..."

"Stop." Charlemagne wondered, "How much more is there?"

Lowering his head, Diodorf kept looking down, hesitated for a while and said: "Almost half of the content will be reporting and slandering Duke Hadrad."

Charlie shook his head dumbfoundingly: "Skip this paragraph, keep reading."

"...All in all, His Royal Highness Hadrad is not willing to go north, which reflects his wolf-like ambition. For this reason, your noble and loving son Pepin can't stand it anymore..." Thinking, Theodore Ruff's eyes suddenly changed, and his voice became smaller and smaller until there was nothing.

"What's the matter? Read? What's my son Pepin doing stupidly again?" Charlie's expression turned from joyful to unkind almost instantly.

"No, no, no, His Royal Highness didn't do it, he did something stupid." Diodorf swallowed, and continued to read, "Prince Pepin agreed with the nobles to gather at the city gate, waited for a long time, but no one came, so His Royal Highness rode on a white horse, broke through three camps, broke into Hadrad's camp, and forced His Excellency Hadrad to go north to join the battle with his long sword.

His Excellency Hadrad asked His Excellency Pepin to make an oath: 'As long as Hadrad joins the battle, Pepin will never hide in the rear, but will definitely fight to the death on the front line'..."

"Looking for death! How dare he do that?!" A beast-like roar almost shattered Diodorf's eardrums, and Charlie's face turned livid, his veins bulged, and he slapped the table heavily, directly creating a crack on the solid wood table.

"Your Highness, Your Highness?"

After five or six seconds of silence, Charlie stood up: "Continue reading."

"...In any case, His Excellency Hadrad led 1000 people, and I led 1 people. I have arrived near Bremen and will launch an attack soon.

Your humble but loyal godson, Antoine Roshan von, Count of Hamburg. "

After reading the entire letter, Charlie began to pace back and forth in the room. After walking like this for a while, he raised his head and said to the attendant beside him, "Go, invite Bishop Alcuin, and tell him that there is an urgent military situation."

"As ordered."

Chapter 159 Hadrad: Procrastination is committed, it is like this

Gray clouds, dead trees, wild crows, and the cold wind with a cold smell were cut in half by sharp spear points. Twenty Frankish cavalry formed a triangular conical formation. He rushed towards the bunch of straw figures in front of him like there was no turning back.

As the horse rose and fell, Feng Sen's voice was muffled in the helmet: "Kill!"

Horseshoes flew, dust splashed, and the true cone-shaped cavalry formation suddenly accelerated, like snow waves rolling on a snowy peak. !

The horses rushed past, the vegetation whirled, and the sound of thumping was endless. Between the black cloth and the silver-gray armor, a flash of light flashed past. The next second, the neighing and roaring of the horses echoed in the dark forest.

After a charge was over, Feng Sen took off his helmet and turned his horse's head. First, he glanced at the broken straw man on the route. Seeing the little official on the hillside smiling and waving the flag at him, he asked Pepin behind him, "What does the flag mean?"

"It means that the assault was successful, and they will immediately return to their positions from the south."

"Very good." Feng Sen patted Pepin on the shoulder, "You learned semaphore and riding a spear very quickly, and you even stabbed a straw man this time."

Piping didn't have much joy on his face: "Then, can I go to the battlefield in my current situation?"

Sweeping the grass leaves and yellow dust from the clothes and armor, Feng Sen shook his head: "Yes, I can't."

"Feng, you might as well make your words clearer."

"Come on, let's talk as we walk." Feng Sen held Pepin's arm while the cold and damp wind hit his face, "I said no, which means that in my opinion, your skills and physical condition are not enough to fight the enemy, and a commander, it is best not to fight the enemy most of the time.

I say yes because you don't have to be skilled in martial arts to go into battle. Some cavalry soldiers under my command are not as good as you in riding skills, and they can still go to the battlefield and win.

If you want to fight and win on the battlefield, martial arts is important, but it is not the most important thing. The most important thing is to keep calm. "

Frowning, Pepin pondered for a while, then nodded thoughtfully: "I see."

Feng Sen patted him on the back of the head: "You don't understand, you have to go into the enemy's battle a few times before you can slowly understand the feeling. You are both excited and calm, and you know what to do and what not to do... Sigh, what to do? It's not that time is tight, so I'll find two gangs of bandits to practice with you. That's how my father trained me back then."

Pepin was slapped on the back of the head by Feng Sen, but he didn't care at all. Instead, he smiled enviously: "Your father is really very kind."

Looking up at the distant sky, Feng Sen seemed to be lost in memories: "Since I learned how to fight bandits, sometimes I would occasionally rob some merchants by myself. The funny thing is, they thought it was bandits who did it, gave me money, and then asked me to exterminate the surrounding tribes and bandits, and so on. It was a memorable time."

"Ahem." Pepin smiled awkwardly.

Feng Sen woke up like a dream and turned his head: "Okay, you practice two more times, and it's over. I have to go to the camp to deal with some trivial matters."

After bidding farewell to Pepin, Feng Sen turned around and ran towards the distant camp with his legs clamped under the horse's belly.

Feng Sen's camp is located in the east of Bremen, on a raised mound in the middle of two forests. There was originally a village here, but it is estimated that it was harassed by war and deserters, and all of them were moved into a deeper forest. .

The Jingnan Army and the Yi Cong Army escorted these prisoners of war and built this fortress on the foundation of the village. The fortress was also simple to build. It was just a two-meter-high earth wall, coupled with double-layered four-meter-high wooden piles and parapets. By the way, an archery tower was built at each of the four corners.

Gently stroking the mane of the pack horse under him, Feng Sen strangled the horse's hooves and bypassed the prisoners who were building traps and trenches. In such a cold weather, they only wore a single shirt, struggling to wave the manuscript and wood With a shovel, sweat dripped from his chin drop by drop.

These prisoners of war are basically young and strong left by Feng Sen after multiple layers of selection, and their bodies are basically intact. Although they are not as strong as the Han soldiers and rebel soldiers, they can at least wield weapons.

There were 6000 prisoners of war, but after several battles in Uda, they were full of courage and courage, and most of them had seen blood. If Feng Sen thought, these people would be enough to form a ten thousand households with local women, but then the power of the Saxon Banner would be too strong, and Feng Sen did not have so much land for the Eight Banners.

Attracting these young adults to Hamburg, regardless of whether Hamburg can provide enough jobs, the disappearance of these young adults is enough to deal a serious blow to the productive economic life of their hometown. main force.

But the strange thing is that this time they brought them to beat up their compatriots, but they didn't have much intention of resisting. Instead, they were very peaceful. Could it be that Griffith was secretly working hard?I don't know who spread the news about Gisela being Vidukind's daughter, which is really a headache.

Forget it, it doesn't matter if they are safe, if they are asked to work honestly, they can build such a pretty good fortress in just two days, which is considered a great achievement.

Thinking of this, Feng Sen couldn't help looking to the southeast, not knowing where Hadrad's team was at this time.

Seven days ago, Feng Sen led his army from Hannover, went north along the Weser River, and arrived at the edge of a forest [-] miles away from Bremen, where he began to build a camp.

After the construction was almost completed, Feng Sen sent out scouts yesterday afternoon to investigate the geography and try to get in touch with Charlie.

Feng Sen is making rapid progress here, and he is on the line with Charlie, but Hadrad is still marching.

Due to food and grass issues, he dispatched troops a day later than Feng Sen, but his schedule was more than two days later than Feng Sen's. This was based on the fact that the camps Feng Sen built along the way during the march could be used. I really don't know what he was doing.

Anyway, according to the news received today, Hadlard's troops have arrived at a place about [-] miles away from Bremen, camped on the banks of the Weser River, and are expected to join Feng Sen within two days.

It can be said that everything is ready now, and now it is waiting for Hadrad to come to join forces.

Passing through the wooden door, accompanied by several guards, Feng Sen passed through the Yicong soldiers patrolling with spears, and arrived at his home's central army tent amidst "Jieshuai" with different accents.

Handing the horses to the soldiers on the side to lead them to the stables, Feng Sen raised the curtain, but saw Wang Sima in white clothes with his back facing him, carefully studying the map on the screen, and hearing a voice behind him, he immediately turned around and faced Feng Sen He bowed and saluted, "Jie Shuai."

"Wang Sima is here in my account?"

Sima Wang picked up a cowhide envelope from the table and handed it to Feng Sen: "It's a letter from King Charlie."

"So fast?" Feng Sen was startled, then opened the envelope with a frown, and read it carefully.

"What did King Charles say?"

Feng Sen put the letter back on the table: "Charlie said, let me not act rashly before joining forces with Hadrad. The winter is cold, and the Saxons lack clothing and food, but the Danes have enough supplies, so it's okay for the time being, but the Danes don't have any leftover food. After a while, they can plunder food and grass, and then attack again, forcing him to fight. It's just..."

"Just what?"

Feng Sen said confusedly: "Although Charlie didn't say anything in the letter, he almost named me as the coach and asked Hadrad to fight with me."

"Isn't this bad?" Wang Sima first asked subconsciously, and then he immediately slapped his head again, "That's bad."

Chapter 1 look, we caught a big fish

"Why?!" Hadlard waved his horsewhip irritably, driving away the flying rogue flies, "I am a duke, and I have to obey the orders of an earl, besides, this kid was just a stray dog ​​who fled a year ago , how? Can you surpass me in a year?"

The tent that Feng Sen set up the day before yesterday was not as tidy as before. The soldiers driving the cattle, sheep and horses were wearing leather armor and drank malt wine unsteadily. Seven or eight soldiers gathered behind a car, Difficultly pushing the wheels stuck in the yellow muddy pit.

The air was filled with the stench of defecation, cattle and sheep, and the mixed shouts of soldiers and the buzzing of rogue flies could be heard in my ears. A few peasant women walked slowly in front of Hadrad with water, and almost stopped him. out of his way.

"Your Excellency, although you are a Duke, you inherited it from your father, but the Earl of Siris was appointed by Charlie himself, so of course I trust him even more." A bearded entourage also rode a horse and followed Hadrad.

Pulling the reins, he turned a corner in front of a big oak tree, and the rain that had been blowing obliquely turned into a head-on fall on Hadrard's face.

"Then why did I come here? To be a stepping stone for that damned black-haired devil?" Hadlard spat a mouthful of blue sticky phlegm on the ground, gritted his teeth and said, "I'll write a letter later, Posarica, you go find a cavalryman and send it to His Highness Charlie. I want to contact His Highness personally."

The bearded entourage was taken aback for a moment, and then said hesitantly: "This is not good. In the previous meeting, Father Balda said everything and acted accordingly."

"Is your master Father Balda or me?!"

"Of course it's you." Seeing Hadrad glaring at him, the bearded man hurriedly bowed, "But what does Father Balda say?"

"It's not that I want to disobey orders, but I'm just afraid that someone will pass false orders. We'll wait here for a day. If we can't get in touch, it won't be too late for us to act in the same way as before..." Hadlard kicked the bearded horse's ass, "Go."

Under Hadlard's order, his letter passed through the army layer by layer, and finally came to a light cavalryman under Posarica.

Most of these light cavalry were small landlords. Although their lives were much better than those of the free people, they couldn't afford expensive armor, so they could only wear leather armor or even armed clothing to go into battle.

About 10 minutes later, a small Thuringian noble knight in leather armor ran northward along the Weser River with a letter written in papyrus.

He crossed the river bank, bypassed the dense bushes, and shuttled through the deep black forest. He ordered the cavalry to move at a high speed, like an off-string flying arrow, piercing the air and galloping forward.

The fallen trees and the straddling earth and rocks could not stop his progress, and Bremen was in the northwest of this forest, and he was almost there.

Looking at the faint top of the tower of Bremen Cathedral in the distance, the tense nerves of the messenger cavalry finally slowed down for a moment. What a holy and beautiful church, it is like a temple riding a cloud in the rain and fog... Well, why is this temple turned upside down.

Returning to reality from distraction, at some time, a tripping rope rose from the rotten black and yellow fallen leaves, and on the branches above the head, two circular loops suddenly fell, covering the neck and arms of the messenger knight.

With the inertia of moving forward at a high speed, the knight was looped by a rope, and in the next second, he rose suddenly like taking off, and even turned a circle between the two rope loops before falling to the ground.

The sad wailing of the mount under him could be heard, and the knight stretched out his hand, watching with distress that the old horse broke its front hoof in the ditch in front of the tripping rope, and the whole horse turned over.

This is the first time for this little nobleman to go into battle, and this horse is one of the most important properties of the family. Most of the land is cultivated by it every year. The pony has not yet grown, so it cannot assist farming at all.

who is it?The knight looked into the depths of the gloomy forest with red eyes. In the depths of the forest appeared several Danish men wearing eye-protecting iron helmets. They held long and short axes, and their faces were full of grinning and killing intent.

"Look, we caught a big fish."

"Look, we caught a big fish."

With a bold smile on his face, Abu happily carried a perch to Gisela's tent, held it up high and showed it to the people inside: "Look, what a big fish!"

"Okay, put it in that bucket. There is already fish soup tonight, and this can be eaten tomorrow." Gisela, squatting in front of the earthen stove with his sleeves straightened, was tinkering with the stove with the tongs without looking up.

In a corner outside Feng Sen's camp, an oilcloth tent was erected. In the center of the tent was a kang built with stones. The scorched charcoal was burning bright red, and above the fire was an earthenware pot. Jar for simmering porridge.

In a warm tent, surrounded by a heated kang, sat seven or eight Saxons. Most of them were middle-aged, with unshaven beards and eyes full of exhaustion, but they still had the last trace of energy and were busy with the work at hand.

These Saxons are basically Abu's former good brothers. Very early on, they traveled with Vidukind, and they were considered Gisela's uncles.

But now, they didn't have the majesty of Gisela's childhood at all. Instead, they sat in a circle obediently, holding stones in both hands, and tanning their fur clumsily.

In front of the stove on the other side, Gisela carefully stirred the fish soup in the pot to prevent the fish meat or fish bones from sticking to the pot. The milky white fish soup gave off bursts of tempting aroma, and a few mushrooms rose and fell in the fish soup.

A group of thirteen and fourteen-year-old boys surrounded him, ostensibly to help, and indeed tried to sneak a piece of fish from the fish soup from time to time, and whenever this happened, Gisela would strike like lightning and hit the man on the back of the hand with a wooden spoon.