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

As soon as these words came out, the six thousand Saxons in the entire assembly were in an uproar, but the uproar quickly turned into whispers within and among small groups.

"But Your Excellency the Earl." Amidst the glaring gazes of the Saxon prisoners, a Frankish priest in gray robes stood up according to the previous plan, "Vidukind is still here now, compared with Vidukind, Gisela can really Guaranteed their loyalty?"

"Widukind?" Feng Sen laughed loudly. He pointed to the Franks on both sides, and faced the prisoners in the middle, "I know what you Franks think, and I know what you Saxons think. You haven’t lost yet, if you defected to the enemy on the battlefield, you might be able to drive us out, wouldn’t it be better than now?”

"No."

"I am deeply loyal, Your Excellency!"

"Princess Gisela saved my life, what a domineering Navidukind!"

"Yes, we will be loyal to Her Royal Highness the Princess."

The chances of survival for the Saxon prisoners below slipped away in the words of the priest, yelling at him while professing his loyalty loudly.

"Quiet!" Feng Sen yelled loudly. Under Feng Sen's yell, unlike before, the commotion that needed to be suppressed by the soldiers quietly drifted away under Feng Sen's yell.

"My friends, you have already lost." An old body appeared in front of the stage, took off the hood on his head, and there was a bit of sadness on his wrinkled face.

"High Priest Griffith." Many prisoners of war exclaimed.

"Guys, I'm here to tell you a piece of news - Vidukind has been defeated." Picking up Griffith, he loudly told the prisoners who couldn't believe the whole thing, "... Although I can’t believe it, I still have to admit that we have lost, Albion is planning to take away our land under the instigation of the King of Denmark, no matter which side we are on, we have already lost.”

At the scene, not only were the prisoners of war devastated, but even the Frankish nobles stared wide-eyed—they never imagined that there was such a joint in it, which was an important piece of information.

"Then what if this high priest is lying to you?" It was still the gray-clothed priest who had been arranged before, and he retorted loudly under the murderous eyes of countless Saxons, "When the time comes to the battlefield, as soon as Vidukind shows up, what should they do?"

"That's a problem." Under the begging eyes of many Saxons, Feng Sen said loudly, "Well, I promise you that no matter whether the northward march is successful or not, everyone present will not be bound by the "Saxon Surrender Law". Moreover, as long as you can defeat the coalition forces of Siegfried and Albion, all Saxons will no longer have to be bound by the "Saxon Surrender Law"!"

"Wait, Your Excellency Earl." A Frankish noble knight suddenly stepped forward, bowed to Feng Sen and said, "Your Excellency, I am not rude to interrupt you, but you seem to have no right to guarantee the cancellation of the "Saxon Surrender Act."

Looking at this young stunned young noble knight, Feng Sen raised his eyebrows. This was not arranged by him. He calmed down, and while remembering his face, while thinking about how to fool him, a somewhat youthful voice sounded: "He has no right to vouch for it. I will vouch for it. Saxon, I am the son of the great Frankish king Charles, Pepin. I am willing to vouch with Earl Feng, and we cancel the Surrender Act!"

"Your Highness?!" All the Frankish knights and nobles looked at the boy who was still wrapped in a blanket and sat on the horse in a little bewilderment. In this decree, Charlie's attitude was very obvious, and for this reason, he even respected him the most. Bishop Alcuin, Charles' most unfavored son, pledging his royal honor to vouch for it?

The nobles and knights almost put a big question mark on Pepin's future.

"For victory!" Pepin's towering back seemed so strong at this moment, his voice became sonorous and powerful at this moment, "For victory, I will guarantee it."

Chapter 171 The Dark Sky

The gloomy sky dyed the sunlight gray and white. When the sunlight fell on the mottled city walls of Bremen, Siegfried's face was blue and gray under the sunlight.

The pitch-black crows hovered in the sky, and Siegfried sat silently on a pony, silently watching another wave of soldiers who failed to attack the city retreat slowly under the attack of arrows.

It never occurred to him that when the bows and arrows that appeared in the hands of the Serisians were learned by the Franks, of course, this is from Siegfried's perspective. Feng Sen said that their bows and arrows The technology and tactics are still far away.

Looking up at the crows that were screaming irritably, Siegfried became irritated along with him. It has been almost a month since he surrounded Bremen, but he still failed to break through the castle.

He couldn't figure it out, how did the group of Vikings break through Bremen in two days?The castle of Bremen is divided into two floors, the earth-stone structure wall below, the wooden parapet on the wall, and of course, the towers and arrow towers built by the Franks later.

These buildings look very new. After Widukind occupied Bremen, he rebuilt these defensive facilities. He originally wanted to prevent the Friesian Franks from attacking the rear. Unexpectedly, they fell into Charlie's hands now.

The siege was already a very painful thing, and Siegfried was under a lot of pressure. The only comfort was that he repelled two waves of reinforcements.

Originally, he wanted to follow Feng Sen and chase Feng Sen in the forest of Rosengarten, but unfortunately, he had only entered the forest for a day, and news came from behind that Charlie went out of the city to meet the enemy.

During the two days that Siegfried was chasing after him, Charlie, who had recovered from his illness, rushed out of Bremen with [-] cavalry and rushed into the camp of the coalition forces. The iron spear stabbed one of his sons to death, and if Cyril and Albion hadn't come forward in time to stabilize the situation, Charlie would almost have escaped.

Faced with such a situation, Siegfried could only look at Feng Sen's leaving back with tears in his eyes, then swung his troops back and continued the bitter siege.

So far, Siegfried has almost made a small attack every two days and a big attack every three days. The dog's brain is about to break out in front of this city wall, but he just couldn't chew it off.

Facts have proved that the fortress of Bremen is still quite stubborn, and it is difficult to capture it unless someone responds internally.

"Go, tell the priests and the Yars to come to my tent to discuss matters." Looking at the Frankish blue flag fluttering over the city, Siegfried ordered Cyril with a cold face.

"Yes, my lord."

After changing his clothes and wiping his face with hot water, he came to the tent again. Most of the priests and Yaer had already arrived.

On the seat at the top, Yael and the priests stood in the tent mixedly and sparsely, watching Siegfried's arrival.

"Everyone, I believe you have already seen that this Charlie is really difficult to fight." Siegfried sat on the throne, rubbing his forehead, "We have attacked the city for a month, and there is almost no progress. Let me know what you think."

Hearing this, Yaer and the priests whispered to each other. Of course, some of Yaer looked up at the sky with a wandering expression. It was too difficult for them to give opinions to these big bosses who had not yet graduated from kindergarten.

"Your Highness, we can send a fleet along the coastline to the core of the Frankish hinterland, such as Austrasia (the place where the Carolingian Dragon flourished). We can go down the Rhine River and rob along the way. Even if Charlie escapes After he came out, he didn't have the ability to gather an army again, because he would definitely go to suppress the rebellion," a Yael suggested.

"No." Siegfried shook his head, "Leaving aside the question of who is responsible for the looting and whether the looting will be successful, how many people should we send to rob? If there are too few, there will be no effect. Going." There are too many, and the reinforcements of those Seres are still there? At that time, our troops will be at a disadvantage, and it will be even more difficult."

Then Yael and the priests put forward several good or bad proposals one after another, but most of them were rejected by Siegfried.

After discussing the defense change and other matters, all the Yars and the priests dispersed. In the huge tent, a figure with a cane appeared. It was Albion. He suddenly asked, "Your Highness, where are the Vileti people? They should still have enough troops."

With a sigh, Siegfried beckoned to Cyril, and Cyril handed some papyrus to Albion: "The Vileti set fire to the trading point of the Opulit in the North Sea , now those Eupolite clans who have surrendered to the Villetti are making trouble, and there is also a mercenary army of the Eupolite royal family, a group of Byzantine soldiers, and now they can't draw any troops at all .”

"Don't worry, Albion." Siegfried stepped down from the throne and patted Albion on the shoulder, "I've asked my priest to divination, and Sieg's blood will get what he wants in the end, Including money, fame and land”

Lifting the curtain of the tent, Siegfried looked at Bremen not far away and the drowsy sky: "I will take all of this."

Under the drowsy sky, Theodoric yelled loudly at the Frankish soldiers trying to escape, his face was as drowsy as the sky.

Standing on the wall of the wall, Theodoric watched indifferently as the deserter was tied to a rack and whipped, without saying a word.

When Hadrad was defeated by the Vikings that day, Theodoric was in the rear team. When he realized that something was wrong, he quickly began to retreat with his 1000 men and a large amount of food.

Of course, they couldn't run fast with the grain and grass. After discovering the enemy's pursuit, Theodoric resolutely abandoned the grain cart and continued to escape, but he didn't run far. After getting rid of the pursuit, he stopped moving.

When he discovered that the Vikings were beginning to return with grain carts, Theodoric attacked the Vikings in the dark, not only defeated them, but also took from them a large number of captured Frankish weapons and equipment.

After obtaining these provisions and weapons, Theodoric retreated to the camp left by the previous Feng Sen, built a new wooden village, refurbished it, and gathered a lot of Frankish remnants here.

In the past seven days, Theodoric gathered a total of nearly 3000 remnants, and by virtue of his terrain advantage, defeated a wave of incoming Saxon rebels.

It's just... Theodoric sighed. These small victories did not make him happy. He was extremely worried about the situation in Bremen and Fengsen. Sometimes he wondered if there would be a miracle that would allow Fengsen to defeat those Vikings?

But after thinking about it, this seems unlikely. The fighting power of the Vikings is obvious to all. The only time Feng Sen suffered a loss was in the battle between the Elbe River and the Vikings. If the reinforcements did not arrive in time, he might have suffered heavy casualties.

With the obvious advantage in numbers and environment, it is too difficult for Feng Sen to win. Fortunately, Feng Sen and his group are all mule and horse nobles, and they run fast. It is difficult to win, and it is still very difficult to escape. simple.

But in this way, the entire support army was broken up and could not be assembled. Although they had a large army, they could only watch Siegfried attack the city, unable to do anything except wait for new reinforcements.

According to Theodoric's calculations, Charlie couldn't last much longer. Looking at the lush forest in the distance, Theodoric took a bite of the leg of lamb in his hand helplessly. Could it be that he really wanted to watch Charlie die here?

Throwing away the sheep bones, fisting his hands in front of his chest, Theodoric closed his eyes and was about to pray to the Heavenly Father, but a touch of red tassels opened his eyelids. On the edge of the forest not far away, a few dark red objects were shaking. If it wasn't for the obvious contrast, Theodoric would have thought he was dazzled.

"Go, go to the forest over there to see..."

Before Theodoric finished speaking, an attendant quickly ran up from under the wall. His joyful voice was full of excitement: "Your Excellency, the army of the Earl of Hamburg is coming. They have passed through the forest of Rosengart and will arrive soon."

"Heavenly Father bless, even though I already know your power so well, this incident still let me know that your divine power is omnipotent!" The moment he heard these words, Theodoric It felt like the pressure of the past five days dissipated in an instant. His brows that had been frowned for many days finally relaxed at this moment: "Let's go, I will go to receive him in person."

Chapter 172 The First Battle

Shocking horns and drums sounded on the banks of the Weser River. In the pale golden light of the early morning, the Viking warriors rubbed their sleepy eyes, and began to put on weapons and equipment and assemble quickly with a bit of confusion and bewilderment.

As they trotted, they talked with their companions about how delicious the peasant women and nuns were captured from the surrounding villages yesterday. For the Viking warriors, going to the battlefield was a daily life, so ordinary that it was like shitting and peeing.

Live to enjoy gold, silver, treasures, beautiful women and good horses, and die to go to Valhalla to drink honey wine and have a banquet. For those old Viking warriors who are used to fighting, the tranquility before going to the battlefield is a bit leisurely. .

However, this tranquility was quickly broken by continuous complaints. The leaders of the various battle groups looked helplessly at the cavalry team of 1000 men in the distance, and couldn't help complaining.

They gathered 1000 Viking and Saxon infantry and [-] Saxon, Slavic, and Viking cavalry. To deal with this cavalry team of less than [-] people, do you need all the troops on the east bank of the Weser River to be dispatched?

The leaders of the war group arrived at the assembly point to discuss, and found Ragnaro who was in charge of the command. Many leaders of the Viking war group thought that with only 1000 people, 6000 infantry and [-] cavalry would be enough to defeat them. Why bother? How about all [-] people gathering?

But Ragnarok pushed them back with only one sentence: "These people are the remnants of the Franks. His Highness Siegfried offered a reward. Whoever can capture the head of this army's general will be the future Lübeck Jarre. His Excellency Siegfried will also reward you with twenty sets of chain mail and long swords."

Lübeck Jarre!Twenty suits of chain mail and longswords!You know, in this era, a set of chain mail can recruit a strong warrior to work for it, not to mention Lübeck Yar and the long sword, twenty sets of chain mail are enough to recruit a 50-man battle group!

"Your Excellency Ragnaro, I want to be the vanguard!"

"Your Excellency Ragnaro, our cavalry can attack first."

"Whooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo-" interrupted the conversation between chapter leader and Ragnarok.

"The Franks are marching!" Ragnaro immediately got on his horse, "Why are you so fast, why don't you go to the formation!"

Looking at the chaotic Viking army formation in the distance, Pepin swallowed a mouthful of saliva. He was wearing the armor given to him by Feng Sen, and the blue long tassel fluttered on the helmet.

In order to cover up the hunchback, Feng Sen also added two wooden frames filled with feathers that looked like an Arabic numeral "7" behind Pepin's armor. He was given a new name for the improved Frankish cavalry led by Pepin, "hussars".

Holding the hollow spear in his hand, Pepin's body trembled a little. Of course he had seen the battlefield, but most of the time, he stayed behind with his father's family and charged with his subordinates. This was the first time.

Moreover, it won't be the last time, he made an oath to be the vanguard in every battle. Although Hadrad's army is running out, he still has to stick to this promise.

Weighing the [-]-meter-long hollow spear in his hand, Pepin took a deep breath and looked at the Viking shield wall in the distance. Looking at the tight Viking shield wall, Pepin had some doubts: Is this hollow spear really useful?

These were specially made by Feng Sen for him before the battle, and there were only three of them in total. According to Feng Sen, this was because he had never practiced riding and could not play with sabers or spears at all, but this kind of hollow cavalry was very long, and he could use the advantages of distance and saddle and stirrups to attack the enemy, so it was more suitable for him.

"Your Highness, don't be afraid." Theodoric came to him on horseback. "These Vikings are all small groups recruited from Scandinavia. Compared with Siegfried's own soldiers, they are much worse. At least their shield wall is not very good. Look at the one over there, they don't even know how to use a shield wall."

"I see." Pepin pursed his lips tightly, staring at the ferocious Viking soldiers.

Theodoric sighed helplessly: "Your Highness can follow me after a while. If Your Highness doesn't need to be shy, everyone will be like this when they go to the battlefield for the first time."

"I see." Pepin's mind was blank at the moment, he could even feel his stomach twitching, and the stomachache caused by nervousness made him unable to help but cover his stomach.

Just as Theodoric was trying to comfort him again, a messenger ran over from Zhang Shicheng: "Master Theodoric, the Siris said that they are going to attack now, as agreed before." , Your Excellency, don't delay."

"Okay, everyone, the whole team!" Theodoric shouted to the improved Frankish cavalry who were equipped with high bridge saddles and wooden stirrups behind them, regardless of Pepin's emotions.

As soon as Theodoric finished speaking, the sound of the golden drum came from Zhang Shicheng's side. Under the waving of the flag, [-] Jingnan cavalry and Yicong cavalry were divided into three formations, forming a triangle, and charged towards the Viking formation.

After repeated questioning by the leaders of the war group, the queue speed of the entire army formation was much slower than normal. When Zhang Shicheng approached with [-] cavalry, many Vikings even grabbed the shoulders of the people in the front row and tried to rush to the first row.

Riding on the horse, Zhang Shicheng drew his one-stone riding bow. The arrow shaft as thick as his little finger trembled slightly in the cold wind. With one eye closed, the sound of howling wind and thunderous hooves of horses around his ears made Jing Nan feel ashamed. The roars of the cavalry and righteous cavalry seemed to have disappeared.

The bowstring was released lightly, and the violent air flow passed through the front dysprosium in Zhang Shicheng's hand, making a piercing whistling sound.

The armor-piercing blade pierced the air, and it struck instantly. Before the vibrating bowstring quieted down, suddenly, a long arrow that was still trembling appeared on the neck of a Viking leader standing in the front row. With a sound of "ho ho", he fell down clutching his neck.

Before the unlucky leader fell to the ground, a wave of javelins swirled towards him.

"Shield Wall!" Countless battle group leaders shouted, but unfortunately, there was a huge gap in front of the cavalry led by Zhang Shicheng.

The ferocious black armored cavalry was like a long black dragon, instantly inserted into the thin army formation. Countless Viking warriors were knocked away by the huge impact of the horses, their heads were crushed by iron hooves and iron bones, and they were cut off by spears and sabers. head.

But Ragnaro, as the general, saw this scene, not only did not panic, but became excited. Holding the long sword in his hand, he led two hundred cavalry and rushed towards that side frantically: "Surround them, surround them !"

Yes, for Ragnaro who had seen the Jingnan cavalry, what he was most afraid of was not their impact ability or equipment, but their horses, their one-hit and go tactics!

However, what he saw now was that a young general had a sudden brainstorm and rushed into the thick formation of infantry. Although they were trying to escape, in Ragnaro's view, they had already been sentenced to death.

Due to the gap in cavalry equipment and tactics, just before Ragnaro arrived, Zhang Shicheng was allowed to escape from the sea of ​​infantry without even losing many people.

It doesn't matter, there is still time.

"Pursue and surround them!" Ragnaro's words turned into the sound of horns advancing, and the Viking infantry began to step forward, chasing and encircling Zhang Shicheng who was leaving.

However, Ragnarok's plan failed because he heard a thunderous hoofbeat.

Chapter 173 The First Battle

The wind, the cold wind that is so strong that it hurts the eyes.

The cold wind blowing on his face made him almost unable to open his eyes. Pepin squinted his eyes hard and stared at the front. Ahead, not far away, countless spears and ax blades with cold light flashed among the undulating slopes surging like waves.

Holding the reins tightly in his hand, the horse's hooves raised and lowered on the low gray-green grass, and the strong wind passed through the wooden wings behind him. The rustling sound of the feathers colliding almost made him think he was flying.

Lowering his head, he saw that the white steed, which he couldn't get on no matter how hard he tried, was already firmly on his crotch. The dancing mane was like a white flower. Every time he rose and fell, Pepin could see its trembling muscles.

Time seemed to stand still at the moment when Pepin lowered his head, sniffing his nose, the smell of damp iron rust mixed with the smell of muddy blood made him unable to distinguish, only the sound of a tsunami-like wind was in his ears, and those shouts and roars gradually faded away...

"Raise the gun!" Theodoric yelled as if venting.

Subconsciously, he took off the hollow spear straddling his shoulders naturally, clamped the rear end under the armpit of his right hand, turned his wrist and raised it horizontally. When the [-]-meter-long hollow lance was laid flat, Pepin's consciousness finally returned to his body.

"kill--"

"Raise the gun!"

"Watch out for the javelin!"

Chaotic and noisy voices rose in Pepin's mind, and the severe cramps and pain in his abdomen came again. Pepin raised his head. In front of him, there were more than 300 cavalry troops of the Danish coalition army, close at hand.

The cavalry on both sides began to confront each other, and all the knights around Pepin crouched down. In the vast world, there seemed to be only the deafening sound of horseshoes.

"Boom boom boom!"

The thunder almost exploded Pepin's brain. Previously, Pepin thought that the battle cry of the soldiers on the battlefield was to show bravery and intimidate the enemy, but it wasn't until he started roaring involuntarily like a wild beast that he realized that the battle cry was to dispel the fear in his heart.