According to Father Conrad, starting from Nassau Abbey, it takes a whole day to walk along the col road to Varendal Abbey.

He estimated that it would take twelve Roman miles, ten Roman miles (about fifteen kilometers) would be necessary even from Emsbad.

Didn't they already use the Frankish unit of length? This is indeed the case, but Charlemagne's unification of weights and measures is a fine-tuning of the old Roman system. For the church clergy headquartered in Europe, they are still accustomed to the old Roman system, which is no different from five hundred years ago.

Traveling on foot is a great test for an elderly priest.

The team had already entered the mountain area, and the explorers under Blue Fox used fire nitrate and velvet, and took out a bow and drill to light a fire easily.

The black bread baked in the night was now cold, and they were toasted and heated on sticks by the fire, and eaten with a layer of butter and honey.

Although he was very tired, Conrad held the wooden branch with the bread cubes in his hands, and the aroma rushed into his nose, how could he not eat it happily.

"Ah! It is a kind of enjoyment to be able to eat sweet and delicious food in the barren mountains."

Everyone was busy resting their feet, and almost no one took care of the priest, but Lan Hu heard it, and he happened to have a lot of questions to ask.

"Papa, how far is it?"

"It's summer now, and we'll be there in the evening."

"Very good. This unlucky mountain makes me dizzy, and it's easy to get lost without your guidance."

It sounded like a compliment, but Conrad didn't want to have an unlucky "summer excursion." "Joseph, why bother?" he asked.

"What's wrong?"

"You Ross people are good at sailing. It would be good if the reinforcements rowed directly to Nassau. Why let them go by land. What are you trying to do? To make yourself happy?"

"Hehe. Although it's a bit troublesome, in order to be safe in the battle, I can do something wrong." Blue Fox sighed softly.

It is an exaggeration to talk about the blue fox's strategizing. The so-called mountain road does not exist. There are streams here, like a mountain torrent washing out a lot of stones. Naturally, there is a gravel road. It can walk people, and it is challenging to walk quickly with an army.

More importantly, the reinforcements will carry a lot of equipment, the most critical thing is a batch of heavy armor.

Are soldiers expected to wear heavy armor, carry personal belongings, bedding, round shields, weapons and equipment, and walk like flying on one pair of feet? What's more, the Seventh Banner Team is a group of half-children with high fighting spirit but whose physique needs to be improved.

"Maybe you have a reason..." Conrad didn't ask any more questions. He ate the bread and pointed to the northwest with a wooden stick in his hand: "The mountainous area is not complicated, and you can enter the flat area through this col. There is a forest land there." , there is a road, and some farmland on both sides of the road. We can go directly along the road."

"It's not too late, let's leave urgently. Me!" The blue fox stood up and patted his body, casually licked his grease-stained hand in his mouth, and then rubbed it on his clothes: "I have to hurry up!" Go over and check out our army's landing point."

The structure of the huge Hesse Mountains is extremely trivial. It only has one big mountain, the Taunus in the southeast, and the rest are low hills. The depressions between the hills will form a plain, more or less wide, and there must be streams in it. Part of the plain has the value of land reclamation, and part of it is simply a channel for mountain torrent flood discharge.

The rest of the journey was uneventful, and the accompanying soldiers carried bows, wooden sticks used as marching sticks, and daggers tied as short spears. They feared a wild animal attack, but all they saw were scattered squirrels scurrying about and sudden birdsong.

"The woodland is ahead, and Varendall is inside."

The priest with sore legs looked exhausted. He was still carrying a cross-shaped cane on the final journey, and took off his black hood. Wearing a black robe, he looked like an ascetic who had gone through hardships but had a firm will.

The difference is that these Ross people, even the former big fat blue fox, a kind of brothers are still in good spirits.

As for the civilians living in the woods, the sudden intrusion of a group of strangers put them on high alert.

Until these people showed two flags.

One side is a black cross on a white cloth pattern, and the other side is a blue stripe painted diagonally on a white cloth.

The villagers knew about the cross, and seeing a priest wearing a black robe among them, their initial vigilance dissipated a lot.

The blue fox and his party walked through the small-scale farmland and entered the woodland in a grand manner. When some bold villagers came to hear the news and learned that it was Father Conrad of Nassau Monastery, they simply acted as guides.

Soon, they were in a small forest village with a stream running through it, and the blue fox took a look to make sure it couldn't navigate.

The villagers use local materials and build houses with stones, and build roofs with haystacks of wood. The largest building in the village is the monastery, which is also made of pure stone, and even a stone tower was built. A bronze bell hangs high on the narrow tower, which is clearly visible.

The intrusion of outsiders attracted many vigilant villagers to watch. The local priest Dolph learned that the priest from Nassau had suddenly visited. He didn't know what happened, so he hurriedly adjusted his robes and silver-plated the most precious copper Wear it on your chest and take the priests out to meet in person.

Under the bronze bell of the high tower of the monastery, two clergymen in black robes rarely stood face to face. The difference was that behind Father Conrad stood a group of rather tall warriors with pure golden hair.

"It's the Normans. What are they here for..." Father Dolph didn't dare to ask so presumptuously.

He was nervous at first, but the topic quickly changed after Father Conrad spoke first.

Because, walking through the forest and standing on the banks of the Rhine, black smoke is still rising not far away. Burning Koblenz is there, and the Wallendal Abbey, now hiding in the forest, finally knows the more serious inside story, and also the initiator of all the disasters.

There was going to be a massive, inevitably **** war, from which the Abbey of Varendal was too close to the battlefield to stand alone.

Everyone was invited into the monastery, and all the Ross warriors, including the blue fox, showed the cross pendants they had prepared.

They performed a collective play and prayed in this simple monastery, and as expected, they immediately gained the favor of the local clergy.

Then when the blue fox took out the prepared gift, with the emotion of gratification to tears, coupled with the lobbying of the priest Conrad, the local priest Dolph believed all the rhetoric.

Even accepting such a reality that is unwilling to accept and has to accept-the Varandal Abbey has become part of the war.

Priest Dolph has no choice. Juridically, he now has to obey the dispatch of the Archbishop of Cologne, and Cologne has many allies with these Normans.

To his surprise, the messenger sent before met the Norman fleet. It was this fleet that had just stopped in Cologne. It was the Norman man in front of him who called himself Joseph Blue Fox. Germany has in-depth exchanges.

The gift giver was a nobleman, and Dolph, who knew that he couldn't afford it, could only comply.

"So, what can we do for you?" The priest asked deliberately, implying that he was also exploring the role that Wallendall would play in the next war.

The blue fox answered simply: "We are allies, but you don't know us. Organize all your villagers, organize all your horses, donkeys and carts, and when my army lands, act as my folks who carry supplies. You follow We're going to Nassau, and there will be monetary rewards for those involved."

The priest could not say that he was greedy for money. The gift of a pound of silver coins had already impressed Dolph, and the large amount of hard "pyrus" made his eyes shine. As for a "transparent crystal cup" as a gift, it is said that it can be used as a holy vessel for mass ceremonies and baptism of babies, which shows that these Normans are very pious.

Work for the Baron of Nassau, rich! This is an act of charity that the villagers have never heard of.

Since ancient times, ordinary people have been obliged to serve the nobles, so can they still get some rewards from it? They did not doubt that there were only 200 villagers in Wallendall, and there were only more than 50 strong men who could be mobilized. According to their beliefs, local women must never engage in labor. Fortunately, each family took out all its carts, and the monastery also donated donkeys for pulling stone mills and horses for pulling firewood carts.

There are not many people, and there are few means of transportation, but it is better than nothing.

The blue fox and his party spent the night in Wallendal in the forest. In the early morning of the next day, he himself walked through the woods with his entourage and stood by the Rhine River. He quickly selected a land with soft mud as the landing site.

This place was not chosen randomly, and the villagers who led the way pointed out that the name of the place is uvervare, which means "the ferry from here to the other side". The locals only have small boats, and they don't usually go on the Rhine River. The biggest use of their small boats is to meet the travel needs of the local priests.

The villagers of Linzi almost never leave the place where they were born, even if they intend to take a trip to Nassau for a reward. For many people, this is the furthest excursion in their lives.

Standing on the landing site, Blue Fox could see the thick smoke still rising not far away, which was correct for Koblenz, but due to the direction of the river and the cover of the forest, he could not see the still smoldering residential area clearly, and the local people were also entrenched. The Frankish army could not see itself either. This is exactly what he wanted! The so-called huge number of reinforcements took some sweat to make a detour, and finally appeared behind them without the enemy's awareness.

According to Blue Fox's vision, the triangular area of Koblenz sandwiched by two rivers will surely become an inescapable situation, and the enemy must be wiped out.

Heavy armor and heavy weaponry are the key to victory. As strong as they are on the battlefield, they are as difficult to transport during non-combat periods.

The young Seventh Banner Team will bring at least ten torsion slingshots. Even if various parts can be assembled into a push-pull mobile weapon, the two types of crossbows should not be expected to be carried by soldiers all the time. .

There are too few local civilians, and more civilians and vehicles need to be transported from Nassau.

For the concealment of tactics, Blue Fox would rather choose a strenuous path.

No, on the second day after arriving in Wallendal, two fighters with excellent legs and feet marched lightly. They only had their swords hanging from their waists, and only took the rations and drinking water at noon, and they returned the same way.

The clever blue fox made obvious marks along the way according to the tactics that the Ross people used to hunt in winter in the past. Here, the branches are tied with conspicuous blue and white cloth strips, and wooden stakes are placed.

So at noon on the fifth day, the Nassau armed villagers who were most easily mobilized and some Ross garrison soldiers put together a colossus of more than 400 people, driving a group of cattle and horses as animal power, and dragging some wooden carts. It took a day and a half and an overnight stay on the way before arriving in Wallendal.

This team alone has already shocked these forest dwellers. Priest Dolph did not expect that the Norman Joseph Blue Fox would have such ability. Now he believes that there will indeed be an army of 1,000 people rowing.

Everything is under the control of the blue fox, or there is a tacit understanding in the dark.

Right at the estuary of the Rhine River, the Nordic heroes stationed here did not hesitate to lay their longboats in the rich fishing grounds at the estuary when there was no war. They went all out to catch herring and cod, smoked the dried fish and boiled salt from the sea, firstly to satisfy their appetites, and secondly to reserve military rations for expeditions.

The new order from Blue Fox actually asked the Ross elite stationed here to go retrograde to Nassau to participate in a defense battle? !

Blue Fox didn't tell everyone about the good news about the war. Although the nobles had regrets, they had no choice but to watch a thousand elites quickly organize supplies and march upstream.

So from their standpoint, within a few days after the army drifted to Rotterstadt at the mouth of the sea, Nassau in the upper reaches was in a hurry. No one could have imagined that the Franks made the first move.

The commanded Grund and Askad, their troops loaded all kinds of supplies to the longships, and then jumped on board one by one. Adults and young people mixed together, and the forty longships moved at full strength.

But in the days when Lanhu hoped, the reinforcements he had been looking forward to at night still had no way. He could understand that time was inevitably delayed due to some circumstances. Fortunately, the next morning, on the wide channel of the Rhine River, a group of long boats beat their giant oars rhythmically, like albatrosses flapping their wings on the water surface and preparing to take off.

The width of the Rhine River here is stable at about 300 meters, and the overall river course runs north-south. This is very unfavorable to the Ross army sailing in summer. They cannot use the power of the north wind to fight against the river. Oars are a big test for everyone's body.

Veteran Grund saw the Ross flag flying high by the river, so it might be Nassau?

He saw some people in their own uniforms stationed on the shore, and some even stood upright, waving small flags with both hands, and signaled the fleet with horns.

No, under the correct guidance, all the ships rushed into the preset landing site, and the oak keel was covered with mud. After the soldiers closed their oars, they twisted their bodies vigorously before turning over and disembarking to rest.

Blue Fox himself is standing here, and he is still pleased to see the army even if it is a day late.

"You're a day late." He faced Grund with a smile.

"No way. No one would have guessed that the current flow of the river is unpleasant. Is this Nassau?"

"It's not."

Grund frowned: "Where is this? Where are the enemies? Although the brothers are tired, they still have the strength to put on their armor and fight them immediately, and they are very strong."

"Really?" Blue Fox shrugged: "You really want to prove that you are very strong, but... you don't know about Askad."

The too-young Askad was here, and he rowed continuously for many days, in order to prove that he was indeed a real old Ross, even if his arms were sore, he would not say he was tired.

After all, as Ross is known for, paddling hard is an immutable ancestral law.

When Askad was questioned, the boy curled his mouth and looked extremely stubborn: "I am not a coward. Where is the enemy? My sword wants to drink blood."

"You? Kid! The tone is crazy, I like it. But now is not the time to fight."

When Blue Fox explained the situation to the two officers, their high morale due to the landing inevitably dropped a lot.

"Why bother?!" At this landing site, the veteran Grund had doubts about the blue fox: "Brothers are never afraid of bloodshed. We just forcibly landed on the beach and killed them, how about it? The sneaky actions now show that we are cowardly." .You... now look like a businessman, good at calculating."

The last words were not compliments, Lanhu pulled his face down: "This is called tactics! Do you understand tactics?! You have to praise me when the king comes. I am the commander appointed by the king, and you have to listen to me."

"Yes!" Grund replied perfunctorily: "I'll listen to you. I value the result more. Even if this is the territory of the Franks, brothers don't trust their people. Annihilate the enemies of Koblenz, and we will sacrifice the blood of Austria Man."

"Of course." The blue fox squeezed out a smile again: "The ship will be parked here first, and I will leave a small number of people to take care of it. Others, through the forest of Wallendal, we will enter Nassau from the mountains and emerge from the enemy's rear .Sealing off the enemy's escape route is like catching fish in a pottery urn. How you catch depends on your mood."

"That's right. This metaphor is interesting. Catch a fish in an urn..." Grund nodded in satisfaction, and said no more.

Nothing went wrong in the next action, if there was a heavy rain.

Summer rains are always accompanied by thunder and lightning. Fortunately, when the heavy rain poured down, thousands of reinforcements, together with civilians who transported heavy equipment, had successfully passed through the mountains to Emsbad, a place that produces stone and can soak in hot springs. Good place.

Since there is a hot spring in this place, let's cultivate our body to prepare for future wars.

Thunder and lightning are considered to be the will of Thor, and the reinforcements stationed in Nassau believe that this is the warning of the gods and the blessing of war.

Two consecutive days of heavy rain caused flooding in the mountains, which also caused the Lan River to become turbid. The army complained endlessly, but fortunately the sun was shining again on the third day.

They lit campfires to wash their clothes ~www.mtlnovel.com~ and jumped into the hot spring pools in batches to cleanse themselves with soap. In this way, everyone can say that they have finished bathing and changing clothes before the battle, and the soldiers will face the powerful enemy with the most glamorous image.

For Blue Fox, the fighter he was waiting for was fully mature, and even this thunderstorm became a wonderful boost.

It is conceivable that those Frankish troops were ordered to garrison Koblenz, but they burned down almost all the houses and left the army with nowhere to hide. The sudden drop in temperature is afraid that many people will be exhausted, and the military rations in reserve will also be flooded. If they do not retreat like this, they will be seeking their own death.

According to reports from soldiers who routinely implemented harassment tactics on the river, the Frankish army had withdrawn to the fortress. They were obviously trying to strengthen the fort, but the wooden structure of the fort was all burned in the fire, and it would take a long time to rebuild it. At least the trees can be cut down to make a lot of shacks along the mounds. The Franks have built their simple barracks. Of course, such barracks are not fortresses and have no defense capabilities.

This is really the good information that everyone hoped for. After the final rectification, the combat operation aimed at annihilation began.

First of all, a large-scale river crossing operation will start from the upstream Shipai Ferry...