The blue fox doesn't care about the rain at all. As long as the team follows the previous speed, they can withdraw to the riverside camp in Maastricht in two days. Even if it rains, the army can camp and wait there. The grain was seized, and the rest of the spoils didn't matter Linshui.

He is still most worried about being attacked, and the constant worry even makes him a little nervous. His eyes were especially fixed on the young men of the Seventh Banner Team. This group of cubs were too hot. Many of them took off and folded the cloth robes of the Ross army, and like many rough adults, they showed their thin shoulders and back row Walking in a group, this group of half-sized guys have more or less tattoos with wonderful patterns on their bodies, some of which are domineering.

This surprised Princess Gisla.

She has already learned that those young Norman warriors are generally only twelve years old. What do Normans eat to grow up? They are basically adults at the age of twelve. She only noticed these when the hot warriors took off their shirts. People are not strong enough.

The first warriors in the army were wearing breastplates. They rolled up their sleeves one after another, their helmets were tied with ropes to the belt buckle on the side of the breastplate, and their pure gold hair shone in the scorching sun.

How not to be hot? Old Grund persisted, fortunately the whole army was not short of water.

In this way, the elite of the Ross army set an example in person and drove from the rear. The looting army with a lot of spoils can be regarded as maintaining a compact team that stretched for two kilometers.

Thanks to the hard rammed earth of Aachen Avenue, the road of Roman craftsmanship gave the foundation for the calm evacuation of the Ross Army, which naturally also facilitated the possible Frankish pursuit.

They passed through Bright Lead Village smoothly. Most of the corpses of the slave laborers slaughtered before were not buried, and many corpses were still in the streets and alleys of the villages and towns, and even lay down beside the mainland. When the army passed by, the fox eating the carrion hurriedly fled.

Now, another "fox" is back with Jundi.

Reluctantly enduring the indescribable stench, the army passed through Bright Lead Village and even passed the bridge over the Geul River.

This bridge was marked as early as the time of the operation, and it survives until now entirely because the blue fox wants to leave a way for itself to retreat.

When the whole army passed the bridge one after another, the two centurions at the end of the team were ordered to carry the forest axe, and smashed all the most critical wooden beams of the bridge. After a sweaty operation, the bridge collapsed.

Is this the only bridge over the Geul River? I am afraid there is something else, but it is this bridge that keeps the Aachen boulevard open.

The bridge collapsed, and Blue Fox felt relieved.

In this way, the possible enemy forces would not be able to follow the traces of the coalition forces back. It would only take one day for the coalition forces to return to the starting point, and then they would gather for the second time and retreat back to the mouth of the Yin River.

In fact, for Gisla and Alicia, they used to be canaries raised in the palace, at most they could approach the walls of Aachen, and it was wishful thinking to leave the city without the king's permission.

Everything they saw was novel. They saw dense forests, farmlands and dark shadows in the distance, which were obviously the villages of ordinary people.

The canaries flew out of the cage, and they were free, but basically lost the protection of the palace walls, and had to face the real and cruel world.

Just like the stench of rotting corpses in the passing bright lead village, Jisla couldn't help covering her mouth and nose when she witnessed the tragedy. Feel the deep-rooted fear.

What's up with the Normans? Those teenagers covered their noses at most, and continued to maintain a neat queue, as if they were used to seeing that death didn't care about them.

Everyone was eager to bring the large amount of spoils back to the camp on the Meuse River as early as possible, and transport it to the ship.

Everyone believed that the companions in the camp over there were impatient to wait. Due to the terrible summer heat, those guys would jump into the river to swim and bathe for entertainment.

The bridges have been demolished, is it still necessary to continue to wear armor?

The standing army's first banner team wore breastplates and spontaneously barebacked. The golden hair on the chest and back could not conceal the most domineering tattoos. Some guys even tattooed the image of a dragon-headed ship on their bodies.

They returned to camp happily singing songs of the north. So, is the camp really safe and sound?

Blue Fox's attack from Aachen to the army passively cut off contact with the remaining camp and the Swedish army stationed in Maastricht. Whether they encounter any good or bad things, the blue fox is completely unaware.

He was worried about being attacked by the Franks, which was obviously very likely to happen. Therefore, when the victorious coalition army finally returned to the camp, another situation was displayed in front of the army.

His eyes were as sharp as those of other northerners, and the Maas River was relatively wide. Even so, he still saw a cross flag flying in the city, especially on the city wall.

"Strange, when did the people of Mlaren believe in God?! No! There is a fraud!"

The blue fox was taken aback. He first ordered the elite Ross army at the head of the team to stay on alert immediately. With the front team as an example, as the roads began to congest, all fighters in the rear team had to be alert.

Grund put on the iron helmet in a hurry. His eyesight had declined due to aging, and he couldn't see the flags in the distance clearly. The warrior with outstanding eyes in his subordinates explained to him what he saw, and he also became nervous.

He approached Blue Fox, and the two wily guys got together.

"It's obviously our camp ahead, and I feel too open on the other side of the river." Grund nervously estimated: "I suspect it is some kind of counterattack launched by the Frankish army."

"I think so too. I don't believe that their army is a bunch of idiots. If their heavy cavalry came suddenly..."

"What are you going to say? Are you talking about the Elbe River?" Grund couldn't help but think of the **** battle that happened to him.

"Yes. If the elite heavy cavalry really rushed over, the people of Mlaren would not be defeated?"

"Then continue to advance vigilantly, and I will make the soldiers put on a full set of armor right now."

Blue Fox patted Grund on the shoulder: "Thank you. And I also have to wear armor."

The horn began to sound, and the Maas River camp of the Ross Army was immediately attracted by the sound of the horn. The rather decadent warrior hurriedly turned his face to Aachen Avenue and looked into the depths of the road. He heard the most unique Nordic horn. The Ross people among them could hear the meaning behind the melody of the horn, and the figures in the distance began to sing in the afternoon. The strong reflection in the sun is undoubtedly the expeditionary army that everyone is talking about.

They are back!

As if a dead tree was about to be revived, the left-behind Ross people, Mlaren people, and Danes were all rejoicing.

Bjorn, who is the most depressed, has more complicated emotions now. He is happy that the friendly army has finally arrived, but also saddened by his current embarrassment.

It is fair to say that Bjorn can now lead a group of Swedish fighters to the other side of the Maas River, which is already a manifestation of the gods.

Because those fugitives and messengers spent a lot of effort and finally sent the news of the attacks on Maastricht and Liege to a key general.

Tristan, a general of the standing army who was born in the king's bodyguard, has the title of "Marcus". Lothair could give him a fief, and even promise to give him the status of earl. He could do this, but he deliberately used it as a bait, driving Tristan to always go all out.

The officers of the standing army under Lothair's command can eventually become vassals and nobles, spend their old age in a certain fief with titles of different levels, and the titles are hereditary to the next generation. In theory, each banner captain can eventually get a baronship, and then be assigned to his own territory during the geopolitical reshuffle after the Civil War.

It is fair to say that Lothair was inferior to his father Louis the Pious, and Louis was inferior to his father Charlemagne.

The abilities of the members of the royal family were diminishing from generation to generation. When Lothair took control of the power, he was unable to eliminate the absolute power of his younger brothers and wanted to initiate a civil war. He also does not have the super courage and ability to maintain a standing army of 150,000 people like his grandfather the Great. The standing army inherited to the present is really a gold-swallowing monster. Obviously, the most cost-effective way is to maintain a small number of personal soldiers and rely on the troops of nobles everywhere In wartime, we can win the war by putting together a joint army that has always been in the name of Frank.

The nobles of the imperial faction want to reward them and use them to win the civil war. The standing army at hand should also be aristocratic, and officers who lack titles and titles can be canonized at the right time.

Lothair considered the right moment to be just after the victory of the Civil War.

However, for the strategic garrison in Brussels, which has actually expanded to ten banners and a total strength of nearly 5,000 people, the supreme commander Tristan, this person is enough to scare many nobles.

He was born as a close minister of Lothair and was stationed in Brussels. This person has the power to recruit troops and is authorized to use local taxes. Brussels originally belonged to the old Earl of Maschau, but now it is a pure bishop's territory. Of course, Lothair can make another Earl Muscoot, maybe this person is Tristan.

Many junior officers recognized the possibility, and the general deserved a great reward for defending the peace of the western frontiers for the king.

He was so valued by Lothair, so when he learned that the barbaric Normans had destroyed all the way along the Meuse River, and even destroyed the two big cities, he was furious, and felt that he had failed the king's love.

If he can't regain the peace of the entire Maas River, he might as well die on the battlefield.

The army under his command has expanded to ten banner teams. Due to the current situation, four banner teams are pure infantry. Soldiers composed of local villagers still need to be trained. Fortunately, the weapons and equipment of these people are much better than the previous Liege militia A star and a half.

Brussels must retain the main garrison. For security reasons, Tristan weighed it again and again and decided to take a risk.

It has been half a year. If the Flanders take the initiative to attack, they should act. It is almost autumn harvest time, and they will definitely not stop the farming season and attack.

Completely different from them, most of the supplies of the Frankish army in Brussels depended on the hoisting of supplies from the rear. The current situation is that the rear traffic line is cut off. Of course, the army can persist in saving food and money, but after doing so, the combat effectiveness of the entire army will gradually weaken.

The most dangerous thing is next year. If due to the war, a large number of farmers cannot receive the golden autumn wheat, not to mention how these farmers will live next year, the army's supplies next year will be greatly reduced.

If the Normans entrenched in the Meuse River don't get out, the whole area will not be safe for a day.

No, General Tristan placed all the infantry in the barracks, and ordered the people in the nearby villages to make them build camps to protect themselves. The border with Flanders was completely on the defensive, so he decided to personally take the mobile cavalry of the three banners to attack Maastricht.

He did not act alone, the attacking army met the Earl Lamongo's army coming from the direction of Liege.

How is Liege? The city was destroyed, the ruins of the cathedral were still smoldering, and the entire residential area was reduced to ruins. In the future, people can only rebuild the city on the scorched earth.

What is even more frightening is the river beach next to the looted and damaged fortress, where there is a stench that can stun people. As far as the eye can see, there are soldiers who died in battle, and no one collects their corpses. The crows flying in the sky create a hellish scene here.

Earl Ramongao was the Earl Gilbert who robbed the three princesses of Lothair.

The kidnapping of the princess can be described as a scandal among the nobles. Tristan admires this kid as a ruthless person, that's all.

This time, however, the two armies met near Maastricht.

One side had just experienced intense mental stimulation in the ruins and battlefields of Liege, while the other side was rushing towards the target city with all its strength.

The flags of both sides of the encounter are raised, and nothing is more representative than the cross flag flying high.

The two armies joined forces, and after some negotiations, both sides were surprised by the identity of the other side.

Marrying the princess by kidnapping was legalized this year. Now, as Lothair's son-in-law, the young and passionate Earl Ramongao felt that he had to prove his masculine charm in front of his wife.

He was only in his early twenties, and he was more willing to prove that he was a loyal minister of the king than to destroy the righteousness of the Normans.

The two loyal ministers assembled the existing cavalry, and a behemoth of two thousand cavalry was born!

Only Earl Ramongao brought the militiamen he urgently recruited. These relatively large infantry forces are still dawdling, and now they are given a major task-to collect the dead bodies that can be seen everywhere in the smoldering ruins of Liege.

This will be a painful process. After all, it has been many days since the Ross army left. It has been raining and exposed to the sun. There are more than 3,000 dead bodies near the entire town of Liege. The arduous operation of collecting the bodies is enough to torture the soldiers. Nervous breakdown.

The count explained the matter to Tristan in horror, and even he, who was full of blood, lamented: "I have never seen such a battlefield! There are corpses of our army's dead everywhere, and what the refugees who fled to my territory said It's all true. Those Normans murdered the poorest of all, and they clearly intended to kill every Frank. We must wipe them out, and fight with fire."

Liege was in ruins, as was Maastricht, presumably occupied by the Normans.

The facts are indeed true. On the battlefield outside the city, the corpses of the Frankish army and the Ross coalition army have no time to collect the corpses. Now the Swedish Mellaren army in the coalition forces stays in the city begging for nothing, let alone collect the corpses. Thanks to the southerly wind in recent days, the stench from the battlefield in the city will only continue to drift northward, and the Swedish army in the city is still eating and dancing.

Most of these Swedish fighters are debtor farmers and debt slaves. They snapped up the money, and now they wantonly fill their stomachs with the grain in the warehouse. Taking advantage of this perfect opportunity, the soldiers ate and drank every day, and all of them gained weight in a short period of time, so that the buckles of their belts were all worn out. Move back a hole or two.

However, the Frankish army came.

Hundreds of Swedes and a small number of Danish fishermen occupy the main city of Maastricht. How can this number of people hold the entire city? What's more, Commander Bjorn, Earl of Mlaren, since he is the abdicated king of Sweden, and now he has taken such a big advantage, his heart naturally swells up again.

He drank ale all day long in the city, gorged on wheat, jam, and cheese, and ate red meat every day. The gluttonous behavior of a rich man was vividly displayed, and he was worthy of being reprimanded by the blue fox: he was just a big man in the north. Landlords.

The occupied cities were undefended, the gates were kept wide open, and the Swedish soldiers were scattered.

Since the Frankish army that rescued the city was all cavalry, and the horseshoes kicked up endless mud on the still wet ground after the rain, an army of cavalry suddenly appeared in the west of the city. They were almost a step away from the city wall, but not a single Swede noticed it.

There are even some guys who have drunk too much ale and their bodies are too poor to hangover. They just sit in the city square and tilt their heads with the guys and get delirious. There are also a large number of people who still carry tools to hit the stone wall, in order to hear the hollow sound and image to judge the hidden room with hidden treasures.

Is it an empty city plan? The gates of the city were opened, and the whole city felt deserted. Had the Normans gone? Or could there be an ambush?

When Tristan was stationed in Brussels, he learned some past stories. The so-called small group of Flanders troops had sneak attacks for the purpose of robbery. Some of the so-called enemies were the real Denmark that dominated the Port of Durist people.

Danes are Normans! Tristan is such a simple cognition, anyway, in his opinion, a guy with blond tattoos and a big buckler who is good at sailing is a Norman or a Dane no matter what his name is.

He shilled the chaotic mixed cavalry to pause and rest.

"Why stop? The gate is open, let's rush right in." Gilbert, the young Earl of Ramengau, urged impatiently.

"No. I'm afraid the Normans have an ambush. The cavalry enters the city, and we may encounter surprise attacks in the streets."

"Forget it. What we need now is courage! Uncle, could it be that you have lost your courage because you are old?" The count was very rude to Tristan. After all, he is the legal son-in-law of Lothair, and he is currently serving in the army. The critical moment for the father to relieve his worries.

He called on all the high cavalry of Ramon, completely ignoring the command of Tristan, who had stronger individual combat effectiveness, and charged into Maastricht first.

"Damn it! Reckless fool!" Tristan gritted his teeth and drew his sword, calling on the whole army to rush into the city from the west gate without blowing the trumpet.

As a result, the Swedish Mlaren soldiers, who were dizzy after eating and drinking in the city, were attacked by the Frankish cavalry. Even if the streets and alleys in the city were not conducive to cavalry actions, the unsuspecting Swedes were even more disadvantaged.

In an instant, the Swedish army collapsed~www.mtlnovel.com~ The dead could not be dragged away, the wounded were deliberately trampled to death by Frankish horses, and the living ran away without caring about holding their soft hands.

Bjorn himself was also dragged to the pier by people, and he was dragged onto the longboat by his own soldiers, and rushed to the Ross camp on the other side before he was able to survive.

However, the Frankish cavalry rushed all the way to the pier, and the Swedish soldiers and Danes who could escape had already retreated to the other side. Not many people who escaped successfully could be seen with the naked eye, and the worst thing was that a large amount of loot was still in the city. even! Some of the longships were unexpectedly captured by the Frankish cavalry because it was too late to row away.

Thanks to the help of the wounded personnel of the Ross Army, they rowed and floated on the Maas River with their bows in an emergency, bullying the disadvantage of the Frankish cavalry not being able to enter the water, and forced them back with the loss of arrows and torsion slingshots.

As it had to be, the Swedes got their ships back, and the sad result was that the city camp was lost, and Bjorn had to face a bitter reality. He is responsible for his arrogance and negligence after his victory.

This is where his decadence begins.