In Rotterstadt, everything has returned to calm.

The port of Durist has gone into history forever. The remains of the old town are covered by dense reeds, and the mud washed down by the Rhine River is gradually burying it.

A brand-new port city has replaced it. No northerner can ignore the superiority of this unique location. It is like a treasure bestowed by the gods, but it has nothing to do with the Franks.

In the final analysis, the area at the mouth of the Inn River was originally the territory of the Earl of Flanders, and it was a helpless move for the Earl of Flanders to surrender to Frank.

Earl Baudouin was very clear about the fact that the blue fox led the army south to attack Aachen, or that although he did not participate in the war, he was a real participant in the whole incident.

Rotterstad has completely become a paradise for the Normans. Danish free fishermen have been migrating here, not only them, but Norwegians from many fjords, and even Gotaland and Swedes. Trivial estuary islands began building their settlements.

For the first time, the huge fish resources in the North Sea began to be plundered by trawling techniques from the north. It is not an exaggeration to describe the "land scraping" type of fishing cod operations as sweeping.

No one thinks that the fish can be fished out. The resources of the sea are inexhaustible. The extra fish are sold to the locals in Utrecht nearby to earn extra income. When they are not looting, they live by fishing. Much better than the North.

Rotterstadt is not a city, but a collective name for a port settlement. She has two large settlements, a gradually populous Danish community along the small tributary of the Rotter River, and another on the main river, closer to the mouth of the sea, where Ross's shops are located.

Ross Shop is centered on a military fortress with wooden walls, and around it are gradually prosperous fishermen's dens.

No one taxed the fishermen, and because of the war dividends, these free fishermen had free access to Utrecht, Antwerp, Ghent.

Are Danes who have left their homeland in Denmark still considered Danes?

Compared with the Henry Nassau family who migrated from inland Nassau to Utrecht as Earls, the Earl of Flanders still cultivates deeply in his coastal fief, even if he has Frankish blood, it is only because of the interests of the family. He must also be tied to the interests of the large number of Gauls and Frisians in the territory.

Belichka is the old name of Flanders.

Once a precedent is set for some things, the second and third cases will be made on the spot until it becomes common.

The earl, who is good at changing the direction of the wind, is not just anxious to send his daughter to the bed of Red Fox Gouldsson, the governor of Rotterstad in the Kingdom of Ross. The commercial treaty signed with the Ross people has already shown him benefits at hand.

There is a large area of saline-alkali land in the coastal area of Flanders. This land is not suitable for planting, but it is suitable for raising cattle and sheep and doing some work of boiling salt. Their fishing ability is far inferior to that of the foreign Norman immigrants, and the huge people still need wheat to feed them.

Brussels and Lille, one in the east and the other in the west, such fortresses cannot be lost. In the final analysis, those areas are already inland, there is no harm from salt and alkali, and the flat terrain is very suitable for growing crops.

Baudouin had assembled an army in Brussels, and he was unwilling to really fight the Frankish army. The two sides had always maintained a delicate balance.

He waited for an opportunity, he needed to get what he wanted to know from the returning Ross army.

Now the opportunity is in front of us.

He was really surprised by the detailed information delivered by the messenger sent by the "Permanent Representative" sent to Ross's shop.

"Lothair's third daughter was actually captured? Didn't he take the whole family to Strasbourg? This woman may be a fake. Forget it. Since those damned cavalry garrisons suffered heavy losses, I should do it."

He thought so, and indeed changed the tortoise tactics, and the static Flanders army finally began to take the initiative to send troops.

But Baudouin didn't want to fight a strategic decisive battle with the Frankish army to determine the rise and fall, even though he knew very well that the purpose of Chen Bing's opponents on the border was only to contain him. As long as there is a Frankish army on the border, it is a sword that is always on your head.

Baudouin would take the army to fight desperately only if the enemy reached the door. For this kind of border war, he still uses the old method of being a thug - the constant harassment of small groups of troops.

He just wants the damned Frankish heavy cavalry to leave and peace to return to the frontier.

But this time, he had to think more.

"Since Liege and Maastricht have been destroyed and burned, and the priests have been killed by the Normans, who is the new master of the entire Maschau region? If Lothair suffers major failures this year, if we Musko, who took the opportunity to occupy, should admit the established facts."

At first he didn't want to do this, but the changes in the general environment made Mascot, who had just experienced a severe war, like a jar of honey in the eyes of some big nobles, Baudouin couldn't help but be tempted!

Losing the area north of the Rhine River, the peace treaty signed with the Normans has indeed brought about economic development, and it is indeed a loss of power and humiliation to the country. If I took this year's opportunity to capture the entire Mascot, wouldn't I regain what I lost from another aspect?

"I have to justify the military action. Yes! I will march there with the reason of saving Maastricht and driving out the bandits. After all, I am still a vassal of Frank."

Logically, jurisprudentially, and morally, Baudouin's brand-new proposition is tenable.

He set to work, riding his horses himself to the fortress of Brussels, where the great army was assembled in a state of imminent assault.

If it were left in the past, the Frankish general Tristan on the opposite side would pull the heavy cavalry out of the formation, and forcefully prevent the outbreak of a full-scale war under the powerful military deterrence.

But this time, the news that Baudouin sent out to find out made him ponder in every possible way.

"The Franks and the Ross lost a lot in the battle by the river, but they won't be defeated, right? What happened to Tristan himself? The young Gilbert of Ramon Gao actually became a temporary general? Could it be Tristan? Dead? If so, their panic is justified."

Ghent is the seat of Baudouin's palace, and its south is actually the essence of Flanders, where the main population is.

He thought of a ruthless move. Launching an attack during the wheat harvest season is tantamount to suicide. The so-called wheat rot in the field after the harvest time is basically equal to the failure of the harvest. However, today's Flanders army is very different from before. Coastal fishermen and herdsmen don't rely on farming for a living. The earl pulls out some strong people from these people to form a militia, and organizes them in his own farming area. Debt farmers.

The most special thing is that there is only a mercenary army under him, the Danes, with a force of only more than 200 people.

The Danish free fishermen did not completely reject living in the Frankish world. These people spontaneously moved their families to Antwerp to settle down, and simply converted to God on the spot in exchange for the right to go directly to Ghent without hindrance.

The locals are in awe of the cruelty of the Normans, but seeing the blond haired women and children of the Normans, coupled with their collective conversion behavior, people have to do some thinking.

Pragmatic Baudouin immediately recruited them. Although he was converted, he did not have to pay the church tithe, nor did he have to pay the tithe for himself, the prince. He was not enough to award knight titles to all naturalized people, but he took out the only knight title and bestowed it on a man named "Rabbit Tooth" Siegfast.

Nicknamed Rabbit Tooth because Siegfast was born with big and long incisors. Due to his face with buck teeth and protruding mouth, his appearance is not good-looking but it is very distinctive. In addition, he is in his prime of life and has long-term fishing training. A whole body of muscle. With such a peculiar face and strong enough strength, first-time viewers are all wary of it. Some people spontaneously gathered around him and fished together with several families in Rotterstadt, and now they gathered a group of people who immigrated directly to Flanders and established their community in the rebuilt Antwerp.

With this powerful Danish mercenary, things seem to have returned to the era when his father was an earl.

At that time, Port Durist was still in the hands of the pirate king Horik, who announced in a high profile that he was the real Earl of Flanders. At that time, Baudouin was still a child. A big Danish pirate boss actually took the initiative, and the young Baudouin was already ready to kill. Fortunately, that guy was made a "roasted pig" by the Ross people, but he gave himself a sigh of relief.

It's really a turn of events, and the person in power can also have a Danish mercenary. It is not necessary to give them military pay, as long as they are allowed to freely plunder in war.

So is the news of careful investigation true?

Baudouin ordered "Rabbit Tooth" Siegfast to lead his men to attack an infantry pair garrison of the Frankish garrison in Brussels.

The style of this Danish mercenary is very traditional. Baudouin sent his trusted guide to guide Siegfast, and even arranged a small group of his own elite soldiers to form a coalition force of 300 people.

Three hundred people seemed nothing, but although the Frankish army was stationed in Brussels, the barracks of each department were relatively scattered. An infantry standard (brigade) with four to five hundred people was stationed in a small fortress. For the convenience of life, each garrison fortress must be built next to the river, and these fortresses with wooden walls are all on the right bank of the river.

The essence of Brussels Fortress is just a small city, even if it is lost, it will not cause any loss to Baudouin.

The problem now is that the city is indeed in the hands of the Franks.

Winning the city is nothing more than a flag of three lions representing Charlemagne's authority hanging on the top of the city. What else can it explain?

Outside the city is the confrontation army of the Count of Flanders. Baudouin did not have a good solution in the past period. He took the initiative to give up control of the city of Brussels. Of course, all the local population was taken away by him. Well, what was thrown to the Frankish army was a completely empty city with no supplies.

The two armies have been in a state of confrontation since 841, and the confrontation has reached its peak in 842 today.

The fact is that the two sides are along the small river named Senne (Senne). Although it is a small river, its average width is 40 meters. It is wide enough for long ships to sail normally, and it is a tributary of the Scheldt, so if you start from Antwerp, you can indeed go straight to Brussels by water.

Siegfast's Danish mercenaries were the main attacking force of this operation, accompanied by a centurion of Flanders elite soldiers who were co-combatants and witnesses. The latter will personally observe whether the mercenaries really dare to fight, and their centurion will report the detailed battle situation to the earl.

As a result, ten longships from Antwerp took the lead in breaking the deadlock between the two armies.

The huge paddles above and below the dragon-headed longship fluttered over the Seine River, and they suddenly showed fierce phantoms from the thick fog in the early summer morning, which was like a monster coming to the Frankish infantry!

Blocking defenders? ! It doesn't exist at all.

The longboat crashed into the reeds by the river, and the oak keel was plowed as deep as mud. Siegfast and his brothers jumped off the longboat.

"Let's go! Kill them! Take everything you want!"

He held his battle-axe aloft, and his brothers beside him either held axes or harpoons. When it comes to armed capabilities, this group of Danish mercenaries is far inferior to the Ross army, and the Danish king Ragnar's real Danish army is also far stronger than these people.

After all, they are ordinary Danish fishermen, and their weapons are mostly tools for daily life. As for the armor, there is something special about it. The styles are basically the common items of Frankish soldiers, and as for the source, they must be picked up from the corpses.

What kind of Frankish infantry can they fight against?

General Tristan was stationed in Brussels with the order of King Lothair. The infantry troops were all from local farmers. If they had not had a relatively stable supply of military food, these people would have fled long ago.

It's a pity that Tristan is dead, the Cavalry Legion has neither lost nor won, and the retreating Franks brought back bad news. The two cavalry flag captains survived the catastrophe, but unfortunately, their subordinates suffered casualties. In addition, the holy city of Maastricht was engulfed in raging fire. The atmosphere in the barracks was clearly that of defeat. No hard-talking personnel could deny one factGeneral Tris is dead.

Well now, who is the commander in chief?

Bridges collapsed, the large city that served as a material transport hub was burned, and the alternative ending of Lige was also a raging fire. The bad thing is that the fertility of the land near the small town of Brussels is very low, and there are not many residents here in peacetime. Now, because of the military confrontation that has lasted for more than a year, the nearby farmland with meager production capacity has also been abandoned.

The military rations can still be maintained until the autumn harvest, but now it is the autumn harvest period, and the new wheat from other places may not be able to reach Brussels in a short time, and the Frankish army stationed here is in great danger of running out of food!

After the death of General Tristan in the cavalry flag team, which still has combat effectiveness, the flag captains made a seemingly rational but extremely stupid decision!

It is said that after counting the existing food, the food is mainly distributed to the cavalry teams, so that there should not be a food shortage crisis in a short period of time, but this year, when six infantry banner teams are formed, the porridge distributed to each soldier is only half of what it used to be. .

Doing so is tantamount to declaring that the Frankish army has really suffered a defeat on the banks of the Meuse River. Most of the homes of ordinary infantry are in the Maasgau area, that is, an area very close to the battlefield where the Normans raged.

The soldiers were homesick, worried that the defeated heavy cavalry could not guarantee the safety of their hometown, and even more worried that their hometown would be ransacked by the Normans, and their wives and children would be taken away as slaves.

The soldiers were deeply puzzled by this boring confrontation. After all, the Flanders are now showing an uncharacteristically offensive posture, which makes the teams nervous.

The biggest problem right now is that the rations in the hand are cut in half, even if the rations are halved, how long can they last? Don't eat enough, do you still have the strength to fight?

All the infantry flag teams have a pessimistic attitude.

As for whether they are really pessimistic, someone needs to verify what the dispatched staff said, so Siegfast and his Danish brothers came.

The low-pitched Nordic Horn transmitted the muffled sound to the distance, and the fog covered everything, only the sound reached the ears of the newly defeated cavalry soldiers.

The cavalry soldiers were taken aback, the horror scene on the banks of the Maas River was still fresh in their memory, and the familiar sound of the horn seemed to be the sound from hell. Could it be that the Normans are pointing their finger at Brussels again?

But the Frankish Army Camp was located at the infantry camp at the most downstream of the Seine River, and the local garrison first saw a large number of soldiers with round shields emerge from the fog.

"It's the Normans!" The soldiers standing in the simple wooden tower first sounded the alarm.

However, the entire barracks did not act urgently at all.

Already demoralized, they chose the most sensible course of actionfleeing.

The soldiers who escaped late were hacked and killed by the Danes who easily broke through the wooden door and entered the fortress barracks without even taking their weapons. Along with Siegfast's Danish mercenaries, a centurion-sized Flanders elite soldiers also joined them, and the battle was quickly completed. The fleeing enemies were all covered by fog, and the victor had no intention of chasing them. .

The mass escape of an infantry standard set off an immediate and bad chain reaction.

Only God knows how many Normans came, and the fear was spreading. As a result, five infantry banners chose to flee, and even the sane banner captain was powerless to reverse this decline.

The news quickly reached the ears of the Cavalry Corps. Under the cover of defeatism, they did not go to the area where the incident occurred, but the cavalry flag teams made different choices.

A big opportunity suddenly lies in front of you!

Siegfast and his Danes appear to have won a major victory, and there appears to be a mass flight from the Frankish camp across the Seine? !

Baudouin realized that this was God's gift to him. He didn't intend to launch a decisive battle, but he was itchy!

Then act! Bet big!

The Flemish army launched a general attack, the soldiers were like a rainbow, and Baudouin himself took the lead in the charge.

Under absolute force suppression, the last Frankish cavalry who intended to resist chose to retreat.

The Lord of Flanders took back Brussels, which they had personally abandoned, and the defenders in the city surrendered without a fight. Baudouin immediately pardoned the crimes of these people, and after learning that these people were almost all forced peasants from the Masgau region, he immediately announced after hearing their complaints: "Masgau will be my territory in Flanders! Isn't Earl Muscovy cancelled? I am the new Earl Muscovy!

A captured infantry standard becomes part of the Army of Flanders!

There was no large-scale war, and the County of Flanders won a dramatic victory. Baudouin's operation is still going on, and he has already started to march towards the city of Maastricht, which must be turned into scorched earth.

As for the fleeing Frankish heavy cavalry, the veterans were exhausted by now. They withdrew into the Earl of Ramengau and forcibly "invaded" the Earl's territory regardless of noble etiquette, but Earl Gilbert could no longer care about his anger.

From Gilbert's point of view, he had suffered a defeat, and he fled back to his hometown in Namur City, claiming to have saved his life, just wanting to resolutely protect his fiefdom. The heavy cavalry who had fled back now claimed that the Brussels barracks had completely collapsed, as if the Flemish army and the Norman barbarians were attacking their fief together.

what to do? What to do?

Gilbert has no better way~www.mtlnovel.com~ In the end, it threatens his own core interests, and he is young and vigorous, and he does not hesitate to fight for the family, for his princess wife, and the evil enemy. The natural premise is that they really invaded Ramon's high territory.

This is where the Flemish chicken thief is. Baudouin strictly ordered his subordinates not to threaten Lamongo. After the army stayed in the lost and regained Brussels, he personally led the elite to go straight to Maastricht...

However, all the actions of the Flanders have nothing to do with the Ross coalition forces resting in Rotterstadt. Everything is Baudouin's own private action. The so-called Ross coalition forces have muddied the water and he took the opportunity to fish .

As early as Baudouin was about to take positive action, the blue fox had already brought Princess Jisla, some gifts, and some vacant longboats to go retrograde on the Rhine River.

Blue Fox has a lot of things to do, throwing the princess to her uncle Ludwig is one, and the more important thing is to import a large amount of wine that is in short supply and hot in the north from his younger brother Black Fox who is the ruler of Nassau .

After all, the family is from a businessman background, and doing business is engraved in their bones.