Chapter 520： Invade Lindisfarne

Lindisfarne, this place name is very unfamiliar to Rurik.

Actually? This monastery is deliberately living on a remote offshore tidal island. There are many treasures in the monastery, but the priest still upholds the creed and leads a pure-hearted life.

This place is now the most important religious center of the Kingdom of Northumbria. After it was looted by the Vikings of Bergen 40 years ago, the kingdom rebuilt it.

After absorbing the tragedy of last time, the kingdom also began to use granite that is relatively easy to obtain locally to reinforce it.

The disaster has passed, and the youngest witnesses are now almost in their twilight years. The priests of the past, most of them died in the plunder. The priests who subsequently migrated can only listen to the dictation of witnesses to imagine the scene of the disaster, and these people have also gone to heaven one after another...

Lindisfarne Abbey has restored its tranquility here. Even if the kingdom has broken out of civil strife for decades, the nobles who are fighting for power will never covet the more and more spontaneous donations of gold in the monastery. Instead, the king sent an army to build a military camp on the periphery of the monastery.

Rather than guarding against the possible emergence of sea barbarians, the king is more concerned about whether this kingdom's religious center is really firmly in his hands.

Lindisfarne is 200 kilometers away from the royal city of York, but it is less than a day's journey from Bamburgh, another military town in the north of the kingdom.

Although he learned a lot of information from Paul, Rurik always had a hunch, because his army was going to penetrate into the core ruling area of ​​Northumbria, and it was inevitable to face a larger-scale battle.

Will fighting drive these Viking warriors crazy? They will.

After the army had finished eating, immediately began to carry the spoils.

Lurik had planned to set sail at noon, but it took too much time to carry food and other trophies (mainly iron and cloth collected). Time flies until the afternoon, and the people who are exhausted from carrying supplies have to continue to nest on the beach, eating the captured wheat to recharge their energy.

But the fire in Edinburgh has not been extinguished, and there is still a fiery hell.

Rurik even found the horses that were pulling the carts with ropes, and directly hoisted them to the ship of the Aphrora, and finally stuffed them into the cabin. As for the carriage, there was no waste. The decks, wheels, and axles were disassembled and installed on the boat.

Other long ships carry a lot of cargo, of which the most important thing is food.

The Bergen immigrants in Shetland value food, while the Balmerks prefer gold, silver, copper and iron.

On a new day, when the sea fog is still filling, the entire Viking fleet leaves Edinburgh, where the flames have not yet been extinguished.

The fog concealed the traces of the fleet, and the huge fleet was drifting aggressively south along the coastline.

And this is not destined to be a long voyage.

A cool north wind hit, and in the face of the sudden change of wind, the ships raised their sails without hesitation.

People retracted the oars with great comfort, and the long boat only left two or three people to maneuver the big boat perfectly.

At the same time, the captured Paul was being invited to stand on the bow deck by Rurik with an unbelievable feeling.

Feeling the sea breeze, he looked sideways at the waves crashing on the bow, and couldn't help feeling: "This! Is it Noah's Tivat?"

Rurik fully understood this person's words, and arrogantly responded: "The ark is very big, there is only one! My ship is very small. However, when you come to my port, you will see more such big ships."

"This is the largest ship I have ever seen. Any wind and waves cannot overturn it."

"Of course." Rurik continued arrogantly: "We have the ability to build larger ships, and maybe one day, we will build island-like ships, just like that ark. But to accomplish this goal, I need a lot of Money recruits craftsmen to build. This is one of the reasons I want to continue to attack. Do you think I am a villain?"

"This..." Paul had nothing to say, speaking from his conscience. He was convinced that this very young Rurik was not an extraordinary person, and he had definitely understood the wisdom of those scriptures!

I'm afraid this Rurik still knows Latin! It's a pity that I don't know anything and can only listen to the explanations of those noble and arrogant priests.

Look at the situation again! This big ship named Aphrola is completely different from other ships. The people on the ship wear uniform uniforms. They are indeed not the lamb of God, but it cannot be said that they are dirty. The commander-in-chief named Rurik was dressed in glamorous clothes and full of wisdom.

If this young man went to Lindisfarne to be baptized by the bishop himself, and then took the big ship to make a pilgrimage to Rome, then he would definitely become a noble king. And he, a grain officer in charge of grain, might be canonized by Bishop Lindisfarne as a priest because of the referrer.

Unfortunately, all of this is a beautiful fantasy. Just like heaven, endless beauty is out of reach...

Lord Rurik is extraordinary, but his army is going to attack Lindisfarne.

Since they broke Edinburgh in just one afternoon, how about facing the monastery in the south?

Do not! Not just a monastery! And its attached barracks!

More than just a barracks! This army of sea barbarians might directly attack Bamburgh, which is a little further south, and torch that city.

Thinking of this, Paul felt more and more that he would go to **** after his death.

However, this Rurik claimed to be a saint blessed by the great northern **** Odin. Anyone who fights for him will enter the Vallaha Temple after death, and those who do not help will also go to the wonderful Asgard.

Maybe, that Valhalla and Asgard mean the same thing as Paradis (Heaven)?

In an instant, Paul suddenly began to doubt his beliefs.

The fleet sailed at a very fast speed after the wind, and in some periods it reached eight knots.

The enthusiasm of the people has not declined. Many people imagine that a fast voyage will be able to reach their destination on the same day. Finally, everyone is holding a lot of gold tonight and the local woman who owns the local woman spends the night happily. After the brothers won a big victory, the ship can no longer carry more wealth, and everyone will return with a full load.

Then, because I know the route, I will come next year.

This is indeed the case. People have been watching the coastline, even before the evening. Everyone with good eyesight sees the distant walled city and a strange building through the very clear air blown by the cool breeze. .

Paul, who was sleeping on the side, was pushed up by Rürich. He pointed to the distance and asked, "Where, is it the Lindisfarn you said?"

Seeing a building with a spire in the distance, Paul swallowed abruptly: "Yes. It's Lindisfarne, a monastery with a spire. Your lord, look over there."

Paul pointed in another direction: "That's the guard's camp. If you want to attack the monastery, you...must fight fiercely with those people."

"Roar? A battle?" Rurik raised his spirit a little, "It seems that I can't plunder without defeating the defenders."

Soon, a few loudly voiced people began to shout loudly at the casual long boatman behind them, indicating that a hostile target had appeared in front of them.

The people who had been bored by the long voyage quickly burst into fighting spirit, people were yelling in excitement, and the stowed oars were turned out again.

The wind and paddling drove the long ship to its maximum speed. Realizing the actions of those guys, Rurik also ordered that he could not continue to lower the speed. The mainmast was full of sails and the stern and adjuncts set sail. Shocked and began to hurricane at full speed.

Paul saw that these sea barbarians were already adjusting their heavy weapons! There were even some strange things moved from the cabin to the deck. Paul himself didn't know what it was. He instinctively told himself that this was a weapon.

The fleet rushed forward aggressively, and as the distance shortened, Rurik couldn't help gritting his teeth when seeing the whole picture of the so-called Lindisfarn Monastery cleaned up.

Why? He saw this monastery, which was said to be full of wealth, and it turned out to be located on an offshore island with a small cliff. There was an obvious road that looked like a breakwater extending to the land.

Not only that, the people who built this monastery were afraid that the small cliffs would not be able to strengthen their defenses, and they were stupefied that they piled up a circle of low stone walls.

The stone walls are not terrible, and Lurik really feels that the geographical conditions of the small cliffs prevent the fleet from landing on the beach and heading for the monastery.

Many situations clearly show one thing, that is, since Lindisfarne was attacked a long time ago, the new monastery has strengthened enough defenses.

However, this is probably just a small obstacle encountered by the Viking army on the way to attack.

The mast of the Aphrora is now flying with the blue flag of Ross on a white background, which is the navy flag of the Principality of Ross!

Rurik has ordered the adjustment of the heading of the flagship Aphrodite, which has caused all the subsequent long ships to turn.

He glanced at the flag of the mast in an inadvertent moment, and suddenly had a clever plan in mind.

"Jeflo!" Rurik shouted.

"in."

"The king flag of Northumbria we seized, didn't you throw it away?!"

"How could it be thrown away?" Jeflo looked proud: "That is our glory! That felt cloth has been washed and dried."

Rurik pointed at the mast: "Send me someone to take off our flag and hang that flag."

"Ah! What does this mean?"

"You are too innocent, Jeflo! This is a strategy! I want the defenders, the priests, to think we are their friends."

After being pointed out by himself, Yevlo suddenly realized that after a roar, he assigned a man to climb the mast to change the flag.

This is an era without binoculars, and everyone in Lindisfarne has been watching until the huge fleet is heading here.

People have heard the news that the monastery was attacked decades ago, but it has been a long time ago, and it has become a kind of legend.

The angle of view was changed to Lindis Fine.

In the adjacent naval barracks in Noembria, an infantry captain named John was awakened by his men.

"My lord! Something happened! The sea..." The soldier trembling violently, pointed in the direction of the ocean.

"What are you scared of? Take me to see."

As soon as the infantry captain walked out of his barracks, he saw a large number of soldiers standing outside the camp, squinting at the fleet that was getting closer and closer. They had never seen a fleet of this size, especially noticing that there was a strange big ship in it.

What's the situation? !

The infantry captain subconsciously felt that the crisis was serious, and when he saw that the king's flag of his kingdom was flying on the big ship, he suddenly couldn't make up his mind.

In fact, most people are wondering, maybe this fleet was built by Lord King? It is unbelievably weird, and does anyone know about the formation of the King's fleet?

The soldiers wanted an explanation from the infantry captain, but Johnson knew nothing.

It's always right to stay alert regardless of whether the person is an enemy or a friend.

He couldn't make up his mind now, so he gave an order, that is, a centurion under his command to take his own person to the monastery urgently, and then close the gate.

The remaining two centurions led the team to line up with him to the coast. If the king is coming, he will welcome him, if the enemy is the enemy, he will go to war.

As for the soldiers who did not return to assist the Earl of Bamburgh to go to the countryside to collect food, John had no attention.

John has achieved the most basic qualities of a soldier. He devoted himself to military deployment in the shortest possible time. The most important thing is that he correctly fulfilled his important responsibility of guarding the monastery.

The wooden doors of the monastery have been closed, and the priests have all learned of the arrival of a suspected Wang family fleet.

Very different from the attitude of the army, many priests naively thought that the king himself and his beloved fleet arrived at the monastery, because the mass of the Assumption on August 15 is coming! This year, the king personally brought the mighty fleet to attend the grand mass. Everything makes sense.

However, the opponent's Assumption of the Virgin Rurik never cared. The main reason for choosing the looting in July and August was that Britain had just harvested the wheat during this period. Vikings from all walks of life had to take advantage of this opportunity to make a fortune.

He estimated that his deceitful methods had deceived his opponent to a certain extent, and a kind of armed men dressed in orange clothes lined up outside the coastal camp, which made him surprised.

"Maybe they were not fooled." Yevlo said with jealousy.

"It doesn't matter, they are lined up, but they are more likely to be hit by us. Jeflo!"

"in!"

"Take the brothers to adjust the weapons, and all the bull stone throwers are aimed at the starboard side. The torsion slingshot on the port side is moved to the starboard side. The others, with the crossbow ready to shoot."

"Yes!"

With the size of the Aphrola, the beach is just getting stranded on its own. With the big ship close enough to the coast, Rurik used a mechanical sight with a fixed starboard torsion slingshot to stare at a wandering enemy soldier, and the aiming frame locked the enemy's figure, especially the size of the figure Rurik determined the position.

"Now go riveting! 150stika away! Starboard to the enemy!"

With the violent shaking, the Aphrora suddenly stopped. As the anchor was dropped from the port side, the whole ship naturally faced the coast with its starboard side.

"Hjutraaaa!"

Rurik screamed, and all the long-range weapons on the Aphrora fired at the same time!

This action shocked Paul directly to the ground. Didn't he think that these devices were firing deadly weapons? ! Can you really hit a sergeant on the shore at such a long distance?

The ten-round javelin with a rotating tail of the torsion slingshot went straight to the Northumbria garrison lined up with whirring noises at a parabola per second.

It was followed by ten stone bullets fired by the bull trebuchet, and the light arrow thrown by the crossbow followed.

People on the shore have never seen a torsion slingshot, or it is simply the loss of these weapons in Britain, which has caused these fighters to be terribly ignorant of these weapons.

John only heard an impending rumbling, and after a while he hesitated, he suddenly felt fear.

Unfortunately, the casualties of the soldiers followed.

Some soldiers were directly nailed to the beach with a javelin, while others were stoned to break their shoulders, and the smashed heads died instantly.

People began to retreat subconsciously and raised the iron-skin reinforced shield.

Those of them who were ordered to station at the monastery are the elite of the kingdom, so they are much better in weaponry. In fact, a guard team of more than 300 people, of which more than 100 people have chain armor, and the shields of 200 people are reinforced with metal.

It is a pity that these defensive devices of theirs, in front of Rurik's more powerful long-range weapons, are stronger than a piece of paper that can be torn by a single poke.

Light arrows hit some unsuspecting people, and more people began to retreat unconsciously holding shields.

"No withdrawal! It's the enemy! Warriors of Northumbria, fight with me!"

John threw his sword and tried his best to appeal. His soldiers were calm, but soon the second round of stone bullets and heavy javelins fell again!

Not only that, more than thirty long ships carrying aggressive Viking warriors have already begun their final beaching. They are holding back a murderous aura, and they are only one step away from landing and fighting.

It was at this moment that the infantry captain John finally realized that the enemy of Fan could not be blocked by his own.