Chapter 977： Battle of Osnabrück

The East Frankish army camped on both sides of the road, and the more open areas in the woods were good places to set up tents.

The woods covered the road ahead. Soldiers collected dead branches and found stones everywhere. They unloaded the pottery urns from the carriages and poured them into the stream to cook oatmeal.

As the king of the Eastern Kingdom, Ludwig's food is not much better than his soldiers.

There are not so many bells and whistles, and a barbecue can be quite hearty.

Some lower-level nobles who shot rabbits paid tribute to the king with a freshly skinned hare, and Ludwig was happy to cut off the roasted meat beautifully with a knife.

After all, he is not a mediocre person, and as a military nobleman, he is completely unaccustomed to riding a carriage.

He personally marched on horseback, and when necessary, he deliberately commanded his beloved heavy cavalry to charge.

Today, even though the days of Charlemagne have passed, the bravery of the Franks has not been lost.

Charlemagne had four grandsons, all of whom knew how to fight on horseback. Such great nobles are always on the front line of battle, just because all the lower nobles need their king to be a fierce warrior.

As a result, the great nobles may also put themselves in danger. For example, the second mate is a 23-year-old horse galloping, and he accidentally fell off the horse and died of serious injuries.

No one cares about the death of the second child, and even covets that he is dead. In this way, the fourth bald Charlie, who had no fief, immediately and reasonably replaced most of the second brother's fief.

The three princes represent the three top-level forces of the kingdom, and they each gather their little friends to fight.

After all, they are brothers with the same mother and father, and war is war. If there is a scene of a single duel, no one is willing to kill their brothers.

However, to deal with the rebellious Saxons and the invading Normans, Ludwig was determined to kill, and he was also mentally prepared. The so-called war was a bet on the national fortune of the Eastern Kingdom.

He was extremely satisfied with the dense array of bonfires on both sides of the road. The army rested in the town of Münster for a few days, and then the entire army set off at the same time after the subsequent dawdling army arrived. Now the army as a whole has maintained a close distance, and he was able to observe the grand occasion of the army under his command.

"I have 23,000 mercenaries, and I have the blessing of the Archbishop. There is no need to worry about the winter expedition, I will win!"

The strong force gave him unprecedented confidence, and it was the long riding that made Ludwig sleepy every evening.

He was actually only thirty-five years old, and as a European monarch he was in his prime. It is at such an age that his pioneering and enterprising spirit remains, and he has the courage to launch the current "winter offensive".

He did not bring his wife or son with him on this trip, nor did he even have a maid by his side.

Not even the entire vast army has women.

In many cases, the authority of the king cannot be carried out to the retinues of the minor nobles, and those people will secretly do things such as robbing the women. This time, it was because the Archbishop of Cologne went on an expedition with a holy relic, and if it was found that there was theft, robbery and looting of women, the only means of punishment was hanging.

Ludwig's decision to resolutely maintain military discipline is entirely because of the surveillance eyes of the archbishop.

In this way, the army of the Eastern Kingdom has become not only famous but also innocent. For the Franks, Ludwig has indeed become a great hero.

But this does not mean that the plunder of the people does not exist. When the army passed through Münster, the granary in this small town was basically cleaned up. For this reason, the local priests complained. Thanks to the mediation of the archbishop himself, this complaint was eliminated.

The army still needed more logistical supplies. Ludwig did not know how long the winter war would last. He launched this operation not only to vent his anger, but also to support the Archbishop of Cologne, Hardbold.

The Archdiocese of Cologne is a production area. The people here have always remained neutral in the civil war under the protection of the priests. It can be said that the people live and work in peace and contentment. By exporting grain, they can continue to accumulate wealth.

If they support one side of the civil war, their strength is greatly enhanced. Nominally, the Bishop of Cologne is classified as the Eastern Kingdom, but in fact it has always been a regional qualification.

Now the Archbishop, out of his own safety, is determined to do his best to support Ludwig's righteous actions, which in fact proves that they are indeed loyal to the Eastern Kingdom.

The Archdiocese of Cologne was indeed attacked by the Normans, and it is a fact that Duinsburg and Nijmegen were severely hit. As a result, they not only gathered a thousand people to support Ludwig, but also were willing to use the wheat in the warehouse as military rations. Once the so-called army has a military ration crisis, the backup can be transported to the north continuously and quickly through the "road to hell".

Don't they fear snow in winter?

In fact, because the "road to hell" leading to the north was carefully built by the ancient Romans, it was as solid as a rock. If the snow is heavy, the wheat is transported north on a horse-drawn sleigh.

It was already evening, and the whole army was going to wrap up the blankets and go to bed after dinner.

As night fell, some visions that could be concealed by the forest treetops could not be concealed.

The fire burned the northern sky red, and the dozing people stood up one after another.

Everything was as they had seen in Cologne, when it was clearly late at night and the sky in the northwest was exceptionally bright red, which later proved to be the murder and arson of the Norman pirates.

When someone realized this, an unconfirmed news spread in the army.

"Normans set fire in the north!"

The soldiers hurriedly informed the great King Ludwig of the news, so that the young monarch who had just lay down had to stand up abruptly.

It's unbelievable that the Normans went overland to set fire, how could their ships still run on land? Is there a big river in the north?

Stepping out of the tent in doubt, following the direction indicated by the soldiers, he saw a terrifying vision from the north.

Are there any towns in the north?

At the same time, Archbishop Hardbold, who heard the rumors, was extremely shocked. The vision in the sky proved that somewhere was burning, and the burning place was nothing but the town of Osnabrück.

The archbishop hurried to find King Ludwig, and the two continued their simple exchange, that is, they deduced that the enemy had invaded Osnabrück recklessly. With the shameless methods of the Normans, they must have killed everyone they saw. Burn everything again.

"Vengeance! These satanic attempts must be punished!" The archbishop's eyes were filled with tears, he could not tolerate his faith being tainted, especially the holy Osnabrück. Because it was the first monastery and the first colonial town built by Charlemagne himself in Saxony.

Thinking of his great grandfather's masterpiece being tarnished, coupled with his faith being tarnished, and the double hatred acting on his heart, Ludwig couldn't care too much.

Night is really not suitable for fighting, and the Frankish army has no ability to fight at night. It is because of a special factor that restricts the army's ability to fight at night - night blindness.

The condition of the elite troops was better. The largest number of recruited peasant soldiers, one or two, became blind at night.

Some priests explained that this is the so-called God does not want soldiers to indulge in swordsmanship, so he sent down divine power to punish. Some priests also speculated that this was because the soldiers were not religious enough because of the swordsmanship, so they were cursed by the demons that haunted at night.

It is already the consensus of everyone not to fight at night, and Ludwig and the archbishop are powerless to watch the fire in the north.

(The amount of yellow root carrots planted in the Eastern Kingdom is too small, the people mostly eat oats and rye, the meat intake is better than nothing, and the overall physical fitness is not high enough. North of the Elbe and Scandinavia plant more carrots, and the people also Eat more fish, like the fatty fish liver and seal liver, which is generally not deficient in vitamin A.)

There may be an encounter with the Normans ahead! As to why no one speculates that it may be the fault of the rebellious Saxons, it is not believed that they will betray the faith and attack the monastery.

The majority of the soldiers are mentally prepared, some people are excited, some people are shivering, and there are many people who are mentally numb.

Those chain mail and leather riveted iron armor that had been thrown on the carriage began to be distributed to the elite soldiers, and many people wore armor and cotton.

Ludwig also made some deployments, planning to send a 500-strong heavy cavalry and mixed light cavalry unit, all of them lightly loaded, to scout at the fastest speed.

Others are mentally prepared for an encounter.

…

The next day, the Frankish light cavalry began to run wildly.

With their round shields on their backs and the lightest upper body armor, they rushed forward.

A flag captain of the heavy cavalry flag team led the mission, and suddenly unloading the heavy equipment to carry out the mission made him feel a little humiliated.

The horse jogged all the way, maintaining a high speed equivalent to ten kilometers per hour.

They dashed for about ten kilometers, and when the woods dissipated, they saw a forested plain and a town that was still burning.

The soldiers were heartbroken seeing all this.

"They really attacked the monastery! Damn, where is the sinful figure?" Captain Qi looked around, and after cursing the shamelessness of the Normans, he ordered the cavalry to disperse to investigate the situation.

The hussars headed straight for the burning town, trying to find the living.

But they saw many dead bodies in the bare farmland.

Check the cause of death of the deceased, some were hacked, some were shot.

There are lethal holes in the corpse, and the deceased can only die from the arrow. Such a cause of death is even more doubtful. Could the Norman archers run to the southern forest area, and they dared to be so presumptuous when they were separated from the ship?

When the news came back, Captain Qi thought for a while and made a stern judgment—there were enemies stationed in the nearby forest.

Could this open space in the town of Osnabruck be a battlefield?

Wanting to find out more information, they decided to check further, and also hope to find some survivors to find out what happened.

As everyone knows, a pair of eyes are staring at everything that happens here in the forest in the distance.

Regarding the appearance of the Frankish cavalry, this matter really surprised the Russ cavalry general Fisk.

The Russ cavalry carried out a big slaughter yesterday. The brothers took a lot of gold and silver utensils and took some wheat. After all, he was going deep into the enemy's realm, and Fisk, who was young but experienced many battles, still had to hide his figure tightly.

They spent the night in the forest, and the war horses were also placed in the woods.

Yesterday's hacking caused the brothers to consume a lot of physical strength, and everyone slept in an extra sleep. It was supposed to go south to find a target and sneak attack after waking up, but as a result, he noticed that a large group of cavalry appeared in the open area.

Fisk and some buddies were on the edge of the woods.

Everyone muttered, "Who are they? It's never going to be Frankish."

"There is no one else but the Franks."

"Boss, what should we do? Suddenly rushed out and caught them off guard?"

Everyone was asking about Fisk's attitude. He gritted his teeth and thought: "No. Let's continue to see."

So they stayed on the edge of the forest to continue watching.

This is never a good idea.

But they said that the Frankish hussars were ordered to search around the entire town, and some cavalrymen planned to explore the forest area.

There were some shaking white shadows in the woods west of the town, which was too conspicuous in the gray-brown forest in late autumn and early winter.

More than 30 Frankish cavalry lined up in a horizontal line, and they moved quickly in the direction of the white thing out of safety.

Suddenly, the Ross in the forest was shocked.

"Shit! We're exposed!" Fisk exclaimed.

"Boss, let's fight."

"That's right! Brothers are tired of killing those boring villagers. It's not interesting to attack those Frankish soldiers at all."

Under the fire of all the guys, Fisk also gave up. "Then fight! Let's fight according to grassland tactics! We will shoot them in this open field. Let's go!"

They all pulled away and stood in the perspective of the Frankish cavalry, that is, some white monsters collectively swayed for a few times and then disappeared collectively.

In this way, even a fool knows that there must be some big objects there, either some unknown beast or the enemy's ambush.

However, it was said that the Ross cavalry had already noticed the figure of the Farrak cavalry, and they had already attacked to eat dry food, and were busy holding a cloth bag with oatmeal to the horse's mouth.

Although they could mount a horse to fight, now seeing General Fisk rushing back, they all knew what to do.

"All on horses! Shoot the enemy! Follow me!"

After a short while, the Ross cavalry temporarily tied the fifty horses that they had placed logistics supplies to the wooden stakes, and all the two hundred cavalry removed the white bear fur to keep out the cold, put on iron helmets, brought recurve bows and a large number of arrows, and rushed out collectively. forest.

They held the bow in their left hand while holding the reins, and in their right hand three light arrows.

Two hundred horsemen appeared one after another, and the white leather jackets they put on to keep out the cold made the Franks who came to investigate the situation instantly understand, but the poor ones were unable to fight back.

The dense array of arrows beat the thirty cavalry to the point of discomfort. With the precise face-to-face shooting of the Ross cavalry as they passed by, the thirty Frankish light cavalry was annihilated in just one round.

The Russ cavalry was completely uniform, and each squad leader had feathers on the top of the helmet. The more feathers, the higher the rank.

Fisk's iron helmet is like a blue and white cockscomb, and the brothers will follow his movements and attack.

At this moment, the Frankish light cavalry had no formation to speak of, the riders had their own jobs, and they were scattered very loosely to search a large area.

This completely gave the Ross cavalry every chance to break through.

Two hundred cavalry formed a group, riding and shooting against the face of the single enemy.

The whole army generally uses pointed-cone carbon steel armor-piercing arrows. Seeing that the enemy has armor, many people choose to shoot their warhorses directly.

Once the cavalry falls off the horse, it is very likely that they will break a bone and rupture their internal organs. If they are lucky, they can stand up with a buzzing head, and such a person becomes a standing target.

This is not like a battle, but more like a collective hunting of the prairie people.

The captain of the Frankish flag appeared calm in the face of the sudden attack. He tried his best to gather the heavy cavalry under his command, and then ordered his subordinates: "Those temporarily recruited light cavalry are unreliable! Warriors of the kingdom, draw your sword! Follow me! "

These heavy cavalry have more than a hundred cavalry, and they are well-trained together. Unfortunately, although they have the name of heavy cavalry today, the real heavy armor is not on them at all. It sacrificed protection for the light march, but even so, it still launched an attack in the face of the sudden appearance of the enemy.

Although he still doesn't know the specific identity of the enemy, seeing the unbelievable uniformity of his clothes, he appeared in the ruins of this city again, and who else could be the enemy who performed terrifying slaughter besides them.

The sense of revenge and the sense of honor were intertwined, and the Frankish cavalry finally organized the force to watch the battle, which was to confront the Russ cavalry.

I saw Fisk holding his bow high, and the cavalry was split into two groups.

Next is another good show of grassland tactics. The brothers have three losses with the right hand, and pass the face-to-face riding and shooting three times. Needless to say how many enemies and horses were shot and killed by this attack, in just one round, the ten-line wall of Frankish hussars was disrupted.

After all, there are some people in the Ross cavalry who twisted and "returned to the horse arrow" quite creatively.

The sharp clusters of arrows broke through the gaps in the armor and penetrated into the flesh, and even arrow clusters were chiseled on the riveted iron pieces.

The Frankish cavalry was not discouraged, and encountered a desperate "non-contact blow" in the second round of confrontation.

This open area became a battlefield for the cavalry of the two armies. Although one side had a lot of troops, because there was no archer, it was ruthlessly mocked by the other side's all cavalry archers.

The real Frankish hussars have already fled the same way. Noticing that continuing to fight is self-defeating, the flag captain reluctantly ordered: "Let's go! This is the venue for the decisive battle."

At the end of the last round, Fisk's eyes were full of enemies fleeing.

A brother killed with red eyes and arrogantly shouted: "Don't run! Cowards! If you run away, I will hunt you down myself!"

A lot of people were willing to hunt them down, but Fisk ordered them to be banned. Or not to start the chase immediately.

The Ross cavalry were ordered to recover the lost arrows, search for the wounded of the enemy, and grab a few relatively healthy prisoners, tie them up and take them away. As for the rest of the wounded, kill them and start a Viking insult!

So, after two lightly wounded were captured, the other captives were all beheaded.

There were as many as eighty wooden pestles on the ground, with blood dripping heads on them. Those captured wide-blade Frankish iron swords were also directly next to the head, and the sense of terror was further strengthened with the towns behind where the fire had not yet burned out.

The Ross cavalry retreated to the woods again, this time the brothers couldn't spend any more here.

No one knew the Frankish language, so Fisk did not know the situation of the enemy, so he sent a cavalry squad of ten people, escorted the prisoner of war and a small amount of captured iron, and rushed to the Bremen bridge on the Weser River at the fastest speed, in order to meet the enemy. Go to Arik's bridge demolition unit, inform him of all kinds of news, and then transport the prisoners of war to Hamburg.

Fisk still didn't know the status of the enemy, and he guessed that the large number of cavalry was actually a kind of scout. There are actually hundreds of scouts, so isn't the enemy army not far away?

The soldiers then continued to hide in the woodland not far from the road, and continued south among the gaps in the trees.

Then at noon, they could hear a lot of nearby roaring noises with their ears alone.

It was the sound of soldiers walking, whispering, the creaking of vehicles, and the humming of packhorses, all of which came together in a low roar.

The Ross cavalry is both informative and terrifying, and at the same time, there is also a strong desire to attack.

sneak attack? Do or not? ! Of course do it!

It's time to find a suitable sneak attack target. UU Reading

The battle-hardened Fisk doesn't have to fight against the Faraks. If he wants to make a sneak attack, he will attack the enemy's underdogs. According to past war experience, even his own experience of marching, the underdogs are always at the end of the team, even with a lot of baggage. Also at the end.

So, Fisk deliberately advanced everything in a finer direction, and reached the tail of the Frankish army marching in a large circle.

There is no one here, and there are many traces left on the ground.

"Just follow the road! Sneak at their tails, and if they fight back, we'll go south along the road. Follow me."

With an order, the Ross Army began to carry out a "tail-biting attack" against the Frank queue in a very magical position in the afternoon and evening.

All this Ludwig knew nothing about.

On the other hand, Ludwig understood something, and even made a serious misjudgment about it.

The Frankish army began a fast march mode, and everyone remained on alert. It was only because of the blood-stained information that the light cavalry had personally encountered, such as the Norman cavalry dressed in white, all of which were exactly the same as the report of Count Robert.

Ludwig felt that a great war was bound to break out in Osnabrück.

Time to punish the arrogant Normans!