Chapter 981： Planning before the final battle

The Normans disappeared without a trace overnight. They were like devils, who dealt with everyone with ferocity, and then disappeared suddenly without leaving a trace.

An encounter became a contest of wills. Of course, it can be said that this was King Ludwig's anger, and he lost hundreds of casualties.

He only had more than 24,000 people on hand, which seemed to be a huge force, of which only more than 6,000 were good fighters. Or those peasants who were recruited also had daring warriors. At best, the army they brought to the north this time was 10,000 daring warriors.

As for the remaining soldiers, especially those Sorbians, their will to fight is simply negative. The value of this group of people is probably to replace the packhorses hacked to death by the Norman cavalry.

The situation stabilized, and Ludwig finally had time to count his casualties.

It is obvious to the naked eye that the troops suffered a lot of casualties. The lightly wounded were constantly crying in the camp in the forest. Many of the injured were so exhausted that the strength of their shouting gradually faded.

Only on the first night, a group of serious injuries died quietly.

Some lucky people received prayers from the priests before dying, which was the last psychological comfort for the dying life.

The Franks did not know how many Norman troops they had killed in a battle, and the soldiers were even more puzzled. No Reka knew the enemy's face, and they didn't know who they were fighting.

After a confused battle, the loss of the Frankish army has exceeded 600!

Among them, more than 300 dead were counted in the first morning after the war. Many corpses suffered terrifying fatal injuries, and many died from blood loss.

There is no clear military medical system in the army. The soldiers have to take care of each other's injured comrades. The most they can do is tie the injured arms with cloth strips, expecting a miracle to happen.

Almost all of the casualties came from regular troops, and the spear-throwing troops, Ludwig's characteristic arms, undoubtedly suffered great casualties.

Those strong men who are supported by good food on weekdays are indeed different from ordinary people. There are strong men who can use the spear thrower to launch the javelin to a distance of 200 meters. In this battle against the Normans, they are the absolute main force. The cost is also very staggering.

Most of the casualties came from the spear-throwing team, and the loss of a group of strong men Ludwig was heartbroken.

Now, the whole army is worried and exhausted, and the cold wind has made it even more desolate.

The generals of the flag teams reported their losses to the king one after another, and the final information was unbelievable.

"My elite lost one-tenth of the battle?!"

All the captains of the infantry flags are here, and anyone with a discerning eye knows that the enemy has retreated smoothly, but not only did they not win. They bowed their heads in silence, enduring the king's impotent rage.

It was not until the king vented for a while that the generals explained such a thing: "We see many iron blocks everywhere on the battlefield, even pulled from the bodies of the dead, they are strangely identical to each other. The enemy uses strange tools. Launching these things, it is difficult to block with shields and armor, and if you are slammed, even if you can block it, your bones will be broken."

Some people say so, and some people say things with arrows.

The speaker was the captain of the flag who was responsible for guarding the Archbishop of Cologne. He pointed out vigilantly: "We encountered strange and strange horse archers in our previous encounters. They fired needle-like arrows, and the arrows were so hard that they could pierce our tin cover. Oak shield. And, like some of the arrows we found on the banks of the river."

This remark immediately reminded Ludwig: "Oh? So the cavalry that attacked us, and the ships we encountered yesterday, are the same enemies? Those ships were flagged, and they were undoubtedly Rus. What about the cavalry? Same?"

This question is already a well-informed question. The captains of the flags are not territorial nobles. They and their subordinates are all standing troops that Ludwig supports by taxation.

After all, the Eastern Kingdom, especially the Bavaria region, has a realistic need to expand westward. If they do not act, the Moravia Principality established by the Czechs in the west will expand westward. The Eastern Kingdom has always been in constant border friction with many Slavic ethnic groups. It is extremely important to keep three standing armies of ten thousand people, and the result is extremely expensive. The standing army needs to be stationed at more points, and it needs to be assisted by serving farmers. The defense forces in some areas were immobile, so Ludwig's mobile forces were not much.

The area of ​​Mainz, one of Frank's "Land of Dragons", is now Ludwig's territory, and a heavy army is currently stationed and cannot move. A large area covered by this region is the front line of the civil war between the Eastern Kingdom and the Middle Kingdom.

The expansion of the Franks to the north and east has occurred in the past fifty years, and now Ludwig has acquired the territories obtained by these expansions, and has inherited the intricate contradictions in these regions.

A powerful heavy armored legion maintains his absolute authority, and this legion must also crusade all kinds of rebellion and resist foreign humiliation.

Three thousand heavy cavalry have already broken their halberds, and now six hundred heavy infantry have broken their halberds.

The arrogance of those Norman and Saxon mutineers was even more rampant at such a terrible price.

A huge question lies ahead, whether the army will continue to advance.

The elite troops under his command have and support his own rule, and the remaining small nobles have few troops and have no right to speak, and the Archbishop of Cologne has been threatened before and will not express any opinion.

As for the Sorbians, they heard the sudden loss of the capable Frankish heavy infantry.

For continuing to go north, the soldiers felt that the risk was huge, and the normal war would definitely be cursed.

The strange thing is that everyone remained silent, and they did not express any opinions. When Ludwig was briefed on the news, all the people who were asked said "should get revenge".

What is "should be revengeful", you can take revenge immediately, or you can raise troops to kill next year, no matter how you explain it.

Ludwig believed that what the soldiers demanded was "immediate revenge." He was a little hesitant in his heart, and when he saw that the soldiers were fighting like this, he decided to gamble again.

Those who were wounded could no longer fight, and he decided to transport the wounded to Bremen, and to place some conscripted peasant soldiers to bring the city under control. After all, arranging the evacuation of the wounded immediately will only create an illusion of damage to the morale of the entire army - the army will withdraw.

The rebuilding of Bremen has to start immediately, starting with the bridge.

Those Sorbs, who literally acted as cattle and horses, immediately ordered the axe to cut down the wood, and then worked together to lay the wood strips on the stone pier.

Thousands of people work together very efficiently. As many as fifty people drag and push the newly cut straight pine to the first bridge pier, and the laying can be completed slowly like building blocks.

During this process, they also noticed the traces of the broken bridge piers. If Ludwig had seen these obvious traces with his own eyes, he might have made some wise judgments, but the Sorbians completely concealed this discovery.

Arik tried his best to destroy the bridge pier, but it was just "scraping" against a large number of stones.

The wood was still laid, and although the bridge after that was somewhat awkward on a macro level, it was ignored by everyone.

From logging to laying bridges, thousands of people are logging, tying the wood with specially prepared cables, starting in the morning, and when people arrive at this person, they finish laying in the afternoon.

Ludwig couldn't wait for this.

He rode on a war horse and dressed in costume, and people saw that his king was still powerful and confident.

He drew his saber and pointed to the north: "Soldiers! Follow me! Cross the bridge!"

As a result, various flag teams lined up and crossed the bridge in a relatively orderly manner, followed by the peasant soldiers recruited, the lower-level noble army, and the Sorbians who transported the luggage.

Even all the lightly injured were sent across the river.

Facing the still ruined city of Bremen, people no longer feel sad.

It has been many years since the Normans burned and killed, and since then this abandoned city has been eroded by grass and small trees. Some pine saplings sprang up on the ruins, and withered grass could be seen everywhere.

A cross flag was planted here, and Ludwig deliberately held the flagpole like a hero.

He announced to everyone that he had recaptured Bremen, and then encouraged the soldiers to shout and cheer. The scene was really lively.

In any case, this lost area is returned to the Eastern Kingdom, and it will immediately serve as a logistics base for the Frankish army, and a considerable part of the materials will be placed here first.

The Frankish army will firmly hold the newly built bridge, and then immediately fortify the recovered city.

After all, winter has arrived!

Even if Ludwig is still fighting, the low temperature in winter is no joke.

The battle is still going to continue, and Ludwig is cautious after crossing the river, and the whole army will start a large-scale construction, at least to build wooden walls and some wooden sheds.

Although the old city of Bremen has been turned into ruins, the overall outline of the city remains the same.

All the foundations of the old fence were used, and new wood was used to rebuild the wooden wall on the old site. As many as 20,000 people are operating efficiently at the same time, and a solid forward base is rising.

The city, still called Bremen, is now a city of soldiers through and through.

The first snow of winter could fall at any time, and vigilance against the snow forced the Franks to give priority to building their fortresses. It's not that they can't march on the snow, or that the existence of a logistics base can make the army advance and retreat freely.

Due to the funding of the Archdiocese of Cologne, Ludwig has high confidence in the logistics of this war. He currently brings a lot of provisions and linen to keep out the cold, and each soldier also tries to bring as many personal items as possible before setting off. .

Except for those Sorbian slave soldiers...

Meanwhile, Arik's fleet had entered the Atlantic Ocean.

The Rus army suffered more than 30 casualties, and the damage to the weapons was also very bad.

I didn't feel that I was timid in retreating at night. The brothers were already fighting as much as possible. In fact, because the legendary Frankish regular army appeared, even the battle-hardened Arik had never seen such a huge army lined up at the same time, at least Ross. No one has ever listed an array of this size.

Arik wouldn't be frightened, he actually wished that a big battle would break out on the Weser River, and he was lucky to be bloodthirsty and make great contributions in the holy battle.

The squadron retreated with all its strength, especially against the northerly wind, undulating up and down the sea with increasing waves and quickly heading north to the mouth of the Elbe River. After that, it forced itself along the river.

The Ross Squadron had to be in a hurry, following the experience of many people. The army has always set out from Bremen, especially the cavalry, and can reach the Elbe two days after crossing the Weser River. Although Arik did not think that those enemies would dare to pass through the Elbe without ships, the Rus army was an outsider after all. Maybe there was a ferry in the nearby area that only the great Frankish nobles knew about?

Arik did not dare to neglect, and they sailed in succession and returned to Hamburg on the fifth day after their retreat.

He personally reported to Rurik what he had seen and heard, and the peace in the North came to an abrupt end.

Hearing the news, Rurik also had nothing else to do, and called all the nobles to convene a war meeting of the Northern Alliance.

Rurik's two wives, Noren and Bejahir, they are visible to the naked eye. At the last moment, the child is very likely to be born in the next week. After all, he has his own calculations.

Although the birth of a new life makes him happy, the current top priority is still facing a decisive battle.

In the stone room high in the city, the nobles and generals listened to Arik talking, and what he described immediately caused a large-scale discussion.

Discussions are discussions, aside from miscellaneous matters, a core issue is on the table - what should we do.

Everyone was looking at Rurik, although they themselves had more or less their own opinions on what to do next.

Among them, there are also radicals. As the mobilization of the army directly through the pontoon to enter the south bank of the Elbe River, to advance towards Bremen, and complain about revenge and grievances in the form of battle between the two armies.

This is a very happy and quick way to solve problems, and it is also the favorite method of European aristocrats in this era.

Their eyes were trembling, obviously they had something to say.

"Tell me all about it. What shall we do?"

Arik bluntly said: "The enemy is a strong army, and fighting such a strong army is full of honor. We can find them through the bridge and fight."

Speaking from this, more people can't stop talking.

Victory in large-scale decisive battles by land. Ross has experienced many such battles and won big time after time. Rurik felt that his subordinates were somewhat path dependent, and they ignored some important information detected by Arik's armed forces.

For the enemy, there are an astonishing number of heavy infantry and heavy cavalry, the clothing is basically the same, and the array is also similar. He was particularly aware of Arik's description of "they seem to have a flag team".

Who knows best about the regular troops of the East Franks? There are many smart people in this stone room.

Frank's regular army does have flag teams, and the armored rate of such elites is 100%.

Although the Russ Army would not be defeated in a large-scale battle with such a strong army, Rurik was worried about a disastrous victory. He didn't want to sweep the temper of his brothers, so he needed to find a step.

Rurik looked at Ludov and said deliberately: "Everyone longs for a big battle. The Franks may have mobilized 30,000, or even 40,000. The south bank of the Weser River is full of their soldiers. The bridge must have been repaired quickly, and they even repulsed our fleet."

Rurik's use of "repelling" really aroused his cousin's dissatisfaction, so he put his eyes aside and continued his words: "So, Ludov, our army must also invest a lot of troops in this decisive battle. How are you? Your Saxony How many people can the army take out?"

"This... 10,000 people at most. King Ross, regarding this decisive battle, I..."

"Go ahead."

"I don't think it's a good idea to fight the Franks over the pontoon. I have a lot of soldiers, but I'm too weak. They're just ragged people, and most of them have a spear in their arms. Soldiers, rather farmers and herdsmen. Thank you for looking down on me, but, I don't have the strength. I... At most, I blew myself up in Hamburg."

"Is that so?" Rurik nodded, his heart secretly delighted. "I can also see that your soldiers are of poor quality, making it difficult to fight hard battles. So... I decided that the main force will stick to Hamburg."

Rurik's decision undoubtedly disappointed the radicals. He had his own explanation: "Russ and Denmark formed a coalition, and now they can take out a maximum of 6,000 people. The brothers have gone on expeditions in the spring until the winter now, and now the enemy's army is attacking Come on, it is impossible for us to evacuate in winter. Many soldiers are showing signs of fatigue, and our cavalry do not know where they are going. The enemy has an amazing number of armored soldiers and will also fire some long-range arrows. Our strength is even lower than theirs. , overall we don't have a significant advantage. But!"

The key is this "but".

"The Elbe is wide enough, let them attack us in person! Who of you believe they can cross the icy river to attack us in winter? Our fleet is moored on the river, and we are here to confront them and look for opportunities. Attack them. I'll let me take care of everything. But...it doesn't mean we're just defensive."

As a result, a special tactical plan was drawn up.

The coalition forces will hold the area opposite the Elbe pontoon bridge, and the large ships will be moored sideways as fixed battery. A large number of rowing longboats and even ordinary small barges are placed on the riverside on the side of Hamburg, so that the army can board and row to the opposite bank at any time.

The coalition as a whole will take the defensive The army will continue to train.

However, the Russ Army will continue to send a surprise force to the Weser River again, but the timing of their actions will be extremely delicate.

Arik led a major mission again, and this time he also brought along Yevlo's Finnish longbowmen and even some of the standing army soldiers. In this way, a strong force of 1,000 men will be assembled, and they will be stationed on the small sailboats only to the boiled salt at the mouth of the Elbe River.

Of course Rurik didn't know when Frank's army would appear. If they appeared in a place visible to the naked eye, it proved that the rear had a high probability of being empty. They all arranged for a small boat to quickly float to the mouth of the Elbe River where the Raiders were stationed, and ordered them to act immediately. Continuing to destroy the bridge that the enemy has rebuilt in this way, the Raiders must firmly control the ferry this time. Since the Frankish army also has outstanding long-range shooters, let's see whose arrows are renamed, and the Finnish longbowmen will fight collectively.

What is the layout? This is the pattern.

This is just a battle of a big battle. Under the control of King Ross, the scale of the battlefield has become extremely huge.

The plan has been made, and then it's just a matter of waiting.