In the big tent, Ragnar put away the broken sword on the ground and solemnly expressed his opinion to Hafgen: "Leader, I think we should continue to go north, and we should continue to raid Melalen. We now have three thousand People, if we withdraw immediately when we win another victory, we will definitely hit the enemy hard."
However, everyone was indifferent to Ragnar's proposal.
At this moment, no one expressed their opinion on his proposal, and there was even rejection in their eyes.
The leader of the alliance, Hafgen, felt that his strategic goal had been achieved, that is, his decision to retreat would definitely make this young man angry or be detrimental to him.
Hafgen deliberately asked: "Everyone, what do you think? Do you want to continue the attack?"
Seeing that everyone was still indifferent, Hafgen further asked: "Didn't you plunder a lot of cattle and sheep? You see, this brave Ragnar defeated the enemy's elite. He will definitely be able to defeat more powerful enemies." With him here, we can continue to win. You put the captured cattle and sheep here, and I will send people to watch them for you. In this way, the army can move north with confidence."
According to tradition, tribes participating in joint operations need to hand over part of the spoils to the alliance leader, because this is the alliance leader's power.
Now, if we continue to expand the results, the large amount of loot previously obtained will be kept by the alliance leader. Will the alliance leader return it? He will definitely not return it.
Many allies are short-sighted, or in other words, they are not that ambitious. They looked at the intentions of the alliance leader with the most troops.
The Gotlanders, who have the second largest number of troops, are actually a joint force organized by a group of families, and the people within them also have their own agendas.
It seems that only Ragna is determined to continue heading north to expand the victory, while the others are all uncooperative.
Finally, everyone began to express their opinions after appraising the leader's attitude.
"Oh! Keep going north, forget it! If the Mellaren people organize an army, we will win, and many people will die."
"Leader, now is not the time for a decisive battle. You should understand that the Melalen people can organize ten thousand people. If you choose a decisive battle, we should take action in March next year and spend the entire winter organizing the troops."
Some Gotlanders also expressed their opinion: "Now is really inappropriate. Now is the trade period of the Northern Alliance. If we attack them at this time, it will be equivalent to declaring war with all the northern tribes. They will be united as never before, and they will destroy our island first." "
As for the people of Oslo, they gave no thought to their new enemy: "Our employment relationship is over. We will no longer fight for you, we just want to go home."
The Oslo mercenaries were the first to bluntly demand withdrawal. With this first move, many allied commanders immediately announced their withdrawal.
One after another, the allies announced that they would withdraw as soon as they were ready, but Ragnar still persisted.
"Are you guys cowards?" Ragnar gritted his teeth, "Which one is faster, them organizing ten thousand people, or is it faster for us to rush over now? Remember, we are only three thousand people!"
A strong man with a beard stepped forward and shook his head: "We are not cowards. And you are not the leader of the alliance. Why do we have to continue going north?"
"We can obviously get greater wealth and greater honor."
"Forget it, young man. If you want to continue fighting and gain honor, that's your business. Now I just want to take back what we caught."
"No, you are just cowards." Ragnar saw that they were unwilling to cooperate, so what else could he do except curse?
But his words really angered many tribal commanders.
Another person shouted: "Hey! Sons of Sigurd. Instead of attacking the Melalen people, consider your own affairs first. We haven't settled the accounts with you yet!"
"You?" Ragna stepped forward, and the chain mail on his chest had already stuck to the man's leather armor. "Oh, I know you, a bunch of cowards."
"Coward? Maybe we should have another fight."
Ragna was not timid at all in the face of this provocative behavior: "Okay, tell your new leader to come and challenge me. No matter who you replace, I can chop off that person's head. You all They are a bunch of cowards." After saying that, Ragnar turned around and spat. Shout again: "Coward!"
"You! Damn it."
Suddenly, Ragnar was pushed. After he reacted, he punched him with his fist.
The provocateur was immediately beaten until his nose bled, and chaos ensued.
The people gathered in this temporary tent, although they belong to the Danish alliance, are never made of steel inside. The most powerful Robard tribe uses force and economic means to force each tribe to respect itself as the leader and avoid internal disputes as much as possible under its governance.
How could hundreds of years of blood feud be eliminated just because Hafgen became the leader of the alliance? To put it bluntly, Denmark is still in the period of tribal alliances, and everyone is highly united only when they are unanimous in dealing with the outside world.
Carrying their respective hatreds, the commanders of the two armies struggled in front of the alliance leader.
Ragnar relied on his youth and vigour, and when he got away from others, he had already made a lot of money.
At this moment, the commander who suffered a loss was already covered in blood. He suppressed his blush and shouted: "I will tell my master that you are openly provoking. It is you who provoked the war and you tore up the truce. Wait for death."
"Okay!" Ragnar was even more unconvinced, "We have killed all those Frank cavalry, are we afraid of you?"
The chaotic scene made Hafgen, the leader of the alliance, very uncomfortable.
"Shut up, everyone!"
With Hafgen's lion's roar, the chaotic crowd finally calmed down.
Obviously, Ragnar is now isolated because of his own intentions and bloody fists.
Hafgen saw the young man's dissatisfaction. He clapped his hands to attract everyone's attention: "At this point, we should not have internal strife. Since most of you are determined to retreat, I can't say anything. .”
As he spoke, Hafgen deliberately looked into Ragnar's eyes: "Son of Sigurd, calm down. In fact, I am willing to continue attacking the north."
"Really? You give the order now and we continue to fight. I really can't understand that the people here are actually satisfied because they have captured some cattle." Ragna said holding his breath.
"Haha, things can't be that simple." Hafgen deliberately smiled strategically and began to explain a very realistic thing.
It is said that if this 3,000-strong Danish coalition continues to fight, the time when the army will fight the enemy will be early June.
If the Danish army launches a surprise attack, they may achieve a great victory. Wouldn't the enemy gather a large number of people to counterattack?
Can the battle end in a short time?
Definitely not.
The fighting is likely to be delayed by a large-scale Northern Alliance counterattack. If the war does not end by July, the results will be catastrophic.
Early August is the wheat harvest season in Jutland. Once the wheat harvest is disturbed, many people will not be able to survive the long winter.
Even the so-called powerful Robard tribe does not have enough food reserves for the whole tribe to eat for a year without working.
"Ragnar, do you really think that the Northern Alliance is weak? As long as we attack the Mellarens, we must be prepared to fight the entire Northern Alliance, and the war may last for several months. Is it possible that your father Sigurd Will you be allowed to risk the tribe's food for next year and fight here for your honor? Be realistic! We are just retaliating this time, and we have succeeded. We can rest here for two days at most, and our main force will withdraw before the enemy attempts to counterattack. Let’s go. Listen, if the Northern Alliance is really determined to retaliate, we will fight them at our doorstep. When the time comes, they will be the ones who suffer..."
Hafgen said a lot, and he didn't know if Ragnar understood it.
Then he continued to face everyone: "Brothers, my determination will not change. I order you to rest now and have another day of rest tomorrow. The day after tomorrow, we will evacuate. Now, you can leave."
Ragna didn't say anything. He shook his head and left the tent with a tight mouth.
Maybe what the leader said made sense. When he returned to his tribe, all he could think about was expanding the results of the war. He even imagined that if he personally killed the leader of the Melalen people again, would it cause the collapse of the Northern Alliance?
If that were the case, people would remember Ragnar "Woolpants" of Denmark as the first warrior in the north.
He returned with anger and saw that his men were already making temporary couples with the handful of captured women.
Seeing his men happily pressing on the woman, hearing their men's joyful laughter, and the woman's cries and wails, Ragnar was furious.
He walked over in person, kicked away a few people who were just walking around, and almost found a whip to beat them.
Forget it, he even shouted: "I thought you were all old warriors. You don't want to continue fighting and are already playing with your new slaves. Don't let me see you again today."
It was late at night, and the beach was full of bonfires. The fire that filled the Ostara tribe occupied by the Danish army did not know when to extinguish.
In the crackle of the flames, there was the joyful roar of a group of men, and the cries of the captives.
All the slain Ostara people were piled up by the Gotlandic army of servants, piled with wood and burned on fire, which was regarded as a "merciful cremation".
Many other cattle and sheep were dragged to the seaside, and the bay was dyed red with blood. All the cowhide and sheepskin were collected, and the fresh meat was used as food for the army.
Among the troops participating in the battle, Ragnar's men later brought an extra batch of rations. The rations for the rest of the people were generally only enough to last three or four days, especially the mercenaries from Oslo. They brought almost no rations and were waiting to eat the spoils of war after the battle.
The lack of military rations was indeed a major factor that hindered the Danish coalition from going north to expand its results. The army took advantage of the Ostara tribe. If they could not continue to obtain large amounts of food on the new battlefield, they would certainly not be able to fight on an empty stomach.
Just say that nowadays, the slaughter of cattle and sheep by the army is a kind of crazy luxury behavior.
They are doing this precisely because, if they don’t eat beef and mutton, they really don’t have anything to eat.
Having said that, ordinary soldiers rarely eat meat on weekdays. In Nordic culture, meat refers to "red meat", typically beef and mutton. Fish is not considered meat.
Everyone knows that barbecued beef and mutton are delicacies. Ordinary soldiers can eat a herring in one mouthful and a large piece of roast beef in their arms, but this is extremely rare.
They gnawed beef, drank milk, and were served by captured women.
Many soldiers had such a refreshing experience for the first time in their lives.
Unlike those wild guys, Hafgen also wanted to learn about the luxurious lifestyle of the Frankish nobles from hearsay. Even on the battlefield where the war has not yet been extinguished, he wants to be more gentle to show that he is a noble person.
He took off his helmet and put on a mink robe stitched by more than a dozen ferrets in his beachside tent.
There was no table in the tent. There was a silver dinner plate on a leather mat, and on it was a sizzling roast leg of lamb.
He owns a natural crystal cup that has passed through his hands several times and is now filled with wine.
For the time being, he just wanted to be alone and had no intention of hanging out with his large group of crazy subordinates.
Suddenly, a general burst into the tent with an excited and rude look.
"What's going on? I told you I wanted to be alone."
The general's face glowed brightly and he said, "Oh, sir. Brothers are all afraid that you will be lonely." As he said that, the general, who looked like a strong bull, pushed a crying young woman into the tent. "Sir, please enjoy."
The woman sat directly on the ground, then put her hands on the ground and begged for forgiveness.
Hafgen looked at the woman with contempt, "Your men all died in the battle. According to tradition, you should have been martyred for them. Are you actually begging me for mercy?"
After that, he looked at his general with regret: "Are you asking me to enjoy myself? I'm afraid you have already enjoyed yourself."
The general denied it and said: "My lord, I will keep this woman under strict supervision since I captured her. I just want to dedicate her to you."
Hafgen looked at the woman again. Under the dim oil lamp, the woman was indeed pretty. He didn't believe what the general said, otherwise how could this woman cry so miserably.
"Forget it. You are not a priest. I don't believe you can really restrain yourself!" Hafgen waved his hand.
The general's eyes revealed embarrassment. "Sir, you really don't want it?"
"You are such a fool. I am the leader of Denmark, and my woman must be noble. Take this woman away and do whatever you want with her. Anyway, all the captives will be executed before we set off."
As soon as she heard "execution", the woman fell directly to the ground, wailing for mercy, and saying that she was willing to be a slave.
Hafgen dug his ears: "It's really annoying. Take her away and don't disturb my peace."
The general couldn't help but boldly asked: "My lord, are you serious about your decision? We have captured many women, and we should take them back."
"Get out of here!" Hafgen roared, picked up the leg of lamb on his plate and threw it at it, then roared: "That's an order! I gave the order before we set off, and my battle was revenge! They killed My friend Oxen, the man who killed me, took my money. It's all my money! Ever heard of tit for tat? The captives of Ostara don't deserve to live! This is my revenge! Revenge! Do you understand? ?!”
Hafgen opened his bloody mouth, even revealing his gold-encrusted teeth.
Seeing this, the general stood stunned on the spot and didn't know what to say.
In fact, Hafgen's anger was also mixed with irritation and jealousy towards young Ragnar. The greatest honor was actually taken away by that boy! Somehow, Hafgen felt that that boy was a future threat.
His anger was vented. Hafgen looked at the empty plate and pretended to be calm and said: "You, get me another roasted lamb leg. Take this woman and get out."
"As ordered." After saying that, the general grabbed the woman's feet and dragged her out like a dead dog.
After a while, a brand new piece of sizzling roast lamb leg was delivered to Hafgen.
