The defeated soldiers who had fled the military camp outside Lindisfarne Abbey ran frantically along the dirt road in the forest towards Bamburgh.
The rainfall during this period gave them a chill.
When fifty or sixty of them arrived at the Bamburgh pass in ragged clothes, wet bodies, and legs covered with black mud, the soldiers managing the pass thought they were a group of farmers trying to enter the city.
The soldiers began to question, and the fleeing army immediately revealed their identities and the tragedy of the raid on the monastery.
They were released into the city, and the terrible news immediately spread.
Their appearance was like a plague coming to Albert, Earl of Bamburgh and the priests.
"Could they be Picts?" After learning the news, the Earl immediately held a meeting in his mansion.
The garrison commanders from the entire city gathered together, and the bishop who attended the meeting changed his usual calmness and became angry and eager.
The centurion who escaped back washed his face and continued to report: "I don't know if he is a Pict or not."
"What on earth do you know!" The Count stabbed the meat-cutting dagger into the table and continued to scold, "You are the scum of the kingdom. You led the people to evacuate and watched the monastery being attacked by them."
The centurion hurriedly explained: "My lord, there are at least a thousand of them, and they are as crazy as devils emerging from hell. Many people died in battle, while the enemy was almost unscathed."
Everyone was trembling with fear after hearing these brief words.
"You..." the count held his chin. He couldn't believe this person's words and continued to ask, "Are you a Pict? Or someone else?"
"They must be the Picts." Bishop Edmund vowed. "Those people refused our leadership, so they raised troops to attack the monastery. Just like what happened before, we have good control over the land in the north. Those barbarians are just Pretending to join our faith.”
"Go tell the king about this." The Earl bared his teeth. "Now, those Picts may have attacked the Holy Land."
Maybe really Picts? The centurion who fled back never thought so.
"My lord, I saw they came across the sea. They had many ships. I doubt it."
"What do you suspect?" the count pressed.
"Just like when the monastery was attacked decades ago. It wasn't the Picts who attacked us, it was the barbarians who came from the sea."
"Those people? Is it really them?" These words were like a thunderbolt, and the earl suddenly became excited and then frightened.
Bishop Edmund was also trembling with fear, "Just a few years ago, Wessex and Kent were both attacked by those maritime barbarians. They attacked the monasteries, killed the priests, destroyed the holy tombs, insulted the holy remains, and took away large amounts of gold and silver. That's it. That band of pirates who took over Flanders!”
"My Lord Bishop, are you saying that the legendary pirates are targeting us?"
"The incident decades ago is not a legend." Bishop Edmund stamped his feet and said sternly. "About ten years ago, a group of pirates sacked Lindisfarne. This time, only the Picts or those It takes a sea robber to do that.”
The count dug into his fist, and big beads of sweat kept falling.
"It happens to be at this time that the king is coming to participate in the festival. Now I want to tell him that the holy place of the monastery has been occupied and even destroyed by the enemy." He smashed the table in extreme anger and stared at all the officers with sharp eyes. "I want to take You can be confident that you will completely eliminate those villains."
Without exception, all the centurions beat their chests for the attack on the monastery. In order to prove their bravery, they accused the fleeing officers of being traitors and cowards who did not deserve to live. They fully support the counterattack and try their best to prove their own strength, such as bragging about their achievements in the civil war more than ten years ago.
But the earl's head has not yet been coaxed into paste by this group of obviously bragging men. He himself is the cousin of King Aenred and an officer in the civil war.
He is not a pampered person, he is actually a strong man who can fight on horseback. At least his camp was winning the civil war, and then used military means to suppress the centrifugal domestic nobility, which also ensured that the two small countries continued to exist as a unified kingdom of Northumbria.
But the stability of the kingdom is based on the stability of military power. A thousand barbarian pirates landed and destroyed it, which seems to be very embarrassingly powerful!
The count already had a countermeasure. He bent down at the desk and continued, "We must organize soldiers and horses to kill them completely without any room for compromise. I will immediately gather soldiers, organize men in the city, and organize farmers in the village. This is to defend justice and light. In the battle, I will wait for the king to arrive and form a strong army to attack."
Earl Albert is also a thick-blooded person, because his cousin King Eynred can be described as a "warrior king". If he rashly sends troops, regardless of victory or defeat, he will be competing with his cousin for credit.
Transgression will make the king jealous, and the kingdom may fall into civil war.
He suddenly called loudly: "Glory belongs to the king, let us prepare for war."
Edmund Pigfoot whispered tragically, "It will be a bloody Assumption."
"There's no way. Those pirates are like Satan's familiars. If we can't kill them, the whole kingdom will fall into hell. Let the king lead the expedition in person and let other countries see our strength. War!"
"Aye!" The centurions present shouted loudly, with great confidence.
It was pity that the centurion who led the escape was imprisoned. This man could not escape the charge of being a coward and a traitor. As for who can punish him, it is naturally the king.
…
The seemingly huge kingdom of Northumbria in Britain has just ended a hundred years of chaos. After King Erdwulf was expelled by a coalition of domestic nobles and churches in 806, the nobles immediately began a large-scale civil war against the power of the kingdom. However, Erdwulf, whose family was in exile, was restored in 808 with the intervention of Charlemagne of the Franks.
He received military assistance from the Franks, a cavalry force trained by the Continental Franks, who helped him suppress those who opposed it.
But how did this king have Charlemagne's skills?
He made an alliance with the surrendered nobles and gave the priests more power in order to gain support. For those determined opponents, Prince Eynred was ordered to throw an army and conquer.
It was due to this achievement that when Erdwulf died of illness, Eynred was immediately crowned king. At this point, 110 years have passed since the outbreak of civil strife, and the people have finally enjoyed a rare relative peace, but the world has never been peaceful.
To the north of the kingdom were the Picts, to the south were the kingdoms of Mercia and Kent, and news of barbarian invasions was also spreading.
King Aenred is well aware of the many threats facing his kingdom, and he has no illusions of being immune to the chaos.
However, he never dreamed that the most important monastery in the kingdom, the place where he was crowned, would be occupied by a group of barbarians!
The king, some of his family, his bodyguard, and more than 500 people arrived in Bamburgh from York. When he arrived, the tragic news had spread throughout the city.
What's more, people who fled to the south from Edinburgh on the northern border claimed that Edinburgh was destroyed by sailing barbarians, and another group of barbarians from the Pictish Kingdom randomly began to try to invade.
When the king came to Bamburgh, his cousin, Earl Albert, immediately gave up his mansion.
However, the two terrifying news came like a bolt from the blue, which simply chopped the king's head into pieces.
In his rage, he simply didn't think, and faced all the officers present, even the subordinate centurions, with indignation.
"Decades ago, barbarians from the sea attacked the monastery. We rebuilt it and it is still being attacked today! I am afraid that it was also this group of people who attacked Edinburgh, and our defenders were actually defeated. Are they devils? Ours Is it because the victorious army has been in peace for too long that men have become useless? You are simply a bunch of useless people! Our holy land was occupied by barbarians and the city was destroyed by them! At least a thousand soldiers died, and they are still victory!"
All the officers raised their heads, and even those who followed the king did not dare to speak out against it.
Earl Albert tensed up and said bluntly: "King, those enemies... are very strong. There are at least a thousand of them, and everyone is very good at fighting. They also have some special weapons, we..."
"Shut up! They're all excuses. It's because the soldiers' beliefs are not pious enough. Do you think I'm a fool? How many men in the military camp are hanging out with the women who are being kept? Strong men have become fools. They only know how to enjoy themselves and think that we are different from our neighbors. There will be no war after the country signs the alliance. Don't make excuses, cheer up!"
It is foolish to belittle his men too much. King Aenred needs these people to realize that they have been humiliated by the enemy and must fight to the death to restore their honor.
Count Albert continued to speak bluntly: "The soldiers who escaped, especially a centurion, told some very detailed information."
"What? There are also cowards who escaped?"
"Exactly."
"Why not hanged?" The king was furious, glaring at his Earl cousin with hawk-like eyes.
"This... I am keeping the centurion in a cell, and I need your judgment."
"Okay! Okay..." The king's heroic figure leaned back slightly and looked at the people present almost at chin level.
He was quiet for a while and then asked his cousin: "Except for the centurion, where are the other soldiers who escaped?"
"Now they are all included in my army."
"That's not okay. Brother, letting these cowards infiltrate the army is not a good thing for us."
The count was surprised: "Are those soldiers also going to be hanged? To be honest, they are just humble people. If the officers don't escape, they won't dare to escape."
"No, no, no, we should follow the Frankish approach on this matter. You know, I have some knowledge in Frank, I even met Charlemagne himself. The Franks have a strong army, and I thought their strength lies in running the army. Strictness. How to be strict? Kill the cowards in the army and scare others. All soldiers should know that those who run away will be killed, but those who fight will be rewarded."
Although this set of rewards and punishments is very simple and straightforward, can it really be implemented in specific situations?
As king, Eynred thought very highly of himself, at least within Northumbria.
He firmly believed that the Frankish army was strong, but Charlemagne's army became increasingly decadent in the hands of his heirs who were busy fighting among themselves. He even didn't know that Frank's "German" Louis had a group of hundreds of "blond mercenaries" under his command, whose leader was Harald Clark, the former Danish leader who was expelled in 826.
The once all-powerful Frankish army has declined, and even Eynred himself is about to enter middle age.
It has been sixteen years since he became king. The kingdom cannot be said to have been peaceful for a long time under his governance. At least there is no longer military conflict with Mercia, and the friction with the Picts in the north is also very low.
He remained quiet for a while and then came up with a solution: "Then follow Caesar's rules. Brothers, assemble the army and the people of Bamburg. I want everyone to see the fate of those who betray their duties."
What are "Caesar's Rules"? It's the eleventh kill.
The next day, on a humid and clear morning, before the dew on the grass had evaporated, some wooden poles were erected in Bamburgh's rather muddy town square.
It was a simple gallows, and as many as two thousand people came to watch this horrific execution.
The enemy with surprising strength occupied the monastery. If the king did not take measures, the barbarians might attack Bamburgh next. News of the attack on Edinburgh has spread among the people, and everyone is still in danger.
The king wears a gilded silver crown and an orange cloak. He was riding a horse, its mane beautifully braided.
Eynred was arrogant, pointing his sword directly at a total of seven prisoners wearing sacks on their heads and lanyards around their necks.
"My subjects! Look at it! These are the soldiers who were ordered to guard Lindisfarne, but they did not resist the barbarians from the sea. They abandoned their faith and became cowards. Whether they fall into hell or not is up to God. thing. My mission is to let these cowards and traitors go to see God."
The people and soldiers held their breaths. In fact, everyone was holding in a bad breath.
At this moment, no one feels that their king resembles a tyrant, and they even urgently need a decisive king at this moment to lead people to regain their lost treasures.
"Execution!"
The executioner kicked the stool the prisoners were standing on, and after a struggle, all the prisoners died.
Eynred remained calm, while his wife and young son Ella witnessed all this from a distance.
After all, it was a place of execution, and the priests all avoided it. They were still busy with arrangements for the Assumption Mass, but everyone had already entertained the most terrifying idea that the Holy Land had been destroyed by the enemy, just as it had been forty years before.
No matter what, you must go to Mass when the date comes. If Lindisfarne Abbey is not available, then do it at the Abbey in Bamburgh City.
After the death of the prisoner, the body was hanging like salted fish. The soldiers who saw this scene were thinking that if they were not brave enough in the future battle, this would be their fate.
Those soldiers who escaped but did not win the lottery due to good luck are not happy at all now, because they know best how powerful the enemy is.
But others were enveloped in optimism and immersed in the cheers of the crowd, and most people forgot the horror of war.
Because all the men in Bamburgh City were mobilized, some male villagers around them were also captured.
The king's order was absolute, and Eynred issued an edict in Bamburgh, conscripting men between the ages of fifteen and fifty to assemble in Bamburgh.
The local Bishop Edmund and the priests who accompanied the king also jointly issued a proclamation. The so-called pious people armed themselves and drove away the barbarians from the Holy Land of Lindisfarne. Regardless of the outcome, those who participated in it would have their original sins forgiven. .
Even so, the king did not want to recruit a powerful army.
The century-old chaos in Northumbria has not really ended even twenty years ago. The country only has a population of more than 100,000, and it is mainly concentrated in the royal city of York.
Is it necessary to mobilize elite troops from the southern border, which is a key area of control? If this is really done, who can guarantee that Mercia will not seize the opportunity to attack immediately? A few years ago, Mercia forced the king of Kent to become Mercia's vassal.
Mobilizing the garrison troops of the royal city of York to go north took a lot of time, and the battle dragged on. If the enemy ran away, he would make a big move and then fail, which would naturally end up wasting people and money. What's more, if the group of seafaring barbarians attacked another target by sea, the result would only be worse.
Even though Northumbria trained a cavalry force with only a few hundred horsemen, it did not have any seafaring troops.
There is no think tank around the king, or there is no civilian role as counselor at all.
There is no civil bureaucracy of any kind in Northumbria. The chiefs responsible for work in various places are all military nobles.
It is really not appropriate for Eynred to act willfully. The king does not get any advisers, and he can only do the leading military and national affairs himself. However, he is currently responsible for the territory that his cousin is responsible for, and his position as earl was conferred by his deceased father. The previous king successfully restored Northumbria with the support of Frank, so the domestic administrative model also began to try to learn from Frank.
Is this the right thing to do?
King Aynred, after two days of preparations, could be said to have quickly assembled a "big army" consisting almost entirely of soldiers and civilians from the earldom of Bamburgh, with a strength of just over 2,000 people.
The strength of this army is indeed large, and the composition of the soldiers during this period is really diverse. There were all kinds of people, young and old, and a large number of farmers and craftsmen had no intention of fighting. However, when they learned that they would be executed if they did not fight, they could only bring their own farm tools or even a sharpened stick to join the army. They had to take care of their own food and march almost with bare feet.
Only about 800 of them are real soldiers of the kingdom. They wear real leather boots. Although the kingdom does not have a consistent military uniform style, orange linen dyed by multiple techniques constitutes the main color of regular soldiers.
In addition to this "Earl of Bamburgh's Army", King Aynred also brought out his own accompanying troops.
Two hundred sword and shield bearers, all in chain mail, and one hundred and fifty armored "heavy cavalry".
In this way, an army with a total strength of 2,400 people was born. Although the king did not pay much attention to those peasant soldiers, there were more than 1,000 regular kingdom soldiers.
Is the enemy brave? Is there anyone more brave than heavy cavalry in this world?
The cavalry is the foundation of the king's self-confidence, but there has been no progress on the mounted scouts sent out in the past three days. It seems that those people are lost?
Eynred was immersed in the fantasy of a bloodthirsty war. After ten years, he suddenly gathered such an army. He felt that he was only one step away from victory.
All that was left to do was to march the army along the dirt road leading to the monastery. It is best for the enemy to stay there like a fool, so that their glorious victory can be well-deserved. Through victory, the prestige of the sea barbarians will be severely undermined for a long time, and other countries will be able to see who is brave.
He has already chosen the day of departure.
As for the Vikings and Rurik, their actions directly conformed to Eynred's ideals.
Maybe, this is just a stupid fight. Rurik considered that his men were not Russians, so he tried to carry out some detours and sneak attacks, but he was afraid that this group of Balmoks, who were prone to internal strife, would not be able to do it. Since it is a stupid battle, we must carry out defensive counterattack tactics to the end. Just like the decisive battle on Gotland, this Rurik is very familiar and extremely confident.
