Northumbria suffered a huge defeat and suffered a very embarrassing defeat.
Those who were alive abandoned their armor and fled toward the woods like crazy, then fled straight towards Bamburgh.
Behind him, the Viking army was already counterattacking regardless of priority.
The kingdom's cavalry suffered a disastrous defeat, and those who were alive felt that the king had died in battle. They didn't care too much and just wanted to escape quickly.
But King Aenred was not dead, he was crushed to death by his dead mount. The cavalryman who was escorting the king to evacuate was holding the reins of the king's horse and was pulled off by the fallen horse.
When he regained some energy, he saw the king who was suppressed and unable to move.
"Your Majesty, I will pull you out..."
The soldier tried, but he couldn't accomplish this feat on his own.
At this moment, Eynred endured crying, and his eyes were seeing the enemies catching up, like countless demons coming towards him.
"You! Soldier!"
"His Majesty……"
"Go quickly!" Eynred suddenly ordered, "Leave me alone, go quickly."
"Your Majesty, I must..."
"May I have your name……"
"I'm John, John of Stockwood."
A nobody? No. He is just the lowest noble talent who has no merit and desires to make meritorious deeds.
Aynred smiled and said while holding his breath: "John, leave quickly? You must return to Bamberg alive and inform everyone that I will give the throne to my youngest son Ella! You take off my "Flee back and give the crown to Ella. Tell everyone that you must resist the barbarians."
John's heart almost burst, those barbarians were about to charge forward. He could assassinate the king and avoid the humiliation of the king falling into the hands of his enemies, but his faith prohibited this.
It is because of his faith that Eynred intends to seek death, but he cannot bite his tongue and commit suicide, or even take any measures to commit suicide. Because he firmly believes that those who commit suicide will go to hell.
The king's crown was taken away, and Eynred watched as the cavalryman named John ran away.
It was the first defeat in my life, and this defeat alone was a huge defeat.
Eynred opened his eyes, thinking only of using his mouth to provoke the enemies who were catching up and being stabbed to death by them.
Soon, Geiger led his brothers to kill him.
Logically speaking, when they caught up with the fleeing enemy, they would kill them to death. Seeing the unlucky guy being crushed by the horse, the Viking warrior resolutely raised his axe.
One of the brothers was about to chop, but he was knocked aside by Geiger.
"Brother, what are you doing?"
"Calm down!" Geiger opened his arms and signaled the brothers not to be impulsive. "Look, this man is dressed gorgeously and even rides a horse. He should be a Northumbrian noble, or even their biggest leader."
Geiger's explanation immediately reassured people. Capturing the opponent's leader was more honorable than killing him directly.
"Come on, guys, drag this guy out."
Eynred was quickly pulled out, and people saw his gold-rimmed belt, which made them even more sure of his nobility.
This person was yelling something incomprehensible, and from the look on his face, Geiger and the others knew it was a curse word.
Geiger hit him on the head with a fist, and Eynred passed out immediately.
"Brothers, keep chasing. Come two brothers, let's tie this man up and drag him back to Rurik quietly. Maybe Rurik of Ross can know this man's identity."
A large number of Vikings rushed into the forest, and the fleeing Northumbrians paid no attention to anything, even if the priests stationed in the forest appealed to everyone to stay calm.
But the priests in the forest couldn't see the situation clearly. When they saw the danger coming, it was too late.
Clergymen, including the noble Bishop of Bamburgh, were slaughtered indiscriminately.
In the past, these noble people just stood there, and the poor farmers would nod and bow down when they saw them, or kneel down to lick the mud off their leather boots.
The Vikings did not recognize their faith at all. Odin's warriors chopped them all down, and then robbed the gold and silver instruments that the priests carried with them. The silver crosses around the necks of the deceased were all robbed.
The trees gave the escapees cover, and the tired Vikings lost patience as they chased after them.
Covered in the blood of their enemies, they walked back to the open battlefield on the coast littered with corpses, each one panting.
There are corpses of the enemy everywhere here, but the losses among our own people are really not small.
The Balmok Vikings took the things they grabbed and sat around breathing heavily, not caring about the dead bodies around them for the time being.
The battle lasted for nearly a morning, and the sun was setting on the expected battle, and Rurik won as he expected.
With the army under his control, Rurik felt that victory was inevitable, and even the loss of the army was within his expectation.
Rurik had already prepared for the worst. The so-called loss of the chance to make a surprise attack meant that the Vikings would lose many advantages in a decisive battle with the enemy, so it was okay to kill 500 people in battle.
Obviously it's not that bad at all, but the attrition is real.
After all, these Balmoks have been fighting continuously these days, and their divisions are exhausted. I am afraid that after this battle, the army will have no more strength to continue fighting.
Rurik thought that because of this victory, they had obtained a batch of trophies and gained the great glory of an unprecedented victory, and he would be satisfied and determined to go home.
He felt that he had shot the king of Northumbria, who must have been chopped into pieces by Viking warriors in the rebellion.
The result was a huge surprise.
The depressed Eynred was thrown under the platform, and Geiger looked happy in the audience.
"Brother Rurik, we probably captured a noble."
"Surely he is this person?" Rurik jumped off the platform in a hurry. He stared at it and murmured, "Is this person their king?"
"How do I know?" Geiger continued to laugh, "If he is their king, I will have done a great job."
Biyongni, who was watching, came over at the right time. He patted Geiger on the shoulder, "It was Rurik who hit this man. Unexpectedly, you still pulled him back. I thought you chopped this man into pieces." "
"Huh? Is that so?"
"Of course. Otherwise this guy would have escaped."
Rurik was very happy and asked, "Is he dead?"
"No. It looks like death is not far away."
"Give him a bandage first. I see that his broken arm will not be healed until all the blood bleeds out."
"Bandage? Why?" Geiger thought it was quite ridiculous. "According to our custom, I should chop off this head and take it back to my hometown and hang it up to show off."
Headhunter? Rurik's intuition was unnecessary.
Then he stood up and motioned to Gage Biyoni, "This man should be a high-ranking noble. Look at this gold belt. I even suspect that this man is the enemy's king. But he doesn't have a gold crown, so I can't judge his true identity. You guys Don’t worry, I’ll let Paul ask.”
"That captured grain officer? Do you really think it's a treasure?" Biyongni shouted disdainfully.
Rurik shook his head and raised his hand, "That Paul is a hunting dog, we can use it now. Don't hurt this person. If he is a high-ranking noble, we can use him to blackmail him."
"Is this necessary?" Biyongni asked again.
Rurik cleared his throat, looked at the southern forest, raised his hands and said, "We still have enough troops. The enemy was defeated. We took the opportunity to attack Bamburgh. Our goal is gold and silver wealth. If we can use this noble to blackmail For ransom, brothers don’t have to risk their lives to attack the city.”
Their greed for wealth is insatiable!
Biyongni suddenly became enlightened, and Geiger shouted out his wit.
"He's the best king."
"probably."
Rurik looked at the two people talking and laughing again and said: "If this is a fake, we will kill him. I estimate that this man is a king who has lost his crown. Indeed, after this defeat, their king has lost his crown." You should commit suicide to apologize."
The poor Balmoks actively cleaned up the battlefield. Because of the agreement, any trophies obtained by the survivors on the battlefield would belong to themselves. In a short period of time, these guys had a lot of equipment. Variety.
They pulled the leather boots from the corpses and put them on their feet, and pulled out the bloody mail and put them on their bodies. They seized iron swords one by one. If they were bent during battle, they would step on them until they were almost straight, thus replacing their hand axes.
Some people even use axes to smash the heads of dead bodies in order to obtain excellent teeth as special decorations.
Those who had not taken any property after the attack on the monastery got more or less spoils this time.
However, people's greed is still insatiable. Those who have obtained a lot of loot want to continue plundering, while those who feel that the loot is small will quickly get more opportunities.
As for those who died in battle, everything was over for them, and the spoils they retained were divided among their subordinate families.
There were more than 160 Balmok corpses collected from the battlefield, which was naturally much less than the number of enemy corpses.
Among them, the decisive attack of the enemy cavalry in the final stage really caused the worst casualties to the Vikings. What's worse, the dead in this area are almost all fishermen and herdsmen from Washobi, all Geiger's brothers.
Since entering Britain, this battle can be said to be the third and largest battle fought by the brothers. The brothers have lost three hundred people.
In the face of such heavy losses, the Vikings still maintained morale.
Just like what Rurik said to his brothers when he faced the nobles who were suspected of being the enemy king. Brothers still have the opportunity to expand the results and gain wealth, but everyone must be smarter and never forcefully attack the city unless necessary, even if everyone is still enthusiastic.
The Vikings spent the entire afternoon clearing the battlefield.
The enemy's corpses were swept away until they turned into an eye-catching pile of white strips.
The Balmoks are not man-eating monsters, but they are not noble enough to bury the corpses of their enemies.
They found all their own bodies, and considering the need to cremate so many dead brothers, God knows how long the fire will burn. Some long boats simply carried the corpses into the sea. They were all brave men on the sea. Since their souls had gone to Valhalla, this mortal corpse should be dedicated to the ocean.
The sky was getting dark, but there were still nearly 700 Viking warriors. They roasted horse meat and cooked wheat in pottery urns. Although the corpses of the enemy are attracting the attention of crows, no one feels unlucky or scary, as if those corpses are just ordinary things in nature, no different from trees and rocks.
After a period of rest, King Aynred of Northumbria woke up after his wound was bandaged.
His awakening immediately attracted a crowd of people, including Rurik, to watch.
The setting sun shone on the haggard face of this middle-aged man. With great trepidation, Paul was ordered to serve as an interpreter to deliver information to the two groups.
No, Eynred, who had come back to his senses, did not hesitate to claim his noble identity. He spat and accused Paul of being a traitor to the kingdom, pointing out the viciousness of the onlookers' barbarians who destroyed the Holy Land and killed the people.
But what's the point?
"My guess is good, this man is indeed their king." Rurik pinched his waist, pointed at the sad and angry Eynred and smiled.
Geiger was overjoyed. He faced all the family leaders with his chest raised, "Even if this man was hit by an arrow from Rurik of Rus, it was our brothers from Vashobi who captured him in the end. You have all seen it, I It’s a great contribution.”
Biyongni nodded: "Brother, no one will deny your contribution. But to be fair, the person who led us to win this battle was Rurik of Ross, my brother-in-law."
"Of course I have the greatest contribution. Without my command and my powerful weapons, you may not be able to defeat them." Rick didn't say what he was saying in his heart.
He raised his head and looked at everyone, pretending to be humble: "We are all brothers, we are allies, and we all deserve credit for this victory."
Everyone reached a consensus and agreed, and no one denied that Rurik was the greatest contributor.
At this moment, Eynred is a huge treasure. Since this person is the king, everyone fully agrees with the decision to take the enemy's king to Bamburgh in exchange for ransom.
Eynred is not a fool. He can see that these guys don't want to chop off his head. He can also guess almost what the barbarians want to do, that is, he will ask for the ransom. This is in his knowledge. It's so normal here. Of course, it is also common in Britain for a king to lead a charge and die suddenly, triggering an immediate civil war or a new king in a kingdom (many Northumbrian kings died in the war against Mercia).
The King of Northumbria struggled to twist his tied body. He found that his left arm had lost all feeling. If he looked carefully, his left arm was also badly ulcerated.
He continued to curse, especially Paul, the grain officer in Edinburgh who worked for the barbarians, and said that he would go to hell for betraying his faith.
However, a king who stood proudly in the palace of York is now as humble as a sheep being tied up for slaughter. We are already in such a state of affairs, how can we still be so stubborn?
Paul had been a serf all his life, and he felt that he had found a good job with the Vikings. With the support of the Vikings, he suddenly strengthened his will.
He took a very bold step and knocked down the reviling king.
"Hey! Paul, what are you doing?!" Rurik was shocked.
Paul bared his teeth and bowed to report: "Master, this man is swearing. Very vicious."
"Even so, I can't kick him. I have to exchange this person for money."
"It's... it's my fault."
Rurik pinched his chin and looked at the king's unruly face. He always felt that this man's insults were seeking death.
Seeking death? Since you don't dare to commit suicide, you want me to do it for you? How can that work? After killing this man, the brothers had to attack the city by force.
Rurik signaled to Paul: "This king is too arrogant. Go and find a way to humiliate him."
Paul understood this, and his humiliating tactics were truly disgusting. He lifted up his robe, slapped the king in the face, and forced him to go to the toilet without being ashamed of his face.
The stench of this move prompted Rurik to push Paul aside, and all the Vikings watching were laughing wildly.
This was not over yet. Paul quickly squatted in front of the king's wet and stinking face and said viciously: "In your kingdom, I am just a slave. In the Rus, I will live a good life. God has not blessed you. Kingdom, you are a tyrant, you killed thousands of people, God let you be destroyed!”
Ross? ! Eynred heard the word "Ross" for the first time.
Russians? What kind of barbarians are they? Is it related to the Picts?
Until now, Eynred still didn't know what the enemy he was fighting was. He quickly understood the three words "Rus", "Norrse" and "Vikingr". In short, the words were enemies from the sea, and even One thing frightened him even more.
Because Paul arrogantly said it very clearly: "It was they who destroyed Lindisfarne forty years ago, and now they are coming again. This is the fate of Northumbria, and this is God's punishment for you." .”
