The enemy did not leave, and the Russian soldiers who stayed at the original front did not dare to really relax their guard.
As more and more Balmok friendly troops crossed the river, the momentum of the army became stronger.
King Aynred of Northumbria, who brought the bishop with him to negotiate peace with him, could clearly see this with his naked eyes.
The horse's hooves trampled on the blood-stained summer grass, and the sight of dead or dying corpses on the ground shocked him. If he hadn't had enough concentration, he would have vomited them out.
At least the Bishop of York was clutching the silver cross on his chest. He suddenly retched many times, and the accompanying little priest could only cling to the large wooden cross and keep reciting scriptures to cheer himself up.
"They will never kill the envoy. If they find out that the king himself is coming, they should maintain basic courtesy." Thinking of this, Bishop York looked at the king himself.
Eynred at least seemed to be maintaining great composure, and hopefully that was the case.
If the great king dies, the throne of Northumbria will definitely be cheaper than Osbot in the north. But, can the army led by that man withstand the barbarian army?
The further they advanced, the more dead bodies there were, and Eynred's mood became more and more complicated.
The corpses of war horses appeared in front of them, and the dense rain of arrows on the ground looked like ears of wheat waiting to be harvested, although spring wheat was only grown in the territory of Wessex in the far south.
As the distance increased, Rurik could see Eynred's face clearly with the naked eye.
Although there was only a very brief encounter last year, Rurik was not sure whether it was the king himself.
Wait, what is that man doing? !
I saw that the person took off the wooden prosthetic leg of his left arm, showed the severed arm, and then took off his helmet.
"It is indeed the king himself." Rurik nodded, and immediately called the grain officer Paul to his side to whisper a few words, and then ordered Jevro to bring the king who was bound to fail to him.
The group of them moved forward in a vigorous manner, except Paul, the grain officer, who was trembling with great nervousness.
Magnut, who had declared himself king, narrowed his eyes and looked at him: "Rurik, is that their king? Now I am the master of this land. Very good, you lure that man over, and I will chop him down." He will avoid future troubles."
Rurik was really shocked: "Father, why bother? That is a dog with a broken spine. If you keep him as your servant, you can break the bones and suck out the marrow."
"is it necessary?"
"It's necessary, at least for the time being. When he finally loses his use value, it's not too late for you to take action."
"Alas, I'm afraid your kindness is inappropriate." Magnute stroked his son-in-law's hair and said: "If my daughter Nolen was here, she would probably advise me like this. Well, if this man doesn't surrender, It is not a problem for you and me to kill him and his army."
This is like the defeated Celtic king personally surrendering to Caesar. Whether to kill or behead him all depends on the victor's mind.
Eynred saw that the Vikings had also sent envoys, a group of madmen with blood-stained robes!
Why is there a man in black robes among them? He doesn't look like a combatant.
The contact between the two parties finally began. Eynred was still riding his own horse. His posture was really arrogant, as if he was looking down at Jevro and others with a victor's attitude.
"You! Get down here!" Yevluo pointed directly at him with his sword.
Grain officer Paul immediately translated, but his soothing tone was completely incompatible with Jevro's domineering attitude.
"Why should I dismount? I am the king of Northumbria! You are just a barbarian general, so dismount for me."
Hearing this, Jevro was not angry either. He turned his hand and slashed the horse's leg with his sword. Eynred immediately fell off the horse and was pinned to the grass by the soldiers who came forward. The unprepared clergy and the Bishop of York were both brought under control.
"You are a bunch of villains! Don't be so powerless! I am the king! Tell your Rurik, he is just a duke, and I am the king!"
Yevro finally understood these words. After the king was pulled up, he slowly took off his helmet, revealing his black hair and his head with a North Asian style.
"Ah! Is it you?!"
"It's me."
In all of Britain, only the inner city of London was still inhabited by a group of noble Roman remnants, all of whom were black-haired. There were black-haired Vikings among the Vikings, and they had nothing to do with the Romans.
There was a well-respected guard beside Rurik. Eynred noticed his black hair and took it to heart. He even knew that this short man was really a ruthless person.
Jevro didn't want to say anything more, so he said: "My master is Rurik. Now my master has said that if you negotiate, you will take off all your weapons and go to our military formation. If you veto, I will get the master's permission." Authorized, I can kill you now, and your last army will be wiped out as well.”
Eynred knew that what this man said was true. He came to mediate because his life was on the line.
"I want to see your master. Now, you disarm me."
Jevlo was really surprised by the king's obedience, so he ordered his men to strip him down to his clothes, and finally tried to tie his only right arm with a rope.
However, the priests were unlucky.
Because Rurik's order was too simple, it was just to bring the king himself back.
All those little priests were killed. The shocked Bishop of York suddenly closed his eyes in front of the bloody sword and waited for his miserable fate. Naturally, his head fell to the ground...
Eynred's heart was broken due to the sudden change. He glared at the Viking warrior sadly and sighed deeply.
He lamented: "Do you still think that I can strangle your young Duke with one hand? My life is in your hands, why do you need to tie my right arm."
Jevro didn't say anything, and finally simply put a rope around his neck and walked back to his military formation like he was leading a cow or horse.
At this moment, the kingdom soldiers and peasant soldiers watching from a distance witnessed all this, and naturally thought that the king had been killed, and immediately began to flee on a large scale.
In the end, only more than a hundred people and the last dozen or so cavalry saw clearly that the king was being led away like an animal. They shed tears of grief while waiting for the final news.
Eynred was determined to die, and he had only one request to make to Rurik.
The defeated king stepped through a large number of dead Northumbrian warriors' corpses and finally entered the Viking formation.
When he really entered here, he didn't feel that these people were simply barbaric. The enemy maintained a very strange orderliness. A large group of neatly dressed warriors stood neatly with large bucklers, seemingly building a passage.
Rurik, Arik, Magnut, Biyoni and others stood at the end of the "road". Behind it are the ships parked densely on the Maas River, and the towering masts of the big ships even create huge shadows. A large number of temperaments are swaying and sounding fiercely in the wind.
"Stay back first." Rurik ordered casually.
In the blink of an eye, he looked down at the defeated king with a calm face, and said in Saxon: "Your defeat is fate. Broken-armed Eynred, our army is here again. This time, York is already in our hands." inside."
This Rurik is still a handsome boy. When we meet again after a year, this boy is more like a pure man, but a very fierce man. The handsome face has deep eyes, and the eyes reveal great ambition. Rurik can actually speak Saxon. Although the accent is a bit strange, he can basically understand it.
Eynred took another look at York, where the orange king's flag should have been flying, but now it was the Russian flag with a white background and blue stripes called "oar", and even a flag with a huge bird printed on it.
Seeing his hesitation, Rurik immediately introduced his father-in-law and brother-in-law.
For Biyongni, this down-and-out king is an acquaintance.
Naturally, it was the first time for Magnute to see him. His first request for a defeated person was to order him to kneel down and surrender.
"I have taken possession of your royal city. This is the new territory of our Balmoks. You must surrender to me, otherwise, you will be killed."
At least he surrendered to an unshaven old man, and Eynred felt quite satisfied. But this old man actually wanted to humiliate his own personality.
"Just kill me." Eynred turned his face away and closed his eyes.
Magnute, who was so angry that he wanted to take action himself, was stopped by Rurik. Because this situation is not in line with his original intention.
Rurik comforted his father-in-law: "After all, our Russian army completed this battle independently. It was my people who defeated him. It is up to me to decide how to deal with it."
"That's...ok."
Whoever has the greatest achievements has the most say. Viking society follows this culture, and even Magnute cannot violate tradition. Of course, no one thought it was honorable to actually kill an enemy leader with a rope around his neck.
Rurik signaled his men to untie all the restraints of Eynred, and then pointed into the distance: "You are a proud king, but your subordinates have betrayed you. You are already alone. Logically speaking, we should not give you anything. Any courtesy.”
"So? What are your conditions?" Eynred asked immediately.
"You are a smart man, and you guessed my intention at once. Killing you will indeed do no good to us, and even the war itself can be avoided, but you were not here at all when we landed. This is you Responsibility! If you had sacrificed your life when our fleet arrived, ceded the land and paid tribute, this bloody battle could have been avoided. This is all your fault. But it is not too late to do it now."
These words are well said, and they fully describe the hypocrisy and arrogance of the winner!
But Aynred had nothing to say, and after thinking for a while he asked: "So, I became a tool in your hands."
Rurik smiled: "Exactly. I plan to conduct a peace negotiation, I don't know what you want."
This is simply an olive branch from Satan. Is it worth believing?
If he was really brave, Eynred would have led the last warrior to fight to the death, or now he would madly anger his opponent and kill him. But he didn't. He didn't want this from the beginning, but it was impossible for him to put down his noble body and do the groveling behavior of a humble servant.
"Peace talks? Of course. However, I must hold peace talks with your equal king as a king."
After saying this, Eynred's eyes immediately looked at Magnute, who had proclaimed himself king.
Originally, according to Magnute's intention, why are you talking nonsense with this guy? Cut him down and seize his territory.
After all, Rurik thought long-term. He did not ask that the Balmoks, who should be classified as Norwegians in the broad sense, who colonized Northumbria, would really live peacefully in the new land they owned because of a treaty. At least the Balmoks The Merks must first use several years of operations to establish a solid ruling core on the island. The Rus' Principality will not rule here. What Rurik needs is a new source of goods to do business, and even allow a group of Balmoks from Narvik Port to immigrate to Britain, so that he can penetrate the Balmoks with influence. Replaced by the old place.
What seems to be the beauty of becoming another person, behind it is naturally Rose's consideration for the future.
Rurik is willing to be a guarantor so that a peace treaty can last at least two or three years.
After all, the wilderness is not the place for peace talks. The best place is naturally the palace in York City.
Aynred crossed the Meuse River in a Viking longship. He saw the big ships one after another with his own eyes. He was astonished and envious.
He wondered if the city of York had become hell on earth, and it turned out not to be far from hell.
There were Vikings everywhere with colorful braids and their bare arms, deliberately showing off their tattoos.
Many young women worked silently, and women's screams and cries were heard from time to time.
Aynred closed his eyes and kept blaming himself for his sins. As a king, he led heavy troops to the border with the Mercian army, but the royal city was easily occupied by them and reduced to this situation.
He simply hurriedly questioned Rurik with grief and anger: "These are my people, and you actually treat them as slaves."
Rurik shrugged, turned around and said: "Your ancestors also dealt with the Picts in this way. Well, they are not slaves. At least our army will occupy this place forever. Young men do not have wives. You are not qualified King, our men are not villains, we have our own principles."
"You! You are barbarians." Eynred bared his teeth.
Rurik became anxious when he heard this, and choked back: "Is it because we don't believe in your gods?"
"this……"
"I'm surprised, why didn't you ask me about your son? I'm not stupid enough to kill Ella. By the way, your unclean queen is still alive now."
Eynred was stunned on the spot, remaining unmoved even as the warrior pushed him. He stared at Rurik with dull eyes, and for a moment he shed two lines of hot tears, and squeezed out a thank you for a long time.
It was originally the stone room where Eynred summoned generals and discussed political affairs, but now the people standing there are Vikings who have come from afar.
A rough square table was placed in the middle, with Rurik and Magnut sitting on one side, and Eynred sitting on the other side.
The atmosphere of the entire negotiation was full of the arrogance of a winner, but Eynred was not a groveling person.
Rurik was of course prepared for the coalition's request, but Eynred, who had just sat down, immediately became angry: "Where is my son! I want to see Ella!"
"Of course. After the negotiation is over, your father and son will naturally be reunited." Rurik said casually.
"No!" Eynred suddenly became furious: "I must see him now. Rurik, prove your own honesty and let Ella stand by my side, and I will negotiate with you."
"Presumptuous! The failed king." Arik, who was standing aside, suddenly drew his sword. Although he couldn't understand the Saxon language of the island, he knew that the king was quibbling.
Rurik twisted his temples, glanced at Magnute with an old face, and casually ordered: "Here, bring the prince out. Biyongni, let your toy come out to meet her, after all, she was originally She is the king’s woman.”
After a while, Ella was really led out. When the boy saw his father, he burst into tears and rushed over to his father's arms.
Eynred was also crying, but after a while, he saw her out of the corner of his eye.
"It's the queen. It's the unclean queen. What is this woman doing now?!"
Even after changing into a barbarian's fur clothing and putting on a Viking's braided hair, Eynred still knew Queen Anna's face.
After all, she is an unclean woman serving a new master.
Looking at Biyongni who pulled her out, this tall, bald man with a pattern on his head, just gave an order, and this unclean woman actually knelt down on her knees, sat sideways on the ground, and sat on this strong At Han's feet, a big hand casually moved his chin and stroked his hair.
Her eyes were dull, and she showed no expression even though she saw herself.
Aynred estimated that this woman's soul had completely dissipated and became an empty shell owned by the Vikings. It was pure humiliation for this tall and terrifying man to be pulled over. Considering the current situation, Eynred couldn't even curse. He will not make any overreaction for a woman who has betrayed him long ago and is now insane. He just wants to do his best to preserve the existence of Northumbria, even if his territory is severely reduced.
But wait! Perhaps this army of barbarians...
"Yes! Why do I, Northumbria, have to bear all the suffering alone?! Wiglaf of Mercia, it's all because of you, the villain, that I almost destroyed my country. I want to take revenge on you!"
