In this glimpse of the battlefield, Rurik chose mercy. In other words, obtaining treasures and materials is always the goal, and killing is a necessary evil to achieve this goal.
All the enemies who fought bravely were killed, and there was no need to use strong measures to deal with the remaining women and children.
Let them withdraw peacefully from Tamworth City. This arrangement is also clear to Magnute.
Because those women and children were also resources that the Balmok Vikings needed.
The barbarian army was outside the city, and a "barbarian leader" who could speak Ruric Latin made a peace promise.
To be honest, the bishops and priests didn't quite believe it, but there was only one thing everyone could be sure of - not cooperating would mean a bloody disaster.
The priests immediately announced the conditions offered by the barbarians to the trembling people. People believed the priests, and women began to carefully follow the priests out of the city with their infant children.
All the city gates are blocked, and the debris cannot be removed in a short time by weak women and children. They also had to climb the city wall, walk down the literal mountain of corpses and sea of blood, and face the armed Viking army in horror.
The old, weak, women and children who left the city at first were not persecuted. Rurik ordered his own people to exercise restraint, and many Balmoks were forced to obey the requests of the heads of various families and stay where they were.
However, the army was watching the people leaving the city at close range, paying special attention to the young women. The brothers laughed and said vulgar words to each other.
More and more people came out of the city, carrying very few belongings with them. They were forced to gather on the banks of the Tam River, looking at the anchored Viking fleet and sighing.
A large number of people were gathering, and Rurik was shocked by the sheer number.
The entire makeshift prison camp along the river became increasingly noisy, filled with whispers from the evacuating people, who together formed a noticeable buzz.
Magnute was surprised and frightened by the number of prisoners.
He approached Rurik and pointed with his big hand: "Who would have thought that there are so many of them? They would rather surrender despite their large number? Or are they hiding many swordsmen?"
"Oh? Are you worried about those women?"
"They are worthy of vigilance."
"Forget it." Rurik shook his head, "They are not female warriors at all. Their beliefs restrict them to working in the fields. It is a sin to take out weapons to fight."
"Oh...Is that really the case?"
"Yes, I'm sure."
Magnute smiled slightly: "It doesn't matter, we can verify it tonight."
"Are you going to take action against them?"
"why not?"
"Forget it. You can throw these captives to Northumbria, or you can keep them for yourself." Rurik stared into Magnute's eyes, "You are the king of the Kingdom of York. From now on, you need local People give you tribute. I don’t care, I just want the wheat in the city, and even gold and silver don’t matter.”
"Haha, your request is too low, or do you suspect that I am not generous enough?" Magnut patted his son-in-law Rurik on the shoulder affectionately, "Of course I will give you some gold and silver. Your soldiers are all stifled. , you might as well find a hundred more women for your men."
The sun is about to set and the world is orange. Nearly ten thousand people evacuated Tamworth, plagued by hunger and sleepiness.
The bishop announced that there were no people in the city and prayed to the Viking army for food.
food? Of course it can be provided, but the people need to pay some price.
What's the price?
The bishops and priests were screaming, the men of Balmok rushed forward laughing and joking, and the surrendered women and children were screaming and crying.
The bishop himself tried to find Rurik, who spoke Latin, and eventually found him.
The old man knelt on the ground and cried bitterly: "Is this what you call peace? You deceived us!"
To be honest, Rurik felt a little sorry for these peacemaking priests. He thought for a while, put on an innocent face and said, "I didn't take action against your women. You see, my army is resting, and I didn't even let them enter the city to plunder."
"This...this is sophistry! Those people are clearly..."
"Shut up!" Arik stood up and kicked the old pig's foot aside.
"Brother, please be patient."
"Bah. Does this old guy think he is someone?"
The old bishop covered his chest and continued to curse. Rurik had no intention of defending anything and said bluntly: "Anyone who commits crimes is not my army. What you see is my father-in-law's army. He is the king of the Kingdom of York. You should beg him." ! Look, there are twenty Northumbrian women who cook wheat in my camp. Have I ever done anything to them? They are happy to work for me. You are asking the wrong person."
The bishop still felt that this was sophistry but had nothing to say.
This night, which was the ultimate joy for the people of Balmok, was really a disaster for the Mercians of Tamworth.
Magnute did not feel that he had deceived the Mercians, and his men did not kill again. But in the eyes of the Mercians, there is not much difference between barbarians attacking women and killing them.
In the early morning, a hundred young and delirious women were sent to the Russian camp.
Magnute came to deliver the gift in person this time.
"My son, accept this gift. Now it's time for us to go into the city and plunder it."
"Is it them?" Rurik glanced at the group of women who were in a trance. "Did your people take action against them? Maybe you should keep them."
"No. How could I lie to you?" When he said this, his face seemed to prove that he was lying. After saying that, he clapped his hands, and a brown-haired girl was pulled out.
"Who is this?" Rurik was a little confused.
"She seems to be a noble woman."
"It doesn't matter." Rurik waved his hand and pulled the detained bishop over.
But when the bishop saw the girl, he immediately exclaimed: "It's Mary, Your Highness the Princess!"
"Princess?" Rurik was a little interested.
"Does he seem to be a member of the royal family? Wouldn't it be nice to give it to you?" Magnute then signaled to his subordinates and pushed the dazed girl to Rurik's side.
The woman was lying limply on the grass. When Rurik lifted her chin, he noticed the tears in the woman's eyes. In the end, she actually choked out a sentence: "Quick! Kill me."
This is what Latin says.
"Kill you? No. You are actually the royal family of Mercia? You can speak Latin. Now, you are my woman!"
Rurik was very surprised, but the city of Tamworth had been destroyed. This was the royal city, and the nobles of the royal family should have suffered the pain of subjugation.
But it was really different for him to get a princess who could speak Latin. He still doubted the identity of the girl at first. However, all the priests bluntly said that the girl Mary was the beloved daughter of King Wiglaf, and the priests also said that the king loved his daughter. Love is ultimate.
There seems to be something going on here? Rurik felt that some priests seemed to have a look of contempt in their eyes when describing this. It doesn't matter, it's not appropriate to expect them to be like pugs wagging their tails when facing the Viking conquerors.
Another priest described that many years ago, the Bathing King of Wessex obtained the surrender of Mercia. At that time, he also mentioned a marriage request, but Wiglaf refused because his daughter was too young.
She was only fourteen years old and the younger sister of Bothwulf who died in the battle.
She is pampered and her beauty is far better than that of ordinary peasant girls. The person can speak Latin and must have received a good education. As a princess who lost her country, she still wants to die. It seems that this woman is not mediocre.
A poor princess was just a small noise to the entire war. Rurik was not in the mood to deal with the matter of princess Mary for the time being. The remaining ninety-nine women sent by his father-in-law Magnute were also controlled.
There was one big thing that Rurik had to do himself, which was to find the granary in Tamworth.
The Balmok army first walked through the slope of flesh and blood, and then began to move away the debris in the city gate cave under orders.
More than two hundred strong men worked together and after a lot of effort, the closed wooden door was opened, and the long-awaited army broke in.
They began to loot, looking for all kinds of useful things.
Biyongni and his men rushed straight to the palace to find the warehouse where gold and silver were stored. The monastery was another key site of looting, with gold and silver vessels being plundered.
The Balmoks enjoyed making a fortune, but Rurik and his people were in a different mood.
Thirty two-wheeled carts became the best transport vehicles, and brothers Rurik and Arik brought more than 300 people into the city.
"There are many war relics here, all made by our arrows." Arik admired the twists and turns of the streets, and arrow feathers like wheat ears could be seen everywhere.
"Let brothers collect the arrows, we will need them later."
"Yes. But I also want to get some gold. Brother, you are too kind to the Balmoks. You don't let us plunder."
"Just gold and silver?" Rurik said with a dull face, "In my opinion, wheat is the most meaningful. Gold and silver are inedible, and our hometown has a large population. If we can't get enough wheat, everyone will starve. "
"But we obviously stole a lot of wheat."
"It's not enough! You never complain about having too much wheat when you're hungry."
"Oh? Are you mocking me for being full now?" Arik smiled again. "Forget it, I still listen to you."
The granary is located in the inner city of Tamworth. It is an inner castle. When the city's defense completely collapsed, the door to the inner city was wide open.
Rurik quickly found the granary. There were mountains of burlap sacks in those stone buildings, and every room was filled with the aroma of wheat.
"The Qi system makes me feel comfortable. I'm even hungry." Arik said with enthusiasm on his face.
Not only him, but all the Ross warriors present were salivating.
To be honest, if the soldiers can't make enough wealth, everyone will be very dissatisfied even if they don't say it.
Rurik immediately shouted: "Brothers, let's empty these granaries! All of you, go back to your hometown and share the five hundred pounds of wheat!"
Five hundred pounds of wheat? Everyone's surprise forced Rurik to shout again, and the answer was still this.
The ordinary soldiers of Ross only started to eat a lot of wheat in recent years. Although eating oats tests one's bite strength, the comfort after eating wheat rice is far better than eating fish. Once you have this kind of comfort, you can't stop.
However, Rurik, who sells wheat at a fair price, is standing here. The limited wheat is sold in limited quantities, which actually maintains a balance in Roseburg.
Even if ordinary people have a lot of money, they can only buy up to one hundred pounds of wheat in one winter. It is only recently that they can buy two hundred pounds of wheat throughout the year.
Five hundred pounds of wheat was enough to feed the soldier and his family for half a year! And when wheat is on sale in winter, you can also take your money to the official sales point of Duke Ross to buy cheap wheat.
"When you are hungry, no one will dislike the abundance of wheat in your home." Ordinary soldiers take this statement seriously.
Rurik shouted again: "Brothers, those Balmoks don't know the deliciousness of wheat at all. They think it is useless, so we will move all the wheat away."
Everyone started to move with a roar. A large number of heavy sacks were thrown onto the two-wheeled vehicles, and the transportation out of the city had begun.
At first, Rurik and everyone took it for granted that it was all filled with wheat. When the hemp rope at the girdle of a sack accidentally came loose, the wheat inside rolled out. Rurik was surprised to see that the shape was different from that of slender oats. of wheat grains.
"Haha! It's actually wheat!"
No one knows why his Lord Rurik suddenly shouted excitedly because of the wheat grains.
Arik didn't take it seriously, but his brother came directly in front of him.
"Hey, you mistook wheat for gold?"
"This is wheat! Brother, this is wheat that tastes better than oats. It is the best wheat."
But Arik still didn't understand his brother's excitement.
Rurik was indeed very excited, entirely because in the traditional trade of the Nordic world, spring wheat trade only existed in theory.
At this time, special cold-resistant spring wheat varieties could not be grown in the Baltic region. The wheat that existed was imported from other places, which was rare and naturally extremely expensive.
Wheat is ground into powder, steamed to make steamed buns, and baked to make noodles.
Looking at the granary with mountains of wheat, Rurik was already fantasizing about eating noodles. In fact, he knew that with his current skills, he could make lo noodles with sauce immediately.
Rurik never underestimated the amount of wheat stored in the royal city of Mercia, because any king in his right mind would understand the relationship between food reserves and national stability.
The amount of wheat was still beyond his imagination.
Throughout the day, the Balmoks searched first for gold and silver, and then for civilian items such as pots, pans, and cloth.
On Rurik's side, he was frantically moving wheat.
He estimated that the sack contained a standard one hundred Roman pounds of wheat, and measured it using a captured scale, which was essentially the case.
There are no ball bearings, and Rurik's subordinates are unable to downsize the roller bearings. These two-wheeled vehicles have all hard contact bearings and rely on a large amount of grease to relieve friction.
It was a bit reluctant to pile fifteen sacks of wheat on one car, but one car still had its shaft broken off because two hundred sacks were piled on it.
Rurik had to maintain the efficiency of one truck transporting 1,500 pounds to transport food to the camp, and a group of soldiers also carried a bundle of sacks all the way to the camp.
The Russians could carry as much as nearly fifty thousand pounds of wheat in one trip.
The Russians and even the mercenaries who stayed in the camp were soon ordered to join the operation.
What kind of crazy robbery is this? Rurik sometimes felt that he was really a bad person. The food they stored was to supply the residents of the entire royal city, and food was another manifestation of the royal wealth.
By the time the sun went down, the Russian army had carried it out for as many as twenty-one times. While they were moving, they were doing simple statistics at the rear camp.
One truck of wheat weighs about 1,500 pounds, and there are 29 trucks continuously transporting it. The continuous transportation has accumulated to more than 600 truck trips, which is more than 900,000 pounds!
Other soldiers carried back another two thousand bags simply by carrying them on their backs.
Even so, the Russians were carrying wheat at dusk...
Many Russian people were panting and staying at the riverside outside the city to guard their camp. The 120 female prisoners in total immediately accepted the comfort of the captured old priest of Lindsay Abbey and were cooking wheat for the Russian army.
They were all ordinary peasant women, and many were actually domestic slaves of nobles.
When they saw that the king's youngest daughter was captured, some of them were not sad, but rather happy.
I have been a humble servant since I was born. Aren't those who were born noble now also serving as slaves to barbarians?
Perhaps it is no more miserable to be a servant of a barbarian than to be a servant of a noble.
It cannot be said that the Russians are kind and good people, that is not the case at all! They collectively suffered from Stockholm Syndrome and cooked for the barbarians. They themselves were entitled to eat a lot of wheat and even more qualified to eat a lot of salt.
The king did not protect his people, and the savages were not the horrific demons described by the priests.
Those women behaved quite submissively, but they were still uncertain about their future.
But it was Princess Mary, who was already in Rurik's camp.
She was wearing only cloth clothes and huddled up.
Rurik wiped his body with boiled river water and used soap that was made with chrysanthemum water and honey. When he washed his whole body, he had a strange floral fragrance on his body.
He walked into the camp and saw the nervous princess.
"I heard you are Mary? Mary, Princess of Mercia?"
The girl Feifan did not deny it. She stood up, clenched her fists, and screamed in Latin: "You are all evil! You have destroyed my kingdom."
"Is this about fighting? Do you think you are a female warrior? Do you think fighting a boy shows your strength?"
But Mary still clenched her fists and hit her.
"absurd!"
Rurik tripped him down, then raised his knees to his waist and completed the chokehold with his arms.
He moved his face closer again: "You can speak Latin, I need you. You are still the princess of Mercia, and I am the Duke of Ross. Your father's kingdom foolishly chose war, and I followed the instructions of Northumbria We agreed to raise troops to attack. This is all your father's fault, and you have to pay the price for your father's stupidity."
"He...he is just a bastard!" she growled, baring her teeth.
Rurik was a little surprised: "You? Are you actually insulting your father?"
Princess Mary was speechless and choked at first, then asked: "What do you want from me? You, obviously just a child, dare to call yourself a duke."
"Of course I am the Duke of Ross, you are only two years older than me. I want you to be my woman, I am a kind person."
"You...can this be considered kindness? What is the difference between you and those villains now? You men are all villains! Besides, you are obviously just a child, an arrogant child."
"Really? I heard you were mocking me. Do you think a man can stand this kind of ridicule?" Rurik smiled, "Now let me show you..."
That night, the guards on guard heard a woman shouting. The sound was so special that they knew what was happening in the camp.
By chance, Arik came back exhausted. He took his brothers and looted some of the chaos, and they were able to get some pots and pans that were of little value but of great use. He just wanted to tell his brother that he had moved the granary cleanly. When he heard the movement of his brother's tent, he opened the curtain with a smile.
"Yo! You're such a good boy."
Rurik was surprised and angry, "You! Brother! Close the curtain!"
"That's fine. You kid conquered a princess? You are indeed a man." Arik shook his head, and the curtain also covered her.
For a moment, Princess Mary gasped and sobbed and murmured: "I am just a miserable toy. It doesn't matter to me if you are with your brother. I am just a despicable woman."
"Why do you depreciate yourself? I also want you to be one of my wives and give birth to little nobles for me to fight for the power of Britain."
"You... you are obviously a young man, how come you have the ambition of a hungry wolf? I am a despicable princess, a plaything. I am not worthy."
Rurik had actually heard that this so-called noble Mary had many stories in the court of Mercia.
"Since you are a plaything. Then be my personal plaything and I will take you away."
This night, the princess was tortured to the point of losing all her strength. Rurik was extremely surprised. After early morning, Mary's temperament changed drastically. She didn't have the violence she showed yesterday, but was as docile as a lamb.
She murmured: "You... are more of a man than my father. You are Rurik of Rus, and if the secret between me and my father and brother is exposed, the priests will hang me. You... maybe you can really help I."
"Oh? Could it be that you and your father..."
No matter how loudly this unspeakable thing was announced, Mary dragged her somewhat numb legs closer to Rurik and whispered in Latin.
"Is that so? I've already guessed it."
But Mary's face was filled with tears, and she begged again: "Either you kill me, or you take me away. I never want to come to this cursed Tamworth again."
Rurik nodded. Although things were very bizarre so far, he did feel a sense of protectiveness. Of course, for rational reasons, this woman knows Latin and she can teach it to others. This is her greatest value!
Rurik walked out of the camp, and everyone saw that Mary was holding his arm. She was staggering when she walked. They knew what had happened at the first sight.
There was a rumor that the Russian warriors liked to hear. It was said that the Duke had obtained the surrender of the Mercian princess, and that the Duke's concubines had increased again.
Rurik didn't hold back either, so he took the princess Mary, who had changed her mind a lot, and the Balmok family leaders, Magnute and others who had completed the preliminary robbery, gathered in the parliament.
What Rurik did was really surprising.
Magnut laughed casually and said, "It seems you like the gift I gave you very much."
"Yes, I like this pet very much."
Rurik specifically used the word "pet", which made everyone laugh again.
He deliberately used this word, or Princess Mary also defined her identity in this way.
"Friends," Rurik added, "you should all be rich. What are your plans for the future?"
As soon as he finished speaking, someone started clamoring to return to York to prepare for the winter.
Magnute shook his head: "We won. In my opinion, the Northumbrians haven't arrived yet, and the King of Mercia hasn't been captured yet. It's obviously inappropriate for us to leave. I... also want to completely defeat Mercia. Royal Army. You all know that I am getting old, and I want to continue to get the glory of victory. I think you also want to win."
"I also have this intention. The King of Mercia is a villain, and I want to kill him! His army must also be completely defeated." Rurik gritted his teeth when he said this.
"Hatred against the enemy? Very good." Magnut said.
"Yes! Now I have hatred for that Wiglaf. I plan to wait for the Northumbrians. My captain of the guard has not come back yet? Besides, we both need time to count the seizures and ship them."
Magnute looked around, and everyone nodded in agreement.
"I propose that I wait for them for three days, and they will definitely arrive within three days." Rurik said, "We also need to prepare for battle. In case Mercian reinforcements arrive, we will still have to fight them. So your You must not let those women empty you out."
Rurik said it seriously, and everyone laughed. For example, Biyongni also shouted: "You should also take care, don't be exhausted by your new woman. You kid, you have to save your energy to go back and take care of my good sister. .”
The Vikings' values and views on chastity are indeed very strange, or very open-minded. Rurik knows that these are concepts forced out by extreme circumstances. Rurik has now followed the local customs.
He nodded and added: "I want to give food to the prisoners, let them clean the battlefield, cook and wash for us. Our coalition forces are recuperating and regaining their strength. I always have a hunch that there will be a decisive battle between us and Mercia. Great war. Even if we destroy their royal city, the fighting will still continue."
Magnut nodded and looked at the brothers present: "The climate here is warmer than Northumbria. We have to have a big battle with them to defeat them and make room for us Balmoks to survive. "
