Wiglaf actually knew that there were pursuers behind him. The defeat of his Mercian army was not due to his own incompetence, but because the enemies in the big ships were too strong!
That's the Vikings? They actually formed an alliance with Northumbria!
A full-scale war seemed imminent, and he escaped with the remaining soldiers. However, he lost too many supplies and the morale of the soldiers was poor, and the escape was a long and slow journey.
When he was about to arrive at the Birmingham military camp, he sent messengers to several key lords to order them to organize troops and arrive in Birmingham immediately.
The king's decree that the messenger received was quite extreme, requiring the lord who received the letter to deploy an unlimited number of troops regardless of any means.
Why?
Wiglaf's original words were simple and outrageous: "The kings of Northumbria betrayed their faith. They cooperated with the barbarians, which is equivalent to making a deal with the devil. They intend to kill all the Mercians."
There were not many horses, so the messenger galloped wildly.
The Shrewsbury nobles were the first to receive the king's request for help. Although the earl thought this was strange, he had never seen the king so anxious, so he began to organize troops.
The messenger continued to deliver the news to Worcester and Oxford...
Wiglaf's noble army is too far away and cannot be counted on for the time being. His exhausted division finally arrived at the Birmingham barracks and finally received valuable supplies.
Only after arriving here, Wiglaf, who had been escaping all the way, had time to calm down.
He asked the soldiers who were left behind: "How is Tamworth now? How about Nottingham?"
However, the few defenders who had been hit by the recent heavy rain were not willing to go out to explore the road.
Wiglaf couldn't figure out the reason. Considering that he had escaped quickly enough in the rain, he thought that his enemies were also facing the same predicament.
Before falling asleep, he ordered his men to capture all men over the age of twelve from nearby villages, order them to serve in the army immediately and report to Birmingham with their own food.
However, the next day, when the exhausted and defeated army had just staggered to sleep in the king's camp for a night, and their energy had not yet been restored, an army hurried over in the mist.
The soldiers were on alert, which became contact when they discovered that they were the Earl of Leicester's troops.
I heard that reinforcements have arrived, which is undoubtedly good news after the rain has passed and the weather has cleared!
Wiglaf happily received the Earl of Leicester and praised him enthusiastically: "It seems that you have received my order. You are indeed a loyal minister of the kingdom."
The Earl of Leicester had a downcast face, and even his beard looked desolate.
The earl could not hide his grief and indignation, and then cried loudly: "Your Majesty! Tamworth, it has been..."
"What did you say?"
"Tamworth has been surrounded by an army! The capital is in danger! Many people are fleeing."
"Are you...are you kidding?" Wiglaf's face turned pale in an instant, and he suppressed a giggle for a long time.
"It's true, I swear to God. My troops are powerless to defeat them, and I'm looking for yours, too. Your Majesty, it's a good thing you're not here at Tamworth."
"Okay? My prince! My canary!" Wiglaf stamped his feet angrily, and he almost fainted.
However, reason still prevailed, and he did not believe that the Northumbrians acted so quickly. Wait, what if those were Vikings?
It shouldn’t be! Nor should the Vikings be so fast.
Wiglaf believed that there were enemies standing under the city wall, and Tamworth should be said to have encountered trouble, and the matter should not be fatal.
He asked casually: "How many soldiers did you bring?"
"Three hundred people."
"Why so little? It's not enough at all."
"Your Majesty, I am very weak."
Wiglaf shook his head. He felt that Earl Leicester was pretending to be weak.
"It doesn't matter. Three hundred people are not too few. I will wait for two more days until the Earl of Shrewsbury arrives with his troops. Then we can join forces and go to Tamworth together."
Wiglaf is optimistic so far. He trusted his prince, Bothwulf, to guard the city, and he was eager to let Mary, the little slave who played the role of his daughter, kneel beside him in single clothes and sing a song.
The so-called Queen Mary is indeed not Wiglaf's daughter, but is actually the product of the queen's adultery. Wiglaf and the queen were a purely political marriage, and their mission was fulfilled when they gave birth to Botwulf. As for his success in becoming king in the future, in order to avoid scandal, he forgave his wife who became the queen, but the anger was difficult to heal, and this anger was vented on poor Mary. Not to mention, she has grown into a beautiful maid and an interesting canary.
Poor Mary, if Wiglaf also dies, the true secret of identity will be lost to history forever with the death of all those who know about it.
Birmingham Barracks is not far from Tamworth. The barracks are on the left bank of the River Tamworth and the capital is on the right bank.
Scouts headed straight for Tamworth and saw a shocking scene from a distance. They traveled through the night with extremely bad information and informed the king of the impending arrival. King Wiglaf was so angry that he drew his sword.
"Are you lying to me? Damn crows, I'm going to kill you!"
The scout knelt down and cried, clutching his heart and swearing to God that he was not lying.
"Perhaps what they said is true." Earl Leicester spoke with trepidation, "I took in the refugees and saw the barbarians attacking the city."
"What else did you see?" Wiglaf asked the scouts after calming down his anger.
"I see a lot of enemies, a lot of big ships."
Another scout said: "I saw the flags on those big ships, and they looked exactly like our flags. Those enemies were clearly those who attacked us in Dole Village..."
"A Viking? Damn it!" Wiglaf was furious with deep fear. He never dreamed that a large number of barbarian flags could be flying on the walls of his capital city. This was a shameful thing for the queen to commit adultery.
The war with Northumbria is no longer the main conflict. The worst-case scenario is this. If his capital is attacked, won't his wealth and royal power be shaken?
No! Prince! Had he died in battle?
Wiglaf was eager to lead his troops to recapture Tamworth, for the humiliation was worse than surrendering to Wessex.
At this lowest point in life, an army appears like an angel descending!
It was the Earl of Shrewsbury and his army of more than 600 people! He was a veteran who guarded the western part of the kingdom and had fought against the Old Britons in Wales for many years.
Indeed, Earl Shrewsbury's soldiers were well equipped, and many Mercians said they were well-trained, and their strength was only inferior to Wiglaf's elite soldiers. Naturally, there is also a saying that the so-called Earl of Shrewsbury family can compete for the throne of Mercia at the right time as long as there is a reason.
However, when the count learned of the disaster in the capital, most of his pride had dissipated.
Wiglaf couldn't care too much anymore. He used strong methods to recruit more than 500 people from several nearby villages.
All the reinforcements, headquarters troops, camp defenders, and farmers were added together, and an army with a strength of nearly 4,000 people was born!
With so many men gathered together, the spears stood like a dense forest.
Although many of the spearheads were rusty, there were also sharpened wooden poles and pitchforks, as well as flails and scythes used for threshing millet.
There are all kinds of weapons, and such strength has rebuilt Wiglaf's confidence.
He stood on a high ground in the military camp, suppressing his anger and giving orders to the gathered crowd.
"The Northumbrians betrayed their faith! They made a pact with the devil who came across the sea!"
"The hateful enemy sneaked up on our troops and is now attacking our Tamworth!"
"Mercians! I command you to take up arms! This is not a fight for me! You are the most ordinary peasant, and now you are the sergeants of the kingdom. You have to fight for your wives and children, for wealth and glory."
"Don't think that these wars have nothing to do with you! The Northumbrian army who signed a contract with the devil is already a monster! They will eat everything that moves, make the grass and trees wither, and turn the cattle and sheep into skeletons. They will also steal your souls, and if we don’t defeat them, we will all fall into hell!”
Wiglaf talked a lot, and his words also contained many curses and threats.
The assembled army was greatly frightened, and their morale was strangely increased by fear.
The territory of Mercia is naturally larger than that of Northumbria, and the population is also larger than the former. If Wiglaf is given enough time, he can indeed bring out 10,000 warriors. This kind of force is almost equivalent to an "astronomical number" in this era. of armies to fight any attackers.
What he is doing now is almost gambling with his royal power.
Yes, what else can be lost? If a king who has lost Tamworth renounces it, he will automatically abdicate. Unless they fight hard with their troops and save Tamworth, the king's power can continue to be stable.
Because Wiglaf was a military noble before he became king, his early years of being forced to submit to the King of Wessex had already disgraced him. The successful restoration did not restore his old fortunes, and now he knew that he had to fight hard.
Wiglaf's patchwork army began to advance towards Tamworth.
At the same time, the Rus', Balmok and Northumbrian armies were actively dividing the spoils of Tamworth.
Rurik estimated that he had plundered one million pounds of wheat in Tamworth alone, plus the oats he had plundered in York, and there was no problem in plundering 1.5 million pounds of grain.
Even so, he threw a batch of grain to the Balmoks who were about to launch a large-scale immigration.
Such a large amount of grain is roughly equivalent to 580 tons.
This is an extreme number, but Rurik is completely justified.
The Avora-class sailing cruiser is more than enough to carry one hundred tons of cargo!
The Duke of Ostara and the Sperosvilia, two ships directly shipped one-third of all captured wheat!
With so much cargo stuffed into their smooth and thick hulls, the sleeping depth in the Tam River dropped by nearly one meter.
Fortunately, this river is not a stream. Its channel can easily drown people, and it can actually float a fully loaded ship.
Rurik's fleet, the largest number of armed cargo ships, it is very normal for one ship to transfer thirty tons of wheat. These cargo ships alone are enough to haul the wheat back home.
The Balmoqs were busy selecting slaves from the captives, and King Aynred of Northumbria was eager to control the refugees. Rurik's plundering of the population really didn't look like a Viking, but Queen Mary and the one hundred and twenty women must all be taken away. This also includes the captured old priest of Lindsay Abbey, who will be escorted to Ross.
In fact, Rurik could already take his men and run away with the loot, because it was already September.
However, he couldn't just go back to his hometown to spend the winter. Due to practical reasons, he had to wait for the Balmoks and then evacuate together.
Because some supplies belonging to Ross are still thrown in the Narvik Fjord in the far north, especially a large amount of good salt, which needs to be taken away.
After all, it was September, and Rurik knew he didn't have much time left. Thousands of Balmoqs could spend the winter in Britain, but not themselves.
In the tent, he discussed with his cousin Arik and decided to split into two groups when he returned home.
"Ask me to be the leader of escorting supplies? Isn't this... a Sorgon voyage?" Arik was a little surprised.
"I really have no choice. Our army's war in Britain has come to an end. The people back home need a lot of wheat, and our grain transport fleet must arrive before the sea freezes."
"That's the truth. But you have to go to the Balmok people's hometown again? You will have to sail for at least twenty days more!" Arik said that it was inappropriate.
"This is to announce to them that we Russians are reliable allies. Besides, I have to bring back that salt, and I can buy more salt. Brother, we must seize the opportunity."
"Why?"
"I'm afraid that after the Balmoks started farming, they would no longer be interested in making salt. We must seize the opportunity to reserve more salt."
Arik kept scratching his head. To be honest, he was eager to go home. Since his brother was so determined, he had no complaints.
Arik never worried about any of Rurik's voyages. A brave man is not afraid of the sea. His brother also received God's blessing. The storm on the sea could not overturn Rurik's ship, but would only help it surge wildly.
The agreement was to wait for three more days, but in fact, on the second day, seeing that the world was already safe, the Russians went all out to load the wheat into the ship, and were using levers to quickly transport the wheat grains into sacks in rope net bags.
This night, the Ross warriors and the mercenaries gathered around the campfire again. After eating rice, they fell asleep to recuperate from the work of transporting supplies.
As for the captured women who learned their fate, they could only keep sobbing, and some cheered up, thinking that the days ahead in a new place shouldn't be too bad.
Only the brain-damaged princess Mary felt a strange joy when she saw the corpse of her brother whose head was half cut off and his head turned into a victor's bowl.
She took the initiative to have an extremely intimate relationship with Rurik, trying her best to please the boy and herself.
She wished she could get pregnant and give birth to a baby soon, so that her descendants could continue to hold the title of Mercian nobility and open up new territories in the future. Because, even though he was down and out, Rurik of Rus and his powerful principality continued to support his noble status.
Because this is Queen Mary's revenge.
She was taking revenge on her father. She used this method to overthrow the rule of King Wiglaf and his male heir, and then replaced her with Rurik's son. This was the ultimate revenge.
What a sad princess. She still doesn’t know her identity. It is precisely the members of the royal family who kept silent about the scandal. The rest of the insiders were also physically wiped out into ashes. Mary had no idea that the humiliation she suffered did involve an original sin.
Living in the moment, she really felt that Rurik was really a holy boy. He exuded the fragrance of flowers (using special soap), had no dirt on his body, and had golden hair and a handsome face. What kind of woman could he be? Not tempted?
Compared to bluntly speaking, as a noble, he is really unclean. But instead of complaining, Rurik behaved like a bull in April, and having sex with him made Princess Mary feel like a woman for the first time, rather than a sinful canary.
She is commendable for her self-awareness. She knows that it is not her skin that attracts the attention of Rurik of Rus, but the fact that she is the top noble of Mercia and can speak Latin fluently. The most important thing is actually the latter. She has basically figured out what happened after she was "abducted" to the Principality of Ross - becoming a Latin teacher.
But things changed.
A very small encounter occurred this evening.
It was Balmok who wanted to perform a tooth sacrifice. He took a bow and went to the forest on the other side of the river to try to kill some hares. As a result, he encountered a scout from the Mercian army.
Although the Mercian scouts tried their best to escape, one of them was captured after falling from an arrow.
Why do strange soldiers appear here? Feeling that something was amiss, the Balmoks went through many twists and turns before bringing the prisoners back to the riverside camp near dawn the next day.
New captives appear? The sudden situation made the knowledgeable people in the Viking coalition instinctively take precautions. Everyone was a veteran on the battlefield, and they all felt the impending murderous intent. The so-called captives easily confessed everything - the army of Mercia was coming in a mighty force!
At dawn, the world is still immersed in mist, the sun rises lazily, and the golden light illuminates the world like a sanctuary.
The Russians, Balmoks, mercenaries, and even the Northumbrian army, the mixed coalition had no time to linger now.
The Northumbrians blew their horns, as did the Rus and the Balmoqs.
Because the captured scouts deliberately exaggerated the strength of the Mercian army, claiming that there were at least 10,000 troops.
Ten thousand soldiers? Rurik subconsciously couldn't believe it, but after Eynred's description, he somewhat believed it.
"Since the enemy has so many troops, are you afraid?" Rurik asked the broken-arm Eynred with a deliberately contemptuous attitude.
It is impossible to say that he is not afraid. As a king, Eynred still bites the bullet and says that he is not afraid.
It was this answer that made Rurik and Magnut work together to make the plan work.
"Let the main force of your army cross the river and fight them decisively!" Rurik stated his position to Eynred on behalf of the Viking coalition. "After all, this is a war between Northumbria and Mercia. Whether we help or not depends on Our mood.”
"But this is not in compliance with the treaty!" Eynred tried to argue.
"No! What we signed is just a non-aggression treaty. Don't worry, I won't sit back and watch your army be wiped out. Besides, Tamworth is their capital, and it is natural for the Mercians and you to fight hard. Unless you declare to give up Central Mercia including Tamworth, as well as the subsequent rule of the Pexeter and Chester areas." Rurik said this, Aynred could only bite the bullet and order his army to pass through the Vikings A temporary pontoon bridge built by the coalition forces.
Just as the various sergeants of the Northumbrian Army were halfway across the river, a flag suddenly fluttered from the low mound in the distance.
It's the Mercian army, they're coming.
