However, it was said that Ragnar led his tribe into the city of Bremen. This hard-core ruthless man held an iron sword and led his troops to pursue and kill the people who were fleeing in panic.
They killed indiscriminately and spared no one.
The frightened city people's morale had already collapsed, and they even forgot to resist, and were killed in the screams.
But Ragnar didn't care about the enjoyment of killing. He ordered his subordinates to retaliate cleanly and kill one person with one sword. Sending these obstructive personnel would help everyone plunder.
Ragnar's men groped forward in the alleyways. At first, they looted the houses, but apart from some daily necessities and a batch of stored grain, they found only a few silver and copper coins.
"You guys search for all the wheat. Don't grab the food first. Find a pocket and put all the silver coins you find..."
He gave orders like this, trying his best to control the crazy tribesmen to keep robbing rationally.
Finally, a subordinate told him: "There are a large number of people crowded in the south of the city. They seem to want to escape. There is also their temple (referring to the church). It is said that there is a lot of gold there."
At this moment, Ragnar was overjoyed.
"Then focus on attacking the temple!"
More than two hundred Viking fanatics, led by Ragnar who was covered in blood, ran wildly along the road leading to the church.
They entered the city square first, and were shocked to see a crowd of civilians running around.
On the other hand, when the citizens in the city saw a group of guys holding round shields, they had no choice but to run away except holding their heads and screaming.
"That's it." Ragnar pointed his sword directly, "Enter the monastery, kill them, and take the gold and silver!"
Ragnar's follow-up personnel also entered the city square, and the three hundred last elite Viking warriors of the Stonewall tribe, led by the leader who fell into madness, rushed towards St. Peter's Church in Bremen with all their strength.
In terms of architectural scale, this church is the largest wooden building in the city, and it has a history of half a century.
When Blue Fox was in trouble, he stayed here for a while and gained a certain understanding of the history of the church. Moreover, he himself was baptized here. Even so, Blue Fox, who was completely on the side of the invaders, was only slightly touched by the church being captured.
As for Ragnar, no one restrained his actions at all. Even the Russians, who are allies, are eager for this group of madmen to kill and destroy as much as possible, thereby attracting the firepower of Bremen's military and civilians and giving the Russians enough time to grab food.
However, Bremen has completely become an undefended city, and the city is full of sheep running around.
This church in particular looks like a sheepfold.
On the other hand, the high priest who served as bishop of this church on behalf of Eskil still firmly believed in his faith in times of crisis.
He stood on the podium, holding the covered scriptures to his chest with both hands.
There were as many as 2,000 believers in the audience. Some of them sat anxiously on the benches, and more people randomly found an open space to kneel down, listening to the sermon and praying for a miracle.
The priests were singing the content of the Old Testament in Latin. The so-called Messiah happened, the prisoners in Babylon were saved, and the aliens suffered divine punishment.
There is no need to think about logic at this moment.
The city has been captured, and they pray with great expectation, hoping that the entire church will become a barrier blessed by the Lord. The power of sacred faith can form an invisible wall to keep the Normans out, and then wait quietly for the coming of the Seraph. The flames burned the Normans to ashes...
However, a double-edged Nordic forest ax angrily smashed the bronze lock of the church door to pieces.
The door flew open.
What suddenly intruded was not the angels they were expecting, but a group of vicious Normans with blond hair dyed red, shouting Odin.
Ragna didn't think this was a sacred place, but he was surprised to see so many people in front of him. He was heartened. If the entire auditorium were filled with warriors, it would be difficult for him to deal with his current manpower.
Ragnar and his gang were attracted by the legend of getting rich. They have long tried to attack Bremen. In the past, they only had thankless attacks, but now, they will get rich today. As long as a large group of "obstacles" in front of you are solved, the treasure will be in the sack.
The cowering crowd screamed in terror. Some ran away screaming, some fell into unconsciousness, and some knelt down and continued to pray...
Some Viking warriors couldn't help but panic when faced with the chaotic crowd: "Boss, what should we do? Are we going to kill these people?"
"Are you trying to persuade me to be merciful?"
"No! There are too many of them. Once they fight, we may be outnumbered..."
Ragnar shook his head hard and suddenly shouted: "Shield wall! Kill these enemies! No mercy!"
Ragnar knew clearly that they were a large group of unarmed people, and without any sense of guilt, Ragnar identified them all as Frankish warriors. For very practical reasons, he could have taken the opportunity to capture many captives and sell them as slaves to make money. Ragnar is currently unable to do this and directly kills as many people as possible. Firstly, he can vent the long-suppressed emotions of the tribe, and secondly, he can also serve as a gift to the new recruits. The Ross allies see what a madman is.
The shield wall was like a meat grinder. After entering the church, Ragnar's troops set up their formation and charged forward. The shield wall continued to advance, followed by people lying in a pool of blood.
The priests all panicked, and the people rushed out of the side door of the church. However, the two side entrances were not large, causing congestion in a short time.
The fear was even worse, and they began to trample on each other again, and many people were trampled to death.
In this enclosed space, the sacred and noble St. Peter's Church becomes the territory.
Even Ragnar could not imagine that he led his troops to kill so smoothly. Behind them were already covered with corpses in a pool of blood, and the blood gathered into a river and flowed out of the main entrance of the church.
In terms of the scale of the killings, the tragedy that occurred in Bremen in 836 was more horrific than the tragedy at Lindisfarne Abbey in 792.
More than a thousand people were killed, and nearly a thousand people escaped through two side doors.
Ragnar and his men were also killed to exhaustion, but the brothers felt that their achievements were destined to impress Odin, and the dead were all so-called sacrifices to the gods of Asgard. Although they were panting from exhaustion and even their iron swords were curled, their pursuit and killing continued.
As many as ten priests wearing black robes were not killed directly, but were escorted outdoors to be used as priests.
Ragnar is not a mindless butcher. He knows what a Frankish "priest" is, and killing such people in a public way is the best sacrifice.
At this time, the belatedly arrived Ross army arrived at the church.
Arik suddenly saw the dead body lying outside and a dark red river flowing from the church.
This was the first time Blue Fox had seen this scene. Thinking that he had lived here before, he never imagined that it would become a battlefield.
Ragna tried hard to keep his head clear and suppress his racing heart. Seeing Arik who had finally arrived, he pointed very proudly at the church where there was no big problem on the surface: "I killed a thousand people, which is a huge achievement. My people grabbed some gold and silver! Damn it, gold and silver Mountains of stacks don’t exist.”
"Ah!? You only have three hundred people, and you killed a thousand people in such a short time?!" How could Arik not be surprised? This number is too exaggerated.
"I just did it. You! You must acknowledge my bravery."
"Don't talk about it yet. Keep chasing them! Let's go, Ragnar brothers, and continue to take revenge on Frank." After that, Aric patted Ragnar on the shoulder and led his troops to rush towards the south of the city where the shouts turned into roars. go……
Ragnar gritted his teeth and called to his brother: "Take the gold and silver you grabbed and continue to fight with me! Kill the Franks, and then we will slowly search for them."
The Viking fanatics, covered in blood and sweat, entered the final battle after a short rest. At this moment, they would encircle and suppress the last enemy entrenched in the south of the city by the Ross army.
Arik had already arrived first with his team, and when he saw the people huddled together, they became entangled on the spot.
According to their own inherent principles, enemy women should not be killed, but should be tied up, transported to their hometowns and sold. Eventually, these women will be absorbed by the Rus and become the mothers of a new generation of Rus warriors. Given the Nordic traditional tribal thinking, each tribe should do this.
When he felt a sense of compassion, Jevro suddenly asked: "Aric, do you want to take action immediately? According to the prince's order, we must show no mercy."
With just this glance, Arikna's kindness suddenly disappeared.
"All archers!" he said, "line up and shoot!"
Arik is indeed different from Ragnar. Having experienced too many actual battles, he has become more and more fond of the strategy of using an arrow formation to defend the enemy first. Actual combat has proved that this is an excellent means to reduce one's own losses.
But the battle has changed, and even the shooter feels that his attack is far from glorious.
Those running around were all unarmed people, and their actions were to escape from the city. They were obviously crowded at the gate and trying their best to rush out, so that the double wooden doors that were supposed to open inward couldn't be opened at all! Of course, even if it is opened, there is still a hanging door that needs to be pulled up with a winch. If this door does not pull in the refugees, they still cannot get out.
The city walls were also filled with people, and a large number of people were wandering around in despair.
Arrows flew mercilessly, and crossbows and longbows mercilessly shot at this large group of unarmored targets.
In fact, a group of people had already escaped by descending the city wall along the ropes, and some people who had fallen injured dragged their injured limbs and forcibly left.
There were still more than 4,000 people crowded in the southern part of the city of Bremen, and the Russian arrow attacks undoubtedly made the already bad situation worse.
"Those who shoot at the city wall, hurry up!" Jevro ordered.
In terms of combat experience, Yevro actually has more experience than Arik. When he was younger, he had to fight for his former financial lord Gould, and he always experienced fights to the death with fifty people or less. The emphasis in small-scale battles is to frighten the enemy with momentum, but it is even more important in large-scale battles.
People who were lingering on the city wall, afraid of jumping to their death, became living targets. At first, some people were hit by arrows, and then they were hit by arrows one after another, and many people fell because of it.
The panic increased further when Ragnar finally arrived with his army.
Without any words, Aric and Ragnar looked at each other and began to cooperate in the killing with a tacit understanding.
This was not a battle between armies at all. Businessmen, craftsmen, farmers, and even a large number of women were all ruthlessly slaughtered by Ragnar's Viking warriors. The same is true for the Russian army. Even if Arik felt a little compassion for a time, his men had a completely different attitude. They did not feel that they were a group of non-combatants, just a group of cowards who had not had time to pick up weapons and fight.
On one side, the shield wall formed a terrifying meat grinder-like thrusting slash, and on the other side, dense arrows fell from the sky.
A large number of people trying to escape realized that there was no point in taking the south gate, so they had no choice but to take the risk.
No longer thinking about the risk of death or injury if you jump, a large number of people walked onto the city wall at the risk of being shot, and then jumped with their eyes closed.
Some people broke their necks and cracked their skulls directly. Such people died immediately. Some people broke their arms and staggered away while covering their broken arms. Some broke their legs and had to crawl to escape from Bremen, which had turned into a hell on earth.
Arik saw a strange sight. He had been fighting for Ross for eight full years, and he had never seen such a crazy escapee in these eight years.
"Cowards! You dare to jump over the city wall, but you don't have the guts to fight us!"
This shocking scene aroused his anger even more, and he further shouted: "Brothers! Show no mercy! Help them jump over the wall and fall to their death!"
Indeed, the first people who jumped over the wall suffered a large number of injuries, but then a large number of soft "sandbags" appeared under the wall. This was a group of people who fell to death and were shot and fell. The existence of a large number of corpses gave the successors enough buffer.
Like lemmings leaping into the sea, the panicked people of Bremen jumped in. Even mothers held their children tightly in their arms and jumped out in anger.
At least there is a possibility of survival if you jump. Take a look! The living people who had jumped down earlier were already running away on the field where there was only one stubble left after harvesting the wheat.
In this way, the killing of the coalition forces was quickly terminated. Even due to excessive exhaustion, Ragnar's troops saw the enemy jumping over the wall to escape frantically. There was no need to use their sore arms to swing the prisoners to kill them. On the other hand, considering the need to save arrows, the Finns of Gevlo holding longbows also suspended their attacks.
At the last moment, the coalition forces watched ferociously as the last hundred or so people jumped over the wall to escape.
Until then, the coalition soldiers stepped on the dead bodies and climbed onto the wooden city wall, watching the Bremen people gradually running away with mixed emotions.
"There is no need to pursue anymore." Arik couldn't help but sigh while standing on the city wall.
Ragna sighed after hearing this, and then agreed: "Killing cowards is not an honor. However, I captured ten of their priests, which is reflected in the fact that the sun is in the sky, which is just right to sacrifice to Odin."
"As you like! I have no sympathy with those priests. Did you get a lot of gold and silver?"
"I got some in the church." Ragna then forced a smile to cover up his fatigue.
"Okay, apart from getting a lot of wheat, we Russians didn't find any other treasures. We had an appointment beforehand, and you grabbed the gold. I have nothing to say. Next, we will separate and plunder with the city square as the boundary. Remember Giving a sword to the dying person is the last act of mercy between you and me."
"Just do it."
Just in the evening, Ragnar held a sacrifice in public, and the ten captured priests had their throats cut by him in public.
What's even crazier is that Blue Fox, who took off his helmet, was at the scene. What was heartbreaking was that he deliberately flashed the cross on his chest. Although he has grown his beard, it has not grown too much in months. The acting bishop who was about to be executed suddenly recognized the identity of Blue Fox.
"Joseph! You are a traitor! It was you who led the Normans to Bremen. The Lord will punish you! You will be burned to death!" This was the acting bishop's last outright statement.
Blue Fox was unmoved. He participated in the action as an Odin warrior, and ended up hanging a cross pendant. The man himself was full of contradictions.
Blue Fox himself understood it clearly: "Don't forget! The Russians are also Normans! Your king killed many Russians. This is our revenge! I have no hatred against you, but you must die. Eski You have been controlled by us, and obviously the Lord will not help you anymore."
When the sacrifice was over, all the exhausted warriors under Ragnar roared with joy. They further searched for loot, and this time they searched very carefully, looking for iron tools, copper coins, and silver coins.
The same Russians were also looking for these things, and a temporary treaty was made for this purpose. The treaty was proposed by Arik, and Ragna thought it was fair. The so-called treaty was bounded by the central square of the city, with the north belonging to Ross for plundering and the south belonging to Ragna. Ragnar felt it was fair because he thought he had gotten a big bargain. He got a batch of gold and silver vessels from the church, but he didn't know that the Russians had gained a huge amount.
How much rye was in stock in the seized granaries? Maybe a million pounds, and just moving it would be a hassle.
So what does a hundred pounds of wheat mean? According to the agreement with Prince Rurik, the army can share half of the spoils, and then divide them equally according to the number of soldiers and sailors. On average, each person can get exactly one thousand pounds of wheat. If this is the case, a family's entire year's worth of rations will probably be in hand. Even if it had to be exchanged for money, the prince had already said that it would be purchased at the price of ten pounds of wheat and one silver coin, and the settlement would be made immediately.
Looking back again at this large granary that was firmly controlled by the Russian army, Arik, who held a torch and inspected them carefully in the evening, couldn't help but sigh: "Maybe I didn't bring enough ships!"
That night, the coalition forces spent the night in a city full of corpses.
Ragnar's men found a group of women and immediately became the playthings of these victors, only to be killed again. They used the captured grain to make delicious meals. Although they did not know how much the Russians captured, Ragnar boasted that he had made a big fortune this time. He had never been as crazy and happy as he is today in his life. This is the joy of making a fortune, and it is also a great opportunity Revenge is avenged happily. The central square of the city is an obvious open space. Ragnar brought the non-combatant tribesmen outside the city into the city. While sharing the victory, he also gathered the manpower to carry the loot outside the city tomorrow.
The situation is similar for the Russians, but starting from nightfall, the work of transporting food begins. The small cart on which the torsion slingshot was mounted unloaded the slingshot and moved the sack full of rye with all its strength. A large number of bonfires were lit at the wharf firmly controlled by the fleet for lighting. The tired soldiers took a lot of rest. The professional sailors disembarked and began to transport wheat. This work will be carried out all night until early tomorrow morning, when the awakened main force begins to participate in the operation.
Arik and Ragnar both reached a consensus that it was not advisable to stay here for a long time. Ragnar had already stated that there were pursuers behind him, so the window period given to the coalition forces to fight and plunder was very short. Even if everyone was very tired, the plunder must be completed within two days, and then they could retreat to a safe area and have a good rest. Figure out a way out again.
