The eighth day has arrived.
Ayla took a small team of fifty people to Rurik's castle to discuss the passage of the army. This fifty-man team is composed of her lords who are good at magic and the most skilled soldiers. Everyone wears tattered coats to cover up, but in fact, these clothes are wearing the most expensive clothes. armor.
In addition, she also ordered a large army to follow quietly not far away. The army was divided into two parts, each part keeping a certain distance from the front. The one closest to Ella has about two hundred people, and the one far away has thousands of people. Once Ella is besieged, they only need to form a circular formation and hold for a while, and reinforcements of 200 people will arrive immediately to counter the siege. And if the enemy still insists on resisting despite being attacked from the front and back, just wait a moment, and an army of thousands of people will arrive immediately.
She informed the priests of her plans before they set off, and this was the bait she arranged. There are only three methods that the priests can take after colluding with Rurik. The first is to ambush halfway, which is the simplest and easiest to deal with; the second is to wait until she talks with Rurik to take action, but Ella is not prepared to really get into the trap and will only lead the troops. Stop outside the city and negotiate another meeting location with Rurik. Once the meeting ends, the "dead" priests will actually be expelled by Aila; the third method is not to use assassination, but to rely on Rurik's military strength and the influence of the priests to conquer Aila will be the most troublesome, but it should not cause a big storm. The most frightening thing about rebellion is that it will happen suddenly and nowhere, and once the time and place of occurrence are determined, it will be just an ordinary minor conflict.
"But Rurik actually participated in the plans of those priests?" Ella said to herself.
Ella still vaguely remembers Rurik. Two years ago, Rurik participated in the plan to assassinate Ragnar under Alfred's persuasion, but disappeared after the failure. Also disappearing with him was Bjorn. Since there was no news, Ayla always assumed that he had been killed by Ragnar. According to what she knew about Rurik, Rurik had no interest in the territory of the Pirate Kingdom. His ambitions lay in the prairie to the east.
Soon, Ella entered a coniferous forest. After taking a few steps forward, a large group of people suddenly rushed out from the surroundings. The people around Ella immediately formed a circle, protecting Ella in the center.
The ambush team surrounded Ella and her team. Einar walked out of the crowd with a sinister smile and shouted to Ella: "King of Sweden, you are desperate!"
Ella asked Einar calmly: "Where did the soldiers around you come from?"
"These are all warriors of God, given to us by the Asa clan!"
"Then what do you want to do?"
Einar raised his crutch high, like a judge passing sentence on a sinner: "God's punishment for the unbelievers!"
"Your Majesty... they actually chose the stupidest method." Amy complained in a low voice, "They didn't even build a trap. With just a few people, it feels like more than fifty people are redundant."
"You forced me to do this," Ella said. "From today on, my territory will no longer welcome priests from the Asa Clan!"
This sentence was addressed to the lords surrounding Ella. However, Einar still did not realize the danger and said in an imposing manner: "From today on, there is no longer a place for you in the Pirate Kingdom! Your ashes will be scattered evenly into the sea to avoid tarnishing the holy land! "
Before Einar finished speaking, the first wave of reinforcements arranged by Aila arrived. Einar brought only about 200 people. When he saw more than 200 people suddenly appeared in the distance, his face turned green: "You...are you plotting against me?"
"You choose the road yourself." Ella waved her hand forward, "Execute these priests on the spot! Then bring their bodies back to the army and display them to the public for three days!"
Unexpectedly, before Ella's men could take action, a soldier behind Einar suddenly swung an axe, and knocked Einar to the ground with one blow. This turn of events was completely unexpected by Ella. She watched in stunned silence as the soldiers brought by Einar took action and killed the group of priests one after another.
"We are here to assist the King of Sweden and execute the rebels." The first soldier walked up to Ella and bowed his head in salute, "King of Sweden, Grand Duke Rurik has invited you."
Ella followed the group of soldiers for a while with suspicion, and a section of wooden city wall appeared in front of them. The city wall was built in the style of a pirate kingdom, just like a big pigsty.
"Your Majesty, we'd better be careful." Amy whispered to Ella.
Ella nodded and stopped outside the city wall.
"King of Sweden? Why are you stopping here?" Rurik's men made a "please" gesture, "The Grand Duke has prepared a sumptuous banquet for you inside in advance."
"I won't go in." Ella said, "Can you trouble Grand Duke Rurik to walk a few steps to meet me here?"
A burst of hearty laughter suddenly came from the grassland on the side: "King of Sweden, look at your little thoughts, are you worried that I will assassinate you?"
A wild boar walked in the distance - to be precise, it was a man carrying a wild boar. But due to the distance, the man's body was almost invisible compared to the huge wild boar. When the man walked closer, Ella saw clearly that the man was Rurik.
Rurik walked up to Ella, threw the wild boar to the ground, and said with a grin: "In order to make tonight's banquet more lively, I went to kill a wild boar and brought it back! Why, the King of Sweden is so disrespectful trust me?"
"It's not distrust, it's just...awe." Ella carefully planned her words, "I don't understand why you want to kill those priests? Don't you believe in Thor?"
"Priest? What kind of thing are priests? I came all the way to Novgorod and I still have to obey their orders?" Rurik made a "hum" sound in his nose. "You clearly call yourself a servant of your own god. But their magic level is not as good as mine. In the final analysis, they are just a group of profit-seeking guys. Why are you still standing here? Let's go! Let's slowly discuss at the banquet how to fight against the Republic of Liguria later. .”
Ella was even more confused: "Fighting the Republic of Liguria? Are you going too?"
"Go! Of course everyone should go for such a good thing! I have been unhappy with the Republic of Liguria for a long time! It's not just me, there is also a distinguished guest inside!"
Suddenly another shout came from the castle: "Brother! My good brother, the King of Sweden! You are here!"
"Brother? Who?" Ella felt increasingly confused, "When did I have a brother in Novgorod?"
What ran out following the sound was a man that Ella had never seen before. As soon as he ran in front of Ella, he excitedly grabbed Ella's hand: "Of course we are brothers. As long as you send troops to fight against the Republic of Liguria, we will be half-brothers from different fathers and mothers!"
Ella's logic completely collapsed: "This... this... your surname is also Scipio?"
"He is the Khan of the Khazar Khanate." Rurik couldn't stand it anymore and explained from the sidelines.
"Khan? Khazarian Khanate?" Aila lost her voice in shock. The Khazar Khanate is a nomadic country to the north of the Qiqiu Empire. It is sometimes an enemy and sometimes an ally of the Qi Qiu Empire. It is an extremely powerful force. This time Ayla took the Volga River to the Black Sea and was prepared to pay tolls to the Khazar Khanate. But why did the Khan of the Khazar Khanate appear in Novgorod?
"Although he is said to be Khan, he only ascended the throne a few days ago. There are still many people competing with him for the position of Khan." Rurik whispered, "The Republic of Liguria has a man named Dast. A powerful guy. In just a few months, he shot and killed three Khans of the Khazar Khanate. No one in the Khazar Khanate could succeed him, and a civil war had begun."
