"After this rain, it will be autumn, right?" On the watchtower of Verde Village, a free farmer wearing a black oiled jacket rubbed his head, which was greasy, filled with a lot of fleas and an unpleasant odor. hair.
This heavy rain cloud swept over the village of Verde at noon yesterday, and it has been raining with no intention of stopping until now. The only difference is that it went from heavy rain yesterday to moderate rain this morning, and then to drizzle now.
"I feel so," a militiaman wearing a ragged and rough quilted vest and leather waistcoat nodded casually next to the free farmers standing guard.
During this time the Vikings could attack the village of Verde at any time. In order to prevent a single lookout from falling asleep due to boredom and delaying the military situation, Simon not only spent a small sum of money to hire idle free farmers to stand guard, but also arranged for a militia soldier to accompany him.
"Fortunately, the master has finished harvesting all the grain the day before yesterday and stored it in the granary of the wooden castle." The free farmer chuckled. He knew that even if the village was besieged by the Vikings, he could still hide in the lord's wooden castle and eat the freshly harvested food.
"Don't tell me, the grain harvested this year is so much that I thought my eyes were hallucinating," the militiaman who had been talking to this free farmer without a word said about the harvested grain, and his eyes suddenly lit up. , "I bet that even if everyone in our village is given an over-rationed ration, there will still be a lot of surplus."
"Yes, I even want to dance a harvest dance to thank God for giving us such a blessing." The free farmer's feet in short hunting boots were about to move.
"Come on, don't collapse this weak arrow tower." The militiamen quickly waved their hands to this guy with a bright smile. "God doesn't want you to die like this just because you praise him." Dharma goes to heaven.”
"Hahahahaha, interesting." The free farmer smiled nonchalantly.
"Wait, listen." Suddenly, the keen militiamen seemed to have heard something, and covered the free farmer's mouth with his dirty, calloused hands.
"What are you doing..." The free farmer just wanted to struggle to take the disgusting hand away from his mouth, but he was immediately frozen like an ice sculpture. He heard the faint sound of uniform paddling coming from the Rhine River, getting closer and closer.
"Look, what is that?" Following the militiaman's finger, the free farmer opened his eyes wide, and through the hazy rain and fog, he saw three black wooden boats slowly docking on the Rhine River not far away.
"They're coming, they're coming!" The free farmer's mind suddenly went blank, his body went limp, and he stood there blankly. He even forgot to ring the alarm bell.
"What are you doing here, do you want to kill everyone!?" The militiaman reacted first, slapped the free farmer hard on the back of the head, and then pulled the thick bell rope and shook it as hard as he could.
For a time, the tranquility and peace of the village of Verde shrouded in drizzle was broken by a rapid sound of alarm bells. The villagers who were originally doing their work in an orderly manner became a mess.
"Everyone, enter the wooden castle immediately!" A woman with long flaxen hair and an anxious face had just put down the yarn in her hands and walked out of the textile workshop when she heard the loud shouts of the village chief and patrolling militiamen.
"Angelica, come into the wooden castle!" Before the woman with long flaxen hair could react, a black shadow passed in front of her eyes and ran quickly towards the houses in the village. Looking closely, it was her husband working in the fields.
"What about you?" Angelica looked at her husband's retreating back very worriedly.
"I'm going to take all the valuable things at home!" A faint reply came from the distance.
At this time, in the brewing workshop next to the wooden castle, the old brewer Chad was struggling to move several barrels of newly brewed fruit wine and ale out of the workshop, and waved to Alice, who had just returned to the workshop: "Alice. Si, find a few people to move these barrels of wine into the warehouse of the wooden castle. Such good wine cannot be ruined by those barbarians!"
Seeing her elderly father holding on to his waist and trying his best to move the barrel, Alice suddenly felt her eyes sore, nodded, and ran to the wooden castle for help.
The villagers, like densely packed ants, gathered under the hill of the wooden castle, carrying the food and money they brought from home, and entered the wooden castle one after another. Everyone's expression was very serious, and the entire Verde village was shrouded in fear and panic.
"Hey, you, it's you, get back to the right road!" A militiaman who was maintaining order in the middle of the dirt road in the upper hill saw a cunning little guy at the foot of the hill who was not following the rules and wanted to get off the road in the upper hill. He walked across the grass and yelled in a dismayed voice, "Are you looking for death?"
"Come back quickly!" A thin old serf carrying luggage grabbed the dwarf Kohler by his collar and pulled him back to the dirt road up the hill. "Didn't you see traps being laid on the grass beside the main road some time ago? No. Because of cunning, I lost my life in an unknown way, so unjustly!"
"My Lord!" The dwarf Kohler was frightened for a while, and his body was trembling and weak.
"Everyone, don't panic, maintain order, and enter the wooden castle one by one!" Simon stood on the tower at the main entrance of the wooden castle and shouted loudly to the villagers who were rushing in like a tide below.
"Little Klein, go to the stables, mount my chestnut horse, and go to Dorstenberg for help!" Simon turned around and urged little Klein to move quickly.
"No, sir," little Klein shook his head, "I'm not going anywhere, I want to avenge my father!"
"You," Simon paused and found that he had nothing to say, "Okay, let the fat man go."
….
"Lower the oars!" A loud command came from the bow of the dragon-headed ship.
"Ah ha, after a year's absence, we are back here again." A strong man with his long beard braided stepped on the mast of the ship and looked at the village in the rain and fog. But what is different from last year is that a new wooden castle was built on the hill behind the village.
"Stop talking nonsense." A stout man with a ponytail, short chain mail, a bear skin-inlaid chain mail shoulder holster, leather arm guards, and carrying a slightly rusty hatchet jumped first. After getting off the boat, he took a bucket of paint from a companion and placed it on the grass by the river.
"They are like a group of frightened lambs." Listening to the alarm bells coming from the village not far away, a Viking warrior wearing a smelly leather vest took off the round shield hanging from the side of the ship and carried it on his arm. Behind his back, he dipped his hand in the paint bucket and painted war lines on his face.
"Pack your things and enter the village as a small team!" The leader, a stout man with a ponytail and a bearskin mail holster, said to his companions who jumped off the boat one after another.
"Are we ready to go, Floki?" A man with disheveled hair and a ferocious face, wearing a Viking leather tabard with chain mail, put on his leather nose helmet, licking bloodthirstly because of his excitement. Some dry and chapped lips.
"Let's go," the little leader named Floki saw that everyone was almost there. He hit the strong buckler with the battle ax in his hand and shouted loudly, "Remember, don't spread too far!"
"Floki, you say the same thing every time before plundering, and my ears are almost getting calluses. Can you say something new?" A man who looked poorer and only wore an old animal skin hat , the bearded old tough guy wearing thin multi-layered armor sewn from rough fur said casually.
"Okay then," looking at the commotion from the surrounding warriors, the little leader Floki shrugged indifferently, "I hope you can sit in the Hall of Valor and have a drink with the gods tonight!"
"This is so ridiculous, I like it!" The bearded old tough guy laughed heartily, and the Viking warriors around him also excitedly beat their own round shields with their weapons and cheered.
………
"It looks very difficult." Simon frowned and looked down at the Vikings who had entered the village.
"That's right. There are about seventy people, and half of them have chainmail." Ludwig came upstairs at some point, silently looking at the Vikings who had entered the village to search, and said with great concern.
They were not as poor as when the Vikings plundered England and Frank in the early days. After a long period of plundering, many Vikings already had their own mail armor and iron helmets, coupled with their naturally tall and strong bodies suitable for fighting. It's downright terrifying.
