Ulf's raid in the Kingdom of Wessex unexpectedly stimulated many Vikings. The Vikings who had already settled down began to make moves. They were greedy for the rich loot. The blood began to revive at this moment.
"Damn, a village has been looted." But this also caused the raiding force led by Ulf to often come to a village and see a group of Vikings preparing to leave with their loot.
"Are you going to intercept them?" Ange immediately stepped forward and asked Ulf.
"No, let them go." Ulf frowned slightly and shook his head slightly. Although he did not plunder the village, his original intention was to cut off Alfred's military supplies and hinder the opponent's gathering to the maximum extent. army.
When the Vikings saw Ulf and others appearing, they seemed not surprised. They just watched them warily and then left from the other side.
"I really want to kill these bastards." Vargas snorted and put the ax on his shoulder provocatively.
"It's not necessary. There are so many towns and villages in Wessex anyway. Let's just raid a big town next time." Luther shrugged. He was too lazy to compete with these small groups of Vikings for those villages.
Luther's words made Ulf's heart move. Alfred could raise military food supplies, not just the villages, but those towns should also be targets of attack.
"Deng, Deng, Deng~~." Just as Ulf was thinking about whether to lead his troops to attack those large towns, several North warriors on horseback rushed towards them.
"Who is that?" Ange immediately rode forward and stopped the approaching group of Northmen.
"We are Guzrun's envoys. Alfred sent an envoy to ask for the exchange of his cousin's hostage." The North warriors quickly reined in their horses and said to Ulf.
"Oh?" Ulf was stunned for a moment, and then he remembered that he was holding a member of the royal family on his hand.
"What's the use of that kind of hostage? It's better to kill the ones sacrificed to the gods." Vargas said disdainfully. In his opinion, he was going to fight Alfred anyway, so why bother to exchange hostages.
"No, tell Guzlen, I will go with the hostages." Ulf pondered for a moment, and he agreed to the hostage exchange plan because he wanted to confirm Alfred's situation and position for the next time. Be prepared to attack.
At this time, the poor hostage was being abandoned in a corner of the camp. Because no one thought he could survive at first. At most, he would be used as a sacrifice to Odin or other gods, so his situation was the same as that of the cattle and sheep in the camp. Similar to pigs and dogs.
"Wake up." Just when Alfred's cousin was lying on the cold ground with his hands tied and dying of torture, Yinsak reached out and patted his cheek, and at the same time took out a bag of wine. , pour it into his mouth.
"Ahem, cough, cough." He was suddenly poured a large amount of wine, which made Alfred's cousin choke and cough violently, but it did wake him up.
"Yinsak, oh, God, monk, please help me." Alfred's cousin saw the person in front of him clearly, and he quickly begged to Yinsak. Originally, he thought he was strong enough, but under this torture , making him feel that life would be worse than death.
"Shut up, your majesty will ask someone to exchange hostages now. You will return to your majesty soon, but I have an important message that I hope you will pass on to your majesty." Yinsak said seriously to the person in front of him.
"What message?" Alfred's cousin looked at Yinsak in surprise. He didn't understand what kind of important message actually made Yinsak take the risk to come to him.
"This is the last advice I can give to His Majesty. From now on, I may never be able to serve him again." Yinsak's eyes were full of frustration. No one knew Alfred's current situation better than him, and he also He knew how vicious Ulf's plan was.
At this moment, the sound of footsteps and the sound of North warriors talking to each other came from not far away.
"Remember, tell your majesty that if you want to defeat the devil, you can only become more like the devil than the devil." Yinsak glanced behind him nervously. He only had time to say the last words in the other person's ear.
After the last sentence, he hurriedly got up and avoided it.
"Devil, what do you mean?" Alfred's cousin looked confused, but before he could react, several North warriors appeared, cursing and rudely lifting him from the ground like a little chicken. Lift it up and take it away.
In the castle, one of Alfred's envoys was holding the royal flag and standing nervously among the Vikings. The crowd around them stared at him as if they wanted to tear him into pieces with their eyes.
"So, Alfred still ran away?" Guzlen sat on the chair, which not long ago only belonged to Alfred.
"Dear leader, with the blessing of the Lord, His Majesty the King has arrived safely in his own territory, protected by loyal troops. He once again asks you to fulfill your oath, release all captured Wessex subjects, and go back My own place." The messenger still had some backbone. He straightened his back and held the flag in his hand tightly, as if it was the only support.
"Hahahaha." However, the envoy's words not only had no effect, but made the onlookers laugh. The Vikings only recognized strong strength, and any oath that was not guaranteed by strength had no effect.
"Let me see his flag." Sigurd laughed and stepped forward. He looked at the flag in the envoy's hand, and approached the envoy with his strong body, forcing the other party to take half a step back in fear.
"Bang." Immediately afterwards, Sigurd grabbed the flag that represented Alfred's royal power, folded it in half on his knees, and threw it on the ground casually.
"Bah." As if he still wasn't relieved, Sigurd spat again on the flag on the ground.
"That's enough. How many things are you prepared to use in exchange for the hostages?" At this time, seeing that Sigurd was almost making a fuss, Guzlen gently raised his hand and said loudly.
"We will use some of the Vikings we captured before and a box of gold and silverware as ransom." The messenger swallowed and quickly said to Guzlen.
"Very good." Guzlen was quite satisfied. He nodded and agreed to the exchange terms. Anyway, in Guzlen's view, Alfred would surrender sooner or later. It would be good to extort more money before that. .
[In view of the general environment,
The next day, Ulf, Ange and the Shieldmaidens came to the castle with the hostages.
"This is the prisoner you want." Ulf pushed the weak and tortured hostage in front of the envoy and said calmly.
"Are you okay? His Majesty asked me to take you back." The messenger quickly stepped forward to support Alfred's cousin, and then comforted softly.
When he saw that there were no problems with the hostages, the envoy waved his hand hurriedly, and then had people carry the box up. At the same time, a group of Viking captives were also released. There seemed to be no problems with the exchange between the two parties.
"Then Lord Guzlen, let's take our leave." Seeing that the exchange was completed, the envoy breathed a sigh of relief. He quickly bowed to Guzlen and wanted to leave here impatiently.
"Wait, where is Alfred now?" But Ulf stopped the other party, his eyes narrowed slightly, and he looked directly at the other party and asked.
"What?" The messenger looked at Ulf warily.
"You're not hiding in the swamp, planning how to assemble an army to attack us, are you?" Ulf raised the corner of his mouth slightly and said coldly to the envoy.
"I have no comment." The messenger's face darkened. He would never tell the Vikings such a thing.
"Ulf asked them to leave, don't worry, come and drink with me." Guzlen waved his hand indifferently. He was full of confidence and thought that Ulf was making a fuss.
Upon seeing this, the envoy quickly turned around and left, but Ulf had no choice but to give Ange a wink and ask her to lead the shield girls to follow the envoy to see where they were going.
Ange immediately understood what Ulf was thinking, turned around and hid in the crowd, left and arranged his manpower.
"Crunch!"
As the city gate opened, the envoy led the hostages away quickly.
They headed all the way towards Somerset County, with Ange leading the shield girls behind them.
In the dense forests of Northern Europe, Ange developed the ability to track prey. At this moment, the Wessex people leaving seemed like a group of frightened prey.
"Quick, quick." As the sun was about to set, the messengers came to the edge of the swamp and could already see the dense reeds.
"Whoosh~~."
At this moment, Ange took action to catch the envoy, and then tortured him to find out Alfred's specific location, so she immediately bent her bow and arrow and shot in the direction of the envoy.
"Ah~." But for some reason, a hostage happened to be standing behind the messenger, and he screamed when his body was hit by an arrow.
"Come on, the Vikings are coming." The messenger seemed to have expected that the Vikings might follow him. He hurriedly pulled out a small boat from the reeds, asked everyone to get on, and rowed along the current into the swamp.
"Damn it." Ange and the shield girls hurriedly chased them to the shore, but they could only curse a few words helplessly as they looked at the boat going away.
However, because of this, Ulf and others found the approximate place where Alfred was hiding. Now, as long as they persuade Guzlen and mobilize the army to besiege this place, it is possible to force Alfred out.
Soon after Ange and others left, the envoy took the hostages back to the stronghold.
"You saw Yinsak, is he okay?" Alfred asked curiously, looking at his cousin in front of him.
"Lord Yinsak seems to be doing well, but before leaving, he asked me to give you some final advice." Alfred's cousin said to Alfred weakly.
