Chapter 1149: Encircling Wei and Rescue Zhao Type Operation Plan

"Our first purpose in this expedition is to prevent Ludwig from being wiped out."

Summoning the generals who were eager to go on the expedition, Rurik faced them for another small meeting before the expedition.

He continued to ramble: "According to the intelligence obtained last year, Ludwig fought a vicious battle in Kaiserslautern last year. He neither won nor lost. This is just on the surface that he did not win. He lost, and the losses were huge! A lot! Soldiers died in battle, and even though he still controlled a large amount of land, he could not hold it. Until now, the army of the Middle Kingdom is still stationed close to Mainz and can launch an attack at any time. In my opinion, Ludwig lacks the ability to fight back. Blue Fox, you think."

"Yes." Blue Fox straightened his body and began to gain weight again: "The news is that I brought it back, and it is true. As for that man... I saw the situation in Mainz, and they did suffer a lot. The atmosphere in the city It’s also very bad.”

"In this case, we must help him. Remember, we cannot help him win, we must ensure that he does not lose. Our army has never been his ally and will not fight for him. Our current task is only to use him. Only he is alive , can we recognize the legality of our deployment on the Rhine River."

"Follow your orders. This... I know very well."

Blue Fox showed with his eyes that he fully understood, and Rurik shook his head slightly: "Maybe I don't fully understand. Blue Fox, you are the commander appointed by the king, and you may be able to command an army of three thousand. Do you know what this means?" "

"It means that I can try to fight some fierce battles."

"correct."

Rurik smiled and patted his belly: "We are war bears in the north. We get hungry easily and need to eat a lot of meat. With an army of three thousand, it is not realistic to expect the king to bring a large amount of supplies to the south. You guys If we need local supplies, we must target rich places to plunder them.”

"It's aimed at the Middle Kingdom. Your Majesty...can you give me some direction?"

"Direction? Of course there is. The three thousand army cannot plunder randomly, and I am also afraid that you cannot control the army well. Veterans, young people, and the Jotalans you are about to recruit. Everyone wants to make a fortune, but they are afraid that they will not be able to make a fortune in time. After getting rich, the army felt itchy and robbed that unlucky guy Ludwig again."

"Hehe. This is impossible. If anyone dares to commit a crime, I will arrest him."

"No need." Rurik looked at everyone again, "Let me make it clear now. At any time, you should not attack the guys north of the Inn River. We cannot break the treaty first."

"What about that?" Young Askard frowned and pursed his lips with disdain.

"Boy, of course I have to give you a chance to make meritorious deeds. Let's do this! You all listen up."

Everyone turned their heads and listened attentively.

"Do you know the capital of the Franks?"

Rurik conveniently summoned all the centurions and even the most powerful and prestigious warriors in the standing army as his guests. The core of the Ross army's headquarters, which was eager to go out, was here. When talking about the Frankish capital, everyone looked at each other.

"It's Aachen." Lan Hu gave guidance to everyone who was confused.

"It's Aachen. I thought you all knew it, but it seems that you still need to learn. Aachen is their capital, where there are piles of gold and silver, and the barns are overflowing with food." Rurik tried his best to use gorgeous words. Describing the wealth of Aachen, gold and silver treasures, good food and wine, and young and beautiful girls, the desire for these may show the vulgarity of a man, but this is not the case for the Russians. So far, the desire for these is a powerful driving force for the army to fight. source.

"Let's go to Aachen to test. Blue Fox, maybe you lead more than 3,000 people."

"What do you mean, Your Majesty? Are you planning to lead the expedition yourself and take our brand new warship with you?! The warship is about to be launched, and the brothers are all looking forward to her showing off her power."

"This is not necessary. Unless the final decisive battle breaks out in Frank, I may personally lead the troops to participate in the battle. What I want now is a small-scale attack. I want to launch an attack on the enemy's core location. I want to disrupt the Middle Kingdom of Lothair. decision. After all, you revealed that Lothair is training new recruits, and is afraid that he will attack Mainz this year. If this really happens, most people will think that our troops stationed in Nassau are going backwards along the River Inn. To support Ludwig’s city of Mainz.”

"Isn't it necessary?" Blue Fox couldn't help but ask one more question.

"It's necessary! Of course it's necessary. If this kind of situation really happens, you can just send a hundred people to provide symbolic assistance."

"ah?"

"The smartest trick is not this. In order to maximize our interests, I order you to go to Aachen to discover the looting. It is best if you take Aachen directly. I heard that Charlemagne's tomb is in Aachen. What do you think? What is the greatest humiliation?”

Lan Hu understood the answer and slightly raised the corner of his mouth: "Destroy the tomb."

"That's not necessary. I'm afraid that if Charlemagne's tomb is destroyed, our Ludwig will be so angry that he vomits blood. But Charlemagne himself killed people in Saxony and Denmark decades ago. They have the motive of revenge. We There is no need. On the contrary, we plunder the city and its outlying villages, except Charlemagne’s tomb.”

"I understand. But... how do we get there. I have been told that to go to Aachen, we can land in Dusseldorf from Cologne, which we plundered once, and take the Roman road to get there. Marching by land is not ours strengths.”

"Is there no waterway? They wouldn't build a city where there is no river. I think the guys over in Utrecht and Flanders can give you a plan."

At this point, he saw that the young fat man Red Fox was already trembling with excitement. He couldn't hold it back and simply grabbed the king's words and said in a simple and loud voice: "You can go to Aachen by waterway!"

"You?" Rurik looked at him, as did everyone else. "Is there a plan?!"

"Yes! I talked with the nobles of Flanders in Rotterstad. There is a butler named Pepin. I have a business relationship with him, and..."

"Stop talking nonsense! Red Fox, speak quickly."

"Yes." Seeing that the king was taking the trouble, Red Fox pointed out the name of a river: "Maas River. Let's go to Maas River!"

"Maas River?" Rurik asked several times, and the red fox kept emphasizing its name.

Rurik’s greatest recognition of the Maas River is not just that it is a river. In 1914, the fast-advancing part of the German Second Army lined up in order to continue advancing through the Maas River Bridge. They were mowed down by heavy machine guns from the British troops stationed here. The pedantic general actually ordered the soldiers to launch a line attack and use 19th-century infantry tactics to forcefully break into the machine gun positions. They all fell victim to the machine guns, which turned into a ridiculous farce.

Where is the source of the Maas River? At least it's the closest large waterway approaching Aachen.

According to the "business intelligence" that Red Fox learned from the Flemish people, it turned out that the Maas River was an optional route for transporting wool. There is a detour to take the waterway, but fortunately it can transport more goods at a lower cost than the land route. Regardless of whether transport was carried by water or by land via Roman roads, merchants had to stay in the town of Maastricht. As soon as you reach this town, the flat Roman road leading directly to Aachen is right in front of you.

"Hey! Boy, why haven't I heard you say that before?" Lan Hu smiled and patted his brother's round back.

Rurik was even more excited: "Here's the plan. Let's loot Maastricht! Also, if you can still find a waterway closer to Aachen, it should also be used as a priority..."

The characteristic that makes Rurik better than other kings is that he has a rare perspective on the overall situation.

The war is really just an agreement between the two armies in a wilderness, and in the end they fight to the death to determine the outcome. This is a happy grudge, and it is this kind of battle that proves what it means to be a "barbarian".

Ross wanted to help Ludwig, who had suffered heavy losses, stabilize his position, but he couldn't really send troops to help him out of honor. Otherwise, wouldn't the brothers become that guy's mercenaries?

Since the previous agreement was still to help Ludwig survive, the best way was to stage a drama of "surrounding Wei and rescuing Zhao".

As long as they attack Aachen, the capital of the Middle Kingdom, even if they cannot break the city, they can still loot the nearby areas wildly. In this way, the main force of the Middle Kingdom Lothair can be attracted, objectively reducing the pressure on Ludwig. Even this approach also reduces the strategic pressure on the Western Kingdom that has not yet made contact.

When Rurik named his plan, the war turned into two battlefields far apart, but they managed each other. People who lack wisdom still don't understand, at least the clever Blue Fox brothers finally understood with a slap on the thigh.

"In that case, I will send someone to send Robert's family to a place called Tour in the Western Kingdom this year..." Blue Fox tentatively asked again, "Does your Majesty have any suggestions?"

"Just do as you agreed. Robert was defeated. Before he rises again, this kind of person will be of limited use to us. But you can get in touch with the nobles of the Western Kingdom, which will be beneficial to our business."

"Okay, I will allocate people to help me do this. However, we may be able to bring more supplies, as the saying goes, to show our sincerity to the nobles of the Western Kingdom. Because... we don't need to rob them for the time being. "

"It makes sense. We are unable to attack the Western Kingdom now, and I am very willing to do business. You can do this yourself and arrange for a trustworthy person to do it."

It sounds like the king also lacks confidence in the reality of doing business in the Western Kingdom?

Blue Fox thinks otherwise. Since there is a good business opportunity, it must be grasped.

Who can do it? Who has enough specifications? Blue Fox's mind was spinning. He felt that getting in touch with the Western Kingdom would be a great achievement if he succeeded. Now that my status is already high, do I still need to strive for new achievements?

No! Robert evacuated to Yingao, and his identity was also a count. His wife was not only a countess, but also the daughter of the Earl of Tours. Even if this family had a hard time in the past winter, they were a noble family after all.

Logically speaking, at least an earl must escort the earl and his wife away. This person must have at least equal status. Due to language issues, it is best to know noble Latin, so that you can communicate and suppress them.

They asked themselves that Blue Fox did not have such talent, or that the most suitable person was himself. But the problem is that he has an army of three thousand to carry out a war mission, and his younger brothers Black Fox and Red Fox are also auxiliaries in the war mission.

He was sweating as he thought hard, and suddenly thought of a very suitable big shot.

right! He is a young big shot!

The blue fox cleared his throat vigorously to attract Rurik's attention: "Your Majesty, you must not ignore Lord Reglaf."

"He? My son, he is the king of Mercia."

"Yes, that's him. In my opinion, the best choice to escort the Robert family away is him."

"Is this...appropriate?" Rurik became interested again and tapped his thigh: "Go on."

"Lord Reglaf is the only legal heir to the throne of Mercia, but unfortunately he is in Saxony. I think he needs the recognition of more nobles. He is the son of the king and inherits the king's bravery. It is precisely because he is young that he needs experience. After all, he He is a king whose status far exceeds that of Robert and the nobles of Tours. He knows Latin and can communicate freely with priests from all over the world. According to your order, he is no longer a warrior of Odin and has converted to the god of Frank. , the godfather is still the noble old guy from Eskil. Any noble there can readily accept his identity. Moreover, you sending your son to negotiate business matters with the nobles of the Western Kingdom will not show your sincerity even more. "

They asked themselves, sometimes Rurik did forget his de facto eldest son Reglaf. Although he knew that this boy's mother was not actually from the royal family of Mercia, anyone who knew the truth would have been physically destroyed long ago.

"Is there a possibility?" Rurik pinched his beard and thought: "I asked this boy to go to the Western Kingdom to explore the situation. If possible, he could meet with the bald Charlie and tell that guy that the Kingdom of Rus supports his opposition. The Middle Kingdom promises that the Kingdom of Ross will not use force against him or plunder him in the future. What Ross wants is the possibility of comprehensive trade. This matter may be very promising."

Blue Fox chuckled: "Last year I had a chat with the Robert family, especially his wife. The woman said that the south of Frank is very warm and has a large population, but most of the people are not Franks. The nobles do not want to participate in the civil war, especially It was the Count of Tours who was very angry that one of his fiefdoms was taken away from the Middle Kingdom, which is why their allegiance was to Charles the Bald..."

"Charlie is not bald now. Haha, he will be in the future." Rurik couldn't help but sigh after hearing so much: "Blue Fox, you are a hundred times better than your father. That's it! I have to give him A chance for my oldest son.”

Who hears this most clearly? Among everyone present was none other than young Ascard.

The birth of his cousin Reglaf was accompanied by the death of his biological mother. He felt that his real cousin was very pitiful. The two brothers usually have a good relationship, especially when they participated in the war together in 840, the relationship became even closer.

In fact, Askard is even a little envious of his cousin now.

Even if a king has only a dozen subordinates, he is still a king. Once he seizes the opportunity, his rise is inevitable! Especially, my cousin is engaged, and his wife is the daughter of the Duke of Saxony.

Looking at myself again, as the eldest son of the lord of Mstisk City, establishing a reputation for meritorious deeds is completely dependent on myself.

He didn't think that his brother's conversion to the Frankish god was an outsider. Of course he wanted to show off when he could meet his cousin again during this expedition.

Askard couldn't hold it in any longer, so he expressed his expectations for his cousin right here.

Rurik could clearly see his nephew's restlessness: "Boy, do you miss your brother?"

"Of course. I am commanding five hundred people now, and I will make meritorious deeds. When I see him, I will show off."

"Of course you can show off, but I'm afraid he will still show off to you."

"What do you mean, Your Majesty?"

Rurik thought of the fleet being resupplied in Hamburg when Blue Fox returned last year, and brought back the specific situation of Reglaf. "My cousin is recruiting soldiers in Hamburg. He is the king after all, and many Saxons are willing to sacrifice their lives for this noble man. Maybe he will have more soldiers than you by then!"

"Is that so? Humph!"

"Boy? Are you jealous?"

"Not jealous. I will perform meritorious service on the battlefield to make him jealous of me."

"Have some backbone." Rurik sighed softly, cheering up and making a sign of encouragement: "There have long been rumors that your father killed a thousand enemies on the battlefield. I can testify that this is true. Double Swords Arik , the first berserker of Ross. How are you?"

"I will kill two thousand enemies!"

What he said quickly caused everyone present to burst into laughter.

"Hey! What are you laughing at? I keep my word!" Feeling slighted, Asgard looked around with an angry look, baring his teeth to express his anger.

"Stop it all!" Rurik banged the wooden floor with his scabbard: "The brat has great courage. I think he can do it. Let's wait and see."