Chapter 1548 Metz in Snow and Fire

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The Moselle River becomes very gentle here, with its main channel and densely packed small tributaries infiltrating a huge agricultural area.

The striped hilly area highlights a large river valley plain where Metz is located. The river continuously transports nutrients from the upper mountainous areas. The flat land and many streams are very suitable for the growth of reeds. Although people have not yet settled here, Nowadays, fertile humus layer has covered the earth.

The favorable agricultural environment was the capital of Earl Metz's wealth, but it also caused Metz's death.

The city is built on the waterfront and is the center of the entire flat area.

This place is easy to defend but difficult to attack. Although the Russian coalition forces have completely captured it, Rurik is not willing to station his army in an abandoned city. Moreover, there may be ten thousand dead bodies in the city. Instead of going to all the trouble to bury them and then move into the city, it would be better for them to stay where they are.

Based on Catholic faith, any deceased must be wrapped in a shroud and buried in a wooden coffin or stone coffin.

If a fire burns a dead body to ashes, it is the most serious desecration of the deceased.

This aspect of belief is completely different from that of northerners such as Ross.

In the north, it is acceptable to burn the dead to ashes and then bury them in the ground, or to bury them in the sea, and there is a self-consistent theory.

After those massive prisoners spent the magical first two days with the coalition leaders, their mentality towards the Normans was quietly changing.

The Normans clearly had two faces.

When siege and plunder, they are savage and ferocious devils.

After the war, the same group of devils provided ample food and fire.

If the Normans were devils and accepted their food, wouldn't it be like accepting the bewitchment of Lilith and Adam receiving the fruit of temptation? To accept food and campfires from the Normans was to sell one's soul.

But... I'm hungry! It’s cold! And the kids...

Those women would rather suffer themselves than see their children suffer, but this group of Normans was very strange because the total amount of food they gave their children was astonishing. In the limited life of children, the Normans can actually eat like crazy here without scruples until their bellies are hard to eat. The children have been able to do this for two days, and it seems that they can continue to do so in the future.

Even in peacetime, after a Frankish farmer has paid two tithes and other miscellaneous taxes, he still has to spend another sum of grain to sell salt, trade cloth, etc. in Metz. After going back and forth, the farmer does not have much leftover. Yes, I live frugally.

In order to obtain more benefits in the future, a family spontaneously has more children, or relies on having more children to offset the extremely high mortality rate of children in early childhood, and then invests in agricultural production when the children grow up. But the more children you have, the more food you consume. In order to get more food, you have to have more children.

Cattle, sheep and poultry are taxed, and even eggs are taxed. In recent years, the Earl of Metz family has participated intensively in the Imperial Civil War, and their tax demands for the Metz area have become increasingly imaginative. In order to make the act of plundering wealth for military expenses seem legal, they have created various clever excuses for tax issues. , there is also the archbishop’s endorsement behind it.

At first, when the Franks ended their tribal era, behind tens of thousands of warriors were tens of thousands of families. They gained a large amount of unclaimed land after the collapse of Rome, and more than 50,000 Frankish yeoman families were born.

Once upon a time, the Franks were a Roman vassal, and they were legions.

Officers at all levels of the legion were transformed into feudal nobles, and the ancestral family of Count Adalbert of Metz came from here. Ordinary soldiers are naturally happy to be yeoman farmers.

The early nobles enslaved all prisoners of war and local Romanized Gaulish peasants, who were the earliest serfs.

However, the poor food output gradually worsened the living conditions of Frankish yeoman farmers. In addition, the expansion of the empire first required elites to be selected from among the own people to participate in the war. Fifty thousand families can provide at least 50,000 soldiers! At first, each family was so wealthy that they had the financial resources to raise horses. Although three hundred years had passed since the founding of the Frankish state and the "Great Feud", Charlemagne found that his people were still generally wealthy, so he issued a decree throughout the empire, ordering everyone to raise horses. A Frankish family must produce one warrior and one horse, who will be recruited by the emperor as cavalry in the future.

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The original 50,000 Frank warriors have gradually multiplied into a behemoth over the past three hundred years, and the total population of men, women, old and children has exceeded one million. On this basis, and by maintaining cooperation with priests from various places, we can rule the Romanized Gauls who are several times larger than ourselves.

From the promulgation of Charlemagne's laws to the civil war throughout the empire, for sixty years, the empire was either at war or on the way to war.

He first trusted the army composed of his own people, and then tried to recruit all kinds of foreign princes' armies.

For example, the Aquitaine army was all Gauls, the Bavarian army was a mixture of local mountain people and Slavs, and the Walloons in the northwest of the empire were simply nicknamed "mules".

The Frankish-armed cavalry legion enabled Charlemagne to conquer the north and south, doubling the territory of the Franks, and was crowned "Roman Emperor" with this achievement. But the price...

Men rode war horses in response to the emperor's call to conquer the rebels. Especially in the war against the Avars, the Farak cavalry was the absolute main force. Charlemagne's military exploits were indeed better than those of his father, Charles the Hammer, but the price was indeed a crazy overdraft of the Frankish power.

By the time of the current civil war in the empire, it had been ten years since the turmoil began and developed into a melee across the empire. Every conflict was an internal conflict caused by the Franks themselves.

As men went to the battlefield, the number of years for recruitment continued to decrease, and Frankish soldiers died, resulting in an increasing proportion of soldiers from other ethnic groups in the army.

The once wealthy Frankish farmers gradually became poorer, and one family after another began to be unable to hold on to their wealth due to the lack of successors. Or the husband died in battle, leaving an orphan and a widowed mother in his hometown, and he could barely keep an eye on his property until the boys at home grew up.

In principle, the empire will provide pensions to families who have died, and orphans will be rescued and raised as reserve soldiers. The situation has deteriorated to this day, and the new generation of emperor Lothair can no longer do this.

During the continuous war, the strength of the Frankish nobles developed in the opposite direction. As long as the nobles themselves did not die and there were heirs in their families, their strength would almost continue to grow.

Magnify the Matthew Effect to a hundred years, and many things have changed dramatically.

A large number of Frankish families became serfs. In order to survive, they could only sell their property and become vassals of the great nobles.

This behavior is even proactive to a certain extent!

After becoming a vassal of a big noble, the first obligation of a farmer is to serve as a soldier for the noble. When the emperor asked for taxes and military service, because the peasant household had disappeared legally, this part of the military service tax was gone. The strength of the emperor's own standing legions gradually depleted, and the strength of the noble army continued to expand.

The nobles were more flexible and varied, and all kinds of ethnic groups in the fief were incorporated into the army. The once proud Frank civilians had become no different from other ethnic groups in the eyes of the nobles.

A series of land annexations, which were common in the East, was too new for Frank, who had emerged and developed as a barbarian for more than three hundred years. However, in an empire that has been operating for three hundred years, all the accumulated conflicts have finally reached a point of eruption.

Adalbert, Count of Metz, basically squeezed the manpower and material resources of the fief to the limit for this war that he believed he was sure to win, leaving the rear empty.

If there were no strange variable like the Rus, then the two baronies of Sargau and Brisgau would be fine as the northeastern barrier of Metz. The Diocese of Trier will not suffer looting or destruction, and Metz can borrow from Trier for its logistical needs, because Archbishop Hutto of Trier is also an imperialist.

Likewise, Koblenz will still have the Emperor's garrison, watching the situation to the north as an outpost.

The final situation will not be as anxious as it is now! Adalbert himself would not die in battle.

He launched the expedition with all his strength in the hope that he would make great contributions to the king and receive greater rewards after the war, such as being awarded the land north of the Rhine and part of Alsace by the emperor.

He was taking a big gamble, and the price of failure would be his own death and the destruction of his country.

His gamble failed completely, and the local people of Metz also buried their great nobleman with him.

Therefore, those serf families could accept a lower survival limit, and they did not believe that they would follow the new Norman

The nobles could revert to freemen in the hands of the nouveau riche, but seeing the Normans feeding their children convinced the women.

Life was getting harder and harder. When it was learned that the man who participated in the expedition had been killed, the sky fell.

Now they were drifting with the tide with their children, boarding the Norman longships one after another with complicated emotions. All the captives were not tied up during the whole process, and there was no need for soldiers to threaten or intimidate them. After eating a sumptuous meal, they would obediently hold their children's hands and sit down on the merchant ship, remaining quiet and drifting downstream.

The main force of the Russian army held as many as 3,000 prisoners of war. Taking in such a large group of women and children would only completely disrupt the army's battle plan.

As for selecting pretty women, there was no need for him. Rurik didn't want random people to disrupt his military operations in the future, so he might as well "release all" the prisoners at a good location.

That is not true release, it is the arrangement of a new life.

In other words, the Ross coalition is carrying out a large-scale migration of people. Coblenz and Nassau are the biggest destinations for prisoners. Black Fox's Nassau army will take in at least 4,000 prisoners, and then the prisoners will become subjects of the country.

As a result, the coalition forces once obtained nearly 15,000 living prisoners in Metz. Except for at least 500 beautiful women selected by the Danes, the other prisoners will be "kindly treated" and incorporated as their own personnel.

The Allied forces would quickly withdraw from Metz, and it was this staggering number of prisoners who would be evacuated first, and they would first be unloaded downstream at Thionville.

The army of Gothenburg received 4,000 men, the army of Nassau received 4,000 men, and the army of Wienerstadt received 2,000 men. The remaining four thousand people will be allocated by Count Gilbert of Ramengau, Count Eberhard of Jülichgau, who are allied with the coalition forces, and Hermann, Count of Siegburg Palace. The three of them can discuss the distribution among themselves.

Because in the post-war period, the coalition forces had already screened prisoners of war. The main population is the locals of Metz, followed by a group of fleeing villagers near Thionville, and the other group is crazy brave people-people who just escaped from the Luxembourg mountains on their own feet.

The refugees from Ventilonville will go home immediately and continue to live as subjects of the County of Gothenburg. As for whether they will continue to live an ordinary life in Thionville in the future, or they plan to follow the fleet to the north to make a new home, these captives can choose on their own.

As for those who fled from Luxembourg, their hometown had already been torn to pieces by the coalition forces. Rurik had already found a good way out for these people, and he also kept his promise to give benefits to Gilbert and Eberhard.

Just like Count Metz's frantic increase in troops left the rear empty, the methods of these two northwest count's were exactly the same. Ramongao and Julichgao also suffered great population losses, so the sudden addition of thousands of women and children was at least a kind of compensation. In addition, they were all Franks, so I guess these captives would be happy to follow.

Thionville will soon turn into a huge refugee camp. At the same time, as a coalition military camp, plus the local population, the total number of people can reach 30,000 in a short time.

Moving people was a limited problem, followed by emptying Metz's belongings.

Under Rurik's order, the operation to empty the city's granaries began in full swing. This operation was expanded, and nearby villages were also completely looted by the cavalry. Even the villages that had been occupied as the headquarters of the Russian army had to be burned to the ground after the army withdrew.

Sacks full of grain were moved out one after another, and some found wooden boxes and pottery urns were also used as temporary grain containers.

The property plundered from the cathedral was packed and taken away, and the sacred vessels and manuscripts were put in different sacks. In the end, the Cathedral of the Assumption of Mary became a big empty shell, and the echoes could be discerned when shouting in the oratory.

The dead who can be seen everywhere have merged with the frozen earth. It is because of these terrifying existences and for the sake of efficiency in transporting supplies that Rurik is unwilling to let prisoners enter the city to help. To do this kind of thing, he has never seen a large army in the world. The safest thing to do.

Ruts appeared in the snow, and Ross temporarily pushed carts full of supplies out of the city one after another, forming a distribution center for supplies on the riverside.

A long boat came along, and a group of women took their children. The children were very light, and one boat could often hold more than a hundred people. It is really faster to transport more than 10,000 prisoners away first than to transport away the loot.

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Moving the grain would take a lot of time. For the sake of convenience, the three ships were organized into groups and set sail as soon as they were fully loaded.

A large number of soldiers evacuated the Metz battlefield on foot, driving reindeer and horses and taking away heavy weapons with them.

From the evacuation of the first group of prisoners to the evacuation of Metz, it has reached its seventh day!

The current situation has become very difficult due to the weather. Although there is no blizzard now, fine snowflakes are falling non-stop. The whole world is foggy, cold and visibility is very low.

Rurik insisted on staying here, with his proud cavalry.

Apart from this, there was no other army. Apart from the voices of the men and the neighing of the horses, the only sound was the faint sound of the wind. The whole world is cold and quiet, and the city of Metz is blurry under the fog and snow, making it look like a pure white hell.

Fisk put on a bearskin hat and a bearskin coat. The whole body turned white and seemed to be integrated with the world. Most of the cavalry were also dressed in this way. If the Turkic horses, which are mainly black and brown, were put on white horse clothes, the Ross cavalry would be like this. You will become one with this pure white hell.

"Your Majesty, I don't like this place. Let this end," he said.

Rurik was dressed like this. He was sitting on a horse and squinting at the details of the city of Metz: "There is nothing left to move. It's time to end it all."

"So, what are you worried about about the Burgundian army? It is said that those guys never dare to attack in the snow. We don't need to worry about them, right?"

"You're right to ask." Rurik smiled and shook his head: "The snowfall here is wet and sticky, and I don't want to lead the army to continue the attack. Besides, if the snowfall increases in scale, for safety reasons we You should hide in the cabin. You should take it easy and make sure your horse is warm when you get back."

"It's okay, our horses are very cold-tolerant."

"It's hard to say. This place is not our hometown. It's better to be cautious."

"Okay." Fisk changed the topic: "The other brothers have evacuated. Maybe the Danes have returned to the mouth of the Rhine with prisoners and other trophies. The prisoners have also evacuated. After all this is over, we will evacuate too." "

"I don't care about Ragnar and his people. That guy better say hello to me before withdrawing his troops." Rurik pouted, he was really dissatisfied with Ragnar's actions in the Battle of Metz. All the troops were trying to capture prisoners and avoid causing casualties in the process. However, the Danish army went its own way, killing people everywhere and kidnapping beautiful women. The rogue pirate style remained the same. Ragnar was a big pirate. Being the king of Denmark really flattered him.

Rurik thought for a while and then said: "Let Ragnar play by himself. Anyway, his son Ivar is still serving with us."

"That lame boy?"

"Yes. I know you are biased against that boy. How can a cripple be a hero? It is absolutely impossible for an ordinary cripple. But if he follows us in the war and obeys my command carefully, a loser can also become a strong man. I wish Ivar all the best. To be King of Denmark is not to be just a pirate leader like his father."

"Maybe." Fisk shrugged, still feeling that Rurik's idea was a bit extravagant, and asked: "Does the final destruction of Metz City have to start on a snowy day?"

"That's my plan. Only God's way will tell when the snow will stop. Let's do it now."

"okay!"

Forget it, Fisk ordered the trumpeter to blow the low horn. So here in the mist and snow, a group of dark shadows suddenly became clear from blur with a faint light.

They were the Ross cavalry holding torches. They found rags rolled into wooden sticks and used excess seal oil (weapon lubricant) to make long-lasting torches. They rushed into the city and started lighting fires everywhere.

Although the haystack roofs of those wooden houses are covered with snow, there are flammable materials everywhere under the snow. Except for a few large buildings inside the city and the stone walls surrounding the city, the other buildings are all made of wood. They are still very dry and can easily catch fire.

The cavalry circled the city and destroyed it, and houses began to burn one after another.

It was smoldering at first, but as the flames reached a certain size, the snow on the roof turned into a huge column of water vapor, and thick smoke soared upward.

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The Assumption Cathedral also gradually burned. The stone walls could only ensure its overall structural problems. The superstructure and internal furnishings were all made of wood. It began to burn gradually...

As smoke erupted in the city of Metz, damage to bridges also began.

Rurik deliberately left a group of brothers behind. They destroyed the wooden bridge decks in the past few days, and now only the bare stone piers remain on the bridge.

If it were just the bridge piers, the subsequent enemy troops would only need to lay freshly cut pine trees, and the bridge would be restored quickly. That would completely destroy the bridge piers. Since all bridge piers are from the Roman era and can stand for hundreds of years without breaking down, ordinary methods cannot destroy them.

So the long-handled prisoners of war served as weapons, and the soldiers stood on the bridge piers and kept beating them. The stones bonded with volcanic cement could not withstand such beatings, and the stone bridge piers quickly disintegrated.

When all the bridge piers were smashed close to the waterline, the thick smoke of Metz City had enveloped the entire city. The enthusiasm brought by the gradually increasing heat had melted the falling snow in advance, and the visibility gradually improved in a limited area.

Rurik dusted off the snow on his body and successfully welcomed back the cavalrymen he was responsible for destroying, and bright red flames appeared behind them.

If the combustion is not complete and violent, the flame will be red. Apparently it will glow further and all of Metz will turn to ashes.

"I think that's the end of it," Fisk said with a breathless smile.

"You did a good job, the city of Metz was destroyed! We didn't collect the bodies of the dead, so let's cremate them."

Rurik looked very calm, and Fisk was a little surprised: "Is it possible that the king is a little depressed?"

Hearing this, Rurik was so stiff that he smiled. "It's nothing, it's just that the cold made my cheeks numb. The bridge piers are also destroyed now. If the Burgundian army appears after the snow melts, they will have to think of some way to cross the river. As for us, we will just wait and wait for them to come and die."

"Great! There is still a tough battle to be fought, and we can still win a big victory."

"Yes." Rurik slapped his cheek one last time, then turned the horse's head. He took out another piece of cloth from the saddle, and when he was about to cover his face, he said: "Maybe there is really a fierce battle to be fought. We destroyed the main force of the imperial faction and took away all the gold, silver and food they had. As for what our army needs now Back to Thionville and Trier to escape the cold. Let’s go!”

That's all, Rurik covered his face with a piece of linen cloth, and finally only one of his eyes was exposed. The soldiers followed suit. The small flotilla that destroyed the bridge was mainly composed of Ross cavalry, and they marched arrogantly down the Moselle River in the fog and snow. Behind them was Metz, who was burning in the snow—— The entire city is turning into a torch, while the surrounding area is basically reduced to ashes ahead of schedule.

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