Chapter 1,555 A Sacrilegious Document and the Fate of a Group of Captives

Latest website:

When the battle just ended, coalition soldiers were generally taking prisoners, and most of the people who had taken refuge in Metz were taken away. The soldiers at the time of the operation did not think much about whether this was completely necessary.

The men of Blue Fox and Black Fox were busy arresting people and searching for property, and soldiers from the Ross Army headquarters also joined in the carnival.

According to Rurik's order, if the prisoners are captured, they must try to ensure the safety of these people.

Prisoners are labor resources. Even if they have a large number of children in their hands now and are sent to the rear to raise them, they will still be excellent laborers in ten years at the latest. The northerners captured prisoners in a simple tradition. Just after the battle, the Fox Brothers were eager to indulge their soldiers. After breaking the city, the soldiers looted themselves. This was a blood reward for their achievements, and they could not be stopped within a certain period of time.

By now, the hustle and bustle about the city's destruction has ended.

The Fox Brothers and other friendly forces had to escort all kinds of prisoners of war back to the Trier camp in the rear, and continued to transport them to Koblenz further back.

All transportation requires costs. When the soldiers calmed down and took a good inventory of the prisoners on hand, they increasingly felt that although the number of prisoners was staggering, a large proportion of them, children, were simply a burden in their hands.

Instead of controlling these children, it would be better if they could be exchanged for silver coins and food.

The Gothenburg Army and the Nassau Army have this trend of thought. Even the Wienerstadt Army, which has a strong demand for human resources, Count "Broken Bones" Gorm prefers to take away the prisoners among his troops after the war. boy.

If it were possible to abandon large numbers of prisoners without fear of disobeying the king's orders, some soldiers would do so.

When Rurik did not come back, the fox brothers also calculated each other. Because sending a large number of prisoners to Nassau and Coblenz to temporarily settle down is the best measure under the current situation. It would be absurd to keep them in Trier, and it is even more impossible to transport them back to their hometown in the north.

Since the three Frankish nobles allied with Rus proposed a new plan, in which they would take away five thousand prisoners and promised to pay for the wheat, Eberhardt's proposal hit the blue fox's itch.

Rurik thought about it again, and he felt that such a plan could be a win-win situation.

He asked Blue Fox and Black Fox again: "I think it is feasible. The prisoners in the hands of the Ross army can be sold to them. How about you two?"

"I can bring out some people." Blue Fox pretended to be embarrassed, but actually felt very comfortable inside.

Black Fox followed suit: "As long as it's your order, I...have no choice but to implement it."

For a moment, Rurik felt that Brother Fox was unwilling. He looked at Eberhardt again: "My people are willing to give you a group of prisoners. As you can see, no one is really willing to hand over a large sum of money immediately." Trophies. Friend, I won’t say any more ugly words. We have made it clear about the price of the captives, so I won’t say anything else.”

"Yes. We deserve your trust on this issue." Eberhard replied.

"Really? We'll see. To secure our deal, we need to sign a document."

"document?"

Rurik chuckled and said: "There are two copies of the document. Whoever trades with us, please sign your name. This will be the proof for the future."

"This..." Eberhard couldn't help but glance at Archbishop Hatega, and whispered to Rurik: "Maybe signing the document goes against our beliefs."

"What is your belief?" Rurik instantly understood the deeper meaning of his words. He could think of one word at this moment - blasphemy.

"Is it because we believe in different gods that you don't even want to sign a document with us? If you were worried about your faith, you shouldn't have cooperated with us in the first place. Now we are clearly friends on the same front, so why bother." Rick sat up straight and pinched his waist, his beard trembling. He wasn't pretending to be angry, but he was really angry. Finally, he added: "Ross is already very humane, I advise you to take care of yourself."

"Okay. Okay..." Eberhard didn't dare to say any more, thinking that this young King Ross was really difficult to deal with.

This ended a barbarian banquet.

In the emperor's palace, the roasted deer was a tangible delicacy, and then Burgundy was

The formula is established as the enemy at the beginning of 844, and then new divisions are made for the massive prisoners in hand, which is another form of delicious food.

Rurik used his extremely strong mobility to arrange all this on the night he returned. While everyone was in the banquet hall, he couldn't wait to get paper and quills, dipped in ink and wrote in Latin himself. The contract documents are clearly written.

Finally, the flame of the oil lamp illuminated all the words, and Archbishop Hatgar was asked to take a closer look.

For the archbishop, it was an astonishing feeling every time he saw the King of Rus writing in person, and he was especially curious when he saw the "hard style papyrus" full of church Latin with strange fonts. Who taught him to write like this? Is he really the Northern Saint Eskil?

The font Rurik was accustomed to was very different from the writing pattern of the priests. The priests were always used to writing all letters horizontally and vertically, and some letters were easily confused with each other, so that h and K were difficult to distinguish.

Rurik taught his children to write in a more concise way. In principle, there would be no confusion in distinguishing letters, unless it was excessive continuous strokes.

The text only needed to be understandable to the literate Franks.

Father and son such as Eberhard, Gilbert, and Hermann were already considered strong in terms of strength in the Frankish world, but they couldn't stand it when faced with Ross, who was on an elite expedition across the country. Compared with those various small nobles, they were crushed in terms of aristocratic status and cultural knowledge.

Hatgar knew that as a witness, he now had to sign this sacrilegious document with the King of Rus and other Norman nobles.

However, the content of the document tugs at the heartstrings. As the local archbishop, Hartega also has compassion in his heart. The barbarians intended to release five thousand prisoners and deliver them into the hands of serious Frank nobles. The price they had to pay was some food.

One silver coin was exchanged for twenty pounds of wheat, which was a harsh price.

Rurik was sure that the Franks had good land, and their grain yield per acre would be high but not low, and the overall price would be far lower than in the north. However, what he ignored was that the Franks also cultivated fields in a rough way. After sowing, they did not fertilize or weed. At most, they dug some ditches to infiltrate the fields to ensure that the crops did not die from drought.

Thanks to its geographical advantages, countless rivers and streams infiltrate Western Europe like capillaries. At least they do not have irrigation problems.

Under Rurik's rule, such as Novgorod, a major grain-producing area, and the farmland area around Lake Ilmen, wooden waterwheels and man-made ditches have been used for irrigation, and a consensus has been reached on the use of manure for several years. Although Ross is located in the north, any crops and vegetables must be planted within the limited frost-free period.

The core area of ​​Ross relies on the power of wisdom to try to offset the adverse effects of nature. Frank has no awareness of this. The fact is that Ross has the advantage in terms of grain yield per acre on both sides.

One seed is exchanged for five or six when it is received, which is a good year.

In bad harvest years, wheat seeds are exchanged for two.

The county of Nassau-Koblenz under the rule of Black Fox inherited some of Ross's agricultural technology. The corresponding curved shaft plow and columbine made drill sowing replace random spreading. The excrement of people and livestock and poultry was collected and mixed with The river water creates a foul-smelling paste that makes people vomit, and then it is thrown into the intentionally left fallow fields in the hope that the fertilized fields will produce more output.

The black fox has just begun to do this. If you want to see the magical results of manure fertilizing the fields, you have to wait for the harvest season of 844.

At least the farmland used by the curved shaft plow and columbine, because wheat seeds no longer compete viciously for nutrients, all fields using this method achieved astonishing yields in the autumn of 843 - close to one for eight.

Thanks to the relatively fertile land in the Koblenz area, the alluvial plain water resources created by the Moselle and Rhine rivers in this area can be easily harvested, and the fields can be cultivated in this way without using farmyard manure. , changing the seeds to eight has basically reached the limit of its output. If farmyard manure is fully used to improve the soil, it will be possible to replace ten with one, or even more.

However, to advance to one-for-twenty would require a miracle of chemical fertilizers.

I also lamented for the local farmers: the miracle of God’s gift.

Rurik misjudged the law in this regard

Rank's average level, the standards he prides himself on setting are not too harsh.

Nobles such as Eberhard were more educated than other nobles, and they also had some understanding of writing and rhetoric. If you want such nobles to pay attention to people's livelihood and agriculture, if they are well versed in this, the country under their rule will not be easily defeated by Ross.

Eberhard didn't know what the output of a Roman hectare of farmland would be. He had always entrusted the tax collection work to the local church, and he also appointed a financial officer. When he was short of money, he could just ask the church or professionals.

With his mind, he was not capable of independently thinking that he could appoint some tax collectors to bypass the church and go to villages to collect taxes for him. However, due to reality, even with this idea, he could not cut the church's flesh with a knife and take away all the money and power.

Rurik actually asked for a very high price, and Eberhard decided to sign the documents quickly, and also pulled the confused Gilbert to sign the documents as well.

Old Herman felt that this document was bound to cause him a lot of bleeding. His son, little Herman, who was eager to join the Russians in making a fortune, didn't care about the bleeding. He quickly signed the document and showed it in front of Rurik. Good look.

Only Archbishop Khatega's mentality was extremely contradictory.

"God, please forgive me. In order to save the lamb, I would rather make such an agreement with these barbarians." There was a lot of sweat on his forehead. This was caused by anxiety, not by the bonfire.

Hart added his name and a series of identities.

He hoped to do this, making his noble identity public, and mentally despising the King of Ross and other Norman nobles with a very long title.

This ridiculous behavior is just his own wishful thinking, but the more he writes like this, the more he proves the effectiveness of the document.

Rurik didn't think much about it. He was very satisfied with the cooperative attitude of these guys.

Until he saw a confused Gilbert writing his name crookedly.

That night, the whole of Trier was bustling with activity, and it was not until late at night that the city became calm.

Tens of thousands of prisoners still don't know their fate, but they don't know that after this night, the fate of many people has been changed.

Blue Fox, Black Fox and Gorm, the three of them currently control all the captives under Rurik's authority. Among the more than 10,000 prisoners, 5,000 will be delivered to three Frankish nobles. As for which people will be handed over, this is a very clever operation.

Just one night of comfortable and warm rest was not enough to completely wash away the fatigue of the Russian army. On the new day, a large number of soldiers were busy sleeping in the military camp in the city.

Rurik gave the army three days off. There was no training during the three days, and only a small number of soldiers were arranged for routine patrol and warning. Everyone's tasks were to sleep, eat, wash, bathe, and feed the horses.

The snow on the roads in the city was quickly cleared, and the soldiers wrapped themselves in thick leather clothes and huddled up in a ball. They squeezed into the solid and dry stone houses in the city and slept soundly. Will get up. Secondly, get up and eat with the smell of cooking wheat.

Once the tense nerves relaxed, Rurik felt that it was too difficult for these warriors who had been struggling for three months since entering the Frankish world to continue to be excited. Besides, preparations for Hanukkah had already begun, so he issued the order himself. Then, on a new day, a full-scale logging operation began.

The wood was cut and piled to build a giant wooden tower, and the excess wood was sharpened. It was planned to go to the south of Trier after the festival to bury deer forts to resist horses, and to build wooden walls as a pass to block the Burgundian army.

The Russian soldiers were sleeping and resting, while the friendly soldiers were picking people up in their respective prisoner camps.

They pulled the children away from their mothers, and some women who looked old were also pulled out.

Their methods were very rough, and those prisoners who had no masters were screened out. The Blue Fox and the Black Fox wanted to gather the people together, so they allowed their subordinates to use brutal methods.

A large number of young people were looked at, and a large number of girls were screened. They were crying and had no idea what kind of fate they would encounter in the future. Countless people were simply confused. Five thousand people were screened out in one day. He

They were detained separately, but food was still distributed.

Rurik was very happy that his men had completed the matter with strong action. He went ahead to check on these people and saw densely packed people standing on the snow. Because of the cold or fear, they spontaneously moved to a central location. During the event, people stood extremely densely packed. At first glance, there might not be 5,000 people.

With just one glance, he could see a large number of children. These small figures of Frankish children, no matter whether the adults around them were relatives or not, would instinctively move closer to the adults and grab the corners of their clothes to relieve their fear.

It was already approaching evening. After Rurik completed his inspection, he invited the Frank nobles with great interest. Naturally, Hatega, who had changed into the archbishop's black robe and jeweled hat, was also indispensable.

A group of junior priests from Nassau nervously followed the Archbishop of Liège. Although the young priests did not belong to the Diocese of Liège, they felt very stressed following an archbishop. Their job was to put on cloth robes and carry the cross they proposed to make, and they just ensured Hatega's dignity throughout the process.

Seeing the priest appear, the cross in the soft sunlight of the afternoon, and the magical bishop's hat, the nervous and silent crowd instantly started to make noise, as if they had seen the great savior.

Gilbert, who had sobered up, realized that he had signed such a document in a daze, for which he had to take away two thousand prisoners and pay a large amount of food. At first, he was very upset that he had signed his name in a daze, and after much thought, he could only face this reality.

He, Eberhardt, and Hermann Sr. all chatted with Hartga.

Even if everyone doesn't openly oppose Lothair now, the fact that he is a forced emperor cannot be changed.

Only Khatega could argue that he had been coerced.

What if?

"If the Burgundians also lose, who else can stop King Rus and his people? How can Lothair make a comeback? Who will be the new emperor in the future?" Hatgar does not want the final winner to be Ludwig didn't want to be Bald Charlie either. As for Rurik, the Russian, don't even think about it - this man cannot become the second Clovis.

Hatega doesn’t know what the future will bring, so he can only leave everything to God.

At least in this corner, he and the Frankish nobles could influence the final fate of the five thousand captives.

As for what kind of prisoners the Normans would take out, they didn't have much hope when they were fully awake. Now I responded to King Rus' invitation to inspect, and I saw an overwhelming number of children and ordinary peasant women.

Suddenly, Gilbert clenched his fists and cursed in his mind: "Are you using these people to fool me?"

Rurik approached these people with a smile, and there were mysteriously followed by several blond girls. They all had papers and quills in their hands as if they wanted to record something.

"You are all here, do you understand? This is the prisoner we gave you."

"I understand." Hart said with a sullen face, "Thank you for your kindness. I hope you will continue to be so kind in the future."

"I know that you have criticisms of me. It doesn't matter. Now we can make personnel transfers. Look." Rurik pointed to the girls behind him: "They are all my priestesses and they will make statistics with their own hands. How many children and adults will be delivered to you personally? We can calculate the amount of silver coins you need to pay or the deducted wheat for you in advance, and then you can get the food according to the list."

"Is this really business?" Eberhard asked.

"So do you still have any objections? If not, let's get started." After a few words with Eberhart, Rurik thought of another point and looked at Hatega: "Maybe, you can Personally appease these Franks and make the transfer of personnel smooth."

"Okay. Otherwise I don't have to dress so formally..."

Taking a deep breath, Hatega took the lead and started his work. Sure enough, after learning that they could be released and finally stay in the Frankish world to continue their lives, the adults cried with joy, but the majority of children still didn't know what happened. They just looked at the old man wearing a gorgeous high hat and shouted some words. .

At this point, the Ross coalition forces instantly

After getting rid of five thousand baggage, the remaining prisoners were the result of continuous screening and selection of the best.

All the weak ones were screened out by the extreme cold, and the remaining ones were manually selected. In the end, there were about 7,000 prisoners left in the Ross coalition. They can withstand the severe cold and have good physical functions. More importantly, the women among them are generally young, and the boys and girls have reached the age where they can work.

Gothenburg, Wienerstad, and Nassau need labor that can be used immediately. Although they cannot meet their own needs, this result can be regarded as the optimal solution after repeated weighing.

Latest website: