Chapter 1559 Reglaf in Tours

With cavalry mixed with infantry, and some carts containing property, the coalition troops marched in loose formations on foot towards the village of Sologne Fontaine in the southwest of the forest.

At the same time, the long boats cruising on the river continued to float seemingly aimlessly. This was deliberately ordered by Reglaf.

Previously, these longboats were showing off their power on the Loire River facing the city of Orléans, and at the same time they also cast nets to bring the few perch to the campsites on the shore.

Now that the army has withdrawn, the only job left for the cruising longships is tactical deterrence.

Along the way, it also provided cover for the withdrawal of the coalition forces. When the army was completely withdrawn, the longship also returned to the port of Tours to enter the repair period.

Reglaf rode a horse with stirrups made of cowhide strips. Without looking at the city of Orleans, he took a hundred warriors named Mercia but actually Ross and withdrew with Robert's army.

He has a hundred real warriors, but Bruno's side is much poorer. So far, there are only fifty warriors recruited in Tours.

Bruno's identity as the eldest son of the Principality of Saxony is like a fantasy among the people of Tours.

Ordinary people have no time to care about the Saxons, but if this young nobleman promises a bright future, a group of impoverished peasants are willing to give it a try. Bruno jumped on the ship heading south and dressed up as a Norman warrior. Robert was very aware of his situation.

Bruno hired some farmers with his own money and then bought weapons to arm them. At this point, he had no money.

Bruno received a grant from Little Hugo of Tours, so he had the financial resources to continue recruiting troops.

Fifty armed men were already quite a few. After getting swords, spears, Frankish iron helmets and chainmails, the first priority of these armed peasants was to eat and drink. Even if they died in battle in the future, they would still have to make a living. Damn it.

The coalition forces could not reach the high speed of the Ross Army. They stopped and went, and it took them a whole day to reach the village of Fontaine in Sologne.

A small army was stationed here to monitor and control the local villagers, and a few wounded soldiers from previous battles were also placed here.

The hunter who had been forcibly conquered had just returned and broke away from the large army and rushed towards his home. They reunited enthusiastically with their families, hugged and hugged their wives, picked up their children and kissed them.

Their families also hugged their men with tears in their eyes, celebrating that they had not died.

Regraf saw this scene, his eyes noticed the children being picked up, and he couldn't help but fall into memories.

"Brother, what are you looking at?" Bruno asked: "You are so fascinated by it."

"I...thought of something."

"Those hunters are back, and they will leave soon. We just happened to take a rest in this village. There is a clear spring here. We can quench our thirst and wipe ourselves." Bruno did not care about the myth that Reglaf fell into. .

"Forget it. Let's go."

Reglaf raised his right fist, and the Mercian army continued to advance.

The boy just thought of the good times in the past. Although he had never enjoyed maternal love, it was nice to be with his grandparents.

He is the first grandson of old Otto. Although he is not the eldest grandson, he is still the first.

Old Otto became the Supreme Emperor in Novgorod, and power had been handed over to his son Rurik. He was blessed by the gods to live a long life, but he had to watch sadly as his old contemporaries passed away one after another.

The birth of a grandson cheered up his aging heart.

Regrave has been in Tours for almost three years. He doesn't know if his grandparents are still alive - they should all be safe.

When the army entered the village, all tense spirits relaxed. Robert did not harass the villagers. In other words, the haystacks and adobe houses here were completely unable to arouse the interest of the soldiers.

They unloaded a large amount of cloth from the cart, then cut down trees on the spot to make scaffolding. They each found an open space and settled down. As a large number of tents were set up one after another, they also lit bonfires.

That night, the forest rustled, and the coalition camp was extremely quiet.

Robert went to bed early, and like Reglaf and Bruno, they also curled up and fell asleep next to the bonfire.

This night was uneventful.

By the next day, the whole Sologne-Fontaine was bustling with activity.

When Robert came back, he issued an order to all the villagers. The villagers must take their families and follow the army to Tours.

The villagers didn't have a lot of property, so they threw the stuff on handcarts and flatbed carts overnight, and built a bullock cart with the cattle they raised. The villagers sat on the cart to guard their belongings, waiting for the army to move so that they could follow.

The villagers had already provided some cattle and sheep as food for the army. Considering the promise made, Robert's restraining troops did not ask for more.

He also thought clearly about where to place these more than 100 male and female villagers.

The delta area at the confluence of the Loire River and its tributary Cher River is a piece of low hills where the city of Tours is located. The city and surrounding settlements are on higher ground, so there seems to be never any concern about flooding.

Compared to the wide Loire, the Cher is much narrower. So two stone bridges were built on the Cher River. They were the only way and a shortcut for the southern villages to enter the city of Tours.

The earl set up checkpoints on the two bridges to collect bridge tolls from villagers.

The main population of the Kingdom of Tourbo lives in the south of the Loire River. There is a huge population of up to 300,000 in the territory. However, the villages are very scattered, there are no clear roads between the villages, and a large amount of forest has not been cleared, so that the Tourbo Kingdom has not yet been cleared. The Earl of Tours and the Archbishop of Tours could only estimate the local population based on the village roster.

The St. Martin's Cathedral in the city preserves a large amount of archival materials, documents written on parchment, which can be traced back to the Roman Empire. Although there is no clear historian, the Church of Tours does record the history of Tours from the Roman military camp to the present. Eight hundred years of history.

Even Gregory, Archbishop of Tours, two hundred years ago, wrote the history of the Merovingian dynasty, although it was to prove that Clovis, the Frankish king, had received God's favor and that his descendants had also received God's holy grace.

Objectively speaking, it also indicates that the nobility and priests of Tours have the same origin since the Roman period.

The Senate nobility did not disappear completely. In Tours, they continued to maintain regional power as noble lords and priests.

In other words, there is sufficient data to prove that the local people are almost all descendants of Gauls and Romans. Their collective arrogance turned into an overall will, and they no longer recognized Lothair as their emperor based on the current situation.

A small group of villagers facilitated the outsider Robert and rewarded him with wasteland development. He decided to build the new village of Sologne-Fontaine on the Cher River, and once again emphasized the collection of tithes from the harvest season of 845.

This move was supported by the villagers, but the hunters who saw this army deliberately destroying the enemy's villages and brutally killing the captives must also carefully consider the dangerous consequences of disobedience.

The villagers are like rabbits held in the hands of this army. Once they are disobedient, they can be easily crushed to death.

After another meal, Robert, who had eaten a lot of meat, ordered the trumpet to be blown.

The piercing brass trumpet sounded and the troops gathered. They packed up the tents one after another and threw them on the carts, gathered up the wooden supports they made yesterday, and broke out of the camp at a very fast speed, leaving a dark trace of the campfire on the ground.

At this moment, the villagers were ready with their finances. It was not until this moment, when he saw a large number of villagers sitting on the bullock carts, that he realized that these guys who had been abandoned by the Earl of Orleans were not as poor as they seemed before.

"I wish I had asked them to provide more poultry, cattle and sheep."

Robert clicked his tongue, raised his right fist and announced that the army was officially setting off.

The cavalry was in front again, with three cavalry as the vanguard, each with three flags hanging on their lances.

One side is the fleur-de-lis that represents the honor and history of Tours, the other is the lion's war flag that represents the glory of Charlemagne, and the last one is the cross flag.

The Russians marched with great fanfare, and the large-scale flags made the army look majestic. Robert followed suit this time, with a large number of cross flags and iris flags flying in the army.

He deliberately led the army and the following villagers to the riverside area, just to show his presence deliberately.

Because there is a small city protected by wooden walls on the other side of the river. It is the royal residence of the Baron of Blois.

Just as this army, which had failed in its crusade against Orleans, was deliberately visiting Blois slowly, the guards patrolling the city wall hurriedly informed the sleeping baron of this important event.

Baron Bodie was in the prime of his life. He put on his leather coat and hurriedly stood on the city wall. He was surprised to see the squirming of Tour's army.

"What are they doing? Do they want to say something to me?"

I don’t know who the Baron is asking, and no one of the guards present answered. However, no one felt fear, and some people who were aware of current affairs began to feel that Robert, who came here three years ago, was likely to replace the little Hugo in Tours and become the new feudal lord of Blois.

Bodie kept observing. He watched for a while and suddenly ordered: "Scream for me, hang up the cross flag and wave it for me."

Soon, the army marching on the other side of the river noticed the movement from Blois, and the waving flags were clearly a form of greeting.

Returning without success was acceptable. Robert was neither depressed nor excited. However, when he saw the city of Blois, which had a tepid relationship with him, raising its flag in greetings, he felt extremely good.

Across the Loire River, the two sides were waving flags, shouting, and beating drums and trumpets, as if they were having a party.

After passing Blois, as long as the cavalry advances quickly, they can run back to the city of Tours in the same day. There is no threat anyway. Although the variety of meat stored in the army is limited, it is easy to hold on for another two days.

Another night, they camped in the last woods. We will leave here tomorrow and arrive in Tours in the evening.

However, during the day, messengers were already rushing towards Tours, with orders to report Lord Robert's return.

Robert's wife Edelaide, although she is a woman, she is little Hugo's second sister.

Hugo was frail and sick, so in Robert's absence, Edred naturally took over the Earl's responsibility for the secular affairs and the military defense of the city.

No one objected to her acting as interim governor, and the archbishop was willing to cooperate with such a woman. Because her husband Robert had already proved his military authority in a very direct way, and because he had done something against the priests in Le Mans, the priests in Tours decided to stay with Robert's family for safety reasons. cooperate.

The most important thing is that the sick little Hugo supports his sister and brother-in-law. It is difficult to say that the words of a ten-year-old child who can cough up blood are sincere. Since little Hugo announced this publicly, nobles at all levels and people inside and outside the city also supported it.

Little Hugo may not have long to live, and Robert himself is not young.

Little Hugo was the last son of the deceased old count. He was hailed as a gift from God because of his unexpected joy. However, such a cute boy fell ill for no apparent reason, and his condition gradually worsened.

What would happen if Robert died? No problem. The old earl's daughter Edelaide has two very healthy sons. The eldest son is little Robert, who is similar in age to little Hugo.

Nobles and clergy at all levels can deceive each other and think of little Robert as little Hugo. The two boys of similar age are both descendants of the old Count Hugo III. As long as power is transferred smoothly, whoever inherits the title will not change everyone's status no matter what they think.

Regarding the safe return of the army that attacked Orleans, even if they did not win, Adelaide who stayed in the city was grateful for her husband.

However, regardless of whether it was a victory or not, this battle could not be discussed openly. The church acquiesced in such military actions, and it was absolutely impossible for the archbishop to come to the city gate in person to greet the army.

Out of many considerations, Adelaide decided to take his son and guard the city gate in a low-key manner and go out to welcome the returning army.

For the coalition forces returning to the city, the final journey became increasingly boring.

The horse walked leisurely, and Reglaf, who was riding on the horse, was too lazy to talk to his friend anymore.

The sun was brighter today but the temperature was a bit cooler. He was very energetic due to the cold, and his eyes kept scanning the surrounding environment in the hope of seeing something interesting.

All he could see were individual shepherds driving their small flocks of sheep away quickly. This was obviously a sign of seeing the mighty army and they were just escaping in advance to avoid trouble.

After a while, a large building with a spire appeared in front of the coalition forces. The woods disappeared near it, and a cluster of outbuildings became visible.

It is the convent of Saint-Loup and the closest monastery to the east of Tours.

All the people practicing here are women. As for some peasant women caught in the war a few days ago, they will be sent here if they are not executed.

Thinking of such a monastery, Reglaf's thoughts couldn't help but return to distant Rus.

In Rus, the priesthood has always been controlled by women, and it seems that it should be controlled by women as a matter of course.

His half-sister will be the next generation of High Priest of Rose, but now... his face is already very blurry.

In three years, a girl's appearance and figure will change dramatically, as if she is growing into a little golden-haired giant.

The coalition forces had no interest in such a women's convent. They took a detour. No decent soldier wanted to have anything to do with the nuns.

Likewise, the Convent of Saint-Loup wanted nothing to do with murderous warriors.

As for the village that coexists with the monastery, it is called the "Village of Women", or Lavio Dame. All the nuns live in the village on weekdays.

Village women captured and persecuted in villages near Orleans were sent here. They had to be purified and then continue to live as nuns - this was the only way they could survive.

The newly ordained nun has been forced to bid farewell to her past days. Who is the author of her own misery? Isn't this the army passing by the monastery? !

Anger, sadness, grievance...all kinds of emotions can only be kept in the heart.

Robert didn't care about the current situation of these women, just as he had no feelings for this women's convent.

When he was in the Rheingau, he emphasized military strength. His family contributed a lot to the crusade against the Eastern Slavic tribes. The Rheingau was already a Frankish border area. The limitations of the local population made it impossible for him to organize a large army. Once he encountered a big army, After a large-scale defeat, it becomes impossible to organize an army to fight again.

He happened to encounter the Ross-Saxony coalition. After being severely defeated, he thought that he had been deceived by Ludwig, and he was indeed persecuted afterwards.

After arriving in Tours, he still believed in the supremacy of military power, so he only showed respect for the local church on the surface, and participated in some ceremonies and activities only on business, just like he did in the Rheingau.

As everyone knows, the experts in the Tour Church are not idiots who can only sing scriptures all day long.

St. Martin's Cathedral in Tours is an important activity base of the Benedictine Order. The library here contains a large number of books. The behavior of old teachers training junior priests has gradually evolved into church work. This cathedral is also moving towards a "church university". "It evolves naturally.