Chapter 630 Three Kings

1066, the year that completely changed the history of Britain, ended the long-term terrorist invasion of the Vikings, and the world of the Anglo-Saxons was completely overturned—this was the biggest split in British history, The alien race thus truly ruled their land.

The events of that year forged a new Britain whose language, laws and customs survive to this day.

Some people say that the power of the king is given by God, but sometimes, the power of the military appears in the right place at the right time.

On January 4, 1066, Edward, who will be canonized as the Confessor by Alexander III, the Supreme Patriarch of the Universal Church in nearly a hundred years, is not a horse king as is more common in this era, but he is very enthusiastic about governing the country Therefore, the monarch of the Anglo-Saxon Wessex dynasty, who has won the hearts of the people, allocated all the surplus of the treasury tax revenue to charitable deeds, was very generous to the poor and foreigners, and fully assisted the church. Development and construction, and attending mass on time every morning - one can imagine the religious fanatic king's attitude towards witchcraft and those suspected objects of wizards, witches or witches.

But Edward's rule is coming to an end. No matter how many good deeds he has done to the common people, no matter how much he has burned the wizards, and no matter how devout he is to religion, Edward at this time is just a dying sixty-five Half-comatose, he lay dying in bed, surrounded by the local vicar and his wife's brother, Harold Gwinson - who was close to Edward and proved himself in the battle against Wales An excellent commander, Harold, who occupied a large area of ​​England with his three brothers, was basically the "vice" king of the Wessex dynasty.

However, the extremely pious King Edward was faithful to his marriage all his life, he had no heirs, and there was no successor to the throne of the Wessex dynasty.

"You are just a little feverish, God be with you - you have always been a good king, under the watchful eye of the Almighty, you have defended this country, amen." Harold Gwinson let his voice be as gentle as possible to comfort Looking at the brother-in-law in front of him who is twenty years older than him and has almost lost all his teeth, he can only breathe tremblingly with his mouth open, but he doesn't know if the other party can hear, "You have created a kingdom of gods here, a kingdom of gods. There will be no more kingdoms of evil wizards, and I will take care of it for you, you are my king and my friend, and thanks to you, England now has someone reliable to take over."

But to everyone's surprise, the old king was the same as that recorded in "King Edward", the only remaining manuscript in the world in Allen's time. He had been silent for a long time and fell into a semi-comatose. Those gathered around his bed described his previous dreams.

"In the dream, two monks appeared to me. The fat one was a wizard I had executed before! His cure for pox was nothing more than poking the farmer with a stick, and he always I am used to conjuring rabbits out of the chalice! But now he made a prophecy to me..." Edward, who was still very energetic after the first half of the sentence, held Harold Gwenson's hand, and then his expression became full Terrified, his breathing has obviously started to become irregular again, "Within one year and one day of my death... ho ho... ho... the Lord will give all my country to... ho... the enemy's hands ...there will be catastrophe of war...ho ho...the devil will sweep my kingdom with fire and grinning..." (Author's Note: The content of the prophecy is in addition to the 7 ho characters I used to count water They are all the real content recorded in "King Edward", which just happened to be combined with the plot.)

Meanwhile, two hundred miles south of London, a thirty-eight-year-old illegitimate duke ruled with an iron fist—the son of the late Robert I, Duke of Normandy, and a maidservant who was a cobbler's daughter. His only son.

William, Duke of Normandy, has been avoiding and resisting assassination and threats from relatives who think he has a more legitimate inheritance right than him since he was seven years old.

And struggled towards the peak of power, and finally succeeded in inheriting the title.

Now, he is not satisfied with the title of duke and wants to become a divine king, and he sets his goal to become the next king of England.

King Edward had promised William to inherit the throne when he visited England fifteen years earlier, although this Edward had actually made the same promise to others for the stability of his own throne. And Harold Gwenson, who was next to Edward, also recognized William's right to inherit the English throne when he was trapped in the Duchy of Normandy.

William is leading some elite knights who are almost equipped to conduct combat training-repeatedly practicing charging against a dummy made of wooden sticks and sackcloth bags. The head of the dummy is made of a cabbage. The knights are trying to cut off more vegetable heads along the established route.

William, Duke of Normandy, wore a blue cloak that reached to the knees and the sleeves extended to the wrists. He was a knight in full armor that was much longer than most chain mails of this era. Buckler A kite-shaped shield that provides more effective protection.

"Be serious to me! Look at my performance!" Seeing that one of his red-haired subordinates missed a cabbage, the particularly burly duke simply gave up command training and picked it up by himself. The spear charged at the dummies, and after stabbing a few "heads" cleanly, he pulled out the Norman sword tied around his waist, and charged at a much faster speed than others, smoothly and smoothly. Chop off the heads of the remaining dummies on the route without hesitation.

This made all the knights and the servants who kept putting fresh cabbage on the dummy's head cheered.

"It's not difficult at all!" William took the horse rope to slow down, turned his head and shouted at the red-haired knight who made a mistake just now, and his expression eased a little until the opponent completed the training again, " Don't get caught by Lao Tzu again! Otherwise, you will go back to Lao Tzu and continue to be your court poet!"

The Normans designated the Vikings and their descendants who settled in the West Frankish Kingdom. Now they have believed in Christianity, learned French, married and had children with the locals.

They were supporters of the use of large-scale heavy cavalry in the early days of Europe. When most areas were still using the shield wall tactics left over from the Roman period, the attacks of the Norman knights were extremely terrifying and quite advanced in tactics. Status-this is due to a series of innovations and improvements in military technology: the Norman saddle is made of wood, and the front bridge is raised, although it is not as comfortable as the previous leather, it makes the knight sit more firmly; There are two wide girths underneath, one tied to the chest of the mount and the other tied to the abdomen; two leather stirrups are dropped under the saddle, and the Norman cavalry was the first to use stirrups in Europe. This allows them to stand upright on the horse, clamp the spear with their arms and body, and use the speed and weight of the horse to impact the enemy. Although the cavalry before that also used spears, most of them swung them with their shoulders, and the strength was naturally not the same.

And to the northeast, about a thousand miles away, Scandinavia.

In the Viking lord's longhouse, born in 1015, the descendant of the blond King Haralda, the son of Sigurd So, the chief of Eastern Norway, and the Norwegian King Harald the Merciless III are sitting on a chair and looking at his subordinates Beating a civilian who couldn't pay his taxes.

Although Harald Hadrada was over fifty years old, he was tall and tall, with golden hair and beard, and he still remained handsome and tall for his age. When he was young, he traveled to many places. With his outstanding appearance, martial arts and commanding ability, he was favored by Grand Duke Yaroslav I of Kiev? Vladimirovich and married Elizabeth, the daughter of the Grand Duke of Kyiv.

The king, who was using a Viking ax as a fan to fan himself, recalled his previous war life. As long as he was willing to pay money, he could lead his subordinates to fight for anyone. Give him a place name, and he will Lead troops to fight over.

Poland? YEP!

Estonia? YEP!

Mediterranean pirates? YEP!

holy place? YEP!

Sicily? YEP!

Bulgaria? YEP!

He was even, for a time, the head of the Varangian Guard, the royal hoplite unit of the Byzantine Empire.

As a result, he became rich, had endless money and eventually returned to Norway and became king. Although Harald was extremely greedy for power and wealth, deep in his Viking soul, something deeper was surging , he once tried to conquer Denmark and failed, he was like an old boxer, he was a strong and fierce fighter, and that time is over, and he knows it all.

In addition to treasures and slaying people, he likes to write poems on the battlefield, and he wants to make his name known in history in this way, leaving a record of his victories and triumphs for future generations, and like all great Vikings, Harald understands , the most important thing a person can leave behind after death is his reputation.

The former Norwegian king reached an agreement with the Viking king who occupied most of England at that time, "When I die, the Norwegian king can inherit my throne."

So even if he just learned that Edward was seriously ill, it had already given him the idea that it was time for the Vikings to reconquer England and become king-from a Vikings point of view, their rule over England, Same with Anglo-Saxon rule.

Invading England, the Vikings deserved it, it was in their DNA.

Harald, already aware of his aging, longed for one last conquest, creating an immortal Viking legend, a legend that will live forever.

The king's thoughts were quickly interrupted by the voice of the civilian who was kneeling on the ground and howling. He stood up annoyed and raised his axe, and walked towards the poor guy who fell on the ground. Spread out and hide, so as not to be affected by the king's wrath.

As Harald approached, the poor civilian didn't even dare to say the words of begging for mercy, "You should know, I mean, how can you repay me? I kept you and your parents safe, and But you don't take your responsibility seriously, you have to pay on time, I can't help you if you do this..."

With a muffled sound, the king directly knocked him into the air with the handle of the ax and fell to the ground. The poor creature who couldn't help screaming because of the pain and tried to suppress it because of the fear kept making strange noises, and lay on the floor. On the ground, he blindly covered his head with his hands, trying to avoid the next attack.

"It's not that I don't like your pig-killing yelling, but it's enough." The Viking king put himself on his axe, looked down at the commoner, "Now, crawl for me!" Go home and tell your neighbors what will happen if you don't pay taxes..."

"Follow... order... my lord." The commoners who couldn't pay their taxes just struggled to get up as if they had been amnesty, but they were kicked and broken by the king who was still leaning on his own axe.

"I told you to crawl home! Someone, throw him out!" The king spit thick phlegm on the ground, and beckoned his men to throw the convulsing commoner out of the longhouse, but he did not return to his room. On the throne, he took a large glass of malt wine handed over by the maid-the king didn't like to drink the mead that other Viking nobles liked, thinking that it was a bit sissy.

Harald drank a glass of wine in one gulp, then threw the wooden cup on the ground, then raised his head and meditated for a moment, and continued to write poems.

"Since the acorns came out of the oak tree, I have wiped out thirteen enemies..."