048

It took me seven hours to get there, there were two guards at the gate, but they didn't stop me. Perhaps my disguise helped or they did not have such a habit. They also did not pay much attention to me, probably since the bishop's seat is located here, they saw many priests similar to me.

As I walked past the gate, I took a closer look at it ... it wasn't a technological peak, but it felt powerful. Four large staples stood next to it, probably two were used to close the gate, and two were set against the ground and were used to support the gate.

There was a hearth above the gate, which was used to heat water, oil or sand, which was then thrown onto the storming people.

Armed guards walked the streets, but they looked more like an armed mob ... I commanded tens of thousands of soldiers, but these could only take my hens for a walk so that they could pee.

Oily faces, dirty, a look with no intelligence. The more I looked, the worse my opinion was about them.

I found a vein of gold, I had not seen so many precious objects for a long time ... crosses, chalices, tabernacles, candlesticks, paintings, or rather their frames... this church is a real treasury.

The city was big and dirty like any other in that era. A large and rich church ... a typical seat of a high church official. Although I saw what interested me, I decided to look at the inn. Listen to the rumors and hopefully not get diarrhea from the local kitchen.

- Praised be Jesus Christ, Father.

- And I praise him. The innkeeper, give me the best you have to drink and something hot to eat but hot.

I handed him the silver coin and told him to keep the rest ... later, I'll take it with interest anyway.

Ten minutes later, a jug of beer and a duck appeared on the table in front of me ... well, today Friday, so you cannot eat meat, unless the fish ... luckily the ducks spent a lot of time in the water, so they were treated like fish.

I ate my meal in silence, listened to the conversation between the guests ... most of them were trivial, but one caught my attention. Two men talked about a certain event that interested me.

King Charlemagne set out with an army to convert the pagan Saxons to Christianity. Apparently, after reaching the confluence of the Aller and Weser rivers, the King ordered to kill 4,500 saxons.

I knew this event from history and it gave me an idea. Destroying two large settlements and two smaller ones in one year ... may draw unnecessary attention to us, but if we pretend to be saxons ...

"The blacksmith is at fault, but they hanged the gypsy"

The king hates the Saxons anyway, one reason more or less won't change anything.

Finished my meal and made a short walk through the city, as dusk fell, the gate was closed, but only with two staples. The guards had been changed and four men guarded the gate at night. Partrols were not frequent, the settlement was slowly falling asleep, only the tavern was still open.

I waited until the morning and as soon as the opportunity arose, I left this settlement. The Vikings were supposed to wait a few kilometers north.

Two hours later I found the campsite. Erik, Rollo and Floki greeted me.

- Ulf, what did you find out?

- The settlement is large and rich, especially the church. Lots of inhabitants, apparently there is a garrison of 200 soldiers, but I only saw a dozen. They are probably residents who take up arms in times of danger. We will have to take the city by force, we will not be able to attack them by surprise. The gate is strong, but I have a way.

- So what are we doing?

- We'll build a battering ram, Floki will help me with that. Also, gather a few people and let them hunt deer or other larger game. We need a lot of skins.

I explained my plan to Floki, we started cutting down the trees and a few people turned them into boards. It took us three days to make wheels, walls and roofing, we threw wet animal skins on the ram roof to avoid arson and hot things being thrown from above the gates.

We used a cut tree for the battering ram alone, there were twelve people inside. The design was not beautiful, but it did the job.

Floki, on the day we were to attack, painted symbols on the faces of all warriors that would bring good luck or something similar. I preferred something more classic, soaked my hand in blood and rubbed it across my face.

Pushing such a machine through was not easy, and it did not go unnoticed. The city gates were quickly closed and the alarm was raised.

My army stopped about 400 from the gate, creating a shieldwall in case of bow fire ... and eleven Vikings and I got into the ram and started pushing it.

We were well protected and managed to reach the gate without any losses on our part. Each of us grabbed a special groove in the wood and we started hitting the battering ram against the gate. Defenders threw stones at us and poured hot fat. However, it had no effect.

One hit ... second ... third ... there are small cracks on the gate, you can hear the wood cracking, but it wasn't enough to start celebrating.

- A few more times ... four... five...

- Harder!!!

The gate had to be reinforced with two additional staples.

nine ...ten

The ram broke through the gate, but did not break it completely. It took seven more strikes to open the gate completely, at the same time Erik gave the order to attack. Since we managed to enter the city ... now all we had to do was capture the city.

You have to work hard to be rich ...