Lübeck was an old-fashioned fort town with a castle at its core, surrounded by more than a dozen undefended towns and villages, almost identical to the fortified towns built on the northern frontier by the Merovingians against the Saxon invasions, and the local Slavs did not build any large port facilities, only a small, well-defended harbor that provided the most basic shelter for the Marauding Wende pirates.

Edgar came to the Viknitz River, where a bridge connects the north and south, but in this cold season, the frozen river makes the small bridge much less strategic.

"Your Majesty, if we wait until the snow melts to attack, our fleet can easily seize that port, and the enemy will not have any chance." Edwin Knight commented.

"What do you think, sir?" Edgar asked Prince Henry, who was beside him.

"Your Majesty, I'm afraid we won't have such an opportunity at that time, and after winter, reinforcements from various tribes will also arrive."

The king nodded, and looked across the bank, where the clear air made the area very visible, and he soon noticed something unusual.

"You see, there seems to be someone there."

At this time, Count Rodrigo approached on horseback, and the Spaniard reported: "The enemy has dug a long trench, and our men have found some burning piles of corpses in the direction of the bridge, which seem to have been used to hinder our troops." ”

Edgar frowned, he was not familiar with the tactics of the Wende, but judging from the fact that these infidels were good at using poison, there might be some more sinister trap on the other side.

"Let's take the bridge first." He raised his whip and pointed diagonally in the direction of the glacier, "Tell Count Otto to ask him to mount the trebuchet to the river bank as soon as possible." ”

The English, led by Count Rodrigo, began to storm the wooden bridge, and they endured the foul smell of smoke and the stench of corpses, and gradually approached the other end, when Rodrigo suddenly saw several heretics appear on the opposite side, and several spears were projected, one of which pierced into his shield and stuck in the iron trim, making the kite-shaped shield clumsy and sluggish. But Rodrigo did not dare to throw down the shield, and he continued through the smoky area, and as soon as he got close to the enemy, he drew his sword and slashed down an infidel.

The Count's killing was so efficient that the unarmored enemies fell to the ground like rain of leaves, and suddenly, he felt his legs sink to the ground, and when he looked down, a heretic with a large scalp cut off was clutching his calf with a painful expression. He kicked the enemy away, and was obscured by the blood splattered from the battle axe of the Mercian knight Beonos beside him, and the count stopped, shook off the drops of blood near his eye sockets, and dropped his own protective face - this new helmet he was not particularly used to, but the cold iron mask made him look particularly terrifying, and in the eyes of the Slavs it looked like a statue of the god of thunder that he usually sacrificed.

To the south of the riverbank, the king watched the battle with blazing eyes, and only when a red cross flag of Rodrigo on a yellow background was raised at the end of the bridge, did he order the whole army to attack.

The English and Saxons marched through the frozen river in numerous columns, and iron rain began to fall above their heads, and the birch arrows of the Slavs were flying. The English front army that reached the opposite bank was immediately blocked by the trenches, and the follow-up army was still above the ice.

Knight Edwin saw the danger of the situation, and he began to take the initiative to fight: "Your Majesty, please let me go to the aid of Lord Rodrigo. ”

The enemy's central front was crumbling under the onslaught of Count Rodrigo, and some of the retreating Slavs had begun to retreat from their trenches, when the four banners of the gods that Edgar had seen appeared on the battlefield, as if Kruto's personal guards were trying to resolve the crisis.

Glancing at the anxious look of the Mercian knight, Edgar turned back and waved his hand at one of the guards, and a battle flag was raised, and the Saxons on the bank began to fire round stone projectiles at the opposite bank with trebuchets. This was a risky move, and the Saxon engineers had to avoid their own formation as much as possible, so they could only shoot behind the enemy's trenches, and even then, stone projectiles landed on the English line, causing a lot of blood.

However, this determination also shocked the infidels, who had never seen such a huge stone projectile fall on their heads, and when a stone projectile accidentally hit the ice, causing the surrounding soldiers to exclaim, the enemy on the other side suddenly retreated in a large area!

Edgar breathed a sigh of relief, and he looked straight in the direction of the English column that had been hit by his own catapult, his nails digging deep into his flesh.

"Let's cross the river." Edwin heard the king speak, as if in a whisper.

This glacial battle put an end to Lübeck's resistance, and in fact, by the time Prince Henry came to the castle, Kruto's body had already been dragged to Edgar, the pagan king with a very large head, his helmet almost as large as an iron bucket, and the tip of the conical shape was decorated with black horsehair.

"Your Majesty, this town is yours now." As soon as Prince Henry entered the hall, he saw the corpse of his enemy, and he immediately congratulated the King of England respectfully.

Edgar's expression was strange, which made Henry, who was secretly observing him, more and more nervous, and the Slavic prince even wondered if the other party had ambushed the samurai around the hall and would rush out at any moment to chop himself to pieces.

In addition to the large corpse, there were piles of loot in the center of the hall, including armor made of iron and horns, rings of gold and amber, and various pagan ornaments.

"We dedicate this town to God, and according to the Holy See, a new bishopric will be established in this area." The king finally began to speak, "The natives are free to choose to accept our sacred faith. ”

As soon as this statement came out, the lords present all looked surprised, and Edgar did not explain that the establishment of bishoprics, the introduction of Christian immigrants, and the permission of the local Slavs to retain certain traditional rights were the policies of cooperation and integration that he formulated.

Prince Henry finally did not wait for the ambush he suspected, and then he lived in the barracks of the English in trepidation, and waited until Easter, when he waited for Magnus, Duke of Saxony.

"What is the King of England going to do with me?" Henry looked at the Duke for help, and the latter simply comforted the young prince.

By this time Lübeck had changed its appearance, the smoke of war had long since dissipated, and an English-style trading post had been established in the direction of the port, and Henry was not in the mood to appreciate the goods of the foreigners, so he followed the Duke of Saxony to the hall that once belonged to his father.

"Greetings, allow me to introduce you to a noble guest." As soon as Edgar saw the Duke and Prince Henry, he enthusiastically introduced them, "This is my cousin, Prince Vladimir. ”

When Henry saw a brown-haired nobleman with a short beard, with a sturdy Varyag appearance, very different from the usual jeweled Danish lords, he immediately remembered the identity of the other man - the eldest son of the Grand Duke of Kiev and the cousin of the King of England.

"My lords, today's feast is a testament to our covenant." In a dominant tone, Edgar declared, "We will give this land to the Duke of Saxony and rebuild the ancient Billund region." ”

Then the king looked at Prince Henry, who looked a little disillusioned, and nodded to Duke Magnus with a smile: "Lord Magnus and we all agree that it is better for Billunbean to be appointed by Prince Henry, who is a pious acolyte, and I hope that your lord can spread the glory of God among your people and maintain peace and trade routes in the north." ”

The decision was so sudden that Henry did not even react for a moment, and finally, he looked at the King of England, who seemed to be hinting at something, so he immediately submitted to the Duke of Magnus and reassured the English of Lubeck's rule.

At this point, Edgar breathed a sigh of relief, the most difficult deal had passed, and the next step was to add the last insurance to the covenant, so in the presence of Prince Vladimir, the Duke of Saxony announced the engagement of his only daughter to Prince Edmund of England, and King Edgar presented his daughter-in-law-to-be, the future Queen of England, with gifts from Queen Emma, including a pure white Flemish pony.

Seeing the three princes in front of him, Henry suddenly remembered something, and he took the initiative to propose: "Ladies and gentlemen, why don't we have a game of 'Huesto'!" ”

Huisto was the most interesting game that Prince Henry had learned in the English barracks these days, so he began to go out of his way to encourage the Duke of Saxony and the Prince of Kiev: "It's very simple, you can learn it as soon as you learn it!" ”