It seems that the battle situation is developing as Arik hopes. The Russians who are waiting for the battle are attacked by their opponents. This situation is what Arik dreams of.
But the situation has undergone a very surprising change.
There was a whooshing sound in the air. The Ross warriors saw many guys actually throwing javelins? !
Yes, there are indeed some sticks thrown by the shaggy-headed enemies.
"Damn it! Stack the shield wall! Defend!" Arik ordered loudly.
He had just finished issuing the order, and the soldiers had just raised their shields above their heads when the javelins came crashing down on them.
The sharp spear heads directly pierced the wooden shields of many people. Only those shields deliberately reinforced with copper sheets and leather barely withstood the attack.
Under the shield, Arik's eyes widened. He saw a slender javelin head next to his left arm. It was like a huge arrow, which became a little crooked after it penetrated his shield.
The entire shield became heavier, and the wooden handle of the enemy's javelin hung outside it, which became an extremely embarrassing burden.
"Is there such a thing?"
Arik has never been attacked by such a weapon. Fortunately, he has seen many battles and encountered it once. After the unexpected blow, he quickly regained consciousness.
He simply knelt down, placed the buckler on the ground, raised his steel sword with his strong right arm, cut off the entire javelin, and then pulled out the slender javelin head.
The first thing the Russians encountered was the opponent's long-range offensive. The distance between the two sides was actually within fifty meters. After withstanding this javelin, the Russians saw their commander cut off the hateful enemy with capable means. Javelins, they also raised their swords to follow suit.
Encountering a direct attack from the javelin, the Russians were a little confused.
For these ancient Estonian villagers, the "bear hunting javelin" they were proud of did not directly destroy the opponent's front, and even the opponent even completely destroyed the javelin. They received a huge reward. The soul is shocked.
Arik roared, and then all the soldiers roared in the same way.
The Estonian leader gritted his teeth and hurriedly ordered his men to throw another javelin, which was also the last round of javelin attack they had.
They chose to get as close as possible and run together, eager to give the javelin more momentum to achieve greater results.
They did this and really achieved some results.
The Ross soldiers in the first row experienced the greatest pressure. Fortunately, everyone’s arms were very strong. They relied on their own strength and even the help of their partners in the second and third rows to withstand it. The momentum of a javelin.
The inevitable injuries still happened.
A Ross warrior's wall was scratched by the javelin head. Fortunately, it lost a lot of kinetic energy after it penetrated the oak shield. Then it hit the warrior's leather coat and linen lining, and it could no longer penetrate the warrior's body.Flesh, but that kind of internal injury instantly causes congestion.
The arms of several warriors could no longer lift their shields. For the sake of morale and to avoid letting their companions see their dejection, they gritted their teeth and successfully retreated to the back row.
Arik noticed this, "Damn it, I have to strengthen the defense of my arms and legs in future battles."
The frontline "heavy infantry" were not equipped with metal protection. Neck and wrist guards, the Russians suffered a loss.
Of course all tragedies stem from the enemy's damn javelins.
In Arik's view, no matter how bloody the battle between the Rus and other tribes, both sides rarely threw spears at each other, let alone this strange-looking javelin.
He himself had no insight into this, but Rurik had already figured something out.
Several javelins falling from the sky landed not far from the "turtle shell" that Jevro ordered to form. They were almost straight into the mud.
Jevro breathed a sigh of relief: "They actually threw the javelin. Fortunately, they didn't hit us. Sir, are you okay."
"I'm fine. Continue to be vigilant."
Rurik could clearly see the entire javelin through the gap in the shield that formed the turtle shell.
A strong sense of familiarity directly made him feel that the world was too crazy.
“Pilum?!”
Rurik couldn’t believe his eyes.
"Sir, what did you say?" Jevro asked nervously.
"That weapon is a pilum, why does it appear here."
Jevro does not understand Latin, and has no way of knowing that the owner is talking about a Roman javelin. This is not This prevented him from explaining: "Actually, even we Finns will throw some javelins when fighting. We all use this kind of weapon. If it hits something hard, the javelin head will bend."
"I know! Why is it here?! Forget it, leave it alone."
Rurik really didn't understand that those Roman javelins from the first century AD were obviously classically shaped , actually almost hit me in the ninth century. Could this weapon also travel through time and space? !
Of course the javelin did not travel through time, because it was made by the Estonian tribes who occupied the pyrite. It was entirely because their ancestors had fought against the Roman army and learned a little something in the war. In the past, they were also tortured by Roman javelins. Now, they regard this object as the only magic weapon for hunting bears, and it is also a weapon for killing enemies in tribal wars.
The tribes in this area, or a combination of several villages, share an iron mine and elect the most powerful family as their leader. Compared to other tribes, because they control the iron mines, they can use iron weapons, such as javelins, relatively luxuriously.
They had stocked up on more bear-hunting javelins. The leader heard that some Varyags were plotting evil intentions and learned that their opponents did not have many troops, so he did not lead all the men to carry as many weapons as possible., counterattacked after a night.
In other words, the Estonian counterattack this time was an encounter in a sense. They did not make sufficient preparations, but they saw that their opponents had few troops and were huddled together like a turtle.
The leader no longer cares about the results achieved by the two rounds of javelin (actually it seems useless). After all, he has no javelin at hand, so he can't throw away the iron spear as well?
The leader held up an iron sword and issued an order to attack across the board.
The Estonian villagers finally waited for the decisive moment to defend their homes and resist the Varyag bandits. They almost tore their throats and charged from multiple directions with their own weapons and their heads blank. Vow to break through the opponent's shield wall, and then rely on the absolute advantage of numbers to carry out the most cruel and ruthless fight.
Arik was secretly happy to see them charging.
He remained calm and ordered: "Brothers, hold still and let them attack!"
"Hold your swords and stab them in the neck and stomach."
< p>"Second row, your spears smash their faces.""Third row, your axes smash their heads."
Arik again After briefly repeating the tactics, he suddenly felt that something was missing. He suddenly turned his head and shouted at the rear through the gap between the soldiers: "Rurik, stupid brother, what are you doing standing still? Take your people with you." Come here and protect our backs!"
Originally, Rurik thought that the heroic Arik could withstand the enemy's attack, but now it seems that the enemy has normal intelligence and plans to outflank him.
In other words, the opponent does not have a clear strategy. They tend to instinctively find loopholes and then attack fiercely, which naturally turns into a pincer offensive.
Aric could not help but say that Rurik would also lead the mercenaries as rearguards. Because all this is too similar to the siege of 800 Kovin people encountered on the frozen Oulu River half a year ago.
Just as the Estonians completed the encirclement, Jevlo not only threw his master into the safe area at the core of the shrinking Russian army formation, but also led all the mercenaries to complete the rear line.
The Russian shield walls are connected together to form a ring.
The Estonians were furious. They were obviously a group of undisciplined rabble, but their performance fully demonstrated what it means to be brave and fierce.
Despite their lives, they actually approached and threw their spears, then jumped onto the shield that the Russians raised above their heads, trying to lift the shield with their hands.
Some saw that the spearhead could not inflict enough damage on the opponent's shield, so they simply bumped into it.
Of course, this kind of death-seeking behavior by the enemy is exactly what Arik dreams of.
The current formation of the Russians can be called extremely rigid, but it is also the most effective tactic for dealing with unorganized enemies under the current situation. In short, as long as the Russians stabilize the current formation of the motionless turtle, they can win. Because, this tortoise shellWhat stick out from the gaps are bright white steel swords!
The blood of the bravest Estonian warriors splashed on the Russians through the shields of the Russians.
The smell of blood greatly stimulated both sides. Seeing their companions killed in battle, the Estonians who followed became even more crazy.
What about the Ross warriors? They participated in the battle under the early morning light, that is, under the watchful eye of Odin, and the blood seemed to be a tribute to the warriors.
The swords and spears stab at any enemy trying to get close to the shield wall.
There were even some Estonian soldiers whose heads were smashed by axes falling from the sky, or whose faces were cut open.
In the shield, the Russians, whose faces were covered with sweat, had a calm attitude, especially the first row of soldiers. They squatted half-crouched, holding up the shield that covered most of their torso, and stabbed blindly with their swords. The soldiers in the second row were also very busy, and their spearheads were dripping with blood.
The Russian "turtle" is simply indestructible.
The Estonians tried to find a breakthrough. They attacked from various places, but in exchange they died one after another.
More than fifty of the bravest men in their prime were killed in battle. The blood of the dead seeped into the ground outside the village. A large number of corpses surrounded the enemy's shield wall, but the damn shield wall remained unmoved. .
Now, the spirit of the brave has been worn away, the Estonian soldiers were trembling with fear, and they began to retreat uncontrollably.
This situation also shocked their leader.
The war has turned out like this. Tribal wars will certainly kill people, but he has never seen a scene where his own people were killed on a large scale at the beginning of the battle.
"You are indeed Varyags, and you bandits really deserve your reputation!" The leader could only sigh with emotion now.
The leader thought of retreating, but it was not good for his face, and he was afraid that he would lose the support of the villages and be driven out due to defeat. Even his own family would be used as an outlet for his companions to vent and be persecuted.
Maybe if we work harder, we can break the Varyag's front?
The Estonian leader simply went to the front line in person. He kicked and beat many frightened young people, and scolded: "Didn't you hunt the bear? Why are you afraid now? Give it to me. Keep charging!"
Seeing that everyone was still hesitant, the leader got angry and bit off his shaky front teeth (after all, he was old). He ignored the blood and called on his tribe with a ferocious expression. : "Follow me and destroy them! Otherwise all men will die, and all women and children will become slaves. To protect your family, fight like a man!"
Only Yevlo heard such a character The final cry of grief and indignation is indeed very inspiring, but of no use.
The Russians did not simply sit back and wait for death.
Is the enemy about to launch a final blow?
Aric responded calmly: "Brothers! Push!"
TurtleThe shell was deliberately loosened, and it resumed its semicircular attack formation, slowly evolving toward the line.
The Russian soldiers roared "rua" rhythmically and made a "rua" sound with each step. Their strong discipline simply scared off many Estonian soldiers who regrouped and charged with their leader.
The leader was dumbfounded. He suddenly discovered that no matter what happened, there would be 200 people rushing behind him, but in the end, there were only more than 30 people accompanying him.
The other tribesmen were not just watching the fire from afar. They were frightened and gathered into a group at a loss.
Escape? right! Run away.
The Estonians do not have a warrior culture. Seeing that the tribesmen are not cooperating, the leader thinks that he will not have to die. Anyway, the people in this village ran away yesterday. Anyway, the Varangians came to plunder property. As long as everyone fled into the woods with their belongings, could the enemy still chase us for a whole year?
"Let's all run away! We have no chance."
The leader ordered to retreat, but the people who were at a loss saw that their charging companions were following the leader to evacuate. Of course, they were the first run.
The retreat turned into a rout, and the best time the Russians had been waiting for had arrived.
Arik gave an order: "Brothers! Chase me, Odin is watching us, kill the enemy!"
The tribesmen led by Arik just want to kill people. Just because everyone believes that this can accumulate more achievements.
After all, these Estonians are also masters of forest life. Their running with light armor is really not something that Ross and other heavy infantry can catch up with. What’s more, they have resisted the impact of hundreds of people and fought for a while. I ate some of the wheat cakes I made yesterday, and now I don’t have much energy left. They wanted to pursue a complete victory, but their physical strength simply did not allow it.
Seeing that the guy with blood on his face who was obviously the commander was also running away, how could he think that a coward could actually command hundreds of people to fight? Why!
Arik casually grabbed a companion: "Brother, let me lend you your short spear."
The Russian warrior handed the boss his bloody spear without hesitation. .
I saw Arik bending his body and throwing the universe. The spear with full martial virtue turned into a heavy javelin, directly smashing through the back of the Estonian leader from behind!
The leader of a federation of Estonian villages died in such a cowardly manner, and his death made Arik more powerful.
When the remaining Estonians saw that their leader had become the prey of the Varyags, like a shot bear, they simply threw away their weapons and fled into the forest as fast as possible with their bare hands. And after entering the woods, they ran towards the core of their settlement in order to notify their families as early as possible to evacuate. Later, these thrown away iron swords, spearheads and axes all became the trophies of the Russians.
Yes, the only thing that can give them safety now is the dense forest.
Some Russian soldiers wanted to go deep into the forest, but they were stopped by Arik..
He pulled out the bloody spear and spat at the lying enemy leader, "You are a coward, a coward who was killed by me from the back."
At this time, Rurik walked through the battlefield full of enemy corpses, approached his cousin, and asked as if nothing was wrong: "I thought you wanted to continue the pursuit?"
"Pursuit? I don't want to be in the forest. "You, brother, I thought you would be afraid."
"I thought the enemy was very brave. I didn't expect them to be as good as the Covin people we conquered. They were at least dead." Almost 200 people escaped. Of course, almost all of them were killed by our army." Rurik said this unintentionally, but in fact, Arik felt offended.
"Well, it seems that I am still not as good as my uncle. I still need more experience in war to become as brave and glorious as our leader."
Rurik doesn't want to More words: "Let's look at the real issues. We don't have time to fight with them, and we don't have the strength to conquer them now. Brother, I know you want them to kneel in front of you."
Arik chuckled: "They are in this area. One day I will lead a large army to conquer them, just like I conquered the Kovin people. You are treating those Kovin people well. It must be the leader who knows that they have been very brave before you open the net." One side. Oh, these guys are cowards and only deserve to be humble slaves."
"Stop talking, let's go."
Brother. It was urging, Aric thought for a while, and he felt that he really didn't have time to stay any longer. Everything that should be grabbed was obtained. After a little statistics, the result of the whole battle was that five of the Russians had injured arms and could not row, and the remaining soldiers were completely healthy.
More than eighty enemies were lying on the ground, and the wailing wounded were all touched up by the Russians. This was the case in ancient wars. Wounded enemy soldiers who were left alone were basically stabbed to death regardless of their severity, with the euphemistic saying of "preventing them from suffering any more."
At this moment, the sun has risen and the fog in the forest has completely dissipated. The Russians ate some prepared wheat cakes and threw the grabbed batch of wheat and the seized iron tools onto the ship. Of course, there was some wheat that could not be taken away. In line with the principle that if you could not eat it yourself, you should not let others eat it. The linen bags containing the wheat were thrown on the thatched roof of the Estonian wooden house.
This is a waste of natural resources!
The reason Rurik did not stop his companions from destroying the food was because the ship really could not carry that much.
The three Ross ships were pushed to the sea by the soothing river water. They had stored enough drinking water and a large amount of food, and the subsequent journey was worry-free.
Rurik opened his eyes wide and looked at the village behind that was burning with fire. He felt complicated and didn't know what to say.
"Maybe I did something wrong. But if we fail in that war, I will also be a slave to the Estonians."
Rurik turned his head away Come back, ship soonAfter only rounding a big bend, we could see thick smoke and dust rising from the forest in the distance, and the Russians on the boat were talking and laughing.
Ahead is the Gulf of Finland, which will later become Tallinn Bay.
The place where the smoke burned has been recorded by the Russians, and it is natural to conquer them.