Suddenly, there was a strange whooshing sound in the sky.
On the other side of the battlefield, Rurik's raised sword suddenly fell down: "Men of Ironburg! Shoot!"
Yes, the first wave of arrows came from The thirty longbows and bone-clustered arrows from the Iron Castle troops fell from the sky, giving the people in the castle a heavy blow to the people who were carrying stones to support the defenders.
Men and women holding stones held their wounds and cried bitterly. Some people were accidentally shot through the neck and were lying in the mud struggling.
Rurik continued to order: "Taravis, take your Ironburg army, fire us ten volleys, and then rest!"
"Yes! "Telavis replied calmly. After all, this boy has seen large-scale battle scenes. He was just an enemy in the past, but now he is participating in a larger-scale battle as an ally.
The second round of arrows flew away. Considering that the weight of the longbow with a white wax rod was not low, the arms of those Covin people must have been quite sore after shooting ten times.
Rurik continued to hold the arrow high, and this time he was leading all the crossbowmen.
What kind of army is this?
More than fifty shield-bearing Rus warriors wearing chainmail became the front row of guards, and behind them were hundreds of crossbowmen!
Their weapons include wooden crossbows and even more terrifying steel-armed crossbows.
They were divided into five groups, arranged in a very sparse formation, and directly began to support the Melalen Army who was mainly attacking the gate. All this is exactly what King Olegin wants to see, but the specific lineup of the Ross army makes him feel bizarre.
Olegin never expected that there would be many short warriors mixed in the team. No! They were all children, as if they were children of Rurik's age.
"Can a group of little brats fight? Do the Russians lack soldiers?" Olegin even couldn't imagine that some of the little warriors were girls themselves. He only glanced at it a few times and continued to look at the soldiers who hit the door, hoping that the door would be knocked open as soon as possible.
The heavy arrows fired by the steel-arm crossbow made all the little warriors almost fall.
"What a strong force!" Fisk said in surprise as he put down the crossbow.
Rurik changed his usual behavior and immediately yelled: "Don't bother Fisk, keep winding!"
He turned around again: "Second group! Shoot!"
Then three groups, four groups, and the fifth group...
The Ross Arrow Formation was now turned into a five-stage attack by Rurik, and it was controlled to basically reach three levels. With a ten-second volley fired in one group, the target was naturally the person on the wooden wall, suppressing the enemy and preventing him from continuing to throw stones.
In addition, the longbowmen not only continued to fire, but as the birds on the wall were cleared away, Rurik also began to order the crossbowmen to fire.
Because the wooden crossbow itself is a modification of a short wooden bow, warriors holding such crossbows have already begun to perform new projectiles!
For this battle, the Russians decidedLet a team of 200 people shoot out 5,000 arrows. This was not a shameful waste, because most of the arrows shot were bone clusters and glass clusters, which were inherently inferior. If they were completely lost, Rurik would not be too sorry. Besides, a lot of these arrows can be recovered in the end.
But the defenders of Borgholm Castle had never seen such a move in their lives.
The attackers' archery skills exposed them to new tactics, and many Gotland mercenaries had no chance.
Why?
Many of the people who were throwing stones from the walls and manning the slings were accurately hit by crossbows, and fell from the branches like birds with arrows.
Soon after the battle began, the defenders on the wall no longer dared to show their heads!
No less than thirty people have fallen under the fortress. They either fell to death or were shot. There were also a group of wounded people in the fortress being dragged away by soldiers holding wooden shields to protect themselves from arrows. As for the wounded of the Gotland mercenaries, the Saxons in the fortress had no time to take care of themselves. How to take care of them?
At this moment, the Gotland mercenaries who were standing on the wall truly realized how humble their situation was. If the battle is allowed to continue, either everyone will be killed by the enemy's arrows, or the door will be broken down and a huge enemy will rush in, and no one will survive!
No! Maybe the situation is not so bad after all...
We are all Gotlanders. Do we have to die for the tortoise-like Saxons just for a few stinky money? Can everyone find a chance to escape?
They gritted their teeth and persisted under the rain of arrows, but saw that the Saxons they were guarding hid one after another.
Some people tried to fight back, or stuck their heads out to see the enemy's movements.
However, those who showed up were immediately sniped by the Ross crossbowmen who were waiting.
Rurik has changed his tactics. The most critical fire suppression is obviously to prevent the enemy from showing his head. The rest is free fire to ensure that the enemy will not interfere with the Mellarens and continue to hit the wall.
In this case, the crossbow arrows fired by children are just as deadly. Their disadvantage is probably limited to having to use a winch to wind the bow, unlike some reckless men who use their hands wearing leather gloves to violently strike steel arrows. Arm crossbow cocked.
Rurik glanced at his battle maids with satisfaction. In the past two years, they had grown a lot taller and began to appear "feminine", but they were too thin.
Anna, Bella, Sisia... Rurik deliberately and clearly called out the names given to them, and this battle was also their first actual battle.
The long-term shooting made the Ross army tired, and the constant rotation of the winch was rapidly consuming the children's physical strength.
Twelve-year-old bald Fisk suddenly became discouraged. He put down his crossbow, pulled out his father's sword and stuck it on the ground. He looked at Rurik with an embarrassed face: "Is it effective if we continue shooting? ? It seems hard for the Mellaren people to break through the wall."
"Are you tired?"right! It's better to worry about your women first, they are even more tired. "
Rurik stared at the wooden wall, and there were still some shaking figures on it. They seemed to be some enemies with short spears, shivering behind the bunker.
" Still Keep firing! Fisk! "Rurik looked at the guy he trusted, "Continue shooting and try to break the enemy's hateful spear. ”
The towering wooden walls blocked the attackers’ view, and Rurik could only speculate on the current situation of the enemies in the fortress. Many people believed that a large number of arrows would do little damage to the enemies, and the enemies were human beings. If they weren’t fools, wouldn’t they be able to hide?
The Saxons were indeed hiding. Those Gotland mercenaries also wanted to hide, but they were forked out one after another because the frustrated leader Stein ordered you to hide. Keep fighting.
What makes Stein angry is that he can no longer use hot oil to attack in the light rain. He saved some grease, but the firewood that burned the grease was too hot in the rain last night. Infiltration.
The defenders have no better weapons to deal with the attacking army. The Saxons, old and young, have gathered around their priests, praying for gods to save them.
Or reality. I really hope that the wooden wall will remain standing.
The offensive operations have been going on for some time. The soldiers who are in charge of the battering ram boast that they have smashed the enemy's wooden wall and gate more than a hundred times with all their strength. Not moving?
"Prince, if this continues, everyone is getting tired, what should we do? Continue to spend time here? ”
“We can’t do this anymore, we have to think of another way. "
"Prince, why don't you throw the rope up and let the warriors climb the wall..."
Karl's thoughts were very confused under the city gate. His panting men might explain themselves.
As if a ball of fire was erupting from the gap in his helmet, Karl simply took off his helmet and slammed it against the hard oak wall: "Hit the damn wall! Brothers, we retreat! ”
The offensive in the morning did not seem to have made any progress. The powerful Malaren Army took the lead in retreating, and friendly forces followed suit.
The Swedish army was still roaming in the open, surrounding The situation of the fortress has not changed at all.
Is the most dangerous moment over?
The Gotland mercenaries who endured the rain of arrows began to check for strange arrows. Only then did he realize that they were actually a large number of obsidian arrow clusters?
Yes, the die-cast glass arrow clusters that Rurik ordered Rosberg to mass-produce contained a huge amount of impurities, and the finished product was no different from obsidian.
This kind of arrow will break when it hits something harder. It is suitable for hunting, but it is mostly a disposable weapon in battle.
The Gotland mercenaries are angry. , their archers captured a batch of arrows, but they could not expect them to bring much results.
The enemy retreated temporarily, and the enemy suffered almost no losses in the entire battle.
And under the wooden wallWhen the mercenaries looked out, they saw only a dozen of the latest corpses. What was worse was that among them were their own people who fell from the wall after being shot by arrows.
No one was happy about the attackers' retreat. The people in the fort knew that they would launch a new attack in the afternoon after eating something. But can the fortress be able to withstand the new offensive?
Through the frightened faces of the Saxon women and children, as well as the selfishness and cowardice of the men in avoiding arrows, the Gotland mercenaries who suffered great losses, they led Armed with weapons, they gathered in front of the leader's house.
As a last resort, leader Stein and the elders brought armed entourage to meet these angry mercenaries.
"Many people died! But you are the turtles!"
"Give us more money, otherwise we will not fight!"
"Give us now Give us double the silver coins.”
The Gotland mercenaries’ demands are getting higher and higher, and the battle has escalated, so it’s natural to increase the money.
Looking at the situation that is about to get out of control, is there any use in continuing to hoard a large number of silver coins? At the critical moment, Stein's mind was still clear. As the leader, he ordered the other elders to shut up. Then he took out the silver coins from "everyone's warehouse" on his own initiative. Each of the mercenaries present stuffed twenty silver coins into their hands. pieces! This is not over yet, he urgently needs a promise: "We must persist, I need your strength. After victory, I will give you more money!"
The mercenary who got the money calmed down. , after all, everyone has their own destiny, and the silver coins they hold tightly now are more meaningful. This is what they want.
On the other side of the battlefield, the retreating Swedish army was not discouraged by the setback of the third challenge.
Everyone was really angry, and the dukes of each tribe gathered together again to discuss the next battle.
At this moment, no one questioned whether there was anything wrong with King Olegin's tactics. Everyone looked at each other. Since the number of troops lost was only a handful, no one questioned the king's motives. In fact, no one can think of a better way than knocking down the city gate.
No! etc!
Olegin hoped to break through the city as soon as possible to obtain loot and complete the supply of the army in one package, but he knew that he could not delay.
He suddenly came up with a trick: "Since their walls are made of wood, use an ax to cut them off, just like logging. As long as we insist on cutting down, no matter how hard the oak trees are, they will explode. Collapse."
"Brilliant!" Wenderson from Hjälmalen slapped his forehead: "Why didn't I think of it?"
Ungreev from Unklas was even more confused. : "If my people are the first to cut down the wooden wall, can they be the first to enjoy a batch of loot?"
While they were chattering, Otto and Rurik kept cautiously quiet.
Olegin liked this feeling of being praised. He felt that his resourcefulness was unparalleled, so he deliberately asked Rurik, who was present and kept quiet: "Boy, what is my plan?"< /p>
"Very good." Rurik replied calmly.
Olegin's proud smile remained unchanged, "It's not a small blessing! It's a great blessing! God will protect us, and we will definitely be able to break the city before dark today."
Sweden The soldiers of the army ate actively, and the axe-wielding warriors also began to polish their ax blades with stones.
Unlike the carbon steel axes equipped by some of the Russians, the friendly axes are all made of wrought iron. It cannot be said that it is a bad tool. If you swing it frequently and chop at the hardened oak wood that has been standing for more than ten years, its blade will quickly become dull.
The sun has been hidden under the dark clouds, and the attacking side realized that it was already afternoon. They recovered some strength in the light rain and started a new attack.
The shouts of the Swedish army almost scared the defenders of the Borgholm Fortress to death. Now only the Gotland mercenaries who have taken the money are holding on to the last trace of morality for the mercenary profession. One line.
Suddenly, some hemp ropes with nooses were thrown up the wooden wall and began to cover the sharp points of the wooden wall.
Already, the Merlaren warriors with bare backs, a dagger hanging from their waists, and hand axes in their waists began to climb the wall. They were as skillful as monkeys, but they insisted on retreating from the top of the city. The defenders were not stupid either.
The Swedish army's battering ram began to crash into the gate again. More than 200 axe-wielding warriors gathered under the wall and began to violently smash the wall. The Russians also continued to invest arrows in the rear to support.
Olegin hoped that those climbers could deal with some enemies, then reached behind the wooden wall and moved away all the large pile of wood blocking the door.
However, he saw that the bodies of the desperadoes he had sent were thrown down by the defenders.
Although some armored defenders were hit by Russian arrows and fell, it can be seen that the strategy of climbing the wall and breaking the city was lacking consideration from the beginning.
The entire battlefield looks like a large-scale civil construction site, and the so-called enemy's resistance is weak and futile.
Although there are still a lot of debris falling from the sky, there are not many usable stones.
The wooden wall made of aged oak that looks like fossils cannot be cut by a strong man in a few hours, unless it is cut with a chain saw. Even if they did cut down the oak, they would find there was another layer behind it.
The Saxons who immigrated here brought the technology of building wooden fortresses. In order to make the wooden walls strong, they used a luxurious mixture of oak and pine. One layer could not block the strong wind, so they used double layers. The wooden piles are deeply rooted in the ground, and behind the wooden walls there is a reinforced foundation made of rammed soil.
If Olegin had known that the fortress was actually constructed like this, he would not have thought of cutting down the wooden walls at all.
What is really effective is the frontal battering ram collision.
The gate of Borgholm was finally loose. Seeing the hope, Karl shouted excitedly: "Haha, keep hitting! We Mellaren people are the first to break the city. Brothers, please give me silver coins and fish and meat." There are women, all of them are yours!”
A man dressed in resentment who has long been tortured by hard battles and cold rain!Warriors, they burst out with powerful force, and the momentum of the collision became more and more fierce.
The weak point of the wooden wall finally began to loosen. It was this weak point at the gate. It began to shake violently with the collision, frightening the Gotland mercenaries guarding to retreat.
Even the defenders on the wooden wall were shaken to the ground by the violent shaking, holding their broken legs and wailing. Unfortunately, more than 40 companions were holding spears and nervously waiting for the door. of collapse.
This fear also awakened the disillusioned Saxon.
The leader, Stein, picked up his ax and ordered the men in a unique dialect: "Warriors, this is the last battle! Fight the enemy to the end!"
Suddenly , no one was prepared, the door collapsed!
All the beams on the gate collapsed, causing the entire platform above the city gate to fall. Like a big stone, it suddenly hit a group of Melalen soldiers below who were holding a battering ram against the wall.
Karl's face was stabbed by a piece of sawdust. He fell to the muddy ground. He didn't care about his bleeding face, and subconsciously raised his sword to charge with his shocked brothers.
Ten people were pinned down by the collapsed city gate. Even if they were not killed on the spot, they lost their combat effectiveness.
The collapsed gate created a ruin with a height of more than two meters, and a gap appeared. Soldiers from all tribes of the Swedish army were attacking here.
In order to take the lead, more than a dozen black-clad warriors from Melalen had already rushed in. Who would have thought that their bodies, which were pierced by a large number of spears, were pushed out by the enemy.
The gap suddenly appeared, Olegin's goal was successful! However, the most brutal and fierce battle began around this gap between the red-eyed attackers and the defenders who fought back desperately!
This scene was so shocking that Rurik was shivering in the rain.
"Son, what's wrong with you?" Otto's big hand covered Rurik's head, trying to calm him down.
"It's really scary... It can still be like this..."
Rurik always felt that this scene was like the shocking scene in "The Kingdom of Heaven". The offensive and defensive sides were Fight bloody battles for a gap until corpses are everywhere?
He sighed in shock: "This is no longer a duel of force, but a battle of wills."
"You? Want to join?"
Rurik He glared and vetoed: "No, our support mission... has been completed. Let's just watch! Just watch..."
As a result, the corpses of soldiers on both sides looked like "bleeding stones", and the gaps were filled with these Terrible piles of stones. The fighting remains intense, and the new walls are rising higher and higher.
Olegin could not have imagined that the enemy would be so crazy. As he watched the battle, he was trembling with heartache: "They are obviously not Danes! They are actually braver than the Danes!? Who am I attacking!"< /p>
The battlefield environment is really confusing. When the wooden wall was still stable, the Saxons were like frightened sheep. Now that the wooden wall has collapsed and a fatal gap has opened, theyBecame a pack of wolves in an instant! And the leader Stein is the alpha wolf.
No one noticed that the rain had stopped, and the hidden sun suddenly poked its head out from the west, soon illuminating the whole world blood red.
Olegin could not feel any warmth under the setting sun, but a stronger sense of coldness. He felt that a normal battle was a sacrifice to Odin. The war reached such unprecedented anxiety, and there must be something divine. participate. He just believed this, and he just wished he hadn't brought a few priests with him.
The soldiers on both sides of the battlefield were panting for a long time. The two sides who were fighting red-eyed did not care about the corpses of their enemies and friends, and continued to climb higher and higher "walls" to continue fighting, but their arms wielding swords were no longer weak.
Olegin knew that it was inappropriate to continue fighting, and he gave the order to retreat. And retreat is still to prepare for the final blow tomorrow!
Karl was too tired to stand up. His injured face made him look particularly ferocious. He was dragged back by his companions, and behind him was a large group of black warriors retreating. Seeing that the Malaren army was at odds, all friendly forces retreated one after another.
Did you win the fourth round of defensive battle? Stein, who was guarding the city, looked at the enemy who was gradually leaving, and asked with all his strength: "Enemies! Who are you?!"
Karl, who was almost out of strength, suddenly turned around and tried his best to He yelled one word with all his strength: "Melaren!"
Now that everything was clear, Stein wiped the sweat and the enemy's blood from his face, looking at hope: "Oh my God! This is Are they the Svealans? Will we Saxons be wiped out by the people in the north if we retreat here? God, please give us life!"