The follow-up troops of the Ross Army finally arrived, dragging a long queue.
With a calm face, Rurik brought the main subordinate commanders and a group of warriors with thirty captured raven-pattern shields to meet his father.
He especially showed off the captured shield: "Dad, we defeated the enemy. You see, this is our key capture."
"Huh? Odin's warriors Did you kill him?" Otto took a step back in surprise when he saw the raven pattern.
"They are Danish mercenaries raised by the Gotlanders, and they are also their most elite warriors."
"Oh? Well done!" Otto laughed, " Come on, let me see if you are injured?"
"Of course not." Rurik still had a serious face. He snapped his fingers, and a dozen bare-handed blond men came over. They were all half-kneeling in front of Otto.
"What...what's going on. These people..."
"They are Danes." Rurik said calmly.
"Danes? It's amazing. Are the Danes fighting us? And you didn't kill them."
"There is no need, these people are very cruel to us." Useful."
"Okay. Tell me, what's their use?"
" After that, Rurik said. Kneeling Grund with a kick to the back.
At this time, Grund finally raised his head and faced a bearded "old soldier" to report his identity, and then explained his demands: "Our old financial owner ordered us to cooperate with It is the most ridiculous decision for the Russians to fight. So on the battlefield, we resisted the determination of the financial master. Now, we are willing to become your mercenaries and fight for you."
"You are called Ge. Lund? A surrender?" Otto narrowed his eyes and shook his head, "No! You are a prisoner. You should fight to death with a raven shield."
A mercenary was killed. Assassinating the rich man is really against professional ethics.
But Grund is very smart, so he deliberately flattered: "We heard that Rurik of Rus was blessed by Odin, so it is wrong to be enemies of the Rus. We worship Odin's power , so we should fight for the son of Odin..."
"Shut up! It's just flattery..." Otto just scolded and did not do anything more drastic. He immediately asked: "I am the Duke of Ross, and you people want to stay and be my soldiers. How should I trust you? Are you worthy of trust?"
"Yes! I know the inside story of Visby , and know a lot of more important things. A lot of news about this island, and even about Denmark.”
“Oh? This is really useful.”
I don’t know where. At first, the Danes and Svealans, who had a common origin, split. The Baltic Sea is so vast that there is no room for peace between the two sides. Where did the fight between the two sides begin?
Otto was educated from an early age, those guys in Denmark are the ones to watch out for. The Malaren people believe that Danish strength is a threat to the alliance. With the Gotlanders withdrawing from the alliance, Danish power became the target that must be attacked.
In the attack on Kalmar two months ago, Otto himself saw the power of Danish warriors. They are a group of unruly guys who will fight to the end for their sponsor.
The dozen people in front of him changed his perception.
Forget it, Wen Ting’s son has no intention of arming these people a second time. He already knows his son’s deeper intentions.
The firewood was piled into hills, and what was burned inside were human corpses!
The air was filled with a strange burnt smell. To be honest, it had a bit of a fragrance. However, when they thought about what was burning, many people began to retching inexplicably.
Otto did not want to stay here. He learned that among the thousands of men sent out in this battle, not a single one was killed. Such a crazy victory was achieved by his son.
Look at Rurik again. This child is standing on the battlefield, not excited about victory, nor frightened by the large number of corpses.
A calm God of War is born! Do you think that in the future decisive battle, the losses of the Ross army will be minimal?
Before setting off for the expedition, Otto had been mentally prepared for the worst. They lost thousands of people in the first battle and achieved a difficult victory. Such a loss is the biggest price the Russians can currently accept. If the losses were more serious, the Russians would need to hibernate for a longer period of time and frantically ask for young women from the Novgorod people in order to restore the lost population after more than ten years.
Now it seems that I am worrying too much!
Russian flag troops returned one after another, and the army formed a rectangular array in the wilderness.
The four flag corps guarded the core baggage troops, non-combatants, and even the Duke.
As usual, a small group of people served as a reconnaissance force and rushed to the destroyed settlement Qiao Village ahead before nightfall.
A red sun shines in the west, and the world is immersed in a cold dusk.
The cool breeze blew, and everyone felt a sense of coldness.
The flames in Qiao Village have long been extinguished, leaving the clean black pillars silently telling what happened.
Some strange mounds appeared on the burned village. After being identified by Grund and others who led the way, the Ross army learned that one of the mounds was filled with dead Ross soldiers.
Otto’s beard trembled in the cold wind, and the setting sun dyed the world into blood. His ears were filled with the rumble of the wind, like the lament of his soul.
He hurriedly called the injured Arik to his side: "It seems that the leader of the Gotlanders did not destroy the corpses of our soldiers, so he has a conscience. Don't continue to vent your anger and torture, give me Eat something, then chop it down sometime."
"Okay! Okay..." Aric looked at the pointed tomb and said, The foul-mouthed Siegfast had a good idea.
Otto then ordered: "Go, take your brothers and dig up the tomb. Burn it according to our custom and let their souls go to Valhalla."
Aricade After a while, the brothers, who were in a sad mood, dug up the gray corpses of their clansmen and dragged them out one after another.
Black blood flowed from the gray human figures. They died in the battle. The leather armor on their bodies was still there, but the weapons in their hands were taken away by the enemy. Now these lost steel swords were taken away by the Russians. return.
The dim world was ignited with a fire, and Ross's war dead finally gradually turned into ashes.
In Qiao Village, the Ross army held a sacrifice for these brothers. The warriors knelt in circles around the fire, not only to see off the spirits of their fallen brothers, but also to offer sacrifices to Odin. Rumia, wearing an antlered helmet, successfully completed this battlefield sacrifice as the high priest.
But the sacrificial activities are by no means limited to this!
Since there is a decisive battle, where is the best place?
Perhaps the open space in Qiao Village is the best.
The army camped here, and many people set up their tents near the stream. A large number of bonfires lit up the darkness of the night.
The soldiers of the Russian army grilled themselves over the fire, ate their own food, and discussed the future battle in multiple languages.
It can be said that the Slavic warriors, composed of Novgorod farmers, achieved what they considered an unprecedented victory! Medvit became a great hero in the eyes of the villagers. Of course, Rurik, the son-in-law of the manor owner Ligus, was indeed a commander worth following for the brothers, even if he was still a child for the time being.
The Slavic warriors began to call for their own battlefield captures. The extra axes and daggers they grabbed were distributed, and the extra leather boots were also thrown to those who had worn out their leather shoes.
In the end, they defeated the enemy together. The two factions of Covins and the two tribal leaders Mechasta and Kejas have now become comrades eating meat over a campfire.
The Ross tribe soldiers with the largest number of troops all talk about hoping that the decisive battle will come soon. After all, the dried fish and dried mutton in their hands are not delicious. After the army defeated the enemy's main force and then robbed Visby, the brothers could eat fresh meat again.
A bonfire burned fiercely, and Rurik ate mutton jerky. He prepared an extra portion and waited for Rumia, who was supervising the construction of the stone altar, to come back and give it to her.
Sitting here are Otto, Rurik and all the local nobles of the Ross tribe. They are the core of the army.
There is an uninvited guest sitting here, the Danish Grund.
Soon, Rumia came back after washing her hands. She came back holding the deer-antlered helmet and naturally sat next to Rurik.
I didn’t expect that the Russian priest actually had a strange flat face. This...
Grund was shocked. He paused speaking and looked directly at Lumi. Ya.
"What are you looking at? Danes, keep talking about Visby!"To scolded.
"She...is actually your priest? She is the most noble one."
"Does this have anything to do with you?" Otto continued to scold.
Rumia was really shocked. She hurriedly took Rurik’s arm, took the dried meat Rurik handed her and ate it with her head down.
Not only does she have a flat face, but she also has black hair. Who is she?
Suddenly it dawned on Grund that this woman was actually a deer herder.
What is the reason that allows a deer farmer to thrive among the Russians? Since they can do this, why can't they do it themselves?
Grund immediately turned his head and continued to report the details of Visby.
What he reported was mainly the normal population size of the large settlement on the bay, and the fact that due to the pressure of the Northern Alliance’s military operations and the invasion of the Ross army, the people of the large and small settlements on the west coast of the island All were gathering towards Visby for this great event.
He reported a shocking thing: "The number of people gathered in Visby has exceeded 10,000! You defeated 500 people from Siegfast, but Visby can still pull out A team of five thousand people."
"So many people? Really..." The enemy's strength exceeded Otto's expectations.
Seeing the timid trembling in his father's eyes, Rurik hurriedly interjected and questioned: "Five thousand people? Five thousand people out of ten thousand people? They are only five thousand men in total! Could it be that they let babies Join the battle?"
"Boys who are at least ten years old will definitely go to the battlefield, just like you did." Grund's words did not cover up, he just saw that Ross's army did have three thousand. It's about the size of a human being, but there are actually a group of boys and girls making up the numbers. He really didn't know what kind of operation this was. He thought that for this battle, the Ross people also wanted to gamble the last strength of the tribe.
Following this line of thought, Grund hurriedly said: "Not only will they send all men who can afford weapons, but also many women to the battlefield. Those wealthy people in Visby, their lifelong The industry is here. Instead of running away, they spend money to recruit people who dare to fight to protect their interests. They will fight tooth and nail to defend their home."
Otto scorned. He shook his head: "That's a group of businessmen? I don't believe that businessmen will really fight hard. They will run away with their money. Let's talk about some practical issues. What kind of equipment are the soldiers in Visby? There are many like you. Danes?"
"Yes, but not many. We Danes only make money here as mercenaries."
"Okay, tell me about Weiss. How about comparing people's weapons?" Otto urged.
I saw the powerful crossbows of the Russians, the strict tactical configuration of the team, and the tactical prediction of ambush from the rear. These Russian troops not only have excellent weapons, but are also particularly good at using tactics. Looking at the Gotlanders, Visby bluntly explained: "What kind of equipment can they have? Oak shields, iron swords, various axes, large harpoons for hunting whales, iron flails for beating wheat bran, and wooden sticks for driving sheep. They have some archers who are no match for yours, and they are few in number. Some people use slings, but they are probably of no use. They just have more people, and when they fight, they form a shield wall and attack you. "
"That's it? "Otto laughed loudly when he heard this, and the others also laughed.
Originally Rurik wanted to advise everyone to be more cautious, but after thinking about it more carefully, this Grund should be talking about Fact.
In the wilderness, the first thousand men he led did kill more than 400 enemies without any loss. It is said that they were already an elite force of the Gotlanders. , they did fight in a group, holding up wooden shields and advancing forward like idiots.
This is just a tactic of fighting in groups. To be honest, this kind of tactics is still better than those of the so-called armies in Britain. Strongly organized, they at least maintained a fighting unit spontaneously.
For example, the armies of Wessex, Mercia and Northumbria, their armored warriors charged with roars. Followed by a group of barefoot farmers holding dung forks, the only thing they are proud of is not the long archers of Wales, but the only small group of cavalry.
However, in this Nordic world, the Ross army and this group of people are not playing a game of chess! The Ross army really explains what organization is.
Rurik also laughed when he thought of this. Standing up, he thought that victory in the decisive battle was certain! Even if there were 5,000 enemies, they were just a mob. Rurik did not believe that they could really gather 5,000 people! Especially for the ancient army, the strength and combat effectiveness were often diminished. . The more troops there are, the more people will be fishing.
If the Gotlanders are gathering in an emergency, what kind of strict organizational structure do they have?
On the other hand, Rurik, as a commander, can judge the battle status of each flag unit under his command with his naked eyes, and then send out messengers to deliver the latest instructions in real time.
Vis. Can the group of soldiers who competed do it?
Including Grund, who reported the intelligence of Visby, after witnessing the strength of the Ross army at close range, he could say that the Ross army would win without flattery. < /p>
There are some violent facts that Grund has been holding back, and he did this just to speak out at a critical moment, so as to save himself and his brothers' lives.
Up to now, he has. None of them explained the king-proclaiming incident in Visby!
The time should be ripe now
Grund tried to calm down and pleaded: "There are some extremely important things. I am willing to explain to you, for the sake of Odin, I hope you can swear to save the lives of our brothers after I have said these important things. "
The Ross elites present couldn't stand the feeling of being appetized. Aric was so angry that he almost drew his sword, cursed and urged Grund to hurry up.
"Quiet. Otto stopped his son and immediately ordered: "Grund, as long as you and your people do not rebel, your lives will be protected by me." Say it! "
"Yes! It's about The King of Visby. A big businessman named Haken was elected king by all the merchant families and village leaders. He is the great king of the Gotlanders, and he is determined to fight you. "
This is indeed a shocking news, but no one is surprised.
"What is this? Rurik felt a little ridiculous, "Of course the Gotlanders have to elect a leader to lead all the warriors to fight us." Could it be that they just elected a king now, is this important news? All I can say is their simplicity. That's fine, so we're not fighting a bunch of armed fishermen charging in a chaotic manner. "
Grund felt frustrated. He said coldly with a wooden face: "So, our old financial lord Siegfast is the eldest son of Haken and the heir to the throne. Now, that guy is captured by you. "
"What? That guy is actually a prince? ! "Arik was shocked.
Otto was also shocked. He urgently ordered Arik: "We almost killed a noble man. Arik, quickly order your men to stop and don't cut them. ”
“Damn! I'm afraid I won't have enough time! "Aric stood up in a hurry and ran to stop the execution of the guys.