At this moment, Rurik was secretly observing from behind the human wall. The old warrior standing in front of him was actually the king of the Gotlanders?
To be honest, Rurik was not sure. "Why doesn't a great king have a crown? Or are you a warrior? That's not right! Siegfast is a businessman."
< p>Grund, the traitor who led the way, saw a group of fellow villagers from Denmark and even friends from a village. He didn't want to meet his old friends, nor did he want to be his enemy. Grande, who was behind the scenes, immediately told the suspicious Rurik that the man who looked like an old warrior was Haken, a big businessman who had only become king in recent days.In this case, there is no point in continuing to be conservative.
Rurik motioned to his men to follow him.
Soon, a hole appeared in the Russian wall. Rurik, with a smooth golden ponytail, appeared with brave and proud steps. Behind him was poor Siegfast. His hands were covered with blood and scabs, his face was covered with bruises, and his mouth was tied with a rope and he could only moan. The two soldiers were holding Sigfast's shoulders at all times, with such ferocious aura that they really wanted to kill this man at any time.
Seeing this scene, Haken's heart bled, and his eyelids were trembling constantly because of his anger.
Sigfast is still alive. He was tortured so badly by the Russians that he seems to have mental problems. The worst outcome that Haken thought of was for the Russians to rip him off, but he never expected that the Russians would return him a useless person who had lost his soul.
"Are you the king of Gotland? What's your name? Haken?" Rurik was not tall, and his deliberately arrogant question made everything very inconsistent.
"Yes, I am the King of Gotland. You? A beautiful boy, who are you from Rus? Children have no right to speak, let your leader come."
Rurik didn't feel strange at all, so he sneered contemptuously, raised his chin deliberately, and looked at Haken arrogantly: "You are just scum, and you dare to call the leader of Ross? I don't want to talk nonsense with you, mark my name ! I am Rurik! Rurik of Rus, brother of Aric of Rus, the one blessed by Odin! And the hero who defeated you Gotlanders."
" Ridiculous! This is so ridiculous." Haken's beard was trembling. He felt that his soul had been insulted by a bastard, so he asked: "Are you the leader? Are you so depraved that you need a child? Leader?"
This statement made Arik, who led the ambush, appear immediately, and the soldiers with his crossbows suddenly fired.
Of course Rurik also felt the anger of his brothers. He just raised his right hand to order the soldiers behind him to calm down, and then continued to emphasize: "I am Rurik, the commander of a huge army. "
"A huge army? Oh? I can't see it." As he spoke, Haken looked around, but he didn't feel any danger. Then, wouldn't this arrogant child and his guards be left alone?Fat sheep? But their son is indeed in their hands.
Rurik has no excuse, and he is not afraid at all now. He ordered his men to push Siegfast out: "Your son is here, where are you? I want two hundred pounds of silver coins."
Haken snapped his fingers, and soon five A suitcase was moved out. The lids of the boxes were all opened, and they were filled with silver coins. He personally pulled the box and deliberately displayed the huge amount of silver coins.
"The silver coins are all yours, let him go now!"
"No!" Rurik crossed his arms and shook his head, "I want to get the box first."< /p>
“Let the person go first.”
“Pay the money first!”
“You must let the person go first.”
“Give me the money! ”
Rurik always kept a calm face, pretending to be peaceful and asked to get the money first, but Haken became more and more excited, and his words became more and more intense. Becoming more and more severe.
"Let him go first! Otherwise..."
"Are you going to threaten me?" Rurik narrowed his eyes slightly.
At this moment, the Gotland warriors put on their postures one after another, and the shirtless strong men deliberately showed off the colorful tattoos on their bodies.
"What are you doing?! Who are you threatening?" Rurik felt a hint of fear. Then he thought about how many crossbow-wielding warriors were ambush. With just one order from him, this group of pretentious people could The guy will suffer a lot from being ambushed.
Haken sensitively felt that there was a heavy murderous aura hidden in this area, and the bleak and murderous aura of the autumn wind tortured him and he really didn't want to stay any longer. He looked left and right out of the corner of his eyes, but didn't notice much abnormality. He took advantage of the fact that he had the strength in numbers, so he became bold.
After all, you are a king, and you are also a king if you establish yourself as a king.
Haken opened his hands and finally untied the belt hanging the short blade.
He walked towards Rurik, feeling a little pressure, and Rurik had to take a step back.
After all, the person who came was an adult. Rurik thought about self-defense. His child's body was not yet able to subdue his opponent with his bare hands.
"Child, are you scared?" Haken continued walking with a bad smile.
Rurik still wanted to send a signal. At this critical moment, Arik really wanted to lead his brothers to a sudden attack, but they were still ambushing in the withered grass.
"You! King of the Gotlanders, stop!" Rurik roared suddenly, and then knocked on the mercenary's shield after standing up.
The elite mercenaries were ready to fight. Suddenly, five more people appeared. They showed their steel-armed crossbows. One of them was ordered to shoot, and the arrow hit Haken's foot accurately. It almost penetrated the sole of his right foot.
Haken was startled and jumped suddenly. The hundreds of Gotland warriors present instantly remembered the legend about the Rus - their bows were extremely fierce, and unfortunate encounters rarely resulted in peace. Escaped.
But I’m still wearing a double layer of chainmail, hahaKen felt like he had ignored the arrow. He tried his best to suppress his suddenly beating heart, took three steps back to calm down, and then restrained his men not to act rashly.
The world fell into a strange silence.
One side is an army of hundreds of people, and the other side is just a dozen people guarding a child.
Suddenly, Haken looked up to the sky and laughed, and then pretended to be arrogant to suppress his fear: "There are only a dozen of you, and you dare to ask for ransom. You, Rurik of Rus, I really can't I believe in your identity."
"Whether you believe it or not has nothing to do with me?" Rurik still said the same thing: "Get the money first, and I will release Siegfast. Otherwise, I will kill him."
"Do you dare?" Haken didn't want to lose his momentum. He couldn't tolerate being threatened by a Ross kid. He forcibly ignored Siegfast's pleading eyes and said deliberately: "Just do it! But you will be killed by me because of your actions. Look, with more than ten of you, do you think you can defeat me with confidence? Army?”
Is Rurik afraid? Of course not at all.
"It seems that the King of Gotland has misjudged his own strength. I originally wanted to complete this transaction peacefully, but it seems that you want to take action. Your name is Haken? Don't blame me for being ruthless! ”
Rurik suddenly raised his right hand and made scissor hands.
This is the so-called "V" gesture. On the one hand, it represents the archery fingers of Mediterranean archers, and on the other hand, it also refers to the word Victoria, the word victory.
"Let's do it!" Arik stood up first, pointing his sword at the enemy and giving the order to fight.
The soldiers hiding in the tall grass and bushes suddenly appeared. They fired almost at the same time. The first round of firing dealt a serious blow to the Gotlanders.
Quite a number of men from the Viking tribes wore only civilian clothes when they fought, and many of them went into battle shirtless. Ordinary warriors, their protective equipment only has a wooden shield, and nothing else. This is not because they are pursuing the ultimate in bravery, but entirely because of poverty.
Of course, the one hundred strong men selected by Haken with ferocious sea dragons tattooed on their chests and backs, as well as other unexplained strange beasts, were just cosplaying Berserkers.
These almost defenseless guys, with their white bodies and flowing golden hairs, have become the most obvious targets.
Arrows hit them at close range. Just as a large number of tattooed warriors realized that they were being ambushed, they were about to raise their swords and axes in front of their shields in a fighting posture, when the arrows penetrated deeply. their bodies.
No matter how strong the person was, he suddenly softened and fell to the ground after spitting out a mouthful of blood.
In the first round of ambush, more than 30 people fell to the ground, and more than 50 people were hit by arrows to varying degrees. They were holding on forcefully.
The long bows and short bows of the Kewen shooters continued to output, forcing the Gotland army, which spontaneously started to build a shield wall after encountering the first round of attacks, not to dare to do anything lightly.Act rashly.
Haken also rushed into the shield wall like a hare burrowing into a hole.
The second round of crossbow volleys came, and as many as forty people were at the end.
Strong men with patterns all over their bodies, they had the chance to become berserkers, and were expected to become brave men on the battlefield, but now they fell to the ground needlessly, helplessly vomiting blood and waiting for ruthless death.
Killing enemies is so cruel, and harvesting lives is so efficient.
Sigfast was suppressed the whole time. He once hated his father for not cherishing his own life, and he also suffered from the fact that his mouth was tied with a rope and he could only moan. Now, he saw Gotland enter the army and meet a painful death, and his father, the king, was as embarrassed as a fool.
Aric has appeared, his shield covering his injured arm. He looks normal and wild.
The Russian warriors held crossbows and raised their bows, and spontaneously ran towards the enemy who had shrunk into a turtle shell.
They did not launch the third round of shooting because Rurik ordered a pause.
The ambush warriors appeared, and Haken saw the strength of the Russians through the gap in the shield. He had no time to regret, let alone complain. He saw the death of a large number of his men, including the mercenaries he had raised, and many peripheral warriors who had been hit by arrows. They were still struggling to stand. No one dared to be the leader in the counterattack. They were smart enough to know what it meant to be targeted. , the brave mercenaries are now collectively doing turtles.
The balance of forces between the two sides was actually evened out, and the Russians had a strong advantage in momentum.
Looking at the corpses of the enemies and a group of dying people groaning in pain, Rurik's heart beat faster involuntarily.
Seeing the blood of his enemy, Arik laughed arrogantly out of excitement.
Rurik only felt an inexplicable excitement, but it couldn't please him, but it was a relief!
"Hey! King of the Gotlanders, are you dead? Who do you think you are threatening? Just a child? Or do you think we Russians only have that few people? Look at these dead people Man, this is the price of your arrogance! Listen, you can't be arrogant today, otherwise!" Haken woke up from the initial dizziness, and he was shocked by the crowd of opponent's archers and arrows. The attack was so fierce, and it was even more regrettable that my own people were suppressed by them and unable to fight back.
He was forced to open his arms and walk out of the shield wall filled with arrows, walking beside the dying and dying men, keeping a distance from Rurik.
Arik pointed his sword directly at Hakon and spoke arrogantly: "You! King of the Gotlanders, do you know me?"
"You? A young warrior ."
"I am Arik the Butcher. It is said that your people call me Arik the Butcher? I will kill a hundred of you with my own hands on the battlefield." /p>
"Ah! It's you! Even the hens that lay eggs must be chopped with a knife, is it you?" Haken briefly looked at Arik and saw this young manWhen he took off his helmet, he had fluffy blond hair and a beard, and his eyes were filled with murderous intent.
Ruri ordered his cousin to be quiet, and Arik also shut up.
"Hakon, King of Gotland, are you still arrogant now? As long as I give an order, your people will be shot. Especially you. Now a hundred bows are pointed at you. Your Chainmail is meaningless."
Seeing the current situation, Haken knew that he was behind bars. Any move to anger his opponent would result in his sudden death. This was no different from having an ax on his neck. No difference.
At this point, Haken looked at the pleading eyes of his kneeling son Siegfast again and sighed with regret.
"This was actually a trap. I was so arrogant that I saw it wrong. I will die here today and be killed by you. However, the counterattack of us Gotlanders is like a strong wind, It will capsize all the ships. Do it!"
"I am Rurik, the commander of Rurik's army!" Rurik ordered sternly. Xu said: "I have no intention of killing you, and don't force me to do it now. Letting go of a Siegfast is not a problem at all. Whether you pay a ransom of 200 pounds will have no meaning on the outcome." ."
"What? You..." Haken suddenly realized something. This prompted him to ask tentatively: "What is your purpose? From the beginning, did you want a decisive battle in which everyone is sent?"
"What is the purpose of us Russians? I want yours Surrender! All your money, your cattle and sheep, your wheat, and most importantly, your eternal failure. Deeply angered, he gritted his teeth and chipped one of his decayed front teeth.
"You Russians are so arrogant! We Gotlanders have gathered 10,000 warriors in Visby! How many can you have? Three thousand or four thousand?"
Rurik cocked his head and wanted to suppress his smile, but unfortunately he couldn't. "At this point, are you still trying to show off? Can you really send out 10,000 people? If you count the children who are babbling as soldiers, you can only send out 5,000 people at most. But in my opinion, you can send out 10,000 people. Ten thousand people are also our sacrifice to Odin."
The blond boy was right. Haken asked himself, and he felt that the army Visby could muster was only five thousand people in the end. scale. Haken is already losing to the Russians in terms of momentum, but he is a businessman after all. His long white beard is proof of an old businessman, but he is not an old warrior.
It is now that businessman Haken must become a warrior.
Haken doesn’t want to continue to show off his strength. Of course his opponents have their own agenda when they come, but their request to “loot everything” is too crazy. Perhaps they are still waiting for a bargain?
Yes, that must be the case. If they didn't want to discuss, they would have continued shooting arrows.
Haken forcedHe became bold and suddenly put on a smile, making Rurik stunned.
"Russ is just a tribe. If the Melalen army comes, I will be very afraid, but...I admit that you Rus are powerful, and you, Rurik of Rus "You are the leader of the Russians and the commander of the army?" "Of course. What do you think now?" Rurik asked knowingly.
"Since you are willing, let's talk. Rurik, what do you want? A war?"
"Yes, what I want is a war. "
Haken raised his head and chuckled: "Is war really good for you?" He raised his head, "You look so beautiful, you are really a young warrior. I can. Accept you as my adopted son, and I will be your father! In this way, we don't have to worry about the Melalens, nor the Danes. I will be your father, and I will give you an alliance with the Gotlanders. With a lot of money, you have the right to enjoy a huge voice in Gotland's forum. We can work together to fight against others, and we will be prosperous together. Why do you need to fight to the death here?"
"You? !" Rurikfur pulled out his sword. He didn't have a beard for the time being. If he had one, his beard would be crooked with anger. "Who do you think you are? Newgate?!"
Haken hurriedly explained: "I am an old man, I am the King of Gotland and the largest businessman on the island. Do you Russians Don’t we need huge wealth? We can definitely form an alliance. Listen, with your fighting power and my business ability, we will become very rich together.”
Rurik didn’t want to ask immediately. , of course the words are very Zuan: "Then you continue to betray? You are not trustworthy! I am a person blessed by Odin, and I am born noble, and you, as humble as a pile of cow dung. You! I just want to chop him down Lower your head and let the humblest slave use your skull as a drinking bowl. "You must choose a decisive battle, a bad-mouthed brat!" >
"It's a decisive battle! Our army has set up its formation in Qiao Village behind the mound. Today is the seventeenth day of the Julian calendar. My army of three thousand people is always ready for battle. You are ready It has been decided to send troops to fight with our army on the 19th. Listen, we are not afraid of any number of troops you bring."
"Aren't you afraid of ten thousand people?" Haken deliberately said. He is stubborn, but unfortunately this is clearly the last stubbornness.
"I'm afraid you won't come, but it doesn't matter." Rurik shrugged. It was he who commanded the army to fight the Gotlanders, and one of the weaknesses of the Russians was the Gotlanders. Sitting in Visby and being a tortoise, if the war turns into an order to send 3,000 army pigs to Visby, leading to the final street fighting, the Russians' tactical advantage will be gone. How can that be done? The enemy must be forced to fight decisively!
Rurik calmed down, there was no point in playing tricks anymore, he simply launched a conspiracy: "Don't try to escape or delay time, gather your people for a decisive battle! Don't thinkAs they fled, the Malaren army returned victoriously, and the sea would be filled with ships of the Malaren coalition. They defeated the Danes, and you are next.
Your wheat is almost ripe, and we are happy to wait a few more days. All the wheat is mine, and all the fall pasture is ours to control.
If you escape the war, you will eventually starve to death in this winter. The survivors will be killed by the coalition forces of the northern tribes.
On the contrary, your only chance of survival is to fight our Ross. You must win to have a chance to survive. ”
The Russians are determined to fight decisively. There must be a hidden secret behind this brat named Rurik’s words. Haken feels that the Russians are simply unable to support a protracted war.
< p>But this kid clearly understood the huge crisis of the Gotlanders. If these Russians are not driven away, if they continue to occupy the fishing grounds, pastures for grazing, and wheat fields that are about to mature, the huge Visby will surely become It became a disaster scene. If the enemy did not take action, thousands of people would freeze to death in the winter. The power of God (that is, nature) defeated the Gotlanders.The more Haken thought about it. Angry, he now feels that today's meeting is just a declaration of war from a noble person among the Russians, and it has nothing to do with any prisoner transaction.
As Rurik said, a Sigfa. The life and death of Sturt is of little significance. Haken, now the king, knows that he is responsible for the rise and fall of the entire Gotland power.
"Then fight! You are an arrogant son of a bitch, I will gather all the Gotlanders and crush you into scum! In two days, the fields behind the mound will be the mass graves of all your Russians. ”
Arik and the other warriors were about to pull the trigger of the crossbow, but Rurik smiled. He was not pretending to smile, but was really determined to anger the enemy. Happy with the decisive battle.
Rurik immediately ordered Sigfast to be released, untied the rope around his neck, and was urged by the sword-wielding Russian warrior to fight with his father.
Haken returned the favor and sent the boxes containing silver coins to the Russians.
Some Russian soldiers immediately ran to pick up the money boxes and happily ran towards the mound. .
Although Arik and other soldiers were unhappy, now that they had taken the money, they had to retreat in accordance with Rurik's order.
Sigfast was finally free, and Haken was free. Finally, he got a son, but when he saw his eldest son's broken hands, he couldn't help but feel sad. He looked up to the sky and roared: "Damn the Russians! Arik the Butcher! And you! Rurik with golden ponytail! You arrogant brat, I'm going to cut your scalp and decorate my velvet hat with your ponytail! "
The whistling north wind weakened Haken's roar, and Rurik was busy evacuating. He knew that his opponents were yelling and cursing, so he had to surprise them according to the plan.
Wind Sound It also covered up the buzzing sound of the whirling feather arrows. The Ross whirling feather arrows with extremely high resistance to wind resistance fell from the sky like a rain of arrows. This was carrying money!The final performance of the Russians who ran away happily!
Right in front of him, his son Siegfast vomited blood. Haken looked at the blood of his son on these hands, and his whole body trembled in fear. At this time, he forgot that it was his son who was hit by the arrow and he was safe and sound.
Sigfast could no longer survive. He was hit by two heavy crossbow arrows and three light arrows in his back.
After the rain of arrows, more than twenty people were hit by arrows. Even though the Danish mercenaries were all wearing chainmail, the cone-headed iron cluster crossbow arrows made for armor used the gravity of the earth to bring huge impact. Lethality. Fortunately, the examples taken by both sides were far enough away that the final losses of the Gotlanders were not serious.
But even so, there were nearly a hundred people shot and killed lying on the ground, and more than thirty people suffered varying degrees of arrow injuries.
This operation can be called useless. Not only did they lose their son, but they also lost two hundred pounds of silver. The tattooed islanders died without mercy. The key is that their elite mercenaries also suffered losses.
The craziest thing is that the arrows of the Russians are like Odin’s divine punishment! It seems that contacting them and slashing wildly is the only way to win.
But can the Gotlanders withstand their arrows and rush to fight?
We must fight! If they were afraid of this, the Gotlanders might as well give up resistance and be slaughtered.