Some sneaky people have been observing secretly. They are spies sent by the merchants, and Haken noticed their presence when he went to redeem people. He had no intention of caring about these guys, and the spies were afraid of being exposed.
The spies were always hiding. They saw the king's failure from a distance in shock and fear, as well as the ferocity and cunning of the Russians.
The Russians withdrew, leaving behind the corpses of Gotland warriors and a large number of arrows stuck on the corpses and shields.
The eldest son is dead. Even if the eldest son is still alive, he is now a disabled person with his hands broken. Such a person has no right to inherit power. Haken put the body of his eldest son aside, enduring the grief and anger in his heart, and squatted down to inspect the confiscated Russian arrows.
"Russians, have you ever used iron arrow clusters? This arrow cluster..."
These are undoubtedly iron arrow clusters, but what about their color? Is it a little different from half iron?
The arrow clusters collected are very long. They can easily penetrate the iron ring of the chain mail like a chisel and persecute the ring very simply. After receiving such an impact, the arrow cluster was still sharp and straight, with no sign of bending.
The short and thick crossbow arrows are meaningless to the Gotlanders. Only its arrow clusters can be disassembled and made into long arrows.
As for those lightweight long arrows, they can be used immediately after being captured.
The Gotlanders failed again, and the prospects for a future decisive battle became even bleaker.
Haken directed his mercenaries to dig holes and bury the bodies on the spot. The mercenaries were frightened, thinking that in the future decisive battle, he would probably die in battle against such a barbaric enemy. They began to complain, and finally forced Haken to pay more, and then reluctantly started digging the hole.
Only the body of the eldest son Sigfast will be brought back, and he will be buried in the family cemetery in Haken. Of course, the burial was secret, and Haken didn't want others to see his embarrassment.
At least for Siegfast, his tragic experience came to an abrupt end, and he no longer had to worry about the horrors of the future.
It takes time to bury a large number of corpses, and Haken has been keeping vigil under the hill while dealing with the mess.
The spies fled back to Visby with horrific news. They claimed that they had seen terrible things, and they spread the news with exaggeration, as if King Hakon had been killed.
Is the news reliable?
Businessmen believed very much in what the spies they sent out saw and heard, because they were all worthy of belief.
Except Heken's family, the heads of eleven large merchant families gathered in the meeting hall, and all the village leaders came in droves, just asking for the latest news.
"Haken, who proclaimed himself king, is dead! Now there is no king. We should be free to consider our own affairs! I want to leave with my family, and I advise you to leave quickly."
"Leave? It's okay, but I still have a lot of money and a lot of backlog of goods.That can't be taken away by just a few boats. "
"Are you stupid? ! Those Russians are coming and no one can resist them. This is a life-or-death moment, and one step at night will kill us. Wouldn't it be better to throw down some belongings in exchange for life? ”
“That won’t work either. Without money and goods, who are we? How is it different from those pirates who escaped? I would rather stay and fight the Russians. "
"But do we really have the courage to fight decisively now? Before the Russians came, we were already fighting among ourselves. Friends, maybe we should elect a new king. "The person who said this was Harald of the Hrolev family.
As soon as this statement came out, a fellow businessman mocked on the spot: "Forget it! As a tailor who weaves woolen clothes, you clearly want your brothers to elect you as king. Then what? Domineering? ”
Some people opened their mouths and taunted: “Are you the king?” That's fine. We don't have to fight them. You give your daughter Aslaqi to the leader of Ross. Maybe they can get your fairy and take some money to leave. In this way, we will praise you as a good person who brings peace. ”
Harald of Hrolev, he drew out his self-defense dagger in rage.
The other merchants were unmoved. In this anxious atmosphere, some The old peacekeeper stood up and said: "Brothers, have you forgotten the oath we made at the altar? We have an alliance of merchants, and brothers should not be at war with each other. ”
This is true. Since Haken broke the rules by calling the queen, it is equivalent to saying that the alliance between the merchants has been broken.
The spies came back to report the news. These Goths The most distinguished men on Orchid Island began to quarrel. As night fell, they were still discussing what to do in the future.
As the sun went down, Visby was immersed in lively cheers.
p>That was the cry of the people, because it is said that the dead king Haken came back with a group of warriors! At least the king is not dead, maybe the situation is not too bad.
Haken. Hearing the news of his own death, this is so ridiculous!
He kicked down the wooden door of the chamber with his big foot, and then cursed: "Which villain cursed me to death? ! We fell into the despicable trap of the Russians. Our army fought desperately and finally defeated them. Now, the villains among you actually say that I died in battle! "
"The Russians were beaten away by you? ! Harald of Hrolev was overjoyed, "This is really the best news in a while." ”
Many businessmen cast disdainful glances. In their hearts, they secretly hoped that Haken would die in the battle, and they also despised Harald’s words. Isn’t it true that the one who wanted Haken to die the most was not Is this Harald?
In any case, the Russians did leave on their own. Although he was very guilty, Haken openly declared his victory over this result. It’s too clear that my old friends, the village chiefs who fled, and the people at Clintheim Port in the south, everyone needs the news of victory so much.
"You see, the Russians are not invulnerable. I killed... many enemies, and they were all buried. And!" Haken wanted to continue the play, so he recruited a few mercenaries , carrying bundles of arrows into the chamber. "You see, these are captured Russian arrows. They are indeed a strong enemy, and the arrow clusters they use are of excellent iron. They have an advantage because of their better weapons, but we warriors from Gotland There are a lot of them, and as long as we gather all the warriors, we can successfully defeat them."
The merchants saw something else in the eyes of the passers-by.
The king is indeed making optimistic remarks, but his eyes are full of grief, anger and grievance, and of course the desire for revenge.
A businessman asked directly: "You go and redeem your son, where is the Sigfast man?"
This was like a sharp knife stabbing Haken's heart. He glanced at the speaker and said angrily: "Killed in battle! He died like a soldier."
"But he is obviously a big businessman you carefully trained, what does he have to do with a soldier?"
"Shut up!" Haken's rage came too suddenly. He suddenly pulled out his sword and threw it out wildly, almost hitting the businessman who was speaking.
Haken was breathing heavily, his eyes bloodshot.
The businessman was also trembling with shock. After he recovered, he yelled: "Are you going to kill me?" The businessman pulled out his dagger and continued to yell: "Are you going to be a tyrant? You Look, who is really afraid of you? We are all businessmen, not docile sheep. We can become soldiers and kill you immediately." Haken was obviously insane, and the businessmen present drew their swords. To act in self-defense.
Harald of Hrolev said bluntly with his sword: "Haken, you want to attack us? Then there is no need for the Rus or Melalens to attack. If we kill each other, they will not die." One person occupied Visby, and everyone's wealth was easily taken away by them."
"He's right!" A businessman on the spot made a firm statement: "Haken, brothers support you. You defeated the enemy. I didn’t expect your sword to be pointed at your brother! I will take my people to evacuate.” More businessmen objected.
"Why don't we dare? You want to kill me and rob my family's wealth? Then let's go to war! My warriors versus your warriors, or are you and I dueling here? Can you fight it? So many people?"
Haken's eyes swayed from side to side, knowing his absolute disadvantage. "Damn it, I don't want things to turn out like this, but we have to fight." He put away his sword and admitted his gaffe, but some businessmen had lost all hope for the future.
Three merchants are determined to withdraw!
Haken painstakingly authoritative: "I learned their demands from the Rus. They did choose war. This is part of the huge war of the villains in the north.point! Don't think that you three families will be safe if you flee now. The fleets of Melalen and other tribes in the north are already returning. You will inevitably evacuate south and meet them! You will all die! "
"That's better than sitting here and waiting to die. Look, no one wants to die a coward. ”
Look at the determination of these three families. Haken is powerless. Fortunately, there are still many merchant families willing to stay, especially the village leaders who fled. They did not even move their villages across the sea to flee in an instant. With so much capital, they can only continue to support Haken, who has "won the battle", to continue to be king.
Three families decided to leave the forum, and the people who stayed all changed their faces, and everyone was happy. Huhaken's name, vowed to fight the Russians, as if they had never questioned Haken.
Being surrounded by this enthusiasm, it seemed that a powerful indescribable force was poured into him. Haken's decaying body seemed to be twenty years younger, as if he had received the divine power blessed by Odin.
He pulled out the sword again, pulled off the amber necklace that he had carved into a human form, and put it on.
"What are you doing? This is the guardian elf of your luck! " Harald of Hrolev asked.
"That's enough! I don't need this businessman's guardian spirit anymore, it's meaningless! Remember, I am a warrior now. Belief in Frey is a thing of the past. Now I am a warrior of Odin! "
What is this? A businessman suddenly claimed to be a warrior.
Then people realized that Haken was not lying, but actually took crazy actions!< /p>
When the body was buried, it seemed that Haken's business soul was also buried. There was no point in continuing to worship Frey. In order to win, Haken decided to risk everything for the decisive battle. To win, he had to resort to any means.
That night, a bloody incident suddenly took place at the great altar of Visby.
Haken's elite mercenaries poured into the huge place. On the altar in the house, they openly resumed using their axes to smash the bronze statue representing Frey. A priest came to stop it and immediately became the target of death. The altar no longer needs to be dedicated to Frey, and it will become the priest Odin's. place, and Odin needs the blood of the sacrifice to promise victory to the sacrificer.
On the occasion of the decisive battle, a human sacrifice is required!
Hakon’s second son learns that his elder brother is dead. His pain was just acting, but he was shocked to find that his father wanted to sacrifice him as a sacrifice to Odin! Ding, the soul after death visits the Hall of Valor "with a letter of introduction"
Haken's second son cried and yelled, and was finally tied up with ropes around his mouth and hands and feet. Finally, he was killed in the altar.
The surviving priests witnessed this illegal sacrifice, and they all chose to shut up, and finally painted their faces white with the blood of the sacrifice. I didn’t say anything, but my face was numb the whole time, but I was secretly cursing Haken in my heart.Already going crazy. Even if this is a human sacrifice to Odin, the sacrifice must be voluntary, which is better now...
Besides, this altar has never been a place to sacrifice Odin! You can also worship Odin. People should go to the top of the mound in the south. There is a small temple dedicated to Odin in the pine forest.
King Haken has turned Frey's altar into the altar of Odin. He finally made a cut on his left hand with his own hands. Blood dripped into the altar. He looked up to the sky and sighed: " Odin! Please accept my sacrifice! Give us Gotlanders strength and defeat the invading Rus!"
This is not over yet, or Harken is indeed crazy. !
He himself publicly announced that he would become a warrior and no longer a businessman, which can be interpreted as a cathartic expression. But when he openly sent troops to destroy the statue of God Frey, it was equivalent to cutting off his past identity, and there was no way back for him.
His wife and concubines were crying bitterly, but Haken still spent all his wealth overnight and rewarded a lot of silver coins to the warriors who were willing to fight. Especially those Danish mercenaries, a group of masters who wanted money at the expense of their lives. They tore up the agreement with their former sponsors and gathered in front of Haken's mansion to collect the money.
There are more than a thousand mercenaries from Denmark in Visby! More than half of the mercenaries declared their loyalty to Harkon.
Many mercenaries believed that Haken used his own children as sacrifices, and he also used his own blood as a sacrifice, which would of course be appreciated by Odin. Hakon must have been blessed by Odin, not to mention that this generous and good man is trying his best to spread his wealth? In this way, the brothers get the money first, and there is nothing to fear in the future decisive battle. Odin will watch this decisive battle. Regardless of whether he dies in battle or not, the outcome for everyone is the same - they will meet again in the Hall of Valor after death.
Of the three businesses that decided to evacuate, the big businessman was surprised to find that most of his mercenaries had fled!
They moved their belongings to the dock overnight, transferring items of silver coins, copper coins, and jewelry to cargo ships. A group of long ships also became temporary cargo ships.
But what is very absurd is that a large number of fishermen believe that Haken, who is willing to risk everything, has indeed been blessed by Odin. The grand and crazy sacrifice has been approved by the god, and victory must belong to the Gotlanders.
The majority of fishermen, who have been tortured by the Russian "sea wolves" for several years, are still fighting to the death with all kinds of weapons. Because the merchants can escape, what about them? At least as autumn approaches, there is only one outcome for fishermen fleeing - to freeze to death in other places.
The fishermen, farmers, and shepherds who could not escape, along with their wives, young sons and daughters, all responded to Haken’s call and became warriors, even though many of them did not even have decent weapons, or even Neither does the shield.
Their self-confidence lies in the strength of numbers and the support of the illusory so-called gods.
The merchants who decided to evacuate were unable to find rowers and guards, so a large amount of goods could not be protected and had to stay in place.abandon. The merchants decided to evacuate to the Jutland Peninsula of Denmark, and then went all the way south to settle at Heideby Market in Schlei Bay, relying on ready-made gold and silver jewelry as start-up capital to make a comeback.
In the early morning of the next day, three merchant families assembled a fleet of four cargo ships and fifteen longships, and began to slowly leave the port of Visby carrying the goods.
No one paid attention to the departure of these cowards and traitors, and no one went to sea today! The entire Visby is actively preparing for war, because everyone knows that the Russians' declaration of war is tomorrow, the 19th of August in the Julian calendar. Today is the last day before the decisive battle. Except for the fleeing businessmen, no one else has the right to escape. Everyone who can go to the battlefield is sharpening swords and axes. Many people optimistically estimate that Visby will not have a problem in gathering an army of 5,000 to 6,000 men.
However, as soon as the departing fleet entered the outer waters of Visby Port, it met another huge fleet!
Look at those ships coming from the north!
They at least have the huge appearance of cargo ships, and the huge blue X-shaped stripes on the strange raised triangular sails prove their identity as Ross ships.
A fat man stood on the bow of the ship. He was dressed gorgeously and did not look like a warrior.
This is Gould, a great businessman in Ross. He brought many of his sons to participate in this battle. His fleet, with the Avora as its flagship, led as many as twenty unloaded armed cargo ships, carrying a small group of elderly warriors and female warriors, and began to carry out the task of blockading the port ordered by the Duke of Ross. .
"Boss, there must be enemies ahead. Look at how slow they look, they are just a group of businessmen." The sailor on the deck shouted loudly.
Gould knew that he had taken advantage of tactics and strength. He couldn't laugh because it was his first time to lead troops in a war.
"Brothers, you all know how to fight. Now charge for me!"
Sailors who have experienced naval battles certainly know how to maneuver the unique Russian ships to fight unique battles. fighting.
The Ross fleet also came with the help of the northwest wind. Compared with the fugitives' ships, the Ross army's very wide triangular sails gave the ships extremely strong momentum.
A total of twenty-one large ships simply formed a wall and rushed towards the slow enemy.
This is a very classical collision tactic, which was originally a common tactic used by Greek and Roman rowing boats in the classical era. Because their bows are all equipped with bulbous bows and a wave-riding bow design. The bulbous bow is a piece of hardwood and is also wrapped in copper. Collision tactics are a classic naval warfare magic weapon. In the early days of the ironclad era, any naval gun used to deal with ironclads was just firing iron bombs to dig tiny holes. As a result, the navies of various countries restored the ancient ramming tactics.
It is a legacy that remains. Rick taught the sailors such maritime tactics. In fact, we cannot say that he is too smart. It can only be said that Rurik knew some history in this area and thought of ramming tactics when building and modifying ships.
Twenty-one boatsForming a wall, there was no way to escape from the bottom of the Gotlanders' ship!
The bulbous bows of the Ross ships are extremely hard, and the Avora went crazy to install iron sheet reinforcements (which objectively also stabilized the overall center of gravity).
The Ross ships are getting closer and closer, and the enemy has nowhere to escape!
The first thing to attack was the torsion slingshot on the bow deck. The cast iron projectiles first gave the enemy a stunning blow, and then the collision happened!
The modified cargo ships have become extremely ferocious, and their strings are high enough that the passengers of the longship cannot climb with bare hands, thus avoiding the possibility of the enemy jumping gangs.
The bulbous bow broke the ribs of the longship, and the ship immediately broke into two pieces and sank instantly.
The Aurora is the most ferocious. She is the God of War on the sea. The iron bulbous bow directly cuts a big hole into the enemy's cargo ship. The ship immediately begins to take in water crazily, and at a speed visible to the naked eye. sink. What a shame! A large amount of gold, silver and jewelry sank into the sea with the ship!
If Gould knew that his enemy was like this, of course he would not attack so bravely, because that would be a lot of money.
The tactic of just one collision achieved a decisive success. All the fleeing Gotland merchants were wiped out, and only the Russian ships were left floating on the sea!
The Ross fleet was unscathed, and the warriors of different ages and genders began to carry wooden crossbows and short wooden bows, shoot inferior arrows, and strike mercilessly at the people who fell into the water.
This is the Duke’s order! The Ross fleet was to take no prisoners, but to sink all the enemy who tried to escape, kill all those who fell overboard, and bring terror to the people of Visby.
The Russians won a great victory, and the fleeing merchants no longer had to quarrel with Haken. It was only when they suffered a terrorist attack that they realized that Haken's warning was so gentle. Unfortunately, it was too late to regret.
No one survived, and there was a pile of sawdust floating on the sea. Soon the sea returned to calm...
In the afternoon, a huge fleet suddenly appeared off the coast of Visby. Visby residents were shocked to see those horrific flags!
That’s the flag of the Rus’ people, with interlaced blue stripes in the white. Aren’t the Rus’ people to the east of the hill? Why did they land from the port?
Hakken was shocked and led his troops into the harbor bay. He saw that the huge Russian ships were helpless. He did not dare to attack rashly, but gradually discovered that the Russians did not want to land on the beach.
He suddenly knew the dirty intentions of the Russians: "Damn Rurik, you are so vicious! You actually want to block my port. Are you still afraid that I will refuse a decisive battle! Arrogant Boy, I will chop off your head on the battlefield tomorrow."
Of course, the problem is complicated now. Haken must arrange for a small force to be stationed to prevent the Russians from landing in Visby while it is empty. This led to a reduction in his strength for the decisive battle. He had no better way but to force everyone who could afford a weapon, including boys and girls as young as ten years old, to join the fight.battlefield. At least this group of children, who are definitely not capable of fighting, have to carry food, water and serve as logistics for the soldiers.
Except those babies and the old people who have lost all their teeth, everyone else must contribute to the decisive battle. look! Haken even armed his concubines and slave girls.
As for Harald of the Hrolev family, he had no choice but to give a shield and a sword to his beautiful daughter Aslaki, who was only sixteen years old: "At least, rely on these to protect yourself. Don't fight unless you have to."
But Aslaqi has her own idea: "Maybe I can conquer the leader of the Ross people with my beauty, and finally kill him Assassination. I will definitely die to end this disaster."
Harald was not moved at all: "No! Your man must be a hero."
< p>"Then give me as a gift to the heroes of Denmark. If we fail, only the Danish army can save us.""What? You mean that stupid tyrant Harv Gen? He deserves it! Compared to this tough Danish man, Haken is gentle."
"If only his army can completely defeat the Russians and the enemies in the north, I would... ..." Aslaqi's attitude was very tough.
Harald didn’t want to discuss it with his daughter anymore, but he admired his daughter’s courage under her weak appearance. He ordered the female guards who were protecting his daughter to remain loyal to Aslaki no matter what happened to them. If the Gotland army was defeated, they would escort her to escape from the battlefield and escape into the woods of the island to wait for the opportunity to take revenge.