Chapter 462 Advance Gotland Army

This is not like an army, but more like an armed refugee group. There are extremely many of them, and they are passing through the valleys between the mounds, or directly climbing over the hills.

They left their homes with mixed emotions, taking their weapons with them and leaving most of their belongings at home.

How much property does the average Gotlander have? All their cattle, sheep, livestock, and fish reserves were placed in the port area. A small number of soldiers and a group of old people stayed in Visby to guard against sudden landing attacks by Ross ships offshore.

The fighting power of the entire Gotland Island was almost completely mobilized. The wealthy businessmen left a very small number of mercenaries and wives at home, and also put on chainmail and led their children to take up arms. Fight.

Six thousand people of all kinds formed this huge army, and the driving force that drove everyone crazy to fight was the anger and hatred towards the Russians.

But they cannot be counted as a real army!

The group of capable mercenaries raised by Gotland King Hakon and his fellow big businessmen can be said to be the main force of this team.

The armed team composed of strong men among the islanders is the second echelon of strength.

The third echelon is a large number of women, teenagers and the elderly and infirm.

Only the most capable Danish mercenaries wear chain mail on a large scale. At least these people have a set of cowhide armor.

As for other warriors, not only do they lack any form of armor, it would be great to have an unpatched leather or cloth coat.

Many people do not have iron or copper helmets. They wear their hair loose or tied up, exposing their upper body muscles and tattoos. They fit their historical image as "a bunch of bare-backed savages jumping from the ship."

If this army suddenly attacks the Frankish Kingdom, it will definitely cause huge damage. It is also completely possible to gnaw away a large area from the empire's territory and establish a feudal state.

However, the Ross army they faced was completely inconsistent with the appearance of a Viking army.

Haken rushed to the battlefield with vigor. It was said that before the war began, the leaders of the Gotland Army should gather together to study the tactics for the battle. However, Haken did not do this. They did have a meaningless argument in the council chamber. In addition, the biggest conclusion they came to was that they decided to let the islanders charge first, while the capable mercenaries were behind. strength.

What can Haken say? In fact, he is not opposed to this method of deliberately preserving the strength of merchants, but can those armed islanders really defeat the Russians? They must rely on their numerical advantage to wear down the enemy's energy. When the capable Danish mercenaries rush forward again, the Russians will be defeated.

Businessmen all think this set of tricks is very practical, and they all use coercion to cover up their contempt for ordinary people's lives. After all, if the Russians hadn't moved too quickly and given them ten days to prepare, each family would have packed up all their money and goods, and everyone would have gone south to immigrate directly to the Danes.The territory and the important southern market Hedebe were safe. As for the life and death of the Gotland Islanders, what did they have to do with them?

In any case, people from all walks of life who are interested in spying are now grasshoppers on the same rope, whether they are businessmen in gorgeous clothes, powerful warriors with reflective mail, or men with bare white upper bodies. They arrived at the battlefield in Qiao Village one after another.

Those who arrived first stopped one after another, and invariably took a breath when they saw the wall-like enemy in the distance.

Those self-respecting young islanders who have never seen the world and think it is not difficult to kill a few Russians on the battlefield have to revise their understanding.

No one dared to act rashly, they stayed. As more and more people gathered, it finally formed a huge thing.

The perspective turns to the Russians.

The deployment of each flag team has been completed.

Two warrior flag corps composed of natives of the Ross tribe are divided on the two wings. The Malaren flag corps splits its personnel to strengthen the warrior flag corps.

The Slavic banners composed of spear-wielding Novgorodians became the central army, followed by the Duke's mercenary troops holding down the formation and protecting the core of the command.

The shooters' flag team was divided into two groups. The person who controlled the torsion slingshot stood on the earth wall, and the rest of the shooters were temporarily dispersed in front of the formation.

The reserves of the Russian army, all the baggage vehicles, and the reindeer pulling the carts are all in the camp, and their figures are covered by earthen walls. The soldiers in the reserve team have already put on their silver scale breastplates, and each soldier's arms and calves are also protected by iron sheets. The special iron helmet also has a roughly made iron face protector, leaving only the eyes. Come down a gap. They don't need any shields, and their only weapons are a steel sword and a steel axe. They are the berserkers of the Ross army. They will suddenly attack from behind after receiving direct orders from the Duke.

There was a group of poor soldiers, all of them stood in front of the Ross army formation, trembling in front of the behemoth in the distance.

Look at the formation of the nearly three hundred surrendered men of White Sands Port. They did not die on the battlefield defending White Sands Port, but they will now die in this decisive battle with the Visby people. We are all living on the same island, so we have to fight each other with swords? They don't have any subjective intentions, but it's a pity that they can't help themselves.

Most of them would die in the battle, but Rurik gave them a little hope of living.

"You must fight fiercely with Visby's army to prove your surrender. When you hear the trumpet, you must run back immediately. If you return without hearing the trumpet, you will be killed as an enemy."

At least, they found a very slim hope in despair, but now they saw the huge army from Visby, how could they not be frightened?

Rurik and Otto are currently standing on the earth wall, looking at the enemy's army. The two of them did not know the actual strength of the enemy, but they were aware that the enemy was numerically superior. Little did they know that the total strength of soldiers from both sides on the battlefield in Qiao Village was close to one.Thousands of people.

Otto's deep eyes could not hide the trembling in his eyes. He felt a little afraid because there were too many enemy troops. He glanced at his son standing upright from the corner of his eye, and saw that the boy was standing like a pine tree.

Otto's big hand covered his son's shoulder: "There will be a big war soon, you..."

"Are you worried about me? Or are you worried about our army being frustrated?"

"No! I'm not worried, it's just...I have never seen so many enemies in my life. Is this the power of the Gotlanders? We underestimated their strength."

To be honest, Rurik was a little worried, but when he looked at the ready torsion slingshot from the corner of his eye and the large number of reserve arrows piled on the earth wall, his worries disappeared immediately.

"Dad, you also underestimated our own strength! And our army, only when the battle starts, they will realize how powerful they are!"

This Hearing the words made him angry, Otto squeezed his son's shoulder hard: "Next, shall we attack first?"

"Absolutely. Anyway, I have made an agreement with everyone. If the enemy sends people to negotiate now, , then kill them. If they don't move, I will let the guys from Baisha Port attack first. I want to see the enemy's strength."

Otto chuckled, "That's fine. Let’s look at the high priests first! You guys are so thoughtful, you actually let your Rumia walk around the front chanting prayers.”

Rurik’s eyes were fixed on those girls in plain clothes. On the body: "This way everyone will feel that Odin is with us. Rumia can't fight. As for those girls, after the war starts, they will all pull the bow for me."

The little priest is holding the holy elephant in his arms. Walking in front of the army, while the high priest recited scriptures, he kept sprinkling holy water on the soldiers' armor with birch branches.

Rurik did not know when this pre-battle ritual, which was used in the 19th century, began. He wanted to imitate it, hoping to inspire the momentum of front-line soldiers through the priest's prayer before battle.

The fact is that the Russian front-line troops were very uniformly dressed, and the overall blue-and-white "wall" gave their opponents a great mental shock.

Looking at the Gotland Army, their clothes can be described as diverse. Six thousand people simply gathered in a group, without any formation at all. The Gotland warriors on the front line were at least equipped with shields. The only tactic they knew was to form a shield wall. They slowly approached the enemy's line and then tried their best to maintain their own line and stab and slash wildly until they finally won.

This is what they know about fighting. If the shield wall line collapses, then everyone will swarm in and fight on their own terms.

The biggest difference between fighting and fighting in groups is probably that the result of the fighting must be that one party surrenders and becomes a slave or dies in battle.

The only thing that can keep the morale of the Gotland Army now is its own huge force.

Ten wealthy businessmen gathered in front of the battle. Haken saw that everyone's faces were as iron as steel, and he knew that the prospects of the duel between the businessmen were not good.Not optimistic, even if the Gotland army has the upper hand.

"Sure enough, as the legend says, there are at least three thousand Russians!"

"What should we do next? Let the islanders rush up and kill them?"

"Yes! Let them charge, and our people will hold down the formation from behind. We force them to fight, and kill those who dare to retreat directly."

......

Haken's mind was very confused. On the battlefield, his previous rage and arrogance, as well as his determination to sacrifice his children and smash the statue of Frey, all gave way to rational prudence.

"How about sending someone to talk to them first? If they are willing to retreat...maybe they are afraid of us when they see us in large numbers?"

"Absurd !” Harald of the Hrolev family really wanted to give Haken a slap in the face, so he yelled: “At this juncture, why do you suddenly imagine that the Russians will withdraw? Do your eldest and youngest sons die in vain? You smashed the statue of Frey and worshiped Odin. If we don’t fight today, you! If you blaspheme one god, you can’t blaspheme the other. If you dare to blaspheme Odin, the people will kill you." /p>

"Even so...forget it, you all go back and prepare!"

Haken's attitude was very determined. He put on a stinky face and obviously didn't want to talk more with his colleagues. .

The gorgeously dressed merchants returned to the rear of the army. Now, thousands of Gotland warriors focused their eyes on their king.

Haken turned around, opened his arms and roared. He successfully mobilized the morale of the people, and all the male and female warriors were shouting.

This roar directly stimulated the Ross army, and now the Ross army spontaneously responded with a fierce war cry.

Taking advantage of this momentum, Haken sent five bold warriors to approach the Russian army.

At first glance, these guys were talking nonsense. Arik, who was in front of the formation, shook his neck and walked over with more than a dozen soldiers leaving the formation.

As soon as the other party was about to speak, Arik instructed his men to take action with his eyes.

The people sent out were suddenly killed by the Russians! The Russians will not accept any conditions at all! There is no thought at all except for a decisive battle!

Aric went too far! He cut off the head of the slain man, took off his helmet, and lifted the head high by the hair of the dead man.

This is not over yet. All his subordinates lifted up their long linen clothes in front of the Gotland army, exposed their crotches and yelled vulgar swear words to taunt the enemy.

"These damn Russians!" Haken was so angry that his face was trembling, and he also heard the yelling of his own people!

Arik's taunt had a very good effect, and the Gotland army was already furious.

Taking advantage of the anger of his men, Haken Sword Peak pointed directly at the Ross army formation: "Warriors of Gotland! attack! ”

The first line of the Gotland Army was full of the crackling sound of stacked shields.

The soldiers on the first line can be said to be the elite soldiers and generals among the islanders. First of all, they are strong Han, but the overall equipment is somewhat unsatisfactory.

The Gotland army spontaneously built three shield walls, and formed a human wall of more than 300 meters in length, which was equivalent to that of the Russians. The Gotland Army could not guarantee the order of the army. The various armed men were swarmed by their own clans and moved forward with their weapons.

The Gotland Army began to move, and Arik threw it away when he saw it. The enemy’s head

“Brothers, let’s retreat! Let’s see what Rurik has up his sleeve. ”

After Arik returned to his flag team, he immediately restrained his impatient men to stay calm.

Just before the Ross army formation, Rurik’s little soldiers, The two hundred lying boys and girls picked up their wooden crossbows and got ready to shoot. They couldn't help but tremble for the first actual battle. Fortunately, they were ordered to fire only once, and then immediately retreated along the gaps in the military formation. , and finally turned on the so-called safe zone of the earth wall, starting the non-stop firepower output.

The soldiers of the Archer Flag Team were waiting for the order to shoot arrows, but the first round of the Russian attack came from Baisha Port. Renegades.

The order to attack was issued!

The men of White Sands Harbor held their axes high and rushed towards the attacking Gotland army. p>Soon, the fighting began!

The Baisha Hong Kong people collided with the Gotlanders' shield wall and immediately became involved.

The swords were stabbing, the axes were slashing, and the Gotlanders were fighting. The long-handled axes and short spears assisted the front line in causing greater damage.

The Baisha Port Army and the Gotland Army suffered casualties. As the fierce battle continued, Haken saw the situation like this and acted accordingly. In the formation, he immediately ordered his troops to surround the enemy and kill them all.

The Gotland army's encirclement began to form. The pessimistic White Sands man hoped to hear the Russians' withdrawal clarion call, but they couldn't. There was only the sound of the clash of swords and axes, and the roar of the soldiers.

At this moment, Rurik was still watching with a sullen face.

The soldiers of the Russian army saw it. , due to the efforts of the traitors in White Sands Port, the Gotland Army did not continue to advance, although the enemy's front-line troops were already within the coverage of Ross's arrows.

Otto held his breath and saw the sudden situation of the battle. There has been significant progress, and a special question is asked: "Now the men in Baisha Port have been killed by the enemy, and their front line has been broken. You need the time has come! ”

“Yes! arrive! ”

Rurik stamped his foot vigorously and gave the command to the torsion slingshot shooter to launch!

With the command, the heavy javelin launched by the ten slingshots carried the violent whirring sound of the spiral feathers. , flew into the sky at a 45° angle, and then fell sharply.

The people in the fierce battle were pierced by this sudden blow, and their whole bodies were stabbed to the ground.

The damage does not distinguish between friend and foe. Of course, Rurik did not regard the traitors as enemies. As for blowing the horn to make the traitors retreat, Rurik deceived them from the beginning. What's more, even if they have changed their minds now, even if they blow the horn, the traitors in Baisha Port will not be able to break out.

Ten javelins pierced the enemy's line. Since the enemies stood very densely, they caused a lot of damage. Two people were even nailed to the ground because of the same javelin.

The launch of the torsion slingshot is a signal that the Russian Army’s Marksman Flag Team is launching a full-scale attack!

All long-range weapons were being fired, and the first wave of nearly five hundred arrows soon appeared in the sky, hitting the Gotland army like hail and causing heavy casualties.

Many Gotland warriors died before coming into contact with the Russian army!

Some of the targets of the arrow kills were young soldiers and female soldiers of the Gotland Army. Once they fell, they sadly had no one to save them. To make matters worse, the morale of the Gotland army suddenly went into turmoil, because the five hundred arrows, large and small, were all made of iron arrow clusters. Whether they hit shields, mail armor or civilian clothes, the result was that They are all similar! As many as three hundred people were actually hit by arrows, and more than half of them lost the ability to fight on the spot and fell to the ground.

The Gotland army began to panic, and those who fell on the ground wailed and clutched their wounds before being trampled by friendly forces.

But how could their entire army collapse just because they endured a rain of arrows?

The Russians are still shooting arrows, but the new arrows are no longer dense.

"Is this your secret weapon? Rurik! Arik the Butcher! The Russians!" Haken almost gritted his teeth and cursed secretly, then threw away the shield with two iron arrows embedded in it.

Haken roared in the chaos: "Brothers! Fight with them! Charge us!"

Haken first led his own troops with raven-patterned shields. The mercenary troops launched a charge, and the Gotland Army soldiers who were frightened by the arrows recovered one after another. They all saw their king hitting a raven shield that was held high, facing the arrow attack, and then Get into shape and move on.

At the same time, the crossbowmen on the front line of the Ross military formation have gradually withdrawn to the rear of the military formation. The children are already climbing the earth wall and are about to continue shooting arrows. As for the Torsion Slingshot and Covin Archers, they did not stop shooting arrows.

Of course, archery alone cannot contain or defeat the enemy's charge. It is still the sword and ax fight that breaks the opponent's offensive.

"Shield wall! Prepare to stab!" Arik roared.

"They are coming, prepare to kill the enemy!" Haro Zuosen ordered calmly.

Medevit ordered in ancient Slavic language: "Don't be afraid. Spear array, kill these Varyags for me!"

As the shields of both sides collided, , the all-out fighting begins.