The five Tavastian captives were escorted to Rurik's tent. Compared with being captured and their unknown fate, the captives were now more shocked by the huge camp and large number of ships of the Liros people, and then this The fear goes beyond death itself.
Rurik had no intention of hiding his identity. Considering the similarities in language between the Tavastians and the Kovins, he revealed his identity in front of the captives.
"You Tavastians invaded my territory and killed my servants. Now, we, Rus, have come to take revenge. I! I am Rus'... the leader."
< p>Originally Rurik wanted to say that he was a duke, but his opponent didn't understand the term, so he gave up.Mechasta, the Covenite, had nothing but irreparable anger towards these enemies, and he shouted casually, "Stop talking nonsense with them, we should kill them."
" No need." Rurik stretched out his hand to signal Mechasta to shut up, and then told everyone bluntly, "I have no intention of killing these five people."
"No?" Arik became alert and asked. He smiled and said, "Is it mercy?"
"It's a tool. We don't have to listen to their words, let them be messengers and let them all go."
Everyone looked at each other Look, I think this decision is okay.
The five prisoners quickly listened to Rurik's declaration of war.
"We Russians are here to wipe you all out! I will attack your fortress! Tell your leader that we want a decisive battle. If you are brave, find an open area and fight us. If If you are afraid of our army, hold on to your strongholds. If you are cowardly, leave my territory forever! All those who stay and decide to fight us will eventually be killed. Go away and tell your leaders about us. The attitude of the Rus."
It is equivalent to saying that the young Rus leader only gave the Tavastians two choices: war or flight.
They were beaten until their noses were bruised and their faces were swollen, and many of them had panda eyes.
Some people were lying on the ground hesitating and hesitating, and their words were full of disdain, "We... will never escape. Our leader will fight you to a decisive battle."
"A decisive battle? I'm just afraid of you. The leader was so frightened when he saw my troops that he fled." Rurik continued to provoke.
"No... we will not escape. This side of the sea is our territory. You... you are the enemy!"
Are you tough? Rurik liked that they retained their tough-talking and disdainful attitude.
Rurik looked around and smiled, then challenged the prisoners with a sullen face, "I understand your language! Listen carefully! I will chop off your leader's head and use his skull to My humblest slave is a water cup! Tell your leader the truth.”
Of course they were not released easily, and all five prisoners had their ears cut off on Rurik’s order.
This is not the end yet.
Rurik’s provocation and explanation of the conspiracy are to ensure that the enemy will also pursue a decisive battle, as long as the enemy is provoked, the enemy will become reckless and be carried away by anger.
Rurik's actions ended here, but Aririk also gave an extremely terrifying gift to these exiled prisoners.
That was the hideous hide, now packed up and thrown to the captives.
These skins all come from Tavastia's kinsmen who died previously. Unexpectedly...
The captives were so frightened that they even forgot the pain of having their ears cut off.
They each carried a piece of leather on their backs and staggered away with heavy hearts filled with grief and anger.
At this point, most Russians are convinced that after such humiliation, the enemy must be eager for a decisive battle.
Even if there is a lack of open space in this area, the Russians can exert a huge tactical advantage as long as they form a decisive battle.
Seeing that the camp was almost arranged, the Russian army, led by Rurik, began the final preparations, and they were about to set out to fight.
Just as Rurik hoped, the five freed prisoners escaped along the river and met their kin at the location of the old Salmon Lord's hillfort.
Although they were horribly humiliated, they still explained in horror the fact that the Russian army was coming to kill them. When they removed the stripped leather, the onlookers were all shocked, and many simply vomited!
The Tavastians gave the Russians the nickname of "skinners". Looking at the hung bloody corpses of their fellow tribesmen, the commander Vatyala who was sitting at the rear ordered that once a Russian was captured, , just like dealing with hunted squirrels and ferrets, hanging them alive and skinning them to fight tooth for tooth!
The five men with their ears cut off were quickly escorted by their tribesmen to the already heavily defended Old Gray Squirrel Hill Fort.
When these five people saw their boss, they burst into tears involuntarily.
"Don't cry! Don't be a coward! Tell me what happened to you! Tell me if the Russians really want to attack us!"
One person wiped his tears. Looking up at the furious Vateyala, his right hand pointed to the west: "We saw their camp, there were at least a thousand people there! I saw the leader of the Rus, a hungry wolf who eats people without spitting out bones. They They said they would fight us and kill all our people. "Huh? Are they really so determined?" Upon hearing this, Vatyala stood up suddenly, with a look on his face. The veins almost exploded.
When the capable people sitting in this wooden house heard that the Russians had such an intention, their emotions completely exploded.
Someone stood up and roared: "Then let's fight them! Our spearheads are also iron! Our arrow clusters are also iron! We have more people, kill them and take no prisoners!"
"Yes! The failure last time was just an accident! If we fought honestly, we could kill them all in one swarm."
"Don't let them live! Even if we capture a hundred enemies, we will kill them all." Hang them up and skin them. We don’t want any slaves!"
"So we call them now!Call all brothers, go out and fight them! "
...
Of course some people think that the hasty decisive battle is a bit rash, but look at the current atmosphere, those who act cautiously may be beaten as traitors by their brothers.< /p>
How could these elites of Tavastia be so angry just because of a few words of information? It was entirely because of the bad behavior of Aric's scouts.
It was horrifying to be hanged. The dead body is the most ferocious humiliation. Arik has accomplished his goal. He has already made his opponents furious.
Infected by this atmosphere, there are now more than 1,300 Tavastian warriors under his command. Watyala completely ignored the previous failed ambush. He was blinded by anger and longed for a fateful decisive battle.
The tribesmen who lost their ears continued to describe what happened in the Ross camp. What shocked them further was that their opponents were also building a mountain fort.
It was a mountain fort leaning on the coast, with tall wooden walls and a large number of giant ships floating on the sea, which were a hundred times the size. Canoes!
The Rus are dressed almost exactly the same, and they seem to have an inexhaustible supply of linen.
The Rus are tall and look like they can fight bears with their bare hands. Then he used his teeth to bite off the bear's neck and eat the bear's meat raw...
The words became more and more outrageous. Watyala felt more and more that these five poor people were frightened and began to praise the enemy. Arrogant.
Someone interrupted them: "That's nonsense! We are fighting the enemy, not the monsters in the forest. As long as we gather together to launch an attack, they will be defeated! "
Some people who are not very determined in the first place become frightened when they hear the description of the "earless man". This is completely different from the righteous indignation just now.
Conducting Vatyala's anger could not be calmed, and he could not think of any strategy. He even had no idea about the real strength of the Russians, and his knowledge was extremely limited.
Someone proposed one. Everyone found it interesting. The so-called "brilliant plan" was to treat the other person with his own medicine.
The "ingenious plan" was like this. The Tavastia army left more than a hundred people to guard the mountain fortress. Outside, the remaining 1,200 people set off! Everyone rushed to the bend downstream of the river and set up an ambush at the burned forest and mountain fort.
It is difficult to fight in the changeable forest. Yes, even the Tavastians can't stand this kind of terrain. The only flat place that can be used as a decisive battle is the abandoned village next to the river, where there is a flat river beach where they can fight.
The Tavastian army did not want to seize the battlefield first and arrange their troops. Instead, they laid an ambush first, and then suddenly rushed out when the Ross army appeared. They caught the opponent by surprise and drove them into the river, so that the opponent would not be killed by weapons. Death is just drowning.
How can everyone not think this is a clever plan?
Wateyala slapped his thigh: "Okay!Just do it! Opportunities cannot be taken, we act now! "
The haste is really hasty, Vateyala is not stupid enough to ignore the speed of the soldiers.
The Tavastians who learned about the landing of a large number of enemies two days ago are all talking about it. A decisive battle is inevitable. Fear? Confusion?
Almost everyone knows about the horrifying corpse.
The brave Tavastian warriors were hung and skinned like hunted squirrels!
Who are the Russians humiliating? Some of the young men in the alliance, these Tavastian men from the southern lakes and swamps area, wore a variety of leather clothes, carried their own short wooden bows and quivers, and carried iron spears, javelins, iron swords, and iron axes. and wooden shields, gathered into a mighty army, and followed their leader Vatyala to leave the mountain fort.
The ordinary people who had just immigrated here cheered for the heroes and wished them a great victory. The alliance's absolute rule over this newly conquered territory was completely established.
Women and children were cheering, and the more than a hundred soldiers left behind were beating their wooden shields and yelling, and some were beating their small leather drums to cheer. .
Infected by this enthusiastic atmosphere, and then realizing that our army is so huge, how can every small player in the army not think that he will win?
Who are the Russians? Will the brothers rush to the battlefield and beat them in an ambush battle? With the superiority of troops, victory will be easy?
The optimism pervades the entire Tavastian army. This scale of troops is extremely rare in all military operations of this tribal alliance!
The last time an army of this size was dispatched to fight against the Karelians who invaded the territory was ten years ago! , the subsequent battles will all be maintained at a scale of two to three hundred people.
The glory of the new victory will be in his own hands, and with the blessing of the "ingenious plan", Vatyala no longer has any doubts, and his mind is already set. The concept of "failure" has been deleted.
Perhaps this is not arrogance, but simply a miscalculation of the strength of the Russians due to his listening to false information. >They started moving towards noon, and even though the team was a little disorganized, they still reached the location of the old Salmon Lord's mountain fortress after nightfall.
No! They did not enter the burned mountain. Fort.
Every soldier in Tavastia’s army walked along the riverside woods. When they approached the flat land washed out by the big bend of the river, they saw an incredible number of bonfires in front of them. .
“Not good! Are these all Russians? Why...so many people! ”
The horrified Vateyala was shocked and hurriedly ordered a few people in the team holding simple torches to put out the fire immediately.
People stood there and talked about it, but no one said anything. Thinking of the actions of the RussiansSo quickly, they have already arrived!
Vateyala hurriedly summoned his cronies and brave men. He knew that no matter how brave a person was, he would not dare to break into the Russian camp. As long as he could see the starry bonfire, he, as the commander, would be there. Involuntary trembling.
Although Vatyala didn't want to, he really felt fear.
Fortunately, the darkness hid the figures of the brothers. The extremely limited torches (just some lighted branches) were not for lighting at all. They were just using weak light sources to ensure that the team did not get separated.
He pointed to the dense bonfire: "We are still one step late, but we must attack the ambush."
"How to attack?" someone asked.
At this moment, the person who proposed the "cool plan" immediately thought of a new countermeasure: "In my opinion, brothers should go into the woods. Spring has arrived, and the past day has been quite warm, so there must be fog tomorrow morning. We Using the cover of the morning mist to attack suddenly will definitely catch them off guard."
"Wonderful!" Vatyala laughed and slapped his legs: "Let's do it. Go quietly, just like when we hunt together, we must not let the prey notice."
Wateyala made a brief arrangement, and the team that was originally advancing along the river dispersed to a certain extent. After entering the forest, they divided into several groups and hid one after another about 500 meters away from the Ross camp.
They decided to wait until the morning fog rose and the brothers took action.
But is this a foolproof plan?
Even if Rurik thinks that the Tavastians are country chickens and dogs, he is not so arrogant that he despises his opponents like a group of ants that can be trampled to death at will. He was worried that the Tavastians, one of the ancestors of the Finns, would not play by the rules and engage in things like hijacking camps, so it was reasonable to set up false bonfires when they were resting at night.
Besides, although this place has been reduced to ruins, it is actually the Russians who once again arrived here in a purely military way.
There are also some thatched houses that can be lived in. Rurik feels helpless when he thinks that three years ago this was a village of the Salmon Lord Tribe and now it has become like this.
Kejas and Mechasta, as well as the more than fifty Kewen archers who were included in the shooting flag team, all returned to their hometowns. Seeing their homes destroyed by the war, they felt no nostalgia except sadness. .
The Kovin soldiers obeyed Rurik's orders numbly. Even when they were setting up camp to rest, all the crossbowmen were on alert.
Of course they were chatting and laughing around the campfire, eating grilled fish, and waiting for the wheat to be cooked in the big iron pots and pottery urns. Everyone who had finished eating stayed in their own positions.
The capable old warrior of Rus certainly felt that his Lord Rurik was too cautious.
It’s okay, it’s always right to be more cautious in a battlefield.
The Ross Army set up camp with its back to the river, which of course mainly considered the convenience of water. Torsion slingshots and trebuchets are still mounted on two-wheeled carts,They formed an array and fired in the same direction outside the camp. The shooters were scattered around the bonfire on the outside, and there were also close combat warriors nearby to defend them. All the warriors complimented the baggage and Rurik himself placed in the core. This is the classic Russian marching and camping formation.
This formation does lack some creativity, and it is also the safest in Northern Europe at this time and space.
Rurik's move does not stop there. This formation just builds a turtle shell, which is nothing more than a passive defense move.
His real brilliance was in setting up sentries in the woods. No, the Tavastians felt that they were perfectly hidden, but the sentries retreated quietly, and then hurriedly removed this incredible but very realistic situation. The news was told to Rurik.
More than one sentry came back, almost all of them withdrew!
Rurik, who wanted to get one last good night's sleep before the battle, couldn't sleep peacefully this time.
The sentries came one after another. He was shocked that the enemy army had most likely completed the encirclement without the Ross army knowing it. He was so shocked that his scalp was numb.
"These Tavastians are really not fools! I underestimated them!"
What should I do? Rurik quickly calmed down his emotions in shock, and then ordered all the centurions and flag captains to come to his thatched hut command post.
He decided to take advantage of the situation. If the decisive battle was to come, come early. Wouldn't it be nice for the Russians to get this flat ground and beat their opponent's defensive counterattack? !