The cone-shaped cast iron bullet was fired to an altitude of about fifty meters. This half-pound iron block is small and has limited damage ability to equipment. For combat soldiers, those who hit it will basically die.
Thirty torque slingshots fire freely, and the arrows are combined with iron bullets to further cover the fire.
The Ross coalition focused its attack on the north gate of Bremen City. This is the largest city gate. As long as this gate is breached, the battle will almost be over.
The coalition forces continued to advance slowly, all making Viking war cries very rhythmically. Behind them, arrows and projectiles were fired frequently, which was the so-called Xu Jin barrage offensive of the ninth century. This kind of dispatching of the Frank army has indeed never been seen before, not even Ragnar and his people.
The only thing that makes Ragnar happy is that he is participating in the siege as the attacker who takes advantage.
The coalition forces have advanced to within a stone's throw of the Bremen defenders, who were hit hard by arrows and projectiles. A few brave men among them finally began to lean out and fight back with bows. The defenders shot arrows at the risk of being shot, and even hid behind the wooden battlements. The single wooden bows were pointed at a high angle to the sky. The archers fired blindly into the sky in grief and indignation, praying to hit the enemy.
Aware of the defenders' counterattack, the attacking Ragnar immediately ordered his brothers to use huge bucklers as umbrellas, making the defenders' arrows useless.
But the defenders lost their highest-ranking commander and were in chaos internally. A large number of people were afraid and fled in all directions, even towards the south gate of the city, and began to spontaneously carry away the debris that had been piled up at the city gate. Some people even lowered ropes and rappelled from the city wall. There are no soldiers capable of intercepting the fugitives. Everyone has given up their illusions. This city seems to be difficult to hold. Let's escape with our skills before the Normans go crazy and kill!
If the Normans start to divide their forces to surround the city, it will be too late!
The fleeing people were unable to carry valuables with them. The merchants packed their existing money in sackcloth and brought their own armed men with them, completely ignoring their responsibility to defend the city and trying their best to escape from the city.
The spirit of those who persisted in resisting was worthy of the admiration of the Ross coalition, making the coalition's victory a little more respectable and difficult.
As the drifting fleet on the Weser River took control of the city's dock area, the few people who descended the ropes were immediately attacked.
The distance is already very close, and the torque slingshot can be aimed accurately.
The main body of the city of Bremen is located in the shade of the south bank of the Weser River, and the dock area is on the east side of the city. People who left near the east gate were shot and tried to escape from the city. Forced by the situation, all the prisoners left the city wall.
The fleet began to fire freely, and "iron hailstones" fell from the sky and mercilessly penetrated the thatched roofs of residential houses. Even if wealthy families installed terracotta and stone tiles, they were still smashed through. Some people were simply smashed to death at home, and injured people who were beaten to death were also found in the winding and dirty alleyways. The fleet brought greater fear than killing.
As many as 5,000 people flocked to the city, which was still in a safe zoneAt the south gate of the domain, due to the high concentration of people, the already troublesome task of moving door-blocking debris has become extremely time-consuming. Everyone wanted to escape quickly, and a terrible stampede occurred. The situation became extremely chaotic, and there was no one at the scene to provide order. Everyone's survival instincts gathered together, and as a result, only a few people were able to successfully find another way to lower the rope from the city wall and lift them out of the city.
Some people even fell from the wooden fence and were injured, making it even harder to escape.
How could the Russian army know about the chaos that broke out among the city people out of fear?
Aric just wanted to break through the city gate quickly. He simply rushed to the front line personally and ordered Ragnar as the commander: "I've told you the method! You lead your brothers and use your maximum strength. Push the car! You must open the door directly. If it doesn't work, just hit it a few times."
"Okay!" the excited Ragnar asked again: "What about you?" >
"We will ensure that all the turtle doves on the city wall are shot."
Ragnar no longer needed to say anything. He raised his iron sword and ordered the three hundred warriors under his command to attack with all their might.
The siege vehicle was pushed by as many as thirty people. The most amazing thing was that there were two groups of people at the front pulling two ropes to pull it further. The car was running on a fairly flat dirt road, and a heavy behemoth actually reached the speed of a man running. This speed is naturally not as fast as a cavalry charge, but its astonishing weight means amazing potential energy!
Blue Fox conducted a good investigation last year. The largest south door has a winch system that can lower the solid wooden door from the top. For the general army, putting down such a wooden door and sticking it in the Chengmen hole has become an unsolvable existence.
Now the car is hitting the car unstoppably, and the force will do wonders!
The whole wooden door was not knocked down by the car. The entire door was knocked down. The collapse of the door even pulled down the winch placed in the city gate pavilion.
The door was knocked open, but not completely.
The debris behind the door became a kind of "stepping stone", forming a slope with the collapsed door, and the doorway still exposed a huge hole.
A slope appears. Will that man suppress his hunter's instinct to rush up and jump?
Ragnar and his men raised their shields high and shouted excitedly at the prisoners of war, but he himself continued to shout until his voice became hoarse and led the charge!
There is no need to climb the long ladder on the wall anymore, and even the defenders who were shooting arrows on the city wall have completely escaped.
"In the end, it was an easy victory. I really didn't expect that there were many of them, so they couldn't conquer this city." Arik dismissed the excitement and complained to himself.
"You mean Ragnar and the others?" Jevro asked casually.
"Exactly. We attacked the city easily."
"Is there any special reason? They don't know how to fight at all." Yevlo's explanation was concise and concise. You're welcome, that's the truth in Arik's opinion.
Then asAnother elite in the army, Lan Hu was stunned when he saw the gate collapse. He was as stunned as a chicken, and he was stuck in place like a wooden stake.
Blue Fox's shoulder was suddenly patted by a big hand.
"Huh?!"
"Don't be stupid!" Arik scolded.
"..."
"We should enter the city. Blue Fox, think carefully about where their granaries are located. All wheat, wool or other goods are It's ours."
"Ah! Then the Danes..."
"Let them grab the gold and silver first. I don't care about it now, I only care about giving it to my hometown. How much wheat do people catch?”
If life is full of crystal clear stones, gems will still become meaningless. The stained glass made by the Russians was comparable to real gems, and the society of the Principality of Rus had accumulated a large amount of hot money that should have circulated in the European market and snatched a large amount of gold and silver from the Frankish cities. Arik did not have high expectations.
He actually doesn’t have much awareness. It is precisely because he loves his younger brother so much that he feels that as a prince, his younger brother is a blessing to everyone. It is the right way to handle the things assigned by his younger brother safely. He is still unable to realize that the construction of the Principality of Ross requires a large amount of labor, especially to pay the labor force enough to cope with the huge amount of physical exertion. In the final analysis, there is only one reasonable reward - food. Food is the capital of the principality's construction. Looting it from the past can immediately increase the speed of the principality's construction.
Except for a small number of people guarding the vehicle-mounted torsion slingshot, other Russian soldiers began to enter the city.
They passed through the slope formed by the collapsed wooden door and entered the winding alleyways of the city. They immediately saw corpses scattered everywhere, as well as Ragnar's Viking warriors who were doing a lot of damage.
The city was really full of blood, and the tragedy made Blue Fox tremble involuntarily. He thought he was strong enough, but he finally saw an indescribable number of corpses, as well as the dark red soil trampled by his boots. , making him afraid.
"Blue fox!" Arik roared and woke up the trembling man.
"Huh?"
"Take us to the granary! Quick!"
"Okay! The granary is in the inner fort area."
Unlike Ragnar who led his men to rob residential houses, the more than 200 people from the Ross army who entered the city went straight to the count's castle. The road leading to the castle has been visited by Blue Fox once, and now it is a very familiar road for revisiting the old place.
On the way, some city residents were still afraid to flee. They collided with the Russian army and were immediately shot and killed mercilessly by men with crossbows. Arik had no desire to fight. As for following the prince's order of "retaliatory killing", he still prioritized looting food.
The warehouse area is almost integrated with the count's castle. The wheat in stock is the count's wealth. Due to the grain tax collected for three more years to conquer Denmark, the treasury is now really full.
The shallow water-containing trench in the inner castle blocked the way of the Ross army, but there were still more than ten defenders on the opposite side.Army soldiers shoot arrows in despair.
The arrow hit the wooden shield, and the momentum of the Ross army's mindless charge was forced to calm down.
"Crossbows! Shoot these troublesome birds!"
Arik gave the order, and the crossbows were lined up in an array and busy loading. Unexpectedly, it was still the Finland of Javlo. The longbowmen took the lead. This group of squirrel shooting masters now had better bows and better quality arrows, and they destroyed the opponent's defense with one salvo.
"Well done, Jevlo. Others, wade across and lower the drawbridge!"
As for the small circle of trenches in the inner fort, it is a simple circular pit. , there are no sharp wooden stakes inside, and now only a small amount of river water is introduced.
Lying in waist-deep water, the Ross warriors walked to the opposite side and cut off the cables with their swords. The heavy suspension bridge suddenly fell, and the fierce warriors filed in.
The Earl of Bremen was not in his territory at all. Regarding the attack on his territory, he had already led his cavalry to intercept the Norman fleet fleeing along the river. Ragnar's so-called pursuer was actually the Count of Bremen himself.
The Earl would never have imagined that his hometown would suddenly fall. The proud city wall once blocked the Normans, but the city was destroyed by the Russians, whom he despised.
The count has no idea that if he had reached a trade treaty with the Russian envoy last year that would not harm the dignity of Russia, how could there have been such a fierce war? With Rurik's methods, if he could trade peacefully with people from far away to gain wealth, he would definitely not risk war.
But it is reasonable to say that the earl despises the foreign Russians. He is an old aristocrat under the banner of the Three Lions of Old Frank. In his concept, Frank has always been the only one to crush and kill foreign countries. What qualifications does a small country have? Trade as equals with yourself?
The city was full of shouts and shouts, and the many sounds gathered together became a roar that could not distinguish the message.
Arik and his group completely ignored what Ragnar would do. In the end, the Ross army completely occupied the Earl of Bremen's home. With the desire to make a fortune, he ordered the guys who had the same dream: "Go and rob freely! No arson is allowed! Whoever grabs the gold and silver gets it, and you will be punished for fighting with each other! Remember, the enemy will not leave alive! For Revenge for our brothers who died at Hedeby!”
A family tragedy has occurred for the Count of Bremen!
The crazy warriors rushed towards the inner fortress, which was mainly made of stones. All the soft belongings in the earl's home were taken into the bag by the army.
Arik was busy looking for food with Blue Fox, and the granary was successfully discovered. The neatly stacked sacks inside were staggering.
"I smell the aroma of wheat! Ah, how much wheat is there? Can our boat finish pulling it?!"
"You should inspect the goods first." Lan Fox reminded nervously.
"That's right." Arik pulled out his sword and stabbed a sack. The steel sword was pulled out, and a large amount of dark brown particles gathered in the bleeding tank. "It's actually rye? I'm really disappointed."
"What's so strange about this? I told you this a long time ago."Local people like to grow rye. It doesn't matter, you can brew a lot of kvass when you bring it back. ”
This is also true when Arik thinks about it. Any delicacy made from rye will have a unique sourness. It is the special ale (referring to kvass) made from it that is naturally sweet. It's really a wonderful drink.
He arranged for a group of people to firmly control the granary, and then ransacked other buildings.
After a while, Jevro personally escorted a man and a woman. People walked out of the stone castle and bumped into a group of people led by Arik in the courtyard. Speaking of horses, they captured five pack horses that were used to pull mills and carts, and they were happily stroking their manes.
"Brother, look here. I seem to have caught two nobles. Oh, no, there is another kid that I have chopped down. "Jevro called.
"Noble? Arik hurriedly pulled the blue fox out: "Come and identify it." ”
An elderly woman with disheveled clothes and blurred eyes was sitting on the ground dully. Another boy-like man was beaten with blood on his face, and he was curled up on the ground and shaking.
The blue fox holding the sword walked over and took a closer look at the woman’s face.
“She is the wife of the noble Earl of Bremen. And this kid is the next earl. ”
“The heir to the earl? If he really became a count," Jevro was shocked and paused, "wouldn't it be equivalent to my status? "
"You are both counts but completely different. You can recruit five thousand Finnish warriors, but this Count of Bremen can recruit up to five hundred people. After saying that, Blue Fox turned back and asked Arik: "How to deal with these two nobles?" My suggestion is to stay and maybe get a ransom from the count afterwards. "
"Is this necessary? You are such a businessman. ”
Aric didn’t want to delay, so he signaled directly to Javlo. In this way, the Finnish executioner raised his knife and killed the two nobles.
Poor Count Hunter of Bremen , he was worried that he would die in the war against Denmark, so he made a will in advance and said that after his death, the eldest son would immediately inherit the title. However, the two sons of the earl became the victims of the coalition forces of Ross and Ragnar.
Blue Fox was a little touched. After all, he had had a relationship with these two dead people, and had discussed with the Earl family whether he could trade peacefully with Ross.
Now, Ross responded to the arrogance of the earl family with absolute force and killing, which was very consistent with the grudges of Viking society.
But Jevro had no idea about the killing, and he climbed to the tower to watch. When we arrived at the more terrifying killing scene in the city square, we even saw Ragnar leading people in and out of Frank's church, and he even looked like a man in black.
He reported the matter to Arik, presumably. Going to Ragnar will rob the church of all its gold and silver.
Arik himself was unimpressed and asked Blue Fox to introduce the situation of the church: "That church only has a small amount of gold. Silverware, during my stay there, I ate blackware every dayBread and water, even stinky cheese and eggs are luxurious treats. Damn it, those priests have seven deadly sins (commandments), especially not to eat gluttony. They are not allowed to overeat and become semi-starved. Otherwise, why would you think that the obese me is what I am now? ”
“But I heard that you believed in their gods, but you weren’t touched? At least those guys took you in. "
Can the words of a barbaric butcher have another meaning? Blue Fox suddenly felt uncomfortable and asked: "You still expect me to sympathize with them and think that I will explain it to them. Look at these two dead corpses. I sympathize with them. They are all going to die anyway. It would be a mercy to be killed by you with one sword. "
"I don't care. "Arik shrugged.
"I don't care either. "Blue Fox responded and added: "Actually, that monastery is supposed to be the future residence of that old guy Eskil. If he learns that we demolished St. Peter's Church in Bremen, he might be angry to death. . I am still a merchant, believing in their gods is only a temporary solution, and I have only Prince Rurik in my heart. "
"Then you are quite ruthless. But I like it. You...are Odin's warrior. Come on, let's go over there and have a look. ”