Chapter 810 Siege War

Hundreds of people retreated to the camp on the top of the stone hill. Of course, they could run to the forest on the island to hide, but fear acted on their bodies, and running back was not a good idea. The current situation seemed to be about hugging together for warmth. A choice.

Some people who tried to escape on rafts withdrew, and they were not entirely without success.

Someone took some precious fresh water from the spring. As for looking for something to eat, except for a few edible wild vegetables, it was really gone.

Can a little fresh water guarantee the survival of thousands of people?

There are trees and rocks on the top of the stone hill, and a small amount of food warehouses belong to those big families. Now some big families left forcefully and were mercilessly sunk offshore by the Ross fleet. They took away most of the stored supplies and fed them to the fish. The remaining few supplies are all firmly occupied by other big families who are waiting and watching.

The first day's attempt to leave ended in a disastrous defeat for the islanders. After nightfall, the surviving people did not lament that they were smart enough to wait and see to avoid death. What they faced was not just quenching hunger and thirst. , and the fear of being dominated by fear itself.

The forced escape of the islanders surprised Rurik. He had expected this and did not expect that his opponents could flee on a large scale.

He even reflected that maybe he should not have issued the order to kill all the fugitives.

"Most of you are immortal. As long as you surrender to me, wouldn't it be fine? I still want to recruit you..."

Rurik put aside his fantasy for the time being. Even if the situation is like this, it still seems too hasty to surrender them.

Swinder, the speaker, was in a hurry. While Rurik was quietly looking at the grilled fish, this guy staggered over and begged.

"Sir, please let them go. You plan to ask me to persuade them to surrender. I will go now. This can't happen anymore! They will be slowly tortured to death by you."

"Let him go." Rurik signaled.

"Sir, please think about it! I will go there overnight to persuade you."

"No need. If they dare to escape once, they will dare to do it a second time. I want to kill their momentum, and I will It's like knowing who is so courageous. He doesn't dare to fight with me and has the courage to escape."

"It must be those big families...people like me." Wende hurriedly explained.

"You?"

"Sir, my family must have followed the others and fled to the hills. My home is in this big fishing village, and there is not a single body there. I My wife and children have all been evacuated. I'm just worried about..."

"Are you worried about their lives? I understand you, but..." Rurik shook his head, "This is war, if you If your family members are smart enough to surrender, I can let them be guests instead of slaves."

"Then let me convince you.them. I might as well hold up the torch and speak by myself! "

Swinder who was trying to leave was still controlled by the soldiers. Ryuri had made up his mind and would not let this guy make his own decisions.

"You and I will continue to wait! Soon I will send people to clear the forest, and my fleet will still patrol the sea. Three days! We'll just wait three days, and then we'll go check out the situation. "

"Three days? ! Even if they don't starve to death, they will die of thirst! ”

Rurik listened tirelessly and ordered his subordinates to pull him away, while he ate the fish himself.

No one in the Russian army was willing to say a good word for Swinder. , even Ragnar from the alliance is too lazy to pay attention to this unfortunate guy.

Even if Ragnar opposes the Danish King Horik, it does not mean that he must unite the people of Bornholm Island. The islanders were all strong-headed grasses, and their origins were diverse. He despised the way they ran away when encountering disaster. Although his own Stonewall tribe also escaped, they only succeeded in breaking out after paying extremely huge sacrifices. Always thinking about revenge. What do the people of this island mean?

The Ross army is still lighting bonfires to create suspicion.

At first it was a trick, but now it has become a conspiracy. It is extremely pragmatic.

The Ross fleet, which uses trawling technology to fish, encountered the resource-rich South Baltic Sea. The Ross people trawled for fish during the day and lit up lights to fish ashore at night. , there is only a "fish processing workshop" formed spontaneously on the river beach. The big fish are cut into pieces, the small fish are spread out, and after being smeared with salt, they are gradually turned into dry and hard salted fish by roasting on the bonfire, and then transported to the boat. .

The smell of grilled fish permeates this small island, especially when it floats to the top of the stone hill along with the south wind, and floats into the anxious people's noses. This makes the already restless and fearful people. Even more angry, objectively this has become a psychological offensive of the Ross army.

Not all the islanders fled to the top of the hill. The entire island was surrounded by the Ross navy, with ships cruising one after another. The jib is like the dorsal fin of a shark, and every boat is watching closely. Any raft that tries to leave will be destroyed.

As the sun rises, the situation is a recipe for disaster for the islanders. /p>

What the prince ordered was only to prohibit the destruction of large fishing villages. As for the other island micro-villages, it did not matter even if they were about to be burned.

The battleships could not find the hunting targets, so they simply took the micro-villages they found. The fishing village was attacked. Most of the fishermen had fled, and they were already poor. It was impossible for them to leave any treasure in the village.

The soldiers who came off the ship set fire to the house out of anger, and then burned everything. The available bottles and cans were moved away. Especially the fishermen's boats. The boats that were too small were scuttled directly, and the large rowing boats were directly tied up with ropes and towed away.

The Ross Army. Two days of torment caused thick smoke to billow from each small fishing village, and one after another people fled with their families to the stone hill in the center of the island for refuge.

The new escapees brought more cruel news - the villages were burned down, and any escaping ships were gone.

The entire island has become a prison. Although there is a dense forest under the stone hill, it has become a hunting ground for the Ross invaders.

Because someone came back with news that the Russians holding bows and arrows seemed to be sharpshooters. They shot people as if they were hunting, and some were captured and their lives were uncertain.

The people who fled to Shiqiu could only bring bad news one after another. They thought they had temporarily avoided the invaders, but unexpectedly, the supplies they carried became must-have items for other islanders. .

What Rurik didn’t know was that the islanders trapped on the stone hill were actually killing each other.

Those big families and the exiled Danes are more organized than others. They use sharp weapons to plunder the remaining supplies and pour precious water into their stomachs.

What else can people who have had supplies taken away do? They were hungry and thirsty, so they had to sit on the rocks and pray for rain.

Of course, some people took the risk and went down the mountain to get water from the spring. More than a hundred people went there with great hope, but they were ambushed by the Russian army.

The ambush was extremely short and did not even cause many casualties. The ambushing Russian army shot some arrows and stunned the water fetchers. The brothers swarmed in and captured them.

The captured islanders thought that their heads would be dismembered immediately, but instead they were escorted to the main camp of the Ross Army.

There were both men and women captives, and the women holding their children were the most eye-catching.

Seeing such a mother, how could Rurik not feel compassion?

This was the largest number of prisoners taken by the Russian army since the battle began. More than eighty people sat on the sand and gravel by the sea. They all received enough grilled fish and fresh water. After eating and drinking, most of their fears were eliminated.

After they obtained the security promise, they expressed their willingness to cooperate.

They began to explain the situation on the stone hill, especially how the powerful people there robbed ordinary fishermen of their supplies, and described the size of the powerful family and the size of the average fishermen.

Swinder came in a hurry and interrupted the prisoners' accusations. The prisoners were shocked when they saw such an acquaintance.

Immediately, someone became furious, stood up, pointed and cursed: "Swinder! It was you who led the Russians to attack our island? You are a traitor!"

I heard , Swinde couldn’t argue.

But in the next second, the man who spoke was hit in the chest by a crossbow. He fell to the ground looking at the arrow in his chest, twitched a few times and then stopped moving.

The sudden death frightened all the prisoners to scream, and Rurik shouted loudly: "This is the consequences of disobedience! You must remain submissive before you regain your freedom."

The corpses were dragged away and thrown directly into the sea to drift on the waves...

For this reason, Rurik had to reiterate the policy, and then began to classify this wave of prisoners into three, six, and nine grades.

Swind got his wish and learned about the condition of his wife and children. Although they were alive, many servants at home were killed or injured. Even so, they were trapped on a rocky hill, where food and water were scarce, and the situation worsened. He wished he could take Shui Shui up the mountain now, or at least bring his family back.

Swinder has learned to be smart, and his reason dictated that he did not do this.

What has he done to the Russian people to this day? The army has penetrated into the forest on the island, the small island has been searched, and the small fishing village is blazing. Except for the huge refugee camp on the top of the hill, there is no other place. There is no longer a place where anyone is hiding.

It seems that the Prince of Ross will not take back his life. The Prince will deliberately keep the islanders indifferent for three days, and the real persuasion to surrender will be postponed until the fourth day.

What else could Swinder do? I can only hope that my family can survive until that day.

On the third day, in the large fishing village occupied by the Russian army, Rurik selected a large house to hold a combat meeting before the capitulation operation.

However, rather than trying to persuade them to surrender, the eyeing military generals were more willing to swarm them and annihilate them to gain glory.

There were many people who could be recruited by Rurik, and the "ship" captains in the army, that is, platoon-level commanders, all participated. The Ross Army's flag force is a well-organized combat group. Each "ship" has thirty people and can independently carry out combat missions.

Rurik has learned from the prisoners the composition of the islanders on the top of the stone hill. There are a large number of women and children there, but the fighting men have lost a lot of money due to failed escapes. Now even if these men eat They were well fed and drunk, and due to their numerical disadvantage, they were no match for the Russian army. What's more, they had not received effective supplies for three days, or specifically four days. Even if they did not die of thirst and starvation, they would definitely be dying.

The venue was very noisy at first, but when Rurik decided to announce the policy, there was an instant silence.

"I know you want to chop off their heads! But you all must remember that they are a group of cowards! They are a group of hungry and thirsty cowards, and there are a large number of women and children! If you chop them down, Especially when you kill them on the high ground of Stone Hill, Odin is watching you from high in the sky, and the gods will not think this behavior is honorable, so the captain you are doing must restrain your own people. You convey my words to your brothers and do not attempt to kill indiscriminately. If the situation becomes extremely urgent, if they do not resist, you will be tied up if you dare to disobey me. If you do what you ordered, I will hit your butt with a stick!”

The punishment for disobeying the order is to hit your butt? Everyone couldn't help but laugh wildly.

Someone laughed and said: "Don't worry, Prince, but we don't want to do anything that will bring shame on our honor."

Rurik knew very well that the Russian army was not a well-disciplined army. , this is a tribal army. The principality of Ross is a mixture of various tribes. A brand new nation is being formed, and a unified Odin faith is also being implemented.In order to maintain the morale of the army, Rurik had to allow them to loot freely, and condoning violence was eating away at his heart.

It is not that Rurik has never thought of killing everyone. So what if he ordered the entire island to be killed? You will not be sanctioned by others at all, it will only make others more frightened.

Continuously killing people to maintain the authority of rule is the true barbarian behavior. The biggest contradiction in the principality is still the serious shortage of labor force. The Bornholm Islanders should capture as many people as possible and throw them to the mining areas in the north to dig iron ore. Obviously, they are very good labor force.

What Rurik focused on was still the issue of persuading surrender. Now that he has a clear understanding of the situation, he must explain clearly how to persuade them to surrender.

According to his plan, the stone hill will be surrounded by the Ross army, and some large trees will be quickly chopped down and sawed down, just to create an open space so that the Ross army can raise flags and shout in a formal manner. islanders.

The army unloaded some torsion slingshots and trebuchets and set them up. The soldiers prepared their crossbows and guarded against the islanders' final attack.

After sufficient military preparations have been made, tactics to attack the enemy's heart are indispensable.

Especially this tactic, Rurik was very proud of it.

He proudly announced: "After we formed the formation, we still lit some bonfires. We threw the big cod fish we caught directly into the fire and let the fire burn them to ashes."

"What does this mean?" Arik asked in surprise, "Are you willing to burn the fat fish meat?"

"How can you not give up? I just want the fish to be burnt with a strong fire, and the alluring aroma will come out." People who are about to drift to the nearby stone hills will use their last strength to come down if they smell the smell. In my opinion, by that time, their consciousness will no longer be able to control their bodies."

La. Gena expressed deep doubts: "Rurik, is this also part of your plan?"

"Yes."

"We haven't done this before, how could they?" Didn't come down? Oh, someone did come down to get water."

"They are not hungry enough." Rurik shrugged, "My purpose is not to kill them, I have to leave it for them. Some hope of survival. Those prisoners are of great use. Let them stand in a conspicuous place tomorrow to declare that we are not killing people. I will also publicly show that our army has sufficient fresh water."

Ragnar thought for a moment. He patted his thigh and lamented that Prince Rurik was so cruel at such a young age. He also lamented that he and he were currently in alliance. If they were enemies of each other, he would be completely defeated in any war or plan. .

Everyone is absolutely convinced that Rurik’s plan is quite clever. If they don’t surrender after this, those guys will really be beyond description in words.

So what should we do after they surrender? Rurik has already classified it into three categories, and made three opinions on the fate of ordinary fishermen's families, exiled Danes, and the powerful families on the island.

“Those ordinary fishermen are dependent on the strong, and some sell themselves into slavery. NowAs long as I am strong, they will serve me and become my servants like deer herders. Only I can punish them, you must not kill indiscriminately! "

"The exiled Danes are not our opponents, the battle is a misunderstanding! Ragnar, I hope you convince them. At least I have no intention of fighting them. Fighting each other is meaningless. Instead, I should join forces with them to deal with King Horik of Denmark. I hope you can mediate the situation properly and not create any more misunderstandings. "

"As for those big families who provoked the war, is it necessary for them to remain? I can spare their lives for now, but they must behave submissively. The battle was completely avoidable, and the peace talks were obviously successful, but they refused to recognize the peace talks. Even if they chose to surrender, they still had to pay some... money. ”

With this announcement, Ragnar and Swinde received their respective tasks.

Things have greatly differed from the original plan, and the peaceful incorporation of Bornholm Island has Impossible, at least theoretically, there are still three thousand people who can be captured by the Principality of Rus. Everyone is a Viking, they all speak the Norse language, and they worship gods such as Odin, Freya, and Thor. Those ordinary fishermen and slaves are most interested in it. They are a large group of people who lack care and can take advantage of it. As long as they have economic ties, they must coexist and prosper with Ross in order to make a living. This is "incorporation". p>

As for those big families? Forget it.

Rurik has had murderous intentions, but his murderous intentions are only temporarily suppressed. It depends on whether those big families are smart.