Rise of Rurik

The steel swords and axes were polished and cleaned, and all the warriors put on armor.

The white robes sewn with blue cloth strips have become riddled with holes after many battles. Many of the soldiers' robes were stained with pudding, and yesterday's attack was also stained with a lot of blood.

The clothes were washed by the river, and before they were completely dry, the soldiers put them on their chainmails.

In the early morning, when the sun was about to rise, the morning fog gradually filled the whole world, and the mountains on both sides of the river valley turned into lakes and lakes.

The temperature was cool, but smoke began to billow from the sacked town of Foklingas as they began to set fires with malicious intent.

"Get on the boat quickly! Throw away the torches of those who set the fire, let's go now!" The black fox standing on the boat continued to wear the too-tight armor, clapping his hands and calling.

More than twenty arsonists were afraid that they would be left behind, so they ran back to the dock and jumped onto the boat in a panic.

The big oar slid hard, and the warriors shouting slogans drove the long boat quickly into the center of the river. A cable stretched out from the stern of the ship, and the other end was tied to the wooden pillars of the town pier trestle. The strong force tore off the wooden pillars, and multiple boats were working at the same time, turning the entire dock into pieces of wood floating in the river. As for the captured boats, the Russian army really did not think that such small barges would be a good tool. The bottom of the boat was deliberately smashed, and all the barges sank into the Saar River.

Although it was a new operation with the trophies of the previous plunder, it was just that at this point, whether it was the barrels of wine or the captured female prisoners, everything was no longer necessary.

In the morning fog, the army had a hearty breakfast, including the accompanying Nassau and Coblenz militiamen.

Everyone ate a lot of wheat boiled in salt water, slaughtered all the cattle, sheep and poultry seized in the town, and everyone ate a lot of meat.

It was during this meal that the militiamen rarely ate a lot of salt. The sea salt the Russian army had on hand had a high potassium content. The militiamen didn't know why. They all felt full of strength now.

There is still another ten kilometers of sailing. The water speed in this section of the river is already very slow. With this length of channel, the fleet can reach it in about an hour at the fastest.

Vardy was very pleased with the current situation. He was sitting on the flagship in high spirits, and looked at the Black Fox eager to try without the slightest worry.

"The fog is helping us! The whole army paddles quickly, and we fight as soon as we land."

"Huh? Are you talking to me?" From the corner of Black Fox's eyes, he saw the veteran talking non-stop.

"Who else but you? Do you want to kill an enemy this time?"

"Hey, it's okay to kill one of them. Otherwise, I won't look like a noble."

Vardy doesn't want to criticize such a young fat man but he still wants to kill the enemy? He will only kill if he is forced to do so. He thought of a lot, especially the fact that six years ago, Blue Fox, who had not yet lost weight, stabbed an enemy to death in Hedeby's panic.

"You'll have a chance."

"Oh, you have to fight for the opportunity. I will seize the opportunity." Inadvertently, the black fox also tightened his grip on the hilt of the sword.

Vardy also noticed this from the corner of his eye, and said casually: "If the so-called Count Sal can be caught, you will execute him. How about it?"

"Oh? Very good. However, I heard that Frank has a saying that if one noble does not kill another noble, it is better to keep it for ransom."

"Forget it." Wadi laughed loudly: "Do you still believe this?"

"I don't believe it. We are still flying the Russian flag now, and we are the Russian army."

Suddenly, the black fox suddenly drew his sword, pointing directly at the sky where the fog was gradually dissipating: "Blood sacrifice to Odin!" He shouted three times in a row, which shocked the soldiers on the flagship to be excited, and everyone's hearts were forcibly hidden. The things were pulled out again, and in a moment everyone shouted, "This battle is a blood sacrifice to Odin."

The pure Viking army has been resurrected, and they look even more ferocious with the longships with decayed drike fangs.

The bucklers that were supposed to be placed on the side of the ship were now placed at the feet of the rowing warriors. When they felt that they were approaching their destination, the crossbows of various styles were fully cocked.

Even the specially carried ten-seat torsion slingshot on board has been fully charged.

They no longer care that this will damage the durability of the weapon and cause weight loss. What the army wants is a decisive victory in the first battle!

However, the thick smoke from the burning town of Foklingas had already broken through the morning fog, and even a short-sighted person standing on the bridge in Sarabrücken could see that something big was going on to the west. It is entirely the elongated route of the winding channel of the Saar River, but in fact the distance between the two places is only six kilometers.

Although Baron Sal issued an emergency alert order, the entire stronghold has always been on high-intensity military alert. How can it continue to be on alert? The knights and a large number of retinues listened to what they said. What else could they do? It felt like the most correct thing was to follow the instructions step by step. As for not drinking tonight? It doesn’t matter if you don’t drink.

Can a mere bandit make the Baron nervous? Maybe it was not bandits, but an attack by a small enemy force. The tactics were more brutal and looked like bandits.

And this corresponds to the attitude of the entire Baron of Saar towards the residents north of the Rhine River.

Who are those people? A large number of the residents were just those whom Charlemagne personally conquered militarily, and most of them were not noble Franks at all. Saxony, Thuringia, and Bavaria are all a bunch of savages. Only savages are good at doing barbaric things.

Baron Sal was a little confused, but his subordinates had already helped his lord figure out the reason. Maybe the fire in the backyard really started because nobles loyal to Ludwig carried out a sneak attack. This kind of thing is not unusual. After all, the autumn harvest is coming soon, and the nobles in the north may take the lead in taking action.

This group of vassals brainstormed and guessed a lot. To be fair, they guessed mostly right, but it was still too late.

All retinue soldiers, levied militiamen, and even local husbands and women who help with laundry are required to be vigilant and prepare for possible battles.

If walking at night is asking for death, no soldier would dare to ride to Foklingas at night, not to mention that in the concept of the army, any action at night, even walking at night, is something that "should not be impossible" unless it is absolutely necessary. .

The baron had already counted all the soldiers who could ride horses, and he organized a cavalry team of up to 200 people. Of course, some of the pack horses that were simply pulling wooden carts were pulled out and covered with a layer of leather as saddles. Soldiers who knew how to ride horses struggled to sit on them, even if they were cavalry. The soldiers didn't even have stirrups.

The only ones who can really fight are the retinues under his command and the few elites under the vassal knights.

If the civilians are also armed, Baron Saar can pull out an army of a thousand people in this little Sarabrücken!

The combat effectiveness of this same army depends on the more than 300 real soldiers in it. What about the combat effectiveness of three hundred soldiers? Depends on the performance of more than a hundred capable cavalry among them.

A stone fortress gave the baron great confidence. This was the commanding heights of the area. Even the height of the only tower of this fortress was only about eight meters.

There is no stone wall, but the granary area is surrounded by wooden walls. The granaries are built on a large number of wooden piles. All granaries have roofs, so they are protected from rain and moisture. At this moment, all the granaries are filled with grain, and some of them are shipped to the Kaiserslautern garrison. military rations.

Today is definitely not an ordinary morning, and the ordinary morning fog has become confusing.

Baron Wolfgang of Saar is standing high on the stone tower. His eldest son Hubert has just grown up. Today, like his father, he is wearing a chainmail and an iron helmet and standing next to his father. His eyes are as bright as his father's. looking to the west.

"Father, there is really a fire over there. The gangsters have really appeared, and I have to kill a few enemies. If they run wild in our territory, they must die!" The young man bared his teeth like a little wolf.

As a father, Wolfgang was very pleased that his eldest son was like this. But fighting is fighting, and his son still needs experience when he has just reached adulthood. Although being brave and fierce is something that every Frank male noble must master, he feels that his son is too immature.

"Don't be impulsive. We are standing in an absolutely safe place. Look below." The baron pointed casually.

"The knights are gathering their soldiers."

"And my own soldiers. Hubert, when I meet God, you will inherit all this."

The words were a little unlucky, and it was strange that Hubert didn't think clearly when he spoke. "No! You will die in battle?!" He stared at his father in surprise: "Do you regard the battle as a battle to the death? We will definitely win."

"You are stupid, but you are stupid!" Wolfgang was so angry that he slapped his son's helmet, and then continued to look at the west with contempt: "We will all die, I will die, and you... will die too. But not today. The time has come for all the knights to prove their loyalty, look at their records! And you, my son. When I find out that the victory is determined, I will arrange for you to lead a team of people to fight for their lives. Remember, our family must get the highest honor."

In fact, the knights were arranging lazily. Various horses were brought out from the stables. Many riders were still grooming their horses' manes and pushing fodder for feeding as usual.

The soldiers just started to gather, and those with armor lazily put on their armor. As for the large number of simple civilians and conscripted militiamen, they only started to gather in civilian clothes and carried a variety of weapons.

The women in the kitchen are cooking oats in a large number of pottery pots. The newly cooked oatmeal porridge has ten thousand people. Only the elite soldiers and knights want to eat the exquisite wheat bread!

Even elite soldiers cannot eat wheat bread all the time. Being able to eat this often means one thing - a big war is about to happen.

These Frankish soldiers were not really arranging troops when they gathered together. They gathered more and more in the open space on the right bank of the bridge (actually a material loading and unloading point). Everyone brought their own wooden bowls and banged them in boredom, just urging the kitchen to start dinner early. .

Sarah Bruecken seems noisy, but this noise is another kind of tranquility.

Many sleepy-eyed militiamen had just learned that there was going to be a war. They were nervous at first, but now they saw everyone gathering together and chatting, making a rumble like the flight of wild bees.

Barbarians attacking the town? There is indeed heavy smoke to the west. But what about the gangsters? Will it really happen? Do you really dare to come looking for death?

Everyone had different opinions, but their stomachs were growling and everyone wanted to eat earlier. What's more, the Baron showed mercy by offering a meal early in the morning for the first time. The air was already filled with the rich aroma of boiled wheat, making hundreds of people salivate. They knew very well that regardless of whether he fought or not, he could fill his belly with his own skills today. This opportunity was rare only a few times a year.

But the distant and thick horn sound, like coming from hell, made all the noisy people hold their breath. They raised their heads and dug their ears, and finally realized that everything was true.

The morning fog is already very thin, and the Saar River here is almost purely east-west. The Ross army of Black Fox is advancing towards the rising sun, and the soldiers squinted their eyes.

The Russian army saw the real bridge and the so-called town of Sarabrücken. They were even more shocked by the large number of people gathered in the open space on the shore. The reflections were weapons and armor.

"Damn it! We are really exposed! There will be a tough battle!" Black Fox said bitterly.

Vardy still had a straight face: "That's what I hope. In this way, the brothers can annihilate them directly."

"Then do it!" There was a clear buzzing sound from the blade, and the black fox drew out his sword.

The longships still formed a long snake formation. Different from the sailing formation, the team now became crowded. All the warriors are not afraid of the enemy's large numbers. Since they remember that they were once "Odin's warriors", they strive to make blood sacrifices to Odin today. Everything seems like the gods appear, and the opportunity for blood sacrifices is right in front of them.

The sunlight made the entire fleet very conspicuous, especially the strongly reflective helmets. The veterans were the most sensitive to this. I don't know who took the lead and roared like a lion in the crowd: "Enemy!"

This was a clean and crisp sound. The dumbfounded warriors had never seen a strange longship before. Their knowledge of the Normans was only some fantasy legends. Now they could not imagine that what suddenly appeared in front of them was the Norman fleet.

The horn is still blowing, but it has turned into an attack horn.

The black fox held the sword. He knew very well that with his bloated body, he would not be able to rush to the front line. The more aggressive the attack, the more powerful soldiers must be assembled. The assault force was led by Wadi himself, and multiple "death squads" turned into berserkers and took action immediately.

The longship docked directly, and the Ross warriors in white robes jumped onto the land one after another, and immediately organized a loose shield wall and shouted for a charge.

Those who were still waiting for their meal were shocked when a group of guys landed and charged indiscriminately.

However, the defenders, who were in great chaos, were the first to suffer a round of missed arrows.

The longships were landing one after another, and all the warriors holding wooden-armed crossbows didn't pay much attention. They just threw an arrow into the air. The enemy's target was too obvious anyway.

Light arrows hit their heads and faces, and the arrow clusters without barbs were like sharp needles. The unarmored militiamen were easily shot to death and injured, and some unlucky elites in chainmail were hit with arrows in their shoulders, thanks to the small gap in the iron ring. , the arrow cluster did not penetrate deeply.

"It's unbelievable. They appeared too fast! Is this a fight?!" Baron Sal, who was still standing at a high place, could not imagine how quickly the situation would deteriorate.

Hubert, the eldest son, felt uncomfortable. He raised his broad-bladed sword high and shouted at his father: "What are our people doing?! I want to go down quickly and command these guys to fight! I want to fight."

After saying this, young Hubert was about to go downstairs quickly to start fighting, but he was grabbed by the baron.

"You come back first! Now is not the time. Let's see how the battle turns out!"

The knights, retinues, and militiamen were caught off guard by the arrows. It was harassment at best.

The militiamen were running around, while elite knights and retinues began to attack the oncoming people like a conditioned reflex.

"Forget about riding horses! My warriors! Charge with me!" A knight took the lead in charging with a broad-blade iron sword, and the followers received a strong spiritual encouragement.

The Russian army was not to be outdone, and as the torsion slingshots began to throw javelins one after another, the horrific killings began.

The Frankish garrison militiamen were stabbed down by javelins, and then began to encounter precise strikes from steel-armed crossbows.

The Ross warriors who landed one after another were shooting in a general direction. The steel-armed crossbow almost only had one chance. When the shooting was completed, it was thrown back and put on, and then the sword was drawn to join the fight.

"Shield wall!"

Wadi roared while running, and the well-trained old warriors immediately looked left and right to adjust their steps, then stacked large shields, and then placed steel swords against the shields, deliberately and passively receiving the impact of the enemy's elite.

A chaotic fight began.

The battle lines are extremely clear, and the shield wall separates the two sides in the fierce battle. Such a fight against the Russian army will inevitably suffer many casualties, and Wadi has no right to hesitate.

In a short period of time, all the elites of the Russian army had landed ashore. The forwards were sword and shield men who fought against the elite offensive of the Frankish defenders like a shield wall. The brothers behind him, who were holding wooden arm crossbows, simply launched missiles into the air to provide support as best they could.

The Torque Slingshot is not idle either. Black Fox himself was indeed inconvenient to participate in the battle, but he still gathered more than fifty veterans and set up an arrow array on the shore with the crossbows still on the ship.

The militiamen of Nassau and Coblenz were mostly armed with spears. They were commanded by two knights, Ballard and Gilbert, and were temporarily stationary under the orders of Black Fox.

"Sir, are you just going to watch them fight? I'm just going to stand here?" Ballard was already aroused by the atmosphere of war and was eager to fight.

"Just look at them, this is a tactic! This is King Ross's tactic!"

Black Fox screamed and ordered the follow-up troops to guard the landing site. There were nearly two hundred people who seemed to be standing still, but in fact they were tactical reserves.

Only one person is required to operate each torsion slingshot. He pulls the winch hard to accumulate power, puts the javelin into the slide that has just been coated with sticky whale oil, and then pulls the rope to launch.

The warriors holding steel-armed crossbows gathered together and used small winches to accumulate power. After more than thirty people completed their work, under the command of Black Fox himself, when the sword he held high fell, all the crossbowmen launched their ejections.

The short and thick crossbow arrows it fires can still fly about 150 meters, which can completely cover the battlefield that is in chaos, and if the arrows are missed, they will hit the enemy's formation at the risk of accidentally injuring friendly forces.

Although the force of the missing arrow was so weakened that it could make a dent in the helmet of an elite Frankish soldier, it was still enough to fracture the soldier's skull. Even if he was lucky, he would suffer a concussion. In a chaotic battle, if you fall to the ground, you will be trampled by your companions or enemies, and you will be trampled to death without any skin injuries.

The war situation was becoming unfavorable to the defenders. How could the limited elites alone withstand the well-prepared armored Ross veterans? They fought bravely to kill the enemy with the force of another Frankish elite force that killed 800 more than a month ago. Ross Although the army suffered losses, the shield wall array kept advancing. Behind it were enemy corpses in a lake of flesh and blood, and a bloody creek was gradually forming. The blood was flowing towards the Saar River...

"Damn it!" Even Baron Sal himself can no longer watch the show on the high platform. He no longer stopped his son, and realized that he would be finished if he didn't do something, so he took his already angry son by the arm: "Boy! Follow me and kill the barbarians!"

"Okay! I'll kill! We should have done this a long time ago!"

As the saying goes, Baron Sal also keeps a small reserve team, and they are all elite cavalry.

Some cavalrymen did not care about riding horses. They were fighting as infantry in the chaotic battle. However, the essence of the Frankish cavalry is still mounted infantry. All elite warriors are all-rounders, and fighting on horseback makes them more powerful.

Baron Wolfgang of Saar took over a very long spear and called to the more than ninety cavalry that could be summoned now. Among them, there were even horsemen who did not know what they were doing. They were all pulled up to check whether he was wearing armor and whether he was more careful. Regardless of the original owner of the war horse, he wasted a little time and scraped together a hundred cavalry.

There was no pre-war mobilization announcement, and the war situation was deteriorating rapidly. Baron Sal simply led the charge with his spear raised high.

The Frankish defenders, who had been retreating steadily after being killed, and even began to have militiamen flee, suddenly saw the cavalry appear, and the battle line that was about to collapse suddenly stabilized.

"Oops!"

Wadi saw the moving "forest", felt the tremor of the earth, and suddenly realized that it was the cavalry! The cavalry is not scary. If one's own side is unprepared, the Frank cavalry will be extremely terrifying monsters seeking life.

And those guys... they're actually here.

"No!" Wadi suddenly turned around and found that the cavalry bypassed the chaotic battlefield and actually ran towards the landing site. At the critical moment, he could no longer separate his elite troops to return to defense, and Black Fox was also shocked to see the appearance of a group of cavalry.

Shocked, but Black Fox didn't panic. Even the militiamen were just a little disorganized and quickly regained their energy.

Frank cavalry! Just over a month ago a gang was wiped out in Koblenz.

Black Fox didn't care too much and quickly ordered: "Crossbowmen! Draw your sword! Spearmen, aim your spearhead at them!"

All crossbows and torsion slingshots that were fully wound were immediately leveled and fired. The Frankish cavalry's attack was harassed. Some horses actually fell down and threw the riders away, uncertain whether they were alive or dead.

Harassment can't stop momentum, unless it's a wall of spears.

However, it was clear that there was a wall of spears in front of them, and Baron Sal himself could no longer stop the cavalry from reining in the cliff.

The Baron did not hesitate, and simply faced death with a martyr-like posture. Suddenly he thought of his son's words just now, so-called "You think you will die in this battle."

"Haha, maybe I really want to die here. But not necessarily."

Time seems to be exquisite, but it returns to reality in an instant.

The black fox was dumbfounded. When he saw a cavalry hitting him head-on, he unconsciously lay on the ground. Fortunately, he was not stabbed down or trampled by the horse's hooves.

Things are even worse for others!

However, the collision was mutual. The frantically charging Frank cavalry collided with the Black Fox's tactical reserve team. The knocked-down warrior suddenly got up, and instinctively picked up everything around him that could be used as a weapon. Jump into the fight. Those who were intact were like the two knights of the Black Fox. The two of them escaped the collision with their single-digit retinues, and now they were carrying Ross steel swords, killing fallen cavalry and assassinating prowlers. Return to the horse, pull down the cavalry who has lost their impact and kill them...