Rise of Rurik

That night, the Franks in the city were busy whittling wood.

War horses tied with cables directly pulled the house to the house. After the soldiers unloaded the beams and other accidents, they chopped them into sharp shapes with axes. These were the instruments of execution that would be planted on the old battlefield north of the city and used to execute all the Norman prisoners.

All the warriors in the army who were good hunters and skinners were organized, and Tristan lectured them all night long.

After all, some evil people must be executed with extreme means. Even if the prisoners are extremely vicious, it does not mean that one's own soldiers must become sick.

Unless the soldiers' anger is mobilized to suppress their inner moral defenses.

A proud general stood with his sword drawn, pointing directly to the east and north.

It was here that General Tristan denounced the atrocities of the Normans.

"Norman robbers! They killed the Archbishop of Maastricht! They killed the Archbishop of Liège! They killed people when they saw them and robbed property when they saw them. The most devout believers were captured by them and sold into slavery in the far north. They were tortured in the ice cave. Now! God gives us the opportunity for revenge! This is the fate of all of us! I order you to punish those Normans with the most cruel means, and never simply hang them!

They are the wolves that jump into the flock, and you are the best wolf hunters and skinners. I order you to pierce the belly of the Normans tomorrow like hunting animals. We want to see how dark their hearts are.

Don't feel embarrassed! Whatever you do is just, God will not punish you for being barbaric, but will praise you for your bravery. You will anger the Normans on the other side of the river, and eventually I will lead my cavalry to trample them to death. "

Many of the soldiers who were called did not have a heavy psychological burden. Some actually felt that killing a prisoner did not seem brave enough. Some people feel embarrassed, but as their anger is aroused, the embarrassment disappears completely.

Just on the wall of the inner city, the soldiers who hurriedly ran down to report woke the general from his sleep.

Tristan was unfazed, and so were the other junior officers.

He was a light sleeper and was not angry when woken.

"What's the matter?"

"Sir! The other side of the river! The other side..." The nervous soldier pointed his finger to the east, speaking incoherently.

Tristan's head was buzzing and his hair was trembling, "What's going on? Don't tell me that the Normans are planning a night attack."

"No. But there are flames everywhere on the other side, and we...seem to be surrounded by endless enemies."

"Absurd. I have clearly observed the size of their army during the day. Even though there are many people, it is not as large as your description. Fool, get out of here. I will go to the city wall to find out personally."

Tristan is unwilling to enter the inner city for the time being. The cathedral is still a giant tomb, with the corpses of priests and people in it, and the stench is still permeating the city.

He covered his mouth and nose and entered the inner city and climbed up the city wall. The warm southeast wind blew and he took a deep breath, but what he saw next made him tremble violently.

"That soldier was really right. What happened?! Did the Normans increase their troops at night?!"

Tristan knew nothing about the campfire trick, and even if he thought about it from his perspective, he would not be able to imagine this psychological warfare trick.

Morale is very important to the current army. If one side uses some means to scare the other side before the war, the next day the battle will be one side that is energetic and energetic while the other side is weak.

The job of the Frank soldiers who were placed on the city wall was to keep track of them. They first panicked, but fortunately this negative emotion did not spread to the main force of the army.

Tristan did not want to believe that the enemy had really increased his troops. He ordered the soldiers present to remain calm and not to spread the news to others.

It is impossible to make any adjustments to the tactics at the moment. As long as you look up at the position of the moon and Sirius, you will know that dawn is not far away.

At this moment, some soldiers really couldn't sleep. They squinted their eyes and lay on the ground in the open air wearing cloth masks, resting quietly with their horses. Only the veterans who have experienced hundreds of battles can still sleep peacefully now. The younger soldiers are mostly out of excitement and anger, chatting in groups about their actions after dawn, and simply don't sleep.

On the other side of the Maas River, the truly exhausted Ross army had fallen asleep in pieces.

The dense bonfire did not appear suddenly, it was a psychological warfare trick that Blue Fox learned from the war and continued to explore. The originator of such tactics was Rurik himself. Blue Fox, who improved the tactics, ordered the soldiers with good spirits to gradually increase the number of bonfires, and continued to light the bonfires as long as it was dark, just to create the illusion that the Russian army continued to increase its troops. .

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The cloth strips were tied with wooden sticks and then soaked in wooden barrels filled with rosin mixed with seal oil. The high temperature in midsummer made the oil soaking effect extremely good, and torches were being made quickly.

The two sides, who knew little about each other, each waited for dawn. Now it was clear that the Franks took the lead.

As dawn approached, the soldiers who were ordered to execute the prisoners took the lead.

They did not move their horses because they were worried that the horses' neighing would spread to the other side and cause alarm.

The prisoners who had been hungry all day stumbled and were dragged away, and the wooden stakes used as torture were also dragged and moved.

Just to the north of the city, there were once a thousand city defenders who attacked the Mellaren army in this battle. The dead bodies were left unattended. The highly decomposed corpses made the Frankish soldiers unbearable. Fortunately, they had nothing to eat now, otherwise they would have to fight again. Vomited them all out.

This place is very close to the river, and the dim sparkling waves of the Maas River can be seen clearly under the moonlight and stars.

They operated completely in the dark. Thanks to the dim light tonight, their eyes were not completely dark. In the darkness before dawn, they began to dig wet earth pits, bury wooden stakes in them, and tie the prisoners to the wooden stakes. On the pile.

All operations went very smoothly, and at dawn, the soldiers who were gradually waking up ran to the river to get some water. They looked around and enjoyed the coolness of the morning. From the corner of their eyes, they noticed some dark shadows suddenly appearing in the north of the city.

what is that? Are they some active people?

The important discovery was spread from ten to ten, and soon the entire Russian army camp became tense. The soldiers stood up one after another. Most of them thought that the Franks had eaten leopards and dared to launch a cross-river raid. Let's not talk about whether this was possible. Since their companions had rushed to bring Gather your weapons and rush forward yourself.

Blue Fox was awakened by the war alarm, and he didn't care whether it was ridiculous or not. The noise outside the tent became more and more noisy, as if the Frank cavalry had launched a siege of the camp.

"Is it an enemy attack? Fight it! Fight it all! Pierce the armor quickly!"

The Russian army was obviously too nervous, which was a good thing. When the soldiers gradually realized what happened, most of them had already put on their armor and helmets, and some even hurriedly ate some dry wheat. Bread and dried fish replenished my physical strength a little.

The soldiers spontaneously and gradually moved to the north of the two camps, just to see clearly what those figures were doing.

In the open space on the other side of the river, a cross flag became the most prominent feature.

The unknown Russian soldiers looked at each other across the river and gradually figured out what was going on. At the beginning of the period, they did intend to watch a show. However, when they discovered that someone was tied to what looked like a wooden stake, and everyone was still wondering what the Franks were doing, people with a discerning eye suddenly realized that the blond man was tied up. All have tattoos.

Oops! It's our people! I'm afraid they are the captured Mellaren people.

Some of the soldiers of the Russian army Mälaren who had just returned from Aachen were not familiar with them. Bjorn, who came after hearing the news, personally took the successfully evacuated men to the river to find out what was going on. Only then did they recognize him and tie him up. It seems that the people serving as sacrifices are his subordinates.

"Damn it, are you treating my soldiers as sacrifices? Do you Frank understand human sacrifice?"

To be fair, although the Viking tribes did not expressly oppose human sacrifice, this kind of extreme sacrificial activity first selected slaves as human sacrifices, and the use of human sacrifice must also be a means to coordinate with major events.

Bjorn looked left and right. He had agreed last night to prepare torches and launch an arson operation today. Now he was more willing to agree with the idea of ​​​​that young man from Asgard - to organize a large army to take the initiative to attack.

"Come here! People from Melalen! Organize ships to follow me and counterattack!"

After roaring, he called out to all the Ross people present: "Brothers Ross! Seeing that we have a common ancestor, please help me for the sake of the gods! We can't let our friends be in trouble."

Even though almost all of the captured Melalen people owed debts, and were even essentially debt slaves, after all, they were from the Melalen tribe, and it was the creditor's job to punish them. The Franks are not qualified!

Of course, from the standpoint of the Frankish army, it would make sense to capture prisoners even if they were cut into pieces.

The executioners who were ordered to execute the prisoners all packed up their meat-cutting knives. They were originally their own cutlery, and now they were really easy to hunt the "hungry wolves" in front of them.

They had to put on a good show. When they saw more and more Normans gathering on the other side of the river with weapons, they all showed their knives and broad-bladed swords.

"Normans! Take a good look! We kill your people like sheep!"

Similar words are shouted continuously, just to attract further attention.

"What are they barking at? It makes me so angry!" Bjorn frowned and looked left and right. "Everything is ready. Let's cross the river to rescue them."

After a while, Blue Fox himself arrived at the scene with his armored soldiers.

The average width of the Maas River here is over a hundred meters, and people with excellent eyesight can clearly see what people on the other side are doing.

Feng Sheng Mo Hu screamed, but even so, Blue Fox still listened to it.

He saw that Bjorn was leading his own men to pull the half-stranded longboat, so he hurriedly approached it and stopped it temporarily: "What are you going to do? Directly cross the river to fight?"

"Otherwise? My people are sacrificed like cattle and sheep! Even if they are really killed, I will get the bodies back. I will kill all those Franks. Don't stop me."

For a while, the blue fox was very diffuse, and now there was a buzzing in the ears. More and more soldiers gathered on the riverside. Naturally, a large number of soldiers were really infected by the restless Melalen people, and they went to pull their long boats.

At this moment, the gathered warriors booed.

Blue Fox raised his head and squinted his eyes to see that the Frank's sword had stabbed into the stomachs of those tied to the stakes.

More cruel things are still happening, just like cutting up a sheep and slaughtering a cow. The Frank executioners ignored the heart-rending wails of the tortured, and like opening a wooden door, forcefully tore open the wounds of the tortured, pulling out the heart and liver with all their strength, and then He stepped aside and openly displayed the painful image of the tortured man to the Normans on the other side.

The executioner's body was covered in blood, and his hands were dripping with blood. They continued to cut with knives as if to vent their anger, and continued to shout.

It's too late! Bjorn still wanted to save his life, but his captured men died tragically like human sacrifices. No! Their death was even hundreds of times worse than that of human animals.

"Damn Franks! You will pay with blood!"

Bjorn had never been so angry and mad, he almost broke his teeth and clenched his fists and almost broke his finger bones.

The minds of the Mellaren people were completely filled with anger, and three boats took the lead in forcibly crossing the Maas River.

They were not alone, for all the Ross allies who witnessed what happened fell into a rage.

The most radical ones are the young soldiers, especially the Seventh Flag Team.

Askard gathered his brothers. They all put on armor and gathered in large numbers on the river bank, cutting off ropes and busy pushing the boat.

"A bunch of impulsive brats." The bared-toothed Blue Fox rushed over with his soldiers again. As soon as he held down Asgard's shoulders, the boy struggled to break free.

"Asgard? What are you doing?"

"Uncle! You are a fool! You should have supported the all-out war I hoped for last night! Now the Franks are sitting on our heads! The shame and humiliation cannot be tolerated, and we must avenge those Malaren people."

"You! There may be a scam here." Blue Fox intuitively felt the danger, but the radical young man couldn't listen at all.

Askard is not willing to take care of the blue fox at all, and such unorganized and undisciplined behavior has become a common phenomenon.

It would be fine if he died on the battlefield.

there has never been!

There had never been any precedent for a Viking warrior being slaughtered as cattle and sheep by the Franks. This shameful humiliation angered almost everyone, and it was simply wishful thinking to make everyone sane.

"Uncle! No one can be a coward! Go ahead and organize an attack! I will take action now."

Forget it, Askard was too lazy to continue talking nonsense, because he had already pushed the longship back into the water with more than a dozen brothers, and then waded into the boat through violent splashes.

The young man skillfully pulled out the long oar.

"Brothers! Revenge! Let's go!"

The Maas River is said to be wide. This time Bjorn led his people to reach the other side of the river first. He was pleased to see the elite Rus wearing blue stripes and white robes also starting to cross the river.

He was very pleased and thought that Blue Fox had figured it out in an instant. He couldn't help but be overjoyed and roared at his last warriors, who only had a few hundred people: "Brothers, we are not fighting alone. The Russians will also land soon. Let's go! Follow us. I will kill those executioners and then seek revenge on their main force!"

What is a cavalryman? Bjorn's Malaren army had never faced off against an enemy cavalry army.

Besides, didn’t the Russians defeat the Frank cavalry? They can do it, and the people of Melalen can do it even more.

Strong confidence accompanied by rage, Bjorn holds a buckler in his left arm and a Ross steel sword in his right hand. The Mellaren Army did not organize a shield wall. They just ran all the way on the riverside grassland, not even bothering to care about their long boats, and allowed one of the boats to be pushed aside by the current.

Some time ago, the Malaren Army took the lead in launching an attack on behalf of the entire coalition, and the landing place was almost at this location.

Now they are still the first to take action. This courageous momentum is very appealing.

The 7th Banner of the Russian Army was the first to respond, so when they saw Askard launching an attack, his young men Kelha and Yinvar led the Finnish and Danish troops to cross the river respectively.

As a result, more soldiers believed that the supreme commander Blue Fox had launched an order for a full-scale cross-river operation. Except for a small number of those left behind in the camp, the entire army began their own cross-river operations.