Rise of Rurik

The long oak pole is equipped with a sleeve-type steel spur. Its length is equivalent to about five meters. It is so long that a weight ball, even a stone, must be installed at the end of each spear.

When soldiers fight, they must hold the spear with both hands. When they swing it, the entire spear shaft trembles, just like a snake. The spearhead is the snake's head. It is difficult to judge where it comes out and stabs.

A spear is like this. The vanguard of the Saxon army is two thousand people. For the time being, the soldiers still have spears on their shoulders. A black forest is approaching.

The Saxon army's front was not neat, and the positions of the frontline soldiers were uneven.

They were under tremendous pressure. Even if they put on a layer of plate armor and an iron helmet, no one was really sure that they were truly invulnerable.

They couldn't help themselves. Not only did they have no possibility of retreating on the increasingly crowded battlefield, they couldn't even stop. The companions behind them kept squeezing the front line. The soldiers in the second and third rows squeezed each other, and an invisible force The force pushed the entire army to move, and the only way out was to kill through the enemy formation.

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At this moment, the fierce reaction of the slow-responsive defenders finally took shape.

No time to put on heavy armor! Those weird black troops have entered the mountain pass in the form of a human wall.

Instead of putting on chainmail, the elite Metz army had no choice but to put on plate armor and vests, put on shields and swords, and rush out of the camp.

More peasant soldiers, who did not have armor to begin with, entered the battle in civilian clothes with shields and axes. There are so many of these soldiers and their responses are quick. As for their defensive capabilities, a small shield is better than nothing.

More and more soldiers of the Metz Army walked out of the camp. They did not expect that the fighting would suddenly break out. What was worse was that everyone did not even eat. It was only when the morning fog receded that they would start fighting. I was afraid that after a lot of killing, they would not be able to fight. A few people can even faint from exhaustion.

"Those peasants and soldiers can still resist for a while. Cavalry! Hurry up and mount your horses, we will crush the enemy!"

As the eldest son of the earl, Freibach was the first heir to the earldom of Metz. He rode his horse at the stables of the military camp and urged his soldiers to advance and mount their horses.

"There is no time to put a cloth on the war horse, and the horse's breastplate is no longer hung. You mount your horse immediately and follow me to launch the attack."

Freibach held the reins and kept wandering back, and soon a cavalry team was assembled.

His reaction was quick. Even if Lothair arranged for the standing cavalry to be stationed in Kaiserslautern, to ensure that the heavy cavalry maintains full combat effectiveness on the battlefield, it would take time to feed the horses a large amount of oats, and each war horse must wear armor. The rider's armor must be stronger.

The two cavalry teams had no time to put on armor. The soldiers put on iron helmets, at most chain mail and plate armor. They hung swords from their waists, grabbed a lance and hurriedly mounted their horses.

While the cavalry were still busy, the bloody battle was just a few steps away from each other at the mountain pass.

The military commander here, Freibach, was still busy recruiting cavalry through promotions. The large number of infantry was not commanded by senior nobles. These mixed people were fighting instinctively.

Instinct can be a reckless charge, or it can be a dodge to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages.

The knight class of the Metz Army, the knights and their retinues formed cavalry, and the peasant infantry they brought lacked command, so they had to gather at the mountain pass with weapons.

Facing the "dark army" that came in overwhelming numbers, but with extremely steady steps and angry expressions, every one of them was terrified.

If someone could raise his arms and shout, more than a thousand soldiers who had already assembled would rush forward with a roar.

But there is no one!

There are also a group of defeated people who escaped from Sarabrücken. They don't know who their current opponents are and don't bother to care. As soon as these people entered the military formation with weapons, they were the first to retreat.

Not shouting "our army is defeated" was their last act of kindness.

At this moment, the Saxon troops had leveled their spears one after another, and the real wall of spears had been completed.

"Ho ho ho!"

"Ho ho ho!"

With every roar, the Saxon army took a step forward. The army pressed forward in an orderly manner. With their angry eyes, they could clearly see their opponents' eyes and their anxious and nervous faces.

The Saxon army was attacking, and the battle did not really break out, even though the spearhead was almost at the enemy's throat.

While continuing to press forward, they continued to retreat. Even if more defenders joined the team, this retreat was not organized.

Until a middle-aged nobleman decided to be a hero.

Baron Brisgow joins the battlefield with his warriors.

Is there any horse more important than meritorious service in battle? In his heart, he didn't want Count Metz to become bigger. Besides, the right to own Sargao cannot be confirmed by the king. If Briscoe performs meritorious service, perhaps Sargao will belong to him.

"Warriors! The time for meritorious deeds has come! Follow me and kill the dark northern monsters. Don't care who they are, let's go!"

Yes, Baron Brisgow doesn’t know the identity of his opponent either.

No one recognized the Saxon flag that Liudov later invented. At least they held the cross flag high, presumably because they all believed in God.

First of all, they must be loyal to Ludwig, but no one knows which noble they are.

There were soldiers everywhere, and the cramped mountain pass area did not allow cavalry to fight. Baron Briscoe simply dismounted with his followers. With this Baron at least taking the lead, the soldiers who continued to retreat finally stopped.

First, Brisgow's army launched an attack. Even if there was a dense mass of spears, those who came behind would push those who came before them, and even if they rushed forward, they would definitely die. The soldiers who were blocked from retreat fearlessly ran into the wall of spears.

These people seek benevolence and receive benevolence, but they soon encounter thousands of jabs.

The sharp and hard top of the military spur is difficult for the opponent to break through the plate armor, but it can easily pierce the enemy's face and neck. Even if it only pokes the arm, it can quickly destroy the soldier's combat effectiveness.

Once struck, a horrifyingly huge blood hole was created, plasma spurted out, and the fatally wounded soldier fell down, and was trampled into the mud by other soldiers.

Can courage also break through a wall of spears? The first echelon of the Saxon army was like a huge meat grinder. Those who charged towards it were stabbed one after another and died quickly with fatal wounds.

There were also those who were lucky enough to dodge a few jabs, but could not avoid the jabs from the spearmen in the back row. Even the attack does not necessarily come from poking. The spearmen in the back row who are eager to kill the enemy face the enemy who successfully breaks into the spear formation, and use their own spears to slam down the spears like they are grabbing grass and hitting rabbits.

Even a wooden stick can break a person's bones, and at least it has a spearhead.

Breaking into the spear formation meant more blows. The brave soldiers were beaten until stars appeared in their eyes, and then were stabbed to death by the spearheads.

"Look, sir! Our army is advancing steadily, and the Metzians are being killed quickly by our army."

The retinue of cavalry held riding whips to guide Liudov in the direction. The former Duke of Westphalia had never fought such a smooth battle. He simply could not believe that a pure infantry team could suppress the enemy.

The reality was that his Saxon spearmen had an obvious advantage and suffered minimal casualties. The situation of the battle was completely beyond his expectation.

The brave Briscoe army did not delay at all. The Baron did not want to bury Lothair for honor. He had tried his best, but the black demon army could not be stopped by himself.

Perhaps only the heavy cavalry could rush over and flatten it.

The courage that had just been ignited was being extinguished quickly, or those brave men had already moistened the battlefield with their blood.

Even at this mountain pass, the intensity of the battle was no less intense than last year.

There were hundreds of corpses of Metz and Briscoe soldiers lying on the ground. Even if they were only stabbed and the injuries were not fatal, the wounded soldiers could not avoid the fate of being killed as long as they could not escape the battlefield on their own.

Because at the end of the Saxon army's front group, there were some soldiers armed with iron swords and harpoons. Their mission was to give the dying enemy soldiers who had not been trampled to death a pleasant death by stabbing them in their vital points.

Soon, even the cavalry led by Liudov himself had their horseshoes covered with scarlet mud caused by the enemy's blood soaking the ground.

The air was filled with the smell of rust, and corpses in extremely miserable conditions gradually appeared under the horses.

"Sir." A servant could not express his excitement: "Our army is invincible! In my opinion, Kaiserslautern belongs to us. If we seize the city and get the treasure, we will continue to go south."

"Are you so excited? That's fine! Let's keep cashing in. We'll take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to rob more."

Liudov, who could say such a thing, seemed to his personal soldiers to have become Normanized.

One of the guards cautiously asked, "But sir, what if we do it too harshly? God will punish us."

"Haha! Listen to what these words are." Liu Dofu glared at this overly cautious subordinate.

"It's not a robbery!" Someone quickly covered up for his friend. This person was also very good at talking: "We were ordered to fight, and the property we obtained belonged to Ludwig. His money was stolen, and we are fighting against the thieves. , and besides, according to the contract, Ludwig gave us his money. Is it wrong to take our money too?"

This logical dialectic was so amazing that Ludwig never imagined that there were wise men hidden among his own soldiers.

"Is it you who is speaking? Fendrick?" he asked with a smile.

"it's me."

"If you can speak, I will reward you with a pound of silver after the war." Then he shouted loudly: "All troops, follow me and continue to press forward."

Once a fight begins, it becomes a smooth battle. The more smoothly the battle goes, the more morale continues to increase. The soldiers forget about fatigue and ignore their own losses.

The Saxons were of course suffering casualties, and the soldiers of Metz's and Brisgow's armies struggled to throw some javelins and axes.

The Saxon army was beaten to death and injured, and sadly there was almost no one to save them. The cramped battlefield is either the enemy or one's own people, and wounded soldiers can be trampled to death by one's own people.

Such casualties are still insignificant, thinking that the enemy's losses are even more terrifying.

The two warring parties did not attach as much importance to long-range weapons such as crossbows and crossbows as the Russian army did. If Liudov had one and only one Russian flag team as an ally, the Saxons would be able to create a good show of Xu Jin's barrage.

Even if not, the battle turned towards the Saxon army.

Three thousand Metz and Brisgau warriors could not stop two thousand Saxon vanguards, and as many as a thousand were killed or injured. Sadly, this loss came out of nowhere.

The "Dark Spear Wall" is still advancing, and now the brave Baron Brisgow has suffered heavy losses. He can no longer bear it and chooses to flee with his own people.

"We are worthy of the king! These are the devil's apostles, let the king's cavalry deal with them."

The Baron was justifying his retreat, but it was also true that he had suffered heavy losses. The living warriors fell into deep fear. They looked like warriors, but in reality they became frightened rabbits.

The morale of the Saxon army on the mountain pass battlefield was growing. They saw all the enemies fleeing, and there were shameful backs of cowards everywhere.

"Have you already escaped?" Liudolf, Duke of Saxony, surprisingly remained calm. He informed his retinue: "Go and tell the grafs not to launch a pursuit and the entire army will defend on the spot."

But victory already belongs to Saxony, why should the Duke be calm?

Faced with the doubts of his followers, Liu Doufu seemed to see everything clearly. He also scolded us for not being decisive enough: "What do you know? Don't forget that they still have cavalry. Their infantry can't defeat us, they can only rely on cavalry. Go tell them, beware of cavalry attacks! Beware of a repeat of the Battle of the Elbe River."

The retinue no longer worried, as long as they recalled the Battle of the Elbe River, everyone would understand.

They informed the grafs as messengers that all the flag troops took the Duke's words as fact, and they really began to line up to defend themselves against the cavalry attack.

Actual combat has proven that they have won, and now they believe that the best way to deal with cavalry is endless spears.

Liu Duofu came prepared this time. Some of the baggage carriages were not loaded with ordinary logistics food, but simply wood.

The bark of the straight young red pine trees was pulled out, and the trunks were further trimmed with a scraper. Such a pine pole will serve as a kind of resistance horse, with one end pinned to a sharp point. The warriors will hold it on their shoulders in pairs and begin to transport it to the front of the formation one after another.

It wasn't until they were ordered to suspend the attack that the Saxon soldiers at the front began to feel tired.

All the exhaustion was worth it. Their boots stepped on the scarlet mud, and the blood began to turn into a stream and flowed into the nearby Lauter River, and the river turned red again.

Just like two years ago, Liudov himself arrived at the front with the cavalry. The appearance of the Saxon cavalry seemed to be an oath to the enemy that they were about to charge.

Those soldiers who fled into the barracks continued to flee, fearing that they would be chased by the "black cavalry" who came after them.

Liudov would definitely not pursue them. He walked in front of the formation himself, without any words to encourage morale. He simply told everyone to fight the cavalry.

Even though this kind of stagnation before the formation has somewhat dampened the morale of our own side.

He boasted that he had to do it. The so-called Saxon army could of course pursue them, but when they entered an area full of buildings, the advantage of spearmen fighting in groups was gone.

Falling into a chaotic battle will inevitably cause heavy losses to the army. The most terrifying result is probably that the enemy's well-organized cavalry launches an attack against the unsuspecting infantry fighting on their own. It is the most classic Frankish-style crushing.

This is the army that Liudolf risked everything to train. Once the losses are huge, it means that the Duke of Saxony will have to be a turtle for a long time in the future. I am afraid it will take ten years to lick his wounds.

Is it right or wrong to be so cautious?

Liudov has made his decision.

All the veterans who had experienced the decisive battle on the Elbe Glacier were in front of the battle, and all the young brave men were accompanying them. Each graf must set an example to prove their bravery to their fellow villagers.

As a result, a more powerful spear wall was being built, and the Saxons were waiting for the cavalry attack with a wait-and-see attitude.

They are willing to make this last bet. If they win the last battle, the entire Kaiserslautern and local wealth will be put into Saxony's pocket.