Rise of Rurik

In the early morning, thick fog spread over the land. The whole world was wet and cold, which was extremely unfriendly to the huge Smolensk warriors who were forced to sleep in the open.

They lit bonfires at the edge of the forest to keep out the cold and cook food. By morning the bonfires were reduced to scorching embers.

Their bodies were dampened by the mist. Rather than continuing to fight, restoring their bodies to warmth and dryness was the top priority.

One after another, the fog drifted near the West Dvina River, and the whole world became even more gray. The visibility in the places where the fog passed suddenly plummeted to less than five meters.

The soldiers fell into the mist one after another. They shouted the names of their friends to each other to dispel their inner worries, fearing that all this was the conspiracy of the Chaos God Cherno.

Vadim was not surprised by the strange fog. The fog itself was nothing. It was probably impossible for the enemy to escape while taking advantage of the fog, but the possibility of them launching a sneak attack based on the fog was not small.

The cavalry moved in the fog, and Vadim and his men once again stood at the forefront of the camp. Although the fog obscured everything, he knew that right in front of him was the enemy's damn fortress.

A rich voice shouted from the weapon: "Don't be afraid! Stay alert! Prepare to fight!" The speaker was Vadim, who was both brave and reckless, and he was still the same after so many years.

Perhaps, as this person said, taking advantage of weapons to launch a sneak attack is really a smart move. However, Yelinger was also startled by the fog early in the morning. The thick fog shrouded the nearby area, and the Vitebsk Fortress was completely trapped in it.

Compared with those outside the city, the severe reduction of personnel meant that the strength of the defenders plummeted, but it did not leave enough comfortable sleeping area for the remaining soldiers.

There were more than a dozen senior soldiers sitting in the warm long room. Everyone's expressions were ugly, and they were obviously frightened by Tuan Wu.

Everyone hopes to hear the opinion of the old man Yellinger. After all, the next battle will depend on this veteran.

"I've thought about it." He said slowly: "It's hard for a hundred of us to defend the entire fortress." As soon as he finished speaking, everyone who wanted to hear exciting news was extremely puzzled.

"We were clearly high in fighting spirit last night, and we are still in high spirits today. You... why should you say discouraging words? I don't want to die in a vain battle, and I still have to hold on to the fortress and wait for reinforcements." A soldier stood up and made a joint statement on behalf of everyone.

Yellinger coughed twice and glanced at everyone with sharp and old eyes: "Don't rush to refute yet. You, Eyvind, you have many opportunities to kill the enemy, and you will indeed not die in vain. And you, Everyone sitting here! We are the ones who took the initiative to get into this predicament. Each soldier killed at least five enemies or more. We can't go out of the city to duel with them, so we rely on the city wall to resist them. However, with our limited strength, We may not be able to defend the outer city wall in the foreseeable future. Fortunately! Our inner city defense is the strongest." It seems that Yellinger intends to give up the defense of the outer city wall, as if he has also lost confidence in the ditches and trenches that protect the city.

"They may take advantage of the fog to launch a sneak attack. Most of the brothers are currently stationed at the east gate. But we also have to consider the possibility that the enemy will bundle up rafts and use water to land and attack from the north gate. Besides... you are definitely not fools, I will definitely think of some tricks to break through our trenches and outer walls..."

"Uncle, you think highly of them." The speaker was still the young Avender.

"Shut up first. I'm well-informed and you've just grown up. It's not your turn to interrupt here."

"But, everyone here is young and promising." The young man pouted rebelliously.

"Young and promising? If only you were like that kid Karl. You are only fourteen years old, and this is your first battle."

"But it can achieve my glory." The young man still held his chin high.

"That's alright. In my opinion, the enemy is not stupid. More pragmatically, I think the outer wall we built is too long to be defended. It is precisely the inner city that is indestructible. Don't question my words. I am the only old man here who can help you guys. The boy became a hero guarding the fortress." A group of young people argued that they could not argue with Yellinger who had seen him before. They had all kinds of ideas, but they were not timid.

After all, so far, not one of these young people from the north has died in battle. On the other hand, yesterday's battle was just a group of engineers who were good at shooting and countered the enemy like hunting. Fighting was like a game. What's so scary?

In the mouth of young people, whether there are a thousand or ten thousand enemies, killing so many enemies is not a big problem as long as the conditions are ripe.

As for the possibility that the enemy could break through the fortress, the young people didn't think it was possible. Only Yellinger and a few elites were clamoring about the possibility, making them seem like outliers.

The fog gradually dissipated, and the two armies standing on the battlefield due to the thick fog were extremely wary of each other, fearing that the other party would attack first. As a result, the sun shone and the fog completely dissipated, and each other noticed that the two sides were in a tense confrontation. For quite a while.

The sun is out, but the sky is not clear. The sky is gray, and the sun's true form appears and disappears. Most of the time, it seems to be a small patch in the clouds.

"Glowing patches". One flag after another fluttered on the city wall, and the tallest building in the inner city, a huge Ross flag, was particularly dazzling.

They are the best as always

"Provocative things" made Vadim particularly angry. It was precisely these flags that gradually increased the morale of the Smolensk army.

However, there was no bloody battle today. Under the order of Vadim, the army outside the city organized all the drums to make a big noise to attract the Russians to the city to watch.

The Smolensk army followed the example of the Varyags and stacked their homemade round shields on top of each other. Most of them were in groups of fifty or sixty people. They used a large number of shield walls to advance towards the east gate of the fortress in a neat and chaotic manner. .

At first glance they seemed to be getting along with the new idea of ​​siege. Jellinger and his friends gathered at the east gate again. Due to the absolute lack of troops, there were only a handful of soldiers staying in the inner city.

Those who stayed in the inner city did not have nothing to do. Some people simply stood on the roof and relied on their good eyesight to observe the enemy's movements. They also watched the course of the Medvina River to ensure that the enemy would not make a sneak attack.

Yellinger has made a record. The so-called main supplies have been concentrated in the inner city. Although there are many buildings in the outer city, they are only dormitories and empty barns. A gate in the inner city is left open to ensure that once trouble occurs in the outer city, the brothers can Quickly retreating to the inner city to continue the resistance is also a more fierce resistance.

The old man wore a butterfly helmet with an eye patch on his head, and the polished helmet was shaking wantonly on the city wall, which was also a provocation.

He stared closely at the enemy's movements... The young man felt that the shield walls were advancing one after another, as if the Smolensk people had bought a group of northern mercenaries.

"Are there still Danes working for them?!" Avender, who was too young, turned his head to hear the news, with a hint of fear in his tone.

"Boy, are you scared?!" Yellinger looked back and blinked specially.

"I'm not afraid...just."

"Nothing. Fear is normal. But they are definitely not Danes. Bah!" Jellinger spat: "It's just a poor imitation. You!" Jellinger pointed again.

"I?"

"The three prisoners are not dead yet, and they will come in handy now."

"Execution now? Boss, are you planning to execute the prisoners in front of them?!"

"You are very smart. Yes! It's just that I thought of a better way to anger them." The three captured prisoners of war all had arrow wounds. If the injuries were not serious, they would have become hard corpses.

The prisoners revealed too much key information in a big meal, and in exchange they got only

"You won't be abused" doesn't mean you will survive. The prisoner walked tremblingly onto the scaffolding, reluctant to look at the violent Varangians. He turned his head slightly and noticed the large-scale march of the Smolensk army and burst into tears.

What follows is a provocative scene. I saw a Varyag warrior with a steel sword in one hand and a round shield in the other. The shield was specially painted with chalk mud and woad dye to look like a Rus.

Eyvind wanted to be a hero, so Jellinger gave this kid a chance. This man stood on an empty wooden box, almost exposing his entire body to the enemy.

He shouted in Slavic: "The people of Smolensk are cowards! Vadim is the biggest coward! Vadim, watch us Russians execute your people! Soon, you will be executed!" He listened to Yeling again The provocative words turned into insults to Vadim himself.

The provocative effect the defenders hoped for soon became apparent, and Vadim on horseback could no longer stay in the rear.

He had already changed his horse and rushed to the front. He raised his sword and yelled curses in response. However, he was in an extremely difficult position and was at a distance where it was difficult to snipe accurately.

"Shoot him?" asked a soldier with a crossbow. Yelinger signaled to hold his troops still. He saw that Vadim was obviously wearing chain mail, but he was probably also wearing a layer of armor.

The distance is too far, even if the arrow hits him, it may not completely break through the armor. Unless the person decides to get closer.

"Forget it. Evander, let's see if you dare to take action now." Yelinger gave Avender a look at the tall man. The latter simply put his shield on his back and stretched out his hands. As a result, his eyes were already covered by the push. The hooded captive.

"Vadim! Ross sacrifices your human blood to Odin!" After saying that, the too young Avender stabbed the prisoner to death with a sword, and after a lot of effort, he lifted the severed head with a wooden stick. Wende has been bathed in blood and become a terrifying existence.

The bodies of the three prisoners were pushed down, and their hideous heads were deliberately shown off by the Russians. This move was completely in retaliation for the enemy's sneak attack on the logging camp yesterday.

This matter was also clearly seen by the Smolensk soldiers who were marching in formation. Many of them knew the captured brothers. Unexpectedly, the missing person yesterday did not die in battle, but now he is really dead - like a sacrifice. Usually killed by the enemy.

"Revenge!" Vadim's shouting voice was trembling. Under his inspiration, he planned to show off his power and intimidate the enemy's army today, but finally turned the intimidation into an attack.

However, the flooded trench was still difficult to pass. Vadim thought of a way but did not use it today. He actually considered that the opponents were the Russians, who were a branch of the Varyags.

There are a few Danish Varyags living in Smolensk. These people did not participate in this battle, but only provided some ideological help to Vadim.

According to northern tradition, when one party forms a formation to challenge, the other party often has to leave their residence to form a formation to respond. The two sides will fight in the open field to determine the winner.

What Vadim's advisers said was true. In the past, armed fighting was like this in the Nordic world, but he didn't know why the fighting was like that - the fundamental reason was that the warring tribes couldn't afford to delay, and they all wanted a quick victory.

But there are ample food reserves in the inner city of Vitebsk, and there are even shallow wells so drinking water is not a problem.

The inner city is more fortified, so why bother fighting to the death outside the city? It was precisely because of the limited strength of the Ross in the early expansion that the Ross battle, which could not tolerate failure, became increasingly cumbersome. When the enemy intended to engage in a traditional fight, they were greeted by an overwhelming barrage of arrows, javelins, and even stones that were thrown inexplicably... Vaji Tom had the most painful understanding of Ross, even though it was more than ten years ago.

The shield wall advanced slowly, which was indeed different from the chaotic rush yesterday. Seeing that they had entered the bow shooting range majestically, Jellinger, who was about to launch a volley, ordered his men to continue to wait and see.

"Strange, what is this guy Vadim doing?" He was still muttering, and suddenly some lightly-armed soldiers came out of the shield wall with bows and magic tricks.

"No! There's an ambush! Raise your shield over your head to avoid the arrows!" Yellinger's shout was quite abrupt. Fortunately, the defenders saw the enemy throwing missiles into the air in a disorderly manner, so they subconsciously defended themselves temporarily.

The garrison soldiers who were still at the east gate were holding up their shields against the wooden wall, trying to avoid the bows and arrows at such an extreme angle.

After all, only arrows falling vertically could hit them. The warriors who stayed on the scaffolding did not ask for a counterattack, so they raised their shields above their heads and acted like a turtle.

The archers in the attacking Smolensk army acted completely in a flash move, shooting at a large angle and then hiding in an assault.

After firing several times in succession, they found that the Russians did not fight back, so they boldly moved towards the trench and continued to launch large-angle shots.

So, does such an attack really work? Vadim felt that if it was effective, it was effective. The recruited hunters had to use homemade arrows to cope with the strange requirements of the big boss, but the hunters were not fools, and they were not stupid enough to consume their best iron cluster arrows. The bow and arrow are shot in one go. If you look carefully, you will see that the arrows are all bone clusters.

It is this kind of arrow, made with arrow clusters stuck on Ross's buckler. If it hit Rose's iron helmet, there wouldn't even be a scratch.

The arrows fell like hailstones. The defenders hiding by the wooden wall held up their shields and picked up an arrow, watching the cluster of arrows and shouting that it was absurd.

"What, they are still using these arrows? Our hunters are all using iron clusters, and even the Finns have changed their weapons. They are still using bones."

"Haha, understand, after all, Ross's iron clusters will not be sold to the Smolensk people."

"Sure enough, they are a group of idiots, and we are actually afraid of a group of idiots hiding arrows here." Someone else shouted regretfully.

"Alas." A soldier said pragmatically: "It's just because there are too few of us. If we had a thousand soldiers, we would have gone out of the city and killed them all."

"Maybe there will be a chance." Some older soldiers who still looked childish clearly realized and deeply understood Yellinger's intention: "We will attract them firmly. As long as the battle is delayed until reinforcements arrive, our brothers will Rush out and join in the final fight." However, these young warriors still didn't understand Yellinger's intentions.

Some warriors deliberately broke the arrows they picked up out of disdain for the enemy. He was still holding up his buckler and being patient when he suddenly saw his defending subordinates playing some inexplicable tricks.

The young boys competed with each other to see who could break an enemy's arrow shaft with one hand.

"Hey! You're not allowed to do this! Collect the enemy's arrows to strengthen our defenses. Remember, don't worry about what kind of arrows they are! The more arrows we have, the better." This sentence woke up young Ostara who regarded fighting as a game. The boys.

young people began to

Collect arrows from the "Hail", pull them out from the ground, sort them into bundles and pile them up against the wall. As the attacker, Vadim had no better way. To harass the enemy with as many arrows as possible and dampen their energy was the original intention of today's attack. Since he was provoked by the enemy, he had to shoot more arrows in return.

It's good if you beat them to a point of nervousness, and if you can injure a few enemies, that's great. Vadim does not have any staff around him now, and the outcome of the battle depends entirely on his personal will.

He did think of a set of tactics. Today's provocative battle is by no means the main attack. It is actually part of his huge plan.

He has his own way

"Meticulous logic": "I take the initiative to attack, and you will either go out to fight, hold on, or escape. I can't complete the siege before the river freezes, so you can flee. But doesn't running away make you a coward? You Russians are very arrogant. , I definitely don’t dare to escape. My attack today seems like I am helpless. You must think so, so you will stay here and wait to die. The quality of our arrows is not good, and I can’t kill you even if I think about it. I can only annoy you. That's enough. Even if all the arrows are consumed, it won't be a problem. In the end, we will destroy the wooden wall, cross the ditch, and kill you with spears and axes." Vadim can be very whimsical, but his hunters are more pragmatic. After all, they will use up all their arrows. After the arrow, Vadim will not reimburse such consumables. When the war is over, the hunters will have to make new arrows, and they will have to bear all the costs themselves.

Although the bone cluster arrows are inferior, it will be different if they are smeared with some feces, even if they are stained with some mud on the spot. Let the enemy's wounds be contaminated, causing fear fever to kill the enemy. They don't understand the specific principle, and they think it is causing

"Curse of the Chaos God" is at least an enemy-killing move. Therefore, some warriors secretly prayed to the Chaos God to curse the enemy while shooting arrows.

However, this move has no practical effect on the defenders who generally wear plate armor. Although the garrison soldiers were generally young, those who stayed in the city were all elite and well-equipped. In order to ensure the strength of the Vitebsk fortress, Duchess Carlotta really spent a lot of money, and now all her efforts are meaningful.

Smolensk archers use the Mediterranean shooting method. Their short wooden bows can project light arrows to a distance of one hundred meters, which barely meets the standards of war bows.

The bow is made of oak. To be fair, the material is fine. The biggest problem is that the arrows are too inferior.

The arms of the Orion archers gradually became sore, and they did not dare to waste arrows wantonly. They gradually stopped in the free shooting state.

Now, it is finally the turn of the Russians to fight back...