Rise of Rurik

The Smolensk army collapsed!

A large group of black shadows squirmed violently like a colony of ants on the ice that had turned scarlet.

The fleeing soldiers abandoned their helmets and armor and fled madly towards the village where they came from.

They entered the empty village and had no time to get food in order to escape urgently. They had no idea what the future would be like, and now it was just their instinctive desire to survive that drove their bodies to quickly cross the village and run toward the woodland in the northeast.

Prior to this, those farmers who had fled early had burrowed into the forest to hide even if they were digging snow pits.

Now the fleeing soldiers followed in their footsteps.

Hundreds of soldiers were extremely resolute. Under the leadership of their trusted leader, they simply planned to move towards the Vitebsk fortress that had never been breached.

They were none other than the young talent from the village who had shared the potent Gvas drink with Vadim.

"Vadim has lived up to our expectations. He can't defeat the Varangians. Let's leave while we still have the strength!"

"You're right. Hurry and hide in the village! Just let those people continue to fight the damn Ross people, and we'll seize the opportunity to leave."

These people unified their attitude and attracted a group of defeated soldiers to follow them.

Vadim was too lazy to curse now.

He felt seriously betrayed and called on his followers: "You have all seen it! It was not that we were unsuccessful in fighting, but that some people became traitors and caused our defeat."

When he said these words, he was also running, walking as fast as flying, leaving many of his close followers in leather armor behind.

It doesn’t matter what the enemy’s strength is! The enemy is fleeing!

Spuyut resolutely ordered an all-out pursuit and marched at full speed toward the village.

At this point, after paying a certain price of soldier casualties, the Ross coalition stepped over the piles of scarlet corpses on the ice on both sides of the enemy and began to enter the largest village of Polotsk.

The largest village is located at the T-junction formed by the West Dvina River and the Polota River. Many soldiers from Riga know it - it was this group of farmers who used to row canoes and rafts in the river to ask for money from the passing merchant ships. Tolls.

Spuyut's understanding of this was limited. Beside him, a group of brothers with blood-stained steel swords had bravely rushed towards the village with intricately arranged houses and chaotic streets.

Soldiers must remain on alert. They are worried about fierce street fighting against the enemy. However, what they see when they rush into it is an empty village.

Although there are still enemies present, those guys are like rabbits hiding from the attacks of wolves, leaving their backs to the advancing Rus. Anyone who is caught up is mercilessly killed.

Stekander inadvertently discovered a pile of four extremely unusual corpses on the frozen river.

Many dead people gathered together, many of them shirtless and with obvious tattoos on their bodies. The bucklers were all broken into pieces, and the male and female warriors were dead in silence. Their golden hair and braided golden beards swayed slightly with the wind, but they could no longer get up.

Stekander was surprised: "Is he from Russia?"

"Maybe he's one of ours." A soldier responded decisively.

"He's actually one of ours?!"

"He." The soldier approached the pile of corpses and gently touched one of the dead with his feet: "Brard, he said that he went to the East to explore, but he didn't expect to die here."

"It's actually him?!"

"That's him. His broken teeth are unmistakable, even if..." The warrior who spoke couldn't help but salivate: "Even if his face is beyond recognition."

As the boss of the Danish community in the city of Riga, Stekander certainly knows a group of powerful local fighters. However, the Danish community does not exist permanently. There are Viking settlements farther away. Those people can move to Riga and settle down. The first choice is naturally to live in the Danish community and become brothers with everyone.

There must be many familiar people lying here, but the bodies were brutally destroyed. If the defilement of the corpse is not used for sacrificial activities, the only explanation is that the enemy is venting his anger!

He noticed again

At this point, the enemy must have taken away the weapons of the deceased. Almost all the iron swords, hand axes, and daggers were gone.

Who is the thief? Apparently some thieves have died here.

"Maybe we arrived a step too late." Another soldier squatted down. He checked the bodies of both the enemy and ours that were pressed between them, and surprisingly found that the bodies were still warm. "They should have died in the battle today."

"Damn it, these Smolensk troops..."

These Danish berserkers had just fought hard, and their tattoos were stained with the blood of their enemies. Everyone was out of breath from exhaustion, and they agreed that the final pursuit should be done by the fortress defenders and the Russians. When they could breathe, they saw a large number of brothers from the same community being killed.

"Keep chasing, and the enemy must pay the price!" Stekander gave the order, and the Danes also entered the village.

But just when he was intent on continuing to chase the black figure that was constantly crawling on the snowy field, Spyut personally stopped the impulsive old man.

Standing in the east of the village, facing a large area of ​​farmland abandoned in winter, they are covered with snow, and beyond that is the forest.

Stekander stood here, taking off his helmet slightly, his beard and hair flowing in the wind.

"Why didn't you pursue me? You Russians didn't pursue me, so why did you stop me from pursuing it?" he asked.

Earl Spyut poked his sword in the snow: "The battle went well, maybe... this is a conspiracy."

"You think too highly of them! The Smolensk soldiers must have relied on their numerical superiority to fight. If we are really powerful, we will only be killed. Now is the time to pursue. I want to avenge the Danish brothers who were killed." "

"It's better to save your worries. Brother, they fled into the forest. Are you still digging holes like a snow fox to dig out the hidden enemies? The cold will kill them, so you don't have to do anything. Besides, we can't be sure that the enemies are not alive. Reinforcements. Where is the cavalry?"

"Huh?" Stekander was slightly confused.

"Didn't the intelligence say that they still have 500 cavalry? We only have so many brothers, and now some of them are dead. Rather than chasing, we should quickly treat the wounded, transport our fallen and cremate them. Also, try to find prisoners of war and ask questions That’s why they are.”

"Prisoners of war..." Stekander still looked fiercely in the direction of the forest: "I don't expect any prisoners of war. Anyone who is caught up by my people will be killed. Maybe that Vadim was also killed in the rebellion. .”

"If so." Earl Spout looked at the guy again and patted him on the shoulder: "The person who kills Vadim will be rewarded with a sum of money by the king. Of course, I hope that guy runs away."

"absurd."

"No. That Vadim will run away soon. It's better for him to run away and be captured alive. It's better for the king to skin him himself and make him a blood eagle."

"That's all." Stekander had no intention of continuing the conversation. He and his brothers from the Gulf of Riga decided to set up camp in this village.

As for the Novopolodsk Fortress, which has been clearly named and is in flames, there is no possibility of extinguishing the fire!

The main buildings in the fortress were irreversibly ignited.

Visuende was finally able to calm down, and his iron-like body collapsed. He was not exhausted, but he could not help curling up and coughing violently while lying on the snow, and coughed up some blood. It was obvious that the hot and thick smoke that had been inhaled into the lungs had done a lot of damage to the body.

His life is not in danger, but his body will not allow him to do strenuous exercise for some time to come.

He was helped up by his subordinates.

"Sir, we have won. Look, this is a village."

"I know. I have failed the Duke's expectations. Go...go to the fortress to put out the fire!"

Such a request was too much, and the young warriors looked at each other and had no choice but to explain the fact that the fortress could not be saved.

A kind-hearted soldier consoled him: "It was originally a wooden fortress built during a summer raid. If it is gone, we will rebuild it next year! At least Polotsk is still in our hands, and everything can be rebuilt in the future."

Wei Suend understood the good intentions of his subordinates, but he paid attention to the current situation. The situation was very different from what everyone imagined.

What is Polotsk?

It is named after the local villagers who call themselves. If the Polotsk people disappear on a large scale, it will be left with ruins and a place name at most.

It was not until the battle was over that the soldiers who gradually calmed down could truly understand their situation.

The sky was already dark, and the setting sun turned the frozen river into a magnificent orange color. The corpses lying scattered on the ice were particularly eye-catching. The blood of the dead had condensed. When the soldiers carried the corpses of the enemy and ourselves, they suddenly found that it was extremely difficult for them to stir up the chaos. The dead together were separated, and they had no choice but to cut the ice and take them away together.

All the corpses of our own that could be buried were gathered to the line of the frozen Bolota River adjacent to the village.

On the other side of this place is the blazing Novopolotsk Fortress. As night falls, the flames of the fortress have burned the sky red, and abnormal celestial phenomena can be noticed from a long distance!

For example, the Vitebsk Fortress, which has never been breached, and the huge Russian army stationed there could see the blood-red horizon. What happened there? ! Polotsk! The village and reservation must have been attacked by the Smolenskians.

The whole army spent the night in the empty village. On this night, the people who escaped from the fortress gradually returned to the village with food, bypassing the Burning Fortress.

There were even armed villagers who participated in the attack and were defeated. They had nowhere to go but returned to the village to try their luck.

Just as Stekander estimated, the army that killed Red Eyes did not capture prisoners of war, and those who survived died quickly, and the military could not figure out why.

However, some people who returned to the village became prisoners of war.

A group of men forced to fight directly contributed to the burning of the fortress, and Vesuend wanted to order their execution. After listening to the complaints of these people, Spyut absolved them of their guilt, and finally asked for more familiar information.

For the first time, the three commanders of the coalition forces understood Vadim's determination - to completely destroy the Polotsk Fortress.

It can be said that this person's idea was finally realized, but the Smolensk army could not survive alone.

The enemy only had 3,000 soldiers, and they did have cavalry. However, due to the failed attack on Vitebsk, the soldiers' physical strength was almost exhausted. Vadim had no choice but to order the killing of all the horses and self-destruction of the cavalry unit.

Stekander had no intention of complaining anymore. He knew it would be useless. There is another thorny issue for the Danes - a valuable cargo left behind by the armed merchants who died in the battle was taken away by the people who evacuated the fortress, and now the villagers are required to return the goods.

They are all ferocious Varyag people, and now they are fighting side by side because of their common interests. If they don't know about these amber and beeswax, they are afraid that they will fight against each other.

What Spuyut has to consider is that these villagers with special status have protected the Danes' gems because of their marriage relationship with the Ostara people. It is not appropriate to take them all away now.

So everyone was happy with the result. For some people who had just experienced the ordeal, they lost their fortress after a magical day and obtained a batch of precious gems, relying on these stones to make a comeback.

The whole army settled in the village, and no one found Vadim among the corpses.

Are you still looking for it? The fallen enemies were either dressed in tatters or wearing a piece of leather armor on top of a tattered leather coat. It is said that Vadim wore chainmail and held a steel sword stolen from Rus. His outfit was very different from others.

No one found the noble body, and everyone believed that the damned Vadim really ran away with oil on his feet.

Some firewood was lit in a room, and Spuyut and Stekander sat cross-legged to warm themselves up.

Wesuend suffered serious internal injuries, and the fortress defenders had no choice but to send the soldier Bishom to negotiate with the reinforcements on his behalf.

"Create the brothers who died in the battle as soon as possible. Only in this way can their souls go to Valhalla smoothly. Stekander, what do you think? And you, Vesuend, your dead must also be burned to ashes... "

As the one with the highest status now, Spuyut can speak for himself. Considering that they are friendly with each other, they still have the attitude of two companions every day.

"Then burn it." Bishom's face was calm, with a hint of seriousness and sadness.

"You Aosta

We have done our best to recruit people to defend the fort. Now..." Spuyut wanted to say something, but when he thought about it, what he said might be a bit redundant.

He paused for breath: "I did a simple calculation and found that there are less than 500 brothers who can fight. If the enemy is really defeated by us and collapses, and the enemy really only has 3,000 troops, the crisis in Polotsk will be over. .”

"Meaning that we can sit back and relax?" Stekander shook his head: "Damn Vadim ruined everything, and my people's plan to go to Rome to do business went bankrupt. I... I'll just say it bluntly!"

Stekander went all out to seek an explanation from the Kingdom of Rus on behalf of all the people of the Danish community in the Gulf of Riga.

"The King of Rus is a great man. By following him, we Danes living in a foreign land can all get rich! This is why I am loyal to the King of Rus, not the King of Denmark!"

However, King Rus must ensure the safety of the transportation lines! The Smolensk people were either destroyed or submitted to the Rus' king. As for Vadim, he must die. "

"Are you questioning King Ross?" For the first time, Si Puyut showed uneasiness in his eyes.

"I don't dare. We are about contracts."

"Then, just wait and see."

Spute didn't want to argue with the guy, and he didn't want to get on bad terms at all times.

As a result, the panting soldiers carved out a piece of land on the bank of the frozen river, and waited until the next morning for large-scale logging work to begin.

The coalition soldiers were fortunate that the fleeing enemies did not loot or destroy the village's public granary, so everyone could enjoy cooking wheat.

There is no need to be stingy at all, the owners of the wheat have disappeared, and the warehouses full of wheat are the blood rewards for the victors.

They must eat a lot, otherwise they will freeze to death due to weakness in the increasingly cold days...

After eating, people cut down some pine trees and piled up large and small cremation platforms with the pine branches at predetermined locations.

A silver coin is placed in the right eye of the deceased. Legend has it that Odin sacrificed his right eye to gain wisdom. This funeral custom is very common in the Danish community in Riga.

The Danish armed merchants who died in battle, the Ostara people guarding the fortress, the Polotsk villagers who confirmed their identities, and the pirates from Saaremaa Island who came all the way to fight.

At this moment, they no longer distinguish between you and me. They are returning to dust in the flames, and their souls follow the soaring smoke to the other side of the dead's faith...