Rise of Rurik

Even Tamworth, the capital of Mercia Kingdom, had a resident population of only 5,000 people in peacetime.

In the eyes of the locals, the capital is really a big city with such a population.

The strange army came along the river. The people of more than a dozen villages near the capital saw the fleet upstream. They rushed into the city with limited strength out of fear, hoping that the tall stone wall would give enough. 's blessing.

It was for this reason that Tamworth suddenly became crowded. Because of the influx of refugees, the population easily reached 15,000.

The wet streets were full of people who took refuge. They endured the night with mud and the odor of excrement and urine. When the sky was bright again, the light in the east represented the end of the rain. The sunshine made the refugees feel better, but those inexplicable The army is still outside the city.

A group of soldiers stood on the wall of the outer city, and the ring-shaped city wall further diluted the few defenders.

It is very expensive to supply a standing army. Even in peacetime, the standing army of the Mercia royal family is only two thousand people. The main force of the army is not always stationed in the capital, the barracks is in the village of Birmingham to the west, but the capital has always maintained a garrison of 500 people.

The weapons in the warehouse were distributed, and the "Prince of the State Supervision" Bertwoolf pulled out an army of 3,000 people overnight. This army only obeyed his prince!

If not limited by the dogma of the faith, the recruitment of women into the army can make the army stronger.

Compared with his father, Bottomwoolf is more sober-minded, or more conservative. He did not dare to take the initiative to challenge the unknown enemy. For the time being, he did not move. He would set up the king's flag on the city wall, and let the armed men climb to the top of the city. 's bluff.

Located on the right bank of the Tam River, a tributary of the Trent River, Tamworth, the capital of the kingdom, has a clear road to the Birmingham barracks, but it is eight Roman miles (about 23 kilometers). This distance is not too short. If the army in Birmingham rushes to help urgently, the crisis in the capital can be alleviated.

If Steiner attacks, everything will be fine. But Steiner didn't do it. He had just lost a battle in the past, and he couldn't launch an attack with an army that didn't exist.

All these situations are really the situation faced by the Mercian King Wigraf and his expeditionary force. Wigraf was indeed walking to the Birmingham barracks with his exhausted division, unaware that the Vikings with super-mobility had already invaded the city and launched a strong attack.

Bottomwoolf didn't know his father's failure,

He was particularly aware that the army stationed in Birmingham had long been led to the northern frontier by his own father.

Now the enemy has obviously destroyed the wooden bridge and controlled the ferry of the Tam River, and the communication troops sent by the capital have lost a huge opportunity.

A group of signal soldiers with news of the crisis in the capital slipped out of the city overnight. They were going to the eastern territory to report the news and asked for reinforcements from the local lord. As for the lords of the kingdom's western territories, since the traffic was interrupted, don't expect them to know the news and be diligent.

For a period of time, the capital can only rely on its own strength to guard, and after the most difficult time, when the situation ferments, the army of the lords of the lords of various places will definitely gather in the capital.

Looking at the enemy barracks outside the city, the captain of the guard was worried: "They have a lot of soldiers. Now the weather is fine, I don't see any relationship between them and the Wessex Army."

"There are so many of them, maybe they are not strong enough to fight." Bottomwoolf sighed deeply and asked again, "Have the soldiers assembled?"

"It's basically finished. There are about 3,000 troops. There are many young boys who are willing to fight to the last breath to defend the city."

The captain of the guard tried his best to speak encouraging words, and Bottomwoolf patted his shoulder reassuringly, and added: "These are not enough. It seems that the enemy is not in a hurry to attack. I will use this opportunity to execute yesterday's failure to spread the words. Peace of mind. You don't just stand at the city walls, you send someone to negotiate with them and ask what these guys want to do."

"His Royal Highness, this... is also a lot of things."

"Go for it. We're so stupid, the war is about to break out, and I don't even know who the enemy is and what their intentions are."

The city wall of Tamworth Outer Guocheng is built of stone and mud, and its foundation comes from the city wall of the old Roman era. Allows people to quickly climb the wall.

Of course, its average height is only four meters, which is really not high.

Only the walls of Tamworth Castle in the inner city are higher, and the overall appearance is more regular. The polished granite fortress makes it thicker.

More than a hundred warriors with bows were standing on the city wall, and a batch of stones and wood were also transported to the city wall.

Relying on the protection of the city wall, Bottomwoolf did not worry that the enemy could break the city.

The sun dissipated the mist in the morning, the rain stopped, and the combined forces of Ross and Balmer woke up in the morning light.

Regarding launching a full-scale attack this morning, Rurik's attitude was still refusal, but his father-in-law couldn't persuade him, and his cousin was eager to try.

"Son of God? Are they really just a reference to my identity?" Rurik laughed at himself for a second, convinced that the stability of the alliance must be based on the alignment of interests.

The Balmers have their own kingdom of York, and their morale is so high that even the old Magnut feels reborn!

The Balmerk warriors screamed and got up, the golden light of the rising sun shone on their golden heads, and the whole person was like gilded. They held up their axes and swords and shouted loudly, and Balmerc braves such as Biyonny and Guyger were actively preparing to climb the city wall.

help them? That's a must.

Between yesterday's events, Rurik realized that if he also became extremely active, it would reflect his indecision.

Seeing cousin Arik sharpening his knife, the men of the first flag team were eager to try. Rurik simply called his cousin and all five centurions to his side, deliberately making a non-negotiable decision somewhere along the secluded river bank.

"They want to fight, we help. The first flag team is not allowed to take the lead in attacking the city. If everything goes well, we will attack. If the situation is not right, we will cover their retreat."

Arik fully understood what his brother meant, pouted and shook his head: "It's not honorable."

"It's not honorable. I feel that the situation is very wrong. This should be a revelation from God. The victory must be ours, but this morning's attack was too hasty. We acted as a reserve team."

"All right."

"I will send out shooters to support them first. Brother, keep the brothers with you, remember, don't attack without authorization."

Arik didn't say much, his eyes signaled that his brother would do it himself.

More and more Balmerk warriors were gathering, and for grandeur, Magnut raised his sword and axe and shouted in front of the crowd himself.

Seeing that the army was about to launch an attack, the Mercia defenders on the city wall were terrified, and the priests who climbed the city wall also held up crosses, calling on the soldiers to remain calm.

The locked gates, reinforced with iron chains, opened, and five messengers walked tremblingly toward the unknown army, holding the King Mercia banner.

The Mercians sent messengers?

Biyongni, who had done the warm-up exercise before the war, twisted his neck and walked to his father with a sword: "There is an idiot who is looking for death. They want to negotiate with us and kill them in my opinion."

"Yes. There is nothing to negotiate, you go and make the brothers happy."

Biyonni nodded, and immediately more than a dozen brothers walked over.

The poor messenger hadn't reacted yet, and died in the chaos sword all at once.

This terrifying scene was seen by the soldiers on both sides. The Mercia defenders were trembling with shock, and then they were dazed by anger.

Looking at the Balmers, they uttered a Viking battle cry in unison, and the majestic momentum attracted the Rus people to roar.

With a sharp swing of his axe, Magnut roared in an old male voice: "Warriors, go ahead! Go and loot what you like!"

Balmerk Army is in action!

They had blond hair and fair faces, and they were dressed in grey-black sackcloths, or a layer of black leather, and some even temporarily changed into the orange clothes of the Northumbrian army. Their attire can be described as varied, and there are at least a hundred of them shirtless, with monstrous tattoos on their chests and backs.

They followed the black raven banner on a white background, carrying all the long ladders and battering rams (that is, a large tree trunk), and launched an all-out attack with swords and shields.

Even the Wessex army had attacked Tamworth, and the siege formation was not so crazy.

Behind him is a large group of neatly dressed teams.

It was the first flag team of the Ross Army, and Arik was forced to stand still.

Rurik also roared: "Flag shooting team, let's go!"

There are thirty torsion slingshots installed on the two-wheeled carts. There are also all ten bull catapults carried by hand.

Fifty wooden-armed crossbowmen and a hundred Suomi archers were responsible for covering the enemy's throwing arrows.

Just for such armament, Magnut actually felt that his son-in-law was disgusting with integrity, and he said it was a cover. No matter how he looked at it, the Russ wanted to give it a shot.

He was full of confidence and vowed to seize the treasury of Mercia, reward the army, and become a great hero forever praised by the people of his hometown.

The army was getting closer and closer to the city wall, and they shouted at its grandeur. Bottomwoolf in the city directly suspended the hanging of those who spread unfavorable news, and urgently took his attendants to supervise the battle.

But when he arrived at the wall of Waiguo City, the battle had already broken out.

Ross and Balmerk allied forces attacked Tamworth at the west gate of the Tam River, which is also the main gate of the entire city.

Stones and javelins fell from the sky, refugees already suffered casualties, and houses were smashed. The people began to flee, and the crowded roads suddenly became empty. In fact, they all fled to the east of the city.

It was a blow from torsion slingshots and trebuchets. Cast iron projectiles, stones and javelins smashed over the city walls and into the rear of the defenders. The number of Mercian casualties caused by Rurik was incalculable.

The only thing he can be sure of is that these weapons will definitely bring panic, forcing the enemy's follow-up reinforcements to not continue to support the city wall defenders. Once the so-called Balmers climbed the wall, more than half of the victory was achieved.

Rurik ordered free fire, and the wall defenders were fighting to the death with lethal projectile strikes.

"They're building ladders! Stone them to death!"

After all, the captain of the guard shouted to the soldiers under the city: "Quickly find the wood to hold the door bar."

He then loudly asked the special guards how well the secret weapons were prepared.

At least twenty ladders have been built, and Balmerk warriors holding wooden shields with hatchets in their mouths are struggling to climb against the rocks and arrows thrown by the enemy.

Biyonni also carried the steel-armed crossbow he borrowed from Rurik, and sniped the guards at the top of the city very vulgarly.

The people who were hit in the head by the stones basically died on the spot, and some people twitched and remained motionless. Some Balmers were injured by arrows, and they screamed and pulled out arrow clusters with barbs, let blood spurt from their bodies, and still climbed ladders to try to fight on the city wall.

Another long piece of wood was thrown down, which immediately caused the soldier to fall off the ladder and vomit blood. Even those who use slings use this limited damage weapon to harass the people under the city.

But the situation here was not good for the Mercia defenders. They braved the arrows, projectiles, stones and javelins of the Rus army to attack Balmerk, who was climbing the city wall.

The Mercia warriors in chain mail were directly smashed by the projectiles of the torsion slingshot and fell to the city, and some people blocked the gap with a blank mind.

Some soldiers were shot through the head with a crossbow and died on the spot, while others took over.

Because they saw that the enemy was not Wessex, and although they still did not know its identity, the only thing that everyone could be sure of was that once this unprecedented brutal army broke the city, tens of thousands of people in the city would die.

Ordinary kingdom soldiers are no longer just fighting for the royal family, but the armed civilians also have very simple reasons to fight. They fought for everyone's life, and seeing His Royal Highness the Prince coming to the city to supervise the battle in person, even if they suffered a lot of losses, the Mercia Army would not retreat.

The battle has been going on for a while, and the changes in the situation make Magnut, who is full of confidence, more and more puzzled.

He saw Biyonni and a group of brothers reasonably carrying a big tree trunk (acting as a battering ram) to knock on the door, and they knocked it no less than fifty times. How can the enemy's door stay still? !

He didn't understand, listening to his son-in-law Rurik and his son's remarks, they all went well when they attacked other cities. For example, the siege of York, which Magnut personally participated in, went extremely smoothly.

"Why? I kicked the iron plate down here?"

Magnut was standing in a fairly safe area, but his own people were suffering unprecedented casualties. He watched eagerly as a soldier fell from the ladder, and also saw an enemy being shot down by arrows.

"This group of enemies is so tenacious? But I easily killed a thousand of them in that village. How did they become stronger here?"

Magnut really doesn't know, because the defender of the city is His Royal Highness the Prince of Mercia Kingdom, and Bertwoolf's attitude has also changed dramatically due to the changes in the battle situation. This is a battle that decides the life and death of the city residents. The Mercia people have never been so united as they are today. He will lead the army and civilians to fight the enemy to the death.

The anxiety of the battle also surprised Rurik, and the fact was as he predicted. This battle was the most serious obstacle encountered by the coalition forces after landing in Britain. He was not happy at all that his prediction was correct, but resented seeing the losses suffered by his allies and the inability of his siege weapons to break the enemy's will.

"Attack! Against attack!"

"No! I attacked right in my arms, but I was impulsive. No, I should dissuade them from retreating temporarily."

The battle situation was changing rapidly. The two sides were fighting fiercely, but a large amount of boiling water fell from the sky, and urns of boiling water were poured into the Balmerk warriors who slammed into the gate. Even with shields, the boiling water was still so hot that people screamed.

The soldier evacuated subconsciously, and even took Biyongni with him and ran away without suffering a loss.

The steam filled the city gate, and the captain of the guard looked at the backs of those who escaped after the steam dissipated, and couldn't help laughing wantonly, and then extended his right hand to point at those whose backs were instantly burnt red and cursed for not repairing.

Suddenly, a crossbow arrow shot directly through his palm, and even two fingers were sent flying. The captain of the guard who screamed fell, and was immediately picked up by the soldiers, looking at his mutilated right hand with tears in his eyes and smirking sluggishly.

Biyongni retreated for the time being, and when he greeted his men to rush back again, picked up the big tree trunk and continued to slam the door, he saw his men rolling around and screaming.

Their badly scalded skin had blistered and their upper body tattoos had become distorted.

"Idiot! What are you doing! Follow me and go back."

Guyger, whose arm was splashed with boiling water, roared pessimistically: "Biyonny! Continuing the shock is courting death! Think about the whale oil and seal oil made in our hometown, if they use oil next time, the brothers will all be scalded to death. "

"Geiger, are you a coward?"

"No! I don't want to die a fool! I heard that Rurik said that we would be frustrated in this battle, but your father refused to listen! Who is the fool, look at the current situation!" Geiger, pointing at the corpses of the Balmers in the city, screamed and cursed: "If your father fails with us, no one will admit that he is the King of York! I'm going to retreat!"

After that, Guyger and the men from his Gashoeby farm really pulled out. Not only this one, the troops of other Balmerk family leaders also retreated with the wounded of various injuries, including pulling away the corpses.

Until now, Rurik's flag shooting team is still providing fire support. For the friendly army, he has spent a lot of projectiles and arrows, in exchange for a defeat.

The Balmers withdrew one after another, as did the Ross Flag Shooting Team.

It was such a tragic battle that Arik and the soldiers of the First Banner Team, who had always been watching the battle, clearly realized that even if they also participated in the battle, they would still face hard battles.

Is Britain an island of cowards? Do not! At least the residents of Tamworth are a force.

Arik's eyes widened, and he couldn't help laughing when he saw the allied Balmers evacuating.

Then a centurion asked him, "Are you mocking them for being cowards?"

"No! Brother, we have encountered a strong enemy. This is an opportunity that God has given us. I like fighting against a strong enemy the most."

"However, taking the city is difficult."

"Indeed, but Rurik will take care of the damned wall."