Rise of Rurik

Just like the Frankish army, the Frankish army has long relied on cavalry units as the core of its combat effectiveness. Horik, who became a nobleman in the Frankish territory, also followed suit and created his own cavalry unit. In the days of peace, he worked hard to expand his cavalry and relied on large sums of money from border trade to purchase horses from the Franks. Ever since I heard that the city of Bremen was burned by the exiled Ragnar, how could this unkillable insect be so vicious? With the sense of worry rising, the project of training cavalry was accelerated.

Even the short horses were pulled over to make up the numbers. Regardless of whether they were covered with a layer of hard cowhide or the leather was riveted with iron sheets, Horik pieced together a "powerful" cavalry team. He had five hundred cavalry, most of which were stationed in the capital.

The cavalry gathered first, and the four hundred cavalry gradually completed the assembly, and a large number of infantry also began to appear on the winding alleyways. The soldiers were unruly. Since the Russians were invading in large numbers, it was better to take advantage of the opportunity and defeat them at once. Because Horik and his army, based on traditional ideas, were eager for a decisive battle to solve the problem of frequent harassment by the Rus.

Horik himself wore iron armor, with a large helmet buckled on his round face. He also rode a war horse and led his own soldiers to the battlefield in person. He did not rush to the front line. Behind him, in addition to the huge cavalry, there were as many as 1,500 infantrymen present.

A large number of civilians scrambled to escape from the army, including the soldiers' wives, with their children, either evacuating into the inner city protected by the wooden wall, or continuing to run south, escaping to the undeveloped forests of Jutland to hide.

The port of this city faces the north, so the invasion of the Ross Navy is already facing the south. The triangular sails carry the ships against the wind. After arriving at a suitable location, they start the work of anchoring and releasing the boats.

Each ship faced the beach on its port side, and ten people were seated in the rowing boats. Four people were rowing, and six people were waiting with crossbows. In the middle of them was a cart and a heavier torsion slingshot.

Rurik's eyes were solemn. He had already seen a large number of people walking towards the seaside. It was afternoon, and the metal objects that reflected the sunlight were clearly visible, and the horns blown by the enemy could not be heard unless they were deaf.

He first ordered the flagship: "Brothers, our army is about to land on the beach. Beware of the enemy launching a counterattack on the beach! Get your torque slingshot ready and obey my orders!"

The semaphore soldiers also gave orders to the enemy ships on the broadside. As many as 120 torsion slingshots were set at a projection angle, with large spiral feather javelins installed on them. The soldiers were waiting for the order to mount and shoot.

At the same time, the fifty ships of the first landing echelon carrying the most elite armored warriors saw the approaching enemy.

I'm afraid the effect of the raid has been lost! Some people complained that it took too much time to carry a lot of heavy weapons when disembarking, while others muttered that the enemy had already been informed of the situation.

It is inevitable for everyone to have concerns. Now we can only believe that the fire support of the prince can be effective and that the brothers' will to fight is absolutely decisive.

Landing on the beach is glorious. As brave men, Ragnar and Arik naturally lead the charge with their elite melee fighters.

The Finns in the rear were not theatergoers. They did not operate torsion slingshots. Instead, under the leadership of Javlo, they used longbows to launch ultra-strict throws. There are one hundred longbows made from gray trees. Their range is equivalent to the maximum range of a torque slingshot. They can shoot light arrows to a distance of three hundred meters.

What does this amount to? Let's look at the current Ross fleet, which is less than 200 meters away from the coast.

The landers were now rowing slowly because they were worried that a premature landing would become a public target in front of the enemy.

Contrary to the caution of the Rus' army was the noisy counterattack of the Danish Royal Army in the city of Godfreyhagen.

The cavalry regiment suddenly showed their terrifying phantom!

The cavalry appears! The quantity is really not small.

Rurik was shocked and couldn't help but take three steps back. He did not expect that the enemy would have such a large amount of cavalry. Even though he was well-equipped, especially if this group of cavalry suddenly launched a counterattack and drove the newly landed soldiers into the sea, the Russian army might suffer heavy losses. Because an armored warrior fell into the sea, he was almost destined to be dragged down by the heavy armor and drown.

"Damn it! Torsion slingshot! Shoot! Semaphore! Order to fight!"

The Avora was the first to fire, and even Queen Svetlana, like everyone else, almost simultaneously pulled the rope that connected the tenon pin.

The flagship launched the javelin salvo first, and the other ships were ordered to follow.

"Quick! Keep winding! Fire with full force for both primary and secondary parts!" Rurik shouted at the top of his lungs, and Lana also felt the fear behind her husband's roar.

Yes, Rurik was afraid that the enemy cavalry would launch a counterattack just as the Ross army arrived at the beach, because the first boat had already landed, and the landing soldiers holding crossbows fired the first arrow at the cavalry not far away. The wooden-armed crossbow is ineffective against cowhide horse armor inlaid with iron plates when shooting light arrows. Only the steel-armed crossbow is suitable for shooting armor-piercing heavy arrows.

However, some landing soldiers fired armor-piercing arrows and resolutely caught the Danish cavalry off guard.

But the troopers were no longer focused on the Ross Landers' strange performance.

Look at the sky! What's that buzz? !

General Rustand raised his head with squinted eyes. Dense black strips were flying towards the cavalry. It was too late when he realized that it looked like a short spear.

"Ah! Danger!"

Ross's javelin fell from the sky, hitting his head and face, spinning and falling with strong potential energy, and it was bound to cause major killings.

They made a heavy buzzing sound like wild bees dancing wildly, and their sound was so loud that it caused the horses to neigh, and then turned into mourning!

The sharp spearhead smashed through the leather armor of the cavalry warrior and the unprotected neck of the horse. The manes of the horses were stained with blood, and the soldiers were stabbed. The cavalry arranged in a relatively dense array were a good target, and they were simply passively beaten.

The Danish cavalry troops suffered casualties after the first salvo, but what was worse than the casualties was the chaos caused.

The war horse vomited blood and collapsed, then struggled to death. Or even the uninjured cavalry was pinned down by the collapsed horse and unable to move. The fatally wounded cavalrymen were bleeding crazily and dying.

At first, the cavalry was in chaos. After the Russian army's "javelin formation", there was another round of arrows.

Look what good things the Ross Army is doing again? !

Javlo was on board the Gurdot, and almost the entire ship was filled with his Finnish warriors. This group of short soldiers all held longbows. Under his orders, they carried out cluster projectiles with a high-intensity rhythm, making the entire ship the most dazzling firepower output unit in the entire army.

With just this one strike, the output in one round was more than a hundred arrows thrown at a high angle. The cone-shaped quenched steel arrow clusters had extremely armor-piercing properties. The soldiers aimed the projectiles in the direction of Yevlo's fingers. They were by no means random shots and relied on the so-called "barrage density" to achieve efficient killing of the enemy.

Because Jevlo has noticed that only a small number of Danish cavalry have been exposed, and most of the cavalry are hidden in the winding alleys.

The dense arrows struck down with strong momentum, and the hard cowhide armor was no different from an ordinary wooden board.

The cavalrymen were shot in large numbers, and the arrow clusters penetrated deeply into their flesh. Unlike other broad-bladed barb-type arrow clusters, these armor-piercing arrows focus on penetration depth. The slender arrow clusters penetrated the wounded bodies of Danish cavalry soldiers, smashing through the iron helmets and directly piercing the skull, causing the soldier to die immediately, or smashing through the chest and drilling holes in the lungs, causing extremely painful hemopneumothorax, or even directly piercing the heart. Being shot directly is not a bad thing, but if the lung is smashed through, the soldier will suffocate to death.

More than just the tactical support of longbowmen? When the torsion slingshot is loaded a second time, it fires conical cast iron bullets that can spin due to friction with the air. The half-pound projectile also fell from the sky, and its kinetic energy was greater. Rurik never expected it to smash through the enemy's body efficiently. Many actual battles have proven that throwing this object from a long distance can always break the enemy's bones. This enough.

Looking at the rowing boats that were eager to land, Arik and Ragnar were stationed near the shore.

"Shoot arrows at them! No matter what you do, shoot as fast as possible!" Arik ordered, and his men followed suit.

This is the fighting style of the Russians. In Ragnar's view, this method of killing enemies without getting blood is not a glorious method, but it is indeed an efficient method of killing. His warriors were also specially issued with crossbows, as well as a large number of short wooden bows. Of course, good archers need to train for a long time, but now the enemies are standing densely like wooden targets. It is enough for the soldiers to draw the bow and fire it.

At this moment, for King Horik of Denmark who was watching the battle, everything was a military disaster!

This short fat man looked quite tall while riding a horse. He had never been on the front line of the cavalry, and now he was extremely glad that his actions were so wise.

"Ah what's going on?! My soldiers!"

"Don't be chaotic! Stabilize your position and raise your shield!"

"Don't run around and maintain your line..."

He shouted as hard as he could, but the chaos at this moment was no longer something that he, a man, could shake off just by shouting.

Some cavalrymen also tried to raise their round shields to block their own attack, but were hit by powerful projectiles, causing the entire shield to disintegrate. The soldiers could see their arms twisting strangely in pain. The worst thing about that strong tremor was that it made the soldier lose consciousness in his left arm, and the unlucky man's left arm suffered a comminuted fracture.

Why pursue a one-hit kill? The current situation creates chaos among the enemy forces, which is most beneficial to the Russian army.

The cavalry regiment began to disintegrate, and the soldiers pulled on the reins to retreat to the rear. The narrow alleyway gave the retreaters a huge obstacle. They were jammed, but at this time the Russians were still firing their hateful arrows.

Horik saw the loss of the cavalry, and his heart bled. He has never seen such a useless battle situation in his life, and he finally thought of evading it for the time being.

The cavalry troops near the coast were obviously in great disarray, and the infantry in the rear was still unclear. However, as the Ross army fired arrows and projectiles deeper and deeper, the infantry also began to suffer sudden and inexplicable losses.

"We must evacuate the beach. King! If we don't evacuate now, our brothers will continue to die!" A general advised Horik to avoid the edge for the time being.

For the time being, Horik was still undecided, but the Russians seemed to have no fun shooting arrows, and then he thought of blowing the horn for the entire army to retreat.

The horns of the Danish army were deafening, seeming to overwhelm the shouts of the Russian army.

Rurik squinted and noticed the changes on the battlefield. He couldn't help but murmured: "I thought you were all fools, but now you finally think of retreating?"

The retreat of the Danish army was obvious, and Svetlana shouted crisply: "What to do now? They are far away, and our arrows can't hit them."

"It doesn't matter!" Rurik turned his head hurriedly and said to everyone busy on the deck: "Continue to launch! Even if the enemy withdraws from the range, we must continue to launch. We must create a safe landing site for the landing troops."

Maybe King Horik of Denmark was not a fool, but he looked like a big fool in commanding his army. Arik has already set foot on the Danish territory with his sword and shield. He really can't figure out how his Ragnar brothers could be beaten by such a figure to the point of extinction of the tribe. Could it be that the Ross army is just too strong?

Rowing boats rushed directly to the beach, and soldiers with crossbows were still waiting for opportunities to take aim.

The rowing soldiers threw away their oars, hung shields on their left arms, and held steel swords in their right hands. They formed a thin shield wall, and behind the wall were soldiers holding bows and crossbows.

"Don't attack blindly first, don't be fooled by the Danes!" Arik continued to order.

Although there are soldiers who are eager to fight, as veterans of the glorious First Flag Corps, they dare not act rashly and ruin their honor. Their shield walls were rock solid, and their crossbows were aimed warily behind them.

Relying on their superior firepower, the Ross army completed the beach landing without a single soldier. They caused a great chaos in the Danish army. A large number of war horses and squirming limbs were already visible to the naked eye.

The horns of the Danish army were still blowing, and rumbling sounds were heard from the densely packed buildings. It was actually infantry armed with various weapons rushing to evacuate to the inner city. At the same time, the cavalry troops were also panicking, and the iron horse paws even trampled the living people to death.

Thousands of people had to flee to so-called safe places, and there were a lot of tramplings on each other.

Even though he hated himself for making a bad move, King Horik of Denmark had already fled back to the inner city. With lingering fear, he ordered the archers to board the wooden wall one after another to monitor the Ross army and to wait for opportunities to block the enemy's attack on the city.

He stamped his feet in anger, hoping that most of his cavalry could be safely withdrawn.

However, what he saw was a large number of infantrymen who were frightened and fled back before engaging the enemy. Their faces were full of panic. How did his brave men in Flanders become like this? !

He stood at the largest wooden door and raised his sword to scold the fleeing infantry: "What are you afraid of?! Odin's warriors are actually afraid of the Rus?"

All he could do now was curse. Seeing that the retreating soldiers stopped retreating after entering the inner city, he was glad that the situation did not continue to deteriorate.

Finally, the neighing of the war horses was clearly visible!

The cavalry began to move quickly to withdraw into the inner city. With the first cavalry, the rest of the cavalry withdrew safely.

The infantry did not dare to interfere with this group of giant beasts charging in the opposite direction. After all, they saw their unlucky companions trampled into minced meat with their own eyes...

The infantry temporarily hid in the vacant huts on both sides of the alley, allowing the untouchable men to rush back to the inner city. But with the "everything-devouring monster" behind them, the infantrymen did not dare to look back, let alone rescue their injured companions, and entered the inner city with their weapons along the pitted land trampled by the cavalry.

The wooden wall gave the Danes strong self-confidence. A group of Russians coming across the sea couldn't break down the wall?

The cavalry lingered in the black field of the inner city, where King Horik once reviewed his proud army, and now served as the great gathering place for his troops.

The general Rustand had blood on his face. He was greatly frightened and rode towards his king.

Unable to help others speak first, Horik hurriedly asked about the situation on the front line: "You! What did you see?!"

"Death! Horrible death!" Rustand was obviously severely frightened: "One of my brothers had his head smashed by an unknown object, and blood splattered all over me!"

"What happened to that brother?!"

"The head is gone and his horse is dead."

"how are you?"

"It seemed that Odin didn't want me to die immediately, so I withdrew."

Horik looked in disbelief when he heard the description of a soldier who was killed by a headshot. Although Rustand's words were exaggerated, he was indeed hit in the face by a high-impact projectile, but he was not just shot in the head.

Horik continued to ask: "Where's Stade? That lame guy didn't come back?!"

"He was dead. I watched him get pierced by two spears, man and horse."

"Oh no!" A big hand covered his face. Although the man was disabled, he was still a subordinate who dared to fight. Horik slapped his face and lamented: "Why on earth! The Ross people are planning to kill me. Did I really provoke them?"

"Maybe we demolished their shops and killed a hundred of them." Rustand said nervously.

"That's it? They want my life? The Franks are not as ruthless as they are."

"Maybe those rumors are true." Rustand continued.

"Burning Bremen?"

"Exactly. King, we have to take precautions. If the Russians really participated in burning down Bremen, they might also burn down our Godfrey Hagen. I'm not afraid of dying in battle, I just don't want to die as a coward. . Their arrows are too dangerous, King! What should we do?"

How did Horik know what to do? He was so frightened by the arrow array of the Russian army that he could not judge the situation properly, so he had to order his men to close the city gates. Anyway, there is a lot of food and grass in the city, which can completely stop them for a while. But he didn't want to sit still and wait for death. He began to arrange for the cavalry to go out of the city through the small gate and head south to notify the various lords to send troops to serve the king immediately. No matter how many people send troops, even a hundred people are still beneficial.

However, the development of the battle situation was really strange. When Horik thought that the Ross army would take advantage of the chaos to pursue them, he did not expect that the group of guys stayed at the port and did not continue to march.

Maybe they still have a showdown? If it is a siege, as a defender, you will take advantage of the location.

Horik had already climbed onto the wooden wall and saw the Ross troops landing one after another. His frightened heart calmed down a little, and eventually turned into arrogant taunts.

"Russians, your hateful arrows can't hit me now. You can land and attack the city if you have the guts! Your mortal enemy is under the wooden wall of this city. Find Shuyuan www.zhaｏshuyuan.com I want to use it Your blood is sacrificed for my Godfrey Hagen! Hahahaha!"

The Russian army could not hear the arrogant laughter of a king. After the army stabilized the landing beach, large-scale landings were accompanied by the plundering of Danish fishing boats, and the landing speed accelerated. Because the captured oars and long boats joined the landing, carrying thirty people in one boat and carrying heavy weapons, it washed directly onto the beach.

More and more Russian troops landed on Danish territory, and the port turned into a blue and white ocean. Russian flags fluttered arrogantly, and each one was like a palm slapping Horik. Because compared to the densely packed flags of the Ross army, Horik's raven flag seemed too lonely.

There was no need for any conversation between the two parties, and Horik didn't bother to know the details. So what if you know? The battles of siege and defense still have to be staged, and battles still have to be fought.

Horik did not dare to evacuate easily. He had to defend bravely until he waited for reinforcements from other lords, and then formed a double flanking trend against the Ross army and won a defensive counterattack. This was the bravest method he could think of, but the morale of his soldiers was not high. Shocked people feel that today is terrible and no one knows what tomorrow will bring.

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