Rise of Rurik

With his mouth stuffed with cloth and tied with hemp rope, Horik could not bite his tongue and commit suicide. He had no choice but to endure the humiliation silently.

After all, this man is a king, even if he is a tyrant.

One king killed another king, and Rurik knew that his army and his people were eager to see their great king accomplish this feat.

What to do with Horik?

It would be better to burn it to ashes as a sacrifice to punish him for his betrayal to Odin. What awaits Horik, the death row prisoner, is a grand sacrifice. Perhaps the winter solstice sacrifice in New Roseburg is most appropriate as a special sacrifice.

There is no need to inflict blood eagle on him, and it is even more pointless to inflict corruption on him.

What Rurik and the generals were most worried about was taking this man into the next war, and he would take advantage of the chaos and escape.

So while Horik was wailing like a pig being slaughtered, his Achilles tendons and ligaments were cut off with steel swords on both of his feet. The wounds were then surgically stopped from bleeding, debrided with spirits, and sutured with twine.

He was deprived of the right to stand up, and his hands were given the same punishment.

Horik became a cripple who could only crawl. He was stuffed into a cage made of wooden bars and placed on a captured carriage, like a pig ready to be transported to a slaughterhouse.

The soldiers were quite sorry that they could not be the blood eagle in public, but the villain was deliberately made disabled, and the soldiers watching laughed and cheered.

Poor Horik couldn't help but die. He witnessed the Russian army advancing by sea and land, and saw them advancing towards the Aleb fortress.

While his hands and feet were still intact, he heard what the Russian cavalry captain Fisk said about the battle in the south. His judgment was indeed correct. Liudov, his Frank cavalry and the Saxon army were also facing catastrophe. I am afraid that the rising smoke was proof that Liudov himself had set himself on fire.

But, everything is over...

This group of crazy Russians actually plan to go to war against the Frankish Kingdom! Horik, the cripple, could only silently curse the Ross army and their servants for being trampled into pulp by the real Frankish army.

Rurik put on gorgeous clothes and mounted a war horse, transforming himself into a real cavalry captain.

The Ross army was so vast that they marched throughout the day and arrived at the battlefield where Fisk had captured Horik alive, where they found a large number of corpses.

The gray corpse showed signs of being chewed by foxes and wolves. When the Ross army arrived, a large number of pitch-black ravens rose into the sky. Most of the mutilated parts of the corpse had been pecked out, and the eyes had been removed. The air in this area was filled with a stench, which made the army feel extremely unlucky.

After passing this battlefield, the mounds to the south are quite clear.

So, have the troops besieging the Aleb fortress these days successfully pulled out this nail?

No! The stone fortress that Liudov spent more than half a year building was as solid as a rock. If it weren't for a super-large counterweight trebuchet or artillery, there would be no way to break through the fortress by force.

How good was Liudolf's fortification skills when he first came to Jutland?

Because of the special geographical structure of this place, there are stones under the thin layer of soil on the top of the mountain. The stones are easily disintegrated due to natural weathering and can be used. Everywhere you can find stones of random shapes piled together, relying on each other's gravity to achieve a stable state.

The key to the defense of the fortress lies in this thicker ring-shaped stone wall. The most exquisite thing is the layout of the city gates.

The city gate was the weak point of the entire inner fort. Ragnar felt that this was the breakthrough point. Liudov, who gained wisdom from every loss, strengthened the city gate defense.

It was already in a state of a trapped beast still fighting. The city gate was completely sealed by a large number of stones. Hitting the gate with a siege ram was essentially the same as hitting a thick stone wall.

Liudov originally planned to use this high-altitude fortress as his long-term base, but now it seems that it may become his own cemetery.

Liudov, who had regained some energy, faced Ragnar's new Danish army, who had also regained his energy.

As Spyut said, Ragnar cannot force the many noble lords under his command to completely obey his orders. Ragnar's so-called king is still an alliance leader. After two days of rest, many lords have declared that they are ready to rest, and then they are willing to cooperate with Ragnar to fight again.

Seeing this, Spyut also reluctantly brought along the Russian army, especially the crossbowmen, to cooperate with the allies' strong attack.

The high city is strong, do we want the Russians to attack the city by force? forget it!

Spyut has a negative mood. He does not want to cause the Russian army to bleed again for this "Danish Civil War". He also estimated that Ragnar had made a great deal of noise in this storming battle, but it was a luxury to hope to break the city in one battle.

Ragnar led his men and launched an attack with the cooperation of the Russian army's arrows.

This is an upward attack, and the attacker is greeted by large and small stones. Even though the defenders were short of food and water, in order to prevent the city from being destroyed and killed, they resisted desperately and continued to fight despite arrows falling from the sky.

The defenders even threw down the dead people in the city to knock down the enemies who climbed up the long ladder. The arrows stuck in the dead body were pulled out and immediately returned to the attackers.

There were three assaults in one day, and the attackers killed an unknown number of defenders, but they couldn't climb up the long ladder, and the wooden door bumped into a lonely place.

Under the stone wall lay a large number of corpses, as well as a large number of stones.

Ragnar tried to organize a fourth attack, but unfortunately it was getting late, and the lords who had suffered heavy casualties again couldn't bear to let their people die again.

They held a meeting that night, and they complained, pushed, and cursed each other. Some people accused the Russians of being unreasonable when they had a strong army and only cared about archery.

Spyut, who already despised the lords of Denmark's Zealand Island, really couldn't stand it any longer. He cursed: "This is the revenge war of the Danes! You are all cowards! Because you shirk the Responsibility." Then he walked away, leaving all the lords behind and gasping in anger.

There was no progress in the meeting. Not only the army had suffered casualties, but now there was no chance to even pull out the bodies of the dead.

At night, the demoralized soldiers of the Royal Army of New Denmark kept listening to the wails of the wounded in the distance. It was pitiful that those tribesmen could only stay under the stone wall and die slowly, without the ability to rescue them at all.

…

After this battle, Aleb Fortress achieved a victory, which only delayed the decline of the fortress.

The defenders also lost some soldiers, making their already stretched strength even more embarrassing.

But even worse was the lack of supplies.

The inner fort is not big, but at one time nearly 6,000 soldiers and civilians gathered inside!

The food had actually been eaten, and Liudov left some food and fresh water to supply his elite and the priests.

Outside the fortress is a large army besieging the city, under the fortress are dead bodies on the ground, and inside the fortress are a group of soldiers and civilians whose energy is about to collapse.

The food was gone, but the defenders could still resist hunger for two days relying on their bodies, and the strong ones among them could endure it for three days.

But what is more terrifying than the lack of food is the lack of water!

In peacetime, the water for Aleb Fortress comes entirely from the creek under the hills, so it is never difficult to get water.

Now that the stream is completely occupied by the enemy, what if we win a defensive battle? Carrying rocks made me sweat a lot, and the soldiers after the war needed water the most! Where is there so much water? In the midst of extreme thirst, people become increasingly dehydrated, and even good people become weak and have splitting headaches. However, the weather has been sunny these days, and the clouds that finally came passed by in a hurry.

People longed for a sweet shower, but what they responded to was the vast stars at night and the huge shining moon.

The swaddling baby was suffocated to death of thirst, and even the child's mother died of thirst.

After all, he escaped into the inner fort and stayed without water for three consecutive days. This was already the limit of what a person could resist.

The next day, a group of corpses were thrown from the city. This strange scene was seen by the besieging army.

Ragnar shouted in confusion, and the lords found it even more incredible.

However, the generals of the Ross army who were busy eating fish around the beach saw the clue.

Spout had no sympathy for the enemy in the fortress. He smiled and bet Medved: "The enemy has trapped themselves. The weather is very good these days. They can't find water or food on the mound." It must be limited, and their supplies must be gone. In my opinion, Ragnar is a fool, and it would be a mistake to attack by force. As long as we continue to besiege the city, within three days, this fortress will collapse without attack."

"Forcibly trapping them to death? Is this considered a war?" Medvedt found this kind of warfare new and new.

"It's normal. When we attacked Bornholm, we used this tactic to trap the enemies hiding on the hills. We are just reviewing it now. I'm surprised that Ragnar doesn't know this tactic. There is no need for him to be anxious. Many soldiers have died in vain now."

"It's so cruel..."

Medved didn't want to say anything anymore. He was quite concerned about the whereabouts of the king and the main army. It stands to reason that the war in the north will not last long, but after so many days, haven't the enemies in the north been eliminated? Perhaps as a partial division, we should quickly finish off the soldiers here, and then regroup and go to the north to find the main force. If the war continues, we can launch a two-sided attack on the enemy's transgressor Horik.

He told Spuyut his idea, and in return he said: "Look at you, you are also worried. We don't have to worry about the king, we just need to wait here."

The Ross army's partial division was equivalent to playing the card of avoiding the war, and Ragnar's army, which could not gain any advantage by attacking by force, fell into a quarrel again.

The siege of the city continues, and the fatal dilemma of the defenders in the fortress is erupting like an avalanche!

Because a large number of women and children took refuge in the inner castle, the severe lack of water had killed most of the babies during this "peaceful day".

As a result, some human tragedies occurred. In order not to die of thirst, I drank the smelly blood and water!

Such a tragedy frightened the northern saint Eskil to call this a hell on earth, and he asked Liudov to come up with a countermeasure.

Liudov's own physical condition was also not good. He could still drink the last of the fresh water. When the water in these barrels was exhausted but the sky stopped raining, he would have no choice but to kill the war horses and drink their blood.

In response to the ongoing human tragedy, those who drank blood were found out and executed as "souls controlled by Satan". Indeed, people who are tortured to the point of death by thirst and hunger have a strong survival instinct that transforms some people into demons.

Murder can't stop the situation at all, people are still dying of thirst in large numbers, and those women and children who can still move don't seem to be able to survive tomorrow.

Such a scene made Eskil, who still had fresh water to drink, feel extremely guilty. Even though he was an ascetic, his survival instinct now dominated his aging body.

Due to his noble status and face, as well as his complete distrust of the enemy, Liu Doufu was in a difficult situation and had no extravagant hopes of signing any alliance under the city.

Sue for peace to keep everyone alive? Eskil felt that he had a complicated relationship with Rurik, the commander-in-chief of the Russians, and even allowed some Russians to successfully convert to God. If these people were in the siege army, they might bypass many people's lives for the sake of their own face.

In particular, Eskil knew the Russian war policy. Even if the enemy was defeated, the enemy's women and children were always taken away. He felt that this was the most authentic behavior of the barbarians. Compared with dying of starvation and thirst, becoming a barbarian's wife and concubine was a way out. It can even play an objective role in promoting the spread of the Catholic faith.

Eskil came up with the idea of ​​suing for peace. He informed Liudov about this, but he was controlled by the defenders.

"You are a big fool!" Liudov pointed at Eskil's neck and cursed, "You plan to climb the rope out of the city. We will definitely see you beheaded and skinned by the Normans. I am a noble, I Nor will the great northern saint be allowed to negotiate peace with the barbaric Normans. I! Would rather jump down and fight them to death than surrender to them!"

Eskil was put under control, and that night, he saw to his surprise that the army had brought him a lump with an unknown liquid dripping and a fishy smell.

"What is this?!" He was shocked.

"It's horse meat. Pada, we have no way to cook the wheat, and the wheat is almost gone. Your Excellency ordered us to kill the horses. You can only make do with this horse meat..."

Eat raw meat! Bloody horseflesh.

The hungry Eskil was strongly repelled in principle, but his willpower was completely defeated by his desire to survive. As an ascetic, it was rare for him to eat meat, so he held his nose and ate horse meat, resisting the nausea and trying not to vomit, and then silently prayed to the Lord.

The next day, more bodies were thrown from the fortress. There were also many corpses dumped in the inner fort, because not only did the defenders lose their strength, but many of the dead were simply the defenders themselves.

The troops besieging the city still maintained a watchful attitude, but there were already too many corpses accumulated under the city. The war dead of Ragnar's army were already covered with corpses dumped by the people in the city.

What exactly is going on? A fortified city remained standing, it was difficult to break, but the defenders threw out corpses on a large scale.

Ragnar could not persuade the lords under his command to attack again. They were war-weary, and they all had excuses. Maybe the main force of King Ross was about to go south. The brothers now had no worries about food and drink and waited for King Ross to arrive before trying to attack again. .

He had no choice but to go to the camp of the Ross Army's partial division and talk with Spyut, Medved and others, especially hoping that they would analyze the enemy's strange behavior.

This time, Ragnar's posture was very low and his attitude was quite respectful: "Friends, the enemy is leaving corpses. Why is that?"

"You? You actually asked me?!" Sipuyut rolled his eyes at him.

"I... really don't understand."

"Are you really stupid? Have you forgotten how we trapped people on the hills on Bornholm Island?"

In an instant, Ragnar suddenly realized, "Yes! I remembered it. But it's incredible. The enemies of this fortress can't hold on for just a few days?!"

"Let's wait and see. If you don't attack again, we'll just sit down and wait. We also have to be careful whether the nearby Danish villages come to attack you. After all, they may not necessarily recognize you as the King of Denmark."

So for the attacker, this day was another sparse and ordinary siege day. For the defenders, the disaster was growing every minute.

It was on this day that a large fleet from the north was ordered to amble along the eastern coastline to meet up with the Ross Army's partial fleet.

Ross flags were flying everywhere on the sea, and the appearance of large ships brought strong mental stimulation to the last defenders of Aleb Fortress.

Eskil stood on the city wall and saw this shocking scene with the defenders. He couldn't help but trembled and sighed: "It's the Ross army! There are actually people in them?!"

Indeed, a rather orderly army marched from far to near. They deliberately held a large number of flags, and the Ross flag with white background and blue stripes fluttered in the warm south wind.

Rurik rode proudly on his horse. He actually arrived at the Aleb Fortress on the Lindholm Isthmus and was surprised by this large city built around a mound.

But there is a stone fortress visible to the naked eye at the top of the mound, with many huge cross flags flying. The scene is really eye-catching.

Not only that, there is also a flag that looks like three big cats. Find bookstore www.zhaoshuyuan.com

Isn’t that the legendary “Battle Flag of Charlemagne”? Equivalent to the flag of the Frankish Kingdom.

In fact, Stone Hammer, this place is the fortress of the Franks, and under the fortress are their own partial divisions, as well as the allies of the New Kingdom of Denmark that the Ragnar brothers have tried their best to recruit.

Even looking at the current situation, a massive army besieged this suddenly appeared Frankish fortress, but the army still didn't have him.

This surprised Rurik.

"Ragnar, you can be a legendary hero. Could it be that you don't have the ability to attack a city?" Rurik muttered. The main force approached the wall outside the fortress and joined forces with the Russian Army and the New Denmark Army.

In the end, the main force and partial divisions of the Ross Army joined forces with the Royal Army of New Denmark.

With Rurik's miraculous arrival, his presence directly blocking the throats of the war-weary Danish lords of Zealand, Ragnar became more nervous and the final attack was about to be launched.

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