Rise of Rurik

The forest was filled with densely packed Frankish troops. They let out deafening shouts, and after rushing out of the forest, they rushed without hesitation towards the Ross army whose bucklers were stained with blood.

There are people wearing gray-brown robes everywhere. Their weapons and equipment are relatively simple, and their passion for fighting cannot be denied.

The Ross army was quite surprised. Everyone speculated that a group of heavily armored warriors would appear next time, but what turned out to be a group of peasant soldiers? !

No matter who the enemy is, they seem to be just wearing old clothes. People without armor who charge so bravely are looking for death.

The snow-covered riverside plains were made porcelain by countless shoes, but the large areas of snow had become frighteningly bright red, and were strangely steaming.

It was the heat formed by the gush of hot blood, and it was filled with a terrible fishy smell.

At this moment, the fire support from the rear of the Ross Army has been suspended, and the brothers are in a rather disadvantageous position. If the heavy weapons on the ship activate support, it will inevitably injure one's own side.

It was clear that a large number of gray-brown enemies were pouring out, and the friendly forces on the ship were using rat traps, but they did not dare to take the initiative even if they wanted to support them.

Speaking of those peasant soldiers, most of them were fighting for the first time.

They are ignorant and ordinary farmers. Under normal circumstances, they will never have the opportunity to see the king in their lives. History gave them a basis, and now ordinary peasants fight for kings.

This kind of warrior is either extremely cowardly or extremely violent. They run and shout while their minds go blank, thus leaving all emotions, including fear, behind.

Obviously those Normans were already waiting for work, but they still rushed forward without hesitation, and were beaten to a bloody pulp in the end.

"Shield wall! Prepare!"

"Resist the impact! Prepare!"

"Halberdiers! Get ready!"

…

Each centurion commanded his brothers calmly, and each centurion team began to join together, with ten combat squares pieced together to form a solid wall.

The soldiers behind the broad round shields were all half-hunched, their heads protected by the iron helmets half sunk behind the shields, and only one of the soldiers' eyes was exposed. Their steel swords were generally placed against the right side of their shields, ready to strike fiercely at any time.

Now, the collision begins.

The Frankish peasant soldiers rushed into the shield wall with a variety of weapons. The soldiers behind the shield simply buried their entire heads behind the shield, with their sharp swords sticking out from the gaps, and regardless of whether there was an enemy in front of them, they still stabbed with all their strength.

The steel swords kept piercing the flesh and blood of the peasant soldiers, and their offensive could not break through the shield formation of the Russian army. Those who were stabbed to death fell down one after another, and were immediately trampled by their brothers who followed.

The Ross Army was under great pressure. The thousand of them were unable to observe the entire battlefield on the front line. They just felt that something was wrong, as if there were enemies everywhere.

In fact, people standing in the distance could indeed see an astonishing number of Frank troops rushing out of the forest, and there were dark warriors everywhere.

This is the final battle!

"Keep stabbing! Don't stop!"

"Hold on! Protect yourself!"

"Pull the injured brother to the back and fill in the empty space!"

"Haberdiers! Be careful not to hurt our brothers!"

The Russian army continued to persist. They faced an all-out attack by an enemy force of 10,000 people.

Behind them is the icy Elbe River, a large number of ferries, and a pontoon bridge leading directly to Hamburg. They have a clear retreat, but the decisive battle should have begun, and no one can leave their post without permission.

Facing the shield wall of the Russian army, these Frankish peasant soldiers had no way to break through it.

The riverside plain from the forest to the river was still too narrow, and this army of ten thousand people simply could not deploy its troops well. Therefore, on the front battlefield, the front line where thousands of Russian troops were restrained was only 200 meters away. On a human scale, the only real battle is the 200-meter front. The large number of soldiers who followed were unable to break in and could only wave flags and cheers from the rear and replenish manpower.

Mortals are not killing machines with unlimited physical strength. Facing the endless waves of enemies, the Ross Shield Wall was still forced to retreat slowly under pressure.

Gradually, the balance of victory slowly tilted towards the Franks. As long as they continued to advance without any casualties, and as long as the Russian reinforcements did not arrive, these Frankish farmers would drive the Russians off the glacier after paying a huge price.

At this point, a reserve force of elite soldiers had arrived at the edge of the forest.

He is relatively satisfied with the current situation, so he needs his javelin troops to add another fire to victory.

More than 300 men threw spears and went into battle. In order to boost their momentum, they went into battle shirtless to show off their ridiculously strong upper body muscles. There is no essential difference between these fair-skinned Frankish men and the strong Russian men. They use spear throwers to fire light javelins, knowing that doing so will hit their own soldiers at the front, but they will definitely hit the enemy.

They are just a group of peasant soldiers. Such people can be recruited in large numbers. Ludwig does not care about them.

There was a whooshing sound in the sky, and a large number of "black lines" rose into the sky.

Suddenly, a rain of arrows attacked the Ross warriors in the fierce battle. The brothers never imagined that only their own arrows had killed the enemy on a large scale, but when they themselves became the victims.

The Russian army began to suffer unexpectedly large casualties, and the Frankish peasant soldiers also suffered even more significant casualties due to their general lack of armor.

The Russian troops behind the front line began to press their round shields against their heads, enduring the javelins that smashed through the shields. They are still resisting, and by showing their tenacity in this way, they are also putting their own lives to put pressure on Rurik himself.

"Ah! This is not the decisive battle I wanted!"

In desperation, Rurik covered his head with both hands. After a brief moment of astonishment, he realized that the decisive battle was no longer bound by his own will and broke out mercilessly!

Liudov couldn't stand it anymore and told Rurik: "I can't wait any longer! My Saxons must cross the river immediately to support."

It was impossible for Rurik to hesitate any longer at this moment, because the army assembled in Hamburg was already a life position, like a powder keg, it had reached the critical point of explosion.

"Attack! Let's attack!"

The golden lion Yang Tian roared.

Rurik, who was standing on the city wall, turned to the warriors lower down behind him. He drew his sword: "Cross the Elbe River! Attack with all your strength!"

Therefore, Liu Dofu did not hesitate to cooperate, and the closed door was completely opened.

The sound of horns and drums was loud, and all the soldiers were roaring.

Ross and Danish warriors rushed out, jumped onto the moored boats and rowed hard. The Elbe River, which was more than 200 meters wide, passed quickly. The soldiers disembarked from the boats and immediately plunged into a bloody battle.

Those Saxon warriors also received Liudov's order, and the elite warriors among them had to bear the brunt and had to cross the river. For this reason, Liudov decided to personally lead a thousand elites to quickly cross the pontoon bridge.

But his determination was temporarily stopped by Rurik.

"Wait!"

"Why?"

"Your people are still not elite! Slow down and let my thousand Eastern Legion cross the pontoon first! Don't worry, this elite force will move very quickly."

In theory, the coalition forces were already operating with all their strength. Counting the twelve-year-old Saxon boy, the nominal number of troops devoted to this decisive battle on the Elbe River was close to 20,000.

But the battlefield was almost always fought on a large riverside plain on the south bank of the river. Previously, the coalition forces fought a bloody battle with 3,000 Frankish heavy cavalry here. This time, it was the second battle and the decisive battle.

Medvet's Slavic Legion is Rurik's trump card. Their individual combat effectiveness is not good, but together they can have terrifying combat effectiveness.

The Slavic soldiers had finished assembling their halberds, and in the eyes of Northumbrian King Aynred who was watching the battle, a group of unsightly warriors suddenly created a forest.

The soldiers at the forefront were all wearing heavy armor, and many of them were actually captured Frank armor.

These people do not need to use shields. Thousands of people are organized into a "hedgehog formation" to implement the strategy that offense is the best defense. Medvet now lined up the Slavic legions and began to move leisurely across the pontoon bridge.

In the front, the Danes, Rus, Götalans, Mellarons, Balmoks, and other various Vikings launched a general attack on the Frank army.

This is a powerful shock wave with a scale of more than 3,000 people! At the same time, the big ships also pulled up their anchors. They moved their positions as close to the southern river as possible, and installed ordinary arrows in the slides of the torsion slingshots, just to provide fire support as much as possible.

The decisive battle was now. Ludwig wanted a decisive battle, but he did not expect that the enemy had so many troops.

The river was full of rowing boats, and the number of Norman pirates was endless.

"When did they become so vicious?" Ludwig finally felt the terror, even though he still had 5,000 elite troops in his hands who were very capable of fighting.

The cramped war made it impossible for him to put his elite troops into battle for the time being. His own peasant soldiers became an obstacle, and the enemy was still adding troops.

Ludwig saw a group of troops passing quickly on the pontoon bridge. These people were all carrying very long spears. He had never seen this kind of army in his life, and his subconscious fear made him think that this was a group of guys who were not easy to mess with.

Today's Saxon warriors are essentially the same as Frankish peasant warriors. They are both farmers and lack training.

The Ross-Danish coalition is at the same level as the Frankish heavy troops.

However, the Frankish elite are now unable to fight due to the cramped battlefield environment, while the Russian and Danish elites are still landing one after another.

With a strong army against a weak brigade, even if it is an army of ten thousand people, the soldiers of the Frank Army have already begun...

Medved walked in front of the team and landed on the other side first. In front of them were friendly forces fighting, and their appearance made the friendly forces overjoyed.

"Spear Wall! Start!"

The words were spoken in Slavic. This army, composed entirely of Ilmen Slavs, formed a hedgehog formation with extremely long-handled halberds and began to advance forward.

The Slavic Legion first supported its own Rus sword and shield bearers with halberds, and then as the people in the fierce battle felt, a large number of long-handled weapons suddenly stretched out from their shoulders.

The spear head is equipped with a spiked axe, which is a war halberd. It can stab, cut and pound, and has various attack methods.

Thus, the horrific killings began on the battlefield at the bridgehead.

How did the Frankish army ever see such a situation?

The peasant soldiers were either killed or hacked. They had no power to fight back. The long-handled halberd killed the enemy at a distance, and the place where the halberd head swept was full of casualties.

As a result, the Ross Sword and Shieldmen's armed forces at this position moved away and voluntarily gave up the battle line to Medvedt's legion.

The avalanche of Frankish peasant soldiers began, and those without armor were directly swept away. Even if they were wearing armor, it would not help. The heavy halberd head smashed into the enemy's helmet, crushing the enemy's skull into pieces and killing him instantly.

The first three rows are responsible for desperately assassinating, and the soldiers behind are responsible for pounding. The most important thing for such a phalanx is to ensure the safety of the flanks, but this is something they don't need to consider in this battle.

Both wings of the Slavic legion were Rus' sword and shield bearers. Such an arrangement of troops was really a tried-and-tested tactic of Rurik's, even though the battlefield was cramped and slender.

The strength advantage of the Frankish peasant soldiers was gone. They had suffered more than 2,000 casualties. Once the soldiers fell, they had no chance to stand up. They could only be trampled to death or hit by their own side or the enemy.

The Frankish army's casualties could only expand sharply as time went on. The bad situation of the battle could not be reversed by just three hundred spear throwers. It was precisely these muscle-bursting spear throwers who began to encounter key blows from Ross's ships.

If it weren't for Ludwig's heavily armored troops suppressing the rear and armored soldiers ordered to kill some of the retreaters, the collapse would have occurred long ago.

However, in the face of the continuous reinforcements of the Normans, the total collapse of those peasant soldiers began.

The peasant soldiers fled across the board. They threw away their weapons and ran away. They remained unmoved in the face of heavy infantry pressure.

Because the latter also fell into deep fear.

Ludwig felt that there were enemies everywhere, and perhaps he could win by committing his reserves to the general attack now.

No! Totally impossible!

There were shouts of killing everywhere, and there were fleeing warriors everywhere. They were like wild deer scurrying in the forest, and in front of them was the advancing barbarian army.

"Withdraw! Let's withdraw! Withdraw to Bremen!"

The limited time did not allow Ludwig to think too much. His army did not get effective rest at all, and rushed into the decisive battle. As a result, he was defeated before the sun set.

The East Frankish Army still has more than 15,000 troops at this moment, but the problem is that the morale of the army is broken, and fear is spreading like a chain reaction.

When the king gave the order to retreat, it was no longer shameful to retreat. The heavy infantry, who were unwilling to admit that they were afraid out of honor, also began to flee towards the rear.

Some people even threw off their armor and even stopped dragging their own sleds.

They fled the same way they came, and more than 15,000 people escaped into the woods.

The allied forces in the rear were in hot pursuit, and the tired Frankish peasant soldiers began to be killed or captured on a large scale.

The bright red blood soaked this heather forest.

Fifty years ago, Charlemagne's Frankish army defeated the Saxons here, and now the northerners have achieved even crazier results here.

The pursuit continued until nightfall, when the entire pursuit came to an end.

Now Rurik had to face a rather bizarre fact-the East Frankish army became a group of poor bandits, and the coalition forces achieved a great victory.

The prisoners immediately reported the fact that this battle was indeed a personal expedition of King Ludwig.

However, after simply interrogating the prisoners to find out the peasant soldiers' origins, something rather embarrassing happened.

Individual prisoners were immediately released, and even transformed from enemies into allies.

For no other reason than these prisoners of war came from the Barony of Nassau, and now these prisoners became Henry's allies in the Netherlands Count of Nassau.

For Rurik and other nobles, the next thing is not to continue the pursuit. It is necessary to count the casualties, try their best to treat the wounded, clean the battlefield, and continue to maintain a defensive posture.

Rurik was not worried about Ludwig, whom he had never met, fleeing with his follow-up troops. No! They can't escape.

The enemy's retreat will be cut off. In the vast space, this Frankish army will be trapped in an embarrassing situation. The cold in the north will grant them further death.

Next, we only need to wait for the situation to ferment, and time continues to delay. The longer it is delayed, the more disadvantageous it will be to the Frank army.