Rise of Rurik

There were loud trumpets and drums from Hamburg, and the coalition forces made a loud noise in response to the Frankish army in the forest.

Undoubtedly, the advancing Ludwig was aware of the roar from the north.

"Finally, you're going to have a decisive battle!"

He was riding a tall horse, wearing a battle armor and a golden crown on his head, a brown bear fur wrapped around his body, and the saddle was decorated with leopard skin.

He is beyond words, and the heavy armored cavalry behind him are majestic.

Thousands of heavy armored infantry guarded him, but these elite soldiers were not yet wearing armor.

The elite of the Frankish army did not suffer heavy losses, and the soldiers were still energetic.

As for the peasant soldiers, the Cologne City Militia, and even the lowest Sorbian slave soldiers, their situation is becoming increasingly worrying.

Peasant soldiers are responsible for fighting, and now they are also mainly responsible for transporting armor, stomachs and weapons of elite soldiers.

As for the Sorbian slave soldiers, they dragged sleds and carried more daily necessities.

After the army emerged from the forest, it was a foolish move to launch a desperate charge. Ludwig decided to reach the edge of the battlefield first and temporarily used the frozen Elbe River as the boundary. His army set up camp on the south bank of the river. The decisive battle was inevitable. Break out tomorrow.

He knew that there were risks in doing so. If the enemy took the initiative to attack, he would have to resist with a slightly exhausted army.

Unless the Frankish army shows off their might when they appear, intimidating the enemy not to act rashly, and trying to gain time for rest.

Not far ahead, you can break through the forest. From this position, everyone can hear those northern rumblings more clearly.

"Is this an armed deterrent against me?"

Thinking that he must not be outdone in terms of momentum, Ludwig pulled out his sword and immediately waved it to call on the entire army: "Scream! Everyone shout! Go and scare the enemy!"

As a result, the Frank army began a new round of shouting, and the roars of tens of thousands of people shook the forest and snow continued to fall. The sound of drums, horns, or the beating of one's own shield, accompanied by chaotic shouts, indeed created a huge noise.

Their roars indeed aroused a sense of fear in Rurik's heart. After all, the forest still concealed the enemy's figure. Listening to the current movements, I am afraid that the enemy's strength could be 20,000 or more.

Having more Frankish soldiers does not mean they are strong. As long as their elites are defeated, all that will be left will be a bunch of rabble.

Rurik believed in his own judgment, so only by sending out elite main battle troops could he be sure of victory.

The coalition forces were under the command of Rurik, who decided to use the tried and tested tactic of a pincer offensive.

In the past few decisive battles, the Russian army used pincer offensives to achieve major victories. Its elite lies in fully mobilizing human resources to complete the encirclement of the enemy and then annihilate them all. With this tactic, defeating the enemy is equivalent to failure. Only by gathering the enemy together and annihilating them can success be considered.

When Rurik decided to act with this tactic, all the nobles and generals fully understood their tasks.

Annihilate the entire Frank army in one fell swoop?

This was something Liudov could not even imagine, but those Russians and Danes were serious, and all his Saxon troops had to devote themselves to this decisive battle to gamble on the fate of the country.

This is the tactical principle. It is correct to use tactics according to local conditions.

The Franks had the tactical advantage of heavy cavalry. The iron hooves of their horses had grooves to increase grip, proving that they could launch surprise attacks on the ice. The thickness of the ice on the frozen Elbe River was further investigated, and it was fully capable of carrying the load. A group of cavalry charges.

"If I were the French army, I would also send the cavalry to charge. As long as these canned meats rush to disrupt my formation without fear of death, I will be defeated! I must stop them! They must be defeated with spears."

"Ah! Based on the current situation, I can imitate the Spaniards and form a large phalanx."

In the previous battle against Count Robert's 3,000-heavy cavalry surprise attack, the coalition forces all armed themselves with spears and faced the real dilemma of a last-ditch battle, so they used a wall of spears to withstand the Frankish attack. For this reason, the coalition forces still paid a lot of casualties, but the myth of the invincibility of Frankish heavy cavalry has been broken. At least the Saxons here have learned an effective method of dealing with heavy cavalry.

It is undeniable that those improvised spears were really fragile. When the impact occurred, a large number of spear shafts broke.

A good spear shaft needs to be treated to make it strong, hard and elastic. The Russian army mainly uses sun-dried oak as the material.

Is ordinary pine wood meaningless?

No! As the Slavic proverb goes: Once the stick is rammed, nothing can stop it; if there is any resistance, the stick becomes thicker.

The best way to resist the charge of those heavy cavalry is to counterattack with thicker spear shafts!

Some straight red pines as thick as a bowl were cut down, and their bark was peeled off to expose the moist wood inside, which quickly froze in the cold winter. Most of these red pines are more than ten meters long, and one section of them has been cut with a sharp point by an axe. There are as many as 500 such spear shafts. Together with the light spears of the entire army, they can definitely restrain the heavy cavalry.

Whether it is the Russian army or the Saxon army, whether it is an elite warrior or an ordinary peasant soldier, everyone now looks at one weapon - the spear.

Thanks to those captured weapons, the coalition forces now only have no shortage of spearheads! Whether it is the serious broad-leaf spear, the stabbing spear and halberd of the Russian army, or simply using a short sword as the spearhead and upgrading it to a new moon, the coalition now has more than 10,000 spearmen. As long as they gather densely, there will be a swaying forest under the sun.

The group movement of spearmen is a great test of organization and coordination. This situation just reflects the advantages of the Ross Army Standard Corps system.

Various personnel were replenished, so that some Viking Saxons who had lived in the Danish world also joined them. Ragnar's Danish army had been completely absorbed, and Blue Fox's Gothenburg-Unkras army personnel had been absorbed. The Russian army had as many as six flag corps. With some non-combatants also joining in as soldiers, the number of personnel was barely replenished to 4,000 people. They could speak Norse. Among them, a thousand Slavic flag corps soldiers became The best of the best.

They all carried their own bucklers, put on their own chainmail or leather-inlaid iron plate armor, and then put on a white cloth robe, with a blue cloth belt specially decorated on the chest to prove their identity.

They lined up on the ice, spearing a forest of spears in a short time. Behind their majestic figures, a large number of thick wooden poles are hidden.

Torsion slingshots were strapped to the small sleds, and they were to be lined up in front of the formation, and there were engineers fighting under the leadership of Kawei.

Finnish archers, accompanied by crossbowmen of armed sailors, would line up before the spearmen.

All spearmen are not simply defective. The soldiers can throw away their spears in an instant, remove their bucklers, and pull out their own steel swords and hand axes to fight. The whole process takes less than five seconds.

In this era without gunpowder weapons, Rurik replaced the tactical role of muskets and artillery with slingshots and crossbows. These 5,000 men are the warriors that Rurik can now fully command without worrying about cowardly escape. They were either Viking warriors or Viking-ized warriors, and their will to fight could be trusted.

But Rurik cannot afford to lose.

These five thousand people have exhausted their human resources. After all, those Saxons are not powerful partners yet, they are just a group of farmers who can only fight with the wind.

The so-called "this is the Duchy of Saxony's own war" is nonsense. If Liudov is really allowed to take charge of the battle himself, everything will be over.

Then let the King of Rus have the glory of defeating the King of Franks!

Rurik put on his golden laurel crown, eye-frame sunglasses, and a bearskin coat and quickly appeared in front of the battle.

The warriors kept shouting when they saw their king appear, including Ragna who also beat his shield enthusiastically.

All preparations have been made, and it seems that the decisive battle will be launched this afternoon.

Compared with the rapid action of the Rus-Danish army, the Saxons' delay was within Rurik's expectation.

The former had already been assembled, and a batch of heavy weapons had been put in place. Only then did the Saxon troops appear one after another carrying spears, and they all stood cautiously behind the former.

Liudov himself has not yet appeared, and he is still sorting out some of his own internal affairs-taking the nobles he promoted to pray to God in a simple monastery.

The matter is far from over. The northern saint Esquier will also use newly picked cypress branches and dip them in holy water in a huge silver basin to bless the soldiers, as if the war cannot be fought without this ceremony.

While they were dawdling in the rear, Rurik only waited for a short while, and the soldiers did not stand with their legs stiff. The enemy finally showed his true face.

At first, there was a group of warriors shining brightly in the sun, holding high their kite shields and swords to show off their power.

Later, more armored warriors appeared, like a large group of iron men emerging from the forest.

Looking at the formation, the people coming are indeed Frankish elites. Now that they are wearing heavy armor, are they really going to launch a decisive battle this afternoon?

There were bursts of boos among the rebels, mixed with a lot of curses in Norse. Because the sun was high, Odin was watching the decisive battle.

The Frankish army was getting more and more powerful. When they saw a huge army gathering on the river in the distance, all of them held their spears high. The enemy's behavior today was so weird that no one dared to challenge lightly. They just stood on the side and showed off their power, constantly venting their dissatisfaction with trash talk.

At this moment, the coalition forces were shouting the same curses, and no one dared to leave their posts without authorization.

With the appearance of Frank's cavalry troops, the appearance of the decisive battle became increasingly clear.

From the beginning of the war until now, Ludwig didn't know his enemy. He was very interested in these special Normans who could make him suffer big losses several times in a row, and he was even willing to chat with Rurik, the big barbarian leader.

Now, he finally saw the true face of the Rus among the Normans.

"What a mighty warrior! I finally see your entire lineup! Ah! Am I fighting against my brother?!"

This was Ludwig's highest praise. Facing the enemies that had already assembled, he did not dare to act rashly.

He ordered the soldiers to assemble immediately, all flag squads to form ranks, all peasant soldiers to appear in formation, and all priests to enter the formation.

Forget it, he hurriedly dismounted, and due to the current tense situation, he immediately called for a meeting with all the generals and the Xia Tian nobles.

The so-called meeting is just the arrangement of the soldiers before the decisive battle.

The king showed a trace of anxiety, and the captains of the banners and the nobles were also worried about the current situation. They did not doubt that they would be defeated, but they wanted to fight the Norman army decisively, and the whole army won miserably.

It is not that they have not dealt with the Danes in the past, and everyone has a certain understanding of the Norman power.

Today's situation is unexpected. After all, the army on the other side of the ice river is marching in order. Although the enemy is a barbarian, there are a large number of uniform flags flying in the queue. There are also a large number of ships frozen on the ice. No matter how you think about it, they have been transformed into Arrow tower. The enemy is quite well prepared. If they attack now, the Frank army will be under great pressure.

"There are all signs that the Normans are well prepared! I originally planned to spend the last night resting with the riverside and launch a decisive battle with them tomorrow. Now we can't afford to wait! I don't think the enemy will give us time."

"We must form our troops immediately! You must implement my king's order immediately! As your king, I will personally take some followers to chat with the enemy. Taking this opportunity, you must seize the time to form the formation, seize the time to rest, and the soldiers will Take a bite of solid food.”

The generals looked at each other and although they felt it was inappropriate for the king to condescend to negotiate, they all obeyed his orders.

After a moment, Ludwig pulled the Archbishop of Cologne to his side and said righteously: "I will have a chat with their leader."

"Discussing peace?" the archbishop asked cautiously.

"It's war."

"Finally...the decisive battle is this afternoon? It's too hasty."

"Not necessarily. If the battle continues into the night, we will fight under the cover of night. I will bet my honor and power. My withdrawal means defeat. Only victory can I continue. If I am destined to die here today, I It is also obligatory. I am the grandson of Charlemagne. If he were still alive, I would also command the army to attack."

Archbishop Hardbold didn't know whether to encourage him or dissuade him. He sighed deeply: "This is your fate, you can't get rid of it. But... I'm worried that you will be ambushed if you negotiate with them in person. They are barbaric. Man, and that traitor.”

"No. They don't dare. If the traitor Liudov does this, other Frankish nobles will retaliate. You quickly bless the warriors and sow fuel economy for the elite warriors... Well, there are also those Sorbian slaves."

"Sorbs. Do you finally think they are usable soldiers?"

"Yes." Ludwig shrugged: "They will be of great use. Give them blessings first! I'll come as soon as I can."

So, Ludwig led a dozen people and rode a tall horse on the ice.

Seeing this, Rurik verified his judgment that the enemy cavalry could gallop on the ice.

At this moment, Yevro leaned over and asked: "Your Majesty, should we shoot them?"

"No! Go and order your people to stay calm. This is the enemy's messenger. We must not kill the messenger."

Liudov had good eyesight. He saw a group of people on horseback moving towards the coalition forces from a distance. He took a closer look and saw that if it wasn't King Ludwig, who could it be?

In desperation, he hurriedly rode his inferior horse and led several of his mounted followers to rush to the front of the Ross army.

Liudolf hurriedly dismounted and met the tall and strong King of Rus, and said bluntly: "A noble man has come from the Franks. Pay attention to the one wearing a golden thing on his head. He is Ludwig, the great king of East Frank."

"Is it really him?!" Rurik's eyes immediately narrowed and he took off his sunglasses to take a closer look. Sure enough, he saw a middle-aged man wearing a gold crown and a curly brown beard. "Really Ludwig?"

"Absolutely true."

"Haha. Could this guy be here to challenge me?"

"It seems to me that he wants to chat with us." Liu Doufu said cautiously.

"What's there to talk about? They have decided to fight." Rurik said, giving Liudov a look: "Open your eyes and take a look! Their priests are blessing the soldiers. I understand your etiquette. What you were just doing was busy doing blessings in the monastery. Only by doing this can your souls go to your heaven after you die in battle."

"Okay." If Liudov hadn't noticed this because of the reminder, the peace negotiation he hoped for would not have existed from the beginning. "Then there's just fighting."

"So I can arrange my heavy weapons to snipe him and kill Ludwig and solve all the problems."

"No! You can't." Liu Duofu's expression suddenly changed, and he quickly got off his horse and emphasized again.

"Of course, I'm just joking. If I really kill him, my plan will be over. Since he wants to talk to us, I will go and talk. You! Liudov, let's go together."

"me……"

"What? Are you guilty of being a traitor? Don't forget that you are the leader of the Saxons, and don't forget the humiliation your family has suffered."

"Then let's go!"

There were more than ten people on Ludwig's side, led by himself. Rurik regards him as a pure reckless man. Is he really not afraid that he will be sniped by a slingshot and a javelin?

Ludwig, who was wearing a crown, suddenly ordered the army to stop, and then cursed a lot of rubbish in Frankish vulgarity.

As a king, he openly insulted the mother of the Russian people and insulted the blood of the Russian people.

The already bad-tempered warriors knew some Frankish vocabulary, especially swear words. They originally learned these swear words to "greet" the enemy, but unexpectedly they were "kindly greeted" by the enemy's king.

Arik was so angry that his beard trembled, and the soldiers were so angry that they couldn't help but bang their shields.

Rurik was also furious and almost couldn't help but order a volley of torque slingshots. If the Song Army's crossbow sniper attack was a coincidence, now the Russian Army's fifty-seat torsion slingshot salvo could really kill Ludwig. In the end, reason prevailed.

After all, he is a king, but how can he be a strong-mouthed king?

Rurik put on his sunglasses with a dull face and summoned twenty of his standing army berserkers.

"Brothers, let's go!" he ordered. "Let's go see what kind of thing the king of Frank is. Listen carefully, don't get angry because of your own impulses. You can't attack without my order."

That said, Rurik was also worried that the other party would really come to attack with one horse, so he ordered Liudov to take his bad horse cavalry with him. At the same time, there were as many as ten of his own berserkers carrying heavy loads. Steel arm crossbow. The stubby arrow clusters were already on the string, and as long as Rurik gave the order, the sniper attack would begin immediately.