Rise of Rurik

In the early morning, thick fog diffused the earth. The whole world is very wet and cold, which is extremely unfriendly to the huge Smolensk fighters who are forced to sleep in the open.

They light campfires at the edge of the forest to keep out the cold and cook their food, leaving only hot embers in the morning.

Their bodies were dampened by the mist, and rather than continuing to fight, getting their bodies warm and dry was the top priority.

One cloud after another of fog floated near the West Dvina River, and the whole world was even more gray. The visibility of the places where the fog passed suddenly plummeted to less than five meters.

The soldiers were plunged into the mist one after another. They yelled at each other their friends' names to dispel their inner worries, for fear that all this was the conspiracy of Chaos God Cherno.

Vadim was not surprised by the strange fog, the fog itself was nothing, and it was probably impossible for the enemy to escape by taking advantage of the fog, but the possibility of them launching a sneak attack relying on the fog was not small.

The cavalry moved in the fog, and Vadim led his men to stand at the front of the camp again. Although the fog covered everything, he knew that the enemy's damned fortress was right in front of him.

A deep voice shouted at the weapon: "Don't be afraid! Stay alert! Prepare to fight!" The speaker was Vadim, who was both brave and reckless, and he still is after all these years.

Perhaps, as this person said, it was a clever move to launch a sneak attack while taking advantage of the weapon. However, Jellinger was also taken aback by the early morning fog. The thick fog enveloped the surrounding area, and the Vitebsk Fortress was completely immersed in it.

Compared with those guys outside the city, the serious reduction in personnel means that the strength of the defenders has plummeted, but it also leaves enough comfortable sleeping areas for the remaining soldiers.

There were more than a dozen senior soldiers sitting in the warm longhouse. Everyone's faces were ugly, obviously frightened by the fog.

Everyone wants to hear the opinion of the old man Yellinger, after all, the next battle will have to rely on this veteran.

"I've made up my mind." He said slowly, "Just one hundred of us can't defend the entire fortress." As soon as the words fell, everyone who wanted to hear the exciting news was extremely puzzled.

"Last night we were obviously high-spirited, and today is still the same. You...why say discouraged words. I don't want to die in vain, I still want to hold the fort and wait for reinforcements." Some soldiers stood up and made a joint statement on behalf of everyone.

Yellinger coughed twice, and his sharp and old eyes glanced at everyone: "Don't rush to refute. You, Ai Wende, you have many opportunities to kill the enemy, and you will not die in vain. And you, Everyone sitting here! It was us who took the initiative to fall into such a predicament, and each soldier killed at least five enemies or more. We can't go out of the city to fight them, but rely on the city wall to fight them hard. However, with this little force, In the foreseeable future, the outer city wall may not be able to be defended. Fortunately, our inner city defense is the strongest." It seems that Jellinger is planning to give up the defense of the outer city wall, as if he has lost confidence in the aqueducts and ditches of the moat.

"They may take advantage of the fog to launch a sneak attack. Most of the brothers are now stationed at the east gate. But we also have to consider the possibility of the enemy tying up rafts and landing from the north gate by water. Besides... you must not be fools, you must Will think of some tricks to break through our trenches and outer walls..."

"Uncle, you think highly of them." The speaker was still the young Ai Wende.

"Shut up first, I have seen a lot and you have just grown up, so it's not your turn to intervene here."

"But, everyone sitting here is young and promising." The young man pouted defiantly.

"Young and promising? It's fine if you're like that kid Karl. You're only fourteen years old, and this is your first battle."

"But it can achieve my glory." The young man still raised his chin.

"Forget it. From my point of view, the enemy is not stupid. From a more pragmatic point of view, the outer wall we built is too long to be easily defended. It is precisely because the inner city is indestructible. Don't question my words, only me, an old man, can help you **** here. The boy becomes the hero who guards the fort." A group of young people debated that they couldn't argue with Yellinger who had seen it before. They had all kinds of ideas, but they didn't have the intention of fighting.

After all, up to now, none of these young men who came from the north died in battle. On the other hand, yesterday's battle was just a group of engineers who were good at shooting and countered the enemy like hunting. Fighting is like a game. What's so terrible?

In the mouths of young people, whether there are a thousand enemies or ten thousand, it is not a big problem to kill so many enemies as long as the conditions are ripe.

As for the possibility of the enemy breaking through the fortress, the young people didn't think it was possible. Only Yellinger and a few elites clamored about the possibility, which seemed strange.

The fog gradually dissipated, and the two armies standing on the battlefield due to the thick fog were extremely vigilant towards each other, for fear that the opponent would attack first. As a result, the sun shone on the thick fog and completely dissipated, and the two sides noticed that the two sides had tensely confronted each other. for a while.

The sun came out, but it was not a clear sky. The sky is gray, the real body of the sun appears and disappears from time to time, and most of the time it turns into a small patch of cloud

"Glowing Plaques". One flag after another was flying on the city wall, and the tallest building in the inner city, a huge Ross flag, was particularly dazzling.

They are always the best

The "provocative thing" made Vadim extremely angry, and it was precisely these flags that gradually increased the morale of the Smolensk Army.

However, there was no **** battle today. Under the order of Vadim, the army outside the city organized all the leather drums to make a big noise to attract the Rus people to come to the city to watch.

Following the example of the Varyags, the Smolensk army stacked and nested their self-made round shields on top of each other, mostly in groups of fifty or sixty people, and marched towards the east gate of the fortress in the form of a large number of shield walls, both orderly and chaotic. .

At first glance, they just got along with the new idea of ​​siege. Jellinger and his men gathered at the east gate again. Due to the absolute emptiness of troops, there are only a handful of soldiers staying in the inner city.

Those who stayed in the inner city had nothing to do. Some simply stood on the roof, relying on their good eyesight to observe the enemy's movements, and also observed the course of the West Dvina River to ensure that the enemy would not attack.

Jellinger has made a record. The so-called main supplies have been concentrated in the inner city. Although the houses in the outer city are mostly dormitories and empty barns, a gate of the inner city is opened to ensure that if there is a problem in the outer city, the brothers can Quickly retreating to the inner city and continuing to resist is also a more fierce resistance.

The old man wore a butterfly helmet with blindfolds on his head, and the polished helmet swayed wantonly on the city wall, which was also a kind of provocation.

He kept a close eye on the enemy's movements... The young man felt that one shield wall after another was advancing, as if the Smolensk had bought a group of northerner mercenaries.

"Could it be that there are Danes working for them?!" The too young Ai Wende turned his head to hear the news, and there was more fear in his tone.

"Boy, are you afraid?!" Yellinger returned his gaze, and blinked deliberately.

"I'm not afraid...just."

"It's nothing. It's normal to be afraid. But they are definitely not Danes. Bah!" Yellinger spat: "It's just a poor imitation. You!" Yellinger pointed again.

"I?"

"The three captives are not dead yet, and it's just in time to come in handy."

"Execute now? Boss, are you planning to execute the captives in front of them?!"

"You're very smart. Yes! It's just that I thought of a better way to irritate them." The three prisoners of war who were captured had arrow wounds. If the injuries were not serious, they would have become hard corpses.

The captives explained too much key information during a big meal, and in exchange they only got

"I won't be abused anymore" doesn't mean I can survive. The prisoner tremblingly walked onto the scaffold, reluctantly daring to look at the violent Varyags, turned his head slightly to notice the large-scale march of the Smolensk army, and burst into tears.

What follows is the provocative scene. I saw a Varyag warrior with a steel sword in one hand and a round shield in the other. The shield was specially painted with chalk mud and woad dye to look like Ross.

Evinde wanted to be a hero, so Jellinger gave this kid a chance. This boy stood on the empty wooden box, almost exposing his whole body to the enemy.

He shouted in Slavic: "Smolensk people are cowards! Vadim is the greatest coward! Vadim, watch us Rus execute you! Soon, you will be executed!" He obeyed Yeling again. The provocative words turned into swear words and insults to Vadim himself.

The provocative effect the defenders had hoped for soon became apparent, and Vadim on horseback could no longer stay in the rear at all.

He had already changed his horse and rushed to the front, raising his sword to fight back with curses, but he was at a distance where it was not easy to accurately snipe.

"Shoot him?" asked a warrior with a crossbow. Jellinger signaled to stand still. He saw that Vadim was wearing obvious chain mail, and he was probably wearing a layer of armor.

The distance is too far, even if the arrow hits him, it may not completely break the armor. Unless the person decides to get closer.

"Forget it. Ai Wende, let's see if you dare to do it now." Yellinger looked at Ai Wende who was standing on a high place, and the latter simply put the shield on his back and stretched out his hand, but the push came, and his eyes were covered cast captive.

"Vadim! Ross sacrificed your blood to Odin!" After that, the too young Ai Wende stabbed the prisoner to death with a sword, and after a lot of effort, he lifted the severed head with a wooden stick. Wende has been bathed in blood and has become a terrifying existence.

The bodies of the three captives were all pushed down, and the ferocious heads were deliberately shown off by the Ross people. This move is entirely in retaliation for the enemy's sneak attack on the logging camp yesterday.

This matter was also completely seen by the Smolensk soldiers who were marching in formation. Many people knew the captured brothers. Unexpectedly, the missing man did not die in battle yesterday, but now he is dead—like a sacrifice. Killed by the enemy.

"Revenge!" Vadim shouted tremblingly. Inspired by him, he planned to show off his might to intimidate the enemy's army today, and finally turned the intimidation into an attack.

However, the watered trench is still difficult to pass, Vadim thought of a way but it is not used today. He actually considered that the opponent was the Rus, a branch of the Varyag.

In Smolensk, there are a small number of Varyags of Danish origin living in the country. These people did not participate in the battle, but only provided some ideological help to Vadim.

According to the tradition in the north, when one party formed an formation to challenge, the other party often had to leave the residence to form an formation to deal with it, and the two sides would fight in the open field to decide the winner.

What Vadim's advisors said was true. The fighting in the Nordic world was like this in the past, but he didn't know why the fighting was like that-the root cause was that the warring tribes couldn't afford it and wanted a quick victory.

The food reserves in the inner city of Vitebsk are abundant, and there are even shallow wells so that drinking water is not a problem.

The defense of the inner city is stronger, so why go out of the city to fight to the death? It is because of the limited strength of the Ross who expanded in the early stage, and the Ross who could not tolerate failure became more and more wretched. When the enemy intends to fight a traditional fight, they will be greeted with overwhelming arrows and javelins, and even inexplicable stones... Vadim Has the most painful understanding of Ross, even if it was more than ten years ago.

The shield wall advanced slowly, which was indeed different from yesterday's chaotic rush. Seeing them enter the shooting range of the bow and arrows majestically, Jellinger, who intends to launch a salvo, ordered his men to continue to wait and see.

"Strange, what the **** is Vadim doing?" Still muttering, suddenly some lightly armed soldiers came out of the shield wall with bows and magic.

"No! There's an ambush! Put your shield over your head to hide from the arrows!" Yellinger's cry was quite abrupt, but fortunately, the defenders subconsciously defended temporarily when they saw the enemy throwing shots into the air in a disorderly manner.

The defenders who were still at the east gate held their shields against the wooden wall, avoiding bows and arrows at such an extreme angle.

After all, only a vertically falling arrow could hit him, and the fighters who stayed on the scaffold were acting like turtles by raising their shields over their heads because Yellinger didn't ask for a counterattack.

The archers in the attacking Smolensk army acted entirely in flash, throwing at high angles and then dashing and hiding.

After shooting several times in a row, it was found that the Ross people did not counterattack, so they boldly moved to the trench and continued to projectile at a large angle.

So, does such an attack really work? Vadim thinks it is effective if it is effective. The conscripted hunters have to consume self-made arrows to meet the strange requirements of the big boss, but the hunters are not fools. They are not stupid enough to consume their best iron cluster arrows. The bow and arrow are shot in one go, and if you look carefully, you will know that the arrows thrown are all bone cluster arrows.

These are the arrows, made of arrows clustered on Rose's round shield. If it hit Rose's iron helmet, there would be no scratches.

Arrows slammed down like hailstones, and the defenders hiding by the wooden wall held up their shields, picked up an arrow at random, and shouted absurdly as they watched the cluster of arrows.

"What, are they still using this kind of arrow? Our hunters are using iron clusters, and even the Finns have changed their weapons. They are still using bones."

"Haha, understand, after all, Ross's iron clusters will not be sold to the Smolensk people."

"Sure enough, they are a group of idiots, and we are actually afraid that a group of idiots are hiding arrows here." Someone yelled regretfully.

"Alas." A soldier said pragmatically: "It's just because we have too few people. If we had a thousand soldiers, we would have left the city and killed them all."

"Maybe there will be a chance." An older soldier who still had a childish face was clearly aware of and deeply understood Yellinger's intentions: "We firmly attract them. As long as the battle is delayed until the arrival of reinforcements, our brothers will Rush out and join the final fight." However, these young fighters still did not understand Jellinger's intention to become a chicken thief.

Some soldiers deliberately broke the arrows they picked up out of disdain for the enemy. He was still holding up his round shield to deliberately endure, and suddenly saw that the subordinates who were defending played some inexplicable tricks.

The young cubs competed to see who could break the shaft of an enemy's arrow with one hand.

"Hey! You are not allowed to do this! Collect the enemy's arrows and strengthen our defenses. Remember, it doesn't matter what the arrows are! The more arrows we have, the better." The young Ostara who regarded the battle as a game was awakened by the words. boys.

young people start at

Arrows are collected in "Hail", pulled out from the ground and then bundled and piled up by the wall. As the attacker, Vadim has no better way. It is the original intention of today's attack to harass the enemy with as many arrows as possible and dampen his spirit. Since he was provoked by the enemy, he should shoot more arrows in return.

It's good to hit them nervously, and it's great if you can damage a few enemies. Vadim doesn't have any staff around him now, and the outcome of the battle depends entirely on his personal will.

He did think of a set of tactics. Today's provocative operation is definitely not the main attack, but a part of his grand plan.

he has his own way

"Meticulous logic": "I take the initiative to attack, you must go out of the city to fight, or you can't hold on, or you can escape. I can't complete the siege before the river freezes, so you can flee. But don't you become cowards if you flee? You Ross people are very arrogant , I definitely dare not escape. My attack today seems to be helpless, you must think so, so that you will stay here and wait to die. Our arrows are of poor quality, and we can’t kill you even if we think about it. That's enough. It's okay to consume all the arrows. In the end, we will destroy the wooden wall and cross the trench, and kill you with spears and axes." Vadim can be very whimsical, and his hunters are more pragmatic. After the arrow, Vadim will not reimburse this kind of consumables. When the war is over, the hunters have to make arrows again, and all costs can only be borne by themselves.

Although bone cluster arrows are bad, it would be different if they smeared some feces~www.readwn.com~ Even if it is contaminated with a little mud on the spot. Let the enemy's wounds be contaminated to cause fear fever and kill the enemy. They don't understand the specific mechanism, so let's think it caused

"Curse of the Chaos God" is at least an enemy-killing tactic. That's why some soldiers secretly prayed to the God of Chaos to curse the enemy when they were shooting arrows.

However, this move has no practical effect on the defenders who generally wear plate armor. Although the defenders were generally young, those who stayed in the city were elite and well-equipped. In order to ensure that the fortress of Vitebsk was strong, Duchess Carlota really spent all her money, and now all her efforts were worthwhile.

The Smolensk archers used the Mediterranean shooting method. Their short wooden bows could throw light arrows to a distance of one hundred meters, which barely reached the standard of war bows.

The material of the bow is oak. To be fair, the material is fine, but the biggest problem is that the arrows are too low-quality.

The Orion shooters gradually had sore arms, and they did not dare to waste their arrows recklessly, and they gradually died down in the state of free shooting.

Now, it's finally the Ross's turn to fight back...