Rise of Rurik - Chapter 764

[Chapter 765]

Ragnar’s “Stonewall” tribe has never fought against the Ross people in essence, and they have never been rivals in each other’s memories. They only guard the hostile relationship in principle based on their past positions.

Both once belonged to large communities that were hostile to each other, but now that they have cut themselves off from the past, there is no reason to fight each other.

Ragnar successfully concluded a peace deal with the Ross army. He returned to his camp first, and immediately announced that he would merge with the Ross army to attack the city of Bremen, and then recruited more than 30 people to go to the Ross camp to get food.

The hunger situation was immediately relieved, and those people who had been skeptical changed their attitudes immediately after eating the hard wheat cakes provided by the Ross people.

It’s not that this barley cake is a delicacy, it’s as hard as a rock, and it needs to be chewed by the teeth a little bit, and it’s quite strenuous to eat.

But for so many days, we are essentially bereaved dogs, and no one has given any form of help when we were in trouble.

It happened that the Ross people provided a batch of key supplies.

The real Vikings always pay attention to the ease of brotherhood. When a man with great personal charm is present, a large number of people will come to join him.

Therefore, a pirate who has made great achievements can quickly pull out a team.

Ragnar faced his followers very honestly, pointing out without hesitation that the commander of the Ross army was named Arik Ogiersson, the cousin of Prince Ross, and a warrior who killed a lot. Two Swords” nickname.

Even the life deeds of this Arik are worth learning from the tribal people.

The so-called biological father of a young man was killed, and after many years of secret training, he led a group of brothers to launch revenge with an eye for an eye.

What Ragnar said was not to advertise to Arik, but to use this deed to inspire the tribe, especially the last group of children in the tribe.

No one is really an idiot, their homes were destroyed, and the king of Denmark chose to backstab. These children can only grow up in humiliation, with eyes longing for revenge.

The Russian army came all the way to attack Bremen. The purpose was very clear, and they came prepared for this. Even the proud wooden wall of the city was despised by the Russian army.

Arik just heard a group of people cheering in the distance before falling asleep.

Lying in the hut, he covered half of his face with a leather hat, and muttered casually: “Danish, I hope you eat the bread I give, and fight like a pack of hungry wolves tomorrow.”

He didn’t know that the group of Danes were cheering for the war, and cheering for the commander of the coalition forces, Arik.

Why not cheer?

The commander of the Ross people has made it clear that Ross is responsible for breaking through the city wall, and the brothers of the Stonewall tribe swarmed from the gap and have the right to rob immediately.

risk?

Risk counts!

The brothers just wanted blood for the grievances a few months ago, and they wanted to take revenge on the Frankish nobles through killing with a bloody tomahawk.

Ragnar even had a unilateral discussion with his brothers. After the so-called breach of the city, he would lead a hundred ruthless people to attack the residence of the nobles, kill all the living people they encountered, and then plunder all the gold and silver.

In the early morning of the next day, when the river beach was filled with morning fog, the melodious horn sounded.

Ross’s army seized the time to cook this morning’s delicious meal, and Arik even sent someone to take a trolley unloaded from the clothes, and then carry a cart of food to Ragnar’s camp.

Yevro was in charge of this escort, and when he saw Ragnar, who was smiling and showing gratitude, he punched his chest unceremoniously.

The sudden move really startled Ragnar.

Yevro seriously warned: “Why laugh? Tell your people to eat quickly, and remember that you must be full this time. We will make the final voyage, and we are expected to attack the city immediately after arriving at the destination. You must maintain your strength at critical moments. In the end we will Eat the wheat of the Franks in Bremen.”

Hearing the words, Ragnar hurriedly accepted the heavy breakfast, and repeated these words to the clansmen.

The coalition army had a full meal before the war. When the fog gradually cleared, most of the Russian army’s camps were soft and put on again.

Soldiers boarded the ship one after another, and the entire fleet was about to break anchor.

This time, the Ross Army took a smarter approach to sail against the current.

It was aid from Ragnar’s men, whose fleet should have gone downriver, and now all the galleys received the cables cast by the great ship, and were tied to stakes protruding from the stern of the long galley.

Every ship was towed, and the fleet turned into a mixed fleet. The team of more than 900 people zigzagged towards the east along the inland channel of the Weser River.

A terrible army is coming to Bremen!

For the people in the city, although they are not aware of the approaching enemy situation, they are already full of fear for the world outside the city walls.

Because tens of thousands of villagers have always lived their own idyllic life, most of them are actually Saxons, but after being conquered by the Frankish army for more than half a century, many things have changed.

The villagers knew almost nothing about the past, and no one told them how the former “barbarian Saxon principality” existed.

The role of a teacher is essentially that of the resident pastor in the village. The pastor preaches with a scribbled manuscript Gospel, so that the people feel that many stories in the Old Testament and the New Testament are their history.

Obviously this is already the northern border area of the Frankish princes, and a large number of villagers don’t know the existence of Denmark, but there is only a vague concept of “Normans”.

There are almost only two major events in the life of the villagers, paying agricultural taxes to the lord and going to the monastery to worship.

It wasn’t until the Norman fleet burned, killed and looted along the Weser River in 836 that they finally realized that the Satan described in the scriptures was real, and the Normans were Satan!

Therefore, the Earl of Bremen rushed to increase taxes during the wheat harvest season. For the safety of their own lives, the villagers paid an extra three years of grain tax very readily, and some farmers who could not pay the arrears were conscripted to join the Earl Army, go and attack the Normans.

The earl led the soldiers from the territory to fight in the north, but the rear was ravaged by the Normans.

The city of Bremen was a medium-sized city in Western Europe by the current standards in peacetime, but now, the city has squeezed in 10,000 people, and it has become a big city by the standards of the ninth century!

The people in the villages of Shili Baxiang ran away completely. They drove horse-drawn carts and ox carts, carrying newly harvested wheat for emergency evacuation.

The Earl was not in the city, and the lower-level nobles, especially the patrol captain who had arrested the blue fox, turned into the commander of the city defense.

The acting bishop of St. Peter’s Church in Bremen held a surprise mass, and actively mobilized the power of the priests to give collective blessings to the guards of the city.

The “holy water” mixed with rose essential oil is accurately sprinkled on every soldier with a cypress branch that symbolizes nobility, even the barefoot peasant warriors armed with sharpened sticks and armed with assaults, are also blessed.

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It is because of the big losses in the first half of the year, and now in August, while the people hiding in Bremen were frightened, their anger was finally awakened.

Just as the so-called dying and rebirth, some farmers have awakened. After they were blessed with holy water, they immediately had something that must be guarded with their lives-faith.

The defense of Bremen has become a great feat, even a feat that can be achieved at the end of the judgment.

Realistically speaking, their families and belongings were all evacuated to the city. The brutal methods of the Normans were too terrifying, and they had to hold on to the city for their families and wealth.

Bremen is a city by the river. Now the pontoon bridge on the river has been completely demolished, and all the gates of the city have been closed.

A lot of sundries had accumulated behind the thick wooden door, and this operation made the whole of Bremen a huge turtle shell.

The city is overcrowded, many refugees live in churches, and the city square has become a huge refugee camp.

Everyone is trapped in the city, believing that the outside of the city is dangerous and dare not go in and out, and it is impossible to go out in this situation.

The farmers are confined and happy to be safe, while the stranded traders just want to get out of this terrible place sooner rather than later.

Because of the numerous thefts in the city, the property of the merchants was plundered by the people in the city instead. Whether it was robbed by the Normans or the Bremen, it was a loss in the end.

In a sense, the people of Bremen are complacent. They didn’t even arrange for scouts to ambush outside the city so that they could inform the city of the situation.

There are relatively narrow corridors on the city’s wooden city wall, a group of soldiers are stationed for a long time, and more soldiers are stationed on the circular road under the city wall.

There are always archers on duty in the simple tower, but the entire Bremen defenders are assembled, and there are only a thousand guards in name, and the skilled fighters are just more than a hundred people from the city patrol. Many of these people may have passion, but they are still a bunch of rabble after all.

Because the Earl of Bremen has pulled all the troops that used to fight against forest bandits to the north, the city has essentially fallen into a huge emptiness.

If Ragnar’s clan warriors fight this group of Bremen defenders in the wild, the victory will definitely belong to Ragnar.

The tall wooden wall opened Ragnar’s eyes, and then he fell into a disgusting helplessness.

He doesn’t understand siege techniques, and now that he forms a coalition with Ross, he fantasizes that Ross’s army can easily conquer the city wall.

So the actions of the Ross army will be sure?

The fleet was sailing at a constant and slow speed. On the flagship Salmon Chief, the main materials for building the siege vehicle had been transported to the deck.

The shafts of the two large hand-to-hand carts began to be assembled. After the fleet landed, they felled trees on the spot. After the trunks lay on the trolleys, the hard bronze punches were ready to be installed.

They have been preparing all morning, not only the prefabricated parts of the car, but also the large amount of hemp rope stored in the box after being moved to the deck and unpacked for sorting.

A batch of long ladders will also be bundled up on the shore. As for the key wooden poles that make up the long ladders, they have already been prepared, and they are anchored on the left and right sides of the empty armed cargo ship.

The coalition forces set off early in the morning, and by noon they had already seen the city walls of Bremen.

“That’s the target!” Blue Fox pointed with a strong excitement.

“Okay! I will drop the anchor at the landing point you mentioned, and I hope your information is very accurate.”

“Accuracy is inevitable. I haven’t been here for long.” Blue Fox yelled for a while, looking directly at Ragnar who was fortunate to stand on the Ross’s big ship and accompany the Ross army.

“Danish, it’s time for you to put on a show. You can kill as much as you want, just don’t set fire.”

“Why?” Ragnar asked in surprise.

“I’m afraid you will burn the wheat too.”

“It’s okay, I won’t destroy it myself before looting the property. I just hope that the things you personally inspected are correct, and I don’t want my people to die on the way to attack.”

The Ross army and the Ragnar army made mutual assurances that the fleet was still sailing, and Ragnar entered the long ship along the rope ladder thrown by the big ship.

From the standpoint of the people of Mälaren, a fleet floating on the river suddenly appeared, and was suddenly awakened by the tense and hypersensitive defenders.

For a while, the city wall was full of men’s roars and screams, and they used various methods to make noise.

Until the bells of the church tower rang loudly, and the whole city realized that the Norman army was coming again, and the coming was not good!

The patrol captain is now the commander of the city defense. He hurriedly boarded the wooden wall, leaned on the wooden railing for a closer look, and immediately stomped his feet vigorously and cursed.

Then, pretending to be calm, he ordered his subordinates: “Let all the bow bearers go upstairs! The people above put earthen pots, wooden blocks, and stones under the city wall one after another. Go!”

After all, this is the ninth century AD, and the so-called typical European medieval city defense projects do not yet exist.

The commander of the city defense had all the crude weapons on hand, and either shot the attackers with arrows, or smashed clay pots and stones to death those who tried to climb the city wall.

However, the Ross army is not playing a game of chess with them.

The coalition forces of Ross and Ragnar have landed about three arrows away.

Although it is the “land of three arrows”, this distance is actually the maximum range of cast iron bullets thrown by the torsion slingshot. In theory, the Ross army’s formation at the landing site is enough to bring a hailstorm of iron to the defenders.

In fact, Arik was going to do just that.

“Quick! Unload all the slingshots on the port side, people under the boat, assemble the carts quickly. You all move quickly, and cut down trees! We will try to finish the battle today…”

Arik gave orders hoarsely, and the landers prepared nervously.

Ragnar looked curiously at the tense actions of the Ross people. Didn’t he agree not to give the enemy a chance?

The Ross people actually fiddled with a large number of wooden parts on the river beach grass.

But he quickly understood, and praised the Ross people from the bottom of his heart for being cruel.

The ten ships of the Ross Fleet still had to approach the city, at least to “an arrow and a half”, that is, to the river a hundred paces from the city wall.

Only a few armed sailors on the ship insisted, and they all operated the torsion slingshot on the starboard side for fire support when launching an attack.

Looking at the land route, it took the coalition forces a little more than an hour to complete the formation under the terrified gaze of the soldiers and civilians in Bremen.

In fact, as the Vikings, the coalition forces can quickly put out a shield wall to advance.

The reason why this amount of time was spent was for the construction of siege weapons.

It has to be said that Blue Fox’s adventure survey last year made great contributions to the coalition forces this year, such as the structural materials and height of the city walls, especially the structure of the city gates. These key intelligences helped the coalition forces choose the most suitable siege weapons.

Each of the thirty torsion slingshots was installed on a small trolley, and a basket of cast iron bullets was also placed on it, which could be pulled forward by a soldier.

The auxiliary fighters carry some light javelins and special large arrows on their backs, which are actually another weapon of the slingshot.

Eight long ladders were tied up, and they were carried by Ragnar’s men on their shoulders. At the same time, the construction vehicles built by cutting down trees on the spot and using the inherent materials were also in the formation.

Ragnar’s men were at the forefront of the battle formation, followed closely by the Centurion of the Ross Army’s elite First Banner Squad, but they were divided into 30 groups to temporarily control the torsion slingshot.

The composition of the remaining 200 or so Russian soldiers who landed is more complex, including Finns, Saaremaeans, and even a few Slavs.

The same thing is that they all hold crossbows or ash tree longbows, as many as 200 archers are the best cover for the first-line siege troops.

Even relying on long-range weapons to directly defeat the fighting will of the defenders!

After all, the Ross people have experienced too many similar battles. Standing under the city and relying on the advantage of weapon range to shoot arrows wantonly has long been a good game of the Ross Army.

This time, Arik decided to repeat the old trick without even thinking about it!

As many as twenty Ross flags are flying, the Ross army is uniformly dressed, and the Ragnar army is still dressed in a variety of clothes.

The group of women and children who were not combatants, especially Ragnar’s two sons, were all placed at the landing point, saving the soldiers from worrying about their future.

On the other hand, the defenders could only watch as the Norman army lined up in an orderly manner.

Seeing this, the defenders had already given up their illusions. Thanks to the confidence supported by the city wall, they would not be fainted by the sudden appearance of the army.

But the city was already full of mourners, and rumors were flying all over the sky in an instant.

Reluctantly, the church suddenly held a mass to pray for victory, and now 2,000 people poured into the already quite spacious St. Peter’s Church!

A large number of people entered, making the church overcrowded, just because everyone hoped that the power of faith could move the Lord, the so-called Seraphim sent down a raging fire, and burned the group of Norman Satans to ashes.

But what responded to Bremen was a whoosh in the sky!

Then, like hail, strange black shadows fell from the sky.

People who were on standby for support from the city at any time were smashed in the head and smashed through the chest.

Many people began to howl, but at this time the arrows swished down again.

At this moment, the city defense commander realized that the battle had begun.

But how is this the style of the Normans?

At the beginning of the game, they were dizzy by the super-long-distance arrows and iron blocks. Even Prince Ludwig’s regular army could not do this kind of attack.

The commander had no choice but to face the Norman army, which was advancing in an orderly manner with the shield wall, and the formation appeared to be extremely regular. He could only grit his teeth and order the soldiers hiding in Tibet: “Don’t run away, hold your post! Kill them soon!”

However, a cast iron bullet fired from a torsion slingshot smashed over.

The commander of the city defense stood up and raised his sword to lead by example and called on the soldiers to stand firm, but his entire head was cut off by the iron bullet!

The battlefield is full of coincidences, and the arrows flying across the battlefield expose themselves to the possibility of quick death.

This is indeed a coincidence, but this former patrol captain who was greedy for money and today’s city defense commander gave his life for the city, and died in battle as a soldier.

Unfortunately, his death was seen by everyone, and the morale of the army collapsed!

The defenders are doomed not to be able to be twisted together, and are doomed to fall into the dilemma of fighting each other…

[End of this Chapter]