Rise of Rurik - Chapter 994

[Chapter 996 This is the most glorious battle in the lives of northerners]

Feet were wrapped in cloth or leather, and short spears and axes were clutched in chilblain hands.

Fifteen hundred Sorb slave soldiers beat their own simple shields with simple weapons, making a rumbling sound to embolden themselves.

How bloated they are, the naked eye can see that they have no armor at all.

Such an enemy may not be easy to cause serious damage by cutting with a sword, but stabbing with a spear will surely cause great damage.

Liudov led his elite Saxon peasant soldiers to completely break away from the main line of the coalition army. The appearance of the duke taking the lead is very boosting morale.

Rurik looked calm, letting the cold wind blow his golden beard.

He recruited messengers and ordered the Finnish longbowmen to provide three rounds of support for the Saxons in the first battle.

As a result, the Finnish flag team, which stood in a solemn formation, quickly changed into a linear formation under the order of the Count of Finland, Gevlo.

“Everyone! Three arrows! Volley! Act with the command flag!”

Jefflo commanded in the Suomi dialect of Finnish, and under his command were Suomi, Kovin, Vipus, and Lüdi, all of Pan-Finnish ethnicity.

They had no chance to have any contact with the Frankish Kingdom, but now these people on the edge of the known world participated in this decisive battle.

Their target this round was the Sorbs, a small tribe that lived in the forests of the interior of central Europe, though they didn’t know it.

There are already many peoples involved in a war. The reindeer nomads in the Arctic Circle shoot arrows at the Slavs in the forests of Central Europe.

With an order, the flag fell, and the Tuomu longbow with strengthened deer tendons launched a volley, and the array was full of the crisp sound of arrow shafts rubbing against the bow handle. In an instant, more than 600 arrows lost their strength and drifted towards Sorbu in the north wind. Human attack queue.

The arrows whizzed past his head, causing Liudov’s PTSD. Just half a year ago, these bowmen shot their Aleb fortress into a hedgehog. No one knows these short archers better than Liudov The weirdness and horror.

Fortunately, this time the Ross army is friendly.

The Sorbs were more or less psychologically prepared for this kind of arrow miss. They continued to form a dense formation, supporting each other on the slippery ice.

After hearing the buzzing sound from the air, they put their simple wooden shields on the heads of the whole country, and continued to try their best to maintain the formation and move on.

But the arrows still fell like raindrops, relying on the advantage of numbers to deal probability damage.

The clusters of arrows smashed into the river ice, and were spread out immediately after making a mark.

Or directly smash through the wooden shield of the Sorbnu soldiers, so that they penetrate the human arm.

They began to shoot arrows, and the once stable formation began to lose its balance.

They are still maintaining the momentum of advancing, but the courage at the beginning is being quickly worn away by the rain of arrows.

Those who were hit by the arrow fell down on the ice and kept rolling while holding their wounds. Some tried to help their companions, but slipped hard.

It is even more so in the center of the queue, where a few people wrestling caused a chain reaction, so that nearly a hundred people slipped and fell, and at first glance it seemed that they were all killed.

After three consecutive rounds of arrow miss attacks, the Sorbnu soldiers could only maintain the most basic formation.

Their damage from missing arrows was not serious, but the formation became chaotic. Without a suitable front-line commander to reorganize, it was impossible to return to the original organization.

Because, the fierce battle is about to begin.

So it was a three-round volley, and Rurik stopped more support because he was worried that his support would hurt his allies.

The rest of the fighting Russian army can wait and watch. Since Liudov and his Saxon army are eager for the glory of victory, the opportunity is now.

Lyudov, who had shed his decent clothes and did not want to be the one to lose, dressed in a low-key manner.

He still stood in the thick of his line, commanding the entire army in a safe area.

Seeing the enemy smashed to pieces by the arrow, the Saxon army’s prestige was greatly shaken.

Taking advantage of this remaining prestige, Liudov felt that the time was ripe and ordered: “Raise the spearhead and stab them to death! No mercy!”

The spears suddenly branched out one by one, and the Saxon soldiers tried to level them with both hands.

In an instant, thousands of spears formed a hedgehog formation!

“Charge! Kill them! Show no mercy!”

This was Liudov’s final order. The passionate fighters forgot their fear and ignored the wounded and dead in battle.

They ran steadily and small steps on their skates, so that the “spear wall push” that should have been steady and steady has become the “barbarian pig rush” since ancient times.

On the contrary, this kind of surprise attack is like a rainbow, and the number of combatants on both sides is close. It is obvious that the Saxon army is more energetic!

The sudden attack on the spear wall was unexpected. The Saxon soldiers slid on the ice without worry, their spikes trampled a lot of ice chips, and then the spearhead slammed into the unarmored body of the Sorb.

The fierce battle of terror has finally begun.

When the stabbing starts, the enemy must be stabbed into a blood-red corpse before it can be stopped.

These Saxon soldiers burst out with great courage, or because Duke Liudov was present, they had a reason to fight to the end-everyone was fighting side by side with the hero’s grandson.

In the first moment of the collision alone, more than 200 Sorbnu soldiers were killed or injured.

Numerous spearheads stabbed and slapped, and the spear wall formed a wide attack surface. A Sorbnu soldier was often faced with the attack of several spears, which could not be resisted by a wooden shield at all.

Some focused on stabbing, some suddenly rammed from above, and some deliberately stabbed the enemy’s feet and calves.

The short spears of the Sorbs couldn’t counterattack at all, so they had no choice but to throw the spears out, which was the only damage they could do.

Seeing the casualties of their companions, the Saxons were furious, and their advance became more fierce.

The Sorbs are still struggling to support Naihe and keep retreating. They have lost many brothers, and the damn spear wall is still pressing hard.

Are you going to retreat?

Do not!

The Frankish king will hang anyone who retreats without authorization.

But the commander who continued to fight was riddled with countless spears.

look!

The ice surface was already blood red.

All these things were clearly seen by the Frankish army watching the battle not far away.

The Frankish soldiers were very happy that they were not their own deaths. All the casualties were from the Sorbnu soldiers. These people died as soon as they died. The soldiers did not have empathy in this regard.

Ludwig, the king of East Francia, pretended to be calm. He remounted his steed and adjusted his full armor.

He couldn’t ignore the humiliation that Rurik of Rose had just done to him, and he, who claimed to be a brave warrior, finally showed his full courage.

It is a tactic to use the Sorbs as meat scouts. The so-called let these people deceive the Ross people into disordered formation, and then the main force will launch a full-scale attack.

Under normal circumstances, this tactic would always work. Knowing that the Ross’s arrows were sharp, Ludwig wanted to use the flesh and blood of the Sorbs to deceive the enemy’s long-range firepower and win opportunities for close combat.

The general environment of the battlefield is too heated, perhaps it is time to stand still and assess the situation. After all, the fire in Ludwig’s heart has already burst out.

He didn’t want to wait any longer, so he could organize all the cavalry that had been prepared.

He put out his sword and tapped the iron helmet on which the crown was nested several times with the hilt, deliberately making noises to attract everyone’s attention.

Then, he waved his sword and shouted: “Children of Charlemagne! This is the battle of your destiny! Crusade against rebellion! Crusade against barbarians! Charge with me!”

The trumpeters and drummers who had been on standby for a long time immediately made loud noises, and all the soldiers who had rested for a while were already sharpening their knives.

look!

The king led the cavalry to attack!

This is an order for the whole army to attack!

In an instant, the Frankish army burst out with a huge roar, and the snow in the heather forest behind them was shaken off.

At this moment, Ludwig is gambling with his life.

The honor has been violated by the barbarians, the territory has been invaded by the barbarians, and the traitors have made troubles. If you can’t avenge your shame with victory… you are not a man.

The Archbishop of Cologne and the accompanying priests prayed for the attacking army. They became a group of bystanders, and what they saw was the attack of thousands of people.

The armors of the middle infantry shone in the sun, and they all patted the relatively neat infantry formation in front of the formation.

After that came a larger number of peasant soldiers in various clothes.

Infantry will be the backbone of this battle, while cavalry will be the element that opens up the breakthrough in the battle.

It seems that the troops assembled by the two sides are roughly equal. Whoever can make a tactical breakthrough at this moment will have the victory.

Ludwig tightened his grip on the reins and was really leading the charge. His subordinates were afraid that the king might be in trouble, so they hurriedly stimulated the horses with spurs and tried their best to overtake the king.

In the process of chasing each other like this, the cavalry quickly rushed in front of Liudov’s Saxon army.

The Saxons are still fighting the Sorbs, and they are not at all prepared for anti-cavalry.

Liudov never imagined that those Frankish troops would ignore the casualties of the friendly troops, and the iron hoofs of the cavalry had already stepped heavily on the backs of the friendly troops.

Because Ludwig always regarded the Sorbs as cattle and horses, it was time for these tool men to make their final contribution.

They were smashed to pieces by the cavalry, thanks to these people, when the cavalry began to collide with the Saxon army, Liudov had no time to lead his troops to defend.

The heavy cavalry rode directly to the face, and the rider screamed and straightened his spear. He first stabbed a Saxon warrior to death, and then stepped on another with his iron hoof.

The cavalry weighing half a ton directly smashed through the wide and thin Saxon army array. It was only the first meeting, and the thousand elites of the entire Saxon army were smashed to pieces.

Not all of them were killed in battle. Many people were struck with stars in their eyes and lying on the ice in dizziness.

Poor Liudov, he was knocked sideways by a cavalryman, and he was obviously protected by a helmet. As a result, he felt the warmth of his old face under the condition of staring at the stars, and then wiped it with his hand, and saw the blood on his hand.

In an instant, his courage collapsed, just like the elite fighters he finally selected also collapsed.

Those who survived only wanted to flee, but a large number of arrows, javelins, and bullets flew past them.

As a result, some people who stood up bravely were pierced straight through the body by javelins, and even had their entire heads cut off by cast iron bullets.

In front were countless Frankish soldiers advancing steadily, followed by raging cavalry and arrows from friendly troops.

Seeing this, Liudov, who was about to escape, got down cleverly again, touched the body of his companion trampled to death by the cavalry in embarrassment, pulled him over as a cover for the time being, and stared at him for a chance to escape.

However, after a while, he suddenly saw the group of cavalry come back and hit their carbine, and then stomped on the soldiers of the enemy and us who were lying on the ground crying, but this time the cavalry stomped without obvious purpose.

In the end what happened?

Just as Ludwig’s powerful cavalry charge declared the death of the elite Saxon army in just one round, Rurik’s side was ready to prevent the collision since the Frankish army began its general attack.

Rurik still thought that Liudov could support them for a while, but unfortunately they were easily pierced like a blank sheet of paper.

The situation was already extremely dangerous, and at this moment Rurik had no time to care about the life and death of Liudov and the Saxony allies.

He gave the order for an all-out war.

In an instant, the dense spear shafts that stood up like a forest were straightened one after another, and the soldiers of the Ross-Danish coalition army uttered a rhythmic Viking battle cry, pointing their spearheads straight ahead.

All the shooters fired at the same time, causing great harassment to the Frankish cavalry who continued to charge.

The situation that Rurik hoped for did not fully take place. The so-called cavalry slipped and caused the companions behind to continue to slip.

This kind of thing happened in a small area, and coupled with the arrow’s loss and the impact of the projectile, it didn’t directly stop the assault situation.

The next step is to see whether the cavalry is more brave, or the spear wall is more explained.

As many as five hundred sharpened pine poles were lifted up, each of which was controlled by several strong men, and a section of it was obliquely stuffed into the ice hole dug in advance, appearing in the form of a deer village rejecting a horse.

The situation changed so quickly that Ludwig could not have imagined or dared to think about it. He had never seen a deer village resist a horse in his life, and he was even unwilling to admit that his elite cavalry could defeat a group of spearmen.

He was furious at Robert’s consumption of three thousand heavy cavalry. It is said that the cavalry fell on this battlefield.

Now, he believed it.

But it’s too late!

At the critical moment, Ludwig reined in cleverly and personally avoided tragedy, and his two thousand cavalry had already collided with the spear wall on a large scale.

The cavalry smashed some torsion catapults, forcing all archers and crossbowmen to escape into the spear wall array.

Some crossbowmen did not hide. They pulled out their swords or axes, squatted halfway in front of the brothers holding spears in the first row, and quickly unloaded their shields. defense.

There are some big guys in the densely packed spearheads, and the spears are longer than Frank’s riding spears. The so-called Rurik deduced the maximum attack length of the enemy’s riding spears based on the capture on the battlefield, so he lengthened his own spears for restraint.

The most savage collision ever happened!

A large number of temporary spear shafts made of pine wood broke off one after another, but the spear heads plunged into the body of the war horse one after another.

Those prefabricated sharpened pine logs worked wonders, they directly delayed the cavalry raid.

The cavalry was either knocked down, or the horse was smashed to pieces due to the strong force.

The impact of the cavalry was completely contained, and the Ross-Danish army, which had been prepared for a long time, paid only a small price.

There were slaughtered war horses everywhere in front of the formation, and they fell so heavily that Rurik worried that the ice would break.

The most terrifying thing did not happen. Obviously, this year’s abnormally severe winter has helped the coalition forces a lot.

The spearhead has been broken, and within five seconds the coalition soldiers will turn into sword and shield hands, or pick up the long-handled forest axes on the ground. They hold various weapons and slash at the dying enemy horses. The cavalry smashed it into minced meat.

The archers who withdrew to the rear continued the room, and the soldiers standing on the frozen ship seized the opportunity to immediately throw arrows and javelins for long-range support that lacked precision.

“Ah! What’s going on here! My cavalry? It’s finished?!”

Ludwig subconsciously wanted to leave the battlefield, and for a moment he felt that his chance of winning was not great, at least the chance of winning a big victory with a small loss was not great.

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The battle order has been issued, and more than 10,000 infantrymen have launched a full-scale attack!

Even if there is a big problem in the battle ahead, as the king himself, he can no longer convey the urgent order.

The arrow has been fired, it cannot be recovered.

All Ludwig can do is to lead the cavalry who have completely lost their impact and can retreat by luck.

This evacuation seemed to be a rout, and the king’s hip stretching manifested itself as a heavy psychological shadow on all the attacking infantry.

They are also very helpless, even if they realize that there is a meat grinder ahead, the people behind are pushing the people in front, how a grain of sand in the torrent makes its own sound, they are rushing to death.

But Ludwig had already evaded tactically, and withdrew to the rear, euphemistically calling it to sit in command.

This gave Liudov, who survived the catastrophe, a chance, and also gave those Saxon elite soldiers who could still move a chance.

There appeared to be a hundred men still attacking, and the rewinding crossbowmen intended to kill them.

Rurik took a closer look, and there was a guy staggering with blood on his face, wasn’t it Liudov himself.

“Don’t kill us! We are our own!”

No, those people are already shouting.

But behind these people, the “Iron Man” infantry of the Frankish Army shone brightly in the sun. They carried a very strong coercive aura, like a wall constantly approaching the coalition forces.

To be honest, Rurik didn’t want to have a strategic decisive battle with the East Frankish army in this ghost place. Obviously, all his ideas were based on the rational consideration of the enemy.

On the contrary, King Ludwig’s performance in this war was simply reckless.

Then use barbarism to defeat barbarism!

Rurik raised his sword high, and after a while he greeted Liudov who had lost his life.

“I thought you were dead.” Rurik looked indifferent like a beast.

“Nearly died.”

“Are you injured? Is it your own blood or the enemy’s blood on your face?”

“My head almost moved. Damn it, my entire army was almost wiped out. Your method is still effective, and your front is full of dead horses…”

Is this guy playing dumb?

It is obvious that a full-scale battle is about to start, but he can still chatter here.

“You still go back to the rear and continue to command the rest of your people. Next is a full-scale war, go all out!”

“Ok!”

After all, Liudov and his remnants disappeared without a trace.

A large group of seriously ill-trained Saxon peasant soldiers was embarrassing, and it was ultimately up to the Viking army to solve the problem.

A rush of pride welled up in Rurik’s heart. He suddenly left the team, stood on the corpse of the enemy in front of the formation, raised his sword and shouted: “All northerners! This is the most glorious battle in our lives! Blood sacrifice Hanukkah! Blood sacrifice to Odin!”

“Odin!” The man with a loud voice shouted the names of the gods.

In a short time, everyone shouted the Viking battle cry in the name of Odin.

Now, holding spears and swords, the unmoving coalition forces began to advance slowly and frontally, and the decisive battle on the glacier began…

[End of this Chapter]