Rise of Rurik - Chapter 995

[Chapter 997]

The fighting core of the coalition forces all comes from the Vikings, and the Ross Army is the soul.

At this moment, any Kang’s speeches became superfluous, and the coalition forces were in full swing. As the commander, Rurik made it easy for his own army to be together. He personally supervised the battle, and would personally participate in the fight if necessary.

Just look at this coalition!

Powerful and domineering.

The Frankish cavalry could not break through the spear phalanx to make a breakthrough. Not only did King Ludwig’s plan fail, he had to retreat with the remnants of the cavalry.

The next battle was the final and decisive battle waged by tens of thousands of Frankish infantry. It was destined to be extremely bloody, and even if it won, it would be a miserable victory for Frank.

Ludwig no longer had the sense to think about the outcome of a tragic victory or defeat. He was obviously in a place of extreme cold, he was sweating all over, the inside of his armor was wet, and his feet in leather boots seemed to be soaked in a swamp, cold and embarrassing.

“Continue to attack! Infantry! Smash the enemy!” He had retreated behind the infantry formation and continued to command his own army.

Even at this critical moment, Ludwig had no intention of escaping. He always insisted on staying behind the front line, so that the remaining cavalry units became the supervisory team.

He rode his horse so that he had a higher perspective, and all he could see was the top of his iron helmet reflecting orange in the afternoon sun.

There are also a very large number of armed militiamen, most of whom wear a felt hat to keep out the cold, and a few of them use iron plates to reinforce their foreheads.

No matter how strong or weak, these infantrymen all hold wooden shields, and the weapons in their hands can be described as various.

If the ice wasn’t really thick, Ludwig was really worried that the army would fall into the glacier and freeze to death on a large scale.

wait!

If the glacier breaks, the enemies will also fall in large numbers.

Ludwig began to pray unrealistically, hoping for a vision from God.

It is said that since God can freeze the Elbe River, it is also possible to selectively thaw the river.

He couldn’t help grabbing the pure gold cross hanging from his collar, kissed him fiercely and muttered to himself: “Lord! Send a miracle! Bless your faithful child, and make those barbarians fall into the ice river…”

However, the miracle did not happen.

Those Ross warriors who broke their spears immediately returned to their original state.

They had wooden shields hanging on their left forearms. The shields were painted with a layer of pine glue fixed with chalk mud, and then painted with woad juice in obvious and regular staggered stripes.

It is fair to say that the stripes resemble crosses, making this army somewhat crusaderish at first glance.

This is a simple “abstract paddle” paint job, which is the glory of old Ross.

The bravest and strongest fighters in each banner team were placed in the front line of the formation, and they also wore thicker armor, and even hung a circle of chain mail under the iron helmet.

Because there are warriors with big beards, the domineering beard will always be embedded in the lock ring, making it uncomfortable to turn the head, so it is protected by some binding iron plates.

The front-line sword and shield fighters are all ruthless men with heavy armor, and most of the fighters only have the back of their hands and a pair of eyes with exposed skin.

The entire coalition striker made a similar arrangement. Even the weaker Saxon peasant soldiers of the alliance were soldiers with shields walking in front.

Behind thousands of sword and shield fighters, there are densely packed spearmen.

Such arrangements are made to restrain the Frankish infantry.

The coalition soldiers advanced steadily on the ice. They stepped on the enemy’s horse corpses and reached the battlefield where the infantry had just fought fiercely.

In a short time, the dead Saxon soldier froze, gradually merging with the icy world.

Soldiers stride across the battlefield with little or no need to care about the dead beneath their feet.

Compared with the coalition forces, the advance of the Frankish infantry had to look forward and backward.

They noticed the smoothness of the damned ice, and moved forward more cautiously, which seriously slowed down the speed of marching, and it was bound to make it difficult to stretch when fighting.

And the latter is the deadliest.

At least for now, there is no hand-to-hand combat, and only real close combat can tell the difference.

But before fighting, the first is the attack of long-range weapons on both sides.

The Viking army in the coalition assembled all the archers, and Rurik ordered that except for the longbowmen to continue to advance in a dense formation, the rest of the infantry and crossbowmen should line up evenly behind the infantry formation in a linear fashion.

Now, the coalition forces, which have the advantages of wind direction and range, have officially begun to attack.

Accompanied by the Viking battle cry, a large number of arrows whizzed past their heads, and the longbowmen arranged in a matrix followed the pace of the friendly troops, stopping every five steps, and then shooting in groups under the order of Yevro.

And those crossbowmen, whether they have wooden arms or steel arms, they all fight in the free-fire mode, and once the stringing is completed, they immediately throw, even if they throw stubby heavy crossbow arrows.

At the same time, a special force is actively dragging its own heavy weapons to catch up with the pace of the battlefield.

The 20 bull catapults will complete the formation after the fierce battle line is stabilized, and then the enemy will be continuously thrown stones to consume the strength of the enemy.

The Frankish infantry began to advance against the rain of arrows, and they had to hold their shields over their heads and hunched forward.

For Rurik, the battlefield has been fought for almost a whole year, and the arrows in his reserve have been repeatedly used, and they are almost exhausted.

The number of those pointed cone-shaped armor-piercing arrows is not much, and it is perfect for today’s decisive battle.

The arrows made by the Saxony militia must come in handy this time. Even if the arrow clusters are polished to the principle of being ready-to-use, it is good to hit the enemy with a head and hear it.

Because of Agincourt, the longbowmen did not annihilate the cavalry of the French army of the Valois dynasty, but disrupted the enemy’s formation and caused a large-scale stampede. Use a pickaxe, a pickaxe, and a mace to “open cans” one by one for the enemies who have fallen in the mud and have difficulty standing up, so that there is an incredible battle loss ratio.

The muddy battlefield was the geographical cause of the collapse of the Valois French army, so could the frozen Elbe ice also cause the collapse of the East Frankish army?

“Sure! I bet you don’t even have a pair of spikes!”

Because even though the tall Rurik was standing behind the front line, his eyes could see through the gaps in the soldiers’ helmets that the enemy array was breaking through defenses everywhere.

All this proves that the continuous shooting of arrows is disrupting the enemy’s formation, and even forcing the entire enemy’s large-scale horizontal formation to shrink towards a central point.

Why is that?

The reason is clear at a glance.

Rurik was secretly pleased with Evro’s clever move. The longbowmen in the dense formation did not fight randomly. After all, Evro is also a veteran for many years, and he has participated in many large-scale battles. Extremely professional.

The longbowmen matrix first launched a volley to the left flank of the enemy’s formation. After killing and wounding a group of enemies, they immediately forced the enemy infantry to shrink in one direction to avoid.

It is impossible for the enemy on the left wing to continue to escape to the edge of the array. The so-called isolated people in the flock are most likely to be attacked by wolves, so the enemy can only gather in the center of the array for a period of warming.

The next salvo will be aimed at the right flank…

Yevro constantly adjusted the shooting direction, forcing the enemy’s broad front to become shorter and shorter, and the depth began to fall back.

In this way, the width of the coalition’s array is gradually surpassing that of the enemy, and a macroscopic pincer offensive is taking shape.

The crossbowmen continue to weaken the stability of the Frankish infantry formation, but the opponent has a large number of elite standing army soldiers after all.

These people live on the king’s salary, and today is the time to serve the king.

Some soldiers were injured by arrows, and the arrow clusters pierced into the flesh. If there was no serious problem, they would continue to fight regardless of the arrow feathers on their bodies.

If the injury affects the advancement and falls or retreats on the spot, the vacant position will be replaced by a companion.

Their mandarin shields were battered and pitted, thanks to these thick shields covered with hard oak and iron, they were effective against arrows being thrown.

But they advance more slowly, and they must always pay attention not to slip.

The more they want to ensure stability, some people still subconsciously grab nearby companions when they slip, which directly leads to a chain reaction.

When Ludwig realized that such an offensive method was outrageously stupid, although the cavalry could run on the ice with their horseshoes, what could the infantry do?

He didn’t have any retreat anymore, so he could only bite the bullet and carry it on.

This is an offensive road full of twists and turns, and the Frankish army is advancing in pain.

Even so, those brave warriors had quietly prepared their weapons behind the mandarin shields in front of them.

As Frank’s name – a kind of throwing axe.

It was a small double-edged battle ax, usually used as a daily tool, but also a sharp weapon in wartime.

Its two ax blades are intentionally made symmetrical in space, and a wooden handle is added in this way. After throwing, it will continue to rotate in the air like a wheel blade, so that when he hits the target, it will inevitably cause serious chopping.

Regarding this situation, the coalition forces that had suffered a lot deliberately placed heavy infantry at the forefront, just to deal with this kind of blow.

As the distance between the two sides reached extremely close, the soldiers of the coalition army covered their bodies with shields one after another, and the spearmen and halberdmen behind them were ready for battle.

Sure enough, the Frankish infantry who were waiting for the opportunity began to attack.

The pitted mandarin shield was suddenly placed sideways, and a large number of flying axes spun at high speed and smashed towards the coalition fighters in the front line.

Even if they were prepared, they were suddenly hit by axes from the entire front, and even the Ross army began to suffer casualties.

After all, it was a flying axe. It was just a coincidence that the ax hit the soldier’s head abruptly. How could the iron helmet withstand such a heavy blow? The soldier’s skull was shattered and he died on the spot.

But for the Frankish army, there was only one chance to throw the axe.

Now, the real hand-to-hand combat broke out.

The sudden ax-throwing strike caused chaos in many positions of the coalition army array, which made the spear wall that was supposed to give full play to its advantages broken before it showed its strength.

Now it is the clash of shields, followed by the stabbing of swords. Only those with strong will and superior physical strength can persevere until the end.

This is a fight between heavy infantry!

It is difficult for the iron sword of the Franks to break through the oak shields of the Rus, and it is also difficult to break through the armor of the Rus.

Similarly, even if the Russians are generally equipped with steel swords, they are not effective against Frankish heavy infantry in double armor.

However, as the Franks continued to stab, their iron swords began to bend and curl, while Ross’s carbon steel sword remained the same.

The soldiers squeezed together like sardine cans, and the fighters of the two armies on the front line gradually became immobile. On the contrary, the Ross army had the tactical advantage in the coalition forces.

The soldiers of the Ross army kept stabbing with their spears as instinctively, and then split with their halberds.

They do not attack the enemy in the front line, but attack the enemy behind with all their strength.

These Frankish heavy infantry had never encountered this kind of battle. An iron helmet could not protect the head at all, and the enemy’s war halberd directly opened the scoop for themselves.

East Frankish soldiers had their heads smashed and their faces pierced.

All the coalition fighters on the front line have to do is to hold up their shields to fight hard, build a solid shield wall, and leave the killing of the enemy to the brothers behind.

This is a ruthless meat grinder, and once the hand-to-hand combat begins, the situation quickly becomes hopeless for the Franks.

The arrow loss continued to weaken the morale of the Frankish army, and those who were forced to wait and see from the rear chose to retreat in the face of the arrow loss.

“Cavalry, stop them! Do not retreat!”

Ludwig, beginning to despair, fought so hard to keep up the fight that he became so enraged that he gave the order to kill the deserters.

The runaways were all peasant soldiers. They slipped and stood up again and again in a panic, and even rolled and crawled to escape backwards.

The cavalry began to trample on these deserters, relying on killing to curb the decline.

However, the entire formation of the coalition forces is changing.

Rurik did not believe that Liudov’s Saxon army could wrap the entire enemy formation like crab claws. Maybe they could, but they must be less efficient.

So he specially selected two generals from the fierce battle array.

Hailafeid and Lanhu didn’t have blood on their bodies, and because of their positions, they didn’t participate in the frontline fight.

“Your Majesty, do you want us to have a special arrangement?” the blue fox holding a sword asked loudly on the battlefield where the shouts were shaking the heavens.

“Yes!” Rurik also roared: “Blue Fox, take your men out of the front line and fully support the left wing! Hailafeld, take your men to the right wing! You two help the Saxons complete the encirclement! We We must wipe out the entire Frankish army!”

This is the largest decisive battle, swallowing tens of thousands of people in one go?

!

They immediately hit the ground running, even if neither of them could muster many brothers.

As a result, the Viking York King Biyony, once again participated in this battle as a Balmerk today.

He took his own guards and broke away from the front line without hesitation, and launched left wing support with his brothers of the same clan.

Blue Fox’s situation is also good. He gathered more than 200 people and rushed to the right wing with spears.

With the appearance of real Viking warriors, the morale of the Saxon army, which had tried their best to complete the encirclement and encirclement on the left and right flanks, was suddenly boosted. Their difficult battles became no longer difficult, and they no longer cared about the casualties in the war of attrition.

At this moment, Liudov, whose blood had solidified on his face, was supervising the battle on the left wing. A large number of Saxony local nobles participated in this decisive battle. The nobles fought together with Pingming, and everything returned to the era of Chief Widukind fifty years ago.

They are fighting a terrifying war of attrition with the Frankish army. Unlike the Ross-Danish elite in the middle army position, they must pay a huge price to continue to force the enemy’s battle line to shrink.

“Keep poking! Don’t be afraid of death!”

“Fight for survival!”

Liudov kept shouting, and he was also emboldening himself.

How much tactical advantage can two or three hundred Viking warriors appear on the left and right wings bring?

The advantage is showing.

“Shield Wall! Let’s go!” Bijoni greeted his fellow Balmerks in the Norwegian dialect of Narvik Port. After all, he is the son of the old leader Magnut and the king of the Viking Kingdom of York.

Although the brothers are all members of the Fourth Banner Team, they still miss Biyoni in their hearts.

They formed a shield wall and forcibly hit the right wing in the direction of the Frankish army. Suddenly such a group of deadly sword and shield fighters came out, and the Frankish right wing was in chaos.

The same thing happened in the other direction. At this moment, the blue fox didn’t look like a businessman at all. He became a real Viking warrior. Dye the enemy’s snow.

In the final analysis, people worship the strong, what is a strong, everyone simply thinks that a ruthless person who dares to kill the enemy is a strong.

As the Earl of Gothenburg, Blue Fox would do his best even if it was purely for personal honor, but now he still has this greater desire for revenge.

After all, it caused Hedeby to be burned down, and the Ross shop suffered heavy losses. The culprit was not Horik, who was made into a human pig, but Ludwig, the king of East Franks.

King Rurik seemed unwilling to look at Ludwig’s head, but there were so many strange things on the battlefield, and the opportunity to cut off the leader’s head fell into the hands of a businessman’s son and an upstart military aristocrat.

Blue Fox felt that he had such an opportunity, so he could take revenge on Ludwig for his contempt for his personality.

Indeed, the blue fox that was in trouble was once mixed into Regensburg in remote Bavaria, and once had the opportunity to meet Ludwig himself.

Now, with the rapid formation of the encirclement, the central army of the Frankish army continues to erode, and the entire collapse is showing in the setting sun, and it is already an irreparable situation.

As the hard-working elite heavy infantry continued to retreat with casualties under the blows of thousands of spearheads and halberds, those peasant soldiers who could only fight with the wind could no longer hold on.

look!

Why are there enemies on the left and right wings?

!

Niggaz are dying!

reinforcements?

reserve army!

?

nothing left!

The peasant soldiers began to retreat, and its scale was no longer what Ludwig’s remaining cavalry could contain.

There was even a situation where fleeing soldiers attacked and killed cavalry, and the Frankish army began to kill each other in desperation.

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“Don’t I have a chance?! No! I will die if I stay here.”

Although completely unwilling, although do not want to escape.

At this moment, the desire to survive occupied Ludwig’s mind.

“Not good! Let’s withdraw! Let’s withdraw quickly!”

After all, he yanked the reins and started to evacuate first.

The startled cavalry pursued the king’s footsteps.

This scene was witnessed by many infantrymen, and someone suddenly yelled in Frankish: “The king has retreated.”

This voice is like shouting while standing on a glacier, and the infantrymen who are constantly showing weakness in the fierce battle start an irreparable avalanche.

Rurik was also surprised by the rapid development of things. The sun has not set yet, and the enemy has not been able to support the battle for a long time?

Although decisive battles in the Middle Ages usually ended in one morning or one afternoon, today was the biggest battle Rurik faced in his life. Who would have thought that the victory of the coalition forces would come so early?

“This is not a dream!” He patted his helmet vigorously, and immediately urged the brothers behind who were busy with archery, and even ordered Yefro.

“All of you crossbowmen, immediately draw your swords and launch a chase as infantry! The enemy is starting to flee, no matter what method you use, hurry up and catch up to kill the enemy!”

Yefro heard it very earnestly. He never imagined that his subordinates, even archers, would have a day of hand-to-hand combat?

Although there is a great risk of casualties in doing so, when you think that you can grab a lot of loot, and most of them are iron tools that the Finns need for production and life, when will you not grab it now?

If you can run fast enough and still plunder the enemy’s luggage first, then it’s not as simple as robbing ironware…

As a result, another surprise soldier came out of the coalition army. They broke away from the formation, and shot arrows while chasing, killing the enemy like hunting snow rabbits and deer, and ruthlessly and accurately shot the fugitives in the back.

Even ruthlessly shoot and kill those who slipped and fell.

At the same time, the encirclement circle has been formed, and more than 6,000 living people are backlogged in it, facing the stabbing and hacking of spearheads and halberds from all directions.

The encirclement is full of people who slipped and fell. Once they slipped, they had almost no chance to stand up again, and they were killed in a state of defenselessness.

More than 1,000 coalition fighters started a big pursuit, killing and taking prisoners in parallel.

Ludwig and his remnants of the cavalry had already fled wildly along the Roman road, and now he only had the idea of living in his mind, and he just wanted to leave this absurd and deadly battlefield.

[End of this Chapter]