Chapter 1139 Dismounting power from the strongest infantry
Where will Rose's offense go next?
The result of the discussion between Arik and several others was naturally to support the expansion of the Vitebsk stronghold and use it as an outpost military camp to continuously send troops to Smolensk.
It doesn't matter if the small-scale battle finally explodes into a big war. The young boys need the opportunity to make contributions. They are young and energetic and bear the glory of their fathers. They don't blame the enemy's strength, but complain that the scale of the war is not large enough.
The open space outside the city became a training ground. Anyway, Arik and his men had already arrived, so training in large-scale fighting in this open space had good conditions.
More importantly, the guys from the Standing Army's First Flag Team are all stationed in the military camp here.
They were a group of berserkers who wore heavy armor with bear heads on their heads during wartime. In key battles, they gave up their bucklers and charged into the enemy formation with axes in both hands, destroying everything around them like wild bears.
Aric did not hesitate to find the veteran Grund, the captain of the bodyguard and the captain of the standing army.
"Let me help you train those brats? Your son is also among them. But you have to know that my methods are very powerful. Anyone who wants to inherit the raven totem must be a warrior. I do not allow cowards to exist."
The implication of his words is that if he is allowed to train soldiers, his methods will be extremely brutal.
Arik didn't take it seriously: "You are the strongest infantry, and you are the only one who can train good soldiers in a short time. It doesn't matter what you do, if someone dies during training, I will be responsible."
"Are you serious? I'm afraid your Asgard won't be able to bear it."
"If this is the case, he is not worthy of being my son."
Novgorod has better resources, young warriors can receive adequate supplies here, and skin injuries suffered during training can also be treated.
No, when old Otto learned about this, he authorized Grund to train the soldiers. His tone was exactly the same as Arik: "They are all real Russians, and they must be trained hard by me! Let them be like the most ferocious warriors."
Fight like a beast! If a child dies due to training, I will be responsible."
Uncle and nephew both share the same attitude?
Grund was originally a man who was defeated and surrendered in Gotland. Although he had gained trust in the past ten years, he was indeed aging. Perhaps it was because of his age that he really gained trust.
He has been cautious for ten years, extremely selfless and hard-working during war, and honest in times of peace.
If we really need to train a few people to death, who is responsible? "Damn it, it's not me?! But we can't let those guys think that we brothers are nothing more than that."
Due to Rurik's promise back then, the mercenary groups that surrendered after defeat could continue to have their Raven Shields.
This sudden shield revived Grund, and he assembled a hundred men, the strongest of whom wore shields with this pattern.
A group of strong men with helmets decorated with bear heads and thick chainmails appeared, making deep footprints in the snow.
They are like a wall, with round shields overlapping each other. The thirty shields in the center are different from the others, with a huge black raven pattern covering the entire shield surface.
They also deliberately held their steel swords high, shining brightly in the winter sun.
Then the sword continued to hit the shield, the sound was uniform, and accompanied by the approaching array, the feeling of oppression was so tense that it was suffocating.
At this moment, the young people who had formed an array in advance according to Arik's request stood on the snow, shaking their bodies uncontrollably, and gasping nervously with their mouths covered by woolen scarves.
"Array! Shield wall!"
Arik shouted step by step, but saw a group of children dumbfounded.
The son Asgard, who had high hopes for him, was simply in a daze.
"Hey! What are you doing?!"
A scabbard hit him, and the boy who woke up suddenly turned around and saw his father standing aside holding a sword and yelling, while his left hand kept pointing at the approaching "bear head shield wall".
"Damn it. Array! Array quickly!"
"What are you all doing?! Form a formation! This is training, they don't kill people!"
Ascard, who suddenly woke up, called to his brothers. The people in the front row reluctantly started stacking bucklers, but they stopped there.
According to the theoretical knowledge learned, the infantry flag team marching during an encounter must urgently line up in the direction of the enemy's most ferocious attack. There are four centurions in a flag team, three of which are fully equipped for close combat, and one for archery. The strongest
The centurions are in the center, and behind them are the centurions that focus on archery. The two centuries at the next level are divided on the left and right wings. Each team cooperates with each other to form a similar ring defense.
However, how does the enemy reward time for arranging troops on the battlefield?
"Too slow, you are too slow. I will teach you a lesson."
After saying a few words, Grund showed his trump card without hesitation.
"Iron Man!" he roared: "Charge me! Crush them!"
As soon as he finished speaking, several gaps suddenly appeared in the advancing shield wall, and in a moment, heavy infantry without any weapons rushed over like bulls.
The edge of the large iron piece is drilled, sewn and connected with hemp rope and deer tendon, and combined with the chainmail inside, this is the strongest heavy infantry in Russia at this stage.
The armor was thickly wrapped to conceal it, and every weak point on the body was covered as much as possible. The only obvious weak point seemed to be the hands at the observation window of the head.
Such iron men are not even two meters tall per person, but their equivalent height reaches 190cm. They are raised to be extremely strong, and only in this way can they wear extremely heavy armor.
If they were really armed, wouldn't these children be killed without leaving any trace of their armor?
Sure enough, a collision occurred. Some children managed to overcome their fear and organized a shield wall, but were rushed to pieces by the group of iron men. The remaining children ran away after seeing this, knowing that they were holding real steel swords.
Soon, the organized resistance was defeated, and the children fled away crawling. Some even lost their swords in shame.
When those iron men faced the boy who was lying on the ground moaning in pain or even crying, some of them were not mocking, but pointing at their young faces and scolding them harshly.
The "defeated" Asgard held his sword and slashed at the "Iron Man"'s armor, launching an attack in vain.
He was kicked down directly by the big foot, and he slowly got up from the ground, clutching his stomach in pain, gritting his teeth and his eyes filled with anger.
But "Iron Man" still only has his eyes exposed, which are still covered by the shadow of the mandible on the bear's head.
It stood like a frost giant, without contempt or ridicule. It just stood here without saying a word, which made Askard even more angry. It was like saying: "I will stand here, attack me."
"That's enough!" Facing the chaotic situation, Grund appeared and took off his helmet to signal all the brothers to stop.
The iron men withdrew, and the soldiers of the First Standard Corps of the Standing Army also sheathed their swords. Grund threw his helmet to a clerk and ordered everyone to stand ready.
Holding the hilt of his sword, he walked into Arik, who looked livid and extremely embarrassed. For a moment, he was really embarrassed to say anything.
He first tilted his head to collect himself, then raised his head and said, "Fortunately, no one was killed. I have maintained the greatest restraint."
"You! Maybe..." Arikben slowly loosened his clenched fist: "You can obviously be more vicious. These brats are simply cowards! I would rather you kill a few of them."
"I don't dare, they... are just boys after all."
"Bah! We even took a lot of ten-year-old girls to be crossbowmen to fight in Gotland. Think of your past!"
Suddenly, the dead memories began to attack him. Surrendering to the powerful was not a problem. Although Rurik was commanding the battle back then, in principle the commander was still Old Otto. Now one of his tasks is to be directly responsible for the safety of Old Otto, which can be said to be
A great favor.
At that time, in order to recruit as many people as possible, the Russian army recruited a large number of children from the tribe to participate in the war. Those people were not afraid of the battle and persisted in the decisive battle until the final victory.
This was the impression Ross's children gave Grund. Now, all the children from back then have grown up, some have died, and some are standing here - standing army soldiers.
Could it be that the newer generation of Ross children have deteriorated because of their pampering?
Now the old man Otto is not far away. He is sitting on a small sleigh with a cloth blanket wrapped around him. The attendants are also dressed simply, just to hide themselves in a low profile so that they can really see clearly. The old man wants to
Secretly observing the situation of his new recruits, he was obviously disappointed.
Grund was neither excited nor resentful. He tried to keep his mind calm: "Perhaps, asking me to use my strongest warriors to attack the young ones is just bullying them."
"No! It's just right. These brats usually fight very hard, and they even organize small groups to fight each other. What tricks did they get? They were defeated by you." Arik suppressed his anger.
"So, you're complaining about their usual efforts to show off their skills?"
"Yes! Now I ask you to come and give them a thumbs up. You did a good job."
Arik patted the old guy on the shoulder, walked towards the group of scattered brats with his sword in his hand, and shouted with his sword: "How long are you going to linger?! Some people actually lost their swords. Stand up quickly and start again.
Line up."
Angrily, Askard raised his head and summoned his men again, and they reluctantly arranged the team again. Now, this group of brats no longer had the energy to arrive in Novgorod when they first arrived, and each one was like a defeated rooster.
He raised his head and said nothing, or stared at those seemingly invincible iron men with confused and helpless eyes.
Arik quickly stood in front of them and scolded them unceremoniously.
No one dared to talk back, so they had to listen silently.
"Now you should be able to recognize yourselves! If this is a real war, you will all die! If you still want to go into battle to kill the enemy and make meritorious deeds, you will tarnish the glory of your fathers! None of you can win now..."
These words gave them a ruthless psychological blow, and the boy who had a high self-esteem had no choice but to lower his head and feel uncomfortable all over.
So, is there a way to change the current situation? Of course there is.
"...Now, learn from these berserkers! They are the strongest warriors in Russia! Forget about the games you played in Mstisk, only they can teach you how to kill enemies. Just train here!"
The iron men were ordered to retreat and took off their helmets to reveal their true faces.
The task of the standing army is to fight hard battles. The cavalry unit is mainly responsible for mobile combat. The infantry unit is responsible for the defense of senior generals. Secondly, it serves as the final force. Just like these "iron men", they charge desperately. It's just the real
If there is a war, they will bring their axes and kill everyone.
The tall and strong people wore their hair in various braids, but one thing they all had in common was that they all kicked off their beards as much as possible. This was very particular, because the mail covering the face could easily catch the beards, so it was better to use a sharp steel knife to apply grease on the hair.
Shave off the beard on your face.
The standing army soldiers are mainly young people, and their ethnic composition is relatively complex. There are old Russians, people from various Swedish tribes, and even Slavs. Only those who meet the physical fitness standards can receive this salary, and the training intensity on weekdays is very high.
, the relative eating and drinking conditions are also extremely superior. In order to train a powerful army, meat and fat must keep up.
Boiled wheat porridge is accompanied by stewed oily venison, and sometimes fish. This set is actually the field meal of the Russian army. Historical experience has determined that wheat porridge and beef stew can quickly restore the physical fitness of soldiers.
Rus is currently short of beef, but there is no shortage of reindeer meat and fish.
Rurik took good care of his standing army. Although he expanded the army to two infantry banners and two cavalry banners, the total force plan was only to expand to 2,000 men.
It is not a problem for the kingdom to support these two thousand full-time enemy-killing troops and the supporting war horses, but the actual demand is to support too many.
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This group of recruits are essentially citizen soldiers, and they must participate in large-scale wars as infantry flag corps. When the war is over, they are released and returned to the fields, waiting for soldiers to gather again with their own armor and weapons to join the war.
After giving the cubs a boost, Grund, carrying a raven shield, made his official appearance.
Now, the children got to meet their ferocious war instructor.
What about tactics when barbarians are fighting? Tactics are to rush in with a variety of weapons and start a group fight. The party with more people often wins. If you can use tricks such as running and shooting at the same time, it is considered a strategy.
Rus was like this in the past, but everything has changed since Rurik took control of the military.
Each flag team is an independent combat unit. How should the four centurions cooperate? Each flag team has gained appropriate experience in the war.
What kind of tactics did Grund master? He held Rose's "Iron Man" in his hands. This 100-man team was heavily armored per person. It is not an exaggeration to say that the whole body is made of iron.
Their responsibility is to rush into the formation to open the enemy's gap. After that, the standing army soldiers fold their shields into a wedge shape, insert them directly into the gap in the enemy's formation like a wedge, and actively expand the gap. The rest is divided and surrounded by the follow-up troops.
Will Ross's enemies use this tactic? But the Ross army used this move to open up the situation in many battles.
The hostile Slavic tribes in the south definitely don't have this kind of trick, and the Frank army dares to "charge with iron armor", especially those heavy cavalry with super spears, their sense of oppression is much stronger than that of "iron men". Ross, there is no perfect restraint at all
The cavalry method, in the two battles on the Elbe River at that time, contained the Frankish heavy cavalry at the cost of large-scale deaths of the coalition forces. For this reason, Ross also suffered the most horrific losses in the history of elite troops.
The immediate consequence of this fundamental reason was that there was a shortage of recruits in the Rus' army, which forced Arik to feel the obligation to train children with direct Rus' tribal blood into new recruits.
Grund has been fighting hard all his life, and has experienced small-scale battles to large-scale battles. When he was the boss of a mercenary group, he had to teach the new brothers how to fight, and he had some practical ideas in training soldiers.
We must overcome the fear of the enemy, learn to remain calm in the face of danger, understand our responsibilities and the responsibilities to our comrades, know how to quickly deploy formations, learn how to resist the enemy's charge, and learn how to maintain a shield wall in a chaotic battle.
No mess, wait...
The shouts of killing were loud outside the city, and the residents who lacked fun began to go to the outside of the city to watch the brutal training of the group of Ross boys.
From time to time, injured people were sent to the city to be bandaged, and some of them had broken arms. Most of them had to have their legs amputated without a good solution. Such people also said goodbye to the possibility of becoming soldiers.
Arik never regretted his decision. Similarly, old Otto couldn't believe the corner of his eyes when he saw those brats acting like cowards, and almost fainted from anger.
That's all, Otto continued to authorize: "They must be trained into qualified warriors in a short period of time. Don't be afraid of death, I won't blame anyone."
Otto summoned Governor Medved and asked him to prepare more food and give all the soldiers in training a sumptuous meal.
Because it's not just these five hundred recruits who are being trained.
The Ross Cavalry has also been expanded. Fisk saw that those people were busy training, and after taking a rest here, it was time to get up and train.
The daylight hours were already very short. In order to avoid problems with their horses staying outdoors for a long time, the cavalry dismounted one after another and focused on improving their archery skills.
They were riding Rubik's cubes, shooting fixed targets while running, or shooting moving targets placed on sleds and pulled by people.
They also have coaches - fifty prairie guards who were given to Princess Beyahsil.
The recurve bow is the key product of the prairie people, and the bows brought by Quetzal have become the standard equipment of the standing cavalry, which he is extremely pleased about.
Now, on one side are archers running wildly shooting at all kinds of targets, and their shooting skills are improving rapidly.
On one side, there are young children imitating adults and arranging military formations. They learn the art of killing enemies from the strongest infantry in Ross. They grow up in violent collisions, rapid dispersion, and rapid formations.
The open space outside Novgorod was bustling with activity. In this atmosphere, the local Hanukkah ushered in. After the festival, their training remained the same, and because of the daytime hours, the training intensity increased accordingly.