That night, the Franks in the city were busy whittling wood.
The war horses were tied with cables and directly pulled the house to the house. After the soldiers unloaded the beams and other accidents, they chopped them into sharp shapes with axes. These were the execution tools. They would be stamped on the old battlefield in the north of the city and used to execute all Nuo.
Man captured.
All the warriors in the army who were good hunters and skinners were organized, and Tristan lectured them all night long.
After all, some evil people must be executed with extreme means. Even if the prisoners are extremely vicious, it does not mean that one's own soldiers must become sick.
Unless the soldiers' anger is mobilized to suppress their inner moral defenses.
A proud general stood with his sword drawn, pointing directly to the east and north.
It was here that General Tristan denounced the atrocities of the Normans.
"Norman robbers! They killed the Archbishop of Maastricht! They killed the Archbishop of Liège! They killed people when they saw them and robbed property when they saw them. The most devout believers were captured by them and sold into slavery in the far north.
They were tortured in the ice cave. Now! God gives us the opportunity for revenge! This is the fate of all of us! I order you to punish those Normans with the most cruel means, and never simply hang them!
They are the wolves that scurry into the sheep, and you are the best wolf hunters and skinners. I order you to pierce the belly of the Normans tomorrow like hunting animals. We want to see what their hearts are like.
dark.
Don't feel embarrassed! Whatever you do is just. God will not punish you for barbarism, but will praise you for your bravery. You will anger the Normans on the other side of the river, and eventually I will lead the cavalry to trample the enemy to death.
.”
Many of the soldiers who were called did not have a heavy psychological burden. Some actually felt that killing a prisoner did not seem brave enough. Others felt embarrassed. As their anger was aroused, the embarrassment disappeared completely.
Just on the wall of the inner city, the soldiers who hurriedly ran down to report woke the general from his sleep.
Tristan was unfazed, and so were the other junior officers.
He slept very lightly and was not angry when he was woken up.
"What's the matter?"
"Sir! The other side of the river! The other side..." The nervous soldier pointed to the east with his big finger, speaking incoherently.
Tristan's head was buzzing and his whole body hair was trembling, "What's going on? Don't tell me that the Normans are planning a night attack."
"No. But there are flames everywhere on the other side, and we...seem to be surrounded by endless enemies."
"Absurd. I have clearly observed the size of their army during the day. Even though there are many people, it is not as large as your description. Fool, get out of here. I will go to the city wall to find out personally."
Tristan was unwilling to enter the inner city for the time being. The cathedral was still a giant tomb, filled with corpses of priests and people, and the stench was still lingering.
He covered his mouth and nose as he entered the inner city and climbed up the city wall. The warm southeast wind blew and he took a deep breath, but what he saw next made him tremble violently.
"That soldier was really right. What happened?! Did the Normans increase their troops at night?!"
Tristan knew nothing about the campfire trick, and even if he thought about it from his perspective, he would not be able to imagine this psychological warfare trick.
Morale is very important to the current army. If one side uses some means to scare the other side before the war, the next day the fighting will be one side that is energetic and energetic while the other side is weak.
The job of the Frank soldiers who were placed on the city wall was to keep track of them. They first panicked, but fortunately this negative emotion did not spread to the main force of the army.
Tristan did not want to believe that the enemy had really increased his troops. He ordered the soldiers present to remain calm and not to spread the news to others.
It is impossible to make any adjustments to the tactics at the moment. As long as you look up at the position of the moon and Sirius, you will know that dawn is not far away.
At this moment, some soldiers really couldn't sleep. They squinted their eyes and lay on the ground wearing cloth masks, resting quietly with their horses. Only the veterans who had experienced hundreds of battles could still sleep peacefully, and the younger soldiers
Mostly due to excitement and anger, groups of three or five chatted about their actions after dawn and simply stayed up.
On the other side of the Maas River, the truly exhausted Ross army had fallen asleep in pieces.
The dense bonfires did not appear suddenly. This was a psychological warfare trick that Blue Fox learned from the war and continued to explore. The originator of such tactics was Rurik himself. The Blue Fox who improved the tactics ordered the soldiers who were in good spirits to gradually increase the number of bonfires.
, adhering to the principle of continuing to light bonfires as long as it is dark, just to create the illusion that the Russian army continues to increase its troops.
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The cloth strips were tied with wooden sticks and then soaked in wooden barrels filled with rosin and seal oil. The high temperature in midsummer made the oil soaking effect extremely good, and torches were being made quickly.
Both sides, who knew little about each other, were waiting for dawn, and now it was clear that the Franks were the first to take the lead.
As dawn approached, the soldiers who were ordered to execute the prisoners took the lead.
They did not move their horses because they were worried that the horses' neighing would spread to the other side and cause alarm.
The captives who had been hungry all day were dragged away stumblingly, and the wooden stakes used as torture were also dragged and moved.
Just to the north of the city, there were once a thousand city defenders who attacked the Mellaren army in this battle. The dead bodies were left unattended. The highly decomposed corpses made the Frankish soldiers unbearable. Fortunately, they had nothing to eat now, otherwise they would have to fight again.
Vomited them all out.
This place is very close to the river, and the dim sparkling waves of the Maas River can be seen clearly under the moonlight and stars.
They were operating completely in the dark. Thanks to the dim light tonight, their eyes were not completely dark. In the darkness before dawn, they began to dig wet earth pits, bury wooden stakes in them, and tie the prisoners to the wooden poles.
On the pile.
All operations went very smoothly, and at dawn, the soldiers who were gradually waking up ran to the river to get some water. They looked around and enjoyed the coolness of the morning. From the corner of their eyes, they noticed some dark shadows suddenly appearing in the north of the city.
What is that? Some moving people?
The important discovery was spread from ten to ten, and soon the entire Russian army camp became tense. The soldiers stood up one after another. Most of them thought that the Franks had eaten leopards and dared to launch a cross-river raid. Let's not talk about whether this was possible. Since their companions had urgently brought
Gather your weapons and rush forward yourself.
Blue Fox was awakened by the war alarm, and he didn't care whether it was ridiculous or not. The noise outside the tent became more and more noisy, as if the Frank cavalry had launched a robbery of the camp.
"Is this an enemy attack? Fight it! Fight it all! Pierce the armor quickly!"
The Russian army was obviously too nervous, which was a good thing. When the soldiers gradually realized what had happened, most of them had already put on their armor and helmets, and some even hurriedly ate some dry wheat.
Bread and dried fish replenished your physical strength a little.
The soldiers spontaneously and gradually moved to the north of the two camps, just to see clearly what those figures were doing.
In the open space on the other side of the river, a cross flag became the most prominent feature.
The unknown Russian soldiers looked at each other across the river and gradually figured out what was going on. At first, they really wanted to watch a show, but then they discovered that someone was tied to what looked like a wooden stake, and everyone was still wondering about those Franks.
What was going on, anyone with a discerning eye suddenly realized - the tied blond man had tattoos on his body.
Oops! It's one of ours! I'm afraid it's the captured Melalen people.
Some of the soldiers of the Russian army Mälaren who had just returned from Aachen were not familiar with them. It was Bjorn who came after hearing the news and personally took the successfully evacuated men to the river to find out what was going on. Only then did they recognize him and tie him up.
It seems that the people serving as sacrifices are his subordinates.
"Damn it, are you treating my soldiers as sacrifices? Do you Frank understand human sacrifice?"
To be fair, although the Viking tribes did not expressly oppose human sacrifice, this kind of extreme sacrificial activity first selected slaves as human sacrifices, and the use of human sacrifice must also be a means to coordinate with major events.
Bjorn looked left and right. Last night he agreed to prepare torches and launch an arson attack today. Now he is more willing to agree with the idea of that young man from Asgard - to organize a large army to take the initiative to attack.
"Come here! People from Melalen! Organize ships to follow me and counterattack!"
After roaring, he called out to all the Ross people present: "Brothers Ross! Seeing that we have a common ancestor, please help me for the sake of the gods! We can't let our friends be in trouble."
Even though almost all of the captured Melalen people owed debts and were essentially debt slaves, after all, they were from the Melalen tribe, and punishing them was a matter for their creditors. The Franks were not qualified!
Of course, from the perspective of the Frankish army, it would make sense to capture prisoners even if they were cut into pieces.
The executioners who were ordered to execute the prisoners gathered their meat-cutting knives. They were originally their own cutlery, and now they could easily hunt the "hungry wolves" in front of them.
They had to put on a good show, and when they saw more and more Normans armed with weapons gathered on the other side of the river, they all showed their knives and broad-bladed swords.
"Normans! Take a good look! We kill your people like sheep!"
Similar words were shouted continuously, just to attract further attention.
"What are they barking at? It makes me so angry!" Bjorn frowned, looking left and right, "Everything is ready, let's cross the river to rescue them."
After a while, Blue Fox himself arrived at the scene with his armored soldiers.
The average width of the Maas River here is more than one hundred meters, and people with excellent eyesight can clearly see what people on the other side are doing.
Feng Sheng Mo Hu screamed, but even so Blue Fox still listened attentively.
He saw that Bjorn was leading his own men to pull the half-stranded longship, so he hurriedly approached it and stopped it temporarily: "What are you going to do? Directly cross the river to fight?"
"Otherwise? My people are sacrificed like cattle and sheep! Even if they are really killed, I will get the bodies back. I will kill all those Franks. Don't stop me."
For a while, the blue fox was very diffuse, and now there was a buzzing in the ears. More and more soldiers gathered on the riverside. Naturally, a large number of soldiers were really infected by the restless Mellaren people, and they went to pull their long boats.
At this moment, the gathered soldiers booed.
Blue Fox raised his head, and with squinted eyes he saw that the Franks' swords had stabbed into the stomachs of those tied to the stakes.
More cruel things are still happening, just like cutting up sheep and slaughtering cows. The Frank executioners ignored the heart-rending wails of the victims, and like opening a wooden door, forcefully tore open the wounds of the victims, pulled out the heart and liver with all their strength, and then
He stepped aside and openly displayed the painful image of the tortured person to the Normans on the other side.
The executioners were covered in blood, and their hands were dripping with blood. They continued to cut with knives to vent their anger, and continued to shout.
It was too late! Bjorn still wanted to save his life, but his captured subordinates really died as tragically as human sacrifices. No! Their deaths were even hundreds of times worse than human sacrifices.
"Damn Franks! You will pay with blood!"
Bjorn had never been so angry and mad, he almost broke his teeth, and his clenched fists almost broke his finger bones.
The minds of the people of Malaren were completely filled with anger, and three boats took the lead in forcibly crossing the Maas River.
They were not alone, because all the Ross coalition forces who witnessed this fell into rage.
The most radical ones are the young soldiers, especially the Seventh Flag Team.
Askard gathered his brothers, who were all wearing armor and gathering in large numbers on the river bank, cutting off ropes and busy pushing the boat.
"A group of impulsive brats." The toothy Blue Fox rushed over again with his soldiers. He just held down Asgard's shoulders when the boy struggled to break free.
"Asgard? What are you doing?"
"Uncle! You are a fool! You should have supported the all-out battle I hoped for last night! Now the Franks are riding on our heads to make trouble! This shame and humiliation cannot be tolerated, and we must avenge those Mellaren people."
"You! There may be a scam here." Blue Fox intuitively felt the danger, but the radical young man couldn't listen at all.
Askard is not willing to take care of Blue Fox at all, and such unorganized and undisciplined behavior has become a common phenomenon.
It would be fine if he died on the battlefield.
there has never been!
There had never been any precedent of a Viking warrior being slaughtered as cattle or sheep by the Franks. The shame and humiliation angered almost everyone, and it was simply wishful thinking to make everyone sane.
"Uncle! No one can be a coward! Go ahead and organize an attack! I will take action now."
Forget it, Askard was too lazy to continue talking nonsense, because he had already pushed the longship back into the water with more than a dozen brothers, and then waded into the boat through violent splashes.
The young man skillfully pulled out the long oar.
"Brothers! Revenge! Let's go!"
The Maas River is said to be wide. This time Bjorn led his people to reach the other side of the river first. He was pleased to see the elite Rus wearing blue stripes and white robes also starting to cross the river.
He was very pleased and thought that Blue Fox had figured it out in an instant. He couldn't help but be overjoyed and roared at his last warriors, who only had a few hundred people: "Brothers, we are not fighting alone. The Russians will also land soon. Let's go! Follow us.
I will kill those executioners and then seek revenge on their main force!"
What's the point of cavalry? Bjorn's Mälaren army has never faced off against an enemy cavalry legion.
Besides, didn't the Russians defeat the Frank cavalry? They could do it, and the Malaren people could do it even more.
Strong self-confidence was accompanied by rage. Bjorn held a round shield in his left arm and a Ross steel sword in his right hand. The Malaren army did not organize a shield wall. They just ran all the way on the grassland by the river, not even bothering to take care of their longships.
Let one of the boats be pushed aside by the current.
Some time ago, the Malaren Army took the lead in launching an attack on behalf of the entire coalition, and the landing place was almost at this location.
Now they are still the first to take action, and this courageous momentum is very appealing.
The 7th Banner Troop of the Russian Army was the first to respond, so when they saw Askard launching an attack, his young men Kelha and Invar each led the Finnish army and the Danish army to cross the river.
As a result, more soldiers believed that the supreme commander Blue Fox had launched an order for a full-scale cross-river operation. Except for a small number of those left behind in the camp, the entire army began their own cross-river operations.