The day of the expedition was set on May 15th in the Julian calendar.
Gotland was attacked at the end of April, and it took the Danes just over two weeks to respond violently. The Danish alliance under Hafgen was quite capable of gathering troops.
On this day of the expedition, the weather couldn't be said to be very good.
In the early morning, the foggy world made young Ragnar feel inexplicably worried about the future battle.
"If today is a sunny day, our war will be an absolute victory." Standing at the door of his tent, he couldn't help but mutter.
"Sir, we will win," one of his close subordinates echoed.
"Of course we will win. Let's wait and see what the alliance leader will do. Now order all the brothers to get up and we are ready to go."
The raids that Ragnar knew were all long ships launching surprise attacks. All warriors only carried a small amount of supplies. How to sleep and eat almost everything had to be captured from the battlefield.
He did not understand the situation of the Northern Alliance. He learned from his father that the Northern Alliance was not essentially different from the Danish Alliance. It would be foolish to think that the enemy was a group of weaklings.
So this time, Ragnar made a small reserve of supplies, which was unprecedented. As for other people, he really couldn't control it.
On top of his thick leather armor, he put on the highest-grade riveted chainmail. The chainmail could even protect his arms and even formed a skirt made of chainmail. In this way, he only had to beware of the enemy's big guns.
The combination of hammer, mail armor and leather armor can already isolate damage from swords.
About fifty of the troops he commanded had ordinary chain mail armor, and the rest were all leather armor.
Even so, compared to the armies of other allies, although Ragnar's commanding force is small, in terms of weapons and equipment, it can be said to be the top of Northern Europe in this time and space.
Even for the powerful Robard tribe with a large population, the leader Hafgen wanted to show off his illustrious martial arts, but he did not have the financial resources to equip all the tribal warriors he gathered with excellent mail armor.
According to the latest order, commercial activities at a traditional commercial market near the beach of the Robard tribe have been suspended, and all merchants have moved to other places to set up stalls.
In an instant, the market place turned into a school field where soldiers gathered.
Soldiers from various allied tribes, Oslo mercenaries, and Robard's own tribe, after having an early morning meal, poured into the solid sand and gravel land that had been trampled by thousands of people.
.
Because there needs to be a sacrifice before the expedition.
Five pillars were erected on a temporary platform made of a pile of stones. Ragnar understood the leader's trick when he saw them.
While more than two thousand people were waiting anxiously, the alliance leader Hafgen himself, dressed in military uniform and arrogant, finally arrived.
"This guy came late. He thinks that as the leader of the alliance, he can do whatever he wants. If we unite, the power of the Robards will no longer be there."
"Shut up, my brother." Ragnar tilted his head and scolded his cronies: "Look what that guy will do."
Ragnar took off his helmet, which could protect his entire face, in order to better see the leader's actions.
The five men in ragged clothes with their hands tied were escorted to the altar by a group of warriors. Then, the five men were tied to the pillars with ropes.
At this time, Hafgen stood on the altar, holding his chin high and stretching out his hands.
Beside him, a group of priests wearing black robes also began to chant incantations that no one could understand.
Hafgen couldn't help but talk nonsense, and his people roared his name one after another.
Along with the tribesmen who were watching, all Ragnar heard were warm calls.
When Hafgen drew his sword, the roar became even louder.
And when he pointed his sword downward, the cheering crowd quickly fell silent.
This situation really touched Ragnar deeply. "Ah, I never thought that you, a guy, could control the warrior to this extent?!"
Indeed, the young people of the Robard tribe strongly admire their leader, the man who killed all his competitors to gain the throne of leader.
With his sword, Hafgen walked into the five people who were tied up with ropes and shivering in the cool morning breeze.
Specifically, the people who were bound were all Picts, local people captured from Scotland by the Norwegians, and became slaves of the Robard tribe several times.
Today, Hafgen is going to use human sacrifice to make a wish to God for a great victory.
He had no identity nonsense, raised his sword high and shouted with all his strength: "Brothers, fight! Attack the north! Take everything you plunder! Destroy those evil people, and for the shame suffered by our alliance, revenge! Revenge! Revenge!"
With him taking the lead, almost everyone was moved by the violent atmosphere and shouted "revenge" one by one.
In this atmosphere, Hafgen personally beheaded the five slaves one by one.
And this crazy process was enough to drive the gathered warriors from various tribes into madness.
Including Ragnar's men, they also began to roar spontaneously. In Ragnar's view, it seemed that one of his own had been bewitched by that guy.
"You don't plan to attack Malarenburg in the north. You just want to vent your anger on some small tribes. For the purpose of this battle, is it necessary to use human sacrifice? Not only did you do it, you also used five people! What, you are showing your tribe
Are you financially strong?"
Ragna felt that the leader of the alliance was already overjoyed with success even before he had won the victory.
Just like that, Hafgen held a bloody head and issued a bloodthirsty order: "Brothers! Let's go!"
With an order, the Danish army, already aroused with the desire to fight, surged toward their group of warships moored on the beach.
Hafgen's assembled troops amounted to 2,100 men, and all the ships combined were close to a hundred.
Some daring merchants even decided to row their own merchant ships to follow this huge fleet. In this way, when they could not catch a batch of slaves, they could quickly buy them. At the same time, the army needed some things such as food.
supplies can also be sold to them quickly.
In the end, one hundred and twenty ships lit up their sails, and with the help of the gentle southerly wind and the help of oars, they quickly moved towards the north.
Who exactly was the target of the attack? Ragnar still doesn't know yet.
A small target? It must not be the Melalen tribe.
Before landing on the selected target, the huge Danish fleet still needs to complete the rendezvous with another of their allies.
As night fell, the fleet drifted on the sea, and everyone slept on the boat all night.
On May 16, they successfully encountered the Gotland ships on the sea.
After simple negotiations, in the afternoon, as many as thirty warships joined the Danish army.
After all, this is also a battle of revenge for the Gotlanders, with nearly a thousand people joining in.
Since the attack, the various families in the northern part of the island have become extremely close to each other.
With the addition of new allies, Hafgen, the leader of the alliance, basically understood the attack on the Gotlanders and learned that the attackers were the Rus in the north. He also learned that in the past, he was just a policeman and the Gotlanders.
When people are doing business, he never imagined that the war between the Gotlanders and the Rus had never stopped.
After learning of these circumstances, Hafgen suddenly realized that he seemed to have been dragged into the water by the Gotlanders.
His campaign slogan was to counter the provocation of the Northern Alliance. Now, who is the provocateur? Concerning this matter, they Gotlanders are definitely not clean.
The army has set off, and what is left is war! The war is not over, and as the leader of the alliance, you can only do your best to create victory.
Just on the sea, four boats came together, and the planks of the boats were close to each other.
Seeing that there were three Gotland leaders coming, Hafgen asked bluntly: "Tell me, where is the nearest stronghold of the Northern Alliance?"
An old man with a white beard wearing mail armor pointed directly to the northwest with his big hand: "That's it. There is a fjord there. As far as we know, that is their stronghold."
"How many of them are there?"
"About...two thousand people. Or a little less."
"Two thousand people?" Hafgen couldn't help but pull his beard, looking like he was thinking.
"Leader, are you sure? Are you them?" the old man asked tentatively.
"Have you ever fought against them?"
"We only fought with their fishermen. They are not strong. We are just worried that if we launch an attack, whether we will attract all the Malaren people to come out. Because that fjord is a bit close to the core of the Malaren people.
"
"Are you afraid of them?" Hafgen's attitude was quite impatient.
"No! Great leader, we are just worried that things will become complicated. Because of the Russians, we are worried about them... The Russians are very strong. Just ten days ago, we encountered their fleet at sea, and we lost a hundred
Many people.”
The Danish tribes living in Jutland and the surrounding waters have actually never had any record of fighting with the Rus. From the current perspective, the Baltic Sea is a huge small world. Due to geographical and geopolitical factors, Denmark
People will not enter the Gulf of Bothnia, so naturally they cannot encounter the Russians.
Moreover, even the Gotlanders don't know much about the Rus' people.
After an attack, the attitude of the Gotlanders towards the Rus suddenly changed, as if the attackers were terrifying beings.
Hafgen didn't take it seriously: "The Russians are very strong? That's because they haven't met us!" As he said, he pointed to his fleet and the tall masts: "Have you ever seen such a huge
Fleet? Let me tell you, this is only a small part of my fleet. I can organize a huge army that you cannot understand, and I can flatten the entire Northern Alliance."
Of course there was a strong element of bragging in this. Several Gotland leaders looked at each other and praised Hafgen's strength one after another.
Surrounded by them, Hafgen formally determined the target of the attack--to attack the Northern Alliance settlement in the fjord.
In a short time, Hafgen sent a messenger to inform the entire fleet of the army's goal.
"A tribe with two thousand people living in it? Conquer them?" After hearing this news, Ragnar's attitude suddenly changed.
In Ragnar's view, a tribe of two thousand people is already very large. It stands to reason that the other party can pull out a team of eight hundred people, or more! All the men are warriors, and he firmly believes that the other party will organize it.
Raise a decent army and have a good fight with the Danish army.
The destination of the Danish army was Bullough Bay.
Deep in this bay, there lives a tribe called Ostara.
This tribe belongs to the Siweiya Tribe Alliance and has a population of nearly 1,500 people.
I have to say that the geographical environment of Buloh Bay is good and it is suitable for being a harbor.
In the future, a city named Norrkoping will rise in this bay. The original meaning of "Norrköping" is "shopping place", and it comes from the same Germanic word as shopping in modern English.
Trade will eventually bring prosperity to this fjord, and a city will eventually rise here.
But now, the Ostara tribe living here is facing a disaster that comes without warning.
The fishermen of the tribe are still fishing in the Burrow Bay, and all fishermen know that they must not go south except for the fjord to avoid maritime conflicts with the Gotlanders.
After more tribesmen reclaimed a small amount of land, they drove their cattle and sheep to graze in nearby areas.
There are many tribes in this area who are doing the same thing as the Ostara tribe, which is to develop animal husbandry. It’s just that those tribes live in the lakes further west, where there are waterways connecting to Buloh Bay. Their tribes only have a few hundred people.
That's all, but there are more tribes.
Selling their livestock products to the Melalen tribe in the north is the main way for these people to make money.
But in the Götaland Highlands, where there are many lakes, there are not many grasslands suitable for grazing.
The Ostara tribe and nearby tribes must always be on guard against attacks by Gotland herdsmen who land.
They are always on guard, and every household has its own weapon.
Just as Ragnar estimated, the Ostara people did not know that the danger was coming, but they could indeed pull out a team of at least five hundred people.
Of course, the premise is that the Danes issued a letter of war and agreed on the location of the decisive battle, so that Ostara would have time to complete the assembly of the army.
Hafgen did not have time to issue a challenge to the Northern Alliance. Since the Russians adopted a tactic of surprise attack, he should follow suit.
There are no scouts, no formation arrangements.
Hafgen's so-called tactics are that there are no tactics. First, the thousand Gotlanders who know the route will take the lead, followed by the Danish army. Everyone can rush forward in a swarm.
There are one hundred and fifty boats in total. How can those fishermen still have the time to fish when they see the menacing army in the distance?
All the fishermen began to think about retreating from the depths of the bay. Behind them, there was a fleet in pursuit.
Before the fishermen arrived at the port, people on the shore saw the approaching danger.
A terrifying thought appeared in the mind of the tribal leader. The old man estimated that the newcomers were evil, and he was afraid that a fierce battle would be inevitable.
There are still some tribesmen grazing cattle, and some are logging in the nearby woods.
The Ostara tribe has no defense. How easy is it to summon an army at such an emergency?
Even so, the tribe is determined to risk their men's dignity and fight to the death against their enemies.
They will not retreat because they are men who believe in Odin.
Even if you can only organize a small group of people quickly, even if you can't make good preparations.
The threat of war did not allow them to prepare, and the enemy was already approaching the city.
The men skillfully put on leather armor, put on iron helmets, removed bucklers from the wooden walls, as well as swords and axes.
Even many women are determined to defend their homes together with their husbands. Their attitude is very determined. If they want to die, both husband and wife must also die at the same time!