A large-scale fleet was heading against the south wind. Everyone on board was wearing armor, and its scale was so large that it would destroy the world.
After yesterday's discussion, the only result that the dukes of each tribe came up with was that the offensive in this battle was not prioritized. No one in the mixed fleet was the real vanguard. Based on this situation, King Origen no longer wanted to waste time, nor did he want to
Use your brain more.
At present, the larger the army, the more difficult it is to coordinate with each other. Fortunately, Origen personally led his army to take the lead.
The Mälaren Army, which had the largest number of troops and the best equipment, was the complete vanguard. They advanced along the coastline at a speed of about seven knots, and soon after setting off again, they largely left behind the follow-up troops.
"Brothers! Keep paddling! Don't give those cowards a chance, the spoils are all ours!" Karl no longer cared about his status as the crown prince. He pulled away a seemingly lazy oarsman and sat down to shout.
The slogan is rocking the oar as hard as possible.
Gradually, Karl and the three longships he led, in a triangular formation, became the real leader like a cluster of arrows.
Olegin stood at the bow of the boat, looking at his son running faster and faster, and couldn't help but grit his teeth.
One of his men worried: "King! If Arik runs too fast, will they be attacked by the enemy's main force? It will not be a good thing if they are besieged."
"This is what I'm afraid of. Damn it, keep paddling and keep moving forward."
It can be said that Karl's military adventure forced the entire Malaren Army to follow suit, which caused their speed to remain at a high level.
However, there were six large oarless ships following closely. Whenever he saw the Russian army following them, Origen was not only envious but also obviously filled with hatred.
Because the Russian ships relied entirely on sails, they were sailing against the wind, and their speed was actually faster than the wind, and the speed of the Merlaren army, which was mixed with oars, remained the same!
In this way, during a morning's sailing, the coalition forces were essentially divided into two echelons.
The leaders of the Onkras and other large forces had given up their intentions at this moment. They blamed themselves for being inferior in skills and simply could not keep up with the pace of the Melalen and Rus people.
Any smart person knows that the speed of the Melalen people comes at the cost of overdrafting the physical strength of the soldiers. But those Russians, whose ships carry a large amount of supplies and people, can actually advance quickly on the sea. The Russian army does not have any
The loss of physical strength, as long as they are willing to land and fight, they must have extremely strong combat effectiveness.
A young girl stood at the bow of the ship with sharp eyes. Carlotta held on to the side of the ship. She looked at the world in the distance, her spirit becoming more and more vigilant.
Standing beside her were Otto and Rurik.
"Are we almost reaching your hometown now?" Rurik asked cautiously.
"Yes. War may break out at any time."
"That's fine." Rurik nodded and immediately ordered the mercenaries to remove the oil pull on the torque slingshot.
This move made Otto, who was in a peaceful mood, suddenly become cautious: "What? Rurik, did you foresee the danger?"
"Not yet. If so, the three pretentious ships of the Melalen people were in danger first." Rurik pointed to the three ships in the distance. They maintained the posture of going deep alone, "We are almost reaching the bay.
, we should also prepare. Maybe we will encounter the Gotlander fishing boats first, dad, we should sink them."
"That's true. But, you want to sink them? Is that possible? Just rely on these weapons of yours?"
"Exactly." That's it, Rurik is not completely sure. There are differences between testing and actual combat, and even personnel negligence and nervousness can lead to a weakening of the torque slingshot's effectiveness.
The order to prepare for war was first passed on the Aurora, and then all ships entered a state of war readiness.
People staying in the cabin were checking their bows and crossbows, and many people had gathered on the deck. Many wooden boxes filled with arrows were moved to the deck, especially the ammunition boxes for the torsion slingshot, which were made of conical cast iron.
The projectiles were piled randomly in the box, and then some mercenaries began to carry wooden barrels filled with viscous seal grease (it is semi-solid when the temperature is low), liberally smearing grease to lubricate the slide of the slingshot, and even soaking the torque hemp rope in oil again
, to enhance strength.
Origen often paid attention to the actions of the Russians, and when he saw that they were making extremely active preparations for war, he suddenly became nervous.
"Is it finally starting?"
Indeed, the battle started in an unexpected way.
Karl, who was essentially the vanguard, saw small boats floating not far away. What if they weren't fishing boats? They were fishing boats, the fishing boats of the Gotlanders or Danes! They were enemies!
Karl yelled: "Brothers, speed up! Catch up with those enemies and kill them all!"
The warriors were so passionate about fighting that rowing like this was no longer boring. The oarsmen's sense of fatigue disappeared, and only the desire for killing and the desire for wealth remained.
So, the unknown ship discovered first by the fleet really belongs to the Gotlanders?
Of course those ships came from Gotland.
Because the Russian ships used advanced crossbows to plunder the Tombstone Island, that is, the waters south of the Åland Islands, the Gotland fishermen suffered considerable losses that could not be recovered in a short time. A large number of fishing boats were no longer available.
Then head to the northern seas for operations.
Since the Gotland-Danish coalition plundered the Ostara tribe of the Northern Alliance, and also scared away many tribes, the living space they left behind was of course laughed at by the Gotlanders.
Gotland is just that big, with a population of 20,000 crammed onto the island, making the living space increasingly crowded.
In fact, Gotland is also a large island, with a width of 40 kilometers and a length of 140 kilometers. However, due to the current local production model, the land owned by the islanders mostly has white sea sand, and the land conditions
Unable to make trouble, wheat production is astonishingly low. They rely more on raising sheep and fishing. Now the scale of the pastures is becoming saturated, and the fishing grounds have become dangerous battlefields.
If you can move to land, why not do it?
As many as six hundred Gotlanders have established their "Northern Market" in the area of Ostara, namely Norrkoping.
This north is essentially for the Danes. Norrkoping can be said to be the northernmost geographical stronghold of the Gotlanders. The excellent developed pastures here suddenly became the source of wealth for the Gotland immigrants. They
Sheep are raised here, and naturally there are some Danish merchants stationed here, waiting to collect the latest sheared wool.
Having lost their large fishing ground, they discovered the fish resources in the bay. The Gotland immigrants fished in the Bolow Bay enjoyed by Norrköping.
If life is like this, these immigrants will definitely continue to live their lives.
Continue to expand? Unless the resources of Norrkoping cannot accommodate the desire of immigrants, they will naturally continue to move north and grab territory from the Svealans.
Unfortunately, they miscalculated.
They felt that the rapid rout and subsequent destruction of the Ostarans proved that the northern Svealans were a bunch of cowards.
As for the Russians, the Gotlanders have long known the identity of this group of people. The Russians are as tough as the Danes. In the years of fighting, the Gotlanders have always suffered, so they simply never treat this group of people
People and Svealans are treated as one and the same.
The Gotlanders misjudged the situation. Two years ago, they organized a massive army to invade Burrow Bay and swept away the locals with a devastating force. Now, the coalition forces from the north are seeking revenge.
Carl quickly caught up with the fishing boat, even as the fishermen struggled to break free.
Can a seal escape the pursuit of a killer whale?
Karl's boat directly docked with the fishing boat. The long boat was actually much thicker than the small fishing boat. The spear poked from the long boat directly killed the fishermen.
The four Gotlanders who rowed hard to free themselves became the first casualties.
Karl had no intention of paying attention to this boring boat. He was so excited from the initial killing that he stood up, hugged the bow of the longship, raised a throwing spear in his right hand and shouted to his brothers: "We continue to charge, in the end
Log in first, kill their men, and the women will be yours!"
The already crazy people were stimulated by the blood and became even more excited. Now as many as a hundred people have entered a state that resembles berserkers, even if they have not eaten poisonous mushrooms.
Soon, the second fishing boat became the ghost of Karl's axe.
It has to be said that Karl was able to kill his wives and concubines in bed competitions, and even waved his fists at some of his subordinates. His manic side was easily revealed due to some stimulation. He was aggressive and possessive, but perhaps he was not good at strategy.
, it is this bravery that makes him very qualified as a berserker.
His spear-throwing skills were not low, and he hit three enemies in a short fight.
His team also has very obvious shortcomings - a small number of long-range weapons and poor quality.
There were six fishing boats operating in Bullough Bay, but they were all destroyed by Karl's troops.
The Gotland fishermen either died on the boats or fell into the sea and sank and disappeared. Empty fishing boats floated on the sea, and subsequent ships had no time to pay attention to these boats.
Because the fleet has begun to turn collectively, heading to the right bay is the real battlefield.
The current situation no longer required Origen to roar at the top of his lungs. All the ships of the Mellaren Army were in full swing. Even though their longships were towing many empty boats (for hauling trophies), their speed became faster.
This is because after entering the bay, the south wind can flow into the bay area, and each ship receives stronger wind blessing.
The entire Malaren army turned around, and the Ross army that followed them just adjusted the position of the sails calmly, and all six ships adjusted their directions accordingly.
But now, even though Rurik was standing on the poop, he could see that the friendly ships behind him had turned into somewhat blurry dots.
Obviously, everyone who is the vanguard has left the second echelon too far behind.
Some empty fishing boats were drifting aimlessly on the sea. Standing on the side of the boats, Rurik saw the dead people inside.
"They have achieved victory. Rurik, leave these ships alone." Otto said seriously, squeezing his son's neck.
"No! We just use these boats for experiments."
"Sink it?"
"Really!"
Otto became more interested. He held the side of the ship and watched the mercenaries operating the ratchet wrenches. The three torque slingshots on one side made squeaking sounds.
When the bowstring catches the tenon, the tapered cast iron projectile is firmly seated in the chute.
These cast iron projectiles have sharp heads and are actually very small overall.
These torsion slingshots developed by Rurik have some of the same mechanical structures as the Roman Scorpion Crossbow, such as its elevation adjustment mechanism.
These torsion slingshots all entered the pitch angle state. Following Rurik's order, under the watchful eyes of dozens of people on the ship, and even most of the entire fleet, three projectiles smashed over.
The distance between the Avora and the enemy ship is only about ten meters. At such a close distance, the projectile retains a lot of kinetic energy the moment it hits the target.
Although these projectiles cannot cut through solid oak wood at one time, for these fishing boats made of cheap pine boards, three projectiles directly cut three holes.
Soon, the projectiles were loaded again, and another salvo directly penetrated the side of the fishing boat. The power of the projectiles was not reduced much, and it actually smashed through the ribs of the other side of the boat. The boat already had eight obvious holes, and the sea water
are pouring in quickly.
In full view of everyone, even Otto witnessed the entire process of the fishing boat sinking.
He had never seen anything like this in his life. No matter how bad the ship was, it sank in front of him after being hit by his own weapons!
Otto had to think more about this situation. If this was the enemy's real warship, the Avrora's weapon was just a few rounds of projectiles, turning the entire enemy ship into drowned dogs? Such an enemy
Either they sink directly to the bottom, or they hold on to floating pieces of wood and linger for a while. Without help from others, they will surely die in the vast ocean.
Even the warriors who controlled the torsion slingshot found this unbelievable, as if they had received a divine power, or had been exposed to the divine power exuded by Rurik.
Actually? This is the power of technology.
It was a lie that Rurik was not excited. He was secretly happy in his heart. He even teased his father with a smile: "Dad, what do you think? Are our weapons brave?"
"How brave! You actually succeeded."
"Of course!" Rurik pretended to sigh: "We can definitely make a bigger one, so that one projectile can destroy the enemy's ship. So we don't have to fight with the enemy because our ship is already very tall.
, there is no need to fight. Now you have seen that we can sink enemy ships from a long distance, but the enemy is powerless against us."
"Wow! It's true."
Rurik narrowed his eyes and said curiously: "So you know why I rejected Olegin's desire to buy a ship?"
"You! Oops! So that's what it is..."
Otto suddenly slapped his helmet, and then looked at the torque slingshot that had returned. He was pleased that the Russians still monopolized the ship and weapons. If the Melalen people got a ship with a combat capability similar to the Avora, the Russians would
You will suffer a loss.
Since they had plenty of ammunition, the Russians simply sank three fishing boats floating on the sea. Rurik estimated that the maximum practical distance of the torsion slingshot was about fifty meters. At this distance, a conical cast-iron bullet would probably penetrate the enemy ship.
As for the limit of the ribs, if the enemy replaces them with oak ribs, a more powerful torsion slingshot will be needed to join the battle. Rurik does not believe that the "cast iron drill" fired can effectively destroy high-quality oak longships.
.
The Russians were literally on a collision course with the "target ship", and they quickly began to chase the Mellaren fleet.
It is obvious that the Mellaren army has all entered the fjord, and is continuing to close in on the fjord, and their fleet is becoming more and more compact.
According to the agreement, the Russians had no reason, let alone any need, to participate in frontal combat, and even support from afar, even shouting and cheering, were redundant.
Any killings that will take place on the shore have nothing to do with the Rus for the time being, but according to the agreement, the Maylarens must take out the spoils.
The south wind flowing into the fjord gave Ross's sailing ship extremely fast speed. The Avora had caught up with the tail of the Melalen army. Now everyone on the ship saw what was happening in the distance. A group of Melalen warriors
Already landed, they have begun fighting.
But the enemy...
Rurik couldn't help but frown: "Did our army attack too fast and the enemy had no time to prepare?"
He saw some dazed people standing on the shore not far away. Those guys didn't seem to notice the danger, or were they completely frightened by the sudden army? On the other hand, some smart people were flying their sails and rushing towards the fjord.
The river upstream seems to be running away.
"Look! The Malaren troops have landed." Otto slapped his son with his left hand. He held the patterned steel sword tightly in his right hand and pointed directly at the initial landing site of the Malaren army, which was a landing site where a group of Gotland ships were docked.