The enemy leader must be killed. It turns out that Otto meant that he would forget about the cruel punishments such as Blood Eagle and give the man the last bit of food, and then cut off his head to end everything cleanly.
Since that man was a prince, and one of the enemy's top nobles was captured, instead of killing him directly, it would be better to find a way to exchange for greater benefits. Anyway, the man's hands had their tendons cut off, so he had no strength to resist.
The Ross warrior had already wiped the forest ax clean and was about to kill him when Arik stopped him. He came back panting heavily and was pleased to report that his men did not take action.
"It's too dangerous!" Otto also let out a sigh of relief and looked at Grund: "Do you know why I spared that man's life?"
"Why? Oh, Duke Ross's determination is certainly not something that an ordinary person like me can imagine."
Rurik really understood his father's hint, so he smiled and said: "Grund, you have already said that Visby is very rich, and the businessman named Haken is also very rich. Will that guy save him?
Where is your son? Will you spend a sum of money to redeem it?"
Otto's eyes suddenly opened wide, because that was not what he meant at all. He had no intention of asking for ransom. Now that Rurik mentioned this kind of thing, what new plans does the child have? Obviously, the child has thought of a lot.
thing.
Rurik saw the urging look from his father and deliberately told him something, especially the plan for the entire war including the decisive battle.
When Rurik learned that Siegfast, who was beaten half to death, was actually a prince, he came up with the idea of demanding a ransom.
Arik rushed to speak: "It's not that troublesome. We won the decisive battle, we robbed Visby, and all the money belongs to us. Ransom? Is it necessary?"
"What your cousin said makes sense. Why should we bother with this? However, asking for ransom is also a way to test the enemy. I...actually think so." Otto spoke a little timidly, and his true thoughts were actually different from those of his eldest nephew.
same.
What kind of honor is it to ask for a ransom, win the decisive battle, send troops to Visby to rob, and finally burn down the largest settlement of the Gotlanders? With this honor, both those who died in the battle and those who are alive in Ross will definitely be there after the war.
Reunion in the Hall of Valor.
"That's not possible! I..." Rurik stood up suddenly and said shockingly: "You all think that our army must plunder Visby?!"
Otto was shocked: "What do you mean? Do you mean not to plunder?"
"Dad, and the brothers sitting here, what is our purpose?"
"Of course I will kill you, gain their wealth, and turn their wives and daughters into our women." Aric's calm words revealed his ferocious fangs, and Otto also expressed his admiration for them.
This "perfect answer" from my nephew.
Rurik was not surprised: "That's true. Let me add one more thing. Our Russian army must complete all this at the minimum cost."
"Oh? What do you want to do?" Otto asked hurriedly.
"I am a military commander. In the future decisive battle, I will order the soldiers to kill the enemy as much as possible and prevent them from fleeing. Without the main combat force, the Visby people will not be able to organize new resistance forces. Maybe at this time our army will enter
It is the most appropriate, and it is indeed the case, but..." Rurik deliberately put it off and paused for breath: "The soldiers spontaneously went to plunder, will they take the initiative to take out the looted property?"
"Why take it out? They robbed it themselves, so they should keep it as their own." Otto added: "This is our rule. The new rule is that if you grab the cash box and find the warehouse, it's mine.
"
"It belongs to the Duke of Rus." Rurik also added, "What belongs to the Duke of Rus is also mine. So I must find a way to drain the wealth of the Gotlanders. Those gold and silver must be controlled by myself, and
It must be redistributed to the soldiers by me.
Besides, let the soldiers loot spontaneously, and everyone will be scattered. The root of our victory is not only the blessing of God, but also my command! The Russian army is the most powerful when it is united as a whole, and individual soldiers are scattered.
, will be defeated by the enemy one by one.
Individual warriors encountered frantic resistance from Visby's remaining residents, and many would die.
In this way, as the Duke of Ross, I will not be able to gain a lot of wealth, and I will also lose many brothers. This is a huge failure."
Rurik spoke of his own Duke of Rus, which seemed a little strange to others, but Otto himself didn't care. Because he had sworn in the longhouse of the priests many years ago that he would live as a servant of the "Son of God" for the rest of his life.
The "Son of God" is Rurik.
Rurik's explanation is very realistic. If you think about it calmly, the highest nobles in Ross, represented by the Duke of Ross, really need this method to extract the most benefits. Because times have indeed changed. In the past, a war chief led hundreds of people.
During robbery, everyone should take out the loot at the same time, and the distribution can be easily completed after internal negotiations.
There are now an army of 3,000 people. In order to avoid quarreling and causing unhappiness in the future, let’s not let the brothers loot freely!
"When we win the decisive battle, we will send people to persuade the Visby people to surrender. I will ask them to pay huge war compensation. For example, two thousand pounds of silver coins, or four thousand pounds? And sheep skins and cheese. They have
All their money and materials must be handed over. Yes! Their women must also be handed over part of them. These things are handed over to me in exchange for an armistice."
Hearing this, Otto took a breath. Looking at his son's attitude was so firm, it showed that he was serious. "Rurik, are you... going to cut off the last hair of the sheep?"
Rurik pouted: "Otherwise? They must spend so much money to buy peace, otherwise we will just rob their Visby according to the original plan. Oh, by the way, there are also their ships, all of which are of good quality.
Good ships must be used as bargaining chips to buy peace. I hope there will not be more ships trying to escape at sea. Gould's fleet is scheduled to leave Tombstone Island tomorrow. In three days at the latest, the Aurora will
The ship will enter the sea off Visby, and anyone who tries to escape will be mercilessly sunk!"
Otto sighed, feeling that his son's mere dictation was so cruel! He would definitely do this! Just like the Gotland patrol ship encountered on the way back from the south, this boy invented the "seesaw"
, using this novel method to execute the captives as a sacrifice to the Poseidon.
Otto thought of something again and hesitated in his heart: "That guy named Siegfast, he buried our warriors according to the Gotland custom. This kind of person can kill him cleanly, or spare his life."
He has a life. Now you want to exchange this man for ransom and put him back. Will he command a new army to fight back? Even if the man's hands are cut off, what is needed to command the army is the brain."
"This man is still a threat, and he really can't stay." Arik said harshly, obviously he didn't take the ransom demand seriously.
The power of life and death of a prisoner lies in the hands of the winner. In his heart, Grund hopes that his old financial boss Siegfast will die. He has his own Xiao Jiujiu. If this person is really exchanged, then
Publicizing things like "Danish Mercenary Backstabbing" in Visby is really bad for your reputation.
Grund was also dissatisfied with Duke Ross' statement, so he specifically stated: "My lord, Siegfast, did not order the burial of the bodies of your war dead."
"What did you say?" Otto realized that he had heard something very ridiculous.
Grund deliberately amplified his voice. He wanted the top Russian nobles present to know the face of the top Gotland nobles they valued.
"Sigfast is an arrogant man. Just as you cut off his hand tendons, this guy is in this area and treats your wounded soldiers in the same way. Sigfast threatened to slowly kill the Russians.
, he did the same thing. He was very happy watching the Russian soldiers bleed. I cannot tolerate these things. I stabbed your injured people to death and ended their pain. For this reason, Sigfast became furious."
At this point, Otto and others were trembling with shock.
Rurik felt that this matter was a bit strange. He looked at Grund suspiciously, speculating that this man was deliberately belittling his old master in this way. Obviously, this man had something to say.
"Sigfast is going to blast all the corpses of Ross warriors into the wilderness. It's me! I'm leading my brothers to collect your corpses and pile them up into a grave. So the grave where Ross warriors are buried is different from the others.
"
"You! You mean, it was you who buried those soldiers?!" Otto, who was furious, gasped and asked. This momentum frightened Grund almost to the point of lying down.
Arik stood up angrily, pulled out his steel sword and roared: "Make that idiot a blood eagle! I'm going now!"
He turned to leave, but was grabbed by Harold Zosen, who caught Otto's look.
"Boy, you gotta calm down!"
"Don't call me boy! Hallo Johnson, I am a warrior, and I just want to kill this evil man for my brothers."
In contrast to Arik's rage, Rurik remained calm. Otto was also furious, but fortunately fifty years of life experience had tempered him to be steady enough.
Rurik looked at Grund deliberately: "Danes, we have spared your lives, as we swore to Odin. You don't have to report these times to show off your achievements, and you don't have to blame your old master.
Dirty water.”
Grund's words were unexpected. He thought that all the Russians would be angry. The Rurik in front of him was really different.
Grund hurriedly beat his chest and swore: "What I said is all true. If you dare to have a fallacy, you will be struck to death by thunder. This is what we have experienced, that Sigfast, he is not a warrior, he is just a conceited person."
A merchant. He doesn't respect warriors, let alone the dead. Now, Odin sends his warriors to attack this madman."
The words that followed were obviously true flattery. Looking at the angry mood of his father and brother, Rurik thought for a moment, if this news spread to the whole army, what kind of ransom would be demanded? The angry soldiers would immediately surround the prisoner, and then one person after another
Eat it raw in one bite, leaving not even a bone or residue.
Rurik closed his eyes and thought for a moment, revising his plan to demand ransom in his mind.
He slowly opened his eyes and gave orders as a military commander: "We must get the ransom!"
Arik sat on the ground, his right arm resting on the hilt of his sword, and gritted his teeth and shook his head: "I would rather make him a blood eagle. Hey, I just stopped the execution. Why did I run so fast? I might as well watch my brothers chop him."
Got that man’s head off.”
"It's not necessary at all, but this man must die. Arik, now listen to my plan..."
On this night, Rurik ordered Grund to rest, which was actually to put him away.
Soon, the flag captains of each flag team, as well as some important personnel, were summoned to the bonfire.
As a military commander, Rurik decided on the so-called decisive battle place - Qiao Village.
The former Qiao Village has turned into a scorched earth, but the area has been developed on a large scale. A large number of forests have been cut down, and weeds have grown wildly suitable for sheep herding, and oats have also been planted in some areas.
There is an open space here that can accommodate tens of thousands of people for a decisive battle, so the Russians do not have to climb over the mound with the entire army and then line up in front of the city of Visby to attack.
Rurik understood the strength of the Russian army best, and even some visible disadvantages.
Today's Ross Army has become an army that emphasizes land power. Three thousand soldiers gather together and speak three languages. All of this challenges the commander's organizational ability and the execution ability of the soldiers.
What if the whole army marches over the mound to form a decisive battle? Then the team will inevitably become lagging when climbing over the mountain. By then, the army will have flaws everywhere, and it will be troublesome if it is attacked by the enemy.
The most important thing is that the Ross army is trained for fighting on the ground. Only in a large enough open area can the strength of the Ross army be exerted. At that time, there will be spear formations, sword and shield hand outflanks, crossbowmen and torque slingshot shooting, and even
The fighting of heavily armored warriors must be in an open area to achieve optimal results.
Many people thought that the army quickly annihilated five hundred enemies, so why should the future decisive battle follow the rules? The soldiers climbed over the mounds like wolves, and then swallowed Visby like a mudslide.
Rurik no longer bothers to preach to people who hold this idea, it is meaningless.
"We don't have to tire our feet and climb over the mound to fight them. We will line up here, drink the sweet stream water, and wait for the enemy to climb over the mound. The enemy is tired, we are full of energy, and the advantage is mine!"
Rurik kept elaborating on his idea of waiting for work. Otto consciously understood a lot, but he still had some questions: "How do you judge that the enemy will definitely cross the mountain to fight us? There is a mountain between the enemy and us. If we don't take the initiative to cross the mountain, they will
Why take the initiative?"
Rurik looked into his father's eyes: "It's like a sword hanging above the head. Although the sword has not fallen, everyone knows that if the sword falls, it will stab and bleed. Of course, we must find a way to get it away. We are concerned about
This is what the Visby people are like. We are entrenched here and the army has a good rest. The enemy feels the pressure. As for inducing them to climb over the mountain and fight us, I have enough bait."
"Bait? Could it be the same Siegfast?" Otto asked.
"That's him. In addition, I should let some prisoners go."
"Prisoners?" Arik, still angry, asked, "Do we still have any prisoners? All those prisoners have been brought back."
"Yes, there are still three hundred men captured in Baisha Port. It seems that no one can conclude that this group of traitors will sincerely fight for us, and maybe they will turn against us during the charge. These people cannot be trusted
, then let them go!”
"Huh?" Arik continued to question: "If you don't trust them, just leave it to me and I'll let the brothers chop it down."
"No, these people are all useful. I can call those people together and give them a chance to escape back to Visby. Those with the most determined attitude just can't really surrender. Let them go back to Visby and spread our Ross
There is news about the army and the conditions for redeeming Sigfast. I want their king to personally redeem his leader, and..."
Suddenly, Rurik thought of a new major strategy.
He stood up suddenly, "We will bring a group of crossbowmen. We will pretend to release the prisoners and shoot them in front of them. We must send a lot of crossbowmen, so that maybe we can directly assassinate their king. In my opinion, Wei Wei
The king of the Sibi people is dead, and they will fall into irreversible chaos."
"Behead their king directly? This job should be done by me." Arik felt that he was doing his part in this job.
Having said this, Rurik shook his head: "It would be best if the assassination can be completed. It depends on whether our arrows are lucky. I can at least guarantee that the brothers can shoot that Sigfast. Whether their king is successful or not
Death by an arrow is not very important. Of course, it is best for that guy to be shot. Maybe it would also be best for the king not to die. What will the Gotland king do when he sees his prince dying in front of him?!"
Arik smiled, his slit eyes showing arrogance: "He will take revenge! He will pay crazy rewards. I really can't tell, brother, when did you become so vicious."
"It's probably the battle on the glacier in the east. I've seen it through! That's what war is like. I want to induce the enemy to become reckless avengers, so that they who become stupid will be killed by our army according to my idea. Tomorrow morning,
Let’s release some prisoners and take a group of brothers to camp on the mound. By the way, that Sigfast can’t die yet.”
In this way, Rurik finally explained his strategy. At the end, Otto had goosebumps all over his body. He felt that his son had turned into a cold villain. It is fair to say that this move can anger a father the most.
An old face stared at the stars. Otto hoped that the Valkyrie would appear. He hoped that green streamers would appear in the sky, just because this area would soon become littered with corpses, and the souls of the dead warriors needed to gaze at this battle.
The Valkyrie took it away herself.
He also imagined that Rurik's deliberate and correct command would enable the Russian army to achieve a complete victory with minimal losses.