Chapter 522 When the Viking Sword and Shield Hand stood on the city wall and raised the blood axe
Instead of overwhelming the enemy lines and occupying the monastery, the Viking warriors who retreated were not upset, and everyone was holding back their energy.
The camp where the Northumbrian army fled became an excellent camp for Rurik, and his Balmoq and Shetland warriors did not hesitate to use it as a resting place.
People brought the bodies of brothers who died in the war and placed them together, planning to cremate them together after the war was over.
People were sitting everywhere on the beach near the shore. They lit bonfires to cook wheat, ate captured bacon, and even killed two captured pack horses and grilled fresh horse meat to satisfy their hunger.
They lit a large number of bonfires, some of which were virtually unmanned.
This is Rurik's usual tactic, but it is too novel for the Balmoks. Could making a bonfire as dense as stars scare the enemy into a nervous breakdown? Maybe.
After experiencing the entire day's sailing, the afternoon beach landing battle, and even the evening siege battle, these Viking warriors are indeed in good physical fitness, but they are by no means superhuman. They are so excited that they ignore that their bodies are being overdrawn.
Once I started to rest, after eating and drinking, I quickly fell asleep around the campfire.
The family leaders who participated in the war all stayed together in a large wooden house in the military camp.
There are square tables and some wooden benches indoors. Although the weather is not very cold, firewood is lit in the dark pottery basins, and warmth envelopes everyone.
Everyone was very tired, and the fact that the battle was lost in the evening prompted everyone to need the commander-in-chief Rurik to make a decision.
The fact that there were no large-scale complaints did not mean that no one complained. Geiger held his breath and shouted: "My brothers and I rushed directly to their city gate. Even though it was a stone wall, my people kept beating the wooden door.
, we can definitely smash it to pieces. However, you were afraid that the rising tide would drown everyone, so you all withdrew."
"But the tide rises very fast. You see, your own boots are wet." Biyongni shrugged.
"We can obviously hold on a little longer."
"But other brothers are suffering losses. We are attacking a stone city, and it seems that it is not something that can be accomplished easily." Biyongni's words were very pertinent, and the attitudes of the heads of each family were similar.
Geiger changed the subject: "Brother Rurik, maybe your people should hurry up and your heavy equipment should give us some support earlier, so that tonight we can embrace gold and silver and sleep in their temple (monastery).
"
"My movements are fast enough." Rurik shook his head, slapped the table and stood up directly: "I admit your courage, but your movements are chaotic! We were not fully prepared and attacked rashly.
Stone Fortress, the result is of course a failure."
"So, is there any way?" Biyongni asked.
"Yes! I have prepared countermeasures."
As soon as these words came out, the expressions of the cautious people all relaxed.
Geiger put his hands on the desk and licked his face and asked urgently: "Tomorrow! Brother, do you have the confidence to lead the brothers to attack tomorrow? I heard that you Russians have experienced such a siege."
"Tomorrow? Not yet."
"Why?"
"We have to prepare carefully tomorrow and make some special siege equipment. Besides." Rurik pointed directly in the direction of the wooden door, "You have all seen it, brothers are sleeping everywhere! They are too tired.
, this cannot be recovered after a night's rest. According to my plan, our army will have a good rest tomorrow, and some people will build equipment. We will launch the attack on the third day! We will take the road that was flooded by the tide, and we will destroy it openly on the front.
Stone wall.”
Rurik's words were very firm. Although he was still a young man, no one questioned the rationality of his methods.
The so-called method of siege, the only engineering equipment that Rurik could produce in a short period of time was ladders and battering rams.
Geiger and his Washebi brothers fought bravely under the city wall for a long time, and they produced a lot of key information about the wall.
Based on the information obtained in exchange for the lives of soldiers, engineering equipment is being built in an orderly manner.
Rurik finally fell asleep soundly in this Northumbrian territory. Deep in the enemy territory, he did not feel any danger at all, even though Paul explained that the place to the south that was a day's walk was Bamburgh, which was actually a big city.
A big city? I'm afraid it's just a walled city with two to three thousand people.
Rurik didn't take this to heart, everyone was focused on the monastery.
The dark starry sky hides the outline of the earth, and the dark coast is full of burning flames, and its density echoes the stars.
Lindisfarne Abbey is now a completely isolated island, or in other words, its original intention of construction was to use geography for defense. However, it is facing siege by the most navigable ethnic group in this time and space.
The defenders and priests of Northumbria were frightened. The bishops and junior priests in black robes placed the sacred objects in a conspicuous place in the monastery. Most of the sergeants and all the priests gathered together to pray all night.
.
After daybreak, the defenders who had been struggling all night returned to their posts and waited nervously for the tide to recede and the passage to reappear.
What else to do? Surrender? How can you surrender to the barbarians? The result of surrender is to be killed.
Continue to persevere? When does perseverance end?
The priests prayed that God would send angels to kill or drive away these barbarians with divine power.
The defenders were more realistic. They hoped to send people to escape in some way and rushed to Bamburgh to rescue soldiers. However, this monastery, which was like an island, restricted the enemy's attack and restricted their own escape.
The last centurion of the infantry could only lament: "I should have placed a few boats if I had known better."
The defenders were waiting for the enemy's general attack in fear and anxiety. Finally, a group of people appeared!
Biyoni brought with him a mere hundred warriors and four bull trebuchets carried by Jevlo's men.
Their huge painted shields are so eye-catching! Not only that, many spear-wielding warriors also poked the heads of the Northumbrian soldiers who died in yesterday's battle on their spearheads.
The defenders holding bows fired arrows subconsciously in fear, but the arrows could not hit the stopped targets at all.
"Let's stop here, brothers. I don't know what effect Rurik will have if he asks me to do this." Biyoni said strangely.
Jevro boasted casually: "My master Rurik has great wisdom. In my opinion, he just wants to use methods to frighten the courage of those people."
Biyongni couldn't fully agree. He shrugged: "With this leisure, all the brothers rushed over and broke the city even by climbing the wall."
"But will brothers die in that battle?"
"Huh? Don't you stop fighting because you're afraid of dying? We are Odin's warriors, and dying in battle is the honor of everyone."
Jevro smiled and shook his head.
"Brother, why are you laughing?"
"I laugh at you for being too naive. My master doesn't think so. Lord Rurik hopes to complete the victory without any loss, and the warrior will live his life in glory, so that the soul can still go to Valhalla. Since the destination is like this
, why not get a few more women and have more children before you die?"
"Brother Rurik's idea is indeed wonderful. Okay, Jevro, are your people ready?"
"We've already prepared it! Now let's scare them."
The bull trebuchet can throw any projectile that can be wrapped in a leather bag, and this time, Jevro was ordered to use the heads of local corpses as projectiles.
Such projectiles have almost zero destructive effect and are extremely intimidating and insulting!
After the ferocious and gray heads were loaded, Jevro gave an order and they smashed out.
The Northumbrian defenders instinctively hid behind the battlements. They had also witnessed the horror of such weapons yesterday, and were afraid of being smashed to pieces.
The strange furry projectile landed without causing any disturbance.
The brave defenders went to check, and then sat directly on the ground in extreme shock.
Several defenders came running towards them, but they rolled and crawled away.
"What are you doing? Are they attacking demons?!" The centurion came over with a sword. When he saw those ferocious heads, he was so strong that he trembled.
Heads were thrown over one after another, and the fragile spirits of the already exhausted defenders were frightened again.
The boldest ones collected the heads and buried them on the spot for the time being.
Time continued to develop, and the Viking soldiers who deliberately kept their distance simply sat on the ground. Only the trebuchets threw stones rhythmically at the defenders. Those severed heads had been thrown away, and the rest were thrown
They are all easily available granite stones that have been eroded by sea water and are very rounded on the road.
Anyone exposed in the open is at risk of being stoned to death! Look! A stone hit the wall of the monastery, creating a hole.
The defenders looked everywhere for a place to retreat. In fear and helplessness, they waited until the tide rose in the evening. They saw with their own eyes that the barbarians who had troubled everyone all day long retreated, and then they breathed a sigh of relief.
Many people even began to rejoice. The defenders were whispering to each other. The so-called barbarians could not break through the stone wall, so they used despicable means to insult everyone. Fortunately, everyone persisted. I think a few more people would persist. Those barbarians would not be able to get any money and water.
Evacuate by boat.
Optimism spread in the monastery. It was estimated that the barbarians were unable to attack at night, and the defenders' almost collapsed body and mind could not hold on. They found a place to sleep soundly, and that night, the priests began to pray again.
Meanwhile, Rurik had stocked up on his siege weapons.
The wooden pillars that originally formed the wooden walls of the military camp were dismantled, and as many as ten long ladders were tied up with readily available hemp ropes. Their sturdiness was verified by experiments, and Rurik was sure that any pair of ladders would be sufficient.
Four people climbing at the same time.
The ladder is one, and the other is the battering ram.
In the two-wheeled carriage in the military camp, the horses were slaughtered for meat by hungry soldiers. Although it was a waste of money, Rurik saw that the problem was lost, so he asked for a piece of tender tenderloin of the horse and sent his men to help roast it.
The carriage was modified, and the two carriages were put together, with a large number of wooden poles piled on top. Otherwise, these wooden poles were all taken from the demolished military camp.
Letting soldiers carry battering rams to knock down doors? It's really a waste of energy. But with the improvement of wheeled siege rams, people can keep banging on for a long time.
Just two pieces of equipment were enough to open up Balmok's vision. They had never thought of seeing such equipment before. If they were really effective, the brothers would have enough experience in the future to be able to encounter difficult-to-gnaw enemies when going out to fight.
The camp naturally followed the same pattern.
The equipment was not only that, Rurik also ordered the production of a batch of wooden boards made of thin wooden poles to be used as anti-arrow shields.
After a whole day of preparation, everything is ready.
Biyoni and his men returned, and returned to Rurik to report to the others in the old and torn-down military camp.
"I don't know if the intimidation campaign is effective, but we are still throwing stones on the eve of the rising tide."
"That's enough." Rurik praised with a smile.
Biyongni looked at all the friends present, their eyes were full of confidence to win.
"Brother Rurik, it seems you are ready?"
"No! Brother Biyongni, it's us who are ready! Tomorrow morning, when the tide recedes, we will attack!"
The Viking warriors spent a comfortable night. In the morning, they cooked another meal of wheat and had a delicious meal with some fish and meat.
Completely different from the situation of the defenders, the Vikings were not only full of fighting spirit, but every soldier had enough food and sleep, and was full of super energy.
Someone blew the calf horn, and then the assembled warriors banged their shields in unison and sang rhythmic Viking war cries.
The sound of horror spread to the distance, and the defenders of Lindisfarne hurriedly took their positions. Every defender saw the gathering army in the distance, and they subconsciously crossed themselves on their chests.
The infantry centurion stood on the battlements. The archbishop and all the priests held a huge blackened "holy cross" and a golden basin containing holy water. The archbishop himself poured holy water on each soldier from a cypress tree and chanted scriptures.
to bless.
The panicked heart got some comfort, but the centurion was more realistic. He held his sword and shouted: "Fighters of Northumbria! This is our last battle for our faith! Even if we fight to the last man, we cannot let the barbarians
Come into our holy place! God is with us!”
Many defenders were roaring, but they were so small compared to the Viking army that was already on the attack road.
The outcome of the war was already obvious, and Rurik was full of confidence. He felt that he could complete the victory before noon.
As for the inevitable killing after the city is broken, although it is cruel, Rurik knows that he must be cruel.
Because of these Balmoks and the recently recruited Shetlanders, they must need a fierce commander.
The torsion slingshots were in place, the bull trebuchets were in place, and the crossbowmen were in position.
In front of these long-range support and suppression weapons is a vanguard force of up to 500 people, which is also the most powerful combat force in the entire Viking army.
They carried ten sets of ladders, surrounded by huge siege engines, and also carried some huge wooden planks.
The defenders of Northumbria had never seen such strange things on the battlefield, but they subconsciously believed that the barbarians needed to use such tools to break the city.
Behind Rurik, a sturdy mercenary carried the Russian flag with white background and blue stripes.
This flag alone was enough for many defenders to realize that this group of barbarians had come prepared and that they were not rogue pirates.
Without any pre-war negotiations, Rurik ordered the long-range firepower behind him to unleash its power.
The torsion slingshot fired javelins, and the trebuchet fired stone bullets, which were accompanied by a large number of thrown arrows, smashing headlong into the defenders on the battlements.
Although most people hid, three people were still killed and injured. This casualty was enough because the long-range attacks did not stop at all.
Rurik was very satisfied with his ballistic calculations. The impact of various projectiles within the city wall would not affect the siege at all.
"Now! Let's begin!"
The formal order was given, and the army stepped on the only road leading to the monastery and began the final fierce attack.
Ladders have been set up on the wall, and Viking sword and shield bearers have begun to climb.
The siege vehicle slammed into the already damaged wooden door. The first violent collision almost knocked down the obstacles behind it.
The Northumbrian defenders, who had limited strength, tried to throw stones and shoot arrows, but they were the ones who died.
Today, Biyongni has become a very good crossbowman in actual combat. All crossbows are used to suppress enemy fire in the dungeons. Thanks to these precision weapons, the operators have become sharpshooters.
A dozen people in a company were shot dead as soon as they showed up, forcing other defenders to hide and throw stones outside the city in despair.
However, as the first group of Viking warriors climbed the ladder and stood on the wall, raising the bloody ax that had just been chopped towards the brothers below, the battle was over.
For the rest of the time, this monastery, hanging alone on the tide, has become a death cage for the defenders...