Will those Tavastian invaders increase their numbers? How many men will they send? Are they giving up on second thoughts?
As far as the current intelligence is concerned, those intruders will not run away until they are beaten violently.
Going to fight in the east, maybe you can kill a thousand enemies? This kind of good thing will let the warriors of Russia sharpen their swords early.
But even if this war is won, Rurik estimates that he will not get any benefits from the war. Although this can be a training battle, after all, the enemy has little oil and water. He does not want this war to last too long, so he must fight it.
Beat the enemy until he vomits three liters of blood and prevents him from attacking for a long time.
The Russian army should dispatch elite soldiers and use elite weapons to win with as few casualties as possible.
After the first message was sent, Arik's messengers brought new messages every five days on average, reporting on what they had seen in the occupied old Gray Squirrel Hill Fort.
But the thaw of the sea was unstoppable, and the sea melted before the land-based snow. This forced Arik to have his sleigh ride around the entire bay by the end of March, around Ironburg and back to Roseburg.
A new messenger has arrived. This man has returned from his travels and has only one sentence to report.
Even one sentence is exciting news.
Now this news has spread in Fort Ross, where hundreds of strong men are shirtless, showing their chests full of golden chest hair, holding axes and swords high to cheer the enemy's reinforcements!
Sea ice is melting at a rate that is visible to the naked eye, and ice and snow on land are melting at an alarming rate.
In the courtyard of Rurik's palace, the flat concrete floor reappeared. The servants had already cleared away the snow. Almost receiving the teachings of John Ingvar, these lambs of the Lord became more willing to work.
The frozen ground gradually turned into mud. Under the noon sun, the ice hanging on each house was dripping rapidly. In order to avoid sudden falls and injuries, people were already removing these dangerous objects.
Rurik hurriedly invited the messenger to the first floor of his palace and summoned the elite forces of Fort Ross.
Especially the banner captain and centurion who were conferred by him during the previous expedition to Gotland, a group of brave warriors sat in two rows with great interest.
Rurik sat proudly on the bearskin throne in the main hall and asked the messenger to repeat the news that had already spread.
"Yes!" The cross-legged messenger drank some ale and ate wheat cakes. He announced energetically: "We have been wandering near the mountain fort, attacking the Tavastian hunters. We saw it a few days ago.
When a large number of people with spears and bows entered the mountain fort, Lord Arik asked the brothers to stay away for the time being. We have conducted reconnaissance and can estimate the enemy's strength."
"How many? Really a thousand?"
"Yes. At least a thousand people, maybe the actual number is more."
"But they are very weak, aren't they?" Rurik asked deliberately, causing the brothers present to laugh.
The messenger was also laughing wildly, and threatened: "We think too highly of them. If we had sent five hundred men instead of fifty, the enemy would have been completely wiped out. Sir, we have been conducting ambush operations for more than a month, and there is still no one."
casualties."
Rurik nodded, looked at the confident faces of the men on his left and right, and asked himself, if a strong expeditionary force had been sent out before Kejas issued the alarm more than a month ago, the war problem would have been solved.
It is still up to him, the decision-maker, to decide how many troops to send. The brothers are all waiting for him to make a decision because the sea is about to thaw.
"Okay. Spring comes early this year, so wheat from far away can be sown in advance, and there will be another bumper harvest in the autumn."
With that said, Rurik stood up: "I was cautious and thought they were strong enemies. In this case, I decided to respect this group of enemies who invaded Ross's territory."
Otto was keenly aware that his son had some hidden whims, and suddenly said: "You...won't you also send a thousand people to attack?"
"No! The greatest respect for them is to kill them all. Why should I fight with them with equal strength? Is the bay very wide? Our sailboat can reach the east side of the other shore in as little as one day. Besides, after the sea ice melts,
Many fishermen also want to go there to fish. I will send out two thousand people to show them how good I am."
Two thousand people, this is really the best of Roseburg.
While all the centurions and flag captains were present, he immediately made arrangements.
Rurik's troop deployment is as follows:
The First Flag of the Warriors and the Mälaren Flag. These two flags have a strength of 1,000 men.
The shooting flag force also has a strength of 600 people, but the flag force is a hodgepodge of various long-range arms.
There are also Rurik's elite guards here, and there should be a hundred men going out to fight.
As a result, the Russians dispatched a team of 1,700 soldiers, and the remaining 300 warriors were naturally filled by the Balmoks.
Even the Ostara people will send out warriors as a token token, but Carlotta and a small group of her selected female warriors will be organized into the shooting flag team to participate in the battle.
As for why they didn't bring in the Second Banner, in Rurik's plan, the Second Banner not only guarded the rear and waited for opportunities to provide support, but also followed Otto to Novgorod to ask for tribute.
After the meeting, Rurik spent two days refining his troop arrangements.
Even after hearing about this number of troops, the Bjorn brothers in Balmok were very envious.
Bjorn, he envied Rurik's powerful appeal. He was obviously just a young boy, but he raised his arms and more than 2,000 people responded.
But the subsequent gathering of troops gave Bjorn a complete shock.
What a neat scene this is!
The Warriors' First Flag Team, the flag captain was supposed to be Arik. Since he was still practicing guerrilla tactics on the other side of the sea, Harold Zuosen temporarily took over as flag captain.
As for the Mälaren Banner, most of its troops are composed of allied tribes that defected to the Rus, and there are even Danish Grund and his friends who surrendered on the battlefield. The flag captain is still the Mälaren tribe of Heligel.
Old soldier.
No matter where the soldiers come from, they are all Russian soldiers now.
The Principality of Rus has essentially become a hodgepodge of various ethnic groups. The Rus tribe occupies the highest military power, and Rurik cannot refuse other people's pursuit of status. The Principality of Rus is an imaginary community. If people's hearts are broken, the principality will also
will disintegrate.
In terms of strengthening the community, the soldiers' uniform uniform must be a concrete expression.
Now all Rus' warriors are dressed exactly the same, no matter what they wear on the inside, which are all covered in knee-length white robes sewn with interlaced blue patterns on the outside.
Everyone’s bucklers no longer have a variety of paints. Soldiers can of course pursue their own personality and make a personal shield. However, when going to war, everyone must prepare a uniform one, smearing it with rosin, sprinkling it with chalk mud, and then dyeing it with woad.
Round shield with blue cross pattern.
The entire army must highlight the white and blue tones, echoing the flag of the Principality of Rus.
Even the selected boys and girls from the "Child Troops" sent out by Rurik were also dressed in this way.
The weapons held by the young men are all crossbows, and only these weapons can give them a tactical advantage.
The warrior in his prime not only carries a sword and shield, but also a short spear in his hand, with a blue and white cloth strip tied under the spearhead.
They gathered for the first time and formed a matrix, which shocked Biyongni and his men to shame. Compared with the uniformity of the Russians, his own people were extremely useless!
After all, they are brothers. How can Rurik feel comfortable seeing the brothers' troops acting like fools? Rosberg had been purchasing flax rods on a large scale before, and now the flax has been turned into these white shirts after a lot of processing. In stock.
There was still a lot of white cloth, so Rurik sold it to Biyoni and others at a fair price, just to distinguish it from the real Russian army. The three hundred warriors of the Balmok army were just wrapped in white shirts.
The first assembly was just preparation for the real parade.
Rurik is about to conduct a military parade, and the military parade itself is just a ceremony among the high priests this spring.
Every year when the sea ice melts enough for navigation, it is the time of spring for the Russian people. This year is very different from previous years!
Once upon a time, after this sacrifice, fishermen resumed normal operations during the warm period, a large number of merchants returned to Lake Mälaren with northern furs for trade, and Ross's Sorgon fleet would also rush to Novgorod.
This year, two major events will be added to these foundations: the launch of four new ships and a military parade before the expedition.
Everything is being prepared in an orderly manner.
Rurik's wives and concubines all had to serve as priests in the ceremony. Even Svetlana, whose face was so beautiful, had to stand in a prominent position in plain clothes and a crown of pine buds.
Although the concept of confinement does not exist in the Nordic world, due to the cold weather and snow everywhere, High Priest Rumia actually did confinement after giving birth. This spring sailing High Priest can be called her comeback, and her body
The situation has been restored.
Nolen and the ten Slavic maids from Rurik are now all working as musicians. They will play flutes and drums to make the ceremony more sacred. It is for this purpose that Rurik is not only
All the Kovin longbowmen were brought over from Ironburg, along with the local priestess Porra, and the old shaman was ordered to play the harmonica to add to the music.
Finally, on the tenth day of April, everyone can now conclude that the ice cubes floating on the sea are not a threat to ordinary fishing boats. The entire port area has essentially thawed. After just a ceremony, everyone can enter the sea to fish.
Fish.
The ceremony was held early this morning.
All the residents of Fort Ross walked out of their homes, and ordinary people saw a large number of white-robed warriors standing densely on the beach.
Under the gaze of all kinds of people, a small fire tower burned brightly.
Rurik stabbed a deer with his own hands amidst the complex and melodious music, letting the deer's blood flow into the ocean, and then threw the deer's body into the fire tower and burned it.
Rumia raised her jeweled wooden staff and looked up at the sky, telling God the long-cherished wish of the Russians.
People standing on the wooden wall, people using simple tower cranes on the pier, or people already sitting in fishing boats, the rituals they have witnessed so far have only added some new tricks compared to last year.
The truly magnificent scene now finally begins.
As many as six large ships will be launched today. Compared with reviewing the soldiers, this is the most spectacular!
A wooden path smeared with whale oil was laid out on the ground, and the large ships rushed toward the sea one after another, pulled by ropes pulled by more than a hundred strong men. Finally, taking advantage of the terrain, one large ship after another slid into the ocean.
Every time the big ship stirred up a splash of water, the people on the shore were shocked and cheered.
Until they saw such a strange-looking ship, they even screamed for her.
At this moment, among the several strong men inside the ship, the leader shouted excitedly: "Let's move and let the other brothers open their eyes!"
This is the Mercury, and her human-powered propeller system has been activated! Although the speed is not very fast, under the attention of nearly ten thousand people, she has not yet installed a sail, and when she enters the water, she draws a track at the stern.
line, it was visible to the naked eye as it sailed into the fjord waters, and what was even more amazing was that it turned in a big circle under the control of the rudder!
The miraculous performance made Otto's old face tremble with shock, although he knew that this was not a miracle, but a complex mechanical combination. His son had indeed achieved it, and the ship could move freely in the harbor without being restricted by the wind direction.
There is progress, once in the rowing boat, but where are her oars?
Otto naturally knew that the Mercury had a magical propeller, but the majority of Russian people did not understand!
People were screaming and cheering, and they were able to move forward without sails or oars, claiming that this was the divine power given to the Ross ship by Odin.
Today is a grand event after all. Eskil, who was essentially imprisoned, was released to participate in the event. After this ceremony, Eskil should also be let go.
The old missionary, leaning on a wooden cross, saw a ship moving freely without wind or oars. He exclaimed, "This is the power of the devil." It was completely different from the surprise of the Russian people. He was more afraid.
Eskil was not a fool. He saw the reflection of the Russians' spearheads and helmets in the sun, and looked at their uniform uniforms. This military appearance alone was a hundred times stronger than the Count of Bremen and the Count of Hamburg.
Because the two earls, in addition to their own retinues, could not even think of raising a thousand "army" from the peasants in less than three weeks.
Their army is definitely not going to attack the south...
Rurik's voice was limited, and he knew that even if he broke his throat, he could not make a heartfelt order resound throughout the entire army. There was no need to say what actions the Russians would take after the ceremony. Rurik personally waved a flag and stood by for orders.
The seaside army began to march in circles in a showy manner. This is also important. The so-called letting God see the true appearance of the Russian army also means letting all the Russian people, visiting businessmen and all kinds of people see the strength of the Russian people.
Their movements are not uniform at close range, but from a distance, what people see is just a few white square formations walking in neat steps.
So far, what I have seen and heard in the territory of the Ross people has completely exceeded Eskil's highest estimate. There are as many as nine large ships and densely packed small boats floating on the sea. A group of troops with completely uniform uniforms even walk in uniform.
.
A powerful force has arisen in the north! This force is also obviously hostile to the Danes! Its leader is also very ambiguous about sacred beliefs! Maybe they will soon develop into new believers, and even accept canonization by the Pope of Rome.
Kingdom in the North, and allied with the Franks...
Eskil cannot help but think about many things. After all, he is not a simple missionary.
He kept what he saw and heard deeply in his heart, and Eskil was not happy to learn that he had been released. In other words, he couldn't wait to return to Hamburg as soon as possible to meet with the Count of Hamburg to report the matter.
Lame finally ran to Reims to report this shocking secret.
How could Rurik care about everything Eskil thought?
The Rus people cheered and cheered to prepare the army that was eager to go out. This battle was very special. They no longer hoped to get a lot of loot through the war, but simply warned the invaders of the stupidity of their actions through killing, and even proved to Odin that they were indeed
He is a true warrior.
Only the Tavastians are still unaware of the powerful enemy on the other side of the sea!
Now with reinforcements in hand, Vateyala was so confident that he began to go out to hunt down the lurking attackers. Small-scale battles naturally occurred one after another. The newly arrived Tavastian warriors finally encountered an unprecedented vicious battle, but it seemed that
The enemy hiding the attack ran farther and farther away.
Some bold rumors are circulating among the Tavastians. The so-called Corvins and Rus are abandoning this place, and the wonderful mountains and rivers have become the new territory of Tavastia.
In fact, when Arik saw the ice and snow melting, he hurriedly retreated to the small island at the mouth of the sea due to the pressure of lack of food. Naturally, he and his friends took advantage of the melting of the sea ice to fish quickly to satisfy their hunger.
Only then did the opponent seem to be retreating, and Arik no longer cared.
He and his crew spontaneously looked at the sea in the west where the waves had returned. Everyone knew that the fleet from his hometown was about to arrive.