The Russian military formation faced the rising sun, and people in uniforms were bathed in the rising sun. This sunshine swept away the coldness of the morning.
Everyone lined up in a long array, all wearing white robes, with the same blue stripes on their chests. The uniform attire brought a unique beauty of order, and further strengthened the glory of Russians as Russians!
In this battle, they were not just venting their anger on their servants, the Corvins. The war was entirely fought for the interests of Ross.
In this battle, the invincible Lord Rurik will personally take charge, and Odin, who has transformed into the sun, will watch this battle. All brave warriors who work hard will be eligible to go to Valhalla.
The Russians are not afraid of death, not because they hope to go directly to Valhalla by dying in battle.
Rurik had long asked the newly born priests to explain that the so-called veteran warrior who had gone through battles died of old age in his own home would immediately return to his youth after death and return to his most beautiful years. In this way, he paid tribute to the Valkyrie Sperosvi
Head to the temple under the guidance of Leah.
No one in Russia hopes to die on this battlefield. Everyone has a very pure thought in their hearts, that is, attacking the enemies here is just an exercise. After killing them, the army will join forces and march westward to plunder the wealthy Britain.
wealth.
The Tavastians would never have imagined that they regarded this battle as a life-and-death battle, and indeed it was. To the Rus, it was just a "warm-up."
All soldiers from both sides have appeared.
The Russians lined up in an orderly manner, coupled with the completely uniform dress, the strong visual shock really made the Tavastians both afraid and envious.
Watkard gritted his teeth. He held an iron sword in one hand and an ax in the other. He looked at the enemy's formation and could no longer predict the outcome of the battle.
How to deal with the enemy? He didn't have a good way. In other words, it was the first time for him to lead an army of this size. It seemed that the only tactic was to rush forward with everyone in a swarm.
A battle cannot begin as soon as the two sides meet.
Rurik stood in front of the formation, his thin figure blending in with the soldiers behind. After all, he was also dressed in white.
Yevluo asked cordially: "The brothers who control the trebuchet behind told me that they are ready. I see that the enemy is also within the attack range. How about we launch a sudden attack?"
"No. Go and pull that Bakan over quickly."
"As commanded."
The unlucky Bukan was quickly escorted over and pushed to the ground.
Rurik signaled to his men to let him go, and then had them cut the rope around his elbows.
"Go ahead and tell the enemies over there to put down their weapons and kneel down to be our slaves."
Bukan was shocked when he heard this: "Sir, you want me to be the messenger? If you want to send a message like this, they will kill me!"
"Go quickly." Rurik suddenly pulled out his sword and roared: "If you don't go, I will kill you now."
"Ah! Yes..."
Because this man has always been dispensable, Rurik knew that after this battle there would be no shortage of prisoners. Only by interrogating a few serious Tavastians would he be able to get the most detailed information about him.
I understand clearly. Rurik really can't believe the words of Bakan, a traitor. He kills the dirty blood and contaminates his own sword, so he should let his opponent do it.
Besides, Rurik hopes to provoke his enemies into a herd of angry bulls, which will then charge towards him.
The Tavastians gathered together in a chaotic group. They all had black hair and mainly brown and gray fur robes, making them not look like humans, but a large group of bear-like wild animals.
Bakan walked over with strong fear. Faced with such a person who looked like a messenger, Watkard signaled the archer not to attack.
But when Bakan approached and nervously repeated the war conditions proposed by the Russians, the unfortunate tool man was killed immediately.
Of course Watkard knows this man. What he hates most in his life is a traitor. He obviously surrendered to Tavastia, but now he has become a subordinate of the Rus?
Bukan was killed, and his head was chopped off by Watkard himself, then raised high and roared in provocation at the Ross army.
This roar is the clarion call for attack!
He swung his body and Bukan's head was thrown out with all his strength.
Watkard, whose face was dripping with blood, waved the iron sword again: "Brothers! Charge!"
The entire black Tavastian army formation moved, like a herd of horses running wildly on the great plains, or like a herd of deer running in groups on the snowy fields. This was a very large assault force. It is fair to say that the Russian soldiers thought of them one after another.
In the decisive battle on Gotland, these enemies looked indeed very courageous and fierce.
Being coerced by the brothers to charge, shouting wildly while charging, even the cowardly people were infected by this atmosphere and became crazy.
People are so strange, no matter whether they are timid or brave, their minds are all blank now, charging and slashing seem to be the only meaning of their existence.
Therefore, death is also the final meaning of their existence.
The Ross military formation is on alert, and the ready-made shooting flag team is now beginning to show off its power!
All the crossbowmen were arranged in front of the central army's formation. They were arranged in three rows, waiting for Rurik's staged shooting order.
However, the trebuchet and torsion slingshot have been ordered to fire immediately, and they will do their best to charge up a second time and continue shooting!
Trebuchets threw stones, torsion slingshots fired javelins, and longbowmen who were ordered to fire freely formed the first wave of the Russian offensive.
Two fist-sized pebbles fell from the sky, accurately hitting the enemy who was advancing in a dense formation.
The stone will immediately hit the enemy to pieces, and those who are hit will die immediately!
The javelin is even more terrifying. For these unarmored enemies, it will be nailed to the ground after hitting it, or it will penetrate two enemies and fall down in pain.
Braving the arrows and stone bullets of the Russians, the blank-minded Tavastians were not even qualified to retreat. Everyone was charging. If they stopped or retreated, they would be trampled to death by their brothers behind them.
Seeing the enemy's formation right in front, although the Russians all put up large round shields, Vatkad was not afraid. We brothers were all carrying wooden shields, too.
The Tavastians were already preparing for melee combat, when suddenly a new blow came.
The people who rushed forward were hit by arrows and fell to the ground. After they fell, they were immediately trampled by the people behind them.
"First row back! Second row! hjutra!"
The second row of crossbowmen fired immediately.
"Well done. Third row, hjutra!"
Rurik completed three rounds of firing one after another, and the crossbowmen in the last two rows had all retreated behind the shield wall barrier formed by the Balmok sword and shieldmen.
The original first row of shooters completed the collapse reload in an assault, and then retreated into the shield wall after essentially completing the fourth round of shooting.
At this point, the Russians have built a shield wall with a width of 200 meters, and this shield wall is tending to expand to both wings.
Even if they suddenly suffered serious losses, the Tavastians had no choice. They stepped on their fallen brothers one after another and continued to charge with weapons raised high.
The collision finally happened!
The stormtroopers who entered a state of frenzy jumped into the Russian formation one after another, and used their own deaths to overwhelm the Russian formation.
For a moment, the front line of the attack was in chaos, with shouts and screams coming one after another, scenes of blood and flesh flying everywhere, and the sharp sound of metal colliding.
The red blood immediately stained the white robes of one Rus' and Balmok warrior after another. The enemy's blood caused people to go crazy. Relying on the protection of shields and mails, the Rus' army stabbed forward crazily.
The Tavastians did not break down the shield wall at all. Even if more than fifty people jumped into the formation at one time, the final result was that they were stabbed to pieces by the halberds of the Russian soldiers behind them.
There were axes hitting the shoulders of Russians, and there were also Russians who fell in the chaos. Most of them fell because they were trampled to death by their own people or enemies, but very few Russians died like this.
As long as the enemy's sudden attack can be resisted, the Russians' deadly counterattack will follow.
The warriors on the front line stabbed with their swords. This stabbing movement was very similar to that of the Roman phalanx soldiers. The difference was that the brothers at the back were wielding long-handled halberds, and the ax installed behind the spearhead fell from the sky, striking the ground with great force.
Cutting off the enemy's head helps support the frontline brothers.
More and more Tavastians died on the front line, and the battlefield became extremely bloody. The land that was supposed to be dry has now become muddy, with dark red mud everywhere and accompanied by extremely strong waves.
Fishy smell.
The bloody battle on the front line was going on, and the Russian army formation was moving to the two wings. This was a macro change, and the Tavastians were too busy fighting to notice it.
However, the archers on both sides were spontaneously supporting their brothers. For a while, arrows were flying randomly above the heads of the fiercely fighting soldiers.
In the chaos, the Tavastian hunters could no longer aim. While they gritted their teeth and fired into the air, they also hoped that they would not be hit by the Rus.
Thanks to the bulletproof shields that Arik had prepared before and the large number of shields that the Russians were equipped with. Rurik's long-range soldiers were all hiding under the wooden shields, especially the children with light crossbows. The huge bulletproof shields could be used for a short time.
Hiding five or six people! They finished winding the bow, stretched the wooden arm crossbow out of the wooden shield barrier, fired, and then continued to load.
Tavastia's arrows crackled on the Russian iron and bronze helmets, but they had no use except making some marks.
However, many people had their shoulders injured. Those were a few extremely sharp arrows that fell from the sky and broke through the gaps in the Russian mail. Only some of the arrow clusters were squeezed into the flesh.
Some armored warriors had multiple arrows stuck in their bodies, and the arrows were like potions that made people violent, and they became berserk warriors.
Only those javelins were lethal. The spears modeled after ancient Rome were thrown at the Russians, causing substantial damage.
The Tavastians were firing arrows and throwing spears, their attempts at support being gradually destroyed by the Russian arrows.
A large number of arrow clusters were thrown continuously, causing casualties to the Tavastians in the rear. Not to mention the falling stones and javelins, which killed those who were hit.
During the chaotic battle, Watkard felt more and more that something was wrong. However, he was in the formation and could not see the entire battlefield clearly. What was worse was that even if he tried to issue an order now, how would the brothers in the chaotic battle know about it?
For the Tavastians, this was already the largest battle in the history of their tribal alliance, or an unprecedented mass killing.
What about rules? The battle quickly evolved into a battle between Tavastia warriors.
In terms of height and physical strength, the Tavastians who came from afar have inherent physical disadvantages, not to mention that their weapons and armor are much worse than those of the Russians.
If this aspect is lacking, it can be made up for by force estimation. However, the strength of the mixed force of the Russian Army is not much less than theirs.
The tall and strong armored Russian stepped on the corpse on the ground, held his shield in front of him, and advanced angrily with a bloody steel sword in his right hand.
The Tavastians, who had already lost many people, continued to brave the Russian arrows and began to retreat instinctively.
Like a wall of steel pressing down on them, people whose hearts almost burst began to wake up one after another, and they thought of escaping.
Watkard had already seen some people running for their lives carrying short spears. He shouted angrily: "Don't leave! Keep fighting!"
He wanted to kill those deserters, because the existence of these deserters attracted more people to retreat.
If the leader had a musket in his hand, he would not hesitate to shoot the deserters in an attempt to restore the precarious military position.
It happened that at this critical moment, many village leaders who were originally the main battlers fled to his side panting.
Someone threw an ax and stamped his feet and cursed: "I won't fight! I want to withdraw! The Russians want to kill us all!"
"You? You want to run away?!" Watkard was furious and pressed his iron sword directly against the man's neck.
The tribal leader did not look directly at him and said resolutely and contemptuously: "Is this what you did? Enough is enough! Now that the brothers are dead, there will be no one to defend the territory. I will take the people home now while they are still alive."
…”
After that, the man picked up the ax and ran away, followed closely by the armed villagers from his village.
Upon seeing this, several other village leaders could only look at Watkard with bared teeth and a slightly ashamed look, and then followed the former's escape steps.
There is no shame in saving one's life to defend the lake territory in the south.
Watkard was thrown down, and he raised his sword and yelled: "Come back here! If you escape, we will all be destroyed!"
At first, there were only more than 300 people fleeing. The rear of the Tavastian army was hit by Ross's arrows and stones. At the same time, the soldiers who persisted began to retreat.
The soldiers on the front line were facing the increasingly approaching Russian military formation. They did not notice that an encirclement net was gradually forming. They had lost a lot of physical strength in the fierce battle and were gradually retreating while maintaining the most basic formation. The front line
The two sides are reaching a strange tacit understanding, as if fighting at close range is to be avoided. The two sides maintain a certain distance, but what's the use?
Arik and Herriger accelerated the formation of the encirclement on both wings. This was a "pincer offensive", but Arik preferred to call it the "wine jar tactic".
Generally, the pottery urn used to store ale must have a large wooden stopper. Who is responsible for this stopper?
This is Jevlo and his one hundred brothers.
Thousands of people were fighting fiercely in the open space outside the old Gray Squirrel Hill Castle. Yevro urgently received Rurik's outflank order. He led a hundred elite guards, carrying steel-armed crossbows and carrying arrows.
Sneaking in the forest with Shield, he directly touched Tavastia's camp.
The hungry people who had escaped from the mountain fort were resting here, as were the sprained feet and those injured in previous encounters.
Ross's reckless men descended from heaven like magic soldiers, and when they found the camp, they were massacred indiscriminately.
The commander of the expedition, Vatjala, dreamed of gaining greater power and greater glory. Finally, he was exhausted and was hacked to death by an unknown mercenary warrior from Lake Mälaren.
Who knew this resting person was a senior person?
Jevro used force to clean up the forest camp and seized a small amount of supplies.
This was nothing, because the order they received was to suddenly rush out from behind the enemy's formation and attack the enemy's fugitives by surprise.
Rurik's battle essentially used smart warriors to surround the three formations. However, due to the limited strength of the Russian army and underestimation of the enemy's strength, he had to send a partial division with only "a hundred men" to block the attack.
Seize the gap and strangle the defeated troops.
These one hundred guys are madmen who have followed Rurik through life and death!
Those armed men who fled with the village leader were full of joy and thought they could escape into the forest, but suddenly a large number of arrows were fired.
The sudden and very accurate heavy crossbow arrows directly hit more than forty people, immediately disrupting their escape formation.
"Keep winding! Hurry up!" Yevro commanded in a tearful voice.
Almost every one of these capable mercenaries has a steel-armed crossbow. Now that they are at their peak physical strength, they can use all their muscles to wind up the steel arm by stepping forward, then install the crossbow and shoot at the enemy.
And this second round of shooting is basically the last chance for everyone in Yevlo.
Another group of enemies fell to the ground after being hit by arrows. The surviving people didn't know what was going on for a while. When they instinctively retreated again, they saw a group of warriors in white robes with blue stripes on their chests, wearing stickers that reflected the sunlight.
The helmet appears!
It's the Rus! They've occupied the forest camp! They're coming to kill us!
The few village leaders who resolutely fled were all killed by crossbows. The leaderless people could only hope for the protection of the large army that was still fighting.
It's a pity, when will the arrows and stones of the Russians come to an end? The Tavastians, who were supposed to have the advantage in archery, were first suppressed by severe firepower during the exchange of fire between the two sides, and now they have been reduced to a
A huge pile of dead people lay covered in arrows.
A ridiculous scene appeared on the battlefield. The arrows that fell on the ground generally had gray-yellow tail feathers. If the corpses on the ground and the bloody mud were aside, at first glance, they looked like mature wheat fields.
How many warriors are left to fight? Watkard gradually understood his situation for the first time.
The Tavastian people's escape route has been cut off, and now the brothers cannot escape even if they want to.
The Russian encirclement network was basically formed, and arrows and stones were still falling from the sky.
Watkard had no good solution. Every second he hesitated, one of his own warriors was injured or killed.
On the other hand, the Russians were stepping on the corpses on the ground to continuously shrink the encirclement, shouting slogans every step they took.
This is not a war, just like a group of warriors hunting a wild bear!
It's a pity that Watkard's mentality is almost broken. He doesn't think that he is a bear that can be trapped and fight. Looking at the fearful eyes of his brothers, everyone has become a weak rabbit, ready to be slaughtered...
Tavastia has lost this war, and the entire tribal alliance has lost most of its men, either at the hands of the damn Varangians like Rus or due to the invasion of the Karelians.
.
But a true warrior cannot surrender! Watkard looked at the iron sword in his hand. This fine sword had not killed any Russians, but...
He giggled, feeling ashamed of his fellow tribesmen and gods, and regretting why he had to assemble almost all the men to fight the Rus in anger, and why there was not a large group of tribal leaders who spoke out against it before they were defeated.
When no one else was paying attention, he aimed the sword at his own neck and stabbed it.
Watkard, who became the chief of the alliance based on his military exploits, lost the last and only battle in his life and died for his tribal alliance.