The Ouse River is not wide, and the well-prepared Russian army borrowed Balmok boats to easily cross the river on a large scale.
Men in white-on-white battle robes with blue stripes quickly formed a shield wall against their shields painted with chalk mud and indigo.
Arik stood in the military formation and roared at his men: "Men! The idiots are going to attack our military formation! They are going to steal our ship! Kill them all! No mercy!"
Everyone bared their ferocious teeth, roared in unison, and gripped the hilt of the sword tighter.
Large bucklers that can protect the entire torso are stacked on top of each other. What is very strange is that the Russian heraldry only needs to be rotated to form a large blue cross.
However, they are all Odin's warriors.
They held shining and elastic steel swords one after another. A group of warriors armed with steel-armed crossbows also deliberately lay down in front of the formation, waiting for an opportunity to give a big gift to the charging enemies.
On one big ship after another, Rurik's flag-shooting soldiers climbed up the rope ladders and stood on the deck, taking their positions.
Short wooden bows and wooden crossbows should all be prepared at a wide angle for shooting.
What followed was bound to be a chaotic battle. The torsion slingshots on the sides of each ship were moved to the enemy's side. In this way, just the three ships of Avora, Ostara and Spellosvilia had gathered thirty of them.
The same goes for the four sail destroyers. Rurik easily assembled as many as fifty-four torsion slingshots and even ten bull trebuchets.
The crazy output of firepower from so many heavy weapons will inevitably consume a lot of projectiles, which Rurik no longer worries about.
After the city was breached, many of the cast-iron projectiles fired earlier were found in the city, and the blood-stained projectiles were bound to be stained with blood a second time.
Garfred, Earl of Roydis, who was ordered to attack, knew nothing about all this.
Due to his huge desire to achieve success, this person suddenly became daring from fear.
He led as many as two thousand men to launch a surprise attack on the anchored Ross fleet, not so much to destroy the ships as to capture them.
"If they lose their ship, they will be consumed in our kingdom."
However, Garfred had never fought a fierce battle with the Vikings, and he did not know that his impulsive attack was what Eynred subconsciously hoped for. Because a count who could really quickly gather an army of two thousand people,
In fact, he is also his potential political opponent.
They walked slowly at first, with the kingdom warriors in chainmail and orange and the count's retinue in front, and the peasant soldiers in ragged clothes and many barefoot behind.
There were also many people holding flags to show that their army was strong.
Naturally, Garfred saw the enemies who suddenly began to gather, and the orderliness of their ranks was truly awe-inspiring.
He took a deep breath, knowing that there was no way out now, and the entire advancing team was like an arrow.
The distance is already very close.
The real cavalry captain warned Garfred, "Your Majesty, based on our experience last year, if the horses charge hard, they can break through their front line. There is a gap in their front line, and the army will pour in through the gap. Once we enter a chaotic battle, we will
There is a chance to win.”
"Ah? Are we going to rush in? A lot of people will die?! Also, do you think we will lose if we don't do this?"
"Your Majesty, this is our only chance of winning."
This newly promoted cavalry captain is also a survivor after following the king's charge last year.
York is obviously occupied by barbarians, the people will be ravaged, and the life or death of the prince is uncertain. If the country is destroyed, all is gloriously over.
Seeing the count's complicated expression, the cavalry captain had no intention of persuading him any more. Under his call, the cavalrymen pulled out their iron swords one after another, kissed the hilts, and then moved forward with their swords.
Since the Frankish cavalry tactics were in vain, they had no choice but to resort to these charging tactics, even though they knew they were risking their lives generously.
The cavalry spontaneously formed a wall and surrounded the count on horseback. They took the lead in attacking.
Following closely behind were two thousand infantrymen who ended their slow walk and began their final charge.
"I didn't expect these guys to be smarter?"
Rurik gritted his teeth and let the prepared torsion slingshot launch in advance.
Jevro was shocked, "Sir, what does this mean?"
"Idiot! Those cavalry are charging desperately! We can't let them break the formation! Launch immediately."
"good……"
The Aurora launched first, and other ships also launched attacks after seeing this.
The first enemies were all those on horseback, spinning and leaping over cast-iron bullets, sliding in the air and falling in a beautiful parabola. More than fifty torsion slingshots formed a lethal barrage and smashed towards the cavalry.
However, the cavalry was too fast.
The cavalrymen in the rear were knocked upside down, while the forwards were still charging.
"Continue to charge up! Quick! Archers, stop them!" Rurik roared.
The only sound on the boat was the whoosh of arrows leaving the string, and even the creaking and twisting of the torsion slingshot as it charged up.
A large number of arrows fell from the sky, causing more than ten cavalrymen and horses to fall.
There were still more than fifty riders who had escaped Ross's long-range attack due to their speed. They kept charging, and seemed to be only one step away from the Ross shield wall.
Arik gritted his teeth, and the shield wall was as solid as a rock. They had already experienced how to deal with the desperate attack of the cavalry in last year's battle, not to mention that the men of the First Flag Team were the most capable veterans.
Anyone who is coward will live in shame and will be punished.
No one thought of retreating, they were very confident that their front was solid.
Warriors holding long-handled halberds supported the front line, their sharp spearheads moving forward.
The archers on the ship continued to output arrows rapidly. At the critical moment, the ambushed steel-armed crossbow suddenly fired, and then hurriedly jumped back to the front.
Before the battle started, more than half of the cavalry had already stopped due to various attacks.
The remaining cavalry actually rushed to the Russian shield wall.
The powerful impact immediately caused a gap in the shield wall that was supposed to be embedded in the rock.
Arik suffered a collision, and the edge of his shield hit his helmet, and he ended up bleeding from the corner of his mouth.
He got up and shouted angrily with his sword: "Quick! Kill the horses! Let them all die! If we win, we will eat horse meat!"
The sudden scene caused Rurik to cling to the side of the ship. He saw his cousin being hit, and was a little relieved to see him get up.
"Damn it! You guys need to re-solidify your front quickly!"
Can a mere forty cavalry break down the shield wall of the First Banner Corps? Those halberds hit the horses immediately, greatly hampering the final cavalry attack. Although there was a gap, the casualties of the Ross army were unknown, and the Ross soldiers who fought back were
They chopped off the horse's legs wantonly, and the cavalry who lost their impact were fat meat waiting to be slaughtered.
The newly promoted cavalry captain and his brothers did not complete the effective killing at all. They were killed by the Russians in a chaotic battle. Their chainmails were pierced by swords and halberds, and they ended up bloody and bloody. At least, they fought for themselves.
The king sacrificed his life for the country and can be described as a hero.
Of course Arik admired such madmen, and as a mark of respect to his enemies, he felt that he must kill even more crazily.
The blood of horses and men splashed all over the Ross warriors, and Arik's whole body was bathed in blood again.
Earl Garfred had already hit his horse with an arrow in the second round of arrow strikes. When he fell off the horse, his mind went blank. When he regained consciousness, he found that his legs were pinned down by his own horse.
He was groaning in pain and saw another arrow coming towards him. Thanks to the fallen shield, he was saved from being hit.
He looked sideways and saw that the cavalry had been destroyed. The brave cavalry captain might have died for his country.
In the end, the unlucky earl was screamed and pulled out by several cavalry soldiers whose horses died during the charge. However, this violent pulling made him learn that his calf had been broken in the fall.
Garfred covered his deformed calf and wailed, and then ordered the helpless horseless cavalry, "Quick! I order you to carry me to the rear."
However, even if their horses died, they were still cavalry, cavalry loyal to the king himself.
Several men looked at each other, took their iron swords and transformed into infantry, and together with the large troops that had already rushed up, they continued to attack the enemy.
More than a dozen wounded Russian soldiers were pulled to the rear, and no Russians were killed in the impact, at least for now.
Just now, many soldiers were frightened, but in the ensuing fight, the Russian army was not afraid.
The battle situation suddenly turned into Rurik's favorite situation again.
All the torsion slingshots hit the attacking enemy randomly. At this moment, no matter whether they were warriors of the kingdom or farmers, no matter high or low, they were all killed immediately by the impact of the projectiles.
Cast iron projectiles, pebbles, javelins, arrows, crossbows, and various long-range weapons were thrown at them.
How did the peasants who were forcibly recruited to fight witness such battles?
Almost all of them are farmers from villages near the Earl of Roydis, and most of them know each other.
Relatives and friends were smashed to the ground with blood by strange weapons right next to them, and they even had blood splattered on themselves. They covered their heads and screamed, and then spontaneously slowed down.
The army's attack camp was out of touch. The largest number of armed farmers were trying to block arrows or trying to help injured friends. However, their simple wooden shields could not block ordinary arrows, but they could not block cast iron projectiles!
More than 600 soldiers from the Kingdom finally rushed to the Ross army formation and broke through the bloody charge.
It was entirely because of the York disaster that their anger overcame their fear, and they had the opportunity to fight the Vikings head-on.
However, the nightmare has just begun.
As soon as they entered the battle, the chaotic charging kingdom soldiers encountered a head-on attack from the well-formed First Flag Troop of the Russian Army.
The Ross warriors in the first row half-hunched their bodies, holding their large round shields against their entire torsos, and their iron helmets with nose guards protecting their entire heads. The warriors only revealed a pair of murderous eyes.
Generally speaking, the most traditional tactics of the Rus are the same as those of other Vikings. Their shield wall is more of a defense, to induce the enemy to attack them. The shield wall is as immovable as a rock, and the warriors guard the shield wall.
Kill anyone who comes close.
The young warriors trained by Rurik are still a large group of children. Only when those people grow tall enough and strong enough, the Russians will evolve into more mobile infantry tactics.
Even an immovable shield wall is smarter than the Northumbrians charging in with their swords like gangsters.
This battle situation is what all the Rus people like to see the most. Their enemies continue to degenerate into a group of wild boars that can only run rampant.
The steel sword stretched out from the gap in the shield and stabbed forward wildly.
The warriors at the rear were holding halberds, and the axes under their spearheads fell from the sky, like chiseling cans, giving the kingdom's soldiers a three-dimensional blow.
If the Northumbrian warriors were powerful enough, how could they sometimes respect Mercia as their "eldest brother" or the King of Wessex as the divine king?
From Arik's perspective, he just felt that these people were worse than Finland in the East.
At least those Finns can still shoot arrows, these Northumbrian guys can only charge randomly.
"Haha, now the Finns are our servant warriors."
Naturally, some Russian soldiers were injured in the new battle. Most of them suffered from skin injuries. The bleeding soldiers were pulled to the rear to receive assault bandaging treatment, and new soldiers took up their positions.
Those peasant soldiers were unwilling to charge at all, because under the attack of crazy arrows, they retreated across the board!
As a result, only the soldiers of Lord Roydis and Garfred were left to fight on the front line, so that the Russians on both sides had a huge advantage in terms of strength.
Nearly a hundred soldiers have died in the chaos, and their blood dyed the Russian army's round shields red.
The Ross army roared in unison, and Arik's eyes were filled with murderous intent, just like a wild bear.
The battle was clearly a one-sided victory for the Russian army.
"Sir, they look very weak." Jevro even said with a smile.
"Yes. The cavalry charge just now was stupid, but it was also very smart and knew our weaknesses."
"But all the smart people are dead, and only the cowards are left."
"Let Grund come up with the reserve team."
"My lord, is it still necessary?" Jevro asked again.
"Let them charge and kill like crazy without mercy."
In a moment, Grund's group, who were ordered to shoot arrows, put on their plate armor in an assault, roared and charged out of the Ross shield wall with two axes in hand.
Their current iron helmets are quite special. Not only are their foreheads and sides protected by iron plates, but their front faces are also equipped with a rough mask that only exposes their eyes.
There is also a bear head hanging on the helmet, and the fangs on the upper jaw become a sun visor.
"Haha! We are fighting bears." Arik shouted excitedly. The other Russians were shocked.
A group of iron men entered the enemy's formation. Although the large number of iron pieces hung on the chainmail armor was heavy, it was easy for these fat and strong men to control it.
Their clothes are not full plate armor, let alone pierced armor. They look a bit like fish scales, but they are not. It is not beautiful as a whole, and the defensive effect offsets the visual inelegantness.
The soldiers of the kingdom discovered that stabbing with swords was useless, and cutting with axes only made scratches.
The tall and strong bear-headed iron men are Rurik's tactical reserve team. They are also the kind of consumables that don't feel bad even if they die, as long as the armor can be used a second time. Danish soldiers like Grund, left behind,
On the surface, Rick is a fictitious and reused person, and the way to reuse him is to act like a "Suicide Squad".
Grund and his gang hacked randomly into the enemy formation. In addition to causing huge casualties, what was more important was that they completely destroyed the enemy's confidence.
Earl Garfred watched helplessly as his men were fleeing for their lives without their armor. He endured the pain and called on his men to rescue him, but everyone was running away. Even if he ran away, his bare feet were bleeding and he had to continue.
Escape for your life, who cares about the immobile count?
Arik went to pursue him, but when he heard his brother's cry, he began to restrain the army he was preparing to pursue.
There were still more than a hundred people chasing him, and they further aggravated the chaos, and even directly hacked the groaning Garfred to death during the chase.
The first earl died like this, a death without honor. Even the Russian soldiers who killed him just felt that they had killed an enemy cavalry who should have died in battle, and they were just helping him look decent.
It wasn't until Rurik ordered the torsion slingshot to continue shooting that it began to kill and injure the escapees. When the chasing Russian soldiers saw that the other brothers were behind them, they stopped their pursuit.
"Russians... you are still so powerful. No! Rurik, is this the true strength of your army?" Eynred stared, eyes almost bulging out.
He had to admire his enemy. Looking at the flag flying on the mast, the more he looked at it, the more terrifying he felt.
However, they didn't take advantage of the situation and launch a full-scale attack?
The peasant soldiers who fled first were all pouring into the king's army, and they also brought back their fear, causing all the peasant soldiers who were watching the battle from a distance to panic and plan to escape.
The Bishop of York was glad that he followed the king to the border to fight against the Mercians. If he had been in York, he would have been eaten by barbarians.
But the current situation is worse than he thought.
The bishop himself is not a fat person, at least his weight is not enough to turn a horse into a camel.
He rode up to the king and said tremblingly: "Your Majesty, our army..."
"I know. We can't win. Damn it, my cavalry is over. I have lost."
"No! Your Majesty, what if they are willing to accept it? At least we have a way to preserve it, just like the late king did."
"This is just what I want."
The soldiers of the kingdom who returned were frightened to death. They told the king that the bear-headed iron man among the rebels was invulnerable, and that the enemy's arrows were terrifying.
Naturally, Eynred would not blame them, because Count Roydis himself was killed in the battle.
The enemies are not ordinary Vikings, they are Rus, and the waving flag proves everything. That Rurik actually kept his promise and really came with troops again this year.
They clearly have no further pursuit now, so why doesn't this give themselves a chance to negotiate?
Eynred looked around and asked the bishop: "As you said, what should I talk to them about?"
"Send a messenger. Who is suitable? Do you want me to make the decision?"
"No. You go."
"Ah? Me? This is inappropriate." The bishop trembled and quickly waved his hands to avoid it.
"Don't worry, I'll go too." Aynred looked determined.
"Ah? This is even more inappropriate."
"It doesn't matter." Aynred looked forward and said cautiously: "Don't worry about Mercia now. Our kingdom is about to be destroyed, and I can only minimize the losses. I know the commander of the Vikings, that person should
Would love to talk to us."
"But Your Majesty, you should not risk your life."
"Me? A king? My kingdom is about to collapse, what else can't I gamble on?" After saying that, Eynred pulled the reins hard again, and the mount moved forward, followed by many of his followers holding the king's flag.
.
Seeing this, the bishop was helpless. He made a cross on his chest, kissed the silver cross on his neck, held up the big black cross to invite the young priest to marry him, dismounted from his horse and followed the king to the battlefield. The bishop also had a thought that might not be right.
Practical fantasy, if I could use my mouth to persuade the barbarian leader to convert to the holy faith, maybe the disaster would stop.
This scene was seen by the Russian army in the distance, and a large number of Balmoks had gathered on the other side of the river and began to cross the river.
Magnut had already arrived on the other side, looking at the enemy corpses on the ground. He complained to his son-in-law Rurik that he was not waiting for the battle, and then praised the strength of the Russian army.
Rurik didn't say much. It was a good thing to show off his extremely strong muscles to his allies, but it was a waste of the enemy's vitality.
He comforted his wounded soldiers on the battlefield under the ship, ordered his subordinates to kill the enemy's wounded soldiers with wounds, confiscated weapons and recovered arrows, and so on.
At this moment, a small group of people came from a distance, which again alerted the army.
Arik found his brother and pointed at him with a bloody sword, "Those are the new idiots who are not afraid of death. Let me kill them."
"No, brother. That must be the messenger, maybe asking us to stop killing or something."
"Then execute the messenger."
"No, listen to what the envoy says. Don't worry, the envoy's words are not what you want. If you do it, they won't be able to escape."
"Okay." Arik smiled, shook off the blood on the sword, and inserted it into the scabbard.