The large pottery pots and wide-mouthed iron pots placed on the big ship were all unloaded, and the coalition forces set up some stoves and began to cook delicious meals very boldly.
Last night, the coalition soldiers who were busy setting up a bonfire array around Tamworth to scare people also visited three nearby villages and all the farmland.
The local area is already a spring wheat crop area. After the wheat harvest is completed, the farmland is seasonally abandoned, and the cabbages are directly plundered by the coalition forces before they are mature.
The chopped vegetables were thrown into the cauldron, and some onions scraped out were thrown in along with the bacon jerky stored on the ship, and even a lot of salt. The staple food was naturally oats, and it would take some time for it to be cooked thoroughly. Someone was in charge.
The wooden stick stirs this fragrant meal.
The rich aroma filled the camp of the Viking coalition. They had been stationed west of Tamworth. The weak north wind blew and part of the aroma spread directly into the city.
A large number of soldiers were gathering, and after taking a rest in the morning, they were ordered to eat their own dry food, but the mouth-watering meals in these iron pots were not allowed to be eaten.
They gathered together and accepted Rurik's orders.
But I saw this blond boy standing on a cart full of grass and dirt, holding a sword and shouting: "Brothers, are you hungry?"
This is really a clear question.
Then he smiled and shouted, "When can we eat?"
"Yes! When can we eat it! Brothers, we are about to take action. We have to create a hill to prove our strength to Odin, and then follow the breakthrough and rush directly to the city wall. Those enemies never imagined that we would have such a tactic
.But you will be very tired if you do this. These delicacies are for you. When the evening comes, you come down and enjoy the delicacies!"
Afraid that his voice lacked penetration, Magnute also kept describing a principle in a rich and old voice: after completing today's task, everyone will eat and drink well.
It is only natural that you work hard and get delicious food. The soldiers of the coalition forces were cheering, and their morale was extremely high.
Vegetables, meat, wheat and salt were mixed into a delicious meal. To increase the aroma, Rurik ordered a portion of the curdled seal oil to be thrown into all the pots.
There is no shortage of seal oil here among the Russians, nor is there any shortage among the Balmoq people. It is essentially a food, and it is only recently that it has been widely used as a lubricant.
The smell of oil made the smell even more attractive. The Mercian warriors stationed on the city wall noticed that they were setting up a meal, and while they were alert, the smell also aroused greedy insects.
The aroma wafted directly to the palace, and Botwulf thought the royal chef had cooked a delicious meal. When he understood the current situation, he was first shocked and then fell into deep fear.
One of the guards didn't know the reason, but said to the prince in an attitude of encouraging morale: "They are eating a big meal. Maybe they can't fight when they are full, and they just want to lie down and sleep."
Botwulf held onto the battlements with mixed feelings in his heart.
"Can't fight? This is their last meal before the war. You all should be more vigilant. There will be a fierce battle today."
Will there really be a fierce battle? But His Highness the Crown Prince's guess is close to the truth.
The decisive battle is indeed about to begin, but it has a strange starting point.
The Viking coalition was like a pile of firewood, and Rurik lit the fire. They opened their mouths to tear raw meat and roared in disobedience, while the Rus and Balmoks were beating their shields with swords and axes.
Even Suomi's one hundred servant warriors, who were fighting for their new master in this new world they knew, and who were informed that they were entitled to the spoils of war, raised their bows high and shouted.
The army outside the city was still angry with Megatron, and the soldiers and civilians who were immersed in yesterday's victory were severely beaten. Mercia's royal guards and a large number of armed farmers and citizens arrived at the city wall with a variety of weapons, and the captain of the guard who had broken half of his hand appeared again.
He summoned his subordinates to continue heating water in order to burn the enemy to death.
The Mercians were actively preparing for defense, but they had encountered the enemy's shocking arrows, javelins and stones. Even though they were protected by the stones of the battlement, every warrior was filled with fear.
The emotions of anxiety, fear and laziness were intertwined. Even if Prince Botwulf put on his armor and went to the front line in person, he could not immediately arouse the strong fighting spirit of the soldiers.
The afternoon sun was exceptionally warm, making it a good day for a battle.
The weak north wind made the grass rustle, and every soldier heard a low rumble in his ears.
Rurik felt that the time was ripe. He looked at the eager warriors and pointed his dagger directly: "Odin's warriors! Forward! Let's create a mountain!"
The coalition forces take action!
Thirty two-wheeled carts were loaded with soil, pushed by two people, and two others carried shields for cover. The Russian army was responsible for the heavy work in this area, hoping to take proper precautions to avoid being harassed and damaged by the enemy.
More than 400 people from the Balmok Army participated in the first batch of operations. Two of them carried a tree trunk, and there were people guarding the front with shields.
Hundreds of people were waiting behind with shovels, ready to pile new soil on the empty wheelbarrows they brought back.
The group of them began to rush towards the city wall. Arik and Biyoni each led a hundred men and arrived at the city with two types of crossbows, responsible for sniping any enemies who planned to counterattack from the battlements.
The ten bull trebuchets were quickly moved to the appropriate location, and the people who controlled them were actually the Ross sailors who were responsible for operating the ship. Of course they could transform themselves into close combat warriors, but time passed and their old bodies were probably not suitable for fighting.
But it is enough to control heavy weapons to support the young brats in fighting.
Stones made from local materials began to be thrown crazily. It didn't matter what target they hit, creating a terrifying atmosphere was the most meaningful.
Prince Botwulf put out a pair of alert eyes. Is the enemy continuing to attack the city?
"Fighters of the Kingdom! They are coming! Prepare your bows, arrows and rocks to kill them!"
Indeed, even if faced with risks, there are always people who long to be heroes in times of crisis. Some humble farmers, they regard sitting side by side with His Royal Highness today as the greatest honor in life, and didn’t the priest also say that killing others is the greatest honor?
Guilty, not guilty for killing a "savage humanoid monster"!
The peasants held stones in their arms, just waiting for His Highness to give orders.
Fortunately, Arik and Biyongni's shooting troops had already arrived at the appropriate position first. Those among them carried a temporary raft of wooden rafts and stood it on the ground, then supported it with wooden strips to form an obvious giant shield against arrows.
There are six such giant shields, enough to provide absolute cover for a group of shooters.
The vigilant archers were either half-kneeling or standing. Naturally, they stretched out their very limited body vigilantly, and the charged crossbow was already aimed at the battlements ahead.
Of course, Rurik could do something crazier. However, in the previous battle, he found that the cast iron projectiles consumed a little too much, so he no longer used the torsion slingshot as support. Actual combat proved that it was just a one-pound iron bullet flying at a not amazing speed.
Go out and ignore the damage to the city wall itself.
Those pushing the carts were about to arrive, and Botwulf ordered a counterattack.
The armed farmers who received the order began to throw stones down, and Arik and Biyongni, who were waiting, immediately began to snipe.
The precise crossbow arrows flew, the powerful and heavy arrows directly penetrated the unarmored farmer's body, and the blow from the steel-armed crossbow killed him instantly.
"Quick! Hurry up and charge up, continue to support." As Arik shouted, he saw the small black-haired Suomi people starting to throw arrows randomly. He couldn't help but laugh out loud. Some of them shouted to his subordinates: "Hurry up and charge up."
, don’t lose to those with black hair.”
A cart full of soil can be unloaded by simply lifting the handle and pulling it backwards. After three attempts at most, a cart full of grass and soil will be gone.
Thirty wheelbarrows were unloaded at one point, and the subsequent loaders used this point to begin unloading their logs.
The round wooden bars are not just thrown away. They are placed flush with the city wall, arranged neatly one after another, as if they are laying a boardwalk.
They braved the stones thrown by the enemy to do their work, and used their shields to block the enemy's counterattack. There was nothing left to fear.
Because the Mercian defenders are cowardly!
In other words, Tamworth, an early medieval fortress, had not evolved to the technical level of a bastion at all, and the siege tactics displayed by Rurik were more advanced.
Rurik knew how to build bastions and knew the advantages of crossfire.
"Is this what these guys are capable of? How can it be so easy for me to hit at a fixed point?" While watching the battle, he was sure that he would win.
Magnute watched with great interest and shouted: "Your wheelbarrows have been withdrawn, it's time to dig new soil."
"Yes, brothers are ready."
"Look!" Magnut pointed again, "My people have also withdrawn, and they have to carry new wood. Rurik, how many times do you think we can succeed?"
"Maybe twenty times will do."
"Ah? So many?"
"Is it a lot?" Rurik shook his head, "In my opinion, it won't take much time to repeat it. It must be a waste of energy. You see, when the army comes back in the evening to eat thick porridge, I will prepare the food.
It’s a lot, so everyone has no worries.”
"Okay, let's continue. We will... tomorrow..."
"Yes!" Rurik looked at his father-in-law with great confidence, "Tomorrow is the day when the city will be destroyed."
If the earth slope is basically completed today and only a few more pieces of earth are needed tomorrow, the army will be able to attack the city after a night's rest. He is not worried that the Mercian defenders will destroy the earth slope. They do not have such ability at all.
From the perspective of Mercia, what are the barbarians doing in such weird ways? Botwulf gradually had an epiphany, then was shocked, and finally turned into a kind of despair.
"They are piling up the dirt! They are going to rush up the wall! Kill them quickly!" He almost shouted out his throat.
However, he saw that his soldiers were hiding behind the battlements and trembling. Although there were soldiers in the distance shooting arrows to support them, the prince watched helplessly as those men were shot and shot down.
Of course some brave people stood up, casually threw the oil and squatted down again.
As for those who tried to shoot arrows, they were hit by snipers as soon as they raised their heads.
The defenders on the battlements were completely suppressed, and now only a few defenders were throwing stones blindly through the battlements.
What's worse is that the more stones the defenders throw, the more they literally add to the enemy's work.
Botwulf could not have expected such a method from his opponent, and what was even worse was that he was powerless.
The captain of the guard led a group of soldiers who worked together to carry wooden bars and hang water urns on the wall.
"Your Highness, this time it's hot oil. I've used all the holy water in the church. It can burn them to death."
"You!" The arrival of the captain of the guard originally made the prince happy, but it was inappropriate not to talk about this secret weapon. "You are desecrating a sacred object!"
"Your Highness, we have no choice. The only fault is that our city walls are not high enough."
"Okay. Burn them to death!"
Even the church has very little rose essential oil in reserve. It is quite difficult to prepare the aromatic essential oil from the flowers. It is so fragrant and must have sacred power. When they were requisitioned, the priests also hoped that these sacred things could cleanse the city.
Those demons.
A layer of hot oil floated on the boiling water, and the oil-water mixture in the vat was filled with fragrance. The soldier holding the coarse cloth in his hands had just pushed the big vat onto the wall, and Arik was shooting again.
Arik was surprised, he could guess what the enemy wanted to do.
Unfortunately, he and his men were a step too late, and Tao Weng was simply pushed down, hitting the Balmoks who were laying down wood.
People who were instantly burned were hurriedly taking off their clothes. When their linen was taken off by their partners, they were shocked to see that the skin was falling off!
Some people covered their faces and screamed, while some rolled on the ground.
Even so, the work of laying wooden strips to pile up the soil cannot stop.
The price of valor may be death, and the Mercians carrying the pottery were struck by arrows.
The Balmoqs temporarily retreated, but the Mercian army was in panic and prematurely pushed away all the ten pottery urns they had prepared.
The results achieved by the secret weapon were too weak. They only caused five Balmoks to be scalded, and the rest scrambled to escape to avoid subsequent losses.
Rose essential oil, which represents the sacred, is meaningless, and Botwulf has no idealistic ideas about these things.
He drew his sword and yelled at the captain of the guard: "You are overestimating your own things, and they are here again. Gather the soldiers here, and we will fight them! Remember, you are building a new wall with corpses, and you cannot let them break through.
The wall enters the inner city!”
The sudden burns did not surprise Rurik at all. There will be casualties in battle, and the coalition forces can bear these casualties.
Considering that the enemy was still using this trick, he urgently ordered the five-seater torsion slingshot to be temporarily thrown into a cart full of dirt, and the heavy weapons were transported directly to the front line.
This wasn't the end of the story. Now that the enemy's firepower had been suppressed, more than a hundred people with shovels rushed forward and dug up soil nearby.
Thousands of people continued to take turns piling wood and earth, and a mound was quickly emerging.
They were already working on the high ground, and a group of shield-bearing warriors had to stay at the front, carrying the stones and arrows thrown by the enemy to cover the brothers and continue their work.
The torque slingshot is always charged, and when an enemy appears, it will shoot.
The cast-iron projectiles crackled the battlements, and the flying gravel scratched Botwulf's gray-bearded face.
His face was covered with blood, which frightened the soldiers into thinking that the prince was injured and was about to be taken away by his men.
"You idiots, leave me alone! Stop them! Fight with them!"
In the critical situation, the captain of the guard screamed: "Your Highness, they are about to build a slope, and we are going to be finished."
"Are you a fool?" The prince broke away and immediately ordered: "Fight them with all your strength, hold on to the city wall, and block them even with your chest!"
Prince Botwulf, he takes the lead and takes the lead, but as a prince he should not appear in restricted areas.
The guard let out a long sigh and ordered his subordinates with the force of almost breaking his teeth: "Take His Highness away and take him to the inner city. The others, the time has come to prove their loyalty, follow me and fight them to the death!"
From cowardice to heroism, the defenders of Mercia made the transformation in just one second.
Even though the prince was struggling, the guards who did not want him to die in the battle forcibly took him away.
The captain of the guard frowned as he looked at the back of the prince. The setting sun illuminated his face orange. Then he turned his head and looked at the soldiers gathered on the city wall and the armed farmers gathered below.
Without any impassioned speech, the captain of the guard just held an ax in his left hand and jumped off the city wall, which was already as low as 1.5 meters. Upon seeing this, a group of kingdom warriors jumped down heroically with weapons and determination to die.
More than half of the soil slope that is beneficial to the Viking coalition has been completed, and the entire task has been completed in just one afternoon's work?
Magnute squinted and saw that there was already a fight ahead. "Haha, Rurik, we did it. The decisive battle has begun. I saw that those Mercians already knew that they were going to perish and started to jump down to fight with us?"
"Yes, should we break the city and fight decisively now? It is already evening, and the time is very unfavorable. Our people are too tired."
"Are you hesitating? My child, I'm going to lead the others to attack. Come with your Ross army, let's go."
"Alas!" Rurik just wanted to persuade him to explain, but Magnute felt that he could do it again, and rushed forward with his sword in a roar. Seeing this, the other Balmoks stopped carrying wood, and everyone brought weapons.
Launch a sunset attack.
Maybe, this is the decisive battle?
The brothers were completely exhausted from building the earthen slope, and Rurik didn't think it was suitable for the coalition forces to break through the city and fight fiercely.
Unfortunately, the coalition forces were almost out of control, and Rurik knew that even if he wanted to give orders, he could only restrain some of the Russian soldiers.
Look!
Rurik saw an incredibly shocking scene. A large number of Mercian warriors were jumping off the city wall and had begun to fight with the unprepared Ross and Balmok warriors.
Those who were digging earth and moving wood lacked defense. The coalition forces were beaten and some were killed by the Mercian army in the chaos.
However, the Viking coalition forces that had just reacted immediately began to counterattack.
Surrounding the slope, there was the sound of metal clashing, the roars of soldiers and the wails of the wounded everywhere.
Arik and Biyongni's archers were also firing arrows frantically, and the five torsion slingshots placed at the forefront simply smashed the enemy who was about to climb over the battlements to a bloody pulp!
The fierce fighting people stepped on the corpses of the dead, including those from the Mercian army and those from the Balmoq army.
The first flag team of the Russian Army also quickly stopped carrying soil, returned to its original warrior state, and charged bravely with steel swords.
Grund and his tool men dressed as iron men pushed aside the Balmok friendly troops in front of them and quickly rushed to the front line to fight against the red-eyed Mercians.
Even if they are invulnerable, some "iron men" fall and die in the endless stampede, becoming a new step on the slope.
Those cowardly farmers in Mercia are now ten thousand times more courageous, or in other words, they have gone blank and succumbed to the courage of the Saxons in their souls, and the Balmoks and Rus who are actually related to them by blood.
Fight together.
The blood-red sunset is in the west, and the dry soil slopes are turning muddy, as if it had just rained.
It's red rust-smelling rain, and the city walls are also dyed red...