The sudden attack caused a large number of the so-called warriors of Pine Needle Manor to flee for their lives. They ignored their dead and injured companions and started reporting enemy attacks to everyone they met as soon as they arrived at the farm.
These are so good that even women are armed with farm tools or simple wooden sticks.
Someone ran into Vadim's residence in a hurry. He didn't care about the face of the young prince who was having fun with his concubine. He shouted at the top of his lungs with a look of fear: "Sir! The enemy is attacking!"
"Get out of here!" Vadim, who was naked, smashed a wooden cup casually, but was unable to stop the messenger's alarm at all.
"Sir! The Russians came and killed many people. You...you have to lead everyone to fight them back!"
"Wait?! This is real?!"
Vadim's interest was completely gone. He woke up instantly: "Fight! We must repel them and organize everyone to defend the farm!"
A war warning was issued at Pine Needle Manor. Vadim hurriedly put on his clothes, picked up his sword and walked out of the house. He summoned his cronies to fight the enemy personally, but found that the entire farm was in chaos.
He had no idea what the enemy's situation was, and the armed men in the entire farm had no way of knowing, but the stories of those who escaped were too shocking.
A group of messengers who were good at running were assigned emergency orders. Their task was to move rescue troops along the lake.
The Russians are definitely not weak, and Pine Needle Manor is likely to lose in an upright battle. It will be different if the Slavic forces of the entire Lake Ilmen are gathered.
Vadim saw the cowardice of his troops, and it happened that the appointed "Supreme Coach", Harold the Varyag, came in a hurry with a few brothers.
Harold still didn't know what was going on. It seemed that Ross's army was attacking, but his instinct told him that the intelligence was wrong.
"What's going on? Where is the enemy?"
To Harold's surprise, Vadim came up and yelled: "Are you stupid for what I paid for? I want you to train the army, why did my team collapse at the first touch?! Now the Russians have come to kill you, you idiots are actually here
escape."
This is like being slapped with a brick out of nowhere.
Harold choked for a moment and didn't know what to say. But he couldn't help but feel sorry for himself, so he retorted: "You asked me to lead the army. The people I led before were all Varyags. You
What did you ask me to bring? Look at your men. Take off your shirt and you can see the ribs like dead branches. Can such a thin man fight?! He can't fight. You just force them to fight. How dare you say that I,
Look at yourself again, you are busy hanging out with five women regardless of your pregnant wife, and you don’t even need to lose face."
"You! Are you mocking me?!" Vadim had already tightened his grip on the hilt of his sword.
Harold's brothers were not used to this sudden gain of power. Even though there were many Slavs present, they all picked up their axes and looked ready to fight.
Vadim is not a bully, and it is not a good thing for a powerful enemy to have internal strife within itself.
He rolled his eyes at Harold: "We are going to repel the Russians. Come together. Your benefits will be indispensable after the war."
A group of people rush to the so-called battlefield with great momentum, but where is the enemy?
The living area of Pine Needle Manor is very large, so it can accommodate tens of thousands of people. Rumor has it that the Russians have entered the farm, and soldiers trained in other areas have returned to the farm. They originally wanted to fight with the enemy in the streets, but after a lot of trouble, they
The shouts of killing are so loud that no one knows where the enemy is.
They struggled for a long time and got nothing, and the nervous soldiers gradually relaxed. Some even began to complain that this was a "crying wolf" farce.
Sure enough, Vadim and his cronies walked around the farm and found nothing.
Finally, the boy arrived at the horrific crime scene.
More than a thousand armed men gradually gathered here. Seeing the tragic situation of the dead was shocking, some even knelt down and vomited on the spot.
Sure enough, there was an attack, just like a lone wolf attacking the sheepfold, killing some sheep, eating some meat, and then withdrew. Only then did the insider report to him what happened. Vadim was so angry that he really wanted to take action immediately and take the sheep with him.
The tribesmen attacked together and wiped out the White Tree Manor, which had colluded with the Russians, leaving no one alive.
Grund's actions directly ignited the anger of Pine Needle Manor, just like pouring gasoline on a raging fire. But the all-out attack made Vadim worried. If he could, he would have taken action long ago, but now he still needs the cooperation of the allied farms.
It is unrealistic to gather 10,000 people, but it is feasible to first gather the men and women of your own farm to gather 5,000 combatants. As for the allies, they can send at least 3,000 people!
It depends on the situation tonight and how many reinforcements the troops can bring.
Vadim hopes to gather a large army in a short time.
The chaos did not subside, but everyone saw dead bodies, and the restlessness in Pine Needle Manor became more serious.
A cautious Varangian took advantage of the chaos and fled back to the farm.
Karl was not afraid of the previous battle at all. He was even quite happy to see his hometown people in a foreign land. This guy found the boss Harold, and his appearance gave many old friends a lot of information.
Seeing Karl, Harold punched him with good intentions: "I thought you were dead."
"Death?" Karl said with a smile: "We brothers have always been happy day by day. It doesn't matter if we die. However, today I have an adventure."
"An adventure?"
"There are actually Danes among the Russians! Boss, I have something important to tell you. This is related to our life and death!"
In an instant, everyone realized the seriousness of the situation.
Harold and a group of thirty brothers gathered in the residence, with the doors and windows sealed, and Carl Enoch explained what happened to him.
Now, the words shocked everyone.
Who would have thought that the all-powerful main force of the Russians would come over. Rurik, the leader of the Russians who sank the Red Dragon and killed King Harold of Denmark, was coming with his own army!
The old leader of Rus, Otto, was unscathed after being assassinated. His son led the main force to seek revenge. The purpose was to kill all Pine Needle Manor without leaving any trace behind?
Indeed, a few years ago a war broke out between the Rus and the Gotlanders, and the Gotlanders were killed to the point of extinction.
"Brothers, the Danish brothers across the street are giving us some advice for the sake of their own clan. They will launch a full-scale attack tomorrow, and we must evacuate at night. I said we should run away with our belongings."
"Where are those women?" someone shouted nervously.
"Yes, we still have to take these slaves to the south and sell them."
"There are other belongings, and we need to get some food before we leave."
…
The men started talking at once, and Harold, who knew the stakes well, became furious: "I'm fired! Your life is at stake now! You must quickly pack your belongings and prepare to evacuate. Our longship can carry at most twenty women."
, select the twenty with the best looks and take them away, and execute all the others."
The brothers were all stunned.
"Boss, this is inappropriate! We still make money from this," someone said.
"When did this happen? The Russians can kill suddenly, and only the Russians can do this kind of thing. If it weren't for us Danes on the opposite side, our brothers would die tomorrow. Just a few women are nothing, after you lose your heads there
Can’t be happy!”
Everyone looked at each other and had nothing to say.
They are a group of merchants, and they are also a group of bandits who kill and sell goods. Whether they are merchants or bandits depends only on their environment. In the face of a powerful enemy, they have no intention of working for Vadim, and they feel that it is foolish to fight against the Russians.
They immediately screened the sixty women under their control and picked out twenty young and beautiful women and took them away. As for the remaining forty people, they were taken away one by one and killed one by one. To do this kind of thing, Harold always
The guys were already very skilled. No one knew that the so-called Varyag mercenaries were quietly killing people and preparing to escape after nightfall.
In other words, after Vadim personally encouraged the people of Pine Needle Manor, their fear was replaced by anger. Everyone is waiting for reinforcements from allies to arrive at the farm to launch an attack tomorrow. Even if they don't attack tomorrow, they will be strong within a few days.
Attack the traitor White Tree Manor and kill the local Ross people.
The messengers who notified the enemy of the attack ran to the nearest ally's manor one after another, vomiting blood from exhaustion, and then rushed to the next one.
Lake Ilmen covers a large area, and it is impossible to notify all the manors in one afternoon. Only five farms were notified before evening. Under pressure, these farm leaders gathered the men of their own manors with complicated emotions, holding various
With their weapons and some dry food, they moved to Pine Needle Manor to assemble.
Their ships were all canoes, and the Ilmenslavs had not learned the technology of assembling planks to build ships, and they did not dare to capture the passing Varyag longships for their own use.
There was nothing the Slavs could do to transport soldiers to Pine Needle Manor by ship, so they moved forward on foot. Fortunately, their ability to sew leather boots made the journey not painful.
They advanced through the wasteland by the river in the afternoon, leaving the straight ridges bordering the fields where wheat seedlings grew wildly. There was no road ahead, and the walking speed of the group of people slowed down.
No one knows how the Pine Needles Manor was attacked, but the entire Novgorod was coerced by Vadim to declare war on the Rus. Due to the violent temper of the Varangros, if Vadim was defeated, everyone would be destroyed.
They have all understood the meaning of disaster, death of lips and cold teeth, but how useful is it to send two to three hundred people for support?
Only five manor houses were on the way to the reinforcements, and it was already dark when they arrived.
Reinforcements from three estates arrived. They saw no war, only a large group of men and women preparing for war.
Vadim personally entertained the three manor owners who had brought troops to support him. While hosting a banquet, he seriously asked how many reinforcements there were.
He was full of joy, but reality poured cold water on him.
"A mere eight hundred people?! What is this? When I planned to lead the army to annihilate the traitors in White Tree Manor, you people who support me stood still!"
The three manor owners couldn't argue with each other. Their respective manors had a small population, and taking so many people together showed their sincerity.
Vadim didn't want to waste any more words. After all, a group of reinforcements arrived.
But very suddenly, many people saw stars shining in the woods in the south.
What is that? It's a Rus! It must be a Rus! The Rus army is camped in the south of the manor!
The restlessness in the manor forced Vadim to walk to the shore of the lake in person. Looking at a bonfire in the south, he became furious and cursed at two o'clock.
Grund left a few men behind to continue to symbolically keep watch at the mouth of the river. The ones who stayed behind deliberately lit a few more bonfires, actually showing their presence to the enemy. The ones who stayed behind went a little too far, just because the enemy's manor was lit.
Many bonfires are clearly a provocation, so why don’t the brothers start a big fire to counter it?
The reinforcements from the five farms finally arrived at Pine Needle Manor late at night. The reinforcements were panting from exhaustion, and Vadim's men were also exhausted mentally and physically from the whole day's toil.
The total strength of the reinforcements is nearly 1,500, and with Pine Needle Manor's best efforts to gather 5,000 male and female warriors, it is obviously feasible to piece together an army of more than 6,000 men.
But everyone was too tired. Vadim originally planned to take the initiative to attack tomorrow, but due to the current situation, he had to continue to accumulate strength.
He even had some optimism, blaming himself for being uncomfortable with his angry words to his allies in the evening.
Five farms sent nearly 1,500 troops. Not counting the defected farms, there were more than ten farms that did not send troops simply because they had not received the news. If the situation was left to ferment for a few days, I might actually be able to assemble an army of 10,000 people!
Ten thousand soldiers, both male and female, are as many as ten thousand! This is a very astonishing number for everyone, and it is enough to support everyone's confidence in victory.
Novgorod has never been as powerful as it is today.
Vadim even lamented: "How could we have allowed the Russians to succeed if we had assembled such a large army decades earlier?"
The Slavs went to sleep one after another, and at night, a group of sneaky people rushed to the lakeside.
Grund and his men said nothing. The twenty women who were tightly controlled had their mouths tied with ropes and their hands tied with ropes. Some women did not know what the future would bring. Their struggles were rewarded by the Varyags.
Some were slapped in the face, and some who were really dishonest simply had their hands and feet tied, and were carried by strong warriors to the longship.
No one noticed their actions, even if they did, it didn't matter.
The long boat was quickly overcrowded, and a few people on the shore finally pushed the boat to the shallows and were pulled up by their companions. They paddled hard and managed to row the boat into the lake.
Now, Grund finally breathed a sigh of relief.
It was also very sudden that an arrogant idea came to his mind: "Brothers, if the main force of the Russians fights that arrogant Vadim, it will be a big battle. Do we brothers watch the battle?"
Maybe everyone murmured that they were not afraid of anything on the lake. The brave people quickly unified their attitude - keep a safe distance to watch the show.
No, they just floated on the lake and waited quietly for the sunrise, waiting to watch the Russians deal with the violent Slavs.
On the other hand, Grund himself had escorted the prisoners back to the army assembly area at White Tree Manor as quickly as possible.
A total of three prisoners captured saw Varangians everywhere and the Volkhov River was filled with terrifying ships. They were so frightened that they lost control. Their legs seemed to have no muscles and could not walk, so they threw them on the ground.
I just trembled.
Rurik was quite surprised by Grund's return, and when he saw the trembling captive, he immediately became interested.
"Sir, we know a lot of specific information about the enemy, as well as these three prisoners. We have made meritorious service, and you have to give us some reward." Grund sat on the ground to accept the credit.
"Forget it, I'll give each of you a silver coin and go down and rest."
"That's it?"
"You have made a meritorious service by capturing a prisoner, but I didn't let you do it. This is against the rules! Originally, you couldn't have expected anything. I'll give you a silver coin and go eat quickly."
Grund shrugged and left with his brothers angrily. Following the scent of wheat, they hurried to the large pottery urn where the wheat was cooked and directly received their dinner.
Rurik interrogated the prisoners on the spot and told them in Slavonic that they were pardoned for their treason crimes at Pine Needle Manor in exchange for making them report what they knew.
This report was good. Rurik and his cronies were fully aware that the rebel Vadim was gathering troops and planning to take the initiative to attack. Obviously, Vadim's side needed more time to make strategic preparations.
In this case, the war is not just a simple counter-insurgency by the Russian army, but a confrontation in which both sides intend to initiate a full-scale war? At this time, the last bit of psychological ambition deep in Rurik's heart has disappeared.
The soft light of the setting sun swept across the forest, and the faces of the Ross warriors gathered by the river turned orange. Soon, the setting sun turned red!
"What a bloody sunset!" Arik couldn't help but sigh.
"Indeed. Brother." Rurik said casually: "These three prisoners are handed over to you. You know what to do."
"Oh? I understand. Boy, I thought you were going to be merciful." Arik smiled.
Rurik couldn't laugh, he had a solemn look on his face: "I said that the rebellious Pine Needle Manor must be destroyed. Now you and I both know that if we don't take action, they will take the initiative. If these three people participate in the rebellion, they must die.
Awakening, let’s help them face themselves.”
"I understand."
"Yeah. It can be considered a kindness on our part to do things quickly and drag them to a hiding place for them to enjoy themselves."
Arik nodded in agreement and escorted the prisoner towards the farm with a dull face.
All this was seen by old Otto, he said nothing, only satisfied in his heart.