The fire in Bremen will only intensify further, especially St. Peter's Church is completely in flames. The bodies of the people who died there, together with those who died on the winding road, will be reduced to ashes in the fire and receive a cremation.
ending.
They were buried as if they were martyrs for the entire city, and their deaths were like countless slaps on the faces of the local lords, deafening them.
Earl Hunt desperately ran back to Bremen with his troops. Although he was still some distance from the city, the pungent burnt smell was already so pervasive that he could clearly smell it.
The cavalry soldiers covered their mouths and noses one after another, looking at the fire and smoke in front of them. The entire army was stunned and could not help but slow down.
People can try their best to stay calm, but the war horses have seen such a scene before. The war horses are more frightened than the people, and some horses are so panicked that they dare not move.
A large number of cavalry family members were in the city. Doesn't it seem like all the family members were killed?
Just like the flames, thinking of the possibility of these disasters, the soldiers' hearts also exploded and burned with anger.
They could gradually feel the heat of the flames. As they entered the farmland near the city, the cavalry stood on the bare harvested wheat fields, looking at the burning city with bloodshot eyes and no longer daring to move around.
The temperature has become cooler, and the cavalry have dismounted. Just standing here, everyone can feel the unprecedented heat. It is more intense than the summer heat, just like the purgatory scene mentioned by the priest.
Priest? Look at the spire standing in the flames! That's St. Peter's Church!
By a very coincidence, while everyone was watching, the masonry structure tower finally collapsed due to the collapse of the load-bearing wooden columns. The vibration and roar caused by the collapse were directly felt by the cavalry's feet. The collapse was also accompanied by
The thicker gray smoke and dust rose up, and for a moment red flames sprayed into the sky, as if there was a crack in the earth and the monsters from hell were about to break out.
Many soldiers were so frightened that they sat on the ground and retreated one after another. Many others knelt on their knees, threw away their spears and kept crossing themselves on their chests.
Watching such a horrific scene, Earl Hunter was neither afraid nor even angry. His face was blank. None of this seemed real, but a hateful nightmare. He gritted his teeth hard.
, only to realize that all this is reality.
They watched here until nightfall, and at night, the sky was illuminated red by the eternal fire of Bremen.
The Count of Bremen's troops were resting on the spot, and the fire in the city provided sufficient lighting. However, the supplies that everyone urgently needed were either looted by the Normans or burned to ashes in the flames.
The war horses gnawed the scattered wheat straw, and then ate reeds farther away. The soldiers had no choice but to sit down. They ran in such a hurry that they didn't even have cooking utensils, and their return to Bremen for supplies was in vain. This time they could only get supplies from cloth pockets.
He took out the small amount of raw rye and chewed it like a horse to satisfy his hunger, even though doing so might make him suffer from stomach upset.
That night, many soldiers took a nap on the ground on the heated ground. Many people couldn't sleep at all, and they barely woke up until almost dawn.
On a new day, the fire in Bremen is still going on. It looks more like a fire-breathing dragon emerging from the area. Indeed, some soldiers looked at the sudden fire whirlwind and roared "dracone de feur"
, fell into a coma and fell down again.
The Count was hoping for a rain to put an end to the damn flames, but today the weather was clear.
"I can't be such a coward anymore! I must take revenge!"
He learned from the pain, endured the pain of stretching his legs before, stood up holding the iron sword, and called on all the soldiers to stand up.
He made an impassioned speech in front of the tired and angry soldiers, and insulted the Normans in vulgar language.
A very important strategic judgment was mentioned: "The Normans set the fire recently, and I dare say they have not been away for long. They must have looted a lot of property, and it may take a lot of time to move it away by ship. Now we have
If there is a good opportunity, we must catch up with them and attack bravely, and we must not let this group of barbarians escape."
We must attack! We must fight! As for the post-war arrangements, no one cares about it at the moment.
Or is it said that the mourning soldiers will win? The morale of the cavalry team, inspired by anger, was high.
Although the count was obsessed with revenge, he still clearly understood that he did not have much capital on hand. The cavalry had strong combat effectiveness but required a lot of material maintenance. In particular, to maintain the combat effectiveness of the war horses, a large amount of oats and rye had to be fed. Simply relying on local
Eating grass would make it impossible to maintain the efficient combat of war horses. The Frankish nobles had their own tricks when it came to using cavalry, so the earl was not willing to crazily squeeze the horse power.
Knowing that he was unable to fight a protracted battle with the attackers, Earl Hunter decided to bypass the burning city and push downstream along the river. In this way, the horses could eat rushes and reeds along the way and barely maintain their fighting power. As for the soldiers, they naturally relied on
Be patient with willpower.
After all, he provided an alternative direction for the cavalry. Once they were in vain, the whole team would go directly to the territory of the Count of Flanders, report the bad news to him, and also rent a batch of food for emergency use. He currently has
You don't have to spend money to buy it, but you can carve off a part of your territory as a price.
On the other hand, Bremen's flames illuminated the night sky red, and the Russian soldiers resting on the shore joked about it.
The cooks had already cooked a large amount of captured rye, but as soon as it was cooked, the eager people dug it out of the urns into bowls, sprinkled a handful of salt on it, and chewed it.
The cooks also have mixed feelings, but they can actually eat salt in the barbarian camp. At what cost?
No, the soldiers from Saaremaa Island had already pounced on them, took the cooks away together, and pinned them to the ground to focus on their own happiness.
Arik and other organized Russian soldiers disdain to have relationships with these women that require them to be responsible afterwards. The biggest reason is actually faith. Maybe the people on Saaremaa Island will not care at all.
The coalition forces continued to camp on the river beach where they had stayed. Of course, they could continue to withdraw, but the coalition forces would need a longer period of time to rest.
A great victory, a Frankish city was given a "burning death". Even Rus had achieved such a great success for the first time. Seven hundred warriors defeated a city ten times its population, and the brothers suddenly had contempt for the Franks.
His attitude is very reasonable.
Carrying trophies on a large scale in a short period of time requires all soldiers to rest for a long time.
Maybe this river beach is not safe, but there is nothing more open than this river beach in the vast area. More than 700 people camped on the river beach. A few days ago, the two teams met here and almost got into a fight due to misunderstanding. Now, the two sides have already
They are comrades who fight together.
Arik, who was lying on his side by the campfire, looked lazy. He joked casually: "Don't be Danes anymore! Completely separate yourself from that Danish king. Come to Rus and we will be brothers. Your people will be my people from now on."
Let's go to war together and eat meat together, wouldn't we be happy together?"
Ragnar was also lying on his side and talking: "As long as your brother agrees, of course I support it."
"Of course he supports it. He has not wanted to fight with the Danes for a long time. If there is a chance for peaceful business, who is willing to fight? He can even make you a war chief, and your tribe will form a flag force. If there is a big war in the future,
In a large-scale battle, your team will participate in the battle together, and you can always get a lot of loot after the war..."
At this moment, Aric really didn't regard Ragna as an outsider, and Ragna was equally happy about this. Both of them are the most traditional Viking men, and they are the most loyal by nature.
After the two men of similar age finished chatting about the war, they couldn't help but talk about women and even children.
Two boys were carried to the campfire by Ragnar. One could just walk, while the other was severely disabled.
Look at the boy's legs. They are weak and thin as his arms.
Arik was shocked, because in traditional life, disabled children had no right to live. A boy with atrophied legs would be killed when the condition was discovered.
"What's going on? He..." Considering that he would say something offensive next, Arik simply shut up.
"Are you surprised?" Ragnar smiled: "It doesn't matter, you let him say it himself. Ivar, you say it yourself."
Ivar is almost six years old and has no problem speaking.
This kid said in a slightly arrogant voice: "Odin chose me and let me live. Odin must ask me to do something, I don't know now. I can't walk, my arms and brain are normal. I
Really just can’t walk.”
The more Ivar emphasized something, the more he felt inferior to it. Indeed, a warrior with a broken arm can still fight with one arm. How can he fight with weak legs?
These words are more than familiar?! Arik sat upright in surprise and smiled again: "Is it really destiny? My brother, Rurik, the prince of Rus, was also a man chosen by Odin. We Rus are rich and powerful.
It’s because of his merits.”
"Is this so?!" Ragnar also sat upright and held the young Ivar in his arms.
"You must reach Rus. If Ivar has divine help, he will be destined to be extraordinary."
"That's a good thing. When do you decide to set off?"
"Let's stay here for two more days. Brothers can also have some rest." Aric said casually, but Ragna didn't think it was inappropriate, so he acquiesced.
The two chatted a lot, and then Blue Fox and Spuyut also joined in. When they got together, all the information they knew was exchanged, and a lot of unknown information also came out.
The Russians learned that the Danes were essentially in disarray. The only leader who truly admired all the Danes was Godfrey, who had been dead for thirty years. The other successors were not convinced, especially the current King of Denmark, Horik, who had lost the support of the people. Many people
The lords left Denmark voluntarily, so that the strength of Danish immigrants in areas such as Bergen Fjord and Oslo Fjord in Norway, as well as the Götaland area in southern Scandinavia, expanded rapidly.
Ragnar also learned that the leader of the royal pirates in Ross was Si Puyut sitting here, and that the order to "annihilate the ships encountered" was issued by the prince of Ross. Everything was just to vent his anger. But the prince was very smart, and since he learned
The Franks, who were behind the scenes, instantly adjusted their strategy to attack the Franks.
All of you here are Viking madmen and have made extraordinary achievements, and now we are all working together to burn down the city of Bremen.
Their rest was still continuing. On this river beach, everyone quickly entered a peaceful and stable life. With a huge amount of wheat in their hands, they felt as if they had no sense of security.
But Arik was not so arrogant that he did not even place sentries.
Rurik did not design an "Army Drill Code" for the principality, but the army was actively summarizing past successes and failures. The Russian army would always be aware of enemy sneak attacks, so it was particularly important to set up sentries in this way.
The five sentry teams were ambushing in the forest. Of course, they were not hiding among the dead branches and leaves, but they were resting on the big trees and sensing the vibrations around them.
The low vibration of the earth appeared suddenly. A sentry put his ear against the tree trunk and gradually felt that the source of the vibration was approaching.
With a keen sense of battlefield, the sentry team ran out of the woods one after another. They looked at each other and instantly concluded that it was an approaching danger.
They shouted and ran towards the river beach camp.
The people who were waiting for the meal noticed the running sentry. At first, everyone was a little dazed. However, as a black shadow suddenly appeared from the forest, even the dazed people became alert.
"Damn it! It's actually the cavalry! Damn the pursuers, how did they find us?!" Ragna cursed to himself, and then looked at Arik's reaction.
There were more and more cavalry. From the perspective of the cavalry, Earl Hunter was also very surprised: "Normans, you are hiding here. You are hateful evil demons. It's hard for me to find you. You... so many people?! Still...
Those...are actually big ships?!" Looking at the flags hanging on the masts of the big ships, I immediately understood that this was the Russian army.
Hunter finally saw the Russian fleet. Although it was very unbelievable, what the envoy named Joseph Blue Fox said was actually true.
Is this enough to scare the proud Frank cavalry?
Hunter called for the cavalry to assemble in Frankish. The cavalry rushed out of the forest and lined up. In the forest, the five-meter-long lance could not be stretched. In order to avoid accidental injury, each cavalry kept a distance, and the rider held the lance.
In the front section, most of the wooden pole of the spear is hanging down behind it.
The Frankish cavalry are regaining their inherent heroic appearance, and the forest of spears is truly terrifying.
Ragnar's troops were afraid of these damn cavalry, and he did not dare to show cowardice in front of the Ross allies, so he called the women and children to evacuate to the boat. The men immediately formed a shield wall and stood on the river bank with the honor of men to defend themselves against the enemy.
But he watched helplessly as the Russians only built a thin shield wall, while more people were actually climbing rope ladders to board the ship?!
This scene made Arik yell: "Arik, do you Russians want to retreat? If you withdraw, we will follow too?!"
Arik immediately explained: "Who said we retreat?! Don't get me wrong! Continue to maintain the front, we have to adjust the heavy weapons and kill all these damn cavalry! Do you understand? Kill these cavalry!"
Indeed, when the Frank cavalry was busy arranging the teams that had been forced to loosen up in the forest into a wall, the Ross coalition also had a valuable window of war preparation.
If the infantry were to attack this group of cavalry, the Ross coalition would even be annihilated. Because the Frankish cavalry would generally refrain from rushing forward on the wall due to the relative lack of horses. Instead, the cavalry would approach the formation and stab the formation with their super-powerful spears.
In a sense, this style of fighting is the spear phalanx versus the sword and shield phalanx, except that the cavalry can come and run fast, and their flexible poking is actually a classic Frankish tactic.
In Hunter's opinion, the Normans finally stopped escaping and dared to line up openly to fight with him. They were really stupid...
Let's look at the fleet lined up in a long snake formation. All the side torsion slingshots have been moved to the starboard side of the enemy. As a result, the fleet has assembled as many as eighty torsion slingshots. It has to control so many weapons.
Naturally, it requires a lot of manpower.
To deal with cavalry, heavy weapons are mostly a one-shot deal. The key lies in the throw of Qiankun in the first battle!
Torque slingshots are equipped with cast-iron bullets, which can be used to deal with enemies at medium and close ranges. They are indeed deadly weapons that can break armor.
The crossbows were also being charged up, and arrows were inserted one after another, waiting to be lined up for use.
As for the fifty Finnish archers, under the leadership of Jevlo, they all stood on the ship and seized the commanding heights.
The Russians reacted very quickly. Hunter, who was on the other side, noticed this situation. He had a premonition of a crisis, but didn't know what it meant. He could only order his people to line up as quickly as possible, and then destroy Norman.
A human infantry shield wall enables the cavalry to break formations and kill indiscriminately.
But the Russians were prepared for war one step ahead of the enemy, so the heavy weapons they had on standby were not in vain.
Hunter had no intention of waiting any longer. He raised his iron sword and suddenly ordered: "Cavalry! Spear forward! Kill the Normans! à l'attaque!"
The cavalry charged! Extra-long spears, sharp and shining spearheads moved forward in unison. Both men and horses had leather armor, the heavy cavalry with mail in front, and the light cavalry without any armor in the back. Three hundred cavalry
The spear was aimed at the Ross coalition, and a great drama was staged where the cavalry regiment attacked the navy and marines.
A wall was coming. Ragnar's fearlessness in the face of danger was false. For the sake of honor, he had to stand by the river. Moreover, he and his people had no way to retreat, because behind them was the fleet that seemed to have entered the wall.
Suddenly, a high-pitched roar: "hjutraaaaah!"
It was Arik, he gave the order!
All the torsion slingshots fired at the same time, it was a volley of heaven and earth!