Just like the Frankish army, the Frankish army has long relied on cavalry as the core of its combat effectiveness. Horik, who became a nobleman in the Frankish territory, also followed suit and created his own cavalry. In the days of peace, he worked hard to expand the cavalry, relying on heavy border trade
Purchased horses from the Franks. Ever since I heard that the city of Bremen was burned by the exiled Ragnar, how could this unkillable insect be so ferocious? With a sense of worry, the project of training cavalry was accelerated.
Even small horses were pulled over to make up the numbers. No matter whether it was covered with a layer of hard cowhide or the leather was riveted with iron sheets, Horik pieced together a "strong" cavalry team. He had five hundred cavalry,
Most of them are located in the capital.
The cavalry gathered first, and the four hundred cavalry gradually completed the assembly. A large number of infantry also began to appear on the winding alleys. The soldiers were unruly. Since the Russians were invading in large numbers, it was better to take the opportunity to defeat them at once. Because Horik and his army
, based on traditional ideas, eager for a decisive battle to solve the problem of frequent harassment by the Russians.
Horik himself wore iron armor, with a large helmet buckled on his round face. He also rode a war horse and led his soldiers to the battlefield. He would not rush to the front line. Behind him, except for the huge
In addition to the cavalry, there were as many as 1,500 infantrymen present.
A large number of civilians scrambled to escape from the army, including the soldiers' wives, with their children, either evacuating into the inner city protected by the wooden wall, or continuing to run south, hiding in the undeveloped forests of Jutland.
The port of this city faces the north, so the invasion of the Russian navy is already facing the south. The triangular sail takes the ship against the wind. After arriving at a suitable location, the work of anchoring and releasing the boat begins.
Each ship faced the beach on its port side, and ten people were seated in the rowing boats. Four people were rowing, and six people were waiting with crossbows. In the middle of them was a cart and a heavier torsion slingshot.
Rurik's eyes were solemn. He had already seen a large number of people walking towards the seaside. It was afternoon, and the metal objects that reflected the sunlight were clearly visible. The horns blown by the enemy could not be heard unless they were deaf.
He first ordered the flagship: "Brothers, our army is about to land on the beach, beware of the enemy launching a counterattack on the beach! Get your torque slingshot ready and obey my orders!"
The semaphore soldiers also gave orders to the enemy ships on the broadside. As many as one hundred and twenty torsion slingshots were set at an ejection angle, with large spiral feather javelins installed on them. The soldiers were waiting for the order to mount and shoot.
At the same time, the fifty ships of the first landing echelon carrying the most elite armored warriors saw the approaching enemy.
I'm afraid the effect of the raid has been lost! Some people complained that it took too much time to carry a lot of heavy weapons when disembarking, while others murmured that the enemy had already been informed of the situation.
It is inevitable for everyone to have concerns. Now we can only believe that the fire support of the prince can be effective and that the brothers' will to fight is absolutely decisive.
Landing on the beach is glorious. Ragnar and Arik, as brave men, naturally lead the charge with their elite melee fighters.
The Finns in the rear are not theatergoers. They do not operate torsion slingshots. Instead, under the leadership of Jevlo, they use longbows to launch extremely tight distances. There are a hundred longbows made from ash trees.
The range is equivalent to the maximum range of the torque slingshot, which can shoot light arrows to a distance of 300 meters.
What does this amount to? Look at the current Ross fleet, which is less than 200 meters away from the coast.
The landmen were now rowing slowly because they were worried that a premature landing would make them a target in front of the enemy.
Contrary to the caution of the Rus' army was the noisy counterattack of the Danish Royal Army in Godfreyhagen.
The cavalry regiment suddenly showed their terrifying phantom!
The cavalry appeared! The number was really quite large.
Rurik was shocked and couldn't help but take three steps back. He didn't expect that the enemy had such a large amount of cavalry. Although he was well-equipped, especially if this group of cavalry suddenly launched a counterattack and drove the newly landed warriors into the sea, the Russian army would not be able to do anything.
There will be heavy losses, because if an armored warrior falls into the sea, he is almost certain to be dragged down by the heavy armor and drown.
"Damn it! Torque slingshot! Shoot! Semaphore! Order to fight!"
The Avora was the first to fire, and even Queen Svetlana, like everyone else, almost simultaneously pulled the rope connecting the tenon pin.
The flagship launched the javelin salvo first, and the other ships had to follow suit.
"Quick! Keep winding! Fire with full force for both primary and secondary parts!" Rurik yelled at the top of his lungs, and Lana also felt the fear behind her husband's roar.
Yes, Rurik was afraid that the enemy cavalry would launch a counterattack just as the Ross army arrived at the beach, because the first boat had already landed, and the landing soldiers with crossbows fired the first arrow at the cavalry not far away.
The wooden-armed crossbow is ineffective against cowhide horse armor inlaid with iron plates when shooting light arrows. Only the steel-armed crossbow is suitable for shooting armor-piercing heavy arrows.
However, some landing soldiers fired armor-piercing arrows, catching the Danish cavalry by surprise.
But the troopers were no longer focused on the Ross Landers' strange performance.
Look at the sky! What is that buzz?!
General Rustand raised his head with squinted eyes. Dense black strips were flying towards the cavalry. By the time he realized that they looked like short spears, it was already too late.
"Ah! Danger!"
Ross' javelin fell from the sky, hitting his head and face, spinning and falling with strong potential energy, and it was bound to cause great killings.
They carried a thick buzzing sound like wild bees dancing wildly, and their sound was so powerful that it caused the horses to neigh, and then turned into mourning!
The sharp spearheads smashed through the leather armor of the cavalry soldiers and penetrated the unprotected necks of the horses. The manes of the war horses were stained with blood, and the soldiers were pierced. The cavalry in a dense array were a good target. They were simply
Being beaten passively.
The Danish cavalry troops suffered casualties after the first salvo, but what was worse than the casualties was the chaos caused.
The horse vomited blood and collapsed, then struggled to its death. Some of the uninjured cavalry were also pinned down by the collapsed horse and could not move. Those fatally injured cavalry were bleeding crazily and were about to lose their lives.
At first, the cavalry was in chaos. After the Russian army's "javelin formation", there was another round of arrows.
Look what good things the Ross Army is doing?!
Javlo was sitting on the Gurdot, and almost the entire ship was composed of his Finnish warriors. This group of short soldiers all held longbows. Under his orders, they launched cluster ejections with a high-intensity rhythm, causing the entire ship to
It is the most dazzling firepower output unit in the entire army.
With just this blow, the output of the round was more than a hundred arrows thrown at a high elevation angle. The cone-shaped quenched steel arrow clusters were extremely armor-piercing. The soldiers aimed at the direction of Yevro's fingers and launched the arrows. They were absolutely
Non-indiscriminate shooting relies on the so-called "barrage density" to achieve efficient killing of enemies.
Because Javlo has noticed that only a small number of Danish cavalry have been exposed, and most of the cavalry are hidden in the twists and turns of the alleys.
The dense arrows struck down with strong momentum, and the hard cowhide armor was no different from an ordinary wooden board.
The cavalry were shot in large numbers, and the arrow clusters penetrated very deeply into the flesh. Different from other broad-bladed barb-type arrow clusters, these armor-piercing arrows focused on penetration. The slender arrow clusters penetrated into the Danish cavalry soldiers' flesh.
Injury to the body, smashing the iron helmet directly through the skull, causing the soldier to die immediately, or smashing through the chest and drilling holes in the lungs, causing extremely painful hemopneumothorax, or even directly puncturing the heart. Being shot directly is considered good, but being killed
If it penetrates the lung, the soldier will suffocate to death.
More than just tactical support for longbowmen? When the torsion slingshot is loaded for the second time, it fires conical cast-iron bullets that can spin due to friction with the air. A half-pound projectile also falls from the sky, and its kinetic energy is greater.
Ke never expects it to smash through the enemy's body efficiently. It has been proven in many actual battles that throwing this object from a long distance can always break the enemy's bones. This is enough.
Looking at the rowing boats that were eager to land, Arik and Ragnar were stationed near the shore.
"Shoot arrows at them! No matter what you do, shoot as fast as possible!" Arik ordered, and his men followed suit.
This is the fighting style of the Rus people. In Ragnar's view, this method of killing the enemy without staining the sword is not glorious. It is indeed a method of efficient killing. His warriors were also specially distributed with crossbows and a large number of short logs.
Bow. Of course, good archers need to train for a long time, but now the enemies are standing densely like wooden targets. It is enough for the soldiers to draw the bow and fire it.
At this moment, for King Horik of Denmark who was watching the battle, everything was a military disaster!
This short fat man looked quite tall while riding a horse. He had never been on the front line of the cavalry, and now he was extremely glad that his actions were so wise.
"Ah what's going on?! My soldiers!"
"Don't be chaotic! Stabilize your position and raise your shield!"
"Don't run around and maintain your line..."
He shouted as hard as he could, but the chaos at this moment was no longer something that he, a man, could shake off just by shouting.
Some cavalrymen also tried to raise their round shields to block their own attack, but they were hit by fierce projectiles and the entire shield collapsed. The soldiers were shocked to see their arms twisting strangely in pain. The strong tremors were the best.
The soldier lost consciousness in his left arm due to the shock, and the unlucky man suffered a comminuted fracture of his left arm.
Why pursue a one-hit kill? The current situation is most beneficial to the Ross army by creating chaos among the enemy.
The cavalry regiment began to disintegrate, and the soldiers pulled on the reins one after another to retreat to the rear. The narrow alleyway gave the retreaters a huge obstacle, and they were jammed, but at this time the Russians were still firing their hateful arrows.
Horik saw the loss of the cavalry, and his heart was bleeding. He had never seen such a useless battle situation in his life, and he finally thought of evading it for the time being.
The cavalry troops near the coast were obviously in great confusion, and the infantry at the rear was still unclear. However, as the Ross army fired arrows and projectiles deeper, the infantry also began to suffer sudden and inexplicable losses.
"We must evacuate the beach. King! If we don't evacuate now, our brothers will continue to die!" A general advised Horik to avoid the edge for the time being.
For the time being, Horik was still undecided, but the Russians seemed to have no fun shooting arrows, and then he thought of blowing the horn for the entire army to retreat.
The trumpets of the Danish army were deafening, seeming to overwhelm the shouts of the Russian army.
Rurik squinted and noticed the changes on the battlefield. He couldn't help but murmured: "I thought you were all fools, but now you finally think of retreating?"
The retreat of the Danish army was obvious, and Svetlana shouted crisply: "What should we do now? They are far away, and our arrows will not be able to hit them."
"It doesn't matter!" Rurik hurriedly turned his head and faced everyone busy on the deck: "Continue to launch! Even if the enemy withdraws from the range, we must continue to launch. We must create a safe landing site for the landing troops."
Maybe King Horik of Denmark is not a fool, but the way he commands the army is like a big fool. Arik has already set foot on the Danish territory with his sword and shield. He really can't figure out how his brother Ragnar could be betrayed by such a person.
The tribe was destroyed by the defeat. Is it just that the Russian army was too strong?
Rows of rowing boats washed up directly on the beach, and soldiers with crossbows were still waiting for opportunities to take aim.
The rowing soldiers threw away their oars, hung shields on their left arms, and held steel swords in their right hands. They formed a thin shield wall, and behind the wall were soldiers holding bows and crossbows.
"Don't attack blindly first, don't be fooled by the Danes!" Arik continued to order.
Although there are soldiers who are eager to fight, as veterans of the glorious First Standard, they dare not act rashly to ruin their honor. Their shield wall is as solid as a rock, and the crossbows behind the wall are carefully aimed.
Relying on their superior firepower, the Russian army completed the beach landing without spending a single soldier. They caused a great chaos in the Danish army. A large number of war horses and squirming limbs were already visible to the naked eye.
The horns of the Danish army were still blowing, and rumbling sounds were heard from the densely packed buildings. It was actually infantry armed with various weapons rushing to evacuate to the inner city. At the same time, the cavalry troops were also panicking, and the iron horse paws even trampled the living people to death.
Thousands of people had to flee to so-called safe places, and there were a lot of tramples on each other.
Even though he hated his bad move, King Horik of Denmark had already fled back to the inner city. He was still frightened and ordered his archers to board the wooden wall one after another to monitor the Russian army and wait for an opportunity to block the enemy's attack on the city.
He stamped his feet in anger, hoping that most of his cavalry could be safely withdrawn.
However, what he saw was a large number of infantrymen who were frightened and fled back before engaging the enemy. Their faces were full of panic. How did his brave men in Flanders become like this?!
He stood outside the largest wooden door and raised his sword to scold the fleeing infantry: "What are you afraid of?! Odin's warriors are actually afraid of the Rus?"
All he could do now was curse, and seeing the retreating soldiers stop retreating after entering the inner city, he was glad that the situation did not continue to deteriorate.
Finally, the neighing of the war horses was clearly visible!
The cavalry began to move quickly to withdraw into the inner city. With the first cavalry, the rest of the cavalry withdrew safely.
The infantrymen did not dare to interfere with this group of giant beasts charging in the opposite direction. After all, they saw their unlucky companions trampled into minced meat with their own eyes...
The infantry temporarily hid in the vacant huts on both sides of the alley, allowing the untouchable men to rush back to the inner city. But behind them were the "everything-devouring monsters", and the infantry did not dare to look back, let alone rescue their injured companions.
Bring your own weapons and enter the inner city along the rugged land trampled by the cavalry.
The wooden wall gave the Danes strong self-confidence. A group of Russians coming across the sea could not break down the wall?
The cavalry lingered in the black field of the inner city, where King Horik once reviewed his proud army, and now this is where the huge army gathers.
General Rustand had blood on his face. He was greatly frightened and rode his horse to approach his king.
Unable to help others speak first, Horik hurriedly asked about the situation on the front line: "You! What did you see?!"
"Death! Horrible death!" Rustand was clearly frightened: "One of my brothers had his head smashed by an unknown object, and blood splattered all over me!"
"What happened to that brother?!"
"The head is gone and his horse is dead."
"how are you?"
"It seemed that Odin didn't want me to die immediately, so I withdrew."
Horik looked in disbelief when he heard the description of a soldier who was killed by a headshot. Although Rustand's words were exaggerated, he was indeed hit in the face by a high-impact projectile, but he was not just shot in the head.
Horik continued to ask: "Where's Stud? The lame guy didn't come back?!"
"He died. I watched him being pierced by two spears, man and horse."
"Oh no!" A big hand covered his face. Although the man was disabled, he was still a subordinate who dared to fight. Horik slapped his face and lamented: "Why on earth! Are the Russians planning to kill him?
My life. Did I really provoke them?"
"Maybe we demolished their shops and killed a hundred of them." Rustand said nervously.
"That's it? They want my life? The Franks are not as ruthless as they are."
"Maybe those rumors are true." Rustand continued.
"Burning Bremen?"
"Exactly. King, we have to take precautions. If the Russians really participated in burning down Bremen, they might also burn down our Godfrey Hagen. I'm not afraid of dying in battle, but I just don't want to die as a coward."
.Their arrows are too dangerous, King! What should we do?"
How did Horik know what to do? He was so frightened by the arrow array of the Ross army that he could not judge the situation properly, so he had to order his men to close the city gates. Anyway, there was more food and grass in the city, so he could stop it for a while. But he still
Not wanting to sit still and wait for death, he began to arrange for the cavalry to go out of the city through the small gate and head south to notify the various lords to send troops immediately to serve the king. No matter how many people sent troops, even a hundred people would be beneficial.
However, the development of the battle situation was really strange. When Horik thought that the Ross army would take advantage of the chaos to pursue them, he did not expect that the group of guys stayed at the port and did not continue to march.
Maybe they still have to fight a decisive battle? If it is a siege, as the defenders, they will take advantage of the location.
Horik had already climbed onto the wooden wall and saw the Ross troops landing one after another. His frightened heart calmed down a little, but eventually turned into arrogant taunts.
"Russians, your hateful arrows can't hit me now. You can land and attack the city if you have the guts! Your mortal enemy is under the wooden wall of this city. I will use your blood to fight for my virtue."
Frehagen sacrifice! Hahahaha!"
The Russian army could not hear the arrogant laughter of a king. After the army stabilized the landing beach, a large-scale landing was accompanied by the robbery of Danish fishing boats, and the landing speed accelerated. Because the captured oars and long boats joined the landing, one ship
Carrying thirty men and heavy weapons, it washed directly onto the beach.
More and more Russian troops landed on Danish territory, and the port turned into a blue and white ocean, with Russian flags flying arrogantly, each one like a palm slapping Horik. Because compared to the dense Ross army,
Banner, Horik's raven banner looks too lonely.
There was no need for any conversation between the two sides, and Horik didn't bother to know the details. Even if he knew, so what? The battle of attacking and defending the city still had to be staged, and the battle still had to be fought.
Horik did not dare to evacuate easily. He had to defend bravely until he waited for reinforcements from other lords, and then formed a double flanking trend against the Ross army and launched a defensive counterattack. This was already the victory he could think of.
The bravest method, but the morale of his soldiers was not high. The shocked people felt that today was terrible, and no one knew what tomorrow would bring.