Chapter 929 The Battle of Aleb Fortress Breaks Out
Liudov's Frank cavalry, who only wanted to evacuate the battlefield, had no time to care about their wounded and wounded comrades. After successfully passing through the trench protecting the city, the winch controlling the suspension bridge quickly pulled up the wooden bridge.
When the last cavalryman rushed into the stone wall regardless of his injuries, those who controlled the suspension bridge also hurriedly fled back.
Liu Dofu tightened his grip on the reins and kept shouting: "Quick! Block the gate! Push the vehicles over to block the city gate!"
Then it pointed its sword at the people who were already on the city wall: "Hurry up and pick up your bows, arrows and stones, don't let them try to climb the city!"
Regardless of whether the defenders received these verbal orders or not, the thought of destroying the city would kill them, and the armed militiamen rushed to the east-facing city wall in large numbers.
There are thick walls made of tall stones, and trenches dug deliberately outside the walls.
Just last autumn, it was this group of laborers who saw this happening, carrying stones, cutting down big trees, and using various tools to dig pits around the fortress.
Some people's work is to defend against war, and now the time has come to test the results of their work! It is that they have no desire for this war.
People's faces were twitching, and their hands holding stones were shaking.
The warriors holding bows tried their best to remain calm, hoping for a miracle to happen.
From the perspective of these people, the war surrounding the Aleb Fortress on the Lindholm Isthmus was the largest civil war that broke out in the Danish world in the long history of the past.
In the past, each lord would organize armies to attack each other in order to obtain the title of leader (king) and real strength, but the scale of the war has never been as huge as it is today.
Maybe this is a battle of faith.
Some tribes in Denmark practice their reverence for Odin and the Nordic gods, and some convert to God.
As for the resident Saxons, they originally fled to Denmark in order to continue their belief in sacred trees, but in the end they could not escape the fate of converting to God in order to survive.
Whether these Danes or Saxons believe in God in an absolute sense, it is obvious that the real battle that follows has little to do with illusory faith.
This war is almost about killing for the sake of killing. You kill the enemy if you don't want to be killed yourself. It's exactly the same when you change your identity.
Now, no one thinks that the coming battle can be contained by some kind of force. The attacker is eager to fight, and the defender can only risk everything to defend.
In the past, in the civil war in Denmark, the participants joined the battle as soldiers, and they were prepared to die in battle the moment they took up arms.
And today's battle is related to the lives of everyone in the fortress.
It was in this desperate situation that the desire for survival trumped everything else. In order to survive, the Danes and Saxons had to engage in the most brutal civil war with their fellow Danes who were attacking.
The fratricide is so pitiful, but Ragna now does not regard the people who betrayed Odin in the fortress ahead as fellow racers.
An army of tens of thousands of people launched an attack regardless of priority. For this siege, Ragnar made preparations overnight.
If the main force of the Russian army were here, how would they attack a city protected by high walls?
It would probably involve using some heavy equipment, such as dozens of warriors hugging a large tree trunk and constantly hitting the city gate. There is also a simpler and more risky method, which is to make some long ladders and forcefully climb the wall.
These two heavy weapons Ragnar are crafted from existing materials.
Some buildings in the village of Lindholm were maliciously demolished. Three of the straight oak beams of the longhouse were pieced together and tied with hemp rope to create a battering ram.
Where can you get as much pleasure from breaking down doors as climbing walls and breaching cities?
More than ten longhouses were demolished, creating as many as thirty long ladders of average quality.
It would have been impossible to complete the production of these siege equipment overnight without the support of the Russian army's partial division based on some parts and materials.
Of course, this is also due to the fact that Ragnar's new Danish army has come into contact with the Kingdom of Rus and is no longer an absolute barbarian who can only "fight in groups".
They ushered in a key innovation in tactical awareness.
Therefore, the defenders faced a difficult challenge in their attempt to contain the barbarian offensive with tall city walls.
…
Liudov, who returned to the city, hurriedly dismounted and was distressed to see that not even half of the returning cavalrymen were there.
Many people were covered with arrows with brown and yellow feathers. Their chainmails were useless against these arrows. The arrow clusters had penetrated deeply into the soldiers' flesh. As for the soldiers who did not fall off their horses on the battlefield, it was probably because of their powerful strength.
Willpower and the desire to survive depend on perseverance.
Until they entered the fortress, they could no longer hold on.
More than a dozen cavalrymen fell directly from their horses. When their companions hurriedly dismounted to check, they were shocked to find that they were almost dead.
Seeing this scene, Liudov held his head with both hands, his eyes were as wide as bells, and he covered his head and roared in despair.
Because these are the cronies he brought from his hometown in the fiefdom! There are a large number of small lords here, all of whom are well-known military nobles in their Westphalian fiefdom.
In this cavalry battle, he actually lost 80% of his military nobles?
Even among the warriors who survived and were still standing on the ground, most of them were wounded. The warriors bravely pulled out the arrow clusters on their bodies, vomiting blood and lamenting that their chainmail armor was useless.
What is more cruel than the loss of cavalry soldiers is the loss of war horses!
Once there are no horses, the cavalry can only fight as heavy infantry. The current situation is that there are not even one intact horse left.
The proud cavalry had lost its combat effectiveness, and only a hundred of them had successfully retreated to the fort alive, and they were generally injured.
Sadly, now is the time to employ people. Knowing that the last of his cronies are exhausted and injured, the current defensive battle cannot be without the participation of these people.
Facing the failure of the cavalry, the saint Eskil who went north almost fainted. He steeled himself, held up the palm with the gilded cross on it, looked up to the sky and shouted: "O Lord! Save your poor lamb! Send down the wrath of thunder,
Kill the attacking Normans!"
Of course, the Lord did not appear. Ragnar's New Danish Army and the partial division of the Russian Army armed with a large number of torsion slingshots had already approached the outer city wall of the fortress.
Liudov, who had been furious for a while, regained his rationality. He violently pulled out the arrows from his body, looked at the blood stains on the sharp arrow clusters, and broke them angrily.
He also ordered his subordinates: "Those who are still strong should follow me! Guard our fortress!"
…
The perspective shifts back to the outside of the city.
Although the victory was achieved, Fisk's cavalry also suffered losses.
Looking at the infantry coming one after another, the cavalry heard his shocking order.
"Siege warfare is not our strength. Take away the injured brothers and we will retreat to the rear to rest!"
Really want to retreat? Why not pursue the victory?
The vengeful cavalry soldiers had no choice but to follow orders. They dragged away their wounded or killed comrades in the hope that they would still have a chance to fight.
The Ross cavalry performed a large-scale killing of the Frank cavalry. The battlefield was littered with the corpses of enemy cavalry, as well as a large amount of "horse meat".
From the standpoint of Ragnar, Spyut, and a large number of warriors, what the Ross Cavalry accomplished was clearly a one-sided killing.
However, Fisk was unhappy about this battle. When he was making a tactical withdrawal, he met the Russian army's orderly division. The embarrassment on his face was clearly seen by Spyut.
"Those Frankish cavalry are nothing more than that. Boy! You win!"
Si Puyut squinted his eyes and boasted, beating his chest with the hilt of his sword to express his inner praise.
Fisk, who held the reins tightly, forced a smile: "Who knew they could actually throw axes. I killed and injured thirty brothers, I'm sorry to the king."
"Really? I'm afraid the king won't blame you. We all saw it. You almost completely wiped out the enemy's cavalry. Thank you for your hard work. Go to the rear to recuperate and heal. The next step is a battle with our infantry."
"Okay!" Spute nodded: "You must send me a signal when you enter the city. I will summon the elite cavalry to charge again and join the melee in the city."
The cavalrymen retreated from the front line and met people pushing and pulling the torsion slingshot trolley.
A large number of handcarts were loaded with slingshots unloaded from the ship, as many as fifty, and some even required the help of multiple people to carry them because there were not enough handcarts.
Heavy weapons were hidden behind the army, concealed by a large number of waving flags.
The Russian army's partial division formed an orderly formation, and the towering thousand spears of the Slavic army completely created a moving forest.
Their march was too steady, which was deliberate by Spyut.
Because it had been negotiated before the war, this is Jutland, the land of the Danes! Naturally, the new Danish king Ragnar should be the first to complete the occupation of the fortress.
The Russians would not take the credit from themselves. The enemy's cavalry had turned into horse meat visible to the naked eye. The new Danish Royal Army was so powerful that their march was formationless. Everyone hoped to be the first to break the city.
People only get the best property first.
Indeed, now Ragna can only call on the lords to risk their lives based on the basic principle of "whoever grabs the silver coins first will get it".
So the first batch of New Danish Royal Army soldiers rushed to the trench outside the outer city.
Some people who rushed quickly were stunned and fell into a stew!
If you suddenly fell into a pit that was taller than a person, you would definitely fall down and chew the mud, not to mention that some sharpened pine branches were deliberately inserted into the pit.
The sharp wooden branches were originally inserted as soon as the trench was dug last autumn. After a winter, these wooden branches returned to dryness, but after being soaked by freezing rain, the wooden branches became quite brittle.
Many soldiers who accidentally rushed into the trench were pierced through the body. Those who were lucky enough to survive were immediately attacked by the enemy.
It was a large number of people standing on the solid stone wall. With strong anger, they smashed down the stones that could be found everywhere in the fortress.
The arrows were also fired from a high position, and combined with the rocks, they immediately hit the first group of attackers with headlong blows.
Ragna had never seen this scene before.
A large number of soldiers were still rushing forward, and more people fell into the trench.
To be fair, it is not difficult to climb up from the trench. It is not particularly steep. As long as you spend some time and use swords and battle axes as tools, you can climb up to the level ground.
But now this was impossible, those warriors who fell in were heavily targeted, and anyone who tried to crawl back was shot with precision.
To make matters worse, the attackers kept squeezing the front line, and even those who were lucky enough to climb up were pushed back into the trench in an instant.
In a short period of time, hundreds of people were squeezed into the ditch. Those soldiers who were originally fine but unfortunately were pressed at the bottom were gradually suffocated to death by their companions.
"Don't rush! This is a trap."
Ragnar was trying his best to maintain order and called on people to remain calm.
Unfortunately, the roaring and wailing completely suppressed his roar.
The New Danish Army's attack was delayed by the trenches. At first they didn't think much of the scale of the city wall, but now they had to break through the man-eating trenches and then climb the tall stone walls.
Is this also a way of war?
Ragnar, who led a team to launch a siege for the first time, learned a painful lesson with his blood under the Aleb Fortress, and this lesson continued to worsen.
The stone falls like a flash avalanche!
Small stones are as big as fists, and can be thrown about forty meters away by human effort. Large stones need to be held with both hands, and they are moved to the battlements and then lowered, relying on gravity and inertia to slam the people under the ditch.
After suffering heavy losses at the beginning, the new Danish army, which was slightly more sober, began to retreat.
Maybe it's wrong to attack in this direction. Can't we just change the direction and try again?
Most of them were made by the lords themselves, and they took their own people and spread them out to the two wings.
However, what is desperate is that the entire fort is surrounded by a circle of trenches!
The entire fortress is large or small. Stones and wood create a circle of walls, and the walls are guarded by enemies.
The current battle situation is too confusing, like a piece of crab in front of you, without the right tools, you can't eat it.
Because Liu Doufu, a chicken thief, left two gates for the fortress, the gates have winch-lifted door panels and are equipped with a winch-driven suspension bridge.
There is only a very narrow flat area between the outer city wall and the trench, which makes it impossible for siege soldiers to deploy, and it is even less possible to secure long ladders.
The Saxons in this region support Liudov. With such public opinion, it is understandable to arrange some undue tasks, right? Liudov deliberately arranged for the people to dig deep pits and build high walls. This could verify the loyalty of the people, and it was also his exaggeration of security.
Demand. In today's battle, my strict requirements for building the city are obviously the most correct decision!
Now, his life is saved, and so is Eskil's.
Is this really the case?
Liudov ignored the arrow wounds on his body and commanded the troops to fight hard on the city wall. He also saw a group of priests wearing hooded black robes, led by Esquier, standing on the top of the city, holding high a cross and reading scriptures, as if
God can give divine power to the defenders.
If divine power was really useful, he would not build the Aleb Fortress.
To a large extent, this fortified city actually defended against the forces of Horik in the north. Horik was a Norman pirate, and he had rebelled against the kingdom many times and surrendered many times. Maybe he suddenly had a seizure and rebelled again.
In order to avoid being attacked, defeated and used as a sacrifice, the strong Aleb Castle was built in a short time.
Now, the defenders were shooting from the arrow towers and throwing various stones on the city walls.
The New Danish Army on the attacking side was forced by the war situation to be unable to continue the attack and risk death, and did not want to shamefully admit that the first battle was unfavorable.
Ragnar and many Sealand lords kept a safe distance with their troops. Anyone with a discerning eye could see that they did not do a good job of battlefield reconnaissance at the beginning and therefore knew nothing about the trench traps. Now they are trying to break through the trenches and build long ladders to force them.
It is basically impossible to attack the city.
However, there is a breakthrough point on the battlefield - the main entrance.
The trench at the main entrance is severely bent, forming a large platform at the entrance. However, the defense there is also the strongest. In order for the army to invade and deploy the siege ram, the drawbridge problem must first be solved.
It might also be possible to use brutal tactics, that is, to forcefully fill in the trenches, but this is almost impossible.
While they were at a loss, they also completely blocked the Ross army's offensive route.
Spruit and Medved, who led the troops in an orderly and unhurried march, were speechless as they were anxious about the battle ahead.
The two men walked in front of the formation, and behind them were two thousand Russian troops.
"What is that Ragnar doing? He wants honor but he is not attacking the city." Medved asked doubtfully.
"We have obviously encountered difficulties, and it seems that this difficulty is not something we can easily overcome."
Spyut showed obvious concern. Since even the genuine Varyags had difficulty attacking the city, Medved also became cautious.
"What do you decide?" he asked.
Sipuyut made up his mind: "Let's meet with Ragna first. Let the group of cowards watching the battle get out of the way, and then we can use all the torque slingshots."
"Ah?! I can tell it's a stone wall. Are you going to let the slingshot knock the wall down?"
"How is it possible? It's just to assist Ragnaden City. We will march step by step. Listen, the Danish people are killing people in the civil war, which is beneficial to the future of our Kingdom of Rus."
Medved's eyebrows trembled when he heard this: "I... thought you regarded Ragnar as a friend. Are you happy to see them die in battle?"
"You misunderstood. I have nothing to do with them. It's just that the king's order requires us to keep cooperating. That is..." Spyut looked at the castle wall that had been fighting for a long time and was close at hand: "Even if we stay
King Rick is here, and he must not have thought that this fortress is as hard as iron. Ragnar's people suffered a large number of casualties, so we can avoid our casualties. I repeat, Ross does not need a strong Denmark."