Chapter 954: Which is the strongest against the wall and the spear wall?
Rurik was standing in the first row of the array. His clothes were not outstanding, or in other words, the clothes of the main army soldiers were too outstanding and could no longer highlight his specialness.
But all the warriors know that their king is standing in the front row, and the king is standing with them, and everyone is confident.
Likewise, they have almost no way out.
Everyone knows that even if there are a large number of long boats parked by the river, it will take some time to jump on the boat and escape in a short time, even if it is in an orderly manner.
There was almost no possibility of escaping the battlefield. Behind them was the Elbe River, and everyone fought with their last legs.
The warriors who had experienced many battles faced the cavalry forming the wall on the opposite side, and it was true that they were not afraid. They had experienced many fierce battles, and relied on willpower to suppress the fear in their hearts. They silently chanted "Odin bless me" in their hearts.
Prayers for a speedy victory.
The Russian army and the allied Saxon army chose a passive strategy, and Rurik waited for the enemy to attack with force. If that didn't work, then create conditions to "invite" them to attack.
As long as you provoke them, will they immediately attack?
If you kill a few Frank prisoners in front of the battle, it should anger them.
Rurik did not want to do such a despicable act. After all, there were many ways to anger them.
Now, all the spears and halberds were placed at their feet. At first glance, the entire army seemed to be sword and shield bearers. They were a large group of soldiers standing upright, and they were pillars of flesh that could be directly overwhelmed by the cavalry group.
Rurik began to shout, which immediately caused all the warriors to let out a Viking war cry.
This roar is very rhythmic, with nearly ten thousand mouths shouting at the same time, which is a powerful deterrent. If it is not enough as a means of provocation.
Nearly a hundred warriors holding crossbows deliberately walked out of the array under Rurik's instruction. Their fully charged weapons were placed on the grass, leaving the array and forming a human wall, as if they were engaging in a performance art.
Count Robert, who was busy arranging his formation and preparing to charge forward, did not understand that he still needed some time to organize his lances.
"What are the Normans doing? They have sent out some people to challenge us as vanguards?" He said to himself, and continued to stare.
Suddenly, the nearly one hundred Russian soldiers suddenly turned around, took off their standard trousers and twisted their waists continuously.
A piece of white stuff suddenly appeared in front of the Frank cavalry. Robert, who was originally confused, suddenly turned into a rage.
He is a great nobleman and a decent man! This kind of exposure and humiliation is really unjustifiable.
"A bunch of idiots." As he spoke, he raised his spear high and shouted at his subordinates: "In front of us are a bunch of despicable maggots. They dare to humiliate us and let us stab them to death! Trumpeter! Blow the trumpet.
!”
The Frank cavalry moved in response to the sound of the trumpet, and the upright spears began to gradually lower themselves.
After they made such a move, it was obvious what would happen next.
Rurik's serious expression quickly turned into urgency. He shouted at the top of his voice to the soldiers in front who were responsible for humiliating the enemy: "Come back quickly, pick up your weapons and lie down!"
The Frankish army was about to charge, and the arrow was ready to be fired.
Robert looked left and right again. His left arm was extremely painful to move due to the injury, but this battle was about honor and the security of the country. He tied the reins to his shoulders and clamped them under his armpits. He was intact.
His right hand holds the lance, and his iron sword is placed across the saddle, so that he can quickly draw the sword and chop after the lance breaks.
Like other cavalrymen, his left and right legs in stirrups were covered with small kite shields. His whole body was covered with chain mail, and he wore a layer of cowhide and riveted iron armor on his torso.
Most of the elite soldiers have achieved such outrageous assembly, and it is precisely because they are preparing for a decisive battle that they deliberately take out this "Decisive Battle Armor" and put it on their bodies.
These elite cavalry were all wearing Western European heavy armor of this era. The chests of their war horses were also well protected, and even their heads were protected by cowhide and riveted iron plates.
The elite of the Frankish army were known as the "Iron Men", which was the military foundation for their expansion into a large empire.
Facing a group of "iron men", the Russian army was not afraid. After all, the brothers were all "iron men".
Now, Robert felt everything was ready.
"attack!"
As a result, the wall of cavalry began to advance slowly and gradually accelerated.
The ground was shaking, and they could see the wall-mounted attack. Everyone in Liudov's Saxon army on the right was in danger. In fact, if it weren't for a last-ditch battle, many of them would have run away. Fortunately, Liudov had spoken in advance, and anyone who dared to escape would be killed.
hanged.
Everyone knew that Liudov really dared to do this. Just a few days ago, ninety defeatists had been publicly executed.
The Russian army followed the previous arrangement. The upright warriors bent down one after another, first stepped on the end of the spear with their right foot, and held the spear shaft with their hands interlaced.
Thousands of people bowed almost at the same time, which puzzled Robert, who was already charging faster and faster. He had no time to think about why.
Because all the Frankish cavalry have entered the effective range of the arrows.
"shooting!"
Rurik gave an order, and the only chance to shoot was now. Fifteen hundred crossbowmen, as well as the torsion slingshots sandwiched among them, fired nearly one thousand six hundred arrows and javelins in an instant.
The javelin carries a strong potential energy, regardless of the armor of the man and the horse, even the double-layered armor, is powerless in front of the surface-hardened low-carbon needle-like javelin.
The javelin pierced the cavalry with both men and horses, instantly killing one combatant.
Those light arrows crackled against the cavalry, which was similar to their encounter on the banks of the Weser River. Many arrows did pierce the body, and the arrow clusters penetrated the ring and penetrated into the flesh, but it was not a fatal wound at all. Even due to the absolute
The soldiers were in high spirits and felt no pain. The arrow feathers on their bodies were very obvious and were an unlucky burden. They still continued to charge with their spears in hand.
Only the heavy arrows fired by the steel-arm crossbows caused damage, but they were still not as effective as the javelins fired by the torque slingshot.
Above the heads of the Ross military formation, endless whooshing sounds passed by my ears. It was the various long-range weapons on the battleships. More arrows and javelins struck the Frankish cavalry in depth, causing a lot of casualties. But the ship-borne
Weapons also only have one chance. When the two armies meet, the rest will be pure bloody hand-to-hand combat.
Rurik did not expect that a single salvo could collapse the elite of the legendary Frankish army. The job of the arrows was to delay the effectiveness of the enemy's assault. It would be great if they could disrupt their rhythm.
"Crossbowmen! Withdraw! Spears! Up!"
Rurik ordered this, and regardless of whether the archers heard the verbal order or not, they had already shot the only arrow, picked up the weapons in their hands, and rushed to the military formation rolling and crawling.
Even Rurik's evacuation was disgraceful.
Like a groundhog, Rurik almost crawled into the infantry formation. When he stood up again, his infantry had already revealed their hidden spears and halberds.
Look at these warriors!
The warriors in the three rows in front all have the end of the spear pressed against their right foot, and the entire right leg is stretched straight back. The left leg of the person is half bent, the entire torso reaches forward and sinks, and the hands are interlaced to hold the spear shaft.
The spear extends forward at an angle of approximately 30°.
The soldiers behind were already far away from the front line, so they raised their spear butts almost to the same height as their faces, preparing to engage in battle and then thrust forward.
This is already the spear formation tactic of the late Middle Ages. Coupled with the use of matchlocks and steel-armed crossbows, the so-called Spanish Grand Phalanx moves sideways in this way.
It is now the year 840, and there is not much intrigue in the European War.
Even when he saw the Normans suddenly forming a dense formation of spears, this was the first time Robert had seen this tactic. He instinctively felt it was dangerous, but unfortunately the entire army could not stop.
The cavalry warrior almost lay on the horse's back, holding on to the lance tightly and waiting for the final collision.
The soldiers of the Russian army gritted their teeth, their heads went blank, and their bones were almost broken, waiting for the final collision.
Now, the collision happened!
Gujuan
Look!
The lances of the Frank cavalry began to poke at the Russian soldiers, and the spearheads penetrated the men.
Likewise, more spearheads penetrated deeply into the flesh and blood of the horses, and the halberds even hooked the cavalrymen off their horses.
A cavalryman was riddled with bloody holes by the spear wall, and a large number of spear shafts were completely shattered by just one collision. The impact of the collision was so fierce that even sharpened wooden spears pierced the gaps in the armor.
Or force the war horse to suddenly "stop the horse".
Because of the victory instinct of horses, when they see a lot of sharp objects, they will instinctively avoid them because it means injury and death. Unlike humans, who will face the charge directly because of some great cause, knowing that they will die if they continue to do it.
The cavalry did not even break through the weakest Saxon army's right defense line, even though the latter suffered greater losses.
The wall riding was embedded in the spear array to varying degrees, and the battle line became extremely twisted, but the erosion of the wall riding had been completely contained.
Countless war horses were stabbed to death. If the war horses suddenly kicked up in front of the battle and "hurriedly let go", their soft abdomen would still be stabbed to pieces by the spears.
For a moment, the battle was full of blood and flesh, the war horses were torn to pieces by countless spears and halberds, and the sticky internal organs of the horses flowed everywhere...
The Ross army could no longer care about their own casualties. It was clear that some of their companions covered their bleeding wounds and howled, but no one tried to pull them out of the battlefield.
The most dangerous moment had passed, and the Frankish cavalry's wall-mounted offensive was disrupted.
Rurik saw that the enemy's offensive was delayed, and the soldiers continued to stab with intact spears.
He pulled out his steel sword: "Follow me and charge! We can't let them escape!"
Just after giving the order, he gave an urgent order to the flag officer behind him.
Just on the other side of the Elbe River, more armed soldiers watched the progress of the battle.
Fisk's cavalry was waiting for orders. When he saw that the bloody battle had broken out, the fire in his heart could hardly be controlled.
"Hold still! Hold still! Wait for orders!"
He constantly comforted his subordinates.
Until I saw the wildly waving flag.
"It's time! Let's go!"
As a result, more than two hundred Ross cavalry protruded out of the city of Hamburg and ran wildly on the pontoon bridge. They were all light cavalry, holding recurve bows, hoping to quickly enter the battlefield to block the enemy's possible escape route.
The waving flag was also a signal to the thousands of Danish infantrymen floating on the river who were watching eagerly.
Ragnar and his men saw what was the craziest battle, and were thankful that they were not facing the terrible impact themselves.
Now it's finally my turn to appear.
Ragnar personally acted as the oarsman and ordered the entire army to attack with all their might.
One after another longships docked, and the Danish warriors even jumped out bare-backed, ignoring the cold river water and ashore, holding round shields in one hand and various weapons in the other.
They are the most classic Viking warriors, and now they go into battle and participate in slashing the "horsemen in the blood".
But all this is no longer important to Robert.
Count Robert was not dead, but his legs were pinned down by the war horse. His legs were not broken, but he was pressed tightly and could not escape. After a sudden collision, the war horse was killed, and he himself passed out.
This is a big gamble.
If you ride on the wall and overwhelm the enemy formation and drive them into the sea, this is a victory. If they are withstood by them and the cavalry has no momentum at all, this is a small loss.
If not only the momentum is lost, but the cavalry is also surrounded and unable to escape, it will be a huge defeat.
After all, when a heavy cavalry is besieged, it is not only difficult for them to fight with two fists, but the besiegers will directly chop off the horse's hooves. As long as one hoof is injured, the cavalry will really be unable to escape.
The stalled horses had their hooves chopped off, or were stabbed directly in the abdomen by steel swords.
The Russian army was quite experienced in dealing with cavalry. They killed the war horse and directly caused the cavalry in heavy armor to fall. It was not easy to stand up wearing heavy armor, and such a fall often meant that one leg was pinned down by the war horse.
The Russian soldiers swarmed up and slashed the cavalry with swords and battle axes. It didn't matter if they were wearing armor. They smashed their faces and killed the cavalry immediately.
The life or death of the supreme commander is uncertain, or because all senior commanders took the lead out of noble honor, they are now dead or injured, and the command center is gone.
When some Frank cavalry instinctively wanted to escape from the battlefield, Ross's light cavalry came from the sky and used close-up riding and shooting to deal with these heavy cavalry who could only fight with their swords drawn.
Fisk asked the brothers to shoot accurately at the exposed parts of the enemy's skin, especially the face and neck. The moment to test their daily training is now.
The precise arrows killed a few Frank cavalry, and more arrows passed through the iron rings and embedded themselves in the flesh. Although they were small in number, they fired light arrows at the enemy in a very fast shooting mode. There were only more than 200 cavalry, and in a short time
The shooting efficiency within is no less than that of a thousand infantry archers.
The escape route was blocked by the Russian army. They didn't even have time to be shocked that the enemy still had cavalry before they were blocked by more sword and shield men.
On one side was a bloody battlefield, with the Normans slashing and killing everywhere; on the other side were the Normans blocking the retreat, and they began to attack.
Ragnar didn't waste any time. He knocked the shield a few times with his steel sword and even issued a general attack order to everyone.
A thousand Danish soldiers swarmed forward, not only blocking the enemy's retreat, but also entangled with them. Purely relying on the sheer number of people, no Frank cavalry was allowed to slip through the net.
The river beach became a battlefield of flesh and blood, where the blood of humans and animals merged into streams, and the bright red water poured into the Elbe River.
This river has been drinking blood again since the defeat in the decisive battle of the Saxon Restoration War in 797 AD.
The difference is that in the war that year, Charlemagne retaliated by killing 4,500 Saxon captured soldiers by the river, causing their blood to bleed out with "Roman punishment", and then threw their bodies into the Elbe River, so the river became
red.
This time, most of what flowed into the river was the blood of the Frankish army.
In fact, the battle that took place on the Elbe River outside Hamburg in the autumn of 840 was actually the most brutal battle that Saxony had experienced so far in the Third War of Restoration.
In today's European wars, a decisive battle often determines the prosperity of a country.
Liudov knew very well what the current situation meant. He, the Ross, and the Danish coalition miraculously blocked the Frankish elite attack. Now, the coalition forces are completely annihilating them.
This means that even if Ludwig organizes a large army to go north, he will either need time to prepare, or he can only go north with the main force from the southern front. Even so, Ludwig can no longer bring out his elite troops, so he can only use ordinary troops to go north.
The soldiers fought against the Saxon army, and the local Saxon nobles obeyed whoever won. Liudov believed that he would gain their heartfelt approval because of this battle.
In the battle on the south bank of the Elbe River, the unbalanced balance of power between the two sides will be quickly evened out due to this battle.
Not leaving a way for the enemy to survive, controlling the battlefield, and killing them all. Being so ruthless is no longer an ordinary Norman. Once he thought that the commander was King Rurik of Rus, Liudov didn't think this was too outrageous.
Rurik, this brat, really won't be merciful when fighting just because of who you are. In the Aleb Fortress, this brat used this cruel method to deal with the Saxon army. Now the two sides have joined forces and used the same method to deal with the Frank army.
For a moment, Liudof felt that he had betrayed the Lord by cooperating with the Normans with heretical beliefs and killing crazily in the blood and mud. Those people covered in red were like apostles of Satan.
"Faith? Repent in the future! Robert, you didn't give me a chance to negotiate, did you?! It's not my responsibility that the battle turned like this, it's all your responsibility." Liudov cursed secretly.
He saw the Russians cleaning the battlefield, and ordered his men to join them, trying to grab all kinds of urgently needed iron tools.