Days of snowfall suspended the war, and both sides of the fierce battle waited in the cold.
The wide-area snow has gradually covered people's knees, and the straight Roman avenue also seems difficult to walk.
It hasn't reached snowpocalyptic proportions yet, but anyone who wanders around in this weather in peacetime is either a true snowfield hunter or a fool.
Such snowfall is not a serious problem for the Russians and other northerners. They often encounter more serious snow and freezing conditions every winter. The severe ice and snow are absolutely ineffective for them, just because they have seen a lot and know how to live there.
Winter Life”.
The snowfall finally stopped, and it lasted a full week since it started.
The winter in Saxony is not as cold as in Scandinavia, and its low temperature conditions are not extreme, but the Elbe River is still frozen on a large scale.
The disappeared sun returned, and the sunlight shone on the vast snowy field. Those Russian soldiers who carried sunglasses decisively assembled the wooden-framed sunglasses and wore them to protect their eyes.
All the people in passive hibernation climbed out of their shacks, and they began to clean up the snow on their own initiative, while constantly lamenting the impermanence of the world.
The wooden fence became an excellent barrier, especially the north side of the fence, which can be said to be facing the wind. There was a snow slope here, and the snow was so thick that it seemed that the fence could be knocked down.
Rurik and many nobles were always paying attention to the progress of the snow. When the sky was still dark, they all noticed that the ice of the Elbe River outside the city was rapidly expanding.
Although it is not as cold as a day, it has been frozen for more than a week, and it looks like it is really frozen.
In order to better observe the world around him, Rurik climbed to the highest point of Hamburg.
The wood-and-stone structure of the fortress was not high, and the platform at the top was quite cramped. Even someone as tall as Rurik had to stand carefully holding on to the wooden railings.
Wearing a thick white velvet hat and a polar bear fur coat, he looked like a white being.
The sharp and clear wind hit his face, forcing him to cover his face with his sleeves to avoid the cold.
"Damn it. It's really completely frozen."
A quick glance at Rurik is all it takes to get the conclusion. A silver-white zigzag streamer looks particularly blinking on the white earth. The sunlight shines on it and reflects violently. The entire Elbe River is frozen as far as the eye can see.
Not only the Elbe River, but also the circular artificial river dug to protect the city of Hamburg was frozen even more solidly.
Dark figures were everywhere inside and outside the city, and the Saxon people who were hiding walked out of various shacks.
Rurik looked at his Ross military camp from a distance, and there also began to see intensive personnel activities there.
The excitement that had been stifled by the cold is back, and the Hamburg region continues its winter life.
However, the wide Elbe River natural moat is frozen, and the so-called "natural moat" has disappeared.
Rurik came down from the heights and immediately summoned all the nobles to hold a military meeting after the snow.
King Rus is holding a meeting, and the purpose of his meeting is self-evident.
A large number of nobles gathered in the stone room, and everyone wore furs to protect their bodies. The open wooden windows made the room bright and the temperature also dropped to freezing point.
Rurik's breathing was fierce. He curled his hands into his clothes and kept pacing around the room.
"I sent people to dig out the ice to explore. Even in the center of the river, the ice there is enough for armored warriors to walk. The ice is very thick!" As he said that, he stretched out his right hand: "Thicker than my index finger.
Much thicker.”
"This has happened in the past." Robert, the real Count of Hamburg, said bluntly: "In this case, we will no longer be protected by the river, and Ludwig's army will come back. Unless... they don't know that the river has frozen."
"They will definitely know." Liudov added nervously, then looked at Rurik's face and asked with a solemn expression: "When will they launch a new attack? Based on my understanding of Ludwig,
That man probably led the charge."
"Haha? Lead the charge! Is it really possible?"
"He is by no means a mediocre nobleman, because he is first and foremost a warrior."
Liudov spoke highly of Ludwig, and Blue Fox, who was also present, also made similar comments. After all, the core of East Frankish rule is in Regensburg in the east, which is a huge barracks. It controls a large barracks.
, such Ludwig can indeed go to war, and in fact he is doing this.
"Then Ludwig might give up and evacuate?" Rurik couldn't help but ask, "I arranged for the squadron to persecute their retreat and continue to destroy Bremen, a vital transportation hub. Is the Weser River frozen? If it is frozen
, Ludwig will be able to evacuate quickly."
"I don't think he will withdraw. Assembling an army takes a lot of time and energy. Besides, he can't just sit back and watch us Saxons regain their former power. And..." As he said this, Liudov's eyes drifted towards the people present.
An unlucky guy.
Poor Count Baudouin of Flanders, he has not been mistreated since he was captured. After all, he is a man who has both sides. He has no greater pursuit. The first thing is to protect himself and his family's wealth and his own wealth.
For the status of a great aristocrat in Europe, it is okay to sell some interests for this purpose.
Baudoin was dragged into this meeting, and he was able to know all the truth. Unfortunately, these truths were too shocking. Because of shame and embarrassment, he really wanted to avoid this unfortunate meeting.
Liudov specifically mentioned the captured nobleman and shouted arrogantly: "It doesn't matter whether Flanders made a choice, but the current situation is enough to make Ludwig believe that Flanders has already
Rebellion. As a result, not counting the self-administered Bishopric of Cologne, their control of East Frankia was limited to Alemannia (Frankfurt, Mainz and Rheingau), Bavaria and Osteria (Austria). Also
There is a semi-independent Thuringia, haha, maybe the Thuringians are also planning to regain their independence."
"Ludwig will never accept this result." Rurik added again.
"Yes. Otherwise, he will not insist on the expedition in winter. In the end, we and them will continue to fight. Maybe the decisive battle will be in a few days."
Rurik and Liudov's chorus was simply repeated for pre-war analysis. Their inadvertent retelling really reiterated the grand strategy for the nobles present.
"Since they will definitely know how to fight, we can just deal with it directly. Our army does not need to take the initiative, we can reorganize our forces in Hamburg." Rurik still gave orders as a military commander, and he also pointed out a major shortcoming of his own side.
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"However, after a long battle, even we Russians are very tired. My troops are not enough, and the next decisive battle may require you Saxons to fight hard."
"Ah? Is it possible that even if we are as powerful as you, our troops will be exhausted?"
Inadvertently, there was a hint of teasing in Liu Doufu's eyes when he spoke, and the man seemed to be in a sarcastic mood.
After all, Liudov is not a dog that was tamed after defeat. He has his own great ambitions. The current alliance with Ross and Denmark is for profit. After all, he still wants to be the real master of all Saxony.
Rurik noticed this special meaning, and then shrugged with a foresighted look. He threatened: "If the war is delayed until the warm period, everything will be extremely beneficial to our Kingdom of Rus. I can order the second large fleet in the east,
Ten thousand new troops will be transported here one after another. However, this requires the ice sea to thaw, and my disadvantage is only in the next hundred days."
Rurik's words were an exaggerated description. Liudov couldn't believe it and immediately put his tail between his legs.
Ragnar knew the inside story, and he didn't care about the boastful words of the Rurik brothers. After all, it was not a complete boast.
"Temporarily short of troops?" King Ragnar of Denmark, who had been listening for a while, became excited. "I can summon a group of Danish warriors to go south immediately. Fighting in winter is not a problem. We, Denmark and Saxony, are neighboring countries."
"The current strength should be enough." Rurik shook his head and continued to look at Liudov, "In the final analysis, this is the founding battle of your Principality of Saxony. We, Rus and Denmark, will fulfill our alliance obligations to help you fight. In the end, it is you who wants to fight.
You have paid a lot. I will try my best to give you suggestions and even command your army."
"Command my army? Forget it." Liudof smiled awkwardly. "I will still command my army, but I will refer to your suggestions and requests."
"Very good." Rurik nodded with satisfaction: "Since Ludwig may lead the charge, I will try to capture him alive. We don't have to kill him afterwards, just make him sign some treaties. Everything will continue as planned.
There is no need for us to completely break up with East Frankfurt."
The meeting ended, and all the military nobles strengthened themselves again and unified their thinking, which was to immediately enter a state of combat alert, so that all armed men could immediately join the battle.
The main force of the Ross fleet is now very sadly imprisoned by the ice of the Elbe River. This is not a big problem. After all, the fleet is stationed at the Kronstadt mooring, and the ships can be imprisoned by the ice until April of next year.
The higher side of the battleship can be used as a tactical commanding height. If the glacier is used as a battlefield, the ice battleship can be used as "permanent turrets".
That's what Rurik thought.
The current temperature is heading towards the lowest value of the year, and the ice covering the frozen Elbe River will further thicken. By then, Frankish cavalry will be able to run wildly on the ice.
Ice battles are not unthinkable. Ross has fought many ice battles with his enemies in the past era.
Rurik even knew about the Battle of Lake Chud. It was a battle in another time, space, and era, but the fighting party was a large army composed of Swedish immigrants and Slavs from the Novgorod area.
Under his leadership, he fought a decisive battle with the Teutonic Knights on the frozen lake and won.
The direction of history has shifted. The Rus of 840 AD and the Rus of 1140 AD are facing two different worlds.
But they both come from the same bloodline and can also make some similar moves.
Rurik knew that if his bloodline continued, a huge group of nobles would rise in Northern and Eastern Europe.
Then let’s have a battle on the Elbe Glacier!
The coalition forces began large-scale training after the snowfall, and the army actively prepared for the decisive battle.
Rurik doesn't know the situation of the squadron he sent out yet, and he has lost contact with the cavalry for a long time. They are all madmen who have experienced hundreds of battles. It is a pity that without their return, Rurik is indeed worried about future battles.
.
Without the longbowmen and some ferocious berserkers, when the battle enters a state of fighting, the coalition forces will be unable to exert sufficient strength.
Maybe even if you win, it will be a miserable victory.
However, Rurik noticed that people who slipped on the ice would obviously fall if they walked quickly and accidentally. Such a fall would be serious, especially if a person wearing heavy armor would not be able to climb because the ice was too slippery.
Can't get up.
How to avoid slipping when walking on ice? The problem is not the walking mode, but the boots.
Walkers can use skis to glide on the ice, or use spikes.
"Yes! Spikes!"
No matter whether the decisive battle is on ice or snow, as long as there is ice and snow, it will be easy to slip. Spikes are the only universal anti-slip force. The Frank army will never be able to make spikes, but the coalition forces can quickly make them.
So, Rurik issued this order: "Each of the warriors will receive eight old arrow clusters, find a wooden board nailed on them, and use them as a pair of spiked shoes, and tie them to your leather boots with ropes."
This move will undoubtedly consume a lot of arrows. Fortunately, Rurik is very well prepared for war and always focuses on recovering arrows after a war. There is no essential difference between mass-produced arrow clusters and mass-produced nails, except that the former undergoes more heat treatment.
Transforming old arrow clusters into spikes can quickly arm Rurik's existing Russian army of less than 3,500 people.
The Russian army has suffered a lot of reductions in the war for more than half a year, and now the Slavic Banner Corps has transformed from a reserve force into the main force.
The pirates of Saaremaa became the elite, and the Jotalans recruited from Gothenburg also became the elite of Rus.
Each flag force has suffered considerable losses, but the spirit of the flag force is still there, and a variety of personnel have been added to it, barely leaving each flag force with enough fighting strength.
According to northern common sense, a Viking army of 3,500 people is already a very powerful team.
But the Frankish army was even more powerful. Due to its large population, it could theoretically mobilize an army of tens of thousands.
These 3,500 members of the Russian Army stationed in Hamburg are busy making spikes, and when they are finished, they can perform on the ice and run wildly.
Such a move was refreshing, and Liudov immediately began to follow suit, even though he didn't have many nails.
The solution to the problem is not difficult, that is, order the Saxon blacksmith to dismantle the captured Frank armor, remove the iron pieces embedded in the leather, and shape them into the shape of nails to make wooden nail shoes from scratch. This process takes time, Liu
Dofu can only equip a small number of the elites he selected as much as possible.
The Saxon Army has an absolute manpower advantage. In theory, they still have 10,000 soldiers. They are equipped with simple spears on a large scale, and most of their personnel are unarmored. Their individual combat capabilities are worrying due to a serious lack of training. However, they can hold spears in a group and maneuver.
Get out of the hedgehog formation and advance and retreat together.
Regarding this group of armed peasants, Liu Dou himself knew nothing about tactics. He only knew the so-called "the theory of invincibility of courage". He led his troops in a reckless attack to scare the enemy's morale, and then decided the outcome by fighting. Until he saw Liuli.
Only after seeing Gram's dazzling tactical arrangements of multi-arms coordination did he realize that there are still "tactics" in the world.
It's a pity that he is a fool and his soldiers are not smart either. It is impossible to expect the peasant soldiers to carry out complicated actions. All they can do is to gather together as a whole and rely on shouting to build their reputation, and then launch a dense formation group charge.
However, if a large-scale battle breaks out, he can only order his men to launch a spear assault.
Actual combat has proven that the spear-hedgehog formation is feasible. They are imitating the thousand ruthless men holding long-handled halberds in Rurik's Slavic Banner Corps.
In the riverside battle before the blizzard, the coalition casualties reached 1,500 people. The casualties were mainly from the Saxons, and most of the wounded died later. On the contrary, the Rus-Danish army who fought on the front line suffered very little losses due to the large amount of armor they wore.
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The Saxons still had a considerable number of soldiers. Due to their previous victory, the local nobles in the distance also organized militia to come to support them after receiving reports from Liudov's messenger.
Because they saw Liudov's victory, and from this victory, they were even more afraid of Ludwig's future revenge. Unless everyone united to defeat Ludwig completely.
As a result, the total strength of Hamburg's troops has been slowly increasing, and the new troops are actually better than nothing, and their political significance is huge. At least the Saxon nobles living nearby brought people here in person, even if they brought ten retinues.
As a result, the morale of the coalition forces gradually increased, and as another army formed a neat line and walked along the frozen river from the lower reaches to the upper reaches, the morale of the coalition forces became even stronger.
Because the troops that suddenly appeared were holding some wooden poles high with inspiring flags flying on them.
It's the Ross flag, and the visitor is actually a lost squadron.
After experiencing heavy losses caused by the storm at sea, Arik's squadron began the difficult final journey with more than 800 healthy men left.
The large ships, most of the loot, and some left-behind personnel are still at the mouth of the river, where the waters have not yet frozen but the water is freezing cold.
The people who survived more than 800 years of catastrophe include the old Russians, the Malarens, the Balmoks, the Finns, and the Saxons.
Encountering a storm at sea was an unpredictable disaster. Arik could totally evade it, but he regretted seeing a large number of his own personnel falling into the sea and drowning.
Perhaps, transporting some very important trophies back to Hamburg can be used as a hedge against the morale caused by the natural disasters encountered by the squadron. These more than 800 people, regardless of their ethnic origin, rushed to build a single-person towable tank after the snowfall stopped.
A small sled, loaded with a bag of grain, or a bundle of captured iron weapons.
They had to walk back, and for this reason they stopped abruptly for two days on the way before finally returning to Hamburg.
At this point, Arik can finally report to his brother, who is the king, that he has indeed completed his mission...