Rise of Rurik

Remember [new] in one second! With the Mezotenne hills as the center, the Semigalians here are concentrated on both sides of the narrow Lielupe River.

If it were a snake, the inner city of Mezot would be the tongue, and the wiped out village of Gawa would only be equivalent to the protruding nobuko of the python, with the snake's slender body still in the upper reaches of the river.

Bauska, the military stronghold founded by the Knights of the Sword, does not exist today, nor does the original Wende Crusade.

But the city of Bauska is located exactly at the intersection of the two rivers. There is too much water here and it is not a good place to grow wheat. This point is the last settlement of the Mezotne people.

From the inner city of Mezotte to the intersection of the two rivers, there are stretches of farmland and scattered villages on both sides of the ten-kilometer river.

However, most of the population was gathered near the large city centered on the Mound Altar. Once the city was captured, it would mean the collapse of the long and narrow settlement.

Those who fled overnight were inadvertently spreading horrific news. Many blindly followed and joined the refugee army, while others went against the trend.

"Drive out the Varangians!" The slogan was very simple and pure. Those brave men carried a variety of weapons and walked or paddled down the river in the direction of Mezotne.

However, the strength of these reinforcements was only more than 500. Although many people were on the way, they were muttering in their hearts that maybe the Varangians did not exist, or maybe they were just some bold Latvian bandits.

Unknown reinforcements were in action, but the militiamen at the scene of the deep defense battle in Mezotne initially knew nothing about the sudden appearance of the Varyag cavalry, but soon they were no longer ignorant.

Ross

The cavalry is not a shock cavalry. Fisk organized three cavalry teams into a formation that resembled riding on a wall, just to draw the battlefield into a stone's throw.

The weight of the recurve bow used by the cavalry varies, but fortunately it is between 40 and 60 pounds. It is a short bow with composite sinews and angles. Its draw length is very long and it can shoot light arrows up to 200 pounds. meters away.

It's just that such a projectile is completely useless against armored enemies, and the conical armor-piercing arrows widely equipped by Ross will also be ineffective unless the enemy is a group of civilian militiamen who don't even have leather armor.

The enemies seemed to be gathered into a large, messy group. They were all gray-black in color, and it seemed that all of them were wearing clothes sewn from burlap or animal skins. It would be easier to deal with them in this way...

"Scout!" Fisk suddenly roared and called out the name of one of his subordinates: "Take your thirty-man team for fire reconnaissance, Parthian tactics, and go quickly!"

Thirty cavalrymen suddenly separated from the main force. They were all veterans of the First Cavalry, and many of them were ruthless men who had participated in the first expedition to Farak three years ago. They lined up in a single column and rushed towards the enemy formation. The soldiers held their bows and arrows, planning to fly counter-clockwise across the front of the enemy formation and fire three arrows at a rapid rate.

They are taking action!

The horse's hooves turned over countless mud, and the grass flew across the air.

For Roclo's Mezzotene garrison, this was the first time they saw cavalry. Although they didn't think of them as "centaurs", they really didn't know how to restrain them. Even the defenders didn't know that they could hit all the bow-wielding hunters, and tried to suppress and persuade the charging enemies to retreat with dense arrows.

The militiamen, armed with various weapons and rudimentary armors, bared their teeth and showed their claws, but at this moment, no one dared to break away from the large army.

Yet like an eagle skimming over the ground, a single claw strike can fatally wound its prey.

Regardless of the captain's order, the soldiers followed the captain at the head of the team, chasing his gorgeous and elegant helmet crown.

The thirty men who were ready to attack used Parthian tactics to pass through the enemy formation in cycles. They were still far away and could not aim accurately, so they fired a round of three-arrow bursts from each horse in a semi-projectile manner.

Ninety arrows were fired in one round in a general direction. The defenders, who were extremely densely positioned, took the sudden arrows firmly and suffered heavy losses immediately.

Roquero was taken aback, and his militiamen were astonished and more at a loss.

"What kind of tactics is this?!" Suppressing his doubts, Luo Keluo could only insist on ordering the entire army to exercise restraint for the time being, and then see what tricks the enemy had up his sleeve.

The successful cavalry captain looked back with disdain. He pulled the reins and turned the horse's head towards the enemy position again.

"Brothers, have you all seen it? There is no reflection of chainmail on their bodies. I'm afraid all the enemies are wearing civilian clothes on the battlefield. Let's go! Follow me and kill them again."

From the perspective of ordinary Ross warriors, bullying is the style of the world. It is natural for a more powerful being to rob a group of weak people. Those weak people will either escape, resist and be killed, or kneel down obediently and declare their surrender like animals.

This team of cavalry did not hesitate to kill with a carbine, once again flew past like an eagle, and once again hit with ninety arrows.

The second round of attacks has ended, the cavalry

Back to the starting point.

Originally, the boss ordered him to conduct a fire reconnaissance, but who would have expected that the enemy would be as stupid as a living target.

The war horse was still in good condition. Upon seeing this, the calm captain launched a third round of attacks in order to expand the victory.

At this moment, the defenders of Mezotne were stunned. They finally began to protect their faces and torsos with flexible small wooden shields used for fighting protection, and they were still passively resisting the new round of cavalry attacks.

The cavalry passed by again, causing some more casualties with ease.

The arrow shooting had no clear purpose, and it was this randomness that caused the three thousand defenders to quickly accumulate resentment.

Roquero's ears were filled with the cries and shouts of his subordinates. The wounded were screaming, and some were dying or even killed in battle. Their relatives and friends were grieving over the inexplicable death of their companions in battle.

However, they still haven't made any counterattack, or they are afraid of being criticized for leaving the formation, so no one dares to charge.

People are patient and waiting for a hero to cheer up and lead the brothers to make changes.

Finally, someone couldn't stand the current cowardice anymore.

"Chief! If we continue like this, we will be shot to death by them slowly without fighting the Varangians."

When someone spoke, someone else immediately echoed: "If we don't take the initiative, we will die. Leader, charge. Look at the current situation and we can't wait any longer."

More guards encouraged the leader, Roquero, to march. He looked around, and he finally regained consciousness amidst the intensifying complaints from his subordinates.

"Then go ahead! Fight with them, and we'll eat horse meat tonight!"

The leader's cry cannot be heard in the chaotic and highly concentrated team

The news spread, but Luo Keluo chose to take the lead in the charge. When the flag representing the leader's position moved with those who charged first, it was a positive signal to each leader.

As a result, the Russian army's fire reconnaissance turned into provocation. They were not like reconnaissance, but more like bait put out, and now the fish has taken the bait.

"Hey! You have gone too far, but fortunately it is just what I want." Fisk roared and immediately ordered the trumpeter to blow the trumpet.

The Russian army moved with a special rhythm of trumpet sounds, and a well-trained and extremely special cavalry formation began!

The three cavalry units, Karl's and Swain's units, detoured towards the enemy's flanks, while the Chinese army led by Fisk immediately moved back after recovering the scout team.

The center of the cavalry seemed to be fleeing, while the other cavalry also seemed to be leaving the battlefield.

At least this seems to be the case for the charging Mezotene defenders, and the advantage seems to have moved to the defenders.

A pocket formation was set up to let the enemy in, and the Ross cavalry deployed the pocket formation with dazzling maneuvers.

There were three hundred cavalry in each direction in mobile combat. A bear showed all its fangs. Fisk gave an order and the trumpeter changed to another tune. The horn horn made a series of beeps so low that it sounded like It feels funny, but in fact it is imitating the sound of arrow feathers cutting through the air. The faster the trumpeter blows, the more dense the arrow feathers are.

By now, the defenders of Mezotne were further away from their city. There were cavalry on their left, right and front in three directions. This was really a foot attack but they couldn't outrun the horses. They wanted to pursue but the enemy deliberately kept their distance.

The Ross cavalry began to fire freely, most of their baggage

Still at the advancing fleet, the soldiers only had two major items of luggage: close-fitting plate armor and a large number of arrows.

The cavalry can continue firing until their arms are sore. Since they have fewer enemies and more enemies and insist on completing the encirclement and killing the enemies as much as possible, Fisk will take the risk.

The battle still unfolded in a non-contact mode, and soon the momentum of the defenders in Mezoten was suppressed by an unprecedented dense rain of arrows.

A number of Luo Keluo's soldiers were shot to death and wounded. The strong fighting spirit that had just been inspired by frustration was now shrinking.

The casualties of the militiamen were even worse. Those who organized relatives and friends to break away from the large army in order to fight with the enemy cavalry, as expected, became the target of public criticism.

A base number of arrows is defined as thirty. The Russian cavalry often hangs two bags of arrows on the saddle when fighting, and mainly uses light arrows.

In this battle, Fisk brought more quivers, so that many soldiers had forty quivers in their quivers, making it difficult to draw arrows in the first place.

Now is the time to prove the effectiveness of the arrows made by the locals in Riga. The arrow clusters made of wrought iron and bronze do not look as good as the high-end goods from Ross, and they are more than enough to deal with these civilian warriors.

The defenders fell down one after another after being hit by arrows. They soon discovered that the wooden shields in their hands were meaningless. Moreover, most of the militiamen went to the battlefield armed with a harpoon. They had no armor at all.

Roquero and his warriors were held in place by an invisible force, and the huge army was being depleted by the continuous attacks of arrows.

"Damn it, are my people like an onion that they keep peeling off?" Roquero, who was well protected by the guards, felt that such protection could not last long.

All his warriors

Here, now that the contact with his sons, wives and concubines (female warriors) has been interrupted, the situation of those people is probably very bad.

At the same time, the Ross cavalry became more and more bold. The enemy no longer took the initiative to attack, so the cavalry fired while pressing.

Encircling three columns, Fiske originally wanted to instruct the troops outflanking the two flanks not to complete the encirclement, but to leave a small message. The enemy felt that there was still a way to survive in the desperate situation, so they scrambled to seize the opportunity, leading to the entire army's rout. At that time It was the moment of full-scale pursuit.

It's just that the situation is becoming delicate now.

Fisk himself did not directly participate in the battle. He quietly stayed on the outside of the battlefield to observe this unique large-scale hunt.

"This is a hunt, just like what the steppe people did in their hometown. Is this...could it be like Rurik's so-called Battle of Canning where the Romans suffered a defeat? A large group of cavalry continued to attack The arrows forcefully defeated the infantry who could do nothing? Yes! This is more like Canning. When the king asks in the future, I will say that I made Canning's battle a reality."

After all, Fisk's knowledge of Rome was limited, and he only learned about the defeats Rome had experienced because of the special education he received from Rurik. He once regarded it as an interesting war history story, but now Fisk has finally become enlightened.

When a soldier's thumb gets sore from the string draw, they immediately nock the arrow in, retract the trigger finger, switch to the Mediterranean mode of three-finger draw, and continue shooting.

The rain of arrows kept falling, and the defenders' military formation continued to weaken in size.

The shivering defenders had to squeeze towards the center of the array. Even if they were wearing chainmail, they felt that they would be protected on the periphery of the array.

Roquero, who shot and killed, blindly participated in the squeeze despite being nervous.

The more they squeeze, the more they ruin the possibility of a breakout. Perhaps until all the arrows of the Ross cavalry are used up, this one-sided killing can be paused.

Twenty thousand arrows! The cavalry had the ability to fire all the arrows, even if their arms were very sore afterwards. Since they could basically recover after just one day of rest, the cavalry went all out.

There were dead bodies and injured people everywhere, and more than a thousand people had lost the ability to fight. The remaining people still had a numerical advantage, but they were like sheep in a pen and only had a chance to be slaughtered. They also hoped that the outermost sheep would be killed first. Being slaughtered.

"Keep firing, even if your arms are sore, hold on!"

"Kill them all and then go loot their villages!"

"This is the most important rehearsal before we enter Frank! Only after you have accumulated enough experience can you fight against those powerful enemies!"

…

Officers at all levels encouraged the soldiers while shooting arrows. They couldn't keep their hands free, so they skillfully used their feet to drive the horses by pinching their belly to close the encirclement.

The tactic of surrounding three buildings finally evolved into a very thin ring-shaped siege net. Roquero, the leader of Mezotene, had the last chance to escape. As long as he made a desperate move and took those who could still run with him, he fled in the direction of the city, in the densely packed area. There are always opportunities to escape in the chaos of the house.

However, Roquero, who was completely stunned, personally ruined his only way of survival.

It is a pity that he did not charge at the enemy and die gloriously like a true warrior.

The onion-peeling tactic continued. When Roquero showed off his obvious chainmail, the armor was in the sun.

It reflects in the light, and the keen-eyed warrior does not hesitate to use it as an arrow target!

Roquero and his bodyguards were targeted precisely because their armor was too good.

Those cheap chainmails can protect against cuts and general arrow shots, and they are like paper in front of Ross's tapered armor-piercing arrows.

Rocklo was shot from the front through the lungs. He exhaled but was shocked to find that he couldn't breathe anyway.

His lungs were filled with the hot blood coming out of his body, and he quickly squirted out a mouthful of old blood. The local leader of Semigalia, who controlled the power within Mezotne, was killed on the battlefield.

However, there was no glory in Rocklo's death.

There were shouts of killing on this side of the battlefield, and the cavalrymen who advanced after hearing the sound also paddled faster.

"You all move quickly, we can't miss the banquet!" Stekander, who was already rowing the oar himself to set an example, didn't want to miss it. No matter what, the brothers had to participate in the battle, so that they would be eligible to plunder the spoils after the war.

You can be given charity once, but if it happens a few more times, your old face will have nowhere to rest.

Just as the cavalry endured the pain in their arms and continued to shoot, just as the horses were already stepping on the bodies of the dying people, the cavalry's friendly troops finally appeared on the battlefield.

The longship washed up on the beach, and the soldiers impatiently put on their swords and shields and rushed to the battlefield with roars.

"You are finally here." Fisk whispered as he looked back at the riverside. After observing the battle situation, he felt that the time was finally ripe and ordered the bugler to sound the closing horn.

Retreat your troops now? Why bother? But it’s better not to disobey the boss’s orders.

One after another, the cavalry retreated under the command of their junior officers, but they also quickly saw those who were charging.

Great paddling guys. The positions vacated by the cavalry were quickly filled by infantry. Stekander, Erik Spjutsson, and even Osten and his men also joined the fight with weapons.

Especially Ostein, he felt angry when he thought about being asked for tribute by the local nobles whenever he took the Shvet River and crossed near the inner city of Mezot to the Lielupe River. Especially its rulers are more filled with hatred.

Anyway, the blood feud between Ross and the Semigalians has already begun, so let’s get it done! Fighting side by side with them in person is the best certificate. In order to find a good future for his hometown, Ostan, together with the real Riga Varang army, started to continue the war that had not ended ten years ago. A new phase of war.

As for Stekander, he can indeed claim: "Ten years ago they attacked the city of Riga, and the Chen soldiers plotted our wealth. Ten years later, our army finally counterattacked to their city."

The defenders of Mezotne were stunned by the rain of arrows. They found themselves leaderless, and the enemy reinforcements arrived again. The shield wall appeared again and came with pressure. People were once again reminded of the fear of being oppressed. .

It has ended!

The battle inside and outside the city of Mezot ended in a one-sided manner before sunset.

When the soft light of the setting sun shines on the earth, there are only dead bodies densely packed on the ground. The blood gathers into a river and flows into the Lielupe River. Look at the sun gradually sinking into the horizon - the blood-red sunset.