Rise of Rurik

On the last day of July, just before the expedition, Rurik reviewed his army on Tombstone Island.

All the warriors who were eager to go out gathered together. They were dressed in battle armor, and their outer gods wore blue and white long gowns. They were arranged in a rectangular square according to the flag team and conducted a tactical exercise.

How to fight the decisive battle? Of course, it was a face-to-face gang fight between the two armies.

Yes, wars in this era are no different from gang fights.

Could the Gotlanders have any tactics? They must have gathered into a group, formed a shield wall with a shriek, and rushed towards the enemy to break out into a melee.

This kind of battle has a basic order at the beginning, and if it is delayed, it will turn into a big chaos that tests personal prowess. Those with strong armor and excellent physical endurance will win the final victory.

Otto stood at a high place and saw this army composed of his own clansmen and servants passing by in a fairly neat line. His nose was sore and he was moved to tears.

This is just the beginning.

Rurik developed a relatively simple tactic for the Ross army, and he also gave it a name - the bull horn array.

The two most elite Ross Warriors flag teams were arranged on the flanks, with the Slavic flag team and the shooting flag team in the middle.

Rurik's 100 berserkers in silver armor were also in the center of the formation. They stabilized the position of the central army, deflected possible escapees (Rurik could not be at ease with the Slavic spears at the moment), and rushed into the formation. The former relies on the armor to take into account the functions of fighting the enemy and so on.

As for some personnel in charge of baggage, such as those who keep deer, they follow the commander to prevent them from being attacked by the enemy.

According to Rurik's plan, the enemy should collide with one another. They will take it for granted that they will hit the center of the Rus army formation. After being hit by arrows and slingshots, they will collide with the Slavic flag team.

With this fighter plane, the Ross flag team on both wings immediately deployed the two wings to encircle them, attacking the vulnerable wings of the enemy, and finally completed an encirclement and devoured all the enemies.

No, the Ross people are currently practicing these tactics, pushing forward like a bull's horn, and finally retracting their wings to perform this pincer attack.

Rurik also knew a lesson: when the cannon goes off, the plan is halved.

The battlefield is changing rapidly, no matter how stupid the enemy is, he will not really jump into the fire pit according to the plan made by the opponent.

The enemy is the fish, which needs bait to be hooked.

Who is the bait? Naturally, it was the mercenary composed of the rich and powerless in Melalen led by Herigel.

This Melalen flag team is the vanguard in the decisive battle.

They are testing the enemy's reality. No matter what the enemy's strength is, they must pretend to retreat, or simply show a rout, to lure the enemy into a full-scale pursuit.

Rurik didn't expect anything from these Mellarens from the start, they were hundreds of tool men. After they retreated to the Rus' army, they launched a counterattack together with the Rus.

This is called feigning defeat to lure the enemy into an ambush position, and then gather and annihilate them in a pincer attack.

Looking at this tactic, Rurik doesn't think it's a big problem.

A huge army advancing in unison is a test of organization. Of course, one flag team of the Ross Army can achieve the same pace, and the movement of several flag teams will be out of touch. This time, Rurik decided to take the defense as the attack, and let the enemy collide with his army! They must collide.

For the future war, the soldiers on Tombstone Island were very enthusiastic, and the commanders such as Rurik were very optimistic about the future war.

It is best for the army to end the war as soon as possible. After the benefits are obtained at the end of the month, the army will grow and gather, just because the army has to go home to harvest wheat.

The promised date is today!

The night was still relatively short last night. Many soldiers just lay down quietly. Their restless hearts drove their sober minds, and they spent five hours of the dark night staring at the bright starry sky.

The temperature in the early morning was only 15°C, which seemed to be a low temperature, which was very comfortable for the soldiers.

Everyone woke up in the early morning light, the sun shone on the fog in the forest on the island, and the golden curtains gave the world a holy place.

Rumia, who was wearing a helmet with antlers, woke up early. She first paid tribute to the dead at the warrior cemetery on the island, and then performed a small sacrifice at the temporary altar by the sea.

For a whole month, all parties were preparing for this moment.

When there was no impassioned speech, Rurikben didn't want to make a loud noise with his voice that had begun to change his voice. In the holiness and solemnity of the early morning, the soldiers who went on the expedition ate a meal of fresh fish and began to board the boat one after another.

It took a lot of time for the army to land on Tombstone Island, and it took time to board the ship.

Rurik had already boarded the Avlora first, and he was able to stand at a high place, witnessing the long ships being pushed into the sea, the outstretched oars driving the ships slowly drifting into the inland sea and entering the array of the fleet. inside.

"Just forming a formation consumes time. Sure enough, I didn't directly land on the beach at Visby. It was the right decision."

Rurik's eyes were fixed on his own movements, and a large hand was placed on his shoulder.

He turned his head and flicked his flowing ponytail: "Father."

Otto looked solemn: "Now, we start. Leave here, we have no turning back."

"Yes, I know, we will win."

Otto's deep eyes stared in the direction of the island: "You don't have to promise anything with confidence, of course we will win. Look! After the brothers have all entered the team, we will set off."

It would be great to add the whistle of the existing ships. The Rus people have a few small horns made of horns. The sound of the horns is not large, but the penetrating power is not small.

There are mercenaries on the Avrora who act as good players. After a period of time, the sun has already taken the lead, and the huge fleet has assembled in the sea off the island. The melodious sound of the trumpet reminds me of it.

The gigantic jib, which was stowed, was lowered under the control of the cable, and the Avlora was violent.

An old sailor with a towel wrapped around his head roared: "Adjust the direction, let's move forward!"

The cargo ships loaded with people and supplies lowered their sails and made a specific angle to the central axis of the ship, and they began to sail against the wind.

And all the long ships, the men with the oars raised the huge blades like scorpions moving on the water, and they began their great journey with reference to the "Duke of Ross Flag" flying on the huge towering mast of the Avlora.

This is the war of the Rus! The war has begun.

The war has indeed begun, and the fiercest battle will be in the future. Now that the Rus people have to drift on the sea for two to three days, will the morale of the warriors be worn down in boredom?

The rainfall in recent days has been less than in previous years, and it may be more rainy in September.

A sunny day was a good time to fight, and Rurik was deeply surprised that King Olegin, who had been fighting in the south with a large army for a month, did not send someone back to Lake Mälaren.

What happened to the army in the South? Is it just to recharge their batteries, or they have already organized a fleet to conquer the rumored "Silver Fort"?

The Ross fleet lingered until about noon before the expedition officially began. As the fleet completely entered the depths of the ocean, the oarsmen pulled up their oars one after another and moved forward by relying on pure wind.

The ships of the entire fleet are doing zigzag movements, and each ship must be very careful not to collide with neighboring ships.

The fleet gradually and inevitably became loose. Fortunately, each ship was flying a clearly visible flag. At this time, everyone realized that the "paddle flag" that was originally owned by the leader's flagship was to avoid leaving. Go away.

Due to the broken line, the brisk ships had to accommodate the cargo ships carrying a large amount of materials and personnel, and the speed of the entire fleet dropped to a mere four knots.

Rurik could not accurately judge the speed of the fleet, he could only deeply feel that the speed was unsatisfactory.

Of course, some ships can speed up, but the Ross fleet is not the seam monster of the previous Swedish coalition.

The Melalen army took the lead, and a vote of allied troops was stunned.

The Ross fleet is a whole, and the clippers must accommodate the slow ones.

The fleet basically stabilized at four knots, and after passing through the dense group of islands in the Åland Islands, it advanced through the night on the edge of the Gulf of Finland.

The setting sun guides the west, and the natural stars, especially the unique Big Dipper, also guide the direction.

No one was worried about getting lost, especially Rurik, who had no fear of sailing at night with his confidant going the wrong way.

Rurik was woken up early in the morning by the noise on the deck.

Yevro hurried into the captain's lounge.

Rurik sat up straight and covered Rumia, who was sleeping beside him, with the deerskin. Otto was still snoring involuntarily at this moment.

"Sir, something has happened in the distant sea, we..."

"You? The situation? What is it?" Rurik asked, rubbing his head.

"It's land. Some say we've reached our destination, I don't know! Now I've got the bros on deck and the torsion slingshot is ready."

"How is that possible." Rurik raised his head, there was indeed a constant thumping sound above his head, "Let's go, I'll go check the situation."

Rurik was standing on the bow deck, and he could see a hazy coastline in the distance, and Avrora was surrounded by her own ships. The boats were still raising their sails, and the army just drifted in the vast sea for a night.

Yevro boldly pointed to the hazy place: "Is it not the enemy's territory?"

"It's not there, but I know where it is."

"where is it?"

"It should be Saaremaa Island, or Hiuma Island, I marked it on that sand table."

"Sand tray?"

"Huh?" Rurik glanced at Yevro's eyes, only to know that this person had not participated in the pre-war meeting. He sighed slightly: "Good job, you made the brothers prepare for the naval battle in advance, and we really have the first-mover advantage in the event of an accident."

"So, do we..."

"Are you still planning to land?" Rurik shook his head: "There may be some enemies or friends there. There are indeed people there, people who have been exiled by various tribes, including the rebels of the Rus. Maybe I will clean up in the future. Drop them, but not now."

Yevro nodded, not speaking.

The sun in the east has risen, and the mist on the sea is gone.

The clear air allowed Rurik to clearly see everything in a radius of thirty nautical miles. Now he gradually saw the so-called hazy coastline, which was clearly two big islands!

He couldn't help laughing.

"Master, what are you laughing at?" Yevlo asked.

"Nothing, I already know the correct position of the fleet. It's time for us to steer!"

The majority of the Ross fleet did have a keen interest in the islands ahead, and they wanted to land and see.

Is there anything good to find on Saaremaa, or Semeria? Maybe there are fellows who speak the same Norse language. This outdated fellow sees fellow villagers, of course, he will kill them when they meet.

The conquest of Saaremaa is not in Rurik's plan, and the island has no minerals and is not attractive.

The ships of the fleet watched the movements of the Avlora, she began to change direction, and soon the entire fleet corrected her new course.

The army began to move in the southwest direction, facing the southwest wind head on!

Rurik was confident, he felt that after a day and night of sailing, he was expected to rush to the eastern coast of Gotland in the morning, and all the Rus had to find a suitable landing site.

There are more than 200 large and small ships, and the front of them is getting more and more dangerous.

Although it is unlikely, Rurik ordered the nearby ships to prepare for a naval battle. The ships leaned against each other and shouted and communicated with each other. Soon, all the ships and everyone were clearly aware of the risks ahead.

Everyone was ready for the naval battle. The ships of Arik's Warriors First Flag Team took the initiative to engage with the enemy ships that broke into their sight. They shot first with their steel-armed crossbow, and then took the boat to complete the final jumping gang beheading.

This set of tactics is already Arik's forte. He and the brothers of the First Flag Team have been brutally beaten in this waters for the past two years so that the enemy dare not go to the fishery in the north of the island to fish.

But in the eastern sea of ​​the island, Arik had only one encounter, and that thrilling and fierce battle was a great success for his men.

Arik looked forward to seeing the enemy's fishing boats, but in the vast sea, only the Ross army was riding the waves.

At last night fell again, and no one knew how far the fleet had traveled throughout the day, and how long it would take.

But there was indeed only a full day's voyage left.

It was another early morning, and the sun shone on the people who were sleeping on the long boat.

Another noise woke Rurik, and this time he got up quickly and bumped into Yevlo, the messenger, at the door of the lounge.

"Ah, my lord! Something has happened!"

"We... have arrived at Gotland?"

"Yes! I was about to report this. And..."

Rurik immediately cheered up: "What's the matter."

"It's your brother Arik. He saw a fishing port and some fishing boats. The brothers of the first flag team have completely left the fleet and attacked first."

"Huh?!" Arik was so startled that he hurriedly kicked his father rudely awake (Otto drank some spirits last night and is now soundly asleep).

"You...you boy." Otto grabbed Rurik by the neck subconsciously.

Rurik broke free: "The war has begun, and Arik has already started the landing battle. We are about to get ready."

"Finally it's a fight." Otto let go, his face serious.

The father and son quickly boarded the bow deck, and now they could clearly see the scene ahead.

Nearly 30 longboats all put down their big wooden oars and rushed towards the village between the two mounds.

There are indeed enemy fishing boats madly fleeing for their lives, but unfortunately this escape is meaningless.

No one knows what's going on in the fishing village in front of you. The only thing that can be judged is that the long coastline in front of you belongs to Gotland!

The fishing port in front is not only in the middle of the two mounds, it also has a small bay, which is really unique as a berth.

The battle started with a unilateral assault by the Rus, and victory was no longer in doubt...