Rise of Rurik

"The Rise of Rurik ()"

How many enemies were killed in this battle? Cut off the enemy's head and then stack it up, which may be a good statistic.

Considering that cutting off the head is also a severe physical task, the Ross warriors who have experienced the bloody battle and have been weakened to the point of being unable to take advantage of the pursuit, they are unable to do so.

Why take the corpse of the enemy?

In the afternoon, the setting sun is like blood.

The soldiers who had rested for a while got up and searched for their fallen soldiers among the corpses.

They executed dying enemies, and occasionally gave their seriously wounded a hit.

Serious injuries are mortal, and if you continue to suffer the pain before death, it is better to let your companions do it for you.

The fallen Rus soldiers were carried away incessantly, and finally lay quietly in the clean grass.

They are arranged in a matrix, with every ten people in a row.

As more and more soldiers were being entrapped, more than half of Duke Ross' excitement had dissipated.

Letting the north wind blow, he held the hilt of his sword in both hands under the setting sun and stared deeply at his dead brother.

They were all burly lads with young faces.

The fallen Slav fighters were also pulled here, and all the dead awaited the final cremation.

They wore uniform clothes, and even if they were stained with blood and dirt, they were still clearly visible on the battlefield full of corpses, so that they could be properly and quickly collected.

The living warriors traveled all over the battlefield. They picked up all the swords, axes, spearheads, arrows, and a large number of shields they found. Finally, the weapons were piled up to make a mountain, and the shields were piled up to make a second mountain.

The number of fallen soldiers is clearly visible, and they lie quietly in four huge matrices!

After careful identification, as many as 300 native warriors of the Ross tribe were killed! Most of them are elite and strong men. Many of them have experienced many wars. They never thought that in this decisive battle with the feud, they sacrificed their own deaths to Odin.

"Three hundred brothers have died, and we have lost a lot." Haro Zuo Sen came over and patted Otto on the shoulder.

"It's so miserable, it's all our young people. Maybe before the war, let Rurik set up tactics well. With so many young people dead, our strength is frustrated."

Hearing the Duke say this, Harrodsen wondered, "My old friend, don't you think we have won a great victory? You see, we are still majestic."

Saying that, Harrodsen pointed to the ground: "Look, these are the Gotlanders, the Danes. They're dead! We're afraid we've killed three thousand of them! Visby and the whole Gotland are nowhere to be found. Soldiers of war."

"Maybe! I don't care about their life or death. It's not a pity for a group of enemies to die. I just hope that brothers don't have casualties as much as possible."

"But war... how can there be undead?"

"Then prepare more spearmen!" Otto was suddenly furious, and the fury was unexpected.

"Old man, you..."

"Damn it!" Otto stomped hard, "that Rurik boy is very smart. If I had known that, I should have ordered a spear! And bows and crossbows, and a lot of equipment. You see, So many soldiers were almost killed by slashing! Look again, there are many Novgorods among the dead?"

Under the soft light of the setting sun, Haro Zuosen looked carefully. Were there only twenty Slavs killed in action in the region?

Otto continued, "This is the lesson of blood. Those cowardly peasants who became spearmen turned into a terrible force. In the next war, every Rus warrior must have a spear in his hand."

"And what about sword and shield? That's the soul of a warrior."

"I want them all! Every good Ruth War must have a spear, a long sword, an axe, a short sword, and a shield. I want a lot of crossbows and slingshots!"

Haruozuosen sucked in a cold breath: "In that case, we are the kings of the entire human world." He pointed to the blue sky, "It seems that Odin also heard your prayer. Look, there are a thousand ravens here, Odin. Ding is staring at us."

"Okay! Let the warriors' souls go to Valhalla when the lumbering brothers return.

"

If Otto was a reckless man, he would have been dragged from the leader's seat long ago.

Through this war, Otto no longer cares about those rumored warrior glory. As long as you can kill the enemy and execute a large number of opponents, this is the glory of a warrior.

He already hopes that the entire army will become a spear force, and then cooperate with a large number of bows and crossbows. The so-called so-called kill the enemy before the close combat. This hope is the same as Rurik's idea, or that an ancient European infantry contingent would be the most effective in combat, and Otto was enlightened.

It's true that the Ross tribe can't afford too many deaths, at least for now. The irreversible deaths of 300 people meant that the strength of the Ross tribe was greatly frustrated.

I am afraid that in a few years, continuing such a large-scale operation requires careful consideration.

But Otto did not regret it, nor did the Rus soldiers.

Completely different from Otto's deepness, it seems that the warriors are not saddened by their dead people.

The brothers clearly outnumbered the crowd, but they achieved a resounding victory.

Everyone shouted Rurik's name, the people around the campfire, the loggers who entered the woods, were all talking about Rurik. Not only was this a victory for Rurik, but most importantly, he killed the king of the Gotlanders with his own hands!

The Ross Army returned to his camp, night fell on the world, and the sky was full of stars.

The dark world was burning, and the air was filled with an extremely strong smell of burning.

The fallen Rus soldiers, including Rus, Melalen mercenaries, Yermalen mercenaries, and Slavs, lay on more than one hundred piles of pine wood and hay.

All the living soldiers wore armor and picked up all the raven shields they had captured.

Beside the altar set up before the war, very young female warriors of Rurik, wearing freshly picked chrysanthemums as flower crowns, gathered together and sang "Holy War".

As the lyrics sing, the army really defeated the main force of the Gotland army, and the final victory was one step away.

The holy fire in the altar reflected Rumia, who was wearing a helmet with antlers. She opened her arms, and when the song was over, she sang the sacrificial carols of the Ross tribe in person.

What is very eye-catching is that there is a wooden stick in the center of the altar, on which is the head of Haken, the king of Gotland.

What is an offering? King Gotland is the sacrifice!

Suddenly, Rumia looked up at Tianyu and roared in a crisp voice, "The gods say they need new warriors! Let these brave people go to Valhalla! Fire it up!"

The camp that had lit a lot of bonfires has gradually become an erupting volcano, or the ground is burning.

For those who fled back to Visby, they saw in horror that the battlefield on the east side of the mound was burning, as if countless monsters had drilled out of the underworld, and it seemed that the souls of the dead were still fighting against the terrifying Rus army.

The fallen Rus soldiers were caught in the flames, and the flames continued until dawn.

Realistically, it may take a day to burn a body to black bones or ashes in a firewood. The Rus can wait, and of course they need a good fix.

For Rurik, however, he did not need to rush outside Visby.

In the city without walls, the army can enter and leave at any time.

Rurik's thoughts were different, and his explanation made the clansmen shut up.

"We don't need to go with just one day off, we have to wait, even two or three days. The guys who escaped have lost their ability to fight, and they will be sunk by our army when they flee at sea. They will fall into terror, they will be insane, They will kill each other, and in the end, there will not be many living people left. The last of them will send messengers to beg us to be merciful. Of course I can forgive the lives of many women and children, but as a price, we will get everything except their lives."

Indeed, the Gotlanders are now left with a large number of women, children and old men, their young warriors and Danish mercenaries, ninety-nine per hundred dead!

No one believes that the Gotlanders are a threat anymore. They and their city of Visby are completely fat sheep to be slaughtered. When to use the knife depends on the butcher's mood.

Just as Rurik had hoped, the horror of Visby's founding was fermenting.

Six thousand soldiers of the Gotland army set out, and after only half a day of fighting, they came to nothing. How many people did they lose? I'm afraid they don't even know it themselves.

Only a very small number of the aged warriors escaped, and it can be said that these people are real cowards. The bravest men have been fighting against the Rus to a tragic result of total death.

Most of the wealthy businessmen and families of the little rich collapsed after this war.

Visby's fishing industry, salt cooking industry and wool industry should be the mainstay of the economy, and the mainstay of the economy mainly depends on the labor of middle-aged men. Now, the entire Visby has ten rooms and nine empty spaces. Those old people who stayed behind were shocked by the complete failure of their clansmen. They tried to chat with the female warriors who had escaped, and what they got was mostly their heartless screams.

In this battle, the Gotland army actually killed more than 4,000 people, and almost all the female soldiers and young soldiers who escaped alive. These people are poorly equipped, physically and technically disadvantaged, and their existence value is more of a scene.

The key to defeating the enemy is not the gain or loss of one city and one place, but the annihilation of the enemy's living force.

Rurik deliberately acted according to this set of strategic patterns summed up by Sun Wu in the East and Clausewitz in the West, and the result was so tragic.

If the two major conflicts and a small conflict before the decisive battle are added, the cumulative loss of the Gotlanders is as high as 6,000 troops, that is, 1,500 enemies were wiped out in the Battle of White Sand Harbor, and 1,500 in the Battle of Lukuluye Village. five hundred. In the battle of the ambush at the foot of the hill and the initial landing battle, more than 300 people were beheaded.

In addition, the Rus army has captured more than a thousand people and brought them all back to the rear.

The net loss of the Gotlanders was close to 8,000, which shows that in Visby, the huge settlement fell into a terrible depression, and some shanty towns were completely turned into ghost towns, leaving only the distress of young children, and the failure of The woman wailing after the battle.

Five big merchants managed to escape back to Visby, dragging their bodies almost to pieces, and meeting with the court on the evening of the decisive battle.

The priests looked sad, and the great merchants were full of misery.

Harald sat cross-legged with his head down and muttered bitterly, "It's time to come up with a countermeasure."

"Countermeasures? What other countermeasures?!" A businessman burst out, then slowly sat down and was disheartened: "Haken is over, I saw him captured with my own eyes. I just can't figure out how the Rus people are like this. Our strength? They actually defeated us on land, and now I have more than a dozen mercenaries and more than 20 domestic slaves left in my hands. If they die, I can only kill the enemy myself."

"You still want to kill the enemy? Stop being delusional, we must escape." Another businessman seemed to have put forward a feasible suggestion.

"Escape? Where?"

"We forcibly went out to sea and left at night with gold and silver."

"I'm afraid that's the only way. Now the guys from Klitheim are evacuating again, and they're going back to their port from land. Maybe we can work with them to get Gotland."

...

The two businessmen who fled back, you said a word, and they discussed their escape plan. The guy who was the main battle now wants to leave this place of right and wrong as soon as possible.

Naturally, there is also a kind-hearted plan to win Harald: "Friend, hurry up and withdraw! I really envy you, you have a beautiful daughter. You dedicate Asraki to the business leader of Hazelby, that guy will help You quickly revive your family business. When that time comes, don't forget to support us."

Is this kind? Clearly...

Harald couldn't say anything for a while. He knew his daughter, so he said: "Aslaqi has heard too many heroic stories from priests, she just wants to marry a hero. That person from Hazelby is called What? A fat walrus? Forget it."

"It doesn't matter." The businessman shrugged: "You better prepare early. We forcibly cross the sea blockade of the Rus, and everything will be fine."

Regarding escape, Harald's current attitude is extremely tangled. He didn't believe that the Russ would be so merciful to leave a gap in the blockade for people to escape. As for the overland journey to the southern port with the last few refugees in Klitheim, it was a long woodland trek, lacking water and food, and everything was in peril.

A thought appeared in his mind, he raised his head and questioned his businessmen friends: "Could it be that the Rus people are absolutely ruthless and want to kill everyone?"

The businessmen immediately understood the meaning, and then extended their hands to accuse them.

If they could surrender, the brothers would have surrendered long ago, but what everyone saw was clearly the mad killing of the Rus army. It was like a crack in the earth, and the monsters from the underworld overflowed, attaching to the Rus and turning people into monsters.

Another person said it extremely viciously. This person stood up and pointed at Harald's nose and scolded: "You are the main battle! Magnod (a big businessman who was killed) wants to retreat, and you killed him with your own hands. Now, maybe it's time for the brothers to kill you, because you're going to surrender!"

Threatened, Harald suddenly drew his sword, and the four merchants drew their short swords one after another.

Harald didn't show weakness either: "Come on then, I was a warrior before I was a businessman. I can easily kill you all."

What he said was the truth, and merchants who were good at counting silver coins did not dare to test it rashly.

"Then there's nothing to talk about, why should we chat in the chamber?" A businessman sighed while looking up at the ceiling: "This place will eventually be occupied by the Rus, and the brothers will be evacuated. I hope Lord Frey can forgive Haken for destroying it. After his sacrifice, reward us who live and continue to make money. And you, Harald, you stay here, since your daughter likes strong warriors, give Asraki to the leader of the Rus! For beauty's sake, the Rus might save your family."

The conversation in the council broke up unhappily, and the merchants withdrew in anger. Only Harald sat there, looking at each other with the bitter-looking priests.

The High Priest of Gotland, an old man with a bald head covered in chalky mud, moved his decayed body and sat cross-legged in front of Harald: "Haken is dead, and he betrayed Frey and was not recognized by Odin. . Now, we support you as the new king."

"I'm here to be the king?" Harald was stunned. "Why? Being a king has the curse of death."

"However, the people of Visby want to live. Maybe those Russ will really look at the fairies and not go too far."

"Really! How ridiculous!"

In all fairness, Harald could even pay for a withdrawal to preserve his family's wealth. He really didn't want to be the king, because he knew that the Russ obviously hated the Gotland people, and whoever became the king would have to pay for this hatred.

He rushed out the door without further ado, and did not leave a clear answer.

He hurried into the house with his waiting entourage. As soon as he came back, he ordered all the slaves to be armed.

The so-called armed does not really want to fight the Rus in the street. Harald is very clear that now his enemy is not the Rus army, but the guys around him. Those seemingly ordinary people are deadly threats under special circumstances. As for his future plans, his mind is extremely confused, so he will take a step by step for the time being.