Rise of Rurik

A mixed army begins a new journey.

The fleet departed from the main island of the Shetland Islands, followed the direction of the island chain, and took two days to reach the northernmost tip of Scotland.

The army was grooming on the deserted coast, and the weather suddenly turned bad.

The rainy weather enveloped the whole world. Compared with the drop in temperature, the feeling of wetness was really dampening the warrior's spirit.

However, the brothers have really stood on the big island of Britain. Even if there are a lot of barren offshore rock slopes in front of them, as long as you continue to the south along the coastline, you will be able to find the fat sheep-like Edinburgh.

People endured the light rain and continued southward, and the quiet change of wind direction also allowed all the ships to raise their wet sails.

Everyone huddled into a ball and carried the sudden cold feeling, and the sea became more and more violent.

The north wind did not set off any rough seas, even so, all the ships were already up and down among the waves.

"If a ship is overturned by a big wave, doesn't it mean that there will be a major loss before the apprenticeship?" Rurik was disturbed by the tossing, and he personally hid in the cabin of the Avlora, without repaying the pain of his men. , but was also tossed by the constant waves and had no appetite.

Many people were simply tossed into seasickness, they became sluggish, and could only instinctively shrink into a ball.

The fleet deliberately moved close to the shoreline in order to be able to drift to shore if the vessel capsized. The expedition once became a self-torture in the wind and rain. After being tossed by wind, rain and waves for five days, the sun finally dispelled the haze, and the sea became calm. His body subconsciously looked to the west and saw the dark green scenery immersed in the mist.

Where is the fleet at?

Bathed in the warm south wind, Rurik, who was standing on the bow deck, looked around.

At this moment, the Shetland Islander Huo De, who was the guide, stood beside him cautiously.

"Where are we now? How far are we from Edinburgh?"

"This..." Huo De was shocked. He knew that Rurik would ask such a question, but he really didn't know how to answer it accurately. Then he said cautiously: "In my last experience, it took about ten days to go from Shetland to Edinburgh."

"Oh?" Rurik glanced at the high sun: "Now, we are on the seventh day of our voyage. You mean, we have three more days to sail?"

"Yes."

"All right,

The situation is not bad. "

"but……"

"What's wrong?"

Huo De said cautiously: "We sailed in the wind and rain, borrowing the northwest wind for many days. We sailed almost day and night, maybe we are now..."

"Huh?" Rurik's head tightened. "Maybe we're about to reach our goal?"

"Probably so. I can't judge the correct location, but if I see the small fjord, I know there is a large fjord to the south of it. Edinburgh, Northumbria, is on the south bank of that large fjord. "

"Then keep your eyes open." After saying this, Rurik suddenly became ambitious. He felt that he needed to convey the good news of "coming soon" to all the soldiers, but after thinking about it again, after seeing Edinburgh's Before urban architecture, any manifesto was too hasty.

All the longships were still closely following the sails of the Avlora, the big ships were sailing against the wind, and the flags at the top of the masts were the beacon of everyone's attention.

Rurik still felt that the voyage would take a few days, but as soon as the afternoon came, Huo De stomped his feet happily, because the crucial "small fjord" appeared!

It is the fjord at the mouth of the River Tay in Scotland. In the language of the Picts, this river is called the River Tay. If the fleet traveled upstream along the river, they would eventually reach the core of Pict's rule. It's just that the Picts in Scotland are too poor compared to the centuries-old feudal kingdoms established by the Angers in the south. Picts can be crazy indigo raiders, but unfortunately, they are really poor, even if they already know how to find and process diamonds to make treasures.

But the Anza are, in essence, Saxons!

A group of Saxons who had been defending the attack of the Frankish army on the Continent fled north and became the new Danes. The cucumber-like outlying island of Öland in Scandinavia, on which Borgholm is a small city-state founded by Saxon refugees!

Based on this knowledge, Rurik subconsciously felt that the Saxon descendants of Edinburgh were more likely to build their city into a fortress.

Build a fort? Will the wall be able to withstand the attack of the real army?

Just as the fleet passed the "Little Fjord" smoothly, Rurik summoned all the family leaders and representatives of the family army to the flagship Avlora to hold a battle meeting at sea.

Rurik needs no further elaboration, the right hand reaches the man.

Standing high on the forecastle deck, he gave orders: "The long voyage will come to an end! Tell your warriors to endure one last night, and tomorrow we will arrive in Edinburgh! Tell everyone to recharge, let us Launch a raid! Show no mercy!"

Speaking of excitement, what everyone saw was the clenched fist of the beautiful young man. People were happy because the commander was so decisive.

After so many hardships and sufferings, a great victory is at hand.

A group of northern waves are quietly approaching Edinburgh under the cover of night. Every warrior is actively sharpening his axe and blade, preparing for the most terrifying fight. They only have treasures and beautiful women in their eyes. They are not afraid of fighting in a pool of blood, but rather enjoy it.

Because Odin's eyes are always on the earth, the gods are choosing the bravest warriors, only the barbarians will be chosen!

This traditional Nordic belief is as strong as the Balmers, whose eyes, of course, are full of the desire to make a fortune.

So the Northumbrian defenders in Edinburgh never sensed something was wrong? Their fishing boats didn't even spy on the threat from the north?

In reality, it is.

Obviously close to the coast, the once violent sea returned to calm, but apart from the Viking fleet sailing in the sea, Rurik couldn't see other people's fishing boats. He originally thought that once he was exposed, he would let the Avlora go full sail, throw off the large force and catch up with the enemy fishing boat to sink it to prevent the secret from being leaked.

Rurik was thinking too much, and his and the others' caution was superfluous.

Because the British Navy, which once dominated the world, does not exist at all now.

In other words, the sea souls of the Britons themselves were brought by various Viking conquerors.

Northumbria is the product of the merger of two small kingdoms. Her north and west are under the military pressure of kingdoms established by various Celtic tribes, while the situation in the south is more difficult. However, the nobles of the country are trying their best to establish the hegemony of "Damecia".

The Age of the Seven Kingdoms in Britain was still in the white-hot era of competition among kingdoms, especially Northumbria, where the long-term infighting of nobles had exhausted the kingdom. Now, here comes the Vikings.

The Vikings have already appeared! The local nobles of Northumbria are also well aware of a whole new threat from the eastern seas!

Those ugly savages who don't believe in God are trying to sell their dubious catch, but they are also doing gangsters in the dark.

The fact is that many years ago, Hode and other Shetland Islanders' expedition team went to the south to find the existence of Northumbria. It is true that they sold fish and looted secretly. They transformed the Nordic "principle of sea contact", the so-called fisherman into a pirate, and perfectly reproduced it in the civilized Northumbria, which naturally attracted the wrath of the local officials.

It is a pity that the governor of Edinburgh does not have his own fleet at all, and the entire kingdom does not have any form of navy. What is even more strange is that the ships owned by the huge kingdom are only small boats such as sampans. It can only sail on rivers, and even going offshore is courting death.

They are obviously people who set sail from Jutland, Denmark 400 years ago, and their descendants in Britain have forgotten how to build ships!

They have become pure land power countries, and the so-called coastal defense can be ignored. The officers of Edinburgh were relatives of the king, and most of the troops garrisoned in the north of these kingdoms were to resist the invasion of the Pictish kingdom. As for the threat from the sea? The army is really helpless. In other words, the people of Edinburgh never thought that there would be an army of barbarians with a strength of thousands of people who would go by sea to land on their homes!

Even if it is an important town in the north, the population of Edinburgh is not even as large as that of Rosburg, the hometown of the Rus!

Not only that, in the current era, the total population of the huge kingdom is only more than 100,000 people. Even the entire population of England is only about 800,000 people, and is mainly concentrated in Mercia and Wessex.

More than 4,000 people live in Edinburgh and the surrounding villages, the army is on guard against the invasion of the Pictish and Strathclyde kingdoms, the peasants are wrapped in the quiet country life day after day, and even go to the monastery to say mass, it is dull The most important entertainment in life.

It was supposed to be a warm morning, when the fog cleared and the sun dissipated Edinburgh's laziness, farmers, shepherds, warriors, generals, and those priests, this should have been the most ordinary start. When people enjoy the most prosperous and stable days they understand in the short time after the wheat harvest, the Earl of Edinburgh is also full of hope to prepare the carriage, and plans to send the harvested agricultural tax (wheat) to the royal city of York.

However, some coastal-looking children saw the most incredible sights in their short lives!

Some children were the first to sound the alarm of danger, but it was too late!

The Avlora led all the long ships to a beautiful beach landing. The large ships anchored near the shore. At this moment, Rurik had already seen the basic structure of the city.

"Oops, they do have some wooden walls."

Beyonny, who was eager to try, had a confident look on his face, and he didn't care: "What is the wall, the brothers step on a few hundred feet, and the wooden wall will collapse."

"Listening to your tone reminds me of my cousin."

"But I am indeed your brother." Biyonni said proudly.

"No! Be as reckless as my cousin." With that said, Rurik instructed his Yevlo and others, "Unload all the torsion slingshots, bring two boxes of cast iron projectiles, and we will go ashore and destroy the wooden wall!"

Meanwhile, those longboats have washed ashore on a massive scale.

A large group of leather-clad, or simply bare, patterned arms, raised handaxes and wooden shields, rushed towards the wood walls of Edinburgh, which were better than nothing.

Don't look at her as an important town in the north of Northumbria. The so-called city is simply a large village surrounded by thin pine walls. There are also stone buildings, but unfortunately they are very few.

The terrifying army rushed up, and the Edinburgh civilians wandering outside the city ran away, but unfortunately their actions were too late.

The furious Viking army showed no mercy, and they slashed and slashed all the way until they reached the wooden wall.

Here too, the Balmerks and the Shetlanders, their frenzied heads were instantly awakened by the troubles of reality!

A large number of farmers and herdsmen fled to the countryside, and those who were too late to escape could only hide in the city.

The Earl of Edinburgh had never seen such a battle before, and the local bishop also tried his best to suppress his fear. Together with the little monk, he walked up to the city wall with several golden "Holy Cross" high, and nervously read the scriptures, the so-called "Holy Cross". Let the morale of the defending soldiers explode.

The lower warrior captains wielded iron swords, and the flag-bearers struggled to wave the orange flag of Northumbria.

They shot arrows with some short wooden bows in an attempt to stop the sea raiders.

The Vikings' attack did stop, not because of their opponent's arrows, but because they sensed the trench under the wooden wall. It had been raining a few days ago, there was deep silt in the trench, and the whole world was still wet, and falling into the trench was like being trapped in the silt.

The bravest leaders of the family, like Ostan's eldest son Geiger, led his brothers to look at the hanging wooden bridge, swinging axes and shields, and yelling at the enemy.

Some of his brothers have already been hit, but the army still has no intention of retreating. Instead, the army has begun to tactically surround the entire city due to the large number of people.

Is this a good tactic? On the contrary, it is precisely because the group of guys who can't wait to follow up with heavy weapons rushed too fast, looking at the inferior wooden wall, they were helpless, they could only surround the city first.

However, as Rurik went ashore with all ten torsion slingshots that had been removed from the Avlora, the brief helplessness would be resolved.

People held up axes, swords, and spears and shouted, as if a Viking battle cry could sonic down the wooden wall.

Thanks to this sudden terrifying momentum, more than a thousand men and women in the city were really in extreme fear.

Even though the 500 Northumbrian standing troops were insisting on resisting, it was a pity that they were still at an absolute disadvantage!

Because the invaders were more than 1,100 Viking warriors. They came to loot and make money, and they would not have the slightest mercy for killing people. This is incomparable to kingdom warriors recruited from farmers, shepherds, and even serfs.

"It's a mess! It's so messy!" Rurik shouted angrily, and yelled at Biyonni's men who were carrying the torsion slingshot: "You guys move quickly! We want to end the battle before noon! After destroying their walls, you guys Go loot!"

And what about Biyonni? He himself holds his beloved Ross crossbow, and gathers with all the warriors who carry the crossbow.

Rurik mixed most of the bow-wielding Balmerks with his own crossbow-wielding mercenaries, ashore sailors, and even the casual old traveler Mordegen, who was now a crossbowman.

Biyonni's subordinates are on the battlefield, that is, they represent the forces of the Balmer leader. They accepted Rurik's most direct order, and fought with the Ostan's Geiger brothers who were busy trying to break through the drawbridge.

Guyger was young and vigorous, he protected most of his body with a wooden shield in one hand, pointed his sword to the opponent who was shooting arrows against the wooden wall with his right hand, and complained to Biyonni: "They still have such means, brothers can't beat him! "

"I know! Let your brother back for a while, and now Rurik comes! Rurik of Ross, our commander-in-chief, is the best at destroying wooden walls."

"Okay! Let's take cover!" Geiger was overjoyed, watching the heavy equipment start to activate.

However, just before the torque slingshot came into effect, all kinds of long-range soldiers with bows and crossbows, including Biyonni, had been dispatched by Rurik. They were lined up in a very dense formation, facing the place where the largest jump bridge was defended. The enemy, launch fire suppression!

At this point, the scale of victory has fallen into the hands of the Vikings and Rurik without any suspense.