Rise of Rurik

A group of people gathered by the sea, and dozens of orange-and-white flags were flying.

"Lord, look." A soldier reported to Rurik.

Standing on the bow of the Avlora, Rurik leaned forward and squinted. Although it suddenly turned cloudy today, he could clearly see that there was not only the Northumbrian King's flag, but also the Ross flag.

"Good job, arrived earlier than I thought."

Rurik landed in a small boat, and soon Magnut and Biyonny also came ashore.

The latter two already had a contemptuous attitude towards Ernred after signing the treaty. In the eyes of the two, the army they brought was still a weak team, even if they were not qualified as allies.

After all, Ernred came with the army.

"Haha, I saw a strong army. I didn't expect you to still have a fresh army." Rurik said deliberately.

Ein Reid was not happy, he forced a smile and said: "I have tried my best to recruit troops, and we are now forming a coalition to attack Mercia. But..."

"You don't need to say more." Rurik gestured: "I know what you are worried about, don't worry, I won't let you suffer a lot. We must develop a set of tactics for this raid so that we won't suffer deadweight losses."

tactics? This concept is really foreign to Ernred.

When it comes to fighting, the army swarms up, the soldiers fight each other, and the winner is standing in a pool of blood. The tactic that Ernred knows now is to play a gourd against the Vikings and put a shield wall to scare people.

The Northumbrian army had traveled a long way. Most of them were exhausted, and many of them had run out of dry food, so they sat on the ground with hunger and waited for the next arrangement.

Rurik noticed this, and the situation was to be expected. His new allies were already underdogs, and he expected a group of armed peasants to bravely attack the Mercia army, so don't expect too much.

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The development of the situation surprised the Northumbrian army, and almost all the warriors resisted and fought together with the Vikings. Since the two sides do not have the same beliefs, this alliance is truly a blasphemous alliance. Second, they are really afraid of this group of villains who cross the sea. Who can guarantee that the Vikings will not kill the donkey?

but,

Instead, they provided the food the army needed most - enough fish to satisfy everyone's hunger.

The Northumbria division was exhausted, and their makeshift camp was soon filled with the aroma of grilled fish.

This gift really puzzled Ernred.

Everyone set up an open-air military command post on the shore to discuss the next assault on the Mercia Army.

Ernred first complimented politely: "You actually ignore the previous grudges and actually give us alms. In fact, you also..."

He wanted to say that Vikings can be good people, but he held back.

Rurik waved his hand and signaled Magnut to stop talking.

But Magnut insisted: "King of Northumbria, this is a reward from this king. Our army can easily defeat new enemies, but you must send troops to help prove that you have been on the battlefield. I will not Allow my weak allies to be too hungry to walk."

Hearing this, Rurik laughed without saying a word.

Ernred also smiled awkwardly, and didn't say any more.

Rurik clapped his hands, "I am the commander of the army. Ernred with a broken arm, now your army must obey me."

"Yes," he said.

Ernred did not find it strange to hear a young man as the conductor. It was this brat who almost beat himself to the death of the country.

Rurik did know very little about the information about the Mercia Army, but that was all irrelevant. Based on the information available, the Mercian King Wigraf recently destroyed the Northumbrian river barracks, which happened only a few days ago.

The Mercian army might attack the city of Roydis, and since there were some Northumbrian troops left to defend it, Rurik didn't need to care about them.

Although Ernred raised the issue, Rurik made the point of the tactics bluntly.

The so-called tactic is that the army directly raids the village of Dole (Sheffield) along the river, and if the main force of Mercia is still there, a decisive battle will take place.

It would be better if they went north. Coalition forces stormed Lindsay Cheng (the main city of Lincolnshire) directly along another river and looted the surrounding area.

Victory must belong to the coalition, and the aftermath of the battle must end in the looting of the Lindsay area. The reason is quite simple. Right now, in the bay where Ross Balmerk's fleet is located, a nearby river flowing upstream can reach the city of Lindsay, and this area is very close to the sea, which is convenient for the army to load and pull the looted materials. Walk.

Hit Dole Village first and seek a decisive battle with Mercia's main force. If it is empty, the army will go straight to Lindsay City and induce the Mercia Army to come to the decisive battle.

"How can you still fight like this?" Ernred understood Rurik's tactics. He felt that it was very inappropriate, and he was still worried that the Mercia Army would be under the Roedis army.

Rurik was full of confidence, he didn't want to talk nonsense with Ernred at all, and saw that Magnut had something to say.

"Do you still think my decision is too bold? I admit that there is an element of gambling here. It doesn't matter, our ships are very fast, and for the infantry to travel five days, we may be able to do it in one day."

Rurik's eyes glanced at Ernred again: "If you are still worried, we plundered Lindsay, and then stormed the royal city of Mercia. I heard the captives say that the river can lead to Lindsay and move on. You can reach the royal city of Mercia, Tamworth. Anyway, their king is not in the capital, and we are very good at attacking the city. Are you not complaining that your kingdom is getting smaller? Why don’t you think that you can be the king of Mercia?”

This is a possibility that Ernred never imagined. It has to be said that Rurik, the Viking brat, made this unrealistic fantasy suddenly possible.

"Then act according to your will. I am willing to follow your command." Ernred said respectfully. This reverence was definitely from the bottom of his heart. Magnute and Biyonni saw this clearly and were really surprised. different.

In fact, the two still didn't understand, but Rurik gave the down-and-out Ernred a big gift. Northumbria lost a large tract of land and gnawed a large piece from Mercia, isn't it a change of limit? What did he lose in the end?

On Rurik's arrangements, Northumbrian warriors were authorized to travel on Rus' ships.

Those armed cargo ships that were deliberately empty could well be turned into troop transports, with five ships carrying five hundred Northumbrian warriors. They were ordered to disarm and enter the closed cabin, as if carrying a herd of livestock.

They were temporarily confiscated their weapons and became a group of unarmed people.

As for the others, with a small number of cavalry, they walked westward along the Don River on foot, and went straight to the village of Dole.

The coalition moved out the next morning, and the combined forces of Ross, Balmerk, and Northumbria began to attack.

The total strength of the coalition army is as many as 5,000 people, of course, this is only 5,000 people on the books.

The main force of the army is naturally the Rus army and the Balmer army. Except for the five hundred Northumbrian soldiers who were allowed to take the boat, the remaining half of the so-called soldiers are equivalent to the atmosphere group.

The winds and narrow channels were not good for the large ships of the fleet, and Rurik used the old method to have the oars lead the large ships.

The Avlora was towed by four longboats, and the other sailing destroyers, except the Mercury, only needed two longboats to be towed against the current.

The currents of the Don are so gentle that the Mercury can go against the current with a human propeller, but she still needs a long boat to pull it.

Ernred was invited to stand on the flagship of the fleet. He never thought that he could ride such a large ship at zero distance. She is like a house that moves on the water, and it must be so, this group of savages can destroy from far away own kingdom.

Wait a minute! How can they be considered barbarians when they can build such behemoths? There are legends that the Romans also built large ships long ago, and these techniques are limited to legends today. However, his kingdom can only build some tiny ships, and there is no fleet equivalent to the Vikings in the whole of Britain.

Going along the river is only a relatively smooth road. In terms of speed of action, can it be as fast as sailing by boat?

Ernred felt that the speed of this fleet of snakes lined up was almost catching up with horses! From the mouth of the river to the inland Dole Village, it is probably a daytime ride. He had to estimate that if the Mercians were still in Dole Village, then when the blood-red sunset hung on the skyline, the Vikings and His own army was killed.

They continued their march along the Don, and were soon clear of the Northumbrian warriors who followed on foot.

The coalition is really in name only, if the battle is decisive, the main force is still the Vikings. Although Ernred was a little uncomfortable, he didn't want the glory of defeating Mercia to be taken away by strangers who crossed the sea, so he had to lead his troops into the war no matter what. But he didn't want this. He was afraid that his own people would be killed and injured a lot, which would make the already weak national strength even worse.

Since the Vikings are going to kill, let them do it!

Ernred made a psychological struggle, but decided to continue to sit humiliatingly and watch the tiger fight. It's also good to see how the Vikings operate their terrifying arrows, and then watch their infantry work up close, so that I can quietly remember them in my heart and imitate them in the future.

For a huge army incarnated as a river fleet, it is impossible for the Mercian army to be unprepared.

After all, Mercia is still a traditional landlocked country, and their army movement is slow, and even there is no serious cavalry unit in the country, and its overall mobility is quite limited.

After the victory in Dole Village, the army had to take a good rest.

Continue north to attack Roydis? Earl Lindsay and King Wigraf both have this intention, but facing the reality, they and other generals summed up, this year is really impossible to do.

Because Wigraf stayed near Dole Village for a long time, although this is the frontier, the local area is actually the Earl of Peksart, and part of the supplies that maintain the Mercia Kingdom Army and Earl Lindsay's army stationed are Peksart. Earl paid.

How many years has Mercia been restored? What's more, a few decades ago, the Earl of Peksart was a Northumbrian territory. Even if the ruler is replaced by a noble of the Mercian lineage, many people do not reject being ruled by Northumbria at all. But the people had to pay a lot of taxes to keep the Master Wang stationed near their home.

Earl Peksart has obviously resigned. Although he is related to King Mercia, this war is consuming the resources of his fief, which involves economic problems, and naturally he is gradually slack.

Earl Peksart is working on foreign workers. Not only has reinforcements been arriving late, but recently, even the provision of supplies to Master Wang has stopped.

Therefore, for King Wigraf, he also had some helplessness in his raid on the village of Dole. This time he seized the supplies of the Northumbria barracks to alleviate some of the problems of his army, but if he continued to fight, he would not have enough stamina.

The Mercian Army was stationed at the Yuan enemy's barracks on the other side of the Don River. According to the new plan, Wigraf decided to spend it until the winter came. If the Northumbrian Army came to challenge at this moment, he would not hesitate to fight a decisive battle. If the decisive battle does not take place, it will continue to be consumed until next spring, and use a winter to reserve food, grass, supplies and troops, and then attack Roedis will have a chance of winning.

They completely ignored the information about the Viking invasion, and the entire camp was shocked when a group of large ships suddenly appeared from the calm Don River.

It was the evening, and Wigraf, who had already planned to rest, was startled by the guards who broke into the camp.

"Presumptuous! What makes you so alarmed?!"

The guard was trembling all over, his right hand pointed in one direction, and the whole person was terrified.

"Your Majesty! Big ships! Lots of big ships! They're moving towards us."

"That's it? Absurd!" Wigraf hurriedly put on his boots and walked outdoors, and he saw the fleet of ships lit by the setting sun.

"Who is this? Is it an enemy? Or a friendly force?" Wigraf trembled at first, then shouted loudly, but what responded to him was a projectile shot by a torsion slingshot.

Meanwhile, on the Avlora.

Rurik asked Ernred: "Is your barracks in front? It's all occupied by the enemy? I can't see your flags, they're all weird... Well, the style is a bit like mine."

The King of Mercia flag and the flag of Rus are both simple and intertwined with diagonal lines. Naturally, there is no similarity in the meaning behind them.

"It is true, I implore you to attack indiscriminately, kill them, and avenge me." Ernred said fiercely.

"No! It's not revenge for you, you don't deserve it. It's just a new war, now watch my show."

Ernred thought the Vikings would disembark immediately and flood the occupied Dole village barracks.

He is very satisfied with the current results. He is fortunate that the Mercian people are here, and the flag of Wigraf is flying there. Everything was guessed right by Rurik, a Viking cub. Wigraf's life.

However, the way the Vikings fought shocked him. The big thing on the side of the ship that was covered with sackcloth was actually a kind of bow!

Torsion slingshot charges, cast-iron projectiles are installed, and a gorgeous launch follows.

With the enemy line in front, the Avlora and most of the ships were firing projectiles at the frontal enemy at the maximum elevation angle.

Almost all torsion slingshots are used, and they fire freely, creating a terrifying "hailstone" indeed.

From the fleet's point of view, since the Don River is almost east-west in the current section, the ship is advancing against the blood-red sunset, and the people on board basically cannot see the effect of the projectile strike.

In fact, in the military camps of the Mercians on both sides of the river, the sudden iron hailstone hit some soldiers immediately.

Can you kill an enemy from such a long distance? These weapons have refreshed Ernred's cognition, and it is even more sad that the heavy weapons are in front of him, but he can't understand their operation away.

The Mercia military camp was in chaos, and Wigraf watched eagerly as a soldier watching the fun was smashed to pieces by a weapon in the distance.

The guards are holding iron shields to protect Wigraf, and now there is no need to hesitate, and the battle begins like this!

He couldn't see the enemy's face at all, and his army suffered losses, but what was worse than the casualties was the chaos of the army. The brave warriors of the past were all running for their lives, because chain mail and ordinary shields had no resistance to the "stones" that were suddenly thrown down. They were frantically looking for something solid to be a tortoise.

It wasn't over yet, as the ship drew closer, there was a sudden swish in the sky.

At this moment, Ernred saw a lot of Vikings with strangely flat bows and arrows, and they started shooting arrows again. He clearly saw the cluster projectile of the wooden-armed crossbow, with admiration and envy, as well as unforgettable hatred.

Arrows fell one after another, and the Mercia Army had never seen such a dense range of long-range weapons. As the chaos intensified, Wigraf shouted: "Guards! Send me across the river immediately!"

He also caught several guards and ordered them to pass on the king's life. He ordered all the soldiers in Dole Village to withdraw to the other side of the river, and then to the forest in the distance to avoid being killed by suspicious enemies.

Wigraf was on the run, people saw the pontoon bridge on the river flying the king's flag, the king's retreat order was issued, and the soldiers who were running around had a clear direction to escape.

They swarmed to the narrow pontoon bridge made of rafts to start an emergency crossing, and those who accidentally fell into the water also swam frantically to the other side of the river.

Wigraf slipped away, but it was too late for Earl Lindsay, who unexpectedly became a defender.

The long ships of the vanguard began to run aground on purpose, and the Balmerk Viking warriors disembarked aggressively, wielding swords and axes to the enemy ahead, shouting the slogan of "Blood Sacrifice Odin" to slash and run...