Rise of Rurik

The warriors of Mercia cheered at the front of the city, but the people in the city were wailing.

Bottomwoolf was very happy that since he could repel the enemy's first round of attacks, subsequent defenses should be successful.

The head guard endured the pain and ran to the prince: "His Royal Highness, we have achieved success."

"Yes, I saw it all. You...you're hurt."

The captain of the guard subconsciously covered his right hand, which was tied into a ball with sackcloth, and said timidly: "It's not in the way." He hurriedly changed the subject: "My secret weapon is successful, even if the hot water can't scald people, it can scald them. Injury, it will be a dead end in the future.”

Bottomwoolf nodded, "Now count the dead and appease the wounded. Let's do something."

"As ordered."

Prince Bottwoolf, he led a group of warriors who had experienced battles to deliberately parade among the terrified people, and the accompanying priests also embraced golden urns and sprinkled the surrounding people with cypress branches dipped in clean water.

The people fell to their knees spontaneously. When the prince kept preaching that he led the troops to repel the enemy, a smile finally appeared on the faces of panic.

The battle was over before noon. The Balmerk army's hasty attack was unable to break through the city wall.

Even Mercia's losses were not much. More than 50 people died in battle due to various reasons, and the Balmer army was similar.

This was the first setback since the landing in Britain, and the retreating army returned to the camp on the river to sit down and rest.

No success is failure? Magnut was so indignant that he didn't complain about his subordinates or the fact that hundreds of Rus' troops didn't directly participate in the battle.

He pointed at the city wall in the military tent and cursed: "Damn wall, hateful enemy. They are as hard as iron ingots!"

Biyonni also followed the words: "We miscalculated, this is the most difficult enemy our army has encountered. They used a secret weapon, and some brothers were burned. I worry that if they use hot oil next time, they will Too much trouble."

"What should I do?" Magnute bared his teeth and asked left and right, "Where's Rurik?"

"He's examining our wounded."

"You, please bring him here. Damn it, I should have listened to his advice! I... I'm so confused!"

Rurik was indeed examining the injuries of the wounded, and seeing a few unlucky bastards whose skin was scalded off, in addition to being visually shocking, he also felt sorry for them. Because such injuries are so deadly, in the current era, extensive burns are a surefire way to die from infection.

He could only encourage the injured to leave after a few words.

The injuries of the other wounded were uneven. Most of them were wounded by arrows. After dragging their bodies with arrows and withdrawing to the camp, their companions forcibly pulled out the arrow clusters with barbs, causing blood everywhere.

There were as many as forty corpses pulled back, almost all of them were crushed to death by stones, and very few were killed by stray arrows.

The number of wounded was even more, as many as seventy people. Among them, those who were seriously injured were bound to die in a short time, and the condition of the rest of the injured could not be said to be too bad.

Without the tools to kill bacteria, most casualties would still die from wound infections. However, Rurik brought a batch of yellow-white sulfur soap this time. The smell is pungent and alkaline. It was originally used for soldiers to wash clothes and hair. It was used to prepare some soapy water to smear wounds, which at least worked. .

There will be a group of wounded safe and sound, and a group of lightly wounded can fight here with a little bandage. However, the Balmers experienced setbacks in the morning, and at least a hundred people were unable to fight.

Rurik was called back to the military tent by his father-in-law. He was worried that his allies would complain that his Ross Army was watching a play, but he never thought that the old guy Magnute was blaming himself.

"Don't blame yourself." Rurik calmly motioned to shut up,

He added: "I checked, and our coalition experienced 110 casualties in this battle. This is not a serious loss, but the strength of our army is still frustrated."

"There are so many casualties?" Magnute was shocked and deeply remorseful: "I thought I would win with a brave attack. As you said, Odin gave our army a revelation, and God advised us not to be impulsive. It was me who was impulsive. , killing them."

An old guy who is self-proclaimed king, he still thinks he is invincible in the early morning, and it is noon, and he leads a reckless sinner.

Rurik had no intention of pacifying, and neither did the old Magnut to be coaxed.

He looked at the various family leaders of the Balmers who were present, and their emotions were not very good.

"Friends, you are all sullen, do you really think that the city wall is indestructible?"

"You! Have a plan?" Magnute raised his head suddenly, his eyes full of hope.

Guyger, whose arm was scalded, also shouted in an almost pleading attitude: Brother Rurik, think of a way. We brothers have no time to waste time with the enemy here. "

Everyone was waiting for Rurik to come up with a good idea, but if he really had a good idea, this morning's onslaught would be used.

In other words, if there was a good way, Rurik wouldn't be too cautious.

He did think of some ways to break through the city wall, but are these measures really suitable?

He dares to say that he still has no correct countermeasures, so he can only explain: "I have thought of some solutions, and I still need to be careful to implement them."

"Ah? Isn't there a particularly good way? I'm still thinking about fighting again in the afternoon."

Magnute's urging really made Rurik impatient, and he shook his head, considering his father-in-law's reluctance to speak seriously.

Then they chatted: "I am the commander of the coalition forces. If you don't accept my command, you will naturally fail. Wait for an afternoon, maybe God will suddenly give me a revelation of victory. You should comfort the wounded first, I have to think about it. Come up with a complete solution." He then left.

All afternoon, the coalition camp was safe. They were stationed under the city and continued to deploy soldiers to intimidate Tamworth. The status quo of soldiers approaching the city continued. Although Mercia defended the city, she did not dare to take it lightly.

Ross's camp, Rurik lay on his side on a leather blanket, beyond the low wall of Tamworth.

Alixing hurried over and sat down casually: "Have you come up with a solution?"

"not yet."

"Aren't their walls really solid, and the walls aren't really high. If it's a frost giant, it can leap over it at once."

"Those are old stories. Brother, there are no frost giants. You better rest, let me think quietly."

Rurik supported his brother and inadvertently pondered what his brother said.

If it is a real giant, the mountains and rivers are powerless to stop it. Giants can easily cross ravines but humans cannot.

and many more! Why can't people?

Rurik suddenly thought of something and directly overturned the previous siege idea.

He originally thought about logging on the spot, building a small counterweight trebuchet, and smashing the stone wall abruptly.

Perhaps this is too waste of time, there is another means of storming. It is to gather all the heavy weapons and organize a group of death squads. All the long-range firepower focused on a little support, all the climbing ladders were put together, and the death squads struggled to climb.

The latter will inevitably bring a lot of losses, but this is probably the most feasible plan now.

This solution is indeed very valuable, but the soldiers still have to climb the ladder. When they climbed, they were covered in flaws, and many of the people who died before also died in the process.

If a man-made slope was created, and the army rushed forward with shields and swords, would there be any flaws?

"Why don't I do this? Genghis Khan's army temporarily built a dirt slope to let the horse team rush to the city wall!"

There is a way, but I can't think of my cousin's ridicule bringing a good way.

In the evening, the Balmers who spontaneously discussed, they did not discuss the reason for the whole afternoon.

Rurik appeared with his entourage at a very confident pace. This gesture made everyone understand that a good countermeasure was finally here.

As soon as he settled down, he announced to everyone: "Friends, don't worry any more! While I was taking a nap, Odin said something to me."

"Ah! It's God? God is helping us!" Magnut was overjoyed, and he thanked the sunset with open arms.

"Listen to me! This is a very strange method. We are going to build a mound under the city wall, and our troops will rush up directly. This way they can't throw stones, and the arrows will be easily blocked by us."

"Mounds? Mounds made from flat ground?" Magnute, who had just aroused hope, wondered again: "Do we have such ability? That is the power of God!"

"No! As long as each of our warriors brings some dirt to the city, there are still nearly 2,000 of us. If we line up to sprinkle dirt, we can create a dirt slope. Besides, our goal is to walk on the city wall, as long as we can create a Slopes, everything can be used as building material, whether it's a tree or a dead body."

Hearing that, many family leaders were moved.

Rurik added: "I wish they would go out of the city to fight us, so we can annihilate them. Since their gates are closed, they dare not do so. I decided to remove the torsion slingshot mounted on the trolley, Install some wooden boards as tools for loading and unloading the soil. You also use rags to make some cloth pockets to transport the soil, and then prepare for manual logging on the spot. The soil and wood will be piled together, and soon it will be a soil slope.”

"This is the will of God, and it is a tactic that Odin gave us." Magnut said firmly, and the others did not object.

Because the city wall was not tall, everyone thought about it and felt that it was feasible.

The camp of the coalition army became lively, and the soldiers returned after learning of the plan to destroy the city.

The Balmers want to avenge their brothers who died in battle, and the Russ sharpen their knives.

After creating a dirt slope, the army rushed up, and after they got the order, they had already started to work under the darkness of night.

Of course, Rurik still took advantage of the darkness to set up the "Flame Array". The closed city of Tamworth was guarded by a huge fire ring, and the Mercian warriors who stood at the head of the city to guard against night attacks were frightened.

Bottomwoolf, who had just slept soundly, climbed directly to the top of the inner city tower, which was the commanding height of the entire city, and saw that he was surrounded by a circle of light.

That's a bonfire! As dense as the stars!

He was taken aback and thought again that something was wrong. "Bah! This is to scare me! With all your troops, I can still defend successfully? Do you think I'm a fool?"

Bottwoolf's understanding of this is a bluff, how can the majority of soldiers understand. The news that is not good for the kingdom is spreading again, obviously some people who spread the bad news have been executed, and the people are still panicked when new bad news comes.

Couldn't execute a few more people to stop the chaos? It is not a wise move to kill people indiscriminately, and it may even cause a civil upheaval, because some nobles living in the royal city have their own secrets behind their apparent loyalty. Bottwoolf threw the mouse away, and had to let the priests continue to appease him as a compromise.

However, he also quickly thought of a way to set up a flame array at the top of the city.

The burning brazier was brought up to the city wall, and some torches were burning.

The city walls were illuminated in circles, and a large number of soldiers patrolled with spears. He just wanted to show the people that the kingdom's army never left its defensive post.

"You also lit torches? Do you really think we are the beasts that are afraid of flames?"

Arik, who was busy logging at night, muttered disdainfully, and suddenly shouted to his brothers who were busy at night: "Everyone, work harder, we destroyed this forest."

If there are excellent production tools, it is inexplicable that they should not be used.

Since the creation of the double saw, these logging tools Rurik have been carrying on expeditions, and the efficiency of building field sheds has been greatly improved.

When logging at night, swinging an axe will always miss the correct position, but once the double saw starts to operate, it can cut through a large tree in one go.

A forest near the Tam River was devastated by a group of loggers from the Rus, and as many as 1,500 pine, oak and fir trees were felled overnight. Everyone is actually quite puzzled. The growth of these trees is quite similar, and even the thickness of the trunk is similar.

Doubt was put aside, and it was the job to bring down the tree.

This is only the success of the Rus people, the No. 500 people of the first flag team cut down three trees on average. Since these trees are not big trees, it is not too laborious to cut them down.

The branches of the collapsed trees were cut off, and they were piled up to set fires. The coalition army was frantically logging wood, which created a bonfire array around the city.

Those bare tree trunks were cut into small pieces, just in time to be transported and piled under the city walls.

The logging people were sweating, and everyone was not worried about starvation, because the fleet docked on the river was loaded with enough rations for the entire army to fight for at least ten days.

In the early morning, when the world became transparent, and when the morning fog dissipated, a group of Mercian soldiers patrolling at night, who were tossed and lethargic, saw a terrifying scene.

What happened to the royal forest on the river bank? The oak forest that has been planted for many years is gone?

A junior guard captain hurriedly reported the strange calamity to Prince Bottwoolf. When he stood on the city wall and looked at it, he found that the royal forest was really gone.

Do not! The forest did not disappear, but was chopped down by the enemy overnight!

"Damn, there are trees I planted there when I was a child!" Bottomwoolf was furious.

Not only his family, but also many nobles selectively plant trees in that forest in order to obtain qualified oak furniture in the future. Even churches and monasteries made custom-made coffins for devout nobles.

It soon became clear that it was the army of barbarians who had destroyed the woods, and that they were still huddled by the river, and there were people who were swaying and plotting evil.

Things went more smoothly than Rurik had expected, and he thought it would take at least two days for the coalition to create the mound.

These two days should have been worth it, so that the dawdling ranks of the new Confederates in Northumbria should arrive. If climbing the mound entails losing some men, let the Northumbrian army make the first attack as consumables, which is what Rurik hopes.

Since the army is doing things so quickly, the glory of breaking the city first is still under its own control.

The army was still making preparations, and the people who were logging all night were resting. Another group of people completed the unloading of the torsion slingshot. The temporarily transformed trolley was already filled with wet riverside soil mixed with grass.

Rurik was in no hurry to attack, and the entire army understood that building the slope against the enemy's counter-fire would take a whole day at least.

The action time was put after noon on this day, and before that, everyone stayed at the camp to rest. However, all warriors' weapons must be within easy reach, and their chainmail must not be removed.

Although the possibility was very small, Rurik knew that he had to be cautious, because people were often irrational, and maybe because of the small victory in the defending city yesterday, the defenders in the city would come out arrogantly to fight the coalition forces.

The latter is naturally the best, and it also prevents the coalition from striving to make a breakthrough.

Judging from the current situation alone, Rurik could not see any change from the enemy's side. The flag of Mercia was still flying on the low city wall. Except for the roar of the Ross and Balmer allied forces, the rest of the world was extremely quiet.

Indeed, even the defenders of Mercia sensed the silence of the world, and the oppressive atmosphere almost suffocated the soldiers. No one dared to leave the city without authorization, and all the city gates were held up by no less than twenty wooden bars. The carriages that transported grain in the city were specially pushed into the gate holes, and the carriages were unloaded to become heavy obstacles.

Tamworth became a tortoise, and Bottomwoolf decided to defend firmly. He had made the most extreme plan, saying that he would stick to the winter, and the cold winter would force the invaders away, and the food in the city would be destroyed. Enough for the military and civilians to last a long time.

Now is the most critical moment in the king's city. He feels that as long as everyone is united, the enemy's spirit is wiped away, and the enemy's previous offensives are thwarted at some cost. Mercia's defensive victory is guaranteed.