Rise of Rurik

In the cracks of the boreal forest, a cavalry team quickly moved south.

After confirming that he was already at the rear of the Frankish army, the Ross cavalry led by Fisk did not rush to pursue.

At least, they thought they had touched the tail of the enemy, and the enemy knew nothing about it.

But he said that here in the Frankish army, King Ludwig heard the report of the retreating light cavalry. He made a judgment based on the existing information, and the whole army entered a state of combat readiness.

A large number of soldiers immediately put on their armor, and all the main battle soldiers went straight to the town of Osnabrück as fast as possible.

The enemy not only burned the town and killed people everywhere, but also arrogantly used it as a decisive battle ground?

To be fair, there is a large open area in the forest, which can indeed be used as a field for battle.

Ludwig very much wanted a decisive battle, preferably in a day or two, to solve the problem in the north. The materials he carried were heavy, but he could not hold on for a long time. If the war drags on to January next year, which is the coldest period of the year, it would be self-defeating to continue spending time in the north.

He even had an idea that his move was simply to vent his anger. He forcibly dispatched troops regardless of the unfavorable factors of the season, and faced risks from the moment he dispatched troops.

The arrow has been fired, and it cannot turn back. The army has no way back, and this war must have an outcome.

In his heart, he longed for a decisive battle as soon as possible, and wishful thinking that Osnabrück was the place for the decisive battle. Although the enemy is likely to hide in the woods to wait for work, Ludwig felt that his strength was huge, and the soldiers were already very angry. The morale of the army during the decisive battle will definitely overcome many unfavorable factors, and use powerful forces to overwhelm arrogance. of the Normans.

The sun shines through the gaps in the woods on this straight Roman avenue.

Heavy cavalry, heavy infantry, they are the legendary "Iron Man". As many as 6,000 armored warriors can be described as the absolute main force of Ludwig, the strength he is proud of, and the basis for him to maintain his political status in the civil war.

Because Ludwig never coveted the title of "Emperor of the Roman People", the king of the Middle Kingdom, the elder brother Lothair, can continue to hold this title and continue to hold the capital Aachen.

What I and my younger brother, Charlie, want is that the older brother acknowledges the will of the deceased father, the so-called implementation of the third part of the world.

Ludwig is now gambling with his own power. If this army is defeated, the Eastern Kingdom will have no elite soldiers to use, and there is no capital to fight with the big brother.

But you must not be cowardly! If Saxony rebels and ignores it, and the Norman invasion remains on deaf ears, it will force the Archdiocese of Cologne to support the Middle Kingdom, and it will also lead to the revolt of the country of Flanders, who was already sitting on the fence. Yes, Ludwig actually knew that the Baudouin in Flanders, like his father, was a guy who had both the right and the left.

The soldiers marched hurriedly with the attitude of a decisive battle, the heavy cavalry rushed to the battlefield quickly, and the heavy cavalry led the way.

Followed by the unarmored peasant soldiers with shields and spears, the speed is slower than the former.

At the end are the Sorbian slave soldiers who **** the baggage.

Even on smooth roads, the long marching army is disconnected from each other.

Then, when the heavy troops entered the open field one after another, they saw the burning town and the obvious traces of the battlefield, and the baggage troops managed by the Sorbians were still dawdling in the rear.

Ludwig himself rode his horse and boldly led his heavy cavalry towards the burning land.

A terrifying scene soon emerged.

His heart was beating wildly, his brows were clenched and his teeth were about to collapse.

The wooden branch was stuck on the ground with its head stuck in it, and even the iron sword was stuck beside it. Such a masterpiece must be the work of the enemy, it is a deterrence and a mockery.

"Who the **** did it! Ah ah ah!"

The king raised his filial piety to the sky and ordered his subordinates to bury the **** corpses.

Seeing this terrifying scene, all the soldiers ignited a strong sense of revenge.

As the sun dimmed, the surrounding forest became ghostly.

The infantry did not dare to disperse further after entering this open area. Ludwig also ordered them to form a dense formation first with a centenary as a unit, keeping alert and watching the changes around them.

They decided to keep waiting for the enemy's reward, and would not temporarily disarm until nightfall.

The Frankish army advanced one after another, and the peasant soldiers finally began to enter the open field, however, conditions began to appear in the rear.

How much can a cavalry team of only 200 people do?

They don't seem to have many troops, and if they are in special circumstances, they may be able to play a rather outrageous record.

At this moment, Fisk took all the cavalry and boldly lined up the column on the Roman Avenue, advancing in an orderly manner in a fast marching mode.

It was not the first time that he had been so bold. Under the leadership of Fisk, the young cavalry warriors had their round shields behind their backs for a while, and the quivers on both sides of the saddle were full of arrows. No one carried a cavalry spear, only a steel sword around his waist and a recurve bow in his hand.

Fisk still doesn't know his current precise situation, but he believes that he is behind the enemy based on the traces left on the ground, and now is a good time to make a sneak attack.

The cavalry continued to advance, and soon noticed the vast sight ahead.

The soldiers took a closer look and saw that it was actually a lengthy convoy? ! Everyone was shocked and didn't know what to do for a while.

At the critical moment, Fisk stabilized everyone's emotions and ordered everyone: "Retract the bow! Draw the sword! Rush over at the fastest speed!"

The brothers were ordered, they understood the risks, but no one cared.

The steel swords glowed orange in the setting sun, and the iron helmets they put on were also reflecting violently.

The vast number of soldiers and war horses are already a little tired, and now a huge fighter is in front of them, the brothers decided to fight today's second battle.

The Ross cavalry began to charge.

At first, it was just a trot of the horse, and Fisk expected to wait for a suitable distance before launching a strong attack.

However, they have clearly exposed themselves, but the enemy has behaved rather dull.

"Strange, can't they see me?" Fisk was puzzled. As the cavalry was about to fight, the people in front actually made extremely outrageous actions.

I saw a large number of people with short spears or empty hands, hurriedly hiding on both sides of the road as if they had received an order, only the carriage was in the road.

The "Road to Hell" can be traced back to the combat readiness road built by Augustus in his conquest of Germania. It was built in strict accordance with the standard width it should have. The so-called five "Roman steps" were built, and its width has reached the equivalent of seven meters. a little more.

Such a wide road is enough for four infantrymen to advance side by side at the same time, or even to drive two carriages side by side.

With the passage of time and the fall of Rome, the "Road to Hell" was further extended by Charlemagne's order, and he tried his best to imitate the way the Romans built roads. It became almost the only way for Charlemagne to conquer and rule the north, and it is now the only way for Ludwig to suppress the rebellion.

It can still drive two wagons side by side, now in single-column mode.

Those hurriedly standing on either side of the road were Sorbian slave soldiers, who, under the orders of the accompanying Frankish captain, quickly gave way to the cavalry.

The cavalry, wearing helmets and strutting, and the dim setting sun obscured a large number of series, the Franks in the front line naturally thought that this was a friendly cavalry. Or rather, they thought that only the Franks had cavalry in all of Western Europe. As for the Sorbian slave soldiers, they were forced to fight. In their knowledge, the Frankish cavalry were all masters who could not be messed with. If you don't want to be trampled to death by horses, you should give way.

However, what awaits these people is ruthless hacking...

Fisk took the lead in shouting slogans.

"Ula!"

This is the signal to slash and kill, and he and Jiang Jianguo take the lead in the charge.

All cavalry went into a state of assault, and contact had taken place.

The razor-sharp steel sword slashed the unsuspecting Sorbians, and even the Captain Frank who was mixed in was beheaded.

Fisk slashed left and right, causing the steed to move on.

The Russ cavalry was like a ruthless sickle, and the two standing wheat were cut down one after another.

Many people were hacked to death inexplicably, and the rest heard screams and a huge roar from the rear. What they did for the first time was not to set up an array to prepare for battle, but to run away under the leadership of the leader.

After all, a large number of Sorbian men were recruited, and they did not want to fight the Franks in civil war, let alone fight the Saxons in the north for Farak's rule. Even, they were very envious of the brave rebellion of the Saxons.

Unfortunately, the Sorbs have no ability to rebel.

They saw that it was actually a cavalry slashing and killing, and those prominent figures couldn't care too much, and they all shouted: "Flee to the forest!"

Even if the captain of Frank was trying his best to roar, he asked these slave soldiers to immediately resist this inexplicable attack. But who will listen?

Since the Franks conquered the entire Sorbian tribe with iron horse jingo, it is reasonable that the Sorbians have a deep fear of cavalry.

So, when the Ross cavalry continued to charge, all they saw was the sight of poorly dressed enemies running around in the sunset. They ran to the forest on both sides of the road one by one, so it was really impossible to cut them.

Fisk had no time to take care of the fugitives. He had to follow the orders of King Rurik, whether it was killing the enemy or killing the enemy's livestock, as long as the enemy's things could be taken away, they would be taken away, and if they couldn't be taken away, they would be destroyed.

In the chaos of war, any verbal orders became useless, and both the enemy and his own people were shouting. Fisk then used his actions to set an example for his brothers.

He's slashing the enemy's horses pulling carts!

A sword to the enemy's horse, even a single wound is enough.

The horses and carriages of the Franks suffered varying degrees of blow. Some horses knelt down and twitched and neighed immediately after being injured, while others even started running around when they were not seriously injured, such as pulling a truckload of goods into the nearby woodland.

There are as many as 5,000 Sorbian slave soldiers. They seem to be powerful, but it turns out that they are all a mob. It's not that they are really inferior, it's because everyone doesn't want to work for the Franks at all, so it's impossible not to participate in this battle.

The slashing and killing of the Ross cavalry aroused the collective fear of the Sorbians, who gave up a large amount of Frankish baggage, especially a large amount of rations and tents.

The Ross cavalry had already killed the Sorbs in front of them without a single soldier, their steel swords dripping blood, and the brothers continued to advance.

On the other hand, looking at the whole road, the enemy has already run away, and it is really boring for the brothers to chase and kill them in the forest.

Fisk urgently ordered: "Continue to attack, continue to expand the results!"

...

The movement in the rear is lively and lively, and the movement in the front is even more lively!

A distinguished man is caught in an eerie crevice.

Archbishop Hadbold heard the noise from the rear. He didn't think it was an enemy attack. Out of his devotion to his faith, he had a lot of sympathy for the Sorbians in the army.

The entire tribe of the Sorbians had been converted, and it was King Ludwig's business to impose heavy taxes on them, and Hadbold was very concerned about whether these people were devout to God.

He himself, accompanied by many young priests, escorted the holy relic, the gilded cross, in a creaking carriage.

"What happened next?" he asked impatiently. The tossing of the carriage without the shock absorption system made his hips very uncomfortable, and now he is quite mentally exhausted.

No one gave him a concrete answer, and even the entire contingent of Frankish heavy infantry escorting him remained calm.

Until everyone could not ignore the cavalry that appeared in the rear.

The entire heavy infantry flag team has nearly 800 troops, and this behemoth is only ordered to protect the archbishop himself.

They all wore chain mail, and a layer of leather riveted iron armor was placed on the torso. Due to the order of King Ludwig, the soldiers escorting the archbishop immediately marched in heavy armor.

The armor reflected metallic luster, and their team was in order.

Seeing this, Fisk, who had already killed the Sorbs, immediately crossed his sword and immediately followed up with the Ross cavalry who stopped in their tracks.

Now, the scene was once very embarrassing.

On one side is the Russ cavalry with suffocating arrogance and blood dripping from steel swords.

One side is the Frankish heavy infantry in heavy armor.

However, the large golden cross standing on the carriage was too conspicuous, and Fisk and his brothers stared straight at it.

Launch a cavalry charge? Do not! Killing through those guys' baggage trains has cost the horses a lot of energy.

Fisk immediately ordered: "Change the bow! Get some people, get off the horse and shoot!"

Although Fisk, who killed the red eye, did not dare to continue to charge, he also dared to stand here and fight with an enemy many times his own.

Obviously, before the fight, they decided to use their arrows to lose their advantage.

Shooting has begun.

The Frankish heavy infantry, who had not yet reacted, suddenly encountered some precise blows. Their unprotected faces were hit by a cluster of pointed arrows, and they even pierced the skull and died immediately.

Only at this time did the Frankish army put the tower shield against their face, and they also began to form a collective formation to form a shield wall.

The arrow struck their shields mercilessly, and these wooden shields were pierced one after another, but they couldn't go any further.

The prairie recurve bow encountered a real heavy armored enemy, and the arrow rain of the Rus army became more and more dense. In this cramped battlefield, after suffering a lot, the Farrak heavy infantry stabilized the front line and even began to push back.

Undoubtedly, Fisk was shocked: "Archery is useless?"

Some subordinates questioned: "Boss, it's useless to continue like this! Or break them up?"

"No! The horses are too tired, we're going to kill ourselves!" Although he didn't want to admit that he didn't have the upper hand, Fisk had to make a decision in the face of the current situation.

"Forget it! Let's go! The brother who dismounted immediately mounted the horse, withdraw!"

So, in the arrow lost cover, the Russ cavalry hastily retreated. They fired a lot of arrows and hurriedly withdrew from the battlefield without expanding the victory.

This time it had an unexpected effect.

There was a churn, and it flew past Archbishop Hudderbold. It happened that one of his lower priests was hit in the back by the churn and pierced his heart.

Seeing that his subordinates were dead, he was so frightened that he couldn't care about his dignity, his mind was instantly refreshed, and his tired body was as flexible as a monkey. Regardless of his age, he jumped out of the carriage in a hurry, rolled and crawled under the carriage and hugged him tightly. brain.

Even the bishop of Utrecht dared to carry the black wooden cross and go straight to the Rus army as a martyr, but the noble archbishop of Cologne acted as a tortoise.

It was not until the strange cavalry left that the archbishop escaped from under the hidden wheels, pulled by the heavy infantry fighters.

He slapped his body hard, soothing his frantically beating heart by constantly crossing his chest.

However, when I looked up at the holy relic, I saw an arrow stuck on the golden cross!

"Ah! Relic!"

A little priest pulled the arrow out with his own hands, and saw an overly obvious hole in the cross. After all, this is a thin iron sheet plated with gold and then covered on a wooden stick. The so-called holy relic is just the wishful thinking of the archbishop. But everyone talks a lot, and things that are not holy things become holy things.

Seeing that the sacred object was cut into a hole by the enemy, the archbishop felt a huge humiliation mixed with intense fear, and he actually fainted...

On the other hand, the Russ cavalry went away without any losses. Fisk hadn't figured out what to do next, but this straight road couldn't run, so there was a way to return to the north.

The Ross cavalry once passed through the transport convoy that had been swept over once. This time, it was their ruthless repair. Although they saw some people running to the road to check the situation, these people who showed up ran back to the woods in panic. Enter the forest to hunt them down? Do not! What if you get smothered by these guys?

"This must be a convoy of supplies for the enemy! Continue the destruction! Kill their livestock and destroy their wheels!"

It is not easy to destroy the wheels, but it is easy to kill the horses that pull the carts. There is no need to kill the horse at all. Some warriors do it. They cut off the shackles of the enemy's horses that had not been killed and injured, and cut off the shackles with a few arrows.

This daring warrior is none other than the Pecheneg in the army. They don't want to kill precious horses, so it's better to keep intact horses for consignment.

In this way, Fisk will no longer question the killing in a single line. Naturally, those frightened horses can't get it, and if they can't get the enemy, they can't get it, so they just cut a horse's leg and don't care.

Thirty timid or overly docile horses were pulled away, and the road was empty, except for the groaning enemies and the neighing wounded horses, no one interfered with the looting of the Rus army.

They grabbed some oats and intact cloth, and led the captured horses away, leaving behind a patch of feathers.

As for the way forward, Fisk has no new ideas for the time being. What is certain is that if you continue to go north, there is a high probability of encountering a large army of the enemy. It is no longer effective to deal with those heavy infantry with your own strength. It is better to...

An evil has several terrifying plans~www.readwn.com~ is brewing in this young man's heart.

"The king asked me to do my best to kill the Franks, and I'll kill it for the king!"

Who knows where this avenue can go south? Anyway, there are targets everywhere, brothers slash and loot.

Who is worried about danger? After the brothers are all old Rus, they are the best among the Slavs no matter how bad they are, and there are also senior Pecheneg riders who are good at rushing on the prairie.

Now it's just replacing long ships with war horses, and the south is not all full of unknowns. After all, Fisk participated in the military meeting before departure, and also knew the important information provided by Ragnar.

Even Fisk carried a small folded map of cardboard, and even if it was very simple, the main geographical formations of half of Western Europe were marked relatively clearly.

This Roman avenue is marked on the map, and there is a big city called Cologne in the south, and there is a long river from the Inn.

According to Ragnar, many villages in the south are rich, and what he calls wealth is gold and silver. Ragnar can retreat completely, and cavalry can of course.

There was a fire in the hearts of the brothers, they were willing to follow the boss to make a fortune, and they didn't think there was anything wrong with continuing to venture south.

It wasn't the first adventure anyway.