Chapter 986: Battle on the Elbe River
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Those Frankish heavy cavalrymen who were just out of the forest held their spears high in the snow on the river bank to show off their might.
What the Rus Army gave them, however, was a spinning javelin.
The low temperature makes the lubricating seal oil too viscous, and they cling to the torsion unit of the torsion slingshot in near-clumps. The performance of the slingshot has been reduced, but the enemy bravely appeared in the fire coverage area, and the Rus army could strike at will.
The soldiers on the ship adjusted their direction, and the javelin slid across the low parabola and began to fall in the formation of the Frankish cavalry.
The horse was pierced, and the rider was shot. Even in armor, it cannot withstand the high kinetic impact of the hardened carbon steel javelin tip.
Death came suddenly, and the flamboyant cavalry immediately evaded tactically.
They clenched the reins and immediately retreated to the woodland. Some riders did not care that their bodies were pierced, and they had to go back with their heavily wounded bodies to reunite with the main force.
The high-spirited hoplites looked forward to fighting the rebels and intruders out of the woods, and ending this terrible winter expedition with a decisive battle.
The huge brim of the leather helmet covers half of his face, and the sackcloth he carries covers his cheeks and neck, and even his nose, leaving only a pair of eyes exposed.
The leading infantry saw the returning cavalry, and was shocked to see the wounded among them with pierced bodies.
The captain of the cavalry flag, who was ordered to go first, suffered a head-on blow, but he also detected the reality of the enemy, and returned in a hurry to report to his king.
Unexpectedly, Ludwig first resented what happened to his subordinates: "You suffered a blow? You withdraw without a fierce battle?! You run away like cowards."
The king's accusation was chilling, and the captain of the flag did not dare to quibble.
He gasped and answered cautiously: "Your Majesty, everything on the Elbe is like what happened to us on the Weser. The enemy has put those damned ships on the river again, and now they're shooting us with dreadful javelins. If our army is on the river, Array, things are dangerous."
"They... so vicious?" Although Ludwig had an ominous foreboding, why did he still hit a hard wall? "How about the Elbe?" he demanded. "Is it frozen?"
"There is no ice, and the river flows as normal. Your Majesty, our army cannot cross the river unless..."
"how?"
"Hamburg's pontoon is there, that's the only way we can move forward, but..."
The captain of the flag was talking nonsense completely, and Ludwig's beard was shaking with anger, and then he said: "But, that **** pontoon is being held by the enemy."
"Yes. Your Majesty, what should we do?"
The question is thrown to Ludwig, not far ahead is the end of the forest, out to face Hamburg, face the lair of traitors and invaders. He realized that his anger-venting northern expedition was too hasty, but he was already standing here. The sunk cost is already too great. If a decisive battle cannot be fought, the whole operation will be thankless.
Ludwig thought for a while: "Temporarily set up camp in the forest. The village we found before is used as a camp. Without my order, no one in our army is allowed to go out to battle without authorization. Violators will be hanged!"
The battle turns to Hamburg.
It was only two rounds of javelin strikes that dispersed the Frankish cavalry, and the twenty or so cavalry they threw down and evacuated in disarray, and they had no time to pull the casualties away.
The coalition soldiers had been sharpening their knives and preparing to fight, and the oar boats moored on the north bank of the river had also loosened their ropes.
Many nobles standing at the top were really dissatisfied with the anticlimactic results of a battle, and it was Liudov who was the most excited.
"The heavy cavalry actually retreated. Their army is in the woods, and we must hit it hard. Otherwise, we are very dangerous."
"Actually, your power will be very dangerous." Rurik turned his head and glanced at Ludov, and then looked at the forest: "Don't worry. I think the enemy is actually more worried than us, and now we will see who is more patient. Get your temper."
"Just waiting? Do nothing?"
"Wait for a while."
The coalition chose to wait, and Rurik even ordered the soldiers on board to stop charging their slingshots.
The battlefield returned to calm, the north wind across the river blew away people's chatter, and the mourning of the wounded cavalry could be heard vaguely.
After such a stagnation for a while, Rurik suddenly came up with a plan.
He sent 30 soldiers to row to the other side, and most of the soldiers carried big axes. The so-called order was to chop the fallen horses into pieces and capture the wounded soldiers of the enemy who were still alive.
There is no need to waste the horse corpse, such as the four horse legs must be cut off, after all, the fresh meat frozen in the cold is not easy to handle.
In the midst of all the attention, this tongue-grabbing team was dispatched in a grand manner. Not only the coalition forces in Hamburg, but also the Frankish army on the other side were watching their actions.
Let's watch this long ship boldly cross the river, and after landing, it spreads out its formation and shows its shield and sword. They watch the situation around them vigilantly, and then start to act.
Those wounded heavy cavalrymen who could still move saw the barbarian coming with swords, they instinctively wanted to resist, and even tried their best to pull out the small saber around their waists to resolutely resist, but their legs were pressed by the horses and could not move.
For the uncooperative wounded, the Ross warriors who crossed the river directly stabbed them to death.
After all, brothers are not good people, and only one living prisoner of war is needed. If you find it and take it away, you can send it.
A wounded man covering his face was dragged out abruptly. There was no obvious trauma on his body, but his lower body was pressed by the dead horse and could not move. This person was also very uncooperative at the beginning of the period. However, he was not easy to get up in heavy armor. After being knocked out by the wooden handle of the battle axe, he was **** and prepared to be dragged away.
As for the other Rus warriors, they all chop and chop horse carcasses and plunder horse meat.
The Rus people seemed to be doing whatever they wanted, but another horn sounded one after another.
Across the Elbe River, Ludov, who was astonished, was astonished, and he yanked Rurik's arm without regard for etiquette. "Not good! This is their attack signal, and the people you send are going to be hit."
"what?!"
Before Rurik could react, he saw a group of heavy infantry wearing armor and shining brightly in the sunshine and snow suddenly rushed out of the woodland.
These people don't seem to have a lot of troops. They run fast on the riverside snow, as if wolves are staring at their prey, and they will not stop until they finish the hunt.
The Ross soldiers scratching their tongues on the other side of the river neglected to carefully observe the surrounding environment because of their arrogance. Little did they know that when they had just landed, the Frankish scouts in the shadows hurriedly reported the new situation.
Ludwig, who had just suffered a loss, had to regain his face. Considering that the other party had dispatched about 30 people, it would be better to send ten times as many hoplites to kill them. Even if the enemy's long-range weapons are a bit sharp, there is still a reason for the failure of the enemy to intercept with ten to one troops?
The three hundred heavy infantry received the order and quickly advanced to the edge of the woodland to ambush. An infantry flag captain was in charge of the retaliatory raid, and when he saw the apparent tendency of the enemy troops in Norman pirate attire to withdraw, he attacked decisively.
They acted with the sound of the horn, and the three centenarians ran at the speed of a 100-meter sprint.
Seeing this, the thirty Ross warriors did not have enough time to evacuate.
"Captain" gave an order: "Put everything down! Shield wall!"
The well-trained brothers hurriedly dropped the captives and huge chunks of horse meat, and the thirty-man round shields were stacked on each other to form an arc array, and began to move in an orderly direction of the ship.
Immediately after that, there was the impact of the shield and the fight.
Obviously the ferry is not far behind, but there are tens of thousands of coalition soldiers on the other side of the river.
How could the glorious Rus flee in a hurry? Obviously everyone is extremely eager to fight, and for glory, they must fight against this group of enemies that suddenly appeared!
As a result, the armored warriors on both sides shivered together. The first thrust of the Frankish infantry did not break through the shield wall of the Rus, and then the sharp swords of both sides stabbed each other through the shield.
Casualties began to appear on both sides, and the weaker Ruthian fronts continued to shrink. If they continued to resolutely defend the glory of Odin's warriors, they would be consumed by an enemy ten times their size.
"What are they doing?! Don't withdraw now?! What a bunch of idiots!" Rurik, who was watching, yelled angrily.
However, Liudov was desperate for a decisive opportunity, and now the opportunity will come.
This Ludov hurriedly said: "The heroes are unwilling to withdraw, we should help them. Rurik, our Saxon army should be dispatched. I will help your people to lift the siege."
"Bah! I can't wait to see you." Rurik rolled his eyes at him. "I don't want the final battle to be like this."
"But you can't expect them to fight your way and die your way."
"No, I'll send some more people across the river to fight. You Saxons, don't be too hasty."
As a result, the elites of the Ross Army who were eager to try finally got the opportunity to fight.
The three flag teams gathered enough for a thousand people, some went directly on the pontoon bridge, and some rowed across the river.
They moved so quickly that a large number of paddle boats appeared on the river at once.
Accompanying these ships were the javelins fired again by the large ships across the river.
It was just a tongue-grabbing action after the encounter, but now both sides are increasing their troops, and the scale of the battle is rapidly expanding!
The Ross Army sent a thousand elites to cross the river! They were so uniformly dressed and well equipped that the Franks had no hesitation in seeing these armies and they were sure of the best.
Three hundred people could not crush the shield wall defense line of thirty people. Obviously, there were only a dozen people left in the enemy, and they still fought to the death, as if these people were simply bait.
No, the actions of the Normans made the Frankish flag captain who was on the mission sure that it was the moment of a decisive battle, even if everyone did not want the decisive battle to start so hastily.
The javelins whizzed and flew over the heads of the Rus people on the other side. Many javelins were deeply stuck in the mud, and many directly hit the enemy and killed them on the spot.
"Continue to hold on, brothers, this is a glorious decisive battle, and our reinforcements have arrived!" The "captain" stood by his last line, even though the barge was behind him.
Ludwig did not go far, and the scouts kept reporting the progress of the battle. After pointing out that a large number of Norman pirates had crossed the river to attack, he concluded that the decisive battle had come.
Then, it was the turn of the Franks to attack frantically.
The king on horseback swings his sword, and he has no time to line up. The majority of the soldiers were almost all lined up on the Roman Avenue. Most of the soldiers had just begun to rest, but the opportunity for a decisive battle was fleeting. Now that they did not go to battle and faced the Elbe River, which continued to flow, things were not easy to handle.
However, Ludwig issued a special order.
The horse-riding messengers were frantically approaching the rear of the team, and they were giving orders to a large number of peasant soldiers.
Among the Normans, the Rus' arrows are sharper, and if their arrows are exhausted, the advantage will no longer be available.
In the kingdom, some people are born noble, and some people are born slaves.
Ludwig is not stupid enough to throw all his elite heavy infantry into the battle of attrition on the banks of the Elbe. The best way is to send the largest number of peasant soldiers into the fight, while the elite heavy infantry and heavy cavalry watch the battle in the rear. , waiting for the right moment to fight.
So, the peasant soldiers of Deling took their battle axes and short spears, like a herd of wild boars rushing in the snow, and rushed towards the riverside pigs.
Farm tax debts can be forgiven by killing barbarians and traitors on the battlefield. A serf could be freed by cutting off a Norman's head.
Most of the peasant soldiers came from the Earl of Rheingau, and the earl himself was imprisoned after his defeat. The peasants who killed the enemy would be rewarded for their exploits, and the strong ones would be incorporated into the standing army, so that the whole family would be better off in the future.
Especially a large number of small nobles in the county. Their master had already fought the rebellious Saxons and Normans on this battlefield a few months ago, but they were completely wiped out. It is one thing to do meritorious service for the king, but to take revenge for the head of the family, it is the new noble who succeeds to do great things. To avenge their father and brother who died in battle, these little nobles and squires rushed extremely fiercely.
A large group of warriors, dressed in heavy cloth and leather with little armour, streamed out of the Roman avenues.
Meanwhile, a thousand Rus warriors have completed their landing. Their appearance turned the offensive, and the balance of forces was completely tilted towards the Rus army. Now it was the turn of the Frankish heavy infantry to start fighting and retreating.
More than a hundred people formed a battle square, and the Ross Army continued to advance in the mode of a hundred troops. Their round shields were stacked on top of each other, and the two soldiers in the front row often stabbed with swords, and then another brother with a halberd smashed the enemy's head fiercely.
Such an organized battle of the Franks was in fact impossible to learn.
Even if a heavy infantryman wears a thick armor, in the hundreds of years of the destruction of Rome, Frank has forgotten the original design of the "Centurion" and "Flag Team", it seems that it is just a simple grouping of soldiers. It soon turned into a separate battle for the soldiers.
The Roman Legion Phalanx is back!
However, they were Vikings (Normans) with blonde hair and blue eyes.
The ten squares are constantly advancing, and the accompanying crossbowman Xu Jin is shooting arrows. The archers who are in the gaps between the blocks are shooting at the enemy with crossbows~www.novelhall.com~ They often have two or more in their mouths. Three arrows, after firing once, the boots are put on the strings, and then take out an arrow in the mouth to reload and aim to shoot, so as to try to reload as quickly as possible.
The ten centurions moved slowly towards the forest, but the deep winter forest must be hiding the enemy's army. They slowly slowed down, watching the expelled Frankish heavy infantry flee.
The loss of the Ross Army's soldiers was not much, regardless of the casualties, they were transferred to the ships in the rear, and were quickly transported to the rear, including a few wounded prisoners captured.
If the Franks had just withdrawn, the battle would not have turned into a final battle. If the enemy does not invest new troops, this thousand-strong Rus army will also withdraw.
However, the sound of killing suddenly started in the forest, and snow fell on a large scale in the woodland as far as the eye could see.
This is the shock of footsteps and the sound of killing, and the snow fell, which completely terminated the retreat plan of the Ross Army.
So, how many troops did the Franks put into it?
Nearly 10,000 people!
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Those Frankish heavy cavalrymen who were just out of the forest held their spears high in the snow on the river bank to show off their might.
What the Rus Army gave them, however, was a spinning javelin.
The low temperature makes the lubricating seal oil too viscous, and they cling to the torsion unit of the torsion slingshot in near-clumps. The performance of the slingshot has been reduced, but the enemy bravely appeared in the fire coverage area, and the Rus army could strike at will.
The soldiers on the ship adjusted their direction, and the javelin slid across the low parabola and began to fall in the formation of the Frankish cavalry.
The horse was pierced, and the rider was shot. Even in armor, it cannot withstand the high kinetic impact of the hardened carbon steel javelin tip.
Death came suddenly, and the flamboyant cavalry immediately evaded tactically.
They clenched the reins and immediately retreated to the woodland. Some riders did not care that their bodies were pierced, and they had to go back with their heavily wounded bodies to reunite with the main force.
The high-spirited hoplites looked forward to fighting the rebels and intruders out of the woods, and ending this terrible winter expedition with a decisive battle.
The huge brim of the leather helmet covers half of his face, and the sackcloth he carries covers his cheeks and neck, and even his nose, leaving only a pair of eyes exposed.
The leading infantry saw the returning cavalry, and was shocked to see the wounded among them with pierced bodies.
The captain of the cavalry flag, who was ordered to go first, suffered a head-on blow, but he also detected the reality of the enemy, and returned in a hurry to report to his king.
Unexpectedly, Ludwig first resented what happened to his subordinates: "You suffered a blow? You withdraw without a fierce battle?! You run away like cowards."
The king's accusation was chilling, and the captain of the flag did not dare to quibble.
He gasped and answered cautiously: "Your Majesty, everything on the Elbe is like what happened to us on the Weser. The enemy has put those damned ships on the river again, and now they're shooting us with dreadful javelins. If our army is on the river, Array, things are dangerous."
"They... so vicious?" Although Ludwig had an ominous foreboding, why did he still hit a hard wall? "How about the Elbe?" he demanded. "Is it frozen?"
"There is no ice, and the river flows as normal. Your Majesty, our army cannot cross the river unless..."
"how?"
"Hamburg's pontoon is there, that's the only way we can move forward, but..."
The captain of the flag was talking nonsense completely, and Ludwig's beard was shaking with anger, and then he said: "But, that **** pontoon is being held by the enemy."
"Yes. Your Majesty, what should we do?"
The question is thrown to Ludwig, not far ahead is the end of the forest, out to face Hamburg, face the lair of traitors and invaders. He realized that his anger-venting northern expedition was too hasty, but he was already standing here. The sunk cost is already too great. If a decisive battle cannot be fought, the whole operation will be thankless.
Ludwig thought for a while: "Temporarily set up camp in the forest. The village we found before is used as a camp. Without my order, no one in our army is allowed to go out to battle without authorization. Violators will be hanged!"
The battle turns to Hamburg.
It was only two rounds of javelin strikes that dispersed the Frankish cavalry, and the twenty or so cavalry they threw down and evacuated in disarray, and they had no time to pull the casualties away.
The coalition soldiers had been sharpening their knives and preparing to fight, and the oar boats moored on the north bank of the river had also loosened their ropes.
Many nobles standing at the top were really dissatisfied with the anticlimactic results of a battle, and it was Liudov who was the most excited.
"The heavy cavalry actually retreated. Their army is in the woods, and we must hit it hard. Otherwise, we are very dangerous."
"Actually, your power will be very dangerous." Rurik turned his head and glanced at Ludov, and then looked at the forest: "Don't worry. I think the enemy is actually more worried than us, and now we will see who is more patient. Get your temper."
"Just waiting? Do nothing?"
"Wait for a while."
The coalition chose to wait, and Rurik even ordered the soldiers on board to stop charging their slingshots.
The battlefield returned to calm, the north wind across the river blew away people's chatter, and the mourning of the wounded cavalry could be heard vaguely.
After such a stagnation for a while, Rurik suddenly came up with a plan.
He sent 30 soldiers to row to the other side, and most of the soldiers carried big axes. The so-called order was to chop the fallen horses into pieces and capture the wounded soldiers of the enemy who were still alive.
There is no need to waste the horse corpse, such as the four horse legs must be cut off, after all, the fresh meat frozen in the cold is not easy to handle.
In the midst of all the attention, this tongue-grabbing team was dispatched in a grand manner. Not only the coalition forces in Hamburg, but also the Frankish army on the other side were watching their actions.
Let's watch this long ship boldly cross the river, and after landing, it spreads out its formation and shows its shield and sword. They watch the situation around them vigilantly, and then start to act.
Those wounded heavy cavalrymen who could still move saw the barbarian coming with swords, they instinctively wanted to resist, and even tried their best to pull out the small saber around their waists to resolutely resist, but their legs were pressed by the horses and could not move.
For the uncooperative wounded, the Ross warriors who crossed the river directly stabbed them to death.
After all, brothers are not good people, and only one living prisoner of war is needed. If you find it and take it away, you can send it.
A wounded man covering his face was dragged out abruptly. There was no obvious trauma on his body, but his lower body was pressed by the dead horse and could not move. This person was also very uncooperative at the beginning of the period. However, he was not easy to get up in heavy armor. After being knocked out by the wooden handle of the battle axe, he was **** and prepared to be dragged away.
As for the other Rus warriors, they all chop and chop horse carcasses and plunder horse meat.
The Rus people seemed to be doing whatever they wanted, but another horn sounded one after another.
Across the Elbe River, Ludov, who was astonished, was astonished, and he yanked Rurik's arm without regard for etiquette. "Not good! This is their attack signal, and the people you send are going to be hit."
"what?!"
Before Rurik could react, he saw a group of heavy infantry wearing armor and shining brightly in the sunshine and snow suddenly rushed out of the woodland.
These people don't seem to have a lot of troops. They run fast on the riverside snow, as if wolves are staring at their prey, and they will not stop until they finish the hunt.
The Ross soldiers scratching their tongues on the other side of the river neglected to carefully observe the surrounding environment because of their arrogance. Little did they know that when they had just landed, the Frankish scouts in the shadows hurriedly reported the new situation.
Ludwig, who had just suffered a loss, had to regain his face. Considering that the other party had dispatched about 30 people, it would be better to send ten times as many hoplites to kill them. Even if the enemy's long-range weapons are a bit sharp, there is still a reason for the failure of the enemy to intercept with ten to one troops?
The three hundred heavy infantry received the order and quickly advanced to the edge of the woodland to ambush. An infantry flag captain was in charge of the retaliatory raid, and when he saw the apparent tendency of the enemy troops in Norman pirate attire to withdraw, he attacked decisively.
They acted with the sound of the horn, and the three centenarians ran at the speed of a 100-meter sprint.
Seeing this, the thirty Ross warriors did not have enough time to evacuate.
"Captain" gave an order: "Put everything down! Shield wall!"
The well-trained brothers hurriedly dropped the captives and huge chunks of horse meat, and the thirty-man round shields were stacked on each other to form an arc array, and began to move in an orderly direction of the ship.
Immediately after that, there was the impact of the shield and the fight.
Obviously the ferry is not far behind, but there are tens of thousands of coalition soldiers on the other side of the river.
How could the glorious Rus flee in a hurry? Obviously everyone is extremely eager to fight, and for glory, they must fight against this group of enemies that suddenly appeared!
As a result, the armored warriors on both sides shivered together. The first thrust of the Frankish infantry did not break through the shield wall of the Rus, and then the sharp swords of both sides stabbed each other through the shield.
Casualties began to appear on both sides, and the weaker Ruthian fronts continued to shrink. If they continued to resolutely defend the glory of Odin's warriors, they would be consumed by an enemy ten times their size.
"What are they doing?! Don't withdraw now?! What a bunch of idiots!" Rurik, who was watching, yelled angrily.
However, Liudov was desperate for a decisive opportunity, and now the opportunity will come.
This Ludov hurriedly said: "The heroes are unwilling to withdraw, we should help them. Rurik, our Saxon army should be dispatched. I will help your people to lift the siege."
"Bah! I can't wait to see you." Rurik rolled his eyes at him. "I don't want the final battle to be like this."
"But you can't expect them to fight your way and die your way."
"No, I'll send some more people across the river to fight. You Saxons, don't be too hasty."
As a result, the elites of the Ross Army who were eager to try finally got the opportunity to fight.
The three flag teams gathered enough for a thousand people, some went directly on the pontoon bridge, and some rowed across the river.
They moved so quickly that a large number of paddle boats appeared on the river at once.
Accompanying these ships were the javelins fired again by the large ships across the river.
It was just a tongue-grabbing action after the encounter, but now both sides are increasing their troops, and the scale of the battle is rapidly expanding!
The Ross Army sent a thousand elites to cross the river! They were so uniformly dressed and well equipped that the Franks had no hesitation in seeing these armies and they were sure of the best.
Three hundred people could not crush the shield wall defense line of thirty people. Obviously, there were only a dozen people left in the enemy, and they still fought to the death, as if these people were simply bait.
No, the actions of the Normans made the Frankish flag captain who was on the mission sure that it was the moment of a decisive battle, even if everyone did not want the decisive battle to start so hastily.
The javelins whizzed and flew over the heads of the Rus people on the other side. Many javelins were deeply stuck in the mud, and many directly hit the enemy and killed them on the spot.
"Continue to hold on, brothers, this is a glorious decisive battle, and our reinforcements have arrived!" The "captain" stood by his last line, even though the barge was behind him.
Ludwig did not go far, and the scouts kept reporting the progress of the battle. After pointing out that a large number of Norman pirates had crossed the river to attack, he concluded that the decisive battle had come.
Then, it was the turn of the Franks to attack frantically.
The king on horseback swings his sword, and he has no time to line up. The majority of the soldiers were almost all lined up on the Roman Avenue. Most of the soldiers had just begun to rest, but the opportunity for a decisive battle was fleeting. Now that they did not go to battle and faced the Elbe River, which continued to flow, things were not easy to handle.
However, Ludwig issued a special order.
The horse-riding messengers were frantically approaching the rear of the team, and they were giving orders to a large number of peasant soldiers.
Among the Normans, the Rus' arrows are sharper, and if their arrows are exhausted, the advantage will no longer be available.
In the kingdom, some people are born noble, and some people are born slaves.
Ludwig is not stupid enough to throw all his elite heavy infantry into the battle of attrition on the banks of the Elbe. The best way is to send the largest number of peasant soldiers into the fight, while the elite heavy infantry and heavy cavalry watch the battle in the rear. , waiting for the right moment to fight.
So, the peasant soldiers of Deling took their battle axes and short spears, like a herd of wild boars rushing in the snow, and rushed towards the riverside pigs.
Farm tax debts can be forgiven by killing barbarians and traitors on the battlefield. A serf could be freed by cutting off a Norman's head.
Most of the peasant soldiers came from the Earl of Rheingau, and the earl himself was imprisoned after his defeat. The peasants who killed the enemy would be rewarded for their exploits, and the strong ones would be incorporated into the standing army, so that the whole family would be better off in the future.
Especially a large number of small nobles in the county. Their master had already fought the rebellious Saxons and Normans on this battlefield a few months ago, but they were completely wiped out. It is one thing to do meritorious service for the king, but to take revenge for the head of the family, it is the new noble who succeeds to do great things. To avenge their father and brother who died in battle, these little nobles and squires rushed extremely fiercely.
A large group of warriors, dressed in heavy cloth and leather with little armour, streamed out of the Roman avenues.
Meanwhile, a thousand Rus warriors have completed their landing. Their appearance turned the offensive, and the balance of forces was completely tilted towards the Rus army. Now it was the turn of the Frankish heavy infantry to start fighting and retreating.
More than a hundred people formed a battle square, and the Ross Army continued to advance in the mode of a hundred troops. Their round shields were stacked on top of each other, and the two soldiers in the front row often stabbed with swords, and then another brother with a halberd smashed the enemy's head fiercely.
Such an organized battle of the Franks was in fact impossible to learn.
Even if a heavy infantryman wears a thick armor, in the hundreds of years of the destruction of Rome, Frank has forgotten the original design of the "Centurion" and "Flag Team", it seems that it is just a simple grouping of soldiers. It soon turned into a separate battle for the soldiers.
The Roman Legion Phalanx is back!
However, they were Vikings (Normans) with blonde hair and blue eyes.
The ten squares are constantly advancing, and the accompanying crossbowman Xu Jin is shooting arrows. The archers who are in the gaps between the blocks are shooting at the enemy with crossbows~www.novelhall.com~ They often have two or more in their mouths. Three arrows, after firing once, the boots are put on the strings, and then take out an arrow in the mouth to reload and aim to shoot, so as to try to reload as quickly as possible.
The ten centurions moved slowly towards the forest, but the deep winter forest must be hiding the enemy's army. They slowly slowed down, watching the expelled Frankish heavy infantry flee.
The loss of the Ross Army's soldiers was not much, regardless of the casualties, they were transferred to the ships in the rear, and were quickly transported to the rear, including a few wounded prisoners captured.
If the Franks had just withdrawn, the battle would not have turned into a final battle. If the enemy does not invest new troops, this thousand-strong Rus army will also withdraw.
However, the sound of killing suddenly started in the forest, and snow fell on a large scale in the woodland as far as the eye could see.
This is the shock of footsteps and the sound of killing, and the snow fell, which completely terminated the retreat plan of the Ross Army.
So, how many troops did the Franks put into it?
Nearly 10,000 people!
Those Frankish heavy cavalrymen who were just out of the forest held their spears high in the snow on the river bank to show off their might.What the Rus Army gave them, however, was a spinning javelin.The low temperature makes the lubricating seal oil too viscous, and they cling to the torsion unit of the torsion slingshot in near-clumps. The performance of the slingshot has been reduced, but the enemy bravely appeared in the fire coverage area, and the Rus army could strike at will.The soldiers on the ship adjusted their direction, and the javelin slid across the low parabola and began to fall in the formation of the Frankish cavalry.The horse was pierced, and the rider was shot. Even in armor, it cannot withstand the high kinetic impact of the hardened carbon steel javelin tip.Death came suddenly, and the flamboyant cavalry immediately evaded tactically.They clenched the reins and immediately retreated to the woodland. Some riders did not care that their bodies were pierced, and they had to go back with their heavily wounded bodies to reunite with the main force.The high-spirited hoplites looked forward to fighting the rebels and intruders out of the woods, and ending this terrible winter expedition with a decisive battle.The huge brim of the leather helmet covers half of his face, and the sackcloth he carries covers his cheeks and neck, and even his nose, leaving only a pair of eyes exposed.The leading infantry saw the returning cavalry, and was shocked to see the wounded among them with pierced bodies.The captain of the cavalry flag, who was ordered to go first, suffered a head-on blow, but he also detected the reality of the enemy, and returned in a hurry to report to his king.Unexpectedly, Ludwig first resented what happened to his subordinates: "You suffered a blow? You withdraw without a fierce battle?! You run away like cowards."The king's accusation was chilling, and the captain of the flag did not dare to quibble.He gasped and answered cautiously: "Your Majesty, everything on the Elbe is like what happened to us on the Weser. The enemy has put those damned ships on the river again, and now they're shooting us with dreadful javelins. If our army is on the river, Array, things are dangerous.""They... so vicious?" Although Ludwig had an ominous foreboding, why did he still hit a hard wall? "How about the Elbe?" he demanded. "Is it frozen?""There is no ice, and the river flows as normal. Your Majesty, our army cannot cross the river unless...""how?""Hamburg's pontoon is there, that's the only way we can move forward, but..."The captain of the flag was talking nonsense completely, and Ludwig's beard was shaking with anger, and then he said: "But, that **** pontoon is being held by the enemy.""Yes. Your Majesty, what should we do?"The question is thrown to Ludwig, not far ahead is the end of the forest, out to face Hamburg, face the lair of traitors and invaders. He realized that his anger-venting northern expedition was too hasty, but he was already standing here. The sunk cost is already too great. If a decisive battle cannot be fought, the whole operation will be thankless.Ludwig thought for a while: "Temporarily set up camp in the forest. The village we found before is used as a camp. Without my order, no one in our army is allowed to go out to battle without authorization. Violators will be hanged!"The battle turns to Hamburg.It was only two rounds of javelin strikes that dispersed the Frankish cavalry, and the twenty or so cavalry they threw down and evacuated in disarray, and they had no time to pull the casualties away.The coalition soldiers had been sharpening their knives and preparing to fight, and the oar boats moored on the north bank of the river had also loosened their ropes.Many nobles standing at the top were really dissatisfied with the anticlimactic results of a battle, and it was Liudov who was the most excited."The heavy cavalry actually retreated. Their army is in the woods, and we must hit it hard. Otherwise, we are very dangerous.""Actually, your power will be very dangerous." Rurik turned his head and glanced at Ludov, and then looked at the forest: "Don't worry. I think the enemy is actually more worried than us, and now we will see who is more patient. Get your temper.""Just waiting? Do nothing?""Wait for a while."The coalition chose to wait, and Rurik even ordered the soldiers on board to stop charging their slingshots.The battlefield returned to calm, the north wind across the river blew away people's chatter, and the mourning of the wounded cavalry could be heard vaguely.After such a stagnation for a while, Rurik suddenly came up with a plan.He sent 30 soldiers to row to the other side, and most of the soldiers carried big axes. The so-called order was to chop the fallen horses into pieces and capture the wounded soldiers of the enemy who were still alive.There is no need to waste the horse corpse, such as the four horse legs must be cut off, after all, the fresh meat frozen in the cold is not easy to handle.In the midst of all the attention, this tongue-grabbing team was dispatched in a grand manner. Not only the coalition forces in Hamburg, but also the Frankish army on the other side were watching their actions.Let's watch this long ship boldly cross the river, and after landing, it spreads out its formation and shows its shield and sword. They watch the situation around them vigilantly, and then start to act.Those wounded heavy cavalrymen who could still move saw the barbarian coming with swords, they instinctively wanted to resist, and even tried their best to pull out the small saber around their waists to resolutely resist, but their legs were pressed by the horses and could not move.For the uncooperative wounded, the Ross warriors who crossed the river directly stabbed them to death.After all, brothers are not good people, and only one living prisoner of war is needed. If you find it and take it away, you can send it.A wounded man covering his face was dragged out abruptly. There was no obvious trauma on his body, but his lower body was pressed by the dead horse and could not move. This person was also very uncooperative at the beginning of the period. However, he was not easy to get up in heavy armor. After being knocked out by the wooden handle of the battle axe, he was **** and prepared to be dragged away.As for the other Rus warriors, they all chop and chop horse carcasses and plunder horse meat.The Rus people seemed to be doing whatever they wanted, but another horn sounded one after another.Across the Elbe River, Ludov, who was astonished, was astonished, and he yanked Rurik's arm without regard for etiquette. "Not good! This is their attack signal, and the people you send are going to be hit.""what?!"Before Rurik could react, he saw a group of heavy infantry wearing armor and shining brightly in the sunshine and snow suddenly rushed out of the woodland.These people don't seem to have a lot of troops. They run fast on the riverside snow, as if wolves are staring at their prey, and they will not stop until they finish the hunt.The Ross soldiers scratching their tongues on the other side of the river neglected to carefully observe the surrounding environment because of their arrogance. Little did they know that when they had just landed, the Frankish scouts in the shadows hurriedly reported the new situation.Ludwig, who had just suffered a loss, had to regain his face. Considering that the other party had dispatched about 30 people, it would be better to send ten times as many hoplites to kill them. Even if the enemy's long-range weapons are a bit sharp, there is still a reason for the failure of the enemy to intercept with ten to one troops?The three hundred heavy infantry received the order and quickly advanced to the edge of the woodland to ambush. An infantry flag captain was in charge of the retaliatory raid, and when he saw the apparent tendency of the enemy troops in Norman pirate attire to withdraw, he attacked decisively.They acted with the sound of the horn, and the three centenarians ran at the speed of a 100-meter sprint.Seeing this, the thirty Ross warriors did not have enough time to evacuate."Captain" gave an order: "Put everything down! Shield wall!"The well-trained brothers hurriedly dropped the captives and huge chunks of horse meat, and the thirty-man round shields were stacked on each other to form an arc array, and began to move in an orderly direction of the ship.Immediately after that, there was the impact of the shield and the fight.Obviously the ferry is not far behind, but there are tens of thousands of coalition soldiers on the other side of the river.How could the glorious Rus flee in a hurry? Obviously everyone is extremely eager to fight, and for glory, they must fight against this group of enemies that suddenly appeared!As a result, the armored warriors on both sides shivered together. The first thrust of the Frankish infantry did not break through the shield wall of the Rus, and then the sharp swords of both sides stabbed each other through the shield.Casualties began to appear on both sides, and the weaker Ruthian fronts continued to shrink. If they continued to resolutely defend the glory of Odin's warriors, they would be consumed by an enemy ten times their size."What are they doing?! Don't withdraw now?! What a bunch of idiots!" Rurik, who was watching, yelled angrily.However, Liudov was desperate for a decisive opportunity, and now the opportunity will come.This Ludov hurriedly said: "The heroes are unwilling to withdraw, we should help them. Rurik, our Saxon army should be dispatched. I will help your people to lift the siege.""Bah! I can't wait to see you." Rurik rolled his eyes at him. "I don't want the final battle to be like this.""But you can't expect them to fight your way and die your way.""No, I'll send some more people across the river to fight. You Saxons, don't be too hasty."As a result, the elites of the Ross Army who were eager to try finally got the opportunity to fight.The three flag teams gathered enough for a thousand people, some went directly on the pontoon bridge, and some rowed across the river.They moved so quickly that a large number of paddle boats appeared on the river at once.Accompanying these ships were the javelins fired again by the large ships across the river.It was just a tongue-grabbing action after the encounter, but now both sides are increasing their troops, and the scale of the battle is rapidly expanding!The Ross Army sent a thousand elites to cross the river! They were so uniformly dressed and well equipped that the Franks had no hesitation in seeing these armies and they were sure of the best.Three hundred people could not crush the shield wall defense line of thirty people. Obviously, there were only a dozen people left in the enemy, and they still fought to the death, as if these people were simply bait.No, the actions of the Normans made the Frankish flag captain who was on the mission sure that it was the moment of a decisive battle, even if everyone did not want the decisive battle to start so hastily.The javelins whizzed and flew over the heads of the Rus people on the other side. Many javelins were deeply stuck in the mud, and many directly hit the enemy and killed them on the spot."Continue to hold on, brothers, this is a glorious decisive battle, and our reinforcements have arrived!" The "captain" stood by his last line, even though the barge was behind him.Ludwig did not go far, and the scouts kept reporting the progress of the battle. After pointing out that a large number of Norman pirates had crossed the river to attack, he concluded that the decisive battle had come.Then, it was the turn of the Franks to attack frantically.The king on horseback swings his sword, and he has no time to line up. The majority of the soldiers were almost all lined up on the Roman Avenue. Most of the soldiers had just begun to rest, but the opportunity for a decisive battle was fleeting. Now that they did not go to battle and faced the Elbe River, which continued to flow, things were not easy to handle.However, Ludwig issued a special order.The horse-riding messengers were frantically approaching the rear of the team, and they were giving orders to a large number of peasant soldiers.Among the Normans, the Rus' arrows are sharper, and if their arrows are exhausted, the advantage will no longer be available.In the kingdom, some people are born noble, and some people are born slaves.Ludwig is not stupid enough to throw all his elite heavy infantry into the battle of attrition on the banks of the Elbe. The best way is to send the largest number of peasant soldiers into the fight, while the elite heavy infantry and heavy cavalry watch the battle in the rear. , waiting for the right moment to fight.So, the peasant soldiers of Deling took their battle axes and short spears, like a herd of wild boars rushing in the snow, and rushed towards the riverside pigs.Farm tax debts can be forgiven by killing barbarians and traitors on the battlefield. A serf could be freed by cutting off a Norman's head.Most of the peasant soldiers came from the Earl of Rheingau, and the earl himself was imprisoned after his defeat. The peasants who killed the enemy would be rewarded for their exploits, and the strong ones would be incorporated into the standing army, so that the whole family would be better off in the future.Especially a large number of small nobles in the county. Their master had already fought the rebellious Saxons and Normans on this battlefield a few months ago, but they were completely wiped out. It is one thing to do meritorious service for the king, but to take revenge for the head of the family, it is the new noble who succeeds to do great things. To avenge their father and brother who died in battle, these little nobles and squires rushed extremely fiercely.A large group of warriors, dressed in heavy cloth and leather with little armour, streamed out of the Roman avenues.Meanwhile, a thousand Rus warriors have completed their landing. Their appearance turned the offensive, and the balance of forces was completely tilted towards the Rus army. Now it was the turn of the Frankish heavy infantry to start fighting and retreating.More than a hundred people formed a battle square, and the Ross Army continued to advance in the mode of a hundred troops. Their round shields were stacked on top of each other, and the two soldiers in the front row often stabbed with swords, and then another brother with a halberd smashed the enemy's head fiercely.Such an organized battle of the Franks was in fact impossible to learn.Even if a heavy infantryman wears a thick armor, in the hundreds of years of the destruction of Rome, Frank has forgotten the original design of the "Centurion" and "Flag Team", it seems that it is just a simple grouping of soldiers. It soon turned into a separate battle for the soldiers.The Roman Legion Phalanx is back!However, they were Vikings Normans with blonde hair and blue eyes.The ten squares are constantly advancing, and the accompanying crossbowman Xu Jin is shooting arrows. The archers who are in the gaps between the blocks are shooting at the enemy with crossbows~www.novelhall.com~ They often have two or more in their mouths. Three arrows, after firing once, the boots are put on the strings, and then take out an arrow in the mouth to reload and aim to shoot, so as to try to reload as quickly as possible.The ten centurions moved slowly towards the forest, but the deep winter forest must be hiding the enemy's army. They slowly slowed down, watching the expelled Frankish heavy infantry flee.The loss of the Ross Army's soldiers was not much, regardless of the casualties, they were transferred to the ships in the rear, and were quickly transported to the rear, including a few wounded prisoners captured.If the Franks had just withdrawn, the battle would not have turned into a final battle. If the enemy does not invest new troops, this thousand-strong Rus army will also withdraw.However, the sound of killing suddenly started in the forest, and snow fell on a large scale in the woodland as far as the eye could see.This is the shock of footsteps and the sound of killing, and the snow fell, which completely terminated the retreat plan of the Ross Army.So, how many troops did the Franks put into it?Nearly 10,000 people!
