The war was finally about to begin, and Jevlo was somewhat nervous.
Although about ten days ago, the Ross army he belonged to easily defeated a group of pediatricians. After all, it was a surprise battle, and his master Rurik used strategies to give the Russian army an advantage in all aspects.
He knew that a strong man's preemptive strike could often defeat his opponent first and render him unable to fight back.
It is the current situation that makes Yevlo a little worried.
His iron sword and ax were attached to the belt around his waist, and ten heavy crossbow arrows were inserted into the linen pocket on the belt.
With a crossbow in his hand, Jevro led the scouts to cautiously enter the so-called Kovin village.
"Brothers, be careful, beware of enemies that suddenly appear."
"Don't trust your crossbow too much. When the situation is critical, draw your sword and fight!"
"Remember, show no mercy! Except for the daughters and children who give up resistance, everyone else is the enemy."
As Jevro walked, he repeated some of the requirements Rurik had given to his men.
Most mercenaries are not as cautious as Yevro, or in other words, this meat reconnaissance operation is completely the first raid they have participated in.
These mercenaries are almost all landless farmers in Mälaren. It seems that fate forces them to rely on selling their physical strength to survive. It was a pity for these young people that they were not selected into the Guards by the leader of Mellaren.
Moreover, in the past few years, there have been few cases of large-scale external military use by the Melalen tribe, leaving young people in the huge tribe lacking opportunities to seek benefits through war.
Working as mercenaries for local tycoons has become an important way for young people to make a living.
Now, these twenty Melalen people represent the Ross people in the battle.
They have begun to dream about storming into the Corvin village, and everyone can grab a large amount of high-quality furs that need to be shipped in linen bags.
The north wind swept across the frozen river, and the village on the riverbank fell into an eerie silence.
There are more than a dozen sneaky figures hiding in the village's low fences, haystacks, or simply behind houses.
They were draped in deerskin, holding bows and arrows, and exposed their eyes through the gaps, quietly observing the approaching enemy.
"Those guys are here, are they really Varyags?"
"Are you stupid? Liekiaras, wait a moment and listen to my order. We will shoot at least one Varangian." A senior hunter gave his man a boost, but the hunter didn't understand.
"Are you so sure? Amovaro, look at their clothes and their weapons. Believe me, maybe our arrows..."
"How can you know the effect if you don't try it? Are their armors thicker than wild boar skins? Are they more terrifying than bears?"
"Okay." Hunter Lekiaras looked at his bone arrowhead and sighed deeply. Forget it, he drew an iron-tipped arrow from his quiver. "I hope this expensive sword can kill an enemy."
The residents of the village have all evacuated to the mountain fort, and most of the necessary supplies have also been moved. The remaining things are really dispensable.
More than a dozen hunters were named to stay, just because these people had experience in killing bears and wild boars. The leader Kejas felt that these people could shoot several Varyags and force them to evacuate.
"They are getting closer and closer. Listen to my orders before firing arrows." Hunter Amovaro ordered.
Different from the intense tension of the Coven hunters, as the Ross scouts were about to step ashore and could enter the village in just a few dozen steps, they saw the unusually quiet village and the tension in their hearts dissipated a lot. The team also became a bit slack.
Jevlo was the first to step onto the snow-covered river bank. For a moment, he felt that the situation was indeed very delicate.
"It's too quiet. Brothers, be careful."
His instructions did not attract many people's attention.
The mercenaries all landed on the beach. They seemed to have discovered the golden mountains and silver seas, and started running straight to the nearest private houses, hoping to be the first to break in and take away the good things.
Following closely behind were the sword and shield bearers of the Ross tribe. How could the good things be snatched away by the Merlaren mercenaries? They also joined the wave of fighting for the spoils.
Looking at this scene, Jevro felt a little helpless. As a Fenren, he really understood that the mercenaries might not be able to find any treasures.
Suddenly, there was a whooshing sound in the air.
Then there was someone screaming.
Yevro, who was feeling slightly relaxed, suddenly saw that a mercenary was holding his thigh and wailing.
He squatted down subconsciously, holding the crossbow nervously, pointing the crosshair in any suspicious direction.
A stray arrow suddenly struck and flew onto the ice close to Jevro's face. He even felt the soft feathers of the arrow hitting his cheek.
For a moment, he saw a suspicious person wearing a fur hat and realized that there was an enemy over there.
"Attention! There is an ambush! Everyone come back!"
Really, only if someone is injured can the place be in danger for those who enter the village.
Since the enemy was hiding in the dark, the mercenaries abandoned their injured companions and retreated to the river beach. Then they took their crossbows and shot at suspicious places.
Yevluo was angry at this move and shouted: "You idiots, do you think your arrows are cheap? You are not allowed to shoot without seeing the enemy's eyes!"
On the other hand, the hidden Kovin hunter was delighted that he had shot a Varyag.
Hunter Lekiaras muttered disdainfully: "It seems that bone arrowheads are less effective, and iron arrowheads are the most effective. The Varyags are not as scary as the legend says."
"It's just that iron arrows are very expensive, so use them sparingly." Hunter Amovaro asked everyone to be careful.
On the one hand, these Kewen hunters want to give the enemies who appear a showdown, and on the other hand, they want to contain them. The leader Kaihas never expected the Varangians to leave meekly. Large-scale battles were basically inevitable, so the Kovin "Salmon Lord" tribe needed more preparation time to make the mountain fort truly militarized. Hill fort.
The mercenary who fell to the ground was still wailing. He was bleeding desperately because of the arrow in the main artery of his leg.
Seeing the Varangians retreating, a Kovin hunter finally couldn't help but rush out from his hiding place. A shorter hunter rushed out with a short spear and stabbed the screaming mercenary directly in the throat with the obsidian spearhead.
The mercenary screamed twice and suddenly lowered his raised arm.
The hunter was still not satisfied after completing the assassination. He pulled out the bloody spear and shouted at the Varyags who were cowering not far away.
"What is that idiot talking about? Boss, Statla is dead!" A mercenary gritted his teeth.
Yevluo was furious. After all, the deceased was also a mercenary trained by him, and he died like this. What's more, I actually understood what the enemy was saying.
The so-called "Varyags, you are seeking death when you come to our territory"!
"Brothers, shoot the enemy!"
Originally, everyone was waiting for Yevro's order.
More than ten crossbow arrows hit the target with extremely fierce force. The Kovin hunter, who was still complacent about assassinating a Varyag, was pierced by multiple crossbow arrows and died on the spot.
"Ah! What's going on? What kind of weapon is that?! Is it an arrow?" Hunter Amovaro was shocked.
"Isobra is dead, what should we do?" A hunter asked loudly.
"Damn it, fight them! Brothers, use iron arrows!" Hunter Amovaro took the lead and stood out from the hiding place, and the other hunters appeared one after another.
The Korvin hunters began to shoot arrows at the Russian scouts desperately. This move was completely beyond Jevlo's expectations, forcing the Russians to take precautions.
The shield-wielding swordsmen became a covering force, and the crossbowmen quickly strung up their bows, loaded their crossbows, and immediately took aim and fired.
At this moment, arrows hit the wooden shields of the Russians from time to time. Looking at the wooden shields that were slightly penetrated, the sword and shield hand couldn't help laughing. Compared to the powerful crossbows of our own tribe that can penetrate the ship's planks, the enemy's arrows are really too weak.
Hunter Lekiaras is still questioning how the Varangians are good at archery, and he hopes his companions can give an explanation. A crossbow arrow came without warning, and it actually penetrated the hunter Amovaro's head!
In Lechiaras's shock, his companion's eyes widened, like a felled pine tree, and he fell to the ground stiffly with a roar.
Amovaro, an experienced hunter who had practiced archery since childhood and planned to shoot at least ten hundred bears in his life, died like this.
Five brothers also suffered the same fate. They all died directly from strange arrows.
Lykiaras lay down and tried to rescue his companions, but everything was in vain. In grief and anger, he realized that the situation was very complicated. After struggling to pull out the unique stubby arrow that harvested the lives of his companions, he called on his other living brothers.
"Brothers, let's retreat quickly, or everyone will die!"
In the end, only five Corvin hunters managed to escape, leaving seven corpses in the village.
A somewhat unexpected battle ended.
The Rus lost one mercenary and the Kovin lost seven.
But in a sense, the Russians lost nothing at all. Mercenaries, aren't they just "tools" bought with money?
The scouts captured the entire Kovan village at the cost of one death.
After all, it was the mercenaries who died, at least the mercenaries died in the battle.
Everyone felt a little sorry for the deceased and wished that his soul could enter the Hall of Valor, because the deceased was a mercenary of Rurik.
After all, everyone was the first to enter the village. They started searching with great interest, and found that the most valuable items in each house were just some empty clay pots and a pile of thatch.
A large number of clay pots were broken because people believed they contained some treasure.
As a result, the clay pot was empty, and the semi-crypt-like house was not a deserted existence.
The empty-handed warriors began to check the shot enemies, looking for the crossbow arrows they had missed, and collected the enemy's bows and arrows as their own trophies.
after a while……
It looked like the encounter ahead was over, and the scouts had taken control of the entire village.
Otto could sense that the troops he sent were fighting with the enemy, and he immediately ordered the rest of his men to squat down and remain on guard.
Now that the enemy was defeated, Otto took Rurik and all the tribesmen and set foot on the enemy's village.
Rurik maintained a high degree of vigilance. He was a little afraid of the low-rise village houses of the Kovin people, for fear that an enemy would suddenly appear and point the finger at him.
Jevro quickly stood in front of his father and himself.
Otto asked arrogantly: "You fought a battle and the enemy was defeated? How many enemies did you kill?"
"Seven."
"so little?"
"That's seven people. Chief, please take a look." Yevluo winked, and seven corpses were pulled out, leaving Yin Hong's horrific blood stains on the snow. To be honest, Rurik was a little touched when he saw this scene.
"Do you have any losses?" Rurik asked before his father.
"Master, one of us died."
"Who died?!" Rurik asked in panic.
"Statella is dead."
"Huh? He..."
Rurik remembered the names of all the mercenaries, not because he paid special attention to mercenaries, but because he only had a small number of mercenary subordinates.
Otto saw his son's mood was a little low, so he comforted him: "At least the person who died was not one of our tribesmen, why do you have to worry?"
"But, after all, he is a mercenary hired by me."
"That mercenary died fighting for us, but he was a mercenary, not a Russian. This is the fate of that man. Next, we should launch a larger attack!"
After saying that, Otto squatted down, pinched Rurik's cheek with a big hand, and forced his eyes to look at the hills not far away: "Child, do you understand the situation?"
Rurik squinted his eyes, just to see the distant scenery clearly in the very dazzling sunlight reflected by the white snow.
I saw a wall on the hill not far away.
"Dad?! What is that!"
"That's the mountain fort." Jevro replied quickly: "Everyone in this village must have evacuated to the mountain fort."
When Otto heard this, he couldn't help but become interested; "Oh? Jevlo, do you still know something about the mountain fortress?"
"Yes! Chief, my hometown and village will also build a mountain fort surrounded by stone walls. It is to defend against enemies. Unexpectedly, the Covin people are actually doing this."
Jevlo's words made Rurik think that since the Finns built mountain forts, the Kovin people, who were also born out of the Finn group, would also build mountain forts.
"Dad." Rurik asked, "Are we going to attack the mountain fortress soon?"
"Otherwise? They are unwilling to kneel down and be slaves, so we can only use force to make them submit. Also, your people are dead, and you don't want to take revenge?
"I think!" Rurik said angrily.
"That's right. My child, hatred is a weapon. I think your mercenaries are already eager to attack and take revenge immediately."
"Then let's fight." Rurik dug into his fist. Now, he felt that he had enough reasons to fight.
Otto looked at his son with relief, and then through the condition of the enemy's corpse, he understood that the crossbow was indeed powerful.
For example, an enemy's face was smashed with a terrifying hole. The only person who can do this is a crossbow.
Since there was going to be a war, Otto asked people to pull Woima Kasha over who was leading the way.
He made him kneel down and asked: "Is this your village? Where are your people?"
Regarding the current situation, Voyma Kashad tried hard to suppress his inner joy. He deliberately put on a frightened look, deliberately trembling his right hand, pointing to the mound not far away: "That's it! The mountain fort. All our people must have withdrawn to the mountain fort. They must have sent people to provoke you, I hope to have a decisive battle with you in the mountain fort."
"Really?" Otto's deep eyes looked at the stone wall of the mountain castle, and his beard was swayed by the cold wind.
Otto clenched the hilt of his sword and asked again: "Tell me, what is in the mountain fortress?"
"All...all the treasures. And women who can be used as slaves, and many, many more."
"Is there any food?" Otto asked a very crucial question.
"Yes! A lot of dried meat, that's the key to us surviving the winter."
Otto nodded: "It just so happens that my people are short of food. You! If you don't lead us here within the time, I will really kill you."
"Oh, thank you sir for not killing me."
Otto shook his head: "No, no's work is not over yet. Now I am going to attack the mountain fortress. I want you to tell them first that we Russians are coming."
After Javro translated, Voyma Kashad suddenly trembled in panic and lied: "I can't go! To them, I am... a traitor. They will kill me and then refuse everything."
"Really? Indeed, traitors deserve to die!" Otto spat on the snow, and then said: "You are just my dog now. It's okay, you just stay here, I will still need you after victory. .”
Voima Kashad immediately kowtowed, because it seemed that the Russian army was about to attack the mountain fortress, and a bloody battle was about to take place.
So I finally got a chance to escape.
Voima Kashad's actions deceived everyone, and even Rurik felt that this man was a real coward, a person who was purely greedy for life and afraid of death.
Now, including Woima Kashad who led the way, all the deer herders following the team, and even Rumia, were required to stay in the Kovin village. Otto appointed twenty relatively weak warriors to defend the controlled village and promised to share some of their property with them if they won.
The remaining nearly three hundred warriors were all gathered together by Otto.
Otto stood on a haystack. He pulled out his sword and looked at the expectant eyes. The sword pointed directly at the obvious stone wall on the hill to the east of the village. He roared loudly: "Brothers! I am going to fight the Kovin people. There is food there! Skins! Women! Gold! There is everything you need! They dare to attack our scouts, and soon, I will make them kneel Come down and beg for your life. Fight!"
The anger of the Russians was ignited, and Otto's pre-war mobilization had a very good effect.
Rurik knew that the current team must rush forward in one go, and it would be best to overwhelm the enemy's mountain fortress in one go.
Immersed in the general excitement, Rurik also drew his short sword, joined a large group of clansmen banging their shields, and let out his own Viking war cry.
"Russians! Forward!" Otto pointed his sword pointedly, and three hundred soldiers began to rush straight to the mountain fortress.
