Otto heard the enemy not far away standing on the fortress laughing and speaking some unintelligible language. Needless to say, it was a vicious taunt.
He has seen too much, and it doesn't matter if he makes the dying people happy, and looking at the current situation of the Salmon Lord tribe, he feels that his plan has been successful.
The Russians did not use force again, and everyone looked at the dejected tribesmen sitting on the snow.
Kejas almost crawled in front of Otto with a look of despair, his hand continued to cover the bleeding ear wound, and the other hand kept holding the arrow. When he saw Otto, he was crying desperately. After Javlo translated, he found out that this man was not only complaining about the power of the Gray Squirrel tribe, but also complaining about why the Russians did not invest troops.
Otto asked calmly: "Didn't you say that the Gray Squirrel Tribe is a bunch of fools? Don't you have a feud with them? What? I gave you a chance to take revenge, but you actually complained that I didn't help?"
Kejas was in pain, hesitating and hesitating with the arrow stuck in his ear.
"Are these your ears?" Rurik asked.
Kehas immediately said with a sad face: "My little master, we miscalculated! The enemy is very strong, they have strong archers."
"Don't listen to his nonsense, he is just a coward." Otto said contemptuously.
Rurik looked at Otto's serious old face, and then at Kejas's blood-stained and tear-stained face. "Dad, I believe the enemy is very strong. So when we attack, we must be careful."
"But this man threw away all our ladders."
Rurik shook his head: "Dad, it turns out those ladders are not easy to use. It seems that the enemy has reinforced their walls with ice and snow, so we shouldn't expect to climb the walls to attack."
"So, what do we do?" Otto asked his son.
"Cut down a big tree, or prepare a lot of bonfires. We can't continue fighting today, we need to rest. Tomorrow we'd better use a big tree to break open their door. If that doesn't work, we'll set fire to burn their wooden door! We have plenty. Find a way to deal with them!"
Otto nodded upon hearing this: "You are the most clever."
Just praise, Otto looked at the injured Kejas: "Throw away your ears, count your surviving people, I will reward your people with wheat cakes and dried meat. And you, I will give you a special gift." Now go down and rest!”
In this way, the first day's battle is over, but the battle is only the beginning.
The memories of the Russians were not defeated, and the young warriors were even more indulged in the joy of sweeping past the Gotland stronghold last year. Now when you encounter a nail, there is no reason not to knock it.
The victorious Mechasta did not have an easy time at all, because the Rus were so hateful that they lit bonfires and camped on the edge of the range of their bows and arrows. The Russians surrounded the village, and a large number of bonfires surrounded the village. This made the gray squirrel tribe unable to feel any joy of victory at all. ,
What's worse is that for a victory, all the tribesmen fired more than a thousand arrows, including at least a hundred iron cluster arrows.
If the archers lost their arrows, they would have to fight with stone axes and stone spears. If you risk going out to pick up arrows, you will probably be ambushed by the enemy.
No one wants to risk leaving the wall that protects them, and the reality is that Ryuri ordered his mercenaries to lie down on the snow. The crossbow became an excellent ambush weapon, and could shoot from a prone position for the first time.
The people of the Gray Squirrel tribe are under great pressure. They only have more than 3,000 arrows left. Due to the lack of combat effectiveness, all tribal women who know archery are required to become archers. Women have a high level of awareness and know that fighting is for self-protection. There were more archers, and the limited arrows meant that each archer was assigned less than fifty arrows. If the enemy launched a few more attacks, there would really be no spare arrows.
On the contrary, the Ross people's operations during the day can be said to serve multiple purposes.
More than fifty corpses fell on the battlefield, and only ninety-five Salmon Lord tribesmen returned, many of whom were injured.
The Gray Squirrel tribe also suffered more than 30 casualties. Almost all of them were hit during close-range attacks by archers from both sides in the final stage. Compared with the Russian coalition forces, after the day's battle, the Gray Squirrel Tribe also achieved a tragic victory in a sense. After all, they only have one hundred and fifty men who can fight. This is good, but now the number of men who can fight is over one hundred.
Of course women are organized. Do women join in the fight? Even Mechasta himself found it unreliable.
How happy was Mechasta when he learned of the casualties? He feels that tomorrow is the decisive battle! He did not dare to exaggerate the atmosphere of terror in the tribe, and could only tell everyone that "we have won a great victory." He also asked the tribe's wizard to do a divination. In order to stabilize people's hearts, the wizard claimed that a large reinforcement force would arrive soon, probably before the sun sets tomorrow.
Everyone believed in wizards, so for the time being, they could only go into battle to defend their homes while caring for the wounded, men, women, old and young.
The situation here in Rus is much better, and Kejas also got his own reward-a bottle of strong wine.
It was late at night, and Rurik, sitting around the campfire, was somewhat puzzled by his father's decision.
"Dad, why did you give them wine? Why did you give them meat and wheat cakes? Don't you hate them? Or is it because I am actually their master?"
Otto shook his head: "Do you think I am merciful?"
"Yes."
"No! This is not kindness, this is called strategy."
"Strategy?" Rurik couldn't help but laugh. He really couldn't imagine how many tactical strategies his father could have. "How can you see it?" he asked deliberately.
"Alas!" Otto looked at the lit torches of the enemy fortress not far away, and asked again: "Have the ambush been prepared? Ah, I have to rest in my armor tonight."
"Everything is ready."
Otto, as an old father, told his son: "Okay, I'm telling you now that their bravest person is dead. The remaining people can't be said to be brave. They will at least be obedient. I have told that person Guys, we will attack together, and if we prepare properly, tomorrow will be the day of battle. A bottle of wine proves my sincerity, I don’t believe that guy with one ear missing will refuse.”
Rurik finally understood: "Dad, actually you still need them to have a proof of loyalty. Just like my mercenaries participated in the battle, now you no longer doubt them."
"You are also very smart." Otto kindly tugged on his son's golden ponytail: "I have thought about it. When everything is over, I will declare that a man like Jevlo is a member of our Ross tribe. I don't care about him. What kind of ethnic group are they? In short, they have made military exploits for us and are loyal to the leader. This is the Rus people I need."
Rurik was really pleasantly surprised. He smiled and said: "But such people still cannot participate in the dividends of the spoils."
"Of course. Remember, they are the new Russians, and they are your servants first. How much reward you give to your servants depends on the master's wishes. Go to bed. You showed the calmness and decisiveness of an excellent warrior today, remember. This is still a battle of destiny. We must attack the enemy's village and conquer them tomorrow!"
Rurik nodded: "I have only one request."
"Say it."
“He who kneels down and becomes a servant shall have his life spared.”
"Okay! I agree." Otto replied readily.
This night, Rurik slept in the open wrapped in leather. Many warriors never took off their armor, but just put on a layer of leather and went to sleep.
The soldiers slept very lightly, often still holding the hilt of their swords in their hands. It is said that when the sentry alerted the enemy of a sneak attack, all the soldiers could immediately jump up and go into battle.
The Russians gave the enemy a higher estimate, but the enemy did not launch a night attack.
The people of the Gray Squirrel tribe unanimously chose to be conservative. The darkness frightened them. The large number of bonfires lit by the Varangians made many people believe that their victory might not be worth mentioning, and the real decisive battle had not yet begun.
The victory did not improve everyone's morale. Among the tribesmen, Alexander, men, women and children, only the most naive child did not know what happened, so he rested in the arms of his parents. The others waited and stayed up almost all night.
The long night gradually passed, and at dawn, the tired tribal warriors picked up their weapons and climbed listlessly onto the scaffolding behind the wall.
The world was still cold, and the exhausted tribal warriors saw strange agitation coming from the sparse pine forest not far away.
"What's going on?"
"Is the earth shaking? Are there big trees shaking?"
"No! Go and report to the leader!"
The warriors who got up early broke into Mechasta's home. The sudden alarm led the leader to think that the Varyags were launching a full-scale attack.
"The forest has become strange? What stupid thing to say!" Mechasta was very doubtful.
Only when he climbed up the wall did he notice the strange scene from the enemy camp.
Russians, what are they doing?
Early in the morning, the sleepy Rurik was awakened by the cheers of the warriors. He soon saw that some tribesmen were using the most traditional Viking felling technique to try to cut down a large pine tree with a straight trunk.
It is indeed not the largest pine tree, but as a battering ram, its size is adequate.
To cut down the tree, Kawei, the blacksmith who accompanied the army, used the big ax himself. He cut a deep dent in the trunk, and then made a smaller dent on the other side. A wooden wedge was smashed into a small dent. As he reversely operated the big hammer turned into a forest ax, Kawei hit the wooden wedge crazily amidst the rhythmic shouts of the warriors.
After dozens of blows, the towering pine tree became more and more skewed, and finally broke and fell, making a terrifying loud noise. The ground also shook violently. It not only shocked the enemy and ourselves, but also shook off all the accumulated pine tree branches nearby. The snow even stunned the hiding squirrels.
A large number of gray squirrel tribe warriors gathered on the city wall. They still didn't know what happened.
An extremely bad premonition came to Mechasta's mind, "Are they cutting down trees? Are they trying to break through our wall? Or..."
Suddenly realizing that something was wrong, he immediately called for help to strengthen the city wall. Whether it was stones, ice, wood, or even the frozen corpses of his tribe's dead, anything that could block the gate would be destroyed. become extremely important.
The Rus spent almost a whole day making their own battering ram, which was actually a pine tree.
Having lost all their ladders, the Rus had to make new ones from readily available pine resources.
Many people, including Rurik, feel that today is the day of the decisive battle, but smart commanders need to consider the failure experience of the Salmon Lord tribe.
Although it was a bit of a pity, Otto successfully calmed his restless subordinates.
Here, many warriors who had participated in the attack on the Gotlanders first agreed with the leader's determination.
It's entirely because of the carpenters who made cameo appearances. These people handle the axes used for cutting and carefully process their own battering rams. Everyone believed that since the ladder could not solve the problem, then a group of people would hold the big tree and smash open the enemy's city gate to recreate an Arik-style victory.
Throughout the day, the Gray Squirrel tribe's village was surrounded by the Rus.
The Russians were just outside the city wall. They were standing outside the range of bows and arrows, standing or walking with various weapons.
Although there are no words, the actions of the Russians say: "The bad people are trying to escape."
The atmosphere of fear is spreading in the village, especially since the tribe wizard claimed that the reinforcements will arrive today. Now that the sun is setting, will those so-called allies choose to travel at night?
More people believed that the messengers they sent had been intercepted and killed, and they did not think that those tribes would really fight for the Gray Squirrel tribe. Some people even believe that those tribes may not even think that Varyag people will land in the interior to plunder and destroy.
The wizard's prophecy completely failed as night fell.
Suddenly, the saying "we have been abandoned" was rampant. The morale of the tribal soldiers was unstable, and Mechasta did not think of killing one or two crows to stabilize their morale.
In vain he shouted in the village: "Don't be afraid! We still have walls! We still have bows! We don't need any allies! Let them attack, we will shoot them with our bows! The Varangians are robbers, they will die Some people just left.”
However, who would be so optimistic? Tonight was exactly the same as the night before. In the dark forest outside the wall, a huge bonfire was lit again.
Just standing on the wall and seeing these bonfires made the sentry tremble all over.
It can be said that the "campfire suspicion tactics" that Rurik thought of were too useful for the simple gray squirrel tribe of Kewen. If the wall that surrounded the entire village had not given them the last bit of confidence, the entire tribe would have suffered a mental collapse.
Of course, if they had no city wall facilities from the beginning, the Russians would not deliberately linger in the woods, but would launch an attack as soon as they arrived.
A new day has arrived, this is the day. The sky is gloomy and the climate is getting colder. It's like a cold wave is approaching. The weather is bad and the defensive gray squirrel tribesmen are in a very bad mood.
Because just outside the range of bows and arrows, there were a large number of Varangians wearing metal helmets, and it seemed that they were finally going to launch an onslaught.
"What is that? Is it some shields?" Mechasta squinted and noticed some strange equipment in the enemy camp.
But what happened next was the most surprising.
Before the battle, Otto felt that his Rurik would definitely be able to give some good guidance, and most of the warriors also believed in the clever "Odin's Blesser", who must have received God's revelation while sleeping at night.
To be honest, Rurik was a little embarrassed. He labeled his technological inventions as "revelation from God", so as to make his tribe believe that these technologies were reasonable and sacred, which also enhanced his sense of mystery.
Rurik proposed some plans to attack the city, and Otto carried out the requests without even thinking about it.
Why doubt it? Otto himself believed that his son's plan must come from "revelation from God." If he believed this, other tribesmen would completely agree with it.
The real battle has begun!
Otto held his sword high before the battle, his big feet stepped on the snow, and his serious eyes stared at his equally solemn-looking warriors.
Suddenly, his sword pointed directly at the wall not far away: "Brothers! Let us break down the city gate and seize your treasures! Furs! Slaves! They are all yours!"
The Ross warriors began to bang their shields and collectively let out a rhythmic roar, giving the enemy a strong mental stimulation.
Mechasta on the city wall called to his men: "Damn! There's going to be a fight. Don't be afraid, don't be nervous, shoot them with our arrows!"
That was true, but Mechasta's own legs were shaking.
After all, they are forest hunters, and their beliefs are not like those of the Rus. The Kovin people are keen on hunting and trading, and they can be good explorers, but they have many natural disadvantages in engaging in the most barbaric warfare. At this point, the gray squirrel tribe had no choice but to passively fight.
"Brothers! Attack!"
Otto gave an order, and the Russians began to take action. A special offensive formation emerged from the hidden pine forest by the river.
But in the eyes of the gray squirrel tribe warriors, the Varangians' attack method was really strange.
Now, there seemed to be three large templates moving on the snow. Behind the planks, they are all Russians.
