The rising sun is in the east, and the fleet continues to move due south.
Bright days are the best for war, and the long days of summer also allow ships to sail for long periods of time.
Sailing against the wind will inevitably waste a lot of time, but a brand new goal stands in the distance!
Otto, Rurik and others who were staying in the captain's lounge were called by the soldiers on the deck.
Jevro's report made Otto, who was dozing off, very depressed: "So fast? I thought I wouldn't meet the enemy until tomorrow. How come I discovered the enemy's settlement again?!"
"Duke, it's absolutely true! The eyes of brothers are like eagles, and the enemy's eyes appear on the hills in the distance..."
"What is it?"
"Seems like a fortress."
Here Javlo spoke the word "hill fortress" in ancient Finnish, and Otto could no longer languish.
A hibernating bear breaks out!
Otto stood up suddenly: "That's great! After so many days, we have a decent enemy for us to attack. Let's go on the deck and see who they are."
A moment later, Rurik stood beside his father. He had a better look than Otto. He squinted his eyes, and through the clear air, he saw that the so-called "hill castle" did appear on the hills in the distance.
Rurik estimated that Gevro was referring to "all buildings protected by wooden walls" as hillforts in general. This time, Gevro's statement was obviously correct.
"Dad. I saw it all."
"I saw it a bit vaguely. It looked a bit like the wooden walls of New Roseburg. I couldn't imagine anyone else doing this besides us."
"What should we do?" Rurik asked cautiously.
"You? You actually asked me?" Otto was actually undecided. Based on the intuition of an old soldier, he looked at the Malaren army in front of him who was still advancing at a rapid pace, and felt that the coalition forces must have a tough nut to crack in this battle. . "At least I gave you the authority to command the Ross Army."
Rurik sighed slightly, then pointed directly at King Origen's ship: "We will see the reaction of the Melalen people, and we will support them if they attack. But..."
"What's wrong? Could you possibly..." Otto suddenly became excited.
"Yes! Although we can abide by the contract and remain spectators, the battlefield environment is complicated. If our allies are in trouble, we have to join the war."
"Wuhu! Is this a fight? You are not yet twelve years old, and you want to go to the battlefield again?" Otto happily grabbed his son's golden ponytail. Although Rurik was still a child, he had the soul of a warrior. Awakening is rare.
"If necessary, we will join the war." Rurik looked at his father with a serious face: "No matter how the war happens, we will stay and watch. If Olegin orders us to join the war, our troops will land. But none of us will participate in the fighting. The most we can do is support with bows and crossbows. Dad, I don’t want any of my brothers to get hurt, and I don’t want to get too involved.”
Without the excitement of a close-quarters fight with blood and flesh flying everywhere, Otto wouldn't be really excited about such a battle, and the same must be true for other brothers.
"Okay." Otto's deep eyes continued to look at the approaching enemy settlement ahead, "I can ignore everything else, at least we have to get some food. If the battle continues, we will not have enough food. .”
The target is just ahead. Unlike the Ross people who are cautious and restrained, the Melalen people are completely excited.
With the victory in the previous two battles, they were already proud that the Gotlanders and Danes were nothing more than that. Although everyone is tired and time is not good for the entire coalition, we can definitely make a fortune by rushing forward and destroying the enemy's stronghold!
Is not it? The enemy even built wooden walls, which they must be protecting.
What can they protect? It must be wheat, meat and countless silver and copper coins.
There is still a rational and restrained person in the entire Mellaren Army, and that is Olegin.
Karl was so excited that his heart almost exploded. He pointed forward with a sharp sword in his hand: "Let me lead a group of brothers as the vanguard. Give me your most elite warriors. Victory belongs to Melalen. I will make a decisive victory in this battle." great merit."
At this moment, Olegin, who was holding the bow of the ship, was in a really complicated mood. He hesitated for a while and made the decision to refuse.
"Why?!" Karl exclaimed in confusion. In grief and anger, he pointed his sword at the chasing friendly forces in the rear. "Do you still want to give them the glory of attacking the enemy's gathering point?"
"Well……"
"It's me! The invincible Karl! Are you afraid that if I die in the battle, the power of the family will fall? Bah!" Karl turned to look at the sun that was beginning to set in the west, and pointed the sword directly at him. He shouted: "Odin ! Grant me this honor, I am the King of the Holy Land (referring to Sweden itself), give me victory!"
So what response did God give him? The south wind seems to be getting stronger.
Karl didn't care so much. He put away his sword and told his father bluntly: "Now God orders us to attack. We cannot go against God's will and give opportunities to others."
Olegin felt that these remarks were all nonsense made up by Karl himself, but this boy's words caused cheers from the soldiers of the flagship.
Public opinion cannot be violated. All Olegin feels is the excitement of the soldiers. If he refuses his will, he will definitely get the hatred of his tribe.
He gritted his teeth and looked back again. Today, the Russians are still like "puppies that follow their masters" and never leave. The other allies are struggling to keep up.
"Then let's do it! Let's take a gamble!" Origen, baring his teeth, pulled out his beautiful steel sword and suddenly stuffed it into Karl's hand.
The meaning of this move is self-evident!
Carl held his father's sword and immediately raised it: "Everyone, paddle as fast as you can! All ships follow!"
The speed of the Malaren Army increased. The soldiers did not care about the disadvantages caused by physical fatigue in future battles. They rushed towards the target. This move shocked the Russians and responded positively.
Otto became more and more aware that something was wrong. He saw a small sandbar not far away and enemy fishing boats further away. If it were normal, the Mellaren Army would definitely send out ships to attack enemy fishing boats. Now they are only interested in enemy ports.
At this moment, the Avora and the rest of the Ross ships were in a state of preparation for war. Although it seemed that a naval battle would not happen, just in case, the warriors holding crossbows were fully prepared.
The sails were fully stretched, and the Avora reached her fastest speed, which caused her to rush into the formation of the Maylaren army. This unintentional move was like spurs urging the horses to run wildly, forcing the Malaren army, which had been commanded by Karl, to accelerate further.
This is actually the first wave of attacks by the coalition forces, and it is probably the most powerful wave. There is still less than five kilometers of port road left in the landing battle.
…
A huge fleet rushed towards the port, and the residents of Voskas Port (Oskar Port) couldn't believe their eyes.
who are they? Why so many longships? Why is there an unknown pattern printed on the sail?
Alas! Could it be that he is dazzled? Is that huge sail actually a ship?
For a while, many residents did not realize that they were enemies. They stood on the docks and on the edge of the hills, watching the rapidly approaching fleet, and whispering to each other about the origins of these guys.
There are people in Dangre who are instinctively aware of the threat.
That was the Danes, specifically the Danish businessmen.
There are boys dispatched by merchants walking through the streets and passing through the complicated residential areas of thatched houses and wooden houses at the port: "Don't look at it, they are not Danes! Unknown people are enemies!"
Shouting and shouting, this group of messengers simply yelled "enemy attack". Just one phrase made a large number of onlookers who did not know the truth realize that something was wrong.
Evacuations began, followed by panic.
They began to rush towards an important refuge, which was a city built by Danish businessmen - Voskaburg.
The name of this settlement is Voskas, which originally means "winding hills". The name is appropriate, because the inland of the port's curved bay is a large number of hills less than thirty meters above sea level. This place is not suitable for farming, but it is perfect as a fishing port.
The essence of Voskaburg is that Danish merchants spent money to build a square wooden wall to protect their mansion and rights. During this period, there were many longhouses and storage cellars, and the wood used was the most common local pine tree. As for the huge red pine trees that had been cut down long ago, the forts they built were mostly tree trunks as thick as a man's thigh. The wooden walls were about 200 meters long and wide, and the enclosed area was indeed not small.
Wooden walls can help Danish merchants and the mercenaries they support avoid strong winds, and are also the first level of protection for wealth.
Of course it also has military significance. After all, the Danes are not monolithic. Danish merchants doing business far away from the Jutland Peninsula must maintain friendly relations with the local Gotlanders and Götalanders while also protecting themselves.
In Voskas, the Danes have become de facto allies with local fishermen. Since this group of fishermen just spontaneously gathered into a village, they did not come from the same clan or tribe, so they had no leader.
If anyone is the leader, the five Danish families living here are the leaders, but there is still no supreme leader.
The population of this place exceeds two thousand, and any number of men who can bear arms reaches a thousand.
The Melalen Army was completely unaware of this situation, and they were still advancing like a rainbow pig.
Not everyone heeded the Danes' warning to evacuate. Many people simply rushed to the beach, took their family and their families with them and fled southward in rowing boats. There were not a few people who did this, and at least thirty ships fled after hearing the news.
If you are unprepared and encounter a strong enemy attack, perhaps the best way is to retreat tactically. The Danish businessmen's first thought was to escape, but they still had a large amount of sheepskins, cowhide, and ready-made cheese to transport. Dandan took the silver coin box with him and left the other goods behind, leaving only his own house. After being burned by the enemy, a lifetime of hard work was wiped out in an instant.
In order to protect their property, they risked their lives!
However, they also have a beautiful fantasy, that is, the rushing people are not the real enemy, but a huge fleet from Gotland. After all, there are often giant monsters churning on the sea (actually they are sperm whales splashing in the water). The strange fleet Not surprising at first sight.
Not all settled port residents want to flee. How can most people abandon the cattle, sheep and houses they depend on for a living?
look! The brave Danish warriors stood up! They were generally covered in chain mail, and even their heads were covered in mail. Their shields are ornately painted, and their battle axes are powerful.
There are as many as 200 pure Danes from the Jutland Peninsula. In fact, these guys are forced to go out to live as mercenaries because of the large population and lack of land in their hometown. In fact, these mercenaries have left many species for local fishermen. As for whether the children can find their real father, that is not what the mercenaries should care about.
The Voskas people sold their agricultural products, handicrafts, and textiles to Danish merchants nearby, and the merchants sold them back to Jutland, and then shipped back ironware, linen threads, etc. from Jutland. This formed a trade line.
The residents of Port Voskas themselves have commercial transactions with Borgholm and Kalmar in the south. Although they also have to beware of sneak attacks by these so-called "old friends", now that their hometown is facing disaster, they have gone south. It is very necessary to evacuate and deliver the alarm.
The Danish mercenaries are the core of the combat power of the Port of Voskas. All the male fishermen who are not running and can handle weapons are also clustered around the Danes, but the weapons and equipment are really bad. The Voskas generally wear linen and animal skins, and some hardened cowhide armor is high-end goods. Their most equipped equipment is short spears, harpoons and axes. Of course, almost everyone has a round shield.
They were equipped with some bows, but with their own bow-making technology, the performance of short wooden bows was terrible. If the enemy was wearing mail armor, the bone arrow clusters would really get stuck in the gaps.
They didn't have much time to prepare. In a hurry, 700 people took up arms, and this was basically all the troops that could be assembled in the current situation.
Of course, if they recruit boys between the ages of twelve and fifteen as warriors, their strength can barely increase by another hundred, but no one believes that children can become masters in fighting.
The women and all the old and weak, with their limited softness, led a few cows and sheep, and slowly moved into Voskaburg.
The Danish mercenaries led almost all the combat forces and began to move towards the port in a chaotic manner.
They haven't even reached the seaside yet, the landing of the Mellaren people has already begun!
Swedish longboats washed up on the beach one after another, even squeezing a large number of local fishing boats. Only by personally witnessing the battlefield did the Merlaren warriors truly realize that this was the enemy's "huge settlement." Many people with limited knowledge directly identified this as the legendary Kalma, which was the final target of the attack.
Karl took the lead as a sword and shield hand: "Brothers! Charge with me!"
The Merlaren warriors felt that they were about to make a fortune, and their attack was not formation-oriented.
However, the enemy armed forces that suddenly appeared from behind the longhouse group suppressed the attack momentum of the Malaren army.
Karl made a prompt decision. He opened his arms to restrain his men, and then shouted: "Shield wall! Line up! Get ready to fight!"
The "black warriors" in the Mellaren army were well trained. Their inked black shields were stacked on top of each other, coupled with their black armor and black battle axes. Now it was the enemy's turn to be surprised.
Olegin also played a key role at the critical moment. He was at the back end of the landing field and left to arrange the formation of the Mälaren peasant soldiers.
The situation became very delicate in an instant. Both sides were obviously hostile, but even if they encountered each other, they would not dare to act rashly.
At this moment, the five Russian ships were parked very close to the coast. This distance was definitely within the firepower range of longbows and steel-arm crossbows, and it was also within the range of the torsion slingshots.
Otto stared at the cooled battlefield. The setting sun in the west was like blood. The two armies were facing each other on the beach?
"Rurik, it looks like a battle could break out at any time. Intervene?"
"At least we are prepared." Rurik said cautiously, holding on to the railing.
Jevlo, who was pulling the firing rope at this moment, hurriedly expressed his position: "In my opinion, it is more important to support the friendly forces. Now that the slingshot is loaded with cast iron bullets, it is easier for this thing to hit the enemy's shield wall than to penetrate the enemy ship."
"Don't act rashly!" Rurik ordered, "This is the war of the Melalen people, don't steal that Karl's limelight."
In fact, Rurik was fully confident of delivering a fierce blow to the unknown enemy. Maybe the first round of six projectiles would poke six holes in the enemy's line, followed by another batch of arrow feathers falling from the sky. He didn't believe that the enemy had ever seen such a blow, and his morale might suddenly collapse.
If he did this, Karl would be furious!
Rurik has seen that Karl has obviously taken over the command from his father, so when will they start the war?
