No one hopes that this ambitious expedition will fall short just after facing the first tough nut. No tribe can afford to lose this person, especially the Melalen people. This victory is related to the stability of honor and power.
Since they had never fought a siege war, the Swedish army did not even have siege weapons. After all, in this era, even wooden fortresses were rare in the Nordic world.
However, faced with this dilemma, Olegin thought in confusion about what he learned from the Russian Arik about the Russian army's attack on the Gotland stronghold many years ago. The situation at that time was very similar to what he was facing now. Woolen cloth? !
The wooden wall of the extremely rare stone fortress on Gotland was broken open by a big tree stump. Olegin had arranged for his son Karl to lead people to demolish the enemy's house and pull out the strongest oak beams. Bundle them together and use them as a battering ram to break the damn door open. However, this takes time!
All the coalition forces suffered losses in this battle, and the Russians were still spectators. This is really inappropriate!
No, Olegin sent Benedik, who had been a messenger (now a peasant soldier), to convey the king's order: the Russians must join the war.
Benedick had always had a good impression of the Russians, and because he had seen the true martial prowess of the Russians, he tearfully told Otto about the tragedy of his and his brothers' failed attacks and the mass deaths in battle.
"What? I thought you captured their fortress. The battle has continued until now, and there is still no gap in their wall?" Otto on the ship was really undecided.
Rurik became the final decision-maker. He asked Bernardik to stabilize his mood and speak calmly, and then he became aware of the problem.
"I understand, let's join the war now."
"Fighting?" Otto asked cautiously, "They left a pile of corpses under the wall. Could it be that we..."
Rurik immediately made his intentions clear and said confidently: "As long as we destroy their wooden doors or walls, we will win!"
"What do you want?" Otto asked.
"Use those." Rurik pointed at the torsion slingshot. "They are easy to remove from the platform, allowing the soldiers to carry them into the battlefield. We use cast iron bullets to smash through and destroy their walls!"
"There's...something wrong with this." Otto's words were a reminder to his son that weren't these weapons agreed to be kept secret?
Rurik didn't know, but now he no longer sticks to the so-called confidentiality: "If we pay huge casualties to capture this fortress, we should not do the subsequent battles. Because we have no more troops to expand the results, just Let’s use our weapons to end this battle as soon as possible.”
No, all six torsion slingshots on the Aurora were unloaded, and the soldiers also brought longbows and wooden crossbows (steel-arm crossbows were not suitable for use) with the intention of landing.
Soon the Rus quickly landed in more longships provided by the Mellarens, and a special team of only one hundred and fifty people gathered.
A group of children like Carlotta, Fisk, Kanuf, and even Terravis, the Corvin man, went to the burning battlefield in person and were infected by the atmosphere of the battlefield. They didn't feel afraid at all.
Otto and Rurik personally led a large-scale army with crossbows, but they always carried bucklers on their backs and swords and battle axes hung on their waists.
Thirty longbowmen from Ironburg, each carrying forty iron-clustered arrows.
Warriors armed with wooden crossbows also had twenty light iron-clustered crossbow arrows each.
The most critical thing is naturally the six-seat torsion slingshot, each of which is carried by four people. It is really a relatively light "heavy equipment", and four people can walk fast when carrying it!
Others brought ammunition, namely three boxes of cast-iron pellets, each cone-shaped pellet weighing half a pound, and each wooden box weighing at least forty pounds. It can be said that in order to end the battle as early as possible, Rurik was willing to take out more than 200 rounds of cast-iron bullets, and then attack one part of the wooden wall with all his strength. Couldn't he still destroy part of the wall?
The coalition forces now only need a gap for soldiers to pass through.
At the moment, the darkness and the wooden walls gave the people trapped in the fortress a sense of incomplete security. Even though the Danish merchants in the city promised to distribute food to ensure that everyone would not starve to death, the biggest problem was that there was not that much stock in the fortress. of fresh water.
The problem of holding on to fresh water in a short period of time is not a problem, because the majority of the residents of Voskas have never seen such a battle in their lives. They only forced the invaders to reduce some of their offensive disadvantages. The fortress was still surrounded by the enemy and took advantage of the chaos. There was no chance of escape, and the enemy must have aimed to burn the entire fortress to the ground.
A few people thought of surrender. They were already discussing among themselves whether they could survive if they surrendered to the invading "hero"?
Just like they had declared Hafgen, the leader of the Danish alliance, as their leader, so that Voskas would not be attacked by the Danes.
Now that it is announced that he has changed his master, can his life continue?
But most people have no such idea at all. Their minds are blank. At the moment, they are completely following the instinct to save their lives. They continue to stay on the wooden wall to prevent enemies from trying to climb and sneak attacks, and to further guard the damaged door. They have no better way to resolve the crisis and can only struggle.
At least the Voskas people still have the capital to hold on, but the attacking side does not.
The unique Russian troops appeared, and the messy friendly forces made way for them with strange eyes.
Soon, Otto led the soldiers to the front battlefield.
Behind the broken wooden door were as many as thirty spear-wielding warriors waiting for work. If any strong man with an ax tried to break down the door, he would be stabbed to death by the spearhead.
The city gates and wooden walls were already full of corpses, and Modsen, the enthusiastic leader of Yermalen, also had to face a dilemma. His attacking force of more than 500 people was killed and injured more than 20 people by stones and wooden blocks falling from the sky. The Hjelmalen army evaded all fronts for a while. He himself lost face, but he was relieved that his loss was not serious.
The attacking troops were separated from the wooden wall by a full fifty meters. After their attack was thwarted, at least a thousand people gathered on the frontal battlefield near the main entrance.
The defenders on the wooden wall listened to the rumbling shouts and shouts, which was the most terrifying threat, forcing people to almost have a mental breakdown.
The smart people realized that the confrontation on the attacking side was not in vain. It was better to be angry on the battlefield. They seemed to be preparing for a more crazy attack.
No, the crowd moved out of the way, and another army came.
However, due to the cover of night, the defenders could not tell that the new guy had brought something strange.
At the forefront of the battlefield stood a large number of Hjärmalen and Onkras people, followed by Uppsala and Mälaren people.
The Russians were only a small force. When they came to the city, Otto shouted decisively: "Just do what Rurik ordered!"
Rurik immediately roared with his changed voice: "Torsion slingshot! Line array! Aim at the wooden wall and shoot immediately! Longbowmen and crossbowmen, shoot the birds on the wooden wall immediately!"
Rurik had made arrangements as early as the march, and the "Russian Arrow Formation" was put into actual combat for the first time.
The deployment of the torsion slingshot takes time. Before that, the crossbowmen give the enemy the first blow.
Even for a girl like Carlotta, she can do it alone by stringing a wooden crossbow in a stepped manner. She put on shrunken leather armor and a heavy bronze helmet. At first glance, she was just an extremely young warrior. Even so, when she held a crossbow, everything was different.
Fisk, Kanuf and others who were about the same age as Carlotta joined the first row of shooters with wooden crossbows modified from short wooden bows.
At this moment, Yevro has become an officer.
"First row! Shoot!"
Following the order, Carlotta, the girl holding the crossbow, fired her light crossbow.
Whether this arrow can kill the enemy is secondary. It has a strong symbolic meaning, that is, the Ostara people have officially taken revenge on the hostile forces. Even if she has no enmity with the residents of Port Voskars, if the locals are not allies, they must surrender to Denmark, and that is the enemy of Ostara.
"Okay! The first platoon retreats and the second platoon fires!"
The second round of ten crossbow arrows flew out instantly.
"Third row, it's your turn."
"Fourth row!"
"Fifth row!"
"Okay! Brothers in the first row, shoot!"
The Russians deployed five rows of crossbowmen. They were all mass-produced oak goods. The only exquisite feature was the bronze-cast crossbow mechanism components. Its strength is not very good, and it can only penetrate the enemy's hardened cowhide armor when fired at close range.
Fortunately, the fighting distance between the two sides was only fifty meters, and the Russians adopted "alternative shooting that could not be stopped." They really could not stop until their reserve of light iron cluster crossbow arrows was used up.
More than twenty enemies have been hit, and they fell to the ground dead or injured.
The Russian army's fire suppression temporarily scared the enemy away from the wooden wall, and the wooden wall was not really a safe place.
Thirty warriors from Ironburg, they are a mixture of Rus and Covins. They hold almost the same height pewter longbows, which are the best bows in the Nordic region of this time and space.
Terravis is young, but Otto, Duke of Ross, is willing to admit that this child can serve as the leader of the Iron Olawa Castle in the future. Now he must show his prestige on the battlefield, and he will command this army.
The only mission of the Ironburg troops was to create chaos through projectiles. They began to launch neat projectiles. Thirty spiral feather arrows with cast iron arrowheads fell from the sky with a strange buzzing sound. No one could see the arrows clearly. They fell from the sky, randomly pierced the cloth of a lucky person, and then smashed into his flesh.
As the "birds" at the top of the city were cleared, Rurik immediately instructed Yevro to change his tactics.
"Crossbowmen! All missiles!"
They still took over the firing in five rows, that is, they immediately retreated to the end of the team after firing, returned to the team after completing the winding of the steps, and fired again when the team moved around and reached the front.
The "Ross Arrow Formation" is like this. The tactics arranged by Rurik are actually not fundamentally different from the tactics of King Gustaf of Sweden. Gustavus was based on his era. All his soldiers were equipped with muskets. Eight rows of fusiliers were arranged in the phalanx and fired alternately. The continuous long-range firepower output forced Shinra's spear phalanx to be difficult to get close to and maintained With a certain distance, the Swedish army can continue to kill the enemy while keeping itself basically unharmed, allowing the Swedish army to steal the show for a period of time.
Although time and space are different, the Russians are also part of the Swedish army that belongs to this time and space.
Rurik paid tribute to Gustav in no sense, not to mention that the name Gustav itself meant something ambiguous, that is, "the Kingdom of Sweden has power over the Götaland Highlands." Therefore, if Olegin fights all the way to Kalmar and then controls the entire Götaland, only then will the name "Gustav" appear.
Rurik chose the most efficient use of the ranged weapons he could have, and it would be nice if these wooden crossbows could also have bayonets.
The ideal is beautiful, but the reality is simply not possible. The crossbowmen need the cover of the sword-shielders and spearmen.
The reason why his eighty pure long-range soldiers are so well-disciplined and can carry out continuous firing in an orderly manner is entirely because of their daily training. After all, most of them are not Ross people, but mercenary warriors mainly from the Melalen tribe. They are the "Guards" loyal to the Duke of Ross. In addition to physical training such as logging, Just carry out various combat training.
No, the archery master Fraser was also among them, but he was carrying a more interesting longbow, with a bronze thumb ring on his thumb, and he was shooting freely.
The continuous arrow strikes scared the people in the wooden castle and fled everywhere. There were also soldiers holding wooden shields who pulled the people who were crying and covering their arrow wounds to a safer area.
Some poor people had been shot dead, and even Danish mercenaries wearing chain mail were still pierced through the gaps in the chain mail and pierced through the heart by the iron cluster arrows from the longbow falling from the sky.
The overall performance of the pewter rod itself is not outstanding, but its unprecedentedly huge draw length makes up for its inherent disadvantages. It is also this new archery experience that makes people want to stop.
The chaos in Voscarburg continued to ferment. The attackers outside the wooden wall were stunned by the actions of their Ross allies, but they could not see the situation inside the wooden castle and could not make blind comments.
The Danish mercenaries and merchants inspected the incoming arrows and saw these strange arrow clusters. They should be made of iron, but they were not ordinary iron in terms of feel.
Yes, these people have never seen gray cast iron in their lives, and some arrow clusters have been broken (it is indeed brittle after all).
Compared to loading and shooting, the layout of the torque slingshot is the most time-consuming.
The Ross soldiers found suitable wooden blocks to set up the torsion slingshots one after another, and spent more than ten minutes tossing around.
As he was immersed in the huge success of the "Russ Arrow Array", Rurik didn't even notice that his killer troops were so slow.
After all, it was their first time to put the torque slingshot into land combat, and after all, all six slingshots were ready.
The most thrilling time has finally arrived.
Yevlo got the message and hurriedly ordered: "Brothers, line up at the rear!"
Otto was not idle either. He ordered the pure Rus warriors to protect the tired crossbowmen with round shields, and then supplied them with the follow-up arrows he helped carry.
A torque slingshot suddenly appeared at the forefront of the battlefield, about fifty meters away from the enemy's wooden wall.
Although a little crazy, the Russians are going to use projectiles to smash through the wall of Voskaburg!
Now, Rurik felt that it was time for him to perform.
He walked to the side where he was going to make a slingshot, pulled out his steel sword and ordered: "Everyone! Aim at the wooden wall and shoot!"
The hemp ropes holding the empty ratchets of each slingshot were yanked hard, and six cast-iron cone-shaped bullets were smashed straight through. The powerful torque gave these half-pound cast-iron bullets great kinetic energy, but the wooden walls of Fort Voscar completely withstood the attack.
Otto, who was watching the battle, felt nervous. This scene also made the eager Russian soldiers shout disappointment. He hurriedly approached his son: "Rurik, it doesn't seem to be working. Maybe we should shoot that door."
"No need! I heard those soldiers say that Karl led people to make a battering ram to break down the door. We won't take his credit."
"However, I see no sign of the wooden wall collapsing."
Rurik still looked at the wall and ordered the soldiers: "Keep up the good work! Keep shooting."
Otto was really puzzled at first, but when Rurik asked, "Can I chop down a towering tree with an axe?" Otto understood everything.
The pine wall, which has been around for some years, has actually hardened quite a bit. However, it was continuously struck like a chisel by the cast iron bullets, and each projectile was causing damage to the wall. The six slingshots began to attack intensively. The Russians had a large reserve of projectiles, and they had enough patience to violently tear down a section of the wooden wall.
It does take some time to break down the wall, and it also takes time to attack the door.
Carl and his warriors finally prepared the battering ram! It was two oak house beams tied with ropes. As many as thirty people held it together and rushed towards the door amidst everyone's crazy roars.
The instant violent impact almost knocked down the door and the wall, but the wooden wall still withstood the most dangerous blow, or in other words, all the walls in an area shared the force of the impact.
Karl was already standing under the wooden wall. Under the protection of more soldiers holding wooden shields, he desperately held the battering ram while everyone shouted slogans and kept hitting the wall. He could feel that every impact was weakening the door, and it was only a matter of time before it was knocked open.
Otto saw the heated scene over there and couldn't help but worry about the actions of his own people. Who can open the gap first?
Just when he was anxious, after firing as many as twenty rounds of projectiles, one hundred and twenty cast iron projectiles finally smashed a wooden wall into powder!
The hemp ropes binding the wooden poles were all broken, and a wall about four meters long collapsed completely, along with the scaffolding behind it.
In an instant, the depressed Russian people became excited. Otto pulled out his sword and vowed to rush in with his brothers as soon as possible and grasp the power of breaking the city head in his hands.
However, just under the dim light, a kind of warriors wearing chainmail suddenly appeared and they blocked the gap.
The sudden arrival of the armored warriors formed a human wall, which frightened Otto into not daring to attack rashly, and also frightened the warriors from other tribes into not daring to attack violently.
If the attackers were red-eyed at first, now they realize that attacking the city is not easy, and they have become cautious.
At the critical moment, Rurik saw that the enemies did not come out and try to fight, but stayed there like fools.
"Brothers, they're looking for death! Slingshot! Shoot 'em!"
Only a fool would delay a fight. The strong Russian warrior turned the winch frantically, and the greased cast iron projectile was immediately placed.
"Hjuta!" Rurik roared loudly.
Six rounds of projectiles flew out, and they were able to smash through ships. This time, they directly smashed through the wooden shields of the Danish mercenaries, then their chain armor, cloth, and finally their bodies. There was even a projectile that directly killed two enemies!
This is not over yet, the archers who have rested long ago are performing again.
At one time, more than fifty arrows flew straight past. Even without the powerful steel-armed crossbow, the current weapons still caused damage to the enemy.
Many Danish mercenaries were hit by arrows, but they were not dead. Their wounds were bleeding, and the severe pain made them retreat.
Just during this moment of hesitation, the torque slingshot fired another round! This time, their morale collapsed.
The excited Otto was waiting for this opportunity. He pointed his sword at the gap: "Brothers! Follow me and charge!"
Unexpectedly, the Hjelmalen and Onkras people who were waiting for work, their soldiers were all lightly armed, and with enough physical strength, they squeezed the Russian army with an unstoppable momentum, and rushed into the wooden wall first with a roar!
It was probably at this moment that Carl's battle against the wall finally succeeded. The door bolts and the wooden bars holding the door were broken, and the door itself collapsed!
Melalen's "black warriors" rushed in frantically, and Karl himself took the lead, giving the panicked gatekeepers a head-on blow.
At this point, despite some twists and turns, two fatal gaps appeared in a mere Voskas wooden fort due to the Swedish army's "violent wall demolition operations", and the rest of the battle was no longer suspense. It seems that the fruits of victory will be taken away by Gasser's friendly forces immediately, causing Otto and Rurik to feel a little unhappy in the rebellion...
