With both swords in their scabbards, Arik ran all the way holding his injured left arm. He was thinking about revenge, but the pain on his arm was getting worse.
In this dangerous reconnaissance, more than half of the brothers died in the battle. The surviving ones staggered towards the upper reaches of the river with their crossbows. They didn't know how long they had to walk before some tired warriors sat down.
Seeing this, Arik also sat down on the withered grass.
He took off his linen clothes and examined his wounds that were no longer bleeding for the time being under the soft light of the setting sun.
The arrow cluster did not pierce the flesh, but opened a large wound. Fortunately, the wound was not serious.
"Damn it! You're a coward!"
Some tired warriors panted heavily and said regretfully, "We killed many of them, and now the people in Gotland are fighting with us. If we had known this, we should have brought more people."
"This is the Duke's order." Arik bared his teeth and covered the wound. "I want to take five hundred brothers to fight, but the Duke does not agree. My brother just wants to have a decisive battle. Hey, there must be someone at that time. Enough people, I won’t end up here now. Forget it, let’s keep walking.”
Arik stood up and ordered his men to continue on their way, even though the dusk was getting darker now.
The sun sets and the whole world quickly becomes colder.
The stars in the sky were bright, which did not arouse the interest of the retreating people at all.
They fantasized about finding the main force quickly, and this fantasy seemed to come true.
A large number of flames appeared not far away, and there must be stars on the ground.
The soldiers who realized the reason laughed and walked away quickly.
"Hey! Stop being so excited and come back here." Arik yelled.
The soldiers turned back one after another, puzzled.
"Stand in line and I'll take you back. Listen, if you run around, the brothers on guard will treat you as sneak attack enemies."
When Arik said this, the soldiers calmed down. Everyone is aware of the methods of the sentry brothers. They are sentry with crossbows. If unusual shadows appear in the darkness, of course they must shoot first.
However, an army of three thousand people gathered to camp, and the large number of bonfires lit were really terrifying. Even if the Gotlanders discovered them, would they dare to attack with all their strength?
Rurik remained cautious and arranged sentries to ambush around the camp as usual to check for abnormalities around him. Moreover, the vehicle-mounted torsion slingshots and ropes in the camp have not yet been charged, but the large crossbow arrows have always been placed in the slide in case of any eventuality.
Arik did not hide in any way. He led the team in a relatively neat line and shouted the slogan "We are Russians" to deliberately attract the attention of the sentry.
Some black shadows emerged from the grass. Their appearance was so sudden that Aric was so startled that he threw out his sword from his right arm.
Arik yelled directly, "It's really scary, I almost regarded you as enemies."
"Is it the heroic Arik? You are finally back!" The sentry was overjoyed, but when he saw not many people came back, he couldn't help but become suspicious. "No one can find any trace of you. Have you encountered a powerful enemy in the west?"
"Don't mention it. I want to see my brother and the Duke immediately. I have something important to say."
"Come with me quickly."
The bonfire gave everyone warmth, and the corpses were gradually burned into black charcoal.
No one cares about the dirty and worried carcasses of cattle and sheep, and the Russian army is still busy eating the dried meat they carry.
It's boring to have to eat only dry food for teeth grinding. What's worse is that although there are wheat fields around, the oats are not mature, so everyone who wants to eat wheat cakes and buy porridge can only do it in a hurry.
Otto sat with his legs crossed, happily drank half the bottle of spirits from the glass bottle, and then threw it to his old friend Harold Johnson, urging him to take a sip.
Spirits are currently extremely limited, and it is impossible to craft them on a large scale or even further distill them when they are imported from Xinmai.
This battle was a decisive battle among the tribes, so Otto simply ordered him to bring all the spirits in stock, but in fact it was just the next five bottles.
Arik returned with his men, and there was a great commotion in the camp.
The Ross warriors, young and old, noticed the horrific black blood stains on the returning brothers and their tired faces. They must have experienced a bloody battle.
Soon, Arik returned with an angry and disdainful face, suddenly sat down in front of the bonfire, and faced Otto and Rurik.
"A war?" Otto asked calmly.
"Yes, fight."
"Dead?"
"Almost forty dead."
Hearing this, Otto's mind buzzed. He stood up suddenly, slapped his old face hard, and shouted angrily: "What on earth have you done? Do you really think you can do it? Lead fifty brothers to fight the enemy? You are really crazy, look at the good things you have done , you killed all the people in this village, not even sparing the cattle and sheep, so I could only look at those stinking cattle and sheep, gnawing on this damn salted fish."
After scolding, the anger accumulated by Otto due to what he saw along the way was instantly released. He sat down again and suddenly asked calmly: "What happened?"
Arik slowly took off his bloody clothes, exposing his upper body. The wound on his left arm was really glaring.
"Your injury... doesn't seem to be a problem." Otto's attitude seemed very calm, but Ryrik was shocked when he saw the wound.
"Brother! You..."
Rurik leaned over and took a few glances, which was heart-wrenching. The blood stopped flowing, and it looked like the wound was indeed on the surface.
Arik admitted that he led his troops to cut down the cattle and sheep in the village, and even touched Visby.
"My injury is certainly not in the way. We saw Visby, a settlement larger than our own, larger than that of the Malaren. By day we saw the open bay they have, and everywhere It's a house, and it seems that there are many ships on the coast. Visby is definitely very rich. There are many of them, and we also exposed ourselves. We encountered a sneak attack by the Gotland army, and the brothers suffered a lot. If it weren't for the cover of the brothers, I already dead."
"Is that so?" Rurik no longer wanted to comfort or complain, as these were meaningless.
Otto's eyes were as firm as an eagle, "It seems that our opponent is already preparing for the decisive battle we hope for. Arik."
"exist."
"A real man always has many wounds on his body. How about it, does it affect your swing of the sword?"
"It doesn't matter, I can continue fighting after a night's rest."
"Then, the person who attacked you..."
"I was about to say this!" Arik was suddenly angry. He slapped his legs with both hands and cracked the wound, causing blood to flow out.
"No, your wound still needs to be treated." Rurik called a maid casually, "Sisia, call Rumia. Remember to bring needle and thread."
Arik looked at the wound, but he didn't care at all. "They had a leader with about five hundred people or more. We were attacked by a sneak attack in the village in front. I killed a hundred of them and lost many brothers. The leader called me a coward, which is really shameful! "
"So, do you think you are a coward?" Otto asked calmly.
"I..." Arik raised his head, not knowing what to say for a moment.
Otto nodded and said nothing more.
Maybe the cousin has acquiesced? absurd!
Rurik leaned directly against his cousin's hairy body, "Only a wild bull will keep charging to death. You are my hero, you are as smart as fishing, fishing out an enemy's army. They also Are you chasing me?"
Aric felt much better after hearing this: "Maybe. They may continue to chase me, or rest where they are. It's too late, and they can't go too far."
"Then." Rurik thought for a while, "They will never let their bodies be exposed in the wilderness, and burning them will take a lot of time. They will not go far."
The quiet Otto suddenly spoke, "This is just a setback for you. It is God's punishment for your random destruction. Since there is an enemy of hundreds of people, you should lead an army to destroy them. You can rest tomorrow. …”
"I'll go with him." Rurik looked at his father and brother, "To deal with a small enemy force, a thousand of us are enough."
"You still need to be careful about this."
"Dad, please don't worry. I will..." Rurik had an idea. He still didn't know what kind of equipment Arik encountered.
Soon, Rurik understood. The enemies have some archers, and most of them are ordinary sword and shield wielders.
It can be seen that the Gotland Army as a whole is also configured in this way, and their long-range power is really weak.
Rurik's eyes were on fire, and he laughed confidently, "Arik, take the brothers of the First Banner Corps for revenge. I will organize another group of archers and a group of Novgorod soldiers. These The spearmen to the east were trained by you, now try their strength."
Arik, who was dissatisfied with himself, became excited, his heart was beating wildly, and the open wound was bleeding more.
"I'm going to reorganize the soldiers right now, and we'll leave when it gets dark. And you." Rurik patted his cousin on the shoulder, "Rumia will heal your injuries soon."
"Healing? Is it necessary?"
"Of course, and your wound needs to be stitched up."
Arik was shocked, "Sewing it like a leather jacket?"
"Yes, but you won't scream because of it. Listen, there is dirt in your wound. The enemy cannot kill you. These dirt can kill you. Rumia will make sure you are fine."
Soon, Rumia came with her priests.
The job of the military priests was firstly to perform sacrifices to calm people's hearts, and secondly, they also played the role of doctors.
The priests of Rus knew that some blades of grass could help heal trauma, but whether a person could survive or not depended on God's will.
Priests have long believed that illness is a divine punishment, and that a warrior's fever after being injured is a test. Rumia herself had no way of knowing how effective the herbs were.
Basically, if you get a fever after being injured, you can only resign yourself to fate.
She was ordered to examine Arik's wound and learned that it was caused by an enemy's broad-bladed arrow cluster. The wound wasn't deep, and it didn't damage any bones, but the length was a bit scary.
She was shocked when she heard Rurik's order. She actually had to use the blade to remove part of the internal meat and see the bright red muscles inside.
Arik bit a wooden stick. He thought of his brothers who died to protect him, and he couldn't scream in pain now.
Rumia bravely debrided him, and for the first time, Otto and Harold Zuosen, who were present, stretched their heads and stared at the whole process.
The bloody knife was thrown away, and Rumia used a steel needle strung with linen thread to sew Arik's wound into a centipede. She brought precious steel arrays and threads with her, which she used to sew up the accidentally damaged clothes of Rurik and other nobles, but she unexpectedly sewed up Arik's skin. This was the first time in her life that she had done such a thing, and she had never heard of such a thing when she was a deer herder and ice nomad.
Otto took the knife and put it on the fire.
The brothers have their own experience in dealing with trauma, which is to weld the wound with hot iron.
Carlotta originally came with Rumia, and she also wanted to help, but when she saw Otto's actions, the girl covered her knees and was scared away.
"The knife is ready." Alto motioned to Rumia, "It's easier to brand it after it's sewn."
"No." Rurik flatly refused. Instead, he got a bottle of liquor from his father, bit off the cork with his teeth, and used the wine to clean the skin around Arik's wound.
"What are you doing with my baby?!" Otto subconsciously wanted to pull the bottle back from his son's arms, but Rurik easily dodged it.
Half the bottle of spirits was gone in this way.
"In this way, any invisible dirt, or Loki's curse, will be removed by Jiuda."
Arik closed his eyes and endured it for a while, feeling much better. The blood is still slowly seeping out, but it is no longer serious. With Rumia covering the herbs and wrapping it in a piece of white linen, Aric's arm was finally treated. It's a pity that after all this trouble, he doesn't want to think about going into battle in person for the time being.
When Arik moved his arms, the second most painful thing was that his arms were too inflexible!
"Rurik, you've made me like this. I can't carry the second sword."
"You still want to fight in person?" Rurik shook his head beside the bonfire. "If you die in the battle, it will be a huge loss for us. I don't want to lose you. You must obey my orders. I am the one responsible for this decisive battle." Wisdom. You see, if I go into battle to kill the enemy, I will be easily killed by my opponent. This is seeking death. If I do this now, I will also lose Odin's blessing. As a commander, I am not afraid of ten thousand opponents. Arik, You are responsible for the entire flag corps.”
Arik pursed his lips and didn't want to say anything else. He suddenly lay down and complained of exhaustion.
Rurik sent out mobilization for battle, but as expected, the plan was halved when the cannon was fired. He hoped to have a decisive battle with the enemy and decide the outcome in one battle, but the enemy did not suddenly mobilize in full force.
Could it be that the enemy is not specifically pursuing a decisive battle, but is sending hundreds of people off one by one in waves?
If this is the case, the Gotland Army's tactics of fueling the enemy deserved to fail, while the Ross Army has always objectively concentrated its superior forces on local areas to fight with more and less, so it is difficult not to win.
The scouts Arik selected were all from the First Flag Team, and the brothers who came back alive told everyone what they had experienced. For a time, the crowd was excited, and the soldiers were eager for revenge. It happened that Rurik responded to their fury and issued a war mobilization order.
Ross's army will march as a whole tomorrow, but some troops will have to fight at outposts.
There are 500 warriors in the First Standard of the Warriors, 150 elite mercenaries of the Duke, 100 Kovin archers in the Archer Standard, and even 300 warriors in the Slavic Standard.
Rurik personally led this team of one thousand men, and his subordinates also included the generals Arik, Jevlo, Mechasta and Medvet.
These are really the most elite of Ross's three thousand troops, especially the soldiers of the First Flag Team who can fight ten each, and Kewen's archer skills are amazing.
Of course, the First Standard Corps alone carried fifty steel-armed crossbows, as well as brisk wooden crossbows. The elite mercenaries all have a variety of crossbows, not to mention the Kewen people.
The army and the Gotland army were in close combat? Why? Very necessary?
Rurik is not obsessed with warrior culture. As long as he can win the battle, he can use all kinds of strange tricks that are useful. What is the honor of a warrior? Victory is the greatest honor.
The thousand-man troops were equipped with nearly 400 bows and crossbows of various types. Even so, their close combat skills were still superb.
The soldiers of the First Banner Corps put on their chainmail armor one after another, not to mention the elite mercenaries, even the Kovins and Novgorodians, who were supplemented by the capture of Baisha Port. Got a small hand axe.
In the early morning, Rumia and a group of priests stood in front of a bonfire, chanting prayers and watching the soldiers rush to the west.
The Rus, Covins and Slavs all naturally worship fire, because it symbolizes power in the cultures of all ethnic groups. Slavic warriors are even more excited in this regard. They believe in Peron, the Slavic god who is equivalent to Odin, and whose incarnations are thunder, lightning and fire.
Medvet was deeply moved. He felt that this Rumia had also become a priestess of the Novgorod people, and she was more noble than the priests in her hometown.
Rumia was indeed noble. The antlered helmet she inherited was inlaid with more gems. She herself was already dressed gorgeously, with a very huge silver ornament hanging on her chest.
The army marched in the opposite direction along the route that Arik had taken last night, and their fighting spirit was high. The Russians want to avenge their fallen brothers, and the Slavic warriors and the Kovin warriors hope to prove their strength through this battle and get trophies on the battlefield.
The Duke of Ross is merciful and fair. Those who fight for Ross will rob them on the battlefield. Only some things that the Duke himself stipulated must be turned in after being snatched. If they are no longer within the regulations, they are his own.
The people of Kovin and Novgorod all have this power!
In order to fulfill their obligation to submit to Ross, these two groups, who were once very strong, went out in large numbers. After fighting until now, they are essentially covered in iron. These iron tools would bring prosperity to life after the war.
The flagbearers of the Warriors' standard bearers carried the flag, Rurik's mercenaries carried the Duke of Rus' flag, and the Slavic standard bearers not only carried the flag, but also had blue and white cloth tassels on their spears.
The mighty army walked on the grass beside the stream, and their ranks were uniform.
They set out at dawn and when the sun was high, a few single scouts returned one after another. They reported that they found a lot of smoke and dust in the small forest ahead, and saw many gray-black figures with gold heads.
Rurik called all the subordinate commanders over: "It's the enemy. Let the battle begin now."
"It seems it's them. They actually dare to chase me." Arik's left arm was hung by a hemp rope around his neck. He knew that he could only fight with a sword in his right hand, but he was at a huge disadvantage, so he still volunteered, "Let me lead the flag team. Brothers. You can defeat them easily."
Rurik shook his head, "Do you think they will run away when they see our troops?"
"Them?" Arik smiled, "Bah, they dared to advance without thinking of retreating. From my point of view, those guys are still chasing me, they are looking for death."
"Well, let's blow the horn and the brothers will roar. We'll wake them up and fight them!"
"Huh? A fair and honorable battle? Okay!" Arik patted his brother's head with his right hand, "I thought you were going to make a sneak attack."
"Sneak attack? That's okay. However, I want them to organize their team and then let our army's arrows kill them all. Brother, no one of us will be injured."
"You." Arik laughed stupidly, and then said, "You are so cruel."
"Not necessarily." Rurik ordered Arik again, "Choose three hundred elite men and go to the back of the forest. I'm afraid that the enemy will escape, so you go out and chop the coward to death. Remember, try to catch the enemy's arms. The boss."
"Humiliate him after you catch him? That's what I want. I want to slowly cut off that person's tongue so that his foul mouth can no longer speak."
Looking at his cousin's face, Rurik felt that if this guy caught the leader, he would have to slowly torture him to death. Cutting off his tongue was nothing. He might as well become a blood eagle to vent his anger.
"Then catch him and interrogate him, and we will find out what's going on in Visby. You can do whatever you want. Kill our soldiers, and that leader must die!"
