Some sneaky people were always observing in secret. They were spies sent by the merchants. Haken noticed their presence when he went to redeem people. He had no intention of caring about these guys, and the spies were afraid of being exposed.
The spies were always hiding. They saw the king's failure from a distance in shock and fear, as well as the ferocity and cunning of the Russians.
The Russians withdrew, leaving behind the corpses of Gotlandic warriors and a large number of arrows stuck in their corpses and shields.
The eldest son is dead. Even if the eldest son is still alive, he is now a disabled person with his hands broken. Such a person has no right to inherit power. Haken put the body of his eldest son aside, enduring the grief and anger in his heart, and squatted down to inspect the confiscated Russian arrows.
"Russians, have you ever used iron arrow clusters? This arrow cluster..."
There is no doubt that these are all iron arrow clusters, but why is their color different from half of the iron?
The collected arrow clusters were all very long. They were like chisels that could easily penetrate the iron rings of chain mail and persecute the rings very simply. After receiving such an impact, the arrow cluster was still sharp and straight, with no sign of bending.
The short and thick crossbow arrows were meaningless to the Gotlanders. Only its arrow clusters could be disassembled and made into long arrows.
As for those lightweight long arrows, they can be used immediately after being captured.
The Gotlanders were defeated again, and the prospects for a future decisive battle were bleaker.
Haken directed his mercenaries to dig holes and bury the bodies on the spot. The mercenaries were frightened. Thinking of the future decisive battle in which they had to fight such a barbaric enemy and most likely die in battle, they began to complain and finally forced Haken paid more and reluctantly started digging holes.
Only the body of the eldest son, Siegfast, will be brought back and he will be buried in the family cemetery in Haken. Of course, the burial was secret, and Haken didn't want others to see his embarrassment.
At least for Siegfast, his misery came to an abrupt end, and he no longer had to worry about the horrors of the future.
It takes time to bury a large number of bodies, and Haken has been keeping watch under the hills while dealing with the mess.
The spies fled back to Visby with terrible news. They claimed that they had seen terrible things, and they spread the news with embarrassment, as if King Hakon had been killed.
Is the news reliable?
The merchants believed very much in what the spies they sent out saw and heard, because these were worthy of belief.
In addition to Heken's family, the heads of eleven large merchant families gathered in the meeting hall, and all the village leaders came in droves, just asking for the latest news.
"Haken, who proclaimed himself king, is dead! Now there is no king. We should be free to consider our own affairs! I want to leave with my family, and I advise you to leave quickly."
"Leave? That's okay, but I still have a lot of money and a lot of backlog of goods, which can't be taken away by just a few ships."
"Are you stupid?! Those Russians are coming to kill, and no one can resist them. This is a life-or-death moment, and we will die if we take one step at night. How about throwing down some belongings in exchange for life?"
"That won't work either. Without money and goods, who are we? How are we different from those fleeing pirates? I would rather stay and fight the Russians."
"But, do we really have the courage to fight decisively now? The Russians haven't fought yet, and we are already fighting among ourselves. Friends, maybe we should elect a new king." The person who said this was a member of the Khrolev family. Harald.
As soon as this statement came out, a fellow businessman mocked on the spot: "Forget it! You are a tailor who weaves woolen clothes. You obviously want your brothers to elect you as king. And then what? Do you dominate?"
Some people opened their mouths and taunted: "You claim to be king? That's fine. We don't have to fight them. You give your daughter Aslaqi to the leader of Ross. Maybe they can get your fairy and get some money." You can leave. In this way, we will praise you as a good person who brings peace."
Harald of Hrolev, who in a fit of rage drew his defensive dagger.
The other merchants were unmoved. When the atmosphere was tense, a peacemaker stood up and said, "Brothers, have you forgotten the oath we made at the altar? We have an alliance of merchants, and brothers should not be at war with each other."
This is true, because Haken broke the rules by calling the queen, which is equivalent to saying that the alliance between the merchants has been broken.
The spies came back to report the news, and the most noble men on Gotland began to quarrel. When night gradually fell, they were still discussing what to do in the future.
Just as the sun was setting, Visby was immersed in lively cheers.
That was the cry of the people, because it was said that the dead King Hakon was back with a group of warriors! At least the king is not dead, maybe the situation is not too bad.
How ridiculous it was for Haken to hear about his own death!
His big foot directly kicked down the wooden door of the chamber, and then he cursed: "Which villain cursed me to death?! We fell into the despicable trap of the Russians. Our army fought desperately and finally defeated them. Now, The villains among you actually say that I died in battle!”
"The Russians were beaten away by you?!" Harald of Khrolev was overjoyed, "This is really the best news in a while."
Many businessmen cast disdainful glances. In their hearts, they secretly hoped that Haken would die in battle, and they also despised Harald's words. Isn't it Harald who wants Haken to die the most?
In any case, the Rus did leave on their own. Although very guilty, Haken openly declared his victory over this result.
He knew very well that his old friends, the village leaders who had fled, and the people in the port of Clintheim in the south all needed news of victory.
"You see, the Russians are not invulnerable. I killed...many enemies, and they were all buried. And!" Haken wanted to continue the play, so he recruited a few mercenaries, holding bundles of arrows. Yajin entered the meeting room. "You see, these are captured Russian arrows. They are indeed a strong enemy, and the arrow clusters they use are of excellent iron. They have an advantage because of their better weapons, but we warriors from Gotland There are a lot of them, and as long as we gather all the warriors, we can successfully defeat them."
The businessmen saw something else in the eyes of the passers-by.
The king is indeed making optimistic remarks, but his eyes are full of grief, anger and grievance, and of course the desire for revenge.
A businessman asked directly: "You go and redeem your son, where is the Sigfast man?"
This was like a sharp knife piercing Haken's heart. He rolled his eyes at the speaker and said angrily: "Killed in battle! He died like a warrior."
"But he is obviously a big businessman you carefully trained. What does he have to do with a warrior?"
"Shut up!" Haken's rage came too suddenly. He suddenly pulled out his sword and threw it out wildly, almost hitting the businessman who was speaking.
Harken was breathing heavily, his eyes bloodshot.
The businessman was so frightened that he trembled all over. After recovering, he yelled: "Are you going to kill me?" The businessman pulled out his dagger and continued to yell: "You want to be a tyrant? Look, who is really here?" Are you afraid of you? We are businessmen, not docile sheep. We can become soldiers and kill you immediately."
Haken was obviously insane, and the merchants present drew their swords in self-defense.
Harald of Hrolev raised his sword and said bluntly: "Haken, you want to attack us? Then there is no need for the Rus or Melalens to attack. If we kill each other, they will occupy Visby without losing a single person." Everyone’s wealth was easily taken away by them.”
"He's right!" A businessman on the spot made a firm statement: "Haken, brothers support you in the hope that you will defeat the enemy. I didn't expect that your sword was pointed at your brother. I won't accompany you anymore! I want to take my People evacuate.”
"How dare you!" Haken yelled, never expecting that more businessmen would object.
"Why don't we dare? Do you want to kill me and rob my family's wealth? Then let's go to war! My warriors versus your warriors, or do you and I just duel here? Can you beat so many people?"
Haken's eyes swayed from side to side, knowing his absolute disadvantage. "Damn it, I don't want things to turn out like this, but we have to fight." He put away his sword and admitted his gaffe, but some businessmen had lost all hope for the future.
Three merchants insisted on withdrawing!
Haken painstakingly authoritatively said: "I learned their demands from the Russians. They indeed chose war. This is part of the huge war of the villains in the north! Don't think that you three families will be safe if you flee now. Melalen in the north is still There are fleets from other tribes that are already returning, so you will inevitably evacuate southward and meet them! You will all die!"
"That's better than sitting here and waiting to die. Listen, no one wants to die in vain."
Look at the determination of these three families, there is nothing Haken can do. Fortunately, there are still many merchant families who are willing to stay, especially the village leaders who have fled. They simply do not have the capital to flee across the sea with their villages in an instant, so they can only continue to support Haken, who has "won the battle" and continue to be king.
The three families decided to leave the council chamber, but the people who stayed behind all changed their faces. Everyone chanted Haken's name and vowed to fight the Rus, as if they had never questioned Haken.
Surrounded by this enthusiasm, it was as if a powerful inexplicable force was poured into Haken's decaying body. He seemed to be twenty years younger, as if he had received the divine power blessed by Odin.
He drew his sword again, tore off the amber necklace he had carved into human form, and chopped it off.
"You...what are you doing? This is the guardian elf of your luck!" Harald of Hrolev asked.
"That's enough! I don't need this businessman's guardian spirit anymore. It's meaningless! Remember, I am a warrior now. Belief in Frey is a thing of the past. Now I am a warrior of Odin!"
What's this? A businessman suddenly fancied himself a warrior.
Then people realized that Haken was not lying, but actually taking crazy action!
When the body was buried, it seemed that Haken's business soul was also buried with it, and it was meaningless to continue to worship Frey. In order to win, Haken decided to risk everything. In order to win the decisive battle, he did whatever it took.
That night, a bloody incident suddenly took place at the high altar in Visby.
Haken's elite mercenaries poured into the altar in the huge long room. They openly resumed slashing the bronze statue representing Frey with their axes. The priests stopped him and were immediately killed. The altar no longer needs to be dedicated to Frey, it will become the place of the priest Odin, and Odin needs the blood of the sacrifice to promise victory to the sacrificer.
In the decisive battle, human sacrifice is necessary!
When Haken's second son learns the "bad news" of his eldest brother's death, his pain is just an act. He thought his chance had come, but was shocked to find that his father wanted to sacrifice him to Odin!
Although he sacrifices blood to Odin as a warrior, his soul after death visits the Hall of Valor "with a letter of introduction."
Haken's second son cried and yelled, but his mouth was tied with a rope, his hands and feet were tied, and he was finally killed in the altar.
When the surviving priests witnessed this illegal sacrifice, they all chose to shut up, and finally smeared the blood of the sacrifice on their faces whitened with chalk mud. The priests kept their faces numb throughout the whole process without saying a word, but secretly cursed Haken for going crazy. Even if this is a human sacrifice to Odin, the sacrifice must be voluntary. It would be better now...
Besides, this altar was never a place to worship Odin! You can also worship Odin. People should go to the top of the mound in the south. There is a small temple dedicated to Odin in the pine forest.
King Hakon has turned Frey's altar into an altar to Odin. He finally made a cut on his left hand with his own hands. Blood dripped into the altar. He looked up to the sky and sighed: "Odin! Please accept me. The sacrifice of God! Give us Gotlanders strength and defeat the invading Rus! Give us safety!"
The matter is not over yet, or Haken has indeed gone crazy!
He himself announced in public that he would become a warrior and no longer a businessman, which can be interpreted as a cathartic expression. But when he openly sent troops to destroy the statue of God Frey, it was equivalent to cutting off his past identity, and there was no way back for him.
His wife and concubines were crying bitterly, but Haken still spent all his wealth overnight and rewarded a lot of silver coins to the warriors who were willing to fight. Especially those Danish mercenaries, a group of masters who wanted money at the expense of their lives. They tore up the agreement with their former sponsors and gathered in front of Haken's mansion to collect the money.
There are more than a thousand mercenaries from Denmark in Visby! Most of the mercenaries declared their loyalty to Harken.
Many mercenaries believed that Hakon used his own children as sacrifices, and he also used his own blood as a sacrifice, which would of course be appreciated by Odin. Hakon must have been blessed by Odin, not to mention that this generous good man is trying his best to spread his wealth? In this way, the brothers get the money first, and there is nothing to fear in the future decisive battle. Odin will watch this decisive battle. Regardless of whether he dies in battle or not, the outcome for everyone is the same - they will meet again in the Hall of Valor after death.
Among the three merchants who decided to evacuate, the big businessman was surprised to find that most of his mercenaries had fled!
They moved their belongings to the dock overnight, transferring items of silver coins, copper coins, and jewelry to cargo ships. A group of long ships also became temporary cargo ships.
But what is very absurd is that a large number of fishermen believe that the risk-taking Hakon has indeed been blessed by Odin. The grand and crazy sacrifice has been approved by the god, and victory must belong to the Gotlanders.
The majority of fishermen, who have been tortured by the Russian "sea wolves" for several years, have a variety of weapons and want to fight to the death with the Russians. Because the merchants can escape, what about them? At least as autumn approaches, the fishermen's escape has only one result - freezing to death in the field.
The fishermen, farmers, and shepherds who could not escape, along with their wives, young sons and daughters, all responded to Haken's call and became warriors, even though many of them did not even have decent weapons or even shields.
Their confidence lies in the strength of their numbers and the illusory so-called support of gods.
The merchants who decided to evacuate were unable to recruit rowers and guards, so a large amount of goods could not be protected and had to be abandoned on the spot. The merchants decided to evacuate to the Jutland Peninsula of Denmark, and then went all the way south to settle in Heideby Market in Schlei Bay, relying on ready-made gold and silver jewelry as start-up capital to make a comeback.
Early the next morning, three merchant families assembled a fleet of four cargo ships and fifteen longships, and began to slowly leave the port of Visby carrying the goods.
No one paid attention to the departure of these cowards and traitors, and no one went to sea today! The entire Visby is actively preparing for war, because everyone knows that the Russians' declaration of war is tomorrow, the 19th of August in the Julian calendar. Today is the last day before the decisive battle. Except for the fleeing businessmen, no one else has the right to escape. Everyone who can go to the battlefield is sharpening swords and axes. Many people optimistically estimate that Visby will not have a problem in gathering an army of 5,000 to 6,000 men.
However, as soon as the departing fleet entered the outer waters of Visby Port, it met another huge fleet!
Look at those ships coming from the north!
They at least had the bulk of cargo ships, and the huge blue X-shaped stripes on the strangely raised triangular sails proved their identity as Russian ships.
A fat man stood on the bow of the boat. He was dressed gorgeously and did not look like a warrior.
This is Gould, the great businessman of Ross. He brought many of his sons to participate in this battle. His fleet, with the Avora as its flagship, led as many as twenty unloaded armed cargo ships, carrying a small group of elderly warriors and female warriors, and began to carry out the task of blockading the port ordered by the Duke of Ross. .
"Boss, there must be enemies ahead. Look at how slow they look, they are just a group of businessmen." The sailor on the deck shouted loudly.
Gould knew that he had taken advantage of tactics and strength. He couldn't laugh because it was his first time to lead troops in a war.
"Brothers, you all know how to fight. Now charge for me!"
Sailors who had experienced naval battles certainly knew how to maneuver the Rus' unique ships to fight unique battles.
The Ross fleet also came with the help of the northwest wind. Compared with the fugitives' ships, the Ross army's very wide triangular sails brought the ships extremely strong momentum.
A total of twenty-one large ships simply formed a wall and rushed towards the slow enemy.
This is a very classical collision tactic, and was originally a common tactic used by Greek and Roman rowing boats in the classical era. Because their bows are all equipped with bulbous bows and a wave-riding bow design. The bulbous bow is a piece of hardwood and is also wrapped in copper. Collision tactics are a classical magic weapon in naval warfare. In the early days of the ironclad era, any naval gun used to deal with an ironclad was just firing iron bombs to dig tiny holes. As a result, the navies of various countries restored the ancient ramming tactics.
It was Rurik who taught the sailors such maritime tactics. In fact, we cannot say that he is too smart. It can only be said that Rurik knew some history in this area and thought of ramming tactics when building and modifying ships.
Twenty-one ships formed a wall from which the Gotlanders could not escape!
The bulbous bow of Ross's ship is extremely hard, and the Avora went crazy to install iron reinforcements (which objectively also stabilized the overall center of gravity).
The Ross ships are getting closer and closer, and the enemy has nowhere to escape!
The first thing to attack was the torsion slingshot on the bow deck. The cast iron projectiles first gave the enemy a stunning blow, and then the collision happened!
The modified cargo ships have become extremely ferocious, and their strings are high enough that the passengers of the longship cannot climb with bare hands, thus avoiding the possibility of the enemy jumping gangs.
The bulbous bow broke the ribs of the longship, and the ship immediately broke into two pieces and sank instantly.
The Avora was the most ferocious. She was the God of War on the sea. The iron bulbous bow directly dug a big hole into the enemy's cargo ship. The ship immediately began to take in water crazily and sank at a speed visible to the naked eye. What a shame! A large amount of gold, silver and jewelry sank into the sea with the ship!
If Gould knew that his enemy was like this, of course he would not attack so bravely, because that would be a lot of money.
The tactic of just one collision achieved a decisive success. All the fleeing Gotland merchants were wiped out, and only the Russian ships were left floating on the sea!
The Ross fleet was unscathed, and the warriors of different ages and genders began to hold wooden crossbows and short wooden bows, shoot inferior arrows, and strike mercilessly at the people who fell into the water.
This is the Duke's order! The Ross fleet was to take no prisoners, but to sink all the enemies who tried to escape, kill all those who fell overboard, and bring terror to the people of Visby.
The Russians won a great victory, and the fleeing merchants no longer had to quarrel with Haken. They realized that Haken's warning was so gentle when they suffered a terrorist attack. Unfortunately, it was too late to regret.
No one survived, and there was a pile of sawdust floating on the sea. Soon the sea returned to calm...
In the afternoon, a huge fleet suddenly appeared off the coast of Visby, and the residents of Visby were shocked to see those terrifying flags!
That's the flag of the Rus', with interlaced blue stripes in the white. Aren't the Rus' to the east of the hill? Why did they land from the port?
Haken was shocked and led his troops into the harbor bay. He saw that the huge Russian ships were helpless. He did not dare to attack rashly, but gradually discovered that the Russians did not want to land on the beach.
He suddenly knew the dirty intentions of the Russians: "Damn Rurik, you are so vicious! You actually want to block my port. Are you still afraid that I will refuse a decisive battle! Arrogant boy, I will be on the battlefield tomorrow The admiral will chop off your head."
Of course, now the problem is complicated. Haken must arrange for a small force to be stationed to prevent the Russians from landing in Visby when it is empty. This led to a reduction in his strength for the decisive battle. He had no better way but to force everyone who could afford weapons, including boys and girls as young as ten, to go to the battlefield. At least this group of children, who are definitely not capable of fighting, have to carry food, drinking water and serve as logistics for the soldiers.
Except for those babies and the old people who have lost all their teeth, everyone else must contribute to the decisive battle. look! Haken even armed his concubines and slave girls.
As for Harald of the Hrolev family, he had no choice but to give a shield and a sword to his beautiful sixteen-year-old daughter Aslaki: "At least, rely on these to protect yourself." . Never fight unless absolutely necessary."
But Aslaqi had her own idea: "Maybe I can conquer the leader of the Rus with my beauty, and finally assassinate him. I will definitely die to end this disaster."
Harald was not moved at all: "No! Your man must be a hero, and you must live in peace."
"Then give me as a gift to the heroes of Denmark. If we fail, only the Danish army can save us."
"What? Are you talking about that stupid tyrant Haken? He deserves it too! Compared to this reckless Danish man, Haken is gentle."
"If only his army can completely defeat the Russians and the enemies in the north, I am willing to..." Aslaqi's attitude was very tough.
Harald didn't want to discuss it with his daughter anymore, but he admired his daughter's courage under her weak appearance. He ordered the female guards who were protecting his daughter to be loyal to Aslaki no matter what happened to them. If the Gotland army was defeated, they would escort her to escape from the battlefield and escape into the woods of the island to wait for the opportunity to take revenge. 1603468144
