This is not like an army, but more like an armed refugee group. There are a lot of them, and they are passing through the valleys between the mounds, or directly climbing over the hills.
They left their homes with mixed emotions, taking their weapons with them and leaving most of their belongings behind.
How much property did the average Gotlander have? All their cattle, sheep, livestock, and fish reserves were placed in the port area. A small number of soldiers and a group of old people stayed in Visby to guard against sudden landing attacks by Ross ships offshore.
The fighting forces of the entire Gotland Island were almost completely mobilized. The wealthy businessmen left a very small number of mercenaries and wives at home, and also put on chain armor and led their children to pick up weapons to fight.
Six thousand people of all kinds formed this huge army, and the driving force that drove everyone crazy to fight was the anger and hatred towards the Russians.
But they don't count as a real army!
The group of capable mercenaries raised by Gotland King Hakon and his fellow big businessmen can be said to be the main force of this team.
The armed team composed of strong men among the islanders is the second echelon of strength.
The third echelon consists of a large number of women, young people, and the elderly and infirm.
Only the most capable Danish mercenaries wore chain mail on a large scale. At least these people had a set of cowhide armor.
As for other warriors, not only do they lack any form of armor, it would be great to have an unpatched leather or cloth coat.
Many people do not have iron or copper helmets, their hair is let down or tied up, and their upper body muscles and tattoos are exposed. They fit their historical image as "a bunch of bare-backed savages jumping from the ship."
If this army suddenly attacks the Frankish Kingdom, it will definitely cause huge damage. It is also possible to gnaw away a large area from the empire's territory and establish a kingdom.
However, the Ross army they faced was completely inconsistent with the appearance of a Viking army.
Haken rushed to the battlefield with vigor, saying that before the war began, all the leaders of the Gotland Army should gather together to study the tactics for the battle. However, Haken did not do this. They did have a meaningless argument in the council chamber. In addition, the biggest conclusion they reached was that they decided to let the islanders charge first, while the capable mercenaries were behind to hold the battle. strength.
What could Haken say? In fact, he is not opposed to this method of deliberately preserving the strength of merchants, but can those armed islanders really defeat the Russians? They must rely on their numerical advantage to wear down the enemy's energy. When the capable Danish mercenaries rush forward again, the Russians will be defeated.
Businessmen all think this set of tricks is very practical, and they all use coercion to cover up their contempt for ordinary people's lives. After all, if the Russians hadn't moved too quickly and given them ten more days to prepare, each family would have packed up all their money and goods, and everyone would have moved directly south to the Danish territory and the important southern market Hedeby, which would have been safe. As for What does the life and death of the people of Gotland have to do with them?
In any case, people from all walks of life who are interested in spying are now grasshoppers on the same rope. Whether they are businessmen in gorgeous clothes, capable warriors with reflective mail, or men with bare white upper bodies, they have arrived at the bridge one after another. Village battlefield.
Those who arrived first stopped one after another, and invariably took a breath when they saw the wall of enemies in the distance.
Those young islanders who had never seen the world and thought it was not difficult to kill a few Rus on the battlefield had to revise their understanding.
No one dared to act rashly, they stayed. As more and more people gathered, it finally formed a huge thing.
The perspective turns to the Russians.
The deployment of each flag team has been completed.
Two warrior flag corps composed of natives of the Ross tribe were divided on the two wings. The Melalen flag team split its personnel to strengthen the warrior flag team.
The Slavic banners composed of spear-wielding Novgorodians became the central army, followed by the Duke's mercenary troops holding down the formation and protecting the core of the command.
The shooters' flag team was divided into two groups. The person who controlled the torsion slingshot stood on the earth wall, and the rest of the shooters were temporarily spread out in front of the formation.
The reserves of the Russian army, all the baggage vehicles, and the reindeer pulling the carts were all in the camp, and their figures were covered by the earthen walls. The soldiers in the reserve team have already put on their silver scale breastplates, and each soldier's arms and calves are also protected by iron sheets. The special iron helmet also has a roughly made iron face protector, leaving only the eyes. Come down a gap. They don't need any shields, and their only weapons are a steel sword and a steel axe. They are the berserkers of the Ross Army. They will suddenly attack from behind after receiving direct orders from the Duke.
There was a group of poor warriors, all of them stood in front of the Ross army formation, trembling in front of the behemoth in the distance.
Nearly three hundred surrendered men from White Sands Harbor. Look at this formation. They did not die on the battlefield defending White Sands Harbor. They will now die in this decisive battle with the Visby people. We are all living on the same island, so we have to fight each other with weapons? They don't have any subjective intentions, but it's a pity that they can't help themselves.
Most of them would die in the battle, but Rurik gave them a little hope of living.
"You must fight fiercely with the Visby army to prove your surrender. When you hear the trumpet, you must run back immediately. If you return without hearing the trumpet, you will be killed as an enemy."
At least, they found a very slim hope in despair, but now they saw the huge army from Visby, how could they not be frightened?
Rurik and Otto are currently standing on the earth wall, looking at the enemy's army. The two did not know the actual strength of the enemy, but they were aware that the enemy was superior in numbers. Little did they know that the total number of soldiers from both sides on the battlefield in Qiao Village was close to 10,000.
Otto's deep eyes couldn't hide the trembling in his eyes. He felt a little afraid because there were too many enemy troops. He glanced at his son standing upright from the corner of his eye, and saw that the boy was standing like a pine tree.
Otto's big hand covered his son's shoulder: "There will be a war soon, you..."
"Are you worried about me? Or are you worried about our army being frustrated?"
"No! I'm not worried, it's just... I have never seen so many enemies in my life. Is this the power of the Gotlanders? We underestimated their strength."
To be honest, Rurik was a little worried, but when he looked at the ready torsion slingshot from the corner of his eye and the large number of reserve arrows piled on the earth wall, his worries disappeared immediately.
"Dad, you also underestimated our own strength! And our army, only when the battle starts, they will realize how powerful they are!"
Hearing this made him angry, Otto squeezed his son's shoulders hard: "Next, shall we attack first?"
"Absolutely. Anyway, I have made an agreement with everyone. If the enemy sends someone to negotiate now, then he will behead the envoy. If they don't make any move, I will let the guys from Baisha Port attack first. I want to see what the enemy is doing. strength."
Otto chuckled, "That's fine. Let's take a look at the high priest and the others first! You guys are so thoughtful, you actually let your Rumia walk around the front chanting prayers."
Rurik's eyes were burning, and his eyes were fixed on the girls in plain clothes: "This way everyone will feel that Odin is with us. Rumia can't fight. As for those girls, after the war starts, they will all pull the bow for me."
The little priest walked in front of the army with the holy elephant in his arms. While the big priest recited scriptures, he kept sprinkling holy water on the soldiers' armor with birch branches.
Rurik didn’t know when this pre-battle ritual, which was used until the 19th century, began. He wanted to imitate it, hoping to inspire the momentum of front-line soldiers through the priest’s prayer before battle.
The fact is that the Russian frontline troops were very uniformly dressed, and the overall "wall" tended to be blue and white, which gave their opponents a great mental shock.
On the other hand, the Gotland Army was dressed in a variety of colors. Six thousand people simply gathered in a group, without any formation at all. The Gotland warriors on the front line were at least equipped with shields. The only tactic they knew was to form a shield wall. They slowly approached the enemy's line and then tried their best to maintain their own line and stab and slash wildly until they finally won.
That's what fighting is all they know. If the shield wall line collapses, everyone will swarm in and fight on their own.
The biggest difference between a battle and a group fight is probably that the result of the battle is that one party surrenders and becomes a slave or dies in battle.
The only thing that can keep the morale of Gotland's army now is its own huge force.
Ten wealthy businessmen gathered in front of the battle. Haken saw that everyone's faces were as iron as steel, and he knew that the businessmen were not optimistic about the prospect of a duel, even if the Gotland army had the upper hand.
"Sure enough, as the legend says, there are at least three thousand Russians!"
"What should we do next? Let the islanders rush up and fight with them?"
"Yes! Let them charge, and our people will hold down the formation from behind. We force them to fight, and kill those who dare to retreat directly."
…
The merchants expressed their opinions in order to teach Haken how to do things. Of course, as the king, Haken himself lacked independent opinions. To be fair, it is an unprecedented event that the entire Nordic world can command 6,000 people to participate in the decisive battle at one go!
Haken's mind was very confused. When it came to the battlefield, his previous rage and arrogance, as well as his determination to sacrifice his heirs and smash the statue of Frey, all gave way to rational prudence.
"How about sending someone to talk to them first? If they are willing to retreat...maybe they are afraid when they see our large numbers?"
"Absurd!" Harald of the Hrolev family really wanted to give Haken a slap in the face, so he yelled: "At this juncture, why do you suddenly imagine that the Russians will withdraw? Are your eldest and youngest sons? Did you die in vain? You smashed the statue of Frey and worshiped Odin. If there is no war today, you! You have blasphemed one god, and you cannot blaspheme the second. If you dare to blaspheme Odin, the people will kill you. "
"Even so...forget it, you all go back and prepare!"
Haken's attitude was very firm. He put on a bad face and obviously didn't want to talk more with his colleagues.
The gorgeously dressed merchants returned to the rear of the army. Now, thousands of Gotland warriors focused their eyes on their king.
Haken turned around, opened his arms and roared. He successfully mobilized the morale of the people, and all the male and female warriors were shouting.
This roar directly stimulated the Ross army, and now the Ross army spontaneously responded with a fierce war cry.
Taking advantage of this momentum, Haken sent five bold warriors to approach the Rus' army.
At first glance, these guys were talking nonsense. Arik, who was in front of the formation, shook his neck and walked over with more than a dozen soldiers leaving the formation.
Just as the other party was about to speak, Arik instructed his men to take action with his eyes.
The people sent out were suddenly killed by the Russians! The Russians will not accept any conditions at all! There is no thought at all except for a decisive battle!
Arik went too far! He cut off the head of the slain man, took off his helmet, and held the head high by the hair of the dead man.
This was not over yet. All his men lifted up their long linen clothes in front of the Gotland army, exposed their crotches and yelled vulgar swear words to taunt the enemy.
"These damn Russians!" Haken's face was trembling with anger. He also heard the yelling of his own people!
Arik's taunt had a good effect, and the Gotland army was already furious.
Taking advantage of the anger of his men, Haken's sword peak pointed directly at the Ross army formation: "Warriors of Gotland! Attack!"
On the front line of the Gotland army, there was the crackling sound of shields stacked everywhere.
The soldiers on the front line can be said to be the most elite soldiers among the islanders. First of all, they are all strong men, but their overall equipment is somewhat unsatisfactory.
The Gotland Army spontaneously built three shield walls, forming a human wall of more than 300 meters that was comparable to the Russians. Behind it, the Gotland Army could not guarantee the order of the army. Those armed men of all kinds were coerced by their own people and walked forward with weapons.
The Gotland army began to move, and upon seeing this, Aric threw the enemy's head directly.
"Brothers, let's retreat! Let's see what Rurik's plan is."
After Arik returned to his flag team, he immediately restrained his impatient men to stay calm.
Just in front of the Ross military formation, Rurik's little warriors, the two hundred lying boys and girls, picked up their wooden crossbows and got ready to shoot. In their first actual battle, they couldn't help but tremble. Fortunately, they were ordered to fire only once, and then immediately retreated along the gaps in the military formation. Finally, they turned around in the so-called safe zone of the earth wall and started non-stop firepower output.
The soldiers of the Archer Flag Team were waiting for the order to shoot arrows, but the first round of the Russian attack came from the traitors in White Sands Port.
The order to attack has been issued!
The men at White Sands Harbor didn't care about their formation. They held their axes high and charged towards the attacking Gotland army.
Soon, the fighting begins!
The Baisha Hong Kong people collided with the Gotlanders' shield wall and immediately became one.
Swords were poking and axes were slashing, and the long-handled axes and short spears of the Gotlanders assisted the front line to cause greater damage.
The White Sands Harbor Army and the Gotland Army suffered casualties from each other. As the fierce battle continued, Haken saw the situation like this. He was in the formation and immediately ordered his troops to surround the enemy and kill them all.
The encirclement of the Gotland Army began to form. The pessimistic men of White Sands Harbor wished to hear the Russians' withdrawal horn, but they could only hear the clash of swords and axes and the roar of soldiers.
At this moment, Rurik was still watching with his father with a dull face.
The soldiers of the Ross Army saw that because of the efforts of the traitors in White Sands Port, the Gotland Army did not continue to advance for the time being, although the enemy's front-line troops were already within the coverage of Ross's arrows.
Otto held his breath and concentrated, seeing that the battle situation suddenly made a significant progress, he asked specifically: "Now the men in Baisha Port have been killed by the enemy, and their front line has been broken. You need the time!"
"Yes! Here we are!"
Rurik stamped his foot vigorously and gave the command to the torsion slingshot shooter to launch!
With an order, the heavy javelins launched by ten slingshots flew into the sky at an angle of 45° with the violent whirring of their spiral feathers, and then fell sharply.
The people in the fierce battle encountered this sudden blow, their chests were pierced, and their whole bodies were pinned to the ground.
The damage was done regardless of friend or foe, and of course Rurik did not regard the traitors as enemies. As for blowing the horn to make the traitors retreat, Rurik had deceived them from the beginning. What's more, even if they have changed their minds now, even if they blow the horn, the traitors in Baisha Port will not be able to break out.
Ten javelins pierced the enemy's line. Since the enemies stood very densely, they caused a lot of damage. Two people were even nailed to the ground because of the same javelin.
The launch of the torsion slingshot was a signal, and the Russian Army's Marksman Flag Team launched a full-scale attack!
All long-range weapons were launched, and soon the first wave of arrows consisting of nearly 500 arrows appeared in the sky, hitting the Gotland army like hail and causing heavy casualties.
Many Gotland warriors died before coming into contact with the Ross army!
Some of the targets targeted by the arrows were young soldiers and female soldiers of the Gotland Army. Once they fell, they sadly had no one to save them. To make matters worse, the morale of the Gotland army suddenly went into turmoil, because the five hundred arrows, large and small, were all made of iron arrow clusters. Whether they hit shields, mail armor or civilian clothes, the result was that They are all similar! As many as three hundred people were actually hit by arrows, and most of them lost the ability to fight on the spot and fell to the ground.
The Gotland army began to panic, and those who fell on the ground wailed and clutched their wounds before being trampled by friendly forces.
But will their entire army collapse just because they endured a hail of arrows?
The Russians are still shooting arrows, but the new arrows are no longer dense.
"This is your secret weapon? Rurik! Arik the Butcher! The Russians!" Haken almost gritted his teeth and cursed secretly, then threw away the shield with two iron arrows embedded in it.
Haken roared in the chaos: "Brothers! Fight with them! Charge us!"
Haken first led his mercenary troops with raven-patterned shields to charge. The soldiers of the Gotland army who were frightened by the rain of arrows recovered one after another. They all saw their king being held high while being beaten. He raised his raven shield and faced the arrow attack, then adjusted his formation and continued to advance.
At the same time, the crossbowmen on the front line of the Ross military formation had gradually withdrawn to the rear of the military formation. The children were already climbing the earth wall and were about to continue shooting arrows. As for the Torsion Slingshot and Covin Archers, they didn't stop shooting.
Of course, archery alone cannot contain or defeat the enemy's charge. What breaks the opponent's offensive is the sword and ax fight.
"Shield wall! Prepare to stab!" Arik roared.
"They are here, prepare to kill the enemy!" Haro Zuosen ordered calmly.
Medvit ordered in the ancient Slavic language: "Don't be afraid. Spear formation, kill these Varyags for me!"
As the shields of both sides collided, a full-scale fight began.
