The appearance of the cavalry was miraculous, and the tactics they used made Rurik feel even more bizarre.
The Vikings had no time to bury their dead brothers. They hurriedly arranged their weapons, even took arrows and spears from the enemy's corpses, and hurriedly retreated to the position set up by Rurik.
All the family leaders gathered in Rurik in front of the battle. They were supposed to be brave and fearless warriors, but they showed unprecedented fear in the battle just now.
To this day, many of them are still shaking.
Someone said nervously: "It is said that the enemy has two thousand people. If they are all on horseback, we will eventually be killed by them all if we stay on the beach."
When Biyongni heard such discouraging words, he raised his foot and knocked him down. He held his sword and cursed: "Shut up! Coward!"
The family leader who had just emerged from the forest, after looking around intelligently, cautiously reported what he had seen.
After a detailed description, everyone's originally fearful hearts relaxed.
Biyongni was really strong and determined just now. To be honest, he was also very worried that a large number of cavalry would emerge from the forest and trample everyone to death.
"I'm just telling you! If the enemy is really brave, our previous two victories cannot be explained." He took a deep breath and teased Rurik again: "Brother, you should have made the right decision. Come back Brother said, there is a large group of weak people among the enemy."
At this moment, Rurik was calm and collected. He looked up at everyone and formally arranged his formation.
Shout some pep talk? After the formation is set up and the enemy appears, just let a few loud ones shout in front of the formation.
Rurik assigned the respective tasks to the family leaders present. He was doubtful about the execution of orders by this group of fishermen and herdsmen who had not been trained by him. Arranging complicated tasks for them was a suicide.
The task arrangement here is simple, and the Vikings' formation arrangement is even simpler.
Although Rurik didn't believe that the enemy would be stupid enough to attack directly, he still planned to follow the decisive battle that took place on Gotland a year ago. This group was almost entirely composed of Balmok Vikings. The army will arrange its own arrays that have been used and proven to be effective.
Biyongni and Geiger's three hundred men, carrying a large number of spears (both captured items and pure sharpened sticks), formed a dense array as the central army.
The remaining Balmoqs were divided into two, with three hundred men on each side and arranged in the most traditional shield wall.
All the archers, especially the Shetlanders who were ordered to hold bows, stayed behind in the center and fired their arrows under orders.
Yevlo led a dozen people, holding steel-armed crossbows, among the Chinese army's spear array, waiting for opportunities to fire accurately when the enemy attacked.
All the heavy weapons, the torsion slingshot stood on a high platform built of earth and wood, and the trebuchet was mixed with the archers.
Once upon a time, the way the Balmoks fought was for their brothers to rush forward in a swarm. When encountering a strong enemy, they would form a shield wall and press forward. Now any soldier is aware of the huge difference in this battle. Rurik of Ross is rewriting everyone's concept of battle formations.
Biyongni ran back from the trebuchet: "Everything is ready. Your weapons can kill many attacking enemies."
"No!" Rurik, who was standing in front of the formation, slightly extended his right hand.
"What? Are you worried about those weapons? We are at sea..."
Rurik raised his chin and signaled: "This battlefield is a bit cramped. I guess the enemy will rush up like crazy. Our weapons may not have many opportunities to shoot. The war is still a close-quarters battle to win. Fighting, you are the best." Strong."
Biyongni subconsciously touched his bald head with blue tattoos, smiled and stuck out his tongue, just like the behavior of a tiger and a wolf: "That would be great. I am a terrifying wolf and will eat them alive."
Rurik still had a calm face and glanced slightly to the east: "Look, the sun has come out. Odin is watching us."
Biyongni turned his head, his face bathed in the golden light of the morning.
He turned his head again: "Great, God will witness our victory. So, where is the enemy?"
"Already here."
"Coming? I didn't see anything."
"Right in the woods, a large enemy force has arrived. I feel their presence."
Rurik faced the forest with a smile on his face. He was confident of victory. The only problem was how much the army he commanded had suffered. Forget it, these people are not Ross people, they are just Ross allies. Their loss of some elite warriors is equivalent to strengthening Ross's influence.
Of course, Rurik is not so sinister that he wants to use this battle to injure the Balmoks.
Everything was just as Rurik said, the missing cavalry appeared again.
The cavalry were still as proud as when they appeared, and the spears were still tied with beautiful orange ribbons. The Vikings all noticed that there were riders on horseback among the cavalry, and many of them were holding orange and white flags.
"The enemy's riders have all appeared, and their commander may be about to appear." Rurik muttered casually.
"I brought a crossbow and shot him." Biyongni looked eager to try.
"You? Aren't you afraid that this is not honorable?"
"Bah! Killing the enemy is an honor. God only cares about the result and doesn't care about my process."
Rurik shrugged. He did agree with Biyoni's reasoning. But is there a high chance of sniping the enemy commander? Their commander should be the king, and the king should be hidden in the shadows, guarded by many personal guards.
"Don't be impulsive. Let's see what other moves the enemy makes."
Seeing the cavalry, quite a few Vikings became frightened.
The reappearing cavalry did not launch an attack. Each cavalry stood like a statue. In the gaps between them, a large number of infantrymen with kite shields appeared.
Their shields were also painted with various patterns, and some people obviously used metal to reinforce the wooden shields.
Rurik narrowed his eyes and looked up at Biyongni: "Look, these infantrymen should be considered elite."
"Bah! It's no different from what we encountered before."
"There is a difference."
"What is it?" Biyongni was surprised.
"The new enemies are huge."
"That's it? What did I think it was? It's a good thing they have more people, so we can kill more enemies."
"You go back to the rear first. I will stand at the torsion slingshot, and your people will operate the weapons. I have to direct them to do things." Rurik said casually.
"I will stay here and my crossbow will show its power."
"Okay, be safe. I'm taking Floki and Esbjorn to control the slingshot now." After that, Rurik disappeared into the formation deftly.
The perspective shifts to the Northumbrian Army.
A large number of soldiers came out of the forest, and they faced the early morning war with extremely complicated emotions.
Just when they had just woken up from the dawn killings and resumed their march with mixed emotions, the cavalry team responsible for chasing the attackers actually withdrew.
Captain Aston reported the most realistic battlefield situation to Eynred. Compared with the large number of enemies, many ships floating on the sea, and even the enemy's combat power, which cannot be underestimated, these conditions gave way to the fact that the monastery was burned down.
Aynred was furious, and Bishop Aynred of Bamberg fell into a coma after learning the bad news.
When the bishop was awakened by the young priest, the cleric completely lost his seriousness and reserve. He was supported by others and stood in front of the king and burst into tears: "The barbarians destroyed the monastery and must have killed everyone. The remains of the tabernacle were destroyed." They destroy. If we do not kill these savages, God will no longer protect us in Northumbria."
To be honest, the angry Eynred really wanted to pull aside the bishop who taught him how to do things. Due to his own beliefs, he had to remain stable.
There is nothing to hesitate, a large number of enemies are on the beach, and the enemies are ready to be killed.
Eynred, who was riding a horse, drew his sword and pointed the peak at the end of the road, all without saying a word.
The Northumbrian army appeared in the open at a rather scattered pace, first with cavalry, then with infantry.
The cavalry losses reported by Captain Aston suddenly made Eynred have huge concerns about continuing to use cavalry.
The king had to deduce what would happen next when it came to the cavalry issue. He could of course force the cavalry to charge and squeeze out their role, but the result was that even if a tactical victory was achieved, the huge losses of the cavalry troops would not be recovered in a short period of time. Without this powerful force, the kingdom's cavalry advantage would also be lost.
Maybe the sea barbarians just came to rob gold and silver, but Mercia and Wessex both had aspirations to unify Britain.
Bring on the infantry! Let the infantry kill them without leaving a single piece of armor behind!
Northumbria's most elite infantry began to line up. They tried to stand as neatly as possible. Those warriors with the brightest and most valiant clothes were at the front, and the warriors behind them could see their crotches just from their appearance. .
A large group of barefoot farmers dressed in wet linen clothes, carrying a variety of farm tools. They have not been trained to kill enemies at all, but they do know basic self-protection methods. Rather than participating in the fight, this group of people is equivalent to standing at the back during a group fight to increase the momentum.
Unlike those regular soldiers on the front line, this group of farmers can only fight with the wind and will consider fleeing once the war goes unfavorably.
King Eynred knew this very well.
After all, he had led troops to fight before succeeding as king, and he still had fresh memories of the peasant troops of the opposing nobles and the poor combat effectiveness of the peasants.
It was precisely because of this experience that he could judge by intuition alone whether the enemy arrayed in front was a strong one.
At least it is a powerful enemy on the same level as the Mercian army.
The cavalry captain Aston rode his horse and approached the king: "Your Majesty, let me lead the men and charge again. We can weaken their strength."
"No, we have lost more than ten horses, you can't attack rashly."
Aston lowered his head and wisely rode back.
Unexpectedly, the king immediately stopped him and said, "Come back. Send someone to ask the enemy what he wants."
"Ah! Your Majesty, do we need to negotiate with these barbarians? Can they understand our language?"
"Go quickly! I at least want to know what their purpose is."
"As commanded."
Aston hurried to assign men. At the same time, the king's eyes sometimes looked at the incomplete image of the destroyed monastery, sometimes at the large number of enemy ships near the shore. In particular, he saw a big ship and felt like he was dreaming.
The Northumbrian cavalry was behind the infantry, and the Vikings who were preparing to fight were now in high spirits. They had no fear of the infantry.
But Rurik couldn't help but become worried, and hurriedly asked Geiger's men to withdraw from the central army. All one hundred spearmen were pulled to the right wing of the team to form a line, so as to prevent the enemy cavalry from rushing out of the woods on the right wing.
The Vikings' central army seems to be getting weaker? No! Those Shetland archers who control bows are not professional hunters at all. Their task is only to project and carry out probability shooting. These nearly a hundred people can quickly control shields and become sword and shield bearers.
If it were not for the restraint of orders, some family leaders would have planned to lead their own people away from the front to fight with the enemy.
Biyongni shouted some inspiring words of "I love" in front of the formation, and everyone followed him and shouted loudly.
From the perspective of the Northumbrian army, what was standing opposite was clearly a group of lions!
Do you want to fight these tough guys? The monastery that was obviously a holy place has now disappeared! Turned into some blackened wreckage.
The conscripted peasants, with their lowly status, could only gaze at the greatness of Lindisfarne Abbey from afar. But now they stood here and saw the tragedy of the Holy Land being ravaged. The farmers showed no anger or sadness, and many simply peed their pants out of fear. Some people want to escape, but unfortunately this is not possible. As a result of escaping, he would be hanged if caught, and his wife and children would become eternal slaves.
A cavalry squad leader, escorted by two followers, rode his horse slowly and approached the Viking line.
Jevro was extremely vigilant and half-kneeling with his crossbow in hand, as were all his men.
"Listen to my orders! Prepare to shoot! Aim!"
Because the enemy took action, the noisy team fell silent.
Rurik really heard what Yevro said. He stood on a high place and shouted: "Stop! Don't be impulsive! They may be messengers."
However, the order to shoot had been given.
Including Biyongni himself, twelve crossbow arrows flew out. These arrows, designed to attack heavy armored targets, hit the right enemies one after another.
They shot the men first and the horses, and all three horses were hit by arrows and fell down.
One of the three cavalrymen was so crushed by the horses that he could not move. The other two got up and fled towards Benzhen in shock.
The sudden situation shocked Eynred to poke his head, and he almost bit off the root in his rage.
Captain Aston was slightly thankful that one of his squad leaders had evacuated safely.
He asked the king: "Your Majesty, the enemy has some strange weapons. We rush forward with all our strength and break their formation. We will win this battle."
"Shut up! Aston." Eynred roared like a lion, "Forget your charge plan."
"But, I think we can attack them from the flank." Aston said, pointing to the Vikings' right wing, pointing out that there was a gap there suitable for a cavalry charge (in essence, Rurik had already taken precautions).
No matter how reliable Aston's words were, Eynred refused.
"Prepare the infantry to attack! Let the priests go to the front of the battle to bless the infantry." The king issued a direct order, and with the sound of the bugle, the entire Northumbrian army took action.
At the same time, the Vikings, including Rurik, felt that the enemy's general attack had begun. If you don't charge yourself, let the enemy charge? The Balmok Vikings didn't think it was inappropriate to fight like this.
Suddenly, Rurik watched helplessly as a group of men in black robes actually walked out of the formation, and unexpectedly...
"Haha? Sprinkle holy water on them to bless them? What a strange move. Are you really using this to increase morale? Or is it just for comfort?" Rurik laughed awkwardly, but he stopped laughing quickly.
The Vikings only felt that the enemy was ridiculous, but the enemy still refused to attack, and it was really boring to stand here.
We must think of a way to urge them to attack!
