The warriors of Mercia cheered at the top of the city, but the people inside the city were wailing.
Botwulf was very happy. Since he could repel the enemy's first attack, subsequent defenses should be successful.
The captain of the guard endured the pain and ran towards the prince: "Your Highness, we have succeeded."
"Yes, I saw it all. You...you are injured."
The captain of the guard subconsciously covered his right hand, which was tied into a ball with linen, and said timidly: "It doesn't matter." He hurriedly changed the subject: "My secret weapon has been successful. Even if the hot water cannot scald people to death, it can also scald them. If you get injured, you will die in the future.”
Botwulf nodded, "Now count the dead and comfort the injured. Let's do the work."
"As commanded."
Prince Botwulf, with a group of warriors who had experienced the battle, deliberately paraded among the frightened people. The accompanying priests also held golden urns and dipped cypress branches in pure water and sprinkled them on the people around them.
The people spontaneously knelt down. When the prince kept preaching that he led the troops to repel the enemy, smiles finally appeared on the frightened faces.
The battle ended before noon. The Balmoq army's hasty attack was unable to break through the city wall. After a chaotic battle, they temporarily retreated. After some inspection, they did not suffer much losses.
Even the losses in Mercia were not much. More than fifty people died in battle due to various reasons, and the Balmoq army was almost the same.
This was the first setback since landing in Britain, and the retreating army returned to the riverside camp to sit down and rest.
Isn’t it failure without success? Magnut was so angry that he did not complain about his men, nor did he complain about the hundreds of Russian troops who did not directly participate in the battle.
He pointed at the city wall in the military tent and yelled: "Damn wall, hateful enemy. They are as hard as iron ingots!"
Biyongni also followed the words: "We made a miscalculation. This is the most difficult enemy our army has ever encountered. They used a secret weapon and some brothers were scalded. I'm worried that if they use hot oil next time, they will be burned." Too much trouble."
"What should we do?" Magnut gritted his teeth and asked around again: "Where is Rurik?"
"He's checking on our wounded."
"You, invite him here quickly. Damn it, I should have listened to his opinion earlier! I...I am so old and confused!"
Rurik was indeed checking the injuries of the wounded, and saw a few unlucky guys whose skin had been burned off. In addition to being visually shocking, he also felt sorry for them. Because such injuries are really fatal. In the current era, large-area burns will really lead to death from infection.
He could only give the injured a few words of encouragement and then left.
The injuries of the other wounded were uneven. Most of them were injured by arrows. After dragging their bodies hit by arrows back to the camp, their companions forcibly pulled out the barbed arrow clusters, causing blood everywhere.
There were as many as forty corpses pulled back. Almost all of them were crushed to death by stones, and a few died from stray arrows.
The number of injured was even greater, as many as seventy people. Those who were seriously injured will definitely die within a short period of time, while the condition of the rest of the injured cannot be said to be too bad.
If there are no tools to kill bacteria, most of the wounded will still die from wound infection. However, Rurik brought a batch of yellow-white sulfur soap this time. It has a pungent smell and is highly alkaline. It was originally used by soldiers to wash their clothes and hair, and to prepare some soapy water to apply to wounds. At least it can have an effect. .
There will be a group of wounded people who are safe and sound, and a group of lightly wounded people who can fight here with just a little bandage. However, the Balmoks experienced a setback in the morning, and at least a hundred of them were unable to fight.
Rurik was called back to the military tent by his father-in-law. He was worried that his allies would complain that his Russian army was watching a show. Unexpectedly, the old guy Magnut kept blaming himself.
"Don't blame yourself yet." Rurik said with a calm face and said, "I checked and found that our coalition suffered 110 casualties in this battle. This is not a very serious loss, but the strength of our army Still frustrated.”
"There are so many casualties?" Magnut was shocked, and deeply blamed himself: "I thought I would win with a brave attack. As you said, Odin gave our army a revelation, and God advised us not to be impulsive. I was the one who was impulsive. Yes, it killed them."
A self-proclaimed old man, who early in the morning thought he was invincible, had brought upon himself a reckless sinner at noon.
Rurik had no intention of doing anything to comfort him, and the old Magnute was in no need of being coaxed.
He then looked at the heads of the Balmok families present, and they all were not in a good mood.
"Friends, you all have a stern face. Do you really think that the city wall is indestructible?"
"You! Have a plan?" Magnut suddenly raised his head, his eyes full of hope.
Geiger, whose arm was burned, also took advantage of the situation and shouted in an almost begging manner: Brother Rurik, please think of a way. We brothers don't have time to waste time with the enemy here. "
Everyone was waiting for Rurik to come up with a good idea, but if he really had a good idea, he would have used it in this morning's fierce attack.
In other words, if there was a good way, Rurik would not have to act cautiously.
He did think of some ways to break through the city wall, but were these measures really suitable?
He dares to say that he still can't come up with the right countermeasures, so he can only explain: "I have thought of some methods, but I still need to be careful to implement them."
"Ah? Isn't there a particularly good way? I still want to fight again in the afternoon."
Magnute's urging really made Rurik impatient, so he shook his head, considering his father-in-law's face and unwilling to speak seriously.
Then he said the next sentence: "I am the commander-in-chief of the coalition forces. If you don't accept my command, you will inevitably suffer defeat. Wait for an afternoon, maybe God will suddenly give me the revelation of victory. You'd better comfort the wounded first, I have to think about it. Come up with a perfect plan." After saying that, he left.
All afternoon, the coalition camp was uneventful. They stationed themselves under the city and continued to place soldiers to intimidate Tamworth. The status quo of troops approaching the city continued. Even though Mercia defended the city, they did not dare to take it lightly.
Ross's camp, Rurik lying on his side on a fur blanket, with the low walls of Tamworth in the distance.
Alexin hurried over and sat down casually: "Have you thought of a way?"
"not yet."
"Is their wall really stable? The wall is not really high. If it is a frost giant, it can cross it in one go."
"Those are all ancient stories. Brother, there are no frost giants. You'd better rest and let me think quietly."
Rurik pushed his brother away and thought about his words inadvertently.
If it were a true giant, mountains and rivers would be powerless to stop it. Giants could easily cross ravines but humans could not.
etc! Why can't people?
Rurik suddenly thought of something and overturned his previous siege idea.
What he was thinking about was cutting down trees on the spot, building a small counterweight trebuchet, and smashing open the stone wall.
Maybe this is a waste of time, so there is another way to attack by force. Just gather all the heavy weapons and organize a group of death squads. All long-range firepower was concentrated on one point of support, all the long ladders for climbing the city were put together, and the death squads struggled to climb.
The latter will inevitably bring considerable losses, but this is probably the most feasible plan now.
This solution is indeed of great operational value, but the soldiers still have to climb the ladder. They were covered in flaws as they climbed, and many of the people who had died before also died in the process.
If a slope is created artificially, and the army rushes up directly with shields and swords, is there any flaw?
"Why don't I do this? Genghis Khan's army built a temporary slope to let the cavalry rush up the city wall!"
I had a solution, but I didn't expect that my cousin's ridicule would bring about a good solution.
In the evening, the Balmok people had a spontaneous discussion, but they did not discuss the reasons all afternoon.
Rurik appeared with his entourage with extremely confident steps. This gesture made everyone understand that a good countermeasure was finally available.
He settled down and announced to everyone: "Friends, don't worry anymore! Odin said something to me while I was taking a nap."
"Ah! It's God? God is helping us!" Magnute was overjoyed, then opened his arms and thanked the sunset.
"Listen to me! This is a very strange method. We will build a mound under the city wall, and our troops will line up and rush up. In this way, they will be unable to throw stones, and the arrows will be easily blocked by us."
"Mounds? Build mounds from flat ground?" Magnute, who had just gained hope, wondered again: "Do we have such ability? That is the power of God!"
"No! As long as each of our warriors brings some soil and rushes to the bottom of the city, we still have nearly two thousand people. If we all line up to sprinkle soil, we can create a slope. Besides, our goal is to walk up the city wall. As long as we can create a Slopes, everything can be used as building material, whether it's a tree or a corpse."
Many family leaders were moved after hearing this.
Rurik added here: "I wish they could come out of the city to fight us, so that we can annihilate them. Since their city gates are closed, they just don't dare to do this. I decided to remove the torsion slingshot installed on the trolley, Install some more wooden boards as tools for loading and unloading the soil. You also use rags to make some cloth bags to transport the soil, and then prepare to cut wood on the spot. Pile the soil and wood blocks together, and soon there will be a slope."
"This is God's will, a tactic given to us by Odin." Magnut said decisively, and no one else objected.
Because the city wall was not very tall, everyone thought about it and felt that it was feasible.
The coalition camp became lively, and the soldiers' morale returned after learning about the strategy to break the city.
The Balmoks want to avenge their brothers who died in the battle, and the Rus are sharpening their swords.
After creating a slope, the army rushed up. They got the order and started to attack under the cover of night after they had eaten and drank enough.
Of course, Rurik still took advantage of the night to set up the "flame array". The closed city of Tamworth was defended by a huge ring of fire. The Mercian warriors who stood at the top of the city and were alert to night attacks were frightened.
Botwulf, who had just fallen asleep, climbed directly to the top of the inner city tower, which is the commanding height of the entire city, and saw himself surrounded by a circle of light.
That's a bonfire! Densely packed like stars!
He was startled and thought that something was wrong. "Bah! You are trying to scare me! How can I successfully defend you with so many troops? Do you think I am a fool?"
Botwulf understood that this was a bluff, how could the majority of soldiers understand it. News that was unfavorable to the kingdom was spreading again. It was clear that some of the people who spread the bad news were executed. When new bad news came, the people were still in panic.
We can't just execute a few more people to stop the chaos, right? Indiscriminate killing at home is not a wise move, and may even lead to civil unrest, because some nobles living in the royal city have their own agenda behind their apparent loyalty. Botwulf was afraid of the enemy and had no choice but to compromise and let the priests continue to appease him.
But he quickly thought of a way, which was to set up a huge flame array at the top of the city.
Burning braziers were carried up the walls, and some torches were burning.
A circle of the city wall was illuminated, and a large number of soldiers patrolled with spears. He just wanted to let the people see that the kingdom's troops never left their defensive positions.
"You also lit torches? Do you really think we are beasts afraid of fire?"
Arik, who was busy logging at night, muttered disdainfully, and suddenly shouted to his brothers who were busy: "Everyone, please work harder, we have destroyed this forest."
If there are excellent production tools, it is inexplicable that they are not used.
Since the two-man saw was built, Rurik has been carrying this type of logging tool on expeditions, which greatly improved the efficiency of building field sheds.
When logging at night, swinging an ax will always fail to cut the right position. However, once the two-man saw is started, it can cut through the big tree in one go.
A forest near the Tam River was brutally devastated by a group of lumberjacks, the Russians. As many as 1,500 pine, oak, and fir trees were cut down overnight. In fact, everyone is quite puzzled. The growth of these trees is quite similar, and even the thickness of the trunks are similar.
Doubts should be put aside. Bringing down the tree is the job.
This was only the success of the Russians. The five hundred men of the First Flag Team felled an average of three trees each. Since these trees are not big trees, it is not too difficult to cut them down.
The branches of the fallen trees were cut off and piled together to light the fire. The coalition forces were cutting down trees frantically, creating a bonfire formation surrounding the city.
The bare tree trunks were cut into small sections, just in time to be transported to and piled under the city wall.
The logging people were sweating hard, and no one was worried about hunger at all, because the fleet docked on the river was loaded with enough rations for the entire army to fight for at least ten days.
In the early morning, when the world became clear and the morning fog dissipated, a group of Mercian warriors who were patrolling at night saw a horrifying scene.
What happened to the royal forest by the river? The oak forest that has been planted for many years is missing?
A junior guard captain hurriedly reported this strange disaster to Prince Botwulf. When he stood on the city wall and looked at it, he found that the royal forest was really gone.
No! The woods didn't disappear, they were chopped down by the enemy overnight!
"Damn it, there are trees I planted when I was a kid!" Botwulf was furious.
Not only his family, but also many nobles planted trees selectively in that forest in order to obtain qualified oak for making furniture in the future. Even churches and monasteries provided wood sources for custom-made coffins for devout nobles.
It soon became clear that it was the barbarian army that had destroyed the woods. They were still entrenched by the river, and there were people everywhere swaying and plotting evil.
Things went much smoother than Rurik expected. He thought that the coalition would have to spend at least two days in order to create the mound.
It should be worth the two days so that the dilly-dallying new confederate troops from Northumbria should arrive. If it is necessary to lose some people to climb the mound, let the Northumbrian army be used as expendables in the first attack, which is what Rurik hopes.
Since the army works so quickly, the glory of breaking the city for the first time should be taken by oneself.
The army was still making preparations, and the people who had cut the trees overnight were resting. Another group of people had finished unloading the torsion slingshot, and the improvised trolley was already filled with wet riverside soil mixed with grass.
Rurik was in no hurry to attack, and the entire army also understood that the construction of earth slopes would take at least a whole day to withstand the enemy's counterattack.
The action time is after noon that day, and before that, everyone stays in the camp to rest. However, all warriors' weapons must be within easy reach, and their chain mail must not be taken off.
Although the possibility was very small, Rurik knew that he had to remain cautious, because people are often irrational. Perhaps because of the small victory in defending the city yesterday, the defenders in the city would be arrogant and come out to fight the coalition forces.
The latter is naturally the best, and it saves the coalition forces the trouble of building a breakthrough.
Judging from the current situation alone, Rurik could not see any changes on the enemy's side. The flag of Mercia was still flying on the low city wall. Except for the noisy military formations of the Ross and Balmok coalition, the rest of the world was extremely quiet.
Indeed, even the defenders of Mercia were aware of the silence of the world, and the oppressive atmosphere almost suffocated the soldiers. No one dared to leave the city without authorization, and all the city gates were supported by no less than twenty wooden bars. The carriages transporting food in the city were specially pushed into the gate openings, and the shafts of the carriages were removed to form heavy obstacles.
Tamworth became a coward, and Botwulf decided to defend resolutely. He had already made the most extreme plan, saying that he would hold on until winter came, and the cold winter would drive away these invaders, and the food in the city Enough for the military and civilians to sustain them for a long time.
Now is the most critical moment in the royal city. He feels that as long as everyone works together, wears down the enemy's energy, and pays some costs to thwart the enemy's previous offensives, Mercia's defensive victory will be guaranteed.
