The large pottery pots and wide-mouthed iron pots placed on the big ships were all unloaded, and the coalition forces set up some stoves and began to cook delicious meals without restraint.
Last night, the coalition soldiers who were busy setting up a bonfire array around Tamworth to scare people also visited three nearby villages and all the farmland.
The local area is already a spring wheat crop area. After the wheat harvest is completed, the farmland is seasonally abandoned, and the cabbages are directly plundered by the coalition forces before they are mature.
The chopped vegetables were thrown into the cauldron, and some onions scraped out were thrown in along with the bacon jerky stored on the ship, and even a lot of salt. The staple food is naturally oats, which will take some time to be cooked thoroughly. Someone was holding a wooden stick to stir the fragrant meal.
The rich aroma filled the camp of the Viking coalition. They had been stationed west of Tamworth. The weak north wind blew, and part of the aroma spread directly into the city.
A large number of soldiers were gathering, and after taking a rest in the morning, they were ordered to eat their own dry food, but the mouth-watering meals in these iron pots were not allowed to be eaten.
They gathered together and took orders from Rurik.
But I saw this blond boy standing on a cart full of grass and soil, holding a sword and shouting: "Brothers, are you hungry?"
This is really a knowing question.
Then he smiled and shouted, "When can we eat?"
"Yes! When can we eat it! Brothers, we are about to take action. We have to create a hill to prove our strength to Odin, and then follow the breakthrough and rush directly to the city wall. Those enemies never imagined that we would have such a tactic . But you will be very tired if you do this. These delicacies are for you. When the evening comes, you come down and enjoy the delicacies!"
Afraid that his voice lacked penetration, Magnute also kept describing one principle in a rich and old voice: everyone will eat and drink well after completing today's task.
It is only natural that you work hard and get delicious food. The soldiers of the coalition forces were cheering, and their morale was extremely high.
Vegetables, meat, wheat and salt were mixed into a delicious meal. To increase the aroma, Rurik ordered a portion of the curdled seal oil to be thrown into all the pots.
There is no shortage of seal oil here among the Rus, and there is no shortage here among the Balmoks. It is essentially a food and is widely used as a lubricant.
The smell of grease made it even more tempting. The Mercian warriors stationed on the city wall noticed that they were setting up a meal, and while they were on alert, the smell also aroused their greedy appetites.
The aroma wafted directly to the palace, and Botwulf thought the royal chef had cooked a delicious meal. When he understood the current situation, he was first shocked and then fell into deep fear.
One of the guards didn't know the reason, but said to the prince in an attitude of encouraging morale: "They are eating a big meal. Maybe they can't fight when they are full, and they just want to lie down and sleep."
Botwulf held onto the battlements with mixed feelings in his heart.
"Can't fight? This is their last meal before the war. You all should be more vigilant. There will be a fierce battle today."
Will there really be a fierce battle? However, His Highness the Crown Prince's guess is close to the truth.
The decisive battle is indeed about to begin, but it has a strange starting point.
The Viking coalition was like a pile of firewood, and Rurik lit the fire. They didn't listen and roared with their mouths tearing raw meat open. The Rus and Balmoks were beating their shields with swords and axes.
Even Suomi's one hundred servant warriors, who were fighting for their new master in this new world they knew, and who were informed that they were entitled to the spoils of war, raised their bows high and shouted.
The army outside the city was still angry with Megatron, and the soldiers and civilians who were immersed in yesterday's victory were severely slapped in the face. The royal guards of Mercia and a large number of armed farmers and citizens arrived at the city wall with a variety of weapons. The captain of the guard, who had broken half of his hand, called on his men to continue heating hot water in order to scald the enemy to death.
The Mercians were actively preparing for defense, but they had encountered shocking arrows, javelins, and stones from the enemy. Even though they were protected by the stones of the battlement, every warrior was filled with fear.
The emotions of anxiety, fear and laziness are intertwined. Even if Prince Botwulf puts on his armor and goes to the front line in person, he cannot immediately arouse the strong fighting spirit of the soldiers.
The afternoon sun was unusually warm, and it was a good day for a battle.
The weak north wind made the grass rustle, and there was a low rumble in the ears of every soldier.
Rurik felt that the time was ripe. He looked at the eager warriors and pointed his dagger directly: "Odin's warriors! Forward! Let's create a mountain!"
The coalition forces take action!
Thirty two-wheeled carts were loaded with soil and were pushed by two people while two others carried shields for cover. The Russian Army is responsible for the heavy work in this area, hoping to take proper precautions to avoid being harassed and damaged by the enemy.
More than 400 people from the Balmok Army participated in the first batch of operations. Two of them carried a tree trunk, and there were people guarding the front with shields.
Hundreds of people stood by with shovels at the rear, ready to pile new soil on the empty wheelbarrows brought back.
The group of them began to rush towards the city wall. Arik and Biyongni each led a hundred men and arrived at the city with two types of crossbows, responsible for sniping any enemies who planned to counterattack from the battlements.
The ten bull trebuchets were quickly moved to the appropriate location, and the people who controlled them were actually the Ross sailors who were responsible for operating the ships. Of course they can transform into melee warriors, but time has passed. Most of their old bodies are not suitable for fighting, but they are able to control heavy weapons to support the young brats in fighting.
Stones made from local materials began to be thrown crazily. It didn't matter what target they hit. It was most meaningful to create an atmosphere of terror.
Prince Botwulf put out a pair of alert eyes. Is the enemy continuing to attack the city?
"Fighters of the Kingdom! They are coming! Prepare your bows, arrows and rocks to kill them!"
Indeed, even if they face risks, there are always people who want to be heroes in times of crisis. Some humble farmers regard sitting side by side with His Royal Highness today as the greatest honor in life, and didn’t the priest also say so? Killing others is the greatest sin, but killing "savage humanoid monsters" is not guilty!
The peasants held stones in their arms, just waiting for His Highness to give orders.
Fortunately, Arik and Biyongni's shooting troops had already arrived at the appropriate location first. Those who carried the temporary bundles of wooden rafts stood them on the ground and supported them with wooden bars, forming an obvious giant shield against arrows.
There are six such giant shields, enough to provide absolute cover for a group of shooters.
The vigilant archers were either half-kneeling or standing. Naturally, they stretched out their very limited body vigilantly, and the charged crossbow was already aimed at the battlements ahead.
Of course, Rurik could do something even crazier. However, in the previous battle, he found that the cast iron projectiles consumed a little too much, so he stopped using the torsion slingshot as support. Actual combat proved that it was just a one-pound iron bullet flying out at a not alarming speed. The damage to the city wall itself should be ignored.
As those pushing the carts were about to reach their positions, Botwulf ordered a counterattack.
The armed farmers who received the order began to throw down the stones, and Arik and Biyongni, who were waiting, immediately began to snipe.
The precise crossbow arrows flew, the powerful and heavy arrows directly penetrated the unarmored farmer's body, and the blow from the steel-armed crossbow killed him instantly.
"Quick! Hurry up and gather your strength and continue to support." As Arik shouted, he saw the black-haired Suomi people starting to throw random arrows, and he couldn't help laughing. Then someone shouted to his subordinates: "Hurry up and gather your strength, don't lose to those black-haired people."
A wheelbarrow loaded with soil only needs to lift the handle and pull back, and a large amount of earth will be unloaded. After tossing it three times at most, a cart full of grass and soil will be gone.
Thirty wheelbarrows were unloaded at one point, and the subsequent loaders used this point to begin unloading their logs.
The round wooden bars are not just thrown away. They are placed flush with the city wall, arranged neatly one after another, as if they are laying a boardwalk.
They braved the stones thrown by the enemy to do their work, and used their shields to block the enemy's counterattack. There was nothing left to fear.
Because the Mercian defenders are scared!
In other words, Tamworth, an early medieval fortress, had not evolved to the technical level of a bastion at all, and the siege tactics displayed by Rurik were more advanced.
Rurik knew how to build bastions and knew the advantages of crossfire.
"Is this what these guys are capable of? How can it be so easy for me to strike at a fixed point?" While watching the battle, he was sure that he would win.
Magnute watched with great interest and shouted again: "Your wheelbarrows have been withdrawn, it's time to dig new soil."
"Yeah, brothers are ready."
"Look!" Magnut pointed again, "My people have also withdrawn, and they have to carry new wood. Rurik, how many times do you think we can succeed?"
"Maybe twenty times will do."
"Huh? So many?"
"Is it a lot?" Rurik shook his head, "In my opinion, it won't take much time to repeat it. It must be a waste of energy. You see, when the army comes back in the evening to eat thick porridge, I will prepare the food. It’s a lot, and everyone has no worries.”
"Okay, let's continue. We will..."
"Yes!" Rurik looked at his father-in-law with great confidence, "Tomorrow is the day when the city will be destroyed."
If the soil slope is basically completed today, and only a few more soils are needed tomorrow, the army will be able to attack the city after a night's rest. He is not worried that the Mercian defenders will destroy the slope. They have no such ability at all.
From the perspective of Mercia, what are the barbarians doing in such weird ways? Botwulf gradually experienced an epiphany, then shock, and finally despair.
"They are piling up the dirt! They are going to rush up the wall! Kill them quickly!" He almost shouted out his throat.
However, he saw that his soldiers were hiding behind the battlements and trembling. Although there were soldiers in the distance shooting arrows to support him, the prince watched helplessly as those people were shot down.
Of course some brave people stood up, casually threw the oil and squatted down again.
As for those who tried to shoot arrows, they were hit by snipers as soon as they raised their heads.
The defenders on the battlements were completely suppressed, and now only a few defenders were throwing stones blindly through the battlements.
To make matters worse, the more the defenders threw stones, the more they literally added to the enemy's work.
Botwulf could not have expected such a method from his opponent, and what was even worse was that he was powerless.
The captain of the guard led a group of soldiers who worked together to carry wooden bars and hang water urns on the wall.
"Your Highness, this time it's hot oil. I used all the holy water in the church. It can burn them to death."
"You!" The arrival of the captain of the guard originally made the prince happy, but it was inappropriate not to talk about this secret weapon. "You are desecrating a sacred object!"
"Your Highness, we have no choice. The only fault is that our walls are not high enough."
"Okay. Burn them to death!"
Even the church reserves very little rose essential oil. It is quite difficult to prepare the aromatic essential oil from the flowers. It is so fragrant and must have divine power. When they were requisitioned, the priests also hoped that these sacred objects could cleanse the group of demons under the city.
A layer of hot oil floats on the boiling water, and the oil-water mixture in the vat is fragrant. The big urn was just pushed onto the wall by the soldier holding the coarse cloth in his arms, and Arik was shooting again.
Arik was surprised, he could guess what the enemy wanted to do.
Unfortunately, he and his men were a step too late, and Tao Weng was simply pushed down, hitting the Balmoks who were laying down wood.
People who were instantly burned were hurriedly taking off their clothes. When their linen was taken off by their partners, they were shocked to see that the skin was falling off!
Some people covered their faces and screamed, and some rolled on the ground.
Even so, the work of laying wooden strips to pile up the soil cannot stop.
The price of valor may be death, and the Mercians carrying the pottery were struck by arrows.
The Balmoks temporarily retreated, but the Mercian army was in a panic and pushed away all the ten pottery we prepared prematurely.
The results achieved by the secret weapon were too weak, only causing five Balmoks to be scalded, and the rest rolled away in an emergency to avoid subsequent losses.
Rose essential oil, which represents the sacred, is meaningless, and Botwulf has no idealistic ideas about these things.
He pulled out his sword and yelled at the captain of the guard: "You are overestimating your own things, and they are here again. Gather the soldiers here, and we will fight them! Remember, you are building a new wall with corpses, and you cannot let them break through." The city wall enters the inner city!”
The sudden burns did not surprise Rurik at all. There will be casualties in battle, and the coalition forces can bear these casualties.
Considering that the enemy was still using this trick, he urgently ordered the five-seater torsion slingshot to be temporarily thrown into a cart full of dirt, and the heavy weapons were transported directly to the front line.
This wasn't the end yet. Now that the enemy's firepower had been suppressed, more than a hundred people with shovels rushed forward and dug up soil nearby.
Thousands of people continued to take turns piling wood and earth, and a mound was quickly emerging.
They were already working on the high ground, and a group of shield-bearing warriors had to stay at the front, carrying the stones and arrows thrown by the enemy to cover the brothers and continue their work.
The torque slingshot is always charged, and it will shoot when an enemy appears.
The cast-iron projectiles crackled the battlements, and the flying gravel scratched Botwulf's gray-bearded face.
His face was covered with blood, and the soldiers were so shocked that they thought the prince was injured and would be taken away by his men soon.
"You idiots, leave me alone! Stop them! Fight them!"
The captain of the guard screamed in the critical situation: "Your Highness, they are about to build a slope, and we are going to be finished."
"Are you a fool?" The prince broke away and immediately ordered: "Fight them with all your strength, hold on to the city wall, and block them even with your chest!"
Prince Botwulf, he took the initiative to lead the army, but as a prince, he should not appear in restricted areas.
The guard let out a long sigh and ordered his subordinates with almost broken teeth: "Take His Highness away and take him to the inner city. The others, the time has come to prove their loyalty, follow me and fight them to the death!"
From cowardice to heroism, the defenders of Mercia made the transformation in just one second.
Even though the prince was struggling, the guards who did not want him to die in the battle forcibly took him away.
The captain of the guard frowned as he looked at the back of the prince. The setting sun illuminated his face orange. Then he turned his head and looked at the soldiers gathered on the city wall and the armed farmers gathered below.
Without any impassioned speech, the captain of the guard just held an ax in his left hand and jumped off the city wall that was already as low as 1.5 meters. Upon seeing this, a group of kingdom warriors jumped down heroically with weapons and determination to die.
More than half of the soil slope that is beneficial to the Viking coalition has been completed. The entire task has been completed in just one afternoon's work?
Magnute squinted and saw a fight ahead. "Haha, Rurik, we did it. The decisive battle has begun. I saw that those Mercians already knew that they were going to perish and started to jump down to fight with us?"
"Yes, should we break the city and fight decisively now? It is already evening, and the time is very unfavorable. Our people are too tired."
"Are you hesitating? My child, I'm going to lead the others to attack. Come with your Ross army, let's go."
"Alas!" Rurik was about to persuade him to explain, but Magnute felt that he could do it again, and rushed forward with his sword in a roar. Seeing this, the other Balmoks stopped carrying wood, and everyone brought weapons. Launch a sunset attack.
Maybe, this is the decisive battle?
The brothers were completely exhausted from building the earthen slope, and Rurik did not think that the coalition forces were suitable to break the city and fight fiercely.
Unfortunately, the coalition forces were almost out of control. Rurik knew that even if he wanted to give orders, he could only restrain some of the Russian soldiers.
Look!
Rurik saw an incredibly shocking scene. A large number of Mercian warriors were jumping off the city wall and had begun to fight with the unprepared Ross and Balmok warriors.
Those who were digging earth and moving wood lacked defense. The coalition forces were beaten, and some people were killed by the Mercian army in the chaos.
However, the Viking coalition forces that had just reacted immediately began to counterattack.
Around the slope, there was the sound of metal clashing, the roar of soldiers and the wails of the injured.
Arik and Biyongni's archers were also firing arrows frantically, and the five torsion slingshots placed at the forefront simply smashed the enemies who were about to climb over the battlements into bloody pieces!
The fierce fighting people stepped on the corpses of the dead, including those from the Mercian army and those from the Balmoq army.
The first flag team of the Russian Army also quickly stopped carrying soil, returned to its original warrior state, and charged bravely with steel swords.
Grund and his tool men dressed as iron men pushed the Balmok friendly troops in front of them and quickly rushed to the front line to fight against the red-eyed Mercians.
Even if they are invulnerable, some "iron men" fall and die in the endless stampede, becoming a new step on the slope.
Those cowardly farmers in Mercia are now ten thousand times more courageous, or they have gone blank, succumbing to the courage of the Saxons in their souls, and messing with the Balmoks and Rus who are actually related by blood to them. Fight together.
The blood-red sunset is in the west, and the dry soil slopes are turning muddy, as if it had just rained.
It's red rust-smelling rain, and the city walls are also dyed red...
