The Mercian army shouted the slogan "No mercy" and rushed towards the unknown enemy like a herd of bulls. They showed amazing courage, but their IQ was close to that of a mad bull when driven by anger.
They were strangled by the Northumbrian and Viking armies, and thousands of the dead stained the banks of the River Tam with blood.
There are blood-stained corpses everywhere, the battlefield is muddy, and the air is filled with a strong smell of rust...
Some people were still squirming, and then there were exhausted warriors who added another blow.
The peasant warriors of Northumbria were covered in blood and continued to fight in a daze with their mouths wide open.
The reason why some people fell was not because they were fatally injured, but because they fell from exhaustion while fighting.
Corpses were stacked on top of each other, bent iron swords were stuck on the ground, broken shields were everywhere, and spear handles stuck in the red mud looked like saplings.
Arik's whole body was steaming, and he ordered aggressively: "Kill the enemy without mercy!"
The Rus' army did this, and the Balmok army behaved the same way.
Wounded enemies, and even injured Northumbrian so-called friendly troops, were all killed indiscriminately by the Viking coalition.
Perhaps this was a kind of kindness. Even if those seriously injured people did not die temporarily, almost all of them died of wound infection in extreme pain within a few days. The last hit now is a relief.
Because the wounded of the Viking coalition were pulled to the rear by their brothers, they would have the opportunity to receive medical treatment.
The battlefield became a meat grinder. As spectators, Earl Pecrat's army, which had recently surrendered to Northumbria, had a clear view of this cruel battlefield.
Is this the strength of the Vikings? The two armies of the Saxon Kingdom fought fiercely, and the Vikings quickly ended everything after dispatching.
The captured people of Tamworth shivered further, and they watched helplessly as the army that could free them was completely annihilated. There were even those with keen eyes who saw the king's fall.
Rurik got off the boat and stood beside the bed.
"Damn it, the smell of blood!" He grinned and murmured, then raised his head and glared at Princess Mary on the side. "Mary, come down here. Follow me to the battlefield to find your father's body."
"This... is really necessary..."
Mary was actually trembling, having sat in the fortress during the siege, and now she was a spectator of the terrible battle.
"Come down quickly! This is an order."
Mary then disembarked along the rope ladder and followed Rurik's footsteps into the battlefield littered with corpses.
Not far away, a dying and well-dressed man was found. Half of his body was pressed by a dead horse, and a javelin pierced his body shockingly.
An iron helmet inlaid with gold fell to the side, and a severely bent iron sword inlaid with gems fell to the ground.
This man was Wiglaf, who had only one breath left. He died after all the blood flowed out.
However, the broken-arm Eynred sat beside him. He pushed away his men and did not even want the Vikings to execute this trophy that belonged to him.
Eynred just sat like this, not feeling complacent. Looking at his dying enemy, he also held too many words in his heart and kept mumbling.
Wiglaf didn't want to listen to this bastard chanting sutras at all. He vomited blood and cursed: "You signed a contract with the devil, and you will go to hell after you die."
Aynred also retorted, "But I still have children, and your family is finished. By the way, your daughter is now a slave of the Vikings. I heard that that woman will do any humiliation in order to survive. matter."
"You... shut up!" After saying that, there was another mouthful of old blood.
Aynred's expression became grimmer: "Your family is all despicable, and you are completely lucky to be the king of Mercia. Do you think I can surrender to you?"
At this time, Rurik came aggressively with a group of blood-stained mercenaries, and the work of cleaning the battlefield had already begun.
Rurik noticed Eynred, and his attitude towards this guy was also very complicated. It would be a great thing if the armless king died in this battle.
In other words, the monarchs of various kingdoms in the British region died suddenly, and the region fell into turmoil, so that the Viking army could better fish in troubled waters and seize profits.
Eynred was unscathed, but the one in the pool of blood was the dying Wiglaf.
Princess Mary couldn't help but scream when she saw her father, and then her eyes filled with tears. She didn't pounce on him. The hatred in her heart was impossible to heal. She just felt pity for the dying man.
"Mary! You...are still alive..." Wiglaf raised his head and managed to hold back a smile.
At this moment, a huge question arose in her mind, but it was not easy to talk about it in public.
Ryuri ordered Mary to step back. He looked down at Wiglaf and described himself in simple Saxon.
Until now, Wiglaf finally knew who defeated him. It was the blond boy in front of him?
As ridiculous as it feels, it seems to be true.
"You... are the devil! You damn thing, go back to hell!"
Rurik was not angry, and slowly drew out his dagger, placing the blade against Wiglaf's neck, but the king was still glaring with anger. "How can I... be killed by a child?"
"Oh?" Rurik really wanted to execute this man with his own hands. Since he didn't want this, he looked up at Eynred, "Maybe it's your turn to kill him, so that your people know who the King of Mercia is. Beheaded by you."
"Forget it." Eynred pointed to the javelin, "This is your merit. He is about to die, let him die quietly."
Rurik shook his head, suddenly grabbed the hand of Princess Mary, and handed the dagger to her hand.
"Woman, don't you hate me? The enemy is here, you come to execute him."
"I..." Mary let go and the sword stuck directly on the ground.
"Stupid!" Rurik kicked him, causing Mary to kneel on the ground.
"It seems that you still can't do it. After all, it's your father who has done that to you again and again. But you must pick up the sword, otherwise you won't be able to be a Viking woman. You are being raped by us here. Kill!"
Hearing these words in Latin, Mary clenched the hilt of her sword resolutely.
"Are you...really going to kill me..." Wiglaf forced out another bloody smile.
Rurik glanced at Mary first, and then said to Eynred: "Give her a chance. This is a difficult decision. If you leave with someone, I will also avoid it."
"Is this appropriate? Okay."
Eynred really didn't understand the Vikings' thoughts. He forced his daughter to assassinate his father and instigated such a vicious thing. Rurik of Rus was really sinister.
In fact, in Rurik's view, this is just retaliating directly, although it is indeed extreme. This is also a blank vote for Mary, although this young woman has given herself pleasure and has an identity and knowledge that can be used. However, if she is not cruel, she cannot join the Viking army.
Rose, no time for canaries. The war also forced Rurik to have a heart of stone.
Rurik gave Mary a chance, and he was pleased to notice that the woman readily approached her husband with a sword.
Mary knelt down with tears in her eyes. She stuck her sword on the ground, and with emotion and tears asked the question that had troubled her life: "Why! Why have you treated me like this for so many years? Was I just born as your toy? Do you want it?" Is it difficult for you to be a woman? I am obviously your daughter!"
Wiglaf was silent for a moment. He smiled and hesitated for a while, then slowly said: "It's not bad to be killed by you in the end..."
"Tell me why! You brought Botwulf with you, you are a pair of bastards! You ruined my life!"
"No...Mary, you are indeed a vile slave."
"Damn it, you are still humiliating me until now..." Mary was already sobbing.
Wiglaf, on the other hand, mustered up the strength to speak with sarcasm: "Do you really think you are the princess of Mercia? You are not my daughter! You are a cheating scoundrel. If you were not beautiful, you would have been secretly executed long ago. I and I What you do is revenge on your mother!"
"Really? Is that so? I don't believe it." The crying Mary was stunned at first, and then became frightened.
"Stupid woman, this is the truth. However, I do not deny my behavior. Mary...can you serve me like before? I heard that you are very good at serving those Vikings..."
Suddenly a cold light rushed over, and before Wiglaf could finish speaking, Mary's sword pierced his neck.
Wiglaf died quickly with wide eyes, and Mary was also covered in blood.
Is this what my life experience is like? no! This incredible secret must remain a secret forever.
She is not a simple woman at all. Her ability to observe people's emotions and her disposition to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages turned into a heavy blow with this sword.
For a moment, Mary, who was in a trance and with blood on her body, found her master Rurik, and tremblingly returned the blood-stained steel sword to its original owner.
"My lord, I hate him and I will kill him."
Rurik just showed no surprise on his face, but when he saw this woman, he felt a little bit of fear.
"You? You're a Bloody Mary."
He sheathed his sword and called on his men to take Mary away. For a moment, he saw the princess of the subjugated country kneeling on the ground, hugging her legs and saying plausibly: "I will always be your woman. Forget that I am the princess of Mercia, I Be a Viking.”
Rurik nodded and randomly inserted the sharp sword into the ground. "Cut off your long hair and make it short."
She did so without hesitation, symbolically cutting herself off from the past.
On this battlefield, the bodies of the Mercian nobles who died in battle will be found.
The Mercian army originally numbered 4,000 people, but in the end, less than 200 people survived!
Thanks to the solicitation of King Aynred of Northumbria, these people were not executed afterwards or "blood sacrificed to Odin".
Because the Northumbrian army also suffered heavy losses in this battle, Eynred's so-called army was already limited in strength, and nearly a thousand people died in the chaotic battle.
Based on the current situation alone, if Rurik or Magnute suddenly turned their backs, the Northumbrians could be wiped out on the same day.
The Vikings finally stopped killing, not because they were merciful, but because they received ruthless orders from their commanders, which made the Viking warriors panting and losing the energy to fight further.
Fighting and killing should be used as a last resort, and no matter what the conditions, Rurik still supported methods such as extorting tribute from the Slavs of Novgorod from Mercia.
From the era of the Seven Kingdoms in England, there are only three major countries left, and now the two major countries have been severely defeated by the army that invaded Britain for the first time.
It's time to evacuate!
In other words, after leaving the blood-stained land of Tamworth, the Viking Balmoks retreated to York and other lands ceded by the treaty to begin to digest the results of their victory, and the Rus must also retreat to their hometown before the ocean freezes.
A large number of weapons were picked up by the Vikings. Rurik not only ordered his men to look for javelins and cast iron projectiles shot by the torsion slingshot, but also deliberately collected the enemy's arrows.
Arrow clusters can almost be used dozens of times, but the arrow shaft may break and be scrapped after one shot.
The Mercians had limited arrows, so they eventually supplemented the Russian army.
It's just that the poor iron swords of the Mercians were bent one by one. The Balmoks thought they were scraps. Rurik didn't mind, so he confiscated nearly two thousand iron swords, thinking of taking them to his hometown and throwing them into the furnace. Reinvention.
Britain has iron ores that have been discovered since the Roman era, and there are also good local coal resources. This is one of the material foundations for the industrial revolution in this region.
It is for this reason that the cost of making ironware for local feudal kingdoms is not high. Of course, the Russians’ iron smelting costs are already essentially the lowest in Europe.
A batch of chain mail was captured, and axes and spearheads became the trophies of the Balmoqs on a large scale.
The Viking army went everywhere to strip off the clothes of dead people, and they did not feel unlucky at all, because in the days when textiles were scarce in their hometown, ordinary Balmok warriors were not rich enough to be picky.
If rags are sewn together, they can be pieced together into new clothes. If the rags are removed from the enemy, doesn't it also mean that one is a glorious winner?
No matter how bad it is, rags can also fill the gaps in the wooden house.
Of course, the corpses of the enemy's elite soldiers and those leather boots were immediately snatched away by the Balmoks.
Not many good things could be found from the enemy's corpses. The Viking warriors whispered, and many people were worried that there would be new battles. fighting? It's just a new group of equipment senders who are willing to die.
At the Battle of the Tamm River, the Vikings suffered very few casualties. Indeed, the well-organized and heavily armored Ross First Banner Corps, which slaughtered the poorly armed peasant warriors to exhaustion, managed to leave not a single person injured.
On the contrary, more than a dozen Balmok soldiers who had their bodies hollowed out by women were killed in the chaos.
Regardless, it was an incredible win for the Vikings. Eynred watched their polar loss with fear and envy.
Tamworth palace that night.
The victors held a grand banquet here, and as for the food, it was Wiglaf's slain mount.
It is generally accepted that horse meat should be eaten for dinner. It is a greasy roast and represents a humiliation for the loser.
Eynred, who had lost his arm, was quite surprised as to why that despicable Mary became a dining staff. Count Perkset was also puzzled, but he didn't want to have dinner with the devil and just wanted to finish the dinner and leave early.
Seeing that the Vikings who were eating meat remained calm, Eynred tentatively thought that this was a Viking habit.
In fact, this is the habit of the Vikings, and Rurik even did it even better in his hometown.
Hasn’t this already made chopsticks popular among the kids in Roseburg? Rurik has popularized sharing meals among his female relatives. Of course there is a reason for this. They will not be taboo about their men's saliva.
Eynred couldn't bear to be disturbed for the moment, but suddenly, Rurik threw a completely transparent object over.
He was about to catch it and was surprised: "Is this a crystal?"
"Open the cork and feel it."
In fact, this was the first time Eynred had seen spirits, and he was further shocked when he opened the cork.
"This is wine, this is vodka. You know the Roman alphabet, look at the candle!"
Eynred saw that it was indeed the case, and could even spell it easily, "Where did you get it?"
"This is the creation of our Rus." Rurik said bluntly: "King of Northumbria, you call us barbaric devils. This is ridiculous. You don't even know that the reason for your failure is that you are too backward. In my opinion Come on, you are the barbarian, you don’t even know how to use violence.”
These words were shouted in Norse, and the Balmoks laughed along with them.
Eynred could already understand a little bit. After Paul's translation, an extremely bold idea came to his mind: "Perhaps, you can train an army for me."
"Huh? That's not possible." Rurik was surprised and refused bluntly.
Magnute had just drank half a bottle of strong liquor, and the alcohol was already strong. He shouted: "You are a loser, but you are worthy? You have become stronger and you will beat us immediately!"
In fact, this is what Eynred thought, even though he tried his best to oppose it.
Rurik did not go into details and added: "We are leaving. Don't worry that Mercia will attack you, more troops will land soon. We will only become stronger next year. If you want to maintain the king's power, you cannot unilaterally tear up the treaty. Listen, if you betray, we will not reward you with new opportunities."
"This... of course I don't dare."
"Don't worry." Rurik suddenly patted Mary on the shoulder again, "She is the princess of Mercia. Naturally, her son and I can become the king of Mercia in the future. This only takes a little time. The people of Mercia will eventually have a Obedient king. Eynred, you are our protector and your kingship is stable. Surrender to us, and you and your people will have peace."
Peace? What a luxury.
As for the price paid, it is really too heavy.
Magnut swayed and emphasized: "Stupid king, I warn you, every year! Three million pounds of wheat! If you can't get it out, it's betrayal!"
"Yes. I will take it out."
"Oh." Magnute patted his head and drank the remaining liquor, roaring: "You are very smart and a noble! My York can open the market, and your people can also come to do business. It is said that the north There is also an enemy, who is called a noble? Don’t panic, I will kill him next year, and you will have no competitors for the kingship."
"Oh, thank you very much."
Eynred also wanted to feel good about leaving this terrible dinner, but the spirits brought out by the Russians were really magical. The crystal bottles were expensive, so Rurik from Russia gave them away so generously?
In fact, it was deliberately prepared by Rurik, so-called suturing the wounds of the wounded for sterilization. However, there are very few wounded on our side who need sutures. Shouldn't we just drink the remaining spirits?
This bottle is just a favor to Eynred, to open the eyes of the little king of this remote island.
