The sudden attack caused a large number of the so-called soldiers of Pine Needle Manor to flee for their lives. They ignored their companions who were killed or injured. They just rushed to the farm and reported enemy attacks to everyone they met.
These are so good that even women are armed with farm tools or simple wooden sticks.
Someone ran into Vadim's residence in a hurry. He didn't care about the face of the young prince who was having fun with his concubine. He shouted at the top of his lungs with a look of horror: "Sir! The enemy is attacking!"
"Get out of here!" Vadim, who was naked, threw a wooden cup casually, unable to stop the messenger's alarm at all.
"Sir! The Ross people came and killed many people. You...you have to lead everyone to fight them back!"
"Wait?! This is real?!"
Vadim's interest was completely gone. He woke up instantly: "Fight! We must repel them and organize everyone to defend the farm!"
A war warning was issued at Pine Needle Manor, and Vadim hurriedly put on his clothes and walked out of the house with his sword in hand. He summoned his cronies to fight the enemy personally, but found that the entire farm was in chaos.
He had no idea what the enemy's situation was, and the armed men in the entire farm had no way of knowing, but the words of those who escaped were too shocking.
A group of messengers who were good at running were assigned emergency orders. Their task was to move rescue troops along the lake.
The Russians are definitely not weak, and Pine Needle Manor is likely to lose in an upright battle. It will be different if the Slavic forces of the entire Lake Ilmen are gathered.
Vadim saw the cowardice of his troops, and it happened that the appointed "Supreme Coach", Harold the Varangian, came in a hurry with a few brothers.
Harold still didn't know what was going on. It seemed that Ross's army was coming, but his instinct told him that the intelligence was wrong.
"What's going on? Where is the enemy?"
To Harold's surprise, Vadim came up and yelled: "Are you stupid for what I paid for? I want you to train the army, why did my team collapse at the first touch?! Now that the Russians are coming, you fools are actually here escape."
This is like being slapped with a brick out of nowhere.
Harold was choked for words and didn't know what to say. But he felt sorry for himself, so he retorted: "You asked me to lead troops. The people I led before were all Varyags. What did you ask me to bring? Look at your men, take them off You can see the ribs like dead branches on the top, can such a thin man fight?! He can't fight. You just force them to fight. How dare you say me, look at yourself again, ignoring the pregnant wife, busy with the five If you hang out with a woman, you will lose your face."
"You! Are you mocking me?!" Vadim had already tightened his grip on the hilt of his sword.
Harold's brothers were not used to this sudden gain of power. Even though many Slavs were present, they all picked up their axes and looked ready to fight.
Vadim is not a bully, and it is not a good thing for a powerful enemy to have internal strife within itself.
He rolled his eyes at Harold: "We are going to repel the Russians. Come together. Your benefits will be indispensable after the war."
A group of people rush to the so-called battlefield with great momentum, but where is the enemy?
Pine Needles Manor has a large living area and can accommodate tens of thousands of people. Rumor has it that the Russians have already entered the farm, and soldiers trained in other areas have returned to the farm. They originally planned to fight the enemy in the streets, but after all the trouble, the shouts of killing were loud, and no one knew where the enemy was.
They struggled for a long time and got nothing, and the nervous soldiers gradually relaxed. Some even began to complain that this was a "crying wolf" farce.
Sure enough, Vadim and his cronies walked around the farm and found nothing.
Finally, the boy arrived at the horrific crime scene.
More than a thousand armed men gradually gathered here. The sight of the deceased was so shocking that some even knelt down and vomited on the spot.
Sure enough, there was an attack, just like a lone wolf attacking the sheep pen, killing some sheep, eating some meat, and then retreated. It was only then that the insider reported to him what had happened. Vadim was so angry that he really wanted to take action immediately, lead the clan to attack, and wipe out the White Tree Manor, which had colluded with the Russians, leaving no one alive.
Grund's actions directly ignited the anger of Pine Needle Manor, just like pouring gasoline on a raging fire. However, Vadim is worried about the all-out attack. If he could, he would have taken action long ago. Now he still needs the cooperation of the alliance farmers.
It is unrealistic to gather 10,000 people, but it is feasible to first gather the men and women of their own farms and gather the number of combatants to 5,000. As for those allies, they can send at least three thousand people!
It depends on what happens tonight and how many reinforcements the troops can bring.
Vadim hopes to assemble a large army in a short time.
The chaos did not subside, but everyone saw the dead bodies, and the restlessness in Pine Needle Manor became more serious.
A cautious Varangian took advantage of the chaos and fled back to the farm.
Karl was not afraid of the previous battle at all. He was even quite happy to see his hometown people in a foreign land. This guy found the boss, Harold, and his appearance made many old friends quite informed.
Seeing Karl, Harold punched him with good intentions: "I thought you were dead."
"Death?" Karl said with a smile: "We brothers have always been happy day by day. It doesn't matter if we die. However, today I have an adventure."
"An adventure?"
"There are actually Danes among the Russians! Boss, I have something important to tell you. This is related to our life and death!"
In an instant, everyone realized the seriousness of the situation.
Harold and a group of thirty brothers gathered in the residence, with the doors and windows sealed, and Carl explained his experience in Enochian language.
This time, the words shocked everyone.
Who would have thought that the all-powerful main force of the Russians would come over. Rurik, the leader of the Russians who sank the Red Dragon and killed King Harold of Denmark, was coming with his own army!
The old leader of Ross, Otto, was unscathed after being assassinated. His son led the main force to seek revenge. The purpose was to kill all Pine Needle Manor without leaving any trace behind?
Indeed, a war broke out between the Rus and the Gotlanders a few years ago, and the Gotlanders were killed to the point of extinction.
"Brothers, the Danish brothers across the street are giving us help for the sake of their own clan. They will launch a full-scale attack tomorrow, and we must evacuate at night. I said we should run away with our belongings."
"Where are those women?" someone shouted nervously.
"Yes, we still have to take these slaves to the south and sell them."
"There are other belongings, and we need to get some food before we leave."
…
The men started talking at once, and Harold, who knew the stakes well, was furious: "I'm fired! Your life is at stake now! You must pack up your belongings and prepare to evacuate. Our longship can carry at most twenty women." , select the twenty with the best looks and take them away, and execute all the others."
The brothers were all stunned.
"Boss, this is inappropriate! We still make money from this." Someone said.
"When did this happen? The Russians can kill suddenly, and only the Russians can do this kind of thing. If it weren't for us Danes on the opposite side, our brothers would die tomorrow. Just a few women are nothing, after you lose your heads there Can’t be happy!”
Everyone looked at each other and had nothing to say.
They are a group of businessmen, and they are also a group of bandits who kill people and sell goods. Whether they are businessmen or bandits depends only on their own environment. In the face of a powerful enemy, they have no intention of working for Vadim, and they feel that it is foolish to fight against the Russians.
They immediately screened the sixty women under their control, selected twenty young and beautiful ones, and took them all away. As for the remaining forty people, they were taken away one by one and killed. Harold and his gang are very skilled at doing this kind of thing. No one knew that the so-called Varyag mercenaries were quietly killing and preparing to escape after nightfall.
In other words, after Vadim personally encouraged the people of Pine Needle Manor, their fear was replaced by anger. Everyone was waiting for reinforcements from their allies to arrive at the farm to launch an attack tomorrow. Even if they don't attack tomorrow, they must attack the traitor White Tree Manor within a few days and kill the local Ross people.
The messengers who notified the enemy of the attack ran to the nearest ally's manor one after another with exhaustion and vomiting blood, and then rushed to the next one.
Lake Ilmen covers a large area, and it is impossible to notify all the manors in one afternoon. Only five farms were notified before evening. Under pressure, these farm leaders gathered the men of their own manors with complicated emotions, holding various He took some dry food with his weapons and moved to Pine Needle Manor to assemble.
Their ships were all canoes, and the Ilmenslavs had not yet learned the technology of assembling wooden planks to build ships, and they did not dare to capture the passing Varyag longships for their own use.
There was nothing the Slavs could do to transport soldiers to Pine Needle Manor by ship, so they moved forward on foot. Fortunately, their ability to sew leather boots made the journey not painful.
They advanced through the wasteland by the river in the afternoon, leaving the straight ridges bordering the fields where wheat seedlings grew wildly. There was no road ahead, and the walking speed of the group of people slowed down.
No one knows how the Pine Needles Manor was attacked, but the entire Novgorod was coerced by Vadim to declare war on the Rus. Due to the violent temper of the Varangros, if Vadim was defeated, everyone would be destroyed. disaster. They have all realized the truth behind the situation, but how useful is it to send two to three hundred people for support?
Only five manors were on the way to the reinforcements, and it was already dark when they arrived.
Reinforcements from three estates arrived, and they saw no war, just a large group of men and women preparing for war.
Vadim personally entertained the three manor owners who had brought troops to support them. While hosting a banquet, he seriously asked how many reinforcements there were.
He was full of joy, but reality poured cold water on him.
"A mere eight hundred people?! What does this mean? When I planned to lead the army to annihilate the traitors in White Tree Manor, you people who support me stood still!"
The three manor owners couldn't argue with each other. Their respective manors had a small population, so taking out so many people together showed their sincerity.
Vadim didn't want to waste any more words. After all, a group of reinforcements arrived.
But very suddenly, many people saw stars shining in the woods in the south.
what is that? It's from Russia! Must be a Russian! The Ross army is camped just south of the manor!
The restlessness in the manor forced Vadim to walk to the shore of the lake in person. Looking at a bonfire in the south, he became angry and cursed at two o'clock.
Grund left a few men to continue to symbolically keep watch at the mouth of the river. Those who stayed behind deliberately lit more bonfires, actually showing their presence to the enemy. The people who stayed behind went a little too far. Just because they lit a lot of bonfires in the enemy's manor was obviously a provocation. How could the brothers not light a lot of fires to counterattack?
The reinforcements from the five farms finally arrived at Pine Needle Manor late at night. The reinforcements were panting from exhaustion, and Vadim's men were also exhausted mentally and physically from the whole day's toil.
The total strength of the reinforcements is close to 1,500 people. In addition, Pine Needle Manor has been able to gather 5,000 male and female warriors with all its capabilities. It is obviously feasible to piece together an army of more than 6,000 people.
But everyone was too tired. Vadim had planned to take the initiative to attack tomorrow, but due to the current situation, he had to continue to accumulate strength.
He even had some optimism, blaming himself for being uncomfortable with his angry words to his allies in the evening.
Five farms sent nearly 1,500 troops. Not counting the defected farms, there were more than ten farms that did not send troops simply because they did not receive the news. If the situation was left to ferment for a few days, I might actually be able to assemble an army of 10,000 people!
Ten thousand warriors, as many as ten thousand armed men and women! This is a very astonishing number for everyone, and it is enough to support everyone's confidence in winning.
Novgorod has never been as powerful as it is today.
Vadim even lamented: "How could we have allowed the Russians to succeed if we had assembled such a large army decades earlier?"
The Slavs went to sleep one after another, and at night, a group of sneaky people rushed to the lakeside.
Grund and his men said nothing. The twenty women who were tightly controlled had their mouths tied with ropes and their hands tied with ropes. Some women didn't know what the future would bring, and their struggles earned them slaps from the Varangians. Others who were really dishonest simply had their hands and feet tied up, and were carried by strong warriors to the longship.
It didn't matter if no one noticed their actions.
The long boat was quickly overcrowded, and a few people on the shore finally pushed the boat to the shoal and were pulled up by their companions. They rowed hard and managed to row the boat into the lake.
Now, Grund finally breathed a sigh of relief.
It was also very sudden that an arrogant idea appeared in his mind: "Brothers, if the main force of the Russians fights that arrogant Vadim, it will be a big battle. Do we brothers watch the battle?"
Maybe everyone murmured that they were not afraid of anything on the lake. The bold people quickly unified their attitude - watch the show from a safe distance.
No, they just floated on the lake quietly waiting for the sunrise, waiting to watch the Russians deal with the violent Slavs.
On the other hand, Grund himself had escorted the prisoners back to the army gathering place at White Tree Manor as quickly as possible.
A total of three prisoners captured saw Varangians everywhere and the Volkhov River was covered with terrifying ships. They were so frightened that they lost control. Their legs seemed to have no muscles and could not walk, so they threw them on the ground. Just trembling.
Rurik was quite surprised by Grund's return, and when he saw the trembling captive, he immediately became interested.
"Sir, we know a lot of specific information about the enemy, as well as these three prisoners. We have made meritorious deeds, and you have to give us a reward." Grund sat on the ground to accept the credit.
"Forget it, I'll give each of you a silver coin and go down and rest."
"That's it?"
"You have made a meritorious service by capturing a prisoner, but I didn't let you do it. This is against the rules! Originally, you couldn't have expected anything. I'll give you a silver coin and go eat quickly."
Grund shrugged and left with his brothers angrily. Looking for the scent of wheat, they hurried to the large pottery urn where the wheat was cooked and received their dinner directly.
Rurik interrogated the prisoners on the spot, threatening in Slavonic that they were pardoned for their crimes of treason against the Pine Needles estate in exchange for making their report known.
This report was good. Rurik and his cronies were fully aware that the rebel Vadim was gathering troops and planning to take the initiative to attack. Obviously, Vadim's side needed more time to make strategic preparations.
In this case, the war is not just a simple counter-insurgency by the Russian army, but a counterattack in which both sides intend to initiate a full-scale war? At this moment, the last bit of psychological ambition deep in Rurik's heart was gone.
The soft light of the setting sun swept across the forest, and the faces of the Ross warriors gathered by the river turned orange. Soon, the setting sun turned red!
"What a bloody sunset!" Arik couldn't help but sigh.
"Indeed. Brother." Rurik said casually: "These three prisoners are handed over to you. You know what to do."
"Oh? I understand. Boy, I thought you were going to be merciful." Aric smiled.
Rurik couldn't laugh. He looked solemn: "I said that the rebellious Pine Needle Manor must be destroyed. Now you and I both know that if we don't take action, they will take the initiative. If these three people participate in the rebellion, they must die. Awakening, let’s help them face themselves.”
"I understand."
"Yeah. It's a kindness on our part to do things quickly and drag them to a hiding place for them."
Arik nodded in agreement and escorted the prisoner towards the farm with a dull face.
Old Otto saw all this, but he said nothing, only satisfied in his heart.
