Did the blue fox really become Odin's warrior? How can it be……
This man's biggest belief is interests, which can be his own wealth interests or the long-term interests of his family. He deliberately stayed in Hedeby, dressing up like a soldier who was ready to die, still for the benefit of the family.
The continuous rain disrupted his plan, and now he can only continue to wait for the storm to end and the waves to subside.
The wet Ross flag that has been hanging in the rain is the biggest mockery of the Danes. Although the muddy and cold world forces the Danish army to be unable to attack, for various considerations, they will continue the confrontation.
Everyone knows that as long as the storm ends, the war will begin again.
Those men shivering in the rain only clung to the dream of getting rich, and now this dream has become the force that supports them to continue fighting.
However, the disease inevitably began to eat away at these farmers who were forcibly drafted to fight.
Danish tribal warriors will endure all kinds of disadvantages and persist in fighting for the dual honor of the tribe and the individual. But I saw that these peasant warriors did not belong to a certain Danish tribe. Some of them were simply Saxon peasants who had fled south and were not Danes.
The cold rain continued to erode their will to fight, and also began to kill some of the weak ones.
On such a rainy day, even a strong man may die from untimely and sustained hypothermia. All the best cold-proof items were taken away by Stud and his soldiers, and even the horses were well taken care of. The second level is the so-called troops of various gangs, who have more or less obtained rags to resist the cold. Speaking of this group of peasant soldiers, they couldn't get anything to keep out the cold, so some people began to find that when the cold morning returned, frozen corpses began to appear in the camp.
Before the new battle started, corpses began to be transported to his camp, and there were quite a lot of them.
The dead were frozen to death without effective food supplies, and the living farmers and soldiers were also in very bad condition.
No one advised Stad to continue the tactical contraction for the sake of the overall situation. The so-called putting supplementary supplies first was precisely for the sake of the overall situation. Stad and his soldiers just wanted to stay near the ruins that had been overdone, and always asked the Russians. The fort makes its presence felt.
Stade and his soldiers have lost some of their gangsterism after living in the Frankish territory for a long time. Their battles are more organized and logistical. They have enough dry food for themselves in this battle.
The gangsters and their people relied on the local people's skills in fish and meat. They had a material warehouse in the city of Hedebe, and the brothers who had stored a batch of dried fish could enjoy it.
It was really hard on the farmers. They were never mentally prepared to besiege the enemy. From the beginning, they were promised to finish the battle quickly and have gold and silver to grab, so they brought a small amount of dry food and farm tools to go out.
Many people believe that they were forced to fight, and they became extremely willing when they thought about it. Now everyone just wants to take advantage of the neglect of supervision and run away.
There were indeed peasant soldiers who took advantage of the chaos to flee, but how many of them were there?
The dry food had been eaten, and a group of "hungry wolves" began to forage in the city. Under the double blow of hunger and cold, they may not dare to attack the Russians, but they dared to launch a strong attack on the residences of some big businessmen.
Although Stade promised not to take action against businessmen who offered suggestions, he also lacked the subjective will to stop a group of hungry farmers from plundering in order to survive.
Hungry farmers robbed merchants' mansions. The mercenaries guarding the mansion immediately gave up resistance and fled after seeing the formation.
The "great cleverness" who once mobilized Stade, his mansion was also robbed, but he had already taken his most important belongings, led his wife, concubines, children and a group of mercenaries to escape from the city in a carriage. There are no valuables in the mansion.
The looting slightly eased the morale of the hungry farmers who were about to collapse. They got some cold-proof linen and damp wheat grains. Many hungry people even opened their mouths to gnaw oats like cattle and horses.
Stade subjectively does not want to take care of these things that farmers do, but in fact he can no longer take care of them. His soldiers are naturally very loyal, and they are all old brothers who trust each other. The most important thing he needs to unite is the group of gangsters who are obviously not very reliable. After all, the gangs are more reliable than the temporary farmers who come to corrupt the situation.
"The damn rain made me miserable! People from Russia, are you determined to die? Will you also freeze to death in the rain?"
Stade didn't know the situation of the Russians, but he learned that as many as fifty people in his camp had died of hypothermia and freezing. The supplies looted by the farmers could not completely prevent the situation from continuing unless the rain passed and the weather cleared.
The rainfall process actually lasted for five days, which was a really long rainy day.
When the long-lost sunshine once again shone on the rotten and humid land, the warriors like loaches came out of their hiding places, knowing that the war was not far away from resuming.
Stade reorganized his army again. Although he had bad expectations, he was surprised when only a thousand armed men finally stood up.
In addition to a group of escapees, there were hundreds of non-combat deaths in the past week. The peasant soldiers were in the worst condition. After staying in a very short and terrible environment for a week, their faces lacked blood and they were a little swaying when they stood up. Many of them also had fevers. This kind of situation was not to mention fighting. They would not die of illness and cold in a short time. Death is a burning incense.
The peasant soldiers who made up the numbers were no longer trustworthy, but some of them who still maintained good spirits were favored by him. quilt
After several battles, a small group of outstanding peasant soldiers can always stand out from the conscripted peasant soldiers. The wealthy locals and large lords in Flanders have the right to recruit peasant soldiers to fight according to Frankish decrees. They found that the outstanding ones with strong physical fitness often directly If you are promoted to a servant, although you are still a farmer, your social status will be improved, and you can even become a prostitute overnight and work as a professional guard for the lord.
The world in Denmark is more cruel than that in Frank. This is a world where only the strong can survive, so Stade has no regrets about his own people freezing to death and starving to death.
The rain has stopped, but the whole world is still muddy, which is extremely detrimental to his secret weapon.
The north wind after the rain is still sharp, but people's bodies are no longer wet, and the problem of hypothermia has been greatly alleviated.
Troops were severely reduced, and those who could continue fighting lacked morale. Now, the legend about mountains of gold and silver has become extremely important.
Stade reorganized his army under the cover of the ruins. Facing a group of frowning people, he held his sword and preached: "The sea is rough, and God will not give the Russians a chance to escape with their treasures! They decided to fight to the end holding on to their gold and silver." , I want you to kill them, and all the gold and silver will be yours!"
That being said, in fact, if he really started to rob Stade, he would be able to rob even more because of his status and addiction to cigarettes. However, in his current predicament, he knew that he would create a huge pie for his subordinates.
The sluggish morale has been boosted, and now only looting money is the factor that keeps them fighting. A group of sick people also join in the shouting, as if their own patients have also recovered.
Their boiling shouts were very loud. They were venting their momentum to their opponents, and they were firmly noticed by the Russians.
Here at Ross Shops Fortress, things haven't gotten too serious yet.
The slightly sloppy wooden wall defenders once again tightened their grip on the hilt of their swords. Some jumped deep into the semi-dry land and rushed into the room to report to the blue fox.
"Sir, the enemy is roaring, they are demonstrating against us."
"Yes! I heard it all!" Blue Fox put on a serious face, continued to wear his chainmail, and murmured to himself: "A new battle is about to begin again."
The turbulence of the sea caused by the rainfall directly broke the Russians' retreat plan. Of course they could escape through the lanes, but how could they maneuver the ship on the raging waves if they escaped?
The mercenaries were silent to each other. They all wore uniform robes with the flag of Rus sewn on their clothes.
They returned to their respective posts and began to hold on, waiting for their fateful battle.
Some mercenaries were praying to Odin, some were just staring into the distance, and some seemed to be fine.
Regarding the future, Blue Fox's mind is blank. He actually doesn't want to die in battle, so it's not appropriate to attack Faith Odin.
It would be great if there was a god who could use divine power to ensure that he would be safe in the end. What god would do such a thing?
He thought a little about his previous reply to that Eskil, the old guy kept admonishing him, and now it's time to think about it...
However, Stade did not give Blue Fox any more time to think. The wet ground was drying at a speed visible to the naked eye, the mud was no longer serious, and the siege vehicle transformed from a trolley and wooden piles could be driven smoothly by manpower.
The troops of Stade were shouting, which was clearly the last mobilization for the war. As the so-called principle of attacking in one go, Stade was afraid that the morale he had finally boosted would drop. He had no intention of delaying any longer and announced the start of the second round of attacks on the spot.
He mounted his well-maintained tall horse and led his small group of cavalry to stand out from the crowd.
He continued waving his sword and shouting: "All men attack! Loot your gold and silver, and you will all be rich! Now follow me!"
Stade really did what he said. In full view of everyone, he personally led the cavalry out of the burned ruins and appeared in front of Ross's store again, appearing impressively in front of the store guards.
"Sir, villains have appeared, and their leader must be a horseman." Someone suggested that the blue fox guarding behind the wooden wall fired a cold arrow.
The blue fox revealed its entire head, squinting its eyes and grinning in the sun, staring at it: "This distance is a bit far, can you hit it?"
The speaker then smiled and said, "If you have a torque slingshot, you can snipe him."
"What you said is nonsense! Damn it, if I had known this, I would have left a slingshot..."
The lack of heavy equipment would take a toll on the Russians' vaunted combat prowess, but they had no time to complain now.
listen! It’s the low and chilling roar of the horn!
The blue fox also tightened his grip on the hilt of the sword, the bow holder put the arrow on the hilt of the bow, and the crossbow was also strung up.
An old mercenary thought of a move: "Brothers, hide for the time being. Let the enemy advance boldly and we will shoot them." The old mercenary called out, but most of the people had already instinctively ambush.
On the other side of the battlefield, Stade, who was riding a horse, became angry when he saw the Ross flag hung by his opponent.
Behind him were thousands of warriors eager to get rich. People in different clothes walked out of the zigzag box. Various shields began to build a shield wall, and they began to beat the shields at the request of various gang bosses. They advanced slowly amidst the violent noise, and gradually came to the front of the horseman.
Behind them, the phantom of the siege car gradually appeared. The wheels crushed the mud, and dozens of people pushed it, breathing heavily. It is indeed a heavy tool, and due to its heavy weight, hitting a wooden wall at a low speed can still bring a lot of force.
Among a group of ragged people, an armored man guarding a large object looked particularly unique.
The Ross mercenaries had seen the world, and they suddenly realized that the strange thing was the so-called rushing car.
Everyone's hearts tightened, but Blue Fox could not intuitively understand the specific use of that object. He just asked his subordinates very curiously: "What are those armored men guarding? Isn't it some kind of weapon?"
"It's a weapon!" An old mercenary changed his previous free and easy attitude and warned with a horrified expression: "That thing is extraordinary. They will push it against our wall, and the wooden wall will be knocked down."
"Ah?! That's not it!"
"My lord, Prince Rurik is the best at using this weapon. Unexpectedly... the Danes also know how to use it."
Blue Fox was speechless. He felt that the wooden wall that was difficult to break through had turned into a piece of cloth that was easily pierced.
"What can be done about it?"
Blue Fox's question was everyone's question, and another old mercenary thought: "If we have enough oil, we can set a fire by heating the oil and pouring it down, but..."
"Shut up!" Blue Fox said emotionally in desperation, "We don't have any more oil at all."
Based on this dilemma, most of the old mercenaries have been relieved, and some even suggested to Blue Fox: "Once the wooden wall collapses, our brothers will fight with them."
"Am I going to join in? I... will be killed."
The mercenaries did not blame the financial owner for his fear at all, so some suggested that Blue Fox take advantage of the chaos to escape through the tunnels, while others shouted: "You just accidentally killed an enemy, Odin will not approve of you. We are different, we He fought for the Prince of Rus, and after his death, his soul entered the Hall of Valor directly and gloriously."
Fleeing alone? To put it lightly. In the past, Blue Fox would run away without hesitation when encountering disaster, but now he hesitated. "At least I have to make sure that the fortress cannot be defended before escaping."
The mercenaries will not surrender. They are either from Sweden or Finland, and there are even new Slavs joining the group. The captured Swedes will be killed, but the Finns and Slavs may not die. They will also be slaves for life. After all, it is not death in battle. What awaits everyone is a tragic fate. Since the opponent cannot give everyone the possibility of survival, the brothers are united as never before.
Will Stade really give the Russians a chance to survive?
He has issued an order to kill without mercy, wielding a steel sword with his big hand, and an order to attack regardless of priority has been issued.
Compared to gangs' tactics of charging and slashing in a chaotic manner and relying only on brute force and numerical superiority to win, Stade did a more detailed job based on this major premise.
The number of infantry archers in the regular Frankish army was very low. Most of the time the archers were just recruited forest hunters. The key to victory was brute force fighting. The situation in Stade was even worse. Among the more than a thousand combat soldiers, only fifty bows were gathered, and fifty people were randomly selected to draw the bows.
Something is better than nothing. These archers walked out of the shield wall array first, each carrying ten arrows and throwing them at the Russians. Many people can only shoot roughly at a target, and there are very few true accurate shooters. It is unknown how much results projectiles can bring. At least archery can boost the morale of one's own army.
