The fire in Bremen only intensified further, with St. Peter's Church in particular completely engulfed in flames. The corpses of the people who died there, as well as those who died on the winding road, will be reduced to ashes in the fire and will end up being cremated.
They were buried for the entire city, and their deaths were like countless slaps on the faces of the local lords.
Earl Hunt desperately ran back to Bremen with his troops. He was still far away from the city, but the pungent burnt smell was already so pervasive that he could clearly smell it.
The cavalry soldiers covered their mouths and noses one after another, looking at the fire and smoke ahead. The entire unit could not help but slow down in shock.
People can try their best to stay calm. Have the war horses seen such a scene before? The war horses were more frightened than people, and some horses were so panicked that they did not dare to move.
The families of a large number of cavalrymen were in the city. Doesn't it seem like all the family members were killed?
Just like the flames, thinking about the possibility of these disasters, the anger in the hearts of the soldiers also exploded and burned.
They could gradually feel the heat of the flames. As they entered the farmland near the city, the cavalry stood on the bare harvested wheat fields, looking at the burning city with bloodshot eyes and no longer daring to move around.
The temperature has become cooler, and the cavalrymen have dismounted. Just standing here, everyone can feel the unprecedented heat. It is more intense than the summer heat, just like the purgatory scene mentioned by the priest.
Priest? Look at that spire standing in flames! That's St. Peter's Church!
By a very coincidence, while everyone was watching, the masonry tower finally collapsed due to the collapse of the load-bearing wooden columns. The vibration and roar caused by the collapse were directly felt by the cavalry's feet. Along with the collapse, thicker gray smoke rose up, and for a moment red flames sprayed into the sky, as if there was a crack in the earth and the monsters from hell were about to rush out.
Many soldiers were so frightened that they sat on the ground and retreated one after another. Many others knelt on their knees, threw away their spears and kept crossing themselves on their chests.
Watching such a horrific scene, Earl Hunter was not afraid, nor even angry. He looked confused, none of this seemed real, but a hateful nightmare. He gritted his teeth hard and realized that all of this was reality.
They watched here until nightfall, and at night, the sky was illuminated red by the eternal fire of Bremen.
The Earl of Bremen's troops were resting on the spot, and the fire in the city provided sufficient lighting. However, the supplies that everyone urgently needed were either looted by the Normans or burned to ashes in the flames.
The war horses ate scattered wheat straw, and then ate reeds farther away. The soldiers had no choice but to sit down. They were running in such a hurry that they didn't even have cooking utensils, and their return to Bremen for supplies was in vain. This time they could only take out the small amount of raw rye from their cloth pockets and chew it directly to satisfy their hunger like horses. Even if it is easy to get upset.
This night, many soldiers took a nap on the hot ground. Many people couldn't sleep at all and barely woke up until almost dawn.
On a new day, the fire in Bremen continues, and it looks more like a fire-breathing dragon emerging from the area. Indeed, some soldiers looked at the sudden whirlwind of fire and screamed "draconedefeur" before falling into a coma and falling down.
The Count was expecting a rain to put an end to the damn flames, but today the weather was clear.
"I can't be such a coward anymore! I must take revenge!"
He learned from the pain, endured the pain of stretching his legs before, stood up holding the iron sword, and called on all the soldiers to stand up.
He made an impassioned speech in front of the tired and angry soldiers, and insulted the Normans in vulgar language.
A very important strategic judgment was mentioned: "The Normans set the fire recently. I dare say they have not been away for long. They must have looted a lot of property, and it may take a lot of time to move it away by ship. Now we have If there is a good opportunity, we must catch up with them and attack bravely, and we must not let this group of barbarians escape."
Must attack! Must fight! As for how to arrange the war after the war, no one cares at present.
Or is it said that the mourning soldiers will win? The morale of the cavalry, fueled by anger, was high.
Although the count was obsessed with revenge, he still clearly understood that he did not have much capital on hand. The cavalry has strong combat effectiveness but requires a lot of material maintenance. In particular, to maintain the combat effectiveness of the war horses, a large amount of oats and rye must be fed. Simply eating grass on the spot cannot maintain the efficient combat of the war horses. The Frankish nobles had their own tricks when it came to using cavalry, so the earl was not willing to crazily squeeze the horse power.
Knowing that he was unable to fight a protracted battle with the attackers, Earl Hunter decided to bypass the burning city and advance downstream along the river. In this way, the horses can eat rushes and reeds along the way and barely maintain their fighting power. As for the soldiers, they naturally have to rely on willpower to endure.
After all, he provided an alternative direction for the cavalry. Once they were in vain, the whole team would go directly to the territory of the Earl of Flanders, report the bad news to him, and also rent a batch of food for emergency use. He really couldn't afford the money to buy it at the moment, but he could cut off part of his territory as a price.
On the other hand, Bremen's flames illuminated the night sky red, and the Russian soldiers resting on the shore joked about it.
The cooks had already cooked a large amount of captured rye, but as soon as it was cooked, the eager people dug it out of the urns into bowls, sprinkled a handful of salt on it, and chewed it.
The cooks also have mixed feelings, but they can actually eat salt in the barbarian camp. At what cost?
No, the soldiers from Saaremaa Island had already pounced on them, took away the group of cooks, and pinned them to the ground to focus on their own happiness.
Arik and other organized Ross warriors disdain relationships with these women that require them to take responsibility afterwards. The biggest reason is faith. Maybe the people of Saaremaa would just ignore it.
The coalition forces continued to camp on the river beach where they had stayed. Of course, they could continue to withdraw, but the coalition forces needed a longer period of time to rest.
A great victory, a large Frankish city was given a "burning death", and even Rus achieved such a great success for the first time. Seven hundred warriors defeated a city ten times their own population, and it was reasonable for the brothers to suddenly have a contempt for the Franks.
Carrying loot on a large scale in a short period of time requires all warriors to rest for a long time.
Maybe this river beach is not safe, but there is nothing more open than this river beach in the vast area. More than 700 people camped on the river beach. A few days ago, the two teams met here and almost got into a fight by mistake. Now, the two teams are already comrades fighting together.
Arik, who was lying on his side by the campfire, looked lazy. He joked casually: "Don't be Danes anymore! Completely separate yourself from that Danish king. Come to Rus and we will be brothers. Your people will be my people from now on." Let’s go to war together and eat meat together, wouldn’t it be fun?”
Ragnar was also lying on his side and talking: "As long as your brother agrees, of course I support it."
"Of course he supports it. He has not wanted to fight with the Danes for a long time. If there is a chance for peaceful business, who is willing to fight. He can even make you a war chief, and your tribe will form a flag force. If there is a big war in the future, In a large-scale battle, your team will fight together, and you can always get a lot of loot after the war..."
At this moment, Aric really didn't regard Ragna as an outsider, and Ragna was equally happy about this. Both parties are the most traditional Viking men, with the most loyal natures.
After the two men of similar age finished chatting about the war, they couldn't help but talk about women and even children.
Two boys were carried to the campfire by Ragnar. One could just walk, and the other was severely disabled.
Look at the boy's legs. They are weak and thin as his arms.
Arik was shocked because in traditional life, disabled children had no right to live. A boy with shrunken legs would be killed when the condition was discovered.
"What's going on? He..." Considering that he would say something offensive next, Arik simply shut up.
"Are you surprised?" Ragna smiled: "It doesn't matter, you let him speak for himself. Ivar, you speak for yourself."
Ivar is almost six years old and has no problem speaking.
This kid said in a slightly arrogant voice: "Odin chose me and let me live. Odin must ask me to do something, I don't know now. I can't walk, my arms and brain are normal. I Really just can’t walk.”
The more Ivar emphasized something, the more he felt inferior to it. Indeed, a warrior with a broken arm can still fight with one arm. How can he fight with weak legs?
These words are more than familiar? ! Arik sat upright in surprise and smiled again: "Is it really fate? My brother, Rurik, the prince of Rus, was also a man chosen by Odin. We Rus are rich and powerful because of his merits."
"Is this so?!" Ragnar also sat upright and held the young Ivar in his arms.
"You must reach Rus. Ivar is destined to be extraordinary if he has divine help."
"That's a good thing. When do you decide to set off?"
"Let's stay here for two more days. Brothers can also have some rest." Arik said casually, but Ragna didn't think it was inappropriate, so he acquiesced.
The two chatted a lot, and then Blue Fox and Spyut also joined in. When they get together with each other, the known information is summarized and exchanged, and a lot of unknown information also comes out.
The Russians learned that the Danes were essentially in disarray. The only leader who truly admired all the Danes was Godfrey, who had been dead for thirty years. The other successors were not convinced, especially the current King of Denmark, Horik, who had lost the support of the people. Many people The lords left Denmark voluntarily, so that the strength of Danish immigrants in areas such as Bergen Fjord and Oslo Fjord in Norway, as well as the Götaland area in southern Scandinavia, expanded rapidly.
Ragnar also learned that the leader of the Royal Pirates of Ross was Spyut who was sitting here, and that the order to "annihilate the ships encountered" was issued by the Prince of Ross. Everything was just to vent his anger. But the prince was very smart. After learning about the Franks behind the scenes, his strategy was instantly adjusted to attack the Franks.
All of you here are Viking madmen and have made extraordinary achievements, and now we are all working together to burn down the city of Bremen.
Their rest was still continuing. On this river beach, everyone quickly entered a peaceful and stable life. With a huge amount of wheat in their hands, they felt no sense of security.
But Aric was not so arrogant that he did not even post sentries.
Rurik did not design an "Army Code of Conduct" for the principality, but the army was actively summarizing past successes and failures. The Russian army will always be aware of enemy sneak attacks, so setting up sentries in this way is particularly important.
The five sentry teams were ambushing in the forest. Of course, they were not hiding among the dead branches and leaves, but they were resting on the big trees and sensing the vibrations around them.
The low vibration of the earth appeared suddenly. A sentry put his ear against the tree trunk and gradually felt that the source of the vibration was approaching.
With a keen sense of battlefield, the sentry team ran out of the woods one after another. They looked at each other and instantly concluded that it was an imminent danger.
They shouted and ran towards the river beach camp.
The people who were waiting for the meal noticed the running sentry. At first, everyone was a little dazed. However, as a black shadow emerged from the forest, even the dazed people became alert.
"Damn! It's actually a cavalry! Damn the pursuers, how did they find us?!" Ragna cursed to himself, and then looked at Arik's reaction.
There were more and more cavalry. From the perspective of the cavalry, Earl Hunter was also very surprised: "Normans, you are hiding here. You are hateful evil demons. It's hard for me to find you. You...there are so many of you?! Still... Those... are actually big ships?!" Looking at the flags hanging on the masts of the big ships, I immediately understood that this was the Ross army.
Hunter finally saw the Russian fleet. Although it was very unbelievable, what the envoy named Joseph Blue Fox said was actually true.
Is this enough to scare the proud Frank cavalry?
Hunter called for the cavalry to assemble in Frankish, and the cavalry who broke out of the woods formed ranks as they came. In the forest, the five-meter-long spear cannot be stretched. In order to avoid accidental injury, each rider kept a distance, and the rider held the front part of the spear, and most of the wooden pole of the spear was hanging behind to drag it.
The Frankish cavalry were regaining their inherent heroic appearance, and the forest of spears was truly terrifying.
Ragnar's troops were afraid of these damn cavalry, and he did not dare to show cowardice in front of the Ross allies, so he called the women and children to evacuate to the boat. The men immediately formed a shield wall and stood on the river bank with the honor of men against the enemy.
But he watched helplessly as the Russians only built a thin shield wall, while more people were actually climbing rope ladders to board the ship? !
This scene made Arik yell: "Arik, do you Russians want to retreat? If you withdraw, we will follow you?!"
Arik immediately explained: "Who said we retreat?! Don't get me wrong! Continue to maintain the front, we have to adjust the heavy weapons and kill all these damn cavalry! Do you understand? Kill these cavalry!"
Indeed, when the Frank cavalry was busy arranging the teams that had been forced to loosen up in the forest into a wall, the Ross coalition also had a valuable window of combat readiness.
If we use infantry to defeat this group of cavalry, the Ross coalition will even be annihilated. This is because the Frankish cavalry generally refrained from rushing forward on the wall due to the relative lack of horses. Instead, the cavalry approached the formation and stabbed the enemies in the formation with super-powerful spears. In a sense, this style of play is a phalanx of spears versus a phalanx of swords and shields, except that the cavalry can come and run as fast as they can, and their flexible poking is a classic Frankish tactic.
From Hunter's perspective, the Normans finally stopped escaping and dared to line up openly for a decisive battle. They are so stupid...
Let's look at the fleet lined up in a long snake formation. All the side torsion slingshots have been moved to the starboard side of the enemy. As a result, the fleet has assembled as many as eighty torsion slingshots. It has to control so many weapons. Naturally, it requires a lot of manpower.
To deal with cavalry, heavy weapons are mostly a one-shot deal. The key lies in the first throw of Qiankun!
Torsion slingshots are equipped with cast-iron bullets, which can be used to deal with enemies at medium and close ranges. They are indeed deadly weapons that can break armor.
The crossbows were also charging up, and arrows were inserted one after another, waiting to be lined up for use.
As for the fifty Finnish archers, under the leadership of Jevlo, they all stood on the ship and seized the commanding heights.
The Russians reacted very quickly. Hunter, who was on the other side, noticed this situation. He had a premonition of a crisis, but didn't know what it meant. He could only order his people to line up as quickly as possible, and then destroy Norman. The human infantry shield wall enables the cavalry to break formations and kill indiscriminately.
But the Russians were prepared for war one step ahead of the enemy, so that the heavy weapons they had on standby were not in vain.
Hunter had no intention of waiting any longer. He raised his iron sword and suddenly ordered: "Cavalry! Spear forward! Kill the Normans! à l'attaque!"
The cavalry charges! One after another, the extremely long spears moved forward in unison with their sharp and shining spearheads. Both men and horses have heavy cavalry with leather and mail armor in front, and light cavalry without any armor behind. Three hundred cavalry spears were aimed at the Ross coalition, and a cavalry regiment attacked the navy and marines.
A wall was coming. Ragnar's fearlessness in the face of danger was false. For the sake of honor, he had to stand by the river. Moreover, he and his people had no way to retreat, because behind them was the fleet that seemed to have entered the wall.
Suddenly, a high-pitched roar: "Hjutraaaaah!"
It was Arik, he gave the order!
All the torque slingshots fired at the same time, it was a volley of Qiankun!
