Rise of Rurik

The reeds obscured the silhouette of the traveler, and the mastless longboat being towed was so lonely that it was immersed in it.

A bonfire was burning silently in the open space next to it, and tired travelers were lying around.

Looking at the empty and quiet place, they lit more fires in the hope that the light would scare away bears that might wander around at night. Although sentries were set up at night, the sentries were also drowsy and the sentries were ineffective.

Even if the elderly Harold still wants to have the grace of his youth, he will eventually have to face his own aging. He reminds the young cubs to stay vigilant, but he is the first to fall asleep after eating dry food.

Seeing that the boss was like this, the young people looked at each other and simply huddled together and watched the bonfire before going to bed.

The short spear was poked on the ground, and the clean clothes were hung on the wooden handle, as well as the boots that were completely soaked from walking in the water, in order to dry them.

They also carry swords and hand axes with them, and what is very strange is the wide buckler, which directly turns into a hard and dry wooden bed for the owner to curl up and sleep.

There are indeed bears roaming in this large swamp. Brown bears will catch fresh water fish to satisfy their hunger, and will also actively hunt some small animals. They can also attack people when necessary.

There are roaming bears in this area, and Ross's cavalry, who are exploring the environment, try to hunt them once they find them. Bears are not stupid, and cavalry are not stupid either. Some bears dragged their injured bodies and fled into the forest with arrows stuck in their flesh. The cavalry considered the risks and had no intention of going deep into the forest to pursue them.

Even with very advanced weapons, hunting bears is not something that the Ross cavalry can easily accomplish.

Ross's bear hunting team has spontaneously evolved into a professional team. The heavy hunting weapon is actually a torque slingshot that can fire javelins, which ensures that it will definitely penetrate the bear's body. Supplemented by crossbow shooting, they continued to cause damage to the bear from a distance. Finally, the spear wielders swarmed up and stabbed at the vital points. With such a hunting method, the bear skin peeled off naturally has large and small holes. It is not beautiful, but it is within the acceptable range.

Of course, there are also smart hunters who change sharp arrow clusters into blunt tips, only to cause serious internal injuries to their prey after precise sniping, thus peeling off the perfectly intact leather. It's just that this kind of hunting targets the orcs with the upper limit of body size such as foxes and forest cats.

In principle, Ross's cavalry could hunt bears, but Fisk would not allow his veterans to take risks. Subjectively, veterans are too lazy to use bear hunting to prove that they are real men, because they have already proved themselves on the battlefield.

The cavalry is to assist the Principality of Ostara in building new settlements. They bear a certain material burden for it along the way. Now that there is a lot of construction work in the river bend, there is really no need for standing cavalry to add to it.

It would be great if gold could be found during boring patrols. Everyone could joke about it. What we face every day is not only forest swamps, but also forest swamps.

Therefore, the sudden bonfire in the swamp was so eye-catching, and the cavalry soldiers who discovered it were particularly excited.

At ten o'clock in the morning, twenty riders who had eaten dry food began to take action under the leadership of Fisk, who had experienced many battles.

They formed a skirmish formation, with each rider separated by ten positions, thus forming a wide front line with a width of 200 meters. They left the resting place under the increasingly dark blue dawn starry sky and silently advanced towards the firelight.

While holding the reins with both hands, they also held the bow handles. The quivers hanging on the back of their right legs were full of arrows. Veterans have a high degree of battlefield sensitivity. They can draw three arrows in an instant and use a "triple grassland attack" on an enemy that appears.

There is a lot of moisture in the swampland in the early morning. When the sun is about to get angry, the morning fog in this area slowly evaporates.

The cavalry, who were already very familiar with the local environment, decided to contact the unnamed people quickly. With the silent neighing of the horses, contact was about to happen.

Those who were sleeping lightly heard strange noises, and those who woke up while rubbing their sleepy eyes were immediately shocked by the sight in front of them.

For the residents of the Riga region, horses have always played an important role in their lives, even if their horses are small. The carriages and cavalry were not enough, and they would not be surprised if they suddenly saw cavalry. However, in this wasteland, they found that the camp was surrounded by inexplicable cavalry. The fear instantly affected their heads, and their whole body went crazy.

"There is an enemy! Wake up! Prepare to fight!"

The battle alarm from the Norse language shocked all the sleeping people. They were very sensitive to words such as "battle" and "enemy". Although they were lost in their sleep, they went from deep sleep to picking up a round shield and pulling out a hand ax in an instant. It's just a matter of a moment.

As if from muscle memory, Fisk squinted his eyes and was surprised to see the surrounded group of weirdos with ships stand up one after another, and skillfully set up a shield wall, with their swords and axes placed on the shields, and they looked at the cavalry warily. them.

Such armed vigilance forced the cavalry to draw their bows.

Fisk stretched out his right fist to signal everyone to stay still, and maintained a strong sense of military deterrence as he stared at the group of people eagerly.

The awakened old Harold has realized that he is surrounded. As for the guys in front of him, they are uniformly dressed. The most important thing is that they are all cavalry. They are Ross people!

"What the hell, you can still encounter the Ross horse bandits in this place." He half-hunched over, holding the hilt of his sword, not knowing what to do for a moment.

The young boys had never participated in such a battle. They had heard of the Russians. After all, there was a group of pirates roaming outside the Gulf of Riga. In recent years, the pirates had displayed the flag of the Russians. Although they had never seen the Russian army, they knew well how the Russian flags were decorated at that time. Look! The cavalry in front of them flashed their flags, and the staggered blue stripes on the chest of their white robes were proof of identity.

Someone couldn't help but ask Harold: "Boss, what should we do? Fight them?"

"Don't panic. Let me think about what to say and I'll negotiate with them."

After all, Harold has seen big scenes. After all, he has no intention of staying here for a long time, let alone conflict with anyone. He suddenly thought of a move, maybe he could bring out some salt and amber, and even hand over the three captured women.

Unexpectedly, Leng Touqing disrupted all his plans with a heroic shout.

"You are actually Russians! We are not afraid of you! If you want to rob our goods, then come! Let you become the victims of my axe!"

If real enemies meet, shouting like this can be an excellent way to boost morale before the battle. Naihe is undoubtedly a disastrous scolding of the current situation.

"Norse?! Who are you?!" Fisk immediately asked loudly.

But I heard the young guy continue shouting: "We are the warriors of Denmark! Either you get out of here, or you fight."

Denmark? Now Denmark and Rus are in alliance. When did the Danes break their alliance? Apparently there are still some Danes who would rather work in Novgorod until autumn than leave early in order to make money.

Unless, this group of self-proclaimed Danes is not the Denmark everyone knows.

Seeing the group of shield-bearers gathered in a circle, the cavalry kept a certain distance from them. The brothers held three arrows in their right hands, ready to shoot three arrows at the enemy at any time.

Fisk definitely didn't get angry after being provoked by words. Now the Russians were completely dominant.

He still needed to be sure, so he asked: "Whose instructions did you receive to transit through this area? Is it the King of Denmark? Or the nobles from Kiev?"

Old Harold, whose liver was trembling with anger at his subordinates' stupid provocation, heard the "big bald man" on horseback ask this question, and instantly realized that there was an operable situation here. He wanted to lie and say that the so-called brothers were under the control of the King of Denmark and were just planning to transit here. There was no hostility.

However, the brave and aggressive subordinates did not have the forbearance of the old man. They understood Fisk's Norse and heard the news, but they answered questions in Norse: "We know you are bandits on horseback! Don't try to steal our treasure! Either you will die today or we will die!" Come and fight! Coward!"

coward? ! The last thing brothers want to hear is to be called a coward by a group of stupid young men!

The sky is getting brighter and brighter now, and the morning fog is beginning to evaporate. Fisk, who had no intention of procrastinating any longer, judged that these guys must be able to see the obvious Ross flag. If they were allies, there was a possibility of misunderstanding when the light was dim before, but now it seems absolutely impossible.

Then fight!

Fisk gave the order: "Fight! Kill those who refuse to obey and take prisoners!"

A young man from the Gulf of Riga who was eager to fight suddenly encountered the "three consecutive shots of the steppe" from the Ross cavalry.

Some people were shot through the eyes and face on the spot, and the sharp-conical armor-piercing arrows penetrated the brain, killing them on the spot.

The arrows penetrated the round shield, and the man behind the shield screamed in pain when his arm was pierced. He was also shocked by the arrows stuck in the shield wall.

There was a critical attack at the beginning, with as many as sixty arrows serving the twenty people in front of him, and then there was non-stop shooting.

The besieged people tried to take the initiative, but the Ross cavalry who deliberately kept a distance retreated and shot them.

This was the indiscriminate killing of a group of fledgling young people by veterans of a hundred battles. Unfortunately, the latter were unable to prepare chain armor due to poverty. They had no armor and could only use their round shields as their only shield. The round shields could not cover their shelter, but there were holes everywhere.

Lying on the muddy ground, a man was struck by an arrow and convulsed. He wriggled and crawled hard to prepare for the missed arrow.

The recurve bows from the Pechenegs were small in size but weighed quite a lot. With such indiscriminate killing at close range, the round shields of those people were useless.

Harold had no reason to pay for the recklessness of these young brats. In other words, his immortality over the years was largely due to his disregard for his companions. For example, in the most dangerous time, he and his men made a sneak attack on a large business owner in Eastern Rome in Kherson, but were killed by his servants. Instead of saving his besieged brothers, he ran away decisively.

This time, look around you...

"Oops, am I going to die here?"

If he were a brave warrior, he would happily face his end, but he was as cunning as a fox. Even at this critical moment, he squeezed decisively into the center of the shield wall, and was so smart that he leaned on the round shield and half-crouched to let the young people Withstand the blow of missing arrows.

The battle became a one-sided killing, because the Ross cavalry did not wear armor for convenience. They deliberately kept their distance and continued to fire with a large number of arrows.

The people who are surrounded cannot move at all and must cover themselves with shields as much as possible. Any flaw is fatal. The casualties couldn't stop at all. They were like prey in the eyes of the Ross cavalry. The boredom of the past few days was well vented by this killing.

In the end, it seemed that only seven shield bearers survived, and three women huddled together.

The former's shield was beaten like a hedgehog by arrows, but the three women of the latter were unharmed.

"Pause!" Fisk gave the order, and Arrow's violent catharsis came to an end.

He also ordered: "Surrender! Surrender if you understand."

surrender? It's easy to say. The young bastards witnessed a large number of deaths of their fellow villagers, and the warm blood soaked the land. Their previous pride was ruthlessly beaten to pieces. Those who survived were trembling, their faces and mouths were trembling, and they could not even say the words to declare surrender. explain.

Romance

At least the Russians gave him a way to survive.

At this moment, old Harold felt as sick as if he had eaten a lot of maggots. He was furious at the recklessness of his men. He showed no mercy to the large number of casualties and even wanted to kill a few more to vent his anger.

"I was almost tricked to death by a group of young idiots..."

But now, the only one who can save his life is himself.

Harold climbed out from the last shield wall, hung his sword on his waist, and raised his hands to indicate that he had no weapons.

"No fight! Warriors! We won't fight."

"It's ridiculous. You obviously chose to fight." Fisk glanced at the corner of his mouth and continued to ask: "Are you the leader? Surrender?"

Old Harold hurriedly denied it, then pointed to his gray beard and hair: "Warrior, do you think an old man is the leader? I am just an ordinary armed traveler. That guy." He pointed at a man who was shot. He opened his mouth and said: "His name is Bjorn, he is the leader of our team."

"A dead body? Does it deserve to be called Bjorn?" Anyway, they are all good names on the street, so Fisk doesn't care. "If you are willing to surrender, throw away all your weapons."

So, Harold immediately obeyed, and then said with a smile: "Warrior! I know that you are actually Russians. Don't kill me, keep me for you."

Fisk, who was riding a horse, remained arrogant: "You know our identity, why bother to resist? You don't know the consequences of annoying us? Danes, do you understand the current situation?"

Harold actually didn't understand, so he could only laugh at this moment: "Even if I understand, they don't understand either. I know a lot of things, keep me, I will report to your leader. Warriors, you... should always hope to know something about it. It’s about Smolensk.”

After hearing that last sentence, Fisk's attitude immediately became ambiguous.

"Okay! Old man. You gave me a reason why I can't kill you. I will take you to the north. If you can provide a lot of information as you said, you will be entertained. As for the others..."

Harold turned his head and glanced: "Them? It doesn't matter whether they live or die."

"So heartless? You are also travelers traveling together. It's still you! Tell me your name, and where you... come from."

Many things must be buried forever, and this guy had a clever trick and lied: "We come from Riga, my name is Olaf."

"Well, Olaf. At least you're smarter than your companions."

Riga, this geographical concept is not unfamiliar to Fisk. As Rurik's favorite general and a member of the same race as Old Rus with a common ancestor, Fisk was able to learn a lot of advanced knowledge. He knew the coastline trends in Eastern Europe. Not only did he know the name of Riga, but he also knew its approximate location. However, Ross did not communicate with the locals. Maybe this is an opportunity, because this swamp is the source of the West Dvina River, and the river's mouth is Riga.

One prisoner is enough, not to mention a valuable prisoner.

The brothers cannot let go of the words "you are cowards". The veterans are fully in combat mode. Those who utter arrogance must be responsible for their words.

Fisk then signaled to several brothers, and a small team put down their bows and collectively drew their steel swords.

A powerful cavalry charge, trampling with iron hoofs and slashing with steel swords, it was all over.

The cavalry resolved the battle with overwhelming force, and Harold saw all this as both a witness and a bystander. He began to understand why the guys in Smolensk had been constantly losing blood due to cavalry attacks in recent years. I'm afraid it wasn't that those guys were stupid and weak, but that the Ross cavalry was too strong. A group of brave and fierce Danish young men were shot unilaterally. The cavalry had no "Nordic shame" and did not engage in an honorable battle at all.

If Harold had been spiritually pedantic, he might have died a few years ago. His survival to this day was all due to his cheating and cowardice. Just like when he received a large amount of money from Pine Needle Manor, but did not listen to the command of the manor owner Brudne during the decisive battle, and ran away with the money knowing that it was impossible to defeat the Russian army at that time, it can be said that he has no mercenary spirit.

He knew very well that if it was discovered that he was an enemy of Ross back then, his life would definitely be in danger due to the fierceness of the Ross people.

Fortunately, all the guys who knew the inside story were killed by the cavalry. He felt that he could continue to use the pseudonym Olaf to save his life in Ross, and even bring some new possibilities.

Only at this moment, he was very happy with his aging. The white beard, white hair and wrinkles on his face have changed his appearance, which obscures his past.