Chapter 201： Danish offensive

The date of the expedition was set on the fifteenth of May in the Julian calendar.

Gotland was attacked at the end of April, and the Danes reacted fiercely in just over two weeks. The Danish alliance under Hafgen’s rule was still capable of assembling troops.

On this day of expedition, the weather cannot be said to be very good.

In the early morning, the foggy world caused young Ragnar to be inexplicably worried about the future battle.

"If today is a sunny day, our war will definitely be won." Standing at the door of his camp, he couldn't help muttering.

"My lord, we will win," one of his close subordinates echoed.

"Of course we will win, wait a while and see what the leader will do. Now order the brothers to get up, we are ready to go."

The raids Ragnar knew about were all long boats launching sudden attacks. All the warriors only carried a small amount of supplies. Almost all of them needed to be captured from the battlefield for how to sleep and eat.

He didn't understand the situation of the Northern Alliance. From his father, he learned that the Northern Alliance and the Danish Alliance were not much different in nature. It would be foolish to think that the enemy is a group of weak people.

So this time, Ragnar made a little material reserve, which was unprecedented. As for the others, he really can't control it.

He put on the most advanced riveted chain mail outside the thick leather armor. The chain armor can even protect his arms, and even form a skirt made of chain armor. In this way, he only needs to beware of the enemy's sledgehammer, and the combination of lock and leather armor has been able to isolate the damage from the sharp sword.

About fifty of the army he commanded had ordinary chain-linked mail armor, and the rest were leather armor.

Even so, compared to the armies of other allies, the Ragnar commander's strength is small, and in terms of weapons and equipment, it can be described as the top Nordic in this time and space.

Even for the powerful Robard tribe with a large population, the leader Hafgen wants to show his martial arts, but he does not have the financial resources to equip all the tribal fighters assembled with excellent mail.

According to the latest order, a traditional commercial market near the beach of the Lobad tribe has suspended commercial activities at this place, and all merchants moved to other places to set up their stalls.

In an instant, the field became a school field where soldiers assembled.

Soldiers from various allied tribes, Oslo mercenaries, and Lobard's own tribe, after eating an early morning meal, poured into this solid sandy ground that has been trampled on by thousands of people. .

Because, there is still a sacrifice before the expedition.

Five pillars were erected on a temporary platform made of stones, and Ragnar saw them and understood the trick of the lord.

In the anxious wait of more than two thousand people, the bossy leader Harf root in a uniform finally arrived.

"This guy is late. He thinks he is the leader and he can do whatever he wants. If we unite, the power of the Robards will cease."

"Shut up, my brother." Ragnar tilted his head and scolded his cronies: "Look at what that guy will do."

Ragnar took off his helmet that could cover his entire face, in order to better see the actions of the lord.

I saw five people in ragged clothes **** with hands, escorted by a group of warriors to the altar, and then, these five people were tied to the pillars with ropes.

At this time, Hafgen was standing on the altar, his chin held high and his hands stretched out.

Beside him, a group of priests in black robes also began to chant spells that no one understood.

Unable to talk nonsense by Hafgen, his people roared his name.

Ragnar's ears heard all the enthusiastic calls along with the clansmen onlookers.

When Hafgen pulled out his sword, the roar became more enthusiastic.

And when his sword was facing down, the cheering crowd quickly quieted down.

This situation really moved Ragnar deeply. "Ah, I don't think you guys have managed the warriors to this point?!"

Indeed, the young people of the Lobad tribe strongly praised their leader, the man who killed all competitors and won the throne of leader.

With a sword, Hafgen walked into the five people who were **** with ropes and shivered in the morning breeze.

Specifically, the people who were **** were all Picts, natives captured from Scotland by the Norwegians, who had changed hands several times and became slaves of the Robard tribe.

Today, Hafgen is going to use human sacrifices to make a wish to God to win a big victory.

He has no status to talk nonsense, holding up his sword and shouting with all his strength: "Brothers, fight! Attack the north! Take everything you looted! Destroy those wicked people, for the shame our alliance has suffered, revenge! Revenge! Revenge!"

With him taking the lead, almost everyone was touched by the violent atmosphere, yelling "revenge" one by one.

In this atmosphere, Hafgen personally cut off the heads of the five slaves one by one.

And this crazy process is enough to drive the assembled warriors of all tribes into madness.

Including Ragnar's tribe, they also began to roar spontaneously. In Ragner's eyes, it seemed that he had been bewitched by that guy.

"You are not going to attack Mälarenburg in the north. You just want to take some small tribes to vent their anger. For the purpose of this battle, it is worth the sacrifice? Not only did you do it, you also used five people! Why, you are expressing your tribe Is it financially strong?"

Ragnar felt that the leader hadn't won the victory, he was already a great guy.

In this way, Hafgen carried a **** head and issued a bloodthirsty command: "Brothers! Let's go!"

With an order, the Danish army, which had already aroused the desire to fight, surged aggressively towards the warship they had anchored on the beach.

Hafgen has assembled a force of up to two thousand one hundred men, and all the ships together are close to one hundred.

Even some courageous businessmen determined to row their merchant ships to follow this huge fleet. So when they can't catch a batch of slaves, they can buy them quickly. At the same time, the army needs some supplies such as grain, which can also be quickly sold to them.

In the end, the 120 boats lit their sails, and under the warm south wind, with the help of paddles, they moved quickly northward.

Who is the target of the attack? Ragnar is still unclear until now.

A small goal? It must not be the Mellaren tribe.

Before the target is selected for landing, the huge Danish fleet has to complete a rendezvous with another of their allies.

As night fell, the fleet floated on the sea, and everyone slept on the boat all night.

On May 16th, they successfully encountered the Gotland ships on the sea.

After simple negotiations, as many as thirty warships joined the Danish army in the afternoon.

After all, this is also a battle of revenge belonging to the Gotland people, with nearly a thousand people joining it.

Since the attack, the ties between the various families in the north of the island have become extremely close.

With the addition of new allies, Hafgen, the leader of the alliance, has a basic understanding of the attack on the Gotland, and that the attacker is the Rus in the north. He also understood that in the past, he was only sending people to do business with the Gotlanders. He could not think that the war between the Gotlanders and the Russ had never ceased.

Upon learning of these circumstances, Hafgen suddenly realized that he seemed to be dragged into the water by the Gotlanders.

His slogan for the expedition was to counter the provocation of the Northern Alliance. Now, who is the provocateur? Regarding this matter, they are definitely not clean in Gotland.

The army has set off, and the rest is war! The war is never over. As the leader, you can only do your best to create victory.

Just on the sea, the four boats gathered together, and the boat plates were also attached to each other.

Seeing that there were three Gotland leaders, Hafgen asked bluntly: "Tell me, where is the nearest stronghold of the Northern Alliance?"

An old man with a white beard wearing a lock armor pointed his big hand directly to the northwest: "That's it. There is a fjord there. As far as we know, that is their stronghold."

"How many of them are there?"

"Probably...two thousand people. Or less."

"Two thousand people?" Hafgen couldn't help grabbing his beard, thinking.

"Leader, are you sure? Are you them?" the old man asked tentatively.

"Have you ever played against them?"

"It's only because their fishermen have fought. They are not strong. We are just worried that if we launch an offensive, whether we will attract the Melaren people out. Because the fjord is a little closer to the core of the Melaren people. "

"Are you afraid of them?" Hafgen's attitude was rather impatient.

"No! Great leader, we are just worried that things will become complicated. Because of the Ross people, we are worried about them... The Ross people are very strong. Just ten days ago, we and their fleet encountered at sea, and we lost more than a hundred people."

The Danish tribes living in Jutland and the surrounding waters have never actually had a record of fighting against the Rus. From the current point of view, the Baltic Sea is a huge small world. Because of geography and geopolitical factors, the Danes will not enter the Gulf of Bothnia, and naturally they will not be able to encounter the Rus.

Moreover, even the Gotland people don't know much about the Ross people.

After an attack, the attitude of the Gotlanders to the Rus suddenly changed, as if the attackers were terrorists.

Hafgen didn’t take it seriously: "Ross are very strong? That didn’t meet us!" Then, he pointed to his fleet, to the towering masts: "Have you ever seen such a huge one? The fleet? I tell you, this is only a small part of my fleet. I can organize a huge army that you can’t understand, and I can beat the entire Northern Alliance.”

Of course, there is a strong bragging element in this. Several Gotland leaders looked at each other and praised Hafgen's strength one after another.

Surrounded by them, Hafgen officially determined the spearhead of the offensive—just attack the Northern Alliance settlement in that fjord.

In a short time, Hafgen sent a messenger to inform the entire fleet of the goal of the army.

"A tribe with two thousand people? Conquer them?" Hearing this news, Ragnar's attitude suddenly changed.

In Ragnar's view, the tribe of two thousand people is already very big, and it stands to reason that the other party can draw a team of eight hundred people, or more! All men are fighters, and he firmly believes that the other side will organize a decent army to fight the Danish army.

The destination of the Danish army is Blow Bay.

In the depths of this bay, there lived a tribe named Ostara.

This tribe belongs to the Sisi sub-tribe alliance, with a population of close to 1,500.

I have to say that the geographical environment of Bulow Bay is good, and it is suitable for being a harbor.

In the future, a city named Norrköping will emerge in this bay. The so-called "Köping" originally means "shopping place", and it comes from the same Germanic vocabulary as modern English shopping.

Trade will eventually bring prosperity to this fjord, and a city will always arise here.

But now, the Ostara tribe living here is facing a disaster without warning.

Tribal fishermen are still fishing in Blow Bay. All fishermen know that they must not head south except for the fjord to avoid sea conflicts with the Gotland people.

After more people cultivated a small amount of land, they drove their cattle and sheep to graze nearby areas.

There are still many tribes in this area doing the same thing as the Ostara tribe, that is, developing animal husbandry. It's just that those tribes live in the lakes that connect to Buluo Bay further west. Their tribes only have a few hundred people, but there are more tribes.

Selling their livestock products to the Melaren tribe in the north is the main way for these people to make money.

However, there are not many grasslands suitable for grazing in the Gotaland Heights, where there are many lakes.

The Ostara tribe and the nearby tribes should always guard against the invasion of the Gotland herders who landed.

They are always on guard, and every family, and every one of them, has its own weapons.

As Ragnar estimated, the Ostras didn't know the danger was approaching, but they could indeed draw a team of at least five hundred people.

Of course, the premise is that the Danes have issued the battle book and agreed on the location of the decisive battle, and Ostara has time to complete the assembly of the army.

Hafgen didn't have time to write a statement to the Northern Alliance. Since the tactics adopted by the Ruths are surprise attacks, they should do the same.

There are no scouts, no formation arrangements.

The so-called tactics of Hafgen is that there is no tactics. First, the 1,000 Gotlanders who know the route will take the lead, followed by the Danish army.

One hundred and fifty boats can be described as mighty. Those fishermen who fish can see the menacing army in the distance, and are there any leisurely fishing? !

All the fishermen began to think about retreating in the depths of the bay. Behind them, there was a fleet in pursuit.

Before the fishermen arrived at the port, the people on the shore of UU Reading saw the danger of approaching.

A terrifying thought appeared in the head of the tribe. The old man estimated that the arrival was not good, and it was inevitable that it would be a fierce battle.

There are still some tribesmen who are grazing, and some are logging trees in the nearby woods.

The Ostara tribe doesn’t have any defenses. How easy is it to summon an army at such an emergency?

Even so, the tribe is determined to bet on the dignity of men and face a desperate battle against the enemy.

They will not retreat, because they are men who believe in Odin.

Even if you can only organize a small group of people quickly, even if you can't make good preparations.

The threat of war did not allow them to prepare, and the enemy was already on the ground.

The men skillfully changed into leather armor, put on iron helmets, and removed the bucklers, swords and axes from the wooden wall.

Even many women are determined to guard their homes with their husbands. Their attitude is very firm, to die, the husband and wife must also fight to death at the same time!