Chapter 403： Gouge through the empty ship

A large-scale fleet of ships is headed against the south wind, and everyone on board is wearing armor. The scale of the fleet will destroy the world.

Yesterday’s discussions, the only result of the discussions among the dukes of the tribes was that the offensives of this battle were irrelevant. No one in the mixed fleet is the true vanguard. Based on this status quo, King Origen does not want to bother with words and brains.

At present, the larger the troops, the more difficult it is to coordinate with each other. Fortunately, Origen led his own troops to fight for the top spot.

The Mellaren Army, which has the most troops and the best equipment, is a full-fledged vanguard. They are advancing close to the coastline at a speed of about seven knots, and soon after they set off again, they largely leave behind the follow-up troops.

"Brothers! Let me continue paddling! Don't give the cowards a chance, the spoils are all ours!" Carl no longer cares about his status as the crown prince, he pulled away a seemingly lazy oarsman, and he sat down and shouted. The slogan shakes the oar desperately.

Gradually, Karl and the three long boats he led, they took on a triangular formation, and became real leaders like a cluster of arrows.

Standing on the bow of the boat, Oleg looked at his son, who was running faster and faster, and couldn't help but grinned his teeth.

One of his subordinates worried: "King! If Arik runs too fast, will they encounter the enemy's main attack? It is not a good thing if they encounter a siege."

"That's what I'm afraid of. Damn it, you guys continue to paddle me and move forward."

It can be said that Karl's military adventure is to force the entire Mellaren army to follow desperately, which causes their speed to remain high.

However, there are six large ships without oars closely following, and as long as they see the Russ behind them, Origen envy will also have obvious hatred.

Because the ships of the Ross people rely entirely on sails, they sail against the wind, and the speed is actually the same as the speed of the Melaren Army, which is a mixture of wind and paddling!

In this way, in a morning voyage, the coalition forces were essentially divided into two echelons.

The Anklas and other large forces, their leader had already died. I blame myself for being inferior to others, and I simply didn't catch up with the rhythms of the Mellaren and the Roths.

Any smart person knows that the speed of the Mellaren people is at the cost of overdrawing the soldiers' physical strength. It is the Ross people whose ships carry a large amount of materials and people, and they can actually move fast on the sea. The Ross army has no physical loss. As long as they are willing to land and fight, they must be extremely powerful.

A young girl stood on the bow of the ship with keen eyes, and Carlotta held the ship's side. She looked at the world in the distance, her spirits becoming more and more vigilant.

It was Otto and Rurik who stood beside her.

"It's almost your hometown now?" Rurik asked cautiously.

"Yes. War may break out at any time."

"Alright." Ruriek nodded, and immediately ordered the mercenary to remove the oil on the torsion slingshot.

This action made Otto, who was in a calm mood, suddenly cautious: "What? Rurik, did you expect the danger?"

"Not yet. If there are, the three pretentious ships of the Mälaren people are in danger first." Rurik pointed to the three ships in the distance, and they were keeping a lonely and deep posture, "It's almost the bay. , We should prepare too. Maybe we will meet the Gotland fishing boats first, Dad, we should sink them."

"That's true. But, are you going to sink them? Can you do it? Rely on your weapons?"

"Exactly." It was so, and Rurik was not sure about it. Testing is different from actual combat, and even the negligence and tension of personnel can cause the effectiveness of the torsion slingshot to be weakened.

The order to prepare for battle was first transmitted on the Aphrora, and then all ships entered the state of readiness for battle.

The people in the cabin were checking their bows and crossbows, and many people had gathered on the deck. Many wooden boxes full of arrows were moved to the deck, especially the ammunition box of the torsion slingshot. The cone-shaped cast iron projectiles were randomly stacked in the box, and then mercenaries began to carry wooden barrels full of viscous seal grease (temperature When it is low, it is semi-solid), apply grease to lubricate the slideway of the slingshot, and even re-immerse the torsion rope with oil to increase the strength.

Origen always pays attention to the actions of the Ross people, seeing that they have been extremely active in preparing for war, and their hearts suddenly become tense.

"Finally about to start?"

Indeed, the battle started in an unexpected way.

Carl, who was essentially a pioneer, saw a small boat floating not far away. What is that not a fishing boat? They are fishing boats, Gotland or Danish fishing boats! They are enemies!

Carl yelled: "Brothers speed up! Catch up with those enemies and kill them all!"

The warrior is enthusiastic about fighting, so rowing is no longer boring, the exhaustion of the rower is gone, and some are just the desire to kill and the thirst for wealth.

So, the unknown ship first discovered by the fleet really belongs to the Gotland?

Of course those ships came from Gotland.

Because the Ross people’s boats were looted with advanced crossbows on Tombstone Island, the waters south of the Åland Islands, the Gotland fishermen suffered considerable losses and could not be recovered in a short period of time. A large number of fishing boats are no longer available. Then go to the northern waters to work.

Now that the Danish coalition forces in Gotland ransacked the Aostala tribe of the Northern Alliance and scared away many tribes by the way, the living space they left behind was of course laughed at by the Gotland people.

Gotland is just that big, with a population of 20,000 crowded on the island, and the living space has become more and more crowded.

In fact, Gotland is also a large island, with a width of 40 kilometers and a length of 140 kilometers. It is just because of the current production mode of the locals that the land owned by the islanders is mostly white sea sand, and the poor conditions of the land make the output of wheat surprisingly low. They rely more on raising sheep and fishing. Nowadays, the scale of pastures is becoming saturated, and fishing grounds have become dangerous battlefields.

If you can move to land, why not do it?

As many as six hundred Gotland islanders have established their "northern bazaar" in the area of ​​Old Ostala, that is, Norrköping.

The nature of this north is for the Danes. Norrköping can be described as the northernmost stronghold of the Gotland people. The excellent developed pastures here suddenly became the source of wealth for the Gotland immigrants. They raise sheep here, and naturally there are some Danish merchants here, waiting to collect the latest cut wool.

Having lost a large fishing ground, they discovered the fish resources in the bay, and the Gotland immigrants fished in the Blow Bay, which Norrköping enjoyed.

If they live like this, these immigrants will continue to live their lives.

Continue to expand? Unless the resources of Norrkoping cannot accommodate the desire of immigrants, they will naturally continue to go north and rob the territory from the Svealans.

Unfortunately, they miscalculated.

They felt that the Ostara were quickly defeated and then completely destroyed, which proved that the Svealans in the north were all cowards.

As for the Ross people, the Gotland people have known the identity of this group for a long time. The Rosses are as tough as the Danes. Over the years, the Gotlanders have always suffered. They simply never regard this group of people and the Svealans as the same.

The Gotlanders misjudged the situation. Two years ago, they organized a mighty army to invade Blow Bay and swept the locals with a destructive force. Now, the coalition forces from the north are seeking revenge.

Carl quickly caught up to the fishing boat, even though the fishermen had been struggling to escape.

Can a seal escape the chase of a killer whale?

Carl’s boat is directly connected to the fishing boat. The long boat is much more substantial than the small fishing boat. The spear stabbed from the long boat directly stabs the fishermen.

The four Gotlanders who tried to get rid of with their paddles became the first war dead.

Carl was unintentionally paying attention to this boring boat. He was excited in the initial killing, so he stood up, hugged the bow of the long ship, held a spear in his right hand and shouted at the brothers: "We continue to rush, the most Land first and kill their men, women are yours!"

The already crazy people were stimulated by the blood, and the whole person became more excited. Now as many as a hundred people have entered a state that resembles a berserker, even if they haven't eaten poisonous mushrooms.

Soon, the second fishing boat became Karl's dead soul under the axe.

It has to be said that Carl can kill his wife and concubine in the same bed competition, and even throw his fists at some of his subordinates. His manic side is easy to show because of some excitement. He is brave, fierce and possessive, maybe he is not good at strategy, it is this bravery that makes him very qualified as a berserker.

His spear throwing level is not low, and he hit three enemies in a short fight.

His team also has very obvious shortcomings-the number of long-range weapons is small and the quality is poor.

There were six fishing boats in Bulow Bay, and they were all wiped out by Carl.

The fishermen of Gotland either died on the boat or fell into the sea and sank and disappeared. Empty fishing boats are floating on the sea, and subsequent boats have no time to take care of these boats.

Because the fleet has begun to turn collectively, going to the right bay is the real battlefield.

The current situation does not require Origen to roar again. The ships of the Mellaren Army have been beaten up. Even though their long ships are dragging many empty boats (for trophies), their speed has increased.

This is because after entering the bay, the south wind energy is injected into the bay area, and the ships are blessed with stronger wind.

The entire Mellaren army turned, and the Russ army who followed them did not hurriedly adjust the position of the sails, and all six ships adjusted their directions accordingly.

Only now, even if Rurik was standing in the stern, he saw that the friendly ships behind him had become a little fuzzy.

Obviously, everyone as a pioneer has left the second echelon too far.

Some empty fishing boats wandered aimlessly on the sea, standing on the side of the ship and leaving Rick and seeing the dead inside.

"[]They have achieved the results. Rurik, leave these ships alone." Otto said solemnly, pinching his son's neck.

"No! We happen to be experimenting with these ships."

"Sink it?"

"Really!"

Otto's interest rose. He held the ship's side and watched the mercenaries operating the ratchet wrench. The three torsion slingshots on one side made a creaking sound.

When the bowstring is stuck in the latch, the tapered cast iron projectile is firmly seated in the chute.

These cast iron projectiles have sharp heads, but the overall size is actually very small.

Some of these torsion slingshots developed by Rurik are the same as the Roman scorpion crossbow in mechanical structure, such as its elevation adjustment mechanism.

These torsion slingshots all entered the state of pitch angle. With Rurik's order, under the gaze of dozens of people on the ship, and even most of the entire fleet, three projectiles smashed in the past.

The distance between the Aphrola and the enemy ship must be only ten meters. At such a close distance, the projectile kept a lot of kinetic energy when it hits the target.

Although these projectiles cannot cut solid oak at one time, for these fishing boats made of cheap pine planks, three projectiles directly cut three holes.

Soon, the projectile was reloaded again, and another salvo directly penetrated the side of the fishing boat. The power of the projectile was not reduced much, and it actually smashed the rib of the other side of the ship. The ship already has eight obvious holes, and sea water is pouring in quickly.

Just under everyone's eyes, even Otto witnessed the whole process of the sinking of the fishing boat.

He had never seen such a thing in his life, no matter how bad the ship was, it sank in front of him after being hit by his own weapon!

Otto had to think more about this situation. If this is the enemy’s real warship, Aphrora’s weapons are just a few rounds of projectiles, causing the opponent’s crew to become a dog in the water? Such an enemy either sinks directly to the bottom, or lingers for a while holding a floating wooden block. Without the help of others, he will die in the vast ocean.

Even the warriors who manipulated the torsion slingshot felt unbelievable about this, as if they had gained a magical power, or caught up with the magical power radiated by Rurik.

Actually? This is the power of technology.

Rurik wasn't excited. It was fake. He was happily in his heart. He smiled and teased his father: "Dad, what do you think? Are our weapons brave."

"What a bravery! You succeeded."

"Of course!" Rurik pretended to sigh: "We can make a bigger one, so that one shot can destroy the enemy's ship. So we can't commit the enemy to fight each other. Our ship is very tall. , There is no need to fight. Now you can see that we can sink the enemy ship from a long distance, and the enemy is just powerless to face us."

"Wow! Really."

Rurik squinted his eyes, intriguing: "So you know why I rejected Olegin's desire to buy a ship?"

"You! Oh! That's how it turns out..."

Otto slapped his helmet abruptly, and then looked at the torsion slingshot that had returned. He was pleased that the ship and weapons were still monopolized by the Ruths. If the Mälaren people get a big ship that resembles the fighting power of the Aphrora, the Ross people will suffer.

Because of the abundant ammunition, the Ross people simply sank three fishing boats floating on the sea. Rurik estimated that the maximum actual distance of the torsion slingshot is about 50 meters. The cone-shaped cast iron projectile of this distance can penetrate the limit of the enemy ship's ribs. If the enemy replaces the oak ribs, it needs power. A greater torque slingshot joins the battle. Rurik didn't quite believe that the "cast iron drill bit" launched could effectively destroy the high-quality oak ship. .

The Ross people were arguing with the "target ship", and they soon started chasing the Mellaren fleet.

It is obvious that the Mälaren army has all entered the fjord, and continues to converge towards the bay, and their fleet is becoming more and more compact According to the agreement, the Ross people have no reason or need to pick up. Entering a frontal battle, even remote support, even shouting and cheering are superfluous.

Any slaughter that will take place on the shore has nothing to do with the Ross people for the time being, but according to the agreement, the Mellaren people can take out the spoils.

The south wind that poured into the fjord gave Rose's sailing ship extremely fast speed. The Aphrora had caught up with the tail of the Mälaren army, and now everyone on the ship saw what was happening in the distance. A group of Mellaren fighters have landed, and they have begun to fight.

But the enemy...

Rurik couldn't help frowning: "Could it be that our army is attacking too fast and the enemy has no time to prepare?"

He saw some people standing in a daze on the shore not far away. Those guys didn't seem to perceive the danger, or were they completely frightened by the sudden army? But some wise men are raising their sails, running away from the upstream river of the fjord.

"Look! The Mellaren people have landed." Otto slapped his son with his left hand, his right hand gripped the patterned steel sword and pointed straight at the initial landing site of the Mellaren army, a land where a group of Gotland ships docked. .