Chapter 883： Arik is reckless

The latest website: A large number of leading long ships form an inland lake fleet, they are behind a group of cargo ships, and gradually drift westward on the narrow and winding Lake Mälaren.

Many years have passed, and the thirty-year-old Arik once again sat on the longboat and rowed the big oars himself.

Those cargo ships carried war horses and a lot of supplies, and the soldiers in the long ships also carried their own supplies.

The flag of Ross is hung everywhere in the fleet, and the mighty army seems to be drifting away from the real attack target.

Soldiers are quite curious whether their path of advance can really reach the goal, because the inland areas of southern Scandinavia are extremely unfamiliar to everyone, even for people who have immigrated for a long time, everything about their homeland has become unfamiliar .

An unremarkable longship became the flagship. Here, Aric, the commander of the overland part of the Rus' army, was in the same boat with Longstall, Duke of Yermallen. The former is the commander, the latter is the guide.

The news about Arik spread like wildfire. He is the cousin of King Rurik and theoretically has the right to inherit the kingdom. If King Rurik had the nickname of "The Gotland Butcher" or another "Butcher", Arik was the largest of the many generals who could make the king have this reputation.

Longstall believed it to be true, and he did not hesitate to believe that if Arik had the opportunity, he would slaughter the villages of the Gotaland people. Of course, this is something he is very happy to see, any outsider who invades or threatens the territory of the Yermalen people should be damned!

But, look at this Rus army!

If Arik, who is holding the elite army, suddenly goes berserk, his Yermalen people will not be able to resist at all, because the men of the entire tribe who are over ten years old cannot make up 1,000 people.

He showed strong humility to Arik, even though Arik does not have any title yet.

The king did not give his cousin a title. This is not only contempt, but I am afraid that it is inappropriate to give any title now. Wouldn't it be an insult if someone who had the strength to become a king had only one title of duke?

"As soon as the army reaches Yermalen, I will transfer resources to reward your army. After that, we will figure out how to go south quickly." Langstall, who was paddling, said.

Aric was sitting next to Longstall. Unlike the latter, he didn't have a lot of fun.

As a self-proclaimed pure warrior, being decisive and ruthless towards the enemy is the true nature of a warrior.

Shuangjian can't wait to drink blood, since the Duke of the alliance intends to support it, it's really a good thing.

"When I went to Yermalen, I didn't need you to provide too many supplies. Your tribe has a population of up to 3,000 people. When my people arrive, the rich can also be eaten and poor. You...really willing? "

"Why are you reluctant?" Longstall smiled helplessly: "After all, the king is there to support us to drive away the invading Yottarans, and you are the war chief who directly supported us. It is my duty to provide support as much as possible."

"Since you insist..."

Arik acquiesced in doing so.

The principle of cannibalism is the same in northern Europe. If a batch of food is provided, the overland Rus army owes favor. The more people such as Aric who value the "warrior principle", the more so, Langstow. I think so.

Navigating inland lakes is more boring than marching on the ocean. Longstall deliberately chatted with Aric a lot, and talked about trivial matters in life all the way to his attitude toward his wife and concubines. Some cheesy jokes lol.

Longstall said with emotion: "It's a shame! If both the Ostarans and the Grans were involved in this battle, the war would be more meaningful. Carlotta has grown up?"

"Yes, they live well in the East. She gave birth to a boy for my brother, a boy with great potential."

"It's great. I heard that she is also a rebellious female warrior. If she can bring the army into Old Ostara in person or serve as a guide for our army, the king's march will be smoother."

"She is one of the wives of my king's younger brother, and now she has a major task." Arik shrugged, and he really hoped that Carlotta could come to the West in his heart.

"If you don't mind telling me, what is that mission?"

"It's on alert. Rose also has a brand new enemy in the east, the world is very big, just like we fought the Gotaland this year, and soon we will also fight the enemy called Smolensk in the east. Carlotta and her Austrian Stara rode on guard in the East, and Ross also mobilized 10,000 men in the East to guard against the enemy's sneak attack. Some good soldiers did not come, and this year's war is really a pity for them."

Regarding the "Eastern Enemy that Ross faces," Longstall has some knowledge of these messages. He sent his own messenger to the East, and the messenger brought back a lot of first-hand information, which greatly broadened the Yermalen people's understanding of the unknown world in the East. Even so, it is better to go to the eastern hinterland of Ross to take a good look at it than if the nobles of Rus showed up.

Arik's words were filled with a huge amount of information, and Longstall asked again and again to make sure that his friend Arik didn't brag.

Ross has mobilized 10,000 people to Sweden, and there are still 10,000 troops in the eastern world! The three hundred cavalry were not all of their cavalry, there were still a thousand cavalry in the east under the command of Carlota! ? With such a large-scale mobilization of the Rus, how powerful are the eastern enemies they face?

The cavalry, as an army, is extremely unfamiliar to the Yermalen people, and here they are both frightened and curious because of the unfamiliarity. Thanks to Arik's boredom on the journey, he explained it with one mouth, and Longstall's fear was resolved by envy.

Because, the cavalry is the "long ship on land", it can move at the speed of a ship, and the advantages it brings are unparalleled.

Is it really so? The battle is clear.

As the Duke of Yermalen, Longstall was the leader elected by the elders of his hometown. He was born unable to enjoy himself, and his goal in this life was to make life better for his people. Action, the public will also organize a NODIC meeting to elect a new duke.

Now, the settlement of the Yermalen clan has overlapped with the advanced city of Eskilstina.

Due to many reasons, the wheel of history has moved to this era, and some things have shifted. Eskilstina, near Lake Yermalen, is destined to not exist, at least not in terms of the "Eskil cemetery of the northern saints".

Poor Esquil had long since been expelled from Ross. He was originally ordered to be the archbishop of Bremen. As a result, the Danish barbarians took mad revenge and set the wooden Peter Cathedral in Bremen on fire. He lost his place of work. Unhappy, and considering the turmoil in the north, he simply lived a life of penance in Lance, waiting for the change of fate. At least in recent years, he has not had the guts to cross the Schleswig Great Wall to the Viking world.

Eskilstina certainly doesn't exist, but the area is really suitable for settlement.

The Gran people, who were originally escaping the war, were crowded out by the Yermalen people who were worried about the occupation of their farmland. After all, because both sides were the same family of Svealans, the Gran people did not go too far, and the settlements of the two sides bordered each other. Now the Granites have left, and they have gone directly to a place in the far east, said to be called Lake Ilmen, and have become the servants of the Rus Principality part of the kingdom.

Before the Granites left, they sold all their houses at a low price, and even threw away the iron smelting workshop.

Their departure has greatly fattened the Yermalen people, and all the properties left behind were taken over. Although they paid a lot of money at the time, it now seems that this is a very smart investment by the Yermalen people.

There is no other reason, but iron tools.

In terms of iron smelting, the Yermalen people are far inferior to the Rus people. He occupied the small iron mines on the riverside opened by the Gran people. arms.

But the Rus Kingdom's shops in loyal Stockholm dumped a wide range of ironware from cheap to extremely expensive, and the price of buying iron was far higher than that of the Yermalen people building it themselves. The latter is not a fool. Since he owns a small iron mine and can build a batch of passable iron tools nearby, why go to Stockholm by boat?

Arik's lagoon fleet entered the settlement of the Yermalen tribe against the river of the Zhangshui period.

The flagship directly washed the beach, and the hard keel carved deep traces on the soft lake.

Arik stroked the boat and jumped, standing on the land of the Yermalen people for the first time in his life.

He ignored the mud on his boots until he stomped **** the hard ground.

At this time, Longstall came up to greet him. The same large number of people who had already started spring ploughing also stopped their work and came to watch the fun with a mixture of vigilance and curiosity.

"We're here, this is my territory. You see, the people surrounding me are all my clansmen."

Arik nodded and glanced at the sun again to determine the correct south, east, west, north and west. "I heard that there are no proper rivers leading to the south?"

"Exactly. From now on, if we go south, we can only travel by land. As long as we continue south, we will encounter the pioneering villages of the Gotaland people that give us a headache. Brother Arik, we..."

"In this case, all my troops have landed. I don't want to stay in your territory for more than a day, and our troops will set off immediately."

"Good!"

Longstall was very pleased with Arik's decisiveness. He did intend to reward this army, and he also wished that they could quickly enter the war. As Arik said during the voyage, if the army stays for too long, the appetite of a strong man can eat up the locals.

The old-fashioned cargo ships were to a large extent an enlarged improvement of the long ships. Their sides were built very high, and they relied on the sails of a main mast to sail. For cramped places, traditional longboats were required to be towed.

There are movable wooden boards on the side of the ship that can be disassembled. After the wooden boards are removed, they are erected on the plank road. A large number of horses walk off the boat with the neighing, leaving only a large amount of horse dung in the cabin.

After a crowded day, the horses jumped happily as soon as they stepped on the hard ground. Thanks to the personal control of the cavalry masters, their restless hearts were calmed down.

All the troops have landed, and the next march will not use these ships. It doesn't matter whether the ship belongs to Ross or Yermalen, it is now parked on the shore, and the locals help to look after it as ship managers during the war.

Now Arik is all about fighting, and as soon as he landed, he gathered his team nearby.

The two flag teams lined up in a square formation on the deserted beach, and all the cavalry mounted their horses, showing their majestic qualities.

Including Pecheneg Princess Bejahir, although she has learned some Norse phrases, it is still impossible to really want to talk and laugh with various Varangians such as Ross or Sweden. But there are king's cavalry slaves in the cavalry team. These cavalry slaves were originally slaves of their elder brother Kagan, and now they have become the captains of the Ross cavalry. These junior officers still spoke Pecheneg, and thanks to them as a translation medium, Bejahir was not embarrassed.

Arik ignored the Yermalen people who were welcoming the onlookers, and he rode on a horse and shouted aloud.

"Brothers! The war has begun! If we go south we will meet the enemy. Any village you see, the people there are enemies! I want you to loot them, kill the rebels, take their women , took their wealth. You will get slaves in this battle, whether you will continue to be slaves or be new wives, it is entirely up to your personal wishes. Now what you have to do is to obey the orders of my two swords, Arik, to attack!"

Arik said a lot more, but he was actually repeating the views of his king's younger brother.

Killing is a must, and Ross should attack the enemy according to the strategy since ancient times, and this so-called strategy is also full of savage cruelty.

"They want to kill men and keep women, and kill all men who are taller than the wheel like I did?" Bejahir couldn't help but sighed when he heard the translation of the cavalry slave.

The cavalry slave, who was a junior officer, kept a deep respect for the little princess, and one person explained: "The Russ will be crazier than us."

"how?"

"They don't want a man. Any man..."

Qinu didn't say any more, Bejasil already knew it completely, "Ah. Their strategy is to cut grass and root. They are all very tall, are all battles like this in the Western world?"

With emotion, Bejasil learned that she would stay at the most southernmost village chief in the westernmost part of the Rus Kingdom for one day. What she needs to focus on is to rectify her weapons and equipment, and then follow the army to attack.

Tonight, Longstall fulfilled his promise, a batch of oats, a few slaughtered old cattle, and newly caught perch were given to the Rus army as a reward. And his own army was feasting, preparing for the battle that was about to begin.

After landing, the next day, the entire army rested.

The Russ army came, and the Yermalen people, who were worried about the harassment, were happy to find that those people were honestly camping outside the village, and they didn't even interfere with the normal spring ploughing.

The barren land became unusual, and a lot of green grass came out with all its strength, and the horses liked to eat the delicate and delicious grass buds.

The horses were well fed, and the Yermalen people were amazed. The Rus not only rode horses, but also gave the horses a lot of boiled oatmeal sprinkled with salt.

The camp of the Ross soldiers looked very orderly. They were busy eating to recharge and seemed to have no intentions of the village. Because Ross maintains the most basic discipline, everyone does not want to be disadvantaged to the Confederate army, but is worried about the sanctions of the king. Discipline is one aspect. It is unnecessary to harass the local Yermalen people because of the problem of food supplies. The Russ army has enough food and drink, and it is better than the locals in terms of food and drink.

That evening, around a bonfire, the generals held a military meeting.

As the army commander, Arik decided to make another division of the land troops.

"I have made up my mind. If I go south on two legs, my speed will definitely be slower than the king. I will personally lead the cavalry to the south and win the first victory against an enemy."

Longstall was taken aback: "Brother, if you are so determined, what will happen to your infantry?"

"Isn't this still you? My infantry has its own commander, they can be self-contained, but the speed is too slow. You bring your army, and my two flag teams walk with you. .You can even lead my people temporarily, which is a very honorable thing."

Glory? Where is the glory. Longstall has a self-knowledge that he can't really lead two Ross flag teams, at best he is the guide of the Ross flag team with his men.

He had to sigh that this Arik was really a reckless man, but he had to admit that the strength of the cavalry alone surpassed the strength of Yermalen, and Aric had the capital.

"So you have to give me some guides to help me advance quickly." Arik ordered.

"Okay. Since you're so firm."

It's a new day, the morning dew has not yet faded, and Lake Yermalen is filled with a humid mist.

The soldiers felt wet all over, and Arik's hair was soaked with the dew. The dampness of the western world made Bejahir a little uncomfortable, but considering that today was the day the cavalry would go out, her mind was entirely on the march.

There was no time for another military parade, the cavalry began to gather, and the commotion they caused caused the whole army to wake up.

The soldiers were ready last night, and now they only need to eat another meal before attacking.

Still finishing, Aric made some internal arrangements. He appointed a centurion from the two flag teams to temporarily lead the flag captain's duties, and then accepted Langstall, Duke of Yermalen, as a guide to march.

Arik's actions made some old guys think of the past of Gotland Island ten years ago. At that time, Arik was only twenty years old, and he took fifty people on an armed expedition as scouts But the result was Recklessly broke into the Gotland army, fought against it with vengeance, and ended up losing. At that time, Arik's frustration was that his troops were too small. Now this guy has 300 cavalry, and there are Pechenegs who are experts in cavalry.

The soldiers of the first flag team all trusted their boss, and the soldiers of the sixth flag team were all young boys, and no one questioned Arik.

Of course, it was the reckless man who got the upper hand. No one thought that Arik was reckless, but they all praised this as a warrior act.

After the cavalry was reorganized, the golden light of the sun made the world a holy place. With the morning fog, this lake area was like a mythical sanctuary, as if a spirit was about to emerge from the forest and lake.

As a result, a group of cavalry soldiers carrying spears and carrying a lot of supplies walked towards the forest area with high fighting spirit.

Arik officially launched the attack in the early morning. He personally led the cavalry to quickly push south along the gap at the junction of the mass forest, and under the guidance of the Yermalen herdsman guide, rushed to Lake Wettern.

The cavalry march is destined to be short-lived. After all, there were several small Swedish tribes who settled on the shore of Lake Wettern ten years ago. Now they have all moved north to take refuge in Lake Mälaren, and the refugee behavior has evolved into permanent settlement. The space was immediately occupied by the Jotalans rowing boats. The cavalry marched in the opposite direction along the road of the small tribe's northward migration. The road was not far or tortuous. The distance of the march was equivalent to walking from Novgorod along the shore of Lake Ilmen to Ostara, which was only two days. Just a journey.

In this regard, the Gotaland villages on the northern shore of Lake Wettern were unaware of the imminent danger.

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