The Ross army put up a huge battle, when the fog completely dissipated, when the sun shone on the faces of these heroic people, nothing could give the opponent more terror than the abyss.
The sound of horns, drums and shouts, and a huge low-pitched roar in the wilderness made the Rus army more majestic.
The flag was flying, and the soldiers were ramming their shields with swords and axes. All the soldiers were eager to try, just because a large-scale enemy group appeared in front of them.
Under the sun, Rurik squinted his eyes and tried to see the details in the distance.
Thanks to the clear air here, after the fog cleared, although he couldn't see the faces of the enemies, he could also see their attire.
"Hey, a bunch of beggars."
He secretly complained.
At this moment, Rurik was walking in front of the central army's position, and his king's flag inlaid with gold patterns was flying high. More Rus flags stand, and some will fly wherever the army goes.
Many flags are deliberately fluttered, which is very different from today's European armies, or the armies of other countries are not luxurious enough to use a lot of neat cloth for pure decoration or pomp.
The flags are like forests, roaring in the wind. They greatly enhance the momentum of the army, and also cover up their military appearance, so that the enemy cannot show the truth at a glance.
Behind Rurik was his army of shooters lined up in a linear array.
The Sixth Flag Team, the Finnish Flag Team, and the craftsmen who had come to handle heavy weapons temporarily, they were ordered to line up in long lines, under the command of Yevlo, waiting for the king's firing order at any time.
As long as he saw those enemies, strong contempt took over Yevlo's mind.
"Your Majesty, I see that the enemy is huge, but unfortunately they are all weak. In my opinion, as long as my men shoot a few times, I can let the infantry clean up the mess."
Rurik slightly leaned over and gave the diminutive old subordinate a serious look, with a cautious attitude: "I don't think the enemy can do it. But we must be cautious, we continue to move forward, wait for the enemy to enter the range of your longbow, and then wait for my news. ."
"As ordered."
"You go and inform Kawi now to get his slingshot ready. Charge me up now and load the javelin. All bull trebuchets are equipped with stone bullets."
"As ordered."
The entire Rus army moved slowly. They belonged to the Rus Principality army and the Finnish army directly commanded by the king. Their ranks were very regular.
On the other hand, the teams of the Swedish confederates seemed to have stretched their hips. Thanks to the fact that these people were always wrapped in the front and rear of the Rus Principality army, the pace of these two thousand people was not disordered.
It is often possible to judge what a strong soldier is just from the marching formation. The frontline fighters in the Ross formation, whether swords and shields or archers, whether they have armor or not, are all covered with white-tone robes, which can be seen from a distance. It is a white line advancing slowly.
As the distance from the enemy approached, Ross's warriors became more and more excited.
Today, they can easily kill the enemy, let the gods witness their heroism in the sun, and also earn merit for themselves.
On the other side of the battlefield, for the people of Visingose Island, thousands of armed fishermen, men and women, were driven forward by the tyrants of the warlord. The more they walked, the weaker their legs became.
Are these fishermen born weak?
On the contrary, if they paddled to the coast of the Frankish kingdom, they would become Viking pirates, and they would not hesitate to rob their homes.
However, they have experienced too many disasters in the past few days. The invaders swept from the north of the lake to the south of the lake, and now they finally see the true face of the invaders. It is such an incredible sight!
In a sense, seeing the Rus Kingdom Army for these islanders is no different from seeing aliens.
They even ignored the possibility of a large fleet sailing back to the south, and the possibility of the attackers stealing their homes by water.
As for Karl the "Crazy Bear", the warlord tyrant, he has no time to worry about the situation behind him.
His subordinates were still full of confidence just now, but now their legs and feet are shaking.
A subordinate walked into Carl: "Boss, they have a lot of troops, and we're afraid we won't be able to gain an advantage."
Immediately, someone comforted himself: "There are many of them, so they may not be strong in combat."
What else can Karl say? The intruders were neatly dressed, and they walked together like a wave of tidal water that invaded the bay, rushing towards them with an unstoppable momentum.
The enemy clearly hasn't formed a shield wall yet, but now the pace is even more orderly than if they had formed a shield wall.
Karl tried hard to recall that even when he fought with the Danes back then, those strong Danes did not fight like this.
Ashamed to say, Carl still cannot confirm the identity of the intruder. They were so weird. As a Gottaran, Karl knew what a Swedish warrior looked like, and now he was very confused when compared with the Swedes he remembered.
Only in terms of momentum, Carl felt that he had already lost a lot. He was mentally prepared to die in battle today. If he must die, he would bring his whole family to die in battle for glory. Then at least you have to know the identity of the enemy before you die.
After all, the battle has not yet begun, and with an army of thousands of people on hand, he can always fight fiercely.
He has a bottom-line optimism, that is, he is betting that his fight can cause a large number of deaths to the opponent, and the enemy is more likely to be unable to withstand heavy casualties and evacuate, so that he can still win a tragic victory.
This... requires a big gamble.
With regard to Visingose Island, Karl ordered his subordinates to form a shield wall with a width of only one person on the front. He arranged the most elite warriors here. Not only did each warrior wear chain mail and leather helmets, but the huge round shields were also garishly painted.
The sun shines on these armored warriors, reflecting dazzling light. There is no doubt that the entire Ross army has noticed the mobilization of the opponent's troops, and has seen these reflections more clearly.
Yevluo, who had already notified Kawi, returned, and he couldn't help but be vigilant when he saw the enemy's dignified mobilization of troops.
He approached Rurik and told him again: "Kawei has been informed. Moreover, I saw that the enemy had many armored warriors, so I had my subordinates put on armor-piercing arrows."
"Well done. I wanted to inform you, but now I don't have to." Rurik nodded in praise.
The distance between the two armies was shortening, and Rurik frequently stretched out his right hand and gave the enemy a thumbs up.
Of course, he didn't praise the enemy for admiration or anything, he just used this simple method to estimate the distance.
But Ross has more subtle instruments here.
Each torsion slingshot is equipped with a wooden optical rangefinder, because the farther away the reference object has less influence, and the reference object here is nothing but a human being. The target of the slingshot's land strike was the enemy soldier. Kawei held a wooden instrument to measure the distance frequently until the enemy appeared only about 200 meters away from the army formation.
Kawi simply reported to Rurik in person: "Your Majesty, they are already within the firing range of all weapons, we can't fight."
"Don't rush."
After all, the horn sounded, and the trumpeters trumpeted in a special rhythm, ordering the entire army to stop.
In the end, everyone walked for a while, and each soldier consumed some physical strength. The enemy was just ahead. Obviously, the enemy did not want to charge without thinking, and the Ross Army just took this opportunity to rest a little.
Of course, the enemy didn't shoot the charge, and the defensive counterattack was what the Ross Army has always been good at.
Just hearing the horn, the march of the army, which was rushing in like a tidal wave, came to an abrupt halt. Their pause was so sudden that the broad cover could easily accept the commander's command.
Calmon asked himself that he couldn't do it at all.
Compared with the calmness of the opponent, his own army is a mess. Carl had never commanded an army of this size, and the only tactics he could think of were to drive the armed fishermen and rush up to fight the enemy.
Since the enemy suddenly stopped, what is this for?
Carl didn't know, but this was a good opportunity he hoped for.
"Brothers!" He raised the battle axe high, which frightened one of his subordinates to lead the charge.
A dozen cronies quickly gathered around Carl.
"Are you the only ones responding?" Carl looked around and sighed a little: "It's okay. Come with me, I want to meet their leader."
As soon as this statement came out, everyone was frightened and called it ridiculous.
"Boss, why is this so. If you go there and ambushed, who will command us?"
One person said so, and everyone else said so.
"Are you worried about me?" The battle axe stood on the wet grass, and Carl supported it and looked around: "Since you are really worried about me, ask a few of you to find out the identity of the enemy. I know who is attacking. my lake."
"..." Everyone was silent.
"What? I was scared and fooled by the enemy. What a idiot! Where's the momentum you used to deal with the fishermen? Now that you meet a real enemy? To win the battle?"
Having said that, Karl dragged his battle axe and walked over, and upon seeing this, he immediately followed up to twenty armored guards.
More people expressed concern about this, just watching the boss's move.
A guy in a bear's skin and a bear's head was too conspicuous, and the tall Rurik now wore a reinforced leather helmet and a robe of the same color as the soldier, which made him inconspicuous.
Nervous soldiers definitely attacked their opponents, and they quickly formed a shield wall with vigilance.
Kawi ordered all the slingshots and catapults to be loaded immediately, and Yevro ordered the armor-piercing arrows to be thrown on the bow shank immediately.
There were even young soldiers from the Sixth Banner, carrying their steel-armed crossbows, and spontaneously half-knelt beside Rurik, aiming at those who were approaching.
"Get out of the way, they must be here to negotiate. You all step back."
The crossbow fighters got the order, and they avoided for a while. Some Ross Berserkers wearing bear skins and bear heads stood by Rurik's side.
Look at them, these people are the standing army of the Rus Kingdom, their round shields are different from other civilian soldiers, and they are all painted with the raven coat of arms symbolizing Odin.
They gave Rurik a gap, and he himself took off his tin helmet and put on his richly decorated polar bear fur to inform the visitor of his noble status.
A sneak attack? An approaching enemy might do the same.
Rurik is not false at all, he is tall and majestic, even in Ross, where the people's life is getting better and better, he is like a little giant. The "bear man" who was constantly approaching with a battle axe, even if he was dressed like a brown bear, he was not as tall and strong as himself.
Undoubtedly, Karl "Crazy Bear" saw a gap in the Raven Shield formation, and a blond giant who was gorgeously dressed and heroic stepped out.
He actually had a smile on his face, and opened his arms as if welcoming a guest.
Don't be deceived by this kind performance, just because there are armored warriors behind them.
Carl stopped, and saw that he held the long-handled battle axe in both hands, and then stabbed the handle into the soft grass, the rusty and mottled black axe blade was facing Rurik himself.
Karl opened his bad teeth and shouted with bad breath: "You! Who are you?!" Then he pointed at Rurik, who was dressed gorgeously: "You?! Who? Like a noble person. Could it be, Is that the commander of this huge army?"
Rurik's anger turned to his anger after being pointed at him. Now he can immediately order his subordinates to lift up the crossbow they put down. In the blink of an eye, someone dressed like a bear can be shot to death.
Suddenly, Rurik remembered the confession of the previous captive.
The overlord of Lake Wettern is a guy in bear skin. Could it be this man? What is his name? Is it Carl?
"You!?" Rurik also stretched out his right hand and asked, "Are you Karl? The leader of the Gotaland people here?"
"Oh? Do you recognize me?"
"It really is you! Carl, you must die here."
Karl didn't doubt his opponent's deep killing intent at all, but now that his opponent said it bluntly, he was still surprised. But also because of this, Carl is not afraid.
The long-handled battle axe was already on the ground, and Carl unloaded his sword and axe in public, and even threw down the knife for eating. He didn't mean to surrender, he just wanted to have a good talk with the enemy in a peaceful way.
He walked towards Rurik with open arms like this, even refusing to follow up with his entourage.
As he walked, he said, "Leader of the invaders! You look young! How? Come and have a good chat with me! Don't worry, I don't have an ambush, I don't even have a dagger on me. If you have the guts, go forward, and we Have a good chat."
Talk to this guy? Why. How old is this puppy? !
Rurik shook his head and shouted to his face: "Stupid Karl! Stop, you don't know my purpose at all. Say what you want to say now."
"No! Young attacker, I don't want to talk to cowards. If you are a warrior, get out of the protection of your shield wall and we will talk face to face."
This is the first army to be commanded? But why should the noble king listen to the demands of a bandit leader?
Yevlo took the opportunity to interject: "There's nothing to talk about with this guy. Let me lead someone to shoot him, and then we'll kill all the enemies in front of us."
"No!" Rurik shook his head, but instead he brought in Grund.
"Your Majesty, what are your orders?" Grund asked.
"Bring your brother to take down the bear and bring it to me. Pay attention, catch me alive."
"Yes. But this person's entourage..."
"Don't care about them, if they dare to savior, they will be hacked to death together."
"As ordered."
Suddenly, a gap appeared in the shield wall of the Rus, and a group of strong men suddenly rushed out. It was when Karl was caught off guard that he was directly pressed by the strong man with his body. Carl himself is strong, but the Russ people who capture the king are also strong men.
This change shocked Carl's entourage and froze on the spot, while the Weisingose Island army in the rear was thrown into chaos. Fortunately, Karl, the tyrant of the warlord, has a ruling group. He himself was captured, and some cronies can replace him.
But now the whole group has no choice, the port is burnt, all the ships are damaged, the island has no trees at all, it is very bad that if the attackers control the lake, the whole island can become a starvation **** within ten days, and everyone will. starve. It is for this reason that Carl is desperate to talk to the intruder, in vain to get a decent result. Too bad I made a mistake...
Crazy bear Karl was taken off the bear's head helmet and brought directly to Rurik.
He was pressed against his calf by the wooden handle of the javelin, forced to kneel on both knees, and a strong man pressed his shoulders, Karl couldn't move and felt that he was about to be killed.
"You! No honor! You are persecuting a warrior, which Odin will not tolerate!"
"My mouth is full of swearing." Rurik shook his head and signaled, "You all step back and let this guy stand up."
Carl patted his body and stood up, and then asked the question of the soul: "You! You! Who are you?!"
"Haha." Liuli looked down at G with a contemptuous smile, seeing the legendary Karl so close, he was actually a head taller than him. "It's okay to tell you. I'm the king of Rus! The king of Sweden! Even the ruler of the Eastern Slavic world. This king personally killed the old king of Denmark, Havgen, and this king conquered Gotland and basically killed those guys. Now , this king will conquer the whole of Gotaland this year. You... do you know?"
Karl's wide eyes seemed to burst out, and his mouth trembled: "Unbelievable...that King of Denmark was actually killed by you. Are you the new King of Sweden?"
"This king is Rurik, the king of Sweden, the king of Rus, who conquered you Gotharans, and this king is the hope of all Scandinavia. This king is Rurik who was blessed by Odin. Karl, Ben Wang Dafa mercifully told you your identity. The purpose of this king is to conquer the vast territory, not to kill you. Now I can give you a chance... surrender to me!"
"Submit?"
"Exactly. Take off your leather jacket, take off your boots, take off all your clothes, and kneel down in front of me like a sheep that has been sheared and kiss my boots."
"you!"
All of a sudden, the guards present shouted one after another, asking this Karl to bow his head obediently, and even kick his knees, only to see that this Karl bent his knees abruptly and stood up abruptly.
These actions prove that Carl does not want to surrender, especially if this kind of humiliation is like a beast, it is absolutely impossible.
Rurik also knew that Caesar's approach to the Gallic chiefs was to force the opponent to fight to the death. He wanted to make a show for the large group of Swedish nobles in the alliance, so that the opponent would either surrender in extreme humiliation, or fight desperately until all the killed. No matter what the opponent chooses, King Ross can get great honor.
Karl stood stubbornly and shouted, "Your actions are appalling, you...will be cursed by Odin!"
"Am I evil?" Rurik deliberately mocked: "I love your land, and I love the people more. You are a foolish ruler, and you want to force those people to go to war and be killed by me. They can obviously As our subjects, you can enjoy a very good life. But you have to take them to death."
"They? They are not my subjects Carl told the truth," but this lake is my territory, and these fishermen happen to live on my territory. They pay me tribute and I let them live. You invade my lake, and we will fight with you! Unless you surrender like me and pay tribute to me. Even if you kill me, my people will fight with you. Odin is above, he will remember your vile deeds today. "
"Really? Carl. Some captives tell you that you are indeed not a good ruler, but a group of bandits and pirates who have taken over the lake. Of course I could easily kill you now, but it is not necessary. Carl, after today, this Lake Wettern is part of the Kingdom of Ross, and will be included in the management of the Swedish part of the kingdom in the future. I gave you a chance, but unfortunately you do not surrender. So everything in the future has nothing to do with you. "
"Why don't we duel!" Karl's light flashed.
"Duel? You are not qualified. You are just a pirate who dares to ask for a duel with the king of the north. Forget it! I have decided, I will let you go back. This king wants to fight in an upright manner, and your army must be without a commander. , you can go back!"
"Really... just let me go back?"
Carl was dazed for a while, and then he saw the shield wall open.
"Get out of here!" Grund said fiercely.
At this time, Karl had nothing to say, and finally looked up into Rurik's eyes: "This will be a battle of fate. You will never get our surrender, and all you will get is my cold corpse."
Having said that, Karl didn't care to pick up the peeled bear skin, and ran to the place where he was holding the battle axe. Holding the axe, he called to his overwhelmed entourage: "Fools! Go back to the army and fight them decisively!"