Chapter 905： The sky reddened by bonfires at night is their extreme malice

The Yota River is not a small river. Although its total length is not long, the water flow is printed from Lake Venern, and the river channel at the mouth of the lake is 100 meters wide.

When the mighty Ross fleet passed through the village of Neihu, what people faced was a large river with a sharply enlarged width.

The width of the river has reached the level of 200 meters, and it is currently the wet season in early summer. Although the river is wide, the inflow of the river can still bring the entire fleet southward quickly.

All the sails are folded, and people only need to hold the rudders of various colors to keep the ships in order.

The oncoming wind is warm and moist, and people with a keen sense of smell can smell the salty taste in it.

On the bow deck of the flagship, Rurik the King of Ross was in high spirits. Beside him stood a flamboyantly blond girl who was none other than Noren, Countess of Narvik.

The king was standing behind him, his big hands on his shoulders.

Noren is happy, since she counted the days and was surprised that she didn't have her menstrual period, she realized that something was important, and as her lower abdomen slowly swelled, she knew that good things had come.

She is already pregnant, but her body wrapped in thick clothes can only be observed by her husband Rurik alone. Even if the army composed of her native tribe is in the Rus army, most of those people do not know or care about it. .

Noren was, of course, the countess of Narvik Port, but the army of the locals was now directly under Rurik's command.

Rurik couldn't be sure that a pregnant woman would manage an army of five hundred people, and the general Hai Rafid was responsible for such technical work.

The soft wind blew her face, her blond hair fluttered in the wind, and her fair face became golden.

Noren squinted and enjoyed the tenderness.

"I'm comfortable standing here."

"Really? Try to open your arms." Rurik murmured.

"Okay." She did as she did, and gradually a feeling similar to flying came to her mind. "It's funny, I'm like a bird."

Rurik didn't say anything, he put his hands on her waist...

This tender scene was seen by many people, and there were many discussions about it.

Especially seen by the village warriors of the newly appointed servants of the Count of Wienernstadt's army. Obviously, this must be the real reason for the king to refuse the villagers to provide women to serve. The king of Ross took his wife on an expedition.

More importantly, these people have heard a lot of rumors. It turns out that the personnel in the Rus army are quite complicated, and some strange-looking residents of the "Eastern Land" will not be discussed. The wife of the king is not Swedish, but a genuine Norwegian.

What is a Norwegian? In the cognition of all Gotaland people, they are mainly residents of the west of the central mountain range of Scandinavia, and they are all Norwegians.

There were at least five hundred genuine Norwegian warriors in the Rus army, well-equipped and well-trained, much to the surprise of the Earl's Army soldiers, especially Earl Gorm himself.

So that woman is also an earl, of the same rank as yourself? There are countless things Gorm doesn't know yet. He is full of curiosity about the unknown, but he has already guessed a lot about what the fleet will encounter when it reaches the southern mouth of the river.

Flying like a bird, Noren enjoyed the feeling very much. She gradually lowered her arms and asked abruptly: "I heard some people say that this river leads directly to the sea. When we see the sea, is the opposite of the sea really Denmark? "

"Exactly."

"Ah! Then through Denmark we can go straight to Britain, or to my homeland."

"Did you think of some people and things, such as..."

"My two brothers." She turned her face. "Speaking of which, you haven't met them for some years, even me. They became kings in Britain, and I really want to see them."

"It's not impossible, but I'm afraid it won't be possible this year."

"I understand. We chose the war against Denmark, even though the real king of Mercia is here. Regraf will have to return to Britain sooner or later, right? At that time, his little kingdom will be bordered by my elder brother's kingdom of York. At that time, Regraf will be protected by my elder brother."

"indeed."

A sense of emptiness struck, Noren sighed lightly, after all, this was the era of wild men, and a noblewoman might not be involved in the men's struggle for hegemony.

"I... also heard that there are many Götalans living on the south side of the river. They have been threatened by the Danes for a long time and may attack us. You want to force them to surrender maybe..."

"Then fight! I have arranged for the soldiers to prepare. If there is a war, I will easily defeat them. I hope my preparations are redundant. I don't believe that those guys are simple and reckless."

The Yota River is not tortuous, and most of the rivers run in a near-standard north-south direction. Its total length is nearly 100 kilometers. Because it travels downstream, the Ross fleet can float to the sea in only two days at most.

They set off early in the morning, and the huge fleet moved forward one after another. Although the ships pulled anchor and set sail at different times, the latecomers eventually caught up with the ships in front and merged into a fleet.

They encountered a brand new village by the river in the afternoon, with orders from the great king to guard against a reckless attack by the southern Ghotarans.

Everyone opened their eyes to watch the hazy village, and a wonderful feeling floated in their hearts. The village is definitely not abandoned, it is the lack of people's vigor in this area. The lakeside grassland with lush water and grass has no grazing, and the farmland is unmanned. There are no people fishing by the river, as if selectively ignoring the architecture of the village. , this area is like a no-man's land.

The long ships are guarding the large ships, and the large ships are arranged in a long snake array.

All the sackcloth protecting the torsion slingshot was taken off, and the deck soldiers were on standby. Although the slingshot was not charged, the soldiers holding the javelin could quickly reload and charge for shooting.

The round shields were placed on the sides of the longship, and most of the oars were stored in the cabin.

At the beginning, King Rurik only issued an order to "be vigilant against the villagers at the southern estuary". Due to the strong alertness of the flagship, all ships maintained absolute combat readiness, as if they were passing through the territory of the Kingdom of Denmark.

Perhaps the move is jittery with the mentality of being wary of Danish fighters in the southern Danish Gotaland.

In the evening, the fleet immediately docked and camped.

There is a village nearby, and Earl Gorm, who is familiar with the geography and hydrology of this generation, did not hesitate to identify the name of the village.

Gorm told Rurik: "That village, we call it the Milk Village, just like the simple name, the people in the village raised a lot of cattle."

Since the locals are good at raising cattle, sending troops to rush over now can easily force them to surrender, right? It's enough to make them pay tribute to some milk immediately, so that they can change the taste of dinner here.

Rurik had an idea and pointed in the direction of the village: "Gorm, now is the time to prove your loyalty. You know, this king does not pursue senseless killing. You take your people over there and convince them to surrender. "

"Oh! Your Majesty is merciful, I will go here."

Along the way, although Gorm felt that some villagers had actually escaped, not all villages would hide with their families. The Rus army seems to be moving, and their king is not a villain, but a real hero, and surrendering to them is not a bad thing.

When the Rus army camped along the river, Gorm rushed to the milk village at the fastest speed in the twilight.

When they entered the village, they were dumbfounded. Even though Gorm called out, the whole village was still silent.

He vigilantly entered some houses to check, and found that the soot from the fire was cold, and there were some useless things left in the houses.

This village originally raised far more cattle than the villagers. It is their specialty to deliver milk products to the surrounding villages. Now, the cowshed and sheepfold are empty. On the contrary, a huge number of cow hoof marks were left on the ground, all of which were pointing to the south.

"Boss, I've seen it here, and I don't even have a chicken." His close friend ran back to report.

After a while, another old man said worriedly: "In my opinion, they all retreated south, I'm afraid they are watching out for the Rus."

Gorm patted his body and rubbed his hands vigorously to shake off the dust. He didn't want that, but the evidence pointed to villagers taking their families to the south. In other words, the evidence has been shown from the moment the army landed. There were no fishing boats in the milk village, and the pier was empty.

Gorm hurriedly returned to his orders, and met the King by the fire.

Rurik was very polite, and threw a grilled fish directly: "Eat it. Tell me about what you found. It looks like you found an uninhabited village."

Gom was a little surprised when he took the grilled fish given by the king. The king is very young but pays great attention to the loyalty of the warriors.

The fish are caught on the spot, and in the near bank of the river where the water is soothing is a good place for trawling, but the catch is not very large.

Gorm took a bite of his loyalty to the king and sighed: "The villagers drove their cattle and sheep south. In my opinion, they made the stupidest choice."

"After all... do you still have to fight? It's a stupid choice indeed."

"Because there are some strong men in the south." Gorm said.

"Strong man? How strong?"

"Like Karl the Crazy Bear, the people in those villages are also very courageous, if the Danes files attack, they will swarm them to fight. Because the Danes always come for slaves, no one can stand this kind of thing. Although I don't Clearly, but they must have heard a lot of information and have been prepared for us."

Gorm is a local, and his information is very valuable. In addition, Rurik does not have a complete grasp of the generalized Gothenburg that peacefully conquered the entire Yota River. Now that the sunset is like blood, it is not like this sunset. omen.

Rurik settled down: "If that's the case, I don't have any extravagant hopes."

He immediately worried about the nobles and generals, and rushed to hold a military meeting by the bonfire.

The general principle of strategy is still to strive for peaceful conquest. If they choose to fight, the Ross will take the initiative to attack. However, the attack must be done in moderation, creating opportunities for them to surrender, and even allowing them to surrender with dignity.

This made some brave and ruthless men shouted, and Arik, who was incomparable, questioned: "In my opinion, it is necessary to conquer them in a battle. I have never seen Ross Junwei, and those guys will think about it in the future. Rebellion."

Aric spoke without any intention, and these words were also beating the submissive Earl Gorm.

Arik is a reckless man. If he is given a huge army, this guy will fight until the whole army is exhausted. For this cousin of the king, the blue fox made such an evaluation.

After all, the king has made the canonization in advance, and a fortress city will rise at the southern mouth of the river called Gothenburg. There is a brand new Russ shop that trades with Denmark, and it is also the fief of the blue fox. If the locals are slaughtered, he will be destroyed. Blue Fox's Ambition.

"Forget it." The blue fox shouted in public: "Your Majesty made me an earl, Arik, you never want to kill all my people?"

"Is it the Yottarans from the south? Do you really believe that they will submit to you as an outsider? Forget it! Or kill some people to force them to submit."

"So what? You slaughter a lot, and the people who survive are full of hatred. At that time, I will manage the place instead of you! Their hatred can only be directed against me, and the plan to revive the shop that the king hopes will be over."

"What do you want?" Arik didn't want to quarrel with his friends, so he shrugged and said softly: "Maybe you still think you can persuade them with one mouth."

"It's not impossible."

"Forget it. I advise you not to be reckless. If you go, they won't allow them to cut your head." Arik Haosheng reminded.

Because Gorm mentioned three strong men, Badal "Bigfoot", Cedric "Broken Tooth", and Eric "Archer", and pointed out that they were very prestigious among the locals.

These three are not warlords and tyrants. They all made great achievements in the battle against the Danish pirates in the past, and were naturally elected as speakers by their respective villages. They are all the heads of the big southern villages. Unlike other villages, they are all selected by surprise. These three have always been stable leaders. It is more appropriate to say that they are chiefs.

Led the villagers to successfully resist the pirate invasion, but only successfully resisted.

The pirates who attacked them in the early years were none other than the Robard tribe of Hafgen, the old Danish king, and the residents of the entire Gota River Basin were aware of this.

Count Gorm naturally knew about this, and he was very willing to obey Rurik's command now, not only because of the huge Rus army, but also because the man who killed the old Danish king Havgen was the King Rurik in front of him. In this matter, Gorm is very willing to believe.

There are three great chiefs in the south, and they have a high probability of choosing to fight.

Rus, Swedes, Norwegians and even Finns, these warriors in the Rus army can be described as "Viking warriors". They admire brave warriors, even if the battle can be an egg on a rock.

Are the people of the South really determined to fight, is the fight on land or in the river? The soldiers informed each other that night, and with the spread of information, by the next morning, the soldiers of the entire army were already certain that there would be a big battle today.

People who have been in the battlefield can often detect murderousness, but the Rus people lit bonfires along the river to make the river burn. For the Gotaland people in the southern mouth of the river, this is not a murderous problem, but a tomahawk. hanging over his head.

Now, the situation for the Gotaland people at the mouth of the sea has become extremely terrifying!

As Gorm revealed, as many as 20 large and small villages, as well as some scattered families of loggers in the forest, migrated to the mouth of the river in unison. Maybe it's better for everyone to escape into the forest, because there is a precedent for successfully fighting against the Danish pirates in the past, they are clearly aware of the advantages of holding together and fighting the enemy, and this time they naturally gathered together quickly.

The three strongmen who made military exploits in the past were elected as leaders by the people, and nearly 20,000 people poured into the sea entrance all of a sudden!

It has been more than a decade and the Gotaland people have never been more united than they are today. Their unity was born of fear, and now they are united in confidence.

There are a large number of islands at the mouth of the Yota River. The landforms of the bay area are trivial, and there are many hills on both sides of the bay.

People from outside did not dare to trample on the farmland of Haikou villages. They had to set up temporary camps on the deserted beach. Because of the crowded environment, they had to graze cattle and sheep to continue production.

Then at night, a large number of bonfires were lit at the mouth of the sea, and the air was filled with the strong smell of burning pine resin.

The south wind drifted north with the odor, directly to the camp of the Russ army.

Therefore, when the Gotaland people saw that the northern sky was illuminated red at the mouth of the sea, they could judge that the army suspected of Swedes was about to kill.

As the night fell, Rurik and the nobles, generals, and even ordinary warriors had no extravagant hopes for tomorrow.

After many battles of ten thousand people, the veteran Ross warrior who has experienced hundreds of battles only sees the sky suddenly turning red in the corner of the night. There are only two situations that can be explained. Either the forest is burning, or there is a large army stationed there. .

A large number of bonfires can illuminate the clouds in the sky red. In this Middle Ages without light pollution, the strange scene is enough to make people sensitive.

The soldiers of the Rus Army subconsciously imagined the enemy as thousands of soldiers preparing for fierce battle. Although everyone had the confidence to defeat them quickly with powerful force, ordinary soldiers still did not dare to take it lightly.

There are three strong men in Jotaland? In fact, many soldiers surrendered because of Gorm's failure to fight, and subconsciously felt that this guy was a coward.

The three strong men in the south are probably the real strong men. Their army can light up the bonfires and turn the clouds red. This must be really brave.

What about the facts?

The huge camp at the mouth of the sea is already in chaos! The mysterious army of suspected Swedes in the north has arrived at the door. The three leaders carry the people's desire to survive.

The political situation was very unfavorable for these Gottarans. Just south of the strait was Jutland and Zealand, where Danes were everywhere. The east is an endless undeveloped forest, and if you enter it rashly, only true hunters can survive in the wild. To the west is Oslo, where the population of Norwegians has grown quite large in recent years as many Bergen have moved in.

Stepping into the enemy's territory will be resolutely counterattacked. The Jotalan people have no way to retreat, and the unknown enemy is in front of them. The three leaders showed their abilities and pulled out an army of 10,000 people that night.

It is indeed an army of ten thousand people, men, women and children, even if a pine stick is sharpened as a short spear The people who do not want to die and do not want to be slaves are united.

An army of 10,000 people is really enough, and among them, there are only more than 3,000 strong men who are really young and strong and good at fighting.

Three thousand people! The Gotaland people have never assembled three thousand men as warriors. This is definitely not the case of the mad bear Karl forcing a group of fishermen who do not want to fight. These three thousand people have no illusions. They have already been called by the leader. war. Or that's what everyone who can handle a weapon thinks so.

The longboats of the Gothalans were mobilized, and a hundred longboats carried the largest fleet of the Gothalans in history. In fact, if such a large army is assembled, they can directly invade Denmark to take revenge. It is true that if the right to life is not threatened by a destructive threat, there will be no such army as it is today, and they don't even know that they have burst into a strong fighting force.

It is a pity that they are facing the Rus fleet and more than 6,000 soldiers who are invincible in northern Europe.

The two sides had never been in contact with each other, but they both judged the extreme malice of the other party by illuminating the clouds directly above the camp where they were located.

Fierce fighting on the course of the Göta River is inevitable.