Chapter 1073： Russ cavalry in Polotsk

The chief of Polotsk has declared surrender in exchange for the survival of the entire clan. This is his personal behavior, and even if he feels it is a decision that he has no choice but to do, everything is still unknown to those troops still marching.

As for the war, he can no longer make reservations after he has surrendered. He stated the entire strength of Polotsk - four thousand men.

Knowing this number, Fisk took a deep breath, but also quickly realized that for the sake of this war, the other side could be said to have exhausted their forces, and they were making a big gamble with the mentality of annihilating the family if they didn't succeed.

What exactly is this for?

The answer is very straightforward, Proclaw explained: "Our scouts estimate that your troops are small, but each of your soldiers is very strong. We held a meeting to discuss that only by gathering as many troops as possible can we defeat you and put this The fort is pulled."

This explanation is very logical, and Fisk is too lazy to stand in the victor's posture and make a mockery. He and Svalgard immediately realized that the Vitebsk fortress was indeed of great strategic value. drop it.

How can such a fortress be destroyed by others? On the contrary, it must be a powerful deterrent to all ethnic groups in the surrounding area, and it must continue to be developed.

Proclaw officially mentioned that the vanguard of the army was defeated, but it was also the strongest part.

In the follow-up, there are still troops continuing to retrograde expeditions along the riverside area. These people are too weak to march at a desperate speed.

"Then, do you think if your army completes the general assembly and fights our army decisively. Do you... feel you have a certainty of victory?"

Faced with the news of the bald general, the defeated Proclaw could only say: "I'm not sure."

"Really unsure? You have four thousand people."

"But you also have a thousand people!"

"What if we only had the first three hundred? I want your real thoughts."

"Dare!" Only at this moment, Proclaw answered very simply.

"So, how are you going to fight?"

"Naturally, it is to organize all the troops to swarm up, and rely on the absolute numerical advantage to defeat you and uproot this fortress."

Fisk nodded his head: "In this way, you think you have won?"

"if not?"

"Look, even if you destroy this fort, we're not going to be buried with it. We can ride and disappear without a trace, or pop up and kill you when you let your guard down. Even because you show up in large numbers, Your rear must be very empty, so... do you think your rear is completely empty?"

Originally, Proclaw thought that this was a general news after his surrender, but unexpectedly, the bald general, this fellow named Fisk, had already bluntly and arrogantly explained their next tactical plan for the Rus.

In fact, the last rhetorical question started Fisk's sudden inspiration.

What does the Vitebsk fortress mean to Rus? Naturally, it has huge strategic implications. But what really makes sense is not the wooden fences and the large number of new buildings, but the privileged location, a shoal that is naturally wadable, a flat area that is easy to cultivate, and a natural station on the north-south line of communication. .

If it can't stand the military pressure, it will give up the fortress. The big deal is that it will make a comeback in the future.

"We have no intention of fighting with your follow-up troops. I will lead the elite troops to rush into your homeland as quickly as possible. I don't worry about getting lost, and ambitious people will be excellent leaders. With this merit, we will give our full support. This man becomes the new chief of Polotsk."

Fisk even applauded his own strategy. His so-called leader was the real careerist Lambert. Of course, a guy who would betray his clan in order to gain power, Fisk despised this kind of person, and it is fair to say that this kind of person is more likely to be a pug.

In fact, the leader is not alone. The previous expedition of the Ureko team not only destroyed the village of Duka in Polotsk, but also found the "forest road" leading to the main settlement of Polotsk through the mouth of the captive. Marching, being attacked, and fleeing, Ureko's follow-up robbery operation was very unsuccessful, and the escape was also embarrassing. Isn't the escape route the opposite of the marching route?

Duka Village means "a huge bend in the river" in the local language, and it is indeed a big bend, which has become a geographical marker. From Vitebsk to the village of Duka, it is not the only way to go along the riverside. The clever hunter ventures directly to the forest road just for the short cut, and Fisk is happy to take this short cut.

The conversation was like a military chess game. In Proclaw's opinion, the bald general must do what he said. Even if the two sides really fought with a disparity of 4,000 to 300 troops, that kind of close-to-hand combat would not happen. The Lotsk tactics were wrong from the start. The real battle showed even more outrageous, one hundred and fifty elite cavalry defeated the strongest one thousand people.

Proclaw was convinced by the defeat, and he could do nothing about the next actions of the Rus. He could only pray: "I hope you will keep your promise and not kill another person."

...

As a result, the Rus began to actively prepare for the next move, and also to prevent those who are not afraid of death from continuing to march to Vitebsk.

So will the follow-up 3,000 Polotsk troops really go on a massive offensive?

This is indeed the case in terms of performance. Even if their retirement is dragging a long distance, the overall trend of marching is unabated.

Ten village leaders led the village Jianyong to continue the march. They all lost contact with the big leader and could only continue to move forward according to the original plan. Some people retreated. The boring marching for several days was a kind of psychological torture. Some people's leather shoes were worn out, and walking barefooted and the soles of their feet were worn out. It was a real torture.

At the beginning, there were people calling, and the village leaders could not take care of the issue of fleeing soldiers.

Most of the personnel are still marching. This is because the overall speed is still decreasing. Whether it is out of their own volition or necessity, they are so out of touch with the vanguard that they are completely unaware of the fierce battle ahead.

Until these "armies" that gradually gathered together arrived at the horrific battlefield.

They saw wolves tearing at the body of the dead, brown bears biting, and even foxes taking a piece of the pie.

"What wicked person did all this?!"

People sighed and sighed, then rushed to disperse the beasts with their weapons, and then checked the dead bodies and found that they were all their own people.

A terrifying answer couldn't be more obvious - this is the vanguard unit that is completely out of contact in the front.

Where is the chief? already dead? Are there any living people nearby?

Seeing the tragic corpse lying everywhere, their only fighting spirit was lost in an instant. People's hearts are broken, and to continue fighting is to die. Fear acts on people's bodies, and all the village chiefs gather urgently to discuss what to do next. There is no need for any normality, and no one would accuse it of being cowardly even if the troops were asked to withdraw. Or that everyone is willing to be cowards, they just want to escape back to the village, and no one dares to think about what will happen next.

The village seemed to be the only safe place, but some work had to be done before evacuation.

The clansmen are already dead, and no one will take it for granted if their bodies are allowed to be bitten by wild beasts here.

At least save the last face before evacuation! At least let everyone bury the dead clansmen on the spot.

This is the conscience of the Polotsks. They dug long and narrow trenches in the riverside battlefield area, and then threw the softened and blackened corpses into the trenches one by one. During this process, they found that the weapons of the deceased had completely disappeared, there was not a single carriage that was supposed to be a baggage, and there were not even the bodies of horses in the remains of the battlefield. The attentive hunters in the team checked the traces on the ground. They noticed a few footprints of beasts, but they found an astonishing number of U-shaped traces.

This trace is quite special, very similar to the traces found on the battlefield after the small-scale battle with the Ross horse bandits. At that time, it was judged that this was the horseshoe installed by the bandits on the horses.

Horseshoes are known only to a few Polotsks. They had domesticated some ponies for carts but couldn't ride them, so the ponies couldn't care for their four hooves with high-value horseshoes.

The horseshoe marks on the battlefield are very outrageous, they are extremely dense, and the number of cavalry of the enemy is staggering. Looking more closely, a large number of hoof prints continued to look upstream of the river, and there were even rut marks.

Although a wise hunter could not estimate the situation at that time, at least he had sufficient evidence to prove that the victor had gone north.

But the number of corpses is not outrageous, only two hundred after careful statistics. You must know that there are only 500 soldiers and horses in the headquarters of the big leader. How can this be lost?

Either many were captured or escaped into the forest. The former must be a tragic slavery, and the latter may be reduced to food for wild beasts.

The work of digging large pits to bury the bodies will continue, but people will take a short rest and withdraw their troops.

For the follow-up troops, this expedition was really fruitless, and it consumed too much manpower and material resources, and the real exchange was greater fear for the Rus.

The last Polotsk army was finally turning back, and they had wasted too much time. At least their dry food reserves are okay, and there are enough reserves to return the same way.

They didn't know that the Ross cavalry was moving like lightning!

After all, the area where Vitebsk is located is a swamp, and the West Dvina River is so relieved that there are shoals that can be waded through. Polotsk hunters occasionally arrive on the opposite bank from here and hunt, while Latvian and Danish immigrant businessmen from Riga must choose to travel south from here to reach Smolensk.

Merchants go by water, and hunters are naturally active in the forest, that is, the hunters have found a direct route in the woodland. Lambert knew about this route, but he was not proficient, but among the prisoners of war who were captured and released were senior hunters. He is just a small person in the community, the big leaders have all surrendered and are willing to cooperate, why not cooperate?

The Ross army saw such a scene, and more than one person was willing to lead the way.

Are these sudden collaborators credible? Fisk and the others retained their suspicions and gave them a chance to make a living.

As Fisk told the surrendered Proclaw, the fortress was just named Vitebsk, it was destroyed and a new one was built.

Fisk did some division of labor, and the Kyiv horses continued to go north, but the goods of the Pechenegs had been nominally acquired by Ross. The Kyiv native Wladyslav led his team and took the Pechenegg horse team with him. The initial goal was to reach Lukiholm in the north and the Duchess of Ostara to reconcile and be stationed. Ostara cavalry guide guide.

Polotsk will be conquered, and the Rus-Ostara cavalry, together with the Pecheneg cavalry, will **** the released prisoners "home".

As for the fortress of Vitebsk, it should have been stationed by a small number of Ostarans. This time, only thirty people stayed here. Not surprisingly, these people were the original defenders. Although this kind of garrison behavior is risky, they were also instructed by Fisk: "If those backward guys attack you, you will report to the north."

The army split up after a brief rest following the victory.

It's a smart move to switch homes. Fisk was prepared for the worst. The so-called enemy got the empty Vitebsk fortress and occupied Polotsk in the entire Polota River area.

The enemy may not be able to capture the fortress, but the cavalry will certainly be able to capture Polotsk. I don't know if there are those who led the way who surrendered in the army, as well as senior traveler Old Harald and Ureko who walked through the "Forest Road".

A small number of cavalry escorted the unarmed prisoners forward, while the main force was galloping.

Both Proclaw and Lambert were riding horses for the first time. The uncle and nephew were tied to the saddle with ropes, and the horses they were riding were led by warriors. ."

The cavalry pair is marching in fast walking mode, and the soldiers all bring a bag of oatmeal, which is not eaten by themselves, but fed to their own mounts, so that the speed of the attack can be maintained for a longer time.

When you know the right path, it doesn't take long to reach your goal.

In the early morning of the third day after departure, when the morning fog had just dissipated and the sun rose, a moving shadow suddenly rushed into the dark green woodland.

"This is the wheat field! Be careful not to trample the wheat field, this is our trophy!" Fisk made an urgent order.

Indeed, Fisk felt it was a great mercy to **** oil and water from the vanquished without cutting off their heads. It is a fact that the Polotsks are not rich. The most important wealth they have is food and human resources.

According to the past war model, it is natural to rob the defeated and become slaves. Fisk was reluctant to do so because of the appointment, and he even persuaded Pechenegger Guetzal to let the Polotsks redeem their captured clan with grain.

The Rus wanted to keep Polotsk and bring it under their rule. If they asked for the slave issue again, it would destroy the friendship, and Quetzal had to accept the compensation terms.

Proclaw has surrendered, and such surrender is also a conditional surrender.

Ross will not ask for slaves, but ask for food as a substitute, and Polotsk will continue to pay tribute in the future.

There is a lot to say here, Polotsk is surrendering to the kingdom of Rus, by no means the nearest principality of Ostara, but the tribute food must pass through Ostara. In the war of conquest, the Ostara cavalry contributed a lot. After all, Fisk was the standing army general of the Rus Kingdom. He was granted full power and naturally had the right to make all decisions. Therefore, this is actually unfair to the Ostarans, but fortunately they have no intention of entanglement.

The cavalry, deliberately willing to ridge, marched quickly on the small wasteland, and rushed to the narrow Polota River in one fell swoop.

Now the oats and rye are heading, and the autumn harvest is not far away.

The old and the weak are left in a village lined up like a string of pearls, and it is no exaggeration to call it the emptiness behind.

All tactical changers are probably the current situation, the difference is that the Rus have prepared for the worst, and they can withstand the cost of losing the Vitebsk fortress.

Hundreds of cavalry suddenly attacked, the old man who was washing clothes screamed and fainted, and the children who were running around fled home one after another.

There was no resistance in the villages they encountered at first, only some old people and children tried to hide as much as possible.

However, what shocked them was that the big leader Proclaw actually appeared. Everyone knew that face The cavalry seemed to be inspecting their own village. Head to the largest settlement, which can be called "Polotsk".

Any disengagement from formation is forbidden, even Pechenegs are not allowed to loot. Fisk restrained his own men and ordered Quetzal to fulfill his orders.

The cavalry did fulfill their promise and did not kill a single person, and the villagers, who were also completely incapacitated, only dared to watch these cavalry from a distance, just like watching the big brown bear that broke into the settlement. They saw Proclaw and Lambert, and noticed that some of their own people were present. These people are shouting "don't be afraid" and "they don't kill people" in their native dialect.

The old and weak left behind didn't know what happened to the big boss, and some elderly people took a risk on crutches to find out. Other secret observers saw that the old man was actually not killed, and more people began to show up. The stubborn children did not know how high the sky was, and there were actually children holding wooden sticks in front of the cavalry as if they were about to fight.

The children were all driven away, and the most serious experience was that the cavalry shot arrows and fell at the urchin's feet, but the cavalry still did not kill anyone. Such a move is quite different from horse bandits, even though Proclaw knew that the last attacker was in this army, and even knew that the Rus commander who destroyed the village of Duka was called Ureko.