Chapter 1,543 The Battle of Metz (Part 2)

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In the early morning, the sky was still gray.

The low horns of the coalition forces completely broke the calm, and the soldiers came out of their shacks one after another.

They went to the toilet first and then ate, and then helped each other put on various styles of armor. It took some time, and all that time was worth it.

When the main force of the Ross army reappeared, their appearance was neat and tidy. After the infantry flag teams stood in place, the blue cloth strips sewn on their chests made them look too neat at first glance.

The most outstanding ones are the five hundred veterans wearing integral breastplates. They are selected strong men in the army, with the First Infantry Standard Corps of the Standing Army as the core.

The galvanized breastplate is processed by the fire gold plating process. The galvanizing result does not enhance any defense, but it gives the low carbon steel plate a special metallic color - a light blue feeling.

If there is sunlight now, the galvanized breastplate will be too reflective. That is the effect Rurik hopes for, but the current scene is also very good.

There were many reasons for the delay, the biggest of which was the shrinking daylight hours, which caused the coalition forces to wait until noon to finish reorganizing the army.

For example, there are only nine hours of daylight in Paris on the winter solstice, and Metz is at a slightly higher latitude, so the situation is basically the same. The current daylight hours have also shrunk to ten hours.

Standing under the city of Metz, I discovered that the snow conditions here are slightly better than those in Thionville.

Or because the city wall was blocking it, the wind piled a large amount of snowflakes under the city's north wall, which was also the main direction of the coalition's attack.

A white gentle slope appears under the wall. I have an intuitive understanding of the local snowfall. The snow must be quite heavy. If you step on it, it will turn into ice and be extremely slippery.

The entire battlefield was covered with snow. Although the amount of snow in a large area under the city could no longer reach a person's knees, it still had a retarding effect on the army's attack.

Pay attention and observe that the snow in front is very smooth and has no footprints. It can be seen that the locals have not been active under the city in the past few days.

At present, the large-scale Russian coalition forces have assembled, trampling the snow in the station area into porcelain.

They came well prepared, so they took out the "wooden snow shoes" with nails nailed on them, stepped on them with their boots, and tied them with hemp ropes and belts.

Such an environment did make the cavalry cautious, even though most of the horses had repaired their own horses' shoes in the past days, and brought razors to repair their horses' chairs and nail new shoes. The spiked shoes of the Ross Cavalry are suitable for such an environment, but a sudden slip and fall may still have a fatal impact on the horse.

The cavalry does not participate in siege battles. Even if they dismount and shoot arrows, they can become powerful infantry archers.

Fisk gathered his own people first, including the small nobles of Gdansk, the knight slaves of Kretinga, and the cavalry of the Demyansk County.

Even the court count of Siegburg, two knights near the Taunus Mountain, each with his own cavalry, joined the Ross cavalry.

Nearly two thousand cavalrymen were in full regalia, and the Ross flag and the Cross flag were mixed. They almost don't wear helmets, but extremely warm bearskin hats. The hat can protect the entire cheek, and a piece of cloth is used to cover the face. Now if the sun is shining, they will all wear sunglasses.

Feathers were inserted into the roof, and the recurve bow was hung on the saddle.

The cavalry lined up and gradually surrounded the heavy weapons.

At this moment, the infantry has basically assembled into a complete team. As long as the king gives the order, each flag team can start the siege.

The heavy infantry in heavy armor came in front, followed by a group of medium-armored infantry (wearing plate armor vests and chainmail) carrying simple long ladders, and finally the unarmored light infantry.

The last ones were not without armor, they were arranged as archers, and the light-dressing operation in this battle was entirely for the comfort of shooting arrows. They are the centurions of crossbowmen in each standard group, and the one hundred old Finnish longbowmen.

Each unit performs its duties and they form a hybrid.

The cavalry came in force, and next to them were six infantry flag teams that had completed their formation.

At this moment, a large number of Danes and Götalans were arriving one after another, and these friendly forces were basically here.

Fisk was in a good mood. He saw

The king stood high-spirited, then dismounted, holding the hilt of his sword and hurriedly reported: "Now our cavalry has been assembled, and the cavalry are all calling for war."

Rurik's eyes were always fixed on the Metz city wall, and he turned his head: "Very good. You are on standby for now. If necessary, I will order all your people to dismount and fight on foot. More than a thousand of you will be excellent foot archers." .”

"Yes." Fisk smiled bitterly and said, "Our army is strong, and we may win without our troops being dispatched."

"I hope so. I hope the fighting will be completely over during the day. The army will spend the night in the city tonight."

"Okay. Let's take action."

"Wait a little longer and attack when I think the army is ready." Rurik finally said.

When the Russian army's horns and war drums were blasting, the bronze bells of all the churches in Metz were also ringing wildly. It was a routine bell ringing in the early morning and also served as a war alarm.

A large number of people poured into the church and knelt down in front of the cross to pray.

The church would never let them lay on the floor for the night. If they were praying during the day, they would be allowed to enter at will.

For a time, all the churches became shelters, which also objectively caused the alleyways that were originally crowded with people to finally have some space.

Last night was another cold night. Due to the severe depletion of heating supplies in the city, most of the refugees had to fight or hug each other to stay warm.

To become a militia, they have to face the barbarian attacks and may die in battle at any time, but they can also get very critical supplies and warmth to prevent them from freezing to death unnecessarily.

The defenders gathered in large numbers behind the city walls and gates. If this line of defense was breached, the entire Metz would be doomed.

As many as 5,000 refugees poured into the various churches, so packed that they piled on top of each other like canned herrings. There were countless shouts and cries, because everyone wanted to get into the church, hoping that the sacred power here could protect everyone's life.

Naturally, a large number of people gathered near the church. They were crying and making trouble because they couldn't squeeze in.

Only the people who froze to death scattered everywhere in the city, and no one was there to collect their bodies in recent mornings.

Because even the two archbishops and the Earl family of Zunguo don't know if they can see tomorrow again.

The Normans gathered a massive army outside the city, and the patchwork militia in the city only numbered 2,000. The saddest thing was that the most elite Earl family guard only numbered a hundred. The so-called elites are not really elites. If they were strong, they would have been taken away by the old count for an expedition.

Under the crisis, the unknown has become the elite.

The hunters in the militia were concentrated on the north city wall. Anyone who did not understand military affairs could also detect that the Normans were going to attack the north gate first.

Compared to the summer battles, the Norman troops that came in winter were indescribably huge. Even the old militiamen who had fought in the summer battles to defend the city were now trembling.

The two archbishops wore ornately decorated bishop's hats, and a young priest carried a copper-clad cross and a silver pot containing holy oil.

There were no words of encouragement before the war. The two archbishops had a clear division of labor. They held cedar branches broken off from the side of the cathedral, dipped them in holy oil and sprinkled them on the defenders.

It is truly the most glorious moment in the life of an ordinary farmer to be personally blessed by the archbishop, who is usually beyond his reach. For a moment, some militiamen suddenly didn't care about death. They believed that their bodies were stained with holy oil, and their souls would go directly to heaven if they died in battle - then there would be no cold or hunger.

Metz was completely waiting passively, and gathering two thousand militiamen was their limit.

The refugees in the city are mainly old, weak, women and children, and all the men who can fight are now gathered at the top of the city.

A pair of eyes pay attention to the movements of the barbarians, and also pay attention to those strange objects.

On the other side of the battlefield, Rurik finally concluded that the time to go to war was now.

He bravely drew his sword and pointed it at the north gate.

"According to plan! Attack!"

Ten people gathered together to blow the horn, which produced a special rhythm.

A large number of warriors pushed the cow trebuchets, followed by a total of one hundred small bull trebuchets and torsion slingshots that were towed.

Warriors with large shields and armor formed a human wall to protect these heavy weapons.

In the first round of the offensive, the Ross Army sent out four flag troops, with veteran Grund as the vanguard, which gave the veterans a chance to achieve glory in life.

The five hundred men wearing the heaviest armor ignored the enemy's arrows. Even if the defenders shot arrows from a distance of ten meters, the arrows would break when they hit the plate armor.

To the defenders, it looked like a large ball of silver moving. In ordinary people's understanding, the two most shining metals were silver and gold.

The galvanized plate armor was too shiny, and the defenders were already deeply intimidated before a fierce battle.

Archbishop Drogo, who was known as being full of wisdom, didn't know what it was. He instinctively felt the danger, but he continued to stand at the top of the city to observe the development of the situation like a stupid roe deer.

"This is it." Grund stretched out his right arm to stop the army, so the heavy weapons also stopped advancing. Behind them were a large number of deep tracks and snow flattened by boots.

The snow mixed with the mud, and the snow behind them had turned black. Various styles of stone bullets were towed at the same time. Inglund felt that the distance was completely suitable. All heavy weapons began to deploy after the stone bullets were in place.

The slides of the torsion slingshots were full of grease, and the warriors carrying bucklers began to assist each other. One person focuses on turning the winch, one person is responsible for loading the tapered cast iron bullet, and one person is responsible for pulling the latch to fire. The assistance of three people can maximize the slingshot's rate of fire.

The same logic applies to the rest of the weapons.

The two warriors assisted each other, and the huge winch slowly lowered the huge lever of the cow trebuchet.

More personnel are needed to service this heavy weapon, and its reloading time is also very slow.

Grund, who was commanding the front line, was not in a hurry, and Rurik, who was commanding the main force in the rear and waiting for the wall to collapse, was not in a hurry either.

Finally, strong warriors (armed craftsmen) were selected to put stone bullets weighing up to two hundred pounds into large and thick cowhide pockets.

Five heavy weapons were aimed at the stone wall. The defenders watched all this quietly, as if they were spectators, as if it had nothing to do with them.

Grund took a deep breath, looked left and right and gradually stretched out his right arm: "Get ready!"

The eyes of the five warriors stared at Grund's right arm until they watched it suddenly fall.

Almost at the same time, five people pulled the tenon rope.

The wooden arm that had accumulated great strength lost its restraint, and a stone weighing as much as an adult man was thrown out!

This force is so powerful that the sandbags used to suppress the heavy weapon to avoid its "kick" are thrown away due to the forward tendency.

It's like this cow is going to gouge someone with its horns.

Five indescribable things flew towards the north wall in a low and flat parabola. The distance between them was outside the attack range of the defenders' arrows. Of course, the stone bullets were too heavy, and they hit the lower end of the stone wall heavily.

Suddenly, the defenders on the wall felt that the ground was shaking. This was a feeling they had never experienced before.

With just one blow, most of the defenders realized what it meant. The archers who stayed on the arrow tower watched all this in horror. They forgot to fight back, and the hands holding the bows trembled involuntarily.

"Not enough. Not enough!"

Grund turned around and continued shouting: "Brothers, keep going! Use small stone bullets."

The smaller stone bullet is also 100 pounds. It must have a higher muzzle velocity, but the impact force is not as strong as the former.

It took a while to complete the second round of loading.

Another five stone bullets flew over, and this time the defenders could finally feel its terror most intuitively.

Because the charge was too strong, the stone bullet flew too high, or the Metz city wall was not too high. Stone bullets flew over the heads of the defenders, scaring Archbishop Drogo to the point where he fell down in a state of disbelief. His high jewel-filled bishop's hat also fell off, revealing his bare head.

He didn't have time to regain his composure. He saw those monsters smashing into houses, and a big hole was made in a wooden house. Then he watched helplessly as the people taking refuge in the houses ran out screaming, stretching their hands and shouting as if they were being attacked by demons. Strange as a possession.

Because a large number of refugees were crowded into all the houses. When the Normans came to the city, a large number of people could not care too much. Even if the native people in the city stopped the refugees, they would rush in to take refuge.

Stone bullets smashed through houses, and many people died on the spot after being bruised and bloody.

city ​​wall guard

Jun didn't know the details of the injuries. They only felt that they would die on the spot if they were hit by this thing. At least they gradually realized that it was a large boulder flying at an incredible speed.

The two archbishops had no time to complain, because the third round of attacks came again.

Grund continuously corrects the launch angle of the heavy weapon during command shooting. To control the range, he only needs to adjust the charging intensity.

Each of the five heavy weapons has subtle differences, and shooting stone bullets magnifies the differences.

Each position finally adjusted the various elements to the most comfortable position through trial and error, and the stone attacks became more and more accurate.

The most heavily defended north gate was ignored by the coalition forces, and the stone wall next to it was being bombarded continuously.

The foundation of the lower stone wall comes from the Roman era, and mortar is used to bond it to ensure that the lower granite is stable as a whole. The upper stone wall was built by gravity when the Franks were repairing the city. Ordinary collisions were meaningless, but at that time no one thought that an army would imitate the heavy weapons of the Roman legions hundreds of years ago to launch a siege.

The section of the stone wall that was hit hard was gradually crumbling, and its entirety had begun to deform. The defenders could see astonishing cracks appearing on the wall, and the cracks expanded rapidly with the impact.

The defenders retreated one after another, watching in despair as the city wall began to collapse irreparably. Even if the defenders on the tower finally began to fire arrows to counterattack, they found that their projectiles could not reach the Norman formation at all.

All counterattacks by the Metz defenders were in vain, and the archbishop had no choice but to make the sign of the cross on his chest and quietly watch the stone wall collapse. As for after it collapsed...

After all, the guards of the earl family had combat experience. Some of them were not afraid of danger and called on hundreds of militiamen with spears to gather behind the stone wall that was about to collapse.

"The wall will collapse! At that time, we can only use our bodies to block the gap! The Normans will rush in, so use our spears to pierce them!" The old warrior called, even though everyone felt that such a call was in vain.

But what else can be done?

Just like a mouse hiding in a hole, the fox is frantically digging at the entrance of the hole, and it is only a matter of time before it is hunted.

The rounded stone bullets have been used up, replaced by uncarved stones from Trier City.

Granite with sharp edges and corners is actually more lethal. If the edges hit a stone wall, the huge pressure in an instant can cause large rocks in the wall to break.

The flat stone wall has been smashed into an extremely curved arc, with cracks everywhere on it, and the snow under the wall is also mixed with a large number of stone fragments.

Archbishop Drogo has already removed the wall. He does not want to be smashed to pieces by the collapsing stones.

Although he wanted to be a martyr, he still succumbed to his survival instinct when faced with real death threats.

Rurik has been paying attention to the development of the situation. He knows that this wall cannot be broken through quickly.

The coalition forces had plenty of time to wait, and the majority of soldiers could see that the wall was finally crumbling.

The heavy armored infantrymen who had been waiting for a long time had their shoulders sore from the pressure of their plate armor. They are the first troops to attack and will bear the enemy's most powerful counterattack. They don't care, because no one thinks that they can be killed by chickens and dogs wearing heavy armor.

Moreover, drawing on the experience of the Battle of the Sauer Estuary, many soldiers used strips of chainmail as scarves, wrapping a circle of iron around their weakly defended necks.

If the defense is like this, how can it be possible to die in battle? !

Finally, the gravity fulcrum of this section of the stone wall was smashed, and the gravity balance of the entire wall was broken.

With the final stone bullet, it was all over.

In less than ten seconds, the stone wall that was smashed into an arc collapsed, leaving only the foundations of the old Roman era of the more than four-meter-high stone wall.

The smashed gravel lay on the snowy slopes, creating a perfect passage.

Grund was overjoyed, and the impatient heavily armored soldiers who had been waiting for a long time were overjoyed. Only the defenders behind the wall fell into unprecedented fear, and some militiamen simply fell into a coma.

The veteran Grund returned home defeated in the summer, and was even insulted by the idiots of the defenders. The heavily armored warrior standing in the front row was also humiliated half a year ago, and now it was time for revenge.

Through the collapsed stone wall, they saw the armed men on standby so that they could carry out the king's orders.

Order——Kill all the resisters.

"Let's go!" Grund ordered, and he personally led five hundred heavy infantrymen to rush toward the gap, like a stream of iron.

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