Chapter 1,544 The Battle of Metz (Part 2)

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A gap appeared, which to be fair was only fifteen meters wide at best.

Although other areas of the stone wall are crumbling, the overall structure is still stable.

The sections destroyed by trebuchets can clearly see the fresh cross-sections of the stones. Because the Franks relied on the organized stacking of stones when they repaired the stone walls, the stones were nested into each other and remained stable for four hundred years. If If it had not been bombarded by the heavy weapons of the Russian army, it would have been able to persist for hundreds of years.

The stone wall was completely destroyed by violence, and the defenders waited restlessly until the weak point collapsed. However, the majority of militiamen have no idea what kind of enemy they will face.

Even against the group of Normans in the summer, the militiamen would not dare to confront them head-on without the protection of the stone wall. Because the Normans at that time wore armor on an incredible scale, the unarmored militiamen had to fight against the armored men, and they had no idea that they could win in an infantry battle.

But this time... the severity of the situation completely exceeded the limits that these militias armed by nearby farmers could imagine.

I saw a large group of little giants covered in metal, heading straight for the gap with various weapons.

Those were the heavy infantrymen led by the veteran Grund. These veterans had tried every means to cover themselves with iron. Even their calves were covered with small pieces of chainmail. They passed ropes through iron rings to assemble greaves on a large scale.

At this time, the buckler became a liability, and they were armed with steel swords and battle axes, or with long-handled battle axes held in both hands, or even a weapon called "double-handled long-handled axes."

They are usually very eatable and are famous as dung-making machines. They are tall and powerful, and they are made of iron. They quickly rushed to the gap and bravely passed through it. When the defenders were stunned to death, they were the first to rush into the city of Metz. The heavy infantry used the pressure of absolute strength, armed with various weapons, and began to kill without hesitation.

The fighting and counterattack instinct of the defenders and militia could only be mobilized if a comrade died beside them.

However, something astonishing happened.

The iron spears struck the Normans in vain, leaving only small marks on the breastplates.

He couldn't break the Norman heavy armor by chopping with an axe, but he was killed by the Normans.

The militiamen are most equipped with spears, which are generally about three meters in length. To be fair, this weapon is easy to use. The spearhead blade gradually widens, and it has a certain shovel feel. It has a sleeve-mounted structure and is used by others. Stabbing the flesh will cause a deep and wide wound. Even if you are lucky enough to survive for a while, you will die from scurvy caused by infection because the wound is difficult to heal.

Unfortunately, this kind of spear is made of wrought iron. Faced with the carbon steel weapons and defenses of the Ross heavy infantry, the broad-bladed spear head took the lead in curling the head.

The Ross heavy infantry tossed Lily among countless spear shafts, and immediately began hand-to-hand combat after completing the close-up, quickly opening up the situation with dexterous and handy weapons.

The hundreds of defenders and militiamen were knocked down in large numbers in a short period of time. Even if they were only injured at first, they would be killed by the heavy infantry that followed ruthlessly.

Grund did not dare to neglect. He had suffered in this city during the summer, and it was inevitable to vent his anger today, so he ordered that no one be left alive for those who resisted. He also felt that even if King Ross did not issue a clear order, he would still have to do something cruel. Because the troops who ascended first were bound to be hit and attacked by the enemy, there was likely to be a Frankish army hidden in the city of Metz.

Weapons drink blood, and warriors kill with red eyes. Only in this way can we face the possible counterattack of the powerful defenders and face the danger without fear.

The gap of more than ten meters was filled with scattered stones, and stone bullets that fell to the ground after being fired from heavy weapons.

More and more heavy infantry stepped on these debris and entered the city through the narrow gap.

At this moment, the soldiers with heavy weapons were not idle, because they saw the enemies on the towers near the gap shooting arrows at the heavy infantry passing through the gap. For a moment, the torsion slingshots adjusted their shooting angles and fired powerful and heavy arrows at the simple towers. of cast iron bullets.

The projectile has inclined grooves on its surface that allow it to spin during flight for superior stability. They smashed into the tower, causing countless pieces of sawdust and haystacks to fly around. The defenders' archers curled up, and some unlucky ones were hit by projectiles and fell weakly from high places.

Any attack by the garrison's archers is essentially useless.

Damn it, the arrow cluster cannot penetrate any kind of Russian armor under the projectile attack.

The arrow clusters crackled against the armor, and soon the attack came to an abrupt end as the shooter fell.

After dealing with the "birds" on the simple wooden towers, the small trebuchets and torsion slingshots continued to show their power, and the defenders who were still standing on the stone wall were beaten on the head and face.

The Ross army didn't know how many enemies were killed by this attack. At least the idiots who continued to watch on the stone wall disappeared.

They easily covered their heavy armored infantry. Three infantry standard corps came as engineers, and they saw that the heavy infantry had entered the city.

They were overjoyed, and each flag team quickly returned to its original state.

A young general bared his teeth like a wolf. He put down his torsion slingshot and then drew out his steel sword: "Brothers! Avenge Xia Tian! Let's go."

The young warriors responded immediately, and young general Ascard led his men to attack the city of Metz for the second time.

Two thousand Rus' elites poured in like a tide. On the other hand, the heavy infantry who advanced into the city had completely opened up the situation.

The snow on the ground has been stained red with blood, and a large number of the defenders and militiamen who died in the battle are lying softly in the mixture of bright red ice and water. The battlefield behind the wall emits strange steam, and the air is filled with a faint smell of rust.

The heavy infantry's breastplates were stained red by the enemy's snow. Grund's troops did not suffer any losses. He also felt that the victory was too simple. A city that was said to be the core of wealth in the region collapsed like this?

They ran wildly on the snow, searched everywhere in the winding streets, and saw some huddled humanoid figures in the corners. After a few kicks, I found that it was a dead body that was frozen hard.

"What's going on? Is this city facing a major crisis?" Grund gasped and temporarily stuck the blood-stained sword on the ground.

"Boss, do you want to continue the search? Many brothers say that this city is full of Franks." One of the subordinates also panted.

"Is there any resistance? I see that the brothers have not encountered any more resistance."

"It seems that they are all women, children and the elderly. When they see our brothers, they are either scared to cry or faint."

"Damn it, don't they have any soldiers?" Grund shook his head regretfully, thought for a while and then said: "March towards their church, and we will occupy it first before others do. Don't get entangled with those boring civilians." "

The guys present understood the situation and informed some of their brothers about the banner captain's orders, then gathered a group of heavy armored infantry and headed towards the largest building in the city.

The Ross elite had seen it before, especially Grund who had participated in the war that invaded the Kingdom of Mercia ten years ago. At that time, the Ross army used siege vehicles to break open the gate of Tamworth City, and then the Ross army swarmed in. enter.

It was summer in Britain, and people in the city were frantically jumping over stone walls to escape, and those who were injured were staggering to escape.

The stone walls of Tamworth are low, and people who jump over the walls generally cannot fall to their death.

The walls of the city of Metz are generally four meters high. Due to the wind direction, the most snowy area is the north wall of the city. The rest of the stone walls cover the wind and snow. There is very little snow in those areas and the ground is frozen hard. The other gates are covered with snow. Blocked by debris, city residents risk serious injury by jumping over the wall to escape.

If you fall and get injured, you will have difficulty escaping. If you don't die from the Norman chase, you will die of injuries after a lucky escape.

To escape, the prerequisite is that city residents feel they can escape.

There were very few men in the city of Metz, and the vast majority were women, children and the elderly. They could not resist and did not dare to resist. They either fainted or begged for mercy from the Norman soldiers in Frankish.

The heavy infantry ignored this group of women and children, and the following 1,500 citizens' flag corps soldiers did not want to pay any attention either. After discovering that the houses were crowded with old, weak, women and children without any resistance, they let them go and continued to move forward.

This was not because the Russian army was merciful, maybe there was a hint of mercy, but more because they wanted to take control of the church and monastery and take away the gold and silver.

At this time, the two archbishops crawled back to the Assumption Cathedral. The refugees, who were overcrowded and crying, saw the sudden appearance of the archbishop as if they had seen the savior.

But in Archbishop Drogo's view, the current scene is nothing but endless despair.

He is still using words in vain to gain victory

Maintain order and the Archangel Xuancheng will save everyone.

However, the closed wooden door was quickly opened by a long-handled battle axe...

What appeared was not an archangel, but a heavy armored infantry covered in blood.

Originally, when the soldiers heard the rumbling in the room, they thought there was an ambush of a group of Frank soldiers.

The brave warriors broke open the door. Behind them were Grund and his men. The warriors were ready to fight.

However, all those displayed in front of the soldiers were frightened women and children.

The soldiers were dumbfounded when they saw these people. They seemed to kill them at the slightest provocation. The soldiers were still eager to get gold and silver. The guys in front of them were simply a hindrance.

Grund was furious: "Let's go! There is a side entrance to the church. Let's go through the small door."

He arranged for some soldiers to block the main entrance first, and then led some people to rush to the side entrance. Because he had already seen the beautiful bishop's hat, it was obvious that the person who owned it was the leader of the faith here, and the guy was planning to escape.

Archbishop Drogo and Hutto fled separately. During the crisis, the two of them planned to escape at least one of them. Then they entered the count's mansion and found the countess and little Charlie jumping over the wall to escape.

Although it is risky to escape, it is better than staying in the city and waiting to die.

The Russian heavy infantry took the lead, splitting into two groups and intending to surround the entire cathedral, when they collided with the two archbishops.

The soldier who had already killed Hongyan threw his ax and hit Drogo on the back. Then a soldier rushed up and killed him with a sword.

Archbishop Hutto of Trier, who was taking refuge, was even more unlucky. As soon as he walked out of the side door, he was knocked down by the soldiers blocking the door, and then killed by random swords.

They died at the same time as all the fleeing lower-level priests, who were killed in the rebellion.

Maybe there is no need to kill this kind of priest. In the current situation, the red-eyed heavy infantry is no longer controllable.

A soldier stood in front of Drogo, holding the bishop's hat. When he saw the flag captain approaching, he threw the thing over.

"Looks like a high priest," he said.

"He was killed by you?" Grund was a little unhappy.

The soldiers did not deny it, but the man continued: "He is dead anyway, what will happen next?"

"What else can you do? If you capture him, maybe the king will give you a reward. However, it will save trouble if you die." Grund couldn't help but think of the captured Liège Archbishop Hatega. That guy is really difficult to serve. "Forget it. Let's enter the monastery now. Remember! Leave the gold, silver and sacred objects to the king, and we don't want to destroy their books. If you find the legendary room full of silver coins, I won't take more than one handful per person."

Because some unrealistic rumors spread from the Danes, the so-called silver mountain in the city of Metz spread quickly. Although Rurik did not believe it, because this statement could boost morale, he acquiesced. .

Rurik still believed that real wealth was food and livestock.

Standing outside the city, Rurik realized that the battle was going too smoothly and that he was indeed too cautious in arranging his troops.

He saw that the soldiers were already restless, and he also saw that all four flag teams had entered.

"Now, full-scale attack."

Rurik gave the order for a general attack, and all the trumpeters and drummers made unprecedented noise. Thousands of soldiers outside the city shouted at the same time and rushed towards the gap in the stone wall.

At this moment, the city had been completely eroded by the influx of two thousand Russian troops.

Three citizen flag corps searched for remnants of the enemy everywhere. The last defenders did not dare to fight against Ross's heavy infantry with chest plate armor, nor did they dare to fight the shield-wielding Normans.

The militiamen were fleeing, and at the critical moment some people began to rush up the southern stone wall, and then bravely jumped. The unlucky ones are prone to fractures after falling on hard ground, and there are also many lucky ones who only sprain their muscles and bones and can get up and continue running.

But this kind of escape is another kind of self-destruction.

It would be unfair for the two thousand cavalry commanded by Fisk to be spectators throughout the siege of Metz.

The cavalry was ordered to take a circuitous route to block the possible retreat of the refugee flow.

The refugee wave did not happen

, only some visibly armed men jumped over the wall to escape.

"They are deserters from the garrison. Kill them."

Fisk had no idea of ​​taking prisoners. Those who were lucky enough not to be killed or injured died from the random arrows of the cavalry archers.

There was absolutely no way out in Metz, and more than 20,000 refugees were trapped in the city. The Russian regular army had no time to contend with the refugees, and the subsequent influx of Götalanders and Danes regarded this large number of refugees as wealth.

Because these northern fishermen and armed forces will always need labor, they don't care where the labor comes from, as long as they can work and have children.

At this moment, no one thought about the impact that the capture of a large group of Catholic Frankish refugees would have on the northern world.

Young, pretty-looking village women like this would be captured by Norman soldiers once they were discovered, and those who had the intention of resisting would be assassinated by Norman soldiers in public.

The gap in the stone wall was too small compared to the swarming crowd. Rurik stood outside the city for the time being. He heard various movements in the city, which eventually converged into a huge roar.

The Russian army quickly occupied the granary and found a few stupid donkeys from the stables. The mill was also taken, which had been the property of the earl's family, and all was seized.

The young general Ascard led the troops to dominate all this. They were looting the earl family's property, and finally got into a fight with the last earl guard.

Regardless of Askard's orders, the brothers had a tacit understanding that the bucklers were piled up like a solid wall in the morning.

Five hundred versus fifty, the Ross army had a huge advantage, and because there was finally a battle that everyone loved to see, more soldiers came to participate in the siege of the Earl's family.

Standing in the low stone tower, the Countess felt nothing but endless despair. The Normans were downstairs, and through the stone window she had seen the armored barbarians squeezing the last guards.

The two sides were fighting frantically, and the defenders were outnumbered and their spirits tended to collapse. What was worse was that the so-called "medium armor" of the Russians was considered heavy armor by the "elite" Frankish defenders, and the broad-bladed iron swords could not penetrate the board. Armor, it is also extremely easy to curl the blade when cutting.

The Russian army's steel swords kept thrusting, and they had already figured out fighting tactics similar to those of the Roman heavy infantry. Relying on this move, Askard led his troops and basically eliminated the defenders.

To be able to encounter such resistance, the building behind the defenders is really not small. I am afraid that this is the legendary residence of Earl Metz.

He was overjoyed when he realized this, and he called: "Come in with me now and kill their nobles! Kill everything!"

Because Rurik's attitude towards the city's nobles was to kill without mercy, such a physical destruction of the count family would definitely lead to leaderlessness in the entire region.

Those knights who are still alive and the villages they control will remain silent because they do not receive orders from the Metz nobles, which will make it easier for the coalition forces to defeat them one by one in the future.

The destruction of the Earl's family was also a shock to the great nobles loyal to Lothair.

Askard and the other flag-captains were given exactly the same order: no dogs or chickens would be left behind once they found Count Metz's house.

They identified the target and began to execute it decisively. With the hatred of being humiliated in the summer, they killed particularly crazily.

Servants, cooks, minstrels and other various people were allowed to hide in the count's mansion. They were grateful to the countess for her kindness and thought it was absolutely safe here.

It's a pity that even the bards who knew how to juggle and sing died under the random swords of the Russian army. If such people were not killed and were captured and stayed in the army, they could still bring some fun and leisure to the coalition forces.

It's a pity that such a person will definitely die if he stands here.

Askard strictly followed the orders of his uncle the king and was ruthless in doing things. They put their shields on their backs, holding an ax or dagger in their left hand and a bloody steel sword in their right hand, just to make it easier to kill in a tight place.

Even the horse herders were killed, and the donkeys were happily owned by the soldiers, because the donkey's screams after being frightened were very funny. They laughed and laughed, completely ignoring the dying horse herders who vomited blood and convulsed.

Finally, they rushed to the countess's room.

Seeing the Norman standing in front of her, the lady was so frightened that she held her head and screamed. Little Charlie or

say

Adalbert II, the boy could only hug his mother at a loss. Several maids were also here, and some even knelt down and begged for their lives.

Askard has been immersed in Alicia's gentle country for a year, and he already understands the Frankish language, so he had to ask a few questions.

He thought that informing the barbarians of his master's noble status would save him from death, but it was the servant who revealed that the countess and the count's youngest son were here, claiming that the real count had been captured and could pay a ransom to survive. In fact, he was just trying to survive and find a chance to escape. .

"Shut up! We know that your great count is dead. I am looking for you, and now is the time to execute you."

Perhaps this is the inheritance in his bones. Askard inherited the ruthlessness of his father Aric, and he was so decisive that he led his troops to kill all the nobles and servants in the room, and even pushed the dead bodies down from the stone window.

Suddenly, Askard stuck his head out and shouted to the guys cleaning the small battlefield downstairs: "Hey! Brothers, tie up the dead man I just pushed down and drag him away. This is a nobleman, keep it to report your merits to the king. !」

The soldiers understood.

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