Chapter 267 Kewen Wars VIII: The Rus Army Is Approaching the City

Three full days have passed since Woima Kashad returned.

In his wooden house, Mechasta checked his leather armor, and from time to time he swung the iron sword inherited from his father.

Suddenly, his son burst in with a bow on his back.

"Dad, I have to take part in this fight. But my mother doesn't think I'm fit. I think I'm grown up."

It was Mechasta's youngest son, Telavis, who meant "healthy person". At the age of ten, he obviously had the idea of ​​being a hero.

Mechasta admired his son, because after the death of the eldest son, only the younger son could inherit his career. He likes his youngest son. After all, it is his own son. He is full of shadows of his youth.

Just like Mechasta, the younger son Telavis has vertical tattoos on his forehead and chin. For Terravis, if his father refused, he would take the initiative to ask for the same tattoo as his father.

However, Mechasta felt that only the real strong can have the exact same tattoo as himself, even if it is a son, it is not allowed without merit.

"You want to fight? Come to me!"

Telavis came hurriedly, his shaggy brown hair twitching.

"Dad, mom and sister don't want me to fight, I don't feel like I'm young at all. I'm going to fight like everyone else."

"You still want to fight?" Mechasta crouched down and put his hands on his son's shoulders.

"Of course! I'm a man! I'm going to shoot the Varangians to protect everyone."

Hearing that, the leader Mechasta was moved.

After all, it is a battle, and the battle will kill people. His wife has only the last son. It is understandable that she cherishes her son, but excessive love is nothing more than depriving a good hunter of the possibility.

"I grant it. Terravis, you say, how are you going to attack the Varangians?"

The boy immediately unloaded his short bow: "In the past days, I practiced archery every day according to your regulations. I am already a very good archer. I don't want to shoot squirrels anymore, I want to shoot enemies. You give My iron arrow, I will pierce the enemy's neck."

"Very good!" Mechasta nodded deeply. "Then, I'll put you in the tower. I'll give you a lot of iron-headed arrows. You have a high view and you can shoot a lot of enemies. Listen, You have to be the new hero. Finally..."

Speaking of excitement, Mechasta pulled out his iron sword, and while grabbing the hand of his younger son, the two held the sword together: "Teravis, you have achieved meritorious deeds, and in the future, you will be this sword. Master. You are the leader of the tribe."

Staring at this grandpa's sword, Telavis held it, his heart beating wildly, a warrior's heart awakened!

At this moment, the leader Mechasta can't care so much anymore. He knows that he is putting his son in a more dangerous position, and it is precisely that position that can better utilize the ability of the archer. The son's archery skills are indeed excellent, and his very small stature may greatly improve the survival rate.

Now is a time of crisis, and the youngest son Telavis is not born noble, and even the leader himself does not feel noble. In a critical moment, the tribe has no regard for the life and death of individual people, and the only thing everyone has to do is to unite and defend against the enemy.

Even the little girl of the tribe must take up arms. At least, they have to keep passing arrows to the archers, or carrying the necessities of battle.

In extreme cases, little girls have to draw bows and shoot arrows.

The Grey Squirrel Tribe is like this, living in an environment with relatively high competition pressure, even the seemingly weak woman, or even the seemingly powerless little girl, is practicing archery with a short wooden bow on weekdays. They were originally involved in hunting to subsidize families,

In times of crisis, in theory, it can also act as a warrior.

The tribe has never experienced a real disaster before. And now the catastrophe is coming!

The leader, Mechasta, not only persuaded his wife to take part in the battle, but at least to cover it with arrows.

There is also his youngest daughter, Saipolava, a girl who originally meant "cute little squirrel". She was only eight years old and was also asked to pick up a short bow and become a bowman.

This is the gray squirrel tribe, and their reliance on bows and arrows is higher than that of the salmon master tribe. But the quality of their bows and arrows is very average.

Regarding the fact that the Grey Squirrel Tribe has been on guard, the Russ do not know anything about it.

In other words, Otto didn't have the heart to think about it at all.

Because in his opinion, even if the new servant claims that the enemy is strong, the problem is not big. The result of the battle is basically that the combined team can completely solve the problem with only one impact.

The Rus ended up recuperating for three days.

These days, Rurik has also obtained the siege equipment he needs, especially a batch of very long ladders, which are sturdy and heavy, and naturally require more than ten people to carry them together when transporting, so it is not very strenuous.

However, the Ross warrior thought of an easier way, that is, dragging a ladder to walk on the ice. A total of four ladders were dragged in this way, because dragging on the ice was not a laborious task.

There were as many as twenty wooden shields, which were deliberately built to be relatively thin. They were definitely unable to resist the shooting of their own crossbow arrows, and it was obviously sufficient to deal with the clusters of stone arrows fired by the enemy's short wooden bows.

It is very interesting that the wooden shields made of these twigs bundled together completely become sleds.

One quiet morning, a coalition of up to 350 Rus people and their servants started a new journey. A group of soldiers who stayed behind assumed control of the newly conquered territory, and the main thing was to control the remaining tribesmen to prevent them from taking the opportunity to rebel.

Although somewhat helpless, Rurik left his Rumia in the Salmon Lord's village, with the rest of the clan.

In this battle, at least there were no women in the Rus army. Some, except for Rurik, were all strong and fighting men.

The weak north wind brought the cold, even if everyone knew that the spring was not far away, the glaciers under their feet would soon return to their original appearance.

Winter is by no means a good time for war. The leader, Kaihas, is old and strong. He knows that the women of his tribe are completely controlled by the Rus. The Rus miraculously did not do anything to the women, but he believed very much that this was Built on the basis of their own tribal cooperation.

The boy with the golden ponytail on the sleigh, maybe he's the real reason. However, presumably this rationality is also based on the cooperation of the men of the Salmon Lord tribe.

The tribe is conquered, and the tribesmen have to fight for their new masters.

Knowing that although he will be on the front line of the battle and will encounter concentrated attacks from the enemy, the new master promises that the first group of people who enter the enemy's settlements will have the right to take the lead in picking the spoils.

Warriors of the Salmon Lord tribe, their armament is still the same rudimentary. All the men were draped in animal skins, furs on their heads, and so-called boots, almost all of which were cut leather perforations tied with hemp ropes and tied to their feet.

This so-called snow shoe is far less reliable than the finely sewn leather boots of the Rus. If it has that kind of advantage, it is probably more slip-resistant when stepping on ice.

They carried short wooden bows and held short spears. Their twine belts were also tied with little burlap pockets stuffed with a batch of dried meat.

Some of them were rudimentary and shabby, and Rurik felt a little embarrassed. Even if they were going to be the main force, they would die in large numbers, and they shouldn't send a group of people in extremely bad conditions to take the lead.

The servants of this group of Kowen were armed with crude weapons, and behind them, there were two hundred Russ troops fully armed with metal and leather.

Rurik, who was sitting on the sleigh, was guarded by his own mercenaries, because the mercenaries were very eye-catching in battle. In Otto's heart, these outsiders had become his own people in the real sense.

Rurik could not sense the feelings of the Kovin tribesmen who had opened the way, and along the way, he often discussed with Yevlo about the battle.

"Those bloody arrows have lost all their feathers. Don't worry. When the distance is relatively close, our crossbow arrows don't need feathers."

"If there is a field battle in the future, all crossbowmen must first get out of the formation and shoot a group of enemies with arrows. Even if you are pulled into the formation, you must find ways to shoot arrows from the gaps."

"We broke some arrows, and there are still thirteen hundred of them. You have your brothers ready, and once the crossbow bolts are exhausted, you will continue to shoot with the bows and bone arrows that you have captured..."

Basically Rurik was a commander, and Yevlo's job was to listen and imprint it in his head.

Yevluo has been nodding his head like a garlic clover. He secretly admires that this child must be born with the ability to fight, and Rurik is truly amazing!

That Woymakashad took a day and a half to escape from the fallen Salmon Lord's Mountain Fort to his own tribe, and he ran wildly at the bank of the glacier at extreme speed.

Instead, it was the Russ army carrying a large amount of food, siege equipment, and even a total of 4,000 arrows of various types. The army had been walking along the glacier for two days.

If it weren't for the fact that the leader Kaihas personally led the way, Otto would have suspected that this group of salmon master tribesmen was deliberately playing tricks.

Finally things turned around.

At night, the already cold temperature became even worse. Fortunately, during this time, the weather was beautiful, and there were no severe blizzards that caused disasters.

The Rus coalition lit a large number of bonfires on the river bank, and it was these bonfires that aroused the vigilance of the sentinels of the already alerted Grey Squirrel tribe.

Otto and Rurik cuddled by the bonfire, nibbling on the snow rabbit meat that had been frozen into a lump and now sizzling with oil.

Kaihas approached nervously: "The great leader of Ross, we are about to enter the territory of the Grey Squirrel Tribe, and we will pass that low wall."

The trusted Yevro now has the right to approach Otto, who translates truthfully, and Otto's beard quivers with delight.

"Are we finally going to fight? How long will it take us to pass through the low wall to the enemy's village?"

"It's probably a day or two away. Tomorrow we'll walk all day, and in the daytime the day after tomorrow, we'll be there."

Otto nodded deeply and asked seriously: "Have you been to those people's villages? You must make sure you know the path."

"I am fully aware that I guarantee the lives of my people."

Otto didn't speak in a hurry, he laughed, and everything was silent.

Apparently, the leader of the Salmon Lord tribe is smart.

Otto patted the little old man who was a few years younger than him on the shoulder: "You know your mission, you and I don't need to say more. You go back, and the person who greeted you is ready for battle. Listen, you are responsible for taking the lead in attacking. ,if……"

Otto's tone suddenly became serious: "If I retreat without my order, I will kill the retreaters."

Hearing Otto's words, Kaihas' eyes widened like copper bells.

It seems that the warriors of the Salmon Lord Tribe either charged and won at the cost of heavy casualties, or were killed by the Rus in the rear on the grounds of laziness.

Kaihas informed the complex people of the order of the Rus people, and everyone gradually unified their thoughts, that is, to win the Grey Squirrel Tribe in one breath with the determination to die. otherwise……

Even for the lives of the women and children of their own tribe, they must fight to the death.

On a new day, the team continued on their way. Completely different from the previous days, Otto ordered his warriors to maintain a high level of alertness, especially the archers in the team, to hold their bows tightly at all times.

Even Rurik ordered his crossbowmen to stand by at all times.

They continued to walk on the glacier, because in theory the enemy could not build a low wall on the glacier.

As a result, there really is a low wall across the frozen river.

Otto immediately ordered his men to be on guard, and then ordered the servants of Cowen to investigate.

Kaihas had never seen such a thing before. He sent two subordinates to find out. After learning the information, he personally informed Otto of the information and his own understanding.

"Big Chief. I think the Grey Squirrel Tribe is on alert. Maybe the fugitive slave you mentioned, that person has already informed the enemy of everything."

Otto sometimes even thought that the fugitive had frozen to death in the forest. After hearing Kehas' description, Otto was willing to believe that what he described was true.

"Boss, please be cautious."

"Careful? Forget it! My sword will cut through all enemies, and my son's wisdom will make rebellion miserable." Obviously, Otto didn't care about the so-called advice at all.

A group of men from the Salmon Lord Tribe began to work together to carry the big trees that were laid down on the ice.

As the Russ personally inspected it, it was clear that the tree was cut down recently. When an axe smashed the trunk of the tree, the ice crystals in the edge of the knife could be seen. This is not the case with dead trees.

It was different from Otto's indifferent. Seeing such a scene, Rurik couldn't let go of his doubts and worries.

Does this still not explain the problem? The enemy is already prepared!

Is the army going to attack a city? Is it really appropriate to forcibly attack a defensive city?

Apparently Father Otto felt it was a good fit.

Rurik pondered, maybe it was just because the first attack were so-called cheap servants, thinking in an absolutely rational way, Rurik couldn't say that his father did something wrong. Precisely doing so is especially beneficial to the Rus themselves.

The tree was pulled away, and the team really set foot on the territory of the Grey Squirrel Tribe.

The Rus people camped by the river again. They lit a bonfire, intending to fall asleep wrapped in animal skins. After eating and drinking, they waited for tomorrow's battle.

"The war will start tomorrow, and you should prepare well. Maybe this is for the war in your prophecy." The son of Otto Blessed, also stuffed the barbecued meat in his hand to his mouth.

Rurik said it was impossible for him not to be nervous. In fact, quite a few Ross warriors were also nervous, or nervous mixed with intense excitement.

But those servants, they were almost terrified.

Because in the history of the battle between the Salmon Lord and the Grey Squirrel, the two tribes were sporadic hunters who crossed the border to play sneak attacks, and actually organized a team of more than 100 people to attack, which has never happened before.

Rurik ate some grilled meat. He had been thinking about it for a long time, and now he said to his father: "I suspect that our actions have been discovered by the enemy long ago."

Otto was taken aback: "Why?"

"Isn't the construction of roadblocks on the glacier still a problem?"

Otto thought about it, and it was indeed reasonable for him to lead the crowd forward and be discovered early. But so what?

Otto said arrogantly: "I don't care if they find us. After all, tomorrow night, we will occupy their village. Rurik, then I will get you a beautiful girl and make her your woman."

"You..." Rurik felt that his father was dizzy from drinking half a bottle of spirits. Indeed, slowly on the road to "North Hunting", Rurik prepared some glass bottled spirits for Dad for his personal enjoyment.

Rurik shook his head vigorously: "There are too many women around me. Let's fight the battle of fate. Now I have a suggestion."

"Go ahead."

"We're going to have a lot of bonfires, even if no one cooks it."

Otto said it was inexplicable, but Rurik's explanation surprised him: "Since you and I both believe that our whereabouts have been discovered, we must be being watched from a distance by them now. I am a little worried that the camp will be attacked, so I want to cast Some strategies. The enemy cannot accurately judge our number in the dark, they can only estimate by the bonfire. We set up a large number of bonfires, maybe the enemy will think that we have dispatched more than a thousand warriors. If the enemy is afraid, we will kill tomorrow. To see the kneeling crowd. If I can win in that way, I'm happy."

Here, Otto did not understand the idea of ​​"defeat without fighting" in Rurik's words, which he thought was incredible.

It is to scare stupid enemies through tricks, and I am happy to use it.

As a result, the number of bonfires in the Rus’ camp is rapidly expanding. Since only one lit branch is needed, a bonfire can be made very quickly. In a short period of time, the number of bonfires in the Rus’ camp has increased by at least five times!

For the gray squirrel tribe, the leader Mechasta led a dozen shrewd people to the top of the village wall, and his son climbed the tower.

In this era, people's eyesight is very good, and the world has not suffered from light pollution. Standing relatively high, the people of the gray squirrel tribe can easily notice the bonfire in the distance.

Mechasta's face was shaking: "Damn, why are there so many of them."

A tribal warrior said with a guilty conscience: "Chief, there are many of them, but they are not good at fighting."

"They're not good at fighting? They're Varyags!" another retorted.

Another person comforted himself: "They have come a long way and may be out of breath. They must have brought a limited amount of food. As long as we hold the wall, we can force them to evacuate. After all, we have a lot of food."

The tribal warrior's words really gave Mechasta comfort: "Go down! They will come over tomorrow to take care of the brothers and prepare for battle. Listen, as long as we persevere for a long time, whether reinforcements come or not, we will When the enemy runs out of food, we win."

This night, many people stayed up all night.

A new day came in the bleak, and the Rus people, who were highly nervous, even distributed a batch of wheat cakes to the servants of the Salmon Lord tribe warriors, so that each attacking man could get half a piece.

Many people, for the first time in their lives, ate food made by the Varangians, and it was also a precious wheat cake. No one was grateful in their hearts, they felt that the strange behavior of the Varyags was to imply that everyone was working hard for them.

In fact, it is not. On this day, the Russ also often had a full meal before going out to battle, and then brought their own siege ladders and large shields to oppress the servants with military force, and the soldiers of the servants launched the battle.

The Ross Army is here!

A large number of men from the Grey Squirrel tribe stood on the wall with bows and spears. There was a terrifying roar in the distance, and these tribal warriors could not help shivering.

Mechasta, holding his sword, shouted: "Don't be afraid! You are the best hunters! When the enemy appears, aim for their necks! Remember, they have no armor on their necks, pierce their necks, pierce them blood vessels, let them know who is the best hunter!"

It has to be said that Mechasta's agitation has achieved some results. Because the hunting skills of tribal warriors are their savage pride.

The roar got closer and closer, and finally, a dark crowd emerged from the distant woods. They suddenly appeared when the morning mist had almost dissipated, and their guide was Kaihas, the leader of the lord of salmon.

The only source of confidence in Kaihas is that he has a large number of Ross warriors behind him.

Otto didn't say much. After he made a gesture, Kaihas knew that the Ross people had given him an offensive mission.

The Rus people will definitely not participate in the first attack. It seems that the men who are the first to enter the village and take the lead in dividing the spoils are given to the men of the salmon master, but they are actually letting everyone explore the way.

By now, Kaihas has fully understood. The matter has come to this point, we can only move forward bravely.

But he still made another inspiring call: "Brothers, we have to make a knot with their hatred for many years! The Rus people support us, let us attack and take revenge!"

It seems that today's battle is the revenge battle of the Salmon Lord tribe, and they began to charge in the screaming. The Rusians carried their large shields and shouted their horns, moving steadily forward like a pit. Only the men of the Lord of Salmon took four large ladders, like a river of ice, towards the gray squirrel mountain reinforced by ice and snow. Fort Assault.

There is no pre-battle battle, no battle book, and no dawdling.

The battle has begun.