Chapter 1,296 Glorious Counterattack

It was as if a hole had opened in the earth, thick smoke was rising upwards, and monsters from deep underground were spurting out from the hole.

In the snowy world, the towering smoke pillars were not quickly blown away by the north wind. Instead, the smoke was blown more diffusely, so that the smoke pillars on the horizon could be noticed from far away.

A small team of reindeer and horse-drawn sleighs are moving towards Novopolozk Fort as fast as possible.

They are the Ross reinforcements in the Gulf of Riga. The current team has passed through the territory of the Baltic Seron tribe and continues to go upstream along the frozen West Dvina River.

The march was extremely boring. This army of Varangian heroes stood under the flag of Russia. Look at their current appearance, which is slightly different from greatness and glory.

Their condition was not good, and the warriors wrapped themselves extremely tightly in leather and cloth. There was no armor underneath the leather, but a thicker leather jacket.

Whenever conditions permit, the soldier is happy to stuff himself into a leather cover, leaving only a pair of eyes to pay attention to the pale world around him.

The initial excitement from participating in the battle had long been dissipated by the boring march for days. The sleds seemed to be sitting on dead people, or they seemed to be transporting leather materials. Only during the collective rest time in the evening, the leather goods suddenly appeared. Coming back to life, the thickly dressed people moved and even stretched their muscles in order to cook some hot meals in the temporary camp. This fully proved that they were living creatures.

Now, they are the same as they were a few days ago.

Everyone didn't bother to talk to each other, they all sat cross-legged, wrapped in a lot of leather as usual.

Reindeer and horses basically have small brass bells hanging on their bridles. These large animals drag sleds filled with soldiers and weapons and equipment at a steady speed, forming a long and narrow column with the sound of the bells, so that the team will not be lifeless.

The soldiers were just in a hibernating state, and they still opened their eyes from time to time to observe their surroundings.

There are two of the most senior elites here: Spuyut, the old Russian count of Saaremaa Island, and Stekander, the leader of the Danish community in Riga.

The pale world is boring. The brothers are here to fight and have no idea about winter hunting. The real Russians in the team also have different mentality from other people of the same race. This group of people who are accustomed to operating large ships at sea still like to live the most traditional Viking winter life: staying at home.

They are unwilling to leave their comfort zone unless necessary.

What's more, the Rus' community established in the city of Riga was initially completed, and Count Spuyut directly moved his seat to Riga. From any angle, even though it only stretches out from the bay, the city of Riga is many times more comfortable than Saaremaa.

If his friends hadn't been suffering a fatal blow, Sipuyut, who was now quite old, wouldn't have acted so obligingly.

The great explorer of the past once reached the Arctic Ocean and participated in the creation of the northernmost stronghold of the Rus' Kingdom, now the hunting city of Murmansk.

Sipuut is getting old, and his son has grown into a "gold-haired strong man." His son has grown very fast, but he is still too young. The strong man is just an appearance, and the inner part is too weak. He is just a teenager who has no height advantage.

The son has not yet made his own name, and is still called "Little Spute" by his brothers. How tragic is it for a hot-blooded boy to live under the light of his father? The boy needs a chance to make a contribution.

Telalang, a fool who was born in Saaremaa Island, was born with some arrogance. Although this person is stupid, he seems to be extremely ill-minded. With the rapid improvement of living standards in recent years, he eats like suet balls and looks more honest. Under his thick fat But he is a real man with tendon flesh. He wields two axes and dares to rush into the enemy camp and kill him naked as a berserker. He has actually transformed into a Li Kui-like character, but his skin is pure white and his hair is golden.

This man had already been received by Rurik in person. At that time, he was serving as an indigenous envoy of Saaremaa Island, but now he has become a vassal of the count.

A group of pirates who came ashore could not hide their gangsterism. The criminals who were expelled by the northern tribes were recruited by the Kingdom of Rus. They sat on the sled and said nothing for a while, but they were each ruthless characters who killed people without blinking an eye.

The gangsterism they revealed was the fear of fellow Danish community fighters and the few Latvian soldiers.

exist.

If it weren't for the current alliance between the two parties, the safety of the city of Riga and the entire Latvian tribe (in a narrow sense) would have been protected by the Rus' King himself. Now everyone would still be blocked by this group of Rus pirates at the entrance and exit of the bay, making it impossible for everyone to enter the open southern Baltic Sea. sea ​​areas.

This operation was the first time that both sides fought side by side. For Stekander, the boss of the Danish community, King Ross's high-level courtesy was a high recognition of the brothers, but respect was earned through fighting. Only with Ross Only when the army fights side by side and achieves military exploits can they gain the true respect of the Russians.

Through the cover of the forest, the glacier began to look due east. The team completely passed through the hilly area controlled by the Seron tribe, and the completely flat land was in front of them, so the rising smoke became a special situation that could not be ignored.

Stekander suddenly took off his velvet hat, ordered his charioteer to speed up his sleigh, broke away from the column and quickly reached the head of the team to meet Count Spout's sleigh.

"Spuyut!" He called him by his first name: "Did you see the strange sight in front of you? What is that?!"

"I saw it all! It seemed to be burning there, and the strange thing was clearly smoke."

"So you know it all. What do you think it is? Is it really just burning?"

Sensing that there was something in the old man's words, Sipuyut, who had experienced many battles and had experienced a lot, immediately thought of the crisis. He didn't think too much about this matter from a military perspective. Now that the old man reminded him, he suddenly sat upright and said, "It seems that we are very close to the territory of the Polotsk people now?!"

"Of course. We have already passed the territory of the Seron people, and the next one is the Polotsk people. No! We are already in the territory of the Polotsk people." Stekander added confidently.

"I don't know much about this place... What do you mean, we are about to meet with the Polotsk people? Wouldn't that bring us closer to Vitebsk?"

"That's probably it."

"But, what's the matter with the huge smoke and dust over there?" Spuyut recalled the past events of the Russian army's siege operations one after another. He was extremely sensitive: "Is there a possibility that our Vitebsk Already fallen, that damn smoke is actually set on fire by the enemy? The enemy has already invaded Polotsk?"

"It's impossible, right? The Russians are invincible."

"You don't need to flatter me now." Siput rolled his eyes at the guy.

Leader Stekander was indeed not flattering. The Russians he knew relied on force to end the never-ending vendettas of the Viking tribes in the Baltic Sea within ten years. The Russians should be invincible. How could they be defeated? A bunch of Slavs riding on top?

As for Spuyut, he had neither good feelings nor ill-will towards the Polotsk people. It was only the local people who were annexed by the Principality of Ostara who was ordered to expand southward. I am afraid that even Rurik, the king of Russia, could not be convinced that the local people really surrendered. After the main force of the army withdrew, the Polotsk people rebelled again.

Based on a series of information lags and opaque information, Spuyut, who has experienced many battles, had to adopt a cautious attitude.

Suddenly, the leading sled blew the horn, and the speed of the sled gradually slowed down, forcing the following sleds to gradually complete the spreading.

The soldiers who had remained dormant opened their eyes one after another. Everyone had remained quiet since they resumed action in the morning, and now they were talking a lot.

Soon, people riding horses in the snow quickly penetrated the entire column.

"Brothers! Put on your armor and be ready to fight at any time!"

Just taking off the reins and riding the poor horse without a saddle, the orderly conveyed the count's order to the entire team as quickly as possible.

Is there going to be a war soon? Spuyut didn't know either, but with more than ten years of experience here, he estimated that nine out of ten brothers would face a major test once they entered the Polotsk people's residence.

The army then changed clothes urgently on the ice, and the accumulated chain armor and plate armor began to be put on one after another.

Compared with Ross's regular troops, the "pirate army" under Spuyut's command has no urgent need for land warfare, so there is no reason to equip heavy armor. He could have ordered relatively cheap plate armor. So far, he has only ordered a small amount of equipment. After all, the chain armor captured in previous battles has been completed.

All the needs of the brothers are met.

As for Stekander's Danish community fighters, their equipment level is far inferior to that of the former, but fortunately there is no need to doubt their courage.

Like a brown bear ending its hibernation, when the sled team resumed its advance in the afternoon, the entire army was ready for battle and continued to advance in the direction of the smoke.

Spuyut also became more and more certain that a major change must have occurred there - unless a large building burned or the forest was on fire, the smoke would not continue to rise into the afternoon and continue to spray endlessly.

On the other hand, the fighting at Novopolotsk Fort continued.

Eighty Danish armed merchants were surrounded and blocked by three thousand troops, and a group of enemies killed and wounded by them had been trampled under their feet. In such a chaotic scene, as long as someone falls, even if he is not injured, he will be trampled to death by enemies and companions.

The Danes fought back hard, but at this time they realized that rushing out of the city to fight was a major mistake. However, it was meaningless to complain now. The only top priority was to kill the enemy in front of them and find a way to break through.

But, can they really escape?

Vadim was furious. He didn't know if there were any defenders in the fortress. Based on the information tortured from the Polotsk villagers, a group of villagers moved into the fortress because of their married women. As for the Ross garrison, there were probably only more than a hundred people. The enemy surrounded in front of him was probably of this size. He was extremely optimistic and estimated that the fortress was empty, and there were only a handful of farmers inside who were being slaughtered.

"Kill them! Kill all the Varangians!" Vadim kept shouting. He was looking forward to winning the first counterattack.

The Smolensk soldiers are becoming more and more courageous. They don't care about their own casualties. They are red-eyed and intend to kill all the surrounded "Russians".

The battle became extremely intense, and the wooden wall itself on the east wall of the fort, which was filled with burning wooden carts, finally began to burn!

Guard General Wesuend held his chest, endured the pain in his lungs and tried to suppress the urge to cough up blood, so he had to lead his brothers to evacuate the east wall.

"Boss, those Danes are fighting the enemy, and they are trapped in a tight siege. What should we do?!" The young warrior who hurriedly came over to greet him, and the young warrior holding a sword supported him and Visuend shouted.

"They! They are stupid!" One couldn't help but coughed violently again.

"Now the east wall is on fire, and soon the north and south walls will be on fire. We can't put out the fire now..."

"I know!"

The subordinates could only make a statement about the current situation. He looked at the warehouse where supplies were piled up, and felt a little sorry for the food - it was basically impossible to put out the fire in the fortress. The enemy would not attack us, and after the flames rushed to the warehouse, everyone The rations were burned to the ground, and no matter how hard the defenders persisted, they would be defeated without a fight due to the loss of supplies.

The subordinates' attitude of grief and anger clearly has a strong hint.

Thinking of the anger of the Danes just now, Vesuend wanted to act conservatively. The current situation no longer allowed him to be a coward, even if the troops at hand were extremely limited.

He endured the pain in his chest and hurriedly summoned everyone who could handle weapons.

So, more than a hundred people gathered.

They are Ostara warriors and Polotsk armed peasants. Although the army carries the Russian flag and the bull-headed flag of Ostara, the soldiers are mainly of Slavic origin. With such an army, Vesuende, who was born in Northern Europe, would inevitably have some prejudice against them and question their bravery and ruthless combat effectiveness.

However, the brothers have been forced to a dead end.

A young warrior conveyed a brief order on behalf of Vesuend: "Brothers! The fire can no longer be extinguished, and the Danes are under siege! We have no way to retreat, and now the only way out is to go out of the city and fight in a bloody battle! We are all Odin's now. Warrior! People of Ostara! Blood sacrifice to Odin!"

At least, the young people showed great martial prowess. They raised their steel swords and bucklers and shouted. In terms of momentum alone, the doubts caused by many people's Slavic origins have dissipated with the shouts.

He ordered those village families who were unable to fight in the war to move their warehouses of food, especially women. Instead of going to fight, they pulled the sacks filled with food onto sleds and dragged them out of the city and immediately went to the nearby forest.

They hide in the forest to avoid the wind. If they really reach a desperate situation, the villagers who escape will take food and flee to the lower reaches of the glacier.

The Russian flag was put away, and the soldiers could not let the flag be humiliated. Each flag was handed into the hands of the villagers who were eager to leave the city and hide. At the most desperate moment, these escapees were able to show the flag and get help from the local Russian people in the Gulf of Riga.

Of course, Vesuende has not given up hope. Reinforcements from the Gulf of Riga may be on their way.

He didn't dare to have extravagant hopes anymore. The only one who could save him now was himself.

The fortress defenders mobilized in full force, which was completely different from the reckless charge of the Danish armed merchants. From the beginning, Vesuend decided to fight conservatively.

The warriors carried their bucklers on their backs and their swords hung from their belts.

With all the crossbows and short wooden bows in hand, he organized more than fifty archers, and under the cover of the remaining sword and shield men, they quickly set up a shooting matrix after leaving the city and started shooting non-stop.

There is nothing left to keep. The weight of various arrow clusters in stock is limited, so it is time to launch them all at once.

As a result, the new force, which had always been small in size, fired arrows at the enemy and friendly areas in the chaotic battlefield and missed it!

The Smolensk army began to receive arrows in the back, and even another soldier's head was directly pierced.

Gradually, the Smolensk army, who had come back to their senses, noticed a line of shield wall standing on the ice next to the burning wooden ships, and countless arrows flew from behind the shield wall.

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If you want to die here, you will die with a small number on the battlefield. This will not humiliate the duchess and the king, and it will also be an explanation for your life - a true northern warrior can fully accept the ending of dying on the battlefield.

But the melodious horn changed everything!

Just downstream of the fortress, a large number of reindeer sleighs were gathered on the thick ice, and the unmistakable Rus flag was flying.

Because when Vesuend led his brothers to fight, the Ross flag and the Ostara flag were flying high in the formation. They aroused the rage of the Smolensk army, and also served as a very significant signal. The reinforcements in the Gulf of Riga, which continued to march, clearly noticed that the source of the smoke came from the burning fortress, and also noticed the scene of large-scale battles on the ice. , one touch of blue is extremely eye-catching.

That's the Ross flag! The army holding the Russian flag is under siege!

Spout and Stekander didn't think much of it.

"Brothers! Arrange and march! The glory belongs to Ross! Let's go!"

Spuyut ordered to blow the clarion call for counterattack. He didn't care that he only had 300 troops. He couldn't just sit idly by when friendly troops were in trouble.

What's more, the three hundred "Nordic Golden Retriever" Varyag warriors are already a powerful combat force.

The reinforcements in the Gulf of Riga did not take any rest and went into action as soon as they arrived on the battlefield.

And this, Vadim was really dumbfounded!

From Vadim's standpoint, the once powerful shield wall appeared again and was coming to pressure him.