Rise of Rurik

A fleet came from the north, and saw the ships floating in the blue sea, and the white sails that were raised were all marked with diagonally interlaced blue stripes.

Arik Inquiry, who was tidying up the team, was taken aback, and then he was ecstatic.

He ordered his subordinates to step back, and he couldn't help but say, "You can't wait until the appointed day? My brother."

Arik stood directly at the head of the wooden fortress, and when he looked closely, he recognized the most familiar pattern.

"No, why are there so many people here? Huh? Are there only thirty or forty boats? Where is that big boat?"

He hurried down the wooden wall again, urgently summoned the Ross warriors under his command, and hurried to the north side of the island to fight with the distant clansmen.

Soon, the soldiers stationed on the island saw a large group of people dressed in white.

It's so weird, who the hell are they? clansmen? Their clothes are so unfamiliar, but the pattern of the sails is not fake.

On the other hand, Harrodsen has seen his brothers on the shore from a distance.

He was wearing a striking white tunic with a well-fastened belt and a clearly visible blue stripe at the seam of his chest.

He quickly recognized Arik on the shore. The boy seemed to have a longer beard and was dressed as usual, so Harrodsen put on neat new clothes, and he was already a little tired of the previous image of his brothers.

Look at the people on the shore, they are dressed too casually, their hair is disheveled, and their appearance is really stretched.

The two natural coves between Tombstone Island were already full of ships, so the new ships had to find a random beach as a landing site.

In the eyes of Arik and his brothers, the longboats washed up on the tidal flat and deliberately ran aground in the shoal.

They deftly retracted the oars and watched the movements, no doubt they were from the Rus.

A soldier with a shield and a white robe jumped out of the boat with their leather helmets and metal helmets, and stretched out their hands to greet their clansmen.

Look at them, they actually express the symbol of Ross very uniformly on their bodies? Whose idea is this? Arik's eyes widened, he was already dazzled. It is good that they are their own clan, this glance is really familiar and unfamiliar.

A familiar old guy came with great interest holding his iron helmet, and behind him, a soldier carried a flag in a high-profile manner.

right! It's a flag,

In addition to the symbols of the Rus, it is also marked with "Warrior II" in Rune characters.

Is it Harrodsen here? ! What a novelty.

Arik hurried over: "Uncle, you actually came. What's going on? These are our soldiers."

"What do you think?" Harrozosen asked with a smile and open his arms deliberately: "This is my army, are they majestic?"

"They...look. Really majestic."

Arik rarely missed the timidity. He didn't know what to say. Now the two armies of the Rus people are gathered together. One side is dressed in dark colors and various styles, and the other is beautiful and uniform. more noble.

Even though the newcomers clearly have a bunch of juvenile faces, they are by no means the sharpest.

"Your clothes are really beautiful, what's going on? Where's my brother? What about the army of 3,000 people?" Arik hurriedly asked.

"There are indeed an army of 3,000 people, and they are still at the rear." Haruo Zuo Sen still wanted to continue to publicize, "Let's take a look at my people, and my flag."

Taking advantage of the good opportunity that all Ross elites were present, Harrodsen took the opportunity to introduce the major events that happened in his hometown, the uniform dress, the flag team system, a large amount of material reserves, and the preview of Ross's victory in this battle, one by one, the shockers The head of the keeper of Tombstone Island.

With so much news stuffed into it in an instant, Arik's mind was a little confused: "Oh, we are the first flag team, so we also have flags? Can we wear the same clothes as you?"

"That's of course." Haruo Zuo Sen immediately instructed left and right, and after a while, a new flag was trotted all the way by the soldiers.

"Take it, this is your flag. Arik, your brother Rurik is the commander of this war, and you are the most important flag captain. You and I, the most elite soldiers in our command, must be the leader of this war. The backbone of the decisive battle. Are you ready?"

Looking at his own flag, Arik didn't really feel much. It was a very novel thing after all. If he had to say it, he felt that the flag with a hideous beast depicting the symbol of Ross was really beautiful.

The neatly dressed warriors of the Second Banner of the Warriors, who took off their tunics, were like their brothers on the island again. There is no clear distinction between being sloppy or not, because if given the opportunity, people will put on new clothes as soon as possible, and the old ones will be thrown away on the spot.

People scrambled to try on these beautiful robes, but the thought of the enemy's blood splattered on the robes was disturbing.

But some smart guy pointed out: "We don't have to worry about the enemy's blood contaminating our robes, can we just wash it off with soap?"

On the twenty-seventh day of the seventh month of the Julian calendar, a larger fleet appeared on the northern seas of the island.

At the same time, the small Tombstone Island was already overcrowded, carrying more than a thousand Rus warriors and five hundred Slav warriors.

A messenger sent to the East to deliver the news of the war received an enthusiastic response from Novorossberg and a partial response from the Novgorod region

Three hundred more Slavic men arrived at Tombstone Island and received several days of training. Another hundred Russ immigrants who settled in New Roseburg responded to the call, who were generally too young and immature.

Everyone is eager to attack the Gotlanders and solve the problem once and for all.

The Rus people were not monolithic when it came to the Gotland issue. Of course, there was a large group of people eager for revenge, and a large group of people who were loyal to fighting for the honor of soldiers. Of course, whether it was for revenge or for honor, it was impossible to hide everyone's interest in the wealthy. Gotland's lust for wealth plunder.

Now, the army of 3,000 people has finally completed the assembly!

Fortunately, the Avlora and all the cargo ships were anchored offshore, the cargo on board did not move, and all the personnel landed on small boats.

The long sailing against the wind came to an end, and it was really hard to live on the boat, especially the female warriors, who had to endure some additional difficulties.

At noon that day, the fleet basically completed the landing, and the small Tombstone Island became a huge military camp with more than 3,000 people.

Not only the personnel, but also twenty sturdy reindeer landed on the island together with their owners. In fact, there are also some pullable two-wheeled carts that match these people. The purpose is to transport those "silver scale breastplates". One cart carries five pieces of armor, which is what Rurik planned.

The flat land of Tombstone Island was filled with people, and they began to build tents and wooden sheds on a large scale. Fortunately, there are many trees on the island, which can withstand people's destruction.

A large number of new clothes were shipped to the shore in packages, and on this day, the new clothes were distributed according to the completion.

Almost in an instant, the army of Ross changed the color of his clothes.

The first and second flag teams of the Warriors have enjoyed as many as 1,200 robes.

Although the flag shooting team only got 100 pieces (in the end, most of them were worn by the Kewen archers), because the children in the team had already unified their clothes, their clothes are now all sewn with blue cloth strips.

The rest of the clothes were basically handed over to the Slavic flag team.

Rurik also had to accept a brand new good news, that is, the strength of the Slavic flag team has now swelled to 800 people. He didn't know whether to be ecstatic or worried. It would be better if the Slavs went through it. The first five hundred people had undergone Viking training for a total of two months. The technical and tactical level, as well as the key organization, have surpassed their native tribesmen.

Now there are 300 "new recruits", the number of Slavic flags is too large, it is the combat effectiveness...

Rurik couldn't say anything in front of Medvitt. When he learned that the 300 men who came recently, they basically cut off from the manor where he was, and they came to work for the Rus people, which is equivalent to saying that these guys are blackmailing. Rurik: We fought against the Rus, and we must be settled after the victory.

They do not want to be slaves or serfs, they have nothing at the moment, and it is impossible to be free peasants. Rurik knew what these guys wanted to do, that is, to finish the war, such as going to New Roseburg, holding the farm tools and seeds distributed by the Rus, opening up new farmland, and being a taxpayer sheltered by the Rus for generations.

Only at this point did Rurik smile wryly and laugh at himself: I just thought I was giving benefits? It can only be said that you had a miserable life in your hometown.

In the end, the strength of the Russ has exceeded Rurik's estimates.

The huge army wore uniform clothes on a large scale. Otto, the Duke of Ross, saw the huge army composed of his clan and the dense number of ships docked near Tombstone Island. He was so excited that he couldn't sleep at all that night. Drinking the fish and drinking the treasured spirits, he laughed at the bright prospect of victory in the battle.

Although there is no runoff on the surface of Tombstone Island, because it is connected with the hundreds of small islands around it, it is itself connected to the continental shelf.

After all, the Slavs are more advanced than the Rus in agriculture. Medvedt, who landed on the island, really did not want to take a boat to the east coast of the river to flow into the sea to transport fresh water, so he led people to dig a pit on the spot, and the result was about eight meters. It is the shallow fresh water dug. It's actually still a little salty, and the saltiness is so bland that it's hard to detect if you don't taste it well.

The captains of the flags gathered together, and everyone immediately reached an agreement on the future battle.

Without him, the entire battle plan was Rurik's.

No one questioned Rurik's plan in this battle, because the child made a simple sand table directly on a wooden board and made a simple sand table with soil that was available everywhere, allowing everyone to spy on the macro battlefield in shock.

The most shocking thing was actually Arik, he had some objections, but this brother actually marked the places he had never been to. Is this a miracle? At least it was because of the knowledge Odin gave his brother.

Rurik accurately represented the relative position of the Åland Islands (where Tombstone Island is located) and Gotland, the exact shape of Gotland, and the locations of Saaremaa, Estonia, Riga Bay, and Courland. , the geography of many places is unheard of. If you want to come to Rurik, you will not describe them randomly, they are real.

Do you still need to take a big detour from the south of the island to attack like in the war three years ago?

The Rus people have dealt with the Gotland people too much in the past few decades. The two sides basically started fighting when they met, and the chances of peaceful coexistence were very small.

Everyone knows that in the northern part of the island, a group of local families have built some low earth walls and wooden walls. The purpose is not to defend the settlement, but to prevent the army from landing.

Is it inappropriate to land from the north?

If a team of several hundred people forcibly landed, the resistance of the enemy must be very fierce.

However, the Rus people gathered more than 3,000 people this time, and the weapons, equipment and food were well prepared. If they launched a strong attack, what trouble could they encounter. Take it for granted that there shouldn't be any trouble, but...

Everyone actually prefers to directly rush into the densely defended areas of the enemy. It is best to fight a decisive battle as soon as possible to solve the problem as a package. However, is this appropriate?

Fighting directly in the south, Rurik learned from the surrenderers, the Saxons, that the so-called Gotland's largest settlement, Visby, was located in the middle of the west coast of the island.

It was the enemy's largest settlement, and as long as it was defeated, the war against Gotland would be sealed. Don't the enemy know this? So the decisive battle must revolve around Visby.

Gotland is a slender "eggplant" running north-south, and it seems that it is enough for the fleet to directly hit Visby by the sea.

But wait! Amphibious landing operations have always been carried out by troops in any era, which has greatly tested the quality of commanders and soldiers.

Rurik did not think that the Russ had excellent qualities in this respect. He held the military power of the entire Rus Principality in his hand, so he should not have rashly engaged in a landing battle in a narrow area of ​​​​the sea.

The army must complete the landing safely even if the time is a little rough.

He chose the landing site on the eastern coast of the island, relying on the relatively gentle terrain there, and secondly, it was not the main residential area of ​​Gotland Islanders.

Future phased operational plans have been drawn up.

Rurik made clear stipulations:

The large army assembled on the sea, the long ships guarded all the large ships, and the fleet sailed due south.

There are five ships as the vanguard. They are the resident veterans of Tombstone Island. They are very familiar with the southern seas, and they also shoulder the heavy responsibility of navigators.

After the fleet set sail, instead of stopping at Saaremaa Island and the European land coast in the southeast, the fleet took a large arc, bypassing the possible northern defense focus of the Gotlanders, and established a landing field directly on the eastern coast of the waist of the island.

After the fleet completed the landing of all personnel and materials, it was corrected, and then went straight to Visby by land to seek a decisive battle with the Gotlanders.

"Such a plan, we can definitely do it?" Otto needs a sure answer from his son.

"certainly. "

"You... why do you think the Gotlanders will take the initiative to fight us? Maybe they will flee when they see our army." Arik said disdainfully.

"Then let them run away! Run to the south? Just got hit by Olegin and the others. Run north? Are they crazy? The Gotlanders have no choice. They surrender immediately or fight us."

"Let's fight a decisive battle! The best battle is a decisive battle!" Otto clenched his fists, and all the people who gathered together clenched their fists, including the newly recruited Melalenian Heliger.

On Tombstone Island, everyone is completely unified.

The decisive battle in the wilderness was very necessary, although the Saxons provided information that the inhabitants of Visby had not built wooden fortresses, making the siege unobstructed, and the unbridled siege and destruction were not what Rurik wanted.

The best result he expects is to destroy the enemy's living forces on a large scale on the battlefield, let the remaining forces of the enemy break the idea of ​​resistance, and sign the name of the city with the Rus, and then hand over the wealth that he has hoarded consciously. come out. This is much more orderly than the chaos and robbery of the army! Besides, Rurik didn't think his subordinates would obediently take out the spoils and distribute them by himself.