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Just like in previous years, the Pechenegs organized a horse team to head north in order to obtain more Ross ironware.

Trafficking horses is the only commodity that these people who live at the mouth of the Volga River can afford, followed by recurve bows.

Rurik made his sworn brother Kagan a khan. Due to trade relations, the military strength of the Pechenegs is rapidly improving!

Iron clusters replaced bone clusters on a large scale. In terms of imports, prairie people focused on importing arrow clusters and were not keen on finished arrows.

Because it is a mass-produced arrow cluster casted by pig iron water, Ross's clay blast furnace technology coupled with the literal meaning that there are mines at home, the final price of each cast iron cluster is very low.

The Russian standing army and citizen soldiers are more particular. Due to the high armor rate of the Frankish enemies, the conical arrow clusters made of low carbon steel and quenched are the mainstream.

The Pechenegs don't have this problem, their only enemies are the Oghuz people of the same family, and the neighboring Khazar Khanate...

Another 500 commercial horses were escorted northward by 200 cavalry. In order to avoid complications and deliver the horses safely as soon as possible, Kagan ordered the team not to go to the Smolensk territory to fight for grass.

Another brother of his family, Nuerge, received the mission.

The prairie horse team was fully loaded with goods, avoiding all delays on the way, and devoted all their energy to the road. After arriving in Kiev, they joined forces with the locals, and the larger horse team floated to the other side of the Dnieper River on barges assembled from a large number of rafts, and then passed through Puri. On the edge of the Pyati swamp, rushed all the way to the Orshaza River, and then went up the Hebei to Vitebsk smoothly.

It's not that they don't want to sneak attack Smolensk, it's because the Khan ordered them to fear

If you make a mistake, you have to take full responsibility.

The grassland people with the largest number were unwilling to do anything, and the Kiev merchants who followed them had no choice but to hurry on their way.

But after Carlota completed the overall control of Polotsk, she did not live there for a long time, and returned to Veliky Luki happily with a batch of grain at the end of September.

It was in Great Luki that the crossing prairie horsemen faced the unrequited hospitality of the duchess. They sold a batch of supplies and immediately exchanged for a batch of grain, and finally arrived safely at Lake Ilmen.

The horse team was a surprise to everyone, and the newly arrived horses and recurve bows immediately enriched the Great Luke's defense.

Located in the upper reaches of the Lovati River, at the big bend of the river, the value of its geopolitical value is rising rapidly.

Carlotta even thought: I can spend the winter here this year.

In winter, the entire Lovati River will freeze, and reindeer sleds and horses equipped with special horseshoes can move quickly on the ice, so that compared with summer, the efficiency of relying on glaciers for communication will not be reduced too much.

It is no longer possible to let the settlements along the river that have sprung up one after another be forced to isolate each other due to the severe winter like last year. Although it is cold in winter, construction cannot stop.

She thought this way, but there is no direct waterway between the two cities from Veliky Luki to Vitebsk, and they must pass through the gaps between lakes and forests. If the snow is too deep due to a snowstorm, winter communication will become extremely difficult difficulty.

Unless... detour around the Gulf of Finland, from the Gulf of Riga along the frozen Daugava River all the way to Vitebsk.

Vitebsk has been fortified, and the collection of manpower and animal power in a short period of time has given the city a ring-shaped water barrier with both protection and defense.

Road, and built a circular wooden wall, becoming an existence that is easy to defend but difficult to attack.

The local garrison expanded to more than 200 people!

Aostara soldiers, Polotsk farmers who were forcibly conscripted to work, and even Danes stranded in the local Gulf of Riga.

The latter are called Varyags, and they are real Danes, with some goods on hand, hoping to tow ships to Kiev in the south for business after spring comes.

Thus, the Riga Danish merchants and the Kiev-Pecheneg horses from the south had a historic meeting in Vitebsk in the late autumn and early winter of 842.

Who would say no to a merchant?

After some familiarity, the Danish businessman learned that a Varyag businessman had drifted to Kiev some time ago, sold some amber and beeswax, and continued south after a short rest.

The identities of those people are already very clear.

Harold and Bjorn, the two Danish caravans were dispatched early. Not long after they passed through Kiev, the southern cavalry began to go north. Although the two sides did not meet each other, the stories they left behind are well known.

The old guard of Vitebsk, Jellinger, clearly stated the names of the two businessmen and exchanged information with each other, and the three parties found that they all recognized each other.

The first snow fell on Vitebsk, and it was small enough to alert Vitebsk's defenders.

"Brothers, be careful of the heavy snow closing the door. Protect everything that is easy to freeze."

Yellinger Eriksson, who was born in the Gran tribe, was appointed as the lord of the city, and he was responsible for all matters. Last year he took his brothers here to spend the winter safely, and it is believed that he can do better this year.

Although the local winter is more comfortable than the north, the extreme cold

Still destructive, but the West Dvina, on which the city rests, is particularly dangerous.

How dangerous is the river? Isn't the river the best way to go after it freezes?

It is precisely that the river will freeze, and the expansion of ice will not be effective for large ships, but it will damage the hulls of small boats.

There were more than 20 Danish businessmen who were stranded. Together, they towed their long boat ashore and placed it beside the wall outside the city. They laid wooden stakes, unloaded the sail, and fixed it firmly with cables.

This time is not the most critical winter preparation.

After the snow, the north wind gradually blows away the haze, and the wind is like a knife, forcing anyone who is active outdoors to wrap up a thick leather hat.

The garrisons, led by Jellinger, acted urgently.

More than a hundred people gathered at the floating bridge.

Yellinger looked left and right, couldn't help rolling up his sleeves, and signaled the men with axes with his eyes: "It's time, be careful when removing the rope later."

"Obey!" All the strong men said yes.

"Then let's get started!"

As a result, the ax cut the rope, and the pontoon bridge, which was tensed into an arc, suddenly fell apart.

The pine raft, which had been soaked for the whole summer, disintegrated. Since the buoys were tied with ropes in advance, the men on the shore dragged them to the shore one after another while disintegrating.

"That way, spring lingering won't destroy our bridge."

Jellinger was very satisfied with the demolition of the bridge. He continued to direct his staff to check all the floating blocks, and then hoisted them up with a manpower crane and placed them vertically on the city wall. The so-called early winter sun will dry them out while the weather is still good. .

Vitebsk is not too far from Novopolotsk Fortress, considering that once the snow falls and the river freezes, people will spontaneously hibernate like brown bears. There is no important business, people will not leave the residential area without authorization,

At most, in fortresses and villages, take advantage of the limited daylight hours to do some auxiliary heating work.

After all, this is not Novorosburg or Novgorod. The local population is large and there are many industries. Some industries are still in full swing in winter. Because of economic interests, those people changed the previous winter picture, even with oil lamps for lighting, and the work continued. .

The only task of the defenders of the Vitebsk fortress is to survive the winter safely. The Jellingers are old and psychologically very stable and conservative. It is this kind of personality that is very suitable for commanding and defending the southernmost fortress of the kingdom.

Now the food reserves are sufficient, and there is still a batch of butter, salt, and ale stored. I think the food for this winter will be better.

He would never touch the belongings of the merchants living in Denmark, but if he wanted to stay here until the spring, they would have to pay for the food stored in the fortress. This move is fair, and the guest merchant has no objection.

It seems that everyone's tasks are left to stand guard, at most go to the nearby forest to cut down some trees, and try their luck to catch small animals to improve food.

The most important thing is the wood for heating. For the needs of more than 200 people to survive the winter safely, the more wood the better.

People carrying long-handled forest axes and double saws walked into the woodland one after another, dragged the pine trees back to the city wall through the suspension bridge, and began to chop down on the spot.

If life has been like this, the people of Vitebsk will usher in the spring of 843 in peace and boredom.

And the accident, no accident happened.

There were more than a dozen lumberjacks busy in the forest. Although it was cold, they were still shirtless, and they lifted the long-handled forest axes with brute force, and a small tree would fall within five critical strikes.

For bigger trees, Viking logging practiced by Danish traders

power staged. Help the defenders log, so that you don't have to pay for the wheat, which is really a good deal.

Such logging caused great commotion, and the hardy birds had long been scared away, and the squirrels and groundhogs were so frightened that they ran away.

but! The marching Smolensk army noticed something strange in the forest, as if a shark smelled blood, and charged here decisively...

"Boss! The forest is shaking! Could it be that it was done by the bandits?" A returning scout pointed to the location of the distant forest and reported to Vadim on horseback.

Vadim narrowed his eyes and listened carefully, and indeed noticed something strange.

"The forest is shaking, could it be the action of the forest god?"

"It's absolutely impossible." All the scouts had the same attitude, and the speaker said bluntly: "We are almost to the river in the north, almost to the territory of the Polotsk people. So we are not far from the bandit's settlement."

Suddenly, Vadim suddenly realized: "The bandits are logging." He laughed slowly, and then looked at the rider behind him: "Soldiers, I have a chance. The bandits were careless, let us catch them by surprise. We... Attack with all your strength!"

Vadim just wanted to avoid mistakes. He knew that the Ross bandits were very good at it. To defeat them, one had to gather superior forces to fight more.

He issued an order to the anxiously waiting army. The soldiers marching continuously had long been tormented by boredom. The marching journey in these few days was longer than walking in this life. Let the fight come sooner! end it all.

The thousand most elite warriors clad in hardened armour, they roared and pointed their spearheads to the north one after another.

"Warriors! Come with me, into the forest, toward the voice

direction forward. "Vadim gave the order, and he himself appeared as a supervising team.

The elite spearmen are in the front, followed by a large number of bow-wielding hunters and spear-throwing men. Vadim and his cavalry, though few in number, personally oversaw the entry of the army into the forest, and behind them came a larger number of tribal warriors in various equipment.

People who are busy logging are not prepared.

That's right, the bears around here have been hunted to death long ago. If there are more bears and wolves appearing, these beasts will seek their own death, and finally turn into leather clothes worn by the defenders.

But what suddenly emerged from the forest was no beast at all.

Black soldiers carrying three-meter-long iron spears rushed directly into the logging camp in the direction of the sound.

Since they received the order of shoot-to-kill, people whose relatives and friends all killed for the gangsters formed this elite vanguard force, and they had a super-strong ability to execute Vadim's orders.

Everyone wants revenge, and this situation is not far away. I wonder if the logger has hatred against himself.

At first, the loggers thought it was a wild beast, and gathered together in tension, discussing who could give the bear the final blow, talking and laughing.

More than 20 people gathered together, or holding swords or spears, and some people held crossbows with strings.

"Brother, it doesn't feel right. Are there still wolves attacking us?"

"Haha, if it's a pack of wolves, we can make a fortune by peeling off a hundred skins."

They laughed in optimism, but it wasn't the wolves who came.

Spear-wielding warriors in velvet hats appeared in large numbers, and it was awkward to see each other face to face.

"Bandits! Go to hell!" Someone yelled in Slavic, charging bravely with a spear.

The contact war broke out immediately, and the loggers did not wear armor at all, no

Few people are still shirtless.

They were assassinated in the jungle of ten thousand spears, and there was little chance of fighting back.

They were surrounded, and all the loggers, whether Danes or Polotsk men who were required to work, were quickly stabbed to death in the chaos.

Soon, Vadim on a horse rushed out of the forest and stood standing in the newly occupied lumberyard with an iron sword in his hand.

Looking at the dead bodies on the ground, he was overjoyed. After all, this was his first battle to start a counterattack! Even if it's just breaking through a forest logging camp.

"Is there no one left alive?" He clutched the rein tightly and walked around the dead body.

The soldiers looked at each other in blank dismay, someone was already picking up the loot for their own use.

"Forget it. Keep marching, follow the road the enemy has cut, and see what we can find."

Vadim decided to take advantage of the victory and attack, it is best to seize the settlement today in one go.

In any case, the Smolensk army had their first victory. The warriors had to go through the lumber mill, and those who were killed were deliberately beheaded, and the horrible and hideous heads were stuck on wooden poles.

Vadim intends to encourage the follow-up troops in this way, but he does not know that many people are on the battlefield for the first time. They do not understand war and think it is some kind of "dangerous hunting". Good intentions backfire.

However, the ones who really have tenacious fighting power are the elite under his command. A thousand bitter and vengeful fighters are very happy to destroy the dead bodies of the enemy with their own hands to vent their anger.

They did the trick of sticking the head with a wooden pole. After that, they rushed to the Vitebsk fortress with high morale and captured weapons.

The horse is carrying some baked coarse wheat cakes, and someone is leading the horse.

Deliver meals to forest lumber camps.

It was Jellinger who arranged for people to build a lumber mill, and stipulated that in the future, when the invention was invented, they would stare at an area and swing their axes vigorously, so that the loggers would not have to run around, and the wagons that transported the wood could move easily. In the forest, ask for land suitable for farming.

Before the food delivery man arrived at the lumber camp, he was stunned by the sight in front of him.

Axes and two-man saws had cut the forest into an open area, and a large number of people clearly emerged from it carrying spears. The number of visitors is large, and it will continue to increase.

Suddenly, the meal delivery man, who was stunned on the spot, clearly realized that those armed men were actually targeting him.

"God Loki! Are you kidding? I'm going to be killed by them!"

What about those lumberjacks? To **** with them. The food delivery man had no time to throw away the sack full of wheatbread that was in the way, so he rode directly on the horse without a saddle, and fled towards the fort in a very awkward way.

Behind him, a large number of armed men pursued him.

Vadim noticed a fleeing man on horseback. He was overjoyed and immediately greeted his cavalry: "Soldiers, that escaped guy can help us quickly find their city. Follow me! We will attack first."

Even though Vadim only had a hundred riders, he felt that as long as he was fast enough, he could rush into the settlement before the enemy took precautions. You don't want to kill many enemies, as long as you cause chaos and make the enemy unable to defend well, after the follow-up army is killed, victory will be in your pocket.

Apparently, the food delivery man who was fleeing kept urging the horse to run wildly with such force that it almost killed the horse. As the horse approached the fort,

He started shouting.

"There are enemies! The enemies from the east are coming!"

At this moment, there are still some people working outside the circular ditch. They are clasping their ears to understand what the riding brother said, and some people ask Cyclonus's back: "Calender, how did you come back when I asked you to deliver the food?"

The rider had no time to respond, so he rushed into the fort as fast as he could. Before the horse could stop, he fell down, got up from the mud, and pointed to the southeast in front of the onlookers: "Enemies! Countless enemies appeared. "

A series of warnings made the defenders baffled, but more people rushed back to the city through the suspension bridge. Not only that, they pushed the winch hard, raised the suspension bridge in a short time, and closed the east gate of the wall.

"What the **** is going on?! It's as if the Smolensk people are calling." The old man Yellinger walked out of the warm house with thick smoke from the chimney, stroked his beard and angrily scolded people for being nervous. Forget it, after hearing the news again: "What the **** is going on?!"

People were chattering, and the soldiers standing on the simple towers in the wooden city wall shouted in a majestic tone: "Cavalry! It's the enemy's cavalry!"

"Cavalry?!" The old man raised his head sharply.

"There are still infantry! A large number of infantry have appeared."

The old man did not want to believe it, and he mounted the suggested scaffolding of the outer wooden wall at once.

Since the outer wall has just been built, it will be further strengthened later, and a circular city wall corridor will be built. The corridor needs to be built slowly, and now there are only some scaffolding built against the wooden wall.

The limited scaffolding was full of people. Standing on a high place, Jellinger could see clearly the dense crowd gradually walking out of the forest.

Under the sun, that is the unique reflection of metal.

Light, look carefully, it is simply a jungle of ten thousand spears.

"Oops, are we going to be attacked by the Smolensk people? The Duchess' worries have come true at this juncture?!"

Jellinger didn't want to believe it, but reality forced him to believe it.

Look left and right, those Polotsk farmers are not reliable at all, and the guys who have never seen the world are trembling now. The remaining warriors still have the strength to fight, and the Danish businessmen living here have already drawn their swords and axes. However, the brothers have too few people, and there are at most one hundred and fifty people who can fight.

Perhaps, there is still time to escape, it seems that all the boats were pushed back to the West Dvina River, and everyone evacuated safely. But if that's the case, it will dishonor your faith and your own vows.

Yellinger gritted his teeth, and he retreated without a doubt: "My lord ordered us to guard Vitebsk. Brothers, don't forget your oath and prepare to fight!"

"Roar!" Everyone roared in a low voice, and then took out their various weapons one after another.

Because the vast majority of people didn't think about evacuating at all, everyone has their own honor, they are very high-minded, and think that the Smolensk people are mere weaklings, even if it is a wilderness battle, the Australians from Northern Europe can win .

They seem to rely on morale to fight. These years, the brothers have only had a little awe of the Frankish army. After defeating the Frankish army two years ago, the last awe is gone.

Are you at a disadvantage? uncertain. Only a battle will tell.

At the same time, Vadim led the cavalry first to see the true face of the legendary Rus settlement, and the situation ran counter to his assumptions.

It is not a large village settlement, but there are thick wooden walls here

"Damn it, are you defending against me?!" Looking at the blue-and-white flag fluttering on the wooden wall, it made Vadim sick and aroused his anger even more.

wooden wall? It's just stacks of hardwood that can be broken with an axe.

Vadim had to wait for his army to assemble, UU Reading www.uukanshu.com He had no intention of negotiating with the defenders at all, he just waited until the Smolensk infantry was assembled, so as to crush the Russian fortress with a numerical advantage.

Even if a noble nephew kindly advised: "Chief, I saw that there is a small waterway protecting their fortress. If they attack by force, it will be at my disadvantage."

"Don't worry, it's a shoal that can be waded through. The Ross people are there, listen to me, you all need to attack collectively."

Vadim has his own necessary reasons for hesitation, and it really provides critical preparation time for all Rose's Ostara defenders.

Therefore, although the two parties did not negotiate, they both guessed the identity of the other party.

On the one hand, it has long been prepared. The city of Vitebsk is divided into an inner city and an outer city. The fact of double walls makes the settlements easy to defend and difficult to attack.

On the one hand, there is bitterness and deep hatred, and people who have been aggrieved for several years or more than ten years, and those who yearn for revenge unite with Vadim, the exiled prince in the north, and are determined to do their best.

In such an atmosphere, the offensive and defensive battle of Vitebsk suddenly broke out in a very delicate season, so that both sides actually fought hastily...