The soldiers who attacked the city were exhausted, and they were completely discouraged by the thicker wooden walls of the inner city. Do you still have to continue to attack against the enemy's arrows?

Even if they rushed to the city gate, who would have the strength to knock it open with a tree trunk? How many people were killed or injured?

have no idea. They could clearly see the corpses of many comrades closed at the collapsed outer city wall, with a large number of arrows and javelins stuck in their bodies. The Smolensk army has learned some new tactics at the cost of blood until now.

The price they paid was too great. In addition, the sky was getting dark and the fog and snow never stopped. Vadim had to issue an order to retreat before trying another strategy.

In fact, he knew that it would be difficult to achieve any results in this winter's battle, unless new recruits were recruited from other places.

The snow-covered ground made arson tactics impossible, and to make matters worse even if the Smolensk army retreated back to the logging camp, the cold and snowy conditions made it difficult for them to light bonfires.

Thanks to Vadim's skills, some of the wounded from previous battles guarded the camp and kept adding oily pine branches to several bonfires, because for them who are weak, they can only survive by warming themselves.

The war horses died one after another, and they were quickly frozen hard in the cold state. Vadim had to evacuate on foot. Along the way, all he saw were staggered retreating soldiers, all of whom were defeated roosters, and their morale had obviously collapsed.

Is this the end of the fight? Vadim knew that he couldn't afford to lose, and while he still had an army at hand, they were the capital for him to gamble again.

It's just that I don't know if those who were once loyal to themselves are still loyal. In the lumber camp, around the bonfire, there are dejected fighters everywhere. There are often more than a dozen people gathered together, discussing defeatist remarks.

Under the current situation, Vadim has been unable to prevent the spread of this negative emotion, especially the method of killing people to establish power is not advisable.

Because he himself was experiencing an unprecedented crisis of trust, one of the officers appointed by him who survived the battle, although not mutiny, deeply questioned Vadim's combat proposition.

"Maybe this battle was absurd from the very beginning. God's thunder did not tell you that you must win, but warned you not to do it now." Some people didn't even bother to call Vadim the leader, and now they questioned that he didn't get the fire. God's help.

"You!" Vadim was just about to refute, when he saw a pair of sharp eyes staring at him, full of doubts in his speech.

"You didn't think so at the time. What's more, the high priest said that our battle was blessed by God. You...you can't deny our high altar and high priest." He responded with angry eyes.

Everyone looked at each other, everyone did not dare to deny the altar and the priests, everyone's worldview was like this.

The situation tended to fall into quarrels, so someone had to help Vadim smooth things over due to reality: "Brothers, compared to fighting, our problem now is how to survive."

"Indeed, hundreds of brothers were killed or injured after the chaos. What should we do? There are less than 3,000 brothers left to fight. After another three days, we will run out of food and everything will be over." The speaker settled down. , Boldly asked: "Why don't we withdraw? We still have strength." After saying that, no one dared to support it openly, even if everyone felt itchy.

They continued to look at Vadim, demanding that he announce the evacuation in the name of the leader.

"What are you all looking at me for? I understand, you are forcing me to withdraw."

"But the leader!" Someone bit the bullet and said: "Brothers really can't hold on anymore. We are not defeated, but we have to avoid the edge for the time being. It will not be too late for us to organize more troops to fight in the warm period next year. Why... risk the whole army The danger of being overwhelmed continues to be spent here?"

"Was it here? Do you really feel that I will order you to continue the impact?" Vadim's response was extremely twisted and tangled.

"Leader? How are we?" Looking at the hazy fortress in the snow again, Vadim looked towards the direction of the West Dvina River, and said frankly: "We boast to our fathers and villagers that we still have three thousand to fight. Soldiers, if you just withdraw like this, wouldn't everyone become cowards? Are you...willing to accept infamy? Are you willing to admit that you are inferior to those Ross bandits?" Who would admit that they are inferior?

Noticing their mood swings, Vadim continued to put on a fearless posture: "I would rather die than return without success. I will not compromise with those gangsters. I don't think...you will either." A With these words, he blocked the way for the army to retreat.

As long as the retreat is tantamount to a compromise with the Rus, the young Smolensk youths who are full of blood participated in this expedition because they could not accept it.

"Could it be... are you going to continue to attack?" Someone covered his mouth lightly to hide his surprise.

"Of course we want to attack, but not now. I plan to go to Polotsk, let's go now! Get there while we still have enough energy." Everyone looked at each other, and this matter had been decided long ago. Going down the enemy's fortress, there is a plan for this matter, but no one thinks about it.

"Have we reached a desperate situation? Are we really going to take the Polotsk village?"

"Otherwise? Brother, fortunately we have alternatives."

"Even if we attack Polotsk, can we really successfully occupy it and get enough supplies?"

"So are you willing to freeze to death in the ice and snow? Or withdraw in desperation?"... The young Smolensk people had a heated discussion among themselves. After weighing the pros and cons, they had to compromise with realityaccept Vadim's decision.

Compared with the large altar in the Katyn Forest, which was withdrawn from the starting point, it could not be replenished immediately, and the Polotsk village was not far away, and it could be reached by walking along the West Dvina River.

A large number of fire fighters are waiting for the decision makers to discuss whether to advance or retreat. Most people think that they still have to retreat, and now they have finally received clear instructions from Vadim.

The army was newly defeated, and the soldiers were downcast and worried about their future. As they learned that the chief Vadim was going to go to the Polotsk territory to collect supplies without stopping, the morale that fell to the bottom rebounded sharply.

What are Polotsk people? Just a bunch of farmers. The Smolensk community has always looked down upon those people.

Polotsk, Drigovich, and Drevlian will one day be integrated by the Krivich community in Smolensk. Perhaps these great achievements are only related to the nobles, and after all, it is ordinary people who participate in the battle People, the most ordinary farmers can get some spoils from the war to improve their lives.

I don't have much property, so I might as well go fight and give it a try. Today, ordinary soldiers have to think about survival.

There is no contract between Smolensk and Polotsk, and they often rely on the Varyags from the Bay of Riga as the medium of communication.

The Smolensk nobles have a plan to control the area so that they can hold

The "Amber Road" makes money from the Varyags by collecting tolls. However, the crazy expansion of the Northern Russ completely disrupted the plans of the Smolensk community.

And the desolate prince Vadim's son-in-law devours the master's behavior has added new variables. Ordinary soldiers looked at the limited food in their cloth bags, so they had no choice but to continue to follow Vadim on a military adventure in the snow.

Without seeing the sun for a week, people seem to have forgotten the warmth of the sun. Yesterday they were still fighting against the city. On a brand new day, the Smolensk soldiers had a good night's rest and began to line up again in the continuous fog and snow.

The outer city of the Ross fortress has been broken, but the inner city is as solid as a rock and unable to attack the city. Maybe another strong attack can finally break the city, but how many soldiers will be lost?

Vadim was not sure that he would fight to win the city again, and felt that the odds of winning were not as good as one city, especially the lower-level officers appointed by him who forced the soldiers to continue to attack the city had a high probability of mutiny.

The Smolensk army has become an army that only prays for survival

"Army of Refugees". They began to line up towards the West Dvina River in the north, and the fog and snow covered their figures to some extent. For a while, the defenders of the Vitebsk fortress stood in the watchtower and could not detect the vision of the battlefield.

Right in front of you is the soothing area of the big river. After the river flows into the open land, it forms a large swamp shoal that can be waded on foot.

The thin ice is thickening, and it's too early to be able to walk across the river. But the Smolensk people are not stupid enough to jump directly into waist-deep ice water.

Vadim looked around, took a deep breath and ordered: "Start building the pontoon bridge." What is a pontoon bridge? The felled pine tree poles were thrown directly into the ice water, and the arrow shield made of branches was still in the water.

All kinds of miscellaneous materials collected on the spot quickly built a passage in the icy water shoal. If there were not nearly 3,000 soldiers, Vadim would not be able to cross the river in a day.

They paid a lot of physical strength for this, and had to abandon all the wounded soldiers to their own good fortune. The simple leather shoes of the soldiers were all wet, and the icy cold water made the feet of the soldiers after crossing the river as hard as stones, and the dismemberment almost disappeared.

They complained endlessly, but fortunately the whole army had already crossed the river. Losing all his horses, Vadim also had to suffer from freezing hands and feet.

Regardless of his physical pain, he just wanted to reach Polotsk as soon as possible. The soldiers crossing the river had no time to breathe. They jumped up and down spontaneously on the snow, just trying to keep their bodies warm and keep out the cold.

Vadim also had no intention of dawdling, and ran and shouted among the crowd himself. The soldiers gathered together with all kinds of weapons, all wearing fur clothing, their hats and shoulders were covered with a lot of snowflakes, under the slightly dim light, it looked like a herd of reindeer was moving.

In fact, the defenders of the fortress standing guard on high ground really made a misjudgment. Following the rapid descent along the rope, the sentry rushed into the soldiers' dormitory.

The Ostara warriors defending the city stayed in their armor, sleeping soundly in the warm dormitory with their swords in both hands.

Everyone believed that the enemy would attack again, so everyone had to be on high alert. Arvind is awakened by the Sentinels.

"What?! They're here?!" He jumped up like a carp, and couldn't help but draw his sword. The buzz of the sword wind instantly stimulated everyone in the dormitory to get up reflexively.

"Boss, go and have a look on the city wall."

"There are already enemies outside the city? Damn, you are late in reporting."

"Oh, that's not enough." The sentinel didn't care about explaining too much, and simply dragged Avend, who was basically the same age, to the cold outdoors.

The small inner city is a castle with thick wooden walls. When there is a change in the dormitory where Ai Wende lives, it will cause the entire inner city to take action in a short time.

There was another sound of drums and horns, and the soldiers spontaneously took precautions. They took crossbows and recurve bows to the city wall one after another, and stared at the inexplicable torsion slingshot operator.

Because the enemy did not attack the city, and there were no footprints in the area where the inner and outer cities met, the corpses of the enemies killed yesterday were now all lumps of ice covered in snow.

Ai Wende followed the direction pointed by the sentinel, squinted his eyes and looked at the main channel of the West Dvina River. Although the north gate of the city has been blocked, the river wharf is next to the north gate.

The pier trestle was undamaged, and since the rest of the ships were being towed into the inner city, the pier was now useless.

The Ostara fighters who were determined to defend blocked their escape route. They were quietly waiting for help, and at the same time, they basically cut off the possibility of taking the initiative to attack.

"What do you want me to see? Brother, my eyesight is not as good as yours." Ai Wende looked more and more impatiently.

"Don't worry. Brother, pay attention to the black shadow in the northeast direction of you."

"Shadow?"

"Something like a herd of deer is moving. Do you think it's a herd of deer?"

"Impossible. Absolutely impossible. There are wild deer that have been hunted by us long ago." Vadim thought for a while and slapped his head: "Could it be the enemy?!"

"I'm afraid it's them."

"Are the people of Smolensk crazy? The river isn't frozen at all. Could it be that they want to wade across the river from the north gate? Ice water can kill them." Some people followed Ai Wende's words and laughed: "That Vadim is a fool, if only he actually led the Smolensk people to do that. Then we won't have to shoot arrows, the ice water will kill them." Because the brothers have full Nordic blood, they are not real He was born in the Old Ross tribe, and now stands proudly under the Ross banner. Because the ancestors and the Old Ross people are close blood relatives, their living conditions are very similar, and they have the same and profound understanding of severe winter.

Winter hunting can often take risks to catch some big animals, especially the wild reindeer that migrate in winter, and killing one is enough for a family to solve the meat problem for the whole winter.

The northern Swedish region, typical of Lake Mlaren, has a lot of lakes. Hunters often have to take risks to pass through trivial icy lakes. Once they unfortunately fall into the ice cave, they often die in a very short time. The behavior of real men.

The black shadow became more and more obvious, and gradually even if Ai Wende's eyesight was not particularly good, he could clearly see the black shadow wriggling on the opposite bank.

At the same time, Vadim, who was moving with his troops, saw the Ross fortress from a new angle across the entire West Dvina River.

Annoyance and unwillingness welled up in their hearts, and the feelings of the soldiers were even more complicated. For a moment there was a buzzing in the chaotic procession, and everyone commented on the enemy's fortress.

"What a pity." A confidant couldn't hide the pain in his heart: "Why didn't the continuous snowfall freeze the river? We still have enough troops to attack the city...but the troops can't be used at all." Vadim was always heartbroken. With a livid face, he didn't want to look at the Russian fortress with the flag fluttering any more, and responded to his cronies one after another: "We will force conscription when we arrive in Polotsk! We still have 3,000 people, and we took all their villages in one go. Our army fought But can the Russians still defeat the Polotsk people? At that time, all their men and women will be incorporated into the army, and when the river freezes, we will attack the villagers with all our strength."

"This...is it crazy? Are you really going to do this?" The aide never thought that there was such a tactic.

"Don't talk about madness. Let those villagers charge at that time, and the Polotsk people will be shot and killed. After they consume the arrows of the Rus for us, our army can fight calmly. You! And you!" Vadim looked at his few cronies again: "We don't have to consider the feelings of the Polotsk people. It doesn't matter how many people they die! Remember, this is our only way to turn defeat into victory." The young The Smolensk warriors shuddered at the strategy of the great chief Vadim, and they did shiver involuntarily, because it was too cold.

There is no point in rushing to the fortress, abandoning the wounded and letting them freeze to death, and risking freezing to death to cross the river in the snow. The next step is to use the Polotsk people as human shield sacrifices.

From the war to now, the soldiers feel more and more that their chief is a reckless man, and regard their soldiers and others as worthless.

To be fair, Vadim is not a person who is greedy for life and afraid of death. This person has extreme demands on himself for revenge, and now he is really forcing everyone to do extreme things with him.

What else can I do? Many soldiers had run out of food, and they had no choice but to march forward to grab food from the warehouses of the Polotsk people.

So from the perspective of the Vitebsk defenders, Evind and his brothers watched as the enemy chief Vadim and his army moved along the right bank of the snow-covered West Dvina like a herd of reindeer. March downstream.

"They are going to Polotsk. Oops! Don't our brothers there face a big enemy?!" Vadim suddenly felt a chill.

Some staff reassured: "Those evacuated Danish businessmen and Polotsk civilians have already returned, and UU Reading www.uukanshu.com Polotsk will remain on guard. Besides, our brothers stationed there are in Novopolotsk. Winter in the fort."

"Novopolotsk? Probably not as strong as our fortress."

"Not much difference." The man continued to comfort.

"Alas... we can't do anything to help the brothers over there." Ai Wende stomped his feet vigorously, and then had an idea: "This... does it mean that the crisis we are facing has been temporarily lifted?" People standing on the city wall talked a lot, because The besieging army obviously went to attack Polotsk, which is what the previous prisoners of war said-the attacking side ran out of food and had to find a way to seize it.

This is a once-in-lifetime opportunity for Vitebsk. Ai Wende and his friends made a plan and decided to stay alert and watch the enemy go downriver. When he was far away, he would use ropes to temporarily lower him from the inner city wall. The so-called seize the time to clean the battlefield, carry the dead bodies, gather Arrows, the most important thing is to block the huge gap in the east gate with all kinds of things, including dead bodies.

Conveniently, use an ax to chop off the horse legs of the shot enemy horses to obtain the red meat that is very important to everyone, even if this kind of fishy, rough-tasting horse meat is not very tasty.