It was as if the earth had cracked, and the smoke was soaring upwards, and the monsters deep in the ground were gushing out from the breach.

In the snow-capped world, the towering smoke column was not quickly blown away by the north wind, and the smoke was blown more diffusely, so that the smoke column on the horizon could be noticed from far away.

A small team of reindeer and horse-drawn sleighs was heading for Novopolotsk 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 Selon tribe and continues to go retrograde along the frozen West Dvina River.

Marching all the way is extremely boring. The army of Varyag heroes from all walks of life stands under the Ross banner. Look at their current appearance, which is slightly different from greatness and glory.

Their condition was not good, and the warrior wrapped himself extremely tightly in leather cloth. There is no armor under the leather, but thicker leather.

Whenever conditions permit, soldiers are happy to stuff themselves into leather-constructed covers, leaving only a pair of eyes to pay attention to the pale world around them.

The initial excitement of participating in the battle has long been dissipated by days of boring marches. The sledges seemed to be dead people, or leather materials to be transported. Only at the collective rest time in the evening, the leather goods suddenly Coming to life, people in thick clothes moved and even stretched their muscles and bones in order to cook some hot meals in the temporary camp, which fully proved that they were living creatures.

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

Everyone was too lazy to talk to each other, sitting cross-legged, with a lot of leather wrapped around their bodies as usual.

The reindeer and horses basically have small copper bells hanging on the bridles. These big animals drag the sleds full of soldiers and weapons forward at a steady speed.

The soldiers are just in a dormant state similar to hibernation, and they still open their eyes to observe their surroundings from time to time.

There are two of the most senior elites here: Spuut the Old Ross, Earl of Saaremaa, and Stekander, the head of the Danish community in Riga.

A bleak world was boring, the brothers had come to war and had no idea about the winter hunt, and the real Rus in the party had a different mentality than the rest of their kind. This group of people who are accustomed to maneuvering large ships at sea still like to live the most traditional Viking winter life: staying at home honestly.

They are unwilling to leave their comfort zone unless necessary.

What's more, the Ross community built in the city of Riga had achieved great success, and Earl Spueut directly moved the administration to Riga. From any point of view, although it is only protruding from the bay, the city of Riga is many times more comfortable than Saaremaa Island.

Spueut, who is now an age, would not be so obliged if his friends were not suffering a fatal blow.

The great explorers of the past have touched the Arctic Ocean all the way, and participated in the creation of the northernmost stronghold of the Ross Kingdom, the current hunting city of Murmansk.

Spueut is getting old, and his son has grown into a "golden retriever strong man". The son's body has grown extremely fast, but he is still too young. The strong man is just an appearance, and his heart is too weak. He is just a teenager with a height advantage.

The son has not yet made his own name, and is still called "Little Sputnik" by his brothers. How tragic is it for a young boy to live under the light of his father? The kid needs a chance to make meritorious deeds.

Born in Saaremaa Island, Tralang is a articulate and simple-minded guy. Although he is simple-minded, he appears to be extremely unsophisticated. With the rapid improvement of living standards in recent years, he eats like a ball of suet and looks even more simple and honest. But it's real flesh and blood, wielding two hatchets and daring to rush into the enemy's battle line shirtless as a berserker, he really turned into a character like Li Kui, except that his skin is pure white and his hair is golden.

This person was received by Rurik himself long ago. He was the native envoy of Saaremaa Island at that time, and now his status seems to be the earl's vassal.

A group of pirates who went ashore couldn't hide their arrogance, and the criminals expelled by the northern tribes were recruited by the Kingdom of Ross. They sat in the sled without saying a word for a while, but each was a ruthless character who killed people without blinking an eye.

The banditry they revealed was that of fellow Danish community fighters and a 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 be protected by King Ross himself, and everyone is still blocked by these Ross pirates at the entrance and exit of the bay, making it impossible for everyone to enter the openness of the South Baltic Sea sea area.

This operation can be described as the first time that the two sides have fought side by side. For the Danish community leader Sternkander, King Ross's high-standard courtesy is a high recognition of his brothers, but respect is earned by fighting. Only with Ross Only by fighting side by side and making military exploits can the army earn the true respect of the Ross people.

Covered by the forest, Binghe began to look due east. The team completely passed through the hilly area controlled by the Selon tribe, and a completely flat land was in sight, so the soaring smoke and dust became a special situation that could not be ignored.

Stekander suddenly took off his velvet cap, and ordered the steward to speed up his sleigh, break away from the column and quickly reach the head of the column to meet Earl Spuut's sleigh.

"Sput!" he called by his first name, "Did you see the strange sight ahead? What is that?!"

"I can see it all! It seems to be burning there, and the strange thing is obviously smoke."

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

Sensing that there was something in the old man's words, the experienced and well-informed Spueut immediately thought of the crisis. He didn't think too much about this matter from a military point of view. Now that the old man reminded him, he suddenly sat up straight: "It seems to be very close to the Polotsk people's territory now?!"

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

"I don't know much about this place... You mean, we are about to make peace with the Polotsk people? Wouldn't we be closer to Vitebsk then?"

"Probably so."

"But, what's the matter with the huge smoke and dust over there?" Spuut recalled one incident after another of the Rus army's siege operations. He was extremely sensitive: "Is there a possibility that our Vitebsk It has already fallen, and the **** smoke is actually the enemy setting fire? The enemy has already invaded Polotsk?"

"Impossible? The Rus are invincible."

"Now you don't have to flatter." Spueut gave the guy a white look.

The leader Strkander is indeed not flattering. The Ross people he knows have used force to stop the endless vendetta of the Viking tribes in the Baltic Sea within ten years. The Ross people should be invincible. How can they be defeated? A group of Slavs riding on the head?

For Spyut, he didn't like those Polotsk people and he was malicious. It's just that the local people were annexed by the Principality of Ostara, which was ordered to expand southward. I'm afraid that even Rurik, the king of Ross, couldn't be sure that the local people really surrendered. Bao Buqi After the main force of the army withdrew, the Polotsk people turned back again.

Based on a series of information lags and opaque information, the battle-hardened Spueut had to adopt a cautious attitude.

Suddenly, the leader of the team sled blew the horn, and the speed of the sled gradually slowed down, forcing the follow-up sleds to gradually finish spreading.

The soldiers who remained dormant opened their eyes one after another. Since they resumed their actions in the morning, everyone has kept quiet and there is now a lot of discussion.

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

"Brothers! Put on your armor and get ready to fight anytime!"

As soon as he took off the reins and rode a poor horse without a saddle, the orderly conveyed the earl's order to the whole team as soon as possible.

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

The army changed gear urgently on the ice, and piled up chain mail and plate armor began to be put on their bodies one after another.

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

Fully meet the needs of the brothers.

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

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

Spueut also became more and more sure that there must have been a major change there-unless a large building was burning, or the forest was on fire, the smoke and dust would not last until the afternoon and still be sprayed endlessly.

On the other hand, fighting continued at Novopolotsk.

The eighty Danish armed merchants who were completely surrounded by the 3,000 troops, and a group of enemies killed and wounded by them have 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 the enemy and his companions.

The Danes fought back vigorously, until this time they realized that rushing out of the city to fight was a major mistake, but complaining now is meaningless, the only priority is to kill the enemy in front of them and find a way to break through.

But can they really escape?

Vadim frowned, he didn't know if there were still defenders in the fort. Based on the information he obtained from the villagers in Polotsk, a group of villagers moved into the fortress because they married their daughters. As for the Ross defenders, there were probably only a hundred or so people. The encircled enemies in front of him were probably of this scale. He estimated that the fortress was empty, and there were only a small group of peasants who were being slaughtered.

"Kill them! Kill all the Varyags!" Vadim kept yelling, looking forward to winning the first counterattack.

The Smolensk fighters became more and more courageous. They didn't care about their own casualties. They were red-eyed and deliberately killed all the "Russians" who were surrounded.

The battle became extremely intense, and the wooden wall of the eastern wall of the fort, which was piled full of firewood wagons, finally began to burn!

Guard Wei Suende clutched his chest, endured lung pain and tried to suppress the urge to cough up blood, and had to lead his brothers away from the east wall.

"Boss, those Danes are fighting the enemy, and they are surrounded. How are we going to do this?!" The young warrior with a sword hurriedly greeted him and shouted as he supported Qi Weisunde.

"They! They're 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 status quo. He looked at the warehouse where the supplies were piled up, feeling a little distressed about the food - it was basically impossible to extinguish the fire in the fortress, the enemy would not kill everyone, and after the flames rushed towards the warehouse, everyone's The rations were burned, and no matter how persistent the defenders were, they would be defeated without a fight due to the loss of supplies.

The attitude of the subordinates who are filled with grief and indignation clearly has a strong hint.

Thinking of the anger of those Danes just now, Wisund wanted to act conservatively, and the current situation could no longer allow him to be a coward, even if it was only with extremely limited troops.

Suppressing the pain in his chest, he hastily summoned everyone who could hold a weapon.

So, more than a hundred people gathered.

They are Ostara warriors and Polotsk armed peasants. Although the army carries the Ross flag and Ostara's bull head flag, the soldiers are already mainly of Slavic blood. With such an army, Vesund, who was born in Northern Europe, inevitably had some prejudice against them and questioned their combat effectiveness.

However, the brothers have been cornered.

A young warrior, Devi Suende, delivered a brief order: "Brothers! The fire can no longer be extinguished, and the Danes are under siege! We have nowhere to go, and now the only way out is to leave the city for a **** battle! We are all Odin's now. Warrior! Ostara people! Blood sacrifice to Odin!"

At least, the young people showed mighty martial prowess. They held up their steel swords and round shields and shouted. In terms of momentum alone, the doubts caused by many people's Slavic blood have dissipated with the shouts.

He ordered those village families who were unable to fight to transfer grain from their warehouses, especially women. Instead of going to fight, they pulled sacks full of grain and dragged them out of the city on sleds, and immediately went to nearby forests.

Hiding in the forest to avoid the limelight, if the desperate situation really came, the villagers who escaped would take food and flee to the lower reaches of the glacier.

The Ross flag was collected, and the soldiers could not humiliate the flag. The flags were handed over to the villagers who desperately needed to leave the city to hide. At the most desperate moment, these fugitives could show their flags and get help from the local Ross people in the Bay of Riga.

Of course, Wisund did not give up hope, maybe reinforcements from the Gulf of Riga are on their way.

He didn't dare to make extravagant hopes anymore, the only one who could save himself now was himself.

The defense of the fortress was dispatched in full force, which was completely different from the reckless charge of the Danish armed merchants. From the very beginning, Visund was determined to fight conservatively.

The warriors carried their round shields on their backs, and their swords hung from their belts.

With all the crossbows and short wooden bows ready, he organized more than fifty archers, and under the cover of the rest of the sword and shield players, he quickly set up the shooting matrix and started shooting non-stop after leaving the city.

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

As a result, the small-scale new force has been throwing arrows at the enemy and the enemy on the chaotic battlefield and lost!

The Smolensk army began to shoot arrows in the back, and even the soldiers' skulls were directly pierced.

Gradually, the Smolensk army came back to notice that on the ice next to the burning wooden ships, there was a line of shield walls standing impressively, and countless arrows were constantly flying from behind the shield walls.

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If he wanted to die here, he would die by defeating the crowd on the battlefield. In this way, he would not disgrace the duchess and the king, and he would also have an account of his lifea true northern soldier could fully accept the ending of dying on the battlefield.

But the melodious horn horn changed everything!

Just downstream from the fort, a mass of reindeer sleighs gathered on the thick ice, with the unmistakable Ross flag flying.

Because when Vesund led his brothers to fight, the Ross flag and the Ostara flag~www.mtlnovel.com~ these two flags were flying high in the formation. They aroused the fury of the Smolensk Army, and also served as an extremely significant signal, making the reinforcements in the Gulf of Riga, who continued to march, clearly notice that the source of the smoke and dust came from the burning fortress, and also noticed the large-scale combat scene on the ice. , a touch of blue is extremely eye-catching.

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

Spueut and Stekander didn't think much of it.

"Brothers! Formation, march! Glory belongs to Ross! Let's go!"

Spueut ordered to blow the horn to counterattack, so he didn't care that he only had 300 troops, and he couldn't sit idly by when the friendly troops were in trouble.

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

The reinforcements in the Gulf of Riga did not take a rest, and immediately went into battle as soon as they arrived on the battlefield.

And this, Vadim was really dumbfounded!

From Vadim's standpoint, the once powerful shield wall reappeared, coercing towards him.