Two natural rivers constitute the southwestern border between modern Latvia and Lithuania, and their river channels have also become an important communication line from Cherbourg on the west coast to the inland Mezotne and Riga.

In the broad sense of the Courland Peninsula, the Semigallian tribe is the local protagonist in this era. There are few large rivers in the vast area, and there are many streams that are barely navigable by small boats.

Larger rivers can fully carry traditional Nordic longships. If travelers bring small barges, they can move forward and backward more freely in such an environment.

Olstein places particular emphasis on the large settlement at Mezotne, and he also lists settlements that he could or might encounter on his travels.

After all, Zante is on the north side of the river, and travelers from the west coast will not transit there unless necessary, unless the locals are willing to spend more money to buy sea salt.

Ezere, a village on the preferred path of travelers, the locals are full of peaceful residents. Although it is a branch of Semigalia, because the place of residence is relatively remote, the locals will not devote a lot of energy to participating in the tribe Union internal affairs.

Once, the Semigallians built a military fortress on the banks of the Daugava River, named Dunas (now Daugmale mound, Dunas is the ancient name). This large military camp is very close to Riga. Its existence not only pointed at Riga, but also cut off the shipping of the Daugava River (West Dvina River) on the "Amber Road".

The big leader stationed troops here, planning to go straight to Riga after crossing the river, and then conquer Latvia in the north. If the amber inland river trade is controlled, it will be possible to fight with those Varyags.

Discuss a new business model, such as charging tolls, so-called continuous tribute.

But the village chiefs in Latvia and the local businessmen in Riga, they don't want the guys on the other side of the river to ride on their shoulders, because in the past they were mixed with the Danish Varyags, They are very familiar with these neighbors and have confidence in their armed forces, which transferred a series of powers and bought the force of the Varyags in the city.

So the Varyag army, mainly of Danish and Gotland origin, and the community leaders led the Latvian peasant soldiers across the river smoothly and launched an attack on the city of Dunas. Varyag's customary raid tactics were very effective, and then relying on the shield wall to continue to push forward, defeated Semigalia in the subsequent battle, and then burned and destroyed the city of Dunas on the mound, and then covered it with small trees battlefield.

Only that part of the forest has a large number of young young trees, which are special evidence of the past.

And this is the past of Spjut, who has now become the Earl of Latvia, when he was young, and it is also the truth of the war more than ten years ago.

The army assembled in Riga again. Some old guys in the army still remember the battle that year. This time, a larger army launched an attack, so that some militiamen were optimistic that the current attack would completely defeat Semigalia. And his own side can still reap the benefits with almost no loss.

There are a large number of waterways near the city of Riga, as well as some lakes. Such a low-lying environment benefits from the barrier function of the Gulf of Riga and Saaremaa Island at the mouth of the bay, so that the erosion of the urban area by the sea tide is very weak.

It's early summer now

The water and grass are abundant, and Fisk, who holds cavalry in his hand, is not worried about the issue of horse food and fodder at all. Grass was everywhere, and the horses had plenty of time to nibble on the new shoots.

The situation of the personnel may be worse, and the soldiers had to bring a large amount of dried fish to feed their hunger.

900 Rus standing cavalry, 200 Saaremaa Army, 100 Riga Danes and 3,000 Latvian Latvians.

Ross made up a behemoth with a strength of more than four thousand.

The military rations are mainly oatmeal and dried fish, supplemented by various dried animal meat and cheese. Because it faces the sea, even if the seawater in the Gulf of Riga has a very low salt content, you can still get plenty of salt by spending more firewood, which is the most indispensable in the region, when cooking salt.

Salt is the special advantage of this army, which enables all kinds of fighters to have stronger endurance and strength.

Since the entire Gulf of Riga is like a giant safe haven, it has become an important berth for the Saaremaa Island.

A group of ordinary long boats gathered here, besides, the Latvian natives are also building small boats. Shipbuilding technology from Northern Europe has been circulating for a long time. In the past, due to the lack of need for use, there was no large-scale shipbuilding. Now Riga and the entire northern part of the Daugava River under the rule of Ross are included in the economic circle of the Kingdom of Ross. The huge population has a huge demand Well, the Latvians are poorer, but they are definitely not stupid. They don't want to lose the opportunity to do business and make money. This greatly stimulated Riga's shipbuilding industry.

Some shipwrights are tinkling in their winter houses to build boats according to Nordic techniques. Although they can't build long boats that can be rowed by thirty people, there is nothing wrong with making small barges.

But even so the coalition forces did not gather

Knot to ample vessels.

A huge army is assembled at the pier and is heading to the other side of the river through barges.

According to the newly formulated plan, after the cavalry crosses the river by boat, they can launch a sneak attack on Mezotne through high-speed maneuvering.

As for the follow-up infantry group, the Norse-speaking brothers can row boats and maneuver side by side with the cavalry. For the largest number of Latvians, based on practical considerations, it is better for them to advance on one pair of legs.

The sun was shining today, and Fisk and the others presented a slightly messy scene of crossing the river.

"It's too messy. Can these Latvians know how to swim? A large group of them are crowded across the river in a long boat, for fear that someone will be squeezed and drowned." Fisk had to sweat for these inferior allies.

Stekander deeply agrees with this, but these local people are nominally bound to their own interests, and now I am embarrassed to say that they are not.

"Most of these people have learned swimming, and their fighting ability...I have some confidence."

"You really think highly of them." Fisk shook his head sullenly: "Two years ago, this group of people hired you to face me, even my Uncle Spueut. Thanks to the fact that we are all friends, Thankfully it was a misunderstanding."

"Oh! Boy, why did you mention me?" Spueut couldn't help thinking a lot, and he sighed: "If I wasn't old, I wouldn't give you the command right. Fisk, you should pay attention Already!"

"Pay attention to what?"

"In the past, only Rurik and old Otto commanded such a huge army. Now the gods have given you the opportunity to command an army of more than four thousand men."

"is that so

? But what kind of army is the king commanding? What am I commanding? The young and energetic Fisk was somewhat self-deprecating, he stretched out his big hand and casually pointed at the people who were crossing the river: "They are not a strong team, they are just auxiliary personnel. I don't expect them to really fight, as long as they can give me momentum. Besides, we didn't need this group of people to arrive at the battlefield, and we had already captured that Mezotne. "

Standing here, Fiske couldn't help reminding Strkander of his youth. He couldn't help but cast a glance at the young "big bald man" beside him, and sighed casually: "You guessed right, these Latvians are This is so. It was so in the past and it will be so in the future.

"How?" Fisk asked.

"Look over there." Strkander pointed southeast, which was the upper Daugava River.

Due to the flat and low-lying terrain of the river channel near Riga, a lake suddenly appeared.

"If King Ross went there to investigate at that time, he could still find traces of settlements in the sparse woods, and even more tombs."

"That is how the matter?"

"There, is the truth more than ten years ago. It was the Latvians who hired us Danes to attack the Semigallians who were approaching the city. That was the closest Riga came to extinction! I was a participant in the war at the time. We made great achievements in the battle, and this was the qualification to be elected as the leader of the community. The enemy's Dunas City was destroyed by us. At that time, hehe..."

"why are you laughing?"

"I'm laughing at these Latvians." As he spoke, Stekander glanced at Fisk: "At that moment

At this moment, I am sure that even if the Latvians are on the battlefield, it will be us who will carry the line. It's also good for them to do this. Whoever makes great contributions on the battlefield will gain power in the future. This is fair. "

It sounds so, but Fisk thought a little more, he shook his head slightly: "The Latvians are very cunning. Just imagine, if all the Varyag troops suffered heavy losses and won the victory with a miserable victory, they would still be able to gain great power. ?

"This... I haven't thought much about it."

"Uncle, you don't have to think about it." Fisk shrugged: "Ross is invincible, my cavalry is the most elite troops in the kingdom, and only our army has ever ravaged others. Even Frank will be defeated by Ross's cavalry again." beat."

Young people are not arrogant. In the Gnezdovo and Smolensk raids in the past six months, the Russian cavalry did kill the enemy unilaterally, and they were unstoppable.

The largest and messiest Latvian army, this group of guys with more troubles took the lead in crossing the river in long boats and gathered on the shore to wait.

Ross used as many ships as possible to transport it, and then mobilized all the long ships to carefully transport the horses to the other side.

Although it was just crossing the river, due to the limited number of ships, the coalition forces all reached the left bank of the Daugava River and the right bank of the Lielupe River within a day.

The location directly south of the coalition forces is an overly dense forest, and personnel who are not experienced enough to enter it will definitely get lost. There are also a large number of mud ponds scattered in the forest, and there are rotten wood everywhere. If this environment is too chilling in autumn.

It is early summer now, and the climate is extremely suitable.

The snow season is over, the muddy land has returned to dryness, and the Lielupe River has become a natural meadow road again.

There is no need for the army to assemble and stand in line. From Fisk's standpoint, he doesn't think that the Latvians with the largest number of troops in the coalition can form a perfect matrix formation.

He rode a horse and led his entourage around the gathering place of the coalition forces, communicated with the commanders sent by the villages, and then hurriedly issued an order to march.

He raised his fist toward the upper reaches of the Lielupe: "Cavalry! Let's go!"

As a result, the three cavalry teams that had been recharging their energy for several months were fully armed and especially wore the washed Ross shirt. In fact, even the Danes under Stekander have finished changing their costumes. Taking advantage of the textile printing and dyeing capabilities of Riga City, the soldiers put plain white cloth robes on the outside of their armor, and then sewed them with blue cloth strips on their chests. Draw on the giant X.

The coalition army prepared a large number of flags, so that everyone in Fisk's cavalry carried flags.

A light wooden pole made of Nordic aspen is inserted in the saddle, and a batch of cavalry guns were forged with broken spearheads captured from Smolensk. Although this kind of lance is so inferior that the head of the lance will almost break after poking the enemy with it while riding a sprint, the clever Fisk has realized its advantage-the lance head can be broken with one touch, so that the lance does not hurt my cavalry. Take off the horse.

The cavalry raid is not the preferred tactic of the Ross cavalry, and Fisk did it on purpose just to boost his momentum.

A small Russian flag was hung on the lance erected by each cavalry, which fluttered in the wind, and the wild goose feathers specially inserted on the helmets of the cavalry swayed in the wind.

not cooked

The textile materials such as boiled and bleached linen and linden bark are always brown and black, which makes Latvian soldiers have an inferior texture.

In contrast, the Ross cavalry, as well as the Saaremaa Island Army and the Danish Community Army floating on the river, everyone is dressed in blue and white tones, which is particularly eye-catching in a world dominated by dark green forests.

And this is also the first time that Ostein and his party have seen the assembly of the Ross army.

They are only a small part of the Ross people, but such an army is already going to be destroyed.

Ostein has seen both horses and riders, but he has never seen the actions of large-scale cavalry corps.

A forest of spears moved together with the war horses. Each of these cavalry had a bow, and the left and right quiver of the saddle was fully stuffed.

What surprised him even more was that all the cavalry were equipped with stirrups. Isn't such an advanced tool nothing in Ross?

Although they were floating on the river with the longboat of the Ross Army, Ostein and his party kept their eyes on the cavalry on the shore, thinking to themselves: "Fortunately, I didn't become an enemy of this strong man."

Soon, the cavalry and fleet left the Latvian infantry behind, and as the course of the Lielupe River gradually became tortuous, those soldiers gradually submerged in the forest.

Taking advantage of the last daylight hours of the day, the fast-moving coalition forces had already rushed a long way.

When camping at night, the vanguard cavalry and fleet had already distanced themselves from the rear infantry.

The coalition forces found suitable campsites one after another on the flat riverside. When the sky at the downstream position was illuminated red, Fisk, who was at the vanguard position, could see the basic positions of those people.

"Sure enough, they are a group of slow-moving guys."

Looking back by the fire, the matter is still reasonable, and Fisk still disdains them.

"It's up to us now." Strokander said.

"Enough. Hey." Fisk kicked Olstein, who had the right to sit by the campfire and have dinner with the big shots, "You walked this way when you came?"

"Of course." The clever Ostan raised his chest in a hurry: "Don't worry, everyone, I will guarantee to bring you to your destination."

"What I want is your words. Look at yourself, you have changed into our clothes now. Including your two sons, you are all descendants of Denmark who speak Norse, and you must not be ambiguous about future battles. You have to be a fighter."

"I get it. Can't get things done."

Ostein and his party didn't want to fight at first, but now they can't. They were forced to put on Rose's plate armor waistcoats, and then put on newly made cloth robes. If the patterns on the round shields they brought were not different from the ones Ross used to, they would look like Ross citizen soldiers standing in place at first glance.

That night, the soldiers sang the songs of their hometown, continued to polish their axes around the bonfire, and wiped the sharp steel swords with their own grease.

Many people are also checking their bows, trying to bend them to feel the strength of recurve bows. They even checked all the bowstrings, and took out the spare ones and stretched them vigorously to ensure that there were no stubble.

All this comes from Ostan's clear statement that as long as you pass through Mezotne, you can reach Riga as long as you float along the Lielupe River in the inland river for two days.

really so fast? However, the wide river is obviously relieved by the current, so that no one who paddles retrograde will feel much resistance.

So

It can only be understood that the settlement in Mezotne is really close to Riga.

Not only it, but also based on Olstein's statement, the so-called vanguard of the coalition can reach the village in the low-lying area by tomorrow day if it maintains the current speed.

The village head is simply named Gava (Jelgava), which refers to the low-lying land.

"Are you going to annihilate that village? Are you going to kill people everywhere?" Facing Fisk, Olstein couldn't help asking ~www.mtlnovel.com~ It depends on the situation. "

"What if they resist?" Orstein asked again.

"Then we have to kill them all." Fisk said lightly, describing the killing with a relaxed attitude.

This made Olstein unable to stay alert: "Just like what you did to Gotland ten years ago? Bloodbathed the whole island."

"Oh? You still know about this?"

"Of course, everyone in the entire sea area does not know Ross's prestige. I think that if my hometown does not accept Ross's rule, it will also encounter such a catastrophe."

"Of course." Fisk opened his mouth, and he looked at the old guy. The bonfire illuminated the man's face a little strangely, and there was a sense of horror in the dark. "Could it be...Gotland and your old friends died in the war?"

"No, but there are some people who have lived on the island in Cherbourg. There have been legends about you in my hometown. It seems that... you will destroy that fishing village, and then completely destroy Mezzotene."

"Who said those people are unwilling to submit to Ross and blocking the way of our army?" Fisk stared straight at Olstein as if hiding steel knives in his eyes: "I am very embarrassed if I don't want to surrender and block the way Now. I am the general of King Ross, and I am sharing the King's worries. Kill

Killing was not my intention. If those guys can abandon the city and flee, I don't bother to chase them anymore, as long as those people leave a lot of property, especially a batch of food. "

"Then what?"

"I plan to be stationed in Mezot. Since it is the place where the inland trade line you claimed must pass, I will wait there for King Ross' follow-up troops to arrive. As for the village that I plan to attack tomorrow, I will go as fast as lightning." Take it down."

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