king of ros

Chapter 120
While something was going on in the wilds of Suzdal, on the other side, the Bulgar army had reached the Volga.

If you want to go to Kashin, you must cross the upper reaches of the Volga River. This is the last difficulty for the Bulgar army to go to Kashin, and there must be Rus's army blocking it here.

Rostislav was naturally also fortified here. Although he had already made the decision to abandon Kashin, if he simply gave up, the enemy might not be able to take the bait.

Therefore, it is still necessary to give them a small victory, and then give them a sharp blow.

And now, it's the little result part.

In mid-September, 1054, a village on the banks of the Volga River. This village was quite prosperous because it was located at a ferry. It is said that the "Holy Man" Vladimir once crossed the river here when he conquered the Bulgar. No one knows whether this is true or not. , everyone is just talking about wine.

It's just that the village is quite depressed now, and the war has stopped the business travelers who pass this road on weekdays.

But now the village is quite lively, full of soldiers, and now there is a 500-strong Ross army, which is composed of the prince's Norse mercenaries and farmers recruited from nearby villages.

Originally they planned to build a large number of fortifications at this ferry to better defend the sandbars and shoals in front of them, but war never waits for anyone, and it will always come at an unpredictable moment.

The blaring of the trumpet signaled the beginning of war.

"The war is on!
"The Bulgars are going to cross the Volga!"

"Quick! All armed."

The loud sound of the horn was like a sound, which made the whole camp boil. A few cavalrymen jumped on their breathless horses to convey the news of the attack, while the Ross infantry buckled their sword belts while running, picked up spear.

"Bring me my armor."

Solgier, who commanded the army, said that his subordinates helped him change his armor. Sogier put on a double-ring chain mail, which is stronger and more reliable.

On the bank of the river, the archers are constantly shooting at the enemy troops who are crossing the river, and relying on the favorable terrain to effectively avoid the possible arrows of the enemy troops. The arrows fall into the water from time to time, causing splashes of water.

Ross and North infantry stood behind the shoddy fortifications with swords and axes, and formed a solid shield wall according to the practice, waiting for the arrival of the enemy.

Every soldier knew that the Bulgar army on the opposite side was far more than their number, but the great river and favorable terrain allowed them to overcome their fear and stand in front of the enemy with their shields raised.

The trumpet sounded, and the exotic Bulgar cavalry took heavy steps. There were also many horse archers from the grassland mixed in the queue. They had already set foot on the sandbar. Flying water splashes.

Behind them are a large number of Bulgar and Ugric (Finland-Ugric) infantry, and behind them are a large number of civilian archers.

"Odin, this number is too much."

Thorgill muttered, his army could not compare with the number on the other side at all, fighting against such a huge army was nothing more than hitting eggs with stones, and he didn't want to go to Valhalla so early.

Fortunately, his mission was nothing more than a delay. If the situation was not right, he could take his subordinates to escape. The prince of Moscow didn't expect them to achieve any goals at all. Delaying the enemy was the greatest help.

"Soldiers, hold on."

Thinking of this, Sogil calmed down the soldiers with his proud loud voice. To complete the task, he had to stabilize these soldiers first.

On the opposite side of the Rus, the Bulgars charged. The prophet's knights raised their painted shields and trotted to the front of the fortifications. They easily crossed the scattered pickets and rushed to the tight front of the infantry.

Relying on their thick armor, Bulgar's heavy cavalry approached the defenders' front without any scruples, and slashed and killed them recklessly. However, the spears and swords of the army array could hardly cause any damage to these monsters in horse armor.

The horse archers mixed with the heavy cavalry also took this opportunity to shoot arrows at the Ross army formation. At this distance, every bowstring pull would harvest a life.

However, from time to time, cavalrymen could still be seen hooked off their horses by Danish long axes protruding from the shield wall, hooked into the shield wall, and then greeted frantically by swords and daggers.

Ross's archers shot arrows at the cavalry at close range. At such a distance, they could always cause damage to a part of the enemy's body that lacked defense. Even if you are wearing heavy armor, you will lose half your life if you hit it.

With their help, the offensive of the heavy cavalry was contained for a time, but as the Bulgar's archers arrived and started shooting, the Ross archers were quickly suppressed so that they could not raise their heads, and the javeliners' throwing spears quickly disappeared. up.

And then a large number of enemy infantry also stepped into the battlefield, making the fighting more intense. The knives, axes and spears kept coming and going, and the sound of metal and iron clashing was mixed with the sound of battle roars and wailing.

As the battle progressed, the disadvantage of Solgier's lack of troops gradually became apparent. Unlike an enemy who fell down and was immediately replaced by three people, on his side one died and one was missing.

In such a war of attrition, the defenders found that their strength was decreasing, the enemy was fighting more and more, and their morale was getting lower and lower.

"Damn it, it looks like..."

Of course Solgier is aware of the deterioration of the battle situation, he still has a reserve force in his hands, that is, he is training Riga's elite and his main force.

However, why did he put this force into battle?Without this force, his dominance in Riga would be overthrown within a few minutes, and his employment period was about to come, so it would not be worthwhile to invest in elites for a prince who might not renew his contract.

Soljier quietly made a gesture to the subordinate beside him, and the subordinate immediately understood, the meaning of the gesture was very simple, and he was ready to flee.

Anyway, the prince also said that he would not blame the failure, so if this is the case, he should run away as soon as possible with his vitality.

And he didn't have any psychological burden on fleeing Sogil, he was not a fanatic who wanted to go to Valhalla wholeheartedly, his days were still long, and it was not time to go to the Hall of Valor.

As for those abandoned sons and soldiers, what does it have to do with him if the peasants recruited at will and the cannon fodder pulled from the street die?

Sogil's men moved very quickly, and they fled into the dense forest in a short while, and the whole process was done very covertly, so that the fighting soldiers did not notice, and even kept a few Norse men in the rear to pretend.

But the illusion they maintained only existed for 5 minutes, and when the soldiers on the front line discovered that the generals and elites in the rear had disappeared, their morale immediately collapsed, and they immediately collapsed, and the shield wall collapsed in an instant.

The Bulgars immediately started chasing and killing. The nomadic light cavalry slashed in the sea of ​​routs, one after another felling the Rus or Norse. In the end, the head was cut off.

In this scene of defeat, Rostislav's St. George's dragon-slaying battle flag fell to the ground with the death of the flag bearer, and was trampled by pairs of steel military boots, becoming extremely dirty.

And flying above it is the fire-breathing Bulgar dragon.

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(End of this chapter)