king of ros

Chapter 527 Siege Trial
"Get down!"

Amid Vasiliko's shouts, Gregory quickly lay down beside the battlements, and the moment he lowered his head, a huge boulder hit the place where he was standing just now.

"Huh, it's so dangerous."

Gregory looked at the battlement that had been smashed into pieces, and his tone was full of joy for the rest of his life.

Although such a scene appeared, the soldiers near Gregory still stood on the edge of the battlements and fired, and they came and went with the enemies under the city wall, trying to suppress the enemy's advance as much as possible.

It is only a small chance that the boulder directly hits the battlements. These soldiers who have survived the siege for a long time know that the most important thing now is to quickly release the arrows and suppress the enemies below.

"Gregory, let me come and see you, oh, you're all right, nothing is wrong, that's really good."

Vasilko walked up to his brother-in-law, pulled him up and patted the dust on his body, seeing that he was fine, joy appeared on his face.

"Ah, I'm so unlucky that this kind of thing happens as soon as I come to the battlefield."

Gregorie recalled the scene between the lightning and the flint just now, and couldn't help but feel a little bit of fear in his heart. If Vasiliko shouted a little later, then he would really turn into a pool of bloody debris.

"This is the battlefield, no one knows what will happen next moment."

Just as Vasilico was saying this, suddenly an arrow shot from under the city wall and hit him on the shoulder. The captain of the Varangian guard calmly pulled out the arrow that was buckled on the mail armor. , hold that arrow before your eyes.

The arrow was rust-colored, and there was still some yellow-green liquid on it. Seeing this, Vasilko gave a disdainful "tsk", but he still leaned his head behind the battlements, blocking his whole body behind it, without showing any traces .

"When moving on the city wall, you must take adequate protection. You can wear the inner armor and the outer armor. You have also seen this arrow. It is rusty and poisonous. If I don't wear armor, I will be scratched by the arrow. skin, then my life will be finished."

"This poisonous arrow... I remembered it. I once saw an emperor record that our fellow countrymen like to use poisonous arrows."

Gregory recalled a record he saw in the library when he was still studying at the Vladimir Academy. He was still wondering that there were no tribes known for using poisonous arrows in Russia and Poland.

Now facing these Serbs, he also remembered the answer he got from his teacher at that time. The Slavs in the context of the empire often refer to Yugoslavs like Serbia and Croatia.

"I've seen people who were hit by this kind of poisonous arrow." Speaking of the poisonous arrow, Vasilico's eyes dimmed a lot, "Those who got hit by the arrow didn't feel anything unusual at first, but after two or three days, they would start to vomit like crazy. , and then became exhausted, and finally died in his own feces."

Vasilico's tone was flat and cold, as if this was a common thing - but it was indeed a common thing for him, since Bordin's army arrived, it would happen from time to time It's unlucky.

"Okay, my brother-in-law, let's go down, we don't need to stay here any longer."

He looked pale when he saw his brother-in-law. Indeed, this method of death is indeed very deterrent. Many people can accept that they die on the battlefield, but die in feces?That would be ridiculous.

"Don't you want to continue watching?"

Although Gregory was terrified of such a death, he still insisted that he didn't want his uncle to give up the mission just to take care of him.

"It's almost the same. Today is just another daily siege. Don't pay too much attention. We just need to stick to it like the defenders of Troy. We can deal with it as we usually do."

Vasilko jumped into the city tower in one fell swoop, and Gregory immediately followed after seeing this. His heart was relieved, and he rejoiced to leave the dangerous city wall.

Gregory was sent by Rostislav to test him. Grand Duke Ross wanted his son-in-law to go to the real battlefield to see him. This young man was too young to go to many battles, so Grand Duke Ross wanted to To make up for his shortcoming, what he needs is a son-in-law who can fight as a qualified general, not a little face in the court.

So where is the real battlefield within Rose's sphere of influence?Then there is only the battle for Thessaloniki, where the Varangian Guard is currently located.

Regarding Rostislav sending his son-in-law to such a dangerous battlefield, Kosenia and Zoe have a lot of opinions. Kosenia simply loves her husband, and Zoe committed ptsd, and she will never forget it. But Rostislav threw his sons into the fire pit, and now he is doing the same to his son-in-law, which almost made Zoe explode.

However, although he has the support of his wife and mother-in-law, it is impossible for Gregory to say no to Rostislav. If he says no, then he is not just a bad boy, but also a bad boy. Such a reputation is bound.

So he came anyway, bringing with him a thousand Rus, the mercenaries Rostislav had summoned in the country—but it was only on the surface, in fact, this group of people was Rostislav from him. A group of volunteers recruited by the vassals with a lot of money.

After all, Rostislav was still worried about his son, so he asked his son-in-law to send such a real Rus elite team, and at the same time sent his son-in-law there for trials.

In Rostislav's words, this is gold plating, but if it is real gold plating, if you die during the process of real gold plating, it can only mean that you are really useless.

Gregory's team arrived in Thessaloniki very smoothly. As a port city, it was really not easy for them to enter. The coalition forces of the Paul faction and the Serbs were unable to block the sea at all. Materials and manpower could It was sent to the city in a steady stream.

But this does not mean that the defense work in the city is easy. As far as Gregory knows, in fact, in the past siege, the city wall was bombed/collapsed three times due to excavation, and these three times were by Varan It was Ji's bloody battle that blocked the gap and persisted until a new temporary city wall was built.

Although the Varangian guards have such achievements, their losses are also huge as a price. When the guards came to Thessaloniki, there were 4000 people, but now it is [-], and the loss has already exceeded half.

Although the Varangian Guard has the best treatment and the highest commission in the entire empire, it also has the highest risk. This army often has to fight in the most dangerous places, and its turnover rate has always been high.

The turnover rate consists of two parts, one is battlefield losses, or being killed in battle, or being a prisoner, and the other is retirement. Due to the high commission of this army and the huge bonuses that will be given after bloody battles, every battle After the end, hundreds of people retired.

But then again, it is precisely because so many people have left their posts that Ross has not encountered any difficulties in raising troops for Varange over the years. Nothing can inspire them more than an example-of course, Most of those role models will not say how much is lost in this process.

Gregory's arrival boosted the morale of the city, and the Varangians felt that victory was inevitable because of the grand duke's son-in-law. Rostislav sent his son-in-law here, and victory was certain.

As for the Greeks, they were simply delighted by the arrival of the reinforcements. During this period of time, there were 7 to [-] people crowded under the city of Thessaloniki, and the pressure on the city was self-evident. It is a joy to come.

And the next thing was that Gregory was pulled by Vasily Kola to patrol the city wall. This patrol was full of dangers. The outside of the city seemed to know that a big man was coming today, so the offensive was very fierce.

No one was surprised by this, the battle has been fought to this point, it is strange that there are no traitors behind the city wall, did not see how many people were hanged a few days ago.

For Gregory, this experience was indeed a deep memory. It was the first time he had seen a battlefield of this scale. Needless to say, he was shocked, but he did not pull his hips much during the whole process. It made Vasiliko very satisfied.

But for Gregory, his test in Thessaloniki has just begun, and the siege is still going on...

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(End of this chapter)