At the end of the Tang Dynasty, it was a feudal town, but in Western Europe

"Rushing and killing is not a bad strategy, but the enemy is not yet full of energy, so let them spend a while under the city before charging and killing."

The Xingyefang was built completely according to the Wubao. The walls of the square are not only thick, but also the female wall and the archery tower. At this moment, on the high archery tower, several Frankish crossbowmen held hunting crossbows and looked nervously at the Viking army below. Although the Tang army archers beside them were also on guard, they did not feel nervous.

Rubbing the iron mace in his hand, Han Shizhong felt his blood boil for a long time, as if he was still guarding the village with a few good brothers in Liaodong, drinking muddy rice wine in turn, waiting for the attack of the Mohe tribe or the Shiwei people.

"Captain Han, the Vikings are attacking."

Hundreds of prisoners of war slaves were driven by the Vikings, howling in despair and rushing towards the wall of the square. The Vikings holding a round shield and long ax hid behind them, using these prisoners as human shields, trying to resist the attack from the city wall.

The archers of the Tang Army stood by the female wall and drew their infantry bows. On their left and right, there were Frankish crossbowmen. Vikings.

"Get ready!" Han Shizhong raised his left hand high. Both the Tang army and the Saxon soldiers tensed up, silently calculating the distance.

"put!"

"Deng deng deng"

Dozens of arrows jumped into the air like birds, making a strange sound of piercing the air, running and jumping diagonally down in the air, while the trembling bowstring made a "thump" sound.

More than a hundred feathered arrows with mixed lengths first pierced the air, then the clothes, then a layer of leather or linen, and finally the thin skin and tight flesh. With the sharp shaking of the white tail feathers, the arrows of the arrows reached their final destination - the heart.

"Dodo" held up the shield in his hand, and the Viking warriors fit closely together. From time to time, people around him fell down, so it didn't matter, just kept moving forward.

"Valhalla!!" A Viking uttered a battle cry as a signal, and more Viking warriors responded with "Oh—" and continued to charge forward frantically.

Behind this group of Vikings, there is a team of Vikings carrying battering rams. They are like the group of Vikings in Bremen. Whenever a soldier is shot to death, a new Viking warrior will put on the armor of the previous person who was shot to death, and continue to attack with the battering ram.

"Speech!" He spat a mouthful of thick phlegm on the ground. Grumson in wolf fur squinted his eyes and looked at Wubao a hundred paces away. He had an arrow stuck in his shoulder, and blood was faintly oozing out.

But so what?A coward who can only use bows and arrows and dare not fight face to face.

Two years ago, Grumson had not failed to attack the city when he invaded Wessex. The walls there were as high as three people, but what was the use?Near the bottom of the city, pour suet and butter on it, and then ignite it with turpentine, and the city wall as high as it was burned down.

It will be the same today.

------

Pay attention, this time point is the day Feng Sen met Paul.

Chapter 69 Under the Siege of Hamburg

On the fort wall, several spearmen and other melee soldiers had already stepped forward, nervously guarding the crenels, and each crenel was assigned three young men, a spearman and a crossbowman.

Every five stacks, the governor Qinyong was elected as the stack leader, but considering the language problem, each city wall was still divided into Saxon and Frank teams.

And what they used was the sharp weapon when defending the city, the crossbow, or the crossbow with a foot support. This kind of crossbow would not be introduced to Europe until the Crusaders era.

However, because Feng Sen's batch of crossbows were all shoddy goods, they were still inferior to the crossbows that could pierce chain armor in the later period, but they were already extremely powerful weapons against the Vikings who either wore leather armor or thick cloth armor similar to armed clothing.

Taking a light crossbow, Han Shizhong gently stroked the bowstring.

The crossbow of this crossbow is more than three feet long, and the crossbow arm is more than one foot long. The bowstring is still made of local cowhide and animal tendon.

Holding the bowstring with both hands, Han Shizhong stepped on the foot support to pull the crossbow into a full moon, and hung the bowstring on the bronze crossbow machine produced by the Mars Workshop.

There is an iron foot support at the front of the crossbow arm. When you want to draw the bow, you put your feet into the foot support, pull the bow string upward with both hands, and use the strength of body stretching and foot strength to prop up the crossbow.

When firing, just buckle the hanging teeth, and the mechanism will release the crossbow trigger, allowing the crossbow arrows to be fired by the crossbow.

These stepping crossbows are talking about a stone crossbow, but the kinetic energy conversion efficiency is similar to that of a 5- or 60-pound bow, but this thing is better than training. An ordinary farmer can quickly get started after a month of training. Crossbows, but a good archer needs more than ten years of training.

Feng Sen had thought about this problem when he set up the crossbowmen. In the future expansion, he will not be able to make all soldiers as elite as the soldiers of the Tang army, and he does not have the resources to make all the soldiers as elite as the Tang army. Therefore, simple, fast and easy-to-use cannon fodder must be considered.

These Frankish crossbowmen and Saxon rattan soldiers were one of his attempts.

"Turn the strings—" Amidst Han Shizhong's call, the crossbowmen wound up the strings one by one.

"put!"

The swishing sound was endless, and in an instant, the arrows flew together in front of the fort wall of Zhongyongfangwubao, and rounds of crossbow arrows fell on the heads and bodies of the Viking warriors like rain.

The rain of arrows fell on the Viking warriors as if it would not stop.

"My stomach is broken!!"

"Odin!!!"

"My head, I have an arrow in my head."

"Valhalla!"

Amidst the screams, each round of crossbow arrows could take away the lives of three or five Viking warriors, and the slaves who blocked the swords in the front row fell down in rows.

The shaking of the bowstring, the sound of feathered arrows breaking through the air, the screams and roars of the Viking warriors, the broken shields falling to the ground, and the Tang flags flying high on the fort wall.

The rust-like smell spread in the air, and the lush green field bloomed with bright red flowers, and under the sunlight, a red mist even evaporated.

"Ahhh!"

Grumson really couldn't stand such torture anymore. Instead of dying in such a despicable weapon, Grumson would rather die by the sword.

He yelled the name of Valhalla, directly slung the round shield across his shoulders, let the crossbow arrows rain like rain, ignored him at all, picked up a spear, and rushed straight towards the ditch in front of Wubao with big strides.

"Odin bless!"

He rushed to the front of the ditch, and thrust his spear deeply into the ditch. He held the end of the spear, and his heavy body jumped up lightly.

Under the weight of Grumson's body, the spear bent into a J shape. With the help of this elastic force, Grumson jumped up suddenly, and his whole body almost crossed the horse sideways.

"Valhalla!!" His battle roar contained both joy and anger!

"Hahahahaha!" Laughing bloodthirstyly, Grumson raised his round shield, blocked the crossbow arrows shot at his chest, shouted and kicked the horse away, and several Vikings with him Then he jumped over the ditch and came to a place less than twenty steps away from the city wall from the gap of Juma.

"You are dead, black-eyed people!" Grumson roared arrogantly, "Warriors, follow me, the Valkyrie's eyes are staring at us! Kill!"

"kill!!"

Led by Grumson, a small Viking group of more than 20 people squeezed in from the gap where the horses were rejected, and rushed towards the city wall. Arrows flew past their ears, but the Viking warriors who opened the gap did not feel scared at all. The encouragement from the Hall of Valor and the profits after the victory filled their brains.

Although I don't know why the rain of arrows on the city wall has become less and less, but Grumson and the others can't control that much, he only has one idea - rush to the city wall and kill them!

Twenty steps, fifteen steps, ten steps, getting closer, getting closer, and the last step, they finally came to the bottom of the fort wall.

In the strange eyes of everyone on the wall, Grumson built a ladder under the city wall, and his blood and mud-stained boots stepped on his companion's thighs and shoulders. Earl Glore's call came from his ears...

Why did Count Glore call him back?

Still in doubt, Grumson caught a glimpse of a dark shadow covering the sun out of the corner of his eye. What is that?

"Boom!"

The heavy mace slammed heavily on Grumson's head. Visible to the naked eye, Grumson's head was sunken toward the chest cavity, and plasma like a small fountain exploded everywhere on his body.

Not only him, the two companions below him were also poured into the sky by the spikes from the mace's fangs, and they made two "ho ho" sounds from their mouths, and the two companions who were standing on the feet stiffened their bodies and the Gru above their heads. Musen fell to the ground together.

Wave after wave of Viking soldiers fell in front of the ditches and city walls. Finally, the blood in the brains and bodies of these Viking soldiers gradually cooled down. They looked at the corpses and the unattainable fortress wall, and a thread in their hearts was stretched to the limit.

Signaled by the fall of that Grumson, the fear of death finally prevailed, and they receded like a tide, leaving behind more than 30 corpses.

Some were ashamed, and even ran while screaming in horror, as if the Tang soldiers could still go down the fort wall to chase them down.

Standing next to a lush beech tree, Glore couldn't believe his eyes.

Looking at the Viking warriors who fled back from the front line desperately, Glore stiffened at first, and then began to tremble a little.

He yelled and jumped down from the mound, drew out a long sword inlaid with amber, rushed into the group of rout soldiers, and cut off the head of the deserter who charged at the front with his first strike.

When the head gurgled and rolled to the feet of other Viking warriors, they gradually regained their senses, stopped, and stood aside in embarrassment and horror.

Glore locked a broken soldier's neck, raised his eyebrows, and stared wide-eyed. The two asked almost face to face: "Why are you running? Ah? Why are you running! You will never enter the Hall of Valor! Coward!"

"Count..." The soldier was caught out of breath, "the weapons that Loki gave us, the rain of arrows fell on our heads one after another, and the board full of spikes..."

"Crack." Glore snapped his neck cleanly.

"Retreat, Glore." Looking at the setting sun in the distance, the high priest Gardison found Glore, "We have lost more than 200 brave warriors. Beloved, we can't stay in one place for too long."

Glol said with a livid face, "Why don't you use flames to burn their walls?"

"Their city walls are made of mud and stones. We set fire to them twice, but they couldn't burn at all. Each time, they either extinguished themselves or were splashed with water by the soldiers above."

"Where's the battering ram?"

"They installed spiked wooden boards in the door opening, and poured hot water from the small hole above the door opening..." The Viking next to him exhaled in horror, and replied, "These despicable people actually boiled their excrement and poured it down. The brave Viking warriors were burnt to pieces, and they also poisoned the excrement. Those warriors who were scalded by the excrement basically had a high fever now."

"Despicable coward! Swineherd without eggs!" Glore gritted his teeth and said bitterly, "Forget it, since we have no chance, let's go to the surrounding villages and take away all the livestock and horses, as much as we can, and burn all those fields..."

"Your Excellency Earl Glore!" A Viking rider suddenly ran out from the rear. He passed several other Viking leaders and whispered a few words in Glore's ear. Glore was startled at first, then laughed twice, and asked, "Are you sure?"

"Exactly!"

"Earl Glore?" High Priest Gardison frowned and asked softly.

"Don't worry, High Priest, although we failed to take gold and silver from Hamburg, the messenger from Wag told me that they succeeded in plundering Bremen. Although Olaf went to Valhalla, he gained a lot .” Count Glore quickly regained his composure after getting angry.

"But we can't go yet. We have to teach that ignorant Earl of Hamburg a lesson. He and the traitor Widukind tried to frame us. If we can't teach them a lesson, who will fear us?

Just now our sentry brought me a piece of excellent news. The Earl of Hamburg abandoned the large army when he heard that the territory was attacked, and rushed back with only [-] cavalry.

Burning their fields and taking away their cattle and sheep will only make this place deserted and unable to be looted. Instead of this, it is better to use the Earl of Hamburg as a hostage to open their city gates, or use the head of the Earl of Hamburg to deter them. Only in this way will they fear us and will take the initiative to offer the gifts they deserve. "

High Priest Gardison took out the animal bone, but did not throw it down. After hesitating again and again, he bowed to Glore and saluted: "You will get the victory you want."

"Of course." Glore looked to the northwest, his expression gradually ferocious.

Chapter 70 The Elbe, on the Battle of the Bank

On the early morning of May [-]th, the sky was still dark, but a white line appeared between the sky and the earth in the distance. Soon, this white line rushed forward, and the sun and the morning glow appeared as it galloped.

The dark night still shrouded the earth like a black veil. With the sound of the golden gong, the [-] soldiers of the Jingnan Army woke up from their sleep.

A total of sixty miles from the night raid on the Viking stronghold to this ferry, plus forty miles from the camp to the Viking stronghold, a total of one hundred miles of night raids.

This kind of overnight battle, even if the man can hold on, the horse can't hold on. Just when spies were sent across the Elbe River to investigate and mobilize manpower and ships, Feng Sen and the generals of the Tang army took the opportunity to sleep.

He said he was sleeping, but in fact he only lay down for about two hours before getting up and preparing for battle.

Thanks to the existence of those hundreds of households, as local snakes and the blessing of Feng Sen's own identity, he mobilized a lot of ships, plus the Viking warships that came after the prisoners were settled, this number is definitely enough.

Lifting the animal skin blanket off his body, Feng Sen patted Fei Mane's stomach, which was pillowed behind his head. Fei Mane flapped his long horse ears, shook the grass leaves on the mane, and stood up.

Soon, Chief Iopa and Saxon Hundred Dick came down from the boat.

"My lord, go this way." Iopa bowed to Feng Sen and saluted.

Following Iopa, more than 400 soldiers from the Relief Army and Saxon soldiers boarded the boats used to cross the river. The water of the Elbe River was fast and deep, and most of their boats were rafts and fishing boats, which were only enough to transport more than a hundred people at a time.

Feng Sen and several leading lieutenants stood on the side of the ship to watch the situation on the shore, and by the way ordered his subordinates to prepare fortifications to deal with possible situations.

About a quarter of an hour later, the vanguard troops were all ready on the small boat, and then the sound of oars paddling water was heard, and the small boat went downstream and disappeared in the vast mist.

Soon, the first batch of vanguard troops disembarked. At this time, more than 100 militiamen from hundreds of nearby households were standing by the river bank, waiting for the arrival of the Jingnan Army.

Soldiers of the Jingnan Army drew spears and long axes from the horses, tied them to branches, and made simple horses. With the help of the militiamen, they built a simple fortification by the river.

In the confused mist on the river surface, the small boats transported the troops of the Tang army back and forth. Everyone was extremely nervous. After all, it was a battle across the river. Once the enemy found out and blocked the river, the soldiers who crossed the river were almost in mortal danger. environment.

Another half an hour later, the second and third batches of troops arrived one after another. Everyone arranged their positions according to the plan, and then waited for the arrival of the fourth batch of vanguard troops.

Finally, the fourth batch of troops also arrived at the shore, and Feng Sen got off the boat on Fei Mane. Looking at the dark field, he breathed a sigh of relief.

In fact, his operation of crossing the river was an extremely risky one. You must know that his soldiers were probably no match for the Vikings in terms of fighting on board.

But judging from the current situation, Feng Sen made the right bet this time.

At this time, the sky was getting brighter, and a ray of sunlight pierced through the layers of clouds and projected on the river surface, sprinkled gold leaf on the black cloud-like river surface.

Suddenly, there was a slight "crash" sound from the river, and a ferocious dragon head appeared in everyone's sight. It was painted with red dye, staring at blue eyes, and opened its mouth like a roar.

Viking's dragon bow boat appeared on the river, Feng Sen's face changed slightly, and behind it, dense red and white long sails appeared in everyone's sight. The water power, wind power, and manpower for paddling made it extremely fast, as if it was flying and hit the ship that transported the soldiers before.

Amidst the cracking of wood and the screams of sailors and fishermen, a dozen Viking longships lay across the river to block Feng Sen's retreat.

At the same time, the sunlight finally pierced through the darkness, and countless chaotic footsteps sounded. On the edge of the wilderness, a group of ferocious Viking warriors appeared, and they roared greedily.

"How many people?" Feng Sen asked the scouts running back.

"More than 500 people." The scout replied.

Feng Sen looked back at the Jingnan Army that was still preparing, and then calculated the speed and number of the enemy army: "It's troublesome."

With the fleet behind and the Viking troops facing the front, Feng Sen was almost surrounded. Thanks to the chaotic march of the Vikings, and Feng Sen's speed across the river was really fast, otherwise, once surrounded by three sides, even if he could escape , This group of elite cavalry has to account for two-thirds.

He had been slack in his long victories all along, and Feng Sen was secretly vigilant.