Chapter 209 Ross’s Power

At the same time that the Pecheneg chiefs made the decision to attack, on the other side, the Russian cavalry led by Rostislav and Sviatoslav had already charged into the horse archers.

It was Rostislav's idea to attack, and the reason why Prince Moscow chose to attack was very simple:

Under the attack of archers and crossbowmen, the Pecheneg horse archers who besieged them became weaker and weaker, and ran farther and farther away from them.

Most of the energy is focused on preventing being shot rather than shooting. For a while, the enemy's projectile rate is greatly reduced, and their projectiles are basically used up.

Facing the arrows and crossbows of the Russians, the Pechenegs were really powerless to the extreme.

Their poor armor could not stop the powerful Russian bows and crossbows. Whenever the Russian bowstrings sounded, they would lose a large number of their compatriots, who were killed as if they were being slaughtered.

Seeing this scene, Rostislav couldn't help but feel ridiculous. He had never encountered such weaklings when fighting with the Polotsk people. They flinched after being shot for a while. Looking at this, they really deserved to be driven to the west.

So the Prince of Moscow decided to take action. Again, if you don't pinch such a soft persimmon, are you still a human being?

And Svyatoslav also saw all this in his eyes, and he had the same idea, so at this moment, these two people who always looked at each other with their own hidden agendas now reached a unified opinion.

Izyaslav and Vsevolod also agreed with their offensive. They did not want to continue to be passively beaten here. They needed an opportunity to reverse the situation, and a cavalry assault was the best opportunity.

So the teams of the two Russian princes fought out fiercely, and the Pechenegs who watched the Russians fight out were stunned for a moment, and then rushed forward like ecstasy. They seemed to be victorious in the cavalry battle, but

Then it was discovered that they were wrong, and very wrong.

Whether they are the princes of Moscow or the princes of Checheng, their teams are not the poor infantry that the herdsmen think of as those who do not know how to ride but fight on horseback. They can only perform various farces on horses, but they are people who are truly proficient in mounted combat.

After the nomadic cavalry rushes in, they subconsciously want to cut off the opponent's horse's reins. This is the fastest way to make the opponent lose their combat effectiveness in a mounted battle, because the rider who loses the reins as a point of strength will immediately lose his balance on the horse.

But it was a pity that the Ross riders they faced dexterously protected their reins, and then took advantage of the situation to either cut off the reins on the other side, or directly attack them head-on.

However, more people were directly pierced by the spears. No matter what kind of armor, they could not withstand such a powerful blow, and many Ross riders also stabbed their spears into the enemy's throat accurately.

Mieszko's spear skills are the most powerful among the many warriors under Rostislav. He can whip his opponent on horseback until he can't turn around. No matter who faces this Polish knight, he will die.

As for the other Rus' people, the horse-mounted fighting skills they displayed were extremely professional. It was obvious that they could only be accomplished by those who had gone through long-term professional training and combat. This was completely different from the rookies expected by the Pechenegs.

It is difficult for inferior iron to compete with real gold. The Pechenegs were too powerless to face the Russians, and they seemed to be slaughtered.

What's even worse is what's behind. It turns out that with the time and space gained by the cavalry, Ross's soldiers and servants formed a complete battle line, held their shields and weapons high, and then began to move forward in an orderly manner.

This undoubtedly squeezed the Pechenegs' battle line. All those who dared to run into the shield wall were either dragged off their horses and hacked to death, or were driven and forced to retreat.

Moreover, rounds of arrows were fired from behind the shield wall, and the Pechenegs were constantly turned upside down under the rain of arrows.

Facing the fighting cavalry and the advancing shield wall, the Pechenegs became frightened and began to flee without looking back.

It had been a long time since they had experienced such a fierce battle, and the Russians in iron clothes made them extremely frightened.

The collapse of his tribe members caught Tatus off guard. He did not expect that these people collapsed so quickly. They should have been able to hold on for a while longer.

But it doesn't matter now, because Tatus has brought the elite of Pecheneg, and behind the chiefs are warriors from various tribes.

Although some people chose to retreat because of the collapse of the brigade, the remaining people were enough, and these people still followed. From the perspective of the followers, it was already at this time anyway, so it was better to fight. Such a team was enough to crush those Russians.

of!

"Aha, finally there are some opponents worthy of fighting."

Rostislav, who cut off the heads of the herdsmen in front of him and let his blood stain him, looked at the menacing Pecheneg elites, with a look of joy on his face.

Behind Rostislav, his personal captain was killing a herdsman who was trying to attack him, while Jan and Meshko were teaming up to fight among the enemy. Faced with such a fight, both of them were very comfortable.

, after all, the fighting strength of the Pechenegs is really weak.

These Pechenegs were so weak that he was a little disgusted, and now he needed some strong enemies to adjust his mood.

Rostislav made a gesture to his second uncle who was fighting on the other side, and his second uncle also understood it. Both of them shouted with their loud voices trained on the battlefield, ordering the scattered troops to assemble.

There is going to be a fierce riding battle next, so don't get ready.

Under the roar of the two men, the cavalry gathered around the leader. After a brief reorganization, the two men led the team to attack. The Pechenegs were approaching! And they were full of determination to fight to the death.

The Pechenegs understood that if they could not get rid of the Russians, then their fight today would really be in vain, and everything would become a wedding dress.

Arrows were constantly exchanged in the air, and what followed the arrows were screams one after another. Then countless armored and iron horses began to collide, and the sounds of men and horses turning over and the sounds of fighting sounded at the same time.

Perhaps it was God's favor that Rostislav directly collided with Tatus, but Tatus's combat effectiveness was far less powerful than his ambition.

Before his scimitar could strike Rostislav, he was stabbed through the throat by Rostislav.

Blood was constantly gushing out. Tatus raised his hands feebly, trying to cover the blood, but there was no way he could cover it.

He felt a little illusory. He obviously had so many dreams, so why did he die like this? But death is death. This is an ironclad fact.

This ambitious Pecheneg died like this, and when he died, Rostislav did not know his identity at all, and just regarded the death of an ordinary steppe nobleman.

Then he flicked the gun, and the corpse fell down, and the Prince of Moscow also pulled out his spear.

Then the prince rushed to fight elsewhere, and the Pechenegs soon began to rout. Rostislav didn't know who he killed, but the Pechenegs saw who he killed, and the commander was dead.

Do they still have the will to fight? They have to run away in a hurry.

At this moment, whether they were Tatus' cronies or the tribes he invited, they all collapsed. Tatus' death was only part of the story. More importantly, they found that the fighting power of the Ross people was much stronger than expected.

The Pechenegs quickly disappeared. After all, the leaders who led them were dead. So in the midst of the commotion and with countless torches, the attackers left as quickly as they arrived.

The Russians did not pursue them either. Rostislav thought that it was too dangerous to pursue the enemy in the dark, and his second uncle also agreed with this view.

The two generals commanding the cavalry had made such a decision, so naturally the infantry commanded by the uncle and the third uncle would not pursue them.

The Russians did not lower their vigilance because of the enemy's retreat. They maintained a fighting state until the sun rose again and sent a large number of cavalry to confirm that the enemy had retreated. Only then did everyone lift their fighting state.

The Pechenegs left corpses on the ground. The corpses of men and horses were piled together like this, and the smell of rust rushed straight into everyone's nose.

It was a pity that there were too few trophies to be collected, and all the nomads died in poverty. As for the few nobles with armors, their armors were basically trampled to pieces by the busy crowd after their deaths.

But even so, there are still many soldiers digging around in the pile of corpses. If you are willing, you can always pull out good things.

There were also many military servants who were ordered to cut off the meat from the horses, which could be used to make prairie horse meat.

Although that thing is extremely smelly, we don’t know when we will be able to find the supplies, so we must start collecting supplies as soon as possible.

At the same time, there are people who specialize in collecting projectiles such as arrows and spears on the battlefield. These items are also very precious and must be collected carefully. Those of good quality may even be put into the prince's quiver. Good projectiles are not cheap.

While the soldiers were busy, the merchants were collecting the corpses and inspecting the damage to the goods. Many of them ran around before, causing them to suffer the most losses in this attack. Even part of the goods was set on fire.

Although it is a very small part, it still makes them heartbroken. Businessmen are like this. Every loss can make them heartbroken.

The leaders of the Ross army are waiting. Of course, they don't have to rummage through the pile of corpses like ordinary soldiers, or pull out arrows from the baffle, they just need to wait.

"Damn it, I remember that this bastard even called me brothers and promised that he would always be a friend of the Russians. It would be okay to pass through Wallachia. But this bastard who talks about friendship came to attack us last night."

The uncle kicked the corpse of Chief Pecheneg in front of him, directly driving his eyeballs into his skull.

But Ijaslav still didn't feel relieved, and continued to kick a few more times until the corpse's face was completely bloody.

"Fortunately, the Pechenegs are much weaker than the era of our ancestors. It seems that they have lived a very comfortable life during this time. No wonder they were driven here by the Polotsk people."

The third uncle looked at the armor of those nomadic chiefs. Even if the armor was intact, it was not very good. The rust spots on it were clearly visible, which showed the current embarrassment of these Pecheneg people.

"Except for those merchants who were running around, we didn't have many people killed this time, but the consumption of arrows and armor was very serious. Many people's chainmails needed to be rewoven, and the armor plates that pierced the scales also needed to be replaced. God, my men broke some horses, I have to find someone to make a list."

The second uncle's face looked ugly. The consumption of supplies was really overwhelming. This was the first time he had encountered such a huge consumption.

However, such a huge consumption is inevitable. After all, what the Russians didn't know was that the number of Pechenegs who attacked them reached 5,000, so many projectiles came like an overwhelming force, and so many people were shot into a sieve.

And this also made Izyaslav's face even more ugly. He was already a stingy person - of course, he was generous to his family - but he faced such a situation.

"It was a true Pyrrhic victory - although we didn't lose many people - but the loss of these supplies is very upsetting."

The third uncle's face is also quite gloomy, which is really hard to accept.

Of course, in the eyes of losers and even many winners, their troubles are really full.

But who knows how to achieve such a result? After being happy that the elites did not suffer any losses, they complained about the loss of equipment.

The number of Russian casualties was only a hundred, most of which were caused by the running businessmen.

Moreover, the injuries of the injured are generally not serious, because wounds caused by arrows are actually easy to treat.

As for those wounds caused in close combat, the injured basically have armor, which is enough to block most of the damage.

"I think we should attack the Pecheneg tribe. We can't let it go like this. We can also make up for the losses by looting their cattle, sheep and property. Your uncles have all seen the Pecheneg people's victory and defeat, and they also exchanged favors with each other. If you disobey orders, your strength will be dispersed and you will win against the weak."

Seeing this, Rostislav immediately made his suggestion. His face was burning with fighting spirit. The fierce battle last night made him see the weakness of the Pechenegs. It would be shameful for him not to take advantage of this.

The Prince of Moscow still remembered how his men defeated the Pechenegs like chopping melons and vegetables. The elite combat power of this group of people was so weak, let alone others.

Moreover, they were still scattered, and Rostislav still clearly remembered how he saw from a distance how the Pechenegs had conflicts and how they went their separate ways.

"I agree with Rostislav's proposal."

The second uncle agreed. He and Rostislav had experienced the fighting power of the Pechenegs.

"Let me think about the time. Last time that guy Bella said he was going to convene the Hungarian national representatives... Well, we still have a lot of time, so let's kill these bastards to get some blood back."

Ijaslav gritted his teeth and said, "This must come back to its roots. Damn it, do these Pechenegs bastards think that they will be finished if they run away? No way."

"That's fine, let us recreate the story in "The Expedition". We will definitely achieve greater achievements than the Greeks did."

Vsevolod continued to cite allusions, this time using the example of the Expedition, a book Rostislav had read about a group of Greek mercenaries traveling through the Persian Empire after the death of their Persian employer.

The story of overcoming obstacles and returning to Greece.
To be continued...