In the midst of Vasiliko's shouting, Grigory hurriedly lay down next to the battlement. The moment he lowered his head, a huge stone hit the spot where he was standing just now.
"Huh, it's so dangerous."
Gregor looked at the battlement that had been smashed into a large piece, his tone full of joy of surviving the disaster.
Although such a scene appeared, the soldiers near Grigorie still stood on the battlements and fired, going back and forth 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 a huge boulder will hit the battlements directly. These soldiers who have been under siege for a long time all know that the most important thing now is to release arrows quickly to suppress the enemies below.
"Gregory, let me come and see you. Oh, you are fine. Nothing is wrong. This is great."
Vasilko walked to his brother-in-law, pulled him up and patted the dust on his body. Seeing that nothing happened to him, joy appeared on his face.
"Ah, I'm so unlucky that something like this happens as soon as I get to the battlefield."
Grigory recalled the scene between the lightning and flints just now, and couldn't help feeling afraid. If Vasilko had shouted a little later, he would have really turned into a bloody mess.
"This is a battlefield. No one knows what will happen next moment."
Just as Vasiliko was saying this, an arrow suddenly shot from under the city wall and hit his shoulder. The captain of the Varangian Guard calmly pulled out the arrow fastened to his mail.
, hold the arrow in front of your eyes.
The arrow was rusty in color, with some yellow-green liquid on it. Seeing this, Vasiliko "tsk" in disdain, but still leaned his head behind the battlement, blocking all his body behind it, so as not to reveal any traces.
.
"When moving on the city wall, you must take adequate protection. Wear inner and outer armor as needed. You have also seen this arrow. It is made of rust and poison. If I didn't wear armor, I would be scratched by this arrow.
Skin, then my life will be doomed."
"This poisonous arrow... I remembered that I once saw an emperor record that our fellow villagers like to use poisonous arrows."
Grigory recalled a record he saw in the library when he was still studying at Vladimir Academy. He was still surprised that neither Rus nor Poland had any tribes that were famous for using poisonous arrows.
And now facing these Serbs, he also remembered the answer he got from his teacher at that time. Slavs in the imperial context often refer to South Slavs like Serbos and Croats.
"I have seen people hit by such poisonous arrows." When mentioning the poisonous arrows, Vasiliko's eyes dimmed a lot. "The person hit by the arrow won't feel anything strange at first, but after about two or three days, he will start to have crazy vomiting and diarrhea.
, then he became weak and finally died in his own feces."
Vasiliko's tone was calm and cold, as if this was such a common thing - but this was indeed a common thing for him. Since the arrival of Boldin's army, this has happened from time to time.
What an unlucky guy.
"Okay, my brother-in-law, let's go down. We don't have to stay here any longer."
When he saw his brother-in-law, his expression was a little pale. Indeed, the deterrent effect of this method of death was indeed very strong. Many people could accept dying on the battlefield, but dying in feces? That was ridiculous.
"Don't you want to continue looking?"
Although Grigory was very afraid of such a way of death, he still persisted and said that he did not want his uncle to give up his mission to take care of him.
"That's enough. Today is just another daily siege. Don't take it too seriously. We just need to hold on like the defenders of Troy. We can deal with it how we usually deal with it."
Vasiliko jumped into the city tower in one fell swoop. Upon seeing this, Grigory immediately followed him. He was relieved in his heart, and he was overjoyed to leave the dangerous city wall.
Grigory was sent to test by Rostislav. The Grand Duke of Russia wanted his son-in-law to go to a real battlefield to see it. This young man was too young and had not been able to go to many battles, so the Grand Duke of Russia wanted to
To make up for this shortcoming of his, what he needs is a son-in-law who can serve as a qualified general, not a love interest in the court.
So where is the real battlefield within Ross's sphere of influence? The only one is the battle for Thessaloniki, where the Varangian Guard is currently located.
Koseniya and Zoe had very different opinions about Rostislav sending his son-in-law to such a dangerous battlefield. Koseniya simply felt sorry for her husband, but as for Zoe, she was guilty of PTSD and she would never forget it.
But Rostislav threw his sons into the fire pit, and now he does this to his son-in-law, which almost made Zoe explode.
However, despite the support of his wife and mother-in-law, it was impossible for Grigory to say no to Rostislav. If he said no, then he would be either a pretty boy or a pretty boy. All his previous efforts would fall apart, and he would be a complete loser from now on.
Such a reputation binds.
So he came anyway, and at the same time he came with a thousand Russians. These were mercenaries recruited by Rostislav in the country - but he only said so on the surface. In fact, these people were recruited by Rostislav from him.
A group of volunteers recruited from among the vassals with huge sums of money.
After all, Rostislav was still worried about his son, so he asked his son-in-law to send such a real elite team of Rus, and at the same time, he also sent his son-in-law there for testing.
In Rostislav's words, this is gold plating, but it is real gold plating. If you die during the real gold plating process, it only means that you are really useless.
Grigory's team arrived in Thessaloniki smoothly. As a port city, it was not easy for them to enter. The coalition of Paulists and Serbs simply could not block the sea. Materials and manpower could.
A steady stream of food was delivered to the city.
But this does not mean that the defense work in the city is easy. As far as Gregor knows, in fact, in the past sieges, the city wall was blown down/collapsed due to excavation, and these three times were all relying on Valan
Ji's bloody battle blocked the gap and persisted until a new temporary wall was built.
Although the Varangian Guards had such achievements, they suffered huge losses as a price. When the Guards came to Thessaloniki, there were four thousand people, but now there are only two thousand people, and the losses have been more than half.
Although the Varangian Guard has the best pay and the highest commissions in the entire empire, it also carries the highest risks. This unit often has to fight in the most dangerous places, and its turnover rate has always been high.
The turnover rate is composed of two parts. One is battlefield losses, or death, or being captured, and the other is retirement. Due to the high commission of this unit and the huge bonus after the bloody battle, every battle
After the end, hundreds and hundreds of people retired.
But then again, it is precisely because so many people have resigned that Ross has never encountered any difficulties in raising troops for Varangi over the years. Nothing can encourage them more than an example - of course,
Most of those role models won’t say how much is lost in this process.
The arrival of Grigory boosted the morale of the city. The Varangians felt that victory was inevitable because of the grand duke's son-in-law. Rostislav even sent his son-in-law, so victory was certain.
As for the Greeks, they were simply happy for the arrival of the reinforcements. During this period, there were between 50,000 and 70,000 people crowded under the city of Thessaloniki. The pressure on the city was naturally self-evident, so they were very concerned about the reinforcements.
It is a great joy to arrive.
The next step was that Grigory was patrolled on the city wall by Vasilikora. This patrol was full of dangers. It seemed that people outside the city knew that a big shot was coming today, so the offensive was very fierce.
No one is surprised by this. The war has reached this point. It is strange that there are no traitors behind the city walls. Didn't you see that many people were hanged just a few days ago?
For Grigory, this experience was truly unforgettable. It was the first time for him to see a battlefield of this scale. Needless to say, it was a shock to him, but he did not stretch his hips during the whole process.
It made Vasiliko very satisfied.
But for Grigory, his test in Thessaloniki has just begun, and the siege is still going on...