While things were happening in the wilderness of Suzdal, on the other side, the Bulgar Army had arrived at the Volga River.
To go to Kashin, one must cross the upper reaches of the Volga River, which is the last difficult hurdle for the Bulgar Army to reach Kashin, and there must be Russian army blocking the way here.
Rostislav had naturally set up defenses here; although he had decided to abandon Kashin, if he abandoned it so readily, the enemy might not fall for it.
So, he still had to give them a small victory, and then a fierce blow.
And now, that is the small victory part.
In mid-September 1054, in a village on the banks of the Volga River, this village was usually quite prosperous due to being at a ferry crossing; it is said that "Saint" Vladimir crossed the river here when he campaigned against Bulgar, but whether this is true or false is unknown, and everyone only treats it as a topic for conversation over drinks.
However, the village is quite desolate now; the war has caused merchants and travelers who usually pass through this road to stop their movements.
But now, this village is quite lively, filled with soldiers; there is now a Russian army of 500 men stationed here, composed of the Prince's Norse mercenaries and farmers conscripted from nearby villages and communities.
Originally, they planned to construct a large number of fortifications at this crossing to better defend the sandbar and shoals in front of them, but war never waits for anyone; it always comes at an unpredictable moment.
The loud blast of the horn was the signal for the war to begin.
"The war has begun!
"The Bulgars are going to cross the Volga River!"
"Quick! Arm yourselves."
The loud blast of the horn, like a ringing sound, made the entire camp boil; the few cavalrymen leaped onto their snorting warhorses and went to relay the message of the attack, while the Russian infantry buckled on their sword belts and picked up their long spears as they ran.
"Bring me my armor."
Sogier, who commanded the army, said, and his subordinates helped him put on his armor; Sogier put on a double-ringed chainmail, a type of chainmail with a more robust and reliable weave.
On the riverbank, archers were continuously shooting at the enemy crossing the river, and effectively avoiding possible enemy arrows by relying on favorable terrain; arrows occasionally fell into the water, stirring up splashes.
Russian and Norse infantry stood ready behind crude fortifications, holding swords and axes, forming a solid shield wall as usual, waiting for the enemy to arrive.
Every soldier knew that the Bulgar Army opposite them far outnumbered them, but the great river and the terrain helped them overcome their fear, and they stood with their shields raised in front of the enemy.
Trumpets blared, and exotic Bulgar cavalry advanced with heavy steps; mixed in their ranks were many horse archers from the steppe, and they had already stepped onto the sandbar; they would reach the other bank as soon as they crossed the shoals in front of them, their warhorses splashing water.
Behind them were large numbers of Bulgar and Ugric (Finno-Ugric) infantry, and further back were numerous cloth-clad archers.
"Odin, there are too many of them."
Sogier muttered; the number of his army was simply incomparable to that on the opposite bank; confronting such a large army was like throwing a stone at an egg, and he did not want to go to Valhalla so soon.
Fortunately, his mission was merely to delay; if the situation turned unfavorable, he could take his subordinates and slip away; the Moscow Prince had never expected them to achieve any particular goal; holding back the enemy was the greatest help.
"Soldiers, hold steady."
Thinking of this, Sogier used his proud loud voice to calm the soldiers' emotions; to complete the mission, he had to first stabilize these soldiers.
Opposite the Russians, the Bulgars launched a charge; the Prophet's knights, raising their painted shields, trotted to the front of the fortifications; they easily crossed the scattered sharpened stakes and rushed to the dense battle line of the infantry.
The Bulgar heavy cavalry, relying on their thick armor, approached the defenders' line without hesitation, slashing and killing indiscriminately within it, while the spears and swords of the army formation could hardly cause any damage to these armored monsters of men and horses.
The horse archers mixed among the heavy cavalry also took this opportunity to shoot arrows into the Russian army formation; at this distance, every pull of the bowstring would claim a life.
However, every now and then, cavalrymen could still be seen being hooked off their warhorses by Danish axes extending from the shield wall, dragged inside the shield wall, and then frantically attacked with swords, daggers, and knives.
Russian archers shot arrows at the cavalry at close range; at such a distance, they could always cause damage to some undefended part of the enemy's body, and javelin throwers hurled javelins into the Bulgars, and even those wearing heavy armor would lose half their lives if hit by a javelin.
With their help, the heavy cavalry's offensive was once suppressed, but as the Bulgar archers took position and began shooting, the Russian archers were quickly suppressed and could not raise their heads, and the javelin throwers quickly ran out of javelins.
And then, a large number of enemy infantry also entered the battlefield, making the fighting more intense; swords, axes, and spears constantly clashed, and the sounds of metal on metal mixed with battle cries and wails.
As the battle progressed, Sogier's disadvantage of insufficient troops gradually became apparent; unlike the enemy, where one fell and three immediately replaced him, here, one died and one was lost.
In such a war of attrition, the defenders found their forces dwindling, the enemy growing stronger, and their morale becoming increasingly low.
"Damn it, it seems I have to…"
Sogier, of course, realized the deterioration of the battle; he still had reserve forces on hand, which were the elites he trained in Riga and his main force.
However, why should he commit this force to battle? If he lost this force, his ruling position in Riga would be overthrown in minutes, and his employment period was about to end; it was not worth sacrificing his elites for a Prince who might not renew his contract.
Sogier quietly made a gesture to his subordinate beside him, and that subordinate immediately understood; the meaning of the gesture was simple: prepare to slip away.
Anyway, the Prince had said he would not blame failure, so given that, he might as well take his living forces and flee as soon as possible.
As for fleeing, Sogier had no psychological burden; he was not a fanatic who single-mindedly wanted to go to Valhalla; his life was still long, and it was not yet time to go to the Hall of the Slain.
As for those who were abandoned and the soldiers, what did it matter to him if these casually conscripted peasants and cannon fodder pulled from the streets all died?
Sogier's men moved quickly; in a short while, they escaped into the dense forest, and the entire process was done very discreetly, without the fighting soldiers noticing; they even left a few Norsemen to cover their retreat.
But their maintained illusion only lasted for five minutes, and when the soldiers on the front line discovered that their generals and elites in the rear had disappeared, morale immediately collapsed, and they immediately scattered, the shield wall crumbling in an instant.
The Bulgars immediately began a pursuit; nomadic light cavalry slashed through the sea of routed soldiers, cutting down one Russian or Norseman after another; some soldiers clawed at the ground, trying to escape this terrifying battlefield, but their ultimate fate was to have their heads cut off.
Amidst this scene of defeat, Rostislav's saint george slaying the dragon battle flag fell to the ground with the death of the standard-bearer, trampled by iron-shod boots, becoming incredibly dirty.
And above it, flying, was the fire-breathing Bulgar Dragon.
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