Rise of Rurik

"The Rise of Rurik (

The Danes can build a hegemony by virtue of their population advantage, but in Rurik’s impression, Denmark is only a small power.

The Ross people have a bright future, and it is natural that they are not easy to provoke them rashly now.

Rurik noticed Carl's frustration, his frustration mixed with rage and powerlessness.

Listening to these noble guys, the defeat of the Swedish army was purely due to the crushing of the opponent's strength.

This is like the Russ crushing the Gotland Army.

However, Rurik was not sympathetic to their failure.

"Carl, our army did not win in the conquest of the South. But we did not really lose. You see, our Swedish coalition forces still occupied Gotland, and the betrayal traitors on the island were all cleaned up by us."

Carl raised his head after Rurik's imaginary and conspiracy, and there was light in his eyes.

"Yes! I just didn't have a total victory. At least on this battlefield, our Swedish army won." When he said this, Karl had already had the idea of ​​occupying Gotland.

Taking into account the current situation, the island is occupied by the Rus, and they have asked for it as a king. They will definitely not give it. If you want to get Gotland, you have to pay for it.

Carl watched the changes, but he didn't expect the Ross people to hand them a big gift.

Rurik is the most powerful person in the Ross tribe. He followed his previous words and said: "The Gotlanders were almost wiped out. Some people who had not been killed fled to the southern pine forest. They had nothing. No threat. We Ross people don't like this island, and we will leave soon. Who is the master of Gotland in the end?"

Carl heard it without even thinking, so he patted his chest: "I am the king, and I declare Gotland to be mine."

"Yes! You are the king, but..." After speaking, Rurik noticed the trembling eyes of the dukes. "After all, the island of Gotland was shot down by our Ross people. This is a treasure, we Ross people. If you don’t want it, the allies of the kingdom should share."

After all, Rylikon started: "Gotland is the wealth of all of us. It is not the private property of a certain tribe. Every tribe has the right to develop it! What do you think?"

Rurik's proposal really made everyone except Karl shine!

The brothers are the leaders of the tribes. Everyone is not a big fool. Of course, there are people who know that the Russ will have to announce their withdrawal, but Gotland is indeed a warm place and is what everyone likes.

All tribes, including the Rus people, all hope to obtain stable pastures for grazing and farms with fertile land and a warm climate.

They have never seen the warm farmland in France, and they don't even know the large granary in the lower reaches of the Dnieper River. In their eyes, Gotland Island is already a very promising existence.

The dukes of all tribes clapped their hands and cheered, but Karl grinned slightly and expressed his support reluctantly.

The Mälaren tribe, which is still the most populous, has no right to exclusive access to Gotland, and because they have the largest population, they can organize more immigrants to settle and develop.

At this point, the meeting of the Gotland Council should come to an end. After everyone discussed, Karl is still King of Sweden, but his power is far inferior to his father. All tribes still live their own lives, and all tribes have the right to immigrate and develop the empty Gotland island.

The dukes left one after another, returning to their team with only a hundred people left.

The Swedish army did suffer a disastrous defeat, and the Mälaren who sent the most troops were left with 500 exhausted soldiers.

After all, the population of the Melaren tribe exceeds 20,000! They live along the lake, and the whole is relatively scattered. What maintains the existence of such a behemoth is the huge bazaar. As long as the bazaar trade continues, the Mellaren people can continue to develop steadily.

More than 1,500 troops were dispatched, and 500 were returned. Eight hundred black mercenaries were killed in battle, and a group of brave farmers died in battle.

The Mellaren people can fully accept this loss, but the situation of the other tribes is simply bleeding.

Like the larger Uppsala, Yilmalen, and Unkras, they all lost three hundred men.

Because of the loss of a large amount of labor, their agricultural production has been substantially destroyed. The population, especially the mature men, they are the main force in hoeing the earth.

The strength of the three larger tribes has been greatly weakened. Except for the remote Ross people, the Svealand Plain where Lake Mälaren is located, Mälaren's hegemony has become more stable.

That is the hegemony of Mellaren, not the same as the hegemony of the Karl family.

Only when Karl was asked to stay in the chamber by Liurik, Mellaren and Rose would discuss the previous contract again.

Rurik stated his attitude directly and formally: "Now, they are all gone. When we signed with your father, you were also present. It is the wheat harvest period. When we leave, I want you to make an agreement immediately. A pound of wheat can’t be less."

"Ah..." Carl wanted to be strong, but in the end he found that without the guards of his old father and private soldiers, he really couldn't be tough.

"What? Are you hesitating?"

"Ross, maybe this." Carl looked around, and there was no one else. "We might have to make a new appointment."

"You want to revise the contract?" Rurik smiled and ordered unceremoniously, "I don't think it is necessary. This year's situation is very good, and your tribe will have a good harvest. The principal plus the interest, you have to spend 80%. Ten thousand pounds of wheat."

"But this is too much. Maybe it can be..."

"What do you want?"

"Or I will be in arrears first, and I will give you more interest until next fall, and then I will give you a million pounds or more. What do you think?"

Cross-legged Otto poked his son in the back secretly, Rurik fully understood what the old man meant, and the attitude of the father and son was exactly the same.

Rurik said with a stern face, "No. I only want wheat, and I want it soon."

"But, in case I can't get it out..."

Carl was meant to be a temptation, and he did have something unspeakable. If he didn't talk about Rurik, the **** was furious.

"Are you trying to tear up the contract? It's absurd! Carl!" Rurik stood up and pointed to his nose unceremoniously. "Remember our secret agreement? This is a fair deal! We give you a loan, and Openly support Olegin as king. In exchange, we get 800,000 pounds of wheat. If you don't give wheat, then forget it. We will no longer support you as king."

"Ah, you can't do this." Carl panicked and hurriedly pointed to his golden crown, "I am the owner of this crown, and I am the king. You must support me."

Rurik wants to have: "Everyone supports a king who can bring you victory, not a loser. Listen, Karl! How many people are there in the black army that maintains your family's power? Think about it. Own it, you Mälaren are an agglomeration of many families and a large number of farmers and fishermen. Those powerful families could not beat you in the past, what about now?

You must hand over sufficient oats in accordance with the contract, so that you fulfill the contract. Remember, only with the support of our Ross people can your power in Mellaren be stable. "

Carl was confused: "Can't I return the money too? You must have wheat?"

"Of course, this is a contract! We Ruths cannot accept the king's betrayal, presumably other tribes cannot accept it either."

Rurik still had a sullen face, and he couldn't look down on this stubborn and pretentious person in his heart, and now he has become a despair, and he despises him even more.

The words still have to be said at both ends, even if this person is a lame and blind man, he is still a king.

"We only want wheat. Of course you can not give it or find a reason to delay. Then our Ross army will go directly to Mellaren."

"What? Do you still want to grab it by force?!"

Rurik didn't change his face: "Taking our own things is considered a robbery? Maybe, we will kill a traitor by the way. You should understand that some of Mellaren's families want to be king."

"They dare!" Carl shouted angrily.

"I don't know if they dare, but if you lose the support of our Ross people, you will definitely lose everything. You... don't you want to revive your family business and avenge your old father, Olekin, whom everyone supports?"

So what can Karl, who is baring his teeth, say? He blushed with suffocation.

"Okay! I recognize it! I recognize it..."

Rurik's tense attitude finally relaxed, "Then take a good rest. Our Ross transport fleet is about to arrive, and we will leave with a large number of seizures. As for when you leave, I don't care. But we Ross People cherish the alliance, and I can promise that I will provide you with free food during your stay."

"Oh, then I really want to thank you." After that, Karl stood up and walked away quickly.

The noisy chamber was quiet again, and Lurik took a long sigh of relief and left and lay down, closing his eyes to rest his mind.

Otto looked at his son, he naturally had a lot of opinions about Rurik's determination, some of which he did not easily accept.

"Rurik."

"father."

"Why give up Gotland. We can develop here. We will be richer if we graze and farm here."

"Not now." Rurik opened his eyes and stared at the dim beams of the house idly. "We will at most control Slitomo Harbor in the future, as one of the relay stations for our sailing in Sorgon. It is not appropriate to occupy the entire island."

"So you gave them magnanimously? Your kindness is out of time."

The old man's words were obviously ironic, and Rurik smiled, "This is not kindness, and I will not be kind here. The Danes will find that their allies have collapsed, and they will go here to get revenge. Anyone stranded here will be. Enemies of the Danes. I am not afraid of Denmark, but I don’t want to fight them to death."

"So this is the case?" Otto asked again, a little relieved, "Carl is now a polished veteran. His men are all hungry and weak fools. You have to support this person. Know if your cousin is here, say Maybe it will cut off Carl's head."

"It doesn't matter."

"You don't care? Do you still support him as king?"

"At least this person promised to bring out the wheat we need."

"What if he insists on rejecting when he goes back?"

"Then kill him." Rurik did it suddenly and said coldly, "Merlaren is nothing but this. We can defeat them and take away their wealth."

Otto was shocked when his son said something amazing, "You, want to go to war with them? No, it's a confession."

"I don't want to be like this. If they back their alliance, don't blame me for being a wicked person." Rurik turned his head back sharply, "Don't you think we Rusians are also facing a huge crisis?"

"Crisis? What is the crisis? We won a big victory, brothers are happy."

"We have captured 2,000 people in total. These are almost all young women and girls. They want to eat, and I will feed them at least this winter."

Otto shook his head: "The women are given out to brothers. Each of them will give me a big belly next spring. Brothers should feed their new wives. We don't have to care too much."

"No. Brothers need enough food to feed them. Our tribe will always need a lot of wheat. This year's situation is more complicated. If we can't get a million pounds of wheat from Mälaren, our lives will be very difficult in the latter part of the winter. Sad. If those women miscarry due to hunger, the strength of our tribe will be lost."

Otto closed his eyes and thought about it, and finally realized the greatness of his son's determination. The loss of hundreds of native Russian fighters must rely on the belly of the Ross woman and take at least fifteen years to replenish it.

The captured Gotland women were Ross women when they were captured. They were not slaves, but the mothers of the future Ross army.

Naturally, the more wheat is the better, Otto thought for a while: "It seems that your kindness is right on this issue."

"Of course. So I must use all means to protect our interests. Only in this way, my brothers are willing to fight with me. Not only because I am chosen by God."

Affected by the war, the Sorgon voyage this autumn will begin quickly. The most important tribute the Rus needed was food from Novgorod.

How much can Novgorod provide? In the current situation, 300,000 pounds of wheat is probably the limit. The realization of this goal is naturally based on the desperate pressing of the Pine Needle Manor.

After the victory, Rurik naturally fulfilled his decision to dispense with this year’s tribute to the White Tree Manor in Novgorod. Similarly, the manor dispatched almost all males to fight for Ross. These people should share part of the victory. fruit.

Medveit and his people, they will hand in all their spears, and then they will return home with a large number of iron tools. Every man has at least two hand axes and a dagger. The iron tools that were once extremely rare are now multi-handed. Is there a more pragmatic reward than this?

As the transport fleet is about to return, Rurik and Otto no longer intend to rap with Carl. The father and son even declined the invitation of the leaders of other tribes, as if the Rus did not care about the remnants of the Swedish coalition army except for food subsidies.

But Karl, he has already begun to recolonize the island from the ruins of the Gotland. A hundred Mellaren fighters were forced to stay on this island. They were relieved of their land debts from their hometown by Carl. What each man had to do was to keep the Visby ruins under guard after the army left.

Obviously Karl will arrive next spring and set about building Visby into an overseas territory of the Mellaren tribe.

He feels that opening up the territory and expanding the land is an action that can save face.

Rurik arranged a retreat plan. The mound east of Visby Harbor was a battlefield full of corpses over the mound. He didn't smell the stench, but thought of it was inexplicable retching. The current low temperature has greatly slowed down the decay of the dead. The first snow will fall in about a month, and the snow will cover the dead. The battlefield seems to disappear, but when the ice melts and the snow melts, the east of the hill must be a mess.

Those things have nothing to do with the Ross people.

On September 6th of the Julian calendar, a large ship with a tilted spinnaker appeared in the bay of Visby.

One of the largest ships greeted the morning sun, immersed in the dreamy light and shadow, and the Aphrodite was like a visitor from another world.

A large number of Ross people gathered together, carrying the amazing cargo they had seized, and the beach pier in Visby was already in full swing.

The remnants of the various tribes of the Swedish army, they saw that the wealth of the Rus was really envy and jealous, and Carl simply sprouted hatred.

In an instant, Carl hoped to ask for some trophies from the Ruths as his king. After thinking about the warning from Rick, his courage persisted for less than a second.

The long and tense material handling work continued throughout the day. At night, there were bonfires everywhere on the beach, and the leather and live sheep that had not been loaded on the ship were also driving towards the cargo ship.

It was not until the seventh day of this month that Otto and Lurik finally returned to their flagship Aphrodite.

At this time, there were masts everywhere in the bay, and the sails that were raised on each side were stitched with staggered blue stripes.

The Russ dispatched a huge fleet of forty cargo ships (Gould exhausted all the cargo ships to participate in transportation activities when he returned to Roseburg) and 300 long ships. Such a scale is basically aimed at all the tribes of Sweden. Especially Mellaren people show their muscles!

Although Lurik didn't intend to show his muscles, his purpose was to organize the fleet as much as possible to transport the captured back. As for scaring Carl's little heart, there was no way.

Up to now, the contrast between strengths and weaknesses within the Kingdom of Sweden has changed drastically. The Mälaren people have clearly become the images of the strong outside and the middlemen, and the Ross people are the rising sun. The Ross people no longer need to hide from the insiders. Ross still needs to forbear, that is, to hide his sense of existence when the kingdom faces the competition of Danish power.

Therefore, the start of the Ross people only pleased the naming of Rurik, and it only depended on whether the Aphrodite set off.

The Ross fleet took the rest of the delivery, and at the end more than a thousand sheep were stuffed into the cabin or tied directly to the mast of the open deck of the long ship. The mighty team dragged forward into the shape of a droplet, and just after the droplet followed a small fleet, which was the "main fleet" of the Swedish Allied Forces.

It's a pity that the Ross fleet has become the real main force, and the once domineering coalition fleet has now become a supporting role.

People of Ross, the big boat is towing the boat, and the army marches against the wind.

On the second day of the return journey, the Ross fleet split into two. A group of large cargo ships rushed to the Orient Bay with some long ships.

Carl was puzzled. He stood at the bow and asked the oarsman behind him: "Can the Rus go to the east? Are there any settlements there? Who can tell me the answer?"

Then the farmer yelled: "I heard that they have established a stronghold in the east~www.readwn.com~ The strange men in their camp are the slaves raised by them."

"Hmm? Why don't I know? East..." Carl glanced at some of the Ross ships going far away on the vast Eastern Gulf of Finland, and then shook his head with his mouth stretched, "What is in the East? The wild world."

Carl continued to order: "Hurry up and row, and we will go back to harvest the wheat."

This statement hit the key points of the farmers, and the panic was spreading. They began to paddle desperately, for fear that their farmland would be "helped to harvest" by others when they returned home late. The farmers never doubted the morals of those big landowners. It's a group of greedy guys.

They don't know how much Carl will take out of the early seizures to pay the brothers, at least it must be able to forgive the debt. If the old king Oleg was still alive, he might give everyone a lot of money, but now that Karl is king, is this man really kind?

The farmers and fishermen didn't dare to think about it. They just wanted to go back soon and finish harvesting the wheat, and then save all kinds of food for the winter. It would be great if Karl could give everyone a sum of money, and of course everyone never had much hope.

Anyone with a discerning eye can see that this king Carl with a golden crown is in precarious position.

Look at the Ross people's fleet, how bold it is. Look at how mighty the real army of the Rus people is. Those rumors are true. How could Rurik of Ross win a great victory without divine assistance? So, do the Ross people still need new immigrants to join?

Some farmers began to contemplate a wonderful plan. If they can't live in their hometown anymore, they will just leave and become a native of Ross.