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 force.

The Rus people have a bright future, and it is naturally not easy to provoke them now.

Rurik noticed Karl's depression, which was mixed with rage and powerlessness.

Listening to what these noble guys said, the failure of the Swedish army came purely from the crushing of the opponent's strength.

It was as if the Rus army was crushing the Gotland army.

Their failure, however, Rurik had no sympathy for.

"Karl, our army's expedition to the south didn't win. But we didn't really lose. You see, our Swedish coalition still occupied Gotland, and we took care of all the traitors on the island."

With Rurik's futility and condescension, Karl raised his head, and there was light in his eyes.

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

Taking into account the current situation, the island was occupied by the Rus, and they demanded it as a king. They would definitely not give it. If you want to get Gotland, you have to pay the price.

Carl waited and watched the change, unexpectedly the Russ handed him a big gift.

Rurik was the most powerful person in the Ross tribe, he followed his previous words and said: "The Gotlanders were almost wiped out, and some people who were not killed fled to the southern pine forest, where they had nowhere to go. No threat. We Rus don't like the island, and we'll be leaving soon. Who's the master of Gotland in the end?"

Without even thinking, Karl patted his chest: "I am the king, and I declare Gotland mine."

"Yes! You are the king, but..." After Rurik finished speaking, he noticed the trembling eyes of the various dukes, "After all, the island of Gotland was captured by the Rus people, this is a treasure, we Rus people If you don’t want it, the allies of the kingdom should share it.”

After speaking, Rurik raised his head: "Gotland is the wealth of all of us. It is not the private property of a certain tribe. Each tribe has the right to develop it! What do you think?"

Rurik's proposal really caught everyone's eyes except Karl!

The brothers are the leaders of various tribes, and everyone is not a big fool. Of course, some people know that the announcement of the Rus people's withdrawal must be tricky, but Gotland is indeed a warm place, where everyone likes it.

All tribes, including the Rus, all want stable pastures and farms with fertile land and a warm climate.

They have never seen the warm farmland in France, let alone the large granary in the lower reaches of the Dnieper River. In their eyes, Gotland is already a very potential existence.

The dukes of all the tribes all applauded, but Carl grinned slightly and expressed his support reluctantly.

The Melalen tribe, which is still the most populous, has no right to enjoy Gotland alone, and because they are the most populous, they can organize more immigrants to settle and develop.

At this point, the meeting of the Gotland Chamber should come to an end. After everyone's discussion, Karl is still the king of Sweden, but his power is far less than that of his father. Each tribe still lives its own life, and each tribe has the right to immigrate and develop the empty Gotland.

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

The Swedes did suffer a crushing defeat, and the Mélarens who had sent the most troops were left with 500 weary fighters.

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

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

The Melalen people can fully accept such losses, but the situation of other tribes is simply bleeding.

For example, the larger Uppsala, Yermalen, and Ankras lost 300 men.

Their agricultural production is due to the loss of a large amount of labor,

Substantially devastated. The population, especially the middle-aged men, is the main force in hoeing the earth.

Three larger tribes, their strength has been greatly weakened. In addition to the remote Rus people, the Svealan Plain where Lake Melalen is located, Melalon's hegemony is more stable.

That is the hegemony of Melalen, not the same as the hegemony of the Carl family.

Only Karl was asked by Rurik to stay in the chamber, and Melalen and Ross would discuss the previous contract again.

Rurik directly and formally stated his attitude: "Now, they have all left. When we signed the contract with your father, you were also present. It is now the harvest period. When we leave, I want you to make an agreement immediately. not less than a pound of wheat."

"Ah this..." 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?"

"Russian, maybe this matter." Carl looked around, and there was indeed no one else around. "Maybe we should 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 interest, you must pay eighty Ten thousand pounds of wheat."

"But that's too much. Maybe it's like this..."

"What do you want?"

"Why don't I default and wait until next fall, when I'll give you more interest, and then give you a million pounds or more. What do you think?"

Otto, who was cross-legged, secretly poked his son's back, Rurik fully understood what his father meant, and the attitude of the father and son was exactly the same.

Rurik sternly said, "No. All I want is the wheat, and I'll have it right away."

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

Carl's original intention was just to try, and he did have something to hide, and he was furious when he didn't talk about Rurik.

"Are you trying to break the contract? Absurd! Karl!" Rurik stood up directly, pointing his nose unceremoniously, "Remember our secret contract? It's a fair deal! We'll give you a loan, and Openly support Olekin as king. In exchange, we get eight hundred thousand pounds of wheat. If you don't give it, that's fine. We'll no longer support you as king."

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

Rurik wants to have: "Everyone supports a king who can bring victory to everyone, not a loser. Listen, Karl! How many people are still alive in the black army that maintains your family's power? You still think about it. See yourself, you Mellarens are an agglomeration of many families and a large number of farmers and fishermen. Those powerful families couldn't fight you before, but now?

You must hand over enough oats in accordance with the contract, and thus you are fulfilling the contract. Remember, your power in Melalen will only be secure with the support of us Rus. "

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

"Of course, this is a contract! We Rus people can't accept the king's betrayal, and presumably other tribes can't accept it either."

Rurik still had a sullen face. In his heart, he despised this stubborn and self-righteous man, and now that he has become a scumbag, he despised it even more.

Even if this person is lame and blind, 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 Melalen."

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

Rurik didn't change his face: "Taking our own things is considered a robbery? Maybe, we will crusade a traitor by the way. You should understand that some Melalen family wants to be king."

"They dare!" Carl yelled angrily.

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

What else can Carl, who is baring his teeth, say? His face turned red.

"Okay! I admit it! I admit it..."

Rurik's tense attitude finally loosened, "Then take a good rest. Our Ross convoy is about to arrive, and we will leave with a large number of captures. 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 saying that, Karl stood up and walked away quickly.

The noisy courtroom was quiet again, and Rurik took a sigh of relief and left to lie down, closing his eyes to rest his mind.

Otto looked at his son. He naturally had many opinions on Rurik's decision, some of which were not easy for him to accept.

"Rurik."

"dad."

"Why give up Gotland. We can grow here, we can farm here, we'll be richer."

"Not now." Rurik opened his eyes and stared at the dim girders of the house idly. "We will control the port of Slitomo in the future at best, as one of the relay stations for our Sorgon voyage. As for occupying the entire island, it is out of date."

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

Papa's words were clearly ironic, and Rurik smiled, "It's not kindness, and I'm not going to be kind here. The Danes will find their allies crumbled, and they'll go here for revenge. Anyone who stays here will be The enemy of the Danes. I'm not afraid of Denmark, but I don't want to fight them to the death."

"So that's it?" Otto asked, feeling relieved, "Carl is now a bare-bones veteran, and his subordinates are all hungry and cowardly fools. You have to support this man. You know that if your cousin is here, say Probably cut off Carl's head."

"It doesn't matter."

"It doesn't matter to you? You still support him as king?"

"At least this man promises to bring the wheat we need."

"If he insists on refusing when he goes back?"

"Then kill him," Rurik said abruptly, and said coldly, "The Mellarens are nothing more than that. We can defeat them and take their wealth."

The son's words were astonishing, and Otto was taken aback, "You, want to fight them? No, this is against the alliance."

"I don't want this either. If they break the alliance, don't blame me for being a villain." Rurik turned his head sharply, "Don't you think we Russ are also facing a huge crisis?"

"Crisis? What's the crisis? The brothers are overjoyed with our victory."

"We've taken 2,000 captives, almost all young women and girls. They need to eat, and at least I'm going to feed them this winter."

Otto shook his head. "The women are divided among the brothers, and each of them will give me a big belly by next spring. The brothers feed their new wives, and we don't have to care too much."

"No. The brothers need enough food to feed them, and our tribe will always need a lot of wheat. This year's situation is more complicated, if we don't get a million pounds of wheat from Melalen, we'll have a very rough end to the winter. Sad. If those women abort from starvation, the strength of our tribe will be lost."

Otto closed his eyes and thought for a while, and finally realized the greatness of his son's determination. The loss of hundreds of native Rus warriors must be supplemented by the belly of Rus women for at least fifteen years.

The captured Gotland women were Rus women at the time of their capture, not slaves, but mothers to the future Rus army.

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

"Of course. So I have to use all means to safeguard our interests, only then brothers are willing to fight with me. Not only because I am chosen by God."

Due to the impact of the war, this fall's Sorgon voyage should start fast. The most important tribute that the Russians needed was food from Novgorod.

How much can Novgorod offer? In the current situation, 300,000 pounds of wheat is probably the limit. The implementation of this goal is naturally based on the desperate pressing of the pine needle manor.

Rurik naturally fulfilled his decision after the victory, that is, to exempt the White Tree Manor in Novgorod from this year's tribute, and the manor also sent almost all the men to fight for Rus, and these people should share part of the victory. fruit.

Medvitt and his people, they will turn over all the spears, and will return home with a large amount of iron. Every man has at least two axes and a short sword, and iron tools that were once extremely rare are now in many hands. Is there a more pragmatic reward than this?

When the convoy was about to return, Rurik and Otto had no intention of chatting with Karl again. The father and son even declined invitations from other tribal leaders, as if the Rus didn't care about the remnants of the Swedish coalition who were defeated except for food subsidies.

But Carl, who has begun to recolonize the island standing on the ruins of the Gotlanders. One hundred Merlaren warriors were forced to stay on the island, and they were forgiven their land debts by Carl, and what each man had to do was to keep the ruins of Visby under firm watch after the various armies left.

Apparently Karl is coming next spring to start building Visby as an overseas territory for the Meralen clan.

He thinks that expanding territory is an action that can save face.

Rurik arranged a retreat plan. The mound east of Port Visby was a battlefield full of corpses. He didn't smell the stench, but thinking about it made him retching for no reason. The current low temperature has greatly slowed down the decay of the corpse. The first snow will fall in about a month, and the snow will cover the corpse.

Those things have nothing to do with the Rus.

On the sixth of September in the Julian calendar, a large ship with raked jibs appeared in the bay of Visby.

One of the largest ships came towards the rising sun, immersed in the dreamy light and shadow, the Avlora was like a visitor from another world.

Large numbers of Rus have assembled, carrying their astonishing cargo, and Visby's beach piers are already crowded.

The remnants of the various tribes of the Swedish army were really envious and jealous when they saw the wealth owned by the Rus, and Karl simply developed hatred.

For a moment, Karl pinned his hopes on his identity as a king to ask the Russ for some loot, and then thought about the warning from that brat in Rurik, his courage lasted for less than a second, and he became cowardly.

The long and tense material handling work continued throughout the day. At night, the beach was full of bonfires, and the leather and live sheep that had not been loaded onto the ship were also being driven to the cargo ship.

It wasn't until the seventh day of the month that Otto and Rurik finally returned to their flagship, the Avlora.

The bay was now full of masts, and the sails hoisted on each side were stitched with interlaced blue stripes.

The Rus people dispatched a huge fleet, forty cargo ships (Gould exhausted all the cargo ships to participate in the transportation activities when he returned to Roseburg) and three hundred long ships. Such a scale is simply against the Swedish tribes, Especially the Melarons show off their muscles!

Although Rurik had no intention of showing off his muscles, his purpose was to organize a fleet as much as possible to transport the capture back, and as for scaring Carl's little heart, there was nothing he could do.

Up to now, the internal strengths and weaknesses of the Kingdom of Sweden have undergone tremendous changes. The Melarens have clearly become the image of the strong on the outside, while the Russ are the rising sun. The Rus people no longer have to hide from the insiders. Rus still needs to forbear, that is, when the kingdom faces the competition of Danish power, he hides his sense of existence.

Therefore, the departure of the Rus is only to please the naming of Rurik, and only depends on whether the Avlora sets off.

The Ross fleet took the rest of the delivery, and at the end of the day, more than a thousand sheep were stuffed into the cabin or tied directly to the mast of the open deck of the longship. The mighty team dragged forward in the shape of water droplets, and just after the water droplets followed a small fleet, that was the "main fleet" of the Swedish coalition.

It is a pity that the Ross fleet has become the real main force, and the once all-powerful coalition fleet has now become a supporting role.

Rus people, the big boats tow the small boats, and the army marched against the wind.

On the second day of the return voyage, the Ross fleet was divided into two. A group of large cargo ships with some long ships rushed to the East Bay.

Carl looked puzzled. He stood at the bow and asked the rower behind him: "Can the Rus go to the East? Do they have settlements there? Who can tell me the answer?"

Then a farmer shouted: "I heard that they have established a stronghold in the east, and the strange men in their camp are slaves raised by them."

"Huh? Why don't I know? The East..." Carl glanced at some of the distant Rus ships in the vast eastern Gulf of Finland, and then shook his head with a sullen mouth, "What's in the East? The wild world."

Carl continued to order: "You guys quickly row the boat, we'll go back to harvest the wheat."

This remark hits the key point of the farmers. Panic is spreading. They start paddling desperately, for fear that their farmland will be "reclaimed" by others. The farmers never doubt the integrity of those big landowners. A bunch of greedy guys.

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

Farmers and fishermen didn't dare to think too much. They just wanted to go back early to finish harvesting the wheat, and then hurry up to stock up on all kinds of food for winter. It would be great if Karl could give everyone a sum of money, but of course everyone didn't have much hope.

Anyone with a discerning eye can see that the king Carl, who wears the golden crown, is in jeopardy.

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

Some farmers began to contemplate a wonderful plan in their hearts. If they could not survive in their hometown, they would just leave and become Rus.