Rise of Rurik

There are actually only 70 ships belonging to the Ross tribe, which sounds like a small number, and most of them are small boats for 30 people to paddle. Given the limitations of the age, the Franks and Britons, and even the Iberians, lacked the skills to build such large ships. Eastern Rome can even build larger ships, that is, they now have only indirect trade with the Rus, as well as the patronage of the legendary missionaries.

Such a fleet suddenly appeared, and the Danes must also be cheered and devastated.

Behind them is a larger fleet!

That is a purely commercial fleet of merchants.

After all, when people are at sea, what happens is difficult for others to interfere with, or even completely unknown.

Now, the great businessman Gould can finally take the two maids who served him for a winter, and the samurai to protect his own safety, and go straight to the Ankras tribe where he belongs. He was going to follow Otto's fleet to seek shelter.

This year, because of the particularly valuable cargo, Gould even hired a warrior of the Ross tribe for this purpose. As an armed escort, he had to pay a large commission for this.

And other businessmen with much smaller strength, they watched the actions of the big businessman Gould and followed his example. This leads to a larger-scale commercial fleet with almost no leading warships and mainly flat-headed transport ships.

Because the so-called fishermen, of course, fishermen mainly fish, even if they see a boat sailing alone, they will always have evil intentions. As long as the means are clean enough, people die, wealth is taken away, and the ship is finally scuttled, who will know the vast sea?

Gould's caravan was attacked by fishermen belonging to the Merlaren tribe, which angered him, but there was not enough evidence. Although it is a loss, business with the Melalen people is still to be done. After all, in the entire tribal alliance, everyone knows that the Melalen people are richer, and all kinds of valuable things in the sea world can be found in Melalen. appeared in the market.

Gould, who was wise enough to eat a bite, delayed the voyage for a while, in order to follow the big leader of the Rus people and get a shelter. Not to mention, the voyage in the past few years has really been calm.

The sailing of three fleets of ships with different purposes is temporary.

Whether it is a businessman like Otto, Arik or Gould, everyone knows that when everyone sees a string of islands appearing in the distance, that is the moment when everyone parted ways.

Only on the afternoon of the second day after sailing, the mighty army had already seen the key Peugeot Åland Islands.

The flagship at the head of the fleet, Otto made an ideological struggle and still ordered to slow down.

Slowly, the flagship approached the group of ships of the crusade and approached the command ship of the "War Chief".

The distance between Otto and Arik was less than ten meters, and Peravina waved quickly when she saw her husband.

Otto just wanted to say goodbye to Arik, and he shouted loudly: "Arik, you go to prove yourself, don't forget everything just because of revenge, listen to Haro Zuosen!"

Did Arik hear that?

He shouted back: "I will win! Dad!"

He calls himself Daddy again!

Otto heard a warm heart in his heart, if his eldest son hadn't died early, he would have been stronger than Aric.

The warmth in his heart was not directly expressed, Otto tried his best to keep it deep, and then looked at the face of his nephew in the distance, he waved his hand and ordered to turn the rudder.

The fleet did not intend to dock in the Åland Islands, even though a group of fishermen belonging to the Melalen tribe lived on this island.

Otto didn't stop, of course, not worried about being attacked by such a group of people, he simply didn't want to waste time.

However, the fishermen on the island really saw a mighty army passing through the strait, including many leading warships!

Suddenly, an ominous premonition appeared in the minds of these fishermen. They chose to hibernate, worried that the Rus people from the north were planning to attack their allies? Simply this army continues to go south, it seems that the Rus people are still going to the east to collect taxes,

However, why are there so many leading warships this year? And what about the merchant ships that followed? Why so many? !

The fishermen were on high alert, and all the Ross boats had no interest in this place. As always, Otto had a feeling for this archipelago, but it was a good place for fishing. Although a good place, the fishing grounds are also controlled by the Melalen tribe.

Because the mouth of Lake Mälaren faces the Åland Islands. A large number of islands at the mouth of the sea form a checkpoint with the entire Åland Islands, which just controls the throat of the entire sea area extending to the Gulf of Bothnia. The commercial value of this area will only further develop with the frequent trade.

Now, the tiny islands at the mouth of Lake Mälaren have only a handful of tiny villages, and as long as the development continues, it will be Stockholm.

The merchants were well escorted, and their ships began to sail suddenly westward. In order to show his identity, Gould ordered the attached ships to display the Peugeot flag of the Unkrath clan.

Otto led the army into the Gulf of Finland.

Only the old fellow, Haruo Zuosen, led the crusade to continue southward, and everyone's relaxed mood suddenly became tense.

Harrodsen is nearly half a hundred years old. He knows how to get to Gotland, and he fully understands how to avoid the eyes of those people.

Want to stay unnoticed by the Gotlanders? It can only be detoured.

Seeing the fleet led by Uncle's father go farther and farther and gradually disappear from his field of vision, Arik suddenly felt complicated. He held his sword hilt tightly, and seemed ready to fight at any time, and there was no lack of worry about the unknown in his heart.

Many people are exactly the same. They are eager to make a career at a young age, and many people have been injured by the savage games on weekdays, so they are not afraid of blood at all. They are just inexperienced, none of the young people have set foot in this sea area, and they don't know anything about meteorology and hydrology!

That's why Otto had to assign them a group of elders.

Twenty standard leading warships now carry four hundred and fifty soldiers, most of whom are young people.

In the concept of the Rus, the so-called "young people" probably refers to boys between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five. It seems that the older they are, the more old they are.

Although young, most boys begin to grow beards around the age of eleven, many have thick beards by fifteen, and by twenty-five their beards can be braided in large numbers. .

Harrodsen knew the meteorology and hydrology in this area, and also knew the special geographical conditions nearby.

If Gotland's north is difficult to attack, its south must be weak.

Arik couldn't help his anxiety and excitement, and asked Harrodsen: "Next, why don't we go straight to Gotland? We must continue south?"

"Of course." Harrodsen, who was also paddling, replied casually.

"Maybe... we suddenly turn to attack, and we can catch the enemy by surprise."

"Oh hoho, maybe we can make it, but it's easy for them to fight back. Listen to Arik, we're trying to get revenge, not get the Gotlanders in one fell swoop. We don't have the strength, let alone the plan. Remember, Find as much gold as you can, and other useful things."

Arik pouted hard: "Actually, I still long for a real fight. You know, I need to be a real man."

"Oh? Then you shut up and follow my orders. You will get the battle you want, and before that, I will bring everyone to land safely."

The ships formed an oval array, with a pale blue strip of cloth hanging from the top of Harrodsen's flagship mast, and the other ships only had to follow it.

When there was no compass or compass in the West, even the Vikings sailed entirely by experience.

At night, the fleet floated on the sea. Harrozosen ordered his subordinates not to make fires, but left a few people to take turns to watch, and the others wrapped in furs and slept on the deck.

When the blue was put on that day, everyone ate some of the dried fish and a small amount of wheat cakes they brought, and then started to paddle again.

Although the factor of the ocean current caused a significant shift in their dormant night, Harrodsen still found the correct south after waking up.

Another boring paddling, whether people can only sing old folk songs to pass the time, or discuss the so-called revenge action, how many treasures they can grab.

Suddenly, the land appearing ahead interrupted everyone's discussion!

"Ah! Is it land?!"

"It must be Gotland, here we are."

"Let's keep paddling over, slashing all those people, and we'll move that golden mountain away."

...

Everyone is too focused on Gotland, the final destination. As long as there is a big land in front of you, isn't it the final destination?

At this moment, Haruo Zuo Sen really poured a basin of cold water on the excited Arik.

He scolded Arik, who was happily talking to his peers about arriving at the so-called destination: "Idiot! Don't get excited, that's Semelia!"

"Semelia? Where is that? Isn't it Gotland?" Arik only felt very new, he was hearing this word for the first time.

Harrodsen answered bluntly: "It's an island, a paradise for all the escapees. Those who have left the alliance are happy to run here, and there are even a few Gotlanders."

"What? They are actually our enemies too?" Saying that, Arik held the oar with his left hand, and his right hand was already deeply gripping the hilt of the sword.

"Child, don't be nervous, they are just ordinary people. They are not our enemies, but they are not our friends, and you don't think that you can easily conquer them. If you don't provoke them, they won't take the initiative to provoke you. "

Arik still doesn't quite understand that if it's not a friend, it's an enemy. Isn't the relationship in the world like this?

At this moment, Haruozuosen did not have any intention to land on Semelia Island, and he knew clearly that there must be a settlement on the southeast side of the island.

war? Do not! That is impossible.

Because some of the spontaneous immigrants of the Rus must have come here, Semelia itself is the colony of the Viking tribes. Many people determined to leave their crowded hometowns to fend for themselves in other places have built a settlement on the island in a cooperative relationship.

Since then, the island, originally inhabited by only a few Baltic people, has become the territory of Viking pioneers. The new immigrants reclaimed their own land, planted wheat and fished for swimming fish, built their own small wharfs, spontaneously and further south into the mainland immigrant trade, and also traded with the native Livonians.

The immigrant population of the entire island is less than a thousand people, and human activities here are still kept to a very low limit.

It has a huge potential for development. Over hundreds of years, the immigrants of various Viking tribes and the integration of Livonian tribes gradually formed the Estonian nation.

There are only that small group of people on the island of Semelia, and many Viking settlements have appeared in Livonian lands today. When they left their homeland, set foot on Livonian lands and settled down, they were no longer Danes, no longer Gotlanders, no longer Svealans members, still less Ross people.

They all speak the Norse language, because they left alone and were abandoned by the former tribe. They frequently intermarry with the Livonians, and are actively establishing their own community, and a new force is being formed.

Young people don't know these things, and Harrodsen knows a little bit. In short, landing on Semelia Island or even communicating with the locals is not in the plan of action at all.

The heavily armed fleet approached the island with a very simple purpose - to find the most reasonable reference for the roundabout attack on Gotland.

The fleet marched along the coast with no regard for sightings by the locals.

They swayed like this all day, until evening fell, when the coastline to the east of the fleet suddenly changed direction, and the south of the fleet became the vast sea again.

Seeing this, everyone panicked for a while.

Fortunately, the elders in the team stabilized the mood of the young people. Seeing this, Harold Zuo Sen continued to order the south, and the fleet had to advance for a while in the dark.

As a result, they slammed into another piece of land, which was actually the land called Kuronia, also known as Kurland, which was the main part of the later Latvian state.

Everyone has been on the boat for many days, and if they continue not to dock, everyone's will to fight will inevitably deteriorate, and they will land on Gotland Island in a bad mental state? It's crazy.

Boats landed on a large scale, and people began to build bonfires on a sandy beach. And so they spent their first night ashore in days.

The stable time was fleeting, and the next day, they set out on the voyage again. Fortunately for the new night, they were still on the shore for the night.

After two days of confused voyages, many young people saw a brand new land that they did not recognize, and their vision was broadened. Even Arik could not have imagined that the so-called human world is so huge.

Therefore, Arik also had new questions. He heard the news in person with strong incomprehension: "It has been five days, when will we launch an attack? Are we going further and further?"

Under the light of the bonfire, Harrodsen looked at the young man's resentful expression, realizing that some things could no longer be hidden.

He didn't answer directly, but muttered: "You go and call everyone, I have to arrange something."

"About the offense?" Arik asked impatiently.

"Yes. Come on."

One of the reasons Harrodsen lost the leadership race was his lack of charisma. He lacks a loud voice and lacks a morale-boosting appeal.

This kind of person also has its own value of existence, and it is more suitable for Haro Zuosen to serve as the general of the "War Chief" in such an action.

Young warriors, chewing on dried fish, braided in various braids and beards, and wearing leather armor all the time, gathered around Harrozosen. The gathering of hundreds of people is truly amazing.

Without any morale boost, Harrodsen didn't even raise his saber to make a call.

He just tried his best to say it very plainly: "Guys, order us to start sailing west. It is expected that tomorrow night, we will wear it for another night. Sirius is in the right place, we are going to row at night, we will Launch a surprise attack on the enemy before sunrise the day after tomorrow."

Everyone understood, to be honest, what should have been war mobilization was turned into a straightforward narrative by Harrodsen.

It doesn't matter!

The fiery hearts of the young warriors, which had been suppressed for many days, suddenly boiled over at this moment. All the previous depression and dissatisfaction with continuing to sail south disappeared in an instant.

"rua! rua! rua..."

They spontaneously roared "Viking Battle Cry", which was the chant that people deliberately roared with rhythm when the shield wall was advancing. This momentum can frighten the enemy, and it is also a good encouragement for himself and his brothers.

They were roaring their horns on the lonely beach, and they were so excited about it, their morale was instantly maxed.

No local people noticed their existence, or, in other words, the local indigenous people living in the inland areas, they dared not go to the seaside and be plundered by the Vikings.

Harrodsen and the others are still maintaining good secrecy, and the new day just has to go all the way west.

Soon, a new day came, and the boats in the shoal were pushed into the sea again. After a night of rest, everyone adjusted their mentality and fully understood the next tactics.