Rise of Rurik

Compared to previous years, this year's Hanukkah festival is significantly more solemn.

On the 28th of December of the Julian calendar, there is no sunlight on this day, and Rosberg enters the absolute polar day, the only day of the year.

The stone boat altar, which was brightly illuminated by a large number of bonfires, was crowded for a while. Including those businessmen who stayed for the winter, also joined the crowd of the event.

Under the gaze of countless people, a young priestess took the antler helmet of the old high priest in public and put it on her head.

High Priest Veria, she was too old to do the whole ceremony herself. She stood in the stone boat altar surrounded by candlestick flames, and with a hoarse voice, she instructed Rumia, who was wearing the antler helmet, to do the most crucial work.

And Otto and Rurik were quietly half-kneeling in the altar, watching what happened.

Rumia reluctantly slashed the throat of a stag with her own hands, and worshipped the Valkyrie, who was parading in the sky, with steaming deer blood.

She sprinkled the deer's blood on the snow, then joined forces with other priests to cut open the deer's stomach and tore out the deer's liver.

"My work is next. Otto, Rurik, come with me."

Finally, the real high priest Vilia, who was in a state of supervision and observation, began the only divination that must be personally participated in.

Because the blood of the deer has been shown to the gods, the blood of the deer also nourishes the earth.

This time, the "jewel trick" is no longer used in the divination. The liver of the deer must be cut, and Willia will judge the good and bad luck of the northern hunting operation through the arrangement of blood vessels.

And this is the key that this sacrifice is different from the past.

A carbon steel dagger studded with gold was held in Veria's hand, because of carbon steel, Rurik had always lied that it was "technique from Valhalla", and this recently made dagger naturally had something to do with it. Divine power, Veria firmly believes in this.

The bright red deer liver was held on a wooden table by Rumia, and under the illumination of the aurora moonlight and even the candle bonfire, Vilia completed the cutting.

She brought an oil lamp with trembling hands, and focused her attention on the cut section of the liver.

"Otto, come to me..."

Otto ordered, with extreme caution, approached the high priest. "The great priest...is that a good omen?"

"It's an omen,

Maybe a good thing, maybe a bad thing. "

"The High Priest..." Otto was confused, and his attitude was more cautious.

As for Villa, she felt that she had received some kind of special revelation from the deer liver, and I was afraid that this was the will of God, and she firmly believed in it.

"Tell the clansmen. As you go east, you are bound to fight against the unknown. The master of the deer will gain his first victory, and the realm of Ross will extend to the sea at the end of the world, and discover new things in the frozen land. The treasure..."

"What... what does this mean?" Otto asked suspiciously.

"This is the omen. Please tell your people."

Otto faced all this with great confusion. He didn't know what a "master of the deer" was, but he was very interested in the so-called expansion of territory. Will there be a fight? It's better to have a fight, so that the young people involved in the action don't feel that the action is boring and bullying the deer breeders.

Therefore, Otto questioned again: "The great priest, our enemy...is the deer breeder?"

"No! Your enemy is an unknown person, not a deer breeder."

Unknown enemy? Otto found it more interesting.

As for the first victory of the deer owner, now, Otto feels a little bit that he is talking about his own son.

Otto didn't hesitate any longer. He grabbed the bleeding deer's liver and told the tribe with a roaring roar: "Brothers! The high priest has completed the divination! Are you eager to fight?"

His question immediately aroused the spirits of the young people of the tribe. The clansmen who became very lively began to shout battles.

"Then go and fight! All warriors who take part in the hunt, you will surely fight against the unknown enemy, and you will surely extend the realm of the Rus to the sea at the end of the world. Brothers! We are not going to hunt, we are going to conquer the North ."

Speaking of excitement, Otto drew out his sword, grabbed the deer's liver with the tip of the sword, held it high, and let the steel sword drink blood.

And the warlike clansmen also fell into madness.

Seeing such a spectacular scene, Rurik's mood did not fluctuate violently. The young clansmen became excited when they mentioned the battle, and never even considered possible injuries and deaths.

Rurik felt that the so-called prophecy of the high priest was not "God's will", but it was just the old lady's use of the theme. Of course, he also understands that until now, this old grandmother is still trying her best to exalt herself, and even use prophecy to supervise herself.

"I am the owner of the deer. Because I am the owner of all the reindeer in the tribe now. When I rule the group of deer breeders, I will be the owner of all the reindeer..."

Therefore, Rurik did not feel that there was any ambiguity in the words of the high priest.

On the winter solstice, the Hanukkah festival ended successfully in the excitement of the group. After that, those who decided to participate in the northern hunting went back to their homes and started the final preparations.

On the 29th of December of the Julian calendar, the sun finally returned, although it still flashed by.

Life is full of hope, and those who see the sun again understand that the days will only get longer and longer, and soon spring will return.

Different from the previous group hunting, Otto decided to organize an elite team of 300 people to go straight to the northeast along the frozen coastline to find the so-called "unknown enemy".

What is an elite team? Otto was strongly concerned by the young men who had been involved in the war against the Gotlandians at the end of April.

As the leader, he naturally chose the most elite warriors himself.

Otto even forced the blacksmith Kawi to join in, not only because he trusted the young man, but also because of this operation, the team needed a blacksmith who knew how to repair tools and weapons. What about Kawhi? To be able to participate in new adventures, he could not ask for it! Rather than hunting, Kawei actually looked for new iron ore, copper ore, and even digging directly for gold. Because the blacksmith in this time and space is basically a "geologist".

Otto ordered the group of young boys, who were generally only twenty years old, to forget the idea of ​​hunting, and to take the time to prepare their own weapons, all the supplies for camping in the wild, especially leather blankets and making a lot of wheat cakes.

Beishou seems to have changed his taste. Otto is going to follow the prophecy of the high priest and go to war with the so-called unknown enemy.

Of course, there are also a group of brave people who simply go hunting, but the route to the north is completely different from Otto's team.

The hunters acted spontaneously, Otto assembled a solid army.

During the last three days of preparations, Rurik was not idle either.

Right at the door of his house, Rurik gathered his own guards - those mercenaries who exist mainly to make money.

All the mercenaries were trained by Yevro while they were still on Gould Island. They arrived at Roseburg and were trained in elaborate queues.

Even at the last minute, the group received new training in order to make do with the new weapons.

Rurik observed the twenty people standing in line in front of him, of which Yevlo was their leader.

A pair of sharp eyes came from a child, but all the mercenaries didn't think the child was naive. The legendary Rurik, many of whom act like adults.

There is also the magical steel-armed crossbow developed by him, which is now in one hand. This weapon has the ability to make arrows pierce through wooden boards. It can be used to strike enemies or hunt. The power should be considerable.

Today's mercenaries wear cowhide hoods that protect their ears, and wear a similar style of warm cowhide jackets, tied with leather belts. They, too, wore layers of burlap trousers and warm, durable moccasins. A burlap waistcoat covered almost their entire upper body.

They are not only uniform in clothing, but also highly uniform in weapons.

Fully equip mercenaries with steel swords? Rurik felt that the consumption of this property was superfluous for the time being. This group of people don't need to have good weapons for the time being, not to mention the steel sword that every warrior wants.

The mercenaries all have a short spear, and the spearhead is actually a mass-produced cast bronze. After all, it is a piercing attack weapon, and the hardness of bronze is completely sufficient. Its biggest use as a weapon is the marching stick.

The mercenary also had a small hand axe, an iron dagger, and a round wooden shield on his back.

With this equipment, a standard Viking warrior looks like this.

But the group was armed with a new, age-defying weapon—the steel-armed crossbow.

Compared with children, this group of mercenaries have the strength to draw bowstrings with bare hands. They wear leather gloves, so they won't feel that the strings are tied. Equipped with a crossbow, a sackcloth strap is installed on the wooden support, so that the mercenary can directly carry the crossbow on the body.

They each have a sewn diagonal bag, which is the so-called quiver, but it can only hold ten crossbow arrows in it.

Rurik actually designed the quiver for them like this. The so-called crossbow arrow is a heavy item. Since his subordinates are destined to march for a long time, they should not be equipped with too heavy equipment.

Rurik reviewed his subordinates, and he felt that these guys had met his expectations.

He gave orders: "Brothers, you have trained with the crossbow, and I am satisfied with the results of your training. We Rus will go to the north to fight the enemy of prophecy. You are my mercenaries, in the old days. , I rewarded you with food and lodging, and each of you earned thirty silver coins. Ask yourselves, are you stronger now than when you first arrived in Roseburg? Now you must prove to me that I reward you It's all worth it for you."

Yevlo immediately stepped out of the team and suddenly knelt down: "Master, we will definitely fight for you!"

Is it embarrassing to kneel down to a small child?

Do not!

The rest of the mercenaries all knelt down on their knees, hooked their arrogant heads, and swore: "My master, I will fight for you."

The source of the mercenaries are almost all Melalen people, specifically a group of very poor young people with youthful vitality. They want to have a stable life first, live with dignity second, and then pursue their own honor.

Up to now, the mercenaries want to prove their worth through battle and get the reward of the gold master.

Rurik roared calmly: "My mercenaries! You must pass a battle to prove your true loyalty. Once a battle occurs, I will reward the brave and punish the cowardly. This time For the action, I will reward each of you ten silver coins in advance, in addition to the food we need for our action, I will also prepare it."

Hearing that, the half-kneeling mercenaries' eyes lit up. They didn't expect that the Northern Hunting had not started yet, and they had already made a fortune.

Rurik continued: "Don't think that I am a benevolent charity, I need your bravery." Having said this, he suddenly asked Yevlo: "Yavlo, you say! For cowardly guys, what should I do? How to punish?"

"Kill!" Yevro's response was succinct.

Rurik was stunned, and after exchanging glances with Yevlo, he made up his mind: "Okay! The best way to deal with cowards is to kill! Are there any cowards among you? I don't see any. Listen! Let's make an agreement in advance, behead the enemy, and reward... a silver coin. Capture a woman or child, bring it back safely, and reward you with two silver coins. What do you think?"

The mercenaries responded most enthusiastically with glowing eyes.

Looking at their wolf-like faces, Rurik was happy in his heart, but also a little nervous.

Rurik was nervous about his provocative remarks, but things have come this far, complete mercy? That's impossible. The Rus people just wanted to show their animal nature. He felt that he had to behave like a beast in front of his clan, otherwise it would be too naive to expect to rule them as a pure "wise man".

"I just want to fight the war. This is my first battle. I have to get things done."

Different from the preparations made by other elite soldiers, Rurik was responsible for the logistics of his "direct army".

In order to win the battle, proper tactics are of course very crucial, and well-secured logistics is the key to victory.

Rurik felt that as the master of mercenaries, it was not only important, but also necessary, to establish a logistical standard, so that future warriors of the Ross tribe would not have to worry about the lack of food, clean water, or even accommodation during combat.

Rurik sent a group of women from the tribe and ordered them to grind the grains, which were then processed into loaves of loaves and put into sacks of linen cloth, so that one of the sacks was stuffed with ten pounds of hard, dry loaves of loaves. The whole-wheat oatmeal of the Ross tribe is a kind of hard biscuits. It is not an excellent food in Rurik's perception. It is indeed the most shelf-stable grain food that the Ross people can make in this era.

In addition, Rurik bought a batch of cured meat from the tribe, and even fish that was frozen hard.

Each of the mercenaries will have their own sleigh, on which each will receive fifty pounds of wheat cakes, thirty pounds of cured meat, and frozen fish as extra food. In fact, the calories that these foods can provide are indeed enough for a modern soldier to support him in battle for a month in a state of war!

Rurik prepared food for the mercenaries according to the time limit for supporting the battle for one month. But he really underestimated the endurance of the Viking warriors in this time and space, and even the fact that they could get food by hunting.

Rurik completed the final reserve.

Each mercenary's sleigh is packed with a lot of supplies. There are shovels for digging, hand axes for logging and combat, daggers and spoons for eating, a few pottery urns, some charcoal blocks, a little sea salt, and nearly a hundred pounds of high-calorie food that can be eaten directly. Linen for personal tents and deerskin blankets to wrap your body around.

In addition to the most important is the steel arm crossbow. They will carry this weapon with them, and they will also carry ten arrows in their waists. However, their sleighs will be loaded with forty arrows.

The heavy equipment above made Rurik's mercenaries completely different from other Rus warriors. What's more, they were still wearing uniform clothes, and under the command of Yevlo, these twenty people were only responsible to Rurik.

The agreed first day of the Julian New Year in AD 830 has finally arrived!

The warriors on the expedition to the north gathered on the ice, and behind them were thousands of Ross people. The clansmen welcomed the warriors into the unknown territory and wished the old leader a new victory.

Everyone has read the prophecy to some extent, and the so-called trip is Rurik's first battle.

Children who are favored by God will surely make great achievements.

"Let's stop here." Otto ordered his old buddy: "I'll run to lead you along. Harrozuson, I think the tribe must be guarded by a man of high morals."

"Boss, please rest assured, everything is as it was before."

Otto nodded deeply, but he couldn't completely trust the old guy. Of course, Otto has a certain defensive mentality. After all, this guy participated in the leader competition when he was young.

What Otto can trust most is still his own blood family, and his feelings for his deceased brother are now completely transferred to his eldest nephew.

He patted Arik on the shoulder. "Harrodzen said a lot. Before we return, as in May and June, you two war chiefs must manage our Ross clan. Do you understand?"

There was some regret in Arik's eyes: "Boss, how much I want to go with you."

"Your words are worth it, call me dad."

"Yes! Dad. I..."

Otto waved his hand: "This is the end! This battle is your brother's first move. Listen, we can't go against God's will."

"Yes! I fully understand." Arik said no more, he knew that although he had lost this opportunity, the opportunity to fight was in the not too distant future.

The deep warriors had few words, and the Ross tribe warriors who dragged their sleds, led by Otto, formed a sizable team.

Here, only Otto's sleigh is pulled by the tribe's young warriors.

He sat on the sleigh, with Rurik and Rumia by his side. The leader's sleigh is guarded by elite warriors, and it is a great honor for the young warriors who do the job to pull the sleigh for the chief and future chiefs and future high priests.

And because the Russ face a frozen sea and a snow-covered world every year, they are highly skilled at making sleds. The people pulling the sleds don't feel that much effort, of course there are subtle elements in the design of the sleds, but also in the warriors chosen by Otto, who are young and strong, full of the violence and tenacity of warriors.

Otto was shocked by Rurik's training of mercenaries. It seems that these guys are well trained, but because they have not proven themselves through combat, Otto has always been highly vigilant about them. Until now, he ordered the people led by Yevlo to be at the forefront of the team.

To put it bluntly, in case of contact with the so-called "mysterious enemy" in the priest's prophecy, these mercenaries will be the first to fight.

Mercenaries! It is the combat power bought with money. If the battle is destined to die, it is best for the mercenaries to bear all the casualties of the team.

Otto thought so, and Rurik did not object to it.

Rurik had his own ideas, the so-called best to have a fight, so that the mercenaries could line up and shoot one or two heavy crossbow bolts at the enemy to achieve the first kill and achieve the first kill.

The women of the tribe cheered for their husbands and sons.

They cried in excitement, watching the expedition people drift away.

"Okay, our mother and daughter are left..." Niya took Carlotta and Ella's hands.

"Mom, Rurik and Dad, will you be safe?" Carlotta asked naturally.

"Of course! My daughter, let's go back and wait for their triumphant return."

The high priest's prophecy always haunted Carlotta. She does not like war, but has a desire for violent revenge. This idea is very contradictory, just like she hopes that Rurik will make great achievements in the war, and she does not want him to be injured. Because the future of the people of Ostara is protected by the Rus people under the rule of Rurik.