Rise of Rurik

Putting the boats on their heads, everyone took two boats across the frozen mountains and unloaded them in the alpine lakes, and then they drifted all the way down the river.

Mordgen and his mates are going to the east of the mountain, looking for those who have a lot of pelts to trade.

He never dreamed that he would enter the territory of the Rus by accident.

Now, it is even more necessary to do business with a child who claims to be blessed by the gods.

Absurd? It's so absurd.

The Rus people are here. Since the other party is also willing to do business in essence, there is no need to be rigid. In business, no matter if the buyer is blind, deaf or a child, they are willing to pay for the goods, and that is the best customer.

Mordegen tried his best to calm down and complimented: "Honorable man, we are fortunate enough to step into your territory, this must be my destiny. We climb the mountains in the hope of finding buyers of our goods, perhaps, the Rus people are our most valued buyer"

This compliment made the warriors on both sides very happy, and Rurik felt a little happy in his heart.

"I know you're trying to do business. Say! What exactly were your plans before you met us?"

"Looking for the Cowens. We want to buy their hides, or we go out into the vast wasteland to hunt ourselves. Your lord, maybe you don't know, we need hides."

It seemed that the person's words were very sincere, and Rurik pinched his chin to ponder these words carefully.

you do not say! Although the port of Narvik never freezes, the geographical structure of that area is extremely complex. There are only a few small flats where very few livestock can be raised, and even a little cold-resistant crops can be grown.

It is precisely because of this principle that the locals are forced to try to go out.

Rurik thought for a while, he gestured his finger, and a mercenary came over. Shortly after he gave some orders, the mercenary quickly ran out.

"Sir..." Mordegen was a little puzzled when he saw this.

There was a confident smile on Rurik's face: "Aren't you looking for the Kewen people? Very well, you will be able to meet the Kewen people soon."

This remark made the already inexplicable Mordgen even more puzzled.

Rurik just laughed without saying a word,

It wasn't long until Mechasta, the leader of the Iron Squirrel tribe, walked into the house that Mordgen began to realize the complexity of the situation.

Mechasta was ordered to sit in the ranks of the warriors, and Rurik introduced: "You are looking for the Kovins? You see, this is even a leader of the Kovins."

"He?" Mordegen glanced at Mechasta and made a subconscious judgment: "Could it be that you and the Kewen people have already formed an alliance?"

"It's not an alliance! It's a conquest." Saying that, Rurik proudly beat his chest with his fist: "The times have changed! We Rus conquered all the Kovins, and I am the master of all the Kovins. Visitors from afar, You are destined not to meet Kewen people on this journey, and you will only meet us Rus people, because the Kewen people are already part of us."

"They...have become your slaves?"

slave? Rurik wanted to refute this, but in his heart he was more than happy to call the Kowens his family.

However, by giving it the status of a "slave", it will definitely be able to show its martial power.

"Yes! They are all our slaves." After speaking, Rurik's attitude became extremely serious, his beautiful little head leaned forward, and his eyes were full of fortitude: "They are all my personal slaves. Do you want to be with me? They do business, so do business with me."

Who would have thought that the Kewen people with fur have been conquered by others.

If you think about it, it's probably not a bad thing.

Mordegan's trip was purely a spontaneous expedition with his brothers, who also listened to the legends of former explorers. Legend has it that there was a river in the far east, and there lived people who called themselves "Kowen" and spoke another language. The Kewen people had a lot of leather in their hands. Despite the language barrier, the transaction is still the same.

With just a few words of information, Mordegen embarked on an adventurous journey

After going through all kinds of difficulties and dangers, in order to trade in a large amount of trade, the right path for more than a month has unexpectedly fallen to such a point.

Now that the trading partners have become the Rus who conquered the Cowens, and both sides speak the same language, now Mordegen has also given up the idea of ​​"taking advantage of the buyers". Because he doesn't think that the Russ are the existences that can be deceived without being revengeful.

At present, the information is still very unclear.

The atmosphere in the whole venue was a little awkward, and Mordegen boldly complimented again: "Sir, you must be the leader of the Rus people, and this is your territory? Oh, what a great city."

The so-called city, in the context of Norse, is pronounced "Brog", or "fort".

It is more similar to the concept of a city-state, because each tribe basically does not have a second major settlement other than its own main city, and that kind of micro-village composed of several households is not counted.

The Ross people present understood the meaning and couldn't help laughing.

Rurik ignored the embarrassment of the visitors and said with a smile: "Could it be that this tiny settlement of you is the core of our Rus people? No! You look down on us too much."

"Ah?! Could it be that you still have many settlements?"

"Of course." Rurik braced himself, "this is not even the territory of the Kovins. This city is called Fort Elronorava, which is the colony of our Rus. And I am not the biggest leader of the Rus, but I A leader indeed."

Rurik told the basic truth, but Mordgen really needed some brains to understand it. Because the current residents of Narvik Port have not yet opened a shipping route across the North Sea, they have not colonized the Shetland Islands for the time being.

There is still only one large settlement in the port of Narvik, and the local people are not scattered due to the constraints of the fjord environment. Due to the abundance of local fishery resources, their population is also larger.

Now that the words have come to this, Rurik feels that he must show his muscles, this is not a boast, but a means of self-protection.

The so-called "stop fighting against the enemy" means that the real force must be a large-scale military operation, but when a warrior shows his sharp sword, he can rely on a powerful aura to scare the enemy into surrender.

Due to the status quo, Rurik and Otto's attitudes were the same, and the Russ lost a hundred of their most elite warriors in a year of armed action. It seems that this loss is not a big deal, but there are only 2,000 men in the Ross tribe who can use weapons, and there are only 700 or 800 core warriors. Due to traditional thinking, Otto and Rurik could not completely believe that the mercenaries and conquered servants would give their lives for the Rus people, so the most elite hundreds of tribal warriors were the foundation for Rus to be strong.

"Our core is Roseburg in the south, which is a huge settlement with a population of at least..." Saying that, Rurik stretched out his hands and showed five fingers. "A finger represents a thousand people, and just in Roseburg, we have ten thousand people."

"Huh?!" Mordgen was taken aback.

Knocking on the other party's unpretentious expression of consternation, Rurik boasted that he was posing as a "hairy cat", which indeed made them feel that the Russ tribe was exceptionally powerful. It's not over yet.

Rurik continued: "This is Fort Elronorava, our northern settlement. The territory of the Corvins is also the territory of our Rus, and their warriors are our warriors. And some islands to the south, It is also the settlement of our Rus. There is even a farther east, called New Roseburg, where at least 5,000 Rus live, and even more than 10,000 servants of the East."

The words came from the mouth of a beautiful boy. Mordgen thought it was absurd and he dared not deny it. He didn't realize that a child could say such a word very logically. I am afraid that the Rus people controlled a large number of settlements. , and their population, which is really far beyond their hometown.

For a moment, a lot of sweat oozes from the top of Mordegen's head. He originally came for business, and now he can't help but feel a kind of fear about this transaction.

Because communication is relative! Since the Rus conquered the Kovins and were able to dispatch large armies to build settlements everywhere, they must be very warlike existences. If they were made fully aware of their Balmerk tribe, would the Rus move to the idea of ​​an expedition government?

Rurik did not estimate Mordgen's thoughts, "Since I said about the situation of our Rus, what about you? What about you Balmers?"

"This……"

"You mean?!" Rurik urged.

Mordegen could not have imagined that he was actually forced to exist as an envoy. He suddenly felt a heavy burden on his shoulders. This time, he needed his own good eloquence, not to mention the possible conquest of the Rus. Let them understand that any attempt to attack the Balmers, whether successful or not, will cost the attackers a lot of casualties.

"My lord, our tribe also has ten thousand people, our warriors are brave, and they are also very eager to go out of the fjord to do business. For example, my brothers and I, we ran tirelessly for more than a month, we The original plan was to spend the whole summer looking for Kewen people to do business after crossing the mountains. In my tribe, I am just a very ordinary person. We have many very brave people who can continue to trek in the snow without food or drink for ten days . They can fight monsters in the sea with only short spears."

"Oh, so you Balmers are very brave beings?"

"certainly."

Rurik nodded, it seemed that the other party didn't want to show weakness, but he also didn't want to show strength.

Then again, if there are 10,000 Balmers, the Rus should be wary of them. Rurik was a little scared, he couldn't be sure whether the other party was bluffing or real. Ten thousand people, according to the standard of the Far East, is a relatively small population unit, but in Europe, this person can become a regional power, not to mention that they are still standard Vikings.

Things got a little trickier.

It can be said that in the year 830, at the estuary of the Kemi River at the Fort Aron Orava, the Rus from Svealand, the first historical contact with the Balmers of the port of Narvik took place. Neither side can judge each other's background very well, and it is reasonable to brag about each other and be cautious.

However, Rurik had knowledge from later generations. He knew that the changes of more than a thousand years could not cause the vicissitudes of the fjords to change. Thousands of years later, Narvik Port is still an important port, a modern Norwegian military port, and a northern port related to Norway's economic lifeline.

The initial communication ended here, and Rurik couldn't bear these people to continue kneeling halfway.

He snapped his fingers and beckoned the mercenary in chainmail to come and listen to the order. Soon they carried some roughly tanned, not yet fully dried polar bear skins into the house, watching the laying of the bear skins in the astonished eyes of Mordgan and his companions, as if these bear skins had become very linked. .

Mordgen's eyes couldn't help but stare at the bear's head scratched on the wooden wall, and a chill surged from his body.

"Tell me, what exactly are the commodities you're planning to trade?" Rurik asked after sitting down.

"It's salt."

"Salt? Is this a very precious commodity?" Rurik asked.

"This...for Kewen people, it may be precious. But for you, it is naturally a very common existence."

Is this a form of flattery? Rurik is not easy to make sure, because for the residents of the Baltic Sea, everyone can get a little salt by burning the seawater in a pottery urn, just to dry the water, but it takes a lot of firewood! Salt is necessary for everyone's life. It is not that people will die if they don't eat salt. It is also that salting fish, red meat, and even some foods such as carrots with yellow roots is the key for everyone to survive the winter. Although extreme cold and smoky drying can also ensure that the food will not spoil, it is better to pickle it with salt to ensure that the food has a better taste.

The salt in the hands of the Rus people is boiled with the seawater of the Baltic Sea, which has a very low salt content, and the cost of obtaining it is actually not low.

Rurik ordered: "Take out the salt and let me see."

"As ordered."

Mordgen immediately ordered his men to take out two heavy burlap pockets, and the hemp rope that bound them was untied, and they publicly displayed a surprising amount of white salt in the pockets.

Seeing this, Rurik stood up abruptly, walked over with a dignified expression, and then half-knelt in front of Mordegen in public, stretched out his right hand to touch the salt in the bag, and licked his fingers full of salt.

During this process, Mordgen didn't say a word. He looked at the golden braids that the boy put up in front of him, and was amazed at how shiny and smooth the boy's hair was. To be honest, he had never seen anyone with such beautiful hair.

The entrance of the salt grains, a very familiar feeling, directly and strongly stimulated Rurik's small head.

In short, the salt provided by these outlanders is really good salt!

"Ah, the quality of these salts is very good." After speaking, Rurik raised his head and asked the core question directly: "How much salt do you have?!"

"At least thirty Roman pounds."

"So much?!" Rurik stared at the two large pockets, and the little motor in his head began to spin wildly, wanting to buy all the salt to fill all the construction Elonora had been building during this time. watts of heavy salt loss for heavy manual labor.

In a practical sense, these outsiders brought in 30 pounds of salt, which is a real help in the snow.