Rise of Rurik

After all, Paul had been a serf all his life, and it would be foolish to expect this guy to have any shame.

Rurik made Paul stand aside, and he scooped up a basin of seawater and directly washed the king's stinky face.

Now, Rurik, who once had a naive idea of ​​the whole world, has disappeared. He squatted on tiptoe beside Ernred, who was huddled in a ball of cloth and still bared his teeth. He held a bit of seasoned sea salt in his right hand. Seeing that the man was still resentful, he deliberately sprinkled the wound on his left arm with salt.

The king opened his mouth and shouted in action, full of words like "Kill me", a phrase Rurik understood.

From Ernred's point of view, a fair-skinned teenager with blond hair and a whip was squatting in front of him, and his clothes were indeed different from those of the barbarians. As far as the situation is concerned, I am afraid that this young man is the commander of the entire barbarian army?

This young man is indeed a little handsome, but the viciousness in his heart is like Satan's demon.

"You... how dare you destroy our monastery on a holy day!"

Rurik listened to it, and it didn't matter to him what the king said. In his opinion, to kill a so-called nobleman, he would just pick up a dagger and stab him in it.

King's name is Ernred? Oh, this Ernred is just a kind of "voucher" now, how much this person is worth is what needs to be determined most at the moment.

Rurik asked Paul to translate his words.

Paul still had the wicked smile of a villain, and said sharply: "My master said that the Viking army will attack Bamburgh."

Just mentioning the name "Bamburgh" made Ernred tremble.

"Bamburgh! It's Bamburgh. My master said that the only way to avoid war is for you to pay tribute in a thousand pounds of silver. When we get the money, we give up attacking Bamburgh, killing the people of the city and the villagers. Farmer. You, too, will be released."

To be honest, Ernred was a little tempted. He thought about it and felt suspicious, so he shouted: "This is a contract with the devil, it is not credible at all. You killed me."

"It doesn't look right." Rurik shook his head and asked Paul again, "How is the situation?"

"He... is looking for death."

"Have to be a hero?!" Rurik not only pinched his chin,

Looking at Ernred, who was baring his teeth and his eyes full of helplessness and grief, he shook his head: "Isn't it scary."

Guyger came with an axe in hand: "Since this person is still looking for death, and he doesn't want to pay for his life at all, why are we chatting here? Brothers rushed to that Bamburgh and killed all the locals, and the treasure is all ours."

"Don't be impulsive." Biyongni stepped forward, followed by more people. Everyone still thinks that the idea of ​​"exchanging captives for money" can be implemented, but now the king of Northumbria is stubborn.

Biyonny signaled Guyger to move out of the way, and he slapped Rurik on the shoulder: "Brother, this person has to be subdued. I'm afraid it won't work if I pee and wash my face again, you see."

"What's wrong."

"His arm is already broken, we just wrapped him with cloth strips, and if we continue like this, he will still die. He is dead, and we really can't exchange him for money."

Rurik nodded, following Biyonny's train of thought.

"Then heal him, be cruel, and force him to cooperate."

The sun had just set, and the captured Northumbrian king Ernred was in a state of sheep to be slaughtered.

He was pinned to the sandy beach by several people, with a Viking warrior kneeling on the big arm of his injured left arm.

With a mass of rags in his mouth, he stared at the burning sword in the fire with frightened eyes.

Rurik sat cross-legged beside him, with a handsome, sullen face under the soft light of the bonfire.

Soon, Biyonni came with the red-hot sword.

"Rurik, I'm about to do it."

"Go!"

After a while, the sound of zizi la la came, Ernred trembled in severe pain, and the large beads of sweat quickly wet his forehead and then sweated like rain.

There was a scorching smell of barbecue in the air, and Ernred's tremors became more and more like madness.

The red-hot sword slowly cut along the root of Ernred's left upper arm. Such brutal healing methods may save his life, but if he does nothing, this Ernred will die of wound infection.

Biyonni took the severed and broken left arm and threw it into the bonfire.

At this moment, Ernred was dazed with pain, but the torture was not over yet.

A pottery urn of sea water woke him up again.

Ernred woke up, and felt that his left arm was in severe pain. He tried to raise his left hand and found that he had no intuition. What's even more terrifying is that he actually bare his belly to the sky? Not even the last robe to cover up shame?

Rurik still sat beside him with a sullen face, motioning Paul to say in a very Rurik old Saxon language: "This is the commander-in-chief of the Vikings, the duke of the Duchy of Rus. This is an inevitable war. You! King Ernred of Northumbria, you must pay a tribute of a thousand pounds of silver to buy back your life and prevent Bamburgh from being razed to the ground."

He was not killed, and the other party's actions were obviously healing.

A thousand pounds of silver? !

Ernred's haggard face panted: "Too many! A thousand pounds of silver."

Rurik leaned forward and asked again, "You still don't want to give it?"

"..."

Rurik shook his head and said with hatred, "If that's the case, I'll turn you into a eunuch."

Although Ernred didn't quite understand the boy's words, he immediately understood it all.

Bare his belly, like a stallion waiting for gelding. There was a barbarian with a shaved head, who had already approached his vital point with a red-hot knife, which was clearly a gelding.

This is the greatest humiliation to a man, and Ernred couldn't care less, shouting: "I give money! Give money!"

This was not unexpected by Rick, so he ordered his men to stop and asked, "A thousand pounds of silver? Give it?"

"A thousand pounds...a thousand pounds is too much. There is not a thousand pounds of gold and silver in the whole of Bamburgh."

"You still don't cooperate?"

"No!" Ernred shouted, trembling in fear, "Two hundred pounds! Bamburgh can take out two hundred pounds."

This number has been very clear, from 1,000 pounds to 200 pounds, and the heads of the various families of the Balmerc tribe present have a variety of thoughts.

A thousand pounds, a silver coin of this magnitude challenges everyone's concept of wealth.

It was two hundred pounds of silver, and the brothers would be very happy if the money was actually in their pockets.

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Taking the attitude of everyone together, Biyonny pulled Rurik aside a little, and at this moment, a few people gathered together to discuss in a low voice.

Biyonni bluntly stated his satisfaction: "Two hundred pounds is already a lot. Based on our previous looting experience, I'm afraid we can't squeeze much in this kingdom."

Many other people echoed, their short-sightedness and extremely easy-to-satisfy attitude really gave Rurik a headache.

"That's it? Are you satisfied?"

"Otherwise? This guy's mouth is so stubborn, I think it's hard for us to squeeze any more benefits. I'm afraid that Bamburgh is indeed very poor."

The speechless Rurik shook his head and turned back to sit next to Ernred: "Then give me another 100,000 pounds of wheat, I know you have just finished the wheat harvest, Bamburg is said to be a big town in your north, and there must be some Lots of wheat."

"You... are you thinking of wheat?"

"Come on! One hundred thousand pounds of wheat, to give or not to give."

"100,000 pounds is too much. I... can only put out fifty thousand. Vikings, if you scavenge all the wheat, our people will starve to death."

"You... are you begging us? You are begging now? Do you think I'm so kind?" Rurik, who drew his dagger, motioned for Paul to translate his words completely.

That's all, the short sword was directly against Ernred's ear: "One hundred thousand pounds! There is no negotiation."

"..."

It does not appear that the king does not want to cooperate, but is caught in a substantial negotiation, and he is trying to cut his losses. This shows that this person is not a faint-hearted prince, but any effort by him is useless.

Paul immediately began to translate another of Rurik's words, and this sentence was uttered by a leader of a strong and savage tribe from afar, and it was terrifying.

"The losses of your proud cavalry are huge, and the huge army has been wiped out. Edinburgh and Lindisfarne have been destroyed. If Bamburgh is destroyed again, what will Mercia and Wessex think? We Vikings want silver coins. , ask for food! But those people, always want to annex your kingdom. They will kill your family completely, and the means are more brutal than ours."

Ernred was silent for a while, sighed and murmured: "You, you actually know Mercia and Wessex. You are obviously barbarians, and you came prepared for this attack."

"Of course. We come for wealth. Will you buy our safe life with silver and wheat?" Rurik asked deliberately.

"Hehe, do you have such good intentions? Even if I take the money, you will still overturn the promise."

Rurik naturally agreed with what the king said. The so-called promise of peace in any form is essentially a truce promise for a period of time.

The tide of the Viking age has begun, and the Russ are not a brave trend-seeker in this tide, other brave Danes and Norwegians.

Rurik couldn't guarantee his so-called promise, he said bluntly: "At least you can trust us now. I'll take you to Bamburg, I'm afraid I'll be there tomorrow. I know it's also located in the seaside cove. town, the army will surround the town, you will be publicly displayed. When we get the tribute we need, you will be released and the whole army will be withdrawn."

go home! Reunited with wife and children! Just rectify the internal affairs, recruit new recruits to train the army, and then strengthen the coastal defense and strengthen the land border defense.

Within seconds, Ernred devised multiple strategies to avoid a repeat of the tragedy.

First of all, you must go back alive, even if you pay some serious price.

"I agree. Two hundred pounds of silver, one hundred thousand pounds of wheat. You send me to Bamburgh, and I will order the local garrison to do what you want. Just please, don't attack Bamburgh."

Rurik nodded: "I can make a promise, but I'm going to add terms now."

"Ah?! You guys..." Ernred was so angry that he felt that he was being played by this brat.

"Don't be nervous, I've already estimated your strength, it's already like this, and I won't urge you to do things that you can't do."

"What do you want to do?"

Rurik didn't care, and pointed at Ernred's key points: "We are all men, and men have needs for men. My brothers have been sailing on the sea for a month, and they came to your territory to ask for silver coins, If you want food, you also want your women. Provide me with a hundred young women, a hundred pure women. You can’t fulfill the demands that are too high, and a hundred pure women must be brought out.”

"This... Am I going to buy a peace with a woman?"

"Do you have a choice?"

Ernred just raised his head and fell down when he heard it. He really had no choice.

"Okay! Well...they'll call me a tyrant."

"It doesn't matter." Rurik shrugged and pointed to the dark sea: "What's on the other side of the sea? They're all enemies! Do you think the enemies of Northumbria are all on land? No! Your kingdoms are nothing but sheepfolds. There are sheep fighting for fodder, and wolves are on the other side of the sea. We take the money and women and leave, but more people will come. We and the newcomers are not a group, even if we do not come, they Come back, and they don't even give you a chance to negotiate with you."

"So, should I even thank you?"

"Of course you have to thank me." Rurik withdrew his sword and ordered his men to put a fig leaf over the king's body, "We will leave early tomorrow, and we are expected to arrive at Bamburg at noon tomorrow. We will camp under Bamberg. See, the stone walls of Lindisfarne can't stop them, what is Bamburgh? Whether we attack the city or not depends on whether your tribute is provided quickly. You can't die now, you can rest for the time being."

Having said that, Rurik stood up and glared at Ernred with his head hooked: "You are indeed a foolish king, you don't even have a warship. I expected a naval battle, but nothing happened. Your cavalry Cause me a little trouble, and that makes my victory a little glorious. Tomorrow, I'll show you the charm of the Vikings' big ship."

Rather than asking for tribute with the captured enemy king, ordinary Balmerk Viking warriors hoped that they would carry a battle axe and use their skills to snatch it after breaking through Bamburgh.

With the loss of a group of brothers, and the continuous expedition in the past month, even if everyone changed their actions because of the loot, everyone's momentum was still the same, their violent snoring at night could not deceive Rurik's ears.

Balmerks and Bergen immigrants from Shetland, they don't need to receive any moral inspiration from the cross at all. Everyone believes in Odin, that is, belief is glorious in the fight, and brutality is really a hymn to the berserker. But their physical fitness as a whole could not satisfy Rurik. The real Rus warriors have been gorging on wheat and meat all these years, and their strong physical fitness has shown a strong advantage in many battles that bet on honor and the future.

If the Balmers are allowed to storm Bamburgh, Rurik still has the confidence to take the city in one fell swoop.

The price is naturally another 200 casualties. It is reasonable to say that it is not the Russ who died, so he should not care.

But wait! When I returned to the voyage, I had to cross the sea area controlled by the Bergen people. In line with everyone's "sea etiquette", the fleet carrying a large amount of loot must be slow, whether it caused the Bergen people to suddenly gather and launch a momentum. Massive looting spree?

The rule of the sea is that the strong is king. The ruling family leaders of the Balmerc tribe, or the children of the leaders, were all in the army, and Rurik found that they would not complain about their command because of the huge loss of personnel, but only about not having enough treasures.

Considering that this trip to Bamburg is very likely to get a large number of loot, if a large number of Balmerks are killed in battle, who will paddle a large number of long boats directly back home? The Avrora can't always be towed by more than one ship.

The key to obtaining a large amount of tribute in a peaceful way is that the captured enemy king must live well.

That night, Ernred was bound with his legs, and his right arm, which was still alive, was tied with a rope to the rope of his heel. A piece of wood was thrown into his mouth, so-called beware of committing suicide by biting his tongue.

Rurik was wrong, all the Vikings were wrong, they really thought that Ernred had a high probability of trying to kill himself, at least heart-to-heart, the Vikings couldn't stand such insults, or fought to death or suicide.

Ernred never thought about suicide, and he feared the consequences of suicide and hell more than the fear of death. He entered the new day with a very awkward posture, everything was like a dream, as if everything was a nightmare.

It was not until someone kicked the wound on his broken arm, causing the whole person to scream in pain, that he realized that there was no nightmare at all, and he was facing the darkest moment in his life.