Rise of Rurik

Chapter 589 New expedition to Britain

Reborn Carambola

After a long and tedious journey, the Rus army detachment led by Heliger, escorting the large number of seized goods and as many as more than 2,000 prisoners, finally arrived at Lake Oulu, a brand-new activity area for the Ross fishermen.

What is the source of water in the eastern land, and now quite a lot of Rus people have figured out that the hinterland there is the entire lake area, which delivers fresh water to the distant ocean year after year.

Lake Oulu may seem large, but it is far less beautiful than the lakes and mountains of the traditional territory of the Tavastians. It is just a meeting point for the currents of the rivers that flow into the sea.

Facing the brothers who suddenly appeared, the fishing people were surprised and rejoiced again.

Arrived at Oulu Lake, the rest of the formation does not need to rely mainly on walking.

Fishermen's boats began to transport the crowds for a small reward, such as spearheads and some hides seized from the enemy. They even asked for some captured women, but they had to give up because they were all tattooed by the soldiers.

But suddenly two thousand women will join the Principality of Ross, and the fishermen and men are really worried about the future.

They were all short, dark-haired women, and if they all became new Rus women, would the remaining children still be considered pure Rus? Maybe it should be, after all, the high priest Rumia, who was appointed to Odin, also looks like this.

It will take some time before a large group arrives in Coventstad and then takes the boat back to Roseburg on the other side of the bay.

Before that, five hundred Suomi girls had their new homes, and their men in the camp had fallen into joy.

The youngest and most energetic men became their husbands, and these same men were the mainstays of the Rus' army at this stage.

Can they fight another battle? Can their energy still guarantee an expedition?

Rurik couldn't help but be hesitant, but he couldn't change the goal he set during the winter.

Men all over Roseburg responded positively when he released a brand-new mobilization for war, aimed directly at the Great British Isle in the West.

Especially the young fighters of the First Banner Team, who had recently beaten Tavastia in the east, and the blood of the enemy still lingered on their steel swords. They were obviously the most active group.

"These guys have just married a new woman, and a group of women will come back soon. You still like to fight with women?!" Rurik was very happy but speechless.

The fierce atmosphere of Roseburg can be felt by any fool. All men, from childhood to old age, are shouting war and looting wheat, cloth and money.

It was a sunny morning, and the mild southerly wind infused warmth into the fjord.

The women were busy with their children and were busy doing laundry. Craftsmen from all walks of life stepped up to work in such good weather, hoping that the men fighting, they were busy polishing their swords and spearheads, and painted their shields with new lines.

Although the duke has not yet announced the official expedition plan, it is obvious that after the meeting of the adults this morning, the official plan will be released, so the new expedition by ship is only a matter of the next few days.

Rurik sat upright in the most central position on the first floor of the palace.

He sat cross-legged on a bear skin, the bear head hanging on the wall even more majestic.

Old Otto sat beside him with his white braided hair and beard. He was already the de facto Supreme Duke, an old guy who wanted to take care of his life. There are many old guys like him. Everyone is the elite of the Ross tribe, and the era that belongs to them has inevitably passed.

The young people in front of them are all the pillars of Rose, and the five thousand women are holding, pregnant, and pulling children, and they represent a bright future.

At present, the two core flag teams of the Rus Principality are composed of pure Rus people. Ten centurions and two flag captains are here.

In addition, Fraser, the captain of several flexible flag shooting teams,

Grund, who had a raven shield and brought his brothers to surrender, was also honored to participate in the meeting.

Another example is the Biyonni brothers, the heroes of the Balmers. Not only were they present as VIPs of the alliance, but anyone with a discerning eye could see that the Balmers would have to make great efforts in the next war against Britain.

All the people present got the news, and everyone waited for Rurik to announce the expedition plan, but the brothers hurried to execute it.

Rurik said twice, and when the time was ripe, he said solemnly: "The plan for the expedition to Britain was made last winter, and this plan must not be interfered with by various external forces. Perhaps some of you will feel that now It's June. Is it appropriate to go to such a distant place to conquer the enemy. Yes, it's a bit risky, but we have to do it."

In fact, he still misjudged everyone's thoughts. The people present are not afraid of war, and they will not give up because of the many difficulties they may face. There is no dove here at all.

Rurik added: "We must conquer Britain, and we must plunder a great deal of wheat. Do you know, brothers, that we are now facing a great difficulty?"

The Duke Rurik left the question here, and everyone stared at it, not knowing for a moment how to answer the question.

Arik, his cousin, shouted carelessly: "What about difficulties? We are very powerful, and the Danes who are now considered powerful are also dying under our swords. Brother, you are the one who killed the Danish king with your own hands, you He even said that there are difficulties."

After Arik finished speaking, he laughed, and the others also laughed out loud because they were immersed in their past achievements.

They laughed enough, and Rurik shrugged helplessly to point out the difficulty.

He tapped the wooden floor and said, "The problem is that we have too many people! It's not that there are too many people now, but that there will be an astonishing number of people in the future."

He then pointed to the experienced young people present: "In the past, the number of women in our Ross tribe was less than that of men, but now it is completely the other way around. Which one of you doesn't have two women in the family? Which one of them doesn't hold one in his arms? , one in the womb? Soon, we Russ will have 10,000 children, then 20,000, 50,000, and even 100,000! In just twelve years, the boy will be able to take up arms, and in fifteen years, swaddle Every girl in our midst can become a new mother. I have full confidence in your strength, as I have had seventeen women. I also fully believe in the strength of the women we shelter. I dare say, when I get there In the gray-bearded years, our Rus population will exceed half a million!"

500,000 people? ! Rurik here uses five hundred thousand to describe it.

Seeing that everyone was a little confused, he deliberately said: "A flag team has 500 troops. At that time, we can rely on a population of 500,000 to organize 200 flag teams composed of strong men! Think about it, that is the Our true strength. But to feed so many people, we need a lot of wheat!"

"Sure enough, only looting the British?" said the quiet old Otto with a cough.

Rurik turned his head slightly: "Yes, at least for now. We are still pioneering in the East, and we must keep attacking him for the next ten years before the newly cultivated fields can produce enough wheat to feed everyone. Otherwise we must go hungry. Not only are we going to attack Britain this year, I'm afraid this will become the norm in the future."

"So, that's why you decided to keep fighting?" Arik said and smiled again, "Very well, I like it. I think the brothers all like it."

When Arik said this, the people present raised their fists in response.

He added: "Brother, no one refuses war. Brothers are eager to kill the enemy. Say! When will the troops be raised? What is the strength of the troops? Brothers, hurry up and prepare."

This is the end of the matter, no amount of dawdling is a waste of time!

Rurik stood abruptly, standing like a giant, and began to give orders.

"Listen! Brothers..."

Regarding how to send troops, according to the original plan, the Rus army sent a thousand soldiers to expedition to Britain, and the attack spearhead was still Northumbria, which was still directly attacking the soft persimmons, and even this expedition might not necessarily have a decisive battle with them.

Rurik estimated that the King of Broken Arms named Ernred would take into account the strength of the Viking army, either hiding in the fortress and not being able to survive, or sending messengers to seek a peace plan.

Any war must have a purpose. If it is a war for the sake of war, how is it different from bandits and bandits?

Therefore, the strategic purpose of fighting the Principality of Rus is to give full play to all the subjective initiative to grab the wheat.

At the same time, together with the Balmerk Confederates, a formal treaty was signed with Northumbria, and a piece of land was cut off from its territory and became the common territory of Balmerk and Rus. Then the kingdom must pay an annual fee Tribute to meet the needs of the Great Northern Army.

The latter's plan is actually more to complete all the Balmers in the port of Narvik. They can manage the territory cut off from Northumbria, so the Rus also have a free port in the western world. .

Therefore, where should be the long-term control area of ​​the northern army, it is naturally Lindisfarne and Bamburgh that were mainly attacked by the expedition last year, where a new castle for the northerners should be built, which is the so-called Newcastle. To put it bluntly, Newcastle itself is a military fortress built by Normans of Viking descent, located near what is now Bamburgh.

In fact, everyone who listened attentively understood to a certain extent that this expedition was also helping allies to a large extent. Today, no one would think that the Biyonni brothers and their Balmerk warriors are outsiders. It is not the first time that we have fought together. Although we are half-breeds, the friendship cultivated on the battlefield is already brothers. .

It would be a good thing to make Northumbria submit and pay tribute if it could put up a strong army.

Of course, the belligerent Arik understood the idea of ​​his brother and immediately questioned it.

Rurik's casual explanation made his cousin have to think again: "We now have the ability to hit York directly and destroy the kingdom of Northumbria. But if we do, other nearby kingdoms will be swallowed like vultures. The corpses of the war dead, and then we would have to fight them endlessly, and it would be impossible to get a steady stream of wheat and other tributes."

Keep a weak Northumbria, let the warriors of the north divide a territory, use their land to grow their own wheat, herd their own sheep, and when they are strong enough, naturally destroy the kingdom and replace it.

The strategic plan is so, how many troops should be dispatched?

The first thing that Rurik thought of was of course the young men of the First Banner. They had suffered losses in the previous war, but now the essence is still there, and the loss of troops is also very weak.

He was a little hesitant at first. These young people have just finished their two-month Eastern Expedition. These days, they are afraid that they will be hollowed out by the newly acquired women. Since Arik and the five centurions under him were all alive and well, Rurik also put his concerns aside.

Think again, maybe you shouldn't have any concerns. The advanced fleet of the Rus Army can float all the way along the coast to Balmerk. As long as it does not take the initiative to provoke a battle with possible enemies in the middle, I am afraid that it will reach the port of Narvik in the fastest sixteen days. These days, they are enough to cultivate their bodies on the boat, and without the entanglement with women, the recovery speed should be faster.

The soldiers of the first flag team are already less than 500 people, so take some experienced old guys from the second flag team to supplement!

In addition, the flag shooting team is essentially a hodgepodge of people, and it still has to fight as a hodgepodge today.

Rurik decided to select 300 people to participate in the battle, that is, 200 mercenaries under his command, and 100 Suomi servants. He wanted to choose the Heliger and the Meralen flag team, and also wanted to bring the useful Kewen archers, but those people were still on their way back.

There should be 800 Rusian soldiers in the landing operation, and 200 auxiliary sailors (actually a group of elderly fishermen and professional sailors).

A total of 1,000 people from the Ross Army was enough, and it didn't look like a big army at first glance.

Do not! This is an army!

Because, for this expedition, Rurik was determined to deploy the current main force of the Rus' navy, and to match twelve armed cargo ships to build a fleet of up to twenty large ships!

This is the plan of the expedition to Britain, at least the Russ are going to try to fill their ships with spoils. Another function of a fleet of this size was to keep all Danes at bay and try to avoid unnecessary fighting when passing through the straits held by the Danes. Yes, Rurik had no intention of launching any attack even on the island of Bornholm.

The plan had been drawn up, and the time of the expedition was set by Rurik on the twentieth of June in the Julian calendar.

This kind of time is actually not over. The so-called when the army first arrived at the hometown of the Balmers in Narvik Port, and then organized a huge fleet to reach Britain, it was only August. Rurik was very aware of the days when the British people harvested the spring oats. Everyone arrived in early August, just in time for the local people to complete the husking of the wheat kernels. It was really the right time to grab the ready-made goods.

There were still a few days before the planned time. When the order was issued, Rosberg turned around and began to allocate grain and fodder to prepare the military supplies.

So much so that the merchants immediately began to sell their wooden carvings of gods at lower prices, in order to buy the warriors and their families who are in urgent need of expeditions to obtain good fortune.

Four sailing cruisers, Avlora, Sperosville, Duke of Ostara, and Balmerk, as well as the four Mercury, Venus, Mona, and Maas Sail destroyers, and twelve other armed merchant ships with hull numbers, all of them began to increase their armament.

Rurik really didn't have to worry too much about weapons. He went out to fight, but the military production in the rear never stopped.

The old Kravason is still a busy man. Although he is too lazy to make iron himself, he is instructing the blacksmith apprentices under his command to make the metal parts of the torsion slingshot. He has cooperated with carpenters and cobblers to quickly manufacture the torsion slingshot!

All sail cruisers have five torsion slingshots on each port and starboard, while sail destroyers have been reduced to six on each port and starboard, and all armed cargo ships are still fitted with only one. What's even more amazing is that these torsion slingshots can be disassembled and installed on two-wheeled carts to become a land warfare weapon.

For the various rowing longboats of this era, the torsion slingshot and other weapons that were originally not powerful can also show terrible destructive power.

Of course, adding so many armaments to Rurik cost a lot, so what's the point? When the looted materials were transported back and the wheat and leather were sold, there was another powerful "Silver Coin Recycling".

Soon, another good news came, and there were hurried ships reporting good news from the East!

The detachments of the Rus army finally returned to Covenstad on the fourth day after Rurik's return, and on the sixth day, the day after Rurik ended the military conference, the news arrived in Roseburg.

The good news was spreading wildly. With this news, Rurik gave an order, and the eight large ships headed by the Avrora set off immediately, heading for Covenstad, due east, to bring people back as soon as possible.

The fact is as Rurik expected, the big ships showed their powerful carrying capacity, and also showed high speed under high carrying conditions, that is, the handling of follow-up matters was really awkward.

Although the crew arrived at Roseburg after a day and night of drifting at sea after boarding the ship, it was a terrible scene of crowded people. Although it was not enough to cause suffocation due to lack of air, the environment inside was really unpleasant, mainly because there was a The smell of urine and even vomit...

The ship had to be cleaned again. Fortunately, the soldiers of the Rus army detachment from the east, the captured Tavastia woman and the child in their arms, a total of 2,500 people were transported by these hundreds of ships. return. It was really crowded, but Rurik also tested the manned capacity of his ships. It can even be improved further, after all, the cabin can be full, and the deck can be full.

Maybe the Avrora can transport five hundred people on a single ship? That's just a maximum of thirty-five tons of accumulated weight. According to her design, Rurik will have no problem until she can load a hundred tons of cargo.

At least his expedition does not have to face such a dilemma. Even if there are more than 200 Balmerks (with battle damage) boarding the ship, 20 large ships carry 1,300 people, and one ship will carry 60 people. What trouble.

The expedition was imminent, and the men of Rosburg divided the captured Tavastiya women. Most of the men found the women they marked according to the "tattoo", which was regarded as "family reunion".

How about that? The young soldiers of the selected first flag team, they are too lazy to entangle with women, and now only a new great victory can satisfy their restless hearts.

In the same way, they are also clearly aware of the good intentions of the Duke as never before. Facing his two or more wives, a man feels a heavy burden on his shoulders, which compels him to do his best in this expedition. Able to fish for loot, especially for wheat.

Otherwise, their women and children really have to live a bitter winter with austerity.

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