Rise of Rurik

By the time the bobsled team finally reached Fort Elrond, the long river had largely thawed. There are still a lot of floes on both sides of the river, and there is also thick snow on the shore, and the flow in the river has been much less.

The blade-like wind is gone, the rising sun is warm, the snow is melting rapidly, and the grass seeds under the snow are sprouting.

A little trouble lay in front of Rurik, his troops were all on the right bank of the river, and the city of Elrond was on the left.

One long ship after another, in the form of transport ships, took some time to transport them, including the deer, and even the empty sleigh, to the city on the left side of the river.

Finally, those Balmerks who had crossed the mountains for the first time into the unknown eastern world finally arrived at Elon Orava, the northern iron city of Rus.

They were shocked at the beginning, not only by the city's solid walls and scattered buildings within the walls, but also rejoiced and able to feast.

People living in Fort Elrond have resumed fishing, and because of the winter dormancy, fishermen have stepped up their herring efforts in the area.

Balmers eat herring that is different from their hometown. The fish is a little different in outward appearance, and the scales are different, but the grilled fish is sizzling and dripping with intoxicating oil, and it tastes delicious when sprinkled with salt. .

Because the Baltic herring is a subspecies of the Atlantic herring.

In today's era, humans' ability to slightly increase the fishery resources in the North Atlantic is sloppy. The only efficient trick they can think of is to light the oil lamp on the fishing boat, use the phototaxis of the herring to cast a large net when it gathers, and then keep trawling. . The Balmers often catch giant herring nearly half the size of a stika, and in the Gulf of Bothnia, which is said to belong to the inland sea of ​​the Rus, they all eat small slap-sized fish.

But bear meat is a magical delicacy.

Bear meat itself has a shy taste, but fortunately, they are a group of ruthless people who can pinch their noses and swallow the angry shark meat. It is nothing more than a pinch of salt to eat roasted bear meat. Eating the fierce bear reflects the conquest of the hunter, and people who learned the truth immediately sighed at the strength of the Rus.

When the snow melted, a large number of hunter families pulling sleds and running far away triumphed with a large number of bear skins, bear heads, claws and meat.

Rurik's arrival at Elronborg happened at a special time. The warmth of spring and summer was dispelling the cold winter at an extremely fast speed. The Arctic Circle, a land of ice and snow, was recovering rapidly, and the price was extreme muddy for a period of time!

Since the two northern strongholds of Fort Elrond and Fort Fisk,

Beishou's hunters are even more crazy.

Ross hunters do not need to form a hunting team of hundreds of people to cooperate and dash forward. In the past, everyone had to huddle together to keep warm because they didn't have a stronghold, but now it's natural for them to go hunting with young men and advanced weapons.

The wooden arm crossbow transformed by the short wooden bow is not expensive. Its core is the crossbow component. Only it is mass-produced by blacksmiths through bronze casting. Other parts can be imitated by a large number of Ross woodworkers.

More and more hunters buy wooden crossbow, the arrows it shoots are difficult to kill bears, and it is easy to aim and kill smart arctic foxes and sleds, so that ordinary hunters can also become archery masters in a short time. As for dealing with bears, hunters are equipped with a large number of short spears and spears, and a few hunting families and groups can cooperate to chase and kill bears that appear wandering in the field of vision.

They are not simple hunters, their identity is warriors, and each man's subordinates must have ten lives at least.

These are the men from the First Banner Team and the Second Banner Team. They knew before the north hunting that the Duke would take the brothers to crusade against the new enemy. They originally planned to sell the leather as soon as possible after it was shipped to their hometown. After getting money, in addition to improving the family economy, it was to enhance their military equipment.

Unexpectedly, Lord Rurik came to Elronborg.

Ships from Roseburg arrive in a few days.

Since many of the brothers who were eager to go out happened to be in Elronborg, Rurik, who was supposed to be gathering in Roseburg, simply trained the team here first.

Thousands of people gathered in one place, and Rurik stood on a high rise made of wooden boxes, receiving the admiration of men and women.

He glanced at the crowd under the scorching sun, breathed the warm and humid air, and noticed water dripping from the eaves out of the corner of his eyes.

He raised his arms and said: "Brothers of the first flag team, I will take you to conquer Karelia. I saw that you have killed a large number of bears in the northern ice field, and these leathers are enough for you to make a fortune. But I know that you You will not be willing to be a hunter or a fisherman at all. You hurry to prepare, and we will return to Roseburg together with the boat. You will only have two or three days to prepare, and then our fleet will rush to the east!"

The words were spoken in Norse, and the Russ and Balmerks fully noticed Rurik's anxiety. They discussed lively, and the quiet scene suddenly became noisy.

Rurik waved his hands again to gradually restore the silence of the scene, and then shouted loudly: "Brothers of the first flag team, the Balmerks are now also Russians, they are the fourth flag team, and they are your future comrades in arms. Take this opportunity to you Talk as much as you can, and take care of each other when you get to the battlefield."

He didn't say any more, and quickly dropped the wooden box.

The men who belonged to different flag teams actually knew a little bit about the previous battles. The brothers of the first flag team admired the fighting will of the Balmers. They spoke the same language, believed in Odin, and fought in a style. Also very similar. Their attitude towards the new group of Balmers who had just arrived was extremely kind, and the exchange was naturally the other's gratification.

They mingled, which Rurik would have liked to see.

However, the fourth flag team formed by the Balmers is a group of powerful labors. While waiting for the big ship to dock, this group of new troops cannot be allowed to eat dry every day.

For the time being, the food for this group was provided by Rurik. If a large team were to be supported for a long time, the internal wear and tear would be staggering. Rurik couldn’t help but worry when he thought that the army of the organization in the future would frantically consume the food in stock.

"Make the most of this group of people's workforce."

Rurik ordered the men of the fourth banner team to cut wood on the spot, cut off the pine branches, and carry the cut logs to Elronborg, and hand them over to the "Governor" Mechasta. These logs will be thrown into charcoal kilns to burn charcoal, and then smashed into small pieces for iron smelting.

Very suddenly, Elrond became a densely populated place.

Many very young children here are old enough to run around, and a large number of Kowen women are still holding their young children. However, there are some women who are directly eyeing the new Balmerk boy who has just arrived, and invite him to his home to continue borrowing seeds.

This is to provide fresh blood for the rapid recovery of the gray squirrel tribe, and Mechasta and Rurik are happy to see this situation.

Finally, the fleet from Roseburg has arrived!

The Avlora, the flagship of the Duchy of Ross's navy, flutters the flag on her mast.

Not only it, but six other ships broke down at the mouth of the Elrond. Rurik recognized them clearly by the words nailed to his ship's side.

There are two new Avlora-class sailing cruisers, the planned fifth ship Grey Squirrel and sixth ship Salmon Chief, and apparently they were launched perfectly while the seas thawed.

The other four are smaller, and they are all the first four ships of the planetary sailing destroyer, such as the first ship Mercury, whose position propeller bearings are clearly visible.

A group of sailors with bare sleeves and light sackcloth disembarked. Apart from the old sailors under the command of the great merchant Gould, they were a group of young people who were new to the industry, but they were not native Ross tribesmen. These people are basically from several ethnic groups around Lake Mälaren, and now they have left their hometown with their families to join Ross. Rurik trusted them, or they believed that the Duchy of Rus was several times stronger than the so-called Kingdom of Sweden.

Several leaders of the sailors were also acquaintances in Rurik's eyes. He asked them to report some information, and he learned a lot of key information.

"Otto still didn't wait for me, and took some people to the Neva River first. The big merchants were also busy with this year's trade, and took the Gurdot and led other guest merchants to Lake Mälaren. Fortunately, Otto Taxes in kind and money are collected before I leave." Rurik squeezed the golden retriever under his chin and figured it out. Things were indeed being done step by step, but he still hoped to cooperate with Otto's Eastern Sorgon fleet. .

I think that I have already delayed too much time. It is now mid-May. It is true that only the area of ​​Elrond Castle still has the lingering sound of winter. Presumably, Roseburg is already the scenery of early spring.

People quickly rode on small boats, and within a day, the hunters of the First Flag Team, the Balmers, and even the thirty longbow-wielding Kovin veterans who had been brought by Lurikat gathered in the fleet.

A large amount of leather was naturally thrown into net pockets, and people were dragged onto boats to fix it. Even a batch of new chrome weapons made by Elrond are really a boost to future battles.

The fleet sailed against the south wind, although these young Balmers saw the large sailboats that belonged to all Balmers in principle, and now she must have become the baby of Magnut, who was promoted to the king of York.

That big ship was built by the Rus, and the pure sail-powered sailing fleet that he rides now is the main force of the Rus' navy.

The fleet is so huge that everyone can look down on the ordinary longships cruising. Wouldn't this be a condescending blow if they encounter an enemy? It's really cheap.

The young men of the Fourth Flag Team heard the boasting of their respective team leaders, all of which were all about the invincibility of the Ross fleet, as well as the victorious battles after adding fuel to it.

Especially when a war case was talked about, people couldn't help but pay attention to the boy who liked to stand on the bow of the boat.

Rurik, Duke of Ross, this young man killed the king of the Danes in a naval battle!

They arrived at Roseburg smoothly, and the men of the fourth flag team all saw the huge, magnificent and fantastic true face of Roseburg.

It was a fine morning, and the snow in the fjords and nearby areas had melted clean, and the dark green world had not only recovered, but the sense of new greenness could be perceived from a distance. The golden morning sun just shone into this eastern fjord, and Roseburg was immersed in the morning light, and everything was full of hope.

A group of fishing boats have long been cruising on the sea, and some boats have washed up on the sandy beach.

Thawed beaches are bustling, and Ross's morning market is full of people buying and selling their catch.

When a fleet arrived, people looked at them with enthusiasm. They saw the fleet and knew that Lord Rurik had returned.

The ships of the fleet stopped smoothly at their berths, and the soldiers disembarked one after another, followed by a large amount of cargo.

A fat man was waiting on the trestle bridge, kindly greeted the returning Duke with open arms.

"Blue fox? You didn't go to Hazelbee when you were not on Gould Island, but you were arranged to stay behind by your father?" Rurik said nothing.

The second son of the great businessman Gould, nicknamed the Blue Fox, is fatter than before, like an elephant seal. He fell into the sea because he has too much fat and does not sink.

He said in a proper manner: "My father arranged it. He said that the Gould family will fully support Ross's new expedition, and the remaining material ships have any needs. He ordered me to fully support it."

"Gould? Your father is such a smart man. Well, I'm on a tight schedule, and I'm going to get into action right away."

"Sir, arrange a task for me."

"Mission?" Rurik stood straight and thought, "Then take out the money first and buy all the bearskins I have arrived at the market price. Attention! It's the market price! I want ready-made silver coins."

The blue fox was a little puzzled. Since this was the Duke's order, he completely agreed.

Bearskins are the wealth of the hunters who are compiled in the first flag team. Rurik doesn't want them to waste their limited time selling leathers in person. They must turn the bearskins into silver coins as soon as possible. What they save is combat readiness time.

Rurik was very anxious, and as soon as he landed, he summoned all the young men of the first flag team to assemble.

No, on the afternoon of the fleet's return to port, Arik assembled all the soldiers of the First Flag Team on the beach.

At the same time, the fourth flag team composed of the Balmers was assembled.

All of Rurik's capable mercenaries, a hundred young warriors led by Fraser.

There were even as many as two hundred sailors (and warriors if necessary) manning the ships.

This sudden gathering was so powerful that the city walls were filled with people jokingly commenting on Lord Rurik's big soldiers.

Due to the battle damage, the original 500 soldiers of the first flag team had been sharply reduced to just over 400. Fortunately, the essence was still there, and the brave Arik did not feel that he was small.

About Otto and a bunch of old guys who belonged to the second flag team bravely ran to the Neva again, Rurik and even Otto have few opportunities to travel like this. Since the ascension of the High Priest Vilia is rapidly aging. He continued on this route with men of the same age, and a feeling of a bygone era filled Rurik's mind.

He knew that Dad's trip had many purposes, and everything was negotiated before. He wanted to come here with Otto's prestige not only to make the people of Novel Rosberg cheer, but also to quickly send a team from Novgorodera.

Many old folks don’t know how to evaluate the Russ duchy now governed by Rurik. The duchy is no longer purely a Ross clan, and an astonishing number of outsiders have joined in. It is inevitable that the old Rus people are a little bit repulsive, just because the current Ross is indeed getting better. Stronger and more unfamiliar, he is no longer the Ross in the eyes of the old guy.

Familiar people either passed away or immigrated to new settlements in the East. Although Rosburg is because of the dense population that everyone urgently needs the opportunity to immigrate, and now many pure Rus have immigrated, the population of Rosburg has become denser with the addition of outsiders. What's even more amazing is that the solution to the living environment is to solve the problem. Building high-rise houses and logging on nearby land to build houses, but the new settlers have a large number of people from Lake Mälaren, and now hundreds of young lads, who take off their hats and show their patterned bald heads with braids. Prove yourself very different from traditional Rus.

Indeed, because of cultural customs, Balmerk men like to shave a lot of their hair and get tattoos on their heads.

The old guys will eventually die, and when they die of old age, tens of thousands of screaming children have grown to the age where they can take up arms and fight.

Rurik focused on the future, and more importantly, he must lay a stable external environment foundation for a harmonious future.

He was standing there, tearing his throat and shouting to the soldiers the purpose of the war.

Even if his understanding of the Karelian people is rather vague, he is just a bunch of turkeys. But his subordinates can't think that the Karelians are weak, and the result of underestimating the enemy will be disastrous. He knows that the thousand or so people in front of him are basically half of the strength of the Principality of Rus. It will ruin the strategic opportunity for the rise of the Rus Principality.

He described the Karelian people with emotion, deliberately making up something terrible, deliberately portraying them as terrible and brave enemies.

He knows the attitudes of his brothers too well. The enemy is best to be brave, so as to inspire the fighting spirit of the brothers.

But the most important propaganda is this!

Rurik drew his sword and pointed to the east: "Brothers! Kill those brave enemies, take their wives and daughters to be your wives, and let those women bear you children. Take their livestock, take them The hides of buckskins, bearskins, minks are all yours! You will all be rich!"

The warriors cheered with fists raised, and Rurik was delighted to see this, and he and his brothers made no secret of their desire to plunder.

If it is only to plunder the women and wealth of the Karelians, the pattern is too small.

As duke, Rurik had to deal with the possible strategic threats from the north in Novo Roseburg, but also to seize local resources.

He gave everyone a mere three days to prepare, and the army would set off on May 22 of the Julian calendar.

The time is very tight, Rurik has been on the road these days, and he is quite tired but he can't care too much. His plan is more radical, that is to try to arrive at New Roseburg before June 1st.

The selected warriors have already started their final preparations, and the entire Roseburg has become extraordinarily lively because of the war frenzy.