Rise of Rurik

,!

Using the lagoon as a cover, Seeburg is hidden deep in the lagoon.

Grobinia, now landlocked, existed in this era as Cherbourg.

Danish immigrants shared this settlement with the Kurlanders, who made a living by fishing offshore and digging for local specialties amber and beeswax for sale.

There are not many merchants who dare to take the inland river route, because these rough gemstones will eventually be sold to Riga. They prefer to row boats along the coastline of the Courland Peninsula, so that the route is clear and they will not encounter Semigalians on the way. Exploitation is one of the risks of encountering a storm at sea, but the greater risk is encountering pirate hijacking.

The Gotlanders and Bornholm people who cruised on the sea, although they also spoke Norse, would not regard the Danish stone diggers of Cherbourg as their own.

The concept of a nation-state was not born, and people everywhere only knew their own tribes, their own villages, and their fellow villagers.

Even if it is a village next door, even if they speak the same language and believe in the same gods, once some incident threatens their own survival, the people in the village will collectively take up arms, and men and women, regardless of gender, will form a militia to fight against their neighbors.

It seems that the southern Baltic Sea should be like this for thousands of years, but things have changed dramatically in recent years.

Of course, the stone merchants still paddled carefully along the coastline. In order to hide their identity, they did not even dare to raise the scale sail to take advantage of the wind most of the time. The main material of the traditional longship's sail is wool fabric. Due to inevitable dust contamination, the overall sail is always grayish white, which is extremely conspicuous in the vast sea.

If the ship is still drifting along the coastline, the color difference between the gray-white sails and the ink-colored coastal forest will be too great. Even a person with color blindness can detect this serious change in light and dark. The cruising fishermen are very likely to change when they see this scene. Come and intercept as a pirate.

The offshore route from Cherbourg to Riga is extremely important to the Amber Route, but a small boat can transport a large amount of rough stones, so there are not many merchants taking this route every year. The smart thing is that businessmen will always choose to take action when winter is approaching. In this way, the pirates have probably prepared winter supplies, most likely staying in their homes, pushing the ship ashore, and then waiting for the first snow to start a hibernating life until spring.

The merchants of Cherbourg did the opposite. They paddled hard against the freezing cold wind. After entering the Gulf of Riga, they raised their sails and took advantage of the freezing north wind to rush into the Daugava River. They sold the amber in Riga and then obtained it from local people. He bought key grains there and left the Gulf of Riga before it froze. Finally, he returned home to Cherbourg in early winter and spent the winter comfortably eating the large amounts of grain he had purchased.

Because the overall environment of the lagoon area where Cherbourg is located is not good.

The land under the pine forest is generally acidic, and without deep soil improvement, the growth conditions of even oats and rye are in a mess. The returns from farming are so poor that the locals would rather fish as a career.

To catch fish, you have to compete with the pirates on the Baltic Sea, and guarding the lagoon with an average depth of only about two meters, the number of freshwater bass caught is limited.

Even eating fish has huge disadvantages. Most catches only have a small amount of fish oil in the fish's guts. It is difficult for people to rely solely on ingesting eggs

For protein survival, fats and carbohydrates are the key to survival.

Fortunately, there are not many residents in Cherbourg. They can barely survive by fishing offshore, actively growing vegetables and collecting fruits, hunting in the forest, raising all kinds of poultry, and growing some oats on the limited good land.

As for the beautiful and tranquil pastoral life, that only exists in the residents' fantasies about Asgard.

Until this day, everything changed...

At first, the fishermen operating offshore frantically fled into the entrance and exit of the lagoon. They poured into the settlement of Cherbourg. As soon as the ship docked, they hurriedly got off the ship and shouted heartbreakingly in the village: "Pirates! Pirates! coming!"

The visitors were not pirates, but an overwhelming number of Ross fleet ships.

Blue and white sails soon gathered at the entrance and exit of the lagoon. Since the guide informed the army of the geography and hydrology of this place, all the big ships no longer foolishly rushed to the lagoon.

Under the command of General Goedlund, the whole army lowered the rope nets one after another from the big ships. Soldiers from each army flag team, dressed lightly and carrying few supplies, began to enter the traditional rowing long boats docked next to the big ship. Head towards the lagoon.

Each ship flew high the Ross flag, and the soldiers also wore standard Ross uniforms.

They maintained formation through the entrance and exit of the lagoon, where the formation was fully extended.

In order to ensure that there would be no trouble during the landing operation, especially since the roaring Russian soldiers under his command would not show their bestiality as soon as they landed, General Goedlund had to personally use his small ship as the flagship and arrange the wing ships on the left and right wings. The drummer and trumpeter, and a flagman stood at the stern of the ship facing the densely packed boats behind them.

Relying on complex body movements to relay the general's orders.

At this moment, the three guides on the boat were in a serious dilemma.

"My lord, you must keep your promise. If your army really shows its strength, Cherbourg will be completely destroyed."

"What? You dare to doubt our Russian army?" Goldlund looked at him with contempt.

The guide trembled all over and stammered: "I don't dare. I really don't dare."

"I know your worries, that's why I stand at the head of the team and guide my soldiers. I'm on guard against someone who keeps commanding you to do evil things to your people. That's fine." Goethelund paused and said: "You give our army a point. It’s a flat landing site, and as long as we set up camp, there’s no chance of any trouble.”

The three guides let out a long breath, looked at each other, and then pointed to a piece of wild grassland southeast of the fleet.

"Where?" Goldlund held Drike on the bow of the ship and squinted his eyes. He did see a meadow under the sun. "It's fine as a landing point, but there are a lot of reeds. That's it, that's it."

Some personnel guarded the anchored ship, and the Russian Navy established tents and temporary outposts on the narrow sandbank between the sea and the lake. Sail destroyers and armed cargo ships, after some adjustments, each ship threw the prepared pocket net into the sea, and then lined up in a horizontal line to start the tried and tested trawl fishing, focusing on sweeping up the herring in this sea area.

The well-trained Russian navy began to operate according to the plan laid out by Rurik, searching for small boats emerging from the forest across the peninsula, and began to set up a marine cordon on the first day of arriving at Cherbourg.

On the other hand, the four Army Flag Troops that landed landed at Goedelund on the same day.

A huge tent camp was built.

Also on that day, the frightened residents of Cherbourg, regardless of their boats, fled into the eastern forest area with their families and children to avoid disaster, leaving a large empty village to the "pirates" them.

This made the three guides sent to inform the people that everything was safe came to nothing.

On the first day of landing at Cherbourg, there were bonfires at Ross Barracks, and fishing fires were lit offshore. The trawl fishing during the day did not catch much herring. In the era without sonar, fishermen had to rely on luck to keep the fishing nets in the sea. , but taking advantage of the phototaxis of fish and setting up large nets at night can bring huge benefits.

The Russians had been busy all night, and in the early morning of the next day, as a large number of fish-carrying boats entered the lagoon, the Russian army's camp was suddenly covered with an indescribable fish smell.

The wheat was cooked on the spot, and the soldiers chose the fish they liked, cut off the fish heads and discarded the internal organs, washed them in the lagoon, tied them on pine branches and smoked them on the bonfire. They feasted here, and then Waiting for the King's Army to join forces as planned.

The faint scent of food wafted through the forest, and the people who escaped into the forest noticed that their villages had not been attacked by pirates.

These outsiders were extremely weird. They actually lit endless bonfires in the wasteland, and their ships were floating on the sea. They just missed the small port of Cherbourg and all the residential buildings. There was obviously a lot of valuable money inside that they could not take away. object.

But as for the three guides, they suddenly found that the whole village had become empty. However, they all returned to their homes to take a look. Unfortunately, they saw that the elderly at home were missing, and they rummaged through the boxes again.

, and found that the most valuable possessions were missing. No! It was the family members who were left behind who took their belongings and took refuge in the forest.

Finally, on the second day, hiding in the forest was not an issue at all. Some brave people tentatively returned to the village, and surprisingly saw the three fellow villagers who had been waiting for a long time.

After hearing the news, we found out who the "pirates" who blocked Cherbourg were.

They are actually Russians!

The reputation of the Russians has spread throughout this sea area. In the past few years, the Gotland pirates and the Bornholm pirates have disappeared without a trace. There are rumors that their lairs were destroyed by the Russians, and various people were killed. clean.

The latter rumors were too terrifying, but for these amber merchants who had been harassed by pirates, they actually appreciated these words.

But then again, since the Russians are so barbaric, wouldn't they attack Cherbourg?

Now the most worrying thing has happened. The Russians have surrounded Cherbourg.

"Brother, those Russians must have killed us all!"

"Absolutely impossible. The leader of the Ross people said that all of us in Cherbourg have surrendered to Ross. From now on, we are also Ross people. Anyone who dares to attack us is the enemy of Ross. Their leader will use the army to help us relieve our hatred. "

How can the residents of Cherbourg believe these unbelievable stories told by the guide returning home? What have the brothers done, and how can they be worthy of the rulers of Rus? The only thing the brothers are worthy of praise for is digging rocks from coastal sandbanks.

"Why? Don't they attack us? Are they good people? Or... all of this

Is it a conspiracy? As long as we all leave the forest, they will kill people? "

"This is impossible. It's all because of our brother Osten." The guides said this man's name earnestly.

"he……"

Ostin, who took a group of relatives and friends to Riga to sell stones via the inland route, suddenly became a "war chief" named by King Rus, and is now the top talker in Cherbourg. Although there is no actual chief in the settlement of Cherbourg, the people follow the traditional Nordic principles and elect speakers in the forum in the large village when encountering major events. If this old guy Ostein can settle things for everyone, there is nothing wrong with choosing him as the person to talk things over.

The people who came back first learned that the first reason why Osten was reused by King Rus was because this guy helped Rus completely defeat the Semigalians. Because of his huge contribution in leading the way, he provided a great service to the entire Cherbourg settlement, whether it was Danish immigrants or Kuros. The Lan natives won security protection.

It's incredible how fast happiness comes. You must know that as long as the power of the Semigalian leader who blocks the way to collect tribute is eradicated, Cherbourg merchants will not have to worry too much about offshore navigation if they go inland.

The people hiding in the forest were doubtful until they couldn't get key supplies in the forest, and a small rainfall made them feel uncomfortable. Due to the pressure of survival, they had to return to Qiu Wuwei's home.

At this moment, the Russian army under Goedelund maintained a strong determination. The size of their troops was almost the same as the total population of Cherbourg. However, they maintained great restraint and no Russians entered their village without permission.

Because the Ross army brought a large amount of supplies,

The military rations prepared for this expedition can last the entire army for at least half a year. If supplies are made midway, it may not be until next spring that all the food is used up.

Not only is the material loss caused by sea voyages, but the ocean itself is Ross's granary. On the day it rained, the Ross Navy did not start fishing operations. On the other days, a large amount of catches were sent to the military camp, and there was even a lot of wealth in the catches.

The fishing capacity of the Ross Navy has been greatly overflowed. Fishing with buried nets and platoon trawling are high-tech techniques that are unheard of by local fishermen. Herring, cod, smelt, and plaice, the four most common catches, were brought to the camp in large quantities. Now it was truly midsummer, and the roes of the larger fish were plump, so Goedlund deliberately reduced the food supply from the grain ships anchored in the sea. The soldiers in the camp had no choice but to eat fish as much as they wanted. Fortunately, there was plenty of fish meat and fish oil.

The uneaten fish can be cut into fish slabs and then smoked into salt-free dried fish by the campfire. Bored soldiers often do this, all to prepare for the future.

Because every soldier in each flag unit has received education, the basic theory of military logistics was accurately instilled in everyone by Rurik. From the small soldiers to the officers, they all think that it is natural for the army to prepare a large amount of food and grass before going out. This is like doing a large-scale sacrificial activity to pray for the blessings of the gods before going out. It is a necessary homework.

No, a small altar was quickly built in the Ross camp. Verika, her good sister Blackbird, and all the accompanying priests started a ceremony to thank the gods at the temporary altar.

They burn fresh fish to thank the gods and pray for smooth sailing in the future.

Anyway

There was nothing to do in the camp all day long. Everyone's first priority was to wait before the king's army arrived. The priests had no choice but to burn some fresh fish to ashes every day. In name, this was a tribute to the gods. In fact, It's also a way to kill boredom - simply playing with fire can arouse excitement from deep within one's soul.

The guides were released for many days in a row, and Goldlund, who was staying in the camp, had no time to care about it.

Whether the residents of Cherbourg surrender immediately or stay at home and hold on, what does this have to do with Ross?

Goldlund essentially disdains talking to those poor people. Just looking at the thick haystacks of their longhouses reminds him of Ross more than 20 years ago. Nowadays, such inferior buildings have been eliminated. .

Little did they know that the Ross Navy's behavior of blocking the entrance and exit of the lagoon directly cut off the "food route" for the residents of Cherbourg.

The people of Cherbourg had to row boats to fish offshore to make a living. Although people returned one after another, more and more people began to believe the words of the three guides, but Ostein and others had not returned yet. A large number of residents still chose to go fishing before they saw anyone. Wait and see. It all ends when food runs out.

They were forced to hold a meeting in the village meeting hall. The Danes and Kurlanders, as a community of interests, had no choice but to elect some speakers to collectively go to the Ross military camp to pay homage.

So five days after the arrival of the Ross navy, a team brought some poultry and rabbits as tribute, and cautiously followed the first three guides into the Ross camp.

A pair of sharp eyes stared at these locals. Because it was noon, the Russian soldiers were busy cooking wheat and grilling fish on the spot.

Permeated with a mouth-watering aroma.

All visitors to Cherbourg had a growl in their stomachs and had to swallow their saliva.

They were eager to find the commander of this army, and soon a middle-aged man wearing a huge felt hat stood up.

Goldlund skillfully folded his felt hat into a three-cornered hat. He wore a standard rosecloth robe with a belt that was securely tied and made him look slim. He wore a steel sword at his waist, and the silver-plated scabbard was inlaid with gems ( It's actually stained glass) and it looks incredibly expensive.

"You...are the King of Rus?!" a visitor subconsciously exclaimed.

"Bah! People from Cherbourg, I am an admiral under King Rus, you poor guys are not allowed to talk nonsense." Goldlund hurriedly corrected him.

"Sir, we are back." A guide said respectfully.

"Are they your fellow countrymen?"

"Yes, they are our people. They are very afraid that the Ross army will destroy Cherbourg, so they have not come to visit until now. I hope your lord can..."

"No need to say more." Goldlund waved his hand, and he ordered all his followers to retreat, took off his hat to reveal his hair that was starting to turn white, and he appeared as an old man. There was no hostility in this image. "People of Cherbourg! The people I sent must have told you the truth. In fact, you are already part of our Ross. We are actually a family. Why should I do something to my family?!"

Goldlund deliberately tried to hide it. He opened his arms as a welcome gesture, and the smile on his old face was reassuring.

Although it was unbelievable, the Ross Army ignored everyone, and the commander of the Ross Army could not feel any malice.

"Sir..." A person was

The person who made the recommendation said boldly: "Please open the exit of the lagoon. We are almost out of food. If this continues, everyone will starve to death. Since you are very good to us, please..."

"Is there such a thing?!" Goldlund thought for a moment, "Actually, your fishing boat left the lagoon and entered the ocean, and my people have no intention of attacking you. The great King Rus has already said that if you dare to attack you, you will be punished. I dare not disobey the king’s order.”

"But... we don't dare."

"Now you can do this. What is that?" Goldlund glanced at the wooden cage they brought: "Chicken? Rabbit? Tribute to us?"

"Yes."

"That's fine, I'll accept it. In exchange!" Goldlund pointed at the fish piled on the grass field: "We just caught them today. We can't finish them all and want to use them as dried fish. Why don't you all Take it away."

They were very depressed at first, and only after repeated confirmation did they dare to get the fish.

Therefore, because of this fish, the misunderstanding caused by poor communication between the Ross army and the residents of Cherbourg came to an abrupt end.

The two sides quietly shared this lagoon, and the Cherbourg people resumed their daily lives. It was a disaster, but the Russian army always adhered to Rurik's orders and did not commit any crimes against Cherbourg.

Soon, trade between the two sides began due to each other's needs.

One side has ready-made amber and is eager to sell it in exchange for grain, while the other side has a large amount of grain. But Goethelund did not have the power to sell military rations. He did have the power to order his subordinates to catch more fish, and sell the large smelt, plaice, and even the particularly large pike that he occasionally caught to the Cherbourg people in exchange for to unprocessed amber and beeswax rough stones.

This is true

It's a win-win deal.

So before Rurik arrived at Cherbourg, the entire settlement was happily hoisting the flag of Rus.

Now that Rurik has arrived in his loyal Cherbourg, it also means that one of the important starting points of the Amber Road has been controlled by the Kingdom of Ross. In the future, the residents of Cherbourg will no longer make any considerations and transport amber directly to Ross. And immediately replaced them with important means of production and living such as grain, cloth, and ironware.

The business practices in which the people of Cherbourg risked their lives are a thing of the past...

Rurik had already planned to take advantage of this expedition to completely monopolize the mining rights of Baltic amber.