Chapter 1414 Rurik in the Palanga County
【The Rise of Rurik】 【】
The horses galloped wildly, and the three Ross cavalry teams that headed south rushed across the lagoon at extremely fast speeds. It seemed to Rurik that he had just said goodbye to the locals of Cherbourg. Now there was no lagoon to his south, but only a piece of coastal grassland. .
The grass was growing wildly, but a forest seemed to be an obstacle.
At that time, Rurik knew very well where the army that crossed the Courland Peninsula left from the eastern forest. Now he ordered the cavalry to cross the shallow Balta River directly, ignoring the obstacles of the woods in the south, and after crossing the river, ran towards the coastline. go.
"There is nothing more suitable for galloping war horses than the coastal beach. The waves have created a long and narrow road for us. Our army will reach Palanga City directly." He issued an order to his subordinates, and as a king, he took the lead.
The navigation work that the Kurland guide Dapkus can give Rurik is limited, and Rurik's current march does not require him to frequently ask that guy "What should we do?"
The cavalry marched on the Courland Beach in a narrow sense. The horseshoes turned over countless wet and sticky sea sand. On one side was the ink-colored forest and on the other side was the secluded Baltic Sea. Sandwiched in the middle was the beach that was bleached white by the sun. Its width was There is floating between 100 meters and 200 meters, which is really suitable for the rapid movement of the cavalry.
Facing the salty sea breeze, the cavalry seemed to be racing wildly on some kind of highway. The soldiers all had a different feeling in their lives, as if everything had become a little unreal.
They enjoyed the speed and passion, and the neighing of the war horses and the excited howls of the soldiers complemented each other.
Look at the situation now! The Kurland guides were forced to lie on their horses (which were all captured Semigalian horses) and try their best to
He can lower his body and hold the reins tightly, for fear of being thrown off by the racing horse.
The surrounding woodland is quiet and sophisticated. Look at this cozy northern beach. Wouldn't it be great if a holiday camp was developed in the woodland? Rurik knew very well that the beach under the horseshoes contained huge treasures. As long as there were sufficient manpower and suitable tools, a large number of amber and beeswax rough stones could be dug out continuously.
vacation spot? No, it would be more appropriate to call it a gem mining resort.
The cavalry had no intention of staying, and Rurik's hope to reach Palanga before evening seemed to everyone to be a military adventure. No one was worried that the army would encounter the residents of Palanga who were on the defensive, but the horses were overloaded. After becoming breathless, the cavalry had no idea what to do next once they lost their advantage.
Rurik remembers a landmark that the guide particularly emphasized - the Sventoji River.
It is such a thought, and its original meaning is directly related to the "sacrificial fire".
The name of the river made Rurik think of the "Holy Fire River" where the Smolensk people's great altar is located. The two rivers have the same root.
It didn't matter what name the Kurlanders gave the river near their settlement. Rurik asked for only two concerns: where it was and whether it could be wade across.
Around noon, the beach was cut off by a small river.
Rurik reined in his horse near the river, and the soldiers gathered and wandered on the beach. He did not dare to take risks, otherwise it would be terrible if the cavalry fell into the quicksand, so he sent the cavalry to dismount to investigate, removed the flag from the cavalry spear that served as the flagpole, and used the spear as a pathfinder to explore the reality of the river. .
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【The Rise of Rurik】 【】
At the same time, follow
As the Russian army raged all the way, the Kurland man Dapkus was about to lose his soul. He was finally able to stand on the stable sand, but his legs were still shaking uncontrollably.
Rurik had just dismounted and stretched his muscles. When he saw the guide arriving, he pointed to the small river and asked, "Is this the Flame River you mentioned?"
"Yes... yes it is unmistakable."
"Can you ride directly across the river?"
"Yes. Even someone like me can walk directly there without worrying about any risks." Dapkus answered simply without thinking too much.
"Oh?" Rurik narrowed his eyes slightly, "In that case, let your people cross the river first to verify that what you said is correct."
"This..." Suddenly, a trace of hesitation appeared on Dapkus's face.
"Are you hesitating?"
"I don't dare. I... don't like my clothes getting wet from the river."
"Go now," Rurik urged.
Faced with such an order, Dapkus had no choice but to agree, but the pathfinders sent out had already come with their spears to report the good news.
"What? There are shoals everywhere that you can easily pass by? What kind of river is this? Is it a long river that flows into the Baltic Sea?" Rurik listened carefully to the report of his subordinates, and immediately changed his mind based on the current situation.
"Hey! Dapkus, that's it. Hurry up and let's go!"
Rurik changed his mind, which left a man who had just taken off his boots to wade through the water speechless.
In any case, the Russian army completed a short rest on the banks of the Sventoy River. The cavalry drove their horses to the river. They were so unsaddled that they made the horses hang their heads on the spot and drink some clear river water to wait for new orders.
It's like a heavy truck that has been driving for a long time and stops to refuel.
Add water, especially to cool down the brake pads quickly. This midway rest was extremely important for the cavalry. The horses passed through the river one after another in the splashing water. They were wet and their hot bodies were significantly cooled down.
The horse hooves continue to run wildly on the beach, the next stop is Palanga!
There are no obstacles anymore, just because the guide said that after crossing the small river, we have entered the territory of Palanga settlement.
Rurik was a little surprised that he hadn't seen any locals yet. What makes him even more elusive is that the geographical location of the mouth of the Sventoy River is unique. A small freshwater river flowing quietly can provide sufficient and stable water supply. If he wants to choose a place to build a new settlement, Rurik I would not hesitate to choose the place where I just crossed the river.
"Did something happen in Palanga? The guide mentioned the settlement of Kretinga, but the local leader seized Palanga, the site that wanted to surrender, and took everyone away." Rurik was A man in his right mind hates others taking away what he loves most, especially in the current situation. In his heart, he regards Palanga and all the local residents as his subjects. He arrived today to declare his authority and appoint the hereditary earl. Dapkus arranged it, and the matter basically came to an end.
However, Rurik's worries were unnecessary.
To build a settlement, you can't do without a stable water source. All the tribes and villages that the Russian army encountered and heard about along the way spoke dialects of the ancient Baltic language. Without exception, they were built along rivers. Even if individual settlements are close to lakes, they are "extremely wide river channels" and may not be essentially the same.
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【The Rise of Rurik】 【】
It's a real lake.
Palanga City is really a special case!
There are no rivers passing through the city of Palanga and flowing into the Baltic Sea. Although the salinity of the sea water here is very low, it is not drinkable. There is a slender lake here surrounded by woods. Its wonderful geographical location makes it almost level with the sea level. In fact, in the foreseeable future, this small coastal lake has a tendency to expand and develop into a lagoon.
However, once the locals choose to reclaim land from the sea, it will be impossible for a new lagoon to be created after razing the small lake.
At that time, the residents of Palanga did not have the ability to do this. They established settlements near the small lake, opened some fields on the lakeside, and easily obtained fuel and building materials from the forest at their doorstep. However, the most "lucrative" livelihood for the Palanga people is to dig out amber rough stones on the beach and under some humus in the interior, and then sell them to Cherbourg in the north, in exchange for some daily necessities from Danish immigrants.
The quiet life seems to have been like this since ancient times, and it will continue like this forever in the future.
Until the appearance of a large cavalry team completely disrupted the work of the beach diggers.
A pair of eyes noticed people squatting or lying on the beach busy with something not far ahead. The soldiers also noticed some shacks at the junction of the forest and the beach.
Rurik, who was in front of the team, raised his fist to signal to his subordinates and shouted: "Stay calm and don't hurt these people."
Then he ordered Fisk: "You personally lead a team of hundreds of people to rush through them. Don't let them escape into the forest."
After a dazzling operation, the Ross cavalry advanced wildly. The horses rarely reached a speed of about 60 kilometers per hour, and the villagers were digging for amber.
Just as they began to escape, the cavalry completely cut off their retreat.
cavalry! What a terrifying existence. What's more, all the cavalry are gorgeously and uniformly dressed, and the huge feathers on their helmets make them look like monsters.
Men, women and children, they threw down their tools out of extreme fear. They tried to flee towards the forest, but were driven back by the cavalry. As for those who wanted to escape from the large villages in the south, they were also caught up by the roundabout cavalry.
The arrow fell right next to the fugitive, which was already the most fatal warning.
Photographed by their prowess, the stone diggers had to retreat towards the sea. They had no idea who was coming. Only knowledgeable people noticed that the "Danish style" helmets of those strange warriors were partially concealed by their blond hair—— The Varangians of Cherbourg?
Limited knowledge can only allow so-called knowledgeable people to make such judgments. But then again, Cherbourg and Palanga have always had close trade. The two sides have almost become one of you, one of me, one of you, Cherbourg locals. How could Palanga not know the level of armed forces?
Besides, although the city of Palanga is small, there are also a small group of blond Danes living with everyone in the local area.
The woman held the child tightly in her arms, and the men held the woman behind each other with shovels, but they were all trembling and didn't know what to say.
The Ross cavalry on the other side did not hesitate to shrink the encirclement, and stopped when they saw that these civilians had no chance of escaping. Each of the three cavalry teams was a behemoth. The beach was full of these giants with flags flying. Everything that appeared today refreshed the outlook of the local civilians.
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【The Rise of Rurik】 【】
It was at this extremely embarrassing moment that the guides, who were also from Palanga,
They were both male and female, old and young, and they finally returned to their hometowns after half a day of fantasy.
After all, there are actually not even a thousand residents in Palanga, so all the local families know each other, especially the men. The young people are all playmates who dig rocks and fish together.
Dapkus decisively stood up with his family. With his appearance, the fear in the hearts of the people surrounded suddenly dissipated while they suddenly felt more strange.
After some simple communication, Dapkus gained the trust of the folks present.
And because Palanga is also a place where Danes and Kurlanders live together, the men know some Norse. Still because of this factor, the locals have a friendly attitude towards the Varyags, unless they are pirates.
An extremely powerful being descended on Palanga, so powerful that they were even more powerful than the leader of Kretinga in the east.
The nine hundred cavalry formed by three cavalry teams is a huge monster. The local people's understanding of "war" is still in the state of group fighting. Even if it is a group fighting, in their concept, even Jomonus, the leader of Cretinga, cannot win. With so many militiamen, even this leader also has "horse militia" in his hands. Looking at these Ross cavalry who have come from afar, it is self-evident who is stronger and weaker.
Everyone is a Dapkus family, and every family lives together. If this Dapkus is appointed by a more powerful person as the permanent war chief of Palanga, smart people will agree with Ross. The king's decision, not to mention that if you think about it carefully, it also takes into account the dignity of the Palanga people - the permanent war chief (count)
) are not others, but people from the village who know each other well and are married to each other.
But conquering the hearts and minds of the local people cannot rely solely on military force.
Rurik threw down some silver coins and bought some rough amber stones that these people had just dug.
silver? What a rarity! The transactions between the Palanga people and the Cherbourg people have always been based on barter. The locals have always been short of iron tools necessary for daily life, so silver coins that can be melted as currency and used as jewelry are even more scarce. After all, even the Cherbourg people have gone there. Most transactions in Riga involve barter.
(It is also because the Kingdom of Rus has fully expanded in the Baltic Sea in the past decade or so, and the hot money circulating in the world has poured into the core area of Rus on a large scale. This has led to imported inflation in the two major cities in the east of Rus, and has also led to deflation in other regions. People I have to resort to bartering more often, but I don’t know why I ended up in this unfortunate situation)
As a result, all the stone diggers suddenly became the guides of the Ross Cavalry.
In order to avoid the misunderstanding that the army was approaching the city and preparing to attack and plunder, Rurik realized that he had entered the main amber mining area. Rurik deliberately ordered the soldiers to rest on the spot and ordered the residents of Palanga to return to their own villages to inform the people. The arrival of the Russian army.
Tell them one thing in particular: resistance is useless, and good things will happen if everyone surrenders.
The villagers who dug the stones hurriedly returned to the big village. When the people of Palanga had just begun to realize that such a big thing had happened, the Ross cavalry, holding high their flags, had deliberately stood at the water source where the locals relied for their livelihood.
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【The Rise of Rurik】 【】
Rurik did this on purpose. He didn’t know if the locals would really be so mellow that they would kneel down so quickly.
The significance of this deterrence could not be more obvious as they control the lakes that are their water sources.
At the same time, Dapkus, who had entered the big village, stood on the haystacks at the entrance of the village. The villagers who gathered around him shouted loudly: "The Russians are coming! Soon the sea will be full of their ships! Their soldiers are better than ours." There are too many people, and all of us should not be stupid enough to resist. King Rus said that they are just taking the road from our home to the west. They have passed through Cherbourg peacefully, and will soon leave our home peacefully. .
Folks, what you have to do now is to take out the amber and salt that each family has. King Rus said that as long as we take these as tribute, the King will reward us with food, iron tools and silver coins.
For the sake of our safety, no one is allowed to resist. Each of your families should watch over their own women and children, and don’t cause any trouble! "
Dapkus earnestly appealed to everyone to accept the reality, but some people still naturally thought that the Dapkus they knew had changed, and had become a spy and a traitor.
Some men silently despised it and quietly left the messy venue. They took another look at the Ross army composed of cavalry occupying the water source, and they did not hesitate to identify them as intruders.
Only God knows if Palanga is so calm as to welcome those unheard-of guys to enter, whether they will tear off the disguise of peace in an instant and transform into a group of hungry wolves to eat up Palanga. At least from Dapkus's description, people can A key piece of information is obtained, that is, the Rus need amber from Palanga.
The local Kurland people who were on high alert quietly left and returned.
Arriving home in a hurry, he took his wife and family with him and fled straight to the east. Their destination was very clear, which was to go to the city of Cretinga to join the chief Jomonus.
The vast majority of people are simply unwilling to give up their homes, especially those who are so far away from the wheat harvest, so they will not abandon their wheat fields and seek death.
Since many of the countrymen endorsed King Rus' benevolence, others also provided King Rus with the opportunity to garrison his loyal Palanga.
So that evening, when the locals had clearly seen the faces of the Russian cavalry, they were all young and promising young men, the women couldn't help but make calculations in their hearts, wouldn't it be great if such a Varangian boy became their son-in-law? good? Although this is just a fantasy after all.
It was also in the evening that people fishing at sea returned nervously. Behind them was an extremely large fleet, which further refreshed the Palanga people's understanding of "ships".
How can it be! What is that orange patch on the sea? !
It was a magnificent scene of endless sails turning orange as the setting sun illuminated it. The ships were taking a zigzag course against the wind, so that distant observers felt that the monsters were still changing colors.
As the big ship anchored offshore, a large number of warriors once again skilfully disembarked ashore in the unladen longships towed by the warships.
It all seemed like an unprecedented pirate army was preparing to devour the small Palanga. However, the flag they were flying was exactly the same as the flag displayed by King Rus who had already entered Palanga.
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【The Rise of Rurik】 【】
Soon, a larger "cavalry" appeared, and the overwhelming "war horses" blocked the coastal beach. They were crawling towards the settlement at a slow speed under the setting sun.
Of course not
Instead of war horses, there were as many as five thousand male reindeer whose antlers were deliberately cut off. The deer herder and the 4th Cavalry finally arrived. Palanga finally became Rurik's Palanga, and the settlement was The Ross military camp was tightly surrounded, and Rurik also fulfilled his promise - never to interfere with the residents' life in the village.
However, the residents lived like kittens held in the arms of the Ross warriors and played with. They could only meow and act coquettishly, and could not even think of doing anything inappropriate.