Chapter 479: Rurik Coincidentally Confronts King Karl of Sweden

"The Rise of Rurik ()"

The rainy weather has finally ended, but the temperature has not picked up.

Rurik was surprised to find that thin ice floes had appeared on the shore of Gould Island, and the fresh fish hanging outdoors had become hard.

"Is it a cold winter this year? If the lake freezes too soon, won't I be able to leave?"

The Avlora lacked ice-breaking capabilities, and other cargo ships could only do worse.

The sun came out, the world began to dry and cold, the ice floes were a very bad omen, and there was not much time left for the Rus.

The elegant phantom of the Avrora appeared on the pier of the Melalen Market, and her appearance once again attracted the attention of the public.

Many Mellarens knew that the Rus were indeed attacking Gould, just because the Rus had recruited under that banner more than two months ago.

The crusade against the Gotlanders has the righteousness of crusade against the rebels. Similarly, the second and third sons of each family, who have no right to inherit the family business, take the risk and become mercenaries for the Rus.

After all, they are the children of their parents, so what happened to the people who went on the expedition?

The Russ should have won, otherwise, where did those guys get a lot of money and go door-to-door in the rain?

Most of the farmers and fishermen's families in Melalen, the rainy days made everyone complain. The Rus people bought a pound of wheat at an exaggerated price for no reason, and many Melalen people suddenly got ten silver coins. The happiness came inexplicably, and they didn't know what to say.

There are also families with dead husbands, and the weeping women cry even more in ecstasy. It was only because the envoys sent by the Russ made a clear promise that the Duke of Ross would be sympathetic to the soldiers of the kingdom who died in battle, and would be willing to help the families of the soldiers pay off their debts, as well as the promise that Ross could live and work in peace and contentment.

The promise at the back is too vague, and the promise at the front, the Rus people promise to pay off their debts for them this month!

There were different opinions among the people, and they gathered together to chew their tongues because of lack of entertainment. Some people say that the Rus people are generous, and the Duke of Rus is a good man. Some people say that the Russ must have unknown intentions in doing so. There is also a group of people, they are itching to wait and see, the so-called Rus people recruit mercenaries again and immediately sign up.

The only thing they can be sure of is that the Russ really won, so the Meralon mercenaries after the victory are afraid that they will always serve the Rus after they get the benefits. If this is the case, it is really a good way out.

The people watched in horror as the huge Ross ship arrived at the port. People watched shoulder to shoulder, and then saw the big ship put down the planks, and a group of people who were very neatly dressed got off the ship.

Check them out!

One of the leading warriors had the head of a white bear on his head, and the bear's upper jaw and fangs shielded him from the sun. This person is wearing a white bear skin that is excellent for keeping out the cold. Under the leather is a blue and white tunic, a cowhide bag is tied around his waist, and a sword is hung on his body.

This man was holding the gold-trimmed flag of the Rus, and the monstrous beast on the top of the flag added to his imposing manner.

Some nobles were guarded by similarly dressed warriors.

A rumored celebrity was recognized, and Rurik's name began to be shouted excitedly.

There were also people, especially plainly dressed women, who raised their hands to thank Duke Ross for the silver coin reward the other day.

"It seems that our move has worked a lot, and they are grateful," Rurik said casually to Gould.

"Yeah, who can refuse money. Just adults, don't believe too much that they will go with us after a little favor."

"I know. Haha, it's just that I'm enjoying it. It's the Mellarens who have gathered, and they're welcoming us Ruths. Dead Olegin didn't enjoy this while he was alive."

Otto listened to his son's words all the way, and his heart was very comfortable. He liked the feeling of being greeted across the aisle very much, loved by the people of the Ross tribe and now cheering for the more populous Melalen.

The entire Melalen market was in hilarity, and the people gathered. They came to see the style of the Rus people with a lively attitude, and looked forward to more rewards from the Rus people.

Sure enough, Gould, the big businessman, began to use his means.

Gould's tactics caught Rurik by surprise.

The four followers of the big businessman took the cloth bags from their waists and started throwing money to the welcoming people.

This move directly detonated a chaos!

"What are you doing, Gould?" Rurik was shocked, because these people were frantically picking up money.

"Haha, look at them! Hahaha..." Gould thought it was very interesting to throw money, and this act really made Rurik speechless.

The money maker has been shouting a simple sentence, and repeating it loudly without listening: "This is a gift from Duke Ross!"

Rurik was stunned: "Gould, can you afford to spend so much money?"

"It's just some copper coins. The copper coins are worthless to us and still useful to them."

"Copper coins? Well then..."

Rurik didn't want to say anything, after all, Gould did it with good intentions. If you betray your own tribe and join others just because of a little favor and small favor, it is pure lowliness and no bottom line.

The people of Melalen who are picking up money just need money.

Who benefits from creating a stampede? Of course it's the Rus.

No, the actions of the Rus people quickly reached Carl's ears.

"Russian!" Carl once tried his best to vent to a wife and concubine in extreme anger, and the result was that the woman couldn't stand up for several days.

Now, Karni has deflated a small golden cup.

"Russian! What do you think your king is? Rurik, you are so arrogant! You are humiliating me!"

The Rus people are just showing domineering, their hegemony has the confidence, after all, the big city of Visby in Gotland was destroyed by the Rus army.

Now back to his hometown, Carl can't quickly organize a powerful private army that obeys his orders, and those big families who are greedy for power are just around the corner. Internal affairs had made him devastated, and now the Russ had come to do big things.

To raise food, Carl prides himself on doing the necessary evil. He is not a pure fool, and he knows that this move hurts the feelings of the people. However, for the great cause of revenge for his father, in order to maintain the face of the king, this can only be done.

What else can Karl do? He could only hold anger and jealousy in his heart, seal up his arrogance, and greet the extremely arrogant Duke Ross with a smile on his face.

The wooden wall erected like a fence is where Carl's mansion is.

Rurik raised his head slightly and signaled his soldiers to ignore the fearful guards at the door, and broke through the door with brute force.

In the face of the strong, etiquette is of course necessary. Rurik didn't think that Karl today was still a light person. He didn't even get the love of the people of Melalen, and he could only shrink in its shell like a turtle.

The guard who held the door wanted to say a few more words, but was directly pushed down by the arrogant Ross man in bear skin, and the short spear in his hand also fell on the mud.

The wooden door was easily opened, and the open door seemed to welcome its true owner.

"Come on, Dad," Rurik said casually.

Otto was taken aback: "Are we being too outrageous?"

"I think my brother is doing very well." Arik raised his chin arrogantly. "Karl? He tried to fight me, but I was easily pressed to the ground. I don't admit that such a person is a king."

"That's the case. We still want more benefits, and we'll need this person in the future." Rurik said nothing more, urging everyone to enter.

The noise outside made Carl sitting on pins and needles sitting in the dark inner courtyard.

Exactly a year ago, father Olegin had his first consultation in Rurik in Rus, and a year later Rurik came again. And he Carl needs to pay off the huge debt owed to his father!

Borrowing 400 pounds of silver coins to fill up the most excellent weapons for the expedition army, the invasion was defeated, and all the personnel and weapons were lost.

Even so, the defeat had nothing to do with the fact that he borrowed money, and he had to pay the full principal and 100% interest with food.

The Russ appeared in the darkness with arrogant steps, but the first thing that caught Carl's eyes was the hideous bear head.

"Ah! Bears! Bears!"

Carl and the servants and slave girls around him were shocked and retreated one after another, and his panicked face was clearly illuminated by the bonfire.

"What? Are you afraid of bears?"

Rurik came out in the dark. Today, he is short and thin in stature, and under the guard of a group of warriors in bear skins, he also looks heroic.

"Ah, so it was you. Russ..." Carl bared his teeth, hurriedly sat down on the original leather cushion, and finally straightened his golden crown.

Rurik and the rest immediately sat down. The Duke of Ross and the elite nobles were all there, but poor Carl was only one.

Poor Carl, so far he doesn't have a staff to support him or advise him. The former elite mercenary leaders all lost their lives in the war. He was a pure loner and could only face the aggressive Russ alone.

Carl pretended to be tough: "You're making my market really noisy, and my people tell me you're throwing money all over the place and causing a mess."

"Indeed." Rurik shrugged indifferently. "So what? Did your law here ever forbid merchants to spend money for entertainment?"

"You!" Carl was speechless for a while, and he mumbled after thinking for a while: "Since you are very rich, why do you still ask me for food? You know that after doing this, my people will complain."

"Really? You are the leader of the Melalonians. What does their life have to do with me, the Ross? I only focus on the wheat. Now, is the wheat in stock?"

"Maizi? No!" Karl expressed his refusal in a piqued manner, and it was through this man's face that Rurik had already guessed that he did not dare to betray.

Arik couldn't see this layer for a while, and suddenly drew his sword: "Okay Carl! I knew you would do this for a long time. Then go to war, I will kill you now."

"Then cut it! If you kill me, you kill the king, and the big families will be glad you did so they can choose a new king. When you kill the king, you betray the whole of Sweden, like betrayal of an alliance. The Gotlanders. All the tribes will unite against you! You will never get food again!"

"You think I don't dare?!" Arik gritted his teeth and widened his eyes like copper bells, that is, the hand holding the sword kept trembling, just trembling.

Rurik frowned, scolding his cousin for being so impulsive. However, he couldn't think of it himself, Carl actually put on a sloppy attitude.

"I...we Russ, still recognize your king." Rurik tried his best to remain calm: "As my cousin said, if you don't give us food, the result will naturally be your death. The fact is not only about Therefore, your betrayal will bring the destruction of the evacuation of your family. Now the question is, whoever provides us with eight hundred thousand pounds of wheat, we will recognize who is the king. After all, the money for those weapons is sold to the Mellarens , the Mellarens have launched an expedition, and we do business only with those who keep their promises. If the great families wish, we can ask them to choose a man to be recognized as king."

"absurd!"

"It's not absurd either. I was approached by a man named Bjorn, who wanted us to recognize his power. I refused, because he promised too little, not as much as your father promised." Rick said that on purpose, his face calm as if everything was normal.

But it sounded like a thunderbolt from the blue to Karl!

How did Karl not know about Bjorn? This person does not seem to have any ambitions, but he is an unremarkable existence among those big land families. This person actually has the ambition to be a king?

Carl gritted his teeth, his gums bleeding.

Who is the potential rebel? Who's making a fuss? ! In his rage, Karl didn't even consider the question, how did the Rus know these things?

Now it's the Rus who have pointed out the mastermind among the Mellarens.

Seeing that Karl was angry like a puffed-up pufferfish, Rurik continued to provoke: "In Visby, you put the blame for the defeat on the fact that we Rus did not go south to support. This is very absurd! We By defeating the Gotlanders, you will be spared the enemy. Your Melalen clan has a population of more than 20,000! Why are there only 1,500 people on the expedition? Are they watching a play? They just want your family to be defeated and replaced. What is the interest of the Swedish kingdom, they have no lofty goals at all. What they value is only your family's land and servants!"

With such a blow, Carl woke up like a dream.

In an instant, Karl suddenly no longer felt that Rurik's face in front of him was disgusting. If it wasn't for this person's decryption, he would still be in the dark, afraid that he would not know when he was hacked and killed by the rebellious big family.

"It is because you are the king that I tell you these things. What is the grudge between you and us? If you let those guys succeed, who will take revenge for the hatred of the defeat? You remember, your family was defeated, and you ruled The legitimacy of this is controversial. Any resistance you now will only bring about death. We Rus people don’t want to kill you. If you refuse to hand over the food today, I can only be a wicked person and support that Bjorn.”

"Okay!" Karl no longer evaded, his inner defense line completely collapsed.

The most dangerous enemies are not the Danes, nor the Rus, but the careerists within the tribe.

There was nothing left to say, Carl claimed that he would immediately bring a group of Rus people to his granary, first to show a huge amount of new wheat, and then to send someone to carry it immediately.

But Rurik's words were not finished.

"One more thing. Karl, the Meralen tribe suffered a lot. Hundreds of farmers died. They went out to pay their debts after winning the spoils. You didn't give them any compensation, as we are used to. law, their wives and children will be your debt slaves."

"That's right. You... can't say it's wrong too?"

"It's not a mistake, it's just too cruel to those who died in battle."

"what do you want?"

"Sell it to me."

Mentioning this matter, Carl immediately moved his mind. He clenched his beard and thought about it, feeling that it was profitable. "Do you need those women and children? Or with the farmland and houses they own?"

"It's just women and children, I don't want anything else."

"That's your style. I know that you Rus have been getting slaves from our tribe and transporting them away, as if the Norwegian slave market was opened for you. You took all the dirty beggars, and I and I My dead father was supportive. But you're going to take those women and children..."

"Tell me your terms."

"You have to pay more."

Karl couldn't answer Rurik's expectations: "Money is not a problem. I can pay you double the price of slaves, and I will give you the best Frank silver coins directly."

"All debt slaves, with the principal and interest on the debt they owe. You will pay?" Carl had his head straightened.

"Of course. We came prepared, but with a lot of money."

"Then let's make a deal!"

Visby's fortunes were swept away by the Rus and they became very rich, as Karl knew very well. He wanted to extort a little wealth as a king, but he gave up after all, and now selling debt slaves has become a point of making money, which really surprised him.

Negotiations quickly yielded excellent results.

In the next three days, more than 400 Rus warriors wearing gorgeous and heroic clothes landed in the Melalen market and the core area of ​​the Melalen tribe.

Here Rus warriors are showing off their power, overseeing the arrival of sacks of fresh oats to the wharf by Carl's slaves.

There are endless long boats on the lake, they are fighting for the food of fate, and the huge amount of wheat is all on Gould Island.

More supplies arrived on the island, which was a large amount of vegetables, mainly onions and carrots with yellow roots, and a small amount of cabbage. The ships of the big landlord family are also transporting to Gould Island in an endless stream. They unloaded the food and got enough good-quality silver coins to go home happily...

As many as five hundred women and children, they are all debt slaves of the Carr family. The Rus paid off their debts and arrived at Gould Island alone.

Thinking of the promise made by the Rus a few days ago, they originally had the idea of ​​immigrating, but they never thought that the promise of the Rus had been implemented. This is not happiness. The child hugs his mother tightly, and his face is blank about the unknown future.

There were more than 100 men from Melalen, and most of them had immature faces. The youngest sons of these families are destined not to inherit the family business, nor to marry in the tribe. Their fate seems to be to be mercenaries for big families, or to find a way to go out. Since they were all mercenaries, the Russ promised more commissions, and these people came to Gould Island.

The time is already the fourteenth day of October in the Julian calendar, and a large area of ​​ice floes began to appear on the lake!

The lake is generally calm, allowing for the appearance of large amounts of thin ice. It was already an extremely dangerous signal, foreshadowing that the huge fleet of the Rus would not be able to escape unless it was evacuated.

The time for the return journey has been determined. On the 16th day of October, it is planned to return to Roseburg before the 20th of October.

The night before departure, the whole of Gould Island finally fell into peace.

All the preparations have been completed, the new mercenaries who defected and the debt slaves bought, like most Rus warriors, recharged their energy in a warm place.

Rurik was still sticking on his maid's post, picking a molar of a deciduous tooth that was about to fall out with a fishbone.

The Rus imported another batch of ale in oak barrels, all of which were distilled into spirits.

Otto happily drank a few big glasses, and suddenly he was stern when he was slightly drunk, accusing his son of something wrong. "Rurik, you...you shouldn't tell Karl about Bjorn."

"Am I doing something wrong?"

"I don't think it's very wise. You say! For...why."

"Let them fight! Let Karl and Bjorn or someone else fight. Dad, we don't need a king to point fingers at us, the mighty Meralen clan must sink. Let the families blame each other, and we Just do business year after year. Just…”

Otto was slightly drunk and still sober. He admired his son's ability to provoke conflicts, and then smirked: "What else do you think?"

"This year, we imported 1.8 million pounds of wheat in this area for the first time. I figured it out, enough for our tribe to eat for half a year without production."

"That's a good thing."

"It's not a good thing. This means that we will depend on the food production of the Melalen tribe, and our clansmen will really stop producing because of this. Once the Melalen people encounter natural disasters, they will famine and we will follow the famine. There will be Many people are living in difficulties. So I still want to actively develop the East. This year we have obtained a large number of people, and together in the spring of next year, we will transport them all to the East, give them agricultural tools to open up wasteland, and we will collect the taxes they pay. We have cultivated enough land that we can eat wheat every day."

Otto couldn't think of that much, or he couldn't think of the wonderful scene sketched by Rurik, and he knew only one word to describe it.

"It's beautiful, like Asgard?"

"Yes, Asgard on earth. Do as I say, and it will happen in a few years."

"Then it's up to you." Say it, and a great body lay down, followed by bursts of snoring.

"Okay! Okay..." Rurik was a little speechless, he lightly pinched the two Slavic maids who continued to commit himself: "Anna, Bella, your hometown, the future is my Asgard on earth. ."