Chapter Eight Hundred and Fifth Tasteless Negotiation

Update super fast|; Swinder must give an answer immediately, he is in a huge entanglement, facing the aggressive posture of Ross, obviously there is no reason to refuse. watermark advertisement test watermark advertisement test

He glanced at the warriors sitting on both sides from the corner of his eyes, and asked tentatively, "Isn't there... a third option?"

"The third option?" Rurik almost laughed when he heard the news. "No! You have to make a choice now. Listen, when your island gets a chance to fish safely, it's up to you."

A large stone was pressed against his chest, and Swinder nearly vomited at the oppressive scene.

He endured the pain and asked tentatively, "If I agree completely. The price... what is it?"

"The price? If you are servants, of course you have to pay the price. You make a choice! I don't want you to linger any longer." With that, Rurik raised his arrogant chin. outdoors. He deliberately pointed: "The weather is really good now, and it is very suitable for sailing. My army has not been able to fight for a while. They are eager to fight, and their swords and axes are eager to drink blood."

"This... Prince Ross, what does this mean?"

"Are you pretending to be confused?"

Swinder is indeed pretending to be confused, although he does not quite believe that the Russ will really launch a large-scale intrusion this year for the sake of a broken island in Bornholm, but Prince Rus has already shown his sword.

"I agree!"

He felt that he had no choice but to agree to avoid disaster.

"Very good." Rurik clapped his hands in praise, "You made a smart choice."

Although Swinder was sitting on the ground, he hunched his back and tried to raise his head, staring at the sitting king with complicated eyes. "So, what price do we pay?"

Rurik also stuck his head out, his face full of victorious joy: "Of course you have to pay a price, and it is probably a price you can pay. I learned about your current situation from other people's mouths, and I thought that you might use a bunch of stinky herring. Tribute, let’s forget it.”

"You guys, what do you want?"

"people!"

"people?"

Swinder was a little puzzled,

But after thinking about it, it became more and more terrifying.

"It's people. The most valuable things on your island are people. Do you have many women?" Rurik asked deliberately.

"Women? Not many."

"What about the child?"

"Not much the same."

"You're perfunctory me?" Rurik smiled, "So many lonely men with all the strength?"

"At least not as many as yours."

"Hehe. I think you just want to provoke me. You and your islanders probably don't want to be attached, so it doesn't matter, because it's not difficult to destroy you. Come on, your islanders have five thousand people?"

"There are five thousand men who can afford weapons." Swinder said with his head held high.

His original intention was to demonstrate to the prince of Ross, and the number of five thousand was just a casual remark.

This figure really touched Rurik a little. He didn't believe it was true. Maybe the other party could mobilize at least two thousand troops. This is indeed a large number. It was a long time ago that Ross was vigilant, but now it is nothing, just because Ross can mobilize more troops.

Rurik didn't like this messenger named Swinder. Obviously, this guy was not shocked by the prosperity of the Principality of Ross. Such is the island, an unstable gang even if surrendered, a potential Lindenwan. It stands to reason that there is no need for these guys to annex, and the Principality must stretch out its tentacles, obviously relying on them to contain Denmark.

At this moment, Rurik thought of Ragnar's statement again.

Swinder was very entangled about surrender, and now Rurik also feels that this matter is starting to become tasteless.

Maybe shouldn't push them too hard?

Finally, Rurik made his own terms.

"Swinder, it's pointless for you to make any further conditions. Now you must comply with a few decisions of mine. First, five hundred young women must be forced to emigrate into Rose as my subjects. Second, your Fishing boats must start flying the Rus flag and our ships will attack all unflagged fishing boats in that area. Third, you must stand firmly against King Horrick of Denmark and end the trade with Denmark. Fourth, give your islanders the freedom to choose, I invite some people to immigrate to Ross."

The four clauses came to my ears, and Swinder was surprised that Prince Ross seemed to have no more requirements besides these. What about the requirement of paying tribute every year? It seems not?

He hooked his head and analyzed it carefully. First of all, if the flag of the Rus was raised, it would be free from attack and fishing. It seemed that this was a good thing, and it also meant that the ships from Denmark could attack the Bornholm ships at will. The fact that the fishing boat hangs the flag naturally gives outsiders the sense that the islanders are attached to Ross, which also means that the entire island is against the Danish King Horrick.

The request of Prince Ross is very strange. It seems that Ross is only against the current King of Denmark.

The so-called clauses that give the islanders the right to emigrate freely are even more wonderful. Thinking about yourself, you are just a person who has been elected. The people who can settle on the island come from a variety of sources. They want to come and go. .

The only thing that bothered Swinder was the provision of five hundred women in the first clause.

He agreed to the last three clauses, but was deeply concerned about the first clause.

"I'm not the owner of the island, I'm just someone they recommend. I can't order those people to hand over their daughters. If you insist on doing this, maybe you'll have to give them an order to force them to submit."

"Ridiculous." Rurik slammed the table with a punch, forced an angry face and smiled again: "I think our conversation is getting more and more boring, am I negotiating peace with someone who has no authority? Since you can't What else is there to say in charge?"

Swinder was embarrassed: "My lord, I can only be responsible for part of the affairs. But this matter of handing over five hundred women... They are people, not animals."

"Don't you think I asked for women to be livestock? To tell you the truth, I am merciful, and these women will reward my warriors as right wives. They are all Odin's warriors and need a blond wife. My kindness has its limits! It seems that we don't need to talk anymore. Come on!"

At Rurik's order, the warriors on both sides stood up.

Swinder was in a hurry and wanted to talk again, but he was forked out by a group of samurai, and immediately threw it to the temporary dormitory to rest...

A messenger who came for peace negotiations lacked authority. Since this Swinder could not promise absolute surrender, it was meaningless to make concessions himself.

Through this boring negotiation, Rurik has an intuitive understanding of the real internal political situation of Bornholm Island.

Swinder said some nonsense in his defense, some of which inadvertently betrayed the truth. For example, there are some big families on the island who recommend the speaker, and he Swinder is also a patriarch in the big family. Swinder can control the affairs of this family, but other families cannot.

This is also a good thing. If the people of Bornholm Island, each small family is a political unit, it is obviously easy to be defeated by Ross.

A new plan began to surface in his mind.

...

"Let's go out with troops!" Rurik, who was lying on the bed at night, snarled suddenly, which made Svetlana sit up abruptly.

"Ah?! War? No war? You..."

"Damn it. I just don't want to pass up this opportunity."

Lanna lay down gently again: "In war, who are you going to fight? Didn't the Karelian people perish?"

"Of course it's not them. I changed my mind, the messenger of Bornholm is ridiculous, and I want to go on a personal expedition to force the damn island to submit. I even have the confidence to surrender without fighting."

"Win without fighting?"

"Exactly."

"Okay. You are the prince, and you decide everything." Lanna tugged at her man's arm, smiling: "I'll go too."

"You? What are you doing? You shouldn't be walking around when you're pregnant."

"That's why I want to follow you even more. I have the crown prince in my stomach, so I have to go..."

Is this a kind of prenatal education? Thinking about it, she was tired of staying on the shore of Lake Ilmen, and wanted to go outside and see the world again.

"Okay, let's go together."

"Hehe." She smiled sweetly: "I am a Varyag woman."

"Oh? I thought you were a beautiful Slavic woman."

"All. Oh! I'm a Ross woman, your woman."

Svetlana is acting like a spoiled brat here. She is doing her own thing and she is going all out to strengthen her status in the Ross court. She wants to work hard to please her, to be a charming woman and a Varyag female warrior.

All of this is very useful for Rurik. As a man, Rurik is more willing to listen to her coquettish panting in his arms. That is the most violent ecstasy soup for men...

He could only sigh with emotion that Otto really missed the point, and the Lanna he chose for himself was really the most beautiful one among the many wives and concubines. It wasn't very obvious when I was a child, but now I really have three-dimensional features and a pointed chin, deep-sea blue pupils and big eyes, and the most important thing is a pair of long legs. She was originally thin, and her long legs not only gave her an extraordinary height, but also made her slender and agile, and the place where women were proud of growing was not ambiguous at all.

It is such a beautiful woman who has experienced war. She fought as a general warrior with a bow and really killed the enemy. This is a great touch to the warriors from the old Ross tribe.

After all, it is a Slavic woman to be the prince's wife, is she qualified? Oh? ! She'd beheaded the enemy like Valkyrie, so that's totally different.

There will be another meeting in a few days. Now that Rurik has decided that the islanders must be forced to choose by force, there is no need to talk nonsense with the messenger Swinder.

After a rest, Swinder was taken to the palace again. He thought that he hardly slept all night, and he still couldn't figure out what Prince Ross wanted to do.

Ragnar is also ambiguous about the outcome of the negotiations, but he has other things to do - chat with his people and family in Novgorod.

Ragnar even visited a Russ school to get an up-close look at what young "wise men" were instilling in a large group of children.

Because his eldest son, Ivar, who was in a wooden wheelchair, was also taken to school to study.

It was only a month away, and the eldest son had already learned a few things. The most important thing was the spelling pattern of the Latin alphabet of Norse. It is not difficult to memorize these letters and spelling rules by rote, so that the young Little Ivar can barely read the documents issued by the principality.

Ivar actually dabbles in something deeper, how a seven-year-old boy deeply understands things like Midgard (the human world) is a giant sphere and Nordic is a small world in the extreme north.

Ivar dictated something to his father, which he didn't quite understand, but gave Ragnar a great shock.

Do the Rus even know the face of this world?

Did they know the exact location of Bornholm Island? Also know the shortest route through Danish waters?

Ragnar is a desolate lord, and his status determines that he must have more consideration, and he naturally realizes the importance of a map. He has a certain understanding of this sea area and knows the location of some islands, but he doesn't know about the farther places.

He asked his son to stare at the pattern drawn by the young teacher on the blackboard made of pine gum mixed with toner during class, and by rote memorizing, he had to re-enact the pattern that he drew with wooden sticks and sand afterwards.

In this way, Ragnar for the first time roughly understood the shape of the entire Baltic Sea, as well as the key islands of Gotland, Tombstone, and Lake Mälaren in Sweden relative to the entire sea.

Following this line of thought, I am afraid that Speuter, who is also a royal pirate, has a particularly exquisite map in his hand, otherwise their big ships would not dare to scramble in the sea.

Ragnar was embarrassed to ask, and secondly, he was afraid of causing dissatisfaction among the Rus.

Since Ross has a Noble Phantasm for Wiping After Toilets called Paper, their documents are also written on another type of paper. Ragnar simply drew a rough map on a piece of soft toilet paper and folded it for preservation.

But Ragnar never imagined that Prince Rurik clearly did not want to negotiate with the Bornholm people.

What follows is no longer the scope of secret talks, and even before the meeting, a message spread like wildfire.

Does Roth fever intend to continue the war? Ross wants to conquer Bornholm directly?

The news tickles the hearts of the men, who see war as a good thing for money, wealth and honor. Even the princes made the bottom line, the so-called personal injury can be rescued, and if the children die in battle, they can live without worries.

This is what Ragnar saw and heard, and the atmosphere infected the entire Stonewall tribe living in Novgorod. Most of the men who followed Ragnar in exile didn't care about his personal ambitions, they just wanted to get on the boat of the Rus. own benefit.

yes! Bornholm people do not have economic contacts without relatives or reasons. If they are cut and killed, who will feel guilty? On the contrary, it will make the Ross people look up to them.

A military meeting with a rather strange atmosphere was held in the Rosduma parliamentary court in Novgorod. The meeting was second to none. Bornholm messenger, talker, and theoretical leader Swain De was also pulled over.

Swinder also heard those rumors. Seeing the atmosphere of the venue, his teeth were itching with anger, and he was clearly deceived by the young king of the Rus people. What promises peace? Still have to fight!

The people at the meeting were full of sly warriors, and they did not hesitate to make fun of poor Swinder, and they all threatened to easily conquer Bornholm. Especially A Liekai, he openly showed off his might, so that Swinder could only bear the burden of humiliation.

Rurik arrived late, and he could hear the internal noise from outside the venue.

With his entry, the chaos came to an abrupt end, and a pair of coveted eyes stared at the prince of Ross.

"It seems that you all know it! Especially you!" Rurik pointed his right hand at Swinder, which is very inadvisable: "I originally wanted to negotiate with you, and I also made some concessions to you. But I want to understand , You actually tried to negotiate the peace that you can't get on the battlefield? Ridiculous! I have fought many times with your islanders, and every time I won easily. I changed my mind, and I want to go on a personal expedition, just this year Make your islanders submit to me!"

With a gulp of sweat, Swinder simply took off his cotton cap. He bared his teeth and stood up, roaring angrily: "If you really choose war, we would rather fight. Don't forget, we are all Vikings, who is afraid of whom? !"

He was so arrogant, and instantly detonated the atmosphere of the entire parliamentary court. Everyone present drew their swords one after another, and as many as twenty swords approached his neck with a cold light.

On the other hand, Swinder was still angry, and he was not afraid at all.

Rurik shrugged, the messenger was really stabbed to death, and it wouldn't end well.

"Brothers, stay calm." Rurik made everyone sit down, and solemnly announced: "Conquest is necessary, but ... maybe this will not turn into bloodshed."

"How do you say this?" Swinder asked suddenly.

"Idiot! I want subjects, not corpses. When my army is on the island, are the islanders really willing to fight to the death? So I will keep you and let you tell them the benefits of surrendering to me. Let them see too. My army will deter those who disobey and kill those who resist."