Holding the boats on their heads, we took the two boats across the frozen mountains and unloaded them at the mountain lakes. Then we drifted along the river.
Mordgen and his companions were heading to the east of the mountains to find people with large amounts of furs to trade with.
He never dreamed that he would enter the territory of the Russians by accident.
Now, he has to do business with a child who claims to be blessed by the gods.
Absurd? It's so ridiculous.
The Russians are here. Since the other party is essentially willing to do business, there is no need to be rigid. In business, no matter whether the buyer is blind, deaf or a child, if they are willing to pay for the goods, they are the best customers.
Modgen tried to calm down and complimented: "Honorable man, we are lucky enough to step into your territory. This must be my destiny. We cross the mountains in the hope of finding buyers for our goods. Perhaps the Russians are our best Distinguished Buyer”
This compliment made the warriors on both sides very happy, and Rurik felt a little happy in his heart.
"I know you are trying to do business. Tell me! What was your plan before you met us?"
"We are looking for the Corvin people. We want to buy their leather, or we can go into the vast deserted land to hunt ourselves. Sir, maybe you don't know, but we need leather very much."
It seemed that this person's words were very sincere. Rurik held his chin and carefully thought about these words.
you do not say! Although the Port of Narvik never freezes, the geographical structure of the area is extremely complex. There are only a few small flatlands that can raise very few livestock and even plant some cold-resistant crops.
It is precisely because of this principle that locals are forced to try to go out.
Rurik thought for a moment, gestured with his fingers, and a mercenary came over. Soon after he gave the order, the mercenary ran out quickly.
"Sir..." Modgen was a little confused when he saw this.
A confident smile appeared on Rurik's face: "Aren't you looking for the Kovin people? Very good, you will be able to meet the Kovin people soon."
Modgen, who was already baffled by these remarks, became even more confused.
Rurik just smiled and said nothing. Soon, as Mechasta, the leader of the Iron Squirrel tribe, entered the house, Modgen began to realize the complexity of the situation.
Mechasta was ordered to sit in the ranks of the warriors, and Rurik introduced him: "You are looking for the Kovin people? Look, this is the leader of the Kovin people."
"Him?" Modgen glanced at Mechasta and subconsciously made a judgment: "Could it be that you and the Covin people have already formed an alliance?"
"It's not an alliance! It's a conquest." As he spoke, Rurik beat his chest proudly with his fist: "Times have changed! We Rus people have conquered all the Kovin people, and I am the master of all the Kovin people. Visitors from afar, You are destined not to meet the Kovin people on this journey, you will only meet us Rus people, because the Kovin people are already part of us."
"They...have all become your slaves?"
slave? Rurik wanted to retort, but in his heart he was more willing to call the Kovin people his dependents.
However, giving him the status of "slave" will definitely show his military power.
"Yes! They are all our slaves." As he spoke, Rurik's attitude became extremely serious, his beautiful little head tilted forward, his eyes full of determination: "They are all my personal slaves. Do you want to be with me?" They do business, so do business with me.”
Who would have thought that the fur-owning Kovin people had already been conquered by others.
If you think about it carefully, it might not be a bad thing.
Modgen's trip was purely a spontaneous expedition with his brothers, who also followed the legends of former explorers. Legend has it that there is a river in the far east. People who call themselves "Kewen" and speak another language live by the river. The Kewen people have a lot of leather in their hands. Despite the language barrier, the transaction continued as usual.
With just this piece of information, Modgen embarked on an adventurous journey.
After overcoming many difficulties and dangers, in order to trade a large amount of trade, I didn't expect that I would end up in this situation after more than a month of being on the road.
Now that the trading partner has become the Rus who conquered the Kovin people, and both sides speak the same language, Modgen has given up the idea of "tricking the buyer". Because he didn't think that the Russians could deceive people without being retaliated against.
At present, the information is still very unclear.
The atmosphere in the entire venue was a little awkward, and Modgen once again boldly complimented: "Sir, you must be the leader of the Rus people, and this is also your territory? Oh, it is really a great city."
The so-called city is pronounced "Brog" in the Norse context, or "fort".
It is more similar to the concept of a city-state, because apart from its own main city, each tribe basically does not have a second major settlement, not counting the micro-villages composed of several families.
The Ross people present understood the meaning and couldn't help laughing.
Rurik ignored the embarrassment of the visitor and said with a smile: "Is this tiny settlement of yours the core of us Rus people? No! You look down on us too much."
"Ah?! Do you still have many settlements?"
"Of course." Rurik cheered up, "This is not even the territory of the Kovin people. This city is called Elon Olava Castle, which is a colony of our Ross people. And I am not the biggest leader of the Ross people, but I A leader indeed.”
Rurik told the basic truth, but Modgen really needed to use his brain to understand it. Because the current residents of Narvik have not yet opened a shipping route across the North Sea, they have not colonized the Shetland Islands yet.
There is still only one large settlement in the port of Narvik. The locals are forced to live in scattered places due to the constraints of the fjord environment. Due to the rich local fishery resources, their population is also larger.
Now that the words have come to this, Rurik feels that he must show off his muscles. This is not to show off, but as a means of self-protection.
The so-called "stopping war with force" means that real force cannot be achieved through large-scale military operations. Instead, when a warrior shows his sharp sword, he can rely on his powerful aura to scare the enemy into surrender. This is the so-called subjugation of the enemy without fighting.
Due to the current situation, Rurik and Otto had the same attitude. The military actions over the past year caused the Russians to lose a hundred of their most elite warriors. It seems that this loss is nothing, but there are only 2,000 men in the Ross tribe who can hold weapons, and there are only 700 or 800 core warriors. Due to traditional thinking, Otto and Rurik could not completely believe that the mercenaries and conquered servants would completely sacrifice their lives for the Ross people. Therefore, the few hundred most elite tribal warriors were the foundation for Ross to be strong.
"Our core is in Fort Ross in the south. It is a huge settlement with a population of at least..." As he spoke, Rurik stretched out his hands and showed five fingers. "One finger represents a thousand people, and we have 10,000 people in Roseburg alone."
"Huh?!" Modgen was shocked.
Looking at the opponent's unpretentious expression of surprise, Rurik boasted that he was posing as a "cat with explosive hair", which indeed made them feel that the Ross tribe was extremely powerful. It's not over yet.
Rurik continued: "This is the Iron Olava Fort, our northern settlement. The territory of the Kovin people is also the territory of our Rus people, and their warriors are all our warriors. There are also some islands in the south, It is also the settlement of our Rus’ people. There is even an even further east, called New Rus’ Fort, where there are at least five thousand Rus’ people living, and there are even more than 10,000 Eastern servants.”
The words came from the mouth of a beautiful boy. Modgen felt ridiculous but did not dare to deny it. He did not realize that a child could say such words very logically. I am afraid that the Russians controlled a large area of settlements. , and their population is really far beyond their hometown.
In an instant, a lot of sweat broke out on Modgen's head. He came here for business, but now he couldn't help but feel fear about this transaction.
Because communication is relative! Since the Rus conquered the Kovin people and had the ability to send out large armies to build settlements everywhere, they must be very warlike beings. If they were allowed to fully know their Balmok tribe, would the Rusians think of an expedition against the government?
Rurik did not anticipate what Modgen was thinking, "Now that I have mentioned the situation of our Rus people, what about you? What is your situation like that of the Balmoks."
"this……"
"That's what you said?!" Rurik urged.
Modgen didn't expect that he was forced to serve as an envoy. He suddenly felt that a heavy burden was placed on his shoulders. This time he needed his good eloquence, not to mention dispelling the Russians' possible desire to conquer, at least to Let them understand that any attempt to attack the Balmoks, whether successful or not, will result in heavy casualties for the attackers.
"Sir, our tribe also has ten thousand people. Our warriors are all brave, and they are also very eager to go out of the fjord to do business. For example, my brothers and I have been running tirelessly for more than a month. We The original plan was to spend the whole summer looking for the Kovin people to do business after crossing the mountains. In my tribe, I am just an ordinary person. We have many very brave people who can continue to trek in the snow without eating or drinking for ten days. .They can fight the monsters in the sea with only short spears."
"Oh, so you Balmoks are very brave beings?"
"certainly."
Rurik nodded. It seemed that the other party didn't want to show weakness, but he also didn't want to show strength.
Then again, if the Balmok tribe really has ten thousand people, the Rus should really be wary of them. Rurik was a little scared. He was not sure whether the other party was bluffing or genuine. Ten thousand people is a relatively small population unit by the standards of the Far East. In Europe, this number of people can become a regional power, not to mention they are standard Vikings.
Things have become a little tricky.
It can be said that the first historic contact took place between the Rus people from Svealand and the Balmoks in the port of Narvik in 830 at the Iron Olav Fort at the mouth of the Kemi River. Neither party can judge the other party's background very well, so it is reasonable to brag about each other while remaining cautious.
However, Rurik possesses knowledge from later generations. He knows that more than a thousand years of changes cannot cause the changes in the fjord. Thousands of years later, the Port of Narvik is still an important harbor, a modern Norwegian military port, and a northern port related to the lifeline of Norway's economy.
The initial exchange ended here, Rurik couldn't bear these people to continue half-kneeling.
He snapped his fingers and called for the mercenaries in chainmail to come over and listen to the order. Soon they carried some polar bear skins that were roughly tanned and not yet completely dried into the house. Modgen and his companions looked at the laying of the bear skins in astonishment, as if these bear skins had become a very connected thing. .
Modgen's eyes couldn't help but stare at the bear's head scratched on the wooden wall, and a chill ran through his body.
"Tell me, what exactly are the goods you plan to trade?" Rurik asked after he sat down.
"It's salt."
"Salt? Is this a very precious commodity?" Rurik asked.
"This... may be precious to the people of Kewen. But to you, it is naturally a very common existence."
Is this flattery? Rurik couldn't be sure, because for the residents of the Baltic Sea, everyone boiled a pottery jar of seawater to get a little salt. Just to boil the water, a lot of firewood was consumed! Salt is a must for everyone's life. This does not mean that people will die if they don't eat salt. It is also that using salt to pickle fish, red meat, and even some foods such as yellow root carrots is the key to everyone's survival in the winter. Although extreme cold and smoke drying can ensure that food will not spoil, it is better to pickle it with salt to ensure that the food has a better taste.
The salt in the hands of the Russians is boiled with Baltic Sea water with extremely low salt content. The cost of obtaining it is actually not low.
Rurik ordered: "Take out the salt and let me see it."
"As commanded."
Modgen immediately ordered his men to take out two heavy burlap bags. The hemp ropes that tied the bags were untied, and they showed the astonishing amount of white salt in the bags to the public.
Seeing this, Rurik stood up suddenly, walked over with a solemn expression, and then half-knelt in front of Modgen in public, stretched out his right hand to touch the salt in the bag, and licked his fingers full of salt grains.
During this process, Modgen didn't say a word. He looked at the golden braids of the boy in front of him and marveled at the sparkle and softness of the boy's hair. To be honest, he had never seen anyone with such beautiful hair.
Salt grains in the mouth, a very familiar feeling, directly and strongly stimulated Rurik's little head.
In short, the salt provided by these outsiders is really good salt!
"Ah, the quality of these salts is very good." After saying that, Rurik raised his head and asked directly the core question: "How much salt do you have?!"
"There were at least thirty Roman pounds."
"So much?!" Rurik stared at the two big pockets, and the little motor in his mind began to spin crazily, wanting to buy all the salt to fill up all the construction of Alonora during this period. A large amount of salt loss is caused by heavy manual workers.
In a practical sense, these outsiders brought in thirty pounds of salt, which was a timely help.
