Travelers from the Port of Narvik unexpectedly encountered the Russians in the far north, and now they began to rush to the Russians' home port in a special way.
Roseburg? It was said to be a powerful settlement? In addition, the Russian settlements are already dotted?
Using a large amount of salt in exchange for an excellent axe, Modgen stayed at the Iron Olawa Fort for a short period of time. He keenly noticed how the Corvin blacksmiths trained by the Russians forged ores into axes, especially Many of the unprecedented forging and processing techniques were refreshing to him.
After all, Modgen was not a blacksmith. He even felt that burning the ore into sponge iron could only be accomplished by the blacksmith himself. Without God's permission, turning ore into iron must be an impossible task.
Modgen has superstition in this regard, so he is full of respect for blacksmiths. After seeing the Russian waterwheel forging workshop, the huge furnace, and even the scene of more than ten people forging at the same time, all that was left in his heart was awe. .
The Russians are not to be messed with. However, they may be good trading partners.
In the port of Narvik, local shipbuilding craftsmanship is no different from the Baltic world. Everyone uses traditional crafts to build ships, but the Balmoks leave the fjord and face the vast Atlantic Ocean. Any of their ships must face larger waves, so the hulls are stronger.
The herring fishing industry in the ocean sustains the life of the Balmok tribe. Compared to the Svia Tribe Alliance and the Danish Tribe Alliance, which still have some farmland and pastures to provide overland agricultural products, the Balmoks can only survive on fish all day long.
In Ironburg, Modgen tasted oats, which are very precious in his hometown, for the first time. The comfortable texture from the grains and the warmth after swallowing made him feel that what was wrapped in the wall was the legendary Asgard. .
Mordgen had indeed seen little of the world, and his courage was never dampened by the narrow fjord.
He ate oats once and could never forget how delicious they were. When he saw Rurik of Ross using those "crystal cups" at will, he was not only shocked by the huge financial resources of the leader of Ross, but also felt extremely envious in his heart.
Just at the dock, Modgen saw Rurik, who was richly dressed, and his mother Niya, whose face was wrinkled and graceful. Behind the mother and son, followed ten girls with exactly the same clothes and the same hairstyle. They were all Rurik's little maids. Although they had humble status, both of them had "crystal pendants" hanging around their necks.
Does the leader of Ross still possess a large number of gems? Just a maid's pendant can probably be traded for ten gold coins!
Modgen really didn't know that the so-called "crystal pendant" was just colored glass.
On the way back, the Gould family provided as many as ten cargo ships, and a large number of people and goods boarded the ships, turning the cargo ships into heavy ships.
At the pier, a plank was lowered.
Rurik held his mother's hand: "Mom, be careful, let's board the ship."
"Oh, okay. I hope you have a safe journey home."
"There is no doubt that we will be safe. I hope that after we return, people from the expedition will return one after another."
Rurik's words attracted Niya's attention. In fact, when she went north from Fort Ross, she only heard about her nephew Arik's looting operations reported by some messengers from the south, which was from one victory to another.
"They will come back safe. My son, pray for them on the altar for their safety. God will listen to you."
"All right."
Fighting without casualties is a small probability event. Of course Rurik was worried about Arik, since from the beginning, all the young men in their twenties and thirties in the tribe elected Arik as their leader and went to ask the big leader for a fight. They chose to take the initiative in war. If they suffer losses, they should be responsible for them themselves.
What Rurik needs are obedient warriors. However, some militants in the tribe are young and vigorous. I am afraid that they are required to keep their heads down and build the infrastructure. It is better to follow the fighting hero Arik to continue to expand revenge. It came as a pleasure, but in fact it was to plunder the wealth of the Gotlanders and Danes to enrich themselves in the name of revenge.
There is a saying that Rurik cannot deny the benefits brought by the robbery. There is a saying that huge risks equal huge benefits.
It’s just that the Danes have proven to everyone what the anger of the Danes is by destroying the Ostara tribe.
Therefore, the two brothers Rurik and Arik naturally had divergent views on the issue of facing their old enemy.
Aric felt that the Gotlanders and even their masters, the Danes, were indeed somewhat powerful, but the Ross warriors were clearly the strongest men on the sea.
After all, Rurik lived with the two surviving granddaughters of the leader of Ostara for a long time. Through the words of the two girls, he came to the opposite conclusion from his cousin. The strength of the Danes is not just due to their large number of people, but also because their leader has a strong appeal and can actually mobilize a large number of tribes to organize a coalition to fight.
So do the Russians have this kind of appeal?
Pooh!
Rurik felt that after half a year of contact, he could summon a group of Kovin people to fill the Russian army to resist foreign invasion. How many talents are there in Science and Technology? In the Battle of the Glacier, almost all those who dared to fight were wiped out, and the backbones of each Kewen tribe were broken. How much more troops can such Kewen people provide?
Therefore, Rurik's attitude can be summed up in one word, "gou"! It's all right to say it's a matter of lying low and trying to be bold, to say it's to keep a low profile and bide your time, or even to make a fortune in silence.
Even though they now control the northern chrome mines, the production capacity of ferrochrome tools has reached an unprecedented level for the tribe.
The Russians have already taken advantage of weapons and tools, but the absolute lack of core population makes Rurik, who has begun partial contact and handles tribal affairs, unable to cope with the threat of all-out war that may exist in the future.
Another regret for him was that he had not yet completely controlled the tribe's various authority.
The reason was not just that he was underage to officially take over the position of chief. A very critical point is that the hundreds of people who are the most militant in the tribe at this stage are the elite warriors of the tribe. Rurik's strategy of accumulating wealth through relatively restrained efforts to improve production efficiency was still inferior to elite warriors risking their lives to fight and plunder.
It seems that the latter allowed Odin's warriors to find the true meaning of their lives in the bloody battle.
Ten cargo ships slowly left the port of Ironburg. With these ten ships as the core, a group of longships followed, and the huge fleet began to move against the south wind snakeskin, heading for Fort Ross in the south.
July is about to arrive in the Julian calendar, which is the warmest season in the entire Nordic world. The temperature is not hot at all, but pleasant.
Oats and rye grown across Northern Europe enter their most critical growth period in June and July.
Farmers in Northern Europe are looking forward to a bumper harvest this year. However, the sowing period lags far behind. The poor growth of wheat seedlings has begun to cause some farmers to worry. If the wheat matures and happens to hit the first cold wave, it will unexpectedly enter the winter. During the frost period, the result is no harvest!
Some panic began to spread, and the various priestly activities spontaneously organized by the farmers became more and more lively. The priests of the Melalen people were deeply aware of this, after all, those people were willing to accept money to do things.
However, this panic was overshadowed by the excitement of the traditional trade season.
Of course, in Jutland, the most "prosperous" peninsula under Danish control, the complaints from the Gotland messengers undoubtedly deeply hurt the nerves of the Danish leader Hafgen.
"Those Mellaren people have gone too far! The Rus attacked us, and you also took action?!"
In anger, Hafgen planned to organize a fleet to attack the heinous Melalen people. This crazy plan was immediately rejected by various tribes. The reason is very simple. Most of the tribes that sent troops to participate in the expedition a year ago did not gain much benefit, and the funds lost before and after were really not good.
Hafgen would not pay subsidies to his men out of his own pocket. If he couldn't make any money from the war, then why would he do it?
To start a war with the very powerful Melalen people, it would be foolish to rush into battle without sufficient preparation. Once the Mellaren people cannot be defeated in one fell swoop, and the tribes of Svealand in the north unite to launch a counterattack, who will become the Northern Alliance's first choice? Those people might not necessarily attack the strongest Hafgen tribe first.
Regarding this matter, the Gotland messenger completely mistook the Russians, who were victorious everywhere, for the Melalens. Not only did the survivors claim that the attackers were the Melalens, but also because the Melalens tribe was very close to Gotland. .
In fact, this is what Arik calls a strategy.
He deliberately used the banner of "Avenger of Malaren", deliberately let some enemies go, claiming that plundering fishing boats was to avenge the Ostara people.
This reason is so reasonable that the Danes do believe it, but no tribe responds to Hafgen's war intentions. In desperation, Hafgen sent five ships and nearly 200 warriors to support the Gotlanders as the leader of the alliance.
These Danes were stationed at the northernmost tip of Gotland. Their mission was to form a Danish-Gotland coalition to fight against the enemy's invasion after the Mellarens landed. Are we going to go to the sea to find the robbers of Melalen and eliminate them?
The sea area is really too big. If we take the initiative to search, we might as well settle down and stay safe. Besides, the two hundred Danish warriors are not pure warriors. They are usually fishermen like the Gotlanders who "farm the land and fish mainly". They leave their jobs to guard the homeland of the Gotlanders. Of course Eat oats and a lot of meat every day.
Otherwise, why would the Danes fight for their allies?
Therefore, these negative actions of the Danes did not affect Arik's transition from victory to new victory.
Things were happening in the southern seas that were beneficial to the Rus' people. Arik's reputation continued to rise during the war, and Rurik was completely unaware of this.
The reality is that Rurik was very effective in building and operating the Aylon-Olava Fort, and he, Arik, was not a free man.
Tombstone Island in the Åland Islands, where sixty-five Russian warriors were once buried, has now become Arik's "military base" and a real Russian pirate den. It has really achieved the strategic purpose of establishing a settlement from the beginning. Ross ships are really based on this base and can sweep the southern seas unscrupulously. Anyway, the fishermen of Mälaren only go as far as the Åland Islands to fish, so there are enemies south of the islands. You can fight as you like without worrying about accidentally injuring your allies! Oh, it doesn’t matter if it’s an accidental injury, the Gotlanders have to bear the blame anyway.
Arik's plundering continues, and I am afraid that his career will only come to an end when the sea freezes.
The warm sunshine shines on the fjord, and Roseburg is rarely full of life.
Look! The pine trees on the hills are dark green, causing the water in the fjord to be reflected in dark green.
The Ross tribe relied on the dense buildings on the mountains and coastline, and suddenly appeared in the huge fleet that rushed into the fjord.
"Rurik!"
"Rurik!"
…
The fishing boats spontaneously approached the fleet, and the fishermen shouted Rurik's name and paddled to follow.
As Modgen and his men sat on the boat, their ears were filled with these calls to praise Rurik.
By now, all the Russians were kneeling in front of a blond boy. Modgen no longer found this scene strange.
Is there anything more amazing?
Modgen looked ahead. What he saw was the depths of the narrow fjord, a huge and crowded settlement, and a large number of ships with masts wandering in the fjord waters.
As the saying goes, there are eight hundred sailors and three thousand sailors. Just the large number of Ross fishing boats encountered along the way further shocked Modgen.
The fleet sailed towards a fixed place. What is surprising is that the Ross sailors did not care about the crowds of people on the cargo ship. Their superb helmsman and sailing skills made the cargo ship really depend on the wind for the entire journey from Ailon. Fort drifted all the way back to his hometown.
In this regard, Rurik and others had to admire the level of a professional sailor raised by the Gould family. Not to mention their age, their superb skills were admirable and reassuring.
The heavy cargo ship finally arrived at the Gould family's port.
Oh, or this port has become the official port of the Ross tribe.
Standing on the bow of the ship, seeing the drastically changed scene in front of him, Rurik opened his mouth subconsciously.
"Wow! I haven't seen you for more than a month, and the number of reliable berths has increased significantly!"
In order to cope with larger-scale trade needs in the future, the boys of the Gould family followed their old father's orders and continued to expand the port. Of course, there is no lifting machinery of any kind here, but the berth trestles made of wooden boards and hardwood piles have been further strengthened so that they can fully withstand the impact of heavy cargo ships swaying in the waves.
On the pier, two obese young men wore more gorgeous clothes. Their furry ferret clothes were supplemented by a large number of colorful cloth strips, gem decorations and gold threads, which fully demonstrated the typical wealth of this era.
Ah, nothing shows wealth more than a fat body.
This is my home after being away for more than a month!
Rurik walked across the plank and stepped onto the solid trestle. When he got off the ship, he had a brief conversation with Gould's young sons, and immediately decided to understand a very important transaction based on his own status!
