With his hair disheveled, Arik disembarked and returned to his hometown.
Putting his swords back into their scabbards, he wore a weather-beaten smile, took solid steps, and opened his arms to welcome the people in his hometown.
"I'm back! I'm sorry to have kept you waiting for so long."
He was talking as he walked, while his wife Peravina walked over quickly with her arms around the infant child in a strong atmosphere of excitement.
Or he saw Askard, who was only seven months old, after his father returned. His babbling calls stimulated Arik's enthusiasm even more.
He hugged his son as if he was holding the future. After touching his tearful wife's forehead, he continued to hold the child enthusiastically and approached his little brother.
To be honest, Rurik's blood boiled with excitement when he saw a large number of tribes ships rushing onto the beach with fearless force. He subconsciously felt that his cousin had gone through a long war, or rather looted, and had gained a lot of loot.
Regarding the controversial nature of plundering, Rurik no longer wanted to dwell on whether or not there was such a thing. The Gotlanders were enemies after all, and their losses had nothing to do with him.
I saw a large number of soldiers disembarking from the ship. Most of them looked slovenly, but at least they were still large in number.
Could it be that after a long period of looting, our own people suffered almost no losses? !
Rurik couldn't hide his excitement, raised his beautiful little head and looked up at his brother.
"Aric, welcome back. Well, your beard seems to be getting longer."
"Hehe." Arik subconsciously stretched out his right hand and touched his little brother's face: "Your face is as delicate as the mink fur on your body. The messenger told me that you have been developing the north. It seems that you have no suffer."
"Of course, how can I treat myself badly?"
Arik shrugged: "My lovely brother, your delicate little face looks like a girl. I hope you grow up quickly and grow a beard like me, so that you can be a real man."
"Ah! Maybe I will also grow thick hair on my chest. Wouldn't that make me more powerful?"
Arik was made to laugh. In fact, just as Rurik teased, Arik's chest was now covered with golden hairs, and his arms were also covered with fine hairs.
Lions do not exist in the Nordic world, but some Frankish nobles have seen male lions from Africa. Therefore, some Frankish warriors who claimed to be very brave would fight with their long golden hair, sometimes claiming to have the power of a lion. Then they would wear leopard skins obtained from the European mountains and forests on their bodies during the battle to show their strong martial virtue.
As long as Arik continues to grow his hair and beard, as long as he doesn't feel that the flowing hair hinders fighting, then he can call himself a lion.
A large number of soldiers spontaneously gathered towards their commander Arik with arrogant self-confidence and joy of returning home.
The tribal warriors were outnumbered, and their tattered clothes also emitted some peculiar smell.
Rurik was already used to it. He estimated that after these guys returned home in triumph, the first thing they would do would be to carry their trophies home, and the second thing would be to clean themselves up.
Arik continued to caress Rurik's little face: "I made a big gain this time, a large number of ships as you can see."
Arik casually pointed at the ships that washed up on the beach. There were a large number of ships loaded in the warships. They did not have high-raised bows and no masts (the masts were chopped off). The ship planks were more simple and plain, at best. They are just some relatively long ordinary ships.
"I've seen it a long time ago!"
"How's it going? Do you like it?"
"Hmm..." Rurik didn't know what to say. Although he didn't directly board the ship for inspection, during the process of washing up on the beach, he had realized that the quality of these ordinary ships must be inferior. For example, their biggest feature compared to warships is that their keels are too slender.
Rurik composed himself: "How many are they?"
"There are twenty ships!"
Arik could raise his voice to show off his illustrious martial arts.
"how do you feel?"
"The number is really amazing! There are as many as twenty ships!" Rurik's little heart was really stimulated. He raised his head and looked at those ships again, and he couldn't help conjuring up a very wonderful picture in his mind.
"How is it? Do you like it? Oh, you will definitely keep your promise."
"Of course." Rurik shrugged, "As long as you bring back twenty ships, I will pay you. Two hundred silver coins per ship, I will pay you today!"
At first, Arik felt that it was a bit difficult for him to expect his little brother to come up with the money immediately. After all, it was a total of forty pounds of silver coins!
Unexpectedly, his little brother was so cheerful. Arik blamed himself for worrying that his brother would hesitate.
He was in a very good mood. He turned around and faced the gathered warriors and shouted loudly: "Brothers! Our Rurik has spoken and he has bought all the ships. Soon you will have everything in your pockets." Get some money!”
Everyone gathered around spontaneously, eager to sell the captured fishing boat that had been dragged along. They were even worried that the irreparable damage to the boat caused by the battle would cause the buyer Rurik to bargain.
Rurik really lived up to expectations. He was the "Blesser of Odin" after all, and he spoke with great force.
"Arik! Doesn't it seem like there were no losses in your expedition?" Rurik's call made the excited Arik turn around again.
"Of course! You may not believe it, but my men were only injured, and no one died in the battle."
His answer is really surprising, even though a well-equipped warrior has a very high chance of survival during a bloody fight. Rurik didn't think there was any difference in weapons between his people and the Gotlanders.
No! Wait!
Rurik was busy talking to his brother. From the corner of his eye, he noticed his mercenary captain and all twenty mercenaries carrying crossbows. Their numbers were visible to the naked eye, which showed that they had suffered no losses.
Is there a generation difference in weapons? There must be some.
Rurik immediately asked a very critical question: "Arik, can you estimate how many enemies you have destroyed in the long battle?"
"This..." Aric grasped the beard on his chin and estimated: "We attacked at least forty fishing boats and killed at least two hundred of them!"
"Ah?! So many. Since there are forty ships, why did you bring back twenty."
"Because many ships were directly damaged in the battle." Arik pointed to his flagship: "Did you see the thick keel and the raised bow? My brother, it seems that you really don't know What is a warship?"
"Um?"
"How do you think I fight?"
Rurik thought thoughtfully: "I sent mercenaries to you. You must be commanding them to shoot the enemy with crossbows."
"You are right, but you still don't understand battles at sea. My brother, I commanded a fleet to fight at sea last year. I have sufficient experience! Your crossbow is indeed an excellent weapon, but a large number of If an arrow falls into the sea, you can never get it back. Your mercenaries almost destroyed all the arrows, and in the end not much was left."
"It doesn't matter, arrows are all consumables. If we lose them, we can make new ones. They are not expensive anyway."
Not expensive? Arik knew that his brother was naturally good at business and had accumulated a lot of wealth for himself through business alone. There is a new difference between me and my brother. He does not care about wasting iron, but I do!
Arik shrugged: "You will always learn about sea battles in the future! Compared with those fishing boats that usually only have five or six people, my warship can be rowed by thirty people at the same time. The warship is very fast, and the bow is Very strong. Rurik, you are me, how do you command the battle?"
"Ah!" Rurik suddenly realized: "You just command the brothers to run into it?!"
"You guessed it right! That's why I didn't take all the boats! Many fishing boats were directly hit and sunk by me."
"Where are the fishermen who fell into the water?" Rurik asked next.
"Those people? Kill all the men, pick up the women and transport them all to Tombstone Island. You know, the brothers stationed there need women very much."
Arik described his cruel past in arrogant words, but now Rurik no longer thinks there is anything cruel about it.
Such is the nature of war. Those so-called Gotland fishermen, of course they are fishermen, but they can become warriors in a blink of an eye. In the Nordic world of this era, there really are no civilians. Men of every tribe have the obligation to defend their tribe from the moment they are born.
The calm fjord was immersed in the excitement, and the ordinary life soon became a source of enjoyable conversation.
People living in the fjords are forced to live in isolation, especially the large number of female relatives. Their daily hard work of tailoring, fetching water, fetching water, and cooking has honed their interest. Even such a life is always boring. .
Women happily hand over their young children to Rurik for training. The underlying logic is that Rurik takes care of the food, thereby saving their own expenses, and the second is to focus on whether their children can become better.
The young warriors returned and told their sisters, wives and even mothers about their illustrious exploits in the crusade against the Gotlanders. They couldn't help describing how brave they were, how resourceful the war chief Arik was, and even praised Rurik's mercenaries and their weapons.
Women were very interested in hearing these interesting stories from the returning soldiers, especially after seeing the trophies they brought back, and suddenly ignored the possibility of death caused by the war. In other words, although they are not very willing in principle, facing the consumption of their own materials, they urgently need their men to make a living.
The reality is that Fort Ross is overcrowded, and the trees on the nearby hills that can be used to build large ships have been cut down. The nearby woods are generally filled with small trees, and the small beasts in the woods are also hunted by hunters.
The land in the fjords is barren and the frost-free period in the climate is short, making it impossible for men and women to be self-sufficient through effective cultivation. Fishing and northern hunting in winter are the economic basis of the tribe, and these very hard jobs must be done by men.
It has to be said that people's eyes are sharp. Under the command of the big leader Otto, and under the leadership of Otto's two children, the tribe quickly became strong.
Some small families have enjoyed the dividends of war, and some small families have enjoyed the dividends of industrial development.
The dividends actually benefited all tribal families, including those families whose lives were difficult due to the death of their men in battle or accidents, and even aging men and women. Two years have passed, and in the modern era, all registered Ross tribesmen, young and old, have truly received development dividends.
The returning soldiers not only brought home a batch of captured trophies, such as a large amount of fishing equipment, but also cut canvas from enemy ships and even shabby clothes.
They brought back a lot of things. In fact, Arik deliberately postponed the return date until the sea water froze.
Of course, there is nothing better than organizing thousands of soldiers to directly land on the island, kill the Gotland army, and then directly plunder the wealth stored by the islanders, so that everyone can make a fortune again. To this day, Arik still believes that the enemy is inferior. He always feels that his uncle Otto's prohibition on mobilizing the main force of the Ross tribe to fight the enemy is a matter of opportunity.
Because the local fishermen's raids were running from one victory to another, he strengthened the fact that the enemy was ruthless.
However, what was very bad was that their actions went too far, forcing Gotland's fishermen to dare not fish in the fertile northern seas (because it is located at the mouth of Lake Malaren, this sea area is relatively rich in nutrients). It seems that the fishing ground is occupied by fishermen from the north, but in fact the fishermen of the Melalen tribe are only focused on catching freshwater fish in the lake. They are unaware of the wars taking place on the sea, and due to their inherent knowledge, they do not dare to risk going south.
For a time, the fishing industry in the vast sea area became depressed, and the Russian warships were like cruising sharks, searching for and biting enemies they encountered.
As time went by, Arik caught nothing for many days in a row, and the days of fishing on the spot made everyone feel bored. In this case, it is better to go back with the loot as soon as possible.
The captured tools enriched the families of the soldiers. On the still short night of the first day after their return, Arik led a few people and summoned all the people who participated in the battle to gather in front of his home, and then divided and sold them in public. Money from trophy ships.
Everyone held high torches soaked in rosin, staring at the open suitcase with wide eyes and the silver coins reflecting inside.
During the long day, Rurik had a long family talk with his cousin at his home.
My cousin told many details about what happened in the southern seas. Rurik listened to the description of the mercenary captain Yevro by the way, so that he had an intuitive understanding of naval battles and classified the tactics into different levels.
As the saying goes, the best strategy is to collide with the bow of the ship, the middle strategy is to shoot with arrows, and the worst strategy is to jump into gangs and fight.
The two brothers completed the transfer of ownership of the ship in a relaxed and pleasant atmosphere.
Arik had eaten at the leader's house. Even though it was already evening, he still brought the money box to distribute the money.
"Attention everyone! Twenty silver coins for each person! Including me, it's also twenty silver coins!"
"We are all brothers. We have been at sea for two months and everyone must be paid!"
"Attention! Leave after taking the money. Each person can only take it once. You are not allowed to take your brother's money privately. Violators will be punished."
…
Arik was actually afraid that someone would pretend to claim it. Rurik and his family were also watching, and they couldn't help but feel very regretful when they saw the young warriors of the tribe rushing about in a chaotic manner.
"Alas! There may be some people trying to fish in troubled waters like this! Fortunately, my people have been forced to train to know how to queue up."
After all, they were madmen who followed Arik to fight. Rurik just watched from the side. How Arik distributed the money was his business and had nothing to do with him.
The only thing that caught Rurik's keen attention was Arik's so-called generosity.
As a commander, do you really want to share the 4,000 silver coins from the fishing boat? !
Of course, the mercenaries are Rurik's people, and they can only receive rewards from their masters. As for rewarding Loyevro and others, Rurik has already distributed all the bonuses. The so-called bonus is actually twenty silver coins to match The salary for two months of overseas combat, plus a food subsidy of five silver coins.
Arik really only took twenty silver coins, and within a short time, the heavy box became empty. Rurik was actually overly worried. These soldiers had fought side by side for a long time, and everyone was originally angry at the evil man who was greedy for the trophies of his comrades. Now that Arik had commanded him and set an example of seeking fairness, no one had greedy thoughts.
So, is Arik really generous?
Of course, he was generous.
Rurik naturally saw the underlying situation: rather than getting real silver and gold coins, his cousin now focused more on personal prestige.
"Do you long for glory? Of course, I do too. Now we are on different paths. I'm afraid I will always be the winner."
