Heavy fog filled the entire Lake Mälaren. Before the fog evaporated, Rurik followed his father to the Mälaren market again with a heavy sleepiness.
Early in the morning, the Aurora docked at the Mälaren Pier. Her "huge" figure attracted a large number of locals who were watching the excitement. At this moment, the Ross soldiers who were ordered to garrison became vigilant. They stood on the trestle holding the hilts of their swords tightly, preventing others from getting closer.
Everyone knows that there will be a grand sacrifice in Melalenburg today. As long as you pay attention to the bonfire burning for a night near the altar, you will know the big move planned by the leader.
The conclusive news of the war spread throughout the settlements, and the alliance leader, who had already proclaimed himself king, wanted to summon 1,500 Melalen warriors to go to war! The men who had prepared for Mellaren were eager to be selected. They might have been a little timid for a moment, but thinking that thousands of people would form a coalition to launch a war, they had never seen such a scene in their lives, and in their In the concept of "one thousand", it is an extremely huge number. What many ordinary people think of is a glorious victory. .
ah! When the lake was covered with longships that were assembled and on standby, thousands of warriors holding their swords, axes, and spears high shouted loudly that victory belonged to the Kingdom of Sweden and the Mellaren tribe. .
So, getting wealth from victory, especially important food, has become extremely important now that life is quite difficult.
When a family is forced to fish to survive because their surplus food is exhausted, the wife urges her husband to take up arms and join the war.
There are a large number of second and third sons of various families who are destined not to inherit their own property. They are the most active people. Their bare feet are not afraid of those who wear shoes. They have no property except their physical bodies. As long as he wins the battle and gets the spoils of war, he will be rich and powerful, and he can even steal a woman to be his wife on the battlefield. This is a great opportunity to turn his life around.
The people of the entire Mellaren tribe are restless. Soon, when the news of preparations for war reaches the ears of the people of other tribes, the entire Kingdom of Sweden will be boiling.
Leaders from all walks of life landed one after another, and Rurik also arrived at the altar of the Mellaren people under the escort of his own guards.
It was a permanent altar to cover the construction. Looking at it so closely, Rurik felt that it was similar to the one in Fort Ross.
The altar is still in the shape of a ship made of a large number of granite stones. It is even larger, and there is a permanent altar stacked with square stones in the center of the altar.
"It's so rude and evil."
Rurik looked through the gaps in the guard wall, and he saw some shirtless male priests with black stripes tattooed on their bodies visiting some bronze trays, and some female priests in plain robes also walked away holding some top products. Come.
The leaders gathered one after another, and they all brought their own guards. Compared with the current situation of the Russians who were "basically dressed in the same uniform", their clothes were various and could not be said to be noble.
The Russians indeed stood out among the growing crowd. Even the guards wore white cloth cloaks with blue cloth strips sewn across them. The Russians' robes, which are mainly blue and white, are unique in the gray and black "ocean", as if they are not from the same group as the others.
After a while, some strong men in black came carrying sharpened wooden stakes. Their appearance aroused the excitement of the leaders watching the show.
I saw them manipulating huge wooden hammers and pounding wooden piles into the soft mud near the lake.
They set up five wooden stakes, and now Rurik couldn't figure out what they wanted to do.
"Dad, what are they doing?" Rurik grabbed Otto's big hand hard.
Otto lowered his head solemnly: "Someone will die today."
"Um?"
"It's a human sacrifice."
"Ah! Could it be that they... are slaves?" Rurik reacted instantly.
"Yes. They are slaves. This is their tradition. After every alliance, blood sacrifices should be made to the Lake God, Poseidon and Odin."
Otto didn't need to explain too much, and Rurik soon saw the so-called sacrifices-five men tied with ropes.
If they were slaves, they were most likely people from Britain obtained from Norwegian traders. They walked hobblingly, and their arms and backs had writing written on them with charcoal. There was only despair in their eyes, so they did not resist when they tied him to the stake. Maybe they were all from Northumbria? Or the north of Scotland? The invasion and plunder of the Vikings began decades ago. It is not surprising that a group of slaves from Britain appeared in Mellaren, but it was really rare to use blood sacrifices as sacrifices.
Finally, the two important figures of the sacrifice, wearing their extremely gorgeous clothes, walked proudly surrounded by a group of "black warriors".
Origen, his raised chin almost reached the sky. It was at this moment that the fog was at its strongest, making his arrogance blurry.
But in the mist, a man wearing ferret velvet showed his sword. He was Karl standing at the stake. He was the one who completed the most critical thing in this sacrifice.
In the mist, Origen delivered an impassioned speech, in which he denounced the ferocity of the Danes, the treachery of the Gotlanders, the lamentations of the allies of Ostara, and the praises of the new kingdom of Sweden, or It's just his own boasting.
He shouted especially loudly: "Glorious people, we are the masters of this sacred land. The enemy covets our land. They kill and destroy. Now I am your king, and I will lead you to defeat the enemy. Soon. , when the sun breaks through the fog, let the blood of these slaves be sacrificed to the gods. Odin, Poseidon, and our great Melalen woman, the gods will bless us with victory!"
The morning sun finally tore through the fog, and the sun appeared. It shone like a curtain on the sacred altar, and its holy light shone on every male and female priest, making his crown shine brightly.
The time was ripe, and after Origen gave the priest a color, the bald high priest of Melalen began to chant the most critical prayer.
At this moment, Karl also showed his sword.
Karl, he enjoyed a strange joy in killing. He cleanly separated the slave's throat and deliberately let the blood stain the soil of the altar.
Rurik watched all this with bated breath...
"It's bloody again. Why do I feel a bit like a battlefield? I am also nervous on the battlefield. Oh! Are you using human sacrifice to prove your strength? I still think it is very necessary. It is such a waste of labor, it is too pure."
What Rurik learned was that human sacrifice and human sacrifice were a stupid waste of labor, and the East had gradually abandoned such practices since the pre-Qin period. By the time of Hanwu, even some corporal punishments that were obviously used to destroy the labor force of strong men were abolished. It cannot be said that this measure is purely humane. After all, it seriously harms the country's strength. Several generals of Duke Mu of Qin were buried, and as a result, Qin lost several generals. The consequences of the unexpected loss of generals were quickly reflected in the later wars.
From Rurik's perspective, he didn't ask Origen to respect any human rights (Oreigen couldn't respect things he didn't understand), even if it was to respect a labor force, he shouldn't do this.
But that's what he did, leaving all the leaders stunned.
It’s not that the leaders think human sacrifice is really stupid, but they generally feel that using five slaves at one time, apart from Origen’s show-off significance, is it really considered a sacrifice to the gods?
In the Viking world, it was not uncommon to sacrifice the blood of enemy chiefs to gods. Rurik really guessed it right. The "generous" use of multiple slave blood sacrifices was a rare act of stupidity.
The sacrifice ended in the cheers of the people of Zamelalen. They were eager to see blood and fight, because what they thought of was not death, but the opportunity to gain huge wealth.
After the sacrifice was over, the slaves' bodies were thrown into the lake and allowed to drift slowly into the sea, which was regarded as the last sacrifice to the lake god and sea god.
The Mellaren tribe has now begun the most critical preparations for war. They are reorganizing their armies and counting their ships. Origen and his Karl are in high spirits.
As early as on the altar, Origen announced for the second time that Karl would serve as a brave general in the Mellaren Army and would definitely make great achievements.
After receiving great honor, as the crown prince of the kingdom, Karl was in the prime of life, so he naturally took the lead in venting his explosive ambition on his wives and concubines. He longed for a huge victory, and it would be best if he personally beheaded several Danish enemy chieftains and use the skulls as bowls. As a result, one of the wives died...
What happened to Karl can only be said to be a glimpse of the manic Melalen tribe. The entire tribe is preparing for an unprecedented war. One after another, strong men are selected by Origen and absorbed into the expedition team.
In fact, all tribes are so excited. The vast majority of people regard this war as an opportunity to make a fortune, and look forward to a triumphant return in the autumn with a huge amount of loot, another harvest of wheat, and a leisurely life. winter.
The Ross tribe has also fallen into this pre-war frenzy, but compared to other tribes, the Ross people have been the initiators of wars in both summer and winter in the past two years. Many men did not find it difficult to conquer the Gotlanders and Danes because they had fought against them many times and had won.
Besides, why should ordinary Russians listen to Origen's instigation? They only follow the arrangements of their leader Otto and even the "son of god" Rurik.
From the moment the first order to prepare for war arrived, Fort Ross took action.
What can Rurik's young men, who are just a group of children, do for this war? Since the leader needed a large amount of crossbow arrows, they all learned the techniques of making crossbow arrows during the winter, and new production began immediately.
With the sudden delivery of a second order, the children's productivity increased again.
Regardless of whether they were boys or girls, they cut pine branches to make arrow shafts according to the previous standards, and even went crazy to use cast iron and glass to make arrow clusters. Using feathers as tailfins was too extravagant, so a large number of crossbow arrows had tailfins made of glued thin wood chips.
I have to praise the technology of the Russians here.
The blast furnace started burning again, and molten pig iron began to be produced. They were poured directly into a large number of prefabricated clay molds, and arrow clusters were being produced at an extremely fast speed. Cast iron is certainly not a good material for arrow clusters. If these arrow clusters are burned in an ordinary stove for a while, everything will change. Part of the carbon element is lost, and a layer of high-carbon steel material appears on the surface of the arrow cluster, which is a kind of tool steel.
The Russian blacksmiths regarded Professor Rurik's "atomic theory" as a guide and regarded it as "the truth of God". Not to mention, the practice based on this theory, especially in metal processing, is the blacksmiths who are best at exploring technology in practice. They not only explored the method of making high-carbon steel using the stir-fried steel method, but also directly used it to make high-carbon steel. As a large number of tools, used for fine processing. For example, drill bits and chisels.
Of course, it is perfect for use as arrow clusters, especially after surface quenching, it is extremely hard.
Due to the consumption of previous wars, the Ross tribe needs to equip more arrow clusters. The Ross tribe has long been qualified to seriously consider "defense construction". All Rurik can think of is to make a large number of arrow clusters in winter, whether it is bones. , glass or iron, it doesn’t matter which one can be used.
Rurik's order was absolute, at least 20,000 standard arrows, as well as the "cannonballs" and javelins of the forged torsion slingshots, which were a great test of the Russian armaments production capacity.
Hundreds of people who have been eating the emperor's salary for many years are very willing to perform meritorious service for their master, even if they are in a relationship. But the most critical task is still the craftsmen of the Ross tribe, especially the potters and blacksmiths among them.
Children can only make arrow clusters and process javelin shafts on a small scale.
The Russians actually needed a lot of arrow delivery equipment, which really forced Klavasen to almost unable to sleep. More than a dozen carpenters undertook the manufacture of the new torsion slingshot, and only a few castings were made by blacksmiths.
The Russians actually need a large number of crossbows, but the cost of the best steel-arm crossbows is too high and the production period is also long. If it were just for the purpose of effectively launching arrows, wouldn't it be the same if the steel arms were replaced with elastic wood? They used leftover oak materials from shipbuilding to make bows, and used pine wood to make crossbow bodies. The precise crossbow machine required Clavarson to create his own molds that had been processed into high-carbon steel, and only used bronze casting to make them. .
In order to achieve his goal, Klavasen even sacrificed his own bronze oil lamp holder. The news reached the ears of Niya who stayed behind, and Niya informed Rumia of the dilemma. At this point, a wonder suddenly appeared!
The chief priest's house contributed a number of bronze utensils, and even the bronze cauldron was dug out. High Priest Vilia, whose physical function was already very bad, told Rumia in anger that all these bottles and cans could be thrown away in order to win the great war that the Russians participated in!
Under normal circumstances, this situation only occurs when the war is extremely anxious and material supplies are difficult. The situation of the Russians was very similar. Rurik gave too little time, especially the delay in transmitting information, which lasted for many days, and a lot of time was wasted. This prompted the Ross people to make this strategy, but after the war, the Ross tribe would definitely have a lot of iron supplies to replace the former.
In this way, a large number of bronzes were returned to the furnace, and they were all turned into the core of crossbows and torsion slingshots, and even used to reinforce leather helmets.
It can be said that without active preparations in winter, the Russians would not have been able to deploy a large amount of armaments in this summer war.
All the tribesmen noticed that the weapons required by the leader were all long-range weapons, not the most common swords, axes and spears. Some smart people have realized that this is what Rurik himself meant, "Why should I pick up the ax myself when I can kill you from a distance?". However, there are still many old warriors who feel that this method is inappropriate and that true warriors should fight bloody battles with swords.
According to the second order, Fort Ross must prepare all the weapons on the list before May 20th, and 200 soldiers must also be in place. A fleet transporting personnel, huge amounts of armaments, food and other supplies will first rush to Tombstone Island and then enter Lake Mälaren. They must transport personnel and ammunition to Gould Island on May 26th.
It can be called a stress test for the war potential of the Rus tribe. Sometimes Rurik feels that this order is too harsh. However, when he thinks about it, the intensity of the war will inevitably escalate and everything will become harsh. The Rus people feel that the war will not burn out. Can you sit back and relax as far north as Roseburg? That's so naive.
