Crows hover over the bridge village. They are messengers of God. When the warriors and warriors turn to ashes in the fire, their souls will surely go to Valhalla under the gaze of the messengers of God.
In a hearty battle, some warriors died, but those who survived did not feel sad or lost.
Because there is still a big battle waiting for everyone.
In fact, these crows were aiming at the dead cattle and sheep carcasses everywhere. They came smelling blood, and gathered to peck at the cattle and sheep just after Arik left.
Arik decided to take his brothers to evacuate and inform the army of the news. They spent a lot of energy during the battle. Now these people are resting in Qiao Village, intending to repair and continue their journey tomorrow.
The fleeing Gotlandic warriors fled madly towards Visby, and soon fled back to the harbor.
The people who went to inquire about the news were actually defeated? ! Bad news spread quickly as the defeated soldiers fled.
At noon, the exhausted and thirsty people returned to the Gotland Council.
There were as many as twenty noble people gathered in the council chamber. They were the heads of all the big families in Visby and the leaders of all the villages that had fled.
The fact of failure challenges everyone's nerves, even the face that was rounded by wealth now has wrinkles full of sadness. Oh, these people who had made such a fuss about fighting, jumping or running away yesterday were now all terrified.
The defeated people sat on the ground in front of the court, listlessly waiting for the dignitaries to gather.
The Brisnos family may be the richest business family in Visby or Gotland.
The leader of the family, Haken, hopes that he can become a generation of heroes who can essentially dominate the entire Visby and the entire island, so as to become a powerful force on the sea. The reality is that he does not have the ability in this area. His family has been raising a group of private soldiers, and his sons are also smart and capable. The family has accumulated a lot of wealth and can recruit many warriors.
The Brisnos family does not yet have overwhelming strength. Haken and his traditional allies in business have a strong voice in the council. This has been the case for a long time.
They are the representatives of the main war faction! It was this group of people who encouraged everyone to move the island to the Danes for the sake of greater interests.
Obviously the previous news from the escapees was absolutely correct, the Russians had already arrived at the doorstep!
Suddenly, a man in rich clothes stood up. He held his legs to suppress the trembling of fear: "The Russians are so ferocious, they are on the east side of the mound! Let's leave now. We must leave if we want to survive!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the people gathered in the meeting room, and even the nobles present, stared at him with disdainful eyes.
Haken was old, and his braided white beard was trembling.
This is Hakon "Whitebeard". When he was young, he was called Hakon "Goldenbeard", but now he is no longer young. He was not destined to become a warrior in his life, but became a very wealthy fur trader.
If the Russians only fought with fishermen on the northern sea, the Brisnos family would not suffer any loss. Now that the Russians have invaded the cattle and sheep pastures on the island, this has affected the interests of all fur traders and farmers and herdsmen on the entire island. ! They can no longer sit back and watch the fishermen suffer losses.
"Swila of the Stork family, is your brain full of suet? Or have you become a cowardly fat sheep?" Haken rolled his eyes and said with disdain.
"You! You are mocking me." Svera stretched out his hand and yelled, "Now the Danes and the northern guys are fighting in the south. We only have 10,000 people, and we have to fight the Russians alone? Can we? Win?!”
"You...are indeed a docile sheep." After saying that, Haken laughed in front of everyone.
He began to interrogate the people who had withdrawn, and was surprised to find that the elite under his command were from Lavin and were not present? A bad thought made his head buzz.
Someone hurriedly wailed: "Raven is dead, and his head was cut off by the Russians. Hundreds of brothers died, how tragic!"
"What?"
The shocked Haken hurriedly walked down the stone steps, squatted down and pinched the neck of the messenger: "Say! Who killed him? He is a warrior!"
"It's...it's that guy. Aric! Aric of Rose!"
"Huh? Actually..." Haken let go of his hand, and the nobles present also became alert.
Just three years ago, Aric first unleashed his terror on Gotland. He deliberately told his name to the fleeing enemies. In the following years, he led his troops to plunder Gotland fishing boats at sea, and deliberately let some prisoners go to bring news about the Gotlander "Arik of Rus".
The Gotlanders don't know much about the Rus', mainly because of the old almanac from decades ago - the losers in the competition in Svealand were forced to go to the bitter cold land in the north.
Of course, the current islanders have repaid the constant plundering for exactly three years, and Arik of Rus has become synonymous with terror, as if that man is the leader of the Rus people.
Haken admired Arik as a warrior, but it was a pity that he was an enemy who threatened his family. Unless that man dies, the whole island will not survive.
Now the Lord Peace Party has completely shut up, and many people who were still arguing last night are now standing around Haken.
However, there was a group of cowards named "Escapers" among the crowd.
Visla of the wealthy Stoker family is one of these escapees. He himself does not care about cowardly behavior, and there are indeed people who follow him for a reason.
Knowing that the Russians had sent a butcher strengthened Svera's determination to escape: "If you want to fight, just fight! I will take my family to evacuate. I will go to Denmark and leave this unfortunate country." island.”
"What did you say? Unlucky island?" Haken stared angrily.
"What? Have we not experienced enough in these years?"
"This is obviously a blessed land, we are all rich." Haken argued.
"But we will be finished soon. Brother, listen to me, it's not too late to evacuate now."
Svera no longer wanted to talk nonsense, he had decided to leave. He was very sure of one thing. Although the news was not yet conclusive, the Russians must have invaded in a large scale. The Gotlanders have always been scattered. In recent years, the Brisnos family has grown rapidly, and the Russians have suddenly and frequently harassed them. The Gotlanders, who have always been active, have now become passive.
If the Russians dared to invade the interior of the island this time, they must be well prepared.
He had already turned around and was walking away, but was stopped by Haken's guards.
"What? You won't let me go? Are you forcing me to fight?"
"No. You can leave! But hand over all your private soldiers." Haken said fiercely.
"Why? That's my man."
"You? Do you think you can leave Thing alive if you don't hand him over now? Listen, the cowards in Gotland will be killed by everyone. No one will sympathize with cowards."
Svera stared at all the nobles, and he was shocked to see that those who were frightened by Haken and intended to escape also expressed their intention to stay and fight. Everyone seems to be united around Haken? No! Everyone just hugged each other to keep warm.
The subtle atmosphere infected Haken himself, not just the thread. Haken suddenly shouted loudly: "Visby is in danger. The wealth of various families is here. The Russians have sent out all the people to take it away." Our wealth. We can only fight them desperately. Now I hope you all recognize that I am the leader, and let me lead everyone and gather everyone's strength to defeat the Russians."
"Huh?" Svera was shocked and asked angrily: "In the end, you want to imitate the Danes and become king?!"
"Why not?" Haken laughed slowly and pulled out his sword again, "I want to go to the altar in the south, I want to sacrifice Odin with my blood, let God grant us victory, and let God grant me the King of Gotland .”
"Just you? Are you worthy of being called king?" Svera did not leave anymore. He turned around and stood upright in front of Haken and said scornfully: "I can be a coward, but you are arrogant. You are just slightly richer than everyone else. Why do you..."
"That's all!" Svera was halfway through his words when a sharp dagger pierced his chin.
It was Haken, who instantly pulled out a meat-cutting knife with his left hand and gave Svera a fatal blow. This move shocked everyone.
Blood splashed all over Haken, and Svera died on the ground with his eyes open, blood still pouring out from the wound...
Haken still didn't give up. He bowed down and spat: "This is the fate of cowards who run away."
Originally, the people who advocated fighting were the majority. After all, the islanders were mainly fishermen. In the past three years, the Ross people's crazy looting had not only killed many men on the island, but now ordinary people's lives have become difficult. The root of all evil is the Russians! Unless they die, everyone will starve to death sooner or later.
Haken raised his right hand holding the sword tightly and threw away the bloody dagger, "Brothers, now I am the King of Gotland! I will go to the altar today. I will sacrifice ten slaves to God. I will use myself He shed his blood and prayed to Odin for victory. The Rus are indeed terrible, but with the combined strength of all of us, we can defeat them!"
People in fear need a political strongman to step up and give them a bright future.
Is this what Haken is? Maybe yes, at least this person's decisiveness is trustworthy.
Visby was a large settlement built around the Stone Ship Altar.
Today, a huge longhouse has been built on the original altar site. Each wooden door has exquisite carvings. The pillars inside are also wrapped in sheepskin and decorated with dark green pine branches and crystal amber. The longhouse was always filled with incense. A group of priests used red-hot daggers to destroy all the hair follicles so that their hair would no longer grow. They were bald and wore plain robes. They used pure white to represent absolute piety and worshiped their gods.
The news of the failure was quickly replaced by the news of Harkon becoming king.
Everyone needs a hero in their hearts to lead everyone through this disaster. Everyone knows that the distant Danes cannot immediately relieve their urgent needs, and now they must rely on themselves.
The rich and the poor all supported Haken, even the doubters. In order to avoid ending up like Svera, they instead shouted that "war" was the happiest thing.
A huge crowd of people surrounded the long room of the Shichuan Altar!
Ten slaves of the Brisnos family were frightened and killed by the priests with large gold-plated axes.
In the longhouse, there is a bronze statue roughly cast into an old face, which is the image of Leodin in the hearts of the Gotlanders. The eyes of the statue witnessed the death of the sacrifice.
The cultural environment of Gotland is a bit strange. The only statue of Odin erected in the altar is the statue of Frey, which symbolizes wealth, placed in the merchant family.
Now, when life and death are at stake, businessmen have turned into warriors.
Haken closed his eyes, cut his hand with a knife, and sprinkled the blood on the pure gold plate.
The decapitated slave was hung upside down, and the blood of the slave dyed the stone ship altar in the room completely red.
Wealthy businessmen and village leaders all knelt in the longhouse. They were participants and witnesses of the entire bloody sacrifice.
Similarly, a male high priest from Gotland who was blind in one eye and wore an antlered helmet (the antlers were smaller than those of the priests of Rus, but had solid gold hoops), after a strange convulsion, he solemnly declared Two things:
As long as the men and women of Gotland unite, they can completely defeat the Rus. The great Odin declared Hakon of the Brinos family to be the king of Gotland and led the people to defeat the enemy.
No one had any objection to this arrangement, because time was limited and they were not allowed to have any objection at all!
Haken did not feel any pleasure in becoming the king. He became the king he dreamed of, but he was also very sober.
The reason why each family supports him is because he needs to fulfill his responsibilities as a king and lead everyone to defeat the enemy. Similarly, for future battles, Wang's family must also spend money lavishly, so that the islanders dare to fight for their lives.
That night, the Stork family was robbed by the locals of Visby!
Because the king said that cowards who betrayed the brothers on the island have no right to live.
Svira of Stoker was killed, and his sons also died tragically. Although his female relatives resisted, they all became slaves who could be disposed of at will. However, the private soldiers and old slaves raised by the family themselves suddenly became King Haken's men.
The Stoker family's wealth was robbed, and not only the Visby people joined in the plunder, but also the strong villagers who fled, and even the Danes who simply lived on the island.
There are some silent Danes who have witnessed the major events of these days. They are the Danish leader, or in other words, the subordinates of the Danish King "Lion" Hafgen. They hide their identities and silently supervise these Gotlanders. It is said that once these guys betray the alliance, the news will soon reach Hafgen's ears, and then the Danish army will land to attack.
How could the king Haken not know this? He took out ten slave blood sacrifices at once. On the one hand, it was for Denmark's "silent surveillance" to see. As for the decisive battle with the Russians, the main aspect was of course for the Goths. Lan people, on the other hand, this is also another form of voting certificate.
Since the noble priest said that the Gotlanders would achieve a great victory, then after defeating the Rus, the Gotlanders' position in Danish power should also rise significantly.
The Brisnos family, under the auspices of family member Zhang Haken, decided to make a gamble that would not succeed or be destroyed.
His five sons, of varying ages, must all immediately suspend their identities as merchants and don their mail armor and become warriors, whether they like it or not.
Of course he would not imagine that his cub could become a warrior on the battlefield, that was absolutely impossible. However, they can serve as commanders and lead mercenaries, slaves, and armed peasants to fight, thereby passively gaining honor.
He lied that his sons would never encounter any danger because he was not the main force in the war.
As night fell, Haken distributed as much as a hundred pounds of silver to support the fighting farmers, herders, and fishermen in the king's name. In addition, people looted the Stoker family, and many people became rich that night.
In the splendid longhouse of House Brisnoth, Harkon's five sons grew brave.
The eldest son, Siegfast, suddenly had greater ambitions because of his father's declaration of himself as king. He is the oldest and was originally meant to inherit the family's main business, and now he will naturally inherit his father's throne.
However, the brothers are all watching with eager eyes.
Sigfast didn't want to kill his own brothers to eliminate future troubles, so he mainly used his strength to suppress his brothers' ambitions.
At the internal meeting of the family, Sigfast spoke boldly: "Father, I will continue to take people to see the situation. We are going to fight the Russians. At least we must find them first."
Haken Dayue: "Okay! Two hundred people are obviously not enough, and those villagers in Bridge Village are also fools. I will give you five hundred people to take these elites to explore the road."
"OK!"
Haken reached out and patted the eldest son's shoulder hard, then took off his amber-encrusted sword and handed it to the eldest son. The meaning was self-evident.
Siegfast held the sword in both hands as if holding absolute power.
He swore with a tight mouth: "I will find the Russians, attack them proactively, and take revenge on them."
"No!" Haken shook his head: "I want you to be smarter. Five hundred warriors are present, and the Russians will not attack rashly. You! I want you to try your best to find that Arik of Rus and tell him that the Gotlanders want to Fight all the grievances against the Russians. Tell me that the Gotlanders are ready. If the Russians don't come, they will be complete villains and cowards, and they will be filth spurned by the gods."
"Yes. I...I will." Sigfast nodded, but for a moment, Haken saw the twinkle in his son's eyes. It seemed that this kid still had his own little plan?
Haken couldn't think about that much. His top priority was to rectify his troops and turn farmers into warriors, including young women. [81 Chinese Network] must also take up arms and become female warriors.
As for Siegfast, five hundred warriors wearing leather armor (partly chain mail) are to follow him and go to the mound tomorrow to explore with force.
