The Russian ships were still floating off the coast of Visby Port. The big ships were like monsters emerging from the sea. They guarded the port and used their terrifying power to force the people in the city to completely stop thinking about escaping by sea.
A number of dead bodies were floating on the sea, and others had been buried with their ships.
Are all these brave escapees businessmen? Every sunken ship was carrying money and jewels?
It was late August and the water temperature in the Baltic Sea was already too cool. For a person floating on the water, the low temperature will first kill him before the salty brine of the sea pickles him until he dies of dehydration.
Gould ordered his old sailors: "It seems that all the enemy ships are transporting treasures. If you jump into the water and explore, you will be rewarded if you find the treasures."
What exactly is a bounty? The sailors were actually unwilling to do this, but the financial backers pressed hard, so they had no choice but to believe that Gould, the elephant seal, could give more money in the future.
A group of sailors furled the sails and dropped the spearheads.
Wearing only a fig leaf and holding a cable in their hands, they plunged into the sea.
They relied on their strong bodies to withstand the cold sea water, and they groped in the turbid offshore water. Many people quickly touched the bottom of the sea full of fine sand, and then touched the wreckage of the ship.
Some soft things were also discovered, and even though he groped with his eyes closed, the sailor knew they were drowned enemies.
After a while, someone discovered the heavy box. The people underwater were sure of their judgment because the box had an obvious lock! Not only is its leathery, square shape extremely obvious, it's also very heavy.
A sailor came up and shouted to Gould on the boat after a sudden ventilation, and then the salvage work quickly began.
The cable was stretched straight, and the people on the boat worked together, as if they were dragging a big cod onto the deck.
There are two teams operating on Aurora alone, and sailors out at sea have been saying there are still boxes that need to be salvaged.
The first box came out of the water, and Gould judged that it was all money with just a moment of intuition.
"A wooden box wrapped in cowhide? There is at least a hundred pounds in it! I hope they are all silver coins, even copper coins."
Gould glanced at his eldest son Snoleva and said, "Break the lock."
Snoleva smiled, he raised the ax in his hand, then opened the lid and saw a lot of silver coins!
The onlookers were almost all old men and women from Rossburg. They had been living with poverty almost all their lives. It was the first time they saw so many silver coins today. They all sat on the ground in shock and shouted about the wealth of the Gotlanders.
This is just the beginning.
More boxes came out of the water one after another, and as many as eight boxes were placed on the deck of the Aurora. All the lids were opened, and the wet coins and jewelry were exposed to the world.
Snoleva jumped up and down in ecstasy, and Gould was also very happy. Fortunately, his head was not mentally retarded by the impact of the huge sum of money.
Snoleva danced and rushed to his father, dragging his two brothers with him, shouting: "This is our booty! Hey, I heard that fighting is a shortcut to making a fortune, and what they said is true. .We made a fortune."
Gould grimaced and shook his head: "These are Rurik's wealth."
"Huh?" Snoleva was stunned for a moment: "Father, what did you say? These..."
"They all belong to Rurik and belong to Duke Ross."
"But they are our trophies."
"It's Rose's trophy. What are you thinking about, kid?" A wise big hand slapped Snoleva hard on the shoulder, "You are my first heir, you have to be smart. This money seems like a lot of money. , but as long as you are loyal to Duke Ross, what does this money mean?"
Snoleva didn't understand for a moment. He didn't know that the greatest wealth was actually the control of power. Gould spent most of his life traversing the entire sea, and he realized the concept of clinging to power in order to accumulate wealth safely.
Yet Gould underestimated the wealth of Visby residents.
All ships are salvaging, and everyone's harvest is different.
The sailors who jumped into the water came on board one after another, wrapped in blankets and eating dried fish, looking at the money box and giggling. Gould immediately ordered a so-called temporary reward of some money to the sailors. He also said something nice: "You have helped Duke Ross get a lot of loot, and the Duke will give you a lot of rewards in the future. More money and more women, and you will all be valued."
A total of fifty-three boxes were salvaged, which were full of gold, silver and jewelry. The silver coins alone were roughly estimated to exceed five thousand pounds! A very valuable gold coin is about a hundred pounds. And the priceless amber raw stones can definitely fill the entire suitcase.
Rurik made some miscalculations. He mistakenly underestimated the wealth of the Visby people.
It took more than 233 years for the settlement of Visby to transform from a colonial fishing village where the North Germans expanded northward from the European continent to the current trading market in the central area of the sea. The locals traded with Svealand in the north, Denmark and even Pomerania in the south. A large amount of gold and silver from the old Roman world flowed into Gotland. In addition, the islanders loved the habit of burying silver, and accumulated a lot of wealth. Nothing more than normal.
It is normal for an established family to bury a thousand pounds of silver. Just like the Harolev family of the now extremely entangled big businessman Harald, they control as much as fifteen hundred pounds of silver. However, the two hundred recruited Danish mercenaries and some dedicated domestic slaves were wiped out in one day.
Now even with the elderly cook who bakes wheat cakes armed, the entire family can only maintain a force of eighty people. Even the twenty female warriors responsible for protecting Aslaqi, who should have played more of a ceremonial role, have now become extremely important.
The Ross ships on the sea made a fortune, and Gould knew that he had made great achievements. He had no intention of being greedy, and he just gave them all. Rurik's child would definitely give the family a greater reward. In fact, Gould had begun to imagine greater possibilities through this battle.
Could it be that the huge and powerful Franks were behemoths from the beginning? They must also have a small presence. The descendants of those who surrounded the early kings became feudal officials one after another.
The Russians are replicating the success of the Franks, so on this road to success, what the Duke lacks most is a lot of money.
The wealth Visby retained reached the scale of 10,000 pounds of silver! The silver shortage problem that occurred in the European Middle Ages was, to a certain extent, caused by pirates and merchants in the Viking Age who buried the silver gained from trade and plunder as a safety precaution. This is why Swedish archaeologists excavating tombs thousands of years later often unearthed 100,000 silver coins in a silver cellar. And one hundred thousand silver coins, almost equal to the standard one thousand Roman pounds.
Harald gave up any escape plan, and the people watching in Visby Port completely gave up.
Some people began to look for food everywhere, even forcibly cutting up dead bodies, and ventured to evacuate to the south of the island with strange food.
They dragged their tired steps into the pine forest of the island. Some tried to go to the southern port to find a chance to escape, and some went straight to the Odin Temple on the southern hill.
At least those priests who worshiped Frey in Visby all ran away, because Odin was clearly on the side of the Rus. Odin, the god of war, wanted to bring destruction to Visby. The Rus attacked from many directions. The priests went to the altar of Odin, hoping that the god's anger would not spread again.
But this war has nothing to do with God!
Harald was very realistic. No, on a brand new day, he put on the clothes of a warrior, took his daughter Aslaki, who was extremely beautifully dressed and wore a silver crown, and a small number of guards to the mound. Find the Rus' camp. Of course, he also brought a little greeting gift, namely a hundred pounds of silver coins, to express to the Russians that he was different from those who were fighting, and that he had a peaceful vision.
This group of twenty people set off, and now Harald realized that in just one day, the gangsters who had robbed homes disappeared without a trace.
There were still some gray corpses lying in the complicated streets and alleys. What was very absurd was that he saw some sheep escaping from the pens and actually grazing leisurely.
Let’s take a look at the bustling Visby of yesteryear! The whole world was eerily quiet.
Asraqi, her handsome face is full of restraint, her flowing long hair is matched with an equally flowing plain robe, and the silver and gems embellished on the clothes and headdress, the whole person is just like her name, she really looks like an Asgardian Fairy.
She was the apple of Harald's eye, and of course when a woman reached the age of twelve, her parents should consider marrying her to someone else. Harald obeyed his daughter's wishes and did not want to betroth the fairy to a fellow merchant.
So, is it appropriate to betroth her to the conqueror?
The father and daughter were speechless all the way. When they reached the top of the mound, they were immediately captured by the Ross soldiers who were ordered to guard the place.
They did not encounter any difficulties, just because the military commander said that Visby's new defeat will inevitably lose almost all combat effectiveness. With fear fermenting, there is a high possibility that envoys will come to visit the camp to make peace, or even declare surrender. .
Sure enough, Harald directly stated: "I want to see your leader, and I want to surrender to him." He also gave ten silver coins to each of the more than ten soldiers on guard, and the soldiers laughed heartily. Happy to lead the way.
Of course, there were also soldiers who took a fancy to the beautiful woman among the surrenderers.
Someone tried to squeeze Aslaqi's face with a lewd smile, but the girl immediately slapped him back.
Now, the laughing people tensed up.
"Why? Isn't it great to be a woman?!" The beaten soldier pretended to be angry. He covered his face, but in fact he thought that being slapped by a beautiful girl was a bit satisfying, "As long as you become my woman, you can Keep you, a Gotlander, safe.”
Harald hurriedly explained respectfully: "This is the most beautiful woman in Visby. I want to dedicate her to the leader of Ross."
It turned out to be like this. The soldier who was beaten took three steps back and completely changed his attitude: "Haha? That's actually like this? Then just follow me."
The Ross soldiers present knew very well that if they snatched a woman from the Duke, wouldn't they be courting death? As for this beautiful woman, is she serving Otto? No! The brothers know that the old leader Otto is famous for his loyalty to love, and there are rumors that Otto actually sacrificed the man's heroic spirit to win the miraculous Rurik for the Ross tribe. No fool had the guts to mock Otto.
But even if this woman doesn't say a word, she still stirs up the man's soul. Could she become Rurik's woman?
The military commander, the one blessed by Odin, the miracle of the Rus, the fierce and kind Rurik, he already has too many women! There are not many men in the tribe who would envy their future supreme leader Rurik for his femininity. After all, being served by so many women is what this man of God blessed by Odin can handle...
Soon, Harald stood on the battlefield mountain again. Facing the gray corpses of the war dead on the ground, Aslaqi opened her blue eyes wide and couldn't help but cover her mouth.
She stood here during the fierce battle the morning before yesterday. She was here again and thought about it. She could still hear the soldiers fighting in her ears. She even had a hallucination and saw ethereal figures still fighting.
"Father, I saw..." She suddenly grabbed her father's arm, "I saw souls fighting. It's... very scary here."
"Really? Be cautious now and expect mercy from the leader of the Ross people. Hateful, I don't even know who the leader of the Ross people is? As long as it's not the monster Arik."
In the camp of the Ross army, the huge army is still paying tribute to their dead in the war.
After all, the army was fighting in a distant place, so the bodies of the war dead had to be burned on fire and buried in the fire after being sacrificed by the high priest. Some campfires were finally extinguished after burning for more than a whole day, and there were still a large number of intact gray-black skeletons among the hot embers.
The hero's soul has gone to Valhalla, and the warriors began to dig pits and bury the last bones into the earth.
This is what is called ashes to ashes, and the camp is full of tired warriors covered with charcoal marks, sitting or lying down, others digging holes, and others washing clothes.
After all, the camp was adjacent to the stream, so people had no shortage of fresh water, and there was plenty of water to wash away the blood stains on their clothes.
After being roasted by the fire, the blue and white robes of most of the Rus warriors were restored to neatness, but there were inevitably large and small tears in them that needed to be sewn by excellent tailors.
Everyone was waiting for Rurik's order to march to Visby. Although the enemy was doomed, the brothers stayed in the camp looking like winners. Do the brothers have to wait until all the heading wheat has withered and turned yellow and can be harvested? Indeed, the wheat collection will arrive in a few days.
Rurik actually ate the oats first. The grains were not fully mature, so the nutrition of such porridge was bound to be poorer, but he had had enough of eating dried salted fish.
Maybe today is another uneventful day?
Until someone saw the sentry brother returning with a group of people.
This time Harald finally entered the Rus' camp as a surrenderer. He saw a fortress composed of shallow ravines, earth walls and wooden piles, which could not be broken by the fighting army the day before.
A large number of warriors quickly gathered on the earth wall. They were still wearing white robes with the classic Russian logo on their chests.
After hearing that the enemy's surrender envoy had finally arrived, Otto originally intended to lead a group of brothers to meet these guys in the wilderness. There was no need for any courtesy to the losers.
Rurik stubbornly demanded to receive the envoys in the Duke's tent, just because the Russians were not pirates, and Rus was a regular principality! How formal should she be? At least some understanding is needed to distinguish from vulgar people.
In the huge tent made of linen, the ground was covered with leather.
Otto, who was wearing armor, sat with his legs crossed, and the patterned steel sword was inserted into the ground beside him.
Rurik and Arik sat on the left and right respectively. Of course, there is Rumia sitting next to Rurik. As the high priest, she is now wearing an antlered helmet.
The rest of the people, such as Harozolson, Mechasta, Rigus, Herriger, Medvet, and Jevlo, were also sitting with weapons in hand.
There are also some short warriors, Terravis, Carlotta, Fisk, and Kanuf.
This also includes the blacksmith Kawei who is responsible for repairing weapons and heavy weapons and did not participate in the fierce battle during the whole process.
All the elite members of the Ross army gathered here, and outside the account, a group of iron men stood like iron towers.
Before entering the big tent, Harald was trembling with fear from the strength of the Russian army. He saw a large number of people holding bows and a group of warriors holding spears standing on the earthen wall. The iron man in front of the big tent is obviously full of money. He knows these guys very well! This group of people defeated the last ace of the Visby people, the Danish mercenary army.
Harald was trembling, and Aslaki was also frightened.
Suddenly, the father and daughter saw a human head stuck on a wooden pole in front of the tent.
"It's Haken! You! You've become like this..." Harald muttered, his legs trembling.
Soon, the two women's entourage were detained and any self-defense weapons were removed.
Harald took his daughter's hand and boldly pushed away the account. Then, he accepted the eagle-like gazes of the people in the account.
Otto shouted angrily: "Kneel down! Loser! I am the Duke of Ross, surrender at my feet!"
Clearly frightened by the powerful roar, Harald and Aslaqi were busy trembling and seemed indifferent.
At this moment of hesitation, Arik naturally leaned forward slightly, just because he saw the beauty of the girl at a glance. Of course, the men present also naturally aimed at Aslaki's delicate yet heroic posture.
However, Otto only felt that this was the enemy's arrogance.
"Kneel down! Don't you understand Norse anymore? Come on, chop off their knees!"
Harald, who finally woke up, hurriedly pulled the woman to kneel down, along with their entourage carrying the box.
Aslaqi slowly raised her head. She was like a frost person, looking at Otto, Duke of Ross, calmly with a beautiful face and blue eyes without saying a word. Didn't you expect that this is the leader of the Rus people, and he is so old? !
She gave up, and she would eventually become the plaything of the Russians. When the old leader died, she would be buried with him. She knew that she was powerless to resist the tragic fate, so she said nothing. Yu Otto looked at each other for a moment and then turned his eyes slightly, his nose felt sour, and then he burst into tears.
Noticing this scene, Otto fully understood that it seemed that the new leader of Visby had been reduced to offering beautiful women to beg for peace.
But what does this mean? Will the Ross army reward Visby with peace for each beautiful woman? Pooh! The purpose of the war is to eliminate Gotland's power.
