The Danes can build a hegemony with their population advantage, but in Rurik's impression, Denmark is only a small force.
The Russians have a bright future, so it is naturally not easy to provoke them rashly now.
Rurik noticed Karl's frustration, which was mixed with rage and powerlessness.
According to what these noble guys said, the failure of the Swedish army came purely from the crushing strength of the opponent.
This is like the Russian army crushing the Gotland army.
However, Rurik was not sympathetic to their failure.
"Karl, our army did not win in the southern expedition. But we did not really lose. You see, our Swedish coalition still occupied the island of Gotland, and we took care of all the traitors on the island."
Rurik's words of cowardice made Karl raise his head, his eyes bright.
"Yes! I just didn't have a comprehensive victory. At least on this battlefield, our Swedish army won." When he said this, Karl had already had the idea of occupying Gotland.
Considering the current situation, the island is occupied by the Russians. If I ask for it as the king, they will definitely not give it. If I want to get Gotland, I need to pay the price.
Karl watched the changes quietly, but he didn't expect that the Russians actually handed him a big gift.
Rurik is the person with the most say in the Ross tribe. He followed what he said before: "The Gotlanders were almost completely wiped out. Some of the people who were not killed fled to the pine forests in the south. They had nothing left. No threat. We Rus don’t like this island and we will be leaving soon. Who is the master of Gotland in the end?”
Karl didn't even think about it when he heard it, and he patted his chest: "I am the king, and I declare Gotland to be mine."
"Yes! You are the king, but..." Rurik noticed the trembling eyes of the dukes after he finished speaking, "After all, Gotland was conquered by us Russians. This is a treasure. We Russians If you don’t want it, the kingdom’s allies will share it.”
After saying that, Rurik raised his head: "Gotland is the wealth of all of us. It is not the private property of a certain tribe. Every tribe has the right to develop it! What do you think?"
Rurik's proposal really made everyone except Karl shine!
The brothers are the leaders of each tribe, and none of them are big fools. Of course, some people know that there must be something fishy about the Russians announcing their withdrawal, but Gotland is indeed a warm place that everyone likes.
All tribes, including the Rus, hope to obtain stable pastures for grazing and farms with fertile land and warm climate.
They have never seen the warm farmland in France, let alone the large granary in the lower reaches of the Dnieper River. In their eyes, Gotland already has great potential.
The dukes of each tribe all clapped their hands and applauded, but Karl grinned slightly and reluctantly expressed his support.
The Mellaren tribe, which still has the largest population, has no right to exclusive use of Gotland. Since it also has the largest population, it can organize more immigrants to settle and develop.
At this point, the meeting of the Gotland Council has come to an end. After everyone's discussion, Carl was still the king of Sweden, but his power was far less than that of his father. Each tribe still lives its own life, and each tribe has the right to immigrate and develop the empty Gotland.
The Dukes left one after another, returning to their teams of only a hundred or so people each.
The Swedish army indeed suffered a disastrous defeat, and the Mellarens, who sent the largest number of troops, were left with only 500 tired warriors.
After all, the population of the Melalen tribe exceeds 20,000! They live along the lake and are relatively scattered overall. What maintains the existence of such a behemoth is the huge market. As long as the market trade continues, the Malaren people can continue to develop steadily.
There were more than 1,500 troops sent out, but only 500 returned. Eight hundred black-clad mercenaries were killed in the battle, and a group of brave farmers died in the battle.
The Melalen people can completely accept this kind of loss, but the situation of other tribes is simply hemorrhage.
The larger ones such as Uppsala, Hjermalen, and Onkras all lost 300 men.
Their agricultural production was essentially destroyed due to the loss of a large number of laborers. The population, especially the prime-age men, are the main force in hoeing the earth.
The strength of the three larger tribes has been greatly weakened. Except for the remote Rus' people and the Svealand Plain where Lake Mälaren is located, Mälaren's hegemony has become more stable.
That is the hegemony of Mellaren, not the hegemony of the Karl family.
Only Karl was asked by Rurik to stay in the chamber, and Melalen and Ross would discuss the previous contract again.
Rurik made his attitude clear directly and formally: "Now, they have all left. You were also present when we signed the contract with your father. Now is the wheat harvest time. When we evacuate, I want you to come up with the agreement immediately Not a pound of wheat should be missing.”
"Ah this..." Karl wanted to show off his strength, but in the end he found that he really couldn't be tough without the protection of his old father and private soldiers.
"What? Are you hesitating?"
"Russians, maybe this is the case." Karl looked around and saw that there was indeed no one else. "Maybe we should make a new agreement."
"Do you want to revise the contract?" Rurik smiled and ordered unceremoniously, "I don't think it's necessary. This year's situation is very good, your tribe will have a bumper harvest. The principal plus interest, you must come up with eighty Ten thousand pounds of wheat.”
"But this is too much. Maybe this can be done..."
"What do you want?"
"How about I default on the arrears first, and wait until next autumn, I will give you more interest, and then I will give you one million pounds or more. What do you think?"
Otto, who was sitting cross-legged, secretly poked his son's back. Rurik completely understood what his father meant. The attitudes of father and son were exactly the same.
Rurik said with a straight face, "No. I just want wheat, and I want it right away."
"But, if I can't get it out..."
Karl's intention was just to test, but he did have something unspeakable, and Rurik, the brat, was furious.
"You want to tear up the contract? Ridiculous! Karl!" Rurik stood up directly and pointed at his nose unceremoniously, "Do you remember our secret agreement? This is a fair deal! We will lend you a loan and Openly support Olegin in becoming king. In exchange, we get 800,000 pounds of wheat. If you don't give us wheat, forget it. We will no longer support you in becoming king."
"Ah, you can't do this." Carl panicked and pointed to his golden crown. "I am the owner of this crown. I am the king. You must support me."
Rurik must have: "What everyone supports is a king who can bring victory to everyone, not a loser. Listen, Karl! How many people are left in the black army that maintains your family's power? You better think about it. Go ahead, you Mellaren people are an aggregation of many families and a large number of farmers and fishermen. Those powerful families couldn't fight you before, but now?
You must hand over a sufficient amount of oats according to the contract, so that you fulfill the contract. Remember, only with the support of us Rus people can your power in Melalen be stable. "
Karl was confused: "Can't I return the money? Do you really want wheat?"
"Of course, this is a contract! We Russians cannot accept the king's betrayal, and I think other tribes cannot accept it either."
Rurik still had a sullen face. From the bottom of his heart, he despised this headstrong and pretentious person. Now that he had become a down-and-out coward, he despised him even more.
It still needs to be said at both ends, even if this person is lame and blind, he is still a king.
"We just want wheat. Of course you can refuse to give it, or find reasons to delay it. Then our Russian army will go directly to Mälaren."
"What? Do you still want to use force to rob?!"
Rurik's expression remained unchanged: "Is taking away our own things considered robbery? Maybe, we will attack a traitor by the way. You should understand that there are many families in Melalen who want to be the king."
"How dare they!" Carl yelled angrily.
"I don't know if they dare or not, but if you lose the support of us Russians, you will definitely lose everything. Don't you...don't you want to revive the family business and avenge your old father, Olegin, who everyone supports?"
What else could Carl, who was baring his teeth at this point, say? He suppressed it until his face turned red.
"Okay! I admit it! I admit it..."
Rurik's tense attitude finally relaxed, "Then have a good rest. Our Russian transport fleet is about to arrive, and we will leave with a large amount of capture. As for when you leave, I don't care. But our Russian People cherish their allies, and I can promise that I will provide you with free food during your stay."
"Oh, then I really want to thank you." After saying that, Karl stood up and walked away quickly.
The noisy council fell silent again, and Rurik breathed a sigh of relief and lay down, closing his eyes to rest his mind.
Otto looked at his son. He naturally had many opinions about Rurik's decision, and some decisions were not easy for him to accept.
"Rurik."
"dad."
"Why should we give up Gotland? We can develop this place, we can graze and farm here, and we will be richer."
"Not now." Rurik opened his eyes and stared idly at the dim beams of the house. "At most, we will control Slitomo Port in the future as one of the relay stations for our Sorgon voyage. As for occupying the entire island, it is inappropriate."
"So you generously gave it to them? Your kindness was inappropriate."
The father's words were obviously sarcastic, and Rurik smiled, "This is not mercy, and I will not be merciful here. The Danes will find that their allies have collapsed, and they will go here for revenge. Anyone stranded here will be Enemy of the Danes. I’m not afraid of Denmark, but I don’t want to fight them to the death either.”
"So that's it?" Otto felt a little relieved and asked again, "Karl is now a polished veteran, and his men are all hungry and cowardly fools, and you still want to support this person. You know, if your cousin is here, say Maybe I’ll chop off Carl’s head.”
"It doesn't matter."
"You don't care? Do you still support him as king?"
"At least this man promised to bring out the wheat we need."
"What if he insists on refusing when he goes back?"
"Then kill him." Rurik suddenly acted and said coldly, "The Mellaren people are nothing more than that. We can defeat them and seize their wealth."
Otto was taken aback by his son's shocking words, "You want to start a war with them? No, it's a betrayal of the alliance."
"I don't want this either. If they betray the alliance, don't blame me for being a bad person." Rurik turned his head sharply, "Don't you think that we Russians are also facing a huge crisis?"
"Crisis? What's the crisis? We won a great victory, and the brothers are very happy."
"We have captured a total of two thousand people, almost all of them young women and girls. They need to eat, and I have to feed them at least this winter."
Otto shook his head: "The women are divided among the brothers. Each of them will give me a belly by next spring. We don't have to worry too much about the brothers supporting their new wives."
"No. The brothers need enough food to feed them, and our tribe always needs a lot of wheat. This year's situation is more complicated. If we can't get one million pounds of wheat from Mälaren, our lives will be very difficult in the later part of winter. Sad. If those women miscarry due to hunger, the strength of our tribe will suffer."
Otto closed his eyes and thought for a while, and finally realized the greatness of his son's determination. The loss of hundreds of local Russian warriors must be replenished by the belly of Russian women for at least fifteen years.
The captured Gotland women were Rus' women at the time of their capture, not as slaves but as the mothers of the future Rus' army.
Naturally, the more wheat, the better. Otto thought for a while: "It seems that your kindness is correct on this issue."
"Of course. So I must use various means to protect our interests. Only in this way will brothers be willing to fight with me. Not just because I am the one chosen by God."
Due to the impact of the war, the Sorgon voyage this autumn should start quickly. The most important tribute required by the Rus' was grain from Novgorod.
How much can Novgorod offer? Under the current situation, three hundred thousand pounds of wheat is probably the limit. The implementation of this goal is naturally based on desperately squeezing the Pine Needle Manor.
Rurik naturally fulfilled his resolution after the victory, which was to exempt Novgorod's White Tree Manor from paying tribute this year. The manor also sent almost all its men to fight for Rus, and these people should share part of the victory. fruit.
Medvet and his tribe will surrender all their spears and return home with a large number of iron tools. Every man has at least two axes and a short sword. Iron tools that were once extremely rare are now in many hands. Is there any more pragmatic reward than this?
When the transport fleet was about to return, Rurik and Otto no longer had any intention of chatting with Karl. The father and son even declined invitations from other tribal leaders, as if the Russians didn't care at all about the defeated soldiers of the Swedish coalition except for providing food subsidies.
But Karl, he had begun to recolonize the island standing on the ruins of the Gotlanders. One hundred Merlaren warriors were forced to stay on this island. They were exempted from the land debt of their hometown by Karl. What each man had to do was to guard the ruins of Visby closely after the various armies left.
Apparently Karl will arrive next spring and start building Visby into an overseas territory of the Melalen tribe.
He felt that opening up new territories was an action that could save face.
Rurik had arranged a retreat plan. There was a hill to the east of Visby Port. Climbing over the hill was a battlefield littered with corpses. He didn't smell the stench, but thinking about it made him retching inexplicably. The current low temperature has greatly slowed down the decay of the dead bodies. The first snow will fall in about a month. The snow will cover the corpses and the battlefield will seem to disappear. However, when the ice melts and the snow melts, the east of the hills will be a mess.
Those things have nothing to do with the Russians anymore.
On September 6th of the Julian calendar, a large ship with a tilted triangle sail appeared in the bay of Visby.
The largest ship came facing the rising sun, immersed in the dreamy light and shadow, the Avora was like a visitor from another world.
A large number of Russians gathered together, carrying the amazing cargo they captured, and the beach pier of Visby was already crowded.
The remnants of the various tribes of the Swedish army were really envious and jealous when they saw the wealth owned by the Russians, and Karl simply developed hatred.
For a moment, Karl relied on his status as king to ask for some trophies from the Russians. Then he carefully thought about the warning of that brat Rurik. His courage lasted for less than a second and became timid.
The long and intense work of moving supplies lasted throughout the day. At night, the beach was full of bonfires, and the leather and live sheep that had not been loaded onto the ship were also driven towards the cargo ship.
It wasn't until the seventh day of this month that Otto and Rurik finally returned to their flagship Aurora.
At this time, the bay was full of masts, and the sails that were raised were sewn with staggered blue stripes.
The Ross people dispatched a huge fleet, forty cargo ships (Gould exhausted all the cargo ships to participate in transportation activities when he returned to Rossburg) and 300 long ships. Such a scale was basically a threat to the various tribes in Sweden. Especially the people from Mälaren showing off their muscles!
Although Rurik had no intention of showing off his muscles, his purpose was to organize as many fleets as possible to transport the captured goods back. As for scaring Karl's little heart, there was nothing he could do.
Nowadays, the balance of strength within the Kingdom of Sweden has changed dramatically. The Mälaren people have clearly become the image of being strong on the outside and weak on the inside, while the Rus are like the rising sun. The Russians no longer have to hide from insiders. The Russians still need to be forbearing, which is to hide their presence when the kingdom faces the competition of Danish strength.
Therefore, the Russians' sailing only pleased Rurik's naming, and only depended on whether the Avora set off.
Ross's fleet brought the remaining supplies, and the last remaining sheep were stuffed into the hold of the ship, or tied directly to the mast of the longship's open deck. The mighty team dragged forward in the shape of a water droplet, followed by a small fleet just behind the water droplet. That was the "main fleet" of the Swedish coalition.
It's a pity that the Ross fleet has become the real main force, and the once all-powerful coalition fleet has now become a supporting role.
The Russians, the big ship towing the small boat, the army advanced against the wind.
On the second day of return, Ross's fleet was divided into two. A group of large cargo ships headed towards the Eastern Gulf with some long ships.
Karl was puzzled by what he saw. He stood on the bow of the boat and asked the oarsmen behind him: "Can the Russians go to the east? Do they have settlements there? Who can tell me the answer?"
Then some farmers shouted: "I heard that they have established a stronghold in the east, and the strange men in their camp are slaves raised by them."
"Huh? Why don't I know? The East..." Karl glanced at some of the Ross ships going away on the vast Gulf of Finland in the east, then shook his head with a sullen mouth, "What is there in the East? A wild world."
Karl continued to order: "You row quickly, we will go back to harvest wheat."
This statement struck a chord with the farmers, and panic spread. They began to row desperately, fearing that if they returned late, their farmland would be "harvested with help" by others. Farmers never doubted the integrity of those big landowners. They are a bunch of greedy guys.
They were not sure how much Karl would use the early seizures to pay the brothers, at least it would have to be able to forgive the debt. If the old King Olegin was still alive, he might give everyone a lot of money, but now that Karl is the king, will this man really be kind?
Farmers and fishermen didn't dare to think too much. They just wanted to go back and finish harvesting the wheat as soon as possible, and then hurry up and stock up on all kinds of food for the winter. It would be great if Carl could give everyone some money, but of course everyone didn't have high hopes.
Anyone with a discerning eye can see that the status of King Karl, who wears a golden crown, is in jeopardy.
Look at how powerful the Russian fleet is. Look how powerful the real army of the Russians is. Those rumors are true. How could Rurik of Rus win a great victory without divine help? So, do the Russians still need new immigrants to join them?
Some farmers began to hatch strange plans in their minds. If they could no longer survive in their hometown, they would leave and become Russians.
