The Avora left Fort Ross and began her long voyage.
For Rurik, the Russians, and the Balmoks, this is destined to be an unprecedented long-distance voyage. It will create history for both parties, and it will also lay the foundation for longer-distance voyages that can be expected in the future. A solid foundation.
Rurik's description of the geography of the Nordic world is absolutely correct on a macro level. The islands dotted in the ocean add too many obstacles to navigation, and he must explore a clear route.
This voyage was destined to not be smooth sailing. From the beginning, the people on the ship were ready for battle.
At least in terms of weapons and equipment, Rurik was well prepared.
There are some pebbles piled in the cabin. They first act as ballast stones to enhance the ship's ability to withstand wind and waves. Once there is a battle, this large pile of pebbles in streams of similar sizes will be the ammunition for the "Bull Trebuchet".
The maximum range of the "Bull" is between 330 and 300 stika. For a strong man to walk down such a long distance, it would take at least 400 steps (a step here is about 80 cm).
The rocks falling from the sky mainly rely on the acceleration of gravity to continuously increase their kinetic energy, so as to kill the people on the enemy ship.
If he expected rocks to smash through enemy ships, Rurik had no hope at all.
His ship-destroying weapon is a torsion slingshot, placed on the ship like giant scorpions. The cone-shaped cast iron bullet is just a chisel, and in the past winter, all the torsion slingshots owned by the Russians were overhauled, and ten new ones were added.
The tribesmen caught baleen whales, and the hard and tough baleen became one of the torsion cores of the slingshot. There are also key hemp ropes and rubber bands made from leather. The three materials are used at the same time. The force of the torsion slingshot is even more fierce, and the maximum range of the projectile is even close to 400stika. Considering its actual combat value, Rurik would not let the torsion slingshot do any projectiles! The tactic is to approach the target with a large ship until you can clearly see the enemy's surprised face, then control the torsion slingshot and launch it in order to penetrate the enemy ship with one blow.
On the vast sea, Rurik knew very well what the most brutal and efficient tactics were. As long as the enemy's ship is sunk by some means, even if there are fifty or a hundred drowned people holding wooden blocks and wailing for help, the Russians will stand aside or walk away, and death will be waiting for these people. Either they were pickled into bacon by the salty Baltic Sea water, or they were frozen to death.
Even in May, the Baltic Sea is still cold. In other words, at any time, the sea water temperature in this huge sea area can make a person who falls into the water freeze to death first.
As long as the ship sinks, the chance of survival of the drowning person is extremely slim.
Is the sea fair? It is fair to anyone who falls into the water.
Rurik is not afraid of war? What he is most worried about is running aground. Four tiny sampans were tied to the rear side of Avora with hemp ropes. These are the so-called lifeboats. They also have the function of leaving the big ship to explore the island.
What if the Aurora hits the rocks, what if the hull is damaged? That will be his biggest crisis.
Rurik, there is no real God's perspective? He cannot see whether there is danger hidden under the sea.
Having said that, if you are afraid of the reef and don't dare to go to sea, it is completely cowardly behavior. Rurik at least knew an extremely safe course, which was the route taken by the Swedish coalition expedition last summer, which at least extended to the Kalmar Strait.
The Aurora is full of military virtues? By the standards of this era, it is completely armed to the teeth.
She also has some more important equipment? They are the newly grown pine branches that Rurik deliberately brought aboard, which weigh a lot.
Wheat cakes become very hard due to natural air-drying and dehydration. Not only do they taste chewy when eaten, but they are also extremely easy to scratch the oral mucosa. Rurik had no choice. Facing extreme navigation? The ship needed to stock up on extremely durable food.
So another shelf-stable food is smoked bacon, which is a lot of seal meat strips? Each one is dark brown, and at first glance it looks more like dead branches in winter? Why does it taste good? , the disadvantage is that it is still too hard.
The voyager of this ribbon has no concept of healthy eating at all? Nibble on wheat cakes and bacon? Is there any other food that needs to be stocked?
After boarding the ship, Rurik issued an order to everyone on the ship: Although the ship lacked the ability to make fire and boil water, pine branches still had to be eaten.
"Why? If it weren't for the lack of flavor in the food, who among us would boil pine branch water? Since we can't boil water, and since there is bacon, why do we have to eat grass like sheep?" Biyongni's question about Rurik sounded disturbing. People are convinced.
Rurik had no intention of giving a scientific explanation. If he really had to say it, who would understand? !
Pine branches are indeed rich in vitamin C. Various Viking tribes have the habit of boiling pine branch water, and Orientals also have the habit of drinking tea. The birth of these living habits has nothing to do with vitamin nutrition.
Whether it is the Balmoks or the Rus, the habit of drinking pine needle water on land objectively prevents everyone from suffering from vitamin C deficiency.
However, facing a long voyage, if you are not prepared in this regard, you will suffer a big loss.
Of course, sailors can survive on depreciated hard bread even if they are deficient in various vitamins. Even the Magellan ship, which is almost completely dependent on the most perseverant sailors, endures 5,500 kilometers in the South Pacific without seeing any islands and drifts along the ocean currents for a month. Team, they created a miracle, but the price they paid was that half of the crew starved to death and died of thirst.
If the cause of a tragedy is known early on, it can be avoided in the first place. Rurik is the owner of the Avlora. He claims that on the vast sea, everyone on the ship needs to obey his arrangements. There is no doubt about his power. Even Biyoni and Floki of Balmok agree.
The long voyage was full of boredom. At first, Biyongni was very resistant to chewing the bitter pine branches. As the voyage continued, the bitter feeling in his mouth became a means to dispel the boredom.
There is no enthusiasm or boldness in the voyages of this era. Most of the time, everyone just records the random chatting in the cabin, or is in a daze of interest. Whenever a woman appears on the boat, aren't these rough guys like tigers visiting her every day? In the end they could only throw the woman's body into the sea.
Rurik couldn't expect them to have much noble humanity. He asked himself, he once wanted to be a morally good person, but in the end he was forced to become a Viking by the times. How can a so-called moral saint survive in this world surrounded by powerful enemies and the weak and the strong?
After controlling huge power, Rurik certainly intends to be a sage King of Rus. The pleasure of controlling power is so great!
There was not a single woman on board, and the forty men became increasingly agitated during the long and boring voyage. It seemed that only sinking a few enemy ships could greatly relieve everyone's pressure.
But where are the enemy ships?
Look at the situation now!
The Avora sailed against the wind at an average speed of three knots and traveled under stars and nights. She had to keep zigzagging, so the actual length of the voyage was increased by a full third.
Even so, her daily sailing distance is still between 120 and 130 kilometers.
On the sixth day of the voyage, the Aurora successfully arrived at Tombstone Island. She was also the first Ross ship to arrive at Tombstone Island after overwintering. The people stationed on the island warmly welcomed their Lord Rurik. In exchange, Rurik also unloaded some cargo specially prepared for them, such as some fine salt. .
The Avora rested on the island for a whole day, and people received a very critical supply of fresh water and some fresh fish. The most important thing is that people boiled the oats they brought and ate hot surimi stewed with wheat, and the sweet and then spicy old onions also became excellent seasonings.
The arrival of the Avora is just the beginning. The "commercial army" from Fort Ross, the Sorgon fleet, will now prioritize docking at Tombstone Island for repairs. The ice floes on the sea have not melted completely. It is conceivable that when the warm period comes, ships from various tribes in Lake Malaren will also begin to enter the sea and do business on Tombstone Island, the nearest Russian stronghold.
In the Gulf of Bothnia and Lake Mälaren, commerce is developing rapidly, and a group of heroes are also rising under this historical tide.
Because of Lake Malaren, a major event suddenly occurred in the winter snow, and the regional political structure underwent seismic changes. Due to the factors of the frozen ocean, the news did not reach Tombstone Island, and even more so. It cannot reach the ears of the Russians.
Rurik missed the opportunity to know a big news, but the fact has happened. Whether he knows it now or not, the result is the same. Because, I'm afraid that is still great good news for the Russian people.
After leaving Tombstone Island, it took another day to pass through the mouth of Lake Malaren. Now, the Avora finally began her real voyage.
There is no turning back now.
It was a wonderful morning, with a warm south wind blowing in our face.
All the people on the ship gathered on the lower middle deck, and Rurik stood on the forecastle deck, talking loudly to everyone.
At this moment, he had regarded the Balmoks as his subordinates, and everyone present was his subordinates.
His exquisite dagger pointed south: "Now, in principle, we will not land in search of any supply points. Ahead is Gotland, followed by Kalmar! In principle, it is already Danish territory and we will encounter it at any time. enemy!
If we encounter any ship, we will approach it and sink it! Remember, there are no friends in the southern seas, only enemies!
We just want to be pirates. If we don't land for supplies, we just want to plunder their supplies for my own use.
We should continue to advance until we pass through the dense area of Danish activity. If we encounter the most difficult combat threat, we have nothing to fear. Fight them! Try to cause as much damage as possible and create an atmosphere of terror as much as possible.
We have to keep sailing until we reach Balmok, which is the only end of the voyage.
Here, there is no difference between Rus, Balmoks and mercenary sailors, our fate is exactly the same, we must fight as one! "
Rurik's impassioned speech first attracted applause from his elite mercenaries. Seeing Biyoni's attitude, the Balmok travelers also began to cheer.
"So, do we really want to be pirates? Do we really want to attack the Danes?" Biyongni raised his head, his seemingly serious expression clearly showing a smile.
"Not strict! But we are indeed pirates."
"how to say?"
Rurik did not go into details: "What if the ship that appeared in front belongs to the Bergens? What is our choice? Let it go?"
"No!" Floki said with his changing voice: "Fight them! I can clearly identify which fishing boats are from my tribe. They are either our people or enemies. This is our way of life."
Rurik stared into Floki's eyes with satisfaction and smiled in agreement: "You're right, this is our way of life. So, I don't want to lose any fighting opportunities by moving out all the bull trebuchets. "
If Rurik wants to kill people and sell goods at sea, he really will not be punished at all.
In other words, if there are sanctions, it is a war between two powers!
"Being a pirate king this year? It's not a bad idea. At least my ship is more powerful than Arik's group of warriors."
To annihilate the enemy's effective forces, rather than being complacent with various forms of rout warfare, this is Rurik's so-called principle of war. The Baltic Sea is big when you say it is big, but it is really small when you say it is small. If Ross wants to rise, he must seize resources from the Danes. In this highly involved small world, a war for hegemony is inevitable.
In this case, Rurik would be happy to bleed the Danish forces in advance.
Gotland is just ahead. During the boring voyage, Biyoni and Floki did not hesitate to ask Rurik about the decisive battle on the island between the Ross people and the Visby people. In order to once again demonstrate the illustrious martial arts of the Russians, they sailed the boat directly to the coast of Visby and looked at the huge settlement that had been reduced to ruins from a distance, because facts are better than any eloquence!
Of course, there are still settlers in Visby, the more than a hundred Mälarens who remain here. The existence of this group of people means that the Swedish forces and the Mälaren tribe have ownership of the island. How big a storm can these more than 100 people create? Did they survive the winter successfully? Or did they freeze to death on a large scale in the past winter?
This group of guys seemed to be the people abandoned by Karl. After all, they were facing the Danish forces and were on the front line of danger.
Are they doing okay?
The more he thought about it, the more Rurik wanted to take a look. He did not change his order. He said that he would try not to land before arriving at Balmok (Narvik Fjord). The big ship was to get close to see what Visby looked like under the control of the new immigrants.
Until, as many as five fishing boats appeared in front of the Avora.
The atmosphere suddenly became tense!
Standing at the bow of the ship, Rurik could clearly see the structure of the ships with his naked eyes. He hunched over and stared, seriousness and caution written on his face.
Biyongni stood beside him, looking at his adopted brother's attitude, he realized that those ships were very suspicious.
"Are they friends? Or enemies? Judging from your attitude, those fishing boats look like enemies?"
"Strange, I have never seen this kind of ship in Lake Malaren." Rurik murmured.
"What kind of ship? I don't see anything strange about it. It's basically the same as the ship in my hometown."
"No! The stern ends of the ships of the Melalens are generally flat. No! They..." Rurik suddenly thought of something: "They are not friends of the Melalens. They are outsiders! They are enemies!"
"What...what do you mean?" Biyongni said solemnly.
Rurik turned his head suddenly, stared into Biyoni's eyes, and said calmly: "Brother, prepare to fight! I'm sure those Danes came for revenge. They killed our friendly troops who settled in Visby, and then An occupation!”
"Then hit me! My hands are itchy. Haha, to be honest, my hands are still white."
Rurik couldn't help but be startled. In terms of aspect, Rurik believed from the beginning that Biyongni must have killed many enemies. So this guy hinted that he didn't have a record of killing enemies?
Rurik did not laugh, let alone laugh. Fighting is a very serious matter, and this battle is completely avoidable. Since the ships that appear on the sea are not friendly ships, they must be enemies. The friendly forces on the shore must have been wiped out by this group of people. In order to avenge the friendly forces, Rurik found an excellent reason to fight.
He didn't need any evidence at all. Just because the ship in front of him didn't belong to the Mellaren people, that was a reason to fight.
