The bare-backed men put on cloth clothes, and tied their waists with hemp ropes, and hung hand axes and short swords on the ropes.
A large number of short spears were thrown onto the ship, including many high-grade spearheads purchased from the Rus.
Generally speaking, the Balmok army is at best a group of armed fishermen and herdsmen. As for their comprehensive combat effectiveness, Rurik cannot have too high expectations for them. He only hopes that the troops in the British region that he may encounter will be Worse existence.
If every soldier in this sea-crossing army lacks defense and only holds melee weapons, the team will suffer in battle.
What is the situation in Britain now? Are those kingdoms already in the customary bow?
Rurik, who remained cautious, called on the family leaders who intended to take their own people on an expedition, asking them to properly organize their warriors. At the same time, he also asked them to bring as many wooden bows as possible, even if they were of average quality.
They were probably prepared on the eve of departure, and the result was basically within Rurik's expectation.
Near the fjord where the Balmok people are located, there are large preys available for hunting, that is, seals that come ashore to rest. The big beasts on land have long been hunted. For hunting seals, the best weapons are distinct spears and harpoons. Therefore, for soldiers in the army, some people's spears are simply modified harpoons.
They lacked the opportunity to use bows, and after a final count, Rurik realized that he could only assemble a mere fifty archers.
"It's really ironic. There are only fifty bow-wielding hunters in such a large tribe?"
Departure is imminent, facing the enthusiastic soldiers, he can only bravely face the summer North Sea.
The Aurora had unloaded most of its cargo, and the amount of ballast stones placed in the cabin and fresh water in the loading barrels were not much.
The big ship is really easy to carry. She completely leads the more than 30 rowing long boats that follow as a flagship and embarks on an unknown journey.
Only a few people dare to explore it themselves because they don't know the way forward and dare not risk their lives. Maybe the baby was already close at hand, and the huge fear finally forced the trembling body to paddle in the opposite direction.
But this time, everything has changed!
A thousand men gathered together, and when there were more people, they emboldened each other. Anyone who dared to evacuate would be immediately regarded as a traitor by his friends, and would even be thrown into the sea and executed by his family leader.
There were no faint-hearted among them, and it was their boldness that gave them the right to join this huge exploratory expedition.
They were full of confidence in the way forward, because the big Russian ship was sailing backwards, and the white and blue flag flying on the top of the mast was a signal to everyone. As long as we follow Rurik the Russian, and as long as the ships remain in convoy status, everything will go smoothly.
Now they no longer even worry about the sea becoming violent. A storm has just ended and the Balmoks sacrificed blood to Odin. Will God continue to be angry?
The fleet successfully left the huge Narvik Fjord in one day, and everyone was already drifting in the vast sea.
Each ship followed the track line of the Avora, and the big ship went straight to the ocean. The other ships also looked at the farther and farther coastline reluctantly, and continued to paddle hard.
They were sailing against the wind, and the Aurora had to accommodate the "turtle speed" of the entire fleet. The fleet was actually sailing slowly at a speed of three knots per hour, but Rurik had to admire the strength of this group of fishermen. They were able to row from sunrise to nearly sunset!
When night fell, people connected the boats with ropes, and finally the ropes were tied to the big ship.
People had no time to enjoy any nightlife, and their enthusiasm for sailing was quickly diluted by long hours of rowing. As soon as they had a chance to breathe, they immediately lived in leather or without any bedding, and fell asleep after eating some pickled fish.
Perhaps only Rurik slept the best every night.
The Avrora was just as it was heading to the Balmok Harbor. The people on board remained completely unchanged, but it also represented the strongest combat effectiveness of the entire fleet.
It would be understandable if leader Magnute intended to go on an expedition, but he has been training his eldest son Biyongni, hoping that this brave young man will win one honor after another in a short period of time, so that he can be elected as the next leader at the meeting. leader. The leader of each family needs a popular doer, not the descendant of the previous leader. Biyongni is very clear about the mission he shoulders.
How to make people believe in you? Biyongni has his own methods.
In a nutshell: discover the enemy, kill the enemy without mercy, and achieve your own bloody glory among the enemy's corpse.
However, after five days of sailing, there was still no land in sight, not even an island! Unfortunately, there is nothing.
It was another quiet night, the stars and rivers in the sky were bright, and the magnificent scenery seemed to Biyongni like the gods were mocking them in the sky. How dare a fleet claim to conquer the sea?
He and Rurik were lying on the forecastle deck of the ship, leaning on their arms and looking at the sky.
"Rurik, it's already the sixth day. I firmly believe in your decision-making these days. Ah! Our route...should be correct?"
"Are you doubting me?" Rurik asked slightly angrily.
"How dare I? We have been sailing for more than twenty days, and your decision-making has never been wrong. But those brothers are all following you, and no one knows this route except you."
"Then see with your eyes and feel with your heart. Remember our voyage so that you can go on expeditions alone in the future."
"That's true, but our voyage is too far away after all..."
"No way." Rurik stood up slowly. He didn't want to tell his Biyoni brothers that he was also largely trying his luck regarding the route from Narvik Fjord to the British Isles.
He thought for a while and then said: "I can only say that your location is too remote. You have seen the map I drew."
"Yes, I have kept it in mind."
"Then don't question it anymore. Your fjord is in the north of the peninsula, but Bergen is in the south. It is easier for people from Bergen to reach the British Isles, but for us, it will take some time. Believe me, we run Going southwest, you can at least find some islands first, and you can naturally find your destination by following the islands."
What else can Biyongni say? He could only express support.
As the voyage continued, the morale of the fleet continued to decline. The only thing that aroused everyone's interest was that people with fishing nets successfully caught a batch of herring.
They never objected to eating herring raw. The fish meat brought energy and important fresh water.
Compared with previous voyages, due to Rurik's emphasis on logistics, the entire fleet was definitely not short of fresh water, and there was no need to worry about food since the fish could be caught directly.
The voyage has lasted for a week, and Rurik firmly believes that he has been on the right voyage.
Actually? He was certainly on the right track.
Rurik used the sun as navigation, and he deliberately led his fleet to sail southwest. If he had simply done this, his route would have been fatally deflected.
However, the warm Atlantic current created a miracle of navigation!
The warm current flows along the plate direction and heads straight to the North Pole, forming a large number of rotating vortices near Scandinavia. The overall flow speed of the ocean current is slow, and those eddies are slowly moving the entire fleet towards the European continent. Objectively, they are constantly correcting Rurik's yaw.
In this way, the continuous voyage actually lasted for twelve days!
I don’t know who started it, and long boats followed, and the oarsmen finally couldn’t hold it in any longer!
They gradually stopped paddling, picked up their hand axes and kept hitting their shields. The unusual behavior immediately shocked Rurik who was resting.
After a while, a sailor ran to the captain's lounge.
"Sir! Those people have given up their game."
"Ridiculous!" Rurik stood up, and Biyoni and Floki hurriedly followed.
The three of them ran to the poop and saw that all the following fleets had stopped moving forward.
Rurik, who was holding the railing, looked at these lazy people and stamped his feet angrily: "Damn it! Our command is one step away from success, what are these guys going to do?"
"I think they can't stand it anymore."
Rurik glared at Biyongni: "Your family has sent the most troops. Could it be that they also betrayed you as the commander-in-chief?"
"No! There must be someone provoking it. We must turn back."
"That's fine."
The sailor quickly manipulated the cable, and the Aurora performed an exaggerated sharp turn in front of a thousand people who were lazy behind. Then, with the help of the south wind, the bow of the ship stepped on the big waves, and rushed towards the ship like a sea monster. Team.
The men were so frightened that they started paddling again, trying to avoid being sunk.
But Rurik only intended to intimidate them, and the big ship circled around the stagnant group of ships.
Rurik took off his hat and stood on the forecastle pointing his sword at the people on the longboat.
"Why are you slacking off?"
At this moment, some people were already shouting, and with more and more shouts, Rurik ordered the torque slingshot to be launched into the sea.
The waves created by the pellets caused people to calm down.
"I know what you think!" Rurik roared in a voice that had changed slightly: "You are afraid of the voyage! You even started to question me! I obviously want to lead you to victory and gain huge wealth, but you are actually questioning it Me! You are not afraid of the enemy, but you are afraid of the sea."
Thinking that without a loudspeaker to cover a wide area, his speech would ultimately lack penetration, Rurik changed his tone again.
"Hey! Heads of all the families! Follow me on the big ship. Let's study it carefully..."
Rurik really didn't have time to talk nonsense with ordinary soldiers. He believed that these common people just lacked independent opinions. The people who are now retreating must also be individual family leaders. Therefore, he must win the support of these leaders to prevent this sudden mutiny. .
The leaders had various ideas. A total of eleven people had just boarded the boat and were immediately controlled by armed men.
For these people, Rurik did not intend to give any gentle persuasion.
He was standing on a high place, looking at the people on the center deck and ordering: "I don't care what you think, I will continue sailing. You people should not get off my ship until land is discovered."
What is this if not detention?
They bared their teeth and cast angry glances at Biyony, who was standing next to Rurik.
Someone shouted: "Biyongni, what are you doing? You are not the leader, you can't do this to us."
"But Rurik is our commander-in-chief! If you question him, you are guilty."
"Why do you do this?" The man continued shouting, "Brothers can't stand the boring voyage. Apart from catching some fish in more than ten days, what have we got? We are walking on a road of no return, Rurik of Rus! You’re kidding with our lives!”
"Snorasund (the speaker)!" Biyoni pointed with his big finger, "I advise you to respect my brother Rurik."
"This is not fair! Many brothers no longer want to leave. You have to listen to the opinions of the brothers. We have to vote on whether to leave or withdraw!"
Listening to this nonsense, Rurik exerted force so hard that one of his molars was bitten off. For a moment, the people on the center deck below saw Rurik's bleeding mouth.
It's like a little devil showing its bloody mouth?
Rurik reached out and took off his bloody baby teeth. At this moment, he couldn't care less about the pain.
He denounced: "This is the sea! There are laws of the sea above the sea! Put away your Nordic (Nordic People's Parliament), we are going to launch a cross-sea expedition, and you actually want to negotiate terms with the commander. It seems, I want to kill some traitors!"
"No! It just can't be done! The rules cannot be broken!" Snorasund still shouted.
Now Rurik is very convinced that the culprit of the mutiny is this guy.
However, the development of things was completely beyond Rurik's expectation.
In an instant, Biyongni picked up the steel-armed crossbow that he regarded as a treasure. He quickly picked it up and pulled the trigger at the target.
In an instant, everyone saw that the loudest one, Snorasund, had a very thick arrow tail on his forehead. The noisy man closed his mouth and fell heavily to the ground with his eyes wide open.
"What are you doing? You're crazy! That's your Balmok!" A shocked Rurik hit Biyoni hard.
However, Yongni is calmer than anyone else.
When everyone was shocked, Biyongni raised his crossbow solemnly: "This is Havdic (the rule of the sea)! What we want is a victorious expedition, not a cowardly retreat. We want the people in our hometown to see So that we can return home with great achievements, instead of becoming the cowards they reviled.”
At this moment, even Floki, a little bald man, stood up and shouted to the heads of the families: "Imagine that the sea was not violent in these days! Those brothers who gave their lives, they asked God for what we are now Peace. If you return, you will be punished by God, and huge waves and sea monsters will eat you!"
Rurik looked at the Biyoni brothers and thought that these two bald men, one big and one small, were really born fierce men.
"Biyongni, you are too cruel, killing your own people so mercilessly? Why didn't I notice that you were so cruel before..." With the words in his heart, Rurik gently pushed the two of them away. At this moment, he had already Don't want to talk nonsense.
Facing the remaining leaders, Rurik had only one plan: "Continue to follow us. If anyone dares to retreat lightly, kill them!"
Look at the situation now. The people on the center deck instantly became firm supporters of the expedition.
Rurik really had to admit that killing a group of deserters who made the most noise when the army was demoralized could deter others without even having to kill them.
Asking himself, Rurik did not want to personally execute a leader who had retreated for this reason. Although the two tribes were in alliance, he did not know whether doing so would have a negative impact on his allied tribes.
This was a "dirty job", but fortunately Biyongni helped him do it neatly.
It was hard for Rurik to express his gratitude. He could really see Biyongni's ambition - Biyongni would be the most powerful dictator in Balmok!
Thinking about it, this kind of thing is natural and Rurik doesn't find it strange. A tribe of nearly 20,000 people is still in disarray. Isn’t it looking for death in this complicated world? If they want to survive, they must transform into a kingdom. As for who is the king, Rurik doesn't want it to be Biyoni, at least not him in the future.
Each leader was placed in the cabin, their personal weapons were confiscated, and they were effectively placed under house arrest. They didn't dare to curse, for fear that they would be executed again, and end up being called a traitor, which would be spread throughout the tribe forever. As a traitor, he naturally cannot convince the family members, and the family will not hesitate to elect another person as the clan leader.
And what else can the remaining longships and the thousand warriors on them do? One longship after another continued to follow the Aurora, which continued to sail, and the storm was quickly settled.
But for the majority of soldiers, they still don't know what the future holds. All they knew was that any retreat would be a shameful betrayal, and the ship would not hesitate to launch a crusade.
Not only that, Floki was a young man, and his theory of "God's favor and punishment" spread quickly. Now people are further worried about the cost of escaping, that is, even if they escape the commander's punishment, they will eventually be punished by the sea monster instructed by Odin.
They can only be brave men.
And something amazing happened the next day.
Everything was just as Rurik said, there was something sad and hateful about it, that is, just one step away from success, he retreated shamefully because of cowardice.
It's a new day. The fleet has been sailing for fourteen days. So far, people have never seen another fishing boat on the sea. However, a strange scene happened this morning.
The sailors lying on the mast saw the ships floating on the sea, and the good news suddenly shocked all the depressed people.
That's definitely a fishing boat! And a fishing vessel can mean one thing, its home port is nearby!
