After a long and arduous journey, the Ross army detachment led by Herriger escorted this large amount of seizures and more than 2,000 prisoners, and finally arrived at Lake Oulu, a new activity area for Ross fishermen.
Now quite a few Russians have figured out what the source of the water in the East is. It turns out that the hinterland there is the entire lake area, which transports fresh water to the distant ocean year after year.
Lake Oulu seems very big, but it is far less beautiful than the lakes and mountains in the traditional territory of the Tavastia people. It is just a gathering point of water in the river flowing into the sea.
Facing the brothers who suddenly appeared, the fishing people were shocked and then happy.
After arriving at Lake Oulu, there is no need to rely mainly on walking for the rest of the journey.
The fishermen's ships began to transport people, receiving a small reward for this, such as axes, spearheads and some hides captured from the enemy. They even asked for some captured women, but they had to give up because all of them were marked like tattoos by the soldiers.
But two thousand women will suddenly join the Principality of Ross, and the male and female fishermen are really worried about the future.
They are all a group of short, dark-haired women. If they all become new Russian women, will the remaining children still be considered pure Russians? Maybe I should forget it, after all, Rumia, the high priest who was commissioned by Odin, also looks like this.
It would take some time for a large group of people to arrive at Kovenstad and then take a boat back to Roseburg on the other side of the bay.
Before that, the five hundred Suomi girls had their own new homes, and the men in their camp were already in joy.
The young and most energetic men became their husbands, and these men were also the mainstay of the Rus' army at this stage.
Can they fight another battle? Can their energy still guarantee an expedition?
Rurik couldn't help but have some concerns, but he couldn't change the goal he set during the winter.
When he issued a new war mobilization, with the sword pointed directly at the British Isles in the west, the men of Rossburg responded positively.
Especially the young warriors of the First Flag Team who had recently beaten Tavastia violently in the east, and the enemy's blood stains still lingered on their steel swords. They were obviously the most active group of people.
"These guys just married a new woman, and a group of women will come back soon. You still like to fight when you are entangled with women?!" Rurik was very happy but also speechless.
The intense atmosphere in Fort Ross can be felt by any fool. All the men, from childhood to old age, are shouting for war and the looting of wheat, cloth and money.
It was a sunny morning, and the gentle south wind poured warmth into the entire fjord.
The women were busy taking care of the children and doing the laundry. Craftsmen from all walks of life stepped up their work in such good weather, hoping that the men fighting in the war would be busy polishing their swords and spearheads, and applying new patterns to their shields.
Although the Duke has not released a formal expedition plan, it is obvious that after the adults' meeting this morning, the formal plan will be released, and then launching a new expedition by ship will only be a matter of the next few days.
Rurik sat at the core of the first floor of the palace.
He was sitting cross-legged on a bear skin, and the bear head hanging on the wall only made him more majestic.
Old Otto, with his white braided hair and beard, sat next to him. He was already the de facto Grand Duke and an old guy who wanted to spend his old age. There are many old guys like him. They were all the elites of the Ross tribe, but now their era has inevitably passed.
The young people in front of us are all the pillars of Ross, and the children held, nurtured, and pulled by the hundreds of thousands of women represent a bright future.
The two most core flag corps of the Principality of Rus, composed of pure Rus, are here, with ten centurions and two flag captains.
In addition, Frazier, the captain of several flexible shooting flag teams, and Grund, who had a raven shield and led his brothers to surrender, were also fortunate enough to participate in the meeting.
Another example is the Biyoni brothers, the heroes of the Balmok people. Not only were they present as distinguished guests of the alliance, but anyone with a discerning eye could see that the Balmok people were going to make a big effort in the next war to conquer Britain.
Everyone present got the news, and everyone was waiting for Rurik to announce the expedition plan, and the brothers hurried to implement it.
Rurik said something twice, and seeing that the time was ripe, he said solemnly: "The plan for the expedition to Britain was made by us since last winter. This plan cannot be interfered with by various external forces. Perhaps some of you will feel that it has already been completed. It is June, is it appropriate to go to such a distant place to conquer the enemy? Yes, this is a bit risky, but we must do it."
In fact, he misjudged everyone's thoughts. People present were not afraid of war, and they would not give up because of the many difficulties they might face. There were no doves here at all.
Rurik added: "We must conquer Britain, and we must plunder a large amount of wheat. Brothers, do you know that we are facing a huge difficulty now?"
Prince Rurik put the question here, and everyone stared at him, not knowing how to answer this question for a while.
As his cousin, Arik yelled carelessly: "How can we talk about difficulties? Our strength is extraordinary, and the Danes who are now considered powerful have also died under our swords. Brother, you are the one who killed the Danish King with your own hands. You He actually said there were any difficulties.”
Arik laughed loudly after saying this, and the others also laughed out loud because they were immersed in their past achievements.
They had laughed enough, and Rurik shrugged and pointed out the difficulty.
He knocked on the wooden floor and said: "The problem is that there are so many of us! It's not that there are too many people now, but that there will be an astonishing number of people in the future."
He then pointed at the experienced young people present: "In the past, the number of women in our Ross tribe was less than the number of men, but now it's completely the opposite. Which one of you doesn't have two women in your family? Which one of them doesn't have one in their arms? , pregnant with one in the belly? Soon, we Russians will have ten thousand children, then twenty thousand, fifty thousand, and even one hundred thousand! In just twelve years, the boy can take up arms, and in fifteen years, the baby will Every girl in your family can become a new mother. I have complete faith in your strength, just as I have seventeen women. I have complete faith in the strength of the women we shelter. I dare say that when I arrive In the years when our beards turn gray, the population of us Rus’s will exceed half a million!”
Half a million people? ! Rurik here uses five hundred and one thousand to describe it.
Seeing that everyone was a little confused, he deliberately said: "A flag corps has five hundred troops. At that time, we can rely on a population of 500,000 to organize 200 flag corps composed entirely of strong men! Think about it, that is Our true strength. But to feed so many people, we need a lot of wheat!"
"Sure enough, the only thing is to rob the Britons?" the calm old Otto coughed and said.
Rurik turned back slightly: "Yes, at least for now. We are still pioneering in the east. Before the newly cultivated farmland can produce enough wheat to feed everyone, we must continue to attack him in the next ten years. Otherwise, we will inevitably starve. Not only will we attack Britain this year, I am afraid this will become a norm in the future."
"So, is this the reason why you decide to keep fighting?" Arik said and smiled again, "Very good, I like it. I think all the brothers like it."
When Arik said this, everyone present raised their fists in response.
He added: "Brother, no one refuses war. Brothers are all eager to kill the enemy. Tell me! When will we raise the army? What is the strength of the troops? Brothers, please hurry up and prepare."
The matter has come to this, any more dilly-dallying is a waste of time!
Rurik stood up suddenly, standing like a giant, and began to give orders.
"Obey the order! Brothers..."
As for how to send troops, according to the original plan, the Ross Army dispatched a thousand warriors to go on an expedition to Britain. The attack was still directed at the weak Northumbria, and even this expedition did not necessarily involve a decisive battle with them.
Rurik estimated that the armless king named Eynred would consider the strength of the Viking army and either hide in the fortress to die or send envoys to seek a peace plan.
Any war must have a purpose. If it is a war for the sake of war, how is it any different from a bandit?
Therefore, the first strategic purpose of fighting against the Principality of Rus is to use all subjective initiative to grab wheat.
At the same time, together with the Balmok Allied Forces, a treaty must be formally signed with Northumbria to carve off a piece of land from its territory and become a territory shared by Balmok and Ross. Then the kingdom must pay an annual sum. tribute to meet the needs of the northern army.
The latter plan is actually more to satisfy all the Balmoks in Narvik Port, so that they can properly manage the territory cut off from Northumbria, so that the Russians also have a free port in the Western world. .
Therefore, where should become the long-term control area of the northern army, naturally Lindisfarne and Bamburgh, which were the focus of last year's expedition, should be built as a new castle for the northerners, also known as Newcastle. To put it bluntly, Newcastle itself was a military fortress built by the Normans of Viking descent, located near what is now Bamburgh.
In fact, everyone who listened attentively understood to some extent that this expedition was also helping allies to a large extent. Nowadays, no one will think that the Biyoni brothers and their Balmok warriors are outsiders. This is not the first time that they have fought together. Although they are half-brothers, the comradeship cultivated on the battlefield makes us brothers. .
It would be a good thing if Northumbria could be forced to surrender and pay tribute by displaying a strong military presence.
Of course, the bellicose Arik understood his brother's idea and immediately questioned it.
Rurik's casual explanation forced his cousin to think again: "We now have the ability to attack York directly and destroy the Kingdom of Northumbria. But if we do this, other nearby kingdoms will be devoured like vultures. The corpses of the war dead, then we will have to fight them endlessly, and it will be impossible to get a steady stream of wheat and other tributes."
Keep a weak Northumbria and let the northern warriors carve off a territory and use their land to grow their own wheat and graze their own sheep. When they are strong enough, they will naturally destroy this kingdom and replace it.
The strategic plan is like this. How many troops should be sent?
Rurik's first thought was of course the young men of the First Banner Corps. They had suffered losses in previous wars, but their essence was still the same, and their strength was only slightly reduced.
He was a little hesitant at first. These young men had just finished their two-month expedition to the East, and they were afraid that they had all been emptied of their bodies by the newly acquired women in the past few days. Now that Arik and the five centurions under him were all in full swing, Rurik put aside his concerns.
Thinking about it again, maybe I shouldn't have any concerns. The advanced fleet of the Russian army can drift all the way along the coast to Balmok. As long as they do not take the initiative to provoke a fight with possible enemies along the way, they can reach Narvik Port in as little as sixteen days. They had enough time to recuperate on the ship during this period. Without the entanglement with women, their recovery speed should be faster.
There are already less than 500 soldiers in the first flag team, so we will remove some experienced old guys from the second flag team to supplement them!
In addition, the shooting flag force is essentially a hodgepodge of various people, and today it still has to go into combat as a hodgepodge.
Rurik decided to select 300 people to participate in the battle, which were 200 mercenaries under his command and 100 Suomi servants. He actually wanted to choose the Heligel and Malaren banners, and also wanted to bring the useful Kewen archers, but those people were still on their way back.
There should be 800 Russian soldiers who landed for the landing, and 200 auxiliary sailors (actually a group of elderly fishermen and professional sailors).
A total of 1,000 troops from the Russian army was enough, and it did not look like a large army at first glance.
No! This is an army!
Because, for this expedition, Rurik decided not only to deploy all the current main force of the Russian navy, but also to match it with twelve armed cargo ships to build a large fleet of up to twenty large ships!
This was the plan for the expedition to Britain. At least the Russians planned to fill their ships with loot as much as possible. A fleet of this size also has another function, which is to deter all Danes when passing through the strait controlled by the Danes, and try to avoid unnecessary battles. Yes, Rurik did not intend to launch any attack even on the island of Bornholm he was passing through.
The plan was made, and Rurik set the time for the expedition to start on the twentieth day of June in the Julian calendar.
This kind of time is actually not over. It was only August when the army first went through a lot of troubles to reach the Balmoq people's hometown in Narvik Port, and then organized a huge fleet to arrive in Britain. Rurik was already very aware of the day when the British people harvested spring oats. They arrived in early August, just in time for the locals to finish shelling the wheat grains, which was actually the right time to grab the ready-made goods.
There were still some days left before the planned time. When the order was issued, Rossburg turned around and began to allocate grain and fodder to prepare military supplies.
So much so that merchants immediately began to sell wooden carvings of their gods at reduced prices, hoping that warriors and their families who were in urgent need of expeditions would buy them for good luck.
Four sailing cruisers, Avlora, Spellosvilia, Duke of Ostara and Balmok, as well as four sailing cruisers, Mercury, Venus, Mona and Mas The sail destroyer and twelve armed merchant ships marked with hull numbers all began to increase their armaments.
Rurik really didn't have to worry too much about weapons. He went out to fight, but military production in the rear never stopped.
The elderly Klavasen is still a busy man. Although he is too lazy to forge iron himself now, he is directing his blacksmith apprentices to make the metal parts of the torsion slingshot. He is also cooperating with carpenters and cobblers to quickly manufacture the torsion slingshot!
All sail cruisers have five torsion slingshots on each side of the ship. Sail destroyers have been reduced to six on each side of the ship. All armed cargo ships still only have one. What's even more amazing is that these torsion slingshots can be disassembled and installed on a two-wheeled trolley to become a land warfare weapon.
For the various rowing longships of this era, weapons such as the torsion slingshot, which were not very powerful, could also show terrible destructive power.
Although adding so much military equipment to Rurik cost a lot, so what? When the looted materials were brought back and the wheat and leather were sold, there was another powerful wave of "silver coin recycling."
Soon, another piece of good news came. There were hurried ships reporting good news from the east!
Detachments of the Ross Army finally returned to Covinstad one after another on the fourth day after Rurik's return, and on the sixth day, the day after Rurik concluded the military meeting, the news arrived at Rossburg.
The good news was spreading like wildfire. Upon receiving this news, Rurik gave an order and eight large ships headed by the Aurora set off immediately to Covinstad due east, trying to bring back as many people as possible at once.
The facts were as Rurik expected. The large ships showed their powerful carrying capacity and their high speed under high carrying conditions, but the handling of subsequent matters was really embarrassing.
Although the crew miraculously arrived at Fort Ross after a day and night of drifting on the sea after boarding the ship, it was a terrible crowded situation. Although it was not suffocating due to lack of air, the environment inside was really uncomfortable, mainly because of a certain problem. The smell of urine and even vomit...
The ships had to be cleaned again. Fortunately, the soldiers from the Russian army detachment from the east, the captured Tavastian women, and the children in their arms, a total of 2,500 people, were transported by these 100 ships. return. It was really crowded, but Yerurik also tested the manned capacity of his ships. It can even be improved further, after all, the cabin can be filled with people, and the deck can also be filled with people.
Maybe the Aurora can transport five hundred people in one ship? That is only a maximum cumulative weight of thirty-five tons. According to her design, Rurik will have no problem loading up to one hundred tons of cargo.
At least his expedition does not have to face such a dilemma. Even if there are more than 200 Balmoks (with battle damage) on board, 20 large ships carry 1,300 people, and one ship can only carry 60 people. What trouble.
The expedition was imminent, and the men of Fort Ross divided the captured Tavastian women among themselves. Most of the men found the women they marked according to the "tattoos", which was regarded as a "family reunion."
So what? The selected young soldiers of the First Flag Team are no longer too lazy to tangle with women. Now only a new great victory can satisfy their restless hearts.
Similarly, they have never been more aware of the good intentions of the Duke. Facing his two or more wives, a man feels a heavy burden on his shoulders, which drives him to do his best in this expedition. Can get loot, especially wheat.
Otherwise, my women and children will really have to live frugally and live a miserable winter.
