When the desolate sea breeze calmed down a bit, a lonely sailboat suddenly appeared off the coast of New Roseburg.
A group of exhausted people stood on the deck. They put on thick clothes and clung to the cables.
A young man with an unshaven beard couldn't help crying with joy when he saw the distant city, and shouted in relief: "Woohoo! We are finally back!" At this point, the tired people suddenly became full of vitality and their spirits were high.
At the same time, there was not only fifty thousand pounds of Britain's newly harvested spring wheat in the hold, but also ten Viking men, a very special envoy, and a beautiful desire.
Spruit and his men went through an expedition, maneuvering the sailing cruiser "Salmon Lord" to rush through the Denmark Strait, directly to Britain, and then rush along the Ouse River in the island to Northumbrian. Territory of the Kingdom of Rhea and Viking York.
If they were just traveling, this trip would take thirty to forty days. Spout had no time to stop on the way. When the ship arrived at its destination, he took the contract and asked for it from the Northumbrians. tribute. This was such a short period of time that the group only had one dinner in the Viking Kingdom of York. After sacks of grain were loaded onto the ship, they withdrew.
Although the stay was short, Spyut had to inform King of York and Rurik's good brother Biyoni about the news about Rus and the East. He also learned about a major event that happened in the Kingdom of York.
Their journey home went smoothly at first, and they did not encounter personnel obstruction from the new Danish King Horik when they returned through the Denmark Strait.
It’s just that the towering triangular sail is too unique. Even though Spute has never flown the Ross flag, any fishing boat that observes this busy ship heading east also reports to their masters that "a Ross ship is running wildly eastward." ".
"Why are there still Ross ships passing through my strait? I just killed all their people!"
King Horik felt that the news was too inexplicable. It was impossible for the group of Rus people to suddenly appear in strange places and then disappear suddenly like ghosts.
Since the lonely Ross ship was not hostile and the strong northwest wind was blowing eastward at a very fast speed, there was no need to send people to chase and intercept it. Subjectively, the king hoped that the sea wind would become violent and capsize the damn ship. But objectively, he wished he could capture one and make it his own.
Because any man who calls himself the king of the sea needs a powerful ship to show his authority.
The sea breeze on the way home became stronger and stronger, and finally became terrifying. The ship heaved violently in the Baltic Sea, and a terrible danger occurred.
The strong wind did not break the mast, but the rope at the top of the sail was blown away. When the sailor ventured to climb the mast to replace the spare pulley, huge waves hit the bow of the ship. The violent vibration of the ship shocked the climber away, and the two people on the deck fell into the sea.
The huge waves quickly swallowed up those who fell into the water, and the people on the boat could only stare. They were unable to rescue them, and even their own lives were hanging by a thread.
Spout could only suspend the work of forcibly repairing the sail system and let the ship drift. Especially in this situation, it would be best to run the ship deliberately aground.
The gray sky intersects with the gray sea, and the oak-hulled ships drift strong.
The sea breeze blew them close to a large island. As the hard oak keel washed up on the sand and gravel of the shoal, the stranding that everyone longed for finally arrived.
A cold wave hit the entire Eastern Europe. When Rurik was hiding in the palace of New Roseburg, Spuyut and others could only wade to the island and were then "captured" by the islanders.
The gray sky and earth interfered with people's judgment, so that no one knew what this damn island was. Even though Spyut had the paper chart given by Rurik, he did not dare to make a conclusion.
To his relief, the island warriors who captured him also spoke exclusively in Norse. The brothers were all disarmed, especially the steel swords.
Compared with the violence of the sea, everyone is more worried that they will be hacked to death by this group of pirates for no apparent reason. But no one is a coward, and no one sincerely surrenders. This is because the brothers have been struggling in the huge waves for many days, and everyone's spirit is low and their combat effectiveness has plummeted. Even though they were defeated and captured, no one begged for mercy. The brothers preferred to die standing and cursed the attackers for a good death.
After experiencing a disaster at sea, five of Siputu's brothers fell into the sea and disappeared. Now, five of the remaining brothers died in conflicts with the islanders after landing.
The remaining twenty people, including himself, were escorted into the pirate's village.
Their shipment of wheat was discovered, and the pirates happily returned to the village carrying some sacks of sackcloth.
Big ships, a lot of wheat, triangular sails, and these people all call themselves "Russians".
According to past rules, the pirates naturally hacked the captives to death and buried them after questioning. When the captives called themselves "Russians", the situation became complicated.
This group of pirates does not simply make a living by sailing and killing people. They have men and women living together in a large village. Although the population is not large, there are six or seven hundred people. According to today's European standards, their village can be described as a city. .
The village elders realized the complexity of the situation and immediately called in more than a dozen men and women to confront and question them.
During this back-and-forth chat, a dramatic change in the situation occurred.
The expelled descendants of the former Ross tribe were actually asking the real Ross people about the current situation of the Ross tribe.
Spyut did not join Ross later. His family has been Ross since ancient times. He also has a certain blood relationship with Rurik himself, so he also has a blood relationship with the "descendants of the deportees" on the island.
Even so, there is no psychological burden on the islanders to kill these Russians who accidentally broke in, but the price may be...
There are still some descendants of the Rus people on the island who remember their fathers’ stories and have a certain understanding of the Rus tribe.
It turned out that Otto defeated the others and became the leader, and it turned out that his later son became the current leader. Most of what Rus is doing is true. Rus, who became a principality, did defeat the Gotlanders and split from Svealan. The Melalen tribe, the king of Svealan, also declined a lot. The Rus actually killed the King of Denmark? ! The high priest of Rus was appointed Vilia, and the old woman actually lived to be eighty years old.
A lot of news came out of Si Puyut's mouth. The news was so shocking and bizarre that most islanders could not believe it.
"You can kill us, but you must carefully consider the consequences. Rus is no longer what it used to be. The prince can gather 10,000 warriors and sail across the ocean in 500 ships to destroy you. Unless you remain surrendered and treat me with courtesy, Only by treating each other well can we avoid disaster. Also! You must apologize to my prince."
The composition of the islanders is very complex. The majority of them are Gotland fishermen, with a small number of people from Mälaren and Rus, and a small number of Estonian tribesmen.
Most of them came to this island to make a living after being expelled from their ancestral land, and mixed with the local Estonians to live and intermarry.
Are the locals unaware of the intensive activities of the Russian people in recent years? Estonians in particular remember that a group of madmen landed on the eastern coast a few years ago, destroying a village and killing four hundred people.
Since the Ross people are the most active existence in this sea area, they must be the culprits of the killing.
Revenge for the four hundred dead Estonians? Pooh! There are more than 20 tribes in Estonia. Are their struggles related to the lives of the islanders?
It is even more difficult for the Estonians on the island to believe that the Suomi people, who are related by blood to the north of the strait, have long become vassals of the Rus.
Whether they are Vikings from multiple tribes or Estonians on the island, they are completely self-contained, and their name is very simple, which is "Saaremaa", which means island in ancient Finnish.
The situation described by Siputu really shocked them. Together, the entire island has been enveloped by Ross's power. In order to avoid disaster, everyone must make good choices.
Then a descendant of Rus asked on behalf of everyone: "If we surrender to the current leader of Rus, will he... re-accept us? Our ancestors were expelled due to mistakes, and we hope to understand and re-accept them."
Si Puyute was a man who had experienced many battles, so he shouted arrogantly: "Then it depends on your performance. I want to take shelter here with my brothers, and you have to provide me with supplies and women to reward my brothers. Bury those who died in the battle on the spot, and return our weapons. As for you privately sharing the wheat of Prince Rus, you really need to make amends in person."
They were released and suddenly became big stars in the island village.
The elders did not dare to offend Ross, and they also came up with the idea of sending someone to personally perform a pilgrimage to swear allegiance to the prince of Ross. The prince may really be favored by the great god Odin. In order to avoid a catastrophic disaster, the people would rather believe in him.
It had begun to rain outside, and the stranded ship closed its deck. It was temporarily stranded near the shore and fixed with cables. Spyut and his men stayed in the islanders' longhouses, and during the day they became storytellers, telling stories about the Russians' military expeditions and even the crazy adventures they participated in. It is these vivid and colorful stories that make the islanders who lack information more certain that the Russians are indeed strong and can be relied upon.
At night, a woman came to serve her. Although it was "serving", there was no telling who was enjoying the pleasure! A group of young explorers from Rus arrived, and the widows of the dead men naturally flocked to them.
Spuyut himself was not like that. An elder offered his unmarried daughter and pushed out his foolish son to ask this brave man from afar to bring his foolish son Telalang to Rus. Meet the "Greatest Village," New Roseburg.
The woman originally resisted, but Siputu, who had been holding it in for a month, had no mercy at all. After forcibly having sex with her, she not only made a promise, but also took out the colored glass beads hanging around her neck. A cheap necklace hung around her neck. With this jewelry, the woman immediately changed her attitude. Not only was the jewelry precious, but the act of "hanging the necklace" showed that this man's attitude was not just a joke at all.
When the rain ends and the blue sky returns, although the north wind is still fierce and the temperature is quite cold, the ship still has to break away from the grounding and continue sailing.
Spuyut now roughly knew his precise location. On the spread out paper map, an island was clearly visible. Based on the information he received about the people and the approximate distance between the island and the nearby island, he could judge that he was standing on Saaremaa Island.
Absolutely! There are two islands here, one large and one small. The markings on the map are very clear and consistent with the actual geography.
While Spyut lamented the accuracy of the map drawn by the prince himself, he firmly believed that Prince Rurik was indeed loved by the gods, because only from the perspective of a god standing in the sky can one overlook the entire earth and draw the map. , the prince did receive messages from the gods.
An army with a precise understanding of geography will take advantage in war. The great value of maps is self-evident.
Before setting off, Spuyut showed the map to the elders of the local islanders, first indicating the location of Saaremaa Island, and then the area controlled by the Rus. As shown in the picture, the north of the island is all Rus' territory, and the far east is also the Rus' territory. Although they could not understand it, they were greatly shocked.
That Trarang was indeed a fool, at least Spyut thought so. This man is still young and has no other ideas except fishing and being a pirate to attack fishing boats in Denmark and Bornholm. This is a man who advocates violence. He is short and stocky. He seems to be a ruthless character. According to his father, apart from his brute strength, this son has only one brain. The reason why this is so is very simple. This island is too closed. .
Ten men formed a mission, and the leader of the mission was Tralan. The identities of the other nine people are also quite special. They all have a part of the blood of the Ross people. The islanders hope that these people can use their blood to gain some benefits for the entire island from the prince of Ross. Even for the sake of their common ancestors, they admit that everyone is still part of the Ross tribe.
Can the queen of a group of sinners and the guys who defected from various tribes be brave? Spuyut was not optimistic about these people, but his own ship needed to be supplemented by at least ten crew members, and the stranded ship also needed to use the tow of the islanders' rowing boats to get out of trouble quickly instead of waiting for the tide.
The Russians were not unaware of the existence of Saaremaa Island. When Arik's first expedition to Gotland was blown away by abnormal winds, he passed by this island. They knew that there were people on the island, and now Spuyut, who was also from Russia, had close contact with the people here.
Leaving the island, there are only three days of sailing left.
The sky became cloudy again, the sea wind became biting, and the ship continued to rise and fall on the sea, but the bumps were not fierce enough, and the real Russians were not afraid.
The entire vessel has been repaired, spare pulleys installed, and holes in the sails patched. Ross's flag was hoisted at the top of the mainmast, and a warrior who had been through much returned to port.
Who else would arrive in New Roseburg with winter just around the corner?
The bored people were surprised when a ship of warriors suddenly arrived at the port. The men spontaneously pulled the cables to ensure that the ship docked smoothly. More women and children endured the cold to see the wonderful sight.
The mercenary who reported the news only stated that a large ship had arrived, and Rurik could tell who it was.
"The ship number marked on the ship's side is CB-05? Is it the Lord of Salmon?"
"This is it."
"It's Siput! Sipuut who went to Britain to ask for food tribute has finally come back. Let's go and have a look. We want to give them a clean slate. We want...a banquet!"
The first Russian explorer who has been waiting for a long time has returned successfully. Perhaps it is no longer dangerous for Spuyut himself to explore distant places. Rurik hurriedly took High Priest Rumia to greet the heroes of the principality. The two arrived at the dock outside the city, and the people who ignored the cold and insisted on watching the excitement spontaneously made way for them.
At this moment, Spuyut and his men had put down the planks and started to disembark, and the people operating the human crane at the dock were also ready to move the wheat.
The prince wore a thick polar bear skin coat and a pure white fox fur hat on his head. High Priest Rumia is similarly dressed, but the ancestral antlered helmet on her head makes her even more eye-catching.
The people voluntarily retreated in the enthusiastic atmosphere. Looking at the current situation, Rurik felt a little regretful that he could not suddenly pull out a band to add a happy atmosphere.
Sipuyut could no longer care about the slovenliness. The prince's young and handsome appearance was too eye-catching. He walked out in a hurry, then knelt down on one knee to perform warrior etiquette.
"Prince, I experienced a lot at sea, and I finally came back."
Rurik looked down at them and nodded with satisfaction: "Looking at you, you can tell that you have gone through a lot. I even thought that Kraken or Jormungandr dragged the ship into the bottom of the sea. Obviously Odin favors warriors."
"Thanks to the praise of the prince. You have been blessed by Odin. As your dependents, our brothers have also been protected."
This flattery made people feel comfortable, and Rurik motioned for him to stand up, pointing out that a banquet would be prepared to wash away the dust. However, the discordant figure was suddenly noticed by his side view...
"It's strange, I asked you all to wear uniform clothes, why are those people still wearing messy clothes?"
"Ah! It's them!" Spuyut couldn't hide his excitement. "You marked Saaremaa Island on the map. You did have some insights. They are the local islanders. This is the unexpected experience I want to report to you. Now these people hope to be ruled by the prince, and they are all envoys sent by the islanders. Even... they have some connections with us."
"It is indeed an unexpected surprise. I don't mind recruiting more servants. What is your so-called origin?" Rurik asked.
"Because there are many brothers who were expelled before or people who defected from our tribe..."
"Wait a minute!" Rurik opened his eyes wide, "You mean, there are many descendants of the Rus on Saaremaa Island?"
Siput simply laughed out loud: "That's right. The islanders wanted to surrender to you, so they sent an envoy. It's all up to you to decide."
"Alright alright……"
Rurik did not make a statement immediately. He had already planned a new set of countermeasures in his mind.
