Swinder had to give an answer immediately. He was in a huge entanglement. Faced with the aggressive posture of the Russians, there was obviously no reason to refuse.
He glanced at the warriors sitting on both sides from the corner of his eyes, and asked tentatively: "Isn't there... a third option?"
"The third option?" Rurik almost laughed out loud after hearing this. "No! You have to make a choice now. Listen, your island will have a chance to safely fish, and it depends on your choice."
A big stone pressed against his chest. Such a depressing scene made Swinder almost vomit.
He endured the discomfort and asked tentatively: "If I completely agree. What's the price...?"
"Price? If you are a servant, of course you have to pay the price. Make your choice! I don't want you to linger any longer." As he spoke, Rurik raised his arrogant chin, first glared at the messenger with contempt, and then looked at the bright light outdoors. He deliberately reminded: "The weather today is really good, very suitable for sailing. My army has been without fighting capacity for a while. They are eager to fight, and their swords and axes are eager to drink blood."
"This...Prince of Ross, what does this mean?"
"Are you pretending to be confused?"
Swinder was indeed pretending to be confused. Although he did not believe that the Russians would really launch a large-scale invasion this year just for the sake of a broken island in Bornholm, the prince of the Russians had already shown his sword.
"I agree!"
He felt that he had no choice but to agree to avoid disaster.
"Very good." Rurik clapped his hands in praise, "You made a smart choice."
Although Swinder was sitting on the ground, he bent his back and tried to raise his head, staring at the sitting king with complicated eyes. “So, what exactly is the price we pay?”
Rurik also poked his head, his face filled with the joy of a winner: "Of course you have to pay a price, and it's probably a price you can pay. I learned about your current situation from other people's mouths, and thought that you might use a bunch of smelly herrings. Let’s forget about paying tribute.”
"What do you want?"
"people!"
"people?"
Swinde was a little confused, but after thinking about it carefully, he felt more and more terrible.
"It's the people. The most valuable thing on your island is the people. Do you have many women?" Rurik asked this deliberately.
"Women? Not many."
"Where's the child?"
"Not much of the same."
"Are you trying to deal with me?" Rurik smiled, "There are so many lonely men with no energy, right?"
"At least not as much as yours."
"Haha. I think you just want to anger me. You and your islanders probably don't want to join, and that doesn't matter, because it's not difficult to destroy you. Tell me, do you have five thousand islanders?"
"There are five thousand men who can afford weapons." Swinder said openly with his head held high.
His original intention was a small demonstration to the Prince of Rus, and the number of five thousand was just a casual remark.
This number did touch Rurik a little bit. He didn't believe it was true. Maybe the other party could mobilize at least two thousand troops. This is indeed a large number. Ross was vigilant a long time ago, but now it is nothing, just because Ross can mobilize more troops.
Rurik did not like this envoy named Swinder. Obviously, this guy was not shocked by the prosperity of the Principality of Rus. It is such an island. Even if it surrenders, it is still an unstable group and a potential Lindenwan. Logically speaking, there is no need for these guys to annex. The principality must extend its tentacles, obviously relying on them to contain Denmark.
At this moment, Rurik thought of Ragnar's statement again.
Swinder was very conflicted about surrendering, and now Rurik also felt that the matter was starting to become useless.
Maybe they shouldn't be pushed too hard?
Finally, Rurik put forward his conditions.
"Swinder, it is meaningless for you to put forward any conditions. Now you must comply with several of my decisions. First, five hundred young women must be forced to immigrate into Rus as my subjects. Second, your Fishing boats must start flying Ross flags, and our ships will attack all unflag fishing boats in those waters. Third, you must firmly oppose King Horik of Denmark and end trade with Denmark. Fourth, give your islanders the right to freely choose, I invite some people to immigrate to Rus.”
The four major clauses were heard, and Swinder was surprised that the Prince of Ross seemed to have no more requirements besides these. What about the requirement to pay tribute every year? It seems not?
He lowered his head and analyzed it carefully. First of all, if you fly the Russian flag, you can fish freely without being attacked. This seems to be a good thing. It also means that ships from Denmark can attack Bornholm ships at will. The fishing boat flying the flag naturally gave outsiders the sense that the islanders were joining Rus, and it also meant that the entire island was against King Horik of Denmark.
The request of Prince Ross is very strange. It seems that Ross is only opposed to the current King of Denmark himself.
Giving islanders the right to migrate freely is even more wonderful than the so-called clause. Think about it, you are just an elected talker. The people who can settle on the island come from all kinds of sources. They come and go as they please, and there is no force to restrain them. If they are willing to be the subjects of the Prince of Ross, no one can stop them from leaving. .
The only thing that bothered Swinde was the provision of 500 women in the first clause.
He agreed to the last three, but was deeply concerned about the first.
"I'm not the owner of the island, I'm just the talker elected by them. I can't order those people to hand over their daughters. If you insist on doing this, maybe you can only give them an order personally to force them to submit."
"Absurd." Rurik slammed the table with his fist and forced a smile on his angry face: "I think our conversation is getting more and more boring. Am I negotiating for peace with someone who has no authority? Since you can't What else can I say to be responsible?”
Swinde was in a dilemma: "Sir, I can only be responsible for part of the affairs. But for the handing over of five hundred women... they are human beings, not animals."
"Don't you think I ask for women to be livestock? To tell you the truth, I am merciful. These women will be rewarded to my warriors as wives. They are all Odin's warriors and need a blond wife. My kindness has its limits! It seems we don’t need to talk anymore. Someone come!”
Rurik gave an order, and the warriors on both sides stood up.
Swinde was anxious and wanted to chat again, but he was forked out by a group of warriors and immediately thrown to the temporary dormitory to rest...
An envoy who came for peace negotiations lacked authority. Since Swinde could not promise absolute surrender, it was meaningless for him to make concessions.
Through this boring negotiation, Rurik gained an intuitive understanding of the real internal political situation of Bornholm Island.
Swinder said some nonsense during his defense, and some of his words accidentally revealed true information. For example, some big families on the island recommend people to talk to each other, and he, Swinde, is also the patriarch of the big family. Swinde can control the affairs of his own family, but other families cannot.
This is a good thing. If the people of Bornholm Island, each small family is a political unit, it is obviously easy for Ross to defeat them one by one.
A new plan began to emerge in his mind.
…
"Let's just raise our troops and go out!" At night, Rurik suddenly said harshly while lying on the bed, which scared Svetlana to sit up suddenly.
"Ah?! War? Did you agree not to fight? You..."
"Damn it. I just don't want to give up this opportunity."
Lanna lay down gently again: "In a war, who are you going to fight? Aren't the Karelia people perished?"
"Of course it's not them. I have changed my mind. Bornholm's envoy is ridiculous. I want to conquer it myself and force that damn island to surrender. I even have the confidence to win without a fight."
"Victory without a fight?"
"Exactly."
"Okay. You are the prince, you decide everything." Lanna firmly grabbed her man's arm and said with a smile, "I'll go too."
"You? What are you doing? You shouldn't wander around when you're pregnant."
"That's why I want to follow you even more. The one in my belly is the crown prince, so I have to go..."
Is this a kind of prenatal education? It seems that she was tired of staying by Lake Ilmen and wanted to go out and see the world again.
"Okay, let's go together."
"Hehe." She smiled sweetly: "I am a Varangian woman."
"Oh? I thought you were a beautiful Slavic woman."
"Both. Oh! I'm a Rose woman, your woman."
Svetlana acted coquettishly this time out of her own heart and she was also trying her best to strengthen her status in the Rus' court. She wants to work hard to please, be a charming woman, and be a Varyag female warrior.
All this is very useful to Rurik. As a man, Rurik is more willing to listen to her moaning and panting in his arms. That is the most powerful ecstasy soup for men...
He could only lament that Otto really made a mistake, and the Lanna he chose for him was really the most beautiful one among the many wives and concubines. It wasn't obvious when I was a kid, but now I have three-dimensional facial features with a pointed chin, big eyes with deep-sea blue pupils, and the most important thing is a pair of long legs. She was originally on the thin side, but her long legs not only gave her an extraordinary height, but also made her whole body slim and agile, and the growth in what a woman is proud of was unambiguous.
It was such a beautiful woman who had experienced the war. She had fought as an ordinary warrior with a bow and actually killed the enemy. This was a great touch to the warriors from the old Ross tribe.
After all, she is a Slavic woman who will be the prince's wife. Is she qualified? oh? ! She had killed enemies like Valkyrie, and it was completely different.
There will be another meeting in a few days. Since Rurik has decided that he must use force to force the islanders to make a choice, there is no need to talk nonsense with the messenger Swind.
After taking a rest, Swinde was sneaked into the palace again. He thought about it all night and barely slept, but he still couldn't figure out what Prince Ross wanted to do.
Ragnar was also ambiguous about the outcome of the negotiations, but he had other things to do - talk to his tribe and family members who stayed in Novgorod.
Ragnar even visited the school of the Rus people. This was a close observation of what those "wise men" who were not very young were instilling in a large group of children.
Because his eldest son, Ivar, who was in a wooden wheelchair, was also dragged to school to study.
After being away for only a month, the eldest son has already learned some things. The most important thing is the spelling pattern of the Latin alphabet in Norse. It is not difficult to memorize these letters and spelling rules by rote, so that the little boy Young Ivar could barely spell the documents issued by the principality.
Ivar actually also dabbled in some more profound things, how a seven-year-old boy could deeply understand that Midgard (the human world) is a giant ball and Northern Europe is a small world in the far north.
Ivar dictated something to his father. He didn't quite understand it, but it shocked Ragnar greatly.
Do the Russians actually know what this world looks like?
Do they actually know the precise location of Bornholm Island? Also know the shortest route through Danish waters?
Ragnar is a down-and-out lord. His status determines that he must have more considerations, and he naturally realizes the importance of a map. He has a certain understanding of this sea area and knows the locations of some islands, but he has no idea about places farther away.
He asked his son to stare at the patterns drawn by the young teacher on the blackboard made of turquoise mixed with toner during class. He relied on rote memorization and had to copy the patterns he drew with sticks and sand afterwards.
In this way, for the first time, Ragnar roughly understood the shape of the entire Baltic Sea, as well as the positions of the key Gotland Island, Tombstone Island, and Lake Mälaren in Sweden relative to the entire sea area.
Following this line of thinking, I am afraid that Spyut, who is also a royal pirate, has a particularly well-marked map in his hand, otherwise their big ship would not dare to roam the sea openly.
Ragnar was too embarrassed to ask, and secondly, he was afraid of causing dissatisfaction among the Russians.
Since Ross has a Noble Artifact for wiping after using the toilet called paper, their documents are also written on another kind of paper. Ragna simply drew a rough map on a piece of soft toilet paper, folded it and kept it.
But Ragnar never imagined that Prince Rurik clearly did not want to have a good negotiation with the Bornholm people.
What follows is no longer the scope of confidential talks, and even a piece of news spread like wildfire before the meeting.
Does Rosget intend to continue the war? Rose wants to conquer Bornholm directly?
The news tickled the hearts of the men, who viewed war as a way to gain money, wealth and honor. Even the prince made a promise, saying that if a person is injured, he can be revived, and if his children are killed in battle, they can have enough food and clothing.
This is what Ragnar saw and heard, and the atmosphere infected the entire Stonewall tribe living in Novgorod. Most of the men who followed Ragnar into exile did not care about his personal ambitions, and just wanted to get on a Russian ship and fish. own benefit.
yes! The Bornholm people had no economic ties with each other, so who would feel guilty if they were killed? On the contrary, it will impress the Russian people.
A military meeting with a strange atmosphere was held in the Rosduma Chamber of Novgorod. This meeting was unparalleled. Bornholm envoy, speaker and theoretical leader Sven De was also dragged over.
Swinde also heard those rumors. Seeing the atmosphere at the venue, he was so angry that he was clearly deceived by the young king of the Russian people. What promises peace? We still have to fight after all!
The people present at the meeting were all brave warriors. They did not hesitate to make fun of poor Swinder, and they all threatened to conquer Bornholm easily. Especially Ah Liekai, who openly showed off his power, making Swinde have to endure the humiliation.
Rurik arrived late, and the noise inside could be heard outside the venue.
With his entrance, the chaos stopped abruptly, and pairs of eager eyes stared at the prince of Ross.
"It seems that you all know it! Especially you!" Rurik pointed his right hand at Swinder undesirably: "Originally, I wanted to negotiate with you and made some concessions to you. But I figured it out. , you actually tried to get the peace that you couldn't get on the battlefield through negotiation? Ridiculous! I have fought fiercely with you islanders many times, and I won easily every time. I changed my mind, I want to conquer it myself, just this year Make your islanders surrender to me!"
Swind was sweating heavily and simply took off his cotton hat. He bared his canine teeth and stood up, shouting angrily: "If you really choose war, we would rather fight. Don't forget, we are all Vikings, who is afraid of whom?" !”
He was so arrogant that he instantly detonated the atmosphere in the entire parliament chamber. Everyone present drew their swords one after another, and as many as twenty swords flashed with cold light and reached his neck.
On the other hand, Swinder was still angry, and he was not afraid at all.
Rurik shrugged. Even if the messenger was stabbed to death, things would not end well.
"Brothers, stay calm." Rurik ordered everyone to sit down and solemnly announced: "Conquest is necessary, but... maybe this will not turn into a bloody conflict."
"How do you say this?" Swinde suddenly asked.
"Idiot! What I want are subjects, not corpses. When my army lands on the island, are the islanders really willing to fight to the death? So I want to keep you and let you tell them the benefits of surrendering to me. Let them see it too. My army will intimidate those who disobey, and kill those who resist.”
