Rise of Rurik

When the Ross fleet was moored on Saaremaa Island, the islanders finally had the style of the Ross Principality's navy.

They are extremely fortunate that they have made the correct lineup. This huge navy is not an adversary, and they will also be rowing to join it.

Do you want to be a pirate who steals and robs again?

Prince Ross obviously disdain to do this kind of thing, noble people have noble practices, such as killing directly with the army.

The islanders of Saaremaa were almost all dispatched, and Trarang, who was in his prime, brought his own islanders to organize a fleet to join the Ross Navy.

It was also precisely this opportunity that Rurik took his flagship to cruise around the island and personally boarded the village on the island, gaining a very intuitive understanding of the entire Saaremaa Island.

That being the case, the sea area to the south of the island naturally attracted his attention.

The entire army is going to take a final rest on this island. The rest time is very short, but the trawl equipment brought by the fishermen from all walks of life has already been tentatively fishing, and the fishermen with a try-and-see mentality soon harvested unexpected catches.

What is the scale effect? This is the scale effect.

Lauririk did it himself, and more than 400 large and small ships that followed him began to plunder the herring resources in the waters near Saaremaa Island.

But it was Rurik who was the most ruthless. The 20 official fishing boats that signed the contract, namely the boats numbered RFB01 to RFB20, cast their big nets and cruised like blue whales with their mouths open. After that, the giant hemp rope net was recovered with a winch, and the forearm-long herring caught on the deck was collected, and then shoveled into the basket with a wooden shovel.

Because Saaremaa Island is already the territory of the Principality of Ross, fishing here, fishermen from all walks of life have no psychological burden.

Even the original islanders were shocked. They never imagined that the waters near their island would have such an abundance of fish!

With very backward fishing technology, how did the people of Saaremaa achieve wealth?

A large number of Ross trawlers join the "battlefield", and the herring school seems to be wiped out? In fact, this is not the case, because even if the Principality of Ross goes all out, the search for the fishery in the South Baltic Sea is still called scraping. On the contrary, they began an organized "sweeping of goods" in a small area of ​​the sea.

Their first day of fishing has already met the food of the entire giant fleet. With the more rampant electric night fishing after nightfall, a large number of catches were brought to the shore early in the morning.

"Saaremaa" means "island".

It may be more appropriate to call it "Herring Island" these days.

This is a big island, the widest point is 80 kilometers, but there is only one fishing village, and it is located in the small bay in the north of the island.

Also yearning for Saaremaa is Hiuma Island, which is also a large island.

The narrow sea between the two islands is used by Rurik as the anchorage for large ships, and in this tiny strait, the two islands seem to be connected. In a sense, this is already a lagoon, and the main force of the fleet is anchored in a clean water , where is it appropriate to not be a berth here?

It is no problem for tens of thousands of people to live on such a huge island, but only a few hundred islanders stay here.

There are undeveloped areas everywhere, and the island is rich in forest resources, including some good materials for shipbuilding, such as oak trees.

The beach is a dense bonfire, and the Ross fishermen who have landed are already building their makeshift shelters.

They started logging on a massive scale, and spruce, red pine, white oak, red oak, and ash fell.

All kinds of wood have various uses, spruce is very suitable for building houses, red oak is the so-called most common Nordic oak, and ash is a pity that it is not used for bows because of its strong elasticity and toughness.

The fishermen are cooking fish and meat on a large scale, and the excessively lit bonfires set up wooden poles and tie them with hemp ropes. The fresh fish will be gradually dried to become a flavorless specialty smoked fish. They came to plunder herring, and it made no difference whether they were in the waters further south or in Saaremaa.

But Yevlo and his men went deep into the forest on the island to simply look for books. He found the thick oak tree and marked it, leaving it to the Russ with a double saw behind him. He was mainly looking for the so-called "ash tree". The ash tree, with its grayish bark and its overly straight shape but generally smaller than the red pine, is easy to identify, which Yevlo has experienced.

As long as it was a "grey tree" that was found, he ordered his subordinates to cut it down. After stripping off the branches, the trunk, regardless of thickness, was carried on his shoulders, and his brothers carried it to the coast and took good care of it. According to his idea, if these unexpected treasures are to be brought back, they will be placed in the house to dry in the shade for a winter, and then the large-scale bow-building project will start in the summer of next year.

The sea breeze blew the crowded coast, but a rain interrupted people's good mood.

The fishermen scolded the damn rain for coming so suddenly!

The summer rain always comes suddenly, it falls violently, and it always stops abruptly.

The pouring rain fell, and the previously processed dried fish was too late to guarantee due to moisture-proof problems, and the work fell short.

People hid in simple wooden sheds for shelter from the rain, which naturally leaked everywhere, making people wet on a large scale.

But Rurik was a top noble, and he could not be so embarrassed.

A large house of the islanders was positioned as a palace by him, and the parliamentary court of the islanders was still the parliamentary court.

Speuter was canonized as governor of the island. A walled fort was completed, and the buildings within the wall began to be Rosified.

This place is still rudimentary, and Rurik and Svetlana's mentality is very good, even if there are big fish outside.

On this day, a crowd of damp people gathered in the parliamentary court of the islanders.

Prince Ross is the absolute protagonist, and everyone is looking forward to his generous speech, and when the rain is over, he will rush to Bornholm Island.

Pairs of eyes watched Rurik waiting for him to preach.

"Saaremaa is a good place!" He sighed with emotion to relax the slightly tense atmosphere.

He continued: "In my opinion, some people no longer plan to go south, so they stay on the island and go out to sea to fish. That's fine, I will undoubtedly bring a large number of vultures to fight, and our army will not temporarily There needs to be a large number of unmanageable and sophisticated people to follow at all times. Instead of plundering the catch near Bornholm, let them stay here. Trarang!"

"Ah?" The prime-aged islander Tralang raised his head hastily.

"You are a native islander, what do you think?"

"I...I don't know..."

"Are you stuttering again? I have already decided that Saaremaa will develop well. As long as the people of the principality can taste the sweetness, fishermen will rush here every year to catch fish, and your fishing village will prosper quickly."

"It's a good thing."

Rurik shrugged: "I'm here to inform you, and I hope you don't feel disgusted. You and other islanders should understand that the moment you ask to join Ross, this island is mine, and how to develop it is My will. Now, I'm happy to develop it into a southern fishing base."

However, Trarang felt inexplicable at this explanation of Prince Rurik.

Although the islanders established a settlement in Saaremaa, they never claimed sovereignty and just happened to live here like migratory birds.

If Rurik was just going to talk about these things at once in the chamber, the meeting would indeed make the audience drowsy.

Rurik slapped his thigh sharply: "Tralang! Do you know the situation in the waters south of the island? In my opinion, the south is a huge bay."

Trarang was stunned: "Your Majesty! Do you know that the south is a bay?"

"Yes. It's called the Bay of Riga?"

"Bay of Riga? If it's the name of a huge bay, it's fine, you're the one who named it."

Trarang's reaction was very subtle, giving Rurik the feeling that this group of islanders who lived for generations had no interest in the Gulf of Riga, and even showed that the Gulf of Riga was simply called "a bay".

"Since it's a bay, it's a coast. Do you know anything about the coast deep in the bay? Are there other people living there?"

"Yes!" Trarang answered firmly.

"who?"

Suddenly, this Trarang laughed out loud in public.

"If you have something to say, what are you laughing at?!" Rurik asked slightly displeased.

"Because those people are on this island. They are by your side."

"Oh? What does this mean?"

For the time being, Rurik didn't understand, but as some seemingly dumb people were brought to the parliamentary chamber to speak up, things became more subtle.

There were not many people in the parliamentary court. The few new guys who entered the room were still soaked with rainwater. They all had black hair and their clothes were not decent.

They definitely didn't speak Norse, let alone Slavic.

Rurik tentatively communicated with them in Old Finnish, expecting some words to be understood.

"What did they say?!" Arik, who was on the sidelines, was very impatient.

"It's their language." Trarang shrugged and smiled, "Obviously I should be the translator."

"Just speak for them." Rurik ordered helplessly.

Because Saaremaa Island was originally an uninhabited island, all the Vikings who were exiled by tribes set up settlements here. They basically lost contact with their homeland because of their despicable status, so they could only find a way to go to the south to see the situation. Immediately, he got in touch with the Baltic tribes of various roads along the coast. The Baltic only built canoes, and a few followed the Viking exiles to Saaremaa. Others simply drifted to the island in canoes.

People from all walks of life gathered on the island, their bloodlines were different, but they all had the same origin on a large scale - the exiles.

Trarang himself was a mixed race, with brown and yellow hair.

There are Estonians, there are Randals (Livonians), Latgars (Latvians), Kurzs (Curlans).

Some nouns Rurik understood, others were unfamiliar.

However, he is very aware of the geographical structure of this sea area, because the Gulf of Riga is indeed a large and quiet bay.

Now that there are new ethnic groups, what is their situation?

"You are from different tribes? Now you are both Rus and my subjects. Just tell me, what is the situation on the ground, whether you or the tribe your ancestors belonged to?"

Rurik continued to hear the news, and the question came to the point with purpose.

For example, how many people are there in those tribes, what do they rely on to live, the tools and weapons they use can be metal, and whether they can weave or not.

He quickly got the answer. Those tribes all knew how to make iron tools, how to farm and fish, and also know how to weave hemp and hunt beasts. The population is unknown.

They have nothing to do with their ancestral home. They have not communicated with each other for a long time. God knows what is going on there.

They still provide a very critical description - the tribes are clustered in the form of a large number of small villages, and there is no such a large ruler as the Raja Rus.

Trarang has been patting his chest and claiming that the translation is correct. No doubt this description immediately aroused the ambition of people of insight.

Arik looked up to the sky and laughed: "This is the opportunity Odin gave us! God is hinting us to expand a larger land and conquer new people. Rurik, you should not miss this opportunity."

In this way, Yevluo also persuaded him to enter: "Since they form their own villages, we can organize an army to defeat them individually. Prince! You should rule more."

At this moment, a wise man shouted the loudest.

This man is none other than Swinder, the messenger and talker of Bornholm.

If you can bring trouble to the south, why is it not a good thing?

Swinder was frantically supporting the fire. He didn't know what was going on in the south, so he pointed out that there were fertile farmland, high-quality trees and endless small animals, which the so-called Rus needed.

How could Rurik not understand the implication? It was not that he urged himself to immediately raise troops south to loot, and at the same time spared Bornholm's life.

Rurik pointed at the man's nose and told him to shut up first.

Even Ragnar joined in, persuading Rurik to expand. But how does this benefit Ragnar, an exiled Danish lord? As the saying goes, if the horse is shot well, he can gain Rurik's further trust, and it is also beneficial to the revival of the tribe. In short, there is absolutely no harm.

Rurik looked at everyone, his heart was beating wildly.

He paused: "My dream is to use Ross's sword to smash a big territory. Some people think I will give up this opportunity? Tell you! It's impossible! But!"

Once you get to the "but", things get complicated.

"Don't think about the short-sightedness of the people who followed our army. Saaremaa's catches are very rich, they stay and don't want to continue to attack Bornholm. Our goal is to conquer Bornholm Mum, it can't be changed at this juncture."

Arik immediately followed his brother's words and continued: "So we should make a plan, after solving the Bornholm problem, should we go to the southern bay and recover those people along the coast. I know you are not willing Massacre, if the locals surrender quickly, they will be happy. But I believe they are also courageous tribes, and I can help you conquer the people of the South Bay after conquering the island."

Arik is asking, but when Rurik thinks of his cousin's bravery, he is worried that this guy will lead his brothers up, and will cut down the available labor like melons and vegetables.

Seeing that the timing was about the same, Rurik set the tone as a prince: "This year we will solve the problem of Bornholm Islanders, and as soon as next year, we will solve the problem of the residents of Riga Bay in the south of Saaremaa Island. Saaremaa Island will Like Tombstone Island to become a key maritime trade node, we will contact those newly conquered people. We have a good life, at least let them live well. We will have more trading partners in the future, and also one more Allied troops."

"Who knows?" Arik said haha, clearly distrusting.

Today's Rurik is naturally not too naive. He slapped his thigh and made a clear conclusion: "Those guys need a master, that's me! They, along with the land they settled on, must be incorporated into Ross."

History has entered this time node, or this is the inevitability of the historical trend. As the ruler of Rus, Rurik has stepped on the gas pedal again on the wheel of the traveling history.

The so-called Rus' plan to conquer "the three Baltic countries (currently just a large group of tribes)" has been drawn up, and the rest is only a matter of time.