Rise of Rurik

In the Birka Market, news spread that Rurik was king.

Ross's shop here was the most vigorous in promoting it, but the news was too exciting. Merlaren's merchants and large families were surprised.

So, the huge Russian fleet went straight to Uppsala? That man Rurik is going to be king in Uppsala?

The big families of Mellaren finally waited for Bjorn. These big landowners still respected Bjorn as king, but they looked at him with very ambiguous eyes.

The atmosphere in the council chamber of Mellaren was extremely delicate, and many local nobles urgently needed an explanation from Bjorn.

A pair of eyes fell on this weak king, and Bjorn was scrutinized in public. Then he faced his friends in his hometown and analyzed the future of Melalen.

"The Russians have promised to sell us large ships. I have ordered five ships! This matter is up to you."

He attracted everyone's attention as soon as he opened his mouth, because the purchase of the boat was discussed by everyone.

"What about the price?" Someone asked suddenly and sternly, restlessly and rudely.

Bjorn glared at the man: "I'll scare you if I tell you."

"It won't be ridiculously expensive," someone else said.

"It's a little expensive. The Russians want us to have two hundred pounds of silver coins for one ship."

Is this the kind of money? The numbers are really surprising. People who were very confident at first are now worried.

Some people were itching with hatred: "That brat Rurik set the price so high, doesn't he have a conscience?"

Someone else asked with hatred: "Conscience? Do those Russian businessmen have a conscience?"

They were whispering to each other, and Bjorn cleared his throat again and shouted to calm the audience.

"Russian people are indeed greedy. Everyone, if we were in the same situation as Russia, wouldn't we become more greedy? I ordered five ships, and I also know that it is difficult for us to spend a thousand dollars in one go. pounds of silver. But Rurik of Rus claims that we can pay the debt with new oats in August.”

All the big families have long recognized the situation. They are not as fierce as the Russians in fighting, and they cannot give Melalen an advantage on the battlefield. In peacetime, they should stop pretending to be fat.

They all believe that the glory belonging to Mälaren has ended. However, even if Mälaren wants to end Sweden's hegemony, it must end with dignity, and even try to preserve some of the political legacy of its powerful period.

"It would be better if we could use oats to pay off the debt." Someone continued to ask, "Where is the boat? Where is the boat we bought?"

"It anchored in Uppsala." Bjorn said immediately: "When their fleet entered our big lake, there were large ships that were originally sold to us. As for why the Ross fleet went directly north to Uppsala , you all know the news that has spread. Yes! That man Rurik is going to be king."

"We have accepted Rurik's claim to the throne. What should we, the people of Mellaren, do? And you, Bjorn? What should you do? Are you willing to put down your title of king?"

The speaker actually has some concerns in his heart. He is afraid that Bjorn will get hot and refuse to give up the king's title and drag Mellaren into an inappropriate war. Because this group of big families are big landowners first and businessmen second. Mellaren is a cultural concept, not an imaginary community that must be protected! And when Bjorn changed the name of the market to "Birka", the major families and Bjorn himself were already inseparable to a certain extent.

Many local nobles had the same idea, but they didn't say it out loud.

Bjorn didn't think much. Since they mentioned this matter, he made it clear: "I will remove the king's title, and I will also personally participate in Rurik's king and coronation ceremony. Friends, the strength of the Russians is ours Everyone can see it. Far away in the east, I saw their huge new city. I went to very far away places, and the people I saw did not speak our language, but they all called Rus the ruler. We must recognize the fact that the people of Mellaren are inferior to Ross in every way.”

He is not deprecating himself, he is simply stating a basic fact, that is, both the speaker and the listener feel uncomfortable.

Until Bjorn mentioned in public the secret conversation with Rurik himself on the frozen ship in the frozen ocean.

Those present were all powerful landowners in Mellaren. These big families worked together to control the power of Mellaren. Since Bjorn was not a strong owner, to a large extent, the big families checked and balanced each other to achieve a kind of republic.

To make the former overlord recognize that their traditional ally has been promoted to the new king, and then to accept the result peacefully, the nobles of the old overlord are extremely painful in their hearts.

Some people began to sigh in public, not happy about the contents of the secret conversation between the two kings.

Even after Rurik became king, Melalen still maintained a considerable degree of hegemony, or there would be no clear changes for the Melalen people in the days to come.

Even that kid Rurik made it clear that the future Mellaren people would not pay tribute to the king.

Is this reasonable? Rurik's move is definitely not a good person. If it is not profitable, why should he?

This is based on the absolute tax-free right for Ross merchants to do business anywhere in Melalen.

At that time, during the reign of Chief Oregin, anyone who dared to set up a stall on land had to pay tribute, forcing Russian merchants to open shops on the islands. It wasn't until Bjorn came to power in a coup and secretly discussed with the Russians that the Russian shops could be opened openly in the Malaren Market.

If all Melalen loses is the power to collect taxes from the Russians, then just lose it.

Although everyone still feels that Rurik must have an agenda, based on the information obtained so far, the Russians do not intend to pluck the wool of Mellaren's sheep, and the situation will not be too bad if Rurik is recognized as king.

After this meeting, all the great nobles in Melalen communicated with each other. Bjorn had secret discussions with Rurik and reached some secret agreements with each other, which made all of Melalen quite submissive on the issue of "factual concession".

However, in other tribes the situation becomes quite delicate.

The Angkras tribe relied on the tribe to get rid of the Gould family. With this example of "turning to Luo to make a fortune", the leader, Old Angreev, called the tribe together, and everyone quickly reached a common idea - to support Ross. Be the king.

Another large tribe, the Hjelmalen, are located in an independent lake in the south and are largely self-contained.

The dispatched envoy with plenipotentiary power informed the dying old leader of the information he had learned. The old leader was deaf-eared and stooped. The former warrior was finally crushed by time.

After all, it was Longstall, the powerful figure, who made the decision for everyone.

This Longstall is already the de facto ruler of Hjärmalen. According to their own rules, when the old leader dies of old age, he will succeed to the title of duke.

He is already a de facto duke. Since the title of duke is technically given by King Olegen of the "Melaren Dynasty", in the future the artifact will change hands and the Russians will become kings. Whether to recognize the title of duke is still a question. .

Due to geographical reasons, the Hjelmalen people have little contact with the Russians. The most recent contact was that they sent troops together to conquer Denmark many years ago. Since then, they have lost contact with each other.

The plenipotentiary claimed that Rus had carved out a large territory in the eastern world, and that Rurik had tens of thousands of people in his hands. He also clearly pointed out that they not only had a huge fleet, but also an extremely large cavalry force. A situation that is easily overlooked by everyone was also highlighted by the Plenipotentiary Envoy. The so-called Russians have an extremely large number of young children!

Children are the future of a tribe. Even if the child mortality rate is high, as long as the base is large enough, a large number of children will grow up to take up arms and fight.

The Russians have strong military strength and full stamina, which is a good thing for the Russians themselves. For the Hjelmalen people, the first thing they think of is a strong military threat.

In the past, Malaren would not invade Hjärmalen in the south, so what would happen to the Rus? Although they have severely damaged Denmark, they have truly become a monster that cannot be fed. After all, according to the traditional knowledge of the Yermalen people, the Rus are a fur-producing tribe that lives in the fjords of the far north. They have conquered a huge territory in just ten years. If they had reasons, it would not be easy for them to devour the Yelmalen tribe.

Among the tribes in Sweden, large and small, the Hjärmalen tribe is undoubtedly the one that maintains a strong sense of vigilance.

There are quite a few tribes with a very small population that hold a duke title. Several hundred people form a small fishing village, and the leader is also on the list of people invited to participate in the King Ceremony of the Prince of Rus. Micro-tribes need to rely on a strong person to gain benefits. They have been very clear-minded since ancient times. It has always been whoever is strong and whoever is strong. For their own interests, it is not a problem to pay a batch of tributes in exchange for military protection.

Among all the tribes, it is indeed the southernmost Hjärmalen people who control the Hjälmälen Lake that face the most internal and external problems.

There is a violent political reshuffle in the north, and the Hjelmalen people don't know what the Rus' king will bring.

Their southern region is called Götaland. As the tribes on the southern border of the Swedes have all moved north due to Denmark's crazy attack ten years ago, the abandoned living space was immediately occupied by the people of the Götaland region.

Those Götalanders also speak the Norse language, but their bloodline is highly related to Denmark, and their dialects are also biased towards the Danish world. They are no longer Danes when they enter Scandinavia. The tribal alliance composed of the Götalanders continues to encroach on the traditional territory of the Swedes northward, but the trend has not changed.

The current situation did not allow the Yelmalen people to ignore what was going on outside the window, and they were quite vigilant in silence.

Buying a large Ross boat and mooring it on Lake Hjälmalen will enhance everyone's self-confidence. The combat effectiveness of Rus' ships is recognized as strong, and a large ship is also in the hands of the Hjalmalen people. In this way, if the Jotalans go north to provoke, a large ship can also give the enemies in the south a hard time.

The agreed ceremony for the king's enthronement was on the summer solstice of the Julian calendar.

Before that, all the Swedish nobles took their envoys and rowed their long boats all the way north.

They had obviously made an appointment, so the Ferris River, which was not very wide, was full of boats.

In the past, Uppsala had no record of attracting all Swedish nobles for sightseeing. The inner lake owned by the locals suddenly gathered hundreds of boats, and thousands of southern people arrived with the boats.

Because any grand event is an opportunity to do business, and the people of Uppsala do not collect taxes from the vendors, the people of Malaren who do small business naturally row their boats straight to the north and do some small business while living.

This situation was completely unexpected by Swynedd, who was newly promoted to Duke and changed his title to Governor! It's a pity that looking at my own strength, I can't stop the people from the south from plundering and trampling my small lake.

In more than a month, the Uppsala tribe, which was originally unchanged, changed drastically!

The Great Temple changed its appearance, and a city built by the Russians rose from the ground. The huge Russian fleet has been moored in the inner lake, as if Uppsala had become a Russian military port.

By appointing Swynned and his cowardly son Helgon as governors for two generations, the local nobles of Hjärmalen lost their title of duke and all their power as a duchy. Rurik was worried that the locals would be angry and rebellious because they had lost some honors, which required real supplies to appease them.

What's more, for the ceremony of enthroning and proclaiming himself king, Rurik personally designed some glorious projects.

How can a grand occasion in which a king needs the cheers of the people attract a large number of people to cheer? This required the mobilization of thousands of local Uppsala men, women and children.

It would be foolish to force them to cheer, just give each of them a solid piece of wheat and everything will be fine.

Each of the more than four thousand Uppsala people, including babies, was rewarded with a pound of wheat. Although this reward is very weak, the nobles in the past would never offer it.

The locals didn't even know the concept of "gifts" and now pound after pound of wheat fell into their hands. Rurik also explained the reason in a timely manner: "As a man blessed by Odin, Odin told me in my dream that you kneeled down and worshiped the golden statue devoutly. The gods were very satisfied and hereby asked Rurik of Rus to reward the pious people with a pound. wheat."

Therefore, the person who gave the wheat was not only Rurik, but also Odin, the king of the gods. Regardless of whether this statement is reliable or not, ordinary Uppsala people who have been living ordinary lives have never been so valued by noble heroes as they have been in a few days.

Ships from many cities in Rus arrived at Uppsa with hundreds of Rus people of various identities. As long as many foreign nobles landed and made inquiries, they learned many things about Rurik from the locals.

What happened surprised Bjorn, who arrived for the second time.

"I remember that you were still very resistant to the arrival of the Russians before. Why are you all praising them now?"

"What? Swynedd is no longer a duke? He is a governor of the Rus."

"The Great Temple of Uppsala? It has become the private property of the Russians? Are you Uppsala people crazy?"

Bjorn never imagined that he would be back in his hometown for a month, and what happened in Uppsala could only be described as a huge change.

The locals smile warmly, which shows that they not only accept the new situation but also enjoy it.

"Rurik! You are a smart man, I really don't know what tricks you used." Bjorn sighed deeply.

This situation was also fully displayed in front of Longstall, the actual leader of the Yermalen people. He could not be happy with the locals, but especially noticed that the local duke had lost his title and was willing to be the governor under Rurik. . A good duke must have been ordered by the Russians to give up power. After that, Uppsala would definitely lose its independent power. She had ceased to exist in name only and had become part of the Principality of Russia.

Could it be that the Russians would use this method to rule the entire Sweden?

Longstall urgently needed an explanation from Rurik, but he basically knew nothing about Rurik himself. It would be too abrupt to meet him rashly. It would be better to endure it first and wait until a formal occasion to ask him many questions openly. .

The Hjärmalen are the de facto largest tribe on the southern border of Sweden and have the inherent responsibility to defend the southern border of the Swedish world. After Longstall disembarked from the ship, he quickly met various nobles who were well-dressed and gorgeous. Even the shabby leader of a small tribe had to wear a chainmail, and a ferret velvet hat and a helmet on his helmet. Wild goose feathers for decoration.

There are also some nobles active here, many of whom decorate themselves with extremely rare emerald green peacock feathers.

Many nobles gathered at the temporary dock. They came at different times. They all contacted the envoys sent by Prince Rurik, and then invited the entire envoy to the current large temple and asked to set up tents near the sacred tree.

Longstall and his YLMALEN envoy camped near the sacred tree of the Great Temple, displaying a flag with the word "YLMALEN" written in runes to declare their presence.

Please remember the first domain name of this book: . :