Rise of Rurik

Wooden shields painted in various colors are put together, and often thirty or forty people form a shield wall.

These warriors, dressed in different clothes, beat their bucklers with wooden sticks, making a huge noise accompanied by the sound of horns. Those holding round shields were in the front, and there were a group of people holding long wooden poles behind them.

Although the original plan was for many warriors to use sticks as weapons to force away all the fishermen, considering the high probability of resistance from their opponents, the nobles who organized the manpower still deployed warriors with sharp blades.

There are such shield walls everywhere. The soldiers carry standard Viking war cries and rhythmically match the sound of banging wooden shields, creating a majestic momentum, like a mudslide, pressing towards the fishermen unstoppably.

The nobles went into battle with their whole families armed with sharp swords. They were dressed in gorgeous clothes and clearly came well prepared. The private soldiers they maintained and the big men they hired temporarily each received a large amount of money, and they even hinted that it was okay to rob the fishermen's property when they forced them to leave.

People who are their own masters cannot sympathize with those fishermen. No matter how poor the fishermen are, they always have something valuable, right?

They must stick to their professional ethics and work hard for the good of their sponsors.

The nobles were willing to pay for this matter.

The smart nobles take a long-term view. As long as these fishermen are driven away, Stockholm will be the domain of the king and the business nobles, and everyone will make more wealth in the future.

But the fishermen were kept in the dark about all this.

The fishermen noticed that the situation was abnormal since yesterday evening. Those who tried to escape were driven away by the king's navy. The entire fishing village was surrounded, and they comforted themselves that the king had some major arrangements. After all, the entire Port of Stockholm was essentially blocked by the army.

Perhaps the king wasn’t targeting fishermen?

Now, all illusions are shattered.

The fishermen who came out of the wooden sheds tried to reason with the approaching "shield wall". The men were kicked down and the women were kicked.

The soldiers were really rude to children.

I saw parents being kicked and children throwing stones and breaking tiles, but in exchange the shield wall was broken. Several burly men suddenly rushed out of the wall and tied up the children who dared to throw stones with ropes.

Not only children, but anyone who tried to resist, even the weak fishermen holding iron harpoons did not dare to fight against the noble army.

More and more people were forced out of the wooden stilt houses. The shield wall passed by these houses. Behind the shield wall were men holding big axes. They did not hesitate to violently attack the shacks.

The structurally unstable wooden shacks collapsed one after another, and all the bottles and cans inside were trampled.

The warriors of the Malaren nobles stepped on the collapsed ruins and continued to approach the fishermen. The intimidating army simply wanted to kill all the fishermen. They didn't know what they had done wrong. Why did the nobles show their butcher knives to their own people?

The fishermen, both men and women, cursed and threw stones and tiles incessantly.

They were throwing away anything that could be thrown away, including pickled fish and even yesterday's excrement in earthenware urns.

Being hit by a jar of excrement is so disgusting! The eyes of the unlucky soldier were full of murderous intent. If it hadn't been for the order from the financial lord, he would have left the formation and hacked away.

"If you leave the team to kill people, don't think about the salary if you really kill someone! Remember, we only drive away, not kill." All the land nobles generally use this kind of rhetoric.

This is by no means a sign of kindness from the nobles, but it will really lead to bloodshed, and King Rurik will be angry.

However, the nobles are already demolishing the houses in the fishing village and violently driving out the residents, so they are not allowed to resist?

In the eyes of the fishermen, this group of nobles completely tore off the mask of humanity in the past, revealing the fangs of the monster beneath the skin.

Finally, some fishermen could no longer endure it. They had already considered the lakeside very much, and the harpoons and hand axes they held in their hands were their last signs of stubbornness.

The fishermen are starting to fight back!

When someone witnessed his companion throwing a harpoon and realized that he had completely broken up, other fishermen who gave up their illusions began to follow suit.

Someone shouted: "You won't let us live! You all should die!"

Amid the shouts, the harpoon struck.

Soldiers began to be injured, and some even had their chests pierced by sharp harpoons. Death suddenly comes, this is no longer a violent drive, it has completely evolved into a battle between two sides!

How many nobles' private soldiers are so stupid that they only have sticks and ropes? Seeing that their comrades were constantly being attacked with sharp weapons and their own side began to suffer losses, they all threw wooden sticks to try to hit a fisherman's head, and then pulled out sharp hand axes from their waistbands.

The soldier clearly displays his axe, which is both a deterrent and a signal of danger.

In the eyes of the fishermen, the actions of the noble soldiers were a signal that they were about to be killed. As the saying goes, the fish will die and the net will break. This is the moment, and the fishermen are also risking their lives.

At first, men armed with weapons charged at the nobles' private soldiers, while women and children were still fleeing towards the lake.

Although fishermen are busy with their fishing operations all day long, they are by no means cowardly, especially a group of fishermen who leave the lake and enter the ocean, and they can suddenly become pirates. There was even a madman who took advantage of the breeze from the Ross fleet to steal fish in Danish waters last year.

The armed fight turned into a civil war, but no matter how brave the fishermen were, they were at an absolute disadvantage in terms of military strength.

The fishermen's charge to the death was ruthlessly overrun. When a group of fishermen were brutally killed, the morale of the remaining people collapsed. The fighting continues, with resistance turning into killings, fishermen retreating steadily, and the shield walls of the nobles' private armies building up every step of the way.

The fishermen are not without a way to survive, at least as seen on the surface, everyone can still get on the boat and escape quickly.

Some fast fishermen, even if they didn't know what happened, got on their boats with their wives and children, and launched an attack on the Ross fleet that was blocking the port area.

The battleship only saw a narrow gap. Although the larger rowing long boat could not pass through the gap, it was not a problem for the small boat to pass through. Although they may be blocked, with many ships escaping together, someone will always be able to escape.

But they were wrong.

Rurik was observing the progress of the situation from the attic of Ross's shop throughout the whole process, and he noticed that the expulsion turned into a bloody fight.

It was within his expectation that the situation would turn out this way, but the white fox was shocked.

"Those fishermen and the noble army are fighting. Both sides are fighting for their lives. Wouldn't it be true that many fishermen will die?"

"At least we weren't the ones doing the evil." Rurik said coldly.

Hearing this, Bai Hu felt a chill in his gut. He turned his head and saw some fishermen were already rowing away, and asked: "Our army is on the shore. Originally, our army also wanted to intercept these fishermen. Now you will let them leave?" "

"Can they really escape?" Rurik shook his head expressionlessly.

The further development of the situation was as Rurik said, any fishing boat that tried to pass through the blockade gap was shot at close range by a torsion slingshot.

At this moment, the entire fleet formed a long arc-shaped snake formation, with the side slingshots aimed at the gaps. Although there are only a small number of armed sailors manning each ship, this manpower is enough.

The armed sailors did not shoot at people, but only with precise fire at the hull of the approaching sampan. The boat fell silent after a big hole was smashed out. The people who were struggling with the sailors grabbed all the objects they could grab. They instinctively grabbed the ropes thrown by the people on the boat. As a result, they were pulled one by one by the armed sailors and worked overtime. .

Anyone who was pulled up, regardless of age or sex, had their hands and feet tied with ropes. They asked what had happened today. While they were yelling, a bunch of linen cloth was stuffed into their mouths and their mouths were tied with ropes.

Compared to the aristocratic private soldiers on land, the Russians here are a little more merciful after all.

More and more small boats turned into driftwood on the lake, and there were also many fishermen tied up on Ross's ships.

Seeing that there was no hope of breaking out, a group of fishermen's boats simply floated near the shore, and more people were trapped on the shore.

Rurik was still observing all this from above, seeing the encirclement of the noble private soldiers tightening continuously.

The shacks in the fishing village collapsed one after another. He really admired the nobles' drive to clean up the fishing village and destroy the houses.

The nobles worked very hard, and Rurik could not be said to be happy, because he asked himself, he was the mastermind of this matter, and he was not qualified to sympathize with the fishermen. But as his kingdom has developed to this point, some things must be done, even if he becomes a tyrant and becomes infamous.

Fortunately, he saved a hand.

He suddenly asked about the white fox: "Tell me, if these fishermen knew that I was the mastermind behind this, how many new names would they give me?"

"Them? I don't think they dare. Anyone who dares to disobey the king can be killed."

"You compliment me. That's fine." Rurik sighed slightly, "Fortunately, I was prepared. Just imagine, if you were a fisherman over there, what would you see?"

"This..." Bai Hu was confused, "I am a businessman, I don't understand."

"What those fishermen saw was the nobles doing evil. It was the nobles of Melalen who were killing the poor fishermen! But we, so far, have been blocking the port, and the Russians have not killed anyone."

"But we really don't let them leave."

Rurik nodded: "It doesn't matter even if they think so. After all, it is the nobles who directly committed the evil. They will remember the culprits, and what we have to do is to mediate at the last moment. Now is the time to send a signal to Arik and the others. Got it!"

Thousands of fishermen were trapped on the dock. The faces of men and women were full of despair, and the children were simply crying. Hundreds of fishermen have been killed in horrific fighting, and their shacks have been destroyed. Although there are not many valuable items, most of the food everyone has stored has been lost.

What is the king's attitude? Is he colluding with these nobles?

They had no time to think, because the eyeing noble troops were still shrinking their encirclement.

Finally, the situation took a turn for the worse!

The Russian army, wearing white-on-blue-striped jerseys, suddenly appeared. The leader, Arik, summoned warriors to form a new human wall and stood in front of the helpless fishermen.

The situation became extremely delicate. The fishermen immediately noticed that the Ross army that suddenly appeared was not malicious, just like when they deliberately entered the fishing village for an armed patrol a few days ago, they had the same good and bad intentions.

At least that's what it seemed, and the next thing they saw was that the Ross army was literally the patron saint of a bunch of fishermen.

The shields of the Ross warriors were facing outwards in unison, showing their backs to the fishermen.

Arik stood in front of the formation, waving his sword violently with both hands, and shouted loudly: "Noble people, it's over here! You all leave!"

The nobles complained about how things turned out, and even Bjorn complained about why the Ross army suddenly appeared until now.

"You are acting as mediators!" Bjorn cursed in his heart. He had already realized the current situation. After all, the peaceful dispersal turned into a bloody expulsion. But so what? The deed has been done. So far, the demands of many nobles have been achieved.

As the land noble with the highest de facto status in Mellaren, the abdicated king Bjorn stood up.

"Aric, put away your swords. There is no need for us to fight with each other."

"Indeed." Arik nodded and sheathed his sword, and continued to shout: "You are too harsh on the fishermen! No more blood can be shed! You all should disperse, and we will handle the rest."

"Is this the end?"

"Yes! Let's stop it here!" Arik was still shouting at the top of his voice, and his meaning was actually quite clear, which was to let the helpless fishermen understand that the disaster was over.

According to the previous agreement, when the Russians declared that the situation was over, the Melalen nobles should evacuate with their people. Arik's voice was loud, and a group of nobles who heard the news had already led people away.

The originally relatively regular shield wall collapsed, and each noble left with their own people. Why stay and continue the confrontation with the Russian army and the helpless fishermen? The confrontation itself was meaningless, and the top priority now was to loot valuable property from the ruins of the fishing village, as the king had tacitly agreed.

Ordinary private soldiers can collect a few copper and silver coins from the ruins, or even edible dried fish.

Naturally, the landed aristocrats don't want these boring pots and pans. What they want is the land under the ruins.

The nobles left one after another but did not disappear. The nobles standing on the ruins in gorgeous clothes were already enclosing the area!

After all, free fishermen are not fools. The fishing village they formed spontaneously is indeed a geomantic treasure for Stockholm. It is a protrusion that extends to the lake in a macro perspective and is uniquely endowed as an excellent port.

The nobles have long secretly hoped that all these fishermen would leave. In the past, they did not dare. Now, with the instruction and coordination of King Rurik, the brothers have joined forces to do it.

Now, fishermen, men, women and children are all under the "protection" of the Russian army.

However, what happened next puzzled them.

The fishermen's boats that were still at berth began to be confiscated by the Russian army on the grounds of safekeeping, and the weapons in the hands of male and female fishermen were also ordered to put down.

Arik put away his weapon and faced the fishermen with open arms. He seemed to be kind, but behind him were thousands of mighty army soldiers!

The severely frightened fishermen were in shock and looked for helpless children still crying and shouting.

"Put down your weapons and accept the king's arrangements! Pay attention! Your village has been destroyed by them, and you have nowhere to go. But the king is kind and will provide you with a way to survive. As long as you stop resisting and obey, you can all survive. .”

What Arik said was all the words given to him by Rurik. There are no more promises here, only one core principle: only by obeying can one survive.

No, Arik shouted: "Women, think of your children. Men, think of your women. Only by obeying the king can you survive."

Their defenses were completely breached, and anyone who resisted dropped their weapons and allowed themselves to be dealt with by the Rus.

Soon, the Ross ships released each other's ropes, and the blockade of the port area was completely ended.

A group of rowing long boats rushed to the port and began to load the fishermen who had lost all their means of production and transport them to the well-defended Gould Island Fortress.

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