Rise of Rurik

There is an island in the long and narrow Lake Wettern, called Weisinger.

There is an altar on the island. A large number of Jotalan people live around the altar. The island is also named after the altar.

The long and narrow Lake Wettern is just one of the territories under the control of the Jotalans. The ruler of this lake enjoys the control of sacrifices and the right to claim tribute for trade.

The powerful military leader and his men control the machine of violence. Of course, there is also a parliamentary court on the island. All the leading figures gather together to hold a traditional Nordic meeting. In the end, the opinions of the military leader must be listened to.

The Jotalans have not yet formed a national group, or even a tribal confederation.

They have formed a special group of residents. The military leaders are similar to the city-state tyrants of ancient Greece, and they are like warlords who control a region. There are private soldiers and slaves below the leader. A large number of civilians need the protection of these military personnel, but the leader does not regard the people as his own tribe.

If there is no external interference, the Yotalan people living in the south of the lake can live a life of fishing and farming for a long time.

The people's economy is mainly based on fishing. The huge Wettern Lake and streams as dense as leaf veins and the favorable water environment nourish a large number of fish. They rely on fishing to make ends meet, supplemented by livestock raising and farming. , life is not rich, but it is reasonable.

They are not people who are content with being rich. The reality is that they are not satisfied with life.

Looking for a new outlet to the sea and a warm territorial life.

To find a warm place, they have to compete with the Danes, and the brothers suffer a long-term disadvantage in this regard.

Looking for a new entrance to the sea, things have become clearer. Although the waterway is very tortuous, the brothers can indeed enter the Eastern Baltic Sea quietly in front of the strategically shrinking Swedes.

For the rulers of Lake Vettern, they lack the ability to compete with the Swedes for living space. The most ideal strategy at present is to encroach.

The crisis came very suddenly.

At the beginning, a few scarred fools fled from north to south to Weisinger Island. The boats washed up weakly on the beach, and the oarsmen climbed down panting, warning the oncoming people of danger.

"Quick! Go tell the boss! Evil people are coming from the north!" The speaker seemed to be frightened out of his wits, and his words were incomprehensible.

Someone who was trying to help them patted the speaker on the face and asked loudly: "Where are you from? Are you people who went to the north to open up?"

"Yes! My village was destroyed by evil people, and everyone died."

"What did you say?"

"Stop dragging your feet." The man stared at the people in front of him in horror, and shouted heartbreakingly: "You are all idiots! I want to see the boss, if it's a little later we will be finished!"

Who doesn't know the temper of his boss, the unruly "Crazy Bear" Carl, who thought he had chopped off the heads of many Danes to earn this honorary name.

Karl "The Wild Bear", the warlord tyrant of Lake Wettern, controls this lake area with hundreds of brothers, and nearly ten thousand people live together with them.

Although people at the dock looked at the unlucky looks of the guys on the fishing boats docked and believed that they had encountered a major disaster, no one dared to tell the boss the news until the matter was clear.

People were afraid of Carl's domineering power. Legend has it that this guy almost killed a bear when he was ten years old. What happened next is pure legend.

"Crazy Bear" Karl is wearing a bear skin and a helmet with a bear's upper jaw on his head. He looks like a war bear. He held a long-handled Nordic double-edged ax and slashed at the Danes who had gathered to hunt slaves. The Danish shield wall seemed meaningless under the impact of his big ax.

That was more than ten years ago (during the time when Danish Chief Hafgen was in power). Karl and his friends in Gothenburg successfully fought against Denmark. Without such achievements, the people of Lake Vetern would not have obeyed him.

The former berserker is now middle-aged. He has never fought against Denmark again. An old warrior lives a stable and even boring life in his comfort zone, recalling the glory of his youth.

Bad news suddenly spread on the island, and the soldiers cautiously told their boss the legends they heard.

Could it be that the stable life has finally encountered waves?

A good pioneering village in the north was suddenly destroyed by evil people?

"You all go down. Maybe they have encountered some trouble, or they may have choked on the water and gone crazy. Don't worry about it." Karl ordered his men to eat and drink.

What is meant by "people riding monsters destroying villages" and "monsters can shoot arrows and breathe fire"? There is actually a saying that the monster is humanoid, but has four hooves like a cow.

If the messenger knew the concept of centaur, he would definitely have said this word.

For fishermen who saw horses and cavalry for the first time in their lives, they were brutally killed when they saw them. It is normal to use the most vicious and terrifying words to describe it. It was this description that reached the ears of the ruler "Crazy Bear" Karl, and became seriously distorted and even outrageous to the point of being unconvincing.

Karl didn't give up completely. He thought about it for a while and finally gathered his leaders at night.

More than a dozen people looked at each other in confusion, and when their boss mentioned the rumors that suddenly spread, they began to murmur in their hearts.

"You have all heard about it. Those rumors are too bizarre and I don't believe them. I thought about it and we have to be careful. You go and inform the fishermen to be careful and not to go fishing in the north rashly."

More than ten people said so.

But one person suddenly asked: "Boss, if something happens in the north, what should we do?"

"Oh? Jiage, those rumors are not credible."

"Yes! But to the north of us are the Swedes. If they are attackers, we need to be careful. Haven't we also received some news over the years? The Swedes and the Rus are not restless."

"I understand this too. Well, it's right to make some preparations in advance." Karl thought for a while and then said: "I originally asked you to calm people down after you go back. In this case, you can give the men a reminder by the way."

Will things get worse?

The next day, these little bosses followed the orders of their bosses and told the people to be careful. They even went to the stronghold of Jönköping in the south of the lake in person to tell the people there to be careful too.

It was on this day that new escapees entered Vicingse.

There are many strange arrows on the boat, which are exactly the same as the arrows handed over by the refugees yesterday.

The mass-produced Ross arrows have done a good job in quality control, and it is these identical arrows that prove their identity.

Although the current Jotalans do not know the identity of the attackers, the escapees from two villages arrived at almost the same time. They were also a group of exhausted wounded people. Although they were from different villages, the three villages in total came up with exactly the same weapon. Arrow, doesn’t this illustrate a serious problem?

"Crazy Bear" Karl faced the arrows in front of him and even the oral statements of several villagers sent to the island fortress by his subordinates. The current situation could not tolerate his disbelief.

"A monster with cow hooves shoots arrows at you?! Kills your people with spears? And destroys your village? Impossible, that's not a monster, it's an enemy!"

Karl rebuked angrily, and the villagers were so frightened that they immediately changed their words and kowtowed.

Villagers' families were either killed or captured, and their villages, barges, and cattle and sheep were all destroyed.

But what the villagers begged was very outrageous: "We have no cattle and sheep, and the tribute we owe you cannot be handed over at all. Please forgive us and don't make us slaves."

However, Karl did not look at them seriously, as he was a warlord and tyrant, not a monarch or tribal leader who made decisions for the people.

"Since you can't pay the tribute you owe me, go and become slaves! I am merciful. As slaves, at least you won't starve to death."

It was heard that the villagers who had just escaped continued to hold their heads in pain, and were then dragged out by the soldiers.

Karl looked around again. He did not feel sorry for the villagers' experiences. After all, the villagers who went to the north of the lake to develop were not his subordinates. The development was a spontaneous act, and any disaster they encountered should be borne by themselves.

The fleeing villagers did not ask Karl to take charge of their plight, nor did Karl ignore the looming threat.

The situation is already known to everyone. Regardless of how the villages in the north were destroyed, there is indeed a force with strong military power. If a "warlord" had the ability to destroy three villages in two days, he would definitely go south to attack Vissingse and Jönköping. Karl asked himself, if that warlord was himself, he would definitely send his troops south to sweep across the country.

He smelled an increasingly strong murderous intent from the north, and the more he thought about it, the more terrifying he felt.

Fortunately, the bones in his body are not rusty and decayed.

He thought of one person, so he took out the general named Jiage in front of all his trusted subordinates.

"Gage! You were the first to predict the danger from the north, and now the situation is indeed getting worse. I want you to summon five hundred men to go to the north and have a look."

"Ah! Actually, I..."

"Are you hesitating? Why do you have the right to hesitate?!" Karl stomped his feet, shaking the mountain, and then shouted sternly: "Conquering women is not considered a man. Even if you make a hundred women pregnant, you might as well cut off ten. The enemy soldiers have brave heads. Do you think five hundred men are too few?"

"No, if..."

"There are no ifs. You are just afraid. Forget it, I will give you a thousand fishermen to go to the north to check the situation. If you find enemies harassing the village, you will kill them. Jiage, this is an opportunity for you to make meritorious deeds. Over the years, We brothers stay in the lake and can only hunt, fish and play with women for fun every day. I’ve given you a chance to fight, so go ahead and do it.”

glory? It would indeed be an honor if you win.

But then again, since he will get the glory, why doesn't the boss go in person? Jiage felt that he was really talkative yesterday. Since the boss gave the order and the other brothers stayed away, what should he do?

Many people owed debts, and they had no choice but to be drafted into the army. However, if they fought a battle with the legendary northern villain and plundered trophies to pay off their debts, the whole family would be free.

There are hundreds of debt slaves, and more fishermen have witnessed or heard about the tragic situation of the escapees. They are not afraid at all, but regard it as an opportunity to make a fortune.

Because in this era, war must not be a terrible thing, it is the shortest way for ordinary people to turn over.

Besides, they were on a mission to find the bad guys and avenge their friends in the north.

Really friends? Maybe.

A very large army gathered at the island's altar, where the priest performed a "sacred dance" and burned some freshly caught fish in flames.

The Götalans naturally believe in Odin and other Nordic gods, but because of the lake they live in, they worship more lake gods. Instead of human sacrifice, they promoted the ritual of burning fresh fish to ashes.

The so-called army is almost all armed fishermen, but some boys who are just twelve years old have only heard the legends of "Crazy Bear" Carl and other madmen killing everyone on the battlefield in their short life. Young people are eager to achieve themselves in battle, eager to gain honor, and even die in battle to gain honor.

These fishermen are the army. They bring their own food and weapons, wear various clothes, and the boats they are about to board are also various.

Originally the army commander Jiage was worried, but now on the plain where the open altar is located, he could see golden heads everywhere and spearheads like a forest.

The usual tactic of the Vikings is to form a shield wall, and the brothers rush forward to attack and kill together.

This is true of the Götalanders, it is true of the Danes, it is still true of the Swedes in the north. Without the intervention of the Rus army transformed by Rurik, their battle would have been so simple, violent and uncreative.

In this battle mode, when the weapons, equipment, and body shapes of the soldiers on both sides are almost the same, the side with more people will often win.

Jiage and his more than a hundred close comrades were in the same group. They were all wearing chain mail, and even a circle of chain mail was hung under the leather helmet to protect their fragile necks. These talents are what constitute the strength of "Crazy Bear" Karl. Similarly, if these warriors wither away on a large scale, his strength as a warlord tyrant will be gone.

Karl knew this very well, so he sent more than a hundred of his confidants to fight. They were also equipped with excellent equipment. According to common rational understanding, it is difficult for such soldiers to suffer casualties as long as they do not fall into the lake and drown.

Looking at other fishermen and armed forces, they are the most classic Viking warriors.

They wore rags and unkempt hair, or wore their hair and beards in various braids, and their bodies reeked of sweat and fish. Although they also have to clean up their own hygiene, they still end up with unbearable crotches.

Naturally, their strength is relative to the Ross army. Up to now, this confident fishermen armed force does not know the existence of the northern invaders.

It has been more than ten years since the Wettern Lake area once again assembled an army of 1,000 people. For as long as I can remember, this is the first time in their lives that a large number of young warriors have been assembled in large groups.

The young warriors did not know what war was. They jumped onto the longship as happily as if they were attending a wedding.

Some people even shouted: "Today we kill the guys from the north and take prisoners, and tomorrow we will float to Lake Vänern and go to Gothenburg to sell slaves and make a fortune."

Some people have already fantasized about their victory, "Find them! Kill them! I will go to Denmark in a few years, kill their warriors, and find Shuyuan www.zhaoshuyuan.com to snatch some slaves back."

There was a happy atmosphere in the fleet. The armed fishermen cheered each other up due to the huge number of troops. They were extremely optimistic about the future, and Gag was even more optimistic than them.

Take a good look at this army! Ten long boats, accompanied by a large number of sampans, were densely packed on the lake. The momentum was so great that even the city of Jönköping not far away noticed it. In fact, some people in the army came specifically from Jönköping on the south coast. They brought their own boats, weapons and food, just to fight a smooth battle and gain loot.

"Crazy Bear" Karl stood high on the island, his heart was quite complicated.

He was generally pleased that he could summon such a large army with just one order. What was the reason for the inexplicable worry in his heart?

No matter what, the arrow has to be fired!

Karl ordered and his subordinates blew the horn, which was an order to attack the fleet.

Garg on the ship heard the sound of the trumpet and shouted with his sword: "Brothers, march north."

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