Rise of Rurik

The great battle ended with a complete victory for the Russian army.

A large number of war dead lay scattered on the flat and barren land of the narrow Weisinger Island. Some of the dead had begun to become stiff, while some of the seriously wounded were squirming.

A group of Rus warriors walked on the battlefield carrying weapons. They carefully inspected the corpses, whether dead or alive, and kicked them a few times. So if it feels like kicking a rock, it's kicking down a dead body. Those who turned against him were either seriously injured or pretending to be dead.

Naturally, some prisoners must be captured, not everyone is qualified to be a prisoner.

The soldiers gave merciful last-minute blows to all the wounded, except for a handful of wounded female soldiers who were picked out.

As the victor, Rurik walked deliberately on the battlefield. The blood of the dead soaked the earth, and the dark red mud stained his leather boots. He was not afraid, but lamented that one Karl could mobilize thousands of people to fight against him.

He sighed subconsciously: "Will my expedition inevitably face a battle of this scale? Will the Jotalans resolutely stop me?"

The king seems to be feeling the enemy's fighting will?

The soldiers around him boldly said: "Don't worry about me, my king, any enemy will be destroyed by our army."

Rurik glanced at the warrior and shook his head: "You are all standing troops, and you have made a contribution in attacking Karl this time. I heard from you that Grund captured that Karl. Let's go! I want to see this man who refuses to surrender. What can the guy say now."

After all, it had been a while since the battle ended. The Russian army first gathered its wounded and inspected its own dead.

There will be losses in any battle, and the difference is limited to the local loss.

The Third Flag Force encountered the enemy's most powerful counterattack. Even if the enemy broke out of the gap, Ross's victory could not be shaken. The soldiers of the Third Flag fought hard at the cost of more than fifty casualties. To be fair, if the brothers had not had reliable armor and a tight shield wall, the casualties would have been even greater.

Thirty brothers died in the battle, almost all of them died from stabs at weak points in the neck and hard ramming with blunt objects.

Although other teams also suffered losses, those casualties were minimal.

Almost all of the corpses lying on the ground were enemy corpses. The javelins stuck on them were like saplings, and the densely packed arrows stuck on them were like ears of wheat that were in urgent need of harvest.

This kind of casualties was considered weak for the entire Russian army. After the First World War, Rurik won the victory with an exaggerated battle loss ratio, and thus captured a large number of people.

The soldiers were celebrating their victory, and the looting of the enemy began immediately. Since they had early intelligence that the enemy was poor, the soldiers never expected to get any treasure from the dead bodies and the occupied fortresses. The seizure of a batch of iron weapons and tools satisfied the soldiers' lowest level needs for trophies.

Rurik wanted to see the defeated "Crazy Bear" Karl again. He actually hoped that this guy would die in the rebellion and die as a soldier.

Unexpectedly, this guy who was once so outspoken was actually captured!

Because of Carl, I really felt that there was a chance that I could survive.

With hundreds of warriors watching, Grund took off his armor and dueled with the desperate Karl. The duel was not fair, and no matter what the outcome was, there was no way Karl could escape.

Karl lost so completely that Grund suddenly felt that this down-and-out guy was somewhat similar to himself nine years ago. "Maybe Carl can be used by the king."

Surrendering was a wise choice, so Karl was skinned from a bear, wearing only a single coat and his hands tied. He knelt on the blood-soaked battlefield and was closely guarded by Ross berserkers armed to the teeth.

Grund put on the armor again. Wearing such an exaggeratedly heavy armor required a lot of strength. After the battle, he could have stopped ravaging his shoulders. Now, in order to claim credit, he deliberately smeared some more enemy blood on the armor.

Grund was all red and exuded a fishy smell, and his appearance could frighten an ignorant woman into falling into a coma. As the king, Rurik naturally saw through this guy's performance.

"It's over! Why don't you clean your armor. Grund, take off your helmet and talk to me."

"Ah!? Okay."

Grund did his job quickly, and without any delay, he made the king look down at the kneeling defeated man.

Rurik took off his helmet and let his golden pony tail flutter in the wind. He was tall, and looking down at Carl was like looking down at a prairie dog that had just come out of your hole.

"Karl, you are defeated! Look at the good things you have done. You still want to fight me even though you know you are defeated. I hope you die fighting for your own morality. Unexpectedly, your brothers are almost dead, and you are the only one who is still alive... …”

It's true that Karl, who complained about defeat, was never qualified to call himself "Odin's warrior".

Karl felt uncomfortable hearing this, but he still did not give up hope of survival.

"I...I want to live. I can work for you and be your subordinate. I will definitely be useful to you."

"..." Rurik was speechless.

At this moment, Grund, who had taken off his heavy armor, came over and said, "Your Majesty, leaving this man alive may be useful to you. After all, this guy has ruled this lake area for ten years and can be used as your tool to manage on your behalf..."

"Ah?" Rurik couldn't believe his ears. He looked directly at Grund with a harsh look: "Who told you to say this?"

"I am doing this for the king's benefit."

"Tell it truthfully! Oh no, I'll ask you later."

Rurik guessed that there was something fishy here. Grund was a surrendered Dane, and he could not be trusted absolutely, even if he had shown great loyalty. He guessed that Grund was not the only one who wanted to spare the life of "Crazy Bear" Carl. In other words, Grund was taken advantage of by some nobles.

Rurik had already made up his mind on how to deal with Karl.

"First take Carl down and imprison him. Remember, he must be closely guarded! Tie a rope around his mouth to prevent him from biting his tongue and committing suicide. Grund, I will leave this matter to you. Carl cannot die!"

"As commanded."

Sounds like you saved yourself from death? After hearing the humiliation just now, Karl felt that he might as well die in battle. Fortunately, now, he no longer had any means to commit suicide. He was tied up like a hunted wild boar and was dragged aside by the winner.

That night, the Ross army marched to the Weisinger Fortress to hold a celebration banquet!

Although the islanders were poor, they did raise a group of cattle and sheep. These livestock were killed in large numbers. The soldiers deliberately dismantled the wooden facilities of the fortress and chopped them into firewood for barbecue.

The nobles gathered together to eat half-cooked roast meat and celebrate Ross's victory in the war to conquer the entire Lake Wettern.

Looking at them, it was obvious that the troops directly under the king contributed the most. The nobles of the Swedish Allied Army were enjoying the joy after the victory.

Longstall danced with joy, holding a half-roasted leg of lamb in his left hand and right hand, as if dancing an abstract dance only performed by priests in front of the campfire.

People gathered around this happy guy like a clown.

"Now it's over. My worries have been overcome. Now as long as we defeat Jönköping again, we Hjermalen people can graze freely again."

What Longstall said resonated directly with as many as five small clan leaders.

The names of these five tribes are quite casual, and their respective strengths are also a joke. The leader holds the title of Duke, and he tried his best to recruit some young boys, and only then they reached the minimum troop limit of about fifty people to accept the king's call. They were all Swedish villages that had evacuated from the north shore of Lake Vettern. They stood on the shoulders of giants and won the victory.

"Your Majesty is wise and mighty, now our clan can move back."

"The king is young and promising, and has accomplished something that none of our previous leaders of the Swedish Alliance could do..."

They did not hesitate to praise King Rurik who was having barbecue with everyone.

Rurik nodded: "It's good that you all come back. We are going to revive the Swedish settlement here. I can't believe that the remaining Götalanders will surrender without thinking about rebellion. Now I don't know whether the cavalry sent out will win." Jönköping. Your so-called Lake Vettern has been pacified by our army is not accurate."

While he was speaking, he was also observing Bjorn of Melalen. The two suddenly looked at each other and ended with Bjorn suddenly looking away.

"Bjorn, it looks like you have something to say!"

"Yes! I... do have something to say."

"But it doesn't matter."

"It's about the treatment of Karl. Many people thought that he should be killed with an axe. He led thousands of people to attack us. Our army killed at least 2,000 people and captured a group of fishermen who were forced to fight. Karl is reasonable He said he should die, but if he is killed, will the remaining Ghotalans cause trouble in the future?"

"Oh? What do you have to say?" Rurik's eyes sharpened, and he was thinking that perhaps Grund's advice in the afternoon was probably taught by Bjorn.

"If you keep him, you can give him a position and manage this lake area on your behalf."

"Oh? Don't you think this is ridiculous?"

"But this is a smart move. Your army will continue to conquer Gothenburg, right? There are still many Götalans in the lake area. Either you kill them all, or take them all away as slaves, or you need to send people to govern them. You are kind, so my suggestion is to keep Karl alive and let him do things for you.”

absurd! It sounds like Bjorn received real money from Carl.

This is impossible! Unless doing so would benefit the Mellaren clan and benefit Bjorn.

At this moment, just looking at Longstall's sullen face, Rurik guessed something else.

"Then raise your hands and vote! Each of you Swedish nobles counts. Raising your right hand means asking Karl to live. Keeping quiet means asking him to die."

In this way, a funny scene appeared. Strong embarrassment accompanied Bjorn. Swedish nobles of all sizes were here, and it was Bjorn who really supported Karl's survival.

"It's clear at a glance that Karl is still going to die!" Rurik shrugged, and since he had figured out all the reasons, he simply didn't mention it.

The nobles continued to discuss what was to come. First, the army had to reorganize and prepare to continue fighting, and detour into Lake Vänern to storm Gothenburg, which was only known by its name. Second, they counted the spoils and transported a group of prisoners and wounded by water to Tombstone. Island and the Lake Mälaren area; thirdly, the army will also go to the south of the lake first. In any case, Jönköping must be taken to end the battle of the entire Lake Wettern.

Rurik decided to kill Karl, but his captured men would live. After all, they are a group of strong laborers. It would be a pity to behead them with an axe. It is better to be sent to the mines in the north to work as cattle and horses to dig ore for a lifetime. Things don’t have to be absolute. Promise them to regain their freedom after ten years of mining, so they have to have hope.

The captured fishermen, men and women, were old and young. Counting the large number of children who were easily captured after Arik broke the city, the total number of prisoners of war was close to 3,000. Children and women accounted for a high proportion. It would be cruel for such people to stay on the island and continue to make a living by fishing. Their ships were destroyed by the Russian army, and throwing them on the island was forcing them to die.

It would be better to carve up all the islanders, put them on ships and transport them to the rear. The Rus' Principality of the Natural Kingdom has the right to pick out the largest share, especially the children and women. Rurik intends to sell most of them to himself in the far east. Slavic subjects, in order to attract stable local men and change the local population structure.

The defeated Karl was a sheep to be slaughtered. Rurik decided to execute him with his own hands. As the saying goes, begging for mercy will lead to mercy. Before the war, he was asked to surrender but was refused. Now it is too late to ask for surrender!

Rurik decided to stage a battle on the second day after the war, holding a double-edged Nordic forest ax, cutting off Karl's head like cutting wood, and then standing the head on a wooden pole to show to the soldiers.

Things took a turn for the better.

In the morning, a rowing boat was suddenly intercepted by a Ross ship that had finished its night hunt. The Ross navy thought it was an enemy ship. If they hadn't seen the flying Ross flag clearly, there would have been a misunderstanding.

Those were the Ross cavalry who dismounted. They transformed into oarsmen and started setting off yesterday afternoon on the captured longboat. After sleeping on the lake, they continued to move and finally succeeded in quickly arriving at Weisinger Island. Ross Barracks.

Rurik was delighted with the visit of the dismounted cavalry.

He didn't bother to wash up or eat something, and hurriedly greeted his subordinates who had just landed on the island.

When these more than ten dismounted cavalry met the king, they all knelt down and saluted. The first person, a Pecheneg, started to speak seriously. He briefly described Fisk and three hundred cavalry in attacking Jönköping in Norse with a very strange accent. There is this matter of great success without loss.

"Ah! Our army won without any losses? Jönköping has set up my flag?" Rurik was overjoyed.

"Exactly. Fisk hopes you can go and see for yourself."

"I want to go! Of course I want to go. This Fisk is really a capable general, he really makes me proud!"

After further questioning, a gratifying result appeared in front of Rurik. Fisk was not a person who killed indiscriminately. Perhaps it was his cousin Arik who invaded Jönköping at that time, and his cousin most likely allowed indiscriminate killing. Or if Hjölmalen is replaced, Longstall will burn the entire Jönköping to the ground because of the king's tribal hatred.

The city was not seriously damaged. Many armed soldiers died but a large number of merchants survived.

There was even information about other Jotalan communities, which Rurik had not expected.

"Växjö Ten Villages Alliance", is there such a Götaland community? The dismounted cavalry quoted the description of Jönköping's temporary spokesman Heghar Larsson, who said the target was some distance south of the lake.

conquer! Must conquer!

Rurik summoned a group of elites, especially his own 300 standing army infantry soldiers, and then recruited the young and handsome old Ross Jun from the Sixth Flag Team to form a strong army of blond-haired, blue-eyed Gundams, and floated to Yan on a large ship. Yukihira gave the conquered natives a wide berth.

Therefore, the final place of "Crazy Bear" Carl is available!

Carl was tied up and carried onto the ship. This was his first and last time on a Ross ship.

The sails of the Ross fleet were huge and eye-catching. The war in Jönköping was all over. After all the locals surrendered, they began to serve their conqueror masters. Even Commander Fisk enjoyed the service of his new slaves.

The cavalry saw the fleet arriving and saw the "King Rus' flag" on the flagship that was different from ordinary flag texture decorations.

Fisk was shocked and ordered the bugler to blow the horn to assemble. He also shouted: "The king is coming! The cavalry are arrayed to greet him!"

Rurik finally saw Fisk, who had not seen him for many days, the still majestic cavalry troops, and the large number of people who were driven to the dock.

Completely different from the destroyed residential area on the island of Vissingse, Jönköping was built on a mound. The buildings are all the most traditional Viking longhouses. They show no traces of damage. It is difficult to imagine that the cavalry once A raid here yesterday killed hundreds of enemies.

He pulled the boat to the shore, while most of the other soldiers came ashore through the water.

A large beast that was carried like a permed wild boar turned out to be a man upon closer inspection.

The man was carried ashore and struggled on the spot...

Rurik knew that his Fisk had a thousand words to say, "You are here! I will say anything later. Is this Jönköping? You gathered all the residents to me."

"Your Majesty, what does this mean?"

Rurik kicked the squirming Karl again: "This man is the so-called Crazy Bear Karl."

"Huh? Like a maggot."

"Yes, feel free to despise him. I think the people of Jönköping must recognize him. I want to execute this man in public. Go and gather them together. Remember, you also found the local speaker? Call them together."

"As commanded."

In this way, Hegharalsson could not have imagined that the usually arrogant "Crazy Bear" Karl would become such a mess, and Rurik, the conqueror of Rus, did not look like a vicious person, but a very handsome and tall man. Man, his army also has a completely different momentum than Karl's private soldiers.

Hagrid was a businessman, and he thought that a true king would never be stupid enough to kill a businessman, but would actively win over the businessman to cooperate.

"Are you the leader here?" Rurik pointed at the unattractive Hagrid.

"It's me. It was... Lord Fisk asked me to be the talker. I truthfully report that in the past, our talker was actually..." Hagrid pointed at the squirming Karl: "That's this guy, we are just a group of people. The sheep that are shorn by him every year. If you kill him, you are the conqueror, and we are willing to pay tribute to you."

Is it really about who is the king and who pays tribute? Things turned out to be simpler.

So, Karl's mouth was tied with a rope, his eyes were covered with linen, his shirt was stripped off and he was tied to a tree.

The merchants, craftsmen, farmers, and fishermen of Jönköping were all willing to pay some tribute and surrender to the conqueror Rurik. Most of the tributes had been collected by Fisk, and two boxes of real money and silver were placed in front of him. Rurik was very happy.

Therefore, the locals needed to see what the new conquerors were like.

Real Vikings all admire strong men. Rurik also took off his shirt this time, letting the sun shine on his white arms with obvious muscle texture.

"Crazy Bear" Carl? forget it. Ross's berserkers all had terrifying bear heads on their heads, which made the Jönköping people who were ordered to watch the execution tremble in shock.

They also saw the noble King Rus holding a forest ax, and suddenly heard a cry: "You all have watched!"

The big ax struck Karl's neck directly from the front, and his head was immediately separated.

The people of Jönköping who were watching cheered. No matter how powerful the new master was, the Kingdom of Rus or the Swedes, Karl was a villain who took tribute three times a year and did not dare to do any good. Naturally, everyone would be happy that Karl was killed.

Rurik immediately threw the axe, without wiping the blood that was spattered on his face. The prominent industrial owners, craftsmen, and well-informed businessmen who faced each other said: "I, King Rurik! I am your master! From now on, you just need to pay me tribute once a year! Heig Haraldsson among you, you will be the speaker of Jönköping. You will all be the subjects of this king. As long as you surrender, your lives will be saved. Guaranteed. Now! Kneel down and surrender to me!"

The order came suddenly, look for Shuyuan www.zhaoshuyuan.com Karl had been beheaded, and the businessman Hagrid simply knelt down on the ground, shouting that he would pay tribute every year, and that the king of Rus was unparalleled in his greatness. Seeing this, the people in Jönköping who were present knelt down one after another, like a large herd of sheep surrounding a shepherd.

This is Rurik’s choice!

Hjärmalen and the other five tribes felt that the Götaland people in Lake Wettern were greatly weakened, and they could expand their living space here.

Therefore, Bjorn of Mellaren was worried that the strength of the southern tribes would grow rapidly and squeeze out the power of the Mellaren people, so he tried to save the life of Karl the Wild Bear to check and balance the Mellaren people.

Karl must die. After all, this guy is largely a supporter of the local Jotalans' northward invasion. His death is to give an explanation to the Yermalen people. After all, this is one of the reasons for the Ross army to go out.

But the long and narrow Lake Wettern should not be occupied by the Hjärmalen people. They can naturally resume their settlement in the northern part of the lake area. They should share this lake with the Götaland people of Jönköping over there. By having the North and the South check and balance each other, this can be regarded as an approach that takes into account the feelings of many parties.

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