Rise of Rurik

Rurik wanted to find a suitable area for his new Ross store in Flanders.

The so-called Ross shops refer to this area as the concession area of ​​the Ross people.

It must be close to a river or ocean, must be suitable for navigation, and must be easy to retreat in the event of a major disaster.

Port Durist was undoubtedly his chosen target, even though the port was in ruins.

After completing a short rest, the Ross-Danish coalition began a new operation.

The fleet is divided into two groups. The main force will return to the mouth of the Amstel River and continue southward along the coastline. After all, the main force is large-scale communication. If you force yourself to enter the inland river for navigation, you can take the waterway and turn into the Yin River, but this detour is obviously unnecessary.

Most of the combat forces have withdrawn to the estuary, boarded the ship and started sailing south.

Rurik and Ragnar took their elite troops on a renegade yet traditional paddle boat, headed south from the city of Utrecht in the inland waterway, and rushed straight to the main channel of the Rhine River, straight to the ruins of Durist .

Even if the weather gets colder, the next step is to attack Antwerp. Legend has it that there is a lot of wool, food and money there. Although the soldiers have been tired after participating in the war for more than half a year, the thought of looting a big city in the south without restraint and being able to order three If the sword is not sealed for a day, the fatigue disappears without a trace.

The soldiers rowed long oars and couldn't help but sing the songs of their hometown.

This was a pain for the fifteen fief knights who accompanied him, as well as the Baron of Groningen. They were unhappy. The so-called formation of an army of servants turned out to be very few. Each knight only had two or three personal followers accompanying them. They could have recruited more farmers and herdsmen to fight for them, but the so-called war that followed was to follow the Normans in doing evil. They really couldn't recruit many people.

They must also go, and any objection will be regarded as resistance. The Baron of Utrecht, whose entire family was killed, is proof that this expedition was a vote of confidence for their group of lower-level nobles to save their lives.

However, they were also forced to betray their faith...

"Bishop Arbery is still fine, but we have to regret it later."

It is really wishful thinking to want this group of lower-level nobles and Antwerp residents to fight for their lives. Rurik and Ragnar are also worried that if they really pull out a larger force, when the war breaks out, they will take the opportunity to mutiny collectively and "abandon the light and turn to the dark." ". Now that they come almost alone, they are easier to control. No one can blame them for not having enough troops.

Such an army of the Netherlands, which was stretched thin and had great symbolic significance, was established.

As Count Henry of Nassau, he understood his position in the next action.

He has experienced too much in the short time in the past. After his whole outlook has been refreshed, he has no way to defend himself now that he is hanging out with the Normans. "Since I have committed a serious crime, there is nothing to worry about. Since God will not punish these Normans, I might as well kill them..."

Although they only had a few people, the wealth of Antwerp and Ghent was known even to Henry Nassau, a small nobleman who originally lived in the interior of Europe.

The vast and sparsely populated Flanders region has its own highlights, especially Ghent and Antwerp. The soothing and swampy coastal areas are really suitable for grazing. Once it fogs up, it will be salt spray. The pastures in the huge area absorb salt. The green grass is so wonderful that it would be a pity not to use it for grazing cattle and sheep.

A considerable amount of Frank's wool is produced in Flanders, with a large proportion of production in the southern region.

Henry Nassau was determined to rob with the Norman army. He was not a Frisian himself and had no psychological burden on plundering. As for "God's punishment", to hell with all that! If King Ross wants to see a genuine "investment certificate", he needs to make a fortune.

For personal gain, Nassau decided to take action.

The first thing they arrived at was the ruins of Durist Port.

In autumn, the extensive estuary of the Lain River is covered with reeds, and a large amount of the grass has withered and turned yellow, making the ruins here even more miserable.

The autumn wind is bleak, and the cold wind still feels cruel to people who are wearing thick clothes.

Rurik stood up and held the animal head on the bow of the ship tightly: "Is this the Danish Durist?"

"Apparently so," Nassau replied cautiously.

"It should be your first time here too."

"I will come here often from now on. I heard those knights say that wherever you can see a large area of ​​ruins, it is Durist. Alas... it is a cursed place. I even feel that there are evil spirits howling."

"It must be the wind." Rurik shrugged, indeed feeling mentally unwell.

At that time, Ludwig led his cavalry to fight directly overland. After passing through Utrecht, he rushed forward along the north bank of the river. At that time, the old King Louis had not yet passed away, and Ludwig, who had a strong army, crushed Durist to the ground and finally burned him.

It turned out that the muscular man had returned to Denmark with Boss Horik with his family papers, and the only people left in Durist were some ownerless pirates and even a small group of miscellaneous people. When Horik evacuated with key personnel, the commercial value of the place was lost.

It was because of Horik's act of assuming the throne in Denmark that the latter launched a crusade. The cavalry took the port lightly, and Ludwig issued an order for indiscriminate killing. After all, those who were killed were pirates, and kindness to pirates was cruelty to the people. In this crusade, the Flanders Army, which had suffered from harassment by pirates, also participated, but more so with a theatrical attitude.

Want to fight pirates? The Boguo army is not stupid, but the Boguo army, which is caught in the cracks, has to fight both ways, sending troops and providing food and grass. In the end, it did not really participate in direct combat.

The swathes of shacks were reduced to a large number of blackened wooden piles, and only low earth walls were left of the Viking longhouses made of soil and wood. At that time, I could imagine its complete outline.

The trestle pier was deliberately destroyed, with only some deep wooden piles standing abruptly in the waterway.

The weeds grew wildly and turned yellow. The arrival of the fleet disturbed some waterfowl. The ducks that wanted to continue flying south for the winter were disturbed and flew away.

Two longship friends, Rurik meets Ragnar.

"What do you think of this place?" Rurik asked.

"I feel like a ghost is crying." Ragna's mouth tightened, obviously in a bad mood.

"This place is Horik's former home base. If we occupy this place, it will be an even bigger victory."

"That's true, but... this place is really bad. I don't want to establish a foothold in a cursed place, so why don't we continue to drift downstream. It's closer to the ocean and easier for us to do in the future."

Feng shui is full of mysteries. If the feng shui of a place is not good, people in this environment will always feel psychologically uncomfortable. Rurik thought about what Ragnar said. Since many people said that this place was not good, let's find another place.

This other place soon caught Rurik's sight.

In other words, it is the mouth of the Inn River itself.

When the Inn River enters the lowlands, it branches into more than ten tributaries of various sizes. Small tributaries can be waded across, while there are three large tributaries, namely the Lyk River, the Maas (Old) River and the Southern Waterway.

The coalition forces took the Laike River waterway in the north and reached the mouth of the sea.

The main fleet taking the ocean route has anchored at the mouth of the sea, and they are waiting for the arrival of the king's army. Seeing the phantom appearance of a large number of longships, these ships hurriedly weighed anchor and rushed towards the river.

Attacking Antwerp to plunder and make a fortune can be said to be the last goal of the coalition forces' southward campaign.

If this plan is shelved due to weather conditions, the coalition forces will be able to find an area to turn into a "lease zone."

The coalition forces were looking for a suitable area to place shops and military bases, and Henry Nassau needed to find a good base for his Norman allies to support himself in the future. The three parties were eager to find good land in Flanders and selected an area with extremely flat terrain.

There is a small river such as a water channel from the north. Perhaps this is the last tributary of the Rhine River, or it may be a small water channel branched off from the main water channel.

There is no doubt that this flat land is perfect for grazing or building a large number of houses.

As a result, the dragon-headed longboat headed straight for the tidal flat of the small river visible to the naked eye. The boat began to wash over the beach, and then got stuck in the mud and became unable to move.

Rurik exclaimed that he was puzzled. His good trick of beach landing in the past was not working anymore?

"Damn it! My ship can't move?!"

The longboat was stuck in the mud, and half of its hull was still in the river. I wanted to land smoothly on the nameless river with gentle water flow, and park all the traditional long boats on this river beach, but this is the result.

"Damn it. Brothers, some people can go down and push the boat back to the river."

As soon as Rurik gave the order, some capable soldiers seized the opportunity to make a meritorious deed. They took off their boots, pulled off the foot wraps, and jumped into the cold mud to push the boat.

In the meantime, the Danes with abstract raven crests painted on white cloth also rushed to the beach howling. As if they were unwilling to admit defeat to the Russians, they plunged into the mud, one after another unable to move, which made people laugh.

Someone shouted: "Are those Danes blind? Now they have become giants with clay feet."

"They must have thought they could easily go ashore and completely ignored our situation."

"Let's see how they get out."

But Rurik had no intention of watching the show here and continued to greet his men to push the boat.

More than a dozen soldiers jumped into the mud, and were immediately immobilized by the icy cold mud that was up to their crotches. Not to mention pushing the boat, they themselves could not escape. The more they moved, the deeper they got stuck.

A simple task of landing on the shore in the evening turned out to be so troublesome in life. Even if these brothers were not pulled up quickly, the cold mud would destroy their legs.

"Damn it! Stop moving. Others, follow me and pull them up."

After a lot of effort, the unlucky soldiers were dragged onto the boat one after another. Their lower bodies were covered in grass-smelling mud, and they were shivering from the cold, and their injured legs were as cold as ice.

Rurik also tried using the wide oar as a crowbar, and everyone worked together to help the ship escape. This had some effect until larger ships arrived to help.

Taking advantage of the wind, the sail cruiser zigzagged towards the upper reaches of the waterway, anchored at a suitable location on the river, and then sent a small boat with a cable to meet the king in the mud with the same momentum of rushing to the beach. The cable was tied to the stern of the boat, and finally the big ship forcibly lifted the small boat out of the mud.

Following the same pattern, all the longships stuck in the mud were able to escape.

Although this was a farce, the behavior of the Russians using a large ship to tow a small boat still made the accompanying servants and the small nobles dumbfounded.

Originally, the fifteen feudal knights felt that the cargo ship that broke into Utrecht independently was the largest ship they had ever seen in their lives, and they also used the word "ark" to describe it.

Today, there are big ships everywhere you look. All the ships formed a fleet, flying exactly the same flag, even the same pattern on the sails.

After much effort, Rurik finally landed.

They landed at the Litter Channel, the northernmost main channel of the Rhine River. The current here was very fast, so all the big ships anchored nearby. The rowing boats forced the beach again, and dropped cables to drive down wooden piles on the shore, thus firmly fixing all the ships.

After experiencing the ordeal in the evening, everyone stood on fairly solid coastal land.

"Now, I finally understand why Durist Port was not built here." Rurik sighed.

"Either the water flow is too fast, or there is too much mud." Ragnar thought of another thing, "It should be the dry season now, and the Inn River is still a bit turbulent now. Wouldn't it be even worse in the high water season?"

"So that muddy river beach needs to be transformed. I also understand one thing."

"What's the matter?"

"It is not easy to enter the interior area along the Rhine River and reach the hometown of Nassau. If we lead the army to attack the Frankish hinterland by taking a shortcut by water, we will need to row for a long time. Although it is feasible, our soldiers will be very tired. "

Ragnar didn't take it seriously at all, or he didn't understand what Rurik said at all. Instead, he asked a rather stupid question: "Is it possible to attack our biggest enemy, East Francia, by going upstream on this waterway?" That arrogant king, the king named Ludwig?"

"Exactly. A direct sneak attack on his military camp."

"Then do it immediately. We should kill him!" Ragnar's eyes were on fire, and his whole body was jumping with excitement.

Rurik was half a head taller than this old man, so he closed his eyes and was speechless for him.

He simply rejected it bluntly: "It's too late! If we really want to make a sneak attack, we have to do it when the weather is warm. Now I'm even worried about where the army will spend the winter. I don't even expect the army to return to its hometown. I will withdraw after Antwerp is over. , I don’t want to be trapped by the frozen sea.”

"Just give up the opportunity?"

"I want to attack you secretly." Rurik shook his head deeply.

Unexpectedly, his anger actually seemed like an encouragement. "Can I try? Anyway, I was running around in Frank's territory that year, and they couldn't catch me at all. Hehe."

"I'm talking about the time in Bremen. If my squadron hadn't encountered you by chance, you would have been hacked to death by their cavalry, and there would be no burning of Bremen."

"But I am indeed not dead, which means Odin will not let me die. I live to take revenge! It was Ludwig's conspiracy that caused me to be almost exterminated. I will take revenge at any cost. Besides, my revenge is a good thing. "

"What do you want?"

"Let's sit down and talk."

Some people are just pure murderers. Rurik felt that he had indeed made a mistake. He thought that Ragnar would be able to do his best in domestic affairs after becoming king. It's obviously his own fault.

Ragnar may not even know what it means to be a king, but this guy still wants to be a bandit. Indeed, many men think that a ruthless man who dares to go deep into the enemy camp and kill everyone is the real king. Such a king can at best be regarded as a chief, a brave and fierce Viking warrior, but also a complete fool.

The King of Denmark is such a character, which is in line with Ross's interests.

However, Rurik also suddenly thought of a possibility. Perhaps he was worried that he did not have a high prestige among the Danish nobles. He directly attacked Frank and killed all parties. Only by showing real achievements can he force those noble lords to really Surrender.

What's more, there are hundreds of die-hard fans hanging out with Ragnar now. Although these guys come from many tribes, they are really willing to continue fighting with their ruthless king.

Maybe they could still spend the winter in the Frankish hinterland? If they mess up Frank, it will also be beneficial to Rose.

The whole army stayed on the shore to warm up overnight, and would sail again early tomorrow morning. If it were not delayed for many reasons, the fleet would have rushed to the vicinity of Antwerp at full speed this evening.

Ragnar relied on the fire and continued to promote his "winter plunder" plan. Even if the Russian army was not willing to cooperate, he had made up his mind. After plundering a wave of Antwerp, he would continue to go deep into the Inn.

"I would like to test the flow speed of this big river. If it is convenient for us to row and sail, you Ross must send troops to participate in our sneak attacks in the future."

Ragnar was serious, but Rurik was very happy to see this kind of exploration, so he encouraged him: "I need your information, and we will rob together in the future. You... don't be trampled to death by their cavalry."

"Haha. Gods bless me, I am invincible. Now, let's give this place a name. We will build a town here in the future."

"Okay. What impressed me the most was the mud beside the river, which almost made it difficult for me to walk. To be fair, this open and flat grassland is really suitable for building a fortress." Rurik said.

"Is it called the Land of Mud?" After saying this, Ragna laughed out loud at the name he chose casually.

"It's an appropriate name, one that stays fresh in my memory. That's it...I don't care. "

If a town grew up here, it would be named "Rotnastadt" in Norse. The mud here is so vivid that it is described by the word "rotia" in Frisian or Old Low German, and the accompanying manor knights mentioned this word.

Although the name was actually unpleasant, Rurik recognized it immediately.

Because a city should rise in this area and call it Rotterdam. The original meaning of Rotterdam is "a dam built on a muddy river".

Ross's shop will be built here, and Ross's power directly controls the estuary of the Rhine River.

Unfortunately, this area is a coastal no-man's land, and history has given Ross a chance.

Ross will become the first settlers of Rotterdam, build a prosperous port town here, fly the flag with blue stripes on a white background, build a naval base, etc.

But the first thing she was given was the deer Turnerstad.