The situation becomes chaotic and Otto must control it.
He deliberately waited for the excitement of the tribe to ferment for a while. When those people saw that the leader did not express his position, the initial enthusiasm gradually dimmed.
"Are you done yelling? Now listen to me!
We are talking about going to the Eastern Sea Route to build a stronghold, how come it turns into attacking the Gotlanders?
You remember our hatred, how can I forget it. However, the Gotlanders are not weak, and we cannot rush to take revenge this year just because we recall those people. We cannot interrupt the plan because of this.
You young people, rather than going to Gotland to seek revenge, you should consider your own marriage issues first.
We want revenge, and we want to bring more warriors to take revenge.
I will take you to Novgorod soon, find each of you a beautiful wife, and soon each of you will be a father.
When you all grow up to be real men, you will take your sons who can already hold weapons and follow our new leader Rurik, and he will lead you to the most complete revenge."
Otto's eyes were blazing at this moment, and a pair of big hands suddenly grabbed the young Rurik who was watching and held him on the table.
How is this going?
Rurik looked left and right for a moment. He was standing on a high place, standing out from the crowd. He found that he could look down on all the heads.
Otto whispered softly behind him: "Child, you have heard it. When you grow up, you will lead them to Gotland for revenge. Your uncle died in the hands of those bastards, and many people's fathers and brothers died in the hands of those people.
, you are going to take revenge."
"I……"
"Repeat what I said!"
The excited scene made Rurik panic for a moment, as if their anger was completely ignited and they wished they had to wait for the ice and snow to melt before heading straight to Gotland on foot.
Otto muttered something behind his back, and Rurik could only repeat it out loud obediently. These contents are really horrifying. No matter how you look at it, it is a declaration of war against Gotland, and this declaration of war is from Rurik.
Published in name.
"I... when I grow up, I must take them to that island and cut down the entire island from top to bottom? Do I have to eliminate all the enemies? Do I have to dig out all their hidden treasures?" Rurik
My mind can't help but deeply doubt the rationality of doing this. Is it reasonable? But there is a certain rationality.
They want to avenge their relatives who died in the war, and secondly, to get a sum of gold and silver. Their relatives have been dead for many years, and if they wanted revenge, they would have rushed over with screams. Now that they are talking about this matter, looting gold and silver is probably the most straightforward purpose.
Of course blood revenge must still be avenged.
Rurik obeyed his father and shouted the slogan of "revenge" while weighing the cost-effectiveness of doing so.
In terms of emotions, Rurik didn't understand his uncle Ogier who was killed in the battle at all, and he had no feelings for the Gotlanders who killed his uncle.
However, when his cousin Arik mentioned the Gotlanders, he was filled with rage and thirsty for revenge.
Rurik also doesn’t think Gotland is really a place of wealth, because soap and steel swords can make a lot of money by selling them. In order to take desperate risks, it is really a bad idea to use commercial means.
A soft knife is more efficient than grabbing an ax yourself.
I have already earned a sum of money, and my personal wealth is still accumulating at a high speed. With more money, I can recruit a group of followers, which are what others define as "slaves", and support a group of followers, and I will become more powerful.
.
Standing on his seat, Rurik shouted for revenge, causing everyone to roar enthusiastically. He knew that his elderly father Otto was still building momentum for him to this day. If you want to be the leader, you must have enough financial resources.
The key is to obtain the support of the most powerful group of people among the tribe.
The elite of the tribe are gathered here, and those who are willing to buy sulfur soap are definitely strong men with financial resources and military force.
However, when it comes to personal ambitions, Rurik is more willing to move eastward. Since everyone is a Russian, then the destiny is to become a real Rus, rather than shrinking in a corner of the Arctic Circle as a city-state, and ultimately remain the same.
Exists as part of Sweden.
Rus, according to the development of history, should occupy the entire Eastern Europe. The wheels of history have already begun to move. Rurik knew that even if they clamored to go south to counterattack the Gotlanders, building a stronghold at the mouth of the Neva River would be
A decision that cannot be changed.
Until now, no one in the tribe has dared to stand up and directly oppose Otto. There is no such person at all.
They stood here just to take this opportunity to express to the leader the young people's desire to make achievements.
They were tired of shouting slogans, and their pent-up emotions were vented. For example, Arik recalled the grief and anger of his father's murder. After shouting, he felt better, so he took his wife Peravina and went
A memorial ceremony was held at the grave of his father Ogier.
Those who were willing to buy sulfur soap had already put their treasures in their arms. Those who were just watching the excitement began to go back as the evening approached.
Rurik had already been let down, watching people leave, and deeply regretted that his sulfur soap was not sold out as soon as possible.
He suddenly muttered: "Dad, is the price of three silver coins too high? If it doesn't work, I'll try again with just two silver coins?"
"No need." Otto covered his son's head with his rough hands, "Don't move at this price. In my opinion, they are just nervous about money! Do you think they are screaming for my permission to go south to attack the Gotlanders?
What is the purpose?”
"It's revenge," Rurik said deliberately.
"Bah! Of course it's for the money! What do you think of the Gotlanders? They're actually very rich."
"Rich? I heard from Arik that those guys are a bunch of fishermen."
"Just a fisherman?" Otto shook his head and bluntly criticized his eldest nephew's ignorance. "Rurik, do you believe him or me? You would never have imagined that those Gotlanders were once half of our allies.
?”
"Ah? They are also part of the alliance?" Rurik was a little surprised.
"At one time they intended to join the alliance, but later, the leaders of the Gotlanders respected the Danes as their masters. They gradually became unwilling to do business with us, and gradually became hostile to us under the instigation of the Danes.
"
"It's actually...that's it."
Indeed, in Rurik's concept, Gotland was part of Sweden. In this era, the Swedish country had not yet been formed, and it was still a process of gradual transformation from a so-called tribal alliance to a formal feudal state. That is, the leaders of the strongest tribes would unite.
It is reasonable to upgrade from leader to king.
Including the Danes, they are also in this gradual process. It is obvious that Denmark is one step away from being upgraded to a feudal kingdom.
From his father's description, Rurik could estimate that the Danes had been wooing the residents of Gotland a long time ago, and now, the Danes have indeed established a stronghold in the Götaland region.
The Danes are using their own force and diplomatic strategies to try to form a huge group of Norse-speaking tribes across the sea.
The Danes are determined to unify the Baltic Sea and are trying to accomplish it.
When the traditional trade among various tribes, with the fall of Rome and the development of shipbuilding, the trade between tribes became more and more frequent. They actually entered a state of feudal separatism. Frequent trade and war were actually a process of integration.
.Because in order to defeat commercial enemies without being defeated by them, closely related tribes must sign a covenant to unite.
They must form a larger alliance with each other, and still have to recruit other small alliances to join.
This is the rise of the Danes! Because the Gotlanders joined the alliance, the power of the Danes instantly overshadowed the Swedes living in the Svealand Plain in the north, which was the Svealan Alliance.
Rurik had more or less heard that the alliance he was in was competing for the southern highlands of Götaland from the Danes. It was a fairly humid place with a large number of shoals, and the relatively mild climate nourished a large amount of water.
Pasture. Unlike the Svealand Plain, where wheat can be grown, Götaland is a good pasture.
There was a group of people grazing here a long time ago, but they were not from Svealand, but from the island of Gotland.
The so-called Götalanders are still Gotlanders. They herd cattle on a large scale in the high plains, and then transported their cattle and sheep to Gotland for marketing throughout the Viking world. The Danes living in Jutland and surrounding islands
, after they completed the internal tribal unification, the first thing they did was go north.
For the Gotlanders, compared to the residents of Svealand in the north, the Danes are their largest trading partner.
The Danes are coming.
War? No!
Recognizing the Danes as the leader is the best way to make a lot of money.
Perhaps during the Viking Age, Gotland was the center of the entire Viking world. Because of its geographical location, it was in the middle of the inland sea of the Baltic Sea, and in a sense was very similar to the Apennine Peninsula in the Mediterranean.
Starting from Gotland, ships are not far away in all directions. Islanders raise livestock on land pastures, engage in traditional trade with the Danes, or go south to plunder the Prussians, Vinlanders, Poles, and even the Franks
, they have accumulated a lot of wealth.
Wealthy people are happy to hoard silver coins. As long as it is silver, they will accept silver coins of various specifications.
The older people in the Ross tribe all know more or less that the Gotlanders who took the initiative to attack the Ross fleet are generally wealthy. If the Sivia Alliance can conquer Gotland, they will not only have a lot of wealth,
It also means that they can occupy the entire Götaland. The Siiya tribe alliance, which has been suppressed by the Danes for countless years, will rise instantly.
So, can the Alliance possess the Gotlanders?
How can it be that simple?!
Otto believed that even if the warriors of the entire alliance were to gather together for a decisive battle with the Danes, their chances of winning would be slim. There was no other reason than that the other party had a larger population. In this era, both of them were sea warriors in the wilderness.
The more warriors a side can assemble, the easier it is to win.
What's more, there is another variable here, namely the Norwegians to the west of the mountains.
Merchants from the Siiya Tribe Alliance can travel overland and trade directly with the Norwegians by land through some obstacles in the mountains. However, this kind of transaction is far less enjoyable than sailing.
However, the Alliance and the Gotlanders have actually become enemies, and the sea routes to the outside world have been cut off. The ancestors of the Swedes watched the Danes, the Norwegians, and the Gotlanders who worked with the Danes, fighting against Britain and the
How can you not feel itchy after making a fortune from Frank's attack?
The Gotlanders are wealthy and powerful, and it may not be a wise choice to provoke them now.
After all, Otto is very old, and now he is more willing to pinch the soft persimmons, not to mention that the problems faced by the Ross tribe and their allies are indeed different.
He can be sure that at least fifty years have passed since the Ross tribe opened up the eastern inland waterway.
There is a legend from our ancestors that as long as you find a river flowing south or east among those intricate waterways, you will enter an extremely salty sea along it, and eventually you will encounter the powerful Romans.
Romans? Otto himself did not see it, but not only did the high priest see it, but the priest's longhouse also had precious Roman parchments as evidence.
How could Otto change the strategy that the tribe had developed for decades because of the excitement of young people? While he was alive, he must repair the new stronghold at the mouth of the sea. After his death, his son Rurik must inherit the long-cherished wish of his ancestors and continue
Expanding to the east. As long as the development is due to the trade routes of the Romans, why should the Ross tribe still use the attitude of the Siiya tribe alliance to help those ineffective allies to fight against the Danes?
Although the Gotlanders were indeed wealthy, when the young men mentioned their long-cherished wish to rob a wave of plunder, they had already expressed it in front of them, and Otto knew that they would not understand it at this time.
For the time being, life in general is still boring. Although it is February and the climate has become slightly warmer, the sea ice shows no sign of thawing.
Young people will definitely not be able to temporarily ignore the attack on Gotland to steal money in the name of revenge. After today's incident, they will definitely regard this matter as an important topic of discussion. They are full of strong desire to rob gold and silver, and individual people may
I am worried that if everyone gets together, the fear will be overwhelmed by the desire for wealth.
Although they left, Otto estimated that a group of young people would just go back and polish their axes and sword blades.
Otto piled the silver coins he earned together, and the soap-making priests behind the scenes walked out of the longhouse one after another. Bona and everyone's eyes widened when they saw the pile of silver coins.
"Now it's time to divide the money." Otto turned around and faced Bona specifically.
"Bona, according to the agreement, eighteen of the ninety silver coins earned here belong to you. Now I will hand them over to you."
"Thank you, great leader!" Bona's heart was beating fast, not only because she saw so much money, but also because the leader was willing to help the priest sell the things.
After receiving the money, she not only asked more: "Chief, I saw there are still twenty pieces of soap. You said that you can help us sell the soap we make."
Otto was slightly troubled: "But, they didn't buy it. Bona, there's something I really need to tell you about the soap."
In this era, we cannot expect ordinary people to have much economic knowledge. Even the Vikings, they are more active in thinking than those in Western Europe who have completely degenerated into a purely agricultural society, and do not understand concepts such as "supply and demand balance".
Otto simply realized that the reason why he could not sell immediately was very simple - the tribesmen simply could not afford to pay silver coins for each small family to buy soap.
Otto even suggested: "Maybe you should suspend production. When I return with my people and distribute the wealth, many people will come back to buy soap."
But Bona just likes silver coins. Only silver coins can bring a better life to the so-called priests who "do not engage in production or robbery, but rely on food from the tribe."
All the priests had troubled expressions on their faces, and the deep wrinkles made them even more hesitant.
After all, they were women, and Rurik just couldn't stand the resentment of women, and he couldn't help but feel sympathy.
All the money gained from selling the soap was his own. Rurik gritted his teeth and took out twelve silver coins from the 80% he received and personally handed it to the resentful Bona.
"Rurik, this..."
"Take it. Just treat it as if the soap has been completely sold, Bona, I won't let you suffer. You can continue to do it, and I will give you the silver coins directly, just as if they have been completely sold."
Bona understood immediately and asked, "Is this okay?"
"Of course. I'll pay you the agreed 20% first, and you don't have to worry about the rest. If I suffer losses, that's my business, and I will never let you suffer losses. Even...even if I
Being a leader will also guarantee your life!"
"Oh! You are such a respectable boy!"
After saying such words, Rurik asked himself, he really looks like a profiteer! Youdao said that double the profit can make capital betray conscience, but this is five times the profit! The simple priests still feel that
They made money! Do they really think that their labor is so cheap?!
After giving them the money, Rurik noticed his father Otto's slight displeasure from the corner of his eye.
Just when the scene was a little awkward, and when the priests were smiling, a man with a ferret fur on his head, a brown furry bearskin coat on his body, a collar decorated with ferret velvet, and a bunch of gold ornaments hung on his belt.
The man walked over, and behind him were two soldiers wearing armor as followers.
This person is dressed richly and gorgeously, and will definitely attract others' attention wherever he goes.
Otto noticed this person out of the corner of his vigilant eye. He was particularly alert to those warriors who were dressed differently from his own tribe. His big hands tightly grasped the hilt of the sword out of instinctive vigilance.
But the comer is not an enemy.
A smile soon appeared on Otto's face, because the visitor was a wealthy visiting businessman, and he really recognized him.