Chapter 399 The Viking-style Blood Sacrifice of the Mellarens
Heavy fog filled the entire Lake Mälaren. Before the fog evaporated, Rurik, feeling very sleepy, had already followed his father to the Mälaren Market again.
Early in the morning, the Aurora docked at the Mälaren Pier. Her "huge" figure attracted a large number of locals who were watching the excitement. At this moment, the Ross soldiers who were ordered to garrison became vigilant, holding the hilts of their swords tightly.
Stand on the trestle and don't let anyone else get closer.
Everyone knows that there will be a grand sacrifice in Melalenburg today. As long as you pay attention to the bonfire burning for a night near the altar, you will know the big move planned by the leader.
The conclusive news of the war spread throughout the settlements, and the alliance leader, who had already proclaimed himself the king, wanted to summon 1,500 Melalen warriors to go to war! The men of Melalen, who had been prepared for a long time, were eager to be selected. They might have a little hope in a moment.
They are timid, but they think that thousands of people will form a coalition to launch a war. They have never seen such a scene in their lives, and in their concept, "one thousand" is an extremely huge number. What many ordinary people think of is
Brilliant victory...
Ah! When the lake was covered with long boats that were assembled and waiting, thousands of warriors holding their swords, axes, and spears high in the air shouted loudly, "Victory belongs to the Kingdom of Sweden and the Mellaren tribe."
So, getting wealth from victory, especially important food, has become extremely important now that life is quite difficult.
When a family is forced to fish to survive because their surplus food is exhausted, the wife urges her husband to take up arms and join the war.
There are a large number of second and third sons of various families who are destined not to inherit their own property. They are the most active people. They are barefoot and are not afraid of wearing shoes. They have no property except their physical body. As long as they win the battle and get the spoils, they will be the most positive people.
Being able to become rich and powerful, and even being able to steal a woman to be your wife on the battlefield, is a great opportunity to turn your life around.
The people of the entire Mellaren tribe are restless. Soon, when the news of preparations for war reaches the ears of people from other tribes, the entire Kingdom of Sweden will be boiling.
Leaders from all walks of life landed one after another, and Rurik also arrived at the altar of the Mellaren people under the escort of his own guards.
It was a permanent altar to protect the construction. Looking at it so closely, Rurik felt that it was similar to the one in Rossburg.
The altar is still in the shape of a ship made of a large number of granite stones. It is even larger, and there is a permanent altar stacked with square stones in the center of the altar.
"It's so crude and crazy, and also so evil."
Rurik looked through the gaps in the guard wall, and he saw some shirtless male priests with black stripes tattooed on their bodies visiting some bronze trays, and some female priests in plain robes also walked away holding some top products.
Come.
The leaders gathered one after another, and they all brought their own guards. Compared with the current situation of the Russians who "basically dressed in the same uniform", their clothes were various and could not be said to be noble.
The Russians indeed stood out in the crowd that was gathering. Even the guards were wearing white cloth cloaks with blue cloth strips sewn crosswise on them. The Russians' robes were mainly blue and white, with gray and black.
He is unique in the "ocean", as if he is not the same as the others.
After a while, some strong men in black came carrying sharpened wooden stakes. Their appearance aroused the excitement of the leaders watching the show.
I saw them manipulating huge wooden hammers and pounding wooden piles into the soft mud near the lake.
They set up five wooden stakes, and now Rurik couldn't figure out what they wanted to do.
"Dad, what are they doing?" Rurik grabbed Otto's big hand hard.
Otto lowered his head with a solemn expression: "Someone will die today."
"Um?"
"It's a human sacrifice."
"Ah! Do they want... to be slaves?" Rurik reacted instantly.
"Yes. They are slaves. This is their tradition. After every alliance, blood sacrifices should be made to the Lake God, Poseidon and Odin."
Otto didn't need to explain too much. Rurik soon saw the so-called sacrifices-five men tied with ropes.
They were slaves, most likely people from Britain acquired from Norwegian traders. They walked hobblingly, and their arms and backs had writings written on them with charcoal. There was only despair in their eyes, so they were tied up.
There was no resistance at the stakes. Maybe they were all from Northumbria? Or northern Scotland? The Viking invasions had begun decades ago, and a group of British men appeared in Malaren.
It is not surprising that slaves are used as blood sacrifices, but they are very rare.
Finally, the two important figures of the sacrifice, wearing their extremely gorgeous clothes, walked proudly surrounded by a group of "black warriors".
Origen, his raised chin almost pointed to the sky. It was at this moment that the fog was at its strongest, making his arrogance blurry.
But in the mist, a man wearing ferret velvet showed his sword. He was Karl standing at the stake. He was the one who completed the most critical thing in this sacrifice.
In the mist, Origen delivered an impassioned speech, in which he denounced the violence of the Danes, the betrayal of the Gotlanders, the lamentations of the allies of Ostara, and the praise of the new kingdom of Sweden, or
It's just his own boasting.
He shouted especially loudly: "Glorious people, we are the masters of this sacred land. The enemies covet our land. They kill and they destroy. Now I am your king, and I will lead you to defeat the enemies. Soon.
, when the sun breaks through the fog, let the blood of these slaves be sacrificed to the gods. Odin, Poseidon, and our great Melalen woman, the gods will bless us to victory!"
The morning sun finally tore through the fog, and the sun appeared. It shone like a curtain on the sacred altar, and its holy light shone on every male and female priest, making his crown shine brightly.
The time was ripe. After Origen gave the priest a color, the bald high priest of Melalen began to sing the most critical prayer.
At this moment, Karl also showed his sword.
Karl, he enjoyed a strange joy in killing. He cleanly separated the slave's throat and deliberately let the blood stain the soil of the altar.
Rurik watched all this with bated breath...
"It's bloody again. Why do I feel a bit like a battlefield? I am also nervous now on the battlefield. Oh! Are you using human sacrifice to prove your strength? I still think it is very necessary. It is such a waste of labor, it is too pure."
What Rurik knew was that human sacrifice and martyrdom were a stupid waste of labor. The East had gradually abandoned this practice since the pre-Qin period. By the time of the Han Dynasty, even some corporal punishments that were obviously used to destroy the labor force of strong men were abolished.
. It cannot be said that this measure is purely humane. After all, it seriously harms the country's strength. Several generals of Duke Mu of Qin were buried in it. As a result, the Qin State lost several generals. The consequences of the unexpected loss of generals quickly spread.
Later war manifestations.
According to Rurik's view of this matter, he did not ask Origen to respect any human rights (Oregen could not respect things he did not understand), even if it was to respect a labor force, he should not do this.
But he did just that, leaving all the leaders stunned.
It’s not that the leaders thought that human sacrifice was really stupid, but they generally felt that using five slaves at one time, apart from Origen’s show-off significance, was it really considered a sacrifice to the gods?
On the other hand, in the Viking world, it was not uncommon to use the blood of enemy chiefs as sacrifices to gods. Rurik really guessed it right. The "generous" use of the blood sacrifices of multiple slaves was a rare act of stupidity.
The sacrifice ended in the cheers of the people of Zamelalen. They were eager to see blood and to fight, because what they thought of was not death, but the opportunity to gain huge wealth.
After the sacrifice was over, the slaves' bodies were thrown into the lake and allowed to drift slowly into the sea, which was regarded as the last sacrifice to the lake god and the sea god.
The Melalen tribe has now begun the most critical preparations for war. They are reorganizing their armies and counting their ships. Origen and his Karl are in high spirits.
As early as on the altar, Origen announced for the second time that Karl would serve as a brave general in the Mellaren Army and would definitely make great achievements.
After receiving great glory, as the crown prince of the kingdom, Karl was in the prime of life, so he naturally took the lead in venting his explosive ambition on his wives and concubines. He longed for a huge victory, and it was best to kill several Danish enemy chiefs himself.
He then used the skull as a bowl. As a result, some of his wives died...
What happened to Karl can only be said to be a glimpse of the manic Melalen tribe. The entire tribe is preparing for an unprecedented war. One after another, strong men are selected by Origen and absorbed into the expedition team.
In fact, all tribes are so excited. The vast majority of people regard this war as an opportunity to make a lot of money, and look forward to returning home in autumn with a huge amount of loot, harvesting wheat again, and living a leisurely life.
winter.
The Rus tribe has also fallen into this pre-war fervor, but compared to other tribes, the Rus people have been the initiators of wars in summer and winter in the past two years. Many men do not feel that they are attacking the Gotlands and Denmark
People are difficult, just because everyone has fought against each other many times and won.
Besides, why should ordinary Russians listen to Origen's instigation? They only follow the arrangements of their leader Otto and even the "son of god" Rurik.
As soon as the first order to prepare for war arrived, Fort Ross took action.
Rurik's young subordinates, they were just a group of children, what could they do for this war? Since the leader needed a large number of crossbow arrows, they all learned the making techniques of crossbow arrows in the winter, and new production began immediately.
As the second order was suddenly delivered, the children's work efficiency increased again.
Regardless of whether they were boys or girls, they cut pine branches to make arrow shafts according to the previous standards, and even went crazy to use cast iron and glass to make arrow clusters. Using feathers as tail fins was too extravagant, so a large number of crossbow arrows had tail fins glued to thin wood chips.
I have to praise the technology of the Russians here.
The blast furnace started burning again, and the molten pig iron began to be produced. They were poured directly into a large number of prefabricated clay molds, and arrow clusters were being produced at an extremely fast speed. Cast iron is certainly not a good material for arrow clusters. If these arrow clusters are no longer in the
After burning it in an ordinary furnace for a while, everything changes. Part of the carbon element is lost, and a layer of high-carbon steel material appears on the surface of the arrow cluster, which is a kind of tool steel.
The Russian blacksmiths regard Professor Rurik's "atomic theory" as a guide and regard it as "the truth of God". Not to mention, the practice based on this theory, especially in metal processing, is the most adept at it.
The blacksmiths who explored the technology in practice not only explored the method of making high-carbon steel using the fried steel method, but also directly used it as a large number of tools for fine processing. For example, drills and chisels.
Of course, it is perfect for use as arrow clusters, especially after surface quenching, it is extremely hard.
Due to the consumption of previous wars, the Ross tribe needs to equip more arrow clusters. The Ross tribe has long been qualified to seriously consider "defense construction". All Rurik can think of is to make a large number of arrow clusters in winter, whether it is bones.
, glass or iron, there is no difference between usable.
Rurik's order was absolute, with at least 20,000 standard arrows, as well as the forged "shells" of torsion slingshots and javelins, all of which tested the Russian armament production capacity.
Hundreds of people have been working for the Lord for many years. Even if they are emotionally involved, they are very willing to perform meritorious deeds for their master. But the most critical task is still the craftsmen of the Ross tribe, especially the potters and blacksmiths among them.
Children can only make arrow clusters and process javelin shafts on a small scale.
The Russians actually needed a lot of arrow delivery equipment, which really forced Klavasen to almost sleepless nights. More than a dozen carpenters were responsible for manufacturing the new torsion slingshot, and only a few castings were made by blacksmiths.
The Russians actually need a lot of crossbows, but the cost of the best steel-arm crossbows is too high, and the production period is also long. If they just want to be able to effectively fire arrows, wouldn't it be the same if they replaced the steel arms with elastic wood?
Well. They used the leftover oak material from shipbuilding to make the bow, and used pine wood to make the crossbow body. The precise crossbow machine required Clavarson to put out his own mold that had been processed into high-carbon steel, and only cast it in bronze.
Means manufacturing.
In order to achieve his goal, Klavason even sacrificed his own bronze oil lamp holder. The news reached the ears of Niya who stayed behind, and Niya informed Rumia of the dilemma. At this point, a miracle appeared!
The chief priest's house donated a batch of bronze utensils, and even the bronze cauldron was dug out. The high priest Vilia, whose physical function was already very bad, told Rumia in anger that for the great war that the Russians participated in
For victory, these bottles and jars can be thrown away!
Under normal circumstances, this situation only occurs when the war is extremely anxious and supplies are difficult to supply. The situation of the Russians is very similar. Rurik gave him too little time, especially the delay in transmitting information.
On that day, a lot of time was wasted in vain. This prompted the Ross people to make this strategy. However, after the war, the Ross tribe would definitely have a lot of iron supplies to replace the former.
In this way, a large number of bronzes were returned to the furnace, and they were all turned into the core of crossbows and torsion slingshots, and even used to reinforce leather helmets.
It can be said that without the active preparations in winter, the Russians would not have been able to deploy a large amount of armaments in this summer war.
All the tribesmen have noticed that the weapons required by the leader are all long-range weapons, not the most common swords, axes and spears. Some smart people have realized that this is what Rurik himself meant, the so-called "can kill you from a distance"
, why should I swing the ax myself?" However, there are still many veteran warriors who feel that this method is inappropriate and that real warriors should fight with swords.
According to the second order, Fort Ross must prepare all the armaments on the list before May 20th, and 200 soldiers must also be in place. A fleet transporting personnel, huge amounts of armaments, food and other supplies will take the lead.
Run towards Tombstone Island and then enter Lake Mälaren. They must transport personnel and ammunition to Gould Island on May 26th.
It can be called a stress test for the war potential of the Rus tribe. Sometimes Rurik feels that this order is too harsh. However, when he thinks about it, the intensity of the war will inevitably escalate and everything will become harsh. The Rus people feel that the war will not burn out.
How naive is it to go to Roseburg in the far north and sit back and relax?