Chapter 473 If he insists on refusing to go back, raise troops to attack him
The Danes can build a hegemony by relying on their population advantage, but in Rurik's impression, Denmark is only a small force.
The Russians have a bright future, so it is naturally not easy to provoke them rashly now.
Rurik noticed Karl's frustration, which was mixed with rage and powerlessness.
According to what these noble guys said, the failure of the Swedish army came purely from the crushing strength of the opponent.
This is like the Russian army crushing the Gotland army.
However, Rurik did not sympathize with their failure.
"Karl, our army did not win in the southern expedition. But we did not really lose either. You see, our Swedish coalition still occupied the island of Gotland, and we took care of all the traitors on the island."
After Rurik's words of cowardice, Karl raised his head, his eyes shining brightly.
"Yes! I just didn't have a comprehensive victory. At least on this battlefield, our Swedish army won." When he said this, Karl had already had the idea of occupying Gotland.
Considering the current situation, the island is occupied by the Russians. If I ask for it as the king, they will definitely not give it. If I want to get Gotland, I need to pay the price.
Karl watched the changes quietly, but unexpectedly the Russians handed him a big gift.
Rurik is the person with the most say in the Ross tribe. He followed what he said before: "The Gotlanders were almost completely wiped out. Some of the people who were not killed fled to the pine forests in the south. They were no longer alive.
No threat. We Russians don’t like this island, and we will leave soon. Who is the master of Gotland in the end?”
Karl didn't even think when he heard this, he patted his chest: "I am the king, and I declare that Gotland is mine."
"Yes! You are the king, but..." After Rurik finished speaking, he noticed the trembling eyes of the dukes, "After all, Gotland was conquered by us Russians. This is a treasure. We Russians
If you don’t want it, the kingdom’s allies will share it.”
After saying that, Rurik raised his head and said: "Gotland is the wealth of all of us. It is not the private property of a certain tribe. Every tribe has the right to develop it! What do you think?"
The brothers are the leaders of each tribe, and none of them are big fools. Of course, some people know that there must be something fishy about the Russians announcing their withdrawal, but Gotland is indeed a warm place and everyone likes it.
All tribes, including the Rus, hope to obtain stable pastures for grazing and farms with fertile land and warm climate.
They have never seen the warm farmland in France, let alone the large granary in the lower reaches of the Dnieper River. In their eyes, Gotland already has great potential.
The dukes of each tribe all clapped their hands and applauded, but Karl grinned slightly and reluctantly expressed his support.
The Mellaren tribe, which still has the largest population, has no right to exclusive use of Gotland. Since it also has the largest population, it can organize more immigrants to settle and develop.
At this point, the meeting of the Gotland Council has come to an end. After everyone's deliberations, Carl is still the king of Sweden, but his power is far less than that of his father. Each tribe still lives its own life, and each tribe has the right to immigrate and develop the empty land.
Gotland.
The dukes left one after another, returning to their teams, each of which only had more than a hundred people left.
The Swedish army indeed suffered a disastrous defeat, and the Mellarens, who sent the largest number of troops, were left with only 500 tired warriors.
After all, the population of the Melalen tribe exceeds 20,000! They live along the lake and are relatively scattered overall. What maintains the existence of such a giant is the huge market. As long as the market trade continues, the Melalen people can continue to be stable.
develop.
More than 1,500 troops were sent out, but only 500 returned. Eight hundred mercenaries in black died in the battle, and a group of brave farmers died in the battle.
The Melalen people can completely accept this kind of loss, but the situation of other tribes is simply hemorrhage.
For example, the larger ones such as Uppsala, Hjermalen, and Onkras all lost 300 men.
Their agricultural production was essentially destroyed due to the loss of a large number of laborers. The population, especially the prime-age men, were the main force in hoeing the earth.
The strength of the three larger tribes has been greatly weakened. Except for the remote Rus people and the Svealand Plain where Lake Mälaren is located, Mälaren's hegemony has become more stable.
That is the hegemony of Mellaren, not the hegemony of the Karl family.
Only Karl was asked by Rurik to stay in the chamber, and Melalen and Ross would discuss the previous contract again.
Rurik made his attitude clear directly and formally: "Now, they have all left. When we signed the contract with your father, you were also present. Now is the wheat harvest period. When we evacuate, I want you to come up with the agreement immediately
Not a pound of wheat should be missing.”
"Ah this..." Karl wanted to show off his strength, but in the end he found that he really couldn't be strong without the protection of his old father and private soldiers.
"What? Are you hesitating?"
"Russians, maybe this is the case." Karl looked around and saw that there was no one else around. "Maybe we should make a new agreement."
"Do you want to revise the contract?" Rurik smiled and ordered bluntly, "I don't think it is necessary. This year's situation is very good, your tribe will have a bumper harvest. The principal plus interest, you must come up with eighty
Ten thousand pounds of wheat.”
"But this is too much. Maybe it can be like this..."
"What do you want?"
"How about I default on the arrears first, and wait until next autumn, I will give you more interest, and then I will give you one million pounds or more. What do you think?"
Otto, who was sitting cross-legged, secretly poked his son's back. Rurik completely understood what his father meant. The attitudes of father and son were exactly the same.
Rurik said with a straight face, "No. I just want wheat, and I want it right away."
"But, if I can't get it out..."
Karl's intention was just to test, but he did have something unspeakable to hide, not to mention that this brat Rurik actually became furious.
"You want to tear up the contract? Ridiculous! Karl!" Rurik stood up directly and pointed at his nose unceremoniously, "Do you remember our secret agreement? This is a fair deal! We will lend you a loan and
Openly support Olegin in becoming king. In exchange, we get 800,000 pounds of wheat. If you don't give us wheat, forget it. We will no longer support you in becoming king."
"Ah, you can't do this." Carl panicked and hurriedly pointed to his golden crown, "I am the owner of this crown, I am the king, you must support me."
Rurik must have: "What everyone supports is a king who can bring victory to everyone, not a loser. Listen, Karl! How many people are left in the black army that maintains your family's power? You better think about it.
Go ahead, you Mellaren people are an aggregation of many families and a large number of farmers and fishermen. Those powerful families couldn't fight you before, but now?
You must hand over a sufficient amount of oats in accordance with the contract, so that you can fulfill the contract. Remember, only with the support of us Rus people can your power in Melalen be stable."
Karl was confused: "Can't I return the money? You must want wheat?"
"Of course, this is a contract! We Russians cannot accept the king's betrayal, and I think other tribes cannot accept it either."
Rurik still had a sullen face. From the bottom of his heart, he despised this self-willed and pretentious person. Now that he had become a down-and-out coward, he despised him even more.
It has to be said at both ends, even if this man is lame and blind, he is still a king.
"We just want wheat. Of course you can refuse to give it, or find reasons to delay it. In that case, our Russian army will go directly to Mellaren."
"What? Do you still want to use force to rob?!"
Rurik's expression remained unchanged: "Taking away our own things is considered robbery? Maybe, we will attack a traitor by the way. You should understand that there are many families in Melalen who want to be the king."
"They dare!" Carl yelled angrily.
"I don't know if they dare or not, but if you lose the support of us Russians, you will definitely lose everything. Don't you...don't you want to revive the family business and avenge your old father, Olegin, who everyone supports?"
What else could Karl, who was baring his teeth at this point, say? He was so suppressed that his face turned red.
"Okay! I admit it! I admit it..."
Rurik's tense attitude finally relaxed, "Then have a good rest. Our Russian transport fleet is about to arrive, and we will leave with a large amount of capture. As for when you leave, I don't care. But our Russian
People cherish their allies, and I can promise that I will provide you with free food during your stay."
"Oh, then I really want to thank you." After saying that, Karl stood up and walked away quickly.
The noisy forum became quiet again, and Rurik breathed a long sigh of relief and lay down, closing his eyes to rest his mind.
Otto looked at his son. He naturally had many opinions about Rurik's decision, and some decisions were not easy for him to accept.
"Rurik."
"dad."
"Why should we give up Gotland? We can develop this place, we can graze and farm here, and we will be richer."
"Not now." Rurik opened his eyes and stared idly at the dim beams of the house. "At most, we will control Slitomo Port in the future as one of the relay stations for our Sorgon voyage. As for occupying the entire island, it is inappropriate."
"So you generously gave it to them? Your kindness was inappropriate."
The father's words were obviously sarcastic, and Rurik smiled, "This is not mercy, and I will not be merciful here. The Danes will find that their allies have collapsed, and they will go here for revenge. Anyone stranded here will be
Enemies of the Danes. I am not afraid of Denmark, but I don’t want to fight them to the death either.”
"So that's it?" Otto felt a little relieved and asked again, "Karl is now a polished veteran, and his men are all hungry and cowardly fools, and you still want to support this man. You know, if your cousin is here, say
Maybe I’ll chop off Carl’s head.”
"It doesn't matter."
"You don't care? Do you still support him as king?"
"At least this man promised to bring out the wheat we need."
"What if he insists on refusing when he goes back?"
"Then kill him." Rurik suddenly acted and said coldly, "The Mellaren people are nothing more than that. We can defeat them and take away their wealth."
Otto was taken aback by his son's shocking words, "You want to start a war with them? No, it's a betrayal of the alliance."
"I don't want this either. If they betray the alliance, don't blame me for being a bad person." Rurik turned his head sharply, "Don't you think that we Russians are also facing a huge crisis?"
"Crisis? What's the crisis? We won a great victory, and the brothers are very happy."
"We have captured a total of two thousand people, almost all of them young women and girls. They need to eat, and I have to feed them at least this winter."
Otto shook his head: "The women are divided among the brothers. Each of them will give me a belly next spring. We don't have to be too concerned about the brothers supporting their new wives."
"No. Brothers need enough food to feed them. Our tribe always needs a lot of wheat. This year's situation is more complicated. If we can't get one million pounds of wheat from Melalen, our lives will be very difficult in the later part of winter.
Sad. If those women miscarry due to hunger, our tribe’s strength will suffer."
Otto closed his eyes and thought for a while, and finally realized the greatness of his son's determination. The loss of hundreds of local Russian warriors had to be replenished by the stomachs of Russian women, and it would take at least fifteen years to make up for it.
The captured Gotland women were Rus' women when they were captured. They were not slaves, but the mothers of the future Rus' army.
Naturally, the more wheat, the better. Otto thought for a while: "It seems that your kindness is correct on this issue."
"Of course. So I must use various means to safeguard our interests. Only in this way will brothers be willing to fight with me. Not just because I am the one chosen by God."
Due to the impact of the war, the tribute voyage this autumn should start quickly. The most important tribute the Russians need is food from Novgorod.
How much can Novgorod provide? Under the current situation, three hundred thousand pounds of wheat is probably the limit. The implementation of this goal is naturally based on desperately squeezing the pine needle estate.
Rurik naturally fulfilled his resolution after the victory, which was to exempt the White Tree Manor in Novgorod from paying tribute this year. The manor also sent almost all the men to fight for Rus. These people should share part of the victory.
fruit.
Medvet and his tribe will surrender all their spears and return home with a large number of iron tools. Each man has at least two axes and a short sword. The iron tools that were once extremely rare are now
Is there any more pragmatic reward for having more people?
When the transport fleet was about to return, Rurik and Otto no longer had any intention of chatting with Karl. The father and son even declined the invitations of other tribal leaders, as if the Russians did not give food subsidies to the defeated Swedish allied forces.
Just don't care.
But Karl, he had begun to recolonize the island standing on the ruins of the Gotlanders. One hundred Merlaren warriors were forced to stay on the island. They were exempted from the land debt of their hometown by Karl. Every man had to do
After the various armies left, the ruins of Visby were closely guarded.
Apparently Karl will arrive next spring and start building Visby into an overseas territory of the Melalen tribe.
He felt that opening up new territories was an action that could save face.
Rurik had arranged a retreat plan. The hill to the east of Visby Port. Climbing over the hill was a battlefield littered with corpses. He didn't smell the stench, but thinking about it made him retching inexplicably. The current low temperature
It greatly slows down the decay of the dead bodies. The first snow will fall about a month later, and the snow will cover the corpses. The battlefield will seem to disappear, but when the ice melts and the snow melts, the east of the hills will be a mess.
Those things have nothing to do with the Russians anymore.
On September 6th of the Julian calendar, a large ship with a tilted triangular sail appeared in the bay of Visby.
The largest ship came facing the rising sun, immersed in the dreamy light and shadow, the Aurora was like a visitor from another world.
A large number of Russians gathered together, carrying the amazing cargo they seized, and the beach pier in Visby was already crowded.
The remnants of the various tribes of the Swedish army were really jealous when they saw the wealth owned by the Russians, and Karl simply developed hatred.
For a moment, Karl relied on his status as king to ask for some trophies from the Russians. Then he carefully thought about the warning of that brat Rurik, and his courage became weak in less than a second.
The long and intense work of moving materials lasted throughout the day. At night, the beach was full of bonfires, and the leather and live sheep that had not been loaded onto the ship were also driven towards the cargo ship.
It was not until the seventh day of this month that Otto and Rurik finally returned to their flagship, the Aurora.
At this time, there were masts everywhere in the bay, and staggered blue stripes were sewn on each sail.
The Ross people dispatched a huge fleet, forty cargo ships (Gould exhausted all the cargo ships to participate in transportation activities when he returned to Rossburg) and 300 long ships. Such a scale was basically a threat to the various tribes in Sweden.
Especially the people from Mälaren showing off their muscles!
Although Rurik had no intention of showing off his muscles, his purpose was to organize as many fleets as possible to transport the captured goods back. As for scaring Karl's little heart, there was nothing he could do.
Now, the balance of strength within the Kingdom of Sweden has changed dramatically. The Mellaren people have clearly become the image of being strong on the outside, but the Russians are the rising sun. The Russians no longer need to hide from internal personnel, the Russians
Still needing to be patient is to hide one's presence when the kingdom faces competition from Denmark's strength.
Therefore, the Russians' departure was only pleasing to Rurik's naming, and it only depended on whether the Aurora set off.
Ross's fleet brought the remaining supplies, and the remaining sheep, which were eaten at the end, were stuffed into the hold of the ship, or tied directly to the mast of the longship's open deck. The mighty team dragged into
It moved forward in the shape of a water drop, and followed a small fleet just behind the water drop. That was the "main fleet" of the Swedish coalition.
It's a pity that the Ross fleet has become the real main force, and the once all-powerful coalition fleet has now become a supporting role.
The Russians, the big ship towed the small boat, and the army advanced against the wind.
On the second day of their return, the Ross fleet split into two. A group of large cargo ships took some longships and headed towards the Oriental Gulf.
Karl was puzzled. He stood on the bow of the boat and asked the oarsmen behind him: "Can the Russians go to the east? Do they have settlements there? Who can tell me the answer?"
Then some farmers shouted: "I heard that they have established a stronghold in the east, and the strange men in their camp are slaves raised by them."
"Huh? Why don't I know? The East..." Karl glanced at some of the Russian ships going away on the Gulf of Finland in the vast east, then shook his head with a sullen mouth, "What is there in the East? A wild world."
Karl continued to order: "You row quickly, we will go back to harvest wheat."
This statement struck a chord with the farmers, and panic spread. They began to row desperately, fearing that if they returned late, their farmland would be "harvested with help" by others. Farmers never doubted the integrity of those big landowners, so
They are a bunch of greedy guys.
They are not sure how much Karl will use from the early seizures to pay the brothers, at least it must be able to forgive the debt. If the old King Olegin is still alive, he may give everyone a lot of money, but now Karl
Once he becomes a king, will he really be kind?
Farmers and fishermen didn't dare to think too much. They just wanted to go back and finish harvesting the wheat as soon as possible, and then hurry up and stock up on all kinds of food for the winter. It would be great if Karl could give everyone a sum of money, but of course no one had high hopes.
Anyone with a discerning eye can see that the status of King Karl, who wears a golden crown, is in jeopardy.
Look at how powerful the Russian fleet is. Look at how powerful the real army of the Russians is. Those rumors are all true. How could Rurik of Russia win a great victory without divine help? So, how powerful was the Russian army?
Do people still need new immigrants to join?
Some farmers began to hatch strange plans in their minds. If they could no longer survive in their hometown, they would leave and become Russians.