The army from the expedition is back, but they are so degraded that they don’t look like a large army!
The coalition of tribes in the Kingdom of Sweden gained a lot from the early battles. Although most of the looted treasures and a small number of prisoners were owned by the wealthy, those who joined the army had some considerable spoils.
Maybe the enemy is not as powerful as the legend says, maybe looting can make you rich faster than farming.
Soldiers from many tribes returned to repair and put their little war dividends at home. Seeing that the wealthy families had forgotten the casualties of the war. Because almost all farmers were short of money, they did not know the reason for their poverty.
The extent lies in the exploitation of the wealthy, and now everyone has to fight for the glory of the wealthy.
The society around Lake Malaren is developing rapidly. They have been excluded by Denmark and Norway for a long time. In other words, they are not Vikings in the narrow sense.
Their development has gradually become involution, and the internal gap between rich and poor continues to widen.
Husbands are more willing to believe in the gods Frey and Freya, who bring wealth and fertility, especially farmers and fishermen. They increasingly worship the sun god Sola and the earth god Umber.
The simple prayers of the earth and the sun led to the establishment of the Uppsala Temple. Of course, people also believed in Odin, but Odin did not give everyone victory this time.
A huge army has been rushing to the legendary Silver Castle in the south. King Olegin vowed to rob the Danes of Silver Mountain. Under the lofty words, the entire Lake Malaren is boiling, and every man is eager to participate in the war.
After all, only the strongest warriors have the right to fight when money is made.
A group of the strongest labor force rushed to the battlefield. It was the end of August. Although the entire farmland around the lake was enjoying a bumper harvest this year, and there was almost no rainfall during the harvest season, a large number of able-bodied men were temporarily lost, but the people who stayed behind suffered a lot.
The women and children of the family shoulder the heaviest work of harvesting, threshing, shelling, and drying the grain.
To make matters worse, most of them have to repay past debts.
Maybe the situation is not so bad, why not just repay the money that the husband got? The wheat that survives is yours.
The farmland along the lake in most areas has always enjoyed moisture. Farmers did not need irrigation at all. They did not expect to put feces and lake mud into the fields to fertilize the fields. They relied entirely on rough agricultural methods and ushered in a rare one-acre yield.
A huge harvest of one hundred and fifty pounds!
Just as they were working hard to process wheat and taste the harvest, the army came back.
The army did not have the same vigor as when it went on an expedition, the number of ships became smaller, and the men on board showed signs of fatigue.
Hundreds of farmers and fishermen from Mälaren returned. They were full of confidence when they set out, but now they are almost empty-handed. They were first blamed by their families, and as they told about their painful experiences in the south, they were filled with feelings of fear and loss.
spread.
King Origen! The old leader of Mellaren! He died in battle!
And Karl! That Karl directly became king?
In the Melalen tribe, Karl's reputation is not good. He is an arrogant man, like a bull in April. His eyes are fixed on all the beautiful women in the tribe, hoping to take them for himself. He
The reputation is generally the same, but it has not endangered the core interests of the people.
The dead King Olegin's act of obtaining food last year was truly barbaric. Fortunately, this man led everyone to bravely conquer the Danes. He sacrificed himself for the war, and the people could not say anything else.
Everyone is just a regular person, hoping that the new king Carl will be more kind than his father.
However, the attitude of all the large landowners in Mälaren is even more ambiguous.
On a dark and windy night, in a secret long room, there was a meeting behind Karl's back.
As many as twenty wealthy landowning families from the entire Melalen tribe gathered here. Each family either had their clan leader come in person, or their son was ordered to come. The only thing everyone wanted to discuss was whether to approve or not.
Carl becomes the new leader.
Young family members are gearing up. Who doesn't like power? But if you gain power without being recognized by the elite within, power is meaningless.
A "highly respected" old man presided over the meeting.
He was an old man with buried eyebrows named Sven. Facing the richly dressed men sitting on the ground, he leaned on an oak cane inlaid with countless ambers and rubies and spoke in a hoarse voice.
"Now... Origen is finally dead. This damn villain is dead, along with his army. Next, is our era."
Halfway through Swain's words, someone muttered: "So, we shouldn't recognize Karl as the new leader."
"Yes, why. Can he claim the title of king if he takes the crown?"
"When Olegin was alive, he had five hundred black-clad warriors supporting his power, and now he is dead! What does his family mean? Why should we kowtow to his sons anymore."
Suddenly someone shouted again: "Everyone, we are all old friends who live together. No one is superior. In my opinion, we should restore the ancient tradition! Just like the Norwegians, they elect a leader that everyone agrees with. This person is not
He is neither arrogant nor arrogant. He is just a representative of the brothers. If something big happens, the brothers will discuss it."
"That's a good idea."
"Yeah, we don't need a king to rule us. Besides, Odin obviously didn't bless Oleg and Karl."
The rich and wealthy landowners are all talking. They hope to restore the ancient nordic, which is the parliament of tribal elites. The so-called leader does not have much real power.
The old Swain also agreed with this.
However, the old man was more profound and did not think that the radicalism of the "young people" sitting here was good for Melalen.
He urgently said hoarsely: "The news has spread. Who would have thought that the Rus people who left the lake and went to the north were so powerful that they conquered the entire Gotland Island by themselves?"
"What? Is it just them?" Someone suddenly raised his head, "Didn't it come down to us by our coalition forces?"
"Woland, do you really believe Karl's lies? Are the losses of our coalition forces caused by the fierce battle with the Gotlanders?"
"Oh, that's true."
They had another discussion, and everyone's attitude became unified, that is, it was indeed the Russians who permanently defeated the Gotlanders, but it was also an indisputable fact that some Malaren farmers colonized the ruins of Gotland.
In fact, at least what happened next is what Karl tried his best to advertise, so-called trying to save the face of defeat.
The big family began to discuss the development of Gotland again. Compared with the limited flat land on the increasingly crowded Lake Mälaren, Gotland is located in the south and is warmer. The old Gotlanders can make a fortune from this island.
, new immigrants arriving in Mälaren will naturally inherit this wealth.
People make no secret of their coveting of wealth, and the matter they are discussing is completely beside the point.
"It's better to put these things on hold!" Sven struck the wooden stick; "The most important thing is whether we support Karl."
Everyone looked at each other, and everyone's attitude was very clear.
However, Swain went against everyone's attitude and muttered: "But if King Karl is abolished, we will face chaos."
"Confusion? Why?" someone questioned.
"Because of Karl, he controlled the most wealth in the early wars. He currently lacks the protection of private soldiers, and his brothers have deposed him from the throne. Will Karl use the money to recruit an army and proclaim himself king?"
"Just attack him! This hateful man once had an idea for my sister. I don't like him at all." The speaker's name is Bjorn, a young landowner who sometimes considers himself a warrior, although he
Not yet thirty years old.
"Don't be impulsive, young man." Sven coughed twice: "No one likes Karl, but someone must be the leader. If Karl dies, who will be the leader, is it you?"
Bjorn became excited when he heard this: "It's not a bad idea. If I become the leader, I will listen to everyone's opinions on everything. I am not a stubborn person. My family and I are everyone's friends."
The elderly Wallander also took the opportunity to mutter: "As Bjorn said, the brothers need a leader who represents everyone's opinions."
"But not now. I don't want to cause trouble." Swain shook his head and explained his opinion: "It is better to temporarily admit that Karl is the king, of course it is only on the surface."
Swain tried his best to overcome everyone's opinions. He was an old guy, and everyone was willing to listen to what he had to say. It was simply impossible for everyone to truly agree with Karl.
Unless Karl is willing to share the gold and silver he got.
Swain was unable to explain anything, "You just need to pretend to agree immediately. We unite and ask Karl to spend a huge sum of money to buy our temporary identification. He will continue to be his own king, but what about us? Each of our families can
Use this money to hire a private army. As long as there is enough private army, no matter how tough Karl is, he will be nothing more than our puppet."
This is also a sound plan. After everyone discussed it, two plans were established.
First: Karl is willing to buy everyone’s approval with money, and everyone is happy.
Second: If Karl refuses, he will be abolished. Everyone will restore the old system and elect a peaceful person as the leader. By then, Sweden will have no king, only the leader of the alliance.
How many silver coins did Karl control? Without the silver mountain and the terrible consumption during the war, it is believed that the money in his hands was less than 2,000 pounds.
It seems like this is already a huge amount of money.
As a king, he really couldn't convince the public with just such a small amount of money, so the families didn't expect much money to be extorted from Karl.
We all want to make a lot of money, how can we make money quickly? Sell food!
Who will buy the grain? The Russians, of course.
In the past few years, the Russian people have been buying more and more food. Before the war, they simply thought it was a huge profit, but now they fully understand. The reason why the Russian people are selling food so hard is that they really have a large population.
feed.
Businessmen all say that the Russian fjords are bitter cold places where only a very small amount of onions can be produced, and sowing wheat is doomed to yield no harvest. The Russians sell strange products as well as high-quality leather and ironware, and they have made a lot of money in recent years.
He made a lot of money, but the money was used to buy food...
Since the Russians have money, each family is willing to sell.
Even though Swain is an old guy, he, like others, has no need to care about the skinnyness of ordinary Mellaren people. All he cares about is his own family and the families of his friends, and even the life and death of the serfs and servants in the family. Ordinary yeoman farmers are just a group of people.
The dodders that have benefited from parasitizing the Melalen tribe can leave at any time, for example, suddenly "rebellion" and become the Meilaren people, or even go to live in the Uppsala temple.
These yeoman farmers and ordinary fishermen occupy the land of the Melalen people, and they must pay a debt to purchase the security of the Melalen tribe.
There was no murmur among the twenty families on the issue of food, and they even determined a unified purchase price.
Then, a key task was given to Bjorn, who claimed to be interested in doing something good. This young man represented each family and had a good talk with the Ross caravan, which was late but arrived.
The secret meeting ended here, and soon, this group of people gathered at the door of Karl's house.
Olegin died, and what happened after his death made Karl anxious.
His father left many heirs. As the eldest son and the owner of the crown, Karl did not hesitate to annul the inheritance rights of all his brothers.
Could it be that all his brothers just gave up?
Fearing that he would lose his power, Karl, with the few remaining private soldiers, carried out a horrific purge against his family.
As a king, sometimes you have to be a villain!
Although Karl had some lingering fears, he still became the Leng Nian Killer and eliminated all the competitors in the family. He felt that maybe this way his position would be stable.
The bloody incident was covered up, so he used a sum of money to recruit idle members of the tribe, and even gave a group of slaves who worked in the family the power to serve as private soldiers. He organized a private army of about 200 people.
Of course, except for a dozen veterans who had survived the war, the rest of these private soldiers were just armed farmers.
Karl secretly buried the murdered body, and then secretly took all the women he had romantic relationships with and his illegitimate children home.
It seems that an era belonging to Karl has arrived!
Why did a bunch of gorgeously dressed people appear at the door?
Karl put them into his home with anxiety, and the wealthiest families in the entire Melalen tribe gathered together.
Sven was still the same Sven. The old man approached the "King's Palace" with the support of many maids.
The old man didn't say any polite words, and didn't even congratulate Karl on becoming king.
Swain's words were very simple: "Olegin is dead, and you have proclaimed yourself king. If you want to be recognized by everyone, you must give out one hundred thousand silver coins."
As soon as these words came out, Karl was so shocked that he almost had brain congestion.
He suppressed his blush and asked why.
"Why? With strength! Karl, you don't have the reputation of your father, and everyone questions your throne. Some people say that you murdered your father, and others say that you murdered all your brothers when you came back, just because they were
Your competition."
Swain spoke without changing his expression, and Karl's face turned pale instantly after being shocked. He suspected that there was a mole in the family. How could they know about something that was obviously secret?
Karl asked with a cold face: "What... do you want?"
"Twenty families, each family has five thousand silver coins. I know you have so much money. Give me the money, otherwise you will not get our support."
Karl understood that these guys were here to blackmail him. His face started to turn red again, and he cursed in his heart that these guys had kept quiet when his father was here, and now they have become greedy people.
It's a pity that after looking at the situation, I refused, fearing that I would lose all my power today.
He bluntly said that he did not have such a large amount of money, and he gathered hard to argue that this money was obtained at the expense of thousands of people, so why should a family that has not sent troops ask for too much.
I have to say that what Karl said made some sense, so the two groups negotiated and the money for support still had to be given, and the amount was reduced to 3,000 silver coins.
On the same day, the landowners left with 60,000 silver coins squeezed out of them. To be honest, the money was not much. At least everyone was sure of one thing - in order to gain support, the arrogant Karl gave in.
And all this is just the beginning.
The people are aware of the overt and covert struggles among the leaders of the Melalen tribe, and perhaps this will not affect them.
They were wrong.
Karl had all the family members, and they began to expropriate grain on a large scale. They used any reasonable or unreasonable means, such as forcibly buying farmers' grain at low prices. They lowered the price to one silver coin to buy twenty pounds of wheat.
Although this year is a good year, the price of food in the market should not be low.
But Karl went even further. He realized that those big landowners were actually competing with him for food?
This was a huge blow that Karl couldn't accept. Don't look at the rampant landowners now. He was still thinking about the security promise of the Russians. However, buying the protection of the Russians would require 800,000 pounds of wheat!
Karl was short of money, but he had a group of private soldiers at hand. He ordered the people to pay taxes as a king, and also sent private soldiers to buy grain by force. His purchase price was as low as one silver coin for twenty-five pounds! In order to quickly obtain the goods
In order to raise food in a more economical way, Carl completely became a villain.
In September, the Melalen tribe finally fell into a state of chaos.
Swain didn't want this, but the big villain was Karl, and the people believed that Karl was a villain, so that would be fine.