Chapter 513 There is a sad thing called retreating because of cowardice, one step away from victory
The bare-backed men put on cloth clothes, and tied their waists with hemp ropes, and hung hand axes and short swords on the ropes.
A large number of short spears were thrown onto the ship, including many high-grade spearheads purchased from the Russians.
Generally speaking, the Balmok army is at best a group of armed fishermen and herdsmen. As for their overall combat effectiveness, Rurik cannot have too high expectations for them. He only hopes that the troops in the British region that he may encounter will be
A worse existence.
If every soldier in this sea-crossing army lacks defense and only wields melee weapons, the team will suffer losses in battle.
What is the situation in the British Isles now? Are those kingdoms already in the habitual bow?
Rurik, who remained cautious, called on the family leaders who wanted to take their own people on an expedition, asking them to properly organize their warriors, and also asked them to bring as many wooden bows as possible, even if they were of average quality.
They were probably prepared on the eve of departure, and the result was basically within Rurik's expectation.
Near the fjord where the Balmoks are located, there are large prey that can be hunted, that is, seals that have landed ashore to rest. The big beasts on land have long been hunted. To hunt seals, the best weapons are clear spears and
Harpoon, so the soldiers in the army, some people's spears are simply improved harpoons.
They lacked the opportunity to use bows, and after a final count, Rurik realized that he could only assemble a mere fifty archers.
"It's really ironic that such a large tribe only has fifty bow-wielding hunters?"
Departure was about to begin, and facing the enthusiastic soldiers, he could only bravely face the summer North Sea.
The Aurora had unloaded most of its cargo, and the amount of ballast stones placed in the hold and the fresh water in the loading barrels were not much.
The big ship can be said to be very relaxed. She acts as a flagship and leads the following thirty or so rowing boats on an unknown journey.
Only a few people dare to explore in person, because they don't know the way forward and dare not take their own lives to make fun of it. Maybe the baby is already close at hand, and the huge fear finally forces the trembling body to paddle in the opposite direction.
But this time, everything has changed!
A thousand men gathered together, and the larger the number, the more they emboldened each other. Anyone who dared to evacuate would be immediately regarded as a traitor by his friends, and would even be thrown into the sea and executed by his family leader.
There was no timid among them, and it was their boldness that gave them the right to join this huge exploratory expedition.
They are full of confidence in the way forward, because the big Russian ship is sailing backwards, and the white and blue flag flying on the top of the mast is a signal to everyone. As long as they follow Rurik the Russian, as long as each ship
Keep the ship in good condition and everything goes smoothly.
Now they no longer even worry about the sea becoming violent. A storm has just ended and the Balmoks sacrificed blood to Odin. Will God continue to be angry?
The fleet successfully left the huge Narvik Fjord in one day, and everyone was already drifting in the vast sea.
Each ship followed the track of the Aurora, and the big ship went straight to the ocean. The other ships also looked at the farther and farther coastline and continued to paddle hard.
They were sailing against the wind, and the Avrora had to accommodate the "turtle speed" of the entire fleet. The fleet was actually sailing slowly at a speed of three knots per hour, but Rurik also had to admire the strength of this group of fishermen.
You can actually paddle from sunrise to nearly sunset!
When night fell, people connected the boats with ropes, and finally the ropes were tied to the big ship.
People had no time to enjoy any nightlife, and their enthusiasm for sailing was quickly diluted by the long rowing. As soon as they got a chance to breathe, they immediately lived in leather or without any bedding, and fell down after eating some pickled fish.
sleep.
Perhaps only Rurik slept the best every night.
The Avrora was just as it was heading to the Balmok Harbor. The people on board remained completely unchanged, but it also represented the strongest combat effectiveness of the entire fleet.
It would be understandable if the leader Magnute wanted to go on an expedition, but he had been training his eldest son Biyongni, hoping that this brave young man would win one honor after another in a short period of time and be elected as the next leader at the meeting.
Leader. The leader of each family needs a popular doer, rather than a descendant of the former leader. Biyongni is very clear about the mission he shoulders.
How to make the tribesmen believe in themselves? Biyongni has his own methods.
In short: discover the enemy, kill the enemy without mercy, and achieve your own bloody glory among the enemy's corpse.
However, after five days of continuous sailing, there was still no land in sight, not even an island! Unfortunately, there was nothing.
It was another quiet night, the stars and rivers in the sky were bright, and the magnificent scenery seemed to Biyongni like the gods were mocking them in the sky. How dare a fleet claim to conquer the sea?
He and Rurik were lying on the forecastle deck of the ship, leaning on their arms and looking at the sky.
"Rurik, it's already the sixth day. I firmly believe in your decision-making these days. Ah! Our route...should be correct?"
"Are you doubting me?" Rurik asked slightly angrily.
"How dare I? We have been sailing for more than twenty days, and your decision-making has never been wrong. But those brothers are all following you, and no one knows this route except you."
"Then see with your eyes and feel with your heart. Remember our voyage so that you can go on expeditions alone in the future."
"That's true, but our voyage is too far away after all..."
"No way." Rurik stood up slowly. He didn't want to tell his Biyoni brothers that he was largely left to chance as to the route from Narvik Fjord to the British Isles.
He thought for a while and then said: "I can only say that your location is too remote. You have seen the map I drew."
"Yes, I have kept it in mind."
"Then don't question it anymore. Your fjord is in the north of the peninsula, but Bergen is in the south. It is easier for people from Bergen to reach the British Isles, but it will take some time for us. Believe me, we are going
Going southwest, you can at least find some islands first, and you can naturally find your destination by following the islands."
What else could Biyongni say? He could only express support.
As the voyage continued, the morale of the fleet continued to decline. The only thing that aroused everyone's interest was that the people with fishing nets successfully caught a batch of herring.
They never objected to eating herring raw. The fish meat brought energy and important fresh water.
Compared with previous voyages, due to Rurik's emphasis on logistics, the entire fleet is definitely not short of fresh water, and there is no need to worry about food since the fish can be caught directly.
The voyage has lasted for a week, and Rurik firmly believes that he has been on the right voyage.
Actually? His route is indeed very correct.
Rurik used the sun as navigation, and he deliberately led his fleet to sail southwest. If he had simply done this, his route would have been fatally deflected.
However, the warm Atlantic current created a miracle of navigation!
The warm currents go straight to the North Pole along the direction of the plate, forming a large number of rotating eddies near Scandinavia. The overall flow speed of the ocean current is slow, and those eddies lead the entire fleet slowly towards the European continent, which is objectively not correct.
Correct Rurik's yaw while stopping.
In this way, the continuous voyage actually lasted for twelve days!
I don’t know who started it, and long boats followed, and the oarsmen finally couldn’t hold it in any longer!
They gradually stopped paddling, picked up their hand axes and kept hitting their shields. The unusual behavior immediately shocked Rurik who was resting.
After a while, a sailor ran to the captain's lounge.
"Sir! Those people have given up their game."
"Ridiculous!" Rurik stood up, and Biyoni and Floki hurriedly followed.
The three of them ran to the poop and saw that all the following fleets had stopped moving forward.
Rurik, who was holding the railing, looked at these lazy people and stamped his feet angrily: "Damn it! Our command is one step away from success, what are these guys going to do?"
"I think they can't stand it anymore."
Rurik glared at Biyongni: "Your family has sent the most troops. Could it be that they also betrayed you as the commander-in-chief?"
"No! There must be someone provoking it. We must turn back."
"That's fine."
The sailor quickly manipulated the cable, and the Avora performed an exaggerated sharp turn in front of a thousand people who were lazy behind. Then, with the help of the south wind, the bow of the ship made big waves and pounced on the ship like a sea monster.
Team.
The men were so frightened that they started paddling again, just to avoid being sunk.
But Rurik only intended to intimidate them, and the big ship circled around the stagnant fleet.
Rurik took off his hat and stood on the forecastle pointing his sword at the people on the longboat.
"Why are you slacking off?"
At this moment, some people were already shouting, and with more and more shouts, Rurik ordered the torque slingshot to be launched into the sea.
The waves created by the projectiles made people calm down.
"I know what you think!" Rurik roared in a voice that had changed slightly: "You are afraid of the voyage! You even started to question me! I obviously want to lead you to victory and gain huge wealth, but you are actually questioning it.
Me! You are not afraid of the enemy, but you are afraid of the sea."
Thinking that without a loudspeaker to cover a wide area, his speech would ultimately lack penetration, Rurik changed his tone again.
"Hey! Heads of all the families! Follow me on the big ship. Let's study it carefully..."
Rurik really didn't have time to talk nonsense with ordinary soldiers. He believed that these common people just lacked independent opinions. The ones who are retreating now must also be individual family leaders. Therefore, he must win the support of these leaders to prevent this sudden mutiny.
Already.
The leaders had various ideas. A total of eleven people had just boarded the boat and were immediately controlled by armed men.
For these people, Rurik did not intend to offer any gentle persuasion.
He just stood on a high place, looking at the people on the center deck and ordering: "I don't care what you think, I will continue sailing. You people should not get off my ship until land is discovered."
What is this if not detention?
They bared their teeth and cast angry glances at Biyony who was standing next to Rurik.
Someone shouted: "Biyongni, what are you doing? You are not the leader, you can't do this to us."
"But Rurik is our commander-in-chief! If you question him, you are guilty."
"Why do you do this?" the man continued shouting, "Brothers can't stand the boring voyage. Apart from catching some fish in more than ten days, what have we got? We are walking on a road of no return, Rurik of Rus!
You are kidding with our lives!"
"Snorasund (the speaker)!" Biyoni pointed with his big finger, "I advise you to respect my brother Rurik."
"This is not fair! Many brothers no longer want to leave. You have to listen to the opinions of the brothers. We have to vote on whether to leave or withdraw!"
Listening to these nonsense, Rurik exerted great force, and one of his molars was bitten off. For a moment, the people on the center deck below saw Rurik's bloody mouth.
It's like a little devil showing its bloody mouth?
Rurik reached out and took off his bloody baby teeth. At this moment, he couldn't care less about the pain.
He denounced: "This is the sea! There are laws of the sea above the sea! Put away your Nordic (Nordic People's Parliament), we are going to launch a cross-sea expedition, and you actually want to negotiate terms with the commander. It seems,
I want to kill some traitors!"
"No! It just can't be done! The rules cannot be broken!" Snorasund still shouted.
Now Rurik is very convinced that the culprit of the mutiny is this guy.
However, the development of things was completely beyond Rurik's expectation.
In an instant, Biyongni picked up the steel-armed crossbow that he regarded as a treasure. He quickly picked it up and pulled the trigger at the target.
In an instant, everyone saw that the noisiest Snorasund had a very thick arrow tail on his forehead. The noisy man closed his mouth and fell heavily to the ground with his eyes wide open.
"What are you doing? You're crazy! That's your Balmok!" A shocked Rurik hit Biyoni hard.
However, Yongni is calmer than anyone else.
When everyone was shocked, Biyongni raised his crossbow solemnly: "This is havdic (the rule of the sea)! What we want is a victorious expedition, not a cowardly retreat. We want the people in our hometown to see
Let us return home with great achievements, instead of becoming the cowards they reviled."
At this moment, even Floki, a little bald man, stood up and shouted to the heads of the families: "Imagine that the sea was not violent in our days! Those brothers who gave their lives were the ones who asked God for what we are now.
Peace. If you return, you will be punished by God, and huge waves and sea monsters will eat you!"
Rurik looked at the Biyoni brothers and thought that these two bald men, one older and one younger, were really born fierce men.
"Biyongni, you are too cruel, killing your own people so mercilessly? Why didn't I notice that you were so cruel before..." With the words in his heart, Rurik gently pushed the two of them away. At this moment, he had already
Don't want to talk nonsense.
Facing the remaining leaders, Rurik had only one arrangement: "Continue to follow us. If anyone dares to retreat lightly, kill them!"
Look at the current situation. The people on the center deck instantly became firm supporters of the expedition.
Rurik really had to admit that killing a group of deserters who were making the most noise when the army was demoralized could intimidate others without even having to kill them.
Asking himself, Rurik did not want to personally execute a retreating leader for this reason. Although the two tribes were in an alliance, he did not know whether doing so would have a negative impact on his allied tribes.
This was a "dirty job", but fortunately Biyongni helped him do it neatly.
It was hard for Rurik to express his gratitude. He could really see Biyony’s ambition—Byony would be the most powerful dictator in Balmok!
Thinking about it, this kind of thing is logical, and Rurik doesn't think it's strange. A tribe of nearly 20,000 people is still in disarray. Isn't it looking for death in this complicated world? If they want to survive, they must transform into a kingdom. As for who is the king?
, Rurik doesn’t want it to be Biyoni, at least it won’t be him in the future.
Each leader was placed in the cabin, their personal weapons were confiscated, and they were effectively put under house arrest. They did not dare to curse, for fear that they would be executed again, and in the end they would be called a traitor, which would be spread forever in the tribe. Traitors.
, naturally unable to convince the family members, the family will not hesitate to elect another person as the clan leader.
What else could the remaining longships and the thousands of warriors on board do? One longship after another continued to follow the Aurora, which continued to sail, and the storm was quickly settled.
But for the majority of soldiers, they still don't know what the way forward is. The only thing they know is that any retreat is a shameful betrayal, and the big ship will not hesitate to launch a crusade.
Not only that, Floki is a young man, and his theory of "god's grace and punishment" spread quickly. Now people are further worried about the cost of escape, even if they escape the commander's sanction, they will eventually die.
Will be punished by the sea monster instructed by Odin.
They can only be brave men.
And something wonderful happened the next day.
Everything turned out to be as Rurik said, there was something sad and hateful about it, that is, just one step away from success, he retreated shamefully because of cowardice.
It's a new day. The fleet has been sailing for fourteen days. So far, people have never seen another fishing boat on the sea. But this morning, a strange scene happened.
The sailors lying on the mast saw the ships floating on the sea, and the good news suddenly shocked all the depressed people.
That's definitely a fishing boat! And a fishing boat can mean one thing, its home port is nearby!