In Birka Market, the news that Rurik became king spread a lot.
Ross's shop here was the most vigorous in promoting it, but the news was too exciting. Merlaren's merchants, those large families, were very surprised.
So, the huge Russian fleet went straight to Uppsala? That man Rurik is going to be king in Uppsala?
The big families of Mellaren finally waited for Bjorn. These big landowners still respected Bjorn as king, but they looked at him with very ambiguous eyes.
The atmosphere in the council chamber of Mellaren was extremely delicate, and many local nobles urgently needed an explanation from Bjorn.
Pairs of eyes fell on this weak king, and Bjorn was scrutinized in public. Faced with his friends in his hometown, Bjorn analyzed the future of Mellaren.
"The Russians have promised to sell us large ships. I have ordered five ships! This matter is at your discretion."
He attracted everyone's attention as soon as he opened his mouth, because the matter of buying the boat was discussed by everyone.
"What about the price?" Someone asked suddenly and sternly, restlessly and rudely.
Bjorn glared at the man: "I'll scare you if I tell you."
"It's never ridiculously expensive." Another person said.
"It's a little expensive. The Russians want us to have two hundred pounds of silver coins for a boat."
Such a sum of money? The figures are really surprising. I was a very confident person, but now I am worried.
Some people were itching with hatred: "That brat Rurik set the price so high, doesn't he have a conscience?"
Someone else asked with hatred: "Conscience? Do those Russian businessmen have a conscience?"
They were whispering to each other and talking, and Bjorn cleared his throat again and yelled to calm the audience.
"Russian people are indeed greedy. Everyone, if we were in the same situation as Russia, wouldn't we become more greedy? I ordered five ships, and I also know that it is difficult for us to spend a thousand dollars in one go.
pounds of silver. But Rurik of Rus said that we could pay off the debt with new oats in August.”
All the big families have long recognized the situation. They are not as fierce as the Russians in fighting, and they cannot give Melalen an advantage on the battlefield. In peacetime, they should stop pretending to be fat.
They all believe that the glory that belongs to Mälaren is over. However, even if Mälaren wants to end Sweden's hegemony, it must end with dignity and even preserve as much of the political legacy of its heyday as possible.
"It would be better if we could use oats to pay off the debt." Someone continued to ask, "Where is the boat? Where is the boat we bought?"
"It anchored in Uppsala." Bjorn said immediately: "When their fleet entered our big lake, there were large ships that were originally sold to us. As for why the Ross fleet went directly north to Uppsala
, you all know the news that has spread. Yes! That man Rurik is going to be king."
"We have accepted the fact that Rurik is king. What should we, the Mellaren people, do? And you, Bjorn? What should you do? Are you willing to put down your title of king?"
The speaker actually has some concerns in his heart. He is afraid that Bjorn will get hot and refuse to give up his title of king and drag Melalen into an inappropriate war. This is because these big families are big landowners first and businessmen second.
Mellaren is a cultural concept, not an imaginary community that must be protected! And when Bjorn changed the name of the market to "Birka", the major families and Bjorn himself were already inseparable to a certain extent.
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Many local nobles had the same idea, but they didn't say it out loud.
Bjorn didn't think much, and since they mentioned this matter, he made it clear: "I will remove the king's title, and I will also personally participate in Rurik's king and coronation ceremony. Friends, the strength of the Russians is ours
Everyone can see it. In the far east, I saw their huge new city. I went to very far away places, and the people I saw did not speak our language, but they all called Rus the ruler.
We must recognize the fact that the people of Melalen are inferior to Ross in all aspects."
He is not deprecating himself, he is just stating a basic fact, that is, both the speaker and the listener feel uncomfortable.
Until Bjorn publicly mentioned the secret conversation with Rurik himself on the frozen ship in the frozen ocean.
Those present were all powerful large landowners in Mellaren. These big families worked together to control the power of Mellaren. Since Bjorn was not a strong owner, to a large extent, the big families checked and balanced each other to achieve a kind of republic.
To make the former overlord recognize that their traditional ally has been promoted to the new king, and then to accept the result peacefully, the nobles of the old overlord feel extremely painful in their hearts.
Some people began to sigh in public, not happy about the content of the secret conversation between the two kings.
Even after Rurik became king, Melalen still maintained a considerable degree of hegemony. In other words, there would be no clear changes for the Melalen people in the days to come.
Even that kid Rurik made it clear that the people of Melalen in the future would not pay tribute to the king.
Is this reasonable? Rurik's move is definitely not a good person. If it is not profitable, why should he?
This is based on the absolute tax-free right for Rus merchants to do business anywhere in Mälaren.
At that time, during the reign of Chief Oredin, anyone who dared to set up a stall on the land had to pay tribute, forcing Russian merchants to open shops on the islands. It was not until Bjorn came to power in a coup that he secretly discussed with the Russians, and the Russians
Only then can shops be opened grandly in the Mälaren Market.
If all Mellaren loses is the power to collect taxes from the Russians, then that's it.
Although everyone still feels that Rurik must have an agenda, based on the information obtained so far, the Russians do not intend to harvest the wool of Mellaren's sheep, and it would not be too bad to admit Rurik as king.
After this meeting, all the great nobles of Malaren communicated with each other. Bjorn had secret discussions with Rurik and reached some secret agreements with each other, which made all Malaren behave on the issue of "de facto surrender".
Be quite obedient.
However, in other tribes the situation becomes quite delicate.
The Angkras tribe relied on the tribe to get rid of the Gould family. With this example of "turning to Luo to make a fortune", the leader, Old Angref, called the tribe together, and everyone quickly reached a common idea - to support Ross.
Be king.
Another large tribe, the Hjelmalen, are located in an independent lake in the south and are largely self-contained.
The dispatched envoy with plenipotentiary power informed the dying old leader of the information he had learned. The old leader was deaf and stooped. The former warrior was finally crushed by time.
After all, it was Longstall, the powerful figure, who made the decision for everyone.
This Longstall is already the de facto ruler of Hjärmalen. According to their own rules, when the old leader dies of old age, he will succeed to the title of duke.
He is already a de facto duke. Since the title of duke is technically given by King Olegen of the "Melaren Dynasty", in the future the artifact will change hands and the Russians will become kings. Whether to recognize the title of duke is still a question.
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Due to geographical reasons, the Hjelmalen people have very little contact with the Rus. The most recent contact was when they sent troops to conquer Denmark many years ago, and since then they have had little contact with each other.
The plenipotentiary claimed that Rus had carved out a vast territory in the Eastern world, and that Rurik had tens of thousands of people in his hands. He also clearly pointed out that they not only had a huge fleet, but also an extremely large cavalry force. A man who could easily be defeated by everyone
The situation of neglect was also highlighted by the Plenipotentiary Envoy. The so-called Russians have an extremely large number of young children!
Children are the future of a tribe. Even if the child mortality rate is high, as long as the base is large enough, a large number of children will grow up to take up arms and fight.
The Russians have strong military strength and great stamina, which is a great thing for the Russians themselves. For the Hjelmalen people, the first thing they think of is a strong military threat.
In the past, Mälaren would not invade Hjärmalen in the south, so what would happen to the Rus? Although they had severely damaged Denmark, they had truly become a monster that could not be fed. After all, in Hjärmalen tradition,
In our understanding, the Rus are a fur-producing tribe that lives in the fjords of the far north. They have conquered a huge territory in just ten years. If they had their reasons, it would not be easy for them to swallow up the Hjelmalen tribe.
Among all the large and small tribes in Sweden, the Hjärmalen tribe is undoubtedly the one that maintains a strong sense of vigilance.
There are quite a few tribes with very small populations and holding the title of a duke. A few hundred people form a small fishing village, and the leader is also on the list of people invited to participate in the King Ceremony of the Prince of Rus. Micro tribes need to rely on a strong person to gain profits.
They have been very open-minded since ancient times. It has never been a problem for them to pay a batch of tributes in exchange for military protection for their own benefit.
Among all the tribes, it is the Hjärmalen people in the south who control the Hjärmalen Lake and face the most internal and external problems.
There is a violent political reshuffle in the north, and the Yelmalens don't know what the Rus' king will bring.
Their southern region is called Götaland. As the tribes on the southern border of the Swedes have all moved north due to Denmark's crazy attack ten years ago, the abandoned living space was immediately occupied by the people of the Götaland region.
The Götalanders also speak the Norse language, but their bloodline is highly related to Denmark, and the dialect they speak is also biased towards the Danish world. They are no longer Danish when they enter Scandinavia.
The tribal alliance formed by the Taran people continues to encroach on the traditional territory of the Swedes northward, but the trend has not changed.
The current situation does not allow the Hjermalen people to ignore what is going on outside the window, and they are quite vigilant in silence.
Purchasing a large Rus' ship and mooring it on Lake Hjärmalen in this way will enhance everyone's self-confidence. The combat effectiveness of the Rus' ships is recognized as strong, and a large ship is also in the hands of the Hjärmalen people. In this way, if the Götalans go north to provoke, a large ship will be in the hands of the Hjärmalen people.
Large ships can also make enemies in the south suffer.
The agreed ceremony for the king's enthronement was on the summer solstice of the Julian calendar.
Before that, all the Swedish nobles took their envoys and rowed their long boats all the way north.
They had obviously made an appointment, so the Ferris River, which was not very wide, was full of boats.
In the past, Uppsala had no record of attracting all Swedish nobles for sightseeing. The inner lake owned by the locals suddenly gathered hundreds of boats, and thousands of southern people arrived with the boats.
Because any grand event is an opportunity to do business, and the people of Uppsala do not collect taxes from vendors, the people of Mälaren who do small business naturally row their boats straight to the north to do some small business while living.
This situation was completely unexpected by Swined, who was newly promoted to Duke and changed his title to Governor! Unfortunately, looking at his own strength, he could not stop the people from the south from plundering and trampling his small lake.
In more than a month, the Uppsala tribe, which was originally unchanged, changed drastically!
The Great Temple changed its appearance, a city built by the Russians rose from the ground, and the huge Russian fleet was always anchored in the inner lake, as if Uppsala had become a Russian military port.
By appointing Swinned and his cowardly son Helgon as governors for two generations, the local nobles of Hjärmalen lost the title of duke and all their powers as a duchy. Rurik was worried that the local people had lost some honors.
, will produce rebellious emotions due to anger, which requires real material comfort.
What's more, for the ceremony of enthroning and proclaiming himself king, Rurik personally designed some glorious projects.
How can a large scene where a king needs the cheers of the people attract a large number of people to cheer? This requires mobilizing thousands of local men, women, and children in Uppsala.
It is foolish to force them to cheer, as long as each of them is given a real deal of wheat, everything will be fine.
Each of the more than four thousand Uppsala people, including babies, was given a pound of wheat. Although this reward was very weak, the nobles in the past would never give it to them.
The locals didn't even know the concept of "gifts", and now pounds after pounds of wheat fell into their hands. Rurik also explained the reason in time: "As a man blessed by Odin, Odin told me in my dream
, you kneel down and worship the golden statue devoutly, the gods are very satisfied, and hereby ask Rurik of Rus to reward the pious people with a pound of wheat."
Therefore, the person who gave the wheat was not just Rurik, but also Odin, the King of the Gods. Regardless of whether this statement is reliable or not, ordinary Uppsala people who have been living ordinary lives have never been so affected as they have been in a few days.
Noble heroes have valued it.
Ships from many cities in Russia arrived in Uppsa with hundreds of Russian people of different identities. Many foreign nobles only needed to land and inquire a little, and learned many things about Rurik from the locals.
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What happened surprised Bjorn when he arrived for the second time.
"I remember that you were still very resistant to the arrival of the Russians before. Why are you all praising them now?"
"What? Swynedd stopped being a duke? He became the governor of the Rus."
"The Great Temple of Uppsala? It has become the private property of the Russians? Are you Uppsala people crazy?"
Bjorn never imagined that what happened in Uppsala could only be described as a huge change after he returned to his hometown for a month.
The locals smile enthusiastically, which shows that they not only accept the new situation but also enjoy it.
"Rurik! You are a smart man, I really don't know what tricks you used." Bjorn sighed deeply.
This situation was also fully displayed in front of Langstall, the actual leader of the Yermalen people. He could not share happiness with the locals, but especially noticed that the local duke had gone to the title and was willing to be the governor under Rurik.
.A good duke must have been ordered by the Russians to give up power. After that, Uppsala would definitely lose its independent power. She had ceased to exist in name only and had become part of the Principality of Russia.
Could it be that the Russians would rule the entire Sweden in this way?
Longstall urgently needed an explanation from Rurik, but he basically knew nothing about Rurik himself. It would be too abrupt to meet him rashly. It was better to endure it first and wait until a formal occasion to ask him many questions openly.
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The Hjärmalen are the de facto largest tribe on the southern border of Sweden, and are born with the responsibility of defending the southern border of the Swedish world. After Langstall got off the ship, he quickly met various nobles who were well-dressed and gorgeous, even
The humble leader of a small tribe also had to wear a piece of chain mail, and his helmet was decorated with a ferret velvet hat and wild goose feathers.
There are also some nobles living here, many of whom decorate themselves with extremely rare emerald green peacock feathers.
Many nobles gathered at the temporary dock. They arrived at different times. They all contacted the envoys sent by Prince Rurik, and then invited the entire envoy to the current large temple and asked to set up tents near the sacred tree.
Longstall and his Yylmalen envoy camped near the sacred tree of the Great Temple, unfurling a flag with the word "ylmalen" written in runes to declare their presence.