Keel Harbor, in the eyes of the Norscans, is a port. However, in the eyes of Rhodes, it is just a small fishing village. Although the village of two to three thousand people is quite large, it has almost no public infrastructure and a port.
There is not even a decent pier. Most of the boats wash ashore directly after returning from fishing, and then the fishermen drag the goods to the shore on foot. Except for some large ships, they dock at the only pier in the port. And this pier, it looks like
It also looked very crude, as if an ordinary storm could completely overturn it.
While waiting for the refugees to return here, Rhodes ordered his men to renovate the place. He used its original materials to reduce the size of the village and build it more delicately and neatly.
Since the Hague clan participated in Grettir's tribal army, Rhodes estimated that a lot of people from this clan died on the front line. This fishing village seems to be able to accommodate two to three thousand people, but in fact, when these people return, it is estimated that the maximum
It only has a size of more than a thousand people. Everyone in the Norse tribe is a soldier. This is known to everyone, so the winning or losing of a battle is sometimes directly related to the survival of this tribe.
"My dear, I really don't understand you this time."
Day and night, the sound of axes continued. Looking at the bustling tribal village, Caroline walked to Rhodes with a confused look and asked in a low voice. She could support her husband's decision unconditionally. But the prerequisite was that Rhodes
The approach must be correct. But at the moment, she really can't understand it. When you arrive at someone else's territory, you have to renovate their place of residence?
"What? What don't you understand?"
When Caroline walked over, Rhodes was working with a group of infantrymen from Blackhammer Castle. He took off his armor and only wore a coat made of coarse cloth and animal skins, working with the others. Even in the ice and snow, under the clothes
Still sweating profusely.
Seeing Caroline coming, Rhodes turned around and asked with a smile.
"This is actually a question I've always wanted to ask you. The fighting is over, and the plundering is over. Why do we still occupy this place? Its land is not fertile, and the people here are wild and unruly and very difficult to control. How many times do we still occupy this place?
No one has occupied Norscan land in hundreds of years. It is worthless..."
Caroline said while helping Rhodes wipe the sweat on her face. The cold sea breeze blew her long hair, and her thin bangs fluttered naturally, looking very soft and beautiful. It must be said that the former Caroline looked like
The little girl is unruly and willful, and after experiencing so much, she has changed a lot and matured a lot. But it is not enough. For this brutal and bloody world, she still needs to grow.
"It depends on how you look at value. If you look at it solely from the perspective of resource output and land quality, this place is indeed worthless. But what I want, what we want, is not its economic value."
Rod grabbed Caroline's hand and returned with a smile.
"Besides these, is there any other value?"
Caroline frowned and asked.
"Of course there is. First, although this land is barren, the tribesmen will not sit still and wait for death. For thousands of years, they have made a living by fishing and plundering. They have robbed a lot of things, so if they are said to be poor,
, that’s not the case. I will return the management rights to these people. Support one of our people and let him pay tribute to Blackhammer and Heidelberg every year. Don’t underestimate these scattered small tribes. Sometimes they plunder a group of people.
The wealth gained from an ocean-going merchant ship is enough for them to live for a whole year. It is not difficult to pay tribute and so on."
Rhodes wiped the snowflakes from his face and continued -
"Second, the Norscans are aggressive and all the people are soldiers. After supporting the new chief, they required them to provide us with soldiers during the war. As you know, there are constant wars in the north. We don't know what will happen next moment.
What threats are waiting for us? It would be too expensive for Blackhammer Castle to raise its own troops. Therefore, it is also a good choice to use the troops from the annex."
"Third, and most importantly, after occupying here, this village will become our bridgehead in the north. It will monitor the movements of the tribes in southern Norsca for us. Once there is another large-scale invasion, Dragon Bone Harbor can at least help us
Hold on for a while, giving us time to gather a real army to deal with the threat from the north. Otherwise, just like this time, they move south at lightning speed, and we don't even have time to ask for help from the capital city of Kislev."
"Then how are you sure they will come back? If these pirates don't come back, I guarantee no one will want to move here."
Caroline asked.
"They will come back because they have nowhere to go. Norsca is short of resources and the land is barren. There are not many people to feed. A large number of people are crowded on this cold continent, committing suicide in order to compete for food and resources.
Killings are common. The Hague clan is now a hungry and weak tribe. In the dangerous Norsca Peninsula, they will be hunted as prey at any time. Therefore, they will come back."
Rod patted Caroline on the shoulder and returned with a smile.
…
A few days later, a large group of ragged and thin northern refugees appeared on the horizon. The leader was the old man who had talked to Rhodes before. He was a tribal elder. The reason why he did not leave Dragon Bone Harbor with the large army before was because
Because he has lived here all his life and can't walk anymore. It may not be a bad thing to die here. At least it will not drag down his own people.
As Rhodes guessed, only about a thousand people came back. This clan originally had two to three thousand people. However, a large-scale war wiped out more than half of the people... And among these one thousand people,
Half of them are old people and children. It’s really hard.
They returned to their homeland with despair and doubt. However, after entering the village, they found that the reality was completely different from what they imagined. Longgu Village was rebuilt, and the original dilapidated tent houses were replaced with wooden houses and roads.
It was filled up, and there were no longer potholes everywhere. The outside of the village was fenced off, and a simple watchtower was set up every few hundred steps. At the same time, the pier was renovated, as if it were newly built.
No one could believe that this was their new home. At first, they even thought that Elder Jaber was deceiving them. But now it seems that this is not a deception or an illusion, but a fact.
For the soldiers under Rhodes, this is just a routine operation. These are their usual training items. Every time they set up camp for a war, Rhodes asked them to build the camp neatly and be suitable for living.
Defense and health functions. It only took a day to take care of the village for these Norscan refugees. Of course, if it weren't for Rhodes' order, no one would be willing to do this for these barbarians...