Rise of Rurik

Latest URL: When Rurik left Riga, the people here, as Ross’s servants, were trying their best to produce a series of materials such as weapons and equipment, food, ship repair wood, cables, etc. that the Ross Army needed for pure economic benefits.

Even, some extremely critical information.

The Earl of Saaremaa Island, Spuet, will not send troops to participate in the expedition this time. He has a major responsibility, which is to guard the entire Gulf of Riga, and his ships will continue to conduct regular patrols in the South Baltic Sea.

In the Pan-Latvian region including Riga, a new power framework has been constructed, and the next step is for those canonized nobles and nobles to fill their own living space.

So when Rurik officially started the westward expedition, Ross's Principality of Ostara further started its southward expansion.

Although Carlotta is a woman, in the hearts of the world, she is the Valkyrie of the world.

She recruited another group of young Slavs in the area around Lake Ilmen, and made a major promise: "Although the old Polotsk collapsed, a large number of fields were vacant. In the name of Count Polotsk, I call on you to go south , those who follow the army will immediately get the land and start farming immediately!"

The developed ripe fields are like hugging a hen that can lay eggs. It seems that as long as the seeds are sown, they can wait for the autumn harvest.

Who is Count Polotsk? She is Solkina Vyacheslavina, old Otto's granddaughter-in-law, and even Carlotta's daughter-in-law.

Solkina was just a peasant girl. As a survivor of the old Polotsk local nobles, her existence itself is of great political significance.

Carlotta knew that he had to be fast, otherwise he would give those Latvian farmers in the Gulf of Riga a chance to occupy land in advance, and he

It will be a little tricky to lead troops to deal with the problem.

The Ostara cavalry rode the remaining horses and rushed to Vitebsk and Polotsk. Behind them was a mighty army of immigrants dragging carts.

There are too many people around Lake Ilmen. It is an option for people who hope for a better life to emigrate to live in a new area, not to mention that there are a lot of fields in Polotsk.

Mstisk, which is mainly descended from the immigrants of the old Ross, when a group of young people joined the expedition, the rest of the people were not idle. Some continued to explore at the source of the Musta River, and some rushed directly to the Smolensk Governor-General, which had been brought under the control of Ross, to join forces with the local garrison of Arik.

Old Otto, the Supreme King, as long as he is alive, will be a pinnacle to Rose.

When the main threat in the Eastern European world collapsed and there was no threat behind Ross, Rurik boldly launched the Western Expedition without any worries at all.

However, from the standpoint of some nobles, the greatest threat is gone, and the threat of its remaining forces has not dissipated. The newly attached tribes and forces, they are now submitting to Ross, and they themselves are facing threats from others.

The port city of Riga has always faced the threat of the Semigallians, because the city has a lot of wealth worthy of coveted by the inland residents. At that time, there were only a few hundred Danish mercenaries in Riga as security guards, and the local Latvians could finally feel at ease.

When Latvia turned into an earl country with Riga at its core, and the chiefs of each village became nobles, some ideas that shouldn’t have emerged—we can take the initiative.

as early as 843 ice

Before the snow melted, Rurik had just left with his team. In principle, the three cavalry teams stationed in Riga should be stationed there.

General Fisk didn't want to wait honestly. If conditions permit, he also wanted to seize the opportunity to explore the area around Riga.

"The Latvians here say those Semigallians not far to the south are a threat? Will those people think they have a chance if we leave?"

Fisk subconsciously thought about it more, he didn't make up his mind at first, until the people gathered in Riga planned to hold a small meeting in the future to discuss new strategies for those guys. After all, this kind of work of conquering small forces does not need to trouble King Ross.

Riga is about to usher in spring plowing. According to the local Anshe Latvian village leaders, when the spring plowing is over, both Latvia and Semigalia will face the risk of spring famine.

What should I do if there is not enough food? Latvia, which controls the estuary of the West Dvina River, can also cooperate with local Danish immigrants on the spot, rowing boats to fish in the bay. The long-term cooperation has made the relationship between the two parties closer. Now that the Kingdom of Ross is attacking strongly, Latvia is also ushering in a better new era.

It seems that this is the last snow of winter.

Spuut moved his family to Riga, where he built the Earl's Palace, echoing the Latvian Count Skander who was also there. The Russians, the Danes, and the Latvians have reached a full cooperation in a city. Everyone has money to make money together and enemies to hack together.

Riga flies the Rus flag, people of all colors especially women

, is rushing to produce various military supplies.

Riga has never been as martial as it is today. They all believed in the promise of King Ross, so they tried their best to mobilize manpower and material resources to produce materials in exchange for the necessary production tools provided by King Ross.

They are so forging ahead, the nobles, big and small, realize that they obviously have a lot of troops, so why should they stick to a corner of Riga?

The residence of the Counts of Saaremaa Island in Riga, where Spyut built a "Russ Duma".

When the lingering of the West Dvina River ends, normal farming and fishing activities will resume. More than that, some Danish Varyag merchants in the distance rowed boats to Riga on the intricate inland shallow rivers, just to sell the excavated amber and beeswax rough stones.

Now, the first wave of amber traders has arrived in Riga by a tortuous route after drifting and melting snow.

They were immediately stunned by the sight in front of them!

Ross? This place has completely become the territory of the Kingdom of Ross? !

The amber merchants who visited suddenly not only knew of the existence of Ross, but some of them had traded with Ross or Stockholm in Lake Mälaren, Sweden, but the Governor White Fox didn’t know it. Dialect, it is judged as "the Dane who sells amber".

There were more than 20 people in the caravan. They were men, women, old and young. Rather than saying that they were businessmen, it would be better to call them "armed immigrant families who live in business activities."

They traveled in five small boats, oar boats deliberately made to be easily towed over mud and swamps as long as they were tied with cables. The seaworthiness of such a small boat in the ocean is not good.

Yes, but it is a very maneuverable inland barge.

A middle-aged man named Ostan was the leader of the entire caravan, and there were twelve other men and women with weapons to fight. Although there are only thirteen armed men, because they are fully equipped with iron tools and round shields, and have many Danish-style iron helmets, even female fighters are close to 170 cm tall. This small scale is also an existence that all parties need to weigh .

This is especially true for the family members who are obsessed with sex, because such Varyag caravans pass through their living space every year.

Sometimes, the Varyags will provide the necessary salt, and sometimes they will launch a sneak attack on the village, take the population and sell it directly to Riga.

People living in this land, no one is purely good or bad, everyone is a gray existence.

Semigalia coveted the fertile land in the Haikou area controlled by Latvia, and also hated those guys for buying the tribesmen who were taken away as slaves.

The Riga side is very aware of these things, and the location of Semigalia is exactly on an inland river traffic line for transporting amber. If Semigalia moves en masse, or is destroyed, there is no one to threaten this path.

The caravan led by Olstein finally arrived in Riga after some twists and turns, and they immediately noticed the tense atmosphere here.

The Ross cavalry stationed on a large scale, and the Ross flag flying everywhere in Riga, which has not been seen in winter, all these signs indicate that Ross is no longer ruling Riga by remote control. control like that.

Ross established an extremely favorable free trade

With the system, Danish businessmen can now not only go directly to the capital of the Ross people, but also freely go to Lake Mälaren in Sweden, which used to be a restricted area.

There are many buyers interested in buying rough amber, and merchants who mine ore are naturally willing to go to multiple places to try their luck in order to sell them at a good price.

People with long boats with ocean-going capabilities are naturally happy to sail north in spring and summer, so that they can float all the way to Stockholm at the mouth of Lake Mälaren without even paddling.

People like Ostan, because they are relatively poor, can only use small boats to run safe short-distance inland river trade.

The Amber Road, this is a long trade route, and people who walk on this trade route share different levels of profits. Riga, as an important distribution center, the merchants here have the pricing power of amber. Even the Danes who live here will not give great favors to the same clan who sell gems because everyone has a common belief in gods. They deliberately lower the purchase price. , and then processed amber and beeswax into finished products, and then went to walk the long trade road to the Roman Empire in person.

Although Riga has undergone tremendous changes, because the islands of Saaremaa and Gotland on the sea have long been captured by the Ross people, Ostein witnessed the rise of Ross when he was in his prime, and now he is in the middle age of Ross. Under the rule, he didn't feel that there was anything inappropriate.

There is a great hero who ended the years of war between Denmark and Sweden, and the Baltic Sea seemed to usher in great peace for the first time. With the armed patrols of the Ross Navy, any ocean businessman no longer has to worry about pirate attacks, and some things that were not dared to do in the past can now be done.

Austen and his party cross the Lielupe River and finally

Arriving in Riga, after observing the situation, they decided that commercial activities could continue as usual, so they deliberately rowed the boat to the apparently newly built trestle at the riverside port, and chatted with the wanderers at the port before they landed.

Knowing that this group of amber merchants from the west coast, the local people are fully aware of the source of these guys, and not the specific place where the amber was dug, not only invited them to immediately enter the open-air market at the port for normal business transactions, during this sensitive period, They were undoubtedly being targeted by Spueut and Fisk.

For no other reason than that they came directly from the so-called "West Coast" via the interior.

The existence of these people is accustomed to the locals of Riga, and no one takes this group of businessmen seriously. Fisk had no idea about those ambers, what interested him most was the merchant himself.

Austen and his people happily set up stalls in the riverside market where the fishy smell could not go away, and immediately displayed all kinds of amber and beeswax in the cloth bags, and sold some wonderfully shaped shells and seal skins (Baltic ringed seals), and even large quantities of whitish salt.

Compared with the extremely low salinity of seawater in the Gulf of Riga, the "west coast" of Olstein and his party faces a higher salt content in the southern Baltic Sea, and the cost of cooking salt is much lower.

Except for amber and a small amount of seal skin, other commodities have little competition.

Merchants from Riga gathered at the booth one after another. Under the supervision of Ostein himself, those people began to comment on all the rough stones, and then started the transaction with silver coins.

Until a cavalry team rushed into the market carelessly.

Austen did not meet along the way

Being in real danger doesn't mean that no one covets the goods the team brings. Realizing the sudden visit of the Ross cavalry, everyone stood up one after another, holding the iron sword and handaxe hanging from their waists tightly.

Those looking at the goods avoided one after another, and some unruly people walked away with a few stones.

At this moment, Ostan no longer cared about someone stealing. He was more worried about Riga, which had a strong military atmosphere. The Rus rulers here should not confiscate all their goods unreasonably.

"I'm not easy to mess with. If you dare to **** my goods, you will be killed. In this way, no one will come to Riga to sell stones in the future." Olstein made it clear that he didn't say anything. He looked up at the cavalry with wide eyes and vigilance, and his whole body tensed up. body, his right hand has been holding the saber.

The captain of the cavalry squad who was ordered to come here hastily reined in the reins, and seeing that the other party was on guard, he himself ordered his subordinates to be on the same guard.

"Russians! Come here... what's the matter?" Olstein questioned Captain Bu Lao after hearing the news, and naturally there was a trace of murder in his tone.

The cavalry had only launched a large-scale military operation in Smolensk a few months ago, and they were all the most elite standing army, and every soldier had gained something in the war. They are all proud people, facing any hostility, the reaction they make is a bright sword!

In an instant, ten cavalrymen drew their swords one after another, and the scene was once extremely embarrassing.

The squad leader only used force as a deterrent, and his sharp sword was so aggressive that it pointed directly at Olstein's head: "Amber merchant, I don't care about your origins, and I don't want to take your stone away. Order, I want you to go to Althing in the city to discuss matters with the nobles

, a great man wants to see you. "

Speaking of the word Althing, Olstein's vigilance is much less. The so-called Ross Duma is the Ross expression of Althing. It is a traditional chamber of affairs. A similar institution will be set up in every northern force. Based on the tradition, people want to discuss things peacefully in it.

The quick-witted Ostan understood that Rose was not malicious to himself and his party.

"Who is your great man? Really your Count of Saaremaa? Is he really great?!"

Austen is a member of the Spjuet gang who has been very active in recent years.

That is a group of pirates who were recruited by Ross. Over the years, the guys who went to sea to sell amber may be attacked by this group of bandits. As a result, under the rule of Ross, the pirates became the navy. Although these gangsters have been trained and the sea has become safe, Ostein has a grudge in his heart. He is willing to admit that the Ross man Spueut is a character. As for his men, forget it Bar! A bunch of human scum, a bunch of business-wrecking villains...

The team leader didn't want to explain, and he didn't even bother to reveal his name, let alone find out the identity of the businessman.

Here comes the last sentence: "A great war chief, commander of the cavalry of all Russ, has resolved to meet you in Althing. This is the last warning! If you do not go before evening, you will be regarded as Semigalia Human spies were captured."

"Ridiculous! We are just selling stones, so how could we become spies? What are those Semigallians? Do you think we are the dogs of those stupid people?" Obviously, this misunderstanding was not entirely the focus of Olstein's anger ,he

He didn't look down on the Semigallians at all, and being humiliated as their servant was what warmed him the most.

The cavalry didn't explain anymore, just like the ultimatum given by the squad leader, they quickly turned their horses and walked away.

Only Austen and his gang were left stunned on the spot.

As soon as the cavalry left, people who wanted to buy stones beat them up one after another.

"Friend, are you still selling amber?"

"Hey! Do I advise you to send someone to hurry up to the appointment? That Ross man with the bald head Fisk is not easy to mess with."

"This place will be Ross's domain in the future~www.readwn.com~ You folks from the west will do trade again, so you have to give some tribute to the Ross nobles."

…

Whether it was out of good intentions or ulterior motives, Olstein took it for granted that the Ross nobles were in Thorgon through these tongue-twisting words.

How else? Just give some! After all, I heard that although the local Rus people don’t want tribute when they go to Stockholm for trade, what is the “boat mooring fee” if it’s not a tribute? It's just a nice name change.

"Hey, you guys are like the Semigallians. If you don't take something from us, it's really hard to do business." After a few complaints, Olstein and the guys whispered a few words, so they had to bring a small bag The amber stone is a tribute, and it goes directly to the location of Ross Duma.

After all, Olstein has been to Riga many times, and it is the first time that he actually handed over the tribute. He was very reluctant, but he was a little curious in his heart.

"Captain of the Cavalry of All Russ? A bald fellow? I'd like to see what you are."