It seems that the courage that Brudne finally mustered up was finally trampled clean by his own Ross army.
Otto put away his sword and said completely in a ruler's tone: "You are very smart. Now I still have a request, and you must complete it unconditionally."
"Yes. Women? I want to organize some girls to marry into your tribe?" Brudne asked knowingly, but his whole body started to feel hairy.
"Smart answer. Not bad!" Otto pointed at his own men casually, "This is my great army. You should be glad that your girls can marry these strong warriors as wives instead of Marry a poor peasant woman and live a life of poverty. "So...how many people do you need?" Brudne asked weakly.
"Fifty, at least fifty." Otto insisted, "If you can't take it out, I will still regard it as your disloyalty."
"I will send someone immediately. Do it. Just your people need to wait, because most of the residents have...already gone to the woods to call back the hidden girls and their families. I need time."
" This is your problem, I'll give you one day." Otto didn't give the other party any face, "If our soldiers can't have wives in your manor, we will take revenge."
" But..."
Suddenly, Otto thought of something: "It seems that you are still hesitant? Are you worried that you still can't bring back the girl I need? You have three daughters, and they are all still alive. Not married. Now hand them over to my people."
"Huh?" Brudne felt that she had heard wrong and asked quickly: "Could it be my daughters?"
p>Otto smiled deliberately sinisterly: "Your three daughters must marry my people, right now. I want them to complete the wedding today. You have no choice."
"Ah!" Brudne suddenly sat on the ground and couldn't calm down for a long time.
At this time, Vadim, who was ordered to kneel, stood up quickly and hurried to his father's side.
Vadim threw himself on his father. He raised his head and looked at Otto angrily, his deep eyes full of grief and anger at the barbaric behavior of the Russians.
Vadim, he grew up in humiliation, with eyes eager for revenge...
Otto's sword is still pointed at Brudne, who is lying on his back: "Hand over your daughter and marry me, or I will start attacking now."
It seems that there is no room for bargaining now.
Brudne really couldn’t figure out what was going on with the Russians this year. How could the wealth they wanted in the past be as outrageous as this year?
For the sake of the manor, he had no choice but to do as he was told.
"Okay...I will do it immediately." Brudne gasped and stood up, ordering his men who were about to pee with fear: "You...you go and call all my daughters out. , go quickly."
After receiving the order, the servant dropped the short spear in his hand and hurried back.wooden door.
After a while, Brudne's family walked out of the room one after another, including his old wife, three young daughters, and the cowardly eldest son.
Facing the massive Russian army, they hugged each other subconsciously, praying in their hearts that someone could save the crisis.
Only in terms of preference, Otto didn’t think Brudne’s three daughters were so beautiful. Looking at what their father did, Otto really had no interest in them.
After all, they are young women, and youth is a kind of beauty.
Although their appearance did not make Otto happy and made other young Russian men eager to take possession of them, there was of course no problem.
The three sisters quickly understood everything. What was completely different from Lilia in White Tree Manor was that when the three of them learned about their future fate, they burst into tears for a moment.
They hugged each other tightly, and Brudne said helplessly: "You go, for the safety of our manor."
"No! Dad. They are abominable. The Russian people, we would rather commit suicide than..." The eldest daughter cried bitterly, her trembling eyes full of despair.
"Go quickly, otherwise we will all die!" The sad Brudne raised his head.
The three sisters remained indifferent, their heads leaning against each other, their clothes wet with tears.
Faced with a painful scene, Otto remained indifferent and even became increasingly impatient.
He stuck his sword on the ground, stretched out his right hand slightly, and said to his subordinates: "Which of you would like to take these three women as wives? Go and get them yourself now."
Love the fragrance and cherish the jade? No.
When young Russians see young girls crying, they will indeed develop a desire for protection. However, their crying highlights their own beauty and attracts this group of young people of their own age to have a strong desire for possession. .
A few young Russians hung their axes back on their belts, rolled up their sleeves and walked over aggressively.
They forcibly separated the three sisters and violently broke off the hands they held tightly to each other. But they are too weak. Where is the opponent of a strong man with arms as thick as legs and who can continue paddling during the day?
There are three young Russians who have got their own beauties. From now on, they have got their own wives. They are completely different from the girls crying and frightened. The only thing on the faces of the Russians is Happy smile.
Facing the fact that his three sisters were snatched away by this group of savages, Vadim sat on the ground dumbly. Looking at the stunned eldest brother Kapok in reality, he turned out to be a coward. Vadim longed for revenge, eager to pierce the neck of the Rus leader with his sword, and then chop off the heads of all Rus people with his unparalleled divine power.
Fantasy is just fantasy after all.
Recognize the reality!
He looked at the group of Russians with sad and angry eyes, grinning to show his anger.
What kind of trouble can a child make? This brat is notA miracle like his own son Rurik. Vadim's eyes clearly said "I will definitely take revenge," but Otto didn't take it seriously. A strong man who beats a child will be ridiculed by his fellow tribesmen. Otto didn't bother to do this, and his men didn't bother to break away from the group and kick the kid a few more times.
In general, Otto is quite satisfied with the current situation.
"Brudne, you have finally become smarter now." Otto said arrogantly.
"Yes. You took my daughters away and they became your slaves. You should be satisfied with this."
"Slaves? No." Otto smiled Laughing, "They are the wives of my subordinates. If they are just slaves, we will destroy your manor and kill all your resisters. The remaining children and women will become slaves. We will not do this, and neither will I." What else will I explain to you?”
“It’s... double the tribute, and fifty women.”
Otto. Nodding: "I'll give you some more time. Before the sun sets tomorrow, I want you to pile up all the tributes on the river beach, as well as those women. Now you go and gather those who escaped, and ask them to come back to put out the fire and gather together "Tribute"
"Yes." Brudne stood obediently, not daring to wipe the dirt on his body with his head raised.
"This is the last order to you, we will leave now. You stupid guys, you know what to do."
After saying that, Otto turned around, Stomping forward with great swagger, many of his subordinates happily followed behind their leader, carrying their respective captures, towards their longship.
Even Kawei got a sack of wheat and two large balls of linen cloth in this additional robbery. Linen is a good thing. I took it home and asked my mother to tailor it into thick gloves, so that I could protect my hands well when smelting iron.
Because any blacksmithing work will cause serious wear and tear on gloves, blacksmiths need gloves that are a mixture of leather and linen.
He couldn't help but fantasize that maybe his new wife had more exquisite craftsmanship.
Russian long boats were pushed into the Volkhov River one after another. What they did at Pine Needle Manor in the morning naturally caused panic in a large number of small manors along the lake.
They had already learned the news of the arrival of the Russians. Considering their past experiences, as long as they prepared the tributes as usual, the Russians would just take them and leave.
In winter, there are legends everywhere, such as the manor living in the birch forest in the northernmost part of the Great Lakes. They provided wheat and a group of women, but in the end they got a group of Russians. Amber's reward.
The woodcutters at White Tree Manor claimed that women were married to Russians as wives.
But the most powerful Pine Needle Manor denies this statement, claiming that the Russians are exactly the same as the Varyag bandits in the past. They are just pretending to be civilized on the surface. The so-called marrying a wife is still Hunt slaves.
Amidst the anxiety, a large number ofThe small estate is afraid of the arrival of the Russians.
This time I saw a fire burning at Pine Needle Manor, and a large number of canoes escaping on the lake. Fear immediately spread among the fishermen fishing on Lake Ilmen.
Still in the mood for fishing? Pooh! It's important to escape quickly.
They all rowed boats straight to their homes, hoping that the elders of the manor could say something about the scene that was like a forest fire.
Some manors believe that the Ross people have not only come, but that they have eradicated Pine Needle Manor for some reason, and they can't help but worry about their own situation.
In most manors, they have prepared two tributes.
A copy of the house is on the ground, waiting for the Russians to pick it up. The other copy is hidden in the cellar and will be taken out after the Ross people leave and then given to the powerful Pine Needle Manor.
Some estates are more than happy to see the abominable Pine Needles estate go up in flames. I have always been very respectful to the Russians and have never paid less tribute. Now I will not be killed by the Russians.
If Pine Needle Manor is eradicated, what does that have to do with me? It might even be a good thing. In this way, at least one less tribute can be paid.
A large number of dragon-headed longships towing transport ships appeared on the vast Lake Ilmen.
Otto immediately ordered his troops to divide into two groups, and his men began to march continuously along the shorelines on both sides of the estuary.
The largest and most advantageous Pine Needle Manor in the world, there are still as many as ten larger manors living on the lakeside.
In addition, there are more settlements hidden in the dense forests of this vast area.
Considering limited time and energy, Otto had no intention of going deep into the dense forest along the small waterway to search for the tributes of the scattered people. Those people are still too small to accumulate much wealth.
The people living along the lake are quite different. They are indeed relatively wealthy.
Of course, wealth is relative. They could produce more food, but they had no ability to produce salt at all. Even the reward given to White Tree Manor did not include salt. Specifically, Otto and even the entire Ross tribe had not yet thought carefully about making huge profits through large-scale seawater boiling to produce crude sea salt.
In fact, Otto can really sell a large amount of salt, even if it is inferior sea salt mixed with a large amount of bitter magnesium chloride, he can still make huge profits from Novgorod, as well as more people's support. After all, agriculture can produce its own wheat, but farmers have to eat salt.
Nowadays, Novgorod residents either get a small amount of salt from grain and game, or they spend a lot of money to import salt from Smolensk. The residents of Smolensk did not produce their own salt. They also went deep into the south to buy salt from the Eastern Romans. The end of the long salt transportation line reaches as far away as Novgorod. At this point, the cheap sea salt is enough for a Novgorod farmer to pay a quarter of his annual labor income in exchange for enough salt for his family for a year. .
Otto BeltFollowing his team, he quickly approached a manor along the lake. After contacting the head of the manor, he had an idea and immediately pointed to the land where smoke was still billowing in the distance and ordered: "This year is different. From now on, you will have to pay double the tribute every year. I know that after we leave, Pine Needle Manor will still be there." I will ask for another sum from you. Now, they no longer dare. But your tribute will still be doubled."
The wise manor leader did not dare to object rashly, but immediately. Put forward conditions.
Otto is a smart man. Since the other party wants to negotiate, okay, let’s talk.
He released a compromise plan: "I will give you another plan. Hand over your manor to a young unmarried girl who will marry me. My boy will give the girl's family at least a few silver coins, Even if you do this for the amber rough stone, there will be no such thing as double tribute."
The carrot was given, and the next step was still a stick. Otto still pointed at the thick smoke: "Pine Needle Manor thinks that I am your master! I am your master. I taught them a lesson for you. And because Pine Needle Manor firmly opposed my plan, their house was already on fire. . You must choose one of the two options. If you still object, I can only go on a killing spree."
The two options can only be the lesser of two evils. The manor had no choice but to choose the latter and quickly selected ten girls.
Otto did not hesitate. The young men under his command also walked out of the team, took away the girl he had fallen in love with and looked dazed, and then put a stack of silver coins into the hands of their parents. Facing the complicated expressions of the girl's parents, the boy promised that after the girl gave birth, he would take the child to visit her every year.
Although it is a promise for the future, it somewhat comforts the family who suddenly lost their daughter. The silver coins in his hands at least solved the family's problem of food rations for a year.
The routine achieved initial success, and Otto's team gained a batch of tributes and ten more girls.
He moved on to the next manor and was successful again within a short period of time.
Finally, the two teams collected the tributes from the manor along the lake, and their team not only had a large number of transport ships filled with goods, but also had eighty young girls.
This is already a very scary number! After all, Otto only wanted to completely marry the one hundred young people under his command during this trip. For other young boys in the team, the main purpose of this trip is to gain knowledge and understand the vastness of the world.
To get married, you must at least have some silver coins or a large bag of copper coins. There are also a group of boys in the team who are fifteen or sixteen years old and have just grown beards. How can they have such financial resources?
Things have really changed.
After the fleet reunited, Otto clearly realized that he was facing such a great thing.
The young boys who can help the tribe are getting married one after another, and the prestige of him and his family will be unprecedentedly enhanced.
This afternoon, eighty girls got on the Russian ship.
In addition, Baishu VillageThe garden has provided thirty people, and Pine Needles Manor must also provide fifty people. All in all, one hundred and sixty Novgorod girls will become mothers of the next generation of Russians during this trip.
Otto would not have cared at all if most of the young men of the tribe had a Novgorod wife.
He felt that life could still go on normally.
But I didn’t expect that when the Rus tribe was filled with a large number of Novgorod people, would they be the same as before?
Will the new generation of Russians only consider themselves Russians?
Otto, he still didn’t think so far ahead.