Putting the boats on their heads, we took the two boats across the frozen mountains, unloaded them at the mountain lakes, and then drifted along the river.
Modgen and his companions are going to the east of the mountains to find people who have a lot of furs for trade.
He never dreamed that he would enter the territory of the Russians by accident.
Now, we have to do business with a child who claims to be blessed by the gods.
Absurd? It's so ridiculous.
The Russians are here. Since the other party is essentially willing to do business, there is no need to be rigid. In business, no matter whether the buyer is blind, deaf or a child, if they are willing to pay for the goods, they are the best customers.
Modgen tried his best to calm down and complimented: "Honorable man, we are lucky enough to step into your territory. This must be my destiny. We climbed the mountains hoping to find buyers for our goods. Perhaps, the Russians are our most distinguished buyers."
This compliment made the warriors on both sides very happy, and Rurik felt a little happy in his heart.
"I know you are trying to do business. Tell me! What was your plan before meeting us?"
"It was to find people from Kewen. We want to buy Their leather, or we can go hunting in the vast wilderness. Sir, maybe you don’t know, we need leather very much.”
It seems that this person’s words are very sincere, Rurik. He pinched his chin and thought carefully about these words.
That’s right! Although the Port of Narvik never freezes, the geographical structure of the area is extremely complex. There are only a few small flatlands that can raise very few livestock and even plant some cold-resistant crops.
It is precisely because of this principle that the locals are forced to try to go out.
Rurik thought for a moment, gestured with his fingers, and a mercenary came over. Soon after he gave the order, the mercenary ran out quickly.
"Sir..." Modgen was a little confused when he saw this.
A confident smile appeared on Rurik's face: "Aren't you looking for the Kovin people? Very good, you will see the Kovin people soon."
This After saying this, Modgen, who was already confused, became even more confused.
Rurik just smiled and said nothing. Soon, as Mechasta, the leader of the Iron Squirrel tribe, entered the house, Modgen began to realize the complexity of the situation.
Mechasta was ordered to sit in the ranks of the warriors. Rurik introduced: "You are looking for the Kovin people? Look, this is the leader of the Kovin people."
"Him?" Modgen glanced at Mechasta and subconsciously made a judgment: "Could it be that you and the Covin people have already formed an alliance?"
"It's not an alliance! It's a conquest. "As he spoke, Rurik beat his chest with his fist proudly: "Times have changed! We Rus conquered all the Kovin people, IHe is the master of all Corvin people. Visitors from afar, you are destined not to meet the Kovin people on this journey. You will only meet us Rus people, because the Kovin people are already part of us. "
"They...have become your slaves? "
Slaves? Rurik wanted to refute, but he was more willing to call the Kovin people his dependents.
But giving them the status of "slaves" will definitely help Show off your martial prowess
“Yes! They are all our slaves. "As he spoke, Rurik's attitude became extremely serious, his beautiful little head tilted forward, his eyes full of determination: "They are all my personal slaves. If you want to do business with them, then do business with me. ”
Who would have thought that the fur-owning Kovin people have been conquered by others.
If you think about it carefully, it may not be a bad thing.
Modeng has this idea. The trip was purely a spontaneous exploration with his brothers. They also followed the legends of former explorers. Legend has it that there is a river in the far east, and a man who calls himself "Kewen" and speaks another language lives by the river. He had a lot of leather in his hands. Despite the language barrier, the transaction was still going on.
With just a few words of information, Modgen embarked on an adventurous journey.
Despite all the difficulties and dangers, in order to achieve a large amount of trade, the journey for more than a month unexpectedly ended up like this.
Now that the trading partner has become the Rus who conquered the Kovin people, both sides said the same thing. Language, now Modgen also gave up the idea of "tricking the buyer" because he did not think that the Russians could deceive him without being retaliated against.
Currently, the information. It was still very unclear.
The atmosphere in the entire venue was a little awkward, and Modgen once again boldly complimented: "Sir, you must be the leader of the Ross people, and this is also your territory? Oh, what a great city. "
The so-called city is pronounced "Brog" in the Norse context, or "fort".
It is more similar to the concept of a city-state, because each individual Apart from its main city, the tribe basically has no second major settlement, not counting the miniature villages composed of several families.
The Ross people present understood the meaning and couldn't help but laugh. Get up.
Rurik ignored the embarrassment of the visitor and said with a smile: "Is this tiny settlement of yours the core of us Rus people? No! You look down on us too much. "
"Huh? ! Could it be that you still have many settlements? ”
“Of course. "Rurik cheered up, "This is not even the territory of the Kovin people. This city is called Elon-Olava Fort, and it is a colony of our Rus people. And I am not the biggest leader of the Rus people, but I am indeed a leader. ”
Rurik told the basic truth, but Modgen really needs to use his brain to understand it. Because the current residents of Narvik Port, temporarilyA shipping route across the North Sea had not yet been opened, and they had not yet colonized the Shetland Islands.
There is still only one large settlement in Narvik Port. The locals are forced to live in scattered places due to the constraints of the fjord environment. Due to the rich local fishery resources, their population is also larger.
Now that the words have come to this, Rurik feels that he must show off his muscles. This is not to show off, but as a means of self-protection.
The so-called "stopping war with force" means that real force cannot be found in large-scale military operations. Instead, when a warrior shows his sharp sword, he can rely on his strong aura to scare the enemy into surrender. The so-called "no fight" And conquer the enemy's soldiers.
Due to the current situation, Rurik and Otto had the same attitude. The military actions in the past year caused the Russians to lose a hundred of their most elite warriors. It seems that this loss is nothing, but there are only 2,000 men in the Ross tribe who can hold weapons, and there are only 700 or 800 core warriors. Due to traditional thinking, Otto and Rurik could not completely believe that the mercenaries and conquered servants would completely sacrifice their lives for the Ross people. Therefore, the few hundred most elite tribal warriors were the foundation for Ross to be strong.
"Our core is in Fort Ross in the south. It is a huge settlement with a population of at least..." As he spoke, Rurik stretched out his hands and showed five fingers. "One finger represents a thousand people. In Roseburg alone, we have ten thousand people."
"Huh?!" Modgen was shocked.
Looking at the other party's unpretentious expression of surprise, Rurik boasted that he was posing as a "cat with explosive hair", which indeed made them think that the Ross tribe was extremely powerful. It's not over yet.
Rurik continued: "This is the Iron Olav Fort, our northern settlement. The territory of the Kovin people is also the territory of our Rus people, and their warriors are all our warriors. There are also some islands in the south, which are also the settlements of our Rus. There is even an even farther east called New Ross Fort, where there are at least 5,000 Rus’ people and even more than 10,000 Eastern servants.”
The words came from the mouth of a beautiful boy. Modgen felt ridiculous but did not dare to deny it. He did not realize that a child could say such words very logically. I am afraid that the Russians He controlled a large area of settlements and their population, far beyond his hometown.
For a moment, there was a lot of sweat on Modgen's head. He came here for business, but now he couldn't help but feel fear about this transaction.
Because communication is relative! Since the Rus conquered the Kovin people and had the ability to send out large armies to build settlements everywhere, they must be very warlike beings. If they were made fully aware of their Balmok tribe, would the Rusians think of an expedition against the government?
Rurik did not anticipate Modgen's thoughts, "Now that I have mentioned the situation of our Rus' people, what about you? What is your situation like that of the Balmoks."
"This..."
"You mean it? ! "Rurik urged.
Modgen could not have imagined that he would be forced to serve as an envoy. He suddenly felt that a heavy burden was placed on his shoulders. This time he needed his good eloquence. To dispel the possibility of conquest by the Russians, we must at least make them understand that any attempt to attack the Balmoks will result in heavy casualties to the attackers, regardless of success.
"Sir. , our tribe also has ten thousand people, our warriors are brave, and they are also very eager to get out of the fjord to do business. For example, my brothers and I worked tirelessly for more than a month. We originally planned to spend the whole summer looking for people from Kewen to do business after crossing the mountains. In my tribe, I am just an ordinary person. We have a lot of very brave people who can keep trekking through the snow without food or water for ten days. They can fight monsters in the sea with only short spears. "
"Oh, so you Balmoks are very brave beings? ”
“Of course. "
Rurik nodded. It seemed that the other party did not want to show weakness, but he also did not want to show strength.
Then again, if the Balmok tribe really has ten thousand people, , the Russians should really be wary of them. Rurik was a little scared. He was not sure whether the other party was bluffing or real. Ten thousand people was a relatively small population unit by the standards of the Far East, and in Europe, this small number of people could do it. Becoming a regional power, not to mention they were still standard Vikings.
It can be said that it happened in Alonao at the mouth of the Kemi River in 830. For the first time, the Rus from Svealand had a historic contact with the Balmoks from Narvik. Neither side could judge the other's true identity very well, so they boasted about each other but kept silent. Caution is actually reasonable.
However, Rurik has knowledge from later generations. He knows that more than a thousand years of changes cannot cause the changes in the fjord. A thousand years later, Narvi. Port Kremlin is still an important harbor, a modern Norwegian military port, and a northern port related to the economic lifeline of Norway.
The initial exchanges ended here, and Rurik couldn't bear these people to continue to kneel.
He snapped his fingers and called for the mercenaries in chainmail to come and listen to the order. Soon they entered the house carrying some polar bear skins that were roughly tanned and not yet fully dried. He and his companions looked at the laying of bear skins in amazement, as if these bear skins had become a very connected thing.
Modgen could not help but stare at the bear heads scratched on the wooden wall. , a chill ran through my body.
“Tell me, what exactly are the commodities you intend to trade? "Rurik asked after he sat down firmly.
"It's salt. "
"Salt? Is this a very precious commodity? Rurik asked.
“This... may be precious to the people of Kovin. However, for you, nature is a very ordinary existence. "
Is this a form of flattery? Rurik couldn't be sure, because for the residents of the Baltic Sea, everyone boiled a pottery jar of seawater to get a little salt. Just to boil the water, a lot of firewood was consumed! Salt is a must for everyone's life. This does not mean that people will die if they don't eat salt. It is also that using salt to pickle fish, red meat, and even some foods such as yellow-rooted carrots is the key to surviving the winter. Although extreme cold and smoke drying can ensure that food will not spoil, it is better to pickle it with salt to ensure that the food has a better taste.
The salt in the hands of the Russians is boiled with Baltic Sea water with extremely low salt content. The cost of obtaining it is actually not low.
Rurik ordered: "Take out the salt and let me see it."
"Yes."
Modgen immediately ordered his The men took out two heavy burlap bags, untied the hemp ropes that bound the bags, and showed the astonishing amount of white salt in the bags to the public.
Seeing this, Rurik stood up suddenly, walked over with a solemn expression, then half-knelt in front of Modgen in public, stretched out his right hand to touch the salt in the bag, and licked the salt all over it. grainy fingers.
During this process, Modgen did not say a word. He looked at the golden braids of the boy in front of him and marveled at the shiny and smooth hair of the boy. To be honest, he had never seen anyone with such beautiful hair.
Salt in the mouth, a very familiar feeling, directly stimulated Rurik's little head.
In short, the salt provided by these outsiders is really good salt!
"Ah, the quality of these salts is very good." After saying that, Rurik raised his head and asked directly the core question: "How much salt do you have?!"
"Yes At least thirty Roman pounds."
"So much?" Rurik stared at the two big bags, and the little motor in his mind started to run wildly, wanting to buy all the salt. All the heavy laborers who came to build Elon-Olawa to fill up the loss of a lot of salt during this time.
In a practical sense, these outsiders brought in thirty pounds of salt, which was a timely help.