Dense fog filled the entire Lake Mälaren. Before the fog evaporated, Rurik followed his father to the Mälaren Market again with a heavy sleepiness.
Early in the morning, the Aurora docked at the Mälaren Pier. Her "huge" figure attracted a large number of locals who were watching the excitement. At this moment, the Ross soldiers who were ordered to garrison became vigilant. They stood on the trestle holding the hilts of their swords tightly, preventing others from getting closer.
Everyone knows that there will be a grand sacrifice in Melalenburg today. As long as you pay attention to the bonfire that has been burning for a night near the altar, you will know the big move planned by the leader.
The conclusive news of the war spread throughout the settlements, and the alliance leader, who had proclaimed himself king, wanted to summon 1,500 Melalen warriors to go to war! The men who had prepared for Mellaren were eager to be selected. They might have been a little timid for a moment, but thinking that thousands of people would form a coalition to launch a war, they had never seen such a scene in their lives, and in their In the concept of "one thousand", it is an extremely huge number. What many ordinary people think of is a glorious victory. .
Ah! When the lake was covered with longships that were assembled and on standby, thousands of warriors holding their swords, axes, and spears high shouted loudly that victory belonged to the Kingdom of Sweden and the Mellaren tribe. .
So, getting wealth from victory, especially important food, has become extremely important now that life is quite difficult.
For a family forced to fish for survival due to running out of surplus food, the wife urged her husband to take up arms and join the war.
There are a large number of second and third sons of various families who are destined not to inherit their own property. They are the most positive people. Their bare feet are not afraid of those who wear shoes. They have no property except their physical body. As long as he wins the battle and gets the spoils of war, he will be rich and powerful, and he can even steal a woman to be his wife on the battlefield. This is a great opportunity to turn his life around.
The people of the entire Mellaren tribe are restless. Soon, when the news of preparations for war reaches the ears of other tribes, the entire Kingdom of Sweden will boil.
The leaders from all walks of life landed one after another, and Rurik also arrived at the altar of the Mellaren people under the escort of his own guards.
It was a permanent altar to cover the construction. Looking at it at such a close distance, Rurik felt that it was similar to the one in Fort Ross.
The altar is still in the shape of a ship made of a large number of granite stones. It is even larger, and there is a permanent altar stacked with square stones in the center of the altar.
“It’s so rude and evil.”
Rurik looked through the gaps in the wall of guards and saw some shirtless men with tattoos on their bodies. The black-striped male priests were visiting some bronze trays, and some female priests in plain robes were also coming over holding some top products.
The leaders gathered one after another, and they all brought their own guards. Compared with the current situation of the Russians who were "basically dressed in the same uniform", their clothes were various and could not be said to be noble.
Russians indeed showed their enthusiasm among the crowds that gathered more and more.It was particularly eye-catching. Even the guards wore white cloth cloaks with blue cloth strips sewn across them. The Russians' robes, which are mainly blue and white, are unique in the gray and black "ocean", as if they are not from the same group as the others.
After a while, some strong men in black came carrying sharpened wooden stakes. Their appearance shocked the leaders watching the show.
I saw them manipulating huge wooden hammers and pounding wooden piles into the soft mud near the lake.
They set up five wooden stakes, and now Rurik really couldn’t figure out what they wanted to do.
"Dad, what are they doing?" Rurik grabbed Otto's big hand hard.
Otto lowered his head solemnly: "Someone will die today."
"Huh?"
"It's a human sacrifice."
"Ah! Do they want... to be slaves?" Rurik reacted instantly.
"Yes. They are slaves. This is their tradition. After every alliance, blood sacrifices should be made to the Lake God, Poseidon and Odin."
Otto cannot make a mistake. After many explanations, Rurik soon saw the so-called sacrifices-five men tied with ropes.
They were slaves, so they were most likely people from Britain obtained from Norwegian traders. They walked hobblingly, and their arms and backs had writings written on them with charcoal. There was only despair in their eyes, so they did not resist when they tied him to the stake. Maybe they were all from Northumbria? Or the north of Scotland? The invasion and plunder of the Vikings began decades ago. It is not surprising that a group of slaves from Britain appeared in Mellaren, but it was really rare to use blood sacrifices as sacrifices.
Finally, the two important figures of the sacrifice, wearing their extremely gorgeous clothes, walked proudly surrounded by a group of "black warriors".
Origen, his raised chin almost pointed to the sky. It was at this moment that the fog reached its peak, making his arrogance blurry.
But in the mist, a man wearing ferret velvet showed his sword. He was Karl standing at the stake. He was the one who completed the most critical thing in this sacrifice.
In the mist, Origen delivered an impassioned speech. He denounced the brutality of the Danes, the betrayal of the Gotlanders, the lamentations of the Ostara allies, and expressed his admiration for the new life. The praise of the Kingdom of Sweden, or in other words, his own boasting.
He shouted especially loudly: "Glorious people, we are the masters of this sacred land. The enemies covet our land. They kill and destroy. Now I am your king, and I will take you with me." You defeat the enemy. Soon, when the sun breaks through the fog, let the blood of these slaves be sacrificed to Odin, the sea god, and our great women of Melalen. The gods will bless us with victory!"
The morning sun finally tears through the fog, and the sun appears. It shines on the sacred altar like a curtain, and the holy light shines on every male and female priest, making his crown shine.shine.
The time was ripe. After Origen gave the priest a color, the bald high priest of Melalen began to chant the most critical prayer.
At this moment, Karl also showed his sword.
Karl, he enjoyed a strange joy in killing. He cleanly separated the slave's throat and deliberately let the blood stain the soil of the altar.
Rurik watched all this while holding his breath...
"It's bloody again. Why do I feel a bit like a battlefield? I am also nervous now on the battlefield. Oh! You employ people Could it be that sacrifice is just to prove one’s strength? Or do you think it’s a waste of labor?”
Rurik realized that human sacrifice and sacrifice were a stupid waste. Labor force behavior, the East has gradually abandoned this type of practice since the pre-Qin period. By the time of Hanwu, even some corporal punishments that were obviously used to destroy the labor force of strong men were abolished. It cannot be said that this measure is purely humane. After all, it seriously harms the country's strength. Several generals of Duke Mu of Qin were buried, and as a result, Qin lost several generals. The consequences of the unexpected loss of generals were quickly reflected in the later wars.
From Rurik's perspective on this matter, he did not ask Origen to respect any human rights (Oregen could not respect things he did not understand), even if it was to respect a labor force, he should not do this.
But that’s what he did, leaving all the leaders stunned.
It’s not that the leaders think that human sacrifice is really stupid, but they generally feel that using five slaves at one time, apart from Origen’s show-off significance, is it really considered a sacrifice to the gods?
In the Viking world, it was not uncommon to sacrifice the blood of enemy chiefs to gods. Rurik really guessed it right. The "generous" use of multiple slave blood sacrifices was a rare act of stupidity.
The sacrifice ended in the cheers of the people of Zamelalen. They were eager to see blood and fight, because what they thought of was not death, but the opportunity to gain huge wealth.
At the end of the sacrifice, the corpses of the slaves were thrown into the big lake and allowed to drift slowly into the sea. This was regarded as the last sacrifice to the lake god and the sea god.
The Mellaren tribe has now begun the most critical preparations for war. They reorganized their military and counted their ships. Origen and his Karl were in high spirits.
As early as on the altar, Origen announced for the second time that Karl would serve as a brave general in the Mellaren Army and would definitely make great achievements.
Having received great honor, as the crown prince of the kingdom, Karl was in the prime of life, so he naturally took the lead in venting his explosive ambition on his wives and concubines. He longed for a huge victory, and it would be best if he personally beheaded several Danish enemy chieftains and use the skulls as bowls. As a result, some wives and concubines died...
What happened with Karl can only be said to be a glimpse of the manic Melalen tribe. The entire tribe is preparing for an unprecedented war. One after another, strong men are being killed by Ollie. Jin was selected and was absorbed into the expedition team.
In fact, all tribes are so excited that most people will try this war.It is an opportunity to make a fortune, and I look forward to a triumphant return with a huge amount of loot in the autumn, another harvest of wheat, and a leisurely winter.
The Ross tribe has also fallen into this pre-war fervor, but compared to other tribes, the Ross people have been the initiators of wars in both summer and winter in the past two years. Many men did not find it difficult to conquer the Gotlanders and Danes because they had fought against them many times and had won.
Besides, why should ordinary Russians listen to Origen's instigation? They only follow the arrangements of their leader Otto and even the "son of god" Rurik.
Since the first order to prepare for war arrived, Fort Ross took action.
Rurik’s young subordinates, they are just a group of children, what can they do for this war? Since the leader needed a large amount of crossbow arrows, they all learned the techniques of making crossbow arrows during the winter, and new production began immediately.
With the sudden delivery of the second order, the children's work efficiency increased again.
Both boys and girls, they cut pine branches to make arrow shafts according to the previous standards, and even went crazy to use cast iron and glass to make arrow clusters. Using feathers as tailfins was too extravagant, so a large number of crossbow arrows had tailfins made of glued thin wood chips.
I have to praise the technology of the Russians here.
The blast furnace started burning again, and molten pig iron began to be produced. They were poured directly into a large number of prefabricated clay molds, and arrow clusters were being produced at an extremely fast speed. Cast iron is certainly not a good material for arrow clusters. If these arrow clusters are burned in an ordinary stove for a while, everything will change. Part of the carbon element is lost, and a layer of high-carbon steel material appears on the surface of the arrow cluster, which is a kind of tool steel.
Russian blacksmiths regard Professor Rurik's "atomic theory" as a guide and regard it as "the truth of God". Not to mention, the practice based on this theory, especially in metal processing, is the blacksmiths who are best at exploring technology in practice. They not only explored the method of making high-carbon steel using the stir-fried steel method, but also directly used it to make high-carbon steel. As a large number of tools, used for fine processing. For example, drill bits and chisels.
Of course it is perfect for use as arrow clusters, especially after surface quenching, it is extremely hard.
Due to the consumption of previous wars, the Ross tribe needs to equip more arrow clusters. The Ross tribe has long been qualified to seriously consider "defense construction". All Rurik can think of is to use a large number of arrow clusters in winter. When making arrow clusters, whether they are made of bone, glass, or iron, there is no difference between them.
The absolute order of Rurik, at least 20,000 standard arrows, as well as the "cannonballs" and javelins of the forged torsion slingshots, all tested the Russian armament production capacity.
Hundreds of people have been serving the Emperor for many years. Even if they are in a relationship, they are very willing to perform meritorious service for their master. But the most critical task is still the craftsmen of the Ross tribe, especially the potters and blacksmiths among them.
Children can only make arrow clusters and process javelin shafts on a small scale.
The Russians actually needed a lot of arrow delivery equipment, which really forced Klavason to almost be unable to sleep. More than a dozen carpenters undertook the manufacture of the new torsion slingshot, and only a few castings were made by blacksmiths.
The Russians actually need a large number of crossbows, but the cost of the best steel-arm crossbows is too high and the production period is long. If it were just for the purpose of effectively launching arrows, wouldn't it be the same if the steel arms were replaced with elastic wood? They used leftover oak materials from shipbuilding to make bows, and used pine wood to make crossbow bodies. The precise crossbow machine required Clavarson to create his own molds that had been processed into high-carbon steel, and only used bronze casting to make them. .
In order to achieve his goal, Klavason even sacrificed his own bronze oil lamp holder. The news reached the ears of Niya who stayed behind, and Niya informed Rumia of the dilemma. At this point, a wonder suddenly appeared!
The longhouse of the priests contributed a batch of bronze utensils, and even the bronze cauldron was dug out. High Priest Vilia, whose physical function was already very bad, told Rumia in anger that all these bottles and cans could be thrown away in order to win the great war that the Russians participated in!
Under normal circumstances, this situation occurs when the war is extremely intense and material supplies are difficult. The situation of the Russians was very similar. Rurik gave too little time, especially the delay in transmitting information, which lasted for many days, and a lot of time was wasted. This prompted the Ross people to make this strategy, but after the war, the Ross tribe would definitely have a lot of iron supplies to replace the former.
In this way, a large number of bronzes were returned to the furnace, and they were all turned into the core of crossbows and torsion slingshots, and even used to reinforce leather helmets.
It can be said that without active preparations in winter, the Russians would not have been able to deploy a large amount of weapons in this summer war.
All the tribesmen noticed that the weapons required by the leader were all long-range weapons, not the most common swords, axes and spears. Some smart people have realized that this is what Rurik himself meant when he said, "Why should I pick up the ax myself when I can kill you from a distance?" However, there are still many old warriors who feel that this method is inappropriate and that true warriors should fight bloody battles with swords.
According to the second order, Fort Ross must prepare all the weapons on the list before May 20th, and 200 soldiers must also be in place. A fleet transporting personnel, huge amounts of armaments, food and other supplies will first rush to Tombstone Island and then enter Lake Mälaren. They must transport personnel and ammunition to Gould Island on May 26th.
This can be called a stress test of the Ross tribe’s war potential. Sometimes Rurik feels that this order is too harsh, but then he thinks about it. The intensity of the war will inevitably escalate, and everything will become harsh. Do the Russians think they can rest easy as the war will not reach Rossburg in the far north? That's so naive.