The crows are hovering over Bridge Village. They are messengers of God. When the warrior warriors are reduced to ashes in the fire, their souls will surely go to Valhalla under the gaze of the messengers of God.
In a hearty battle, some warriors died, but those who survived did not feel sad or lost.
Because there is still a big battle waiting for everyone.
In fact, these crows were aiming at the dead cattle and sheep carcasses everywhere. They came smelling blood, and gathered to peck at the cattle and sheep just after Arik left.
Arik decided to evacuate with his brothers and inform the army of the news. They spent a lot of energy during the battle. Now these people are resting in Qiao Village, intending to repair and continue their journey tomorrow.
The fleeing Gotland warriors fled madly towards Visby, and soon fled back to the harbor.
The people who went to inquire about the news were actually defeated? ! Bad news spread quickly as the defeated soldiers fled.
At noon, the exhausted and thirsty people returned to the Gotland Council.
As many as twenty noble people gathered in the meeting room. They were the heads of all the big families in Visby and the leaders of all the villages that had fled.
The fact of failure challenges everyone's nerves, even the face that was rounded by wealth now has wrinkles full of sadness. Oh, these people who had made such a fuss about fighting, jumping or running away yesterday were now all terrified.
The defeated people sat on the land in front of the court, listlessly waiting for the dignitaries to gather.
The Brisnos family may be the richest business family in Visby or Gotland.
Haken, the leader of the family, hopes that he can become a generation of heroes who can essentially dominate the entire Visby and the entire island, so as to become a powerful force on the sea. The reality is that he does not have the ability in this area. His family has always maintained a group of private soldiers, and his sons are also smart and capable. The family has accumulated a lot of wealth and can recruit many warriors.
The Brisnos family does not yet have overwhelming strength. Haken and his traditional allies in business have a strong voice in the council, and this has been the case for a long time.
They are the representatives of the main war faction! It was this group of people who encouraged everyone to move the island to the Danes for the sake of greater interests.
Obviously the news from the previous escapees was completely correct, the Russians had already arrived at the doorstep!
Suddenly a man in rich clothes stood up. He held his legs to suppress the trembling of fear: "The Russians are so ferocious, they are to the east of the mound! Let's leave now. If we want to survive, we must Let’s go!”
As soon as he finished speaking, the people gathered in the meeting room, and even the nobles present, stared at him with disdainful eyes.
Haken is old, and his braided white beard is trembling.
This is Haken the "White Beard". When he was young, he was called Haken the "Golden Beard".Youth is no longer available today. He was not destined to become a warrior in his life, but became a very wealthy fur trader.
If the Russians were just fighting fishermen on the northern sea, the Brisnos family would have suffered no losses. Now that the Russians have invaded the cattle and sheep pastures on the island, this has disturbed all the fur merchants and The interests of farmers and herdsmen throughout the island! They can no longer sit back and watch the fishermen suffer losses.
"Swila of the Stork family, is your mind full of suet? Or have you become a cowardly fat sheep?" Haken rolled his eyes and said with disdain.
"You! You are mocking me." Svera stretched out his hand and shouted, "Now the Danes and the northern guys are fighting in the south. We only have 10,000 people, and we have to be alone. Fighting against the Russians? Can we win?"
"You...are indeed a docile sheep." After that, Haken laughed in public.
He began to interrogate the people who had withdrawn, and was shocked to find that the elite under his command were from Lavin and were not present? A bad thought made his head buzz.
Someone hurriedly wailed: "Raven is dead, and his head was cut off by the Russians. Hundreds of brothers died, how tragic!"
"What?"< /p>
The shocked Haken hurriedly walked down the stone steps, squatted down and pinched the neck of the messenger: "Say! Who killed him? He was a warrior!"
"Yes... It's that guy. Arik! Ross's Arik!" "Huh? Actually..." Haken let go, and the nobles present became alert.
Just three years ago, Aric first unleashed his terror on the Gotlanders. He deliberately told his name to the fleeing enemies. In the following years, he led his troops to plunder Gotland fishing boats at sea, and deliberately let some prisoners go to bring news about the Gotlander "Aric of Rus".
The Gotlanders don’t know much about the Rus’, mainly because of the pile of old almanacs from decades ago – the losers in the competition in Svealand were forced to go to the bitter cold land in the north.
Of course, the current islanders have repaid the constant plundering for exactly three years, and Arik of Rus has become synonymous with terror, as if that person is the leader of the Rus people.
Haken admired Arik as a warrior, but it was a pity that he was an enemy who threatened his family. Unless that man dies, the whole island will be unsafe.
Now that the Lord Peace Party has completely shut up, many people who were still arguing last night are now standing around Haken.
However, there is a group of cowards called "escapists" in the crowd.
Visla of the wealthy Stoker family is one of these escapees. He himself does not care about cowardly behavior, and there are indeed people who follow him for a reason.
Knowing that the Russians had sent a butcher strengthened Svera’s determination to escape: “If you want to fight, just fight! I will take my family to evacuate. I I will go to Denmark and leave this unfortunate island."
"What do you mean?island? "Haken's eyes widened with anger.
"What? Have we not experienced enough in these years? ”
“This is clearly a blessed land, and we are all very wealthy. "Haken argued.
"But we will be finished soon. Brother, listen to me, it's not too late to evacuate now. ”
Svera no longer wants to talk nonsense, he has made up his mind to go. He is very sure of one thing. Although the news is not yet conclusive, the Russians must invade in a large scale. The Gotlanders have always been in disarray. In recent years, the Brisnos family has grown rapidly, and the Russians have suddenly become more aggressive. The Gotlanders, who have always been active, have now become passive.
The Russians dared to invade this time. They must have come prepared for the island's interior.
He had already turned around and was stopped by Haken's guards.
"What? Won't let me go? Force me to fight? "
"No. You can go! But hand over all your private soldiers. "Haken said fiercely.
"Why? That's my person. "
"You? Do you think you can leave Thing alive if you don’t hand him over now? Listen, Gotland's coward will be killed by everyone. No one has sympathy for cowards. "
Svera stared at all the nobles. He saw that those who were frightened by Haken and intended to escape also expressed their intention to stay and fight. Everyone seemed to be united around Haken? No! Everyone just hugged each other to keep warm.
Haken himself was affected by the subtle atmosphere. It was not just the thread that caught him. Haken suddenly shouted: "Visby is in danger, and the wealth of each family is at stake. Here the Russians have come out with all their strength to take away our wealth. We can only fight them desperately. Now I hope you all recognize that I am the leader, and let me lead everyone and gather everyone's strength to defeat the Russians. "
"Huh? Svera was shocked and asked angrily: "In the end, you want to imitate the Danes and become king?" ! "
"Why not? Haken laughed slowly and pulled out his sword again, "I want to go to the altar in the south. I want to sacrifice Odin's blood so that God can grant us victory and God can grant me the King of Gotland." "
"Just you? Are you worthy of being called king? Svera did not leave anymore. He turned around and stood upright in front of Haken and said contemptuously: "I can be a coward, but you are arrogant." You are just slightly richer than everyone else, why do you..."
"Just because of this! "Svela was only halfway speaking when a sharp dagger pierced his chin.
It was Haken who instantly pulled out the meat-cutting knife with his left hand and gave it to Svela. Pulling a fatal blow, this move shocked everyone.
Blood spattered all over Haken. Svera died on the ground with his eyes open, blood still pouring out from the wound...
p>Haken still did not give up, he bowed down and spat: "This is the fate of cowards who run away. ”
Originally, the majority of people advocated fighting. After all, the islanders are mainly fishermen.The crazy plundering of the Russians in the past years has not only killed many men on the island, but now the lives of ordinary people have become difficult. The root of all evil is the Russians! Unless they die, everyone will starve to death sooner or later.
Haken raised his right hand holding the sword tightly and threw away the bloody dagger, "Brothers, now I am the King of Gotland! I will go to the altar today, and I will offer ten sacrifices to God. Slave, I will use my own blood to pray for Odin to grant victory. The Rus are indeed terrible, but we can defeat them with the strength of everyone!"
People in fear need a political strongman to stand up. Come out and give them a bright future.
Is Haken such a person? Maybe yes, at least this person's decisiveness is trustworthy.
Visby is a large settlement expanded around the Stone Ship Altar.
Today, a huge longhouse has been built on the original altar site. Each wooden door has exquisite carvings. The pillars inside are also wrapped in sheepskin, and are decorated with dark green pine branches and crystal amber. . The longhouse was always filled with incense. A group of priests used red-hot daggers to destroy all the hair follicles so that their hair would no longer grow. They were bald and wore plain robes. They used pure white to represent absolute piety and worshiped their gods.
The news of the failure was quickly replaced by the news of Haken becoming king.
Everyone needs a hero in their hearts to lead everyone through this disaster. Everyone knows that the distant Danes cannot immediately relieve their urgent needs, and now they must rely on themselves.
The rich and the poor all supported Haken, even the doubters. In order to avoid ending up like Svela, they instead shouted that "war" was the happiest thing.
A huge crowd of people surrounded the long room of the Shichuan Altar!
Ten slaves of the Brisnos family were beheaded by the priests with gold-plated axes in panic.
In the longhouse, there is a bronze statue roughly cast with an old face, which is the image of Leodin in the minds of the Gotlanders. The eyes of the statue witnessed the death of the sacrifice.
The cultural environment of Gotland is a bit strange. The only statue of Odin erected in the altar is the statue of Frey, which symbolizes wealth. The merchant family also has a statue of Frey, which symbolizes wealth.
Now that life and death are at stake, businessmen have turned into warriors.
Haken closed his eyes, cut his hand with a knife, and sprinkled the blood on the pure gold plate.
The decapitated slave was hung upside down, and the blood of the slave dyed the stone ship altar in the room completely red.
Wealthy businessmen and village leaders all knelt in the longhouse. They were participants and witnesses of the entire bloody sacrifice.
Similarly, a male high priest from Gotland who was blind in one eye and wore a deer-antlered helmet (the antlers were smaller than those of the priests of Rus, but had a pure gold hoop), he suddenly After a strange twitch, he solemnly declared two things:
As long as the men and women of Gotland unite, they can completely defeat the Rus. The Great Odin declares Harken of House Brinos to be the Lord of GotlandKing and lead the people to defeat the enemy.
No one has any objection to this arrangement, because time is limited and they are not allowed to have any objection at all!
Haken did not feel any pleasure in becoming the king. He became the king of his dreams, but he was also very sober.
The reason why each family supports him is because he needs to fulfill his responsibilities as a king and lead everyone to defeat the enemy. Similarly, for future battles, Wang's family must also spend money lavishly, so that the islanders dare to fight for their lives.
This night, the Stork family was robbed by the locals of Visby!
Because the king said that cowards who betrayed the brothers on the island have no right to live.
Svera of Stoker was killed, and his sons also died tragically. Although his female relatives resisted, they all became slaves who could be disposed of at will. However, the private soldiers and old slaves raised by the family themselves suddenly became King Haken's men.
The wealth of the Stocker family was robbed. Not only the Visby people joined the plunder, but also the strong villagers who fled, and even the Danes who simply lived on the island. .
There are some silent Danes who have witnessed the major events of these days. They are the Danish leader, or the subordinates of the Danish King "Lion" Hafgen. They hide their identities and silently supervise these Gotlanders. It is said that once these guys betray the alliance, the news will soon reach Hafgen's ears, and then the Danish army will land to attack.
How could the king Haken not know this? He took out ten slave blood sacrifices at once. On the one hand, it was for Denmark's "silent surveillance" to see. As for the decisive battle with the Russians, The main aspect is of course for the Gotlanders. On the other hand, this is also another form of voting certificate.
Since the noble priest said that the Gotlanders would achieve a great victory, then after defeating the Rus, the Gotlanders' position in Danish power should also rise significantly.
The Brisnos family, under the auspices of family member Zhang Haken, decided to make a gamble that would not succeed or be destroyed.
His five sons of various ages must immediately suspend their identities as merchants and put on their mail armor and become warriors, whether they like it or not.
Of course he would not imagine that his cub could become a warrior on the battlefield, that was absolutely impossible. However, they can serve as commanders and lead mercenaries, slaves, and armed peasants to fight, thereby passively gaining honor.
He lied that his sons would never encounter any danger because he was not the main force in the war.
At night, Haken distributed as much as a hundred pounds of silver to support the fighting farmers, herdsmen, and fishermen in the name of the king. In addition, people looted the Stoker family, and many people became rich that night.
In the splendid longhouse of House Brisnoth, Harkon's five sons grew brave.
The eldest son, Siegfast, suddenly had greater ambitions because of his father's declaration of himself as king. He is the oldest and was meant to inherit the familyThe main industry of his father, now he will naturally inherit his father's throne.
However, the brothers are all eyeing him.
Sigfast did not want to kill his own brothers to eliminate future troubles, so he mainly used his strength to suppress his brothers' ambitions.
At the internal meeting of the family, Sigfast spoke boldly: "Father, I will continue to take people to see the situation. We are going to fight the Russians, and we must at least find them first."
p>
Haken Dayue: "Okay! Two hundred people are obviously not enough, and the villagers in Bridge Village are also fools. I will give you five hundred people to take these elites to explore the road."
"Okay!"
Haken reached out and patted his eldest son on the shoulder, then took off his amber-encrusted sword and handed it to his eldest son. The meaning of this is self-evident.
Sigfast held the sword in both hands as if holding absolute power.
He swore with a tight mouth: "I will find the Russians, attack them proactively, and take revenge on them."
"No!" Haken shook his head: "I I want you to be smarter. Five hundred warriors are here, and the Russians will not attack you rashly! I want you to find that Arik of Rus and tell him that the Gotlanders will fight for all the grievances with the Rus. The Telan people are ready. If the Rus don't come, they will be complete villains and cowards, and they will be trashed by the gods."
"Yes...I will." He nodded, but for a moment, Haken saw the twinkle in his son's eyes. It seemed that this boy still had his own little plans?
Haken couldn't think about that much. His top priority was to rectify his troops and turn farmers into warriors, including young women, who also had to take up arms and become female warriors.
As for Siegfast, five hundred warriors wearing leather armor (partly chain mail) are to follow him, and they will go to the mound tomorrow to explore with force.