The Gotlanders all need the opinions of the king and nobles, and they also need them to lead everyone to defeat the enemy to avoid the loss of everyone's wealth.
So, how do Haken, the big businessmen, and the village leaders who fled the court feel when they face more and more people gathering? Up to now, their superficial thoughts are still "supporting the war", but they are already in a mess inside.
The weather has been very cool, the people in the chamber were covered with sweat on their foreheads, and Haken was spinning with anxiety.
The merchants looked at the king's anxiety, which made them equally irritable, and people began to discuss among themselves.
"What's going on? Haken, people are shouting that the Russians are to the east of the mound."
"If it doesn't work, maybe I..."
< p>"What? You actually want to escape, who can escape? The Danes don't dare to save us now.""This is a slander. My family is here, how can I escape?" Or think about how to contact the Danes."
"What about the Danes? Have we been deceived by them again? This sea is full of scammers."
" It's not that the Danes don't want to, it's the guys from Mellaren who are holding back the Danish army. We can only face the Russians alone."
......
The big businessman and village leader made noise. The argument continues, and the voice of the war faction is the loudest in the quarrel, even though the unfavorable news is now increasing.
Those people who were shouting were saying that Sigfast's team was completely wiped out, and there were even rumors that one of his men had been killed.
The patrolling Danish mercenaries captured the ten men from Baisha Port who spread the news and claimed to have escaped from the clutches of the Russians, and they were turned into the chamber. One of them showed off a beautiful sword that belonged to Siegfast, and another presented a hat and a very important amber necklace.
"What?! My eldest son is really dead?!" Haken stomped his feet in anger. He suddenly drew his sword and assassinated the man from Baisha Port who presented his eldest son's "relic".
At this time, someone took out a wooden board from his clothes: "The leader of Visby, the leader of Ross asks you to fight them. Siegfast is not dead, they ask you to exchange him for money. Come back."
"What? It's great that he's still alive!" The furious Haken's spirit improved dramatically, and he grabbed the board.
He glanced at the runes on the board, then felt dizzy and sat down on the ground with a dramatic thud.
He was helped up by the businessmen present, his face was full of veins, and he was cursing in a low voice, "Damn Russians, they are so vicious."
There were also nervous businessmen. Picking up the wooden board, out of the business habit of being highly sensitive to numbers, I caught sight of the ransom amount at a glance.
The businessman did not care about Haken's extension and asked coldly: "The Russians want you to pay 200 pounds of silver to redeem your son. That's crazy.. Can't you pay this money? "
"Nonsense! Your son was kidnapped by them. As a father, why don't you get him back? I'd rather spend money. "
"Oh, this is your business. Haken...oh no, Your Majesty, this matter is still dangerous. Since the Russians asked you to go in person, brothers will not bring anyone to support you for the time being. Since you want to choose to fight with them, brothers will naturally accompany you. This matter..."
"Shut up! Haken reluctantly stood up and said, "I will take the people there myself. This is my private matter and you don't need to take action." I will go with my private soldiers tomorrow, and you will stay in Visby to continue reorganizing the team. I will try to talk to the leaders of the Rus and ask them what they want. If I could give these bastards some money to get out, I'd be willing to pay, as for you. ”
“I am willing too. "Some businessmen agreed without hesitation, and then more and more people expressed the same attitude - if the price to buy peace is not a lot, of course everyone can accept it.
Of course the soldiers will not discuss this. But they are all businessmen, and in their opinion, everything can be bought and sold, including war and peace. They don't think it is shameful to buy peace and send the Russians away, unless the Russians are whales who can't get enough to eat. The businessmen of Visby did not hesitate to fight to the end.
Ironically, the so-called warring faction also advocated the idea of peace in their hearts. They were more pragmatic than the previous peace factions and prepared for the decisive battle first. Do it well, this is the best strategy.
To negotiate with the Russians, King Haken accepted this extremely dangerous job.
The businessmen present sighed, and then continued. They all praised Haken's courage.
Of course, in Haken's opinion, the praise given by his friends was really vain. Look at these people, if the enemy didn't attack at the door of their home, who would care about them. What? He asked himself, he was the same as them, but the capture of his eldest son happened to him.
With complicated emotions, he began to prepare for the ransom. But winter is coming soon, and the Russians can't continue to delay. After the Gotlanders can have good contact with the Danes, will they dare to make a comeback next year with the support of the Danish army? .
Perhaps it would be better for the Rus to come back, so that the Danish Hafgen and his army can kill the main force of the Rus in one battle, so that most of the Gotlanders can regain their strength. Peace, at least the merchant families can still happily accumulate wealth.
The life and death of ordinary people has nothing to do with the merchants. The money lost by the merchants can be quickly earned back. In this situation, according to Haken's own estimation, the so-called If they use force to force the Russians not to dare to fight decisively, and then release the idea of purchasing peace, they should agree to withdraw with money.
They still need to personally lead and carry all this. For ransom, go and have a good talk with the leader of the Ross people.
I am afraid that Sigfast will lead people to fight from the beginning.Searching for information was a complete mistake. In the end, no useful information was found, and all the news came back was bad news.
The eldest son still needs to inherit the family's industry and wealth. If he is really lost, the successor of all these should be inherited by the second son. Haken never felt that the second son's business level was higher than that of his elder brother. Moreover, I am afraid that what the second son is looking forward to now is to hope that the Russians will cut off the eldest brother.
Haken took out two hundred pounds of silver from his family's coffers overnight, which was not a lot for his family, but it was still a lot.
He summoned most of the private soldiers he supported and also recruited more than 200 strong men.
The plan to redeem his son could not get the support of other businessmen, so Haken had no choice but to take his men, organize a small army, and personally lead the team out of the heavily guarded Visby early in the morning.
After all, he is a king, and he who establishes himself as a king is also a king.
Each merchant family sent their own spies, disguised as hungry refugees fleeing, to follow Haken's team as they approached the hills.
Some big businessmen are already plotting something, what should everyone do if Haken dies. Smart businessmen will always estimate the worst outcome of things in advance and formulate a set of response plans first. Their plan was very simple. If Haken died during this trip, a second king would be elected.
At the beginning, many businessmen supported the war. It was said that the five hundred soldiers who climbed the mound were wiped out. After learning this news, many people were shaken. Now Haken has brought more than 400 warriors to negotiate with the Russians. If Haken and his team are destroyed, war and peace have become unknown.
Defeat without fighting is a stupid thing that no one dares to mention rashly. Businessmen don't say anything on the surface, but their inner thoughts are hinted to others quietly. They were filled with righteous indignation and pretended to fight to the death with the Russians. The so-called new king was elected to continue the fight after Haken died suddenly, which was to hide their inner thoughts of sitting on the fence through toughness. Of course, the biggest role of this new king is probably to be responsible for ending the surrender of the Gotlanders.
After all, once Haken dies during this trip, it means that before the decisive battle, Gotland will permanently lose a total of 900 soldiers who will protect the interests of merchants. In this way, no matter how many people are recruited, their quality will vary greatly, and there is a high possibility of being massively defeated by the Ross army.
We are all peers. Haken has already guessed the mentality of the businessmen.
Haken also had his own worst-case scenario, which was to have his captured son killed.
No matter what, the Russians will definitely send someone with high status to negotiate. To find out their purpose, of course you also have to protect your own safety.
The elderly Haken does not have the habit of eating greasy food all day long. He is just a little fatter than ordinary people. He put on a warrior's uniform and deliberately put on two layers of chainmail on his upper body. The Russians have amazing archery skills, and two layers of mail armor are already an excellent defense.
Haken was also afraid of being hurt by his opponent’s secret arrows, so he went out to the big battle.With his own hand, he equipped one hundred of his capable mercenaries with mail armor. The wooden shields painted with raven patterns they carried proved their identity as Danish mercenaries. .
As for the strong men who casually support the scene, most of them are shirtless, showing gorgeous and ferocious tattoos, and their blond hair is messy. They are equipped with wooden shields and battle axes. The whole image is that of the Gotlanders. The berserker in cognition.
The sky is a little gloomy and there may not be any rainfall, but the weather today is not very good.
Rurik led the ransom-demanding team to sleep all night on the top of the hill. When everyone woke up, they all realized that their hands and feet were cold.
The wind direction has changed. The warm southwesterly wind has stopped and been replaced by the bleak northerly wind. Autumn has started early in the Nordic world.
The chilling atmosphere made Rurik feel very bad.
Today was the agreed day for the exchange of prisoners. Rurik and Arik made the worst plan together. Although it is a cloudy day, if everyone feels that it is already afternoon and the opponent has not sent anyone to exchange money for prisoners, Siegfast's throat will be cut, and then he will be hung on a tree to shock and provoke Gotland. people.
The worst plan did not come true. The Ross army did not wait long before a mighty army appeared.
Most of them wore helmets that covered half of their faces, and all of them carried shields. Many of them went into battle shirtless.
Arik, who was extremely sensitive to battles, used the instinct of a warrior to order his brothers to be ready to attack at any time, and warned his brother Rurik: "You should not have extravagant hopes for them. You ask their king to As for the guards who brought a hundred people, I think he brought an army. We are ready to fight at any time. I will arrange for some brothers to ambush and wait for opportunities to shoot." "Don't be impulsive. Ke stretched his head and took a few glances, then turned to question his cousin: "That's it? Can it be considered a big army? We have three hundred old soldiers. I don't think it will be difficult to annihilate them."
"I I think so. Our troops should be the first to attack."
"It still doesn't work. Our mission is to get the ransom first. If you want to kill the enemy, at least get the gold and silver first. Just wait for my order to take action. Don't worry, I won't be merciful to these people."
"Maybe I'm too sensitive?" Arik shrugged disdainfully: "I'm just afraid of them. No. The death of a Sigfast should not be a big deal to their king. This group of people may have come to challenge us. We are temporarily outnumbered, but I am still willing to take the initiative and shoot them directly by surprise. Isn't this what you want most? If they bring money, the money will still be ours. Rurik, you have to know that even if you have Odin's blessing, Odin will tolerate your death at will. You stand rashly in front of your opponents, be careful not to be killed by them.”
If you ask yourself, Rurik did originally intend to directly assassinate the king of Gotland. However, in order to carry out the decisive battle smoothly, their king cannot be stabbed to death. As for one's own safety, Rurik is not a cautious person now.
"Listen to my decision, Arik. You and I will show up to meet them with a hundred brothers. The other warriors will lie in wait. If we are in danger, we will stand up and shoot arrows mercilessly."< /p>
After all, he is still the commander-in-chief. Arik felt that this decision was too risky, so he agreed.
Arik untied the hemp rope, and his sewn left arm was now tied with a wooden shield. It seemed that it was really God's blessing and Rumia's medical skills. Aric was excited that he was now in good health and energetic. There was still some pain in the wound, but other than that, he was fine.
God has blessed me once, and obviously he will bless me many more times.
Because Odin needs him to protect Rurik who is in danger, but this child has forgotten that he is not an adult yet and is not yet a reassuring warrior.
A flag bearer appeared carrying a "Ross Paddle Flag". In a world of mixed withered yellow and ink, a white cloth suddenly appeared, with an extremely obvious blue X-shaped strip on the cloth. Around the standard-bearer stood a number of warriors in mail armour, of whom Jevlo was the commander. They are also Rurik's elite mercenaries. No matter what kind of accident they encounter, they will swear to protect the financial owner Rurik to the death. They have already repaid the kindness of their encounter. Of course, they have a simpler idea - since Rurik has been blessed by God, To die for him is to get a letter of introduction to the Hall of Valor.
"It's the Rus! Brothers, be alert, beware of their sneak attack!" Haken saw the situation in the distance. His men obeyed the order and took off their shields to protect most of their bodies. Observe everything around you vigilantly.
Haken and his men finally saw the figures standing in a row in front of them. Look at their extremely uniform blue and white clothes, as well as a group of chalk mud painted white and some nailed with blue cloth. A wooden shield. Isn’t this a Russian or something? !
However, seeing the Russian Haken dressed like this, he felt incredible.
"You butchers on the sea, are every man trying to flaunt himself as a Russian? You are quite gorgeous after all." Haken gritted his teeth, he had to admit that he had appeared. A handful of opponents do have an indescribable aura.
Haken stretched out his right hand and the entire team stopped.
Wearing double layers of mail armor, he walked out of the shield wall. In order to show that he was peaceful and not threatening, he deliberately pulled out his sword in public and stabbed it into the ground. He then took off his helmet and handed it to his men, and approached the Russians with open arms.
At this point, he did not dare to show off his kingly power in front of a powerful enemy. Any arrogant move would lead to the death of his captured son and an immediate general attack by the Russians. He didn't believe that those who came forward were most of the soldiers of the Ross army, just a small group of people who came to negotiate. He subconsciously looked up at the pine forests on the hills and swallowed deeply. The pine forest will cover up many things, such as covering up the main force of the Ross army.
Perhaps the Russians, just like their letter of challenge, hope for an uprightA decisive battle, but Haken cannot guarantee that they will not launch a surprise attack, such as a surprise attack on himself.
Thinking about it this way, the small group of guys in front of me are dressed in extremely bright colors and tell everyone from head to toe that they are Russians. When Haken looks at them, they look like fishermen. The bait for cod might be that big, fat cod.
Haken, who has not yet met the nobles of the Rus, was cautious and spoke first: "I am the king of Gotland! My Haken! I have brought you what you want. Where is the leader of the Russians?"