Swinder had to give an answer immediately. He was caught in a huge entanglement. Faced with the aggressive posture of the Russians, there was obviously no reason to refuse.
He glanced at the warriors sitting on both sides from the corner of his eyes, and asked tentatively: "Isn't there... a third option?"
"The third option Choice?" Rurik almost laughed when he heard this, "No! You have to make a choice now. The chance of safe fishing on your island depends on your choice."
< p>A big stone pressed against his chest. Such a depressing scene made Swinder almost vomit.He endured the discomfort and asked tentatively: "If I completely agree. What is the price...?"
"The price? If you are a servant, of course you have to pay Price. Make your choice! I don't want you to linger any longer." As he spoke, Rurik raised his arrogant chin and glared at the messenger with disdain, then looked toward the open air. He deliberately reminded: "The weather today is really good, very suitable for sailing. My army has been without fighting capacity for a while. They are eager to fight, and their swords and axes are eager to drink blood."
"This... Ross "My lord, what do you mean?"
"Are you pretending to be confused?"
Swinder is indeed pretending to be confused, although he does not believe that the Ross people will do it for Bornhall. Mu's ruined island really launched a large-scale invasion this year, but Prince Rus has already drawn his sword.
“I agree!”
He felt he had no choice but to agree in order to avoid disaster.
"Very good." Rurik clapped his hands in praise, "You made a smart choice."
Although Swinder was sitting on the ground, he He bent his back and tried to raise his head, staring at the sitting king with complicated eyes. "So, what price do we pay?"
Rurik also poked his head, his face full of the joy of a winner: "Of course you have to pay a price, and it is probably a price you can pay. I have never Others learned about your current situation, and thought that you might pay tribute with a bunch of smelly herrings, so forget it."
"What do you want?"
"People? !”
“Human?”
Swinder was a little confused, but after thinking about it, he felt more and more terrible.
"It's the people. The most valuable thing about your island is the people. Do you have many women?" Rurik asked this deliberately.
"Women? Not many."
"Where are the children?"
"Not many either."
"Are you here?" Are you trying to deal with me?" Rurik smiled, "Are there many lonely men with no energy?"
"At least not as many as you."
"Hehe. It seems that you just want to anger me. You and your islanders probably don’t want to join, and that’s okay, because it’s not difficult to destroy you. Say, do you have five thousand islanders?”
"There are five thousand men who can bear arms." SiWen De held his head high and spoke openly.
His original intention was to make a small demonstration to the Prince of Rus, and the number of five thousand was just a casual comment.
This number did touch Rurik a little bit. He didn't believe it was true. Maybe the other party could mobilize at least two thousand troops. This is indeed a large number. Ross was vigilant a long time ago, but now it is nothing, just because Ross can mobilize more troops.
Rurik did not like this envoy named Swinder. Obviously, this guy was not shocked by the prosperity of the Principality of Rus. It is such an island. Even if it surrenders, it is still an unstable group and a potential Lindenwan. Logically speaking, there is no need for these guys to annex. The principality must extend its tentacles, obviously relying on them to contain Denmark.
At this moment, Rurik thought of Ragnar's statement again.
Swinder was very conflicted about surrender, and now Rurik also felt that the matter was starting to become useless.
Maybe we shouldn’t push them too hard?
Finally, Rurik put forward his conditions.
"Swinder, it is meaningless for you to put forward any conditions. Now you must comply with several of my decisions. First, five hundred young women must be forced to immigrate into Ross as my Subjects. Second, your fishing boats must start flying Ross flags, and our ships will attack all unflag fishing boats in that area. Third, you must firmly oppose King Horik of Denmark and end trade with Denmark. Fourth, let you. The islanders have the right to choose freely, and I invite some people to immigrate to Ross.”
The four major clauses were heard, and Swinder was surprised that the prince of Ross seemed to have no more requirements besides these. What about the requirement to pay tribute every year? It seems not?
He lowered his head and analyzed it carefully. First of all, if you fly the Russian flag, you can fish freely without being attacked. This seems to be a good thing. It also means that ships from Denmark can attack Bornho at will. Elm ships. The fishing boats flying flags naturally gave outsiders the sense that the islanders were joining Rus, and it also meant that the entire island was against King Horik of Denmark.
The request of Prince Ross is very strange. It seems that Ross is only opposed to the current King of Denmark himself.
The so-called clause that gives islanders the right to migrate freely is even more wonderful. Think about it, you are just an elected talker. The people who can settle on the island come from all kinds of sources. They come and go as they please, and there is no power to restrain them. If they are willing to be the subjects of the Prince of Ross, no one can stop them from leaving. .
The only thing that troubled Swinde was the provision of 500 women in the first clause.
He agreed to the last three clauses, but was deeply concerned about the first clause.
"I am not the owner of the island, I am just the talker elected by them. I cannot order those people to hand over their daughters. If you insist on doing so, maybe you can only give them an order personally to force them to submit. "
"Absurd." Rurik punched the table and showed his angry face again.Smile: "I think our conversation is getting more and more boring. Am I negotiating for peace with someone who has no authority? What else can you say since you can't take responsibility?"
Swinder was embarrassed: " Sir, I can only be responsible for part of the matter, but the handing over of five hundred women... they are human beings, not animals."
"You shouldn't think that I asked for the women for this purpose. To tell you the truth, I am merciful, and these women will be given to my warriors as wives. They are all Odin's warriors, and they need a blond wife. It seems that we have limits! There is no need to talk anymore. "Here comes someone!" Rurik gave an order and the warriors on both sides stood up.
Swinder was anxious and wanted to chat again, but was forked out by a group of warriors and immediately thrown to a temporary dormitory to rest...
A man came for peace negotiations. The envoy lacked authority. Since Swinde could not promise absolute surrender, it was meaningless for him to make concessions.
Through this boring negotiation, Rurik gained an intuitive understanding of the real internal political situation of Bornholm Island.
Swinder said some nonsense during his defense, and some of his words accidentally leaked real information. For example, some big families on the island recommend people to talk to each other, and he, Swinde, is also the patriarch of the big family. Swinde can control the affairs of his own family, but other families cannot.
This is a good thing. If the people of Bornholm Island, each small family is a political unit, it is obviously easy for Ross to defeat them one by one.
A new plan began to emerge in his mind.
......
"Let's just raise our troops and go to war!" At night, Rurik suddenly snarled while lying on the bed, which scared Svetlana and sat up suddenly.
"Ah?! War? Did you agree not to fight? You..."
"Damn it. I just don't want to give up this opportunity."
Lana He lay down gently again: "Who are you going to fight in the war? Aren't the Karelia people perished?"
"Of course it's not them. I changed my mind. Bornholm's envoy is simply Ridiculous, I want to conquer the island myself and force that damn island to surrender. I'm even confident that I can win without fighting."
"That's right. Yes."
"Okay. You are the prince, you decide everything." Lana firmly held her man's arm and said with a smile, "I will go too."
< p>"You? What are you going to do? You shouldn't wander around when you are pregnant.""That's why I have to follow you. The one in my belly is the crown prince, so I must go..."< /p>
Is this a kind of prenatal education? It seems that she was tired of staying by Lake Ilmen and wanted to go out and see the world again.
"Okay, let's go together."
"Hehe." She smiled sweetly: "I am a Varyag woman."
"Oh? I thought you were a beautiful Slavic woman."
"Both. Oh! I am a Russian woman, your woman."
Svetlana said this She acted coquettishly out of her own heart, and she was also trying her best to strengthen her status in the Ross court. She wants to work hard to please, be a charming woman, and be a Varyag female warrior.
All of this was very useful to Rurik. As a man, Rurik was more willing to listen to her moaning and gasping in his arms. That was the most powerful ecstasy soup for a man... /p>
He could only lament that Otto really did not make a mistake, and the Lanna he chose for himself was really the most beautiful one among the many wives and concubines. It wasn't obvious when I was a child, but now I have three-dimensional facial features with a pointed chin, big eyes with deep-sea blue pupils, and the most important thing is a pair of long legs. She was originally on the thin side, but her long legs not only gave her an extraordinary height, but also made her whole body slim and agile, and the growth in what a woman is proud of was unambiguous.
It was such a beautiful woman who had experienced the war. She had fought as an ordinary warrior with a bow and actually killed the enemy. This was a great touch to the warriors from the old Ross tribe.
After all, a Slavic woman is the prince’s wife. Is she qualified? oh? ! She had killed enemies like Valkyrie, and that was completely different.
There will be another meeting in a few days. Since Rurik has decided that he must use force to force the islanders to make a choice, there is no need to talk nonsense with the messenger Swind.
After taking a rest, Swinde was sneaked into the palace again. He thought about it all night and barely slept, but he still couldn't figure out what Prince Ross wanted to do.
Ragnar is also ambiguous about the outcome of the negotiations, but he still has other things to do - talk to his tribe and family members who stayed in Novgorod.
Ragnar even visited the school of the Ross people. This is where he observed up close what the "wise men" who were not very young were instilling in a large group of children.
Because, his eldest son, Ivar, who uses a wooden wheelchair, was also taken to school to study.
After being away for only a month, the eldest son has already learned some things. The most important thing is the spelling pattern of the Latin alphabet in Norse. He relies on rote memorization to memorize these letters and spellings. The law is not difficult, so much so that little Ivar can barely spell the documents issued by the principality.
Ivar actually also dabbled in some more profound things. How did a seven-year-old boy deeply understand that Midgard (the human world) is a giant ball and Northern Europe is a small world in the far north? .
Ivar dictated something to his father. He didn't quite understand it, but it shocked Ragnar greatly.
Do the Russians actually know what this world looks like?
Do they actually know the precise location of Bornholm Island? Also know the shortest route through Danish waters?
Ragnar is a down-and-out lord;It was decided that he must have more considerations, and naturally realized the importance of a map. He has a certain understanding of this sea area and knows the location of some islands, but he has no idea about places further away.
He asked his son to stare at the patterns drawn by the young teacher on the blackboard made of turquoise mixed with carbon powder during class. He relied on rote memorization and had to paint with sticks and sand afterwards. The model is reproduced.
In this way, Ragnar roughly understood the shape of the entire Baltic Sea for the first time, as well as the positions of the key Gotland Island, Tombstone Island, and Lake Mälaren in Sweden relative to the entire sea area.
Following this line of thinking, I am afraid that Spyut, who is also a royal pirate, has a particularly exquisitely marked map in his hand, otherwise their big ships would not dare to roam the sea openly.
Ragnar was embarrassed to ask, and secondly, he was afraid of causing dissatisfaction among the Russians.
Since Ross has a Noble Artifact called paper for wiping after using the toilet, their documents are also written on another kind of paper. Ragnar simply drew a rough map on a piece of soft toilet paper, folded it and kept it.
But Ragnar never imagined that Prince Rurik clearly did not want to have a good negotiation with the Bornholm people.
The next step is no longer the scope of confidential talks. Even before the meeting, a piece of news spread like wildfire.
Does Rosget intend to continue the war? Rose wants to conquer Bornholm directly?
This news made the men feel itchy. In their view, war is a good thing to gain money, wealth and honor. Even the prince made a promise, saying that if a person is injured, he can be revived, and if his children are killed in battle, they can have enough food and clothing.
This is what Ragnar saw and heard, and the atmosphere affected the entire Stonewall tribe living in Novgorod. Most of the men who followed Ragnar into exile did not care about his personal ambitions and just wanted to sit down and sit down. Get on the Russian ship and reap your own benefits.
Yes! The Bornholm people had no economic ties with each other, so who would feel guilty if they were killed? On the contrary, it will impress the Russian people.
A military meeting with a strange atmosphere was held in the Rosduma Chamber of Novgorod. This meeting was unparalleled. Bornholm’s envoy and speaker , Swinde, the theoretical leader, was also brought over.
Swinder also heard those rumors. Seeing the atmosphere at the venue, he was so angry that he was clearly deceived by the young king of the Russians. What promises peace? We still have to fight after all!
The people present at the meeting were all brave warriors. They did not hesitate to make fun of poor Swinder and threatened to conquer Bornholm easily. Especially Ah Liekai, who openly showed off his power, making Swinde have to endure the humiliation.
Rurik arrived late, and the noise inside could be heard outside the venue.
As he entered, the chaos suddenly stopped, and pairs of eager eyes stared at the prince of Ross.
"It seems that you all know it! Especially you!" Rurik said undesirably.Pointing his hand directly at Swinde: "Originally, I wanted to negotiate with you and made some concessions to you. But I figured it out. You actually tried to get the peace you couldn't get on the battlefield through negotiation? Ridiculous! I have fought fiercely with you islanders many times, and I have won easily every time. I have changed my mind. I want to conquer it myself and make your islanders surrender to me this year!”
Swinde! After sweating, he simply took off his cotton hat, bared his fangs and stood up, shouting angrily: "If you really choose war, we would rather fight. Don't forget, we are all Vikings, who is afraid of whom?!" < /p>
He was so arrogant that he instantly detonated the atmosphere in the entire parliament chamber. Everyone present drew their swords one after another, and as many as twenty swords flashed with cold light and reached his neck.
On the other hand, Swinder was still angry, and he was not afraid at all.
Rurik shrugged. Even if the messenger was stabbed to death, things would not end well.
"Brothers, stay calm." Rurik ordered everyone to sit down and solemnly announced: "Conquest is necessary, but... maybe this will not turn into a bloody conflict."
"How do you say this?" Swinder suddenly asked.
"Idiot! What I want are subjects, not corpses. When my army lands on the island, are the islanders really willing to fight to the death? So I want to keep you and let you tell them to surrender to me. Benefits. Let them see my army to intimidate those who disobey and kill those who resist."