Theoretically, those slaves just changed their families. In their opinion, their new master was a good man. He not only gave everyone enough food and water, but also gave them the opportunity to change their destiny.
They found that they were no longer cattle and horses that could only work endlessly. Although they were still a tool, they were actually tools that could kill people.
Because Rurik made a promise to them, slaves can also become ordinary people in the Principality of Rus, provided that they serve the prince a lot.
They killed the old master and helped Rurik eradicate the old forces on Bornholm Island. This was a sign of recognition but their performance was still insufficient.
There have long been rumors among the crowd that the so-called prince still wants to plan to seize the opportunity to attack the Danes.
The slaves were generally indifferent. They were issued daggers one after another, gathered in the sheds to process the large amounts of herring and cod caught by the Ross ships, and were tacitly allowed to eat fish meat at will. All the Viking people had no objection to eating raw fish. They found that this was a huge benefit, so they ate herrings in large quantities.
They also noticed that the conquerors seemed to have held a meeting, and soon a group of ships headed east carrying the women and children.
There seem to be fewer ships cruising on the sea, but the amount of fishery processing they undertake is guaranteed.
The long-term enslaved life has made them generally very obedient to the strong. When a Russian warrior ordered them to hurry up and process the fish, they naturally did it, but the new order was strange.
What does it mean to cut off the head, tail, and guts of a herring and throw it into a bucket? Is this the end of processing? Shouldn't it be further made into dried fish?
Those women and children have been transported away, and there are not many women left in Bornholm.
These slaves and the captured private soldiers are still on the island, and the conqueror's army is still here.
They murmured to themselves, believing the rumors more and more.
It was a sunny morning, and the sea breeze had already dried up the mud brought by the previous heavy rain. There was a faint salty smell in the air, and the slaves who put down their work were driven to the beach.
They looked around and saw a group of Russian conquerors standing in line here wearing blue and white striped robes. The conquerors just stood with bucklers on their backs and sword hilts in their hands, like a statue of a statue. statue.
A tall and gorgeous man stood on the platform made of wooden boxes. This man was none other than Prince Rurik of Rus.
The slaves realized that they would get a new destiny. They raised their heads one after another, expecting the prince to make a great speech.
Rurik took off his white velvet hat and showed off his golden ponytail. He deliberately grew a beard, but it was trimmed neatly with a sharp steel knife.
He has the appearance of Otto when he was young, and he has inherited the beauty of Niya when he was young. The faces of his parents come together to form his very masculine face, but his eyes are firm and fierce. of.
A handsome ruthless man is most admired by Viking women, and such a man is also admired by Viking men.
Rurik made a polite gesture first: "You are all slaves! But you are not livestock! Will you be slaves forever? No! As long as you make military exploits, you can become free people. I want You become warriors now, kill the enemy, and chop off the enemy's head. If any one of you can chop off two heads in the fierce battle in the future and report your merits to me, your identity as a slave will be erased immediately, even if you are not killed. Don’t worry, the enemy. If you participate in more wars, your lowly status will be removed! At that time, I will reward you with farmland, fishing boats, and even women. Do you yearn for it?”
This soul question hits their hearts directly.
Seeing the crowd's overall eagerness to try, Rurik immediately signaled his men to pull out the carts filled with weapons.
They were iron swords, axes, short spears and a large number of bucklers like pot lids captured from the islanders' armed forces.
The car stopped in front of the slaves. Rurik pointed and shouted: "Those who are willing to be warriors! Come and get weapons!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the group of eager people swarmed. Rushed up. They scrambled to arm themselves, and now they were willing to do anything to regain their freedom and the bright future promised by the Kingdom of Rus!
Two hundred slaves transformed into the most standard image of Viking warriors.
They are generally dressed in rags and have bad breath, but they are also relatively tall, and they have developed good muscles by working as cows and horses all year round. They are all young on the whole, and their physical fitness has been improved by eating a lot over a period of time.
Of course, this group of people is a ragtag group compared to the regular Russian infantry flag, but when it comes to the attitude of killing, Rurik believes that this group of people dare to fight the Danish army. Because they are not really a mob, but have a belief in freedom. No ruler would promise them to kill their enemies in exchange for freedom. Now Rurik publicly announced that this armed slave army would be integrated into the Rus' army and would have the opportunity to become the first force to attack the Danish army.
Will you face a powerful enemy all of a sudden? Even if they have some concerns, slaves ignore all risks for the sake of a better future, but in fact they have no choice.
Is it appropriate to raid and arm slaves? If it weren't for his lack of troops, Rurik would not be willing to take this step.
Not only did he re-arm 200 slaves, but all the Danish private soldiers who surrendered and some islanders men were also forcibly recruited.
The Ross and Ragnar coalition forces, which had a combat strength of 1,500 people, were joined by more than 400 people this time.
Rurik pieced together an army of two thousand men, of which there were as many as a thousand absolute elites.
Such a force could be described as a strong force in Northern Europe in 838 AD. If placed in the British Isles, it would be a ruthless character walking sideways. If placed in the heart of the Frankish Kingdom, it would be qualified to force the king to mobilize all the nobles of the kingdom to conquer.Ask for it.
It is reasonable for such a large army to deal with the Danish King Horik in the city of Godfrehagen.
There was a very optimistic mood among the warriors. Some who claimed to be powerful threatened to break the city easily in this battle, and they would just chop off the head of King Horik of Denmark.
Who is Horik? Just an agent arranged by the Franks in Denmark?
Ragnar made significant intelligence contributions to the entire army.
"That is a short, round-faced fat man with brown hair who knows how to ride a horse. If you find a dwarf in extraordinary clothes during the killing, take him captive. If you can't, you can chop off his head. "
Following Ragnar's description, Rurik offered a reward - one hundred pounds of silver coins for those who capture Horik, and fifty pounds of silver coins for those who capture his head.
Can such a reward inspire the soldiers' desire to kill? The army faced the regular army of the Kingdom of Denmark. As long as a war started, they would definitely face a group of old cannons that had been powerful in the Frankish territory for many years. It was unreasonable not to give oneself a big reward in the face of a strong army.
"If you kill an enemy, behead him and reward him with half a pound of silver coins, and for each prisoner, you will be rewarded with one pound of silver coins."
Rurik added: "I don't want old people or children. If you dare to hand over such a head, you will be fined one pound of silver coins! But if you capture the woman and the child, there will be a reward!"
There is a reward for taking the enemy's head! Prisoners are also rewarded, and the rewards are generous.
It is not only the standard soldiers of the Russian regular army who are entitled to receive rewards, but also the Finnish Servant Army, the Saaremaa Islander Servant Army, Ragnar's allies, and the newly armed slave troops. Eligibility for rewards.
As the saying goes, "I don't care about your origin or identity, if you can help me kill the enemy, I will be rewarded."
Rurik firmly believes in victory, but will he "bleed heavily" due to the reward after victory? To pay a huge amount of precious metal silver coins, Rurik even thought about it and couldn't guarantee that he would be able to do it. But he had already established a financial system. The head of an enemy soldier was worth a pound of silver coins, which was a thousand pounds of wheat.
The annual grain tax revenue of the Principality of Rus and the income from the prince's private land can exceed five million pounds. If the income from the sale of metal products and other materials is added to the tax revenue, the principality's annual tax revenue can be equivalent to 10 million pounds of food, and the revenue from taxation can only continue to grow.
Could it be that with just two thousand people, the treasury of the Principality of Ross could be depleted due to rewards? If only this were the case! From this, the superhuman army might as well go south and cut down Aachen and then all the way to Rome.
The promise of reward is a guarantee for the whole army's expedition. There is no need to worry about looting in order to get the treasure. The enemy's walking head is like pound after pound of silver. Capture him and win. Those who gain more will gain more.
Rurik did not come up with such a price out of mouth. The price of a young and middle-aged male slave has long been equal to one pound of silver coins, while the price of a female slave is half of that. In the past this was a high price tag for precious metalsIn the Principality of Rus, which is rich in oats, this price is not very high. It is about the net output value of half a hectare of oats. Rurik naturally hopes that his men will take out more prisoners of war, and the prisoners of war will be turned into slaves to perform various tasks such as mining, clay digging, and logging. They will be able to squeeze out more value. Such a decision was equivalent to the prince purchasing slaves from the soldiers. In the end, the prisoners of war were only the private property of the prince's family.
The whole army has unprecedented morale, and Rurik even promised that professional sailors who did not participate in the battle will receive some rewards after victory. Non-combatants can also enjoy the dividends of war. How is this not a good thing?
Those small traditional longships have already carried prisoners and some of the captured supplies, as well as a large amount of dried fish and sea salt to the East.
What Rurik lost was a large number of non-combatants. The personnel who were dragging down the army were almost non-existent. The army was able to slim down, and the rest were combat troops!
Rurik controls an army with extremely complex ethnic groups. If you look closely, it can be called a coalition of ethnic groups around the Baltic Sea.
There are Russians, Swedish multi-tribal people, Finns, Danes, Slavs, Estonians from Saaremaa, and even ten Pecheneg Turks from the steppe.
Eight sail cruisers, eight sail destroyers and twenty standard armed cargo and fishing ships formed a diamond-shaped fleet array and left Bornholm after offering sacrifices on the seaside.
As the Count of Bornholm in the Principality of Ross, the speaker Swinde watched a huge fleet conquer Denmark. The fleet gradually became blurry, with only the huge white-based triangular sails still reflecting dazzling light in the sun.
There are hundreds of islanders who have become Swinder's followers, and everything is like a nightmare for them. When they woke up from the dream, they still had lingering fears. Facing a new life, many people asked themselves, maybe the future is also bright.
At least Swinde’s family was saved, and the surviving islanders all respected Swinde as their boss. He did not dare to have any unreasonable thoughts. In the past, the islanders succumbed to the strong, but now the Russians were monsters like the sea monster Kraken. The promise of "War Reward" by Rurik, the Prince of Rus, made Swinder Eye-opening. Rurik is a clever and strong man. If you obey him, your family will continue to reap benefits.
The trace of the fleet was swallowed up by the sea. Swinde sighed secretly: "King Horik of Denmark, the assassin is coming, your head will be stuck on a wooden stick." He came back to his senses, not only Looking at the huge carbon black mark on the seaside, he lamented: "You guys! If you don't take the initiative to attack, you won't be killed. If I am a servant who can rest assured, don't I have meat for everyone to eat together? But if you all die, take all the benefits "Give it to me."
The sea breeze continued to blow away the black coal and ashes, and the innocent souls of the big family seemed to be lamenting...
But Horik's Danish Kingdom , knowing next to nothing about the imminent danger! Horik humiliated himself and was forgiven by the Frankish prince Ludwig. His act of kneeling caused rebellion and also attracted some lords.of leaving.
If it weren’t for the large amount of farmland, more Danish lords would have to evacuate with their tribesmen.
Horik still remains strong because he has a strong army at hand. Most of this army is infantry, and there are also powerful cavalry under its command.
Although the Russian navy is a disgusting threat, the Russians have not launched a large-scale attack at present.
Frankish Bremen was destroyed? It seems that it was the exiled Danes who did it? Afterwards, the Franks found out that the initiator of all the disaster was the exiled Ragnar. The Stonewall tribe and Ragnar are not dead? Actually burning and killing in the Frankish hinterland? In the end, he disappeared mysteriously?
Ludwig was furious. He couldn't catch the murderer and faced the annihilation of one of his cavalry troops. Is it reasonable to really hold Horik accountable to Horik who just knelt down?
As the top Frankish noble, he simply did not believe that the Danes could defeat his cavalry!
Is Ragnar the real murderer? The more this matter is explored, the more bizarre it becomes.
Until the sudden return of the missing saint Esghar, the priest who claimed to have been abused in the far east revealed shocking news.
It was Ross's expeditionary force, it was they who burned Bremen, they were the ones who massacred, it was they who took in Ragnar and so on.
When Ludwig figured out the situation, it was already the summer of 838. The prince was furious. He knew nothing about the Russians, only that Esgar described that they were a powerful force in the Eastern Baltic Sea, and that there were a large number of Slavs in the tribe.
Slavs? Aren't they the people of the East that border the East Frankish territory? When did those ragged guys become powerful?
Eskir himself cannot explain clearly with just one mouth. He now only has deep hatred for Rurik, and the good impression he had in the past is gone. He longed for the prince to send troops to attack the Russian barbarians, but he did not dare to explain it because of his own beliefs.
And Ludwig also wants revenge, but now he can only be helpless and furious.
The prince revised a letter and quickly sent it to the Danish territory. Horik opened the letter and learned the secret of the Bremen tragedy.
"Is this also done by the Russians? I have to be on guard."
What kind of guard can Horik do? It's nothing more than arranging ships to cruise around, and reporting the news when they spot the big Russian ship. In his plan, if the Russians wanted to fight, they would come to the shore and fight!
But blindly defending is courting death. The Kingdom of Denmark needs big ships!
Danish craftsmen began to build large cargo ships. This type of glue Kirk ship, which is completely powered by style, is no different from the traditional cargo ships in the Svealand region.
This type of ship has been eliminated by the Principality of Rus, giving way to a larger and slender standard armed cargo ship.
Horik is not a fool! Although he did not know the heavy weapons of Ross's ships, he also realized the value of large ships. To hell with the saying that a sailboat is not as good as an oarboat.
Since all RussiansThe use of a sailboat shows that it is more useful than a long oar boat. He would place archers on the cargo ship, shoot at the Russians, and even put down planks of wood to join forces with the enemy and kill them.
His core control area is Godfrehagen at the northern end of the peninsula, as well as the adjacent large islands. He set up an observation post here and collected cow dung to build a beacon. When he saw the intrusion of the Ross ship, he lit it and used the thick smoke to tell the fishing boats operating to return to the harbor and take refuge.
He also financed the construction of an onshore shipbuilding workshop in the walled town of Godfrehagen. This is a bit like the Russian shipbuilding factory. In terms of shipbuilding technology, it is obviously still inferior to the Russian.
Therefore, Horik never chose to sit still and wait for death. He had no choice but to surrender to Frank, and the fire of revenge in his heart was never extinguished. He hung up the cross again, secretly still sacrificing Odin. He hoped that the fleeing Danish lords would return, actively contacted the nearby Norwegians, and was also wary of the wandering Rus and Swedes.
Even the West Slavic people in the border areas, such as the Pomeranians and Oberlidits, were wary.
The already unstable foundation of rule of this king who had just experienced a civil war was even more shaky. He was forced to release a group of slaves to increase the number of his troops. He did not collapse precisely because of the large number of troops at hand.
His original plan was to send an envoy to Bornholm Island after the Danish autumn harvest to persuade the locals to stop fighting and surrender. The payment of tributes and taxes could be discussed slowly.
He was carefully maintaining his rule. Subjectively, he did not want to raise more weapons. He wanted to gather strength before bargaining with the Franks.
However, Prince Rurik of Rus, who subjectively did not want to fight, gave him a large amount of information and would not let go of the good opportunity.
The main force of the Principality of Ross rushed over! This is the regular army of the principality, and it is the personal conquest of the Prince of Rus!