In the Birka Market, the news that Rurik became king spread a lot.
Ross’s shop here was the most vigorous in promoting it, but the news was too exciting. Merlaren’s businessmen and large families were surprised.
So, the huge Russian fleet went straight to Uppsala. The man Rurik was going to be king in Uppsala
The big families of Melalen finally When Bjorn came, these big landowners still respected Bjorn as king, but they looked at him with very ambiguous eyes.
The atmosphere in the chamber of Mellaren was extremely delicate, and many local nobles urgently needed an explanation from Bjorn.
Pairs of eyes fell on this weak king, and Bjorn was scrutinized in public. Then he faced his friends in his hometown and analyzed the future of Mellaren.
"The Russians have agreed to sell us large ships. I have settled on five ships, which is just as you wish."
As soon as he opened his mouth, everyone raised eyebrows, because buying a ship The matter was agreed upon by everyone.
"What about the price?" Someone asked suddenly and sternly, restlessly and rudely.
Bjorn glared at the man and said, "I'll scare you if I tell you."
"It won't be ridiculously expensive." Another person said.
"It's a bit expensive. The Russians asked us for two hundred pounds of silver coins for a boat."
It's really surprising that such a figure of money is actually very valuable. People of faith are now worried.
Some people were itching with hatred, "That brat Rurik set the price so high, wouldn't he have a conscience?"
Some people asked with hatred, "Those Russian businessmen with conscience also have a conscience." You are worthy of your conscience."
They were whispering to each other, and Bjorn cleared his throat again and scolded to calm the audience.
"Russian people are indeed greedy. Everyone, if we were in the same situation as Russia, wouldn't we become more greedy? I ordered five ships, and I also know that it will be difficult for us to do it all. However, Rurik of Russia claimed that we can use new oats to pay off the debt in August."
The big families have long recognized the situation and are not as good as the Russians in fighting. Fierce, Melalen cannot have an advantage on the battlefield, so stop pretending to be fat in peacetime.
They all believe that the glory of Mälaren has ended. However, even if Mälaren wants to end Sweden's hegemony, it must end with dignity, and even try to preserve some of the political legacy of its powerful period.
"It would be better if we could use oats to pay off the debt." Someone continued to ask, "Where is the boat we bought?"
"It's anchored in Uppsala." Bjorn Immediately said, "When their fleet entered our big lake, there were large ships that were originally sold to us. As for why the Ross fleet went directly north to Uppsala, you all know the news that spread. Yes. That man Rurik wants to be king."
"We have already accepted Rurik becoming king. How can we, the Melalen people, still have you?Jon, how can you be willing to give up your title?"
The speaker actually has some concerns in his heart. He is afraid that Bjorn will get hot and refuse to give up his title and drag Melalen away. Entering an inappropriate war. Because this group of big families are big landowners first, and merchants second. Melalen is a cultural concept, not an imaginary community that must be protected. And when Bjorn changed the name of the market. "Bilka", the major families and Bjorn himself are already at odds with each other to a certain extent.
Many local nobles have the same idea, but they have not said it out loud. Jon didn't think much. Since they mentioned this matter, he made it clear: "I will remove the king's title, and I will also personally participate in Rurik's king enthronement ceremony." Friends, the strength of the Russian people can be seen by everyone. Just in the far east, I saw their huge new city. I went to very far away places, and the people I met did not speak our language, but they all called Rus the ruler. We must recognize the fact that the Mellarens are inferior to Rus in all aspects. ”
He was not deprecating himself, he was just stating a basic fact, that is, both the speaker and the listener felt uncomfortable.
Until Bjorn mentioned it in public. A secret conversation between the Frozen Ship in the Frozen Ocean and Rurik himself
The people present were all powerful landowners in Melalen. These big families worked together to control the power of Melalen, because of Bjorn. Rather than being a powerful lord, to a large extent the big families have checked and balanced each other to achieve a kind of republic.
The former overlord must recognize that his traditional ally has been promoted to the new king, and then accept the result peacefully. , the nobles of the old overlord were in great pain.
Some people began to sigh in public, and they were not happy about the content of the secret conversation between the two kings.
Even Rurik did. After the death of the king, Melalen still maintains a considerable degree of hegemony, or there will be no clear changes for the Melalen people in the future.
Even Rurik made it clear that in the future. The people of Melalen will not pay tribute to the king.
This is reasonable. Rurik's move is definitely not a good person. If it is not profitable, why would he do it?
It was the absolute tax-free right for Ross merchants to do business anywhere in Melalen.
At that time, during the reign of Chief Olegin, anyone who dared to set up a stall on the land had to pay tribute, forcing Ross. Merchants can only open shops on the island until Bjorn takes over the throne and secretly negotiates with the Ross people, so that Ross shops can be opened openly in the Melalen Market.
If Melalen only loses to Ross. If you lose your power to collect taxes, you will lose it.
Although everyone still thinks that Rurik must have an agenda, based on the information obtained now, the Russians do not intend to harvest the wool of Melalen's sheep. Recognizing Rurik as king would not be too bad.
After this meeting, all the great nobles of Melalen communicated with each other because they had secret discussions with each other. reachSome secret agreements were made, which made Quanmelaren quite submissive on the issue of "factual concession".
However, in other tribes the situation becomes quite subtle.
The Angklas tribe got rid of the Gould family by relying on the tribe. With this example of "turning oneself into Luo to make a fortune", the leader Old Angrigef summoned the tribe, and everyone quickly reached an agreement. They all shared the same idea to support Ross as king.
Another large tribe, the Hjelmalen, are located in an independent lake in the south and are largely self-contained.
The sent plenipotentiary informed the dying old leader of the information he had learned. The old leader was deaf and stooped, and the former warrior was finally crushed by time.
After all, it was Longstall, the powerful figure, who made the decision for everyone.
This Longstall is already the de facto ruler of Yermalen. According to their own rules, when the old leader dies of old age, he will succeed to the title of duke.
He is already a de facto duke. Since the title of duke is strictly speaking, it was given by King Olegen of the "Melaren Dynasty". In the future, the artifact will change hands and the Russians will become the king. Do you want to recognize the duke? The title is still a problem.
Due to geographical reasons, the Hjelmalen people have little contact with the Russians. The most recent contact was that they sent troops together to conquer Denmark many years ago. Since then, they have lost contact with each other.
The Plenipotentiary claimed that Rus had carved out a large territory in the Eastern world, and that Rurik had tens of thousands of people in his hands. He also clearly pointed out that they not only had a huge fleet, but also an extremely large army. Cavalry troops. A situation that is easily overlooked by everyone was also highlighted by the plenipotentiary envoy. The so-called Russian people have an extremely large number of young children. Children are the future of a tribe. Even if the child mortality rate is high, as long as the base is large enough, a large number of children will grow up to take up arms and fight.
The Russians have strong military strength and full stamina, which is a good thing for the Russians themselves. For the Hjelmalen people, the first thing they think of is a strong military threat.
In the past, Mellaren would not invade Hjärmalen in the south, so what would happen to the Russians? Although they had severely damaged Denmark, they had truly become a monster that could not be fed. After all, according to the traditional knowledge of the Yermalen people, the Rus are a fur-producing tribe that lives in the fjords of the far north. They have established a huge territory in just ten years. If they had reasons, it would not be easy for them to devour the Yelmalen tribe.
Among the tribes in Sweden, large and small, the Hjärmalen tribe is undoubtedly the one that maintains a strong sense of vigilance.
Those tribes with a very small population that hold a duke title are quite numerous. Several hundred people form a small fishing village, and the leader is also on the list of people invited to participate in the King Ceremony of the Prince of Rus. Micro-tribes need to rely on a strong person to gain benefits. They have been very clear-minded since ancient times. It has always been whoever is strong and who is strong. For their own interests, it is not a problem to pay a batch of tributes in exchange for military protection.
Among all the tribes, it is indeed the southernmost masterThe Hjärmalen people facing the Hjärmalen Lake face the most internal and external problems.
The north is undergoing a violent political reshuffle, and the Hjelmalen people don’t know what the Rus’ king will bring.
Their southern region is called Götaland. As the tribes on the southern border of the Swedes have all moved north due to Denmark's crazy attack ten years ago, the abandoned living space was immediately occupied by Götaland. Occupied by the people in the Lan area.
Those Jotalans also speak the Norse language. However, their bloodline is highly related to Denmark, and their dialects are also biased towards the Danish world. They are no longer Danes when they enter Scandinavia. The tribal alliance composed of the Götalanders continues to encroach on the traditional territory of the Swedes northward, but the trend has not changed.
The current situation does not allow the Yermalen people to ignore what is happening outside the window, and they are quite vigilant in silence.
Buying a large Ross boat and mooring it on Lake Hjälmalen will enhance everyone’s self-confidence. The combat effectiveness of Rus' ships is recognized as strong, and a large ship is also in the hands of the Hjalmalen people. In this way, if the Jotalans provoke a provocation from the north, a large ship can also give the enemy in the south a hard time.
The agreed ceremony for the king's enthronement was on the summer solstice of the Julian calendar.
Before that, all the Swedish nobles took their envoys and rowed their long boats all the way northward.
They had obviously made an appointment, so the Felice River, which was not very wide, was full of boats.
In the past era, Uppsala had no record of attracting all Swedish nobles to come for sightseeing. The inner lake owned by the locals suddenly gathered hundreds of boats, and the boats arrived in the south. The number of people also reached thousands.
Because any grand event is an opportunity to do business, and the Uppsala people do not collect taxes from the vendors, the Malaren people who do small business naturally paddle their boats straight to the north, taking advantage of the opportunity. Do some small business in life.
Swined, who was newly promoted to Duke and changed his title to Governor, did not expect this situation. It is a pity that looking at his own strength, he cannot stop the people from the south from plundering and trampling his small lake. .
In more than a month, the Uppsala tribe, which was originally unchanged, changed drastically
The great temple changed its appearance, and a city built by the Russians rose from the ground. Since then, the huge Ross fleet has been anchored in the inner lake, as if Uppsala has become a military port for Ross.
By appointing Swinned and his cowardly son Helgon as governors for two generations, the local nobles of Hjärmalen lost their title of duke and all their power as a duchy. Rurik was worried that the locals would be angry and rebellious because they had lost some honors, which required real supplies to appease them.
Not to mention the ceremony of enthroning and proclaiming the king, Rurik personally designed some projects that represented glory.
How can a king attract a large number of people to cheer for a grand occasion that requires the mobilization of thousands of local men, women, and children in Uppsala?
It would be foolish to force them to cheer, just giveWith each of them a solid piece of wheat, everything will be fine.
Every one of the more than four thousand Uppsala people, including babies, was counted as one, and each of them was rewarded with a pound of wheat. Although this reward is very weak, the nobles in the past would not give it at all.
The locals don't even know the concept of "gifts", and now pound after pound of wheat falls into their hands. Rurik also explained the reason in a timely manner: "As a man blessed by Odin, Odin told me in my dream that you kneeled down and worshiped the golden statue devoutly. The gods were very satisfied and hereby asked Rurik of Rus to reward the pious people with a pound of wheat. "
So, the person who gave the wheat was not just Rurik, but also Odin, the king of the gods. No matter whether this statement is reliable or not, ordinary Uppsala people who have been living ordinary lives have never been so valued by noble heroes as they have been in a few days.
Ships from many cities in Rus arrived at Uppsa with hundreds of Rus people of various identities. As long as many foreign nobles landed and made inquiries, they learned many things about Rurik from the locals.
The incident surprised Bjorn, who arrived for the second time.
“I remember that you were still very resistant to the arrival of the Russians before, why are you all praising them now?”
“Why did Swined become the governor of the Russians instead of being a duke? "
"The Great Temple of Uppsala has become the private property of the Russians. Are you Uppsalas crazy?"
Bjorn never thought of returning to his hometown. In one month, what happened in Uppsala can only be described as a huge change.
The locals smile enthusiastically, which shows that they not only accept the new situation but also enjoy it.
"Rurik, you are a smart man, I really don't know what tricks you used." Bjorn sighed deeply.
This situation was also fully displayed in front of Langstall, the actual leader of the Hjärmalen people. He could not share happiness with the locals, but especially noticed that the local duke had gone to the title of nobility and was willing to go Become governor under Rurik. A good duke must have been ordered by the Russians to give up power. Afterwards, Uppsala would inevitably lose its independent power. She had ceased to exist in name only and had become part of the Principality of Russia.
Could it be that the Rus would rule the whole of Sweden in this way
Langstall urgently needed an explanation from Rurik, but he basically had no idea about Rurik himself. I don't know, it would be too abrupt to meet him rashly, so it is better to be patient and wait until the formal occasion to ask him many questions openly.
The Hjälmallen are the de facto largest tribe on the southern border of Sweden, and have the inherent responsibility to defend the southern border of Sweden. After Longstall disembarked from the ship, he quickly met various nobles who were well-dressed and gorgeous. Even the leader of a small and humble tribe had to wear a chainmail and wear a ferret velvet hat and wild goose feathers on his helmet. Make decorations.
There are also some nobles active here, many of whom decorate themselves with extremely rare emerald green peacock feathers.
Many nobles gathered at the temporary dock. They came at different times. They all contacted the envoys sent by Prince Rurik, and then invited the entire envoy to the current large temple and asked to set up tents near the sacred tree.
Longstall and his Yelmalen envoy camped near the sacred tree of the Great Temple, and displayed a flag with the word "" written in runes to declare their exist. ,Please remember:,Free fastest update No anti-theft No anti-theft