Rise of Rurik

Remember [new] in one second! A group of blond warriors knelt before Rurik’s iron hooves.

"You all get up."

After they all stood up, Rurik comforted him again: "Bullgren Merchant Group, now Ross acknowledges your surrender, and I acknowledge your surrender."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Ulfbet beat his chest again.

"Good. Now it's time for you to fulfill your duties. And we'll camp here!"

Ulfbert was slightly surprised: "The king is not planning to enter the city."

"Enter the city? Ridiculous." Rurik glanced at the Koup city in front of him again: "It is too small to carry my army. And if we really enter it, what will those people do? I am kind and don't want to cause this. The city is in turmoil."

The King of Rus said that he should do the same. Ulfbet breathed a sigh of relief, and it would be easy for him to persuade the local Courlanders to immediately pledge their allegiance to Rus.

Of course, Ross's refusal to enter the city was not purely because of Rurik's kindness. He did not need any fame-seeking actions, or the fundamental reason was that the Ross army was just a passerby in the local area.

Investigate the local geography by yourself, gather the newly surrendered tribesmen in the local area, build the basic restraint framework, and then raise your troops and leave.

Ulfbet took the people away for the time being, but the local villagers who were watching were still staring with wide eyes like stupid roe deer. Even because the Ross cavalry had been standing still, the locals became more and more bold, and many women hugged them. With the infant child in hand and another in hand, we come to admire the strange and unheard-of Varyag people.

Fisk asked in surprise: "Are you really not going to the city? Are we going to camp on this beach?"

"

This is my plan. Rurik said casually.

"But this place is quite cramped. Our army is at the rear... There is obviously a very open area in the east, why not occupy it and set up a camp?"

"You don't understand this." Rurik's smile was intriguing.

"I... really don't understand."

"Look. To the east is the farmland of the locals. If we occupy that area, we will destroy their fields. The wheat harvest here is about to begin. If we destroy their wheat during the farming season, we will no longer be able to rule the locals in a friendly manner. .”

What Rurik said shocked Fisk: "The king is merciful, but the locals may not understand this mercy yet."

"Joke." Rurik tilted his head slightly and glanced at his general: "I think you still don't understand. We just can't camp in the east now. As for the cramped environment you said, it is also a fact. Look over there!"

Rurik suddenly looked straight in the direction.

"The wide waterway! It's really an obstacle to our progress, but when the follow-up ships arrive, all trouble will be gone. We have to act as soon as possible, and the ship's crew will camp on the southern sandbank as much as possible."

"Where?" Fisk was even more surprised: "Isn't that the long sandbank that the king mentioned? Isn't it even more cramped?"

"That's not the case. Our army can form a long and narrow queue on the sandbank. Our army is pressed for time. When I get the tribute from the locals, it is best that the main force has already entered the sandbank. In this way, we can reach Prussia from the edge of the lagoon. Human territory.”

Fisk listened with half-understanding, a large number of nouns and Rurik's grasp of geographical structure, even though he had learned a lot of knowledge, he was already different from ordinary people.

Fisker doesn't understand everything, and others are overloaded with pig brains.

In other words, the extremely long and extremely narrow sandbank of the Great Curonian Lagoon completely challenged the Russian people's cognition.

The small lagoon I saw in Cherbourg before was a small one, and the lagoon sandbar was not as long and narrow as shown here.

The weather is now bright and Rurik can clearly see the appearance of the lagoon sandbar with the naked eye.

The narrow sandbank is like a bridge with no end in sight. There are beaches on both sides of it, except for some sparse vegetation in the middle. The whole thing gives off a weird sense of desolation, which is not "wonderful".

Because in this era, the modern Lithuanian state did not exist, not even the concept of Lithuania existed.

There is only one human settlement in the local area, the city of Koup, and until Rurik's wishes are implemented, the locals will not have the label "Memel".

The first priority of the locals is to survive. As for appreciating the beauty of the coastal lagoon and using it as a holiday destination, that is a fantasy. If the locals are happy about the long and narrow sandbank, it is that they can dig out a lot of rough amber stones on it.

However, stones cannot be used as food. Even if they are processed and polished and sold to the Varyag people, the ability of the Koup people is not as strong as the people in the settlements in the north.

Rough amber stones can be dug up along the Pan-Courland coastline. If the stones cannot be sold or cannot be sold at a good price, local farmers will have to settle the account. Why bother digging again after digging out amber that can beautify themselves? It would be better to spend more time taking care of farmland and raising livestock to live a better life.

when the situation became peaceful

, when the tourism value of the narrow sandbank became prominent, local Lithuanian talents began to vigorously develop it.

For example, the port of Klaipeda (Memel) will be vigorously developed only at the exit of the lagoon, and no exit will be dug in the southern part of the lagoon sandbar, so that small boats navigating from the Nieman River exit can pass through the lagoon area and enter the Baltic Sea as quickly as possible.

Because this long and narrow sandbar is extremely fragile, if a deep-water channel is dug in the lagoon or a navigation outlet is dug in the south, it will disrupt the water flow, sand and gravel transportation cycle in the entire area.

The life gate of the Great Curonian Lagoon is in the south, which is the source of the sand and gravel that builds the narrow sandbar. There is a major disturbance in the local water flow. The low sand bar of the entire sandbar can be eroded by the Baltic Sea in just ten years. Such a wonderful large The Curonian Lagoon will also cease to exist.

The cavalry came lightly armed, and they could only look at the ocean and sigh when facing the 400-meter-wide exit of the lagoon.

However, the problem faced by the Ross Army is not a problem. The most difficult problem is actually the follow-up "reindeer baggage army". Reindeer and a large amount of pack materials must pass through the waterway in front of them by boat. The Russian army solved this problem very well when it assembled in Riga. Rurik was confident that as long as there were no strong winds and rains in summer, the boat crossing could be carried out quickly.

He ordered the cavalry to dismount and rest, and everyone was allowed to do whatever they wanted by the water, except that they were prohibited from entering the local settlement areas.

At the same time, Uvbet was rushing towards the nearest Kurland village with his remaining men with extremely high execution power.

Suddenly a huge, uniformly dressed army on horseback appeared in the city, and they also entered and exited the lagoon.

The waterway is under control, but the weirdos don't launch attacks, and no one knows what they want to do. The psychological alertness of the large number of local farmers who were watching had been worn away by the restraint of the Ross army. The farmers estimated that those weirdos were not bad people, and they were probably not good people either.

However, the leaders of the five large local villages and knowledgeable people still remain extremely wary of it.

For the settled people, they all know that any armed resistance is viewed by the Varyags as an egg against a stone. The local farmers weighed their own strength and never believed that they were capable of fighting. Moreover, as the wheat harvest is approaching, any escape will lead to missing the farming season and triggering a famine next year.

Never flee, never try to forcefully expel outsiders.

Local knowledgeable people want to hear the opinion of the leader of the Bulgren business group. The village leaders have already understood that the visitor is the Ross man who accidentally appeared as the owner of the strange ship yesterday. Why is Ross here?

Fortunately, the city of Koup is not big, and the five villages that were eager to get answers were even more anxious to meet Ulfbet, who had the same anxious attitude.

It was such good luck that the five village leaders appeared at the same time. Ulfbet, who met them by chance in the messy alley, pointed to an empty barn: "It's so good of you to come! Let's go to that room and let's talk about this matter." .”

There was a tense atmosphere in the air, and the five leaders were so anxious that they were sweating all over.

Ulfbet gave an answer to King Rus, which pointed out the current tense situation of everyone straight to the point.

"The ruler of all the Varangians, King Rus, has led his army into the city where we live together. King Rus made me the war chief,

That is, the local supreme leader is your leader! Anyway, my business group has been friendly with each of your villages in the past, and now I am the talker for all of you. "

As soon as he finished speaking, there was an uproar among the five people present.

"Old brother, although we don't treat you as an outsider, we never said we would let you be the boss?!"

"That's right. You can be the talker, but the brothers need to get together to discuss it."

"Perhaps we can have a small meeting now. Since there are few people in other villages, our five villages are sure to let Brother Uvbet be our leader, that's fine too."

…

Each of the five village leaders had their own attitudes. Some questioned and some decided to compromise immediately after considering the situation. Any of their attitudes were rejected by Uvbet.

The old guy raised his head, his gray beard trembling: "Friends, I am not threatening you. You have no idea how ferocious the Russians are! Do you know Jomonus in the north?!"

As for Jomonus, the leader of Kretinga, his name is known to everyone in the local area, or in fact, every village knows it. If there is no Bulgren merchant group in the local area, I am afraid that every village will have to recognize that person. Be the leader of everyone, and it is precisely because of this factor that the local Kurlanders understand "what a cavalry is."

Seeing that everyone was on high alert, Ulfbet opened his eyes. The whites of his blue pupils were covered with bloodshot eyes, and his two eyeballs almost burst out. This ferocious look highlights the tension of the situation: "Because Jomonus refused the rule of the Rus, his entire family was executed, and all the resisters died! There will be no conquerors in the future."

Retinga, because of the surrender of the Palanga people, the place that used to be called Retinga now belongs to Palanga, and the guys who dug stones found peace under the rule of Ross. So...what do we do? "

The answer is actually ready to come out, but it is not easy for the five people to reach a consensus happily.

Ulfbet continued to threaten: "The King of Rus has said that he has accepted the surrender of our business group, but if you refuse to surrender, Rus' army will loot all the villages and sell all the villagers into slavery."

"Ah!? I have no enmity with them!" One of the leaders burst out in fear, and the others were also so frightened that they were sweating profusely.

"Don't be afraid!" At this time, Uvbet slapped his chest: "We were friends in the past, and now I am your savior. Once I become the leader, I will help you speak well in front of the Russians. I If you can convince the King of Rus to stay calm and restrained, as long as you give some tribute, they will not do anything evil. How about it? Recognize me as the leader and give tribute to the people of Rus! Only in this way will our city not be looted."

Feeling that the explanation has not been fully explained, Uvbet raised his head and looked at everyone: "Don't think that the cavalry coming is all they have. The Russian fleet will arrive soon. That is the victory of conquering all Varyans." If our merchant fleet rebels, it will be wiped out by them in the blink of an eye. Like yesterday's big ship, there are many Russians. They have too many warriors. This is an army to conquer the west. If we have any disobedience, we will be destroyed by them."

Speaking of which, it seems that apart from accepting the soil and returning to surrender,

There is no other option but to provide large amounts of tribute.

In fear, the people asked Ulfbet about the appetite of the savage beast King Rus.

Surprisingly, when these leaders were worried that the King of Rus would ask for a large number of beautiful women and young men as slaves, they hurriedly plundered the livestock, livestock and all the surplus grain. The answer they got was that the King of Rus only wanted some cattle, sheep and could accept the tribute of surplus grain.

If 50,000 pounds of oats or rye were supplied by the five villages present, it would be absolutely impossible to obtain. If all the villages in the area were to raise funds through crowdfunding, there would be no problem at all, even if this was the last remaining food left by the locals.

There is no difficulty in handing over the grain at this critical juncture. At most, it will be a hard time for a while, but all the trouble will be solved by the time of the upcoming wheat harvest.

Uvbet vowed that the Russian army would leave after receiving the tribute, and there was even a compromise plan - providing amber rough stones or ready-made amber to offset the tribute of wheat, cattle and sheep.

Is there such a good thing? Just using some jewelry can offset the tribute that everyone depends on for their livelihood?

Without any dispute, first with severe fear, then with a sense of relief and hope, the five large villages of Koup City moved under the command of their leaders.

Amber is not uncommon in the local area, but it is even more difficult to sell it at a good price.

Every man and woman in the village has wonderful and complicated amber jewelry. The most common one is the amber necklace, which is made of smooth amber beeswax and then strung with hemp rope. Because there are too many small amber stones on the sandbank, especially for women. We can quickly string fifty beads that have been polished into as spherical shapes as possible into a necklace, and no one will think of it to enhance their beauty.

This thing presses my neck.

In the face of jewelry and life, the villagers decisively chose life. Besides, no one thinks these jewelry are priceless. If they lose it, they will dig it on the sandbank. If they lose their food, cattle and sheep, life will be difficult in the future.

The five villages quickly collected a large number of necklaces and bracelets. The leaders of each village organized people to pack them up and decided to go to the legendary King of Rus to present these treasures in person.

Their mobility and execution ability were very strong, and under the leadership of Uvbet, they arrived at the Ross Army Camp, which had become overcrowded.

Ulfbet's prophecy has come true!

After all, there is a direct seacoast route from Palanga to Memel. While the Ross cavalry advanced wildly, the speed of the follow-up team was not slow. The rear troops were just trying to clean up the weak ones.

Navy ships arrived one after another in the afternoon, and Rurik on the shore immediately gave them orders, so almost all the landing troops landed on the sandbar and established camps immediately.

The landing troops immediately cut down the few trees on the sandbar, smashed them into pieces, and then began to build a bonfire array.

The unoccupied longships, towed by the larger ships, now immediately demonstrated their tactical significance.

The infantry soldiers who came off the big ship kept most of their weapons on the big ship, with only their own swords hanging from their waists.

They took over the long boat and began paddling hard to and from the exit of the wide lagoon, just to transport the arriving reindeer army to the sandbar as quickly as possible.

Can the endless sandbank really reach the Prussian area that the king mentioned? It’s better to trust the king’s decision-making and act honestly.

So for all the soldiers who arrived in Koup City, the next task is the highlight.

The Russian army is in Ryuli

The Ross army clearly wanted to pass through this area quickly, but the huge fleet and those terrifying giant ships were anchored in the port and Off the coast, the leaders of the Courland villages who came with tributes to declare their surrender fully believed that they would be destroyed if they did not serve them well.

At this moment, Rurik was still staying in his big tent in the small camp under the mound to supervise the work of his subordinates.

For a time, he had no time to care about the surrender and tributes of the local Kurlanders.

In fact, in Rurik's view, the amount of tribute he asked for was just a slap on the head. Even if the locals couldn't come up with these tributes, he had no intention of actually ordering the massacre.

Do we have to expect a lot from the poor Courland villagers? In the previous Azerei, the locals were so poor that they provided a group of kittens, which allowed Rose to get dignity and a different kind of fun.

Rurik didn't say it on the surface, but in fact it was enough for the locals to pay some tribute to ensure the dignity and dignity of the Rus Kingdom.

Now Ulfbet came with five chiefs.

Rurik himself had been staying outside the battalion commander. Without Uvbet's identification, he would not have believed that some of the new arrivals turned out to be local leaders. When these Courland village leaders met the King of Rus, they imitated the Varyag people and knelt down to salute as warriors. Before the King of Rus could stand down, they impatiently ordered their followers to open the prepared cloth bags and put the densely packed display of amber and beeswax jewelry.

"All...finished jewelry?!" Rurik never expected that their tributes would be like this.

The onlookers were shocked to see all this.

"It's an ornament. Your Majesty, please allow me to report truthfully." Uvbet said, at this moment he has completely regarded himself as a vassal of the Kingdom of Ross.

After explaining, Rurik felt that he could not express his joy. Ross himself brought enough military rations for half a year, and he also relied on fishing to replenish losses along the way. The cabin of the Sea Monarch was filled with wheat. Ross's army was simply operating with a large granary, and he looked down upon it. The locals don’t expect them to be able to actually produce the 50,000 pounds of oats they have.

But the local people came up with finished amber jewelry that far exceeded their expectations, which Rurik could not have imagined.

There are only five large bags of jewelry. Although amber jewelry is not violent in the folk jewelry market of the Kingdom of Rus, the price of a finished jewelry basically depends on the amount of amber used. As long as there are more amber stones on a rope, the price will be higher.

The value of the jewelry in front of me in the Ross market far exceeds that of fifty thousand pounds of wheat, ten cows, and one hundred sheep.

After all, in Rus, the official guide price of wheat is one pound of silver coins for one thousand pounds of wheat. Fifty pounds of silver coins cannot buy the five large bags of jewelry in front of you.

Rurik was in high spirits under the setting sun. He immediately accepted the tributes and announced in public: "You Kurlanders are very smart and know what is more valuable. I will accept all the amber ornaments given to the king. About The grain, cattle and sheep you are supposed to provide are exempted!”

This is what the five leaders hoped for. They were extremely happy when their hope came true, and even more ecstatic things followed.

Could have had more village leaders

Come and surrender to Ross. Even if those guys linger and fail to come, Ross will create a count in Memel and then create some boyar nobles composed of local people. There should not be too few of these nobles, nor too many. Now, with the addition of Ulfbet, there are exactly six of them, and the noble system of the "County Memel" can be constructed just in time.

Therefore, the King of Rus was so full of energy under the setting sun that he held a small canonization ceremony. He even asked the priest team he brought to dress in costumes, making the ceremony small but solemn.

Memel County was officially established! The earl is the Uvbet family, and the earl can appoint some of his close associates as second-level boyars within the business group.

As for the five Kurland village chiefs who donated a large number of ornaments, they all became boyars who were personally canonized by the King of Rus. Their status was not as good as that of Uvbet, but they were not the existence that the latter could yell at. Their status was higher than that of Rus. Kingdom recognition.

That night the two sides concluded a treaty.

Rus recognized the Memel County, which guarded the southern coast for Rus, ceded the port as a berth for the Rus' navy, and the Rus' army had the right to freely paramilitary forces.

In exchange, in addition to organizing its own militia for self-defense, Memel County's basic survival security is contracted by the Kingdom of Rus. Even if Memel County actively expands in the future, if the army is beaten outside, it will suffer the consequences, but if there is an outsider who intends to destroy it, Ross will send a large army to rescue it.

Each other's rights and obligations have been determined, and this is the meaning of surrender!

As a result, Rurik gave the five new boyars a set of uniforms of the Russian army as usual, awarded them a Russian flag, and promised to reward them at dawn tomorrow.

Giving some iron tools is the so-called "return gift".

That night, the array of bonfires and dense fishing fires brought an unprecedented sight to the city of Koup. The locals fully accepted the concept of Memel County. It was also this night that Uvbet sent people who had taken refuge at the mouth of the Niemann River to contact all the people who had taken refuge at the mouth of the Niemann River to go home. .

After a peaceful night, the city of Koup no longer existed. The morning sun shone on the lagoon, and everything seemed brand new.

This is Memel, and from now on it will be Memel.