Rise of Rurik

Remember [new] in one second! On a new day, the Ross army advanced by sea and land and headed straight for the western waterway at the mouth of the Oder River.

They set out early in the morning and arrived here in the early afternoon.

Compared with the Pig River waterway in the middle, this west waterway is also quite wide. Fortunately, the terrain on both sides of the river is extremely flat. A relatively wide waterway is drilled out of the forest. The reeds on both sides are dense. However, the sandy environment makes it not muddy, which is very conducive for the army to cross the river.

The soldiers were already familiar with how to cross the river. Everyone was told: "Our army may not need to cross the river on a large scale for a long time in the future."

If there were no reindeer but just transporting war horses across the river, everyone's workload would be much less. And if the entire army didn't even have war horses, then there would be no "river crossing problem".

If the Ross army had not dispatched cavalry, the entire army could have marched along the coastline in a purely naval manner from the beginning. In this way, the army would have moved extremely fast.

However, if this were the case, Ross would not be able to use the opportunity of the expedition to conquer a large number of tribes in the southern Baltic Sea, nor would he be surprised to discover the rich amber resources here and various excellent waterways into the hinterland of Europe.

This is the last large-scale river crossing this year! Maybe it is.

The soldiers reluctantly began to transport the horses and deer back and forth after arriving at the western waterway.

The king also ordered that the entire army camp tonight on the left bank of the waterway, leaving the small island of Usedom, on the continental part of Europe.

But the geography here is shocking enough.

Rurik's feet were already standing on the beach west of the Oder River. Behind him was a large undeveloped land.

forest.

The forest had no name, or it could have had a very good name, but in this day and age it was indistinguishable from the forests that abounded in the region. If there is something special about it, it is that the forest suddenly sunk inwards. After the Ross Navy passed through the Western Channel and bypassed the headland, a small harbor appeared in front of it - there is no place more suitable for anchoring tonight. .

Compared with the era a thousand years later, the coastline in today's era has shrunk a lot, but the forest is still the same forest.

Graveswald is the name of this forest, and its original meaning is "Griffin Forest".

Nowadays, the town that can be called Graifswald does not exist at all, and the cove is not as deep as it was a thousand years ago.

The Ross Navy has the responsibility of being a pathfinder. When the ship discovered this natural inlet, it immediately began the operation of anchoring the big ship and landing the small ship.

The initial camp was set up in the afternoon of that day, and soon the entire small bay was filled with masts.

Rurik had just crossed the river, so he gathered his troops as quickly as possible. Considering that the navy had a longer journey, he also needed to catch up with the navy to find a better camping ground in order to go as quickly as possible.

After all, the entrance area of ​​the West Waterway is backed by a large forest, and the environment here is a bit cramped no matter how you look at it.

Just when he had just made up his mind to urge the soldiers to finish transporting the reindeer and continue on their way, the reporting ship came happily and reported the news of the discovery of a wonderful harbor to the king.

"A natural bay? Is there some open space nearby? Great, that's our camp. Good job Goldlund!"

It's already sunset

Going west, a huge cavalry team advanced rapidly on the coastal beach. Behind them, the last reindeer had just landed. The huge herd was squeezed into a long and narrow procession by the narrow beach. The deer were driven by the deer herders' whips and continued on their way. A small infantry fleet controlled all the barges. Keep following.

It seems that the Ross Army is just concentrating on the road, but every soldier and even all non-combatants have to pay attention to the hazy dark green scenery to the northwest.

That's land! It is land in the sea! Maybe, it’s the legendary Rügen Island.

Thinking of this, since the entire army was warned that "there may still be a war", everyone was on alert and kept advancing at a high speed.

Rurik, like all the soldiers, was on alert, and he also noticed the descriptions of the five guides.

The poor guides now had to lie down on their horses. They didn't know how to ride. Fortunately, the saddles, stirrups and explained reins saved these fishermen who knew nothing about riding.

These five people are all valuable, so Rurik deliberately kept them by his side so that he could hear the news.

"Hey! Don't keep lying down. Sit up now and answer my questions."

Due to the order, these five people reluctantly straightened their backs.

Rurik's big finger pointed to the north: "There! Is it Rügen Island?"

One person glanced at it and answered decisively: "Yes."

"Are there many people on the Rügen Island? I didn't see their fishing boats. And today we walked all the way and didn't see any settlements, especially their villages."

"Perhaps they saw the king's fleet and fled in all directions."

"That's right!" shouted another person

shouted: "They all fled. Maybe the battle will not happen. Maybe what we will see when we get to Stride will be an empty city."

"Yes. Your Majesty will be able to obtain a large amount of property left behind by their escape, and you will make a fortune."

Rurik nodded and did not speak. He could at least be sure of one thing, that is, Rügen Island was already within the sight of Ross. According to the rules of the sea, Rügen Island had already entered the attack range of the Ross army. Whether to start a war It all depends on your own orders.

Rurik ignored the subsequent herd of deer for the time being, and the cavalry had to rush as quickly as possible to the unnamed bay where a camp was said to be building.

The sunset illuminated the world in orange. The people who were busy traveling during the day were already suffering from the fatigue of boats and carriages. The crotches of those warriors on horseback were sore and numb. Then, under the soft light of the setting sun, as long as they stopped running, they would feel sleepy. Intention comes before hunger.

The soldiers who arrived at the camp immediately found their flag team. After finding their team flag, they found a place to settle down in the designated area. The actions of setting up tents and setting up stoves to eat hot meals began immediately. Even though the soldiers They are all quite tired.

Although Rurik was also tired, he could do some walking to relieve his numb legs from riding too much.

He summoned Admiral Goldlund and ordered the guards to stay away, and the two of them walked and talked on the beach.

"Your Majesty, you are so happy. You can sit down and have a good rest, waiting for the cook to deliver the hot rice to you."

"Gotlund, when did you become so flattering? Looking at your smile, can you be happy now?" Rurik pretended to criticize.

.

"Of course we can't be happy. I learned that the island of Rügen is directly north of our army. Who would have thought that the island is so close to us?"

"Maybe we have noticed it a long time ago, but we just never took it seriously in the past few years." Rurik shrugged, thinking that the number of Ross ships traveling to and from the Denmark Strait has increased over the years, and it is impossible to completely ignore Rügen Island. . But the truth is that Ross still doesn't know anything about it.

He thought again: "Maybe it's because their troops are weak and they don't want to take the initiative to provoke us."

"But this time we are going to provoke them. We will pass through their waterways tomorrow."

"Indeed, tomorrow we will pass through the Stralsund Waterway and encounter the town of Strad. We hope to have a peaceful contact." Rurik said casually.

This reminded Gothlund, and he said: "Want to have peaceful contact? This is easy to do. You can order to send a team of envoys to go there and force the locals to surrender, so that we can pass peacefully. This...isn’t it in line with your wishes?”

"That's the truth. But why bother? The information given by those guides is vague. It's getting late now. Even if your people are brave, I don't want the precious navy to take risks. Besides!" Rurik stopped Facing the gradually dimming scenery in the north, he said: "Their nobles should take the initiative to surrender to me, rather than me sending envoys to actively negotiate with them. They are insignificant insects, and we cannot lower ourselves."

This is the arrogance of the king! Goedelund also noticed that deep down in his heart, the king still seemed to want to fight to vent his anger, even if the king preached the so-called "can

Try not to fight if you don’t want to fight.”

Whether to attack or to take it easy, Ross never had to think about Rugen Island's considerations.

Rurik had every reason to make this arrangement. The so-called small Slavic forces on Rugen Island should have taken the initiative to send envoys to the territory of Rus for so many years. Whether it was simply contacting trade or declaring surrender, they should have done this a few years ago.

It's a pity that they never existed, as if they never existed. Now the Ross army has arrived at the city, and there is no movement on Rugen Island.

This had to make Rurik think differently: perhaps the Volin guide had greatly overestimated the strength of Rugen Island. There might not be a supreme chief there, but just some small fishing villages with a small population.

Only by standing there in person can you know the true strength of Rugen Island.

"Tomorrow we will pass smoothly, and then we will enter the territory of the Obertridites." Rurik mentioned a new term casually.

"Them? Obert Liddit?"

"Yes. It is said that those guys are also Frank's vassals. In theory, we will enter Frank's sphere of influence. For those people, they seem to be standing on Ludwig's position, but when we fight against the Saxons, and against Ludwig fought, and the Oberliddites stood by and watched.”

"The king is worried about the position of those guys?"

"Who knows what they think. I know very little about them. I only got a few descriptions from that Wadi, but I have never talked to their nobles." Rurik shrugged, "Lübeck, Rostock , if these cities really existed. At least the destroyed Relic

The city is there. Alas...Only against them, we cannot take the initiative to attack. Because they are at least legally vassals of Frank. If they support Ludwig, we have no reason to launch a war at will. "

Goldlund seemed to understand, but the old guy knew that Blue Fox had bought a slave named Vardy. Although this man was a slave, he played a great role in the defense of Hezebelos Store. It is said that the slave Wadi, who was born in Oberlit, has now become a nobleman equivalent to a boyar in Nassau, where wine is produced.

Maybe that's the fate of that man. From this incident, Goedelund had his first understanding of Obert Liddit. He was a naval admiral, and his understanding was carried out to the entire army.

"My attitude is consistent. If you order not to attack, the navy will exercise absolute restraint. If you say to start a war, then we will fight."

"Very good. Now I just want to remind you, and then tell your soldiers that we will be arriving at Oberlidit soon. Also, you are such a smart man, you really chose a good place for our whole army. .Ah, this place is rich in water and grass."

Goldlund smiled naively: "Then, please ask your Majesty to give our camp a name."

"Ah. Any name..." Rurik glanced at the setting sun. The soft orange light made people extremely comfortable. "Soldanvik (Sunset Port). Maybe there will be a village here in the future, but I am not interested in it now."

The Russian army was so stubborn that it wanted to pass through the narrow Stralsund Waterway. This was purely because the navy had to accommodate the huge cavalry.

The island of Rügen exists along the southern coastline, about 1 km from Denmark.

The main waterway between the Atlantic Ocean and the Baltic Sea is the Oresund Strait in the north. Geographical factors determine that even the Danes are too lazy to visit Rügen Island. It was precisely the neglect of the small island of Rügen by various Danish forces that allowed the development of the Slavic tribes on the island.

No ethnic group is born good at sailing. Just like Rus, who is good at sailing, he can create a quite powerful cavalry in a few years. The Slavic Rügen tribe who came all the way from the upper reaches of the Oder River also immigrated to the island. There will be rapid Vikingization.

That night, the Ross camp was filled with snores. After eating and adding night grass to the horses, the soldiers fell into a deep sleep.

Many people didn't even bother to set up tents. Considering that they still had to get up early tomorrow, they simply didn't take off their coats, wrapped themselves in a blanket, curled up by the campfire and fell asleep.

There will be no fishing tonight, and the navy soldiers are preparing for the forced entry into the water channel tomorrow.

They have become accustomed to lighting oil lamps and torches at night, so that fishing fires are still burning in the bay and surrounding areas, echoing the stars in the sky.

On the shore, the forest could not hide the Rus' camp.

A winding river comes from the forest, and it is it that has created a meadow. The creek just solved the fresh water supply problem for the army. Its shallow water allowed cavalry and deer to easily wade through it. The extremely abundant wood resources here allowed soldiers to light bonfires without restraint.

Rurik estimated that even if he didn't take the package, he would have to take the initiative to send a messenger to contact the guys over there. With all the bonfires lighting up the clouds in the sky red, could the locals be selectively blind?

Ross along the way

It is a common tactic used by the military to light bonfires indiscriminately, and each time it can cause high tension among nearby forces.

A behemoth came with abnormal celestial phenomena. Some forces chose to surrender, while others resolutely resisted.

Rurik was convinced that the choice had been handed over to the forces on Rugen Island through the air, and peace or war would be tomorrow.

This night, at least Team Ross was very calm...

The army was at the east exit of the waterway. The guide claimed that it was a narrow waterway. Rurik completely believed this confession.

Because the Hanseatic city Stralsund in his concept has such a geographical environment, the existence of narrow waterways allows the city to set up forts, and even small cannons in the 15th century can hit stone bombs on passing Kirk ships. . A fortress-like city guards a narrow waterway. It is very suitable for doing business in peacetime, but in wartime it is easy to defend and difficult to attack.

There were no artillery in this era, and the only force with a large number of powerful long-range weapons was the Ross family.

Therefore, Rurik had ordered the navy to prepare early.

Soldiers wearing three-cornered hats moved the torsion slingshots placed in the cabin onto the deck one after another, and removed all the curtains. Considering the possibility of fighting, they now oiled and maintained all the torsion ropes, and placed the projectiles and javelins. The slide is now coated with a sticky mixture of seal oil and fish oil.

Javelins and cast-iron projectiles were prepared for battle.

Considering that the Rügen Island forces at most have ships such as longships, there is no need to dispatch four sail cruisers to deal with them. If there is a naval battle, eight flexible sail destroyers will be ordered to sink them.