Rise of Rurik

The village roads along the river are disorganized, and many weeds grow near the humble wooden houses.

Yevro swallowed and walked softly towards the first wooden house.

"Brothers, be careful." He whispered.

In their rear, there are a group of Rus' troops ready for battle. Before the scouts are sure of safety, Arik doesn't want to let everyone take risks.

The hidden wooden door was opened, and I saw that this was actually a half-crypt wooden house.

The light in the room was dim, and with the wooden door opened, Yevro could see the structure inside.

"Strange, like someone just left?" The space inside is so big, is there any danger?

He walked in and used his steel sword to provoke what was clearly a bonfire in darkness, even though it was covered in soil.

There was a tinge of anxiety in the room. He peeled off the soil and saw some slow-burning charcoal pieces at the bottom. The dark red charcoal proved everything.

Immediately, his hair stood on end, he ran out of the house with a steel sword in hand, and yelled at the guys who were still searching, "Brothers, they just left. Be careful, this village is not abandoned."

Without him speaking at all, all the mercenaries found traces of human activities.

No clear footprints have been found for the time being, but a large number of rough and hidden fires and even several broken black pottery urns have been found.

Some even found scattered grains of wheat.

People became bold, and they kicked open house after house, hoping to find something good. Sure enough, someone really found the sack with the mouth locked. With a sharp jab with the sword, I saw brown-yellow oat grains flowing down the blood-letting tank of the steel sword.

Is there anything more joyful than finding fresh wheat in the wild?

When the mercenaries saw no one around, they took up their little burlap sacks and poured some wheat into them as their trophies. Mercenaries are different from Ruth warriors, but it's fine if Rurik doesn't blame him for this kind of privateer's loot.

The village is not very big, and Yevlo and his guys have inspected almost every hut, and the conclusions are very straightforward.

He took people back to report, facing Arik who was on guard.

Arik was already impatient: "Have you found anything abnormal?"

"There are some.

"

"Ah? What is it?"

"People lived here and they ran away. I think it was probably the fishing boat that ran away, and the fisherman told his people we were coming."

"Are they Gotlanders?"

Yevro directly denied: "If it was those people, we should be fighting now. Maybe, they are the Baltic people."

"Damn it! A bunch of stupid Baltic people?" Arik stomped his feet angrily. "I should have paddled so hard, now we're late. By the way, have you found anything precious?"

"Baby?" Yevluo thought about it and decided to tell the truth: "There is some wheat, but not much. I guess they shouldn't run far when they escape. There are still a few footprints on the soil, some people and some sheep. As for the silver coins Or copper coins, not found."

Arik was convinced by Yevlo's words: "So, the villagers ran away with a lot of things? They must not have run far, they are in this forest."

"Ah? Are you going to chase?"

Arik categorically denied: "No! We came to this ghost place on a temporary basis. Since we can find some wheat and inexhaustible fresh water, it would be better for us to replenish it here."

With that, he turned around, pointed his sword at the village, and yelled at the eager brothers: "Brothers, a bunch of cowards left their wealth and ran away. Now, you are the masters of this village! Rush in for me. , take everything you find with your ability. Remember, don't fight between brothers, we all have a share. Only me, not a single copper coin!"

After the talk, the crowd is enthusiastic!

Arik is such a person. He realizes that he has a lot of personal wealth, and he and his family have no worries about food and clothing. His biological parents are dead, and Arik has no more worries. He has a strong anger of revenge in his heart. In the battle of revenge, his growing popularity has allowed him to find the meaning of life and personal value.

He is a "war chief" who fought in iron and blood. In order to maintain his power, he must serve his supporters well. Arik has realized many things, such as the importance of not being greedy for merit.

Looting on the basis of their ability, whoever robs them will own it.

The Ross warrior, who was already full, burst out with wildness like a wolf. With swords and axes high, they rushed from house to house, looking for everything that was of use.

Throughout the looting, only the mercenaries were ordered to refrain by their masters.

Yevluo was a little unwilling: "Sir, are you watching your cousin's people go looting?"

"Yes, just watching."

"You don't want to do something?"

"What else? You guys just caught a little bit of wheat secretly, I know it. There's only a bit of wheat in this place, and I don't care. Listen, we'll rest here and let them wreak havoc."

What followed was a feast for the Rus, not to mention, they did find some cellar entrances.

The so-called cellar is a black hole, and the cold cellar can freeze with water. Some warriors dared to get in, let alone some cold sacks. When I untied the twine, I saw that it was full of wheat.

A lot of people were eager to get some leather, burlap, and they did find some useless rags. The villagers raised sheep and chickens, because there was livestock manure on the ground, but they were all gone.

A batch of wheat was moved to the ground, and their scale was not much relative to a hundred Rus warriors.

While Arik was excited, he pinched his chin and muttered, "Strange, they only expect this amount of wheat to last a year? Obviously they just finished the autumn harvest."

Rurik stepped forward: "Maybe they have other granaries. It must not be here. Oh, maybe they ran away with wheat on their shoulders."

"Forget it, they may have a second granary. Or even bigger villages. We have too few people. Next time I bring four hundred or five hundred people to kill, and bring a large number of empty ships, we must It's a rewarding experience." Arik didn't just talk, he really had plans in this regard.

An empty village is just the place for everyone to rest tonight.

A large amount of wheat was seized, and everyone could eat to their heart's content and drink the sweet river water. After all, the wheat was thrown on the boat, and the longboat was seriously overloaded with it.

A larger longship can have a load limit of four tons, comparable to some cargo ships. It is so heavy that it basically can't stand any wind and waves. As long as the waves are just a little bit bigger, the boat will be heavily flooded. The waves were as high as two meters, and the overloaded longboat capsized directly.

Since you can't take it all away, eat it! At least everyone has to eat hard.

Ross warriors use a found stone milling stick to grind fresh oats into coarse flour on a milling plate. They must spend some experience to further process the wheat grains, so that everyone can store some dry food for a long time in the next journey.

Could it be that the invention of the cookie was really made by survivors of a wrecked sailboat, made of flour soaked in seawater and baked on stones scalded by campfires?

Rurik felt that these were nonsense. In his opinion, the inventors of cookies were all Vikings, and the so-called whole-wheat cookies were one of their staple foods.

It takes a while for the oatmeal to be fully cooked. Just as the grains of wheat in the pottery urn are tossing up and down on the boiling water, some pebbles in the river are pulled out, and they become a platform for baking the oatmeal.

Rurik was a little strange, seeing that this world was clearly lush and green, the surrounding terrain was very flat, the ground on which his feet were walking was obviously black (proving to be fertile) soil, and the soothing river should be full of silt, how could there be Some chunky pebbles? All he could guess was that the river also had summer floods. Whenever there is a flood, some rocks from upstream will be pushed here.

But here comes the problem. Rurik never remembered any other mountains in Estonia, a country that was obviously very flat.

"Could it be that I guessed wrong? Isn't this place Estonia? We're off course?"

Rurik patted his face vigorously. He felt that the situation was actually very good. Look at your own people, who are already celebrating their harvest in someone else's village.

There was still something strange that made Rurik settle down. He held a crispy baked wheat cake and chewed it beautifully. Although there is no sugar, it really tastes better the more you chew it.

Taking advantage of the joyful atmosphere, Arik stretched out his red and warm face illuminated by the bonfire, and muttered to his brother, "We'll stay here for the night. We'll leave tomorrow morning."

"Very well, the village is not ours after all. We still don't even know who those people are."

Rurik's words seemed to reveal caution, and Arik was of course fearless: "I don't care who they are, they are courting death when they show up. Get out of here, we'll take the rest of the food tomorrow. Oh yes, in Before leaving, the village must be burnt down."

As of now, Rurik's heart has only been touched a little. His heart has not become violent, but has really become rational.

Yes, no matter what the unknown villagers he is, he deliberately set fires, making Rurik feel that this is unnecessary.

"Let's save some energy, we'll continue sailing with provisions. Burning the house is a waste of time."

"That won't work." Arik insisted, "the house must be burned! They don't even want to take up arms to protect their home, why should I respect them. Remember, if the enemy is a coward or despise you, you will pay back double yours. anger."

"Okay, you're right, I won't say it."

Rurik continued to bury his head in his meal, even nibbling on a perch he caught from the river. He deftly spit out the bones of the grilled fish, and after eating two pieces of wheat cakes in a row, Rurik was completely full.

A child's body is easy to fill, other strong men are not.

Ross warriors, or professional fishermen of Ross. Whether it was fighting, fishing, or sailing for a long time, they were forced to develop a big appetite, and now they got a lot of wheat without paying any price, and they began to eat frantically, a strong man It's perfectly normal to eat two pounds of oats tonight.

That night, they had been tormented by the torment of the journey. Because they ate too many carbohydrates, it was inevitable that they would feel a little bad after the meal. To put it bluntly, they are the sudden exuberance of insulin secretion in the body's stress response, causing massive postprandial hypoglycemia and depression.

Rurik could guess this for the time being. He saw that his clansmen gradually lost their former vigor, and showed their slumped appearance by the bonfire. Many people simply curled up indifferently and snored.

Of course, they can live directly in the wooden houses of the village because of the consideration of wind protection. They are really not used to living in a half-crypt house, because it makes people feel like a rat burrowing into the ground, a symbol of cowardice, and even more reminiscent of a tomb.

They slept curled up in leather and sackcloth by the campfire, and only the toilet-goers ran to the village houses.

Since the semi-crypt house is regarded as a symbol of a grave, the Rus people with abdominal pain naturally regard it as a place to hide their filth. The large earth pit carries all kinds of filth.

While the clansmen were sleeping, the sword and shield never left their hands.

Is this even a precaution? Rurik couldn't stand the fact that his cousin didn't even set up a sentry, and he camped in the enemy's house like this.

He tried to tell his cousin, who was so tired that he could barely lift his eyelids: "Brother! I'm afraid the villagers will take back their village at night. It's too dangerous for us to just spend the night in the village."

"Forget it." After speaking, Arik yawned deeply: "They are cowards during the day, and they dare not come at night."

Listen, Rurik secretly scolded his brother for being a reckless man. He does have some wisdom. Is it because after eating and drinking tonight, the intelligence of the whole person has declined into an ape?

Rurik stomped his feet: "Go to sleep, remember to sleep with your sword in your arms. Don't worry, I will send mercenaries to be sentinels. If the enemy attacks, you can get up and fight immediately."

Arik waved his hand, this perfunctory look obviously disdain for Rurik's advice.

What then? Rurik had no choice but to arrange for his men to go to work.

The mercenaries were divided into two groups, and they were ordered to use the bows and arrows of the Rus, scattered and hidden behind some large trees on the outskirts of the village, vigilant for any disturbance.

One group was on alert while the other rested. They use the stars, especially the Big Dipper, which according to the Rus people are the "seven Valkyries", and they judge the shift time based on the positions of the stars.

Rurik slept by a bonfire, wrapped in thick leather, under Yevro's personal guard.

It seems that the Rus people are completely lost in silence?

In fact, it is not. Those figures sitting under the dark trees are always on alert.

The quiet time was spent in minutes and seconds, and it seemed that no danger would happen this night.

So, is this really the case?

Is it really safe to arrive in the morning, and the Rus people have finished their breakfast and set the village ablaze and then left?

Rurik had long expected that the situation should not and could not be so simple. He did not believe that there would really be villagers who had opened up their fields, and they would be scared to run away because they saw a few boats and uninvited guests and never show up again.

At the beginning of the day, the situation finally turned abnormal.

A sentinel noticed the strange footsteps. The sentinel was already in the third round of the rotation. He was in good spirits. Hearing the strange sound, he held his bow and suddenly jumped out of his mind. The scene in front of him shocked him.

In the dim forest, those tree trunks obstructed people's vision, and some shadows moved cautiously.

Is it a monster? Or something scary?

wrong! is the enemy!

The sentry pulled the bow to shoot arrows, and soon, there was a man's pain and mourning.

"Crap, what an enemy."

The sentinel suddenly drew the bow and shot another arrow, and then ran away.

He was running wildly, and the shadows were chasing after him. Fortunately, all the mercenaries had undergone relatively rigorous physical training at Rurik's request. Their endurance and explosiveness were excellent, and their running speed was amazing.

One sentinel sounded the alarm, and the rest gradually responded. It wasn't that the Sentinels communicated with each other, just because all Sentinels were aware of the danger!

Now, before running back to the camp, the sentry has begun to use various means to try to wake up his sleeping companions.