What does Riga mean to Ross?

This is the starting point of the "Amber Road". Amber rough stones collected from various places are collected in Riga by relay trade, and then local merchants or Danish merchants are responsible for trafficking to the south.

In today's era, the trade route is not prosperous, and all merchants who intend to travel to Eastern Rome have even traveled hard and dangerous. No one thought it would be incredible to die on the trip, so when the elder Harold claimed that everyone in his entourage was dead, it didn't cause a shock to the Danish community.

They were still more concerned about where Amber went.

If it was explained to them that the attackers were actually Rus and that all the original stones were taken away by them, wouldn't the newly established alliance collapse in an instant? Some things should be kept secret forever, it is better not to spread the news from the source rather than to shut up those who know.

Anyway, the attackers were Polotsk people, and Polotsk was conquered by the Rus cavalry due to their defeat. During the battle, those amber rough stones fell into the swamp and were swallowed by the earth.

The claim was so persuasive that people in the Danish community believed the old Harold's account. After all, investors in this trade understand the dangers involved, and they can only swallow their teeth.

But these Danish businessmen are not stingy. They focus on the future. Now Rus's cavalry and pirates are gathered in Riga, and the boss Stkander wants to join Rus for the sake of the whole community. In the future, everyone will be considered a Rus. This means a wider market!

And the guys in Polotsk surrendered because of the defeat, and they will no longer have the strength to block the road and ask for tolls. Moreover, the local people in Kyiv have miraculously formed an alliance with Ross, and the trade line seems to be much safer than before.

They believe in Odin and they believe in Frey, and in the final analysis it is the worship of wealth and the force that can defend it.

A stronger power has come to Riga, and the Latvians are no longer the nominal masters of the city.

But will the airborne city lord have any impact on the current situation?

The people of the Danish community have nothing to do with the local Latvians, and there is no reason to fight. The people simply felt that even if the Rus became the local boss, life should continue as usual.

With the reception over, Speuter, Fisk, and Stkander are already conspiring. There were no Latvian representatives involved in the whole process, and they had clearly arranged the future of Riga.

And when Strekander informed his community of the favorable outcome of the reception, now it was the community's turn to cheer.

As soon as the news spread, the whole of Riga was informed of the intentions of the Varyags that day.

Although the local nobles were grounded, they could clearly learn the news from the outside world.

The strategies of the Varyag people came to their ears, unlike the cheers of others. Although these people did not feel like a mourning concubine, they could only say that they were sad, and then they were forced to let go and make up for the benefits they could get once they surrendered.

More than a dozen village leaders and local billionaires gathered together to discuss countermeasures. They sat on the ground with different expressions on their faces.

"Alas. What else can we do? After all, our strength is not enough."

"That's right, even if we give us enough time, we can't defeat these Varyags by gathering all the men."

"Hey. Sounds like you've decided to go to war. Don't mention it, we have no problem with them, and the Rus on horseback certainly didn't destroy our village. If they're always so kind, it's okay to let them be the boss. "

"Are you so willing?"

"Otherwise?" Someone else looked at everyone with a frowning face: "If it weren't for the Varyags from Denmark, we would have been swallowed up by the Semigallian guys. We are not strong enough, like fish in a pottery urn, only Can be manipulated by them."

"So what's your attitude?" Another old man looked at everyone: "My opinion is that I agree with the Rus as the boss. That Speuter doesn't look like a villain, our trade with each other is very harmonious, and I don't think they want to destroy it. Hand-built trade. They need us."

"In my opinion, everything is a conspiracy." A slightly younger village leader lamented: "Unfortunately, even if we see through the conspiracy, there is nothing we can do."

"I don't think so. I heard that the entire northern waters are peaceful. That Speuter is still a nobleman of Ross. Let him be the boss. In the future, our fishing boats can fish safely in the ocean, and all the troubles in the past are gone. This is very important to us. It's important. So my attitude is to recognize him." Another village chief expressed his acceptance of the new order under Ross' rule.

"Anyway, my people don't want to fight. Even if I give them some grain as a tribute every year, it doesn't matter. As long as my people can fish in the ocean, the loss of grain can be offset by the rich catch. Not to mention..." An old guy stared smartly. : "The Russ will not refuse gems. We go to the seaside to dig amber, dig in the forest, and sell the amber to them to make extra money. The Rus must be more powerful than the Danes who have lived here for a long time. They can source gems. If we continue to sell them to distant places, we will continue to acquire the rough stones that our tribesmen excavated.

This description really made everyone stunned.

Yup! As long as there is demand, there is a market! As long as the gems can be sold safely, they will need a lot of rough stock.

"Then vote according to the old tradition! Most of the leaders are here anyway." An old man with an exaggerated white beard hoarsely voted. "Just like we supported Speuter, the Russ, as a general before, whoever supports him as a general, raise your hand."

People of different ages looked at each other. The wealthy businessmen, as representatives of the city of Riga, actively raised their hands to agree because of their interests. Although the village leaders were hesitant, they raised their right hands after seeing the situation clearly. . Well, they looked at each other again and laughed. Some are happy smiles, some are just sad and wry smiles.

The nobility and the wealthy have absolute power to control the development of the entire Latvian tribe. They are very aware of their weak strength, which is exactly the case. As the elite, they know that once they challenge the strength much stronger than themselves, they will inevitably encounter a devastating blow. .

Not to mention humiliation, they made what they thought was the right choice.

When this meeting was over, any uneasy local nobles were completely at ease.

As everyone knows, ordinary Latvian people who have been informed of the news agree with the new situation on a large scale. Ordinary people pay attention to seeing is believing. They have seen that these Rus cavalry have truly done nothing to the village, and that even the pirates who have been recovered by Rus have become peaceful merchants. A large number of people in Riga once faced a possible battle with weapons. They saw the real martial power of the Rus, realized the tragic results of their confrontation, and were glad that once these people became allies, how powerful guardians would be.

Latvia has such a small population, as long as the nobles decide to surrender, the people of the villages and villages can only accept this result smoothly.

As a result, the grounded Riga nobles simply showed their submission to the Rus, and they were so submissive that Speuter was surprised.

In this case, even if the food that those people asked for tribute has only just begun to arrive, the so-called strike while the iron is hot, the formal meeting is just now being implemented.

Compared with the large seaport cities built by the Rus, Riga is not dirty and messy, and the appearance of the city can be described as terrible.

The young people Fisk brought in thought it was a terrible place, and the small group of older guys under Spuitt thought it was very old-fashioned.

The locals built their houses from local materials, and old Viking longhouses abound, as well as a large number of sheds. They surrounded the city and courtyard with fences, and the so-called wealthy people in the city set up wooden stakes to build taller wooden walls. The structure of the entire huge settlement is to spread the cake. There are no two-story buildings in the whole city, so the settled population is not large, and the urban area is not small. There are no city walls in the city, making it easy for her to attack.

It really corresponds to the description of the Danish leader Stekander. If there is no Danish community here, some nearby tribes have already annexed it. Are there a lot of demanding demands from guys who speak a similar language to the natives? At least the resident Danes run their own communities, don't ask for fairness from Latvians, and don't give them tribute.

The Danish community is indeed an outsider and has enjoyed a symbiotic relationship with native Latvians for decades.

Speuter is very satisfied with the current state, and since it has developed extremely steadily, Ross should take over without change.

So before the official meeting, the Rus-Danish community had a completely unified attitude. In the eyes of Sturkander and Harald, the Rus made the most sensible ruling strategy, and these requirements gave the Latvians no reason to bargain. , should be directly accepted.

The pony carts transported food to Riga continuously. The villagers who were escorting them were somewhat uneasy. They saw the strong horse-riding Ross people at zero distance, and immediately evacuated after unloading the food.

Fisk ordered his own people to exercise restraint and not to find fault, not even to worry about whether the amount of food shipped was sufficient.

Xinmai understands that there is a lot of moisture. There is too much moisture in a 100-pound bag of unseasoned wheat. Knowing that there are chicken thieves here, Fisk is too lazy to investigate the situation.

New McDonnell has a good point. The war horses who marched and participated in battles have always maintained a high physical energy consumption. Especially in autumn, the horses have lost a lot of fat, and they urgently need to eat wheat to quickly recover their physical strength. New wheat is easy to digest, and war horses who are sensitive to the aroma of wheat also love it.

The wheat came very timely. After all, Fisk's cavalry would not stay here for a long time. The plan was to return in October, and they would arrive at the Novgorod area at a very suitable time to be stationed. This batch of wheat, together with the tributes from the Polotsk people, just met the rations of the returning people, and now the people who got the new wheat are already enjoying a feast.

In the Danish community, a larger longhouse was chosen as the location where the Rus negotiated with the local nobles.

Obviously it was a meeting to establish Riga's ownership, and the atmosphere was not solemn, even full of joy.

Because of the situation, it is no longer known that the Latvians handed over Riga's ownership, but they wanted to lead the entire tribe and twenty villages, large and small, to join Rus. The information they learned was that the Rus would be just rulers, and everyone's life would be better than ever, so why worry?

Everything seemed to have gone back to the past. Spewte sat on the shabby bench in the room, looking left and right, and felt that the time and space were a little confused. It seems that this is the parliamentary court built by the Ross tribe in their hometown in the old days, and it can accommodate a hundred people to discuss things together.

The longhouse is centered on the central corridor, and on one side sits the Rus, the Danish community, the Ostara and the Steppe, who represent the Rus. On the other side sat Latvian nobles and merchants.

Speuter was undoubtedly the protagonist of this meeting, and of course, Fisk, who took off his helmet and showed his bald head, was very conspicuous.

Seeing that all the nobles who should come have expired, Speuter did not hesitate: "Then let's start! All look at me, I will announce one thing. From now on, I will be the lord of Riga."

After the words were spoken, the Latvians in front of them did not have the slightest objection or doubt, their eyes were very kind, and it seemed that they completely accepted the result as they had revealed before.

"Do you have any doubts?" he asked.

That's all, Speuter casually pointed at a few nobles and asked them about their attitudes, and all they got was agreement.

"Very well, since you are so obedient. Let me announce one more thing! In the future, your entire Latvian tribe will be incorporated into our Rus Kingdom!"

This is a claim for the sovereignty of an entire tribe. During the period, it will not be obtained through war, but only by armed deterrence and economic wooing. When Spuut and the guys discussed with them, there is no guarantee that such an excessive demand will be supported by the Latvians, so he emphasizes it again. , observe their attitude with wide eyes.

"You guys, are you for or against?" he continued to ask.

At this moment, an old man knocked on the wooden stick in public: "It's okay for the entire tribe to accept your Rus' rule... So, what will we get? Is it a stable life as always?"

"You... old man, can you represent the wishes of other nobles?"

"Okay. I'm the oldest. So, what do you mean?"

"Of course, just like our peaceful trade before, we will maintain such peace in the future. Moreover, being ruled by Rus is happy! Our king is full of wisdom and will be kind to all who submit to him. I know what you are worried about, no Other than worrying about whether to pay tribute, how much tribute to pay, whether the people will become slaves..." Halfway through the sentence, Fisk noticed the heads of the nobles sticking out, "I said, you don't have to worry at all."

"How do you promise?" the old man asked again.

"Whether to pay tribute, and if so, how much to pay, I have no right to decide this kind of thing, only our past can decide. As far as I know, the king will grant you ten years of free tribute because of your clever attachment, And even if the tribute starts ten years later, the tribute will be very small. Besides, I am the Count of Saaremaa, I do not want to receive your tribute, and now just relying on our normal trade is enough to meet my needs. As for the issue of slaves Listen! Only criminals and prisoners of war can be slaves. Our king is very merciful. In principle, ordinary people will not be slaves."

This is what Speuter explained, and the local nobles began to talk to each other after taking a good look at this already familiar man. To be fair, it would be great if the Rus people gave such a price, as if they were a group of good people, and they also had a good impression of the so-called King Rus, the young man named Rurik.

Now, it's Latvians' turn to make their case.

Because the old man is the oldest, he was elected by everyone as a speaker to speak on behalf of all Latvians: "The result of our consultation is that the entire tribe is merged into Rus. We don't know your specific situation, we know you. You will treat you well. Us? General Speuter?"

"Will do."

"Actually... we don't have any choice, we can only accept your rule. I hope you will fulfill your promise."

The old man said it very honestly. Speuter was not a good person. He had already made a plan in his heart that if these Latvians refused to be ruled, the army would attack and force them to surrender.

"I will fulfill my promise. Our relationship goes beyond allies. From now on you will be my people, and I will be directly accountable to the king."

"Very good. Then, our proposition is to elect you as a permanent general. In the future, you will lead us to resist the attacks of other tribes and lead us to become rich. We have never elected a permanent leader, and now you are. "

Sure enough, there was no bargaining, and the Latvians very smoothly accepted the new order established by the Rus conquerors.

This meeting determined that the Danish community of Riga and the entire Latvian tribe were integrated into the Rus as a whole, and under a fine division, the two powers were directly integrated into the County of Saaremaa.

As a result, Riga officially fluttered the flag of Ross, and Speuter, who had few subordinates, turned into a great frontier aristocrat who theoretically held tens of thousands of people. He especially remembered the power that King Rurik had given him, and the expansion now is nothing more than the exercise of power.

Theoretically, the king did not intend to expand in 841, but it did not mean that any form of expansion was rejected. The ban is only limited to the main force of the kingdom to attack far away. For example, the expansion of the Principality of Ostara is legal, then the expansion of the Counties of Saaremaa in a peaceful way is just as legal.

For Latvian tribes, surrendering to a powerful force is their destiny! Their incorporation into Rus is exactly on the right path of historical development. Either to the power of the West or to the power of the East.

The course of history is not derailed here, the Ross controls trade points and routes, while the submissive Latvian tribes continue to lead ordinary lives, with great autonomy provided they cannot rebel. It was lucrative to belong to the Rus, and they were happy to accept the new order for the sake of a steady stream of wealth and an improving life. UU reading www.uukanshu. com is just more than 200 years ahead of the process of another plane.

The autumn rainy season has finally come, and the Ross cavalry who have come from afar has picked up a batch of amber and beeswax rough stones on the beach. Among them, the most turbid beeswax is the most. Due to the rapid cooling and rain, this stone-picking operation was suspended.

Riga and Latvian tribes have gone through a storm and life has returned to normal.

It's just that the current performance is to restore the status quo.

Times have completely changed. Latvians no longer worry about being attacked by deep-sea fishing. The sea is open to them. In theory, daring Latvian businessmen can go to Novolaosburg to trade directly under the banner of the county of Saaremaa. In fact, Spuut decided to take the submissive Danish community boss Stkander, as well as representatives of the Latvian nobles, to the capital to meet King Rurik in person. rights and obligations, and the rights and obligations of the kingdom towards them.

"It's time to come to an end, I clearly set out in the inland, and now I finally see the sea. It's a miracle, the king's map is actually true, Odin protects us..." It was rainy weather outside, and Fisk, who was hiding in his house I feel very comfortable. He has already planned to go back the same way and put an end to his adventure this year.