When the ships of the Balmerk expedition were still wandering on the river, a fishing boat ran wildly towards Elronburg, and the fishermen were eager to get the promise of Reurik's reward by sending an early letter.
The fishermen were indeed rewarded for reporting this incredible and important news.
Rurik didn't have time to doubt. He trusted his subordinates. Now, after arranging some reception tasks for the mercenaries, he urgently summoned the men of the Ross tribe who were still building houses in the city wall, and even some Corvin men, He ordered all these people to take up their weapons, put on helmets and wool caps, and those who had the right to put on their own chain mail, dressed as if they were about to go on an expedition.
Not to mention, after the order was given, some people really felt that an unknown enemy was attacking. Thanks to the solid wooden walls, no one is timid. Instead, they are looking forward to a battle. Sober, they don't need to hunt bears and wolves to show their martial arts, but to kill the enemy is full of martial arts.
However, those who came were just a small group of people, and there seemed to be a sense of adventure. After learning the truth, everyone was excited and had to dim, and each one became a little bit angry at missing a hearty battle.
Rurik didn't want to be disadvantageous to the visitors. He ordered these people to get together and stand in line. He didn't ask them to stand neatly. In short, he had to show the mighty power of the Ross people.
what? Must assume a Wuwei posture to scare the visitor? Okay! Can't ask for it.
Ross men, they always work from morning to night to cut wood and build houses. Although the honorable Rurik generously rewarded everyone with a good meal, and at the end of May, the child really paid everyone agreed silver coins. As a reward (for the sake of food and housing, this money is a pure profit), even if it is for the money, everyone has a high degree of loyalty to Rurik.
This kind of life is a bit boring, and because of Rurik's regulations, it is impossible to find those Cowen women to have fun in private, which makes their boring life even more lack of fun.
There is no chance to fight, and now there is a game of "scare visitors" in front of everyone. Of course, it must meet the requirements of Lord Rurik, show the hideous face, let them see what the **** warriors of Rose are.
Rurik lined up inside the wooden wall. He also deliberately asked some Corvin archers to stand on the scaffold behind the wooden wall, holding bows and arrows as sentry, in fact, it was the first time that visitors could see that the town was fortified.
His idea of Liwei became a reality. The ten Balmerks who visited were also sea warriors with sharp eyes and alert heart. They saw a huge city (even if the radius is less than 500 meters and the circumference of the wooden wall is about 1,500 meters, it is a huge city), a large wooden door, and people holding bows on the walls and towers.
The mercenaries arrogantly stepped on their arrogant steps, and the steps of these soldiers were also highly consistent, which was to show the visitors what is well-trained.
Only so, the expedition leader Modgen, whose name comes from the Norse word for "brave", stood outside the honest wooden door, savoring everything he had just seen, and couldn't help but take a breath.
He was a little afraid of the opening of the wooden door and the opportunity to meet the leader of Ross. He even believed that this city was the mother city of the Ross people, although he was a little unsure.
The mercenary shouted a few times, and the mercenary companions waiting at the door opened the door latch and opened the door with a rope.
When the wooden door was opened, a large number of simple, well-arranged, and angular woodcuts within the wooden wall were greeted by explorers.
A lot of metal objects are reflecting the sunlight!
Mo Degen couldn't help but stretched out his right hand to protect his eyes. He squinted and finally realized that it was the soldier's helmet or even the metal shield that was emitting sunlight!
Suddenly, someone roared, and then there was the sound of a very regular weapon beating the shield.
"This... what is this for?! Sir, we just want to do business with you, and say yes, you will not hurt us."
Mudegan's legs trembled, and he really felt that the Ross people who met for the first time were breaking the businessmen's rules.
The mercenaries were laughing in their hearts. At this moment, the mercenaries' evaluation of the so-called Balmerks had become negative, as if that mysterious tribe was not as powerful as the Mellaren, nor as powerful as the Rus. After all, the mercenaries almost all came from the Melalen tribe, and now they are under the command of the Rurik of the Rus. They always live in a powerful tribe, the most contemptuous and timid.
Are the Balmerks just a group of guys who are keen on trade but lacking in force?
Oh, if this is the case, why don't the Ross people send troops to conquer, so that everyone who is a mercenary can get a lot of considerable spoils.
"Don't linger! Let's go! Outsiders, what you see is the ceremony of our Rus people to welcome guests." The mercenary said deliberately.
"Huh? Your ceremony? It's really..."
Mordecen was very speechless. He and his people did not dare to step into the wooden wall rashly, for fear that the warriors inside would be like hungry wolves, waiting for them to go in and be devoured by them.
The mercenary really couldn't stand it, so he pushed it up rudely and swearing, which forced the explorers of Balmerk to enter the wooden wall under extreme tension.
They walked on a boardwalk leading to the most noble and largest wooden house, accepting the "watching ceremony" of all armed fighters around, if they put on a hideous face and an offensive posture, it would be considered a kind of etiquette.
The largest wooden building is a bit unique, and all the buildings within the wooden walls have their own characteristics.
Modgen could see that the architects must be based on a unified master, and the most honest building stands out from the crowd.
Still in the same pattern, as a noble person, Lulik naturally has a noble mansion.
Novgorod-style buildings are not only solid wood floors, solid wooden walls with tenon and tenon structure, and huge rain-proof roofs in the shape of herringbone. According to his liking, Rurik must install a fireplace and towering chimney for all the wooden buildings.
The fireplace system is just piled up with limited use of granite shipped from the mine, and clay is the most binding material to make it more stable.
So in the view of the explorers, all wooden buildings also have a chimney. They have never seen such a building before. While being amazed, they are also worried about the next meeting.
At this moment, Rurik was sitting in the lobby of the mansion.
Remember those polar bears that were hunted? For more than a month, polar bears and brown bears have been hunted by hunters equipped with crossbows in an incredible and simple way.
The bear skins, which were extremely expensive in the past, have become relatively cheap, and they are all owned by Rurik and have become decorations of his own mansion.
Those bear heads were not thrown away either. After all, in everyone's mind, the bear head is a symbol of the courage of a soldier.
The brain pulp of the bear was extracted, most of the muscle tissue was cut off, and the remaining part was dried and treated with salt and Glauber's salt for a simple antiseptic treatment. The bear's head is relatively smaller and lighter, but its open mouth and terrifying fangs are still terrifying.
As many as twenty bear heads are hung on the wooden wall of the main hall. Sitting under the bear head is Rurik himself and the strongest man he has selected from mercenaries and Ross warriors.
They sat on the left and right sides of Rurik. Everyone sat cross-legged in chain mail. All the steel swords they owned were removed from the scabbard and draped over their shoulders to show that they could fight as long as the master gave an order.
Rurik feels a little too overwhelming. Does this scare the visitors?
At least Niya felt that her son's actions were too particular about the cards, but she did not object. She felt that her son was a person who likes to talk about cards. This card is far more brave than her husband.
The heavy wooden door of the big wooden house was pulled open, and a breath of killing spurted out.
The interior was deliberately arranged to be a little dark, and when the door was opened, all the oil lamps and flames in the room jumped uncontrollably, which exacerbated the tension.
The first thing Modgen saw was the reflection of the martial artist's chain mail in the room, and the large number of bear heads with big mouths hanging on the wooden wall. He was too busy to be afraid, and did not immediately find the true venerable.
The mercenary continued to push: "Let's go, my master is waiting for you."
After all, this trip is for trade, which is essentially a kind of chance. Mordgen didn't understand that he had encountered the legendary Ruth in a very unexpected way, whether it was a blessing or a curse to him.
Maybe it's a good thing after all.
He comforted himself so much that he stepped his nearly worn-out boots onto the solid wooden floor.
The moment he stepped on the floor, he saw a man wearing a ferret cap and a pure white mink coat. It looks like a little girl?
Do not! That's not a girl, it's a boy! This boy is unusual, he is surrounded by a group of warriors, and with his luxury, he is the master of the so-called Ross Warrior? !
Seeing the outsider, Rurik just glanced up slightly. He was a little nervous, and he saw that the people who came were actually in tattered clothes, and a contemptuous mind spontaneously emerged.
Rurik tried a color, and the warriors on the left and right gave orders neatly in Gnostic; "Kneel down!"
With a powerful aura like the coercion of a giant stone lately, Modgen immediately knelt on one knee, as did his entourage.
Kneeling Mordgen hurriedly raised his head, but the noble child didn't look at himself at all. The atmosphere was so stalemate, the whole room fell into a strange calmness, and this sense of peace felt like countless steel needles. Degen felt uncomfortable, and his strong anxiety made him and his entourage sweat constantly on their foreheads.
Rurik did this deliberately, because he knew that as a dignified person, he would put on a coercive force, as long as he raised his arrogant head and didn't speak, he could make others feel great pressure.
He deliberately aired the visitors, and then slowly said, "Who are you? Why do you want to enter my territory."
The tense atmosphere can be considered relieved.
Modgen hurriedly controlled his shivering mouth, stuttering: "We...I am from Balmerk. We came to the East to find those people to do business and buy some of their leather."
"Balmerks?! Why don't I know? Why do you speak our language?"
"This..." For a while, Mordgen didn't know how to answer.
Rurik continued to ask: "Well. Balmerks, tell me your hometown. We speak the same language after all, maybe we can communicate."
The atmosphere has been greatly eased. Although Modgen felt that it was too absurd to negotiate with a child, the murderous aura always surrounded him, and he did not dare to act rashly.
He dared not rush to ask about the Ross people. Under pressure, he had to introduce his hometown.
He pointed to the direction of the west: "Honorable people, we are from the West. There is a big mountain that is covered with snow all the year round and stretches to the end of the world. Our home is on the other side of the mountain, which is a fjord. We...our powerful tribe is in the fjord."
Rurik's eyes lit up, and he couldn't help sitting upright, his chest still leaning forward.
"You... are actually Norwegians?"
"Norway?" Hearing this word, Modgen's eyes trembled fiercely: "My lord, we are not Norwegians."
"But you claim that your tribe is in the fjord to the west of the mountain."
"But we are not Norwegians. We are Balmerks."
"This"
Rurik's mind is a little confused, he is very puzzled. According to his knowledge of Northern Europe, the western foothills of the central mountain range of Scandinavia are all Norwegian territories.
"We are indeed not Norwegians." Modgen explained hurriedly, "They are in our south, and that is an alliance. We are not an alliance with them. We are free people. We have the gifts of the gods and possess A bay that never freezes."
There are very crucial elements in this sentence!
"What are you talking about? A bay that never freezes?!"
Rurik's calm mentality suddenly collapsed, and the change in his emotions really shocked Mordgen.
"My lord! It is true that we Balmerks are powerful, and we are special people chosen by the gods, so our bay will not be frozen."
At this time, the mercenaries who guarded them showed their swords; "Bah! Are you the chosen ones? It's ridiculous. Only our Ross people and only our masters are the ones chosen by Odin."
Due to this situation, Modgen couldn't say anything, so he chose to shut up.
Rurik raised his right hand to signal his men to shut up, and continued: "An unfrozen bay? I am very interested. Well, I think I already know who you are."
"Do you...know us?"
Rurik nodded, his confident expression implying that he had fully understood.
For example, the term "Valkyrie" is actually a description of "the process by which God selects human heroes to become heroic spirits" in the myths passed down by people. The focus of this term lies in the concept of "selection". This concept exists in the name of the Balmerk tribe.
"Maybe you should have another name." Rurik said.
"what name."
"Narvik."
"Huh? What does this name mean? Oh yes, our tribe is in the north, and we are a bay in the north." Obviously, Mordgen was not satisfied with the name given to his tribe by the Rus. Still too casual.
"What? Are you dissatisfied?"
"No, how can I be dissatisfied? Modgen glanced at the warriors on the left and right, and then muttered several times.
"Well then. You are Balmerks and Narviks. You claim to be chosen by God, but I want to tell me that I was chosen by God."
For this kind of boasting, Modgen tends to be the arrogance of a child. However, due to the status quo, he can only continue to kneel and agree with Rurik's claim.
On the other hand, Rurik, by now he had completely understood who came.
Those who come are the indigenous people of Narvik Port ~www.mtlnovel.com~ or the Viking pirates of the standard Norwegian faction. The port of Narvik was in later modern Norway. It was a very famous northern European non-frozen port. It had a very important strategic value for the trade in the entire North Sea region. Lurik did understand this.
But the value of Narvik port is more than that. It is a deep, ice-free port, affected by the warm Atlantic current. The waves here make herring resources extremely rich. There are huge iron ore resources in the bay. It is precisely because of the iron ore that the residents of Narvik Port can smelt iron arbitrarily, giving them a tactical advantage on the road of expansion.
Only Rurik understands now that the Norwegian concept still exists today. Some Norwegian businessmen always traffic local people caught from Britain and sell them at the market in Mlaren. Those who traffic slaves are all claiming to be Norwegians.
This Norway is not the other Norway. Now the residents of Narvik harbor are still quite free. They have never joined any tribal alliance, because they are remote enough that they are self-contained. Although the general trend of history is, their freedom may end soon.
Because the current historical trend of Scandinavia is rushing towards reunification. As for its subsequent split into three countries, it is something to be said.