It has been many days since the end of the battle on the island of Visingose, and the soldiers of the Rus army who were exhausted from the battle were able to take a good rest.

As for the future of the entire Lake Wettern including this island, according to the vision of the Yermalen army in the Confederate army, it has now defeated the lake's overlord "Crazy Bear" Karl, slaughtered the locals and captured thousands of people Prisoners of war, the natives of the Lake District will no longer threaten the North.

The Yermalenians, the Swedish power closest to this lake, should expand their sphere of influence southwards here.

The idea of the Yermalen people was immediately supported by a group of small tribes, and the biggest opposition was naturally the most powerful Melalen tribe in Sweden.

But no matter what their wishes, everything still needs to be decided by their common monarch, King Rurik of Rus.

Rurik himself took a boat to Jnkping, the southernmost point of the lake, where he stayed for many days and seemed to fall in love with it.

When the king did not return, the army who stayed on the island continued to camp and live.

The army has prepared wheat and dried meat for several months. Because it has always sailed along the rivers and lakes, the special way of traveling makes the travel materials less consumed. Even the abundant fish resources in the huge Lake Wettern encountered the means of trawling by the Ross army, and immediately replenished a batch of European bass for the army that had stopped.

For many tribal leaders such as the Yermalen people, their goal is quite short-to drive away the enemies of Gotaland in the south.

Even if King Rurik intends to take the entire Gotaland, it would be too radical to complete the goal by this winter.

Longstall, Duke of Yermalen, finished the battle with his tribal militia. He witnessed the strong arrow rain of the Rus duchy army, which was directly under Rurik's lineage. The arrow shafts were sticky with feathers, and the arrows fell densely on the ground than the wheat ears in the harvested wheat fields. Under the arrow feathers were the corpses of the enemy.

He did not lose a single soldier, and it seemed that a few wounded would eventually die due to fever. As a result, the special staff of the Rus treated the wound with spirits and honey, and sutured the crack with twine. The wounded recovered well, and the fever did not occur. This shows that the gods love the warriors who serve Rurik the Great, otherwise such miracles cannot be explained.

The eyes of the nobles are sharp. Some of the injuries that were thought to be fatal in the past, after the rescue, most of the wounded soldiers were fine.

After all, it was difficult for the wounded soldiers to keep up with the next battle, and it just so happened that there were a lot of spoils to be transported back.

The people on the island are floating. A large number of the soldiers of the Swedish Allied Army were drawn by their lords and nobles to fight for various reasons. Now that the war should be over, it is time to bring the spoils and prisoners back to their hometown. After all, it is not far from the wheat harvest. .

The agitation of the soldiers directly caused the nobles to return home. If it was a sin to leave without saying goodbye, some of the small nobles would really evacuate with people.

They were waiting for Rurik's return. There were already different opinions in the army about the future actions. Everyone urgently needed Rurik's return to give an explanation.

Finally, the army looked forward to returning to the king.

The mansion that used to be "Crazy Bear" Karl is now the military council, where Rurik convened all nobles and officers to hold a military meeting.

As for the fleet that transported spoils, prisoners, and wounded, the fleet has returned, and the army left on the island is still as large as 6,000.

Several nobles stated that they wanted to retreat. Upon seeing this, Longstall repeated his appeal a few days ago.

For a while, there was a lot of noise in the courtroom.

"Shut up!" Rurik frowned and exclaimed: "Retreat? Exclusive lake? You don't want to retreat! And this lake is not exclusive to a certain tribe."

A corner suffocates everyone, and now Rurik can't tolerate others' refutation.

He roamed the crowd, persuading them to agree with his new ideas.

"We have to conquer the whole of Gotaland! You all know that I have been in Jonkoping for many days, and the local people have wanted me to surrender and have given me some important information. I know the situation of Gotaland very well, and there are still The two forces need to conquer, as long as this final conquest is completed, the entire Gotaland region is us. Is this... is it a difficult question?"

Rurik deliberately quieted down, looked at the eyes of everyone, and suddenly asked again: "Longstall, is the small victory worth your retreat now? You are in your prime... Could it be that taking a hundred slaves will satisfy you? ? Don't want to build greater merit."

If you insist on retreating, you will become a coward in the eyes of the nobles! However, considering his own situation, Longstall did not want to continue the expedition with his tribal army.

It was at this time that a man sneered contemptuously: "Some fish dare not swim too far. If they leave their pond, they are afraid of being eaten by the big fish outside. It's so cowardly! We Melalen people are Otherwise, although I don't like Olegin and Karl, these two men took us Mellaren to the Dane's Silver Fort, which is farther south than the current position. It is said that it only takes another flight. It will burn to Jutland."

"You..." Rurik looked at Bjorn who was talking.

"Your messenger claimed that you were going to attack Gothenburg. Let's fight then! We Mellarens will follow you." Bjorn emphasized.

"Well said." Rurik stomped his foot hard, "I tell you clearly, I stayed in Jnkping for many days, and I also sent some additional troops. In the south, cavalry and infantry are mixed into one group. Army, they have moved further south to conquer the village alliance called Vaxjo. I have launched the next action, and the next step is to attack Gothenburg. Those of you who are willing to follow me, those who are not willing, If you want to withdraw, this is an offense to this king. If so, you should consider how you will be punished."

As the so-called punishment is unknown and unpredictable, Rurik's threat forced Ronstall to change his face.

Some small groups formed around Longstall, Duke of Yermalen. In other words, because these nobles lived in the traditional southern part of Sweden for a long time, they have always wanted to control Lake Wettern in the south. There is no luxury in the area on the shore.

These nobles and commoners simply thought of taking it as soon as possible. As the Duke of Longstall, he was actually a person who was elected by his own tribe, not a great dictator. He had to listen to the attitude of his tribe's warriors. But completely against the wishes of the king.

The arms could not twist the thighs, and the restlessness in the army was suppressed by Rurik. Whether they wanted to or not, the expedition was still going on.

There was nothing more to talk about in the chamber. Rurik ended the meeting and gave the entire army the last full day and night to rest.

But this incident also reminded him of the short-sightedness of the Swedish Allies.

But think about it again, their short-sightedness has its own reasons.

Bjorn's army is either debt slaves or mercenaries and servants. In addition, Bjorn is the king of abdication after all. Even if he is weak, he still has appeal. These armies were forced to fight with Bjorn for various reasons. They would be very good assistants to the Rus army, but after the "good assistants" had resolved the Gotaland issue, they would definitely not continue to expand the war.

The other tribal armies are purely composed of tribal people, and they have already expressed their will to stop there. For the time being, they can be forced to fight for a while, and in the long run they will mutiny or flee.

There is a key time node to be grasped, and this time is in the middle of July. The Swedish Allied Army has a size of 2,000 people. A large number of people have to rush to harvest wheat during the harvest season. If it is delayed for too long, they will miss the farming time.

Naturally, Ross soldiers have no concerns in this regard. There is sufficient labor force behind Ross, so there is no need to worry about the work of harvesting wheat.

The day of the march is today! Early in the morning, the whole army began to board the ships one after another.

In fact, the day before, all the heavy equipment was dismantled and transported back to the ship, and some unused supplies were also stuffed into the cabin.

The army on the island is all light, and even the tents for the night are packed into boats. The soldiers huddled together around the bonfire all night, and the next morning when the morning fog cleared, they boarded the boat one after another.

On the last day of rest, Rurik bypassed the Allied armies, and the officers of the Rus army, one and only, gathered together for a secret military meeting.

There are some things that don't need to be said to those allies, and only these senior personnel know what Rurik said that day.

How ambitious can a king be? Anyone who understood Rurik's meaning was deafened.

Because the capture of Gothenburg and Vaxjo is only a phased goal, the Rus army will eventually get rid of those allies, and the army will directly enter Denmark.

The layout of the previous years must be implemented in advance!

A brand new Danish kingdom close to Rus will be established under the support of Rus.

As long as this matter can be achieved, Ross should take advantage of his morale to directly invade the kingdom of Frank and loot. After all, although this expedition will not be empty, it will also make Rurik's treasury hemorrhage. Someone has to pay for this expedition, and perhaps the Franks can pay for the military.

Everyone was astonished by Rurik's ambition, and after a short period of surprise, everyone's blood boiled again.

This is another military operation that gambles on the national luck. The difference is that the Russian army has mobilized a huge domestic army of 5,000, and the logistical supplies are quite solid. When military power achieves great scale, the risk of operational failure is minimized.

Thus, a mixed army develops two attitudes.

One side is eager for the war to continue to expand. It is best to really burn it into the Frankish kingdom this year or in the next few years, and the Rus army will wantonly loot and make a fortune.

The other party was eager to close it as soon as possible, and quickly expanded its settlements in the newly controlled territory.

Whatever their attitude, the army was already in the right waterway, led by a guide composed of the natives of Jnkping, who had surrendered to Rus. The huge Rus-Swedish-Finnish fleet drifted northwest over the highland lakes of Gtaland.

After a day-long voyage, the cramped waterway came to an end, and in front of it was a huge body of water with no end in sight.

Is it a lake or a sea?

As long as you taste the water, you can tell that it is fresh water. This water is nowhere else, it is Lake Vnern, which is three times larger than Lake Vttern!

And this Lake Venern has a very special meaning for the Gotaland people, for the Danes, or for the Norwegians in Oslo.

It is a holy lake, and it is said that this is the residence of the Vanir protoss.

According to the words of the nearby residents, noble gods such as Frey and Freya came from this Lake Venern. There is a secret place in the lake called Vanaheim, which is the home of the gods.

However, these explanations are all beautiful legends. The origin of the name of Lake Venern is very simple - the wind.

Unlike the root of Lake Wettern is water, the root of the root of Werner is wind.

And according to the leader of the Jnkping people, Rurik learned of such a thing.

Gothenburg is not a city, but a region.

The suffix "burg" is indeed clearly defined in the Frankish kingdom as a "wall sheltered town", but in northern Scandinavia, it means the original "closed area". This point, obviously Rurik should be the most aware, after all, that is how the Rosberg hometown is named.

He also came to the realization after thinking for a while. After all, he was careless.

So what exactly is Gothenburg?

Lake Venern is a highland glacial lake in the region. It is a huge freshwater area. The lake is surrounded by glacial hills. The annual snow melt water provides the lake with a steady stream of water resources, and the lake overflows to the sea. Not much.

It either empties into Lake Wettern in the east, or zigzags through a wider river into some hidden place in the Denmark Strait.

This river does not have a special name, it is very simple, and the Gotaland people directly call it the Gota River.

A large number of Jotalans live on both sides of this river, they cultivate land to grow wheat and raise cattle and sheep. The river as a whole runs north-south, so its geographical structure is similar to that of the Nile River in distant Africa. The lake flows south, and if you want to go south, just follow the current. If it is easier to go north, sail in the spring and summer when the ice is melting and the snow is melting, and the south wind can push the boat north.

This riverside area belongs to the elite area of the Gotaland region, where a large number of people live, and they form the concept of Gothenburg as a whole.

How many people are there?

Jonkoping's guides never counted, and they were just businessmen who had arrived there many times to do business. They could only tell Rurik with intuition that the people in the riverside area were at least from the huge fishing village on Visingose Island. double.

twice? Based on the prisoners of war captured and the corpses found in a series of battles, Rurik is very clear about the relatively precise data of the total population of the Gotaland in the entire Lake Wettern of thirteen thousand people.

Let's just assume that there are 30,000 people living in the Yota River alone.

So in the worst case scenario, how many troops can they organize? If there is a decisive battle, will the Rus Kingdom army face 10,000 local soldiers?

Killing? No! If these 30,000 people who speak the Norse language and believe in Odin can submit to the Rus Kingdom, even if they are asked to pay a small amount of tribute every year, it will be a huge benefit to Rus. Moreover, the existence of these people is also a **** to check and balance the development of traditional Swedish forces.

If it is not necessary, do not attack indiscriminately.

That's what Rurik thought, but he also thought his thoughts were ridiculous.

The huge fleet, which had always been extremely large, suddenly emerged from the huge Lake Venern, just to tell the local people that they came with love and peace? Who will believe it?

The military alert cannot be lost, and the subordinates cannot be allowed to land and loot without saying hello.

According to the guide, there is no unified leader on the banks of the Yota River. It is a tribal alliance composed of powerful clans, large and small, forming a series of villages along the lake.

If so, conquering the so-called Gothenburg would be extremely easy. If they are not unified, it is difficult to form a coalition, and the scattered villages are easy for the Rus army to break down.

It is possible for the army to kill indiscriminately, but in exchange for a large number of corpses, how to win people's hearts.

Having said that, if you didn't show your force, why would you force them to surrender?

The army needs to take one or two villages to open the operation, so let's open the breakthrough from the first village encountered!

So when the fleet continued to move south, the strangeness of the water flow became clearly visible. The warriors sensed that the fleet was slowly drifting south, even if it was no longer zigzagging against the wind. The only explanation is that there is a river in front, which must be the legendary Gota River, and the huge Gothenburg formed by the river.

The fleet also encountered fishing boats on the lake like no other. Most of the fishing boats evacuated instinctively, and there were still three fishing boats that were intercepted by the "racing" sailing destroyers.

The shivering fishermen were captured, and some were transported directly to Rurik's flagship.

In the face of the well-dressed Rus army, especially Rurik, a tall and sturdy man dressed in gorgeous clothes and wearing a golden laurel crown, fishermen in tattered clothes sat on the deck, looking up at Rurik was equivalent to looking up to God.

"You... came out of the lake... God?"

"God?" Rurik was taken aback, and then chuckled: "That's right. Fishermen! I will be your king! Submit to me, and you will be rewarded and protected. Oppose me, and my army will kill."

Well, he signaled to his subordinates, and the guards stuffed a bag of money in.

Rurik was very generous, and threw the pound of silver slowly on the ground. When the fisherman took his wallet and opened it, he saw that it was full of fine silver coins, and he trembled as he saw it.

"This is a reward for you, take us into your village, and convince your leader to surrender to me, otherwise!" Rurik suddenly pulled out his sword, threatening in the buzzing sound of the sword: "That is death. !"

"Follow your orders! Follow your orders...great...chief. What are you..."

"Stupid guy." Rurik shook his head regretfully: "I am Rurik, King of Rus! Remember my name! Rurik! I am a king! Your king."

"Yes! The king..."

"Then stand up."

That's all, Rurik re-buys this thin, aged fisherman~www.mtlnovel.com~ goodbye to his wife and children who are sitting nervously, and orders his subordinates: "Give him a spare uniform, and give his women and children Some oatmeal."

Huge amounts of silver coins, new clothes and delicious meals, they are not the gods of the lake, and the fishermen do not know what the Russ means, but the fishermen know the concept of Sweden. Rurik was indeed the king of the Swedes, and now his move was to conquer all of Gothenburg.

Gothenburg, which is close to the river, has never been a national concept, and the alliance of Gotaland here is not close, and even fights with each other. Each village is not to resist a more powerful force as the ruler, unless the force is a villain, such as the Danish pirates who kill to capture slaves, then it will naturally arouse fierce resistance in all villages.

The captured fisherman felt like he was dreaming holding the purse in his hand. One pound of silver coin was a real huge sum for the fishermen of Gotaland. With a little deeper understanding, the fishermen actually met a guide from Jonkoping on the boat, and they also understood the recent major incident in Lake Vttern next door - because of the rebellion, thousands of people were killed on the island of Visingo.

Therefore, refusing to surrender can only bring about death. The captured fishermen do not care about other villages, but their own village is right at the mouth of the river. If their villagers foolishly take up arms to resist, the result will be death.

Smart people will make the right choice based on their survival instinct. Rurik felt that the promise of "submission is to protect his own people". Such conditions are simply a blessing as warm as the summer sun.

The next thing is probably very simple. The army has the first village to surrender, and the first foothold. The army landed and rested, and then marched along the waterway of the Yota River, with a high probability of peacefully conquering the entire Gothenburg.