Chapter 311： The achievements of Arik who swept the sea in the south

With his hair loose, Arik got off the boat and returned to his hometown.

The two swords were inserted back into the scabbard. With a pair of weather-beaten smiling faces, he took a firm step and opened his arms to welcome the people of his hometown.

"I'm back! I'm sorry to make you wait a long time."

He talked as he walked, and his wife Peravina hugged the baby child and walked quickly over in a strong atmosphere of excitement.

Or seeing his father return, Ascade, who was only seven months old, his babbling and babbling even more stimulated Arik's enthusiasm.

He hugged his son as if he hugged all the future. After hitting the tearful forehead of his wife, he continued to embrace the child enthusiastically and approached his little brother.

To tell the truth, seeing a large number of tribal ships rushing to the beach with fearlessness, Ruriek watched with enthusiasm. He subconsciously felt that his cousin had gone through a long war, or looting, and had gained a lot of spoils.

Regarding the controversial nature of the plunder, Rurik no longer wants to be entangled in these things. The Gotlands are enemies after all, and their losses have nothing to do with them.

Seeing a large number of soldiers turning over and disembarking from the ship, most of them have sloppy images, at least they are still huge in number.

Could it be that after a long period of plunder, he has almost no loss? !

Rurik couldn't hide his excitement, raised his pretty little head, and looked up at his brother.

"Aric, welcome back. Well, your beard seems to be getting longer."

"Hey." Arik subconsciously stretched out his right hand and touched the little brother's face: "Your face is as delicate as the mink on your body. The messenger told me that you have been developing the north, and it seems that you are not there. suffer."

"Of course, how can I treat myself badly."

Arik shrugged: "My lovely brother, your delicate little face is like a girl. I hope you grow up quickly and add your beard like I did, so that you are a real man."

"Ah! Maybe my chest will grow thick hair too, wouldn't it be more mighty?"

Arik was amused and laughed, the truth is just as Rurik ridiculed, Arik's chest is now full of golden hairs, and his arms are also covered with fine hairs.

There are no lions in the Nordic world, but some Frankish nobles have seen male lions from Africa. Therefore, some Frankish warriors who claim to be very brave, they wear long golden hair and fight, sometimes claiming to have the power of a lion, and then draped leopard skins obtained in the European mountains and forests on their bodies in the battle to show their abundant martial arts.

As long as Arik continues to grow his hair and beard, and as long as he does not feel that the flowing hair is an obstacle to fighting, then he can also call himself a lion.

A large number of fighters, with arrogant self-confidence and the joy of going home, spontaneously gathered to their commander Arik.

The tribal warriors are numerous and powerful, and their broken clothes also emit some peculiar smell.

Rülik has long been unaware of it. He estimated that after these guys triumphed, the first thing is to move the spoils home, and the second thing is to clean themselves.

Arik continued to caress Rurik's little face: "I have gained a lot this time. A lot of ships are as you can see."

Arik casually pointed to the ships that washed up on the beach, the large number of ships loaded in the warships, they did not have a tall bow and no mast (the mast was chopped off), and the shipboard was simpler, at best. It's just some relatively long ordinary ships.

"I saw it a long time ago!"

"How is it? Do you like it?"

"Um..." Rurik couldn't say anything. Although he didn't directly check on the ship, he realized that the quality of these ordinary ships must be inferior during the process of washing the beach. For example, their biggest feature compared to warships is that their keels are too slender.

Rurik settled: "How many are they?"

"There are twenty ships!"

Arik's ability to increase his voice is completely to promote his martial arts.

"how do you feel?"

"The number is amazing! As many as twenty!" Rurik's little heart was really stimulated, and he raised his head to look at the boats, and he couldn't help but fill up a very beautiful picture.

"How about? Do you like it? Oh, you will keep your promise."

"Of course." Rurik shrugged, "Twenty ships, as long as you bring them back, I will pay you. Each ship is two hundred silver coins, I will pay today!"

At first, Arik felt that it was a bit embarrassing to expect the little brother to take out the money in the first place, after all, it was a total of forty pounds of silver coins!

Unexpectedly that the little brother was so refreshing, Arik blamed himself for worrying about his brother's hesitation.

He was in a very good mood. He turned around and shouted in front of the assembled soldiers; "Brothers! Our Rurik has spoken, and he has bought all the boats. Soon you will be able to get them in your pockets. Get a sum of money!"

The crowd came around spontaneously. They were eager to sell the captured fishing boats that were dragged all the way. They were even worried that irreparable damage to the boats caused by the battle would lead to buyers Liurik bargaining.

As expected, Rurik lived up to the expectations. He was the "Blesser of Odin", and he spoke loudly.

"Arik! Your expedition does not seem to have been lost?" Rurik's call caused the excited Arik to twist his body again.

"Of course! You may not believe it, my subordinates are only injured, and no one died in battle."

His answer is really surprising, although the well-equipped soldier has a very high probability of surviving when he fights in blood. Rurik doesn't feel that his people are inferior in weapons to those of Gotland.

Do not! Wait a minute!

Rurik patronized and talked to his brother, he noticed his mercenary captain and all twenty mercenaries carrying crossbows from the corner of his eyes. The number of them is visible to the naked eye, and it can be seen that they have not suffered any loss.

Is there a generation gap in weapons? There must be.

Leurik immediately asked a very critical question: "Arik, do you estimate how many enemies have you wiped out in the long battle?"

"This..." Arik grasped his chin and estimated: "We attacked at least forty fishing boats and killed at least 200 of them!"

"Ah?! So many. Since it is forty ships, why do you bring back twenty ships."

"Because many ships broke directly in the battle." Arik pointed at his flagship: "See the thick keel and the raised bow? My brother, it seems you really don't know. What is a warship."

"Ok?"

"How do you think I fought?"

Rurik thoughtfully: "I send mercenaries to you. You must have commanded them to shoot at the enemy with a crossbow."

"You’re right, but you still don’t know how to fight at sea. My brother, I commanded a fleet to fight at sea last year. I have sufficient experience! Your crossbow is indeed an excellent weapon, but a lot of it. The arrow fell into the sea and you will never be able to take it back. Your mercenary almost emptied the arrow, and in the end there was not much left."

"It doesn't matter. Arrows are all consumables. If we lose them, we will make new ones. Anyway, they are not expensive."

Not expensive? Arik knows that his brother is a natural business man, and that he can accumulate a lot of wealth for himself by relying on business alone. There is a new difference between himself and his brother. He is not rare to waste iron tools, but he is very rare!

Arik shrugged: "You will always learn about battles at sea in the future! Compared to those fishing boats that usually only have five or six people, my warship can row 30 people at the same time. The speed of the warship is very fast, and the bow of the ship is very fast. Very strong. Rurik, you are me, how do you command the battle?"

"Ah!" Rurik suddenly realized: "You will direct the brothers to crash directly?!"

"You guessed it! This is how I didn't take all the boats! Many fishing boats were directly hit and sunk by me."

"Where are the fishermen who fell into the water?" Rurik asked next.

"Those people? All the men were killed, and the women picked up all of them and transported them to Tombstone Island. You know, the brothers stationed over there need women very much."

Arik recounted his cruel past in arrogant words, and Rurik didn't think it was cruel anymore.

The beastly war is like this. The so-called Gotland fishermen, of course, are fishermen, but they can become warriors as soon as they are transformed. In the Nordic world of this era, there really are no common people. Every man of a tribe has the obligation to defend his tribe from birth.

The calm fjord was immersed in the excitement, and the plain life soon had an invigorating conversation.

The people who live in the fjord are forced to close, especially the large number of female family members. Their daily work of tailoring, fetching water, fetching water, and cooking is to hone their interest. This is how life is always lackluster. .

Women happily hand over their young children to Rurik for training. The logic at the bottom is that Rurik takes care of the food, so as to save their own expenses. Secondly, they are concerned about whether their children can become better.

The young fighters returned, and they told their sisters, wives and even their mothers about their achievements in the crusade against the Gotland. They couldn't help describing how brave they were, how witty the war chief Arik was, and even touted Rurik's mercenaries and their weapons.

The women heard these interesting things from the returning soldiers, especially after seeing the spoils they brought back, they suddenly ignored the possibility of death caused by the war. In other words, although they are not very willing in principle, in the face of their own material consumption, they urgently need their own men to break through.

In reality, Roseburg was overcrowded. The nearby hills had trees that could make big ships were cut down. The nearby forests were generally full of small trees, and the small beasts in the forests were also wildly captured by hunters.

The land in the fjord is barren and the climate is short-lived with frost-free periods. Men and women cannot be self-sufficient through effective planting. The fishing industry and northern hunting in winter are the economic foundation of the tribe. These very difficult tasks must be done by men.

I have to say that people’s eyes are sharp. Under the command of the big leader Otto, and under the leadership of Otto’s two children, the tribe quickly became strong.

Some small families have enjoyed war dividends, and some small families have enjoyed industrial development dividends.

The dividends actually benefited all tribal families, including those with difficulties due to their men's death in battle or accidental deaths, and even aging men and women. Two years have passed, and in modern times, all the people of the Rus tribe, whether young or old, have really received development dividends.

The returning soldiers not only brought home a batch of seized spoils, such as a large number of fishing gear, but also cut canvas from enemy ships and even worn-out clothes.

They brought back a lot of things. In fact, Arik deliberately delayed the return date until the sea was frozen.

Of course, there is nothing like organizing thousands of fighters to go directly to the island, hacking and killing the Gotland army, and then directly looting the wealth of the islanders, so that everyone will make a fortune. To this day, Arik still believes that the enemy is bad. He always thinks that his uncle Otto’s prohibition from mobilizing the main force of the Ross tribe to fight the enemy is a measure of opportunity.

Because the local fishermen's raid was to run from one victory to another, he strengthened the fact that the enemy was inferior.

But something very bad, their actions were too aggressive, forcing the Gotland fishermen to stop fishing in the fertile northern waters (because they are located at the estuary of Lake Mälaren, this sea area is rich in nutrients). It seems that the fishing grounds are occupied by fishermen from the north, but the fishermen of the Melaren tribe are actually just fishing for freshwater fish in the lake. They don't know about the war in the sea, and because of their inherent knowledge, they dare not venture south.

For a time, the fishing industry in the vast seas became sluggish, and the Russian warships were like cruising sharks, searching for and biting enemies they encountered.

As time went by, Arik continued to get nothing for many days, and the days of fishing and fishing on the spot made everyone feel boring. In that case, it is better to take the spoils back as early as possible.

The seized tools enriched the families of the soldiers. On the still short night on the first day of their return, Arik took a few people, summoned all the people involved in the battle to his doorstep, and then sold them equally in public. Loot ship money.

Everyone held up the torches soaked in pine resin, with wide-open eyes, staring at the open suitcase and the reflective silver coins inside.

During the long day, Rurik had a long conversation with his cousin in his own home.

My cousin said a lot about the details of the incident in the southern waters. By the way, Rurik listened to the description of the mercenary captain Jeflo, so that he had an intuitive understanding of naval battles and divided the tactics into different ranks.

The so-called, the best strategy is the bow collision, the middle strategy is arrow shooting, and the lower strategy is jumping and fighting.

The two brothers completed the delivery of the ownership of the ship in a relaxed and happy atmosphere.

Arik had eaten at the leader's house, even if it was already evening, he still took the cash box to distribute the money.

"Attention! Twenty silver coins for everyone! Twenty silver coins including me!"

"We are all brothers, we have been floating at sea for two months, everyone must be paid!"

"Attention! Leave after taking the money. Everyone can only take it once. It is not allowed to take the brother's money privately, and offenders will be punished."

...

Arik was really afraid of someone pretending to take it. Ruriek and his family were also watching. The young soldiers of the tribe were rushing and looting, and he couldn't help but regret it.

"Oh! There are probably guys who fish in troubled waters like this! Fortunately, my people have been forced to train to know how to line up."

After all, they were madmen who fought with Arik, and Rurik was just watching. How Arik sends money is his business, and has nothing to do with him.

The only thing that makes Rurik keenly pay attention to is that Arik's so-called generosity As a commander, is he really trying to divide the four thousand silver coins for selling fishing boats? !

Of course, the mercenaries are people from Rurik, and they can only get a reward from the master’s family. Regarding the rewards of Lloydevlo and others, Rurik has already finished the bonus. The so-called bonus is actually twenty silver coins to correspond. Two months of expatriate combat wages, and a cumulative food subsidy of five silver coins.

Arik really only took twenty silver coins, and within a short time, the heavy box became empty. Rurik was actually more worried. These fighters fought side by side for a long time. They were originally angry with the villain who was greedy for the spoils of their comrades. Now they command Arik to set an example of seeking fairness, and no one has the idea of ​​greed.

So, is Arik really generous?

Of course, he is indeed generous.

Rurik naturally saw the deep situation: rather than getting real silver and gold coins, his cousin is now more dependent on personal prestige.

"You yearn for glory? Of course, I also yearn. Now we are on a different path, I'm afraid I will still be the winner forever."