Chapter 348： Rurik comes to Tombstone Island

The fleet negotiated by Rurik and others must go to Tombstone Island. While giving the settled brothers a compassionate and invigorating cruise, they are also trying to "attract investment".

The colonization of the Åland Islands by the ancient Swedes in history is a matter of 1000 AD, even if the islands are not far from the mouth of Lake Mälaren. It is entirely because in 1000 AD, if the Russ did not do anything about population development, the ancient Swedes in the entire Svealand Plain would only have a population of 100,000, and they would be highly concentrated in Svealand. The area around Lake Mälaren. For them, according to Eastern standards, this is the population of several large clan communities. They are a large part of the world in the world view. The small Baltic world can be called a large part of the world. If there is no special attraction, they are not willing to go to the Åland Islands. Open up settlements.

But Rurik deliberately used the triumphant Arik two years ago to bury the tombstone island of the brothers who died in battle. There are only tombstones there, but Rurik wants to turn it into a monument.

monument? That is the "Stone of Glory", which is Stanislava when used in ancient Cyrillic spelling.

Stanislava, a name that seems nasty and funny. If Rurik chooses, he is happy to call Tombstone Island "Island Stanislav", can the settlers use "Stannislav" as their surname?

In short, we must let the Merlaren people, and other tribes in the alliance, know that there is a Tombstone Island in the northeastern archipelago with the garrison of the Ross people. If you plan to do business with the Russ, you can take a boat to the island with supplies. In this way, Tombstone Island may gradually become a prosperous market?

Yes, at the mouth of Melaren, there are now some scattered fishermen, as well as hundreds of Melaren warriors who obeyed the command of the leader to station guard. The Mellaren people began to realize the strategic value of the entrance to the sea. Does it mean the formation of a new trading base?

Rurik believes that if the formation of Stockholm is historically inevitable, then the Åland Islands must also take a share of this commercial prosperity. Since history has chosen the Rus, in the trade, the Rus has the upper hand, it should seize the leading role.

In order to achieve this goal, a large fleet of ships was organized to cruise the Old Tombstone Island, bringing a large number of unknown Merlaren merchants, Uppsala merchants, Ankras merchants, and even Yilmalen merchants to arrive there. A commercial advertisement on Tombstone Island.

This advertisement is very important!

The day of the appointment will be tomorrow. This time Gould does not matter what priests he hired to be a priest for this year's return flight, because he really doesn't need it.

The most noble Rülik is here. Since he has received Odin's great love, he will serve as a priest tomorrow, beheading a sheep on the dock himself, and offering sacrifices to the goddess of Lake Mälaren and Odin with sheep’s blood.

The most important sacrifice is the priest Odin. Everyone believes that the great **** is the absolute ruler of the sun and the ocean. With the "sponsored by the gods" Rurik came to pray in person. Those who learned of this news will carry out a brand new route. The sense of worry has disappeared.

Tomorrow is the day of departure, and Rurik's mind is filled with excitement called going home. He hadn't slept almost all night, so early the next morning, only the cold morning wind could make his little head wake up.

Gould Island was crowded with people, and outside the pier, a huge fleet had been assembled.

A large number of cargo ships that ventured to carry food with overweight, dropped anchors with thick hemp ropes, and fixed the ships in the lake. They are the core of the entire fleet. In addition, the number of long ships carrying supplies actually exceeds one hundred.

If it were a naval fleet, its combat effectiveness would be amazing.

However, in today's era, there are not a few clever people who can realize that those stocky and slow cargo ships have great potential to be transformed into warships. Rurik saw that the future of those shipbuilders who are about to immigrate to Roseburg is not just to make transport ships, but to large warships with unprecedented pure sails, or, in other words, the future of the Ross cargo ship must have everything. The attributes of combat.

There is an altar made of stone and planks on the lake, on which are placed some bronze utensils and some small stone statues, which are the so-called deities representing Odin. Regarding their carving techniques for sculptures, Rurik can't flatter them.

"When one day my power really expands to the Greek region, I have to get some sculpture experts."

Rurik thought so, logically speaking, his hope could be realized in theory. As the "Destroying the Deity Movement" swept across Eastern Rome, a large number of sculpture experts were forced to not be able to carve human figures, and could only feed on the pillars of the rich and wealthy houses, and even turned to carpenters.

An innocent sheep stood on the beach, while Rurik held his dagger and stared at the sacrifice.

The priest came to pray? It is really a superfluous thing.

The documents engraved on the wooden planks that Rurik saw in the longhouse of the priest, except for the record of the history of Ross, are a large number of prayers.

Facing the eastern sun, in pursuit of a sense of history, he ordered all onlookers to kneel on one knee.

At this moment, the thin morning mist envelops the whole or, and the sunlight is like a golden curtain. Its gentleness dissolves the coldness of autumn, and the whole world becomes sacred.

Kneeling on one knee, Rurik recites a prayer aloud, asking Odin to bless the safety of the fleet.

Finally, he looked at the sharp blade in his hand and stroked the lamb's head again. In an instant, the sword pierced the sheep's throat, and Rurik held the sheep, and he singled it out, and let the sheep's blood flow into Lake Mälaren. He was like a real priest, enduring the anger and breaking open the lamb belly, holding the **** lamb liver in his hand, and proclaiming good luck to all the kneeling people.

Would anyone doubt that this is a performance?

No! Not at all. Not only is everyone generally superstitious, but everyone has already presupposed a "good journey" conclusion in their hearts, waiting for Rurik to make an auspicious declaration.

Rurik, the child blessed by Odin, completed a brief and crucial sailing sacrifice.

The next thing can no longer be urged by anyone.

People on the shore boarded their ships one after another, and in a short period of time, the assembled fleet was overcrowded!

Rurik chose a down-to-earth grain cargo ship as his flagship, and pulled a piece of blue cloth on the top of its only mast (blue fuel is the easiest to get). For the time being, as the flagship Peugeot, the entire fleet must be agreed upon. Follow the flagship.

"Let's get started!" Rurik swallowed and ordered Gould who was accompanying him.

Immediately afterwards, the flagship heard the dull horn of horns. It was a positive signal. All the ships lowered their sails, and the anchors that fell into the water began to recover.

The north wind blows the entire Lake Mälaren, and they are good at using the wind and they start to move.

The Ross people's fleet, loaded with huge amounts of supplies, began to move, and the merchants from all walks of life who were ready, their ships moved by the wind.

The fleet is still slowly rushing towards the mouth of the lake, all the sails are tilted, in order for the north wind to bring a positive "lift", so the entire fleet is slowly accelerating.

The Ross fleet set off. Olekin, the leader of Mellaren, took a long boat and looked at this extremely large fleet with solemn expression. At this moment, he was not only shocked, but also jealous. , And anger.

And this is just the first fleet of the Ross people.

Rurik and his entourage began to set off with Tombstone Island as their initial destination. After completing the first transportation of supplies, a large number of ships have to return to Gould Island, and finally rushed to the early stage of the sea freezing before November to transport the final supplies to Ross. Fort.

The down-to-earth flagship walks on the waves, it is lenient and stable.

Rurik stood at the bow of the ship wearing a thick coat. He didn't feel any seasickness. His eyes sometimes stared at flat and large ships, and occasionally looked at the various merchant ships trailing behind. He paid particular attention to the lakes and mountains in this area, to the scattered huts on the starry islands at the mouth of the sea. When I think that this area is actually Stockholm in later generations, a sense of vicissitudes arises.

Where is Tombstone Island? In short, it is not far from the archipelago.

The Åland Islands have not yet been given a clear name, and Rurik does not want to give it an exact name. He felt that the Mälaren people had always lacked interest in the archipelago. As a result, the fleet of ships left the mouth of the sea, and a large number of merchant ships stuck to the coastline all the way north. They were separated from the Ross fleet. Obviously these foreign merchants were accustomed to safe old routes. .

Rurik didn't force them all to travel to Tombstone Island, at least some ships followed him. So, are they willing to make a long-term deal with the Ross settlers stationed on the island?

On this trip, Arik is an indispensable navigator of the fleet. Here, there is no second person who understands this route better than him. For others, this route is unfamiliar and dangerous. For Arik, the two-month-long looting of the Gotland people has enabled him to have a very deep understanding of the Tombstone Island as a rear base, and even most of the hydrological data of the Åland Islands. For example, where is the deep water channel, where is the shallow, he knows very well.

Rurik spent the night on the boat. Throughout the night, the fleet reeled its sails and all the ships floated on the sea. When the faint sea fog dissipated, Arik continued to steer the flagship straight to the destination with the sun's orientation as the direction, so that other ships also had the backbone.

"It's really bad, I still don't like to spend the night on a boat. Damn, I should build a cabin and a bedroom on the boat."

Rurik's complaints were heard by Gould, who was not very energetic. Even though everyone was very rich and wealthy, they still had to resist the fatigue of the boat.

Gould sneered: "You want to build a house on the boat? Oh, if you can, I really hope you can succeed."

It sounds like this guy just doesn't believe it.

Rurik didn't dispute anything. He shrugged and asked, "Why do you think I value those excellent shipbuilders?"

Gould was taken aback: "Huh? Are you serious?"

"Why not? In my opinion, it is not impossible to rebuild this ship. Oh, at least put a shed at the stern to protect it from wind and rain."

In fact, these cargo ships have been temporarily installed with a wooden deck that can be separated from the cargo by using wooden battens and a small amount of plates. It has been a technological upgrade.

Arik leaned on the mast. He stood on a wooden barrel, grasping the pole with his left hand, and looking into the distance with his right hand close to his eyes.

He felt that the position was still too low, so he was simply like a monkey, holding the mast and starting to climb. He grabbed the reefing rope and continued to look into the distance. Finally, he saw what he wanted.

"Attention!" he yelled.

The people on the boat raised their heads.

"Brother! Have you seen the land?" Rurik asked loudly.

"It's there! The island!" Arik pointed with a finger, and then slid down instantly while holding the mast. He ordered the sailor; "Hurry up and adjust the direction of the sail, and we will move towards the island."

As a result, a huge fleet of up to 200 ships of various types began to fine-tune the course with the flagship as the center.

Soon, the lush Åland Islands were in sight.

At the same time, the Ross people who settled on Tombstone Island, while staying on the fishing boat, saw the huge fleet approaching, and people shouted in excitement: "The leader is finally back." This stopped all fishing and fishing operations. , They put down the oars, and boldly moved closer to the fleet.

But the one who came is not the leader of the Sorgon fleet.

The fishermen were not lost, and even had a different kind of excitement. Who could have imagined that this huge fleet also belonged to Ross, and even the heroic "Dual Knife Arik" served as the navigator. The fishermen took the lead in cheering. The leader’s son Rurik is here, and the fleet transporting huge amounts of supplies will dock at Tombstone Island. This is not just as simple as the heroes of the tribes coming to visit, but a large amount of supplies will be on the island Unloading, this is completely a help for them who are nervous about collecting winter supplies.

The Ross fishermen began to serve as new navigators, and the entire fleet also searched, and the drop-shaped team became a bar.

In the end, all the ships broke down near the coast of Tombstone Island.

The stone spearheads **** with twine fell in the inter-island waters that were only ten and twenty meters deep. This is the case in the Aland Islands. The water depth in some areas is less than two meters. Ordinary long ships ignore such shallow waters. However, transport ships with very deep drafts are beginning to face the terrible risk of grounding.

What makes Lurik very gratified is that the sight of Tombstone Island is completely unexpected. Here, a new coastal community has risen from the ground! The Ross settlers are actively developing the island. They definitely levelled some of the land and set up wooden shelves to dry the fish. They built a large number of wooden houses, and even built wooden piers in the two natural harbors owned by the island.

It was these piers that made Rurik the most happy. He had to admire the wisdom of his father. Tombstone Island, which he chose as a settlement, actually had a deep-water port!

Two natural piers, they both have gravel beaches, but the **** of this beach is very large.

At the request of Rurik, the two cargo ships were towed by several long rowing boats and entered the port full of security.

"Rurik, what do you think of the island?" Arik said in a bragging tone.

"It's not bad, they actually built a wharf."

"I supervised them to expand the dock. Do you know? This is an important stronghold for my attack on the Gotland people. You can see when you land. We have also erected a wooden wall on the island. Now if the enemy expands With revenge, our people can rely on the wall to fight back."

Wall? Rurik can't see it for the time being, I'm afraid the walls are hidden in the woods.

Although the Aland Islands are in the sea, the history of its formation is short. The vegetation on the islands is extremely dense, and the tree species are mostly straight red pine and cedar. They are certainly not the best shipbuilding materials, but they are also extremely cost-effective woods.

The settlers who had just received good news dragged their families to the biggest safe haven. In fact, just now, everyone has clearly witnessed the fleet that surrounds the entire island. This oppressive fleet made everyone feel terrified at first. When they learned that these fleets were actually the fleet of the leader's son, Rurik, the sense of pride came back. To everyone’s heart.

Rurik saw a large number of people gathered. What surprised him was that there were still a large number of women here.

"Huh? Arik, don't many of our tribe women go to Shilla Fort? Are these women the wives of brothers?"

Arik explained without obscurity: "Oh, you mean them? They are almost all Gotland women?"

"Ah! They... why are they here? I thought you eliminated those women by the way."

"How is this possible?!" Arik jokingly pinched his brother's neck, "Boy, don't you have a lot of women in your hands? Oh, even though they are children now. They are your captives and your future. Wife and concubine, you are not very good to them."

The reason is like this, Rurik understood right away, but he still felt a little strange. "I thought the women in Gotland would fight to the death too, but I didn't expect it."

"What else? They just want to survive. Brothers can't expect the big boss to send them a wife. Of course, a capable man will take a wife back by himself. The Gotland women who are stolen will be taken care of, they The children born are also Roths. Many women should have been pregnant, and when they actually have children, they will no longer be Gotlanders at all, but ours."

The reason is simple and rude, Rurik shrugged and said nothing. Perhaps the bravery of the Vikings lies only among men. As for women, most of them just want to live as peacefully as possible.

Rurik set foot on Gould Island in full costume, facing the curious and excited eyes of his people, he immediately took off his hat when he stood on the trestle, and deliberately shook his head, causing his golden ponytail to sway from side to side. .

The beautiful golden ponytail, it is already the iconic place of Rurik.

"Brothers, I am Rurik, here I am."

Suddenly, a large number of Ross people, who were full of fishy smell, surrounded Rurik in groups, talking and laughing, talking about their excitement.

At the critical moment, Arik yelled: "Be quiet, let our people take things to the island!"

Soon, the trestle bridge was let go. Some of the accompanying Ross soldiers happily carried a hundred-pound sacks, and some even carried two bags. They easily approached the people who were stationed on the island.

Packs of gunny sacks were unloaded one after another, and they were five hundred packs!

This move was within Rurik’s calculations. On behalf of his younger brother, Arik roared in a loud voice: "Brothers, you have worked hard! The chief is grateful to you for guarding the tribe. You see, these five hundred packs are all this year. The wheat produced in Mellaren is 50,000 pounds! Now, Rurik plans to sell you the wheat at the old price of ten pounds a silver coin. I know you have enough money, but it’s hard to spend it. Come on. Come, buy these grains, and you will have no worries for the whole winter!"

The crowd boiled, and everyone was in excitement.

There is no free bread in the world. People who settled know that even if the returned leader fleet drops the wheat, everyone will have to pay a sum of money to buy it. At most, there will be a discount when buying it. The main force of the settlers here are the warriors who once landed on the island to attack the Gotland people. They voluntarily stayed behind to guard the graves of the war dead, and also to expand the living space of the tribe. As a reward for their merits, they also got a big cup of the plundered huge Gotland silver coins. Don't think they are generally dressed a little dangling, in fact, every man has a lot of wealth.

Stationed on an isolated island, they basically have no opportunity to consume, and silver coins are nothing more than precious metals for everyone. Everyone hailed that the silver coins that were rotten in their hands had cost, and for the settled people, 50,000 pounds of grain was evenly distributed to assist the catches that have been caught, so that everyone can spend the winter without worrying about food and clothing. .

It is indisputable that Rurik throws away a large amount of food to send charcoal in the snow, and of course it also has the purpose of reducing the weight of the ship Moreover, it also attracts a very strong reputation for himself. This is really a three-pointer. Winning move.

But this is the end of the matter?

Soon, the foreign businessmen who were accompanying them learned that the Russ stationed on the island were rich but had nowhere to spend. The businessmen patted their heads, and blamed themselves for not knowing that there are a group of wealthy people in this deserted archipelago? !

Foreign merchants landed, and as soon as they landed, they began to sell their own daily necessities in pots and pans, as well as vegetables such as onions and yellow-rooted carrots. The merchant thoughtfully thought of the demand for flax in their fishing operations, so there are still a lot of flax in the commodity, and even finished fishing nets.

This fellow Fodgen is not idle either. He has a large number of finished leather jackets on hand, which he planned to dump at Roseburg. Since Tombstone Island is also the territory of the Rus, the pace of dumping actually started here.

Rurik intends to stay here for a day, he needs to pay a visit to the grave of the Ross soldier. He is also happy to see the sudden formation of a small bazaar, and the life of the settled tribesmen improves triumphantly.

Now, he and a group of people and friends are rushing to the tombstones that are arranged in a matrix with a large number of carved human figures, patterns and Luen characters.