Chapter 498： This is the expedition of the Aphrodite

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The Aphrora leaving Roseburg started her long voyage.

For the Rurik, for the Rus, or for the Balmerks, this is destined to be an unprecedented long-distance voyage, for both parties, it will certainly create history, and it is also expected to lay the ground for a longer voyage in the future. A solid foundation.

Rurik's description of the geography of the Nordic world is absolutely correct on a macro level, that is, the dotted islands in the ocean add too many obstacles to navigation, and he must explore a clear route.

This voyage was destined to be impossible, and the people on board were ready for battle at the beginning.

At least in terms of weapons and equipment, Rurik is quite prepared.

There are some pebbles piled in the cabin. They first serve as ballast stones to enhance the ship’s ability to resist wind and waves. Once there is a battle, the pebbles in this large pile of streams of similar size are the ammunition of the "Bull Catapult".

The maximum range of "Bull" is between 330 and 300 stika. It takes at least four hundred steps for a mature man to walk down such a long distance (one step here is about 80 cm).

Rocks fall from the sky, mainly relying on the acceleration of gravity to continuously increase their own kinetic energy, so as to kill the people on the enemy ship.

If you expect rocks to pierce the enemy ship, Rurik has no hope at all.

His ship-destroying weapon is a torsion slingshot, which is placed on the ship like giant scorpions. The tapered cast iron bullet is just a chisel, and in the past winter, all the torsion slingshots owned by the Ross people have been overhauled, and ten new ones have been added.

The tribesmen caught the baleen whale, and the hard and tough baleen became one of the torsion cores of the slingshot. In addition, the key hemp rope and the rubber band from the leather are used at the same time. The strength of the torsion slingshot is more violent, and the maximum range of the projectile is even close to 400stika. Considering its actual combat value, Rurik won't let the torsion slingshot play any projectile! The tactic is that the big ship approaches the target until the enemy's surprised face can be clearly seen, and the torsion slingshot is fired in order to penetrate the enemy ship with one strike.

In the vast sea, Rurik knew nothing better than the most brutal and effective tactics. As long as the enemy's ship is sunk by some means, even if there are fifty or a hundred fallen men holding wooden blocks and crying for help, the Ross people stand by and leave, waiting for the death of this group of people. Or it was pickled into bacon in the brackish Baltic water, or it was frozen to death.

Even in May, the Baltic Sea is still cold. In other words, at any time, the temperature of the sea in this huge sea area can make those who fall into the water die first.

As long as the ship sinks, the chance of survival for the overboard is extremely slim.

The sea is fair, fair to anyone who falls into the water.

Rurik is not afraid of war, and nothing he worries more than hitting the rocks. On the rear side of Aphrora, four tiny sampans are tied with twine ropes. This is the so-called lifeboat, which also has the function of leaving the big ship to explore the small island.

If the Aphrodite hits the rocks, if the hull is damaged, that is the biggest crisis for oneself.

Rurik, there is no real God's perspective, he can't insight into whether there are hidden dangers under the sea.

Having said that, if you are afraid of submerged reefs and dare not go out to sea, it is a cowardly act of choking and giving up food. Rurik knew at least one extremely safe course, which was the course of the Swedish Allied Forces expedition last summer, which extended at least to the Kalmar Strait.

The Aphrola is full of military virtues, and is completely armed to the teeth by the standards of this era.

She also has some more important equipment, that is, the newly grown pine branches that Rurik deliberately took on the boat, which weighed a lot.

Oatmeal cakes become very hard due to natural drying and dehydration, and it is very easy to scratch the oral mucosa even if you eat it. There is no way for Liurik. In the face of extreme sailing, the ship needs to store food that is extremely storable.

So another durable food is smoked bacon, which is a large number of seal meat strips, each of which is dark brown. At first glance, it looks more like a dead branch in winter. Why does it taste good? , But the shortcomings are still too hard.

The voyager of this ribbon does not have the concept of a healthy diet at all. If we eat oatmeal and bacon, do we need to reserve any other food?

After boarding the ship, Rurik issued an order to everyone on the ship, saying that although the ship lacks the ability to make a fire and boil water, the pine branches are still to be eaten.

"Why? If it's not that the food lacks flavor, who of us would boil pine branch water? Since we can't boil water, and since there is bacon, why do we have to eat grass like sheep?" Bijuni questioned Rurik's words. People are convinced.

Rurik didn't intend to make a scientific explanation. He really had to say it. Who understands? !

Pine branches are indeed rich in vitamin C. Various Viking tribes have the habit of boiling pine branch water. Easterners also have the habit of drinking tea. The birth of these habits has nothing to do with vitamin nutrition.

Whether it is Balmerks or Ross, the habit of drinking pine needle water on land objectively makes everyone never suffer from vitamin C deficiency.

But in the face of a long voyage, you will suffer a big loss if you don't prepare for this.

Even if it is lack of vitamins, sailors rely on depreciated hard bread to survive, even if they almost completely rely on the most persevering sailors, they endure 5500 kilometers in the South Pacific without seeing any islands and drifting along the ocean currents for a month. The team, they created a miracle, but the price paid was starvation and half of the crew members.

If you know the cause of the tragedy early, you can avoid it from the beginning. Rurik is the owner of the Aphrodite. He claims that on the vast ocean, everyone on the ship needs to obey his arrangements. There is no doubt about his power, even Balmerk's Biyunni and Froki agree with it.

The long voyage was full of boredom. At first, Biyunni was very resistant to chewing on the bitter pine branches. As the voyage continued, the bitterness in his mouth became a means of dispelling boredom.

There is no enthusiasm and boldness in the voyages of this era. Most of the time, everyone is recording the messy things in the cabin, or the interest in a daze. Whenever a woman appears on the boat, aren't these rough guys patronizing every day like tigers? In the end they could only throw the woman's body into the sea.

Rurik couldn't expect them to have noble humanity. He asked himself that he once wanted to be a morally good person, but he was forced to become Viking by the times. How does the so-called moral saint survive in this world where powerful enemies are surrounded by the weak and the strong eaters?

With great power in control, Rurik certainly intends to be a sage King Rose, and the pleasure of controlling power is really great!

There was no woman on the ship, and the forty men became more irritable during the long and boring voyage. It seemed that only a few enemy ships could be sunk to greatly relieve everyone's pressure.

But where is the enemy ship?

Look at the current situation!

With an average speed of three knots, the Aphrodite was headed against the wind and star-to-night. She had to walk the zigzag line constantly, so the actual voyage increased by a full one-third.

Even so, her daily sailing distance is still as high as 120 to 130 kilometers.

On the sixth day of sailing, the Aphrora successfully arrived at Tombstone Island. She was also the first Ross ship that arrived at Tombstone Island after overwintering. The people stationed on the island warmly welcomed their Lord Rurik. In exchange, Rurik also unloaded some goods specially prepared for them, such as some of the best salt. .

The Aphrodite rested on the island for a whole day, and people received a very critical freshwater supply and some fresh fish. The most important thing is that people boiled the oats they carried, and ate warm surimi stewed wheat, and the old onion, which was sweet first and then spicy, became an excellent seasoning.

The arrival of the Aphrodite is just the beginning. The "commercial army" from Roseburg, the Sorgon fleet, will now give priority to stopping at Tombstone Island for repairs. The ice floes on the sea have not completely melted. It is conceivable that when the warm period comes, ships from various tribes from Lake Mälaren have also begun to enter the sea to do business on Tombstone Island, the nearest Rus stronghold.

In the Gulf of Bothnia and Lake Mälaren, commerce is developing rapidly. Under this historical tide, a number of heroes are also emerging.

Because of Lake Mälaren, a major event happened suddenly in the winter snow. The political pattern of the region has undergone an earthquake-like change. All of this, due to the ice-bound sea, did not reach Tombstone Island, even more. Can't reach the ears of the Ross people.

Rurik missed the opportunity to know a major news, but the fact has happened, and he now knows it or not, the result is the same. Because, I'm afraid that is still great news for the Ross people.

Leaving Tombstone Island, it took another day to pass the estuary of Lake Mälaren. Now, the Aphrora has finally begun her real voyage.

So far there is no turning back.

It was an excellent morning, and the gentle south wind was blowing.

All the people on the ship gathered on the lower mid-deck, while Rurik stood on the bow deck, talking loudly in front of everyone.

At this moment, he had already regarded the Balmerks as his subordinates, and everyone present was his subordinates.

His exquisite dagger pointed to the south: "Now, in principle, I will not land in search of any supply point. Gotland is ahead, and then Kalmar! It is already Danish territory in principle. We will encounter it at any time. enemy!

Whenever we encounter any ship, we will approach and sink it! Remember, there are no friends in the southern waters, only enemies!

We just want to be pirates, we don't land for supplies, we just want to plunder their supplies for my use.

We will continue to move forward until we pass the densely active area of ​​Danes. If we encounter the most difficult combat threats, we need not be afraid. Fight with them! Try to create destruction and create an atmosphere of terror as much as possible.

We will keep sailing until we reach Balmerk, which is the only end of the voyage.

Here, there is no difference between Russ, Balmerks and hired sailors. Our destiny is exactly the same. We must fight as a whole! "

Rurik's generous speech first drew the applause of his elite mercenaries, and the Balmerk travellers looked at Bijuni's attitude, and they all began to cheer.

"So, are we really going to be pirates? Are we really going to attack the Danes?" Biyunion raised his head with a smile on his seemingly serious expression.

"Not rigorous! But we are indeed pirates."

"how to say?"

Rurik didn't repeat: "If the ship that appeared in front was from Bergen? What is our choice? Let it go?"

"No!" Froky tugged at his changing voice: "Fight with them! I can clearly recognize which fishing boats of my tribe are our people or enemies. This is our way of life."

Rurik stared into Frocky's eyes with satisfaction, and smiled in agreement: "That's right, this is our way of life. So, I don't want to lose any opportunity to fight if I move all the bull trebuchets out. "

If Rülik wants to kill people and sell goods at sea, he really won't be subject to any sanctions.

In other words, there are sanctions, that is, a war between two powers!

"Being a pirate king this year? It's good to come, at least my ship is stronger than Arik's gang of warriors."

To annihilate the enemy's viable power, rather than being complacent about various forms of defeating wars, is what Rurik calls the principle of war. The Baltic Sea says big is big, and small is really small. For Rose to rise, he must grab resources from the Danes. In this highly involved small world, the war for hegemony is inevitable.

That being the case, Rurik would be happy to let the Danish forces bleed in advance.

Gotland is just ahead. During a boring voyage, Biyuni and Frocky did not hesitate to ask Rürik about the battle between the Rus and the Visby on the island. In order to once again demonstrate the illustrious martial arts of the Rus people, I drove the boat directly to the sea near Visby and looked at the huge settlement that had been turned into ruins from a distance, because facts **** any eloquence!

Of course, there are still settlers in Visby, who are more than a hundred Mellaren people who stay here. The existence of this group means the ownership of the island by the Swedish forces and the Mälaren tribe. Just how big a storm can be caused by more than one hundred people? Did they survive the winter smoothly? Or was it the massive freezing and starvation in the past winter?

These guys are like people who were abandoned by Karl. They are facing the Danish forces and are on the front line of danger.

Is their situation okay?

The more he thought about it, the more Rurik wanted to take a look. He didn't change his order either. The so-called try not to land before arriving in Balmerk (Narvik Fjord). The big ship leaned in to see what Visby had become under the control of the new immigrants.

Until, as many as five fishing boats appeared in front of the Aphrora.

The atmosphere suddenly became tense!

Standing on the bow of the ship, Rurik could see the structure of those ships with his naked eyes. He bowed his body and stared, with seriousness and caution written on his face.

Biyuni stood by his side and looked at the attitude of his righteous brother until the ships were very suspicious.

"A friend? Or an enemy? Depending on your attitude, those fishing boats are like enemies?"

"Strange, I haven't seen such a ship in Lake Mälaren." Rurik murmured.

"What boat? I don't see anything strange, it's basically the same as the boat in my hometown."

"No! The stern of the Mellaren people is generally flat No! They..." Rurik suddenly thought of something: "They are not Mellaren's friends. They are outsiders! It's the enemy!"

"What...what do you mean?" Biyunni fought seriously.

Rurik turned his head abruptly, stared into Bijuni's eyes, and said calmly: "Brother, get ready to fight! I'm sure the Danes are here for revenge. They killed our allies who settled in Visby. Occupy once!"

"Then fight! I just happen to have itchy hands. Haha, to be honest, my hands are still white."

Rurik couldn't help being stunned. As far as the aspect was concerned, Rurik believed from the beginning that Bijuni must have slashed a lot of enemies. Cooperating with this guy hinted that he had no record of killing enemies?

Rurik didn't smile, let alone laughed. Fighting is a very serious matter, and it can be completely avoided. Since what appears on the sea is not a friendly ship, it must be an enemy. The friendly forces on the shore must have been wiped out by this group. In order to avenge the friendly forces, Rurik found an excellent reason to fight.

He didn't need any evidence at all, just because the ship in front was not from Mellaren, that was a reason to fight.