Chapter 638： Assemble

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When the sled team finally arrived at Fort Elon, the long river had basically thawed. There is still a large amount of floating ice on both sides of the river, and there is also a thick snow on the bank, and there is a lot less drifting in the river.

The blade-like wind is gone, the rising sun is blooming and warm, the snow is melting fast, and the grass seeds under the snow layer are sprouting.

A little trouble lay in front of Rurik, his team was on the right bank of the river, and the city of Elonburg was on the left of the river.

One long ship after another in the posture of a transport ship, it took some time to transport them with people and deer, and even the empty sleigh, to the city in Hezuo.

Finally, those Balmerks who entered the unknown Eastern world through the mountains for the first time, they finally arrived at Elon Orava, the northern iron-smelting city of Ross.

They were shocked at the beginning, not only shocked by the city's solid walls and the scattered buildings within the walls, but also delighted and able to feast on.

The people who live in Elronburg have resumed their fishing operations, and because of winter dormancy, fishermen have stepped up their fishing for herring in the sea.

The Balmerks ate herring that was different from their hometown. The fish’s outward orientation was a little different, and the scales were also different, but the grilled fish was dripping with intoxicating fat, and it was delicious when sprinkled with salt. .

Because Baltic herring is a subspecies of Atlantic herring.

In today's era, human beings have a little more capacity for the North Atlantic's fishery resources. The only efficient trick they think of is to light the oil lamps on the fishing boats and use the phototaxis of herrings to throw large nets when they gather, and then trawl the nets continuously. . The Balmerks can often catch giant herrings that are nearly half a stika, and in the Gulf of Bothnia, which is said to belong to the Inner Sea of ​​the Rus, all they eat are small, palm-sized fish.

But bear meat is a magical delicacy.

The bear meat itself has a bashful taste. Fortunately, they are a group of cruel people who can even pinch their noses and swallow the meat of sharks. They are nothing more than a sprinkling of salt for eating roasted bear meat. Eating the fierce bear reflects the conquest of the hunter, and people who learned the truth immediately sighed with the strength of the Rus.

When the snow melted, a large number of hunters' families who ran a long distance with a sled pulled a large number of bear skins, bear heads, paws and meat to triumph.

Rurik arrived at Fort Elon at a special time. The warmth of spring and summer is driving away the cold winter at an extremely fast speed. The snow and ice land of the Arctic Circle is recovering rapidly at the cost of extreme muddy for a period of time!

Since the two northern strongholds of Fort Elon and Fort Fisk, the hunters of the North Hunter have become even more crazy.

Ross hunters can no longer form a hunting team of hundreds of people to cooperate and advance. In the past, everyone had to hug each other to keep warm because they didn't have a stronghold, but now they naturally rely on their ability to hunt with young men and advanced weapons.

The wooden arm crossbow modified by the short wooden bow is not expensive. Its core is the crossbow component. Only it is mass-produced by the blacksmiths through bronze casting. The other parts can be imitated by Ross's large number of carpenters.

There are more hunters who buy wooden crossbows. The arrows it shoots are difficult to kill bears. It is no problem to aim and shoot smart arctic foxes and sleighs, so that ordinary hunters can become master archers in a short time. As for dealing with bears, hunters are equipped with a large number of short spears and throwing guns. Several hunting families and groups can cooperate to chase and kill the bears that appear wandering in their field of vision.

They are not simple hunters. Their identity is a warrior. Every man must have ten lives.

This is the men of the First Flag Team and the Second Flag Team. They knew before Beishou that Lord Duke would take his brothers to fight against new enemies. They originally planned to sell the leather as soon as possible after it was shipped to their hometown. After the money was exchanged, in addition to improving the family's economy, it was to strengthen their armed forces.

Unexpectedly, Lord Rurik came to Fort Elon.

Ships from Roseburg will arrive in a few days.

Since many of the brothers who were waiting for the expedition happened to be in Elronburg, it was supposed to be Rurik who had assembled in Roseburg, so I just started training the team here.

Thousands of people gathered in one place, and Rurik stood high on some wooden boxes, accepting the admiration of men and women.

He scanned the crowd under the scorching sun, breathing the warm and humid air, and noticed the dripping water on the eaves from the corner of his eyes.

He raised his arms and said: "Brothers of the First Banner, I will take your conquest of Karelia. I saw you hunt and kill a large number of bears in the northern ice field. These leathers are enough for you to make a fortune. But I know, you guys. You will not be willing to be a hunter or a fisherman at all. You seize the time to prepare, and we will return to Roseburg with the boat. You will only have two or three days to prepare, and then our fleet will rush to the east with all its strength!"

The words were spoken in Gnostic, and the Ross and Balmerks fully noticed Rurik's anxiety. They talked together lively, and the quiet scene suddenly became noisy.

Rurik waved his hands again and gradually restored the silence of the scene, and yelled: "Brothers of the First Banner, the Balmerks are now also Ross people. They are the Fourth Banner and are your future comrades in arms. Take this opportunity, you guys. Try to talk as much as possible so that you can take care of each other when you get to the battlefield."

He didn't have much to say, and expeditiously dropped the wooden box.

The men belonging to different flag teams actually knew a little about the previous battles. The brothers of the first flag team admired the Balmerks’ fighting will. They spoke the same language and believed in Odin and the fighting style. It is also very similar. Their attitude towards a group of new Balmerks who have just arrived is extremely kind, and they are naturally gratified by each other.

They mingle, which is what Rurik would like to see.

However, the fourth flag team formed by the Balmerks is a group of powerful laborers. While waiting for the big ship to dock, they cannot let this group of fresh troops eat dry food every day.

For the time being, the food for this group of people is provided by Rülik. If a large team is supported for a long time, the internal wear and tear is amazing. Thinking that the army of the future organization will crazily consume the food in stock, Rülik can't help but worry.

"Try to make use of the labor force of this group of people."

Rurik ordered the men of the Fourth Banner to cut the wood on the spot, then cut off the pine branches, and carried the cut logs to Elronburg and handed them to the "Governor" Mezzasta. These logs will be thrown into the charcoal kiln to burn charcoal, and then smashed into small pieces for iron smelting.

Suddenly, Fort Elon became a densely populated place.

Many very young children here are old enough to run around, and a large number of Kewen women still hold their babies. However, some women directly focused on the new Balmerk boy who had just arrived, and invited them to their homes to continue borrowing.

This is to provide fresh blood for the rapid recovery of the strength of the gray squirrel tribe, and both Mezzasta and Rurik are happy to see this situation.

Finally, the fleet from Roseburg arrived!

Aphrora, the flagship of the Ross Principality Navy, has a flag flying on her mast.

Not only it, but six other ships dropped anchor at the mouth of the Airon River. Rurik clearly recognized them through the words nailed to the ship's gunwale.

There are two new Aphrora-class sail cruisers, the fifth ship Gray Squirrel and the sixth ship Salmon Chief in the plan. Obviously they were launched perfectly while the ocean was thawing.

The other four are smaller, and they are all the first four ships of the planetary sail destroyer, such as the first ship Mercury, and its position of the propeller bearing is clearly visible.

A group of sailors with exposed sleeves and light linen got off the ship. Except for the old sailors under the command of the big merchant Gould, they were a group of newcomers, but they were not native of the Ross tribe. These people are basically from several ethnic groups around Lake Mälaren, and now they drag their families and leave their hometown to join Ross. Rurik trusted them, or they believed that the Duchy of Ross was several times stronger than the so-called Kingdom of Sweden.

The bosses in the sailor were also acquaintances in the eyes of Rurik. He asked these people to report some information and learned a lot of key information.

"Otto really didn't wait for me. He took some people to the Neva River. The big merchants were also busy with this year's trade, and led other guest merchants to Lake Mälaren with the Gurdot. Before leaving, I collected the tax in kind and money.” Rurik held the golden retriever under his chin and calculated it, and things were indeed done step by step, but he originally intended to cooperate with Otto’s Eastern Sogong fleet. .

I have already delayed too much time to think about it. Now it is mid-May. It is true that there is only the remnants of winter in the area of ​​Fort Elon. It must be the scenery of early spring in Roseburg.

People quickly got on the boat in small boats. Within a day, the hunters and Balmerks of the First Banner, and even the thirty longbow Corvin veterans who had been left by Likla, gathered in the fleet.

A large amount of leather was naturally thrown into a net bag, and people were dragged onto a boat to fix it. Even a batch of new ferrochrome weapons produced by Elronburg are indeed a boost to future battles.

The fleet sails against the south wind. Although these young Balmerks have seen the large sailing boats that belong to the entire Balmerks in principle, she must now become the treasure of Magnut, who has been promoted to the king of the Kingdom of York.

That big ship was built by the Russians, and now the pure sail-powered sailing fleet he rides on is the main force of the Russian navy.

The fleet is so huge, everyone can look at the cruising ordinary long ship from a bird's-eye view. Wouldn't it be a condescending blow from the enemy? It is really taking advantage of it.

The young people of the Fourth Flag team heard the boast of their respective team leaders, full of claims that the Ross Fleet was invincible in the world, as well as examples of victories after adding fuel to it.

Especially a battle case should be talked about, people can't help but pay attention to the boy who likes to stand on the bow of the ship.

Rurik, Duke of Ross, this boy killed the king of the Danes in a naval battle!

They arrived at Roseburg smoothly, and the men of the Fourth Flag team all saw the huge, magnificent and fantastic truth of Roseburg.

It was a sunny morning. The snow in the fjord and nearby areas melted cleanly, and the dark green world was not only restored, but the sense of fresh greenness could also be perceived by people from afar. The golden morning sun just shone into this eastern-looking fjord, Roseburg was immersed in the holy light in the morning, and everything was full of hope.

A group of fishing boats have long been cruising on the sea, and some boats have washed up on the sandy beach.

The thawed beach is lively, and Rose’s morning market is full of people buying and selling fish.

When a fleet arrived, people cast their enthusiastic eyes. They saw the fleet and knew that Lord Rurik had returned.

The ships of the fleet steadily stopped at their berths, the soldiers disembarked one after another, followed by a large amount of cargo.

A fat man was waiting at the trestle bridge, warmly welcoming the returning Duke with his arms open.

"Blue Fox? You weren't in Gould Island and didn't go to Hazeby. Your father arranged to stay behind?" Rurik said nothing.

The guy who was nicknamed the Blue Fox, the second son of the great businessman Gould, was fatter than before and looked like an elephant seal. He fell into the sea because there was too much fat and it was unsinkable.

He respectfully said: "My father arranged it. He said that the Gould family will fully support Rose's new expedition, and the remaining supplies and ships have any needs. Order me to support it."

"Gould? Your father is such a clever man. Fortunately, my time is very tight, I want to act immediately."

"My lord, arrange tasks for me."

"Task?" Rurik stood straight and thought, "Then first take out the money and buy all the bear skins I have arrived at the market price. Attention! It's the market price! I want ready-made silver coins."

Blue Fox was a little puzzled, since this was the Duke's order, he completely agreed.

Bear skins are the wealth of the hunters who are organized in the First Banner Team. Lurik doesn’t want them to waste their limited time on selling leather in person. They must turn bear skins into silver coins as soon as possible. What they save is Ready time.

Rurik was very anxious. He had just landed and gathered all the young people of the First Banner.

No, on the afternoon of the fleet's return to Hong Kong, Arik assembled all the soldiers of the First Banner on the beach.

At the same time, the fourth flag team formed by the Balmerks was assembled.

All the capable mercenaries of Rurik, one hundred young soldiers led by Frazer.

There are even as many as two hundred sailors (and fighters if necessary) manipulating ships.

This sudden rally was so great that the city walls were full of people jokingly and judging Lord Rurik.

Due to the loss of the battle, the original 500 soldiers of the First Banner team had been sharply reduced to just over 400. Fortunately, the essence was especially present, and the brave Arik didn't feel that he was underrepresented.

Regarding Otto with a group of old guys belonging to the Second Flag team, once again bravely rushed to the Neva River. There are not many opportunities for Rurik and even Otto to travel far, since the High Priest Vília ascended to heaven. Just aging rapidly. He continued this route with the men of the same age, and a feeling of the passing times came to Rurik's heart.

He knew that Dad's trip had many goals, everything was discussed before, and he wanted to come with Otto's prestige not only to cheer the people of Shilla Fort, but also to quickly form a team from Novgorodera.

Many old guys don’t know how to evaluate the Rus Principality, which is now governed by Rurik. The Principality is no longer purely from the Rus tribe. A surprising number of outsiders have joined in. Old Rus people will inevitably be a little bit repulsive. The hair is strong and unfamiliar. It is no longer the Rose in the eyes of the old guy.

People familiar with them either passed away or immigrated to new settlements in the East. Although Roseburg’s population is so dense that everyone urgently needs the opportunity to emigrate, many pure-Russ have immigrated today. The population of Roseburg has become denser with the addition of outsiders. What’s even more amazing is that the solution to the difficult living environment is Building high-rise houses and building houses nearby, it’s just that there are a large number of people from Lake Mälaren among the new settlers. Today, hundreds of young boys take off their hats to show the bald heads with braided patterns. Prove that you are very different from the traditional Russ.

Indeed, because of the characteristics of cultural customs, Balmerk men like to shave a lot of their hair and then tattoo their heads.

The old guys will eventually pass away. When they are old and dead, tens of thousands of yelling children have grown up to the age when they can take up arms and fight.

Lurik focuses on the future, and more importantly, lays a stable external environment foundation for a harmonious future.

He stood on a high place, tearing his throat, and loudly publicizing the purpose of the war to the soldiers.

Even if his understanding of the Karelians is rather vague, he is just a group of native chickens. But his subordinates can’t think that the Karelians are weak, and the result of underestimating the enemy will be catastrophic. He knows that the more than a thousand people in front of him are basically half of the strength of the Rus Principality. Any reason will cause a disastrous defeat. Will ruin the strategic opportunity for the rise of the Duchy of Ross.

He described the Karelians with eloquence, deliberately inventing some terrible things, deliberately describing them as terrible and brave enemies.

He knows the attitude of the brothers too well, the enemy should be brave, so that it can arouse the brothers' fighting spirit.

But the most critical publicity is this!

Rurik drew his sword and pointed it at the East: "Brothers! Kill those brave enemies Take their wives and daughters to be your women, and let those women give birth to you children. Take them. The animals have taken their leathers. Deerskins, bearskins, and mink skins are all yours! You will all become rich!"

The soldiers raised their fists and cheered. Rurik was happy to see this. He and his brothers made no secret of their desire for plunder.

If only plundering Karelian women and wealth, the pattern is too small.

As the Duke, Rurik must not only solve the possible strategic threats from the north in Shilla Fort, but also seize local resources.

He gave everyone three days of preparation time, and the army will set off on May 22 of the Julian calendar.

Time is very tight. Rülik has been on the road during this period. He himself is quite exhausted but he can't care too much. His plan is more radical, which is to reach Shilla Fort before June 1st.

The selected soldiers have already begun their final preparations, and the entire Roseburg has become extremely lively because of the frenzy of war.