Chapter 815： Slave soldier

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In theory, those slaves only changed the door. In their opinion, their new master was a good man, that is, they gave everyone enough food and water, and also gave them a chance to change their destiny.

They realize that they are no longer a beast and horse that can only work endlessly. Although it is still a tool, it is actually a tool that can kill people.

Because Rurik made a promise to them, slaves can also become ordinary people in the Duchy of Ross, provided that they can serve the prince more.

They beheaded the old master and helped Rick get rid of the old forces on Bornholm Island. This was a fame but the performance was still insufficient.

There have been rumors in the crowd that the so-called prince still wants to plan to seize the opportunity to attack the Danes.

The slaves were generally insensible. They were given daggers one after another, gathered in the shed to process a large number of herring and cod caught by the Ross ship, and were allowed to eat fish and meat at will. All the Viking people did not have the slightest rejection of eating raw fish and meat. They found that it was a huge welfare, and they ate herring wildly.

They also noticed that the conquerors seemed to have held a meeting, and soon a group of ships rushed to the east carrying the women and children.

There seems to be fewer ships cruising on the sea, and the amount of fish processed by them is guaranteed.

The long life of enslavement made them generally behave very submissively to the strong. When a Ross warrior ordered them to hurry up to process the fish, they naturally followed it, but the new order was strange.

What is a herring? It can be thrown into a bucket after pinching its head and tail and dissecting its internal organs? Is this processing finished? Shouldn't it be further made into dried fish?

Those women and children have been taken away, and there are not many women left in Bornholm.

These slaves, as well as the private soldiers who were captured, remained on the island, and the army of conquerors still stayed here.

They whispered to themselves, believing those rumors more and more.

It was a breezy morning, and the sea breeze had dried up the mud from the previous heavy rain. There was a faint salty smell in the air, and the slaves who put down their hands to work were driven to the beach.

They looked from left to right and saw a group of Ross conquerors dressed in blue and white striped robes standing in line here. The conquerors just stood with bucklers on their backs and sword hilts, like a statue of a statue.

A stalwart and magnificent man stood on the foundation of a pile of wooden boxes. This man was no one else but Lord Rurik, Lord Rose.

The slaves realized that they would get a new destiny, they raised their heads one after another, looking forward to the great preaching from the prince.

But he saw Rurik take off his white woolen cap and showed his golden ponytail. He added his beard deliberately, but the beard was cut quite neatly by a sharp steel knife.

He is just like Otto's face when he was young, and he inherited the beauty of Niya when he was young. The faces of his parents were gathered together to form his masculine face, but his eyes were tough and fierce.

A handsome and ruthless person is most respected by Viking women, and such a man worships Viking men as well.

Rurik made a polite first: "You are all slaves! But you are not livestock! Are you going to be slaves forever? No! As long as you have won the battle, you can become free people. I want you to become fighters and kill now. Kill the enemy and chop off the enemy’s head. As long as any one of you can chop off two heads in the fierce battle in the future and report your merits to me, your status as a slave will be wiped out immediately. Even if you didn’t kill the enemy, don’t worry, get involved. After several wars, your low status will be exempted! At that time, I will reward you farmland and fishing boats, and even reward you women. Do you yearn for a better life?!"

This soul question hits their hearts.

Seeing the overall eagerness of the crowd, Rurik motioned to his men to pull out the trolleys full of weapons.

It was an iron sword, axe, a short spear, and a large number of round shields like pot lids seized from the armed forces of the islanders.

The car stopped in front of the slave, and Rurik pointed and shouted, "Willing to be a soldier! Come get a weapon!"

As soon as the voice fell, these eager groups rushed up. They are scrambling to arm themselves, and now they are willing to do anything in order to return to freedom and the bright future promised by the Rose Kingdom!

Two hundred slaves turned into the most standard image of Viking warriors.

They have bad breath with ragged clothes and mouths, but they are also taller, and they also develop good muscles when they work as cows and horses all year round. All of them are young. They have eaten a lot for a period of time and their physical fitness has been improved.

Naturally, this group of people is a group of mobs compared to the regular Russian infantry and flag squad, but when it comes to the attitude of hacking, Rurik believes this group of people dare to fight the Danish army. Because they are not really mobs, but have a belief in freedom. No ruler would promise them to kill the enemy in exchange for freedom. Now Rurik publicly announces that this armed slave army will be incorporated into the Russian army and will have the opportunity to become the first force to attack the Danish army.

Facing a strong enemy all at once? Even if there are some concerns in their hearts, slaves ignore all risks for a better future, but they have no choice.

Is it appropriate to arm the slaves in an assault? If it wasn't for his lack of strength, Liurik would not be willing to make such a move.

He re-armed not only 200 slaves, all Danish private soldiers who surrendered and some islander men were also conscripted.

The combined forces of Ross and Ragnar, with a combat force of up to 1,500 men, have joined more than 400 men this time.

Rurik pieced together an army of two thousand men, of which one thousand were absolutely elite.

Such a force in Northern Europe in 838 AD was a strong army. It was a cruel player who walked sideways on the British Isles. It was placed in the hinterland of the Frankish kingdom to force the king to mobilize the nobles of the whole kingdom to conquer with all their strength.

It is reasonable for such a large army to deal with the Danish king Horlick in Godfreyhagen.

There was a very optimistic mood among the soldiers, and some self-proclaimed powerful people threatened that this battle could easily break the city, but the head of the Danish king Horlick was cut off.

Who is Horrick? Is it just an agent arranged by the Franks in Denmark?

Ragnar made a significant intelligence contribution to the entire army.

"That's a fat man with a short round face, brown hair, and knows how to ride horses. If you find a well-dressed dwarf during the killing, you can take him prisoner. It is impossible to chop off your head."

Following Ragnar’s description, Rurik offered a reward again—the one who captured Horlick would get one hundred pounds of silver coins, and the one who took his head would get fifty pounds of silver coins.

Can such rewards stimulate the soldiers' desire to kill? The army is facing the regular army of the Kingdom of Denmark. As long as the war starts, it is bound to face a group of old artillery that has been in the Frankish territory for many years. It is unreasonable not to give itself a big reward in the face of a strong army.

"Kill an enemy, cut off his head, reward half a pound of silver, and captive one rewards a pound of silver."

Rurik added: "I don't want the heads of old people, children, and women. I dare to hand over such heads. If I find them, I will be fined a pound of silver! But! If you capture women and children, there will be a reward!"

There is a reward for winning the enemy's first level, and there is a reward for capturing captives, and the rewards are abundant.

It is not only the flag soldiers of the regular Ross army who are entitled to the reward, but the Finnish servants, the Saaremaa civilian servants, the allied forces of Ragnar, and the newly armed slave forces are all eligible to receive the reward.

The so-called "I don't care about your origin and status, I will be rewarded for killing the enemy and doing meritorious service."

Rurik firmly believes in victory, but will he "bleed" because of the reward after winning? Paying for a huge amount of silver coins of precious metals, you can't guarantee that you can do it by checking it. But he had already set the financial system. The head of an enemy soldier is a pound of silver coins, that is, a thousand pounds of wheat.

The annual grain tax income of the Principality of Ross, together with the income of the princes and private fields, can exceed 5 million pounds. If the income from the sale of metal products and other materials is added, the Principality’s annual tax can be equivalent to 10 million pounds of grain, and the income from the tax can only continue to grow.

Could it be possible that with the 2,000 people pieced together, the treasury of the Principality of Ross could be cut down because of the rewards and poverty? If so, it would be great! As a result, a superhuman army might as well go directly south and chop down Aachen and then all the way to Rome.

The promise of reward is to give the whole army a full expedition. You don't have to worry about having to plunder to get the treasure. The head of the enemy is pound after pound of silver, which is captured, and the victor will gain more.

Rurik didn't just open his mouth when he came up with such a price. The price of a young male official was about one pound of silver for a long time, while the price of a female official was halved. In the past, this was a very high price. For the Principality of Russia, which is rich in precious metals, this price is not very high. It is probably the net output value of half a hectare of oats. Naturally, Rurik hopes that his subordinates will take out more prisoners of war, and the prisoners of war will be turned into slaves, and they will be able to squeeze out more value through various tasks such as mining, digging clay, and logging. Such a decision is equivalent to the prince buying slaves from the soldiers. In the end, the prisoners of war are only the private property of the prince’s family.

The whole army has unprecedented morale, and even the professional sailors who promised not to participate in the battle will receive some rewards after victory. Non-combatants can also enjoy the war dividends. Why is this not a good thing?

Those small traditional long boats have already carried some of the captured and seized materials, as well as a large number of prepared dried fish and sea salt to the East.

What Rurik lost was a large number of non-combatants, and there were almost no personnel dragging down the army. The team was able to lose weight, and the rest were combat troops!

Rurik controls an extremely complex army, which can be described as a coalition of nations around the Baltic Sea.

There are Russ, Swedish tribes, Finns, Danes, Slavs, Estonians from Saaremaa, and even ten Pecheneg Turks from the steppes.

Eight sail cruisers, eight sail destroyers, and twenty standard armed cargo and fishing vessels formed a diamond-shaped fleet array and left Bornholm after offering sacrifices on the seashore.

As the Count of Bornholm of the Duchy of Ross, Swinder, the interviewer, watched the huge fleet conquer Denmark. The fleet gradually became blurred, and only one side of the huge white-based spinnaker still reflected the dazzling light in the sun.

Hundreds of islanders have become Swindlers, and everything is like a nightmare for them. When they woke up from the dream, they had lingering fears. Facing the new life, many people asked themselves, maybe the future is bright.

At least Swind’s family was preserved, and all the surviving islanders respected Swind as their boss. He did not dare to think too much. In the past, the islanders were succumbing to the strong, but now the Ross people are monsters like the sea monster Kraken. Eye-opener. Rurik is a clever and powerful man. If he obeys him, his family will continue to reap benefits.

The traces of the fleet were swallowed by the sea, and Swind sighed secretly: "King Horlick of Denmark, the assassin is here, and your head will be stuck on a wooden stick." He recovered, not only looked at the huge charcoal on the seashore. The black traces sighed again: "You! If you don't take the initiative to attack, you won't be killed. If you are a servant like me, don't you have meat to eat together? But you are all dead, giving me all the benefits."

The sea breeze continued to blow away the carbon black and ashes, and turned into powder, the grievances of the big family seemed to lament...

But Horrick’s Kingdom of Denmark knows almost nothing about the imminent danger! Horrick was insultingly forgiven by Prince Ludwig of Frank, his kneeling action drew rebellion and some lords left.

If it were not for the large amount of farmland, more Danish lords would also have to evacuate with their tribesmen.

Horrick is still strong because he has a strong army on hand. The army is mostly infantry, and there are also powerful cavalry under its command.

The Russ navy is a disgusting threat, and the Russ are not aggressively attacking at present.

The Frankish Bremen was destroyed? Seems to be the work of the Danish in exile? Afterwards, the Franks found out that the initiator of all disasters was Ragnar in exile. The Stonewall tribe and Ragnar are not dead? Actually burned and killed in Frank's hinterland? Finally disappeared strangely?

Ludwig was furious. He couldn't catch the murderer and faced the annihilation of one of his cavalry forces. Is he really accountable to Horlick who just kneeled? Is this reasonable?

As the top Frankish nobleman, he did not believe that the Danes could defeat his cavalry!

Ragnar is the real murderer? The more you explore this matter, the more bizarre it becomes.

Until the sudden return of the missing saint Esgar, the priest who claimed to have been abused in the far east revealed shocking news.

It was Rose’s expeditionary army, they burned Bremen, they slaughtered, they took in Ragnar, and so on.

So when Ludwig figured out the situation, it was the summer of 838. The prince was furious. He didn't know anything about the Ross people, only what Esgar described was a strong force in the East Baltic Sea, and there were a large number of Slavs in the tribe.

Slavs? Isn't it the people of the Orient bordering East Franconian territory? When did those rags become powerful?

It is difficult for Eskil to make it clear with a single mouth. He now only has a deep hatred for Rurik, and the good impressions of the past are gone. He longed for the prince to send troops to defeat the Ross barbarians, but he did not dare to explain because of his beliefs.

And Ludwig wanted revenge, and now he can only furious incompetently.

The prince revised a book and sent it to the Danish territory quickly. Horrick opened the letter and learned the secret of the Bremen tragedy.

"This is what the Ross people did? I have to be on guard."

What kind of guard can Horrick do? It is nothing more than arranging for a cruise, and reporting the letter when the big ship of the Rus is found. In his plan, if the Rus wanted to fight, he would come to the shore to fight!

But blindly defending is also looking for death, the Kingdom of Denmark needs a big ship!

Danish craftsmen began to build large cargo ships. This glue Kirk ship driven entirely by style is no different from the traditional cargo ships in Svealand.

This kind of ship has been eliminated by the Duchy of Ross, giving way to a larger and slender standard armed cargo ship.

Horrick is not a fool! Although he did not know the heavy weapons of the Ross ship, he also realized the value of large ships. Let the so-called "sailboats are worse than paddle boats" to hell.

Since the Ross people use sailing boats in full, it shows that it is better than rowing long boats. He would place the archer on the cargo ship, shoot at the Ross, and even lay down the plank to jump and slash with the enemy.

His core control area is Godfrehagen at the northern end of the peninsula and the nearby large islands. He set up an observation post here, and collected cow dung to build a beacon. When he found the Ross ship invaded, he set fire, and relied on heavy smoke to inform the fishing boat to return to the port for refuge.

He also funded the construction of a shipbuilding workshop on land, located in Godfrehagen, sheltered by a wall. This is a bit like the shipbuilding factory of the Ross people. As far as the shipbuilding technology is concerned, it is obviously not better than Ross.

Therefore, Horrick never chose to sit still, he had to submit to Frank as a last resort, and the fire of revenge in his heart was never extinguished. He hung up the cross again, secretly still offering sacrifices to Odin He hoped that the fleeing Danish lord would come back, actively contact the nearby Norwegians, and also beware of the roaring Ross and Swedes.

Even the West Slavic people in the border zone, such as Pomeranians and Oberthlidites, are also on guard.

The already unstable ruling foundation of the king who had just experienced the Bingxiu Civil War was even more shaky. He was forced to release a group of slaves, making his army more numerous. The reason why he did not collapse is precisely because of the large number of troops on hand.

His original plan was to send an envoy to Bornholm after the autumn harvest in Denmark to persuade the locals to stop the confrontation and return. The payment of tributes and taxes can be discussed slowly.

He is carefully maintaining his rule. Subjectively, he doesn't want to have any more swordsmen. He intends to accumulate strength before bargaining with the Franks.

However, Lord Rurik, who did not want to fight subjectively, gave him the large amount of information he had learned, and definitely would not let go of a good opportunity to get it.

The main force of the Principality of Ross rushed over! This is the regular army of the Principality, and it is personally conscripted by the Prince Russ!