Rise of Rurik

That night, Harrodsen visited the chief's house only to talk to Rurik.

"Haha? Would you like to talk to me about building a house? All right." Rurik welcomed Harrozosen.

Before that, Rurik had told his mother, and even his cousin Arik, who had not returned to the house for the time being, about the fact that he was going to build a brand new chief's house. Nia and Arik don't quite understand, are wooden floors and so-called beds really that wonderful? Maybe it's wonderful.

Rurik danced and made an introduction, and he couldn't guarantee that his mother was really looking forward to sleeping on the wooden bed.

Since Haroldo Sen is visiting, let's talk about it.

After listening to Rurik's introduction for a long time, Harrozson shook his head: "I'm sorry, I didn't quite understand it. But since you said that the new house is very comfortable to live in, it must be comfortable."

"At least it's much better than it is now." Rurik emphasized regretfully, "Uncle, I think the days when we sleep on the ground should be over forever. Although those Novgorods are stupid, they are a little particular about housing. My current house is to imitate them, and I think it is very suitable for imitation. Uncle, I think you are also building a new house. You know, there are still many old and skilled idlers in our tribe. "

"New house? This...maybe I really need to think about it."

The sun has completely set, but the time is now very much. Everyone is counting the days, getting closer and closer to the "longest day", so the night time is very short.

After returning from the leader's house, Haruo Zuo Sen began to be served by his two nearest concubines, but the wife kept a stinky face.

On the other hand, Kanuf, a real brat, played carelessly with his two little maids who were almost the same age. After all, they are each other's children, and now these three children are all sleeping together in a shack.

In this scene, Haruo Zuo Sen didn't feel any discomfort at all, because this man wished that these three children would grow up quickly, and he would like to hold his grandson before the end of his lifespan.

Look at this big family, the house is too small now!

Do you want to continue?

Although Harrozosen felt that Rurik's imitation of the Novgorod people's behavior of building a house was a little strange, he did not think that the wooden floor was a clever facility.

Rurik was asking someone to build a new house, and Harrozosen was inspired.

After all, he became rich because of the spoils, so he should renovate his old house, or demolish a new one.

After much deliberation, Haro Zuosen felt that it was more reliable to build a new house.

Of course, the borders of Roseburg are getting more and more difficult, and the poverty refers to those ordinary people. Can my status be the same? There are also clansmen living in this area, whose identities are obviously higher. All of them are noble people of the tribe who live near the chief's house!

Therefore, there are still many flat wastelands in this area. They are completely unsuitable for growing onions, and there are only some weeds in the warm period every year. Is it feasible to spend money on idlers to develop wasteland to build larger and more spacious longhouses?

sure.

As a result, on the second day, Harrodsen also began to act. He himself recruited a group of idlers with construction experience, including himself, more than 20 people actually went into the hills to cut down trees, just to make building materials for the new house.

Rurik was indeed the first to open the scoring, and Harrodsen was the first to follow suit.

The power of role models is endless, and more tribesmen began to follow them. Those who came back from victory with money in their pockets renovated their homes for the last time, and some wastelands began to be forcibly developed to build new longhouses.

It's just that no one has come to imitate Rurik.

"Perhaps, only they really feel more comfortable sleeping in a bed than on the ground. The whole tribe will gradually demolish the old house and live in a longhouse with wooden floors." Rurik thought so, he still had a lot of work to do .

For example, the new longhouse has been completed, and the rest still need to add living utensils, especially important bedding. Those servants would be his right-hand man, and naturally he could not treat them badly with regard to sleeping and lodging. Mattresses and quilts made of animal skins are the most basic requirements to prevent the servants from freezing to death from possible hunger and cold.

He has already thought about it, and he must make a batch of quilts that are pleasing to the eye. For example, animal skins are used as mattresses, and fine linen is used as bed sheets. In this case, it is better to use linen cloth as a quilt cover with animal skins inside.

He had already sketched the face of the quilt in his mind, and fond memories from another wonderful world came to his mind.

Deerskin, which is simply tanned, is less expensive to drive today. Those who became wealthy people took the money, and more people bought daily necessities more rationally on a large scale.

The existence of demand not only pushes up the price of fish, but also pushes up the price of furs.

Some merchants who still hoard their furs in Roseburg can no longer make the 100% or more of their profits by pulling them south, not to mention the huge risks of long-distance transportation.

Last year, the tanners bought deerskins for one silver coin, and after processing, the merchants often bought two for three silver coins. Merchants can transport high-quality deerskins to the big market of the Melalen tribe and sell them at high prices.

Now, in the face of real needs, they have set the price at three silver coins and sold them back to the Rus.

Up to now, the price is obviously deceptive, and those families who are still poor are called regret, and there is nothing they can do.

Young people with money in their pockets didn't mind paying high amounts of silver to buy some hides to make more clothes. Times are indeed different. In the past, one’s own leather jacket may have to be worn for more than ten years. Now, by making one or two spare parts, the dream of luxury can be fully realized.

Why travel all the way to the south if you can make high profits on the spot?

Moreover, Rurik had no idea that he himself would be one of the driving forces behind the price increase.

There are currently as many as 80 beds in the two longhouses with wooden floors, and new longhouses will continue to be built for the foreseeable future. The purpose of the longhouse with the distant Slavic style is to serve as a dormitory for servants. Considering that he has a lofty dream, in the process of gradually implementing his dream, he must at least ensure that his right-hand men have reliable beds, which are enough to keep out the cold. clothes and bedding.

In the border of Roseburg, winter often encounters dangerous extreme cold, so cold and still sleeping on the ground, Rurik does not think that the clansmen do it deliberately to strengthen their physique. The reason may be very simple, they haven't had a chance to feel the comfort of a real bed.

The tribe has a large number of women over the age of forty, who usually have worries about their future. They lacked the physical strength to go out to sea to fish, and they couldn't devote themselves to combat. They need to rely on their husbands and sons, and make some handicrafts and weaving to support their families.

The only value of their existence seems to be to rectify the housework for their husbands and raise the children at home.

The men of the tribe did not think these women had much ability, but they generally knew weaving and tailoring, skills that Rurik desperately needed.

Rurik bought it at the price of one deerskin for three silver coins, even though he knew that he had suffered a loss in this regard, and he knew that the deerskin in his hand was most likely seized by the tribe last year.

There is also some cowhide mixed in here, and its price is even higher.

Rurik bought as many as 200 leather goods of various large livestock that were well-processed and could be directly made into clothes! Two hundred sheets, one is to make up the whole, and the other is to process some more that are needed. Even his mother, Nia, was suspicious of this move, if his son had a whim and planned to try to be a fur trader.

However, Nia learned that her son had purchased a large amount of linen, and through the women who specialized in cooking fish, he had recruited many unemployed female clansmen and given them the task of tailoring.

Her son's behavior made her a little confused, and the next thing was even more confusing.

Because of the well-processed hides, the son is still dissatisfied.

A group of tribal women were hired by their sons to start cutting leather with extravagant knives, and there was obviously more work to do after that.

All leather is cut into wide rectangles, which are generally large enough to completely enclose a lying adult man. Whether it is cowhide or deerskin, they will be wrapped in sackcloth once. Women use their own iron or bronze needles to complete intricate stitches with twine. It is no different, a bad needle has to go through thick leather, which really tests the strength and perseverance of women.

However, when they thought that as long as they finished processing one piece, they could get the benefit of one silver coin, and when they thought that Rurik was such a generous child, and their foreheads were full of sweat, they would also make a fortune.

Rurik found forty women to do the job, and was expected to earn five silver coins each for the job.

But it's definitely not worth the money.

Rurik is making "quilts" from existing materials. Those imported linens are made into comfortable quilts, and the interior is full of downy leather. It's bound to be heavy, it's really warm to cover, and it does look like a quilt.

Rurik was a little disappointed by the work of the women. It took two days to process a "leather quilt".

He waited for two days, and on the afternoon of June 6, Julian calendar, the first batch of quilts finally began to be delivered.

"New-style bedding? Is there anything more comfortable than my bearskin?" Arik, who had nothing to do for a while, enjoyed a pleasant afternoon, but Rurik reached out and tried to pull it outdoors.

"Brother, don't ask any more questions. Call a few more brothers and help me move things."

"What's your whim? Do you call those things quilts?"

Rurik grabbed his cousin's strong arm with all his might, while Arik didn't move like an iron mound.

In this scene, Lumia, who had returned from grazing, wanted to laugh and cry a little. She has started to study the rituals of the priests these days, she has started to study the prayers, and the Rune alphabet and the so-called Roman alphabet that Rurik started to make up for four months ago, Rumia can actually spell the words carved on the wooden board. on the prayer.

High Priest Veria didn't think this girl's learning ability was amazing at all, she felt that Rumia must have this level.

It turns out that Rurik was right, and so was himself. At the end, Willia sighed again with Odin's wisdom.

Rumia was going to return to the priest's house after dinner, and read the prayers in front of Veria, and finally achieve the result of recitation.

For the time being, she must follow her master Rurik's side to listen to and dispatch.

At least Arik was made giggling by his brother's seemingly naughty behavior, and he said affectionately: "Until you grow up, you can't pull me. Rurik, is that thing of yours good? Give it to me. One, and I'll help you."

"You...you bully me when I'm young? Well. You help me move, and I'll give you a baby."

"Oh, that's right."

Arik got up quickly, and easily recruited ten peers who were also idle for the time being.

Rurik walked in front of them, with Rumia following closely beside them.

A small team was formed, and it seemed that the leader was Rurik, the boy at the head of the team.

The team turned into a place where ordinary people lived. In a sense, this was the "downtown" of Roseburg, a place where people who lacked power and status lived together. They were the poorest of the tribe, and now things have changed. Because of the end of the looting war, some people suddenly became rich, and many people regretted that they missed the opportunity to make a fortune.

If I had known that the sneak attack on the Gotlanders would be very smooth, I followed it!

Arik watched his younger brother approach some humble dwellings, and actually started chatting with wrinkled women.

After saying a few words, the woman slipped into her house with a smile on her face, and came out carrying a lot of sackcloth-like things. Seeing how they were struggling, Arik guessed that there must be something in the gray-white cloth bag.

Just when Arik was hesitant, Rurik called enthusiastically, "Brother, come and take the baby, I'll give it to you."

"Baby? Inside the cloth bag?"

When Arik took the so-called cloth bag, he knew that it was not a so-called cyst at all.

Arik subconsciously spread it with his hands, which did not require any explanation at all, and he also knew that this thing was a blanket-like existence. Feeling the texture, he estimated that the inside of the linen was a whole piece of leather.

He keenly noticed that the blanket was wrapped in a layer of gray-white linen, and there were quite careful seams on the linen. This thing is indeed not an ordinary leather blanket, it is really made too square, and a strong desire to own it pours into Arik's heart. He can't wait to use this thing as tonight's bedding.

"Arik, lift it up a little higher!" Rurik said loudly, "Don't hesitate, you see this quilt has fallen to the ground."

"Oh! I'll lift it up right now."

Arik raised his arms and drove the entire stretched quilt off the ground, and Rurik saw it completely.

The tall and strong Arik did lift it up, and Rurik could see half of his cousin's uncovered calf.

"Rurik, this thing is quite heavy." Arik muttered behind the quilt.

"Shen is right, the deerskin itself is not light. What do you think of using it as a bed?"

"Maybe it's comfortable. Oh, thank you for the gift."

Rurik personally touched it, and he had to feel the tailoring level of a tribal woman. That being the case, they should be able to complete the more complicated tailoring work assigned to them in the future. Even, the Ross tribe can also develop a tailoring industry.

Making clothes has been a labor-intensive industry since ancient times. In the era of no sewing machine, organizing elderly women to work together to make clothes was an operation that pursued maximum efficiency.

As for the sewing machine, the old-fashioned manual foot-operated sewing machine, Rurik didn't think it was that complicated. Because it is a combination of some special-shaped gears, it makes it possible to thread the needle without interruption. In addition, with the power of the pedal, the thick cowhide, the needle also becomes easy to penetrate.

For the time being, making a sewing machine is still a long way off. Perhaps only when the tribe has a large-scale demand for clothing, will it be of real and practical significance to develop related machines.

According to Rurik's request, brother Arik folded the quilt several times so that it could be held in his hand.

"Rurik? Where to go next?"

"Go to the next house and get another one." After speaking, Rurik took out a silver coin from the cloth bag hanging around his waist and put it into the wrinkled and calloused hand held by the woman.

A poor laborer is such a hand.

Looking at the hands of a pair of poor people so carefully, a kind of pity came to my heart again.

Think about your mother, she doesn't have to rush for life, the hardest thing she does on weekdays is to cut some jerky and cook some food, can this be considered hard work? Do not.

Therefore, the mother's little finger has a nail on purpose, and its purpose is not to show that she is different from ordinary women.

Rurik continued to instruct: "I am very satisfied. The materials are all with you, continue to make them for me, and we will deliver the goods at the first-hand price."

I saw the woman bow her body with a grateful face, and squeeze a few tears out of the corners of her crow's feet.

The woman promised, "Oh, Odin's child, thank you. I'll do the rest, and where I'm needed."

Rurik could hear that the woman said "Odin's child", and it seemed that a silver coin was really important to her.

But for myself, there are too many silver coins.

Look at this huge Roseburg again! Looking at this humble house, it is indeed very different from my own home and the nearby houses. In short, it is more humble.

The gap between the rich and the poor in Roseburg is so big, so give money to some poor clansmen?

That doesn't work, teaching a man to fish is the correct solution. Through this incident, Rurik fully understood that the poverty of many clans may simply be because they have lost the physical strength of their youth to fish and fight on a large scale, leading to a plummeting standard of living in old age.

Whether it is a man or a woman, when they are old, if they can be provided with some work opportunities that did not exist but within their ability, they will pay for their work and buy food and clothing to live as much as possible. Ah, it's so harmonious.

The productivity of the tribe will also be improved in this way.