Rise of Rurik

The Rus, they didn't care about Gould's business in the South, or even a military counterattack by the Danes.

As if these major geopolitical events in the South had nothing to do with the Rus.

Although a series of mutations were brought about by the Rus.

Just like the curse of the Gotland merchant who was about to be killed: "You are the one who started the war!"

The war has never been suspended, it's just that campaign-level operations haven't happened for a long time. The Rus attacked the Gotlanders, and the Danes took it too seriously. The Danes were also incapable of attacking the Rus, whom they didn't even know where they were, and the Danish army couldn't be ready to attack Meralen in a short time.

The Danish army attacked a relatively weak clan under the Northern Alliance, which seemed to be just a destroyed clan, but in fact brought about a large-scale retreat of the southern border line that had been maintained for decades by the northern thinking sub-tribe alliance.

The destruction of Ostara brought the control of the people of the Alliance over Ostaran.

At this point, people who have left Gotland and immigrated to the Gotaland area can finally call themselves "Gustav", which is the concept of "Gotaland mainstay", which is to announce to their allies, the Danes, that Gotaland It was Gotaland belonging to the Gotlanders.

This line of thought was quickly revived among the Gotland settlers after the Northern Alliance lost their southern stronghold.

After all, they don't want to be loyal dogs to the Danish army, and the alliance with the Danes is just a stopgap measure.

Even everyone doesn't really want to stay with the guys in the Svealan Plain. If you can get more benefits from them, it is not impossible to deviate from Denmark.

The political ecology of the Vikings can be described as "there are no eternal enemies, only eternal interests".

The Gotlanders, their inner factions are intricate, and the major families have ghosts. After all, everyone has a simple concept - their business should not be disturbed by power, or in other words, they should become a power to defend their own interests.

But the Gotlanders were wrong.

Rus people will never forget their blood feud, perhaps they are naturally more upright than other tribes.

To make matters worse, the Gotlanders made more enemies before they could imagine how their enemies would retaliate.

This year's south is very lively, and the strategic layout of the Rus people here is also wonderful.

Otto, the current leader of the Rus,

He made a series of far-sighted decisions, and the Russ were no longer a mysterious existence huddled in a fjord.

The population of the tribe also began to soar as a result of these decisions.

In July, the first woman from Novgorod gave birth to a mixed-race child, a boy, a future warrior.

What makes Otto even more excited is his niece.

Peravina's belly is already very large, and the women of the tribe are speculating on the day that she will give birth in August.

There is a legend that the bigger a woman's belly is, the more proof she is carrying a boy.

Otto even went to ask the high priest Veria, who was obviously languid, and got the answer that he would get a grandson. Yes, the son born to the daughter-in-law of the deceased brother is equivalent to Otto's grandson.

Life is full of hope, but also full of challenges.

Year after year, when the weather is still the warmest summer, the Rus people have begun to prepare materials for winter in advance.

The first thing to do is to push a large number of pottery urns to the sea, and they set up a large number of pyre, and started the traditional and inefficient method of boiling salt with sea water.

A pottery urn half the height of a person is often filled with about 40 liters of seawater, which is heated by burning firewood and charcoal blocks.

Cooking salt is also a craft. There are some senior people in the tribe who already know how to control the temperature of boiling salt, so that the crystals that precipitate first are good salt with the least bitter taste.

More clansmen, they boil salt to marinate fish or other meat. Bitter taste? It doesn't matter! This bitter taste is nothing compared to the fishy smell and even the shark meat taste. It's good to eat with salt, why bother so much?

Due to the tragic salt content of the seawater in the Gulf of Bothnia, the seawater in a pottery urn boiled the water in the roughest way, and only half a pound of coarse salt could be scraped out of the urn. As for those who just want low bitterness and good salt, they've been cooking up just a third of a pound of salt because they poured out the excess brine.

Due to the obvious difference in the cost of materials, time, and even human energy, the salt with the least bitter taste is also the most expensive.

To preserve large quantities of food to survive next spring, every household needs a lot of salt. Ordinary families, of course, choose to boil the sea water directly, making do with low-quality salt. Of course, if you eat coarse salt containing magnesium chloride and other substances all the year round, your life expectancy will be greatly reduced.

Are the clansmen entitled to worry about this? No. The most important thing they should be careful not to lose their lives suddenly because of a fever. The vast majority of people are not eligible for retirement, even the leader Otto, his estimate of the upper limit of his life, is only sixty years old.

Fortunately, the Rus, like other tribes, all Viking tribes are adherents to this traditional skill of boiling salt, and the prestigious families always eat "finished" salt.

Coupled with the seemingly inexhaustible forest resources of the entire Scandinavia, the Rus can unscrupulously cut trees to make charcoal, and obtain a large amount of salt in this luxurious way.

All the costs add up to a lot, and the Russ can fully bear the pressure.

Salt is a good thing, but unfortunately the people of Novgorod can only buy other people's at a high price, unless they can reach the seaside. For the residents of Novgorod, this intention is almost like courting death.

In Novgorod, Otto really completed the clever operation of pulling one faction and fighting one faction.

White Tree Manor has become a loyal dog, so that the residents of the manor over there feel that the guys at White Tree Manor are particularly willing to dedicate their women to the Rus.

For such loyal dogs, it is very necessary to give bones full of meat residue!

Realistic pressures have pushed Otto's planned fall Sorgon voyage earlier.

Ao Tray calculated to give some rewards to the loyal dogs of White Tree Manor, and then he had to get a lot of food from them in a very reasonable way. Otto persuaded his followers that this year a large amount of food would be delivered to the first immigrants living in New Roseburg.

Does everyone support the leader's decision?

Do not!

This decision moved the cake of some people, even if this decision was for the sake of the future of the tribe. However, the vast majority of clansmen do not have the authority to look at clan development issues from the position of leaders due to poor information. It cannot be said that they are stupid, but they are more concerned about their own acre of land because of their own living conditions.

At present, those potential opponents can only bury their grievances in their hearts, because now, of course, it is possible to openly oppose the leader, and of course it will end up with a fate of expulsion. Are there any deportees? Of course there is.

No one knows the condition of those expelled, maybe they have long been regarded as fat sheep alone, bitten to the point of scum.

In fact, the situation is not so bad. Many deportees went to Semelia Island, and even mixed with the ancient Latvians to live together. Even in Riga, there are various Viking immigrants who defected to their tribe and settled there. Objectively they helped the civilization development of the local Latvians.

The returned Otto is arranging the next stage of development of the tribe according to his own decision. He even referred to his son's opinion, so that since the financial power of the priests is completely controlled by the leader himself, the priests don't need so much money, why not use the money for the construction of new strongholds?

Otto did indeed do this. He temporarily decided to take out ten thousand silver coins, especially in his own name, announcing that the money should be used as a subsidy for New Roseburg.

10,000 silver coins is just a bottom line for spending, and Gould doesn't know how much it will cost in the end.

A large number of merchants, like migrating reindeer herds, arrive every year around the end of August with a large amount of goods. The Rus people have been in need of these business partners since ancient times, especially the arrival of grain and linen. Everyone needs these necessary commodities to live.

It's that this year has become very special.

The son Rurik has already earned a lot of money, because those servants have put into work, and the soap industry abandoned by the priest has not only recovered, but even exceeded its previous production capacity in the hands of the servants. Who would have thought that a group of little Novgorod girls brought back by him could already help their masters make money quickly.

Otto took it for granted that merchants would buy soap recklessly, so what his son's servants made was not soap, but a steady stream of gold and silver coins!

In addition, the son also has many ways of making huge profits.

Up to now, including the income of the blacksmiths of the tribe, the son has obtained a share of the pie from the blacksmiths in the name of "God's Witness" through contract documents.

It is not as simple as Rurik making money here, and the entire Rus people are also benefiting from the "steel-making revolution". Ever since the Russ who have experienced life and combat gear made of mild steel, they can no longer accept the old days.

The soldiers got their own new swords, the first thing to do is to cut off their old iron swords with a brand new steel sword, and then immediately sell the broken old swords to blacksmiths, and then process them into daggers, axe heads, etc. Mild steel appliances. Since there is no need to smelt ore, Broken Sword can be directly used for forging plasticity and carburizing processing. The blacksmiths charge a processing fee that everyone thinks is fair. In the end, it is the entire Ross tribe who gets the benefit.

Professional lumberjacks, boat builders, and carpenters can't stand their soft wrought iron axes and hammers.

The production equipment of mild steel was first used in the shipbuilding industry, which immediately brought very gratifying results.

For example, Nordic planer knives forged from mild steel. The shipbuilder was surprised to find that the guy in his hand suddenly did not have the condition of the rolling blade, and he had processed an unknown number of logs, and the planer was still as sharp as ever.

Because there is no need to sharpen the knife frequently, the wear of the knife almost reaches the point that the naked eye cannot figure out.

This summer, because of the large-scale innovation of tools, the already prosperous shipbuilding industry of the Rus is even more fiery.

Originally, the Rus people also built ships according to the traditional Viking craft, that is, the wooden boards were stacked one by one along the ribs, and the performance of the knives was especially considered in this operation.

The steel axe can cut wood faster, and the steel planer and steel scraper can efficiently process very flat boards.

An ordinary fishing boat, it is nearly three times more productive! The shipbuilders of the entire Ross tribe got magical tools. Their first thought was to increase production. In order to sell their ships better, they chose to reduce the price.

The price of newly launched fishing boats has dropped a lot. It used to cost thirty silver coins for a small fishing boat, but now it only costs twenty pieces.

Wouldn't this lead to a larger chain reaction?

There are many families in the tribe who have not gained a lot of wealth in the previous series of operations. They almost rely on fishing to maintain their lives. Fishing boats are the foundation of their lives, and they are also treasures that they must carefully maintain.

Thanks to the addition of Rurik, a big seller of their catch, many fishermen have accumulated some money.

Seeing that the price of fishing boats was reduced, these fishermen bought new fishing boats with cheap but high quality with their reluctance to spend, because even nails have now become steel nails. There are also many fishermen, who no longer have to work as servants for other fishing boats, they finally dare to buy their own boats.

There are more and more Rus fishing boats, and they can only be more in the foreseeable future!

More fishing boats went out to sea, and the Rus cruised the entire Gulf of Bothnia. The herring fleet reached the farthest point at the mouth of Lake Mälaren, and they even sold their fresh catch at extremely favorable prices. My own kin on Tombstone Island.

The two natural fjords of Tombstone Island were first regarded as safe havens by fishermen, and Tombstone Island itself has become a rest stop for Ross fishermen to set foot in with confidence. Before it became a real military base, its commercial value had already begun to be discovered by Ross fishermen.

The number of fishing boats of the Rus people has indeed increased a lot. During the warm period, Rosburg is immersed in the ding ding dong dong, and the winding roads are often accompanied by more than a dozen people carrying huge timbers.

It is only in comparison with the vast Gulf of Bothnia that the Rus and all its subordinate populations now add up to the size of eight thousand people. It's completely different from hunting on land. How can such a few people sweep the entire sea area's catch?

The reality is that at the twice-daily fish markets in Roseburg, prices for major catches are much lower.

The only thing that won't change is whale meat, and it takes luck and courage to catch them.

Usually tribal fishermen are not so keen on whaling. We all know that whale brain oil is a good raw material for lamp oil. After all, each household does not need much. Alternatives such as seal oil are not difficult to obtain.

Rurik needed a lot of oil to make soap, and whale brain oil and other parts of whale oil were the best raw materials before large-scale winter seal hunting. Because of this demand, fishermen became more willing to hunt whales.

When a large number of new fishing boats and new fishermen participated in marine fishing, the price stability of the fish market was completely broken. Whale meat was immediately favored by fishermen due to its stable price, and the fishermen's enthusiasm for whaling increased. Rurik was happy to see this result. Because Rurik does not worry about his servants, the soap production efficiency of those little girls, what he is always worried about is that his supply chain will be interrupted and the noisy soap workshop will stop.

Rurik didn't care too much about his father's decisions, which, after all, had nothing to do with running a new settlement. It seems that more efforts will be made to recognize the loyalty of White Tree Manor? OK! Thinking of this, Rurik thought of his fiancée he had never met.

During this time, there were many happy things, such as the reproduction of the reindeer herds, which made him feel very happy.

At the beginning, there were only fifteen deer, and the doe gave birth in May, so it was said that they had arrived at Roseburg with their fawns.

The deer have grown so strong that they can run around, and the size of the herd has reached more than 20.

Rumia told Rurik that by September, all the existing does would be impregnated again, and by the spring of the following year, the herd would naturally reach thirty. Although the distance from the behemoth that turned into a herd of three or four hundred deer was too far, Rurik could foresee that this group of deer probably lived in Lapland or Murmansk, and now it is obviously alive in the border of Rosberg. very good.

The whole body of a reindeer is a treasure, and the most precious thing is its leather. If the deer herd becomes a real behemoth, the Rus people will surely become rich just by processing and selling deer hides.

The base of the deer herd is too small. Rurik knows mathematics very well. The small base is temporary. In the days to come, waiting for his own control of the deer herd should grow exponentially.

Is raising deer just for money? In the final analysis it is for the greater good.

Rurik couldn't forget his agreement with Gould - to make spirits.

Ross! Just drink cloudy ale and be considered a Russ? Russ people, you should drink strong liquor, the kind that can be drunk at one point.

Finally, on the first day of August in the Julian calendar, on the eve of the completion of his new home, Rurik went to the blacksmith shop in Kravasen and put forward his new idea quite abruptly.

As long as some special utensils are used, the best quality craft beer can be re-crafted into the best wine? ! Can it even be as transparent as pure water?

Clavasson had absolutely no concept of "distilling high spirits", and he fully supported Rurik's decision.

But Rurik, his idea was not just to make a few bottles of Erguotou to show Gould the so-called "I can". Because of alcohol, it can bring changes to human society. Satisfying alcohol addiction was nothing more than an unhealthy "need for pleasure," and Rurik saw many benefits of alcohol.

He did it himself!