Rise of Rurik

After a long voyage, it was almost evening.

Throughout the day, the fleet went north along the coast, and everyone could see the coast from a distance, and had already seen the deserted islands dotted on the sea, as well as the ice on the islands that had not yet melted completely.

In fact, there is still a lot of snow in Rurik's destination, because another name for that so-called destination is Kemi, and Jucheng is still the hometown of Santa Claus.

The fleet was approaching the mouth of a creek, and ships had docked here.

There are only as many as 30 fishing boats. They follow Rurik's fleet. In fact, they are trying to get the protection of Rurik's good luck in excavating the fishing resources in the northern waters. Now they continue their work, or prepare. To attract the torches of the bait, I finally cast a net and prayed to catch them all.

Can they be a big hit? Of course not possible!

In the northernmost part of the bay, the so-called seawater here is almost devoid of salty taste. A large number of freshwater fish can live here. However, the herring and cod that the Rus people like will not risk their lives to live in such a place.

The only thing fishermen can look forward to is the so-called migratory salmon tide, and that's also in September. Besides, the Kovin servants claim that the annual grand salmon tide scene is not seen by the Rus. Or maybe you've seen salmon pouring into the fjords, but it's definitely not as exciting as the Cowens claim.

Everyone in the fleet spent the night ashore, and those suffering from seasickness could finally get some rest.

In fact, by now, the route ahead is very clear.

A brave, smaller young warrior climbed the mast, and he saw the coast looming due north.

This soldier has participated in the "Northern Hunting". The whole world was frozen last time. This time, he saw the northern coastline, and a familiar and unfamiliar feeling naturally came to his mind.

He made a prepared report to Rurik, and Rurik actually knew it too. Everyone believes that tomorrow morning, everyone will embark on a voyage again, and it may only take a while before the destination is reached.

The next day, the moored fleet embarked on the journey again.

They soon saw the northern coast, and the entire fleet adjusted the angle of the sails and the center axis of the ship, and all followed Rurik's leading flagship and began to turn at a great angle.

The fleet began to sail in the crosswind, and the Rus people on each ship began to control the south wind, and this sailing method brought the fastest speed when they could use the wind for the Rus sailboats, just because of this crosswind sailing routine, Kind of learning about airplane wings.

Everyone knows,

The destination of the fleet is about to arrive, and this strong sense of anticipation has become extremely strong after everyone has experienced the mouth of the first large river.

Rurik was also excited, and everyone on the flagship was staring at the coast, looking for the abrupt mine.

Just as the Russ searched for home through the hills near the fjord, Rurik and his men struggled to scan for the peculiar ridges of the flat horizon.

I have to say that the clear air is good enough to have good eyesight, and people standing at a high place can see important landmarks 30 kilometers away, but after the first big river estuary, the Rus people are no less than 30 kilometers away from the target.

Gradually, the scene ahead became particularly clear.

hills! It's there!

The flagship, along with all the ships, became agitated.

"We're here! Brothers, get ready to land!" Rurik shouted.

Without bothering, he gave orders, and various personnel on the fleet, especially the Ross soldiers brought by Rurik, and the professional sailors provided by the Gould family. These professional personnel have already started manoeuvring the boat, making preparations for a series of landings!

Soon, everything became clear.

The fleet reached the mouth of the so-called second great river. The fleet passed through some deserted islands, passed the estuary that had become somewhat turbulent due to the melting of ice and snow, and all headed towards the flat left bank (the eastern one). Because this is the campsite after the battle of the Beishou army at the beginning of the year! Some people on the boat even saw traces of their sleeping in the rough, and the wooden shelves of the tents that were set up were still crooked there.

The low-bottomed longboat began to wash the beach, followed by the longboats behind, only the cargo ships were still slowly advancing.

Not far ahead of them was the low, sturdy mine where Rurik had fought for the first time.

"I'm finally here!"

Rurik took a sharp breath and steadied the boat, the hard oak keel stuck in the silt, and Rurik and his companions jumped out of the boat and stepped on the soft ground covered with moss and newly budding grass.

Regardless of whether his own people's emotions stabilized or not, Rurik shouted: "Let's start! A settlement!"

He walked towards the increasingly solid land on his own, looking at his back, everyone could feel the enthusiasm for this construction.

A group of strong men jumped from the side of the boat, they caught the dropped rope and began to try to pull the boat ashore.

For a time, their leather boots stepped into the silt, and after a lot of walking, they finally boarded the relatively hard land, and the long ship became empty, leaving a deep mark.

Soon, the people of the Grey Squirrel Tribe also carried their luggage and stood in this completely unfamiliar land.

More and more supplies began to be unloaded, such as a large number of burlap pockets, which were loaded with large quantities of oats, charcoal blocks, and linen that had not yet been cut for the purpose of setting up tents.

Rurik found the former camp.

He squatted down, his little hands scratching at the traces of the wet campfire. He stood up again and looked at the mines where a lot of snow continued to be attached in the distance, as well as the ice lumps that could be seen everywhere in the surrounding area.

The whole world is extremely humid, but there is not the slightest heat.

The world is still cold, just as there are still a lot of ice lumps floating on the sea, many of which are dangerous ice packs of terrifying size.

Rurik noticed that those who were wading ashore quickly took off their wet boots, only because they were poured into a foot of icy sea water, they sat on the wet ground, pressing on the green grass that had just emerged, covering their hands with their hands. Trying to give warmth to your cold feet.

Rurik was a little thankful that he didn't wade in the water, but his boots were already covered in a lot of black mud.

"Black mud? It looks like the land here is fertile, right? It's too cold, and any hardy crops will freeze to death,"

Everyone has landed, and the next thing cannot be ordered by Rurik himself.

When they were still on the boat, all kinds of people were given their own tasks. They had already gone ashore. Even if they wanted to warm up their cold feet when wading in the water, they had to start construction immediately.

The Rus and their servants, the Grey Squirrel Tribe, began to build a settlement on the basis of a temporary camp abandoned five months ago, at the mouth of the river not far from the mine.

Without more words, they started the hard work, even wishing to have the settlement ready before the sun went down.

Those Rus warriors, they estimated that they would not encounter any enemies on this trip, and all they could do was to provide a large amount of wood for the new settlement.

Rurik was not foolishly generous. To be paid ten silver coins a month was to do what he asked.

Since the war chief of his young age was in charge of the meals, he would have no complaints when he made his fortune.

Strong warriors remove their leather armor, and even when the temperature is low, they wear only loose linen shirts, with sacks tied in their hands, and operate advanced mild steel heavy Nordic forest axes forged for logging.

The sharp axe blade was polished to a lustrous finish, and with a single blow, a tree the size of a bowl was almost chopped down in half.

Even a single pine tree was cut down with just three hits.

The Ross people even used their own skills to deal with the huge red pine that requires two people to work together to hug.

Strong lumberjacks slashed one side of the trunk with a steel axe, creating a dangerous but not collapsing section. Then lightly chisel the other side and add a specially made iron wedge. The lumberjack knocked on the wedge, and the tree finally collapsed along the largest truncation plane!

It was a truly earth-shaking feeling that shocked all the gray squirrel tribesmen! I saw that the dense pine forest not far away, which could almost block the sun, was undergoing a terrifying mutation. The ground had been shaking violently, and even some ice blocks on the ground had been shattered by the shaking.

The tribesmen soon realized in shock that the Rus were cutting down trees that were nearly impossible to cut.

The Rus people did it. Before the sun went down, as many as thirty huge Korean pines were cut down, plus a group of small trees that were cut down. The once dense woods became very dense in just half a day. That's all.

These pine trees can produce a large number of pine cones, and the fruit can theoretically be used after processing. It's not that Rurik didn't think about using the pine trees that are all over the area to develop pine nut resources, but it takes some skills to open the hard nut shell.

Rurik now only wants to use the pine resources in the region. Although the performance of oak is much better than that of pine, the biggest advantage of pine is the extremely low cost of developing it.

A group of Ross warriors took the wood brought back by their companions, and immediately manipulated the axes and scrapers to start fine processing.

They started to build a large number of wooden houses. As the construction concept of Novgorod-style wooden houses spread to the Rus, the old model of randomly building wooden walls and adding beams has been eliminated. Knowing how to build a house with planks and wooden beds and living in it is a real treat.

The Ruth warriors liked the brand new wooden houses, and Rurik also gave everyone an order: the houses in the new settlements must have floors.

This requirement is difficult for the people of the Grey Squirrel Tribe. They originally planned to dig a dirt pit according to their own traditions, and then build a semi-crypt house on its foundation.

The leader Mechasta tried to dig down, but after digging through a thin layer of moist soil, he categorically rejected his idea.

Why?

Just dig down a mere thirty centimeters, and the shovel begins to touch the hard permafrost.

These Kowens had to learn how to build houses from the Rus, and in the process, they realized again how backward they were.

The Grey Squirrel tribe was an aspiring tribe, and the only remaining men, holding metal tools, began to study the Rus' house-building skills with all their might.

In fact, in terms of building houses, the Novgorods are more capable than the traditional Rus. Even if they use limited iron axes and a large number of stone axes, they still cut down big trees and perform fine processing.

The young warriors of Ross have learned a number of distinctive construction methods, and they have a huge advantage in tools compared to those in the East.

The residents of Novgorod do not need iron nails at all. They just chisel the trunks of similar thickness to an approximate length, and then chisel the two ends of the thick solid wood strips to forcibly chisel tenons.

Since it is to build a wooden house, I am afraid that there is really no way for the Russ to be more cost-effective than the Novgorods. Because the model of this type of wooden house has completely changed the "relatively leaky" image of the Rus' treatment of wooden houses. The mortise-and-mortise structure's wood-cut corrugations perfectly use the thermal insulation ability of thick wood, and then use some moss and linen to plug the final gap, even if the outdoor is already minus 40 degrees, separated by a wooden wall, the indoor life is still warm.

A large number of wooden stakes that were cut into awl heads, and the Ross warriors who were manipulated with huge and hard oak sledgehammers were slashed into the ground and chiseled into the deep permafrost.

Take a typical new wooden house as an example, it is built like this.

According to the process set by the Rus people combining the construction techniques of Novgorod and their own tribes, construction starts with ground piles.

Sixteen stubby wooden stakes (the number is not limited, the more the house is, the more stable it is) form a matrix. The ends of the stakes are chiseled with tenons, and then four processed wooden poles are placed parallel to each other.

Then, a large number of square wooden strips processed by the scraper began to be laid neatly to form a solid wooden floor.

In this way, a fairly flat construction platform is completed! What comes next couldn't be easier.

Those prefabricated wooden strips with tenon and tenon began to pile up like wood, completing the tenon and tenon each other, and the wooden walls were piled higher and higher.

Finally, the traditional herringbone frame of the Rus was installed on the roof, a large number of wooden ribs were laid, planks were laid on the wooden ribs, and finally a layer of thatch was laid. A wooden house is almost finished.

Of course, the soldiers chosen by Rurik were not all young men. Among them, there were no less than ten old soldiers who were slightly older. These people were actually carpenters. They had experienced the wildest youth, and now fighting and looting can be regarded as side jobs. . With these guys, all Rurik needs is their skills. Because they all participated in the construction of the leader's new house, and had sufficient experience in building Novgorod-style woodcuts.

Those gray squirrel tribesmen who will enjoy the new housing treatment, they have joined the construction team, and a large number of children under Rurik's command are also doing their best.

At one time, as many as twenty-five hit wood carvings had completed the construction of the foundation, and many had even completed the laying of the floor. Anyone with a discerning eye will understand that the next job is to stack the mortise and tenon joints. In three or four days, all the wooden houses under construction will be completed.

At first, there were only twenty-five hits on the woodcut, which of course was far from enough!

Rurik aspired to the town under construction as the largest iron-smelting center controlled by the Rus clan. Don't look at the fact that it's already May or snow and ice are everywhere. The heat of iron smelting will bless the people who live here, and the settlers will prosper because of iron and steel.