Rise of Rurik

A sturdy cargo ship drove the strong south wind to the north. A wooden shed was built on top of the ship. It was also a deck made of wooden boards to isolate the cargo. A distinguished old woman sat here.

Niya was already old and senile, and she gave birth to her youngest son Rurik at a very high age, taking great risks on her own.

After consulting with her husband Otto, she gave Rurik the name. How to explain the meaning of the name "Rurik"? It does have the meaning of "making the tribe stronger again", which is what Otto thinks. The so-called is like the ancient memories engraved on the wooden boards of the priests. The former Rus people were very powerful.

Niya has her own thoughts as a woman. In her understanding, her son's name is clearly "get the baby again", in order to pay homage to the two dead sons, as well as the ardent hope for the only remaining son.

The youngest son was loved by the gods, and Niya's trip was to see the northern settlements built by the youngest son for the purpose of smelting and forging iron tools.

The long voyage makes people feel a little boring, in fact, she has not set sail for a long time.

"Anna, bring me some water."

"Yes, Master." The maid Britton calmly took Niya's glass and poured the boiled pine needle water with honey from the bronze pot.

The boat swayed a bit, but the glass was cleverly designed.

Niya's shriveled lips were moistened, and her anxiety was relieved.

She was full of water, and handed the cup to the servant, only a glance, and her eyes noticed the ornament of the wooden cross hanging around the servant's neck.

"Oh! Strange belief, I don't know that my son is the one chosen by the gods."

Nia didn't want to say anything more. The Britton women the merchants brought from the market in Melalen last year had some strange ideas. Because as long as they are given a small house where the ritual is performed every day, and then a stick is erected, and a small wooden stick is placed in the middle of the stick, they will be able to serve in peace after the ceremony. Niya is a little disgusted but does not stop it .

The surrounding scenery is always the same, and under the wooden board that you are stepping on, there are a lot of freshly caught fish and some salted fish. Now, several transport ships are racing to the north as fast as they can to deliver the piles of herring and cod to the buyer, Rurik, before the fresh fish spoil.

"How far is it." Nia muttered impatiently.

"Honorable master, we will be here tomorrow morning." The captain with a beard but a thin body complimented him.

"Am I going to spend the night on the boat?"

"No. We'll be docked to rest."

Hearing that, Niya's impatience became even more severe, "Can't you hurry up?"

The captain was also very embarrassed: "Master, our boat has no oars, we completely rely on the wind, but there is no wind at night, and..."

What else the captain had to say about the night-time navigation would be a disaster, and Nia waved her hand and declined to hear any more.

Even though Ross' ships always have an adventurous spirit, insisting on sailing at night, without superb sailing skills is tantamount to courting death. Night sailing is an adventure. If the purpose of the ship is to make surprise attacks at night, night sailing is understandable. However, it is better to be cautious about the many ships transporting living materials.

For more than a day, for the fish caught in a relatively low temperature state, the fish meat did start to corrode slightly.

But it doesn't matter, the Rus people are forced to live helplessly, all of them can endure this mild stench.

This night, Nia spent the night on the shore.

She was clothed in fine linen and soft ferret fur, and she was adorned with gold, silver, precious stones, and even colored glass beads.

The clothes of those Breton maids were much more plain, but they were all blue-grey cloths. Their simplicity further highlights the nobility of the host family.

But on shore rest, Nia, the chief's wife, like most of the crew, lived in their tents, listening to the waves and sleeping with the shore of an island.

She never thought that she could experience such things at her age, and she felt that she had become a lonely woman in a vast land and a sea of ​​waves. It is very difficult to reach its destination immediately and hold its son in its arms.

The next day, the sailing continued.

Sleeping on the shore, Nia was not happy. She didn't get a good rest from the fatigue of the boat and car, and she sat on the boat again and was lethargic.

Until the captain shouted a melodious horn.

"Helmsman! The shore is ahead! Let's go east!"

All the ships began to turn, and Nia stood up when she saw a situation. She lay on the enclosure of the hull and looked into the distance.

"Is it almost there?" she asked.

"It will be soon, Master. When you see a brand-new city, it is our Elrond."

"Oh, then I'm looking forward to it."

Niya's interest was finally mobilized, and her eyes were curious to watch the same coastline.

Soon, her fleet encountered the small fishing boats of the Rus, and it was only then that she realized that the destination was really coming.

This area used to be a barren land, but now it has gradually become more human.

Her full anticipation soon yielded encouraging results.

"What's going on in the front? That estuary, is that a wooden wall?" Niya opened her eyes wide to see clearly, but she was old after all.

The captain standing on the bow looked excited. He pointed to where the wooden wall was: "Master Rurik is on the shore! Master! We are going to the shore, please be prepared."

"Oh! That's really something to prepare for." Niya's shriveled face finally squeezed out a smile.

The beach, once full of mud and pebbles, has been cleaned up a little by Rurik's police, and some wooden stakes have been smashed into the silt of the river, relying on these wooden stakes, the plank piers that can accommodate eight boats are put into place. use. With such ships, their unloading becomes more convenient, and the settlements make higher utilization of foreign materials.

It can be said that no one was aware of the need to build a wharf.

Rurik gave the order, and took out a few silver and copper coins as a reward.

Not only was the pier built, a road from the pier to the wooden fence of Fort Elon Orava, made of wooden boards embedded in the sand and gravel ground, was assembled in only two days, so that people who landed would not have to worry about their boots getting wet. .

A sturdy cargo ship, with its hoisted sails really conspicuous.

Rurik, who got up early, liked to supervise the work of blacksmiths the most these days, especially to supervise whether the men of the Kewen tribe were studying and improving their ironsmithing skills.

Rurik is also interested in overseeing the second waterwheel that has just been built. Different from the first seat, the wheel of the new waterwheel is smaller, and the two hammers set are not the sponge iron, but the oat grains in the stone.

Based on the existing conditions, Rurik has not been able to come up with a practical waterwheel grinding disc system. My purpose is to obtain coarsely processed oats, so that subsequent cooking becomes efficient, and consumers can better absorb its nutrients. The traditional stone mortar for pounding oat flour and turning it into a waterwheel hammer to pound it is of course not efficient, and the waterwheel is tireless.

Rurik already knew that his mother was coming, probably in two or three days.

He understands very well, what is "the best gift for parents"? Nothing is more healthy than children standing in front of them.

Rurik figured out what to do.

People who work have their own tasks. In order to get a little reward from Rurik and also to get Mingyu, everyone works very hard. It is precisely because of this factor that the settlement can be built at an extremely fast speed. Rurik had some experience in this regard. The so-called stimulating them to work hard was not only the honor of "working for those blessed by Odin", but also that he not only gave them a meal, but also a little money.

"Is there a more sage leader than me under Pu Aurora?" Rurik was actually a little complacent.

Of course, he has arrogant capital, which lies in his strong financial resources.

Today, a large number of ferrochrome and chrome steel tools are sold at different prices, and the daily output value has reached the level of nearly 2,000 silver coins, provided that all ferrochrome tools can be sold at high prices.

In short, no matter what the future sales are, Rurik can't care about that much. He feels that he must take advantage of the short warm period to mass-produce in order to obtain greater profits in the future.

Rurik also calculated an economic account for himself. The value of the various materials consumed by the entire settlement every day may be around 300 to 400 silver coins for the time being, which is much less than the consumption at the beginning.

To feed a large number of men who do an amazing amount of physical labor, food is the biggest financial drain.

Finally, the virtuous circle on the economic front is on track.

A mercenary hurried to watch the scene of the waterwheel pounding oat kernels. The aroma of wheat in the air made him intoxicated.

"My lord, the chief's wife, your mother, she has finally arrived."

"It's finally here?!" Rurik turned around instantly, his face full of joy.

After a while, Rurik tried his best to gather a group of his cronies and formed a mighty team to run towards the pier.

At the same time, the docked stable cargo ship put down the plank, and Nia finally boarded the destination with the help of the maid. She couldn't help but be amazed at the road paved with wooden planks under her feet.

"It's unbelievable, who came up with the idea? Planks paved the way?"

Someone hurriedly replied: "It's your son."

"Really him? As expected of my son."

Nia didn't notice Rurik's figure for a while, she raised her head to observe the magnificent scene in the sunlight.

It must be Fort Elrond that is surrounded by walls, oh it should be called Fort Elrond Orava.

In terms of appearance alone, Niya feels its solidity, as well as the strong sense of security brought by the wooden walls and towers, which is fundamentally different from the more open settlement of Roseburg.

"Let's go, servants, let's walk forward." Nia shook her neck lightly, she estimated that her son was already inside the fence. She estimated that, with her son's character, she should build a beautiful house as a place for ceremonies, receptions, and a comfortable bedroom.

She didn't go far, the warm south wind blew on her face, and out of the corner of her eyes, she noticed a group of people walking towards the riverside building not far away.

Youdao is a consonant, she turned her head slightly, and she saw her long-lost son.

Immediately, a mother's instinct prompted her to drive her aging body like a madman, get off the boardwalk, and run wildly on the wet sand and gravel ground.

Soon, Rurik was hugged by his mother and held tightly in her arms...

A thousand words could not compare to this hug, but at this moment Niya was satisfied. She was very shocked that Rurik really built a city, but everything was not as important as her own son.

Only when Rurik complained that he was being held too tightly did Nia let go, but Rurik was still kissed several times on the forehead.

"Mom, are you satisfied?"

Rurik's question made Niya a little embarrassed, what could she say?

"Satisfied, I can only be satisfied with holding you in my arms. What do you think?"

"Okay." Rurik shrugged. "Maybe I should apologize. I focused on settlement construction. I haven't returned to my homeland for over a month. I should have visited you earlier."

"It's okay." Nia pinched her son's smiling face, showing the tenderness of a mother: "I'm here, I see that you are healthy. Well, and your women, they are all healthy."

Carlotta and Ella, who affectionately called Nia "Mom", naturally received Nia's intimate hug.

It was the little girl of the Iron Squirrel Tribe, Saipolava. She was still a little cautious, and for this reason, she failed to get Niya's affection. Of course, Nia couldn't be intimidated with such an outsider. In fact, Nia couldn't say how intimate she was with her son's first servant, Rumia.

Rurik's ambition is naturally to build a "huge Rus", but most of the real Rus, the understanding of the concept of "Rus", is completely a tribe of only a few thousand people, a few people want to build a The alliance led by the Ross tribe, and then commanding some tribes as slaves, is the highest ambition.

It cannot be said that they were stupid, just because they lacked a larger view of the situation. Most Rus firmly believed that those Kovins were the slaves of Rurik himself, and the surrendered Kovins also positioned themselves in this way.

As everyone knows, after living together for more than a month, Rurik saw the cooperation of these Kewen Iron Squirrel tribesmen and their obedience to his performance. He felt that he had conquered their souls. In this way, these Kewen people could no longer say It's a slave, it's a tribe, it's a clan.

He thought so, but Nia didn't think so.

Therefore, when Rurik led her to visit his great masterpiece, Nia was amazed at the stability and safety of the wooden walls built in the settlement, the thick and spacious wooden houses, and the construction of a large number of buildings with various living purposes, but she found it difficult to accept. The Kowen people can walk around freely under their own eyes, or beside Rurik.

They don't know their slaves?

Niya's thoughts were just in her heart. She didn't want to interfere with any of Rurik's actions. After thinking about it, Rurik let the servants move around at will, there must be other hidden reasons.

Rurik was anxious to show his mother what he had accomplished, especially by showing her a tour of his cozy wooden house, which was enclosed by wooden walls.

The light in the room was a little dim, and the wood-paneled windows were opened, finally opening up the room.

In this wooden house, Niya found a little sense of coming home. After all, the current construction mode of the wooden houses of the Rus people has been biased towards the more efficient Novgorod woodcuts.

Nia sat on the head of the bed, on a sheet made of soft leathery white bearskin.

She recognized it as a bear skin, and knew it better and brought it back from her hometown. How the son got it is really self-evident.

She thought about it, her son was actually sleeping on the bear skin, what a heroic warrior!

Niya has been visiting for a while, and she is the most honorable guest. Now, she is staying in the bedroom of her son's residence, with her son and "adopted daughters".

"I'm glad you built a lot of houses, Elrond Castle is the most beautiful settlement I've ever seen. There are so many houses here, I think even the humblest slaves live in warm wooden houses, Rurik, I think you too Give your servants many things."

Rurik immediately affirmed: "That's natural. If the servants starve to death, and once they starve to death, who will give me work?"

"That's true, but I noticed that you're being too kind to them. Especially the Kovans, I saw those steaming saunas, and you allowed them to build this."

"Huh? Is there anything strange about this?"

"Of course it's strange! You actually built it inside a wooden wall. Bathing is a private matter. Now, you..."

Rurik didn't think there was anything wrong, he consciously understood the reason for Niya's dissatisfaction, "Maybe I should build some wooden houses outside the wooden walls to wash myself. It's not a problem, I asked them to finish the day every day. Work to clean your body. We Rus people all jump into the river with soap, those Kowen people like to sit in the sauna for a while now, and then go to the river with soap. Now, many of our Rus warriors, also I think the cleaning method of Kewen people is better.”

"That's just men. Rurik, you must prepare a place for me to wash, like our Roseburg."

"Huh? Mom, you're actually hoping."

"Yeah." Niya smiled, "My son, this is unfortunate, I've been standing in a pile of fish all the way, I want to clean myself, and I want to clean your hands. Just like when I was a child, I gave You take a bath like that. And this night, right here." Saying this, Niya smiled and slapped the bed: "My son, you must accompany me tonight. I have decided that I will stay here for a few days, You have to be with me every night."

"Okay." Rurik didn't reject it, he just asked: "What about the situation in Rosberg? Dad and the others may be coming back."

"That's his business too." Nia continued with a smile. "Your father has men's affairs, he will not be in any danger, he can handle everything. Rurik, I am satisfied with you."

Rurik smiled embarrassedly. He thought for a while. Maybe his mother's stay here would arouse the enthusiasm of the clansmen. It could also be interpreted as a hint to other clansmen that the chief family attaches great importance to Elronborg in the north. .