Rise of Rurik

Those wooden houses made of tenon-and-mortise structures in the pure Novgorod style are low and sturdy. The owners of the houses have built a circle of fences with wooden strips at the side of the house, and demarcated a small area to engage in some random farming.

There are chicken pens or rabbit dens in the fence. These two fast-breeding livestock and poultry have become a major source of meat for the settlers. The captured and domesticated rabbits were kept in large wooden cages for a long time, and the residents often fed a large amount of grass. In order to cope with the cold winter, they harvested a large amount of withered grass. As for domesticated chickens, they are other people's birds. Free-range chickens often run around, and naturally nest in chicken coops in winter.

When the grain is harvested, all the chickens are driven into the chicken coop. The grain owners not only have to use the wooden flails to beat the bales of wheat ears in the threshing field to complete the husking of the husks and oats, but also have the whole family Go into battle to disperse any sparrows that come to steal food.

The first harvest season was completed relatively smoothly, and those threshing fields that were once busy have now become empty places.

Rurik and his party followed Konusson, and stood at random on a hard ground. It had been rammed to a level and firm. Maybe it would only become muddy after being soaked by heavy rain for many days?

Ramming is to compress the volume of soil desperately. When it becomes a dense material, it is a flat and hardened land that human beings can create at first that should not appear in nature.

"Is this your threshing floor?"

"Yes, my lord. Look carefully, there is some leftover wheat that has not been collected."

"Really?" Rurik watched the old fellow, Konusson, bow down and use his strong hands to pull out a grain of wheat embedded in the ground.

"What about doing this? It's just a grain of wheat."

Konuson smiled bitterly: "It is very precious to us, maybe... or not to say it."

Rurik felt a little uncomfortable for a moment, and asked himself how many years he had been starving himself. In his concept, easy access to food is a matter of course, and he also understands that ensuring the food supply of residents is the basic task of a regime.

Wasting a certain amount of food was not a big deal in Rurik's view.

For them, is grain really a matter of competition?

Rurik thought for a while. Would it be stupid to say something that he wanted to say now?

For example, questioning the large grains of rice on the rammed land,

Don't worry about too much dust and scum? They definitely don't care, and they don't even have the right to care about what is there or not, as long as the food can be eaten.

Seeing Rurik's dignified face, Konusson asked weakly, "My lord, all threshing grounds are like this. You see, this field is shared by several families."

"Huh?" Rurik raised his head sharply, "I also think that every household has it. As long as they want, I won't judge. It's your earthen threshing floor. I have some suggestions."

"Oh, what is that?"

"You should lay slate and put it together into a level ground. No matter what kind of rain, it will not damage your threshing floor. You can easily pull the wheat from the soil, which means that you are not strong enough. If It rained continuously, and the threshing floor became a mud pond."

Having said this, Rurik naturally extended more words.

"Conuson!"

"grown ups."

Rurik coughed twice: "Novorosburg is a city, according to Novgorod's words, it is called Nievarussigorod, she must have far more value than Novgorod, not a village, you must be responsible for building her. Full responsibility. Now I have a request for you."

Konusson bowed immediately, although he was puzzled as to why Rurik was comparing this place with Novgorod: "It is your order, and I will do my best."

"Very good." Rurik pointed to the ground: "The threshing floor, pave me with stones. Not only all the threshing floors, but all the roads in the city, should be paved with stones. Listen, the future Anytime I'm in New Roseburg, my boots can't get muddy."

"Ah?! This request..." Konuson's face instantly became embarrassed.

"What? Don't the immigrants even know how to dig stones? Or is there no mason in your hands?"

Conuson still pursed his lips.

"What the hell is going on?" Rurik demanded.

"My lord, we... have no stones here."

"Huh? How is that possible? Wait..." Rurik suddenly felt absurd, and felt something was wrong, "Huh? Could it be that there are really no stones in this place?"

"I promise with honor, there's really no stone. Your lord, if we could get stone easily, we'd chisel stones and build houses. You see, we can only build houses out of wood, big and small."

"Oops!" Rurik's little hand patted his face directly.

He imagined building New Roseburg into a classic medieval city in his mind, so the main landscape of the city should be a large number of granite blocks. Castles, fences, roads and dwellings are full of grey stone figures,

He looked around and saw that the wooden wall not far away was still slowly lengthening. The wooden wall covering the city was obviously an expedient measure. As long as the material was abundant, Rurik only wanted to build the wall with stones.

Wood is the most readily available building material, Korean pine is everywhere, and the woods are often mixed with oaks, oaks, and beech.

The terrain here is flat, and there is a large island divided by the river at the mouth of the Neva River. Its environment is clearly a northern wetland, and the fertile land is suitable for cultivation. I am afraid that there are really no stones nearby.

The truth, as Conusson said, was even worse than he thought. In history, Peter the Great desperately built a city at the mouth of the Neva River and made it the capital of a country. They cut down all the forests at the mouth of the sea. After that, all the stone used for construction came from Vyborg in the north.

The Vyborg quarry is 100 kilometers away from the mouth of the Neva River in a straight line geographically. It is another tortuous road through the sea of ​​stone.

Swing the manuscript and dig down, and if you dig into the permafrost, you may not be able to dig hard granite.

But in any case, everything that builds a city with wood is the terrifying fire hazard, and the defensive city wall built with wood can only block some low-level enemies.

Since granite is not so easy to come by, wouldn't it be nice to burn bricks with clay. The thought flashed by, and Rurik instantly rejected it.

They get high-quality clay, first of all, to fire pottery, and to use it to burn bricks is a waste.

Rurik took another look at the ground beneath his feet. Despite all the difficulties, finding granite mines and digging stones to use them must be done by the residents of New Roseburg.

"Just here." Rurik sighed.

Conuson, who was still waiting to hear the new order, immediately asked: "My lord, we are really in trouble with this stone."

"I know. I've made up my mind, you won't ask you to pave the road with stones now, but in the future, our New Rose Fort must have stone walls and stone pavements. You have to send people to explore north, to find stone, Also beware of possible Karelians."

"As ordered."

"Don't worry too much, our Elon Orava Fort is in the extreme north, where there are a lot of stones. I can send people to dig it there and transport it here for use."

"Oh that's great," Konuson complimented.

"That's it, let's go to the pier and have a look."

There is nothing special about the pier itself. This time, Rurik mainly visited the river beach. The plan to build a main road in the city was born in his heart. While he was still in New Roseburg, the whole city was still nervous. During the construction, with this good opportunity, Rurik felt that he would take the greatest responsibility for the future history of Rus and lay a good foundation for the birth of a city.

Rurik, is to temporarily serve as an urban planning expert.

He led a group of entourages on the riverbank covered with withered weeds. There were also many residents here who freely stocked their very few sheep. Seeing a group of people in leather armor coming aggressively, they all chose to avoid it.

Rurik saw that a small path had been stepped on the river beach, and there were even ruts run over by a two-wheeled cart.

Suddenly, he stopped.

"My lord, what do you think of the pier?" Konuson asked immediately.

"Fine. I just care about the road."

"Road?" Konusson scratched his head, "I understand that stone roads will be laid in the future."

"That's the case." Rurik immediately pointed to the big river on his left: "From today on, it will not be called the Ladoga, but the Neva. And this road, I will name it Nevagata. Later , it is the core road of our city."

In this regard, Konusson only cares about approval, and does not make any sense.

Rurik knew how to build the city, and his plan was actually to deliberately fit history. Since the historical Peter the Great built a city here and planned the city himself, then he must have followed the advice of some experts, rather than building a random house and making plans.

The most famous street in St. Petersburg is Nevsky Prospekt, which has even become a symbol of the city. In Novo Roseburg, which is co-located in different time and space, Rurik intends to follow suit.

Throughout the day, Rurik was thankful that he was in good physical condition. When night fell, he only felt a little sore in his legs when he returned to the longhouse where the leader was.

The soft light in the evening is a signal, and most residents follow the habit of resting at sunset, even if they do not work overtime for the work of building the fence.

Otto took a good steam in the Fen-style sauna in the settlement, wiped himself clean with the hot river water, put on new clothes made of linen, and faced the whole day of travel with a very comfortable attitude. 's son.

He was inquiring about Rurik's history with great interest, but unexpectedly, Rurik insisted on holding a meeting on city construction as a master.

"Are you kidding? Do you have any new suggestions for building the wall?" Otto originally meant that he didn't want his son to interfere with his own ideas. After all, the construction of New Rose Fort was the greatest feat he boasted in his later years, even if it was his son. Shouldn't make irresponsible remarks.

Rurik didn't understand his father's selfishness, and he looked firmly: "I'm serious, Dad, please accept my thoughts."

Rurik could feel Otto's inner displeasure on his face.

Is this old guy afraid that I have questions about the New Roseburg election? How ridiculous!

Rurik was well prepared for this, and even ordered Yevro to get a dry wooden board first, and even used a knife to draw lines, and blackened these lines with small charcoal blocks to form a simple urban construction blueprint. He negotiated with Conusson, but without Rurik's detailed explanation, who knows what this picture is?

Indeed, Rurik only sketched roughly the course of the river and the arrangement of the streets in the city.

Now, he is mainly facing his father Otto and Conuson, and while showing the wooden board, he gestures and introduces with a small stick.

"That island full of rabbits is just north of our dock. I want a fort built here as a first line of defense against northern raiders in every sense."

"The wooden wall we are building now is our new Fortress, which I have seen. One side of it is adjacent to the big river, and the curved wall forms a semi-circle. I declare that the name of the big river is the Neva, and the path along the river must be extended. Chengda Road, named Nevsky Prospekt, is the main traffic road in our city.”

"There must be a road under the wall, which connects to Nevsky Prospect."

"There are four roads extending vertically from Nevsky Prospekt, and they must be built straight. In principle, all roads need to be paved with stones or pebbles. Since there is a lack of historical data for the time being, Conuson, you should ram the road to make it as hard as possible."

"The wall is made of wood. I don't think it's a long-term solution. We heard that when we attacked Gotland, our men suffered from the enemy's stone wall. The wood and The wall made of earth, we basically did not encounter obstacles. Obviously the stone wall is more important to us. The wood will decay, the stone wall will last, the wooden wall is a stopgap, and when the stone mine is found, we will immediately strengthen our city with stone ."

"Therefore, Konuson, you will build some special houses. A longhouse for the inhabitants to meet and discuss business. It must be large and built in the style of Novgorod. You will also build a more comfortable one. Houses for the chiefs to live in. There will also be a number of vacant wooden houses to be built, which can be used as warehouses on weekdays. When our Sorgon army stops at Fort New Rose, when there are sufficient accommodation rooms, there is no need to disturb other residents. Also, I hope You get to next year's Spring Festival, knock down all the floorless houses in the settlement and rebuild them."

"Our current position is the chief's residence. In the future, this position will be built as my family's mansion. Sooner or later, I will make it beautiful, and you, first cover me with the woodcut of Novgorod, I'm not used to sleeping on the ground."

"You also have to open up an empty field with at least 100 sitikas at the door of the chief's residence. I have a deadline for you to complete the empty field before the autumn harvest next year. It will be the largest threshing field in the city and a square for our gatherings in the future. . I will limit you to move the houses in the area within a year, then you will ram the land, and when the conditions are ripe, I will lay it with hard stones.”

Planning a road, building a square, they are a hundred times more important than building a chief's residence, Rurik thought.

Especially a square, Rurik actually thinks it is more interesting to call it "Senatorium Square" or "Hermitage Square", because the opposite of Rabbit Island is the Winter Palace, the Russian Parliament Building and the huge Senate Square. , it was the site of the Decembrist uprising in 1825.

The construction of a square paved with stones must have been shocking to the people of this era. To have such a square, all the Russians should be proud of it.

The practical significance of building the plaza is that New Rose Fort needs a large space that can handle various affairs in the open air. It is a threshing ground when the farming is busy, and a large amount of materials arrive, so it is a material distribution center. If a foreign enemy invades, the Rus people can take up arms and gather in the square to get the leader's order to defend their homeland.

Here, to the south of the square is the granary of the city, which is also the central area of ​​the city.

Rurik pointed to the wooden board and kept explaining, and now Otto knew that he had completely foolishly misunderstood his son. The son did not have any objections and doubts. He was very supportive of his city location, and even had a stronger preference for it than himself.

The child actively inherits and carries forward the father's business, which is the joy of any father.

Otto was pleased to see that his son had extraordinary insights into urban construction. After listening to the explanation, he finally understood the picture on the wooden board. Why was he so funny?

Seeing that his son had finished speaking, Otto smiled comfortably: "Rurik, you have done a good job, and the city will be built according to your plan. It's your drawing..."

Rurik let out a sigh of relief: "Dad, do you still have any questions?"

"Hey, doesn't your city plan look like a harp?"

As soon as the words fell, everyone in the house burst into laughter (everyone's laughter is low due to the lack of entertainment in life).

Rurik hurriedly took a look, and couldn't help but rejoice.

Not counting the fortress plan of Rabbit Island, the outline of the city theme is indeed like the letter D, and there are four paths in it. It doesn't look like a harp, what does it look like?

There is indeed no such instrument as the harp in the hands of the Rus. Many Russ have seen it. It is an instrument that some Melarens will play in their spare time. The spiritual life of the Rus has always been dull, but little things can turn into months-long conversations. They compose songs but do not have suitable instruments, even bone flutes and leather drums are rare, let alone the harp that needs finishing.

There are no professional musicians here, and the masters of musical instruments are mainly priests of various tribes, who sometimes use them in sacrificial places to enhance the solemn atmosphere.

The priests of Melalen have harps, as do a few merchants, and their use has always been rare.

Otto was getting excited. He smiled and said, "In my opinion, I need to give the city a nickname."

"What is it?" Konusson asked urgently.

"According to Rurik's decision, our Novo Roseburg is like a harp, and that's called Harpabroge."

If "New Roseburg" is a name given to the city, then "Harpburg" is an elegant nickname. Everyone was very happy when they laughed, and the nickname of Harp Castle spread quickly, which fully demonstrated that Rurik's urban construction plan will definitely be implemented.

The times chose the estuary of the Neva River and Lake Ilmen as the original prosperous place of the Rus people, but in any time and space, this geographical location must be a core area of ​​the "Russ unified country", she needs elegance and history. , it is even more necessary to have a scientific urban construction plan from the very beginning.

Rurik boasted that he had done this, and his men would build the city according to the plan. Then, future generations will also be grateful to their ancestors for creating this real "Mother City of Ross" in the current time and space context.

Rurik actually did not like Kyiv for personal reasons, even if it was a veritable granary. The name "Russ' mother city" should be thrown to Novgorod, and it should not be thrown to Kyiv. The dispute between the two cities will not exist at the root, and the new Rose Fort at the mouth of the Neva River, or the "Harp Fort" will be regarded as the "Mother of Rus' Cities"