Rise of Rurik

A fine and long spring rain fell shortly after the spring ploughing. The Slavs cheered that it was a sign of a good harvest, but the Rus did not take it seriously.

The spring rain forced the traditional fishing practices of the Rus and other Varyag people to adjust, and people stayed at home to shelter from the rain, even for those Kyiv horse riders who planned to go back.

Sakey and other horse riders turned into leather merchants.

Leather jackets made of polar bear skins, beautiful hats made of ferret skins, and even a small amount of glassware and iron tools. The goods will be loaded like the boats when they came. Since the ice and snow have all melted, it is completely unrealistic to expect to drag the boat across the Valdai swamp on the ice and snow. Everyone must cross that swamp, which is also the entire north-south waterway. Bad barriers, so summer peers can't carry as much cargo.

The cargo they plan to take away is not much, and the value is extremely high! Especially those glassware, if sold to the leader of the Pecheneg people, they will be able to exchange for many horses.

"The Russ' crystal cup is only ten silver coins, and the crystal plate is twenty. These utensils (only ten in total) will be shipped to the south and I will sell them. One small cup can be exchanged for ten horses! The horses are shipped again. Come to the Rus people. Haha, it's fifty times the return!" Sakyi is dreaming, although the trade income will not be so outrageous, the real situation must be a big profit.

The huge profits directly dispelled businessmen's worries about risks. They were willing to take risks, and now they just hope that the damn rain will stop.

On the other hand, a dignified woman needs to hold the cloth ball in her mouth, and with the help of more than a dozen women, she strives to perform a feat that only she can accomplish.

A more noble old lady simply knelt on the ground, her mouth full of words of encouragement.

"Strong! It's already opened..."

"Try harder, the head is coming out soon."

...

After a while, a child's shrill cry made the mother who was on the verge of collapse finally lay down in relief and happiness, and gasped deeply.

Rurik, who was waiting outside the door waiting for the good news, heard the cries, pushed him away and rushed into the room, a woman who slid over to his side and grabbed her hand tightly: "You... it's okay. Bar."

But seeing the child's mother's face with happy tears, she watched her man try to sit up, but was stopped by Rurik: "Don't be impulsive, you need to rest."

finally,

Carlotta got her wish and became a mother.

She lay on her back and asked Niya, who was busy cleaning the child, "Is it a boy or a girl."

"It's a boy. You guys..." Niya, as the Queen Mother of the Principality, is quite experienced as a midwife. The baby's umbilical cord was cut, and a pine wood clip clamped to the navel.

While washing away the blood and filth of the baby who was red, crying and swaying, she deliberately muttered with dissatisfaction: "You are a woman who cares about you as soon as you enter the door, and you don't come to see your second one. son."

Rurik smiled naively. It was indeed his own child, but Carlota was unique.

He slowly helped Carlotta, who was a new mother, to get up. After the child was washed quickly, he was gently wrapped in soft linen by Nia and handed to the child's mother.

The crying child suddenly quieted down. Facing his own flesh and blood, Carlotta hurriedly lifted the sackcloth while smiling.

She had to be sure it was a boy, because Ostara's title required a male heir.

As Nia described, this is a boy.

She burst into tears and kissed her son subconsciously.

The child just lay down in his mother's arms with his eyes closed and kept quiet, gently fiddling with his two little hands that were as transparent as cream, and pouted his lips to want to suck something.

"He's cute. Carlotta, have you finally thought of the child's name?" Rurik asked with relief.

"Just call it Carl."

"Carl? Is it right?"

"It's a good fit. Ostara needs a male duke, and only Karl is most worthy of his name."

"Alright."

Rurik didn't ask any further questions, probably because she felt inferior to being a woman, and the feminine pronunciation of "Karl" was "Carlotta". She thought that she regarded her son as a male version of herself, so she told the public's opinion. As promised, the Ostarans welcomed a male nobleman, and everything has been normal since then.

Rurik's estimation was partly correct, but in fact, Carlotta's choice of this name for his son was simply rude. Ten wooden blocks have ten names written on them, because they firmly believe that what they have conceived must be a son, and all ten names are masculine. When she felt severe pain, she closed her eyes and cast lots, and she grabbed a name that was Carl.

Everything is Odin's will! The child's name is God's choice, and so is the gender.

Odin made a decree, and Odin asked for the revival of Ostara, thus choosing a male heir.

She was willing to call her son Carl I, Duke of Ostara, and even whispered in Rurik's ear for the first time: "I would rather give up the title of Duchess immediately and give it to him. There must be a male in my duchy. Duke, it is up to you to decide."

Although the words were very abrupt, Rurik realized the true meaning in an instant.

The Principality of Ostara is indeed not on the same level as the Principality of Rus. They are no longer even a vassal group, but are within the scope of the Principality of Rus. The prince of Ross has the right to appoint the status of the only dukedom and nobles under his rule, which is equivalent to saying that the Duchy of Ostara is only a famous name, and the political status is only the status of the earldom.

Carlotta's actions cannot be said to be hasty, but must be the result of careful consideration.

Rurik thought about it for a while, and simply followed her wishes: "Okay. He is Karl I, Duke of Ostara." He gently touched his second son's smiling face with his fingers, and said gently, "My son, Your name is Karl Luricosson Ostara. I hope you grow up to be a good soldier and a good man, and a solid backing for the duchy."

The child didn't cry, just twisted his body and made a humming sound.

"You see." Rurik was amused. "He's answering us."

The reason Rurik cared about Carlotta as soon as he entered the door was because he had witnessed the death of the Queen Mary, and he didn't want another woman of his to be unhappy, but fortunately everything went smoothly.

Everything went very well. Carlota began to nurse the child on the same day. The smoothness of the matter shocked the women who participated in the midwifery. The good news did not matter that the rainy weather was delivered in Novgorod City.

The hazy weather in the spring rain is a good thing, and Carlota has a lot of time indoors to recuperate. Rurik ordered her to have confinement confinement, to eat and drink, but not to leave the room and walk around.

Fried eggs, stewed meat, and grilled fish, the high-protein meals ordered by Rurik kept being delivered to Carlotta's mouth, not only to help her recover, but also to help breastfeeding.

Carlotta can't care about that much, she is indulged in her current happiness, even if the sky is sunny, she doesn't want to run around outdoors.

This kind of care was too much, and Svetlana couldn't bear the jealousy, and humbly complained to her man that the so-called care of Carlotta was too outrageous.

"Are you jealous? When our baby is born, I'll keep you out of your house for a month and feed you a fat seal with the best meal. If you wish."

When Rurik said this, Lanna shut up.

She still likes the slender and agile posture now, and the posture of becoming a seal is really unattractive.

The spring rain did not last long, and the earth fully recovered after the rain.

The grass seeds are all sprouting, and the river beaches and fields are full of wild grasses, especially rushes with slender leaves. They are all excellent pastures, and all kinds of livestock that breed in the Principality of Ross are driven into the wild and allowed to frantically gnaw on the inexhaustible grass.

Although the Duchy has no new war operations, the expansion is still going on in a different way.

A group of people from the port of Narvik arrived in Roseburg at the end of winter. They came with salt and walrus tusks and planned to sell their products on a sailboat bound for New Roseburg in exchange for better food, linen , leather jackets, etc.

The hunters roaming around will not miss the spring time, they are still hunting.

Driven by their interests, they ignore the truth of depleting the waters and fishing, or in other words, there is no need to maintain restraint in the new form. The expansion of the Principality has greatly expanded the cause of the people. The so-called human world Misgard is a small world. It is no longer credible. Everyone has found the northern end of the ocean (Arctic Ocean), and the end of the land does not seem to exist. There are also endless animals, running leather everywhere, there is no exhaustion.

The Rus and other Viking tribes continued the fishing and hunting tradition that everyone was accustomed to. After the spring ploughing was completed, the fields were abandoned. The result of the wheat growth depends on the will of God. Based on everyone's experience, there will be no bad results in the wheat harvest season. Lake Ilmen, Lake Ladoga and the Gulf of Finland are all sea areas that they can plunder as much as they want, and the forest area by the lake is even more plundered.

However, the Slavic people are another kind of routine. In a sense, because of the closed environment in which they are located, a part of their desire to expand is imprisoned. As they have long given up fishing and hunting to become pure farmers, they have become the main wage workers in Rurik.

Novgorod and Novgorod have major urban construction projects that require a lot of labor, and even state-run workshops are no longer limited to paper and garment factories.

For example, here in Novgorod, where there is no stone material, there are a large number of clay mines, and the firing of pottery and bricks has become a must for the development of the industry. In order to cooperate with these industries, charcoal kilns have to be built vigorously. It just so happens that there are inexhaustible wood resources in the local area to provide raw materials for charcoal burning.

As for the logging work, Rurik had nothing to worry about.

For the first time, the Slavic people were able to use iron weapons in a big way. It happened that Rurik sold them mainly mass-produced hand axes. Even if the axe was small, it could quickly chop down small trees. Some large double-operated hacksaws are no longer on sale. The price is expensive. The Boyar nobles of various farms are not fools. They realize that the logging efficiency of this tool must be bought.

They are desperately logging trees to ask for the necessary space for survival in the forest, intending to transform them into farmland. In addition to using the big trees for their own use, they can make a profit by selling them to the duke.

Governor Medved also organized an army and continued to go deep into the jungle to find out more people who were hiding and transported them to the wasteland by the lake to open up wasteland for farming.

The settlements in the Principality of Rus are all thriving, with different lifestyles, and the same is that they are all producing wealth.

From the Gulf of Bothnia to the Gulf of Finland, the Russ boats flying blue flags on a white background and hoisting special jibs have frequent friendships.

The Principality's navy is also not a mascot staying at the Kronstadt berth, performing armed patrols and trawling fish without military action. They won't go into the South Baltic Sea, not even Saaremaa.

The Principality must defend the sea lines of communication, with regular patrols to ensure any enemy intrusion, although unlikely.

Only one ship dominates the South Baltic Sea.

The Salmon Chief and more than thirty bloodthirsty pirates on board, led by Captain Speuter, have been attacking everywhere.

They were looting by order, and they had a "private robbery certificate" issued by the kingdom. From the beginning of April to the present in May, in one and a half months, fifty fishing boats and cargo ships have been recorded and sunk, among which there are even simple fighting longboats.

Originally, the Rus people did not have the habit of making nautical records. Of course, this is not laziness, but the lack of conditions in the past era. In the floating environment at sea, once people can't figure out the time and how long they have been floating on the sea, people will go crazy.

Today, the production of paper has entered the fast lane. The hard paper, which is mainly made of birch bark, is soft and strong at the same time. A stack of thick paper is tied together by hemp rope and roughly bound into a book. Alphabet records victories and times.

According to his description, the crew can determine how many ships they have sunk, and roughly determine the number of kills.

The sacks hanging on the stern are really rolling heads in the physical sense, and the heads of the enemies stink, only to be blown away by the sea breeze to prevent the brothers from gagging. It is that sometimes the wind direction changes slightly, and the stench rushes over and everyone feels uncomfortable.

It was a terrifying trophy, and it was a certificate to send to Wang Chu in the future. No one wanted to throw it away.

In recent days, cruising at sea has become boring. It seems that the Danes have become cowardly. Large ships are cruising throughout the Denmark Strait. It is said that this is the best place to attract firepower, but it has not deceived the enemy to encircle and suppress it. A number of ships were sunk, and the Danes seemed to disappear in the days that followed.

Everyone laughed at the cowardice of the Danes, and complained that if it went on like this, they should be withdrawn for supplies.

"A good fisherman doesn't just drop the bait and expect the big fish to be hooked immediately, and we'll wander around for three more days," Spooter advised.

It's good to have a logbook, he can read aloud to the bored brothers of everyone's great achievements in the past, highlight the precise date of departure, and infer how long the remaining supplies can support the battle.

The cabin is now stuffed with some useful loot. It turns out that Speuter robbed a cargo ship, the hostile crew was wiped out, and the wool inside the cargo ship was looted. The cargo ship was scuttled after its sails were removed and household items were taken away.

Wool is a great gift to the princes, and they must be cut in the spring of Jutland's pastoral areas, after which it will be autumn.

The day after Speuter put down his rhetoric, a cruising boat was slowly drifting off the coast of the peninsula.

The big boat adjusted its direction like a tiger rushing towards food. The brothers thought that the small boat would run for their lives madly on the coast, but they never expected that they were still drifting.

"How can the Danes be such a fool, thinking that the past has not been lost?" Speuter felt offended.

Someone shouted arrogantly: "It's a fool. Or, is it a prayer for us not to sink ships again?"

"Pray? Our shop in Hazelby is completely peaceful. The Danes gave our brothers a chance to pray for peace. The big merchant's son, Blue Fox, was killed, and the prince was counting on the fat man to make money. If he doesn't die, we Brothers will not kill in this sea area, and they will make a fortune today."

Speuter's words came from the bottom of his heart. He actually admired the fat man's guts, and he dared to make money from the open trade in the hinterland of the Danes.

Since that boat is a bunch of stupid people, smash the boat to pieces with a bronze ram!

As a result, shockingly, something happened!