Rise of Rurik

Trapped in the wind and snow, what else can people do in their respective houses?

Adults will tell children overly exaggerated stories, especially the men involved in the exploration of the North, who tell their children that the deer keepers are formidable enemies, and that the father has won them over.

Adults don't hesitate to put gold on their faces to gain the admiration of children.

If the long time is just telling strange stories, life can be very boring.

Many people actually weave and repair hemp rope nets in their own longhouses, and repair longboats in larger wooden houses.

This time, a large amount of animal skins were brought back. If the animal skins cannot be processed quickly, the animal skins will rot, and it will not be a good choice to use them as clothes.

The Ross tribe has a group of professional blacksmiths who have found iron ore in the mountains and copper ore further afield. Their iron smelting skills are not good. Using ancient techniques, they can only smelt pig iron, and then beat them to a good axe.

Compared with iron smelting, their ability to make bronze is better, but copper mines in this area are rarer and less productive.

For most of the tribe, their main way of obtaining wealth and food was hunting and fishing. They make smoked jerky and a small amount of leather, and sell extra products while satisfying their own use, or complete trades within the tribe.

The leather trade, usually indeed, is an internal trade.

The tribal blacksmiths were rarely involved in fishing and seldom in large-scale collective hunting. Not even keen on the Sorgon voyage led by Chief Otto himself?

Why?

Because they are professional blacksmiths.

Every household of the tribe has its own metal tools, and iron tools are widely used in everyone's daily life.

Wrought iron that has been beaten to a relatively low carbon content is prone to rust even when used. When some rust is bad, it has to be handed over to a blacksmith, paid for refurbishment, or bought new.

Blacksmiths would go to the mountains themselves, carry the suitable iron ore back home, and make usable tools or weapons after a long process of smelting and forging.

In addition, the main work is repair.

Ordinary people, when their woodcutting axe becomes blunt, or the blade is damaged, they still have to take it to a blacksmith to forge it and pay for it.

Perhaps, the professional blacksmiths of various civilizations were their original chemical experts.

Blacksmiths have to go deep into the mountains to find available minerals. In the process of searching, they will naturally find some priceless amber, as well as a small amount of ruby ​​and sapphire. They can also always find some translucent ores, such as crystal clear natural quartz, gypsum, and even alum and mirabilite, which are important to the tribe.

Alum and Glauber's salt can be found in the mountainous areas of this region. From the day of discovery, the Ross tribe no longer needs to import these two "strategic materials" from the brother tribes in the south, and even export them on a small scale.

In fact, they are not particularly precious minerals, because they are quite common in rocky mountains around the world.

The central ridge of Scandinavia contains many minerals. The Russ tribe and the Siya tribe alliance discovered that this ridge was rich in iron ore too early. Maybe they hadn't thought about it at this time. Further mining and smelting of these ores would eventually lead to the prosperity of Sweden and Norway.

The few blacksmiths are like the "geological experts" of the tribe. They are more focused on forging iron. The alum and mirabilite that they have mined are basically sold out immediately after returning to the tribe.

Especially those allies who live in the Ross tribe, some of them are not only businessmen, but also professional craftsmen.

These people buy and stock up on alum and thenardite, and wait for the end of the fall when the hunters of the Ross tribe sell themselves a steady stream of new hides.

So in some longhouses, it really stinks!

But it's totally worth it to put up with the stench and keep working, fueled by great wealth.

Otto, the victorious action brought him a profit of a hundred deer, and 80% of the deer were sold by him halfway through the difficult journey.

He personally owns fifty pieces of fresh deerskins, although they are fresh, they are actually hard and sturdy.

Otto did not lack animal skin clothes, and he did not expect Niya to complete the complex processing of fifty deerskins by himself, and there were not enough materials for processing animal skins at home.

He sold all the deerskins and earned fifty fine Roman silver coins, which he locked in his own money box.

The cold winter world is frozen, and leather merchants' homes not only stink, but the whole family is caught in the busiest season. Celebrating Hanukkah in the Ross tribe, where there is no sunshine in person, is really more interesting than home in the South.

This is also the land of wealth. After processing a complete deerskin, throwing away the cost, selling two of them can net at least one silver coin.

It can be said that this is a job that seems to be lucrative, but it is indeed the case, that is, it requires a lot of labor from the workers.

Hiding in their warm homes, they first preprocess the fresh hides, scrape the hides of meat and fat, and wash them in hot water.

The good thing is that there is snow at your fingertips outdoors, melted and boiled to get the job done.

Then there is the nitrification process that requires the participation of Glauber's salt, and the odor containing traces of toxicity also overflows. To complete this process, there is also the tanning process that alum is involved in.

When all the work was done and the hides were soft and extremely resistant to corrosion, spring came, and soon the frozen seas melted to restore shipping.

Otto, and the general public of the Ross tribe, did not know the leather craftsmen among their allies, how lucrative it was for them to acquire the fresh fur they hunted.

Reindeer hide, which is warmer than sheepskin and has a larger surface area. It is quite an expensive leather in itself, and the Sami, who are good at raising deer, also quickly turned from trade to war after encountering the Sia tribes heading north. One by one, the deer herder communities of small clans were destroyed, and Otto's actions this year were just doing what his ancestors did.

Deer breeders are losers, and there are not many wild deer herds. Without deer breeders, the reindeer population also shrinks sharply.

Today, Jutland's reindeer are extinct, and Scandinavia's reindeer are increasingly rare.

The Danes struggle to raise sheep and cattle, only to obtain important hides. Due to the conflict with the Frankish kingdom and the Slavic Vander tribe, the relatively harmonious bilateral trade turned into a simple looting.

The Danes' relationship with their traditional partners has become increasingly tense, and the trade routes have been affected, and they have to take a tougher approach to trade more frequently.

Therefore, the cobblers who lived in Roseburg, they could go straight to the Danes' territory by rowing a longboat, of course, they had to sneak past quietly. Although the conflict between the Siya clan alliance and the Danes has become more and more serious in recent years, the private trade between the two sides is not really decided.

Everyone speaks the exact same Norse language, and the language has not yet become too different due to geographical gaps. The merchants directly claim to be Danes, the same family of customers. As for where the high-quality deerskins come from, the answer is also easy to fool - snatched from the northern Finns.

A piece of high-quality reindeer skin that has been processed is not an exaggeration to replace it with five sheepskins from the locals of Jutland. Although this is a very risky behavior, to risk being attacked by the Danes, at least you can earn twice or more than selling to your own people.

This time, more than 200 reindeer skins, as well as a large number of arctic fox skins, ferret skins, wolf skins, and even ten white bear skins, Ross hunters sold them all in order to quickly exchange for silver coins.

In this way, the locals of Roseburg praised their leader as a "brave adventurer" who helped everyone get a rich fortune.

And the tanners of the guest house, who were almost on their knees before Otto, sang the generosity of the leader with exaggerated smiles.

The cobblers entered a busy period that had not been seen in decades. The number of cobblers was small this time and had to go into battle at home. Even young children had to help.

Because the owner understands that if he completes a huge amount of work in a frozen winter, the income will be enough to bring him two or three years.

Therefore, in the wind and snow, some peculiar buildings have been emitting black smoke.

It was the blacksmiths and cobblers' workshops of the tribe, who burned charcoal to the fullest for complex, high-value-added production.

The richest members of the tribe were of course the leader Otto's family, followed by the priests, and the third were blacksmiths, cobblers, and a few highly skilled carpenters.

It is understandable that the leader is the richest, because of the traditional rules of the tribe, the leader must legally get more spoils. The group of priests is completely supported by the entire tribe, and the priests are also completely composed of women, but the number of priests only shows that the per capita wealth is more.

Those craftsmen, they are ordinary people in the tribe, and their identities also determine that it is impossible to become Valhalla's heroic spirits.

They couldn't even be Odin's servants because they believed in Thor.

It is believed that Thunder is the incarnation of Thor, a god with a sledgehammer in his hand, who is thought to resemble a young blacksmith.

All blacksmiths worship Thor, as do other craftsmen. These people naturally do not need to fight to prove themselves, although they are people of the same tribe, they believe that they are actually protected by Thor.

Since the snowstorm started, the snowfall has lasted for five whole days!

Fortunately, only the first two days were horrific blizzards, followed by pure snowfall.

But this is not the beginning of peace. Every family's house is facing huge security risks. Those heavy snow can easily crush the roof. So from the third day, some residents have braved the wind and snow to clean the house first. After the snow at the door, I climbed up on the roof and used the usual wooden shovel to remove the snow as much as possible.

Probably only the blacksmiths and the tanners don't have to worry too much about the snow. The interior of their longhouses is so hot that there is not much snow on the roofs at all, and the flagstones at the chimneys are still the same.

Rurik spends most of his time studying these days.

Just feeding the few deer hiding in the pen, Rumia easily accomplished it. The only necessary task Rurik arranged for the girl was this. For the rest of the time, he took the girl and learned the language of the deer breeder with the help of a translator from the priest of Veria.

In a few days Rurik had learned some of the most commonly used words, and phrases such as "eat" and "drink" were also learned.

On the other hand, Rumia has also learned a lot of Norse words and phrases. Due to the fact that the Norse language of this era still has many tongues, if it is not learned from childhood, it is difficult to master it quickly, which leads to the strange pronunciation of Rumia's language at present. In the ancient Sami language of the deer people, there is a tongue sound, but it is not used as often as the Old Norse language.

Fortunately, Rumia has basically learned the vocabulary that is most used in ordinary life, and she has to use the newly learned vocabulary immediately in order to communicate with her master.

But, is Rurik really the master?

This little boy who was three years younger than himself, he bluntly claimed that he was more willing to call his sister.

In fact, the child was called this intentionally from the beginning, but at that time he didn't know the Norse language at all.

Rumia was even more touched because of this. What she yearns most is family. As long as there is a family member who is willing to love her, a lot of the pain in her heart can be eliminated.

It has been the fourth day of snowfall, and the snowflakes are more dense than yesterday. Everyone believes that the blizzard season will soon pass.

During these days, Rurik and his servants were really carrying out a high-intensity study life in the long priest's house, at least Otto thought so.

Otto and Nia's life has also become more boring, and the two are more willing to hide in their warm house in the boring winter and watch their young son play. Although for a few years, every son in the cold winter is using wooden sticks to draw strange symbols on the ground.

As long as they see this little guy, the couple are satisfied.

On a silent night, Nia's heartbroken that she had endured for so many days finally broke out.

She asked her husband, "It's been a few days, and Rurik lives in the priest's hut. Are you really relieved?"

"That child is studying, of course I am relieved. He said that he will not only be our leader, but also the leader of Novgorod, and the leader of many deer breeders. This child is challenging my authority, he His ambitions are also very lofty." Thinking of many things that had happened, Otto had mixed feelings, and faced with his wife who was as old as himself, there were some words he couldn't say.

"But he's a seven-year-old."

"Ten years from now will be a seventeen-year-old, my Nia. He loves to learn, and he will grow into a wise man. And he is not lying. You know, Rurik was originally from Arik's Perez. Ravina was learning the language of the Novgorodians, and now he is learning the language of the deer people. To be the leader of the aliens, of course, you have to learn the language of the aliens, so you don't have to worry about anything. He is your son, forever It's all yours."

"However, I still like the way he runs around the house, or the way the sticks are messing around."

"Don't worry," Otto sighed. "Tomorrow, I'll grab him and his little servant. The servant is also learning our language, and I'm just watching the girl's results. Listen, tomorrow We need to clean up the snow on the roof, if the roof is crushed, it will be difficult to repair."

"You reminded me, I'll get the snow-ploughing tools ready now."

"Prepare some more food," Otto added.

"Well, Rurik is very light. I don't worry that the house will collapse when he climbs to the roof to sweep snow. It's you..." Niya burst out with a smile, "He is too heavy, you must not go to the roof. Like last year, I was worried that the house would collapse."

"Then you can't fully count on Rurik. Prepare more food, and Rurik goes to the roof, and the servant must follow. Rurik wants meat, and the servant has to eat meat, and prepare the amount for two people. "

"Huh? Why? A mere servant." Niya seemed very unconcerned. "Just give the servant something to eat, like some shark liver or something."

What Nia actually means is that the food given to the servants is a reward. Although it is a reward, it should also reward those unpalatable food that can only satisfy the stomach, such as shark liver. If it is not for survival, who would be willing to eat this strange-smelling food. .

Otto rejected his wife's idea, and it's not how kind Otto is here, it's all because that's the son's servant.

"Let's prepare more." Otto urged. "You don't know, Rurik said before the priest that the servant is his future helper. Rurik eats meat, and servants eat meat, I don't know. Why, Rurik attaches great importance to this servant."

"It's strange, I've seen that servant, nothing special."

"No!" Otto shook his head, "it must be special to our son. Because that servant was tamed by himself, don't say much about the servant in the future. If the servant is not obedient, he will have his own. We don't have to intervene."

"Alright. Let's call Rurik back, and...and that servant named Rumia. As long as that servant is well-sweeped, I will reward her. But you, that servant is not good at it. I can't control life so much, Rurik is my son, and if he doesn't bear it, I don't care, I will personally punish the servant who doesn't work!"

Feeling his wife's tough attitude, Otto deliberately asked, "What will happen to you?"

"I...at least...at least give me a slap and warn that servant to be punished for being lazy."

Otto wanted to laugh wildly, but his mouth that had just been split closed again when he thought of the incident a few days ago. "Don't think about it, go to sleep, we have to clear the snow tomorrow morning."

Otto said no more, wrapped tightly in the skin of the animal and continued to rest, but his mind was full of imaginings.

For the girl named Rumia, the son boldly rebelled against his authority and held his own sharp sword.

Not to mention, if this stinky boy's grandfather and grandfather's grandfather, some of their ancestors must have entered Valhalla, they should have seen this scene in the sky. They will also be happy for their rebellious descendants.

Also, his own era is about to pass, maybe another ten years, when the Ross tribe should be Rurik's era.

Chief, times have changed.