It was a sunny day on April 16 in the Julian calendar.
The climate in the morning is still very cold, but as the sun rises, the climate immediately warms up. During these days, all the tribesmen were surprised to find that the water would no longer freeze after nightfall, and the sea ice and snow would melt faster. The only annoying thing is that the road will stay muddy for a while, so everyone's boots are always stained with mud.
No different from previous spring festivals, this year’s festival is still held at noon.
Why? Just because it is warm at noon, it caters to people's desire for spring warmth.
Thousands of tribesmen have gone through a long period of hibernation, and each household does not have much food reserves. They urgently need to go to the sea to catch fish. In fact, some people who were not afraid of death had already done this, and the priests bought some big fish from the daring people as sacrifices.
Rurik followed his parents and became a member of the mighty army. All the tribesmen rushed to the stone boat altar. This time was slightly different from the Hanukkah sacrifice. For the Spring Festival, all the residents put down their work without exception and followed the Russians to the Russian altar.
The Spring Festival has exactly the same meaning to everyone living in Roseburg. Everyone also has the same beliefs and the same fear. It seems that if you don’t participate in the festival, you will encounter storms, sea monsters, robbers, and other disasters that will destroy ships and kill people when you go to sea in the new year.
What merchants fear most is the destruction of their ships and the death of people. Even Gould, who is very powerful, is not afraid of ordinary pirates at all.
He is afraid of storms and legendary sea monsters. Once the cargo sinks into the sea, it will be terrible.
However, in this sacrifice, a few more reindeer were not slaughtered as sacrifices, which comforted Rurik deeply.
He led his servant Rumia and followed his parents to wait at the Stone Ship Altar early in the morning.
Here, the pine forest that was once covered with snow has completely changed. Not to mention that the snow is gone, and all the pine trees are sprouting buds. Many people are fond of plucking pine needles and buds to boil water. Their original intention is to add some flavor to drinking water or soup, and they also euphemistically call it "getting the vitality of spring."
Pine needle water has a bitter taste. Although its taste is not very good, at least you can get some valuable vitamins from it.
This behavior cannot be said to be weird. Rurik thought for a moment, don't Easterners also use leaves to boil water and drink it? Even Rurik could be sure that the Vikings would not carry forward their culture of boiling pine needle water.
The empty place under the huge altar was full of people, and men and women were talking about all kinds of things.
Rurik listened carefully, and there were many young warriors talking about running to Novgorod to find a beautiful wife, or going south to kill the Gotlanders to avenge their blood.
Obviously, there is already a long-cherished wish for future actions in the tribe, and the father has no intention of getting involved. What will they do next??
The only thing Rurik knows best is his cousin’s decision, which is revenge!
Finally waited for the opportunity. Compared to taking his wife to Novgorod to visit his parents-in-law, Arik definitely did not think it was more important than avenging the blood of his biological father. His father died in battle, and he wanted to avenge his father. Rurik could completely understand his cousin Arik's mood, and he thought it was very reasonable.
Youdao means that the hatred between parents is irreconcilable, and Rurik hopes that if the Ross army really goes south, Arik will not be injured in the revenge operation.
Thinking of this, he was always worried about his cousin who had grown up to be very strong.
In any war, people will always die. However, Rurik could not see any fear in the eyes of the twenty-year-old young warriors in the tribe.
They have only two attitudes towards war, the anger of revenge and the desire for wealth. It can be said that the warriors who had relatives died at the hands of the Gotlanders in previous encounters have become so since a group of tribal elites suddenly began to promote the battle cry of "Revenge the Gotlanders and everyone will receive a hundred silver coins." The crowd was excited, and the hatred of the past was quickly stirred up. Everyone was eager for revenge, and even more eager for wealth.
Rurik has not noticed until now that the technique of making steel swords that he gave to the blacksmith Klavasen not only attracted other blacksmiths to run over and kneel down to pray for the skills so that they could make a lot of money together, but also attracted all the people. The Warriors frantically placed orders, which also forced them to come up with money to pay for the orders within a short period of time.
While the warriors were thinking about how to get a large sum of money, the big businessman Gould made a high-profile claim that the Gotlanders were extremely rich, and deliberately made up some legends to spread among his men. For example, the Gotlanders had so much gold that they could pile up mountains.
It is indeed true that the Gotlanders are not only rich, but also love to hoard gold and silver currency.
Many times, the king of a kingdom cannot influence the development of the entire country because of his own wishes. The so-called national destiny seems to have an invisible force that promotes the rise of a country, and it can also bring about its decline.
This power is not some illusory thing. The so-called national destiny is the people's hearts!
When most of the young people in the Ross tribe learned that the Gotlanders had a lot of money in their pockets, they organized an army to rob them. Moreover, the action will definitely not be a lone fight of a few people. Many people have great hatred towards the Gotlanders. Furthermore, the Ross tribe is already in a state of fierce fighting with them, so it is reasonable to attack them.
Therefore, the Great Festival is also a rare gathering day for all tribesmen, and the most powerful young people of the tribe are here. They didn't care about the attitude of the tribal elders, elites, or even the leader himself. The young people were already spontaneously discussing how to chop off the enemy's head and make every warrior extremely wealthy. Paying a huge amount of silver coins to buy a steel sword from a blacksmith was also a particularly urgent need.
Aric, he spared no effort to call on everyone to attack the Gotlanders. Taking advantage of this opportunity, he easily got moreLike-minded people.
He is someone who refuses to admit defeat! Although he could not replace his cousin as the leader of the tribe, he still lamented the fact that his cousin was making a lot of money. He was the real candidate for the leader and felt inferior to him.
But a good leader must have a general who is fierce and daring to fight. Who will be this general? Of course it’s me!
Just like my father Ogier is the general of my uncle Otto, when Rurik becomes the leader, I, Arik, will be the number one general!
As a general, you must make great achievements and be recognized by the young forces of the tribe? How to make meritorious deeds? That was the crusade against the Gotlanders.
They have even started to howl!
Rurik grabbed his father's clothes, hoping not to be scattered in the crowd. The sacrifice had just begun when suddenly a harsh sound came.
"Dad, someone is shouting slogans." Rurik said weakly.
"It's your brother Arik." Otto had heard everything clearly and couldn't help but frown.
"Ah! I...I understand. They are really going to attack the Gotlanders."
"Yes, this Aric." Otto felt that he My eldest nephew is demonstrating to me that my nephew has grown up and will soon be a father. A man needs to make a difference in his life! Besides, Arik must take revenge! Otherwise, he will be ridiculed by others as "a coward who dare not avenge his father's murder."
Otto never expected that it would be his nephew who roared the loudest, leading a group of young people to chant the word "revenge" in unison.
Revenge? attack? OK!
Otto felt secretly happy, since those young people were so fighting, and since he could not interfere with this powerful force at all.
Who will be the general of the crusade?
Aric! It seems he has gained the support of young people.
If Rurik is a fan of children under the age of ten, Arik is someone who can be trusted by young people in their twenties. Otto knew clearly that Arik had shown his majesty in the brutal competition among children, and the losers admired such a king in battle.
In the foreseeable future, Otto never thought that his nephew might threaten his son's leadership position.
Why? Rurik has won over all the young boys of the tribe and even hired personal guards. Everyone has to grow up, and those little children running around in the tribe will eventually grow into Rurik's cutting-edge army.
A strange thought suddenly appeared in Otto's mind. If his wife gave birth to a girl in the year when his brother Ogier died in battle, then Arik would really become himself. The eldest son.
There is indeed a possibility for Arik to become the leader of the Ross tribe, provided that Rurik must be a girl.
However, Rurik is a boy, and he is also a person who has been "blessed by Odin". In the foreseeable future, Rurik will also be the king of fighting. at least seven years oldIn this age group, he has never met any opponent.
They were excited and their roars made even more people excited.
Finally, a group of priests formed a white team. They personally carried various sacrifices and walked slowly towards the altar.
Everyone made way for them, and everyone noticed that they were different this year.
The priests were all dressed up beautifully. They all wore off-white linen clothes, printed and dyed with indigo and cinnabar in some places. They all wore necklaces decorated with rubies, sapphires, and lots of amber.
They also all wear beautiful crowns, which are made of several rattans with a large number of green pine buds and unknown small yellow and blue wild flowers.
Many of the priestesses wore unique braids, and their crowns did not cover up the complex and varied silver ornaments on their braids.
Even some priests used cinnabar clay to draw lines on their faces, and with the help of their companions, they wrote words spelled in rune script.
No one thought for a while that the priests dressed themselves up like this because they suddenly had a fortune.
What everyone likes is their image. Some parents even saw their daughters who were rented out to the priests. They actually...became very beautiful!
Yes, no matter their age, the priestesses wear linen clothes that have exactly the same appearance and differ only in size and style, including the girls of the tribe, who are also trained by the priests to walk in unison.
Rurik noticed those tribal girls. Their new images were like the legendary little angels, with fresh and refined temperaments.
After all, they are all Nordic people. Usually parents are too lazy to clean their children. The girls in the tribe are still a little dirty even when they are young. Now they have returned to their original appearance, standing in the forest, just like the legendary elves! It would be even better if they had pointed ears.
The fresh image of the tribal girl inspired countless tribesmen. The girl's parents were also greatly surprised by the beauty of their daughter, and couldn't help but estimate how much dowry they should ask for when their daughter gets married. Not only were they dressed up like the women in the legend, they were participating in sacrificial activities after all, and their own value was obviously greatly increased as a result.
The young people of the tribe paid attention to these girls of the same tribe purely out of instinct. Some young people who planned to follow the leader to Novgorod to find local women to marry could not help but fantasize about asking for the marriage of these girls. .
The beautiful women easily gained huge attention, even surpassing the sacrifice itself.
Vilia, who wears a huge antlered helmet on her head, also wears simple linen clothes that symbolize the arrival of spring.
"Bonna has indeed come up with new tricks. At my age, wearing new linen clothes, I seem to be at least ten years younger!" Or due to psychological factors, Vilia felt that she suddenly changed Gotta have the strength.
She wears an antlered helmet on her head and holds aThe crutch inlaid with gems came slowly, and her walking speed also determined the entire team.
People spontaneously made way for this holy team, and the crowd that was originally agitated by the group of young people eager for revenge quickly became quiet.
Thousands of eyes looked at this procession, watching the most important high priest step across the boundaries of the Stone Ship Altar and enter the so-called holy realm.
The Spring Festival is about to begin.
Otto squeezed out from the crowd. He took the most elite people in the tribe, as well as all the men over fifty years old, to gather at the bow of the stone ship altar.
The bow of the ship points north.
"High Priest, are we... going to start soon?" Otto asked Vilia, who was preparing, across the standing stones.
"My leader, don't be anxious. Have you seen my standing stick? When its shadow is smallest, it is the time of sacrifice."
Vilia Without raising her head as she spoke, she hunched her slightly rickety back and visited some sacrifices in person on the stone platform inside the altar.
Now, the sacrifice she was handling was no longer the fresh meat of a deer, but a lot of symbols.
She placed young pine needles, oak buds, sage and onion seedlings on four small bronze trays. They are symbols and have no special requirements of type. Villa placed them here to imply that spring has arrived.
As for the lower-level priests such as Poona, their arms have obviously become stronger from the long time of boiling fat and stirring soap. No, the most important sacrifice was carried over by the priests working together.
Brave fishermen took huge risks and began to operate in the sea area where navigation was resumed. Large-scale trawling was not yet a problem. Fishing, a method that has been practiced for thousands of years, has allowed fishermen to achieve amazing harvests.
Two large cod fish, more than one meter long, were carried over by the priests with great effort. They were all fish caught this morning. In fact, the fish market of the Ross tribe has been restored, and the fishermen are already selling various catches on their own initiative.
Two large cods were bought for two silver coins, and the priest paid for it easily. After the sacrifice, the priests will use the fish as food for the next one or two days.
The position of the sun is slowly changing. It is not in the correct position, and Vilia will never announce the start of the sacrifice.
Being exposed to the spring sunshine, the comfortable feeling of basking in the sun is intoxicating for everyone. The residents of the entire tribe, as well as the guests, stood in this sacred forest, keeping quiet with each other and enjoying the sunshine. This scene may have happened in a dream, but it was reality.
Everyone enjoys the silence, and they are also waiting for the violent moment after the sacrifice!
An ordinary wooden stick is inserted at the "bow" position of the altar. Once its shadow is aligned with the central axis of the altar, it means that the time has come.
The time has finally arrived!
In full view of everyone, Villa raised her head and slowly opened her arms.
At the same time, two priestesses wearing wreaths of pine needles, one of them beat a small leather drum rhythmically, and the other played a small harp. The sound of music meant that the sacrifice had officially begun.
In the simple rhythm of the Russian music, Villa recited the hymn to spring.
The other priests knelt down on their knees in the altar, raised their heads towards the sun, closed their eyes, and accepted the sunshine.
Seeing this, all the participating tribesmen also knelt down devoutly, and they all turned their faces towards the sun due south.
It is not an act of human confusion, but has a strong symbolic meaning. Because the sun is also considered a part of Odin, kneeling and facing the sun during the Spring Festival is to praise Odin.
When the time comes to the summer solstice, which is what the Ross tribe calls "the night without night", the priests will also perform a special ceremony for the sun, praising the great sun and the great Odin.
Vilia chanted ancient rituals. When she became quiet, everyone opened their eyes and stood up again.
Villa whispered to Bona: "Let's move on to the next step! Start."
Boona understood, then took out a knife and cut open the knife without expression. Two fish.
She quickly opened the belly of the fish, endured the strong fishy smell, and pulled a large amount of fish intestines into the bronze tray. The two fish were treated exactly the same.
Rurik was completely stunned by this scene. Last year, because he was still young, he was led by his mother to stand behind the crowd, and he was not very clear about the details of the ceremony that took place inside the altar. Rurik only knew that the priests could play some ancient folk songs on ancient instruments, but he did not know that the priests also had the process of killing fish.
He never expected that Bona would be a very good female fisherman.
Without anyone's help, Bo Na quickly removed the internal organs of the two big fishes. With a few more cuts, she struggled to break open the fish's ribs. The whole big fish was opened along the ribs. It seems that the next step is to string some branches and put them on the fire!
Is this considered a sacrifice? Simply prepare ingredients for a grilled fish feast!
Rurik’s eyes were still on the fish, and he suddenly noticed the restlessness of the people around him. Looking around, more tribesmen were trembling.
A violent action is about to begin!
A pair of big hands suddenly slapped me!
"Dad!" Rurik raised his head hard.
"Child, are you ready? Just like last year, I will not carry you on my back this time."
"I...I am ready." Rurik Gritting his teeth, the most intense thing was about to come.
Villa looked calm, knowing that her people were like arrows waiting to be fired, waiting for her to give orders.
She faced the sun again, opened her arms, raised her head that was about to be crushed by the antlered helmet, and tried her best to praise as loudly as possible: "Great Odin! Thank you for giving us spring, thank you.Thank you for melting the ice and snow. We are your loyal servants and we are going. Please give us your blessing! "
After a while, she said loudly: "Russian warriors, now... let's start! "
In an instant, the men of the tribe seemed to have heard the starting gun. They suddenly accelerated and ran wildly, with only one goal - the beach.
Is anyone worried about a stampede? No! No one cares!
The only thing everyone cares about is pushing all the boats on the beach into the sea. The priests and tribesmen have already "meeted" Odin at the altar, and everyone believes that they have. With God's blessing, it will be safe to go to sea this year, and every fisherman can catch huge fish safely.
Rurik, His small figure also joined the torrent heading towards the sea.
So did the children of similar age to him, who all rushed towards the beach to fulfill what every capable Ross man needs to fulfill. Duty.
Rurik’s little hands finally touched the hull of a long boat on the messy beach.
Everyone said that if he did this, he would be able to take the boat with him. Come to Geely, if you don't touch the hull of any ship today, your luck will not be very good this year. No matter whose ship it is, just participate in pushing it into the sea!
It will be good! Nearly a thousand wooden boats of various types are piled on the beach. For the convenience of pushing, many boats have been made into wooden slides. On the morning of the sacrifice, the slides were also smeared with some grease.
All the Vikings. Longships are not very heavy. They are built with a deck that is wide but not high. It gains the advantage of being light and loses its strength, making it not suitable for sailing in the vast ocean at all, but it is particularly suitable for sailing in the Baltic Sea. The sea.
Rurik only touched and tried to push a few times, and soon his small body was pushed aside by a group of strong people as the ship owner and his friends valued themselves. The boat is an important tool for their livelihood. They rush to their boat immediately, and since they have already marked it and planned their running route, no one will mistake it for their boat.
They go deeper into the crowd. It was meaningless, and Rurik subconsciously retreated. He didn't want to get stepped on and get hurt, nor did he want his clothes to get wet by the sea water.
Rurik walked towards the high ground. The children who received his military training were all squeezed out of the crowd by the adults, and the children also subconsciously gathered towards the beach high ground.
I saw a man with a golden ponytail and a sword hanging from his waist. There was no doubt that the boy who was following a maid was his little leader.
The children gathered around Rurik. Everyone looked at the ship that suddenly appeared on the sea and subconsciously became confused. They talked about the future they had heard about.
The bald Fisk is still bald. Her mother, who is a widower, knows the benefits of soap, but she can’t afford it. In order to prevent her son from being bitten by head lice, insist on continuingContinue to shave his hair with a knife against his scalp.
"Rurik, I have heard that many men want to take revenge on the Gotlanders. I really envy them." As he spoke, Fisk's eyes never left the sea.
"Are you a little sorry?" Rurik asked.
"Yes, I was too young and was even squeezed out by those adults. Maybe when I can push the boat into the sea myself, I will really have the strength to participate in the expedition. But... my father. "
"I can understand that you want to take revenge." Rurik sighed, "They want to attack the Gotlanders, and my cousin also wants to take revenge. Look at his performance before the sacrifice. , I think he wants to be the leader of the expedition warriors?" "He is the leader?" Kanuf came over in confusion, "I think it is my father and our big leader. But my friend. By the way, Rurik."
"What's wrong?"
"You said, our great leader, your father, Will he lead everyone in person?"
"I don't know, maybe not"
"Oh, it seems that we should go to Novgorod to ask for it. Tribute is important. But I heard from my father that the Gotlanders are very rich. They even have a mountain made of gold?"
Looking at Kanuf's excited and trembling eyes, he listened. Rurik really wanted to laugh if he was still childish.
Children have a huge desire for wealth at a young age. It seems that they generally feel that instead of producing wealth and creating wealth, it is better to rob hostile wealthy people.
No matter what, they simply lack education and do not know or understand that having knowledge can gain wealth more efficiently and safely.
Rurik smiled and asked: "Do you believe they really have a mountain of gold?"
"Of course, my father said that there is."
"Okay. Unfortunately, we are still too young, brothers!" Rurik gathered his young fans together. He gave an order. This large group of children stood in five rows very consciously. , just like their queue during training, and then they all sat cross-legged and listened to the "boss"'s instructions.
Any normal child has the need to follow the older child, just because they feel that the older child is a strong person who can be trusted.
Rurik has a grappling routine, and his physical fitness is also excellent year-on-year. He is never vain when it comes to fighting, and he also has a lot of strange and wonderful ideas, and he is also good at painting a pie and promising a wonderful future.
He suddenly pulled out his bright white steel sword that shone in the sun, pointed at the ships that had raised their sails and started sailing against the wind, and shouted loudly: "Brothers, are you envious? ?! I know you are envious! You don’t have to be envious. Ten years later, it will be me..." As he said, Rurik deliberately gave a thumbs up to himself with his left hand, "It will be me, Ruli. Grams, after I became the leader, as you saw today, I took you with me.Let's go on an expedition. What do you want? Gold and silver? Or a beautiful wife? A servant? A servant like Rumia? And a great victory? You all can get it! As long as you remain loyal to me, you can get whatever you want. Remember our slogan? ! "
Looking at their eager eyes, Rurik stared angrily, raised his steel sword high and roared: "Ula! Ula! "
His roar caused all the children to roar, and everyone's expressions were particularly ferocious. They shouted "Ula", not to mention how happy they were inside.
And Rurik easily controlled more than a hundred people. The appearance of the child and the future wild warrior made Rumia take three steps back subconsciously. This is her master!