Hearing what Otto said, Rumia felt secretly happy.
She could not like Otto, but she particularly liked Rurik and the high priest Vilia who was about to die. She knows very well who is good to her.
How is it possible to say that Mia has no desire to compete for power and status? ! She is smart and realizes that she has huge possibilities. Now she must completely endure it and live her life as an absolutely loyal servant.
Rumia has become famous. Vilia knows about this girl and even knows that this child already has the most basic ability to become a mother.
Rumia imagined that many years later, after giving birth to his child, she would no longer be the head maid or the high priest.
Otto continued to mutter: "It seems that I need to go to the Stone Ship Altar to pray to God for another ten years of life, so that I can see them all pregnant with your children."
Rurik trembled: "So, where is Svetlana?!"
"Huh? That girl?!" Now, it was Otto's turn to tremble. "You already know? How do you know? I didn't tell you."
"Because Lilia. Dad, I know everything. She is Svetalana's sister."< /p>
Hearing this, Otto breathed a sigh of relief: "Well, originally I wanted to wait until you were twelve years old and take you directly to the East to get engaged to that girl. Do you know? That one is called Svetland. Na's girl will grow into a very beautiful woman. Children, do you know what a perfect man is?" "A perfect man?" Rurik shook his head.
Otto was still holding Rumia's braid in his hand, as if he was driving a pony.
Otto joked: "You have to kill a hundred enemy strong warriors on the battlefield! You have to have a hundred women give birth to your children! You also have money that you can't spend all your life. ”
What is this? Rurik suddenly understood.
Youdao means that there are three highest gods in the Russian belief, Odin who is in charge of war, Freya in charge of fertility, and Frey in charge of wealth.
Of course, force, women and wealth are all exciting to the powerful.
Rurik shook his head: "One hundred? That's too many. Please spare me."
"This is your fate." Otto chuckled: "I am too old. I should have enjoyed the happy life of having my grandson running around, but it is a pity that your two brothers have an unfortunate fate. Those maids, and Rumia, they are all your women. Svetalan Na will be your official wife, and the eldest son she gives birth to will be your first heir. The children born to other women are all elites of our tribe, and they are all the ones you can trust. Listen, no one can compare with you. Your real brothers are more trustworthy!"
Rurik originally wanted to say, "You have to settle the score with your real brothers," but then he thought that it was pointless to talk back and be clever now.
In fact, these seemingly irrelevant words Otto said were also meant forListen to it yourself.
Why wouldn’t Otto want to find some new women to satisfy his needs and continue his bloodline? Just like when he learned about his subordinate Harold Johnson, that old and strong guy hung out with two kidnapped women all day long, completely neglecting his elderly wife.
Hallo Zuosen is not a big leader, nor can he become a big leader.
Otto understands the burden on his shoulders. Especially he cannot personally create another brother for his son Rurik, not even a biological sister. Although brothers are trustworthy, Otto actually understands that it is his brothers who can become the biggest threat to power.
To carry forward the bloodline, this matter can only fall on Rurik's thin shoulders.
The son is very nice to all the servants, maybe this is a useful start.
No, when Otto personally visited the residences given to servants, Otto made his own judgment.
In the eyes of many people, it is enough to give a servant a shack that will not freeze to death, a rough linen garment to cover his body, and some leftovers to eat every day. Just a servant, what else do you want? !
How great Rurik!
In the huge longhouse, Otto saw a large number of beds. These beds were very similar to those he had seen in Novgorod, but he personally sat on one that was very neatly taken care of. The bed, a strong sense of comfort invaded his head.
Otto, this strong man was lying on an unoccupied bed, twisting wantonly like a child. He even subconsciously stretched out the quilt that was folded like tofu pieces to cover his body, enjoying the endless comfort and security.
"Dad, what do you think?" Rurik asked.
"Very good, who told you that? It should be Peravina, you also learned the Novgorod language from her."
" "Yes." Rurik said bluntly, "I don't want to sleep on the ground anymore. From now on, we will all sleep on wooden beds and live in a house with wooden floors. Dad, the house under construction nearby is our new home." /p>
Otto, who was lying flat on his back with his hands on his head, sighed: "Okay, those Novgorod people are very weak, but they are quite good at sleeping. Go, take me with you. Look at the new home. "
A new longhouse is under construction. Its wooden piles have just been erected. The workers hired by Rurik have been working every day. Only now have they finished laying the wooden floors. .
Otto knew that he was in an open-air carpentry workshop. As the leader, he suddenly arrived here and attracted the attention of many workers.
He also noticed that all the workers, without exception, were elderly.
"I can't believe that they are not as strong as me, and they are too old. They can no longer go to the battlefield to chop off the enemy's heads, but they have become your carpenters here?"
Rurik liked his father's praise the most, so he said: "It's not just them! TheyBuild me a house and I give them a little enough money to buy food. There are also many older women, who are best at tailoring, and they make clothes for me. Dad, the money I earned was not just hoarded in a box. I can't use money as food when I'm hungry. No matter how much money I make, the money must be spent. ”
“Oh? This is very different from what many people think. "Otto said in surprise.
"What? Do they still like to hoard money? ”
“Of course! why not! We Rus people are originally poor, and only the leader of the Melalen tribe, the most powerful tribe in our alliance, is the richest. Legend has it that they have mountains of silver and are richer than the Gotlanders. However, our family, through various means, has a wealth of less than 70,000 silver coins. Our family is the poorest chief family among all tribes. You see, the wealthy Gotlander we defeated had 200,000 pieces of silver in his family. "
"It doesn't matter. Rurik shrugged: "My wealth will continue to grow." But I never want to be the only rich member of our tribe. I will give money to my people, and in order to get my money, they must work for me. "
"I know what you mean, maybe you are right. ”
Otto has fully understood that his son wants to mobilize the poor families in the tribe to work for him and get benefits. In the past, no leader had such an idea. Those ancestor leaders, including himself, took advantage of the poorest people. People regard them as dirty people! Unless a poor family comes out with a young warrior who can fight, only then will Otto really take them seriously.
Otto continued to ask: "Child, When will our new home be completed? ”
“Well! Maybe by the end of August. Dad, I want to build a very comfortable home. I even hope that in the future, our wealthy tribesmen will build houses imitating ours. "
"Haha, a great idea, let's wait and see! ”
Otto’s inspection continued. No, at noon, he personally visited the scene where his son rewarded the brothers.
The children ate fish and meat with great enthusiasm, and there were more That's a maid.
When it comes to eating, all the children are like wolves and tigers. It seems that if they don't finish the meat immediately, their companions will take it away.
No, the children finished their lunch quickly, and their stomachs were bulging.
The thought of my son spending more than ten silver coins a day to buy fish would make it worse for the Southern Allies! When the wheat is harvested, ships transporting new wheat will inevitably dock. Rurik will not hesitate to spend huge sums of money to buy grain.
Otto is sure that his son will do this, because the one going south will do so. Gould has made a major agreement with his son!
How much will he buy?
The agreement between his son and Gould is engraved on the wooden board.
Although the previous soap contract seemed to be sacrificedOtto estimated that his son was kind and loyal, and would never do anything to hurt the feelings of his friends. As for Gould, that guy also wanted something from him, but he didn't dare to make any mistakes.
It was also at the end of August that Otto knew that the wheat in Novgorod had also been harvested.
At that time, the north wind will also start to rise on the earth, and then the Russian fleet will effortlessly rush to the distance to plunder those people's wheat.
Similarly, it is already July. Although it is the warmest time of the year, the temperature will get colder in a short period of time.
As the leader, Otto felt that his family controlled the wealth of the priests. In addition, Rurik, his own son, had the most caring care of the tribe beyond ordinary people. Then, it became very urgent to use part of the huge wealth under control to purchase a batch of materials from businessmen to strengthen the construction of New Roseburg and Tombstone Island.
Otto has decided that starting from tomorrow, hoarding support supplies will be his major task!
Rumia, she had enough lunch and returned to the priest's longhouse.
After a day, the drunken priests completely recovered their spirits. They had to face the fact that Bona had been executed. Fully awake, they finally understood their responsibilities and the red lines that they could not cross.
But so what? They knew that they had already encountered strong resentment from the big leader, and perhaps even Rurik was very resentful of them.
All the female priests can only pray that they can reshape their image through serious work in all the subsequent sacrificial rituals of the tribe.
As for Lumia, the deer herder girl, she has completely become the apple of the eye of the high priest Vilia, and cannot help but arouse the jealousy of different priestesses.
There is no way, this is called fate! That Rumia, she also received Odin's blessing. She was the first "Valkyrie" around Rurik, and she was also a "Brünnhilde"-like existence.
Twilight soaks the entire fjord, and the crowds of people playing and playing during the day are even more excited now.
Many people have already poured into the tribe’s stone boat altar in advance. They were just a group of tribesmen watching the excitement. They lit a bonfire in an empty space and grilled the fresh fish they bought from the afternoon fish market.
The aroma of barbecue began to fill the air, mixed with the fragrance of earth and the fragrance of rosin.
Rumia, while it was still dark, was wearing a plain burqa, and the huge silver ornaments hanging on her chest showed her nobility.
Bona disappeared, and this time it was a girl's turn, holding the huge antlered helmet belonging to the high priest Vilia.
The elderly Vilia knew that participating in the sacrifice would definitely cause severe damage to her body, but she still insisted on participating. By the way, she looked up to the sky during the ceremony and prayed to Odin to grant her a little more longevity.
All the tribesmen hope that they can be as lucky as Rurik and receive some gifts from Asgard above the sky. Those who light bonfires near the altar, manyHalf also means to take advantage of the heat. Prayers will be said silently during various ceremonies.
The sky gradually darkened, the moon came out, and then the stars obscured by the sun also showed their magnificent colors.
In an era without artificial light pollution, Rurik could clearly see the Milky Way nebula and large constellations such as Orion.
The Big Dipper also appeared! It would be best if there could be some Northern Lights at this time.
But the aurora can only be seen by people in Roseburg on the coldest days.
So, maybe holding the collective wedding of the tribe on Midsummer Eve is very suitable for the timing?
Welia no longer wanted to think too much, because she really knew that the young people of her tribe could not wait to fall in love with their new wives. Because of the traditional customs of the tribe, they have been holding back for too long.
On a perfect midsummer night, the weather was warm and humid. The newlyweds were all wearing plain robes, and they felt nothing but comfort.
Including Lilia, many girls from Novgorod gathered with their newlywed husbands.
As long as they are immersed in this wedding scene, the girls' understanding of the inherent barbaric image of the Varangians will be completely gone.
The little girls in the tribe collected a large number of flowers, and the flowers and branches were woven into a large number of corollas.
The brides arrived, and the wedding had not officially started yet. A large number of bonfires were lit near the stone boat altar. Here, the brides put on flower crowns and were immersed in this lively scene. They realized that the festival celebrations of the Varyag people were essentially similar to their hometown.
Because it is in Novgorod that during the wedding ceremony, the bride and groom must dress up beautifully, and the relatives and friends participating in the ceremony will sing and dance around the bonfire.
Of course, Novgorod also has a unique wedding ceremony, that is, the groom has to run across a burning bonfire. This is quite a bit of the Eastern tradition of "crossing the fire basin". In essence, the ceremony is a blessing and expectation for the couple's future.
In Novgorod, Kavey easily stepped over a hot flame with his strong body to show his strength to the locals. Yes, in terms of physical fitness alone, the young Russians who married Novgorod girls were as strong as the others.
In fact, in the hearts of many girls, they hope that their husbands will be strong men, so that they and their future children will be well protected.
The biggest event in the Russian summer is the Summer Solstice Festival.
This collective wedding was a wonderful surprise. All the tribesmen came in droves at once. The merchants seized the opportunity and poured into the venue with their own goods. In an instant, a small market was opened. It was formed near the altar.
Those women who had been married before, with their big bellies, accompanied their husbands to visit the weddings of their newly married tribesmen with great interest, silently in their hearts.Silently blessing.
The wedding was held as scheduled when the stars arrived at the right place. Rurik stood in the first row of the crowd. He wanted to keep an eye on Lilia and even more on the servant Rumia.
Rurik was most worried about what trouble his Rumia would cause during the ceremony. After all, she has only been exposed to the work of a priest for a month!
The worry is unnecessary, Rumia has done many things according to Vilia's request. The wedding was also going on in a lively atmosphere, and Rurik saw the face of Lilia, a girl who was only sixteen years old, smiling like a flower.
The wedding was finally over, and all the newlyweds drank cups of mead. This was considered the ultimate contract between the couple.
The crowd gradually dispersed. After the ceremony, the excited Kawei suddenly picked up his wife and rushed to his home amidst Lilia's happy screams.
Their anxious looks made Viglia feel helpless and happy at the same time.
Lilia, she quickly became a woman, and all that was left was ten months of waiting.
Lilia, together with her tribe, have completely shed their previous identities on the new day. They have been fully accepted by the Russian people, and now they start a new life with a new identity.
Life goes on. Under the seemingly peaceful life of the Rus people, there is hidden the anxiety of the great leader Otto, as well as Rurik's expectations for the great businessman.
The appointed day is coming soon! This time, the big businessman Gould will not be left empty-handed.
A large amount of southern supplies, a group of strong but short of money mercenaries, and even some new servants will be under his control.
In exchange, Rurik will give the soap he has hoarded to Gould, which is a win-win situation for both parties.